Chapter Text
This was not how Cloud was hoping his day would go.
A huge amalgamation had broken loose outside of Nibel, wreaking havoc on one of the beaches. It was probably twenty feet tall, a deep, murky yellow, and had no discernible face. Bubbling, gurgling skin traveled slowly across the body to repair each wound it sustained as a dozen tentacles flapped around angrily. While MAI chirped about the creature into his ear, Cloud dodged and weaved between each tentacle, cutting off two at once. Beside him, Yuffie dismembered three with her shuriken, and Nanaki, one with his claws.
As the tentacles fell limply into the water below, the creature roared. The silence that followed was deafening. Suddenly, twelve more tentacles shot out from its body in their place.
“You gotta be shittin’ me,” Barret groaned over his own gunfire, and Cloud couldn’t help but agree.
Aerith rained magic down upon the creature’s body, her brow knit in concentration. “It’ll be fine!”
“Right!” Tifa slid underneath a huge tentacle, sprinting toward the main body of the monster. Cait Sith, atop his moogle, aimed his megaphone.
Whatever the thing was (he knew MAI had mentioned it, but he couldn’t for the life of him concentrate on her right now) didn’t want to go down easily. After what felt like hours, Cloud caught a glimpse of a flash, his eyes widening.
“Cait, look out!”
Seemingly attempting a new strategy, the creature flung one of its many tentacles forward, grabbing both Cait and the moogle, squeezing them in a tight grip to lift them twenty feet in the air. Cait didn’t have the chance to say anything smart as he struggled against the hold.
“We have to get him down!” Yuffie cried.
“But how? We can’t cut off the arm!” Nanaki exclaimed.
Before anyone could answer, two more heavy tentacles slammed down, enveloping both of them in a bone-crushing hold. Yuffie’s shuriken skittered onto the dry ground, unmoving.
“Shit!” Barret yelled, diving out of the way of a heavy attack. He almost cleared it, but the tentacle grabbed his ankle, pulling him up into the air upside down, his blaster wrapped up against his chest.
His heart pounding, Cloud ignored the cries of shock and fear from his friends, focusing solely on dodging and weaving, but there were so many . One of them shot out, grabbing both Tifa and Aerith, pinning them against the ground.
Cloud jumped and flipped, landing atop one of the tentacles on the ground, and began running up the arm, intent to strike it right in the middle of its ugly body, when he heard Sephiroth’s voice.
Run, Cloud. Run away.
The split second it took him to recover was too late. With a flick, one tentacle tossed the Buster Sword from his hands, another encasing him in a tight squeeze. Cloud watched it fall, embedding itself in the sand. He glanced to the side, watching Barret struggle upside-down, Yuffie punch the arm that held her, Nanaki sink his teeth into it to no avail, Cait stutter as he tried to sweet talk. Below them, still against the sand, Tifa and Aerith looked like they were having trouble breathing.
Was this really how it would end…?
When he glanced down again, he was surprised to find his sword was missing.
“Hello! Over here!” Suddenly, a voice carried through the air, certain and familiar. Cloud’s eyes widened, his heart dropping into his stomach as he whipped his head toward the source.
“Chadley!”
Much to his surprise, the name ripped out of his mouth before he could stop it. The boy was standing atop a sandy cliff not far from them, looking just as he always did - bright, happy, curious. He was not the hologram version of himself, but the real, tangible thing.
“Hello, Cloud!” he called cheerfully, the Buster Sword in his hands. It looked heavy for him.
While the monster was confused, rearing up its tentacles to strike, Chadley lifted the sword, as if to use it - then raised a hand to the sky. Through the sword’s summoning materia, Alexander appeared in a blaze of bright white and gold, roaring loud enough to shake the entire beach. Huge, round arms pressed against the ground, sending shockwaves of energy.
In its surprise, the monster relaxed its hold on Cloud a little. He seized the opportunity to wriggle free, hop on top, and jump to the cliff where Chadley was standing. He took the sword from him, staring down at those innocent blue eyes for just a second, not allowing his shock to keep him from seizing this second opportunity.
“Hide!”
Chadley didn’t need to be told twice as he rushed down the hill, diving behind a nearby boulder as the same tentacle that had been holding Cloud moments before slammed down onto the ground. With the monster’s attention mostly on Alexander, Cloud jumped onto the tentacle and began running again, this time laser-focused on making it to the body itself. He leapt out of the way of more waving arms and slashed down - riding the sword from the top all the way down to the ground.
The creature froze, its body completely torn in half. As it began lessening its grip on everyone, Alexander reached out with its two huge arms, catching Barret, Nanaki, Yuffie, and Cait before they could fall to the ground. The monster fell in an unmoving heap in the sand, a huge mess of goo.
Everyone was silent for a moment, while Alexander gently placed the four onto the sand and Tifa helped Aerith to her feet. Quietly, Cloud thanked Alexander and recalled it, placing his sword onto his back.
“Everyone okay?” He finally asked, doing a quick once-over. Besides bruised egos, he didn’t see any injuries.
“Yeah,” Tifa confirmed, watching Yuffie pick up her shuriken and Cait remount his moogle.
“Amazing!” The group turned, finding Chadley standing at the foot of the hill, positively giddy. “I wasn’t sure that would work! What a wonderful battle!”
Barret scoffed. “Wonderful?”
“Wouldnae have been so wonderful without you here, lad!” Cait chirped cheerfully.
Chadley seemed quite sheepish at that. “I was watching the battle from town. I felt a deep urge to assist you; I could not just stand by.”
“We’re glad you did!” Aerith replied, giving him her usual gentle smile. “It was very brave of you.”
Quite pleased, Chadley touched a finger to his left eye, seemingly scanning each party member for injuries. “It seems everyone is still in good health.” He paused on Cloud, tilting his head curiously. “Oh, my. I think that is the nicest thought you have ever had about me.”
Cloud immediately looked away, his cheeks splashing with light pink. He had been thinking that perhaps he’d been underestimating the kid this whole time, but he was now thinking he had to make his thoughts less obvious around him.
“Now, then, I ought to return to Nibelheim. In the meantime, Cloud, I saw another group of robed men ambling toward the -” Chadley stopped abruptly, and for probably the first time ever, a look of confusion crossed his expression. The computerized eyepiece around his left eye, usually bright blue, blinked an angry red.
“Are you okay?” Nanaki asked, taking a step forward.
Chadley blinked once. He shook his head. “I…apologize. I’m fine.”
Suddenly, Chadley swayed forward, his entire body limp. Cloud rushed forward to catch him before he could fall onto the sand below. “Hey!”
With slight panic in his chest and cries of surprise echoing from the others, Cloud turned Chadley over. His eyepiece still blinked red, as if indicating he was out of power, his artificial eyelids fluttering. Otherwise, he was dead weight.
A hundred thoughts sped through Cloud’s mind. How could they fix a cyborg? Did Chadley have a home? Did he even need to sleep?
“Cat, you’re a robot. Can’t you fix ‘im?” Barret asked, breaking the uneasy silence that followed.
“Dinnae ken if it’s that simple,” Cait replied, though he stepped closer to Cloud uncertainly, giving Chadley a once-over. “We hafta find a power source!”
As if on cue, MAI’s voice vibrated from the device on his belt. “Hey! I’m still here!” Tifa reached down, taking the device for him, and held it up to take a look at MAI’s distressed face. “Is Chadley okay?!”
Tifa grimaced. “Um, we’re not really sure, MAI. Can you help him?” She turned the screen to Chadley’s still body, and she was silent for a moment while she scanned him.
“Cait was right. His battery is low, but I thought he had more saved up than this,” she said after a moment, then paused. “Oh. That’s strange.”
A few long seconds of silence passed before Yuffie groaned frustratedly. “What? What’s strange?”
“For just a second I thought…Never mind.” MAI still seemed troubled, but shook it away, her automated voice dripping with worry. “Please help Chadley! Take him to Costa del Sol, there’s a secret lab in one of the rooms at the Royal Coast.”
Cloud made eye contact with Tifa. “Copy.”
Aerith smiled down at MAI, then turned to the rest of the group. “I bet Cid is still docked in town. We should go right away.”
To the tune of Yuffie’s protests, Cloud carefully, gently, placed one hand beneath Chadley’s back and the other beneath his legs, pushing himself up to stand. Barret stepped closer. “You want me to take ‘im?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
For some reason, his heart was sinking. Like this, Chadley looked like any regular boy, too young to have the burden on his shoulders that he had. Cloud couldn’t quite comprehend the emotions bubbling in his chest, but he knew that at some point, he had stopped seeing the cyborg as a nuisance and had started seeing him as endearing.
He thought all this over while they walked, mostly in tense, contemplative silence.
“Hey. You okay?”
Suddenly, Tifa was beside him, looking at him expectantly. He sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Y’know, it wouldn’t kill you to say you care,” she teased lightly, nudging his shoulder.
“You don’t know that.”
He averted his gaze while she giggled quietly behind her hand, stepping forward on light feet to fall into step with Yuffie. Glancing down, Cloud took a look at Chadley’s slack face again, noticing his lips moving slowly despite his eyes still being closed.
“What?”
“Lucky number seven," Chadley mumbled under his breath, so quiet Cloud almost missed it.
Cloud’s brow furrowed. “What’s that mean?”
“Huh? What’s what mean?” Nanaki lifted his head curiously, his ear twitching a bit with the question. Cloud sighed quietly, seeing that Chadley wouldn’t be repeating himself anytime soon.
“Nothing. Let’s keep moving.”
***
The Tiny Bronco ride to Costa del Sol was mostly quiet, save for Cid making conversation over the roar of the ocean and Yuffie trying to hold back her bile, as usual. They lay Chadley’s unmoving form on the back of the craft where Vincent usually sat - and Vincent didn’t seem upset about being evicted upon seeing the reason why. Silently as ever, he walked to stand beside Cid, telling him to shut up.
So as to not attract more unnecessary attention, Tifa, Aerith, and Cait volunteered to go with Cloud while the rest stayed with the ship. Cloud hoisted Chadley up onto his back, the cyborg’s cheek squished against his shoulder. Where he should have felt breath by his neck, Cloud just felt cool metal. Guided by a still-worried MAI, and ignoring the confused looks some passersby shot at them, they stepped into the Royal Coast Inn.
“Ah, hello, how can I…”
“Room 302.”
Cloud stared down the appalled innkeeper, who blinked as his gaze flicked between the group. “Ah, um, right, Master Chadley’s room…” he cleared his throat loudly. “Is he, well, alright?”
“He’s sick,” Cloud deadpanned. What was this guy’s deal? Wasn’t it obvious?
“His medicine should still be in his room,” Aerith piped up, ever the savior. “Can we take him there now?”
The innkeeper blinked again. “Oh. Oh, of course.” Fumbling with the keys on the wall, he grabbed the one tagged ‘302’ and handed it to Aerith. “There you are. Say, I didn’t realize Master Chadley had so many friends. It’s nice to see. He’s usually alone.”
Tifa and Aerith exchanged a look. “Yeah. We want to help him,” the former agreed, and Cloud had already started for the elevator, adjusting his grip on the boy on his back. Cait hopped up to press the button for him.
Once inside, Tifa sighed. “You know, I’ve thought about that before,” she said, still holding the module device. “He must get pretty lonely.”
“I think…that’s why he created me,” MAI murmured suddenly, her voice uncharacteristically soft.
Before anyone could reply, the elevator dinged open, and Cloud huffed, tightening his grip on Chadley, who was blissfully unaware of the conversation. He strode down the hall, waiting for Aerith to unlock the door, and stepped inside.
It looked like a normal inn room, with a neatly made bed, like no one had been here in months.
“Okay, MAI, where to?” Tifa asked, holding up the module device.
“There. Turn that lamp upside down and turn it off and on quickly.”
“Upsy-daisy!” Cait hopped up onto the bedside table, following MAI’s instructions.
As he turned the lamp and flicked it on and off again, a low rumble filled the room. A large flap in the floor opened up beneath the bed, pulling it down, and in its place, a huge screen rose up to greet them, bathing the room in bluish light. Next went the nearby dresser, replaced by a large test tube, and finally, the desk with a TV atop it, replaced by a long steel table, not unlike an operating table at a hospital.
“Whoa,” Tifa breathed, “what is this place?”
“One of Hojo’s old secret labs,” MAI answered as Cloud slowly moved toward the cot, gently laying Chadley down atop it.
He pretended like seeing the thick straps along the sides of the table didn’t send a shiver down his spine as he mumbled, “Slimy bastard.”
Aerith took a step closer, placing a gentle hand on Chadley’s cheek. Her brow was furrowed. “You poor thing.”
For what she was referring to, Cloud didn’t know. Maybe it was the low battery thing, but her words had a certain weight to them that seemed out of place.
“Aha! Is this it, then, lass?” Cait triumphantly held up a huge power cord above his head, plugged into the large screen against the wall.
“Yes, yes! Please, it plugs into the back of his neck,” MAI confirmed, sounding slightly desperate. “I need to know…”
“Know what?” Cloud asked.
MAI blanched as Cait offered the power cord up to Aerith, who took it with a smile.
“N-Nothing!”
“Ah, here we go.” Aerith inserted the cord into the back of Chadley’s neck, and there was a long moment of silence while they waited for something. ”I wonder if cyborgs are able to dream,” she murmured thoughtfully.
“I doubt it,” Cloud said.
“You’re probably right.” She tucked some hair behind her ear, tilting her head slightly. “But, I hope, if they do, they’re pleasant ones.”
A quiet beep punctuated her sentence. Before Chadley even moved, his voice said, “R-R-Rebooting. Unknown error occurred. Rebooting. Rebooting.”
His eyes opened.
Looking slightly perplexed, Chadley pulled himself to sit up, making eye contact with some very relieved faces. “Oh, hello, Cloud. Tifa, Aerith, Cait.”
“Oh, Chadley, I’m so glad you’re alright!” MAI wailed, and Tifa held up the device so they could see each other. A slight smile pulled at his artificial lips.
“It’s nice to see you too, MAI.” He glanced over at Cloud, his brow furrowed slightly. His eyepiece blinked yellow. “Hm. My memory bank is quite fuzzy. What happened?"
“You saved our skins, then ran out of battery,” Cloud answered, crossing his arms. “MAI told us to come here.”
Chadley touched a hand to his eyepiece for a moment, no doubt watching his memory of the fight against the monster. “I was rather certain I had more than just ten percent power when I came out to the beach,” he mused, almost nonplussed. “The last thing I remember was feeling this…pressure in my head, like somebody was squeezing.”
“Is that…normal?” Tifa asked hesitantly.
“Not usually, though as of late, it seems to be happening more often.” Thoughtfully, Chadley swiped a finger through the air, a small blue screen projecting from his eyepiece. “My diagnostics seem to be in order. I suppose I have been working myself quite hard with all the intel you’ve been acquiring.”
Cloud huffed a sigh. “Look, I don’t mind getting info for you, but you gotta take better care of yourself.”
“Right he is, lad! Why, he carried you all the way here himself, wouldn’t let the others even touch ye!” Cait agreed cheerfully, which flushed Cloud’s cheeks again. “You oughta take more care of yer circuitry there!”
“That’s what I’ve been saying for weeks!” MAI groaned frustratedly.
Curiously, Chadley ignored MAI and tilted his head as he looked from Cait to Cloud. A small, slight smile appeared on his lips. “Well, thank you, Cloud.”
Before letting him see his face or reading his thoughts, Cloud strode toward the door, attempting to leave. “Right. Let’s get going.”
“Wait!” Aerith turned to Chadley, looking him up and down. “Do you…want to come with us? I’d hate to leave you here alone after something like this happened.”
Chadley blinked, seemingly quite surprised by the sudden invitation. Perhaps, if he could blush, he would have at that moment. “I…I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I would just slow you all down.”
“That’s not true,” Tifa insisted, stepping up to stand beside Aerith. “Without your help earlier, we would have been in serious trouble.”
“Aye!”
The three of them looked expectantly at Cloud, who sighed quietly. “You don’t have to be alone. If you don’t want to be.”
Chadley stared at Cloud, his eyes wide, shining with admiration. He turned his gaze to the wall, seemingly thinking things over, perhaps weighing the pros and cons in his advanced mind. He smiled, this time rather genuine, just like a real human would. “Okay, then. I shall accompany you.” He hopped off of the table, turning to address the rest of them. “I have to grab a couple of things, first, and I do not want to keep you all waiting. I will meet you at the dock.”
“Yay!” Aerith beamed happily, stepping up to join Cloud at the door. She opened it, stepping out into the hallway, with Tifa and Cait following behind. Cloud couldn’t believe he’d been talked into this, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t still somewhat worried. Something was bothering him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He glanced over his shoulder, noticing a smirk on Chadley’s face that hadn’t been there before just as the door closed. Despite the fear of being made fun of again, he turned to his friends. “I’m gonna stay here. You go ahead.”
“Okay.” Tifa smiled knowingly, taking the other two with her to the elevator. Once the doors had closed, Cloud took a deep breath and crouched down a bit, glancing through the keyhole. Chadley, still connected to the cord, rushed around the room, gathering things into a small bag. He looked normal. Cloud was beginning to think he must be seeing things, as usual.
He straightened up, letting out another sigh. As he was turning to go, the door flung open, and Chadley looked terrified, his hair a wild mess, his eyes darting back and forth. It was incredibly disconcerting.
“Cloud, he…” His voice sounded somewhat distorted as he pressed his hands to his head. “He’s…still here.”
“What?” Cloud muttered, taking a step closer. “Who’s still here? What’re you talking about?”
Suddenly, Chadley let go of his head. He straightened up, his expression normal. He seemed surprised to see him. “Hello, Cloud. What are you still doing here? Did I not say I would meet you at the dock?”
“...Right.” Still trying to calm his racing heart, he tried hard to clear his mind. Cloud glanced down at the bag on his back. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, I am fully charged and ready to assist! I even packed some extra batteries.” With a pep in his step, the cyborg started down the hallway towards the elevator. Cloud followed behind, wishing he still had MAI just to make sure he hadn’t imagined that.
Whatever it was, Cloud couldn’t focus on it. He had to focus on Sephiroth. That was what he continually told himself as they headed down together.
But…what if he was talking about Sephiroth?
“You sure seem deep in thought,” Chadley said cheerfully as they started down the Costa del Sol street. “Don’t worry, I have decided to stop reading your thoughts. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”
“Ah. Thanks.” Cloud huffed.
He was fine.
He had to be.