Chapter Text
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For as disjointed as the people of the world had become after the the falls of both Meteor and ShinRa itself, the news of a cure for Geostigma spread like a wildfire. Travelers made pilgrimages to reach the old Church and the pool of purifying water that lay within from all corners; people from as nearby as Kalm and as far away as Wutai trickled in through its open doors for months. Most who appeared were unafflicted - there to collect doses of the water for sick friends or family who were too weak to make the journey themselves.
After around a year, the church became quiet once again. Hundreds of people still came to leave gifts of thanks at its doors, but they never stayed for long. Geostima sufferers were few and far in between.
After two years, it had been a straight ten months since Cloud had seen the black stain of Geostigma with his own eyes, and the last one he'd seen had been on the brink of death. On principal, he kept three small vials of the church's water safe in his pocket just in case he ran into someone that needed it. He hadn't really expected to use one, though - by now people that needed the cure had gotten it, or they had died off. It was a depressing ultimatum, but one that was unfortunately true. Geostigma was painfully taxing on the body, eating away at all it's defenses slowly until it completely consumed it's victim. Hell, Cloud knew the pain firsthand. The idea that someone could still be alive after two whole years while suffering under Geostigma's curse was nigh unbelievable.
At least that's what Cloud had thought.
Apparently, he'd been wrong.
Rushing forward with one hand already reaching wildly into the padded pouch inside his vest, Cloud dropped to his knees next to the man convulsing on the ground. He nearly pulled away in horrified surprise when he caught sight of the man's skin - every inch of it he could see was mottled purple and black.
"Shit," He hissed under his breath. He didn't have enough water for this. The vials he had would probably only cover around half of the man's skin, and that would be spreading it very thin. Gritting his teeth, Cloud shook his head. He'd do everything he could.
When he'd (grudgingly) accepted the delivery job to pick up 'something of a sensitive matter' from the old Nibelheim mansion for the Turks to get them to shut up and leave him alone, this was the last thing he'd been expecting. Suspicious weaponry, definitely. Questionable information, almost certainly. But a squatter? One afflicted with Geostigma, on top of that? And Cloud had no doubts that this man was the thing the Turks had sent him to 'collect.' He'd caught sight of the old First Class uniform under the man's ridiculous coat, and that was enough to make the hairs on anyone's neck stand on edge. It was no wonder they'd been bothering him about this for weeks - they must have been practically dreading confronting an Ex-SOLDIER First by themselves, even a sick one. It was possible that the man was just wearing clothes he'd found in the mansion - as Cloud himself once had - but something in his gut told him that this man wasn't to be underestimated.
Pulling the first vial out from his vest and popping the cork off, he gingerly gripped the man's arm. The muscles were taut with stress under his fingers, and Cloud could feel them seize as the man groaned. "If you can hear me, I have a cure, alright? I have to pour it onto your skin, and with how far your Geostigma's gotten it's gonna hurt more before it feels better, so hang on and try not to bite through your tongue."
The only response Cloud got was a croaked mumble. Good enough, he figured, and splashed the contents of the vial straight onto the man's face. For a few awful moments, nothing seemed to happen.
Then, like a switch had been hit, the man suddenly choked out a rasping cough that slowly increased in volume until he was all but howling. The blackened skin that the water had touched began to glow with the soft green of the lifestream and disintegrate. Cloud watched it crawl slowly from the man's face, and almost jumped when fingers snapped around his wrist with enough force to snap it if Cloud had been unenhanced. Forcing himself to relax, Cloud waited in silence for the blessed water to do it's job.
After what felt like hours, the man finally began to quiet. His grip on Cloud's wrist eased sightly, his breaths coming in deeper. The black stain had receded from about half of the man's face, and Cloud guessed that the skin hidden by the man's coat was similarly affected.
Leaning in slightly, Cloud bit his lip. "Are you alright to move? There's a bed right in the other room, and it might be nicer there than on the floor here in the hallway."
The man opened one eye for the first time, and the telltale glowing blue iris of a SOLDIER met his own. It regarded him cooly with a wary air of mistrust, and Cloud sighed. "Look, it hurt, I know it hurt. But-" He cut himself off and slipped his arm from the man's grasp. "Hold on, I'll be right back. I can show you." Cloud nodded to the man on the ground, and without waiting for an answer he got up and ran down the hall into the bedrooms. Pointedly ignoring the open passage to Hojo's old lab, he beelined for the bathroom and grabbed the mirror off the wall.
The man was still where Cloud had left him, though he had maneuvered himself into a sitting position. His long hair was matted and dirty; it hung over his shoulders and face in disarray like a tattered shawl. Cloud could see the same single blue eye fixed on him through the man's fringe.
"Here." Cloud held out his hand with the mirror, and angled it so that the man could see his face. For a split second, the man's features twisted in surprise that was quickly masked again. One of his gloved hands came up to lightly brush the cheek that had been cleared by the water. He mouthed something that Cloud couldn't make out.
"Can you speak?" Cloud asked as he handed the mirror over. The man held it up to eye level, inspecting the side of his face that was still dark with the sickness.
The man glared at him from the corner of his open eye, and he set the mirror down against the wall behind him. He opened his mouth and let out a harsh slew of coughing. Cloud winced in sympathy. "I'm sick-" the man ground out. "- Not an imbecile."
Cloud sighed. One sentence, and he could already feel a headache coming on. He was going to kill the Turks. "I wasn't saying that you were. I just didn't know whether or not you'd still be able to talk after all that screaming."
The man raised one shaky hand to make a wide sweeping gesture. "Well, obviously, I am." He said. "And, I was not screaming." He counteracted his own point by leaning more against the wall behind his back and struggling over a coughing fit that Cloud could hazard a wild guess was a result of the screaming.
"Whatever you say." Cloud muttered, and shook his head. "How do you feel?"
"As if I was just run down by a Behemoth." The man sniffed haughtily. "And you said it would hurt, earlier. That did not hurt. That was agony."
Cloud winced. "Sorry about that. There's not much else I could do. With your Geostigma as far as it's gotten, it'll be miserable to tear out."
"Geostigma? Is that what you call it?" The man asked, drawing out the name of the disease as if testing it on his tongue. "The planet's scar - an interesting name."
"You didn't know what it was called?" Cloud blinked. That was new.
The man scoffed and looked away.
It was odd, but not surprising, really. The man must have been avoiding towns and cities with the way he had settled in the old mansion, and Cloud could think of a thousand and one valid reasons for someone with mako eyes that still wore the First Class uniform to be doing that.
"Can it be cured? Completely?" The man asked with the air of someone that was trying to act like the answer to their question was inconsequential.
Cloud nodded, and the man sagged with a sigh. "I can't do it here, though." He motioned to the empty vial that lay on the ground beside them. "I have two more of those on me, but that probably won't be enough to completely cure you, and if it's not totally gone it'll keep coming back."
The man sat up ramrod straight. "Give me the other two, then. Now."
Cloud stared. Is this guy for real? He thought incredulously. "No, no way. You need some time to rest before you do that again. Twice."
"I don't need resting time." The man snapped, but there was an unmistakable quiver of relief in his words.
Resisting the urge to massage his temples in frustration, Cloud grabbed the empty water vial and tucked it away back into his vest. "Alright, so you don't need it. Take it anyways."
Again, the man regarded him with a cool look of calculation. Coming to some sort of decision, he turned away and closed his eye. "Fine."
A few moments passed.
"...Do you want to go rest in one of the beds?" Cloud asked.
The man moved to get up, but sunk back to the floor within seconds. He stared at his legs with a frown. "... No. Here is fine." He said decisively.
"... Do you want help moving to the bed?"
"No."
Cloud waited. "Oh, for-" He ground out, and leaned forward and slipped his arm under the man's shoulders and heaved him to his feet. "Come on, we're putting you in the goddamn bed."
The man made an awkward squawking noise, but didn't resist as Cloud used himself as a crutch to help him stumble into the mansion's master bedroom and let him drop onto the king-sized bed.
"Rest for as long as you want to. I won't go anywhere. When you're feeling better, I'll take you back to Midgar."
The single blue eye peered at him again. "... Midgar? Midgar is in ruins."
Cloud nodded. "It is, but there's an old church there. The water from there cures Geostigma."
The man made a curious humming noise. "Odd, indeed." He was quiet for so long after that Cloud almost left the room. He was about to turn around when the man's scratchy voice spoke up again. "And why would you go through the trouble to aid me to Midgar? You could just leave now. An old sentiment towards a commander, perhaps?"
"... What?" Cloud grunted in confusion.
"You were in SOLDIER, were you not? Your eyes are unmistakable - do not think that they escaped my notice."
Logically, Cloud supposed, it made sense. He shook his head. "No, I was never in SOLDIER. I'm just helping you because you need it, and I'm the only one here." He had no intention of telling the ex-SOLDIER that the Turks had sent him. To be honest, he really had no intention of even reporting that he'd found the man to the Turks themselves. If they want dirty work done, they can do it themselves, Cloud mused. They probably already knew, anyways.
The man's face twisted in anger. "I do not appreciate lies - especially stupid ones. Your eyes tell truths louder than your voice can attempt to cover them."
Cloud sighed and shrugged. "Whatever you want to believe. I'll be in the room next to you. Shout if you need anything." He turned to leave, but stopped before he crossed the door. "I'm Cloud. Cloud Strife."
When no response came from the bed, Cloud shrugged again and moved forward. He only got a few steps before the man called out one last time.
"Genesis Rhapsodos."
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