Chapter Text
"So…"
Wedge sounds hesitant, which is how Cloud can instantly tell that he's going to be the target for the man's next question.
"Cloud," sure enough, Wedge is looking right at him when Cloud peers out of the corner of his eye. "Are you…?"
The man pauses, and Cloud takes the second to turn and face him fully. Jesse is still in the process of arming the bomb. He may as well entertain the guy's curiosity while it's convenient for all of them.
"Am I….?" He asks expectantly, arching an eyebrow.
There's another tremor that shakes the foundation of the tunnel that they're in. Biggs swears under his breath, and Cloud finds himself morbidly impressed by just how destructive Jesse made that bomb.
"Are you like," Wedge continues after the dust settles, "really Prompto's brother?"
His voice is small, but it catches the attention of everyone easily enough. Jessie pauses in her work, Biggs elbows Wedge, and even Barret tilts his head to observe Cloud quietly.
Cloud finds himself a bit taken aback.
Not of the question, or the fact that Wedge feels the need to ask. Prompto has always excelled with relating and talking to other people in a way that Cloud couldn't even begin to emulate. It's no surprise that these people doubt that they're related. Hell, if he and Prompto didn't look so damn similar, then Cloud himself might have doubted their relation at one point in time. So Wedge's question doesn't catch him off guard though.
What does catch him off guard though, is how breathless the words make him feel.
It's one thing to know that these people have met and interacted with his little brother, that Prompto and Tifa's word was a big factor in Barret hiring him. It's a whole different story to have someone acknowledge it though.
Cloud's no fool. He knows that they've been watching him this entire mission, examining him. Feeling him out as a mercenary and as an ex-SOLDIER. He also knows that they've been questioning him as the type of person to be childhood friends with Tifa. It only makes sense that they'd be comparing him to Prompto as well.
There's an odd ache though, when he acknowledges that. The fact that these people know Prompto, know him well enough to have a baseline to compare Cloud to, bothers him in a way that he's not prepared for.
Because that means that they've been around Prompto. They've seen him, spoken to him, probably laughed at his dorky jokes and smiled at his almost aggressively friendly nature. They've seen him smile, heard his voice, heard his laugh.
It hurts, to acknowledge that they've had that, when all Cloud has had is memories and a solemn worry that's become so common that it's basically integrated itself into his very being.
You'll see him soon , Cloud reminds himself. The whole reason you even took this job was because you knew that you'd be able to see him again .
"Yeah," is all Cloud says, registering the tension in the air rising the longer he stays silent. "Shocks everyone," he shrugs, "I know. But we're really brothers."
He keeps his face studiously blank, his tone uninterested. These AVALANCHE guys are buffoons, sure. But they're still a decently effective group of eco-terrorists. Cloud doesn't think that any of them are malignant at heart, but there's still no way that he's going to clue them in to the fact that even the mere mention of Prompto gets to him.
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised," Biggs breaks the silence as Jessie goes back to fiddling with her bomb, "if you had freckles, I'd go as far as to say that you guys are twins."
“We get that a lot,” is all Cloud says in response. “Your bomb ready?” he asks immediately after, eager to end this conversation as soon as possible. Thinking about Prompto and not being able to see him makes Cloud feel things that he would rather not deal with at the moment.
“Just about,” Jessie murmurs. Another minute passes before she makes a triumphant noise and stands. “Ok, stand back!”
This bomb actually works a bit like how Cloud expected the one they set in the Reactor to work. The explosion is powerful, but controlled. Nothing at all like the cataclysm that they’d set off not ten minutes ago.
The difference is made even more apparent when the group separates and Cloud sees the full scale of destruction that the bombing has caused.
The damage is unprecedented, Cloud figures. The entire sector has been thrown into a frenzy, and the infrastructure has suffered from disastrous failures that have the public in both panic and despair. He somehow doubts that Jessie has it in her to purposefully cause such destruction, no matter how much she hates Shinra. He could potentially see Barret seeing such massive collateral damage as worth it, but his band of followers are all too soft for it, Cloud thinks.
The ex-SOLDIER questions exactly what he’s gotten himself into as he tries to navigate the debris and burning buildings. There’s an uncomfortable feeling in his throat as he hears the loud cries of children and the soft weeps of the elderly as he follows a path to the station.
“Prompto,” Clouds finds himself saying quietly, walking past a distraught family composed of two crying kids and a frazzled mother. “You’re going to see Prompto.”
It does nothing to abate the discomfort Cloud feels, but it is enough to keep his feet moving and his arms steady as he cuts a path through some stubborn Shinra troopers to move forward.
(His own mind attacking him in the form of Sephiroth shakes that foundation a bit, but then he meets the flower girl and then sees the hooded wraiths and then there’s more troopers and then there’s nothing more for Cloud to do than to keep going.)
(He keeps the flower from the flower girl and does his best to keep intact because the color reminds him of the darker tones in Prompto’s hair. Though it’s been years since he’s seen Prompto, Cloud can remember seeing him off on his next assignment more clearly than almost anything else he remembers after.)
(At one point it was him in one of those trooper uniforms, so Cloud does his best to take them out non-lethally, but it doesn’t always work out.)
(At one point it was also Prompto.
It’s easier to think of creative ways to knock them out after Cloud reminds himself of that.)
…
The next inquisition comes from Jessie, unsurprisingly.
The woman’s been the least shy about making attempts to try and get to know Cloud better. And despite the fact that he has no intention of trying to get to know these people better, he’s not blind to the fact that she seems to be the most tolerable one of the bunch. Cloud could see himself being friends with someone like her, maybe. But the ex-SOLDIER knows that at least some part of her friendly nature has to be feigned. He doesn’t doubt her sincerity when she says that she just wants to get to know him better, but Cloud is almost positive that there’s something else there beneath all of it. And he’s not interested in trying to find out what it is.
“Anyways,” so when the woman begins speaking in a tone that’s far too casual, just after she’s shown him the virtual map on the train, Cloud immediately becomes wary.
“Are you and Prompto close?” she asks. It’s different from the way that she had asked about Tifa earlier. When asking about Tifa, Jessie seemed to kind of hold her breath in anticipation for the answer. Now, she’s looking at him patiently even though her eyes are curious.
“Why?” he asks bluntly, aware of the fact that Barret is once again shamelessly listening in.
“Just curious,” Jessie shrugs, “you have to admit that it’s interesting. Prompto just started helping us out not a couple months ago. Never talked about his brother, even though Tifa told us he had one. And now you’ve coincidentally reconnected with Tifa not that long ago so you’re here now too.”
Cloud doesn’t answer.
“Add that to the fact that you’re both former Shinra,” Jessie continues, “and not just any former Shinra. An ex-Turk and an ex-SOLDIER. You guys apparently haven’t seen each other in years.”
“Five,” the words come out without his permission, “it’s been five years.”
“You see !” Jessie gestures to him with her eyes wide, “this is all like the plot of some stage play! Brothers reunited after five years of having no contact with one another! It’s all so surreal.
Cloud doesn’t disagree. Still, he asks, “So what’s your point?”
“I know that there has to be some complicated circumstances here, considering you both only came back to Midgar within the past few months,” the woman explains, “but are you guys close? Like, is this type of distance normal? Were you looking for him?”
He was, in fact.
Cloud had arrived in Midgar, not entirely remembering the trip there but knowing that he had to cut his way through Shinra to get there. He wasn’t even sure why he’d bothered coming back, but he knew that the Slums were a good place to both disappear for some time and make some money. Last he’d heard, his little brother was still on assignment in Wutai. His plan had been to build up some savings as well as to quietly monitor Shinra’s activities (and maybe try to slip in and gather more information on his brother’s post), and then he was going to go for his brother because Shinra couldn’t be trusted and Nibelheim was gone and he just needed to find Prompto and keep him safe.
The shock he’d felt when he’d been found by Tifa at the Sector 7 station and she’d told him that Prompto was here had been immeasurable. As was the hope and relief that followed (after he'd had an admittedly embarrassing freak out right there and then). Apparently something had happened to his brother as well that made him awaken to the true nature of Shinra. Something bad enough that Prompto had deserted the Turks and made his way back to Midgar, likely in search of Cloud. According to Tifa, Prompto hadn’t been clear on what made him leave, but he’d proven himself by providing AVALANCHE with vital support for a few of their missions. The promise from Tifa to tell Prompto that Cloud was here was essentially what made Cloud agree to take this job.
But Jessie doesn’t need to know this.
“Used to be close,” Cloud says with a shrug of his own, “lost contact, but it’s not uncommon for us to not see each other. Different departments and all.”
There’s a moment where the only sound is of the train moving along the tracks and the scattered conversation about the cabin.
“That’s it?” Jessie questions, “that’s...all you have to say?”
“Answered your questions, didn’t I?” Cloud shrugs carelessly, “What more is there to say?”
“You’re really this nonchalant about your kid brother that you haven’t seen in five years?” the woman asks dubiously, “Your kid brother who was a Turk?”
No, I’m not . Cloud thinks. But you don’t need to know that .
“No other way to be,” is what he says, “gonna see him again soon anyway.”
“ Seriously ?”
“Seriously.” Cloud says firmly, and turns away from the conversation.
Jessie is gaping at him and Barret’s muttering very unflattering things underneath his breath, but Cloud ignores them as he goes to stand against the wall at the other end of the cabin.
Their opinion of him doesn’t matter, but he’ll be damned if he gives them the impression that Prompto is a weak spot of his. There’s no way in hell that he’ll give them fuel to potentially use his brother as leverage before he confirms that Prompto is safe with his own eyes.
No one is going to jeopardize that, Cloud decides.
No one.
…
In an unexpected turn of events, it’s actually Barret who brings it up next.. Even more unexpectedly, he’s the one who actually makes Cloud feel a bit better about it.
“Yo, spiky.”
Cloud sighs around the rim of his glass. The drink that Tifa prepared before flitting off to do other things is definitely not strong enough for this. Nevertheless, he turns his head to look at the larger man.
Barret is examining him leisurely, and Cloud realizes that there was tension that Barret must have been holding in his shoulders all night that’s gone now, as the man looks infinitely more relaxed.
“He’s good,” is what the man leads with. Cloud arches an eyebrow. There’s no way that Barret is not talking about Prompto. But just because that much is clear, doesn’t mean that Barret’s motivations are.
So all he gives in response is a quiet, “Oh?”
“Your kid brother,” Barret goes on, as though the only thing he needed was for Cloud to acknowledge that he was listening. “He’s good, smart. Couldn’t have pulled tonight off without him.”
Don’t know how proud that will make him feel , Cloud thinks. Prompto has never been violent, nor destructive, nor vindictive. One of the things that sticks out most in Cloud’s head about his younger brother is his gentleness, something that Cloud had been worried that the Turks would take advantage of.
There’s no way that Prompto would have wanted things to play out like they did tonight. That level of collateral damage would have been unacceptable to his little brother, Cloud is absolutely sure of it.
(He studiously ignores the ache in his chest and the voice in the back of his head telling him that it’s been five years, so really, who is he to speak on what Prompto is capable of?)
Following that line of thought, there’s no doubt in his mind that either something else was at play in that Reactor, or that Jessie definitely constructed that bomb incorrectly. Because she’d claimed that Prompto had been the one to teach her how to construct a bomb powerful enough to disrupt the functions of the Reactor, but controlled enough to not cause any damage to the surrounding sector.
He’d been kind when he said that there was some weight to Jessie’s thought about a mako reaction being the cause of the excessive damage, but Cloud knows better. Because if Prompto is really the one who came up with the design, then he’d have definitely accounted for a potential mako reaction. Because Cloud’s younger brother is smart, like Barret said. One of the most technically inclined and analytical minds that Cloud’s ever seen. And he knows that time with the Turks would have fostered that, given Prompto’s mind the opportunity to thrive.
So, either Jessie screwed up when making the bomb, or something else happened back there. Because the brother that Cloud remembers would never readily make something that would result in that type of havoc.
“You going somewhere with this?” Cloud asks, sipping at his drink.
“Nah, not really.” Barret admits, and Cloud suddenly wishes that the man didn’t obnoxiously wear his sunglasses constantly so that he had an idea of what was in his eyes. “Just thought I’d say that Prompto’s a good kid.”
Cloud has nothing to say to that.
“He’s a good kid,” Barret repeats, turning around and walking away lazily. “Full of energy, positive,” the man pauses at the doors to the bar, “ Healthy .”
The word is said with a significance that isn’t lost on Cloud, and the ex-SOLDIER finds himself staring at Barret’s back.
“Figured it might do you some good to hear that,” the older man states, “talk to Tifa about your pay.”
And with that, he’s gone.
Tifa had said as much, and Cloud still isn’t going to quite believe until he can see for himself.
But hearing another person say it?
Well, it may just make the ache in his chest ease up just a little bit.
…
When Tifa leads him to the room her landlord is putting him up in, she breaks the cautious pattern she’s kept up with so far regarding the topic.
One of the first things that Tifa had said after the initial barrage of questions about his time and wellbeing was a simple “Prompto’s back in Midgar too.”
It had resulted in one of the most severe and debilitating migraines that Cloud’s had yet. The blond isn’t sure what he’d been thinking before then, just the mention of his younger brother’s name had unearthed a swarm of memories and feelings and Promptopromptopromptoprompto -
Cloud’s embarrassed to admit that he lost his shit, panicking and hyperventilating until an ache set in his chest as Tifa managed to calm him down.
Since then, Tifa had been careful to only offer small snippets of information about his brother at a time. Things like what Prompto was doing (she didn’t know what he did when he wasn’t helping AVALANCHE, but she suspected that he spent most of his time in the Sector 3 and Sector 4 slums), how she’d come across him (he’d stopped by the bar to ask after a man named Johnny for whatever reason and while he didn’t immediately recognize her, Tifa had instantly recognized him), what his plans were (she couldn’t say for sure, but she imagined that he was looking for Cloud actually and helping AVALANCHE stir up trouble worked in his favor for whatever reason), how he was doing (she’d said that he came across as cheerful and sweet, but that there was obviously something weighing heavy on his mind, but she couldn’t be sure of what it was because Prompto adamantly refused to talk about why he left the Turks and seemed to retreat into himself when asked to talk about Cloud as well). These were all things she’d shared when Cloud himself had asked.
So it’s a little surprising when Tifa says, “Prompto should be coming by tomorrow,” without any prompting from Cloud.
“Yeah?” he stops examining the room he’s been given, turning to face his friend fully.
“Yeah,” she confirms with a smile, “tomorrow evening.”
“I see,” there’s not much that Cloud can say to that. It almost doesn’t feel real, that he’s going to see his brother again. The idea is so novel that Cloud is having trouble processing it.
Tifa knows him though, and knows him well enough to be able to see that Cloud’s overwhelmed.
“It’ll be ok,” she soothes, “I know you’re anxious to see him. And even though he said in his letter that he’s coming around to check in with Barret and the others about how the mission went, we all know that he’s coming to see you.”
“Hmm,” is all Cloud gives in return.
Cloud had reunited with Tifa during one of the lulls in contact that AVALANCHE had with Prompto. Apparently, Prompto only contacted them once every two weeks if he wasn’t readily around and available in the area. Their meeting again at the station had occurred just after one of those exchanges, so Tifa wasn’t actually able to tell Prompto about Cloud being around until a few days ago. From what she’d heard, Prompto was above plate at the moment and slowly making his way down and around back to Sector 7 because he knew that Barret was planning another bombing just two days after the first one. If what Tifa’s saying now checks out though, Prompto will be arriving a day early.
“He should come around the time the bar is supposed to open,” Tifa goes on, “it’ll leave us most of the day to go around getting you set up as a merc.”
“Right,” Cloud acknowledges. He’d almost forgotten that this was the entire point. The plan was to help AVALANCHE out on this one job (and maybe some more if the pay was right) and then establish himself as a hand-for-hire in the slums.
“You know,” Tifa says softly, “I’m really happy for you. Both of you.”
Cloud doesn’t know what to say to that, so he merely nods.
“You two were always so close back in Nibelheim,” Tifa muses thoughtfully, “it didn’t surprise me at all when Prompto left after you.”
“Surprised me though,” Cloud says wryly, “it shouldn’t have, in hindsight. Thought I was going to keel over from shock when he popped up in the infantry out of nowhere one day.”
“That’s the Strife brothers for you,” his friend gives a small grin, “always setting out and accomplishing what they want to by sheer force of will.”
Something about the words makes Cloud’s head buzz and ache a bit, so he’s admittedly relieved when Tifa wraps up the pleasantries and takes her leave for the night. The exhaustion of the day slams into him like a freight train the moment he lays down, and Cloud’s out in no time, anxiously awaiting the next day.
Tomorrow .
You’ll see him tomorrow .
…
In an odd turn of events, it’s actually Biggs that manages to get something out of Cloud the next day.
People in the slums have such mundane and petty problems, Cloud realizes quickly. Well, when those problems aren’t monsters at least. But between chasing down cats and glorified fetch quests, and with only minimally challenging monsters to take down when he’s not doing that, Cloud finds himself buzzing with a mix of anticipation and irritation by noon.
Biggs is looking at the new sword that Cloud had purchased from the weapon shop, seemingly engrossed when he breaks the silence randomly.
“Does your brother eat cake?”
All Cloud can think to do is stare.
“...What?” he asks when Biggs doesn’t elaborate. Tifa and Wedge are conversing with one of the locals at the edge of the roof, so there’s no way that Biggs is talking to anyone other than Cloud.
“Does Prompto eat cake?” Biggs repeats the question, voice as calm and words as clear as the first time and still Cloud doesn’t get it.
“Where did that come from?”
"Your bro came around the bar on 25th of October," the other man replies, still not looking up.
"He turned nineteen," Cloud murmurs without thinking.
" Nineteen ?" Biggs does look up at that, eyes wide. "Holy shit," he breathes, "we knew the kid was young and all but we figured he'd have at least broke twenty!"
"You were explaining something," Cloud says impatiently.
"Oh yeah," Biggs nods, "so Tifa doesn't really tell us all that much about Prompto, but she let it slip that it was his birthday because she was making him a special drink or whatever."
"Ok?" Cloud's still not sure where this is going.
"So we went and got the kid a cake," Biggs says with a grin, "because everyone should at least be able to eat cake on their birthday."
Cloud feels his own lips tug up slightly at the corners. Because even though it's not fun to acknowledge the fact that he's missed five of his brother's birthdays, he now knows where this is going and it's always been one of Prompto's more amusing habits.
"And I swear that he was so happy!" Biggs insists, gesturing with his hands. "His eyes lit up and everything. Maybe it's some super secret Turk training but I just know that he was excited that we got him a cake."
"But he didn't eat it," Cloud guesses.
"Didn't even try the icing!" Biggs confirms, "We spent so much time talking about what Wutai's mountains are like, none of us even noticed that he didn't eat any cake until after he'd already left!"
"And then he conveniently forgot it," Cloud says wryly, “and insisted that you all eat it so it didn’t go to waste when you told him."
"Exactly that!" Biggs points, "Is it just because he just doesn't like cake? Should we have gotten him a cupcake or cookies or something?"
"Prompto doesn't like sweets," Cloud finds himself saying naturally, "unless it's chocolate."
The old explanation comes easily to him. His brother's never been a picky eater about anything else, but Prompto does not like sweet or sugary things. Hasn't ever since he was a toddler and could put words to his displeasure. The only exception to that rule is chocolate.
"Chocolate?" Biggs repeats, "so he'd eat a chocolate cake?"
"Or a red velvet cake," Cloud shrugs, "or brownies, fudge, double chocolate chip cookies."
"And he doesn't like any other type of sweet treat?" Biggs arches an eyebrow, "Not one?"
"Nope," the ex-SOLDIER responds blankly, "but he probably didn't wanna seem ungrateful or something like that, so he just didn't say anything."
"Hm," Biggs nods as though he gets it, "I didn't know that Turks took people that nice."
Cloud doesn't answer, but he remembers being confused about the Turks interest in his brother himself. Not that he'd doubted Prompto's capabilities, but the type of person the Turks normally went for most certainly wasn't exactly Prompto Strife at thirteen years old.
"Anyways," Biggs finally looks back down at the sword, "thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
Even though he's violated his own silent agreement with himself to not give out any information about Prompto or their relationship before he's seen his brother again, Cloud is oddly ok with it.
"Ready to head out again?" Tifa asks, and Cloud turns to see her making her way back in from the roof with Wedge. Biggs stands and hands off Cloud's sword without much ceremony, and begins to speak to Wedge.
Cloud spares Biggs another glance, but the man doesn't seem to notice. He's immediately engrossed in conversation with his friend, and the conversation about Prompto seems to be far from his mind suddenly.
"Yeah," the ex-SOLDIER answers, looking back to meet Tifa's curious eyes.
"Let's go," is all he says. Thankfully, Tifa sees no need to question him, and merely nods before making her way out of the room.
As Cloud follows her, he realizes that the ache in his chest isn't quite as sharp anymore.
The ex-SOLDIER definitely won’t be making friends here any time soon, but it’s possible that maybe these people aren’t so bad after all.
...