"It's not." He agrees. There's nothing more to say and he's not going to try for false comfort. A great deal of life isn't fair but that doesn't mean it hurts any less. Sephiroth's brought up Angeal - a lot. For Sephiroth at least. There was a connection there. Something precious lost when the other SOLDIER died. Zack wasn't the only one hurt when it happened apparently.
It also doesn't take a mind reader to know who he is.
"Hojo." It's in the flat way Cloud says the name. The madman's dead but all the damage he's done still lives on in fits and spurts. His influence is fading - but it's slow. Vincent. Nanaki.
Him.
He pretends he doesn't worry about what extras Hojo might have done to him. He doesn't know if the madman did or not and it's a constant thread in the back of his mind. Watching for it. One day. Maybe. Who knows?
"He's a monster and he doesn't need anything injected into him to make him that way. Killing him several times was too easy for him."
And yet - without him Cloud wouldn't be who he is. He wouldn't be as broken - but he wouldn't have the mako he needs to protect his people. He'd meant it when he'd told Tseng he'd go through those years of torture all over again if it meant he would get the mako and cells he needs to do what he does. "Hojo's good at making monsters. You're not the only one he's tried it with." Come to think of it, in Sephiroth's time, Vincent is still asleep in his coffin. There's a brief moment of wondering if he should tell Sephiroth but he's already probably telling the other man more than he should. "That's why you can't let him. He wins if you turn. He'll try to break you. Not in your body. In your head."
The bike slows. Comes to a stop, its engine a low rumble. Cloud drops a leg to keep it steady and looks back at the child that's not really a child over his shoulder, his own mako eyes speaking for themselves. His voice is soft.
no subject
It also doesn't take a mind reader to know who he is.
"Hojo." It's in the flat way Cloud says the name. The madman's dead but all the damage he's done still lives on in fits and spurts. His influence is fading - but it's slow. Vincent. Nanaki.
Him.
He pretends he doesn't worry about what extras Hojo might have done to him. He doesn't know if the madman did or not and it's a constant thread in the back of his mind. Watching for it. One day. Maybe. Who knows?
"He's a monster and he doesn't need anything injected into him to make him that way. Killing him several times was too easy for him."
And yet - without him Cloud wouldn't be who he is. He wouldn't be as broken - but he wouldn't have the mako he needs to protect his people. He'd meant it when he'd told Tseng he'd go through those years of torture all over again if it meant he would get the mako and cells he needs to do what he does. "Hojo's good at making monsters. You're not the only one he's tried it with." Come to think of it, in Sephiroth's time, Vincent is still asleep in his coffin. There's a brief moment of wondering if he should tell Sephiroth but he's already probably telling the other man more than he should. "That's why you can't let him. He wins if you turn. He'll try to break you. Not in your body. In your head."
The bike slows. Comes to a stop, its engine a low rumble. Cloud drops a leg to keep it steady and looks back at the child that's not really a child over his shoulder, his own mako eyes speaking for themselves. His voice is soft.
"Is Zack too dangerous?"