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It was more than a year before Angeal ever saw Cloud unleashing that terrible power within himself and using the summon again. Once again the raven suspected that it was something that he was never meant to see, but see it he did and the feeling that came over him could only be described as one of heady arousal with a healthy dose of respect and some fear mixed in. After all, who wouldn’t be afraid of someone radiating power in waves that were physical enough to sway the grass and tug at the blond’s clothes despite him being absolutely motionless otherwise?
Anyone without fear of that deserved the brutal death that Cloud would no doubt bring upon them.
It happened in the middle of the forest, a tiny secluded little settlement and the kidnapping of the president’s son.
For a place that otherwise looked like some upper-plate school retreat, the cluster of cabins and firepit was absolutely crawling with armed guards. There had to be literally dozens of them inside the cabins, hiding in trees or patrolling in full view.
With so many opponents there, the Turks had begrudgingly requested the use of brute force to make an example of those who dared to kidnap Rufus who was but a teen himself, younger even than Cloud’s own two charges. After liaising with the director of SOLDIER, the Turks had been informed that the commander would have it dealt with in the manner requested.
Angeal with his bulk and easier time with less delicate tasks had been sent off into the forest to create a suitable distraction, drawing away some of the units from the settlement. Sephiroth was sent in to retrieve the president’s son in the commotion and Cloud? Once Sephiroth and his target were clear, Cloud was to lay waste to the site and the people within it. Leave but one alive to report the tale to any who would listen.
For a mission with so many variables and no way to get a truly accurate count of the number of people involved, it was undoubtedly going to go wrong somewhere.
Not enough people went to investigate the ruckus that Angeal was making, despite the raven doing a good job of it with his growing prowess with materia. The ground shook beneath their feet as he unleashed quake after tornado, imitating the army coming to rescue the president’s son with the brute force and absolute lack of subtlety that the army was famed for, throwing numbers at a task rather than skill.
Too many people still guarding the target meant that Sephiroth couldn’t release him with enough speed and stealth to get them clear before people started opening fire on them, attempting to kill both the silveret and his charge before they could escape.
Cloud had to step in early, casting barriers and protection spells and offensive magic to cover their retreat until he started taking heat too and expending more magic to protect himself. Always asking more of himself than he’d ever ask of his charges even in light of the seemingly relentless and difficult training regimes he put them through.
Angeal only knew how badly things had gone when Sephiroth reached him once the sounds of combat in the settlement overrode the commotion that Angeal was making and those who had come to investigate were racing back to the camp.
Sephiroth briefly explained what had happened before he’d escorted Rufus to his extraction point and suggested that they wait with the chocobo and look for any fleeing offenders from the settlement but Angeal was loathe to leave the blond alone in the chaos when he might be able to help. Despite having seen what the blond was capable of, the raven wanted to support the commander as they’d been sent there to do.
What he saw on reaching the camp though, both chilled his blood and yet thrilled him at the same time.
The Golden Scourge had already laid the settlement to ruin. The charred timbers that remained of the wooden cabins were still smoking faintly, the ground torn and rent and bodies clearly laying where they’d been tossed as even the earth itself turned against them. Similarly to what he’d seen from the clifftop before other bodies were petrified and broken, some were charred and more unburned but steaming lightly where they lay and the raven knew them to have been struck by that devastating lightning. Blood was splashed everywhere.
What held the raven’s attention though was his commander, stood there as though surveying the wreckage. His swords glowed, his body glowed and the power flowing off of him made everything around him sway gently, almost peacefully and in stark contrast to the jagged ruin he’d left in his wake.
Obviously hearing Angeal approach, the blond turned his head to look over his shoulder and Angeal’s mako-ringed blue eyes met unearthly and slightly glowing golden. For a moment that seemed to stretch forever, they stood like that in absolute silence just looking at each other.
Contrary to his motionless body though, Angeal’s thoughts were racing.
I shouldn’t want you as much as I do right now but I can’t help myself. So much power, packed into such a deceptively delicate form. Who in Gaia’s good earth are you?
The moment was broken though, by Cloud releasing that immense power. The glow faded from his eyes and from his body, the gentle, power-wrought wind faded away and it was just Cloud standing there once more, his commander and his mentor who looked away from him at last and gestured at the carnage before them both.
“Help me bury them,” he ordered quietly.
When they both returned to the chocobos some time later, Sephiroth was waiting for them and without preamble and with no hint to what destruction he'd brought upon the settlement, Cloud gestured at the chocobos. “Mount up. It’s time to go home.”
For the entirety of the journey back to Midgar, Angeal was utterly silent, lost in thought and though Sephiroth’s curiosity over what had happened urged him to ask about what had clearly passed between the two of them, he wisely held his tongue. At least for the time being.