This is a one-shot gift for robette. She graced me with one of the sweetest reviews i've ever read and for that, i'm very grateful. As per her request, this is a SephxZack and seeing as i was allowed to choose the theme i decided upon BETRAYAL. Also note that this is in the Last Order canon (at least close to it). Please enjoy!
Betrayal - As a form of deception or dismissal of prior presumptions, is the breaking or violation of a presumptive social contract (trust, or confidence) that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship; treachery.
Zack's heavy panting was drowned under the rumble of heavy machinery and heated voices. His glowing eyes struggled to stay focused as he eyed the two figures standing tensely near the exit of the reactor core. The silver-haired man's hand clenched tighter around his blade in annoyance as the comparatively skinnier trooper refused to let him pass, and his unnatural vermillion eyes narrowed in a death glare. Only a person brought to insanity through his grief could face a look like that so readily, and that's exactly why Cloud didn't back down.
Each labored breath forced more of his warm blood out through the wound in his chest. However, the vague aching sensation from his chest wound was laughable in comparison to the agony in his heart. His pale hand, stained with scarlet blood, reached out towards Sephiroth. Maybe he was trying to call his lover back to him, maybe he was trying to stop Cloud, maybe…
- - - - -
"Seph, are you okay?" Zack asked concernedly. "You… well, you don't look so good."
The General sat on his chair staring blankly at the corner of the room. His glowing eyes focused unblinkingly, illuminating the darkening circles under his eyes. Those thin lips moved senselessly, as if the General was speaking in a language that Zack couldn't understand.
The dark-haired man cracked his knuckles nervously. He knew that something was wrong with this place, and it was starting to get under his skin. The bad aura that emanated from this little village was stifling him, though it appeared to be doing far worse to Sephiroth.
"I know you're feeling it too, Seph. I say we get the hell out of here!" he hissed urgently. "They have others that they can send here in our place."
Sephiroth's platinum eyebrows raised and for the first time that day, those far too unnatural eyes turned to stare the fidgeting SOLDIER in the eye.
"No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?!" Zack shouted, anxiety adding to the volume of his voice. "Look at what the hell it's doing to you! You mumble to yourself all the time, you don't talk to your friends, you don't even fucking eat anymore!"
"I can't leave."
The sound of leather creaking signaled that the General had stood from the large chair, and once again those eyes trailed off to the corner. A shiver passed through Zack as he glanced at that corner suspiciously.
"Damn it Sephiroth," he sighed exasperatedly, "something bad is coming, I can feel it. I don't-"
"This place knows who I am, Zack," the General interrupted with a whisper. "It has seen me, and it holds all the answers that I have ever wanted."
The Gongagan warrior looked down. It was no secret that Sephiroth had yearned to find answers about his past. The man wanted to know about his parents, about why he spent his entire life as a soldier and an experiment. It was his right to know. However, Zack never thought that those questions could be answered, especially not in a backwoods village like this.
"Are… you sure?"
"Yes."
"Seph, think about-"
"Do you hear that?" Sephiroth interrupted once again. Zack glanced around nervously once again as his hand instinctivelyslid up to clench the hilt of his Buster Sword. "It's so beautiful," the General murmured.
- - - - -
Beautiful indeed. The Mako tainted blood caressed his skin like a patient lover's touch while his dulling eyes watched Cloud pull himself further along the Masamune's thirsty blade. Sephiroth's surprised expression seemed foreign on his face, as if he'd thought such a puny boy could never have the strength to further defy his strength and will.
Part of his conscious mind was willing Cloud to do what he could not, urging him to stop Sephiroth before he became another Genesis, but there was another part still awake, beating steadily. It was begging the trooper to stop, to let the tortured General escape. Leave so that he could live another day. Wasn't his life full of enough pain and sorrow? Couldn't he be left alone with that head he called "Mother"? What would be the harm in letting Sephiroth be?
- - - - -
"Mother was supposed to become the ruler of this planet with her superior power and knowledge. But those fools, those worthless fools; they snatched this planet away from you, right, Mother? But please don't be sad anymore. Come with me."
Zack watched in horror as Sephiroth ripped off the front cover of Jenova's pod. It wasn't so much the fact that his best friend was calling that monster his mother that made him sick. It was the fact that, Sephiroth, his soul mate, the being who owned his heart, had finally snapped and was endangering the entire planet. It meant that Zack had no choice in what had to be done.
"Sephiroth!"
Unsheathing his Buster Sword in one swift motion he placed the tip of the blade at Sephiroth's smooth neck. The neck that he had kissed so many times, the neck that he would nuzzle after their nightly ritual of love.
"What the hell happened to you?!"
"You traitor," Sephiroth whispered.
With the unnatural speed of a Mako-enhanced SOLDIER, the broken man grabbed the Masamune and swung it right at Zack without a hint of mercy or of the friendship and bond they had once shared. The Buster Sword blocked the attack, but he was thrown up into the air from the sheer force of the attack. Sephiroth jumped up to meet his prey, their swords mere blurs of unsympathetic steel.
"Sephiroth! And I trusted you!" The pain tore through his voice, making it ragged and harsh-sounding to his own ears. It ate at him even as he fought to keep himself from being skewered upon the sickeningly sharp Masamune. "No…" The realization that he would probably never get his friend or lover back hurt more than any physical pain could. "…you're not the Sephiroth I once knew!"
- - - - -
No, he had to stand by the words he said to Cloud as the trooper rushed by to stop Sephiroth. The General had to be stopped before he killed anymore innocent people, and that was final. Zack wished that he had the strength to do it himself. The SOLDIER felt the hot tears, hotter than the fresh blood on his shirt, slide down his face as he watched Sephiroth clutch the head desperately in one hand and the gaping wound in his stomach with the other, a look of shock and uncertainty painted upon the once perpetually calm features.
Soundless words formed on those tender lips before the great General jumped into the Mako at the bottom of the core. Zack's eyes slid shut and a sob tore through his throat, bringing up a wave of metallic blood. There was still Cloud, who had been impaled upon the mighty Masamune, to think about, but Zack knew that he could do nothing for his younger friend. Without his strength, his heart, his confidence, he was nothing. All of that was stripped from him in a single night, in one fateful battle with the man who ruled his heart...
- - - - -
"Zack?"
"Mmm?"
The shorter SOLDIER looked up from his drawer to see his lover sitting under the covers and staring out the window.
"How do you think we'll die?"
Zack frowned slightly as he considered the question. He was never one to think too hard on the future, especially not something as morbid as death. Unfortunately, Sephiroth only asked questions if he really wanted to hear an answer.
"I think we'll probably die a couple of old farts in some fancy old-folks home in the center of Midgar."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and looked down at his lover.
"I was being serious, Zack."
"I know you were," Zack snorted. "I was too. You're way too good to be killed on the battlefield, we're too full of Mako to die of a disease, and there's no way in hell I'll die anywhere if it's not next to you."
Sephiroth upturned his lips in a true smile and shook his head at Zack's logic. "You are a romantic fool."
"Well, if it was up to me, I'd like to die in your arms as we make passionate love," the dark haired SOLDIER said as he licked his lips.
For a moment there was silence as Sephiroth seemingly contemplated for a moment, and then…
"Just grab the lube and get your ass in bed."
- - - - -
He had failed as a SOLDIER, as a friend, and as a protector of his lover. The dying SOLDIER couldn't help but wonder if things would be better in the LIFESTREAM. Zack hacked up blood numbly as he wondered if Sephiroth would be better off in the afterlife. Would they have eternity with each other? Or would they never again see happiness?
"Z-Zack…" a small voice groaned in agony. "Please…"
The uncertainty of what would meet him on the other side forced Zack to struggle to keep a hold of his life. Besides, there was a young boy whose family, friends, and village was burned down by Sephiroth and since the General would not fix it, it was his duty. Cloud was also his friend, and he would not betray that friendship even if Sephiroth had betrayed his.
"Hang in there, you… don't worry." Zack couldn't help but give a weak chuckle of pride as he watched Cloud collapse with fatigue. That boy deserved some rest after he had faced Sephiroth. "W-we'll get out of this together, Spike. I promise you…"
Betrayal: The breaking of the heart…
- - - - -
hehehe, bit angsty, no? XD well, that seems to be my specialty so here it is! i hope that you all enjoy it, especially you robette! please review and let me know how you guys felt about it.