Rated: R
Pairing: Cloud/Vincent
Summary:
Cloud and his three brothers inherit a mansion in Nibelheim. They
decide to stay there over Christmas, only someone is still living
there... someone who doesn't want Cloud to leave...
Disclaimer:
Don't own characters and places and so on.
Notes: This is
an AU where Sephiroth doesn't exist and never did. Never liked him
anyway. Please review!
Chapter One: Inheritance
The four brothers sat on one side of the long, glossy table. The lawyer, a fat, balding man, sat at the head, reading through their father's will in a bored monotone.
"To the Science Association, ten million gil. To the Association of Genetic Research, fifteen million gil..."
Loz yawned loudly. Cloud and Yazoo stared at the wall. Kadaj made a loud, impatient noise.
"To the Shinra Department of Research and Development, ten million gil – "
"God, shut up!" cursed Kadaj, typical teenager. Cloud glared at him. "Just tell us what that SOB left us."
The lawyer paused and glared over the top of the file.
"To his four sons, Loz, Cloud, Yazoo and Kadaj, two million gil."
Loz leaned forward threateningly. "Come again?"
"That is to say, five hundred thousand gil each."
Loz slammed his fist on the table. Yazoo started to get up to leave. "Did he leave us anything else?" Kadaj demanded.
The lawyer flicked through his file. "An estate in Nibelheim."
"I can't believe I actually missed school for this," Kadaj muttered.
"Let me have a look at that," Cloud told the lawyer.
The lawyer checked his watch and passed the file over to Cloud. Then he left the room without another word.
Yazoo leant against the wall, waiting. Kadaj and Loz leant into Cloud to read the file.
"Nibelheim's largest and finest mansion," Cloud read aloud, "once owned by the Shinra Electric Company and donated to one of their best employees, Tamachi Hojo."
"How generous," Kadaj sneered.
There was an old black-and-white photo of a large mansion with a large front garden and stone porch.
Loz glanced at Cloud. "Maybe we could sell it for a nice price."
The four brothers zipped up their leather jackets as they walked across the legal building's car park. Yazoo mounted his bike without a word and sped off. Kadaj got on his own motorbike and glanced at Cloud. "I'm going to the mall, Brother. See you."
"Be back in time for dinner," Cloud called after him as he too, sped off.
Cloud turned to Loz. "Let's go home."
Loz shook his head. "I'm going to follow Yazoo."
Cloud frowned at him. "How? He's long gone."
Loz mounted his motorbike and started up the engine. "I have a feeling I know where he's gone. Coming, Brother?"
- - - -
At first, Cloud hadn't understood why his three brothers referred to him as 'Brother' when they called each other by their own names. Cloud had thought it had been a mockery, but now, as he sped down the road after Loz, he realised it was a term of endearment.
Cloud Strife (he had kept his mother's maiden name) was only Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj's half-brother. Cloud had a different mother to his three brothers, and when Cloud's mother had died, he had sought after his only remaining family, bar his father, in Midgar.
The three had welcomed him, which came to Cloud as a surprise. The four brothers rented a house together in Midgar Sector Seven, and have lived there for five years. Out of the four, Loz was the eldest, with Cloud a year younger, then Yazoo was twenty years old and Kadaj sixteen. Cloud had blonde hair and blue eyes, different from his three brothers' silver hair and bright green eyes. But the four retained their father's striking Wutaian good looks. They also had one other thing in common: all four brothers loathed their father.
Tamachi Hojo had been head of the Shinra Department of Experimental Science, and had been practically married to his work. Cloud didn't remember much of him – Cloud's mother had been Hojo's 'little thing on the side'. However, Loz and Yazoo did remember him, somewhat, Kadaj being too young. They described him as a horrible man without a paternal bone in his frail body.
Loz turned into a road Cloud recognised – he had only been there that morning, heading to their father's funeral. Which meant, they were heading to the City Cemetery.
They parked at the gates, and silently walked into the cemetery. It didn't take long to find Yazoo – he was standing over the newly made grave of Tamachi Hojo.
The two brothers stopped under the shadow of a tree and watched Yazoo from a distance. They watched Yazoo stare down at the grave for a moment, before Cloud heard the sound of Yazoo unzipping his fly.
For a small time, Cloud and Loz listened to the whizzing sound of Yazoo pissing on their father's grave.
- - - -
Cloud decided to bring up the subject of the mansion at dinner that night.
"I think we should go there," said Cloud.
Kadaj shot him an incredulous look. Loz looked contemplative.
"We should definitely check it out," said Loz; "see if we can get a good price on it."
Cloud was hesitant about selling the place. In his mind, he was already making plans to fix the mansion up, maybe live there one day. He had spent his childhood in Nibelheim with his mother and had a fondness for the town. Besides, he couldn't live in Midgar forever, could he?
"We could go there this weekend," he said. "Maybe spend Christmas there."
The three other brothers stopped eating and stared at him.
Cloud shrugged. "Kadaj has school break in a week, and we've got time off work..."
Kadaj's fork clattered loudly as he dropped it on his plate. "Uh-uh, no way," he protested. "I am not spending my holidays in some hick town in some dusty old man's house! Besides, I'm going to a party this Saturday -"
"I have to work Friday night," added Loz, who started to eat again.
Yazoo sighed.
"Besides," said Kadaj, "aren't you forgetting something, Brother? None of us own cars. How are we supposed to get our luggage out to friggen' Woop-woop? Hire a van?" he added with a scoff.
Cloud paused and exchanged a glance with Loz.
- - - -
"I should have kept my stupid mouth shut," Kadaj moaned a week later, as he dragged his suitcase down the front steps to the waiting white van.
"Heh, you live and learn," Loz chuckled.
It was several hours drive to Junon, then several more hours on the ferry to Costa Del Sol, where Loz insisted they stay the night and 'eye up the hunnies'. Then it was a few more hours through Gongaga territory and then to the small town of Nibelheim.
After a few directions from the locals the white van was moving up the long, steep driveway to what the town called The Shinra Mansion.
It was a large, ghastly building overgrown with vines and weeds, the porch covered in dead leaves, the windows at the front shattered from long-ago vandals. It seemed to tower over the calm town in glowering malevolence, its garden ornaments moss-covered and cracked.
Kadaj dropped his suitcase on the garden path and sneered up at it. "Geez, what a dump!"
"Maybe we should stay at a hotel tonight," said Yazoo in agreement.
Cloud kept silent. He was having mixed feelings.
The place did look ominous and dark, like something out of a haunted house horror movie. But as the wind blew through his tousled blonde hair, he felt a small smile tug at his lips. The house was intriguing, like a mystery or a puzzle. He could almost hear it call to him as he carried luggage past his gawking brothers and onto the porch.
He reached into his pocket for the large key. With a deep breath he pushed the key into the keyhole and turned.
The heavy door opened with a loud creak.
He pushed it all the way open and walked inside, into a dim foyer. Kadaj shoved past him and gaped at the room openly. There were two doors off to the left and right, and one straight ahead. Then there was also two extravagant sets of stairs leading up to the second floor. Some of the ceiling had caved in at the back.
Loz and Yazoo had walked in at some point during Cloud's observation. The fours brothers were silent.
"Who dare disturb my slumber?" rasped an echoing voice.
Cloud spun around and stared at his brothers. "Did you hear that?" he whispered.
Loz raised an eyebrow. "Hear what?"
Cloud turned back around and gazed up the stairs, as if expecting... what? There was nothing here, he told himself. It's just an old, creepy house.
"Can we go now?" Kadaj whined. "I'm hungry, and I refuse to stay here. Look," he added, kicking at the marble floor, "the dust here is three inches deep!"
"Fine," said Loz, "let's go book into a hotel."
"I'm staying here," whispered Cloud, surprising himself.
"No way, Brother," said Kadaj. "You'll suffocate in your sleep from all the dust."
"Kadaj's right," said Loz. "First thing tomorrow morning we'll come back and start fixing up the place."
As Kadaj and Loz were walking out, Yazoo came to Cloud and put a hand on his arm. Cloud slowly tore his eyes away from the stairs and focused on his brother.
"I understand," said Yazoo. "But sometimes secrets need to stay buried."
- - - -
Cloud awoke in the early morning. He crept from his hotel room and went out to the corridor.
He leaned against the cold window and stared out. It was snowing.
He could see the courtyard of the hotel, but in the distance, over a few rooftops, the mansion stood dark against the Nibelheim's mountains.
The mansion had been an almost-legend even when Cloud was a child and he was living in the town. The other children would try to scare him; they'd tell him that if you touched the gate, you instantly died. They said an evil vampire lived there, who would drink the blood of curious children. Rumour had it the mansion would moan, and whisper to any trespassers before swallowing them whole. Then there was the boys down the road, who swore the mansion had moved overnight, that it often moved by itself. The stories had been frightening to a child's mind; but now, Cloud realised they were absolutely ridiculous.
It was just a house, nothing more.
"Hey, Brother."
Cloud looked over his shoulder. Yazoo had exited his room and was coming to stand next to Cloud. Cloud watched him pull his over-sized jumper over his thin wrists.
Yazoo was the thinnest and most effeminate of the four, with slim limbs and long silver hair past his shoulders. He leant on the window and stared out, his breath fogging the glass.
"You used to live here," said Yazoo softly. "Did you like it here?"
Cloud glanced at him sideways. "I did, though I didn't have any friends."
"Hn!" Yazoo half-laughed. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."
Cloud shot him a look, but Yazoo only smirked.
"It's snowing," said Yazoo unnecessarily.
Cloud nodded, and they were silent for a moment. There was an orange glow coming over the mountains; it was dawn.
Yazoo broke the silence. "I like it here too," he said. "I like the mansion. But when we were in there earlier, I got the feeling..."
"...The feeling you were being watched?"
Yazoo hummed. "Yes."
Cloud closed his eyes. "It's not real."
Yazoo looked at him. "Oh, it's very real. There is something alive in that house."
Cloud stepped away. "I'm going back to bed; we have a long day ahead of us."
"Would you listen if I advised you against living here?" murmured Yazoo, as Cloud opened the door to his room.
"No," answered Cloud.
Yazoo crossed his arms and stared out the window. "I didn't think so," he whispered.
- - - -
Gossip ran quickly in a small town. By the time Kadaj excitedly stepped out into the snowy street intent on making snow angels, all the locals knew about a mysterious quartet from Midgar, who had inherited the Shinra Mansion.
Word spread through the intricate network of bored housewives that the four were brothers, and that all four were very good looking. What's more, they all wore black leather like some strange and kinky rock band.
As soon as Kadaj stepped out of the snow, laughing, he was accosted by a giggling mass of teenaged girls.
Kadaj's expression was positively comical to Cloud, then, who was watching from the door to the inn. The girls were only a few metres away, scrutinising – Kadaj stopped in the street, mouth hanging open, gobsmacked, before he slowly smirked and practically sauntered over to the girls.
Kadaj never got that much attention in the city.
Kadaj never got that much attention, full stop.
Cloud hung his head and groaned in embarrassment. He wondered if Kadaj would get offended if Cloud told everyone they weren't related.
At that point Loz shoved past Cloud grouchily, as he usually was in the mornings. He trudged out to their van and threw their bags in the back. Then he turned around and froze.
There was a large group of housewives on the corner of the street, staring at him. A couple of them waved.
It was Yazoo's turn to leave the inn. He stopped next to Cloud and watched the scene. Then his cheeks turned pink as a few of the older girls near the teenagers eyed him up.
"Can we go now?" Yazoo muttered to Cloud.
"God, yes," answered Cloud.
It took some time to tear Kadaj away from the girls, but finally the brothers were all in the van and heading back to their mansion.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning – they swept all the dust away in the foyer. They decided to do the bedrooms and bathrooms in the East Wing first, and then isolate the area from the rest of the house.
At one point, Yazoo stopped to stare up at the ceiling in the foyer.
"The chandelier's covered with cobwebs. How are we supposed to get up there to clean it?"
That was when Loz suggested Yazoo stand on his shoulders while Yazoo reached with the broom. Cloud said they should just hire a ladder, but at that point Kadaj was helping Yazoo onto Loz's shoulders and they were having entirely too much fun for it to be considered cleaning.
That night Cloud, exhausted, fell fast asleep as soon as he hit his new bed.
But, he dreamed all the same.
In the dream, he was in the mansion, stepping into the foyer lit with floating candles. He was wearing a dinner suit, his hair styled and tamed and his black shoes shiny.
There was music. It was soft and classic, yet sad and romantic. It tugged at something deep within Cloud's heart.
He looked up. On the stairs was a man.
He too wore a smart suit, his hair long and black and his face pale. He was watching Cloud with sharp, red eyes.
"This song..." said Cloud.
The man slowly walked down the stairs. "Don't you recognise it?" he asked. His voice was a deep thrum that sent shivers down Cloud's spine.
Cloud glanced to the side. "My mother used to play this to me when I was young..." He frowned. "On her piano."
The man nodded. As he reached the last stair he held out a hand to Cloud. "Dance with me?"
Cloud stepped forward and reached out to take the man's hand. Cloud looked into his face as their palms touched. "Who are you?" he whispered.
"This house is haunted."
Cloud awoke with a start.
"I'm sorry I woke you, Brother, but this house is haunted."
Cloud took a deep breath and glanced at the shadow in the doorway. "Kadaj, what's wrong?"
The figure in the doorway hesitated for a moment. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" said Kadaj eventually. "I usually sleep with Yazoo," he dithered, "but Yazoo went to sleep with Loz, and their bed's not big enough and anyway, I don't like sleeping with Loz because he makes fun of me."
Cloud felt a small stab of jealousy. "You sleep with Yazoo?"
"Not much anymore," said Kadaj, closing the door and creeping forward. "Just when I can't sleep."
"I see," said Cloud. He pulled the bed covers back and made room for his little brother. "You can stay here and tell me what's wrong."
Kadaj slipped in. "Nothing's wrong, this house just makes weird noises. And there's a ghost. But I'm not scared!"
Kadaj rolled over onto his side, back to Cloud. Cloud shifted and put his arm around Kadaj's waist.
"Tell me a bedtime story, Brother."
Cloud sighed. Kadaj was a teenager and Cloud knew that teenagers liked to act grown up most of the time. But sometimes, late at night, they let their guard down and became children again.
"Okay," said Cloud. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl named Belle – "
"Oooh, I like this story!"
"One day her father left her village to go to the next town. Even though he left in the day, he got lost in the woods on the way there. By nightfall he was cold and hungry. He came across a big castle and he let himself inside, because there was a warm fire and he was very cold.
"However, the castle was owned by an angry beast. The beast did not like intruders, so he locked Belle's father in a cell and only fed him scraps and chicken bones.
"When Belle got word that her father had not made it to the next town, she decided to go and search for her missing father. She came across the same castle and let herself in. There she met the beast – "
"And they fell in love!"
"Not just yet. The beast led her to her father. Even when Belle pleaded, begged and argued, the beast refused to let her father go. So Belle gave the beast an ultimatum. 'Please let my father go,' she said, 'and you can take me in his place.' The beast agreed..."
It was about the middle of Cloud's story when Kadaj finally fell asleep. Cloud buried his face in his brother's hair, and he too, slept.
To be continued
