This is a oneshot about two of the main characters in my discontinued fic, The Final Reality: Children of Earth. It takes place many chapters after the last update. Keep that in mind if any of you FFVIII readers read and review this!

Never Again

By AngeLhearteD

Once and one time alone,

You and I may come undone.

-Zane & Vreya-

The empty caves they had sought refuge in were dark and damp. They had both run down the path of the cliff, desperate to find a place to hide. There had been too many to fight, and it had been five hours since they had separated from Squall and the rest of their company. They had finally stumbled into the caves to shelter from the heavy rain, as well as their pursuers. Keeping still behind a large boulder, they had waited for a few minutes, until they were certain that they had lost the enemy.

The rain had been their cloak. Mother Earth helped them in any way She could.

Shivering, her hair and clothes drenched and clinging to her body, Vreya turned to him. How he was still standing was beyond her. The wooden rod impaled in his side should have rendered him unable to move. For the millionth time, she was so grateful to have this brave young man by her side.

Just like her, his hair and clothes were soaking from the rain. Light brown strands were darkened and plastered over his forehead, getting into his eyes. His drenched dark grey top clung to him like second skin, emphasising his slim and athletic form. She tried not to notice. Alone with him, and both of them soaking, she tried not to notice.

She didn't know that he was trying his hardest not to notice how her clothes clung in all the right places, too.

Wincing, he raised his left arm, clasping the end of the rod that the savage had buried into his side. He had to heal, and fast; he knew that losing much more blood would kill him. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed hold of the end with his right hand, and then yanked the wooden pole out.

He bit his tongue to stop the yell of pain from escaping his lips. It would draw attention, and he needed to heal before they could go fighting anymore damned creatures. The rod was thrown to the floor, but he remained upright, leaning heavily back against the uneven wall of the big boulder, determined not to show weakness.

Vreya's hands immediately pressed over the wound, as she began to work at healing it. She knew it would take a lot of energy, and in her already exhausted state, she knew it would weaken her even more considerably.

The pain was immense. Zane needed something to hold onto...to block it out. Of its own accord, his left hand moved and gripped onto Vreya's slender, right shoulder. As the wave of pain assaulted him, his grip instinctively tightened, and the pain that shot through Vreya's own body made her work faster.

He closed his eyes, willing the pain to cease. For what seemed like an eternity, he waited.

Then her voice came to him, soft and sad. 'I'm sorry,' she whispered, as the wound finally began to close. 'I'm so sorry...'

He was always getting hurt for her. Because of her. He was always there for her, he always had been.

The pain was being replaced by numbness. His hold on her shoulder loosened, and his arm relaxed, but he didn't let go, even when she had finished the healing.

She looked up at him, waiting for him to let go, waiting for him to push her away. But he did neither. They stood close together, only half his arm's length apart.

At his silence, she spoke again.

'There are so many, Zane. How can we possibly make it back to the others?'

He opened his eyes, and looked down at her. She waited for a snappish reply; a whiplash that scolded this was her entire fault, as it always was. But he was silent. Despite the dimness of the cold caves, she could still see the intensity in his piercing green eyes.

'...We'll make it.' Came his response at length, and then felt her body shaking underneath his left hand. She had managed to suppress the trembling long enough to heal him, but now a violent shudder ran through her body.

She felt so miserable. So hopeless and dejected. They couldn't even start a fire, for fear that they might be located.

Her head bowed, and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back the tears, trying to be strong for herself...and most importantly, for him.

'I...I'm...s...so...c...old...' She managed, voice wavering unsteadily.

Zane was cold too. But he could ignore it. He had spent his entire life in the cold and the dark. But she was someone who was supposed to be surrounded by nothing but sunshine, laughter and warmth. As these thoughts ran through his mind, he was not even aware that his left hand had moved from her shoulder, to the back of her head, until he felt wet locks of long hair between his fingers, and saw her look up in confusion.

Vreya felt the heat race to her cheeks. It was instantaneous. He had the ability to make her heart race so suddenly and so quickly within her. He had the ability to make her feel so weak, as if her legs were made of jelly. And he was looking down at her in a way she had never seen him do before. Dumbstruck with disbelief, she hardly dared to breathe from fear that it would ruin whatever could follow.

Zane cursed himself for his carelessness and the sheer mindlessness of such a gesture was not enough to break the spell that had suddenly been cast over them both. She looked up at him, eyes so big and beautiful that he could see every inch of her soul in them. Her small, soft, rosy lips were parted in a small 'o' of surprise. Her hair was plastered across her forehead. She looked a mess. She looked perfect.

Idiot! Pull your hand away. What the hell are you doing?! Pull it away! Pull it away, pull it away, pull it away...

The command was chanted in his mind over and over again, but he was frozen in place. They were both frozen in this moment of time, where they saw nothing but the other's eyes.

Pull it awaypullitawaypullitawaypullitpullit...pull it...

But he couldn't. And he knew. He needed this as much as she did. Wanted it even more. And suddenly, all his pride and stubbornness were not enough to stop him.

Nothing was. He needed to do this for the sake of his own sanity. And for hers.

Pull...

Blinking, he tugged her forward with the left hand that was buried in her hair.

'What...' she whispered, but her sentence was consigned to oblivion forever, as without warning, and in one fluid and swift movement, he had lowered his head and she felt warm lips press lightly against her own.

Vreya's heart stopped. It plummeted deep within her. It threatened to burst out of her. The feel of his lips on hers was like pure electricity, and extreme volts of it.

The shock rendered her rigid and unable to respond. It had happened so suddenly. Without warning. In her wildest dreams she had given fancy to the thought; what it would be like to be kissed by Zane, what it would feel like...

Never had she expected it to actually happen. He had always acted like he hated her; like she was the most annoying and troublesome person in existence. The way his lips were moving on hers now made her forget everything.

Hesitantly, as if afraid that she would wake from this blissful dream, she began to return the kiss. When he jerked her closer, so that she was pressed against him, her heart sang and butterflies broke free from an invisible cage within the pits of her stomach. When she felt his strong right arm close firmly around her waist, she thought she would faint. She was soaring. She was drowning. She forgot all her worries and her pains. The shivering disappeared along with the cold, as warmth flooded into her. He was all that mattered, as she moved her arms to wrap them around his neck, momentarily breaking the kiss as she pressed herself harder against him, unable to stop the pleading moan from escaping her lips as he hungrily captured her lips in his own once again.

The kiss grew harder, faster, full of urgency and pure need. Zane couldn't stop it, as much as he was screaming at himself to end it and shove her away. His hands moved, as if to do so, but instead they trailed down her sides, over the contours of her slender form. His entire body was on fire, and he silently admitted with great bitterness that he had wanted this for a long time.

He had waited for so long, and resisted so long, to hold her in his arms. And this was not enough.

A primitive growl escaped his throat as he swiftly turned and reversed their positions, pushing her hard against the uneven wall of the boulder, his hands roaming all over her body. He wanted to memorise the feel of every dip and curve. Because in the back of his mind, he knew this would never happen again. It couldn't. And even as his fingers laced through her hair again and he pulled her head to the side, planting a trail of kisses down her throat, he was thinking of an excuse...a way to dismiss this little encounter as nothing.

They were both upset. They had both lost their minds. It wouldn't happen again.

'Z...Zane...!' She gasped, trying to catch her breath, feeling as if she would die from the way he was making her feel.

It wouldn't happen again.

His lips found hers once more.

Her hands trailed up his chest, the sides of his face, into his hair. He knew it was time to let her go and end the madness that had briefly overcome them both. His hands rested on her hips, as he committed the feel of her lips to his memory, before abruptly ending the kiss by pushing her away, roughly.

Their eyes met. The silence roared.

Never again.

Author's Note

Altogether now...awwwwwww. Lol. Bear in mind this takes place quite a bit in the future from the last chapter I wrote of Children of Earth, which explains Zane's...erm...rare display of passion, XD. This was originally meant to take place just before Zane finally becomes Vreya's knight. Yeah he was going to end up being it and everyone saw that coming! But this incident wouldn't have meant him getting mushy or anything. I mean he pushes her away roughly at the end and will dismiss the entire thing like it was nothing. Mwahaha. Poor Vreya. Or lucky Vreya, since Zane's so friggin hawt. Is it normal to fall in love with a character you created? Anyway, I'm not expecting a lot of people to read this, or review it. You have to have read The Final Reality Children of Earth to even know who these two characters are. But yeah, I have been dying to make them kiss lol. I just wish I could draw it now, but I suck at drawing people much less fancy cave backgrounds! I also suck at writing romantic and passionate encounters, can you tell? xD; Yeah. Please leave a review telling me how much it sucks. Thanks for reading!