A/N: I don't know why I wrote this, to be honest. It just sort of came to me one muggy night, while I was fiddling with my laptop, completely phased out after a 9 hr shift. It came out a bit darker than I had first intended, but I hope you will enjoy. Please, please I urge you to think twice before reading it however, as it contains het and yaoi rape scenes, although not too graphic, that might upset some people out there. So, be forewarned, and read at your own risk, and enjoy.

Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns everything.

MESSIAH

I am mesmerized the moment I emerge from my luminescent chrysalis.

I can't tear my eyes from the dawn-streaked mountains glistening with pristine snow and the glittering shadow of the constellations. Beyond those monolithic borders, is a stagnant, corrupt world filled with human filth that multiplies everyday, every minute.

It is time to purge this unclean planet, drag it from the putrid, repetitive depths of this inertia. That is why I am here.

I know this, it's branded across my heart and soul; this consuming desire to find Mother, reshape the future and sail the cosmos for the Promised Land. I shall lead the ignorant flock into Mother's bosom and there we shall coalesce as one, and drown the decaying life that chokes the very earth. Mother shall guide me.

Then slowly, perhaps tremulously, I inhale my first breath, drawing the misty frost that seems to condense in my unused lungs and shatter within me in a prism of pain. I relish every moment of it, of Mother's gift that makes up my existence.

I am born anew each moment as Mother reveals to me our mission, and I dutifully obey, eager to please her, eager to feel more pain that reminds me of my physical vulnerability that will soon mean nothing. This body is nothing but a transient instrument to punish the infected sheep, and spread the glory of Mother. She's far away, and she slips from my consciousness, but not my soul, slowly.

I take a moment to examine the cave, and take in the ephemeral, disjointed fragments of a memory that lingers on the rocks and dead foliage and the chromatic remains of the cocoon that birthed me.

A hushed mirage of a face briefly passes over the pool of iced water nearby. I know him.

Yet I've never met him.

He's not something that can be perceived by mere, transitory and inferior mortal senses.

I adore him and I envy him. I do not once hesitate in my love or hatred, knowing he too, feels the same about me, our connection to the Mother and each other.

Fascinated, I watch the mists rise over the puddle of black water, swirl and dance upon the glassy surface. Twin orbs shine in its shimmering white-gold centre, rapidly growing, changing shape within the cocoons, tendons and bones and blood and flesh merge in perfect harmony, transforming into bodies predominantly displaying the male aspect of the human race.

Their alabaster nakedness is soon covered with funereal, supple black, as my brothers are at last born. Silver, their hair, tendrils fly and thrash, snowy lashes lift from a gentle slumber, and greet me and the world that will soon be at our feet.

I whisper my thanks to Mother, who bestowed me with life first. She chose me over my brothers. I feel a deep sense of elation and pride fill my being, I shudder with pleasure. I can weep with joy and fall to my knees in pure adoration of Her, but I suspect such mortal display of devotion and gratitude might displease Her. I tremble with dread at the very thought.

The slightest twitch of those sensuously curved lips gives away Yazoo's amusement and I don't understand why he would laugh at me. Bitterness colours that cynical smile, and I smile back. He is so beautiful, and so foul. He can't hide from me.

Loz's bafflement is transparent, vivid as blood on snow.

A strange bunch we three are; a seraphic trinity with no wings…

…………

The silent trickle of time is evanescent, meaningless, as everything around me, even my own self. No, I am of no importance of all. She is the supreme, I am hers without reservation or restriction, hers to do with as she chooses. I am her champion, her messiah.

She imparts her will through me. She wants me to guide my brothers, weaker beings as they are, they too have rejoiced in Her essence. Though only a tiny fraction of her unfathomable magnificence we three are, the reunion shall bring us together, making us flawless, strong and invulnerable.

And so restlessly I pace, with no direction at all, until I find a way to ascend to the top of the cave, and emerge from its ridged mouth like a phoenix arising…

…………….

She screams.

I decide I am rather fond of the high, sharp pitch of her voice when I impale her upon my hatred. But it's a pain she must suffer.

My whole body seems to become a giant sword of retribution, rupturing her flimsy, fragile spirit, while my brothers force the felled, defeated male to watch in helpless dark despair that caresses my mind, eliciting from my lips a sigh of pure pleasure.

I stroke her flesh, I open her, prod her, poke her and stab her. She yields easily, sprawled beneath me, a scream frozen upon her quavering lips. I rend her softness and draw blood. Humans…they bleed so much…

Sweet, diseased lamb…

She rejects me, abhors me, recoils from me, but her body readily accepts mine, willingly, because it knows resistance is futile, it knows we must merge as one in Mother's embrace. And Her love can be a punishment for those who do not obey, and fail to cherish her supremacy.

Tears and blood, she's made of tears and blood. I inhale this intoxicating scent. There's no rapture in the act in itself, only a transient bliss when flesh fuses with flesh, and the deeper I descend into her velvety warmth, the more she wails. I look down at her, trembling, begging, sobbing beneath me; I pause and take her face between my hands as I whisper to her.

"You are sick, don't you see? You are infected, like the Planet. She will cure your malady if you tell me where to find her."

She shrieks in terror and mumbles something incoherent, my patience is wearing thin, but I hold her close to me.

"You must tell me where she is. I need to know. I need her. We need her."

"I don't know! I swear I don't know! Please let me go." She sobs still, inanely, her mouth opening on a tremulous whisper. "Tseng…help me…Oh God…"

My fingers clamp around her slim throat, my teeth clench, anger blurs my vision and pollutes my brain, blotting out the reason, leaving only the flimsy outlines of tattered virtue in its wake. Ripple after ripple, the rapture of my fury contorts my face, tears my body asunder and rushes into her in a surging flow. For that instant I am truly lost in a false, lucid bliss that seems to linger on and on… A tarnished echo of the Promised Land it is, nothing more.

Only then silence claims her fully, and she is soft no more, but a stiff statue that somehow still manages to breathe. Humanity is born of pain, martyrs thrive on it, and a deeper understanding and wisdom is gained through it.

I leave her to ponder upon what she learned…

…………….

The male doesn't scream at all.

He watched her suffer, but still he doesn't break.

Her surrender had been irksome, much too easy. I wonder how he will shed that mantle of dignity and pride once I assail him with all the sensual force and measureless strength my body is still learning to control.

He doesn't flinch, he is strong, so pliant. My brothers hold him down, overpowering him, containing the silently seething rage. His body is marble and silk, while hers had been flame and liquid.

I move like a serpent upon water, I pour myself in, the emission of Mother's essence. His essence.

Not a sound escapes his marble lips, not a tear rushes to meet the begrimed cheek and trace a slow path to unraveling.

I cower the stalwart beast of humanity and courage he kept unleashed for so long. Tenderly I sever him, until he too, begins to moan, like a lamb to the slaughter.

His eyes are black mirrors, and I see my reflection in them, a hideous, a beautiful thing. A silver angel, a dreadful emissary of destruction, the rightful progeny of Mother's legacy. The vastness of Her might engulfs me, and in turn, I engulf him, and we both submerge into a half-dreamed world I conquered with the female before; a mere reflection of the Promised Land.

It troubles me to discover it too, is a beautiful, and a hideous thing…

……………..

Hours later, there is no sound in the cave but incessant, quiet sobbing, the sweet sound of anguish that fills me. There is much to do, I seem to act faster than I can think, forever seeking Her.

We leave the bodies in the cave, it matters little if they are dead or alive; they are marked by Her, and will join with us once the glorious Reunion takes place.

Something catches my eye as we prepare to leave. It lays on the earthen floor, tiny and unmoving, black as the night, black as the deepest chasms of the cosmos untainted by light.

A single feather, like gossamer to touch. I bend over and pick it up, clasping it firmly in my hand, drawing upon its strange warmth that imbues me with new confidence. He is near. He is there, with me, inside me, encompassing my world as I stride ahead of my brothers toward the mouth of the cave.

And together we march beneath the blood-crimson light of the dawn; the One-Winged Angel and I; his Messiah…