Sephiroth smiled as Cloud entered his bedchamber, wearing only a collar and leather pants that exposed his genitals and ass. "Punctual as always." He remarked as he put the bell down. It never took Cloud more than three minutes to respond to its toll, no matter where he was in the castle.

"How may I serve you, my Lord?" Cloud asked.

"Put this on." Sephiroth tossed a blindfold to Cloud, who caught it automatically and instantly put it on, even though his golden tan seemed to lose its luster momentarily.

Cloud held his ground as he heard Sephiroth approach him. The blindfold could signal pleasure, though more often than not it meant pain for Cloud, but he had to obey the man. He owed Sephiroth everything…

After the question of his origin had been raised, Sephiroth hid himself in the basement of the Shinra mansion, and Cloud hesitantly checked on him the next night. Sephiroth had already half-conditioned Cloud to need his domination the first night in Nibelheim, and the young man couldn't leave him, even though something in him feared Sephiroth.

"What do you want?" the First Class SOLDIER had demanded when he saw Cloud standing in the doorway of the basement.

"I…I wanted to know if you needed dinner." Cloud blurted out, even though that wasn't quite what he wanted to say.

Sephiroth stared at him for a few moments, making Cloud quite uncomfortable, before he smiled at the offer as it started nebulous thoughts forming in his head. "Yes, yes you can serve me by bringing me food and drink."

"What's that?" Zack asked when he saw Cloud hurrying to the mansion carrying something.

"Following orders." was all Cloud would say.

"You weren't kidding that you idolized him, were you?" Zack said more to himself, since Cloud was already entering the mansion. "Well, I'm glad someone is looking after him."

"Here you go, sir." Cloud opened the bag and put the paper plate of food and a soda can in front of him on the table.

Sephiroth looked at the plate with disgust, but not because the food didn't appeal to him. "Where are my utensils?" he demanded of Cloud.

"Um…I must have forgotten, sir." Cloud couldn't believe he didn't bring any. "Let me go get some."

"No, you're just going to have to feed me." Sephiroth ordered him. Cloud obeyed, feeling strange as he sat on Sephiroth's lap and fed him, especially when he felt Sephiroth start to caress him, but he couldn't protest, not when he had screwed up and forgot the utensils, and Sephiroth was still being nice to him. "Now it's time for dessert."

"I didn't bring any dessert, sir." Cloud frowned at his second lapse.

Sephiroth laughed. "You didn't need to." He took Cloud's hand and put it down his pants so he could feel Sephiroth's hardness. "See? You've pleased me very well, and you get dessert by pleasing me even more." He made Cloud get on the floor as he unfastened his pants. He held the young man's head steady, and his obedience despite his obvious reluctance gave Sephiroth as much pleasure as the actual act itself. "Drink this now." he handed Cloud the unopened soda can when he was finished.

The rest of the week passed like that, with Sephiroth researching through the records in the basement, pausing only for natural functions, which now included dominating Cloud, mentally and physically. On the sixth night, he held the now submissive young man in his arms. "You like being with me, don't you?" he asked Cloud.

"Yes!" Cloud agreed immediately. "Can we be like this forever?"

"We can…you'll sit on my right hand, come the day." Sephiroth assured him. "Just trust me."

"I do trust you." Cloud didn't understand what Sephiroth meant about sitting on his right hand, but he knew he didn't need to, Sephiroth would explain everything to Cloud in good time. He snuggled closer to his lover, feeling so content that Sephiroth would never abandon him.

It all happened so fast…Cloud woke up the next day and knew something was wrong when he didn't see Sephiroth in his usual spot, surrounded by books at the table. Rushing outside, he was confronted with a blazing inferno. Scared and confused, he screamed out for Sephiroth, and then heard the townspeople talking about the reactor, and he ran for it. When he arrived, Tifa was near death and Zack was almost unconscious. He didn't know why, but he grabbed Zack's Buster sword and stood nervously at the bottom of the stairs. Soon Sephiroth appeared, carrying Jenova.

"Stop him!" Zack urged the young infantryman.

Having been thoroughly broken into responding to orders, Cloud tightened his grip on the sword, even though he couldn't stop trembling as Sephiroth walked down the stairs, til the point of the sword touched his neck.

"That sword looks good on you. Take it with us." Sephiroth told him, looking Cloud straight in the eyes.

"With us?" Cloud was so surprised he loosened his grip on the sword, knowing he was failing at something by not fighting, but he…he just couldn't hurt Sephiroth.

"I told you, you're going to sit on my right hand. Follow me." Sephiroth ordered him.

"Fight him!" Zack shouted, only to have Sephiroth kick his head, and he passed out.

"We got what we came for, let's go." Sephiroth started walking outside, and Cloud bowed his head, feeling ill as he stopped by Tifa's body.

"The girl is important to you? Take her too, we'll make sure she lives." Sephiroth said as he looked back at Cloud.

Cloud's spirits lifted instantly…Sephiroth hadn't let him down! He took her top off to use it as an emergency bandage on her wound where Sephiroth had stabbed her, then gently lifted her up and carried her outside, no longer a free man, but truly Sephiroth's puppet now.

That was why he owed everything to Sephiroth. Over the past four years, he not only let Zack and Tifa live, as he had reminded Cloud constantly, and he had trained Cloud to be a skilled warrior, who was given his First Class SOLDIER status by Sephiroth himself. And now that Sephiroth was ruling the planet, he had kept his promise of Cloud sitting at his right hand. Cloud had everything he had ever wanted, plus so much more…letting Sephiroth take him however he wanted was the least Cloud could do for the man he believed he loved. And as he felt the first whip lash, he bit back a cry. Sephiroth never wanted to hurt Cloud after all, he was just too stressed by having to rule the world, that this was the best way for Sephiroth to feel better. And Cloud always felt so good for making Sephiroth happy. Soon the whiplashes got to be too much, and Cloud fell to the floor on his hands and knees, and then Sephiroth knelt behind him, gripping Cloud's shoulders as he roughly took him. Cloud now did cry out, with genuine pleasure, having long ago accepted that he truly enjoyed being with Sephiroth.