Tower Games
By Miarath
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square-Enix ©. This work is only for fun and not for any profit.
Warnings: shonen-ai, yaoi or whatever you will call it, meaning boyxboy, graphic violence, sword play, character death and other mature themes.
Pairing: SephxCloud
Notes: ' ' means mind talk, " " normal speech. Cloud maybe twenty in years, but his body and mind are that of a teenager and that's why I call him such in this fic. This fic belongs to my Reunion AU, which I have started on deviantart mostly. It's why Cloud has silver hair and green eyes in this fic, among other things. You can see more about this on my deviantart account (same username). Please check my profile for more info on this setting.
Cloud didn't remember how gloomy this place truly was - or maybe it hadn't been this gloomy with someone like Zack at his side - and he had never been here without his friend before, not this far up , cause these upper levels were for first class SOLDIER's only.
Of course, he wasn't really alone right now as well, for he knew that Sephiroth wasn't far away, but that wasn't the same. As much he found his presence soothing to his senses, calming his emotions down to something manageable - not something one would attach to the General of Shinra, only it was his General, now.
Sephiroth ... he was really his ... who loved him.
Cloud shivered at these thoughts, but that was only because it felt just so right.
'Of course, it is right,' a voice interrupted his thoughts at that, a voice he knew well enough, too. He knew that most people would think that it would feel frightening to hear another's voice in their head – but to him it wasn't frightening at all, but comforting. It was this voice, that had kept him from drifting off, from losing himself into the vastness of the lifestream all the time he had spend in that Mako tube.
'You're mine after all,' Sephiroth continued, sounding both loving and utterly possessive at the same time. It felt like he was right here with him to Cloud, which was good and bad at the same time. It was good, because it made him feel less like a ghost haunting this creepy place – and it was bad because he really wanted this to be real, and not only feel like Sephiroth was just a step away.
Cloud frowned at that, holding his newly acquainted sword tighter, because he knew that it was the wrong time and place for thinking thoughts like that – and he really wanted Shinra to pay for what they'd done, after all.
These thoughts … were distracting, indeed, and he nearly run into another guard, but thanks to Hojo's tinkering with his genetics the poor guard didn't have a chance. The teen reacted too fast, his body acting too instinctual for that and it was over before the fight had really began, leaving the guard with a surprised look … and completely still.
"Damn," he cursed under his breath, while trying to figure out where to hide the blasted body, frowning until he found an open door, which seemed to lead to an janitor room or something very similar. He felt embarrassed cause it was their shared thoughts that had him this distracted, all the while they had planned to sneak in cause they really didn't want any unnecessary attention until they had what they came for – after that there surely would be a ruckus, of course, but until then...
Damn, it was distracting, cause even now, Cloud thought he could hear Sephiroth chuckling in the back of his mind.
'You've done well, Cloud,' he heard Sephiroth's voice talking again, purring in a timbre that made things worse, much worse.
"You're distracting me on purpose," he said back, aloud this time, not that it mattered cause there was nobody else around. "Don't deny it."
He heard Sephiroth chuckling again, louder this time. 'You like it.' He told him in that low sensual tone that never failed to catch him unaware – and made him weak in the knees with his heart racing in anticipation.
'Yes,' he send back, nodding to himself, 'that's the problem.' Yes, it was true, he was yearning and aching with every cell in his body for him, needed him close, right now – not later, like it would be necessary since this wasn't exactly friendly territory. No, the Shinra Tower wasn't the right place for a romantic tryst, not at all.
'They can wait a little longer,' Sephiroth whispered back, and his mind voice sounded suddenly very strained, low and tight with hunger – almost like a echo to the emotion the younger one felt, but Shinra's ex-general knew all too well, that it really wasn't the right place.
'You should have almost reached your target by now,' he choose to say instead, not continuing their previous innuendo. 'The laboratory is just one floor up from here on floor sixty-eight.'
'Yes, I'm almost there, I think.' Cloud nodded in response, giving his surroundings a closer look, using it also as an distraction from the distraction that haunted his mind – and only barely contained a fit of laughter. It was insane, using an distraction to distract him from another distraction to get back on track to do what he went out to do.
There, just a few steps more and he'd reached the correct floor. Cloud pushed the door open, carefully making sure he wasn't making any noise while doing so. He eyed the hall way and couldn't help but notice that it seemed pretty empty compared the previous ones.
Maybe it was because everyone, who could, did avoid this floor – not wanting to deal with any of those pesky scientists haunting it and all. The teen grimaced at that thought, cause he didn't care in particular for any of those scientists. No, it was quite the opposite to that and he had to focus to stay calm.
'Shhhh,' a soft voice whispered into his mind at that, as if in reaction to his starting uneasiness. 'They can't do anything to you, not anymore,' Sephiroth continued calmly – and Cloud could practically feel the smirk that accompanied these words. 'Cloud,' he whispered, making the teen shiver once again in response, 'you're no longer their prey, not ever again.'
"Yeah, sure." He mouthed, only barely audible for himself to hear. 'I know,' he send back, cause he really know that Sephiroth was right – they weren't in any position to hurt him, not anymore. Too bad that part of his brain couldn't get around that, remembering things he didn't want to, too much pain, about being helpless … the acid taste of Mako every fucking day he had to stay in that place.
Cloud growled at that, for once not caring if someone could hear him, because past anguish and pain hat turned into anger, for it was just not right for them to do things like that, not right … at all.
The next few moments, seconds, minutes … were more like a blur compared to everything before. Cloud was fighting in almost cold manner, mechanically precise moving, dispatching everyone, who tried to get into his way. It wasn't so much that he wanted to be that cold, but it was all he could do to not fall into something he knew was nothing else but battle rage, sheer bloodlust, caused by the mere idea of facing an Shinra's scientist, especially Hojo …
No, thinking of Hojo was a bad, a real bad idea, but too late, he had already done that.
So, when he saw the next scientist – he really didn't see him for real, no instead he just saw a madly grinning Hojo instead, taunting him like he had done so many times before when he was at his mercy.
Needless to say, Cloud reacted as expected and cut him down – ones, twice … until there wasn't anything to fight anymore. Only then he realized what really happened, what he had allowed to happen, that is. The teen could only stare at the mess around him: the room was practically destroyed, with broken Mako tubes, furniture and anything that could've be broken, but the worst thing was that it all was covered in blood, even the ceiling wasn't completely clean anymore.
It hadn't been much of a fight after all, because these scientists were just that: scientists and not soldiers. The didn't have the same training as the guards outside – and unlike them they weren't supposed to fight for their life. They didn't have any fighting chance, of course.
It had been a slaughter then – but he only realized that now, realized it while seeing how bad the destruction really was.
Blood, all he could see was blood; there was even blood on his hands, strangely his clothes were mostly clean – but he didn't notice this, not now, cause he still wasn't thinking straight.
Cloud shivered and hugged himself in hope to make the awful feeling go away – it didn't help much, of course. The worst part of it wasn't so much that he felt guilty for going on a killing rampage, no it was the fact that he lost control about himself, just once again. It was bad because he hadn't been in control of himself for almost five years now – and he thought he had overcome that.
Once again … he was a failure, wasn't he? The teen couldn't help thinking this, wondering how someone like Sephiroth could love him after all. His eyed burned with barely contained tears, tears he held back because of sheer stubborn will, stubborn pride – that he wasn't a cry-baby, even if he was a failure.
On the other side of this floor a certain ex-general started to run, then even faster until he could barely be seen, only a shadow of black and silver – but the halls were empty right now so nobody saw him of course.
Sephiroth had known that there would be problems with Cloud facing those scientists – but he also knew that the teen had to deal with them on his own; he couldn't help him with this no matter how much he wanted to.
Only this was not what he had expected, which maybe because of his unusual upbringing in a lab instead a loving home, which was something he could barely imagine, but Cloud had somehow become that during their little time together since they had left Hojo's lab, had become home to him.
And Cloud, his mate, was now in distress, calling on him through their bond. It was a strong pull, making it practically impossible for him to act any other way but try to reach him as as fast as possible. It pained him to know that the one he loved was in such distress, but that was only part of the truth. The bond was something physical, emotional and psychical – very unlike any normal couple might archive even after being together for a long time.
Then finally, he reached floor sixty-seven and the lab Cloud had entered – and walked through its opened door, only to close it after him, making sure that nobody would be able to enter, too. One could never been too prepared after all, and he still didn't know exactly what had caused his lover's distress because the emotions and pictures he'd received had been heavily distorted.
"Cloud," he called out – and didn't like the emptiness that followed his call, cause he didn't received any response, not vocal – and not via their mind-link. It was worse than during that time when he freed him from Hojo's lab, because he could talk to Cloud even while he had been in the Mako, unlike now.
Silently, he vowed to destroy Hojo for once and all time, thus remedying his mistake that he had let the good doctor get away that easily.
"Cloud, I am here," he said again, then fell to his knees and drew the teen into his arms, holding him there, because he didn't know what to do else. Of course holding Cloud wasn't the only thing he did, no, but direct bodily contact seemed to improve their connection immensely.
It seemed like it pleased the Jenova cells in both their bodies – and that felt more than a little good, but that might be also completely normal human comfort after all.
After what seemed like a small eternity to Shinra's ex-general, Cloud finally started reacting, almost like waking up from a particular bad dream. Only it wasn't what Sephiroth had hoped for at first, because Cloud shied away from him, trying to get out of his hold as well.
It hurt to see the panic in his eyes, but Sephiroth couldn't allow this and kept his hold firm until the teen finally calmed down enough to talk.
"How can you love me," Cloud said,"a failure..." He nearly whimpered at that, too, because the whole idea hurt that much cause he had been so happy … and couldn't bear the thought of losing that now.
"A failure?" Sephiroth raised a brow at that, frowning at these words at first than had to hold tightly to control the uprising anger he felt about these words. This anger wasn't directed at Cloud, no of course not, but at none other than a certain doctor Hojo.
"Did Hojo call you that?" He asked calmly, far more than he felt at the moment.
"Yes." Came the answer after a small pause accompanied by a nod from the teen. "I think he wasn't all too happy with my response to his … work!" Cloud shivered at that with remembered dread about the punishments the good doctor used to had for him at those times.
Cloud's thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise, which was weirdly pleasant to the ears, but he had never heard it before: Sephiroth was laughing, chuckling even.
"Sephiroth?" Cloud asked, not knowing how to deal with this situation. "Are you all right?"
"Cloud, you're anything else but a failure." Sephiroth said, after he got his laughter a bit under control. "Really, if you were truly a failure, how would you explain getting through floor sixty up to sixty-seven without getting caught?"
"Hmm, I dunno," the teen replied, because he really didn't have an answer to that question. Well, Sephiroth had to be right, he managed to get up here without too many troubles getting though heavily guarded floors. Yes, indeed things had gone pretty smooth considering how easily they had managed to overcome Shinra's guards and even soldiers had not been really a problem.
Those had been easily fooled then by the soldier uniform Cloud had been wearing for disguise. They did have no clue that his silver hair and green eyes meant that he was their enemy – but at the time they realized that, things were already way too late to remedy that error.
"I guess you're right." Finally he could only nod in response and only now he allowed himself to lean back into the other's embrace for comfort.
"I'm sorry for worrying you," Cloud replied, knowing that this had just interfered with their plans at getting back at Shinra for all the pain and sorrow they had caused them.
"Don't be, little chocobo," the one-winged-angel replied with a smile on his lips, "Shinra can wait, they're not important, unlike you."
"I'm not a chocobo," Cloud couldn't help to reply. He reached up to his hair, which was now completely silver, no longer blonde. "There's no chocobos with this colour."
"Well, that makes you quite unique, wouldn't you say?" Sephiroth reached out to get a cloth to clean Cloud's face, which still showed traces of blood from the previous actions. "Here," he purred, "that's much better." He said after removing it – and also part of the borrowed first class uniform the teen was wearing over his own clothes.
Maybe he shouldn't have done, that because it caused the teen to turn around to face him and pretty much straddling him, too. Cloud's green eyes darked a little while his pupils dilated until they were almost round with the strength of the emotion he struggled with.
He knew what he wanted – and that he wanted it now, but he also knew that it was the wrong time and place for that. Too bad, he couldn't stop his eyes from staring at the man in front of him, locking his eyes with Sephiroth's – feeling like he could happily drown in that gaze for all eternity.
Then their faces got closer – and their breath a little shaky, like the air was getting suddenly too hot to breathe properly, which it wasn't in reality, but the effect was the same. Cloud couldn't help but lick his lips, which in return had Sephiroth shiver in response and then, as if sensing what would happen next he reached out to lighting materia he had brought a long to make sure that all possible installed cameras in this lab were out of function, along with the previous sealed door.
His action came right in time, cause next he felt his mate mouth on him – and soon followed by a inquiring tongue, asking for entrance. Sephiroth allowed it, since he never ever could deny his mate anything – nor could he resist this in any way. Soon he was returning the kiss greedily, unable not to respond any other way, cause any little touch made him want just more of this.
Sephiroth really was glad that he knew that this place was sound-proof, because he just knew that this wasn't going to be a quiet come together, which their lovemaking never was. Of course, he wasn't afraid of getting caught but it would be kinda a mess if they were caught in such a tender moment in the middle of the enemy's territory.
Things got pretty heated, pretty soon with the way Cloud was straddling his lover, pinning Sephiroth practically to the floor – and their hands found ways under clothing, then fumbled with leather straps to get said clothings undone.
Finally Cloud's hands found the right clips and the coat came down, followed by Sephiroth's shoulder armor … falling down to the floor with a rather loud clash, followed by another one when Cloud's armor got undone a moment later. After this their kiss only intensified with their tongues dancing a mad dance with each other, then lips were trailing paths down on recently uncovered skin, sucking, licking and biting at times followed by throaty moans and breathless gasps.
Then Cloud's lips found a nipple and sucked it into his mouth, then continued to bite down on it, which caused quite a satisfying response from his lover.
The onslaught of sensations brought on by all those touches and their rather tight position, with their hips connecting in a most intimate fashion was surely going to drive him mad with desire. Sephiroth was sure that if this was getting any more intense he was going to come in his trousers – and that would be a mess he'd like to avoid.
'We can't have that,' Cloud's mind-voice purred at that,' I'd prefer it you'd come inside me instead.'
"Cloud," Sephiroth groaned at that, and wanted to say more, but out came only a raspy moan, because of his lover's action, together with cool air hitting his tender skin down there. 'What are you doing?' He asked when the teen suddenly broke the kiss to stare him down with an expression of nearly desperate intensity.
'Undressing you, isn't that obvious?' Came the answer right away, followed by a satisfied sigh at the sight of what the trousers hid before, standing proud at attention.
"It is, indeed." Sephiroth purred in return and then let his hands travel down Cloud's chest, following a trail of soft silver hair, enjoying how it made the teen tremble under his touch and his eyes glaze over with intense hunger.
Hastily Cloud covered as much of Sephiroth's length with saliva, hoping it would be enough, but unable to wait any longer to search for something better.
"I love you, Cloud."
"Me too," Cloud whispered, sounding equally breathless and hungry then went on to lower himself down, slowly, too slow in a way, but he knew that it would really hurt if he tried this any faster.
And it did hurt at first, of course, but it was a good kind of pain, turning into pleasure very quickly, because his whole system was flooded with desire, with the need to be one with Sephiroth, just like they were meant to be.
It was like every cell in his body sung with joy at that – and Cloud could felt hat Sephiroth felt the same, because of their mind-link, connecting them so very tightly together. The one-winged-angel tried to control himself at first, not wanting to hurt his younger lover, but lost control quickly enough after Cloud urged him on to go faster … and faster.
It was like a force of nature, running through them, like waves in the ocean – or maybe the Lifestrem itself, crashing with intensifying force on the shore with ever thrust and move they did.
Finally it was over, ending in a feeling like an explosion, making them see lights behind their eye, so intense it was.
They spent a little while of just being close to each other afterwards, holding each other. Both wished they could stay a little longer like this and enjoy being together like this, but they didn't have the whole night; they knew that they would've to leave eventually.
They went on to redress themselves after another moment, maybe more slowly than they should, because they didn't want the moment to go by so quickly.
"What's this?" Sephiroth asked after noticing a weird bump on Cloud's shoulder while he helped him to put the armor back on. It was right beside his shoulder blade, maybe an inch away or so. The one-winged-angel touched it again, trying to figure out why it looked so familiar to him. "Does this hurt?"
"No, it doesn't," Cloud answered, "but it kinda feels weird, like it's supposed to be there, but I know that it shouldn't be."
"Hmm," the one-winged-angel said then left it alone for now since it didn't seem to hurt his mate at that. Only, he couldn't help having a suspicion about what this was – and couldn't help but feel a little worried. Of course, there wasn't much to worry about, cause Hojo did know his handiwork, unlike a certain other scientist. He didn't think they had to worry about degradation, but that didn't mean that he liked not-knowing what was exactly happening to his mate.
Cloud and Sephiroth took a closer look at the lab, but did not find anything related to the Jenova project that wasn't damaged by the younger one's previous rampage. They went outside and started searching the other rooms on this floor – and found nothing interesting, that was until Cloud thought he heard something from the other end of the hallway.
"It's coming from over there." He said nodding towards the far end of the hallway. "I think it's where they're holding possible subjects for their experiments."
Sephiroth just nodded, but seemed to hesitate to do anything about this.
"Let's check this out."
"Cloud." The one-winged-angel said, not sounding convinced than frowned at seeing the pouting look on his mate's face and finally nodded. "I suppose letting them out would cause further mayhem to Shinra's plans."
"Yeah," Cloud agreed and turned around to walk eagerly into the directed where he had heard the noises. It didn't turn out to be that far away after all – and they soon found the place where the noise did come from.
Only it weren't prisoners that made those noises, but the guards, who were supposed to watch said prisoners to make sure they didn't escape – and that was a pretty hilarious sight, too. Those guards … weren't exactly watchful at all, but instead they were sitting around a table and playing poker to pass the time.
Thus they were caught quite off guard, pardon the pun, and brought down in the blink of an eye, meaning they probably didn't even realize what really happened before they died.
Behind the next corner they found the holding cells, finally – and chose one to open on chance.
Behind the door they found a girl with long dark hair and someone they hadn't expected to find to see ever again: a certain Zackary Fair. Obvious, it was, the two were as surprised to see the door opening as to see Cloud and Sephiroth on the other side. The girl glared daggers at the two, or more so she glared at Sephiroth and would've done more about it, if she weren't so shocked at the sight of Cloud, looking back at her with no recognition in his eyes.
"Seph-" Zack started but was unable to finish the name because of how shocked he was right now.
"Calm down, Zackary," Sephiroth said calmly, "fighting won't do you any good." His words were a warning, because a part of him didn't want to fight his old friend, even if he knew all too well that they were enemies now. Maybe it was Cloud's influence, that had calmed him down enough to think things through – and finding Zackary here meant he was Shinra's enemy as well.
"Do what he says," Cloud added on seeing the dark haired soldier struggle on this, "please, Zack." He then continued in taking a step forward, which brought him between Sephiroth and Zack. Right away, his lover brought him into a half-hug by putting his left right arm around his waist. Cloud automatically leaned into this touch, unable to not enjoy the possessiveness of this gesture, the feeling of belonging together.
"You … you're on his side?" Zack asked, staring at the ex-cadet in front of him. "After all he did, to your village … your mother?"
Cloud just nodded, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't matter anymore." He motioned towards his now completely silver hair. "That Cloud, the one you knew, he died under Shinra's tender care."
"You mean Hojo." Zack replied, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice at what the teen just had said to him.
"No, I meant what I said." Cloud shook his head at that. "It might be Hojo, who did this to me, but without Shinra allowing it, it would've never happened."
They continued for another while, just staring at each other, until the teen started to leave the room another moment later, but was stopped by the other occupant of the room, the dark haired girl.
"Cloud," the girl said all the while staring at the teen like she'd seen a ghost or something similar.
"Yes, that's my name," the teen replied with slight curiosity in his voice, unable not to wonder what it was that had this girl acting this way.
"Should I know you?" He frowned a little and rose one silver eyebrow a little.
"You … you don't remember?" The girl replied, sounding strangely hurt at that. "I'm Tifa, Tifa Lockhart from Nibelheim." She added in a shaky voice and her big brown eyes looked like she was about to cry any time soon as well. The girl really seemed to take this very hard and all.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever seen you before." Cloud said after a while, and then turned around and started to leave the room. In turn the girl, Tifa, reached out to grasp his wrist, trying to stop him.
The silver haired teen stopped for a moment, turning around to her and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm your Cloud anymore." Honestly, he really didn't have a clue, who she was or why she should be important to him.
"He really doesn't remember …" Tifa repeated, looking down at the floor. She looked sad, at first, then after a moment her expression changed to that one of anger. "It's Shinra, who did this, isn't it?" She whispered, more to herself than to Cloud.
The teen nodded then turned around to face Zack once again, who was now talking with Sephiroth in a controlled fashion. It was obvious that he had trouble accepting things as they were and to keep calm, but somehow Cloud thought that he seemed kind of weird to him.
"I really thought you were … " He started, but trailed off, cause he couldn't bring himself to say the dreaded word, not about his friend like this.
"Dead?" Zack replied with a forced smile, which indeed looked very abnormal on the dark haired soldier, because Cloud couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been cheerful.
Cloud nodded at that. "I thought I'd never see you again, too."
"Same here." He said then suddenly grinned at the teen. "Good to see you made it, Spike." He added and reached out to tousle the Cloud's hair.
The teen felt suddenly very uncomfortable, because he knew he had to go but felt bad about hurting his old friend's feelings. So instead of saying anything he hugged Zack quickly, fast enough that his friend couldn't react in time to return the hug before he hurried along for the hallway.
"Don't stay too long," Cloud said hastily, looking back once again. "I don't want this to be in vain."
With those words he followed Sephiroth out to the other hallway and from there they went to the stairway that led to the next floor.
Soon enough they reached floor sixty-eight, which contained Shinra's main science department, the one they expect to hold any experiment connected to the Jenova project – and thus Jenova herself; at least this was what they hoped.
Several little skirmishes later they reached the main laboratory, the one they know was used by none other but Professor Hojo. They went inside quickly and as silent they could manage, while deactivating any surveillance device in their reach.
In the main room they found a large Mako tube with a female figure seated inside, which looked pretty much like Jenova, but … something was not quite right about it.
"That's not mother," Sephiroth said with a perplexed expression on his face, pointing at the headless figure held in one of the larger Mako tubes. "This … looks like her, but it isn't."
"I know." Cloud agreed. "It feels empty."
"Yes, this is just an empty shell." The one-winged-angel nodded in agreement then frowned cause he spotted something … someone he knew very well. 'Maybe we should ask the creator of all this mess then?' He added after spotting Hojo trying to hide in one of other rooms to the left.
'Hmm, yes, we should do that.' The teen agreed, locking eyes with Sephiroth, then nodded with devious smirk of his own. Silently they went on to corner Hojo, using their superior stealth skills to take the good doctor by surprise, making it impossible for him to get away because it was literally a corner with concrete walls to each side.
At first Hojo didn't look very worried about facing them, but instead met them with a devious grin, like he had some special plan to defeat them. Well, there was more to this, Sephiroth thought, realizing that the scientist had changed quite a bit with his face looking more pale than ever and his hair being spiked with grey – or was that silver? The one-winged-angel frowned at that then smirked after realizing what exactly this meant and that it was going to make things easier for them, much easier.
"Oh, so you think you're smart, experimenting on yourself, aren't you professor?" Sephiroth said, then smiled in a sickly happy fashion.
"Well, this makes this just easier for us you know." He added, smirking at the panicked expression Hojo made because he was unable to move all of a sudden. Both ignored that and went back into the main room, forcing the doctor to him walk in front of them.
As the one-winged-angel said, the experiments Hojo had done on himself made it easier for them, thus possible to control him via their own Jenova Cells, because they were better integrated in their systems, which in turn gave them some control over them, even if they were outside their own bodies.
They removed the thing, the good doctor had made to look like Mother and emptied the tube in the process of Mako as well, next they forced Hojo climb inside and locked the tube afterwards.
"Where's Mother?" Cloud asked the scientist, pointing to the thing they had removed from the tube. "I know this isn't her. It's just a cheep copy … so where is she?" He stared Hojo down, making him squirm under his gaze, but maybe that was more the position his hands were in. They were hovering close over the very button that would start the process of filling the tube with said Mako, which wasn't a fast process – and Hojo knew that very well.
He looked back to Sephiroth, who suddenly grinned broadly and pulled a leather covered book out from his coat. Cloud couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled at this. What did Sephiroth want with this book? The teen gave it a closer look to read its title: Loveless.
'He's going to love this,' Sephiroth's mind-voice said in response to his silent question.
'Love?' Cloud sent back. 'He doesn't look like he likes this much, Seph.'
'That's why we're going to use this.' The one-winged-angel explained then motioned for Cloud to come closer, which the teen did, until they were both seated in front of said book with Cloud leaning back into Sephiroth's embrace.
'See here,' he said, pointing to the book and then put another item on the control console, which looked much like radio or something similar – and indeed it turned out to be music player, playing none other than the One-Winged-Angel.
"Let's see if he can dance after all, shall we?" Sephiroth asked aloud, pointing at the scientist, who was watching them with growing horror in his eyes. It was almost hilarious to see that he was able of such an expression, but it seemed he was human after all.
"Sure thing." Cloud nodded and then pushed the button, which made the Mako fill the tube slowly. He let it run for a while, until the green liquid reached almost Hojo's knees, then stopped it for now.
"Listen carefully, doctor," Sephiroth said coldly, "I want you to recite Lovely act IV without any error."
"Or what?" Hojo retorted, then spit out a curse under his breath, but it was very obvious that he only acted stubborn. Underneath that false stubborn act he was pretty scared of what was going to happen. "You drown me in Mako?"
"We'll see, doctor, we'll see." Sephiroth responded with his trademark smirk – and concentrated once again on the Jenova cells in Hojo's body, making the scientist jump in response followed by a gasp of pain.
"You like this, doctor?" He questioned and increased the intensity of his actions, making the scientist's next jump a little higher and the pain worse.
"Idiot! Of course not! I don't like this.." He said and jumped again, and again until the moves looked almost like he was dancing a jig. It was quite the sight, seeing the good doctor move like this, with the Mako underneath swaying happily in response – and the music made it even better.
"Loveless," Cloud said to the doctor, "if you want this to end you better start soon." The teen couldn't help, but chuckle at that, enjoying the feel of satisfaction at Hojo's humiliation.
"You'll never find Jenova this way..." Hojo tried bargaining but was caught up with another spike of pain, jumping once again.
"No, you're wrong there, doctor." Sephiroth shook his head at that. "We already have Mother with us – and we're going to find her body soon."
"Yeah, when hell freezes over..." The scientist murmured but didn't say anything more, because Cloud had started the Mako flow once again, making it raise up to Hojo's hips then stop once again.
"I think he should start singing now, don't you think, Seph?"
"Yes, I think it's time." The one-winged-angel agreed then took a look at the page that contained the passage he wanted to hear from the good doctor.
Nothing happened for a few moments, which had Sephiroth frown in concentration, but then it was like he broke through the wall the scientist had tried to erect against his intrusion – and Hojo finally started to sing.
It was very pleasurable, cause he had a horrible singing voice, but his expression made up for it, big time.
My friend, the fates are cruel
There are no dreams, no honour remains
The arrow has left the bow of the goddess
My soul, corrupted by vengeance
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
In my own salvation
And your eternal slumber …
"Hmm, I think this is enough," Sephiroth said once again, then reached out to take Cloud's hand in his, in turn combining their powers for their final act to punish the good doctor. 'You're ready?' He asked silently.
Cloud nodded with a smile, which in turn made Hojo panic for real, realizing that something really bad was going to happen to him; possible something worse than getting drowned in Mako or getting forced to dance and sing.
And indeed it was worse, much worse – and it hurt a lot.
It was because together, Cloud and Sephiroth used their combined will to pull Jenova's cell out of Hojo, leaving him bleeding on the bottom of the Mako tube, nearly drowning at that, too. The Mako was no longer just green, but had a sickly green-black colour to it, because of the scientist's blood.
"You don't deserve Mother's cells," Sephiroth said calmly to the dying scientist. "It's better they die than live to aid your unworthy existence."
They left the laboratory, after making sure that Hojo was indeed dead for good this time – and wend from there up to the next stairs that lead to the two remaining upper floors.
It was only two floors left until they would reach president Shinra's office, their final goal of this whole mission. Floor sixty-nine wasn't much after all, containing only offices and such, highly guarded but nothing compared to some of the lower floors.
Maybe they thought they were very secure here since the lower floors were having such security and all, maybe, but it made the floor easy game for Sephiroth and Cloud.
The little security they met found a fast and untimely end, almost completely silent, with the sound their swords singing in the air being the only sounds.
Then they reached the last floor: floor seventy – and soon after this the President's office.
"General Sephiroth!" President Shinra's voice half shouted half stuttered, which showed how shocked the man was to see his previous general in the flesh – and alive. "You, you're alive..."
"Hmm, yes, I am," the one-winged-angel replied in a calm and collected voice then smirked at that. "You seem to be very surprised, President Shinra, yes?"
"Wha-, what do you want?" The president asked, unable to hide the upcoming panic he was feeling – and looked frantically for something that might help him in this situation – only for his eyes to stop on a second figure, unknown to him. "Who are you?" He asked without thinking.
"Just a cadet," Cloud said slyly and then smirked in a way that was almost an exact copy of Sephiroth's smirk, only it looked far more sinister on his youthful innocent looking face. "Nothing you have to worry about, Mr. President."
"B-but your eyes … they glow. You can't be a simple cadet." The man protested hastily.
"Hmm, maybe, you're right." Cloud nodded then unsheathed his sword and too its two halves apart. "But you won't find your precious Promised Land, ever." He said, locking eyes with Sephiroth's in silent communication then nodded once again.
'Can I?' The teen asked with a mischievous look in his eyes, reaching into the bag he was carrying with him.
'Oh, of course.' The one-winged-angel agreed with the same look in his eyes and happy smirk on his lips.
"Mr. President, please remove your suit." The teen said aloud to the now horrified looking president , who just stared back.
"Please." Cloud continued, giving his words some more weight by putting the tip of one of his swords on the overweight man's throat. "You don't want me to make use of this, do you?"
"Um, no, of course not." He agreed quickly and then went to do what he had been asked of, undressing until he stood there in his underpants.
"Hmm, that's much better." Sephiroth said slowly, then shook his head. "But you need to lose that one, too." Meaning they wanted the president completely naked like he had been born and all.
"Do you have the dress?" He asked Cloud calmly, making the president blanch at that until he looked white like a sheet of paper.
"Yes, of course." The teen nodded and pulled a pink dress out of his back and held it out to Sephiroth, who took it and then turned around to face the president once again.
"I hope this will fit." Sephiroth said with an amused chuckle, then forced the president to put on the dress.
Indeed it was a quite beautiful dress, with lots of frills, ribbons and other cute little details.
"You … you're not going to kill me?"
"Hmm, maybe," Sephiroth replied, "but that depends."
"On what?"
"How well you play along with this." The one-winged-angel explained and pulled out several sheets of paper and a pen. "I want you to sign this."
"Wha- you want me to give to resign, giving away the company?"
"Yes, it looks that way, doesn't it, Mr. President?"
"But, but, what for is this dress then?" President asked all the while, complying to his ex-general's requests and signed the papers, only for Sephiroth to pick up them quickly once after he was done.
"What for?" Cloud rose a brow then chuckled once again. "It's to make you look pretty, Mr. President." He pulled out a camera and took a series of pictures, making sure he got a picture from all sides, too.
"I doubt, they want a president that wears a dress like this." Sephiroth said then used the hilt of Masamune to knock out the president.
They left him like this, placed on his seat with his head on the desk – and put one of the pictures, they had taken of him, next to him on the desk.
There was also another sheet of paper next to it.
If one looked closer, one could read that the letters read … good bye .
And anybody with some intellect would know that hose simple words were a warning of worse things to come, but you could never know with people like Shinra.
Hope you enjoyed the ride.
Mia
I may write a sequel if I get an idea that's good enough since this is part of whole series of pictures and little comics. :)