Darkened Eclipse Chapter 2, a final fantasy vii fanfic

A/N: Sorry, y'all, for the wait. But…WOW! I never expected to get reviews almost right away! OO Thanx to my four reviewers, crimson-soul-lifes-blood, silva moonlight, Arcaenia and Metadeta. Anyone who's been reading, but haven't reviewed, pleez do so! I'd love you forever and ever! Um…ahem.

To silva moonlight: Oh, don't worry; Kadaj and the gang are gonna do plenty of torture to poor Cloud!

To Arcaenia: Yep. Cloud's gonna be a bad little boy! Stay tuned!

To crimson-soul-lifes-blood: gee. Thanx for the compliment, Boss. #blushes# Glad you like it. Hope you keep reading. And yeah, thanx for offering to help, should I need it!

To Metadeta: Glad you like it, too. And don't worry; the Yaoiness will be revealed all in good time…unless you wanna know right away, of course. If that's indeed the case, then I'll post it on the next chapt, -k-? ;) though, I can say that there will be a little bit of Yuffentine. Eventually, lol.

Disclaimer: I ain't saying it again! Um…#cough, cough# Kadaj?

Kadaj: MyOrli does not own any of us. #under his breath# Thank Gaia.

Hey! No one insults me and gets away with it!

Reno: Kadaj?

Kadaj: …Yeah?

Reno: Run.

Kadaj: Good idea. #takes off. MyOrli chases with a baseball bat.#

Vincent: Ahem. Can we get on with the story, please.

Cloud: Couldn't agree more. I don't really like the idea of being unconscious while Kadaj is around.

"Cloud. Wake up, Cloud. Cloud." Cloud opened his eyes to a bright morning sun, a clear blue sky, and deep red eyes. "Have you been here all night?"

Cloud looked up from where his head rested on his hands. "It is my favorite place, Vincent."

"Perhaps, but why wasn't I invited?"

Cloud shrugged, "I guess I didn't think you'd wanna waste your time just gazing out at a beautiful meadow."

Vincent hummed a laugh and sat down beside the blonde, resting his arm on a raised knee. "Peaceful meadows are a nice place to think and find peace. How else do you suppose I keep my sanity?"

Cloud sat up and leaned on his elbows. "Hmm. Guess I didn't think of that." after a moment of silence from the two under the oak tree, Cloud spoke up again. "So. Any particular reason why you came to see me?"

Vincent looked at him and gave a half-smirk. "Let's just say that Yuffie isn't good at not being annoying."

Cloud gave one of his rare smiles. "I think she likes you."

Vincent turned back to the grassy plain. "Hmm. No wonder she doesn't go bother someone else every so often."

"You seem to be taking the news really well."

"Should I not? Even if the feelings were mutual?"

Cloud shrugged and followed Vincent's gaze back to the meadow, "Okay. Point taken." After another pause, Vincent stood. Cloud looked up with questioning eyes. "Leaving already?"

"I have to go find you."

"Find me? But I'm right here!"

Vincent shook his head, "No. I was here. You called for help near Midgar. Yuffie said we need to find you."

"Vincent!" Cloud stood and faced him completely. "I'm right here! Nothing's happened to me!"

Vincent ignored him and seemed to stare right through him. "You were shot down by three remnants. I have to find you before it's too late."

Cloud frantically waved a hand before Vincent's face. "Vincent! It's me! Cloud! I'm not in Midgar!"

Vincent looked him in the eye again with seemingly hatred in his red eyes. "You're not Cloud. You're a traitor."

"No, I'm--"

"Your eyes. Cloud's are blue. You have Sephiroth's."

"I…Sephiroth's?" Cloud dropped down by a pond close to where he sat a few seconds previously. He saw his reflection. He had the spiky blond hair. He had the smooth, pale complexion. He had--wait. He…didn't have the deep, sapphire blue eyes. They were…poisonous green. With cat's pupils. Furious mako glow. Sephiroth's eyes! No! It couldn't be! Im-impossible!

Cloud stood, "Vin--"

Ka-BLAM!

Cloud turned and met two shocked—and somewhat betrayed—red orbs. A growing splotch of red shone on the right-hand side of Vincent's chest. Blood seeped between the fingers of Vincent's claw as he clutched it—though it didn't look like it was in pain.

"Vincent!"

The ex-Turk merely stared with hurt, crimson eyes. Though it didn't seem like he was talking to him, "Cloud…why? How could you--"

Ka-BLAM!

Another rose bud bloomed—this time at Vincent's left side. Vincent stumbled a little, but remained standing. "--Betray us?"

Ka-BLAM!

Vincent fell to his knees, his claw still grasping his first wound. Deceived red eyes met Cloud's new ones as the blonde watched helplessly. "We cared for you, Cloud. All of--"

Ka-BLAM!

Vincent caught himself from hitting the bloodstained grass by throwing out his normal arm. Cloud wanted to help him…but he couldn't move. What the fuck was wrong with him?!?!

"But I, Cloud…I…"

BLAM!

The gunman fell onto his side, one too many slugs in him. "I wanted…to tell you--" Vincent paused as he coughed up a little blood.

"Say it, Vincent," Cloud whispered, tears involuntarily filling his cat-like eyes. "Just say it."

"I lo--"

BOOM! A final shot finished the ex-Turk off and the beautiful, unique crimson eyes went blank.

"N-no! Vincent! Don't die!" Cloud cried as he finally was able to move and dropped down by his side. "Please, don't!"

"Now you don't want him to be killed?" Cloud looked up to meet shining—yet somehow disappointed—violet eyes.

"Zack?"

Zack shook his head. "What's happened to you since I died, kid? You're I.Q. level drop?"

"But…I don't--what is happening to me, Zack?" was all the blonde could manage. "Why--?"

"Why is Vincent dead?" Zack asked with bitterness in his tone. "Look at yourself, Cloud. Look at what you've done."

As if on autopilot, Cloud looked at his right hand. In it lay Ceberus, its triple barrel smoking. Cloud's eyes grew and he let a small gasp escape his lips. He looked back up at Zack whose stone expression was unchanged, "I didn't..?"

"You did. Or rather 'you will'. All of them. All of your friends. Dying at your hands."

Cloud looked down at the ground, violently shaking his head, "No! I wouldn't! I won't! You know I won't!"

Zack turned away, "I'm sorry, friend. I can't help you anymore. Not when you've gone this far." With that said, Zack disappeared.

Cloud was distraught. "No! Zack, wait! Don't leave me here! NOOO!"

Cloud opened his eyes in mid-scream. It felt like an eternity before he stopped. But once his senses adjusted, he felt like screaming again and this time never stopping. Something about his dream made sense in the current picture he was in. He wasn't in his meadow at all. And his hands weren't supporting his head; they were bound by the wrists by criss-crossing shackles bolted down above his head on whatever he was lying on—a table? A med table?

Wait…this was the Nibelheim lab! A good look around the dark room confirmed that. It was deserted and long abandoned, sure, but still intact. And still usable.

Who brought him here? And what did they want with him?

Half in panic due to past experiences, he tried to break the binding shackles, but somehow, they refused to snap. When he tried to shift to get a better look at them, pressure on his ankles told him that they too were bound down.

"Damn." Cloud hissed to himself. This was the five-year-experimentation-in-hell all over again. Except Zack wasn't here with him.

…Zack.

"Where are you when I need you most?" he automatically muttered.

"Good evening, Brother." A chirpy voice piped up after a moment. Cloud glared over to the direction from which the voice came. A man with chin-length silver hair strode into the lab from a door almost right across from the blonde.

"Who are you?"

The stranger ignored him and continued to approach his side. "I thought you'd never wake up."

"I think he thought that, too, Kadaj," another voice said from a dark corner. "He was tossing and turning the whole time he'd been there."

The first one looked at Cloud with raised eyebrows. "Bad dream, then, Brother?"

Cloud intensified his glare, "What the hell are you talking about? I don't have any brothers."

"You are a SOLDIER, are you not?" the one who spoke from the dark corner stepped out to reveal he wasn't very different from the first. But his hair was longer.

"I was. But what the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"You served under General Sephiroth, did you not?"

"Yes, but--"

"Were best friends with his right-hand man, yes?"

Cloud was getting agitated, "His name is Za--!"

"Were exposed to mako, correct?"

"I was held here for fi--!"

"You carry Mother's cells, am I right?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GETTING AT?!" the blonde couldn't help yelling.

"The point is, Brother," the one called Kadaj place his hands on either side of Cloud's head and leaned over him, "You are bonded to us by the shear fact that you were an attempted clone of Sephiroth. Even though you were 'The Failure', you still are a powerful ex-SOLDIER. You…" he gave a sly smile. "are just like us."

"I'm nothing like you." Cloud angrily spat. "First off, I don't go kidnapping a delivery boy just to feed him a load of bullshit."

Kadaj raised his eyebrows, "A delivery boy, is it? Is that the pathetic job you've been working for two years? When you could be doing something greater?"

"Is that a proposition?" Cloud sarcastically retorted. "Cuz I'm not fighting anymore."

"Vince, look!" Yuffie tugged at the ex-Turk's arm and pointed to a spot on the dead ground from the Shera.

"I see it," Vincent confirmed. Turning to Cid, he said, "Cid, land a few yards away. I'm going to check it out."

"Whoa!" the ninja exclaimed upon reaching a large pile of rubble. "What the hell is that, Vince?"

Vincent only intensified a very grave look. He placed his gloved hand on what appeared to be a hood of a motorbike. It was still hot. "Fenrir."

Yuffie gave him a surprised and questioning look, "Cloud's bike?" Vincent gave a solemn nod. "Wow. Someone sure knew how to take him down."

The ex-Turk's eyes blazed, but he kept his voice calm. "Go back to the Shera, Yuffie."

"But I--"

"Now." Without any further protest, Yuffie ran back to Cid's ship.

Vincent—now alone—shut his eyes. He was too late. But he would still keep looking. Even if it killed him. He was determined not to let the blonde down.

A/N: Sorry; hafta cut it off here. I know I promised I'd make Cloud a bad boy in this chapt, but I have currently caught a deadly disease. It's a bad case of WRITERZ BLOCK! #A-choo!# I promise the next chapt will be more interesting! (lotsa Cloud torture, heehee!) I ain't gonna let this fic die, don't worry! So n e wayz, send a review and maybe I'll recover from my illness sooner. But if you can't do that, just send flowers. Pink and yellow roses are my fav!