AN: Sorry for slightly slow update, couldn't decide how to do this chapter.
Pairings: One sided Sephiroth/Cloud and Reno/Cloud
Minor Pairing: Rude/Tifa
Warnings: Implied abuse, mentions of violence, language.
Rude sighed, washing up the breakfast dishes. He glanced over at the two children. They were eating, giggling slightly amongst themselves, but they were still subdued. They had been for the past few months, since Cloud had been taken away from them. Rude had been doing all he could to help, and he thought it was working. They were slowly getting their confidence back. Tifa walked over and wrapped an arm around Rude's waist, and he leant down and kissed her cheek. He spoke quietly, a small smile on his face.
"Good morning gorgeous." Over the last few months, they had got so much closer, and were a couple. It was one good thing to come out of the whole Sephiroth ordeal.
She smiled, kissing him quickly in return. Then she went to work on the children's lunches. It had been decided that it was for the best to send them to the school in the ShinRa building for now, so that Tifa knew that they were protected should Sephiroth return. Rude waited patiently, helping Marlene with her shoelaces, and took the lunchboxes. He hugged Tifa and kissed her.
"Kids, say goodbye to Tifa."
The two children ran forwards and hugged her tightly. She smiled.
"Okay, now stop holding Rude up, or he'll be late to work." With an encouraging push the two children raced to the door, taking Rude's hands. Rude walked with them, wondering if he would hear from Reno later. He normally heard from his partner every day, and hadn't yesterday. But Reno had warned him that he would be out of range soon. He was impressed with how Reno had been doing. He had been searching for Cloud all over the planet, and had persuaded Rufus that searching for Cloud Strife and defeating Sephiroth was an important job. Therefore, he was getting hazard pay for his efforts. Rude checked his phone again, then said goodbye to the children and headed up to his office.
Reno had been looking around in as many different places as possible. But now he had a chance he was getting close to where Cloud must be. He hoped so anyway, even with the extra pay and his feelings for Cloud, he was getting very bored. There were only so many times a person could feign interest as some local crackpot rambled about their Sephiroth sighting. He was searching near the new Niebelhiem village. There had been rumors of a Sephiroth clone in the region, looking more like the original man than the trio that had disrupted Midgar a few years ago. He walked around, near the edge of the village. Towering above him was the mountain, steep sides stretching up into the sky. He glanced up at it, and then a moment later he looked away. That sudden glance of the floor removed any doubt about Sephiroth's location. He crouched down, then picked up a long strand of Sephiroth's silver hair.
"Fuck..." He'd have to climb up now, see if Cloud was really there. He rolled his eyes. He was a natural climber though, which worked to his advantage. He held onto some of the rocks and started to scramble up to the cave entrance that was high up above, struggling to find footholds and committing each one he found to memory in case he needed to climb back down quickly.
After almost an hour of climbing, he found himself level with the entrance of the cave. He slowly edged closer, peering into the cave. He gasped, holding onto the stone so that he didn't fall off. He watched in silent fascination, the details slowly sinking in.
The cave floor was lined with the pelts of a variety of wild monsters, and a small fire burnt in the side, lit by a fire materia. The walls were filled with shelf after shelf of books. A bed had been set up in the corner, again surrounded by warm, thick-furred pelts. Sephiroth was resting on it in his black leather armor, running his slender fingers through Cloud's spiky blonde hair. Cloud was wearing the same delivery uniform he had been wearing on the day he had been abducted, but the shoes and socks were gone. His bare feet were sticking off the edge of the bed, and around the right ankle was a thick iron chain, that snaked back to the back wall of the cave. Cloud would have struggled to climb down without the chain, but with it he was completely trapped, unable to even get to the cave entrance and try to call for help.
Reno held onto the side of the cave, watching the way Sephiroth continued to stroke Cloud's hair. Cloud's eyes were closed, and he seemed to be trembling slightly.
"It's alright Cloud. You're safe here, with me. You are mine. No one can ever take you away." Cloud nodded slowly, one hand clenched in the fur of the bed. He was holding onto it so tightly that his knuckles were white. "My Cloud." Sephiroth pressed a kiss to his shoulder, and then kissed over to Cloud's cheek. Cloud whimpered slightly, tilting his face up to kiss him back.
Reno gagged slightly to see Cloud kissing Sephiroth, someone that was meant to be his enemy. Cloud seemed so submissive, so frightened. Reno started thinking about everything that Cloud might have done with Sephiroth. Cloud was meant to be free, maybe one day choosing to be Reno's, but never forced to be anyone's. At the noise of him gagging, Sephiroth had glanced up. Reno quickly ducked back behind the wall of the cave, then scrambled back down far faster than he had climbed up. He was ShinRa's best climber after all, and he would probably be able to get back up to Cloud again in less than fifteen minutes.
As he climbed, he could hear shouting from Sephiroth, who seemed angered. Reno tried to stay in the shadow, in order to ensure that he wouldn't be seen. If Sephiroth found him now, he'd probably be killed, and Cloud would never be able to get home again. Reno tried to let Tifa and Rude know that he had found them, but he hadn't got any signal. He curled up quietly in the undergrowth, waiting for his chance to return to Cloud and help him.
Reno kept a watch on the cave entrance, playing on his phone. As it got darker, he put it away so that the light wouldn't be seen. He kept staring up at the entrance of the cave. As dusk fell, the shadowy figure of Sephiroth emerged from the cave, flapping its wing a few times before heading out into the night on the search for food. Reno frowned, whispering to himself.
"What the hell is he? A bat?" He didn't have time to dwell on it, and scampered back up the almost sheer mountain face. He climbed into the cave, after having glanced around to ensure that Sephiroth wasn't returning yet. Cloud was laying limply on the fur bed, face lit by the glow of the fire that was still burning. It cast sinister shadows over his face.
"Hey Cloud?" Reno whispered, then spoke louder. "Cloud, ya idiot, 'm here..."
Still no response. He ran over to Cloud and shook him, but he was out cold. His head was bleeding slightly, and the fur bed was stained with that blood.
