A/N: Thanks for reviewing, alerting, and favoriting! I couldn't resist posting the new chap so soon! Club Rev's new chap will be posted this weekend btw! ^^
Disclaimer: In first chap!
Warning(s): Nothing yet… ^^
Sephiroth watched as Sephirou gently placed Cloud on his bed before throwing the comforter over him. Though he was still amazed at how Sephirou was able not to draw any attention towards them by jumping on the rooftops of buildings, he was more concerned about Cloud since he wasn't awake yet.
"Is he alright? Why hasn't he woken up yet?" Sephiroth asked with worry in his tone.
"Calm down kid. He's just sleeping. He'll be awake soon…" Sephirou replied after he ran his fingers through Cloud's hair.
"Oh, okay… And stop calling me kid! I'm 18 not 6!"
Sephirou chuckled at him before wincing in pain to where he almost fell on top of Cloud. Sephiroth didn't understand what was going on until he felt pain course throughout him and he closed his eyes to make it disappear and opened them when it did. He looked down in shock when he realized that he was kneeling over Cloud and looked next to him to see that Sephirou was in his spirit form and heavily panting.
"Hey, what was that all about?"
"Your body was rejecting me and forced me out…"
"Are you going to be alright? You look like you're about to pass out."
"I will be once I recover. My spirit can only take over your body for a short period of time and when your body rejects me, it causes a great deal of strain on my spirit. I'm going to need to regain all of the energy that I lost so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a couple of days…"
"For a couple of days! What the hell am I supposed to do if one of those things appears again! I don't know how to fight monsters like how you can! One swipe of their claws and I'm done for!"
Sephirou chuckled.
"I meant that you won't hear from me when you are awake. I can still visit you while you are sleeping…"
"That still doesn't answer my question!"
"I can help you train while you are sleeping is what I'm getting at brat…"
"Oh…well then you need to be more specific! I'm not a mind reader asshole!"
"Hn. I thought it was obvious, but I assume that your Earthling brain is too small to comprehend that…"
Sephiroth glared at the grinning spirit.
"Alright you bastard, you just wait till I-"
Sephiroth stopped his sentence when he heard shuffling and looked down to see that Cloud was about to wake up.
"Shit! What do I tell him about the monster!" Sephiroth said before turning back to the spirit and let out a huff of anger when he noticed that the spirit disappeared. He wasn't surprised when he heard chuckling in the back of his head.
"Fucking bastard…" Sephiroth murmured to himself as Cloud let out a yawn and blinked his eyes opened and looked up at him.
"Seph?" Cloud asked sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"Where are we?"
"We're back in my apartment."
Sephiroth backed up when Cloud shot out of the bed and looked around in confusion.
"But the Behemoth! Where'd it go?"
"Uhh…you defeated it…?" Sephiroth said with a nervous laugh. He inwardly cursed when Cloud turned and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Then how come I have no memory of doing so? The last thing I remember was getting hit with its tail."
"You…defeated it subconsciously?"
"How!"
"Um… You got off the floor, swiped at it with your sword and passed out again when it disappeared. I saw this floating in the air and I grabbed it before carrying you back here!" Sephiroth said quickly before pulling the fire materia out of his pocket and showing it to Cloud. Cloud's eyes widened as he took the materia out of his hand and glared.
"The evil spirit…" Cloud said angrily.
"Huh?"
"This is how the spirit is able to make monsters do her bidding… She traps them inside materia and the stronger the materia, the stronger the monster… All it takes is for a servant in her kingdom to unleash it from the materia and let it wreak havoc amongst this planet."
"So shouldn't you throw that away?" Sephiroth asked as he motioned to the sphere.
"Of course not! Pure materia is very helpful to get rid of monsters. This materia is pure because the monster has been removed from it, hence the reason why it is glowing so bright. Tainted materia will be dull and a monster should appear as soon as you find it."
Sephiroth sighed before gasping in shock when he heard his doorbell ring.
"Shit! Um…stay right here okay?" Sephiroth said in a panic.
"Why?" Cloud asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Because! Just do as I say dammit!" Sephiroth yelled as he pushed Cloud out of the way and ran out of his bedroom door when he heard the doorbell ring again, missing the hurt look that came across the blond's face.
Sephiroth opened his front door after making sure he looked decent and smiled when he noticed that it was Tifa, looking as gorgeous as she always did in her school uniform.
"Good afternoon Tif-"
"Save it! Where the hell have you been Seph? First you don't show up for first period, and then you walk out of second period, and don't say you didn't because I saw you, and then you don't come back! Is there something going on that I should know about?" Tifa asked sternly, making Sephiroth laugh nervously. He didn't like dealing with Tifa when she got in this state because she had a habit of beating him until he told the truth and needless to say, she had one hell of a right hook…
"Uhh… I was sick?"
"Sephiroth, you have to be the worst lair that I have ever known…" Tifa said with her eyes cut at him.
"Seriously, tell me what's going on? This isn't like you…"
As much as he wanted to tell her what was going on, he figured that it was better if he didn't because he wasn't sure of how she would react.
"Um, well, I-"
Sephiroth inwardly started freaking out when Tifa gasped in shock and pointed behind him. He turned around and glared at the blond kitten that was sitting on his countertop meowing. Sephiroth was about to yell at Cloud, but stopped when he heard Tifa squeal before pushing him aside and picking up Cloud while making cooing noises. He thanked all that was holy when Cloud humored her and purred as she scratched behind his ears.
"He's so cute Sephiroth! I bet he's the reason why you were gone from school right?"
"Yeah…more or less…" Sephiroth said with jealousy hinted in his tone as he wished that he was in Cloud's place so that Tifa could rub his ears like that.
"What's his name?"
"Cloud…"
"Aww! That's too cute! I bet you like being called Cloud, don't you?" Tifa said to Cloud, making him meow happily as he swished his tail back in forth as Tifa continued to cuddle him. Sephiroth rolled his eyes as he leaned against his refrigerator and continued to watch Tifa play with the kitten, feeling jealous all the while…
"I like Tifa! You should ask her to come over so that we can play more often!" Cloud said happily as he looked down at Sephiroth, who was watching television while pretending to be more interested in that more than the Gaian. Tifa had left a few hours ago and ever since she left, Cloud talked about how much fun he had playing with her and to say it was getting annoying was an understatement. Sephiroth rolled his eyes before turning up the volume on the television and stretching out more on his couch. He was glad that he didn't have to work tonight and was looking forward to doing nothing.
"Hey! Are you listening to me?"
"Nope."
Sephiroth frowned when he felt his body become heavier and he turned to see that Cloud was sitting on top of him and looking at him with mischief in his eyes.
"Get. Off…" Sephiroth said with narrowed eyes.
"No! Not until you apologize for trying to ignore me!"
"Cloud…"
"Seph…"
Sephiroth stared at the grinning Cloud before lunging at him, making Cloud giggle as he jumped over the couch as Sephiroth landed on the floor head first. He rubbed his head before chasing the laughing Gaian around his apartment, secretly enjoying the chase just as much as Cloud. He stopped chasing Cloud when Cloud stopped running and sniffed the air before growling.
"What's wrong Cloud?" Sephiroth asked. He had a feeling that it wasn't something good because Cloud was doing the same thing he did when he sensed the Behemoth in the cafeteria.
"A servant of the evil spirit is near…"
"Near? How near?"
Cloud didn't answer his question because he had already unlocked the front door and ran down the hallway.
"Hey! Wait up dammit!" Sephiroth yelled before grabbing his coat and putting it on as he followed after the blond. Sephiroth ran out of his apartment complex and cursed when he saw Cloud a few meters away from him running down the street.
"Damn he's fast…" Sephiroth said to himself before running after him while yelling for Cloud to slow down. He sighed when Cloud stopped running and looked around; obviously trying to find the servant he was talking about. When Sephiroth caught up to him, he yelled at the growling Gaian.
"What the hell Cloud! You could at least let me know that you're going to go and find the guy before running out of the house like that!"
"Yes Clouderu… It would be a good idea for you to follow what the human says… Don't want to leave him by himself now do you? Who knows what harm could come to the last piece of Sephirou…"
Cloud's growls increased as Sephiroth looked around to see where the voice came from. He didn't know why, but all of a sudden, he became very light-headed…
"MOVE TO THE RIGHT SEPHIROTH!"
Sephiroth shook the fog out of his head and dodged to the right like Sephirou yelled for him to do, ignoring how bad his elbow burned from scraping it against the pavement.
"Seph, are you alright?" Cloud asked as he ran over to pick him up off of the pavement.
"Not really… I felt light-headed for a little bit, then it went away…" When they heard chuckling, Cloud and Sephiroth turned to where Sephiroth was previously standing to see a cloaked figure wearing its hood to block them from seeing its face.
"A spirit collector…" Cloud said to himself, but Sephiroth heard him.
"A what?"
"That's why you felt light-headed… A spirit collector does just that… They collect spirits and feed them to the evil spirit for her to gain power…"
"Then why didn't you feel light headed too?"
"They only take the spirits of those whom they have targeted. I don't understand why he wants yours, but I'm not about to let him have it…" Cloud said before he stood up and drew his sword. The collector laughed before shaking his head.
"You can put that away. You too weak to last in a fight against me… You will only make my job that much easier."
Sephiroth saw Cloud's eyes widened before he tightened his grip on his sword. Sephiroth had no idea what the hell was going on, but he had a gut instinct that was telling him that it had something to do with him…or maybe it was Sephirou that was telling him… It was probably the latter.
"What do you want! Why are you here if you are not going to fight!" Cloud yelled.
"I just came to say…"
The figure removed the hood and Sephiroth and Cloud gasped as they stared at the collector who bared a strong resemblance to Sephirou and Sephiroth. When Cloud started to growl again, Sephiroth realized that Cloud and the collector must have met before by how they were talking to each other.
"Hello. Long time no see, right Clouderu?"
"Kadaj…you're the one behind the Behemoth being in the school aren't you!"
"Yes, the credit to plotting that in the school to get the reincarnation of my brother was my idea, but you had to get in the way didn't you?"
"Reincarnation?"
"Yes… The human you are protecting is the reincarnation of Sephirou. Haven't you wondered why he looks exactly like him?"
Cloud gasped before looking down at Sephiroth and turned back to the collector with narrowed eyes.
"So what if he's his reincarnation? That doesn't explain why you're after him!"
"Oh but it does… The reincarnation is needed to bring the evil spirit's greatest weapon back to life, and there's nothing you can do to stop me or anyone else from getting him…"
"We'll see about that!" Cloud said as he got in his battle stance as Kadaj smirked.
"Will we? The last time I checked, you were almost defeated by my Behemoth… Let's see how long you last against this…" Kadaj said as a red-orange sphere appeared in his left hand. Before he could summon the monster, a large black dog shot out of nowhere and bit the collector on his arm, making Kadaj let out a yell of pain and drop the sphere on the street. The sphere rolled over towards Sephiroth and he quickly picked it up and placed it in his pocket as he and Cloud watched the black dog continue to attack the collector. Once the dog saw that the sphere was out of Kadaj's hand, he backed away from him and growled, baring his teeth for the collector to see. Kadaj held his bleeding arm and glared at the dog.
"Dammit… Looks like Clouderu isn't the only one here… Mother won't be happy about this…" Kadaj said as a dark portal opened up behind him and he walked into it before disappearing. Cloud let his weapon discentergrate as he turned to stare at the happily panting dog that moved to stand in front of them.
"I'm not the only one here? Then that means…" Cloud mumbled to himself before gasping in happiness.
"Zackkairusa! Is that you!" Cloud asked in excitement. The dog tilted his head before transforming into a black spiky haired man with blue eyes wearing a yukata and a grin on his face.
"In the flesh!" He said before running up to Cloud and giving him a hug, one that Cloud quickly returned. Sephiroth stared at both of them and felt awkward and out of place. He was about to walk back home, but stopped when Cloud suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Where are you going?" Cloud asked with worry in his tone.
"I was going back to my apartment so that you can have some time to talk to your friend. He's your friend…right?"
"Of course he is!" Cloud said with a smile on his face.
"Yep, I'm just a friend… That is all… Thanks to Sephirou…" The dog said with jealousy lacing his tone, but it went over Cloud's head. Sephiroth felt Sephirou smirking in the back of his head and put all of the pieces together. He came out of his thoughts when he heard sniffing and glared at the spiky brunette as he continued to sniff all of him.
"Hey! Back off buddy! I'm not a bone!"
The brunette stopped sniffing him and growled.
"You smell and look an awful lot like Sephirou…"
Sephiroth cut his eyes at the dog.
"Wow…way to be late Zack…"
Zack titled his head.
"Zack? Who's Zack?"
"You're Zack. I can't remember that long name that Cloud called you so I'm calling you Zack since it's shorter and easier to remember."
"Oh! Okay! I like that name much better!" Zack said happily. Sephiroth raised a brow at how…energetic this Gaian was. If he had a tail he was sure that it would be wagging right now… Sephiroth felt himself getting tired and as much as he wanted to continue to learn more about the Gaian in front of him, it was going to have to wait until tomorrow.
"So Zack. Do you need us to walk you home or something since it's getting late?"
"Home? I don't have one. I just sleep wherever I feel like it. All alone and cold and wet when it rains…" Zack said while sighing dramatically. Sephiroth frowned at the dog. He knew what he was getting at and it wasn't about to happen. It was bad enough that he was keeping Cloud in his apartment and he wasn't about to let a dog stay there as well.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Did you want me to help you find a nice size cardboard box in the alleyway that will be suitable enough for you to sleep in?" Sephiroth suggested and frowned when he felt Cloud pinch his arm.
"Ow! What the hell was that for!"
"That's not how you treat someone who just saved your life Sephiroth…" Cloud said sternly. Sephiroth rolled his eyes before folding his arms and pouting.
"Fine! He can spend the night for-"
"OOOHHHHHH THANK YOU! YOU'RE THE NICEST HUMAN I'VE EVER MET!" Zack yelled as he tackled Sephiroth and licked his cheek in appreciation as Cloud giggled at Sephiroth's look of disgust. Sephiroth looked at Cloud's smiling face and sighed. Surely this Gaian couldn't get much worse, right?
To Be Continued…
A/N: Can Zack get any worse? Turn in to the next chapter to find out…^^
R&R
-Ktk