The Crypt

by CuteChibiChocoCloud

Disclaimer: I own Sephiroth, Cloud and a Cloud Clone: in the form of action figures. The real Sephiroth and co. are being held hostage in the evil claws of Square-Enix. Let us band together and save them!…but I get first dibs on Seph, then we'll figure out a rota for taking turns. (Who can honestly look at this and think I own FF? – thought not)

Chapter 6

Heads turned as the three couples entered the gym hall. Not that they were looking at the girls, rather the men whom they had accompanied. Each of the three brothers were dressed to kill. Not too formal or too casual, just smooth and cool as normal. The three brother's eyes scanned over the masses as they slowly walked amongst them. It was as if their very presence intoxicated all those who were nearby. Girls turned their heads away from their dancing partners to at least glimpse at them passing by. Yazoo and Kadaj sauntered along as if they were better than everyone else. Loz was on the different end of the spectrum: smiling and saying hi over the loud music to anybody he saw.

They reached the side of the hall where drinks were being distributed. Already feeling claustrophobic within the cramped hall, Anya picked up a plastic cup of what looked like water and took a large swig. To her displeasure, it wasn't water but a vanilla soda - which she despised to high hell. Her forehead creased in annoyance and she asked one of the distributors - who were the school teachers - if they had any water. After repeating herself several times since the music was near to deafening - being situated so close to a large set of speakers - she eventually managed to swipe some. Making a sound of contentment as she ridded her mouth of the icky taste of vanilla soda, she looked on at the people on the dance floor. Bodies bopped up and down with the beat of the techno tune that was blasting out of the speakers. She was surprised that Loz hadn't went and joined in. Bouncing about appeared to be a hobby of his. That guy had far too much energy.

As if reading her thoughts she saw Loz snatch his date by the arm and begin to drag her onto the dance floor. Not that she'd minded: her face being the picture of happiness as her squeals were drowned out by the music. It had taken Loz longer to get dancing than she had expected.

Yazoo however, was ignoring his date as best as he could. Anya guessed that the music was not to his liking. She couldn't imagine him bopping frantically up and down to Ibiza beats. The tiny red head tugged at his flared sleeves only to be dismissed with a sigh. By the looks of things she wasn't pleased and began shouting something at the tall teen who still looked utterly bored. As the girl huffed and went to go away, he actually grabbed her wrist and brought her back to him. He said something right up to her ear, to which she blushed as he kissed the back of her hand. Whatever he'd said had obviously persuaded her to stay with him: the kiss being the clincher. Yet, a look of weariness on his face remained as she leaned her head against his black clad arm.

Anya looked over to Kadaj, who was staring at her intently. Crossing her arms, she positioned herself to face away from him. If he thought she was going to dance with him amongst all those folk he was gravely mistaken.

Her ringlet hair was tucked behind her ear as a voice said loud enough for her to hear, "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to dance just yet. Wait till things calm down a bit." She froze as he laid his head on her shoulder and stroked her tense arms. As much as she felt totally awkward and wanted to move away out of embarrassment, she couldn't. There was something holding her back with him and she didn't know what. Like she had just been given a tranquillizer she progressively became calm, relaxed even. It was unexplainable how odd she felt, like those hands of his magically worked out her anxiety.

The music came to an end and the school principle appeared up on stage. Stepping up to the microphone he tapped it to check it was working and cleared his throat. The whole room's attention was his, as everyone knew it was time for the King and Queen of the prom to be announced.

Sweat visible under the harsh light, he wiped his brow before speaking, "Hello seniors of Condor College. I hope your evening will be pleasant. Of course, before the celebrations really begin, I must announce the name of this year's King and Queen!" There were a few 'yeahs!' and random whistles and claps around the hall, "I am proud to announce that this year's King of the dance is…" All was silent, anticipation hanging in the air, "…Loz Eíen!"

The bulky sportsman leapt up and down, slapping people playfully as he made his merry way up to the stage, "I'm King! I'm King! I'm King!" The principle took a step back as Loz advanced, overly eager to get his crown. One of the other staff members handed a crown over to the old man. Fearing for his limbs he timidly placed it on the silver head, and recoiled as soon as it was on securely. Although the way Loz was jumping about, he'd probably lose the thing anyway. Pumping his muscled arms in the air, all the guys from the football team began roaring and howling their praises. Quite barbaric actually.

Gesturing for them to quieten down, he eyed Loz up warily before stepping back toward the mic, "Ahem, and finally, I present to you your Queen (god help her…)" he thought inwardly. After another bated silence, he announced, "Tifa Lockhart!"

A pretty brunette dressed in a chocolate brown gown that faded into black at the bottom shakily made her way up. She seemed to be genuinely shocked, or perhaps she was nervous about being trampled on by Loz during the traditional King and Queen dance.

Anya recognised her as the girl she'd seen Loz with at the house. The way he'd treated her that day - picking her up like some kind of primitive being and swirling about the place with her; he must have liked her a lot. She wondered why he hadn't gone to the dance with her instead of the girl he brought.

After an extravagant looking tiara had been popped onto her hair, she and Loz made their way back to the dance floor. Everyone parted as they stood in the centre of the room. Giggling, Anya noticed how shy he seemed as he took Tifa by the hand and around the waist. He began to dance to the soft, smooth music that played in the background. She was stunned to see that he was actually leading her as well as dancing rather gracefully. She had been assumed that he'd be just as clumsy and boisterous with his dancing as he had been earlier. Her mind began to wonder where exactly it was that he'd learnt to dance so well. Tifa looked to be enjoying herself too.

Half way through the tune Yazoo and his red head appeared, and he too was a brilliant dancer. A couple of others began joining in, remaining a distance away from the two brothers so they could still watch them.

"May I have this dance?" Her blue eyes fell upon Kadaj, who was semi-bowed in front of her, hand extended. For some reason his face didn't look as cheery: more serious than it usually was. From behind his curtain of moonlight hair, his eyes drew her in. Without her fully knowing she reached out and placed a hand in his. Before she could blink she found herself dancing with Kadaj with the few others. She felt extremely exposed, many eyes focusing on them as they joined in. The way she flowed gently with him, it appeared that he too was quite a dancer. They must have taken dance lessons or something.

"Ignore them." a voice ordered softly, "They'll soon all join in, don't worry."

Instead of looking at them, she looked around at the gradually growing group of couples around her. She managed to spot Yazoo and his partner, who looked content in their dance. However, when she found Loz she noticed that something was going on between him and a blonde.

"Kadaj? Something's happening over there." His eyes shot over to Loz, Tifa and the stranger. He nodded and they stopped dancing to make sure everything was alright.

Of course everything wasn't alright. Loz had also ceased his waltz due to the spiky headed one before him.

"You've had your dance, so if you don't mind I'd like her back now." electric blue eyes burned intensely.

"But we weren't fini-" Loz started only to be cut off.

"You've danced with my girlfriend long enough." Although shorter, the blonde was not intimidated by the other's height. Without losing eye contact he said spitefully, "Tifa, come on."

"Are you deaf or just stupid?" Cloud spun around to meet the youngest of the brothers, "They weren't done dancing yet, the song hasn't finished."

"I'm not interested in what you have to say. Tifa, let's go already!"

"Please Cloud, don't start anything." Tifa's large eyes filled with concern.

People started to notice the small argument heating up between them, and some even stopped dancing to give the row their full attention. After all, who doesn't like a good fight?

"Something the matter brother?" Yazoo appeared, his eyes calmly darted between Cloud and Loz.

"Nothing's the matter; me and my girl were just leaving." Cloud was about to reach out for the brunette but she shook her head and stood behind Loz, "What the hell Tifa?"

"I'm not liking your attitude right now. Come back when you've gone back to normal." she stated sternly.

"What? So, you'd pick shit for brains here over me huh?" he sneered, directing his insult towards Loz.

Being the sensitive soul he is, Loz began to bubble. He never was the type who could handle petty verbal abuse. To look at him, you'd think differently, but really, he was a wet blanket.

Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Yazoo shook his brother lightly, "Don't cry Loz."

Humoured, Cloud began to laugh, echoing through the hall. Somebody who wasn't at all amused was Kadaj, who looked as if he was about to murder the blonde. The fire in his eyes unsettled Anya slightly.

"What you do you think you're laughing at?" Stepping up he closed the distance between him and the spiky headed jerk.

"For starters, there's that wimp over there," he pointed to Loz, still chuckling as he spoke, "The girly one beside him." Cloud's gaze returned to Kadaj, who's hands clenched in a fist, "And of course there's you, shorty."

The room went silent apart from the music that still played from the speakers. Kadaj's face was hidden behind his shoulder length hair, body visibly shaking. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife with the deadly aura emitting from the youngest brother.

Without warning he lashed out with a punch to Cloud's jaw, "Nobody offends my brothers or calls me shorty and gets away with it!" The blonde barely held himself up from the blow. A thumb ran over the corner of his lip. He looked at it to find the hit had cut his lip. Furious, he began an assault back on the smaller male. None of his hits made it, as all were parried and defended with ease. Dancing wasn't the only thing that Kadaj was good at. No doubt his brothers were just the same.

Yazoo - to all's astonishment - tried to hold back his brother after he'd made another successful hit. A young man with shaggy raven hair entered the scene too, restraining the livid blonde within his powerful hold.

"It's not worth the hassle Spiky, let it go." Aeris shoved her way through the crowd, standing nearby the tall man. Sharing a few more killer stares, Cloud eventually shrugged off his friends arms and backed off. Kadaj followed suit after his older sibling whispered something intangible in his ear.

"You should come with me and Zack, Cloud." she took the blonde's arm and led him away, "I'll clean up that blood on your face."

Unsure of what to say with everyone still watching them, Anya touched the teen's arm to remove his attention from the retreating blonde, "Kadaj?"

When he looked down at her, all the pent up anger in his eyes seemed to fade. She noted that his pupils had went from slits back to normal. Strange, she hadn't noticed that before. He looked rather intimidating with his narrowed pupils.

"I'm sorry. Guess I got carried away." he shot glares at all the people who were still watching them like they were the night's entertainment. Not wanting to take any chances, they all continued dancing to the music as if nothing had happened.

"Loz," he turned around at the hand on his arm, to find Tifa still standing there. Focusing on the floor, she shuffled her feet bashfully, "I'm really sorry about the way Cloud treated you."

Sniffling, he went red at the cheeks, "It wasn't your fault, don't worry about it."

"Are you okay?" she removed her eyes from the floor to look at Loz's face, "Looks like you were crying."

"I wasn't crying!" he defended, feeling embarrassed that she thought he'd been crying. He never cried, ever!

Softly chuckling, she smiled up at him, "Say, how about we finish off that dance, hmm?"

Scratching the back of his head, he grinned like a kid after eating all the chocolate cookies, "Okay!"

Yazoo 'hmphed' before continuing to dance with his date. By now a more upbeat track was playing, since it had been a few minutes since the row had started.

Anya had been waiting for some teachers to approach them and kick them out for causing such a ruckus. But none came. Just as she began to wonder why they seemed to be oblivious to the recently passed event, her thoughts were interrupted by Kadaj.

"Let's just enjoy the rest of the evening…Dance with me?"

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Yep I sadly made Cloud into a twit as well. Don't hurt meh! I had nothing against Cloud when I wrote this, and still don't. Heck my pen name is in honour of said hot blondie! Sorry for OOCness of both him and Yuffie, purely there for moving the story forward. So for all Cloud and Yuffie lovers, I apologise *bows*. Also for all new readers, there is a clue to the family secret in here...pesky SHM!