Under Covers

Chapter 7


A/N: I've been trying since the 28th to get this chapter uploaded. It kept giving me an Error Type 2 message or some other BS. And I'm not the only one, so FFnet's just being finnicky.


"…Hey."

Silence.

"Hey," this time accompanied with the nudge of a shoulder.

A slight shifting, a muffled grunt, and then more silence.

There was a sigh, yet another silence, and then a whisper in tandem with a smirk.

"Rinoa just announced that you're the father of her future children."

Leon sat bolt up, hand shooting down to where his firearm would be holstered if he'd been on normal duty. Eyes wide, he looked around blearily before his gaze focused on Lightning's quivering form. A hand was at her mouth and her eyes were closed in laughter as she tried to keep the volume down.

"Nice," Leon grumbled before looking around. The car was empty, but for them. "Where did everyone go?"

"We just got here a minute ago. They went to go make sure the hotel room is safe and tap-free. We'll just stay here for the day, before we go back to Pulse for the evening." Lightning cocked her head, and a strange smile played at her lips.

Unnerved, Leon's eyes narrowed. "…What?"

"Nothing," she answered quickly, face turning as innocent as she could make it. At a continued disbelieving glare, she let out an amused huff before explaining. "Okay, it's just…you fell asleep really fast on the way here. When you fell over on me, I thought you were dying or something. I was freaking before Tifa noticed you'd just conked out." She giggled then, her arms crossing in front of her chest. "I've never seen you so relaxed before. I tried to move you back to your own seat, but you're like fifty tons of dead weight when you're asleep. So I gave up and let you have my shoulder."

Leon blinked, embarrassment threatening to flush his face.

"I…uh, sorry. I didn't really sleep last night," he started, looking away. He hated feeling that way, so…out of control. That is why he never put himself in a potentially embarrassing situation.

"Right. It's okay, I didn't mean to get you all red. I just thought it was kind of funny…" she trailed off, keeping the eye contact with her superior for several seconds of silence before she looked away. There was an awkward pause before Leon cleared his throat, scooting over to Tifa's vacated seat and pulling at the door handle.

"Well, let's regroup with the others," he said, recapturing the air of business as he snapped the door behind him shut. Lightning followed suit, falling into step as they made their way to the elevator at the end of the underground parking garage.

"Yes, sir," she uttered softly in response.


"I'm surprised there weren't any taps. It's so clean it makes me suspicious…"

Seifer was leaning against the counter of the kitchenette with his arms crossed, frowning deeply at the refrigerator as he spoke.

The team was littered throughout the spacious suite, though all were within easy hearing distance of one another. Tifa and Lightning sat at the small table in what was supposed to be a dining area, though it was a bit small for all five of them. The brunet was shuffling a deck of cards quickly and efficiently, bridging them between her hands after each sound of the cards smacking smartly against each other.

Snow had been lying on the floor of the large living room until he heard the cards being shuffled. He then picked himself up and chose instead to sit on the floor in the dining area against the legs of Tifa's chair.

"How do you do that—that thingy?" he asked Tifa, looking up at the woman next to him.

"That thingy?" she repeated with a bemused smile as she dealt the cards out between herself and Lightning.

"Yeah, that…uh, that thing you did when you shuffled the cards."

Tifa cocked her head in confusion, opening her mouth to ask again when Lightning interrupted her.

"The bridge?" she asked in a monotonous tone.

"Yeah! That."

"You can't be taught. You can watch all you like, but in the end it comes down to practice," she scoffed, flicking the light pink strands of hair behind her right shoulder.

"Who forgot to get your coffee this morning?" Snow chuckled, though he tensed himself in preparation for a fist connecting with some part of his body.

Before Lightning could respond, she heard Seifer give a loud sigh. She glanced over to see the man walking away from the kitchen and down the hallway to the master bedroom, where Leon was currently resting. Aquamarine eyes narrowed slightly as she watched him disappear behind the door.

"Lightning?"

She jumped, looking back over to Tifa's raised eyebrow.

"You get first turn," she encouraged, nodding to the cards Lightning had picked up without realizing.

"Ooh, what're you guys playing?" Snow jumped in, looking curiously between the two women's hidden hands of cards.

"Rummy."

"Oh yeah? I've never played before…"

Lightning tuned out the silly conversation between her teammates, eyes flicking back to the now-closed door Seifer had disappeared behind. As she laid down three sixes on the table, she decided she'd wait a few minutes before demanding her answers. She was originally going to wait until Leon woke from his nap, but if Seifer was waking him anyway…well, why should she wait?


Seifer shut the door behind him quietly, resting a hand against the frame to ensure it didn't sound any more than was necessary. When he turned, his gaze went first to the floor where he saw Leon's jacket strewn in the middle of the beige carpet, followed by the white shirt he'd been wearing which was resting closer to the bed. Sharp green eyes traveled then to the bed itself, where the sheets and comforter were pulled up over the lump he assumed was Leon himself.

"Leon."

"What." It wasn't a question. It was a demand.

"What happened…last night?" Seifer stalked over to the bed and dropped down on this side, feet still touching the floor. He was faced away from the man beneath the sheets, but close enough to hear his muffled answers.

"Nothing that can't wait til later to talk about. Go 'way." The brunet's speech was impaired by both blanket and sleep, but the annoyance in his tone carried through his words strong enough to make Seifer smirk.

"Well I think it's important now. It's also a good way to avoid those idiots out there…well, the one idiot anyway. The women seem competent enough."

Leon shifted, the bed trembling for a moment with his movement before he sat up, eyes bleary and a scowl on his expression. Seifer turned to meet his gaze, forcing down a smirk at the Captain's bed-rumpled hair.

"If you don't go away right now, I'll go looking for a reason to get you demoted."

Seifer whipped out a cell phone that was hidden in his pocket and snapped a quick picture of the shirtless man before him, causing Leon to blink with absolute confusion before Seifer's smirk calmed enough for speech to be possible.

"If you don't talk to me right now, I'll make sure Rinoa gets this picture of you, O Shirtless One." Pure sadism gleaned from Seifer's green eyes, and Leon knew he wasn't bluffing.

"How the fuck does everybody know about that?" Leon grumbled, flopping backwards on the bed as if his muscles were suddenly made of jelly.

Seifer leaned into the man slightly, getting into a more comfortable position. "She's my secretary. It's hard not to hear her yapping. And, knowing the way you are…" He let that trail off for a moment before clearing his throat and starting again. "Well, knowing you, you're not interested. She's never had the brains to think about subtlety before, so I'm sure you've noticed her increasing infatuation with you for yourself."

There was a lull in conversation after that, both men a little appalled at how many words the Detective had just spoken. Leon opened his mouth to say something, Seifer starting to speak at the same time.

"I—"

"Listen—"

They both cut themselves off and before one could continue, there was a knock at the door. Without waiting for an answer, it swung open, revealing none other than Lightning.

"Hey, I know you guys are…busy…"

Lightning stopped walking in abruptly, taking in the scene before her. Leon was lying on his back, without a shirt on. His clothes were thrown about on the ground, actually. His smoky eyes were wide with surprise at her intrusion, muscles tensed slightly. And Seifer, he was looking over his shoulder at her. He was seated on the edge of the bed, and had been leaning over her superior as if what they had been…talking…about was important.

Dirty thoughts aside, Lightning managed to let out only one bemused chuckle before she choked out a sentence. "Should I give you boys some more alone time?" She started stepping back, reaching blindly for the door as she covered her eyes with a hand.

Confused at Lightning's behavior, the two men looked at each other for answers. In that glance, it clicked for both of them, and dread at the woman's train of thought caused them both to charge into a flurry of action and denial.

"This is not what it looks like—"

"Why would you even think—"

"We were just talking about the op—"

"It's not like that!"

Lightning lifted a hand, chancing a glance at the two officers as though she'd actually caught them doing something obscene. "Listen, boys," she drawled pleasantly, straightening up and crossing her arms over her chest as she deemed the situation as not dangerous, "I know that there was probably nothing going on here, but man! If you saw it from my perspective, you'd both go find a bear to wrestle to prove to the world you're still man enough." She let out a laugh at the mental image before sobering up and letting the smile drop.

"I actually came here to talk to you about last night," she started, cocking her head to the side.

"What a coincidence," Seifer commented in monotonous sarcasm.

"For fuck's sake." Leon rolled over to his side, facing away from the two prying officers. "I get that you want to know, Lightning. I get that you're bored and need another victim, Seifer, really I do. But right…now…is not…a goodtime," the Captain hissed through clenched teeth, accentuating the words to add a poisonous tone to his subtle threat.

Leon was tired, it was true; however, his real motive for avoiding conversation included something a little more selfish. He didn't want to think about last night because he didn't want to think about Cloud. Cloud was beautiful and a breath of fresh air, and otherwise he would have been a wonderful thought, but the anxiety always consumed Leon when he thought about what the blonde was probably going through with Corneo at that exact moment…and that lead to the assumption Leon himself was probably the catalyst. The guilt was slowly eating him up inside, and as a technique of self-preservation, he chose to ignore the issue until he was forced to recognize it. Seifer and Lightning were making that very difficult.

"That's my brother in there, Leon! You can't expect me to just wait around all week before you decide you're ready to talk!"

"Lightning..." Seifer warned lowly, his eyebrows furrowing.

It wasn't so much their intent of getting information that got to Leon; it was the assumption that they could just waltz in and demand it from him. Suddenly all of the stress and the weight on his shoulders bore down at once, nearly choking him with responsibility and knowing that it all came down to him and his decisions. The small annoyance from Lightning became the cherry on top of his already large pile to think about, and petty reasoning or not, Leon snapped.

"Get out." It was quiet command, but it effectively silenced the other two in the room.

"Leon…" Lightning started tentatively after a moment, "I know you're tired but—"

"I said get out." He issued the command again, louder this time, trying and beginning to fail to grip the anger boiling in his blood.

Seifer stood, stepping back quietly to put distance between himself and Leon. At that point, he knew his former partner was a ticking time bomb, and there were only seconds left on the clock. He prayed internally for Lightning to remain silent until he could usher her outside.

His prayer went unanswered.

"Leon—"

"Get out!" he shouted, sitting up in a whirl of sheets and fury, his face contorted in the most intense rage Lightning had ever seen before.

Absolute wrath was the last thing Lightning saw before she was shoved out of the room by Seifer whom had followed promptly before slamming the door closed behind them.

Lightning's back was to the wall, and she slid down it slowly for lack of anything better to do. Seifer let out a snort of contempt before he grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her over to the living area, away from the hallway that led to the bedroom they'd just fled from. Ignoring the other two officers' curious and concerned expressions, Seifer all but threw Lightning to the floor, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You just have to keep pushing, don't you?"

Lightning was motionless, remaining in the position she'd landed in—legs splayed, head down.

"I'll admit, I should have backed off as soon as I saw the signs. But youyou're not here to be a team player, are you? You're here for your own selfish reasons, noble or not. You don't give a damn about what happens to the rest of us, so long as your brother gets out. Am I right?"

Lightning stayed quiet, head hanging so that her face was hidden.

"I know when to stop. I did. You either don't know him, or you just don't care when you see he's been pushed past the breaking point. This whole operation has gotten to him, and if you're gonna continue to make this hell for all of us, then we may as well give up now and go home. Stress goes hand in hand with this job and right now it's not going to take much to push him overboard, no matter how nonchalant he may seem." He paused, considering his coworker for a moment before he continued. "You wanna save your brother?"

When silence was his only response, Seifer's hand reached out and grasped Lightning's chin roughly, snapping her head up to make sure she was listening. Her cheeks were tracked with tears, her ocean-colored eyes glistening with overflowing despair. Still, Seifer forced eye contact before he continued, disregarding her emotional state.

"If you want a chance to save your brother," he grated out slowly, "then you've got to start caring about this operation and all of us involved in it. Right now you see this as the opportunity to save one kid; it's not. That's not why we're here. We're in this to bring down Don Corneo, and maybe as a result, the Honeybee Inn will be disbanded. Maybe it won't. You dragged Leon into your personal mission, and because of his damned unfailing loyalty to everyone he knows, he's going to try and help you. Why don't you take that into account before the next time you stop caring about what he's probably going through, having seen the horrors of what's going on behind the scenes there."

Tears were still flowing down Lightning's face as Seifer let go of her chin none too softly. He straightened up and walked over to the couch, reclining back and closing his eyes for a nap.

Tifa and Snow lingered between the living and dining areas awkwardly, unsure of what just happened or what they should do. Before they could decide, Lightning whispered hoarsely to whomever might be listening.

"I'm just doing what I have to." Her voice wavered, but her words were founded in strong conviction.

"Then you've condemned us all to death before we even began," Seifer answered gruffly, not bothering to open his eyes.

Lightning's chin met her chest as she fell slowly to the floor, unable to hold herself up any longer.


Soft light peered beneath fair-colored eyelashes and woke Cloud, his eyebrows scrunching at the disturbance. Silence met his ears, as was normal if the light was to be trusted; the Honeybee Inn had its main attractions when the sky grew dark and the creatures of the underworld began to prowl.

It was still odd for Cloud to think that he was one of them, willing or not.

He noticed that he lay on his back against a hard surface…wood, he figured, because of the smooth, polished texture he could feel beneath his fingertips. The wooden floors were used for the Honeybees' private chambers, and so Cloud didn't bother worrying about where he was or why he was there.

This was much what he did during the sun's reign in the sky anyhow; sleep, think, rest, pace, sleep, sleep, sleep…

From what Cloud could gather, most Honeybees were allowed to wander the hotel at their leisure, assuming, of course, that they never strayed close to the exits. Escape attempts were few and far between, and not one had ended in success. Still, many Honeybees were content, or at least willing to put up with their life as a tool of pleasure.

Cloud couldn't understand them and when he thought about it, he found that he really didn't want to.

During all of this thought the boy had remained still, letting the sun's rays warm his pale skin. Waking from sleep had always been Cloud's favorite part of the day before he was kidnapped, and so he allowed himself that one small pleasure even throughout his extended stay in the Pulsian slums.

The first waking moments of morning allowed for warm, blissful ignorance. Any problems in life became nonexistent because the warm covers and soft sheets made a cushion between dreams and reality, creating a place of muted awareness.

In the mornings previous, Cloud had let himself forget where he was during those fuzzy waking minutes and he let himself pretend that he was back in his bed in Cocoon, listening to Lightning sing to herself from the kitchen where she made breakfast. If he listened closely enough, he could even hear Serah having her secret morning greeting with her mystery boyfriend—whom he assumed she spoke to over the phone.

In the present, Cloud was smiling to himself at the memories. They were so real…that led, of course, the fact that they were indeed in the past. Before his stomach could weigh down with dread, he forced himself to think of something else. Anything would do at this point.

That led to yesterday morning-when he'd been scared out of sleep by Corneo's goons slamming the door open...because they wanted to speak with the man he was sleeping next to.

"Leon…" Cloud murmured his name softly, listening to the sound of it rolling from between his lips. The smile that had begun to falter was renewed, and shone even more brightly than before at the thought. The day before, when they were about to leave Cloud's room to reconvene with The Don in the business room, the blonde had stopped his guest as he reached out to slide the door open.

"Tell me your real name," Cloud whispered, his hand tugging at the leather of the officer's jacket.

"Why is that important?" he'd asked, though Cloud could tell through his tone that he wasn't really bothered by the question.

"So I can thank you when this is over."

The man had paused then, eyes darting away from Cloud's as though he were suddenly uncomfortable. Cloud cocked his head, waiting for an answer.

"...There's no thanks required. I really am just doing my job," he'd started slowly, his eyes trailing back to the blonde's. At a raised eyebrow, he continued with a sigh of defeat.

"It's Leon."

Leon was…interesting. Before Cloud could delve into the finer details of the officer's personality, he was always amazed at how attractive he was. Masculine, toned physique, not to mention his face…absolutely gorgeous. And his eyes! It was so rare to find anybody with truly gray eyes, though he supposed there was a hint of blue when you looked at them in the right light…

The corner of Cloud's lips twisted when he realized he was gushing like a schoolgirl in his mind. The smile stayed, however, and he couldn't bring himself to feel too much shame. Forms of amusement were few and far between, and so long as Leon didn't find out (and since he wasn't a mind reader that was unlikely) Cloud figured it couldn't hurt to daydream a little longer.

Physical attraction certainly calls the initial attention, but it's the personality traits that keeps a person hooked. Leon really cared about him, callous though he tried to seem. Cloud could see in his eyes that the man wanted to help him. He'd gone as far as telling him their whole plan to gain the blonde's trust. And trust him he did, in only a matter of minutes…

Cloud blushed suddenly at the thought of the act they'd put on to fool the guards. Oh man, how was he ever going to face the man again when that scene was promising to play again and again in his head whenever he thought about him?

Enough was enough, the blonde decided, shaking his head to wake himself even more. Time to get up for a while.

As soon as he moved to sit up, he yelled out in pain and immediately his body went limp while he tried to deal with this unexpected burning sensation. The location seemed to be located on the juncture between his left shoulder and pectoral region, where the muscle and tissue connected his arm to the rest of his body.

Cloud was panting as the leftover pangs continued to hit him sporadically, his teeth clenching with a grunt as he endured the extremely unpleasant sensation. Finally, when the worst seemed to be over, Cloud strained his neck to look down at the offended area with a confused frown.

The skin there was white and raised in angry blotches. From his angle, he couldn't tell what was wrong with it, or what it even was; all he knew was that it hurt.

Thinking back to the evening before, he remembered fearing to leave the safety of both Leon and Lightning's presence, going with Corneo, cowering against the wall, the brand shooting toward him… Cloud set his jaw then, forcing himself to get to his feet while holding his arm to his body to prevent as much movement as possible. He situated himself in front of a mirror on his wall, absently noticing the skirts that continued to adorn his thighs as he studied the mark on his left pectoral.

It was the same symmetrical image he'd seen on the end of the brand; a wolf's head, with a ring hanging from its mouth. The image was a little distorted by the swelling of his skin, and it had been pressed slightly askew into his body so that the top of the wolf's head wasn't parallel with the line of his shoulder, but it was definitely the same image.

Cloud was branded now, like the property he had become. The thought caused a sour taste in his mouth, and he chose instead to think about the coming night. When he'd woken, the sun had already begun its descent to the horizon; evening was quickly becoming night, and soon he'd have to face Corneo again.

Of course, that also meant he got to see his sister and Leon again as well.

It was a warming thought, and Cloud shifted slightly so that he was sitting on the floor with his legs folded beside him. The change in position caused a small tinkling noise that drew Cloud from his thoughts of comfort with a frown. He looked down and saw a small silver key on the floor, and he reached out for it with his right hand.

He brought the key up to his face and studied it with his blue eyes before he remembered what it was—the key to Corneo's video and drug collection. After he remembered that detail he remembered The Don's plans to give him to Griever—to Leon.

Cloud smiled then, still holding the key up to his face. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all.


A/N: Oh my. Two months sure pass by quickly don't they? Heheh…

Well, we're getting there! Soon things will happen that I've been planning since this story's infancy, when it was but a wee little outline…haha! I'm excited, and I hope those of you who are sticking with me are excited too! 8D

Oh…I forgot to mention, this chapter is UN-BETA'D, so all mistakes are on me this time! My beta is currently having life happen, so I figured I'd give her a break and read this one through myself. And I could have gone though the trouble of finding someone else and waiting for them to get around to it and postponing the posting of this chapter and making you guys wait even longer, but I didn't. Cause I care about you. Doesn't that just give you warm fuzzies that your lovely author cares about you like that? *is shot*

Haha, well I hope you all enjoyed, and we're soon coming to the climax of the first part of this story! Woohoo, celebration time!

Thank you to all of you who've reviewed, favorited and alerted this story thus far! Not a week goes by that I don't get something from FFnet about this story, and I'm so grateful that you think it's good enough to praise in such a way! Really, I'm smiling so big right now!

PS, how do you guys like the lines as scene changers? I think it's nifty. 8D

Love and stuff!