Across the forest, a large white wolf was moving in and out of trees a high speed looking like a true spirit of the forest. Glowing sapphire eyes looked to and fro as the large headed beast moved over crushed leaves covered in light snow flurry. The scent that its snout was chasing was becoming stale with the cool air and time was of the essence. There was an urgency to the movement as the muscles bunched and fired here and there. The wolf skid to a halt as it came across the remains of a battle and carnage. There was the tang of blood…his blood on the air. With a snort, the wolf turned and bound off in direction in which it was the strongest. Again, the wolf stopped as it came to the edge of a town. The scent of blood still ran heavy and seemed to permeate from one of the houses just up ahead. The Dire wolf moved from paw to paw in a nervous gesture as if unsure of what to do but clearly needing to get to the source of the blood in the air.
Aerith had retired from Zachary's room to allow Tifa more time with him and had taken that opportunity to make lunch for the group. It was apparent that is eyes were all for her and she was fine with that. She had had a sneaking suspicion that he had feelings for her outside of just "friendship" as his eyes were very expressive in both forms as they both now had gotten over the initial shock. As she prepared the last sandwich and glass of lemonade when there was a knock on the door. She didn't think it would be Angeal as she was certain the man would have gone off looking for Sephiroth after they had left, his secret wasn't so secret either when it came to those two. She didn't think anyone could have needed her unless it was for the floral shop but she didn't fuss she simply washed her hands and dried them quickly and went to answer the door. She was met with a peculiar, yet provocative sight at the door. There, on the stoop, stood a male no taller than about 5'8 in height with wildly spiked hair in chocobo blonde yellow with piercing sapphire eyes. He carried a strange air around him as well as Zachary and Sephiroth did and she wouldn't be shock to find that he was Fae either.
"Where is he?" the male said in their signature accent in a soft, low tenor while looking straight on into Aerith's face but after while couldn't hold her emerald gaze. He shuffled from leg to leg on the porch and rubbed against his neck in a very Zach manner. He had to keep his cool. He couldn't come straight out and say hey by the way I tracked my brother's blood scent here, I know you have him, I'm worried. Oh, and by the way I am a Fae. Well Shit. How was he even supposed to explain how he got here, to her door specifically looking for Zachary. He crossed his arms and began to flush, out of frustration or something else, it was uncertain but he knew he wouldn't be able to meet those eyes again. He began to angst.
"Sorry for being gruff. Look... I've been looking for my brother...door to door. I think... he's been hurt. He's been gone from our home for some, um-" he thought about what humans called sun-moon cycles. "…Days. He's been gone for about four days. I cannot even reach our mutual… friend Sephiroth to ask if he has saw him. This is not like him or Sephiroth and I am worried" he said at length while still looking down, still unable to look the human woman in the face.
Aerith mentally pieced together that, yes, this indeed was a Fae and if Zach's description was correct, this was Cloud, his fraternal twin brother. They were like night and day. Aerith shook herself from her internal musings and invited the man in at length.
He was a pretty little fellow If it hadn't been for his stout and muscular nature, his effeminate facial features would have had him come off as a female. He had done much like Zach had did initially by hiding all the telltale signs of him being a Fae though his brother had already told on him. Aerith led the way to Zach's room as Cloud's eyes were on everything in the house, taking in every detail and then settling back on the form in front of him as it swayed back and forth. This caused him to blush more furiously and he could feel it.
Aerith moved aside once the door was opened so that Cloud could enter the strange room inside the overall domicile. He saw a woman speaking very lively with hair as dark as Zach's on what looked like a tall pile of furs.
Zach immediately turned to Cloud as he entered the room, instinctively feeling his twin's energy.
For how inconspicuous Cloud was, desperate to blend in even as his nerves were frayed with his first time being around humans, Zachary laid on the bed completely revealed to these human women, which caused his mouth to hang open slightly in dismay and confusion. Sephiroth would kill Zachary for certain and if not Sephiroth, Sovereign Chancellor Vincent or Chaos would. He'd always knew that his lack of commonsense would tear them apart.
Zach could read the incredulous look on Cloud's face and he faltered a bit in his smile, looking wounded and the female closest to him looked at his face and then to the newcomer, somehow feeling protective of Zach.
It hadn't been his fault this time honestly.
The dark-haired female vaulted off the bed and front of the other brother with both hands on her hips staring up into his face with as much disappointment as Cloud himself had been giving to Zach. Zach looked at the two sizing each other up, Aerith covering her mouth to not blatantly laugh as she didn't know how hair triggered the newcomer was, and Zachary lost it for them both in peals of laughter, instantly lightening the room's atmosphere.
Back across town in Angeal's living room sat Sephiroth and Angeal on one of the couches as Vincent had perched on the very edge of his across from them, offered teacup complete with tea dangling precariously from between the index finger and thumb of his clawed gauntlet hand, as he stared directly straight on at Angeal. The man thought he would melt into the cushions of the sofa but he did have Sephiroth by his side and that marginally made his father less…scary.
Vincent already had known how Angeal's heart condition was. He was aware his very being could incite fear, there was no help for that and the man would have to deal with it if was to have any of his respect. He stared at him for a few tenser moments before he noticed that Sephiroth's energy pulsed, causing him to look directly at his son instead where he could see that Sephiroth was less than amused by his intimidation tactics but allowed for it since he knew that it was their way to test if someone was worthy. Sephiroth was no mere subject as he often forgot…but the King and with it the mate would have responsibilities to the realm as well. It mattered not if Angeal was human.
"You have taken my son and mated him. What are your intentions now that you have had his flesh?" Vincent said, not mincing words finally after the long stare down, his low and deep timbre of voice filling every nook and cranny of that little establishment and Angeal sat up straighter looking at the man…the God eye to eye.
Sephiroth lightly blushed but his face remained impassive as he knew this conversation was for Angeal and Angeal alone with his father.
"I…have. I intend to keep him by my side as my true mate. I remember our shared history…and his heartache. I am a man of honor. I would never cast him aside after this as I gave him every option to walk away from me as a gentleman because of our…differences" Angeal said at length.
"So, you know of his nature, of his true power. He outranks you and many other because of how he was bred. He surpasses all in leaps and bounds and not in just in matters of the flesh, human" Vincent said focusing that glowing carmine gaze directly on Angeal looking for a hint of anger or jealousy from his taunting words.
"I agree, Sovereign" Angeal said at length with a look of confused happiness on his face when he took one of Sephiroth's hands into his own while looking at the man next to him but continuing to speak to Vincent. Vincent did raise an eyebrow at the proper title used for him and allowed him to continue.
"I also don't know what brought him to me. I am, as you said a human. I will cause him more pain in the long run than joy, seeing me age rapidly as he barely changes a year. Our memories will be severely eclipsed by my limitations because I am not even Fae… I know that I love him, have loved him since we truly talked began knowing each other. I hate that I have taken his heart but I will also uphold his honor and his affections and not question it either. If he will have me, then that is good enough. If I must work to prove myself, I will do that to with the limited strength that I have for the Goddess and her Scion Lady Lucrecia, that had always been my bond" Angeal said, bending to kiss the top of one of Sephiroth's pale, long fingered hands.
Vincent at length sat back on the strange furniture ruminating on the information given by the man, and even took a cautious sip of the "tea", finding that it was much like the draught that Cid, his friend drank all the time. He still needed to address what his boys were up to after he had dealt with his own.
"It will be difficult as all will not welcome you due to our histories with each other" Vincent said, leaving the sentence unfinished after laying dainty cup down on the small table before him and crossing his arms again. He could see the man seemed forthright, he just would have a hard way to go. He had to admit though seeing his son genuinely happy was wonderful though. He knew Sephiroth could balance life and role easily once he was used to it too. He turned his attention to Sephiroth and spoke this time.
"Sephiroth, once you have mended with your brother, you will both come to the castle to officially bound to each other. While Angeal you will never obtain some of the aspects that bonding Fae to Fae would yield, you would be stronger as Sephiroth's strength would be lend to you via your bond. You would see your agility and overall handling differ greatly as the Lifestream would connect to you as another, lesser creature of it" Vincent explained.
They spoke in length of Angeal's history and what he'd remembered from that day eight years prior. Vincent's hardened as he spoke on the subject. Angeal thought he had offended but he realized much like Sephiroth, once you got past their unique eye colors, their emotions were held there very raw to see. Vincent had been a man still grieving for his family and most likely would for the rest of his unending existence.
After all was said Sephiroth decided that he would indeed return to the castle this day with his father to attempt to work on things with Yazoo though it pained him to be away from Angeal so soon. He also knew he had to get back to being the King that he had been, not some doe-eyed, love sick simpleton as attack could come at any time and he still meant to have his revenge. Before Vincent followed Sephiroth, he turned to Angeal.
"Sephiroth is…unique. With Fae men, if the circumstances arise, especially in royalty, a male can produce an heir. While I do not believe that this will happen because you are human and he Fae, there is always a probability. Should that arise, you must truly see after him as if he were your own. After things are settled, you will be asked to reside in the castle. There are…things I must handle first" Vincent said, "things" being Chaos's volatile personality and undoubtedly his response to this new revelation. He will need to ensure his "son-in-law" as humans call it, is kept alive. With that, that perpetually moving crimson fluttered again and both men were on their way through the forest away from Angeal's home.
To say that Angeal was a little shocked by Vincent's revelation was an understatement but at the same time due to who they were talking about, in the deepest recesses of his heart, he wished for a miracle even if it was a rarity.
Back across town Cloud sat on the carpet in his wolf form. This time instead of the freak out that Aerith had before she tentatively moved towards the wolf and she rubbed along the sleek white fur. Cloud had no idea how he allowed Zach to talk him into these things. They were both dead men. They were both dead men marked by their own best friend. They were dead virginal men marked by their best childhood friend, their King, Sephiroth who was also the child of a God. He didn't want to die a virgin. Something about this female stroking his fur in his form felt…good, felt safe. The dark haired one had squared off with him, willing to protect Zach despite not knowing his true strength or his intentions. He could have killed her in an instant. Yet, the fact that she was willing to stand up for his brother stayed his hand and allow her to speak her peace. Zachary had killed those wolves and he had been wounded badly which is why his blood was on the air. The one found in the square when Cloud did transform, had been put down by the girl, Ti-fa, with her fist and feet alone. She was a warrior and somehow Cloud respected her more for that as well when she protected his brother when he'd passed out. They'd brought him back, in humanoid form none the wiser that he was Fae and in him healing he'd transformed. It just so happened that the girl was from these parts and it didn't' bother her to be in the presence of a Dire wolf, let alone one three times larger than the average one.
He liked her tenacity.
It hadn't been his brother's fault he'd transformed. Why the seven hells had he revealed his form to them then? One pretty face and he was just putty in the one that wore pink's hands? This was foolish. This seriously was Zachary level-one crazy. They wanted to see their similarities outside of just their elfin looks they said. Why did he comply so easily? Something about both of the women was calming. It was more than apparent that there was more going on between Zach and Tifa-it was a type of energy that charged the air...and hormones that saturated his nose. His brother was broadcasting his want so strongly is was cloying and he wanted to slap him upside his head for his silly puppy love of this human woman. That was it was apparent it seemed that it was mutual, even if it wasn't quite as heavily perfumed in the air.
Cloud was a gentleman. He would never let her know he could deduce her emotions for his brother by his fine honed smell through his petite nostrils. So, what did that say for him and his own issues his body put up for the frail young female in pink currently stroking his white fur? She was so small and smelled of their original home-of sun and flowers, of life. Her eyes were as vivid in color as any Fae he'd ever met and it confused him just how much sway they had on him. He had been so in thrall that he had completely laid upon the carpeted floor, the girl still running her fingers through his fur and him resting his head on his front paws, eyes half-mast as he thought about how this was all wrong but so right at the same time.
Zach and Tifa's own conversation had come to a lull and they contented themselves looking over at Aerith's response to Cloud and he to her. They snickered at each other with a knowing smile. After a time, Cloud came back to himself and reverted to his elfin form, him wearing a perpetual blush for his behavior as they all talked about the best action to take now.
Zach had resolved he wanted to have Tifa meet his father, regardless of her being human. He'd beaten around the bush so to speak long enough and he was going to take this move. Aerith stated she would come for support for Tifa...and that she wanted to get to know Cloud better.
Cloud's head shot up at the implication but he didn't say one word to refute the woman. So, with that, they all decided to set out for the wolf Fae's den.