A Kiss of Black and White

By Momonster

Fandom: Post-Kingdom Hearts II
Pairings: Past Seph/Zack/Cloud, Past Squall/Rinoa, Present CLC
Warnings: Crazy DF!Rinoa, Momo's insanity, Seph's hotness, and Zack's utter nonsense making.
Oh, blood and guts and a spine being broken in two and general ew-ness
Rating: M
Summary: That kiss hurt more than it should have.

Dedicated to Panda-Hiroko!

Aerith was already at Cloud's side, forcing Curaga after Curaga into his body.

I knelt on Cloud's other side, fighting not to look down at Cloud's exposed spine; to listen to the wet sounds of his heart beating, lungs fighting to suck in air.

I held out a hand, Aerith took it instantly and we both let our palms hover over his back, the both of us casting Curaja.

Cloud seemed to jerk once with a wet gasp, and we did it again, not saying a word when Zell's hands joined us then Yuffie, Cid, Quistis and Irvine joined the circle, all of us lacing energy together.

Three Curaja's later Cloud's back was whole again, no bits of still moving organ and twitching bone visible to the eye.

Although he remained motionless he was breathing evenly and I near fell back over, letting out a gasp of relief.

"So this is lover boy, huh?" Irvine commented. "You probably bottom, don't'cha?"

I almost got back up just to punch the wannabe cowboy, when Rinoa's shout echoed around us, echoed by an explosion.

An explosion that sounded a lot like Apocalypse.

Sephiroth's body hitting the ground moments later, limbs smoking red and black fire, had us all turning to Rinoa in shock as she floated down to the ground, a single gold glowing hand raised.

"Well shit." Zell muttered as Rinoa's hand began to glow a violent red. "She's gone Berserk Angel Sorceress on us."

Rinoa didn't even give us all a chance to react as she let a Flare fly, the attack landing to hover between all of us.

I stared at the deceptively small orb of energy, and could only breath the single word on my mind. "Shit."

The Flare exploded inches over Cloud's back, throwing everyone away from Cloud's body while Rinoa walked over to him, golden eyes locked on me.

"This is why you won't return, isn't it?" stopped with her feet on either side of Cloud's waist. "Refusing me for this disgusting mash of science and man. How pathetic." Rinoa took to the air, hovering barely a foot over Cloud's body. "He's not even purely human."

Then Cloud moved. "Human or not." Cloud said hoarsely, using his arms to push himself upright. "I never give up no matter the circumstances." He stumbled onto his feet - the Curaja worked to fix his spine, thank Hyne - one hand curled around his belly. "I'm just much too stubborn for that. But you did." Blue green eyes were bright while Rinoa floated above him in the air. "Who is more human out of the two of us, Sorceress?"

Rinoa cast Pain.

Cloud stumbled a bit as the attack hit him, making a soft sound of confusion and agony but didn't fall, merely glaring at the woman, and Rinoa raised a hand, pointed to Cloud, and then arched the finger back towards herself.

That chain that had been used on me appeared again, this time wrapping itself around Cloud's neck, dragging him towards her.

Hoisted into the air, Rinoa stared at Cloud for a few moments, more chains latching onto Cloud's arms, pulling them away from his neck.

"Show me them." She commanded suddenly, a single beat of her wings leveling her with Cloud's trapped body. "Let me see those wings again." Gold brown eyes flashed. "Wings. Like a man such as you deserves such beautiful wings, when wings only belong to power-!"

I shook my head, forcing my body to move, but it was near worthless. All my magical energy was spent after healing Cloud, and my body bashed by that Flare left me unable to do a damn thing.

I hate this.

Cloud didn't say a word, merely turning his head slowly, looking down at Sephiroth. The silver haired man was upright again, lifting silver green eyes to lock them on Cloud.

They didn't have to say a word.

Then from the man's back his wing appeared once more, and the large man leapt into the air, Masamune aimed for Rinoa.

Rinoa easily dodged the attack, leaping back in midair before pressing both hands onto Sephiroth's shoulders, enveloping him in a silver light.

I caught a glimpse of a cupid like creature at Sephiroth's back, right before they both vanished.

She'd…just absorbed him like Ultimecia once did during the Time Compression.

I stared dumbfounded while everyone else cried out in alarm.

That's right through.

Ultimecia gave her powers to Edea, and Edea gave them to Rinoa.

Rinoa has the powers of three separate Sorceresses; Ulitmecia, Adel, and the Sorceress who first gave her powers to Edea.

No wonder she's gone as she did.

I managed to get onto my knees, pressing a Curaga into my chest.

I can't let them fight like this. Not after everything everyone's gone through. We've been fighting for nearly an hour, and Rinoa's fresh, for all the injuries she's gained at Cloud and Sephiroth's blades.

Cloud's wings appeared as Sephiroth vanished, and the blond leapt over Rinoa's body, and ripped one of her wings out, tossing it to the ground as the woman screamed.

"These are too pretty for you." He snarled, grabbing onto her wrist while ripping the other out. "And Sephiroth belongs to me. Give him back."

Dangling from Cloud's hand, Rinoa laughed at him.

"That man is gone. He's lost to time!"

Cloud smirked. "You don't seem to understand just what Sephiroth is." He lifted Rinoa up, glaring at her. "Sephiroth is a physical manifestation of the Darkness inside me; his consciousness controls the Darkness, stopping it from overwhelming my mind. Without him-" Cloud let out a grin that was more like a Heartless then a man. "It's harder to hold back."

Rinoa held up a hand, flicking her fingers, and a Thundaga erupted from her palm, the pure power of the attack forcing her to the ground and Cloud farther into the air.

Wingless, Rinoa flipped once in the air, landed lightly on her feet, hand filled with bright blue light.

For the first time since our bond was established I took hold of the power I've held over her magic and twisted it, physically grabbing onto her wrist and forcing her to release the spell before she could charge it in full.

Brown gold eyes glared at me. "Squall…"

I jerked her towards me, whispering into her ear. "You gave me power over you as your Knight, Rinoa. It's too late to hold you back from the edge Edea warned us about, but I can stop you from doing something we all will regret."

"Regret!" Rinoa snapped out. "I regret nothing but thinking you were dear enough to me to travel the worlds for! This has been nothing but a waste of my time." she scowled fiercely. "I regret thinking you loved me enough to wait for me to return to you!"

I continued to stare at her, and then spun her about when I felt more power flaring in her.

Then right before my eyes a portal appeared in the air between us, releasing dozens of black and red blades.

Ultimecia's Knight's Blade attack.

I let her go and ducked out of the way, watching helplessly as she directed the space spell towards the others.

Only for Cloud to appear between them and her, Tsurugi spinning in a deadly arc that had her attack deflected back at her.

Rinoa merely summoned another portal and let them fly right back in.

Rinoa didn't even give anyone a second to recover, a small ball of light appearing in the palm of her hand.

Shockwave Pulsar.

Fuck!

I jumped out the way, gasping when all Cloud did was sent Ultima at Rinoa, the two attacks meeting in midair.

Shockwave Pulsar is over three times stronger than Ultima, and with Rinoa the way she is, the spell is already boosted times at least five.

But…despite the over powered attack, the Ultima almost seemed to be…absorbing Shockwave Pulsar.

Rinoa focused on her attack, forcing more and more power into it-

And didn't see Cloud behind her until he'd drawn a line of blood from her shoulder to hip, then kicked her forward, forcing her into her own attack.

I winced.

"Squall." I turned, Quistis falling to her knees the moment she'd gotten close enough. "Back at Gaea, the doctor had managed to create a medicine to help stabilize Sorceress who had no Knight. Rinoa had been taking this, and we had all thought she was under control. I guess not. Either the medicine came too late, or she wasn't taking it." Quistis held up a needle. "For uncontrollable Sorceress, this was created. It cuts off their power for a time."

I took it, watching the thick purple liquid shake.

"You'll need to hit a major vein, or her backlash could destroy everything."

Rinoa appeared from the Shockwave Pulsar, golden eyes furious.

"You would turn my own attack against me."

Cloud grinned.

But at his feet a familiar spell circle appeared. Cloud glanced down, and then shot Rinoa a look while she began to float, both hands spread wide.

"Try to get away from this then. Apocalypse."

The ground exploded.

While Rinoa floated back to the ground I broke into a run, grabbing her around the arms with one arm, thumbing the plastic off of the needle with the other.

"How far have you fallen?" I muttered into her neck. "To be using Ultimecia's attacks like this?"

"They are mine now, and demand to be used against a foe worthy of them." Rinoa said calmly. "Are you going to try to fight me too, Leon?"

I stabbed her neck with the needle, quickly injecting her with the solution. "Will I need to?"

Golden eyes went wide as she spun about, latching onto my neck before I could jerk back, squeezing with everything she had. "Betrayal." She hissed, even as the gold started to flicker from her eyes. Then her hands went white hot. "I will not forget this, Leon I-" Her grip eased as she dropped to the ground, and I stumbled back, a hand to my neck while I gasped.

She was about to cast something with her hands wrapped around my neck.

But it was over.

I turned while Quistis examined Rinoa where she lay, and turned, smile dropping from my face when I caught sight of Cloud.

He…darkness was dripping from his wounds from Rinoa's magic injured him,

"Cloud!"

"You don't wanna to get any closer." An unfamiliar voice told me, and I paused as a hand appeared in my face.

One second there was nothing. Then the hand, large and unfamilar, covered with a black glove. Then the body the hand belonged to appeared inches from where I stood, making me jerk back, staring into violet blue eyes.

The man was tall, easily taller than Sephiroth even with black hair that reminded me of Cloud's but more controlled.

And he wore a uniform eerily similar to Cloud's when I first met him.

"Who are you?"

The man let out a bright grin. "Zack Fair at your service." He said with a bow. "And before you ask, yea I'm dead." He smirked a bit. "While Seph is the controller of Cloud's Darkness, I get to hug up on the Light." Zack's smile went supernova, but then turned slightly, shooting Cloud a worried glance. "Cloudy here had my hands tied, even though he didn't know it at the time, and I only was able to help him get things back in order when Seph wasn't around to fuck everything up again."

Fair's smile went dark. "Now that Seph's consciousness has left him, Cloud has to get his Darkness under control on his own. All I can do is keep his Light in check, and make sure no one distracts him."

"...I can't help?"

Fair leveled a sympathetic smile my way. "You would make the Light increase, and Cloud has to make both Light and Darkness equal. You'd tip the scale, as well as myself. He has to do this alone, a fuck up could change him drastically, or destroy him from the inside out."

I shuddered. "I don't want to just stand here and watch him suffer."

Fair flicked a finger behind me, and turned to see Rinoa walking up. "You could always kill the Sorceress." I flinched. "But Squall doesn't want you to. Think you can control her with your Knight link? Until she learns a way to break it. A Sorceress gone evil rarely turn back. Being evil is too much fun." Zack turned from Rinoa as the woman let out a pitiful sounding moan.

"Remember you are a Commander just like Cloud is. Take care of the brain, and then worry about the heart."

I sighed deeply, letting the ice settle back. "Thanks." I nodded once, and then turned to the others.