AN ;; well well, it seems everyone wants to bed poor Cloud. Please note this is not a Sephiroth x Zack fanfiction. I do not revel in that pairing whatsoever. It focuses on the pairings of Cloud x Seph, Cloud x Zack, and somewhat of Angeal x Genesis. So far Angeal and Genesis do have this 'thing' for one another, but I'm not throwing dozens of pairings into this story. I'm definitely not pairing Vincent and Yuffie. One, she'll be around 9 in this story, and two, he's nearly 50 years old! I don't revel in lolicon whatsoever, plus this is a YAOI based story, so yeah. For now we have Cloud and Sephiroth's first meeting.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lime green eyes glistening with some sort of cruel amusement, the general stood fully draped in his battle armour, long locks of silver still stained with dried scarlet blood. The black leather shining beneath the artificial lights of the hallway, Sephiroth stood awaiting entrance to Angeal Hewley and his apprentice, Zackary Fair's, small apartment on the twenty first floor of the ShinRa Midgar facility. His sword, the legendary Masamune, lay sheathed in it's hilt to his side, one gloved black hand on the pommel of the blade. Running those inhuman eyes up and down the blonde cadet standing before him, Sephiroth felt a small smirk pull at his lips. The picture Genesis had sent him certainly did not do justice to the full beauty of the fifteen year old, who seemed neither scared nor overjoyed to see him. Rather, those sapphire eyes were wide and filled with some sort of uncloaked loathing for him. Sephiroth found it very interesting indeed.
"May I come in?" still smiling simply, he awaited the cadet to scuffle to the side so he could pass. However cadet Cloud Strife seemed firmly glued in place, his arms trembling ever so slightly. Sephiroth made no movement to push his way through, his eyes firmly locked on to the cadet's. For one so young, Strife's eyes were certainly hardened from what could only be described as what appeared to be a thousand years of turmoil. Despite the obvious innocent appearance of the boy, he seemed incredibly battle worn. The slight slouch he possessed, clearly from the wound he had received during the spar with Genesis a few days ago, only made Strife appear all the more vulnerable.
Sephiroth was not interested, however, in some timid cadet who enjoyed glaring at his superiors. He was about to threaten the cadet with some deliciously worded warning when Zack shuffled in front of the blonde, tugging him out of the way.
"Sephiroth." Zack stated, an unusually plain form of greeting. Usually the raven haired second class would attempt to embrace him in some sort of strange hug, to which the general would either easily dodge or would leave Zack crippled temporarily on the floor. Instead his eyes were filled with concern for the blonde cadet, who no longer stared at him, instead his glare was focused on the floor.
"Zackary." Sephiroth nodded as he entered the apartment, feeling somewhat like a vampire being granted entrance to the maiden's home. But the only one who acted like a prepubescent school girl was the one crimson cloaked commander who purred upon noticing his arrival.
"General, so good for you to join us." Genesis was mischievously drumming his fingers against each other, leaning back on the couch in the room facing the entrance. Sephiroth approached him, not taking his hand away from the blade handle he clutched.
"I did not wish to refuse Angeal's hospitality." Sephiroth replied in his usual solemn tone. It was not that he did not have emotions, he simply did not see the need to put any into simple words.
Much to the contrast of one near always emotional Zackary Fair. The blonde haired cadet had gone limp in his arms once more, Zack's embrace holding him steady, murmuring something in his ear. Sephiroth turned his gaze back to the scene and raised an eyebrow.
"Should the cadet not be in the infirmary?" he did not take his gaze away from Strife, "from what you told me, Genesis, he was quite badly wounded."
Genesis simply continued to watch the interaction between the two.
"Strife seems to possess mako in his blood, the bones were healed within days." he informed, noticing the sudden pique in the general's curiosity.
"A cadet with mako?" he murmured, Strife's hard, sapphire eyes turning to face him when he snapped out of the trance Zack had around him. Sephiroth smiled slightly when the hate swirling in those mako pool eyes did not vanquish upon glimpsing him once more.
The crimson commander watched the unfolding scenario with great delight. Sephiroth was clearly interested, despite his stoic behaviour. Cloud however seemed even more hateful towards the General than he had seemed when they had first met. His eyes were locked onto the General's with no trace of a retreat happening soon. Genesis mused as the two stared on at each other, analysing one another, neither refusing to break their glare. He glanced at Angeal, who stood in the kitchen watching the interaction with equal confusion and concern. Sephiroth had never been this affected by a mere cadet. Genesis decided that the way Cloud neither cowered in terror, nor fell to his knees in appraisal, simply made the game much, much more interesting.
However the staring match was cut short when Zack moved in front of Cloud's view, turning his stare to himself rather than the latter. Genesis pouted. The twenty year old was starting to become a nuisance. How was he supposed to do this if at every opportunity Zack Fair swooped in on the cadet, who seemed equally interested in the second class as he was in the youth. He audibly growled, catching Sephiroth's interest.
"Something the matter, Genesis?" the general seemed nonchalant about the entire affair. Genesis could have thrown him out the window, if he wasn't sure of the fact he would be dragged out after him.
"The arrow has left, the bow of the goddess." he murmured simply, when Zack turned to the rest of them, Strife's eyes facing the doorway rather than the other inhabitants of the room.
"'Geal, I'm gonna take Cloud back to the dorms." Zack informed his mentor, who held a bowl in his hands.
"You've barely eaten anything." he pointed out the untouched plates on the table.
Zack waved his hands in the air.
"I'm sure Seph will have my share. Cloud's just feeling a bit sick. I'll be back later, yeah?" he opened the door and the blonde cadet shuffled out, seeming as though his legs had become solid granite.
Angeal frowned as Zack left the room, Genesis leaning over the table towards the black leathered General who continued to stare at the empty space where Cloud Strife had been.
"So?"
"…What do you want me to say?" Sephiroth turned those feline eyes to the commander, who continued to lean over the table, a large grin growing on his lips.
"You like him." he declared. Sephiroth had clearly, most definitely been affected by this meeting with the cadet. Genesis felt victorious. No one he had ever tried to get the General with had made the silver hair even bat an eyelid. But the way his gaze kept lingering on where Strife had been stood… was most delightful to the entertained commander.
"…Genesis, I have no interest in cadets." Sephiroth's reply seemed wavered, as though he did not know what to respond. So emotionally detached. Genesis raised his eyebrows expectantly, awaiting more, "No, Genesis."
"Yes, Sephiroth." he leaned back, getting into a more comfortable position on the couch, his boots still on.
"Shoes off my furniture." Angeal muttered as he tapped Genesis' legs.
Genesis raised his legs to allow Angeal to sit, then placed them back down, onto Angeal's lap. Angeal frowned considerably as Genesis purred.
"Take my shoes off for me, beloved."
Angeal promptly threw Genesis off the sofa and onto the floor. Sephiroth smiled lightly at the two twenty three year olds as they glared at each other, Genesis begging to be allowed back on the sofa, while Angeal made it perfectly clear he was sick of the crimson commander using his furniture as a matt to clean his boots.
"I see nothing has changed here." the General commented partially to himself as he examined the food before him. SOLDIERS required to eat daily and near constantly due to the mako in their systems burning off near all calories the took in. However, he did not enjoy eating in public and so had spent little to no time eating during his month in Wutai. He unclipped the straps of his jacket and leaned forward, filling a plate with food as his two younger friends turned back to him.
"How was your time in Wutai?" Angeal was the first to reply with the question, Genesis climbing back to his feet and skulking around the furniture towards Sephiroth. The General paid no attention to Genesis as he suddenly draped his arms around him, purring delightfully in his ear as he ran his wet tongue across his ear lobe.
"Did you meet anyone I should know about, Sephy?" the commander jested, making sure to keep his eyes on Angeal at all times.
Angeal simply turned his eyes away, ignoring Genesis' attempts to make him envious. Genesis silently huffed as Sephiroth ignored his question.
"It was…pleasant." he murmured, while Genesis noticed his lime green eyes still trailing back to where cadet Strife had been. He released the General with a loud sigh and made his way towards the door. "I brought you chocolate, Genesis."
Genesis stopped abruptly a few feet from the door, that signature grin building in size upon his lips.
"And my Wutaian seaweed?"
"Tseng advised against it. Apparently they would not allow me cross the borders with that."
Genesis turned and leapt through the air full speed onto ShinRa's general, wrapping his arms around him tightly and kissing his neck. Sephiroth sat motionless as Angeal slapped a hand onto his forehead, audibly groaning.
Zack did not take Cloud back to the dormitories, however. Marching him single file through the ShinRa facility, they did not slow the pace when they exited the building and into the darkness of the dimly lit streets. The second class pulled him along after him as they boarded the sector eight train, Zack visibly frustrated. Cloud said nothing, still in shock from having been only a few feet away from the general. Those eyes, that smile… He shook his head, running his hands over his face and into the depths of his blonde hair. No, don't let him get inside your head again. He sat on an empty seat as Zack padded back and forth in the walkway, ignoring the grunts coming from the civilians as he did so, his heavy boots clattering against the metal as he marched. He eventually let out an exasperated sigh, loud enough to sound like the train breaks themselves, and flopped down on the seat next to Cloud. Keeping his hair in front of his eyes, Cloud suddenly wished he was invisible.
An admitted asthenophobiac, to act in such a way in front of the General, the one enemy he had never regretted killing… was disgraceful. Repulsive. Disgusting. Zack must think he was nothing more than some terrified cadet now. He had completely shut down, seeing nothing but the leering monster of whom had torn his world apart. Murderer. Cloud glanced at the raven haired man beside him, wondering what Zack was thinking. Did the idea of time travel really seem that absurd when they lived in a world filled with monsters and a sickly blue liquid created from the souls of the dead?
"Please believe me." he murmured, but received no response from the second class SOLDIER, who continued to look the other way from him, as though he was ashamed to be seen with him.
Where was he taking him? Was he escorting him out of Midgar, to throw him out of the SOLDIER programme? They had already passed through sector seven and were heading towards sector six, which would then be followed by sector five...
Then it hit him.
"Zack, are we going to see Aeris?"
Zack turned and stared at him as though he had just told him the meaning of life.
"How did you-?"
"Because I've met her before." Cloud replied, hoping this would somehow prove he was not insane, "she was one of my closest friends, in the old world..." Zack stared at him for a while longer, not moving his blue gaze from his frail cadet body until the train came to a halt in the sector five station. Zack lifted himself up off the seat and stood on the platform, awaiting Cloud to follow him. Then he did something unexpected.
"Lead the way."
Cloud looked up at the taller man. Zack was serious now, his face hardened, composed. Cloud nodded and started to walk forward into the slums of sector five. If anyone could convince Zack he was not insane, it would be Aeris.
Cloud made his way through the shadows of the slum with the SOLDIER following behind him, broadsword unsheathed in case they encountered any monsters during the journey. All they found on the way, however, was the occasional drunk civilian hurtling insults at the pair. Cloud sighed as he saw the top of the church in the distance and slowed.
"Zack, please don't hate me." as the raven haired man walked right past him, Cloud felt as though a knife had been thrust into his side. He slowly padded after him, keeping up around six foot behind as they approached the entrance of Aeris' church.
Zack stood at the doorway, then turned to Cloud.
"You told me… you said I died." his blue eyes examined Cloud's face for any signs of hysteria, drunkenness, something that explained what the cadet was telling him.
"Yes…" the blonde cadet murmured simply, appearing thoroughly broken.
Zack frowned slightly, parting his lips, he didn't quite know how to word his next question.
"Did…did Aeris…?"
"Yes." Cloud said nothing more. What would be the point if Zack did not even believe him? Zack let out a small sigh, the air escaping him as he began to move the door open.
The empty corridors of the ShinRa facility gave off the impression that the entire building was abandoned. From the crowds of guards, employees, TURKS and SOLDIERS only a few hours ago to not a single soul as soon as the eight o'clock chime echoed through the facility, the only living form in the spacious hallways made his way through the silent darkness, the dimly lit lights flickering on and off as he started toward another elevator. Sephiroth took little notice of the emptiness, having always been content with his own self. He had never been lonely, and so such environments did not affect him.
It took approximately four elevators to get to the silver General's own personal floor, of which had been designed as a huge apartment for the captive to live within, just beneath the office of President ShinRa himself. This was designed purely as a security measure for the owner of the company, not for the well being of the General himself. For although his apartment was spacious, it did not contain a single window. He had already searched his apartment with Angeal and Genesis when he first moved in at only sixteen years of age for any recording and camera devices and found each and every single one, hidden amongst his book shelves to the bathroom tiles themselves. Genesis and Angeal were left paranoid themselves, for sharing their own apartment just a few floors below his with the other second classes, feared they were also being watched. But Sephiroth knew that his was a special case.
A special existence, you could say. For he knew full well he could never leave ShinRa. And although the scientists and Hojo made sure to accompany him everywhere as a child, then pay for his every need as an adult, he had never felt fully…satisfied with what he had been given. He was not a selfish person like Genesis who, if he was given a present he did not find particularly enjoyable, would set fire to it, but nor was he content like Angeal with the simple things in life.
But upon seeing the blonde cadet, it suddenly became clear what he was missing.
He had never been threatened before. Never felt excitement from being in a fight. For he knew, from his regular training since the age of nine right up until now, that he could never be defeated. However, from what Genesis had told him of cadet Cloud Strife, it seemed he had found someone worth his interest. If the cadet had really defeated Genesis, despite the man's protests otherwise, at the age of only fifteen, it meant he had a challenge.
Now Sephiroth was patient. He could wait for years for something he desired, in the case of his apartment, he had waited sixteen years to have his own space away from the prying eyes of the scientists, despite their attempts to keep it otherwise. He had waited four years until he had gone all out in a battle with Genesis and Angeal, but even still they had never compared to him. They were the best fighters he knew, and so he had promoted them to being his commanders at only twenty years of age. But they could not defeat him. And he secretly desired to have a challenge which made his heart pound and his head spin.
He had had never had hopes in Zackary Fair, despite his obvious strength and determination to be a hero. Zack could fair only so well against Angeal, and would be completely destroyed by Genesis should the commander ever fully lose his temper. He had managed to survive his onslaughts during training for around ten minutes, but then, Sephiroth had not been going full out on him. No, he did not want to hurt Angeal's apprentice, the fondly nicknamed 'puppy' of SOLDIER.
But he wanted, more than anything, craved even, to find someone who could give him the challenge of a life time. Someone who would be worthy of his desires, his love. He did not want any of the countless females or males that Genesis deemed interesting enough to sleep with, despite his obvious adoration for Angeal. Nor did anyone Genesis offered him. But this time Genesis seemed to have cracked a chip in his concrete heart. This cadet, and he was quite willing to wait until he was a fully fledged SOLDIER, had something that the many others he had torn apart with Masamune did not. Something wanted to break apart and make useless. Something he would shatter and build back up in his own image.
Courage.
AN ;; Oh dear. It seems Genesis is not the only sadist we have in this story. Cloud better keep away from the Silver Elite, they'll tie him up in ribbons and present him to the almighty Sephiroth as some kind of wicked sacrifice.
But of course, we Yaoi loving fangirls would absolutely love to see this, would we not?