Chapter 14 No more Bitch Slapping!
Climbing back up to the Highwind, Cloud found himself feeling distant, and not able to pull back from it, lost in thought. It wasn't until he slipped climbing the simple rope ladder to board the hovering airship that he realized he was even out of it. Sephiroth, just behind him, threw a hand up to support Cloud, even though he'd caught himself just fine. He didn't say a word, just followed Cloud up and over the railing on deck and into the dim light of the interior of the ship.
Sephiroth had noticed Cloud's eyes had a particularly dark cast to them with his thoughtfulness. He hadn't seen Cloud that serious since that faithful battle six years ago. He winced, remembering the intense gaze he'd been pinned by even then. He hung close to Cloud, no so much concerned, but rather left akimbo by Cloud's sudden turn of mood. He understood that this was more in Cloud's nature than his other more lively moods that he'd been displaying, but it was still a surprise for Sephiroth to see sweet, boyish, lovesick Cloud Strife turn so suddenly serious.
Tifa had noticed as well, but was more resigned to it, and simply left the both of them alone and went off to harass Cid, her new favorite pastime.
Reaching his room, Cloud simply flopped down onto the bed with a heavy sigh, sprawled on his back. He rubbed his eyes wearily. Sephiroth came to sit next to him, gently tracing his fingertips over Cloud's bare arm, causing the blonde to look up at him and smile.
"There you are…" Sephiroth whispered. Cloud shut his eyes, smiling softly.
"Yeah, I'm still here…Don't worry." Sephiroth pulled Cloud up from where he lay to hug him tightly.
"You're worried about something, so why shouldn't I worry?" Sephiroth said gently. "Misery loves company, Cloud." Cloud snorted.
"No shit. You don't have to tell me that." He snuggled against Sephiroth's broad shoulder. "Besides, I'm not miserable. Not even unhappy, just lost in thought…" Sephiroth chuckled a little.
"Don't get too lost." He warned, a smile in his voice, but words serious. "…Care to share?" He added curiously. Cloud laughed.
"My, aren't we nosy!" Cloud made a rude face at him. Sephiroth balked.
"I don't suppose I can still pull rank on you for that?" Cloud laughed a little.
"No, you cannot. But I'll tell you anyway." He snuggled in a little closer, reclining a little against his newfound lover. "I was thinking back to my days in SOLDIER." He began softly, laughing a little, eyes shining with nostalgia. "I used to pester Zack every day to give me another chance somehow to see you…" He laughed again, almost nervously. "He bent over backwards for me, you know." Sephiroth nodded.
"He bent over backwards for anyone who needed a smile." Sephiroth barked out a crisp laugh. "Bent over backwards, or danced like a woman in smoky bars, or started food fights if you needed to escape a sticky social situation…" Cloud giggled.
"I can't see Zack dancing like a woman." Cloud paused. "…He probably rolled over in his grave to know you said that." He added, smirking. Sephiroth laughed.
"Nah, he invited a photographer to document that one." Cloud choked. He shook his head.
"You think he's happy, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked quietly.
"Who? Zack?!"
"Yeah… He always did so much for everyone else, I hope he finally found something for himself." Cloud said sadly. Sephiroth looked down at him, startled. "When Hojo had us… He never once looked downcast if I was around, or if he thought I was looking. He always grinned, or said something silly… I remember one time, Hojo was 'testing his nerve connections' and Zack was just screaming, but whenever he had the strength, he would look over and flash a grin at me, like it was nothing and he was having the time of his life… He doesn't know, but I saw him every now and then, when he thought I was asleep or too out of it to notice…He was usually crying… I just hope he got everything wonderful he deserved once he reached the Promised Land…" Sephiroth nodded in agreement, staying silent. He had never known a single detail about what Cloud and Zack had gone through…He had only vaguely been even aware of it until his rebirth only weeks earlier, when he finally had full control of his mind once again. He squeezed Cloud tightly.
"I'm sure he has." Sephiroth reassured. Cloud was clinging to him, betraying his depression.
"Do you think its him, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked after sitting in silence for a while. Sephiroth bit his lip.
"Only time will tell, Cloud." He said gently after a moment's thought. He kissed Cloud's head, then tilted it back to kiss Cloud gently on the lips. Cloud sighed into the kiss, warming quickly as Sephiroth leaned him back to the bed, deepening the kiss.
Cloud moaned into the kiss, letting Sephiroth take him away for a while. It felt good, his body warming as Sephiroth pushed him back to settle his weight over Cloud's thin body. It wasn't crushing, but actually made Cloud feel safe and secure. He knew nothing could get through Sephiroth: He was in the safest place in the world. Sephiroth was kissing languidly down the side of his neck, but Cloud just sighed, apparently not in the same mood as Sephiroth. Eventually giving up, Sephiroth simply rolled over to snuggle up beside Cloud.
"So how's it been…being with us?" Cloud asked after a few peacefully long minutes. Sephiroth lifted his head to look at Cloud.
"Um… Well, your um…cat friend….uh…"
"Nanaki."
"Yeah… he didn't try to kill me or anything…so I guess I'm doing ok… and Tifa stopped giving me death glares…well, mostly…" He amended belatedly. Cloud shot him a look.
"She still giving you a hard time?!"
"Only when I don't let her win at arm wrestling." Sephiroth said flatly. Cloud blinked, eyes suddenly watering as he tried to keep his face straight. He blinked again rapidly, as Sephiroth just sat up, giving him this deadpan stare. One of Cloud's lips trembled, and Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him. Cloud lost it and burst into laughter. He leapt forward, hugging Sephiroth and burying his face into his chest trying to muffle his laughter. "You think its funny?" Cloud giggled, covering his mouth with both hands firmly to try and stop it. Sephiroth continued to watch him blankly. "…You giggle like a girl." He said flatly, and Cloud started giggling even harder, though now he was also blushing hotly in embarrassment. Sephiroth shook his head. "DAMNIT CLOUD!" He said sharply. Cloud froze, his laughter dieing a horrible painful death in his throat, eyes wide and alarmed. Sephiroth softened, grinning suddenly. "You're so damned cute!" He said softly, kissing Cloud's nose, making the blonde sniffle, blinking. Cloud looked back up once he'd recovered into Sephiroth's still shining smile.
"You were yanking my chain! DAMNIT!" He realized aloud. It was Sephiroth's turn to burst into uncontrollable laughter. Cloud watched Sephiroth as the usually overly composed war general nearly rolled off the bed laughing. He had the sudden sick urge to just whack the man upside the head. He didn't think he should though…but, oh, Sephiroth needed a good bap. Cloud screwed up his courage, sighted the side of Sephiroth's head in his mind, drew his hand back a short ways, scrunched his eyes shut and brought the flat of his palm to bear just above Sephiroth's ear. Sephiroth let out a startled yelp, jumping, and actually DID fall off the bed. He got up, looking at Cloud in surprise. Cloud was actually feeling quite smug. If only he'd known when he was fourteen and a shaky little cadet dreaming of SOLDIER that he would one day whack the Great General Sephiroth upside the head. He'd rather liked that. He was still watching Sephiroth's humor-filled surprise when Sephiroth's eyes darted clean past Cloud to the door. Cloud turned to follow his gaze to see Vincent standing in the open doorway, smirking openly. Cloud looked from Sephiroth, on the floor still, to Vincent, and back. He snorted, then started laughing lightly. Vincent, judging from his expression, had seen it all. He raised an eyebrow. Cloud blinked. Hadn't he just seen Sephiroth do that?! He shrugged it off. Like father like son…Vincent stayed quiet a moment longer then burst into a full out belly laugh that he must have learned from his days with Cid. Cloud had never heard Vincent laugh quite like that before. Though this did earn such a laugh.
From down the hallway, Cid came scooting up next to Vincent, looking excited.
"Whad I miss, damnit?!" He cried, pulling on Vincent's claw-arm like a little boy. Vincent just turned and looked at Cid and started to laugh in his face.
"You missed it, Highwind!" Sephiroth by now had gotten up off the floor.
"Thank heavens," He muttered, giving Cloud a playful shove. Cloud giggled.
"Oh, come the fuck on!" Vincent stared blankly at Cid for a moment.
"Maybe later, Cid." He said flatly. Cid blushed. That had sounded awful. Abashed, he mellowed a little. Vincent smiled warmly as Cid settled down, and swung an arm over the slightly shorter man's shoulders. "You just missed a history-making moment, Cid." He said matter-of-factly. Cid blinked, waiting but Vincent didn't expand.
"Well what happened, damnit!?!" Cloud giggled, and Cid turned to look wide eyed and the blushing, spiky haired blonde. Cloud grinned cheekily. Cid looked back to Vincent, sky blue eyes wide and watering, a begging expression on his face.
"C'mon VIN! Tell me what happened, /PLEAAAAAAASE/?!" Vincent grinned.
"Only if you quit smoking." He said simply. Cid thought on that a moment, looking at the half-spent cigarette he was presently holding. He looked at it, back to Cloud and Sephiroth, to Vincent, then back to the cigarette. He glance over his shoulder into the hallway as if to see if anyone was there to give him advice. He looked back down to the smoke in his hand. He shrugged, stuffed it back between his lips, grinned around it at Vincent and said,
"Aaah! Fuck that!" Vincent snorted, taking the cigarette out of Cid's mouth and kissing Cid firmly on the lips. Sephiroth, still in his rare teasing mood, made a gagging noise.
"DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!" He whined in a teenagerly voice. Vincent had to break the kiss because he was laughing again. Cloud was staring at Sephiroth like he'd just sprouted another head that greatly resembled the late President ShinRa. Sephiroth smirked. "My work here is done." He said smugly. Cid glared at him from where he was still frozen half in Vincent's embrace.
"I think I preferred you fuckin' tryin' to destroy the goddamned planet!" He declared, then hauled Vincent into the more private location of the middle of the hallway, just out of eyeshot from the open door.
One of them, Vincent or Cid, Cloud couldn't tell, let out a half yelp, half moan. Cloud squelched and leapt to his feet, ran to the door, and slammed it shut, looking pale.
Just as he sat down next to Sephiroth, there was another, louder moan that made Cloud turn a rather sickly shade of green. There was an ominous thump and Cloud leapt to his feet, pulling off one shoe as he stalked toward the door. Swinging the door open quickly, he chucked his boot into the hallway. There was a dull thud and a stream of profanity from Cid, and then the sound of fading footsteps. And more curses from Cid. Cloud ran out, retrieved his shoe, and came back in, strutting.
"My, we have a way with people, Strife." Sephiroth said, rolling his brilliant mako eyes. Cloud grinned.
By the time the Highwind had crossed a continent and a half and reached Mideel, Cloud had proudly whacked Sephiroth three times. Only three, though, because on the third, Sephiroth had decided he might like to whack back. He wasn't as gentle as Cloud had been, and Cloud had decided maybe it wasn't a good idea to antagonize the warrior. Tifa had also tried Cloud's new trick. Sephiroth, wary now of her tendency to follow in Cloud's footsteps, had been ready for her, and merely caught her hand about a foot from his head… without ever turning around. That had sealed it, and while Sephiroth inwardly thought it was rather funny (though not quite as hilarious as the others seemed to think it was) he didn't like to be the butt of jokes.
As the Highwind hovered over the now rebuilt town, Tifa, still smirking from her attempt at Sephiroth's head, sauntered up to the much larger man.
"We gotta spar sometime!" She said, a little too cheerfully. Sephiroth snorted.
"I think not."
"C'mon! Half strength!"
"No."
"Arm wrestling?"
"No."
"Fine! Bitch slapping contest!" Sephiroth turned to her, raising an eyebrow. Tifa smirked. "I could bitch slap you right back to the crater, big guy!"
"TIFA!" Tifa turned, grinning, to see Cloud gaping at her incredulously. "Are you threatening to bitch slap Sephiroth?!" He cried. Sephiroth laughed.
"No! She's challenging me to a Bitch Slapping Contest!" Cloud paled.
"Watch out, then." He said seriously, making Sephiroth raise an eyebrow.
"You don't think I can bitch slap someone?" He asked flatly. Cloud laughed.
"No, I think you could knock someone's lights out, or slice them into sushi. I can't see you bitch slapping though. Anyway, I'm just saying watch out. Tifa's vicious."
"Well we knew that already!"
"HEY! I'm /still/ here!"
"And?" Sephiroth said dryly, turning in time to barely duck an open handed slap across the face that would have likely knocked it clean off.
"Not now, goddamnit!" Cid's voice bellowed from right behind them. Sephiroth held in his relieved sigh.
"AAaw! Ciiiid!" Tifa whined. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. She was starting to annoy him despite his best efforts to hold a good humor. The old Sephiroth pride and ego still lived, and while he did his best to keep them squashed deep down and out of his way, knowing they turned him into a complete asshole, sometimes people seemed to just do everything they could to make him snap. He caught Cid's eyes, hoping to silently portray this to the pilot. Cid played the idiot, Sephiroth had learned, but he was as clever as any man, if not more so. True to Sephiroth's hopes, Cid's eyes widened a moment in surprise and mild alarm, and quickly moved to place himself between Sephiroth and Tifa (a dangerous position to say the least) and steered Tifa the other direction.
"Hey! I heard that old jackass Wallace is still down there somewhere, too!" He said, changing topic. Cloud paled, swearing under his breath. Sephiroth didn't miss that either.
"What?" He asked.
"Barrett." Cloud said dryly. "He's the original leader of AVALANCHE. He'll either flop over and die on seeing you or destroy the whole town." Sephiroth groaned.
"Are we in danger then?" He asked after a moment to rub his eyes. Cloud's face darkened.
"We better not be…"
"Hey! Love birds!" Cloud and Sephiroth turned to where Cid was standing at the top of the ladder going down. "Are we scooping up dead people outta the goddamn Lifestream, or just standing there?!" Sephiroth snorted.
"Both," He announced as they hurried over to where Cid was waiting for them. Cid laughed, waiting for them to go down then following. Sephiroth noticed dully that his spear was firmly strapped to his back
"Do you always travel armed, Highwind?" He asked once they were on solid ground again. Cid ran a hand through his hair.
"Eh, call me paranoid if you like, I don't give a shit, but yeah, I decided I wanted her today." Sephiroth shrugged satisfied.
Walking into town, Sephiroth had to fight back a wave of nausea. The smell of mako was so strong and livid that it made his head spin. The smell itself wasn't so bad, bitter and earthy and slightly acidic, but he'd spent too much time closer than humans are supposed to be to mako, and it brought back bad memories and feelings. He noticed Cloud wasn't faring much better, his eyes glazing over a little, and wrapped an arm around the blonde's narrow shoulders, giving him a light squeeze. Cloud looked up at him, eyes shining with gratitude and love. Sephiroth smiled weakly.
"Damnit! Why does this fuckin shit always have to stink to high heaven?!" Cid demanded loudly once they'd gotten closer to the still existing mako lake that formed the center of the area. The town had been rebuilt off to one side, and they had skirted it, reaching the giant lake of green quickly.
"Its not something living creatures were meant to interact with." Sephiroth said quietly. They reached the shore, deadly burning mako lapping gently only feet from where they stood. All five of them stood, squinting against the brilliant green glow. The swirling depths went down forever, clear and dark, sparkling deep into the earth. Only in one spot , several meters out, was dark. "There's something out there."
"Do you think it's really a body? Its hard to tell." Vincent said from where he stood on an old stack of rocks for a higher vantage point. He shaded his eyes with his human hand, peering. "It's not like we can just walk out there and look." He added. A spark went through Sephiroth's mind.
"Aah!" He dropped to one knee, shutting his eyes against the piercing sensation. Beside him, Cloud had dropped to his side, arms around his shoulders.
"What's wrong?" He asked, alarmed. Sephiroth had relaxed, though, and kept his eyes shut.
"Shh. Cloud, its alright… I can see…" He dropped his head, concentrating. "Its like I can see everything out there in the mako, as if I'm traveling through it… I'm almost there….yeah…it's a body…" His eyes flashed open, looking wild, and he stood abruptly with an alarmed cry. Cloud stumbled back, nearly knocked over. "We have to get him!" He shouted urgently. Sephiroth cast around for anything to cover the unreachable distance through the deadly liquid. Urgency was building up inside of him, and one look in Cloud's eyes, and the notion spread from him to Cloud as well. Still casting around, Sephiroth spotted a old tangle of rope, old and faded. He dashed over to it, tested its strength. It was old, but strong. Good enough. He handed one end to Cloud. "Don't let go." He whispered. With that, he threw his shirt and shoes off, tied the rope quickly around his waist and dove into the mako.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud's scream pierced the instant ringing in Sephiroth's ears. The mako burned every inch of his skin, frozen. The liquid was thick and clung to him, and he had to struggle to keep his head above it, but he managed, swimming out furiously to the figure floating face down in the acid like green. Sephiroth reached the body, and wrapped one arm around the torso.
"I've got you…god, please be alive…" He whispered, heading back in without even checking.
Halfway back, the effects of the mako was starting to overwhelm him. Sephiroth's hearing had disappeared, and his vision was fading to black, limbs watery and burning like they would disintegrate any moment. He looked up, saw everyone watching him intently, and realized that while he vaguely remembered them, he couldn't think of their names. His head lolled, and he slumped, sinking.
AN: Oopsies, sorry this took so long to update. . I was suffering from writers block...But I guess I did ok...20 chappies between this sotry and False Advertising in two weeks without loosing steam for so long...that's gotta count for SOMETHING lol :)
...I need a muse.... A friend of mine gave me this great image of Sephiroth ina straw skirt doing the hula... hehe.... but... I think that was more distracting than anything. I was really having a hard time getting going, but I think I'm doing ok now.
And yes, I did this clifhanger on purpose! MUAHAHAHA! This was originally the first half of a single chapter, but it got really long, so I split it up :) Yeah, I'm evil, what can I say! lol :)
Climbing back up to the Highwind, Cloud found himself feeling distant, and not able to pull back from it, lost in thought. It wasn't until he slipped climbing the simple rope ladder to board the hovering airship that he realized he was even out of it. Sephiroth, just behind him, threw a hand up to support Cloud, even though he'd caught himself just fine. He didn't say a word, just followed Cloud up and over the railing on deck and into the dim light of the interior of the ship.
Sephiroth had noticed Cloud's eyes had a particularly dark cast to them with his thoughtfulness. He hadn't seen Cloud that serious since that faithful battle six years ago. He winced, remembering the intense gaze he'd been pinned by even then. He hung close to Cloud, no so much concerned, but rather left akimbo by Cloud's sudden turn of mood. He understood that this was more in Cloud's nature than his other more lively moods that he'd been displaying, but it was still a surprise for Sephiroth to see sweet, boyish, lovesick Cloud Strife turn so suddenly serious.
Tifa had noticed as well, but was more resigned to it, and simply left the both of them alone and went off to harass Cid, her new favorite pastime.
Reaching his room, Cloud simply flopped down onto the bed with a heavy sigh, sprawled on his back. He rubbed his eyes wearily. Sephiroth came to sit next to him, gently tracing his fingertips over Cloud's bare arm, causing the blonde to look up at him and smile.
"There you are…" Sephiroth whispered. Cloud shut his eyes, smiling softly.
"Yeah, I'm still here…Don't worry." Sephiroth pulled Cloud up from where he lay to hug him tightly.
"You're worried about something, so why shouldn't I worry?" Sephiroth said gently. "Misery loves company, Cloud." Cloud snorted.
"No shit. You don't have to tell me that." He snuggled against Sephiroth's broad shoulder. "Besides, I'm not miserable. Not even unhappy, just lost in thought…" Sephiroth chuckled a little.
"Don't get too lost." He warned, a smile in his voice, but words serious. "…Care to share?" He added curiously. Cloud laughed.
"My, aren't we nosy!" Cloud made a rude face at him. Sephiroth balked.
"I don't suppose I can still pull rank on you for that?" Cloud laughed a little.
"No, you cannot. But I'll tell you anyway." He snuggled in a little closer, reclining a little against his newfound lover. "I was thinking back to my days in SOLDIER." He began softly, laughing a little, eyes shining with nostalgia. "I used to pester Zack every day to give me another chance somehow to see you…" He laughed again, almost nervously. "He bent over backwards for me, you know." Sephiroth nodded.
"He bent over backwards for anyone who needed a smile." Sephiroth barked out a crisp laugh. "Bent over backwards, or danced like a woman in smoky bars, or started food fights if you needed to escape a sticky social situation…" Cloud giggled.
"I can't see Zack dancing like a woman." Cloud paused. "…He probably rolled over in his grave to know you said that." He added, smirking. Sephiroth laughed.
"Nah, he invited a photographer to document that one." Cloud choked. He shook his head.
"You think he's happy, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked quietly.
"Who? Zack?!"
"Yeah… He always did so much for everyone else, I hope he finally found something for himself." Cloud said sadly. Sephiroth looked down at him, startled. "When Hojo had us… He never once looked downcast if I was around, or if he thought I was looking. He always grinned, or said something silly… I remember one time, Hojo was 'testing his nerve connections' and Zack was just screaming, but whenever he had the strength, he would look over and flash a grin at me, like it was nothing and he was having the time of his life… He doesn't know, but I saw him every now and then, when he thought I was asleep or too out of it to notice…He was usually crying… I just hope he got everything wonderful he deserved once he reached the Promised Land…" Sephiroth nodded in agreement, staying silent. He had never known a single detail about what Cloud and Zack had gone through…He had only vaguely been even aware of it until his rebirth only weeks earlier, when he finally had full control of his mind once again. He squeezed Cloud tightly.
"I'm sure he has." Sephiroth reassured. Cloud was clinging to him, betraying his depression.
"Do you think its him, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked after sitting in silence for a while. Sephiroth bit his lip.
"Only time will tell, Cloud." He said gently after a moment's thought. He kissed Cloud's head, then tilted it back to kiss Cloud gently on the lips. Cloud sighed into the kiss, warming quickly as Sephiroth leaned him back to the bed, deepening the kiss.
Cloud moaned into the kiss, letting Sephiroth take him away for a while. It felt good, his body warming as Sephiroth pushed him back to settle his weight over Cloud's thin body. It wasn't crushing, but actually made Cloud feel safe and secure. He knew nothing could get through Sephiroth: He was in the safest place in the world. Sephiroth was kissing languidly down the side of his neck, but Cloud just sighed, apparently not in the same mood as Sephiroth. Eventually giving up, Sephiroth simply rolled over to snuggle up beside Cloud.
"So how's it been…being with us?" Cloud asked after a few peacefully long minutes. Sephiroth lifted his head to look at Cloud.
"Um… Well, your um…cat friend….uh…"
"Nanaki."
"Yeah… he didn't try to kill me or anything…so I guess I'm doing ok… and Tifa stopped giving me death glares…well, mostly…" He amended belatedly. Cloud shot him a look.
"She still giving you a hard time?!"
"Only when I don't let her win at arm wrestling." Sephiroth said flatly. Cloud blinked, eyes suddenly watering as he tried to keep his face straight. He blinked again rapidly, as Sephiroth just sat up, giving him this deadpan stare. One of Cloud's lips trembled, and Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him. Cloud lost it and burst into laughter. He leapt forward, hugging Sephiroth and burying his face into his chest trying to muffle his laughter. "You think its funny?" Cloud giggled, covering his mouth with both hands firmly to try and stop it. Sephiroth continued to watch him blankly. "…You giggle like a girl." He said flatly, and Cloud started giggling even harder, though now he was also blushing hotly in embarrassment. Sephiroth shook his head. "DAMNIT CLOUD!" He said sharply. Cloud froze, his laughter dieing a horrible painful death in his throat, eyes wide and alarmed. Sephiroth softened, grinning suddenly. "You're so damned cute!" He said softly, kissing Cloud's nose, making the blonde sniffle, blinking. Cloud looked back up once he'd recovered into Sephiroth's still shining smile.
"You were yanking my chain! DAMNIT!" He realized aloud. It was Sephiroth's turn to burst into uncontrollable laughter. Cloud watched Sephiroth as the usually overly composed war general nearly rolled off the bed laughing. He had the sudden sick urge to just whack the man upside the head. He didn't think he should though…but, oh, Sephiroth needed a good bap. Cloud screwed up his courage, sighted the side of Sephiroth's head in his mind, drew his hand back a short ways, scrunched his eyes shut and brought the flat of his palm to bear just above Sephiroth's ear. Sephiroth let out a startled yelp, jumping, and actually DID fall off the bed. He got up, looking at Cloud in surprise. Cloud was actually feeling quite smug. If only he'd known when he was fourteen and a shaky little cadet dreaming of SOLDIER that he would one day whack the Great General Sephiroth upside the head. He'd rather liked that. He was still watching Sephiroth's humor-filled surprise when Sephiroth's eyes darted clean past Cloud to the door. Cloud turned to follow his gaze to see Vincent standing in the open doorway, smirking openly. Cloud looked from Sephiroth, on the floor still, to Vincent, and back. He snorted, then started laughing lightly. Vincent, judging from his expression, had seen it all. He raised an eyebrow. Cloud blinked. Hadn't he just seen Sephiroth do that?! He shrugged it off. Like father like son…Vincent stayed quiet a moment longer then burst into a full out belly laugh that he must have learned from his days with Cid. Cloud had never heard Vincent laugh quite like that before. Though this did earn such a laugh.
From down the hallway, Cid came scooting up next to Vincent, looking excited.
"Whad I miss, damnit?!" He cried, pulling on Vincent's claw-arm like a little boy. Vincent just turned and looked at Cid and started to laugh in his face.
"You missed it, Highwind!" Sephiroth by now had gotten up off the floor.
"Thank heavens," He muttered, giving Cloud a playful shove. Cloud giggled.
"Oh, come the fuck on!" Vincent stared blankly at Cid for a moment.
"Maybe later, Cid." He said flatly. Cid blushed. That had sounded awful. Abashed, he mellowed a little. Vincent smiled warmly as Cid settled down, and swung an arm over the slightly shorter man's shoulders. "You just missed a history-making moment, Cid." He said matter-of-factly. Cid blinked, waiting but Vincent didn't expand.
"Well what happened, damnit!?!" Cloud giggled, and Cid turned to look wide eyed and the blushing, spiky haired blonde. Cloud grinned cheekily. Cid looked back to Vincent, sky blue eyes wide and watering, a begging expression on his face.
"C'mon VIN! Tell me what happened, /PLEAAAAAAASE/?!" Vincent grinned.
"Only if you quit smoking." He said simply. Cid thought on that a moment, looking at the half-spent cigarette he was presently holding. He looked at it, back to Cloud and Sephiroth, to Vincent, then back to the cigarette. He glance over his shoulder into the hallway as if to see if anyone was there to give him advice. He looked back down to the smoke in his hand. He shrugged, stuffed it back between his lips, grinned around it at Vincent and said,
"Aaah! Fuck that!" Vincent snorted, taking the cigarette out of Cid's mouth and kissing Cid firmly on the lips. Sephiroth, still in his rare teasing mood, made a gagging noise.
"DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!" He whined in a teenagerly voice. Vincent had to break the kiss because he was laughing again. Cloud was staring at Sephiroth like he'd just sprouted another head that greatly resembled the late President ShinRa. Sephiroth smirked. "My work here is done." He said smugly. Cid glared at him from where he was still frozen half in Vincent's embrace.
"I think I preferred you fuckin' tryin' to destroy the goddamned planet!" He declared, then hauled Vincent into the more private location of the middle of the hallway, just out of eyeshot from the open door.
One of them, Vincent or Cid, Cloud couldn't tell, let out a half yelp, half moan. Cloud squelched and leapt to his feet, ran to the door, and slammed it shut, looking pale.
Just as he sat down next to Sephiroth, there was another, louder moan that made Cloud turn a rather sickly shade of green. There was an ominous thump and Cloud leapt to his feet, pulling off one shoe as he stalked toward the door. Swinging the door open quickly, he chucked his boot into the hallway. There was a dull thud and a stream of profanity from Cid, and then the sound of fading footsteps. And more curses from Cid. Cloud ran out, retrieved his shoe, and came back in, strutting.
"My, we have a way with people, Strife." Sephiroth said, rolling his brilliant mako eyes. Cloud grinned.
By the time the Highwind had crossed a continent and a half and reached Mideel, Cloud had proudly whacked Sephiroth three times. Only three, though, because on the third, Sephiroth had decided he might like to whack back. He wasn't as gentle as Cloud had been, and Cloud had decided maybe it wasn't a good idea to antagonize the warrior. Tifa had also tried Cloud's new trick. Sephiroth, wary now of her tendency to follow in Cloud's footsteps, had been ready for her, and merely caught her hand about a foot from his head… without ever turning around. That had sealed it, and while Sephiroth inwardly thought it was rather funny (though not quite as hilarious as the others seemed to think it was) he didn't like to be the butt of jokes.
As the Highwind hovered over the now rebuilt town, Tifa, still smirking from her attempt at Sephiroth's head, sauntered up to the much larger man.
"We gotta spar sometime!" She said, a little too cheerfully. Sephiroth snorted.
"I think not."
"C'mon! Half strength!"
"No."
"Arm wrestling?"
"No."
"Fine! Bitch slapping contest!" Sephiroth turned to her, raising an eyebrow. Tifa smirked. "I could bitch slap you right back to the crater, big guy!"
"TIFA!" Tifa turned, grinning, to see Cloud gaping at her incredulously. "Are you threatening to bitch slap Sephiroth?!" He cried. Sephiroth laughed.
"No! She's challenging me to a Bitch Slapping Contest!" Cloud paled.
"Watch out, then." He said seriously, making Sephiroth raise an eyebrow.
"You don't think I can bitch slap someone?" He asked flatly. Cloud laughed.
"No, I think you could knock someone's lights out, or slice them into sushi. I can't see you bitch slapping though. Anyway, I'm just saying watch out. Tifa's vicious."
"Well we knew that already!"
"HEY! I'm /still/ here!"
"And?" Sephiroth said dryly, turning in time to barely duck an open handed slap across the face that would have likely knocked it clean off.
"Not now, goddamnit!" Cid's voice bellowed from right behind them. Sephiroth held in his relieved sigh.
"AAaw! Ciiiid!" Tifa whined. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. She was starting to annoy him despite his best efforts to hold a good humor. The old Sephiroth pride and ego still lived, and while he did his best to keep them squashed deep down and out of his way, knowing they turned him into a complete asshole, sometimes people seemed to just do everything they could to make him snap. He caught Cid's eyes, hoping to silently portray this to the pilot. Cid played the idiot, Sephiroth had learned, but he was as clever as any man, if not more so. True to Sephiroth's hopes, Cid's eyes widened a moment in surprise and mild alarm, and quickly moved to place himself between Sephiroth and Tifa (a dangerous position to say the least) and steered Tifa the other direction.
"Hey! I heard that old jackass Wallace is still down there somewhere, too!" He said, changing topic. Cloud paled, swearing under his breath. Sephiroth didn't miss that either.
"What?" He asked.
"Barrett." Cloud said dryly. "He's the original leader of AVALANCHE. He'll either flop over and die on seeing you or destroy the whole town." Sephiroth groaned.
"Are we in danger then?" He asked after a moment to rub his eyes. Cloud's face darkened.
"We better not be…"
"Hey! Love birds!" Cloud and Sephiroth turned to where Cid was standing at the top of the ladder going down. "Are we scooping up dead people outta the goddamn Lifestream, or just standing there?!" Sephiroth snorted.
"Both," He announced as they hurried over to where Cid was waiting for them. Cid laughed, waiting for them to go down then following. Sephiroth noticed dully that his spear was firmly strapped to his back
"Do you always travel armed, Highwind?" He asked once they were on solid ground again. Cid ran a hand through his hair.
"Eh, call me paranoid if you like, I don't give a shit, but yeah, I decided I wanted her today." Sephiroth shrugged satisfied.
Walking into town, Sephiroth had to fight back a wave of nausea. The smell of mako was so strong and livid that it made his head spin. The smell itself wasn't so bad, bitter and earthy and slightly acidic, but he'd spent too much time closer than humans are supposed to be to mako, and it brought back bad memories and feelings. He noticed Cloud wasn't faring much better, his eyes glazing over a little, and wrapped an arm around the blonde's narrow shoulders, giving him a light squeeze. Cloud looked up at him, eyes shining with gratitude and love. Sephiroth smiled weakly.
"Damnit! Why does this fuckin shit always have to stink to high heaven?!" Cid demanded loudly once they'd gotten closer to the still existing mako lake that formed the center of the area. The town had been rebuilt off to one side, and they had skirted it, reaching the giant lake of green quickly.
"Its not something living creatures were meant to interact with." Sephiroth said quietly. They reached the shore, deadly burning mako lapping gently only feet from where they stood. All five of them stood, squinting against the brilliant green glow. The swirling depths went down forever, clear and dark, sparkling deep into the earth. Only in one spot , several meters out, was dark. "There's something out there."
"Do you think it's really a body? Its hard to tell." Vincent said from where he stood on an old stack of rocks for a higher vantage point. He shaded his eyes with his human hand, peering. "It's not like we can just walk out there and look." He added. A spark went through Sephiroth's mind.
"Aah!" He dropped to one knee, shutting his eyes against the piercing sensation. Beside him, Cloud had dropped to his side, arms around his shoulders.
"What's wrong?" He asked, alarmed. Sephiroth had relaxed, though, and kept his eyes shut.
"Shh. Cloud, its alright… I can see…" He dropped his head, concentrating. "Its like I can see everything out there in the mako, as if I'm traveling through it… I'm almost there….yeah…it's a body…" His eyes flashed open, looking wild, and he stood abruptly with an alarmed cry. Cloud stumbled back, nearly knocked over. "We have to get him!" He shouted urgently. Sephiroth cast around for anything to cover the unreachable distance through the deadly liquid. Urgency was building up inside of him, and one look in Cloud's eyes, and the notion spread from him to Cloud as well. Still casting around, Sephiroth spotted a old tangle of rope, old and faded. He dashed over to it, tested its strength. It was old, but strong. Good enough. He handed one end to Cloud. "Don't let go." He whispered. With that, he threw his shirt and shoes off, tied the rope quickly around his waist and dove into the mako.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud's scream pierced the instant ringing in Sephiroth's ears. The mako burned every inch of his skin, frozen. The liquid was thick and clung to him, and he had to struggle to keep his head above it, but he managed, swimming out furiously to the figure floating face down in the acid like green. Sephiroth reached the body, and wrapped one arm around the torso.
"I've got you…god, please be alive…" He whispered, heading back in without even checking.
Halfway back, the effects of the mako was starting to overwhelm him. Sephiroth's hearing had disappeared, and his vision was fading to black, limbs watery and burning like they would disintegrate any moment. He looked up, saw everyone watching him intently, and realized that while he vaguely remembered them, he couldn't think of their names. His head lolled, and he slumped, sinking.
AN: Oopsies, sorry this took so long to update. . I was suffering from writers block...But I guess I did ok...20 chappies between this sotry and False Advertising in two weeks without loosing steam for so long...that's gotta count for SOMETHING lol :)
...I need a muse.... A friend of mine gave me this great image of Sephiroth ina straw skirt doing the hula... hehe.... but... I think that was more distracting than anything. I was really having a hard time getting going, but I think I'm doing ok now.
And yes, I did this clifhanger on purpose! MUAHAHAHA! This was originally the first half of a single chapter, but it got really long, so I split it up :) Yeah, I'm evil, what can I say! lol :)