"Cicero, stop humming! It's driving me crazy!" Signy groaned. Babette laughed as she and Aron picked ingredients from the garden behind the alchemy lab.
"Now you've done it." Nazir said with a shake of his head.
"Crazy! You? Crazy?" Cicero questioned with a manic chuckle, "Signy knows nothing of crazy, of madness. Silence is deafening... silence is maddening! There is method to Cicero's madness." The woman crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as Cicero sat on the edge of the table. Signy knew that there was no sense in arguing with the jester, he was very well acquainted with the chaotic darkness hiding in the corners of the mind.
"Just leave the poor clown be, let him hum." Aron said as he brushed the dirt off of his knees.
"Yes! Let poor Cicero hum!" The jester chimed.
"But he's so annoying!" She retorted with a huff.
"Stop being so petty." Babette scolded.
"Settle down, children. We all have to share the same space, let's just try to get along." Nazir said as he wandered over to the cooking pot and poured a jug filled with previously boiled water into the pot and added salt to it before allowing it to heat up.
"Thank you for your help Aron, I appreciate it." Babette said.
"It's no problem." He replied as the little vampire brought the basket of flowers over to the alchemy lab.
"Signy, why don't you come over and help me with the stew?" Nazir asked and the woman nodded before getting up and wandering over towards the assassin at the cooking pot.
"And Cicero better go and oil all of Mother's hard-to-reach places." Cicero mumbled and pranced over towards the Night Mother's coffin. Aron walked over towards the coffin and watched Cicero begin his work with curiosity. Unlike the ex-legionnaire, who preferred to spend time with either Babette or Nazir, refining her skills rather than getting to know how the Brotherhood worked, ever since joining the Dark Brotherhood, the ex-Stormcloak was determined to learn as much about his new Family, the Black Tenents and the jobs that they did. He often helped Babette tend her alchemical garden and went to Nazir for jobs. He was most intrigued and quite repulsed by the various jobs the Keeper had to do to preserve the slowly decaying corpse of the Night Mother. He always listened to Cicero's mumblings whilst he continued his chores. Sometimes, it was something useful, but most of the time it was incoherent babbling that was of no use to him at all. Whether Cicero was telling him something useful or not, it didn't matter. He was learning by observation and learning was all he really cared about.
Aron's gaze drifted over towards the doorway and he saw Sephiroth come through the doorway, leading the rose haired woman into the room.
"Sephiroth's back!" He called. Babette bottled her current potion as Cicero shuffled around to see if the nord was telling the truth.
"Ah, the Listener has returned! Hear that Mother? Your Listener has returned!" The jester exclaimed.
"Another Kefka?" Lightning questioned.
"Cicero is a lot more tolerable than Kefka, if that's what you're worrying about." Sephiroth answered and even though she still wasn't sure about the jester. Lightning gave him the benefit of the doubt. Nazir placed the wooden rod down on the bench beside the pot and he and Signy wandered upstairs. The little vampire placed her potion on the side of the alchemy lab and walked over towards the couple.
"Lightning, this is Aron and Signy our new initiates. Aron was a Stormcloak and Signy was a Legionnaire. Aron, Signy, this is my wife Lightning." Sephiroth said and gestured to each person in turn.
"Aron... I remember you. You were at the battle for Whiterun, weren't you?"
"Yeah, I was. I remember that you were there with Ralof and Terra. You three were quite the team. Both Ulfric and Galmar loved you three."
"Loved is a bit of an overstatement. We never really saw eye-to-eye with them, especially about the use of catapults." Lightning replied and Aron laughed. He one of the things he remembered of his time with the Stormcloaks was Galmar and Ulfric's dislike of being questioned or told what to do by people they deemed to be inferior.
"I never thought that Sephiroth would bring you back here, Lightning." Babette said.
"It's only for the night, just to let things cool down a little." She replied.
"My, my... Don't you look fancy?" Nazir asked.
"Thanks, we just came from the Thalmor Embassy." Lightning replied.
"Why there? And why are you letting things cool down?" Babette inquired.
"Because the embassy is now no more than smoking ruins." Sephiroth responded.
"I don't believe it!" Signy exclaimed. She, like the other assassins, found it hard to believe that the Thalmor Embassy really was no more.
"It's true." Lightning replied.
"We'll talk about it soon. For now, I'd like to give Lightning some time to get comfortable." Sephiroth said and placed his arm around her waist.
"You kids go on! We'll be fine... fine. Cicero is hungry... Cicero could go for a sweetroll, or a carrot." The jester said and then stared blankly at the floor. Lightning thought that Cicero's behaviour was quite odd, but like Sephiroth had said, he more tolerable than Kefka. Sephiroth let out an amused breath from his nostrils and let Lightning pick up the skirts of the dress before leading her down towards the master bedroom at the far end of the sanctuary.
"Come on Signy, let's get back to the stew." The redguard said.
"Actually, can I help Babette instead?" Signy asked in reply.
"Just try to ignore Cicero and let him do his duties. Aron, would you mind?"
"Not at all." The ex-Stormcloak replied and followed Nazir down to the cooking pot. The salted water was bubbling and ready for the ingredients to be added.
"Ho ho ho, he he he, break that lute across my knee, and if the bard should choose to fight, why then I'll set his clothes alight!" Cicero sung whilst he shuffled back and continued to preserve the Night Mother. Though Signy usually couldn't stand Cicero's mad mumbling, she found this little rhyme quite funny and couldn't help chuckling a little.
"Why did you find that funny?" The breton inquired, remembering the nord's previous hostility towards Cicero's behaviour.
"Because it sounds like something I would do." Signy responded and the vampire nodded in understanding.
"Yes, some of those bards can be quite obnoxious." Babette replied and placed a few ingredients into the bowl before crushing them together to make a paste.
"Can you be a dear and go get me some water?" The vampire asked as she continued to pound the flowers. Signy wandered down the stairs and Aron handed her the pitcher before he resumed cutting the meat and vegetables and passing them to Nazir.
Lightning walked into the room and Sephiroth closed the door behind her. She looked around the room, surveying it and its decorations. It was simple, but it seemed quite cold and bland.
"If you wish, you can put the dress on the mannequin, just so it doesn't crease. I'll see if I can find you something else to wear." Sephiroth said and walked over to one of the wardrobes next to the bed before he began to look through them.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. I should've brought a change of clothes with me." Lightning replied with a small, shy smile. She was starting to wonder if leaving her belongings in Castle Dour was the best choice to make. He found a green tunic and a brown pair of pants and figured that it would do for the night.
"I hope you don't mind, but this was all that I could find that would be suitable."
"Thanks again. Cou-could you undo the catches? I can't reach them." A light tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks and Sephiroth smiled.
"Of course, allow me." He put the clothes at the foot of the mannequin and undid the catches on her armour. The assassin placed a small kiss on her cheek and wandered over to the bed. He sat on it with his back turned to her, thinking and hoping that it would help her feel a little more comfortable in this situation. She looked over her shoulder to see that he had his back turned to her and the pink tinge on her cheeks became a burning bright red. She quickly removed the gown and put on the clothes Sephiroth had left on the wooden base.
"You can turn around now." By the time Sephiroth had gotten up and began to walk towards her, Lightning had picked up the dress and stood up on the podium before attaching the dress to the mannequin.
"Feeling a bit more comfortable?"
"Yeah. It feels weird to only wear the cuirass instead of a full set of armour. And I'm not much of a dress person."
"I could tell." The rose haired woman looked at the silver haired man with peaked curiosity and crossed her arms before asking, "How?"
"By the way you acted in Radiant Raiment. You hated being there." Sephiroth replied with a deep laugh.
"Well you and Rikke weren't happy about it yourselves."
"Yes, but you probably despised that whole debacle enough for the three of us."
"You're probably right." Lightning chuckled as Sephiroth placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. She wound her fingers in his silky, silvery bangs and ran her thumbs over the strands caught in her gentle grip.
"Your hair's so soft." She commented and he smiled. Lightning found it odd that Sephiroth smiled instead of having biting her head off. She had heard from Kuja how protective Sephiroth was of his hair, it was almost as bad as the mage's obsession with his own lavender locks. If it had been anyone else, he would have reacted to the invasion of his personal space with threats and violence if their insolence was continued like he had with Kefka. But it was Lightning. He knew he could trust her. The more she played with his bangs, the more he began to like the sensation. She twisted his hair around her fingers as she stared into his eyes whilst he moved his fingers up from her hips and rested on her waist.
"If you're trying to get a rise out of me, you'll have to do better than that." She smiled mischievously and gently removed her fingers from his hair. Her blue eyes still bore into his green ones; whether she was searching for something or purely gazing into them was something that Sephiroth wasn't entirely sure of.
"Do I need a reason to play with your hair?"
"You're lucky that I like it."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah." A few moments passed where the two of them just stood there, staring into each others eyes, waiting for their next move.
"Why did you start staring at my eyes?" Sephiroth asked as he briefly looked down at the ground and then let his gaze connect with hers again.
"Because I think they're beautiful, in an almost hypnotising way." His mood suddenly changed and the happiness he previously exhibited vanished.
"You have the audacity to accuse me of complimenting you simply because we're married and then you become a hypocrite and do exactly what you accuse me of." Lightning rolled her eyes and replied, "You got me. I'm just saying things because I have to. Really Sephiroth? Is that what you really think?" He raised his eyebrow and looked at her with annoyance.
"Well, you think that I do that to you, so why can't I think that way either?" Lightning sighed at his response, she thought that it was ridiculous.
"Sephiroth, what ar-?"
"Do you really think that I would feign pleasantries just to make you more comfortable with this marriage? And I don't expect you to feign pleasantries for me either." He removed his hands from her body and turned his back to her. His response stung her.
"You think that I'm uncomfortable with our marriage?"
"Sometimes it seems like it, yes." This more than stung Lightning, it hurt her.
"Well, sometimes it seemed like you only said those things because you were uncomfortable with it. That's why I thought the way I did." Sephiroth exhaled and looked down at the ground. Doubt began to weigh heavily on his mind as her words resonated with him. An awkward sense of silence hovered over the pair as the tension grew. Sephiroth tried to maintain his composure as his mind swam.
"Maybe... we moved into this too quickly."
"What?"
"I think we got into this too quickly. We had a great friendship, we still do. And I know that we have something more between us, but I can't help but wonder if we rushed into the whole marriage idea." Even though it pained her to hear it, she wondered if he was right. Sephiroth turned around and saw how she was struggling to deal with the sudden tension that had arisen between them.
"Maybe you're right." She said defeatedly.
"We'll continue this discussion later. For now, Babette and Nazir may want to catch up with you." Sephiroth replied and walked towards the door before pushing it open and marched towards the hall where the assassins mostly dwelled. Lightning let him walk on without her, watching to see if he would look back to find that she wasn't following him. She hoped he would, but he didn't. Not a step was out of rhythm, it looked like he had no intention of turning around and she sighed with both frustration and slight sorrow. He had no intention of turning around, as much as he wanted to, he knew that the matter would have to be dealt with at another time. He kept his steps light, not wanting her to know whether he knew that she was following or not. Sephiroth had expected her to follow him closely and was a little saddened that she didn't immediately go after him. He felt like the both of them needed some time to peacefully gather their thoughts before bringing up the matter again. After all, he did promise his fellow assassins some answers. The pink haired woman took a few deep breaths and followed him out. She focused on the smell of mould instead of what had just happened to try and calm herself down. It wasn't working as well as she had hoped, but it was better than not trying at all.
By the time she approached the wooden table, she found Sephiroth talking with Cicero at the Night Mother's coffin. Nazir saw the woman walk in and handed the stirring rod to Aron before wandering over towards the staircase.
"Babette, she's back." Nazir called. The little vampire smiled and passed the mortar and pestle to Signy before heading down the stairs to join the redguard and the l'Cie on the lower level. Signy finished off the potion and bottled it before she cleaned up the station and walked down towards the table and sat down.
"Hello again. Would you care to enlighten us as to what you were doing at the Thalmor Embassy and why it's in ruins?" Babette questioned.
"It was an elaborate plan to cripple the Thalmor's influence in Skyrim by poisoning them and then blowing the place up. It went rather well, they never suspected a thing." Lightning answered.
"Now who's crazy idea was that?" Nazir asked and crossed his arms as he raised his eyebrow.
"It was my idea, I've had it for quite a while. I think Aron might remember me always pestering Ulfric and Galmar about it?"
"Yes I do. Sometimes, Ulfric considered it. But most of the time, it was just passed off as impossible. I guess it's not impossible after all." Aron replied.
"The idea also got the attention of the Jarls, just like I said it would." Lightning added.
"Impressive. And how did you do it?" Babette inquired.
"It took some time, but Kuja was able to get us into the embassy. He convinced Elenwen into believing that we were going to become Thalmor toadies. We used the poison from Sephiroth's feathers to poison an entire case worth of Daedric Spirits and then blew up both buildings. I'm not even sure how we pulled it off, but it worked." Lightning responded.
"What was the party like?" Signy asked.
"Boring." Lightning replied with a sigh and the ex-legionnaire laughed.
"Wouldn't be surprised, those Thalmor are as dull as chickens." Aron commented.
"Chickens?" Signy asked with confusion.
"I grew up on a chicken farm, do you know how dull chickens are? They have no personality. None whatsoever. I'd happily live on any other farm, even just a produce farm would've been more exciting than a chicken farm." Aron replied and the group laughed. The short merriment made Lightning feel a bit better about the argument she had with Sephiroth.
"So how have things been going here?" Lightning asked.
"They've been alright. Signy doesn't like Cicero much, says he's too annoying." Aron replied. Signy groaned and crossed her arms.
"But he is!" She whined.
"From what I've seen of him, I've seen worse." Lightning replied.
"I doubt it." Babette argued.
"No, you don't know the meaning of 'mad mage' until you've met Kefka." Lightning countered.
"Ah, Cicero's not that bad." Aron said as he tapped the rod on the edge of the pot.
"He mainly keeps to himself. A carrot or a sweetroll is usually all it takes to keep him quiet." Babette said. Signy straightened up and smiled a little.
"It's like he's a mad rabbit, or a child hopped up on moon sugar." Nazir commented and the breton girl laughed.
"Is that all it takes?" Signy asked in surprise.
"Yes. That's exactly all it takes to quiet him down." Nazir replied. Lightning couldn't help but to laugh at Signy's reaction, the woman looked as if she had seen one of the Divines in the flesh.
"Well, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to get some carrots and sweetrolls tomorrow. A quiet Cicero leads to a happy me." Signy announced and other four assassins around the table laughed as the woman smiled triumphantly.
Cicero wiped his hands on an old rag as he looked at Sephiroth, who leant on the wall adjacent to the fool of hearts with his arms crossed.
"Cicero hopes that Sephiroth doesn't mind, but Cicero has noticed that you seem... upset."
"I'm fine."
"No you aren't, no you aren't! Cicero sees it in your eyes!" Cicero exclaimed as he threw down the rag.
"Keep it down."
"So... There is something wrong?" Sephiroth stared at the mural of Sithis guarding the secret entrance, trying to ignore the jester and his argument with Lightning. Cicero jigged about, made jokes and sprayed nonsense from his mouth to try and get an answer out of the Listener or to at least cheer Sephiroth up. As hard as the fool of hearts tried, it didn't seem like it was doing any good. After a few minutes of galavanting about, Cicero groaned and flopped to the floor. The imperial scrambled to his knees and sat down on the pedestal behind him.
"That's it! I give up!" He declared.
"You give up too easily." Sephiroth replied with a smirk. Cicero's eyes widened and he smiled.
"Ooh, the Listener speaks!" He said and wiggled around in delight.
"Can you please keep it down? Everyone doesn't need to hear you screeching."
"What's troubling you? Poor bumbling Cicero may be mad, but he knows when something's amiss. And something is definitely amiss."
"I'm just... pensive, right now."
"What's gotten Sephiroth so blue?"
"Lightning and I had a disagreement."
"What does it matter?"
"It matters because she's my wife. And, I want this to work between us."
"Don't be blue. Maybe you need to see a little red... Thick, shiny, pooling, gleaming red! How we find this red is simple. First we need to stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, and then we stab, stab, stab, stab, stab some more!" Cicero's response made him smile. Even though the jester was completely mad, his morbid sense of humour still amused the one-winged angel. Cicero cautiously stood up and took a step towards Sephiroth, unsure if he found it funny or was about to punish him for being insolent.
"That does sound like a good idea, but I'll save that for a contract." He replied and Cicero sighed with relief.
"Dinner is ready!" Aron exclaimed and the inhabitants of the sanctuary sat at the long wooden table to eat. Sephiroth and Lightning sat next to each other at the table, but they didn't speak to each other the entire time. The assassins could only watch with a building sense of awkwardness as the couple tried to avoid looking at each other. The meal seemed to be passing slowly, no one dared to talk. The conversations resumed once Sephiroth returned to the master bedroom with Lightning in tow.
The rose haired woman closed the door behind her and crossed her arms. They both stood there and stared at each other for a minute or so before Sephiroth decided to break the silence.
"Okay, we need to resolve this. We can't keep going on like this."
"It's only been two hours, it's not like we've been avoiding each other for days."
"But it could end up that way."
"Maybe you were right. About us." Sephiroth shook his head as soon as those words left his wife's lips.
"Don't say that."
"But what if you were right?"
"No, I'm sorry about what I said before. I was quite upset about the situation, I wasn't thinking."
"I don't blame you. And you shouldn't be apologising, it's my fault. I shouldn't have dismissed your words like I did. I'm sorry and I promise that I won't do it again." Sephiroth smiled slightly and pulled her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and smiled as she leant her head up against his chest.
"Honestly, that's all I wanted to hear. I'm glad that we can put this behind us now and move forward." Sephiroth said.
"Me too." Lightning mumbled. It was almost impossible for him to make out her words, her lips were pressed up against his chest and she didn't seem to want to move from that spot. He tightened his hold on her and she almost buried her head against his chest. He exhaled with amusement, her pink hair was tickling his chest. Both of them were pleased that the matter was resolved. Though they had a feeling that this would have been the first disagreement of many, at that moment it wasn't important. The intimacy experienced by this embrace created a warm sensation that blossomed within them both. Lightning tugged on Sephiroth's beaded belt in an attempt to bring him closer. He ran a gloved hand over the back of her head and she smiled. She mumbled something and Sephiroth hummed with curiosity and Lightning looked up at him. Before she go to repeat what she had just said, the door flung open and none other but the fool of hearts stood with his hand on the handle. Sephiroth loosened his hold on Lightning and turned his head towards the jester.
"Listener! Babette wants... Oooh! It looks like things have been fixed! The problem's fixed! Oh joyous times!" Cicero exclaimed and Sephiroth shook his head with amusement.
"Yes, it has. And what did Babette want?"
"Hmm? Oh yes, she wants more feathers to toy around with." The Listener rolled his eyes.
"Very well. But please remind her that she is not to pluck feathers from my wing anymore." Sephiroth sighed.
"I'll go tell our little vampire." Cicero replied and closed the door before he pranced off to tell Babette the news about the feathers, muttering just like he always did.
"I like him much better than Kefka." Lightning announced and Sephiroth nodded in agreement.
"I do too." He replied and their embrace tightened again.
Her fingers went straight for back of the beaded belt again as she rested her ear on his chest. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her with suspicion.
"What are you doing?"
"I can't help it if your chest is comfy." She slightly moved her head and her hair brushed against his skin, making him chuckle at the sensation.
"Is that so?" She hummed in reply. He placed one hand on her waist and tenderly lifted her chin up before looking into her eyes.
"What was it you were mumbling before?"
"Oh, I was just thinking aloud that's all."
"About?"
"As nice as this is, I can't help but to wonder what would become of us if we were taken back to the war. Would we still be able to keep this relationship or would we become soldiers on enemy sides again?"
"I'd hope not. I rather enjoy being by your side."
"And I do yours. But... I jus-"
"I know. We don't know what would happen if we returned. There's no way we can predict what's to come."
"And what if we returned to our worlds instead? What if we forgot everything that happened during the war, during our time here?"
"If that happened, I don't think there would be anything we could do about it."
"You're the smart one here, isn't there some way?"
"No. There couldn't be. And if there was, it's out of our reach." Lightning sighed defeatedly and rested her ear against his chest again. Sephiroth placed his hand back on her head and began to play with her hair, hoping that his touch would cheer her up.
"I'm... slowly beginning to remember my past."
"I am as well, and I'm sure that the others are too."
"Knowing what I know now, I don't want to go home. There is no home anymore. Cocoon is gone and my little sister... is dead. I have nothing to go back to."
"When did you remember all this?"
"I knew about Cocoon before I woke up here. I didn't recall anything about my sister until after the execution of Mercer Frey. I guess it never fully gripped me, I was too focused on this campaign against Garland to dwell on it for too long. What about you?"
"I have no reason to go back to my world either. I threw everything away because I was angry with my friends, my father, my upbringing and the lies I grew up hearing. I lost the only people I ever cared about and all of a sudden, I just didn't care about what I had anymore. I could only think about what I had lost and how different everything would be without my friends."
"You must have been close to them."
"We were like brothers. They shouldn't have left, the three of us all ended up being... monsters anyways." Lightning saw a flood of emotions wash over his face when he mentioned 'monsters'. It changed his mood greatly and seemed to effect the atmosphere of the stone room.
"Must be nice. For most of my life, all the family I've ever had has been my sister. Dad died a long time ago and mum died when I was sixteen. So, I practically raised her by myself. And now she's gone too."
"At least your parents cared, I never met my mother and my father only ever saw me as an experiment." Despite the unearthing of raw emotions that he had not felt in a long time, he knew that Lightning was feeling almost exactly the same that he was. He could see it all in her eyes; crushing sorrow, frustration, hidden anger, vulnerability and at the heart of it, absolute heartbreak. Lightning could see the exact same emotions within Sephiroth's eyes also. Lightning smiled sadly and placed a kiss on his chest. The coolness of her lips felt paradoxically warm against his skin, he guessed it was because the surge of emotion behind it not because of how warm her lips were. She noticed that Sephiroth was looking a little distant, lost in thought. In his pensive state, their tight embrace slowly loosened. It wasn't just him who was lost in thought, Lightning was trying to suppress memories of her life on Cocoon, how it all fell apart in a matter of days and of Serah's death, but it was futile. Minutes passed by in silence as Sephiroth and Lightning dwelled on their pasts to themselves.
"What's a woman like you doing with a monster like me?" Sephiroth asked. It broke Lightning's train of thought and she looked up at him with unbelieving eyes.
"I think you're mistaken, I'm not exactly human myself. I was, but not anymore. When we were branded, we were no longer human and never would be again. Even the removal of our brands was never a guarantee that we would ever be human again." She replied and Sephiroth looked at her with surprise. That was not an answer he was expecting.
"Then I guess we're more alike than I first thought." He responded with a single nervous laugh. Her answer helped ease the burden of the thoughts and memories that were weighing heavily on his mind.
"I guess so." She said with a weak smile. He had a feeling that something wasn't quite right with Lightning.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes," She replied immediately before pausing for a short time and correcting herself, "No."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't know... I've had to be strong for so long, for Serah's sake. But, now that it's really sinking in that she's gone I don't know if I can anymore." The rose haired warrior looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen her and he doubted if she would ever let anyone else besides him see it.
"I know what it's like to lose someone who's practically family, so I can understand where you're coming from. It's not easy to stay strong, but you have something I never had then."
"Which is?"
"Someone to help you through it. Me." His answer made her smile, the prospect of having someone beside her to keep her as composed as possible seemed to be a good idea. Sephiroth removed his gloves and placed them on the stone pedestal in the room before running his fingers through her hair.
"You think you can keep me from breaking down? How?" She snapped as her ribs tightened to the point where it hurt and it was hard for her to breathe. He took her into his arms and lifted her chin to gaze into her bright blue eyes. He noticed that they were glassy when he placed his hands on her cheeks.
"Like this." He replied and pressed his lips up against hers quicker than she could blink. It took her by surprise. At that moment, it felt right and she closed her eyes before returning the kiss. The water that was welling up in her eyes trickled onto her cheek and Sephiroth wiped it away with his thumb before deepening their kiss. The constricting feeling in Lightning's ribs released its grip on her as he gently tugged on her bottom lip with both of his. Before she could wrap her arms around him to pull him closer, he broke the kiss and she sighed in protest.
"Better?" She nodded in reply and he kissed her forehead tenderly.
"Good, now get some rest."
"But aren't yo-"
"I'm not going anywhere." He interjected as he grasped hold of her hand and gave it an assuring squeeze before letting go of it.
He pulled off of his boots and left them at the foot of the pedestal. He placed his belt onto the stone pedestal before he began to unbuckle his coat. Lightning sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him shrug off the leather coat. He smirked when he caught her eye and she looked away with red creeping onto her cheeks. He chuckled at her sudden shyness and unclipped the straps before placing them on top of the coat. Sephiroth sat down next to Lightning and pulled her onto his lap. He brushed her fringe away from her eyes as she placed her hands on his abdomen. He smirked as her hands continued to wander his abs. He noticed the cheeky glint in her eyes as they noticed every detail of his muscular chest. Her fingers traced the outline of the his body's definition and dwelled on a faint scar on his ribs before her hands traveled upwards towards his chest and rested on his shoulders. He liked the sensation of her soft fingertips exploring his supple skin. Her hands caressed his arms before she gently gripped his wrists and wrapped his arms around her body. Lightning's hands returned to his abs and she gently rubbed them with a mischievous smile on her face. Sephiroth closed his eyes and sighed happily as her fingertips and nails roamed his lower torso. She kicked off her shoes and brushed the tips of her toes against his foot. He tried to hold back a chuckle as his feet tingled under her toes. He unfurled his black feathered wing and wrapped it around her petite frame before he chuckled and moved his feet away from her ticklish toes. Lightning raised her eyebrow in curiosity as he opened his eyes and stared right into hers. She used her toes to gently touch the undersides of his feet and he moved his feet away again.
"You're ticklish, aren't you?" She purred as her hands crept around his ribs to grasp onto his toned back.
"I am not."
"Then why are you moving your feet?"
"They're... sensitive."
"Sure they are." Lightning used her toes to try and tickle his foot again and he bit his lip to try and not let out a small chuckle when they touched the soles of his feet.
"Stop it." He said as he tried not to laugh. He tried to wiggle his feet away from hers and Lightning thought that the way he broke eye contact with her to try and get his feet away from hers was cute. In that moment, he was far from the dark, dangerous villain that she had met in the war. Lightning couldn't help but to chuckle as she wove her way out of their warm embrace to capture his foot and tickle it gently with her fingers.
"I said stop it!" He laughed. She released his foot and pushed him onto the bed, using only her weight to keep him pinned to the bed. She knew that he would break free, considering that he was physically bigger and stronger than her, but he seemed quite happy to be there.
"I can't believe it. The great and powerful Sephiroth, is ticklish." She teased.
"Excuse me, it is only my feet that are ticklish. They always have been and my friends, Genesis and Angeal always used it to poke fun at me." He chuckled to himself, reminiscing on the good times he had with his friends rather than focusing only on the bad ones. It made it easier for him to deal with. A kiss and a nip on his neck brought him out of his nostalgia with a moan louder than he would've liked emitting from his mouth.
"Oh, so it's that secret? Only two other people ever knew about it?"
"Now, three."
"Then I'm honoured." They both laughed and Sephiroth easily overpowered her, flipping her onto her back and using his arms and torso to keep her underneath him.
"What about you Light? Are you ticklish?"
"No. Never have been. Serah was the ticklish one, not me." Lightning replied, the cheeriness in her expression faded as she recalled memories of her little sister. He saw the sudden pensiveness in her face and kissed her cheek a few times.
"It helps of you focus on the good memories rather than the bad." Lightning let his advice sink in a little before burying her face in between his neck and shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his left side. He fished the covers out from underneath their bodies before he brought it up to Lightning's shoulder and draped his wing over her. She rested her ear up against his chest and listened to the quick, yet steady beats of hid heart.
"You know, I'm still surprised that it beats." He said and placed his hand on the back of her head before kissing her hair and gently rubbing her head.
"How many times have you died?"
"Three from memory."
"Does it hurt?"
"To die by a sword? Yes, it hurts like a bitch." Lightning laughed weakly at his response.
"I bet it does." She replied. As silence descended on the couple, he began to play with her hair. She listened intently to his heartbeat and closed her eyes to focus on the sensation of his chest rising and falling as he drew long, steady breaths. She found it incredibly soothing, especially that his wing ensured that she was in mostly darkness. She felt like she could've fallen asleep right there and then.
"Light?"
"Yeah?"
"May I call you by your real name?" Lightning was taken back by this. As far as her still fractured memory would allow, she couldn't remember anybody ever asking her that question since she changed it.
"You may." She replied with a smile. He kissed her forehead and held her close. He was so worried about how she was feeling that he didn't notice her toes slowly making their way towards his feet. She began to wiggle her toes against the soles of his feet and she could feel him beginning to squirm.
"That wasn't fair!" He protested as she began to laugh whilst she tried to tickle his feet.
"Oh it was!" She exclaimed as she wiggled away from him. Sephiroth was pleased to see that Lightning was smiling again, he thought that she had a beautiful smile and he liked the way her eyes would glitter whenever she smiled. Lightning thought it was cute the way he would squeeze his eyes shut and squirm whilst his feet her being tickled, it reminded her of the way an innocent child would behave rather than the way a disturbed harbinger of death would behave in that predicament. But she also thought that his laugh was enchanting and his smile was breathtaking. Their laughter subsided as she stopped tickling him. He furled his wing and wrapped his arms around Lightning before pulling her closer.
"Claire?" Lightning blushed as Sephiroth called her by her name.
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad we're together."
"Me too." Lightning said as she nipped at his collarbone. She looked up and brushed her thumb across his face as his cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.
"Come here." She purred and pressed her lips against his. They closed their eyes and let their bodies intertwine. He returned her kiss with enthusiasm. Their lips locked and unlocked as Sephiroth's fingers crept up her tunic. Lightning tangled her fingers in the fine silvery threads of his hair as his fingers found many indentations, tracing the varying lines of scars on her back by relying on touch for direction as Lightning deepened their kiss. She let his tongue caress hers as his fingers felt their way down her spine. She moaned as she gently tousled his hair. His tongue left hers as he planted tender kisses on her lips. When their lips finally parted, Sephiroth lay on his back and Lightning rested her head on his chest again. He kissed her forehead as he wrapped an arm around her body.
"Tired?" She nodded slowly and closed her eyes. He exhaled a breath of amusement and closed his eyes as well.
"Goodnight Claire."
"Goodnight Sephiroth."
"See you in the morning." And with that, the both of them drifted to sleep.