Okay, I don't think it's fair to delay this any more. And posting now might be the kick in the pants I need to just SIT DOWN AND WRITE. Gah, I really frustrate myself. I've developed an attention span worthy of Zack, and that was BEFORE I let myself get dragged into a new fandom with talking suits of armor and Homunculi...

I hope you've all learned your lesson. Never assume you know what I'm going to do, because that leads to Zack being attached to a grabby psychopath. Speaking of which, let's go check on them...

NOT WRATH OF GODS

Chapter 36 - For The Weeping Face

"Wh-What? You're...you're not..."

"I suppose I can forgive you. After all, you've only seen my messenger. Or felt, rather, not seen. Do I feel the same?"

Zack lunged back, but the soft rope around his wrists greatly limited his movement, and he could only circle the firmly-buried pole he was bound to. Tatake merely had to follow, and did so, with an expression that Zack now recognized. The one he had seen on so many people, the reason Angeal worried so much.

"Get away from me!"

"Why are you afraid? I've been waiting for you all my life. Just as you've been waiting for me."

"NO! You're not, you can't be!"

"Is this about me being rough with you? Well, what else could I do? You told me no, and I couldn't accept that."

Zack pressed himself back against the pole as much as he could, gasping in panicked breaths and exhaling a sob when hands seized his face and caressed it. One slid up to grip his hair, the other down to hold his chin, and suddenly a mouth was against his, the slimy pressure of a tongue. Zack tried to keep his lips closed, and angrily bit down when he couldn't anymore. Tatake sat back with no change of expression, only a flash of his black eyes, and slapped Zack across the face. It stunned him more than anything else, and a moment later Tatake was gently stroking his reddened cheek.

"Do not make me angry. I'd rather not harm your pretty face."
"Don't touch me!"

"So you're refusing me? No one refuses their soul mate."

"You're not!"

"Then how do I know about the shoorei?" Zack went silent, and a triumphant smile leered at him. "Yes. As soon as I saw you, I knew. I only had, then, to make the kenjin confirm that you had a shoorei, and that made me completely certain."

"No, you - " Synapses fired in Zack's brain; the area that stores memory flashed and his eyes widened again. "Tatake."

"I can't wait to hear you moan it."

"But...I remember now, Genesis mentioned you! He said you...you lost your lover in battle."

The Koibito's jaw stiffened, and for a moment Zack thought he would be hit again. "I did. And now the gods have sent me you, as a reward for my devotion."

"But...you're supposed to serve the god of love - "

"I do. What we've done together..." Fingers wafted through Zack's hair. "...what we will do...what would you all that but love?"

"It's not you." The boy was nearly pleading now. "Please, it can't be."

"You should be happy. If you meant nothing to me, I would take what I want from you without concern for pain," Tatake said lowly. "I can be very cruel, but not to my lovers. I will not be to you. All you need do is behave, and I'll make you very happy."

"No!" Zack aimed a kick, but Tatake dodged it and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Even if it was you, no!"

"Maybe you don't care what I do to you. But what about the prisoners? I don't need them."

"Are they okay? Is A-Commander Hewley okay?"

"For now."

"P-Please - "

"I suppose he's a valuable hostage. But killing him would be a wonderful blow to ShinRa's morale, wouldn't it?"

"Please!" Zack had been trying to avoid contact with Tatake; now he edged closer and looked with pleading into the black-hole eyes. "Please don't."

"Setanta told me Hewley is your teacher. What a caring student you are." The voice was chilly, so cold that Zack shrank back from it. "I suppose I don't need to execute him...yet, at least."

The pressure crushing Zack's lungs and heart eased. "And the others? You won't hurt them either, will you?"

"The doctor, the kenjin and the SOLDIERs are under guard. The Wutaians chose an honorable death rather than join us," Tatake said darkly. "I had no use for your technology experts. None of my men wanted them either, so they were disposed of quickly."

Eyes open, frozen that way, Zack sank heavily down toward the ground as a soft keening sound escaped his closed lips. All those lives, gone from Gaia as if they hadn't all been unique and precious, and the Koibito leader spoke of their deaths as casually as he would have the weather. He noticed Zack's shock, however, and traced the boy's face and frown with his fingers.

"You really are young. Life is only a prelude to death, as a SOLDIER you should know that. You have killed, haven't you?"

"...Yes." And always felt hurt by it afterward, always cried alone or sought Angeal's closeness until the memory of the corpse faded. "But only when I had to, to protect someone!"

"Just as I am protecting my people."

"No! You're trying to start a war with us!" Zack pulled his head free, but undaunted, the Koibito merely shifted his exploring hands to the body. "Stop!"

"ShinRa began it. ShinRa invaded, Shinra reduced the land and the Lifestream to commodities to be sold and taken and profited from. They deny Wutai her soul, and that itself is murder. Our revenge will not be complete until every man, woman and child associated with ShinRa is dead and their blood soaks the land in repayment."

"The people of Midgar don't have any control over what ShinRa does." Absurdly, Zack was almost grateful for this horrifying conversation, since it distracted him from the hands roaming beneath his shirt. "Neither does SOLDIER, not even Sephiroth!"

"You were the one who defended the silver demon's honor earlier, weren't you?" Tatake asked this but obviously already knew the answer. "If you know his capabilities so well, you must know him. And a 2nd Class SOLDIER would usually not. You must be very close to Hewley."

"We've worked together a while. I know A-Commander Hewley's closest friends, but - stop!" Zack renewed his struggles, hating these not-Angeal hands probing every sensitive spot on his upper body. "Get your fucking - !"

A painful grip on his hair shut Zack up. "You are making me angry, koi. When I am angry, I want blood."

That was urgent enough to make the boy overlook being addressed with the Wutaian term for a speaker's lover. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

A pleased smile, which was even more frightening than anger on Tatake's face. "You can tell me 'no' all you like, koi..." He wrapped his arms around Zack, held him close possessively and almost carefully. "...but not until I'm inside you," the man whispered into his ear.

Tatake laughed slowly and quietly as Zack stiffened, then began to tremble. His hands moved over the young body in the soothing motions that had worked on the few others he had claimed for himself among the unwilling. The small, wiry frame of this one indicated that he was still growing, but he would not get much bigger, and he would never be tall. Zack would always be small enough for him to intimidate and dominate, as long as he was properly trained. The shape of him made Tatake recall another body, one that had quickly become willing. A stab of pain, a memory of cold flesh. Well, this feisty little one would help him forget.

Zack's fear dampened his rage until his uniform pants were abruptly shoved down and a hand went between his legs. "No!"

As he began to stroke, the Koibito leader called out "Katsura!" and the one who had captured Zack entered the tent and bowed. His view of Zack was mostly obstructed, but he watched with interest anyway as he acknowledged his lord in Wutainese.

Tatake answered in the same tongue, deliberately speaking slowly so Zack would understand. "Choose a prisoner. Bring him here, and something to catch his blood."

"No, please," Zack wept. He hid his face against Tatake's chest to avoid Katsura's smirking eyes, not realizing how much this pleased his assailant. "Please, I'll do anything."

"Never mind, Katsura."

"My lord."

When they were alone again, Tatake pat Zack's hair, then grasped his chin and lifted it. "When are you allowed to say no to me, koi?"

"O-Only when you're..." The words felt like vomit, Zack couldn't say any more.

"Inside you. Good. I'll be as patient with you as I can, pet, but if you want to keep your comrades alive, you must remember my rules." A rough hand descended upon Zack's lower back, and began to slowly move south.

"N-!" The boy managed to stop short of finishing the word. "Please," he said instead, trembling and feeling horribly young and afraid. It seemed a lifetime since he had stepped from a noisy club into a night-sky-covered alley, led by a killer who looked at him with the same hunger this man did. But that was different, he'd been protected then...

The unfamiliar hand continued for a few moments, cupping the sculpted softness of each cheek, tracing the middle opening with fingers that lightly explored but didn't actually enter. Zack whimpered in terror but wouldn't let himself say no, and once Tatake realized he wasn't going to, he kissed the top of the boy's head and returned his hand to its previous position.

"Not yet," he murmured. "Not yet. I think you need something else first."

Over the next few minutes, Tatake was patient and quiet as he fondled, and when Zack hardened he had no idea what had caused it - the touching, the fear or the aching need he felt to see Angeal, be held this way by Angeal. When the climax came, Zack burst into tears instead of moans, and squeezed his eyes shut rather than see who it was that cleaned him up and rocked him until the hysteria passed.

azazaza

"Commander, sir? Do you think he's okay?"

In spite of the numb, dead feeling prevailing in his heart and mind, Angeal forced himself to look to his left and nod. He had been expecting the question for hours, felt it building up in Lieutenant Hunter until the 2nd could hold it back no longer.

"Zack is strong. I know he's all right." I would know if he were gone. My heart still beats, therefore he still lives.

"He got caught because of me. I distracted him..."

"Zack gets distracted often enough on his own, he doesn't require anyone's help." Puppy, please be safe. "You are not at fault, Lieutenant. At times like this, guilt is a dangerous distraction. Do not fall prey to it."

"Yes, sir. Why do you think they separated Zack from us?"

Don't make me think about that, don't. "It's a common tactic. Splitting up prisoners, making them wonder and worry about each other, is a form of intimidation."

"At least he didn't have to see...it would've really hurt him."

Angeal said nothing. The executions had been done in their presence, with their hands tied and weapons pointed at them just the same as now. The Wutaians had stood in a straight line, unwavering as they faced their deaths, and Angeal had made and maintained eye contact with each one until they were gone, honoring their bravery and loyalty with his refusal to flinch.

He had tried to do the same for the ShinRa techs, but they were men of science, not war, and when the time came they begged for their lives, yelled, bribed, wept. Their deaths were messy and loud, and though the older SOLDIERs stoically withstood it, eighteen-year-old Declan had fallen to his knees and choked out a rope of vomit. The Koibito had taunted him for this. One had brought him water in what seemed a gesture of kindness, but Angeal recognized the look in the man's eyes. He had guarded Zack too long not to recognize it. Thereafter he ordered Declan to stay near him, and the young man had agreed, courageously shrugging off the threat.

"Sir, if I can do anything, risk anything to help Zack, I will."

"Keep yourself safe," Angeal murmured. "Zack is my responsibility."

"With all due respect, sir, you can't tell me not to care about him."

"I know," Angeal said, meaning he was aware of the younger's feelings.

"It's okay with you?"

"I am pleased Zack is so loved, by so many," the commander said. It came out flat, toneless, like a memorized line from a bad play. It would've offended Genesis's artistic ears.

"He doesn't feel the same. Um, he told me about his soul mate...thing."

"Really?"

"I guess it's for the best. Zack deserves someone perfect for him, someone who'll just show up and be it, everything he ever wanted, you know?"

"No." He's mine and I won't let him go, not unless he looks in my eyes and swears that he no longer wants me.

"Sir?"

"No more talking just now, Lieutenant. Observe and listen."

"Yes, sir."

azazaza

Lazard opened the door with an expression of relief, one he had never directed before at his so-called rival. "Thank you for coming."

"Thank you for being fully-clothed," Genesis said airily, and gracefully pushed his way into the apartment. "And thank you for not decorating this place all in purple. Where is he?"

Lazard pointed across the spacious main room. There, in front of the largest window, was Sephiroth, pacing back and forth so rapidly that his long silver hair was constantly whipping around him, would have become tangled if that were possible. The general's long fingers were curled into white fists, his face was glistening in the moonlight and set with a tight frown. Genesis almost staggered from the tension he was sensing, and would have run right to him if Lazard hadn't taken hold of his arm.

"How long?"

"Almost an hour. I can't get him to sit down, and he won't talk. Also, I know this will sound crazy, but - "

Sparing Lazard the need to explain, a lamp close to Sephiroth's path lifted off its table and into the air. The general glared at it as he might a subordinate, it meekly returned to its place, and Sephiroth continued his frustrated pacing. Lazard looked at Genesis with wide eyes, and found him hardly surprised.

"Hmm, I haven't seen Seph do that since we were teenagers. He once smacked Hojo in the face with a microscope." Genesis smirked gleefully. "Purely by accident, of course."

"This is normal?"

"Seph and 'normal' have never gotten along well. Baby," Genesis called, "I think you're scaring the director."

"I'm not scared!"

"Seph, come sit down. If I try to tackle in these pants they might rip."

No answer, no acknowledgment but a derisive "hmph".

"I didn't want to call Dr. Hojo," Lazard said softly, though he knew Sephiroth probably heard. "Should I have?"

"Not unless you want this place set on fire. Besides..." Genesis flipped his silky auburn hair back into place. "Hojo would just bring trank darts. Which are fun to play with, of course, but not good for getting to the root of a problem. General!"

As though without realizing it, Sephiroth instantly halted in his tracks. Genesis sauntered over to face him, laying his hands on the younger's shoulders. As they were the same height, he could easily gaze into the silver eyes and see the poison green clouding them.

"Seph, what is it? You're scaring me."

That seemed to deflate Sephiroth, of stubbornness if not of tension. His shoulders sank a few inches, and one of Genesis's hands moved to smoothe back the waterfall of hair.

"I feel something unpleasant."

"Physically?"

"No."

Genesis hadn't thought so. Aside from a few minor battle injuries, Sephiroth's health had always been perfect, never so much as a cavity.

"Worried?"

"Doesn't worry require reasons?"

"Nah. It's not about Angeal and Puppy, is it?"

Sephiroth's face remained neutral, but his thin silver eyebrows lifted slightly. "You...also?"

"I had a nightmare last night. I haven't had it since Angeal went missing that day, when the caves around the Northern Crater collapsed," Genesis said softly. That was years and years ago, and Angeal had returned with nothing but scratches and a little frostbite, but Genesis had been inconsolable until he saw his friend for himself. Lucky that Dr. Hollander wasn't as fond of tranquilizer darts as his colleague.

"The one you don't remember anything of, except - "

"Dark. Except dark and bad. Yes." Genesis, tactile as always, squeezed Sephiroth and inhaled a deep breath of him. Vanilla, today. "I tried to contact the encampment, but their servers wouldn't respond."

"So you tried Godo next."

"How did you know?"

"I did the same," Sephiroth said. "I'm waiting for his response."

"Me too. Let's wait together, okay?"

Lazard, a little sad but relieved to see Sephiroth calmer, was just wondering if he should excuse himself - even though it was his apartment - when Sephiroth gestured him to come closer. He seemed to regret doing so, however, when he found himself sandwiched between two bodies on the couch. One person at a time clinging was strange enough. Being touched from all around like this was...what?

"Stop analyzing, Seph," Genesis ordered, determinedly pulling the silver head to rest on his shoulder. "Just feel and relax, okay?"

The general made a noise of displeasure at that, but when Lazard lifted one of the pale hands to his lips, he found it limp and unresisting. He wanted to say something loving but careful, respectful but comforting, but what came out was "How can you sit while wearing your sword?"

The other two both laughed; it was easy to pick out Sephiroth's soft chuckle as the quieter of the two. "I don't understand it myself."

"It's magical," Genesis said in his sing-song voice. "It was the last and only remaining work of a wizard swordsmith who died when we were kids."

"Really? Magical?"

"Mmm-hmm. If anyone but Seph uses it they get an awful headache. It feels a lot like being Poisoned, actually."

"I told you not to touch Masamune," the general murmured, finding it comfortable to have his hands both held, by both of them. "It doesn't like anyone else."

"Bitchy sword," Genesis grumbled. "My sword loves you."

"I have never wielded - "

"I was talking about my cock."

"Oh."

"'Oh', he says."

Lazard laughed softly, resting his chin on Sephiroth's shoulder close enough to have his nose tickled by a few stray strands of hair. His feelings for Genesis usually wavered somewhere between respect and bitter envy, but seeing Sephiroth's ease in the other 1st's presence softened this into genuine liking. Much as Lazard wanted Sephiroth to be only his, maybe this really was best for the general. Gaia knew he deserved more adoration than most people, and not just for his angelic looks. The director caught his rival's gaze over the body between them, and smiled. Genesis grinned back, mischievously, before lightly tugging Sephiroth closer.

"I love you more."

"I can send you somewhere where manga porn is unavailable, Rhapsodos."

"Oh, but then who would deliver it to you, Director?"

"I can kill you both and blame it on mako psychosis," a smooth voice warned from between them. Sephiroth never needed to raise his voice to intimidate, but this time there was a hint of playfulness in it.

"Hey, I'm not the one who was about to call Dr. Asshole up here."

Before Lazard could defend himself, the comm panel beside his computer beeped in three identical tones. Sephiroth was at it before the others had finished sitting up, typing in a long passcode and laying his hand flat on the screen to confirm his identity. Lazard politely stood back as the Priority-1S message came up, but Genesis went forward and read it over the general's shoulder. He spoke first, though Sephiroth was the faster reader.

"The gift-delivering party is staying in Gansaku for a few days? That doesn't sound like Angeal. Interrupting his training program? Taking Puppy out of the safety of the camp that long? Hmm."

"We never had any contact with that village," Sephiroth murmured. "All our intel on it came from Godo."

"We have Godo intimidated - "

"Perhaps we are not the only ones."

Genesis's hand covered his mouth, and a single word came, muffled, through it. "Fuck."

"I'm going."

"Not without me you aren't."

"To Wutai?" Lazard blurted out. "Without permission? The president will be furious, he'll send every Turk after you - "

"Angeal and Puppy need us," Genesis insisted firmly. As though that explained everything, and it did.

Sephiroth looked at the wavering executive director silently. But I only just got you, Lazard thought sadly, and the silver angel regarded him with pity, like he had heard it.

"Go," Lazard found himself saying. "I'll take care of it. Just keep in contact."

"Transport Pad 3, Seph, fifteen minutes," Genesis called, and was gone from the apartment in a blur of red and black.

It was never certain afterward who had stepped forward first. Lazard and Sephiroth only knew that they were suddenly close together, arms around each other and open mouths connected. It was a passionate kiss, desperate not for the sake of danger but for the inevitability of being apart. The general stopped first, but allowed Lazard's hand and tongue a few more moments to create memories of him. One more kiss, and the legend was backing up to the door.

"Be careful." It was clearly an order, a lover's, not an executive's.

Though it was usually the last thing he'd do at such a serious time, Sephiroth smiled, holding the expression until he was out the door and gone. Reassured by it, dazzled by the beauty he was privileged to see every day, Lazard only felt his heart stretching thin to watch Sephiroth go, rather than being torn out. That would only come if Sephiroth didn't return to him, and Lazard refused to let that be an option.

azazaza

"I think," Reno said dreamily, "I might've missed a meeting."

"Just tell Tseng I needed you. For...guarding."

"Why not just tell him the truth, that you've been clinging to me like a squid?" Reno teased. It was true, he was wrapped stubbornly in the vice president's arms on the wide bed, beneath a tangle of light blankets.

"Why not indeed?"

"Because he makes that stressed face. I think I might be driving him to drink."

"If it loosens him up, it's all for the best." Rufus pressed his lips to Reno's, and for a minute the silence was broken only by happy sighs. "Has he ever taken a vacation?"

"I've never even seen him out of his suit."

"Speaking of vacations, I was thinking - "

The bedroom door flew off its hinges and clattered to the marble floor like a flimsy toy. Reno was too stunned even for his Turk reflexes to take over, so like Rufus he could only stare dumbly at the unlikely sight hurrying through the doorway. Some sort of prank, or maybe exotic dancers convincingly dressed as two famous SOLDIERs? No, no one but the real Genesis Rhapsodos could knock down a superior's door and smooth back his hair like it was nothing, and no one but the real Sephiroth was this beautiful and terrifying all at once.

For a moment, the two pairs just looked at one another. Rufus's mouth fell open but made only flustered, questioning sounds.

"Quite so," Genesis said, as if Rufus had made an intelligible statement. "Excuse us, V.P., we were just looking for...aha!"

Genesis reached the luxurious bed in a few graceful strides, plunged his arm under the covers and got Reno's arm on the first try. (The 1st seemed briefly disappointed by this.) With a few embarrassing squeaks of protest, the young Turk was hauled, not harshly, onto the heated floor.

"Calm down, you've got nothing I haven't seen a thousand times. Very nice, though."

"Hey!" Rufus shouted, overcoming his shock for indignant fury. "What are you doing? I'll call - "

"What? More Turks? Army? Don't make me laugh. Sit there and be quiet, unless you want your daddy knowing about your fraternizing with Turks. Or is it just the one?" Genesis tossed Reno's clothes to him. "Here, I suppose it wouldn't be fair of us to make you fly like that."

"F-Fly?"

"We need a pilot, and you're supposed to be the best."

"But - "

"No buts, dear. Except for yours, in the cockpit. C'mon, before Junior over there explodes and tattles on us. I don't want to fight until my nails are completely dry."

"You can't just do whatever you want!" Rufus interrupted Genesis's light voice. "You need permission to leave, you're ShinRa's - "

No one saw him move, but in an instant Sephiroth was at the foot of the bed, glaring and making the vice president sink down into it.

"Never piss Seph off in a room that isn't fireproofed," Genesis said gaily. "Remember that, V.P."

"B-But, Reno - "

"We have no desire to interfere with true love. We'll bring him back in like-new condition." Now that Reno was dressed, Genesis lifted the boy off the floor and held him under one arm like a long package. "Once we've cleared ShinRa airspace, do tell Tseng I'm sorry for stealing one of his people on such short notice."

"Hey, what the fuck - " Reno protested, trying to wiggle out of Genesis's grip.

"A screamer, I knew it. Let's go, Seph."

Still nude, still flushed from recent exertion, the vice president of ShinRa Inc. sat on his bed gaping, mouth opening and closing like a fish's as his boyfriend was carried away by two-thirds of SOLDIER's famous Trinity. Sephiroth exited first; the other stopped at the empty doorway and turned, which gave Reno a chance to smile and say "Don't worry, Turks are used to this stuff. I'll be fine."

"Of course he will be," Genesis added impatiently. "Whose company is safer than ours? We'll have him back in no time, V.P. And by the way, your father has been staring at my ass for years. If he tells you off for fraternizing, knock him onto his wide, hypocritical ass."

The intruders were gone as quickly as they'd come. The comfortable bed would soon grow cold without Reno. Vice President Rufus Shinra sat there for a long time, imagining the revenge he would take if his lover wasn't safely back in his arms soon.

They must be going to Wutai. Hewley is in Wutai. Shaking off the remnants of his earlier shock, Rufus grabbed his phone and dialed first Rude, then Lazard.

To be continued!