Chapter 30: Out of Time

Cloud had been given several hours to think about what he had learned back at the camp. A bitter lump had formed in his belly, sitting just above Sephiroth's child currently growing inside of him. Sephiroth had always sworn to be honest with him—in fact, the SOLDIER had been the one person he could trust, because if he pushed it enough he could get into his head.

It's not as if he didn't know why Sephiroth had done it. Cloud had given him every reason to think there was the possibility he would stray. His mate had never had anything in his life. It made sense that he would cling to one of his only possessions. It made sense that he could convince himself this was the only way he could protect his family. ...It made sense.

It just didn't hurt any less.

He tried to remember all the times before the bites had occurred. He had been attracted to Sephiroth—of course he had. Cloud had no compunctions in thinking that anyone was to blame for him crawling into Sephiroth's bed that night before Nibelheim, but himself. It had always been his decision to seek physical and emotional pleasure with someone who wasn't Zack. Be it whatever they had done to him during the experiments, or just because of the amazing person that Sephiroth was, but he had always meant to stray. ...To stray, but then come home to one he loved.

In Nibelheim he had begged Sephiroth to not force him to choose. In Nibelheim he had bitten Zack and been completely sure that he wanted him to bite back. Afterwards, it had gotten so complicated. What about if they hadn't immediately sent Zack away? What about if he had been smart and stayed on the suppressants? What if he hadn't bated Sephiroth into smelling his scent gland while he was in heat, and then acted shocked at everything that had followed?

He didn't blame his mate. They had spent weeks in bed together, and it was in an Alpha's nature to bite. Sephiroth hadn't known then...and even if he did, Cloud had begged for it on more than one occasion. Now though...he knew. His mate had been the one to give him that serum...to know exactly what it was he was injecting into his veins.

It was confusing...not to know his own mind. Not to know if any of the decisions he had made, as well as the pain he had caused over the last several months, was because of his own mind, or from influences of someone else's. How much had Sephiroth's will entwined with his own without him even knowing it? Is that meant to be mated? ...Is that what it meant to have a soul mate?

...Even if it was potentially the wrong one?

Cloud;s eyes trailed up the stairs towards the entrance of the reactor, feeling numb again as he had before he had gone down the stairs to the basement. He had been here before. His mind thrummed with pain as it warred with memories that were no longer present...had more than likely been erased. Whatever was beyond that door had been ripped from his mind. Possibly to protect him. ...Possibly to further whatever game had been set up to get this child inside of him. It didn't matter which one. All that mattered was that it was too late to go back now. He had to see what layed beyond the veil of this cautionary tale.

Blue eyes glanced over to where Genesis and Kadaj were resting along the stairs, before traveling over to the SOLDIER. beside him. "I want you to stay outside." The instant the words were out of his mouth, he knew they would be met with rebuttal, and the frown on Zack's face only confirmed his analysis.

"Like hell," Zack bit out through clenched teeth, trying to obviously remain calm even as the frustration reflected across his face.

"Zack…" Cloud tried to argue, but the Alpha growled out a warning.

"Like hell I said!" Zack rubbed his face, trying to control the growling obviously as Cloud bit back a whimper from escaping him. "You're not going in there alone to whatever nightmare it is you think you want to see! And Sephiroth? Sephiroth isn't going to be alone with you ever again if I can help it."

"He's my mate," Cloud argued, sighing at the insult. "It may not be a fairytale, but that's how it happened between the three of us."

"Bullshit." Zack threw his hand out in front of him. "Bullshit. That's exactly what this all is." The SOLDIER pointed up towards the reactor. "Whatever is in there Spike, it's going to ruin you. It's going to probably destroy us all. Maybe I should have made different choices with you. I should have listened to my instincts when it came to you, but you know what, babe? Given the choice to do it all over again, I still wouldn't have fucked you when you were in heat...bit you when you couldn't make a choice."

Cloud flinched at that, heart hammering in shame at the admission. Sephiroth had always said he would never have had the same restraint.

"Would you have done it at all?" Cloud questioned then, more than aware that Kadaj and Genesis were looking the other way and trying to make themselves scarce. "If you knew that it subdued me...made me compliant...made me submissive...would you have bitten me at all?"

Zack opened his mouth to respond, but then hesitated...quieting as he looked away. "To have what you have with him? Maybe?" The Alpha admitted, turning back with shame on his face. "To mate with you, but I wouldn't keep doing it if I knew."

He believed that. Honestly, he did. Cloud was surprised Zack would have even admitted to biting him once. His True Alpha's willpower was beyond measure, and his honor had never once been in question.

"You would give me that level of control—my freedom, so please give me this." Cloud motioned towards the stairs. "If we all go in there I know it won't end well." He could feel Sephiroth's pain from here. He could feel his anger...confusion. "He's not okay. I need to ta—"

"That's the exact reason you shouldn't be going up there by yourself!" Zack shook his head in disgust. "You think I'm going to let you walk up there and throw yourself on a grenade?" He stepped forward, grabbing Cloud's forearm as he pulled him close. "Why are you doing this? Tell me!"

"Because someone has to be able to bring him back," Cloud tried.

"No," Zack argued, refusing to back down. "Why are you doing this Cloud? Why are we here? Why are we about to blow up all our lives? I would do anything for you, even this, but I want to know why?"

Why was he doing this? Why had he broken out of Shinra? Why had he dragged them all here to ruin their lives? Why had he been craving this intense level of pain...of soul breaking pain.

"Because I deserve to see whatever monsters lie inside." His voice was soft, not believing he was confessing something he hadn't even been able to form into thoughts until now. "Maybe whatever they are will match the one inside me—the one capable of doing the things I've done." Cloud twisted his arm out of Zack's hold, entwining their fingers instead as he stared up at the SOLDIER. "Believe me...I have it coming."

"Why?" Zack asked, the violet eyes becoming shiny as he squeezed his hand. "Because you've lived a pampered life? Because you've always just done as you want?" Zack bit his lip as he watched him. "Is it your intention to cause yourself this level of pain as penance? You're not a bad person. I don't blame you for what happened. I don't blame you for choosing him."

"You blame him," Cloud surmised. "But I hold just as much guilt...I promise you." Zack didn't deny it the second time, not able to keep up the pretense as he simply raised Cloud's hands up to his mouth, pressing his lips against the back of it as he shook his head in sorrow. "It's okay. I would blame me too. Just because I've lived a shitty life, doesn't condone the shitty actions I've taken in my supposed freedom."

Zack didn't reply right away, staring over at him with a frown. "There are less detrimental ways to punish yourself."

"I know." He did. He knew even in this he was being selfish. He wouldn't just be destroying his life...but the rest of theirs as well. Even in this he managed to screw up. "Just give me twenty minutes to go get him."

"Dream on, Spike," Zack sneered at the very thought. "You can have three."

"Three?" Cloud asked, raising his eyebrow in amusement. "Ten," he countered.

"Five." Zack was glaring down at him, though his mouth was twitching slightly in amusement at their game. "Final offer."

Cloud sighed, relenting as he nodded his head. "Five, but you don't need to worry. He would never hurt me."

The SOLDIER seemed skeptical as his eyes were locked on the still bleeding wound on his neck. "Five minutes, Spike, and then we come see whatever nightmare you've brought us to."

He smiled as the Alpha relented, pushing up on his toes as he pressed his lips to Zack's cheek, shuddering as he inhaled the scent of him. Cloud pulled back, inches away as he could make out every speck of mako in his irises. "I love you." He cupped his face, very aware of how the SOLDIER had stiffened. "I always will. I never deserved you. I—"

Zack lunged forward then, grabbing Cloud's hips as he yanked him close, not hesitating in crashing their lips together as his hands traveled up his back to cup each cheek. Cloud whined, opening his mouth in shock as the Alpha's tongue pressed against his own.

...He had forgotten just what Zack tasted like.

...How he felt.

...How he kissed.

Cloud's arms wrapped around Zack's neck, pulling him impossibly closer as he pressed against the armored chest. He kissed him like he was drowning...succumbing...finally relenting to some unknown entity in this world that had always told him that this was right. Zack was right. He was warm. He was his. Forever.

...Yet never.

His lips slightly chased after Zack's, nipping softly at just the taste of him as he laid their foreheads together, fingers clenching in dark spikes as he felt the stirrings of arousal as a wetness began to leak down his thigh.

Zack's eyes shut, pulling him closer as his entire body shuddered against him. "I forgot what it was like to smell you."

The Omega grinned, trying to memorize every freckle on Zack's face before they pulled away again. "Not kiss me?"

"No," Zack immediately replied, eyes opening as the sclera had spread. "I'd never forget what it was like to kiss you."

A blush came to his cheeks, feeling like he was in a daze as his heart was pounding with desire...with aching want. That is until he was unceremoniously yanked back away from the Alpha. His heart stopped as he expected it to be Sephiroth, but it was Genesis' furious eyes staring back into his own.

"What exactly is your malfunction?" He yanked him further away, glowering back at Zack and ignoring his growl. "Here!? You're going to cheat on Sephiroth here!?" He turned towards Zack. "He's a pixie slut, but I at least expected more reason from you." Genesis shoved him away. "Go get Sephiroth and your answers, and let's get the fuck out of this hick town."

Zack pressed two fingers into the creases of his eyes, inhaling deep. "Go Spike. You've got five minutes."

"Zack?" Confusion filled him as he could still taste the Alpha...knew he must smell like him. Knew he was wet for him like a bitch in heat...and he was going to find Sephiroth.

"Just go babe, okay?" The Alpha managed. "Go, or I'm going to try to stop you."

Genesis pulled out a canister from his jacket, tossing it his way. "Use a breath mint at least before you fuck up all our lives."

Cloud's hands closed around the canister, blushing in embarrassment as he opened it and grabbed out five mints, turning before he could make himself stop as he headed up the stairs to the reactor.

Glancing down to his watch, he set a timer for five minutes, heart hammering in his chest as he felt sick over what he had done. It wasn't from guilt of kissing Zack, however. ...It was how not guilty he felt over the act. Of course he didn't want to hurt Sephiroth. Of course he loved him...but now he remembered what it was like to kiss the Alpha...to feel right in the universe.

It couldn't happen again. He couldn't let anything like that happen again. He was with Sephiroth. He had quite literally made his bed and would have to lie in it. He loved Sephiroth, and that moment of weakness with Zack...that couldn't happen again. It should never have happened at all.

Hadn't he said the same thing about Sephiroth, though? Hadn't he sworn he wouldn't stray? Hadn't it all been a lie? ...Wasn't it now? Cloud had so many fights with his mate where he was accused of cheating...of just waiting for the right moment. Sephiroth, the prodigal genius, had predicted it from the beginning. Even with the bites...Cloud had still strayed...would stray. He wanted them both. He wanted it to be okay to have them both. He wanted them to relent and give in to his conceited request...to his wanton selfishness.

Cloud pushed open the door to the reactor, the code to get in obviously having already been entered by his mate. Confusion filled him as he glanced around, taking in pod after pod that filled the room like some kind of storage unit. It was freezing, each one of the pods emitting some sort of liquid nitrogen gas. He wrapped his arms around himself as gooseflesh rose at the chill, glancing around for any sign of Sephiroth...of what was actually going on here that they had tried so hard to keep him away.

"Sephiroth?" He called into the emptiness of the room, continuing to climb as he eyed the pods on either side of him wearily. "Seph?" He tried again, taking the stairs quicker as he kept glancing down to the timer on his watch. He knew very well that Zack wasn't bluffing when he told him he only had five minutes...just like he knew the disaster that awaited them if he wasn't able to explain things to Sephiroth first...to calm him down.

He glanced up as he got to the top of the stairs, mouth falling open a little as the name 'Jenova' was etched across the entrance. "Sephiroth's Mother?" Cloud asked himself, wincing as he remembered what he had seen in Sephiroth's mind...the darkness he had felt. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he realized the implications of finding something like this here...and Sephiroth having been here for several hours for whatever might lie inside.

The heavy bolted door had been opened, and so it took little effort to push inside the chamber. Blue eyes widened in disbelief as he took in everything he was seeing. His mate had climbed up some piping leading to a statue of a beautiful woman. He was kneeling in front of her...in fact...it almost looked like he was praying.

Knitting his eyebrows, he looked around to the absolutely destroyed room. There were papers and books scattered everywhere. He leaned down, grabbing a stack that was clearly labeled 'The Omega Project' His eyes scanned over the words, feeling sick.

'The Omega Project was designed for the express purpose of creating a breed capable of controlling Alphas. With the use of injected Jenova cells, the grown subjects produced an ability to exhibit control over the Alpha SOLDIERS. But beyond that, the Omega Project had another very express purpose, to create a master race of Ancients who would lead humanity to the Promised Land.'

"Grown?" The paper dropped out of his hand, looking back over his shoulder as he saw line after line of pods. He glanced back up to where Sephiroth was kneeling. "Seph?" He called again, sure his mate had heard him this time. "Seph, what is all this?" An equal mixture of nervousness and annoyance filled him when his mate didn't budge. "Sephiroth!"

Why had he come here on his own? Why had he left their tent? He wouldn't have known about the bites. Sephiroth wouldn't have seen this without him. He wouldn't have kissed Zack. But no, his mate had to leave before him...for what? Some chivalrous need to protect him? He had landed more on annoyance as he kicked at the strewn papers, making his way up the piping to the place Jenova was contained. ...Where Sephiroth's mother was contained.

Cloud focused on his balance as he climbed up the piping, eyes flickering from the glass container behind the statue, and then back down to his mate as he got behind him. He placed a hand on his shoulder, reaching out with their connection to try to get a sense of how Sephiroth was handling all of this. He winced almost immediately, feeling like his soul had been surrounded by barbed wire as he was thrown completely out of his mind.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud asked softer, able to feel the pain and confusion emitting off him even if he was keeping him out of his mind. ...And there was something else...something just under the surface...something darker. "Are you okay?"

He felt Sephiroth's chest vibrate slightly under his hand in laughter, frowning as his hand was batted away as the SOLDIER slowly rose from his kneeling position. Cloud took a few steps backwards, stomach tightening in nervousness as he realized just what he was standing over as he looked down into the darkness, before his eyes flickered back to Sephiroth as he turned to face him.

"Cloud." Sephiroth's voice was a purr as he eyed him, his face a cold mask as his eyes practically glowed with those cat-like slits. "Was seeing your birth place everything you hoped? Everything you desired?"

"I wasn't born in one of those pods." Cloud denied, not able to look away from the way Sephiroth's pupils seemed to be dilating and retracting over and over as he watched.

"No?" Sephiroth asked, taking a step forward, and Cloud fought every instinct coiling in his belly right now like a pit of snakes to not take a step back. Sephiroth wouldn't hurt him. Sephiroth loved him more than anything...him and their child. "Did you look inside?" He questioned with amusement.

Cloud grit his teeth as he glared at his mate, not liking the mocking tone over something so serious. "You know I didn't."

"My cowardly Omega," Sephiroth teased, but there was no actual playfulness in his tone. All Cloud felt from him was a cold distance. "How can you be expected to rule with us if you won't even embrace your own existence?"

There was so much to unpack in that statement that it took Cloud a moment to decide where even to start. "Us?"

"Silly me," Sephiroth started, voice far away. "I had almost forgotten to introduce the two of you. You see...she's been waiting for us this whole time. She told me so. We have such important things to do, Cloud."

A wave of nausea filled him as he placed a hand to his stomach, taking a deliberate step back as he wanted to be off this pipe that led to a sure drop to death. "Do you mean Jenova?" Cloud questioned, eyes flickering back up to the metallic statue. "Sephiroth. That can't be your mother. It just has to be a coincidence...you're human." Or as human as any of them were at this point, he supposed.

Sephiroth laughed, and it was like nails being dragged down his back. It didn't sound like his mate's laugh...there was something else. "Poor little Omega, you're still pretending like you're not one of the monsters."

"I'm not a monster!" Cloud shot back with. "Neither are you! Sephiroth let's just go," he pleaded. "Let's just leave this place. I should have never made you come here. This is my fault." It was always his fault. "I thought it was a trap for me that we were springing...but I don't think it was ever about getting me to this place."

The trap was for Sephiroth...it always had been.

"You act like knowing the truth is a bad thing. My mother is an Ancient. We will lead this world to the Promised Land," Sephiroth explained, and Cloud glared at him.

"You're spouting that same bullshit as President Shinra!" Cloud snapped. "You are not allowed to fall down that path. You know they're liars! You know they just want to use us!" He shook his head, knowing just how badly he had screwed up this time. "We can just go home. Forget this ever happened."

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow at that. "I can't tell if you're delusional at this point, or just stupid." He tilted his head. "If I had to guess, it would be the latter. After all, I doubt Hojo taught you much education wise besides how to spread those delicious thighs of yours."

"Stop it." Cloud bit out his response, glaring at his mate as his fists clenched. "You don't get to talk to me like that."

"Like what, precious?" Sephiroth questioned, walking forward on the piping with a grace Cloud certainly didn't possess while up this high. "Don't you know what you are by now?"

"Don't," Cloud tried, but was promptly ignored.

"An Alpha cum vessel, isn't that what you once called yourself? A special one, no doubt...being able to take my seed...but a means to an end nonetheless." Sephiroth said it so casually, as if it weren't the cruelest thing to ever leave his lips.

"You're not yourself." He wasn't. This wasn't his mate. He just needed to get him out of here...they just needed to get as far away from Nibelheim as they could.

"Am I not?" Sephiroth asked, stepping just in front of him on the piping. "Am I displeasing my mate? The one currently growing an abomination in his belly?"

Cloud's blood ran cold, glaring up at the Alpha as he fought the wave of nausea that he was sure he was over at this stage. "Don't talk about our child like that."

"Our child?" Sephiroth questioned. "You're nothing but a vessel...a flesh covered version of those pods out there. They built the perfect monster in me...but Shinra wanted more."

"They always do," Cloud bit out, glaring daggers at the person he loved.

"What's growing inside you is redundant. We don't need it." Cloud was positive Sephiroth wasn't referring to them in this scenario when he said 'we' "I will take us to the Promised Land. I will save the planet...as my mother wills it."

"Didn't know you had such strong Mommy issues, Seph," Cloud murmured with disgust. "We'll have to work on that."

"We?" Sephiroth questioned, and Cloud felt a wave of revulsion go through him as both of his hips were grabbed. "Did you think you were going to live through it? I told you...you are just a very special vessel. A means to an end when your purpose is complete."

Tears rolled down Cloud's face, not even having the willpower to wipe them away as he stared up at his mate. "Please stop. Sephiroth...please…" Cloud let his hands come up, clinging around the other's neck as his chest started to heave in panic as his mate was stiff against him. "Seph...let's just go. We can run away. We can go so far away." Cloud clung to him, pawing at the other to just get him to look at him. "Seph...I love you so much. I'm sorry that I pushed this. It was my decision to come here...I did this. I'm so sorry, but please...let's go." He stood on his tiptoes, pressing his lips to Sephiroth's cheeks as he flinched in remembrance of doing the same to Zack just a few minutes earlier. "I don't care if we were both grown somewhere. I don't care if this was all planned. I don't care that Zack's my real mate. I don't care that I've screwed up beyond repair." He was sobbing by this point as he continued. "I don't care that your mother is somehow speaking to you while in a test tube...or that they gave me her cells. It doesn't matter. We can go...baby, we can go, and I promise you that it will be fine." He kissed the corner of Sephiroth's mouth. "I promise. I promise it'll be okay if we just leave."

Sephiroth's hands spanned up his back, and Cloud watched his eyes shift back to normal as he cupped his face. His Alpha leaned close, briefly rubbing their noses together. "I can smell Zachary Fair on your breath."

Cloud's eyes widened in horror as he met those same cold ones again, shaking his head in denial even as the alarm on his watch started to blare. "I'm sorry," he spoke, knowing there were so many things he should be apologizing for. So much of this was his fault.

"I'll see you again. She told me so...in the Promised Land." Sephiroth spoke. "Perhaps by then you'll have finally chosen me."

"I did choose you," Cloud tried, knowing it wasn't true as he cried harder, not able to patch the leak as the whole damn was set to blow. "Seph I did...I…"

Sephiroth glared at him, and Cloud felt their bond shut completely. "It looks like we're out of time."

"Cloud?" Zack spoke from the doorway to the chamber, and Cloud shut his eyes in horror as he realized whatever progress they were making was gone. "What is all this?"

Cloud hesitated, not knowing which path would be worse. In the end he pulled away from Sephiroth. "Zack…" He managed, just wanting off this piping as he walked forward. He would send Zack out. He would talk to Sephiroth again when they were alone.

He would bring him back.

His feet had just barely touched the ground when he heard the distinct sound of a sword being withdrawn before there was a piercing pain through his abdomen. Cloud felt like he was disconnected from his body as he looked down, seeing the end of the Masamune pierced a foot through his body...where their baby was.

Sephiroth had...he had.

"NO!" He heard Zack scream even as his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees, the sword ripping back and out of him as his hands pressed to the hemorrhaging wound. Cloud wasn't comprehending as he glanced back over his shoulder, watching as a black wing sprouted from his mate's back as he grabbed for the metallic statue, ripping it off its hinges.

He watched in fascination as the glass tube was revealed behind it, and a body could be seen floating in the fluid. Jenova. Cloud recognized it instantly from the monster that lived within Sephiroth's head. The monster that had just made him do what he did.

"Baby, look at me!" Cloud's face was yanked back to the front as he found Zack kneeling in front of him, eyes wide and full of panic that he realized must be for him. "Stay with me." Zack's hand pressed to his bleeding front even as Cloud choked on the blood slowly filling his mouth. "It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

"He stabbed me," Cloud found himself murmuring, not really present as he was surrounded now in blood. "He stabbed me with his sword...isn't that weird?"

Zack was sobbing at the words, clutching him as he pressed deeper on the wound, wrist glowing as he cast a cure spell on him. "It's going to be okay, Spike...I'll make it okay."

"He's not...himself…" Was the last thing Cloud remembered being able to speak, eyes shutting as he collapsed forward. Sephiroth wouldn't do this...he wouldn't...this was all his fault.

"SEPHIROTH!" He heard Zack scream, before he saw nothing but black.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

A/N- ...So...that happened. (Glances guiltily from side to side at the cliffhanger) Hopefully you enjoyed Sephiroth's not so slow descent into madness…