Claire Farron was standing somewhere at the bar with a drink clutched in her hand, feeling lonely and anxious. Maybe it was just the effects of the alcohol (although she hadn´t really had that much). Or maybe it was rather the fact that a gigantic meteorite was speeding towards Gaia and going to impact sometime within the next few hours, erasing every form of life from the planet´s surface and that she was spending the last few moments of her life drinking at some bar, sulking and alone, while around her people were busy partying as if there was no tomorrow. Which actually there wasn´t.
No. She really couldn´t blame them.
Somehow she wished she could be like them. Just loose herself. Let go. But she just wasn´t that kind of person, she guessed.
She really wasn´t.
After the others had gotten themselves drunk at the local bar, Angeal had urged for them to return to the Inn where the Innkeeper had decided to host a booze-up himself, additionally to serving his guests all the meals he had left. Angeal apparently planned on stuffing his belly with food until he´d burst.
So granting their comrade his last wish they had agreed to return.
And there she was. Her back pressed against the counter, searching the crowd for Sephiroth.
She hadn´t seen him in quite some time now. Hadn't actually since they had left in search of that first bar. Their gazes had caught a few times there before he'd left, but they hadn´t had a chance to speak and now he was nowhere to be found.
Claire Farron guessed he had left the feast for something better to do.
She understood. She didn´t exactly like it there either.
Still, she felt somewhat hurt that he had left her behind, that he had left any of them behind on a night like this.
It just so wasn't him.
As if on cue she suddenly found Zack making his way over from a crowd of young people who were busy making out and dancing.
She could see he was far from sober even from a distance, as staggering slighty he approached her.
'Hey... You okay?' he asked somewhat carefully, which was funny in itself because he usually wasn´t exactly shy. Looking up into his sky-blue puppy eyes, Lightning couldn´t help but realize how much she actually liked him.
She guessed she had never really noticed him or his advances if there had been any that was. Maybe there had, maybe not.
They had kissed once. ´ve had held hands and hugged a lot of times but she had never actually considered him anything more than a friend. Not really.
Had that been a mistake? Should she have given it all a try?
Lightning wasn't sure.
'Yeah... I guess so...' she answered somewhat dully.
She was not exactly sure whether under current circumstances there really was a single soul out there who could actually say of themselves that they were fine.
'You shouldn´t do that you know?' her friend said. There was concern in his voice and she realized that he'd come over to talk to her because he cared for her. Simply that. Zack Fair cared.
He really did.
'Do what?' the pink haired warrior asked somewhat confusedly as she looked up into his sky blue eyes.
'Spend your last night sulking around...' came her friend's straight reply.
'I´m not sulking...' Claire retorted defensively, her words making the young man infront of her give her a knowing smile.
'It´s the last hours of your life... You should try to relax. Have some fun.' Zack was trying to talk some good mood into her, she could tell, but for some reason it only served to annoy her.
'Why don´t you join us over there?' he suggested invitingly, motioning over to where Cloud was snogging some local girl, Tifa apparently the last thing on his mind now, as he spend his last night messing around, presumably drunk, around him some infantrymen and third class SOLDIER´s who'd escaped Midgar as well, mingling with the local people, following his example.
Lightning found she couldn´t blame him either. She couldn´t blame any of them.
However, she felt that she was not like them. She didn´t want to spend the last hours of her life desperately doing something she wouldn´t ever have done under normal circumstances. Something she would shake her head at or even regret doing. No. She wasn´t like them. She was more than that. Was more mature.
'Come on let's dance!' Zack suddenly said encouragingly.
Claire Farron only raised her brow.
Oh, fuck it.
She wasn´t sure she´d had enough booze for what she was about to do, but shit, she could at least dance with him, couldn´t she?
She definitely could.
She had danced with Reno Sinclair, for Etro's sake. And she had danced with Zack before.
A little bit of dancing with her comrade would´t hurt her. Besides, she didn´t feel like turning Zack down. Not on a night like this.
And so they danced.
Her head resting on his shoulder, just like they´d danced on new year´s eve what suddenly seemed like a million years ago, his arms somewhere on the small of her back, Zack Fair found that for some reason his pink haired comrade was only half there with . Claire Farron´s mind was occupied elsewhere as her eyes absentmindedly kept scanning the crowd for Sephiroth again and again.
'He´s still gone, huh?' Zack Fair caught on instantly.
Looking into his kind knowledgeable eyes, Lightning could see sympathy and understanding.
Was it really that obvious?
Well yes. It probably really was.
'Screw him. If he doesn´t even show up, he´s so not worth your time.' her friend assured, trying to console the pink haired female.
Claire Farron knew he was probably right, but shit, she just couldn´t help it.
It was late in the night already, midnight had come and gone, when finally General Sephiroth Crescent returned to the Inn's main chamber where all the others were busy celebrating the end of the world.
He had spent the previous few hours in his room, recovering from yet another mako shot. The last mako shot he would receive in his lifetime.
He had returned from the fight with ultimate weapon exhausted and spent and he so hadn't been planning to spend the last few hours of his life feeling weak and miserable.
No. That mako shot had been well due. And he'd deserved it too. Fuck everyone deserved a little bit of fun that night, a little bit of joy, a little surge of spirits from a mako induced high.
Still. He had wasted some more precious time, more than he would have actually wanted, writhing on the bathroom floor.
Well there was no way to make it undone.
He would have to focus on making the best of the few hours that he still had left.
Making his way inside the inn's main chamber, he immediately found himself scanning the crowd for Lightning.
He just couldn´t help it either.
He needed to see her face. Needed to hear her voice. Needed to assure himself that she was alright. That she was okay. That she was happy and safe and enjoying herself on this very last night of her's.
Catching a glimpse of Zack fooling around with some maid of the Inn, the first class general couldn´t help but feel relieved. He had half expected to find him messing around with Light.
It wasn´t exactly farfetched.
They seemed to have gotten closer those past weeks.
Too close.
And they had kissed there on the porch of club duel, back in Costa del Sol.
But still. Lightning was nowhere even near him. To General Sephiroth Crescent's great relief.
Maybe he would get another chance.
Just one.
Another chance to at least talk to her. A chance to appologize, to finally set things straight.
It would be the last chance that he got.
Not able to spot her among the people, the silver haired hero felt his heart sink.
He wanted to see her, talk to her, be with her. Badly so. And this was his very very last chance.
The clock was ticking. And still, she was nowhere to be seen.
Pushing his way through the celebrating crowd, General Sephiroth Crescent felt his pulse speed up, felt his chest constrict and the heart inside it twitching painfully.
What if he couldn´t find her?
What if she had left?
Would the last thing he ever said to her stay an order?
No... She had to be around here somewhere. It simply couldn't be.
A flash of pink causing him to look twice, the general first class spied his fellow soldier at the other side of the room. Almost completely hidden by the crowd, she was standing at one of the Inn´s high windows watching the stars above, facing that thing threatening to fall from the sky just like their mother had so many years ago.
If only there were more time...
Claire Farron was leaning against the windowsill looking up into the skies above completely lost in thought.
Her brain still finding it hard to accept, the fact that their lives would end somewhere between then and the dawn of the next day, she tried and thought about her life, about all the things she had done and those she hadn´t done, those she could have done.
How she hadn´t even met Serah again although she had promised her more than once.
How she had never come back to Bodhum. Not even for a visit.
And she realized she felt sorry.
Sorry for Serah.
Sorry for her friends.
Sorry for all those innocent people whose lives were going to end that night.
It wasn´t fair. It wasn´t right.
Still. It simply was.
But what did she know? She was merely a monster created by some megalomaniacal mega corporation. She knew nothing of justice. Of fairness.
She realized she didn´t feel sorry for herself at all. She wasn´t innocent after all. She wasn´t even human. She was an abomination and she had shed the blood of thousands. What had started out a necessity in order to support her family, she now did because she just enjoyed killing by now. She guessed she couldn´t live without it either.
No... She definitely deserved to get crushed by that thing.
Her senses alerting her to the presence of another person approaching from behind, it instanly made her forget her self-loathing thoughts.
She was so not surprised as she caught a glimpse of silver in her peripheral vision.
She had known he would approach her. Sometime. Had been waiting for him to do so all night in fact.
If only there were more time...
'I managed to convince the landlord into supplying us with a bottle of his most expensive champagne...' the general's husky voice began.
Placing himself against the windowsill right next to her, Lightning found his mako killer eyes trained to the sky. To meteor.
'Want some?' the silver haired legend added as he slowly turned to look at her.
Lightning couldn´t help but realize how gentle his voice was, how tender his gaze. Not cold and emotionless as she remembered.
She guessed she liked it. Could see herself getting used to it if only there were enough time for her to do so.
The pink haired female couldn´t help but chuckle.
'Poor bloke.' she commented dryly, forcing her eyes away from his face and back to the night sky.
'I imagine your `convincing methods´ aren´t exactly very `subtle´.'
She heard the man beside her give a tiny snort.
'I hope you at least let him live long enough to see the end of the world.' she added somewhat curiously, before slowly she turned her head to look at him again, just in time to catch that adorable half smile of his spreading on his lips.
Looking up into his beautiful mako green eyes, the pink haired first class felt relief wash over her.
There she had feared she might not get the chance to see him again before she died.
'I can assure you he´s still in perfect health.' the general answered, setting said bottle as well as two glasses he had apparently brought along down on the windowsill in front of them.
'I can just go back and change that though, if you insist...' he added at an afterthought, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
Claire Farron quickly shook her head.
She couldn´t hide her smirk though.
Not wasting much more time her silver haired comrade filled their glasses.
Handing one of them to her, the pink haired woman accepted her's with slightly shaking fingers.
'To the end of the world.' she said, looking up into his eyes. Those beautiful mako green eyes.
Her voice was soft, barely there.
The general just gave a nod.
Her eyes never leaving his, she brought the glass to her lips to take a tiny sip of the deliciously sparkling beverage.
It tasted like 10 000 Gil.
'How much did you pay for this?' she asked.
'Nothing.' the man next to her replied.
'That guy handed it over voluntarily.' he added somewhat innocently as he took in her knowing gaze.
Lightning wasn´t entirely sure she could believe that.
'Well... It would be a shame for it to go to a waste anyway.' the general said, shrugging his broad shoulders.
'I guess it would...' Lightning replied, feeling the drink sparkle on her tongue.
'We can´t possibly have that can we?' she joked somewhat daringly.
Drowning in those mako eyes of his she felt her heart rate speed up just at the intensity of his stare.
Taking another sip, she remembered she was still supposed to be angry at him for leaving her behind earlier.
'You know it wasn´t exactly nice of you to leave me here with the kids a night like this.' she said accusingly, feeling slightly irritated as dangerously she narrowed her eyes at the man beside her for effect.
General Sephiroh Crescent gave one of his low chuckles.
Looking away for a tiny moment, he quickly caught her gaze again.
'You know... You´re beautiful when you´re angry.' he whispered, arching one of his perfect silver brows at her.
It almost made his female comrade choke on her drink.
Had he really just said that?!
One of his disarming half smiles fighting it´s way onto his face again, Lightning realized she wanted nothing more than to kiss it away with her lips.
Turning away from him to not feel tempted any longer, she just gave a snort and turned to look out of the window again.
This guy was driving her crazy. In every possible way imaginable.
The pink sheen of Meteor looming above them catching her eyes once more, it quickly made the severity of the situation flood back to her.
Mentally shaking her head, she gave a small defeated sigh.
The world was going to end in just a few hours, and she? She was flirting with her former mentor...
'I still can´t believe it...' she murmured somewhat lost in thought. Her voice was suddenly serious, completely devoid of the airiness it had carried just a second before.
'I guess that´s normal... The human brain is unable to grasp the concept of its own non-existence.' the general assured.
Looking up at him again, Claire Farron quirked an eyebrow.
He had said `human´.
Behind them the party was in full swing.
Genesis had mounted the counter and was half way through citing from Loveless again while she heard others cheer and shout or wolf whistle. Some of the onlookers were even encouraging him to take his clothes off.
It was something she could definitely picture the redhead complying with.
Dawning the contents of her glass all at once, Lightning set it down on the windowsill again a little bit too hard.
Touching her hand to her forehead she couldn´t help but give a frustrated sigh for what probably was the hundredth time that day.
For a second there she considered to just take out Blaze Edge and end this nonsense. To just fire a volley at the crowd in front of her and put them all out of their misery. She could simply save a bullet for herself and end it.
Why wait and suffer any longer?
'Are you okay?' she heard Sephiroth´s voice over the noise of the tumult, felt his hand gently touch her upper arm.
She couldn´t help but notice the fact that he wasn´t wearing his gloves for once. Couldn´t help but notice how much she loved the feeling of his skin against her own.
Or was this just the jenova cells?
Suddenly it didn't matter.
'Yeah... Sure... It´s just...' she began, trailing off somewhere mid sentence.
She didn´t want to witness this any longer and she was so not eager to join these people in wasting their last hours drinking themselves into oblivion either.
Looking back into the General´s understanding mako eyes she didn´t feel the need to elaborate. No. He was probably thinking the exact same thing.
'Care to go somewhere more private?' the man suddenly asked, offering his hand to her.
Claire Farron didn´t need to be asked twice.
Giving a tiny nod she reached out to take his hand and followed him out through the heavy front door.
Following her former mentor out of the Inn´s common room and into the hall, Claire Farron found herself led out of the building and onto the empty patio.
She finally felt the effects of the alcohol she had consumed earlier that night kick in. Relaxing, slightly sedating her, the general´s hand tugging her along and into the moonlight, she found she felt like floating in some strange distant dream.
The night was perfect. A completely breezeless summernight. Not too warm for her taste, but not too cool either.
She could smell the sea in the air, could hear the sound of the waves breaking in the distance.
A completely cloudless night, with a thousand stars dotting the sky.
Yes. It would have been perfect if it weren´t for the huge pink disk of Meteor, looming huge as HQ over Midgar, as very quickly it drew closer.
The aproaching apocalypse casting everything around them in weird pinkish shadows, Claire Farron finally pulled away from her former mentor´s hand to walk over to the balustrade. Grabbing the railing hard in need for something to hold on to, she slowly made to stare up at the calamity above that in merely a few hours time was going to crush them all.
Letting her eyes wander past the cause of their impending doom, loosing herself in the immeasurable depths of outer space, she was once again reminded of how small and insignificant she was. Compared to the vast emptiness of the universe, her existence, her life, her fears, her dreams, they were tiny and meaningless. Stupid really.
The thought of it was suddenly strangely comforting.
Hearing the sound of foodsteps on the blank stone floor, she sensed her former mentor join her at the railing. Slowly approaching her from behind, he placed himself only inches from her as casually leaning against the banister with his side, he made to face her.
Claire Farron felt his eyes study her profile carefully, before unexpectedly she felt the touch of his hand on her own. His skin warm against her´s, his thumb caressing the back of her hand, it made her relax her grip on the banister and look up at him once more.
Icy blue met mako green.
'Do you believe that when we die our spirits will return to the planet and join the lifestream to wait there so that one day we can be born again?' she blurted out.
The idea had been on her thoughts almost all evening and she hadn´t made up her mind yet, should she believe in it or not?
She was a monster after all. An abomination. Were part aliens allowed to enter the lifestream at all?
The man in the black leather coat didn´t say anything. Just continued to stare at her instead, his features not betraying any hint of what might be going on behind them.
Maybe bringing up that topic at all, hadn´t been the wisest of choices for a moment like this.
'I wish I could get another chance at this... You know life...' Claire Farron mused, slowly averting her eyes again.
It wasn´t a lie. She really wished she could.
Would she remember any of the things she had learned in this life?
Or would she start out completely fresh, with her memories cleared. Doomed to repeat the mistakes of her past?
'Why?' Sephiroth asked, suddenly breaking his silence, curiously narrowing his eyes at her.
Lightning couldn´t tell whether he really cared or whether he just asked out of courtesy, or maybe just to say anything at all.
She could only guess.
'I don´t know... There are just so many things I would do differently next time around.' she replied sincerely.
'You would?!' the general asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.
'Hm... Yeah I guess...' the pink haired female let her words trail off.
Of course she would.
There probably were a million things she´d change.
Preventing Shin-Ra from getting their hands on the black materia was only one of them.
The general first class rewarded the woman beside him with an incomprehensible stare.
Lightning couldn´t help but scowl at him.
'Isn´t there anything you regret in your life?' she tried somewhat tentatively, her voice sounding suddenly very small.
She had never before asked him an intimate question like this. Had never thought she ever would.
Suddenly she wasn't sure whether she had taken a step too far.
The general beside her, he only shook his head, furrowing his brow at her.
She could only stare at him in disbelieve, the memory of their conversation on top of the Shin-Ra building still fresh on her mind.
General Sephiroth Crescent hadn´t sounded anything like this back then.
Had sounded like he had regretted lots of things.
How could he possibly have changed his mind?
'Oh come on, there must be something!' the woman next to him probed, giving him that incredulous stare of her's.
'No... I don´t regret anything.'
Thinking about it, General Sephiroth Crescent realized that it was true.
No matter what self-loathing thoughts had pestered him those past few weeks, they were gone now without a trace. All he had ever done and endured, all the choices he had made in his life, no matter how tainted, how ill-motivated they might have been, they had led up to this exact moment, this very moment he shared with nobody but her on that blasted porch.
Just standing there and holding her hand, at this very moment at least, it felt worth it.
The world would end that night.
Sure.
But still, it was worth it.
The way she looked at him then, her eyes full of disbelieve and regret, he realized it pained him to see her like this. He hadn´t intended to make her sad when he had offered her to leave the party. Not at all.
No. He definitely wouldn´t let her get away with it.
No way.
Throwing all caution to the wind, the first class general moved in to close the distance between them.
His free hand coming up to gently cup his comrade´s face, he carefully leaned down to softly brush his lips against her's.
Lingering there for a tiny moment, barely touching, he held his breath until finally he found the courage to pull away again to tentatively, cautiously, look into her eyes.
He had not come down from his mako high yet, still felt recklesss, stilll felt invincible.
Still. What he had done there, made his heart race and his chest constrict in fear.
This was it, the moment of truth.
The moment where he had revealed his feelings, the moment where Lightning would crush his heart irreversibly.
It was with bated breath that he stood there.
Waiting for her to push him away.
Waiting for her to yell at him.
Waiting to feel the stinging pain of her hand slapping his cheek.
But it never came.
Instead she only stared at him.
Icy blue eyes huge in amazement trained on mako green ones.
The pink haired female´s hand coming up to touch his chest, not sure whether to push him away or to pull him closer really, Lightning quickly reminded herself how to breathe.
Feeling the general´s heart beat wildly in his chest beneath her palm, she let herself drown in those deep green eyes of his.
Those pretty mako eyes.
How could she ever have thought of them as killer eyes?
That marble facade of his crumbling, she could see the fear there. Fear but also hope.
Said pretty mako eyes looking somewhat pleading, Claire Farron couldn´t help but notice how handsome her former mentor looked when he allowed emotion to show on his face.
His other hand still caressing her own somewhat tentatively, Lightning realized she simply loved the touch of his warm fingertips against her skin, had enjoyed the touch of his lips as well.
Finally allowing herself to give in to her feelings, to give in to him, she pushed up on her tip toes to close the distance between them again.
He met her half way, bending down a bit, stepping closer.
Lightning could feel his chest against her own as her hand snaked upwards to the back of his neck, rising and falling with every breath he took, the world around them fading to the background as she allowed their lips to connect once more.
It was nothing like kissing Zack. No. Not at all.
The night around them covering them in it´s blanket, the sounds from the Inn faded to the background and the looming doom of meteor suddenly seemed so insignificant, so small.
Suddenly the world around them had gone still, time stopped moving alltogether and suddenly there was only them.
A man and a woman kissing each other on a porch in Palumpolum on the very last night of their lives.
Pulling the man infront her closer, Claire Farron allowed the kiss to deepen.
She could taste the remainder of the expensive champaign there on his tongue and something else, something that was just uniquely him.
Suddenly she didn´t want to let go anymore.
She in fact couldn´t.
And it seemed she wouldn´t have to, as she felt the man infront her hold her even tighter.
How often had she dreamed of something like this to happen?
More often than she would allow herself to admit, that much was for sure.
The silver haired general´s kiss, it blew all thoughts of meteor and the end of the world from her mind. Those strong arms around her body, they made her forget all about her hard feelings, all her regrets.
For a few moments, there was just him. Him and her, and nothing else.
It all ended as quickly as it had begun, as what seemed an eternity later, they broke apart to breathe.
No. She wouldn´t let him. Wouldn´t let him get away this time.
Both her hands tangled in his hair she pulled him close again, his soft lips crushing down on her´s once more.
It was just a few seconds later that she found herself lifted up onto the balustrade, felt her legs wrap tightly around her comrade´s hips, felt her arms pulling him closer. Their tongues engaged in mortal combat, one of her hands worked itself up his shoulder to his neck and into his hair again, the other clawing at the back of his black leather coat, as she desperately wished him closer still.
Yes. She needed to be closer. Closer to him.
There was no way she would ever let him go. Not in this life. Not tonight.
Their lips breaking apart a few minutes later, the two of them needed to catch their breaths for real.
Their eyes locking instantly, Claire Farron couldn´t help but smile. Began to giggle even as quickly she reflected at the absurdity of the situation.
The world was going to end in a few hours and she was messing around with her former mentor.
Her former mentor...
Sephiroth...
Her´s...
Etro, she had to be drunk for real. Wasted really.
Looking into her comrade's moonlit features, Lightning felt her heart beat crazily inside her chest.
The man infront her gave her a pretty hearty smile.
A genuine one.
Not one of his stupid smirks or his adorable halft smiles, but a real smile, reaching his eyes and completely transforming his usually controlled cool features, making him look even more handsome than usual.
Lightning didn´t have much time to marvel at the sight as suddenly the silver haired man bent forward to kiss her cheek. Her yaw. Her neck. Pushing away the collar of her soldier uniform he continued down the side of her neck to her collarbone, to her shoulder.
It made her whole body shiver, her skin erupt in goosebumps, and for once her usually comfortable first class shirt felt like a cage, felt like a prison really, like bars keeping her away, away from him.
And so did his coat. Keeping her from touching his perfect marble skin, his well toned upper body.
Before she knew it her hands were at his chest ready to open the buckles of his uniform.
He made her hands stop by catching both of them in his own.
'Not here...' he gently whispered in her ear, leaning down to kiss her neck once more, the feeling of his breath against her skin making her crazy in ways the pink haired female hadn´t yet experienced.
It was curiously that she did look up at him.
'Come.'
Knowing perfectly well what that single word implied, Claire Farron grabbed her comrade´s waiting hand and let him pull her down to her feet and back towards the building.
The sound of laughter and partying growing louder and louder the closer they got, they were lucky enough not to encounter anyone in the halls at all.
Hurrying up the stairs the two of them quickly found themselves infront of a row of doors.
'What, you booked a room tonight?!' Lightning asked somewhat incredulously, unable to keep amusement from her voice.
That would have been crazy, insane really. Who would do such a thing on a night like this?!
'Well... No... Not exactly...' the general replied sincerely as suddenly he strode towards one of the doors and swiftly kicked it open.
'I think this one will do...'
Holding open the door for her to enter, Lightning slowly stepped inside what had to be the most expensive suite in the entire establishment.
Her eyes darting around the room like a tiny girl´s would in a jewelry store, she looked at the expanisvely carved furniture in amazement. The balcony´s doors wide open to let in the eerie sheen of the calamity above, casting the room in creepy shadows, Lightning felt a cool night breeze coming from the sea, softly blowing in the expensive looking see through curtains.
This suite surely had to cost as much as the champagne. Why would anyone bother to pay so much for a room just to sleep in?
Well, they weren´t planning on sleeping exactly.
And they were not intending to pay for it either.
Icy blue eyes trailing over to the huge four poster bed, Claire Farron felt her courage leave her.
Was she doing the right thing?
Suddenly she wasn't sure...
It was just a second later that the door to the room closed and she found her back pressed to the wall, the general´s hands at her sides and his lips crushing down on her´s in another fierce passionate kiss.
It was all the incentive that she needed.
Her hands sneaking back to undo the buckles of his coat once more, this time she met no resistance.
Tugging and pulling at the leather strips on his chest she finally managed to free her lover of the restricting piece of cloth.
Letting her hands roam the skin of his chest she let the black leather cloak drop to the ground.
It was only a moment later that she found her shirt pulled out from under her belt and pushed upwards to expose her belly button piercing. The unfamiliar touch of the general´s fingers against her abdomen sending shivers down her body, the pink haired female gasped in surprise.
She couldn´t believe what was happening. This had to be some crazy dream. It had to.
It made the silver haired man stop in his actions immediately.
Looking up at him she found one eyebrow raised questioningly at her.
Lightning knew he was waiting for her to stop him, for her to pull away, to tell him that things were going too far, that she didn´t want it. Any of it. But they both knew that she wouldn´t. Not tonight. Not the last night of their lives.
The general resumed his task, pushing the shirt over her head to reveal her cleavage and discarding it to join his cloak on the floor.
Standing there in front of him in only her bra and the baggy trousers of her SOLDIER uniform, Lightning suddenly felt self-conscious and stupid.
Never had she stood infront of a man exposed like that. In only her plain black underwear.
Suddenly she wished she had invested into something more fancy. Something a little bit more sexy. But really, there had never been the need for anything like that, nor would she have ever thought there´d be. At least not on her final mission.
Suddenly she couldn´t help but feel emberassed. And self conscious too.
She wasn´t a very attractive woman, was she?
She knew she wasn´t ugly, but she wasn´t exactly very sexy either.
Surely Sephiroth had had better looking women.
Thinking about it she couldn´t believe he had chosen her to accompany him this evening in the first place. Her. When he could have had anyone...
The silver haired first class not seeming to think along the same line, he made to study his comrade´s face again.
The perfect arch of her pretty pink brows.
The tiny cute pout of her soft pinkish lips.
The curious glow in her ice blue slightly slitted eyes.
Perfect.
That was what she was to him.
There was no way he could put it into words though. He´d have to let his actions speak for him.
Sensing her anxiety, he leaned down to kiss her neck again, to nibble at her smooth cream skin, his left hand sneaking up her back once more to undo the clasp of her bra.
The plain black thing gliding from her skin to the ground revealing her bosom, Claire Farron quickly moved forward to close the distance between their bodies.
She needed to feel his skin on her´s. Needed to feel it everywhere.
His perfect marble skin. It felt like silk on her body as her lover pulled her closer.
Her hands coming up to roam his exposed back, holding him closer, wishing him closer still, Lightning leaned on her tiptoes again for another kiss.
She would never get enough of those kisses. Never get enough of him. She was sure of this. Knew it with all her heart.
Time didn´t stop. The moon was wandering it´s path on the firmament like it would on any day, and the stars glittering in the nightsky were already beginning to fade into the early heralds of the next dawn. Meteor was looming even closer. But the two of them, they didn´t seem to notice at all. To both of them the time stood still. Moments stretching into hours, hours stretching into eternity.
Claire Farron didn´t check the nightsky once and it was before she´d even realized that she found herself on the soft matress of the bed and her dark soldier fatigues somewhere on the floor.
That huge fourposter bed. Suddenly it wasn´t scaring her anymore. No not at all.
She wanted this too. She really did. Wanted him. All of him.
The man with the wild silver hair settling down beside her, Lightning quickly rolled over to kiss him again.
No. Not a second did she want to miss those lips.
They were her´s now. Just as she was his.
The general´s hands gently caressing her smooth pale skin, his hands trailing soothing patterns on her back, her sides, her thights, the pink haired female gave an audible gasp when suddenly she felt his fingers slip beneath the fabric of her panties.
Oh fuck what was she doing?!
She knew this was going to far, knew she should probably stop him, should push him away or scold him.
But shit, it felt so good...
A few swift movements and her panties were down on the floor with the rest of their clothes.
She was naked then infront of him. She found she didn't mind. Didn't really care.
All she did care about were his lips on her neck, was the touch of his fingers.
Oh, never would she have imagined a guy like him could touch her like this.
Carefully.
Gently.
As if she were fragile in his gentle hands. As if he were afraid he´d hurt her, something he had never seemed to have had problems with in the past. Those hands that had bruised her, had abused her oh so many times, suddenly they made her feel good in a way she had never felt before. Made her feel things she never would have imagined.
General Sephiroth Crescent had made sure they would. Had taken things quite slow with her, making sure that she got all the time she needed. He'd nibbled at her neck, had kissed a trail of soft butterfly kisses all over her body and down to her belly button piercing, which he chose to caress with his teeth.
'I would never have imagined first class Claire Farron to have a belly button piercing...' He whispered against her abdomen, looking up at her with curious mako eyes and making the pink haired female shiver.
'We decided to get piercings to celebrate our promitions to first class, Zack and I...' Lightning explained somewhat sheepishly.
It made the silver haired first class raise his perfect brows.
'Does Zack have one of those too?' he asked with a tiny smirk, bringing up a finger to play with the tiny silver stud.
Claire Farron could only giggle.
'No.. I don't think so. But what do I know...' she finally answered.
For a few moments the general just stared up at her, not looking convinced at all.
'I never saw Zack with his shirt off.' his pink haired lover assured at a second thought.
'This... This is my first time.' she told him with sincere blue eyes.
General Sephiroth Crescent knew that it was true.
Getting back to planting hot burning kisses on her skin he worked his way south, to kiss her where she'd never been kissed before.
Desperate tiny noises escaping the pink haired female´s throat, General Sephiroth Crescent took a break from workin his lover´s ***** to look up into her face.
Her eyes were shut tightly, her face contorted in pleasure, he found first class Claire Farron biting a quivering lower lip in order to stifle her tiny moans.
No. He definitely couldn´t have that...
Letting his fingers take over he made to lay down next to her again.
Engaging her lips in another passionate kiss the silver haired first class made the pink haired female moan into his mouth.
He needed the desperate little noises that she made. They were his guide to know what to do after all. To tell him that he was doing the right things.
And he was doing all the right things indeed it seemed.
Pulling away again to look into his lover's face, General Sephiroth Crescent couldn´t help but marvel at the sight.
Eyes shut tightly, she was all flushed cheeks and slightly parted lips. Her hands tangled in his hair, the sheets, all over his arms, his shoulder, he found them clutch them even tighter as her body began to dance for him.
He wished he could freeze this moment and hold it forever. Wished to never let it go. To never let her go.
If only there were more time for them. More time for them for them to spend together.
'Please … I... I...' the pink haired warrior began.
Her breath was laboured, her voice so shaky, fragile. Her hands were clawing at the sheets now. Nails digging into his skin. Her body twitching wildly underneath his fingers.
'I know, I know...' the general shushed her.
He knew that she was close. Even a blind person would have noticed.
And he found he savoured every moment of it. Every heartbeat. Loved to see how good he made her feel. What his hands could do to her, for her really.
The pink haired female melting away under her lover´s touch, Claire Farron found she wasn´t capable of forming a single coherent thought.
All there was were the sheets under her body, the warmth of the general´s body next to her, the touch of his lips, of his tongue and his fingers.
The darkness of her eyelids, the shaking of her hips, the crumpled sheets clasped tightly in her hands and that feeling, that strange foreign feeling, building, spreading in her body. It was the most wonderful and most terrible thing she´d ever felt in her entire life.
The pink haired warrior allowed herself to ride it, to give in to it, savour it. To loose herself in it.
It swallowed her, savoured her. The intensity crushed her, overwhelmed her. Her hands clawing at the sheets, his arm like vices, it was all she could do too keep her body on the matrass.
The intensity of it all building up to a climax, suddenly she found she couldn't bear it anymore, couldn't keep herself together.
Somehow it was all too much, too powerful, too overwhelming.
Her eyes shut tightly she gave a frustrated growl.
She felt his lips near her ear, felt his breath on her neck, felt his tongue on her skin.
'Come for me Farron.' the general whispered in his husky voice.
It was all she needed to push her over the edge.
Who was she to disobey his orders anyway?
The pink haired first class´s breath was laboured, her eyelids fluttering weakly as slowly her fingers relaxed and she disentangled them from the sheets to find her lovers chest. His hair. His face.
General Sephiroth Crescent let her ride it out, pulled her closer, tightly wrapped his arms around her as he let her come down from her high.
His pink haired lover, she snuggled up close, buried her face in his chest, in his neck. It only made him hold her closer.
No. He would never let her go.
Never.
The silver haired first class, she let out a shaky sigh.
Never had he felt so close to someone. So connected.
If only there were time. More time to get to know her better. More time to spend with her.
Suddenly he realized he knew nothing about her. Nothing about her past. About who she was. What kind of things she enjoyed or what made her laugh.
If only there were more time. More time to get to know her the way he wanted. The way she deserved.
If only there were more time.
Who knew what could have been...
It was a few minutes later that the beauty in his arms began to stirr. Her hands coming alive again to roam his body he felt the kiss of her lips on his chest, on his collarbone, on his neck, working their way up to his yaw, to his cheek, to his lips.
Her hand on his face, in his hair, the taste of her tongue, of her lips. Their legs entangled, their bodies pressed against another, chest on chest, belly on belly, for a few minutes the two just lay there skin against skin, just drowning in each other´s eyes, drinking in each other´s presence.
Claire Farron couldn´t help but marvel at the feeling. At all the things he´d made her feel. All the things she´d never thought she´d experience. Least of all with him.
Yes. This easily qualified for the most intimate moment of her life.
She was so close to him. So much closer than she´d ever been to anybody. She wanted to be closer still.
Pulling one of her legs up to straddle his waist, she pushed herself up to get him closer to where she needed him to be.
'Are you sure you want this?' the general asked her.
His voice was smooth, serious. It were his eyes that gave him away. Those beautiful mako green eyes glittering in the darkness.
Tantalizing.
Mesmerizing.
Intoxicating.
Oh what was she doing...
She had to be crazy...
She had to be insane...
She realized then that it didn´t matter anymore.
Whatever they did they were going to die anyway.
There would be no time to regret her actions.
There was only now. And she definitely wanted to make the best of the last few moments that she had.
Screw it, she thought as she let her body answer the question for her.
This was the last night of her life. And she wasn´t going to leave this world as a virgin.
Claire Farron had no idea what time it was. It seemed she had left her sense of time behind at the doorstep to her former mentor´s suite, together with her sanity.
And she found she didn´t care one bit.
She didn´t care how much time there was still left until Meteor would crush them.
Didn´t care how many breaths there were still left to breathe.
To her, it didn´t matter anymore.
Her head resting on the general´s chest listening to his steady heartbeat, with his arms wrapped tightly around her body, making her feel warm and protected and safe and right, she felt a content calm settle over her. It was something she had never thought she´d possibly feel like awaiting her death.
And she realized that for once in her life she was happy where she was.
Right there in his arms.
Not at home.
Not with Serah.
Nowhere else, but there.
As if she was exactly where she was supposed to be, where she belonged to.
It was a strange feeling. Unfamiliar. But soothing. So infinitely soothing.
All those beautiful feelings covering her like a blanket, the pink haired female suddenly found she accepted her fate. Embraced it even.
Without that terrible incident, all of these beautiful things would never have happened. She knew that. Even in a million years she´d never have gotten herself involved with him.
Her former mentor.
Her colleague.
Her superior.
It was a strange feeling.
Doing something she would have never done under any normal circumstances, but still feeling happy.
Yes.
As long as he was there with her, she would die happy.
And at the end of the world, instead of crying and wailing like she had expected her life to end, she dozed off into a peaceful slumber.
General Sephiroth Cresecent sensed his lover falling asleep.
Her cheek resting against his chest right above his heart, her hand resting right next to it, he watched it moving up and down with every breath of his.
His eyes roaming the night sky through the open window, dark with a million stars twinkling down to witness the cosmic spectacle that was taking place right then, they finally focused on the disaster approaching their planet with tremendous speed, the nightsky´s latest addition.
There was a tiny moan escaping the pink haired woman´s small soft lips and he felt her stirr in her sleep.
The silver haired general held her tighter in response.
He loved the way her body heat bled into him.
The way he felt her breath puff against his chest.
The weight of her body on the bed right next to him.
He tried to memorize the feeling of her skin against his own.
He wanted to keep it, keep it forever, as slowly he let his fingers caress the small of her back, carefully, so he wouldn´t wake her.
He couldn´t believe she was there with him. Couldn´t believe anything that had happened that night. And he swallowed at the thought of what could have been had he only had the courage to approach her earlier.
Maybe she would have turned him down.
Yes. He was sure she would have done exactly that.
But maybe... Just maybe...
Well...
This way or the other. It didn´t matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.
The thought of it strangely comforting, the silver haired first class fell asleep content. Feeling his lover´s soft skin on his own, the only thing he regretted was the fact that he was not going to live to find her wake up in his arms, to spend the following day with her, to get to know her better.
And so they fell asleep entwined.
The two of them probably the only people in all of Gaia, who got to sleep that night.
