BAND OF BROTHERS
CHAPTER 7
A/N: Warning! Mid Sexual scenes as well as genre violence up ahead. Thread with caution if it´s not your thing.
oooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo
After a couple of hours of blissful love-making, Lightning and Kain lie inside the small tent, holding each other close and enjoying the feeling of their warm bodies cuddling to one another, almost as if they couldn´t believe they were back together. As if they were afraid of losing each other.
Lightning´s skin is warmer than Kain can evoke, though as soft as his memory recalls, and he smiles at that, at the wonder of his fingertips remembering her touch so perfectly. As his hand caresses her curves, he can remember every old scar and recognizes immediately the new ones, the ones that had already healed, and those that still make her flinch. The ones just too deep to be completely cured by spells. For those painful ones, he is more careful, sealing them with soft kisses, welcoming them in the expanse of the beloved skin. Kain inhales deeply, wanting to fill his brain with her sweet smell, of lavender and roses, of something sweet and salty, of a combination that could only belong to Lightning.
Oh, he could die right now and he wouldn´t mind! He would gladly embrace oblivion if it were to meet him right there and then, with her under his touch. He nudges her neck, inhaling deeply once more, and plants soft kisses on the warm skin of her cleavage, growing dangerously close to her breast, to where he once found the odd mark of her l´Cie curse, if he remembers correctly.
"You know it´s not a good idea for us to linger here." Comes the soft reprimand, but Kain smiles. Behind her scolding, he can sense the trembling of her voice, just as he notices the escalating warmth of the flesh underneath his touch, the quickening of her heartbeat, all of them signs of evident arousal.
"You can always tell me to stop if you really want me to."
Lightning chuckles. Yes, she knows she can ask him and, being the gentleman he is, he would obey immediately, but she´s just as desperate for his touch as he is to touch her, so instead, she lowers her head and places a soft kiss on his lips, refusing to say the words but distracting his lips with her own. Once the kiss is over, Kain smiles at her.
"I´d say it´s not fair, but I still liked the change."
"I knew you would." She smiles back but then notices how suddenly his once bright sight darkens, and she tenses in anticipation. "What?"
He knows he shouldn´t be asking, not when they´re enjoying their closeness this much, and especially not when they just got back together. But he just has to know.
"Lightning… please, tell me what happened."
Just like he had expected, she huffs angrily at the rough change of subject and tries to pull away, but Kain holds her tighter, not letting her move. Surprisingly, instead of struggling with the restraints, she remains in her place and settles at looking away from him.
"You know I won't force you to tell me…" He insists, though tries to modulate his voice.
"Not that you can."
"Not that I can." He still smiles at her stubbornness. "I´m just concerned about you, my love." He sighs when she pushes further away from him, though still not breaking the embrace, and he notices the effort is quite weak, lacks the brute force of her determination. She refuses to talk to him, but it´s obvious that she really doesn´t want to leave his arms. That has to count as a success, right?
"You shouldn´t push me, Kain. You´re already treading on thin ice."
"I know but…" He kisses her shoulder, making her shiver. "I get the feeling this thing you won´t share with me is hurting you, doing to you more than just making you worry." She looks back at him, her crystal-clear eyes opened wide in surprise at his words.
"What do you mean?"
He holds her sight for a second, trying to find an easy way to explain, as he absentmindedly pushes a pink lock away from her eyes, but it´s as if the words escape him. "I don´t know. I mean, I´ve always been able to know when you´re upset but other than that, you´ve always been a mystery to me, it´s quite hard for anyone to read your mind. But this time, it´s almost as if I can feel you, feel inside me the thing that´s pressing upon your chest, weighing upon your shoulders and it´s… well, to be honest, it´s making me scared."
Lightning breaks eye contact again, hating to be this transparent to him, and in response, the Dragoon intertwines his fingers with hers, with such tenderness and adoration that makes the woman look down upon them, as his voice becomes softer, almost like a whisper.
"You know I´m in love with you, Lightning. You now know my heart is completely yours, and you know I respect you over anything in all the worlds." Still silence, her eyes stubbornly fixed on their hands, but away from him, though he just won´t give up. "I won´t push you, I know I can´t, I just want to understand. And for that I´ll wait all the time in the world if you need to, I promise you." After that, he closes his eyes, and places his nose over her neck, inhaling and exhaling deeply, as if caressing her skin with his breath, knowing full well the effect such a simple act has on her body. On her mind.
Finally, after many minutes, Lightning exhales too and lies back again, giving Kain full access to her body once more and allowing herself to address her own responses to his ministrations, though her mind is still in turmoil. But who, if not Kain, can she trust with these kinds of things?
His smile grows wide when he notices her defenses lowering, and he raises himself over one elbow to see her beautiful face, one arm still holding her possessively by the waist, and lovingly, he kisses her softly in the jaw, prompting her to speak.
"It was… it was Sephiroth, the one who made me so mad." She finally breaks the silence, and he sighs softly, thankful.
"Yes, I know. No one else has that power over you."
"Well, that´s not completely true…"
"Uh?" he raises from his adored spot to look her in the eye and gets startled by the cheeky smile on her lips.
"Riona is getting quite closer to that, and don´t even get me started on Vaan…"
Despite the obscurity of the conversation, he chuckles at her attempt at a joke.
"Okay, I´ll believe that when I see it." He lowers his head once more, his lips brushing slightly her clavicle, creating humid paths over the bone, as he finally releases his claim on her waist, his thumb drawing circles around one nipple, almost distractedly. "But you were saying?"
She inhales deeply, feeling the arousal coming, but the darkness in her thoughts prevents her from really enjoying the action.
"Sephiroth has always searched for me, for injuring me, and has openly declared he has feelings for me, albeit twisted, everybody knows that but… but this time he actually made me feel… scared."
Kain can´t help it, he freezes on his spot at her confession. Lightning Farron, his Lightning Farron, scared of a man?
"What exactly did he do to you?"
"He kissed me."
For a moment he just can´t believe her words, he can´t believe her fear is the consequence of a simple kiss. After a moment, he forces himself to relax and continue his ministrations, trying to soothe her and distract her.
"Well, you shouldn´t worry, it was just a kiss, I´m sure the madman was just seeking to throw you out of your mind."
"No Kain, listen." She pushes him further away, seeking for his eyes, and once they meet Kain sees in hers such a powerful feeling that roots him on his spot. "It wasn´t a simple kiss. There was a promise… of a lot more. His eyes were filled with lust alright, and it´s true I´ve seen such look in many other men, but… but in his eyes, there was something more than twisted, something sick. When he stopped kissing me, right the moment when our eyes met, there was desire, but also there was… madness… a kind of madness filled with something that seemed to want to consume me, as if they belonged to a demon yearning to wake up, one that would have the power to devour me whole, and it… made my chest hurt. It made me feel so scared that I could only respond with rage."
Yes, there is definitely fear in those baby blue eyes, Kain can see it crystal clear while she recalls the event.
"But, Lightning… it was just a kiss…"
His eyes are glued to hers, the baby blue hue filled with something dark, so close to terror.
"I felt… I felt as if he had done a lot more, by just looking at me. I know it sounds stupid, but I felt dirty, Kain, I felt raped just by that kiss and that look. I… I can´t explain why, but it was not just a kiss. It was more like, with it, he had sealed a promise to me, he had bowed to do to me horrible, unspeakable things that only his twisted mind could think of. And that darkness inside his head made me scared."
Kain doesn´t know what to say, what to respond, until he finally notices that her body had started to shake, out of cold or fear, he couldn´t tell. He does the only thing he thinks he could do. He holds her tighter, placing her head on the crook of his neck.
"That won´t ever happen and you know it, I won´t let that happen, Light. You have me to protect you."
Without previous notice, she pushes him forcefully away, and she gets up fast, at least as fast as the tent they´re in allows her, sheer rage twisting her beautiful features.
"What are you talking about?! I don´t need this from you, Kain! you very well know I don´t take well when people want to even try to protect me! I didn´t tell you about this to ask for your protection! I… I don´t even know why I told you!"
Her sudden reactions startle him. "Lightning… wait!"
But she shakes her head, fear, frustration, and anger mixing inside of her, and a sudden need of running away envelops her. "Look just… just stay where you are. I really need to be alone, and maybe some fresh air to think things through."
"I´ll go with you."
"Don´t you even dare!"
After yelling at him one last time, she takes her garments with her and exists without getting dressed, not caring about her nakedness exposed to the world, all too eager to get as far away as possible from him. Kain stays seated on the ground, completely naked, his eyes wide open, forcing himself to comprehend what had just happened. After a few moments, he just sighs and closes his eyes, one hand caressing his hair and landing on his neck. He should´ve known because it´s true, she´s always forcefully and angrily rejected any kind of help, even from him. Especially from him.
What kind of gentleman can he be with a woman like that?
"I guess I should´ve seen that coming… right?" He falls back on the makeshift bed, frustrated but at the same time elated to have her back, while his hand searches for her side of the bed, missing terribly the warmth of her body.
ooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo
"Damn Kain! How dares he?!"
Lightning walks as fast as she can away from the tent, huffing angrily and clipping the front of her leather bodice, only to struggle with the bothersome back straps, while at the same time trying to hold the rest of her garments and her gunblade in one arm, her boots, and her chest armor being the most difficult task.
"Urgh! I hate these clothes!" She huffs, pulling hard against the straps, bruising the skin in her back by that act, but she ignores it, all too frustrated to even care. "If only I could change garbs in here as I can back at Nova Chrysalia…"
As she walks faster while pulling the leather straps, one of the boots falls on the ground, followed by the chest armor, and she finally explodes, throwing her other boot against the closest tree, her temper boiling.
"I hate these clothes!"
She yells at the forest as she throws away the rest of her garments, letting her blade fall at her feet, and then forces herself to stop and breathe in and out forcefully, covering her eyes with both hands, doing her best effort to control her raging temper.
"Argh! I just hate this!" She pulls at the straps again, but unfortunately for her, they won´t budge, and finally she hits a tree, almost breaking it, and then replaces her fist with her forehead, her eyes closed tightly as her arms surround her chest, fighting against the uncontrollable rage.
"I can´t… I can´t let myself…" she breathes out and then straightens, standing motionless for a couple of seconds, drawing into herself. Already calmer, she arranges one of the loose straps, least her leather bra would fall, but stubbornly refuses to fix the other, and then walks in circles, feeling a little bit in control, though she can still feel her heartbeat running wild. At least now her head is having more coherent thoughts.
Lightning is aware she´s losing it, losing her sanity in the whirlwind of emotions infused in her head and her heart. She´s totally elated to have Kain back, it´s true, but she´s still struggling with the anger of knowing Kain met with Rosa, of learning he still has feelings for that woman, even when he promised, in the heat of their lovemaking, he loved only her. She´s also angry at Sephirot for taking as his personal goal to drive her mad, and at the same time, enraged at herself for feeling afraid of him, accepting to herself she´s unable to forget her up close and personal meeting with his inner monster. Those eyes of his, the dark emotion behind them when he stared down at her… Lightning clasps her hair tight, as she growls, completely frustrated by everything, pushing herself to control her emotions as best as she can. She knows they don´t have time for doubt, the final battle is closing in, and her fears and frustration are getting the best of her. She looks up at the dark sky, a plea starting to form in her head when suddenly a cold shiver runs down her back, and she reacts, because she´s always obeyed the calls of her intuition. It´s the one thing that has kept her alive.
In a fraction of a second, she jumps at her gunblade, retrieving the magnificent Overture carelessly abandoned on the grass, and unsheathes her weapon in a swift movement, transforming it into a blade, as she jumps back again, just in time to receive a powerful blow in the sword´s metallic body, one too strong to stop, so she´s propelled backward with the intensity of the strike, followed by a body that crashes against hers, gray and black colors blocking her sight. The momentum of the impact makes her fly backward until her back hits a tree, breaking the trunk in half and almost taking all the air from her lungs; without anything to hold her in place, she falls with her back hitting the cold grass, and finds herself pinned in between the ground and the hard body crushing her mercilessly, the long blade pressing hard against her own gunblade, both of them rough against her chest, preventing her from moving at all. Her eyes open wide in terror when she feels a tremor running through the strange body´s thorax into hers, as it creates an echo of the despised laughter she knows all too well, and finally, deep green eyes meet hers, irises dilated and dark, embedded in pure lust and lewdness.
Her mouth is dry, and she feels like unable to breathe, even less to speak when the treacherous smile gets closer to her face.
"I wanted so much to kill you both when I saw you kissing him…" The deep voice vibrates into her thorax, chocking her, freezing her on her spot, and Lightning can do nothing but stare at the man, all too shocked to even move. "But then you started making those noises… oh, such intoxicating sounds coming out of your mouth…! and I just…" the man breaks eye contact and directs his face to her neck, inhaling deeply, doing a frightening mock of Kain´s previous caress, "I just want… need to hear you do those sounds once more… I need you…" The man pushes his hip against hers, and she can feel his hard arousal pressed against her entrance. Lightning forces her arms to pull him away, disgusted by his touch, but to her surprise, her body won´t respond to her commands, even when she keeps yelling at it in her head, ordering it to move, and terrified, she finds out she´s not even able to speak a word, as she feels her heartbeat running wild when one of his enormous hands gropes one of her breasts, already liberated from its leather restrain, and the action makes her feel so perturbed, so sick on the stomach, that at least her dry mouth is able to whisper the horrendous name.
"S… Sephi…roth…"
But it´s the only action she can do since her body seems like disconnected from her brain, no command would reach her arms, nor her legs, as if they weren´t hers anymore, and she falls in panic when she sees with how much ease he takes both of her wrists away from her chest, setting aside her Overture and his own Masamune, the only restrains that could´ve prevented him free access to her, and all too slowly, almost as if mocking her, he pulls her hands up above her head, one callous hand holding them effortlessly in place, while the other travels down her arm, making her shiver.
"N-no…" she hates herself for sounding so weak, for being so weak at such moment, but no matter what she tries, her body still won´t respond to her.
At hearing her voice, the ash-blond male responds with a wider smirk, pressing his arousal harder against her tender flesh, and whatever she was going to say, he prevents the words from forming as he entraps her mouth with his, sealing with a deep kiss any other sound. Lightning wants to vomit, to kick, to scream, to move, to do anything at all that would show him how much she disapproves his actions, to force him away from her, but her muscles won´t respond, and she starts to wonder if he, somehow, had cast a spell on her. When he finally ends the kiss, his eyes look like terrible damnation to her.
"So, you see, my love? I knew someday we would end up together, despite that Dragoon of yours." He smiles wider and starts kissing her neck, drawing a wet path downwards to her now exposed breasts, and she can´t stop thinking he´s doing it on purpose, this caress, to erase Kain´s touch on her. "After I´m done with you, I promise I´ll take care of him, and then we´ll be together forever. Or at least until this world is over."
Lightning clenches her fists and closes her eyes tighter, desperate to break whatever spell she´s in when she feels his teeth injuring her nipple. The action makes electricity run up and down her body, and her eyes open wide, illuminating in a bluish light that makes her scream.
And then, as if liberating her true self, she becomes one with her namesake.
ooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo
A/N: Ooookay… before you get all angry at me, let´s be fair here: if Kain was to get his opportunity with Lightning, why couldn´t Sephiroth? Albeit twisted and evil, I kinda like him too, and let´s not forget that the story originally was directed to Lightning and Sephiroth having a thing, before we brought Kain into the fry, right? It´s not that I´m thinking of making them do a treesome… yet… but at least let´s give our little Sephi an incentive, what do you think? Obviously, it had to be against Lightning´s permission, so I made him force himself on her. I tried to draw in your heads the terror a woman can experience whenever they´re feeling under any attack, but especially if it´s sexual, either seen as a possibility or actually happening. I hope I could pull it through. Also, I´m sorry I got you into such a dark path that, lately, has been plaguing my mind, due to the increase of news about sexual attacks we´ve been hearing: introducing this acts in my fanfics it´s my way to show how terrible the simple act of kissing can be for the victim, and even more the act in itself, to show you all in order to protest against the waves of genre violence all around the world and to try and create a conscience. And hope I can still keep you interested in the story in spite of it. Please, leave me a comment either if you liked it or despised it. Thank you!
Here are responses to your fantastic reviews:
i: thank you! It´s nice to be back! I totally understand you, I had actually planned to have her forgive him way after many chapters ahead of this, but, as I´ve said in a few other fanfics of mine, the characters, and especially Lightning, often decide upon themselves what´s going to happen to them and just force me to express it with my hands. I don´t know if it makes sense… but the point is, after what happened with Sephiroth, and suddenly Kain being there in front of her, I felt she would desperately need the comfort of her lover´s touch, of someone she cares about and trusts, despite her being mad at him. So, I could easily picture her swallowing her pride in order to feel better, because she really needed it, needed him to be there for her, at least in that way. Am I explaining myself? Because I´m actually a little bit lost too XDD. Thank you so much for your comment! I hope this chapter was of your liking.
Jolly P: the last chapter was actually not related to what I truly wanted for them, because I had planned on having her making him suffer a bit longer, but… and I know this sounds crazy, but there are a lot of times where Lightning (yeah, the character) makes me follow a path she wants, over what I want. And right now, it felt as if she truly needed someone who she knew really cares for her, really loves her. Sort of, when we´re feeling down and we just need a hug from a beloved one. Though with Lightning, obviously, that has to be a lot more powerful than just a hug, right? I really hope you liked that part and the continuation in this chapter, as well as the next… or, maybe, I´ll have to apologize in advance for the next chapter…?
Queenee: Yeah! I´m back! Don´t worry about Lightning using Kain, she loves him, cares for him truly, but she being the woman she is, I had planned that she would really make him suffer, make him feel the way she felt. But, as I told my friends upon these lines, Lightning kinda forced me to take her to Kain (yeah, you read correctly, Lightning forced me). It just… felt right for her to seek solace in his arms since he´s the one she´s trusted the most among her comrades, even when she´s mad at him right now. It kinda surprised me that you had read through Lightning´s rouse and could see through her, see her fear through her femme fatale masquerade, you surprised me! I really hope you liked this chapter, and hope I don´t make you suffer much!