Clouderella
Be like that…
The Shinra Halloween Ball was always held at a different mystery location every year, and it was always a masquerade. Only the highest and most important Shinra officials, Soldier officers and VIP's were invited, and this year their host was Mayor Lockheart Himself of Nibelheim, the perfect town for such an affair. People had been flown for thousands of miles by helecopter just to attend the function in the gaudi, gothic mansion, and the one person attending who'd rather be outside in the mountains had travelled by truck all the way from Costa del Sol and was only now starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable. Sephiroth, having spent the night in the Inn with his best, only, friend, and where is Zack anyway? Along with a couple of third class cadets looking for a promotion, was feeling more and more as if he ought to remember this town, this building somehow. Perhaps it was just the fact that he really didn't want to be there.
He stood at the far end of the ballroom, beside the buffet, at the centre of a clamouring throng of doe eyed pixies and their overambitious, overdressed and mostly overstuffed guardians. They had ceased to bother him already as he tuned out the constant requests to dance with them, occasionally sharing a sideways glance with Rufus Shinra; who'd just as many unwanted admirers. Rufus was clothed entirely in white as usual, though usual didn't often happen to be a toga with a headdress of plastic laurel leaves and a gilt lyre with which to beat off random attacks from witches, she-demons, and even the odd fairy.
The last time he'd caught sight of the young Shinra prince he'd managed to end up with a devil, who was so obviously Scarlett, and following the application of more than a few bottles of frothy pink champagne they were almost getting along.
Taking another sip of the disgusting but potent red mixture he'd been handed, he managed to use it as an excuse not to dance with a young girl, Lockheart's daughter, he believed, dressed as a cowboy. She smiled, of course, and said perhaps later, bouncing off with a flick of dark hair into the crowd. Her departure merely left an opening for three more hopeful advances.
The music was entirely uninspiring too; terrible, easy listening rubbish… and worse than that, he was sure they'd managed to fit in the odd Seasonal Halloween Pop Hit ™.
He was in costume, as was customary, though pointless if it was meant to disguise him at all. Sephiroth stood at least half a head above anybody else in the room, his silver hair falling in cascades toward long, leather clad legs. His boots were tight, pointed, and reached up past his knees. Instead of a shirt, his smooth, marble skinned torso was bare beneath a crimson, velvet lined cape. And as if it already acknowledged it's total uselessness, his mask barely covered his eyes, and even then, cold green shone through the red feathers that constantly fell down and tickled his nose.
He'd honestly no idea why it was necessary, or why both professor Hojo and the President always insisted he attend these functions, but every time, even if he worked out a way of avoiding them, Zack would manage to convince him to come.
This time though, he'd hardly seen Zack at all, where is he? Zack never passes up a party… and it had been up to the president and that god-awful scientist to nearly threaten him into attendance. Something about finding a nice grlfriend, since he was twenty one, after all, to settle down with and produce them a nice big brood of future super soldiers. Yeah, yippee.
Tseng, leader of the Turks, dressed in an incredibly ornate black furisode and white kabuki mask and still most definitely the least inebriated of his team, flashed him an almost-smile as he passed, arm in arm with the new boy. Taking a glance in the same direction as his dancing partner, Reno waved and winked as well, at least… Sephiroth was fairly certain the man dressed as a casino girl, with hair like that, was probably Reno.
Then he finally caught a glimpse of Zack; pigtails, school tie, hockey skirt and all. He was twirling a pretty, giggly looking creature in a pink ballgown and little strap on angel wings, flower petals from her mask flying everywhere. Sephiroth nearly, very nearly smiled then, and watched contentedly until they both wandered over to the DJ's booth to make a request.
Not much later, the music managed to get a lot more interesting. Trust Zack to request something in Death Metal territory, the black haired man/schoolgirl actually turned to give him an understanding wink, but instead of starting a mosh in order to clear out the old farts, he turned to whisper something to the person beside him, a tall man dressed like a vampire with a metal claw.
Before he had a chance to hear what it was everybody had begun to whisper about, the sea of mythical creatures becan to part down the centre, slowly, leaving a swathe of clear carpet between himself and the ornate staircase at the other end of the hall. The hissing of the assembled nobility became hushed as the sound of gregorian chants to a background of electric guitar and violin rose inexorably toward crescendo.
His eyes trailed away from the nearly full glass of crimson liquid, which rippled in time with a slow, ominous beat. They travelled down onto the carpet, following the line between the two separate crowds unhurriedly, as if he were actually putting off the moment when he'd count each step of the stairway in turn, upwards.
Then he ran out of steps. His eyes, however, were compelled to continue upwards past a pair of high-heeled black boots with more buckles than could ever be necessary. Further upwards, much further, along slender, shapely legs that seemed to have been painted in black leather and went aaall the way up to a slim waist. He nearly turned away then, thinking it was just another self-important princess, but for some reason he didn't. Even if it were a girl, she'd managed quite an entrance. So it was that his eyes caught the end of a long, black, silken bandage which hung over an exposed, and now that he thought about it, pretty sculpted, stomach. The bandage tightly wound up, around the ashen skin, and down the left arm to a wrist. His… Sephiroth was by now a little less unsure about the gender of this new enigma, arms and throat were circled with spiked leather bands.
The costume, while covering nearly every inch of skin, still left very little to the imagination. It seemed to shift like shadows around elegant muscles as he moved onto the other leg, probably for extra effect. With all the black and white, Sephiroth's eyes were so starved for colour that he easily saw the long, glittering golden hair that grzed the boy's delicate collarbone. And then, after taking a deep breath he hadn't even expected he would need, Sephiroth finally forced himself to look at his face.
Author's Evil Excuses: Live with it… I got sore hands from drawing so much.
1: I know… I'm doing it again ain't I? I have a reason though… the next bit gets a bit… interesting. I figured some people might like advanced warning about my first attempt at a lightly citric, mildly angsty, dark, heavy metal fairytale songficcy. ^_^;
2:Plus, I just love all you guys begging!
3: I am designing pics of all the characters in costume, but since Elfwood extranet is down I am gonna put them on the SephiLovesCloud ML for now. I just wondered if anyone else was gonna have a go. By the way, if you want Cloud's full costume description, it is in the next part.
4:Best Zack piccy gets a personal request.
R&R peeps.
CU Soon
