Alrighty then.. this is my first fanfic, reviews are welcome, as long as
they are not flames. Flames will be given to Sephiroth so he can burn
Nibelheim again. *evil grin from writer and Seph*
Hope you like it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- - - People thinking
It was close to midnight before Cloud Strife walked into his new home just outside of Midgar. As soon as he stepped into the doorway, he knew something was wrong, something was out of place. The lights were all on, just as he left them. Even after checking over all the rooms, he could find nothing missing. The feeling was dismissed as a sideeffect of the battle fought earlier today. When he finished glancing over his room, he went and got some comfortable clothes to sleep in. They were the only pair of clothes that he had that didn't have that faint smell of blood buried deep inside them.
-Maybe the nightmares won't be as bad as they usually are.. Sometimes I wish I had never tried to save the world. No one seems to care anyway. Maybe Sephiroth and Jenova were right after all.-
He opened the door from his room to the bathroom and entered, placing his clothes on the back of the toilet. Cloud turned on the shower and got it to the temperature he wanted, then stripped and stepped into the bathtub. He pulled back the chocobo shower curtain to keep the water in the tub and took out the shampoo and soap. After getting his hair almost completely soaked, he washed out the gel, rinsed it off and washed his actual hair. He remembered when Zack had told him he looked like a girl with his hair down. That was when he lost his best friend and almost Tifa as well. A soft sigh betrayed Cloud's normal "I don't give a damn" attitude as he laid his head on the cold tile wall for a few moments.
Finally, he turned off the water and stepped outside. He took the towel from the wall and dried off, then put his clean clothes on. He put the dirty clothes in the basket between the small cabinet and the sink. Why did he need such a large bathroom anyway? He shrugged and leaned against the wall. When he left this room, he would have to deal with the world once again. He wished he could just sit here in the warm, steamy room and forget about everything around him.
He knew that that would never happen. Tifa or Vincent would come to check on him. No... wait... Tifa, she was already gone... Another sigh.
-I don't think I can handle much more than this.-
Cloud stared into a perfect copy of his blue eyes using the huge mirror above the sink. Even through the steam that had condensed onto the mirror, his eyes glowed, a constant reminder of that awful corporation they called Shinra. Besides what was beginning to become himself, he hated very little things. That was one of them. Cloud turned around and walked outside of the room and into his own. As soon as he entered, he noticed an odd-looking lump under the bed sheets.
He went to the bed and nudged the lump. It moved like his overly stuffed body pillow, and he finally noticed that was missing. He shrugged and reached into the sheets. He jerked his hand away with a yelp of surprise. The so called "pillow" was a human being! Cloud threw the sheets back and almost ran out of the room. It wasn't a human being, it was...
"SEPHIROTH!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!"
A soft moan served as his answer. Sliver hair fell from his pale face as Sephiroth turned towards him in his sleep. Cloud clenched his fists, unclenched them, and then violently shook Sephiroth's shoulder. Suddenly, his eyes opened and Sephiroth grabbed his hand. Cloud tried to pull away but couldn't. He still had that grip Cloud remembered all too well.
"Cloud... It's good to see you."
"You're supposed to be dead! We killed you!"
"I found that I couldn't die without completing some unfinished business."
Cloud looked at him with eyes previously doused with sadness now flaming with anger. His most hated enemy was still alive, in his own house no less! It pissed him off that not only he was here, but also that he wouldnt explain what he meant by "business". It was just like Sephiroth to withhold information until the last minute.
"This business you speak of should not have kept you from where you belong."
"You seem angry to see me."
"Hell yeah I am! Sephiroth, do you know how much pain I went through? You've destroyed everything close to me. I have nothing left..."
"You still have yourself, do you not?"
"Shut up! I don't..."
Cloud stopped in the middle of the sentence and his eyes went out of focus. He coughed violently, blood falling partly on his hand and some of it slipping through his fingers. Colors danced across his vision, but none stood out more than two large aqua spots with a small amount of black in the center of each one.
Sephiroth caught him as he fell. He pulled an unconscious Cloud onto the bed and started to look for the injury. He knew he had found it when he got to the the left side of his ribcage and Cloud cried out in pain. Sephiroth took a materia out of his pocket. It was the only one he had managed to keep: Cure. The only problem was that it was almost brand new and had only been used three or four times. Cloud's injury seemed too serious for some pitiful first-level magic to do any good.
It was all he had though, so he took the materia in one hand and placed his other hand lightly on Cloud's ribs. Sephiroth wondered what could have hurt him this bad after he had fought the three Weapons, all the monsters in the North Cave, and even Sephiroth himself when he was possessed by Jenova. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, knowing too well that you had to concentrate to use even the lowest power magic correctly. A soft green glow appeared around his hand. Almost instantly, it disappeared into Cloud's body. He tried to pull away when that happened, but he couldn't.
The magic wasn't stopping! Various words for stop were said, but not a single one worked. He was starting to feel weaker. If this did not stop soon, it would suck power from him until nothing was left but a dried up shell. Only the training he had from birth to be the Perfect SOLDIER kept him from panicing. (spelling) Sephiroth swayed back and forth for a few moments, trying to keep from passing out. He could only hold off for so long though, and finally fell onto Cloud's chest. As if to mock him, the green glow faded.
He awoke inside a dream, the memory of Nibelheim. It was cold... he had to fix that. Flames roared in his head; he tried to shake them away. All these buildings clustered up together, using the very life of the Planet to fuel their little houses. A puppy crossed his path, yelping happily as only a puppy could. He scowled and kicked it a few feet. It hit the wall of the Mansion and slid down. Even after he walked into the door, the puppy did not move.
Down the stairs he went, into the library. He had to figure out who kept speaking to him... he needed answers. Book after book on anything that had to do with Shinra was read until finally, he found one that told about Jenova. If anyone was in the mansion, there was no way they could not hear his anguished scream as Jenova broke down all his wards and forcefully possessed him.
Cloud stirred, waking up. He tried to figure out his surroundings before opening his eyes, another trait he had acquired from SOLDIER training. Everything was quiet except for what sounded like something breathing next to his ear. Had Tifa come back?? Did she make it through the fall off the cliff after all? He breathed in to sigh of relief, but noticed an odd smell in the air. He placed it as sweaty leather. Wait, Tifa didn't ever wear leather... then, who was laying on him? The person started to whimper softly in their sleep, and then he realized who it was.
Even though he hated the idea of Sephiroth draped over him like some kind of pillow, he did not wake him. He wanted to know what was making the Great Sephiroth, Summoner of Meteor cower in fear so badly that he would whimper. Cloud moved his hand to try to turn Sephiroth's head away from his neck but took it back when he found out how hot Sephiroth's neck was. For some strange reason, he had a fever. He denied it by reasoning that Sephiroth was not human, therefore he could not be sick. He shifted his position a little and opened his eyes so that he could see him.
He had his eyes closed, though it would have been hard to tell through all that hair thrown across his face. His hands were clenched into fists in front of him, one laying on Cloud's chest and the other on top of the sheets. A loud whimper, then a scream escaped from his lips. Cloud couldn't help but smirk at whatever pain he was going through. The smirk was quickly wiped off of his lips when he realized that he had been able to move without it hurting as bad. That meant that someone had to have healed him, or at least partly. He looked at Sephiroth and noticed a light green circular object in his hand.
-No ... thats not materia in his hand. He would never do something to help someone else... All he was ever in it for was himself. He doesn't care about any of us.-
"Jen... Jenova! No, leave me alone! I will not hurt anyone else for you! You cannot make me either. I won't allow it to happen again! You made me destroy Nibelheim. You took Cloud's hometown away from him. Wasn't that enough for you?"
A shudder shook his body and a drop of water fell onto the bed from his face. Sephiroth, crying? Oh, this would make headline news. He could get millions of Gil off of this one. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as Sephiroth reached out with his free hand and took Cloud's own in a death grip.
"NO!!!"
He shot up suddenly, letting go of Cloud's hand at the same time. His hand moved to his heart where he held on to his black leather jacket. He had given up his trenchcoat. He panted softly, trying to get his breath back. Crystalline tears streamed freely down his face and he shuddered the whole time. Cloud shook his head, deciding this was all some big joke Sephiroth had made up to torture him even more with.
"Even... Even after I sealed her away, she still will not leave me alone... Damnit, why can I not be rid of her! Jenova... just go away... You cannot use me anymore."
"Stop trying to act like you're the victim."
Sephiroth looked at Cloud and shook his head.
"We were both victims. Everything I had done... All the people I murdered had been Jenova's doing. I never wanted to kill anyone."
"No, you lie!"
Sephiroth took both of Cloud's hands and after a brief struggle, managed to pin his hands behind him.
"How can I get you to trust me...?"
Sephiroth leaned in and kissed Cloud, softly at first, but a little harder when he realized Cloud was kissing back. He drew a soft moan from the younger blonde. Sephiroth suddenly remembered that they were supposed to be enemies. Not wanting to make Cloud even angrier than he already seemed to be just by the sight of him, he pulled away. He looked down at the floor, apparently quite embarrassed at his recent action.
"I--I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that... I'll leave now."
He got off the bed, bowed lower than Cloud had ever seen him, and walked out. Cloud, too shocked to say anything or even to move, did not try to stop him. He blinked and stared at the door. A few moments later, he brought his hand to his lips. He accidentally brushed his fingers against his lips, causing his body to tingle with electricity. Had Sephiroth just kissed him? No, that wasn't real. It didn't happen.
This had to stop. Now. The Enemy was still the Enemy, no matter what had changed. He wished he hadn't thrown his Buster Sword into the Lifestream. It would have been useful for the battle ahead...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------
Well, there ya go! Please review so I can keep writing. And I will repeat for all the flamers around FF.net . I will use any flame to exploit your stupidity, then use it to burn Nibelheim. Domou Arigatou!
Hope you like it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- - - People thinking
It was close to midnight before Cloud Strife walked into his new home just outside of Midgar. As soon as he stepped into the doorway, he knew something was wrong, something was out of place. The lights were all on, just as he left them. Even after checking over all the rooms, he could find nothing missing. The feeling was dismissed as a sideeffect of the battle fought earlier today. When he finished glancing over his room, he went and got some comfortable clothes to sleep in. They were the only pair of clothes that he had that didn't have that faint smell of blood buried deep inside them.
-Maybe the nightmares won't be as bad as they usually are.. Sometimes I wish I had never tried to save the world. No one seems to care anyway. Maybe Sephiroth and Jenova were right after all.-
He opened the door from his room to the bathroom and entered, placing his clothes on the back of the toilet. Cloud turned on the shower and got it to the temperature he wanted, then stripped and stepped into the bathtub. He pulled back the chocobo shower curtain to keep the water in the tub and took out the shampoo and soap. After getting his hair almost completely soaked, he washed out the gel, rinsed it off and washed his actual hair. He remembered when Zack had told him he looked like a girl with his hair down. That was when he lost his best friend and almost Tifa as well. A soft sigh betrayed Cloud's normal "I don't give a damn" attitude as he laid his head on the cold tile wall for a few moments.
Finally, he turned off the water and stepped outside. He took the towel from the wall and dried off, then put his clean clothes on. He put the dirty clothes in the basket between the small cabinet and the sink. Why did he need such a large bathroom anyway? He shrugged and leaned against the wall. When he left this room, he would have to deal with the world once again. He wished he could just sit here in the warm, steamy room and forget about everything around him.
He knew that that would never happen. Tifa or Vincent would come to check on him. No... wait... Tifa, she was already gone... Another sigh.
-I don't think I can handle much more than this.-
Cloud stared into a perfect copy of his blue eyes using the huge mirror above the sink. Even through the steam that had condensed onto the mirror, his eyes glowed, a constant reminder of that awful corporation they called Shinra. Besides what was beginning to become himself, he hated very little things. That was one of them. Cloud turned around and walked outside of the room and into his own. As soon as he entered, he noticed an odd-looking lump under the bed sheets.
He went to the bed and nudged the lump. It moved like his overly stuffed body pillow, and he finally noticed that was missing. He shrugged and reached into the sheets. He jerked his hand away with a yelp of surprise. The so called "pillow" was a human being! Cloud threw the sheets back and almost ran out of the room. It wasn't a human being, it was...
"SEPHIROTH!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!"
A soft moan served as his answer. Sliver hair fell from his pale face as Sephiroth turned towards him in his sleep. Cloud clenched his fists, unclenched them, and then violently shook Sephiroth's shoulder. Suddenly, his eyes opened and Sephiroth grabbed his hand. Cloud tried to pull away but couldn't. He still had that grip Cloud remembered all too well.
"Cloud... It's good to see you."
"You're supposed to be dead! We killed you!"
"I found that I couldn't die without completing some unfinished business."
Cloud looked at him with eyes previously doused with sadness now flaming with anger. His most hated enemy was still alive, in his own house no less! It pissed him off that not only he was here, but also that he wouldnt explain what he meant by "business". It was just like Sephiroth to withhold information until the last minute.
"This business you speak of should not have kept you from where you belong."
"You seem angry to see me."
"Hell yeah I am! Sephiroth, do you know how much pain I went through? You've destroyed everything close to me. I have nothing left..."
"You still have yourself, do you not?"
"Shut up! I don't..."
Cloud stopped in the middle of the sentence and his eyes went out of focus. He coughed violently, blood falling partly on his hand and some of it slipping through his fingers. Colors danced across his vision, but none stood out more than two large aqua spots with a small amount of black in the center of each one.
Sephiroth caught him as he fell. He pulled an unconscious Cloud onto the bed and started to look for the injury. He knew he had found it when he got to the the left side of his ribcage and Cloud cried out in pain. Sephiroth took a materia out of his pocket. It was the only one he had managed to keep: Cure. The only problem was that it was almost brand new and had only been used three or four times. Cloud's injury seemed too serious for some pitiful first-level magic to do any good.
It was all he had though, so he took the materia in one hand and placed his other hand lightly on Cloud's ribs. Sephiroth wondered what could have hurt him this bad after he had fought the three Weapons, all the monsters in the North Cave, and even Sephiroth himself when he was possessed by Jenova. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, knowing too well that you had to concentrate to use even the lowest power magic correctly. A soft green glow appeared around his hand. Almost instantly, it disappeared into Cloud's body. He tried to pull away when that happened, but he couldn't.
The magic wasn't stopping! Various words for stop were said, but not a single one worked. He was starting to feel weaker. If this did not stop soon, it would suck power from him until nothing was left but a dried up shell. Only the training he had from birth to be the Perfect SOLDIER kept him from panicing. (spelling) Sephiroth swayed back and forth for a few moments, trying to keep from passing out. He could only hold off for so long though, and finally fell onto Cloud's chest. As if to mock him, the green glow faded.
He awoke inside a dream, the memory of Nibelheim. It was cold... he had to fix that. Flames roared in his head; he tried to shake them away. All these buildings clustered up together, using the very life of the Planet to fuel their little houses. A puppy crossed his path, yelping happily as only a puppy could. He scowled and kicked it a few feet. It hit the wall of the Mansion and slid down. Even after he walked into the door, the puppy did not move.
Down the stairs he went, into the library. He had to figure out who kept speaking to him... he needed answers. Book after book on anything that had to do with Shinra was read until finally, he found one that told about Jenova. If anyone was in the mansion, there was no way they could not hear his anguished scream as Jenova broke down all his wards and forcefully possessed him.
Cloud stirred, waking up. He tried to figure out his surroundings before opening his eyes, another trait he had acquired from SOLDIER training. Everything was quiet except for what sounded like something breathing next to his ear. Had Tifa come back?? Did she make it through the fall off the cliff after all? He breathed in to sigh of relief, but noticed an odd smell in the air. He placed it as sweaty leather. Wait, Tifa didn't ever wear leather... then, who was laying on him? The person started to whimper softly in their sleep, and then he realized who it was.
Even though he hated the idea of Sephiroth draped over him like some kind of pillow, he did not wake him. He wanted to know what was making the Great Sephiroth, Summoner of Meteor cower in fear so badly that he would whimper. Cloud moved his hand to try to turn Sephiroth's head away from his neck but took it back when he found out how hot Sephiroth's neck was. For some strange reason, he had a fever. He denied it by reasoning that Sephiroth was not human, therefore he could not be sick. He shifted his position a little and opened his eyes so that he could see him.
He had his eyes closed, though it would have been hard to tell through all that hair thrown across his face. His hands were clenched into fists in front of him, one laying on Cloud's chest and the other on top of the sheets. A loud whimper, then a scream escaped from his lips. Cloud couldn't help but smirk at whatever pain he was going through. The smirk was quickly wiped off of his lips when he realized that he had been able to move without it hurting as bad. That meant that someone had to have healed him, or at least partly. He looked at Sephiroth and noticed a light green circular object in his hand.
-No ... thats not materia in his hand. He would never do something to help someone else... All he was ever in it for was himself. He doesn't care about any of us.-
"Jen... Jenova! No, leave me alone! I will not hurt anyone else for you! You cannot make me either. I won't allow it to happen again! You made me destroy Nibelheim. You took Cloud's hometown away from him. Wasn't that enough for you?"
A shudder shook his body and a drop of water fell onto the bed from his face. Sephiroth, crying? Oh, this would make headline news. He could get millions of Gil off of this one. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as Sephiroth reached out with his free hand and took Cloud's own in a death grip.
"NO!!!"
He shot up suddenly, letting go of Cloud's hand at the same time. His hand moved to his heart where he held on to his black leather jacket. He had given up his trenchcoat. He panted softly, trying to get his breath back. Crystalline tears streamed freely down his face and he shuddered the whole time. Cloud shook his head, deciding this was all some big joke Sephiroth had made up to torture him even more with.
"Even... Even after I sealed her away, she still will not leave me alone... Damnit, why can I not be rid of her! Jenova... just go away... You cannot use me anymore."
"Stop trying to act like you're the victim."
Sephiroth looked at Cloud and shook his head.
"We were both victims. Everything I had done... All the people I murdered had been Jenova's doing. I never wanted to kill anyone."
"No, you lie!"
Sephiroth took both of Cloud's hands and after a brief struggle, managed to pin his hands behind him.
"How can I get you to trust me...?"
Sephiroth leaned in and kissed Cloud, softly at first, but a little harder when he realized Cloud was kissing back. He drew a soft moan from the younger blonde. Sephiroth suddenly remembered that they were supposed to be enemies. Not wanting to make Cloud even angrier than he already seemed to be just by the sight of him, he pulled away. He looked down at the floor, apparently quite embarrassed at his recent action.
"I--I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that... I'll leave now."
He got off the bed, bowed lower than Cloud had ever seen him, and walked out. Cloud, too shocked to say anything or even to move, did not try to stop him. He blinked and stared at the door. A few moments later, he brought his hand to his lips. He accidentally brushed his fingers against his lips, causing his body to tingle with electricity. Had Sephiroth just kissed him? No, that wasn't real. It didn't happen.
This had to stop. Now. The Enemy was still the Enemy, no matter what had changed. He wished he hadn't thrown his Buster Sword into the Lifestream. It would have been useful for the battle ahead...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------
Well, there ya go! Please review so I can keep writing. And I will repeat for all the flamers around FF.net . I will use any flame to exploit your stupidity, then use it to burn Nibelheim. Domou Arigatou!