Three Kings
A Final Fantasy AU Fanfic.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 characters do not belong to me, but to SquareSoft…
This is an AU fic, it contains shounen-ai, and it may also contain Yaoi later on in chapters. Don't like? Then don't read.
Sephiroth waited for Zack at the front gates of their school. Zack, who had told him to wait for him while he went to fetch some pretzels from the cafeteria, had not reappeared. Cloud waited close to Sephiroth, rubbing his eyes from sleep. Sephiroth smiled at him with sympathy. Cloud was always sleepy after school.
"Sephy?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think he got in trouble again in there?"
Sephiroth seemed to think it over. In reality, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason why Zack was late. But in the other hand, he surely believed he would've known if that was the case.
"Cloud, I want you to wait right here while I go and see what's keeping him alright?"
Cloud slowly nodded and watched as Sephiroth walked away.
Sephiroth walked through the hallways towards the cafeteria, passing many students who would stare as he passed by. As he entered the cafeteria, he quickly spotted Zack, leaning heavily against one on the tables, talking to a girl. Sephiroth unconsciously growled as he noticed who was the girl he was talking to.
"So, yeah… It was pretty easy though, you have no idea what a sword can do"
The girl giggled pathetically. Sephiroth walked closer to hear more of what was shared between those two.
"And of course, it takes a strong person to wield it… that's pretty obvious…"
Zack stepped back, pulling up his sleeves to show his arms, and a blush crept into her cheeks.
"Wow Zack, you're pretty strong"
"Well, you know Tifa… I'm old enough to protect anybody… even a pretty face like you"
Sephiroth fought the absurd feeling of something he couldn't name, and cleared his throat. Zack turned around sharply and Tifa lowered her gaze.
"Hey Seph… um… I got the er… pretzels…"
He held them up for Sephiroth to see. Sephiroth ignored them and kept his gaze locked with Zack's. And without a word, Sephiroth turned around and walked away. Zack gave Tifa an apologetic look and ran after his friend.
"Yo, Seph!"
Sephiroth stopped only when they were both out of the cafeteria.
"Seph… what? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Zack… I have been waiting out there for more than half an hour, and not to mention, Cloud is tired and needs to go home and here you are talking to that… that…"
"Gee, sorry… I didn't know I was in there for so long…"
"Of course you didn't"
They both started to walk out of the school again, Zack not knowing what to say. Once they stepped outside, their attention was quickly drawn to Cloud, who was being pushed around by some other kids. Zack growled loudly and Sephiroth quickly took off his backpack and quickly, both of them made it toward the little gathering. Sephiroth without hesitating, pushed the red haired that was pushing Cloud toward a tall tree behind him; and without remorse, punched him in the nose making the child squeal in pain. Zack decided to knock down the brown haired one by a punch in his mid section.
Sephiroth quickly ran to Cloud's side.
"Cloud… you alright?"
Cloud quickly wiped his tears away and leaned against Sephiroth who wrapped his arms around him.
"I'm… al…alright…"
He couldn't stop from sobbing quietly. Zack soon joined them and looked over to Sephiroth who with a nod, assured Zack that Cloud was alright.
Zack quickly got out of bed as soon as he heard his parents lock the front door. They were going out for dinner, and he was sure they wouldn't return till much later. He reached for the telephone that was by his nightstand and quickly dialed. He waited patiently till he heard a voice on the other line.
"Good evening"
"Good evening Mr. Valentine, this is Zack"
"Well hello Zachary, do you wish to speak with Sephiroth?"
"Yeah, it's real urgent"
Zack regretted saying that as soon as the words left his mouth. He could picture the worry in Vincent's face.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah Mr. Valentine… it's um… about tonight's mathematics homework"
"Well then, alright… just hold on a minute"
"Sure thing"
A couple of seconds later, Sephiroth answered.
"Zack?"
"Hey Seph"
"What is it?"
"Can you meet me at the water tower in a couple of minutes?
"Why?"
"I need to talk to you. Unless you want to come here instead"
"What about?"
"Stop asking questions Seph, Just meet me at the water tower... And bring the sword your father gave you for your birthday"
"Why?"
"Trust me on this on man, I swear I won't get us in trouble like last time"
There was a sigh at Sephiroth's end
"Alright..."
Zack quickly hung up and reached under his bed and pulled out a small light sword and smiled.
"Let's see how well we've gotten shall we?"
Sephiroth waited impatiently at the top of the water tower, head resting at the hilt of his 3 feet sword. He figured that whatever Zack was thinking about wasn't good news, but he decided to meet Zack's wishes. Zack was a troublemaker and was attracted to trouble.
At least if someone would be there to protect his friend from any monstrosity or protect any monstrosity from his friend, it might as well be him. Sephiroth laughed internally as the thought of a big Materia Keeper running away from Zack while Zack ran after him yelling obscenities to the poor monster.
He looked around the quiet town; the streets were quiet and isolated. Everyone was under his or her safe roof. He had to sneak out his window to meet Zack here. If his father would find out he got out of the house without his consent, he would kill him.
He turned around suddenly as he thought he saw a swift movement of yellow through the corner of his eyes. He looked downward to the streets, and then he dismissed it. A couple of minutes later, he saw Zack walk out of his house and quietly walking toward the water tower. Sephiroth hid himself on the other side where he wouldn't be seen. Zack started climbing up and when he got to the platform and didn't see whom he expected to see, he cursed loudly.
"Damn it all to Ifrit. Chicken..."
"It's good to know you think so highly of me"
Zack got startled and took a step back too quickly and almost lost his balance and fell off the platform but Sephiroth reached quickly and grabbed his arm.
"Damn it Seph… Don't ever do that again, you're gonna give me a heart attack!"
Sephiroth didn't let go of Zack until he was sure Zack had no possibilities of falling off the water tower.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you"
Zack took a deep breath and a smile formed on his lips.
"At least you made it"
Sephiroth looked around himself.
"So… What calamities are you planning on doing now?"
"Whoa whoa whoa… hold up man… 'Calamities'?"
Sephiroth chuckled and turned his back to Zack.
"Looks who thinks so "Highly" of their friend."
Sephiroth turned around by the sad tone of Zack's voice. When he looked at Zack, he had a downright expression and was looking down at the wooden floor.
"Jeez Zack, I was only kidding..."
That's all it took for Zack's mood to brighten up. In seconds he had a big grin on his face.
"Now… Why did you drag me here in the middle of the night?"
"Well… I was thinking that maybe… you would like to… Um… er…"
Sephiroth was getting annoyed and he showed it.
"Zack…"
"Wait, wait… I was thinking that maybe we can… You know… go out of town and… improve out skills…"
Sephiroth looked at him as if he had just come from the dead and had 13 eyeballs over his body and 5 noses.
"Yo… Seph?"
Sephiroth finally blinked and calmly looked at his watch.
"At 8 O'clock at night? Well… If I was not counting on the facts that it's a dark night and that probably we will be killed by our own parents and that most likely we will be devoured by hideous night monsters and end up 6 feet under ground… I may think it's a good idea Zack… Any opinions on which kind of death you will like best?"
"Shut up Seph… Damn… you need to loosen up a little bit more man… and we won't get killed by any hideous monsters and our parents won't find out… unless you tell them of course... Look Seph… we won't go too far out. Just a couple of miles out of town… I promise… And as soon as you say, "We're heading back" I won't go against it… Please..."
Sephiroth sighed in defeat. He always fell for it… and that most likely would get him killed.
"Alright…"
Zack suddenly tackled Sephiroth down and stood on top of him smiling down at him.
"You're the best Seph"
"Yes thank you… I know… now if you don't mind… You're not weightless you know… You're not Cloud."
Zack got off of Sephiroth quickly and they both stood up. Sephiroth held his sword close to him and they climbed down the latter and slowly made their way out of town.
They sat just outside the town's boundaries, the green grass looked as if it had been covered in midnight. Zack was frustrated, he and Sephiroth had been out there for more than half an hour and they hadn't bumped into a single enemy all night. He was getting bored out of his mind. He looked over at Sephiroth who seemed to have drifted off into space. Staring aimlessly at the night sky. Zack let out a loud yawn and stretched his arms.
"Man… this is pointless!"
Sephiroth slowly lowered his head and looked at him.
"Well… It WAS your idea after all…"
"HEY! What's that suppose to mean?"
"It means nothing at all Zack"
"Ha!"
Zack picked up a pebble and threw it into the night air.
"Zack… Let's go home, this is boring"
"Oh come on Sephy! please… five more minutes"
He looked at Sephiroth with his best puppy eyes he could manage.
"I thought we agreed that as soon as I said we were heading back you wouldn't argue"
"When was that?"
Sephiroth sighed and place his hand over his face.
"I don't remember ever agreeing with you on something like that!"
"Zack… please… stop shouting… you're right next to my ear… and yes you did agree on it back at the water tower before we left the town borders"
Zack snorted and turned away from Sephiroth. Sephiroth was visibly upset.
" Good Odin… Why do you have to be so difficult…"
Zack turned back sharply when he heard this. Difficult? He thought he would laugh at the statement.
"Sephiroth… listen to yourself. I'm the one that has to literally beg you to do something… Now THAT'S what I call difficult… You won't even stay for five more damn minutes out here."
"No, no, no… Don't turn this all on me! I want to go home NOW…! I don't want my dad to find out that I'm not in bed and I'm not ,in the mood to be sitting here in this giant clearing doing nothing but staring at NOTHING!"
"Well… no one forced you to come along! no one put a gun to your head and made you come!"
"Wrong Zack… Your words ARE guns pointed at my head!"
"Well, no one told you to listen and do everything I say!"
"Oh be quiet! You're acting like a child"
"Oh… I'm acting like a child? Listen to "Mr. I'm so grown up" You are following suit as well!"
Sephiroth stood silent. He knew this wasn't getting anywhere, nothing he would say will stop this argument; he knew that from past experiences. So he easily stood up and started to walk away.
"So you're just going to walk away huh? That's just like you…"
"If I don't walk away, Zack, you'll never shut up… "
Sephiroth gave his back to Zack and started to walk away faster. Zack couldn't take the rage that had suddenly built inside and he ran toward Sephiroth and tackled him from behind. Sephiroth hit the ground with a hard thud and he felt all the air leave his lungs.
Soon the two boys were wrestling their way out. They soon stopped dead on their tracks as a roar filled their ears. Sephiroth was on top of Zack and Zack was with his back to the ground grabbing Sephiroth's hair while Sephiroth on the other hand held him by the throat. They both looked at each other with wide eyes. Soon they heard footsteps walking on dry leaf and they looked toward the way of the sound.
Zack was the first to scream, followed by Sephiroth.