Summary: Cloud and his three brothers inherit a mansion in Nibelheim. They decide to stay there over Christmas, only someone is still living there... someone who doesn't want Cloud to leave...
Disclaimer: Don't own characters and places and so on.
Notes: There's Cloud/Zack and implied Makocest in this chapter. Gawd, you can tell I'm a Kill Bill fan, can't you?

Chapter Two: Safe

Cloud left in the early morning to go buy Christmas groceries, even though they didn't have a fridge yet. When he came back into the house and looked up the stairs, he nearly had a heart attack – there was a dark haired man on the top landing.

He stared up, his heart beating so fast and his brain ranting: Is it him? Is it him? Is it the man from my dream?

It wasn't.

It was a man with spiky black hair. He had tools around him near his feet, including a chainsaw. He stood, inspecting the caved in window and wall in the back.

"Hi!" he said enthusiastically, when he saw Cloud, who had his arms full of groceries. Cloud walked up the stairs to greet him. "You must be Cloud," the man chatted. "Your brother Loz said you were 'the blonde one'; I didn't understand what he meant but I get it now, ha!"

"Hi," said Cloud. "Who are you?"

"I'm Zack, the builder." He held out his hand, then realised Cloud didn't have a free hand to shake it. Zack hesitantly pulled his hand back. He turned back to the damage, where a tree had toppled over and smashed into the house. "I'm going to cut the tree in half, that way it will be easier to move it. I think it was recent – which is a good thing – hopefully you won't get termites. Then I'll fix the panelling, then I'll do this window and the other smashed windows." He turned back to Cloud and grinned widely. "What do you think?"

Cloud shifted his weight to the other foot. "Um, good."

Zack nodded, satisfied.

There was an awkward moment where they sort of stared at each other, scrutinising the other.

"I..." said Cloud. "I better go put these away." He held up the groceries slightly to emphasise his point.

"Um," dithered Zack, "yeah, okay."

Cloud turned to go, but Zack said, "Wait!" Cloud turned back around.

"Do you want to – to go to the pub with me tonight?" asked Zack. "I mean, you're new to the town, aren't you? We could go out and meet some people, have a good time?"

Zack was watching Cloud strangely and then Cloud realised, quite belatedly, that Zack was asking him out.

Cloud blinked at him and said nothing.

"No biggy," Zack persisted, "we'll just have a few drinks and talk, have some fun, you know?"

A thought occurred to Cloud, and he suddenly and frustratingly needed to talk to Loz. Or bash his head in. Either way.

"I, um," said Cloud, "alright."

Zack beamed at him. "Cool! Well, I'll just chop this bugger in half," he indicated the tree, "then go write up a quote, then I'll pick you up at – "

They were interrupted by a sudden, harsh and loud gust of wind. "Whoa!" said Zack. "We really need to patch this baby up; there's a storm brewing."

Cloud looked behind him; he realised, for a horrifying moment, that the wind hadn't come from outside.

It had come from in the house.

"So I'll pick you up at seven?" said Zack, when the wind had died down.

"Uh, okay," said Cloud.

He went back down the stairs and headed to the kitchen as Zack started up the chainsaw.

Loz was in the kitchen, sitting at the table and pretending to read a newspaper. He was chuckling.

Cloud dumped the groceries on the bench and turned to Loz, absolutely furious.

Loz grinned up at him. "So, have you got a date tonight?"

"You," said Cloud incoherently, "DEAD."

Cloud lunged at him and threw the table aside; Loz laughed and dodged a punch.

They sparred. Cloud punched, Loz blocked. "Oh come on," said Loz as he blocked Cloud's spinning kick, "you should be thanking me."

Cloud threw a punch that missed Loz's head by an inch. Cloud ended up punching the wall instead, cracking and chipping the brick.

Loz retreated to the corner, putting the solid kitchen bench between them. "What did you say to him?" Cloud demanded. "'Oh, by the way, I have a gay blonde brother; you two would make a swell pair.'?"

"Um, yeah, pretty much... exactly like that!"

Cloud growled and hauled himself over the bench, sliding over to Loz's side.

Quick as a flash Cloud opened a draw and pulled out the butcher's knife; Loz grabbed a large stainless steel pan. Loz smirked. Cloud sneered.

Cloud swiped several times in quick succession, Loz deflecting with the pan. Shards of light glinted off the metal as they hit.

Then Loz got a hit in with the pan; Cloud used his sudden vulnerability to throw the knife – Loz ducked and it hit the wall, embedded.

Loz picked Cloud up and threw him across the room. He crashed into the little kitchen table he had thrown earlier. It smashed.

Cloud glared up at Loz, who was coming towards him. "Good one," said Cloud as he picked a splinter from his hair, "that was antique."

Loz tch'd and picked Cloud up yet again and threw him on the bench. In split second, he was there, on Cloud with Cloud's back to the surface, Loz in his face and Loz's leg between his thighs.

Loz held both of Cloud's wrists against the bench with one hand; with the other he grabbed Cloud's jaw.

"You're not as good as Yazoo," said Loz, examining Cloud's face. "You lasted longer than Kadaj; but I'm afraid you're looking to be just as bad."

Cloud rolled his eyes, adjusted himself, and kneed Loz hard in the balls. Loz crumpled to the ground.

Cloud looked down at him stoically. "Don't ever say I'm as bad as Kadaj."

"Hey guys I'm done with that so – " Zack walked into the kitchen and froze. He surveyed the room. An almost-hole in the wall, a butcher's knife sticking out of another wall, the table smashed and Cloud standing with Loz a groaning heap at his feet. "Um... so, I'll just be, er... going?"

Loz grunted something incoherent. Cloud looked around and shrugged at Zack. "We had a domestic. I'll show you to the door."

Zack nodded. "Totally understand," he said as they made their way through the foyer; "I was in the army."

Cloud said nothing. He opened the door for Zack.

"So I'll see you tonight?" asked Zack, his voice wavering with uncertainty.

Cloud looked at him for a moment. The mansion, for no reason Cloud to see, started to shake as if in an earthquake.

Dust, forced away by the vibrations, fell from the ceiling.

Zack was looking concerned. Cloud said, "Sure, can't wait."

Zack beamed at him and left.

The house was still vibrating when Cloud went back into the kitchen. Loz had completely recovered and was cleaning up the damage.

"The mansion is shaking," said Loz as he pulled the knife from the wall.

"I noticed," said Cloud.

Loz turned and grinned crookedly at him. "Heh, so you excited about tonight?"

Cloud looked away and crossed his arms. "I... yes, I'm excited."

The mansion groaned long and loud, suddenly.

Then the kitchen taps turned on full ball, bloody water spilling out and splashing on the floor.

There was a loud, piercing scream.

Loz made some comment about the mansion not liking Cloud's new boyfriend very much, but Cloud wasn't listening. He sped out the room with the single thought: Kadaj.

Kadaj met Cloud half way down the corridor, still screaming his head off. They couldn't stop running in time, and ran into each other.

Kadaj was covered head-to-toe in bloody water, a white (turning red) towel around his hips.

He stomped his foot and glared at Cloud. "I HATE this stupid house, Brother, I want to leave - look at me! There's blood coming out of the shower, for God's sake!"

Cloud, relieved Kadaj was okay, grabbed his brother's arm and steered him back to the bathroom.

He left Kadaj in the doorway and quickly turned off all the taps and shower. Then he re-turned the shower on – it spluttered red for a moment, then went back to clear.

Loz came in just as Cloud was checking the temperature. "Come here," Cloud said to Kadaj, as he grabbed his arm. He steered his little brother to the shower and shoved Kadaj's head under the water.

Kadaj was protesting the manhandling. "Oh, my beautiful hair! I can't believe – argh! – we are spending Christmas – ow! – in this shithole. I hate it, I hate you all – oh my god, my towel is slipping – "

"Nothing I haven't seen before," Cloud murmured.

"Nothing you haven't – YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ME NAKED!"

"Guess what, Kadaj," said Loz conversationally, "Brother's got a date tonight with Bob the Builder."

"That's great," said Kadaj sarcastically, "then maybe next time you can hire a gay plumber to fix our gay taps!"

"I don't know," said Loz in contemplation, "I kinda like you as a redhead."

Kadaj moved away from the shower and Cloud and snarled at Loz like a crazy, pissed off cat. "You, DEAD."

Loz ran out the door and Kadaj ran after him, screaming obscenities. Cloud followed intent on getting a share of the Kill Loz glory. They chased through corridors, rooms, up the stairs; and Loz was laughing the whole time, the bastard.

The chase finally finished in one of the upstairs back rooms they hadn't bothered to clean yet, because of the sheer size of the cleaning job. There was furniture and junk tossed about the place, with some furniture covered with white sheets.

Cloud tackled Loz to the ground. They wrestled there, Loz laughing and Kadaj cheering Cloud on. Cloud's foot caught in a white sheet, and as he tumbled over the floor he took the sheet with him, tangled around his legs.

Loz ended up on top of Cloud, again - Cloud pinched him hard on his nipple and Loz yelped. Cloud pushed Loz off him easily and stood, ready to share a smirk with Kadaj –

But Cloud no longer had Kadaj's attention.

The teenager was staring at the object Cloud had accidentally pulled the sheet off.

It was a large, black safe.

Kadaj reached out a hand and caressed the door. "Check it out, Brother, I bet there's some great treasure in here! Finally, Father left us something of worth!"

Loz stood up and brushed himself off. "Knowing our father, it's probably full of the dead bodies of mutilated children."

"Ew," said Kadaj, pulling his hand away.

Cloud knew it was probably fruitless, but he tried the latch on the safe's door anyway. It wouldn't open.

"It's probably just full of mouldy old books," he said.

Kadaj sighed dramatically and put his hands on his hips. "Well, I'm going to have a proper shower, and then I'm going into town to hang with my hunnies. In the meantime, you two can hire a plumber and and an electrician so when Yazoo comes back with a fridge it will work properly." Then he sauntered off.

Cloud glanced at the safe.

There were some things in life you knew without knowing how you came to know those things.

One thing Cloud did know, without knowing how or why he knew, was that he had to get that safe open.

- - - -

Cloud and Zack did not stay long at the pub. There was a mass brawl in progress and after Zack's head had a near miss with a flying bar stool, they decided on a long walk in the snow.

"So is this your first time in Nibelheim?" asked Zack.

"No," answered Cloud, "I was born here. But I – we're around the same age, but I don't recognise you."

Zack laughed. "No I'm not from here; I'm from Gongaga. I just come to this town sometimes to get work. I like it here, but I like Gongaga better. So I'll finish your mansion and then go home for Christmas. It's why I," he glanced at Cloud, "asked you out so abruptly. I won't be here for very long."

"Oh," said Cloud, swallowing his disappointment. It seemed this thing he had with Zack, whatever it was, was temporary.

"No I mean – I wanted to ask you out while I got the chance, you know? I hope that, after Christmas, I'll come back here and we could spend more time together."

Cloud kicked at the snow. "I'm leaving on Boxing Day."

"Oh." It was Zack's turn to be disappointed. "You're from Midgar, right?"

"Yes. But I'd like to come back here, eventually."

Cloud told Zack the tentative plans he had, about how he owned a small delivery business in Midgar and thought about opening an extension of the business in Nibelheim, then eventually he could have a chain of delivery offices all over the world.

Their walk ended at a small tea house. They talked over tea; Zack was very chatty and also very easy to talk to.

"Legally Kadaj is under my care – he's the young, loud one," Cloud explained. Somehow the conversation had turned around to family.

"He's your adopted son?"

"Fostered son; adoption's a little harder to get and Kadaj didn't seem to care. Loz is older than me but it was harder for him to get custody of Kadaj because of his criminal record. He's violent."

Zack laughed. "Well after seeing your kitchen today, I don't doubt that."

"Yazoo's the quiet one. He – I think he remembers things from his childhood which Loz and Kadaj don't."

Zack frowned. "What kind of things?"

Cloud glanced down at his cooling tea. There were dreams he had, voices, images. They flickered in and out of his mind like butterflies. All four brothers had too much Mako in their blood than was healthy – only Cloud was unsure where he got it. Although, it was not uncommon for their generation to have a large quantity of Mako in their system. Cloud was sure Zack had a lot too, especially if he had been in the Shinra army, as he had mentioned earlier.

"I don't know," said Cloud, softly.

Zack walked Cloud to the gate of the mansion. "So," said Zack, "I'll see you tomorrow when I work on your mansion. Um." He looked at Cloud, their faces close.

Just as Zack leaned forward Cloud saw something out of the corner of his eye. In the upstairs window, a figure was watching him. It was – Cloud gasped –

It was the man from his dream, glaring down at them.

Cloud turned his face away from Zack's. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "I'm not used to this. I haven't – for a while..."

Zack leaned back. "I understand," he said quietly, though he wouldn't look Cloud in the eye. "See you," he said, and walked back to his utility truck.

Cloud looked back at the window.

The man was gone.

To be continued.