Inner Journey by Phantom Dust
Chapter 6-Rain and Revelations
Disclaimer-I do not own the characters or the FF series
Warnings-Mild violence, language, yaoi, slight OOC
Summary-Vincent and Sephiroth had just begun to progress and form a bond although they couldn't find much help from the towns people. Just when things seemed to be getting better, the pair was forced to flee once again and took shelter in an old abandoned mansion.
The rusty evening glow mixed with grey cotton clouds soon turned to dusk leaving the pair shrouded in darkness. Luckily there were plenty of candles in the old, luxurious home to light the way. The waxy objects created a warm and cozy atmosphere compared to the tumultuous storm brewing outside. Vincent jumped as he heard the door creak open behind him only to reveal his partner in crime.
"Shit! You scared the hell out of me…" He chuckled a little to himself for being spooked so easily
"Sorry Vin. I found something downstairs and I think we should go take a look." Leading the way, Sephiroth exited the room and headed to his left. At the end of the hall there seemed to be a giant crack in the wall, but with a little physical force it revealed a secret passage way with a strange green light emitting from its depths. The glow seemed to set Sephiroth's unusual eyes ablaze, intensifying the jade pools to a new level. Mechanically, he descended the stony spiral staircase with a hesitant gunman wielding his Cerberus behind him. Although Vincent was extremely exhausted, somehow the green aura made his strong features gentler while tinting his hair neon. The light was coming from another door left ajar at the end of a dark hallway. The silver haired man glanced back to assure himself Vincent was ready and proceeded forward.
It looked like some sort of abandoned laboratory fully equipped with its own library. Dusty bindings were falling to shreds, the paper browning from old age. The darker of the two men paced the room as the paler picked up a nearby volume and began reading, wasting no time in acquiring some new information. He thumbed through the pages scanning the few scribbled in annotations when suddenly he came across a very strange passage. It spoke of something called "Mako" and how it was the life source of the Planet. It also mentioned these "Ancients" and an attempt to clone their DNA. Sephiroth glanced up at the back of his companion noticing the effect of the light on his hair. It gave an added softness to the already free flowing locks. Returning his attention to the book, he continued to scan through the chapters picking up on several key terms. The qualities of Mako energy on living beings were supposed to include boosted strength increase in stamina and adverse side effects like migraines, memory loss and rare cases of….illuminated irises. In sudden realization, Sephiroth dropped the large book onto the ground, resulting in the rise of a dusty cloud. Vincent turned suddenly in surprise while trying to understand what had just happened "Seph...? Did you discover something?"
Nodding slightly, he replied "A little more than I intended to in the first night". Vincent hesitantly turned to face his friend. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't see this" emerald eyes shot up to try and decipher what the other man meant. With a sweep of his hand, the gunman removed a blanket of dust to reveal the source of the green light, a radiating tube chamber. Clearing a little more dust, the gunman revealed the name plate just above the glass: "Subject , codename: SEPHIROTH". All Sephiroth could do was whisper "Holy shit…" this just confirmed his suspicions. A pounding headache suddenly assaulted him, leather encased fingers tugging at his silver locks. Vincent stood in shock and confusion. What had he done? Maybe coming here was a mistake…. He realized his friend was still clutching his skull on the ground and opted for aiding him (but remembering to beat himself up for causing it later). Placing a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder Vincent began to shake him in an attempt to bring him back to reality.
-Sephiroth could feel the suffocating sensation of liquid. The moldy aura of his watery prison blurred his sensitive eyes; only a pair of glasses appeared to be floating in front of him. With a few minutes of focusing his vision, a nose, eyes and salt-and-pepper hair attached themselves to the bifocals. A mysterious hand extending form a lab coat rubbed the glass in accordance to a voice whispering my masterpieceeeee following soon after it. He suddenly felt the liquid beginning to heat but his struggle was in vain; there was no escaping the torture. Everything around him- the face, the hand, the green light- began to fade into the distance as darkness consumed him once again…-
The silver haired man was coaxed to consciousness by a warm, gentle hand brushing his bangs from his face. Rolling thunder could be heard as pale eyelashes fluttered open and gazed up at the owner of the hand. It was Vincent's concerned face that brought him back to where he was and what had just happened.
"Damn Seph" he sighed, "I thought you were having a seizure". The tallest of the pair began sitting up while still attempting to regain his composure. "I apologize; I don't know what came over me…" Vincent felt as if all the work had been a waste as Sephiroth seemed to be returning to his previously reserved state. Both men stood and left the room to clear their heads. They had hoped to find something, but just as Sephiroth had feared it was revealed to be a little too much. As they reached the top of the stairs shutting the secret door behind them, Vincent placed a hand oh his friends shoulder in an attempt to console him.
"Listen Seph, I know what we found down there was a little intense, but let's just take this thing one step at a time…..okay?" The ex-general slowly turned and faced the source of the consolatory words. For the first time since what seemed like months they made direct eye contact. Gazing into glowing crimson eyes, Sephiroth knew this man was in it for both their best interest. He always admired that honesty. Vincent looked just as intently into the jade green of the other man. The same connection when their eyes first met was sparked once again. Boldly taking a step forward, Vincent quickly closed the gap between them without breaking the connection for a second. Sephiroth didn't seem to notice, and if he did he showed no sign of discomfort. Slowly the swordsman leaned in and brushed his lips over that of his counterpart before pressing his lips to the other man's in a gentle kiss. Vincent paused for a moment before pressing his lips to the soft caress of Sephiroth's. The physical contact seemed to last an eternity when suddenly Sephiroth pulled away mumbling something that sounded like an urgent task. He quickly turned on his heels and headed down the main staircase down the hall. All Vincent could do was stand in disbelief. He had felt a little attraction to his traveling ally before, but he never imagined anything would become of it. Maybe Sephiroth feels the same way he does…or he could just be confused from the situation in the basement. Whichever it was, Vincent wasn't sure what to think of any of it. He simply opened his room door to his right and shut the door behind him. Collapsing on the bed he continued where he left off before being interrupted.
For some reason Vincent felt lighter than a cloud. Compared to how he's felt since as long as he could remember, this was heaven. A warm sensation filled his bare chest spreading in waves to the rest of his limbs. The only wrench in his relaxation was an object resting on his waist. Before he could put up a protest, the object began to move, trailing slowly up his side. Gazing down to see what this devilish little organism was, Vincent was met with sterling hair framing a very familiar face. Vincent tried to speak, but no sound could be heard. Pleading eyes begged Sephiroth to give him some sort of answer to what was going on if only he was able to reply. The ex general instead continued with the motions as he left a fiery trail of kisses up the man's abdomen leading to his collarbone. With breathy gasps Vincent tried to understand how this was happening after the last experience he had with the guy. The kisses became slower and more passionate making their way up Vincent's neck slowly driving him insane. Their two sets of lips were slowly approaching one another when a boom of thunder startled Vincent back into reality.
There was no gorgeous Sephiroth slowly unraveling him to the core, only the darkness of the room accompanied by the rat-a-tat of rain on the window. It had increased exponentially since the previous night and was now fully assaulting the old roof above them. Only a few leaks around the house were a real problem, but they were quickly remedied by a bucket or pan. Vincent was finished with the little bit of housekeeping finally realizing his companion was nowhere to be found. He was torn whether to search for him or not, guessing Seph needed his space right now, but he finally decided to start a search. The gunman walked down the halls opening doors as he went to find his traveling ally when he noticed the green light emitting from the crack in the wall. Why didn't he think of it sooner? Of course the brooding man would be down there Vince thought putting his palm to his forehead. The makeshift door slid easily open and he began his descent down the spiral staircase.
Peering through the door first to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything, Vincent was surprised to see Sephiroth sitting behind the desk with piles of books in front of him and his nose buried in the nearest volume. All he had to do was add glasses and a sweater and the general would look like the perfect scholar. Vincent smirked at the thought but quickly regained his composure as he knocked on the door. "Come in" he heard a deep voice reply from within. Vincent cautiously entered the room and questioned "What are you up to?"
"Just doing a little research" is all the reply he received. Even in this cellar of a room the raging storm could be heard through its thick stone walls. Every now and then the lights flickered but the swordsman continued with his reading completely unfazed. Unwilling to let the matter lie at that, Vincent continued to question "Did you sleep at all last night? I never saw you come back to the room…"
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk" Sephiroth replied as if the answer were that simple. Luckily, Vincent didn't have to pry for more answers as his friend continued "And once I was bored with that I came here to research a few things". It wasn't as eventful as Vincent was expecting, but he was happy enough with this answer. He picked up the nearest text book and began leafing through it while he paced in front of the desk. It was almost depressing reading through all the facts, most of them having nothing to do with either him or the platinum tressed man behind the desk. Reading through the tiny text quickly became boring so than sitting around and reading, Vincent decided to search the house a little more to see if there were any other hidden secrets in the ominous home. He spent several hours scanning every detail of the home he could take in and lighting the candles before it became too dark to see them at all.
When night once again began to approach, Sephiroth was still lodged deep in the hidden chamber. Vincent became extremely annoyed with the obsessive behavior and planned to confront the swordsman. He entered the glowing green chamber once again:
"Seph, do you wanna go upstairs and eat something?" he asked trying to keep his cool. "I'm not hungry" Sephiroth sighed without looking up for a second. He continued reading through the pages rapidly, only pausing to highlight particularly important details. That was it, Vincent couldn't take anymore. "Sephiroth! I understand you want to find out what this is all about but you can't just let yourself die right when you find the answer! You're becoming obsessed!" The swordsman continued reading as if he hadn't heard a word his friend said. "Will you listen to me for a minute!? This isn't healthy Seph! Just take a break!" he continued. Clearly frustrated, Sephiroth place a marker in the book, closed it, and glanced up at the raven haired man after rubbing his eyes: "Look Vincent, I told you I've been searching for something like this for a long time and I'll be damned if I miss any opportunity to find out what I can". "I understand that" Vincent replied, "But this is fucking ridiculous. You've basically spent the last twenty-four hours isolated in this room. It's not like these books are going anywhere…." He was suddenly cut short by an aggravated voice "No, you don't understand. This is the meaning of my existence! Without this, I don't know who I am! I have nothing, Vin, nothing!"
The conversation was going nowhere fast. Vincent had thought they were progressing and would be able to sort this out together, but apparently he was wrong. Sephiroth had revealed himself to be nothing more than a selfish bastard who didn't care about anyone but himself. Turning sharply on his heel, Vincent threw the book to the ground and voiced in a low tone, "Then I guess we weren't as clear with each other as I thought". He made his way quickly up the stairs and out the main entrance. It didn't even cross the gunman's mind to gather his belonging; he just wanted to get as far away from this place as he could. The icy rain quickly drenched his clothes but he didn't care, he wanted to feel numb, he wanted to forget about the past week of his life. Where would he go now? He couldn't go back home, that was clear. Maybe to a new town with a new identity…who was he kidding? After all, it was always easier to just give up. There was nothing left now as he collapsed a few yards from the mansion's gate, the fatigue of long days without rest still present in his body. Sitting on the ground, his flaming irises bore into the darkness, searching for some beacon of hope while his drenched hair clung tightly to his face.
Through the blur of the rain Vincent faintly saw a figure approach, dropping down onto the ground next to him. He knew who it was, but refused to acknowledge his presence. The man had abandoned him. They were supposed to have a sworn bond, but he threw all that aside with only a few words. The pair sat in silence for quite some time, neither one knowing what to say to the other when suddenly a familiar hand was placed hesitantly on Vincent's shoulder followed by the low whisper of "You're right". Forcing himself to glance towards the source of the voice, Vincent focused on the only thing he could see in the messy night, those glimmering eyes. Sephiroth continued "It's just that….I want to take advantage of any chance I can get, otherwise I will regret it later…and that is why I'm thankful for your loyalty otherwise I might easily loose myself in all this…..can you forgive me Vince?" The gunman remained silent unsure of what to reply. He seemed to be placed in this position often around the silver haired man. He finally came to a conclusion. Vincent brought their two faces together in a passionate kiss, trickles running down their cheeks while the pouring storm showered down around their embrace.
AN: What's this!? An update so soon!? I was just as surprised as the rest of you, but recently things have been less busy so I have more time on my hands. I hope you all enjoyed this next installment in the series (you better have since we finally got to some shonen-ai goodness) and more likely than not I'll have the next one up soon. Thank you for all the hits!
PD