Never Lost

By: Jades

(Zack/Cloud, Sephiroth/Zack)

NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any characters therein, and I make absolutely no profit from this story.

Everything was fine until that inevitable day finally came. It was to be expected really. It was bound to happen eventually. Sephiroth stood, watching the clock over his cadets' heads. It was twenty minutes past the hour, and Zack was nowhere to be seen. Sephiroth found himself torn between hoping that Zack had a viable excuse and praying that he didn't. He didn't want the man to get into too much trouble, he was good after all, but the idea of being able to seek Zack out and put him in his place was undeniably appealing. Some days it was good to be the General, and any day that Zack put a toe out of line was one of those days.

For the last six weeks, Zack had been leading Sephiroth on a merry chase, forcing him to reprimand the man when he would have much rather been extracting other forms of punishment. And while Zack hadn't so much as laid a finger on the General since that first day, Sephiroth could still feel the heat of that kiss on his lips. In fact, Zack's behavior that day could be chocked up to showing face that first day so that everyone knew who they were dealing with. Since then, he hadn't been so much a troublemaker as just lazy.

He stared up at the clock again. Half past. He cursed inwardly. Zack was asking for trouble, and damn if he wouldn't get it. Over the course of the day, he went from annoyance, to worry, to confused ire, to being outright pissed. Zack's dead body better be mutilated in a ditch somewhere between here and the barracks, otherwise, no amount of Mako would help Zack once Sephiroth got his hands on him.

Sephiroth cracked his knuckles with suppressed fury as he made his way to his office. He'd finally gotten rid of all those sorry excuses for cadets, sending them off to other things. He was dead tired of dealing with morons all day, and Zack's absence hadn't done a thing to improve his mood. It kind of annoyed him that he still had to locate and ream the younger man when all he wanted now was a break. He'd rather save the outing for later when he would enjoy it more.

Pushing open the door to his office, he was about to shrug out of his coat when an entirely too cheery voice assailed his ears.

"Hey, Seph!"

Sephiroth turned, with no small amount of rage playing over his features, to face the dark-haired recruit, who was, at this very moment, reclined in Sephiroth's chair, with his large, booted feet propped up on the desk. He blinked rapidly as his pupils wavered sporadically with the frustration he'd kept bottled all day. "Why. Weren't. You. At. Drills?" Sephiroth hissed through clenched teeth, each word a separate threat.

Zack shrugged, an easy grin on his face. "I slept in, so I figured, what the hell, now's as good a time as any to see where the elusive General holes himself up…when he's not torturing us poor, innocent kids that is."

Sephiroth couldn't be sure, and he would never admit it if he was, but he might have actually sputtered. "Torture?…Innocent??…And I do not hole myself up!…And get the hell out of my chair!" Sephiroth's normally placid voice rose steadily, and his face flushed a very appealing shade of red. He realized with a growl that he'd left his sword in the practice room, and that only served to push him closer to the edge of his rapidly dispersing sanity.

He lunged at Zack, hands outstretched, intent on strangling the man and having done with the whole damn thing. But just as his fingers connected with flesh, Zack slithered out of his grasp, reappearing halfway across the room, where he bounced from one foot to the next, eyeing Sephiroth warily as if trying to anticipate his next move. He gave a nervous chuckle, but his grin never faltered. "Gee, Seph," he jested, "I thought I told you to get rid of that stick weeks ago."

If Sephiroth moved, Zack didn't see. The next thing he knew, he was yanked off of his feet, thrown against the wall, with one of the General's hands locked tightly around his neck, and the other one making itself painfully known between his thighs. He choked, trying to draw in a breath around Sephiroth's iron grip and failing miserably.

Sephiroth's emerald eyes had darkened to vibrant green-black, almost indistinguishable from the slitted pupils, and they glittered with feral purpose. His voice was back to its usual husky calm, with a little extra ice for emphasis. "What did I tell you, Private, about being late?"

"Not to do it." Zack wheezed, his face turning red from lack of oxygen. "Or I lose my dick." He winced as the General squeezed. Hard. He would have let out a pained whimper if he could have.

Danger lined Sephiroth's face, a brutal, honest sincerity that a lesser man than Zack would have perished under. He contracted his fingers again tauntingly. "Exactly."

Zack gulped, metaphorically, and prayed to Shiva. There was only one out that he could see, as the General had obviously meant what he said, and was just crazy enough to carry out his threats. Gathering the nerve that made him the Zackary Donovan that he knew himself to be, he bid his life goodbye, and swung his foot out and up. He knew he'd connected with his intended target when Sephiroth's grip quickly disappeared and Zack hit the floor with an unceremonious thump, heaving in breaths as though his life depended on it.

Sephiroth looked up at him from his own place on the floor, his hands cradling his abused flesh. Sharp, untamed pain radiated from his eyes, but the unchecked rage had dissipated, and in its place, buried deep in the emerald pools, was an expression that looked a lot like pride. "Private," Sephiroth rasped lowly, "I'd demote you but it's virtually impossible to get any lower on the chain than…"

"Fuck you." Zack coughed. "You deserved a taste of your own medicine." Then, more to himself than Sephiroth. "Try to take my nuts off with his own hand, fucking insane!"

Sephiroth gave a dry chuckle. "Don't skip class any more, Zack, or you might curse us both to a life of chastity."

Zack stared at Sephiroth as the man called him by name, then gave him a tender smile. His eyes darted briefly over the General's figure. "Well I wouldn't want that." He murmured. He grinned. "Not even for a slave-driving, stick-in-the-ass General like you."