Warnings: Language and naughty thoughts
Chapter 5. Feast of a Thousand Beasts
Zack arranged for the huge meal they'd need: food in quantities large enough to feed all the people at the tables down here and then some. He added tea to the order, because this place didn't have much in the way of drink choices. Besides, he didn't think alcohol was a good idea when Seph's control was shaky to begin with. Then he turned his back to the counter and looked fake-casually at the patrons who were busy watching him and gossiping. If they'd known how truly sensitive a SOLDIER's hearing was, they'd've shut up.
Sephiroth would have glared and pulled out Masamume. Zack smiled, and waved and said, "Hiya. How's it going?" Then he moved over to a table and sat down, chatting and nibbling as if they were old, old friends. 'Nothing like disconcerting the small-minded,' he always said.
Well... He said it now.
Damn, Zack hated small towns sometimes. Everybody knew everyone else's business and felt they had a right to have a say in it. There was no room for the different or unique. Gongaga had been the same. Everyone – including his parents who really ought to have known better – had tried to make him fit into the life they had. They couldn't conceive of encouraging their son to dream of completely different life.
He was so fucking glad to be out of there.
He'd have been married with a couple kids (or more) and skinning Touch-Me toads for bare handfuls of gil like his old man. Facing down half crazy Sephiroth was only slightly scarier than that.
Speaking of scary….
Zack pulled out his PHS, punching in Aerith's number by heart.
"Hello, Zack." Her voice was always light and cheerful, like her flowers.
"Hey, beautiful. Sorry I cut you off this morning."
"That's okay. You're a SOLDIER and you're on a mission. I should expect it, right? And you called back so that's good."
"Of course I called back. Had to hear your voice, and let you know everything is going well."
"Is it?" she asked. "Going well, I mean." She knew; somehow she always knew when things were off-kilter with him. He should see if someone had some native flower seedlings he could take back for her garden. Except then he'd have to actually thank one of these small-minded hillbillies for something. Blech.
"It's not as simple as they said it would be, that's for sure." He paused, thinking of crazy Seph on a rampage. "But it's not as bad as it could be. Of course, if you were here it would be better." He settled in for a good long flirt.
"Commander Fair," interrupted the proprietor.
"Shit. Oh sorry," he said as she giggled. He had a foul mouth and knew it, but he always felt rather bad swearing in front of her. "Aerith, the food's here. I gotta go, doll. No way the staff can carry it all on their own."
"Alright, Zack." Aerith was very familiar with a SOLDIER's appetite.
"I'll talk to you soon."
"I'll be here. Take care of yourself."
It was amazing how such a short conversation made him feel so good.
Zack grabbed the largest tray while the innkeeper, Mr Gruber, and his son took the others. He led the way upstairs, chatting casually with the man about the weather, the current influx of monsters, and whatever else dribbled out of his mind. The point wasn't actually to talk to the man; it was to talk loud enough so Seph would hear them coming up the stairs and break off anything inappropriate he might be doing with Cloud while they waited for the food.
He opened the door, holding the heavy tray one-handed because why have enhanced strength if you never used it? Cloud and the general were sitting innocuously enough at the table. They weren't kissing or doing anything else either (more's the pity). They weren't holding hands or even sitting beside each other.
Cloud was actually slouched down low on the chair, arms folded defensively across his chest, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. He was the perfect image of a rebellious teen being scolded by his elders. Sephiroth sat beside him facing the door and his eyes caught the attention of the two locals entering the room. Zack didn't need to look. He'd already noticed the bare feet neatly hidden behind the equipment bags: the two were playing footsie under the table.
"General, everything okay up here?" Although Zack often behaved casual and teasing to Sephiroth in private – or in front of most SOLDIERs who could be counted on to keep the general's secrets – he very rarely did so in public public. Sephiroth put up with enough gawking and gossiping, he didn't need anything more showing up in the rags.
"It is as you see, commander," the general said in his controlled baritone.
"Good, good. We've got stew and sandwiches, biscuits, a roast, desserts, some fruit, vegetables, and some bread. And tea, some local herbal concoction that's supposed to be good for your nerves."
A sculpted brow rose. "My nerves are fine."
"Yes, well I'm sure Cloud's nerves are fucking wrecked. I've been on the receiving end of one of your little 'talks'. Do you think he listened?" He directed the innkeeper to set the tray on the table.
"He will, as usual, do what he believes is right, just as you always have."
The two locals were gawking, eyes and ears wide at this glimpse into the Secret Lives of SOLDIERs – Zack could practically see the capitalization. If they hadn't already owned the inn, they'd be drinking free on this tale for months.
Once the food was laid out over every available surface, Zack swept the two locals out of the room. He stood and listened at the door until their heavy tread echoed in the stairwell before nodding the all clear.
"So how is it really?" He moved like a guided missile to the mouth-watering food. The general had already filled the bowls with stew and set them out, so he grabbed a sandwich and bit in. Heaven!
"As I said, I am doing well. The voice seems quite distant." Zack nodded and bit down again. His first sandwich nearly gone in two bites, and he was slow in comparison to the general who was already on his third. Sephiroth's arm was practically blurring he was moving food to his mouth so fast. "Cloud cast Barrier and that helped somewhat. Perhaps my control is better as well."
At that Zack shook his head, quickly swallowing. "I think it's distance from the reactor, or the lab, whichever. My headache's nearly gone. Speaking of which…" He leaned down, removed his boots and socks, and let his feet join the toe love going on under the table. The last vestiges of pain disappeared as if they'd never been. "That's better," he said in relief. He dug into the soup, "By the way, touching Tifa had the same effect as touching Cloud."
"Tifa? Is that why you…." Cloud didn't finish the sentence. "You were experimenting?"
"Yeah. It was more noticeable at the mansion, but Jenova's wailing was, y'know, louder there. She got weaker the closer we got to town but there was still a difference each time we touched." He saw Cloud staring at him. "What? You didn't think I was moving in on Tifa, did you, Spike? Wasn't she your girl or something?" Zack said it so that Cloud would put the little princess out of his mind. It worked.
The blond blushed and stuttered, and repudiated his former feelings. "Tifa's not, I mean… We never, there was never…" He took a breath to compose himself, carefully not looking at the silver-haired warrior. "The only reason I wanted to impress her was because I never could before, I guess. She was the prettiest, most popular girl in town. If she liked you then you were in, and everybody would, you know, talk to you. But it was never more than that."
"You wanted what she symbolized: acceptance, belonging, and friendship," Sephiroth understood, better than his 2IC who'd always been popular and always had lots of friends.
"Exactly!" Cloud looked up quickly, disconcerted and embarrassed to find both of the older men watching him. He looked back down into his bowl of stew. His second. His companions were on their second pot of stew! Zack had been right when he said the two of them would eat the Inn's entire food supply.
"I never said thank you for what you did – with Tifa and the people downstairs. You were protecting my reputation, not that I have much of one here, but still. Thank you."
Zack grinned and ruffled blond hair just to see the boy flinch. "You're welcome."
"SOLDIERs look out for each other," was the general's conversation-stopping comment. Zack punched Cloud's arm in triumph – Sephiroth had claimed the blond.
The comment and Zack's reaction made Cloud blush – after all, he wasn't a SOLDIER. Still, it gave him a sense of comradery with them, and a deep ball of happiness and possibilities inside.
"Which is why I made an idiot of myself for you. Getting Tifa to squeeze my biceps, puh-leeze." Zack rolled his eyes. "Distracted her for a bit though. Want to know what else I found out?" He peeked at them playfully as he put a rolled slice of roast beef in his mouth, whole.
Cloud frowned, too familiar with Zack's moods to be drawn. Sephiroth merely asked, "What else did you discover," while he served himself the last of the stew.
Zack moved some of the empty serving dishes to the side of the room and brought back full ones. "Tifa's dad blocked her out too. So did Mr. Gruber, but his wife barely dimmed it. An old lady and her son, I think, who came into the inn while I was waiting. I helped her sit and shook his hand. They both had the same effect. Some people at one of the tables I managed to scarf some dessert off of."
"Mrs. Gruber is from Zonderheim, over east a ways," Cloud commented.
"So it's native Nibelheimmers?" Sephiroth asked then changed it thinking of their not-quite-native companion. "Or at least ones who were born here."
"I haven't checked them all," Zack teased. "But yeah. Looks that way."
"That may explain why Mot– Jenova was directing me to burn down Nibelheim and to kill everyone in it before doing anything else," Sephiroth said calmly, picking out another sandwich. Both Cloud and Zack froze, staring at the Silver General, Demon of Wutai – the greatest, most deadly warrior on the planet – in horror.
"Shit," Zack murmured in dismayed realization. "She's not stupid, is she."
"Hmm," Sephiroth agreed. "Although it was unlikely I would have let any of the villagers close enough for them to have done any good. Perhaps she was thinking of the future."
"She's not supposed to be thinking of the future," Zack pointed out. "She's supposed to be dead. That said, it's just as well Cloud was with us."
"And that you thought to bring him with you into the lab," the general agreed and Cloud was left with a feeling of euphoria. He was needed. He was special.
"So what are we going to do about her, Seph?" the black-haired First asked, polishing off the roast. Sephiroth frowned but before he could say anything, Zack continued. "We could leave Nibelheim and never come back. The farther away from her the better you'll be."
It was Cloud's turn to frown. "What if he's ordered back here, or is flying over? She'll still try to grab him, or something."
Sephiroth nodded. "It is only a suggestion, but yes, she'll still be a threat if we go with that option. Another option is to have you attached to me permanently as an aide."
"I think Cloud likes that one," Zack teased as his young friend blushed.
A small smile played around Sephiroth's lips. "However that would result in Cloud being a constant target. If Shin-Ra's enemies, or my own, know that I can be weakened by killing him, then they will try to do so. Abduction and ransoming would also be a danger." Neither of the SOLDIERs liked those possibilities.
Zack spoke up again. "That leaves going back to the reactor and getting rid of her... it. Whatever."
"And we need to go back to the lab to find out what Hojo is up to," Cloud added. The SOLDIERs looked at him blankly. "There was no dust, remember?"
Sephiroth continued to look bewildered, but Zack's face lit with enlightenment. "Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier, but I completely forgot." He turned to his commanding officer. "For a place that's been empty for nearly twenty years, it's too clean."
The Silver General, who'd grown up in labs, and then in Shin-Ra's shining tower, still didn't understand. Everywhere he'd lived had been spotless. Sure, he knew that someone had to take out the trash and do the laundry but it was just done. Like the rising of the sun, it was one of those uncontrollable events in life that happened whether he did anything or not.
"Someone had washed the windows, cleaned the floor, and even watered the plants," Cloud explained. " Why? If the mansion and the labs were abandoned."
"It was prepared for us," the general concluded.
Cloud shook his head even as Zack disagreed."Not for us, Seph. For you." He pointed a fork full of pie at his CO.
The young corporal took up the tale as his friend chewed. "Zack said you were originally scheduled to go to Junon. That makes sense. It is the largest reactor on Gaia and the second largest town. Yet, at the last minute, you were switched to Nibelheim. Why?"
"Nibelheim's reactor is a high producer, but the village is essentially a backwater pimple," Zack stated. Cloud didn't even try to defend his hometown. "And if it were a publicity thing, again: why weren't you sent to Junon, or one of the new reactors in Wutai? Higher population means better exposure for Shin-Ra. 'Look, we're taking your concerns seriously. We've sent the Silver General himself to take care of you,' kind of thing."
"It doesn't make sense for you to have been sent here, sir," Cloud added quietly. "Yet you were, so... Who arranged it?"
Sephiroth tiredly rubbed his eyes. He was enhanced beyond a normal SOLDIER First Class: genetically modified to have extraordinary endurance and stamina, to be able to out-last and out-think his opponents. Now, all Cloud could see was an exhausted man, barely more than ten years older than himself, being pushed to his limit. Sephiroth was such a legend that it was easy to forget he wasn't yet thirty.
"Maybe after a good night's sleep this will be easier to figure out. It's been a weird few days," the trooper suggested.
"Perhaps," Sephiroth said. His companions had brought up such uncomfortable issues. Between that and the realization of how deeply he'd let that thing crawl into his mind and control him, he was feeling splintered and detached. He didn't want to think of what his presence here meant. He didn't want to think about what they had to do about Jenova.
In fact, there was a part of himself – a small, secret part of himself – that was enjoying the three of them sitting around the small table, feet touching. It was almost as if he'd stepped back ten, even twenty years, and was experiencing something that every other boy considered normal. That small, secret part of himself was jumping up and down happily shouting, 'Sleepover! Sleepover!'
It was a much more pleasant thought than this whole mission being some elaborate trap.
Zack interrupted his musings when he said to Cloud, "You do realize, my little blond friend, that you're going to be the meat in our little sleep sandwich, don't you?"
The corporal's eyes widened in shock. "What?"
Chuckling, Zack took a bite of his apple. "You're going to have to sleep between us to keep the nasty voice away." He laughed when Cloud looked at the inn's skinny little beds in total disbelief. Sephiroth was nearly two meters tall. Zack was taller still. Cloud, as much as he wished it different, was barely a meter and a half on a good day... with his boots on.
"No way," he stated flatly. "If I get into one of those beds with you two I'll be crushed. Dead."
Zack laughed even harder. "Fuck, Cloud. You are freaking amazing. I thought for sure you'd do some virginal freak out about sleeping with a couple guys, but you didn't even hesitate, did you?"
Cloud frowned. "Why would I? You said you needed me to do this." He turned to Sephiroth. "You do need me to do this, don't you, general?"
The cool-green eyes seemed somewhat amused. "I would certainly feel better about sleeping if I could touch you. However, I also share your doubts about the dimensions of the beds. Although, it's my opinion, that one of us would fall out before you got, er, crushed."
Zack grinned. He had great friends. "No worries. I'll push the beds together while you two take your shower." They were wonderful to tease.
Cloud's frown disappeared. His eyes grew huge. Sephiroth froze with a pear halfway to his mouth.
"A shower," the general repeated.
"Yeah," the dark-haired First confirmed. "Sorry to say this, Seph, but you kinda stink. Plus you got..." He flicked his fingers "stuff in your hair."
"Cloud and I should–" He paused minutely but Zack heard it "–take a shower. Together."
"Yes, Sephiroth. You and Cloud should take a shower. Together."
Cloud couldn't help it, he squeaked in alarm. He hung his head at having made such a ridiculous sound but, really… he was to take a shower with the general? Be naked in the shower with General Sephiroth? He was allowed to panic a little. What if he, y'know, got an erection? He'd get an erection, of course he would. Zack knew it too, that's why he was laughing. He was too embarrassed to look at either of them. Cloud might have been reassured if he could've known what the general was thinking.
Sephiroth wasn't unmindful of the young man's distress, but he knew that being a soldier often required the men to share nearly everything: food, clothing, showers, even bedrolls. Those had been part of his life as leader of SOLDIER. They had been endured but not anticipated, not like he was anticipating seeing the little corporal naked.
Maybe, Sephiroth mused, Zack's friend wouldn't be reassured to know the Silver General was wondering if his body was that beautiful dusky rose all over; wouldn't be reassured to know that Sephiroth was imagining the taste of smooth skin beneath warm tongue. That he wanted to delve into the secrets hidden behind rose-bud lips, and that he especially wanted to know what the youth's erection looked like, for he was certain his little corporal would indeed become erect. As would he. A shower sounded like a wonderful idea.
Sephiroth's lips curled a little, he couldn't stop them, but he dipped his head so that his companions wouldn't see his look of anticipation and triumph. It may not be a bed as he'd originally planned, but a shower was an acceptable location for their first time.
It was a good thing he'd been trained to log the conversations occurring around him when he wasn't paying attention, because Zack was still rambling on.
"I've had a nice break from the headaches that Jenova-thingy causes, and she doesn't affect me as strongly anyways, so you take Cloud with you. We don't want to chance her getting her hooks in you again." The SOLDIER knew his general. He knew nothing would make the man angrier than the idea that someone had control over his thoughts.
It was a scar left over from Sephiroth's childhood – if it could be called that, with Hojo in the labs when nothing about him was allowed to be private. It was kind of mean, but the black-haired First had decided some time ago to use any and every opportunity to encourage Sephiroth to distance himself from that thing in the reactor. From calling her a bitch or an 'it', to mentioning the mind-control, he would use it all if it would save his friend from whatever she wanted from him.
"Until we get rid of or neutralize her, you two are going to be closer than brothers," Zack said with
Sephiroth's sly smile deepened. This time Zack saw it and he knew he'd been right when he thought the attraction was mutual. He hoped Cloud was ready for it.
The young corporal swallowed painfully and audibly. "He's right, sir. We can't risk you." He looked up and his face was pale, bright eyes huge in his narrow face. He was visibly trembling, but Cloud's lips were set in a thin line of pure stubborn. Whatever his nerves, he was going to do this.
"Very well," Sephiroth agreed. He held out his hand. He was also unable to control the seductive purr in his voice. "Cloud, I would be honoured to have your company."