Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or anything in it.
A/N: I know I joked awhile ago to changing the title of this thing to "A Lemon in Every Chapter" but I wasn't joking about actually doing that. I don't cut the chapter until I get the lemon out. And this time it gave me trouble, because the lemon I had in mind was about 10,000 words out. Blah! Damn plot! The chapter was getting too huge! And no update forever! So I went back and added the lemon I had skipped over, not because it was a bad time for lemon, but because I had transitioned away from the scene and didn't want to transition back. So now it's here, and I'm glad because I enjoyed writing it.
Cloud's mind resisted gaining consciousness. Or maybe his body was the culprit. The whole world was soft and warm, and when he moved his skin slipped across soft fabric and a delicious, spicy smell hit him. Especially on his face. He moved his face up and around, back and forth, and eventually let his eyes drift open. Sephiroth. It was his hair that his head was lying in, unbelievably soft and seeped in the smell from the Jacuzzi tub last night. The owner of this marvelous plumage was already awake, watching him. A shaft of sunlight made green fire out of his eyes.
Sunlight. Cloud sat up with a yelp.
"I didn't think I was that alarming to wake up to in the morning," Sephiroth said.
"I'm missing morning drill," Cloud said, and attempted to jump out of bed, but a long arm hooked around his midsection and held him in place.
"No you're not."
"I'm not?"
"It's a tradition that cadets get the day off the first day they shine."
Cloud had heard that, and he remembered now- he was shining! He remembered everything about last night. He leaned down and did the thing he should have done first upon waking. He kissed his lover. His love.
"I still wasn't in my rack last night," Cloud said.
"Well the 24 hours off started last night."
"Really? It works that way?"
"It does now. I'll call your sergeant. And I better get going; there are a few things I have to get done this morning, but then I can spend the day with you, if you like."
Cloud nodded, smiling.
"You want to sleep in?"
"Oh, hell yeah." Cloud plopped back down into the warm bed. It was the consuming dream of all cadets to sleep more.
Cloud listened to the shower run, and lazily rolled over a few times. It looked like he was going to get a free pass for being AWOL last night. He had been pretty diligent about not accepting favors from the General in regards to his daily cadet life. While it was a constant temptation he didn't need to fit in any less than he already did. But he supposed this would be OK, if General Sephiroth wanted to change a rule and it applied to everyone, who was he to argue? He grabbed Sephiroth's pillow and wrapped his arms around it as a surrogate for his bedmate and was asleep before Sephiroth got out of the shower.
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Sephiroth frowned at the phone. He hadn't expected any comment at all from Cloud's drill sergeant, simply a 'yes sir' and that would be that. But the man seemed to have some concern about Cloud's timing. That he was shining too early.
"Sir, I wouldn't say anything except that I suspect you probably care for the boy. He already sticks out. He's… odd. He's not particularly big, and yet he manages to excel in all his classes. It wasn't so bad when it was just sword, but he's gotten really good at infighting and recently has become some sort of navigation savant."
"As he should be; I work with him."
"That's my point exactly, sir. He doesn't need to be the first one shining too, because of your... influence. He'll be completely ostracized."
Sephiroth rubbed his forehead. Cloud never mentioned he was having any social problems.
"What I'd like to suggest, General, is that if you could just keep him away for a few days. I'm sure two or three of my injection group will be shining by then, some of them are very close. Then he'll at least be one of a group."
Sephiroth's eyebrows shot up at the idea. The timing couldn't be better for him, he remarkably free for the next three days.
"How about you tell the group that Cloud has been put on a very boring, grunt work field assignment for the rest of the week. Maybe taking notes and humping gear on a land survey out in the desert."
"Perfect. Thank-you sir."
"Thank-you, sergeant. Please have one of Cloud's friends pack his field bag and drop it off at the HQ office."
As he hung up Sephiroth thought he could feel Bushere smiling on the other end of the phone, and wondered if that was accurate. If so it would be a new level of emotional phone detection for him.
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Zack Fair sat in his office and scrolled through is calendar, trying to find a chunk of time big enough in his mind numbingly meeting packed day to slip out into the city. Maybe long enough to grab a bite on the lower plate with a certain somebody. He was eying a particularly useless Documentation meeting he might skip when all of his tasks started deleting themselves off his calendar. He pulled up the following day and saw the same thing happening. He grinned, he knew what this meant. He was being sent out, today by the looks of it, and the General was cancelling his obligations. Zack drummed his fingers on his desk excitedly. He could wait for his mission packet to arrive, or he could just go over there. He jumped up out of his chair, chuckling. Since when did he pass up an excuse to pester Sephiroth? Never.
Zack strolled into Sephiroth's office, hands in his pockets and whistling happily. The General motioned for him to close the door before plopping his butt into the chair. Zack did so and then put both his feet on the edge of Sephiroth's desk.
"You're sending me out somewhere," he said, grinning.
Sephiroth reached forward and knocked Zack's boot off his desk. But he was smiling a little. He used to just snarl and yell at Zack when he did that, but lately he was always like this. Kind of happy. Cloud happy, Zack called it.
"Actually I'm taking you somewhere."
"Serious, we're heading out together? Where?"
"Costa del Sol."
Zack frowned. He'd never heard of trouble in the resort area before. Relaxed, vacationing people just didn't cause trouble. Maybe they were having sea monsters or something. "What's up in Costa del Sol?"
"The surf, I believe."
Zack stared, mouth open for a good five seconds. "Vacation? We're going on vacation?"
"Don't be so giddy, Zack, you're being ordered on this vacation with me."
"Pfft! Like you need to order me to go to the beach. Or to go anywhere with you." Zack grinned madly. "But, um, I hate to even ask…but why? You've never taken time off with anyone before."
"Cloud started shining last night."
"Ohhh, and so did he say he was done with you?" Zack asked, knowing from Sephiroth's mood this certainly was not the case.
"No. He said he loved me."
"Told ya. You remembered to say 'I love you' back, right?"
"Actually I think I was first."
Zack grinned
"Anyway Cloud's sergeant thinks he's sticking out too far from his group and asked if he could not show his shiners for a few days until some of the other cadets came up to level as well."
"Yeah, well he is pretty damn early, especially for an organic. How much excess have you been giving the poor kid?"
Sephiroth frowned. "I think it has more to do with my level than frequency."
"Oh, so you haven't been donating more than the standard twice a week?"
Sephiroth looked sharply away, pursing his lips.
"Yeah, I thought so. OK, so we're taking Cloud to beach – he'll like that, he's never seen the ocean. We have lodgings?"
"We've got the ShinRa house. It has a private beach."
Zack's mouth hung open. "How'd you get that?"
"I went up there with my best crazy look and said I needed to get away for a few days or I'd snap."
"You didn't."
Sephiroth gave Zack the crazy look and caused the young Soldier to shove his chair back with his feet.
"Argh, don't do that! Some day they're going to tranque you and stick you in a cage!"
"Been done already."
"Doesn't mean they won't do it again."
Sephiroth smiled. "I'm not as reckless as I seem. HR has convinced the ShinRa's that my displaying any emotional state is a good sign because it proves I am 'dealing' with it. So I make sure I appear to be doing so. And it works, every time their anxiety level around me drops. Remember anxiety is one I detect well."
Zack shrugged. Sephiroth was certainly getting practice at acting if nothing else. "When do we leave?
"We have tickets on a commercial airship tonight at five. Four of them. I'd like you to ask your girl along."
"Aer-!"
Sephiroth interrupted Zack with a curt gesture. In his excitement Zack had forgotten the moratorium on saying Aerith's name inside the ShinRa complex or around ShinRa people. He had a damn difficult time remembering because it made no sense to him; Sephiroth had just asked him to do it as a personal favor. He suspected his commander hoped this would curtail Zack's constant blathering about her if he forbid the use of her name, but he was so weirdly dogmatic about it. But Zack was too happy to complain about it now.
"I'll have to go down there to ask her, she doesn't have a phone."
"Go now, you're free for the rest of the day."
Zack grinned and turned to go. He hoped Aerith would come. Four tickets, if she didn't show they'd be burning one airship ticket. They were commercial tickets, which meant Sephiroth had paid for those. Commercial tickets could be pricey.
"Hey Seph, about expenses for this trip..."
"You're not paying for anything on this trip Zack. You're on an ordered mission, remember?"
"Oh, yeah,"
"Besides, I owe you."
"OK, I'll be back in a couple of hours; we can ride to the airlift station together." Zack left, wondering why Sephiroth had chosen to go commercial instead of finding a military transport for them. And also what he had meant by owing him. Oh, right. Cloud. He grinned, and picked his pace up to a trot.
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An hour and a half later Zack sat on a curb at a train stop in the slums, dejected. He couldn't believe Aerith had refused to come. She had actually gotten upset about it. It was pretty discouraging to a guy to invite his girl on a three day, all expense paid stay at a posh residence on a private beach and have her get upset at him. And it wasn't like he was pushing her to share a room with him; the place was huge and she would have her own room. He'd been more than patient in that regard and was willing to be patient for a long time. She had rejected his offer because it was associated with ShinRa. Well hell, he was associated with ShinRa. She always said they could ignore it, that it was him and not his uniform that was important. They pretended during their hours together that he didn't work for ShinRa. But the problem was he didn't just work for ShinRa, he was Soldier. He had modified his person to suit their needs. All of his friends were there, as was the commander that he was absolutely dedicated to. And he liked being Soldier. He hadn't been in the war, and while he didn't agree with everything ShinRa did his work had not been disagreeable. He ran around and killed monsters and occasionally apprehended violent criminals. And it angered him a little that he couldn't share some of the benefits of that work with her.
Another train came and went without him getting on it. He couldn't seem to make himself go back, but he couldn't sit here all day either. He hit a speed dial button on his PHS.
"Zack?" Sephiroth's voice came through. Calm. Strong. Just as he always was, even if the man's world went to shit he would always be those two things. Sephiroth had enough of those two things to spare.
"She's not coming," Zack said, the disappointment so plain in his voice that even Sephiroth couldn't fail to notice.
"Did she say why?"
"Not exactly, I think she's afraid of participating in the spoils of ShinRa, or she's afraid of you, or something. She's kind of anti-ShinRa."
"OK, Zack. I'm sorry to hear that, but I still want you to come. I was looking forward to spending a few days with you."
"Really?"
"Really. Now get your butt back here and pack."
Zack grinned. Well at least somebody wanted to spend time with him. And maybe he should re-think Sephiroth's degree of social ineptitude, making a comment like that to him when he needed it most.
"And Zack, can you do something for me?"
"Yeah, Seph, anything."
"Cloud's gear should be at the office, and he is at my place. Grab his stuff and go up there and tell him I'm running kind of late, but that we're going away for a few days and I'll be there soon. Keep him company for me?"
"Yeah, no problem, I got it." Zack hung up. Shit yeah, no problem. Seph had an 80 inch TV at his place. And good beer.
On the other end of the link Sephiroth hung up the phone and knit his brows. He had expected this problem with the girl, but he had to let Zack give it a try. Zack had used the word 'afraid' to describe her response, but probably had no idea how literal that descriptor was. He strapped a few short blades onto his body. No sense going down into the slums unarmed.
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Aerith sat down on the curb, a broken liquor bottle next to her left foot and something sticky in the gutter to her right. Her basket was still full; she hadn't sold any flowers since Zack left. Nobody wanted flowers from a sullen, unhappy person. Flowers were associated with good feelings, and if she didn't feel good people didn't want to buy them from her.
She sighed and stood up, heading back to the crumbling church that she called home. She paid less attention to the people around her than she would have a few months ago. A few months ago she would have had to watch out for all manner of muggers, rapists, and murderers. But the unpredictably frequent presence of a First Class Soldier in the sector had caused many of the worst to move on. She smiled, thinking of Zack's first few weeks visiting her. He had beat the crap out of some undesirable person every visit. Normally Aerith disdained violence, but in some cases, drug dealers, lovers of violence, the predators of children, she couldn't feel any pity for them.
Zack.
Her head drooped further. Life had always been unfair, but she never got used to the feeling. It was unfair that she had to live in dregs of ShinRa's poison. It was unfair that her mother's life had been taken on the moment of their escape. It was unfair that she couldn't go to a simple place of pleasure with her boyfriend. Gaia, how she wanted to be with him. To just spend a few days in a place far away from here, to lie in his arms and watch the waves and the stars. Maybe next to a bonfire on the beach...
Zack.
Why did he have to be with ShinRa Even as she formed the thought she knew it was an unfair one. If he hadn't been patrolling he wouldn't have fallen through her roof. If he wasn't Soldier he wouldn't have been able to save her that first night. Only a Soldier could be providing this protection she enjoyed now even in his absence.
She pushed the door to the church open, thinking about the flowers in her basket. It was a sin against the planet to cut them and then not sell them, to not have somebody enjoy them. She was so preoccupied with this thought that she didn't notice right away what she normally would have. That she was not alone in her home. Somebody was here, somebody that made her want to shrink with fear.
She scanned the sanctuary. And in the far corner behind the pulpit she saw him. No ordinary man. If he wore his colors the way the rest of the creatures on the planet he would have been covered in yellows and reds. Colors that bespoke Danger! Poison! Death! This one clothed himself in black. But his long silver hair and venomous green eyes were cues to what he was. The devil himself.
Her body instinctively coiled away from the creature, but she willed herself to stand bravely in place.
"I know who you are," she said with a voice that evinced more spine than she felt.
He walked slowly forward, a sardonic and wicked smile gracing his too fine features.
"Not much a feat, considering my look is known the world over. The more interesting fact is that I know who you are."
Aerith stepped sideways, gripping the staff she walked with but in reality carried for protection. Not that she would stand a chance against this one. His eyes tracked her movements like a hungry predator.
"What do you want?" She said, "If you've come to take me back to the ShinRa labs you should know that I'll die first."
The evil smile broadened. "If I meant to take you back I'd have done so long ago. I've always known where you were."
"So why haven't you? Captured me?" Aerith's breath was coming faster, her heart beating like a frightened bird.
"I was fourteen years in that lab." Something flashed across the devil's eyes, so quick Aerith couldn't understand its meaning. "I'll not see another sentient creature there if I can help it."
Aerith stared at him. Was he saying he was protecting her? Liar.
"You haven't answered my question. What do you want?"
"Apparently," he stepped under the hole in the roof and looked up, "You have captured the heart of one of my best men. And one of the few who resides in my own heart. I'm here to ask if you won't reconsider joining him on this trip. It means a lot to him."
Aerith stared at him. The murdering demon had come had come down into the slums, broke into her home, and lurked around to convince her to go to the beach with her boyfriend? Did she just step into the Twilight Zone?
"You can meet us at the civilian Midgar airstrip. Our flight is commercial, non ShinRa. It will just be the four of us, on a private beach. There will be no other ShinRa personnel there but myself and the one other I'm sure Zack has told you about. You won't have to interact with me much; I assure you I'll be quite absorbed with my young friend."
"The cadet you take advantage of?"
Sephiroth clenched both fists and almost took a step forward. He was sure Zack would have never said such a thing. The bitch. He forced his face and voice to be blank and breathed out a long slow breath.
"We both care for Zack," he said carefully, "If you can put aside your problems with me I promise to do the same for a few days."
"What problems do you think you have with me?" she spat.
This time he did take a step forward as anger flashed in the green eyes. She retreated a step despite her bravado.
"I don't tell Zack who you are, what you are, even though this knowledge concerns him. I don't tell him because if I did it would forever destroy the opportunity for honesty between himself and a woman he clearly cares for. But every day you do not tell him I wind up lying to him. I lie by omission, and I never, ever want to lie to Zack."
"And you're so sure I haven't told him?" Aerith tried to speak forcefully but her voice shook.
"I know," his smile a terrifying sight. "I know because Zack would come to me with such a thing, or if he didn't I would know he was hiding something. He's a terrible liar. Not like me, whose very existence has depended on it. Not like us."
Aerith looked away. She was NOT in any way like the ShinRa devil. Was she? But she couldn't deny she had been hiding this thing from Zack, the fact that she was the last living Cetra on the planet and hunted prey of ShinRa. She lied to him. It ate at her every time she was with him and kept a wall between them. She turned to Sephiroth, eyes defiant but wet with tears.
And oddly the devil appeared to soften at this. He shut his terrifying green eyes and bowed his head, looking vulnerable even though she knew he was not.
"If I may," he said, "how much for the flowers?"
"All of them?" her voice sounded unnatural in her ears. He nodded.
"Thirty gil?"
He brought out a clip from his pocket and unwrapped the thirty gil from a considerable wad of bills. People didn't normally carry that kind of money down in the slums, but she supposed nobody even thought about bothering this one. With shaky hands she gathered the flowers and wrapped them in one of the papers from the back of her basket, and exchanged them for the money. She brushed his skin as she did so and was surprised to find it warm. Somehow she thought his hands would be cold.
"Please come," he said, "our flight leaves at five, gate twelve."
And then he was gone. Aerith sank down to the floor still clutching the thirty gil, her dress caressing the flowers she so lovingly tended.
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Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack took the train to the airlift station. Zack had recovered from his earlier disappointment as soon as he had seen Cloud and had been able to give him the good news about the trip, but he had fallen silent again. They had passed Reception the way out and Darlene had a rather nice fresh bouquet of flowers on her desk. They reminded him strongly of Aerith, they were just the type she sold, and he had wished he had bought flowers before he left.
"This is our stop," Sephiroth said, the only one keeping track seeing as how Cloud was looking excitedly around and Zack was staring at the floor. He gave Zack's shoulder a squeeze and the young man brightened at the touch. It was one of the things he loved about Zack; he was so easily distracted from his woes.
"Hey I don't have swim trunks," Cloud said as they walked towards their gate.
"You'll have to go nude, then," Sephiroth said.
Cloud gave a sideways glance to Zack. He wasn't nervous about being naked around other guys, normally, but he didn't want to be the only naked one, plus he wasn't sure how private a 'private beach' was. And with Sephiroth around his state was likely to be... embarrassing.
Sephiroth smiled at Cloud. "There are several overpriced shops in the town selling swim gear. We'll get you a pair."
"You've been there before, then?"
"A few times," Sephiroth said, "I like the ocean; it's the crowds I don't care for. But we won't have to worry about that this time."
At this point they noticed they were walking by themselves. Zack had stopped. Sephiroth looked back at him, then followed his gaze to what had so affected him. Sephiroth smiled. Perfect.
Zack dropped his bag and trotted over to the young woman, grabbing her up in his arms and spinning her around in a slow circle. The girl gave light, musical laugh. Cloud and Sephiroth joined them, Sephiroth having retrieved Zack's duffel.
"Aerith," Zack said, still squeezing her tightly, "This is Seph. Seph, Aerith Gainsborough."
"How do you do, Miss Gainsborough," Sephiroth said, nodding his head politely. "This is Cloud." He nudged Cloud forward towards the girl.
"Hi," Cloud said, and extended a hand. She took it and held on for an extra moment. Cloud wasn't what she expected at all. Certainly he looked small next to the General, but he didn't look any way diminished or ill used. He looked happy and confident, even while under the devil's arm. And the planet seemed to have no complaints of the type of energy he put out, unlike his companion. Although at the moment she had to admit that the planet was not complaining about Sephiroth, either.
"Oookay," Zack said, and took Aerith's hand out of Cloud's to ensconce it in his own. "Let's board and find some good seats."
Cloud looked up at Sephiroth, questioning. The older man merely shrugged, and kissed him on the head.
Airships, even commercial ones, were multifunction vehicles. They carried mail. They moved livestock. They shipped fresh food and manufactured goods. Every one was privately owned and configured differently, cargo normally all below in the hold but sometimes strapped into odd places in the passenger areas. The seats tended to be along the walls, or sometimes in odd corners and nooks on the ship. Zack managed to find them four seats facing each other. Benches, really, they looked like they had been plucked from a diner and had seatbelts added after the fact. But if they stacked their duffels in the middle and beat a flat spot into the top they could maybe play cards later.
Zack gave a start, finally noticing for the first time he didn't have his bag with him.
"Sh – oot. Left my bag." Zack turned to head back to the loading area.
Sephiroth stopped him by laying a hand on his chest, an amused look on his face. It was the first time he had ever heard Zack adjust his language. He removed Zack's duffel from his shoulder and gave it to him.
"Thanks," Zack said, then cringed. He had let his superior carry his gear; bad form. If anything it should have been the other way around. "Sorry, sir."
Sephiroth smiled and cuffed him lightly on the side of the face. "It's all right Soldier. I see you were distracted."
Zack grinned, then opened his duffel and sunk his arm into it. He came out with a softsided cooler and passed beers around. Sephiroth looked at the bottle. It was expensive, fancy beer. His own brand.
"Zack, did you raid my fridge?"
"It was Cloud's idea." Zack said, then laughed at Cloud's speechless, stunned expression.
"Zack!" Cloud finally spit out. Sephiroth laughed and kissed Cloud on the cheek.
"I don't suppose you grabbed some snacks too," Sephiroth said, "I haven't eaten all day."
"Of course." Zack pulled out cheese, crackers, the gourmet olive spread from his caterer, leftover paté, and some egg rolls that Sephiroth had forgotten he had. Sephiroth eyed the egg rolls suspiciously.
"Don't worry," Zack said, "I sniffed everything before I packed it."
"Your bravery is commendable," Sephiroth said, and noticed the girl stifled a small laugh. So she was not so unmovable after all.
As they munched away happily Aerith watched the two Soldiers sitting across from one another, their long legs almost touching at the knees. Zack rarely talked about Sephiroth because she had made it clear she didn't want to hear about him. And she had been assuming that Zack's attachment to the General was of a more professional nature, sprinkled with adoration or maybe even hero worship. But these men were clearly friends, and close ones at that. She had been doing Zack a disservice in forcing him to leave this connection behind when he was with her.
A loud, coarse voice came over the loudspeakers and gave several warnings that the ship was about to take off, the engines roared to life, and the machine began to lift. Cloud looked out his window momentarily, and when he looked back to ask Sephiroth a question the man was asleep. Both he and Zack had both gone suddenly and inexplicably to sleep, their legs stretched out in front of themselves and laced together, both with arms folded against their chest and still holding their beer bottles erect in one hand. Aerith, was equally perplexed. She looked at Cloud questioningly, pointing a finger to one sleeping man then the other. Cloud shrugged, mystified. But their posture wasn't entirely unfamiliar. He had seen the upper classes do this on both previous airship trips he had taken. He figured they were just tired.
Cloud leaned close and studied the side of Sephiroth's face. Was he really asleep? He concentrated so hard that he jumped a little when one green eye opened and glinted at him. But then it closed again.
After a few minutes the engine noise calmed down to a loud hum and both Soldiers woke up.
"Who's for cards?" Zack asked brightly. Then he noticed he was being scrutinized by Cloud and Aerith. "What?"
"What was that? You guys just fell simultaneously asleep." Cloud asked.
"You were awake during takeoff?" Sephiroth asked, frowning at Cloud as if this were somehow unacceptable.
"Uh, yeah," Cloud answered.
Sephiroth turned his frown to Zack, who shrugged.
"We don't teach that until Third Class."
"When it comes to airships, if there's an accident there's not a damn thing you can do to help yourself," Sephiroth explained. "In that type of situation the injury potential best minimized if you don't see it coming, the relaxed body breaks fewer bones and tears less ligaments. Since most accidents occur during takeoff and landing we recommend checking out during those times."
"You looked at me," Cloud said.
"Did I?" Sephiroth seemed amused. "Well I'm not completely asleep. It's more of a meditative state."
"I actually sleep," Zack said, "I love sleeping. Especially when it's all vibrating like that on take off... what?"
Zack's companions were all now just staring at him.
"Let's play," he said, sensing they obviously needed a diversion. He forced them to lift their feet while he dug duffles out from under their seats and arranged them in a makeshift wobbly table made of duffle bags. From his own bag he fished out a deck of cards.
"You two know how to play Yugi?" he asked Aerith and Cloud. Both nodded.
Zack grinned in anticipation as he shuffled the deck. He both loved and hated playing with Sephiroth. Zack rarely lost to anyone but Sephiroth, and him he had yet to beat. The General was bizarrely good at it despite the fact he rarely played. It made Zack wild with curiosity and completive fervor. Sure the General was bizarrely good at quite a lot of things, but a game that was essentially a social interaction involving bluffing and reading your opponent seemed like it should not be one of them. He assumed that there was some card counting method Sephiroth was using that he just hadn't figured out yet.
Sephiroth for his part refused to tell Zack how he did it. But to him it was simple really. Zack hadn't figured it out because he always thought of Yugi as a game, a consensual social activity. But it wasn't. It was a series of aggressive, competitive acts. More like war. And in that realm Sephiroth had a rare talent to anticipate people and their moves. It was as if all his ineptitude for reading cooperative social goodwill was channeled into such negative, violent areas.
Zack dealt the cards, and the first few hands were typical; the plays were conservative as players felt out one another's styles and strategy. Then Sephiroth started to make his moves in the way Zack had become accustomed, bold strikes, risks, singling out other players to make his plays against, all with what seemed like a strange amount of luck, except no one was that lucky so it had to be his method. But this time something was different. Aerith of all people was giving him a hard time. After a dozen hands the two of them stood even. Zack was barely on the board and Cloud was actually in the hole.
After being booted out for the round early for about the fifth time Zack stood up and stretched. "I gotta piss," he said. He cringed a little and looked sideways at Aerith, but she was lost in the concentration of her cards. He had always known she was incredibly smart, but he hadn't thought it would extend to matching wits in some card counting scheme with Sephiroth. But he didn't mind. He was content if she was the brains as long as he still got to be her brawn.
"I gotta go too." Cloud, also out of the running for this round, crawled over Sephiroth to get to the aisle.
The General took a moment to smile a bit and stroke Cloud's back as he went over him, but other than that his face was utterly blank. Zack understood this look; either Sephiroth was curtailing some emotion or he was concentrating bloody hard. Maybe both.
Left alone the two card players finished out their hand. Aerith came out on top of this one. Sephiroth smiled a little.
"You're cheating." he said.
"As are you," she said icily. Now that the other two had gone, all of Aerith's ill feelings towards the man reemerged. And the fear, although it seemed irrational to be suddenly afraid of him, he wasn't doing anything different that he was two minutes ago. This fear wasn't welling out of her, precisely; it was coming from elsewhere, from her connection. The same connection she was using to-
"You're asking the planet for guidance during the game."
"It's normal for me to use the gift I have. I'd have to work not to. At least my gift is natural."
"And mine is not? As far as I know I ask the planet for guidance as well."
"Bullshit."
Sephiroth raised his eyebrows. He should probably tell Zack he needn't keep censoring his language around this one.
"Maybe I just use a different part of the planet than you do."
"What, the evil part? There is no other part of the planet. The planet despises and fears you; I can feel it."
"Well then, tough shit, because I'm here and there isn't any other place for me to go."
Aerith was taken aback by this, although she didn't know what she expected. Of course there was no place else to go. She realized she could imagine nothing worse than being hated by the planet and yet living on it. Pity rose into her chest, even as the warnings and enmity continued to flow into her.
"You OK, Seph?" Zack had returned from the direction behind Aerith and found his commander looking rather distressed. Sephiroth looked up at Zack and the flood of warnings into Aerith's mind stopped as if someone had shut off a faucet.
"She beat me," Sephiroth said, his face relaxing. Zack's face, which had taken up a mirror to his commander's, relaxed in kind. He grinned.
"That's my girl! I've been trying to beat him for years." He came around and hugged Aerith. He motioned his head towards Sephiroth. "Don't mind him, he doesn't like being beaten."
"Where's Cloud?" Sephiroth asked.
Zack shrugged. "Wandering around looking at the ship."
Sephiroth nodded and stood up. "My turn," he said, and left towards the restrooms. Then he figured he'd wander around the ship himself. Damn Cetra.
Sephiroth visited the head, then meandered onto some of the other decks, eventually finding a small viewing area. He laid his forehead against the window and watched the water far below, the day's last orange light reflecting off the surface.
"Been looking for you."
Sephiroth felt a light touch across his back and then Cloud was sliding between him and the window, forcing Sephiroth pick his head up from where it was resting. A bright pink oval on his forehead belied how long his head had been resting there.
"Watch ya doing?" Cloud's tone was light, but concern troubled his face. Sephiroth scanned his face, his fine, young face, innocent of all the things he was. He had no business troubling such a face. But neither had he any business telling Cloud stories.
"I was sulking here wondering if I belong on the planet."
Clouds expression went from troubled to mild alarm. "Why would you say something like that?"
Sephiroth looked into Cloud's eyes and smiled sadly.
"Will you still love me Cloud, when you've seen all that I am? After you've seen me kill a man, or torture an innocent, or care so little for lives I destroy that I walk away without a second look?"
Cloud appeared to consider his answer. He wasn't actually surprised by the question, it was one he had asked himself and given quite a bit of thought to.
"I used to read everything I could about you during the war. And not everything was ShinRa propaganda. Some of it was pretty horrible. I was about… nine when I started this activity, and the world was still black and white to me. I refused to believe these negative reports. But as the years went on, the war went on, and I got older and learned more of the world. I learned enough to understand that the truth always lies somewhere in between. At some point I accepted that you did at least some of these things. It's an understanding that I still carry. I do know what you're capable of."
"More than just capable. I was designed for bloodshed. Aggression. Cruelty. It's who I am."
"But it's not all you are." Cloud laid his palm on Sephiroth's chest. "And I'm not the only one who sees that."
Sephiroth wrapped his arms around Cloud and let his cheek lay on his head. He took several slow breaths.
"I love you so very much, Cloud."
Cloud smiled and kissed Sephiroth on the neck. "Well, there you go then. I'm pretty sure I belong on the planet and I don't think we could love each other this way if you did not as well."
Sephiroth laughed a little and squeezed Cloud. The boy was better than drugs for his mood. He turned Cloud around in his arms until they both could look out the big window. Cloud stoked the arms that held him while Sephiroth put small kisses onto Cloud's neck, face, and hair.
Aerith, also out stretching her legs, stepped silently away from the corner where she had stopped when she had heard the voices. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but the moment the devil started talking she had frozen in place. He certainly was turning out to be something unexpected. She returned to where she had left Zack, snoozing in his seat. She smiled down at him. Not just Cloud, but this beautiful one loved that silver haired demon as well. Maybe she needed to tell the planet to shut up for awhile and make up her own mind. She kissed Zack lightly on the lips, and he looked up and smiled.
"Where are those two?" he asked, "We'll be landing soon."
She slid herself over him to get to her seat, but left her legs his lap. "I'm sure they're around."
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"Seph, what are you doing?" Cloud said with a small jerk and a laugh. He tried to concentrate on the view out the window.
"Whatever you let me get away with," Sephiroth whispered behind ear he had been biting lightly. He slid his fingers a little farther into Cloud's waistband and slipped the other hand under his now loosened shirt so it could caress Cloud's stomach and chest.
Cloud really hadn't needed to ask, it was obvious what the General was after, he just couldn't believe he was getting frisky in front of some random window in the middle of an airship. A public airship. Cloud hardened responsively as fingers slid down and touched him. Gaia, now he was getting frisky in the middle of an airship.
"Seph!" he repeated, now a little nervous.
"There's nobody around."
The kisses moved to Cloud's neck and that spot where Cloud loved it under his jawline. Sephiroth popped the top button on Cloud's fatigues, allowing more of his hand to slide down. But space inside Cloud's pants was quickly becoming scarce.
"I think you need a little more room down there." Sephiroth purred rather than spoke into clouds ear, and the feel of his breath sent goose bumps down his back. Sephiroth popped the rest of the buttons on Cloud's fly open.
Some part of Cloud's brain worried about people that might walk by, but he supposed the General's bulk was providing a pretty good shield for him, even without the big coat on. Plus he had all that hair.
Thinking of the hair Cloud reached behind his head and pulled some of the stuff forward, letting touch his face as it covered him from further view. Then Sephiorth took a great lock of it and fed it down the front of Cloud's collar, where it unfolded like a silken snake along the boy's chest and then spilled with an amazing feeling onto the exposed skin of his phallus. Exposed because he was out, all the way out, Sephiroth squeezing him and rubbing that hair along it. Cloud groaned even as he was trying to keep quiet. Sephiroth sighed and squeezed him again.
"I want you. I want you badly," the older man said.
Cloud's eyes widened in a bit of alarm. Surely he wasn't going to try that? But even as he fretted a good portion of him hoped that Sephiroth would actually be that bold. An odd comment drifted through his memory, something he'd heard his first week as a cadet. General Sephiroth was the only truly fearless creature on the planet. He felt his fatigues being pushed down.
"Step up on that sill for me."
Cloud looked down and saw a ledge under the big window about five inches high. Right, the General was quite a bit taller than him. Cloud complied and felt one of Sephiroth's hands working behind him, undoing the fly on his leathers. Cloud put his hands on the front of Sephiroth's thighs, the feel of the leather and the tension in muscles below exciting him. Then he felt fingers deposit something warm and wet at his opening. The hand disappeared and then did it again. It was some sort of lubricant, but Cloud wondered where he was getting it. Did the man walk around with lube all the time?
"One more, spit for me Cloud." The General was holding out his hand. Now Cloud understood. He spit into Sephiroth's hand, laughing a little because he imagined that normally 'spitting at General Sephiroth' was probably on some sort of list of the top ten things likely to get you killed.
His own warm saliva joined Sephiroth's between his cheeks, and then the firm, hot tip of the General's general was slipping easily inside of him. The stroking of his own member started in earnest, the silvery strands still slipping along with Sephiroth's hand. Cloud heard Sephiroth groan and realized how close the man was, how heated he must have been before they even started. A roaring filled his ears and his world shook, and the thought of Sephiroth desiring him that much sent him over the edge, the General thrusting to climax right behind him.
When Cloud's head cleared he realized the roaring rushing noises weren't just inside of him. They had been landing. Holy crap, they had landed. No sooner than he had the thought than he heard footsteps behind him, lots of them. Passengers were filing behind them on their way off the ship. Cloud stared out the window in a small panic. Sephiroth appeared to be quite calmly fastening his trousers, and then did the same for Cloud.
Sephiroth wasn't particularly concerned, aside from the fact that he really didn't give a damn what people thought, he hadn't cut his hair in months and it was currently hanging down to the middle of this thighs. But he was looking around for Cloud's shot. It wasn't on the window, or either of their foreheads. He looked surreptitiously at the ceiling. This was Cloud after all.
"Hey, Seph. Thought we were going to have to send a search party for you guys. I got your bags." Zack looked at the two of them, they were both flushed. Cloud looked particularly dazed, like he might fall over if Sephiroth let go of him. He gave his commander a once over glance, half in shock and half in admiration. His eyes lighted on a glittering wet mass at the end of his normally immaculate tresses.
"Say Seph, what's that in your hair?"
A/N: Once upon a time I looked on the internet for euphemisms for penis. Because it's a problem, you know, most of the words for penis are dorky. Like penis. Although entertaining that list is of little help, but on there is "general", and I just can't resist using at least once, "the General's general".