A/N: I've kinda been debating writing a second chapter for this for aaaaages. I've certainly had ideas for what I want to put in it, but most of those ideas were just little snippets of conversation between Sephiroth and Cloud.
So, that's basically what this sequel is. Not much actually happens, but there's a lot of bantering between the two, and a bit more smut. I still need practice at writing het smut, but it is getting a little bit easier. Only a little, though. (I might have cheated and glossed over a lot.) Ah well, maybe after I've written twenty het fics it'll be as easy as I find writing yaoi. XP Practice makes perfect!
Even though Cloud has a girl body currently, he was a guy originally in this AU and still thinks of himself as a guy, so the pronouns are still going to be he/him/his. (I know it's been a while since the first chapter, so just a reminder in case anyone jumps straight into this second chapter and gets confused!)
As usual, these two morons can't decide if they're lovers or enemies. A lot of the time they're almost quite cute together in this... and then Sephiroth goes all manipulative and idek. Well, these two are never exactly a healthy relationship.
Warnings: smut, cunnilingus, mentions of abortion. Cloud is still genderswapped.
Cloud knew something was wrong the moment he actually won a sparring match against Sephiroth.
Sephiroth had a lifetime of training and was undeniably more technically skilled than Cloud would ever be. When Cloud won, it was because he had desperation and a need to save the entire planet on his side. A simple, inconsequential sparring match? Sephiroth won. Every time.
Except for this time, apparently.
"Alright. What's wrong with you?"
Sephiroth chuckled lowly as he got to his feet. It was only partially the elegant rise Sephiroth normally used, and partially an actual struggle. He almost stumbled for a moment before straightening up as if nothing had happened. "Why do you assume something is wrong?"
Apart from actually having to make an effort to stand? "Because you lost."
"Maybe I was just going easy on you."
"Nope. Not buying it." Cloud leant his Fusion Swords up against one of the nearby shell-like buildings (they had accidentally carved a huge gash into the side of it during their spar) and crossed his arms. "When you go easy on someone, you hold back enough to allow them a fair fight. You never just let them win."
A small flash of irritation crossed Sephiroth's face. He unhurriedly brushed the dust and dirt off his leather coat, acting as though none of Cloud's questions bothered him in the slightest. "Perhaps I misjudged, and held back too much on account of your current condition," he suggested off-handedly.
Cloud growled. "Just because I'm still stuck in a female body and am mildly pregnant does not mean I can't kick your ass. I just did."
"Because I let you."
"Still not buying it. Something's up."
Sephiroth huffed a laugh. Cloud was persistent, and he wasn't sure whether it was irritating or endearing. "Why? You make it sound as though you care."
Well, that shut Cloud up, at least. He just kept his arms crossed, that adorable, pouting frown tugging at his lips. Sephiroth smirked.
"This body is degrading," Sephiroth said nonchalantly.
"...what?"
"This body is not my original, as I'm sure you realise. It is a construct made of Jenova cells overlaid with my genetic code. However, since most of the original Jenova cells have been destroyed" - he gave Cloud a pointed look - "I could not gather enough to create a permanent form. This one is only temporary, and is now weakening as you have so astutely noted."
"You mean... you're dying?" Cloud was quiet now, staring at him with his face a tangled mess of emotions. One of those emotions looked far too much like pity.
"Yes," Sephiroth confirmed brusquely. Cloud needed to stop looking at him like that. "This body was only ever intended as temporary. That is why it was so important that I have you. Reproducing genetic material was not just a fancy, Cloud. It is a necessity if I am to continue existing with any kind of physical form. I have already spent too long with you."
He turned away and busied himself with wiping down and re-sheathing Masamune, ignoring whatever else Cloud felt the need to add.
He knew he had indeed spent too long with Cloud. Too long was something coming close to four months, now. Though it was hard to tell when the City of the Ancients was their more-or-less permanent home; the days all tended blended into one there.
Sephiroth vanished fairly regularly. Cloud assumed he went to a town somewhere, because he often came back with food and supplies for them. Other times he came back smelling of mako and monster blood.
As for Cloud, he whiled away his days with whatever tasks he could dream up. He had fixed up most of the houses, paying particular attention to the one they had adopted as their home. He spent a lot of time with Fenrir, whether tinkering with the bike's mechanics or riding through the wilderness just to clear his thoughts. He had effectively annihilated the entire population of monsters in the immediate area in various fits of misdirected rage (the real target was Sephiroth, but often he wasn't there to spar with).
Cloud had also discovered that slowly going through the motions of his swordwork katas helped calm him down and take his mind off things when he was feeling nauseous. Sephiroth had taught him some new ones.
Every so often they tried to kill each other, but that was only to be expected. They fucked a lot as well. The two went hand-in-hand most of the time.
And somehow four months had passed that way, without either of them noticing. While not exactly happy with the situation, Cloud was more or less used to being in his female form. Or he would have been, if it didn't keep changing on him. Cloud had just got used to the feel of having breasts, of the weight of them, the way they fit so well in the palms of Sephiroth's hands, how sensitive they were when Sephiroth rolled his nipples between his fingers. And then all of a sudden they started getting fuller and even more sensitive, to the point of being painfully tender.
He got randomly exhausted at stupid times and felt like throwing up, though thankfully that wasn't quite so bad anymore. And he got the weirdest cravings. He refused to tell Sephiroth that, though, even though trying to ignore them was a painful task. But Cloud was not about to ask the world's enemy to go and fetch him a bucket of cheese sticks and spicy wings and chocolate sauce to smother the first two with.
And worst of all. Just a week or two ago the constant bloating and pressure he'd been constantly, vaguely aware of feeling in his abdomen had become visible. It was just the slightest extra curve to a body that already had way more curves than Cloud was used to, but it felt like the final nail in the coffin.
He was undeniably pregnant. Oh, and Sephiroth was the father. What was his fucking life.
(He'd run out of monsters to kill by that point, so he went and slaughtered some innocent trees instead. Something had needed to die.)
Something needed to die again now. Cloud followed Sephiroth inside their house, fingers twitching for the blade he had left outside, refusing to be brushed off after what Sephiroth had just revealed to him. "What does that mean, then? You're leaving?"
"I will not remain here to simply rot, Cloud. This body is dying, and I have no intention of remaining in it as it slowly deteriorates. I will abandon it soon enough."
Cloud was seething. "You asshole. Did you think this through at all? What the hell am I supposed to do? You'rethe one who was so damn insistent on getting me pregnant, and now you're just gonna up and leave me like this?"
"It's not as though I have a choice. I will continue to degrade whether I wish to or not," Sephiroth stated, frowning. It was simply logic, an emotionless decision based on the facts available. At least, it was to Sephiroth's mind. So he was startled to find wet trails of tears beginning to mark Cloud's cheeks. "...you're crying."
"I'm not crying. It's this stupid body. It has pregnancy hormones and shit. I can assure you that in my head I am perfectly calm and collected and maybe pissed off as hell, but I am not crying."
Sephiroth had never been gifted in the art of tactful emotional navigation, and a crying woman was more than he was capable of comprehending. He clearly had been spending far too long around Cloud, though. That was evidenced by the fact that he felt almost guilty about his inability to console Cloud, instead of casually dismissing such irrelevant displays of emotion as he certainly would have with anyone else.
"I... apologise, Cloud," Sephiroth attempted. He cupped Cloud's cheek in one hand, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb.
Cloud snorted rudely and rolled his eyes. "It only counts as being sorry if you wouldn't do it again."
Cloud had a point. If in the same circumstances again, Sephiroth would not hesitate to take Cloud as the one to bear his child, even knowing he would have to leave him to fend for himself in that condition.
"Then I regret that circumstances dictate that I must abandon you. I would stay if I could."
Cloud sighed heavily and shoved Sephiroth away, wiping his own tears away with the back of his hand. It was such a dumb thing to get worked up over anyway. Of course Sephiroth was going to leave at some point. What the hell did Cloud think they were doing? Playing happy families? Sephiroth was a bastard and a murderer and was only using him to make sure he could come back and terrorise the planet more in the future. He set his face into a scowl.
Then his eyes widened again as a thought occurred to him. "I could stop this..." Cloud began suddenly. "If you're not around. There's nothing to stop me aborting the damn parasite and getting my real body back."
Sephiroth shucked off his leather coat, which was a little too warm and uncomfortable after the effort he'd had to make during their spar, and settled back onto the sofa. "You could do that," he acknowledged.
"You said it yourself; it this doesn't work, that's it. No more Jenova cells, no more genetic material. You can't come back." Cloud grew more and more agitated as he worked the logic through. "No more burning villages or murdering people or trying to annihilate the entire planet. How many people have you killed, Sephiroth? How many have died? How many more would be killed if you came back again?" His voice went quiet. "If I got rid of it... how many lives would I save?"
"Thousands," Sephiroth suggested.
"I'm fucking serious! I could stop you, stop all of this. It would be the right thing to do."
"It probably would."
"You would be dead. For real. Forever."
Sephiroth nodded.
"So why the hell don't you care?!" Cloud finally burst.
Sephiroth reached forward to take Cloud's wrist, pulling him onto the sofa with him. Cloud ended up straddling Sephiroth's thighs, still shaking slightly as he was held tight against Sephiroth's chest.
"Because you don't want me dead, my Cloud," Sephiroth said softly, smirking, letting the words ghost against Cloud's jaw. "I know how much it hurts you, every time you have to kill me. How it breaks your pathetic little heart. How it would break your heart even more if you killed that child. Your child, Cloud. Yours and mine. You want to keep it."
The manipulative bastard.
"I should abort the damn thing," Cloud hissed.
"You should. But you won't."
"Fuck you. Fuck you! Why do you always do this shit to me?" Cloud could feel the tears started to well up again, spilling out even after he slammed his eyes shut to ward them off. He swiped at them angrily. "And fuck this stupid pregnant girl body, too! Ugh."
Sephiroth waited until Cloud had calmed down, running a hand gently up and down the length of his spine in something that was probably intended as a soothing gesture. It would have been a nicer thing to do if he hadn't just been manipulating Cloud's emotions to get exactly the reaction he wanted.
Cloud sank into the embrace despite himself.
"So, what are you going to do?" Sephiroth asked once Cloud's breathing had evened out again.
"About what?"
"I don't like the idea of you staying here on your own, especially once you're heavily pregnant. It's too far from anywhere if you need help."
Cloud snorted. "Like you care."
"What about going back to your friends?"
"No!"
Cloud said it so adamantly and so immediately that Sephiroth blinked in surprise.
"I can't... let anyone see me like this," Cloud continued by way of explanation, a little sheepish at his reaction. "I mean, I know they wouldn't really care. I'd never hear the end of it, but they wouldn't... well, we've all been through some shit together, and some weird shit at that. If we can get turned into frogs, of all things, by random wildlife in Gongaga, swapping genders is hardly so unthinkable. They'd handle it."
"But...?" Sephiroth prompted.
Cloud sighed. "They'd ask who's kid it is, and I can't tell them that." He shook his head. "Tifa, especially. She hates you the way that I should. But I don't want to lie to them either. What the fuck would I even say?"
"I see. So, instead you're just going to run away and ignore them for nine months."
Cloud frowned. "I'm not..."
"Yes, you are. That is exactly what you're doing."
"Shut up. Who are you to talk? You never even had any friends."
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. It was a weak shot, but one that struck home. And while he was certain he had once had a friend or two at some point - his memories after being brought back from the Lifestream twice were a little hazy, especially irrelevant ones like his life in ShinRa - he was also certain they were all dead now.
"What about food and supplies?" Sephiroth questioned, changing the subject. He didn't care one iota for Cloud's friends; if Cloud wanted to neglect them, that was his prerogative. But he did currently have personal investment in Cloud's wellbeing.
"I can go to Bone Village for anything I need," Cloud shrugged. "It's not that far, just through the Forest. I've already cleared out all the monsters. And I'm less likely to be recognised there; most of the archaeologists wouldn't even look at me unless I'd been excavated from the ground." He gave a small smile, but Sephiroth ignored his attempt at a joke.
"Mmhm. And what about medical facilities and a doctor for when you go into labour?"
Cloud suddenly went very still and very tense in Sephiroth's arms. He paused for a long moment. "Wait. Labour?"
"That is what happens at the end of most pregnancies. How did you think the child was coming out?"
"You mean... I have to give birth," Cloud stated, very quietly. He looked a little shell-shocked.
"Did you not realise that?"
"No. No, that horrific thought had not yet occurred to me, thank you."
Sephiroth couldn't help it. He laughed.
"Shut the hell up!" Cloud scowled at him. "If you think it's so damn funny, why don't you be the one to carry the kid? You've still got the genderswap materia. Change us around. I'll fuck you as much as you want until you get pregnant."
Sephiroth gave Cloud an amused smile."I'm afraid that wouldn't work, Cloud. This body is already degrading, you recall. The added strain of supporting another life would only cause its condition to deteriorate faster. It would never reach term."
Cloud let his head fall against Sephiroth's chest in defeat. His voice turned monotone. "Fine. Since you're not going to be around at the time, I just want to say now that I really fucking hate you. I hate you so much. This is all your fault, and as soon as you come back I am going to kill you again. You bastard."
Sephiroth pressed a kiss to the top of Cloud's head. He was fucking adorable. Then he tilted Cloud's head up and kissed his lips as well.
Cloud melted. Sephiroth's lips were warm and insistent against his own, and Sephiroth wrapped an arm around Cloud's waist to pull him in close as the kiss deepened. He slowly tasted every inch of Cloud's mouth until Cloud was trembling.
"Mnn... stop that," Cloud gasped when he was finally allowed up for air. "I'm not finished being horrified and hating you yet."
"Allow me to take your mind off both," Sephiroth said smoothly, kissing Cloud's knuckles.
Cloud used his knuckles to kiss Sephiroth's face.
Sephiroth started, much more with surprise than any real pain. Cloud had just punched him. Cloud looked a little surprised himself, but then his face split into a wide grin.
"Little minx," Sephiroth growled. He flipped their positions so that Cloud was the one pressed against the sofa, although laid out against it this time, and Sephiroth was the one straddling him. He pinned Cloud's wrists on either side of his head.
"You can't just distract me with sex!" Cloud protested.
"Actually, I can. It's very effective." He leant down and kissed Cloud again. And for all his protests, Cloud kissed back with equal enthusiasm.
"N-no," Cloud insisted when his mouth was finally free to talk again. "You turned me into a girl, got me pregnant, are now abandoning me like this, and also apparently I'm going to have to give birth. I am not happy."
"Mm. So you say."
Sephiroth moved Cloud's wrists to pin them both with one hand, while the other slid up underneath Cloud's top. Sephiroth cupped one of Cloud's breasts, kneading softly, and Cloud arched into the touch.
"Ahh..." Cloud breathed, before remembering he was still supposed to be protesting. It took him a second to remember his thoughts. "Some random doctor is going to have to be looking up my girl parts. This is not okay."
"They're nice parts," Sephiroth smirked.
"That is really not the point-" Cloud rolled his eyes, but was cut off into a choked moan as Sephiroth pressed his hips against Cloud's, putting just the right amount of pressure on said girl parts.
"Nng!" Cloud could feel Sephiroth's erection, half-hard and just beginning to strain the fabric of his leather trousers, and it made him squirm with need. Sephiroth was right about sex being a very effective distraction.
Sephiroth stopped fondling Cloud for long enough to unzip Cloud's top, splaying it open to reveal the delicious swell of Cloud's breasts. He ran his hand all the way down Cloud's front. Cloud's breath caught when Sephiroth stopped over his belly. The bump wasn't big yet, but it was noticeably there. And Sephiroth's hand was on it, mapping out the new curves.
"Mine," Sephiroth declared quietly, and Cloud wasn't sure what to make of it. The edge to Sephiroth's voice was cold and possessive, and it raised the hairs on the back of Cloud's neck. He sometimes forgot that Sephiroth's sanity was a nebulous, unreliable thing.
Sephiroth's hand thankfully didn't linger, and instead continued its journey lower to unzip Cloud's trousers. Cloud lifted his hips to allow Sephiroth to pull them off.
"Keep your hands there," Sephiroth instructed as he let go of Cloud's wrists. Cloud obligingly kept them crossed above his head, not minding it in the slightest. He liked the position. Sephiroth had noted with some amusement that Cloud even slept like that sometimes.
He slid his hands down Cloud's side, making Cloud shiver. Cloud barely even needed the prompting to spread his legs. "Good, Cloud," Sephiroth hummed, pressing little butterfly kisses to Cloud's inner thigh.
Sephiroth had had plenty of time to perfect the art of pleasuring Cloud's female body by now. He licked a long, teasing line over Cloud's entrance and up to tongue his clit, and Cloud arched up, hissing with pleasure. He forgot his instructions to stay put, tangling a fist into Sephiroth's hair as Sephiroth proceeded to work him over with his mouth.
"Nng... Seph, Gaia, mmn," Cloud gasped. Sephiroth was damn good with his tongue, sending electric fissions of heat burning through Cloud's lower stomach. He could feel the emptiness like a warm, throbbing ache between his legs. "I need... you, inside. Something, anything, please."
Sephiroth smirked. He moved his mouth lower, and it was his tongue that probed against the soft folds of flesh.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud wailed, moaning at the pleasurable sensation. He trembled and gasped as Sephiroth's tongue pressed in to stroke him from the inside. It didn't help that he felt more sensitive than he ever had originally, what with the way the pregnancy was effecting his body. "Shit... Seph, I'm... I'm seriously gonna come if you keep that up."
Cloud should have known better than to say something like that. Sephiroth only took it as a challenge.
Sephiroth tongue-fucked Cloud as he writhed on the sofa beneath him, one hand splayed across Cloud's chest to hold him relatively in place. The other hand Sephiroth used to toy with Cloud's clit, only increasing the volume and pitch of his moans.
"Se-seph!" Cloud cried, squeezing his hands into fists as he tried to hold himself back from the inevitable.
Sephiroth lifted his head and kissed at Cloud's thighs again. "You can come, Cloud." Then his tongue was tormenting Cloud in the best ways possible again, and Cloud let out a high, keening moan.
Cloud's whole body tensed, trembling as the waves of pleasure broke over him. His inner muscles clenched down. Sephiroth replaced his tongue with fingers, stroking Cloud through his orgasm until his gasping breaths became even again.
He was still breathing heavily, face flushed a brilliant pink, but Cloud managed to give Sephiroth a seductive smile. "I want your cock as well," he purred.
"Oh? Perhaps we should move this to the bed."
Cloud was happy to comply. They lost the last of their clothing along the way; Cloud's top that was only half-on to begin with, and Sephiroth's trousers. He was fully hard underneath them, the tip of his cock already beaded with precome.
They fucked twice, Cloud's legs locked around Sephiroth's waist as Sephiroth thrust deep inside him, all stinging, biting kisses and groping hands. Sephiroth was careful not to take Cloud as hard as he had originally, on their first few weeks when he'd been set of impregnating him in the first place. But still hard enough to make it exciting for him, and Cloud's loud moans and cries were proof of his enjoyment.
They ended up tangled together beneath the sheets afterwards. Cloud was thoroughly exhausted from sparring with Sephiroth, followed by copious amounts of sex. He probably should have been taking it a bit easier, but he always dismissed the concern whenever Sephiroth brought it up. He wasn't some fragile little doll all of a sudden.
Cloud drifted somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, his body thoroughly satisfied. He could Sephiroth's warmth pressed against him, hear the beat of his heart. Sephiroth kissed him. Almost tenderly, but maybe Cloud was just dreaming that, because out of all the different kisses they had ever shared, tenderness was not one of them.
Sephiroth's fingers ran across Cloud's stomach. "I can hear its heartbeat," he whispered to Cloud. Cloud was half-asleep, too tired to do anything but smile in return; he didn't even remember Sephiroth saying it come morning.
He was gone by the time Cloud woke up. That wasn't unusual. Sephiroth vanished off most days. But this time, after everything he'd said, Cloud felt a weight settle in the pit of his stomach.
This time Sephiroth wasn't coming back for him.