Tobi: Woaaaah! Thanks so much everyone for the amazing feedback for last chapter. Himitsu shi was IM's two-hundredth reviewer-thanks! Yeah, stuff pretty much sucks for Cloud right now, but it'll get better. And lol, (spoiler warning?) Cloud's not gonna die. ;D how's the 'Invisible Molestation' gonna happen if he's dead? (Don't answer that...) Er. Thanks again, everybody.
CM: Look at all those reviews! -pokes Tobi- XD Thank you all sooo much! I wanna especially thank Azinine for pointing out something that both Tobi and I overlooked. Thanks again! This is my favorite chapter so far! At the end of this you all aren't allowed to hate anyone anymore. Except Hojo. Hate Hojo. ^_^
Cloud Strife had never been a good swimmer.
This came to be a severe disadvantage when he was dragged into his pool by an unidentified something, horribly scraping up his already-tender back in the process.
Whatever this thing was, it was strong. There was a brief moment where he was still with shock, just after he hit the water, where the iron grip around his ankle tightened. It would probably leave a bruise, Cloud noted dully.
Then his senses caught up to him, and he panicked. Cloud thrashed wildly like a caged animal, trying to escape whatever it was. Twice his head managed to break the surface, but he only managed a shaky half-breath before the thing stubbornly pulled him back under.
It was trying to drown him.
Oh Gaia… what if it was a monster? One that had come out of the Nibel woods? Cloud's foggy, oxygen-deprived brain went into overdrive at the thought, and Cloud fought viciously, kicking and punching and squirming like crazy. If he didn't… he'd die.
His heel connected with something hard, and the thing around his ankle briefly let go. Through a surge of pain coming from his hurt foot, Cloud sloppily dragged himself out of the water, only half-conscious. He scrambled on his hands and knees about fifteen feet away, then promptly threw up all the water he had swallowed in his impromptu duel with the monster.
Cloud flipped onto his bottom and eyed the pool with wide, bloodshot eyes. He was expecting something to crawl out of the water and chase after him… but, it was calm.
The Nibelheim sun was still shining down on the beautiful backyard. Somewhere, two birds were chirping. You'd never guess a city boy had almost croaked.
Genesis came out of the water slowly, but only his eyes and mouth came above the surface. If he stood up, Cloud would hear dripping and would know where he was.
Zack and Sephiroth looked beside themselves. Zack looked like he was going to jump in and save him, and Sephiroth looked seconds away from killing Cloud, slowly.
"I'm fine," he assured them. "He kicked me in the chest, and I let him go." He frowned. "That boy has a special ability to not die."
They still looked worried. "You sure?" Zack asked. A short distance away, Cloud was a heaving, panting mess: soaking wet, covered in bloody, wet, ruined bandages, skin burned pink, and a terrified, shocked look on his face.
Perfect.
Cloud didn't stick around for any longer—he got up and sprinted for the house, hearing nothing but his panicked heartbeat and sobbing, half-gasping cries. He slammed his front door shut and locked it with shaking fingers, then dove onto a couch and wept bitterly.
He didn't care that he was a wet mess or that he was ruining a super-expensive couch—he was alive, and that's what mattered.
Hot tears coursed down his face, and Cloud muffled himself with a pillow, hating how the pathetic noises echoed in the silence.
It was always the worst when Hojo had all of them together.
The crazy bastard knew that they were all very close friends. He didn't know about their relationship, thankfully, but he used the links between them that he was aware of to produce 'interesting' reactions in all of them.
They had been imprisoned in the Nibelheim Mansion for, what? A few months? Longer? Angeal didn't know—every day was a mix of humiliation, pain and fury. You couldn't blame him for losing track of time.
He was in one of Hojo's holding 'cages'—behind bars and heavily bleeding from a deep wound in his side. Hojo had decided to see how well he could function without his pancreas, but Genesis had purposely made a loud distraction, thus making Hojo lose interest in Angeal and going to punish the redhead. Now he was hazy from losing so much blood and was unable to help Genesis and Zack, who were at the madman's mercy at the moment. He hated not being in control, and Hojo knew that. More often than not he or Sephiroth would be stuck here, forced to watch Hojo experiment with the others' bodies, at his leisure and at his own pace.
Hojo was a sickening human. Even Genesis, who was an expert at spitting out nasty names for someone was silent and struggled to find a word horrible enough to suit the old man.
The drugs Hojo had them under twenty-four hours a day (except, of course, during experiments—It would never do for them to not feel the full effect of what he did to them) were making Angeal lethargic and sleepy, but he forced himself to stay awake. He shifted, turning his head so he could look at Sephiroth.
The ex-General was floating in a Mako tank, breathing tube shoved down his throat. Various other wires and tubes were attached to different parts of his body. It was worse than hell being in one, but Angeal was glad he was in there. Mako healed, too—and Sephiroth certainly needed it. Hojo had been especially violent today, lamenting the failure of his 'prized experiment.' Sephiroth had almost died. And whatever was enough to make Sephiroth die had to be especially awful. Hojo hadn't let them see what he had done to the man earlier that morning.
It was enough to make a man go insane.
Angeal sent a quick prayer for Sephiroth's pain to lessen, even just a little bit, and sluggishly returned his attention to Genesis and Zack. The hole in his side was oozing blood slowly, he knew—he could feel it—but he couldn't bring himself to care. There were more important things to worry about.
The two of them were strapped down on two stone tables in the center of the room. That was Hojo for you—no extra comfort, only the bare necessities to make sure you didn't die. Even so, infections were by no means a rare occurrence.
Hojo was standing in between the two tables, looking back and forth between them. Both were naked, but that hardly bothered the scientist. The straps on Genesis's wrists and ankles were straining, but they didn't break. They never did.
The wound in Genesis's stomach was a bad one. With each of the man's erratic breaths, a little bit of blood would spill over the edges of the gash and would roll down the redhead's side and onto the metal of the examining table. From where Angeal was, he could see Genesis's guts threatening to burst out and join the blood in the puddle of wetness and gunk on the table, but they stayed in.
Angeal was worried, thought that it might have been too much for Genesis, and why wasn't Hojo healing him yet, before he died? but then he remembered that Hojo especially liked to see Genesis suffer. He never had been too fond of Genesis to begin with, even when they were all children.
The scalpel still stabbed into the bottom of Genesis's foot worried him, too. Genesis was silent, jaw clenched as he glared right at Hojo. Genesis never screamed; his pride was too great for something like that, even during the moments where Hojo was his worst.
Zack was watching Genesis's stomach with wide eyes. They had learned early on that begging for mercy would only make him draw out the pain more. Zack was unharmed, lying back against his table, skin pale. His and Genesis's eyes met, and Genesis sent a be strong message to his younger lover. Zack desperately wanted Genesis to realize that he didn't need it, he was strong himself and wanted the man to take care of himself more, provoke Hojo less and end up like that less often. Genesis never listened, though.
Angeal's finger's tightened around the bars of the cage. It was torture—just as bad as the physical kind—seeing all three immobilized and unable to receive his help.
Hojo gave Zack's body a critical look, and he grabbed a little box off one of the counters. He pulled out a syringe, but it was much bigger than any of the ones any man had seen before. The needle was wider than any Hojo had used previously, but the sheer amount of Mako there repulsed all of them. Having just a little bit of Mako injected into your system was painful, but having as much as Hojo had—it had to have been a pint, at least—would have been excruciating.
Hojo turned to Zack, and Angeal jerked violently, trying to rip the cage apart. There was a powerful shock that jolted through the metal and into his body, making Angeal fly back and strike his head against the far wall, vision distorted and black for a moment.
That was one of Tseng's many jobs—making them feel like wild animals in a hellish zoo, not worth an ounce of respect or privacy or kindness. Tseng let go of the button that electrocuted the cage and gave Angeal a level, blank stare. Angeal wanted to kill that man.
Hojo bent, about to plunge the needle into Zack's arm. Genesis spat and cursed at the old man, trying to keep Zack healthy, even if just for a minute or two longer.
Without looking Hojo swung out with a knife and cut another long gash in Genesis's torso.
"Be quiet," the old man said in a voice that dripped in annoyance, like Genesis was a three year old who was disobeying.
Genesis didn't make a noise that betrayed the pain he was feeling, and seemed to ignore his new injury for now. Angeal's hazy brain tried to summon up the power to break out, rescue all three, but he came up with nothing. Genesis was hurting, he knew, and with luck he wouldn't harm himself. Once he had bitten through his own tongue in an effort to keep silent, and Hojo had just barely saved him. His tongue was roughly sewn back on and he had spent a week in the Mako to make sure he wouldn't die, but the punishment that the man received when he got out was enough to make the other three wish Genesis had died, just so he wouldn't be suffering anymore.
Hojo jabbed the needle into Zack's arm, and Zack went tense all over, also refusing to make any noise. Zack was stronger than they thought, but Hojo always targeted him, since he was the youngest and weakest and because they made such interesting noises when begging him to leave Fair alone.
"Do you know what this is?" Hojo sneered. "This is special. Perhaps it can even make you less of a failure…" he shot a glare of pure hatred at Sephiroth, who was motionless. "But then again, odds are that you won't survive this, so I'm not keeping my hopes up."
Genesis continued to swear and strain as the huge amount of Mako entered Zack's bloodstream. Zack managed to send the man a brief warning glance before his eyes rolled back and his back arched, a long scream involuntarily bursting from his lips.
Angeal watched dumbly as Zack's whole body thrashed, the limbs moving as if on their own. Something was wrong—Mako didn't do this to you. It was painful, yes, but Zack had never displayed such a lack of control when injected with it before.
And now that he thought about it some more, the color of the liquid had been off. It was a little bit greener, a little bit more sinister than the usual stuff. And there was so much of it—what the hell was it?
Zack repeatedly smashed the back of his head against the metal of the table, skull making a sickening crunch each time he did it; Genesis flinched at each of the bangs. One second Zack was stretched out, back arched to the point where Angeal feared it might snap, and the next he was curled on himself as much as the restraints allowed, with that gods-awful scream exploding from his throat.
And then… Zack started to fade.
"Interesting," Hojo murmured, watching closely as Zack's form grew paler, then returned to normal. Genesis was still for once, staring at the younger man with his mouth hanging open.
It must've been a trick of the eyes, or something. Because Zack was there, and then he wasn't, and then he was again—
"Puppy," Angeal whimpered, horrified.
Sephiroth had bullied his way into consciousness; Angeal could see his eyes wide open in the tank. Clumps of his hair were still missing, his right arm and fingers were still broken and the slice on his leg that went down to the bone was still not fully healed, but it was something. The ex-General's eyes were trained on Zack, wide with disbelief.
Was Zack going to the Lifestream? When you died, your body disintegrated and joined the Planet. Was this what was happening.
Zack's haunting screaming didn't stop and he seizured on the table, but Hojo made no move to do anything to help him. He was a pale version of himself now, looking like a semi-transparent ghost in enormous agony.
The screaming stopped, and Zack was gone. There was nothing on the table. Sephiroth's eyes clenched shut, Genesis continued to bleed in shocked silence, and Angeal realized he was crying.
There was silence for about twenty seconds, and then Genesis roared, "What the fuck did you do!"
"Zack!" Angeal roared, throwing himself against the bars of the cage. Tseng pressed the button and he flew backwards again, unable to properly rage at the man who had just killed Zack.
Sephiroth shuddered violently inside the Mako, bowing his head like he was going to throw up. A long-fingered hand clawed at the glass of the tank, like it was trying to break through so he could break out, but it was for naught. All you got for attempting that were bloody fingertips. He reached for his breathing tube, but Tseng did something with a control panel a few feet away from the tank and Sephiroth twisted and shook, then went still, unconscious again.
Genesis was screaming at the top of his lungs at Hojo, ignoring it when his wrists and ankles started bleeding from his efforts.
"—kill you! I'll kill you, I'llkillyou, you fucking—Zack!"
Blood loss got the better of both him and Angeal, and both men slumped, despair crashing over them in painful waves.
Hojo made a wordless noise of consideration and leant forward, peering through his glasses at the empty table. For the first time since entering the mansion, Genesis cried.
Then, from the spot where Zack's body had been, a voice yelled, "You crazy fuck!"
"…Damn," Sephiroth sighed, staring at the front door. They had been locked out. He didn't know whether Cloud had specifically locked them out or not, but it was annoying either way.
"We'll have to wake Angeal up," Zack said after a moment. He didn't sound too enthused; they still felt bad that Angeal had been up all night for them.
Genesis picked up a tiny pebble and walked along the side of the house until the window to their bedroom was two stories above their heads. He reached back and threw it at the window.
Instead of bouncing off and making a tiny noise that hopefully would have woken Angeal up, Genesis's enhancements made the pebble shatter the window like Cloud had destroyed the sliding shower door earlier.
There was a shout and a tremendously long string of curses from usually-reserved Angeal, and Zack giggled.
Sephiroth listened carefully, making sure Cloud hadn't heard. All he heard was pitiful crying, and he dismissed the sad sounds and concentrated on his lovers.
Angeal's head appeared after the broken window was pushed up suddenly, and he roared, "What the hell! You almost gave me a stroke!"
Even though he was angry, he was ever-mindful of Cloud's range of hearing, unlike Genesis, who shouted, "Aaaaangie! Good to see you're awake, darling!"
Three voices immediately snapped, "Genesis!"
"We are locked out," Sephiroth said calmly. "Come and let us in, if you would."
Alarm flashed over Angeal's stressed-out, masculine features, and he disappeared. He went through the house and unlocked the door quickly, eyes flickering over them to make sure they were alright. Angeal's eyes were red and baggy, and Sephiroth was filled with concern. Nightmare, maybe?
Although he and Angeal weren't quite as affectionate with each other out in the open like they were with Genesis and Zack, Sephiroth leant forward and planted Angeal a charming, brief kiss. He appreciated how Angeal had the sense to stay up while he, the ex-General, had forgotten. Plus, any angst that his friend was feeling was angst he would gladly help shoulder.
Angeal combed his fingers through the silver hairs on the side of Sephiroth's face and kissed back for a minute before gently pulling back and drawing Genesis and Zack into a fierce, protective hug.
"I love it when you two do that," Zack sighed at length. "And we're okay, Angeal. Really." He pecked Angeal on the corner of his mouth, sensing that something was bothering him.
Genesis looked at Angeal searchingly for a moment, then resolved to try to lighten the mood. He tried to get Zack into the mood, but the younger man squirmed away and asked, "He still crying?" Cloud's misfortune made them all horny, apparently.
All were silent, and Cloud's little stuttering cries met their ears. Angeal said seriously, "What did you do to him? He looked awful."
"Tried to lock him in the shower," Zack answered, giggling again. "Me 'n Seph messed with the plumbing earlier, so all he got was hot. Oh! And Gen made it so he couldn't open the door… but he punched through it, so he got out. Little fucker cut up his hand and foot, though." Zack smiled, and Angeal nodded.
"I'm sorry I missed it," Angeal said softly, amused.
"I almost drowned him," Genesis bragged, inspecting his nails critically. He caught Angeal's disapproving look and said, "Oh, relax! I wasn't going to kill him—I knew you'd be like this—ugh, I was just going to, you know, throw him into the woods once he was unconscious."
Angeal smiled despite himself and asked, "Why is he currently destroying our furniture?"
Genesis was silent, blushing slightly and staring out in the direction of the tennis courts. Sephiroth made a faintly amused sound and said, "He kicked Genesis and managed to get away." He continued, at Angeal's alarmed look, "He's fine."
"Yeah," grumbled Genesis, "He just took me by surprise."
Angeal gave Genesis a look that said 'be careful' and walked back into the house. The blond boy was still crying on the sofa; they could hear that he was calming, somewhat. Angeal smirked—Genesis must've really scared the kid. That was good. After the horrors of Hojo, they wouldn't allow someone else to have the chance to hurt them. He had heard enough of his lovers screaming in pain to last him a lifetime, and probably more.
Cloud gradually calmed down. His frightened crying eventually tapered off to dry sobs that he couldn't control. He sat up on the couch and hugged a throw pillow, bleary blue eyes pointed at the front door.
There was some evil thing in his pool that had tried to kill him.
So what?
He was alive, wasn't he? He was still breathing, and although he was a cut-up, bruised, wet, bleeding mess, that was good enough for him. Cloud stood shakily and wiped his eyes, dropping the pillow. He did his best to eye his back, though he couldn't see much else other than a hint of skinned… skin.
Zack whistled when he saw Cloud's back as he turned around. "Nice one, Gen," he said appreciatively. Genesis thanked him with a bow. Sephiroth and Angeal were upstairs—doing dastardly deeds, most likely.
Cloud sighed at himself and limped to where he had deposited the first-aid kit not an hour before. He began the task of cleaning himself up again, screeching like a banshee when he sprayed the antiseptic on his poor back. He giggled through the pain too, finding his never-ending plights funny, for some reason.
He was a man. He could handle anything this house (or pool) threw at him.
Cloud cleaned up slowly and thoroughly, making sure his aching body was properly taken care of. He then trekked to his bedroom and got dressed, then belatedly remembered he had never turned the water off in his bathroom.
That glass looked dangerous. Hell, he could even see a bit of his blood on some shards!
Cloud put his sneakers on and crunched his way over to the water. The room was unbelievably wet and sticky, like being in a jungle (Cloud had never actually been in a jungle, but his bathroom was pretty much what he imagined it would be like). He jammed the knob in, not really expecting the water to turn off. It hadn't worked earlier. Surprisingly, it shut off. Cloud grumbled and slunk back into his bedroom, closing the door to the bathroom and vowing to never open it again. He didn't feel much like sweeping all that up.
He jumped when the doorbell rang.
Do monsters ring doorbells? He thought, bewildered. Because really, who would come and visit him?
He made his way to the entrance hall and peeked out the peephole. There was a person standing there—definitely human. He opened the door a bit nervously and smiled at a pretty woman who grinned back, eyes lighting up.
"Uh, hello," Cloud said shyly.
The girl smoothed out her clothes and held out a hand. In the other was a plastic bag full of what looked like cookies. "Hi!" she said, gushing with enthusiasm. "I'm Tifa Lockhart. I heard you moved here, so I came to welcome you!"
Cloud blushed, touched by her kindness. "Thank you," he offered honestly. "I'm Cloud. Uh, Cloud Strife."
Helga and Olga were going to freak out. 'Cloud' was every bit as gorgeous as the girls had said he was, and probably then some. He was as cute as a doll and had an adorable personality, from what she could tell so far... which admittedly wasn't much. Still, she just had a feeling.
Tifa stared at him for a moment and said, "I made you cookies. You like peanut butter?"
"I'm allergic to peanuts," Cloud answered automatically. Tifa's expression made him quickly say, "Uh, I mean, I'm allergic to caramel! There's none of that in there, is there?"
"No…"
"Oh, good." Cloud beamed and accepted them from her.
"So, uh, welcome to Nibelheim!" Tifa said happily. "Do you like it here?"
"Yeah. It's really…" he paused. "Pretty here."
Tifa giggled. "That it is. Are you going to get a job here, or…?"
Cloud saw his chance. Tifa looked like she knew people… "I'm a delivery boy," he informed her, nodding towards Fenrir, gleaming at the very top of the winding driveway. "Hopefully for the people of Nibelheim soon."
"I'll tell people about you," Tifa assured him. "It's a pain to get stuff places out here."
Cloud was sure to look cute. "Thanks a lot. I appreciate it."
"A 'delivery boy?'" Genesis echoed, peering around Cloud, but being careful not to touch the filth that was a relative of Hojo's, "Pfft. That's believable. Hey, it's Tifa!"
Zack bounced up to him. "Haha, it is!"
Tifa was famous for her strength in the small town. Even the four men in the mansion had heard of her. She made amazing cookies, too. Sephiroth had perked up at her voice, and was sneakily eyeing the bag in Cloud's hand.
"You're such a cookie whore," Zack said to Sephiroth, smiling when Sephiroth poked him in the middle of the forehead, hard.
Cloud was explaining how he was Hojo's nephew and got the house, even though he hadn't known Hojo well, when he suddenly went flying forward, tackling Tifa to the ground. He felt an instant rush of pain as he hit and grunted. He blinked then—his left hand was casually resting on Tifa's boob, and damn, it was huge! All squishy and big…
Cloud never liked boys more than in that one moment.
No punch came, and the four men who had pushed Cloud realized at the same time Cloud did that the reason for the lack of fistage was because… Tifa was interested.
Her brown eyes were heated as she gazed up at Cloud, looking vaguely surprised. Cloud panicked and scrambled off her, helping her up.
"I'm sorry," he babbled. "I tripped—sorry, sorry—uhm, here-" he yanked her up and took a step back, putting distance between them.
Tifa said slowly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, "Don't worry about it."
There was an awkward silence on Cloud's part for a minute, and he blurted, "Uh—I'm gonna go… eat lunch… um… thanks for the cookies, and, uh—heh—the introduction."
"Um, sure," Tifa said with wide eyes. "Anytime."
"Bye, and thanks!" Cloud shut the door and scampered away from it, shivering and inwardly panicking. He had molested someone already! What if she told everyone in town about it and everyone thought he was a freak? He'd never get any work!
He made a miserable noise and put the cookies in the kitchen. For a moment he just leaned against the wall, aching and tired. There was still just so much left to do…
He needed to go grocery shopping, first of all. He couldn't live off of old man shit and candy. He sighed wearily, put on his shoes and left the house, making sure he had a key in his pocket.
Shopping in Nibelheim proved to be an adventure. The store clerk recognized him from the previous day and gave him an evil look, but he ignored him. There were three girls talking together by the Inn—one of them was Tifa, Cloud noticed with no small amount of dread—and they waved at him. Tifa looked suspicious at first, because he had said that he was going to eat lunch, but she saw the bags of groceries Cloud was stuffing into Fenrir and calmed down. All three girls were squealing and giggling, pointing "discreetly" at him.
When he returned to the mansion, he hauled his purchases into the kitchen and stuffed it all away, shoving Hojo's random crap aside. He had searched high and low in the general store for the good stuff, and had managed to find some ramen, fresh fruit and vegetables, and soft, un-moldy bread. He felt rather accomplished.
While they had some peace, Sephiroth and Angeal showed Genesis and Zack what they had done earlier in the day. While most of it was for security purposes, they had some fun as well.
"We got… 'silly,'" Sephiroth had told them in a completely emotionless voice. He didn't get was so funny when Zack and Genesis nearly wet themselves laughing.
"We've turned all the peepholes in the doors," Angeal said briskly, gesturing. "We'll be able to monitor him if he gets up to anything."
There were now makeshift alarms on all entrances to the lab. It was loud, but if Cloud was going to the lab, then they'd kill him right then and there. They couldn't risk it.
The two oldest men wouldn't tell them about their 'silliness.' Angeal had smiled fondly at them, but that was all he was giving away. They'd just have to wait and see.
Sephiroth had slowly been eating Tifa's cookies—they all had. The ex-General had four in his mouth at once when Cloud had almost all of his food put away.
"Chew quieter," Zack had hissed.
Cloud finished putting away his groceries and eyed the bag of cookies on the table. It was a shame he wasn't allowed to eat them—they smelled good.
(If Cloud had been paying attention, he would've noticed that the bag was only half as full as it had been earlier. He also would have seen the crumbs that were falling to the ground out of nowhere.)
Sephiroth tried to not make a mess of himself, but Zack's disgusted expression was making him smile, and smiling with four cookies in your mouth isn't pretty.
Cloud picked up the bag and regretfully tossed them into the trashcan. The air went cold.
Sephiroth, the one who had perfect control over his emotions, was furious.
He stomped over to Cloud, who most definitely heard the thundering noises and blinked, looking around. The silver-haired man waited until the boy's face was tilted up, then slapped him across the face with almost all his strength. Cloud was unconscious before he hit the ground.
Eyeing the small trickle of blood that flowed out of Cloud's mouth and onto the floor, Sephiroth grabbed the bag of homemade cookies out of the trash and calmly put one in his mouth, walking away.
"Come," he ordered, chewing. "We have 'ings t'do."
Zack snickered at the pathetic man on the floor and called after the smug ex-General, speaking at a normal volume for once, "Aye aye, Captain."