AN: Hullo again my dear readers, this chapter contains smut! Yay! Also, Reno's being a shit...but he's always a shit so no change there. I will say that Reno is literally just a giant flirt and has no intentions of trying to actually steal Cloud away from Zack, he's just winding them both up because he's like that. Enjoy my friends.
Chapter Thirteen: Breaking
"Zack, take your unit around the rocks to the left. We need to hem them in and trap them against the cliff face!" Sephiroth ordered and Zack gazed at him, his hands clenched into fists at his sides and his face twisted in disgust. "Zack?" Sephiroth's voice lowered and he eyed the boy.
"S-Sir." Zack finally forced his legs to move, he turned away and issued his orders to his unit of infantry.
"Zack, orders are orders." Sephiroth reminded him coldly.
"Orders...yeah...I got you." Zack replied, frowning towards the cliff where he knew the small group of Wutaiian refugees were camped. "Sephiroth?"
"Yes?"
"Is the intelligence true?"
"It has been verified by the Turks."
Zack swallowed tightly and lowered his head. "Women and children." He hissed through his teeth. Sephiroth said nothing. "Sephiroth I-"
"They are enemies." Sephiroth cut him off. "That is all."
"This...this isn't what I signed up for. I never...I didn't...I don't like this. It goes against everything Angeal taught me." He finally lifted his eyes to Sephiroth, revealing his pain. "I can't do this."
"Angeal...he was always reluctant when it came to such things too. You have to understand that being SOLDIER means having to do things you dislike."
"Stop it! This isn't some chore I don't want to do! This is a group of unarmed civilians! We're not the bad guys! We're not-"
Sephiroth arched an eyebrow and a small smile flickered across his lips. "Angeal didn't teach you as well as i'd thought. We are the enemies, Zack. To those people out there, those who lost family, friends and homes to us. We are the bad guys." Sephiroth lifted a hand and gestured to the encampment where people were likely eating dinner and talking together around the fires they had built. "Did you think that all the casualties of war were soldiers? Fighting men like us?" He laughed softly. "You are still a child."
Zack turned away and shook his head. "Collateral damage I can live with, but this? This is just murder."
"History is always written by the victors, Zack. In years to come you will be hailed as a hero by scholars everywhere. The fact that this moment took place will fade into obscurity until no one remembers it. You weren't there in Wutai during the worst of the fighting, it was chaos. Soldiers and innocents died in huge numbers, it was impossible to tell one from the other. It is our duty to carry out these orders, I don't ask why."
"How do you live with yourself?" Zack asked in a whisper.
Sephiroth smiled. "My entire life I have been trained for battle, I am a soldier, it is what I do...it is my only purpose."
Zack shook his head again before walking away. "I'm not like you." He breathed.
Sephiroth watched him go, his face falling into a frown. "No, you're not." He agreed.
XXX
Cloud was woken by a soft knock on the door of his dorm, he yawned and slowly climbed out of bed. "Wha' time issit?" Johnny mumbled.
"Early." Cloud replied.
"Ugh...tell 'em to go away."
"Yeah." Cloud opened the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Look it's-Zack?!" His eyes widened as he saw Zack standing at the door, head bowed and hands clenched into fists. His uniform was bloody and his armour scratched. "What happened? How did the mission go?" Cloud lowered his voice and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him. Zack said nothing as he reached out and pulled Cloud to him, Cloud's face was pressed into his bloody chest. "Z-Zack?"
"Cloud...just...let me hold you." He whispered and Cloud stilled, allowing Zack this moment of intimacy. They stayed like that for a few moments before Zack sank to his knees, dragging Cloud down with him. He buried his face in Cloud's hair and gripped him almost painfully. Cloud could feel him shaking and wondered what on earth had happened. "I wanted...to be a hero..." Zack muttered. "Angeal always talked about honour a-and pride...but what I did...What I...there's no honour in that. None."
"Zack, are you ok?" Cloud asked softly, pulling away and looking up at him. They were sprawled against the wall and their limbs entangled intimately. Cloud now had blood staining his face and hair, Zack lifted a hand and wiped it away.
"Don't ever change, Cloud." He breathed and kissed him deeply, his hands curling into fists in Cloud's t-shirt. "Never."
"I don't plan to." Cloud replied in confusion. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Zack pulled away abruptly and stood up. "It's...best if I don't. Cloud?"
"Yeah?" Cloud continued to look up at Zack from the floor.
"Don't enter SOLDIER." He muttered and walked away. "I gotta take a shower."
"Zack? Zack please..."
"I'll see you later." Zack forced his face into a smile and gave Cloud a lazy salute.
"What was that all about?" Cloud shook his head and stood up, it took him a moment to realise he too was covered in blood from Zack's clothes. "Huh...I hope he's all right." He looked down at his bloodied hands and wiped them casually on his trousers, perhaps he should have been more affected by the sight of so much blood but Zack hadn't been injured, at least physically and Cloud found it very difficult to worry too much about the blood and gore. It had never been something that bothered him too much. He sighed heavily and decided to hunt Zack down as soon as he was off duty to find out if everything was ok. He turned but was halted when he heard someone moving down the corridor. He turned to find Reno, the Turk that had been following him, yawning as he walked over. "Hello. It's been a while." Cloud said, smiling. Reno's quick eyes roved over Cloud's body and he raised an eyebrow.
"You covered in blood, yo."
"Yeah, I know." Cloud smiled. "Zack was here, fresh from a mission. I'll wash it off in a bit. What are you doing here so early?" Cloud liked Reno despite the fact that he was a little on the shadowy side. He was funny and friendly and was good to laugh with.
"You don' seem bothered by all tha' blood, yo."
Cloud shrugged. "Not really. I don't really care about things like that."
Reno smirked. "Pretty cold, yo." He cocked his head to one side and his smile grew. "You know that that's the blood of some kids, righ'? Zack was ordered to kill 'em. Wutaiian refugees."
Cloud blinked and looked down at the red stains covering his t-shirt. "Oh." He said and looked back up at Reno. "An order's an order, right?" He couldn't see Zack killing indiscriminatingly, it was likely something that could endanger the lives of others and so had to be done. Zack wouldn't do it otherwise.
"I'm impressed, you got a cold way of lookin' at things. You sound worse than Tseng." Reno laughed and clapped Cloud on the back.
"I'm really not." Cloud replied. "Are you still following me?" He asked suddenly.
"Yeah. Go' orders from higher up, yo. Not that I mind, for a mark you're pretty cute."
Cloud blushed. "Stop it. I'm not cute. Anyway, I'm going to take a shower." He turned away and went inside his room, he saw Reno take up a position outside the door and lean against the wall. He didn't hide himself so much anymore and in some ways Cloud found it was nice to have someone to talk to, on the other hand the fact that he was being tailed by the Turks put a lot of his fellow infantry off coming anywhere near him.
"Need help?" Reno asked, smirking as Cloud exited his room clutching a towel, a fresh uniform and his wash bag.
Cloud laughed. "No, i'm sure I can wash on my own." He walked towards the shower rooms with Reno a step behind. "Must you follow me everywhere?" he sighed.
"Sorry, kid. I gotta do my job. Boss said you gotta be watched so I'm gunna watch, yo."
"I don't suppose you know why?"
"No, sorry." Reno flashed him a smile. "You sure you don' need help in there?" He nodded towards the showers and Cloud snorted before walking inside. "Worth a try." Reno shrugged and took up a position outside the room with his arms folded and shoulders slouched.
XXX
Hojo read the reports sent to him on the subject, a sense of disappointment pervaded him as he read. The boy was perfectly average, his tutors and commander all said that he was polite, well disciplined and quiet. He spoke only when spoken to and rarely was any trouble. Hojo concluded that Project C was boring. He sighed and closed the file of reports, sent to him by the Turks. Something was bothering him about what he had witnessed with Sephiroth and the boy, they had been close, unnaturally so. The boy responded to Sephiroth in surprising ways, seeming to be under some sort of spell. Hojo frowned and turned on his computer, he waited for it to boot up before accessing his own records on the Jenova Project. It was an amalgamation of his own and Gast's research with an occasional few notes from Hollander, although he tried to keep them to a minimum. Hollander had been a waste of a brain. Hojo sighed as he read the files through, searching for anything that might give him an idea of what had happened. Finally he stumbled across one of his own notes regarding his exploration of a sample of Jenova's cells.
The cells act unusually when they are kept inside separate dishes. They tend to move, as if they are searching for something, towards the edges of their containers. I have witnessed them collect against the sides, as if they are attempting to draw each other back together again.
Typically Hollander had laughed at his discovery, Gast had found it mildly interesting but had preferred to concentrate fully on his own research of the Ancients and the Promised Land. Hojo, however, had never forgotten what he had seen. Slowly he wondered if the cells' strange activity could be re-created on a larger scale. Would Jenova's cells be able to find each other again if separated by miles? Perhaps continents?
"Sephiroth...called..."
The subjects words echoed through Hojo's mind and a smile twisted his face, he leaned back and began laughing hysterically. Of course, he could easily put his burgeoning theory to the test. It would be so simple.
XXX
Subject: Hi From: Cloud
Hey, Zack, it's been a while. I'm just messaging you to check to make sure you're all right. I'm worried, yesterday you were acting so strange and Reno said that something bad happened. Please, let me know you're ok.
Zack sighed heavily and closed his PHS, he wasn't in the mood for talking. He rolled onto his side as he lay on his bed and ran fingers through his untidy hair. The previous day had been an utter disaster. Heidegger seemed to blame Zack personally for the near collapse of his career and so had taken to berating him whenever possible, Zack had lost it. He had punched Heidegger in the face and now he was under temporary house arrest as punishment. He hadn't intended to allow his emotions to get the better of him but when he saw Heidegger's smug grin he couldn't help himself. He rolled over again and gazed out over his living room, he was lying on the bed wearing little more than a t-shirt and boxers and he was bored mindless. On top of all that he was still dealing with the fact that he had been party to a massacre of innocents. Their screams still echoed in his ears and he had to shut them out but couldn't. He knew he deserved to suffer, he was responsible just as much as ShinRa was for sending him on such a terrible mission. He could have refused but as usual he hadn't even asked what they were doing until he got there. Sephiroth had, after all, refused to go after Angeal and Genesis. He had his reasons and would likely have compromised the mission by allowing his personal feelings to get involved, but the same held true for Zack and the refugees. He had, briefly, seen the end of the war with Wutai and that had been brutal but nothing had prepared him for what came next. His PHS beeped again and he flipped it open. He rolled onto his front and rested his chin on a cushion as he read the message.
Subject: … From: Cloud
I miss you.
Reluctantly a grin spread across Zack's face and he chuckled a little. Cloud had a way of making him feel better, no matter how down he was. With a sigh he began to message back.
Subject: Miss you too From: Zack
I'm sorry, I really can't see you at the moment. I'm under temporary house arrest for punching Heidegger and Sephiroth's currently trying to stop my punishment from getting any worse. But I'm sure they'll be lenient, after all Heidegger punches people all the time and no one except Scarlet likes him and even then i'm pretty sure she hates him too. Anyway, apart from that i'm fine. Although I wouldn't mind seeing you, I can't get you out of my head. I love you.
Subject: You sap. From: Cloud
You punched Heidegger?! How are you not dead? I bet Sephiroth was furious. I wish i'd been there to see it. Maybe I could sneak up to your room later?
Subject: … From: Zack
I would love it. Really. But Sephiroth's said he'll stay outside and guard me, make sure I stay put. I doubt he'll let you in. It sucks.
Subject: Damn From: Cloud
Ah, ok then. I guess I'll see you around. I will have to go out with Johnny and the others tonight then, I haven't got a decent excuse anymore. But I know Reno might be going, at least he's entertaining. I hope you get out soon.
Zack frowned at the message, so Reno was moving in on Cloud when he wasn't around? He swore softly and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. There was a knock on his door and he sighed heavily before climbing off the bed and moving to it, he opened it and found himself looking at Cissnei. "Hey."
"Hi. Sephiroth got called out on a mission so I've been told to babysit." She smiled brightly. "I just wanted to tell you and make sure you don't need anything."
"No, thanks...I'm fine." Zack frowned at the wall a moment before sighing heavily and slumping. "I'm so bored..." He whined.
Cissnei giggled. "It serves you right for punching your boss."
"Hey, he deserved it! I just had enough."
"He seems to be getting under a lot of people's skins at the moment." He smile widened, causing her to look a little bit evil before it faded again and she looked at him in concern.
"I heard what they made you do."
Zack looked away. "Yeah, well...I could have said no."
"Could you?" Cissnei shook her head. "They're using you all wrong, just like they did to us at Junon. You're too honourable to do something like that, it should have been handled better."
"Should have, would have, could have, right?" Zack shrugged and leaned against the door frame. "You wanna come in for some coffee?"
Cissnei blushed a little and looked away. "I'm supposed to be your guard..."
"We're not leaving my apartment, it's just coffee...I'm dying to have someone to talk to! Please?"
She debated for a moment before finally nodding. "Ok."
Zack made coffee while Cissnei moved curiously around his living room, gazing at the few books, looking at his small collection of random objects he had gathered. She picked up a rock which had crystals inside it. "You have a lot of strange things." She said absently.
"I do?"
"Yes. Do you collect them when you go on missions?"
"Sometimes, if I find something interesting." Zack turned and brought her a steaming mug of coffee. "Angeal collected plants, he gave me that cactus over there." He nodded in the direction of a tiny potted cactus. "It's from Gongaga."
"How sweet." Cissnei said as she took her mug and sipped carefully at the scolding liquid. She saw a golden chocobo feather sitting beside the rock. "Why do you have a chocobo feather?"
Zack's smile changed, it became dreamy. "Cloud." He muttered.
"That blond infantry soldier?"
"Yeah...his hair kind of looks like a chocobo's ass." Zack grinned and laughed brightly. "It reminds me of him."
"You...like this boy?"
Zack's cheeks turned a little pink and he turned away to move back to the sofa, he set his mug down on the glass coffee table and looked at Cissnei who joined him. "Its...complicated." Cissnei nodded but said nothing of her thoughts, she was aware that the boy was being tailed by Reno and that they were even going out to the bar when they finished work. Did Zack know? She looked at him and thought he might. She gazed at the coffee table and saw a vase full of genuine flowers there, they were bright yellow and white. Instantly she knew where Zack had got them from and sent him another look as he began sending a message on his PHS.
"Have you seen Aerith recently?"
Zack looked up at her and blinked. "Hm. Not in a while, no. She sends me the flowers sometimes, it brightens up the room and they smell kinda nice."
"Tseng's still watching her." Cissnei said quietly, cupping her mug in both her hands and enjoying the warmth.
"Yeah, I guessed as much." Zack put his phone away and leaned back, he closed his eyes. "I'm dying of boredom here. I can't wait to be sent out on another mission..."
"I'm sure you will soon, they can't afford to keep you locked up for too long. There's not enough man power."
Zack shifted and frowned a little before asking a question that was bothering him. "Cissnei?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have any idea why the Turks are following Cloud?" He looked at her in the eye and she shook her head.
"Honestly? No. I have no idea. We're not given every single piece of information about our Marks but I think...I think it has something to do with Hojo." Her voice dropped and she glanced nervously at the door. "Your friend's been seen in and out of the labs several times in the past, I don't know why but it makes me uneasy. What Hojo's doing up there..." She shook her head and shuddered. "Gives me the creeps."
"Yeah, Hojo's a bit weird." Zack muttered absently as he processed what Cissnei had said. What interest did Hojo have in a mere infantryman? It was very odd.
"I've also heard that Cloud's from Nibelheim, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I know lots of things." Cissnei gave him a mysterious smile before continuing. "Well, isn't that where the ShinRa mansion is? I heard its where they used to do quite a few experiments in the past. Professor Gast worked there for a while and Hojo was his underling." Zack frowned into space, this was new information. He'd never been to Nibelheim so had no idea if ShinRa had any connection to it except for the reactor there. He decided he would ask Cloud about it when he got a chance. "Anyway, I have to be going. I don't want anyone to think I wasn't at my post." Cissnei put aside her cup and stood up. "I'll see you around, Zack."
"Yeah, bye." Zack smiled at her as she left the apartment to stand guard outside his door. He drank his coffee and frowned at the wall for a while as he considered what to do about Hojo's mysterious interest in Cloud. He looked at the calender on his wall and noticed that he had a check up session in the science department in two days, perhaps he could try to get some answers from someone up there.
XXX
Two days later Zack sat on a hospital style bed, he swung his legs back and forth absently as a woman in a white coat set up some instruments. He was topless and he noticed the woman eyeing him appreciatively. "Where's Hojo?" He asked suddenly, causing the woman to look up and blink at him. "Oh, he's busy." She said and smiled. "I'm just going to run some basic diagnostics to make sure you're in perfect health."
"Sure." He said and allowed her to put a blood pressure cuff on his arm. He watched as it was blown up and slowly deflated, the woman noted the results on some papers she had attached to a clip board. She ran through each test including blood samples and several swabs. When she was done she smiled. "Ok, we're done here. If you would just go through to the other room."
Zack grimaced and slid off the bed. "I hate this part." He muttered.
"They all do." The woman laughed as Zack followed her out of the room and into another. "You know the drill by now, I'm sure professor Hojo will be along in a moment. He generally likes to oversee the Mako infusions personally." She left Zack alone in a room with several tanks in, Zack sighed and leaned against the wall.
"Waiting is the worst part, is it?"
Zack looked up to find Sephiroth enter from another room, he had his coat hanging over his arm and his chest bared. He smiled. "Not really, it's afterwards that I hate." He smiled.
"I wouldn't know." Sephiroth replied slowly.
"What?"
Sephiroth's smile widened and he moved gracefully to the door, putting on his coat and opening it. "I wouldn't know, I don't have to be subjected to regular Mako baths. I'm not like you." He left, leaving Zack feeling oddly uncomfortable, what on earth had that meant? Hojo's appearance distracted him and he straightened up as the scientist exited the same room Sephiroth had just left. He was muttering irritably to himself as he flicked through some notes.
"Strange, very strange. I see no indication what so ever of it. Perhaps it is-" He broke off and looked up, pushing his glasses further up onto his nose as his eyes narrowed. "Ah, my next appointment." He said.
"Hey, professor?" Zack asked as Hojo began to ready one of the strange machines.
"What is it?" He snapped.
"I was wondering if you knew a boy named Cloud Strife."
Hojo paused and turned slowly, appraising Zack through narrowed eyes. "Why?" He asked.
"Well, he's a friend of mine and I heard he's been here a lot which is odd considering he's just an infantry soldier." Zack didn't mention that Hojo had already had his hands on him after he had been out on missions, he wanted to see what Hojo would admit if he feigned complete ignorance.
"You're that one who was with it when it came in after a mission, weren't you? It was injured and you didn't want me to take it."
"It?"
Hojo ignored him. "Yes, yes...it is a very interesting creature." He fell silent and stared at the tubes before him. "Anyway, we must get on with things."
Zack opened his mouth to speak again but closed it when Hojo ushered him into one of the tubes. Hojo was apparently stark raving mad, had he been talking of Cloud or something else? Maybe he was confused and thought Zack had been talking of a monster. Surely no one referred to people as 'it'.
Later Zack lay curled up on a bed in one of the rooms in the science department, his stomach churned and he could taste acid when he swallowed. His whole body ached horribly and he knew it would fade as time passed but he still hated every second of it. He was weak and disorientated, his eye sight blurry and his other senses painfully heightened. He groaned and rolled onto his back, wishing the Mako would hurry up and do its thing. The hours passed and slowly the sickness faded, Zack blinked and his vision cleared and he was finally able to sit up. He put a hand to his head and looked around just to make sure he was better. His hearing was sharper, his eye sight better, his body thrummed with energy and he grinned as he jumped down from the bed. He did a few experimental squats and then strode to the door, opening it and turning to the woman who sat outside. "Can I go now?" He asked and the woman smiled and nodded. "Thanks." he waved and walked away.
XXX
Zack returned to his apartment to find Cloud standing outside it with his arms folded across his chest, he looked up and when he saw Zack a smile graced his face. "Zack." He said and moved away from the wall, his hands twitched eagerly as if he was resisting throwing his arms around him.
"Let's go inside and you can tell me how you got up here." Zack said and opened his door, they went inside and the second the door closed Cloud really did throw himself at Zack. They stumbled backwards into the wall and Zack grabbed Cloud around the waist and lifted him easily to his lips, their tongues met and Zack's heart felt as if it was going to explode in his chest. They pulled away from each other, breathing heavily as Zack set Cloud back on his feet again. Their foreheads touched and they smiled. "So, how did you get up here?" He asked breathlessly.
"Your friend Kunsel let me up." Cloud smirked.
"I see, I'll have to thank him later." Zack dragged Cloud through the living room and into his bedroom, he once again lifted him into the air and threw him on the bed.
"I'm not a toy, Zack...don't toss me around like that."
Zack grinned as he crawled onto the bed after Cloud and kicked his boots off as he went. "It's fun." He said simply. "You're so small."
"Yeah, thanks. Making me feel real good right now." Cloud replied irritably, lifting himself up onto his elbows.
Zack smirked as he crawled up Cloud's body and pushed him back into the pillow, he leaned down and captured his lips in a slow kiss. "You don't know how much I missed you." He whispered, moving his lips down Cloud's jaw to his neck. "Hey, stop frowning. It doesn't suit you." Zack lifted a hand and smoothed away Cloud's frown with a thumb. "I've got tonight off, i'm all yours."
Cloud smiled at that and wrapped both arms around Zack's neck. "Then i'll make the most of it." He breathed and kissed him deeply. Zack pulled away again and moved down Cloud's body, reaching his waist and unzipping his fly. Cloud watched him through heavily lidded eyes as Zack freed his erection. He wrapped his fingers around it and squeezed gently watching Cloud's reaction intently and a small smile playing about his lips. Then he dipped his head and took Cloud into his mouth, making him gasp and arch off the bed. He sucked and felt Cloud's hands slide through his hair, moans began to fill the room and Zack used his tongue to massage the head. "F-Fuck...Zack..." Cloud thrust upward but Zack put a hand on his hip, stilling anymore movement. He kept at it, his head bobbing up and down as he increased his pace and Cloud was pink in the face. Cloud drew his legs up, his toes curled against the bed spread and he arched his back. "Zack..." He bit down on his bottom lip as heat pooled in his gut, his hips tried to move but Zack held them still and it was like torture. "I-I...Need..." Zack almost smiled as he worked Cloud into a panting, sweaty frenzy. He moved his free hand to Cloud's ass and gently pushed against his anus. That simple, intimate touch sent Cloud over the edge. Zack's mouth filled with semen and he swallowed it before pulling away, panting as he looked at Cloud. Cloud lay still, his chest rising and falling rapidly and a small smile on his lips. His eyes were hidden in his hair but he lifted a shaking hand and pushed it away turning them to Zack. "That was..."
"Amazing? Mind blowing?" Zack suggested as he leaned down and kissed Cloud, pushing his tongue into his mouth as he moved Cloud's hand to his own painful erection. "Wanna do a guy a solid?" He muttered and Cloud laughed softly.