Chapter 13: Staring into the Abyss
Zack sighed as he watched Cloud's eyelids flutter in the sleep that the Turk had put him into. Guilt ate away at him as he considered their fight, and how he had pushed this to happen by pushing him away. He couldn't handle the thought that the one thing he had ever wanted his entire life was about to be taken away from him. Nevermind the fact that he been responsible for most of the sabotage himself.
It wasn't what Cloud was. He adored everything about his Omega. It wasn't who his father was. Though the second he saw Hojo he would be sure to drive a sword through his spine. It was who he was supposed to be with.
Sephiroth. Sephiroth had never had anything in his entire life. Of course he had fame. He was sure there were probably plenty of women as well—or as turns out men apparently. Not that he was one to judge, what with the love of his life having similar qualities. Sephiroth had always been alone. He had been Shinra's lab rat his entire life. Genesis had been the first to step up and show Sephiroth friendship, but Genesis was his own demon, and sometimes brought out the worst in the SOLDIER. He had tried to chip away at the diamond shell surrounding the man. He had tried to get to know him.
...and Sephiroth had paid him in kind by fucking his boyfriend.
He couldn't even hate him for it. Zack understood, of course he did. He wasn't even compelled to want Cloud by the production of pheromones, and he couldn't stay away from the blond. The need to stab that mad scientist returned as he swept a stray spike away from Cloud's face as those impossibly blue eyes fluttered open.
Sadness filled their depths the instant they landed on him, and panic seemed to overtake him. "Zack…" was whispered almost desperately. "I'm sorry."
His heart ached at the plea in that tone, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning down and pressing his lips to his forehead. Zack smiled as arms immediately wrapped around his neck, pulling him down close. Cloud clung to him, and Zack shuttered as he allowed himself to bury his face in the scent of his neck.
"I'm sorry, Spike. I should have been there." He kissed along his neck. "I know you're hurting. Vincent told Sephiroth he gave you something to sleep."
"Vincent?" Cloud questioned, fingers fisting in his hair, pulling him up to meet his eyes. "The man who grabbed me?
Zack nodded. "He's a Turk...or maybe ex-Turk. I didn't ask too many details," he admitted, shifting to lay his weight on top of the other. "I just wanted to get to you."
"Why?" Cloud questioned, fingers flexing in his hair. "After what I did, why would you?"
Zack shrugged, hands reaching down to trace up Cloud's hip. "Glutton for punishment I guess." He smiled down at him, thumb swiping at the tear that fell from those blue eyes. "Babe I…"
He was cut off as Cloud's fingers tightened and yanked him down to his mouth. Zack melted the instant their lips touched, and his senses screamed at him as that scent of arousal filled the air. He drowned in it, senses on overdrive as he deepened the kiss. Zack succumbed to the need...want...breathe...love...fuck...breed...that was even touching Cloud.
The first time he had experienced it he had nearly gone mad. In fact, he thought he had for a short time-being. The first time he had let himself succumb to it he had ended up knotting the petite blond like some animal.
Since then he had learned to control the need. To prevent himself from succumbing to his nature, but every time that smell filled his nostrils he felt like a shark in chum water. Cloud shuttered against him, and a new wave of that smell washed over him. Zack watched his own irises extending across his sclera as he felt his teeth turn sharp in the reflection of those blue eyes.
His tongue pushed into his mouth, tasting that need as he didn't want to think about Hojo, or Sephiroth. Zack just wanted it to go back to the way things were. When he was trailing after Cloud after his classes. When he was bringing him coffee. When he didn't know anything about heats or Omegas.
Cloud's fingers pushed desperately down between them, and Zack nipped along his chin as fingers pushed down his zipper. Thin hips lifted as Zack grabbed at the waistband of his pants, pulling them down passed his hips before kissing him again.
"I missed you," Zack managed, cupping Cloud's face as he kissed him, fingers going between the other's legs and moaning at the wetness he found already coating his thighs.
Cloud nodded in agreement, hands trailing down his back and pulling him closer. "We can do it," he told him.
Zack smiled down at him, biting back a moan as a hand wrapped around his cock. "Yeah Spike, figured that was kind of the point."
The blond smiled at him, kissing him as his strokes sped up. "I meant...I meant…." Zack shut his eyes in pleasure as a thumb slid along the slit. "Mate."
A possessive growl ripped through his chest at that, and Cloud's scent shifted to one of nervous fear. "What does that mean for you?" Zack questioned, pulling back. "Because...you know…" He tried to stammer out, hard to do with how his hard cock was now sliding against the Omegas sloppy thighs.
Cloud clung to him at that, legs spreading as he pulled him close. "I know," he said. "I know what it would mean. It doesn't matter what I should have been. It matters that I found you." Cloud shifted, and the SOLDIER moaned as the tip of his cock pressed against that wetness. "Take the decision away."
It was like ice water had been poured down his back. He felt his teeth retract as he forced himself out of the overwhelming need that was his scent...his very being. Pain overwhelmed his senses as he stiffened against the blond.
"No…" Cloud begged, obviously sensing the hesitation. "Zack, whatever you're thinking. I didn't mean it like that. Please just…." He hurt for him as Cloud was obviously in pain.
"It's not me baby," he breathed, feeling a tear slide down his cheek as he shakily kissed him, reaching between them to draw Cloud's hand away from his trembling member, painfully hard by this point even as his world was crashing around him. "I wish it was." He had never been the real choice.
Pain actually etched through his spine as his Alpha senses were screaming at him to rut Cloud into the bed as he pulled back and yanked up his pants.
"No," Cloud demanded, a tremble of pain in his tone as he sat up, but Zack backed away off the bed before he could grab for him. "No. I chose you. I always chose you."
Zack shut his eyes, wanting to take back what he had said the moment it left his mouth. But he couldn't. How could he when he knew just what was at stake? He was Sephiroth's other half. He would complete the man, and give at least one of them some scrap of happiness and peace. Some sense of belonging. "I know you did Spike. But…"
"No!" Cloud screamed at him, standing up as he yanked up his pants. "You don't get to do this to me. I told you that I wanted you."
He wanted Cloud.
He loved him.
He ached for him every moment of the day.
He was his soulmate...regardless of whether or not he was actually Sephiroth's.
"I know you do, Cloud." He practically choked on the words. "But I don't want you...not anymore." The lies flowed through his lips like water, and he struggled not to choke on them. "He had you." Cloud would never leave him. He would stay out of obligation, and end up hurting so much more in the long run. "You're defective." He didn't want Cloud to hurt. He didn't want Sephiroth to hurt.
He just wanted to be the love of his life's hero.
"I'm not defective," Cloud argued, and Zack struggled with the need to tell him that he was perfect. That he was everything he ever wanted. "You're being cruel. Why?" Cloud questioned, always the intuitive trooper. "Because of him? Your friend?"
"You're my friend," Zack argued. "I will always be there for you. I'll help you through this."
"Yeah?" Cloud asked. "Well he told me I'm pregnant," he murmured, and Zack felt like the floor had dropped out from underneath him. "So how are you going to help with that?"
"Pregnant?" Zack's mind was reeling, not able to process what he was hearing as he just wanted to go back to Wutai. He wanted to go back to the Shinra dorms where they would eat popcorn and study for Cloud's materia finals.
He wanted to have never come to this god forsaken town.
Zack felt numb as he watched the pain on his lover's face. "Is it mine?"
Cloud's mouth set in a stern frown. "He seems to think it's his, but then again...he thinks a lot of things are his." His hand went to his belly, and Zack's hand hyper focused in on it, inhaling deeply as he realized the way the blond's scent had changed. It was earthier, like rosemary and lavender.
"Were you...tested?" His mind was trying to wrap around what this could mean. He had been with Cloud so many times. They hadn't used protection...but why would they?
"I don't think so, but I've spent the last couple days in various states of unconsciousness, so who knows." Cloud shrugged his shoulders. "I don't even know if it's true." He stepped closer. "Is what you said true? Do you just want to be friends?"
He'd take what he could get. He'd sacrifice if it meant Cloud would be happy.
"You don't want to be my friend?" he found himself asking, voice hollow as he couldn't take his eyes off the trooper's stomach.
Cloud's eyes were hard, following his gaze. "We're not going to be friends, Zack. But I won't fight you if you don't want to be with me. I can see I'm making you miserable."
"You don't make me miserable," Zack denied. "And if it's our baby...that's such a weird statement." Zack gave a shaky laugh.
"If it's our baby, what?" Cloud questioned. "You'll be with me?" He asked.
"Of course I'll be with you," Zack said without hesitation, not imagining a world without him.
"Then it's yours," Cloud stated, shaking his head. "It's yours." He walked forward, and Zack grunted as he was shoved against the wall. "If it exists...then it's yours. You idiot."
Cloud lunged towards him, and Zack caught him mid leap as those legs wrapped around him, slamming him up against the wall as they kissed.
Zack kissed him roughly, losing all sense of reason as he became lost in the pulse that Cloud seemed to send out. He worked frantically at his pants, yanking them back down before swallowing up those cries of need.
Somehow he managed to get his pants down enough to position himself as they kissed, pushing into that ungodly heat and wetness as he threw his head back as his teeth elongated again.
He fucked him up against the wall, feeling like he was losing his mind as he thrust into that wetness. Cloud's legs tightened around him as he pounded into the body that was made for him, regardless of who it actually was made for.
"I love you," he managed, swallowing up the cries of pleasure as his hands came up under those hips to hoist him up higher to get the angle as they kissed.
Cloud threw his head back, and Zack used the opportunity to kiss along that perfect jaw, feeling that overwhelming need filling him that always did when he was with Cloud. That need that he always fought against to his core.
"Do it," Cloud managed, and Zack's eyes were wild when he met blue as his Omega's eyes were practically glowing. Cloud screamed as thrust hard inside him, and Zack felt pleasure he had rarely felt before as he cock swelled and he felt his need push inside the other, and at the same time Cloud's dull teeth latched onto his neck and bit hard.
A growl ripped through his chest as the bite shocked his very system, and his hands ripped at the blond spikes that refused to relent as he came inside him to the point he wanted to pass out. He felt a stickiness on his stomach as Cloud came over and over again just as he leaned down to bite.
The unsheathing sound was his first warning before the steel was pressed against his throat. A hand fisted in his hair and yanked back as a growl reverberated through the air. "Bite him, and I'll slit your throat from ear to ear."
Sephiroth.
The voice was practically inhuman in its rage, and Zack grunted as he was yanked back hard, his knot ripping out of Cloud and causing the other to scream in pain. Zack reacted, pants halfway down as he pulled them up, spinning at the same time as he came down with a kick towards Sephiroth's face, sending him flying through the wall as the pillars in the mansion began to quake.
His neck was bleeding, and he felt high in a way he never had before as endorphins raced through his blood. He should be with Cloud basking in what they had just done...whatever they had just done.
"What are you doing here?" Zack growled right back, feeling his mind begin to be takem back over by the rage he had felt with Genesis in Wutai.
"What am I doing here?" Sephiroth questioned, flexing the Masamune as his eyes were glowing aqua. "What did you think? That after he woke up after having to be drugged back into sanity that you should fuck him?"
"Sephiroth stop!" Cloud barked, and Zack smelled the blood from being ripped apart from him.
"He wants me to stop," Sephiroth said with amusement. "My Omega."
"I'm not," Cloud snapped back. "I'm not. Screw destiny, Sephiroth. Do you want to just be his pawn!?"
"Why not?" Sephiroth questioned right back, wiping at his bloody lip from Zack's kick. "I've been Shinra's pawn my entire life."
"Sephiroth," Zack tried. "We'll figure this out. We don't have to do this."
"Zachary," Sephiroth started with disgust. "He's my soulmate...of course we have to do this."
Zack shut his eyes, trying to get control of his rage that was telling him to rip out his best friend's throat. He visibly trembled as he tried to get his body under control. "No, we don't. We shouldn't be here. This place is evil." He opened his eyes, his irises back to normal. "We just have to get him home."
"Then what?" Sephiroth questioned. "We do what we did before? I screw him behind your back?"
He flinched at the thought of them together. He cringed at the prospect of how many times they could have possibly been sneaking around behind his back. "We'll figure it out. I don't want to lose you, but I won't lose him."
"I have no qualms about losing you for him, Zachary. You must know it's inevitable." Sephiroth explained. "You fight your instincts far too much."
"My instincts?" Zack questioned, putting up his hands to fight. "They're telling me to not let you near him. They're telling me that we should all run. We should all run and get away from this nightmare Seph!" Zack motioned with his arm. "Come with us! We'll go!"
"The only place we're going is to the reactor." Sephiroth assured him, cold rage on his face. "Cloud, get dressed. Vincent is going to take us up the mountain."
Cloud stood up, wincing in pain, and Zack saw the blood splattered along the floor from where he had unwillingly hurt him. "Who's Vincent?" he questioned, and Zack could see the way his thighs were trembling at the way Sephiroth hadn't stopped growling.
"Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to?" Sephiroth asked back, glancing to Zack. "It's not his place to know our secrets."
"My place?" Zack questioned, voice incredulous. "And what about your place, Seph? You were my friend! You were like a brother to me and you slept with him!"
"Yes," Sephiroth admitted without hesitation. He shrugged. "He's going to be my mate."
Zack growled, the red surrounding his vision again as he knew logically he didn't stand a chance against Sephiroth with a sword. Hell, he would hardly stand a chance against Sephiroth normally.
"Let's get one thing straight between us Sephiroth, why don't we?" Zack question, teeth gritting as another pulse of rage coursed through him. "We may both want him, but it's ultimately his decision, isn't it? He's not your goddamn property."
"No," a voice agreed, and Zack glanced over to see a man with long dark hair dressed in a dark suit. "He isn't anyone's property. Stop acting like animals, the both of you."
Zack glanced at the obvious Turk, raising an eyebrow. "Vincent I assume?"
"You assume correct," Vincent supplied. "Now stop acting like children. With Cloud awake, and Sephiroth so insistent on looking into the abyss, we need to get going now."
"What's at the reactor?" Cloud questioned, and Zack noticed how he was rubbing at his stomach, his face pale and in pain.
"Hell," Vincent supplied. "Damnation. Answers I suppose, if you want to prioritize."
"We're going," Sephiroth stated.
"Sephiroth," Zack started. "I don't know man, setting aside the shit show happening between us...when someone describes a place as hell and damnation it doesn't really make me want to go."
"Are there answers?" Cloud questioned, shrugging. "More answers that is."
Vincent hummed an agreement. "Suppose there is. If those are the kinds of answers you want. I'm tired of lying to you, Cloud. If Sephiroth insists, then I will trust his judgement with you."
"Why?" Cloud asked, voice sounding hollow and far away.
"Because he's your mate," Vincent supplied. "There's so much you don't know. So much that he took away."
"Hojo?" Cloud asked, brows furrowed. "How do you know so much about this?"
"We're connected," Vincent answered. "Through our children."
A bolt of shock went through him as he looked between Vincent and Sephiroth. "Children, does that mean?"
"Vincent Valentine," Hojo's voice came from the doorway. "You talk too much." The scientist stepped in surrounded by troopers, and just behind him Genesis and Angeal stood in the doorway. "Boys...you have been naughty."
"Hojo...you lied!" Cloud spoke up, and Hojo laughed at the expression.
"Did I?" he mused. "I suppose I did. But you aren't exactly innocent, are you Cloud?" He motioned behind him. "Get in the helicopter waiting outside. Get in now, and I won't take away all of the things you love." Hojo pressed the glasses up and passed his nose. "Get in now, and I will finally give you those truths you've been seeking...my child."
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