Final Fantasy VII
Stuck On You
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters aren't mine and the story is! This takes place on Gaia, before my Twilight and Dawn stories. Sephiroth is still technically insane here, but far more sane than in the original game and the movie. In this timeline, the development he seemed to be having in the first three Dissidia games has started to have a profound effect on him and his true self is emerging much more often.
Cloud groaned, holding a hand to his head as he tried to push himself up on the alley sidewalk of Edge. What . . . had happened? Something about trying to make deliveries and Sephiroth had shown up right at that moment. Then something on Fenrir had exploded in a shower of light.
Now, as he tried to sit up, it immediately became obvious that he was gripping something in his right hand. Another hand? He could feel fingers gripping his hand too.
Oh no. It can't be.
He looked over with a jerk. Indeed, his hand was somehow entwined with Sephiroth's hand. And no matter how he tried to pry his fingers loose, he could not.
"Sephiroth!" he yelled in bewildered frustration. "What's going on?!"
Sephiroth stirred, pushing himself into a sitting position as he studied their awkward problem. "Hm. I can't seem to release you, Cloud," he remarked.
"What do you mean you can't?!" Cloud shot back. "Stop playing around and let me go!"
Sephiroth tugged, but his fingers would not uncurl. "Whatever we were hit with seems to have glued us together." He smirked. "It's really not that bad, is it?"
"Of course it's that bad!" Cloud yelled. "It's worse! We can't go strolling up the street like this!" He jerked his hand, causing Sephiroth to jerk too.
"Well, we can, but it'll cause a stir." Sephiroth gave a wicked smirk. "I wouldn't mind seeing what everyone would say to us holding hands."
"I would!" Cloud shot back. He tried again more violently to pull free and instead ended up whirled backwards, crashing on Sephiroth's back, and sending them both to the ground again. Sephiroth grunted, but he sounded more amused than in pain.
"Can't you fix this?!" Cloud demanded.
"I don't know how it was done," Sephiroth said. "I might make it worse if I just try to reverse it without knowing."
"You probably just want me to be stuck here like this," Cloud fumed.
"I'd much rather hold you in my arms than be wearing you," Sephiroth smirked.
"Seph-i-roth!" Cloud could feel he was completely red.
"Now, even though this isn't unpleasant, perhaps you should get down now?" Sephiroth said mildly.
Cloud snorted. He rolled off of Sephiroth's back, landing next to him on the ground. "So what are we going to do?" he asked.
"Let's locate the object that did this," Sephiroth said. "There may be an inscription on it that explains what happened and what can be done. Alternately, we can talk to the person who ordered it. Who did, by the way?"
Cloud exhaled sharply in frustration. "I don't know. I'll have to look at the package."
"Alright then. Let's get up. On three?" Cloud grunted in agreement and Sephiroth counted down. On three, they both tried to kneel up on the ground and then get to their feet, using their free hands to support themselves on the alley walls.
It didn't take too much to find the fallen urn and the packaging it had come in. The packaging was in tatters, but the urn seemed to be intact despite the explosion.
Cloud glowered at it. "I don't see any inscription."
"It looks like there was one, but it's mostly worn away," Sephiroth said. "Perhaps if we rub a piece of paper over it, it can pick up enough of the words that we can still make it out." He glanced at the packaging. "Meanwhile, this looks like confetti. Piecing it together to discover the buyer will be much more difficult. Don't you have a list of orders that we could use to narrow down which one this is?"
"I know no one told me they ordered an urn," Cloud scowled. "So they didn't tell me what was in the package. Which is pretty weird just by itself." He sighed. "I picked up a bunch of stuff from the antique mall that different people had put on hold. Maybe they could tell us who ordered the thing if we can't figure it out from the list." He scowled more. "And of course, it looks like my list blew up along with the packaging. I have a back-up at home, though. . . ."
"Very well." Sephiroth nodded thoughtfully. "We're close to 7th Heaven, so why don't we pick up your other order list and see what we can come up with?"
Cloud stiffened in horror. "I can't let Tifa see us like this!"
Sephiroth's smirk only widened. "Can't you just explain that we were the victims of an unfortunately exploding vase rather than that we're on a date?"
Cloud's free hand closed into a fist. "I feel like punching you right now," he groused.
"I'd only dodge," Sephiroth replied. "And you'd probably faceplant on the ground. Far less dignified than innocently holding hands with me."
Cloud snorted. ". . . Why are you affected by this anyway?" he asked as Sephiroth bent to retrieve the urn. "I mean, I thought weird magic doesn't work on you."
"It usually doesn't," Sephiroth admitted.
"So don't you find it pretty weird that this time it did?" Cloud said.
"It is curious, isn't it," Sephiroth mused. He straightened, holding the vase.
"But you're not that bothered," Cloud scowled.
"Not particularly," Sephiroth said.
"Figures." Cloud surveyed Fenrir with the rest of the packages. "I hate leaving all this here," he frowned.
"Well, you surely realize we can't ride it right now," Sephiroth said.
"Of course I realize!" Cloud snapped. "It'd be a safety hazard for everybody. We'll have to walk. And we'll have to stick to the alleys. I'm not going to be seen like this, with you!"
"Chances are we'll be caught anyway, but fine, Cloud. Have it your way," Sephiroth smirked.
"Ugh." Cloud rolled his eyes and started forward, tugging on Sephiroth's hand. "Come on then."
Sephiroth quite agreeably went.
The alleys were thankfully mostly empty. Aside from stray cats, they didn't encounter anyone until they arrived back at 7th Heaven. Cloud pulled them to the back door and quietly eased it open. "I don't see anyone," he whispered. "Maybe we can just go in the back hall and up to my office before anybody sees."
"Then lead on, Cloud," Sephiroth said with a calm shrug.
Cloud scowled, pushing the door open more as he stepped inside and tugged Sephiroth with him. As they headed down the hall, he tried desperately to keep his mind on the situation at hand and not on . . . other things. As Sephiroth moved his hand, Cloud of course felt the movement. Why did it give him a bit of a thrill, even as a chill ran down his spine at the same moment?
He shut his eyes, willing the feelings to stop. He hated thinking about it, thinking how ungodly, unequivocally awkward it felt, how . . . he didn't entirely hate it.
He had idolized Sephiroth so much before everything had gone so wrong. Then there had been hate, so much hate. Perfectly reasonable, justified hate. And yet . . . underneath it all . . . something else. Something more. The reason why Cloud couldn't stand for Sephiroth to keep coming back into his life. It hurt too much. It hurt because . . . because . . .
"Cloud?! What are you doing?!"
Caught. In horror, Cloud snapped his eyes open. Tifa was standing at the other end of the hall, her hands on her hips.
Sephiroth, of course, took it all in stride. "Hello," he greeted Tifa with a wide smirk. "We have a slight problem here."
"Well, you don't seem to think it's a problem," Tifa retorted. "What is it, exactly?" And why are you in here?!
"This stupid vase blew up or something and glued our hands together with magic," Cloud said harshly. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's what happened. We came in here to see if we could read the inscription on it and get my back-up order list to figure out who ordered the thing."
Tifa sighed. "Oh, is that all?"
"All?!" Cloud shot back. "Our hands are stuck together!"
"I can think of worse things that could be happening," Tifa said. "Sephiroth bringing you back beaten half to death after you were kidnapped was a lot worse!"
Cloud's shoulders slumped. "You're right," he muttered. "Sorry."
Tifa shook her head and gestured at the stairs. "Go on up and do what you need to do. But stay away from the kids' room!" She gave Sephiroth a stern look.
Sephiroth just shrugged. "I go where Cloud goes," he said with mock solemnity.
"Come on!" Cloud growled, pulling Sephiroth towards the stairs.
Upstairs in Cloud's office, Cloud pulled out a piece of blank paper. "Here," he snapped. "Start rubbing it."
Sephiroth moved to take the pencil and paused. "Do you find it interesting that it's our dominant hands stuck together?" he mused. "I'm fairly ambidextrous, but technically I am left-handed."
"I don't find it interesting," Cloud retorted. "Just another way to make this mess even more awkward."
Smirking, Sephiroth started rubbing the paper over the spot on the urn where it looked like the inscription was. Cloud tensely watched and waited.
"Here's something," Sephiroth broke into his thoughts. "It looks like it says 'When two people with complicated feelings for each other meet at this vase, it will overload with magic. The resulting effects will be based on the people's true feelings for each other.'"
"Oh come on!" Cloud burst out. "Does it really say that?!"
Sephiroth held up the etchings. "Look for yourself, Cloud."
Cloud read the text in utter horror. "… So it's basically saying we wanted our hands stuck together?! It's crazy! There has to be a way to fix this that makes sense!"
"Do complicated feelings ever make sense?" Sephiroth quipped.
"You wanted to be a god, so do something!" Cloud screamed.
"Really, Cloud?" This both highly intrigued and amused his enemy. "You're saying you'd trust me to unleash my full power in this situation?"
Cloud was further in horror at that. He couldn't just let Sephiroth release all of his Safer powers. But . . . what could they do?
". . . Here's the order list," he growled, pulling it out from his desk. "Let's go back to Fenrir and match the list up with all the other orders. The one that's missing will be the one who ordered this stupid thing."
"A logical solution," Sephiroth nodded. "And I wonder what we'll do if that person doesn't know how to fix this either?"
"Don't even think about it," Cloud snapped. "They'll know!" He turned, storming towards the door.
Sephiroth swiftly followed.
And then . . . one of Cloud's worst nightmares.
"Hello. Who are you?"
Cloud froze in horror. Marlene was standing in the hall outside the room, looking curiously at Sephiroth.
Sephiroth's eyes were dancing with mirth. "I'm . . . a friend of Cloud's," he said.
Cloud clenched his teeth behind closed lips. At least Sephiroth hadn't said boyfriend.
Marlene didn't look convinced. "Really? Cloud looks pretty mad." She looked to Cloud.
"Our hands are stuck together," Cloud explained. "We're trying to figure out how to fix it."
"Oh. Yeah, you were yelling about it pretty loud," Marlene said.
"Everything's okay, Marlene," Cloud said. "Just go find Tifa and see what you can do to help downstairs, alright?"
"Okay." Marlene looked to Sephiroth. "It's nice to meet you," she said, and skipped off.
Cloud sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"That was interesting," Sephiroth remarked.
"Not the word I'd choose," Cloud shot back. "You're just lucky she was too young to remember any glimpses she might have had of you in the past. If you'd said your name, she wouldn't have been so polite."
"Hm," said Sephiroth. "Yes, I thought as much."
"Let's just hurry and go before we run into Denzel too," Cloud groused. "He wouldknow you by sight."
To his relief, Sephiroth nodded. "We don't need that complication," he agreed.
Thankfully, they escaped without being seen again and quickly made their way back to Fenrir, which was still safe. It didn't take long to find the missing name among the orders. With that news, Cloud grabbed his phone and dialed.
"Hello?" came the voice Cloud had spoken with earlier.
"Hey," Cloud greeted. "This is Cloud Strife. I've got your package, but something went wrong with it. I ran into this person I know and the thing exploded with magic. It's fine, but now our hands are stuck together. Do you know how to fix it?"
The man laughed in delighted surprise. "So it does work as the legends said! How fascinating."
". . . You knew it could do this and you didn't warn me?!" Anger flashed through Cloud's eyes.
"Well, I hardly expected you to run across someone who would activate it! Who is this person? An old enemy, perhaps?"
"Yeah," Cloud said, giving Sephiroth a black look.
"Then perhaps they're much more than that! It does say 'people with complicated feelings'! Really, you've had the power to undo it all along. Admitting all of your feelings should be enough to do it. That, or if your feelings change."
". . . There's no other way?!" Cloud demanded.
"There could be, but I'm not aware of it!" the client replied.
Cloud switched his black look to the phone. "You're not getting your order until this is fixed," he snapped. "And maybe not even then. This thing's dangerous." And he hung up without so much as a Goodbye.
Sephiroth was still smirking at him. "Really, Cloud, you'll spoil your reputation if you don't follow through with all your orders."
"This thing shouldn't be available to be ordered anyway," Cloud retorted. "It's not like it's a harmless flower vase or something."
"Well, regardless, what do you suggest we do?" Sephiroth asked.
"The thing's obviously broke," Cloud said. "You know all of my feelings for you. I've never made it a secret."
"And I likewise have been completely honest with you," Sephiroth replied. "Yet we're still stuck together. What do you think that means?" He started to lean in closer. "Perhaps . . . there's something else, something you haven't said?"
"There's nothing else!" Cloud snapped. "You know I idolized you in the past. You know I hate you now. That's all I'll ever feel for you from now on."
"I seem to recall you saying you pitied me," Sephiroth remarked. "Is that still true?"
Cloud looked away. He was angry enough right now that he didn't want to admit it, but finally he nodded. "Yeah, it's still true."
"And we're still stuck." Sephiroth tugged on his fingers. "You know, if this goes on for very long, it's going to get far more awkward."
Cloud went completely red again. How well he knew. Eating, personal hygiene, sleeping. . . .
"Maybe if we took our gloves off," he said in desperation, despite knowing how stupid it sounded.
"To do that, we'd first have to unlock our fingers," Sephiroth replied. "I am unable to even do that."
". . . Well, what about your feelings?!" Cloud spat. "Maybe you haven't said everything about how you feel!"
"I have, though," Sephiroth said. "I've been completely sincere about everything, including what I told you earlier."
Cloud averted his gaze. ". . . I don't like forced confessions," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have to say anything I'm not ready to say just because some magic says I have to."
"You're right, Cloud," Sephiroth replied. "You shouldn't."
And just like that, their hands came free.
Cloud started, staring as his fingers slipped through Sephiroth's. "What . . . ?!" He looked up at Sephiroth with a jerk. "Was it you all along?" he demanded. "Are you really the one who caused this?!"
"No," Sephiroth insisted. "It was the vase. But . . ." A smirk, more sad than cheeky. "I delighted in holding hands with you. I can't deny that I hoped you might have felt something too."
Cloud frowned a bit, looking down at his hand.
"The man said our feelings changing could separate us as well," Sephiroth continued. "I didn't want you to feel backed into a corner. My will overrode the vase's. If you ever choose to be with me and to tell me the rest of your feelings, it should be because it's fully your choice and no one's or nothing else's. I will wait for that day, perhaps foolishly." He turned away. "Goodbye, Cloud."
Cloud looked up, still frowning, and then back at his hand. It should feel a relief to be rid of this insane situation. Instead, even though he was still wearing a glove . . . why did his hand feel so cold?
"Sephiroth . . ." His voice caught in his throat. "Why were you in the alley today?"
Sephiroth paused. "I was just taking a walk," he said. "But I'll admit I was hoping I'd see you, Cloud." Still with the smirk. He turned away, resuming his departure.
Cloud stared after him.
Don't go. I don't want you to go.
But he couldn't say that.
He didn't.
