Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy VII: Angelic Threnody	By : DarkSeraphim1 Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1315 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core, Before Crisis, or Dirge of Cerberus. I do not profit from the writing and/or posting of this fic. I am just a humble fan paying tribute to another's wonderful creations.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter Sixteen
       ‘My friend, your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess. Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.’ -Loveless, ACT III
            Genesis stood at the peak of Da Chao, his pale blue eyes shining as he smiled with satisfaction. The wind, which had blown gently during this morning’s battle, now lashed at him with sharp talons of rapidly cooling air. It lifted the hem of his scarlet duster away from his leather-clad legs and sent short ribbons of auburn fire dancing across his mako-enhanced vision.
            He barely noticed the changing weather as he gazed down at Wutai’s main city, which had nearly become a part of the battlefield when the Wutaian insurgents had tried to withdraw into it. Luckily, Lord Godo had kept to the treaty they had recently signed and had sent his own personal guard in to keep them beyond the city limits. Only a handful of rebels had survived the attack, circling the city to retreat into the Da Chao mountains, hoping to hide within the many tunnels and caves that wove their way through the sacred site.
            Genesis chuckled softly to himself at the memory. As pissed as he’d been when Godo had refused to send his troops into what the Wutaian’s considered holy ground, he found himself thankful for the old monarch’s foolishness. He and his men—hated Shrina soldiers all—had found the rebels camped out here, their hiding spot little more than an enclave at the back of Da Chao’s massive head. They had captured the five most important members of the rebellion, and two who were even considered to be royalty in their small, backwater territories.
            Goddess, but he couldn’t wait to tell Sephiroth! Genesis thought with excitement. His exile may have begun in disgrace, but it was going to end with distinction. He had managed to quell what had been a rather large rebellion, capturing its leaders, and had even managed to save Captain Lowell, the 2nd Class Soldier who had been kidnapped two weeks ago. Hell, even the renovations on the garrison were going quickly, so quickly that it might be matter of days, rather than weeks, before he was allowed to return to Midgar.
            “All hail the conquering hero,” he murmured to himself, his smile widening into a grin. He’d finally done it. He had finally shown the world that Sephiroth wasn’t Shinra’s only hero. Now, the spotlight would be on him, the way that it should have been from the very begin--
            Genesis winced at the directions his thoughts had taken. Damn it, he fucking hated it when he did this. He knew better than anyone how much Sephiroth hated the label of ‘hero’. He had never seen himself as anything but a SOLDIER following orders, and he’d never been comfortable with the adulation he’d received for doing so. He didn’t consider himself worthy of such a title, even though millions of people around Gaia believed otherwise. Even he believed that Sephiroth was a hero, even if that belief had sometimes put them at odds.
            He drew a deep breath and buried his jealousy as deep as he could, knowing that it was completely unwarranted, and that it would hurt Sephiroth if he ever revealed it. Seph didn’t deserve that. The Goddess knew, he had been hurt enough in his life without Genesis adding to it like that.
            And Gods, Sephiroth was going to be so damned proud of him. He knew that without question. Sephiroth had always encouraged him to better himself, had sparred with him endlessly to that end, unshakable in his belief that Genesis could someday be his equal on the battlefield, if only he tried hard enough.
            And there was nothing that Genesis’ wanted more. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life standing in Sephiroth’s shadow. He wanted his chance to shine, to show not only Sephiroth but the world exactly how much he was worth.
            Genesis sighed heavily as his thoughts continued to chase themselves around the same useless manner. Sephiroth was his lover; Sephiroth loved him. And as much as he cared about him in return, he couldn’t deny that he hoped to one day best him in battle. He wanted to strike down the world’s most powerful man, and bask in his defeat by fucking him senseless where he fell. Sadly, he could already do the fucking, but he was a long way from pulling off the defeating part of the fantasy.
            Fuck, he thought wearily. He was damned tired of competing with Sephiroth. Why couldn’t he win, just once, so that he could put an end to this stupid, childish dream? Was it really so much to ask of Fate, that he be allowed to thoroughly trounce the man he loved just one measly time--
            Oh, shit.
            Azure eyes widened dramatically as rose-colored lips parted on a gasp. He didn’t know how long he stood there, his mako-blue eyes no longer seeing the untamed beauty of his surroundings, his lithe body still as realization stole his ability to do more than breathe.
            “No,” he whispered at last, the single word a plea, if not an outright denial. He didn’t—he couldn’t—love Sephiroth. The man was overbearing, intractable, patronizing, insufferable, domineering, beautiful, sexy, loving, gentle, and-and. . .
            Oh, fucking hell!
            The next few hours passed in mercifully rapid blur of motion. Genesis barely remembered the trip back to Kenji, or the brief audience he’d been granted with Lord Godo before that. His oh-so-important visitors had been exchanged for a new, hopefully ironclad treaty, before they’d been given safe passage back to the Shinra garrison. Not that he’d been worried about another attack. His men could handle anything Wutai threw their way, legendary warriors or not.
            Genesis sent his report via satellite transmission to Midgar, his smile uncharacteristically vague as Lazard congratulated him on a job well done. Nightfall found Genesis in his plain, rather ugly temporary quarters. He lay back on his lumpy cot and contemplated the stunning revelation he’d been given that day, unable to think of anything else. He loved Sephiroth. He was fucking in love with him. When the hell had it happened? he asked himself with bewilderment. He’d been so fucking careful, never giving too much of himself, always holding back just enough to guarantee that he kept his sense of self. And now this.
            For fuck’s sake, he had spent six years fighting the man, both in and out of the bedroom, for control of their tumultuous friendship. His heart should have been locked away, safe from a man who wanted nothing more than to own him, body and soul. For all of his indomitable self-control, Sephiroth didn’t know how to hold himself back when it came to them. For him, their relationship had always been all or nothing, only Genesis’ silent refusal to give him the same had kept him from taking Genesis over completely. He couldn’t let himself love Sephiroth. He’d lose everything that made him him if he did.
            He knew better than to think that Sephiroth would just let him go. Every time they’d separated, Sephiroth had found some way to remind him of what he was missing. Sometimes it had been by making veiled references to their times together across Lazard’s desk, others it was Sephiroth simply staring him down whenever they chanced to meet in Shinra’s crowded hallways. Occasionally, it would be in the VR Room, with Sephiroth showing off, looking both lethal and beautiful, as he kicked the shit out of he and Angeal.
            But the worst reminders had always come when Sephiroth finally stopped being subtle. He would plunge a black-gloved hand into that shimmering silver fall of hair, wherever they happened to be, and run his long, deft fingers through it again and again like a fucking caress. Genesis would always be forced to stand there and watch, hating him, unable to look away as his own fascination held him spellbound. Sephiroth would merely look at him, a smirk buried in the depths of those accursedly beautiful silver-green eyes, his expression carefully, utterly blank.
            And he’d never been able to hold out long after that, Genesis thought with a groan. Those godsdamned dreams would start again, the same ones he’d had all those years ago when they were still friends, and his own need would force him back to Sephiroth. The other man was always waiting, the smugness gone as though it had never been, and the cycle would begin again.
            Not this time, Genesis told himself firmly. He would explain to Sephiroth that he wasn’t mad at him, make sure the other man knew that he’d done nothing wrong. He’d ask for time apart, time to sort out his own confused feelings, and Sephiroth would give it to him, because he loved him.
            Fuck, but this was going to hurt!
            A quiet ring sounded in the too-quiet room, and Genesis hesitated as he reached for his phone. It would be Sephiroth, he knew, calling to congratulate him on his victory, and to tell him how much he missed him. He couldn’t talk to him, not now, not after the decision he’d just made. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them, and it just might weaken his resolve. He needed time to prepare, to harden his heart against not only Sephiroth’s pain, but his own.
            “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his azure eyes never leaving the phone as it finally fell silent. “I have to do this, Seph. Please, try to understand.”
            Only silence met his words, and Genesis swallowed thickly, wishing for the first time in his life that he had never heard of a silver-haired warrior named Sephiroth.
εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000уλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000

            Sephiroth gazed hungrily at the large monitor, staying well out of the way, as Genesis gave Lazard a detailed report of his progress in the restoration of the Kenji garrison. Genesis looked exhausted, dark circles spreading out under his vivid azure eyes, but a haughty smile played on his wide, oh-so-kissable lips, and Sephiroth found that he could not look away. Tired or not, Genesis was obviously proud of what he had accomplished in the few short weeks he’d been in Wutai.
            As well he should be, Sephiroth thought with a rush of bittersweet emotion. Even though this mission had been little more than a badly disguised exile, Genesis had managed to turn it into a triumph, one which President Shinra could not ignore. Already, a press conference had been scheduled for this weekend, when Genesis was due to return. A large, very public party would be held to celebrate the Scarlet General’s stunning success in ending the Wutaian rebellion, and Sephiroth couldn’t be happier for the other man.
            This kind of recognition, and the fame that would accompany it, were what Genesis had always wanted. He would now be in the spotlight, all eyes on him, feeding his ingrained need to be the center of attention. For a time, he would become Shinra’s “golden boy”, and Sephiroth could only hope it would be enough to make him happy.
            Their relationship, however, didn’t seem to have survived this latest separation. Genesis had called him his first two nights in Wutai, and that had been it. There had been no more calls, no letters, not even a casual greeting when Genesis contacted Lazard. The other First had cut off all contact with him, and Sephiroth was smart enough to know what that meant. Had he any doubt, it had been banished as soon as he learned that Genesis still talked to Angeal every day without fail. Their friend didn’t seem to realize that anything was wrong, which meant that Genesis had not confided in him, so Sephiroth maintained his silence as well. Whatever was going through his love’s head would have to wait until he himself chose to reveal it.
            The monitor blinked off as Genesis severed communications, and Sephiroth released a carefully controlled breath. As tired as Genesis had looked, he had seen no signs of the degradation he had so dreaded seeing. He would ask Hollander to test for it when he gave Genesis his physical upon his return, but he didn’t expect anything to come of it.
            No, he knew why Genesis was distancing himself, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Genesis had obviously come to regret the rash decision he had made to reveal their relationship, and in light of the consequences, Sephiroth could not truly blame him. It hadn’t been Sephiroth who had been sent away but him, and Genesis’ career had always meant more to him than anything else, his feelings for Sephiroth included.
            Sephiroth pushed away from the wall, pausing beside Lazard’s chair. “Have you given my proposal any more thought?” he asked abruptly.
            The other man nodded, his blue eyes somber on his own. “The President,” he paused meaningfully for a moment, “is looking over it as we speak. After General Rhapsodos’ impressive performance in Wutai, he is reconsidering his position on the subject.”
            A small, pleased smile curved Sephiroth’s lips at that. He had pitched his plan to Lazard last week, even going so far as to hint that he would not be adverse to supporting a coup should he be denied. He had spoken to the board that very same afternoon, two days after losing contact with Genesis. While he might not be the most eloquent man on The Planet, he had made his wishes perfectly clear. He wanted to divide the command of SOLDIER between the four Firsts--he’d had to include Zack, to avoid any outcries of favoritism--while remaining under the direct command of Director Lazard. President Shinra had been resistant to the idea, at first, but with Genesis’ victory shining brightly for Shinra’s glory, it wouldn’t be long before the old man gave his assent.
            “Excellent,” he murmured, half to himself. “Thank you, for efforts in regards to this, Director. They are much appreciated.”
            “Of course, Sephiroth.” Lazard returned his smile with his usual caution, although a dark light appeared in those deep blue eyes. “I will contact you if I hear anything more on the subject. You’re dismissed, General.”
            Sephiroth inclined his head, nodded to Angeal, and Zack, and strode quickly from the room. There was nothing more to be done here, and he needed to be alone. His nerves were already frayed from the so far fruitless search for Kadaj and the boys, not to mention the hours of sleep he was losing every night as Hollander ran his tests. Then, there was his failure to protect Genesis from Shinra’s wrath.
            He should have put his foot down and refused the order to send his lover to Wutai. He knew that now. Instead, he had done as he always had in the past and capitulated to his employer’s wishes, and he had lost something irreplaceable in the process.
            Never again, he vowed to himself viciously. He owed Shinra nothing. They had treated him as one would a servant—or a weapon—his entire life. He had brought them glory and riches, and they had taken the only thing he cherished in return. He would have his way now, with or without President Shinra’s assent. After all, Shinra Electric Power Company would shortly find itself run by a new President.
            He made his through the building and locked himself in his office. He didn’t care if he was supposed to be available or not. SOLDIER would just have to survive without him for a few hours. He had a planet to save, whether Gaia, Jenova, or President Shinra wanted him to or not, and he would start with Rufus.
            He sat behind his desk, pulling his new, supposedly untraceable PHS out of his coat, and dialed. “Tseng, here.”
            “Commander Tseng,” he began without preamble. “I have called to request another meeting with the Vice President.”
            “General Sephiroth,” Tseng responded slowly, caution practically dripping from his every word. “As I told you this morning, this is a. . .most unusual request from a member of SOLDIER. The Vice President is hesitant to take such a request at face value.”
            “Is he?” Sephiroth smiled coldly to himself. “I’m on a secure line, Commander. Shall I give you the number and have you call me back?”
            “That would be most prudent, General.”
            Sephiroth gave him the number and ended the call, waiting with as much patience as he could muster to see if Tseng--or rather, Rufus--was finally ready to take things to the next phase. No more clandestine phone calls in the dead of night, each side skirting around the treason they were contemplating. He wanted a solid foundation upon which to begin building from, and he wanted it now.
            The phone rang, and he hit a button, lifting it to his ear. “I tire of these games, Tseng.”
            “Maybe, that’s because you never learned how to play them properly,” a smooth, mocking voice answered in return. “You need to learn patience, General. As a virtue, it has little to recommend it, but it tends to go a long way when dealing with me.”
            “Rufus,” he all but growled into the phone. “Have you finally come to a decision, then?”
            “I’m willing to meet with you,” Rufus replied, and Sephiroth could feel the smirk in his voice as he added, “on my terms, of course.”
            “Name them,” Sephiroth stated flatly.
            “Come to my apartment tonight. I’ll send Reno to escort you. Come unarmed, or you won’t be allowed inside. If my Turks see even a hint of silver that isn’t your ridiculously lovely hair, you’ll lose far more than the opportunity to speak with me. Is that clear, General?”
            “Perfectly,” Sephiroth responded, his own voice softening to the point that Cloud would have been terrified, had he been there to hear it, “so long as you understand that crossing me will result in a very unpleasant death and possible dismemberment beforehand. I will see you tonight.”
            Sephiroth closed the phone with a snap, a cruelly delighted smile lighting his angelic features, giving them a sinister cast. While he wasn’t quite the madman he had once been, he’d kept enough of those qualities that killing Rufus would be no strain on his conscience. He would do whatever was necessary to make things right, morality be damned.
εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000уλ2000εуλ2000εуλ2000
            “We’re in, yo!”
            Cloud looked up from the archive he’d been reading at the excited statement. He dropped the useless, painfully detailed transcript of one of Sephiroth’s early treatment sessions and jogged over to Reno. The newly-promoted Turk sat one a haphazard pile of boxes, a laptop opened on his legs. They had been searching for a way to break past Hojo’s firewall, which was completely separate from Shinra’s, for nearly three weeks. While Reno had played hacker, he himself had been going through Hojo’s earlier records, searching for anything that might lead him in the right direction. Although he had learned more than he had ever wanted to know about the torture Sephiroth had been put through as a child, he had found absolutely nothing to lead him to Kadaj.
            He carefully edged around a box beneath Reno’s legs to look at the screen. The red-head scrolled down, and what appeared to be thousands of files began rolling down the screen. “Damn!” he swore angrily. “It’s going take us years to get through them all.”
            “No, it’s not,” Reno assured him cheerfully. “Watch and learn, yo.”
            Cloud did as he was told and watched as Reno brought up a search window. He typed in the words ‘Jenova Sephiroth Clones Reunion’ and hit a button. The computer began to chime, until the window was filled with files, each one related to either Sephiroth or Jenova by title. There was even one marked ’Endangered Species’, and Cloud quickly pointed to it. “Make sure you get that one,” he said urgently. “I think that might have something to do with Nanaki.”
            “Who?” the Turk asked blankly.
            “Red XIII,” Cloud answered with exasperation.
            Reno raised both eyebrows in a surprised expression. “The fire-tailed cat that you and Avalanche broke out of the lab when you rescued little sister?” he asked incredulously. “Why would he be here? We’re searching for Jenova related stuff, yo.”
            “He wasn’t a cat,” Cloud returned impatiently, “but Hojo used Jenova cells on him, too. They just didn’t take.”
            “Lucky him. Shit, he’d still be here, wouldn’t he?” Reno dug into his pocket and pulled out several flash drives, sticking one into an open USB port. “Let’s get this party started. I want to get the fuck out of this library, yo. It gives me the creeps.”
            Cloud glanced around the room, which was full of boxes and book-laden shelves, and shivered. “Yeah, kind of reminds me of the basement in Shinra Mansion.”
            “Then, we definitely need to get the hell out of Dodge, yo.” A message appeared on-screen, indicating that the drive was full, and Reno traded it for another one. “I hope I brought enough of these, yo. I don’t want to have to do this, again. We might actually get caught next time.”
            “We might still be caught this time, numnuts.”
            “Kiss my ass, pretty-boy.”
            “In your dreams, Turk.” Cloud was surprised to find himself smiling as he traded insults with the other man. He and Reno had never gotten along. They’d had too many differences, clashed too many times as adversaries, to be friends. Or so he’d believed. He was slowly discovering that there was a lot more to Reno than met the eye, even if he did still annoy the hell out him on occasion. “Reno, can I ask you a personal question?”
            “Shoot,” Reno said with a typically easy smile.
            Turk humor, Cloud thought as he rolled his eyes. “What’s with you and Rufus?” he asked, his feline features turning somber. “What do you see in him that would make you come back in time for him?”
            The smile vanished as Reno shrugged and looked back at the screen. “He’s not a bad guy, once you get to know him. And besides, what makes you think I‘m here for him?”
            But. . .” Cloud frowned at that. “I thought that you and he were, you know, together?”
            “We were, for a while there.” Reno set up another flash drive, his blue-green eyes never leaving the screen. “Maybe, I came back for another shot at His Royal Hotness. Did you ever think of that?”
            Cloud snorted. “Yeah, like one concussion wasn’t enough for you.”
            “Bite me, Strife.” Reno sighed suddenly, the sound heavy, and turned his head to lock gazes with him. “You saw what Rufus was like last year, didn’t you? It wasn’t the ‘Stigma. Diamond Weapon nearly killed him, yo. Two years later and he could barely walk, let alone do anything else. The worst part was that he wouldn’t let anyone close to him. He fucking broke it off with me, and he started treating me like just another employee. After everything I’d done for him, he just dumped me, like I was fucking worthless or something. I’m not going to let that happen again, yo. I going to save him if it’s the last fucking thing that I do.”
            Cloud gazed at him for a moment longer before nodding curtly. “Save my boyfriend, save Sephiroth’s boyfriend, save your boyfriend, save the world. I got it, yo.”
            Reno laughed at that, unable to help himself. “You’re an asshole, yo.”
            “I’ve been called worse,” Cloud assured him wryly.
            “I bet you have,” Reno snickered. “So, my turn. What was so damned special about Baby Sephiroth that you went into fucking mourning after he died?”
            Cloud drew a sharp breath at the unexpected question. “It’s. . .complicated, Reno.”
            “Yeah? And?” the Turk said expectantly.
            “He sought me out before. . .everything began.” Cloud shook his head at the memories, wishing he hadn’t been such a complete fool. “I’d had a long delivery, the ’Stigma was killing me, and I didn’t want to go back to Seventh Heaven. Tifa had been. . .difficult lately. I’d been staying at the church to avoid her, and I just...”
            Cloud echoed his sigh. “I got a room for the night at The Lion’s Den--”
            “That place was a shithole, yo.”
            “Yes, it was.” Cloud smiled mirthlessly and continued, “There I was, sitting at the bar, drinking anything I could my hands on, when he walked in.”
            Cloud could still see it, the way he had paused in the doorway, his left hand resting on the hilt of the sword which had peeked out from behind him. Those slanted eyes, pale green with their hint of blue around the pupils, had moved calculatingly over the gathered patrons. He was obviously searching for something, or someone, and Cloud had been shocked when the boy had turned suddenly and locked gazes with him.
            “Gods, but he looked like Sephiroth,” Cloud murmured in remembered shock. “He took one look at me, and he smiled. It was Sephiroth’s smile, and it scared the shit out of me.”
            “I fuckin’ bet,” Reno muttered with sympathy. “So, how’d you end up, you know, doin’ him?”
            “That’s where it gets weird,” Cloud said, frowning faintly. He ignored Reno’s sarcastic, “Gets?”, using all of his focus to pull their very first conversation out of his tattered memory. “He walked right up to me, sat on the barstool next to me, and put his hand on my leg.”
            Cloud rubbed the spot on his thigh where Kadaj had touched him for the very first time. “It was like he already knew me. He called me Nii-san, told me that he’d been searching for me, and that Mother had sent him to make me whole.”
            “And that didn’t raise a few red flags?” Reno asked incredulously. “I would have already been gone, yo.”
            “I tried. He just. . .” Cloud closed his eyes as he remembered the smirk on that deceptively innocent face as the Kadaj head leaned in and kissed him with all the experience of a courtesan. The part of him that Vincent had reawakened after Aerith’s death had come rushing to fore. He had grabbed the back of the kid’s head and taken control of the kiss, showing the beautiful young boy that he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. As it had turned out, neither was Kadaj.
            “Yo, Strife. You still with me?”
            Cloud blinked, focusing on Reno once more, and blushed. “Uh, sorry,” he muttered with embarrassment.
            Reno only eyed him speculatively before shrugging. “So, do I even want to know what happened?”
            Cloud mimicked his shrug. “He kissed me,” he said simply. “You can guess what happened next.”
            “’Course I can, yo.” Reno got a dreamy look on his thin-featured face. “I bet it was fuckin’ fantastic. Just like doing Sephiroth, yo.”
            Cloud grimaced at that. “Barring that comparison, it was.” He shot the other man an exasperated look. “Would you quit fixating on Sephiroth. You’re here for Rufus, remember?”
            “Doesn’t mean I can’t dream, yo.” Reno grinned suddenly. “We’re done with the files. Why don’t you call His Royal Hotness and find out when he wants to meet to go through them.”
            “Yeah, sure,” Cloud replied unenthusiastically. He dug the bright yellow PHS out of his pocket, angling the screen to make sure that Reno didn’t see the dancing Chocobo, and dialed Sephiroth’s number. He watched absently as Reno shut the computer down, hoping like hell that he hadn’t left any traces of their theft. He did not want to be shot for treason.
            “Sephiroth.”
            “We found the files,” he said softly. “Reno copied them all onto hard disk. All that’s left is to go through them.”
            “Meet me in my office,” Sephiroth returned simply. “We’ll take care of it there.”
            “Gotcha.” Cloud closed the phone and tucked it away. “He says to meet him in his office. You’ve got clearance there, right?”
            Reno looked offended at the question. “I’m a Turk, yo.”
            “Whatever.” Cloud rolled his eyes as the other man hopped to the floor, laptop tucked under his arm, and swaggered to the door. Some things never changed, and old adage he was desperately hoping to prove wrong. You weren’t wrong about me, Kadaj. I just couldn’t admit it, he thought painfully.
            “Strife?” He looked up to find Reno watching with concern. “We’ll find him, yo. Don’t ever doubt it.
            “I know we will, Reno.” Cloud drew a deep breath and followed him out the door, whispering, “I know.”
- 15
- 16
- 17
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Final Fantasy VII: Angelic Threnody