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Calm before the Storm	By : Htress Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 739 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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A
decisive night

Sephiroth was waving in and out of
consciousness, feeling his body trying to fight whatever Hojo did to him.
Flashbacks of the war played before his eyes, horrors soaked in blood and
ripped flesh scattered around him. The battle, the intensity of the flames,
people yelling in agony, swallowed by human�s fool desire of conquest� And the
pain, the sharp prick of guilt forming a knot in his stomach, the pain of
realising that he was nothing more than a weapon, the responsibility of
thousand lost lives� and suddenly, it all faded away, leaving him in the
quietness of his quarters. He realised he wasn�t on the floor anymore, but he
had been transported into his bed.

-
God, Seph! Don�t do that again! You
scared the hell out of me!

The General tried to lift himself up on his
elbows, but Zack pushed him down.

-
Sleep. You still have 2:00 ahead of
you. I�ll wake you up if you�re having another nightmare. Oh, and by the way� I
wanted the details on the mission. Are the papers still in your office?

Sephiroth looked at his second in a awe
before nodding. He watched Zack leave the bedroom, and thought for a moment
that he was somewhat lucky to have him nearby. Zack was caring, and in many
occasions he helped him without any comments or judgements, and never, never
had he babbled about it. No one ever knew when the General was hurt or
bedridden with Mako poisoning, but Zack was always there. He watched as he came
back to sit down next to the bed with the papers concerning the mission they
were leading. Reassured, he sighed and closed his eyes.

Zack turned his head when he heard the
sigh. He listened to his deepening breathing as Sephiroth returned to sleep. He
brushed a few strands of silver hair out of his face before pulling up the
sheets to his neck. He knew that Sephiroth was going through a rough ride every
day, and somehow he wanted to help him, really wanted, but�

-
You need someone else, Seph�

He needed someone close to him every day,
someone in which he could put his soul without any fear of loosing it. The
first time Zack had seen him, he�d seen the lost child under the cool exterior.
In those green Mako eyes he�d seen the hurt and the loneliness and he�d managed
to held out a brotherly hand to the man. Perhaps the General wasn�t even aware
of it, but he was in need for something more, something that Zack couldn�t give
him.

He returned to his papers. He scanned
quickly through them, reading the mission�s objectives, and then the technical
sheets of the troopers. Yummel Green and, he smiled when he saw the name, Cloud
Strife. The boy had a great personality. Quiet in words, but not in action, he
was unbeatable when he was fighting bare handed. But lately, he was coming down
with a lot of bruises, and the Commander couldn�t tell why and Cloud kept lying
to him whenever he asked about it. The answer seemed to jump into his face when
he read �Draven unit� next to his current status. Zack sighed. Hatako was at it
again. He also thought about passing to the sickbay before leaving to take some
motion sickness pills. A boat ride with Cloud could prove to have those pills
handy�

********

Young Sephiroth toddled to the
examination table forcefully. Playing nervously with his fingers while Hojo
removed his shirt, he chewed on his bottom lip.

-
Professor? Why are the other kids
staying away from me?

Hojo continued to stick electrodes and
wires on him, ignoring totally his question. He turned to pick up some syringes
full of a strange green liquid, and Sephiroth knew it would hurt. Desperately
trying to gain his father�s attention, he unplugged an electrode near his face.
When the Professor came to tuck it at the right place, he spoke again.

-
Why can�t I have a friend?

A hard slap across the face was his
answer. Hurt beyond the words, Sephiroth began to sob quietly.

-
How many times will I have to tell
you? You�re a special boy, stronger and brighter than other kids! You don�t
need friends, friendship is useless, and crying is for the weak! Stop it now,
that we can work!

With that Hojo strapped him on the cold
metal table and began administering the Mako treatments.

********

Zack was so caught in his thoughts that he
didn�t noticed the rustle of sheets behind him, not until a weak moan alerted
him. Sephiroth was turning and tossing, trapped in another nightmare. The
raven-haired man shook him gently, and stopped when his superior sat upright on
his bed, panting heavily as he tried to send away the remnants of the horror
dream he�d been reliving.

-
Seph� calm down�

-
Zack, I-I� I can�t� I don�t�

Sephiroth shook his head furiously and
bolted off to the bathroom to throw up. Zack followed an rubbed his back
soothingly while he heaved. Slowly, the General snapped out of his vision and
leaned against his friend, who was continuing to massage his shoulders.

-
Shhhh� Listen to me. If you don�t open
up, you�ll brake down, Seph. I know you don�t want to talk, you never showed
any emotion to anyone but me, and still I think you try to hide them as much as
you can when I�m around, and I never pushed you to talk to me, never asked
anything, but I won�t be able to take much more of this. I see you being hurt
by Hojo, and it never end, I want to help you at least ease the pain, so I ask,
Seph, what�s wrong. Don�t keep all this inside�

The General looked at his Commander with
his eyes wide in confusion. No one had ever cared that much about him, no one
ever /asked/ him anything, nobody ever asked if he needed help, either. What he
sensed, though, is that he was truly on the brisk of going totally insane,
something was weighting on him, he /needed/ release� Crying is for the weak�
I need to cry�

-
Please, tell me your story, and maybe
we�ll find a solution�

So Sephiroth just looked at his friend,
eyes all watery, and Zack immediately wrapped his arms around him, and the
General couldn�t understand the gesture, he just felt the warmth, and he gazed
questioningly at the Commander. This can�t be friendship, not that soothing�
Friendship is supposed to be useless�

-
Friendship, Seph, it�s called
friendship. Cry if you need to, yell if you feel like you want to, tell me to
go fuck myself if you think it would do you good, do whatever you want, I won�t
mind, I�m your friend, for heaven�s sake, and that�s what friends are made for.
I won�t turn down on you, I�m here to stay, Seph. You are hurt, you�re confused
and lost� Please. Talk to me�?

Lies� all he said to me was lies� How
can it be? The silver-haired man felt something wet
sliding down his cheeks. A tear. He hadn�t cried in years since� since when?
Since he was six? Maybe before that� He�d forgotten how it was to cry. Zack
held him tighter, not hurting him, but supporting him. After few minutes,
Sephiroth calmed down and accepted the blanket that made his way around his
shoulders. The dark-haired man smiled.

-
I�m here, Seph, he said, I won�t let
you down.

Sephiroth took a shuddered breath and began
to talk.

*******

The dawn came too early, like every time it
did. Zack had stayed awake all night long, looking over Sephiroth, who, after a
lot of talking, a slow realisation of who he was really and what was happening
to him, had fallen asleep again. A deep and resting sleep. He now knew how
empty the life of his commanding officer had been. From what he could tell,
Hojo treated him like an experiment, a guinea pig� Affection had been refused
to him as a child, all he had known was pain and loneliness. The Commander
shook gently Sephiroth to wake him up. The silver-haired man opened his eyes
and slid off the bed.

-
I�m going ahead of you, said Zack with
a large grin, I gotta go to the sickbay and then I�ll meet you at your office.

The General raised a silver eyebrow
questioningly.

-
You�re sick?

-
Hell no! But you know, the blond you
picked up for this assignment, well, he�s motion sick and I�m sure you don�t
want to clean up the mess�

Sephiroth nodded and walked to Zack.

-
Zack I� I�Thank you.

-
That�s why friends are for, Seph, he
answered with a friendly shoulder hug, If you need to talk again, you know
where to go�

And with that, Zack turned and got out. At
6:00, Green, Strife and Hoecken were gathered in the General�s office to
receive the mission briefing. They were going to Junon, a slight Mako leak had
been detected and monsters were now roaming the area near the cliffs. All they
had to do was to make the reparations and kill an enormous monster that had
been reported several times. They�d travel to Midgar port and from them, take a
boat to Junon.

After settling himself in the truck,
Sephiroth replayed the little talk he had had with Zack. The man was at the
back of the truck, not at his side at the front, because he thought that the
blond would support the ride better if he was there. Open up, Seph. I�ll
introduce you to my friend, the little blond boy you picked up, hey what a
coincidence. You�ll see, you�ll like him a lot, he�s like you. Cloud Strife
was hugging himself on his seat, visibly he had a lot of difficulties with the
travelling. A bump on the road shook the vehicle and the blond�s head almost
hit the control panel, if it was not for Sephiroth�s hand on his shoulder. The
blond looked up at him timidly, a shade of pink tainting his cheeks and quickly
turned his head back to look at the road. When he retired his hand, though, he
noticed a dark bruise just at the base of his neck. The General frowned, Zack
had said to him that Cloud was like him, he was so quiet� and cute, Sephiroth
had to admit.

*******

In the small cabin, apart of the waves you
could hear the powerful sound of the Commander�s snoring. The General had left
for the deck already. Cloud was waving back and forth on his cot, trying to
keep in check his motion sickness. He couldn�t believe that the Great Sephiroth
had chosen /him/ to go on a mission, that he even touched him� Since his
childhood, he knew he was different from the others. He was special. Nobody
wanted to play with him or be seen with him. They were saying he was weird and
played tricks on him or used to beat him when they could catch him, so he had
to become quicker and developed a great cunning and agility. But when he�d
entered the army� the first time he�d gotten into the shower room, well... his
difference became clear to him. But being thoughtful, he waited until everyone
was gone before stripping to wash. Only Zack knew, of course, but now� now he
was on a mission with the most beautiful man he�d never seen, and he touched
him, once� he was in heaven.

They were sailing since few hours now,
Cloud still fighting to keep quiet, unable to sleep due to his nervousness, but
the sea seemed to be stormy, and a high wave send them rolling off their cots.
Cloud bolted off for the deck, his stomach knotting painfully. He bumped into
something on his way out and fell backward, but he managed to crawl his way to
the railing and clung to it for dear life as he gave up on his last meal. He
felt a hand rubbing his back, probably Zack, and he sagged, closing his eyes,
trying to calm down.

-
Seasick?

Cloud nodded and slid down against the
railing, concentring on his breathing. A long silence followed, and after a
while, the blond opened his eyes. That wasn�t Zack before him. The
silver-haired General was looking at the stars, a sad expression marking his
beautiful features. Realising that he had bumped into the man minutes ago, his
eyes widened in fear and he tried to get up as fast as he could to salute. Two
times already he�d shown the General his weakness, if he didn�t make up now,
he�ll lose all his chances to become a SOLDIER�

-
I-I�m sorry! I�m sorry, sir! I�ll
never do it again!

He watched as Sephiroth dropped his gaze on
him, and he knew the man was probably thinking he was a weakling� And he saw
the great General lift his hand. OhGodhe�sgonnabeatthecrapoutofme..pleasenopleaseno�
Hatako had done this so many times already, he couldn�t help himself and curled
into a ball, protecting his head with his arms and his midsection with his
knees.

-
Please, I�ll never do it again! Don�t
beat me! I�m sorry� I�m sorry!

He was amazed when the previously risen
hand came resting again on his shoulder. Sephiroth was touching him again� The
General had no idea why he was doing this, maybe what Zack had told him was
hitting the spot, but Sephiroth was feeling something for the boy, something he
couldn�t place just yet.

-
I won�t hurt you. Never, please
believe me.

The words had the desired effect and the
boy uncurled. Sephiroth then did something very rare; he smiled and helped
Cloud to get on his feet.

-
Is there a way to prevent this?, he
asked

Cloud just looked at him, eyes wide open in
awe. After few seconds, he remembered to breath and answered his question. A
big wave lifted the boat and Cloud�s legs almost gave out and he paled
dangerously, but the General was there to support him.

-
Uggh� Not really, sir�

-
But, there�s must be a way for you to
feel better, no?

Cloud blushed and looked away in shame. He
couldn�t ask this to his commanding officer.

-
Cloud?

The blond bit his lower lip and decided to
go for it anyway.

-
Don�t take it personal� I feel better
when I can sleep off the ride, but� but�

-
But what? Sephiroth asked softy

-
You�re my hero, I�m so excited I can�t
sleep. I�ve dreamed to see you since I�m little! I mean� You�re all I want to
become! You�re the best swordsman of the world� The only way I could go to
sleep� sir, is to know if you would want to teach me how to be as good as you�

Sephiroth pondered on the proposition.
Taking Cloud in as his student could keep Hojo off him� And it could be very
interesting to teach the swordsmanship to a boy who already know how to fight,
and well with that. And maybe� maybe the boy could become a friend to him? He
enjoyed Zack as a friend, but he was thinking the man was a little too
hyperactive, on the other hand, Cloud seemed quieter. And somewhere inside of
him he wanted to have Cloud nearby, but he couldn�t tell why. He looked at the
two blue ocean orbs pleading for an answer and he nodded. The blond�s eyes
sparkled with joy and he stood up straight and saluted.

-
Thank you, sir! You won�t be deceived,
sir!

And with that he bolted off for the cabin.
Sephiroth returned to the railing, letting his silver hair float as the city of
Junon was appearing at the horizon. He looked up at the stars and felt a little
spark of hope that maybe, his life was taking a turning point.

End

Author�s
notes

O_o !!! *Kicks Cloud out of the car* I just
cleaned it!!!!!! Phew� just in time� I passed the weekend out in my courtyard
without sunscreen and now I�m looking like a lobster and can�t go out in the
sun for a few days. T_T god it hurts. Don�t do this. Use sunscreen, it�s good
for you. Anyway, looks like this isn�t my month, ne? Hopefully I passed my PMS
2 weeks ago =^_^=, so it could be worse! Next chapter: Limit break.
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Calm before the Storm