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Sentient Love	By : Hnoss Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Cloud/Zack Views: 941 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII and I'm making no money here either. All of this is purely for entertainment purposes only.

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Sentient Love

Flora_Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII and I'm making no money here either. All of this is purely for entertainment purposes only.

Summary: Dreams lead Cloud back to The Forgotten City where he comes into contact with a spirit made flesh. A blast from the past wants this young avatar for their own devious designs and it is up to the ex-SOLDIER to protect him at all costs. Language, MM, OC, Violence

Chapter Four

Upon landing in Costa del Sol, Cid had retreated to the privacy of his own quarters. It was a homey space he'd added onto the Highwind just for his own personal use. It comprised of a single bed, a good sized sofa at the foot of it, an oak coffee table, a regular closet, and a good size window to let in all the light a person could want.

He kicked off his brown leather work boots and flopped down on his bed with a muffled grunt. He had no idea what he was going to do. Vincent was now probably more pissed than ever since he hadn't accompanied Cloud and Tifa down to greet him and Yuffie on the dock. But, then again, knowing Vincent, the gunman probably couldn't care less.

"When I am betrayed," Vincent had whispered. "I never forgive. Are you willing to risk my wrath?"

Cid crawled under his pillow and hid, groaning. He had been rightly warned and he had promised Vincent he would never do anything to hurt him. He'd known Vincent was scared, scarred, and utterly alone in the world.

"I really fucked this up," he moaned into the pillow, trying to bury his face deeper into his mattress. "I betrayed him."

"Yes," a deep, hollow, distorted voice replied from behind him. "You did."

The pillow went flying into the air as he rolled over and was immediately up against the headboard, looking at a nearly naked Vincent Valentine. The guy was masculine beauty incarnate and Cid quickly got off the bed so that he at least had something between the two of them. Just looking at Vincent caused him to ache from north to south.

"Vince," Cid greeted with a nervous grin, sounding out of breath. "Good to see you."

Vincent cocked his dark head to the side, amber-red eyes glowing with an eerie molten radiance. "I wish I could say the same."

"What do you mean?" Cid asked, not moving from where he now stood. He wanted something between as a buffer. "Then why are you here?"

A shadow of confusion and lost puppy played across Vincent's breathtaking face, but was quickly gone, like the moon vanishing behind a dark cloud. "I would very much like to kill you, Cid Highwind," he answered, fangs filling his brutal, seductive mouth. "And get on with my ever so exciting existence."

Cid kept looking at him. He knew deep down Vincent wouldn't kill him. No matter how pissed off the guy was, Vincent still loved him, too. That lost look had totally proved it.

"I love you," Cid told him matter of fact.

"Don't say that!" Vincent snarled, four voices speaking as one. It was scary as hell.

"What I did to you was fucktarded and I have no excuse," He went on, ignoring how Vincent's smooth flesh from the neck down was slowly darkening to the color of raven wings. "I did it. I'm guilty. I kissed another man. I was drunk, horny as hell, and the music was really good."

"You're always drinking," Vincent growled low in his throat, crimson streaks coiling around his muscular arms like glowing hot tattoos. "And you're always horny." The guy looked ready to pounce and bite out his throat with those razor sharp fangs.

Cid looked down at the quilt on his bed.

It was true. He did enjoy drinking a lot, and the more he drank, the hornier he gets. He had just been too fucking drunk to remember which side Vincent was sitting on, and planted a big one on the dark headed guy sitting on his left. He seriously thought it had been Vincent. He'd been talking to the guy, flirting with him and everything.

"I thought it was you I was kissing. The guy had dark hair. I'm sorry."

There! He'd said it! He actually got to say it this time. No loud bullets. No screaming, shrieking, and growling. No metal being ripped and thrown at his face.

Vincent looked as though he'd been smashed in the face by a giant wrecking ball. The ire in them burning orbs winked out like candle getting snuffed by a breeze. He suddenly hissed like a nest full of venomous vipers and that ire suddenly became a blazing inferno.

"FOOL!" He shrieked. He kicked the bed at Cid, causing it to his the blond pilot in the knees, making him fall flat onto his face on the mattress. The beast took hold of his shoulders, dragging him kicking across the quilt, flipping him over with a flaming hot snort. Glowing red eyes started down into the startled, handsome face and he smirked from pointy ear to pointy ear with them devil red lips of his.

Cid held his breath as Vincent put his mouth to his throat, licking the spot where his jugular was thundering wildly away below the thin surface of his tan flesh. "I should suck you dry," Vincent whispered into his ear. His breath was hot and spicy. "But that wouldn't be much fun."

"What?" Cid asked.

Vincent hurled him off the bed and Cid went sliding across the floor and out the door. He turned around and stalked towards the dazed blond with dagger sharp talons flexing. Cid scrambled to his feet, glaring knives at the beast coming at him. He took a step back and paled when wings instantly sprouted from Vincent's broad back.

"Vincent?"

The demon looked at him and gave them wings of his a violent flap. The wind from them scorched the back of Cid's throat.

"Run, Cid Highwind," the demon told him, floating a few inches off the floor. "Run for your pathetic life."

Cid took a small step back. "Vin…"

"RUN!" Vincent screamed, diving at him with talons raised to tear meat from bone.

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Cloud closed the door behind him and looked at his newly decorated bedroom that was before him. Everything was done to resemble the ocean. Sand colored walls, a chandelier over the bed constructed entirely of seashells, a coral statue carved in the slender shape of a siren on the dresser, giant starfish hung to the walls like picture frames, and large conch shells decorated the shelf spaces. It all looked tacky, yet wonderful. He immediately went over to the window and threw it open. The salty sea air hit him in the face and he breathed it in along with the sunshine. Deep down, he still couldn't believe he actually now owned such a fantastic place.

He turned from the window and decided to change into his swimming trunks. They were brand new and bright yellow with a neon blue lightning strike lancing across the crotch area. He and Tifa had thought them really funny and that was why he'd purchased them from the old man who had made him the silk dress. Apparently the old man was making lots of new garments nowadays from having met him. He had told Cloud that he had opened his mind to all the limitless possibilities in the world of fashion and to come to him should he ever need another dress. That had really made him laugh. As if he would ever wear a dress again.

Oh my God! You look so cute, Cloud.

Really? I mean…shut up!

He stood in front of the mirror and looked himself over. Yuffie was right. He was really pale. He seriously needed to work on his tan. His mako blue-green eyes glowed back at him and he tried to make them smile. Well, being in the sun would change that pretty fast.

With a small sigh, he decided to unpack some things. He knew it would take Tifa forever to decide which bathing suit she was going to wear. So he began hanging up shirts and pants and putting more intimate items into their own individual drawer, when a knock came at his door.

"Come in!" He called out, placing a shirt on a wooden hanger.

The door slowly opened and Yuffie poked her head inside. "Cloud?"

He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Can I show you something?" She asked.

He nodded his head, grabbing another hanger. "Sure. What is it?"

She walked into the room and he noticed how she appeared to be holding a small picture frame. She had an unsure expression on her young face and he didn't quite know what to make of it.

"I…uh…I had this picture for quite some time," she said, holding it against her chest. "We were friends and he helped me out from time to time with treasure…"

"Oh?" Cloud asked, smiling. Yuffie loved her treasure and suckering anybody dumb enough to fall for her tricky tricks.

She nodded. "I forgot I had it. I found it just the other day. When he vanished…"

Cloud cocked his head to the side. "Vanished?"

"Seven years ago…"

Seven…years…ago…

He could hear rain and looked towards the window. The sun was shining brighter than ever. He turned back to her. "What is it, Yuffie?"

She held the small frame out to him and he reached out and took it from her. A soft jingle went off somewhere and he almost dropped it, but didn't. He turned the silver rimmed frame over and his eyes widened and time slowed to a crawl around him.

It was him. The ghost that haunted him. The spirit that always told him everything was fine.

Zack…

The gorgeous man in the photo was laughing and had his hand behind his head. His blue eyes were just as blue as he remembered. No sky or sea could compare to such heavenly azure.

It was Zack. It was Zack. It was Zack. It was Zack. It was Zack.

That sweet smile. Those gentle hands. The feather soft touch of them lips. The playful way he'd nip at his neck with them pearly whites.

"Yuffie…"

"Do you know him?" She asked, toeing at the floor.

Tears began to stream down his cheeks. All he'd ever had were his memories and a bloodstained Buster Sword. The good and the bad. Now he had physical goodness in his hand. He looked up at Yuffie from the picture in his hand and the young girl looked startled.

"Cloud? What's wrong? Are you okay?" She took a step towards him.

A pitiful sound escaped his throat and he suddenly had the smaller girl in his arms. He held her tight and cried like a little boy.

She wrapped her arms around him. He was shaking and openly sobbing.

She didn't know what to do. So she ran soothing circles across Cloud's broad shoulders. "Tifa!" She called.

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Cid fled to the chocobo stable and slammed the large metal door shut, throwing the lock down faster than a speeding bullet. He stumbled back from the door, rubbing sweat from his forehead. His shirt was shredded in the front and the back. The white cotton was hanging in strips from his muscular torso. He lit up a cigarette and took a long drag to calm his rattled nerves. He'd dumped a metal trashcan over Vincent's horned head and banged it hard enough to cause the demon to stumble around as if drunk while he ran away from it. He'd seen the guy pissed before, but nothing like this. He took another long drag and looked around the stables, blowing out the smoke through his nose holes. There were steel bars across the only window and the air ducts were way too small for him to fit through.

He was trapped.

"Goddamn it!" He snarled, kicking a sack of chocobo feed clear across the room. He ran over to the window and started pulling on the bars, putting a bare foot up against the wall and pulled with all his might. The metal groaned and made whining noises, but did not give like he wanted it to. "Shit!" He'd reinforced it too strongly.

He dropped his foot and stumbled back, taking another long drag. He damn near jumped out of his skin when something heavy collided with the door behind him. He spun around and saw how it rattled against the force that was assaulting it from the other side.

"I love it when they think they can hide!" Vincent howled madly, punching and clawing at the door with his powerful talons. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" His laugh went from something deep and rocky to something too high to be natural and it was scary as fuck.

"Nobody home!" Cid yelled right back, wondering if he should just hide under the hay and pray for a miracle. "We don't want any!"

"OPEN THIS DOOR, CID!" Vincent roared, punching it harder and harder. "If you do, I swear I'll kill you slowly."

Cid rolled his eyes and stomped on his cigarette nub, rubbing it out. "Don't you mean quickly?"

Metal whined. "OPEN UP!" Vincent growled.

Cid looked down and saw an eerie glow coming from outside. "Oh, fuck me," he hissed. He jumped and rolled out of the way as the door exploded off its hinges in a violent burst of flames. It flew past Cid and crashed to the ground, causing sparks to fill the air.

Vincent stalked in on golden hooves. He was hunched over with giant dragon wings extended and misty with malice.

"Are you crazy?" Cid yelled, rising to his feet. "You could hurt somebody!"

"Yes." The demon chuckled, licking its lips with a forked tongue. "That's the point."

Cid was trapped. There was nowhere for him to run to and he had no weapon in which to defend himself. Of all the places to run, he had to run in here. He had a fucking weapon room. Why hadn't he ran there?

"You stink of smoke, Cid."

Vincent pounced on him, talons taking hold of Cid's shoulders once more, and Cid stumbled backwards, falling flat on his back in the hay with the demon on top of him. The thing that scared him the most was that Vincent could choose his weight. He could be light as a feather or as heavy as a steam roller.

He may just kill me…

"Giving up?" The demon asked, looming over him, beautiful and monstrous all at once. "Ready to die?"

Cid turned his head to the side, no longer looking into those mad eyes. "Whatever."

The demon gripped him by the throat, squeezing a little. "No."

Cid was forced to look at him.

"You had me. You had all of me." the demon said, rising off him with a hiss, golden hooves stepping back, wings draped around him like a wicked cloak. "And now you get to watch me walk away."

Cid sat up, rubbing his neck. "Vincent?"

As the demon turned around and began walking away, it began melting, becoming a man once more. Vincent stopped and just stood there with his back to him.

"I made a mistake, Vincent," Cid said, getting to his knees. "A stupid mistake."

Vincent began walking away again.

"I'll never drink again!" Cid yelled. "I'll stop smoking for real this time! I'll do whatever you want…just don't walk away from me!"

Vincent balled his fists and his shoulders were trembling as he froze in place again.

"If you no longer love me," Cid whispered, gazing at his back imploringly. "Just kill me and get it over with."

Vincent spun around and Cid's heart skipped a beat. The man's beautiful face was filled with such heartbreaking grief. That long, black hair was coiling and slithering about his perfect face as if each strand had a life all its own. He could see tears refusing to fall.

"That would be far too easy, Cid," Vincent smiled, vanishing into the shadows. "Suffer," his voice echoed all around.

Cid reached out with his hand, but after a few seconds, he let it fall back to his side dejected. He sat there on his knees in the hay, sneezing his head off and trying not to cry.

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Cloud was on the bed with his head resting in Tifa's lap. She was running her fingers through his spiky hair while Yuffie was sitting at the end watching the two of them. Cloud couldn't take his eyes off the beautiful face that was laughing back at him from the photo.

Zack looked so energetic, so full of life. He was such a backwatered dork. Only backwatered dorks got caught in photos laughing with their hand behind their head. It was endearing.

My Zack.

He held the picture close to his heart and squeezed. It was almost like he could hear Zack singing. He'd used to hum to him during the long nights he couldn't sleep.

He felt a small hand squeeze his ankle and he looked. Yuffie smiled at him.

"You okay now, Cloudy?"

I'll never be okay, Yuffie. Never. Never. Ever.

He gave a small smile back. "Thank you."

Yuffie squeezed his ankle a little tighter.

"When I was with you, Cloud," Tifa said, still playing with his hair. "When I was inside of your mind, in the Lifestream, I saw it all."

He tensed.

"All the laughter. All the tears. Ballrooms of love and windswept halls of pain. You loved him and he loved you. That's all that really matters." She said.

"Tifa?" He whispered.

"When I came to, I swear I saw Zack holding you just as I am now, Cloud. He was glowing with light from the Lifestream and he looked at me and grinned like an idiot. He said, 'See? Chocobo Head's fine,'" she went on, stopping him from rising. "I didn't tell you…I didn't tell you because…you needed to focus. I'd seen you cracked, splintered and broken. I…couldn't see you like that again. Now when you were finally whole and yourself."

He closed his eyes, allowing his anger to pass. It was not her fault. He couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for her to be inside his fucked up psyche. She had every right to keep what she saw a secret. He had.

Was he there? How else could she have known? Only Zack ever called me Chocobo Head.

He didn't know. He didn't trust himself. He saw things nobody else could and Tifa saw something that he couldn't because he'd been unconscious. Maybe they were all fucking crazy, too. It could have been all that mako in the air. Gods know they'd all probably snorted enough to fuel a city for an hour or so.

He rose up and looked from Tifa to Yuffie and then back down at the photo of Zack. "Can I have a few moments alone?" He asked. "And then we can go down to the beach."

Yuffie jumped up and started bouncing about on the bed. "TOTALLY!"

Tifa reached over and gently patted his cheek. "We'll be waiting outside. I need a snow cone from that cute vendor."

Cloud nodded and watched them leave the room. Yuffie closed the door after them. When he was certain they were gone, he brought the photo up to his lips and kissed it like a lovesick schoolboy. He got up and stood Zack's photo on the wooden table beside his bed. He walked over and picked up two conch shells from the shelves and placed them on either side of the picture.

He was constructing an altar.

I'm going to need some incense and a burner…I'm sure I can find one at one of these little shops or something. And flowers. I'm gonna need flowers. Yellow. Yellow and blue. He loved yellow and blue.

He then opened up his second bag. It was a very special kind of bag that only he knew the secret, too. It was something he had stolen from Hojo's lab. At first he thought it had just been a regular bag, but no, it wasn't. It was a kind of bag that could open up and store really large objects. Objects big enough like his Ultima Weapon. He drew it out and grinned. It was the one thing he never went off without. He'd kept it hidden along with several pieces of really powerful materia.

Lightning. Fire. Ice. Earth. Ultima. Zero Bahamut. Ifrit. Leviathan. Shield. Contain.

They thought they'd gotten it all, but they were wrong. As if he'd go anywhere without being prepared for the very worst.

He placed all the materia back into the bag except for Shield and Fire. These he put inside his wrist band and smiled. Just in case giant sea slugs decided to attack. He could roast them up and serve them extra crispy.

He slid Ultima Weapon back inside the bag, too and placed the bag in the back of the closet, shutting the door. He took another look at Zack and went to meet Tifa and Yuffie.

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Rufus struggled to keep his left eye from twitching.

"You idiot!" He yelled. "You call that a disguise?"

Reno made a face. "What's wrong with my mustache? I think it makes me look really distinguished. Plus, it's real hair, Boss."

Rufus ran his hands through his hair. No wonder he had lost. He'd been surrounded by complete incompetent buffoons. Apparently nobody knew what the fuck they was doing and every time he did give a command, someone just royally fucked it over hard.

"Rude, please tell Reno what the problem with his mustache is," Rufus ordered.

Rude looked at the redhead, dropped his shoulders, and sighed. "Your hair is red…your mustache is black…"

"OH!" Reno laughed, slapping his knee. "I forgot to put my wig on." He stooped over into a bag and when he lifted back up he had long black hair. "Well?"

Rufus closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose rather tightly. He could feel a migraine coming on. He never used to have them until now.

Rude cracked his knuckles and shook his head.

"What?" Reno asked, striking a pose in front of the wall mirror. "I think I look good." He tossed his head back and forth, causing his long black locks to flutter dramatically like he was running down a beach to save a picnic basket from getting swept away by a rogue wave that was drowning someone with no limbs.

"It isn't about looking fashionable!" Rufus snapped, causing the redhead to spin away from the mirror and drop his head. Rufus tempered himself quickly. "It is about getting me on good terms with Cloud and his keepers." He stated calmly. "But especially Cloud."

"Sir!" Both TURKS saluted.

"Rude," he charged, turning his back to them and walking away. "I put you in charge to correct this."

"Yes, Sir," Rude said.

Rufus decided it was time to shower. Hot water always made him feel better. Plus, he'd been out of the sun for a while now. It was time to wash off the tanning oil. He smelled like coconuts and something citrusy.

Steam was soon swirling around him and he was sitting with his back against the warm wall. The floor and walls were self heating. He watched as the hot water swirled around the drain. Had everything that fell apart around him spiraled down so quickly as well?

My life is like that drain. Everything just gets sucked down into nothing at all.

He drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.

My mother. My friends. My father. My company. All my brilliant plans. Everything. What use is stored up wealth if there is nobody to acknowledge its worth? I have to make others see that I've changed and want better for everyone, otherwise I'm just going to lie in the sun and cook myself till I'm brain dead. Nobody would care either way.

Now he was just pitching himself a pity party and is was pissing him off. He was Rufus Shinra. Heir to the most powerful family in the world. He'd never had to think this way before. It had been easier to be ruthless, merciless, and totally uncaring towards everything but his own desires, and being that way had cost him everything.

That's why Cloud won. He had all the things I didn't. He had love. I had hate. He had friendship. I had slaves. He had loyalty. I had fear. He had empathy. I had nothing but apathy. He had nothing and still had more than me.

He lifted his head from his knees, letting the hot water run down his face. The sweet smelling steam swirled around him as he carefully rose to his feet. He turned off the water and reached for the towel.

I need a drink.

To be continued…

Yay! Another chapter completed. I hope everyone enjoys. Please leave a review if you do.

~Flora
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