A wedding

Hello *waves* I did not forget about this story (obviously) and I am sorry for the long wait. I´ll try to get the next one done faster, and it should have some smex in it (this one doesn´t, just a lot of angsting, but I hope you like it anyway^^).

I thank

IntHellsing (Hahaha, is Rufus really such a bastard? I think he´s... a hedonist XD To put it mildly;) Yeah well, but he has a reason to find the whole Cult ridiculous, he´s been through it himself^^ Oh, and is your hair still red?)

Rina (Yay, glad you liked it! And we somehow almost got the Yazoo shower scene already, don´t we? Though it´s more of a bathing scene *still shudders* I am wondering why I write so much Yazoo-in-pain, though... What does my subconciousness wants to tell me?! I dun wanna know *ignorance is bliss* And yeah, I´d wanna join that sect too, and hopefully get 'forced' to marry one of the bishi boys XD)

fyrbyrd (Hm, Vincent is a liar... He kind of lies to himself, and the others as well, but I guess he has no choice. Imagine him telling the truth, that´d be a disaster for him!)

Zexion.6 (Awww, thank you^^ It´s funny, because actually this is my story where I thought I wouldn´t bother with ICness, hehe.)

Golden Kitsune (Glad you like it! Hopefully I won´t need so long for the next chapter, but somehow other things kept me busy *sighs*)

Ainaloth (Hahaha, I´ll never stray from the dirty, sadistic, perverted (and highly fun) way, no worries XD)

crayonbox (Don´t worry, I sometimes forget about it too, and I am actually the author, so it´s much worse XD I don´t know many Rufus/Yazoo either... Fyrbyrd did a very good one, it´s called 'Over the Table Discussion', just in case you want to read more about it^^ Hm, Genesis probably won´t actively try to push Sephy off his throne, biut he will take the opportunity to discredit him when it comes I guess... And Yazoo´s actions just offered a very good one. About the satanism thingy: it actually is a pretty logical thing to serve only ones own purposes, but the 'satanists' made some kind of 'cult' out of it -_- There is many other things to it, far more than I mentioned here. I only pointed out the basics. If you are interested you should read the books by Anton Szandor LaVey about the Church of Satanism. Just don´t take it too seriously, they are kind of funny guys...)

Seifer19 (Hahaha, yes, Rufus is rather horny -typical hedonist I´d say- but he actually has brains as well^^ He´s just at ease with how he is and what he does... I´m glad you don´t feel offended, religion seems to be a rather touchy topic for some people, though I can´t really comprehend why.)

for taking the time to review and PfenixB/silence_laughs for the awesome betaing!

Enjoy!

9

They talked for a long time, or at least Rufus did. He told Yazoo about what a life as a god could be, about the freedom, the moral burden lifted from the shoulders, living by one´s own rules and standards, without a bitching Goddess up one´s back. He also told him about the uncertainties, the dangers and the new responsibilities, the throwbacks that came with finding one´s own way.

Yazoo just listened all the time, face neutral, but Rufus was schooled in reading the Chosen’s nonexistent expressions, and he hadn´t forgotten even after years. What it told him, the underlying, seething emotions only found in the flutter of an eyelash, or the slight twitching of the corners of those lush lips, seemed rather promising though. Rufus knew he was getting through to him, but he didn´t set his hopes too high. He knew that those things sounded promising to Yazoo, but not because he essentially understood them and felt them deep down inside of him. No, he scratched the concept only on the surface, but it was a convenient way to handle the burden of guilt and sin, like a petulant child knowing it had done something wrong and now adopted a view that would help him to justify his actions in front of a sanctioning mother. If you don´t accept what I did, I will turn my back on you and seek enlightenment in something else.

But for now Rufus was all right with it, it was a start at least. And he had the feeling that Yazoo would understand, soon, and he would be there to guide him, to help him.

“All right.” He finally stood from the bed and grabbed his empty coffee cup from the nightstand. “I will see that we get something for lunch, please feel free to join me, when you are done. And please take your time to think about the things we discussed, you are my honoured guest as long as you desire.”

As soon as the blond had closed the door behind him, Yazoo´s shoulders slumped down and he held his head, long silver strands flowing between his slender fingers. He sat like that for a moment and then his eyes shifted over to the phone. Hesitantly, he took it, observed its smooth, black surface for a moment longer and then punched the shiny, cool buttons.

Striding the hair out of his face, he listened to the signal, restlessly shifting on the bed a bit. Eventually he got connected and a moment later the deep voice of his brother echoed back at him, sounding curt and somewhat… stressed.

“Sephiroth.”

Yazoo paused for a moment, contemplating to just cut the line, even though it was more of a fight to press down the overwhelming urge to do so. But then he pushed the oncoming wave of panic away, and answered quietly, “It´s me. Yazoo.”

“…Yazoo!” The stunned pause was followed by a mixture of relief, disbelief and also, although well concealed, slight anger. At the other end of the line, Sephiroth gave his personal assistant Zack an impatient sign to leave the office and wait outside. Then he leaned back in his chair, rolling it to the side and throwing a glance outside the high window, looking over the empty yard of their convent-like church. Without further ado, he got straight to the point. “What happened? Are you all right?”

“I am fine,” Yazoo answered quietly, wondering if he really was. There was another relieved pause, then, “Good.”

“I am sorry,” the younger one apologized for the commotion he certainly had stirred and this time he really meant it. Sephiroth was the person he respected most, the least person he wanted to cause trouble and they had never had a fight or an argument before. Also, he had never disappointed him until now and Yazoo knew that he had, with running away from his wedding… “It honestly was not my intention to cause you or anyone else any inconvenience.”

The high priest made another pause, before saying in a bit of a softer voice “I know that, Yazoo.” He shifted his eyes back from the yard to the door. “I understand that such an important ceremony can cause a bit of stress. Great responsibilities await you now; you have to care for a wife, and a family. It can happen to the best of us, but I know your belief is strong. Mother does know that and I am sure She will forgive you. Just come back and we will find a solution.”

Now it was Yazoo´s turn to remain silent. The prospect of getting redemption, of just carrying on like it always had been, of ignoring what had happened and getting back into the lap of the Mother seemed so very tempting for a moment, so relieving, that he felt a bit dizzy with joy. But that moment was only short lived, because the next second ugly images mercilessly infiltrated his mind, showing him his sins in full colour. No, he couldn´t go back. He may be able to deceive Sephiroth, his brothers, the Circle´s members, Aeris… But the Mother would know, would not forgive him. The seed of doubt had been planted in his heart and there was no simple going back anymore, that much he knew.

“…I am sorry. I cannot come back now.” He could feel the confusion seep through the phone, but before Sephiroth could ask another question that he couldn´t and wouldn´t answer he curtly said “I will call again,” and cut the line.

Yazoo knelt another moment at the bed, blankly staring at the black phone in his white hand and then laid it aside, falling on his back and staring at the ceiling again.

*

Vincent was getting a headache, but he was wise enough not to let on. Instead, his face remained perfectly calm and patient while he listened to the endless rant of his wife, who went on about how embarrassing the whole thing had been and how he could have dared to just vanish without anyone telling where he was going! Her lips were pinched in that bitter line and her usually strict, though handsome face was marred by deep lines as she knitted her brows together and narrowed her eyes. Lucrecia wasn´t screaming or nagging – there was no way in heaven or hell that she would stoop down to something so undignified. No, her disapproval seeped out through sharp, clipped and absolutely coldly spoken words as she reminded him for the umpteenth time that he had failed the Circle, that he would have to justify this not only to Aeris, her or the Highpriests, but to the Goddess Herself and that he had brought disgrace on them. Of course she also prodded Vincent to tell her what had happened, but he just repeated what he had told Sephiroth as well.

She didn´t look as if she believed him one bit, but Vincent didn´t really care. He simply wanted it to be over, so he bore with her lecture and hoped that she would leave him alone for the rest of the night so that he could focus on his own problems…
It probably could have continued like that for the rest of the night, Lucrecia pacing the room, accusing her husband of incompetence and Vincent sitting in his chair, watching her indifferently, if it hadn´t been for the knock at their door.

Irritably, Lucrecia stopped and stared past her husband to the window, but then she walked over to open up, since it could very well be that it was someone with news about her husband´s friend. To tell the truth she had never liked him. One could even say that she outright disliked him, even though she would never openly admit it since it was a sin, a weakness, and she had absolutely no justification for her aversion of him. Lucrecia didn´t trust him at all and she thought that he was a bad influence on Vincent. It just wasn´t right that her husband would spend more time with Yazoo than he did with her…

The young woman unlocked the door and opened it, already about to humbly lower her head and welcome the late visitor, but then a shock of flaming red hair caught her attention and instead she straightened up to glower at the heathen.

“Evening Ma´am,” he drawled in that lazy manner of his, but his gaze shot past her and searched the spartanlike room that served as the couple´s living room. “Sorry to disturb you this late an´ all, but can I have a li’l chat with Vincent?”

His blue eyes wandered back to her blank face and her stiff posture that almost screamed rejection at him and a small smile formed on the man´s face as he added sweetly “Please?”

Disgusted, she wanted to throw the door right back into his smug face, but before she could even give him a frosty, denying answer that Vincent was busy right now, her husband already appeared behind her, taking the door out of her hand. With a brief nod he motioned for Reno to go ahead into the dark –for the black haired young man wasn´t bold enough to invite the heathen into his home with his wife being so furious anyway- and ignored Lucrecia´s morose look and the silent order to hurry up.

As soon as they had left the small house a bit behind them Vincent´s tense shoulders seemed to relax. He instantly stiffened however, when Reno grabbed him by the arm, suddenly yanked him behind a bush and asked heatedly,
“What the hell are you doing here?”

Vincent seemed a bit taken aback at this, asking with an arched brow, “What I am doing here? What are you doing here?”

“I came here to make sure that you and the groom were on your way to the next caribbean island to live happily ever after, but it seems that you give your everything to make that plan fail, yo. You a masochist or something?” The redhead replied agitatedly, muttering under his breath “Why´m I even asking, everyone who´s in your club kinda must be…”

“Of course I am not.” Vincent was busy pacing and tearing his hair, though his voice was even and calm as ever.

“Then what happened, yo?” Reno asked resignedly and crossed his arms over his chest. The other young man shot him a scrutinizing look, probably contemplating if he should tell. Reno was, after all, an acquaintance of Yazoo, and though they had known each other for years now Vincent couldn´t really say if he trusted or even liked the guy. Reno was unpredictable and he had no morals at all…but then, he was the only one who was willing to listen to Vincent´s predicament without judging him or turning away from him. Though, if he thought about it, it was all Reno´s fault…

Shaking his head Vincent stopped his pacing and explained “He saw the video about… you know.” Reno nodded, even though it wasn´t really required and the other was rather eager to not linger on that topic for too long.

“He fled the church in terror and I went after him to explain everything, but he wouldn´t listen. I told him we could go back and pretend that nothing had happened but he didn´t want to hear that. He said that it was all my fault and that I had… raped him…”

The redhead arched a brow at that and unfolded his arms, lightly lying his hand on Vincent´s shoulder who had come to blankly stare into nothingness. It was a simple gesture of sympathy, but the young man shirked away from it, continuing in that monotone voice of his “He said that I was a sick, perverted person and that he hated me.”

“Oh my…” Reno murmured, rubbing his forehead and briefly closing his eyes. “Sorry to hear that, yo… But, just don´t take it to heart man, he was just confused and shocked, I guess.”

“Really,” Vincent commented dryly, ignoring the other´s shrugging gesture and sat down on a rock, pulling at some grass between his feet. “It never occurred to you that your meddling with our business just made everything worse, because Yazoo might not reciprocate my feelings.”

“Well, actually it did,” was the reply to the bitterly spoken, rhetorical question and the next minute Reno sat beside him, hands folded behind his head. Vincent stopped pulling at the grass and looked up to the other with a petrified expression.
“But then I dumped it,” the other shrugged nonchalantly, fumbling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one. The red, glowing dot went up the white stick as he inhaled and informed the other, “I’ve known you two for far too long now, yo. You might have to work on your poker face pal, because it´s as plain as the nose in your face yo.” He snipped with his finger against Vincent´s nose and continued. “And Yaz´s just being hysteric right now. Once he calms down, you should try again. I know he adores you, he´s just too damn stuck-up to admit it.”

He clasped Vincent on the back in a reassuring manner and took another drag, but the young man didn´t look awfully convinced. Sighing, Reno smashed his cig on the ground and got up, offering, “All right, I´ll talk to him tomorrow and you go back to your shrew and have a good night’s sleep over it, yo.”

Vincent still didn´t seem too enthusiastic, but he looked a bit relieved that Reno would take matters into his hands. Though when he thought about it some more, he probably ought to be much more wary than he actually felt, given the events that had come from Reno´s ingenious ideas so far…

Inwardly sighing, he stood from his stone and bowed before the man, giving him the address of Yazoo´s new residence, before he went back to his house and hear the end of his lecture.

TBC

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Poor Vinny, he doesn´t have it easy^^ I dunno why Lucrecia´s always a bitch in my fics, it just happens *innocent whistle* Okay, next chapter Yazoo´ll be taught the facts of life by Rufus, see you then!

Oh, and I´d be really delighted if you´d leave me a tiny review please?