Sephiroth's soul redemption

Indoctrination


warnings for this chapter, Leeemmmon yaaaaoi!! be warned!
Zach helps his lover, and Seph gets his head examined. lots of psycho-stuff babble concerning the General here.. I had fun digging around in his head, so there!

And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping
The moon tells me her secret, her confidant
And full and bright as I am this light is not my own
A million light reflections pass over me
The source is bright and endless
She resuscitates the hopeless
Without her we are lifeless satellites drifting
*Reflection, Tool*

The General stood in the observation together with Zach and a couple of other senior officers, and watched as the Project Ark people were pulling out their Yubi’s and filled their quivers with blunted arrows.

Sephiroth saw Jeh-ri bounce around with his usual over abundance of energy and enthusiasm and was glad that the redhead hadn’t been needed in the office today, jumping and cart wheeling around with the woman officer, who seemed to enjoy herself immensely. At one stage she took a running leap at the copper red haired man who clasped his hands, and launched her straight up into the metal support beams of the roof of the dome. She undid a short metal cord from the harness around her waist and secured herself on one of the cross sections.

Erik pulled his Souba from its sheath and Leisa fired a couple of arrows at him, that he blocked and beat away easily. Then Jehri made a couple of feigned moves wavering to and fro shooting arrows as fast as he could, also joined by the woman in the rafters. Erik managed to advance under the rain of arrows until he got close enough to grab tap the smaller man on the chest with his Souba.

He gestured for one of the more advanced cadets to come forward, carrying a practice sword. They all had pulled on upper body armour as the arrows might have been blunted and rubber tipped, the impact would still be quite painful and leave a nasty bruise.

Jeh-ri pulled an arrow out of this quiver, and shot it at the cadet at a slow arch, so the young man could easily block it. Erik showed him to just hold the sword across, moving it only slightly to position it instead of using it as a fly swatter, as he commonly referred to. Leisa took a shot from her position and now the cadet only lifted the sword a little, catching the arrow on the flat.

Erik got the two to take more shots, now firing more directly at the cadet, who managed to block most of them, but got tagged out as he got struck high on his chest, leaving a bright red mark on his armour.

Then the next in line stepped up, having learned from his predecessor, and so the whole class got a go. In the end he dismissed the class and they all filed out, some of them bruised and a bit worse for wear, but excited no the less.
Leisa dropped down from the overhead beams and cleared away all the arrows and Yubi’s together with Ian, after which they pushed the large trunk out of the dome and disappeared.
The General came down from his vantage point with Zach in his wake and entered the practice dome, and was formally greeted by the instructors.

“Perhaps you would like to demonstrate to what level you can get with this training, Instructor Stone?” He asked. Erik smiled at him, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Erik walked up to the chest where they kept their weapons and took out two hand guns.

“You any good with these, Zach?” he asked the black haired man, who took the guns and looked down the sights. He took aim at one of the targets Jehri and Leisa had been warming up on for their archery, and planted two rounds neatly in the bull’s eye.

“Nice, you’ll do just fine. Enak, close and lock the doors, we want no one to come walking into the dome and getting hit by stray bullets.” Enak nodded and ran a quick circle around the dome, locking the large entrance and maintenance doors.

“Jeh-ri, suit up.” He ordered. The red haired man pulled his suit of armour from a second trunk putting on first the padded undershirt, then the long Borronix hide overcoat and upper body armour. Erik pulled out two clips of low velocity ammo, and loaded them into the guns, one he handed back to Zach, the other he kept. He threw a look at the General, making sure he was watching.

“Hey Enak, move your ass!” he said and opened fire on this twin who dodged and twisted avoiding the bullets, up to a certain distance, where he pulled his Souba out and deflected the bullets until he was close enough to touch his brother with the tip of his sword. Erik held the barrel of his gun to Enak’s forehead, but there was only a dry click as his magazine was spent.
Enak made a loud kissing noise at him, and said; “You’re dead!” And strolled away.
Erik motioned with his head for Jehri to move to the other side of the dome. He did so, pulling out his Katana.

Zach shot Sephiroth a rather nervous glance, but he just looked at the young man at the other end of the dome. Who started cat calling at his senior officer, slapping his hand to his buttock, indicating to come and get him.

“Am I to understand you are going to shoot at each other, using your katanas to repel the bullets?” the General asked, giving Erik a look as if he had completely lost his mind.

“Yeah, that is a very accurate description.” He said, taking his chin into his hand, nodding his head.

“Make sure to aim for his chest, Zach.” Enak said quietly, not being all that happy about using Jeh-ri for this demo as he hadn’t been trained properly yet.

“I can’t do this, he could get seriously hurt.” Zach protested.

“This wouldn’t happen to be a personal issue for you, would it?” Erik asked. His fierce blue eyes drilling into the soft browns of Zach. “He is armoured and he is very nimble as you will soon find out. Just don’t shoot too close together.”

Zach sighed deeply and took aim, and shot. Jeh-ri twitched slightly, letting the first bullet go by. The second was dodged in a similar way. And with every shot taken, Jehri advanced on the SOLDIER who was now gaining confidence in the fact that he wouldn’t hurt his friend.

The bullets now coming more rapidly, Jeh-ri started getting trouble deflecting the bullets as he was struck high on the shoulder, but managed to twist away from the impact of the round, turning around fast, making it harder for Zach to hit him, who still managed to get one more round past his defences, being stopped by the armour, but penetrated and damaged the rib just on the right.

The stinging pain struck violence up in Jeh-ri, as the sim suggested a change tactics releasing a large dose of adrenaline. He started to move around in short sharp rushes, moving too fast for Zach to take aim, launched himself up and over, and landed just beside his opponent.

Zach was quite startled to see his lover move so fast, and felt the gun being kicked from his hand before he knew what was going on. The eyes of Jeh-ri flaring heliotrope rage at him as the Katana stopped just a quarter of an inch away from his throat. Then the eyes flickered, and the anger abated, as Jeh-ri withdrew the sword.

“Not bad for a first timer.” Erik said, grabbing the smaller man by the shoulders and pulling him into a careful embrace. Jehri grunted and winced into the much taller man’s chest, as he carefully sat him against the wall.

“Jeh-ri has never done something like this before?” Zach asked.

“Of course he has, just at home it is a little different as he can read the mind of the person trying to shoot him. He went in ‘blind’ as we call it.” Erik explained as he looked at the spots where the bullets had penetrated the armour.

“He actually had to look at what part you were taking aim at, anticipate and deflect. When he noticed he wasn’t fast enough, he changed technique to avoid further injury. He did well.”

“You mean I actually hit him?” Zach exclaimed, moving over to where Jeh-ri leant against the wall.

Erik touched the shoulder and a spot on his ribcage. “The armour took most of the damage, don’t worry. Jehr-ri might be small but he is tougher that he looks.

Zach looked at the smaller man, who had gone slightly pale, his eyes closed and his face screwed up in a concentrated scowl.

“We could arrange a demonstration on the firing range for tomorrow morning if you like?” Erik said, looking at the General. “How rusty is your aim, Graduate?” He asked.

“About as rusty as your sex life, Instructor.” Jehri answered.
Erik sniggered at that.

“Your up first to take aim, then. Get your weapons in order, report to the firing range first thing tomorrow morning. Get some practice in, I don’t want to get my head shot off.”

“Yes Sir.” The smaller man said. “It would be a vast improvement, though.”


Erik fixed the smaller man with an angry scowl, but refrained from making a retort.

“I am looking forward to your demonstration, Instructor.” The General said, and walked off, leaving Zach who followed Jeh-ri and Enak.

”Take him into our room, he needs privacy.” He said, loud enough so Zach would hear, who turned and looked at him, feeling torn between his loyalty to his lover and obeying the other man.

Once inside the privacy of the room, Enak started to pull off the damaged armour as carefully as he could. “I cant believe Erik actually made you do this. You weren’t ready.” He growled, pulling the padded shirt up over one arm first and then off.

“I got to my opponent, though.” Jeh-ri said, wincing as Enak gently prodded the wounds.

“Sure, but at what price?” He said, his voice stern, angry at the macho-ism displayed. “Your both insane.”

Jeh-ri climbed into the shower and turned on the hot water on, letting it run off him while resting his head against the wall.

He could assess the damage more clearly. He was covered in bruises and was bleeding from the two wounds. The sim had stopped most of the blood flow, but now the bullet had to come out.
He instructed the sim to contract the tissues surrounding the bullet still in his shoulder, forcing it out, and moments later the metal round fell to the tiled floor with a clearly audible plink, and all the strength left his limbs.
A few moments later, all the blood had been washed away, leaving just a ragged spot in the flesh of his shoulder. He needed Nutria, but didn’t have the strength to walk to the store room.

Enak walked out of the room and encountered a flustered and confused Zach.

“I wanted to check on Jeh-ri, but I got the impression from Erik that I wasn’t welcome.”

Enak snorted. “Erik has issues, he should mind his own business. I know you and Jeh-ri are close. He will need you more than you know.” He said and held the door open for him, giving him a gentle smile.

As Zach entered the room, he saw large clouds of vapour billowing out of the adjoined bathroom.

“That’s quite an impressive tattoo” Jeh-ri heard behind him. If he hadn’t held his head under the streaming water, he would have heard Zach enter the bathroom, or at least have felt his presence. When they had been together, it had always been dark, and now he could admire the phoenix that climbed it’s way across his back, riding the spine.

“Thank you.” The redhead said, trying to hide his fatigue.

“This must have hurt!” he said, seeing the extent at which he had been inked up. ”Did it take long to finish?”

“I found a good master on Althea, he did this in two straight days. He is one of the best to ever set one on me, it has virtually no scarring.” Zach came even closer, and traced the line work with his fingertips, not being able to detect any parts standing up from the skin.

Then he placed both hands on his shoulders, and softly stroked and knead the muscles. “You have done this for me so often lately, and after today’s display I think I’ll return the favour.” He said, and although he couldn’t see his face, as he was still facing the wall, knew he was smiling.

His hands soothed away the pain and irritation he had felt the last couple of weeks.
How he had been lonely for just a bit of contact, to share a bit of tenderness.
He had kept Zach at a distance for a bit, just to make sure things wouldn’t get too personal, but now he really needed the contact and was immensely grateful that he had ignored Erik.

Jeh-ri looked at his face, and gently stroked a wayward strand of wet hair behind his ear. He turned to face him, his hand on his cheek.

“I missed you.” He said quietly, and kissed him. He watched his eyes slide shut as his lips parted, accepting the invitation, to want more, to come on in.

“Help me, Zach, I ache.. please.” he asked him, breathing heavily.

Now he could see the damage he had, the dark-blue welts rising to the surface of his skin, and their sparring sessions the previous day, and the wounds he had sustained from the demonstration.

“You should be in the infirmary, Jehr. You need medical care.” He said, his face worried.

Jehri shook his head. “No, I can’t risk letting Hojo near me, all I need is you.”
He pressed his body against Zach’s.

“Just take me… take me..” He begged him, burying his head against his shoulder, wrapping one arm around his neck, with his other hand stimulating him.

He gently pulled the smaller man’s hand away and laid it in his neck, who hooked one leg around his waist. He needed no further encouragement or enticement, as he gently but determent forced his way in, jamming Jeh-ri up against the wall.

Jeh-ri saw confusion steal across Zach features, as he knew he could see the grimace of pain on his face, but that faded as he gripped him tightly, as hard as he could.

Jeh-ri winced as his lover’s weight leant against the cracked rib, but the pain would soon ease, he knew. Every fibre in his body sang, it had been silent so long inside him, and Zach groaned as he got in deeper and deeper, reaching the sim that screamed with insatiable hunger, and when the two made contact, Jeh-ri came hard against Zach’s stomach.

“Still haven’t got much restraint yet, do you?’ he laughed, breathing heavily.

“You have no idea how you drive me crazy, Zach.” he said, and ran his hand across his lower abdomen, collecting just a bit of the semen there, before it got washed away, holding his fingers up at Zach’s face.

He traced just a small silver thread across Zach’s lower lip, then pushed his fingers in, he gently sucked it off, trailing the tip of his tongue along his fingers. Then they kissed again, soft and slow. Jeh-ri was so glad Zach’s face was clean, not wanting to be faced with facial hair then.

They slid down on the floor, water from the shower still raining down on them, as Zach laid down on his back. The smaller man straddled him as he ran his hands over his chest and face.
Then build into a rhythm, slow at first, then speeding up, letting him reach his climax not too much later.

Zach arched over backwards and let out a cry long and hoarse, as if he was falling into an abyss. Gasping at the force with which the sim made him come in short bursts, again and again, extending his orgasm, and within a couple of moments shedding all up to the point of complete emptiness. Their bodies gently disengaging, Jeh-ri took his hands, their fingers interlacing.

“Look, Zach” he said still breathing fast. ”Look how we are healed, see?”
Zach opened his eyes, as he held his arms out to him, turning the parts where Jeh-ri had bruised him so he could see, and showing him his own arms, the bullet wounds closing, the broken bone knitting, bruises turning bright green first, then yellow, and then vanishing completely.

“Now you see how my people need each other, why it is absolutely necessary that we have one of our own near. Polygamy isn’t an option, nor infidelity a conscious choice. Our survival depends up on it, and everyone accepts the fact that sex with another is just a necessity.”

With Jeh-ri still sitting on top of him, he propped himself up on one elbow, looking at his arms and chest in total amazement.

As the sim assimilated the semen he had given, restoring his energy and health, he sank back down. He sensed his lover’s energy sinking too low to stay awake, he would fall asleep here on the cold hard floor.

He got a couple of large towels, and dried him off. Then wrapped him and himself up, and took him into his arms, and gently carried him to his dorm, where he lifted him up on his bunk. He pulled the covers over him and wanted to withdraw, when he suddenly felt a small hand on his leg. Cloud had woken up.

“What is the matter with Zach, Sir?” he whispered.

“He got a little carried away. I have cleaned him up, and he just needs to sleep it off.” he said softly, not wanting to confront the boy with his best friends sexual antics.

“He’ll be alright tomorrow, don’t worry, Spike.” He said squatting down to catch a glimmer of the young man’s eyes in the darkness, and gently touched his face.

“Did you watching enjoy the exercise today?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I did!” He whispered full of enthusiasm, barely able to hold his voice down. “Do you think I will be able to do what Erik did? Beating away arrows?” he asked. Kiddo, you will defeat dragons and worse, way worse, beating away arrows will be like swatting flies to you. Jeh-ri’s heart ached with sympathy for him, so fragile in his insecurity.

“You may not have the strength now, Cloud, but you will some day, people will come to you to feel safe.” he said, meaning every word.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” The blond said, his voice sounding just a little bitter, even though he was just whispering.

“I never just say anything, Cloud, not to just any one, and certainly not to the people I genuinely like.” Jeh-ri said, taking the others hand, clasping it to his chest as another pulse went through him. But now the images that flashed before his ghost where more steadied out, slower.

He could see how the tiny frame would evolve, saw the sword in his hands, so much like the one Zach had beaten the living crap out of him with yesterday. But he also saw the terrible loneliness there, a future that would most certainly not be easy by far, with lots of battles, and the losses he would suffer only seemed to leave hollow victories. But there was also love there. That was at least something. He was glad that it was dark in the room as tears started flowing, and pressed his face in Cloud’s hand.

He hadn’t seen Zach there…only felt him. And he didn’t have the courage to see why not, but the amount of grief there had told him enough.

He felt Cloud’s hand creep into his neck as he couldn’t stop his shoulders from shaking, no longer able to contain the pain that had crept in and was now rising in him like a tide, he felt like throwing up but knew that all that would rise up through his mouth would be the dark bile of his melancholy. He let himself be pulled down against the small hard body beside him, and buried his face against the bony chest as Cloud pulled the covers around them.

* * * * *

Jeh-ri got up early that morning, as Zach was still quite comatose, but Cloud had woken up and cast a sleepy glance at him as he was tying in his boots.

“You feeling better now?” he asked as she stretched himself out.

“I am. You make sure that Zach gets up in time for the demonstration. Won’t you?” he said as he smiled over his shoulder at the sleepy eyed blond behind him.

“That is not for hours, though.” Cloud said, looking at the clock that hung on the dorm room, telling him it was still a few hours till dawn yet.

“I know. I have to get some target practice in before we start. Instructor Stone’s orders.”

“I think I will go back to sleep for a couple of hours.” The young man said sleepily, and turned on his other side. He was already fast asleep again as Jeh-ri headed out to the store room to get out his fire arms.

* * * * *

The demonstration proved to be quite impressive, as first Jeh-ri got to try to shoot Erik which gave him some measure of satisfaction for him making Zach shoot him the previous day.
Than Enak had a go at Ian, but the extra firearms training Enak had received actually managed to stop Ian as two bullets buried themselves in the body armour just over his heart.

“I so want to try that!” Zach finally said, and pulled out his buster sword.

“Okay, put some armour on.” Erik said.

“Armour is for pussies! I can handle being shot with low velocity ammo.” Zach said.

“Like the way you could handle being scratched, Zach?” Sephiroth said, who had arrived later, and had caught Zach’s silly boast.

Zach looked at Erik’s hands, and at Sephiroth, who’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and was very close to anger.
Zach up held his hands in surrender and put on a long armoured coat that was handed to him by Ian.

He trotted to the other side of the firing range and took up position. He started advancing slowly, moving the huge blade around to easily dodge and catch the rounds fired at him. He was almost at Enak, who was now out of ammo, and started to swing his sword at him, trying to simulate a killing blow, but the black haired instructor kept folding and jumping away under his strokes, until he managed to reload his gun and landed behind Zach, who held the edge of his sword at his neck, just as Enak held his gun at the younger man’s head.

“Stalemate!” Ian gasped.

“Well done, Zach.” Enak’s quiet voice complemented him, as they both withdrew their weapons.

At seeing Zach’s success, the other SOLDIER 1st got into some body armour and went through similar exercises, with differing results, but none managed to match Zach’s performance. Sephiroth did actually feel something that resembled pride at his friend, who smirked at him with satisfaction.

One thing that really amused Jeh-ri, as that actually on one managed to get close to Leisa, as she always managed to keep a couple of rounds back for when the oncoming opponent got close enough for a point blank shot.
He looked quickly at Zach and the General, who had noticed it too. That little dread-locked lady was a tough one to beat alright.

* * * * *

After another day of demonstrations and exercises Jeh-ri found himself back at the office with the General, slowly but steadily decreasing the stacks of files to be digitised.

“Leisa Lora is a Scouter Captain, isn’t she?” Sephiroth asked, breaking the first two hours of stunning silence.

“That is what her file should say, General.” He answered, as he sorted more manila folders.

“She is quite the marks.. woman isn’t she?” he stated.
Jeh-ri nodded. “Does that surprise you, General?”

He supposed it did. He just never had any kind of clear interaction with women, seeing as how he was raised only by professor Hojo, and never had any women around him. He found them confusing and enigmatic at best.
“I have just never seen women as warriors, that is all.”

“General, I don’t mean to be impolite, but I don’t think you have seen women period. I think that the P.A.A. females are the first you have ever encountered.”

He briefly thought it over, and had to agree.

“How did women actually become warriors on Althea? Did they just choose to join the military or was this born out of necessaty?” he asked, “ and I don’t want to be sexist or typecasting women as not being suitable, but for some reason I still cant let go of the feeling of it being somewhat unnatural.”

Jeh-ri turned, and sat down. ‘” Men and woman are supposed to from two holy trinities.” He said, “with the men being the hunters, the builders and the protectors,” he explained, as he held up his index, middle and fourth finger of one hand to represent those roles. “ And women are supposed to be the creators of life, in giving birth, the healers, and the spiritualists.” And held up the three fingers of his other hand, putting them together, forming a pyramid.

“Between the two, all important aspects of life are covered. But then as humans evolved, especially becoming symbiotic life-forms on Althea that greatly extended their lifespans, awareness of spirit and body, and paranormal abilities, the triads became interchangeable. Women now having the ability to persue a warrior’s path they can make their bodies be as strong as a man, and men able to sense and heal, becoming fantastic doctors and spiritualists. It freed the sexes from stereotypes.”

He nodded at that explanation, now seeing how persuing a military career for women was a conscious choice. Not something that was forced out of neccesaty.

“I knew a woman with a huge amount of male aggression in her, but no way of expressing it or steering it to a positive path. So she became a warrior, and a good one too. There was a group of slave traders that wanted to raid the village she grew up in. The men were out numbered seven to one when the raiders attacked. They did what they could to protect the village, but couldn’t stop them. When they descended on the village, however, non of them expected to be met with an army of sharp shooters, trained by that woman. When the traders lost about three quarters of their men, they decided to cut their losses and run. Non of them ever made it back to their ship, though. That woman was Leisa’s grandmother.”

Jeh-ri looked at the General, who looked at him, his face calculating, taking it all in. It made him reconsider the ‘priestess’ as the other men sometimes referred to her. Being a warrior and a spiritualist graced her. The two aspects seemed to clash, forming some kind of distorted yin-yang image in his mind. He briefly got a vision of her, holding a bowl of smoking sage leaves in one hand, and a Yubi in the other.

Jeh-ri let the silence be for a while, then ventured a very daring question.

“Can I ask you something personal, Sir?” he asked carefully.
He looked at the silver haired man, who spread his hands invitingly.

“Have you ever been with a woman?”

He shook his head in answer. “I got the impression they are afraid of me.”

“Is that the impression that you got from the women that worked in the lab with Hojo?”
Jeh-ri asked, as that was the only place he had seen women.

“Yes. Are you afraid of me?”

“Fear is a natural reaction to a life threatening situation. It makes your adrenaline rush to increase your strength and chances of survival. I don’t find you a threat to my life.
I have spend several months living in a tree with Enak doing field research about Sukha Tigers. They are immensely powerful predators. When you are afraid, you give off a certain scent that they don’t like, and it makes them attack you. I find you very alike to them in energy. I can even look you in the eye and not be rattled all that much. It is just you that you don’t encounter eyes like that in a human head every day.”

“I remind you of a very dangerous predator? How does that put you at ease with me?”
He said, his features quizzical as he didn’t see how the metaphor worked.

“All you have to know is that it is all about respect. You leave them alone, they leave you alone.”

“You are hardly leaving me alone, though“ he said, as the younger man’s curiosity about his emotional life had made him ask more and more probing questions.

“That is because I am interested in you as a person, I find the way a lot of people look at you here very superficial. They tend to only focus on your achievements. Your prestige.
For them it is enough, but I just feel differently, I need more than that.”

“That is the female aspect in you, bringing in emotion to the process again.” The General pointed out.

“Yes and no. I have seen plenty of armies go down to their destruction because they admired their leader to the same kind of degree as you are admired. I think idolisation can be very dangerous, and I am very careful before I commit myself. As for the second point, I know I attach emotion. It is just the way I am.”

“If that is not enough for you, to gain your loyalty, your devotion, then what is? Don’t tell me it is love, I wont believe that.”

“I serve life, and the leaders that are dedicated to protecting that, and love can take on many different shapes. You fascinate me, but beyond physical attraction. Do you find that hard to come to grips with? That someone is actually interested beyond; ”Wow, he is beautiful, and powerful! I want to have sex with him!” He said, making a theatrical gesture while he clasped his hands under his chin.

“Your commander seemed to see me like that.” Sephiroth said, trying to provoke a reaction, and deflecting the attention away at the same time.

”Pff, that doesn’t surprise me. He can be a horny bastard sometimes, and his motives are fickle.” Jeh-ri said, dismissing the comment with an evasive gesture. “It is a good thing he has Shau-ri to grab him by the nose every now and then.”

Jeh-ri saw the General close his eyes, and dip his head toward his chin every so briefly. “He got to you, though, I can tell. Have you never attached emotion to sex before, General?”
He asked softly.

No, he hadn’t. it just never seemed to extend to a temporary fascination, a need that had to be fulfilled. But Nathan, he had provoked some thing in him, something that now needed to be left alone.
The eyes of the General flashed a warning, getting defensive. Don’t get too close, you are walking on a thin line.

“Sir, please don’t get angry with me.” Jehri pressed on, choosing to ignore the warning.
”Nathan tried to show you that not ever attaching emotion to sex is a serious case of deprivation. If you continue on like this, you will not grow further. It will give rise to all sorts of weird psychological distortions, alienating you even further from the people around you. You just need to grow as an emotional being, and you are entitled to your own personal development regardless of what Shinra wants from you.”

“Enough! Shut your mouth!” Sephiroth snarled at the top of his voice. The force of his outburst struck Jeh-ri like a slap in the face. His mind went blank for about two seconds, as his head first snapped back, then dipped forward toward the keyboard of his laptop.

The noise in Sephiroth’s head abated somewhat when he saw the copper haired young man’s face turn greyish white as his eyes rolled back in his head, and fell forward.
The rage and confusion still burning in his head he grabbed the man around his neck. Something had taken over, desperately wanting this man to stop making him think.

It was just all too painful as he realized all the things that where denied to him. Before he had started to plant all those subtle little seeds of thought in him, he had felt empty, but serene in his deprivation as the other had put it. It had been a somewhat hollow existence he had come to realize, but with every conversation they had had together lately his unrest had grown. He just couldn’t cope with the gnawing lack inside him, its teeth becoming more and more keen since he had allowed Zach to drag him to the ‘thank you’ ritual on the practice grounds outside Midgar with the P.A.A. people.

Jeh-ri stop.. please stop talking about the things I cannot…will not ever be able to have.. I just don’t know how to cope.. no one ever told me… you are making it hurt so bad… Nathan showed me and that was bad enough…

He saw as he had been forced outside his body his hands close around the white throat.

~One quick squeeze, one quick jerk to either side, and it would all be over, I promise..~

Jeh-ri’s eyes still white, his breath becoming laboured as the Generals long hard fingers trembled with restrained strength around his windpipe, reached up.

He felt the intense warmth of the Jeh-ri’s palm against his chest, and the other took hold of his wrist.

General.. fight.. it is the other.. you don’t want to do this.. let us show you another way..

A voice said, it was immensely deep and it sounded ancient, it couldn’t possibly be Jeh-ri’s, but it blew through his mind like a cooling wind, and all the anger seemed to be leave him, like hot metal that was suddenly doused in cold water. He now cradled Jeh-ri’s head in one hand, as the smaller man blinked his eyes, which now regained their focus.
“Are you okay? How do you feel?” He asked, still not letting go of Jeh-ri’s head and shoulder, afraid he might keel over.

“I think so, I just have a little trouble focusing my eyes, and my head hurts.” He said, blinking his eyes, and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead.
“It is my own fault. I didn’t heed your warning.” He said, the stinging sensation in his nose making his eyes water.

“What did I do? I just yelled at you, I didn’t actually touch you.. “ The General said, puzzled at what had happened. He did for a split second feel like striking the copper headed man, but it had been a thought only.

“You slapped me with your mind, I felt it. Any other ordinary person would have not felt a thing, maybe just have gotten goose-bumps or something, or gone weak at the knees. I am just more sensitive to your intentions. I guess, becoming more attuned.” He mused, tasting blood at the back of his throat.

“If that is the case, why didn’t you stop when I asked it of you.” He asked.

“Because I felt we were getting somewhere. I is really hard for me to get you to a certain point and then having to back off. If anything, this should be a learning experience for you to control your temper, and for me to not push the issue. Maybe you should consider taking the Veritas herb.” He suggested.

“I don’t like the idea of having my mind addled by drugs, Seng. Something very strange happened to me just now, and don’t want think it is a wise to place myself in a situation were I am not in control.”

“That is the whole point of the veritas herb. It pushes your emotions right to the background, and you can talk about things that are otherwise too aggravating or embarrassing. I think it might actually be a good, safe way for you to have an objective look at yourself, get to a deeper understanding.”

The pulled one eyebrow up, and seemed to mull it over. “Can’t you just give me something to try on my own?”

“No, it would be just like looking into the mirror like you do every day, it is much better if you have someone around to act as a soundboard, to hear your thoughts reflected back at you. You’ll be surprised what you can find out about yourself.”

“Zach told me something about you two, that when you have sex you have an out of body experience. Can that be done without the physical aspect?” he asked, and Jeh-ri realized that he had been holding back previously.

“I have never tried. I’d have to ask about it, and how to go about it safely. The herb would definitely help compensate for the lack of contact.”

Zach burst into the office, and the General withdrew. Jeh-ri quickly slapped his hands to his cheeks to get the blood flowing again.

“Aha!! Caught you in the act! You are hitting on my boyfriend!” He exclaimed theatrically, as he looked at his friends, Jeh-ri face still looking ashen, Sephiroth not doing much better.
It did look very peculiar to the untrained eye.

“The guilt is just written aaaaall over your face, you faithless harlot!” He accused, as he moved over to where Jeh-ri sat, who was rapidly regaining some colour in his face, and managed to focus his eyes.

“Faithless harlot?” Jeh-ri repeated back at him. ”I know you needed more fibre in your diet, but I didn’t expect you to eat a dictionary, Zach.”

Sephiroth snorted, and returned to his seat. “Ever heard of knocking before entering Zach?” he said, his voice not really mad, as that would only confirm that something had indeed been going on, a slight smile curling around the corner of one mouth.

“Why? I never had to before?” He asked playfully as he walked up to Jeh-ri and plonked himself down on his lap. “You want to go play in the big bath in the sauna tonight?”

“Yes, that would be nice. I don’t like the lights in there, though. You get all nice and dopey, then you still have those damn neon-tubes to spoil the mood.”

“You can bring some candles from the store room, make it all wooomantic, like!” he said as he sat facing the smaller man, swinging them left to right on the chair.

“Why don’t you two children run along, so I can get some work done.” Sephiroth sighed deeply.

“Yes! I never thought he was going to kick you out!” Zach said, jumping up and grabbing Jeh-ri by the arm, pulling him to his feet. Then cradling him in one arm, sweeping him around like he was drawing him into some weird off kilter tango.

“Oohh Zach. I never realized you could be this persuasive..” Jeh-ri breathed at him.
Still feeling kind of dizzy.

“Honey, you have no idea.” Zach concluded, as he manoeuvred the slightly befuddled smaller man out of the office.

Continued in Erik and Enak’s story