Love Against Time

Cloud crawled as far as he could from Sephiroth; he’d flush himself down the toilet if he had to. He sat in the corner opposite his nemesis and glared. The other watched him silently, stoically. The evening meal came a few hours later, through the small window on a tray that hooked to the sill, and neither moved for it. Soon, an angry grumble was emitting from Cloud’s stomach, and he retrieved the meager rations of bread, jerky and water.
Sephiroth waited for Cloud to finish eating, and then ate his own rations. He continued watching the blond until the lights in the hall were shut off. Lying down, he stared at the ceiling, not wanting to bother the other anymore. He’d noticed the stiff manner in which the blond was moving, and figured that he’d been wounded somewhat before they threw him in the cell. Curious, he wondered what they’d asked his clone about, and what they’d received in answer. Shaking his head, he drifted into sleep. There would be plenty of time to prod him about it later.
Shouting woke Sephiroth about an hour later. The sound was so garbled that he thought he’d been dreaming. A heavy thud rattled the heavy door of their cell, and his eyes snapped open. Through his peripherals he could see Cloud had been roused as well, though he had not moved. Standing, Sephiroth walked to the edge of the newly spawned square of light that lay across the cell floor. It was dimmer than usual, suggesting that it was from a backup system. Blinking against the light, he stared into the hall.
Outside, the commotion had come to a stop. A brunette with stormy gray eyes was preparing to attack. The metal SHRING of a sword being drawn ended his preparations. He spoke softly, so that Sephiroth could not hear. The response was a small laugh, but the stormy-eyed man’s face clearly showed relief. The cell across the hall was opened, and Stormy, as well as a tattooed blond, was haphazardly tossed in. Several helmeted soldiers passed the cell window, followed by a blond in a gray coat. It was the man that had entered Sephiroth’s mind. The scarred blond cast his green-eyed captive a quick glance, then continued on his way. Turning back to bed, Sephiroth waited long for sleep to meet him.

That night, Cloud infiltrated his dreams again. They were in Nibelheim once more, though this time Zax was with Cloud in the basement instead. He’d come down to look up something regarding the specific whereabouts of his clones, and found them sprawled across the antique of a green couch in the front library. He cast them a wry grin, muttering, “If you had anyone else as a General, you’d both be shot in the morning.”
“C’mon, Seph,” Zax said, “You know you enjoy seeing us like this.”
Grinning, Sephiroth nodded. “Why do you think I had you both transferred to my army? To my specific Platoon?” he baited. Zax laughed in return. Cloud, however, had turned a luscious shade of pink.
“He knew about us, Zax?” Cloud’s voice was shaking with embarrassment, as well as his innocence. Zax only laughed harder. Offended that his lover had teased him so, and not informed him that their relationship was being monitored, Cloud ran into the mansion. Sephiroth’s eyes followed his firm buttocks out the door, and then sent Zax a small glare.
“You should have told him.”
“I know, I know. Calm down, old man.” Zax got off the couch languidly. “I’ll find him.”
“Good, otherwise this ‘old man’ is going to kick your ass for it.” He knew Cloud didn’t want to be found now. What did it matter if Zax didn’t find him? It only meant that the blond would be free to speak to later. Settling into the plushy, but dusty, chair, he began to read through the logs of his cloning. Much to his surprise, he found that one had been raised here in Nibelheim. Curiosity inflamed him, and read long into the night. His anger grew as he read, learning of everything that had been done to both him and his clones. There was nothing left of many, and there were several dubbed failures that had been allowed to live a “normal” life under Shin-Ra surveillance. While his anger grew, so did his ego, and he felt a great honor that they had wanted to copy him. But as he scanned through the Nibelheim files, he found Cloud’s name, rank, and birth date. Cloud was a cl Sor Sort of. He’d been infused, but in a different manner than the others. Suddenly everything made acute sense, and not a thing about it could be done. The attraction made sense; the insane need to be one with the runt. It had driven him nuts, and now he knew why. With a sudden burst of inspiration, he stood. Running from the room, he headed for Cloud’s house. There was nothing that could stop him now; he held the final move for checkmate on Zax. Cloud would be his, like he was supposed to be.
Cloud’s home was one of the larger looking ones nearest the mansion. Of course, Zax was snoozing on the front porch against the door frame as if he were on guard. Sephiroth smirked to himself in the dark and made his way round the back of the house. Figuring that Cloud and his mother would be sound asleep in the large one roomed beast of a living space, Sephiroth peered in through a window. He was correct in his assumption, and he shivered at the luscious skin that Cloud unconsciously displayed from beneath his sheets. Shifting to the back door, he jiggered the lock, and stepped in silently. Casting a heavy sleep spell on the mother, he sat on the bed beside Cloud and gently shook the boy awake.
“Zax?” he murmured sleepily.
“No, Cloud,” Sephiroth whispered in return.
“General?” Cloud sat up abruptly, exposing more sinfully innocent skin. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve got some information that you might find interesting. I’d like for you to see it.”

“Okay, I’ll go get Zax.” He shifted to get out of bed, but Sephiroth’s hand was on his shoulder before he could actually do so. His hands were bare, his gloves missing. It was strange to both of them that this was so, but the connection of their skin was more than a simple touching of bodies. It was the linking of minds and souls. Everything that Sephiroth had wanted to show him, the books, the diagrams, the dates, all flooded into his mind.
“I’m your clone?” the blond asked in a shaky voice. He was trembling beneath the General’s pale fingers. A gentle squeeze assured him that it was alright to be upset.
“Yes.”
“No wonder,” he whispered. Tears slid down his face silently, ae wae was scooped into strong arms and cradled against a broad chest. “I’ve always known about you,” he sniffled. “It wasn’t just things that everyone else knew. I knew where you were, where you’d been, when they said you’d come back from some top secret mission. I knew about you and President Shin-Ra hating each other long before it was public, and I knew about the things you and Rufus had done. I know about the things you and Zax did. When I met Zax, I was so excited. I knew I was getting close to you. And I was. Now I know why.”
“You were trying to meet me?” Sephiroth whispered. “I had been searching for you the entire time. Something was calling to me. You.” He brushed away Cloud’s tears, and tilted his head up to look him in the eyes. “Now that I’ve found you, I can’t just let you go. Not now that I know you’ve been searching too. You fill a void that’s been plaguing me. I need you.”

Cloud blinked up at him, and leaned up. His soft lips contacted Sephiroth’s in a gentle but innocently awkward kiss. The General shivered at the touch, glad that Zax hadn’t been able to corrupt him entirely yet. There was a hunger behind that innocence, though, and that made him even gladder. The boy shifted in his arms, settling into a straddle against his hips. He was pushing at the General’s heavy coat, and pressing his heated belly against his lover’s chest. Shedding the coat, Seph wrapped his arms around the lithe boy and found himself being pushed back into the bed. Ghosting a hand down Cloud’s spine, he earned a groan and fingers prying into his waistband. His hands found tight buttocks, and he gripped them firmly. Kneading the flesh as he slowly massaged down supple thighs, he slowly rocked his hips into the sensitive balls above his. Cloud gasped, and opened his mouth wider than he had been. Seph’s tongue plunged in, needily forcing a fervent kiss on him. He stroked the boy’s sides, skin shivering deliciously beneath his palms. Cloud’s hands had managed to get his pants unzipped and were delving inside to his rigid penis. Cold hands wrapped around him, and he cried out in pleasured surprise. Rolling, he had Cloud on his back and was thrusting into the grasp of his lover. His silvery hair fell around them, creating a moonlight veil. Cloud’s knees were suddenly against his thighs, tugging his pants off. He toed off his boots as best he could, and slid out of the constrictive garments. Cloud’s hands slipped to his balls, cupping them and drawing them down to his own heated erection. They both moaned at this, and then Seph remembered the mother. The thought that he was taking Cloud while his mother slept no more than ten feet away made him harder than he’d imagined possible. Grinning, he blazed a trail of kisses away from the blonde’s mouth, nipping at the clavicle and then licking a pert nipple. Taking the darker skin into his mouth, he sucked viciously as his hands tugged gently at Cloud’s surprisingly large erection. He felt the pre-cum on his thumb and licked down to his lover’s hips. While his hands were still working the boy’s cock, he took one of his balls into his mouth and caressed it with his tongue. A loud mew escaped the mouth of the bucking boy, and Seph laughed. A hitching gasp raked through the air, and the General left his balls alone. Taking one hand from the wanking pair, he covered his index finger with spit and slid it into the boy’s anus. He was loose from sex earlier that day, but not enough to be taken raw. Slipping another finger past, Seph scissored in and out, while lapping at the ring of flesh with his tongue. He slid in and pressed around for that spot that made the sky burst into light. Cloud went rigid when he found it, gasping shortly.
“Please,” he whimpered. “I can’t take it any more. Fuck me!”
Seph sent a lick along the pulsing vein in Cloud’s cock, and then positioned himself for entrance. He paused, then quickly jumped off and strode into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, he found butter and jam. Deciding the Jam would be tastier later; he slathered himself in it and returned to bed. Cloud’s blue eyes widened at him, and a grin broke out upon his lips. Seph plunged in, and they both groaned. Catching Seph’s lips in another searing kiss, Cloud hooked his arms around his lover’s shoulders and took him in as far as he could. Each stroke filled him entirely, as if there had been something lost in him. Zax had never felt like this; nothing had. The only thing he’d ever wanted was to be whole, and Sephiroth made him feel that way. His commanding officer, his lover, the one from which he’d been copied. It was far too soon when he came, and when Seph came in him. They simply e ine in their position, not wanting to lose that oneness. Cloud’s hands tangled in the General’s hair, tremors ricocheting through him.
“I need you,” he whispered. “Don’t leave me.” The words sent pangs of a strange emotion running down Seph’s back, something he was entirely dissociated with. Love.
“Never, I swear it.”
It was then that a sharp pain shot through his face, across his left cheek. He jerked awake, half expecting to see Cloud standing over him with a glare plastered on his face. After enduring the glares from a silent Shin-Ra lackey the previous night and likely all through it, he’d been prepared to forget about figuring out what was wrong with the younger man. It had really come down to whether or not Cloud would still think of him as the enemy here. Apparently, Cloud still did. In the time that Seph had watched the blond, he hadn’t moved a single millimeter with the exception of rising to get his meal the previous night. There was the morning meal on the window, and it seemed that Cloud had not risen to fetch his portion of it. Shifting to see what had struck him, he found a spoon laying about a foot away. Baffled, he looked back to the window, where a guard was snickering at him. Rolling his eyes, he picked up the spoon and looked over at Cloud. A small smirk was on the other’s face; a sight that relieved the General a small fraction. It was the only movement he made. For a brief moment, Sephiroth wondered if his clone was dying.