Living in Darkness

Chapter 2
Promise of Eternity

He couldn't sleep without having the nightmares. The memories just wouldn't leave him alone. The screaming, the darkness, the destruction of all life...., but his own. He always awoke in a sheen of sweat, biting back the scream that would want to come forth. Relief from the dream was short lived when he would remember he was living in a real nightmare. One that he couldn't escape.

Cloud was allowed to wander throughout the large mansion Sephiroth had decided to inhabit after his murder of the planet. He was not however allowed to leave its confines. He had tried once, and was thrown back by a powerful shield Sephiroth had put in place at all exits to keep him from escaping. Not that there was anywhere he could go that Sephiroth wouldn't find him. The bastard seemed to know where he was at any given moment when he wished. It was truly unnerving.

Treatment wise he had been taken care of very well. He was provided with food, clothes and even his sword was returned to him. Sephiroth had not tried to move in on him again either, for which he was grateful. He had no desire to be touched by the cruel monster who destroyed everything he ever loved. So distraught, he had contemplated suicide, but in the end decided he would rather live in the hope of killing Sephiroth for what he had done.

He practiced with his weapon daily, keeping up his strength. He didn't want to be in the weak condition he was in before. Losing to Sephiroth was bad enough, but not being able to fight him off had been frightening. As Sephiroth had said, he could have easily taken him if he had wanted. He still didn't understand what made Sephiroth think he would ever give into his desires. It just wasn't going to happen.

Cloud stared down at the shadowed land from a high window as all these thought went through his troubled mind. A day hadn't gone by when he didn't think about all his friends, now gone. His heart ached with it, fueling his hate for the one responsible. Being forced to live while the others had perished was the worst thing Sephiroth could have done. 'I'll kill him. I have to.'

"What are you thinking about, Cloud?" Sephiroth's silky voice asked. Cloud turned with a gasp, having not heard him enter the room.

"I hate when you do that!" Cloud said icily, glaring at him with loathing. He smiled, appraising Cloud with his hungry gaze. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want, Cloud." He stepped over to join him at the window, so gracefully it was like he was floating. "You should consider yourself lucky that I'm so patient," he added with a smirk, leaning uncomfortably close. "I have all eternity to wait, but I'm not that patient. Think about that."

"I'll be dead long before then. Think about that!" Cloud answered and stepped away. He didn't get far before Sephiroth grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms against his body. 'Why did I leave my sword in my room?' he thought as he tried to pull from the vise like hold.

"You can't die, Cloud," Sephiroth said, his lips brushing against his ear, and Cloud flinched his head away with revulsion. "I won't allow it."

"What are you talking about?!" he grumble, still fighting to get loose as Sephiroth held him in his powerful arms.

"Shall I show you?"

"What...," Cloud started, but was cut off as Sephiroth threw him to the floor, flipping him over on his back and straddling him with lightening speed. A sharp dagger appeared in Sephiroth's hand as if out of thin air. He ripped open Cloud's shirt like paper and drew the blade across his chest. Cloud was so shocked that he didn't even fight him, hissing with the sharp pain from the cut.

"Watch," Sephiroth ordered taking the blade away, it disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Cloud looked at his chest with wonder, watching as the cut healed itself, not even leaving a trace of a scar.

"What the fuck did you do to me?!" he asked, his voice shaking with anger and fear, staring at his chest where only the trace of drying blood remained.

"I know you better than you know yourself, Cloud. I know that you hunger for death," he answered, moving down over him, putting his face inches from his own. "Do you still have the arrogance to think that you can destroy me when you can't even destroy yourself?" Cloud lay there, speechless as his fate was revealed to him, the promise of living for eternity with the nightmare. He tried to get up, but was pushed roughly back.

"Let me up!"

"Maybe I should just take what I want," Sephiroth contemplated softly, almost to himself with a wicked smile. "You are proving to be very stubborn." His hand caressed Cloud's chest leisurely. The fear was back tenfold and Cloud lay there frozen, waiting for the attack. "What do you think, Cloud? Should I take what you won't give, hmmm?" he asked, his voice dripping with cruelty and seduction.

"No, you said you wouldn't," he said without much hope, turning his face away from Sephiroth's heated gaze.

"A God can change his mind." Cloud stiffened when he felt Sephiroth's lips brush his cheek with a feather light kiss, and heard the low throaty growl that issued from him. He knew he wasn't strong enough, but he fought anyway, breaking his paralysis, he punched Sephiroth on the side of the head, not landing a very effective blow in the position he was in. His wrist was grabbed in a powerful grip and he screamed when the bone snapped with the pressure.

"Fuck you!" Cloud yelled as the painfully broken bone was already healing itself together, the excruciation ebbing away.

"I love your strength of will, it overwhelms me," Sephiroth said, his voice filled with uninhibited lust. "I won't take you, Cloud. Not when I can have you willingly." He stood and moved to the door with agile grace, looking back only once. "I'm all you have now," he chuckled as he swept out the door and was gone. Cloud's stomach twisted with those words, because in a sick way, Sephiroth was right.