Let Him In

Let Him In

  

 Chapter warning(s): Language, Naked Sephiroth, Amnesia, Original Character

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”-Maya Angelou

 

 

 

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

CH02: Forgotten

“Sephiroth…?” Came Cloud’s hesitant inquiry. It felt strange to be in this position with his greatest of enemies. He wasn’t embracing the man, but it sure looked and felt like he was.

The silver-haired man did not move. He just stared blankly at Cloud. There was zero recognition in his vacant jade eyes.

Practicing extreme caution, Cloud discreetly glanced out of the corner of his eyes at First Tsurugi. It was at least 5 feet away, which did not sit well with him. He didn’t think that he needed his sword, though, since Sephiroth didn’t appear to have Masamune on his very naked person.   Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that he couldn’t magically summon it or pull it out of his ass. Both options seemed very unlikely, but Sephiroth had never been a predictable man, be it sane or insane.

Cloud decided to try again. “Sephiroth? Are you ok? Can you understand me? Do you know who I am?” Asked Cloud quietly as if he didn’t really want to know the answer to that. This was just…so bizarre to him. If only his friend could see him now…

The ex-Shinra General blinked slowly. He remained clinging to Cloud without making a single move. His muscles looked lax as if he weren’t stressed. There wasn’t even the usual threat of violence looming over him like a dark cloud.

Cloud attempted to formulate a plan on what he should do next. He knew he had to keep Sephiroth alive.  Both Aerith and Zack had made that achingly clear to him the day prior. But what was he supposed to do in the mean time? Should he just walked out with Sephiroth in tow and take him home with him? That seemed like the only logical option that he could come up with.

The blond suddenly realized something he had been purposely ignoring up until now. Sephiroth was naked. No clothes. Nothing. And Cloud hadn’t thought to bring any spare clothes because honestly, at the time, he hadn’t known what he was going to do.

Sighing, Cloud ultimately made a decision. He couldn’t bring Sephiroth with him, yet. The blond warrior would have to leave him for the time being and go to the closest town to pick up some clothes that would at least fit him.

Curling his hands over Sephiroth’s shoulders, Cloud looked him straight in the eye. He then spoke calmly, yet firmly, “Sephiroth, I have to go now. I will be back soon. Stay here, ok? I want you to stay here. Don’t leave. I will be back for you.”

Cloud moved to stand up, but the silver-haired man didn’t seem to want to let go. Sighing once more, the blond somehow detached himself from the larger man.

The slighter male strode quickly over to his sword and placed it behind him in its rightful place. Before he exited the chamber, he took one last look at the ex-General.

Sephiroth was still sitting in the same exact position. As quickly as he had protested Cloud’s abrupt departure, he seemed to be over it now. Blinking every now and then, he didn’t move or do anything.

Something about seeing Sephiroth like that haunted Cloud in a way he had never known before. It almost tugged at his heartstrings.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

Roughly forty minutes later, Cloud found a small town that looked promising enough. It looked like it housed at least a couple hundred people or so. Some people were outside working, some walking the streets, and the rest most likely inside their humble houses.

The town was called Fuldenbrück.

After asking around, the blond found a small clothing boutique that catered to both men and women. It would have to do.

He didn’t walk in like a customer would. The blond crept in like someone who had accidently walked into the wrong place. Glancing warily around, he couldn’t help but cringe. Cloud wasn’t exactly the fashion police, but…the style here was gaudy.

“Good morning! How may I help you?” Enthusiastically greeted an unmistakably feminine voice. The owner of said voice nearly bounced over to him in glee.

Giving her a quick, yet subtle up-down, Cloud couldn’t help but notice she looked remarkably like Tifa, except this girl’s breasts were much bigger than his friend’s. She also seemed much more bubbly and jubilant. He was going to be in agony, he just knew it. “Uh…yeah.”

Smiling at him, the sales clerk inquired brightly, “Are you shopping for yourself? I am well qualified to fit men and women. I can help you, if you like.”

Walking around and taking a closer look at the male apparel, Cloud said nothing at first. He wasn’t sure if he needed her help or not. It didn’t help that she hovered around and didn’t give him much space. Every time he moved an inch, she moved an inch. The only thing that he noted about her that was a plus was that she was incredibly patient. Instead of pestering him, she waited for him to answer.

“No…not for me.”

The girl frowned a bit as if her hopes had been dashed, but she quickly recovered with a smile. “Your…girlfriend then?” She inquired slowly and there was something about the way she said it that implied that she hoped he was indeed single. It was fairly obvious she was attracted to him from her body language and the way she eyed him like juicy meat.

He didn’t understand at first why a small town girl would be so suddenly enamored with a stranger like him, but then he remembered. The blond remembered a time many years ago when he had stood in her shoes, so to speak. He remembered feeling just as infatuated and breathless. However, for him, it somehow had been different.

Catching onto her flirty little game, Cloud looked at her coolly with his azure eyes. Without seeming rude, he then replied evenly, “No…”

The shop clerk’s face brightened considerably. She was pretty, yes, with her big brown eyes, kind face, long, brown hair, and curvy body. Yet, she was not his type. His type wasn’t feminine at all. Her brother, (if she even had one), for example, would be closer to his type.

Yeah, it was no secret among Cloud and his friends that he preferred the company of men. All of them had accepted it pretty much right away. All except Tifa. She was still coming to terms with it, but she was gradually getting better. Rejection, even if it was kind and gentle, was a wound that took time to heal. And sometimes it would never heal completely.

“I need clothes for my boyfriend.”

The sales clerk’s face collapsed as soon as she had realized exactly what he had just admitted to. Trying to save face, she quickly forced a smile on her pleasant face. “Oh…well then, what is his size? Is he…close to your size?”

“No. He’s bigger and taller. I would prefer dark and neutral tones of color, if you have them. Nothing bright, please,” specified Cloud as he tried to imagine what he would dress the infamous ex-General in. Colors…just seemed so wrong to him. Try as he might, he just couldn’t imagine Sephiroth wearing color. Hell, even Cloud himself didn’t wear much color at all.

The brown-haired woman blinked slowly as she tried to imagine Cloud’s boyfriend. As soon as he had waved one of his hands in her face, she snapped out of her reverie. “Oh my,” she began and then suggested, “Where is he then? Perhaps you should bring him back with you…”

The blond scratched the back of his head and shrugged as he tried to think of what to say to that. Well, the truth was always best, right? “I don’t think that’ll be appropriate…”

“Why?” She asked curiously with a slight tilt of her head.

“Well, where I left him…”

“Yes?”

“He’s kind of naked,” deadpanned the blue-eyed warrior in his best neutral visage.

“…” The sales clerk blushed a bright crimson. In spite of the flirting and how well built she was, the girl was innocent, yet.

Cloud smirked as soon as she had turned away. It was kind of nice socializing with actual people again. He had almost forgotten why he had stopped in the first place.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

After much speeding and skillful maneuvering, Cloud returned to the forest and parked Fenrir in the place he had parked it last time. Grabbing the bag filled with his purchases, he quickly hiked up back to the cave.

Jogging through the tunnel, he reached the chamber a short time later. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he entered it, though.

Sephiroth was gone.

Cursing under his breath, Cloud ran throughout the small cave. Since it was so small, there were only a few other chambers. Not finding the silver-haired man in any of them, the blond concluded that Sephiroth had exited the cave.

Jogging outside, the blond male glanced in every direction. Not spotting Sephiroth anywhere, he then cast his eyes to the ground. His enhanced eyes saw the subtle imprints of footprints in the dirt that unenhanced human eyes would have surely missed.

Following the prints with his eyes, he then begun to carefully follow the footprints. A strange feeling resided in the gut of his stomach and he wasn’t sure what it was. Whatever it was, it felt like instinct. All he knew was that the more he followed the prints, the stronger the feeling increased until he was no longer walking, but sprinting through the gaps of the trees.

Roughly 20 minutes later, Cloud finally found Sephiroth. He quickly halted and then exhaled breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

The silver-haired man was standing still in a clearing. He wasn’t doing anything except just standing there.

In the likely chance that Sephiroth had remembered everything and was insane again, Cloud lowered the bag carefully to the ground. Keeping his hand near the hilt of First Tsurugi, he silently and cautiously crept closer until he had worked his way around the taller man. Expecting the worst, he was surprised to see that there wasn’t a trace of madness on his blank face.

“Sephiroth?”

The larger man didn’t seem to recognize his name, but he did acknowledge that Cloud was there. Turning his head slightly, he stared dully at the blond man in almost the same way a child would when he didn’t understand something.

Sighing in relief, Cloud jogged over and picked up the bag. Running back over to the naked man, he stood in front of him. “They didn’t really have anything decent in your size. Most of the men in that town aren’t as…” Trailed off Cloud as his eyes took in the sleek, yet muscled build of Sephiroth’s body. His physique resembled that of a wild cat in the way that it was both powerful, yet lithe. He had both power and agility on his side. Looking back up at that blank, yet charismatic face, Cloud then continued, “…built as you are. These clothes will fit you, but they’re going to be a bit snug on your frame.”

Staring down at Cloud, Sephiroth said nothing. He didn’t even seem all that interested in the open bag that the blond had raised up for him to see inside of.

Cloud would have liked a response, any response.  He almost would have preferred it if Sephiroth had glared at him and uttered a scathing, mocking insult about him being a puppet.

Sighing once more, the blond dropped the bag and glanced around again. With his sharp eyes, he could see that Fuldenbrück was just a few miles up ahead. If Sephiroth had continued walking around, he might have stumbled into that town in the buff. That sales clerk and her friends would have had more than just an eyeful.

Cloud snickered inwardly at the thought.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

About 20 frustrating minutes later, Cloud had finally dressed Sephiroth from torso to toe. It had taken so long due to the fact that he had had to dress him by himself without any help on the silver-haired man’s part. It had almost been like dressing a large dummy, or a corpse.

Wiping some sweat off from his forehead with the back of his glove, Cloud stepped back and regarded his handiwork.

Sephiroth was clad in a three piece outfit that consisted of a grey dress shirt, an off black vest, and black slacks. It all looked a bit tight on his body and the only thing that was his actual size was the ankle high boots. He still looked damn good, though. As sexy as black leather was on him, the classy look was attractive, too.

Considering that Cloud had generally guessed at the ex-General’s sizes and that there hadn’t been much to offer, he had done a decent job. It would have to do for now. The town closest to his house was larger and had a better selection of attire. He would have to stop by there on the way home.

Positioning himself so that he was standing on his tippy toes behind Sephiroth, Cloud quickly braided his silver mane. In a matter of minutes, the long mane was transformed in a neat, tight braid.  The only reason he knew how to braid was because when he had been a kid, he had always braided his mother’s long hair.

Shaking that thought away, Cloud took Sephiroth by the wrist and led him away towards the direction of the bike. The silver-haired man did not protest in any way. He just silently followed like a young obedient child would.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

Cloud had to help pull Sephiroth onto the back of Fenrir and position his legs just right so that his boots rested on the foot peg. Once he was satisfied that the man wasn’t going to fall off, Cloud straddled his bike and looked behind him at Sephiroth. He reached behind him and brought Sephiroth’s arms so that they were wrapped around his waist. “Hold on, Sephiroth. If you don’t hold on, you’ll fall off and break your skull open.”

Sephiroth blinked.

Not sure if he understood or not, Cloud ultimately decided to take a safety precaution. Suddenly remembering something, he fished a belt out of the boutique bag. He had forgotten to put it on him when they had been in the clearing. Wrapping it around their abdomens, Cloud tightened the belt so that they were forced to stay closely linked together. It was lax enough to allow movement and the ability to breathe, but not lax enough for the man to slip out. There was no way Sephiroth would fall off the bike unless he used enough physical force to cause a tumble.

“All right, here we go. I’m going to be driving fast, but I promise I won’t kill you,” alerted Cloud as he turned on Fenrir. The roar of the engine comforted him along with the vibrations of the bike. Knowing that the man would probably not reply, he carefully drove Fenrir until they were out of the forest and onto the road. As soon as he was out on the road, he sped up considerably.

So far Sephiroth was behaving. He wasn’t fidgeting around much or even freaking out. In fact, after awhile, he fell asleep leaned against the smaller male with his face resting on his shoulder. Not sure how he felt about having his enemy literally at his back and resting on him, Cloud tried his best to shake it off and focus on driving.

It was going to be a long drive.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

After what felt like forever, Cloud finally arrived in the friendly, bustling rural town called Schönnbach. The town had several farms, some fishing, and a marketplace for trade. The people were simple, yet friendly and didn’t know much about the happenings of the rest of the world. Most of them didn’t even know Shinra or what SOLDIER was. The famous turned infamous Shinra General Sephiroth had no renown here, either.

Schönnbach was cut off from the rest of the world and that’s how they liked it. Strangers were welcome as long as they weren’t a nuisance. Cloud came to this town often enough that most of the people knew him by name and face. He was welcome and never caused any ill disputes. If anyone caused trouble, he was always quick to neutralize them or run them out of town. A time or two he had even helped out the town by getting rid of a few bothersome monsters.

Parking Fenrir in the usual spot, he kicked the kickstand out so that Fenrir could stand upright. Unclasping the belt and sliding it away from around them, Cloud hopped off the bike with ease. He then turned and offered a hand out to the silver-haired man, who had been abruptly awakened by the fact that his body pillow had moved.

Blinking in disorientation, Sephiroth soon brought his emerald green gaze upon the slighter man.

“Come on, now, I won’t bite you,” urged a very patient Cloud.

Sephiroth reached over and slid his hand in Cloud’s. He stared at the blond as if waiting for further instruction. His gaze was still mostly blank, yet there was some spark of understanding in those depths.

Cloud closed his fingers around Sephiroth’s hand and pulled hard enough to gently force the other man to step off of Fenrir. The seemingly amnesiac man managed not to stumble as his boots met the ground.

“Good,” nodded the blond as he turned and started striding in the direction of the marketplace. “Come on, Seph, follow me.”

Seph. Cloud liked the sound of that. He decided then on that that’s what he would call the ex-General when they were in town. Even though the townspeople didn’t know of madman Sephiroth, he still didn’t want to throw that name around so carelessly.

While walking throughout the market, Cloud noticed all the curious gazes cast his way. A lot of the people stared curiously at Sephiroth since they had never seen him before. The blond man had never come with another person before, so that was interesting as well. Especially since they were both grown men holding hands.

Finally realizing his error, Cloud tried to let go, but Sephiroth’s hand wouldn’t release him. He held on like a shy little kid would to his parent.

Shaking his head, the blond decided he didn’t care if they all thought he was gay. He really was gay. Maybe not with Sephiroth, but if they thought his enemy, well, former enemy was his lover, then so be it.  

“Cloud! Hi Cloud!” Came the unmistakable sound of a child’s voice.

Cloud kept walking, but he did turn his head to greet the child. “Hi Hana…”

A girl who was about 10 years old, with short red hair, big brown eyes, and pale, freckled skin ran over to him like a boy would. She did her best to keep up with his longer and faster strides. She didn’t fail to notice the very tall man that nearly clung to the blond. “Who’s he? He’s very pretty…like you, Cloud.”

“He’s…a friend of mine.”

“He got a name?” Hana asked as she glanced back and forth between them. Something about her manner was more like a boy’s than a little girl’s. It was fairly obvious that she was a tomboy.

“His name is Seph.”

“Oh. Well, hi Seph!” Greeted Hana as she turned around, walking backwards and waving at Sephiroth.

“…” Sephiroth slowly looked at the Hana, but he didn’t reply.

“He’s weird. What’s wrong with him?” Whispered Hana as she turned back around to look at the blond.

“Seph has amnesia,” patiently explained Cloud. He believed he was telling the truth. The ex-General could be pretending not to remember anything, true, but it didn’t seem to be that way. He had been too arrogant and proud to let Cloud touch him. There was no way he would have put up with everything just to trick the blond. Or at least, that’s what Cloud hoped.

“What’s amnesia?”

“It’s when you can’t remember who you are or any of your memories. He has it really bad. Seph can’t remember anything. That’s why he’s acting like that.”

“Oh…well…” Hana looked thoughtful as she stared at nothing in particular. She turned around again and said, “Seph, I hope you get well soon!”

The silver-haired man didn’t respond to that, either.

“So why ya here in town, Cloud? Everything has been pretty boring lately,” sighed Hana.

“I need to get a few supplies.”

“Oh, ok, well my dad has a few good deals going on. Be sure to go see him. I have to go back to school now, so see ya around, Cloud…and Seph!”  Spoke the red-head with a wave before she ran off in the direction of her school.

Cloud hoped she wasn’t cutting classes, again. He had already had a stern talk with her about failing school and how education was important and all that good stuff. He didn’t want the kid making the same kinds of mistakes that he had made.

 “This won’t take too long, I promise. After this, I’ll take you home,” paused Cloud as he noticed a certain kind of faint odor in the air. Sephiroth slightly smelled like Mako and that was not a smell that Cloud particularly liked. He then finished, “And then I’ll give you a bath.”

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

Roughly a few hours later, Cloud brought Sephiroth inside of his sparsely decorated house. Dumping the bags on the ground near the door, he slumped against the wall after the door was closed. He was exhausted. Cloud hated shopping and trying to find the right clothes for the silver-haired man had been such a hassle.

Sephiroth slowly looked around, but he did not move from his spot. It seemed like he was testing the waters.

“It’s ok, Seph. You don’t need my permission to explore my house. But before I give you the grand tour, I think you really need a bath,” informed Cloud as he picked up the bags again. “Follow me…”

The green-eyed male silently followed Cloud as he led him to the bathroom. He didn’t seem to know what was going on, but he trusted the smaller man.

Ten minutes later, Sephiroth was sitting awkwardly in a bathtub full of warm, fragrant smelling water. He blinked and stared at all the bubbles. He looked very much like a child in a grown man’s body. It was clear that he wasn’t all there, yet. In some ways, he acted like an infant minus all the crying.

Cloud sat in a chair beside the tub as he scrubbed at Sephiroth’s body with a red loofah. It felt so strange to be here with his former enemy like this. This was something intimate that normally would be done with a lover or a child. It made things even weirder, but it was something he had to do. Sephiroth couldn’t exactly take care of himself right now with the state that he was in.

He was slowly growing accustomed to Sephiroth’s non-threatening presence, but it still felt odd. It was almost like being in a dream that made absolute sense until you woke up. He still had his doubts; lingering doubts that Sephiroth would turn insane and try to kill him and the planet again. Yet something deep inside of his being told him that this wasn’t a trick. It was very real and Sephiroth needed him right now. Of all people, this so-called god needed him.

It would take time to get used to this. Time, everything always took time.

In spite of what a pain in an ass this had all been today, it felt kind of nice. It felt nice to have someone around and to take care of someone else. It didn’t feel so…lonely anymore.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

 

To Be Continued

 

A/N: This chapter was very tedious to write. Bear with me and thanks for sticking around. Thanks for reading and for all the reviews. :D