Cloudarella

((--There are more chapters on fanfiction.net if any of you are interested…I am just editing them and re-uploading them here. I use the same writer name on FF – Lysiaamazon )) :-P


Chapter 4


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Zack stepped back to stand quietly at his Prince’s side. Though he had wanted to speak he knew that it would be out of place and besides, not that he was jealous or anything, but he was very curious as to the Princes’ sudden reactions for this obvious slave.


“Cloud…it is good to met you…” Sephiroth said softly locking his gaze upon the boy.
His words slithered out of his lips smoothly and coolly. His green eyes brightened and he knew his heart could be heard beating harder and faster, radiating from his chest. He wasn’t embarrassed about it. No he wanted to make it known, but would he be given the chance? Could this young boy, a boy who had instantly stolen his attentions and almost certainly his affections, be someone who could love him or he could love? These thoughts wondered around in his mind. Sephiroth was frozen in his steps at the presence of the boy before him. He studied the blonde’s gaze for a moment and was surprised to see the awe replaced with fear. ‘Why fear?’ He wondered. Calmly Sephiroth lifted his hand to place it upon Cloud’s shoulder again.


Cloud tried to speak but nothing would come out he just stared forward with a blank expression, he would curse himself later for such an action. Cloud hesitated holding back the instinct to jump and move away when he saw Sephiroth come closer. He didn’t deserve to be graced by the touch and kindness of someone like him. He held the Prince’s gaze but once he saw the man lift a hand towards him he immediately looked down, he could not hide the small tremble, and if it hadn’t been for his bright blonde spikes it would not have been noticed.


Sephiroth frowned seeing this and placed a hand upon the boy’s shoulder hoping to ease whatever was wrong.


“What is wrong…you are not in trouble Cloud…I just wanted to apologize for running into you. Did I hurt you?” He asked calmly letting his fingers slowly massage the fabric of Clouds dark grey jacket. But Sephiroth was no fool. He had a clear idea as to why such a fair thing would tremble at his presence or anyone’s presence or anyone for that matter. ‘Could he have been hurt or abused by his masters? No…impossible, sure the boy was a little dirty and his cloths were torn, but his skin was pale and unmarked…untouched…this beautiful creature couldn’t possibly be…’ Sephiroth shook his head, biting his tongue to keep the boiling anger in him subsided. If this lovely and innocent creature was being tampered with he would soon put a stop to it once he found the evidence or the person responsible.


Not liking the sensations he was feeling, which was a mixture of surprise, fear, curiousness, and awkwardness, Cloud pulled away from Sephiroth, keeping his eyes down.


“No my Prince…I am not hurt but I should.” It was then that he stepped back and they all heard an audible crunch. Cloud now knew he had completely broken the only thing he could call his own. Stepping further back he lifted his foot and gazed down at the small broken porcelain figure of a once beautifully opal white fairy. His lips parted and he let out a small sigh as all his attention left the two before him and he bent down to gather up the broken pieces of the figure. ‘Oh no…he had just used all the extra money he had to buy it…he had always wished that fairies were real…so that maybe some how they could help him…could help him feel happy….to be happy and to feel safe. ‘ Cloud worried, with a deep frown as he stood back up. Holding the three broken pieces he tried to, even though he knew that it would fail, to place them back together again. He wasn’t even paying attention to the two pairs of eyes that were intensely watching him. Sephiroth was the first to speak.


“Dear boy…that was important wasn’t it?” He said stepping closer to Cloud. He felt even worse now that such a fair thing was even upset over something so small…he would buy him millions of them if the blonde so desired.


Beside him Zack raised an eyebrow. ‘Dear boy?’ he repeated softly to himself. He was really surprised at how the Prince was reacting. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought Sephiroth had just fallen for another crush, but little did he know that this one would be far different from any before…no this one would be the one to set the cold-hearted Prince’s heart afire…unlike any had before. All those other women and men would pale in comparsion to this boy…little did they all know.


“I liked it…” He said in a small voice that was so soft Sephiroth strained to hear what he had said. For a split second Cloud hadn’t realized that he had spoken aloud. His thoughts…strong thoughts having come out at the saddened emotion he felt and it was not just because he had lost the money…it was because it had been his…his own.


Zack cleared his throat getting both of their attention. “ Sir not to be…pushy but the ceremony?” He said calmly.


Sephiroth slowly turned to him and gave a curt nod. “ Go on a head please…I will be there shortly!” Sephiroth said in a tone that told Zack that he meant what he said. Zack slightly shrugged and really not wanting to leave, decided it was best to leave his Prince to whatever he was doing. As he left he gave one last look at the two before he turned and walked off. In the back of his mind he wondered what was going on in his Prince’s head. Sighing he would have to wait until later to find out…now just wasn’t the time to seek his answers.


Once Zack was gone Sephiroth approached Cloud and took the broken pieces from his hand. He studied them and then nodded. “ I am sorry…I can get you another one?” He said sounding a bit to eager but he didn’t care. This caused Cloud to look up at him in curious confusion.


“You don’t even know me…why would you care?” He stated and slowly started to back away from the Prince. Seeming alarmed, Cloud turned his back to Sephiroth and let his shoulder’s sag. “ You shouldn’t give a damn about a poor boy as me…go to your ceremony…” He said in a bitter tone. In the same instant he had said those words he regretted them. He shouldn’t have talked to the man like that. He was the Prince for crying out loud…what was he, an idiot? Cloud lowered his head and sighed. He felt heat rise in his cheeks…he was going to get it now…and as he heard the Prince behind him move close he waited for the punishment he deserved. He tensed and gritted his teeth, closing his eyes, he waited….but nothing happened….only….


Sephiroth stood there shocked and confused as to why and what had caused this graceful creature to change his mood so quickly. In an instant Sephiroth moved behind the boy and took his shoulders again in his strong hands.


“Now wait a second….I only wanted to help…if it were not for you being here…I would not have broken your figure or have met you.” He said his voice tense. He did not want Cloud to leave, though he felt things were on tense grounds already. He forced the boy to turn and face him but Cloud kept his eyes down. He did not utter another word, but simply nodded at Sephiroth as he spoke.


Sephiroth again saw the sudden and willing abandonment…submissiveness…in this blonde God before him. This caused him to want to know more about the boy and it only sealed the need further for him, that he sought to desire the boy. His mind swirled with the thought of such a creature lying beneath him….sweat beads teasing along his fair skin…his hands clawing at his hips and he moved deeper within him…heavy breaths that were eased with a kiss…and passionate moans that grew steadier and louder as the heat increased between them. All this made Sephiroth become lost in his thoughts again only to come back when he felt the boy pull from him again.


Cloud backed up and still kept his eyes down. “ I am sorry but I have to go…” He said and quickly turned on his heels and walked away. Sephiroth turned his eyes up in alarm and started to go after Cloud. Panic filled his mind…he couldn’t lose the boy…what if he never saw him again. Before he could speak or even catch up to Cloud, the blonde disappeared into the vast crowd that was gathering for the opening of the festival. He froze in his steps as his eyes darted back and forth looking frantically for the blonde, but nothing looked familiar. Inwardly he cursed at himself. He looked down and closed his eyes, his body tensing in frustration. How could he have lost him…it would have been so easy to ….


Sephiroth sighed and then slowly moved forward. He still had his speech to deliver, though it would not be as heartfelt now…now that he had lost Cloud. In the back of his mind he wondered if such a creature had been a dream and for a moment even in its smallest amount the darkness that he had felt vanished…for he had seen the glowing bright light of grace itself and felt shameful that he did not do more to keep it safe. Soon that soft fluttering feeling started to leave his heart…again replaced by the utter darkness he felt day in and day out…the same anger he detested in everything was strongest in him. He despised everything around him…Rufus, his advisors, the king’s men…but most of all he despised the darkness in him…yet he never stopped it from eating away at his soul. His only light had vanished.


He made his way up to the podium and Zack stepped beside him. “Everything okay?” He asked leaning in close to Sephiroth’s ear so he could speak softly to him.


Sephiroth nodded. “ It is fine Zack.” He said with lack of emotion. He then addressed the crowd and gave the same speech he gave every year…his words and his mind distracted by the most recent events.


Deep within the crowd intense blue eyes watched the Prince. Cloud stood at the back of the crowd and had pulled the hood of his jacket over his head so as to keep himself hidden. His thoughts consumed him about the Prince. He wondered why this man…who now seemed so cold and so uncaring…had chosen to be nice to him….to him of all people…to someone who was supposed to feel and be so meaningless…so unwanted…so dirty…so lonely…so empty. The darkness had intensified the first night he had been sold into slavery and had only deepened as the months passed on. He didn’t understand now…but something about the Prince made the darkness in him lighten a bit. Cloud sighed and turned from the crowd realizing that anything good just simply was not meant for him, but even as he started to leave he paused to give one last fleeting look back at the man he wanted so badly to be the light for him…to take him away…to be his Prince in shining armor and whisk him away from everything bad in his life. He wondered if he would ever get the chance to speak to him alone again… to say thank you for being so kind.


His eyes met the Prince’s in the same instant that Sephiroth looked his way. It was then that the wind decided to tempt the fates again, for quite oddly it gushed with a strong purpose and blew the hood from Clouds head just as the Prince eyes turned that way. Even the crowd murmured a surprised at the sudden gust of wind.


Floating in mid-air, though unseen to all, Reno paused. His hand was flat, palm facing out. His lips, which had formed a small ‘O’ when he had blown across his hand, closed now. He had been the one who had blown the gust of wind and had followed Cloud soon after he had left. He laughed lightly.


“They really think all this is a coincidence don’t they?” He said aloud to himself. Reno smirked. He hadn’t really expected this to happen as such, but when it did he had heard and felt two heart beats suddenly start to beat as one and knew that this was how he was going to save Cloud. This was how he was going to save the boy’s somber and dark soul. Reno was in fact assigned to the boy. For all boys who were given the raw end of the deal early in life, who had been tossed aside as unwanted people, were allotted something that most would never know of…and that was…A Fairy God Mo….’hmmmm’ Reno mutter. A Fairy Godmother just wouldn’t work here…he certainly was not the prissier side of sex but more of the sturdy man side of it. Reno tisked his tongue and then nodded. ‘No a Fairy God Friend…was more like it,’ he thought, and with that Reno smiled. He would appear to Cloud soon for he could feel the words ebbing inside the blonde’s mind now and he was on the edge of air (pun intended) awaiting it.


There was an instant pause in Sephiroth's speech as the wind took its fateful gust. He once again laid eyes upon the blessed blonde spikes, his own green eyes widening in surprise. The crowd before him seemed taken aback by the sudden halt in the Prince's words and a soft murmur swept through their soft voices.


Reno could not hold back his joy and laughter. What fun it was to mess around, though in all fairness he did it because he cared. His piercing blue eyes watched in earnest as the tension rose between the two. Reno in his own right knew their souls were connected, he just didn't expect their abrupt meeting to have happened so easily or that quickly. This little wind mishap was just to speed it along. He grinned and gazed back and forth between the two quickly.


Locking with the Prince's eyes once again Cloud halted, his half turned body ready for a speedy exit if need be. But he didn't move, he couldn't...for something in the way in which Sephiroth stared at him kept his feet locked to the ground, but oh how much he wanted to get away. These were feelings he was unsure of...feelings of joy and fear all wrapped into one...and certainly feelings he didn't deserve to be having. He felt his throat go dry and for him, not just Sephiroth now, time seemed to slow and a tunnel of light sped intensely between just their eyes. Everything else was dark and only what was between them now mattered...but it wouldn't last. As both Sephiroth and Cloud seemed to be locked in their own worlds another presence entered, breaking the pleasant tension.


A hand....


Cloud turned towards the presence behind him...


"There you are my boy...I have your stuff...you wanna come pick it up now?" Said the old merchant he was supposed to meet to gather the items Kadaj and his brother's had ordered. Cloud nodded and not looking back disappeared back into the crowd along with the man.


A hand...


Sephiroth turned towards the presence behind him...


"Sir...is everything alright?" Zack asked with narrowed and concerned eyes. His hand was warm against Sephiroth's skin and where as before he would have found much comfort in the touch, he now loathed it. That simple act, even meant with good intentions had caused him to lose sight of the blonde once more. Sephiroth clenched his jaw and bit back the anger he would have so easily taken out on anyone else...but it was Zack. Sephiroth sighed.


"I am fine..." He said softly then he turned and held up a hand towards the crowd. "Excuse me for a moment." He said to them then leaned in close to Zack's ear so he could speak privately to him. "Zackary I want you to go speak to the merchant Baule'...I saw him with the boy we ran into earlier. Find out where he is from and where he lives...or anything else you can find out..." Sephiroth requested.


"Sir? I..." Zack hesitated.


"That is an order...please do what I ask." Sephiroth said with an edge of harshness in his voice.


Zack blinked several times and thought once...no twice, about questioning...no three times about questioning his Prince...but didn't. He gave a curt quick nod and then stepped back to his previous position behind Sephiroth. The rest of the speech went well and by the end, the Prince had the whole crowd cheering in celebration. With a polite wave and nod, Sephiroth calmly followed Zack and a few other guards off the stage area and back down through the crowd. He endured several smiles, handshakes...etc, before they finally made it back to the Limo. Once inside the safety of the car Sephiroth pulled out the three broken pieces of the small figure the boy had broken and held them in his hand. He stared at them and sighed. Zack turned towards his Prince hearing the sudden sigh and eyed what he held.


"What's that?"


"Something I need you to get me a new one of."


"Oh? What was it umm what is it?"


"Something precious...it is a Fairy Child."


"A what? Fairy huh?"


"A Fairy Child...it’s just the name of a this small figurine...there are four different Child's...I need a new Opal white one. Will you please get one for me?"


Zack nodded, though a little confused, and lifted his hand over to take the pieces from Sephiroth. The Prince shut his hand quickly.


"No I will hang onto these...just get me a new one..." He said his tone flat and emotionless, a tone that Zack had not heard from the Prince since his father...well...since his father...Zack sighed.


Zack shook his head and then nodded. " I will do so Sephiroth, don't worry," Zack replied in a soft tone, hoping to sooth whatever was upsetting the Prince, though he thought for sure he had an idea what was wrong but it need not be voiced. He placed a comforting hand upon the man’s knee and smiled. The two then made their way back towards Shinra palace where they would change again and prepare for the festivities tonight...and of course the Prince had to make an appearance...again. This thought alone made Sephiroth very disappointed and annoyed.


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It had taken way more then 20 minutes to get back to his home, well with the heavy load he was carrying, but Cloud had taken his time, he had been in no hurry to get back. Looking up the hill he saw the rooftop of his home slowly peeking above the hill and he sighed, taking even slower steps as he walked. Behind him, or rather floating above him, Reno followed, his wings flapping quickly at his back.


Cloud lowered his head allowing his thoughts to consume him. He had broken his figurine and the merchant hadn't had one of their ordered items, which meant he was going to get blamed for that as well as the kitchen for being a mess when he left earlier this morning. His head hung even lower. There just didn't seem to be any easing of his life...no joy, no happiness, no peace, all stress, all hatred, all anger. Cloud bit at his lower lip and paused briefly to adjust the weight of the bag over his left shoulder, then he slowly proceeded on.


In the back of his mind he hoped he would be allowed to join the others when they left for the festival. He wanted to go back so desperately…even if it were just to carry their items around for them or fetch food and drinks for them. He didn’t care…he just wanted to go back.


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((I have to say I am pleased with this chapter, please let me know…woooo next chappy the Festival heheeheh *thinks evil thoughts* Hope you like…please Review if you do…thanks!!!))