Master Of My Heart

Finally got to get to writing again. I tried to make this chapter sweet and a little different, so hope you guys enjoy.


Stage 7


There are a few things one wants to experience when they get home, and there are a few they definitely do not. Sephiroth, wanted to come home to a delicious meal prepared by his cute little Cloud, finish some work, and then make love. Nothing extravagant, nothing complicated, just simple things.

What Sephiroth did not want to come home to-was what he found. Sephiroth opened the front door and rested Masamune against the hall wall. Sephiroth frowned when the usually scrumptious smell of food was absent from his home. Stepping into the kitchen Sephiroth’s frown deepened when he saw that Cloud was nowhere in sight. He peaked down into the basement-empty. Bathroom-empty, his bedroom-empty. Going back to his study Sephiroth opened the door and froze in shock.

Cloud, was sprawled out on the floor, duster a few inches from his hand. Sephiroth quickly walked over toward Cloud and knelt down. Scooping the small human into his arms Sephiroth shifted Cloud’s head to face up toward him and brushed from damp blonde strips of hair from his face. Sephiroth’s hand paused when it felt the heat radiating from Cloud’s face and gently touched his cheek.

Hot. Too hot. Sephiroth knew that Cloud had always felt warm to his cool skin, but this was too hot. It was unnatural.

Standing up, Sephiroth quickly carried Cloud into his bedroom and set him to rest. Sephiroth, despite his calm appearance, knew nothing about how to take care of an ill human. And he had no idea of knowing what Cloud had. Humans were so different from his species the sicknesses they caught were entirely different and treatment differed. Cloud moaned and Sephiroth hurried himself to his study. It wasn’t exactly with pride that Sephiroth called for Zack.

“Zack Fair.” There was silence for a long moment and then the small screen lit up. Leaning down on his hands Sephiroth stared into Aerith’s young pretty face.

“Sephiroth? I’m sorry, Zack’s out at the moment. Can I take a message?” Sephiroth cursed lightly to himself as he stood erect.

“Have him call me back the moment he gets home. It’s an emergency.” Aerith’s expression became concerned.

“Is something wrong? Is Cloud okay?” Sephiroth hesitated.

“He’s… Ill.” Aerith gasped.

“Is he having a relapse?!” Sephiroth looked sharply down at the screen.

“Relapse?” Aerith nodded.

“Cloud caught Chikoronoma when he was first brought to Zack. I took care of him and gave him medicines until he got better…” Aerith gave a worried sigh.

“You should probably call a doctor.” Sephiroth crossed his arms. He hated doctors. Ever since he was a young child he’d hated them. But… If it was for Cloud and his health…

“It’s so hard to get good doctor’s to look at humans though…”

“If I make myself demanding as the General, I’m sure I can make one come if it comes to that.” Sephiroth said sternly.

“I still want Zack over here as soon as possible.” Aerith nodded.

“Yes, I’ll have him over there in moments as soon as he gets back.” Sephiroth nodded and both ended the transmission so that Sephiroth could locate and contact a good doctor. But before that Sephiroth got a bucket of ice water and a rag to place over Cloud’s forehead to try and help lower the fever. Pausing briefly to wander his fingers down Cloud’s cheek Sephiroth stared at the pained expression on Cloud’s face and the sweat that continued to pour out of his skin.

“I’ll heal you, Cloud.” And with that quickly vacated. He would get the best doctor in the city, whether they liked it or not.

Why didn’t Zack at least mention to him that Cloud had caught Chikoronoma? Sephiroth could only figure that it was probably to make sure Sephiroth didn’t reject him. Chikoronoma was a very dangerous bug to catch for humans, Sephiroth knew that much. Shinranians, and many other species on Shinra all fought it off in about day or two with mild but annoying symptoms. It appeared that it was a lot more dangerous for humans. How dangerous, Sephiroth didn’t know, but so far it seemed very bad. The only thing he knew how to deal with were fevers, and only mildly. Sephiroth rarely ever got sick, something he prided himself in.

“List of doctors in Midgar.” The little screen on his phone beeped with a list of names and numbers.

“Call top ranked Human Doctor.” A name three down the list lit up and then Sephiroth waited.

“Hello?”

“Dr. Holly?” A woman with short blonde hair and glasses appeared on the screen.

“Ah… I’m honored. If I’m not mistaken, you’re the infamous General Sephiroth.” Sephiroth nodded once.

“I have a human whom we believe is having a relapse from Chikonoroma.” Holly’s face opened up in surprise.

“Chikonoroma?” Sephiroth nodded again.

“That’s not good at all. Give me your address and I’ll be over as soon as I can.” Sephiroth started at this. He didn’t like to give out his address specifically. Especially to those he didn’t know, much less trust.

“I could bring him.” She shook her head.

“Out of the question. If he’s having a relapse he’ll be burning with fever and probably worse than you can see. He can’t be moved.” She was firm in that response. With a sigh Sephiroth begrudgingly gave out his address. He didn’t need to have any of his crazy paparazzi swarming his house so he often opted to keep his location secret. The district Sephiroth lived in was all under Shinra’s military, basically military housing, so walking around was fine unless he wanted to leave the district, which of course, unless to go on a mission, Sephiroth never did.

Off the phone, Sephiroth went back to Cloud and re-cooled the cloth. Pulling a chair up by the bed Sephiroth stared down at Cloud. He had no idea what to do. Sephiroth was aware that there was a manual on how to take care of a human but he really didn’t think he’d need something that sounded so stupid. Perhaps the first thing he’d do when this was over is go buy one. Cloud’s face was pale, sickly, sweaty, and looked to be in pain. Reaching out Sephiroth gently ran his hand through the sticky, damp strands of Cloud’s hair, having nothing else better to do.

When the doorbell rang, was the only time Sephiroth left Cloud’s bedside; although all he’d been able to do was stare and pet. Opening the door revealed the tall, slim form of Holly with her big medical bag. Inviting her in Sephiroth led her to the bedroom without even a word.

“You’re really worried, aren’t you?” Sephiroth quirked a brow as she set her bag down and he sat back by Cloud.

“Hm?”

“Most of the time I get the masters of these creatures bitching at me about how nothing’s getting done and having to take care of them in general.” Sephiroth could see that.

“I prefer efficiency, not fear.” Was Sephiroth’s only response and Holly paused and looked at him.

“Odd way to put it but… It makes sense I suppose.” And went back to getting all her instruments and medicines out. Of course Sephiroth wasn’t going to tell her that his human was his lover. Not that Sephiroth was worried since humans were used as sex slaves all the time, but Sephiroth feared that it became publicly known that Sephiroth and Cloud both were willing companions, and Sephiroth caring for Cloud and preferring him over anyone else, could be dangerous for the small blonde. Cloud was just a weak, frail human, Sephiroth was one of the most powerful Shinranians, but that didn’t mean Sephiroth could always protect him. For Cloud’s safety, he had to keep them at least appearing as master and slave.

Holly went to work and after a keen watch for a few minutes Sephiroth deemed her safe enough to be left alone with Cloud and left to make a quick sandwich and return. He was starving.

When Sephiroth returned Holly was irritated as she dug through her bag. Standing over her and taking a bite of his sandwich Sephiroth quirked a brow.

“Something wrong?” Holly gave a disgruntled sigh.

“Your human has never been fucking vaccinated.” Holly growled bitterly and Sephiroth looked at Cloud. He had no idea…

“I thought it was mandatory.” Holly finally found the long thin instrument she was looking for and walked back over toward Cloud.

“It is. Now. It wasn’t before. The vaccinations became mandatory fifteen years ago. Looks like this one was in one of the last groups of humans to be sold without it.” Sephiroth frowned as he walked over and sat down in his chair. Taking another bite Sephiroth watched Holly work over Cloud.

“Well, he’s not as bad as he could be.” Holly finally concluded when the doorbell rang. With a sigh Sephiroth stood to answer the front door only to be bombed by a cacophony of noise.

“I heard Cloud had a relapse!” Sephiroth winced at the sheer volume and fingered his left ear a little with a soar expression.

“Is he all right?” Aerith spoke in the same gentle tones she always did, which almost had a healing affect on Sephiroth’s abused eardrums.

“I… Think he’s… Okay.” Sephiroth said hesitantly.

“He’s going to be fine.” All three looked back toward a smiling Holly at the end of the hall.

“Hey Zack.” Holly waved and Zack waved back.

“Hey. He’s really okay?” She nodded. Sephiroth turned toward her.

“When do you think he will be well?” Holly rested her hands on her hips.

“Could be a week or two. This was definitely a serious case, but not fatal.” She turned around and all three followed after her, Aerith closing the door behind them.

“Once I verified that it was Chikonoroma, all I had to do was give him a shot of Serinitsumin.” Sephiroth had no idea what the fuck it was, and highly doubted he could pronounce it without tripping over himself, but nodded all the same.

“His fever’s already lowering, so at least his brain won’t fry.” She picked up a note from the night table by Sephiroth’s bed and handed it over to him.

“You need to go to a pharmacy to have this antibiotic filled.” Sephiroth nodded.

“And, you need to get Cloud vaccinated.” Sephiroth nodded.

“He definitely will.” Sephiroth paused.

“What exactly caused him to relapse?”

“Chikonoroma is usually only caught through coming in contact with the germ itself.” Sephiroth’s face twitched slightly.

“Do you think I gave it to him?” At the tone and wording Holly quirked a brow.

“Not unless you’re always close to him.” Sephiroth didn’t say anything in regards to that.

“He can also catch it by going outside and touching stuff that other’s have touched. It can live up to twenty-four hours outside the body.” That was a double twitch on Sephiroth’s part. Just two days ago he had called Cloud to his office.

“But,” Holly sighed in relief, “once he’s vaccinated, there won’t be any problems. He’ll be amply protected.”

“I should’ve dug around more on Cloud.” Everyone looked at Zack, whose expression was forlorn.

“His last master really was a paranoid bastard. Didn’t leave any paper trails for hardly anything. He did everything off the books. Hell, I don’t even know the ship who brought him to Shinra, or the Shinranian credited with his capture.” Aerith touched Zack’s shoulder gently.

“You did your best Zack. We all know how much you care about Cloud.” Zack shook his head and sighed.

“Thank you, Dr. Holly.” Sephiroth suddenly said, wanting to end the little moment between the two and focus on what he found more important-Cloud.

“It’s fine. It’ll be seventy Yarzen.” With a nod Sephiroth moved passed Zack and Aerith who moved more into the room to allow him to exit, Holly following after him. Holly waited outside Sephiroth’s study until he returned with two large gold coins and one small silver one and dropped them into her palm.

“I’ll make the receipt.” As Sephiroth stood there a moment, his mind began to wonder.

Cloud’s background was a total and complete mystery. He came from Earth, that much was for certain, but how did he get here. What ship, who caught him? With those questions, and Sephiroth, being a man who loved to solve things, decided to set out on the task of solving Cloud’s origins. Find out how Cloud ended up from Earth and right into his arms. Who knows, Sephiroth had caught a few humans in the beginning of his military career, so all he had to do was hit up some old friends and see if anyone recognized him. Surely Cloud had his spiky hair even back then.

After Holly left Sephiroth went to his study to leave Zack and Aerith alone with Cloud, their “adoptive” son. It really wasn’t fair since Sephiroth was the one who had been with him the whole time, Sephiroth wanted to kick them out really, but he knew he’d feel like a total dick, so he set to finishing his work until he deemed it’d been long enough and kick them out anyway.

Just when Sephiroth was deciding to be done with them taking his precious time with Cloud, Zack wondered into his office.

“Hey Seph.” Sephiroth hummed in acknowledgment.

“I’m gonna start looking up any info on Cloud I can. I can relate to you everything I know.” Sephiroth nodded. It would be useful to have Zack’s help. Zack managed slaves, so he’d have access in areas Sephiroth didn’t. Zack sighed.

“Anyway. We’re gonna head home.” Sephiroth nodded.

“Good. I was just thinking about telling you to leave.” Zack pouted.

“You can be such a dick.” Sephiroth smiled in satisfaction. It was fun to rile Zack up.

“But… You let us stay a while, so I guess it’s only natural to want him back to yourself.” Zack stood and waved tiredly.

“See ya.” Sephiroth nodded.

“I probably won’t be in tomorrow.” Zack nodded.

“I figured that if anyone was gonna get you to use up all that built up vacation time, it’d be Cloud. And well… He needs it.” Sephiroth nodded in agreement.

“Alright. Bye.” Sephiroth said nothing as Zack disappeared, and a moment later the door shut. With a tired sigh Sephiroth saved his work and turned the computer off. Locking the front door Sephiroth wandered into his bedroom to see Cloud still asleep. It appeared he hadn’t woken up once since he’d fainted. That was a little worrisome.

Unbuckling and removing his socks and boots, Sephiroth un-strapped the straps to his swords sheath and let his duster drape over the small chair. Gently settling down on top of the blankets Sephiroth eased himself onto his right and stared at Cloud’s calm, almost angelic face. That face that had so many times enticed him. He looked much better now. Reaching forward, Sephiroth indulged in touching the soft blonde spikes when big blue eyes fluttered open. Sephiroth’s hand froze when Cloud’s disoriented gaze looked to his hand, then turned toward him.

“What’s going on?” His voice was horse and clogged with sleep. He sounded very exhausted.

“You collapsed in my study.” Cloud stared blankly into Sephiroth’s eyes.

“I don’t remember…” Sephiroth smiled lightly and brushed the tops of his fingers over Cloud’s forehead.

“It’s all right love. You’re ill. You rest.” Cloud nodded, not at all really understanding what was being said to him in his state, but took it nonetheless. Shifting over onto his side Cloud looked at Sephiroth who smiled and scooted closer and pulled his frail human to his chest affectionately. Curling up against Sephiroth Cloud burrowed into his body as Sephiroth pulled his legs up under Cloud and rested his head above Cloud’s to sleep. Reaching out Sephiroth stroked up and down Cloud’s arms gently as Cloud fell asleep, not stopping until his own sleep stilled his hand.


Well??? Finally got to work on this. College’s startin’ again and it’s getting’ a little busy around here. Anyways, I’d love to know whatcha guys think. I really wanted to do a semi-cute chapter.