Glimpse

Written awhile ago...

Glimpse


At first he could only see brief glimpses taken away before more detail could be seen and spaced out with long periods of silent darkness. A soft blonde spike, a wide blue eye, a sharp metallic edge. It was an older Cloud, all hardened muscle brushed over by soft, pale skin.

He looked taller (but not as tall as himself), he smiled to himself as thoughts of being able to kiss those long, blonde spikes without having to lift the boy off his feet ran through his head.

No. Not the boy, not anymore; Cloud had become a man-he still had that soft innocence in the turn of his cheek-but he walked with a steady confidence not possessed by the boy, and the sword on his back (a replica of Zack’s?) didn’t seem to be there just for show. Those arms moved like they knew how to use it.

The images across his eyes sped up. He saw more violence, more pain, and he cursed whoever had put that tight look on his Cloud’s face.

He saw white trees, silver hair, and red-ringed eyes.

A monster, a chase, a boy all silver and leather (a child? his?).

Suddenly, time seemed to stop, like the moment before gravity kicks in and you seem to just hover for that second in the sky, and he had to hold his breath, afraid he might implode from the sudden shift.

He saw himself and closed his eyes; he was suddenly very unwilling to see what happened next.

When he opened them he was looking through his own green eyes instead of a disembodied mist, but it was only a change of perspective for though he could see himself out of his own eyes he could not control himself at all.

All he saw was rubble falling in front of him and the swift slashes of Masamune, a betraying blade, slicing the air for another’s will.

He saw through the debris soon enough and he had to hold his breath again as he saw the warrior his bastard blade seemed to be after- his Cloud. Before him, with his sword upraised and his eyes in torment. It was like every other nightmare he had ever had-where countless innocent victims of his legendary Masamune were suddenly replaced by a small, spiky-haired blonde at the last possible moment before impact.

This, this was even worse. His actions were deliberate; there was no fruitless attempt to pull back before his blade cut through yielding flesh.

Cloud’s eyes looked so far away.

He tried to look away, but couldn’t. He couldn’t stop watching as his bitch blade sent his tiring lover back into solid walls, not as it penetrated deep into his shoulder, causing his head to fall back in agony instead of pleasure.

He could see the blood on the sword’s edge-red on silver-the tragic opposite of his own hair as it laid across the scarlet sheets he shared with his lovers.

Lover(s). Plural. More than one. Where was Zack? Why didn’t he come to save the boy he had sworn so long ago to protect?

Terrible words flickers across his mind (betrayed-hurt-tortured-dead), but he couldn’t even dwell on them long as he became more hopelessly ensnared by the picture of a suffering Cloud.

He pleaded and begged his body to stop, and when his hands remained firm, he begged for death, he begged Cloud, he begged the massive sword he swung with such unforeseen ease, he begged for him to hear.

There was an exchange, words he couldn’t understand-and a strength that suddenly filled Cloud’s eyes that he had never seen before in any eye he had ever faced.

Suddenly there were blades all around him-sharp agonizing pain-and soft, warm bodies pressing against him on either side, breathing contentedly in sleep.

Sephiroth sat up immediately, allowing silky red sheets to pool down around his waist. His glowing green eyes sought out the familiar bodies around him, and he relaxed with the knowledge he was safe in his own bedroom.

On sudden desperate impulse, he swiftly reached out to the blonde on his left and ran his fingers over the soft shoulders-relieved to find no imperfections other than a lover’s mark. The arms he held were once again delicately thin, and the body that snuggled against him was endearingly short. He smiled and pulled the boy further across his chest as he lay back down. The man on his right grunted from the disturbance and cracked open a violet eye to look inquisitively at Sephiroth.

“Anything wrong?” he grumbled sleepily.

Sephiroth smiled and kissed his head, “Just a dream.”

Nodding his acknowledgement, Zack shifted closer and purred contentedly into long, silver hair before attempting to fall back into sleep.

Before he could, however, Sephiroth whispered into his ear, “Tomorrow, we will start training Cloud tomorrow ourselves.”

Unconcerned by the strange late-night plans while he drifted into sleep, Zack grunted his consent and snuggled further into his superior’s hair.

Sephiroth squeezed both his lovers tighter, but still feared to give up control of his mind-even to sleep.

~Please, review.