Flower Face
( NC-17 )
Loz / Yazoo Kadaj / Vincent

By Annatar

WARNINGS: very heavy gender bending and clone issues. If you have a great aversion to het, don't read this. If you have a great aversion to the very strange and twisted, same warning. Explicit sex /yaoi / het

PART SIX

Mako green spheres glared hatefully up at Vincent, and he gazed back at the child he still held in his arms, dreading the decision he must now make.

"I know it's you." he whispered, looking around the room he had locked them in, and the child snarled, baring sharp white teeth. "If I could believe for one moment that you came back for a second chance, to right the wrongs, to set it all square.... if I could only believe that..."

The child hissed, his beautiful young face drawn up in raw hatred. Vincent shook his head sadly. "But I know better. I wish I didn't. But I do."

He walked over to a drawer and opened it, taking out a bag. Inside there were needles, still in their pouches, and vials. Painkillers, antibiotics. Morphine.

Vincent took the vial of morphine and a needle, and looked again at the child--this creature was far past infancy, and his wise little face was sharply defined, intelligent. Cruel. And perfect, every bone and every line was set to the flawless limit of beauty. He seemed too hot, somehow, his little body seeming to seethe with some strange inner fire.

Vincent held him pinned tightly but gently against one shoulder as he took the needle in the other hand, and thrust it into the vial of morphine, withdrawing the plunger until it was filled. An overdose of massive proportions even for an adult. It would send the child into a deep and fatal coma in a matter of minutes.

"It will be painless." Vincent murmured to the child, trying to reassure himself as well. He knew it would be---all that would be felt would be the slight prick of the needle, and then....oblivion.

Far more aware of what was going on than he ought to be, the child kicked and began to scream ---Vincent covered his mouth tightly, and brought him around in his arms so he might look at him once more. He took away his hand from the tender lips. He couldn't just do this in cold blood. But it would prove to be his undoing.

Tears ran down the delicate face, and the strange little being spoke, shocking Vincent and sending his heart and mind into overdrive:

"Vin.........cent. Don't..................hurt..................me."

The ex-Turk stared in silence, and then closed his eyes, mentally exhausted and emotionally torn---if he did this, it would destroy Yazoo and Loz. If he didn't do it--- it might destroy the whole world.

The child spoke no more, but only wept softly---no infant's wails but those of an older child, deliberate and filled with sorrow. Frightened.

Cursing bitterly, Vincent took the empty vial and the needle and threw them in the drawer again, not looking upon that face, not daring to. He walked back to the infirmary, and held the child out to Loz, who looked nearly insane with worry.

"I needed to examine him, it was too complicated to explain, I'm sorry. But he is alright."

It was then that he saw that Yazoo was still unconscious, but there was clearly something wrong --his color was too flushed, and his breathing was too fast, too shallow. Vincent rushed to where Tifa and Cloud were working frantically to revive him. "His blood pressure is crashing!" Tifa shouted, her face stricken. Kadaj pushed her aside and took hold of his brother's face, shaking him, until Vincent took hold of him and gently moved him back. Kadaj did not resist, but he was not happy about it.

Loz held their child, his expression confused and alarmed.

The child himself had wrapped his little arms tightly around Loz's neck, holding on for dear life. He shot Vincent a cold smirk as their eyes met briefly, but Vincent turned away quickly. Yazoo was dying, and drastic measures had to be taken. "Penicillin, 1000 mg, quickly, quickly!" Tifa readied the injection and handed it to Vincent, who injected it into one of the ropy blue veins in Yazoo's pale arm. Infection on a vast scale was setting in, as evidenced by the ruddy flush of Yazoo's face.

"The child...was the cause..." he muttered, and his eyes now met those of Cloud, who had been silent until now.

"Why don't we just say it?" the ex-SOLDIER said finally. "We all know it, let's just say it, get it out in the open. The kid...that baby...it's no baby. I mean, look at it! It's him...it's Sephiroth!"

The child growled low in his throat, and stared directly at Cloud, who walked slowly to where Loz was standing.

"It's him. I can see him, I can feel him, it's him. He's come back. And now what do we do?"

"You stay the fuck away from my baby, that's what you do, if you like living!" Loz snarled at Cloud, retreating a few paces, holding the child tightly to his chest.

"We cannot harm a child." Vincent said very softly, and Tifa walked to Cloud's side, her eyes upon the strange new visitor. She reached out a hand to touch the child's face, and he did not flinch, but allowed it, his green eyes never leaving hers. She then took the small hand, and the gesture was met with no hostility, as her hand was gripped in a small sweaty child's grasp.

But Cloud had had enough.

"We cannot harm a child, Vincent? Do we wait till he grows up, then? At what age do we take action?" Loz was glaring pure hatred at Cloud, and in the background, Yazoo moaned.

"Action does not have to be of the fatal persuasion. There are other ways...secured places...guarded and fortified...to do otherwise...when we have a choice...would be murder..!"

Angry and frustrated now himself, Cloud's reply was none too gentle: "Do you think I LIKE to kill? That I take pleasure in it? But when there is no other way....I do what must be done, what no one else seems to be able to..." He regretted saying it, as soon as the words had left his lips, but it was too late to take back.

Vincent was not angry, however, he merely nodded and answered. "Yes, when there is no other way. But that is not the case, not yet."

Kadaj, however, had lost his tight grip on the rising anger, and he shoved Cloud with one hand hard, knocking him into the wall, for he had not expected the assault. "Bastard! How dare you threaten one of us! I'll make you pay, see if I don't! Just keep talking, brother, keep on! And I .....I trusted you!" Loz came to stand beside his younger brother, and they held the child between them almost like a weapon.

Cloud started to say something, and then he seemed to lose all his will, and he turned and walked out of the room.

Hoping to defuse the tension, Vincent spoke calmly to Loz and Kadaj: "Take the child to your room for now, Loz, and lock yourself in. I must see to Yazoo----we must bring down the fever. Kadaj, will you go with him, stay with Loz and the baby, please?" Kadaj nodded, and as they walked out of the room, Loz and Kadaj turned their heads at the same moment to look at Yazoo, in perfect and chilling synchronicity--- "Don't let him die." Loz said, not a plea but a flat statement---

--and Vincent nodded wearily.

I don't think Yazoo is the one in the most danger now............

PART SEVEN

The Infirmary...a week later

Yazoo awakened in a fevered haze, and looked around for his brothers immediately. They were both there by this time, sitting on either side of him, worried looks on their faces. "Oh Yazoo!" Loz blurted, the tears coming as he saw Yazoo was awake. "Oh god, you scared us, you scared us all so bad!"

Kadaj took and kissed his brother's hand tenderly, and pressed it to his face. "Yazoo. Oh, you really---oh shit--oh man."

Vincent appeared and Kadaj stood, slipping an arm around his waist. How they had bonded, so close and so swiftly, it seemed like years even though it had been far less. Vincent likewise embraced Kadaj briefly, but very tightly, and then released him, and the young clone sat down again. He understood--lavish displays of affection were not Vincent's way. The love was manifest in their bed, and Kadaj had no doubts of it.

"The fever has come down at last...drastically. from 104 to 99. It has maintained for several hours. You are healing, Yazoo."

Vincent spoke gently, and then he added even more softly:

"You have not even seen your child yet. Would you like him to be brought to you?"

The child!

"Yes. yes, oh please....."

Loz stood up so fast the chair clattered to the floor under him, and heedless, he raced to the room to fetch their son. He returned with a small bundle, and Vincent saw that the child had nearly doubled his size in a week. He shuddered, but said nothing.

"Our baby!" Loz announced proudly, and Kadaj laughed. Yazoo smiled weakly, and accepted the little being as Loz handed him carefully to him.

"He's heavy!" Yazoo remarked, and then he pressed the child to his chest, eyes closed in the ecstasy of finally holding this strange new creature. He felt different now, very different. This was no longer a frightening invader threatening to harm him, but...his child. His son.

Their son.

"I love him now." Yazoo intoned softly. The child seemed to be growling as a tiger might, a soft purring rumble. He was the size of a two year old now, and his features were of a five year old. Being ignorant of such things, Yazoo knew nothing of this. The child's teeth, already in, were strong, and he did not hesitate to use them. He had already badly bitten Vincent and Cloud, and yet, Tifa he allowed to hold him, with no protest. Kadaj had been offered the chance to hold him but he always refused, though gracefully. He was a little afraid of the new addition to their "family", though he was not certain why.

Loz watched fondly as Yazoo held their child, and Cloud walked into the room, and gestured for Vincent to join him in the hallway.

"Is he...going to be okay?"

"I think so, yes. The fever has come down, and the antibiotics are doing their job now. He will need more rest, but I think he will live."

"Good. Okay, good." Cloud hesitated, and then he finally brought the subject up again, dreading Vincent's reaction. Vincent had become very protective of the clones, and it worried Cloud. He did not wish suffering on anyone, but these young men...were very dangerous. And the "baby"! Baby, indeed. It was a monster, a beautiful little monster, come back to do grave and fatal ill to the world. Any feelings he had for Sephiroth had been choked off, not killed but laid to rest, for it was all useless now, wasn't it?

The man had become a Nightmare.

And Cloud would not have let personal feelings interfere. He would do what he had to, to whoever he had to.

"Vincent...the kid...ah, shit...Sephiroth...he's growing so goddamn fast, Vincent. We have to do something...."

Vincent nodded sadly, and spoke quietly: "When Yazoo is strong enough to travel, we will take them far away from here, and then--"

"Oh thank god!" Cloud broke in, relieved, but misunderstanding Vincent's meaning. "I was so afraid you...never mind, yeah, we'll take them away from here, and I'll get him from them--you can distract them somehow. I won't let him suffer--shit, I never wanted to hurt him in the first place!--but I'll be quick, he'll never even feel a thing. And we'll just have to deal with those guys after, but we can make up some--"

"Cloud!"

Vincent looked stern and angry, and Cloud stopped, a little alarmed. "W-What?"

"I will not let you harm him. He is a child now, and I will not let a child be harmed."

Cloud bit his tongue to restrain his response.

"And when he is grown, then what, Vincent? Who gets to do the deed then? Will you? Or will you block me from doing what I have to, even as he murders the whole world!"

Not waiting for an answer, Cloud stalked away, feeling sorrow and anger, and most of all, feeling very much like the bad guy. A villain. And he hated it.

I'm not a monster, I'm not a murderer!...he is the murderer.....Sephiroth....why...why did you come back...why couldn't you stay away...

..haven't you hurt me enough....

PART EIGHT

Vincent and Kadaj's room, three months later...

Edgy and nervous, Kadaj tossed and turned next to Vincent, who was not sleeping, but sitting up reading some ancient tome--- the dark haired ex-Turk reached down and stroked the soft silver hair, and Kadaj smiled up at him, and nestled closer, trying again to sleep. It was no wonder he was having difficulty: the last three months had been like a very surreal, very bad dream.

Yazoo had named the baby Sephiroth, finally, after much discussion and pleas of other names to be considered. Even Loz had come up with some names he had liked, but in the end, he deferred to his brother, and the choice of a name took no one by any real surprise.

They all knew now, they all knew, and understood, and realized, this was Sephiroth come back.

The three clones were in a sort of ecstasy over it, a kind of religious wonder. Cloud felt like he had fallen into some sort of living nightmare. Tifa had bonded with the child early on, and even though she too understood who and what he was, the attachment was now tremendous. She had one day announced her belief that Sephiroth had come back for a second chance. Cloud had nearly laughed in her face, and Vincent, who had been standing there in polite silence, had taken him out of there before she could level him.

And Vincent himself?

He understood all too well that Sephiroth had come back with exactly the same agenda. But he too had allowed himself to feel pity, and even the old love...and now it handicapped him, just as Cloud had predicted.

For their part, the bonded couple of Loz and Yazoo had changed, even as their strange child grew in terrifying haste--Yazoo became far more feminine--not effeminate but feminine, nurturing and maternal. Loz had taken to pumping iron, and he was now even more of a brick wall then he had been. The two of them kept a watch on Cloud's every move like a pair of tigers, and Vincent supposed if Cloud made a wrong move they would have tried to tear him to shreds.

And Cloud had problems of his own, at this very moment...

A strange pressure.....on his chest: Cloud awoke with a start, and found the child--who was now the size of a five year old with the build of an eight year old-- sitting on his chest, facing him, looking at him with a cold and evil smile.

Cloud had to resist his immediate impulse to throw the intruder off of him, as one might a spider, and the young Sephiroth grinned, green eyes glittering.

"Love." he droned, in his strange and beautiful voice.

Of course, by now he was speaking, and all of them accepted it. It wasn't as if they had a choice.

"Love...what?" Cloud mumbled, still groggy and a little in shock.

"Love....cripples you." the child sneered, still with that mocking smirk. "It has always.......crippled you. It always will."

Angering, Cloud tried to sit up, and push the unwanted company off his chest---but Sephiroth was unmoving, and already alarmingly powerful. He sat firm, holding his ground. "Get off me, Sephiroth! Go back to your room, and leave me al--"

"You love me." he announced in an icy tone. "You love me, and you will never be able to harm me again."

Cloud laughed shakily, hoping this might turn out to be a dream. After all, this all seemed like a nightmare, maybe this really was one.

"Love you? After the things you did? After all that? I don't think so. You are still insane, I see.."

"You love me." Sephiroth stated evenly. "And one day, not too far off, we will be one."

"Get out of here!"

Cloud now shoved the child off with both hands, and when the young Sephiroth nearly fell off the bed, Cloud caught him, and made certain he did not hit the ground too hard.

Sephiroth looked him in the eyes, coolly triumphant.

"Love.....still cripples you." he mocked, and gracefully slipped out the door, silent, his preternaturally long silver hair hanging in a mane down his back.

Outside in the hallway, a door opened, and Cloud could hear Yazoo cooing over the child, lightly scolding him, and Loz calling them both back to bed, sounding more than a little cranky. "Hurry up, get back in bed, both of you! I need sleep, Yazoo, ah, it's 2 am....." Yazoo made an indistinct but cutting-sounding reply, and their door shut again. Cloud lay in the darkness and regretted insisting that his room be adjacent to theirs. As he tried to shut out the little episode with Sephiroth, the unmistakable sound of steady creaking bedsprings echoed through the walls from their room.

Cloud shivered.

God, he's in there with them.....they do this in front of him?!...or ....my god.....oh god even they wouldn't...

He forced himself savagely to sleep, his body shaking in horror.

As Cloud found refuge from his private hell in unconsciousness, Vincent had lain down beside Kadaj, and was holding him close, kissing the soft-skinned shoulders. "Still no sleep, hm?" "No...I'm sorry, I'm just...I'm really worried. There's a lot to be worried about."

Vincent held him tightly, and then eased Kadaj over on his back, leaning over him, kissing the delicate lips with more urgency. "Let me make the worry go away."

Soft lipped merging became more ardent caresses and desire kindled easily...Kadaj moaned low in his throat and opened his thighs to let Vincent lie between them, so they might move against one another, the friction caused by their slow rhythm heating their loving melding. Kadaj arched his body upwards and wrapped his arms around Vincent's strong shoulders, as his legs snaked around his hips. For long, sweet moments they simply slid hardened members together, the early drops of come easing the movements.

But at length the need was too hot, and the young clone rocked his pelvis up hard against Vincent, aching and hungry.

"Oh Vincent...oh god, fuck me, do it, fuck me..."

Vincent grinned in the darkness --he knew Kadaj became very excited by dirty talk in bed, even though he himself was not too fond of it. He grazed lightly over a hard nipple on the smooth chest under him, and then bent his head to tongue it softly. Kadaj moaned more loudly, his hips writhing.

"Vincent...please...I need you in me...fuck me....now..."

Never one to disappoint, Vincent licked three fingers very liberally and slipped them into the scalding entry of his lover's rear-cleft, and then guided himself in, very gently, even as Kadaj surged upwards to drive him in hard and deep--- each strike against the swollen gland inside elicited a sharp and loud cry from Kadaj, who was a very vocal lover. The bed complained as the headboard was slammed hard into the wall, and as the rhythm rose and fell, the clone's voice carried in his ecstatic abandon, even as Vincent was utterly silent...

"Oh Vincent...I'm coming...oh god its so good...ohhh....ohhhhhhhhhhh!"

Awake again, and miserable, their neighbor once more lamented his choice of rooms........

PART NINE

Loz and Yazoo's room, six months later

He wasn't going to wait any longer, and Yazoo could see that in his eyes. And he was glad for it, if the truth be told. It had been too long, and Yazoo's heart was galloping in excitement. Loz moved the slender thighs open with his own powerful upper leg, and wedged himself in between Yazoo's spread legs as the younger clone allowed it, wrapping himself around his lover. On his back, Yazoo sensed the feeling of Loz's power and dominance, never more crystal-clear than in bed.

And he loved it.

"Hurry. Hurry, pretty-flower. Let me in."

Yazoo lifted his hips higher, and Loz felt his way in, not willing to wait one more precious moment. It had been months, and he was about to explode. Sliding inside easily, for Yazoo was already extremely ready for him, Loz began to make the sweet harmonic with his lover. The bed creaked in time to their love, and Yazoo crooned in a soft music, drawing Loz to him so they could kiss, bodies surging together.

"Oh. Loz. I need you, I need it. Go deep, all the way in...do it hard...ahh...oh..Loz...hard: harder, harder!"

It wasn't going to take long, not this time, they were both far too needy and aroused. Rocking his hips in time with Loz, Yazoo felt the almost unbearable ache start to swell within, a sort of itch-ache-pressure, like a bomb on its very last moments before it goes off.

So close.

Loz was gasping, riding Yazoo hard, no longer gentle, only seeking to quench their mutual fire.

Yazoo had been so careful, and he had been so afraid to do this again. Afraid of being injured, afraid it was going to hurt, afraid...just afraid. He'd stalled Loz for so many weeks!

But when Loz had pulled him close on the bed, just holding him at first, and then slipping a hand very non-threateningly between the silky thighs, Yazoo had been ready again, fear or no fear. And then when Loz had gone down on him, tongue and fingers so delicate in their touch, so loving and so sincere, he had very nearly come, the pleasure and need immense. But he had stopped himself just in time, pulling Loz away and gracefully moving under him. He wanted Loz inside him for this....it was important, somehow.

A tidal wave came out of nowhere in the delicious ocean, making Yazoo cry out unrestrained in ecstasy, dragging his nails along Loz's brawny shoulders. The orgasm was sharp and deep and incredibly strong, the last shudders of it eliciting a quiet whimper from the deeply-delved younger sibling. None of this was lost on Loz, who felt the spasmodic contractions inside, tightening around his cock like the fluttering of a hidden butterfly. The bigger brother groaned low in his throat, pushed way too close to the edge now.

He couldn't have held back if Velvet Nightmare was pointed at his temple.

"Oh Yazoo. Oh god, oh god, I love you, oh.....oh god!"

Then the almost painfully sweet moments together after, lying in sweat and heat and the thrumming awareness of their love.

Those precious, precious moments of privacy.

But the privacy was not to last.

Car engines, and a motorcycle roared up, and Yazoo sighed. Well, at least they had been given the afternoon. He had pleaded with Vincent and Kadaj to get Sephiroth out of there just for a bit, just a little bit. Anything. The boy gave them no time to themselves, and he watched...everything.

He now had the size and look of a tall 14 year old, and was coming into his own, sexually, mentally, and emotionally.

If you were really honest you had to admit he looked like a smaller and younger version of..well..himself. The long silver hair hung far down his back, and when Yazoo had made the innocent mistake of trying to weave a braid into it, Sephiroth had turned on him with a dangerous look in his eyes. "Don't....ever...touch my hair...again." he had snarled quietly, and Yazoo never did. Nor did anyone else.

He was now nearly as tall as Cloud, and inching above him every week.

When he was in the room the testosterone level shot up to an unbelievable extent, and Cloud had spent the last several weeks trying to convince Vincent that something had to be done, really had to be done, because if they kept waiting it would soon be too late, and then what?

The deep voice had already broken, and the child was well on his way to being no such thing in a hurry.

The looks he now gave Tifa were open and blatant tries at sexual bullying, now that he was strong enough to no longer need her good graces in the duel with Cloud. And he knew how angry Cloud was every time Sephiroth edged close to Tifa. the heat of him seething and relentless...and every time he saw the look in Tifa's eyes in Sephiroth's presence.

Dread, and lust.

In equal measure.

For he was now a sight to see, and none matched or even rivaled him, not even Yazoo, whose delicate beauty was overwhelmed by Sephiroth's angelic godliness.

After several loud, almost frantic knocks, the door was burst open, and Yazoo and Loz sat bolt upright, as criminals caught at some grave sin. But it wasn't their deadly offspring, not yet: he had been bundled off to Vincent and Kadaj's room, with difficulty. Getting him to obey even the smallest of requests was becoming far more difficult, and the day was very close when Sephiroth would be fully formed again, and he would do as he willed.

The intruder was Cloud, who peered in at the darkness of the room, his eyes still burning from the late afternoon sun.

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. But we---he and I--we nearly got into it. Really got into it. We have to...do...something...he---you all--need to go away I think..."

He wouldn't tell them that Sephiroth had cornered him behind an old tool shack at the park they had gone to---wouldn't tell them, either, that when the young prodigy had pressed him against the decaying wooden walls of the shack, he had moaned, their bodies too close, too close. Wouldn't tell them that he had seen the fully mature and cataclysmically beautiful face of Sephiroth for a long moment, and he absolutely would not tell them he had nearly come in his trousers before he had broken away and fled like a frightened rabbit.

No, that would be TOO much information.

"Do something? Go away?" Yazoo drawled softly, pulling the covers around his smooth chest. "Perhaps you should go away. We will be fine here."

Loz watched Cloud closely, suspicious and becoming angry. He didn't trust this guy for a second, black sheep brother or no.

Cloud tried to hang onto his own temper as he replied in a very controlled tone of voice: "I am not a threat to the whole world. I think the one who is, ought to be the one to go---"

"Go where?" Loz broke in, alarmed now. Yazoo linked his arm with Loz's.

"Not anywhere bad." Cloud answered patiently. "Just somewhere...far away from here. From people. From....(me)...people." he repeated lamely.

Yazoo and Loz looked at each other, worried. "We'll think about it." Loz said finally, just wanting Cloud to leave. Cloud nodded and backed away, closing the door behind him.

It was now too late, and he knew it. He couldn't murder Sephiroth in cold blood, not even knowing that something terrible was brewing behind the strange emerald eyes. The child was becoming the man, and the man was becoming the Nightmare. And the old, hateful love was awakening again.

Tears in his eyes, Cloud walked to his own room, wanting more than anything in the world to go to him...

...go to him, and let him do his Will.

PART TEN

A Year Later....

Stalling and delaying tactics had won the clones many month's long respite, and nothing had changed. Cloud had been simply put off, and he was now just waiting for the inevitable. Tifa he had insisted leave, at last. He had told her what was most likely going to be Sephiroth's fate, or his own. She had wept for them both, but she had known that it was coming. And Marlene could no longer be without her.

Vincent and Kadaj had bonded their love with an informal pledge, and wore each other's rings. Cloud had even cracked a warm smile at last, when he had seen the happiness Vincent finally had. He had embraced both of them, and wished them the best.

But the spectre of doom hung over the compound.

And finally one morning the spectre had lowered his sword:

The tall young warrior stood confronting his parents in their bedroom, his voice soft and cold and deadly calm. The young Sephiroth was now much as he had been as a new recruit in SOLDIER, proud, beautiful, and frighteningly powerful. He glowered at Yazoo, who had angered him with a timid request that he leave them alone for a few moments --he had turned on Yazoo and the terrified clone had shrank back from him on the bed, Loz moving to protect him--and that had been what had really angered Sephiroth.

"Loz...do you wish to live, or no? Get away from Yazoo, you are only aggravating the situation."

Loz stared at him bravely, Yazoo huddled under him. Loz made a choice, and he would never turn from it. "No. I won't let you hurt him. What's the matter with you? You are supposed to be our so--"

"I am not your son!" Sephiroth hissed back, stepping forward and seizing Loz by the throat in one smooth movement---Yazoo snarled, and then he too made a decision. He lunged for Velvet Nightmare, and pointed it at Sephiroth. His hand did not shake, nor did he falter.

"Let him go! Now, I am not bluffing. You ought to know that, you really ought to. I love you, but I love him too. Don't make me do this."

Sephiroth stared at him in unhappy understanding that he was not bluffing at all, and that Yazoo would shoot him, right here and now, if he hurt Loz --betrayal! --he was furious, but it was no time to argue the point-- he threw Loz against the wall like a toy, and as Yazoo raced to his side, Sephiroth moved as well, and he held them both aloft by the throats.

The Velvet Nightmare dropped as Sephiroth squeezed, and the tears ran from Loz's eyes, but Yazoo only gasped, his gaze locked to that of his murderous "offspring".

A bullet ricocheted off the opposite wall, and Sephiroth turned in fury to see where it had come from --Vincent stood there in his usual crimson, the gun aimed at Sephiroth's head.

"I spared your life as a child, but I will kill you here and now, if you force me to. I don't want to, but I have had to do many things I have hated. This will only be one more."

Sephiroth released both clones, and they fell to the floor, fighting for breath. Vincent motioned to Sephiroth -- "Move. Out the door. Make no sudden movements and do only as I tell you. I am as swift as you, and you know this. I'll have a bullet through your heart before you finish whatever foolish move you might try to make."

Sephiroth obeyed in silence, and walked in front of Vincent, who escorted him to his own room ---there he locked him in and barricaded the door. He rushed back to find Yazoo in Loz's arms, clearly badly shaken. Gently, he examined Yazoo's throat, and he nodded to Loz -- "He will be alright. Just very sore. Let him rest, stay with him. I must...I must deal with Sephiroth." Loz grasped his arm urgently. "Don't kill him. Please don't kill him."

Vincent stood up, and made no reply. He left them, and knocked on Cloud's door.

Cloud answered after several long minutes and much knocking. He already had the Buster sword in his hand. Vincent looked at it sadly. "Cloud...we must try...we have to try to not let this end that way. We have to give him a chance to surrender, to go into exile..."

Cloud laughed, a bitter, hurt sound, and shook his head.

"You know he won't stop, Vincent. He can't stop. He can't even help it, I don't think. This will go till one of us dies....we can't seem to prevent it. It never ends. It's a living hell, and it never ends. Why couldn't he stay away? Why do I have to do this again...it hurts. I don't want to hurt him...oh god, Vincent, you don't know what this is like.."

He really did not want to break down in front of his old friend but the tears came anyway, painful and cruel, and he felt himself pressed against Vincent's strong shoulder.

"I know it hurts. I know, I know you love him. And I know you don't want to go through this again. I ought to have stopped all of this a long time ago, but I couldn't bring myself to. And now...there will be far worse suffering for everyone. I'm sorry, Cloud, I'm so sorry."

Cloud swallowed hard, and composed himself as best he could. "We'll give him one chance, one chance to submit and to go somewhere, away, far away, to go into house arrest or exile or whatever the fuck. One chance. That's all we can give, because he only needs one. And if he doesn't take it, then he never will."

Vincent nodded, and with a heavy sigh, the gunman and the swordsman walked down the hallway, stopping before the barricaded door of Sephiroth's room.

Cloud looked at Vincent, and closed his eyes.

"Are you ready?"

"No. But I never will be. Let's get it over."

They took away the barrier, and Vincent unlocked the door, slowly, very cautiously.

"Sephiroth? It's Vincent. And Cloud. We are coming in. Please be sitting down, stay calm, we can talk and there will be no violence, I promise you. You know we will honor that, if you allow it."

The door swung open, and they both saw it immediately, garish, gruesome, horrible:

the window was broken, the outer bars bent and twisted, and the curtains drifted in the light morning breeze, a coolness in the air. Sephiroth was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Cloud moaned audibly.

"Oh....oh. Oh.............. fuck!"

PART ELEVEN

On the hunt for Sephiroth - Edge

The city streets were fog laden and wildly silent, the whole area seeming to reek of some terrible menace from a mad imagination --some ghostly horror come to visit the world of the living.

Vincent and Kadaj stalked the alleys side by side, Vincent keeping his lover close to him, fearing for his safety now that Sephiroth was fully returned and fully at large. There was no telling how far he would go to harm them all, but the former Turk took no chances with his young beloved. Vincent had his gun at the ready, dreading to have to use it but painfully aware that Sephiroth would most likely leave him no way out. He never did.

Cloud and Tifa were also on the hunt, searching and afraid of what they might find --and what they would have to do once they found it. Cloud spoke almost nothing at all, his mind swimming with grief, regret, and that nameless and forever unspoken hurt. That need --that hated yearning. It wasn't as if others had not suspected it, but no one ever brought it up to him --they didn't dare really. And who could wish to bring up such a potentially harmful matter to the already stressed-to-the-breaking-point Cloud?

Love and hatred, anger and forgiveness lived in Cloud Strife, and it was his burden to bear.

Yazoo and Loz did not go on the hunt: they had fled the compound, deciding anything was better than remaining virtual prisoners. Kadaj had been the only one they had told of their plans, and he had chosen to stay with Vincent. And now the two "parents" of the full grown demon Angel lived a life as fugitives themselves, always trying to stay close enough to hear any word of Sephiroth ---and yet far away enough to stay free.

Cloud walked ahead of Tifa, his face stricken and set, relentless and hurt.

She was worried about him.

Reno and Rude were canvassing the inner slums of Edge, and soon, surely, soon.....

But no sign of Sephiroth, no word, no threat, no surrender, no glimpse.

And full well there would not be, for Sephiroth was on a hunt of his own.

Yazoo lay in Loz's arms, sleeping, exhausted and saddened. Loz held him close, wondering how this had ever all come to pass. How long ago it seemed they were living in that hideout, just the three of them, and then in the flash of a lightning bolt, all had changed, all had been taken away forever.

But he still had Yazoo, now more than ever. Yazoo was his, uniquely his, in a way that Kadaj had never been. Kadaj had needed a love outside the family.

The family.

Their strange, beautiful family, of which even Cloud Strife was a part.

They now lay in a drainage pipe, with all the stench of old water and steamy mist. Frogs leapt in the water that pooled near Loz's feet. It was not what he had wanted for them, by any means. But what had he wanted? What could they have hoped for? They were outlaws, fugitives by their very creation--- enemies of the world by design and purpose. They did not want to assimilate, as Kadaj seemed to be doing. They would stay on the outside, as they had always been destined for. They didn't seem to have a way out, and there seemed to be no use in fighting anymore.

Loz had just closed his eyes, cradling his brother-lover closer yet, when he was aware of a shadow over them, a sinister and cold air creeping in that had nothing to do with the drainage pipe.

He looked up, instinctively pulling Yazoo closer, and trying to not wake him.

Sephiroth.

He stood above them in malignant beauty, the long silver hair flying around that matchless face. The Masamune was pointed down at Loz's chest, and the clone knew that if he flinched, it would be buried in his heart before he could even speak or cry out --so he did not move, and he did not make a sound ---but his face told the story of sheer horror.

"Loz...." Sephiroth purred softly in his rich voice. "'Father'. At last I find you again. Come, we have much to do...and awaken..." He could not bring himself to call Yazoo Mother even in high sarcasm. "Bring your mate...!" he finally sneered. "Up. NOW."

Loz nudged Yazoo awake and then covered his mouth immediately, dreading the outburst and the punishment that would certainly follow. Yazoo's eyes were huge and scared, and he clung to Loz desperately. Sephiroth smiled at them as they came up out of the drainage, half-wet and fully filthy. The smile was terrible in its feigned kindness.

"Don't be so worried. I can forgive treachery. I have already forgiven your brother."

He left it to the wonderings of his audience as to which brother he was referring to: Kadaj or Cloud. And this was, of course, intentional.

He jabbed the Masamune in Yazoo's back lightly. "Get moving, both of you. We are going back to the beginning."

PART TWELVE

In a secret laboratory in the ruins of Midgar

"Get over there."

Sephiroth motioned to the table, and his eyes were frigid as they fell upon Yazoo. "Now. Don't make me wait."
Sickened with fear, Yazoo cast a look at Loz, and then he did as he was told, climbing up on the table. "Lie down." "But why..?"

"Be silent."

Loz watched in an agony of dread, nauseous at the idea that Sephiroth might be about to harm his beloved Yazoo. He ran a hand nervously through his thick, short hair, and fidgeted, watching virtually helplessly. The idea of stopping Sephiroth was almost unthinkable --he was far more powerful, and was far more well-versed in deep and evil magic. He would make very short work of the clones if they pressed their luck.

They could only wait, and in the meantime, obey.

Sephiroth gestured impatiently. "Take off your clothes, all of them. Hurry up, there is not a lot of time. We are being hunted."

Yazoo did not understand... but he knew better than to disobey or even question --he quickly stripped off to the last stitch, and Sephiroth brushed the clothes off to the floor. He had a strange implement in his hand, and for the very first time, both clones realized this was some sort of working laboratory --and Sephiroth was about to -- do --something --to Yazoo.

"No!" Loz said suddenly, and Sephiroth spared him a single deadly look by way of warning. He shut up immediately.

"Lie down. Open your legs."

Yazoo felt as if the world was falling away from him, and there was only a bitter shard of ice in his heart and soul. "Please don't..." he tried, beginning to shake badly. "Please, I ---"

"Do it, and I mean now, right now. Don't make me have to use persuasion."

Yazoo obeyed, his heart thundering in his ears, making him dizzy. His flesh crawled at what was about to happen. What was about to happen, anyway? Sephiroth had not made any moves to remove any clothing, so it did not appear to be a rape --no, he stll held that instrument in his hand...somehow the sight of it was even worse than an invading member's threat.

Loz squirmed, miserable.

Sephiroth placed a gloved hand on Yazoo's thigh and moved it open still farther, and then he inserted the instrument--a long cold rod of metal, not sharp but blunt, coldly gleaming in the odd light of the overhead bulb. There was a soft swab at the very end of it. He slid it in deeply, and Yazoo closed his eyes in terror, although there was, incredibly, no pain. Only a dull, somehow shaming sense of violation of some wicked and unspeakable form.

At last, he frowned, and withdrew it, as Yazoo gasped softly. Sephiroth examined the result, but said nothing. He turned his back to them, and began to work at something on the silver counter, where lay many tools and -- strangest of all perhaps, rows of small vials. After several long minutes, he turned back to Yazoo, and then he motioned to Loz.

"Mate with him. The time is right."

Loz stared dully at Sephiroth, understanding and yet not, and Yazoo could only try to imagine what this was about -- he knew it was very close, the understanding, but he could not grasp it somehow.

"I --mate-- with him? What do you---"

Sephiroth gazed at them in terrible and total madness, the beauty of him stunning and devastating, all the more surreal because of his vast insanity --and equally vast intelligence and cunning.

"You will inseminate your lover. I will remove the fertilized ovum. I will create from this...what I need. What...she needs. Mother....many, many..so many.." He drifted off in his speech, the glowing green of his eyes becoming glazed. He snapped back to himself. "Come here, and do as I told you. Now. There is so little time, and we are actively being pursued now..."

The unhappy Loz finally moved, and began to walk towards Yazoo, who returned his dumbfounded gaze with one of hurt and grief, and the utmost panic.

...In Edge...in an abandoned warehouse...

Kadaj pulled Vincent to the ground, eliciting a very unhappy grunt from the dark haired gunman. "Kada--" "Shh, shut up, I have to have a little fun, okay? Come on, just a little...I'm tired of looking for Sephiroth, really tired of it all.."
He felt that deep inner twinge when he said that name, a sort of sick thrill that made you almost swoon, and yet he wanted to do this, no matter what. He needed it, and that was all that mattered right now.

His eager young fingers tugged at the tight leather of Vincent's all-concealing outfit, and Kadaj glowered as his hands were thrust away. "No, we cannot right now, don't you understand---" "No, I don't, I understand just that I want you. I want to play with you, and I'm not taking no for an answer. So stop being mean."

Vincent sighed and placed his hands on Kadaj's shoulders. "Alright, but not here...." He looked around and found a crawlspace, just large enough for them to both fit into. He pulled Kadaj in with him, and let the trapdoor fall down. He had only scarcely done so when Kadaj pounced like a lithe cat, his hands once more hunting for his desire under Vincent's garments, clutching and pulling at them, trying to keep the billowing cloak out of the way. "Take it all off!" he demanded, and Vincent nearly smiled--almost.

"You take it off." he replied calmly. Kadaj grinned, and happily complied, stripping off the thick leather and struggling with the buckles and zippers.

"Shit, you have almost as much of these zippers as I do!"

Vincent said nothing, but lay his crimson cloak out for them to lie on, and then he pushed Kadaj to the floor of the crawlspace, startling him, so he made a little yelp of feigned anger. "Hey, you...!"

They fell to the cloak in a tangle of arms and legs, and Vincent made very short work of Kadaj's equally distressing outfit, his fingers far more adept and skilled, so that in only moments the young man was lying quite naked on the scarlet shroud, his eyes gleaming with love and hunger.

"Fuck me. Fuck me, Vincent."

His voice was low and sultry, thick and slurred with excitement. "I love you, and I want you. Take me, right now. Fuck me in half..."

Kadaj liked it dirty, low down and hot. His words were coarse and crude, but there was love behind every syllable. And Vincent knew it, as he crawled over the boy, looking down into that beautiful and almost innocent face. A teenager's heat, a man's passion, a child's insistence. The raven haired ex-Turk leaned down and kissed the soft full lips, licking lightly, tasting, teasing.

So young, so goddamn young...

"Fuck me......I love you Vincent..."

"Yes...of course..I know you do..I...love you too Kadaj..."

The boy's youthful body strained up to meet his hardened one, older, wiser muscles pressed to a hungry and still-unsure form, rising up to accept and plead for it, to be filled up, to be taken, satisfied..."Hurry." Kadaj moaned, his voice almost a whimper. "I need it, I need you, hurry Vincent, god please, please..."

"Not so fast."

Vincent was right to the point, a man of so few words. He moved so that he was between Kadaj's thighs, his hands opening the strong young legs to allow him entry. His tongue found its way quickly, wet scorching kisses delivered deep, making the clone cry out in surprised pleasure. "Oh god, it feels so good, Vincent, oh, oh....oh I love it..."

Vincent thrust his tongue in deeper, and then one finger, then two, then three. Kadaj writhed, his breath fast and hot. "I'm gonna come if you keep doing that..."

So the gunman stopped, though he desperately wanted to rake a fingernail gently across that swollen hotspot inside, oh he felt it alright, pulsing and wet from his attentions. He eased himself over Kadaj, as the boy wrapped long legs around his shoulders. "Oh god. Fuck me. I mean now. I can't wait. Do it Vincent.."

Ebony hair flowed around silver, as Vincent matched the youthful lust with his own far more controlled arousal, slipping inside the sweet and delicate furnace of Kadaj in silence. Only Kadaj graced the air with his cries, Vincent as coolly restrained in lovemaking as he was in all things. But he loved this boy, with all his heart. It eased his mind and spirit to love him, and he would take a bullet for Kadaj any day.

As their bodies melded together in ecstatic union, the others were yet searching for the escapee--- the Nightmare--the returned Terror. The lovers were, for this one moment in time, oblivious now to the threat and awful danger of Sephiroth, coupling in the quickly mounting pace of love unleashed, sending unseen but very real sparks into the darkness of their hidden love-niche.

Kadaj closed his eyes tightly, his hips bucking up hard against Vincent's tremendous assault, and their fulfillment was nearly simultaneous, though expressed very differently...and after...released and relieved, stealing these precious moments together..for who could say that it might not all end soon, with Sephiroth free to wreak some horrific ruin?

And in a long-deserted lab, amidst cobwebs and dust, a tall man with the face of an Angel and the heart of a monster works among the vials and beakers, heedless of the creaking of the table on which the two clones lie...