Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Counterfeit God; Part I ❯ Chapter 20
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Shiratori-Strife Inc 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 183 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 183 | Status: Completed
20
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The two of them sat in the quiet darkness of his room. He couldn’t tell what was wrong exactly, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable. She jumped as he placed his hand on her cheek. A chuckle escaped him as he felt the heat of a blush on his palm. They hadn’t seen each other in five years, so it was to be expected. The blonde felt her body tense as he scooted a bit closer to her.
“What’s wrong, Sirius?” he asked her gently, kissing her forehead.
He felt her shift a bit. “Cloud, I’ve…I’ve never…”
Cloud chuckled once again and his eyes softened. “Neither have I, so you don’t have to worry about that…”
Sirius shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.” She said, blushing heavier than she had been. “I’ve never seen a naked man before.”
Cloud’s eyes sparkled at the memory of the first time he and Sirius had been together. He’d almost burst out laughing when she’d said she’d never seen a naked man before. The sharp wriggling under the sheets drew his attention to his left side. Sirius’s nude form was snuggling up to his body for warmth, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. Brushing a strand of hair from her eyes, Cloud sighed deeply as he stared at the ceiling. Reno had called him the day before to tell him that they were coming to Nibelheim for a visit. His white-haired fiancé would be ecstatic when she found out. Unfortunately, the blonde was trying to keep it a secret for now. What was the point of a surprise if the person knew about it?
The sun streaming through the window was a good indication that it was time for him to get up. Not so much that he had to work, but there was a lot of preparation to be done if Reno and Morghann were to arrive in a few days. Sliding out from under the sheet, Cloud smiled as he heard Sirius groan as she flopped onto the mattress. If he knew her, she’d be asleep for fifteen more minutes or so. He’d use that few minutes to shower and get a few things together. Running a hand through his shock of blonde hair, he disappeared into the bathroom.
Warm jets of water hit Cloud’s cool skin, causing him to groan at the relief. The beads of moisture made their way down his face as his naturally spiky hair drooped a little. He didn’t have any deliveries until later that day, so that gave him some time to go grocery shopping for four people, perhaps pick up a crib for Sarah during her stay, and all without Sirius knowing what he was doing. The bathroom door squeaked as it was pushed open. The soft patter of feet across the bare tile told him that Sirius was up. That was sooner than usual.
“I’ll be out in just a minute.” Cloud told her as he lathered his body with the bar of soap in his hand. “You’re up early.”
He heard the sound of the shower curtain sliding back and hissed at the temperature change as Sirius wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cool flesh to his now warm skin. “Couldn’t sleep.” She mumbled. “It was cold in there.”
“That’s because someone wanted the windows open last night.” Cloud chuckled as he let the water rinse his skin.
Sirius made a face behind him. “Well, it wasn’t my fault that you got me all hot and bothered last night.” She replied with a tinge of amusement in her voice.
“If I remember right, it wasn’t just me, dearest Sirius.” Cloud replied, glancing over his shoulder.
“But you started it, Cloud. Which means what they say is true.” She said, nipping at the flesh between his shoulder blades gently with her teeth.
The blonde clenched his teeth and fought a gasp. “And that would be…”
“Payback’s a bitch.” Sirius replied as she positioned her hands on his hips and closing what little space there was between them. “You’d better memorize that one.”
Without replying, Cloud turned around as rapidly as the slick Teflon would allow and kissed her hard. This was what Sirius had been aiming for apparently because she gave in rather easily and melted against him. Large calloused hands slid slowly down her arms before coming to a stop at her hips and pulling her as close to him as he could possibly get her. Sirius tried to suppress a moan as she felt his chest beneath her hands and failed. The blonde made to move her and change their places but it seemed that fate had other ideas. As Cloud’s hand snaked up to rest on Sirius’s back while he was trying to change their positions, his foot slipped on the wet tub. Sirius shrieked with alarm as Cloud cursed loudly and they both came tumbling out of the shower and onto the floor, tangled up in each other’s limbs and the shower curtain. Sirius giggled madly beneath Cloud at their current situation as the blonde mumbled something about hurt pride.
“Oh.” Sirius laughed trying to gasp in breaths between her peels of laughter. “I have to tell Morghann about this. She’ll appreciate it.”
Cloud glowered from his position on top of her. “If you tell Reno about this, I’ll kill you, Sirius Maelstrom. You can be sure of that.”
“Why? Are you afraid that he’ll over hear a phone conversation?”
It was the blonde’s turn to laugh. “Oh no, you can tell her when she gets here.”
Sirius’s laughing stopped. “What? They’re coming here?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Cloud asked, feigning innocence. “It must’ve slipped my mind.” He winced at the blow that came to his arm.
“And you didn’t tell me?” his fiancé exclaimed. “When were you going to tell me?”
“When they got here.” He replied sheepishly. “It was a surprise, Sirius, I didn’t want to spoil it.”
Cloud cut off her reply with a bruising kiss. Sirius didn’t protest as her fingers moved along his muscular back. She’d started this in the shower and by God he was horny and he was going to finish it.
----
The blonde president of the recently rebuilt Shinra Company sat behind his desk flipping through a stack of papers. Everything was going according to plan with SOLDEIR. More young men than he had expected had signed their names to be recruited into the ranks. Rufus was just glad that Vincent had returned from Mideel two weeks ago so that he could start training the new recruits. The ex-Turk’s ventures to the southern island had proven fruitless. Wherever Eko was hiding, he’d made it a point that he surely didn’t want to be found. It just startled Rufus that the mad scientist had made such an effort to thoroughly erase his path and all the evidence tying him to the incident in Rocket Town. Other than the few stray Materia shards that were found, he left nothing. Shaking his head, he got back to his current issue: SOLDIER.
SOLDIER had gained much more popularity than he’d originally counted on. Of course, there were always those few groups who would resist it with everything they had, but Rufus couldn’t afford to worry about them at this point. Eko was plotting to destroy the world and that took top priority. Vincent had been in his office naught half an hour before discussing the details of his training the troops. The first three weeks of boot camp, the new recruits would get their Mako infusions and be adjusting to the increase of their strength and stamina. One could always tell the SOLDIERs from the ordinary troops by the shocking blue eyes with the eerie glow they all had. That was from the radiation. Cloud Strife and Sirius Maelstrom were prime examples of this trait. Those two had been his first and second choices for General and leader of SOLDIER, but Shinra knew that if one refused, the other one would refuse as well. That’s where Vincent came into play. It was always good to have a backup plan. A nervous Rufus picked up the phone on his desk and waited for Tseng to answer.
“Still nothing new on Eko? No new whereabouts or anything?”
“Nothing, sir. Wherever he’s hiding, he’s picked a good spot.” The Turk replied.
Shinra was silent for a moment. “What if he’s not in Mideel like we originally thought? Where else could Eko have gone to throw us off?”
Tseng was silent for a moment. “What about the Northern Crater, sir? That’s beyond our search scope and the perfect place to stay hidden.”
“Good thinking, Tseng. Take Elena and Rude and get up there as soon as you can. I want a full report on everything you find up there. We can’t take chances that Eko could slip through our nets.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll leave in twenty minutes.”
----
Rocket Town was in worse shape than he’d thought when he got back. Cid was furious when he looked at every single person that he passed on the street. How could they have followed Eko so willingly while people around them were getting hurt? The mere thought of them turning the other cheek while Shera was suffering was enough to make his blood boil. He took another drag of his cigarette and continued toward the center of town. Climbing the platform, he began banging a hammer against a pot, causing all attention to turn to him.
“Listen up, you yellow-bellied cowards. I just thought ya’ll should know that because you followed Eko so blindly, Shera had to die. The least you could do to make up for yer crime would be to help fix this town. That’s the very least you could do.” Cid shouted, slinging his tools to the ground.
Not a word was said. At first, he thought his words had gone unheard, but when a boy of no more than twelve or thirteen started picking up the charred rubble and carrying it away, he had to smile. Soon the rest of the town’s people began to help with the destruction left by Eko. Rocket Town would be better in no time. Dropping the instruments he’d used to gain attention, Cid Highwind left the platform he’d been standing on and headed to the one place in down he’d never thought he’d have to visit: the cemetery.
Cid moved in and out of the tombstones looking for one in particular. He’d decided that it would be best to return Shera to Rocket Town for her burial. Coming to a somewhat deserted corner of the cemetery, he knelt down by the person he was looking for. There was a bundle of red roses he’d brought for her from the previous day. Guilt stabbed at Cid’s heart as he swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. He glanced at the cigarette in his fingers and gave a guilty chuckle.
“I know you never did like me smoking, darlin’.” He said softly. “It’s a bad habit that got worse after you left. I’m not blamin’ you. This old man is just not a quitter.” Cid was silent for a moment or two, his other hand resting on the cold headstone. “You may not believe it, Shera, but you saved people’s lives. If you hadn’t held out as long as you did, we might have never found what Eko was doing here in Rocket Town. We haven’t got him yet, but I swear to God we’ll get him. We all thought it was for the best that we split up for now. That way, Eko can’t find Morghann or Sirius. He’s lookin’ for them two so he can complete his experiment. Those girls have been through too much to go through any more. We’ll find that bastard and we’ll stop him.” There was another pause in Cid’s monologue. “I love you, Shera and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss you. I want you to know that I’ll always love you, darlin’ and nothing can change that.”
Rising from his kneeling position, Cid turned on heel quickly and refused to give into the emotions that had welled in his chest over the past five minutes. He had to be strong for himself, for his friends, and for Shera. Clenching his fists, he made his way back to his temporary quarters while he was in Rocket Town. When it came time to fight Eko, Cid wanted to make sure that he decked the bastard one good time at least for Shera.
----
Sighing as she made her way down the street, Yuffie was bored to say the least. She’d gotten a phone call from Tifa the other day to see how she was doing and if she’d heard any news from the others. That was a definite negative. She’d had no contact since the call from Sirius three weeks ago. Things seemed pretty calm. In fact, Tifa had said that Vincent hadn’t found a thing during his time in Mideel. Eko seemed to have just vanished. The ninja knew that that wasn’t possible. A man as crazy as Eko couldn’t just vanish. There had to be something they were missing; something so small that it wouldn’t be obvious.
Tifa had also told her that Rufus was sending the Turks to the Northern Crater because they had a hunch that that was where Eko was hiding. Yuffie had snorted at this. The Northern Crater would have been far to obvious a place to hide, especially when half the known world was looking for him. It was only the place that the original Sephiroth was hidden and the battle for the world had taken place the first time. Didn’t Shinra think about that?
Yuffie sighed once again. That’s why she was the Great Ninja. She knew these things. There was also the subject of SOLDIER. It seemed that there were a lot of people that supported it. Since Eko was on the loose, Yuffie couldn’t really argue with that. Still, she was still a bit skeptical. What if this was yet another brilliant ploy for Rufus Shinra to gain power? No, he wouldn’t try it again so openly. Would he? Surely not, but then again, Yuffie just couldn’t be sure.
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End Chapter
----
The two of them sat in the quiet darkness of his room. He couldn’t tell what was wrong exactly, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable. She jumped as he placed his hand on her cheek. A chuckle escaped him as he felt the heat of a blush on his palm. They hadn’t seen each other in five years, so it was to be expected. The blonde felt her body tense as he scooted a bit closer to her.
“What’s wrong, Sirius?” he asked her gently, kissing her forehead.
He felt her shift a bit. “Cloud, I’ve…I’ve never…”
Cloud chuckled once again and his eyes softened. “Neither have I, so you don’t have to worry about that…”
Sirius shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.” She said, blushing heavier than she had been. “I’ve never seen a naked man before.”
Cloud’s eyes sparkled at the memory of the first time he and Sirius had been together. He’d almost burst out laughing when she’d said she’d never seen a naked man before. The sharp wriggling under the sheets drew his attention to his left side. Sirius’s nude form was snuggling up to his body for warmth, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. Brushing a strand of hair from her eyes, Cloud sighed deeply as he stared at the ceiling. Reno had called him the day before to tell him that they were coming to Nibelheim for a visit. His white-haired fiancé would be ecstatic when she found out. Unfortunately, the blonde was trying to keep it a secret for now. What was the point of a surprise if the person knew about it?
The sun streaming through the window was a good indication that it was time for him to get up. Not so much that he had to work, but there was a lot of preparation to be done if Reno and Morghann were to arrive in a few days. Sliding out from under the sheet, Cloud smiled as he heard Sirius groan as she flopped onto the mattress. If he knew her, she’d be asleep for fifteen more minutes or so. He’d use that few minutes to shower and get a few things together. Running a hand through his shock of blonde hair, he disappeared into the bathroom.
Warm jets of water hit Cloud’s cool skin, causing him to groan at the relief. The beads of moisture made their way down his face as his naturally spiky hair drooped a little. He didn’t have any deliveries until later that day, so that gave him some time to go grocery shopping for four people, perhaps pick up a crib for Sarah during her stay, and all without Sirius knowing what he was doing. The bathroom door squeaked as it was pushed open. The soft patter of feet across the bare tile told him that Sirius was up. That was sooner than usual.
“I’ll be out in just a minute.” Cloud told her as he lathered his body with the bar of soap in his hand. “You’re up early.”
He heard the sound of the shower curtain sliding back and hissed at the temperature change as Sirius wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cool flesh to his now warm skin. “Couldn’t sleep.” She mumbled. “It was cold in there.”
“That’s because someone wanted the windows open last night.” Cloud chuckled as he let the water rinse his skin.
Sirius made a face behind him. “Well, it wasn’t my fault that you got me all hot and bothered last night.” She replied with a tinge of amusement in her voice.
“If I remember right, it wasn’t just me, dearest Sirius.” Cloud replied, glancing over his shoulder.
“But you started it, Cloud. Which means what they say is true.” She said, nipping at the flesh between his shoulder blades gently with her teeth.
The blonde clenched his teeth and fought a gasp. “And that would be…”
“Payback’s a bitch.” Sirius replied as she positioned her hands on his hips and closing what little space there was between them. “You’d better memorize that one.”
Without replying, Cloud turned around as rapidly as the slick Teflon would allow and kissed her hard. This was what Sirius had been aiming for apparently because she gave in rather easily and melted against him. Large calloused hands slid slowly down her arms before coming to a stop at her hips and pulling her as close to him as he could possibly get her. Sirius tried to suppress a moan as she felt his chest beneath her hands and failed. The blonde made to move her and change their places but it seemed that fate had other ideas. As Cloud’s hand snaked up to rest on Sirius’s back while he was trying to change their positions, his foot slipped on the wet tub. Sirius shrieked with alarm as Cloud cursed loudly and they both came tumbling out of the shower and onto the floor, tangled up in each other’s limbs and the shower curtain. Sirius giggled madly beneath Cloud at their current situation as the blonde mumbled something about hurt pride.
“Oh.” Sirius laughed trying to gasp in breaths between her peels of laughter. “I have to tell Morghann about this. She’ll appreciate it.”
Cloud glowered from his position on top of her. “If you tell Reno about this, I’ll kill you, Sirius Maelstrom. You can be sure of that.”
“Why? Are you afraid that he’ll over hear a phone conversation?”
It was the blonde’s turn to laugh. “Oh no, you can tell her when she gets here.”
Sirius’s laughing stopped. “What? They’re coming here?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Cloud asked, feigning innocence. “It must’ve slipped my mind.” He winced at the blow that came to his arm.
“And you didn’t tell me?” his fiancé exclaimed. “When were you going to tell me?”
“When they got here.” He replied sheepishly. “It was a surprise, Sirius, I didn’t want to spoil it.”
Cloud cut off her reply with a bruising kiss. Sirius didn’t protest as her fingers moved along his muscular back. She’d started this in the shower and by God he was horny and he was going to finish it.
----
The blonde president of the recently rebuilt Shinra Company sat behind his desk flipping through a stack of papers. Everything was going according to plan with SOLDEIR. More young men than he had expected had signed their names to be recruited into the ranks. Rufus was just glad that Vincent had returned from Mideel two weeks ago so that he could start training the new recruits. The ex-Turk’s ventures to the southern island had proven fruitless. Wherever Eko was hiding, he’d made it a point that he surely didn’t want to be found. It just startled Rufus that the mad scientist had made such an effort to thoroughly erase his path and all the evidence tying him to the incident in Rocket Town. Other than the few stray Materia shards that were found, he left nothing. Shaking his head, he got back to his current issue: SOLDIER.
SOLDIER had gained much more popularity than he’d originally counted on. Of course, there were always those few groups who would resist it with everything they had, but Rufus couldn’t afford to worry about them at this point. Eko was plotting to destroy the world and that took top priority. Vincent had been in his office naught half an hour before discussing the details of his training the troops. The first three weeks of boot camp, the new recruits would get their Mako infusions and be adjusting to the increase of their strength and stamina. One could always tell the SOLDIERs from the ordinary troops by the shocking blue eyes with the eerie glow they all had. That was from the radiation. Cloud Strife and Sirius Maelstrom were prime examples of this trait. Those two had been his first and second choices for General and leader of SOLDIER, but Shinra knew that if one refused, the other one would refuse as well. That’s where Vincent came into play. It was always good to have a backup plan. A nervous Rufus picked up the phone on his desk and waited for Tseng to answer.
“Still nothing new on Eko? No new whereabouts or anything?”
“Nothing, sir. Wherever he’s hiding, he’s picked a good spot.” The Turk replied.
Shinra was silent for a moment. “What if he’s not in Mideel like we originally thought? Where else could Eko have gone to throw us off?”
Tseng was silent for a moment. “What about the Northern Crater, sir? That’s beyond our search scope and the perfect place to stay hidden.”
“Good thinking, Tseng. Take Elena and Rude and get up there as soon as you can. I want a full report on everything you find up there. We can’t take chances that Eko could slip through our nets.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll leave in twenty minutes.”
----
Rocket Town was in worse shape than he’d thought when he got back. Cid was furious when he looked at every single person that he passed on the street. How could they have followed Eko so willingly while people around them were getting hurt? The mere thought of them turning the other cheek while Shera was suffering was enough to make his blood boil. He took another drag of his cigarette and continued toward the center of town. Climbing the platform, he began banging a hammer against a pot, causing all attention to turn to him.
“Listen up, you yellow-bellied cowards. I just thought ya’ll should know that because you followed Eko so blindly, Shera had to die. The least you could do to make up for yer crime would be to help fix this town. That’s the very least you could do.” Cid shouted, slinging his tools to the ground.
Not a word was said. At first, he thought his words had gone unheard, but when a boy of no more than twelve or thirteen started picking up the charred rubble and carrying it away, he had to smile. Soon the rest of the town’s people began to help with the destruction left by Eko. Rocket Town would be better in no time. Dropping the instruments he’d used to gain attention, Cid Highwind left the platform he’d been standing on and headed to the one place in down he’d never thought he’d have to visit: the cemetery.
Cid moved in and out of the tombstones looking for one in particular. He’d decided that it would be best to return Shera to Rocket Town for her burial. Coming to a somewhat deserted corner of the cemetery, he knelt down by the person he was looking for. There was a bundle of red roses he’d brought for her from the previous day. Guilt stabbed at Cid’s heart as he swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. He glanced at the cigarette in his fingers and gave a guilty chuckle.
“I know you never did like me smoking, darlin’.” He said softly. “It’s a bad habit that got worse after you left. I’m not blamin’ you. This old man is just not a quitter.” Cid was silent for a moment or two, his other hand resting on the cold headstone. “You may not believe it, Shera, but you saved people’s lives. If you hadn’t held out as long as you did, we might have never found what Eko was doing here in Rocket Town. We haven’t got him yet, but I swear to God we’ll get him. We all thought it was for the best that we split up for now. That way, Eko can’t find Morghann or Sirius. He’s lookin’ for them two so he can complete his experiment. Those girls have been through too much to go through any more. We’ll find that bastard and we’ll stop him.” There was another pause in Cid’s monologue. “I love you, Shera and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss you. I want you to know that I’ll always love you, darlin’ and nothing can change that.”
Rising from his kneeling position, Cid turned on heel quickly and refused to give into the emotions that had welled in his chest over the past five minutes. He had to be strong for himself, for his friends, and for Shera. Clenching his fists, he made his way back to his temporary quarters while he was in Rocket Town. When it came time to fight Eko, Cid wanted to make sure that he decked the bastard one good time at least for Shera.
----
Sighing as she made her way down the street, Yuffie was bored to say the least. She’d gotten a phone call from Tifa the other day to see how she was doing and if she’d heard any news from the others. That was a definite negative. She’d had no contact since the call from Sirius three weeks ago. Things seemed pretty calm. In fact, Tifa had said that Vincent hadn’t found a thing during his time in Mideel. Eko seemed to have just vanished. The ninja knew that that wasn’t possible. A man as crazy as Eko couldn’t just vanish. There had to be something they were missing; something so small that it wouldn’t be obvious.
Tifa had also told her that Rufus was sending the Turks to the Northern Crater because they had a hunch that that was where Eko was hiding. Yuffie had snorted at this. The Northern Crater would have been far to obvious a place to hide, especially when half the known world was looking for him. It was only the place that the original Sephiroth was hidden and the battle for the world had taken place the first time. Didn’t Shinra think about that?
Yuffie sighed once again. That’s why she was the Great Ninja. She knew these things. There was also the subject of SOLDIER. It seemed that there were a lot of people that supported it. Since Eko was on the loose, Yuffie couldn’t really argue with that. Still, she was still a bit skeptical. What if this was yet another brilliant ploy for Rufus Shinra to gain power? No, he wouldn’t try it again so openly. Would he? Surely not, but then again, Yuffie just couldn’t be sure.
-----
End Chapter