Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Welcome Burden ❯ Cloud's POV ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimers : : I own none of the characters. All belong to Squaresoft.

A/N : : PWP, Cloud x Sephiroth

"word" - speech

~word~ - thought

Garnet Eyes

A Welcome Burden

Such a breath of sweet air… The mountains are cooling at this time of year, but the young blonde standing high on a cliff edge seems to hardly notice the cold, azure eyes slowly panning across the wilderness. A short gust of wind blew past, obscuring his Mako-sharp vision for the briefest of moments; he watches the sun in the west, slowly sinking below the horizon in a mass of beautiful oranges, reds, yellows, purples, and pinks.

With a short sigh, his thoughts turn inward and he strikes a most intimidating, yet thoughtful, pose as he stands, propped high upon his outcropping. Ever since Meteor… well, things had been very different. For one, he had become the most undeniable outcast. The towns of people had yet to recover from the loss of their famous city, and they took out the frustration on their saviors. The man scoffed. It was actually quite amusing to him, how people could so rapidly turn on the people that did the most for them when things didn't turn out just perfect.

He had, of course, lost all contact with the others. He was the real blame, and he had no intention of involving any of his long-ago friends in any of the mess of accusations. They were, last he had heard, doing very well for themselves. He was doing fine as well, but in a rather different sense. After all, a person like him never really had it in himself to settle down, so he looked at his life in surprising optimism. His insatiable wanderlust could very easily be dealt with since he had no true home to stay in. All he had he carried with himself-his body, the clothes on his back, and his sword, Ultima Weapon.

With the stars just beginning to gleam overhead, the warrior turned his attention back out from himself and down to the town far below-a ghost town, and his first home. Nibelheim. It was completely abandoned since the actors no longer needed to keep up the charade. They left as soon as they could, since all of them felt a strong, deep, and depressive yearning crying out from everywhere in the town. Most said it had to be ghosts of those that were killed, but the blonde warrior, he knew the truth. It wasn't ghosts at all in that town. It was the town itself, and it always had been. Nibelheim had a great sadness that only may have been amplified by the horror seven years earlier. Before the irrational attacks against his person and before Meteor and the Crisis.

Running for two years straight… he supposed he should have felt some sort of depression from it, but his soul only felt better with travel. As light as he might think it could get, anyway. After everything he had been through… somehow he knew his soul would never be fully content again. At such a thought, he snorted again. He had never felt completeness before in his life and he probably never would. Well, it made no difference to someone who had lost both their heart and their soul so many years earlier. Life was just survival now. Well… maybe not entirely.

That thought just brought him back to himself again, and he once again looked out across the Nibel Mountains off into the distance and up into the velvet black night sky, speckled with bright little stars. He did have one thing to attend to now, and that one thing was probably shivering inside the cave the blonde had chosen to stay in, cold and hungry, as the warrior really hadn't thought to get food yet. And that one thing was the only thing that was keeping him way up here, out of sight and forever out of the reach of anyone. No one came up in the mountains anymore. People avoided them completely, having been duped into believing the immortalized Ghosts of Nibelheim. If anything, he was the only ghost of Nibelheim.

~Enough of this… I'm beginning to depress myself.~

Taking one slow step back from the ledge, he continued to stare reflectively out at the sky, before he turned with a sigh and jumped down, picking up a small satchel of what he had collected that day and moving toward the cave the he had fitted for a long stay. It had taken a long time and a lot of work, but he had gathered enough to make a living, if crude. Blankets were of animal skins with thick furs and the bedding was of the shorter furs. He had chipped away a small ditch in the rocks of the cave for a fire, making sure to place it where the wind moved through the top of the cave constantly, sweeping the smoke out with it. Food was simply whatever he could kill, catch, or pick. He had never been picky and this was a fine living style for him, as he had done it often as a child.

His campfire was burning softly, and it seemed that it had even been recently stoked. So his little burden had gotten up the energy to move today? Where was it, anyway…? Ah, under the giant mound of furs, no doubt. No wonder the blonde couldn't ever find any for himself.

"Wake up, or you won't be getting dinner."

A muffled yawn and a gradual shift of the furs told the warrior he had been heard, and so he turned to setting up dinner.

"…Cloud…?"

The voice was very weak, and obviously still very tired. The blonde couldn't help a sigh. He turned slightly and looked back at the bundle to see glazed over jade eyes peering out at him sleepily.

"Are you feeling worse again, Sephiroth?"

The eyes closed briefly before they opened a little less tiredly and a head poked out of the bundle, silver streaming softly around it, covering the slender neck that peeked out as well.

"…Better…"

"You're lying."

Cloud turned back to setting a rabbit on the spit to cook. He still couldn't believe himself about what he had done before. After Meteor, and after the people began attacking him, he had come across a bubbling gap of Mako much like the pool he had fallen into before. At the edge of that pool was a body, naked and caked in Mako, dirt, and grime, but still very recognizable. He still didn't know what had compelled him to save his worst enemy from certain starvation and death, but he had dragged him off, cleaned him, and managed to take him to safety.

The poison was still hot in the silver warrior's veins and he was very drowsy, but he had finally gotten over the hallucinations. In the meantime, however, he had lost body mass and was much lighter, paler, and effeminate than ever, all his features showing a softer, more delicate glow that somehow made him seem all the more attractive to his caretaker. On the other side of the scale, Cloud's body had firmed into perfect definition and he had bronzed from being out in the sun working so much. His hair had actually bleached from the sun, and took on a very light, golden noonday sun appearance. He still held his lean form, but his emotions had strengthened themselves over the years.

*Cough* *cough* *cough*

Cloud turned slightly to see Sephiroth curl in on himself, trying to contain the coughing fit before it really got underway. The blonde's lips curled slightly; Sephiroth had never liked to show weakness, and he had been giving hell recently now that he had regained some strength. But if Cloud had one definite fault, it was that he was much too caring, and there was no way that he would let that man leave when he was still so weak. A couple days ago Sephiroth had a relapse and so he didn't put up any fight, letting Cloud do as he pleased. That was proving to be testing to Cloud, as he enjoyed watching Sephiroth become a stubborn bastard as he had always been before, and seeing it become difficult for him to drag himself out to eat was getting to the blonde.

With a gentle movement, he pulled the pale man out from under his barrier from the cold and over to the fire, grabbing one of the thicker blankets to wrap him back up in. With a very soft protest, Sephiroth growled in frustration and curled down into the blanket. Cloud chuckled at the adorably petulant face his once superior was making and knelt down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a jade eye watching him thoughtfully and grinned mentally.

"Think you can hold down dinner tonight?"

A small shiver and a nod was all he got.

"Cold?"

Another nod.

"Want me to warm you up?"

Another, very timid nod accompanied with the faintest blush across pale cheekbones.

Cloud actually smirked then, and turned his gaze to the fire. He knew the man next to him was probably watching him again, and he wondered if the fire reflected off his eyes as pretty as it looked to him. No matter. With one deft movement, muscles flexing with the shift, he removed his shirt to show his equally darkened back and torso. The tinge of pink on the other man's cheeks increased and Cloud's smirk turned into a full grin. Sephiroth really was adorable. No matter that two years ago adorable would never have come to mind once when thinking of the man.

Cloud stood up and stretched, getting a few kinks out before he turned back to the wide jade eyes. He winked and knelt down again, gesturing Sephiroth to open the bundle he was in. It never seemed to matter how many times they did this, the response was always the same. Sephiroth turned red and looked away, ashamed. Cloud pulled the now loose bundle apart and got in, pressing himself against the shivering form inside and moving into a comfortable position. He pulled the surprisingly light, pale body up into his lap and curled the furs back around them both. He had never really managed to find clothes for Sephiroth, which was probably why the man spent so much time covering himself in as many furs as he could reach.

What he had to be ashamed of, though, was beyond Cloud. The man was absolutely gorgeous, with curves that, though softened from the lack of movement, still held the same power and strength that had always been there-it only needed to be reawakened. He had the perfect proportions and the most expressive, beautiful jade eyes Cloud had ever seen. They were just so unimaginably deep and he could just look into them forever and never get tired of it. He wasn't lacking anywhere; even if his features now seemed more feminine, he definitely was not feminine where it counted.

Sephiroth curled delicately against the new heat source and sighed, feeling warm again and Cloud cradled him. He watched Sephiroth contentedly until the man fell asleep in his arms. With a chuckle Cloud did what he still wouldn't do when the man was awake, and planted a light kiss on the sleeping man's lips before laying him down and getting the rabbit before it overcooked. When he was done setting up food, he pulled Sephiroth back onto his lap and pulled a piece of meat off the cooked rabbit, holding it above Sephiroth's nose. The man's face twitched slightly before a jade eye slit open. Tilting his head back, Sephiroth opened his mouth for the food that Cloud offered him. Cloud smirked and gave him the food, enjoying feeding the prone form, before he ate some himself.

"..Rabbit…? We haven't… had this in a… while."

Cloud let a small frown touch his face then. Sephiroth usually stopped chittering enough to hinder his speech when he felt securely in Cloud's arms and against the blonde's body.

"Still cold?"

Sephiroth shook his head negatively, but a chill zipped up his spine and he couldn't manage to suppress a shiver. He grimaced at that and glanced up at Cloud again, fearful that he would be angry about it. The man had the oddest breaking points, and they all seemed to revolve around whether or not Sephiroth himself was doing well or poorly.

The frown did not leave Cloud's face and Sephiroth turned away in embarrassment.

"Why do you keep lying to me when I ask you how you are doing? I want you to get better you know."

Cloud was having trouble suppressing the anger in his voice.

"I… sorry."

This gave the blonde pause. Never once had Sephiroth ever said the simple word "sorry." But it did have the desired effect of calming the blonde.

"Just don't keep doing it, okay?"

A nod.

"Promise me."

Another, hesitant nod.

"Promise."

A firm nod.

"Then say it out loud."

After a small hesitation, in which the silver warrior seemed to will his vocal cords to work, "I… I promise, Cloud."

"Good. I only want you to be okay."

With a tiny flush, Sephiroth nodded his acceptance and curled down into Cloud's very warm, very comfortable body. Cloud sighed and drew the silver haired man closer. He watched contently as the man's breathing evened out again, and waited for a minute before moving in to lightly kiss him again.

However, when he pulled back, very wide, very startled jade eyes looked up at him.

"Wh..what…?"

Mentally, Cloud kicked himself. He should have waited longer. But he couldn't cover this up, now could he? Best to just bare it all now, since he knew that Sephiroth was not dumb enough to believe any subversive lies he could think of right then.

"-"

Cloud had opened his mouth to speak, but when he looked back into those lovely eyes, he saw something that made him stop. The eyes, though wide and afraid, were tinged hardily around the edges with a large dose of innocence; another word that a few years earlier could never have been applied to that man.

~He… he's a virgin…?~

That was the only thing Cloud knew would make someone's expression turn into what Sephiroth's was then. He knew it, because he'd seen it. He didn't get around a lot, but he had his share of flings, and, much to his surprise, many of his previous lovers had been virgins. He knew well the look Sephiroth was giving him, and it made him smile. It was a soft smile, and very tender, with azure eyes expressing a great compassion.

Sephiroth had no experience with even kissing, it seemed, so Cloud was determined to make him understand that it was a good thing. With a deft movement, his head went back down to Sephiroth's and he nuzzled the man's cheek with his own, just giving the skin contact first before letting his tongue flick out to the ear by his mouth. With a soft gasp, the pale man arched and tilted his head back, Mako eyes fluttering shut. Encouraged, Cloud began to nibble on the lobe, gaining another muted gasp of pleasure.

"C-cloud… uungh."

The blonde almost purred when he heard the groan and started nipping down the man's jaw back towards his mouth. When he got to his destination, his eyes sought out the other's expression to find amazingly alert jade eyes watching him-amazingly because of the earlier noises he had made.

"Shh… I want you to feel this, Sephiroth. Feel it, and enjoy it."

After a pause, contemplating if he should add what he wanted, he finally decided on it.

"After all, you only kiss those you care about."

Sephiroth's eyes widened impossibly as the blonde's lips came back down before his eyes shut and his mouth hesitantly pushed back. Cloud smiled into the kiss before moving to draw Sephiroth's lower lip into his mouth and starting to suck on it. After a few minutes of soft kisses, Cloud's hands began to wander and teasingly touch all over the other man's body. Soft whimpers kept him away from below the man's belly, but he found plenty of enjoyment in the sensitive area he found on Sephiroth's left shoulder and took to ravishing that area with an abundance of attention. A few gasps and groans later, the silver one started all-out moaning.

Cloud chose that time to work on other places and so left what he knew would turn into a very healthy bruise and went to his next favorite spot in his new exploration, what every person always reacted to. He started gently rolling broad circles around the pale chest in front of him with his thumbs before working inward. He made an agonizingly slow pace that ended when he felt something very hard press against his side and a frightened whimper worked its way out of the mouth of the panting man under him. Sephiroth was rock-hard and… scared of it…?

~He's never even masturbated…?~ As difficult as Cloud found it to believe that Sephiroth was a virgin, it was now abundantly clear and even more so. He was completely untouched, even by *himself*.

"It's okay, Sephiroth. …Doesn't it feel good?"

A sliver of jade made it through a crack in the tightly shut eyes and Sephiroth nodded, albeit very hesitantly.

"Of course it feels good. I'll make it feel even better, if you want."

After what seemed to Cloud as careful deliberation on Sephiroth's part, the man finally nodded his consent and Cloud wasted no time. The pale arms that had steadied the man gave way and he fell back against the floor with a deep moan. Cloud's calloused hands were going up and down the already solid shaft protruding from a light thatch of soft silver curls, and the friction was taking it's toll on Sephiroth's mind. Cloud could tell the silver warrior's higher brain functions had completely left him when he looked up at the expression of pure bliss on the man's face. But he frowned just slightly when he saw that the man was biting his lower lip to keep from making noise. Well that just wouldn't do.

Leaning down, making sure to press his abdomen to the tip of Sephiroth's erection so that with every pump it rubbed against his chiseled planes, he took the rose lips to his own and let the man under him define the force of the kiss. Sephiroth's passion covered up his inexperience as he pressed his lips hard into Cloud's. Cloud kept the kiss going until they both needed air and pulled back to breathe, hearing the deep, unadulterated feeling in Sephiroth's voice as he moaned lowly, bucking up hard into the hands that were now at the base of his member.

~This is pure bliss.~

The blonde couldn't help but think that, looking down at the sweaty, beautifully aroused man beneath him. Bringing one hand up to the prone man's lips, he felt Sephiroth draw two fingers into his mouth, sucking furiously to relieve the tension as the other hand moved against him again. He was getting close, Cloud could see the pale abdomen tightening as the man bit none-too-gently on his fingers before he finally couldn't take it and screamed, hot fluid rushing out in several long streams.

If Cloud thought Sephiroth looked good before, he knew nothing was more stunning than how the man looked in the throes of his passion. Just watching the man's face contort in so many forms of ecstasy was enough to make Cloud, who had reined all his own passions in to make Sephiroth feel good, become incredibly, painfully hard. He waited for Sephiroth to catch his breath by removing his pants and boxers, but couldn't hold himself to wait for the man to recover from his first orgasm before he spread very pliant legs apart and slid his hand down in-between them, rubbing the firm bottom as he felt muscles tense as the man came back to awareness.

"C-cloud…? What… what are you d-doing…?"

The voice was now quite scared again.

"Seph… it's okay… I promise you that what I'm going to do will feel even better than what just happened, okay? Is that alright with you?"

The look the blonde received just then was so… incredulous he had to stifle a laugh. He guessed Sephiroth didn't believe anything could feel better than the first, and in some ways, it was true, but damned if Cloud wouldn't give him entirely new feelings to moan over.

"It's okay, Sephy. It's alright. I won't hurt you."

Cloud suddenly realized that, for the first time since he'd ever met the man, he used not only one, but two nicknames on him. That was probably why the man was glaring at him right then. But, Cloud smiled to himself, it was hard to look stern when the man was sprawled naked on the ground, legs spread wide, hair making a silver halo around his head, cheeks flushed from orgasm, and entire body overheated from what he was feeling. Not to mention a very well hung, sensitized member just screaming in Cloud's face to be brought back to life.

Well, he couldn't deny that sort of request from the only man he had ever actually pined after in his entire life. Using the hand that had the still warm cum to rub circles around the tight ring of muscle, Cloud brought his other hand back to the rose lips of the other man, who did nothing as he felt the fingers rubbing against him and over his lips.

"Relax, love, just feel."

After a while, the advice seemed to sink in as the body beneath him relaxed to the gentle touches and Cloud pressed the circling fingers harder until his index finally penetrated and he felt the muscles begin to tense again in the silver warrior.

"Don't tense… you'll hurt yourself, love, and I don't want that to happen."

The blonde smiled brightly as he felt the body below him relax, though obviously forced. So he pressed the single digit in farther, letting Sephiroth get used to the feel of that one, as he worked the inside of the man, searching.

~Where is it?~

Just then, Sephiroth did something very un-Sephiroth like; he gave a high pitch mewl, pushing back against the finger.

~Aha, his prostate. A little farther back than I've had before. Hmm… I wonder if that makes it more sensitive?~

Cloud grinned as he pressed against that spot again and gained another, higher pitched mewl. It might have only been because the man was a virgin, but Cloud could swear that he was more sensitive than anyone he'd ever been with before.

Now sure that Sephiroth could handle one finger, he added a second, stretching carefully and making sure to lightly graze that spot as the man finally couldn't stand the pressure again and brought the two fingers rubbing his lips into his mouth, sucking diligently to relieve his loins of some of the fire.

A third finger, and Sephiroth suddenly reached up and grabbed Cloud's forearm, pushing it into him as he pushed back against it, trying to get the fingers deeper. Cooing, the blonde nuzzled the man's flushed cheeks again, removing his fingers from the mouth that felt so good, and kissed all over his face and letting the other try to push his fingers in farther before he finally cried out again in unfulfilled agony.

"It's not enough!"

Tears from closed eyes were beginning to glide down his face and into his silk-silver hair, and Cloud purred into the warrior's ear and kissed away the trails of tears.

"I'll make it more…"

Cloud could barely keep the groan out of his voice. He pulled his fingers away, savoring the whimper uttered from those soft rose lips at the loss. He spit onto his now free hand and covered his length, somehow now wishing he had some way to supply himself with real lubricant. Once he felt sure enough that he was slick, he moved into position and looked up into the hooded, glazed jade eyes of his first, and only, true love. `I love you,' the blonde mouthed before pressing in slowly and gently.

The first few inches were uncomfortable, if not downright painful, he knew, so he closed his azure eyes and leaned down so his mouth was right by his love's ear.

"It's okay baby; you're doing great. C'mon, just a little more, baby. Just a little more and you got it. Relax, beautiful, just relax and let me take care of everything. You won't be hurting long, that I promise you."

Long, pale arms wrapped around bronzed skin and, hearing that Sephiroth couldn't suppress a whimper, Cloud flinched. He hated himself for not having lubricant now.

"Love, you're doing so wonderfully. I'm so glad you aren't hurting too bad, and I'm sorry you're hurting at all, baby. I'll make it better soon; real soon, sweetheart."

Since Sephiroth seemed to be responding to the pet names, Cloud continued using them in abundance as he settled himself inside the tightness of his silver love's body.

~God… he's so hot and tight. I didn't even think virgins could feel like this.~

Seated perfectly inside the flushed body beneath him, Cloud waited patiently for Sephiroth to adjust to being filled and rubbed the man's hips reassuringly. Finally, Sephiroth curled his legs around the other's hips, dragging him closer and thrusting onto him.

With a small groan, Cloud started to pump out slowly, just barely going out before he would go back. It was trying both his body and his mind, and he groaned when he heard his love's soft mews of pleasure. This was becoming too much for him, but he had to hold back; Sephiroth's first time would leave him begging for more, not crying for it to end.

With a grunt, the blonde pressed back a little harder, angling to hit the special spot and being rewarded with a high mewl of pleasure. He began pulling out farther and thrusting in harder, becoming overwhelmed with the sensations over his body and the sounds he was caressing out of his lover's throat. A whimper drew him back to reality and he slid down to his silver love's ear again.

"Love, if I'm doing something wrong, tell me. I want you to feel good, baby. You gotta tell me what you want."

He kissed the lobe of the ear and pulled back up to watch the man's expressions again, because they were the only straight answer he ever got. Another soft whimper and he changed positions. If his love didn't like what he was doing, then he'd make it better for him.

"Harder!"

Stunned for a second, Cloud stopped his movement entirely and looked down at the body he had pinned to the floor. After that cry, the man turned his flushed face to the side, pressing a cheek against the furs as his hips lifted to greet Cloud's, awaiting the fulfillment of his plea.

Grinning mischievously, Cloud made a very deliberate thrust to hear another whimper.

"How much harder?" He asked with a groan. The man beneath him just looked too good to describe then.

"Harder!!" Was the screamed reply at the feel of pressure again to his prostate. Cloud thrust harder, hearing Sephiroth nearly scream in ecstasy.

The blonde warrior growled, forcing himself to keep the pace that his lover just set. He wanted to all-out drive the man into the ground, but that would definitely hurt him. And he wanted the man in heaven, not hell.

Making sure to keep driving himself into Sephiroth's pleasure spot, Cloud bent down to kiss the man's face again, taking satisfaction in the fact that his silver love moved his mouth searchingly for the lips that touched his face. Lips molded together as pale arms reached up to rest on bronze shoulders, and mentally Cloud grinned again. Opening his lips just barely, he began lapping at the beautiful, reddened rose lips of the man beneath him. Without the pressure constricting his mouth anymore, the silver warrior groaned and Cloud took full advantage of it, drawing his tongue into the heated cavern. He explored all the mouth he had waited so long to claim, battling with Sephiroth's tongue as the man took to trying to relieve some pressure that way.

With his experience, the blonde pinned the silver one's tongue, sucking on it and enjoying the muffled gasps and moans that brought out, entwined with the heated mewls already pouring out.

Now seeing the loins of the man below him contract again, the blonde took the final step and wrapped his slender fingers around Sephiroth's long-revived, hard standing member. It only took two small tugs for the silver warrior to become lost in orgasm. Cloud couldn't deal with such a beautiful sight and not do something about it, so with one, hard thrust, he came into the willing body beneath him, losing himself in his own orgasm.

~Nothing… nothing as ever felt this good. …Never…~

Almost purring in contentment, Cloud snuggled down into the body below him, glowing in the aftershocks of the most beautiful feeling he ever had. Sephiroth was still unable to move, jade eyes glazed over with the remains of his second orgasm. Cloud grinned and lazily kissed the closest thing he could reach-a nipple-and wrapped his arms around the pale form below.

"Good night, love."

He snuggled down, pulling a new fur blanket over them both. Sephiroth yawned as he did, back in reality again and looking very sated. He smiled up at the blonde, who returned it beautifully as he wrapped them tightly for the night.

"Love you, Seph."

"..Love you, Cloud." Was the timid, blushing reply.

Cloud grinned again. He couldn't remember the last time he smiled so much.

"You do realize that I'm not letting you go now, right? You're mine for good now."

Jade gazed into azure and the silver head nodded barely, obviously sleepily.

"Yours forever…"

Cloud brought a pale hand up to his heart and placed his own bronze hand against his love's, waiting for Sephiroth to look up at him, and smiled.

"No, not just mine, Seph. We're each other's. I'm yours too, and I always want to be yours. Just as long as you're always mine."

The response was glassy jade eyes and two arms wrapping around him as the man beneath him cried.

"Forever."

Cloud smiled at the form he now cradled, laying his burden down carefully and curling up with it. He fell asleep to the even breaths of his new lover.