Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fond Memories on a Cold Day ❯ Fond Memories on a Cold Day ( Chapter 1 )

        The crisp fall breeze roaming through Midgar brought about the necessity to remove himself from the company of others--just for a little while.  Not that the others wouldn't understand, he didn't think... but his thoughts were headed in directions that he never would care to discuss.  His past was one thing.  Certain, specific sections of his past, however...
        Cloud took a slow, deep breath as the air changed direction, sending a chill over his back.  Very few places in the world felt safe to him; fewer still could he ever think of to be called "home".  This, though... this place...
        Though the Buster Sword rested on the cliff beside him, he found it difficult to gaze at.  He knew every ridge by heart, every chink, every band of rust that he'd let rest on its surface.  Once, he'd put it on that cliff to keep it safe, to keep him remembering.
        And now?  He'd given it back to the planet.  It would rust completely, over time.  Long after he was dead, it would return to dust--and that seemed a fitting tribute to everyone he'd known.  Certainly the ones he'd... loved...
        It was a harder thing to admit, then.  Not that he found it all that easy even after so much time had passed, so many things had happened.  Back then, though, he'd been a naive teenager.  Naive but... willing.  Deeply loving, but quick to deny.  Or ignore.
        Their spirits were at rest.  At least, that was his most sincere hope.  Thoughts of the dark-haired SOLDIER and the general no longer seemed to weigh him down... but there were still certain memories, certain thoughts, that were close to painful.
        All his, though.  All fault fell to him for never really accepting.  Never really... being able to make it all right.  Never to truly admit that he'd loved so deeply.  He'd loved them both.
        He sat heavily, overlooking the barren landscape with eyes looking to the past.  Zack... had this smile... this grinning, confident, warm smile that could melt the winter ice.  The bastard was so... sure of himself.  He had an aura of certainty that came through in even the worst of situations.  Cloud remembered how welcome he felt in the man's presence, how easily he'd fallen under the wing of the SOLDIER and appreciated every moment.  He'd finally come to realize, so many years later, that Zack hadn't befriended him because he was weak.  Rather, it was just that--true friendship.  It took far too long to understand that he'd been liked, accepted as himself.  Appreciated.  And, if he really stopped to think about it...
        And then there was... him.  His idol.  Sephiroth, the man who had at first been merely a hero to worship... turned out to be a friend of Zack's.  And Cloud, himself, was also a friend of Zack's...  Naturally, the two would meet... several times...  At first, the man's gaze quite frankly scared the young blonde out of his mind.  But that... that was not to last.  Thanks to Zack's constant pressing, constant one-sided conversation, the other two seemed to get more comfortable with one another.
        And then what had happened?  Ah, right--he'd discovered the two of them were... together.  In a very obvious sort of way: walking in on them.  That didn't go the way it was supposed to.  Cloud was startled, as were the other two.  Not startled enough to excuse himself immediately... and they were not startled enough to stop the breathy moans, the deep thrusts.
        Even so young, so inexperienced... Cloud wanted.  But, more... Cloud needed.  He could remember, if he forced himself, every detail.  The two bodies in the dark, the moonlight making everything elegant and silver--trapped in a dream.  He'd been too stunned to know what was going on for several seconds; then his body responded before his mind kicked into play.  He licked his lips unconsciously, heart racing as both pairs of glowing eyes rested on his small, surprised form... and softened.
        He was barely able to notice it, then.  After his eyes had adjusted, his brain once again working for long enough to allow him to see...  Those green, cat-like eyes closed just slightly--amusement and contentment contained there--as soft, pale lips turned upward.  Only enough.  Just enough to notice... enough to know it was real...
        The SOLDIER beneath him was flashing that damned grin again... the one that said "fuck me" and "love me" all at once...  He opened his mouth to say something, likely making another famous quip that often got him glares amongst the rest of the establishment--but Sephiroth put a silence to that.
        Well, not quite silence.  Never in his life had Cloud heard a sound like that.  Deep and low and growling--pleasure, pain, desire and wanton sex carving that sound into the youth's mind... bringing a very particular portion of his body to full attention.
        No words were necessary.  The green Mako orbs continued to rest on the boy even as his sculpted body drew back, lunging forward once more to bring another lust-dripping cry from below.  Almost a challenging stare... almost welcoming...
        He didn't know what to do.  He was just too inexperienced to understand all of the things rushing around his cluttered mind.  "S-...sorry..." he whispered, uncertain as to whether or not he'd actually spoken it.  He was just... afraid... it was too much... he didn't know how to... he just... he didn't know...
        Sitting on that cliff, feeling the cold air wrapping around him... he could have kicked his younger self for that.  Beaten the living daylights out of himself for running away.  If he'd stayed... if he'd stayed, it would have been alright...
        That wasn't the worst of it, though.  He groaned to himself with the memories, glad he was alone and far enough away from civilization not to be heard.  He'd had... so many more chances, after that.  Never one so direct, again, but... he'd had so much time with Zack.  And still, even after that incident, nothing had changed between the three of them.
        Maybe that was it.  Maybe he'd fooled himself into thinking that it was all still okay.  That nothing had changed.  Nothing ever had to change.
        But he loved.  Oh, gods, how he loved...  It could easily have been tossed off as teen-aged libido, except for one important concept: he did more than think of that moment he'd been so lucky to catch.  He thought of... lives together.  Lives outside of Shin-Ra's walls.  Yes, there were many nights in his bed that were spent remembering every detail, and more that his imagination slowly willed to the surface... but the morning after was always part of the fantasy.
        It was so much more than lust.  His heart ached with the knowledge that he'd never had the courage to say so.  He didn't... he didn't even know until so much later... until Zack was cold in the ground (or wherever those bastards put him, ultimately) and Sephiroth would soon be dead.
        He'd spent a long time afterward trying to forget.  Trying to replace them.  Aeris, Tifa... even Vincent, to a point.  None of them reached that particular point of emotion... but it was love, to a degree.  A friendship sort of love; a battle-close brotherhood.
        Denial, despite its intrigue and illusion of stability, did not work.  The more he denied, the more he longed... and the longing hurt.  In the same way that remembering how he was helpless to save Zack hurt.  Remembering how he'd had to kill Sephiroth not once... but twice... and both times the anger had not come from the situation so much as at himself.  It never would have happened, if he'd only known... only admitted... if he'd just stayed...
        "Hush."  Echoed in his mind, softly.  Calmingly.  Whose voice, was lost on the next cold wind that swept his hair against his face... not that it really mattered.
        Yes, things in the past were... regrettable.  But, in a way... those he loved had never left.  They were part of the Lifestream, after all.
        A lot of good that did in the particular moment.  A sigh escaped him despite his attempt at stifling the sound; not that it mattered.  The wind grew cooler, causing his pose to change slowly into a much, much younger one; he hugged his knees to keep the chill away... and maybe to dream.
        He closed his eyes, wishing... letting the more pleasant, imagined scenario play in front of his mind...  Maybe it was the season, the way the sky was always overcast but glowing.  It could have been the sound of the wind droning softly, but... as he drifted back into the time when he stumbled into the room where they'd been...
        He lost himself to the fantasy.  Utterly and completely.  It had never been that real before, than unpredictable--but that was the only way it could have been, for them.  He was back in that room on the edge of sixteen, watching, surprised.  Those familiar green eyes were so real, this time...
        "Hey, Spike."  Came the breathy greeting from Zack.  They were words spoken a million times, but he never remembered them coming from such a sexual place.  It was so... real...
        In his mind, at least he got the chance to be more than a scared teenager.  No apologies, no staring wide-eyed from one set of Mako eyes to the other.  He nodded acknowledgement toward them, letting a sureness fall over him that only came from experience.  There was no fear, this time... no question, no denial.  He shed his clothes swiftly, pants following shirt, then briefs.
        Sephiroth's shadow of a smirk became deeper, more predatory as the youth had the courage to walk toward the bed completely nude.  His deep, purring laugher only made the steps that much faster.  "Oh?  You're interested, Cloud?"
        "I'm interested."  He responded, stopping at the edge.  Close enough to touch both of them, but unsure of whether or not he was invited--until Zack reached a hand out toward him, gentle smile overcoming his normally cocky expression.  There was no way Cloud wouldn't have taken that hand.
        Sephiroth lifted from the SOLDIER's body, moving over just enough for the young blonde to crawl under the covers and next to his usual bunkmate.  No shyness in the boy's actions; he immediately sunk down next to Zack, waiting for a sign of what to do.
        Cloud was almost surprised to feel Zack's hands move immediately against his shoulders, his chest, coaxing him softly on top.  Already, this went far beyond the fantasies he used to have; the calloused hands against his skin feeling far too good to be mere imagination, the youth's eyes sliding shut from the sensation...
        "Hm."  He heard Sephiroth's amused comment from behind him, too late.
        The youth mewled, loudly, unable to control the sound torn from his throat.  He was resting just above Zack's already flushed body, erections brushed together, with his idol pressed up against his back.  The long, perfect silver hair tickled his shoulders just before a sharp, devious bite marked his neck with precision.
        "Careful, Seph."  The SOLDIER's voice was full of lust and humor.  "You're gonna kill him if you move too fast."
        But what a way to go... Cloud wasn't entirely able to think just then.  He could only moan in agreement, writhing helplessly between them.
        "Today is a good day to die."  Sephiroth actually... joked.  Zack always brought out things in his personality that no one else ever had, ever could...  Like, perhaps, the feather-light touch of a single fingertip against the boy's Adam’s apple, carefully tracing imagined lines, finding the racing pulse.  "Isn't it, Cloud?"
        "Yes..." he hissed, feeling as if he were gasping from under cold water, trapped under ice--his body was hot and his thoughts were drowning in... this...  His name, merely his name from those lips that he could feel ghosting the back of his neck, the breath across the over-sensitive flesh making him shiver.  He would die like this... given the choice, it was exactly the way he needed to die...  His eyes flickered open when he felt a palm cupping the side of his face, staring right into the warm Mako eyes beneath.
        As always, there was Zack's bright, pure grin.  That expression that made everyone with a soul feel genuinely good to be around.  "Are you really interested, Spike?" he was making sure, watching those half-lidded eyes that met his gaze to be certain they weren't moving too fast, doing too much, scaring him away...
        "Yes."  Cloud insisted, his eyes clearing just enough to be convincing.  "I want this... I want... everything..."
        The grin below only widened, becoming even more welcoming, comforting.  "You heard him, Seph."
        The youth got the distinct impression that there was a lot more exchanged between the two than a short moment of powerful silence.  No doubt they knew each other well enough to communicate through their eyes alone--and that meant they had plans for him.  Plans he was ultimately certain that he could never bring himself to mind.
        With a sudden but gentle motion, Sephiroth's arms wrapped around the youth and lifted him, allowing Zack to roll out from underneath and go searching for a certain dropped tube on the floor.  "I am going to take you, Cloud."  The deep, rumbling voice promised in low and spectacularly sexual tones.  "But I do believe Zack has the patience to prepare you properly, first."
        The blonde's head was spinning, world collapsing, realities colliding--he closed his eyes and gasped, trying to regain his breath, his thoughts, his body; quivering with anticipation, he could only let himself be held against that sculpted chest, trying desperately to keep his own hands away from his growing need and spoiling everything.
        Nearly too quickly, Zack's body slid back onto the bed, positioning himself as he had been before.  Sephiroth lowered Cloud on top again--but not all the way.  "Turn and face me."  He ordered, quietly.
        At that point, Cloud would have done anything the voice asked.  He followed the order without thought, eager to please but much more eager to see those eyes again.  He held his breath as he bore witness to all that was Sephiroth; it was more than he'd known before... and so much more than he'd dreamed.  His only memory had been seeing the man clothed, often from great distances or trying to avoid his Mako gaze... or worse, when he'd been... not himself.  Insane.  Controlled by Jenova.  Shirtless, perhaps, but not... not himself...  The thought clenched his heart painfully--
        Until he realized just how captive he was in those eyes.  Even as Cloud looked upon that perfect body, the color of pearl in the moonlight, the great and powerful being kneeling in front of him with the sheets laid about but covering nothing... the slitted green eyes were taking in the youth's body just as hungrily.  It seemed so impossible... it felt so... so...
        "Zack."  The general whispered; a word, a name, a command.
        Cloud couldn't see the man's face... but he was sure that melting grin behind him was becoming something altogether more devious.  "Relax, Spike."  He heard, uttered with the kind of confidence that was meant to set him at ease... but the breathy quality of the words and all they implied went directly to his growing erection.  He could have sworn that he heard Sephiroth gasp quietly, as if he enjoyed seeing the youth's control slip...
        That thought refused to surface completely as a cool, questing finger lightly traced Cloud's entrance.  The surprise of the touch caused him to rock forward--but the desire made him slowly, carefully press back against it.  He heard Zack's appreciative chuckle as he let the blonde take his finger all by himself, occasionally pressing or pulling back if only to spread the lubrication.  It seemed a short eternity before a second finger carefully joined the first, making the youth moan with the increase in pressure.  It was soon becoming almost too much already...
        And then a cool, impossibly soft hand rested so lightly on Cloud's shoulder.  He opened his eyes, catching the glowing green gaze that looked upon him like a sacred object, a fragile and beloved thing.  The hand retreated so that only the fingertips remained, moving with the lightness of fine silk.  From his shoulder they traveled, painfully slowly, over to his spine, slowly drawn up and through his hair.  His eyes fluttered closed, unable to fathom the sensations rushing through his body--not allowing him the foresight of the light caress of his idol's tongue against his bottom lip.
        Pleasant shock fell over his mind with the second sweep of that remarkably gentle tongue.  He had the presence of mind to respond, then; his own tongue tentatively reached out to welcome the other into his mouth.  He used his teeth lightly, to tease Sephiroth's lips as they pressed against his, tongues pulsing together in a half-hearted battle.
        Only when the hammer-fall of intense, sparkling experience in the form of utmost pleasure hit Cloud's entire existence did he realize the two things he'd previously been distracted from: 1.) Zack was finally at three fingers, and 2.) the SOLDIER seemed to feel it appropriate to celebrate fact #1 with a good, sharp press against the boy's prostate.  Not that Cloud wasn't grateful, of course, but the cry he emitted forced the heightening kiss to end.
        Sephiroth, however, didn't seem quite as disappointed.  A beautiful smirk rested on his features as he listened to the sounds Zack drew from the seemingly innocent blonde... but not so innocent.  Not so... "pure", perhaps... and somehow that made it all the better.  "Ready?" he purred, his hands resting to either side of the boy's waist.
        He didn't know, honestly.  He'd lost track of what was being asked of him, not to mention how empty he felt when the fingers made their retreat.  He knew he had to answer, though... he couldn't leave his idol without an answer...  "Yes.  Gods, yes..."
        And with that, all things were taken out of Cloud's hands.  Sephiroth lifted him slightly from the body beneath, allowing Zack just enough time to lubricate and position himself.  A silent look was exchanged over the blonde as he was lowered--
        Experienced, yes; though not in body.  The youth gasped sharply as he realized how much control had just been taken from him, his body resting absolutely between the other two as they guided him.  It was slow, easing every inch of the way--but it was still painful.  Sephiroth's grasp was strong, though, never once letting him slip or pressing too hard, too fast.  He hissed between his teeth as he finally felt Zack's sharp hips against his flesh, trying to remind his body to relax before they took away this opportunity, insisted he was too young...
        No such thing ever crossed their minds; especially not the general's, gazing with great interest at Cloud's reactions.  Oh but that boy was so beautiful when he was panting, slightly frightened but trusting, aroused beyond thought and helplessly slave to the whims of the other two...  It was perfect.  So perfect that Sephiroth could no longer restrain himself, his touches; his lips tickled a swift trail from the boy's throat, down his chest and yet farther, thumbs teasing soft but hardening nipples as he went.
        Zack made a breathless curse as Cloud's body went amazingly tight around him--the exact moment when Sephiroth's skilled lips closed around the youth's already glistening erection and wringing an animalistic cry as an immediate reward.  He pulled away only to chuckle lowly, teasing, "The two of you could attempt to keep it down."
        "No--ah!--we couldn't!" the SOLDIER yelled back, trying his damnedest to find a rhythm with the constantly clenching muscles distracting the entirety of his mind.  He'd only barely been able to realize the angles of his thrusts weren't completely where they ought to be--the slight adjustment of his hips being made particularly obvious when the boy again cried out as that mass of pure sensation hit him.
        Oh, it was good... it was very good with every thrust, but...  "Seph-..." Cloud's voice was floating, nearly nonexistent; he was asking, rather than begging... he wanted... he needed, so badly...  "Sephiroth..."
        The wanton way the boy made his name sound tore at his composure.  Instead of making him wait with more teasing kisses, he dove back down and began roll his tongue over the shaft, sucking, using his teeth more as a threatening possibility than anything... and taking note of how much it appeared to make the blonde all the more willing to be exactly where he was.  Sephiroth sucked hard when small hands were wound delicately into his hair as if fearing they might break him.
        "I--I can't..." Zack warned, gasping with the potency of the cries, the almost painful constriction around him, the knowledge of what was happening on the other side of the youth's beautiful body.  "I'm gonna..."
        "Cum, Zack."  Cloud found himself able to make the request.  How was not important--only the explosion of heat inside and breath and pleasure-tinged sound behind him mattered.  He couldn't stop himself--he tried to stop himself, but he just--
        The only thing holding him up was his sheer will not to fall over the general in a boneless heap.  Not before the last of his seed had been swallowed, had been lapped from his flesh, not before Sephiroth gave him permission...  He wanted to apologize, he wanted to say that he hadn't meant to go that quickly, not before the general himself...
        "Rest a moment, Cloud."  His idol merely suggested, letting the boy slump against him long enough to numbly pull himself away from Zack, making clumbsy use of the other side of the bed.  Anything to please him, anything to show him...
        "...Whoa."  The SOLDIER croaked after a moment.  It summed things up quite spectacularly.
        "Indeed."  Sephiroth whispered.
        Through his heavily lidded eyes, Cloud was deeply honored to witness a strange, beautiful, private moment between the two of them.  Both of them seemed to glow even more in the moonlight, Sephiroth shifting over to grant Zack the touch of lips, the taste of--  The taste of him...  They stayed like that, close to one another, for a long moment.  Reading one another's eyes, reconnecting...  At last, the general moved away, taking what seemed to be his spot at the end of the bed, kneeling... watching... waiting.  He could be so patient, if he wanted to be...
        "Good work, Spike."  Zack finally rose on his elbows, breath relatively even again.  "Ya lasted a hell of a lot longer than I did my first time."
        First time..?  Ah, right--he wasn't... well, not entirely... but...  Things had gotten confusing.  This was more than a dream, more than a fantasy--
        His mind became utterly distracted when a cool touch stroked over his once-more miraculously hardening organ.  He was amazed at himself; at least, until he realized it was one of Sephiroth's skilled hands working him, playing across his senses like a finely tuned, well-known instrument.  He was responding faster than he thought himself capable of, and even though he couldn't find it in himself to so much as lift his head, he was unspeakably willing.
        "No patience, huh?" Zack teased the man, his voice sleepy but his desire to continue completely awake.  He'd grown rather used to getting up and going again; Sephiroth had quite the stamina but very little will to wait for anything.
        "It is not a skill I maintain."  The man replied with upturned lips, his eyes still focused only on the blonde beneath him and his task at hand.
        Despite his body's overwhelming urge to remain still and sleep, Cloud could not let such an opportunity pass him by.  As Sephiroth's strokes teased him back to life, he forced a hand to reach up and lightly graze the man's chest.  He received a pleasant shudder as his reward, deciding to press his palm more firmly to the flesh concealing the general's heart, splaying out his fingers.  It was something that would only make sense to him, to his own mind... but it was a move that seemed to make Sephiroth pause; for a short moment, granted, but it was there.
        The display seemed to affect the man in some way not outwardly apparent... but felt, nonetheless.  He leaned down and kissed the youth--no longer with demanding hunger, but with a tender, slow, deliberate exploration.  Short-lived, perhaps... but right.  Natural, in its way.  Pulling back, the man uttered in a silken tone, "Would you like to cum again, Zack?"
        The question alone drove the SOLDIER right back to instant hardness.  "What kind of a question is that?"
        Sephiroth took that as welcoming, to say the least.  He gave another squeeze to Cloud's also suddenly hard member and pondered the arrangement.  "Perhaps you'd let the boy..."
        Zack nodded without the need for specifics to be uttered.  "Might be nice not to have to pretend I'm limping because of sword practice, tomorrow."  He joked, grasping for the tube of lubrication buried somewhere in the sheets.
        Cloud couldn't help but be extremely curious about that statement.  And, in fact, the general's unfinished question before...  It was enough to get him to struggle against his own body's exhaustion, sitting up and looking from one set of scheming eyes to the next.
        "Nothin' to worry about."  The SOLDIER insisted.  "I don't think I'm gonna need prep for you.  Uh, no offense."  He waved his hands meaningfully to show he hadn't meant that the kid was small or anything.  He was just a kid, after all.  "I'm kinda used to this guy, 'sall."
        That was perhaps when a moment of panic would have overcome the youth; the moment when he realized not that he was going to get the chance to fuck Zack (that was not a worrisome thing in the least), but that... Sephiroth would be...
        The general almost seemed to smile at the wide blue eyes, curiosity turned slightly toward uncertainty.  "I'll be... careful."  He promised, using the word he felt seemed most appropriate to the situation.
        It could have been the words... maybe the sincere delivery... but Cloud thought it might be the man's eyes that set him most at ease.  He took a moment merely to gaze, to absorb... to realize how much he'd missed, back then... how much he'd loved...  He nodded his permission.
        They moved.  The three of them, together, moved.  Zack showed no signs of shyness (a trait that he'd always had) as he plopped down on all fours in more or less the center of the bed.  A youthful hand lightly brushing up against his hip was a strange thing, but welcome; he'd never had someone behave timidly with him before.
        That much was not to last.  Cloud had gained too much momentum over time--he was quick to uncap the lubrication, spreading a decent amount over himself and actually cockily handing it back over his shoulder.  That low, beautiful laughter behind him only drove him forward--assured hands reached out, grasping Zack's hips as he carefully made the first, solid but delicate contact.
        An incoherent sound of pleasant surprise came from the SOLDIER's parted lips.  He hadn't expected such certainty in the boy's hold, nor his actions.  He didn't come on too strong, nor did he move too slowly to give decent sensation.  Had he thought Cloud was a virgin..?  Maybe he ought to rethink that...
        Sephiroth waited.  Watching closely.  As patiently as he dared to be.  He took in every moment, every minute detail of their coupling... and when the blonde was finally fully seated, he could wait no longer.
        Cloud nearly jumped when the general rushed forward, pressing his full body against him.  No more teasing touches, no more offering a taste beforehand--it was all happening now.
        "Just breathe, Cloud."  Was all Sephiroth had to offer before pressing himself against the boy's already stretched entrance.  There was one, tiny, shallow thrust... then two.  Barely breaking surface, barely entering...  On the third, the head had gained entry, stretching, working its way deeper...
        Zack felt the boy's tension in his grip.  He shifted his stance a little, then made the conscious effort to tighten specific muscles to gain Cloud's attention.
        It certainly worked--not that another sharp bite from Sephiroth didn't help matters.  The pleasure and the pain, between the two of them... it was what he'd longed for.  Even when he felt like he'd be ripped open, he wanted it.  Needed it.
        The general kept his promise, however.  When the tension around him became too much, he found it in himself to pause--and he, as a rule, did not pause.  It took little more than purred coaxing or some moaned expletive from below to get Cloud to relax enough for more movement, and only minutes later the three of them were fully, completely, bound together.
        The only sounds for a long time were blood rushing in his ears... and the gasping.  Cloud's gasping, mostly... but he was pleasantly surprised to hear the other two, as well.  They were waiting for him... and he was undoubtedly going to be trusted to set the pace.
        A very tentative motion, at first.  Pulled back a little, then pressed forward.  Zack's legs spread further apart to make it easier... and Sephiroth helped to press onward with a mild buck of his own.
        It hurt.  It still hurt quite a lot... but it was already getting better.  Just the thought of being there, as he was, kept Cloud's pain threshold rather high; that and the thought that, if he kept moving, soon that glorious spot Zack had so kindly pointed him toward earlier would certainly be made use of again.  Slow, deep breaths at first... he pulled back farther, feeling Sephiroth give him room, feeling himself slip slightly from Zack... and then it was deeper, that time.  Then another, a bit faster.  And another.
        The pain was starting to matter far, far less.  Once he'd finally started, once he'd gained the confidence to set their rhythm, Cloud's body had relaxed yet further.  When the general noticed that little fact and adjusted himself accordingly, the boy found himself just that much more eager to continue.
        He lost himself in the moment.  There were moans, whispers, lustful cries and mewling that he did not recognize as his own.  But more, better, was the heat moving through him.  It was more than mere body heat, more than the biological simplicity of sexual action.  It was like... the Lifestream itself moving through them as one.  Power, light, passion, heat, energy...
        Cloud had to remind himself with every thrust, every breath, to keep his eyes open.  To keep the way the room looked, bathed in that moonlight, in his memory.  What they felt like... smelled like... moved like...sounded like...
        He was surprised when Sephiroth's lips quested after his own.  Yes, they'd kissed before, but... to be kissed again was no less thrilling.  No less endearing.  It gave him courage, when the general finally had to readjust due to shifts in bodies and the mattress, to let himself quest after Zack's, in turn.  He was rewarded equally, then, finally getting his chance to kiss the SOLDIER he'd wondered about on so many nights.  Both of them... oh, gods, both of them...
        The bed had begun creaking.  The bed that was rather infamous for never creaking despite the activities upon it, began creaking.  The metal legs beneath had begun to give way with the power of the increasing thrusts.  Passionate, grinding, charged with emotion--when the frame collapsed and dropped them several inches lower to the ground, no one stopped.  No one paused.
        It could have lasted forever, and still it never would have been long enough.  Sephiroth may have had astounding stamina, but even he couldn't keep it up forever.  He wanted to give in, wanted to... lay claim...
        Zack had long ago reached around to stroke himself, the warming in his gut starting to overcome all else.  All he had to do was stop and think of exactly what was happening, and he'd give...
        Cloud wanted... and he needed... and, finally... he had...  "I love you..." he gasped through the blinding white.  "Zack... Sephiroth... I love you... I've always loved you..."
 

        When the most spectacular orgasm of his life finally faded, Cloud was rather forced to admit that the cold of the plains around Midgar was actually where he was... and would likely remain for some time after, going over his run-away imagination's events.
        That was the way it was supposed to have been.  He had no doubts about that.  That was the way... he'd wanted it...
        And needed it... he sighed.  He forced himself to glance over at the Buster Sword, still beside him, still bordering between proud and beaten as it rested in the ground.  And yet... if he really focused on it... if he really took a moment to look at it... he swore he could see tendril of that... that green, glowing sparkle of the Lifestream...
        Maybe that was the moment when the scope of things really hit him, when it all came crashing around him.  The guilt... the guilt was banished, as it should always be.  All the things he'd seen, everything he knew, everything he'd been through... he should have known better.  He always should have known better.
        The Lifestream is in all things.  All things, again, become part of the Lifestream... and the Lifestream knows.  Thoughts, memories, experiences... it knows.  It carries those things back to itself... to the souls within it... all knowledge shared...
        They knew.  They had to know.  How he felt, what he wanted... what he needed.  The times when he needed them, really needed them... he'd felt them, there.  Their power, their presence... even in the darkest of times.  He'd lived for their sakes... protected in their names.  Not once did he ever feel he betrayed them.  He made it a point never to do so.
        "I do love you..." he whispered, only to himself... but he knew he saw a reflection in that scratched-up bade.  Two, to be precise... two sets of smiling, Mako eyes gazing back...
 

        What the hell is wrong with me?  Was that a happy ending?  Well, guess it depends on how you read it, really...  Knowing me, it's probably some horrible nightmarish creature that'll now tear Cloud apart, but... okay, well, I guess it's not.
        Is this officially the longest sex scene I've ever written or what?  Sheesh.  I never thought I'd write a three-way with Seph, Zack and Cloud... but then that damn Advent Children had to come along and steal several days of my life... and counting...  Maybe it's just that... they deserve some happiness... y'know..?