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Take My Hand

"Deep thoughts?"

Startled, Cloud turned around quickly, nearly falling from the pedestal he had been sitting on as he watched the sun fall beneath the horizon.

"Don't do that!" he exclaimed, managing to right himself and scramble around so he was sitting on his feet, face to face now with Sephiroth.

"I would have caught you," Sephiroth said, pulling his legs up to sit more level with Cloud.

"I don't need to be caught," Cloud replied, bringing a hand to his head as he realized Sephiroth was sitting mid-air, just as he'd been standing mid-air a moment ago. "And do you have to do that?"

"Do what? I just wondered where you were."

Without looking back, Cloud turned again and half-slid, half-climbed down the column he'd been sitting on. It was easily ten feet high, and he hadn't expected anyone save for Sora to take the time to bother him.

Taking a few steps, Cloud paused and looked back to where Sephiroth had taken up residence on the top of the pedestal. And he didn't seem quick to follow.

Walking out of the practice arena, Cloud couldn't help but look back and wonder what Sephiroth was thinking.

Cloud had been thinking of regret. He'd done so many stupid things, made so many bad judgment calls in his life. He knew everyone made mistakes and faced the consequences, but he hadn't met anyone with a list like his.

Except for Sephiroth.

Where was the line between love and hate, Cloud wondered. And where did it suddenly blur and become the sort of crazy relationship he'd ended up in? In all honesty he couldn't figure out if he still hated Sephiroth or if he'd somehow fallen...

"And hit my head," Cloud answered aloud, attempting to knock away the not-so-sudden revelation.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to even discuss the past with Sephiroth. If it came up, it was on Sephiroth's terms. But that wasn't very often.

What was it Sephiroth had said? It was during one of their last fights - the one that had become an all out violennt swordfight that had left them both bruised, bleeding, and ready for the most insanely incredible make-up sex.

For a moment, Cloud forgot he was doing anything other than leaning against one of the cold stone Coliseum walls and thinking about just how much he had enjoyed that night.

Then again, Cloud decided as he started back down the hallway towards his room, there were enough stupid things he'd done that he wasn't sure he regretted.

Still, being bound to the Coliseum for the time being was definitely proving to be annoying. Aerith hadn't come to visit him yet, something that nagged at his mind almost constantly. They had certainly become close friends, but Cloud understood her apprehension as well. Even Yuffie had backed away from him at first, unsure how to react.

It always seemed that they, everyone, only said about ten percent of the things they wanted to say. It was almost like discussing the obvious was forbidden, a social taboo that was shied away from.

Cloud heard footsteps in one of the connecting hallways and wondered who he was going to be stuck running into. Whoever it was, that person, or creature, or heartless, was not welcome to interrupt Cloud's train of thought.

Unless... No, there was no way Sephiroth could have snuck past him. He wasn't that far removed from his mind to have missed that.

"Is the hallway really that interesting this time of night?"

Sure enough, Sephiroth stepped around the corner and stood, looking almost harmless, just long enough to startle Cloud before vanishing.

"Fuck," Cloud said. No matter how many times Sephiroth pulled the same trick, he could never remember about the teleporting.

Arms wrapped around his body, holding him. That was expected. Any time Sephiroth teleported, Cloud reminded himself, it was always to get closer.

"I was just thinking how easy you'd be to kill," Cloud said, trying to push Sephiroth away. "Always the same patterns."

"This is just what I do," Sephiroth replied. "Taunt you, tease you, and make you follow me."

"So what if I follow you?" Cloud asked, knowing he'd lost the battle as Sephiroth's hands slid lower to find the partial arousal remaining from those earlier thoughts of the best sex he'd ever had.

"It makes you mine."

"Forever?"

"You make that sound like it would be a bad thing," Sephiroth said, stroking Cloud's erection until Cloud couldn't keep biting back the moan that finally escaped.

"Going to taunt me and make me follow you forever?" Cloud asked as Sephiroth let him go and stepped around to stand in front of him.

Instead of replying, Sephiroth just held out his hand.

Sighing a sigh of defeat, Cloud took Sephiroth's hand and let himself be led into the dark hallway.

He had no answers, no resolutions. They had almost managed to bring up the past, only to be distracted by more... pressing concerns.

But all they had was time, Cloud knew. Their journey wouldn't be one to end any time soon.