Fic: Instincts of the Lost and Found (1a)

[thefrogg]

Title: Instincts of the Lost and Found (1a)
Author: thefrogg 
Beta: None yet!
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Pairing: Angeal/Zack, possible Sephiroth/Genesis (Note: Name order doesn't necessarily dictate dominance.)
Summary: Angeal survives a mission thanks to Zack's SOLDIER sense, but their relationship goes skidding out of control in the aftermath. It would help if Angeal could actually find him.

Before

"Zack?"

"Hmm?"  Zack pulled himself away from his studies gratefully, shoving his textbook and notes halfway across the table.  "You know, I really do have--"  His smile faded as he got a good look at Angeal's posture, the faint slump of defeat in his shoulders as he hung his sword on its pegs.  "What happened?"

Angeal met his eyes reluctantly.  "We...aren't sure.  Some kind of attack, it's still under investigation.  But."  His jaw tightened, muscle twitching with the effort not to say what he had to.

"Who died?" Zack asked softly, standing behind his chair, hands folded over the back.

"Lieutenant Jaddel.  His whole squad was--"

"--ambushed just after dawn," Zack finished mechanically, eyes going unfocused with memory.  "They were...south of...of..."  His nose wrinkled.  "I don't know the name of the town, but I can point it out on a map.  They were big, scaly things, but--and Jaddel lost a leg before they knew they were--"

"Zack.  Wait."

Zack fell silent, color draining from his face under the intensity of Angeal's gaze.  "I.  Um."

"Don't say anything else, not yet." 

Zack shook his head.

The call to Sephiroth was short, no more than a handful of murmured words, and then Angeal was across the room, briefly ruffling Zack's hair before guiding his head to a broad shoulder. 

"I saw them, saw it, I...I..."  The whimper that followed was muffled by Angeal's sweater.  "He was my friend."

"Shhh."  Angeal just held Zack tighter, ignoring the blunt nails digging into his chest as he crooned soothing nonsense in Zack's ear.  Reaction hit hard, sudden grief and realization too much, leaving Zack shaking.

"Need I ask?"  Sephiroth asked smoothly from the doorway moments later.

Zack peeked over Angeal's shoulder; the General was only a fuzzy black-and-silver blur through tear-glazed eyes.

"No," Angeal rumbled.

"'M not a traitor."

Sephiroth blinked.

"Was just a nightmare," Zack muttered petulantly, scrunching himself down so that the bulk of Angeal's body was between him and Sephiroth.

"Puppy..." Angeal sighed into his hair.

"Isn't it enough that he's, they're, dead?  I wasn't, I--"

"You saw it happen," Sephiroth interrupted gently.  "You felt it like an oncoming storm, the weight of dread and impending doom."

Zack froze.  "You, you mean...I--I'm not--" 

Angeal pulled soft black spikes until Zack's head came up.  "You aren't the first SOLDIER to have your instincts for danger kicked into full-scale precognition."

"Then..."  Zack's gaze darted from side to side, stricken.  "It's my fault, I should have..."

"No."  Sephiroth stopped him.  "It's not your fault.  It's mine."

"But--if I knew what was--"

"Listen to me, Zachary, and listen well."  Sephiroth's tone hardened, and Zack turned, drawing himself to attention instinctively; Angeal reluctantly let him go, arms drifting to his sides as he stepped back.  "There have been four SOLDIERs who developed such abilities.  Three are dead."

Zack swallowed hard.  "Am I the fourth?"

"You're the fifth.  The fourth...is so classified you're the fourth person - living person - to know of the possibility."

"Gaia."  Zack took a shuddering breath, smelling copper and anxiety, and not all of it his own.  "Hojo?"

"Yes."

"The fourth - the one who's still alive - is, is he..."

"We have contingency plans in place."  The reassurance in Sephiroth's voice didn't quite ring true.  "And I will be making them for you shortly.  But first, I need to know what you saw."

Zack stared blankly, unsure what to say, then glanced at Angeal.

"It's okay, Puppy."

"Can...It'd be easier--"  Zack bit his lip, breath coming in harsh pants, before starting over.  "I thought it was just a nightmare.  I wrote it all down, so--"  He made a weak gesture toward his bedroom.

"Go ahead."

Zack fled Sephiroth's too knowing gaze, Angeal's all-but-smothering concern, and threw himself onto the narrow twin bed he rarely slept in.  The drawer in the bedside table thudded to the floor at a too-hard yank, spilling magazines and writing utensils, a cheap pair of handcuffs and a small, half-empty bottle of lube.  Ignoring the mess, Zack scattered the magazines carelessly, scooping a leather-bound book from the pile.

"--hard on him," Angeal's voice drifted in from the main room, quiet and (hopefully) covered by the noise Zack was making.

Zack choked on nothing, fingers curling hard against the velvet-soft cover of his book, trying to drown out the worry under the roaring of his own heartbeat.

"Zachary."

He jerked upright, startled, coming to his knees automatically. "Sir?"

"At ease."

"Y-yes, sir."  Zack dropped his gaze to the book again, hands fumbling as he unwound the catch and paged through it, thick sheets of paper scraping against each other.  Then, torn, he shut his eyes.  "Sir?"  What would cost more, reliving it again, or risking--

"I only need to know what you saw."

Nerves raw and screaming, Zack slid off the bed, knees wobbling for a moment before taking his weight.  "Here, just the one entry."  He held held it out, thumb holding the proper place, pages fanning gently to either side.

Sephiroth took it from him without a word and backed out of the doorway.

'You knew!  You could have saved them!' 

Zack slumped against the wall, shaking his head against the shrieking of his conscience.

'You let them die!'

'It was a nightmare!  What was I s'posed to do, go running to Sephiroth like a little kid--'

"Zack."

Zack's eyes snapped open to see Angeal only inches away, uncertain and wary and worried--

"Puppy?"

Unable to speak, Zack leaned forward, lifting his hands to Angeal's chest and pushed, shoving him step by step back into the living room.

"Chair," Sephiroth warned blandly, not looking up from Zack's journal as the back of Angeal's knees hit the loveseat.

"It's my apartment," Angeal grumbled, sitting down and running gentle hands up Zack's back as he slid into his lap.

Zack ignored the byplay, instead nuzzling at Angeal's neck, mouthing the pulse-point at the base.

"You have an oral fixation," Angeal said, tugging at Zack's hair, but without the force necessary to stop him.

Sephiroth snorted.

"You like my oral fixation," Zack said.  "Besides, it's not as if the General cares."

"Sometimes I wonder how you manage to keep the truth about your relationship under wraps," Sephiroth said dryly, still reading.

"Not allowed to mark him above the collar."  Zack went back to sucking at the join of neck to shoulder, humming quietly as if to drown out the world, to satisfy the growing need to sink his teeth into something, to taste blood and pain on his tongue

--Not until later, not until training, sparring, not without an excuse--

His stomach clenched, and, nauseated, he pulled away, breathing hard through his nose, staring off into a distant horror that refused to come into focus.

"Zack?"  Fingertips drew circles soothingly at the nape of his neck.

Zack flinched and shuddered at the touch, turning to meet Sephiroth's gaze across the coffee table; his book rested there, half-held in one pale hand, a finger keeping the proper place.

"Angeal, you need to read this.  Then rip the pages out and destroy them."

"But--I--"  Zack's protest was half formed at best, timid.

"This precognition of yours is classified.  You speak to no one about this, do you hear me?"  Sephiroth stared until all Zack could do was nod helplessly.  "If you have another one - day or night, they may not be limited to dreams - you come to me.  If I'm not available, you leave me a message and tell Angeal.  I promise you, we will do everything we can to keep what you see from happening."

"If-if I'm not allowed to tell anyone, what message do I leave you?"

"It's raining frogs.  It's monsoon season in Icicle Town.  There's a hurricane in Rocket Town."

"Wacky weather."

"Yes."  Sephiroth carefully lay the leather tie inside the journal as a bookmark and set it on the table, then stood and closed the distance between them; Zack could not keep himself from cringing away from the hand that came to rest on his head, petting his hair gently.  "This is not an easy gift to bear, Zachary."

Zack shivered under his touch.  "I know, sir."

"Angeal, take care of him.  I'll see to it that you both have a few days' time to recover."

"But sir, exams--"

"Can be postponed.  Your life and sanity cannot be."

Then Sephiroth was gone, and Zack was left drifting and disoriented and entirely dependent on the arms wrapped around him in a vise.

~~~tbc~~~