ABC! Fics galore.
December 25th, 2007 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skerenOkay, you guys get the ABCs as a Christmas gift. All the Nations prompts are set pre-current storyline, so you guys don't get confused. Enjoy the 5600 odd words of fic of varying fandoms.
A - Ambush: Maes Hughes
He just had to get one last thing in place, and this would work. He hadn't been to war, hadn't ever wanted to be involved in anything like war, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to defend his own. This idiot was fool enough to think he wouldn't spot someone creeping up through his proverbial back yard! He was intelligence, he picked up the mistakes, the problems, and dealt with people who had to be told their loved ones were dead.
He'd learned not to make those mistakes, and he'd also learned that being on the dealing end of an ambush was always best.
Honor be damned. He had a job to do.
B - Bullies: Denzel and Marlene
Denzel didn't trust Marlene's smile for a heartbeat. He knew her better than that. She was cute and sweet for the parents, Tifa, Barrett, even Cloud counted if he wanted to grudge the guy that much away from his cool factor. When someone can tell you you're grounded and make you listen, that tends to mean they're a parent.
Right now Marlene was giving the sweet little smile that meant she was going to get him into trouble. And she was walking right for the bullies. Not that they ever picked on either of them, but... Well, Marlene thought it was her job to make friends with everyone, and she couldn't do that with bullies scaring the daylights out of some of the little kids they hadn't really gotten to know yet.
Breaking into a run, he decided that he really needed to catch up to the girl before he figured out what materia she'd "borrowed" from Cloud. He would be so so mad if he knew she'd taken one without asking.
Again.
C - Contain: Duo and Zechs
He stared. It wasn't his fault he was staring, he hadn't ever seen the guy without his mask on before! But oh wow, what he was hiding underneath... It was enough to get any red blooded man lover going, that was for sure.
Not that he was a man lover. Right. Okay, so maybe that would be more believable if he wasn't gaping at him, but it wasn't his fault! Pretty was pretty. And the guy was definitely pretty.
Though, maybe it wasn't right of him to envy the lack of split ends. Or to sigh in disappointment when the hair was tied up out of the way in a braid. He contained his own hair in just the same way after all, but, well, it never hurt to look.
Or maybe it did. Coughing, he turned to continue down the hall in the Preventer's building, putting as much effort as he could into forgetting the small, knowing little smile that had crossed the guy's face when he'd spotted him.
D - Droit de Seigneur: Nation's Sephiroth and gems
"No."
The word was almost harsh in tone, not something he tended to hear out of his King, and he lingered by the door. He had not gone to court with him that morning, had instead been told to meet him there at the next hour. He had a few minutes left before he was to go to his King's side, and he took them to listen, as he ever listened for his King.
"Your Highness, you are fully aware as I am that it should be perfectly permissible. Do the Temples not do the same when they feel it their urge? Does that not cry for something between nobles as well?" The tone was aggravated, not a voice he was terribly familiar with, but too arrogant, much too arrogant to be speaking with his King.
"That is why slaves exist Visconti Tremare. If you feel the need to debase a female, find one that has no owner, or is at your price range. Do not terrorize those free in your lands and claim it your right. You were deeded nothing by the gods, and those within the Temples are none of your concern. They rule their own world, as you well know." Though still, it was his King who answered and no other, and he slid the half step so he could look in without being seen.
The man was red in the face, clearly struggling to say something, to get past his apparent anger at being denied. The man was young, and when he opened his mouth, he was cut off by the cold stare his King was giving him.
"Leave, lest I strip you of what lands you hold. They are not your right beyond accident of birth, and such an action would be well within mine." The tone, which had caught his attention as he'd arrived, had turned back to his normal level chill, the reassuring force that kept others away.
The man, a Visconti apparently, knew a threat and paled. He also clenched his fists in a way that he didn't approve of at all. He had no right to be angry with the King! "King Sephiroth, I am a good ruler over those on my lands, you have no honor to think to deprive them of me."
"Tremare, you are low within the ranks of nobility. If you cannot behave as a noble should, then you ought be removed from your place. Think well, and I will be listening. Leave."
The fists tightened, but the man turned, finally seeing him as he gave the King such blatant disrespect, and he found himself on the receiving end of a glare. Pretending he noticed nothing and heard nothing, he moved into the room.
"Amethyst, to my side."
When he went, he didn't miss the way the man barely refrained from striking at him in passing. He was sure his King had seen, but he would tell him none the less. He, ultimately, held a higher rank than that man in this court.
But he was young, he would learn. If he didn't, then the King would do as kings did. He would deal with it.
E - Elderich: Alice
The book was fascinating. Absolutely wonderfully fascinating. So much so that when she fell asleep on it, she even dreamed the dreams of those most fascinating things. Because of course it was a dream. Nothing really had such appendages!
No matter what her sense of touch would say, and what odd things happened in that place, it was just a terribly disturbing dream inspired by a most fascinating book. Shame she wasn't waking up, and just who was that boy that kept trying to take her somewhere? There was no telling, really, but she would figure it out, one step at a time, of course.
F: Nothing, sadness
G - Gavotte: Heero and Treize
"You know how to dance." The murmur was not quite surprised, but he nodded to it just the same, turning his head to study the man who'd said as much.
"I learned a long time ago." When silence lulled out, he extended his hand, only a beat of reluctance in his smaller frame. "I know both parts to it."
A smile was his answer, and as his hand was taken, he decided not to be surprised that the man wasn't trying to lead. It wasn't as though he had an image to maintain in his own room.
If they'd been in public, they wouldn't have been dancing at all.
H - Helpless: Axel/Roxas
"You can't understand. You can try, but you're..." The tone was aggravated, but the eyes were empty, had anger that highlighted that emptiness just by existing. It was pretty in a way.
"Eh, whatever. We're the same. You can sense your Somebody is out there. I think it's weird, but it's what it is." Crossing his arms, he shook his head, feigning a smirk, though he had the urge to act sad. Why, he had no idea. "Just cause I can't doesn't make it different brat."
"But it does. I don't have a heart, but sometimes I feel things. I shouldn't be able to feel things if the rest of you can't." The blond head shook sharply, and he let out a frustrated breath. "They aren't like the memories show me they are though, they're... they're pale in comparison and it sucks. You can't know what that's like."
Sure he could, but if he said anything, Roxas would attack him. Wouldn't be the first time. "Pfft. You just go on thinking that. I have better things to do. See ya."
He heard the sigh when his back was turned, but the guy had brought it on himself. It wasn't like he could tell him that he made him feel like he had Somebody, now could he?
He wasn't all that sure he didn't prefer back when he didn't feel a thing.
Too late to hope now though. Way too late.
I - Invoke: Nations' Sephiroth and Cloud
He had not truly believed in the gods. So many people had lost faith in them, the Temples growing ever smaller, and even a king was not beyond such opinions.
However, such opinions could change.
He was studying the blond, given to him by a former freed-man, one who had ever been grateful in his own way for that service, and he wondered what made him special. He was lovely, but he had other lovely slaves. His Gems were the finest, and this was another offered for that, if he so chose.
He was small, obviously unwell, but the eyes were vivid. They did not hold a mage's glow, as his own eyes did, yet he was said to have power.
He called himself a priest.
It was when he asked for proof, and was given it, that he understood why the gods had once been so pivotal, important, revered. He also decided, then, to keep this man, and perhaps bring life back to those old stories.
Beings such as this... they could not be allowed to merely fade away.
That led to the end of great things.
J: All empty :(
K: Also all unprompted.
L - Leatherdaddy: Sephiroth
The first time he heard the term, it baffled him. Leather daddy. He was no parent, let alone one of a piece of material. Well aware that such a term was not meant to be taken literally, he listened. After that, he heard it more often, and it seemed to be a city term, as in Wutai, the men tended not to make noises about his attire, at least not in respect to anything aside from its dubious protections.
Here though... people were making it sound as though his leather was a toy. He couldn't fathom why, and delved into understanding the topic.
In the end, it simply made him curious. Very, very curious.
Thus he decided to find someone of like mind in the ranks. Discretely, of course.
Just because he wanted to try did not mean he wanted to confirm rumors.
L2 - Leash: Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack/Aeris (goes with this story)
"C'mon guys! I get that you have a theme going on but..."
"But it'll be fun. Don't you trust us Zack?"
Staring briefly at the woman staring up at him, hands on her hips, he sighed. Spike was looking fidgety, and Seph was abusing the bit of leather he still had in hand. Damn. He hadn't mean to get everyone on edge about this. "Okay, okay. But I swear, if any of you tell me to bark, I will not be responsible for my actions."
When he smiled, he got Spike to smile back. He decided a little embarrassment was worth it.
M: Nuh uh.
N - Noblesse Oblige: Nation's Sephiroth and gems
He had been raised a prince. In that sense, he understood duty. He had not been raised as the prince however, and that had left him thirsty for things he did not have.
Then he arrived here, at the side of his enemy, and he didn't know what to believe of his life. Here, he was considered no better than anyone, but the urges were still there, well as he hid them. The lower slaves earned his silence on things that harmed none but were not allowed. The king earned his advisory, unasked for and unallowed as it was. The others earned his respect for what they were.
In many ways, coming to this kingdom was to change who he was. Galetha was no Midgar. The Shinra family had no hold among the Crescent line, let alone the Valentines. Two old families with too much prestige and not enough foresight. At least before the current king. The current king was fixing deep corruption, and much as it pained him to admit it, he likely only lived because he had lost all he was.
Yet, if that were true, he would be no Gem, he would be a hostage. Rank was a perception, and even slaves had their system. Simply because they were officially nothing did not mean they were.
He was still a prince, and ever he would be. He was sure that his new king knew.
Change then, was also nothing more than mere perception.
Still, that did not mean he had to be friendly, and he took care that all knew it.
O - Options: Wufei
He could feel the sourness of his expression. These men took him for a weakling, a fool! He was no child to need limited choices lest he hurt himself, and he was fully aware of what he was doing. He was a man and deserved the respect of one.
Unfortunately, money was the only thing that earned the respect of these people, and he hadn't thought to flash it at them sooner. "I want the real selection, not these toys."
"Like a kid like you would know how to use something better."
It was one of the goons that spoke, and he turned his hand, making it clear in a gesture that the money they hadn't seen was going away as he flashed it at them. "If you think that, you're in the wrong business."
The other man was smarter. "No, no, don't mind my friend, he was kinda late to the life. This way."
After a show of sizing him up, he followed him to the other section. The selection was better. Just as he'd wanted.
P - Pandering: Sephiroth/Cloud
Mortified was a good word. He had mentioned in passing, and passing only, that the blond teen had caught his attention. He had not expected the poor boy to be delivered to his rooms that evening by a well meaning, but far far too exuberant comrade.
Now, he didn't know what to do with the boy. He couldn't very well tell him to leave, not when he had that much of a hopeful look. He knew that look, at least, among some others, but that did not mean he knew how to approach it. Besides, it was his own fault he was here, in roundabout fashion.
His own silence seemed to be crumbling the hope more than anything else he might have done however, and the blond's voice was tentative as he spoke. "Sir?"
"Your name is Strife, isn't it?"
"Yes sir. Cloud Strife." There was a pause, blue eyes watching him for a long moment, "Should I go sir?"
"I- No. Stay. We should eat first, don't you think?"
When he got a nod in turn, he let out an inward sigh of relief. He wasn't prepared to just jump the boy, but perhaps later, if he could lure him back again, it would be an option.
Q: Nuh uh ;_;
R - Regal: Nations Sephiroth and gems
Spending time with the king showed him everything that his mother had hoped he would become and very much wasn't. In a way, meeting the man had been a relief. The subsequent weeks with an enemy had not. By the end of those weeks, it was no more two enemies, and he understood the cause, but he would avoid inciting the man to ever do that to him again.
He was a fighter. He led armies and guided the swords of the very best warriors. At least he had. Now, he was a haremite, a toy for a king. The man noticed his disposition and made no move to appease it, and they were all aware of the wisdom of such a course. That did not mean he did not miss the thrill of battle.
It also did not mean that he did not embrace it when it came calling. He had himself to protect, Amethyst strong at his side when it came time to protect the king, and even Diamond, whose first name he knew and never said, was given those skills he could use with no weapons.
They all understood, and there were no arguments in his protection. It was what he was, what he had chosen to be, and he would never be ashamed to live such.
It was more than many could ever say.
R2 - Rugburn: Alphonse
He was still getting used to having a body. It was glaringly obvious. He was too used to not fighting to catch himself properly when he landed, and now he had rugburn every which way up his back and legs. His knees were the worst, and the livid red ached to the touch.
He had a sincere doubt that his brother would let him spar for a day or two if he got a good look at the marks. He was way too over protective sometimes, especially now, and they both knew it. At least he was when he remembered not to be completely negligent.
Sighing, he put some paste on the marks and wrapped a bandage around so he could put his pants back on. Next time, Brother was the one that was going to get thrown across the room.
S - Sanguine: Nabiki
Some of the people that Ranma dealt with were creepy. Ironically though, none were as creepy as her sister's suitor. The older one, not the younger one. The younger one was in a whole other ballpark. A very profitable ballpark. Kasumi though, well, only one man really had his sights set on her, and he turned into a bit of a crazy when he did.
It wouldn't be so bad, but she hoped if they ever got married, that the man's sappy face wouldn't pass on to the kids. That color of red was just never meant for human consumption.
T - Translucent: Zack/Cloud/Reno
They were a mix. Strong, weaker, weakest, with no telling which was which half the time. Cloud wanted to be what he was when he wasn't sure that he even wanted to be what he was at times. Reno was just Reno, loud, ostentatious, feral in a way that he himself wasn't, even if all the rest was similar, and that one there was on the path to being a fast track Turk.
That alone, hell, all of that alone, likely should have kept them out of each other's beds. It didn't. If he was truthful, in some ways it made it more of a challenge, something to do with them, bind them closer. Reno might have treated it all as a fine game, but he didn't. He seemed to have had too much respect for Cloud as a person before he even entered things for that, and he never asked why.
Still, it made things like this moment possible. He, himself, the darkest of the lot, Gongaga born and bread, black lines filled in with a nice bit of mud. At least that's how he'd heard it described. He knew he wasn't dark, not like southerner dark, but he was darker than people from the mountains, like Cloud, and from Midgar itself, like Reno. Hell, there were times when he wasn't even sure those two saw sunlight.
Between the two though, Reno won for absurdly intense levels of pale. They both had blue eyes, but Reno's seemed starker, bringing out the blue in his skin in a way that Cloud's didn't most of the time. Cloud had been a mountain boy, not a city boy. It was a vital difference that most people didn't seem to get. It meant that where Cloud had grown there had been sunlight and fresh air. He had grown in a healthy place, was solid in more than one way, and he knew that for the blond to have gotten this far, he had to have done some things right. Maybe just roaming uncivilized land was what did it, giving the guy a taste for something more.
With Reno though... Reno didn't have that. He was wild, but it wasn't Cloud's sort of wild. It wasn't spooked forest animal wild. No, Reno was from this dead city. He was reed thin, strong in his own way, but there was no doubting that he hadn't learned to smell the fresh air for a long time. Too pale, too skinny, he looked like he was city bred. He looked like he was from a place full of glass and lacking air, on the edge of draining out everything nonessential. It helped bring into focus what he himself lacked, a sense of feralness that only a city could do to you.
And himself? Well, he was him. Beside those two, he knew he seemed tame, heard jokes about how he was just a puppy with too big feet to fill. In a way, they were right. He had big dreams, but those dreams weren't bigger than the dreams of the pair curled up together next to him. He was dangerous, but in their own ways, the two with him were much worse, willing to do things he wasn't, willing to take chances that had never occurred to him. They shared things between each other that he just didn't understand at all... and that was okay.
They shared things together that he wasn't included in, but then, so did he. Only he and Cloud understood why SOLDIER was important. Why we needed to be there, to make the world better. Only he and Reno seemed to understand why the silence was often better filled, why seriousness was best left as a last resort.
There were mutual things, of course, they all loved fire, materia, beating the crap out of someone who deserved it, but- but it wasn't that important.
Between the three of them, it was good. Sliding over, he settled back along Cloud's back, arm sliding to wrap around Reno's waist. It was good, and maybe he should leave it at that.
U - Urban: Vivi
Cities were wonderful things. He 'grew up' in one, so in a way that made him a city boy, or was it man now? Either way, he wasn't the country sort, not like some of the others, the young ones who just weren't sturdy enough to ever be old. He never felt secure in those open places, the sensation of possibly being gobbled up by some monster ever on his senses.
Too much time traveling likely did it. Too much time away from the city made him worry to be anywhere else. Cities were their own life, and it was where he belonged. Easy as that.
V - Vocabulary: Yuffie and Sephiroth
As the child scowled darkly and fell quiet, he resisted the urge to smile. She had been a pain, intensely so since he'd caught her, but it was that or kill her, and her approach to him had made him hesitate to strike her down. She had tried, but she was not fast enough, nor strong enough, to do him any harm.
Physically or mentally apparently. Watching her try to come up with a reply to the word he'd used, an old one, one he doubted she knew the meaning of, he was pleased.
She'd done exactly what he'd told her to, for once, and didn't even realize it. Tugging on the leash he kept her wrists bound with, he moved off towards the mess tent. He'd been gone, so he doubted she'd eaten. Time to remedy that.
W - Wings: Cloud and Zack
"What are you doing?" The tone was quiet, slightly alarmed, and blue eyes turned to the man he'd been keeping company with. He was comfortable to him in a way he couldn't define, but he hadn't believed that had extended to physical comfort as well.
Apparently, that was a presumption that was entirely wrong. "You have the coolest things Spike. Why do you hide these things anyway? Pretty wings like this, I bet that the cloth irritates them half to death."
He felt a palm smooth down the fine fur, and he shivered, shaking his head sharply as he drew the fanned appendages back close with an audible snap. "They aren't 'cool' and as I told you before, the name is Strife. Cloud, some combination thereof. Not 'Spike.'"
He almost regretted his actions when he saw the sharp sadness in the man's eyes, but all he got was a nod and a plainly forced smile. "Okay, okay. Cloud. So, now that we've reestablished that bit, you never did say how you got here. Care to share?"
"No." Again with the look, but this time he just turned so he didn't have to see it. He didn't know what the man had been to him, or who he reminded him of, if he even did, but the man clearly thought he knew him.
He wouldn't let him buy into that. All he would get from the bargain was hurt.
X - Xenophobe: FMA Al/Ed Elricest
He couldn't stand to let anyone else touch him. Winry would have been a perfect candidate, but she wasn't an alchemist, and the thought of her hands on him for anything more than his automail made his skin twitch. Most alchemists were too old, too creepy, or even, unfortunately, just plain too different. He'd never believed it made a difference before, but being in bed with someone was very different.
Once, and only once, he'd tried something with one of the Tringhams. The scent of him had ended up with him fleeing the room before he'd made it past kissing, and he hadn't ever managed to mend the bridge he'd tried to burn on his way out of town that night. Right up to the kissing, he'd been fine with it. They'd been laughing, well, growling, getting along as they normally did, then the scent of plants hit him and he'd panicked. He'd done something similar to others as well. Always, always there was something jarringly out of place.
They didn't know alchemy, they weren't strong enough, they smelled wrong, they looked wrong. All of it made him quail away from them inside at the approach of intimacy. Al was the only exception. He let him touch, asked him to even, had wanted him to try to relearn what he'd missed in the years he'd been without.
He had the right eyes, the right hair, the right smell. He was an alchemist, he was strong. He was as close to himself as he could get, and he was, apparently, a horribly narcissistic person if that was the only way that he could be intimate.
He'd asked about it one day, but Al's answer had been quiet, eloquent. "They don't understand us, but they never have Brother. I understand."
After he'd pushed him down into the bedding, he hadn't asked again, but then, he hadn't felt the urge to.
He wasn't alone, and there was no guilt. In all, it was perfect.
Y - Young: Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack/Reno (Goes with Translucent)
There had been more than one reason he'd dropped the Plate on that damn city. If Zack was here, he'd get it. If Sephiroth hadn't gone three times around the bend, fuck, even he might have gotten it. Cloud didn't, but Cloud never seemed to remember a damn thing.
Not about any of it.
He didn't recognize him, or was damn good at pretending. He knew it shouldn't make him mad, knew it from deep down, but what was a guy supposed to do? He'd been one of, what, four of them? Five? Had Zack's not so secret girlfriend even counted in this mess? After a moment he decided that no, she didn't. She was an after the fact, someone he wasn't friends with, wasn't fond of, and overall not a gal he wanted to spend all his time with for ever and always.
Maybe he just liked dick. That could be it too, but if it was just that, he was sue he would have gotten over it all by now. It seemed like Cloud hadn't. Made him wonder if Cloud had been more awake back when he'd had to give him away, had known that the last one left of their little niche had just done his job when usually the job was nothing that came up between them.
He didn't know.
He knew Cloud didn't see him though, and those times, when there'd been fights, Elena had wanted to fight them, but Cloud hadn't much seemed to want to get them back. No, if anything, the utter dismissiveness stuck in his mind better than any attempt to kill him would have.
When he'd been young, he'd once considered death attempts flirting. It's how he and Sephiroth had gotten around to the tango, something that had stunned the hell out of him then, but also something he'd held onto real well. Just like he'd held onto Zack, and Cloud, in his own special breed of Turk Guardian-Angel syndrome. He'd kept Cloud up to day on the whos and whats of his dream. He made sure that Zack didn't land in jail for too long, when he could. Ultimately he'd failed that test though, and that just plain wasn't what he was thinking about. And Sephiroth... well, he'd been his escort. He'd taken the man from Hojo's little hell-nest to Zack more than once, making sure he got there, making sure other people didn't touch.
And maybe, his hands off approach had fucked him royally. Maybe the gods had turned him a blind eye because he wasn't as proactively mushy lovie dovie as the rest of the lot. Okay, as Zack, none of the others could have been anywhere near that, but he also knew that none of the rest of them he'd tried.
He'd thought that was okay, and he'd been wrong.
When he'd been young, he'd never thought he'd get to say he'd be young and stupid, but he has, and he was.
Now though? Now he was just bitter. Rude had been around, had a hint of things, but he hadn't known him so well back then. Not like now. He'd only really gotten to know him since that timeframe where he'd hated the rest of them, wanted to, and did, scorn them for turning on each other like they had.
Rude had only met him after the last of the soft edges had been filed into. If there'd been any soft spots left, the man might have gotten them, but he'd long since learned he was an expert at not moving on. He could have sex, but his heart wasn't in it, so he didn't bother with repeats. If he was a little too drunk, a little too wild, well, people were just used to that.
It still didn't mean that Cloud had to look through him like he'd never known him. It still didn't mean he didn't remember watching Zack get gunned down when the Turks were feet, no, inches from getting them both, giving him a chance to unfuck what he'd fucked up. Zack had died likely not remembering him any more than Cloud seemed to, but he'd deserved that. He hadn't had a chance back then to try to make amends for that.
He'd had to agree to help take Sephiroth down, to give Cloud space to take the silvery colored bastard into that little headspace with the two of them, dark and bloody and miserable. Even after all that and a few years besides, Cloud didn't know who the fuck he was, and didn't want to. Oh, he knew his name, knew his occupation, but that was it.
He'd gotten more closure from the crazy than he had from Cloud. So really, he had to wonder.
What did that say about him?
Z - Zygote: Heero
Pregnancy was a topic he'd never needed to research before. He couldn't get pregnant, so it wasn't as though it had been something that was high on the list of things he desperately needed to know as a terrorist. Now, that time was past. Now, he was married.
Now, his wife was saying she was pregnant, and he was reading about zygotes to fend off the inclination to ask her if she needed anything. He didn't want her to kick him, and she had always kicked hard. She'd been a soldier after all, so it wasn't a shock to know she knew how to hit.
Still, pregnant?
What did he know about child rearing?
Grimacing, he stared at the information in front of him. Clearly, not enough. He'd just have to rely on Lu to make sure they didn't get it wrong.
However well that would work.
A - Ambush: Maes Hughes
He just had to get one last thing in place, and this would work. He hadn't been to war, hadn't ever wanted to be involved in anything like war, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to defend his own. This idiot was fool enough to think he wouldn't spot someone creeping up through his proverbial back yard! He was intelligence, he picked up the mistakes, the problems, and dealt with people who had to be told their loved ones were dead.
He'd learned not to make those mistakes, and he'd also learned that being on the dealing end of an ambush was always best.
Honor be damned. He had a job to do.
B - Bullies: Denzel and Marlene
Denzel didn't trust Marlene's smile for a heartbeat. He knew her better than that. She was cute and sweet for the parents, Tifa, Barrett, even Cloud counted if he wanted to grudge the guy that much away from his cool factor. When someone can tell you you're grounded and make you listen, that tends to mean they're a parent.
Right now Marlene was giving the sweet little smile that meant she was going to get him into trouble. And she was walking right for the bullies. Not that they ever picked on either of them, but... Well, Marlene thought it was her job to make friends with everyone, and she couldn't do that with bullies scaring the daylights out of some of the little kids they hadn't really gotten to know yet.
Breaking into a run, he decided that he really needed to catch up to the girl before he figured out what materia she'd "borrowed" from Cloud. He would be so so mad if he knew she'd taken one without asking.
Again.
C - Contain: Duo and Zechs
He stared. It wasn't his fault he was staring, he hadn't ever seen the guy without his mask on before! But oh wow, what he was hiding underneath... It was enough to get any red blooded man lover going, that was for sure.
Not that he was a man lover. Right. Okay, so maybe that would be more believable if he wasn't gaping at him, but it wasn't his fault! Pretty was pretty. And the guy was definitely pretty.
Though, maybe it wasn't right of him to envy the lack of split ends. Or to sigh in disappointment when the hair was tied up out of the way in a braid. He contained his own hair in just the same way after all, but, well, it never hurt to look.
Or maybe it did. Coughing, he turned to continue down the hall in the Preventer's building, putting as much effort as he could into forgetting the small, knowing little smile that had crossed the guy's face when he'd spotted him.
D - Droit de Seigneur: Nation's Sephiroth and gems
"No."
The word was almost harsh in tone, not something he tended to hear out of his King, and he lingered by the door. He had not gone to court with him that morning, had instead been told to meet him there at the next hour. He had a few minutes left before he was to go to his King's side, and he took them to listen, as he ever listened for his King.
"Your Highness, you are fully aware as I am that it should be perfectly permissible. Do the Temples not do the same when they feel it their urge? Does that not cry for something between nobles as well?" The tone was aggravated, not a voice he was terribly familiar with, but too arrogant, much too arrogant to be speaking with his King.
"That is why slaves exist Visconti Tremare. If you feel the need to debase a female, find one that has no owner, or is at your price range. Do not terrorize those free in your lands and claim it your right. You were deeded nothing by the gods, and those within the Temples are none of your concern. They rule their own world, as you well know." Though still, it was his King who answered and no other, and he slid the half step so he could look in without being seen.
The man was red in the face, clearly struggling to say something, to get past his apparent anger at being denied. The man was young, and when he opened his mouth, he was cut off by the cold stare his King was giving him.
"Leave, lest I strip you of what lands you hold. They are not your right beyond accident of birth, and such an action would be well within mine." The tone, which had caught his attention as he'd arrived, had turned back to his normal level chill, the reassuring force that kept others away.
The man, a Visconti apparently, knew a threat and paled. He also clenched his fists in a way that he didn't approve of at all. He had no right to be angry with the King! "King Sephiroth, I am a good ruler over those on my lands, you have no honor to think to deprive them of me."
"Tremare, you are low within the ranks of nobility. If you cannot behave as a noble should, then you ought be removed from your place. Think well, and I will be listening. Leave."
The fists tightened, but the man turned, finally seeing him as he gave the King such blatant disrespect, and he found himself on the receiving end of a glare. Pretending he noticed nothing and heard nothing, he moved into the room.
"Amethyst, to my side."
When he went, he didn't miss the way the man barely refrained from striking at him in passing. He was sure his King had seen, but he would tell him none the less. He, ultimately, held a higher rank than that man in this court.
But he was young, he would learn. If he didn't, then the King would do as kings did. He would deal with it.
E - Elderich: Alice
The book was fascinating. Absolutely wonderfully fascinating. So much so that when she fell asleep on it, she even dreamed the dreams of those most fascinating things. Because of course it was a dream. Nothing really had such appendages!
No matter what her sense of touch would say, and what odd things happened in that place, it was just a terribly disturbing dream inspired by a most fascinating book. Shame she wasn't waking up, and just who was that boy that kept trying to take her somewhere? There was no telling, really, but she would figure it out, one step at a time, of course.
F: Nothing, sadness
G - Gavotte: Heero and Treize
"You know how to dance." The murmur was not quite surprised, but he nodded to it just the same, turning his head to study the man who'd said as much.
"I learned a long time ago." When silence lulled out, he extended his hand, only a beat of reluctance in his smaller frame. "I know both parts to it."
A smile was his answer, and as his hand was taken, he decided not to be surprised that the man wasn't trying to lead. It wasn't as though he had an image to maintain in his own room.
If they'd been in public, they wouldn't have been dancing at all.
H - Helpless: Axel/Roxas
"You can't understand. You can try, but you're..." The tone was aggravated, but the eyes were empty, had anger that highlighted that emptiness just by existing. It was pretty in a way.
"Eh, whatever. We're the same. You can sense your Somebody is out there. I think it's weird, but it's what it is." Crossing his arms, he shook his head, feigning a smirk, though he had the urge to act sad. Why, he had no idea. "Just cause I can't doesn't make it different brat."
"But it does. I don't have a heart, but sometimes I feel things. I shouldn't be able to feel things if the rest of you can't." The blond head shook sharply, and he let out a frustrated breath. "They aren't like the memories show me they are though, they're... they're pale in comparison and it sucks. You can't know what that's like."
Sure he could, but if he said anything, Roxas would attack him. Wouldn't be the first time. "Pfft. You just go on thinking that. I have better things to do. See ya."
He heard the sigh when his back was turned, but the guy had brought it on himself. It wasn't like he could tell him that he made him feel like he had Somebody, now could he?
He wasn't all that sure he didn't prefer back when he didn't feel a thing.
Too late to hope now though. Way too late.
I - Invoke: Nations' Sephiroth and Cloud
He had not truly believed in the gods. So many people had lost faith in them, the Temples growing ever smaller, and even a king was not beyond such opinions.
However, such opinions could change.
He was studying the blond, given to him by a former freed-man, one who had ever been grateful in his own way for that service, and he wondered what made him special. He was lovely, but he had other lovely slaves. His Gems were the finest, and this was another offered for that, if he so chose.
He was small, obviously unwell, but the eyes were vivid. They did not hold a mage's glow, as his own eyes did, yet he was said to have power.
He called himself a priest.
It was when he asked for proof, and was given it, that he understood why the gods had once been so pivotal, important, revered. He also decided, then, to keep this man, and perhaps bring life back to those old stories.
Beings such as this... they could not be allowed to merely fade away.
That led to the end of great things.
J: All empty :(
K: Also all unprompted.
L - Leatherdaddy: Sephiroth
The first time he heard the term, it baffled him. Leather daddy. He was no parent, let alone one of a piece of material. Well aware that such a term was not meant to be taken literally, he listened. After that, he heard it more often, and it seemed to be a city term, as in Wutai, the men tended not to make noises about his attire, at least not in respect to anything aside from its dubious protections.
Here though... people were making it sound as though his leather was a toy. He couldn't fathom why, and delved into understanding the topic.
In the end, it simply made him curious. Very, very curious.
Thus he decided to find someone of like mind in the ranks. Discretely, of course.
Just because he wanted to try did not mean he wanted to confirm rumors.
L2 - Leash: Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack/Aeris (goes with this story)
"C'mon guys! I get that you have a theme going on but..."
"But it'll be fun. Don't you trust us Zack?"
Staring briefly at the woman staring up at him, hands on her hips, he sighed. Spike was looking fidgety, and Seph was abusing the bit of leather he still had in hand. Damn. He hadn't mean to get everyone on edge about this. "Okay, okay. But I swear, if any of you tell me to bark, I will not be responsible for my actions."
When he smiled, he got Spike to smile back. He decided a little embarrassment was worth it.
M: Nuh uh.
N - Noblesse Oblige: Nation's Sephiroth and gems
He had been raised a prince. In that sense, he understood duty. He had not been raised as the prince however, and that had left him thirsty for things he did not have.
Then he arrived here, at the side of his enemy, and he didn't know what to believe of his life. Here, he was considered no better than anyone, but the urges were still there, well as he hid them. The lower slaves earned his silence on things that harmed none but were not allowed. The king earned his advisory, unasked for and unallowed as it was. The others earned his respect for what they were.
In many ways, coming to this kingdom was to change who he was. Galetha was no Midgar. The Shinra family had no hold among the Crescent line, let alone the Valentines. Two old families with too much prestige and not enough foresight. At least before the current king. The current king was fixing deep corruption, and much as it pained him to admit it, he likely only lived because he had lost all he was.
Yet, if that were true, he would be no Gem, he would be a hostage. Rank was a perception, and even slaves had their system. Simply because they were officially nothing did not mean they were.
He was still a prince, and ever he would be. He was sure that his new king knew.
Change then, was also nothing more than mere perception.
Still, that did not mean he had to be friendly, and he took care that all knew it.
O - Options: Wufei
He could feel the sourness of his expression. These men took him for a weakling, a fool! He was no child to need limited choices lest he hurt himself, and he was fully aware of what he was doing. He was a man and deserved the respect of one.
Unfortunately, money was the only thing that earned the respect of these people, and he hadn't thought to flash it at them sooner. "I want the real selection, not these toys."
"Like a kid like you would know how to use something better."
It was one of the goons that spoke, and he turned his hand, making it clear in a gesture that the money they hadn't seen was going away as he flashed it at them. "If you think that, you're in the wrong business."
The other man was smarter. "No, no, don't mind my friend, he was kinda late to the life. This way."
After a show of sizing him up, he followed him to the other section. The selection was better. Just as he'd wanted.
P - Pandering: Sephiroth/Cloud
Mortified was a good word. He had mentioned in passing, and passing only, that the blond teen had caught his attention. He had not expected the poor boy to be delivered to his rooms that evening by a well meaning, but far far too exuberant comrade.
Now, he didn't know what to do with the boy. He couldn't very well tell him to leave, not when he had that much of a hopeful look. He knew that look, at least, among some others, but that did not mean he knew how to approach it. Besides, it was his own fault he was here, in roundabout fashion.
His own silence seemed to be crumbling the hope more than anything else he might have done however, and the blond's voice was tentative as he spoke. "Sir?"
"Your name is Strife, isn't it?"
"Yes sir. Cloud Strife." There was a pause, blue eyes watching him for a long moment, "Should I go sir?"
"I- No. Stay. We should eat first, don't you think?"
When he got a nod in turn, he let out an inward sigh of relief. He wasn't prepared to just jump the boy, but perhaps later, if he could lure him back again, it would be an option.
Q: Nuh uh ;_;
R - Regal: Nations Sephiroth and gems
Spending time with the king showed him everything that his mother had hoped he would become and very much wasn't. In a way, meeting the man had been a relief. The subsequent weeks with an enemy had not. By the end of those weeks, it was no more two enemies, and he understood the cause, but he would avoid inciting the man to ever do that to him again.
He was a fighter. He led armies and guided the swords of the very best warriors. At least he had. Now, he was a haremite, a toy for a king. The man noticed his disposition and made no move to appease it, and they were all aware of the wisdom of such a course. That did not mean he did not miss the thrill of battle.
It also did not mean that he did not embrace it when it came calling. He had himself to protect, Amethyst strong at his side when it came time to protect the king, and even Diamond, whose first name he knew and never said, was given those skills he could use with no weapons.
They all understood, and there were no arguments in his protection. It was what he was, what he had chosen to be, and he would never be ashamed to live such.
It was more than many could ever say.
R2 - Rugburn: Alphonse
He was still getting used to having a body. It was glaringly obvious. He was too used to not fighting to catch himself properly when he landed, and now he had rugburn every which way up his back and legs. His knees were the worst, and the livid red ached to the touch.
He had a sincere doubt that his brother would let him spar for a day or two if he got a good look at the marks. He was way too over protective sometimes, especially now, and they both knew it. At least he was when he remembered not to be completely negligent.
Sighing, he put some paste on the marks and wrapped a bandage around so he could put his pants back on. Next time, Brother was the one that was going to get thrown across the room.
S - Sanguine: Nabiki
Some of the people that Ranma dealt with were creepy. Ironically though, none were as creepy as her sister's suitor. The older one, not the younger one. The younger one was in a whole other ballpark. A very profitable ballpark. Kasumi though, well, only one man really had his sights set on her, and he turned into a bit of a crazy when he did.
It wouldn't be so bad, but she hoped if they ever got married, that the man's sappy face wouldn't pass on to the kids. That color of red was just never meant for human consumption.
T - Translucent: Zack/Cloud/Reno
They were a mix. Strong, weaker, weakest, with no telling which was which half the time. Cloud wanted to be what he was when he wasn't sure that he even wanted to be what he was at times. Reno was just Reno, loud, ostentatious, feral in a way that he himself wasn't, even if all the rest was similar, and that one there was on the path to being a fast track Turk.
That alone, hell, all of that alone, likely should have kept them out of each other's beds. It didn't. If he was truthful, in some ways it made it more of a challenge, something to do with them, bind them closer. Reno might have treated it all as a fine game, but he didn't. He seemed to have had too much respect for Cloud as a person before he even entered things for that, and he never asked why.
Still, it made things like this moment possible. He, himself, the darkest of the lot, Gongaga born and bread, black lines filled in with a nice bit of mud. At least that's how he'd heard it described. He knew he wasn't dark, not like southerner dark, but he was darker than people from the mountains, like Cloud, and from Midgar itself, like Reno. Hell, there were times when he wasn't even sure those two saw sunlight.
Between the two though, Reno won for absurdly intense levels of pale. They both had blue eyes, but Reno's seemed starker, bringing out the blue in his skin in a way that Cloud's didn't most of the time. Cloud had been a mountain boy, not a city boy. It was a vital difference that most people didn't seem to get. It meant that where Cloud had grown there had been sunlight and fresh air. He had grown in a healthy place, was solid in more than one way, and he knew that for the blond to have gotten this far, he had to have done some things right. Maybe just roaming uncivilized land was what did it, giving the guy a taste for something more.
With Reno though... Reno didn't have that. He was wild, but it wasn't Cloud's sort of wild. It wasn't spooked forest animal wild. No, Reno was from this dead city. He was reed thin, strong in his own way, but there was no doubting that he hadn't learned to smell the fresh air for a long time. Too pale, too skinny, he looked like he was city bred. He looked like he was from a place full of glass and lacking air, on the edge of draining out everything nonessential. It helped bring into focus what he himself lacked, a sense of feralness that only a city could do to you.
And himself? Well, he was him. Beside those two, he knew he seemed tame, heard jokes about how he was just a puppy with too big feet to fill. In a way, they were right. He had big dreams, but those dreams weren't bigger than the dreams of the pair curled up together next to him. He was dangerous, but in their own ways, the two with him were much worse, willing to do things he wasn't, willing to take chances that had never occurred to him. They shared things between each other that he just didn't understand at all... and that was okay.
They shared things together that he wasn't included in, but then, so did he. Only he and Cloud understood why SOLDIER was important. Why we needed to be there, to make the world better. Only he and Reno seemed to understand why the silence was often better filled, why seriousness was best left as a last resort.
There were mutual things, of course, they all loved fire, materia, beating the crap out of someone who deserved it, but- but it wasn't that important.
Between the three of them, it was good. Sliding over, he settled back along Cloud's back, arm sliding to wrap around Reno's waist. It was good, and maybe he should leave it at that.
U - Urban: Vivi
Cities were wonderful things. He 'grew up' in one, so in a way that made him a city boy, or was it man now? Either way, he wasn't the country sort, not like some of the others, the young ones who just weren't sturdy enough to ever be old. He never felt secure in those open places, the sensation of possibly being gobbled up by some monster ever on his senses.
Too much time traveling likely did it. Too much time away from the city made him worry to be anywhere else. Cities were their own life, and it was where he belonged. Easy as that.
V - Vocabulary: Yuffie and Sephiroth
As the child scowled darkly and fell quiet, he resisted the urge to smile. She had been a pain, intensely so since he'd caught her, but it was that or kill her, and her approach to him had made him hesitate to strike her down. She had tried, but she was not fast enough, nor strong enough, to do him any harm.
Physically or mentally apparently. Watching her try to come up with a reply to the word he'd used, an old one, one he doubted she knew the meaning of, he was pleased.
She'd done exactly what he'd told her to, for once, and didn't even realize it. Tugging on the leash he kept her wrists bound with, he moved off towards the mess tent. He'd been gone, so he doubted she'd eaten. Time to remedy that.
W - Wings: Cloud and Zack
"What are you doing?" The tone was quiet, slightly alarmed, and blue eyes turned to the man he'd been keeping company with. He was comfortable to him in a way he couldn't define, but he hadn't believed that had extended to physical comfort as well.
Apparently, that was a presumption that was entirely wrong. "You have the coolest things Spike. Why do you hide these things anyway? Pretty wings like this, I bet that the cloth irritates them half to death."
He felt a palm smooth down the fine fur, and he shivered, shaking his head sharply as he drew the fanned appendages back close with an audible snap. "They aren't 'cool' and as I told you before, the name is Strife. Cloud, some combination thereof. Not 'Spike.'"
He almost regretted his actions when he saw the sharp sadness in the man's eyes, but all he got was a nod and a plainly forced smile. "Okay, okay. Cloud. So, now that we've reestablished that bit, you never did say how you got here. Care to share?"
"No." Again with the look, but this time he just turned so he didn't have to see it. He didn't know what the man had been to him, or who he reminded him of, if he even did, but the man clearly thought he knew him.
He wouldn't let him buy into that. All he would get from the bargain was hurt.
X - Xenophobe: FMA Al/Ed Elricest
He couldn't stand to let anyone else touch him. Winry would have been a perfect candidate, but she wasn't an alchemist, and the thought of her hands on him for anything more than his automail made his skin twitch. Most alchemists were too old, too creepy, or even, unfortunately, just plain too different. He'd never believed it made a difference before, but being in bed with someone was very different.
Once, and only once, he'd tried something with one of the Tringhams. The scent of him had ended up with him fleeing the room before he'd made it past kissing, and he hadn't ever managed to mend the bridge he'd tried to burn on his way out of town that night. Right up to the kissing, he'd been fine with it. They'd been laughing, well, growling, getting along as they normally did, then the scent of plants hit him and he'd panicked. He'd done something similar to others as well. Always, always there was something jarringly out of place.
They didn't know alchemy, they weren't strong enough, they smelled wrong, they looked wrong. All of it made him quail away from them inside at the approach of intimacy. Al was the only exception. He let him touch, asked him to even, had wanted him to try to relearn what he'd missed in the years he'd been without.
He had the right eyes, the right hair, the right smell. He was an alchemist, he was strong. He was as close to himself as he could get, and he was, apparently, a horribly narcissistic person if that was the only way that he could be intimate.
He'd asked about it one day, but Al's answer had been quiet, eloquent. "They don't understand us, but they never have Brother. I understand."
After he'd pushed him down into the bedding, he hadn't asked again, but then, he hadn't felt the urge to.
He wasn't alone, and there was no guilt. In all, it was perfect.
Y - Young: Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack/Reno (Goes with Translucent)
There had been more than one reason he'd dropped the Plate on that damn city. If Zack was here, he'd get it. If Sephiroth hadn't gone three times around the bend, fuck, even he might have gotten it. Cloud didn't, but Cloud never seemed to remember a damn thing.
Not about any of it.
He didn't recognize him, or was damn good at pretending. He knew it shouldn't make him mad, knew it from deep down, but what was a guy supposed to do? He'd been one of, what, four of them? Five? Had Zack's not so secret girlfriend even counted in this mess? After a moment he decided that no, she didn't. She was an after the fact, someone he wasn't friends with, wasn't fond of, and overall not a gal he wanted to spend all his time with for ever and always.
Maybe he just liked dick. That could be it too, but if it was just that, he was sue he would have gotten over it all by now. It seemed like Cloud hadn't. Made him wonder if Cloud had been more awake back when he'd had to give him away, had known that the last one left of their little niche had just done his job when usually the job was nothing that came up between them.
He didn't know.
He knew Cloud didn't see him though, and those times, when there'd been fights, Elena had wanted to fight them, but Cloud hadn't much seemed to want to get them back. No, if anything, the utter dismissiveness stuck in his mind better than any attempt to kill him would have.
When he'd been young, he'd once considered death attempts flirting. It's how he and Sephiroth had gotten around to the tango, something that had stunned the hell out of him then, but also something he'd held onto real well. Just like he'd held onto Zack, and Cloud, in his own special breed of Turk Guardian-Angel syndrome. He'd kept Cloud up to day on the whos and whats of his dream. He made sure that Zack didn't land in jail for too long, when he could. Ultimately he'd failed that test though, and that just plain wasn't what he was thinking about. And Sephiroth... well, he'd been his escort. He'd taken the man from Hojo's little hell-nest to Zack more than once, making sure he got there, making sure other people didn't touch.
And maybe, his hands off approach had fucked him royally. Maybe the gods had turned him a blind eye because he wasn't as proactively mushy lovie dovie as the rest of the lot. Okay, as Zack, none of the others could have been anywhere near that, but he also knew that none of the rest of them he'd tried.
He'd thought that was okay, and he'd been wrong.
When he'd been young, he'd never thought he'd get to say he'd be young and stupid, but he has, and he was.
Now though? Now he was just bitter. Rude had been around, had a hint of things, but he hadn't known him so well back then. Not like now. He'd only really gotten to know him since that timeframe where he'd hated the rest of them, wanted to, and did, scorn them for turning on each other like they had.
Rude had only met him after the last of the soft edges had been filed into. If there'd been any soft spots left, the man might have gotten them, but he'd long since learned he was an expert at not moving on. He could have sex, but his heart wasn't in it, so he didn't bother with repeats. If he was a little too drunk, a little too wild, well, people were just used to that.
It still didn't mean that Cloud had to look through him like he'd never known him. It still didn't mean he didn't remember watching Zack get gunned down when the Turks were feet, no, inches from getting them both, giving him a chance to unfuck what he'd fucked up. Zack had died likely not remembering him any more than Cloud seemed to, but he'd deserved that. He hadn't had a chance back then to try to make amends for that.
He'd had to agree to help take Sephiroth down, to give Cloud space to take the silvery colored bastard into that little headspace with the two of them, dark and bloody and miserable. Even after all that and a few years besides, Cloud didn't know who the fuck he was, and didn't want to. Oh, he knew his name, knew his occupation, but that was it.
He'd gotten more closure from the crazy than he had from Cloud. So really, he had to wonder.
What did that say about him?
Z - Zygote: Heero
Pregnancy was a topic he'd never needed to research before. He couldn't get pregnant, so it wasn't as though it had been something that was high on the list of things he desperately needed to know as a terrorist. Now, that time was past. Now, he was married.
Now, his wife was saying she was pregnant, and he was reading about zygotes to fend off the inclination to ask her if she needed anything. He didn't want her to kick him, and she had always kicked hard. She'd been a soldier after all, so it wasn't a shock to know she knew how to hit.
Still, pregnant?
What did he know about child rearing?
Grimacing, he stared at the information in front of him. Clearly, not enough. He'd just have to rely on Lu to make sure they didn't get it wrong.
However well that would work.