I am NOT A CHEESECAKE!!
Antiviral
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction
Author: Sanjuno Shori Niko
Summary: Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! run in with forces beyond mortal comprehension!
Timeline: The rest of this fic can be found here!
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(In which Vincent needs rescuing from this rescue, please.)
“Cid!” Vincent put little thought into what he was doing. His friend was trapped in a mako fountain, and Vincent’s body moved without any input from his brain. Brass claws slammed into flawed crystal, and the ovoid capsule broke open. Shards of solid mako were discarded to the smoky quartz floor. The multicoloured glitter of the Lifestream spilled out of the hole Vincent had created. Heedless of the sting from the mako, Vincent reached in and dragged Cid out into the air.
It was a long, terrifying minute before Cid jerked in Vincent’s arms, mako streaming from the blonde’s mouth and nose as Cid’s body fought to breathe. Cid twisted in Vincent’s arms, retching up syrupy water that glowed against dark stone. Vincent winced in sympathy. He could too well remember the thick, gelatinous cling of mako in his throat, and it was nothing that he would wish on a friend.
Shaking off the surge of memory, Vincent stripped Cid of his pants, glancing only once at the white-knuckled grip Cid had on Venus Gospel. It said something worrisome that Cid had been in possession of his strongest weapon and still the pilot had not been able to free himself before Vincent had come along.
“Hey, Vincent.” Cid’s voice was raspy as he gazed up at Vincent with bleary eyes.
“Hello, Cid.” Vincent pulled his cloak over his head and put it to use as a towel. Cid’s breathing was coming easier, and Vincent’s worried thoughts calmed. Here, see, the pilot was alive, breathing, and uninjured. “... I have to ask, how did this happen?”
“Fuckin’ Planet’s a spoilt brat playin’ games.” Cid growled, sharper-than-human teeth bared and eyes glowing with barely checked temper. Glowing a bright, pale blue like a clear winter sky, shining like underwater lights with indignation. “This is bullshit.”
“Cid, your eyes...” Vincent stared, reminded of the irritated snarl of a thwarted predator as the eyes of the circling pack reflected firelight back at the camp. Threatening stars, stalking prey that shivered in the dark. Vincent was not sure how Cid had gotten the eyes that were the common side effect of heavily invasive mako-based genetic modifications, but he was certain that it had not been an accident.
“Vincent - fuck. Ya gotta git outta here, git away from me.” Cid surged up, one hand clamping down in a tight hold on Vincent's right wrist, a physical contradiction to the pilot's urgent words of warning. "Somethin' - I don't even know what she did, Spirits damned unquiet ghosts fuckin' a man around without tellin' him what's what - it jest ain't right."
"I'm not leaving you down here, Cid." Vincent let a growl of his own slip into his voice, squashing his guilt when Cid jerked back like the blonde man had been struck in the face. "Now come on, we can call Reeve once we're back in the house and have him send over a research team."
The snarl that rattled in Cid's throat was in no way human. Vincent drew back, pulling his throat out of the range of Cid's snapping teeth. Cid fell to the ground as Vincent rolled to his feet, acting on pure reflex and eyeing Cid with wary trepidation. The human body could only channel so much energy, so Limit Breaks bled off the dangerous excess as light and an additional independent effect that worked to intimidate the enemy. So when Cid started to glow and change in a way that Vincent had frequent nightmares about, the ex-TURK had to swallow back a cry of anguished denial.
CHAOS was gone, returned to its resting place to await Ragnarok, and the remainder of Vincent's demons had been purged. The gunman was as mortal as any mako-enhanced SOLDIER now... but sometimes when the nights were dark and long he could hear the baying of hounds and the thunderclap of giant wings, and Vincent knew in those moments that they were waiting for him. Or had Cid been taken in his stead? Vincent could think of no greater horror.
Marbled sandstone and tigers-iron fur and lapis lazuli feathers - Vincent was not surprised to see that even Cid's sins were arresting. Beautiful in the way monsters could be, with their bright poison-warning colours and elegant, predatory grace.
Cid roared, lunging forward as Vincent scrambled to retreat. Ice-blue serpent eyes were far too calculating for Vincent's comfort. The next lithe rush of fur pushed Vincent back towards the center of the cavern. Huge lapis-lazuli wings stirred still air into eddying gusts, and Cid hit Vincent in the chest with clawed forepaws.
Braced for pain, Vincent was surprised enough by the sheathed talons to fall over when the rest of Cid's increased weight shoved him backwards. They landed together in the shallow bowl of a mako fountain, Cid leaning much of his weight on Vincent's shoulders. Claws kept politely away from Vincent's skin, Cid leaned in to set gentle teeth on the throb of Vincent's alarmed pulse. The glowing eddies of the spring's upwelling tugged at Vincent's hair as Cid nudged the underside of Vincent’s jaw with his nose.
"Cid?" Vincent shifted his hands carefully, placing them with slow deliberation. Startling Cid with too-quick movements struck Vincent as being a spectacularly unwise idea at that moment. Vincent stared up at the light fractals cast up on the arching stone ceiling and quietly despaired. There had been some awkward encounters in his long and eventful history, but this had to top the charts. Cid was naked, only half covered by the ragged wrap of Vincent's cloak, and was straddling Vincent's hips without a jot of shame as he pressed closer with something very like a satisfied purr. "Cid - pay attention! What are you doing here, Cid?"
"I dunno." Cid had the grace to sound at least a little apologetic. With a sigh, Cid shifted to sit upright, teeth leaving Vincent's throat as mako splashed up, outlining bared skin in dripping light. Biting his lip, Cid stared down at Vincent, brow wrinkled in puzzlement, as if he were not quite sure why he had the gunman pinned. Blue eyes were vague, an uncharacteristic hesitance pulling Cid's lips tight. "Ya jest... there was this smell drivin' me nuts. I didn't even think about what I was doin'. Everythin's kinda sparklin' 'round the edges right now. Makes it hard ta focus."
"Easy there, Cid." Vincent watched his friend struggle against his own body, struggle to make sense of a form that changed around him against his will, and in his concern Vincent never noticed the unconscious stokes of his flesh thumb over the thin skin of Cid's hip. "We can figure this out."
"Yeah..." Cid's voice was breathy, pupils blown wide open. A shiver ran through the blonde's frame, strong thighs clamping tight around Vincent's waist.
Vincent moved first, before he was even really aware of the shift in Cid's weight. The pilot's back slammed into the side of the spring, Vincent following close after to pin his friend down with his body. Cid snarled and pushed back, and Vincent hesitated to use his left hand just a second too long.
Cid's mouth met Vincent's and blood flowed from lips split open by savage force and the sharp points of fangs.
(Word Count: 1,212)
EDIT: Spelling fixed as of 15/02/14
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Woo! *waves her "I ♥ ValenWind" flag* What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with fic about the guy who shares the same name hooking up! Is there any greater way to enjoy this day? I think not! And in honour of Lupercalia (which is more along the lines of what I actually participate in) have some Old Norse Were(notreally)wolves... in so far as the world building of FFVII permits. *shifty look* ... I promise that it will make more sense when the next part gets posted.
Still can't use my 'enter' key to make a new paragraph in the 'visual editor' option for LJ posts. I really don't know what's up with that. Thank the thousand little gods for the really aggressive teaching practices of my HS Computer Ed. teacher. I can still code html without a reference sheet even 10 years gone from his classroom. Thank you Mr. Teacher Man (whose name I cannot remember and probably never knew in the first place.)
I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! And should your personal observances indicate today as a special day, I hope you have the very best of special days. ♥♥♥
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HERE THERE BE DRAGONS!! (So one of the benefits of being online at midnight apparently translates into getting a 2014 Valentine's dragon before the rush. Wooo! *waves ♥ flag* Oh and ha! I managed to get at least one of every previous year's Valentine egg from the abandoned cave! Plus a Bloodscale eggie! Am so v. pleased with myself. And look! Look! I summoned a Guardian of Nature egg! Ha! Today is a good day! XD)
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