Flashback

Author’s Note: Omg, look who managed to write chapter nine in the same day. And it’s loooong! As in like, 3,942 words long. I really enjoyed writing this one, although my muse was just starting to dwindle closer to the end, it’s very noticeable. If my muse actually stays with me for a while, expect chapter ten within a couple of a days or fewer.

Publish Date: September 19, 2010. (Oh sorry, guess it’s 1:21 so that makes it September 20th.)

Warnings: Language, and angst. Maybe violence/torture, just to be on the safe side. Uhh…lime? Is that what it’s called? If it is, I’ll say partial-lime then.

---

“Sora. Get up.” Cloud growled, yanking his little brother’s pillow out from beneath his head and whacking him with it. Taking on the role of a father for his brothers had its good times and bad times, and right now he was not exactly enjoying his decision as part-time parent which in this case included waking Sora up for school every morning—it was bad enough for his shifts in the café.

“Go awaaay…” Sora whined, face pressed into his mattress, one hand lazily batting at Cloud.

“No. Not until your ass is out of bed.”

Grinning a little, Sora shifted just a bit, his butt sticking out of the blankets, whole body dangerously close to the edge of the bed. “There. Happy?”

Needless to say, Cloud was not. Being the father figure wouldn’t work this time. He lifted his knee so it was level with the brunet’s rear-end and slammed it against him hard.

“Yaaagghh! Fucking hell, Cloud!”

“Gonna get up now?”

Sora whimpered, and pouted as he painfully crawled out of bed. “I Should report you for that, you fucking ass violator.”

“Please.” Cloud rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he watched Sora stumble around, hand rubbing his sore ass, while he searched for something to wear. “Don’t wear that,” he sighed. Sora had picked up a shirt he already wore the last three days.

“But it’s clean, man!”

“Out of all the habits you surprisingly don’t pick up from Riku would have to be the one with good hygiene.”

“Hey. I shower.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t. Just…wear something else.”

“Fiiine. Sheesh.” Sora opened his closet and dug through his shirts before settling on a baby blue t-shirt that said, ‘I scream’ and then underneath had a picture of an ice cream cone. He slipped it on and grabbed a pair of pants that were lying on the floor, much to Cloud’s disgust.

“Don’t you have any clean pants…and what the hell is up with that shirt?”

“I just can’t please you, can I?” Sora rolled his eyes, reluctantly looking for a clean pair of jeans and putting them on before addressing the issue that was his shirt. “Why are you getting so bitchy about what I wear now? You know how I dress.”

“It’s so queer.”

“Um, hello…” Sora snickered, gesturing to himself. “Queer, baby.”

“…Do you really have to flaunt it so openly?”

“Hey, I wasn’t the one who was obsessed with all the chocobo shit until I was twelve.”

Cloud flinched, and Sora smirked. Ha. Take that!

“I thought we agreed to never talk about that ever again.”

Silence followed after that, and Sora grinned knowing he won this round. He pulled a pair of socks out of his drawer, knowing Cloud would have an aneurism if he so much as looked at the ones scattered around on his floor. What? They were clean! The rule was, if you left something on the floor, a few days later it automatically, magically cleaned itself and was ready to wear again! It definitely saved on the power bill for the washer and dryer, but Cloud never saw it that way.

Cloud didn’t leave the room until Sora was fully dressed, and gathering his stuff for school. With a heavy sigh, Sora made his way to the bathroom to fix his hair if possible. It was so naturally messy, he didn’t bother brushing it half the time. But if there was one thing he cared about—and for once not because he picked it up from Riku—it was his hair. He gave it a through brushing, running his fingers through the spikes a few times until he was satisfied.

Sora shut off the bathroom light and trudged down the hallway, stopping briefly outside his little brother’s room. The door was shut—Cloud didn’t like walking by and seeing the empty room. He hesitated, reaching for the door knob, fingers just wrapping around it--

“Sora!” Cloud called from downstairs, “what are you doing up there?”

He took his hand away and sighed, part of him relieved Cloud interrupted his plan to go in Roxas’s room.

“I was fixing my hair, I’ll be right down!”

Cloud sipped his tea, blue eyes following Sora as he entered the kitchen. “If you’re done being a girl, there’s some eggs and bacon on the stove.”

“Shut up,” Sora grumbled, but didn’t refuse the food. He made a bee-line for the stove, snatching up a plate from the cupboard on the way and shoveled some eggs on the plate, throwing on about five pieces of bacon as well. “Why do you always have to wake me up so early, even when I still have like, an hour and a half before school?”

“I need help opening the café,” Cloud answered simply, taking another sip of his tea as he looked at the comics.

“Your boyfriend’s whipped, get him to do it.” Sora pulled out a chair and sat down with his breakfast, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “So, whersh Skull?”

Cloud gave him a disapproving look. “Swallow please,”

“That’s what he said! Oooh! Zing!”

If looks could kill, Sora would have been dead the day Cloud perfected his glares and Sora started pissing him off enough to use said glares on him. “That wasn’t funny.”

Sora snickered, swallowing his mouthful of bacon. “I thought it was. I mean, we were just talking about Squall, and you said ‘swallow please’ so I—“

“Sora, shut up. Now.”

“Yes, sir! Geez, what crawled up your ass and migrated?”

“…”

“You know, you’re really starting to act just like Snowflake. It’s kinda annoying. You used to be a little more easy going. In fact, ever since they took Roxas away you—“

Cloud slammed his fist on the table making Sora jump, and the tea spill a little. “You’re an annoying little shit today, you know that? If you’re not going to finish your breakfast, go make yourself useful and start opening the café.”

Sora sighed, feeling bad now. Mentioning Roxas was a taboo. It made Cloud cranky..er than usual. “Sorry, Cloud…” He poked at his eggs, appetite leaving him.

“It’s fine…just…go. Please.”

Sora got to his feet without a word, taking his plate over to the counter, “Maybe we should try and get a hold of him again…” He murmured softly, avoiding Cloud’s eyes as he walked out front to the café part.

Cloud watched him go and sighed, resting his forehead in his palm, thinking over his brother’s words.

---

Roxas registered stinging pain, his back feeling as though the skin had been torn off, and God knows he had been whipped enough times for it to be possible. He had a little trouble opening his eyes at first, they were stuck together from all the gunk and crusty sleep and he really wanted to wipe it away, but the cuffs gave him little freedom to do so. He remained in his half-awake state for several minutes before deciding to try again, squeezing his eyes closed as tightly as he could, then trying to wrench them open, which eventually worked.

Once he could see again, Roxas just stared at the head board, the stinging pain in his back growing a little more intense now that he was fully awake to feel it. He closed his eyes again, swallowing thickly, throat nearly as sore as his back.

Fresh tears filled his eyes, slipping out the corners and making their descent down his cheeks. They felt good, freeing up his eyes of that gunk that was still there, giving them a little relief. But he wished the pain would stop.

For as long as he lived, if he lived through another night here in Sephiroth’s house, he never wanted to experience whipping ever again.

“I see you’re awake,” Sephiroth’s voice made him jump, then wince. He didn’t even hear the door open to indicate someone walked in. He could only nod in response, throat hurting too much to speak. “Have you learned anything from that, or do I have to go over it again?”

“No…” He winced again, voice hoarse. He certainly screamed enough.

“Elaborate, please.” Sephiroth ordered, “and really think about your answer.”

Roxas closed his eyes, swallowing a few times before trying to talk again. “No…you don’t have to go over it again. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“And what is that lesson?”

“Not to…defy you or your guests...”

“Good. For that, you will receive a reward.”

He visibly shuddered at those words. Reward in Sephiroth’s terms could mean many things, and he was sure whatever it was wouldn’t be enjoyable for him.

Roxas heard a sound he couldn’t place and turned his head slowly to look. Sephiroth was holding a bottle of beer, and Roxas groaned. “No thanks,” he more or less whispered, throat hurting too much to talk any louder. “I’m not thirsty.”

“You will not be drinking it,” Sephiroth chuckled, moving to the side of the bed, Roxas watching him curiously wondering what else he planned to use it for if not for consuming. “It’s for your wounds.”

“My wounds…?”

Before he could even process the thought, the pain in his back doubled as he felt liquid hitting his stinging cuts, setting them on fire.

“Anngghh!” A horrible scream ripped from his throat, his back arched, wrists pulling against the cuffs. For several minutes, he let out small screams, twisting this way and that, wanting to get away from it. But finally, it ended, the raging pain returning to a dull sting and Roxas’s body relaxed ever so slightly. He panted softly, head hanging.

“The alcohol will clean the cuts of any infection. Be thankful I’ve decided to do that.”

Be thankful? Roxas honestly couldn’t think of a reason to be thankful for having his back cut up by thick leather, and then have alcohol poured over it not even a day later. So that was his reward then. Huh. Go figure.

“This should be better,” Sephiroth spoke again, this time placing something soft, wet, and very warm against his back. He hissed and arched again. Surprise. Better, in Sephiroth’s terms were completely different as well. “It will sting…but only for a moment.”

And then, as if by magic, the stinging was dull again and the warmth from what Roxas assumed must be a hot cloth was beginning to comfort him. Out of all of that, the cloth was probably the most rewarding. It felt nice on his cuts.

He sighed and shifted a little, body soaking up the warmth, making him sleepy. He heard Sephiroth moving around again, but couldn’t bring himself to care this time. He just wanted to be left alone to enjoy this little bit of peace that he had been granted. And then the click of the cuffs coming undone hit his ears, seconds later, his upper half hit the bed, making him grunt softly.

“You can hardly move right now, so I’m taking off the handcuffs. I trust you won’t try something as stupid as escaping in your situation.”

Roxas just shook his head, wincing, the pain was back after being jostled around like that.

“Good. Now, let’s discuss your brothers.”

Roxas swore his heart stopped—just for a second. “What…? But I thought—“

“They will not be harmed. But the arising issue of them not speaking with you or seeing you for a month is making the woman at the orphanage suspicious.”

“…Oh.”

“She called here earlier, inquiring of your wellbeing. I have ensured her you’re fine.” Roxas snorted at that, but Sephiroth continued as if he hadn’t heard. “However, she is getting much too nosy, and I will not hesitate to eliminate her.”

“B-but you can’t do that!” Roxas rasped, rolling onto his side a bit to face the man a little better. “She was really nice to me and I—“

“I plan to deceive her and invite your brothers out for a dinner. Then she will have nothing left to complain about.”

That caught his attention. Roxas stared, eyes wide. His brothers would be coming here for dinner sometime? Then he could leave with them, get away from this hell and—

“Of course, they are to know nothing about this,” he indicated to Roxas’s back, “or anything else for that matter. If you say one word to either of them, I will not hesitate to eliminate them either.”

And just like that his hope shattered into a million pieces, broken for years to come.

“Tomorrow we will get you up and walking, and work on your attitude. It won’t do to have you crying as soon as you see them. You’re supposed to be happy here.”

“I understand…” Roxas whispered, feeling sick. So close to freedom…but yet so far away. Was he destined to remain here to be this man’s personal toy to do whatever he wished with? And what about Xemnas? Was he gone for good now, or did he plan to come back and make Roxas suffer even more than he already was?

“Good. Get some rest then, you’ll need your strength for tomorrow.” He left without saying another word, shutting the door behind him, locking it for good measure. But really, why did it matter? He could hardly move as it was.

He shifted to try and get comfortable, clenching his teeth in pain, fingers digging into the sheets. Just for a second, as he lay there, breathing slowly, he wished he was dead. But the wish was pushed away when he thought about his brothers. He would stay alive for them. He didn’t want them to go through another death, having already dealt with their parents’ not any more than 8 years ago.

---

Cloud looked at the clock, business was slow today. He sighed, leaning against the counter, wanting something, anything to distract his thoughts from the phone call he made earlier in the day after Sora left for school. He called the orphanage, something Squall did a while back, which didn’t end well. The woman who ran the orphanage told them Roxas and his foster parent were on vacation, but there was no number to call to reach them for whatever reason. After a while, she called back, explaining she couldn’t get him because they had gone camping and were out of cell phone range. Camping in the middle of the school year. That hadn’t made Cloud happy at all. But Squall had been ensured everything was fine.

However, this time, even the woman, Mrs. Peters, he recalled was her name, was getting a curious as to why he or Sora had heard so little from Roxas since then. She was supposed to call his little brother’s foster parent, and get back to him. That had been at 8:30. It was now 10.

“Slow day, Strife?” Cloud blinked and looked up to see Squall walking over, he smiled despite himself.

“A little, it’s given me a lot of time by myself for thinking. I hate thinking.”

“Mm, you and me both then, it can drive a man crazy.”

“I called the orphanage today,” Cloud told Squall as he made the man’s usual order of green tea with a pinch of lemon. He passed the mug to him. Squall took a sip, before answering.

“How’d that go?”

“She’s starting to get a little curious about everything herself.”

Squall snorted and put the mug down, “’Bout time. She was getting on my last nerve with her cheerfulness and reassurances. So, did she give any helpful information?”

“No. She was calling the guy, told me she’d get back to me.”

“I think you should call her back before she goes on her lunch break.”

Cloud chuckled, making himself a tea, more for the socializing than actual drinking. “You have very little faith in people.”

“I’ve dealt with enough shit growing up to make me that way, get used to it, Strife.”

“Well, whatever’s happened, I’ll give her another hour.”

Squall shook his head, Cloud was such an idiot sometimes. “You’re digging your own grave, Cloud. You’re only in your twenties and you already have a grey hair.” The satisfaction of seeing the blond’s eyes widen in something akin to horror made the lie worth it.

“Oh hell I do not!” He stalked off, probably in search of a mirror. Squall chuckled, smirking as he took another drink of his tea. Well his distraction worked anyway.

Ten minutes later, Cloud returned looking like an angry dog, a wolf to be exact. “You fucking liar.” He snarled.

Squall wasn’t sure if it was the fact that Cloud only realized after all that time he was lying that made him break down laughing, or the expression on his face. Both were equally priceless.

“Shut up!”

“S-Sorry!” Of course he kept laughing, even after Cloud stalked over and grabbed his shoulders, squeezing hard. Realizing Squall was only laughing harder, Cloud sighed and released him, smiling a little.

“I hate you.”

“I love you too, Strife.”

Squall leaned in, gently placing a hand on the back of Cloud’s head, guiding him closer to place a soft kiss upon his lips. Cloud relaxed, eyes closing slowly as returned the kiss, Squall moving his head to the side a little to deepen his end. He grabbed a hold of front of Squall’s shirt, opening his mouth to the tongue seeking entrance. Their tongues tangled together in a battle of dominance, swirling over and around the other, this ending rather quickly though once Squall took it upon himself to suck gently on Cloud’s tongue. He moaned softly, lifting his free hand to Squall’s head, fingers running through the deep brown hair, making the other man moan as well.

The phone was ringing, but neither man wanted to stop their intense kissing to answer it. Cloud felt a hand on his shoulder then traveled slowly down his arm, making the very light blond hairs stand up, shivers running through his body.

“It might be that woman, love…” Squall murmured, reluctant to do anything to jeopardize the moment, but if it was the woman from the orphanage calling, then she could have information about Roxas.

“Mmnn…right.” Cloud sighed and broke away, panting lightly as he straightened up, and made his way out back to the living quarters. Squall watched him go…well…watched his ass go.

---

Sephiroth looked at the phone number he wrote down earlier. He originally planned to have Roxas call his brothers, but he didn’t want the brat to do anything that might mess up his plans. Besides, he was much too weak now, and even though he had thought up the perfect excuse to cover why he might sound sick on the phone, he didn’t want to risk it. Better to call himself.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number. Ironic how that woman never seemed to question why he didn’t have the number in the first place, Roxas knowing it and all, but if she had, he would have an explanation for that as well.

The phone rang once, twice, three times…four. He was about to hang up when a breathless male picked up.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Strife, I presume?”

“Uh…yes…may I ask who’s speaking?”

“My name is Sephiroth Murakami. I am the current guardian of your brother, Roxas.”

Cloud nearly dropped the phone, eyes wide. “My…brother? Is he ok? I want to talk to him, please.”

“I apologize, Mr. Strife. He is currently ill with the flu, but don’t let that discourage you. He is sleeping now, however he mentioned a while back when he we were camping he wanted you and Sora to come for dinner whenever convenient”

“Oh. Well, thank you, Mr. Murakami. I appreciate you calling, Sora and I have been really worried about him.”

“Understandable, my apologies for causing such anxiety, he does enjoy camping.”

“He does,” Cloud smiled, then frowned, “which does bring me to one question. Why camping during school?”

“He was quite miserable upon arriving. It was to cheer him up.”

“I see.”

Cloud heard someone walking into the kitchen and looked up to see Sora. He frowned, glaring at his brother, while Sora grinned sheepishly. He shook his head, pointing sharply at Sora, then to the table, a clear order to sit down. He’d have to deal with him after he was off the phone. Roxas was his first priority right now.

“When would you like us to come?” He asked, turning his back on Sora who looked curious now, wanting to know who Cloud was talking to.

“What do you think of next Monday?”

“Next Monday’s fine.” Cloud replied, searching through the kitchen drawers for a pen and some paper to write down the address.

“Is Cloud still on the phone?” Squall leaned against the door frame. He was still keeping an eye out front for the brothers, but no one had come in other than himself, so he assumed he was safe to take his attention away from the café for now.

Sora looked over his shoulder at Squall and shrugged, eating a muffin he snatched up from the café on his way into the kitchen. Yes, that was the reason for such hostile behavior toward him when he walked in. “How long has he been on it?”

“No more than five minutes,”

“Cool. Who’s he talking to?”

“He was expecting a call from the woman at the orphanage.” Squall answered, looking over his shoulder just to check on café. It was deader than the senior’s Bingo night.

“You mean he actually called?” Sora asked, eyes wide, hope shining in them.

“Roxas? No, I don’t think so.”

“No, I mean Cloud. I suggested calling the orphanage this morning. He actually called!” Sora couldn’t believe it. Cloud hardly listened to a word he said the last month or so, and now his big brother was actually taking his advice.

“Yeah, but I’m still not catching on to the excitement.”

“Never mind, dummy,” Sora rolled his eyes and huffed a little, taking another bite of his muffin.

“Monday at 5:30. Ok. See you again. Tell him I hope he feels better. And a hi for Sora too. Yes, thank you. Bye.” Cloud hung up, and heaved a great sigh of relief, feeling as though a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He smiled and turned around to see both Squall and Sora watching him, Squall with a raised eyebrow, and Sora a sort of open-mouth, wide-eyed expression.

Cloud laughed, mostly at Sora’s face. “What?”

“Oh my God, you’re smiling! Who was that, Cloudy? Huh? What’s so awesome that you’re smiling?” Sora grinned, feeling happy from Cloud’s happiness. In the back of his mind, he was very happy Cloud had forgotten to scold him for taking the muffin.

“That was Roxas’s guardian. He’s inviting us out to dinner next Monday.” Cloud felt like he could squeal, but let’s face it, that was not a cool thing for a grown man to do…especially in front of Squall and Sora who would most likely use it as black-mail material.

“No way! We can finally see Roxy! Eeeeeeee!”

And then there was the fact that Sora could easily fill the squealing quota for the both of them. He smiled, grunting as he was suddenly glomped by Sora, but instead of getting annoyed, he actually grinned and looked over at Squall. The brunet’s lips twitched in a slightly smile, giving a slight nod. He was happy for the brothers. They’d be reunited again after being separated for nearly two months with communication at all.

They only had to wait one more week.

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Author’s Note: Woo. I can breathe again for a while. It seems this story is getting back on track.