Bizarre Paradise

((First things first, I guess. I wrote this story for a club on the yaoi art site y!gallery. It won first prize! I've decided to post it here too, so you poor people aren't deprived of its glory. Or something. Yeah. Ahem.... Any form of Ansem and Sephiroth aren't mine, but the things I'd do to them if I did.... Let's just say it'd cause protests. Maybe riots. Without any more ado, enjoy. ~DR))

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
--Carl Jung

---

If I could only see him smile again, then I would be happy.

---

Radiant Garden. Once a frozen wasteland. Now a bustling city of traders. Ever since the alcatrain intergalactic trade doctrine was accepted by the republic’s first prime minister, Squall “Leon” Leonhart, the capital city was bloomed into a sphere of commerce. Science took leaps and bounds forward, and bizarre and fanciful aliens walked side-by-side with humans. The Heartless threat was nonexistent. The Organization was scattered across the stars as reincarnated beings with no memories of their past lives. This was a time of great peace and prosperity.

Until you peeled back the woven veil of steel and common goals. The side streets and suburban sectors of the capital city were cesspools of crime and social garbage. There was a murder every month or so, and a new breed of vigilantes were going a better job than the police to solve them, often with bloody consequences.

It was here, in Sector 23, that the relic lived. Sector 23 was the smallest of the sectors, consisting of an apartment building alone. Room 51 of the building housed the relic, a monument to a period of chaos long gone.

Like all great monuments, he too was crumbling. Sector 23 was congested with the byproducts of its larger neighbors. The relic was reacting with an allergy that was slowly shutting down his cells. Shutting himself up in his room did nothing to his condition.

Cloud had already succumbed. He was buried on his home planet next to the daughter he had created with life partner Aerith. The child had died in infancy. His grief had sped up the rate of poisoning. A national day of mourning was proclaimed by Leonhart, who had been close friends with Cloud. His fifth and youngest child was named after the tragic hero, and genetically modified to share Cloud’s blonde hair.

The relic shared some sympathy with Cloud, who had died today one year ago. The toxins were mounting a new offensive and his body was falling apart. His one wing had sustained the most damage. Gnarled and filthy, he could hardly feel it anymore. He lacked the strength to amputate it.

The relic sat upon a chair salvaged from the republic’s lawless days, facing away from the door and the light-filled window, and loosened the ties to his body. He felt the toxins flying through him, and he shut his eyes, waiting for the bitter end.

The door was opening. The door to his apartment was shut with four locks, the fourth being an enchanted barrier. Any thief foolish enough to try to steal from the relic could never get in. However, with the ease the intruder was having with breaking in to his home and the time in which it had decided to do so told the relic who it was.

The door opened, sweeping in a gust of the toxic air. It stung the relic’s skin and made him wheeze pathetically. The intruder was a cloaked spirit, semi-solid, carrying a long, wicked scythe. The blade caught the light coming through the window and reflected it towards the relic.

“I’m looking for a soul to reap,” it said.

The relic coughed. “You are not Death. I have heard his voice, and you are not he.”

The spirit closed the door respectfully and slowly made its way to the relic, facing him. It towered over him, staring at the relic’s plagued body. It shook its head.

“I have come to reap the soul of a mighty general. Do you know where he is? I was asked to come to this very room, but all I see is a sick old man.”

The relic’s wing tried to stretch out, but all it did was convulse weakly. The relic said, “I am not going with you.”

The spirit said, “The only way to escape death is to cheat it. I am not the death spirit you knew before because I am not he. The death spirit you met before was Death by Sword.”

The spirit took off the hood of its cloak. Its face was sunken into its skull, giving it a very sickly, demonic look. Its skin was almost white in color. It had blue, almost transparent eyes, and a few strands of wispy blonde hair. Its face showed signs of genetic problems, but the way the spirit carried itself and spoke so articulately meant it had no problems in its mind. It looked almost feminine, but death spirits had no gender.

The spirit said, “I am Death by Disease. Like I said earlier, the only way to escape death is to cheat it. If you wish to live longer, you must triumph over the disease that ravages you. This disease has your cells fighting each other. To find victory, you must defeat yourself!” The spirit seemed to find this funny, and it laughed in his face.

The relic ignored its laughter and said, “There is another way.”

Disease shot him a glare. “I know what you’re talking about. It’s a cheap way out, invented when the Bureau of Death was created, millennia ago. It’s called the Seven Years of Turmoil, and it happens went you go through seven years with a broken heart. Do you know how many times death spirits like myself are forced to listen to people who think that they’ve gone seven years in absolute misery?”

“Test me.”

Disease sighed in frustration, placed a hand on the relic’s head, and cycled through his memories, starting from the earliest years and going forward. It spoke out loud as it watched the most detailed and important memories.

“Birth for you was quite different, wasn’t it...? There’s your father, looking smug, as usual.... Your team of soldiers.... Oh, there, see, that guy’s Death by Sword. There are hundreds of death spirits. Death by Sword, Death by Gun, Death by Accident, Death by Revenge.... We’re all organized based on planet, if you can call the Bureau organized. We thrive in chaos.... There’s mother dearest.... Let’s go forward a little faster, shall we?

“Okay, we’re getting closer. Yes, there’s that wannabe death spirit Hades. What a jerk.... Continuing on. There’s the prime minister, back when he was in his prime. Excuse the pun. Ah, there’s Cloud.... He was quite handsome when he was alive. He went to Heaven, you know, though I can’t imagine why.”

The spirit suddenly smiled. “Oh, no, look at that. You fell in love. Love complicates all kinds of things. It’s the primary source of turmoil claims. Let’s see who you fell head over heels for....”

The spirit suddenly gasped as it saw the memory closest to seven years in the past. It glared daggers into the relic. The spirit was seething with anger.

It cried, “A Heartless. You fell in love with a Heartless!? What kind of monster are you?”

The relic said, “A dying monster.”

The spirit continued to read his memories, though a little unnerved. As the last seven years unfolded, its demeanor turned completely around and it became very, very sad.

Disease sank to its knees, then sat on its bottom and hid its face in its hands. “Oh, God Almighty. That’s not possible. You...you’ve been miserable for...longer than seven years. That can’t be right.”

The relic said, “You didn’t even see all of it.”

Disease glared up at him. “I did see it all. I saw your memories.”

“You saw my memories. You skipped my emotions. You saw what happened, but you do not know how I felt during those times.”

Disease gave a smirk. “Fine, general. You know, when I was just a kid, I used to admire you a lot. It’ll be interesting to see how you tick.”

And, like a father telling a story to his daughter, the relic began to recount the days he fell in love, seven years ago.

---

Before Radiant Garden was an intergalactic trade center, it was an area of wild tundra. It hardly rained or was warmer than fifty degrees. Wind chill could instantly freeze anything. There was no capital town, just a huge castle known as Hollow Bastion. The castle belonged to the Heartless. The dark creatures could be seen patrolling the outside perimeter.

The area immediately outside the castle, however, belonged to the One-Winged Angel. This area was his. Anyone who tried to cross him would be cut down by his sword.

Sephiroth Unus Penna, former general of the empire. Hollow Bastion had been his home since birth. This place was his to own. The Heartless were not the top predators in this ecosystem.

He was.

From over the next ridge there came someone’s grunt in pain. Sephiroth crept up upon it, knowing the geography of this place, but what he saw he was not prepared for.

Cloud Strife, his arch enemy, partially himself. The blonde had his own sword out, his body marked with several wounds. His opponent was someone Sephiroth had never seen before.

Skin the color of rich earth lay beneath intricate armor and cloth. Hair fell past his shoulders in cascades of bluish silver. His eyes were a color that put suns to shame, with a tint to them that spoke of mild insanity. He was clearly losing the fight. Sephiroth found himself slightly attracted to this strange invader in his territory.

Cloud raised his sword towards the strange man. He said, “I’ll give you one last chance. Tell me where Sephiroth is, and I make your death quick.”

The ex-general swooped down into the battlefield quietly, sneaking behind Cloud and tapping his shoulder. “I’m right here, Cloud.”

As the swordsman turned to face his enemy, Sephiroth hit his jaw with a blow that knocked him over. As he lay stunned on the ground, Sephiroth drew his sword, and aimed at Cloud’s heart. The long rivalry would end now.

The stranger suddenly threw himself over Cloud, shielding the swordsman from the fatal blow. He looked up into Sephiroth’s own eyes with a pleading look.

“Stop,” he said. Keeping their eyes locked, he gently lifted Cloud’s body into his arms, despite a painful flinch in doing so, and made his way to the edge of the cliff. Without a hint of remorse, he dropped Cloud off. Several impacts could be heard echoing throughout the canyon before there was silence once more.

The stranger cracked a tiny smile. “That’ll hurt more.”

Sephiroth liked the way this guy thought. He came closer. “Who are you?”

“My name, you ask?” The stranger turned, aiming his golden eyes at him. “My name is Ansem. I am the seeker of darkness.”

Then Sephiroth noticed it. It was a black heart, outlined in red. It looked like it was tattooed onto Ansem’s chest, but in truth, it was part of him since his birth. Sephiroth scowled, sword held ready.

“Demon,” Sephiroth murmured, “What are you doing here?”

Ansem looked amused. “Demon? Do I scare you?”

“I am scared of nothing.”

Ansem shrugged. “We’ll have to change that.”

“Answer my question!”

Ansem looked over the canyon at the castle that pierced the sky. “I am surveying my empire. My guards were shirking their duties, so I brought them backup.”

Sephiroth sheathed his sword. “Your empire? Wait, I know what you are. You’re the leader of the Heartless, aren’t you?”

“The one, and the only. You were a general at the time, weren’t you? You had a vicious rivalry with Strife. Turned nasty. However, I cannot remember how the rivalry began.”

“So, you have all of his memories?”

“Every single one. He is searching in the wrong places. If he could only know what I know...then victory would be inevitable.”

Sephiroth slightly shivered with fear. “And what is victory?”

Ansem’s eyes glowed. “I cannot tell you. You are not a Heartless...yet.”

“Yet? What do you mean?”

Ansem turned back from the cliff and began to walk towards the higher plains. He said, “I am making an expedition to a planet I have high hopes for. However, it is a dangerous and untamed planet. I would like a guard.”

Sephiroth followed him. “You have a guard. You have thousands of guards.”

Ansem looked over his shoulder. “Do I have to repeat myself? This is a very dangerous world I am traveling to. I fear that the inhabitants are stronger than my Heartless. However, I have watched you for a long time, and I know that you are stronger than those I am going to observe. Please, come with me. Your little playmate won’t show his face for a while, I assure you.”

A pair of Wyvern Heartless suddenly flew overhead towards the area Cloud had tumbled down. Their appearance made Sephiroth believe Ansem.

He folded his arms and said, “Yes. I’ll go with you. I have nothing better to do.”

---

A short space ship flight away was the planet Ansem wanted to conquer. Sephiroth guided his ship down to land on the center of a circular patch of grass in front of a large, modern building. The lights were off and a strange-looking flying creature was perched on top. It was about the size of a man, bat-shaped, with a curved beak and yellow eyes. It gave a noise somewhere between a trumpet and a truck backfiring before spreading its rose-colored wings and flying off.

Sephiroth watched it soar off towards a dense jungle. Ansem was following a pair of tracks leading into the forest, and he followed him. It would be no good to his reputation if he lost the man he was supposed to be protecting.

“Dsungaripterus,” Ansem said, not looking back, “That flying creature.”

Sephiroth stared at him. “A what?”

Ansem sighed, shaking out his hair. “This world is populated by terrible lizards, though in my research, I’ve found that many of them are more bird-like than reptilian. I’m sure you are familiar with basic biology.”

“I am.”

“Then you were as well off as the people who used to live here. The terrible lizards got them all.”

Something far away erupted in an eerie howl and Sephiroth unconsciously stepped closer to Ansem. He wasn’t afraid, just confused. He wanted to stay near the person who’d been to this world before, especially if the natives had been killed by terrible lizards.

They came across a large gate with big red and yellow letters on the top. They were in a strange language Sephiroth had only seen a little of. That was a letter J...that one was an S. He carefully tried to sound out the words. “Joor...Joora....”

Ansem placed his back against the gate and pushed. It hardly budged. He said, “Jurassic Park. You don’t read English?”

Sephiroth, scowling, gave the gate a push. His superior strength opened it easily. Ansem nearly lost his balance. Sephiroth caught his hand and pulled him to his feet. Ansem returned his glare, and said, “I don’t blame you. Most people are used to the common galactic tongue.”

Ansem stormed onwards into Jurassic Park, following the tracks. Sephiroth followed him, shooting glares at his back and occasionally swiping at insects and foliage. As they moved deeper into the jungle, Sephiroth noticed subtle changes around Ansem. Shadows were defying the sun and arching towards him, stretching out before snapping back like rubber bands. Sephiroth could almost swear he saw one of the shadows develop Heartless eyes before going back to normal.

Some of the less-terrible terrible lizards were emerging, and Ansem was naming them as if he had grown up next to them. A creature that came up to Sephiroth’s waist watching them from beneath a bush. It was lime green and stood on its hind legs. Ansem called it a leptoceratops and it followed Sephiroth a while, giving him winks, before slinking back into the undergrowth.

As two hours of hiking passed, it began to rain. It was light at first, but then transformed into a downpour. Ansem was forced to stop for shelter, although he still seemed capable of continuing. As a pair of pterodactylus elegans, both males, Sephiroth noted strangely, huddled together intimately beneath a palm frond, Ansem perched on a boulder beneath the trees. He kept the tracks in clear view and stared off into the jungle.

Sephiroth couldn’t help but feel a little attracted to him. The deluge had weighed down his clothing and it was easy to look down his shirt. He was very muscular for a Heartless. His hair was also hanging limply to his face, and he had to brush it away every few seconds.

The jungle was actually very pretty when it rained. The canopy and the storm clouds melted together in a mixture of dark gray and green that released clean, clear drops of cold but not unpleasant water. The resident creatures were quieted by the storm, but there was occasionally a bellow or squeal by some kind of thing.

Sephiroth leaned against a tree and wrung the water out of his hair. When he finished, he had enough time to notice Ansem quickly looking away, staring off into the forest again. He chuckled and was pleased to see Ansem blushing slightly. Sephiroth stretched himself out, sore from the long walk, and was about to enter a light doze when Ansem perked up, pointing into the growth.

At first there was only one, but soon an entire herd of bipedal creatures came by. Ansem called them struthiomimus. They were about the size of men, with some juveniles pressed in the middle, and resembled featherless ostriches. They weren’t running, but they were fleeing from something, that was clear.

Sephiroth shrugged, but his warrior’s instinct told him to be silent. Ansem hissed at him anyway and began to slink forward towards the tracks. Sephiroth drew his sword and followed him.

Coming along the tracks in the opposite direction was the biggest creature Sephiroth had ever seen before. It stood eighteen feet tall and almost forty-five feet long. It was bipedal, the two legs much larger than its puny forearms. It was dramatically striped with gray and orange with eyes that blazed like fires. Every step shook the earth. It was limping because it had what looked like a car’s bumper stuck in its thigh. The wound wasn’t fresh, the blood around it was dried, but it had done its irreversible damage.

Sephiroth stepped back a little, tried not to look like dinner, and almost didn’t see Ansem murmur its name, completely awestruck.

“Tyrannosaurus....”

Ansem sprang forward with such speed that Sephiroth was caught off guard. He tried to follow him, but the dirt had turned to mud and he slid and fell on his face. Deciding to stay here instead of tangling with such a beast, he watched in horror as Ansem ran towards the lizard tyrant.

The carnosaur leaned its huge head back and jerked it forward, a deafening roar blasting deep from within it past teeth that had to be six inches long. The roar was enough to make Ansem hit the brakes, he skidded a little farther in the mud. Sephiroth dropped his sword as he held his ears in pain. Even from afar, this creature could cause pain! It reached forward with its head to snap at Ansem, but its hurt leg gave a spasm and its jaws crashed into the mud.

Sephiroth lost track of Ansem for a second, but found him again just feet away from the lizard tyrant. He leapt up and grabbed a hold of the bumper impaled in the beast, and, with a bit of darkness helping him, pulled it out. The carnosaur roared again, this time in pain, as fresh blood came out of the wound. It awkwardly spun around to face Ansem, who was crouching low to the ground, the bumper discarded.

Sephiroth sprung into action as the tyrannosaurus charged again. He stopped short and used the slippery mud to slide clean past the jaws of the beast, catching Ansem beneath an arm and dragging him along as well. The carnosaur hit its head on the tree Ansem was cornered against, momentarily stunning it.

Sephiroth unceremoniously draped Ansem over a tree branch and began climbing up himself. He didn’t look back to see how the other man was doing, just climbed up as high as he could. They both found safety in the crook of the tree, about twenty feet up. The tyrannosaurus, by that point, had gotten up and gave a short hop, teeth snapping at them. Bringing all six tons of its mass down to earth made its wound explode with pain, and it gave a stifled howl in agony. Unwilling to hurt itself again, the lizard tyrant gave up, giving the tree a kick with its good leg. The tree actually leaned over a little, but didn’t fall. The tyrannosaurus trudged off in the direction of the herd of struthiomimus.

Sephiroth was about to call Ansem crazy, but the other man beat him to it, crying, “Are you insane? Don’t answer that. You are.”

Sephiroth stared at him. “I wasn’t the one who charged a monster five times his size!”

“I wasn’t charging him. I was doing what I had to.”

“And what the hell was that?”

“Healing him.”

“Healing him!? Ansem, that thing would’ve eaten us without a second thought.”

“I like that in a Heartless.”

“A Heartless? Oh, lord, don’t tell me—”

The mud on Ansem’s body and clothing simply flew off as if a gale wind had passed through the tree. He didn’t look happy to Sephiroth. He said, “This planet will yield to me very powerful Heartless. Possibly unstoppable Heartless. That tyrannosaurus will be my first of this variety, but his wound would have produced a flawed Heartless. Now he shall be the first in a series of perfect Heartless.”

Sephiroth looked at himself and realized that he was filthy, covered in mud and leaves and whatever else was on that path. His sword was also still on the ground. He started the climb down to earth, and said, “Insane I may be, but you’re absolutely raving mad! Go up against that monster, and he will annihilate you, even if you are some kind of darkness demon or something! I’m going to get my sword, get back to my ship, and if you aren’t there by the time I am, I’m leaving without you.”

Ansem responded by ripping Sephiroth’s shadow away from him. For some reason Sephiroth couldn’t understand, doing that made him extremely off-balance. A vine he grabbed hold of snapped, and he fell the last fifteen feet to the bottom of the tree. The mud made his landing somewhat easy, but now he was even dirtier. His shadow snapped back to him and when Sephiroth looked back up the tree, Ansem was gone.

He scowled. “Yeah, you better run!” Scooping up his sword, he wiped it clean on a giant leaf of some kind and retraced his steps back through the jungle.

Letting the rain get him semi-clean, Sephiroth stormed along the tracks towards the gate and his ship. He had little else to do but listen to the sounds of the forest. The leptoceratops eventually began following him again, but he didn’t notice it. He was too busy slowly coming down from his rage. The cold rain and terrible lizard noises were like magic on his emotions. Something about this place rubbed him the right way. This place was primal, raw, and pristine.

He thought about Ansem. He had come with him in order to protect him from harm. That didn’t seem like much of an excuse, Ansem could protect himself if he had to. So what took him along? Was it just an impulse? He had been feeling a little stir-crazy. But that wasn’t enough to get him to spontaneously agree to the king of the Heartless to come out to a world inhabited by terrible lizards.

By the time the ship could be seen, it had stopped raining and sunlight was coming down in patches. Sephiroth stopped just inside the gate, thinking. If impulse had to do with it, but not in the normal sense, then what was the force that brought him into this bizarre paradise?

The answer felt like a ton of bricks falling onto his head.

Suddenly, some terrible lizard far away gave a scream as it died violently, and a roar that could only belong to the tyrannosaurus from before followed it. It sounded triumphant. Sephiroth, without a second thought, dove back into the jungle, chasing the noise. The leptoceratops squealed as Sephiroth charged towards it, squatting down and hiding its face. He jumped over it and continued. The bipedal lizard looked up after him, snorting at him in annoyance.

The jungle melted away and Sephiroth erupted out onto a meadow with a large lake. The tyrannosaurus had taken down a camptosaurus, a large herbivorous beast. Even though the prey was fully grown at twenty-three feet long, it was still dwarfed by the lizard tyrant. The predator lifted the corpse into the air easily, snapping it down headfirst. Once it couldn’t fit anymore into its mouth, it shook its head violently, sawing off the bottom half of the creature. It chomped its food down greedily, blood oozing down its neck.

Sephiroth almost didn’t see Ansem creeping in the grass. He was a few yards away from the tyrannosaurus, staring up at it with intense concentration. Suddenly, the sunlight seemed to have dimmed a little, even though it still shone brightly. Dark pools were forming around the lizard tyrant. It took notice of this and roared again, watching one pool, then whipping its head around to face another.

While it was distracted, the pools on one side of the beast developed a dark tendril that wrapped around the tyrannosaurus’s back. It howled in surprise, trying to bite the tendril, but more were now forming and immobilizing the lizard tyrant. The carnosaur eventually fell down, head now resting on the ground. It glared at Ansem, jaws unable to open.

Ansem slowly approached the beast, and lay a hand on its snout. Their eyes met, both very similar, yet extremely different. The tyrannosaurus tried to roar, but it could not. Its cry came out as an angry growl.

The leader of the Heartless stroked its muzzle lovingly before giving it a chaste kiss.

The tyrannosaurus immediately knew something was horribly wrong. The kiss from a Heartless was instantaneous transformation into one of their kind. Any Heartless could do it, but only the strongest had perfected it into an art form.

It was no wonder Ansem’s species was called the Doom Heartless.

The lizard tyrant wasn’t going down without a fight. It struggled against its bonds, tail thrashing, and managed to snap one off as its heart unleashed the little bit of light it had inside of it. Soon they all came off. Ansem gasped, not expecting such a predator to have any light in its heart.

The tyrannosaurus was rapidly changing. The stripes on its body were changing into the opposite color, effectively making its color scheme backwards. Its eyes changed into mindless Heartless eyes, but it still charged at Ansem, snapping him up into his jaws. Ansem cried out in agony as the fangs drove inside of him. The lizard tyrant, rapidly losing its free will, turned and stomped slowly into the forest.

“No!” Sephiroth cried, running as fast as he could across the meadow. They had vanished into the jungle again. Despite being huge, the lizard tyrant could certainly disappear when it had to. Sephiroth was about to charge in after them when suddenly the tyrannosaurus seemed to be the one to go after him. He drew his sword and held it ready as the jungle shook with the power of the lizard tyrant.

When it came out, Sephiroth had no doubt that it was harmless now. The once orange and gray striped creature was now solid black with orange stripes that glowed like sunsets. Its eyes were bright with Heartless evil. It had grown long, feather-like hair that was not unlike Ansem’s. Its tiny forearms looked like they were wearing steel gloves and the Heartless insignia was on its chest, pulsing as if it was a real heart.

Riding on its back was Ansem, slightly pale but otherwise quite proud of his latest creation. The Heartless beast leaned down a little. Sephiroth, bewildered, sheathed his sword and climbed onto its back, sitting behind Ansem.

“What the hell?” he asked.

Ansem rubbed the lizard tyrant’s head. He said, “He transformed into the Terror Heartless. I am lucky he changed when he did.” He held up a hand. His fingers were covered in a kind of tar-like substance that was bubbling in contact with the air. The same substance was oozing from under his shirt.

Sephiroth clasped his side. “Are you hurt?”

If Ansem was in any pain, he hid it beneath his look of utter confusion. “Why are you touching me?”

Sephiroth let him go. “You’re hurt. We have to get you back to the ship. I have medical supplies there.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not. Don’t act all tough just because you’re sitting on top of a living, breathing war machine.” He smirked. “Compensating for something?”

Ansem chose to respond by pressing their lips together.

The kiss ended too soon, even though Sephiroth had responded positively, nipping Ansem’s bottom lip before they parted. Ansem shook his head as if nothing had happened. “Heartless have nothing to compensate for.”

Sephiroth grasped Ansem’s hips, pulling him close. His mind flashed to thoughts about animals mating, and he smirked. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?”

Ansem winced in pain instead and Sephiroth let him go, muttering an apology. Ansem petted the Terror Heartless’s head, glancing over his shoulder at Sephiroth. “I am beginning to ache. Let us return to your ship and we shall see what develops from there.”

Sephiroth grinned. The Terror Heartless looked back at him, shooting him a look, but with orders from its master, it began to run. Despite its huge size and weight, it quickly sped up into a darkness-powered sprint of thirty miles an hour. What was possibly the strongest monster-class Heartless Ansem possessed was also one of the fastest. Other terrible lizards that had heard the commotion or were flying overhead were instantly transformed into more Heartless.

Soon they had arrived back at the ship. Panting, the Terror Heartless lay down, allowing its riders off. Ansem dismissed it with a glance, and the powerful beast closed its eyes and fell asleep. Sephiroth watched the creature sleep, fascinated, but was quickly distracted as Ansem kissed him again. The kiss deepened lustfully until Ansem pulled away, cringing as more of the black substance oozed from his body.

Sephiroth led him into the ship. The vessel was equipped with a small bedroom for his privacy, with little more than a cot and some shelves. On one of these shelves was a kit full of medical instruments. He took it and opened it up, despite having an amorous Heartless nuzzling the back of his neck.

Sephiroth turned and said, “Let me see your wounds.”

Ansem, undoing the clasps on his cloak, slipped it off, his shirt following it. Two parallel dotted lines stretched across his midriff, each of them deep. No human could have survived such an attack by a terrible lizard. There were identical marks on his back as well. Each were leaking.

Sephiroth uncorked a vial of elixir and rubbed it into each of Ansem’s wounds. “I desperately hope this black stuff doesn’t stain flesh.”

Ansem’s eyes closed. It stung. “Heartless do not bleed. What you are touching is simply liquid darkness. You need not worry, it has limited capabilities. It won’t stain your skin.”

“Who said anything about my skin? I’m worried about you.” Dropping to his knees, he kissed Ansem’s navel, getting some of the Heartless-blood on his lips.

Ansem’s eyes blazed with excitement, running his hands through Sephiroth’s hair and drawing him up so they could kiss properly. They broke apart once air became a problem. Ansem undid Sephiroth’s armor so his coat could be removed, while Sephiroth embraced him, and whispered into his ear.

Ansem suddenly stopped in his ministrations, placing his hands on Sephiroth’s shoulders. He drew him back so they could look eye-to-eye. He said, “I am sorry, Sephiroth. I am incapable of such a thing.”

Sephiroth was silent for a moment, then leaned in so their noses touched. “Doesn’t mean you can’t try, right?”

Ansem led him to the cot, laying him down onto it. He stroked his cheek and said, “I’m not ready to try. However, I do foresee it happening.”

Sephiroth grinned. “I am such a lucky guy.”

Ansem returned his smile. “You are unaware just how lucky you are, sir.”

He held himself over Sephiroth, eyes like embers, and lowered himself down so their bare chests touched, made slick by the elixir and Ansem’s blood. Their lips met once more, quickly growing passionate.

Sephiroth parted from the kiss. He said, “Are you a virgin?”

Ansem reached down to remove Sephiroth’s pants. “What is the correct answer?”

“I should know. I’m not going to hurt you. And, well, just curious. I didn’t think you would let just anyone have you like this.”

Ansem pushed his pants down past his hips, relishing in the feel of Sephiroth’s manhood touching him. “I wouldn’t. You are, indeed, my first. However, I know what I’m doing.”

Sephiroth moaned softly, holding Ansem’s shoulders tightly as the other man carefully began to manipulate him. He said, “So says the guy who runs headlong at monsters....”

“Monsters?” Ansem smirked, kicking off his boots, and Sephiroth’s boots as well. He stroked him carefully, making sure to note what his partner enjoyed. As Sephiroth panted with pleasure, Ansem said, “That must be why I find you so attractive....”

Sephiroth’s eyes shot open and he grabbed his partner’s shoulders hard enough to leave marks, pulling him down so they were inches apart. Sephiroth growled like an animal and said, “If I’m a monster, you’re a hypocrite. Now take off your pants and let me see those legs of yours, baby.”

Ansem chuckled and did as he was told. His body nude was clearly better than clothed and armored, Sephiroth decided. Being a Heartless, Ansem had not worked to attain his physical beauty. He had obtained it from whoever had given unholy birth to his being. Sephiroth was fascinated. That, and Ansem did have nice legs. The Heartless grinned, and Sephiroth felt his heart skip a beat and fill with a panicked emotion that only prey felt. Ansem was emitting predatory auras to him.

Sephiroth swallowed, throat dry. “You don’t scare me.”

Ansem purred thoughtfully, stroking Sephiroth’s cheek before rocking his hips back onto his manhood. “I have to fix that.”

Before Sephiroth could stop him, he sank back, and they were connected. Ansem cringed in pain, hands grasped the sheets until the material tore, then let out a sob. Sephiroth held one of his hips in one hand, and cupped one of his cheeks with the other. He squeezed his hip and drew their eyes back together.

The feeling was almost enough to stop him from breathing, let alone speech, but he choked out, “Goddammit.... Warn me next time.”

Ansem wrapped his fingers around Sephiroth’s arm, holding on tightly. “Are you scared yet?”

“Scared? Oh, Ansem, you bet I’m scared, I’m kind of new to this too and you could, I don’t know, tear something—”

“Thought so.”

Sephiroth stared at him. “Excuse me?”

Ansem smiled proudly, raising his hips and finding a more comfortable position atop his partner. “I thought you were a virgin as well.”

Sephiroth flushed angrily, but it turned into ecstasy as Ansem grew pleasurably tight around him. The Heartless began to ride Sephiroth, finding a rhythm that brought satisfaction to them both. It wasn’t long for either of them to grow close to a release of tension built up during their adventure. Ansem was slick with sweat, elixir, and Heartless-blood, his eyes closed tight, bracing himself on Sephiroth’s chest. Sephiroth himself was enjoying this immensely, bucking his hips and holding onto his partner.

Ansem spoke, quietly at first, but quickly grew in volume. “Sephiroth, please...I need you to...release first, please....”

Sephiroth, in his passion, barely heard his partner, leaning up to catch his lips in a kiss that grew out of control, Ansem nipping at his lips as Sephiroth’s tongue ravished his mouth. Sephiroth was close, and listening to Ansem only drew him closer to the edge. Before he knew it, he came as Ansem tightened around him and pinched his nipples. The Heartless came immediately after, giving a short and quiet cry.

Ansem relaxed first, slipping off of Sephiroth and lying by his side, running his fingers through the mess of fluids on his chest. He said, “Thank you.”

Although Sephiroth wanted to roll over and sleep, he rubbed his eyes, groaned, and said, “Was it okay? I mean, I don’t think you enjoyed it. I didn’t even touch your...you know, prostate.”

“I don’t have one.”

That surprised Sephiroth and he found his tiredness was gone. He looked at his partner and said, “Don’t have one?”

Ansem shrugged, shaking out his hair. “Heartless don’t reproduce sexually. Technically, we don’t even have sex organs. I modified my body to the male persuasion in order to satisfy you. I could be a woman, if you wanted.”

Sephiroth cringed, the idea of a female Ansem rather unpleasant. “No. No, you’re fine the way you are.”

Ansem wrapped an arm around Sephiroth’s body, nose touching his shoulder. “If you wanted me to, I could configure myself so I could harbor one of your haploid cells so that it could exponentially—”

Sephiroth held a finger to his lips, silencing him. “If you always talk science after sex, then this is the last time we’re doing it.”

Ansem grinned, amused, and said, “I could bear your children.”

Sephiroth was shocked. This strange creature that shrugged off science like a heavy garment and disobeyed the supernatural was telling him that he could have children, despite preferring the male gender. Ansem was just as bizarre as the world they were on. No wonder he’d been attracted to it.

Sephiroth suddenly rolled on top of his partner, eyes locking. He said, “You won’t try to love me, but you’re willing to have my children.”

Ansem thought for a moment, then said, “Well, it sounds so crude when you say it like that....”

Sephiroth began laughing, running his fingers through his partner’s hair. “You’re crazy.”

“Birds of a feather, my dear.”

Despite the comeback, Sephiroth let the new nickname warm his heart, and Ansem seemed to sense that, smiling back at him. Limbs entwined, they quickly fell asleep together, surrounded by terrible lizards and deep darkness.

---


“And all that happened seven years ago.”

“Yes, you are correct.”

“What happened afterwards?”

“We went home, stayed together for a while...then he became involved with that boy.... We had an argument over his fate. He left after that...I never saw him again...then I heard he had been killed by Kingdom Hearts.” The relic squeezed the arms of his chair angrily.

Disease said, “You tried to be happy after that, but when you heard that the boy was masquerading as him, you fell into depression. You fell into misery, and you haven’t come out of it in seven years.”

The spirit stood, scythe at the ready. “That’s great for you, but your time is up. While you were going through that monologue, the disease invaded your lungs. You’re going to die of respiratory failure in, oh, I don’t know, twenty minutes, so hurry up and let me take your soul. If I don’t, you’ll turn into a ghost, and I can think of better places to haunt than this awful building.”

The relic said, “The Seven Years of Turmoil apply to me. I do not wish to be a ghost, so I will relinquish my soul to you. However, I will not go with you unless you do something for me to make me happy during the final moments of my existence.”

Disease folded its arms. “Just no asking to live longer. That’s against the rules.”

“I do not want much. All I wish is for one thing.”

“And what is that?”

“If I could only see him smile again, then I would be happy.”

Disease was taken aback. The first guy to have qualified for the Seven Years of Turmoil in millennia and he was asking for a smile. A dead man’s smile. Not even a man, he was asking for the smile of something sub-human. Disease didn’t even think Heartless could smile. But it was poetic in a way. A miserable lover who wanted nothing more than the smile from the man he had fallen for. This was a moment to be remembered. Disease had to do something dramatic, but it was for its childhood idol, and that alone made it worthwhile.

It waited until the relic was overtaken by a coughing fit. Deep within the relic’s body, the disease was tearing his lungs apart, shutting down first the right one, then the left. Disease held its scythe out. The blade shone as it drew the relic’s soul out of his body. Like a phoenix reborn, the relic’s body was overcome by a blinding light as his immortal spirit was freed.

The spirit was the same age as the body it had left behind, even though it was free of the body’s disease. It looked much younger and glowed with a holy light. The light began to waver and the spirit grew transparent as it started to transform into a ghost.

“Sephiroth.”

The spirit looked over at the voice and immediately began lighting up again. The Doom Heartless was standing in front of a dark portal, just as beautiful as the day Sephiroth had first met him. He held out a hand and beckoned to him.

And he smiled.

The spirit charged into him so hard they were knocked into the portal.

---


The next thing he knew, Sephiroth was lying on top of a woman with a sunken, skull-like face and her scythe. Scythe? Oh, no. She was a death spirit! Well, he thought she was. He had never seen her before.

Disease stared up at him, confused. “I thought you were gay.”

He got off of the spirit, looking around his new surroundings wildly. It was every shade of red from crimson to almost black, and stiflingly hot. Beneath the ground they stood on was lava and fire. Across a moat of blood was a gateway in the shape of a skull. Sleeping within it was a three-headed dog. Many people were slowly walking past the gateway into a dark abyss.

Sephiroth was in Hell.

Disease was suddenly by his side, scythe in its hands. “Sorry if this is unexpected. We don’t do the whole river Styx thing anymore. Too time-consuming.”

Sephiroth was shocked. “I’m in Hell!”

Disease shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t have a choice in the matter. You’ve done some good things, but your bad outweighs it. Hope you don’t mind roasting.”

There was suddenly an explosion beneath the lava. It splashed up onto the rock walls, and patches of it began scaling the walls. The lava was alive! Flying balls of lava were also striking the walls and the gateway. The souls going into Hell all panicked, stampeding around wildly. Demons began to mobilize out of the gateway, and a battle ensued.

Disease and the other death spirits bringing in recently-deceased souls joined the battle, leaving Sephiroth alone. A flying demon struck down one of the lava balls. Sephiroth dove to avoid getting hit, even though he was dead, and found himself at the banks of the blood moat.

Something was coming out of the moat! It was a man, covered in the dark red substance. Slowly, the blood slid off of him, and Sephiroth, with a gasp, recognized him.

It was the real Ansem. Sephiroth took his arm and helped him get a grip on the bank. The Heartless was panting, exhausted. Sephiroth would’ve kissed him if it hadn’t been for the chaos around them.

Instead, he said, “Ansem! What are you doing here?”

Ansem wheezed, “I’ve been a bad boy. What about you?”

“Respiratory failure.”

“That figures.”

Sephiroth reflexively ducked as the three-headed dog leapt astoundingly high and clamped its jaws around a lava ball. As the molten rock oozed off, it turned into a Heartless. The lava monsters were actually Heartless.

Ansem managed a smile, spitting blood out of his mouth. He said, “I can’t take this anymore. I’m breaking out. Coming with me?”

Sephiroth surveyed the battle. It appeared to be a stalemate. After some thought, he snapped a stalagmite off the ground and held it like a sword.

He said, “We’re not wanted in Heaven, we’re dead to the living plane, and Hell’s going to be looking for us. It’s a good thing I love the dangerous life.”

Ansem grinned and pulled himself up so their lips met in a kiss that was seven years overdue. With Sephiroth’s help, he fully emerged from the blood moat. They stood side-by-side, lovers and partners, and, giving each other looks that spoke of nothing but love and confidence, joined the battle.

((Phew! There you have it. I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to drop me a line.))