SquidgeWorld Archive

Duo and Quatre raced down the corridor, weapons blazing, until they reached the lab.

Duo kicked the door of the OZ facility laboratory in. "Where's the prison...er..." he froze in shock as he stared at the suspended animation capsule in the middle of the room. Or rather, at what was inside it.

It was a man, naked and very nicely endowed, with pale skin and long silver-grey hair

He'd seen this man before, while playing a video game.

"Sephiroth!" he gasped. He stepped forward, a mixture of fear and lust growing in his heart.

Sephiroth's eyes flew open. He looked down at himself, then at Duo. Rage came into his eyes. He didn't like being put on display this way. He was even less happy with the IV tube in his left hand. He looked at the bag it was connected to, then telepathically willed Duo to look, too.

Duo saw that the IV was slowly draining blood out of Sephiroth. Those idiots at OZ were probably trying to make a serum that would make them as powerful as Sephiroth.

Sephiroth sensed this thought and sneered. //I hope they all die of severe Mako shock.// he replied.

Duo frowned. This guy could read minds. So he was probably as powerful in their world as he was in his own. This made Duo both very concerned, and very aroused.

"My God! It's him! It's really really really him! It's Sephiroth! Sephiroth the Magnificent! Sephiroth the Great! Sephiroth the Utterly Spectacular! Sephiroth the Sexy! Sephiroth..." he went on and on, as excited as a kid with a million dollars in a candy store.

Sephiroth's curiosity got the better of him and he probed the mind of this strange boy who had never been anywhere near Mako or Materia and yet who knew of them and of him. Plus he had to admit he'd been a bit surprised, albeit pleasantly so, to be called Sephiroth the Sexy.

(part 2)

Sephiroth sensed Duo's energy. It was a force for good almost as strong as his own dark power. He could easily corrupt it, bend it to his will. He drew upon it now, his actions as subtle of those of a cat stealing food from its master's plate. His body remained dormant.

Duo opened the unit. Then, reverently, he stepped up to the now open capsule and carefully removed the IV from Sephiroth's hand. What he did next took Sephiroth completely by surprise, despite all that had happened before. Duo reached up and caressed Sephiroth's face, tenderly, then leaned forward and placed a tender kiss upon Sephiroth's lips.

Sephiroth's eyes flew open in surprise. He pulled back, losing his balance momentarily and nearly toppling over backwards. Overcorrecting, he managed to topple over forwards instead, landing in Duo's arms.

"Gee," Duo laughed, "I didn't expect you to fall for me so quickly!"

(part 3)

Sephiroth's expression darkened, but Duo continued to smile.

"If you think I'm falling for you, then you are sorely mistaken." Sephiroth pointed out. "Since you're aware of who I am, you know that I couldn't care less whether you live or die."

"Me thinks the evil lab experiment doth protest too much." Duo remarked, offhandedly, giving Sephiroth a kiss on the nose.

"Stop that!" Sephiroth shouted.

"No." Duo kissed him again. "I won't. And do you know why?"

"You're suicidal?" Sephiroth inquired.

"Nope. Bzzt. Wrong. Because you want me to."

"I *WHAT*?!" Sephiroth nearly hit the roof. "If you think that I want to have your inferior hands all over me..."

"If you didn't want me to kiss you, I'd be dead." Duo pointed out.

"No...." Sephiroth shook his head. "Its not possible! It can't be! Mother will be so disappointed."

"Why would Lucrecia ..."

"Lucrecia?!" Sephiroth demanded. So, this kid didn't know everything about him after all. "My mother's name is Jenova."

"Wrong." Duo figured that the first thing he would do would be to dispel the lies this poor guy was forced to live under. "Your father lied to you."

"I never even met my father!" Sephiroth exclamed.

"He lied to you about that, too." Duo told him. "Not surprising, considering at a waste of slime Hojo is."

"NO!!!" Sephiroth blocked his ears. "NO! That moronic cretin is *NOT* my father! I am the son of Jenova!"

"Show me your Jenova power." Duo suggested. He had an idea and he hoped to God that he had't just made a mistake.

(part 4)

Sephiroth closed his eyes, bowing his head in solemn concentration. For a moment nothing happened. Then... ... still nothing.

Sephiroth's eyes blinked open in disappointment. "I don't understand. It should have worked."

"Sephiroth," Duo said, gently, "Its okay. There's nothing to be afraid of. You still have your other abilities."

Sephiroth shook his head.

"No," he said, "I don't. I can't trust that training anymore. The man who trained me was a liar. My whole life was nothing but a lie. I wasted my time being evil for the sake of a lie. I..."

"You have a chance to redeem yourself." Duo told him."I'll see to it that that opportunity is given to you."

Sephiroth nodded. "That's more than I expected." He said. "Thank you."

(Part 5)

"Let's just worry about getting out of here." Quatre suggested as the OZ troops rushed into lab.

Sephiroth grabbed his sword and narrowed his eyes. "They've been injected with my cells." he said, sensing it keenly. "You can't fight them."

"We're not leaving you." Duo told him.

"You won't be any good to anyone dead." Sephiroth pointed out. "I can handle these ones myself."

A bolt of flame erupted from one of the soldiers' hands and engulfed Duo.

Duo screamed in agony as the high intensity flames seared his body. Flashes of scenes from the Maxwell Church Massacre filled his mind; a looting mob, a sobbing child sobbing over the charred body of the kindly nun who had once soothed him. Now it was he who was burning. He fell over, lifeless, upon the ground.

"DUO! NO!" Quatre screamed rushing at the man who had killed Duo.

Sephiroth held his hand out to them and cast a Life2 spell upon Duo. Quatre watched in amazement as the charred corpse slowly reformed into a living and unhurt Duo Maxwell.

"Duo!" Quatre hugged him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course not." Duo snapped, somewhat shaken up by his ordeal. "But I'm alive and unharmed physically thanks to Sephie here."

"I'm simply paying back a kindness." Sephiroth told them. "Now get the hell outta here before you get killed again!"

This time Duo and Quatre didn't argue."

(part 6)

Sephiroth let out a cry of rage as he charged at the OZ soldiers. It was good to be fighting again. He loved the thrill of battle. And to be fighting on the side of Good instead of Evil felt even better. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from him.

The OZ soldiers were enhanced with Sephiroth injections just as Sephiroth and othe SOLDIERs had been injected with Jenova injections. But Sephiroth was more trained then they had been at using the powers they now had and so he was able to outmanuever and out-fight all of them.

He soon finished off the OZ soldiers in the lab, then he ran to catch up with Duo and Quatre.

They were at the front gate fighting the guards. Sephiroth made quick work of them with his Masumane. Then, he ran through, motioning for Duo and Quatre to follow. The three of them ran to where the Duo's and Quatre's Gundams were waiting. With Duo and Sephiroth in one and Quatre in the other, they sped back to the safehouse.

"Sephiroth," Duo said, cheerfully, "this is Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, and of course you've already met Quatre Raberba Winner. Everyone this is Sephiroth... um... do you have a last name?"

"No." Sephiroth shook his head.

"Duo," Heero shook his head, "must you bring in strays all the time?"

"He could make an excellent Gundam pilot." Duo pointed out. "He's very skilled and he has great abilities."

"For killing." Heero pointed out.

"That's what we do, Heero." Duo reminded him. "We're military pilots. We kill people for a living. Or had you forgotten."

"But he does it for fun." Heero argued.

"That's in the past." Sephiroth promised.

"I promised him the opportunity to redeem himself and make up for his past evils." Duo said, giving Heero the most kawaii puppy-dog-eyes look he could muster. "Please don't make a liar out of me, Heero?"

Heero sighed. "Okay, we'll give him a chance,:" he told Duo.

"Thank you, Heero!" Duo gave Heero a quick hug then gave Sephiroth a great big "welcome-to-the-family-my-beloved!" hug.

Heero narrowed his eyes as the braided bishonen lingered within the circle of the Mako-eyed warrior's arms.

Standing near Heero, Quatre could've sworn he heard the Japanese pilot emitting a soft, jealous growl.

Sephiroth was sharing Duo's room that evening. The two of them were talking about their past adventures when Duo went over and sat behind Sephiroth.

"You have beautiful hair." Duo told Sephiroth.

"So have you." Sephiroth replied. "I love your braid."

"I could do your hair like that, if you like." Duo suggested. "Please? I've always wanted to see how you'd look with a braid."

"Go ahead." Sephiroth leaned back a little so he could relax while Duo braided his hair.

Duo smiled and began the task of braiding Sephroth's hair. Once he was finished and had tied Sephiroth's braid with one of his hair ties, he turned Sephiroth toward him and kissed him softly upon the lips.

"I've fallen in love." he confessed

"So have I." Sephiroth agreed.

(Part 7)

Heero watched as Duo kissed Sephiroth again a week later. //Don't worry,// he had told himself, at first //Duo still loves you. This Sephiroth, this man from a video game Duo loves to play, is nothing more than a novelty for him. // But now he wasn't so sure. He wanted to continue denying that Sephiroth was anything more than a toy to Duo. But as time went by, he could see in Duo's eyes, a look that had once been only for him. But now, it was only for Sephiroth.

A hand rested itself upon Heero's shoulder. Heero turned and looked into a pair of concerned eyes that were at once like and unlike Duo's.

"Quatre." he said, "I've lost him, haven't I?"

"Did you ever really have him?" Quatre asked.

"I'd like to think he loved me once." Heero whispered. "But perhaps you're right. Perhaps..."

"You misunderstand." Quatre told Heero. "Heero, you and Duo felt mutual love and respect for each other. But it was the wrong kind of love. What you felt and still feel for each other, was the love all warriors feel for others like themselves. It is a bond stronger than sex that will see your friendship through even this. But it is not the love of a romantic couple. If you had pursued a romance, it would have eventually failed and it might have even destroyed the friendship you worked so hard to forge with him. Duo knew this, Heero. That's why, despite the closeness he felt, he always backed off when things became too intimate."

"Then you know that..."

"That you and Duo never made love? Yes. And I'm glad, Heero." he took Heero's chin in his hand and pressed his lips to Heero's in a tender kiss that mirror the one still taking place between Duo and Sephiroth. "I'm glad because it means that I can still be your first."

"What makes you think....?"

"Duo told me." Quatre whispered in Heero's ear. "He and I talked about this last night. He told me he was in love with Sephiroth and he was concerned. He knew you were falling in love with him and he was sorry you were going to be hurt."

"Why didn't he tell me himself?" Heero asked.

"I asked him to." Quatre replied. "But he said he couldn't bear to see you be hurt, especially by him. You have to let go, Heero. Duo's happy and he wants you to be happy, too."

"I lost my happiness." Heero said, lowering his head to hide the tears now flowing down his cheeks.

Quatre lifted Heero's face and kissed his tears away. "Then let me help you find it again." he whispered.

=30=