Secrets and Lies

A/N: I apologise profusely for the time it took to get this chapter up. Writing this chapter was about as easy as pulling teeth from a bird's beak. It started off alright but the ending just did not want to be written and so I apologise even more for how bad this chapter gets as it progresses. Hopefully the next chapter will be smoother, easier to write and move things along a bit. Again, I'm sorry, but I hope the chapter isn't too bad. Don't hold your breath for the next one though, I lost my notes on where I was going to take this fic so I need to get thinking again. Anyway, enough of me rambling, here's the chapter.

Warning: Semi explicit (I don't think it's completely explicit at least) yaoi in this chapter. Also, mild gore at the beginning.

Secrets and Lies
Chapter Three
Making Mistakes

Perhaps he should have known it would happen. Being kissed by the blond was too good to be true for the likes of him. He should have known better than to let his guard down. He should have known there’d be a catch. He simply should have known better. As a direct result of allowing himself to be lulled into a false sense of security, it had happened again. Granted, the second time he hadn’t been lifted and impaled upon a protruding piece of piping, but he couldn’t really say that having his own gunblade plunged through the opposite shoulder while he bled out from a nasty gash across his abdomen was a whole lot better. If he was going to be honest with himself, he was surprised that his intestines hadn’t come spilling out of the wound, it was so deep.

In this particular instance though, he’d had some healing magic on him, since he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, and once his assailant had gone, leaving him pinned to one of the surrounding cliffs by the formerly undamaged shoulder, he’d exerted all his energy in getting the blade out of its fleshy sheath. Minutes had passed in agony as he strained the muscles in his free arm to pull free the gunblade that was embedded deeply in the rock behind him after passing smoothly through the flesh and bone of his shoulder. Every motion seemed to aggravate both rather serious wounds and since he had to wiggle the weapon to dislodge it from the rock face, white hot, fiery pain lanced across his body in every direction, making black starbursts appear with frightening regularity in front of his eyes.

Eventually, he’d managed to pull the blade free of his shoulder, blood immediately spilling from the wound to further stain his white shirt even as he dropped the few feet to the ground from where he’d been suspended. Crimson blood splashed to the ground as he immediately pressed his hand to thin but deep wound, his chest heaving for breath and teeth gritted against the pain.

With a mutter of ‘Cura’, the wound knitted itself closed, as did the wide one across the taut muscles of his abdomen, flesh and muscle melding back together, bone realigning and practically gluing itself back together. Such were the wonders of magic and although the process itself was uncomfortable, feeling his body heal itself at an unnatural rate, he owed his life to the various healing magics and potions.

Once the wounds were closed, he tested the shoulder to find it extremely tender but usable and would definitely be able to support the weight of his tools as long as he was careful. The last thing he wanted was the others wondering why in the hells he was only using one arm to work, or wasn’t working at all, and then fussing over him when they found that he was injured. After the last time, they’d almost implemented a buddy system before Cid demanded that they were both old enough to look after themselves and needn’t go around with someone holding their hand. Leon had quietly agreed and thankfully, albeit apparently reluctantly, the topic had been dropped. If they caught wind of how he’d been attacked a second time, by the same person no less, they’d likely do something drastic to keep an eye on him.

He sat there, partially slumped against the bloodstained wall of the cliff he’d been pinned to, until he felt it safe to stand without pulling on the sore muscles and repaired skin of his abdomen.

It was then that he noticed just how much of a state he was in and an aggravated sigh left his lips as he dragged a shaking hand through his hair. Despite having used the magic, his body still ached with every move he made and that last thing he wanted was to have to worry about how his shirt was ripped and bloody on top of trying to move as naturally as possible should he be seen by any of the committee members. If they saw the state he was in, granted it wasn’t as bad as last time, they’d still make a beeline for him and pester him until he told them something to shut them up. He appreciated that they were his friends but sometimes he felt smothered by their attention and concern for him.

He took stock of his surroundings for a moment and tried for another moment to think of the quickest way back to the house he shared with the others. If he didn’t want to get caught, he’d have to take the back route and hope to Hyne that nobody was in the house when he got back there. Both Cid and Cloud knew better than to poke their nose where it didn’t belong, or at least Cid did, but he didn’t want to rouse their curiosity or have them alert the girls as to what they’d seen.

With his route planned and hoping that everybody was at work, Leon began making his way back to the house.

It was unusual but not worrying that he came across practically no-one while he made his way back to the shared house. Beside the few townsfolk on the way to or from their homes, he came across nobody of interest but it was still some relief to see their house not too far away and nobody nearby. He had no way of telling just yet, if anyone was inside but at least he’d made it back without attracting any unwanted attention. He could only hope that everyone was out doing their jobs and not at the house for whatever reason.

Minutes later, the gunblader was turning the key in the lock and pushing open the door to the house. It was dim inside as a result of the curtains being closed which was definitely unusual since he’d opened them himself that morning. Since he had no idea why the curtains would be closed, he wondered if maybe Yuffie had been around and played a prank, or she was watching a movie in their lounge since she hated watching movies with the glare of light on the tv, had no tolerance for it. It was unexpected yes, but no cause for concern and so the brunet had no reason to be suspicious as he closed the front door behind him and strode along the small corridor towards the lounge.

When he stepped clear of the end of the corridor, he found Cloud sat in the armchair, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded and a malicious glint in his eye.

Leon froze.

“You really thought I would let you get away with that?” The blond sneered, pushing himself from his seated position with unnatural ease and seemingly gliding towards the brunet who had gone rigid in place. “It was smart, I’ll give you that, but perhaps you should have waited a little longer before healing yourself. Pity you did really, you look so good in red.” He chuckled darkly, stopping inches from the gunblader who hadn’t moved a muscle. A finger hooked into the ruined t-shirt, the crimson liquid still drying and the finger came away darkened with blood from wounds that had long since healed over.

There was no point fighting it. Leon knew it already. He could stand a chance against Cloud in a fair fight, a battle of weapons or fists, but this wasn’t Cloud. This was something dark, something powerful that he hadn’t the strength of light to fight with any hopes of winning. So it was without moving that he watched the blond approach him like a predator advancing on its prey, grey eyes almost blank as Cloud’s words washed over him. He stiffened noticeably when the finger touched his blood-dampened shirt and only bowed his head a little as the swordsman circled him once and stopped in front of him once more. Wordlessly, Leon remained in place, an unusually submissive air about him, replacing his usual quiet confidence. Cloud’s presence in the house had been unexpected and he had no defence against him.

The blond knew he would get little in the way of a reaction from the gunblader and he couldn’t deny being disappointed by this knowledge since it was so much more interesting when the man tried to put up a fight, but Leon didn’t know what he was going to do yet and so he held out for some attempts at resistance once his intentions became clear. A cruel smile spread over his lips as he stopped before the male and advanced once more, backing the brunet up against the wall and pinning him there with his arms. To his amusement, that was all it took before Leon seemed to understand what was about to happen to him and the colour drained from his cheeks.

Leon’s arms came up to press against the blond’s chest and with the wall behind him as a brace he pushed Cloud back a few steps, realising as soon as he did so that the blond was allowing him to do so.

A split-second later and Cloud had brought his own arms up and between the brunet’s arms, forcing them apart and allowing him to surge forward with some strength and slam Leon back against the wall. The brunet fought back, directing a jab at the blond’s chest in an attempt at winding him and hooking his foot around Cloud’s in a valiant attempt at throwing the man off balance but the swordsman was having none of it and although he took a step back to retain his balance, he still backhanded the brunet hard enough to daze him.

Leon’s head spun at the blow, allowing his assailant to pin him firmly to the wall once more. Struggling against the blond as the man pressed against him, moulding their bodies together, Leon turned his head away and stared off to the side, pointedly ignoring the glowing green/blue eyes boring holes into the side of his head.

He’d never really thought about it before, only assumed the man was being rather overdramatic about it but perhaps this had been something Cloud had been trying to warn them about from the very beginning, only now the darkness he claimed was within him had almost taken on a mind of its own, manipulating the blond who seemed to have no memory of any of it once the darkness had receded once more. He wasn’t going to pretend that he understood how it worked but he hoped that someone would be able to do something to dispel the darkness from within Cloud permanently. Perhaps he should consider enlisting the help of the keybearer. Cloud’s heart was pure, he was sure of it, maybe all he needed was someone to help him push past the darkness he had succumbed to to survive so that the light in his heart could overpower the darkness once and for all. That was his theory anyway.

Once thing was for certain though, if Cloud later found out , once he regained his right mind, about what he was undoubtedly about to do, then it would be a lot harder to convince him of the light of his heart.

A knee was prudently placed between the gunblader’s thighs while the Cloud literally ripped free the remains of the ruined shirt from his prey’s chest and kept the man pinned in place using his body and his hands bound above his head using one of the gunblader’s own belts which bit just slightly into the man’s wrists. Those wrists would be chafed and bleeding by the time Cloud was done with him, of that he was certain.

As soon as the brunet’s hands were bound above his head, his nimble fingers went to work on the single belt that held up the male’s pants since he wasn’t interested in wasting time with the removal of the other, both practical and decorative belts and before long, Cloud was pushing the pants off the brunet’s hips and a slender brow rose up into his hairline even as a dusting of pink appeared across the other’s cheeks. It wasn’t exactly unexpected that Leon wasn’t wearing anything beneath those tight leather pants of his, but it was still a bit of a shock to actually have everyone’s suspicions confirmed. “So the rumours are true.” The blond sneered, stroking lightly over an exposed thigh and delighting in the slight shift of the area as the muscles tensed beneath his fingertips.

Leon was stood there, shirtless, pants around his ankles, exposed to the blond’s scrutiny and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. There were still faint marks from the latest inflicted wounds amongst the scattered scars that decorated the muscled chest and they were sore, but it was the knowledge of what Cloud was about to do that kept him from fighting back. He knew that if he just let it happen then the damage he was likely to take would be far less and the chance to deprive Cloud of the fight he obviously wanted would be a small way of getting back at the man for taking what he wanted.

Since Leon wasn’t fighting back, to the blond’s disappointment, Cloud thought it safe to leave the brunet where he was and reached down between them to the clasp of his own pants which he undid in no rush, pushing his own pants and accompanying boxers down to expose his already half hard length. Still there was no resistance from the brunet who was only looking blankly to the side as if he wasn’t really there. It angered the blond who growled in annoyance and slicked up his fingers using a small amount of scented oil, something that had been more down to it being close at hand rather than any care for the brunet. If the oil hadn’t been there, he would have been more than happy to just use saliva.

He didn’t wait for any kind of reaction from Leon, didn’t wait for the brunet to protest or fight it, Cloud simply reached down, teasingly brushing past limp length and balls to push a finger inside.

Leon didn’t like it at all and squirmed against the wall, trying to get away from the probing finger but he had nowhere to go and Cloud wasn’t backing off. Hissing through his teeth and clenching his eyes shut so that he didn’t have to see the expression on the blond’s face, he felt that first finger slip inside him and bit his lip to silence himself. It wasn’t painful, only uncomfortable but it was something unwelcome regardless of how it felt.

Cloud chuckled darkly as he prepared the brunet without care for the man’s comfort. He didn’t want it to be completely painful but he didn’t much care if Leon got any pleasure out of it either. This was a show of dominance, a blatant refusal to allow Leon to think that he could escape Cloud and the things he inflicted upon the man.

After smearing the oil across his erect cock, noting that Leon was just about showing signs of arousal, he grabbed one of the gunblader’s legs, gripping the back of the knee and tugged it up to rest on his hip to give him better access. He slid in easily, not pausing until he was buried right up to the base of his length and he smirked at the sounds of discomfort the brunet couldn’t help but release to the cool air of the lounge. Since the curtains were closed and the others at work, there was no-one around to help the scarred gunblader which meant that Cloud could take his time if he so wished.

He didn’t take his time though, thrusting shallowly but fast, hips rocking back and forth, the brunet’s back thudding against the wall with each movement. To his annoyance Leon had been very quiet throughout, considering what he was having to endure, letting only the occasional noise of discomfort past his lips but it wasn’t unexpected and Cloud took what he wanted without particularly paying attention to whether Leon was enjoying it or not.

Leon gave no resistance throughout the assault, his eyes blank, as though he had withdrawn from his body and locked himself away in his head. The thought that it was almost as though he was fucking a doll very nearly made the blond recoil and drop the brunet who would have crumpled to the floor no doubt. He made sure the brunet was still with him by delivering a hard slap across the man’s face and watching as those blank grey eyes gained some focus and a pretty red mark appeared on the abused cheek.

Only when Cloud was satisfied did he finally leave.

The brunet was left crumpled against the wall with his pants around his ankles but he didn’t move until he was certain Cloud had gone. At least the belt had been removed from his wrists which were sore and chafed raw. Once he was sure he was alone, the scarred brunet moaned in pain as he gained his feet, stepping out of his pants and trudging up to the bathroom for a shower so that he might feel clean again. It wasn’t long after he’d locked the bathroom door behind him that his friends proclaimed their entrance with a yell of ‘Hi Leon!’ that sounded distinctly like Yuffie.

After spending a good half hour in the shower and retreating to his room for fresh clothes, the brunet decided that since he was unhurt and no longer bore the signs of another attack, since his bloodied clothes were in his laundry basket to be washed, he would get something to eat. It was almost as though the gunblader was miles away with the way he seemed to be going about on autopilot, not paying much attention to anything as he went about his business although he walked with a pronounced limp, even though he tried to hide it, aware enough of that it seemed, if nothing else.

Three times he almost cut his hand open while making himself a sandwich, he was so distant. The third time he nearly sliced into his hand resolved to get a grip on himself. Cloud had raped him and he had to move on or else the bastard blond would think he’d broken him.

He wasn’t expecting to see the aforementioned blond in the lounge as he went through to return to his room.

Their eyes met.