Manor House
Chapter Six

Rating: PG
Category: AU
Pairing(s): Cloud/Reno, Tifa/Barret, Aeris/Tseng, Zack/Sephiroth, Vincent/Cid, Reeve/Rufus, Yuffie/Elena, Charles/Nathan, Toki/Skwisgaar.
Warnings: Little angst, nothing major.
Summary: Loz is in the dog house, Cid’s wishing he hadn’t survived, and Teddy reveals the secret of the bricks… and the mysterious dog.
Notes: Parts of this chapter are Maldy’s fault. You’ll know what parts when you get there. She made me do it.

Song used is ‘Radar Love’ by Golden Earring.

This chapter is illustrated by Animama

Angeal glanced over at Loz as he sat in the passenger seat of the small car, his arms crossed, lower lip sticking out, sulking like an eight-year-old princess. The night air failed to ruffle his white hair; Loz might not take too many things seriously, but nothing messed with the ‘do’. That sucker was epoxied into place but good.

“Wanna talk about it, big guy?” said Angeal as they drove down the quiet highway that would take them to Nibelheim.

“No! No one likes me.”

“That’s not true, Loz.”

“Yes it is. You don’t like me, Reno doesn’t like me, or Yazoo, or Phoenix! I thought Phoenix did, he told me he did. Then he told me I was annoying and he was breaking up with me. And then Yazoo wouldn’t dump Chip even though I said if I couldn’t have a boyfriend then he couldn’t either.”

“Loz,” said Angeal quietly, “you can’t have everything your own way all the time. Not even Sephiroth has it all his own way. That’s not how life works.”

“Well how come Chip and Yazoo don’t fight?”

“Because they listen to each other and they respect one another’s feelings, Loz. That is extremely important in a relationship.”

“Aw I listen to Phoenix but it’s always the same crap. Don’t blow your nose on your dirty underwear, Loz. Don’t stick small animals up your ass, Loz. Don’t drink out of the toilet, Loz.”

“Loz?”

“Yeah?”

“Why does my son like you?”

Loz watched a deer bound across the road. “He says I fuck like a pile-driver.”

Angeal sputtered, then coughed. The little roadster wove briefly out of its lane. Fighting the urge to stop the car and choke Loz like a chicken, Angeal gathered himself.

“I see,” he said, managing to regain his composure. “Loz…. Listening to people is about more than just hearing what they say. It’s understanding and respecting their feelings.”

“Yeah Phoenix says that too.”

Angeal glanced at Loz. “You don’t understand what that means, do you?”

“No,” Loz admitted.

“Well do you understand why Reno was upset that you kicked Kin’s cradle?”

“No. I mean why would he care about something so small anyway? She can’t do anything. She’s useless.”

“Loz,” said Angeal, “do you remember killing Hojo because he was hurting Yazoo?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Because I didn’t want to see Yazoo hurt! Hojo was always hurting us. And Mother always let him. She never cared about us, or protected us. If I didn’t protect Yazoo then no one else would…”

Angeal cast a sidelong glance at Loz. He could practically hear the slow grinding rusty ‘chunk’ sound of the gear in his head turning a notch. He looked at Angeal.

“Is that why Reno attacked me?”

“Yes, Loz, that is why Reno attacked you. If you want a word of advice, never mess with someone’s mother. You hurt his baby. You’re lucky we were there to pull him off, and you are damned he didn’t just kill you anyway. That is his baby, Loz. You don’t have to understand it but you better respect it. And you better call Reno and apologise.”

“Aw I don’t understand any of this. It’s just stupid. If Phoenix really liked me he wouldn’t care what I do.”

Angeal sighed quietly. “Well maybe Zack can explain it to you. In the meantime you owe Reno and Kin a huge apology, and if you ever throw a tantrum like that around my son again, I can promise you that it will be the last tantrum you throw ever. I’ll see to it.”

Loz crossed his arms defensively, sulking in silence for the rest of the trip. Just outside Nibelheim, Angeal noticed David’s motorcycle in his rear-view mirror; David mounted on the machine’s broad back. Seated behind him was Teddy, his long black hair whipping in the wind. As Angeal drove up to the imposing bulk of Shinra Manor, David pulled up beside him. Angeal parked the car and got out, watching as David set the motorcycle down on its kickstand. He then got off the bike, looking towards Angeal and grinning.

“Hey stranger, what brings you here?”

“Just dropping off Loz,” said Angeal. “Why are you and Teddy here?”

“Checking out the ghosts. Tifa apparently thinks the place is haunted. She says there’s been some strange stuff going on.” David looked over at Teddy, who was still seated on the motorcycle. “Coming Teddy?”

Teddy stared at the mansion, his long black hair falling loose around his shoulders, his small hands resting on the machine’s gas tank, his yellow eyes fixed dead on the mansion.

“Teddy?” said David.

Teddy gazed at the building a little while longer, then slowly shook his head. “There is nothing you can do to make me go into that house. Nothing. If she wants to ask me about bricks, she can bring me one. I can’t believe the decades worth of negativity that has gone on in this place.”

“Teddy,” said David, “the bricks are set into the wall. How is she going to bring you a wall?”

“I’m not going in there.”

“Teddy…”

“NOT going in, David. NOT. I wouldn’t know where to start. I would have to do at least two cleansings just to get the horror down to a level where I could hear myself scream overtop of it. Someone could be bleeding to death and screaming for help in there and I would never know it.” He uttered a small laugh. “And she just wants to know about the bricks. That’s…. hilarious. There are enough ghosts here to re-do Woodstock.” He pointed to the gate. “Look. Vincent’s still here. Even after all this time.”

“I don’t see anything,” said Loz.

Teddy shot Loz a sidelong glance that implied he knew about his earlier tantrum and he wasn’t impressed. David ran a hand over Teddy’s back.

“You go into the inn, Teddy,” said David. “We’ll join you in a moment.”

Teddy nodded, then turned to look at the inn. He watched as the town around him went up in flames, and bodies littered the streets. There was a stench of charring flesh, and through it all Sephiroth prowled like a blood-soaked demon.

“Oh this is great. This is just lovely. Real cheery resort town you brought me to, David. I’m… just…. sooooo glad you brought me here.”

David, Angeal and Loz watched as Teddy picked his way through flames and debris only he could see, heading for an inn wreathed in darkness, muttering to himself.

“I don’t think Teddy likes this town,” said Angeal.

“Given its history I’m not surprised,” said David. “Come on, let’s find Tifa and see what’s going on.”

***---***

“Vincent’s gonna kill me,” groaned Cid. “I’ll be sleeping on the couch the rest of my life. He’s gonna have a fit! He told me not to do this!”

“Well excuse the hell out of me, I’m sure,” said Sephiroth, yawning. “The next time you are trapped at the bottom of an elevator shaft with a broken spine, broken neck, and blood gushing from your chest I will just keep my nanites to myself.” He settled down on a couple of crates, closing his eyes.

“You were rather close to death,” said Rufus.

Cid lay on his back on the floor of the underground warehouse, laid out on a tarp, his body slowly regaining the ability to feel once more as the nanites busily worked. He was clearly distressed, but not about his injuries.

“Vincent specifically told me he did not want me infusing myself with Sephiroth’s blood because he was afraid my personality would change.”

“I should think that would be a desirable side effect,” said Rufus.

“The point is…” growled Cid, “he told me not to do it and I promised him I wouldn’t! I never broke a promise to Vincent before and I don’t like doing it now!”

“You didn’t break your promise,” said Barret. “You were unconscious on the floor, bleeding to death. Your friends made a judgement call. So if Vincent wants to go Chaos on anyone’s ass, he can do it with us. You were in pieces, Cid, you would have been dead in three minutes, either from the break in your neck, the one in your back, or just good old blood loss. It was the only thing we could do. We didn’t have any other options and we didn’t even know if this would work. We’re all just damned lucky it did.”

“I know,” said Cid quietly. “And believe me I’m glad. Being dead is not something I have planned for a few decades. But you guys have to help me explain to him that I didn’t do this. He’s never going to believe that I just happened to have an accident that resulted in me needing Sephiroth’s blood to survive. Vincent’s going to have a fit.”

“We will talk to Vincent,” said Barret. “Don’t you worry. Just rest.” He yawned mightily. “What time is it?”

Rufus stretched, then looked at his watch. “Six seventeen in the morning. Sun should be up.” He looked over at a tall form curled up on two crates pushed together, his long white hair hanging loose, his breathing deep and even. “Well I’m so glad someone can sleep. That didn’t take him long, did it?”

“He’s military,” said Cid. “Those guys train themselves to be able to sleep anywhere. They have to.” He yawned and closed his eyes. “Let’s see if I can do it.”

“Useful skill,” said Rufus. “I wish I could.” He looked up as he heard someone come down the elevator shaft, landing on the remains of the elevator.

“Wow,” said Zack. “What a mess.”

Sephiroth’s head shot up the moment he heard Zack speak. “Zack?”

Zack walked into view, carrying a thermos and a bag of muffins. “Hi Baby, the rescue party is here.”

“Thank goodness.” Sephiroth rose on all fours and stretched like a cat, bones snapping and popping into place. He sat up, blinking, his long hair askew. Zack melted.

“Awwwww… you’re so cute in the morning!”

Sephiroth pouted. “Want coffee.”

“I brought you some, Baby. And some breakfast.” Zack paused, looking at Cid laid out on the floor of the warehouse, his eyes closed. “Ah poor Cid. Vincent’s going to be devastated. I hurried as fast as I can but there was just no way to get back down here other than jumping and I didn’t want to land on him. When did he die?”

Cid opened one eye. “Who said I died?”

Zack’s jaw dropped. “Holy crap you’re alive! I thought you were dead! Cid are you okay?”

“I will be. Baby gave me some of his blood. I have busy little nanites fixing my spine as we speak.”

“Baby gave you some blood?”

“Yeah. That’s how I survived.”

Zack’s eyebrow went up. “Vincent’s gonna shit bullets you realize.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. This wasn’t my idea!”

“Well just lie there and let the nanites work, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. How is Vincent?”

“He’s… resting. He’s at the inn, all snuggled in bed. He’s okay.”

“Been giving you any trouble?”

“Well, he got a bit out of hand earlier, but we sedated him.” Zack handed Sephiroth a thermos of coffee, then handed Barret the bag of muffins he had brought. “He’s all bundled up and safe in bed.”

“Out of hand how?” asked Cid.

“Oh… just… spooked a little. He’s fine Cid.” Zack paused and looked at something across the room. “Does that rat have an iPod?”

“Just ignore it,” said Barret. “So how are we getting out?”

“There’s a service elevator further along in the warehouse,” said Zack. “It will take us up into a small shack about a half mile from the house. If we can get Cid onto a board we can carry him out.” Zack began looking for suitable boards to make a stretcher.

“Can’t you just leave me here?” asked Cid.

“Sorry Cid, I think Vincent would prefer you alive.”

“Yeah so he can kill me himself.”

Zack gave him an odd look. “Are you telling me that you’re scared of Vincent?”

“You don’t know that little man. He’s evil. He has more ways of making me feel like garbage than you can imagine! He’s dangerous and manipulative. All he has to do is sniffle ONCE and I’m running around like a jackass trying to make it better. And he’s gonna be pissed about this.”

Zack found a nice wide piece of plywood that would work as a stretcher and carried it over to where Cid was lying. “I think he’ll just be glad you’re in one piece. And I’m sure if you ask nicely he’ll look after you when you get pregnant.”

“I ain’t gonna get pregnant,” growled Cid.

“Oh yeah?” said Zack, setting down the plywood. “Why? Because you’re too manly and macho? Let me tell ya something. You get so much as one intact sperm inside you then you’re preggers, big guy. Those nanites don’t piss around.”

Rufus’ head shot up, and his eyes became large. “Don’t tease me. Are you saying our dear manly macho muscular Cid Highwind is now capable of getting in a delicate condition?” Rufus screeched and giggled. “Oh I so have to see that!”

“That ain’t happening!” snarled Cid.

Rufus clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. “Dear God. I know I don’t ask for much, but if it’s not too much trouble, please give Cid a baby. Thank you.”

Cid growled and swore. “I forgot about that detail.”

“Man how could you forget?” said Barret.

“I just wanted to fly, not be someone’s mother!”

“Well if you’re not careful you’ll get to do both,” said Zack.

“How soon before I know if this chemical cocktail affects my personality?” asked Cid.

“We’d know by now,” said Zack. “If there is going to be a personality change it’s pretty much instant. You seem like the same old Cid to me. Look, Cid, trust me, Vincent will just be thrilled that you’re alive. We don’t even have to tell him what happened.”

“I can’t lie to my husband,” said Cid.

“You’re not lying, you’re just… not telling him everything.”

“Well I want Baby to tell him. It’s gonna seem like just a bit too much of a coincidence if I tell him I had an accident and in order to save my life Baby gave me some nanites.”

Sephiroth yawned, in no mood for drama. He ate his breakfast, shared his thermos of coffee, then helped Zack to carefully move Cid onto the board.

“All right. Let’s be off. This level is clear and if I never see it again I won’t care.”

***---***

By the time they reached the inn, it was eleven in the morning, and Cid had feeling in his limbs, though he wasn’t quite brave enough to move yet. They laid him, board and all, on a bed. Then Sephiroth went over to look at Vincent. He was curled up in a ball on an adjacent bed, heavily sedated and in a very deep sleep. Sephiroth stroked his hair, then glanced up as he noticed another form sleeping on the window seat. It was Teddy.

“I see our resident psychic has arrived.”

“Good,” said Rufus. “Because I am dying to find out what is up with that house.”

Loz chose that moment to walk into the room. He stopped cold when he saw Sephiroth, eyes large with worry. Sephiroth ran a hand over Vincent’s head, then turned and walked towards Loz, moving with a slow, easy grace, coat swaying. As he passed by Loz, he delicately reached out two fingers and grasped Loz’s ear, twisting it painfully.

“Let’s thee and I have a little chat, shall we?”

Loz followed in helpless compliance, face screwed up in pain, mumbling “Ow, ow, ow, ow….”

Sephiroth hauled Loz into the hallway, then turned to face him, still maintaining a death-grip on Loz’s ear. Outside the sun was creeping into the tiny valley in which Nibelheim rested, sending small beams of sunlight through the inn’s multi-paned windows, turning Sephiroth’s eyes to green hellfire.

“Do you want to take a wild guess at what I would have done to you had you kicked my child’s cradle?”

“But it wasn’t! It was just that….”

“Loz, since you refuse to get your head out of your ass, permit me to pull it out for you. You can either stop being a childish self-centered brat, or I can find you a nice quiet asteroid to live on. And don’t think for a split second that I won’t. I have worked very hard for what I have, as has Yazoo, and if you think for one second we are about to let you storm and stomp your way through our lives like a mentally deficient tyrannosaurus rex then you are sadly mistaken. You had the prettiest little bishonen I have ever seen and a nice place to live, and because you can’t make an effort to behave yourself you’re out on your ass. Reno and Cloud opened their home to us when we had nothing, and this is how you repay them?”

“I was just mad!”

Sephiroth grabbed Loz’s coat and pulled him so close they were face to face. “Don’t talk to me about being mad. I took being mad to a strange new level of hell that nearly killed everyone and everything. And if you had harmed that baby and Reno had not managed to kill you, I would have personally finished the job. If you need help learning to fit in then Zack and I will help. In the meantime I want you to patrol the grounds around Shinra Manor with Cloud and see if there are any monsters still prowling around.”

“Aw but I wanted…”

“NOW!”

Loz scrambled to do as he was commanded. Sephiroth went into the room to call Reno, the phone answered after the second ring by one groggy-sounding not-a-morning Turk.

“Geh?”

“Reno? Sephiroth. Are you and Kin all right?”

“We’re fine, but Loz is not coming back here. He’s been nothing but a pain since you left. Five minutes after you and Zack were out the door he became a complete snot. I don’t know what you’re going to do with him.”

“Well currently he’s out helping Cloud clear monsters.”

“Well that should be interesting, yo. Considering Cloud called last night to check on me and I was in tears and Kin was crying and Yazoo was upset because he’d chosen to break his link with Loz over the situation.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “Well that should be very interesting indeed.” Outside the inn came the sound of a shriek. Sephiroth turned his head to see Loz fleeing from a short blonde with a huge sword. “I believe Cloud is discussing the matter with Loz now.”

“You think Loz will figure it out? He’s having a much harder time fitting in than Yazoo did.”

“I think given time he will. Loz isn’t cruel or evil. He’s a child. He’s never had anyone teach him how to behave, and now he is throwing tantrums because for the first time in his life he has rules. Like most children, he will find out very quickly that being a little monster will get him nothing.” Sephiroth sighed quietly. “Reno I am very sorry, had he hurt that child I would have never forgiven myself.”

“It’s not your fault. But he can’t come back here.”

“No. Of course not.”

“Are you coming home soon? The kids really miss you.”

“Likely by this evening. We’ve cleared out the monsters, now all that is left to be done is to let the demolition crews fill in the tunnels.”

“Good because Akira weighs a ton, yo. I’ve begun to lean to the left.”

“I really do have to work on that, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you may want to,” said Reno, “or else as Barret says, he’s going to have a very interesting wedding night. But… what will you do with Loz?”

“Oh don’t worry.” Sephiroth smiled coldly. “I’ve thought of a place for him.”

***---***

It was early evening, and the group were having dinner in their room before heading out. Vincent was still asleep, and Cid was still on his board, but other than that all was well. Loz had been dispatched to fetch one of the bricks from the wall, and all waited in quiet anticipation to see what Teddy would reveal.

Loz was not gone long. It took almost no effort for him to pull a few bricks out of the damaged wall and carry them back to the inn. He offered them to Teddy, who took one, holding it as if it was a rabid turd. After a brief moment, he set it down. He was pale and shaken.

“Tifa where did you get these bricks?” he asked softly.

“They were stored in the house,” she said. “They matched the wall so perfectly I couldn’t resist using them.”

“You have to get rid of these. You have to take them out of your house and dump them someplace. They’re cursed. The… level of negative energy infused into these bricks is… ”

David put an arm around Teddy, trying to comfort him. Teddy had a sip of tea to steady himself, then looked around at the people gathered in the room with him.

“Have any of you ever heard of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre?”

Puzzled glances were exchanged, and heads shaken mutely. Teddy had another sip of tea.

“Well let me give you the short version. February 14, 1929, a group of gangsters gathered at a warehouse to receive a shipment of illegal liquor. One of the men was named Johnny May. He arrived that day with his six month old German Shepherd puppy, Highball. He tied Highball to the bumper of a truck to keep him out of trouble while he conducted business. Not long after they arrived, five men showed up, three dressed as police officers. Since the gangs of the time pretty much owned the police, the mobsters didn’t react to their presence, thinking the cops were just there to make a pretence at doing their jobs. Maybe get a little taste of the illegal whiskey. At any rate the mobsters were not worried. The cops asked the mobsters to line up along the wall of the warehouse…” Teddy picked up a brick and showed it to his friends. “The brick wall, I should add. And once the mobsters were lined up, the cops opened fire. One man, Frank Gusenberg, survived, but only for a few hours. Hours later, people were drawn to the place by the sound of a dog, screaming. Highball was the only surviving witness, and what he saw that day drove him insane. He had to be destroyed.”

There was stunned silence. After a brief while Teddy resumed speaking.

“Over time the warehouse was closed and demolished. The bricks were reused for other things, but they always came back. People who bought the bricks as ghastly memorabilia returned them, saying there was a curse on them. The place where the warehouse once stood is now a lawn, but people who have tried walking their dogs passed it report their pets acting strangely, sometimes even falling to the ground in hysterics. Some of the bricks were bought up by a club owner, but the whereabouts of the rest is unknown.”

“Unknown my ass!” said Barret. “They’re in my house!!”

“Is that what’s been affecting my Vincent?” said Cid.

“I would say so,” said Teddy. “Vincent is undead. He has to be more sensitive to the spirit world than we are, part of him lives in it. Part of him is still haunting that house where he was murdered. That much negativity and psychic energy must be affecting him. He seems to be channelling the ghost of one of the killers. If you ask me the faster we get him out of here and away from that house the better. And if you want my advice about those bricks I would haul then into the mountains and dump them into a crevice. Then I can have some of my friends come up and we can try to do a cleansing to get some of the nastiness out of the Manor.”

“Can’t you get it all?” asked Tifa.

“Tifa,” said Teddy, “there aren’t enough hippie Wiccans on this planet to clean that house. There aren’t enough hippie Wiccans on three planets to clear that house. To even have a chance at cleaning all the evil out of that house, first you would have to pick it up and move it. But getting those bricks out will go a long way to improving things.”

“Well what I would like to know is how those bricks ended up in my house to start with!” said Tifa. “I didn’t order them, but there they are!”

“For someone to have stashed them in the lower tunnels they would have had to have been very familiar with the house,” said Rufus. “Not even I knew about those tunnels.”

Cloud yawned. “Can’t we solve this mystery in the morning? I want to go see my husband while I can still remember why I want to go see him.”

“Hear hear!” said Zack. “I’d like to get home and rescue your husband’s ankle from Akira.”

“Yes and I would just like to flee screaming,” said Teddy.

“What about me?” said Loz.

“You are going to guard the mansion tonight for Tifa and Barret,” said Sephiroth. “And when you wake up in the morning you can start hauling those bricks up the nearest peak to a suitable ledge.”

“Awww… meanie.”

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. “How would you like to do that with a full pack?”

“I’d still say you were a big meanie.”

“Loz?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like Phoenix to speak to you again sometime in the near future?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Then don’t mouth off to the General.”

“Awww…” Loz pouted. “Yeah, okay, I guess old people do get kinda touchy.”

Loz slouched off to do as bid, pouting, completely unaware of the level of insult and outrage he had just dealt to his eldest brother. Sephiroth was positively rigid with indignation, eyes large, wings up, looking for all the world as if he had just been slapped with a rancid trout. David glanced at his watch, then scooped up Teddy.

“Wow lookit the time, gotta go folks, it’s been fun.”

The room cleared out with astonishing speed. Eventually Sephiroth departed as well, walking like a cat on a wet floor, Zack trailing along quietly behind him. Teddy returned briefly to do a quick cleansing ritual on the room, then bid good night to Cid before leaving once more.

Cid lay on his back in the quiet room, cautiously trying out his limbs, glad to have feeling back in them once more. It had been the most terrifying day of his life, lying flat on his back, unable to move. The nanites had repaired him quickly and easily. He had recovered from injuries that he would not have normally survived in twenty four hours, but now he had another problem. He had promised Vincent he wouldn’t do this. Never mind he had broken his back and had been dying and unconscious when Sephiroth gave him the blood; that wasn’t the point. The point was he had broken a promise to Vincent and it was eating him alive.

He sighed quietly. He couldn’t hide it from him. That would just make things worse. So what did he say? Well… the truth would be best. And he had Barret, Sephiroth and Rufus to back him up. Maybe it would be okay. He hoped so. He sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to get any pleasure out of flying if Vincent was gone. Hell if he didn’t have Vincent then what would be the point of doing anything? He sighed heavily, then turned his head as the small form on the bed next to his own slowly sat up. Oh great. If Vincent still thought he was a gangster from 1929 this could get real interesting real fast.

“Vincent?” said Cid quietly.

Vincent looked around, red eyes glowing softly in the dark room. “Where am I?”

“You’re at the inn in Nibelheim.”

“Oh.” He looked around once more. “How did we get here from the house? Did we walk?”

“Vincent that was two days ago. You’ve been sick. Something in the house affected you and you’ve been…well… a little out of it.”

Just as Cid said this, Vincent realized his hair was gone. He made a small squeak of distress.

“My hair! Where’s my hair? Who cut my hair off?!”

“I’m afraid you did, babe.”

Vincent squeaked again. “My hair! Why would I cut my hair?”

“Well like I said, you were a little out of it.”

“I didn’t do anything stupid, did I?”

“Yeah mean like dress up like a gangster from 1929, take a tommy gun and go kill Tifa’s wall? Nah.”

Vincent winced. “Oh fantastic.” He turned his head to look at Cid. “What happened to you?”

“I sorta fell down an elevator shaft and broke my back.”

Vincent drew a loud, ragged gasp of horror, then quickly moved to Cid’s side, kneeling next to the bed and taking Cid’s hand. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you in the hospital? Cid you’re covered in blood!”

“I’m okay Vin. Really. It’s okay. I… I had help. I’m gonna be fine.”

“Help? What kind of help? What happened?”

Cid sighed. “Rufus, Sephiroth, Barret and I went into the lowest levels of the house to clear monsters. When we were done we realized the elevator that had brought us down had died. I had to climb three stories up the inside of the shaft to get out and go for help, but when I got to the top the boards were all rotted through and… I fell. Broke my back, broke my neck, put a big hole in my chest. I was paralyzed and dying. So… Sephiroth… did what he had to in order to keep me alive.” Cid looked at Vincent. “Baby I am so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Why are you sorry you fell? I hardly think you planned it.”

“You told me you didn’t want me infusing myself with Sephiroth’s blood! You said you’d leave me if I did!”

“Cidney Wharren Highwind do you honestly think that I believe you to be insane enough to almost kill yourself just so you can get some nanites that let you fly?”

“But I promised I wouldn’t do it!”

“And you kept your promise, didn’t you? You didn’t take the nanites. Sephiroth gave them to you to save your life. How do you feel? Are you still you?”

“Yeah I’m still me. Just feeling kinda guilty is all. I love you Vincent. You told me not to do this and I went ahead and did it.”

“Cid you’re here and you’re whole and that is all I want. How are you? Can I sit beside you?”

“Yeah I think I’m okay. I can move. I’m not sure if the bones are fully mended but I’m okay. I’d like to get off this board and take a bath.”

“I’ll help you sit up, but be careful. If anything feels strange then let me know.”

“Okay.”

Vincent gently helped Cid to sit up, then stripped off his jacket and t-shirt. “You look all right. How do you feel?”

“Kinda scared. I mean I know if it breaks again then the nanites will fix it but I really don’t want it to break again. Vincent baby I’m so…”

“Not another word,” said Vincent softly. He lowered his head to kiss him. “You undress. I’ll run you a bath.”

Vincent went to pour a bath for Cid, while Cid slowly undressed, moving cautiously. Once he was down to his shorts he walked into the bathroom, pausing to look at himself in the mirror.

“Eyes are still the same,” he remarked. “Do you think they will change?”

“I don’t know,” said Vincent. “Reno’s didn’t. I’m rather inclined to think the green eyes with the slitted pupils have more to do with a defect in Sephiroth’s genetic make-up than with any modifications made.”

“Hope they don’t change. Y’know it’s funny. I thought I’d be so happy. But… now I’m just kinda disappointed in myself.”

Vincent seated himself on the edge of the bath, watching as Cid slipped out of his shorts and carefully got into the bath tub.

“Why?”

“Because now I won’t ever know if it was me that accomplished something or these gold bugs in my blood.”

Vincent smiled at him. “Cid it will always be you. They’re just machines that make you stronger. They don’t have your drive or willpower or intelligence.”

“You’re being awfully supportive about this.”

“Don’t worry, if I find out you arranged this somehow I will be highly displeased.” Vincent turned to look at himself in the mirror, uttering a small sound of distress. “I can’t believe I cut my hair.”

“Don’t worry about it babe, it will grow back, mats, tangles and all. Come join me in the bath.”

Vincent gave Cid a jaundiced look. “Cid you just broke your back.”

“Yeah but I haven’t had sex in a day and a half!”

“I’ll meet you in bed. We can play ‘swamp-monster’ another day.”

“Meanie.”

Vincent walked out of the bathroom. A few moments later a small pair of black silk boxers were tossed into the bathroom.

“Oh look,” said Vincent, “my clothes all fell off and I have somehow managed to cover myself in cherry body oil. Goodness, I’m all slippery and shiny. I guess I’ll just have to lie here naked on this bed and play with myself.”

Cursing and swearing, his spine still in a fragile state, Cid managed to get clean and out of the bath in record time. He even didn’t bother drying himself; he simply went straight into the bedroom, slipping under the covers with Vincent, pulling him close.

“Have I ever told you how sexy you are?”

“Yes. But you can tell me again.”

Cid kissed him. “How about I just show you instead?”

***---***

Charles was in bed, watching the Dethklok concert on TV, and not liking what he was seeing. Beside him Lydia was a miniature face-down bundle, tiny fist clutching a small stuffed toy lamb. She wasn’t quite asleep yet, but she was definitely losing the battle. On TV Nathan snarled his way through ‘Bloodrocuted’, while next to him Murderface played his heart out. Pickles slammed away like a madman on the drums, and Toki desperately tried to play both his part and Skwisgaar’s at the same time. He was managing, though there was only so much Toki could do to cover up for his best friend and lover.

Skwisgaar’s game was completely off. He was sick, and he couldn’t hide it anymore, despite having managed to rally his strength for the show. He was clearly skinny as a rail, and rumours were running through both the music industry and the fan sites alike as to the reason why. Heading the list of theories was that Skwisgaar’s years of sleeping with anyone and everyone had at last caught up with him and he had AIDS. Charles hated to say so, but that was certainly what it looked like from where he was standing. Weight loss, mild confusion, vomiting… whatever was wrong with him was bad in big capital letters.

The show ended, the band walked off the stage, and the audience began the usual chanting and pounding, expecting an encore. They waited, and waited…. and waited. Charles began to have the gut-wrenching feeling that there was not going to be an encore, and he dreaded learning why.

A tall form with long brown hair appeared on stage, and the audience went bananas. Charles breathed a sigh of relief. Toki picked up his guitar, waiting for his band mates. Next came out Pickles, then Murderface, finally Nathan. There was a strange noise being picked up by one of the mics, a sort of panting, rasping, whistling sound, and Nathan looked around while the audience gleefully awaited yet another public Dethklok disaster. Charles personally thought they should charge extra for the comedy routines but there was never any way of predicting when one would break out.

“What’s da hell is dat?” said Toki.

Nathan, Murderface and Toki looked around, then finally looked towards the drums. Pickles was digging around beneath his set.

“Pickles what are you doing?” asked Nathan.

Pickles held up his asthma inhaler. Nathan slapped a hand over his face. “That’s great, Pickles, that… that’s real metal. Here’s two words of advice for you. STOP. SMOKING.”

Pickles flashed him a rude gesture as he huffed on the inhaler. Murderface suddenly realized they were short a band member.

“Where’s Skwisgaar?”

Nathan looked around, then stormed off stage, muttering. Toki, Murderface and Pickles exchanged glances.

“Well this ish awkward,” said Murderface. He turned to the crowd. “Pick a shong,” he said.

“Mary Had a Little Lamb!” someone yelled.

Murderface gave the man an odd look and began backing away from him. The crowd loved it. Then Pickles began playing a drum line. After a few moments Murderface shrugged and joined in. Toki didn’t really know the tune so he just went along for the ride, happily improvising as Pickles began to sing.

I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel,
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel.
It's my baby callin’, says I need you here,
And it's half past four and I'm shifting gear…

Well it wasn’t a Dethklok song, but with only three band members on stage while Nathan was off hunting for Skwisgaar then ‘Radar Love’ was a suitable choice, especially since it relied on a drum and base line more than guitar, and fit into Pickles’ vocal range. And there was the added bonus of it being over six minutes long – plenty of time for Nathan to hunt for misplaced Scandinavians.

Assuming Skwisgaar was misplaced and not dead.

Charles had a feeling this was not the usual Dethklok idiocy. Something was wrong, just flat out wrong. Pickles’ asthma was triggered by stress, and if he was wheezing and gasping then something bad was going on. Then Nathan appeared… alone. He was grinning, and he had his glasses on. He held up a piece of paper and began reading out loud to the audience.

“Uhhhhh…. Missing. One guitar player. Height; too fucking tall. Breed; Swedish meatball. Name; Skwisgaar Skwigelf, but will also come to ‘hey dildo’, or the sound or a popsicle wrapper. He’s mostly paper trained, unneutered, and a chronic leg humper. Him love you long time. If found, just… spray him with a hose then call a cop.”

The audience found all this terribly amusing. Charles however wanted to know what had happened. As the boys entertained the crowd with some very early Dethklok tunes, Charles took out his deth phone and called Badger, their head roadie.

“Hey boss-man.”

“Badger? What happened?”

“Skwisgaar collapsed,” said Badger. “He just went down like a deer. He’s sick, Charles, he’s real sick. And he’s beyond skinny, he’s emaciated. I don’t know how he’s been functioning. He’s been wearing extra layers of clothing to hide it. We’re sending Skwisgaar home right now, the rest of the band will follow.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I couldn’t tell ya, boss-man. I’ll get him home. We’re not far, should only be two hours.”

“All right,” said Charles. “I’ll meet you on the rooftop helipad in two hours. Do the boys know what happened?”

“Pickles does. He was here with me when Skwisgaar went down. Nathan, Toki and Murderface just think he made like a rabbit back to the hotel room. If Toki had any idea what was going on he would come apart and the last thing we need is mass hysteria. So Pickles is pretending he has no idea what’s going on, the band is calm, and the crowd can enjoy the encore then go home happy. Everybody wins. Helicopter’s here. I’ll see you in two hours.”

Charles ended the call, then turned his attention back to the figures on TV, frustrated and depressed. He was not looking forward to explaining to Toki what had happened.

***---***

To learn more about the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, go here