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Description
Title: Protector
Author: Enide Dear
Pairing: CloudxZack, ZackxReno, CloudxReno
Rating: Nc-17
Warning: implied rape, violence. DARK FIC!
Summary: A while ago I said I was in the mood to destroy something beautiful, which is usually bad news for the Remnants. But this time it’s Reno who has to suffer the brunt or my evilness….or is it?
A/N: We all know Zacky-puppy wouldn’t do this….

”Yes, sure I’d like to…” Cloud didn’t get any further before a strong hand closed around his arm, pulling him away. “Zack, what’s wrong?!”

Zack held the trooper against his chest with one hand, careful not to bruise, poking Reno in the chest with the other. Ignoring Cloud’s question, the First Class Soldier glared at the Turk.

“You stay away from him, Reno. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

Reno just smirked nastily, even though the finger poking into his chest had enough force to bruise. Instead of answering Zack he made a mocking half-salute and peeled himself from the wall where he’d been leaning, sauntering away down the corridor.

“See you later, yo.” He waved at Cloud with his cig.

“Zack, what’s wrong?” Cloud frowned up at his lover. “We were just talking. Reno wondered if I felt like going out drinking with him and the Turks sometime.”

“Don’t.” Zack sighed and let go of his hard grip, gently twisting Cloud around in his arms so they were face-to-face. “The Turks are not like us. They don’t have any honor. They lie and cheat… you just can’t trust them. I know Reno’s been stalking you for weeks, and I don’t like it. He shouldn’t even be here, on Soldier floor! There’s no telling what he’s up to.”

“He’s just friendly…” Cloud’s pout disappeared as Zack rubbed their lips softly together. “And you have gone on several missions alone with Tseng!”

“Tseng if different. As far as Turks goes he’s the only one reliable.” Zack hugged him hard, his heart aching at the thought of anything befalling his love. “Then stay away from Reno for my sake, please? I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Cloud pressed harder against him, but Zack held him back, careful of his own strength. Cloud had not had mako-shots; he was an ordinary human and a false move on Zacks’ behalf could seriously harm him.

“I’m not a porcelain doll.” Cloud frowned, exasperated at this old dilemma. “You should know that by now.”

“You are my porcelain doll,” Zack chuckled, his warm grin as always melting away Cloud’s protests. But as they walked away toward their shared room, the blonde shivered as he noticed cold, predatory eyes following them along the corridor.

The door to Reno’s apartment was almost torn off its hinges as a brutal kick slammed it open. The Turk swore and scrambled to his feet, dropping the beer bottle he’d been chugging from, but he was far too slow.

“Where is he?!” Zack roared, storming into the dirty, cluttered apartment, kicking chairs and old piles of used clothing out of his way. The Soldier’s face was one Reno had never seen, red with fury, his hands shaking. It was probably pure luck that he didn’t have his sword along.
Not that a First Class Soldier couldn’t snap a Turk’s neck like a reed if he wanted to.

“What the fuck are you...” Reno fumbled for his EMR, but he wasn’t fast enough; Zack kicked it from his hand and crushed it underneath his boot. “Fuck you, I have to pay for those, yo!”

“Cloud? Cloud where are you?!” Pushing aside the Turk, Zack ran for the bed room, but the untidy and probably very unsanitary room was empty, the bedcloth strewn all over the place. The dirty shower and toilet was equally empty, but that did nothing to calm down Zack. Returning to the living room, he grabbed Reno by his collar, pulling him closer.

“Where is he?” He snarled. “What did you do to him?!”

“Look man, I don’t know what the hell you are talking about, yo.” Reno stared back, green eyes shining with a cold, contemptuous rage that almost equaled the mako-light burning in Zack’s.

Almost.

“Cloud was here. I know it. He didn’t come home to night, and I know you had something to do with it!”

“Is he your fucking kid or something? The guy’s all grown up, you know. He can do as he damn well chooses!” Reno’s smirk turned evil. “And with a cute ass like that, I doubt he’ll lack for company…”

Zack felt his control slipping. With a sharp move, he slammed his forehead across Reno’s face, sickly triumph welling up inside as he heard cartilage break. Pushing Reno backwards he watched with dark satisfaction as the Turk fell over the armrest and onto the stained couch, his lips split and blood running down his chin.  Reno wiped at the blood, his eyes coming alight with shock and evil vengeance.

“Where is Cloud?” Zack knew, deep inside, that what he did was wrong. He was purposely hurting a man who had no real means of defending himself. But if Reno had even touched Cloud…darkness welled up inside him, threatening to engulf him and to Hell with Angeal and Soldiers’ honor.

“He was here. Don’t know where he is now, though.” Reno’s eyes shone. “Probably crawled off somewhere to try to get clean before he comes home to you, yo.”

Darkness crawled into Zack’s brain, thoughts made dizzy with berserker rage. He threw himself over Reno, straddling him, grabbing his dirty collar and shaking the redhead like a hunting dog worries a caught fox.

“You bastard.” He hissed. “What did you do to him?”

Reno’s glittering eyes held untold depths of nastiness and he smiled despite his blood-smeared lips.

“I fucked him, right here on the couch.”

Blood pounded through Zack’s head as he stared down on the smirking Turk, the embodying of all he detested. But Reno just wouldn’t shut up, spitting out blood he continued:

“He came here, said he wanted to talk about something, like I was gonna give him fucking milk and cookies or something. He seemed really distraught, and he didn’t shut up until I shoved my tongue down his throat. *That * got his attention at least. Told him, if he wanted my help he had to give me something in return. He asked me what I wanted. Told him I wanted to get off. And the stupid brat put his hand down my pants! Like some wanking is gonna do it for me. So I told him to piss off, but he was really persistent. Got down on his knees…”

“No! Shut up!” Zack’s mind felt blank, he was still clutching Reno’s shirt but somehow he knew he was losing control. Reno’s triumphant smile said he knew it to. “You gods-damned molester –“

“Hey, he could have fucking *left* you know. I sure as hell wasn’t holding him here.” Reno’s smile grew wider. “I just sat here and let him suck me like I suck on a cig, all needy and addicted…”

“Shut! Up!” Despite himself, Zack slammed a fist at Reno’s face, he needed to make the Turk shut up, he needed to *hurt* him, hurt him bad, hurt him like he’d hurt Cloud because there were no way Cloud had wanted this, not his Cloud, his gentle, sweet, *fragile* Cloud….Zack’s head spun as Reno spat out more blood but still didn’t stop grinning at the atrocity he’d committed. And suddenly hurting his face wasn’t enough. Zack needed to do more. He needed to hurt Reno just as bad as he’d hurt Cloud.

As if watching himself from a distance, Zack grabbed Reno through the worn material of his jeans. Reno thrashed, tried to kick him off, but went limp as he realized he had no chance of physically overpowering the Soldier. That didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt him in other ways, though.

“He sure got a mouth on him, the little bitch.” Reno almost purred, watching Zack flinch even as he tightened his grip on Reno’s groin. “I think he likes giving head, yo. He didn’t even protest when I held his head down.”

Zack could see it, in his mind, try as he might to block it out. His Cloud, kneeling on the dirt floor, Reno’s long legs surrounding him and his feet resting on the worn coffee table. The Turk’s pants just opened, his shirt hanging loose and pushed back over the flat belly, Cloud’s head bobbing up and down as Reno’s hand in his hair urged him on…Zack felt blood pound in his ears.

“Fuck you!” Reno hissed in desperation when Zack started to tear his pants down, but he was helpless to resist. Just as helpless as Cloud had been…Zack didn’t care anymore, not about honor or dignity, not about anything but giving the smart-mouthed, dirty Turk what he deserved, he wanted, no he needed to hurt him, to humiliate him. But Reno recovered far too quickly. Throwing another poisoned barb he continued. “’Course I only let him get me hard this time. Next time I’ll cum on his pretty little face. Think he’ll like that? Bet you’ve never even tried…”

Zack hadn’t. Of course he hadn’t! He treated Cloud with respect, with love…snarling, he tore his own pants open, a small distant part of him equally horrified at what he was about to do as he was shocked that he was actually hard. Stone hard.

Reno’s beautiful, decadent face stared up at him, mocking in its arrogance. *You don’t have the balls!* it said, as plainly as if he’d spoken. Instead, Reno said with that slow, underplate drawl of his:

“I threw him down right here on the couch and took him with just his own saliva as lube. Should have seen his face. Like he was a fucking virgin or something. All teary and wide eyed.”

Something snapped in Zack’s head. He’d always taken the uttermost care to prepare Cloud, always been so careful not to harm him….and now *this*?
The redhead’s face spasmed with pain and his breath came in a sharp hiss as Zack slammed into him, dry and unprepared and all.

“Bet you never fucked him at all!” Reno almost screamed, writhing underneath Zack. “Bet you only made love!” Somehow, he made it sound like an insult and Zack slammed into him again, trying to wipe that mocking smirk of his face, trying to get him to feel what Cloud had felt, trying to get some sort of *justice* done. It didn’t work.

“He…ah…begged me to go slower…” Reno panted in between the thrusts. “Tore my shoulders…ngh!...to fucking shreds. Screamed like a banshee.”

“I hate you!” Zack thrust harder, so damn hard, so damn desperate.

“Couldn’t…fuck you to, Soldier boy!…have lasted more than ten minutes, the needy little bastard.” Reno was still thrashing, to get free or to get off Zack didn’t know; the perverted Turk was getting hard! “Turned him over and fucked him from behind - Ngnh! – with his face down in the pillows. Should have seen his face when I burst my balls inside him. Thought they’d just pop right out of his skull. Bit a chunk out of my fucking sofa to try to keep quiet.”

“You are a fucking liar!” Zack screamed, tears and rage welling up inside him because he could see the bite mark in the threadbare cloth.

Reno sneered up at him, his voice all malice.

“I wrote my name on his ass with a permanent marker. You’ll be seeing that when you fuck him for weeks and then you can think of me, yo.”

He bit into Zack’s shoulder, hard, but far from hard enough to make Zack let him go.

“I wonder,” Reno hissed, “If it’s fucking me that turns you on, or the thought of me fucking your precious little trooper?”

It was too much. Thoughts of Cloud and Reno, thoughts of Cloud, thoughts of Reno – it all mixed up into a violent, dark miasma of arousal and vengeance and Zack came, hard enough to bruise the already pained Turk. Who, to Zack’s utter distaste, came as well.

Panting, his heed reeling, Zack felt cold creep up on him. A sudden hand of ice gripped his soul; what had he done? He’d raped Reno. Raped him.

His muscles didn’t even seem to be under his control anymore, and Zack couldn’t stop Reno as the Turk pushed him away, not even to stop himself from falling down the couch and onto the floor.  He felt violated, sullied from the inside out and the fact that he’d done it to himself was no comfort.  Crawling into a fetus position, he faintly heard Reno get up and pull his pants back on. Then a heavy combat boot landed on his neck, pressing him into the rug next to stains of alcohol and cigarette ashes. He didn’t fight it, not even when the pressure increased.

“Well, wasn’t this fucking nice.” Reno mocked slowly. “We should do it again, sometime. Now I’m gonna go get pissed drunk and you’d better get the *fuck* out of my apartment before I return. Or I’ll report you for….*forced entry*, yo.” The boot was removed and Zack could hear Reno leave, not even bothering to close to door behind him, leaving the Soldier dirty and sullied on the floor.

“Zack? Zack are you alright?” Cloud had never seen Zack like this before. Their room was dark, only one small lamp still lit and Zack sat naked on the bed, his hands folded in front of him. The look on his eyes was lost and his skin was burning red as if he’d scrubbed it. Repeatedly

“Cloud. Where have you been?” He asked, flinching as Cloud said down next to him and reached out. “Don’t touch me. Please.” Even now he couldn’t help but treat Cloud with exaggerated care.

“Me? I was just out taking a drink with the other troopers. It’s Wednesday, we always go drinking on Wednesdays, you know that.” Cloud’s face lit up. “There were no Turks there if that’s what you worry about, although one of the guys claimed he’d won 500 gils from Reno the other day on poker, so he was buying. That’s what took me so long.”

Reno. Renorenoreno. The schemes were coming together in Zack’s head now, except…why?

“Cloud. Could you…take of your pants, please?”

“What?”

“Just…please.” He couldn’t even begin to explain.

Blushing a bit, Cloud did and Zack gently turned him around. The pale ass was smooth and unmarked, no sign of a pen. And from the faint smell of sweat and drink still on Cloud, it wasn’t because he’d washed it off.

Something seemed to break inside Zack, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad.

“He lied. Turks lie.” He mumbled to himself, pulling Cloud down in his lap, burying his face in spikey hair.  “He set me up for this.” Why? Zack had no idea. And he was forced to realize that he probably never would know. Turks kept their secrets far too well.

“You were right, boss.” Reno lit a cig as he gingerly sat down on the comfy chair opposite Tseng’s desk, sprawling out his long legs. “The trooper’s his weak spot. Harm him and there’s no telling what Zack would do, yo.” He scowled, waving the cig around. “Almost fucking raped me.”

“Almost?” Tseng was already sorting that vital piece of information on Zack Fair away in his brain, but that word woke him up.

Reno shrugged, winking.

“Can’t rape the willing.”

“I see. Well, you’d better stay out of the Soldiers way for a while. I’m sending you to Costa del Sol on a minor spy assignment. Bring Rude, you might need some muscle.” *And I don’t want you to be alone right now.* If Reno realized that he was being pampered as a ‘thank you’, or even as a ‘I’m sorry’, he didn’t show it. *Zack must have been brutal on him.* “I’d like to separate those two for a while.” Tseng nodded to himself. “After Niebelheim,  I will.”

;) (Wink) — Description
Title: Protector
Author: Enide Dear
Pairing: CloudxZack, ZackxReno, CloudxReno
Rating: Nc-17
Warning: implied rape, violence. DARK FIC!
Summary: A while ago I said I was in the mood to destroy something beautiful, which is usually bad news for the Remnants. But this time it’s Reno who has to suffer the brunt or my evilness….or is it?
A/N: We all know Zacky-puppy wouldn’t do this….

”Yes, sure I’d like to…” Cloud didn’t get any further before a strong hand closed around his arm, pulling him away. “Zack, what’s wrong?!”

Zack held the trooper against his chest with one hand, careful not to bruise, poking Reno in the chest with the other. Ignoring Cloud’s question, the First Class Soldier glared at the Turk.

“You stay away from him, Reno. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

Reno just smirked nastily, even though the finger poking into his chest had enough force to bruise. Instead of answering Zack he made a mocking half-salute and peeled himself from the wall where he’d been leaning, sauntering away down the corridor.

“See you later, yo.” He waved at Cloud with his cig.

“Zack, what’s wrong?” Cloud frowned up at his lover. “We were just talking. Reno wondered if I felt like going out drinking with him and the Turks sometime.”

“Don’t.” Zack sighed and let go of his hard grip, gently twisting Cloud around in his arms so they were face-to-face. “The Turks are not like us. They don’t have any honor. They lie and cheat… you just can’t trust them. I know Reno’s been stalking you for weeks, and I don’t like it. He shouldn’t even be here, on Soldier floor! There’s no telling what he’s up to.”

“He’s just friendly…” Cloud’s pout disappeared as Zack rubbed their lips softly together. “And you have gone on several missions alone with Tseng!”

“Tseng if different. As far as Turks goes he’s the only one reliable.” Zack hugged him hard, his heart aching at the thought of anything befalling his love. “Then stay away from Reno for my sake, please? I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Cloud pressed harder against him, but Zack held him back, careful of his own strength. Cloud had not had mako-shots; he was an ordinary human and a false move on Zacks’ behalf could seriously harm him.

“I’m not a porcelain doll.” Cloud frowned, exasperated at this old dilemma. “You should know that by now.”

“You are my porcelain doll,” Zack chuckled, his warm grin as always melting away Cloud’s protests. But as they walked away toward their shared room, the blonde shivered as he noticed cold, predatory eyes following them along the corridor.

The door to Reno’s apartment was almost torn off its hinges as a brutal kick slammed it open. The Turk swore and scrambled to his feet, dropping the beer bottle he’d been chugging from, but he was far too slow.

“Where is he?!” Zack roared, storming into the dirty, cluttered apartment, kicking chairs and old piles of used clothing out of his way. The Soldier’s face was one Reno had never seen, red with fury, his hands shaking. It was probably pure luck that he didn’t have his sword along.
Not that a First Class Soldier couldn’t snap a Turk’s neck like a reed if he wanted to.

“What the fuck are you...” Reno fumbled for his EMR, but he wasn’t fast enough; Zack kicked it from his hand and crushed it underneath his boot. “Fuck you, I have to pay for those, yo!”

“Cloud? Cloud where are you?!” Pushing aside the Turk, Zack ran for the bed room, but the untidy and probably very unsanitary room was empty, the bedcloth strewn all over the place. The dirty shower and toilet was equally empty, but that did nothing to calm down Zack. Returning to the living room, he grabbed Reno by his collar, pulling him closer.

“Where is he?” He snarled. “What did you do to him?!”

“Look man, I don’t know what the hell you are talking about, yo.” Reno stared back, green eyes shining with a cold, contemptuous rage that almost equaled the mako-light burning in Zack’s.

Almost.

“Cloud was here. I know it. He didn’t come home to night, and I know you had something to do with it!”

“Is he your fucking kid or something? The guy’s all grown up, you know. He can do as he damn well chooses!” Reno’s smirk turned evil. “And with a cute ass like that, I doubt he’ll lack for company…”

Zack felt his control slipping. With a sharp move, he slammed his forehead across Reno’s face, sickly triumph welling up inside as he heard cartilage break. Pushing Reno backwards he watched with dark satisfaction as the Turk fell over the armrest and onto the stained couch, his lips split and blood running down his chin.  Reno wiped at the blood, his eyes coming alight with shock and evil vengeance.

“Where is Cloud?” Zack knew, deep inside, that what he did was wrong. He was purposely hurting a man who had no real means of defending himself. But if Reno had even touched Cloud…darkness welled up inside him, threatening to engulf him and to Hell with Angeal and Soldiers’ honor.

“He was here. Don’t know where he is now, though.” Reno’s eyes shone. “Probably crawled off somewhere to try to get clean before he comes home to you, yo.”

Darkness crawled into Zack’s brain, thoughts made dizzy with berserker rage. He threw himself over Reno, straddling him, grabbing his dirty collar and shaking the redhead like a hunting dog worries a caught fox.

“You bastard.” He hissed. “What did you do to him?”

Reno’s glittering eyes held untold depths of nastiness and he smiled despite his blood-smeared lips.

“I fucked him, right here on the couch.”

Blood pounded through Zack’s head as he stared down on the smirking Turk, the embodying of all he detested. But Reno just wouldn’t shut up, spitting out blood he continued:

“He came here, said he wanted to talk about something, like I was gonna give him fucking milk and cookies or something. He seemed really distraught, and he didn’t shut up until I shoved my tongue down his throat. *That * got his attention at least. Told him, if he wanted my help he had to give me something in return. He asked me what I wanted. Told him I wanted to get off. And the stupid brat put his hand down my pants! Like some wanking is gonna do it for me. So I told him to piss off, but he was really persistent. Got down on his knees…”

“No! Shut up!” Zack’s mind felt blank, he was still clutching Reno’s shirt but somehow he knew he was losing control. Reno’s triumphant smile said he knew it to. “You gods-damned molester –“

“Hey, he could have fucking *left* you know. I sure as hell wasn’t holding him here.” Reno’s smile grew wider. “I just sat here and let him suck me like I suck on a cig, all needy and addicted…”

“Shut! Up!” Despite himself, Zack slammed a fist at Reno’s face, he needed to make the Turk shut up, he needed to *hurt* him, hurt him bad, hurt him like he’d hurt Cloud because there were no way Cloud had wanted this, not his Cloud, his gentle, sweet, *fragile* Cloud….Zack’s head spun as Reno spat out more blood but still didn’t stop grinning at the atrocity he’d committed. And suddenly hurting his face wasn’t enough. Zack needed to do more. He needed to hurt Reno just as bad as he’d hurt Cloud.

As if watching himself from a distance, Zack grabbed Reno through the worn material of his jeans. Reno thrashed, tried to kick him off, but went limp as he realized he had no chance of physically overpowering the Soldier. That didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt him in other ways, though.

“He sure got a mouth on him, the little bitch.” Reno almost purred, watching Zack flinch even as he tightened his grip on Reno’s groin. “I think he likes giving head, yo. He didn’t even protest when I held his head down.”

Zack could see it, in his mind, try as he might to block it out. His Cloud, kneeling on the dirt floor, Reno’s long legs surrounding him and his feet resting on the worn coffee table. The Turk’s pants just opened, his shirt hanging loose and pushed back over the flat belly, Cloud’s head bobbing up and down as Reno’s hand in his hair urged him on…Zack felt blood pound in his ears.

“Fuck you!” Reno hissed in desperation when Zack started to tear his pants down, but he was helpless to resist. Just as helpless as Cloud had been…Zack didn’t care anymore, not about honor or dignity, not about anything but giving the smart-mouthed, dirty Turk what he deserved, he wanted, no he needed to hurt him, to humiliate him. But Reno recovered far too quickly. Throwing another poisoned barb he continued. “’Course I only let him get me hard this time. Next time I’ll cum on his pretty little face. Think he’ll like that? Bet you’ve never even tried…”

Zack hadn’t. Of course he hadn’t! He treated Cloud with respect, with love…snarling, he tore his own pants open, a small distant part of him equally horrified at what he was about to do as he was shocked that he was actually hard. Stone hard.

Reno’s beautiful, decadent face stared up at him, mocking in its arrogance. *You don’t have the balls!* it said, as plainly as if he’d spoken. Instead, Reno said with that slow, underplate drawl of his:

“I threw him down right here on the couch and took him with just his own saliva as lube. Should have seen his face. Like he was a fucking virgin or something. All teary and wide eyed.”

Something snapped in Zack’s head. He’d always taken the uttermost care to prepare Cloud, always been so careful not to harm him….and now *this*?
The redhead’s face spasmed with pain and his breath came in a sharp hiss as Zack slammed into him, dry and unprepared and all.

“Bet you never fucked him at all!” Reno almost screamed, writhing underneath Zack. “Bet you only made love!” Somehow, he made it sound like an insult and Zack slammed into him again, trying to wipe that mocking smirk of his face, trying to get him to feel what Cloud had felt, trying to get some sort of *justice* done. It didn’t work.

“He…ah…begged me to go slower…” Reno panted in between the thrusts. “Tore my shoulders…ngh!...to fucking shreds. Screamed like a banshee.”

“I hate you!” Zack thrust harder, so damn hard, so damn desperate.

“Couldn’t…fuck you to, Soldier boy!…have lasted more than ten minutes, the needy little bastard.” Reno was still thrashing, to get free or to get off Zack didn’t know; the perverted Turk was getting hard! “Turned him over and fucked him from behind - Ngnh! – with his face down in the pillows. Should have seen his face when I burst my balls inside him. Thought they’d just pop right out of his skull. Bit a chunk out of my fucking sofa to try to keep quiet.”

“You are a fucking liar!” Zack screamed, tears and rage welling up inside him because he could see the bite mark in the threadbare cloth.

Reno sneered up at him, his voice all malice.

“I wrote my name on his ass with a permanent marker. You’ll be seeing that when you fuck him for weeks and then you can think of me, yo.”

He bit into Zack’s shoulder, hard, but far from hard enough to make Zack let him go.

“I wonder,” Reno hissed, “If it’s fucking me that turns you on, or the thought of me fucking your precious little trooper?”

It was too much. Thoughts of Cloud and Reno, thoughts of Cloud, thoughts of Reno – it all mixed up into a violent, dark miasma of arousal and vengeance and Zack came, hard enough to bruise the already pained Turk. Who, to Zack’s utter distaste, came as well.

Panting, his heed reeling, Zack felt cold creep up on him. A sudden hand of ice gripped his soul; what had he done? He’d raped Reno. Raped him.

His muscles didn’t even seem to be under his control anymore, and Zack couldn’t stop Reno as the Turk pushed him away, not even to stop himself from falling down the couch and onto the floor.  He felt violated, sullied from the inside out and the fact that he’d done it to himself was no comfort.  Crawling into a fetus position, he faintly heard Reno get up and pull his pants back on. Then a heavy combat boot landed on his neck, pressing him into the rug next to stains of alcohol and cigarette ashes. He didn’t fight it, not even when the pressure increased.

“Well, wasn’t this fucking nice.” Reno mocked slowly. “We should do it again, sometime. Now I’m gonna go get pissed drunk and you’d better get the *fuck* out of my apartment before I return. Or I’ll report you for….*forced entry*, yo.” The boot was removed and Zack could hear Reno leave, not even bothering to close to door behind him, leaving the Soldier dirty and sullied on the floor.

“Zack? Zack are you alright?” Cloud had never seen Zack like this before. Their room was dark, only one small lamp still lit and Zack sat naked on the bed, his hands folded in front of him. The look on his eyes was lost and his skin was burning red as if he’d scrubbed it. Repeatedly

“Cloud. Where have you been?” He asked, flinching as Cloud said down next to him and reached out. “Don’t touch me. Please.” Even now he couldn’t help but treat Cloud with exaggerated care.

“Me? I was just out taking a drink with the other troopers. It’s Wednesday, we always go drinking on Wednesdays, you know that.” Cloud’s face lit up. “There were no Turks there if that’s what you worry about, although one of the guys claimed he’d won 500 gils from Reno the other day on poker, so he was buying. That’s what took me so long.”

Reno. Renorenoreno. The schemes were coming together in Zack’s head now, except…why?

“Cloud. Could you…take of your pants, please?”

“What?”

“Just…please.” He couldn’t even begin to explain.

Blushing a bit, Cloud did and Zack gently turned him around. The pale ass was smooth and unmarked, no sign of a pen. And from the faint smell of sweat and drink still on Cloud, it wasn’t because he’d washed it off.

Something seemed to break inside Zack, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad.

“He lied. Turks lie.” He mumbled to himself, pulling Cloud down in his lap, burying his face in spikey hair.  “He set me up for this.” Why? Zack had no idea. And he was forced to realize that he probably never would know. Turks kept their secrets far too well.

“You were right, boss.” Reno lit a cig as he gingerly sat down on the comfy chair opposite Tseng’s desk, sprawling out his long legs. “The trooper’s his weak spot. Harm him and there’s no telling what Zack would do, yo.” He scowled, waving the cig around. “Almost fucking raped me.”

“Almost?” Tseng was already sorting that vital piece of information on Zack Fair away in his brain, but that word woke him up.

Reno shrugged, winking.

“Can’t rape the willing.”

“I see. Well, you’d better stay out of the Soldiers way for a while. I’m sending you to Costa del Sol on a minor spy assignment. Bring Rude, you might need some muscle.” *And I don’t want you to be alone right now.* If Reno realized that he was being pampered as a ‘thank you’, or even as a ‘I’m sorry’, he didn’t show it. *Zack must have been brutal on him.* “I’d like to separate those two for a while.” Tseng nodded to himself. “After Niebelheim,  I will.”