![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Qilin
Author: GW Katrina aka![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
icedark_elf
Beta:skeren
Theme and Number: 5 - Haunting or Occult Freak for 10_au on LJ
Genres: AU, Fantasy Modern
Warnings/Disclaimers: Not mine, of course, though the world they are in is.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Pairing: Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 7,696
Summary: Haunted by dreams, Zack has no idea what changes await him.
A/N: I had posted this forever ago, then took it down. Now I'm reposting it here, rather than on LJ.
”…really think this is a good idea. It’s rude, and….”
“We have to know….”
The brush of scales and feathers. Voices he doesn’t know, whispering over him, fading in and out.
“…want it to be him just as much as you do, but….”
Sounds of fighting. Blades clashing against each other. Only thought that happened on TV. Colors blurred around him, black and white, red, blue, yellow, all smeared and swirling around one another. A flash of a beak, gleam of fangs.
Then quiet.
“We need him. We’ll tear each other apart like this.”
“I know. Which is why we need to do this. I’m sorry. If it is him….”
“He’ll forgive us if it is. You know that, better than me even. “
///
Zack woke up, panting, eyes darting around the room. Nothing was there, but he still looked anyway, eyes looking through the dark room as best he could. None of the wards had been broken, nor had they been tampered with. Both would have left a mark, but he just felt as if…something had been there with him. Impossible, but he couldn’t shake that feeling.
Laying back down, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Weird dreams were a part of life for him, but that was a bit odder than most, and he laid there, trying to figure out what it meant. Voices and animals. A distinct feel of animals. He could still hear the feathers, feel the scales under his fingers.
Why did it feel like something was hanging over him now? Something he wasn’t sure was bad or good.
He would think more of it tomorrow. After work. Crap, he had to go shopping tomorrow, too. He hated shopping. With a passion. But he wanted food, and food required shopping.
That sucked.
Mumbling to himself, Zack curled back up in his bed and pulled the blanket over his head. No more peeping spirits if there had been some anyway.
Stupid spirits. Couldn’t even let a guy sleep in peace.
///
Late!
Latelatelatelate! So very, very late!
Having slept right through his alarm, Zack grabbed the first pack of pastery breakfast like food he could and bolted out the door.
Only to slam into a body and stumble back into the wall as they staggered the opposite way, dropping the box they were carrying.
For a second, all Zack saw was the hair and thought woman. Then he saw the shoulders under the mass amount of silver hair, and revised that to guy.
Then the man looked at him, and Zack rerevised it to really, really pretty guy. Really tall pretty guy. When the man stood, Zack realized the stranger was taller than him.
“My apologies,” said the man, green cat-eyes practically glowing. Glowing eyes. Spirit touched. Not too common, at least in this area. Zack normally wore glasses when he wasn’t at work, when having glowing eyes was a benefit. Didn’t have a clue on what the kitty part meant, but he wasn’t going to ask. He got enough hassle himself that he wasn’t going to do it to someone else.
“Hey there,” he said instead. “Name’s Zack. And don’t apologize. It’s my fault for running into you.” He moved to help collect the things that had fallen out. As he did, he realized that the door across from his was opened, and there were a lot more boxes in there. “You the new tenant?”
A small nod, the man slipping on his own dark glasses. “Yes. I’m Sephiroth.” He collected the box from Zack. “It was nice to meet you, Zack, but you did seem to be in something of a hurry.” Sephiroth gave a small smile, just barely visible on the corner of his lip, so small that is Zack hadn’t been staring so damn hard, he wouldn’t have seen it.
The quiet stretched, then Zack yelped. “Late!” he yelled, and barreled down the stairs.
Would have to check out his most interesting neighbor later.
///
”He is a pretty thing, isn’t he?”
“That’s not funny. And I know you like his eyes. So just stop pretending.”
“It’s not like I’ve ever said I didn’t, you know.”
“Still not funny.”
Ruffle of feathers, flash of yellow surrounds by the blacks, whites, reds, blues, and more yellow of decorated feathers.
A soothing rumble of a purr, and scales, blue-green and edged with the same colors as the feathers curved along everything.
“You know you belong with me, as does he, and we need him.”
“I know, we need him. We want him. But we can’t rush, and you know it.”
“I’m sorry, then.” More of the soft purring, and an agitated sigh with another ruffle of feathers
///
With a start, Zack opened his eyes. Had dozed off at the table, and he felt the hand on his shoulder pull back. Blinking, he rubbed his eyes and looked at Aeris. “Hey, babe.”
“You all right?” she asked, concern in her eyes. “I’ve never seen you fall asleep after a reading like that before.”
“’m fine,” Zack answered, pausing to yawn. “Just had some odd dreams last night.”
A gleam of concern in the healer’s eyes as she settled down in the customer chair and studied him and Zack gave her a grin, waking up enough to slip back into his normal flirting mode. It was strange that he had been so tired to doze off like that when he had been so hyped up after meeting Sephiroth.
Speaking of Sephiroth….
“I ran into my new neighbor today. Literally. Big old bang, stuff scattered everywhere, people staggering around type of running into.” A nod and he was pleased to see her smiling back and laughing softly along with him. Sometimes she was far too serious, and he really wished it had worked with her, but they were too much alike at times for that to happen. Had been nice while it had, and he was grateful that she was willing to stay friends even after the dating part had ended.
“You are going to run into someone who is going to not notice that pretty smile of yours one day and who’s going to attempt to knock teeth out of it,” she warned, still laughing softly. Her gaze sharpened a bit, and he knew he hadn’t distracted her well enough.
Problem with dating someone, or even being such good friends with them. They knew when you were trying to sidetrack them. “What kind of dreams?”
He shrugged. “Just odd ones.”
“Your wards go off?”
A shake of his head, black hair going everywhere. It was spiked more wildly than normal. Silly normals liked their card readers to look a bit more exotic than them, and the spikes and the eyes seemed to help. Zack had no idea why, he just went with it. “Nothing that registered as anything not me. So no influence, just dreams.”
Reaching out to brush a bit of hair out of his face, Aeris continued to study him. “Pre-cog?”
“Only with assistance, babe. You know that’s why I’m a reader and not a palmist or color spotter.”
She sighed and nodded. “Let me know if you start feeling odd. Cause, speaking of color spotting, your aura is all over the place. Any odd energy spikes?”
He shook his head again. “I’m too old for anything else to develop. At least I hope so. Don’t want to have to go through any type of training like that again. Much prefer my martial arts to learning how to stop things from talking in my head. Again.
Aeris just shook her head finally and leaned in to ruffle his hair. “We’re clear for the rest of the day. If anyone else comes in, they’ll just have to deal with a color spotting and not a reading. Go home. Get some rest. You look like you need it.”
He wanted to argue with her, wanted to let her know he was fine, really, but going home and crashing really did sound nice. And if he went now, he could get that shopping done and be back at his apartment before night fell.
There had been too many things roaming the streets at night lately for anyone with the least bit of sensitively to feel at home. Just the latest of things to say something was wrong.
Not that Zack ever remembered them being right. It had been going wrong since before he was born, and the reader had heard stories from the old-timers that said the balance was out of place in the city.
Maybe that was what was triggering the dreams? He had been starting to catch more and more things from the corner of his eyes, so maybe the walls between here and there were starting to thin more.
Not good. Not good at all.
He’d almost rather that he was developing a new gift, as much a pain in the ass as that was.
Sighing, and shaking his head, finding his thoughts wandering, again, Zack smiled. “I think I’ll take you up on that. Don’t decide to stay open late just cause I’m not here to scold you if you take on a healing you shouldn’t, all right?”
“Zack, you know me better than that.”
“I do, that’s why I worry.” He stood and got his stuff together, pausing to drop a kiss on her head. “Stay safe, okay, Flower girl? Watch out for bees. They’re starting to swarm.”
She paused and looked at him, eyes bright as she studied close. “You sure you aren’t feeling any pre-cog? Because that sounded an awful lot like a warning.”
Licking his lips, Zack shook his head. “I shouldn’t be getting anything new, Aeris. I’m twenty three. If I’m adding onto my amazing level of skills, things are more messed up in this city than we thought. No, not pre-cog, just a bad feeling.” A grin. “I’m getting paranoid in my old age.”
“I’m only a year younger than you,” she said, swatting his shoulder. “Go home, get sleep, and I expect you here bright and early tomorrow, all right?”
Giving her braid a tug, he laughed and nodded as he slipped out the door.
Now, to do his shopping.
Luckily, there was a little corner grocer on between Aeris’s shop and his place, and he was able to get what he wanted there. For the most part, it was quiet, only a few other people in there. So it was easy to slip through the narrow aisles and collect what he wanted, the sharp smell of spice in the air. Luck incense, smelled like. That or money. The two did go hand in hand, especially for businesses like this.
It was a sharp, spicy scent, and one he was enjoying as he eyed the shelf. They didn’t have his favorite bread down where it normally was. Looking up, he rose up on his toes, trying to see if there was any on the top shelf. It looked like there might be, and he took a step back, trying to see if that really was what it was.
And ran into someone for the second time today.
Off balance as was trying to get a good angle to look, Zack yelped and staggered, barely catching himself on a shelf. After making sure he didn’t take out the display of jams, he let loose a soft breathe, and then looked to see who he ran into.
For a moment, he found himself starting into blue-green, slitted eyes, reflecting light like water did. Then, after a blink, he realized he had imagined that. Instead, he was looking at bright, bright blue eyes as their owner offered a hand.
Another spirit touched man.
“Sorry,” the other man said, hand out to Zack. “I didn’t realize we were so close. You okay?”
Nodding, a bit stunned at his luck of seeing two such hot guys, though it took a minute for him to tell that, yes, this was a guy, Zack took the hand and stopped leaning on the shelf. “It’s okay. My fault, I’m pretty sure. Name is Zack.”
A bright smile and Zack was sure the temperature had gone up a few degrees. “I’m Cloud. Laugh and I’ll kick you in the shin.”
“I’m sure if I find a reason to laugh at you,” Zack said honestly, still holding onto Cloud’s hand and looked at him, “it’ll be for something a lot more in your control than your name.”
A long moment passed, and he coughed, then let go of the other man’s hand. “So, do you live near here? I think I’d remember someone with hair like that if I’d seen it before.” He reached out and flicked a blond spike, grin growing a bit when Cloud smirked back at him, eyes flicking up.
“Just moved in. And you aren’t one to talk. Your hair is even taller than mine.”
Oh, and he could banter back. Collecting his stuff, Zack grinned. This was turning into an interesting day through and through.
He and Cloud wandered through the store, picking up things up, idly chatting with each other. Zack would have liked to continue to keep up the conversation, but he really did want to get home before dark.
“I’d love to stay and chat,” he said, finally, “but I really do need to be getting home.”
There was a bit of a disappointed sigh, and Cloud nodded. “I do as well. This town gives me the creeps during the day; I hate to imagine it at night.”
Zack nodded. “My thoughts earlier. Shall we?” He made a ‘go ahead’ gesture for the register, and followed Cloud up, and then through. Stepping outside, he waved the way towards his apartment. “I live that direction. How about you?”
A pleased smile crossed the blond’s face. “I do as well. It’ll be nice to have company at least partway home.”
And a pleasant walk it was. The pair continued to chat as they walked, discussing various things, from the prices at the store to how things seemed to be in the spirit touched communities. It was nice to talk to someone who actually knew what he was talking about when it came to things that weren’t…normal, and Zack didn’t realize that he was so distracted till he followed Cloud up the stairs to the man’s apartment complex.
“Shit, sorry about that, Cloud. I’m not a stalker, I promise,” he spluttered a bit. “I actually need to….” He blinked, then doubled checked. “Okay, now I’m confused. Did I walk you to your place, or did you walk me to mine?”
Cloud blinked at him. “Well, I just moved in here yesterday. So if you live here as well, then both.”
Well, this was interesting.
“I’d suggest,” came a dry voice, “that you might want to come in. The clouds are promising rain.”
That was a dry, familiar voice, and Zack looked up and blinked at the man he had met this morning. “Evening, Sephiroth.”
“Good evening, Zack.”
Cloud looked between the two of them. ”So,” he said finally, “I take it the two of you have already met?”
And the day just kept getting more and more interesting. “Yeah,” Zack told him. “I ran him down this morning. By accident.”
Corner of his lips twitching, Cloud looked at him calmly. “So, what, was running me down earlier on purpose, then?”
Sputtering, Zack denied any such thing, which was true, though the denials died some when he saw Sephiroth reach out and brush a bit of hair out of Cloud’s face. It wasn’t a big gesture, but he knew affection and care when he saw it, and the hand Cloud rested for just a second against Sephiroth’s waist said what type of affection and care.
Damn, all the good ones really were taken, weren’t they?
Moving up the steps after them into the building, he paused in the door and looked up.
The clouds really were starting to mass together, thick and greenish-black. A shiver running down his spine, Zack caught a flicker of something out of his eye, and he hastily withdrew into the building proper. Pulling the door shut, he brush over a sigil and activated the ward. The building was full of spirit touched, and they all contributed to making sure the wards against things that went bump in the night stayed up to date and fresh. And they always were reactivating them when they came into the building.
Ward activated, the creepy-crawling feeling faded some, and Zack kept from shivering again. Looking at Cloud and Sephiroth, both who had paused in their low conversation to look at him, eyes glowing in the dimness of the hall, and Zack almost shivered again under the intense stares.
“I should go,” he said softly, almost hurried. The dreams from last night had left him unsettled, off balanced, and he had not been able to catch it at all during the day. Now the storm, which he knew would not help keep the things that moved at night at bay in the least. It just made them more twitchy and ready to lash out as they picked up on the emotions of the humans they moved around.
“If it is about what happened at the store,” Cloud started, stare fading and slipping into a normal glance.
“No,” Zack said quickly. “It isn’t that, promise. Just…didn’t sleep much last night. Interesting dreams.” He shrugged, giving them a quick smile. “You know how it is, right?”
They were spirit touched, they must. And given the glances that they exchanged and small nods, they did. Which was good, Zack had hated it back home, when he was the only one and nobody understood what he meant when he said things were following him.
At least here, while there were things that still hunted, that followed, they were distracted by all those who could see them.
It was selfish, Zack was very much aware of that, but he felt better knowing he wasn’t the only target.
Shaking his head, he grinned at them. “Don’t mind me. Tell you what, this weekend, if you don’t have plans, we can go out, my treat. A kinda “welcome to the place” dinner.”
Not really giving them a chance to disagree, he moved and easily unlocked his door. “Let me know when a good time is,” he told them. “And no is not an option, so be ready to go, or I will do many things to irritate and annoy you till you agree just to make me shut up.”
Grinning at Cloud’s rather blink filled nod, Zack slipped into his rooms and shut the door behind him, locking it. Securely. And then warding it with everything he had.
Still feeling the shivers up his spine, he went to every window and did the same.
Tonight felt wrong. Wild and filled with things that weren't quite...right.
He did not like it. Not at all.
Setting the things away he had bought, Zack retreated to his rooms quickly enough, wanting to sleep away this mood.
Another set of wards around his room, and he stripped and slipped into bed. Curling around a pillow, wishing for another warm body next to his, the man closed his eyes and waited for his body to relax enough to finally sleep.
It took a long time, and he heard the first drops of rain pattering down as he slipped into sleep.
///
”We’ve been looking for you.”
Scales and feathers again, only…sickly. Weak. Pale, colors just a hint of what they should be like. The smell made him want to gag. Rot and decay, slick, almost a feel in his mouth it was so strong.
Eyes, so dark a blue they were almost black, looked at him, pupils just pinpricks of black. “We need you, we want you. Come with us.”
It was a seductive whisper, and it sent chills through him. He could feel claws against his skin, replaced by feathers, ones that felt ratty, dust covered. Scales followed, jagged, digging into his skin as the owner curled around him.
“Want you, need you. Need balance.”
He could feel himself shaking his head, and was caught in an eye that glowed purple, pupil slitted.
“Yes.”
Again, he shook his head, pushed at them with hands and mind, wanting them away from him. Where they had touched him, his skin crawled, itched, burned. It crept along his skin, making him want to shed it. Looking in horror, he saw it burn black and then peel back. He felt his stomach rebel at the scent of burnt flesh.
His burnt flesh.
Underneath were scales. Bright and colorful, just like the dreams from last night.
“Ours,” purred the voice, and even as he spun around to protest, he found himself looking down a long snout lined with many, many sharp teeth even as it snapped down on it.
He screamed.
///
The scream in his dream would have echoed in reality, but as Zack sat up, panting and scared out of his wits, the room was shaking as thunder rolled deafeningly through the sky.
Thankful in a way it had covered his cry, the black haired man patted himself down, for where the skin had peeled back, or that he could have sworn he had felt teeth close down on him.
Whole skin. Undamaged, not even bruised.
No trace of anything besides himself.
What was going on?
Shaking, he curled his arms around him and just continued to shiver.
Was he going mad? Spirit touched did it all the time, it’s why people were afraid of him.
He didn’t think he was going insane.
Did insane people know they were losing it?
With a groan, still feeling the bitter burn of bile in the back of his throat, Zack pressed his face against his knees and shook.
Somehow, he didn’t think he would be resting again this night.
Gods, what was going on?
Shivering, he sat up the rest of the night, staring blankly out the window as the rain poured down.
///
“Zack, are you okay?”
Jerking, Zack looked and blinked rather dazedly at the unexpected voice. “Wha?” he got out, finding it absently amusing that he was just happy to be coherent. That wasn’t a good sign, was it? Hey, his doorway. When had he gotten home?
Looking at him, Cloud hesitantly reached out to touch his shoulder. “You okay? You…look kinda sick. Pale, you know?”
Zack supposed he should. It had been almost a month since the dreams had started. Every night he was hearing things, whispers, sometimes at him, sometimes to each other. He was only getting an hour or two of sleep a night, and every time he tried to nap during the day, he found himself trapped by those voices again. Everywhere he went, every time he tried to sleep, he heard them, and he couldn’t get away.
He was going insane. He had to be.
Couldn’t tell anyone. He was spirit touched. If they found out he was going nuts, they’d lock him up. Lock him up somewhere deep and dark and throw away the key. People didn’t like it when people who could talk to their dead Aunt Ellie lost their minds and sicced demons and ghosts on those who couldn’t protect themselves.
Zack wouldn’t make it locked up. Not right now. Not ever, most likely, but definitely not right now.
The hand out his shoulder tightened. “All right, that’s it. Off we go.”
Suddenly, instead of looking at his door, Zack found himself being pushed through the door to Cloud and Sephiroth’s apartment. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, but it was the first time while one of the others was gone. Which didn’t happen often at all. He had only seen them on their lonesome three times in the entire month they lived across from him, and two of them were on the first day.
Still, it didn’t take long to find himself sitting on the couch, a blanket over his shoulders and a cup of hot tea in his hands.
“It’ll calm you down,” Cloud said simply. “And you aren’t going anywhere today except back to sleep.”
Zack shook his head. “I….”
“Sleep.” Cloud said firmly. “My friend Cid gave me the tea, so it should help you relax, as he claims I’m always way too tense, and then you are going to stretch out on the couch and take a nap. After that, we’ll see how you are doing.”
He should fight it. He really should, but Zack was feeling really, really tired. And…maybe if there was someone else there, the dreams wouldn’t come.
Feeling almost ashamed, but needing sleep so desperately he didn’t care, Zack clutched onto Cloud’s shirt. “Stay here,” he asked, look at the other man, feeling hunted and haunted, no matter what the wards said. He was positive there was something besides him causing the dreams; he just had to catch them.
There was affection in those blue eyes, and Zack soaked it up, shivering slightly. Gods, he was too stressed is this little bit of kindness had him ready to fall apart. Aeris was worried about him, and it seemed he had even worried his new friends.
“Trust me, Zack.” The voice was low and soft as Cloud tugged him down to rest his head on the pillow in the blond’s lap. “You are completely safe here. Promise.”
It was stupid and silly to believe, but Zack did it anyway. The twin lures of sleep and safety made it hard for him to resist, near impossible, so he just…didn’t. Curling up next to Cloud, letting the slim hands that were combing through his hair soothe him, Zack closed his eyes.
///
He could feel it starting. The heat, the burn, the smell of rotted something that was stronger and stronger every time the voices came.
It was going to be one of the bad ones. At least with the bright colors, he knew they weren’t focus on him. Not like these were. The dusty, dulled ones kept trying to devour him, and forced his skin off of him. He had seen bits of yellow fur, of scales all colors. Hooves.
He didn’t want to know. He didn’t!
No matter what nightmare they were trying to force upon him, he didn’t want it. Not at all. Not if it meant dealing with them, with that stinking, gag-worthy creepy feeling.
And it was creepy. Like it wanted to peel off his skin, off the fur and scales it showed as well, and crawl inside. Like a parasite, like a sickness, a disease, wanting to rot him from the inside out.
Zack was not going to let that happen. Ever.
He tensed, ready to wake up again, hoping he didn’t thrash too much and hit Cloud by accident when he woke up.
Then…they were gone.
And he could hear fighting. Flames and screams, blades against each other, and the sound of rain.
Gods, not both of them. He couldn’t deal with all four of them at once. He really would lose it then.
Then…silence.
That right there almost startled him back into being awake, but Zack held onto sleep with a tight grip.
It was silence. No noises, no smells, no brushing touches or pain.
Nothing.
He let himself drift on the nothing, finally, thankful to whatever gods or goddess had let this happen, and let himself sink deeper.
Dreamless sleep took him
///
It was almost dark when he woke up, and it took a long, looooong moment to realize why he was looking at Cloud’s sleeping face.
That was right, he had been sleeping on the couch at Cloud’s request. As that clicked, he realized what had woken him up.
It looked nearly dark out, and the front door was opening up. Blinking dazed eyes at Sephiroth, who was just coming in, he found himself pinned by the glowing green eyes. It was just for a moment, but it was a long moment, and he found he couldn’t breathe during it. The look was that intense, burning hot and almost painful on his skin.
The same look from the first day they had met, when the storm had been about to break and he had watched them watch him.
Then it was gone, and Sephiroth nodded. “So he finally got you to rest,” he said, moving in the rest of the way, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
“Yeah.” Zack felt rather sheepish. “Think I just needed to know someone else was there.”
Against he found himself the focus of green eyes, speculative, then Sephiroth turned and walked into the kitchen and Zack mentally shook himself. Again.
Yes, the men were hot, and yet, he was willing to admit he’d love a chance with them. But he did not see that happening. They were one of the stereotypical cutesy couples. One of those couples Zack swore he wasn’t going to become, though it seemed to fit them.
At least that was what he had thought the first week.
Then they had had a huge yelling match. He was sure things had ended up broken, and he had almost called the cops. But then things quieted down, and he could hear them talking in the hall between his door and theirs, and then quiet again. The next day they had gone back to being the disgustingly perfect couple.
It seemed to be a cycle for them. A week of perfect behavior, then a massive fight, then act as if nothing was wrong.
If it was abusive, it was perfectly equal, though he was about ready to claim abuse for his ears and general stress levels. His life was bad enough as is, and he didn’t need to hear the perfect couple throwing things at each other.
At least he thought they were throwing things.
All in all, though he thought they were pretty normal, especially or a spirit touched couple. With that realization, he had hung his hat up on any attempt to get either of them and simply enjoyed the friendship they offered. Five days out of every seven, either they were at his place, or he was at theirs, enjoying food and company. One day they were fighting, and the last he was with Aeris.
He really ought to start to try scheduling it so those two fell on the same day.
The odd thoughts were interrupted when Sephiroth reappeared and handed him a new cup of tea.
“You are aware,” the silver haired man said calmly, “that you are welcomed to stay the night with us anytime you want, correct?
Zack blinked.
Wait, he couldn’t have heard that right. And if he did, he was misinterpreting it.
“Wha?”
Oh, yes, he had forgotten the stripping of his intelligence due to the lack of sleep. Yay for only semi-coherent questions.
“If you feel a need to, we would welcome you into our bed.” Sephiroth settled in the chair across from the couch and settled there, watching him, and Zack wasn’t sure how to react. That had never been anywhere close to anything he thought he’d ever hear Sephiroth say. So the fact that he had heard it was throwing him for a loop and he was trying to figure out how to adjust.
“Seph,” came Cloud’s sleepy voice, “remember, stuff like that startles most normal people. Startles me, too, when you’re all blunt like that.”
“Ah,” Sephiroth said, nodding before looking at Zack again. “I still meant what I said.”
“Zack,” Cloud added, fingers combing through dark hair again, “what Seph means is, if it helps you, you can come crash with us. You look like crap, and unless you’re putting on eyeliner all wrong, you’re not getting the sleep you need. We’ll help you sleep as best we can, if you like. Just someone to sleep besides. Nothing more for now, promise. I….” He sighed, still coming Zack’s hair with his fingers. “I know how hard it is to sleep by yourself at times, you know?”
“My imagination fails at picturing you sleeping alone,” Zack said softly, trying for humor, mind still a bit boggled. “I’ll, well….” He sighed, then smiled at Cloud.
“That sounds nice. I don’t want to be any problem, though.” He really didn’t. Didn’t want to be the cause of one of their fights, either.
“If there was going to be a problem,” Sephiroth said with a great deal of practicality, “we would not have offered.”
Well, who was Zack to argue with comments like that?
“I….” A long pause, and he smiled at them. “Thanks, you guys. Really. You have no idea how much this means.”
“It’s always good to have a friend you can trust,” Cloud said, looking serene. “And two is even better.”
Well, guess that was that, then.
///
He hadn’t even started to hear the voices last night. He had been a bit distracted by Cloud curled up against his front, and Seph stretched out along his back, arm and leg over both Zack and Cloud.
It really had been a long time since Zack had slept beside anyone, but once he had gotten used to is, he’d been gone.
Dreamless sleep. Oh, such a wonderful thing.
Humming, he set about cooking breakfast. He could hear the pair in the shower, probably more than he wanted to hear, but, hell, fantasy material afterwards, he supposed.
Outside, it was storming. Again.
It had been storming for the last two weeks, and when it wasn’t actively raining, it was hot and muggy and making everyone wish for rain to just get the ick out of the air. Not that it ever worked, but there was still hope.
While he was cooking and trying to listen/not listen to Seph and Cloud being not so quiet as they did their couple thing, Zack slowly plotted out his day. Oh, ew, it was his long one.
He was still mentally grimacing about it when he was finally asked for his plans, after making sure he felt the two nice men who had helped him get some rest.
“I have to go to Hojo’s today,” he said, sighing. However, Zack wasn’t so distracted that he didn’t notice the tensing Seph did. Curious, he continued, keeping a little attention on the man.
“Once a month I have to head up to his place and do a few readings, for him and his wife. I’ve been doing it almost a year now. His wife doesn’t get out much. She had an accident a while back. Least according to Hojo. She can’t get out, so I go up there and do the stuff, get paid for double the time and the gas to get there and back.”
He was sure he had seen Seph tense, and he knew he hadn’t imagined the glance at each other. “What?”
Cloud shook his head. “Hojo’s got a bad reputation where we come from. What’s his wife’s name?”
Zack blinked at him. “Jenova.”
Yeah, he definitely hadn’t imagined that twitch. “Is there something specific I need to know?”
A long moment of quiet, the Seph shook his head with a sigh. “Just a lot of bad situations keep surrounding him, is all. They tend to involve spirit touched, and all tend to involve death.”
“Just be careful, okay?” Cloud asked him softly, worry in his eyes as he looked at Zack.
It was kinda nice. Having someone worry about him, that is. Been a while since anyone besides Aeris had done that.
“Tell you what. He’s creeped me out plenty of times, and his wife doesn’t even look at me when I’m there. I’ll go, do the reading, and tell him I won’t be back, okay?”
Both men nodded, though the looks of strain didn’t go away.
Later that night, as he was heading for Hojo’s place, Zack wondered what they weren’t telling him.
He’d have to ask when he got back.
///
It had been a normal session.
In other words, creepy as hell, and something that made him debate never coming back again.
At least tonight, he had a secondary reason to tell the man that he wasn’t coming back. That made Zack fairly happy, as the man was annoying as well as creepy, and Jenova made Zack want to run. She never opened her eyes, and she never spoke, but Hojo acted like she talked very clearly.
They bugged Zack, and he was more than happy to look at the man and tell him he quit.
There was a long moment of silence, the Hojo coughed. “Excuse me,” he said lightly, smiling slightly. “I don’t believe I heard you correctly.”
“This is my last reading, Dr. Hojo. I will not be back next month. I’m sorry, but it comes into conflict with something that recently developed in my life.”
Cold eyes fixed on him, and Zack swallowed, hard. The warning the other two gave him suddenly seemed a lot more realistic. Trying to not fidget, he looked at the man, expression calm. “I’m sorry, sir, it’s just something that I have to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me….”
“Hold for a minute, Zack,” Hojo said quickly. “It will just be for a moment, but I promise you, it’ll be interesting.”
Zack froze, torn. He really did want to get out of here, but something about Hojo’s eyes made him feel stuck in place. Finally, he just nodded. If he didn’t like what the man had to say, he could leave.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the guardians of the four directions, correct? Turtle to the north, tiger to the west, red bird to the south, dragon to the east? Four guardians and man guards the center.”
As he spoke, Hojo began to pace, and his motions became more animated. “But, Zachary, did you know that before that, there were only three guardians? A dragon, a phoenix, and a qilin.”
“A what?” Zack had heard of dragons and phoenixes, but what was a qilin?
“Ignorant fool. It was a creature who was said to proceed the birth of a great leader, who had scales like a fish of the five colors and fur of yellow on its underside. The head of a dragon, the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, hooves of a deer and a single horn. A creature second only to the dragon in grace and power.” Hojo paused and glared at Zack, as if making sure he was paying attention.
He didn’t need to worry. Zack was paying very close attention. That description….
“The three great versions were said to look over everything, but there were smaller ones. Ones to watch over countries, provinces, cities….”
Blue eyes, so dark they were almost black, fixed on Zack. “This city lost is qilin, Zachary. It had young guardians, odd ones. A male phoenix, a dragon that was half demon, a qilin who was human. Who could die. And die he did, when the dragon’s creators came to take over. Their qilin was damaged, unable to stand the experiments that were supposed to make him great, to merge him with another demon.”
“The qilin went to sleep, leaving his demon-phoenix and her western dragon without a balancing force,” came a slippery, sleek voice from behind Zack, and he spun around, eyes going wide with horror as he found himself the focus of a single violet eye.
Jenova continued, her attention focused on Zack.
“Without balance, the phoenix and the dragon revert to their archetypes, child. Eternal lovers, eternal enemies. They represent wedded bliss and conflict. Without their balancing force, their qilin, they tear each other apart.”
That sounded familiar, and Zack found himself backing away. “What does this…?” he started, looking for a way out.
“Vincent fell to the demons, and we lost our qilin,” Hojo said calmly, moving towards Zack. “We came to collect our son’s. You know Sephiroth and that toy he calls a lover, correct? This city’s dragon and phoenix. Such an odd set. And their qilin, who fell when we tried to destroy them.”
“Qilin,” Jenova hissed, “are insanely loyal and protective of their dragon and phoenix. Vincent claimed that when I took Lucretia, I was no longer his phoenix, and when I took Hojo, his disavowed both of us and left us to rot!” She growled, rising up from the chair Zack had never seen her leave.
“We will not let our group be torn apart. But that foolish qilin let himself die so that our child and the phoenix escape.”
“But, as we said, the qilin was human. At least partly,” Hojo picked up the thread again, eyes hungry as he moved to circle Zack again. “His mother was human, and so he was reborn.”
“This city falls apart as the pairs are unable to balance. Barriers weakened, things that shouldn’t be loose are slipping into the night. Do you want that on your hands, Zachary?” Jenova’s voice was a purr. “Join us, and we can make this city right again.”
This was wrong. The voice in the back of his head, the one he always listened to, rejected this. It was wrong.
“No,” he growled, dancing away from Hojo’s lunge at him.
“Just like in the dreams,” the man growled, something changing, and Zack realized in horror that Hojo’s skin was peeling back, just like his had done in the dream, showing broken, jagged scales and dulled colors. Even as it did, Jenova’s was doing the same for dusty, damaged feathers.
“You don’t have a choice,” Jenova said even as her mouth split open and rolled back along the beak that forced its way out. “You will bond with one set, and I will not let you escape.”
Zack was pretty sure he gave a yell. Watching someone peel out of their skin was going to give him nightmares for months, he just knew it.
“You’re ours, Zachary,” the thing that had been Hojo said tattered wings spreading and the smell of rot and sickness made Zack gag. Oh, gods, it was like the dream.
Then…came the sound of rain, and two new figures crashed through the window into the room.
“He isn’t yours, or ours,” hissed the bird, eyes bright blue against the multitude of brilliant feathers, black and white, red, blue, yellow, all those colors on display in the feathers. The same colors were echoed the dragon’s scales, his own wings whole and feathered.
“We’re sorry, Zack,” the dragon murmured, green cat eyes flickering back towards him as the phoenix watched Hojo and Jenova. “We were going to let you remember in your own time, and we would have still, except they were after you. All we could do was let you get sleep and defend you from their attacks.”
Anything more Sephiroth was going to say was lost as Jenova screeched and attached. She launched herself at Sephiroth, even as Hojo went after Cloud.
Pressing himself back against the wall, he watched creatures beyond any scope of his imagination begin to battle, most likely to the death. This couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t real.
“It is, unfortunately, most real, young one.”
And a new person. How many more people were going to show up to break his mind. Looking over, he saw a tall, thin, sad looking man with dark hair and blood red eyes. “Who…?”
“I am Vincent,” the man said calmly, ignoring the battle and looking at Zack. “It is my fault, sadly, that this has happened. Jenova is a long story to explain, and you do not have the time. Not if you wish your dragon and phoenix to remained completely unharmed.”
Startled by those words, Zack looked, and saw, for some reason, Sephiroth-dragon was starting to…not lose, but not fight either. Jenova-phoenix has started to sing, and the longer she did, the stiller Sephiroth-dragon went.
“She is a demon,” Vincent said simply. “Who stole the body of my phoenix, my Lucretia. And she taints your Sephiroth and is using that taint to control him. Soon he will lose himself, and turn upon his phoenix. And that, more than anything, will kill Cloud. Dragons and phoenixes do not take the loss of their counterpart well. Even less well than the loss of their balance.”
“I’m not anyone’s balance,” Zack said, eyes still on the fight. “I’m human, spirit touched, yes, but human still. I’m not qilin. I can’t be.”
“Then they will die. I cannot be as they need. I am damaged, changed. They are odd, but I am corrupted. Only one as odd as they can do this.”
Sephiroth-dragon suddenly burst into action again, lunging for Cloud-phoenix, who gave a startled cry as he was slammed to the earth.
Even from where he was, Zack could see surprised pain in Cloud’s eyes, and desperation in Sephiorth’s.
He couldn’t let this happen.
“What do I do,” he heard himself saying, eyes locked on the battle ahead of him.
“You are qilin. It’s as simple as that. You hold the fires of protection, of justice, in your heart. Let them free and slip from the mortal form to live another thousand years.”
There was a strange intensity in Vincent’s voice, and Zack found himself caught in it. He looked at the man, and he saw the sorrow in his eyes, and realized the man couldn’t do this anymore.
And his words made sense.
Even as he moved forward to help, he felt the heat under his skin, and he…changed, fur and scales that had been sleeping, just waiting to be called slipping forward.
This…was everything that he was supposed to be.
It all made sense to him again.
///
Vincent smiled, just a tiny quirk of his lips. This was how it should be.
He watched as the qilin joined his dragon, once again free, and his phoenix, which rose back into the air.
Together.
Turning, Vincent returned to where he had rested.
Now he could sleep with a clear conscious.
I need to work more on this universe. It was fun.
Author: GW Katrina aka
icedark_elfBeta:
skerenTheme and Number: 5 - Haunting or Occult Freak for 10_au on LJ
Genres: AU, Fantasy Modern
Warnings/Disclaimers: Not mine, of course, though the world they are in is.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Pairing: Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 7,696
Summary: Haunted by dreams, Zack has no idea what changes await him.
A/N: I had posted this forever ago, then took it down. Now I'm reposting it here, rather than on LJ.
”…really think this is a good idea. It’s rude, and….”
“We have to know….”
The brush of scales and feathers. Voices he doesn’t know, whispering over him, fading in and out.
“…want it to be him just as much as you do, but….”
Sounds of fighting. Blades clashing against each other. Only thought that happened on TV. Colors blurred around him, black and white, red, blue, yellow, all smeared and swirling around one another. A flash of a beak, gleam of fangs.
Then quiet.
“We need him. We’ll tear each other apart like this.”
“I know. Which is why we need to do this. I’m sorry. If it is him….”
“He’ll forgive us if it is. You know that, better than me even. “
Zack woke up, panting, eyes darting around the room. Nothing was there, but he still looked anyway, eyes looking through the dark room as best he could. None of the wards had been broken, nor had they been tampered with. Both would have left a mark, but he just felt as if…something had been there with him. Impossible, but he couldn’t shake that feeling.
Laying back down, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Weird dreams were a part of life for him, but that was a bit odder than most, and he laid there, trying to figure out what it meant. Voices and animals. A distinct feel of animals. He could still hear the feathers, feel the scales under his fingers.
Why did it feel like something was hanging over him now? Something he wasn’t sure was bad or good.
He would think more of it tomorrow. After work. Crap, he had to go shopping tomorrow, too. He hated shopping. With a passion. But he wanted food, and food required shopping.
That sucked.
Mumbling to himself, Zack curled back up in his bed and pulled the blanket over his head. No more peeping spirits if there had been some anyway.
Stupid spirits. Couldn’t even let a guy sleep in peace.
Late!
Latelatelatelate! So very, very late!
Having slept right through his alarm, Zack grabbed the first pack of pastery breakfast like food he could and bolted out the door.
Only to slam into a body and stumble back into the wall as they staggered the opposite way, dropping the box they were carrying.
For a second, all Zack saw was the hair and thought woman. Then he saw the shoulders under the mass amount of silver hair, and revised that to guy.
Then the man looked at him, and Zack rerevised it to really, really pretty guy. Really tall pretty guy. When the man stood, Zack realized the stranger was taller than him.
“My apologies,” said the man, green cat-eyes practically glowing. Glowing eyes. Spirit touched. Not too common, at least in this area. Zack normally wore glasses when he wasn’t at work, when having glowing eyes was a benefit. Didn’t have a clue on what the kitty part meant, but he wasn’t going to ask. He got enough hassle himself that he wasn’t going to do it to someone else.
“Hey there,” he said instead. “Name’s Zack. And don’t apologize. It’s my fault for running into you.” He moved to help collect the things that had fallen out. As he did, he realized that the door across from his was opened, and there were a lot more boxes in there. “You the new tenant?”
A small nod, the man slipping on his own dark glasses. “Yes. I’m Sephiroth.” He collected the box from Zack. “It was nice to meet you, Zack, but you did seem to be in something of a hurry.” Sephiroth gave a small smile, just barely visible on the corner of his lip, so small that is Zack hadn’t been staring so damn hard, he wouldn’t have seen it.
The quiet stretched, then Zack yelped. “Late!” he yelled, and barreled down the stairs.
Would have to check out his most interesting neighbor later.
”He is a pretty thing, isn’t he?”
“That’s not funny. And I know you like his eyes. So just stop pretending.”
“It’s not like I’ve ever said I didn’t, you know.”
“Still not funny.”
Ruffle of feathers, flash of yellow surrounds by the blacks, whites, reds, blues, and more yellow of decorated feathers.
A soothing rumble of a purr, and scales, blue-green and edged with the same colors as the feathers curved along everything.
“You know you belong with me, as does he, and we need him.”
“I know, we need him. We want him. But we can’t rush, and you know it.”
“I’m sorry, then.” More of the soft purring, and an agitated sigh with another ruffle of feathers
With a start, Zack opened his eyes. Had dozed off at the table, and he felt the hand on his shoulder pull back. Blinking, he rubbed his eyes and looked at Aeris. “Hey, babe.”
“You all right?” she asked, concern in her eyes. “I’ve never seen you fall asleep after a reading like that before.”
“’m fine,” Zack answered, pausing to yawn. “Just had some odd dreams last night.”
A gleam of concern in the healer’s eyes as she settled down in the customer chair and studied him and Zack gave her a grin, waking up enough to slip back into his normal flirting mode. It was strange that he had been so tired to doze off like that when he had been so hyped up after meeting Sephiroth.
Speaking of Sephiroth….
“I ran into my new neighbor today. Literally. Big old bang, stuff scattered everywhere, people staggering around type of running into.” A nod and he was pleased to see her smiling back and laughing softly along with him. Sometimes she was far too serious, and he really wished it had worked with her, but they were too much alike at times for that to happen. Had been nice while it had, and he was grateful that she was willing to stay friends even after the dating part had ended.
“You are going to run into someone who is going to not notice that pretty smile of yours one day and who’s going to attempt to knock teeth out of it,” she warned, still laughing softly. Her gaze sharpened a bit, and he knew he hadn’t distracted her well enough.
Problem with dating someone, or even being such good friends with them. They knew when you were trying to sidetrack them. “What kind of dreams?”
He shrugged. “Just odd ones.”
“Your wards go off?”
A shake of his head, black hair going everywhere. It was spiked more wildly than normal. Silly normals liked their card readers to look a bit more exotic than them, and the spikes and the eyes seemed to help. Zack had no idea why, he just went with it. “Nothing that registered as anything not me. So no influence, just dreams.”
Reaching out to brush a bit of hair out of his face, Aeris continued to study him. “Pre-cog?”
“Only with assistance, babe. You know that’s why I’m a reader and not a palmist or color spotter.”
She sighed and nodded. “Let me know if you start feeling odd. Cause, speaking of color spotting, your aura is all over the place. Any odd energy spikes?”
He shook his head again. “I’m too old for anything else to develop. At least I hope so. Don’t want to have to go through any type of training like that again. Much prefer my martial arts to learning how to stop things from talking in my head. Again.
Aeris just shook her head finally and leaned in to ruffle his hair. “We’re clear for the rest of the day. If anyone else comes in, they’ll just have to deal with a color spotting and not a reading. Go home. Get some rest. You look like you need it.”
He wanted to argue with her, wanted to let her know he was fine, really, but going home and crashing really did sound nice. And if he went now, he could get that shopping done and be back at his apartment before night fell.
There had been too many things roaming the streets at night lately for anyone with the least bit of sensitively to feel at home. Just the latest of things to say something was wrong.
Not that Zack ever remembered them being right. It had been going wrong since before he was born, and the reader had heard stories from the old-timers that said the balance was out of place in the city.
Maybe that was what was triggering the dreams? He had been starting to catch more and more things from the corner of his eyes, so maybe the walls between here and there were starting to thin more.
Not good. Not good at all.
He’d almost rather that he was developing a new gift, as much a pain in the ass as that was.
Sighing, and shaking his head, finding his thoughts wandering, again, Zack smiled. “I think I’ll take you up on that. Don’t decide to stay open late just cause I’m not here to scold you if you take on a healing you shouldn’t, all right?”
“Zack, you know me better than that.”
“I do, that’s why I worry.” He stood and got his stuff together, pausing to drop a kiss on her head. “Stay safe, okay, Flower girl? Watch out for bees. They’re starting to swarm.”
She paused and looked at him, eyes bright as she studied close. “You sure you aren’t feeling any pre-cog? Because that sounded an awful lot like a warning.”
Licking his lips, Zack shook his head. “I shouldn’t be getting anything new, Aeris. I’m twenty three. If I’m adding onto my amazing level of skills, things are more messed up in this city than we thought. No, not pre-cog, just a bad feeling.” A grin. “I’m getting paranoid in my old age.”
“I’m only a year younger than you,” she said, swatting his shoulder. “Go home, get sleep, and I expect you here bright and early tomorrow, all right?”
Giving her braid a tug, he laughed and nodded as he slipped out the door.
Now, to do his shopping.
Luckily, there was a little corner grocer on between Aeris’s shop and his place, and he was able to get what he wanted there. For the most part, it was quiet, only a few other people in there. So it was easy to slip through the narrow aisles and collect what he wanted, the sharp smell of spice in the air. Luck incense, smelled like. That or money. The two did go hand in hand, especially for businesses like this.
It was a sharp, spicy scent, and one he was enjoying as he eyed the shelf. They didn’t have his favorite bread down where it normally was. Looking up, he rose up on his toes, trying to see if there was any on the top shelf. It looked like there might be, and he took a step back, trying to see if that really was what it was.
And ran into someone for the second time today.
Off balance as was trying to get a good angle to look, Zack yelped and staggered, barely catching himself on a shelf. After making sure he didn’t take out the display of jams, he let loose a soft breathe, and then looked to see who he ran into.
For a moment, he found himself starting into blue-green, slitted eyes, reflecting light like water did. Then, after a blink, he realized he had imagined that. Instead, he was looking at bright, bright blue eyes as their owner offered a hand.
Another spirit touched man.
“Sorry,” the other man said, hand out to Zack. “I didn’t realize we were so close. You okay?”
Nodding, a bit stunned at his luck of seeing two such hot guys, though it took a minute for him to tell that, yes, this was a guy, Zack took the hand and stopped leaning on the shelf. “It’s okay. My fault, I’m pretty sure. Name is Zack.”
A bright smile and Zack was sure the temperature had gone up a few degrees. “I’m Cloud. Laugh and I’ll kick you in the shin.”
“I’m sure if I find a reason to laugh at you,” Zack said honestly, still holding onto Cloud’s hand and looked at him, “it’ll be for something a lot more in your control than your name.”
A long moment passed, and he coughed, then let go of the other man’s hand. “So, do you live near here? I think I’d remember someone with hair like that if I’d seen it before.” He reached out and flicked a blond spike, grin growing a bit when Cloud smirked back at him, eyes flicking up.
“Just moved in. And you aren’t one to talk. Your hair is even taller than mine.”
Oh, and he could banter back. Collecting his stuff, Zack grinned. This was turning into an interesting day through and through.
He and Cloud wandered through the store, picking up things up, idly chatting with each other. Zack would have liked to continue to keep up the conversation, but he really did want to get home before dark.
“I’d love to stay and chat,” he said, finally, “but I really do need to be getting home.”
There was a bit of a disappointed sigh, and Cloud nodded. “I do as well. This town gives me the creeps during the day; I hate to imagine it at night.”
Zack nodded. “My thoughts earlier. Shall we?” He made a ‘go ahead’ gesture for the register, and followed Cloud up, and then through. Stepping outside, he waved the way towards his apartment. “I live that direction. How about you?”
A pleased smile crossed the blond’s face. “I do as well. It’ll be nice to have company at least partway home.”
And a pleasant walk it was. The pair continued to chat as they walked, discussing various things, from the prices at the store to how things seemed to be in the spirit touched communities. It was nice to talk to someone who actually knew what he was talking about when it came to things that weren’t…normal, and Zack didn’t realize that he was so distracted till he followed Cloud up the stairs to the man’s apartment complex.
“Shit, sorry about that, Cloud. I’m not a stalker, I promise,” he spluttered a bit. “I actually need to….” He blinked, then doubled checked. “Okay, now I’m confused. Did I walk you to your place, or did you walk me to mine?”
Cloud blinked at him. “Well, I just moved in here yesterday. So if you live here as well, then both.”
Well, this was interesting.
“I’d suggest,” came a dry voice, “that you might want to come in. The clouds are promising rain.”
That was a dry, familiar voice, and Zack looked up and blinked at the man he had met this morning. “Evening, Sephiroth.”
“Good evening, Zack.”
Cloud looked between the two of them. ”So,” he said finally, “I take it the two of you have already met?”
And the day just kept getting more and more interesting. “Yeah,” Zack told him. “I ran him down this morning. By accident.”
Corner of his lips twitching, Cloud looked at him calmly. “So, what, was running me down earlier on purpose, then?”
Sputtering, Zack denied any such thing, which was true, though the denials died some when he saw Sephiroth reach out and brush a bit of hair out of Cloud’s face. It wasn’t a big gesture, but he knew affection and care when he saw it, and the hand Cloud rested for just a second against Sephiroth’s waist said what type of affection and care.
Damn, all the good ones really were taken, weren’t they?
Moving up the steps after them into the building, he paused in the door and looked up.
The clouds really were starting to mass together, thick and greenish-black. A shiver running down his spine, Zack caught a flicker of something out of his eye, and he hastily withdrew into the building proper. Pulling the door shut, he brush over a sigil and activated the ward. The building was full of spirit touched, and they all contributed to making sure the wards against things that went bump in the night stayed up to date and fresh. And they always were reactivating them when they came into the building.
Ward activated, the creepy-crawling feeling faded some, and Zack kept from shivering again. Looking at Cloud and Sephiroth, both who had paused in their low conversation to look at him, eyes glowing in the dimness of the hall, and Zack almost shivered again under the intense stares.
“I should go,” he said softly, almost hurried. The dreams from last night had left him unsettled, off balanced, and he had not been able to catch it at all during the day. Now the storm, which he knew would not help keep the things that moved at night at bay in the least. It just made them more twitchy and ready to lash out as they picked up on the emotions of the humans they moved around.
“If it is about what happened at the store,” Cloud started, stare fading and slipping into a normal glance.
“No,” Zack said quickly. “It isn’t that, promise. Just…didn’t sleep much last night. Interesting dreams.” He shrugged, giving them a quick smile. “You know how it is, right?”
They were spirit touched, they must. And given the glances that they exchanged and small nods, they did. Which was good, Zack had hated it back home, when he was the only one and nobody understood what he meant when he said things were following him.
At least here, while there were things that still hunted, that followed, they were distracted by all those who could see them.
It was selfish, Zack was very much aware of that, but he felt better knowing he wasn’t the only target.
Shaking his head, he grinned at them. “Don’t mind me. Tell you what, this weekend, if you don’t have plans, we can go out, my treat. A kinda “welcome to the place” dinner.”
Not really giving them a chance to disagree, he moved and easily unlocked his door. “Let me know when a good time is,” he told them. “And no is not an option, so be ready to go, or I will do many things to irritate and annoy you till you agree just to make me shut up.”
Grinning at Cloud’s rather blink filled nod, Zack slipped into his rooms and shut the door behind him, locking it. Securely. And then warding it with everything he had.
Still feeling the shivers up his spine, he went to every window and did the same.
Tonight felt wrong. Wild and filled with things that weren't quite...right.
He did not like it. Not at all.
Setting the things away he had bought, Zack retreated to his rooms quickly enough, wanting to sleep away this mood.
Another set of wards around his room, and he stripped and slipped into bed. Curling around a pillow, wishing for another warm body next to his, the man closed his eyes and waited for his body to relax enough to finally sleep.
It took a long time, and he heard the first drops of rain pattering down as he slipped into sleep.
”We’ve been looking for you.”
Scales and feathers again, only…sickly. Weak. Pale, colors just a hint of what they should be like. The smell made him want to gag. Rot and decay, slick, almost a feel in his mouth it was so strong.
Eyes, so dark a blue they were almost black, looked at him, pupils just pinpricks of black. “We need you, we want you. Come with us.”
It was a seductive whisper, and it sent chills through him. He could feel claws against his skin, replaced by feathers, ones that felt ratty, dust covered. Scales followed, jagged, digging into his skin as the owner curled around him.
“Want you, need you. Need balance.”
He could feel himself shaking his head, and was caught in an eye that glowed purple, pupil slitted.
“Yes.”
Again, he shook his head, pushed at them with hands and mind, wanting them away from him. Where they had touched him, his skin crawled, itched, burned. It crept along his skin, making him want to shed it. Looking in horror, he saw it burn black and then peel back. He felt his stomach rebel at the scent of burnt flesh.
His burnt flesh.
Underneath were scales. Bright and colorful, just like the dreams from last night.
“Ours,” purred the voice, and even as he spun around to protest, he found himself looking down a long snout lined with many, many sharp teeth even as it snapped down on it.
He screamed.
The scream in his dream would have echoed in reality, but as Zack sat up, panting and scared out of his wits, the room was shaking as thunder rolled deafeningly through the sky.
Thankful in a way it had covered his cry, the black haired man patted himself down, for where the skin had peeled back, or that he could have sworn he had felt teeth close down on him.
Whole skin. Undamaged, not even bruised.
No trace of anything besides himself.
What was going on?
Shaking, he curled his arms around him and just continued to shiver.
Was he going mad? Spirit touched did it all the time, it’s why people were afraid of him.
He didn’t think he was going insane.
Did insane people know they were losing it?
With a groan, still feeling the bitter burn of bile in the back of his throat, Zack pressed his face against his knees and shook.
Somehow, he didn’t think he would be resting again this night.
Gods, what was going on?
Shivering, he sat up the rest of the night, staring blankly out the window as the rain poured down.
“Zack, are you okay?”
Jerking, Zack looked and blinked rather dazedly at the unexpected voice. “Wha?” he got out, finding it absently amusing that he was just happy to be coherent. That wasn’t a good sign, was it? Hey, his doorway. When had he gotten home?
Looking at him, Cloud hesitantly reached out to touch his shoulder. “You okay? You…look kinda sick. Pale, you know?”
Zack supposed he should. It had been almost a month since the dreams had started. Every night he was hearing things, whispers, sometimes at him, sometimes to each other. He was only getting an hour or two of sleep a night, and every time he tried to nap during the day, he found himself trapped by those voices again. Everywhere he went, every time he tried to sleep, he heard them, and he couldn’t get away.
He was going insane. He had to be.
Couldn’t tell anyone. He was spirit touched. If they found out he was going nuts, they’d lock him up. Lock him up somewhere deep and dark and throw away the key. People didn’t like it when people who could talk to their dead Aunt Ellie lost their minds and sicced demons and ghosts on those who couldn’t protect themselves.
Zack wouldn’t make it locked up. Not right now. Not ever, most likely, but definitely not right now.
The hand out his shoulder tightened. “All right, that’s it. Off we go.”
Suddenly, instead of looking at his door, Zack found himself being pushed through the door to Cloud and Sephiroth’s apartment. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, but it was the first time while one of the others was gone. Which didn’t happen often at all. He had only seen them on their lonesome three times in the entire month they lived across from him, and two of them were on the first day.
Still, it didn’t take long to find himself sitting on the couch, a blanket over his shoulders and a cup of hot tea in his hands.
“It’ll calm you down,” Cloud said simply. “And you aren’t going anywhere today except back to sleep.”
Zack shook his head. “I….”
“Sleep.” Cloud said firmly. “My friend Cid gave me the tea, so it should help you relax, as he claims I’m always way too tense, and then you are going to stretch out on the couch and take a nap. After that, we’ll see how you are doing.”
He should fight it. He really should, but Zack was feeling really, really tired. And…maybe if there was someone else there, the dreams wouldn’t come.
Feeling almost ashamed, but needing sleep so desperately he didn’t care, Zack clutched onto Cloud’s shirt. “Stay here,” he asked, look at the other man, feeling hunted and haunted, no matter what the wards said. He was positive there was something besides him causing the dreams; he just had to catch them.
There was affection in those blue eyes, and Zack soaked it up, shivering slightly. Gods, he was too stressed is this little bit of kindness had him ready to fall apart. Aeris was worried about him, and it seemed he had even worried his new friends.
“Trust me, Zack.” The voice was low and soft as Cloud tugged him down to rest his head on the pillow in the blond’s lap. “You are completely safe here. Promise.”
It was stupid and silly to believe, but Zack did it anyway. The twin lures of sleep and safety made it hard for him to resist, near impossible, so he just…didn’t. Curling up next to Cloud, letting the slim hands that were combing through his hair soothe him, Zack closed his eyes.
He could feel it starting. The heat, the burn, the smell of rotted something that was stronger and stronger every time the voices came.
It was going to be one of the bad ones. At least with the bright colors, he knew they weren’t focus on him. Not like these were. The dusty, dulled ones kept trying to devour him, and forced his skin off of him. He had seen bits of yellow fur, of scales all colors. Hooves.
He didn’t want to know. He didn’t!
No matter what nightmare they were trying to force upon him, he didn’t want it. Not at all. Not if it meant dealing with them, with that stinking, gag-worthy creepy feeling.
And it was creepy. Like it wanted to peel off his skin, off the fur and scales it showed as well, and crawl inside. Like a parasite, like a sickness, a disease, wanting to rot him from the inside out.
Zack was not going to let that happen. Ever.
He tensed, ready to wake up again, hoping he didn’t thrash too much and hit Cloud by accident when he woke up.
Then…they were gone.
And he could hear fighting. Flames and screams, blades against each other, and the sound of rain.
Gods, not both of them. He couldn’t deal with all four of them at once. He really would lose it then.
Then…silence.
That right there almost startled him back into being awake, but Zack held onto sleep with a tight grip.
It was silence. No noises, no smells, no brushing touches or pain.
Nothing.
He let himself drift on the nothing, finally, thankful to whatever gods or goddess had let this happen, and let himself sink deeper.
Dreamless sleep took him
It was almost dark when he woke up, and it took a long, looooong moment to realize why he was looking at Cloud’s sleeping face.
That was right, he had been sleeping on the couch at Cloud’s request. As that clicked, he realized what had woken him up.
It looked nearly dark out, and the front door was opening up. Blinking dazed eyes at Sephiroth, who was just coming in, he found himself pinned by the glowing green eyes. It was just for a moment, but it was a long moment, and he found he couldn’t breathe during it. The look was that intense, burning hot and almost painful on his skin.
The same look from the first day they had met, when the storm had been about to break and he had watched them watch him.
Then it was gone, and Sephiroth nodded. “So he finally got you to rest,” he said, moving in the rest of the way, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
“Yeah.” Zack felt rather sheepish. “Think I just needed to know someone else was there.”
Against he found himself the focus of green eyes, speculative, then Sephiroth turned and walked into the kitchen and Zack mentally shook himself. Again.
Yes, the men were hot, and yet, he was willing to admit he’d love a chance with them. But he did not see that happening. They were one of the stereotypical cutesy couples. One of those couples Zack swore he wasn’t going to become, though it seemed to fit them.
At least that was what he had thought the first week.
Then they had had a huge yelling match. He was sure things had ended up broken, and he had almost called the cops. But then things quieted down, and he could hear them talking in the hall between his door and theirs, and then quiet again. The next day they had gone back to being the disgustingly perfect couple.
It seemed to be a cycle for them. A week of perfect behavior, then a massive fight, then act as if nothing was wrong.
If it was abusive, it was perfectly equal, though he was about ready to claim abuse for his ears and general stress levels. His life was bad enough as is, and he didn’t need to hear the perfect couple throwing things at each other.
At least he thought they were throwing things.
All in all, though he thought they were pretty normal, especially or a spirit touched couple. With that realization, he had hung his hat up on any attempt to get either of them and simply enjoyed the friendship they offered. Five days out of every seven, either they were at his place, or he was at theirs, enjoying food and company. One day they were fighting, and the last he was with Aeris.
He really ought to start to try scheduling it so those two fell on the same day.
The odd thoughts were interrupted when Sephiroth reappeared and handed him a new cup of tea.
“You are aware,” the silver haired man said calmly, “that you are welcomed to stay the night with us anytime you want, correct?
Zack blinked.
Wait, he couldn’t have heard that right. And if he did, he was misinterpreting it.
“Wha?”
Oh, yes, he had forgotten the stripping of his intelligence due to the lack of sleep. Yay for only semi-coherent questions.
“If you feel a need to, we would welcome you into our bed.” Sephiroth settled in the chair across from the couch and settled there, watching him, and Zack wasn’t sure how to react. That had never been anywhere close to anything he thought he’d ever hear Sephiroth say. So the fact that he had heard it was throwing him for a loop and he was trying to figure out how to adjust.
“Seph,” came Cloud’s sleepy voice, “remember, stuff like that startles most normal people. Startles me, too, when you’re all blunt like that.”
“Ah,” Sephiroth said, nodding before looking at Zack again. “I still meant what I said.”
“Zack,” Cloud added, fingers combing through dark hair again, “what Seph means is, if it helps you, you can come crash with us. You look like crap, and unless you’re putting on eyeliner all wrong, you’re not getting the sleep you need. We’ll help you sleep as best we can, if you like. Just someone to sleep besides. Nothing more for now, promise. I….” He sighed, still coming Zack’s hair with his fingers. “I know how hard it is to sleep by yourself at times, you know?”
“My imagination fails at picturing you sleeping alone,” Zack said softly, trying for humor, mind still a bit boggled. “I’ll, well….” He sighed, then smiled at Cloud.
“That sounds nice. I don’t want to be any problem, though.” He really didn’t. Didn’t want to be the cause of one of their fights, either.
“If there was going to be a problem,” Sephiroth said with a great deal of practicality, “we would not have offered.”
Well, who was Zack to argue with comments like that?
“I….” A long pause, and he smiled at them. “Thanks, you guys. Really. You have no idea how much this means.”
“It’s always good to have a friend you can trust,” Cloud said, looking serene. “And two is even better.”
Well, guess that was that, then.
He hadn’t even started to hear the voices last night. He had been a bit distracted by Cloud curled up against his front, and Seph stretched out along his back, arm and leg over both Zack and Cloud.
It really had been a long time since Zack had slept beside anyone, but once he had gotten used to is, he’d been gone.
Dreamless sleep. Oh, such a wonderful thing.
Humming, he set about cooking breakfast. He could hear the pair in the shower, probably more than he wanted to hear, but, hell, fantasy material afterwards, he supposed.
Outside, it was storming. Again.
It had been storming for the last two weeks, and when it wasn’t actively raining, it was hot and muggy and making everyone wish for rain to just get the ick out of the air. Not that it ever worked, but there was still hope.
While he was cooking and trying to listen/not listen to Seph and Cloud being not so quiet as they did their couple thing, Zack slowly plotted out his day. Oh, ew, it was his long one.
He was still mentally grimacing about it when he was finally asked for his plans, after making sure he felt the two nice men who had helped him get some rest.
“I have to go to Hojo’s today,” he said, sighing. However, Zack wasn’t so distracted that he didn’t notice the tensing Seph did. Curious, he continued, keeping a little attention on the man.
“Once a month I have to head up to his place and do a few readings, for him and his wife. I’ve been doing it almost a year now. His wife doesn’t get out much. She had an accident a while back. Least according to Hojo. She can’t get out, so I go up there and do the stuff, get paid for double the time and the gas to get there and back.”
He was sure he had seen Seph tense, and he knew he hadn’t imagined the glance at each other. “What?”
Cloud shook his head. “Hojo’s got a bad reputation where we come from. What’s his wife’s name?”
Zack blinked at him. “Jenova.”
Yeah, he definitely hadn’t imagined that twitch. “Is there something specific I need to know?”
A long moment of quiet, the Seph shook his head with a sigh. “Just a lot of bad situations keep surrounding him, is all. They tend to involve spirit touched, and all tend to involve death.”
“Just be careful, okay?” Cloud asked him softly, worry in his eyes as he looked at Zack.
It was kinda nice. Having someone worry about him, that is. Been a while since anyone besides Aeris had done that.
“Tell you what. He’s creeped me out plenty of times, and his wife doesn’t even look at me when I’m there. I’ll go, do the reading, and tell him I won’t be back, okay?”
Both men nodded, though the looks of strain didn’t go away.
Later that night, as he was heading for Hojo’s place, Zack wondered what they weren’t telling him.
He’d have to ask when he got back.
It had been a normal session.
In other words, creepy as hell, and something that made him debate never coming back again.
At least tonight, he had a secondary reason to tell the man that he wasn’t coming back. That made Zack fairly happy, as the man was annoying as well as creepy, and Jenova made Zack want to run. She never opened her eyes, and she never spoke, but Hojo acted like she talked very clearly.
They bugged Zack, and he was more than happy to look at the man and tell him he quit.
There was a long moment of silence, the Hojo coughed. “Excuse me,” he said lightly, smiling slightly. “I don’t believe I heard you correctly.”
“This is my last reading, Dr. Hojo. I will not be back next month. I’m sorry, but it comes into conflict with something that recently developed in my life.”
Cold eyes fixed on him, and Zack swallowed, hard. The warning the other two gave him suddenly seemed a lot more realistic. Trying to not fidget, he looked at the man, expression calm. “I’m sorry, sir, it’s just something that I have to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me….”
“Hold for a minute, Zack,” Hojo said quickly. “It will just be for a moment, but I promise you, it’ll be interesting.”
Zack froze, torn. He really did want to get out of here, but something about Hojo’s eyes made him feel stuck in place. Finally, he just nodded. If he didn’t like what the man had to say, he could leave.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the guardians of the four directions, correct? Turtle to the north, tiger to the west, red bird to the south, dragon to the east? Four guardians and man guards the center.”
As he spoke, Hojo began to pace, and his motions became more animated. “But, Zachary, did you know that before that, there were only three guardians? A dragon, a phoenix, and a qilin.”
“A what?” Zack had heard of dragons and phoenixes, but what was a qilin?
“Ignorant fool. It was a creature who was said to proceed the birth of a great leader, who had scales like a fish of the five colors and fur of yellow on its underside. The head of a dragon, the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, hooves of a deer and a single horn. A creature second only to the dragon in grace and power.” Hojo paused and glared at Zack, as if making sure he was paying attention.
He didn’t need to worry. Zack was paying very close attention. That description….
“The three great versions were said to look over everything, but there were smaller ones. Ones to watch over countries, provinces, cities….”
Blue eyes, so dark they were almost black, fixed on Zack. “This city lost is qilin, Zachary. It had young guardians, odd ones. A male phoenix, a dragon that was half demon, a qilin who was human. Who could die. And die he did, when the dragon’s creators came to take over. Their qilin was damaged, unable to stand the experiments that were supposed to make him great, to merge him with another demon.”
“The qilin went to sleep, leaving his demon-phoenix and her western dragon without a balancing force,” came a slippery, sleek voice from behind Zack, and he spun around, eyes going wide with horror as he found himself the focus of a single violet eye.
Jenova continued, her attention focused on Zack.
“Without balance, the phoenix and the dragon revert to their archetypes, child. Eternal lovers, eternal enemies. They represent wedded bliss and conflict. Without their balancing force, their qilin, they tear each other apart.”
That sounded familiar, and Zack found himself backing away. “What does this…?” he started, looking for a way out.
“Vincent fell to the demons, and we lost our qilin,” Hojo said calmly, moving towards Zack. “We came to collect our son’s. You know Sephiroth and that toy he calls a lover, correct? This city’s dragon and phoenix. Such an odd set. And their qilin, who fell when we tried to destroy them.”
“Qilin,” Jenova hissed, “are insanely loyal and protective of their dragon and phoenix. Vincent claimed that when I took Lucretia, I was no longer his phoenix, and when I took Hojo, his disavowed both of us and left us to rot!” She growled, rising up from the chair Zack had never seen her leave.
“We will not let our group be torn apart. But that foolish qilin let himself die so that our child and the phoenix escape.”
“But, as we said, the qilin was human. At least partly,” Hojo picked up the thread again, eyes hungry as he moved to circle Zack again. “His mother was human, and so he was reborn.”
“This city falls apart as the pairs are unable to balance. Barriers weakened, things that shouldn’t be loose are slipping into the night. Do you want that on your hands, Zachary?” Jenova’s voice was a purr. “Join us, and we can make this city right again.”
This was wrong. The voice in the back of his head, the one he always listened to, rejected this. It was wrong.
“No,” he growled, dancing away from Hojo’s lunge at him.
“Just like in the dreams,” the man growled, something changing, and Zack realized in horror that Hojo’s skin was peeling back, just like his had done in the dream, showing broken, jagged scales and dulled colors. Even as it did, Jenova’s was doing the same for dusty, damaged feathers.
“You don’t have a choice,” Jenova said even as her mouth split open and rolled back along the beak that forced its way out. “You will bond with one set, and I will not let you escape.”
Zack was pretty sure he gave a yell. Watching someone peel out of their skin was going to give him nightmares for months, he just knew it.
“You’re ours, Zachary,” the thing that had been Hojo said tattered wings spreading and the smell of rot and sickness made Zack gag. Oh, gods, it was like the dream.
Then…came the sound of rain, and two new figures crashed through the window into the room.
“He isn’t yours, or ours,” hissed the bird, eyes bright blue against the multitude of brilliant feathers, black and white, red, blue, yellow, all those colors on display in the feathers. The same colors were echoed the dragon’s scales, his own wings whole and feathered.
“We’re sorry, Zack,” the dragon murmured, green cat eyes flickering back towards him as the phoenix watched Hojo and Jenova. “We were going to let you remember in your own time, and we would have still, except they were after you. All we could do was let you get sleep and defend you from their attacks.”
Anything more Sephiroth was going to say was lost as Jenova screeched and attached. She launched herself at Sephiroth, even as Hojo went after Cloud.
Pressing himself back against the wall, he watched creatures beyond any scope of his imagination begin to battle, most likely to the death. This couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t real.
“It is, unfortunately, most real, young one.”
And a new person. How many more people were going to show up to break his mind. Looking over, he saw a tall, thin, sad looking man with dark hair and blood red eyes. “Who…?”
“I am Vincent,” the man said calmly, ignoring the battle and looking at Zack. “It is my fault, sadly, that this has happened. Jenova is a long story to explain, and you do not have the time. Not if you wish your dragon and phoenix to remained completely unharmed.”
Startled by those words, Zack looked, and saw, for some reason, Sephiroth-dragon was starting to…not lose, but not fight either. Jenova-phoenix has started to sing, and the longer she did, the stiller Sephiroth-dragon went.
“She is a demon,” Vincent said simply. “Who stole the body of my phoenix, my Lucretia. And she taints your Sephiroth and is using that taint to control him. Soon he will lose himself, and turn upon his phoenix. And that, more than anything, will kill Cloud. Dragons and phoenixes do not take the loss of their counterpart well. Even less well than the loss of their balance.”
“I’m not anyone’s balance,” Zack said, eyes still on the fight. “I’m human, spirit touched, yes, but human still. I’m not qilin. I can’t be.”
“Then they will die. I cannot be as they need. I am damaged, changed. They are odd, but I am corrupted. Only one as odd as they can do this.”
Sephiroth-dragon suddenly burst into action again, lunging for Cloud-phoenix, who gave a startled cry as he was slammed to the earth.
Even from where he was, Zack could see surprised pain in Cloud’s eyes, and desperation in Sephiorth’s.
He couldn’t let this happen.
“What do I do,” he heard himself saying, eyes locked on the battle ahead of him.
“You are qilin. It’s as simple as that. You hold the fires of protection, of justice, in your heart. Let them free and slip from the mortal form to live another thousand years.”
There was a strange intensity in Vincent’s voice, and Zack found himself caught in it. He looked at the man, and he saw the sorrow in his eyes, and realized the man couldn’t do this anymore.
And his words made sense.
Even as he moved forward to help, he felt the heat under his skin, and he…changed, fur and scales that had been sleeping, just waiting to be called slipping forward.
This…was everything that he was supposed to be.
It all made sense to him again.
Vincent smiled, just a tiny quirk of his lips. This was how it should be.
He watched as the qilin joined his dragon, once again free, and his phoenix, which rose back into the air.
Together.
Turning, Vincent returned to where he had rested.
Now he could sleep with a clear conscious.
I need to work more on this universe. It was fun.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Maybe I should. Cause, you know, it's implied that it was a Hojo/Lucrecia/Vincent grouping.
*should eventually finish and post the Egyptian AU that wrote for this challenge*
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This was a fantastic story and have to admit love the idea of a FF7 Egyptian AU, think that would be most interesting.
Do you mind if I freind you? I really enjoy all your stories. Your writing is what helped fall in in love with the OT4 of Seph, Zack, Aeris and Cloud. I adored "Another Chance" and was pleased to hear that you plan on continuing "OGToF".
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*laughs* The Egyptian AU is going to be insane. What I have written is already over 8,000 words, and I haven't even hit the main action yet. Which is a huge story for me. *doesn't write long, one shot stories*
And friend away. It's always nice when people enjoy my stuff enough to want to keep track of me.
*pokes next chapter of Gracious* One day. One day, it will get done.
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Which is lucky for your readers. Just means that much more awesomeness to read. YAY!
And did friend, thanks...definately need to keep track of your writing...you make it so easy to *see* it all.
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...I kept misreading qilin as quail. I am now picturing Zack as a quail. And it's your fault entirely.
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And I hope to write more for it one day. It's a fun little universe.
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::pets the qilin-Zack:: Pretty!
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I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was a fun story to write.
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But, yes, very much a fun universe to play in. Glad you liked it.
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Do you mean "conscience"?