Never Tear Us Apart: Part I

by tir-synni

 

Definitely a NC-17 rating.  Rape and torture (gee, all done to Cloud) described.  Lots of foul language, too.  Thought I'd warn ya.

 

Chapter I: Waking Nightmare

 

            It's getting harder and harder to see, was Cloud's first thought.  Hojo's experiments were threatening to steal his sight as they were stealing his words.  Would his hearing go next?

            "Baby?  Baby, can you hear me?"

            By the Planet, Cloud hoped not.  He did not think he could survive without hearing Zack's dear voice.

            "Come on, baby, look my way, please?"

            Zack...give me a sec.  I'm so tired.

            With a soft moan, one of the only sounds left to Cloud, the young man shifted in the tube so he was facing Zack.  Cloud greeted him with a weak smile.  Zack's return smile was encouraging.

            "Don't worry, kid," Zack comforted him.  "My strength is finally coming back.  I'll get us out of here, both of us, I swear."

            Cloud's minuscule smile faded a bit before he forced it back.  While Zack's strength was returning, Cloud was losing his.  Still, Cloud wouldn't give up.  He was a SOLDIER, dammit, with a SOLDIER's training.  He had survived Hojo's torture for five years, and he refused to surrender to that bastard now.

            Both of us, Cloud mouthed back.

            Zack smiled brilliantly at him, but before he could respond, the lab door opened.  Immediately, the SOLDIERs stilled.

            Hojo.

            "I am happy you both are awake," Hojo greeted them, his tone cold despite his cheerful words.  One of his henchmen was behind him, and Cloud could hear Zack's low growl.  If it was two of Hojo's henchmen, then Hojo was coming for Zack.  If it was only one...

            Cloud went cold.

            As if he heard what Cloud was thinking, Hojo turned and smirked at Cloud.  "We must conduct more tests.  Jenova seems to be quite taken with you, and we have to figure out why and to what extent.  Perhaps she simply has a thing for pretty boys."  The look on Hojo's face sent chills up Cloud's spine.  Lust darkened the scientist's beady eyes; Hojo licked his lips hungrily.  "Then again, so do I."

            A loud thud echoed in the cylinder beside Cloud, and the youth caught a glance at Zack's hate-filled face before he closed his eyes tightly.

            "You leave him alone, you fucking bastard!" Zack roared, and another resounding thunk sounded from his tube.  "Don't you fucking touch him!"

            Hojo's laugh echoed in Cloud's mind, and if he had the strength, Cloud would have clapped his hands over his ears.  No, please, not again, Cloud begged the Planet, but as it had done for so many years, it ignored his pleas.

            "Jealous, subject?" Hojo taunted.  "That I can feel his flesh, and you cannot?  That I can bury myself in his heat, and you cannot?"

            Zack's furious growl was his only answer.

            Please, Zack, stay calm! Cloud pleaded silently, never opening his eyes.  He was afraid that if he did, he would cry, and Cloud had sworn to himself after the first year that Hojo may get his screams, but he would never get his tears.

            How funny.  He couldn't say a word, but he could see scream.  Cloud struggled to stop the shaking in his shoulders.

            Cloud's tube opened with a whoosh, and his limp body fell lifelessly into the henchman's strong, capable arms.  He felt a hand grab his ass and squeeze tightly before letting go.  Cloud closed his eyes tighter.

            "Come, subject," Homo purred as Cloud was dragged off.  "I want to see how well Jenova will heal you, and what she will heal you from."

            Oh, by Holy, no....

 

            The silence was killing him, but Zack was dreading any noise besides the sound of the lab door opening to return Cloud.  He knew what anymore noise would mean: pain for his beloved.

            Dammit, if Hojo was going to do experiments, he should use Zack!  Zack was stronger physically than Cloud.  He could take more pain.  Zack was not sure what exactly Hojo did to Cloud, but whatever it was, it was nasty.  Zack would usually hear Cloud's agonized screams through the thick glass and closed door.  When Cloud was returned, he was either dazed or unconscious and soaked in rich, red blood.  Later, Cloud refused to speak of his ordeal, or at least, he refused to speak of it when he had words.  Either way, each time, Cloud only looked at Zack with large, soulful eyes.

            "Cloud," Zack whispered.  "Lately, Hojo only does Mako experiments on me.  The Jenova experiments are far worse.  You go through so much.  If I don't get you out of here soon, you'll either die, or be driven out of your mind.  You're strong, Cloud.  Otherwise, you'd never have made it this far, but you've gone through this for the last five years.  I don't think you can last another five.  I swear, I'm getting you out of here.  I'm getting stronger.  I'll get you out of here.  Just please, hang on a little longer."

            As soon as the words were out of his lips, the screams began.  Unconsciously, Zack shrank down in his tube.  Cloud had the most heart-wrenching scream he had ever heard, and because of Hojo, he heard it often enough to be sure.  Cloud could pack so much emotion in his screams, and right then, his pain was shredding Zack to pieces.

            "Cloud!" Zack shrieked, slamming himself against the glass.  "Cloud!"

            The screams rang on and on, breathless and shrill but as always dry.  There was a choked, wheezing gasp, reaching Zack's Mako-sharp ears as if to mock his helplessness.  Then the screams began again.

            "Cloud..." Zack moaned, covering his face with his hands.  "Baby, please, hang on.  Holy, please, help us get through this."

            He wasn't expecting an answer to his prayers.  He didn't even know why he was still praying.

            There was a particularly harsh scream, and Zack cringed.  Oh, yes.  For Cloud's sake.  It was only Cloud, and his love for the young blonde, that kept him going.  He would do anything for his petite love, and when he couldn't, it tore him up inside.

            Finally, silence fell like a heavy curtain once again, and all Zack heard was the desperate thudding of his own heart.  Cloud, he mouthed.

            With his Mako-enhanced hearing and a bit of straining, Zack could hear Hojo's low grunts.  They were intense and erratic, but from Cloud there wasn't a sound.  Zack saw red as he realized what Hojo was doing.

            "You fucking bastard!" Zack hissed.  His eyes blazed with a feral light.  "You chocobo-fucking..." He drifted into cursing that usually made even the Great Sephiroth cringe, finishing with "BASTARD!  He can't defend himself!  He's hurt and he's sick and he can't defend himself!  I fucking swear I'm going to rip your skeleton from your body and cast Fire 3 on your flesh!  I'll sic Bahamut on your balls!  I fucking swear, after I get Cloud outta here, I'm going to come back and kill your ass!"

            Hojo's grunts increased in tempo, drifting into strangled gasps.  There was a long, drawn-out moan, and then silence once again.

            "Baby!" Zack whispered, staring helplessly at the door.  "My love."

            Within several minutes, Hojo's goon was practically carrying Cloud back into the room.  Seeing the blonde only inflamed Zack's rage again.  "You fucking piece of shit!  What did you do to him?!"

            Blood.  When Zack looked at Cloud, that was the first thing he saw.  It dyed his silky, golden hair.  It streaked his slack, haunted face.  His clothes were stained red with it, and it dripped from one limp, dangling arm.

            Zack's enraged cry was ignored, and Cloud was carelessly tossed back into the tube.  Cloud did not seem to notice his surroundings.  He just slumped against the glass and did not move.

            "Cloud," Zack whispered, finally calming.  "No..."

            "How touching," came Hojo's mocking voice.  Zack couldn't see him out of the corner of his eye.  The scientist remained on the otherside of the door.  "I suppose you'll need to wake 'your' lover soon.  In an hour is feeding time, and I need my dear subject to keep up his strength.  Soon, I must leave, but I'm sure my assistants will regularly...check on his progress."

            Zack growled ferally and slammed a fist against the glass.  However, he never turned away from Cloud's unconscious form.

            "I won't let you stay here for another day, Cloud," Zack whispered.  "Feeding time.  I'll get you out of here, or die trying."