Cephy (cephy) wrote in no_true_pair, @ 2008-06-23 11:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 2008 twelve characters challenge, author: cephy, crossover: ff7/saiyuki, pairing: gojyo/zack |
"Riding Out The Storm", Saiyuki & FF7
Title: Riding Out The Storm
Author: Cephy
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII, Saiyuki
Characters: Zack, Gojyo
Rating: R for blood and implications
Warnings: Some knowledge of canon background for both series probably recommended
Prompt/challenge: Zack and Gojyo with the title "Riding Out The Storm"
He found the guy in the middle of the road-- just lying there, looking like a corpse, though from the trail behind him he'd obviously been alive enough to crawl not too long before. Gojyo tried to stop and think about it, he really did, but hell-- he must have had some sort of honour in him after all, because the idea of leaving someone to bleed out in the rain just felt kinda wrong. It really was a damned pathetic way to go.
Besides. Maybe he was a bit curious. Or bored. Or both.
The guy didn't twitch the entire time Gojyo was cleaning him up-- swabbing off the mud, then mopping up the blood that came out from under it, then wrapping bandages around the whole mess before going outside for a smoke. There was a corner of the porch where one could sit on the railing and lean back against the door, and still be sheltered just enough by the roof to not get dripped on. Gojyo settled there, fingers automatically flicking the lighter while his thoughts wandered back inside.
It was bad, no mistaking that. The guy'd been shot, and more than once-- hell, more than a few times-- and though he looked like he was pretty strong it wouldn't be an easy thing to heal from. If he even woke up. And that was a pretty gruesome thought, all of a sudden, because what the hell was Gojyo doing to do with a corpse in his bed?
He ended up drifting there on the front step, not quite asleep, breathing the scent of rain as it mingled with the tang of smoke.
He woke again, some time later, at the sound of a shout.
The man was curled in on himself on the bed, blanket skewed as if he'd tried to flail and only ended up hurting-- the sound of laboured breathing was loud in the room. When Gojyo stepped closer, though, the man's head snapped up, eyes hard and narrow and-- well, he was only imagining that they glowed, surely, but it was a damned neat trick nonetheless.
"Take it easy," he tried, not moving any closer. "You want any of those holes to heal, you might not want to move around so much."
"Where's Cloud?" the man rasped.
Gojyo blinked. "Nobody out there but you, man."
For a moment, the guy didn't move, glaring like he thought Gojyo was lying-- then his eyes blinked shut and the moment was gone. Something flashed across the stranger's face-- pain, of course, and something uncomfortably like guilt mixed in with a healthy dose of teeth-gritting bull-stubborn determination. Moving slowly, the guy shoved the blanket the rest of the way down and made as if to put his feet to the floor-- turned white as a priest's undershorts when he started sitting up, but he kept going anyway until Gojyo took a few quick steps forward to push him back down.
"Stop it, fuck-- I spent too long cleaning you up to have you go and bleed on everything again. Look--" He freed one hand, pointed to the window where the sheeting rain was still visible. "You're not going to be able to go anywhere in that anyway, even if you were in one piece. So just-- wait, all right?"
He really thought the guy was going to just ignore him-- stubborn types, you could always tell the ones that had too much responsibility for their own good. So he pressed down a bit on one shoulder, and only felt a little guilty when the guy's arms buckled out from under him.
The guy actually looked surprised, which was more than a little funny-- did he really expect anything different? He did look like he was maybe convinced to stay still, though, at least for the moment, so Gojyo eased back to standing as he gave in to his curiousity. "How'd you get full of holes, anyway? You remember?"
"I was-- a friend of mine. We were both being held captive, I tried to--" Paused, winced a different kind of wince, lifted a hand to his ear where Gojyo noticed for the first time the three little silver clips hidden amidst his hair. Ah. He'd wondered where the demon stink was coming from, since he'd already tossed the guy's clothes out to be burned. "I have to go back," the guy went on, sounding a little stronger, or maybe just more desperate. "I don't know where-- he might still be out there, and I promised--" He looked towards the door again, though it was obvious that whatever strength he had left was fading fast, and his eyes were drooping shut even as he spoke.
"Take it easy," Gojyo said again, tugging the blanket up off the floor and draping it haphazardly over the bed again. "Wait 'til morning, anyway. Maybe the storm'll be over by then."
He glanced up and saw a slack face and closed eyes, and he snorted and he straightened up. Chewed his lip for a second as he looked down and wondered what the hell he was doing, just a little.
The door's hinges creaked in the damp as he opened them again, fingers moving from pocket to lips to lighter with no thought required. Sparks flared as he lit up, and faded as he stared out into the rain.