Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

It started out as a normal day

You had been taking a peaceful walk outside the base as was your usual habit when you weren't on missions. With you being a 1st class SOLDIER, you always wanted to get as much peace as you could. You wondered in the boys were up already or if you had to drag Angeal out of bed again. It wouldn't be the first time and you and Sephiroth had already discussed creating a device to make getting him out of bed easier

You of course didn't mean it, but you did make sure to loudly discuss creating such device within hearing range of Angeal. The look of horror on his face had been hilarious and it had been one of the few times you had seen the normally so stoic Sephiroth laughing. Although, if you had to believe both Genesis and Angeal, then that had been a more common occurrence ever since you unofficially joined them

You still had no idea how that happened. You had been training while still being a 2nd class SOLDIER even after the others had left after some teammates had teased you about falling behind. You had continued to train way past your normal limit and that was saying a lot considering the mako enhancements. A voice behind you had suddenly warned you against using a certain move at some point and you had snapped at them to shut up as you did it anyway, only to overreach and starting to fall. A hand had quickly caught you prevented you from falling.

You still remembered your fist reaction as you went to thank him, only to stop in your tracks at seeing who the hand belonged to: Sephiroth, looking incredibly amused by your stubbornness "Maybe next time, you should listen to the advice given to you." He had quietly snarked at you and you had immediately turned bright red at seeing you were in the presence it the three best SOLDIERs ever, including the legendary hero.

Stammering through a very nervous apology after Sephiroth had finally let you go again, you had carefully asked what they were doing there so very late, completely prepared to be punished for asking in the first place. After sharing a look and swearing you to secrecy, they had told you that they liked to use the training rooms to have a bit of fun at times when they didn't have any missions, only doing so when the 2nd class had left.

They had seen that the light was still on which was very unusual and had gone to see who was still using it at this time of night, resulting in the situation you had been in that very moment, much to your embarrassment. They then asked you why you were there so late and while looking at the ground, you had told them about the comments the others made about you, about how you were falling behind and if you didn't look out, you'd be sent away or even killed. You remembered the very displeased looks on their faces as you nodded at them and left

You had met several times after that when training late again and you had gotten to know the men pretty well... or as well as you could with these three and over time, things slowly started to change for you as you were allowed to go on higher ranked missions and got more opportunities to prove yourself. You didn't know it at the time, but Sephiroth was usually watching you during these times to see if you were up to it

He didn't know exactly what it was, but something simply drew him to you more and more and he wanted to find out everything about you. Angeal secretly called him obsessed as he caught his friend staring at you from a distance more than once. "If you really want to get to know her better, ask her out. There's no way that she'll say no." He had said one day, nudging Sephiroth in the side, only to receive a freezing glare in return

Eventually, you were officially made a 1st class soldier as you had finally managed to prove yourself and "your boys" as you would slowly start to call them over time but only to yourself and no one else, immediately celebrated your promotion with you. From then on, you often joined the three of them on missions when things only required one of them and you slowly became known as an almost inseparable quartet. Where there was one, people could often assume there was at least one other nearby if all three weren't there

It had started off with you joining one of them and share your time between the three men as much as you could, but as time went by, you slowly started to join Sephiroth more than Genesis or Angeal. Despite his stoic attitude, you slowly started to get to know the real person he was underneath it.  No matter how cold he seemed, you still stayed with him and the others and even if he'd never say it out loud, he was happy you did

You eventually started to realise that your feelings for him went quite a bit deeper than just friendship and who could honestly blame you. He was handsome, strong, the most skilled fighter of them all and a legendary hero who many looked up to. He even had his own fanclub, even if he was nothing more than polite to its members. The more time you spent with him, the more you realised how absolutely screwed you were about this

There was absolutely no way that someone like him could ever be interested in you in any way except as a friend. You weren't even special like him and the others. You were just a simple member who simply got lucky and happened to meet them while trying to catch up to the others. You slowly started to pull yourself back and spend more time with Genesis and Angeal instead, but you should've realised he would realise the difference and would have figured out you were trying to distance yourself from him and he was not going to let it go easily

He had practically burst into the training room one day while you were using it and demanded to know what you were doing after you had avoided him for several days in a row as you couldn't look at him without your heart giving a very painful jolt. You had tried to pretend that you didn't know what was talking about and tried to leave the room, but he was having none of it and grabbed you by the arms, holding you right in front of him.

"What made you think that you can suddenly and selfishly ignore me after everything that we've been through? What madness has taken hold of you to suddenly leave me like our friendship meant nothing to you?!" He had demanded to know, only for you to kiss him and he stiffened up in surprise. "That madness. The madness of wishing for something that I could never get in a thousand years." You muttered after pulling away

"I was not tying to hurt you, Sephiroth, but I will admit that I was being selfish by trying to save myself from the pain of a love unrequited. Now, can you please let me go?" You asked then while wriggling slightly in his hold as you tried to break free, only for him to pull you closer and kiss you again, his arms wrapping around you, only much more gentle this time as he kissed you like his life depended on it. This time, it was you who stiffened up, before closing your eyes and slowly wrapping your arms around his neck as this kiss deepened. 

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that." He whispered once he finally broke away from you. "Wh-what?" You stammered and you remembered his very low chuckle as he brushed your hair back. "I have been waiting to do that for so long. My brave fighter." He said as he cupped your faces and you slowly started to smile as you realised this was real, before giving him another kiss which he immediately returned

You quietly smiled to yourself at the memory, before stiffening up at sensing you weren't alone in the forest around the base anymore and pulling your weapon. "You should know I'm not easy to sneak up on." You stated out loud and several hooded figures came out of the shadows. Looking around, you saw you were surrounded and cursed yourself for letting your guard down, but you were not going to go down without a fight

"I have to disagree with you on that. You didn't realise we were here for at least five minutes. Pretty lousy if you ask Ms  I bet you were thinking about those boytoys of yours." One of the figures, clearly the leader of the group, stated and you growled at hearing him call your friends and partner that. You and Sephiroth had kept your relationship a secret, monstie because his fanclub could be quite obsessive and because Sephiroth was of the opinion that it was nobody's business. Only certain members of SOLDIER knew about it

Genesis and Angeal apparently had a small bet going on about you getting together because of course they did and the only other two who knew were the new member Angeal was training named Zack and a new recruit named Cloud after he accidentally walked in on you kissing one day. You had never seen anyone turn that red that fast, but you had to concentrate. Without giving them any kind of warning, you attacked

You had downed at least five opponents of those surrounding you and was about to get away and warn the others about the attack when you felt a dart prick in your neck. You grunted as you pulled out out and continued to fight, but whatever was in it quickly started to work and you slowly lost consciousness. Before everything became black and as you felt yourself collapsing to the ground, you had one final thought in your head. 

'They are so screwed.'

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise 

"Sephiroth!" 

Cloud Strife was currently tearing his way through the base as he looked for the famous hero, looking in every room that he could find and weren't locked. He did bang on the locked ones, only to go on once their occupants weren't the one he was looking for. He was pretty sure he had bowled several people over ever since he started running and would definitely get in trouble for that, but right now he didn't care as he kept calling Sephiroth's name. 

"Woah! Easy there, squirt. What's the rush?" Angeal asked as he stopped Cloud from going any further and stepping in his way when he tried to go on. "Angeal, I need to find Sephiroth now! It's an emergency!" Cloud stated as he tried to go past him. "I'm afraid he's a bit busy, preparing something for Y/N. Have you seen her?" Angeal asked. "Yeah, I saw her alright. I saw her getting taken away by a band of mercenaries while taking a walk outside." Cloud stated 

Within a second, all jovial teasing was completely gone from Angeal's face. "What?!" He hissed. Cloud told him how he had been unable to sleep, so he had gone to take a walk outside. He had heard the sounds of battle and had rushed towards it, arriving just as you were knocked out. As he didn't have any weapons with him, he could only watch from a distance as you were taken away, but not before recognising them as members from Avalanche. "Well done, Strife. Come on, we need to tell Sephiroth." Angeal stated once he was done and they hurried away

Many miles away, you groaned as you finally woke up from your forced slumber. You tried to move your arms, only to find them completely restrained and stretched out to the sides of your body. "Oh good. You're awake." A voice you recognised from the ambush said and you looked up to see a man in a lab coat standing there as you still tried to break free. "Let me guess, Avalanche. I didn't know you were into kidnappings now." You spat and the man chuckled 

"Desperate times call for desperate measures and I'm afraid that you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. So sorry." He replied, not sounding sorry at all and you growled. "What do you want?" You asked. "What every strategist wants: info. You seem pretty close friends with Shinra's best soldiers and you seem like a reasonable person. You wouldn't happen to inputs a thing or two about them, would you?" He asked, putting a finger underneath you chin

You glared at him and tried to bite his fingers as he pulled his hand back. Even if you had just been friends with them, instead of being in a relationship with one of them for at least a year now, you still wouldn't betray any of them. "Hmm, temper. Such a shame. I had hoped that you would work along with us. I guess I was wrong." He muttered as he walked away and went to sit behind some kind of computer. Despite dread filling you, you kept glaring at him. "Just remember: you've only got yourself to thank for this." He stated as he pushed a button and the pain began

Back at the base, Sephiroth suddenly had to lean on his desk while he, Genesis, Angeal and Cloud were trying to discuss the best way to get you back home as he felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Sephiroth? Are you alright?" Genesis immediately asked in concern as he and Angeal almost had to catch him. "It's Y/N. They're hurting her. We need to hurry." Was all that Sephiroth said in return and the others nodded as they got ready to leave and get you back

You slumped in your restraints once the pain stopped, breathing heavily to try and get your heartbeat back under control again. "Are you more willing to listen now?" The man asked. "Screw you!" You immediately spat at him with all your strength as you glared at him. You'd never betray your teammates, your friends and most importantly, your beloved Sephiroth. He pushed the button again and the electrical pain started once more, making you scream

Despite the incredible pain coursing through your entire body, you then came up with a very risky idea to try and help your boys find you. However, the reason if was risky was because it would immediately leave you even more vulnerable than you already were. As the vile man turned up the power even more, you realised you had no other choice. You gathered all the Mako that was inside you, formed it into a ball and as you let out the loudest scream yet, let it all out in one big shock wave that fried the nearest devices, including the one responsible for your pain

Once it was over, you slumped forwards once again. This time, you did not move again and barely breathed as you hung in your restraints. The man growled in frustration and walked to you, harshly grabbing your face and punching you. "Wake up!" He growled, only getting a groan in return as soldiers ran in. "Sir? What happened?" One of them asked. "I'll tell you what happened. That little bitch interfered with the equipment." The man hurting you spat

"Close the door. It's time we taught her a lesson." He then ordered and the soldiers immediately obeyed. The room was soundproof from both inside and out, so no one could hear what was going inside of it and when people were working, they could concentrate without being disturbed. "Cut the bitch free. Sure can barely do anything now anyway." The strategist then ordered and you fell forwards the moment the restraints loosened, not moving after that

However, as two soldiers then went to grab both your arms, so they could pull you up and do who-knows-what to you now that you were seemingly powerless to do anything to get their answers about your friends and the man you loved, you shot up as fast as you could to take them by surprise, grabbed one of their swords and quickly killed them both with it. Despite feeling incredibly weak, standing on shaky legs and still being in the incredible minority you pointed the blade at them all as you backed up until you were standing with your back against the wall.

"Don't come any closer." You warned them as you pointed the blade at them, ready to go down fighting. You were a SOLDIER and you were going to show it. "You truly are a fighter, aren't you? You should give up though. You're surrounded again and alone. You'll never get out of here." The strategist mocked. You growled despite the pain trying to knock you down again. Sephiroth's face floated in your mind to remind you that you had someone to return to.

You had someone that you had to fight for and you were not going to disappoint him. "I don't care. I will never betray my organisation, no matter what you did. I will not give you any secrets about my friends and especially not Sephiroth. In fact, I only have two more words to say." You hissed at them as you noticed very subtle movement behind them. "What are those?" One soldier scoffed. "Hello boys." You stated as you looked right behind them

The men immediately whirled around to see an absolutely furious Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth standing there, glaring at them all with their primary weapons at the ready as they had found you by the huge shock wave that you had let out, having rushed to it and having broken in without notice of the soldiers holding you captive because of the soundproof room. Now that they were completely aware of them being there, the men floated up in the air and shot forwards. Genesis and Angeal took care of the men while Sephiroth flew towards you as fast as he could. 

The moment that you felt his warm and familiar arms wrap around you again as he put his weapon away and you dropped yours to the ground, your legs finally gave out and you almost fell to the ground if it hadn't been for him holding you close. "You're late." You muttered in his chest and he smiled as he took a deep breath, relaxing at having you in his arms again. "I know, my love. I'm sorry." He breathed as he lifted you up in his arms and turned around 

"Good to see you're mostly okay, Y/N. You had us worried." Angeal commented once they were done and you gave him a tired smile as you wrapped your arms around Sephiroth's neck and buried your face in it. The man in question had a very tight grip on you as if he was afraid that you would suddenly disappear from his grasp. "I should raze this place to the ground." He growled. "Don't." Genesis replied and Sephiroth looked at him. "Why not?" He asked 

"Look at Y/N, Sephiroth. She's hurt and absolutely exhausted after a very painful ordeal. She needs your love and care right now, not your rage and fury. The two of us will take care of everything here with others. Go and bring her home now." Genesis replied and Sephiroth immediately looked down at you, seeing that you really were fighting to stay awake. He leaned his head down to nuzzle the top of your head. He knew his friend was right and as much as you wanted to make these people pay for what they had done, you were more important to him right now

Nodding at his two oldest friends and holding you even tighter to him, he flew out of the place where Avalanche had held you prisoner. As he flew, you slowly relaxed as your brain finally realised you were safe in the arms of the man you loved. "I was scared, Sephi." You whispered, your voice barely audible over the wind, but he heard you nonetheless. "Sssshhh. It's okay now. I'm here." He replied, briefly kissing your forehead without even stopping with flying

"It hurt so much and I didn't know if you sensed my Mako. If you hadn't... who knows what they could have done next." You continued as your grip around his neck tightened and you let out everything in a way you could only do with Sephiroth and no one else. "We sensed it very clearly, my brave fighter. You did so well." He replied as he was near the base. He knew you would eventually be asked what Avalanche wanted, but he'd try and stall it as much as possible 

The moment that he carefully landed right outside the base and was immediately greeted by an incredibly relieved Cloud and Zack who quickly asked if you were alright was the moment that you finally lost your battle with your consciousness after having fought to stay awake for so long. You were completely safe and Sephiroth would protect you now from any danger while you were vulnerable with barely any Mako inside you. That was all you needed to know as you blacked out peacefully, surrounded by Sephiroth's scent and warmth

The next sensation that you were mostly aware of was warmth and softness. The pain from your brief captivity was thankfully a mere soreness and you were lying in a very nice bed. As you woke up more, you were aware of a very different softness and warmth around your hand. You could barely crack a smile at realising it was Sephiroth holding your hand in his. This just confirmed that you were completely safe and that no one would hurt you anymore 

Before you realised it, tears of relief were streaming down and you felt a hand wipe them away. "Don't cry, my brave fighter. You're safe now." Sephiroth whispered as you slowly managed to open your eyes. "Sephiroth." You breathed, your voice weak and he gave you a smile as he caressed your cheek and squeezed the hand that he was holding. "I'm here. I'm here." He told you as he kissed your forehead. You smiled as you knew only you saw this side of him

Not even Angeal or Genesis saw him like this. Weakly raising a hand, you pressed his against your cheek and leaned into his touch as you took a deep breath. Sephiroth smiled at you, before resting his forehead against yours and closing your eyes. The last few hours had been the most terrifying in his life and he never wanted to experience some like that again. He had told Zack he was planning on retiring and this had only made they idea seem more appealing. Yes, Shinra would always watch them and you'd still be in danger, but he'd always be by your side

He never wanted to go through this again, never wanted his blood to freeze like it did when Cloud told him you had been taken. Feeling your hand on his cheek after a few seconds, he opened his eyes to see your worried expression. "Are you alright?" You asked as you looked into his eyes. You knew his slit pupils scared or intimidated people, but you had never been one of them. You had always thought they were fascinating and simply part of who he was

He took a deep breath as he gently grabbed your wrist and kissed your palm. "I'm fine. I just never want to go through something like this ever again." He muttered. "Same here." You tried to joke and he scoffed as he then leaned forwards and kissed you with all that he had. You immediately kissed him back as he hovered over you. "Never leave my side again." He breathed after breaking apart and you smiled as you brushed his silver hair back from his face

"I'll never willingly leave you, but you can't stay with me 24/7 either. I'm my own person and we both have our duties." You whispered. You understood where he was coming from, but you were not going to stay in one place for the rest of your life. He took another breath and sighed, before seeing your drooping eyelids. "Go to sleep, my fighter. We'll talk later." He whispered, caressing your hair as he knew this was the way that always lulled you to sleep and this time was no exception. "We're not done about this." You slurred and he smiled as you fell back asleep

When you woke up once again, Angeal was sitting at your bedside instead. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." He greeted you with a smile and you immediately snorted. "Nice to see you too. Where is Sephiroth?" You asked. "Genesis and I kinda forced him to go to sleep as he didn't get a lick of it after you arrived back here if we have to believe Strife." He explained. "How long was I out after that?" You asked. "At least a day." He answered and you winced

"Shit." You muttered. You knew Sephiroth could push himself to his limits, but you felt guilty that he had foregone at least a full day or maybe two days of sleep to watch over you. "You know how he is. Wouldn't rest until he knew you were completely okay. You didn't even react when they healed you as much as they could. For a moment, he thought you were gone if not for your breathing." Angeal explained. "How did you know I was gone so fast?" You asked

"Strife saw you being taken, but didn't have any weapons on him. He nearly tore the entire place down trying to look for Sephiroth until he ran into me and told me what happened. We went to find Sephiroth to get you out after that and left when he actually felt you getting hurt. I don't think we had been searching for an hour before we felt your Mako and followed it. I don't think I've seen Sephiroth this frantic in all the years I've known him." Angeal explained and you smiled. "Remind me to buy Cloud something once I'm strong enough." You said

"Well, I think you should say "once a silver-haired mother hen decides I'm strong enough," but I definitely will once the time is ready." Angeal quickly teased you with a grin and you gave him a very unamused look. "I think I'm perfectly capable of deciding that for myself." You muttered. "You sure are, but we both know that if he doesn't agree, he will simply lift you up in his arms and put you back in bed." He replied and you snorted as that did sound like him

As if knowing you were talking about him (and you were pretty sure that he still hadn't slept) Sephiroth walked into the room and Angeal quickly left you with a smile as he promised to tell Genesis, Zack and Cloud that you were recovering. You took a good look at the man you loved and saw the slightest bags underneath his eyes which proved that he hadn't been sleeping. "Come here." You muttered as you grabbed his arm and gently pulled him closer

You kept pulling until he was on the bed with you and turned to lie on you side facing him, gently making him lie down as well. "Go to sleep. I'm safe. I'm okay. You can rest now." You whispered to him as you gently caressed his face and brushed his hair back once more. He sighed as he pulled you closer and rested his chin on the top of your head. You simply wrapped your arms around him and stroked his back until you heard his breathing slow down. 'He must have been extremely tired. He never falls asleep this fast.' You thought, before falling asleep too

Slowly waking up the next morning with your beloved Sephiroth's arms wrapped tightly and securely around you was the best feeling ever as you took a deep breath and relaxed again, nuzzling his collarbone as you wanted to lie in for a bit. Your kidnapping already seemed like a bad dream that was slowly fading from memory. You knew that you would definitely have nightmares from it, but you also knew you could handle them with Sephiroth at your side.

Glancing up at feeling Sephiroth starting to stroke your hair, you saw he was looking at you with a tiny smile on his face, his eyes half open to show he had only just woken up as well "Good morning. He breathed, before kissing you and you felt like this was the best way to wake up. Breaking apart, you smiled at each other, before you snuggled closer and he held you even tighter. You did eventually have that conversation about freedom, but not right then 

Slowly getting stronger over time as your Mako returned with some help from the scientists of Shinra and getting many happy visits from your friends, you eventually started to notice that Sephiroth was acting rather suspicious for some reason, even for his doing. He constantly seemed like he was about to ask you something, only to backtrack at the last second which was nothing like him. This honestly made you worry more and more each time

You immediately asked Genesis and Angeal about it when Sephiroth eventually had to go out on a small mission and went on it with the greatest reluctance as he really didn't want to leave you behind already, they seemed to have absolutely no idea what it could be until Cloud secretly told you that Angeal had said that Sephiroth had actually been preparing something for you. As much as you tried to think about it without Sephiroth actually noticing that you were hopefully catching up to him, you simply couldn't figure out what it could be 

You knew that Sephiroth would never tell you outright, so under the guise of going back to work while taking as much rest as you could under the watchful eyes of the man you loved, you carefully looked into some of his files when he wasn't looking. You saw that he had taken out quite an amount of money from his account a few days before your kidnapping but it didn't say for what it was, which only made you more confused as he rarely used the account.

Was Sephiroth actually planning to surprise you with a present and a pretty big one at that from the looks of it? While you both did buy things for the others at times as a surprise, usually on special days or holidays or to celebrate a very successful mission, it was never this expensive as you both loved simplicity most of the time. What on earth did your partner buy for you? You would soon find out and once you did, you honestly couldn't be happier about it

A few days later as you were finally deemed strong enough to go outside by Sephiroth, you were taking a walk in nature again. Only this time, your favourite boys which now included Cloud as he was the one who told the others you were gone were walking with you and kept you safe Finding a nice meadow after an hour or so, you decided to take a break and you immediately noticed that Genesis, Angeal and Cloud sat as far away from you and Sephiroth as possible. You frowned, before Sephiroth started to speak and you quickly focused on him

"Y/N, all my life, I knew I was different from others and because of that, I thought I'd always be alone. But you came into my life and showed that stubbornness of yours by staying at my side no matter what. I found myself falling for you at a ridiculous rate and letting you into my heart will always be the best decision I made.  You turned my life upside-down and I never want you to stop." He breathed as he pulled you closer."What are you saying?" You asked

He got something out of the small bag he had taken with him. "Will you marry me?" He asked as he showed you the ring lying in the palm of your hand and you beamed at him. "Yes. Yes, yes yes." You replied, laughing tearfully with every yes as you kissed him, hearing the others cheer. After you broke apart, he put the ring around your finger and you smiled as you admired it. "I love it. I love you." You whispered. "I love you too." He replied as he held you close

Unlike last time, this was the best surprise ever of your life