StellarEclipse

“Eight through-and-through stab wounds. Eight, Cloud." The gruff male voice paused long enough for its owner to breathe a weary sigh, then the world blurred and heaved and spun and he could no longer tell up from down. "I really don't know why you keep putting yourself in this situation…” Cloud only vaguely realized who was speaking, whose hard frame he was cradled against, and whose clothing he was spilling blood all over before a stronger wave of nauseating darkness flooded through him, and he was lost to blessed unconsciousness once more. — The next time Cloud came to, he was lying flat on his back on hard-packed

The Lunar Subterrane was one of the more desolate places they had been exposed to. It was why they came here, to get away from all the others who conveniently seemed to prefer to gather in the more comfortable climes. Lone wolves, the both of them, and no one really missed them as long as they showed themselves once in a while, offering evidence that they were still alive, still on their solitary quests for their crystals. Hidden away amongst the high rocky cliffs and sheltered from the bleak light of the moon, Squall was seated on the rough ground, his long legs tucked up in front of him with his arms folded on top, gaze fixed impassively a

Squall doesn't know why they're sending him to this new school. Socialization, they tell him, but what good will being around normal kids do when he can't even understand what they're saying? When they won't ever be able to understand what he's trying to say? He sighs, frustrated, and scuffs the toe of one of his new tennis shoes against the dirt. Fifteen more minutes until the bus arrives. Can't be late for the first day of school, Squall, his mom had told him, right before she shooed him out the front door with his lunch in his backpack and a granola bar and packet of juice to consume on the way. Five minutes later, he spots another boy a

It's been scarcely a month since Cloud moved back into the loft above the Seventh Heaven with Tifa, Denzel, and Marlene. He wonders if things have been this way all along and he's just now alive enough to notice, but there's a different kind of softness to Tifa's expression when she looks at him now, one that he doesn't really remember seeing before that day at the church in the slums...the day he was gifted with another second chance he's not sure he deserved, the day Denzel and all the other kids were healed. There's a tenderness to the way she sometimes squeezes his arm when she walks by, and to her small, random smiles. It's more than jus

The blond turns away and bows his head. "Don't," he says softly. Leon shifts his weight to one foot, disquiet growing in the pit of his stomach. He shakes his head a little to flick dripping bangs out from before his eyes, and quietly studies his rain-drenched lover. Cloud's stance is strong, legs spread slightly for balance and back straight and proud...but his shoulders are tight with stress, and his arms are folded stiffly high across his chest—not in defiance, but in defense. He frowns. Cloud's not obviously injured...not physically, at least...but the way he's avoiding Leon's gaze and the way he's protecting his chest—subconsc