It's not late is it? Just a day out... Anyway, I hope this is angsty enough...

Disclaimer - Gen, Zack, Squall, Cloud and Aerith belong to SquareEnix but you know that already, right? Can I just stop this now?

The Eleventh Hour

Sable Tainted Crimson

Although the clock by the beside and his own internal time-system counted each second with such perfect precision, Genesis still felt trapped in time. It wasn't even a moment he would've preferred. No, that would've been one of many, starting from that first kiss with Squall out in the woods, or maybe their first night as lovers, or maybe those moments of silence that the three vampires had shared not so long ago back at Leonhart's estate. Genesis spent these moments now in silence and staring, deciding upon his final decision. It was easy. That time, the first time and every time, when the trio lay, a tangle of arms and legs, moist and bloody skin, breathless and hearts slowing back down to a still pace, all in unison. Normally, hearts never beat, and yet, with the right stimuli they went out of control. A smile graced the redhead's lips for a brief second.

Nonetheless, if this moment lingered on in eternity, he still would never change a thing. The pair before him, fast asleep and bathed in the silvery light of the full moon, were more beautiful than anything on this earth, and he'd seen everything there was to see. The redhead watched as the quiet brunette reached out for a man who wasn't there anymore, the smile fading from his pretty, scarred face. As if sensing this, which wouldn't be implausible even when sleeping, Zack drew closer, holding Squall tighter. This is how Genesis intended it to be. They had each other, and they loved each other, and things would continue the way they would if Genesis hadn't have turned up so soon.

He lent down to gently brush the backs of his fingers across Zack's cool, pale cheek. He had only arrived after the neonate's siring because he'd felt the change inside him, one that as a fullblood, told him immediately what had happened. And he was jealous… but there was something about the boy that had instantly washed that all away upon the first glance. Those violet eyes were so warm, trusting and open that they could harbour no evil or bitterness. Envy, yes, as the youngest in a trio of lovers, such a feeling would be inevitable, but never hatred. He had gone through a rough life, betrayed by lovers and friends and had come close to losing his charisma before he stumbled into Squall's life. That, and Genesis could also not deny that he felt exactly the same in the moment he met Zack to when he did when he rose his eyes to find the young, mortal brunette standing at the bottom of the stairs of his house. The air was laden with destiny, that fate had ensnared them in her invisible strings, bringing them closer and closer together.

The three of them shared a bond of blood, Genesis' was in Squall and Squall's ran throughout Zack. They were a family, three lovers sworn by blood to be together forever.

By blood… Genesis though he'd never despise the concept, the substance that assured his life, so much. It was the only reason he was doing this right now. Clarice, despite of being his mother, meant very little to him compared to his lovers, even though he had made a very bad job of showing it in the last week or two. He couldn't even explain it himself, there was just something about his mother that made him lose that part of himself, that part that loved Squall and Zack, like she was the puppeteer and he was trapped on her strings.

The woman stood just outside the door, he could sense all too clearly, waiting with a smile. She knew he could come.

It was the only choice he was given.

If he did not accept willingly, he would be taken by force, and who knows what would've become of his lovers then. No, this was the only way, the only safe and painless way…

Painless? Then why was the man holding back cold tears as he hung over the pair? Why was his heart aching so much that it was almost alive once more? Why did he feel sick to the stomach with guilt? He did not let go of his tears for fear of waking the pair, something he knew he would never want. He never had been able to say 'Goodbye' to Squall: he never had the heart or will to break him with words, for there was nothing that would've pained Genesis more.

He leant down closer, planting a kiss gingerly on both of their cheeks, nearly breaking out a sob when they both stirred to the soft touch, smiling like newborn kittens.

There would nothing more beautiful.

He pulled up, stood back, becoming at one with the shadows once again; accepting the darkness that had been encroaching upon him for the whole of his life. If this was his destiny, then he had been caught up in one wicked game for the last 600 years, letting himself believe that everything was perfect with his lovers. And just as he reached maturity in his own form, safe to be around them for the rest of their time, he was being snatched away.

There would be nothing more painful.

Nothing that could grip his heart tighter, sapping it off all life, feeling and blood.

There it was again.

"I love you," Came a quiet mumble from the bed behind him. Though spoken barely above a whisper and muttered whilst still unconscious, it was filled with such raw emotion that for a second, the redhead feared that the brunette was awake.

And it was in that moment, Genesis Rhapsodos was torn apart.

His head lowered, eyes glowering at the floor, at his own stupidity, at his own weakness, before they closed and he whispered his reply in a tone that lingered and haunted the still night's air so that when they woke they would still hear it.

Adieu, Adieu

Something was not right. Even asleep, Zack could feel the anxious air tingle upon his exposed, cool flesh. He woke gradually, consciousness becoming ever clearer through the dark haze and the neophyte opened his eyes to see Squall sitting on the edge of the bed, slumped over and caught in a concrete daze. Zack's words of question gave rise to no response, only a hand was raised, just a flick of the wrist and the wind whispered in his ears Genesis' last words.

Although spoken in a tongue he only knew the bare minimum of, he understood immediately. Violet eyes darted around the room; Genesis' scarlet coat had gone, only his black Italian leather wallet and car keys remained on the bedside. More noticeably though, neither Genesis' nor Clarice's aura could be detected. However, the smug scent of the latter's victory ran rife through the air.

"He's left. Gone with her," Squall's words were distant, sounding unfazed. Zack frowned. And then shoulders began to shake and the brunette's head fell low.

Squall was always composed; raised to be the definition of decorum and he had learned to cry in silence because no one ever came even if he didn't.

The neophyte had only ever seen Genesis consol such tears, winning over sorrow with his enchanting charm and infectious sweet words. Watching the man before him, Zack knew he was completely useless for he shared very little characteristics with the redhead, but Squall had chosen him for a purpose, a reason. There was some force that drew him together with these two ancient lovers, a force that one fullblood had managed to sever easily.

Arms made their own way around Squall's waist, hugging him tighter, a grip that could have killed a mortal, like a python constricting its prey. But Squall only wished such an action could squeeze the little life that remained out of him.

Was such a gesture meant to be a comfort?

There was no feeling in the heart inside him, still and cold. He was nothing more than a shell once more. He had coped with the redhead's departures countless times, but never like this.

He had left, left with that that was obviously dearer to him, leaving his lovers alone out in a world that would never accept them.

Genesis was gone.

--

It would have been amusing to Zack, to find that when effected by something, their internal time system went wild. Were they minutes, hours, days or weeks that passed?

He would have been amused, but such emotions found no footings in his heart anymore. There were no foundations, no reasons to smile.

How could he smile and laugh and do all those things he once found so natural when his sire, the centre of his entire being, was breaking and all he could do was watch?

The brunette just sat at the head of the table in the grand main room of his estate house. Eyes never moved; he never slept.

Was this a statue or the man Zack had sworn to love?

Squall wasn't held in that body anymore, Zack was certain, there was none of that lust of life that the pretty, young mortal had once harboured. There was nothing there.

It was almost like Genesis had took everything he adored in his lovers, to keep close to him in a moment of selfishness. And that was everything Genesis was. How could he do this to the men he had promised to protect and cherish? Why did he even bother to say goodbye when he had no intention of ever returning?

The redhead had never actually said any words to that effect, but Squall had wordlessly told Zack that the air was tainted differently than it usually was when he woke alone.

Then, as time progressed, Zack actually noticed why Squall was so aloof. He had no energy to move for he had not fed in… too long. The neophyte was amazed his sire was still alive, physically but not emotionally, that is. The main room was back to its normal state, alienated from all forms of light. Light reminded Squall of the outside world, the world that had always taken Genesis from him.

As soon as Zack picked up on the brunette's self-inflicted starvation, he had gone out immediately and gorged himself on enough fresh blood to feed two. He sensed that Squall would never drink willing from a glass again, after all, he was fasting himself. Zack would have to play upon the vampire's instinct. Though, as he pressed an open cut in his flesh, he found even that did not serve as any incentive to keep living. So he had to force him to drink to live like Genesis had to force him to drink to die.

Afterwards, azure eyes drifted up to meet with violet and Zack had doubted whether or not Squall actually saw anything through the haze of his sorrow. Lips moved and whispered words filled the silence.

"I won't burden you with this for much longer,"

At that time, Zack had smiled, albeit weakly for the first time since that morning and pressed a soft kiss against moist, crimson lips.

Only once he was out of the room did the content, the true motive and message behind those words hit him like the revelation it was.

He knew, in his heart as well as his mind, something had to be done about this. And quickly. If not, he would lose the two things he now loved more than any. In theory, it didn't appear to be so difficult, after all, they all shared the same blood, the trail could be too hard to follow. But, in that moment, Zack forgot the most influential factor of all: he was playing a dangerous game with fullbloods.