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Chapter Text

He should have been dead. If he didn't know better, he would even say he had died, after transferring his powers to Clive. He felt his life energy draining, the world had shifted, as if the floor was breaking beneath them...

Then darkness, before he opened his eyes.

Really, Cid should have kept his eyes closed. The world spinning was not a pleasant experience. Neither was the insistent pain in his arm. Damnit, wasn't dying supposed to take that part away?

He felt a hand on his face, but his eyes wouldn't focus. Yet he recognized that mop of black hair.

"C...C...." He tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't form the words. How long had he been out?

"Do not speak," said Clive, but there was no warmth to the words. It was an order, and yet the hand lingered on his cheek. "You will rest."

He closed his eyes, assuming that Clive was upset with his stunt. He supposed it made sense, since he hadn't expected to survive.

With a soft sigh, he stopped fighting his exhaustion, and fell back asleep.

~~~~

From the moment he first awoke, he expected to see others. Maybe Tarja to yell about his injuries, Gav with a playful nudge, Jill, and Torgal, to see them alive and well...

Instead, there was silence in a room with no windows, cold stone, and bare walls. Something wasn't right, and he felt it like the coming of a storm...

Which brought up another oddity. He distinctly recalled giving Clive his power. He felt the an emptiness inside him, where Ramuh's presence and gifts once resided. And yet like a whisper in the back of his mind, he felt a spark. If he could just reach a little further, he might grasp it.

Not that it would matter, as long as Clive followed through to destroy the Mothercrystals.

A young woman entered the room, someone he didn't recognize. Maybe they had saved more people while he had been comatose?

"Clive?" He managed to ask.

The woman looked at him, blank, lifeless and silent. She fed him, mechanically. This only raised the alarm bells in his mind.

Even if Clive was angry with him...hells, even if the whole Hideaway was angry with him, this solitude seemed a bit extreme.

Maybe he truly was in hell?

~~~~

It was only when he was able to finally focus without his vision wavering that Clive returned.

Then, and only then, did he realize he was in trouble.

His eyes were red, not blue.

Still weak from his injuries, he recoiled, but had nowhere to go in the room. His small bed was against a wall, and even if he had the strength, he would not have been able to run.

"Hm, do you fear me, Cidolfus?" The man said, a slight smile to his lips. "You need not worry. I won't hurt you."

"You're not Clive." He managed to say.

"Oh? But that is where you are wrong, darling. I am Clive Rosfield. I am just not your Clive." He gave a little scoff. "Not that it matters. He will never love you, would he?"

The words shake him, and he looks around the room, searching for something, anything he can use to his advantage.

"Don't bother. Even if you left, you wouldn't get far."

He makes a sound in the back of his throat, akin to an animal in pain, that he wasn't aware he could make.

Clive picks him up like he weighs nothing. His strength hasn't fully returned, but he still attempted to struggle, to wiggle his way out of the other's arms. The man just chuckles, and then a shock goes through him, electricity causing him to freeze, mouth open in a silent cry. Electricity had always had little effect on him with Ramuh, but now he felt betrayed as his powers were turned against him.

Clive took him outside and Cid only had a moment to realize they had just left a tower. His focus now shifted to his surroundings, and he realized that wherever they were, it wasn't Valisthea. The land was empty, the sky filled with swirls of black and purple. The grass was gray, lifeless, and he couldn't see any trees.

However, they were approaching a glowing, green river.

"N-no..." He struggled again despite the pain in his limbs.

"I don't think you have a say in this," said Clive, and without another word, tossed Cid into the river.

~~~

He was in a room that was all white as he stood. On one of the walls, he could see the setting sun. The outside didn't interest him now. What drew his eyes was the table, also white that held a chess table. There were two comfortable chairs. One was occupied.

Ramuh poured a cup of tea.

"Take a seat, Cidolfus."

"Am I dead this time?"

"Don't be foolish. This Clive doesn't want you dead, but he does want to own you."

He sat, eyes wide.

"This can't be real."

"I fear it is. There are many lives you could have lived. Many that Clive, Jill, everyone you knew could walk as well. But that isn't the point right now, and I have little time.
You have power within you yet. It is something deeper than the tainted Mothercrystals, older than this land, more than just this world. Surely you have begun to feel it."

Cid shook his head, in disbelief, even if he felt that faint power singing.

"Cidolfus, you must accept this gift. Even now, your Clive is destroying the Mothercrystals, and when he finally defeats Ultima, all magic as they know will end. I fear this Clive will try to end your world. You must wake up."

~~~

Cid woke up with a start. He was in the empty room again, his arms and legs tied to the bed. The ache in his bones were less, and injuries healed, and his cursed arm throbbed less.

He should have felt elated. Instead, he was on alert.

He was naked, and Clive was watching him.

"The lifestream seems to have given some of your vitality back. Good."

Hands slowly came to his side, and he flinched. A smile graced the man's face, and he continued to touch him, going up his arm now, to his neck.

"Do you think I would hurt you?" said the man, shrugging out of his tunic.

His heart was beating fast. He knew for a while that he felt attraction to Clive, despite his insistence otherwise. He was handsome, strong, but most importantly, a good person.

But this man...

"You...you don't have to do this," Cid said.

Clive laughed. "You are mine. I will do with you what I please."

He got on the bed between his legs. His hands moved down Cid's chest. "Beautiful. Do you know my Cid died? He would not let me touch him before his departure, and I regret every moment. When I felt your power, I knew I had to have you."

He released one of his legs. Cid attempted to kick him, but Clive grabbed his ankle, holding it tight.

"Why do you fight me? I know you want me."

Cid shook his head. "Not like this."

"He will never love you," came the reply. "He will never find you."

Fingers entered him, and he tensed, shaking, but this Clive remained gentle, opening him slowly. He wanted to scream, to yell, to punch. He wanted this from his sweet Clive, not this imposter, who kept him from his friends, not this man, who if Ramuh was correct, was going to destroy his world.

"Please, don't..." Cid whispered. Gentle hands ran along his sides.

"My darling Cid...I will bring you pleasure that you'll never see from your Clive. You are mine."

He slid inside him slowly. Cid's mouth opened but no sound came out. He felt dirty, the pleasure at the stimulation causing his body to respond. Clive moved slowly at first, seeing where his slid made Cid gasp, before moving faster. He wished he could block his ears, not listen to the wet sounds of Clive's cock moving in and out of him. He wanted to bite, to hit him, anything but take this pleasure. The hand not holding his ankle up wrapped around his cock, stroking him in time with the thrusts.

"Open your eyes."

Cid shook his head, trying to block the image of Clive using him from his mind.

Clive laughed as Cid came, stilling his hips, but not sliding out. He was still hard.

"You can keep your eyes closed if you wish, darling. Imagine what you want." He felt the man lean over him, and whisper in his ear, "I'll still be here, the one fucking you."

And then he began to move again.

Chapter Text

Cid stared at the ceiling of the room, thoughts drifting in and out of his head. As time moved at a snail's pace, memories began to drift back into his mind.

A world filled with darkness...

Fighting for his life to survive...

And then this...pain.

He didn't know how much time passed between the destruction of the Mothercrystals and now. He could barely comprehend his situation.

What was happening in his world? Would it survive? Would Clive survive?

Thinking of him made his heart hurt, his stomach tie in knots. His Clive, caring, stubborn, strong...the man he knew for such a short time, and had fallen for so quickly.

He pushed those thoughts away. Clive loved Jill, no doubt, a lovely woman of strength and conviction, a perfect match...and a man like Cidolfus, broken, dying...he was a fool to even dream of romance. He had made his bed long ago, and it would not do to sully Clive's strength with Cid's weaknesses.

He sat up slowly as the construct entered to bring his food. This Clive held magic he had never seen performed. He had tried to attack the thing once, but it had dissipated into smoke. Clive had coldly laughed at him.

"Did you believe I would allow anyone else around you?"

It was just another reminder of the differences between the two men. There was also other differences he noticed, such as how this Clive held himself, a regal king in his kingdom, the sharper lines in his face, and scars of different battles...

This Clive was sure of his powers, and took what he wanted.

Cid almost wanted to go back and fight in the dark realms.

The door opened, and Clive stepped inside the room. Cid, tense, watched him, wary. There was the barest hint of raised lips as Clive hungrily studied him.

Despite the wrongness, Cid felt a flush run through his body, the merest stirring in his groin. Was he so desperate for his Clive's love that he would allow this doppelganger to string him along?

It didn't matter, because he had no choice.

"You are looking better each day," Clive said, fingers carding through Cid's longer hair. Cid jerked away, baring his teeth. It didn't dissuade the other man, merely seemed to amuse him.

"You can still help me get back," Cid tried again. He had repeated the statement numerous times, hoping that there was some similarity between the two men.

"The answer remains the same, darling."

His Clive would do his best to get people home safe, to bring them freedom, even at his own expense.

This man caged him, a bird crying for help, in a land filled with silence.

"I'm not your Cid, and I won't ever be him," he hissed. "Let me go."

"No, you're not." And for a moment, Cid had hope. A few minutes went by, staring at each other. Red eyes, like blood...

"You will never be my Cid, true. But your convictions remain the same and how he wished to make a better place for all Bearers and Dominants. He had such a way with words, swaying me to his cause, making me want to fight against all odds."

Cid wondered if perhaps this dead Cid truly wasn't so different from himself, and yet the man before him was a far cry from the Clive he cared for...

"The minute he fell," Clive whispered, "I dreamed of bringing him back. I would resurrect him, chain him, make him unable to leave my side ever again."

Cid shivered at the cruel words.

"But even the power of the Phoenix cannot bring back the dead."

With a wash of fear, ice in his veins, Cid realized what this man had done, and he knew he wasn't going to like what else he had to say.

"I killed everyone in my way, took powers for myself, just for a chance to be with him. No one would stop me, and those foolish to try..."

He snapped his fingers. Cid jumped. Clive tilted his head up so he was once more staring at him.

"His soul condemned my actions as selfish before I lost him again, upset with my methods, with the trail of death I left behind.
So if I could not keep my Cid, I would find another, and here you are, nearly dead, fighting for your soul."

Cid tried to pull away, but Clive did not let him.

"Please....let me go," he pleaded.

"No."

A single word. Finality.

He tried to lash out, to hit his captor, but Clive was faster, stronger. He laughed at Cid's struggles. He used his weight to hold him down, pining his hands to the bed.

He bit his neck, and Clive hissed, grabbing his hair and pulling his head back.

Again, as he had done before, Clive laced lightening through him, and Cid's mouth opened on soundless scream, spasming from the electric shocks through his body.

The man effortlessly ripped his thin shirt like it was mere paper, leaning to suck marks on his chest, suddenly gentle. He pinched Cid's nipples, massaging, rubbing them until they were hard peaks.

Cid tried to lash out again, kicking, twisting, snarling. Hands squeezed his waist, bruising, and again, he was hit with his own element.

He gasped, shaking at the aftershocks, as Clive removed Cid's pants.

Hands gently loved down his legs, massaging, but he felt the tingle of electricity, and realized that any fight would come with pain.

He slumped, defeated for now.

"Good," Clive praised, unlacing his leathers, still clothed. His cock was hard, and he gave it a few strokes. "Shall we see if you're still loose from before?"

Cid made a noise in the back of his throat, eyes wide, tense, as two fingers thrust into his passage, massaging, stretching, seeking. He wiggled his hips, trying to move away, and keened as Clive pressed inside to send pleasure through him. It was relentless, a constant pressure, and noises fell from his lips as the pleasure broke him, his cock spilling onto the floor and his chest.

Clive removed his fingers, lifted Cid's hips, and steadily entered him, too much, too big, burning.

Shaking, Cid tried to push him away, weak. Clive gave a small laugh, and pulled Cid harder onto his cock, the obscene, wet sound of their joining filling the room. He thought that Clive's orgasm, filling him full of come, spilling out of him, would make the man stop.

He was wrong again.

Clive took a moment to watch, pleased as his come dripped down his legs. He lifted him again, flipping him onto his stomach. Cid tried to pull away, but the hands on his hips, raising him, held tight.

His eyes widened again as Clive entered him, hard again, and this time immediately set a brutal pace, Cid's body violently rocking with the snap of hips. He was gasping at each press in, his voice raw from the constant noises he emitted.

Clive fucked him through another orgasm, his hands clenching the bedsheets, nearly tearing them, but he didn't stop. He pulled Cid against his chest, sucking on his earlobe.

"Ah..." Was the only sound he could make, feeling the hard cock pressed against his prostate. He was shaking, sweat running down his body. Clive lifted him easily, once again moving him as he wanted, up and down his cock, a mere doll to be used.

He screamed as Clive brought him to another orgasm, dry this time, and felt the man spill inside him again. Cid couldn't lift his head, panting, his insides throbbing.

"Please..." He whispered, a mere sigh in the air.

He was lifted off the man's cock, placed on his side. His mind felt as if it were filled with static, and his eyes were drooping, eyelids heavy.

Right before he succumbed to exhaustion, he felt his leg lifted, and Clive slid inside him once more.