Cloud smiled as he watched Denzel and Marlene play in the pool, content to sit nearby and watch the teens splash each other with squeals of laughter. It had been a decade since the pool had been created in the ruined church, but now it was a source of playing instead of healing since the ‘Stigma had been completely eradicated. The church had been fixed to be an actual building again even as the ruins of Midgar had been mostly carted off to make room for new homes.

“Cloud! Come play with us!” Marlene’s voice echoed through the air, and he looked up to find her standing on the edge of the pool with her fists on her hips. She had developed into a lovely young woman, much to Barrett’s dismay when the boys had started calling, and she had been trained by the entire AVALANCHE group, ensuring that she would be more than able to take care of herself.

“I would, but I didn’t bring any swimming trunks,” Cloud replied, standing up and walking over to them. Denzel stood in the water, illuminated by a shaft of sunlight that fell through the skylight and causing his silver hair to glow, with a smirk on his lips and his arms folded across his chest. The sunlight reflected off the water, making it sparkle and dance while covering Denzel from the waist down, making him seem all the more ethereal with his pale skin and glowing eyes. The hair pigmentation and green cat eyes were a side effect of whatever Kadaj had done to the children in the Forgotten City, and Cloud found himself staring at Denzel more often now that the boy had decided to grow his hair out.

An innocent smile was on Marlene’s face as she reached out and grabbed his hand. He glanced over at Denzel just in time to see the young man’s hand hold up a pair of swim trunks, the same ones Denzel had been wearing when he had gotten into the pool, before the world tilted and he was falling. Instinctively, Cloud wrapped his arms around Marlene, twisting so he took the brunt of the fall, and her delighted shrieks filled his ears right before they hit the water. There was a quick second where Cloud could see everything beneath the water, enough to verify that Denzel was indeed without his swimming trunks, before he exploded through the surface of the water, sending glittering liquid flying everywhere.

Reaching up, Cloud wiped the water out of his eyes when hands started tugging at his clothes, and he froze in stunned surprise as Marlene and Denzel started peeling his soaked clothes off. “What..?”

“You are ours, Cloud Strife,” purred a smooth voice in his ear as Marlene casually tossed the black sweater towards the wooden floor. Sharp teeth tugged at the wolf’s head earring getting a gasp from the blond as clever fingers sent his pants to his ankles, and two warm, wet bodies pressed themselves against him, skin sliding across skin so deliciously. “We’ve chased you and now we caught you.”

He shook his head, wanting to deny the claim to protect them. Those that tried to get close to him ended up leaving him or dying. He didn’t want that for Denzel and Marlene. Strong hands wound their way through his hair, and Marlene was pressing herself against him as she dragged his head down for a claiming kiss. Automatically, Cloud’s arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close as his mind dimly realized that her bathing suit had vanished.

Something cool and heavy settled around Cloud’s neck before there was an almost fatalistic click of a lock, and slender fingers traced along the edge of the metal collar that had been locked around his neck. Cloud wasn’t sure how it had happened, but it had. He had been claimed by these two whom he had practically watched grow up, and while he wanted to protest their claim - he was too old for them, too broken, too whatever - the words were lost under teasing touches and hot kisses.

Then all conscious thought was wiped from his mind as he was surrounded and filled in a way that he hadn’t in decades, since before shattered dreams and lost memories. Breathy gasps and delighted moans filled the air as three bodies moved together, sharing and drawing pleasure out of each other with each touch, each thrust. He was downing, lost in the sensation as it spiraled through him, and he thought he heard an almost forgotten voice giggling before the sound was replaced with cries of pleasure.

Silver hair brushed his shoulder as those wonderfully wicked teeth left bruises, but Cloud knew who it was that was thrusting into him, the scent of sandalwood and flowers filling his head, wiping out the memory of leather and mako. Marlene writhed under him, tanned limbs clutching as her wet heat surrounded him, welcoming him as easily as another had, but warm brown eyes laughed with him, reassuring the memory of leaf green eyes that he would be cared for.

There was a shift of hips behind him, and Cloud cried out as pleasure exploded through him. That got a delighted chuckle before that spot was mercilessly pounded, and all too soon, he was shoved off the edge of pleasure, dragging them with him. They collapsed on the floor in a tangle of limbs - when had they left the pool? Cloud couldn’t remember moving - and desperately tried to catch their breath.

“Why?” He managed to whisper the word, desperately wanting to know why two people who had their entire lives ahead of them wanted a broken ex-SOLDIER who had never been one.

A gentle kiss was brushed against his neck above the new collar, and Marlene smiled at him, sweet and innocent but with an ancient knowledge behind her dark eyes. “Because you’re Cloud and you’ve been ours for so long.”

Her smile turned impish as she slid her fingers through his hair, spiking it badly. “Besides, do you think that after training Denzel all these years, I didn’t know how to catch a Cloud? It just took a bit more care.”

“We won’t leave you, Cloud,” remarked Denzel, his arms sliding around Cloud’s waist. “You’re stuck with us for as long as you live. Aeris promised, and Zack helped.”

As if summoned, a breeze slipped through the church, ruffling wet hair and sending shivers dancing down Cloud’s spine as ghostly fingers brushed over him.

Be happy, Spike. You deserve it, whispered a voice in his ear with the faint scent of mako and leather before it was gone with the smell of flowers and sunshine. Instead of the loneliness that seemed to fill him after such a visit, Cloud found a sense of peace and belonging filling him, and he relaxed between the two who had set out to claim him.