Day 56: Bus 3

[rocksthecourt]

Waking carried a sense of disappointment along with it for the first time in a long time. Klavier actually sighed in irritation when he realized where he was. Damn it all. So they hadn't managed to move quickly enough to cover as much ground as they had hoped. It was a shame, really. Last night had actually proven to be relatively productive. If

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[zack_fair]

So for this guy, it was basically the exact opposite of his own situation. Zack put a hand to his chin as he thought it over, though as the other man continued to explain, it became clear that he'd been referring to himself when talking about that situation yesterday. He'd already sort of suspected that, but it was good that the guy was being upfront about it now.

"Yeah, and... I'm guessing you realized it was no hallucination?" he asked. "Let me tell you, it's weird the other way around too. Everyone I remember looks way older than they should, and I've been filled in on so much that my head was spinning for a while."

Granted, the biggest bombshell was the fact that Cloud had completely lost it for a while there, but he was just relieved that his friend had eventually overcome that. He still needed to properly thank Tifa for helping him through it, but man... He had his own set of problems that revolved around her after that other night.

"So," Zack said after a pause, "what's it like, seeing an old friend like that?" He was curious to know what the other side of it was like. He couldn't really ask Cloud about such a thing directly, so maybe it would be better to get another person's outlook on it. Seven years versus five years -- it was close enough.

[tasteoftruth]

It wasn't possible to put that sensation into words. The joy, the confusion, the aching regret, the intense urge to fall to him knees and apologize for failing him so badly or envelope him in a hug and never let him out of your sight again. Badd tried to keep himself toned down...he couldn't possibly be the only one at the institute who'd had this happen.

Definitely needed those suckers, when they hit town. Thinking this hard was even harder without the comforting feeling of hard sugar against his tongue.

"Hurts a little," he said, his voice quiet and graveling. "You spend seven years telling yourself that he's gone for good, that you need to move on with life and stop hurting, and then suddenly he's back again and all that pain comes rushing back. You don't want to believe it at first, because if they're back that means they can die again...that you can lose them twice in a lifetime." Geeze, Badd, is he your dead partner or your ex-boyfriend?

[zack_fair]

Even if that was toned down, Zack was still struck by the man's words. He'd imagined that it was something of a bittersweet feeling, but to hear it put into words so candidly was something that made him think twice as well. He remembered the way he'd felt when those rumors of Angeal still being alive had been going around -- how he'd almost been scared to believe it. Maybe he couldn't judge this guy so much for not wanting to accept it at first. If it had been some sort of fake-out, it probably would have hurt a lot more if he fell for it.

"I guess that makes sense, yeah," he said as he glanced out the window, taking in the snowy landscape and remembering the first time he met Cloud. It was something that had been on his mind too much lately, though that was partly because he hadn't had the chance to really speak much with his friend since he'd returned. He hoped he could find him today.

"But hey," he continued, looking over to the man and offering a smile, "I bet that your friend is going to make sure he makes the most of this second chance. He probably won't be dying again so soon." He wasn't sure if he was being too transparent now, but he could handle that later. Right now, it seemed like the man needed some cheering up. The return of a dead friend should have been a good thing, but Zack understood how many complications came with it. He just hoped he didn't put his friends through too much grief. There had been enough of that already.

[tasteoftruth]

Badd didn't return the smile. "I'm not sure he sees it that way. His memory ends about twenty minutes before he would have died, he thought I was the crazy one until I convinced him that I really was seven years on from him." You'd think the grey hair would have been proof enough, but Badd had done his own share of denial too. "To him, he's never missed a day."

It wasn't Byrne who had the second chance, it was Badd. With Kay out of the way and on the run there was literally nothing left to Badd that was more important than protecting Byrne. He would not fail his friend again, no matter what this place threw at them, his life was fully lived and far less important than making sure the most virtuous prosecutor who existed continued to stay that way.

Though again, a little candy would at least make his prison time easier. "Salon, maybe?" he offered, holding up another coupon. "Could get yourself a nice haircut."

[zack_fair]

Oh, well. That did make it a little harder, didn't it?

Zack had at least been certain of his death; it was kind of hard not to be when he'd been shot the amount of times that he had. He'd felt his body giving out on him up on that cliff, and he'd known it was the end. The fact that this guy's friend was totally oblivious to his own death made the whole situation a lot more sensitive. "Have you told him about what happens to him, or...?"

What would be the better thing? To leave him blissfully unaware or to prepare him for what might come? Zack didn't know what he would have liked more, although he'd realized that his hike across a continent and a half with a near-comatose friend had been a suicide run almost from the start, so...

It seemed that the guy was pretty set on doing a coupon swap, though, and so after a moment Zack started flipping through the book he'd been provided. "I don't think I have one for the toy store," he admitted. "Looks like it's just for some food, a manicure, or a massage." Most of which didn't appeal to him, but at least they were being given a small stipend beyond that. It beat last week.

[tasteoftruth]

"Grocery, maybe? I was hoping to get a little something sweet before we went back to pink goo, and I'm only a Class D." He'd have to figure out how this ranking system worked, probably by interrogating Javert again. Javert got special rights for some reason, even if he seemed to hate the institute as much as everyone else.

Badd sat back, fingers idly toying with the little stack of papers. "Of course he knows. I flipped out and treated him like a ghost when I first saw him, it would be impossible to keep anything from him now. I'd have told him anyway, he deserves to know the way things are, even if it makes things tougher."

The bus shuddered to a start and Badd looked out the window. He wanted to keep an eye on their route to town, in case he had a chance to walk the path later. Kay would have gone this way. "I think his biggest worry was that he never got to see his daughter grow up."

[zack_fair]

"Nope, nothing like that either," Zack replied with a sigh as he sent a glance out the window. It was good that they were getting moving, although the trip honestly didn't take that long by bus. It was trying to walk all the way to town that sounded like a suicide march. This weather didn't help, of course. It wasn't the snow that made it bad so much as the windchill.

"And hey, I'm only Class C. That means I've got... what, ten dollars?" And while he could have asked about how much that would be likely to buy him, Zack wasn't going to push his luck. The guy had come to believe that it was possible for people to come back to life here, but that didn't mean he was going to accept the idea of other worlds existing quite so quickly. Zack would just have to see the prices and work things out for himself when they got there.

Though the mention of this not-quite-dead friend having a daughter caused Zack to pause. At least he hadn't been leaving any children behind when he'd died. That was something he could barely even comprehend at his age, but he still felt for this man who he'd never even met. His parents had buried their child without realizing it, but the other way around had to be just as bad. Though it wasn't as if Zack hadn't left some people behind. He hadn't even been able to explain things to Aerith, for one thing. He'd at least gotten the chance to see her here and sort things out, but did that count for much when she'd disappeared again?

[tasteoftruth]

Looked like this guy wasn't interested in dealing. Badd had made a few prison negotiations in his short time in the pen (mostly with cigarettes, which he hadn't touched in years) but he was no good at making a hard bargain.

"Fair enough," he said, also checking their course. The road seemed pretty straightforward. It would have been cold that night but not unbearable, enough for Kay to still make a few miles' hike down an empty road. And that didn't discount other buildings in the area where she could have cowered down for a few hours of rest before she headed out again. "No idea what this letter system's about, by the way. I guess it's a military thing. All I know is that the S class get special treatment and the guards like some of us more than others." He hadn't thought to check what Byrne's status was, he'd been too caught up in just finding him alive. They'd put their heads together when they got back to the institute again and be more professional this time.

[zack_fair]

"Yeah, it's just a ranking system," Zack replied with a roll of his shoulders. It wasn't so different from moving from being an infantryman up into Third, Second, and First Class back home, except that in that case you actually had to prove yourself. Here it was simply a seniority system, it looked like. "Based completely on the length of time spent here, I think." It was true that more experience usually also meant more competence, but that was hardly the only way to judge someone's abilities.

Then again, Zack wasn't looking to be judged or ranked by these people in the first place. He'd had more than enough of that. With a sigh, he cast a glance out the window, trying to keep track of the bends in the road as they made their way down. He still was pretty sure the only way to move such a far distance at night was with one of those rings, but that was neither here nor there.

"So, any other questions?" he asked as he leaned a bit further back into the seat and crossed his arms over his chest. His legs were getting cramped, so he did what he could to stretch them out, though they weren't really allotted much room on these things...