Day 46: Intercom, Dawn
As daylight came upon Landel's Institute, it was through an uncharacteristically grey sky, leaving the building without the usual sunny, blinding brightness that came in through the windows of many of its larger rooms. The flourescent lights, however, were still in full effect, as was the Head Doctor's cheery voice as he began speaking over the
( Read more... )
Still, he'd gotten him far enough, and he had faith that his friend would make it the rest of the way. That's what he expected from his legacy, after all. Cloud just had to think a little more of himself and what he was capable of, and he'd go far. Zack knew it.
It was sad to be leaving so many people behind-he'd wanted to see her, wanted to let her know that he'd gotten at least one of her letters-and yet he got to die a hero. He got to die for a reason, and that was better than what he could say for some of his dearest friends. Besides, after taking the lives of so many people who he truly cared about, it only seemed fitting that his death would be bloody.
In a way, though, death was one of the only ways to be free. He would have loved to become a mercenary with Cloud, would have loved to spend more time with Aerith and make more of her tiny wishes come true, but...
He was pretty sure he counted as a hero now, and that was something.
- - -
The serenity and peacefulness that should have come with one's final rest was shattered when Zack felt his eyes opening once again. While his head felt foggy for a few seconds, SOLDIER instinct forced him to wake up completely and get off of whatever surface he was on.
He looked back at the bed once he was standing and frowned down at it. This place, he realized, wasn't familiar at all. Placing his hands on his hips, the SOLDIER (or was it ex-SOLDIER now?) tried to piece together how this was even possible. His hands quickly scoped over his chest and abdomen and found no sign of the bullet wounds that had riddled his whole body in those final moments.
Weird. Really weird. Noticing the bizarre shirt he was wearing, Zack lifted it up to check for scars and found that he was as clean as he'd been before that last stand.
Was this the Lifestream? He'd expected a lot more green and a lot less happy-face shirts, but it wasn't like anyone knew what the afterlife was really like, so how could he really say? A lot of really good Curaga spells could have accounted for his good physical state, but he was ninety-nine percent certain that he'd died on the cliffs of Midgar.
It was only after giving the room a better look that he realized he wasn't alone (he needed to be sharper! A First Class always had to be ready), but it looked like his company was fast asleep. While he wasn't sure the stranger would have any better idea of what was going on than he did, Zack still strode over to give the guy (and his weird hair) a few hard shakes.
That didn't work, which probably meant he was sedated-which added to a theory that had been churning around in Zack's head since he'd woken up. This had to be a Shin-Ra facility. They were the ones who had taken them down, so chances were they'd dragged him back to headquarters and messed with him until he started breathing again. Because really, the afterlife idea wasn't holding up too well.
Gritting his teeth (hadn't they done enough with him already?), Zack went over and tried the door just to see. Realizing it was locked, he grunted in frustration and was about to send a sharp kick at the handle when it started to open.
Reply
"Good morning!" the woman cheerfully said as she let herself into the room, a clipboard held tightly in her arms as she regarded him. "Mr. Findlay, correct?"
"Huh?" Zack gaped at her for a second before he realized that she was asking his name. "Nah, it's..."
But he stopped himself before he actually said anything. Now that he was a fugitive, maybe it was for the best that people didn't know who he was. He was kind of surprised that the woman didn't recognize him, but maybe this was all some kind of weird setup. He didn't know why Shin-Ra would try to act like he was anyone other than Zack, but he knew he had to be careful.
"Nevermind," he said after a pause. "Mind telling me where I am?"
"Of course! You're in Landel's Institute, and we're here to monitor your mental health, Mr. Findlay," the nurse responded, completely polite. "Now if you'll come with me, you can meet the other patients and have a nice breakfast. Today is waffle day!"
Institute, mental health, other patients-well, none of that sounded good. He was beyond confused at this point, but he really doubted this woman was going to tell him anything about how or why he was alive. He knew he'd done his share of crazy things in the past, but he didn't think they constituted getting institutionalized.
There was one other huge concern that was weighing down on him, and that was Cloud. Still, he wasn't going to be able to locate his friend until he figured out where he was, and how he could get out. He already got the feeling it wasn't going to be easy, but the first step was getting out of this room. If it meant going along with the nurse and heading out to breakfast, then Zack would just have to play along for now.
He didn't intend on sticking around, though. Four years in a lab was long enough. If he'd really been brought back to life, then he was going to find that freedom.
"Waffles sound great!" he finally announced with a nod, and the nurse was eager to lead him out of the room after that.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment