Drabble: FF7 Last Order: Keep Walking: Zack/Cloud
Keep Walking
FF7: Last Order
PG-13
Zack/Cloud
For 15minuteficlets, Zack dragging Cloud through the woods post-break out. Really short ficlet, some Zack worrying Zack-style, some lab memories, and trying not to be angst, because Zack and angst are sad together, but I'm not sure if that happened properly.
546 words
Civilians were never told the real story behind the makings of SOLDIER, but even the recruits and normal grunt soldiers tended to think that it made fighting an absolute piece of cake.
Which it did, but even if the wounds healed a few minutes or a few hours later, that didn't mean the pain didn't last, that the sensation wasn't still there. It didn't make the enhancements healthy for you.
Blood flew and darted from the edge of the Buster sword as the edge cut through the darkness and bodies and bones, and Zack grinned at the sight because Cloud really was far too weightless on his shoulder and that was a little bit frightening. But since the blood flew like birds and now they'd be able to see birds now, he wasn't too worried about Cloud. Cloud would be fine.
Sure the kid was small and short and shy, could bleed gallons upon gallons and scream until Zack started screaming too because it hurt his heart and hurt his ears and he could feel Cloud's pain seeping into his skin through the screams...but (and this was the important bit) there was something in him that lasted when Zack thought he wouldn't, when he was terrified Hojo would come back without Cloud unconscious and half-dead in tow behind him, or that the screams would stop because Cloud's body just couldn't take it anymore...
But since Cloud was still breathing, he'd be fine. He'd be fine. They'd be fine.
Zack's vision flickered in and out strangely (it hadn't done that since SOLDIER, since the mako injections and enhancements he'd willingly let them stick in him), and his ears could still pick up his own steady breathing, Cloud's shallow almost not-there breaths, and the ordinary grunts and soldiers tracking them in the trees and brush. He was surprised they hadn't fired yet: he'd just torn their friends up without taking Cloud off his back, you'd figure they'd be a bit peeved over their friends getting killed, but maybe they weren't friends. Zack blinked and wavered. That was all right. They'd be all right.
Cloud hadn't spoken in far too long, hadn't looked at Zack and been able to focus on him--he'd worry about Cloud recognizing him later--but if he was still breathing, he'd be all right. They'd be all right.
Leaves and branches raised a faint texture underneath his boots, different and so much better after being in the lab for forever, and Zack was still grinning faintly while he stumbled and swayed on natural ground--it was like being drunk again, without the alcohol. Being drunk in Midgar, not with Cloud because Cloud was still a minor then but maybe drunk with Seph...
Then again, he'd hated getting drunk. No matter how much Zack would prod and blackmail, he usually wouldn't. Real pain in the ass, but they'd been...together, they'd been...
Anyway.
Civilians weren't told the real story behind SOLDIER, and neither were the SOLDIERs. Zack wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing Cloud hadn't passed the SEEs the first time around, if this was what the whole thing was about. If it meant Cloud couldn't even recognize him properly, now.
He shifted Cloud's non-weight on his shoulder easily, and kept walking.
FF7: Last Order
PG-13
Zack/Cloud
For 15minuteficlets, Zack dragging Cloud through the woods post-break out. Really short ficlet, some Zack worrying Zack-style, some lab memories, and trying not to be angst, because Zack and angst are sad together, but I'm not sure if that happened properly.
546 words
Civilians were never told the real story behind the makings of SOLDIER, but even the recruits and normal grunt soldiers tended to think that it made fighting an absolute piece of cake.
Which it did, but even if the wounds healed a few minutes or a few hours later, that didn't mean the pain didn't last, that the sensation wasn't still there. It didn't make the enhancements healthy for you.
Blood flew and darted from the edge of the Buster sword as the edge cut through the darkness and bodies and bones, and Zack grinned at the sight because Cloud really was far too weightless on his shoulder and that was a little bit frightening. But since the blood flew like birds and now they'd be able to see birds now, he wasn't too worried about Cloud. Cloud would be fine.
Sure the kid was small and short and shy, could bleed gallons upon gallons and scream until Zack started screaming too because it hurt his heart and hurt his ears and he could feel Cloud's pain seeping into his skin through the screams...but (and this was the important bit) there was something in him that lasted when Zack thought he wouldn't, when he was terrified Hojo would come back without Cloud unconscious and half-dead in tow behind him, or that the screams would stop because Cloud's body just couldn't take it anymore...
But since Cloud was still breathing, he'd be fine. He'd be fine. They'd be fine.
Zack's vision flickered in and out strangely (it hadn't done that since SOLDIER, since the mako injections and enhancements he'd willingly let them stick in him), and his ears could still pick up his own steady breathing, Cloud's shallow almost not-there breaths, and the ordinary grunts and soldiers tracking them in the trees and brush. He was surprised they hadn't fired yet: he'd just torn their friends up without taking Cloud off his back, you'd figure they'd be a bit peeved over their friends getting killed, but maybe they weren't friends. Zack blinked and wavered. That was all right. They'd be all right.
Cloud hadn't spoken in far too long, hadn't looked at Zack and been able to focus on him--he'd worry about Cloud recognizing him later--but if he was still breathing, he'd be all right. They'd be all right.
Leaves and branches raised a faint texture underneath his boots, different and so much better after being in the lab for forever, and Zack was still grinning faintly while he stumbled and swayed on natural ground--it was like being drunk again, without the alcohol. Being drunk in Midgar, not with Cloud because Cloud was still a minor then but maybe drunk with Seph...
Then again, he'd hated getting drunk. No matter how much Zack would prod and blackmail, he usually wouldn't. Real pain in the ass, but they'd been...together, they'd been...
Anyway.
Civilians weren't told the real story behind SOLDIER, and neither were the SOLDIERs. Zack wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing Cloud hadn't passed the SEEs the first time around, if this was what the whole thing was about. If it meant Cloud couldn't even recognize him properly, now.
He shifted Cloud's non-weight on his shoulder easily, and kept walking.