Fic: Mako Poisoned (FFVII, Zack, Cloud, PG)
Title: Mako Poisoned
Author: GW Katrina aka icedark_elf
Beta: forgottenlover
Recipient: artimusdin
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Zack, Cloud
Wordcount: 716
Rating: PG
Prompt: Survival, Zack and Cloud
Disclaimer: Squeenix owns all
Warnings: N/A
Mako Poisoned
This was the hardest part of them running, Zack thought. Not the people who still hunted their trail, or the fact he and Cloud had been locked up for, gods, years. Years.
When he had broken out, he hadn’t expected it to be that long. He had started to laugh when he ran across that first newspaper. It had turned rather hysterical when he found a second with confirmation. Luckily he weren’t around too many people, and he got back into the woods pretty fast, still giggling. Years.
“Hey, Spike, guess what,” he had said when he collected Cloud against his side once more to start walking. “You are so legal now. We’ll buy you a drink later, okay?”
Gods, four years. He was...twenty two? Something like that. Cloud would be twenty, if that was the case. Three years past legal. Zack wondered if Shin-Ra had upped the age to join their military again. They had started that right after Cloud had enlisted. Cloud’s group had been the last one let in as young as fourteen. The next year kids had to be sixteen to join.
Zack suddenly shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. This was the hardest part right here.
So long in the mako had really scrambled his thought process. A lot. He had been in mako for a long time, hearing voices get louder and louder, and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Even singing every drinking song he knew, over and over, hadn’t helped dim them, though it did seem to help him keep a grip on himself.
Cloud was in the middle of the worse case of mako-poisoning he had ever seen, and Zack wasn’t too sure how steady he was on his own feet. He still caught things, even though he was out now, whispers at the edge of his hearing, even when he was sure that there was nobody around for miles. Or the way that the ground under his feet seemed to pulse, humming with some unseen force that he couldn’t taste, touch, hear, smell, or see, but it was there all the same.
The hardest part of this whole thing, the worst thing for their survival at all was that.
Zack was damn sure he was losing it.
Not that he really had the time or energy to go mad. Had to get Cloud to safety. Someplace where they could both rest and recover, and he had a good idea of where to go. Aeris had always been able to make things right. She’d be able to fix Cloud. He knew it.
Sometimes, though, he wondered if this was a good idea, but he couldn’t help it. As if she was the one thing that made sense, the one thing that was really clear, he turned his steps towards her.
Towards Midgar.
“Come on, Spike,” he said, tugging Cloud along. “Got a date I need to keep.”
Cloud silently stumbled along beside him.
///
Cloud wondered why Zack had taken them to Midgar. Of all the places to go, why go to where Shin-Ra was at their strongest?
Oh, he figured it was for Aeris, though Cloud didn’t really get it for the longest time.
Then he thought about his last bout of mako-poisoning, which he really, really had to stop doing.
Zack had been in the mako as much as Cloud had been, he was sure of it. Dim memories of being somewhat comforted by the black hair in the next tank over still floated in his memory, and he was sure that those were real memories. So Zack had been exposed to a great deal more mako than anyone should ever be exposed to. Even SOLDIERs.
Cloud wondered just how clearly his friend had been thinking when they had made their way to Midgar. Maybe if Cloud had been more aware, been more coherent, they might not have gotten to the cliffs where Zack had died. Maybe, if Cloud hadn’t been suffering from even worse mako-poisoning than Zack, plus whatever else had been done in the labs, he could have talked Zack into going someplace else. Someplace they would have been safe.
Someplace they would have both survived.
Author: GW Katrina aka icedark_elf
Beta: forgottenlover
Recipient: artimusdin
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Zack, Cloud
Wordcount: 716
Rating: PG
Prompt: Survival, Zack and Cloud
Disclaimer: Squeenix owns all
Warnings: N/A
Mako Poisoned
This was the hardest part of them running, Zack thought. Not the people who still hunted their trail, or the fact he and Cloud had been locked up for, gods, years. Years.
When he had broken out, he hadn’t expected it to be that long. He had started to laugh when he ran across that first newspaper. It had turned rather hysterical when he found a second with confirmation. Luckily he weren’t around too many people, and he got back into the woods pretty fast, still giggling. Years.
“Hey, Spike, guess what,” he had said when he collected Cloud against his side once more to start walking. “You are so legal now. We’ll buy you a drink later, okay?”
Gods, four years. He was...twenty two? Something like that. Cloud would be twenty, if that was the case. Three years past legal. Zack wondered if Shin-Ra had upped the age to join their military again. They had started that right after Cloud had enlisted. Cloud’s group had been the last one let in as young as fourteen. The next year kids had to be sixteen to join.
Zack suddenly shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. This was the hardest part right here.
So long in the mako had really scrambled his thought process. A lot. He had been in mako for a long time, hearing voices get louder and louder, and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Even singing every drinking song he knew, over and over, hadn’t helped dim them, though it did seem to help him keep a grip on himself.
Cloud was in the middle of the worse case of mako-poisoning he had ever seen, and Zack wasn’t too sure how steady he was on his own feet. He still caught things, even though he was out now, whispers at the edge of his hearing, even when he was sure that there was nobody around for miles. Or the way that the ground under his feet seemed to pulse, humming with some unseen force that he couldn’t taste, touch, hear, smell, or see, but it was there all the same.
The hardest part of this whole thing, the worst thing for their survival at all was that.
Zack was damn sure he was losing it.
Not that he really had the time or energy to go mad. Had to get Cloud to safety. Someplace where they could both rest and recover, and he had a good idea of where to go. Aeris had always been able to make things right. She’d be able to fix Cloud. He knew it.
Sometimes, though, he wondered if this was a good idea, but he couldn’t help it. As if she was the one thing that made sense, the one thing that was really clear, he turned his steps towards her.
Towards Midgar.
“Come on, Spike,” he said, tugging Cloud along. “Got a date I need to keep.”
Cloud silently stumbled along beside him.
///
Cloud wondered why Zack had taken them to Midgar. Of all the places to go, why go to where Shin-Ra was at their strongest?
Oh, he figured it was for Aeris, though Cloud didn’t really get it for the longest time.
Then he thought about his last bout of mako-poisoning, which he really, really had to stop doing.
Zack had been in the mako as much as Cloud had been, he was sure of it. Dim memories of being somewhat comforted by the black hair in the next tank over still floated in his memory, and he was sure that those were real memories. So Zack had been exposed to a great deal more mako than anyone should ever be exposed to. Even SOLDIERs.
Cloud wondered just how clearly his friend had been thinking when they had made their way to Midgar. Maybe if Cloud had been more aware, been more coherent, they might not have gotten to the cliffs where Zack had died. Maybe, if Cloud hadn’t been suffering from even worse mako-poisoning than Zack, plus whatever else had been done in the labs, he could have talked Zack into going someplace else. Someplace they would have been safe.
Someplace they would have both survived.