Strife's Delivery Service

Zack shrugged, floating in the water.  It…felt like floating in the Lifestream, really.  Suspended, no sense of up or down, and grasping his sense of self with both hands.

With a sigh, Cloud chucked the device onto the floorboards where it skidded a few feet to a stop.  He felt weighted down by the water that had soaked into his clothes, but it would be too much trouble really to strip them off at this point.  He watched, quietly, as Zack floated in the water, the odd unreal quality to his form blending in with the shine off the water, so sometimes it was hard to see where Zack began or ended.

"Right!" Zack said, and Cloud wasn’t fast enough as he reared up out of the pool to grab the front of his shirt and haul him into the water with them.  He let himself fall backward into it as well, to drag him all the way down.

He only had time for a cut off exclamation before he was pulled under, Zack's form a solid yet somehow still soft mass below him.  He worried, for a moment, that he would go right through his friend, but managed to get his feet under him regardless.  Water rained off his clothes, dripping in rivulets down his face as he gave Zack as unimpressed a look as he could manage.

It was always good to see Cloud smile like that and Zack felt his own smile go a little crooked when he saw it.  Cloud needed more things to smile about, really. 

Denzel pushed himself out, reaching to smoosh either side of Zack's face in retaliation.  It overbalanced him back into the pool, but he came up laughing.  "Hey Zack, Cloud's the only one not wet, right?" he asked, giving Cloud a mischievous grin.

Cloud raised his eyebrow as the droplets sprinkled across him.  "I don't know Zack.  She has a record of following people into the Lifestream just to give them a good lecture."  Maybe it was disrespectful to think of that time so flippantly, but Cloud had come to terms with it.  Tifa was his friend first and foremost, and her loyalty to him never failed to humble him.  He hoped, now, that he could give a little of that back.

"Not all the time,” Zack said, grinning.  He leaned against the floorboards at the side of the pool and peered upward at Cloud.  ”A man needs time alone sometimes.  Cloud just takes everything to extremes.”  He winked at him before turning toward Denzel.  

Defeated, Cloud just shook his head and sat down on the floorboards in front of Zack.  He'd come here initially just to make sure all was well, that nothing had disturbed the memorial or the church itself.  Not that he thought Aerith would allow petty vandals, and besides, most people were still leery of coming too close to Midgar and the supposed danger that still lingered.  It didn't matter how many news reports came out stating the Lifestream levels had gone down to normal, people had lost faith in those long ago.

Zack only had time enough to reach out before the boy’s weight hit him and they both went down and under the water.  He hit the bottom, and for a second he wondered if he’d keep going, right back into the Lifestream in a dazzling fade of green, but he held.

Cloud chuckled, watching the water move as Zack's spirit did.  He'd suspected, remembered that Zack had been solid enough to touch before, and if it hadn't been the case Denzel would have been just as wet.  When Zack was close enough, he reached out to heft Denzel back onto the floor boards, ignoring the wetness seeping through his gloves.  

Zack glanced back over his shoulder at them when he heard Denzel’s question.  He blinked, then looked down at his hands.  Green wisps of Lifestream rose from his skin, idly swirling around him and dissipating as it often did when he managed to manifest.  He’d never done it accidentally…except maybe that one time, with Cloud.

Zack laughed, a huffy, breathy thing. 

Cloud sucked in a quiet breath as he felt more than saw Zack move past them.  However as he continued, Zack's figure slowly began to take form, swirls of green floating around him as he walked the length of the church.  

He followed after them, footsteps nonexistent just the same as was his breath.  He didn’t breathe anymore, didn’t eat, didn’t do much…but he was here.  That’s what mattered in the end, he figured.  Though sometimes he wondered if it wouldn’t be better for him to be more scarce… Cloud had a life to live now, after all.

Dutifully, Cloud began, "He said--"

It was a little easier to bring himself into existence here, a little less like pushing through a solid wall and more like slipping through curtains.  Zack wasn’t sure if it was Cloud’s presence—which generally made it easier anyway—or…the memorial. 

Cloud ignored that, knowing it was true.  He'd been caught in his own failures, and the rusting blade seemed the perfect echo of how he'd messed everything up.  Now, though, it had received the honor it deserved, for the men who'd wielded it before.

“I don’t know.  I need to pick up the other half to get the card to work.”  

Weeeeird.

That...was a pretty apt description.  He made a mental note of it, since he couldn't remember its actual name anyway.

He was not frowning deeply (pouting).  It wasn’t his fault he hadn’t had a lot of time to learn exactly what the device was!  He saw it worked, and that was all he needed to know, surely.

"I don't know.  I need to pick up the other half to get the card to work."  

He had a terrible urge to pet a puppy right now.

“What?”  Well that didn’t sound exciting at all! “…Cloud, I think you just described any bag ever.  We made those you know.  It’s this bit of fabric and you open it and put things inside.”

He was not frowning deeply (pouting).  It wasn't his fault he hadn't had a lot of time to learn exactly what the device was!  He saw it worked, and that was all he needed to know, surely.

It was quiet for a moment as Cloud considered that, thinking of the strange pink card that was sitting on his desk upstairs.  The only other pair of customers in the place were silently ignoring the barkeep who was talking nonsense to himself.

“That’s good at least.  So whatcha get?”

He had a terrible urge to pet a puppy right now.

It was quiet for a moment as Cloud considered that, thinking of the strange pink card that was sitting on his desk upstairs.  The only other pair of customers in the place were silently ignoring the barkeep who was talking nonsense to himself.

A clattering sound distracted him, as the customer at the bar rose unsteadily to his feet and staggered out the door.  He left money for his tab, so Cloud just shrugged and went to collect it.

“Who cares.”

He wrinkled his nose slightly at the tap, but relented.