Cloud Strife

Cloud Strife: ...Seven... Six... Not to be rude or anything, but could you go do someone else?

Mukki: Well, if that's how you feel... too bad. We have a trip planned at a cabin out in the country.

“.............”

He doesn’t know what to say - namely because who the hell is this person who knows about his past that he barely remembers, and even that’s in broken fragments? He frowns deeply, swatting at the hand that’s touching him.

Cloud could not move or talk or do ANYTHING at all for himself in the nine months that Zack was taking him on the run.

That means it was Zack who fed him and gave him water.

Zack who bathed him.

Zack who changed his soiled clothes.

Zack who had to make sure his clothes were clean.

Zack who carried him everywhere.

Who was also severely weakened by Hojo’s experiments and had to fight and kill everyday on his own.

Everyday he did this, for nine months.

A park ? Honestly, if it wasn’t night he’d think it very strange for a guy to be hanging around a park alone. Cloud could certainly be rather odd at times, but not to a worrying degree. Oh, perhaps he’d taken those two kids there, Marlene and Denzel ? Well, that certainly made a lot more sense than some suspicious instinct. Though why he thought Squall might like it fell short of understanding. What else was there to do ? Reno wouldn’t likely let up being an asshole until he died. And even then in the lifestream.

“  Uhh…..yeah, okay, sure….sounds interesting.  “  It didn’t really. But still the youth grabs his black boots and puts them on before grabbing the familiar fur trimmed coat along with a scarf. Midgar was a lot colder than Costa del Sol would ever be, one of the few things he missed about home was its warmth. Steely gaze turns to blonde companion with brief wonderment as to what Nibelheim might be like in terms of climate. Did Cloud ever visit there at all ? It didn’t seem likely given all that Tifa had told him about the village and both their history with it. Snapping back into focus, Squall nods his head signalling he was ready.         “  Ready to go ?  “

“.......” Squall either didn’t hide the dull tone in his voice at the suggestion, or he was transparent that the idea sounded boring. Cloud instantly regretted bringing it up. Seems social situations were still not his strong point, and he doubts they are ever going to be. But whatever. Squall is humoring him, and at the very least, it’s getting Cloud away from... that.

He hadn’t removed anything for comfort since arriving here - shoes, coat, anything, so Cloud is up and standing when Squall is ready. It might be somewhat somber and maybe even weird that the park reminded him of the one in the lower sector’s. You couldn’t see stars from it because of the plates holding the city up, but he remembers sitting with someone important there once. Tifa is pushing Cloud to be more social. As always. There should be something to talk about.

It isn’t far away, though Cloud finds when he gets there and finds a content spot on top of the slide... he’s still scratching for a subject of interest. His eyes are focused on the stars, though his brain isn’t letting him enjoy it. 

one might think, understandably, that zack is more prepared than cloud to encounter this situation. it’s probably true  ( at least, he doesn’t have any memory of cloud dying, unlike the other has of  HIMSELF )… but at the same time, he hadn’t expected it. has he thought of it happening? yes, in his wildest fantasies. but there are so many people in the world, and with no method of contacting cloud, or even knowing where he is or what he’s up to, there had been no practical hope for that  DREAM  to ever come to fruition. it was doomed to stay within his minds, a comfort for nightmare-filled nights.

     yet here the blond now stands, beside a bike, dressed in an outfit so reminiscent of soldier. it isn’t a soldier outfit, importantly, but something about it just feels like shinra. why? had cloud been recaptured? had he been taken in, brainwashed, recruited? had his  AMBITION  to enter soldier overcome even the memory of turks and infantry chasing them over a period of months, desperate to drag them back to the company kicking and screaming     or even dead? perhaps the poisoning the blond had apparently been suffering from  ( after the years in a mako tank )  had erased his memories entirely.

     the  TRUE  ex-soldier can’t relax yet; even though it looks like friend rather than foe, he can’t be sure, can’t let his guard down. analyse the situation. zack, focus. angeal’s voice rings clearly in his head, though it’s been many years now since he last heard it     the deep pitch, the sternness behind his tone. a great man. a teacher, a friend, a  BROTHER,  now just one more name to keep on the list of those he misses, terribly, daily. but cloud… could he scratch his name off the list, now?

     his fingers loosen on the handle of his own blade. something inside strong, bullet-scarred body  SCREAMS  at him to drop it, though wisely he doesn’t; it just feels unnatural to hold a sword when faced with a person so dear to him. the same had been the case when he’d faced angeal, and again, when he’d had to deter cissnei. surely it can’t come to a fight with cloud, his best friend? the backwater expert, his living legacy? zack wonders if he remembers that promise.

     ❝ cloud, ❞   his voice emerges, and it’s hoarse with rough, raw emotion. the blond  MUST  recognise him, despite the question… right?   ❝ it’s me. zack. ❞

     “Zack is dead!” 

Cloud’s quiet but stern voice turns loud and angry, fury taking over Mako eyes - taking over every fiber of him, if only for a moment before he pulls himself back. How dare you. How dare his name be spoken. His eyes are glaring, but Cloud is being rocketed into the past, to reading helplessly as Zack walks away to his final battle, to crawling with every strength he can muster to his slow-breathing and bloody body. He watched Zack take his last breath with a smile on his face. It’s his fault he died.

Now to have an impersonator. Because this can’t be Zack. 

      “I watched you die.” The words come out faster than he means them to. He means I watched him die. Because this is not him. It can’t be him. He has to contact Rufus and the Turks, find out of this is a secret that was kept in the corners of ShinRa’s closet. 

His face curls in distress. He’s angry. He’s confused. He’s scared. But his expression remains hardened. Cloud doesn’t know if he demands evidence that his memory was wrong, that Zack didn’t die (which would ultimately mean Cloud left him for dead) while not being sure he wants to know what answer would be given. What’s the truth? What isn’t?

     It doesn’t fee like two years. It feels like a lifetime, another him ago. But there’s a cadet inside him screaming in agony - and relief to see his face. There is so much to say. So much to apologize for.

“……”

Although his expression didn’t change, remaining stoic and serious, color forms up his cheeks and end up lighting his face, regardless of the front he’s trying to keep up. Really, it was no big deal, but Yuna always felt the need to express her appreciation.

in contrast to cloud… zack has never been back here. not on purpose, anyway; he’s driven past a few times, most likely, but this time it’s different. he’s just had a feeling he should come here, today. it’s possibly because of his personal life; the death of the old man who’d turned out to be his saviour. he’s feeling mournful, and  GRATEFUL;  and so now he revisits the site of his final showdown. up on the cliff… what is that? sitting on the back of the truck, eyes narrow at something glinting in the daylight sun. something metallic. pushing himself up, he cranes his neck to see more clearly    

         then his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a roaring engine. suddenly, zack is on high alert. someone’s coming this way… someone from  SHINRA?  they’re supposedly gone, but the ex-soldier knows better than that. they’ll be underground somewhere. they’re cockroaches, can’t be killed that easily  ( though from what he’s heard, all that’s been happening recently wouldn’t have been easy to continue on from ).  and he’s managed to lie low for so long, kept himself in safety; the old guy had suggested it, after seeing how torn up the young man had been,  BLEEDING OUT  on the cliff face. and, with his phone destroyed… zack had no contact with anyone, anyway. he’d put his faith in cloud, and hid.

              it had been a bad idea to come back here.

     hand falls to the side. also lying in the back of the truck is a sword  ( nowhere near as good as the buster sword, but at least he can use this one with less  GUILT  about causing wear, tear, and rust ).  the person approaching is coming into view… and there’s something about the outfit he sports that makes zack’s heart thud. it reminds him of soldier. they haven’t been recruiting more for the soldier program, right? is it still going, somewhere in gaia? terrifying thought.

     but he’s ready. though old bullet-wounds cause a stiffness and  ACHE  in wearied bones, he’s ready. zack doesn’t fear death; since that fateful day in this same spot, he’s prepared for dying. still he’ll fight. he’d fight anything about shinra. they ruined everything. he  HATES  them     it’s a strong word, and he’d never have thought himself a hating person, but he despises what shinra has done. not only to him… but to those he loves. it’s unforgivable.

               and so, he stands… and hops down from the truck.

     Cloud wants to keep distance, but distance doesn’t let him see, not what he wants to. He’s making it obvious he’s trailing the truck, but he doesn’t care and it shows. Once he gets confirmation of something, then he’ll leave and be on his way. No harm done. That’s the best outcome, since the truck seems very much real and the man within it that is clawing at his skull is real too.

     It hits him like a shockwave when he realizes why this seems familiar. He remembers Zack and him in the back of a similar truck. Was it this same wasteland? He can’t remember. It’s fuzzy - and his head hurts like a pulsing throb. It’s familiar in a way that makes his stomach turn. He thought he was doing better. He was doing better. None the less his balance on the Fenrir stays in par, keeping enough distance away.. but more than close enough to get the attention of the passenger. 

    The truck comes to a stop, and several feet away, Cloud does too. The roaring dulls into a hum, before turning Fenrir off completely and wasting no time pulling himself off his bike. His heart’s pounding, ears ringing, palms sweating. His body is reacting and he still doesn’t understand why. What’s his subconscious trying to tell him? A hand comes up to remove the goggles and places them across the handlebars before getting a clear look at - whoever the hell this is.

    It’s impossible. For a long moment, Cloud isn’t aware he’s holding his breath as his face scrunches - twisting in disbelief, confusion, and frustration. And he’s cycling through those three rapidly. ( I saw him die. This isn’t Zack. There is no way this is Zack. ) If it isn’t Zack, then who - then what, is this? A stranger that just so happens to share the same face as his best friend? Cloud doesn’t believe in coincidences, not to that degree. A clone--? Was his body stolen by ShinRa, tested on further? ..... Maybe he’s seeing what he wants to see, and this person can look nothing like him at all. Cloud doesn’t risk blinking now, and his hand is gripped on the hilt of a sword still within Fenrir.

    “Who are you?” It’s not a question. It’s a demand for an answer.