2 and 79 for your mash up 😁
Rules: Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.
2. A Royal AU
79. Anger Born of worry
I didn't see a ship so I get to pick for you: Zack/Cloud!
Zack is well-liked guard in a small kingdom. He rises very quickly through the ranks, reaching a commander status faster than most. He and his fellow commanders are given a dire task. The Crown Princess has gone missing, just without a trace. The royal family doesn't want her disappearance known (since she is engaged and that would make her husband-to-be very pissed off), but she must be found and returned as soon as possible. Zack dives into the task. He's never actually admitted it...but he's always had a massive crush on the princess.
At first he really goes nowhere. No one is willing to say much about the Princess. Then he suddenly realizes that's it! The people who are the most silent really know where she is. He is slightly angry when Kunsel, his own second in command, is found to be someone who helped her Majesty disappear.
"She asked me to," Kunsel says, "I cannot say more. She swore me to secrecy, but she is alive and well. I promise you." Zack is shocked at that. She wasn't taken. She's...running away. He thinks about it. Rufus of the ShinRa's isn't exactly his favorite person either. Perhaps this was her way of trying to get out of a terrible marriage. Zack just asks if Kunsel can say where Zack should go next. Kunsel tells him to find a soldier named Cloud.
2. Zack finds Cloud to be a very hostile man. Cloud refuses to say a word about Princess Claudia regardless of the threats and bribes Zack offers. So Zack decides the best way to get Claudia to reveal herself is to try and nullify her engagement himself, going against his orders. That finally seems to get Cloud to open up. Cloud demands, in his angry way to go with Zack. They leave at the dead of night.
Despite himself and his misconceptions about Cloud, Zack warms up quickly on their journey. Cloud isn't as cold and cruel as he makes himself seem. Despite keeping his hood and helmet up Zack feels a deep friendship forming with Cloud. They both love underdog stories and hate injustice in any form. Cloud actual seems to have a beautiful and noble heart.
"Why did her Majesty ask you for help?" Zack asked, "how did she know?" Cloud seems sad.
"I can't tell you that," he says, "I really would if I could." Zack lets it go.
3. The ShinRas are less than pleased to see Zack and Cloud at their doorstep and even less pleased to hear what they are trying to do. Zack offers anything to keep his home safe, even his own life. The ShinRas seem satisfied with that. Cloud suddenly goes berzerk with rage refusing to let them have Zack.
"Cloud its okay, let me do this. It's what she would want," Zack says.
"No its not!" Cloud snarls. He finally takes off his helmet and hood and Zack's jaw drops.
"I am Cloud--I mean Princess Claudia," he says, "and after seeing how you've treated my bodyguard there is no way in hell I am marrying anyone from this family!"
4. Rufus ShinRa actually listens and breaks the engagement then and there, making up something about not wanting to marry an unconventional woman, especially one who can use a sword so well. As well as accepting a massive bribe from Cloud behind closed doors.
Zack pulls the full story from Cloud as they go back. Cloud had never once in his life felt like a princess, or a girl for that matter. His family thought it a phase and got him engaged. So he ran. He had found a witch in the slums of the capitol and gotten a spell that finally made him a body that matched how he felt inside. Kunsel found him though and agreed to keep him secret and hide him in the army itself
"I didn't know they would actually look for me," Cloud said, "I didn't know I caused so much trouble."
"You're not that much trouble," Zack said, "I know I for one would be happy to serve a Crown Prince."
"But your so much more princely than me," Cloud said, "you tried to fix everything I ruined."
"It was fun," Zack said. That finally gets Cloud to laugh.
In the end, a lot of the people agreed that Zack would make a fine prince and king when the 2nd engagement announcement came out.
