Title: Project C – Chapter 1
Fandom: FF7
Rating: M for language, and I don't want young children to get the wrong idea about sexual relationships… and computers. Really.
Warnings: AU from the very beginning… and end?
Characters: Zack, Cloud, Rufus, Reno.
Summary: The last Project to resolve that one last problem in FF7. Hardcore Sci-Fi. Features Zack x Cloud, Rufus x Reno. Not to forget, Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth as well.
A/N : This is an AU of an AU. Cross-references to my other fics, "Fulfilled Desire" and "All Dogs Go To Heaven" because I'm too lazy to re-write common ficverse elements. The fic is broken into several sections, each with a different writing style. Sorry, but I do love experimenting:-)
Due to formatting restrictions, the fic will be divided into uneven chapters to accommodate changes in formatting styles. Sorry!
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High atop a barren, dusty cliff overlooking the vast, sprawling gray expanse of the Midgar ruins, the end draws near.
The beauty of Mankind's last sunset was marred by columns of thick smoke rising from thousands of burning cities, and a bright crimson heaven bruised with dark, ominous clouds, and streaked by continuous flashes of dark lightning. Endless cries of despair resounded throughout the charred lands, as the loss of lives continued to mount.
Swarms of mutated dragons and demon-winged airships circled the air, spewing lethal firepower onto towns and villages, incinerating all living creatures. On the ground, massive colonies of clones, monsters and hellspawns were on the move; violently tearing everything down with claws and magic, and setting ablaze the lands as far as the eye could see. Lakes and rivers had dried up long ago, and the oceans had turned into poisonous waters infested with unthinkable evil that multiplied viciously, devouring everything in its path.
The Planet was dying.
And this time, there was no Omega to carry Life to another world.
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ν - εуλ 0018/10
"Damn it, it's not supposed to end this way!" Zack cried out as he tried to shake the blonde awake. He knelt closer, and started to press his palms on heaving chest in the hopes of staunching the copious blood flow, but to his dismay, ghostly fingers simply passed through the bloody punctures, horribly torn skin and burnt flesh.
Zack stared at Cloud Strife, the man he had been with for the past decade. Even after Aeris left for the Promised Land to reunite with her people, Zack remained behind. Unable to sever the lingering attachments he had with the land of living, Zack chose to stay back, guiding and helping his sole companion in any way he could. Voices in the head, dreams that foretell the future, pleasant flashbacks of the past, the instinct to react in that particular way; those were the various ways that Cloud had described him, which Zack thought was rather endearing.
But there was only so much a spiritual entity could do.
Cloud lay motionless on exactly the same spot where Zack last exhaled his last breath nearly ten years ago, his arms outstretched, and the crimson cloak he inherited from the late Valentine spread underneath like a deepening pool of blood. He looked so pale and weak, Zack thought sadly, as a finger ghosted on the blonde's cheeks. After months of running and hiding from the unstoppable hordes of monsters, Cloud finally succumbed to exhaustion and cruelly-lacerated wounds that were beyond healing or curative magic. First Tsurugi lay on the blood-soaked ground by his right hand, useless and badly dented from overuse.
It took a moment before Zack realized that Cloud had stopped to struggle for air. His chest was no longer trembling with every rise and fall, nor was his breathing wheezing and ragged as before. In the silence broken by thunderstorms raging in the skies above, the blonde relaxed; the signs of pain and torment finally faded away, leaving an almost innocent, youthful face that Zack had not seen for the many years.
A single tear fell from bright indigo-blue eyes.
Somewhere from below the plateau, there were earsplitting roars and hungry growls. Jenova's hellspawns were fast approaching and there many of them, judging from the rising sounds of clawed feet and beatings of feathered wings.
Zack shook his head, feeling the raven spikes sway gently with the ash-choked breeze. He couldn't do anything. No one could do anything. One by one, Cloud's friends had been killed in the massacre that lasted for years, and it took every ounce of strength in the thin blonde to make that last journey to this sanctuary; the small, desolate cliff overlooking the forgotten ruins of Midgar. For some inexplicable reason, the rusted Buster Sword that stood vigilant over the small patch of ground seemed to drive away monsters… until now. Cloud and Zack's final resting place was about to be desecrated by the same evil that drove them to the edge in the very first place. The chain of events had finally come to a full circle, Zack thought darkly.
"Z.. Zack?"
Zack stiffened, startled, and looked down at his friend. All the grime, sweat, mud and blood had disappeared from the blonde's face. Beautiful, clear Mako-blue eyes stared upwards in wonder; wrinkles from age and scars from countless battles on the blonde's limbs have miraculously dissipated into thin air.
"Is… is that really you?" Cloud whispered, almost fearful that he would wake up from yet another of his restless dreams, to a cold, empty bed. One hand reached up shakily, which Zack gratefully grasped and held tightly for the first time, in many achingly long years.
"No…" Zack replied with a wistful smile, ignoring the tears that threatened to spill.
Cloud looked up in confusion.
Zack placed Cloud's hand against his heart, imagining a strong, steady heartbeat for the blonde to feel. Rain began to fall in a light drizzle, but neither of them felt wetness of raindrops nor the dampness of the barren ground beneath them.
"You're not supposed to see me, Spike," Zack continued and bent down to touch his forehead against Cloud's.
Cloud frowned at Zack's words, and then realization dawned upon him. This time, Cloud smiled.
"I know. I guess it's time for me to go, isn't it?" he asked, and reached out with his other hand to pull the older man down towards him. It was strange, Cloud thought, as there was no warmth in their embrace. Cloud shivered despite the closeness. There was something cooling, chilling, radiating from his core.
Zack could hear the monsters climbing up to the plateau. In a few more steps, in a few more moments.
"So.. cold," Cloud sighed tiredly, feeling a little dizzy and suddenly light-weighted.
"I am always by your side."
Cloud closed his eyes, savouring the last sensations that his body allowed – the comforting darkness descending upon him, Zack's familiar scent that overwhelmed everything else, the firm touch of a friend whom he'd missed so much.
And the sweet, lingering aftertaste of a gentle kiss in the sunset.
"Always."
A small, pinpoint of light was born from the darkness. Its ethereal white luminescence grew in intensity, its size increasing in each passing second. The distinct borders between whiteness and blackness began to blur and distort as the incandescent sphere expanded.
Suddenly, the focus of light shot forward, leaving behind a golden streak of pure brilliance and unparalleled brightness. And then, there was nothing more.