Author's note.
This is the first fanfic I've written in a long time, so I apologise if I'm a little rusty. Also, it's the first one I've wrote for the Final Fantasy fandom so I hope that I've managed to make the characters as true to how they are in the games as possible.

This is going to be an alternative universe Zack x Cloud fic.
I, sadly, have no ownership over these two, nor the series they belong to.
/This was a disclaimer/

Anyhow, enjoy, and maybe drop me a review if you feel I've done well. I've got the next few chapters written up so I'll be updating steadily if there's enough interest. c:

Allons-y!

Light Me Up

Chapter I – The First Day.

"Zack..." The voice drifted through the young man's sleep, not quite registering with his subconscious that it was coming from the outside world. Zack made no effort to respond to the voice, he was too happy in this dream about... something. "Zack, are you going to get up today?" Zack yawned and rolled over stretching himself luxuriously across his bed.

"Mhmmm?" He hummed into the pillow.

Whack.

Sky blue eyes shot open. "Good. I see you're awake now. It's your first day back at school. You don't want to be late now, do you son?" The voice chuckled. It took Zack a while to focus on the man who was standing at the side of his bed, but eventually his brain allowed him to realise that it was his uncle Angeal who had slapped him into consciousness with a balled up pair of his own socks. Zack groaned. School, today? Damn. The holidays have gone far too quickly. He stretched a little more before sitting up in bed, swinging his legs out to show Angeal he was making an effort.

"I'm up, I'm up... I won't go ba—" Zack was cut off half way through his sentence as a huge yawn forced its way out of his mouth. He collapsed back onto his bed with a little sigh, barely noticing Angeal smile and roll his eyes.

"You sure you're not going to fall back to sleep?" He teased, throwing the balled up socks at him. Zack grabbed a hold of the socks and propped himself up on his elbows so he could see his uncle more clearly. The seventeen year old grinned cheekily before responding.

"Of course I'm sure! I was just... resting my eyes, that's all."

"Oh really?" Angeal smirked. "Well, when your eyes are all rested up, there's some toast ready for you in the kitchen. I'd go eat it while it's hot." Angeal turned and walked over to the doorway where he paused for a second, as if he'd just remembered something important. "Oh and Zack? Your first class of the day is with Mr. Rhapsodos, remember? Now, knowing Genesis as well as I do, I know you don't want to face his wrath for being late, do you?" Angeal's grin widened and his eyes sparkled knowing this fact about his school day would snatch Zack straight from sleep's clutches. Zack, who's eyes had been slowly closing of their own accord, was suddenly wide awake. He shot up into a sitting position and gawped at Angeal with some disbelief. Genesis Rhapsodos was easily one of the strictest teachers he studied under at the ShinRa Academy and despite him being best friends with his uncle, he had never given Zack any special treatment. In fact, he seemed to reserve a lot of the more difficult questions for Zack himself.

"No way! I have Literature first?" He groaned standing up and wandering across his room to examine the timetable he'd pinned to his wardrobe. Sure enough, his Angeal was right – LIT, Mr. G. Rhapsodos, Room L18. Zack hung his head. A lesson with Genesis first thing would mean no time to relax and slip back into the school routine as he usually liked to do on first days back – far from it, it seemed. Zack was willing to bet that he'd leave the lesson that morning with at least one set of questions and an investigation to carry out at home. He groaned again. "Do I really have to go in?" He yelled after his uncle's retreating back. All that came to him in response was laughter which grew quieter as Angeal made his way to the kitchen. Zack sighed before running his fingers through his hair, pushing his fringe back off of his face. "Guess I better make a move then..." he said to himself as he proceeded to try and dig his school bag out of his wardrobe.

First days back at school always sucked. They usually dragged because people were just starting to get back into the school-habit and so no one got much work done, but they sucked considerably more when you were going to be the new kid in the class. For the seventh or so time, Cloud checked his appearance in the mirror. He tugged uncomfortably at his new v-neck sweater vest and attempted to loosen his tie again. Much to his dismay, his tousled light blond hair still stuck up at angles that wouldn't obey his hair gel and he still felt his tie was causing his shirt to dig into his neck. Sighing, he decided to grab breakfast before his family ate all the food.

Why had his father accepted that damn promotion that had caused them to move to Midgar? Cloud had been quite comfortable in Nibelhiem, a small village in the middle of nowhere, and being uprooted from all that he knew and thrust into the ShinRa Academy was a bit of a culture shock to say the least for the poor sixteen year old. They'd been living in the city for just over a week now and Cloud was still amazed at how vastly different it was to his old home.

The school had told his parents that he'd officially get his timetable today when he started, so the poor young man was still at a loss about what to expect from his first day at the Academy. All he knew was that the school accepted both male and female pupils whose parents were working for the ShinRa company in some way, shape or form. He didn't know much about the teachers, and since arriving here he'd barely seen any teenagers his age. He felt... alienated was a good word. He hadn't exactly been one of the most popular guys back in Nibelhiem, but he'd had a few close friends. A pang of sadness suddenly hit him. He frowned, realising again that he was going to be alone. He didn't know anyone. And he guessed most of these city kids wouldn't be interested in getting to know the new 'country boy'.

I hope the people are nice. He thought to himself. The last thing I need is to become the new class idiot or something. He slung his school satchel onto one of the chairs in the kitchen of their new apartment and waited for either one of his parents to respond to him. Neither stirred.

Cloud rolled his eyes before pulling a cereal box from the cupboard and making himself a bowl. He was almost finished eating when his dad put down his newspaper and addressed him.

"So, looking forward to your first day of school, Cloud?"

"I guess..." The sandy blond replied, glancing up at his dad from over his cereal bowl.

"You'll be fine." He said before walking over and ruffling Cloud's hair, causing more rebellious spikes to stick up at even more unlikely angles than the ones which Cloud himself had failed to tame before. The sixteen year old groaned.

"Dad, you've just messed my hair up! I was trying to look neat."

"I think it looks okay like that." His father said, cocking his head to one side and surveying Cloud. "Besides, that's how it normally is. Just be yourself, son, and people will like you for that." Cloud mustn't have looked too convinced however because his dad pulled him into a hug. Cloud's immediate reaction was to reject the friendly gesture. He didn't want to be hugged. "Look, I'm sorry your life's been turned upside down due to my promotion and us moving and whatever, but I'm sure you'll fit right in with your new classmates. You'll make friends don't worry." When he finally let go, Cloud's mother chimed in too. "Oh Cloudy, look at you! You look so grown up and... well smart! That uniform was worth every penny, don't you think dear..?" Cloud rolled his eyes again. He really wasn't in the mood to be patronised.

"Yeah, whatever." He said, directing his gaze to the floor. "I'm leaving now, so I'll see you about half three I guess." He looked up, then from one set of worried eyes to another. "I'll be fine. I'm sure." He added before snatching up his school bag and blazer and heading for the door. "See you." He called to them from the hall.

He pulled the door to with more of a resonating bang than he had intended and felt a little bad for acting so moody with his parents. They were only trying to comfort him after all... but then, if it wasn't for them he would still be happy and in the country. For what felt like the bazillionth time that morning, Cloud found his eyebrows pulling together in a frown as he made his way toward the stairs in their apartment building. After running down one flight of stairs, he noticed a tall jet black haired teen come shooting out of the hallway on this floor. The guy didn't seem to notice Cloud as he walked toward him, too busy fumbling with some textbooks in his hands. Cloud tried to walk a little faster – this guy was heading straight for him – but his increase in pace meant that he met the black haired boy at the foot of the next flight of stairs. He knocked into the other boy and stumbled back a little bit, as did the other teenager, who seemed so shocked to run into someone on the stairs he dropped his books.

"Aw man." He groaned, taking a step towards Cloud again as he watched his books tumble down the stairs. "I'm really sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and I'm kinda late and..." He bent to pick up the nearest textbook before looking back at Cloud. He looked confused for a second, as if wondering who Cloud was. Cloud shifted nervously on the spot.

"It's okay, it's my fault for not walking faster." He replied awkwardly, noting with interest how bright this guy's blue eyes were. "Here, let me help." He said, proceeding to pick up the next textbook which had landed at the bottom of this flight of stairs. He grabbed the book, and out of habit made sure the pages were all smoothed out and neat looking before handing the book back to its owner. He smiled shyly.

"Hey, thanks." The boy said smiling happily. He tilted his head to one side, before asking a question which seemed to have formed in his head when he first looked at Cloud. "Do you go to the Academy? Only, I've never seen you around before... and I was certain that there weren't any students living in this apartment building. Are you new?"

Cloud grinned slightly; this guy seemed... nice. He definitely wasn't looking down on him for being odd, and he hadn't made any nasty remarks about Cloud's unruly hair, which he'd assumed could be a bullying point. This guy's hair was a mass of messy black spikes, sticking up all over his head apart from his fringe which almost curtained his face. It was certainly an impressive style, one that really suited him. Cloud swallowed before speaking up.

"Yeah, I'm just starting there today." He said shortly. He wanted to expand on the sentence but the black haired boy spoke up again.

"Aw really? Do you know anyone yet?" He quizzed, his friendly grin widening.

"No. Um, I haven't really seen anyone about..." He started, feeling slightly awkward. "We've only been here for a week. My dad got a promotion and we had to move and..."

"Ah, so you're not from around here then I take it? Are you a country boy?"

Cloud froze. He's going to make fun isn't he? He thought to himself. What's the right way to answer that question? Do I say yes and risk him poking fun at me for it? Or do I say no? Or –

"That's cool. I'm from the country too. What part do you come from?" Cloud didn't have to worry about what he was going to say because the other guy had started speaking again. He felt relieved, knowing that his new acquaintance knew the sort of community he was from. He settled for telling him the town from which he originated.

"Nibelhiem." He replied, dipping his gaze as he said the name of his hometown. The boy he was talking to started to laugh at that. Cloud wondered what he'd found so amusing about this snippet of information. Had he heard of Nibelhiem? Did he know just how much of a country town it was? "How about you?" He added after a second or so pause. He was curious to find out if he had heard of where this guy was from.

"Me?" He asked, his grin widening yet again. "Gongaga."

Cloud started to laugh at the name, alike to how his new 'friend' had at the mention of Nibelhiem. He understood now why the other had laughed. To each of them, their hometowns must have sounded so cheesily named. He figured that he was laughing because Gongaga sounded like a made up place almost, which was probably what the other thought about his hometown's name.

"Hey, what's so funny about that! You know Gongaga?" The Gongaga boy asked with a slight pout. Cloud let his laugh continue for a few more seconds before replying.

"No, but it's just such a backwater name." He replied shyly, a small smile playing about his lips.

"Ditto Nibelhiem!" The boy said rather defensively, frowning for a second before his features soften again.

"Like you've been there." Cloud found himself saying with a slight eyebrow raise.

"I haven't. But there's a reactor there, right? A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means..." He trailed off for a second, looking away from Cloud.

"Nothing else out there." They both said at the same time, looking up at each other and laughing. They grinned widely at each other for another moment before the boy spoke up again.

"I'm Zack." He offered. "I think we'll get along fine..." Zack paused, waiting for Cloud to return the gesture and give him his name.

"Cloud."

"Nice to meet 'cha, Cloud." Zack replied, balancing his textbooks in the crook of his left arm whilst offering his right hand for Cloud to shake. Cloud took it shyly. He grinned. "You stick with me. I'll look out for you." Zack said, starting to walk down the stairs. Cloud followed almost obediently, smiling to himself.

Well, this is looking better than I expected.

~ Review if you can? Thanks in advance if you do, and thank you for choosing this fic to read! ~