Title: Kissing Death

Summary: It has been two years since the death of Zack Fair and Aerith Gainsborough. Cloud comforts himself by visiting the church and imagining the two of them dancing with one another whilst dreaming about being touched by Zack once more, however, when he hears Zack call out his name one visit, he begins to question his sanity.

Pairing: Zack x Cloud

Setting: Advent Children, but before any of the events in the film happened.

Type: Chaptered

Disclaimer: All related Final Fantasy names and characters are copyrighted © by the almighty Square Enix. The plot line for the story though, belongs to myself.

'You'll be…my living legacy'

Cloud flinched as he heard those words enter his mind once more. His constant headache never left him when he was alone in Aerith's church. He was sat on one of the dusty wooden benches that was closest to the small little patch of flowers that he knew Aerith used sit by and take care of daily, he missed her; he missed him.

His best friend was the bravest person he had known and Cloud had come to idolize him in almost every way that he could think of almost becoming him a few years ago. The tall black haired man that had so fearlessly protected him, risking his life to make sure that Cloud would be safe, had meant the world to Cloud.

'So what are you going to do once we get to Midgar?' Cloud hissed and put his hands on the sides of his head, covering his ears as he tried to block his voice out, tears stinging his eyes.

'We're friends, right?' The blonde bit down hard on his bottom lip as he removed his hands, knowing it was useless to block his voice out as it always managed to penetrate his mind either way. He looked up slowly as he felt a warm hand gently cup around his muscular arm and smiled weakly at the black haired woman before him, her beautiful brown eyes glistening with sympathy.

"I thought I would find you here," she whispered with a kind smile as she sat next to him on the bench.

"Tifa," Cloud stared at her blankly as she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, her lips still pulled up in a smile as she leaned on his side a bit.

"Denzel has been asking for you," Tifa stated and then swiftly stood up in front of him with her hands gently placed on her hips, "so stop dilly dallying around here and come with me," she chuckled but Cloud couldn't laugh back, he couldn't even find the strength to smile at her again and he stood up feeling disconnected from his body as he peered over his shoulder at the flower patch whilst he followed Tifa outside. His heart skipping a few beats as he saw Zack and Aerith twirling around in a repetitive circle on the flowers. They were laughing with one another and Cloud saw Zack's lips place a kiss on her forehead before spinning them around again as they danced silently. It wasn't the first time that Cloud had seen them dancing, in fact he had seen them dancing on that flower bed ever since they had died and Cloud always thought it was something his mind did to make him a lot more comfortable with the situation as when they were dancing…they were smiling like they used to do.

"What are you looking at?" Tifa's voice startled him and he quickly swiveled his head back to face her clearing his voice as he did so.

"Nothing," he mumbled as his eyes fell to the wooden floor of the church with a slight sadness washing over him again as Zack's face reappeared as a short moving image in his head.

"You worry me Cloud," Tifa whispered and rubbed her face with her hand, grabbing a hold of Cloud's wrist softly and tugging him so that he continued to follow her all the way back to her bar.

"Cloud!" the forever-hyperactive treasure seeker jumped down from one of the bar stools and bounded over to Cloud who just gave her an empty stare, "wow I can feel the depression waves from here!" she exclaimed and threw her arms up in the air before turning around and walking back to her stool.

"Denzel's upstairs," Tifa whispered to him and she made sure nobody was looking before she placed a friendly kiss on Cloud's cheek trying to cheer him up and it seemed to work as she saw a small smile appear on the blonde's lips.

"Thank you," he replied quietly as he walked passed her and climbed up the stairs quickly, taking two steps at a time.

"Cloud?" the brunette boy came wandering out of his bedroom rubbing his eyes with his small fists as if he had just woken up, which Cloud figured was the case as he saw that Denzel was still wrapped up in a small dark blue blanket.

Cloud had found that Denzel was one of the only people (apart from Tifa and his illusions of Zack and Aerith) to make him smile freely, Denzel just had such a comforting aura around him and Cloud could see himself buried in the boy's eyes.

"Hey, did you just wake up?" Cloud asked as he knelt down in front of him so that they were eye level.

"Yeah, I fell asleep after watching a film," Denzel giggled and shivered a little as a breeze came creeping into the small area where Tifa would count her takings that she had gotten at the end of each day, "did you go to see Zack again?" he asked and Cloud's heart jerked awkwardly at the name.

"Tifa said you were asking for me," Cloud chose to ignore what Denzel had asked and stood up straight as he followed the boy back into where he had been sleeping previously. The blonde's mako influenced eyes scanned over the small clutter of books and cushions that were placed on the floor right beside the long brown couch that was pushed up against the wooden wall of the office room where Denzel had obviously been sleeping.

"I just had a nightmare," Denzel muttered as he tightened the blanket around his small body, "they leave when you're around though," he smiled up at Cloud who smiled back, his hand reaching out and ruffling the boys thick brown hair.

"So you want me to stay here until you fall asleep?" Cloud asked as Denzel climbed up onto the sofa and buried his face against the cushion, his small hands gripping his blanket.

"Yes," Denzel nodded and stretched his hand out to Cloud wanting to have the older male hold it whilst he feel asleep and he automatically felt safer as Cloud gently curved his fingers around his.

"Sleep well Denzel," Cloud perched himself on the floor beside the already fast asleep child and allowed his back to rest upon the couch comfortably, his hand still grasping Denzel's and he couldn't help but wonder how the simple innocence of a child had managed to calm his emotions in a matter of seconds.

When he had been traveling with Zack, he had also felt as if he was at complete ease, the way the raven would pass a random joke or just simply greet Cloud with a smile was enough for Cloud to feel as if nothing bad would happen, that opinion changed on the day that Zack had died.

The rain had been pelting down heavily onto them as they spoke to each other for the last time, though Cloud knew what was going to happen, he couldn't help but notice the small smile on Zack's face as a mixture of his blood and rain trickled down his face, the tone of his voice also seemed oblivious as to what was happening.

'You told me to live, Zack, how do I do that?' Cloud huddled his knees closer to his chest as he stared at the wooden wall in front of him. 'After everything we went through…why did it have to end so suddenly?'

He had been such an inspiration to Cloud; he had wanted to be just like him so that he and Zack would be able to do missions together…anything so that they could have more time together. But now he found himself visiting the one place that brought back the memories in the first place religiously, he felt as if he was stuck in an ever lasting nightmare and he wouldn't ever wake up from it unless what was so horrifically taken from him, was given back to him. Cloud used the church to live on his hallucinations of the SOLDIER and his friend Aerith; he just wanted to see them…him one last time.

So...quiet why was his body tingling with such a sensation? He could hear bubbling…feel bubbles curving around his ears and against his skin but he couldn't move…why couldn't he move? Where was Zack?

Cloud hissed as he just about managed to open his eyes, not able to do much else and felt a course of panic strike through him. He was in a tank though he would actually use the words 'giant test tube' as a better way to describe his new prison, his heart hammered in his chest as he tried to force himself to move. Surely he could smash the glass by kicking it with his boots?

His eyes felt heavy as if he could fall back to sleep right there and then, his mind kept on blanking out pieces of information he was trying to receive, one question though, kept dancing in both his frantically beating heart and barely working mind.

Is Zack safe?

His heart gave a horrible lurch as he thought about the prospect that Hojo had done something horrible to him, Zack had told him about the many times that the professor had tried to examine him many times almost as if he was trying to find out the secrets of how SOLDIER's worked. Cloud could recall feeling angered by this, he didn't want anybody to hurt Zack…nobody to take him from him and of course he knew that it was a selfish thought seen as though Zack didn't belong to him, but Zack had been there like nobody else had before in his entire life.

Zack, Zack, Zack.

Cloud could barely see anything through the green vision he was seeing, everything was blurry but he could still make out the tall, black haired…almost dancing shape outside of his prison. The sound of somebody knocking penetrated his ears and muffled shouting followed.

"-oud!"

Oud?

"Cloud!"

Zack!

It was then that he felt the water rushing away from his body, his ears finally free from the deafening pressure of it and he collapsed against a steady wall of muscle.

"Cloud," his mind blanked out once more but he could still feel his heart racing, "thank Gaia you're alright," soft moist lips came down on his forehead, if he was able to, he knew he would have curled into Zack's body at that very moment.

"Well…more alright than you were in that thing anyway," a beautiful sound was breathed into his ears, his SOLDIER was laughing, he was happy…he was safe. Leather clad hands cupped his face and he was dragged onto Zack's lap, "comatose," that horrific word rang alarm bells in Cloud's mind.

Co-ma-tose? His mind was beginning to break up and he could literally feel his heart punching at his chest in fright, he didn't want to blank out, he wanted to at least know what was going on.

"I'll get us out of here Cloud, I promise I wont let them get you, I swear," those precious lips returned to him, but this time to his own lifeless lips igniting a small fire in the pit of Cloud's stomach.

Zack! Zack, please help me, please, I don't want…want…want what?

That was his last memory before he completely lost the ability to keep his focus due to his vast amount of mako poisoning, the feeling of that human's lips against his, the fire in his belly, the frantic panic of losing himself in his own mind.

Swallowing deeply, Cloud slowly let go of Denzel's hand and tip-toed out of the room so he wouldn't wake him, intending to make his way back to Aerith's church if it hadn't been, however, for Tifa walking up the stairs at the same time he was leaving and he sighed to himself.

"He's asleep?" Tifa titled her head with a pleasant smile across her beautiful face and Cloud nodded silently as usual, saddening Tifa inside, "good because I think you could do with some proper sleep as well, you never sleep now," she whispered the last part as memories of Cloud's heartbroken screams flashed through her mind. She had been woken up on more than several occasions to the sound of Cloud screaming in his sleep in utter terror as he suffered in his nightmares. At first hearing him screaming, she had immediately told herself that Cloud was being attacked and she'd leapt from her bed prepared to save him but what she had been faced with was possibly worse than finding an intruder in Cloud's room. The blonde had been violently thrashing from side to side in his bed as if he was possessed by a demon, sweat covering his face and his hands fisting the mattress covers as he arched his back, calling out the only name Tifa had heard him whisper since he had returned to her.

"I don't want to sleep," Cloud muttered, "I'm not even tired," he added with a somewhat forceful tone and turned his head away from Tifa as he saw the disappointment flood her chocolate brown eyes.

"Fine, just…remember that it's been two years," Tifa sighed and walked passed him so she could enter her bedroom.

I know. I just don't want to forget.

Okay, this is the first chapter for all of you guys! Yeah, it's a little depressing, but I promise you that this fanfiction gets better! It does have its happy points a bit later on. But I really wanted to focus on how much Cloud thinks about Zack and how he felt about his best friend/hero/lover. I really hope you guys like this because I worked really hard on it and I hope you'll be able to be kind enough to leave a comment?