Rain. Rain poured from the dismal clouds, and the drops heavily struck the ground. One by one, they hit the ground with an incredible strength, the soil assorbing the water immediately.
Nevertheless, there was one thing other than the ground that the waterdrops were landing on: a body, a person's body.
This person was in a critical state. He was drenched completely in blood, laid on the ground, looking at the sky above him. His eyes, a pair of blue sky orbs, glowed in despair, waiting for a miracle to happen. He could not move, nor even talk. His heart beat started to reduce, and he could do nothing. Over a dozen of bullets had penetrated his body, making it also impossible to breathe. Fortunately, no bullet went through his heart, and a high dose of mako kept him alive and breathing. His chest weakly went up and down, showing that he still might have hope.
Why… why did I let this happen? There were three missing… three damn SOLDIERS left. If I just would've hung on longer… But then again… At least Cloud is safe. That's all that matters to me, thought the 23 year old man, staring in misery at the broken sky. He winced at the incredible pain he felt in each inch of his body.
Somewhere near, another man was sitting and was laid back against a rock, with his head hanging. His gaze was totally lost, it looked like if he were drunk, but he just found himself in a really bad case of mako poisoning.
Where…Whe..re.., he thought. A blurry image of someone slowly came into his mind, and he somehow knew this person was in need of aid.
Clumsily, he twisted his whole body to the right, and started baby-walking. Hand by hand, he moved with great effort and concentration. He sighted his objective: his best friend, laid on the ground, arms wide open and a sword in a puddle of blood beside him. When he finally reached him, he spoke his first word in four years.
"Za… Zaaa…ck…" What happened to him?
Zack groaned a little in response. He didn't want at all, by any costs, make Cloud worry about him. He made a giant effort lifting a smile and succeeded.
"For the… both of us."
The blond tried to understand him as he examined the whole situation in which he found himself.
This person… I know him from somewhere… Although… I can't quite remember where, or how I met him… The mako in his body still was travelling through his bloodstream at an extreme rate. There was no stopping it. His amnesia still hadn't faded away.
"Both… of us…", he uttered, solely repeating the words of his friend, trying vainly to speak correctly and remembering who this person was.
The rain increased. Raindrops fell on Zack's face, slowly cleaning the blood from his face gracefully, yet so sadly, for some strange reason.
"That's right," said Zack, with overwhelming effort. "You're gonna…" He ended there because he had to breathe an enormous quantity of oxygen in order to replenish his lungs a little so he could speak once more.
"You're gonna…" said Cloud, starting to understand what Zack was trying to tell him.
Zack reached out with his left hand towards Cloud's neck, grabbed hold of it, and pulled his whole head against his chest.
"Live," he whispered.