Author's Notes: This is my first fanfic...ever. I'd adore it if you could leave me a comment at the end of it all, to help me improve, but the main thing is if you read. I want to share my ideas with everyone. This is a Cloud and Zack fanfiction, yes, but I promise from the deepest depths of my heart, there is no shonnen-ai or yaoi, so don't be too afraid to read. The title will also be explained in later chapters, so no worries there, ok?

I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters and places associated with it and its spin-offs.

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Breaking

A body shivered, a clump underneath covers which were far too thick for summer. Even the sun was beaming in through the window onto the body, but it still shivered. It was unnatural, any normal person would be most definitely sweating at the heat, and bordering on getting heatstroke. What was the cause of this phenomenon?

Withdrawal.

It was nothing less than that, and nothing more. Blond and matted hair identified the boy who was the victim to it. Despite the heat being unreasonable and the uncomfortable mats in his hair, the boy looked like he had absolutely no intention to arise from the pile of covers.

Only when the boy heard voices just outside of his room, he perked up just a tad bit. He attempted to raise his head just a little bit off his pillow, and eventually to sit up on his bed so his ears wouldn't be muffed. However, his shaking muscles wouldn't allow him, he was too far gone from the drugs right now. Still lying in bed, grunting at the fact that he couldn't get up, the boy tried to place just who's voices he was hearing; still shaking uncontrollably.

"Weeeell....not sure what tah........bean through rehab.....doesn't wan...you can'ts force 'im."

A long pause, though not long enough for the voice to be placed to a person, even with that unreasonable accent. It was frustrating that the blond's brain was in such a lag.

"I....keep Cloud.....here though?......"

It sounded almost pleading, and half frustrated. This time, a little more concentration was used, the most concentration he had. It still took a good 5 minutes to place the voice, and the words didn't all register, since the blond wasn't able to concentrate on hearing all of them. After those long, dreadful, and exhausting 5 minutes though, Cloud made out that the other person was Tifa at least. The other person sounded familiar, but a name and face couldn't be found in the presence of the current brain vacancy.

Tifa, she was the one who brought him to rehab 8 months ago too. He was in there for 6 months, though sadly, he went back to his old ways one month after he had gotten out. Not even Cloud knew exactly why he was doing drugs and abusing alcohol, but anything to avoid facing reality, it seemed he would do. To the contrary of not knowing the fact though, everyone who was considerably close to Cloud did have their own opinion on the matter.

Barret said it was because he turned into a little sissy bitch after killing three of his brothers. Cid said "the lil fella jus being god darn stupid 'gain". Vincent said it was probably a change from Jenova cells. Nanaki...well Nanaki didn't really care. Cait Sith started thinking that Cloud went insane, and wound up questioning everybody if other ex-SOLDIERS were sane. Yuffie said it was just another "phase" like teenagers get. And Tifa, she was just worried, she didn't care; she'd support him to get through this without an opinion.

While thinking about the words and people outside of his room, Cloud started panting, gasping even, due to it being too much for his brain to handle right now. And, it was nearly unconditional, as tears began to stream his face from it. His mind and body felt like it was ripping apart whenever his thoughts would begin, and it was now considered useless to do anything but to give up trying to hide this weakness, in Cloud's eyes. But, thankfully, the voices were leaving anyways, so he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing him like this, at this exact moment; a weak and needing wreck.

Attempting to drift back to sleep to ignore the pain, the whirling of his brain, an the shaking, Cloud tried his best to ignore what was happening. But, with the sudden ignoring of the pain, the leaving voices, and the tears, more thoughts started to come.

Slow mumbles arose from the blob underneath the covers: "Zack...what happened? I was too weak...I'm too weak now..."

Then, a large, demanding grumble arose; Cloud moaned in distress as he realized he was hungry. He needed some breakfast, even if the digital clock beside him flashed 1:03pm. There was no way sleep was going to happen on an empty stomach.

Slithering out of bed, the blond-haired man walked to the dresser. It wasn't too far, just a mere 5 feet from the bed, almost close enough to grab on for support when a body would fall from the bed, nearly limp. With more effort than his twitching body would allow him, Cloud pulled on some more clothes than just the boxers he was currently wearing, and looked straight in the mirror that was in front of him. It was on top of the dresser, and was in too much of a convenient place.

The massacre; the long, untamed massacre of bed hair. Those eyes, bloodshot, with big black bags underneath them. The frown, which never seemed to leave this man's face. It all stared back at the blond. If he didn't know it was a mirror, he wouldn't recognize himself, and he hated the fact he looked so pathetic.

A simple, painful sigh came out of the boy's mouth, and he attempted to walk out of the room and to the kitchen. There was stumbling just to reach the door, and the boy had to rest by the time he got to the frame of it. Once he was slightly recovered from the short walk to the door, he then attempted the longer walk to the kitchen. It was more like a trip, "ughhhuh", hit the wall, go a few feet, and repeat process, but it was walking nonetheless. Tifa would usually come to his side by now, helping the wreck into the kitchen, giving him something to eat and drink, and he wondered why she hadn't shown up yet.

Was something wrong? Did she leave him? It seemed not even Marlene was here...was Cloud really alone? The thought of it scared him, he didn't want to be alone, he wanted someone to be there. Even if they'd just ignore him, he wouldn't mind just seeing someone.

"Tifa?" It sounded like a croak.

"....Tifa?" The voice crackled.

".......TIFA?!" Eyes shut in pain as Cloud raised his voice. It wasn't yelling at all, but to Cloud, it took as much effort as it would take a normal person to scream for 2 minutes straight, with no gasping for air in between. But, Tifa didn't reply, it seemed she wasn't there.

How on Earth would he get breakfast if she wasn't there to cook? It's not like he could cook. Yeah, sure, he could cook Kraft Dinner or something to the extent, when he wasn't going through withdrawal. Though, he really wasn't up for that for breakfast, and he figured he would probably screw up with his shaking body and whirling mind the way they were. There wasn't anything he could just nab and eat in the fridge either, when he checked it as he stumbled into the kitchen. Leaning against the counter which was beside the fridge, the matted-haired man just shook uncontrollably, and his mind went blank since he didn't know what to do.

*Flomp*

A body hit the floor that instant, a fair amount of utensils came down with it too. Cloud's hand was on the handle of the utensil drawer in the kitchen, and it just happened to be Cloud's body which landed on the kitchen floor.

Pain rushed through the blond once again, this time more intense than usually, to the extent where not only was he shaking, crying, and gasping uncontrollably, but his pupils were dilated and he started to taste blood in his mouth. He screamed, and it was gargled due to the blood. The pain felt like it was pins and needles, swords stabbing through him but taking their time, being poked in the eyes constantly, and getting whipped all at the same time, to the most destructive extent. Cloud gagged continuously, and eventually got the idea to spat the blood onto the floor; the pain didn't stop with the loss of blood, it continued.

Suddenly a door could be heard opened and then immediately slammed. Rushed steps came into the kitchen, and Tifa was suddenly embracing the victim of this new terror. Cloud's head was right beneath her chin and its constant shaking and movement to cough up blood was causing her to feel choked at times when he hit her neck too hard. Such events however caused for even more coughing in the already death-sounding kitchen. In between the chokes, Tifa stroked Cloud's hair and hummed a soothing, and lullaby-like melody. She was obviously trying to calm the poor boy down, but it was to no avail.

Cloud's arms started to glow. It was nearly the same as when a materia would glow when used, though a bit brighter. Panic and fear lathered the room, coming from Tifa; Cloud didn't have materia.

"Cloud? Mmm, Cloud?! Cloud?! CLOUD!!" Tifa screamed at the blond, like it was going to stop whatever was happening.

Then, the room turned dark, and suddenly, there was no room. All that remained were the people who lived in the same building as Tifa, Marlene, and Cloud. There were 56 apartments in the massive building, and even more people who lived there. Every single one of them looked shocked to be there, and some were in awe as green light and stars started to surrounded them. An instant later, fire came from above, nearly at the state where it would incinerate everything it came into contact with.

Tifa observed in panic and fear, but not letting go of Cloud at any moment, who was still in his own world of pain, gasping, shaking, and coughing. Flare and ultima were being casted simultaneously, and they were both deadly spells to begin with, let alone together! Screams and yelps from all the people around them being annihilated made Tifa shiver in fear, a cold chill going up her spine. She wondered when the spell would hit her and Cloud, and was half-content that Marlene was staying at a friend's house currently.

However, once everyone else turned to spirit energy, all that happened was that spririt energy bundling and spewing off in four seperate directions before the kitchen appeared once again and Cloud was calm. Calm, silent, not even shaking. Not even a single eye open or a blink; a simple movement of muscles wasn't even present.

Seeing Cloud, Tifa panicked. She got up and mashed around the kitchen until she found the phone. Once she did, she picking it up and dialed the emergency phone-line, sending an ambulance immediately and the policy to investigate the events that had just happened.

"Just keep calm Ma'am, help is on it's way...Just keep calm..."