Characters: Yazoo, and Cloud
Rating: Teen
Summary: Cloud and Yazoo are trapped together.
Setting: After the AC is said and done
For KorNaXon Dinghy contest.
Disclaimer I do not own FF7 or the characters, nor do I make any profit or money from this other than my own amusement.
Cloud could feel the slitted green eyes staring at him from the corner of the hole that he had claimed as his own. He kept his eyes closed and he did not want to give the remnant the pleasure of knowing that the glare was bothering him.
They had been in the same spot for three hours now and it was getting darker. They couldn't see the sky from their location, but the light still filtered through enough so that they could see the forms of each other across the cavern. It was obvious that the sun was setting.
"You said they were coming," a deep voice rose out of the corner of the dim area.
Cloud opened his eyes and returned the glare. "They are." He looked to his phone and wished he had charged it the night before. He was never good with taking care of his phone. The text message that he got back was Tifa saying that they were on their way.
He hoped he gave them enough information to find them here.
"Your leg is still bleeding," Yazoo grumbled.
"It's not that bad." Cloud quickly said as he looked at his leg again. He had blocked out the pain of his broken leg. He could tell it was a bad break, and if he moved, it would send searing pain throughout his body. It was wne of the reasons why he couldn't move from the position he was in. The other reason was the bite marks that were on his shoulder from the now dead behemoth that threw them into the pit and caused the building to collapse on them.
Yazoo made a non-committal annoying grunt that Cloud decided to ignore.
Cloud knew that he was hurt, too, but he hadn't said what was hurt. He had seen Yazoo fall and thought he heard the sound of something breaking, but Cloud couldn't figure out if it was a bone or just part of the debris that they had fallen on. He had his own injuries to worry about and hadn't asked him how badly he was hurt.
The little light that surrounded them was disappearing and the hole in the ground that they were in was now as dark as a grave.
That wasn't completely true; there was some light. There were two slits of green and white light glowing from the spot where Yazoo was.
"Do you have water?" Cloud asked as he looked over to where the lights slowly blinked in and out of existence.
"No," Yazoo said lowly.
"Neither do I," Cloud whispered more to himself than to the remnant in the corner.
The silence weighed heavily on both of them. Cloud felt a level of uneasiness that he hadn't felt in a while. He shifted his weight to try to alleviate the discomfort that was settling in, only to cause pain to rip through his leg and up through to his shoulder. He was able to suppress the scream that was threatening to rise.
"You are lying about your pain."
Cloud ignored the slow blinking green eyes and focused on his breathing. There was no point in getting worked up; it would just make things worse. He closed his eyes and worked on controlling the pain. Listening to his own heartbeat and breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth helped.
It was a method of controlling pain that he had learned from Zack. He used it more than he liked to remember.
"Why are you lying?" Yazoo's voice jolted him out of his practiced breathing and caused him to glare over to where the green eyes were staring intently at him.
"Shut up," he snapped back and closed his eyes again, and tried to regain his center. He knew his friends were coming and they would be coming soon.
"No," Yazoo said into the darkness, "that is not an acceptable answer."
Cloud kept his eyes closed and tried his hardest to ignore the remnant. He did not want anything to do with his brothers and had no idea why they had even showed up at the old mako reactor site to begin with. The monsters were stirred up and he was hired to take care of it. Everything was going well until the behemoth arrived.
"It's what you're going to get," he hissed back as he tried to control the pain that was now throbbing in his shoulder. It was harder to breathe than it was a couple hours ago. He was certain that he must have broken a couple of ribs or at least bruised them. He needed to find his center again and Yazoo's yapping was not helping.
The darkness was filled with silence again and Cloud felt great relief. It took him another five minutes to calm his nerves down enough to be able to manage the pain in his body. When he was finally able to open his eyes again he was startled when to find the green ones were hovering right in front of him.
He jumped with the closeness of the eyes, which caused him to hiss in pain. "Your shoulder is torn open," the deep voice stated the obvious.
"Go back to your corner," Cloud hissed and reached up to the wound.
The eyes shone whiter for a moment, as if he were rolling them. "I haven't been ordered to go back to my corner in years, and I'm not going to have you, brother, tell me what to do."
Cloud furrowed his brow and frowned as he blinked his eyes, trying to focus his eyes so he could see the damn remnant in front of him. "They will be here soon."
"I'm sure," Yazoo said in a tone that told him that he wasn't believed. "Sit still."
Cloud was ready to strike out but he found that he couldn't lift his hand, never mind the sword that was lying on the ground beside him. He really wanted to crawl into a warm bed away from this and wished he had packed a Cure.
A soft green glow appeared in between the two men. Cloud had to blink to figure out what was occurring. There was a glowing green ball in the mercury-haired man that was filling the dark cavern with its soft light. Yazoo held up a hand, his eyes were closed as the soft touch of healing mana touched Cloud's skin, causing him to gasp.
The flow of magic knitted together his shoulder and he could feel the pain lessen in his leg, but not completely go away. A break would need stronger magic than a simple Cure.
"You had a Cure," Cloud blurted when he was able to catch his breath.
"I'm not a fool," Yazoo said. "I was traveling on my own and can't count on my brothers. I usually have the Cure anyway." The glow of the magic faded and the only light was the remnant's eyes again. "Better?"
Cloud nodded and then realized that it was too dark for Yazoo to see him. "Yes, thank you."
"You really should be smarter and carry a Cure yourself."
"I don't need it."
"This situation says otherwise," Yazoo mocked.
He closed his eyes and reassessed his injuries; they were lessened and it was easier to find his center. He sighed with relif and allowed himself to relax slightly. When he reopened his eyes, the green ones were still in front of him.
"Back off," he snapped and lashed out with his good arm. He connected with what felt like his chest but the eyes hardly moved.
Yazoo made one of those annoying sounds that could mean anything. "I think I will stay here, brother."
"Quit calling me that!" Cloud snapped. The word 'brother' made him want to grimace. He did not have a choice over the ... stuff that was done to him in the labs. There was much about what happened that he didn't want to remember. He knew that it changed him, but it did not make him the remnants' sibling.
"Then what shall I call you, brother?" Yazoo said, the green eyes tilting to the side. A hand wrapped around his and he was startled by how cold the touch was.
"Cloud," he quickly said. "My name is Cloud and I'm not your brother."
"But we were made out of the same material," Yazoo said and gripped his hand tighter.
"It didn't change who I am." Cloud was able to pull his hand back. Yazoo fell back and was now sitting at a more comfortable distance. Cloud heard the sounds of leather creaking. His eyes were nothing but glowing slits now as he made a sound that could be interpreted as contemplation.
Cloud stared at Yazoo's eyes and sat for a while wondering what the pesky remnant was going to do next. He went through the breathing exercises to control the pain that was starting to rise again.
"But then what am I?" Yazoo whispered into the dark.
"Yazoo," Cloud said. "You're Yazoo."
He had avoided the remnants since their surprising return. They had been somewhat difficult to manage, but Vincent was supervising them and training them. Cloud had no idea where they were staying as he wanted nothing to do with them. Reeve and Vincent had decided that they deserved a second chance. He hadn't been ready for that or them to be in his life in any way shape or form.
Kadaj was the only one that dared approach him. He had threatened to kill him on sight. The boy didn't even draw his sword as Cloud held his large blade to his small neck. He had left Kadaj with a scar and Cloud found himself at the church shortly after, leaning against Zack's sword and thinking of the two people that the wished he could talk directly to.
"Yes. Yazoo. A mixture of ancient DNA and tweaking a few other traits that they thought would improve the original design." The remnant's voice sounded stiff and rehearsed. It sounded like something that Hojo would have said. "Has the same infatuation with hair and grooming but is not building up the same muscle mass that is needed."
"Why are you talking?" Cloud responded. "I don't want to hear about your medical history."
The green eyes blinked widely and looked to the ground. "You had to endure it, too!"
"I don't relive it anymore!" Cloud snapped back. He still had bad dreams, but he no longer got flashes of the past while he was awake.
The light of the remnant's eyes faded again and there was silence. Cloud breathed easier and began to relax into the silence. He listened for signs that someone was coming. He knew that his strange family would all get mad at him for not charging his phone; Tifa would put her hands on her hips and lecture him, Marlene would show him how to use the charger, and Denzel would ask him if he was okay.
Cloud smiled at the familiar thought of those who waited for him at home, even with the trouble that he was going to be in. He would have to walk on egg shells for a week and explain where he was going, even if it was out to the garage where his bike was kept.
"How?"
The silence was broken again and the tone of Yazoo's voice was different this time. He was still sitting in front of him as Cloud could feel his presence still there even though his eyes were closed.
"How what?" he asked.
Cloud noticed that Yazoo was breathing hard and his voice grew even more strained.
"Did you stop living it?"
If Cloud had been able to see Yazoo, he would have seen the young remnant holding his chest with one hand, his head bowed and looking like he was in pain. He was in pain; physically and mentally.
His shoulder was in pain from the fall and he was sure it was dislocated. There was no blood, but it still hurt and his hand felt cold. The Cure he had cast onto himself had not done much to stop his pain. Cloud had friends to count on, and he couldn't count on his brothers.
All they did lately was fight.
They no longer had a purpose so they fought amongst themselves, with Vincent and whoever else decided they needed to butt in on their lives. He wanted to be left alone and he wanted to forget, but the shadows were always with him.
Yazoo didn't allow himself to cry or show any other emotions because that would be showing weakness, yet he wanted to all the time. It was always beneath the surface and the only time he was allowed to show any emotion was when he was battling.
Then, he could let it all show when he killed or hurt something, only to have to push it back down again.
"Time," Cloud softly said, breaking Yazoo out of his self-reflection.
"That sucks," Yazoo complained and lay down on the ground in front of Cloud. He was exhausted and he was pretty sure that there was no way he could make it over to the safe corner away from his br ... not brother.
Plus, if Cloud was going to kill him, he would have done it when that behemoth came roaring down on him instead of throwing himself in front of it.
"It does," Cloud responded back. Yazoo could see the blue eyes looking at him as he nestled down on the floor in front of him. He blinked slowly at the dimly glowing mako blue eyes. "But there is always time."
He didn't want to talk anymore so he made a sound that he usually made when he was done talking and discussing this whole strange situation. He didn't understand a lot of things. He only knew how to fight. Everything else was fumbling through and learning that he didn't have to obey the people around him. If he said no, he was not going to get punished or denied a meal.
He had come to the ruins to burn off energy and ended up stirring up one hell of a monster. He had barely taken out one of the behemoths when Cloud appeared fighting another one that was chewing on his shoulder.
"I could have handled that behemoth," Cloud whispered as if reading his thoughts.
Yazoo snorted. "It would have bit you in two."
"Maybe," Cloud's voice was thick with sleep and exhaustion. It was finally showing in his voice. "The one that knocked you down would have eaten you as an appetizer."
"I could have handled it."
Cloud let out a tired chuckle. Yazoo felt a hand on his shoulder that wasn't damaged. He rubbed it gently and Yazoo nearly purred at the touch. It was gentle and kind, and not at all unappealing. Not even his brothers' touches made him feel that way. It was the feeling of being ... safe.
"You are safe," Cloud answered again, reading his mind. "You're muttering. Sleep. They will be here soon and then we will be okay."
Pressing his lips together so he didn't talk, he leaned back into the hand and promptly relaxed more than he usually allowed himself. He leaned into the comforting touch Cloud was offering him.
When both men were startled awake by the sounds of shouting their names, Yazoo found himself with his head in the Cloud's lap with his hand slowly stroking his forehead and hair. Even when the lights started to flash and Loz's cries could be heard, he didn't pull away from the comforting position, and was glad when Cloud didn't either.