"Stayed up late and we talked all night, Didn't wanna go home to another fight. Through all the hards times in my life, Those nights kept me alive"
('Those Nights' by Skillet)
~~...o*0*o…~~
Safety - the state of being 'safe'; the condition of being protected from danger, risk or injury.
For Cloud, it was practically an alien concept. Even as a child, he had found himself living in a near-constant state of fear. But all that had changed when he joined Shinra and met Zack Fair.
He was tall, strong, cheerful and optimistic - in fact, he was everything Cloud wasn't. And yet somehow the two became friends, despite the fact that Cloud was just a Shinra infantryman and Zack was a 2nd Class SOLDIER.
Cloud remembered so many times he had ended up back at Zack's place, how often they had stayed up all night, sometimes talking, sometimes getting drunk (or rather, Cloud getting drunk and Zack attempting to drink so much even the Mako couldn't suppress it), and other times not even saying anything, just watching TV or listening to the radio, just enjoying each other's company.
They talked of good times and bad, shared stories from their past, and talked of plans for the future. Zack consoled Cloud when he didn't make it into SOLDIER, and Cloud was there for him when Angeal died and Sephiroth betrayed them all.
And now Cloud had regained his memories of his time as one of Hojo's test subjects, he remembered how once again Zack had saved him with positive words and a comforting embrace.
But now Cloud was alone. Sure he had Tifa, and Denzel and Marlene, but there were some things he would never be able to talk about with them. As he lay there alone in the dark following yet another nightmare, a crazy idea suddenly came to him.
"It was Sephiroth. You were there too, of course…" he found himself talking aloud in the empty space. As he continued, he bergan to sense a familiar presence, and the feeling of loneliness began to disappear. He could almost feel strong arms holding him, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he felt safe.
He didn't care if it was real or if he was just going insane - all he knew was that Zack was still keeping him alive.