Chapter 2

"I came back as soon as I could."

Tifa nodded and helped slide off Cloud's heavy coat as he hopped off his motorcycle. It was almost dinner time when the low rumble of Fenrir's engines could be heard outside the bar. He glanced sideways at the dark-haired bartender and put a reassuring hand on her delicate, bare shoulders. She returned a small smile to him, but her brows furrowed with stress.

The blonde mercenary thudded up the five steps that led up to the bar with Tifa walking slowly behind him. Marlene and Denzel waved a silent greeting to him as he entered. They were sitting neatly around one of the many wooden tables in the room, eating their supper. Tifa breathed in and wiped her hands on her black apron. Cloud noted this gesture as a response to nervousness. He again placed a firm hand on her shoulders, then nodded and turned his attention to the stairs that led up to the second floor. After what seemed like forever, he slowly started his way up quietly. Cloud felt an uneasy atmosphere surround him and his heart pounded away at his chest. Absentmindedly his fingers crept behind him, feeling for the thick, roped handle of his buster sword, Zack's buster sword.

He stopped halfway up the stairs when a cold hand reached for his. Looking down at Tifa, he could see the concern in her wild, ruby eyes. She was holding him from the sword. Cloud let go of the handle, extended his gloved hand to Tifa's and continued up.

...

The black haired man was lying stiffly, still unconscious, on the guestroom bed, his face slightly angled to the side. His breath came out rapidly in short, frail wisps of air. And every now and then, a painful grunt would escape his pale lips.

"Poor guy.." Tifa mumbled, feeling a rising fever on his temples.

Tifa had slid a pillow just above his lower back, making sure the deep cut in between his shoulders was elevated. She had bandaged his mass of cuts, and somehow, although she didn't know how, stopped the bleeding from the wound on the side of his neck.

Tifa had removed his shirt to get a better look at his stomach's stab wound. As she did, she could see his rib cage sitting prominently on his chest in between his irregular breathing. In other words, he was skinny as hell; and she wondered if he ever had a proper meal to begin with. Turning her attention back to the wound, she noticed that it had begun to show signs of infection. But even though Tifa had applied nearly all of the half-melted infection lotion from her makeshift first aid kit to his injury, he didn't flinch. He was completely out, completely unconscious, numb to anything that touched him. After all the bloody chaos of clothes and bandages, Tifa wiped off the remaining dry blood still on his arms and face and slipped one of Cloud's old t-shirts on his thin body.

...

There he was.

Cloud's heart beat a violent rhythm.

The moon was shining brightly through the window and illuminated the man's face with it's haunting blue-white glow. The street lamp outside hummed monotonously, acting as the only source of sound in the entire bar.

Zack. Cloud's best friend, dead? Or not?

The two studied the sleeping man intensely.

With messy, but shorter black, raven hair and beautifully carved features, he was handsome and without a doubt, an exact replica of Zack Fair. His shoulders were broad, like Zack's; but instead of bulging muscles, two thin, yet built arms joined his frame. And unlike the Zack that Cloud had imprinted into his mind, the man lying before him had a slightly rounder face; less angular or sharp, and more child-like, giving him a young, youthful presence. Yet, despite these differences and the minor cuts on his forehead and cheeks, he truly looked like a copy of Zack, if not Zack himself. He could even pass for a clone. But when he opened his eyes, it did not hold the colour of mako that both Cloud and Tifa had expected, but a hard, dark grey-blue.

Suddenly he bolted up.

"Where's she?!" he hollered out. He had a smooth, flowy voice that would have captivated anyone's attention. Yet, his voice leaked out genuine distress, agitation, and confusion. "Where's she? She was with me the whole time!"

The pain from his wounds caught up to him and he fell backwards into the mountain of pillows behind him, paralyzed with the agony of his injuries. His eyes darted around the room, panicked, but at the same time, relieved. He focused intently on the two staring at him and gripped the bed sheets nervously until his knuckles turned white.

"Zack?" Cloud questioned uncertainly. "Is that you?"

The stranger was struggling to sit up, his eyebrows arched as he pulled himself upright.

"Is it really you, Zack?" Tifa repeated Cloud's question.

Trying to speak, the familiar man touched his neck, feeling the long gauze that had been carefully placed at the side of his throat. When his fingers momentarily brushed on top of the bandage, he winced.

"You know... my brother?" he croaked.

"Zack had a brother?" Tifa trilled, mildly shocked.

Cloud frowned and walked over to the bed, pulled up a chair and sat next to their visitor. Without warning, he clutched his fingers into a fist, and jammed a powerful blow at the man lying in bed. He reached up and grasped the bottom of the boy's chin, just above the cut on his neck.

"I don't like to be fooled, Zack." Cloud responded repulsively, disappointed that the look-a-like was not his former friend.

Tifa pulled the blonde's hand away and firmly griped his shoulder. Whether it was Zack, his brother, a clone, or a complete hoax, this man had been seriously injured and she didn't want to see him bleed again, not to mention, waste her efforts of cleaning and bandaging him up. She fixated deeply into Cloud's eyes, etching each thought into his mind, forcing him to understand.

The dark-haired man rubbed at his neck, trying to breathe after Cloud's aggressive move.

Cloud turned away and left the room abruptly, shooting a dangerous glare at the stranger on his way out.

"Don't mind him," Tifa awkwardly started, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher next to the bed.

"My name's Tifa. What's your name?"

He coughed violently before whispering an answer.

"Rion."

"Zack never mentioned he had a brother," Tifa continued.

"He's doesn't know."

...

Author's note:

First of all, thanks so much for everyone's views on my first chapter! This is my first attempt at fanfiction, and it gave me a lot of encouragement to see the amount of views less than an hour after my publication. As always, reviews/comments/criticisms are welcomed and deeply appreciated!

Extra side note:

I intended the name, "Rion" to be read as "Ree-on". But everyone has their own interpretations on how to pronounce it, so Rion is opened to whatever you want to call him!