Ch. 1: Cloud's P.O.V.
"Get off me!" I yell. Jay, or as I like to call him the guy who made my life living hell, just smirked and kept punching me. "Now why would I want to do that Strife?" he said in taunting voice. Oh Gaia, how I hate that voice. Right now he had me pinned to the ground and was using me as a punching bag. That is until he started choking me. I was so concerned on getting him off of me that I didn't see his hands starting to go for my throat. So I never even had time to catch my breath. Hell, I was exhaling when he started choking me, so that left me with no air at all. Luckily, I grew up in the country so you know a few tricks to get a person off you. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could access my hands because his knees were on them, with his feet on my thighs so I couldn't move my legs.
Why me? Why couldn't he just leave me alone like everyone else. What was so special about me that he just had to torture me. As these thoughts were circling around like a tornado in my head, I was just about to give up on all hopes of getting away when I saw the smallest opening. He had just moved his leg the slightest bit. That's when I felt it. I could access my legs! Apparently he noticed too because he had started to correct his mistake, but he was a second too late. I had already started moving my leg and I kneed him in stomach.
"Ah!" he screamed. I could see the tears starting to pool in his eyes, but after what this man had did to me I had no room left for even the tiniest shred of sympathy for him. So I did next what any normal person would do I ran. And not at normal speed. Vampyres don't go like super slow like humans. Take like the fifth fastest human in the world and times that by like 1.5., that's like the average speed of a vampyre. Not even to mention the fastest vampyre, but because I was so focused on getting to my room I didn't notice the raven haired soldier watching me. Nor did I notice when he started to follow me. Well, I should say tried to follow me. Even with all the mako in their systems they still aren't fast enough to catch up to a vampyre. "Hey!" I heard him call out. 'Shit!' I thought. Did he see me running? Oh, I prayed to Gaia he didn't.
I slowed down, but kept my face turned away so he wouldn't be able to recognize me later. "Hey, you were running pretty fast back there," he said. I tensed. He was closer than I thought he would be. He must have noticed because his tone was softer the next time, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm Zack." "Cloud," I said after I knew that he would not be a threat. Slowly, I turned my head so that I could see his face, but he still couldn't see mine.
Zack had black hair that spiked up a lot in the back. He was pretty well built for a soldier, but the thing that caught my attention was his eyes. They were purple and slightly glowing in the moonlight. "Well Cloud, you seemed pretty scared back there. Did you see something that-" he stopped when I turned my face toward him so that he could finally see my face. I heard him gasp. Which I hoped meant that I didn't have to explain what happened to me. The last thing I wanted was to seem weak. "What happened?" he whispered. I knew that I must look pretty bad considering the fact that I had bruises all over my body, small cuts on my face, not to mention the big gashing wound on my side just below my ribcage. And there I was just standing there in my blood soaked clothes, looking like I just got back from a war.
"I'd rather not explain, but... I'm sure you can piece it together if you think really hard," I said in a low tone. "Well then let me ask a different question. 'Who' did this?" he said still whispering. "I... didn't see his face," I lied. The last thing I wanted was to give Jay a reason to hurt me even more. "Well do you know why anyone might want to do this to you?" he said murmured.
"I don't know. It might be because I beat him in training today. Or maybe the fact that he just doesn't like me," I said just wishing he would stop talking about it. "Well, can... can you please... tell me the next time it happens?" his sadness evident in his voice. "I.. sure," I replied. He gave a small smile at this. "Thanks. Um, do you need to go to the infirmary. Or you could just come to my apartment to get cleaned up. You don't have any broken bones do you?" He started rushing. I laughed at this, but then I remembered. If I go to the infirmary they'll most likely discover the my secret. But if I don't do anything Zack will surely get suspicious. Well, Zack didn't look like a very doctor type of person. Maybe if I take him up on his offer he won't get suspicious.
"Um, can I just go with you possibly?" I said so quietly it almost shocked me that he could hear. "Sure! This way." he practically cheered. When he said this his whole face practically lit up into a huge smile.
He led the way back to the elevator that I had run by in my haste. Once inside he pressed the 69th floor button. Wow he must be pretty high up in the ranks I thought. Then it dawned on me. The glowing mako eyes, the uniform, the floor number. He was Zack the 1st class soldier, second in command to Sephiroth, but I didn't have much time to react though because soon we were off the elevator and in front of a door. While he was unlocking the door that's when the smell finally hit me. I must have noticed the smell of his blood because it was masked by the overwhelming scent of mine.
I could feel my throat closing up as well as my self-control that was slipping by at an alarming rate. Now don't get me wrong I have good self-control, but when you have to starve your self for a year I wouldn't be the only one complaining. Not to mention I was 'losing' blood right now.
Anyways I know how to handle things like this. I started to just focus on the smell of something else anything else. Finally, no matter how nauseating, I started to drown out the smell of Zack's blood and focused on mine. "Here we are Spiky," he said. Spiky? Guess it was a nickname for me. He opened the door to reveal a decently sized apartment with a living room connected to the kitchen. And to the left of that I could see what I'm guessing to be a bedroom. The rest was hidden down the hallway though.
"Here, um... why don't you go sit on the couch in the living room and I'll be back with the first aid kit," he started rushing out again. I only nod and go to the living room to sit on the couch as told. A few minutes later he comes back holding a small black box a little smaller than a briefcase. "Thank you," I say. "For what?" he asks. At this point he had started to get a wet cloth and dab at my wounds.
"For caring enough to help me," I say. "Why? Does no one else care about you?" he said in a kind of a joking voice, but slightly serious. "No one at home had a shred of sympathy for me except my family," I say without thinking. I laugh bitterly. I don't know what it is about him, but maybe it might be the comfortable atmosphere he gives off. Either way I need to stop giving out too much information unless I want to blow my cover.
This wipes the smile right off of Zack's face. "Well," he swallows, "your not there anymore and you have another person to add to that caring list." "Th-thanks," I stutter. I swear I can almost see tears swelling in his eyes. This is confirmed when I see one silver tear break free of their prison in his eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" I say in a worried voice.
"Yeah," he says. I see him try to smile, but it crumples just as fast as he placed it there. "Well.. no not really. It's just so sad to think that you had no one to rely on as soon as you would take a step into the real world, but someone is better than no one right?" he said obviously trying to cheer himself up as more tears fell. "Hey come here," I said. I put one arm around his torso while the other was around his neck running my fingers through his raven hair. Soon after I do this he wraps his arms around me and starts to finally let all the tears fall. "Shh,shh. It's okay," I cooed repeatedly trying to calm him. My back was starting to cramp up so I lie us down. Soon he falls asleep and I can hear his even breathing. I start to worry about class, but then I remember that it's Friday. After realizing this I relax and fall asleep to the sound of his breathing.
AN: I know it's short, but I just wanted to get the story started. But yeah from now on they'll probably only be just weekly updates. Review please! XD