A/N: That took a while to update right…

Anyhow second chapter up. Thank you very much to those you reviewed and added to their alerts and favourites. Is always appreciated.

Never Let Me Go

Chapter Two

The first thing that struck Cloud Strife was the stench in the air. The smell was so strong that Cloud felt like he couldn't breathe, that there was no oxygen in the air. He hadn't yet opened his eyes, but somehow knew he was no longer in the ruins of Midgar anymore. Had he died? Was he trapped in his own personal hell?

Slowly he opened his mako eyes and was met with a plain crumbling stone wall. He was lying on a cold stone floor which also stunk of cleaning chemicals. Cloud pushed himself upright, staring at the all too familiar walls. The heavy weight of his sword on his back was reassuring as he realised he truly stood in his own personal hell. He couldn't bring himself to turn around just yet, unable to accept he was stood in the house of horrors. There was a burn in his hand that Cloud had just noticed and he slowly remembered Yuffie's mysterious materia had merged into his palm.

A sudden crash of glass brought Cloud to his senses and he gently turned around. He stared at the shattered shards of glass that had travelled the distance of the room and landed at his feet before looking back to the glass' origin. There lay a black haired man, clad in a soldier uniform who was trying to rush to their feet.

Cloud felt his breath suddenly rush out of him as if someone had punched him with all their might in his stomach as he looked to his long lost friend. The last time he'd seen the soldier had been five years ago after his fight with Sephiroth, as he disappeared in an endless white with Aerith by his side. The burn in Cloud's hand seemed to break his thoughts as Zack stood and stared at Cloud.

Was this real? Cloud couldn't help but disagree with this, this wasn't real. Surely? A piece of materia couldn't really send someone back in time by seven years, right? It isn't possible!

A piece of materia did summon a giant meteor to crash into the planet, who thought that would have been possible…

Cloud clenched his hand at the thought. He slowly glanced back to the black haired man who's mako eyes were locked on him with his fists raised. Everything seemed to slow down as Cloud watched Zack's fist clench and unclench, the sway of the single strand of black hair that hung in front of Zack's face, the scar along his jaw line, Zack Fair was in front of him…but so was someone else.

Cloud looked to the unconscious being that was in the other mako tank, that if it wasn't for the beeps of machines that surrounded the tank, Cloud would have assumed they were dead. It took a moment for his mind to process who it was in the tank, but his mind seemed to refuse the idea that it wasn't him. Cloud could felt like he was arguing with himself, telling himself that the younger blond in the tank was indeed himself…

The lowering of Zack's fists brought Cloud's attention back to the black haired soldier who muttered something to himself before shaking his head and turning back to the younger Cloud.

He was here! Cloud was here! With Zack, the man who sacrificed his life…The thought made Cloud lurch out of his stance and run to Zack and grab the man's wrist. Cloud had to swiftly block the punch that would have hit him square on the nose and stared back into his friend's gleaming eyes. "Don't!" Was all Cloud could say.

Zack slowly lowered his arms and Cloud watched as the man's nose and forehead wrinkled up in confusion as he glanced between the younger Cloud and the man before him. "Are you a relation?" Zack's voice croaked from days of no use.

Cloud shook his head, trying to sort out what he was going to say. "This is hard to believe." Cloud paused, remembering they were against time and Zack needed to leave. "But that is me, I am Cloud." Zack gave out a low laugh and mumbled something about mako and messing with his head before returning to the glass tank in front of him.

Zack's wrist slipped out of his grip as Cloud watched his friend follow the exact same path he had done before. The same path that would lead to his untimely death… With a single glance to his younger self Cloud spun Zack round to face him once more. He had to take this chance. "You have to leave." Cloud demanded through gritted teeth. He watches as Zack laughs to himself once more and Cloud could feel his patience thin as well as knowing time was wasting and at this rate neither Zack nor his younger self would ever leave here…maybe not even himself! "Zack, I am not a some mako induced dream…I don't know how I'm here…but I know if you don't leave…" He paused once more, as Zack started to flick switches to try and break his younger self out. "If you don't leave, Aerith may die." He finished, hating himself saying those words but knowing he could be right.

What if Zack was with Aerith? Could he protect her?

He'd clearly struck a nerve and Zack's narrowed eyes turned on him, asking hundreds of questions in one glance. The glare was something Cloud couldn't ever remember on Zack's face. It was threatening and unreal all at the same time. The mako in his eyes seemed to burn brighter and for a second Cloud understood how sometimes Tifa could easily guess his emotions sometimes. "You have to leave me here, it's your only shot. You have to go straight to Midgar and find her. Understand?" Cloud took a single glance at his younger self, knowing he was sending him to a world of hell. He was sure if his younger self could even speak at this time he would have told Zack to go as well. "Zack!" Cloud called, time was of the essence!

Zack shook his head violently, his glare disappearing. "No!" He shouted, glancing to the cadet in the tank besides him and the weird apparition of the older Cloud in front of him. The desire to save and keep safe Cloud burned deep within Zack. How could he leave his friend here to deal with Hojo's poking and prodding alone? How could he even live with himself knowing he'd left a friend behind because of some vision? But Aerith? She could die? "I can't leave you…Cloud…here!" Zack paused, trying to form his words. He glanced around the room, how could he leave Cloud here? "I can make it!" He replied with determination.

"You can't." The older Cloud said, cutting his sentence dead. Cloud looked to his friend, seeing the burning desire to do good within his eyes. Cloud began again, "you won't if you do, neither will Aerith."

Zack felt his breath rush from him, his planned escape was starting to fail because he was spending his time talking to some figment of his imagination! "I'll be okay." The dream Cloud started talking again. "I know you'll come back for me, when you're safe and have more numbers." Zack glanced to his comatose friend and felt something firmly grip onto his wrist with such strength he wondered if he could break free. He was quickly being pulled along and his feet seemed to happily follow. That some part of his mind desperately wanted to leave, that everything else didn't matter and he just needed to go. But Cloud? He caught a final glance of that shock of blond hair and made a silent promise to himself that he'd find his friend once more.

The older/dream Cloud seemed to know where he was going, that he knew the exact places to look and swiftly found Zack's Buster sword that was hastily pushed into his hands. Was he dreaming? Was he still asleep in that tank? He felt the drips of mako running from his hair and onto his face and the firm grip of his sword in his hands felt comforting.

He was being pulled along once more like a puppy through a park, but suddenly the sound of footsteps woke him and he watched as a blur of blonde and black ran forwards and swiftly dealt with the few cadets that made routine check-ups on the labs. The dream started to seem a bit more real with each footstep, but he couldn't seem to build a logical explanation as he was continued to be pulled along. The older Cloud was ordering him to move, like a captain to a cadet and Zack followed, turning once more to see the entrance to where he and Cloud had been kept captive for however long it had been.

Zack planted his feet firmly causing the older Cloud to stumble once before turning around to look at him. "I can't leave him." Zack began, staring at the staircase in front of him. He couldn't leave his friend like this.

"It's too late now." The other Cloud stated and with a firm tug of strength of a Soldier that Zack couldn't remember ever belonging to Cloud, he was yanked forwards. It had to be a dream…Cloud never made it into Soldier. Maybe somehow through the mako, they were sharing a dream? The thought made him smile, that deep in Cloud's comatose state he was still dreaming.

Cloud ran forwards, remembering the ways through the horrific underground of the mansion as he made sure Zack followed him. The black haired man had seemed to turn off, like his mind was elsewhere and was following along like a robot. Cloud cast a nervous glance to his friend and saw the faintest hint of a smile on Zack's face that caused Cloud to tighten his grip on his friend's wrist.

Cloud was grateful when they were met with a rush of night cold Nibelheim air. But now was not the time to enjoy the surroundings and his eyes landed on the few motorbikes that were lined up near the side of the building. With one more tug he pulled Zack outside, also grateful that Zack's escape had been unnoticed. A smirk covered his lips, wondering if Hojo assumed he had everything under control and never assumed his prisoners would ever escape. Zack seemed to suddenly come back to life, like the night clean air had risen him from his thoughts and the man ran past him to the bikes as Cloud slowly glanced at his hand. The burning heat in his palm seemed to slowly disappear and he could feel his balance slowly go.

Zack obediently hopped onto one of the bikes and looked to Cloud expectantly. Cloud pulled his sword from his back and heaved it into the ground to hold his weight up. The world seemed to be spinning and his mouth felt dry, he heard Zack order him onto the bike and Cloud shook his head as he swallowed the sickness away.

"You go straight to Midgar." He began, his eyes focussing onto Zack's face. The Ex-soldier was shaking his head, as if it would make the dream Cloud, who seemed more real now, to get onto the bike. "You never leave Aerith." Cloud began, this time receiving a nod from his friend. "Don't let her go anywhere alone for a second!" Zack continued to nod, his mouth open slightly like he wanted to protest somewhat. "I'll be okay." Cloud replied, assuming he answered his friend's question.

Had he changed everything? Would Zack be okay? Aerith too? With a final thought Cloud turned to Zack once more. "Find Tifa." Was all he could say as he felt himself lurch forwards and collapse.

Zack stared at where the dream Cloud had once stood. The man's sword was still embedded into the ground and next to it was a small materia. With a shaky hand he picked the magic up and turned back to the mansion. Could he go back for Cloud? How could he leave the young man there alone? The sounds of more footsteps and the rattle of rifles seemed to make Zack's decision and knew he'd be no good to Cloud dead. He'd come back for him.

There was the sound of helicopter blades that hurled in the gusting winds and screams and shouts in the distance. The noise seemed to pour into Cloud's head and magnify. Everything felt wrong and his body disjointed, like his mind was elsewhere. Maybe he was dead? Is this was what being dead felt like?

He was sure of his name, that was for certain, but everything else seemed to have slipped away from him, like sand through his fingers. He felt like he should know something, something important, about his entire life, which lead to other questions. How old was he? Where was he? Who was screaming? Why were they screaming? Who was he? Was he making those people screaming? Should he know these people? His head felt like it was about to implode and within all these questions there seemed to be a soothing presence within him.

He felt a strangled cry escape his lips and suddenly became aware of his body. He felt his knees go weak, although he wasn't sure he was standing upright. Something was holding him, tightly around his arms and on either side. They were people, he could hear them talking and they were shouting too. Should he know them? He wanted to question them, but he couldn't seem to string a single sentence together.

With all the energy he had, he opened his eyes and looked to the person besides him. They wore a blue helmet that covered their face and the whole thing reminded him of something. He was being dragged somewhere, he was sure, he could feel his bare feet being dragged along a stone floor that cut into his skin. Someone shouted something about being awake and he rolled his head forwards to watch someone in white approach him, something jabbed his neck harshly and it made him hiss in pain. But this was suddenly replaced by a feeling of warmth and relaxation. His muscles seemed to go limp and his eyes were ready to close, but with a final glance upwards his eyes locked with the sky. It was a burning red and he was sure it was normally blue, it looked like something was falling from the sky and he knitted his eyebrows together.

Then in that second everything, all his memories, seemed to rush back to him. Flashes of his home town in flames, a silver haired mad man, a friend dying on the cliff edge as it poured with rain, travelling with friends, holding a pink clad woman in his arms as he lowered her into water, a church in flames, Zack…escaping with Zack before collapsing before him. He gave another strangled gasp as realisation took in and he felt another pick in his neck. Then another thought entered his mind, a thought of a woman with long dark hair, her arms crossed over her chest and a knowing smile that made her outshine everyone around her, Tifa.

His head rolled forwards as sleep slowly took over, but his last thought being as to why he saw meteor falling from the sky.

A/N: I can already predict there may be a few who are suggesting this may be out of character. But I want to portray more to them that some people like to.

As for example, I know everyone perceives Zack Fair as a kind hearted and selfless character and I suppose there have been instances within this chapter where it appears Zack as maybe a tiny bit selfish, but I'd like to portray people a bit differently to make them a little more realistic, rather than the one dimensional characters that we may have become accustomed to. As well as I think that FF7 film kind of destroyed Cloud's character that had been created in the game.

Anyhow...rant over. heh. Reviews/alerts/favourites always appreciated.