Chapter 1
Zack staggered as he was abruptly shoved back into a physical body after a very disorienting sensation like the Lifestream was rewinding around him. In the moment it too to reorient himself, he realized that he should be holding the blade that had just slipped from lax fingers and clattered to the floor, should be moving to dodge the broadsword that was headed his way, wielded by an oddly familiar person.
A curse as the other tried to abort his charge—and Zack automatically brought his hands up to catch the blade between open palms, twisting to divest the other of the weapon.
Angeal. Face and form clicked in his still-muddled mind, but as much as he'd missed the man after he'd been forced to kill him, his mentor was not the one he was worried about at that moment.
He dropped Angeal's broadsword to the ground without so much as a glance, trying to still his all-over trembling as his body burned, knowing that he was going through what the voice of the Goddess had said would happen to his friend, knowing also that if he was feeling the effects of mass mako upgrades, Cloud would be feeling it a hundred times worse as an unenhanced cadet.
He flinched when Angeal caught his shoulder, obvious concern on his face. "Zack? What's wrong?"
"I have to go," mechanical.
"Zack," a hint of warning, "Tell me what's going on."
"I have to go," Zack emphasized his point by twisting out of his mentor's grip and starting for the training room door, nearly forgetting to snatch up his own broadsword along the way. "Something's wrong."
And despite the shift, Cloud still held a piece of his soul, and he could feel the pain and confusion wracking his dearest friend.
"Zack!" Angeal again, following. Unimportant. Cloud.
He followed that tug on his soul, steadily speeding up until he was running across the training fields with Angeal following, no longer questioning.
A cadet on the ground, jerking in pain, an irate drill sergeant yelling and a sneering larger cadet drawing back a foot to kick—
Zack was between that one and his downed friend before the move could be completed, snarling in rage. "If you touch him, I'll fucking kill you." He knew his eyes were doing the Sephiroth thing, greening around pupils that were stretching into catlike slits.
He dropped the cadet—who collapsed in terror—and twisted to kneel next to the smaller blond on the ground, "Hey—hey, Spike! Come on, buddy…" he eased an arm behind shaking shoulders, catching already glowing blue gaze with his own violet eyes.
"Z-ack," Cloud managed, the hope in his voice heart-wrenching. "Wha…"
"Shh," Zack soothed, "Later. Right now let's get you somewhere safe."
Angeal stopped in front of the rapidly approaching drill sergeant as Zack looked up, having forgotten his mentor's presence entirely. Secondary.
Zack stood, the smaller WEAPON of Gaia cradled in his arms. Cloud was as light as he'd been as a true cadet—worrying.
Angeal started chewing out the drill sergeant for not having the proper control of his group and allowing the kind of outright abuse that kicking someone in the middle of a seizure constituted.
"Angeal," Zack stated, the thinking part of his mind telling him that it would be best to make it at least seem like he was more then peripherally aware of the man.
Zack couldn't remember where they lived. He knew that during this time, he'd shared an apartment with his mentor, and he could picture the inside of it, but he couldn't remember where.
Angeal glanced back at his student and saw the restrained panic in his eyes, immediately deciding that the dressing-down could be delayed.
And Zack was already striding back towards the building, keeping his gait even in a way he'd grown used to during the year of caring for his comatose partner, knowing that there were some things that he had to be careful about.
Cloud would probably be better off waking up properly in the middle of nowhere, but he was going to have to settle for Zack and Angeal's shared apartment. There would be too many questions if he took his still-shaking friend to the wastes when he was so obviously ill.
Angeal caught up in a few jogged steps, "Let's get him to the infirmary," the Commander murmured.
"No," Zack growled, unable to hide the venom as his thoughts turned to five years in hell, of being confined in a mako tank while Hojo cut open his best friend in front of him, no longer interested in the one his experiments didn't quite take on. "No doctors."
Who knew what Cloud would do if he woke up in a strange place surrounded by people in lab coats?
Hell, Zack didn't know what he would do, the first time he was confronted by that blatant reminder of certain things he'd really rather not think about.
"Zack," Angeal was using the 'reasonable tone' that Zack could only barely remember after so many years, after experiments and pain and running.
"No," Zack tried to modulate his tone, uncertain if he succeeded. "He needs to be safe."
Angeal apparently gave up on protesting, though the disturbed worry on his face when he glanced at Zack was obvious. Eventually the other male nodded and led the way to the elevator, "All right, Zack," he capitulated, "We can take him to our apartment."
Zack nodded once, following and hiding the fact that he had no clue how to get where they were going.
xxxx
Cloud woke to confusion, a bone-deep ache, and ravenous hunger.
He sat up the instant as he realized he didn't recognize his surroundings, only to spot a spiky-black head of hair resting on the edge of the bed, the owner seated in a wooden chair pulled up to the bedside.
Cloud froze.
The initial movement, however, had woken the other, who jerked upright in something between hope and panic before glowing violet landed on Cloud.
"Cloud," relief. "Damn, Spike, I thought you were gonna sleep for a year again!"
"Zack."
A wry smile, "Yeah, guess there's some explaining to be done, huh?"
A pause and a vague gesture towards the doorway as a man strode into sight and hesitated.
"Is that…?"
"My mentor, Angeal," Zack confirmed, "Explanations can wait. You need to eat."
Cloud considered briefly—yes, he did, but…
"Cloud," Zack stated so softly that even with mako-hearing, there was no way the man in the doorway would hear, "I'm not sorry you lived. But… I am sorry I left you like that. I can't explain everything with him here, but… it's me."
Cloud was not a demonstrative person. He never had been and never would be, but that had his eyes softening. "You always were a hero," Cloud murmured back. "I think… I think all I was… was a memory."
Zack stood, a fierceness in his eyes, "Never," he swore, gathering the surprised blond into a hug, "You saved more than you know."
Cloud huffed, relaxing into the embrace like he hadn't relaxed in years, arms coming up to return it. "I missed you, Zack."
Zack released him after another moment, a soft smile crossing his face, "I missed you too, partner. Come on, let's get you something to eat."
xxxx
Angeal didn't know what to make of the blond that had Zack so obviously protective. He'd slept for nearly two days, Zack refusing to leave his side.
There was something there, but what, the SOLDIER First had no idea.
When he heard movement from Zack's room, Zack's breathing still even with sleep, he made his way towards the door.
Zack's comment struck him as odd—'sleep for a year again'?—before the cadet's equally strange return. An odd tone to the blond saying Zack's name—affection, sadness, relief.
Angeal hesitated slightly on hearing Zack mention explaining, but shook his head and went to stand in the doorway.
The blond's eyes were glowing, brightly at that, bright as Sephiroth.
A slight double-take as he realized Zack's eyes glowed nearly as bright. How?
He almost missed the half-introduction in his confusion, then was able to see that Zack was saying something, but unable to make out what even with advanced hearing.
The reply was slightly louder, but the only words he could make out were 'hero' and 'memory'.
Whatever the blond had said, it had Zack starting to his feet with a fierceness that Angeal hadn't seen him display until—until Zack had staggered and dropped his sword during training two days before, immediately making a beeline for a cadet seizing on the training grounds as though he knew what he would find.
Zack had threatened the other cadet, the one that had been so obviously about to kick the downed blond—Angeal immediately revised that thought. Not threatened. Promised. He had meant it.
"Never," Zack's voice cut through his thoughts, filled with something Angeal couldn't quite place even as the black-haired Second grabbed the blond in a rough hug. "You saved more than you know."
A pause, the cadet visibly relaxing, returning the hug briefly, "I missed you, Zack."
And there was something there, something that spoke of aching loneliness and long-standing grief. Why?
"I missed you too, partner."
Partner?
"Come on, let's get you something to eat."
Angeal hesitated a moment more, a hundred questions in his mind, but he put them aside after a quick glance at his protégé, understanding immediately that now was not the time.
He was slightly surprised to learn that Zack was intending to cook—something the Second had never shown any proficiency in before—when Zack led he way to the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge for ingredients.
A huffed laugh from the blond that had been firmly sequestered at the table, "Zack. You know better than that."
Zack grinned over a collection of ingredients and obligingly put three back.
"Better," the cadet stated.
A few minutes later, and there was recognizable food on the table. Omelets, though what kind Angeal was hesitant to guess, and he noted that Zack had made him one as well.
Angeal ate quietly, watching.
The other two at the table knew they were being watched, but it wasn't until halfway through the meal that either broke the silence. That in itself was odd, as Zack didn't usually let a silence hang.
Zack practically choking on his food before swallowing somewhat desperately was startling.
"Damn, Cloud—I didn't know you could do that!"
A quiet grin as the blond took another bite.
… Angeal got the distinct feeling he had missed something.
xxxx