Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of its characters. FF7 and all of its characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. No copyright infringement intended at all.
Alright, chapter 4. Please leave reviews to tell me what you think. Enjoy.
Fight for Freedom
Chapter 4
The ex-infantryman's eyes slowly open as he finally wakes up. He repeatedly blinks his eyes a few times in an attempt to try and make his blurred vision fade away. After he manages to focus and get his blurry vision to fade away, his eyes immediately scan the room to notice his surroundings. He lets out a soft grunt as he sits up in the bed. He lets out an even louder grunt when he almost falls over after trying to stand up. With a determined look on his face, Cloud manages to successfully stand up on the hard wood floor. After realizing that he can now stand up on his own, he can't help but smile as he looks down and watches himself walk. 'Whoa, this is something that I really missed,' he thinks to himself. He soon looks down at his arms and can't help but notice at just how dirty they are. 'I sure can use a shower.'
"I love you, Aerith," Cloud hears a familiar voice say in a groggy tone. A small smile finds its way on his face when he realizes that it's Zack.
Cloud tilts his head some when he notices that Zack is laying down on a nearby couch with his arm wrapped around a pillow. The young blonde slightly narrows his eyes in confusion as he quietly asks himself, "Is he talking in his sleep?"
A small smile finds its way on Cloud's face when he suddenly remembers the time when they were in Nibelheim and Zack was acting silly and pretending to act like his mother. This is a perfect opportunity for him to get back at his best friend for that incident. The former infantryman's mind is set, so he decides to play a joke on him. He takes a deep quiet breath before he begins to silently tiptoe towards the couch. Crouching down next to the couch, Cloud places his hand over his mouth to try and keep himself from laughing at his best friend.
"Aerith, I love you so much, baby." Zack softly giggles as he gently kisses the pillow.
"I love you too, Zack," Cloud says while trying to make his voice sound as feminine as possible.
Zack gently nuzzles the side of his face into the pillow before he mumbles, "We'll always be together."
"Oh, yes Zack, always," Cloud replies in a feminine voice, struggling to keep himself from laughing.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
'Huh, mom? I guess he's dreaming about someone else now,' Cloud thinks to himself as he slightly narrows his eyes in confusion. He continues to play along.
"What do you want for breakfast, son?" Cloud asks, still trying to make himself sound like a woman.
A big smile finds its way on Zack's face as he unconsciously answers, "Mmm, toast."
"Okay, Zack."
"Mom? Please make some for Cloud, he's hungry too," Zack requests in a groggy voice.
"I like waffles more," Cloud softly replies in his normal tone.
"Mom?" he asks.
"Yes, sweetie?" Cloud asks, changing his voice to try and sound feminine again.
"Please make Cloud waffles instead. He likes them more," he answers, his voice still sounding a little groggy.
"Sure thing, Zack," Cloud tells him in a feminine sounding voice, still trying not to laugh.
Finding it almost impossible to keep himself from bursting out in laughter, Cloud decides to stop so that he doesn't wake him up. However, Zack soon opens his eyes and gazes up at Cloud. Zack's eyes widen in surprise as he slightly jumps up, startled at seeing a pair of bright blue eyes staring directly at him.
"Ahh, hey, you're not Aerith or my mom," Zack tells Cloud in a voice that sounds a little louder than what he intended as he gets up off of the couch and stands up. His vision is still a little bit blurry from just waking up.
Cloud softly laughs before he replies, "Yeah, I don't mind being your friend, but it would be really creepy if I was your girlfriend or your mother." Cloud slightly shudders from the thought. "I'd have to draw the line there," Cloud teases in his usual calm tone as he climbs to his feet.
After rubbing his eyes to clear his vision, Zack looks over at Cloud and smiles. After becoming more fully awake, he realizes that Cloud is obviously feeling much better. "I'm happy that you're feeling better Cloud," Zack tells him as he gives his younger friend a hug. "You really had me worried last night, man. You were pretty sick." He lets him go and places his hands on Cloud's shoulders to look at him. He almost immediately notices the dried up dirt on Cloud's arms. "Hmm, you need a shower." Cloud looks up at him after hearing his older best friend's words. "You look like you've been crawling around in the dirt," Zack teases as he releases him and points towards the bathroom. "The bathroom's that way if you want to take a shower and get cleaned up," he informs as Cloud looks in the direction that he's pointing in.
"Yeah, thanks. I'll be out in a few minutes," Cloud replies before he walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. After his shower, he gets dressed back into his SOLDIER 1st Class uniform. Wait, a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform? How did he get this outfit? He never made SOLDIER. He really does like this uniform though. Perhaps he'll ask Zack when he's done. When he's finished getting dressed, he looks into a mirror above the sink to see how he looks in his outfit. Cloud instantly notices that his once natural blue eyes are now glowing an unnatural bright blue. "What the..? Zack?!" he shouts as he opens the door and quickly makes his way towards his friend, nearly running into him in the process.
"Whoa, what is it?" Zack asks as he gives the former infantryman a confused look.
"Zack, my eyes are blue," Cloud blurts out.
Zack looks at him as if he's lost his mind or something. "Um, yeah..they've always been blue. It's called natural eye coloration."
Cloud shakes his head before he tries to explain, "No, no, not that. I mean they glow blue. You know, like yours."
Zack looks at Cloud's eyes, but he doesn't look or act surprised. "Oh, yeah...that. You're right. They're just like mine now, but I've noticed it for quite a while."
Cloud looks at him. "Really? Um, well, how long have they been like that?"
"..A while," Zack answers.
"Since when?" Cloud curiously asks.
Zack remains quiet for a few seconds. He really doesn't like to talk about their time in the lab. "Since...we left the lab," Zack quietly replies as he looks down at the wooden floor of their motel room.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't..." Cloud tries to apologize.
"It's okay. That's behind us now. Let the past be the past. Never live in a memory, right?" Zack tells him as he pats Cloud on the back and manages a slight smile.
"Um...Zack?"
"Huh?"
"How did I get this uniform?" Cloud asks, looking down at his outfit while holding onto the front of his shirt with his fingers.
"Well, your infantryman uniform wasn't in the greatest of shape, it was torn in a couple of places, stained with some blood, and it was also soaked with mako energy, which was making you sicker. You went through the treatments too, and I knew how much you wanted to be in SOLDIER. So I figured, why not wear the outfit? It was also the only set of clothes that I could find that would actually fit you. Although it's a little big on you, but not by much," Zack explains.
Cloud's face begins to turn red as he realizes that his friend had to dress him while he was unconscious at that time. "Oh, okay," is all that he's able to get out as he suddenly feels embarrassed. He instantly looks down at the floor after he feels his face turn red.
"So, are you hungry?" Zack asks as Cloud sits down at a round table in the middle of the room.
"Yeah." Zack walks over and places a large plastic zip-lock bag of deer jerky on the table next to him. "Where did you get this?" Cloud asks, picking up the bag.
"In the kitchen. I was looking around while you were in the shower. I also found a couple of cans of beef stew. We'll have one can for supper later and the other one for tomorrow. I found a couple of hooded cloaks in the closet too. That was pretty much it." Zack marches past him. "I'm gonna get a shower. I'll be back in a little bit." Cloud opens up the plastic bag of deer jerky and begins to eat some. Zack turns and looks at him just before he walks into the bathroom. "Oh hey, save me some jerky."
Cloud nods. "Alright."
After a few minutes, Zack comes out of the bathroom. "Man, a hot shower never felt so good." He smiles as he sits down next to Cloud and starts to eat some of the deer jerky. "Mmm, this is some really good jerky," Zack says as he takes a big bite from a jerky strip and savors the gamey and salty taste of the meat.
"Mmm, hmm," Cloud agrees as he hungrilly stuffs another bite of deer jerky in his mouth.
Zack looks over at him and slightly laughs. "You know, you're making me look bad."
Cloud stops eating and looks at Zack. "Huh, how so?" he asks.
"Well, it's just um, on the way here, I did feed you. You're acting like you're starving to death."
Cloud reaches back into the bag and grabs another piece of jerky. "I don't think that I've eaten anything like this for a while, just things like soup and applesauce."
A soft chuckle escapes from Zack before he tells his best friend, "Relax, I'm just kidding, eat as much as you want...but you are eating too fast. I just don't want you to choke or anything." Cloud looks like he's too occupied with the meat, so in order to get his attention so that Cloud will eat a bit slower, Zack reveals to his friend, "Oh, you know another thing that I fed you besides applesauce and soup was babyfood." A big smile finds it's way on Zack's face after the sudden realization. He's also curious at how Cloud will react.
Cloud stops eating and looks over at Zack. "You fed me babyfood?"
Zack smiles at him. "Yeah, you were pretty out of it a lot of the time and I had to feed you something."
Cloud calmly looks down at the table. "I understand. It's just...I'm not a baby, I'm sixteen."
Suddenly, Zack starts to cough just after Cloud mentions how old he thinks that he is.
"You okay?" Cloud asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine it's just, um, well I don't know how to tell you this, but.." Zack manages to say after he clears his throat and stops coughing.
Cloud looks at him, his eyes slightly furrow in confusion. "Tell me what?" he asks.
"Alright, I really don't know how to tell you this. So, I'll just say it. We've been in the lab for four years and we was on the run for almost one year. You're twenty-one now and I'm twenty-three," Zack informs in a sympathetic tone. He wanted to tell Cloud in a better way, but he really couldn't think of a way to properly tell his friend.
Cloud looks at him with a shocked look on his face. Cloud's eyes widened just as Zack told him that. "Five years?" After he remembers the Nibelheim incident, he urgently asks in a deeply concerned tone, "Tifa, what happened to Tifa?" Cloud can feel his heart sink at the question.
Zack gives him a sympathetic look as he honestly replies, "I don't know."
Cloud sadly looks down and closes his eyes after hearing his older friend's answer.
Zack suddenly feels guilty of the answer that he gave him. "She's probably doing good. She seemed really tough. Who knows? Maybe we'll run into her here in Midgar," Zack says, trying to make Cloud feel better. He's always hated seeing his younger friend look and feel sad like that. There's just something about Cloud that reminds Zack of an innocent and young kid.
Cloud looks back up at him with eyes full of hope as well as an infinite look of trust. "You really think so?"
Zack gently pats him on the shoulder. "Yeah, I really do," Zack answers, hoping that he's right.
After they get done eating, Zack stands up and puts what's left of the deer jerky away.
"Hey Cloud, I'm gonna go out for a little while. Do you want to come with me?"
Cloud remains seated at the table, resting his head on top of his arm on the table top, tracing the natural swirling wood designs on it with his finger. "You're leaving? But what if they're still looking for us?" Cloud asks as he quickly sits up, giving Zack a worried look.
"Relax, we'll be alright. It's raining outside again and we have a couple of hooded cloaks in the closet. We won't look suspicious," Zack tells him as he gets into the closet and puts one of the black hooded cloaks on, pulling the hood up over his head.
"Alright man, how do I look?" he asks with a smile, standing in front of Cloud.
"Mysterious," Cloud answers with a blank expression. "I'll stay here and watch over the place."
Zack walks over and pats him on the shoulder. "Okay." Zack walks towards the door and unlocks it. Before opening it, he turns to his friend. "Oh, and watch over my sword too," Zack orders before he opens the door.
"Alright, but please be really careful, okay Zack?"
"It's okay, I'll be fine," Zack says as he leaves, closing the door behind him.
With a worried sigh, Cloud walks over to the T.V. and turns it on. He sits down at the foot of the bed and grabs the remote and starts to flip through the channels.
About two hours later, Zack walks through the door. After seeing Zack walk in, Cloud grabs the remote and turns off the T.V. before he sits the remote down on the T.V. stand.
"Hey buddy, look who I found," Zack cheerfully says with a big smile on his face.
Zack steps off to the side to close the door behind them, revealing a young black haired woman following close behind him. Cloud's eyes widen as he stands up, looking both happy and surprised. He can't believe it, he honestly wasn't expecting to see her. The sinking feeling that once plagued his heart quickly fades away. The inside of his body begins to radiate with warmth and relief upon seeing the face of the woman of his dreams.
"Tifa?"
After seeing and hearing Cloud's voice, Tifa runs over to him. "Cloud!" She tightly wraps her arms around him. Cloud smiles and shyly hugs her back. "I missed you so much. There were a few times when I thought that I would never see you again," she says as she tightens her grip on him, as if she's afraid that she'll lose him again if she lets him go.
"I'll leave you two kids alone," Zack tells them as he walks into the kitchen to give them some privacy to talk.
"I really missed you too, Tifa." Cloud can feel his face turn red after telling her that.
Tifa and Cloud finally releases each other as the young girl says, "Zack told me some of what happened to you guys after Nibelhiem. I'm very sorry to hear that."
Cloud looks down at the floor. "Oh, so...he told you everything?"
Tifa looks up at him and shakes her head. "Not everything. He was very plain about it. I can't blame you two for not wanting to talk about what happened." Not liking this uncomfortable conversation, Tifa decides to quickly change the subject. "So, I'm very glad that you're here Cloud. I've always been keeping my eyes and ears open in case something about you comes up."
Cloud looks at her with wide eyes. "Really?" He thought that Tifa has forgotten all about him by now because it's been...8 years now since their promise in Nibelheim under the stars on the water tower? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Tifa smiles at him. "Yeah, I have. Oh, I've opened my own bar in Sector Seven. The bar's called Seventh Heaven. So if you ever feel like coming by, I would really enjoy your company." Tifa can't help but look down some when she said the last part in an attempt to try and hide her shyness.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Cloud replies as he slightly begins to blush.
Tifa looks up at him and smiles before telling him, "Well, I would love to stay here and talk to you guys longer, but I need to get back to the bar." Tifa notices that Cloud returns the smile. "You have a very pretty smile, Cloud. You should do it more often," she tells him as she reaches up and gently kisses him on the cheek. Cloud's eyes instantly widen as his face blushes even more. He shyly looks down at the floor in a futile attempt to hide his sudden shyness. Cloud's always had a huge crush on Tifa ever since they were little kids growing up in the small, secluded, mountain village of Nibelheim. Cloud remains smiling as he looks at her. "You always look really cute, but you look even cuter when you smile." Cloud's mouth slightly drops open some, he can't help it. "Well, I've gotta go. I'll be at the bar if you and Zack need anything." Tifa then turns around to leave, Cloud watches her as she walks towards the door.
After Tifa leaves, Zack peaks his head from around the corner of the wall to see Cloud still standing in the same place, smiling, blushing, and resting his hand on his cheek in the same place where Tifa kissed him. His bright blue eyes are wide and unblinking, as if he's in a trance.
Zack walks up to him, he can't help but laugh and smile at his friend's reactions when he's around girls...especially Tifa. "Aww, that was so sweet," the ex-SOLDIER tells his friend in a playful tone. "You haven't changed a bit Cloud. You're still that quiet and shy infantryman that I met seven years ago."
Snapping out of the trance, Cloud looks over at him. "Huh?" he asks.
"She kissed you on the cheek didn't she?" Zack playfully asks with a big smile.
Cloud nods his head with his hand still resting on the side of his face where Tifa kissed him as he answers, "Uh, huh."
Zack happilly laughs as he pats Cloud on the back. "Yeah, that's my boy Cloud."
"Um, we're just childhood friends," Cloud answers nervously as he scratches his arm.
"Cloud and Tifa sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g," Zack sings as he playfully teases his friend, who starts to get a little annoyed.
"Hey, cut it out and stop acting like an idiot," Cloud orders in an annoyed tone as he quickly picks up a pillow from the bed and tosses it at Zack.
Using his enhanced super-human speed, Zack easily dodges it. The former SOLDIER lets out a soft chuckle as he replies, "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll quit, I know how you are with Tifa." Zack laughs as he starts to take off his hooded cloak. "Guess what? I got you something." Zack puts his cloak in the closet before he turns to Cloud and unsheathes a large sword from his back that looks very similar to the Buster Sword.
Cloud walks towards him. "How did you get this?" he asks as his eyes widen in surprise, studying the sword.
"While I was out a man got attacked by some monsters. I killed the monsters and saved him. He owned a weapon shop, and to show his gratitude, he offered me a free weapon of my choice. So, I picked this one." Cloud continues to stare at the sword in awe. "Do you like it?"
Cloud continues gazing at the sword with wide eyes as he replies, "Yeah, it's so...cool looking." His bright blue eyes finally meet Zack's before he tells him, "Thank you, Zack."
Zack smiles at him because he can tell that his younger friend likes the gift. "You're welcome. I knew you'd like it." Zack shows him how to detach the smaller swords as he says, "When you do this, numerous smaller swords detaches from the main blade. It's pretty much several swords built into one."
Looking over at the clock and noticing how late it's starting to get, Zack hands Cloud his new sword. "Man, it's almost five o'clock already. I gotta fix us that beef stew for supper." He marches into the kitchen to fix his and Cloud's supper. Cloud sits on the bed and studies his new sword given to him by Zack. About half an hour later, Zack walks in with two bowls of beef stew. Sitting the bowls on the table, Zack looks over at Cloud as he announces, "Cloud, it's time to eat."
Cloud looks at him as he answers, "Okay." He gets up and leans his sword up against the wall next to Zack's Buster Sword. They both sit down at the table and begin to eat.
During supper, Zack looks over at Cloud and tells him, "Tomorrow I'm going to teach you a few sword moves and techniques."
Cloud looks up at him from across the table. "Really?" he asks in a tone that actually sounded excited. Cloud's always liked training time with Zack. He's always looked forward to spending time with the older man who's his best friend, former commanding officer, mentor, older brother figure, father figure, and hero.
"Yeah."
"Are we really going to start our own business and become mercenaries?"
Zack quickly looks up at him. He's surprised that Cloud actually heard what he told him in the back of the truck on their way to Midgar. "You know what I told you?" he asks.
The blonde nods. "Uh-huh."
The former SOLDIER can't help but feel quite surprised. He finds himself wondering if Cloud was able to understand everything else that he told him when he had mako poisoning. He gives the former infantryman a cheerful smile as he replies, "Well then, of course we're going to become mercenaries together. You know I would never go back on my word. Why do you think that I got that sword for you?"
Cloud smiles as he continues eating.
"So, what do you think we should name our business, Cloud?"
Cloud looks up at him and tries to think of a name. He finds himself deep in thought as he rummages through his imagination. However, he can't think of a good name for their business.
Zack notices that Cloud's concentrating due to the serious look on his face. "We'll pick out a name later, okay?" Zack tells him before he continues eating his stew.
"Zack?" Cloud looks across the table at him again.
"What?"
"Thank you," he says in a grateful tone that sounded close to a whisper.
"For the sword?"
"Well, yeah...but I just wanted to thank you for protecting and taking care of me on the long way here," the blonde says as he stares down at his bowl.
Zack kindly smiles at him. "You're welcome, buddy." Zack starts to eat again.
The former infantryman looks at Zack. "Can I ask you something?"
Zack nods. "Uh-huh," he answers as he stops eating again so that he can answer his younger friend's question.
Cloud looks down at the table again and stirs up his beef stew with his spoon. He sighs before he tells his best friend, "Never mind."
Zack raises an eyebrow before he tells him, "Come on, man. What were you going to say?"
"Just forget it, Zack. It's nothing."
The older man remains persistent while he replies, "You were going to ask me something. I want to know what your question is." Zack notices Cloud slightly shaking his head as he continues staring down at his stew. "Cloud, will you please just tell me already?" It sounded more like an order than a question.
The blonde lets out a small sigh and continues looking down into his bowl before he finally proceeds with his question, "I was like that for almost a year, I know that I slowed you down a lot..why didn't you leave me?"
Zack looks up at him from across the table with a serious look on his face. "Because we're friends and friends are suppose to look out for each other. You really needed my help, so I helped you." Zack can't help but slightly shiver at his next statement, "Besides, leaving you behind in that lab, that hellhole, was not an option for me. I have no regrets for my decision...even if you wasn't able to save me during that attack last night."
"Thank you, Zack."
Zack smiles at him as they continue eating. He stops eating when he suddenly remembers something. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, on my way back here Tifa said that she'll have a job for us soon. It seems that our business is already starting!" Zack informs Cloud in an excited tone.
"What job is it?" Cloud asks.
"I don't know, she didn't say. She said that she'll call us to let us know when the job is ready," Zack answers.
"Oh, I see," Cloud calmly says just before him and Zack continue eating.
Alright, there's chapter 4. I know that it took me a while to type this one up and post it. It actually took me a little longer to get this one done than what I had anticipated. Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Oh, and the sword that Zack got for Cloud in this chapter is the same one that he uses in the movie. I hope that you all liked this chapter and please feel free to review if you'd like.