A/N: First of all, I want to thank everyone who has read, faved, clicked for a 'story alert' and reviewed this story. When I first uploaded it, I didn't think more than two or three people would read it and I definitely didn't believe people would fave/sub-alert it! All your reviews have been ridiculously encouraging and fill my little heart with the utmost joy :')

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I think all typos are gone... I don't have a beta tester, but feel free to point out any typos if you find any. :D Your reviews continue to be of great encouragement. *humble bow*

Thursday Evening

"Zackary!"

As Zack heard someone call his name, he gasped slightly. A dull pain throbbed in the back of his head – pushing against his skull – and his eyes wouldn't open properly. Zack moved to touch his cheek and an immediate strain rushed up his arm and neck. He focused his gaze on the face leaning over him instead and was relieved to see a sober looking Sephiroth.

"Hello?" Zack murmured with a grimace.

"Yes, I speak English," said Sephiroth.

A small laugh moved the younger SOLDIER and then he gripped Sephiroth's arm. "Ugh, help me up Seph," he groaned.

"Careful." The general lightly touched his hand to Zack's back as he stiffly pushed off the floor and sat up, slumped forward. His mind was sluggish and a headache pounded at his forehead but he was grateful to have Sephiroth crouched beside him.

"Man, my shoulder really hurts," whispered Zack, circling it ever so slightly.

"It's bleeding."

"That would be why then..." As Zack glanced in Sephiroth's direction, his gaze caught sight of a pair of legs behind him. He stared at them a moment, letting Sephiroth gently touch and inspect the wound in his back. Orange light flickered across the walls like a kaleidoscope, the smell of smoke around them and the sound of fire crackled and crunched behind.

The fog over Zack's mind lifted as he remembered more than just an explosion. "Cloud!" He dived past Sephiroth and winced for it as a sharp pain bit through his back, but still he carefully touched cadet Strife's shoulder. He could feel blood trickling down his back and arm, making Zack shudder, and he could see that the boy fared no better.

Blood was slowly oozing from beneath Cloud's hairline and into his ears.

"You fell on him," said Sephiroth, standing up. "Well, more like body slammed him. Perhaps for the better though. You covered him pretty well, Mr Mako Muscles."

Zack felt like anything but Mr Muscles and damn did he have a headache.

Something crashed and momentarily flamed behind them and Zack cast a glance at what had been the main lobby balcony. From what he could see, the majority of the banister was gone and the walls around the door leading to the lobby were charred black – the polished floor looking considerably less shiny.

"This is quite the mess," observed Sephiroth, "but it seems we are reclaiming the upper hand."

"How do you know that?" asked Zack as he carefully whipped the blood off of Cloud's face. Was his skin normally so pale? His hair was soft, too, just as he'd suspected. Sephiroth cleared his throat, making heat rise to Zack's face as he looked up to see the man wiggling a PHS at him.

"The Director called."

"Oh, excellent!" was all Zack managed before his shoulder pulsed and pain rippled through his back. He pressed one hand to the floor for support, trying to focus his gaze on Cloud's face.

The boy let out a dull whimper, his eyes fluttering for a second before a soft stream of nonsense mumbled past his lips. Zack took a deep breath, grit his teeth and made ready to lift Cloud into his arms. He had only just pushed his arm under Cloud's shoulder when a large hand landed on Zack's head.

"You can prove your strength to me another day. I think it would be wiser if I carried him."

Zack slumped slightly. "Yes, you're right." Hobbling upright, one hand pressed to his bleeding shoulder, Zack stepped back so that Sephiroth could scoop up Cloud. The boy's face and arms were marred with cuts, soot and blood and no doubt many bruises. With a sigh Zack guiltily bowed his head.

"Some hero," he muttered.

A fond smile pulled up the corner of Sephiroth's mouth. "Come along," he rumbled shifting Cloud in his hold to better support the Cadet's neck.

Zack limped along behind Sephiroth, staring disdainfully at the floor or at Cloud's feet dangling over Seph's arm. His head was becoming increasingly woozy and it felt as if he'd been cut across the lower back as well because his usually comfortable belt was chaffing terribly against his left side. He focused on containing the blistering ache in his back, glad to have something to distract his remorseful sense of failure.

The boy had gone limp again.

Half way up the fourth staircase and Zack had to stop, clutching his lower back in unbearable pain. Luckily, however, a Third Class SOLDIER came their way and gladly helped Zack through the last floor to the hospital wing.

How could any of this have happened?

Friday

When Cloud awoke, everything hurt and his thoughts were slow. His shoulders were cold, so he carefully pulled the covers up to his chin, realising that his torso was naked. The lights seemed to glare into his eyes when he opened them and somewhere close by was an incredibly noisy air conditioner. Cloud groaned and gently smoothed his hands down his stomach feeling a bandage wrapped around it. His head itched like crazy and with a delicate brush from his fingers, Cloud found it, too, bandaged.

As the unfamiliar sounds, lights and worrying pains pressed on his growing sense of awareness, Cloud took in more of the room. His breathing hastened and an incredible fear swelled through his body. Where was he? Had he been kidnapped during a walk through Midgar? But Cloud didn't remember anything. Was he in prison? The area around him seemed meticulously organised and formal, but the neutral colours, metal surfaces and piercing sensory factors made Cloud deduce one thing he rationally tried not to consider, but...had he been abducted by aliens?

He assessed again the glaring lights and glowing machinery by his bed. In fact, a needle in his arm was connected to a glowing green drip bag. Cloud very nearly fainted but that would do him no good.

Forcing himself to sit up, Cloud stared at the other beds. One directly on his left had a grievous crimson stain across the slightly yellow bed sheet; the covers left in a tangled mess. There were other human specimens lying quietly in their beds when suddenly a distant scream sounded through the walls and Cloud jumped. A spasm of pain rushed through his torso.

When Cloud had been younger, he had often sat outside his house at night with his childhood friend Tifa. Together they would talk and stare at the stars until their bums were numb and their noses snifflely. He had entertained the idea of aliens quite a few times while staring transfixed at the endless, glimmering canopy – it seemed impossible to dismiss them – and the town lunatic had once claimed he was abducted! He had said they poked needles in his brain and surveyed him under bright lights. No one had believed him, of course, but right now as Cloud squinted against the harsh lighting and glanced again at the glowing needle in his arm...it was hard to resist thinking...

His eyesight was fuzzy, making his panic justified in his mind. What kind of drugs was he on? How hard did he hit his head? Cloud gently touched the bandage on his forehead again. It felt very strange to feel fabric where his skin should be.

A door opened somewhere down the end of the corridor and an unnerving gargling-growl reached Cloud's ears. In less than a heartbeat two things had swooped into the room and were flying towards his bed. They only had one eye each, huge gaping mouths and a pair of awkward looking wings.

With a spluttered yell, Cloud tumbled from his bed, staggered off at an admiral, if endearing, speed and used the glowing drip stand to support most of his weight. He made it to the second bed down the corridor before blacking out.

After being helped to the busy hospital wing last night and having his wounds sterilized with a few licks from a tamed baby Angra Mainyu, Zack's enhanced body was healing itself well. Given they had been attacked at nine P.M. last night, he worked out that he had stayed in one of the wards for a good seven hours. It hadn't been so bad. The nurses took his mind off things and were very friendly, plus, one of the baby Mainyus had decided it wanted to hover next to his bed. They became good friends, in Zack's opinion, and during the time he talked to it he came to find its one eye, green skin and gaping mouth rather cute. Kunsel might have agreed with him, too.

Where was Kunsel? Where was Cloud? He figured they were probably on a different ward, perhaps a quieter one, but he didn't get a chance to check. Around six A.M. Professor Hojo instructed the nurses to give Zack an extra Hi-Potion and then to dismiss him from hospital. He was a First Class now, after all. His body had yet to discover the real meaning of 'GBH'.

So it was now Friday morning around nine-thirty and Zack had got little sleep. In just over an hour's time he would have to give Director Lazard a debriefing of events seeing as he evaded doing so last night. Right at that moment, however, he was on his way to the infirmary to visit Kunsel and he had to admit, he was glad to have Aerith clinging on his arm. She even had a basket of her home-grown flowers with her.

The destruction and havoc that had befallen Shinra had inevitably been reported by most news networks – even the shitty ones that tended to make stories up – and Aerith had happened to catch one of these late night reports. She said she'd had a 'weird feeling', like she should turn on the TV. It didn't really surprise Zack. She was strange and cool like that.

Once Aerith had watched just a few minutes of the report, however, she had called Zack repeatedly until he was able to answer, which was around six in the morning. He told her everything that happened, including how guilty he felt about badly protecting a cadet placed under his instruction. Hopefully Cloud had not suffered anything serious.

They eventually made it to the correct floor and entered the small infirmary lobby. Unlike the rest of Shinra, the floor was a polished bronze colour instead of blue and the walls were white; decorated with hanging paintings of flowers, one full-length painting of Sephiroth (inspired by cubism) and a large profile painting of Rufus Shinra himself above the help desk. It always reminded Zack of their neighbouring country, which allegedly kept pictures of their Queen in classrooms and military workplaces.

The same nurse Zack had met last night was at the desk. She was tired and hugging a mug of warm coffee under her chin. Zack noticed the mug was decorated with dancing moogles.

"Hello again," she said standing up and trying to sound cheerful. She gave a little bow, her mug still in hand.

"Hey there, Miss Sakamoto!" said Zack. "I can't believe you're still awake." She gave a sleepy smile and held up her mug slightly so it touched her nose.

"Intense coffee," she whispered. "I almost wish I was helping to tend to the injured again. Maybe I'd be able to stay awake better." With a sigh, she meekly tucked a few loose brown bangs behind her ear and squeezed the bun on the back of her head. "So, how can I help you, sir?" She politely gave Aerith a smile too. "And ma'am."

"Aw c'mon Sakamoto, you've not forgotten my name already have you?"

The nurse chuckled and shook her head. "You're too loud to forget, Zack. And please, Maaya is fine."

Aerith leaned on the counter then, her eyes wide. "Can you tell us which ward Second Class SOLDER Kunsel is on please?" she asked.

Still hugging her mug, the young woman squinted at her computer and typed in his name. "I misplaced my glasses," she mumbled. Soon straightening up though, she said with a kind smile, "He's on the Left Wing."

"And er..." began Zack. He paused to clear his throat. "Can you tell me where Cadet Cloud Strife is?"

Maaya giggled and told them Cloud was on the same ward as Kunsel, a silly smile stuck on her face.

"What?" asked Zack with a sly, playful grin.

"Ah, we had some trouble with Cloud around four A.M. this morning." She paused to giggle again. "He thought he was in an alien laboratory or something! Maybe he's just sensitive to mako – er – I mean! Maybe he's a little eccentric – right...now..." She nervously glanced around and lowered her mug from her chin. "I wasn't meant to say that," she whispered.

Zack glanced at Aerith and caught her eye. Why was Cloud being given mako? He was a cadet and clearly not as physically strong as SOLDIERs. How could his body handle mako yet?

"I'm sure you weren't," said Zack. "Why's he being given mako?" he asked anyway.

The girl bit her lip. "I don't really know," she said. "Hojo said something about Cloud being a special patient with interesting blood properties that couldn't be ignored – for the good of Shinra! So..."

"I see..." Zack had never liked Hojo – always muttering under his breath about power and 'the perfect specimen' – but he had never distrusted his work before. The man was a genius. But Zack was suddenly less sure if it was safe to have Hojo around. He spared the nurse further questions she probably couldn't answer however, and picked up Aerith's flower basket which she had temporarily placed on the desk. He was tempted to go visit Cloud before Kunsel now. "Well, we better go see our friends!" he cried.

"Oh, um, Zack... Bear in mind," Maaya said gently, "Cloud isn't fairing too well. We think he has minor brain trauma but we can't truly tell to what extent right now. I'm Sorry."

Zack's face went numb and he nodded accordingly.

"Thank you," said Aerith, taking Zack's hand.

The two of them strode towards the left glass door by the desk with LEFT WING etched into it, and Aerith hit the button that made it slide open with a compressed hiss.

Inside, the place was very clean and softly illuminated with slightly blue tinted lights. Beds on either side of the long corridor were almost all occupied with casualties; their bed sheets embellished with the Shinra logo. Zack's boots squeaked on the floor and he couldn't help feeling satisfied with every sticky-sounding-step he made.

There was a soft murmur of talk from various patients and from somewhere in the room an aircon was purring – like a lulling background noise against the medical equipment.

Half way along and they finally found Kunsel's bed, while opposite him, across the walkway, was Cloud. Zack dithered between the two, knowing he owed Kunsel as a friend to put him first. Aerith, indifferent, sat on the side of Kunsel's bed and flattened him with an awkward hug, professing how glad she was that he was OK. She even swiped the flower basket out of Zack's hand and absently began arranging them on his bedside table. Zack, however, hung back as she smothered him and waited to see if he could catch Cloud's eye – just to let the boy know he wasn't ignoring him and that he hadn't forgotten him.

Just as he was about to give up because Cloud's eyes were scrunched tightly shut in retaliation to a headache, the pale blond opened his eyes and met his gaze. Instead of smiling, Zack gasped slightly. His eyes were glowing bright blue! Had his eyes always been that blue?

He quickly assessed the glowing green drip bag by Cloud's bed.

When he finally made to smile at Cloud however, the boy gave him a strange, questioning look, and then rolled over. An icy chill rippled through Zack. Had Cloud just given him the cold shoulder? Did Cloud blame Zack for not recognising a bomber-droid quick enough? For flattening him?

He could barely dwell on the matter or over his bad character judgement, yet again, because Aerith had taken his hand and pulled him closer to Kunsel.

"Hey man," said Kunsel.

"How ya doin'?" Zack asked forcing a smile and tightly folding his arms.

"I shall never be the same!" Kunsel declared. "I am a war wounded martyr!" There was a short pause before they all exchanged a look and then laughed for a brief moment.

"I'm sure many will fall at your heroic feet," giggled Aerith.

"Until," added Zack, "I show them the photo on my PHS of Kunsel dressed in a pink summer dress!"

"What?" Kunsel almost yelled, leaping upright and then wincing greatly for it. Aerith's face lit up with a wicked grin.

"You're kidding! Show me, show me!"

"You said you deleted that!" said a very unhappy Kunsel as he sunk back into his pillows.

"You mean Zack's serious?" Aerith cried and Kunsel dropped his head into his hand.

With a bubbling laugh Zack grabbed Aerith's hands. "Nah, I won't show it to you – for Kunsel's sake – but it is pretty funny. However, have you noticed how Kunsel doesn't get utterly drunk around me anymore? This incident would be why!"

Groaning and laughing all at once, Aerith playfully shook Kunsel's leg. "Aw, is Zack's ability to handle liquor a little too much for you to compete with?"

"I hate you both," he muttered back blushing. His friends quietly chuckled when an angry voice behind them said curtly,

"Hey, would you mind not laughing so loud? It's bad enough that the aircon is so noisy. Thanks." Cloud rolled over again and Zack stared at the back of his head for a few moments more than was polite. Aerith kicked his shin and he returned to the current conversation.

Sadly, he only managed to stay engaged for maybe five more minutes before finding the nerve to say, "Hey, um, I feel like I should apologise to that guy over there." He gestured over his shoulder at Cloud.

"Why?" asked Kunsel. "We weren't that loud."

Zack shook his head and told Kunsel about the explosion that had injured them both. "He's nice enough and he's only a cadet," Zack added.

As nonchalantly as possible, Kunsel flicked his fingers at him to indicate he didn't mind. Zack grimaced when his back was turned, still unsure how to help Kunsel see him as only a friend.

With his hands in his back pockets and shoulders hunched, Zack towered over Cloud's bedside and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Hey Cloud, I er, I really want to apologise for how hurt you got." Cloud began turning over to face him. "I should have been listening better anyway, and then I might have heard the bomber as it entered the room. But I'll – I'll remember that now. Listen out – always be aware! Maybe you'll remember it too, eh?" Zack grinned as genuinely and as happily as he could. "Ahead of your class maybe? That was some serious skill you showed!" His enormous grin faded a little. "You'll, like, when you're better I mean, you'll have to try going against me in the training room. Think you can handle it?"

A small smile touched Cloud's mouth.

"I mean, you did survive a bomb – but don't think I'll go easy on you!" Zack babbled on, feeling like an idiot. He was unnerved by the bizarre expression on Cloud's face. He scratched behind his ear and decided another apology might do the trick. "But yeah, I'm sorry, Cloud."

"Yeah, you were with me... I don't think it was your fault," Cloud whispered. "Hey, I feel really bad to ask this, but, what's your name again?"

A fresh bout of hot and cold swamped Zack from head to foot.

"I know your face, but er," Cloud gave a nervous laugh, "you're name is evading me right now."

Swallowing against a dry throat, Zack managed to croak his name.

"Ah, Zack! Yes..." Cloud smiled sweetly but nothing new animated his eyes. "Um, it would be nice if you kept talking normally," he said. "Everything is so loud in here that it's really hurting my head."

Everyone and everything, in Zack's opinion, were barely above a whisper. Zack then noticed how Cloud was squinting against the light.

"Enhanced senses, huh?" Zack whispered.

"Enhanced senses? Who?"

Zack shook his head and laughed politely. "Ah, nothing. I spoke out loud without meaning to."

"Oh."

From behind him Zack heard Kunsel say perhaps louder than he'd meant, "I'm serious about him."

As he heard Kunsel say this while looking indirectly at Cloud's face, Zack admitted to himself that he really did like Cloud. He didn't want Kunsel at all unless as a friend. But what did he say? What did he do? He had a lot of questions but to ask them didn't seem very polite, especially when Cloud was ill.

Scratching his cheek, Zack decided he had to ask the most important question at least. "Cloud, can I ask... You do know me, right? I mean really?"

A blush crept over Cloud's face and he thought about it. "Hazily," he said at last.

"Better than nothing," Zack murmured. With a sad smile, Zack saluted him with two fingers and whispered goodbye. Aerith and Kunsel turned to greet him, his sad smile fixed in place, but Zack held up a finger to say he would be back in a minute.

He felt very heavy inside and he needed a short while to think.

Strolling down the ward, thumbs in his belt loops, Zack stared at the floor. The only question in his head was, 'What did Cloud remember?' and as he thought about all the small encounters that Cloud might've forgotten, Zack felt more upset.

When he came near to the toilets at the end of the ward, Zack finally looked at one of the beds he passed and stopped short.

In the last bed was someone he recognised, someone young and... Cloud's friend Soshi! The boy's face was sickly pale and thin, probably from substantial blood loss, and his breathing was shallow. In Zack's almost professional opinion, it didn't look like full bag of Hi-Potions could help him now. Zack took a deep, stuttering breath and then started walking back down the long corridor, eyes on Cloud's bed.

At least Cloud didn't blame him.

Author's comment: Oh noses! Severe concussion + mako = doooom!

P.S. I swear this isn't some cop-out-amnesia story...