While in freefall, Cloud managed to squirm free of his heavy sword and emergency packs, knowing they would only weight him down. He had time to take a single deep breath before the icy water hit him like a wall, driving air from his lungs and tossing him around like a rag doll. Disoriented, Cloud opened his eyes, ignoring the stabbing needles of cold. He glimpsed the glitter of the sun through the water and shot towards it, breaking the surface of the river with a gasp.

"Zack!" he called, treading water as the current swept him along. There was no answer and his heart sank. With strong strokes, Cloud swam to the bank, scrambling up onto it and searching the frothing white ripples for signs of his friend. His teeth were chattering and he felt sluggishness starting to set in but he ignored it, trusting his mountain-bred body to survive until he could get to Zack.

A flash of shine caught his eye and Cloud ran to it, gasping for air, his legs protesting with every step. It was one of Zack's shoulder plates, and with a rush of choked emotion Cloud saw that it was still attached to its owner. He knelt beside his friend. Zack was lying half out of the water, his body caught on one of the jagged rocks that protruded from the bank, his face under the water. Cloud seized him under the arms and pulled with all his strength, the current tugging back as though it was trying to keep him. Cloud ground his teeth, digging in his heels and straining, finally falling back with Zack on top of him, free from the icy clutch of the river. He squirmed out from under the bigger man and knelt beside him. There was a bloody gash on one temple that must have knocked him out, and Cloud felt a chill in his heart when he saw how still Zack's face was, smooth and white as porcelain, lips tinged with blue.

"No, no, no," he heard someone saying, and distantly thought it strange how panicked the voice sounded until he realized it came from him. Panicking isn't doing any good, Cloud, he told himself, even though his heart was pounding hard enough that he heard it in his ears and felt it in his throat. He pressed an ear to Zack's chest and then his nose and mouth, but felt and heard nothing. "Gaia, if you take him I swear I will find a way to kick your ass," he muttered as he tilted Zack's head back a little and opened his mouth.

Lacing his fingers together, Cloud pressed down hard on Zack's sternum in time with his own pounding heart, again and again. He counted to thirty, then paused, moving up press his lips to Zack's open mouth. Had it not been a matter of life and death, Cloud might have been embarrassed about what he was doing, but that thought was the furthest from his mind as he blew air into Zack's lungs.

"Come on, you asshole," he growled, pumping his friend's chest again. "You told me it took a lot to kill you, you fucking bastard, so breathe!" He repeated the cycle again and again, feeling his throat choke up. "I fucking love you, Zack, don't you dare do this to me I'll come to the Lifestream and kick your ass into next week I swear I'll do it fucking breathe asshole who else is going to tell shitty jokes and tease General Sephiroth and tickle me Gaia damn you Zack—" The words were pouring from his mouth like a mantra, but Cloud hardly realized it, hardly realized that tears were pouring down his cheeks until they splashed onto Zack's still face and then as he was moving to breathe into his lungs again, finally, finally, the SOLDIER made a coughing sound, jerking to the side and choking out a stream of river water.

Cloud let out a sob of relief, wiping one of his soaking sleeves across his nose, not even caring that it was now covered in snot. Zack's eyes had cracked open and his mouth was working, like he was trying to speak. Cloud put his ear to the SOLDIER's mouth but couldn't make out the slurred words. He felt Zack's cold fingers on his face, clumsily wiping away tears before the brunet's eyes closed again and he seemed to slip into unconsciousness. Cloud felt for his pulse and was relieved to feel his heart beating, but the shallowness of Zack's breathing worried him. He recognized the symptoms of hypothermia immediately and couldn't think of a worse place for them to be at the moment—freezing and soaked, with no way to communicate.

Again, Cloud looped his arms under Zack's and started to drag him, glancing over a shoulder at the cave mouths they had seen while hiking up towards the falls. The caves couldn't be more than a hundred feet away, but hauling Zack's dead weight was painfully slow going. Cloud gasped for air, his muscles cramping with the effort of pulling his friend, and not for the first time, he cursed his small size. Halfway to the caves he caught sight of one of their emergency packs that he had thrown away during the fall and hoisted it over one shoulder, relieved that it seemed to be mostly dry.

They reached the mouth of one of the caves and Cloud offered a quick prayer to Gaia, hoping nothing was already living in the cave. He was in no shape to fight even the most timid of creatures at the moment. With failing strength, he managed to drag Zack's body through the drifting snow and into the cave, depositing him on the earthen floor. Then, as quickly as his fumbling fingers would allow, he packed the snow and nearby rocks up around the entrance in a wall as high as he could reach for insulation. In the dimness of the cave he started clumsily pulling off his soaked clothes, tossing them in a pile and then doing the same to Zack, a process that took much longer. The man was still unconscious, but his lips had less of a purple tint, and he was breathing.

Naked as an infant and still freezing, Cloud dug in the pack he'd picked up and pulled out the emergency blanket and a small towel. As best he could, he dried Zack's body off and then his own, far too cold still to feel embarrassment or shyness about their nakedness. Cloud huddled against Zack's chest and covered them both with emergency blanket, resting his head over Zack's heart, listening to its comforting rhythmic thumping.

"We'll probably die here," he told his friend's unconscious form quietly. "I have no idea where the others are. Either the terrorists will find us and kill us or we'll die from exposure." Cloud was too tired to feel alarmed by the prospect of death. He knew, deep in his mind, that sleeping was a terrible idea, but his eyelids were so heavy they wouldn't stay open. "I said that I loved you," he murmured to Zack, and lulled by the beating heart under his head, Cloud drifted off.


Someone was shaking him, shaking him so hard it hurt. "Stop," Cloud managed to mumble, burrowing closer to the warm body under him.

"Cadet Strife, I am ordering you to wake up!" came a thundering voice. Out of habit more than desire, Cloud's eyes popped open. He blinked away the fog that was clouding his brain and looked up to see General Sephiroth peering into his face.

"General, sir," Cloud tried to say, but he felt like his mouth was full of marbles.

"It's all right, don't speak until you're able," the general said, and Cloud nodded, managing to pull his sluggish body into a sitting position, noticing for the first time that Sephiroth, though unmussed, was covered in blood.

"Blood," Cloud managed.

"It's not mine," Sephiroth reassured him. He fumbled with his materia bracer and after a second, a ball of flame appeared in one hand, radiating warmth.

Cloud gave his head a shake, trying to clear it. "We fell," he told the general, finally able to form words. "They had proximity bombs, and we set one off. Zack was fighting, and he stepped back off the cliff. We fell down the waterfall and into the river." He turned to Zack, leaning down to check his breathing. It was less shallow than before and his body was warm to the touch: a good sign. A thought occurred. "How did you find us?"

"I saw your flare," Sephiroth said, "so I made my way to where it was set off. The terrorists tried to stop me, of course, but they were no match. When I came to the waterfall, I heard the men there laughing about two enemies falling over the edge. I searched up and down the river when I saw that sticking out of the water." He gestured towards Zack's Buster sword, which was leaning against the cave wall, frosted with ice. "I followed your footprints here."

"Did you kill them all? The terrorists, I mean?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "I cleared out the camp, but there were far too few people for it to be the entire group, and Jian Tsai was nowhere to be seen."

Cloud closed his eyes in defeat. "I'm sorry, sir. They must have run when we gave away our position."

Sephiroth studied him, green eyes bright. "I wonder," he said finally. "I believe they knew we were coming. Right before you sent up the flare I encountered a group of scouts. Not a one seemed surprised to see me. And these mountains are so deserted that placing proximity mines seems like unnecessary paranoia to me."

Cloud pondered this. "Where are the lieutenants?"

"I believe they are dead. Not far from the camp I found Ryan's remains and…this." Sephiroth reached into a pocket and withdrew a heavy silver ring stamped with a design that looked like a flowering vine. "This was Nygard's ring. It was still on his finger. All I found of him was his hand."

Cloud shuddered. He was sorry about Nygard; he'd liked the lieutenant, but Ryan's death brought him a feeling of relief, which made him feel slightly queasy. "Are you sure Nygard's dead?"

"Dead, captured, or…" Sephiroth paused. "A mole. It would explain why the terrorists knew we were coming."

At that moment, Zack stirred a little and Cloud turned to check his breathing again. His color was better now. "I think he'll be all right, now that you're here, sir."

Sephiroth's green eyes held something akin to softness. "I…would have missed Zackary. You have my gratitude for helping him."

Cloud blushed. "He would have done the same for me…though I don't think he knows how to treat hypothermia. We're just lucky I wasn't the one who was knocked out."

The general cocked a brow. "He was unconscious when you found him?"

Cloud swallowed, closing his eyes briefly. "He was…dead."

"Tell me what happened," Sephiroth prompted gently.

Cloud bit his lip. "When we fell, I threw away my sword and the emergency packs. I don't know how I avoided the rocks, but I swam to the bank and searched for Zack." He looked down at his shaking hands. "He must have hit a rock when he fell. A normal person would have smashed their skull, but I guess it just knocked him out. When I found him he was wrapped around a rock, his head underwater. I pulled him out, but he wasn't breathing, so I gave him CPR. He coughed up the water, but passed out again. That can happen with hypothermia. I dragged him here to get him warm."

"You carried him yourself?" Sephiroth sounded surprised.

"Yes, sir."

The general regarded him. "For someone of your…stature, that is surprising. I am impressed, Cadet Strife, and I do not impress easily."

Cloud blushed harder with pleasure. "T-thank you, sir. I'm…honored." And a bit insulted that the general himself just called me a shrimp.

"Try to wake Zack. We need to leave as soon as he is able."

Cloud shook the SOLDIER's shoulder gently. "Zack? Wake up." Zack gave a groan, but he stirred, opening his glowing violet eyes.

"Spiky?" His eyes flickered over Cloud and he frowned. "Why are you naked?"

Until then, Cloud had forgotten his nakedness, and Sephiroth had neglected to mention it. Now, the cadet turned bright red, pulling the emergency blanket up around his chest. "I—you—we—well—"

Zack blinked at him. "Why am I naked? Did we have sex?" His eyes grew wide. "Oh gods, did we have sex?"

Cloud gaped at him, unable to form words. "Stop talking," he finally managed. It felt like his face would melt off and he was itching to wrap the blanket around himself, but that would expose Zack.

Sephiroth cleared his throat then, and Zack finally seemed to realize his surroundings. "Where are we? Seph, what are you doing here?" He frowned. "We…fell, didn't we?"

Cloud nodded. "Into the river. You got hypothermia. This is the only way I had to get you warm!" he cried defensively.

Zack grinned at him, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "I guess I should just shut up and say thanks for saving me, right?"

"Right," Sephiroth said dryly. Still holding the fireball, he moved to where Cloud had piled their clothes. "Your clothes are mostly dry. Get dressed, and we'll see about getting back to Midgar."

Zack opened his mouth, but Sephiroth spoke again before he could start asking questions. "I will fill you in later, Zackary. We're going back." He doused the fireball. "I will call for an airship." The general stepped out of the cave mouth, turning his back to give them privacy. Zack looked at Cloud.

"You can go first. I promise I won't peek." To prove his point, he shut his eyes, and Cloud gingerly got to his feet, sore from sleeping straight on the hard rock floor. His fingers were still a bit clumsy but he managed to pull on his clothes, tossing the remaining ones to Zack, who had sat up and was probing at the cut on his temple.

"Don't touch that," Cloud admonished, turning his back while Zack dressed.

"I feel like shit," the older man complained.

"Of course you do," Cloud snapped, surprised at how angry he felt. He normally appreciated Zack's lightheartedness.

Zack raised his eyebrows. Cloud's back, facing him, was rigid. "You okay, Chocobo-head?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm fine," Cloud bit out, stalking out of the cave to join Sephiroth.

Zack shook his head, wondering what he had done to piss off the cadet, and followed, still unsteady on his feet.

The trip back to Midgar was tense and uncomfortable, with Cloud taciturn and motion sick. Zack listened as Sephiroth filled him in on the ecoterrorist group's movements, but he too was uncharacteristically quiet.

When they had been checked over by Shinra doctors—Zack had a mild concussion, but otherwise they were given clean bills of health—the SOLDIER pulled Cloud aside.

"What's wrong?" he asked, keeping his voice low. Cloud refused to look at him.

"Nothing," the blond sighed. "I'm—I'm just tired, okay? I need to get back to the barracks and get some rest."

"Okay, if you're sure," Zack said, watching the boy leave. He rubbed his forehead, trying to alleviate the ache that plagued it.

Sephiroth approached him. "He'll be fine. He's had an enormous shock."

"Well, yeah, but I told him it might be dangerous. I figured he'd be able to handle it; he's such a tough little guy."

"He pulled your dead body out of a river, Zackary."

"What? I'm not dead!"

"You were," Sephiroth told him. "According to Strife. He had to give you CPR. I imagine he's feeling somewhat overwhelmed."

Zack stared at his friend and general, shocked. "Why didn't he tell me? I had no idea. The doctors said I might have memory loss from the concussion, but…"

"Give him some time," Sephiroth advised. "Come to my office when you've rested a bit and we'll talk more about the terrorists' movements."