First off: I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry!!!!!! I know it's been a long time coming, but i've been really busy. No excuse, I know, but I got it done! Yay! Ok, Zach and Cloud finally do their thing, with just the two of them. Enjoy! Oh, and I don't own the songs that are featured.

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Zach wandered through the town, silent as a ghost, after having escaped the barn and the lively conversation that was now flowing between Angeal, Sephiroth, and Cloud. It was too…weird, to see his mentor here in the flesh. When he had been dragged out of the Lifestream, protesting violently, by Sephiroth, he had never expected to see Angeal again until they were back in the pulsing green stream. Now that he was here, on Aerith's orders nonetheless, he wasn't sure what to feel. The majority of his time in SOLDIER, he had been living underneath Angeal's shadow. Now he was a General, technically of higher rank then his old mentor, had been through more things then even Angeal had witnessed in the Wutai War, and had been fighting in his own war for the past year. He frowned, and kicked a stone, not even acknowledging the snow that was melting on his mako heated skin. He had used everything his mentor had taught him, and had become the hero that Angeal had wanted. So why did he feel like giving it all up? He wanted to put the mantle of General that Angeal had helped him earn, on the broad shoulders of his mentor. He didn't want to be a General anymore.

He stopped, and finally looked up into the sky, finally feeling the snow that was melting on his skin. His face was somber, an expression that was unusual on his face, staring up into the cloud covered sky. It was rare that he let his true feelings show on his face, since for as long as he could remember, he was always the happy one. He had always been the one who was behind those who said they couldn't do it, pushing them and caroling them, making them believe in themselves, with the force of his own belief. He had been fine in his role, until the day that Angeal had forced him to kill him. That day, when Angeal had pressed the hilt of the Buster Sword into his hand, telling him to keep his dreams, his dreams had died, and no one had known. Then Cloud had become a 1st, at long last, and he suddenly had something to live for. To see Sephiroth, the ever icy General, melt under just a gaze from Cloud, had given Zach some satisfaction. He had known, seeing how the General was slowly beginning to learn to be human, because of him and Cloud, that he was at least living a dream of Angeal's, and it had kept him going.

Growling, he tried to fight off the memories that were pressing for him to acknowledge them, leaning against a cold, wooden wall as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, hating the burn of tears in them. No matter how much he tried to deny them, images kept flashing in his mind. Angeal's body melting into green light, Cloud being run through with Masamune, Sephiroth falling into the burning pit of Lifestream, so far below. The tears finally fell as the images of Cloud flashed through his mind, interspersed with flashes of light off Hojo's glasses, and the never ending despair he had felt while they had been repeatedly tortured, experimented on, and anything else the damn scientist could do to them. Then the pain of bullets piercing his skin and organs, and then the peace that had suffused him when he had died. Peace, and a blinding sense of regret and despair, that he was leaving the one person on the Planet that had truly needed him. And it all came back to Angeal. His memory was what had kept Zach going, his face the one he would always see when the thoughts of suicide became overwhelming. Now he was back, and Zach had no idea what to feel, what to do.

He sat on the cold, snow covered ground, staring blankly at the ground between his knees. He knew what they needed to do, but they didn't have enough troops to warrant a full scale assault. Between the war with Wutai, then Meteor, and then the Geostigma, the Planet was worse for wear. When this war started, Rufus had done a census of the entire planet, trying to gauge how many troops they could expect. It had been pitiful, how many humans there were left on this rock. Maybe 500,000 people were left alive, and half of those were children. So 250,000 adults. Subtract the elderly, those disabled and unable to fight, and those that needed to take care of the children and protect the cities from the Creation Army, as it was dubbed by the average people, and they were left with roughly 10,000 people that could fight. Could, not would. Many people flocked to ShinRa when they heard Cloud was a General, and would be leading the armies, and thankfully ShinRa hadn't let it be known that it was Sephiroth, the great Silver General himself that had been the cause of Meteor. Many more people refused to fight when they heard that it was the ShinRa Company, back and reformed, that Cloud and Sephiroth were working for. Everyone was so caught up in the past deeds of Rufus's father, that no one even cared that Rufus had reformed the company to fight this new war, and the man was truly hell bent on making up for the past misdeeds of his company. At the beginning of the war, a little more then a year ago, they had roughly 8,000 troops, the Wutai Yuffie had managed to get accounted for. They were down to, at last count, 1,244 people willing to fight.

Roughly shoving his hands into his hair, Zach squeezed his eyes shut, breath hitching as he fought the tears. How many men had he not been able to save? How many times had he watched someone who had giving their loyalty and trust to him, bleed out onto already bloody ground? He chuckled humorlessly to himself, as he thought back to the brief time he was involved in the Wutai War. He had been blinded by ShinRa, SOLDIER, and his own desire to become a hero. He had never questioned his orders, ever. The Wutai were savages he had been told, that had killed countless of his fellow men in cold-blood. He had never been told the reason why the war had started, nor had he cared. He had been alive with the zeal of SOLDIER, the powerful mako that had burned in his system, making him what SOLDIER was truly about. In the end, none of it had mattered. He had seen his fellow warriors die next to him, and he believed they had died for the honor of SOLDIER, the honor that Angeal had always preached to him about. He didn't open his eyes when familiar footsteps stopped next to him.

"There is no honor in war, in SOLDIER," he said quietly, his voice ringing with his conviction. His sense of honor had died while he was in the Lifestream, and it had never come back. He only fought now because it was needed. Hojo and his creations would destroy the Planet, and everyone who fought knew that. He smiled slightly as Angeal sat against the building across from him, and he briefly raised his eyes, shocked once again at the purely physical presence of his mentor.

"What do you fight for, Zachary Fair?" Angeal asked quietly, and Zach closed his eyes, resting his forearms on his upraised knees.

"I fight for those who can't protect themselves," he began quietly, eyes still closed as images of his slain troops passed through his mind. "I fight because I have no choice."

"There is always a choice, Zach," was the reply, and he opened his eyes slightly, staring at the fine black hairs on his arms. "When everything went to hell after you and Sephiroth came back, you decided to fight for ShinRa. Why?"

"I don't fight for ShinRa," Zach said harshly, his voice laced with angry hatred. He snapped his mouth shut, breathing deeply to try and dispel the roiling emotions inside him. Angeal only sat there, with a patient expression on his face. "Truthfully, the only ones I'm fighting for are Cloud and Sephiroth. If we don't fight together, we'll lose in the end. Besides, if something happened to either one of them, I would never forgive myself. I would always think that if I had been there, I could have done something to save them. That is the reason why I fight. I don't want to see the two people I love the most die, because I was being a coward."

"No one would think you a coward if you chose not to fight, Zach," Angeal said mildly, and fought back a grin when Zach snapped his head up, glaring at him.

"I would! I am a SOLDIER, trained to fight since I was fourteen. You said yourself I was a natural," he pointed out, a bit of his mirth coming back with the last sentence. Angeal just waited as his eyes dulled again, and he went back to staring at his arms. "I left the Planet once with regrets. I don't want to do it again."

"What regrets?" Angeal said quietly. "You made sure Cloud stayed alive while you were with Hojo. You never gave into your own suicidal thoughts, knowing that Cloud was relying on your strength as well." Zach scoffed quietly, and Angeal frowned, sensing that his one-time student was drawing deeper into himself. "You saved me, you know. I had no desire to continue my life like I was. You saved Sephiroth's sanity, if not his body. You brought him Cloud, Zach. You. You made him realize that despite what had been done to him, he was human. It was you, your deeds and actions, that even allowed him to enter the Lifestream. That allowed the two of you to come back and save Cloud. What do you have to regret?"

"I killed you," Zach hissed, and Angeal blinked in surprise, almost flinching with the self-hatred in those three words. "I kept Cloud alive because I didn't want to be alone, and I was to much of a chicken shit to take my own life. I failed Sephiroth in Nibelheim, and I failed Cloud again when we escaped. I promised him we would make it to Midgar, make a life for the two of us. I died on him. It doesn't matter that I died protecting him. I still left him, when he was so fucking fragile from the time with Hojo. You ask me what I have to regret. You ask a very stupid question."

They sat there in silence for a couple minutes, before Angeal sighed, and stood, looking into the dawn sky.

"Then I'll go tell your fellow Generals not to expect you back," he said, and kept his face composed when Zach once again snapped his head up, glaring.

"No!", he said loudly, then shook his head, standing. "No, there's no reason for you to tell them that. Like I said, I will fight for them. I will do what I came back to do." Angeal smiled slightly.

"What did you come back for, Zachary?" he asked quietly, and actually blinked in fear as Zach turned cold, merciless, glowing eyes to him.

"I came back to save Cloud," he said calmly. "I will do that, even if it means sacrificing myself."

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"I will not ask what remains of our troops to fight," Cloud said quietly, and Sephiroth nodded his agreement.

"Even with us on their side, they probably wouldn't live, not with the almost 10,000 creations Hojo has stashed in the Crater," Kadaj said, from his seat between Glaci's paws. Everyone was gathered in the barn, since Vincent and Marlene had come back from Bone with the dawn.

"What do you propose then?" Vincent asked mildly. Cloud and Sephiroth only smiled.

"We confront Hojo ourselves," Sephiroth said, and the room instantly went silent.

"With only us?" Marlene queried, and paled when the two Generals nodded.

"As Zach said earlier," Cloud said, nodding towards the oddly silent Zach, who inclined his head in return. "With Angeal, we now have nine 1st Class SOLDIER's, and the three of us could probably end the world with the powers we now have. Vincent has Chaos, so he is equal, or higher then a 1st. We have our three animals, and each one of them has fearsome powers, and then there are the ones that escaped from Hojo on our side as well. I don't see why any of you would have a problem going in there with just us. Actually, it would work to our benefit, because we all know how hard each of us is to kill." His light joke was met with small smiles all around, before the atmosphere sobered again.

"It is a good idea," Glaci said suddenly, causing everyone to look at her. "There is no need to risk the normal humans lives. They would only be in the way."

"First things first," Angeal suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to him with waiting eyes. He stood, and walked through the seated people, scrutinizing them. The only ones who didn't flinch under that gaze were Genesis, Sephiroth, and Cloud. Even Zach twitched.

"Sleep and food for now," he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Sephiroth opened his mouth to protest, but closed it at the hard look he got. "Hojo needs time to wake up the other troops down there, and that is going to take awhile. Since you all look like starved dogs, you need to eat and sleep. Regain your strength while Hojo frantically runs around trying to get his numbers back up. It will be awhile before he attacks again, anyway. He suffered a great loss." Everyone nodded, and tension eased out of the group. They had all been expecting to jump right back into battle, and he gave harsh looks to Genesis and Sephiroth. This time, they both flinched under his gaze. "Everyone, go get food." Everyone rose, including the animals, but he caught the arms of Sephiroth and Genesis as they made to walk past him. They sighed, Zach chuckled slightly, and Cloud gave them a confused look before the three old friends finally had the barn to themselves. Swiftly, he smacked them both on the top of their heads. He smirked as they only rubbed the top of their heads, glaring at him. For a long time, he had been the only one who could do that, and survive. He had been the one to get them through some tough spots though. For all his analytical, logical nature, Sephiroth ranked right up there with Genesis in being hotheaded, when goaded enough. And Genesis knew how to goad the silver haired man.

"Did the suspension from life the two of you experienced do something to your brain?" he said mildly, and they both blinked. "Were you really planning on rushing back out there so soon?" He scrubbed his face with his hands when they both gave him a sheepish look.

"Seph, you saw Cloud. He's like a walking skeleton, and you and Zach are hardly any better," he scolded, making Sephiroth look down at himself critically, Genesis looking as well. "And Genesis." The red head twitched, giving Angeal puppy dog eyes in the hope his scolding would be lessened. Even after all this time, Angeal was immune to it. Between Zach and Genesis, he had gotten very adept at ignoring eyes like that. "You're a Protector. That doesn't mean just in battle. It's your job to make sure they make it to the Final Battle. How are they, or the other Protectors going to do that, if they don't take care of themselves? The four of you are almost as bad as the Generals. Did you two learn nothing in the Wutai War?" They finally blushed and looked down, and Angeal had to marvel at the changes in them. If he had dressed them down like that before, he would have gotten a coolly arrogant look from Sephiroth, and an angry, stubborn look from Genesis. But Sephiroth truly had learned what it was like to be human, faults and all, and Genesis had finally learned humility. Thank you Denzel, Angeal thought with a sigh.

"As much as everyone hates it, especially in a war, sometimes breaks are needed," he said quietly, and they both nodded, sighing. He grinned, raising his hands and patting them on the cheeks hard enough that it caused them both to glare at him. "Now, let's go see if we can empty the alcohol stores, shall we?" All three smirked, looking at each other, then walking out of the barn. It had been a long time since they had gotten drunk together.

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Cloud hadn't laughed so hard in his life. Not once had he ever seen his lover drunk. Never. Yet there he was, on the bar with Angeal and Genesis, the three of them taking turns singing the songs that randomly came over the jukebox. Sephiroth had yet to sing a song by himself, but he did join in on the chorus. From what Cloud could hear, as he took his ninth shot of the night, he had a really good voice. Each original 1st had already downed a fifth of liquor each, and were working on their seconds. Genesis finished the song Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake to cheers and screams from the gathered crowd. He bowed a little unsteadily, his now shoulder length hair sweeping around him. Cloud decided it was his chance, and he stood, walked over to the bar, and hopped on it. He took the mike from Sephiroth, and smirked at him as the crowd hushed, waiting to see what he would say. He looked straight at Zach, grinning from ear to ear.

"Your singing with me, Zachary," he said, and Zach groaned, even though he laughed and took the mike from Angeal. The three hopped down off the bar, until it was only Zach and Cloud, and he looked over to the man that was controlling the jukebox.

"Is there Andrew W.K. on there?" he asked, and after a moment, the man nodded. He smirked, and looked right at Zach. "We want fun." Zach grinned, and after a moment the happy beat started, the two men beginning to jump up and down on the bar, hair swinging wildly as they started yelling the lyrics. Soon most of the bar joined in, even if they didn't know the lyrics. They were drunk enough that they made up their own lyrics, except for one line. "We wanna have fun, and we wanna get wasted!" It set the theme for the night, and it wasn't until two hours later that everyone stumbled away from the bar, arms swung over each other as they sung snatches of the songs that were played. Sephiroth, Cloud, and Zach made it back to the barn, messily kissing each other in-between fits of laughter, but when the three fell on the bed, the intention of having a night of amazing drunken sex filling all three heads, they passed out instantly.

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"Ugh," Sephiroth said quietly, lying with his face pressed to the cold stone of the barn floor. He had forgotten what it was like to wake up with a hangover, and he remembered exactly why he had stopped drinking like that.

"Morning Sir," Angeal's voice rang out, and Sephiroth winced, opening one bloodshot eye to glare at his former subordinate. He had also forgotten that it was a Banora trait to be able to hold their liquor, and not get hangovers. He groaned again when Genesis joined Angeal, the two of them smirking down at him. Then Cloud came into view, arms crossed over his chest and trying to fight back a huge smile.

"Having problems, love?" Cloud asked, and Sephiroth managed to get one hand up, and flick off his lover, to laughter all around, that only made his head hurt worse. "Oh you poor baby." Cloud sat down cross-legged at his head, and gently pulled Sephiroth's head into his lap, running his fingers through the silver hair. A water bottle was pressed into his hand, and he knew by the fresh, spring smell that it was Zach that was now sitting next to him. He cracked an eye open, and looked at his fellow General, grinning slightly. Zach had his head in his palms, slowly rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"At least I'm not the only one," he muttered, his grin spreading when Zach glared at him from between his fingers. He took a small drink of the cold water, trying not to move his head to much, since Cloud's fingers were working magic for his headache. Then the smell of freshly cooked food came to him, and his stomach grumbled loudly. He immediately sat up, looking around for the source of the smell. He saw Denzel and Vincent both walking into the barn with trays piled with food, and he swallowed the drool that was threatening. He crossed his legs, keeping his eyes mostly shut until the barn door closed, cutting off the blinding sunlight that had streamed in. Cloud shifted until he was sitting next to him, and Zach did the same on his other side. The others ranged around the two trays of food, and as soon as everyone was settled, they dug in.

"Mmmm," Zach hummed, his head on Sephiroth's right thigh, eyes closed and face peaceful. Cloud had an identical look on his face, where his head was on the other thigh. Sephiroth reached for one of the last biscuits, and obligingly fed Cloud a piece when he opened his mouth. Eating the rest, Sephiroth allowed his eyes to close, the yeasty, fresh taste of the biscuit a perfect counterpart to the sweet coffee sitting before him.

"That was delicious," Denzel said, sprawled on his back with his arms behind his head. Genesis nodded, his body sprawled out as well, his head resting in the hollow of Denzel's hip. Angeal and Vincent only mumbled an agreement. Angeal was on his back too, looking like the perfect country boy with his hands under his head, and chewing on a piece of straw. Vincent was leaning back on his elbows, his red eyes barely open as they all rested in peaceful, stuffed silence.

"Thank you Angeal," Vincent spoke up, causing the man to raise his head in question. Vincent smiled slightly, yawning and revealing his sharp canines. "You had a good idea, making us slow down and take a break. I think we all needed it." Angeal only gave him a grin, something wicked lighting in his eyes as he glanced to Genesis.

"Hey Gen, you remember the first time you got drunk?" he said, and Genesis sat bolt upright, even as Sephiroth began to laugh.

"Don't you dare," Genesis growled warningly. Angeal gave him a lazy smirk, and looked at a curious Denzel.

"You want to hear it, right?" Denzel nodded, and Genesis huffed in acceptance, his face already bright red as he buried it in Denzel's chest.

"Oh it can't be that bad, hun," Denzel said, stroking the mostly black hair of Genesis. The man turned his burning face up, and scowled.

"Wanna bet?"

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"You…" Denzel tried to say something, but laughter kept bubbling up in his chest. He waved an apologetic hand at his lover, who was glaring at him with a smile tugging his lips. He got control of himself, and took a deep breath. "You got drunk, and decided it would be a good idea to scare the oh so straight Rufus ShinRa, by running into his office naked. But you got naked at the bar. Below the plate. Do I have this right?" Genesis nodded, before beginning to laugh too.

"It may not have been the best idea, but drunk or not I still remember the look on Rufus's face when I busted into his office. I think I told him something like 'I've been waiting for you', or something like that," Genesis admitted, now laughing just as hard as the rest.

"Man," Zach got out finally, his voice breathless. "That would have been a sight to see." Genesis gave him an amused look, smirking.

"At least it took me getting drunk to run through the Tower naked," he said, pointing a finger at Zach, who was bright red. "You ran though the Tower naked on a dare from Reno."

"Hey now, I got 300 gil for that!" Zach protested.

"Did you get gil for the time you decided to go monkey in the trees in Wutai?" Sephiroth said mildly, rubbing his arm and laughing when Zach punched him. "You made it through two vines before you grabbed a snake, thinking it was a vine. You completely freaked out."

"Hey Seph," Genesis said, looking slyly at Angeal. "Don't forget the time when our burly 1st here tried to learn ballet." Everything was silent as they all stared at Angeal, who was red down past the collar of his shirt, before everyone started laughing again.

"Don't forget the time when our great General here fell down the side of a mountain," Angeal said, grinning at the now chagrined Sephiroth. Cloud looked up at his lover, grinning.

"You have to tell that story," he said, and Sephiroth sighed, glaring at Angeal who was only smirking at him.

"I slipped on a rock, and went down, simple as that," he said, and Angeal shook his head.

"What he's not telling you is that he got scared from a rabbit jumping from its hole. He shrieked, pulled out his sword, and went tumbling down the mountain. By the time he reached the bottom, he looked like a woodland creature himself, covered in mud and sticks. What really made it funny was him trying to get out of the mud hole, while still trying to hold onto his dignity. You've never seen something funnier then Sephiroth trying to play it calm and cool while floundering around in the mud." Everyone got a good laugh out of that, and it slowly died down, smiles on everyone's faces as they looked around. Angeal sighed happily, and leaned back on his hands.

"I'm glad Aeris sent me back," he said quietly.

"I'm glad too," Zach said from his place on Sephiroth's thigh. Angeal looked at him and smiled slightly as everyone nodded their agreement. The rest of the day passed calmly for all of them, as did the couple days after that. Everyone put on the weight they had lost, and caught up on the sleep they had been missing. The end of the week got there, and Zach and Cloud found that they had spare time, with just the two of them. Sephiroth and Angeal were out observing the animals as they trained with each other, and the four Protectors were flying circuits around the Crater, looking for any sort of movement from Hojo. So it was, that Zach found Cloud in the loft, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, his right leg crossed over the other, foot tapping to a beat in the blonds head. He raised his head slightly to see who was walking towards him, and went back to relaxing when he saw it was Zach. The other man settled down next to him, and Cloud blinked at the warm hand that was lightly placed on his chest. He looked over at Zach, and felt desire coiling in his body at the lazy look his was getting.

"Did I ever tell you," Zach began, pinching the zipper in his fingers, and slowly dragging it down Cloud's chest, revealing the scarred expanse slowly. "How fucking sexy I think you are?" Cloud only smiled, and swiftly plunged his hands into the thick black hair, bringing their lips together for a scorching kiss. In the midst of the kiss, he shifted their bodies until he was pressed between Zach's legs, their lips having never left the others. Cloud pulled back, and smiled lazily down at Zach, running a thumb over the swollen, moist lips. He smoothed his palms down the black t-shirt Zach was wearing, and grabbing the bottom, he lifted it over his head, with a little help. Zach lay back down on the hard wood floor, and repressed a shiver as the blazing blue eyes roamed over the expanse of his chest. He did shiver when gentle lips were placed over one of the bad scars that went across his ribs, lightly running his fingers through the blond spikes, his shoulders, anywhere he could touch. Somehow, with his mind being overrun with pleasure, he was able to get Cloud's shirt off his upper body. After that, all he could do was lie there as Cloud placed his hands on narrow his hips, and his lips and tongue continued to trace the network of old and new scars that covered the majority of his body. His back arched slightly as he hissed, Cloud lightly scraping his nails over his ribs, his lips pulling and tugging on Zach's nipples.

Cloud had to grin at the small, helpless noises of pleasure he was getting from Zach, each noise shooting through him and straight to his groin, erect and straining against the fly of his jeans. He brought his head up when one of those noises sounded like a sob, and his face softened as he saw the tears coming from Zach's eyes. He placed his hands on Zach's face, rubbing the tears away with his thumbs. His eyes opened slightly, and Cloud smiled at him.

"Why the tears?" he asked quietly, and instead of turning his face away like Cloud thought would happen, he opened his eyes fully, letting the blond see the anguish that was burning in those violet eyes.

"I came back for you," Zach whispered, and Cloud frowned slightly. "Now I'm being told that you have to die to save the world. If that's the case, then the world can go to hell. I'm not letting you die." His voice was harsh, and Cloud smiled sadly, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Zach, I don't plan on dying that easily," he said, and pressed a finger to his lips when Zach opened his mouth to say something. "But if it's going to happen that way, I'm not going to let anyone else die trying to save me from a fate that no one can change." Zach reached up and brought his head down for a desperate kiss.

"I'm not going to let you die," he whispered, and before Cloud could say something, Zach was kissing him again, the salty taste of his tears mixing with the pure, earthy taste of Zach. Their movements became frantic, as they quickly stripped the other of the last bit of clothing, and Zach gasped, arching his back as Cloud slid two fingers inside of him, digging his nails into his shoulders. Cloud pressed kisses to his neck and chest, moving his fingers gently in and out, stretching the man below him. He found that spot, and Zach cried out, blood being drawn where Zach dug his nails in.

"Please Cloud," Zach gasped out, and Cloud kissed him hard, hitting that spot again as his own tears began to fill his eyes. This was different then any other time, for both of them. They knew, with the Final Battle looming so close, that this was probably the last, and only time they would ever be together, just the two of them. As Cloud slid into Zach, making the other man cry out in pain and relief, everything that they had been through together seemed to pass through their minds. The strokes were gentle as Cloud lay himself down on top of Zach, the other man wrapping his arms around him, holding them together as the pressure slowly built for the two of them. No words were said, no sounds made as they kissed each other with gentle desperation, Zach's hands smoothing down his back, tracing each scar and remembering the times when the blond had gotten them. Cloud was doing the same, feeling the knots of some of the worst scars along his ribs, remembering the memories they had shared of when Zach had gotten them. One last thrust and it sent them both over the edge, shuddering against each other as their tears continued to fall silently. Cloud slowly pulled out, and laid himself next to Zach, who promptly rolled over and laid his head on Cloud's chest, draping an arm over too. Cloud idly played with the black spikes, staring blankly up at the ceiling as sleep began to drag him down. The last thing he heard was Zach whispering 'I love you.'

Zach extracted himself from a deeply sleeping Cloud, and knelt at his side, staring down at the lithe blond. He smiled slightly, pulling a blanket over him as he stood, and gathered his clothing. Putting them on, his eyes never really left Cloud. He couldn't understand how he had accepted his death so easily. He stopped for a moment, his t-shirt half way over his head, as a memory came to him. Lying on his back, feeling the cool rain on his pain filled, bullet ridden body, seeing a much younger version of Cloud kneeling over him. He had felt regret yes, that he was leaving Cloud to manage on his own, but he had been peaceful, knowing that it had been him that got Cloud free. He, Zachary Fair, had kept his honor in the end.

He scowled and pulled the shirt completely over his head, sitting down and tugging on his boots, automatically tucking his pants into the boots. Standing, he gave one last look to the naked blond, before turning and walking away, going down the ladder quickly. He walked out into the twilight, ignoring the snow that was falling once again, wrapping his arms around himself, even though he wasn't actually cold. When he finally found Sephiroth, the tears were falling down his face again, and his eyes were cold, panic stricken. He stopped a little behind Sephiroth and Angeal, where they ignored him for a few moments while they spoke to Maya and Opal. The two animals fell completely silent, their eyes trained on the shaking Zach, filled with concern. The two men turned, and their eyes widened in surprised at the normally bouncy, happy Zach, looking exactly like he had the first time he had come back from Wutai, after his first kill.

"Zach?" Sephiroth said quietly, but made no move towards him, and neither did Angeal. They knew from his stance that he wouldn't welcome the comfort.

"How are we going to save Cloud?" Zach asked, his voice quiet. Understanding and pain filled both pairs of eyes, and Sephiroth crossed his own arms, raising his eyes to the sky.

"I don't know Zach," he said quietly, looking down and meeting the violet eyes that were staring at him with a desperate hope. What could he say though? He had no clue how to save his lover from the destiny that he had been born with. He fought down the tears in his own eyes. When he thought about it, the entire situation looked hopeless, and he couldn't think of any scenario where they could save Cloud. He let his thoughts be known, and the hope died in Zach's eyes, turning them cold and merciless. "I really don't know."

Zach unfolded his arms, and felt the cold steel enter his body as he stared at Sephiroth, actually making the mighty General flinch and avert his eyes.

"I refuse to let him die, Sephiroth," he said, his voice as cold as the snow falling around them. He then turned, and walked away. He needed to talk to the three Anima's.