Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and all of the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.

Okay, Chapter 10, the last and final chapter for this story, the grand finale. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I also hope that you all have enjoyed this story as well. This chapter does have a lot of action in it. It's also based off of FF7:Last Order, but there's a few scenes that's new. Oh, and I promise that there are no permanent main character deaths either. Anyways, please leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. Please enjoy.

On the Run for Freedom

Chapter 10

The two young heroes continue trudging through the woods together. It's night time now that the sun already set and has been replaced by the moon and stars. Zack can't help but notice that Cloud's very pale and sweaty. While listening to Cloud's hard and labored breaths, Zack finds himself feeling deeply concerned about his younger friend. Cloud seemed to be getting better just before they left the cabin this morning, but now his condition appears to have worsened since then. Before they left the safety of the cabin, Cloud just looked a little tired and was making different sounds. He even managed to say Zack's name while he was checking his vital signs. However, now he's breathing heavily due to the fact that they've been on the move all day with hardly any breaks because Zack knows that they're being followed.

Zack suddenly stops when he starts to lose his grip on Cloud. "Whoops," is his simple reply as he quickly regains a firm grip on his friend. "Sorry about that." Zack looks over at him when he hears a soft whimper that's barely audible, he instantly realizes that it came from Cloud. Zack sighs when his eyes meet Cloud's mako glazed ones. The ex-SOLDIER's expression saddens some with the feeling of guilt when he notices Cloud slightly look up at him as if he is silently begging Zack to let him stop and rest for a few minutes. In a soft voice, he sighs before answering, "I want to let you rest, but unfortunately we don't have time for that right now." He really does want to let his friend take a break, but he knows that they can't stop now.

They continue walking forward when Zack hears fast paced footsteps running up behind them. While still holding onto his unresponsive friend, Zack draws his Buster Sword and swipes a Shin-Ra infantryman with it, cutting him in half at the torso. He quickly spins around and swipes another trooper who tried to attack them and dispatches him as well. Finding it difficult to fight while holding onto his younger friend, Zack is forced to let him go. Cloud slides down Zack's side and lands on his stomach on the brown dirt covered ground. Now that Cloud's lying down on the ground, the blonde takes this time to catch his breath.

The last infantryman holds his sword out in front of him, knowing that he's no match at all against Zack, he hesitates before charging at full speed. "Aahhh!"

The former SOLDIER is quick to act. He once again does a fatal sword swipe, leaving a gaping gash in the infantryman's lower abdomen trailing up to his neck, killing him instantly like the others.

After sheathing his sword, he marches over to Cloud as he sighs before saying, "Like some average grunts can take me down." Zack gently grabs Cloud and picks him up so that he can continue half-carrying him. Zack gives his friend a concerned look when he sees the blonde's head slump back down to where his chin is resting on his chest again. He continues looking over at him before he adds, "Right?"
Cloud doesn't answer or respond to his friend's words in any way, other than his half-opened eyes and now normal sounding breathing, he continues to be completely unresponsive. Of course, Zack isn't really expecting an answer.

Zack turns his head and slightly furrows his eyebrows after he hears another infantryman shout in the distance, "There they are!"

The ex-SOLDIER sighs before he states with annoyance, "They can't take a hint."

Zack tightens his grip on Cloud as he quickly runs straight ahead after seeing a small cliff about one-hundred yards away. Zack's grip slightly tightens a little more around his friend when he hears and sees several bullets flying past them. While racing towards the cliff, Zack taunts the infantrymen by shouting, "Stop wasting bullets! Like it'll hit me!"
The bullets continue flying past them as they finally make it to the cliff. Once they make it to the cliff, Zack jumps straight down with Cloud in tow. Concerned that his friend might get hurt on the landing, Zack quickly wraps an arm around his legs and scoops him up right before they land on the hard ground. After their landing, Zack unwraps his arm around his legs and positions Cloud to where he can half-carry him again before they continue running from their constant pursuers.

Zack soon finds themselves no longer surrounded by trees, but by large towering steel beams. Uncertain what this place is, he continues running. After hearing a soft whimper, he softly replies to his younger friend, "We're okay, we just gotta keep moving."

"Now!" Zack hears a loud voice command. After hearing that order, the ex-SOLDIER stops running after he sees a large number of Shin-Ra troops step out from behind most of the steel beams and completely surrounds them. Zack sighs when he discovers that they've been led into a trap. The troops are everywhere, there's even some that's standing on top of the beams, all of them have their assault rifles pointed at Zack and Cloud.

The former SOLDIER instantly unsheathes his Buster Sword and holds it horizontally in front of Cloud, doing his best to use it as a shield to protect his friend in case the troops attack. Taking a few steps back, Zack tells the infantrymen, "Geez, making a big fuss just over the two of us." After he stops walking backwards, he keeps his eyes locked on their enemies as he asks Cloud, "Well then...What should we do now?" As expected, Cloud doesn't make a sound, he keeps his head slumped over with his chin resting on his chest.

Zack looks over at Cloud and gives him a small smile as he thinks, 'Hmm, I've got an idea.'

The ex-SOLDIER releases his grip on his younger friend and gently sits him down to where he's between one of the large beams. He then takes his Buster Sword and plants it into the ground in front of the blonde, using a lot of his strength to do so. Now that Cloud's in a safer place, using lightning quick speeds, Zack dashes over to the nearest infantryman. Before the infantryman even gets a chance to react, everything suddenly fades to black for him when Zack punches him in the face.

A second infantryman aims his assault rifle at Zack and prepares to pull the trigger. However, the ex-SOLDIER quickly and easily takes him down by kicking him. The next thing that Zack knows, bullets start flying past him as he begins using numerous evasive maneuvers, causing him to easily dodge every single bullet that's being shot at him. His eyes slightly widen some when he sees a couple of the bullets almost hit him in the arm. He uses his super-human speed to cleverly dodge and roll at an angle which causes the not so clever infantrymen to shoot each other by accident, wiping out the majority of them.

The infantrymen's Captain immediately starts to get frustrated at the situation. "Hold your fire, we're shooting each other!" After seeing one of his men who's standing in front of him go down from being shot, he orders, "Engage the situation in close quarters combat!"

With that command, a large group of troops draw their swords and run up to Zack. The ex-SOLDIER is quick to act as everything becomes a flurry of super-human kicks and punches. The battle doesn't last long as he dispatches them with ease without a scratch.

Zack turns his head after hearing the sound of a vehicle in the distance. Seeing that it's two motorcycles, he dashes forward. 'I'll lead them away from Cloud, chances are they'll probably follow me,' he thinks to himself. He hates to leave Cloud behind, but it is only temporary.

Completely annoyed and frustrated at the entire situation, the Captain looks over at the two infantrymen on the motorcycles and shouts, "After him!" Both of the vehicles immediately speed after Zack. While looking around at the ground that's now completely littered with the bodies of almost all of his men, he thinks, 'There's a lot more of us than them. How does he keep wiping out our numbers so damn easily!'
The Captain stands on top of a hill as he watches the raven haired fugitive run away. "Heh." He soon turns his attention on the blonde fugitive before telling himself, "To think that he would leave his companion behind." He adds in a mocking tone, "SOLDIER 1st Class."

Cloud listens as the sounds of Zack's footsteps running in the opposite direction begin to fade away, taking the blonde's hope with him. Cloud becomes overwhelmed with numerous emotions as he thinks with slightly fragmented thoughts, 'Zack...leave? But...promised to...help. Abandoned..me? No, he promised.'

The Captain looks over at what's left of the troops who's still standing. Pointing at two of them, he commands, "You two."

Both of them immediately stands up straight as they say in unison, "Sir!"

"Over here right now and move this sword!"

"Yes, sir!" They both quickly jog over to Zack's Buster Sword that's shielding Cloud from them. They grunt as they try to pull it up out of the ground with no success.

The Captain then looks at the third and last trooper, who's a medic and shouts, "Aiken!"

Aiken slightly jumps when he hears his last name being called. "Yes, sir." He stands up completely straight.

"Tend to the wounded."

Aiken looks at the Captain as he informs, "They're all dead but four. Corvin, Ramirez, Coen, and Stone are unconscious and injured, but it's not too serious. I've already treated their wounds, sir."

"Then go and help them complete the mission." The Captain points towards the other two troops.

Following the Captain's orders, the young trooper quickly runs over to help his fellow comrades. His eyes widen when he sees the blonde fugitive up close. "Hey, wait. He looks familiar."

The Captain sighs and rolls his eyes before he replies in an annoyed tone, "He's a fugitive. Now, do as you're told."

Now getting suspicious, Aiken roughly pushes the two men who were trying to pull the Buster Sword out of the ground away and moves in front of Cloud. "Did it ever occur to you all that they're both wearing Shin-Ra SOLDIER 1st Class uniforms?"

The Captain and the other two men glare at Aiken with narrow eyes. The Captain stomps over to him and yells, "You're jeopardizing the mission! I gave you an order to help remove that sword!"

Aiken raises his hands up in defense as he calmly replies, "Sir, I'm just saying that something weird is going on here and I think that not everything is what it seems."

The older Captain looks at him with an angry glare, their faces inches apart. "You will step aside, medic."

The young infantryman medic stands strong and tall as he answers in a firm voice, "No, sir."

"I insist."

Aiken looks down and notices that the Captain is now pointing his assault rifle at him. The Captain knows that the assault rifle isn't loaded. Believing that the assault rifle is loaded and ready to fire, Aiken sadly looks down at the ground in defeat and steps aside.

The Captain gives him a cold smile as he replies, "Good choice. You're not so pathetic after all. That wasn't so hard now was it?" He looks at the other two troops and orders, "Both of you can carry on."

Aiken decides to check on his four wounded comrades. He sighs as he witnesses the remains of the dead troops join the Lifestream. After checking on his wounded fellow troops, he hears the sound of a motorcycle in the distance, followed by an incoming message on the radio. Due to the noise from the vehicle, he only hears part of the message on the radio inform, "Target has acquired a motorcycle vehicle." He turns around when he hears a couple of loud pained grunts behind him, allowing him to see his other two comrades fall dead to the ground after the raven-haired fugitive attacks them, leaving only the Captain and Aiken left that's alive and uninjured.

The Captain's eyes widen in fear as he comes across a sudden realization. "Y-you're Zack."

The ex-SOLDIER removes his sword with ease and spins it around a couple of times before he sheathes it on his back. He kneels down in front of Cloud and apologizes, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Cloud."

The Captain quickly reaches into his pocket and grabs a clip to reload his weapon. "Stop! I can't let you leave, Zack."

The former SOLDIER climbs to his feet and turns around to see an infantryman Captain standing behind him with his assault rifle pointed at him, preparing to pull the trigger. Zack's eyes widen in surprise when he hears a thud and the Captain falls to the ground, revealing an infantryman standing behind him. The trooper has an assault rifle and used the butt-end of it to knock out the Captain.

Aiken looks down at his unconscious officer and replies, "Sorry, sir." He looks up at Zack with wide eyes. "It's great to see you again, Colonel."

Zack looks at him with a puzzled expression on his face. He recognizes the young man's voice, but he just can't remember who he is for some reason.

The young medic notices Zack's puzzled look and can't help but smile. "Remember me?"

Zack doesn't answer, he continues to try and remember who this man is.

"It's me, sir, Tom Aiken," he says as he removes his helmet to reveal a young man with short light brown hair.

Zack's puzzled look fades away and gets replaced with a smile as he finally remembers this man. He remembers that Tom Aiken was one of the infantrymen that he trained and he also served under his command along with Cloud. Zack cheerfully laughs and smiles as he walks up to him and pats him on the back. "Well, it's great to see you too. Are you still a medic?"

"Yes, Colonel Fair."

Zack smiles and replies, "That's good." He softly chuckles before complimenting, "You've always been the best medic that I've ever come across."

Tom smiles at his former commanding officer. "Thank you, sir." Ever since Zack was presumed dead by the company, Tom hated taking orders from anyone else except Kunsel. The only high ranking officers that he liked working with and taking orders from was Zack and Kunsel because they've always treated their fellow comrades with respect. He can't believe that Zack and Cloud are still alive. Him and Kunsel have always told each other that they believe that they're alive because Shin-Ra has a bad habit of lying.

Zack's eyes widen some when he hears a helicopter in the distance.

Zack's former apprentice also hears the sound of a helicopter. He notices the uncomfortable look on Zack's face. Knowing that time is short and that Zack and Cloud need to leave, the young medic tells him, "You should leave, sir."

Zack looks at him, his eyes falls on the still unconscious Captain, then back up at Tom. "What about the Captain? When he wakes back up, what are you going to tell him?"

Tom lightly rubs the back of his neck before answering, "I'll tell him that he got knocked out by a monster and while I was fighting that monster to save him you both got away." He shakes his head and states, "Who knows, maybe he'll actually come to appreciate me a bit more after that."

Zack lets out a hardy chuckle and states, "Whoa, that sounds pretty convincing."

The medic gives Zack a concerned look when he suddenly hears the sound of the helicopter getting louder. He really wants to talk more with the man who was once his commanding officer because there is so many questions that he wants to ask him. However, he knows that it will be too dangerous for his past comrades to stay much longer.

"Sorry Tom, but we've gotta go." Zack quickly walks over and gently picks Cloud up.

While Zack's putting Cloud on the motorcycle, Tom worriedly says, "Wait, Colonel."

Zack turns and looks at his past apprentice as the medic informs him, "I heard that if Shin-Ra would fail to apprehend both of you, then they would set up posts outside of Midgar."

Zack furrows his eyebrows some as he asks, "Where?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I wasn't given that information about the exact location." Zack climbs onto the motorcycle while holding onto Cloud as Tom continues, "All I know is that they'll be waiting for you on the outskirts of Midgar with..." Tom suddenly stops talking and sadly looks down at the ground.

"Tom?"

"With a thousand men," he completes his warning, his voice tinged with worry and concern.

"How did you come across this information?"

"Major Kunsel told me before I left headquarters. He made me swear to tell you, sir."

Zack nods his head at the medic's words as he wraps Cloud's arm around his waist and firmly grips his wrist. "I see." He looks at Tom and asks, "How is Kunsel?"

"He's fine but he's really worried about you and Private Strife, sir." He looks back up at Zack with a worried expression on his face and says, "Please be careful, sir."

The ex-SOLDIER gives Tom a smile full of reassurance and confidence. "Don't worry about us, buddy. We'll be alright." Once Zack sees the bright lights from the approaching helicopter, he has no choice but to speed away.

They soon find their way to the main road, Zack keeps heading straight because he knows that Midgar is in this direction.

"Ngh," Cloud moans in a tone that sounds angry.

Zack slightly raises an eyebrow when he hears his friend's moan. He sighs when he suddenly feels Cloud's body tense up. He knows that's Cloud's way of expressing anger in his condition. He decides to ask anyway to make sure, "Are you mad?"

Just as Zack asked that question, Cloud lets out a low growl through closed lips. Yes, he's definitely mad at Zack for leaving him earlier.

Zack keeps his eyes locked on the road in front of him. "Hey, don't be angry with me. You know that I would never leave a friend behind."

Without warning, a bright light shines down on them. Zack turns his head to catch a glimpse of a helicopter with Gun and Rude inside of it following them. 'They were buggin' me earlier just before I permanently borrowed this motorcycle after I left Cloud,' he thinks to himself. He speeds up after he sees a tunnel up ahead. "See ya later!" he taunts with a smirk as he speeds into the underground tunnel. Now that they've lost them for a while hopefully, they can finally focus on just one thing; getting to Midgar alive. A few minutes later, the tunnel ends.

After driving on this road for a couple of hours, their vehicle slowly comes to a stop. Glancing at the meter, Zack realizes that they're out of gas. With an annoyed moan, he recalls, "Wow, first our motorcycle that Cissnei gave us got blown up, then our boat got destroyed and sank, now we finally got us another nice motorcycle...and it's out of gas." He turns his head and looks at his friend. "Cloud, I'm really starting to think that fate just doesn't want us to have a vehicle."

He climbs off of the motorcycle and grabs Cloud. "I guess we'll just have to walk the rest of the way." Annoyed at the motorcycle for running out of gas before they reached Midgar, Zack roughly kicks it which puts a large dent in it.

Zack begins walking on the side of the road while half-carrying Cloud. It's not long at all until Cloud starts breathing heavy again. The former infantryman begins to let out soft groans as he struggles to take steps and his feet begin to drag across the ground some in between steps. His feet and his legs are so sore from being on the run from early morning to late at night. He feels like he may have reached a breaking point because he feels as if he's about to pass out at any second. He manages to weakly bury the side of his face into Zack's shoulder and lets out soft and weak whimpers. Zack slightly tightens his grip on him before he tells him in a compassionate tone, "Hold on, Cloud." His younger best friend weakly nuzzles his shoulder in response. He'll continue doing his best to 'hold on' because he needs to for his best friend and Zack has also told him to.

They were only walking for about ten minutes when a large tan colored truck suddenly stops beside them to see if they need help. "Hey, you boys need a lift?"

The ex-SOLDIER can't help but smile after hearing the man's offer because he feels tired from doing so much walking and fighting from early morning to late evening.

Zack turns his head to see a middle-aged man sitting in the driver's seat. "Yeah." He walks over to the passenger window and asks, "Are you going to Midgar?"

To Zack's relief, the driver nods before answering, "Sure am." His eyes falls on Cloud. "What's wrong with him?"

Zack looks down at his friend. Zack's smile fades away when he sees how exhausted the former infantryman looks. Cloud's mostly leaning on him and he's still breathing heavy. He turns his attention back on the driver. "He's sick."

A look of concern finds its way on the driver's face before he finally says, "I'll take you boys there. Hop in the back."

"Thank you, sir." Zack smiles as he walks towards the back of the truck. He gives his friend a big smile before telling him, "We finally got a ride." He scoops up his friend and leaps into the back of the truck.

Cloud softly grunts when Zack sits him down in the back of the truck.

Zack unsheathes his Buster Sword and lays it down beside him as he sits down beside his younger friend. He smiles when he sees that the truck is moving now. "It feels really nice to actually sit back and relax, huh Cloud?"

"Ungh," Cloud grunts when he feels Zack grab him and gently pull him close to him.

The former SOLDIER kindly smiles down at his friend. "You're not still mad at me are ya, buddy?"

The ex-infantryman wishes that he can come out and apologize by talking. He doesn't like getting mad at Zack and he can never bring himself to stay angry with him for too long. Cloud gazes up at him with glazed over eyes before he slowly turns his head some and gently nuzzles the side of his face into his older friend's chest, doing his best to use body language instead of words.

Of course, Zack's been around him long enough to understand what his friend means and he accepts his apology. He gives his friend a cheerful smile and wraps his arms around Cloud as he replies with his own apology, "I'm sorry too, okay? I know that I shouldn't have left you like that and I promise that it won't happen again."

Cloud manages to give Zack a small smile to show him that he also accepts his apology, causing Zack to return an even bigger smile of his own.

After hearing his and Cloud's stomach growl, Zack turns his head in the driver's direction and asks, "Hey, do you have any food or water up there?"

The driver reaches over and grabs a small lunchbox that's sitting beside him in the empty passenger seat. "Yeah, here!" he shouts as he opens the window in the back of the truck. Turning the lunchbox sideways to fit between the bars, he hands it over to Zack.

"Thanks." Zack gives him a thankful smile as he grabs the box. He eagerly sits it down in front of him and opens it up to view the contents inside. "An orange and an unopened bottle of water," he informs his friend. "Hey Cloud," he looks at the former infantryman as he continues to ask, "You like oranges right?"

Cloud remains silent as he continues to stare downwards with unblinking eyes.

Zack gently pats him on the shoulder as he asks in a kind voice, "Cloud?" Zack can't help but smile when he sees Cloud finally blink his eyes a few times after hearing his name. He decides to ask again, "Do you like oranges?"

Through closed lips, Cloud replies the only way that he's able to, "Mmm." Yeah, he likes oranges. He's clueless as to how to eat one right now because he can't chew in his current condition. Well, Zack will think of something, he always does.

Zack lets out a soft laugh before telling his best friend, "Yeah, that's right." He rubs his stomach as he mimics what Cloud said, "Mmm," he stops rubbing his stomach before adding, "oranges are good."

After peeling the orange, the ex-SOLDIER lets out a soft chuckle as he positions Cloud to where the back of the blonde's head is resting on his chest. "Whew, you're heavy." He chuckles again before adding, "I'm just kidding, man. You're not heavy, you're actually a little bit smaller than me," he gently pats his friend on the chest as he continues, "but not by much."
After squeezing out the seeds and biting off and consuming the end, Zack holds an orange slice up to Cloud's mouth and orders, "Hey Cloud, open wide."

Cloud manages to slightly part his lips, but for some reason he finds it difficult to part his teeth. Zack leans over some and notices that Cloud's trying to cooperate with him, but is clearly too weak to.

"Oh, hold on," the former SOLDIER says as he reaches down and gently grabs his friend's bottom jaw, attempting to help him open his mouth so that he can feed him. Having no success at trying to open the blonde's mouth that way, Zack decides to try another tactic. Of course, he could've gotten his mouth opened that way if he applied more force, but the last thing that he wants to do is hurt him. He releases Cloud's jaw before telling him, "I'm just gonna try and get your mouth open, okay? Please don't bite me." The former SOLDIER begins to gently push two of his fingers in the blonde's mouth to try to pry his teeth open. Unsure of what Zack's doing, Cloud begins to weakly shake his head back and forth.

"It's okay," he tells him, trying to calm him down some. After a few seconds, Zack removes his fingers once he manages to part his teeth and open his mouth. Now that Cloud's mouth is open, Zack holds the orange slice up to his lips. He knows that Cloud can't eat the actual orange, but he can still drink the sweet juicy nectar inside. After Cloud gets done drinking that, Zack eats the rest of the orange slice. They continue doing that until the orange is gone. The ex-SOLDIER grabs the water bottle and tells his younger best friend, "Here. You can use some water." Cloud immediately takes a few gulps of water before Zack suddenly pulls the water bottle away from him to remind the blonde, "Don't drink so fast, okay? You'll make yourself sick." After several normal drinks of water, it doesn't take long at all for Cloud to fall asleep in Zack's arms. Zack smiles at him as he gently lays him down on his side. The ex-SOLDIER lays down beside him as his eyelids begin to feel heavy from feeling so tired.

Zack soon rolls over on his side, bumping Cloud's arm by accident. "Sorry, buddy," he apologizes. Zack soon realizes something, 'Hmm, hang on. He feels a little bit cold.' He wraps an arm around his friend's stomach from behind and gently pulls him close to help keep him warm. Zack can't help but find it odd at how Cloud didn't make a sound when he pulled him close. When Zack does that, Cloud usually grunts or something.
Zack soon begins to feel concerned when he doesn't feel the blonde's stomach move up and down while breathing. The older man quickly sits up and looks down at his friend, his eyes are closed and he's not moving. He looks like he's sleeping. The ex-SOLDIER maneuvers his hand past Cloud's arm and gently places it on his friend's chest, feeling for a heartbeat.

Zack's mouth drops open and his eyes widen in sheer terror when he's unable to find a heartbeat. Rolling the blonde over on his back, Zack begins to pat Cloud on the sides of his face as he says in a loud voice, "Cloud, can you hear me? I need you to wake up." He soon grabs him by the shoulders and begins to gently yet firmly shake him. Despite Zack's efforts, Cloud remains completely motionless. He knows what to do, but he needs for Cloud to be lying on a hard and flat surface and the back of this truck is not flat.

Zack turns his head towards the driver. "Hey, pull over!" He begins pounding his fist on the truck close to the back window.

The driver turns his head and shouts back, "Why?"

While holding onto his friend's lifeless body, he shouts, "Just stop the truck!"

Feeling that this is an urgent situation, the driver slams on the brakes, sending dirt flying around the tires.

Zack scoops up Cloud and leaps out of the truck before it even comes to a complete stop. Seeing Zack carrying Cloud with a horrified look on his face, the driver asks, "What happened?"

Zack swallows hard, barely managing to fight back the urge to burst out crying, he answers in a shaky voice, "He's...he's not breathing." Zack gently lays Cloud down flat on his back on the dirt covered ground on the side of the road about ten feet away from the truck. Although it's dark outside, he's still able to see due to his enhanced vision almost as if it were daylight.

Gently tilting the blonde's head back, Zack pinches the blonde's nostrils closed before he begins giving him CPR. Zack blows one full breath into Cloud's mouth, followed by another breath five seconds later. The ex-SOLDIER repeats the process several more times when Cloud shows no signs of breathing.

Since the driver doesn't know CPR, he sits down beside Zack during this time. He feels terrible that he's not able to help, but the young man next to him obviously knows what he's doing.

"Come on, Cloud," Zack orders in a loud voice as if he's trying to guide him back to him. He soon begins chest compressions. After about a minute or two of repeating the steps of CPR, to Zack's horror, Cloud's still not breathing. Tears begin to form in Zack's eyes as the feeling of devastating grief begins to set in. His tears begin stinging his eyes as they trail down his cheeks.

The driver's eyes widen in shock at what he's witnessing. While looking down at the blonde, although he's an adult, he looks like a young teenager. He's never seen anyone this young die before. The driver wipes his tears away after he realizes that he's crying.

Refusing to give up on his best friend, Zack continues giving him CPR. Despite all of Zack's attempts, Cloud still remains as lifeless as ever. While giving him more chest compressions, Zack shouts through his sobs, "Breathe Cloud! I'm not giving up on you, so don't you dare give up on me!"

The driver manages to snap out of his shock as he chokes out, "Young man?"

Zack continues giving Cloud CPR as if he didn't hear him.

"He's gone." He affectionately places his hand on Zack's shoulder.

While staying focused on Cloud, Zack quickly pushes his hand away before screaming, "No, he's not! I can save him! I will save him!"

The driver wipes away more of his own tears. "There's nothing more that you can do. Just let him rest."

Feeling his entire world shatter, crash, and fall through around him, Zack gently places his hands on the blonde's shoulders and rests his forehead on Cloud's chest as he continues sobbing so hard that he feels like he's going to pass out with each one. It feels like his soul is being torn out of his body with every single cry and sob that leaves him. His body continues trembling when he feels a gentle hand on his back.

"Is there anything that I can do?" the driver asks in a sympathetic tone.

Zack continues grieving over the loss of his best friend. After a long pause, he finally answers in a sad shaky voice, "If you can't bring him back...then no."

Thinking it's best to leave him alone right now, the driver slowly climbs to his feet. "I'm sorry. I'll be in the truck if you need anything." He returns to the truck.

Zack continues resting his forehead on Cloud's chest as he speaks to him through choked sobs, "You've always been so much more than just my comrade, Cloud. You're my best friend. I've always seen you as my little brother, sometimes, even more as a son." Zack moves his forehead up to Cloud's and gazes down at him through bloodshot eyes and blurred vision from crying so much. "It's not suppose to be like this. You're not suppose to die." He suddenly becomes overwhelmed with choked sobs again.

The ex-SOLDIER scoops him up in his arms and looks down at his best friend's lifeless body. He can't believe that this is happening. He has freed Cloud from the lab, carried him, protected him, and cared for him. Now, after five long years of fighting, the mako poisoning that over ran the inside of his body...has won. Zack gazes down at him and begins to gently rock back and forth, as if he's cradling his young son to sleep.

Zack soon lays Cloud back down on the ground after feeling the strong urge to keep trying to revive him. "Cloud, I'm begging you, please come back." He wipes away his tears before he adds, "Please don't leave me."

Zack tries giving him CPR again. After another attempt of breathing his life into him, Zack starts doing more chest compressions. After what feels like an eternity, Cloud finally draws in a deep breath before weakly coughing soon after. Zack's tears of grief instantly becomes tears of joy when he sees that Cloud's alive and breathing again. Zack keeps his eyes intently locked on Cloud as the blonde slowly opens his eyes to see two glowing blue eyes staring down at him, he almost instantly realizes that it's Zack.

A dazed look of confusion slowly finds its way on Cloud's face after noticing that Zack looks like he's been crying a lot. Why is he sad? What's going on? Did Cloud do something wrong? What happened? He remembers going to sleep and then he saw a bright light and he felt just about every positive emotion that there is. He also heard his mother's voice, like she was calling him home. Now everything is dark and green again.

Zack gently grabs Cloud and holds him close. He soon finds himself looking up at the starry night sky and saying in a grateful tone, "Thank you." A deep wave of relief suddenly washes over Zack as he continues holding his best friend in his arms. The ex-SOLDIER gives Cloud a big and cheerful smile, followed by a highly protective and gentle hug. "I love you, Cloud." He gently scoops him up in his arms and begins carrying him back to the truck. The driver is shocked to see that Cloud's alive. After getting back in the truck, they leave and continue heading for Midgar.

Okay, there's Chapter 10. I hope that you all like it and please review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. With this being the last and final chapter of this story, I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed throughout the story. I will go back and edit these chapters and try and fix them up a bit better. Thank you to everyone who reviewed all of the chapters and thank you to everyone who didn't leave as many reviews. I'm grateful to everyone who did review and read this story. Thank you. Hopefully the ending wasn't too dramatic, I know that it probably was but while I was typing this I thought that it could use some more drama. I guess that I also kinda wanted to show how Zack would act if something bad happened to his buddy, Cloud. Of course, I like Cloud and Zack along with the other FF7 characters a lot, so I could never have them die in any of my stories, not permanently anyways. And with the whole CPR process towards the end, I've never taken CPR classes and I'm no doctor. So with that part I was using a little first-aid booklet that I have that has the steps of CPR. I just thought I'd say that in case I messed up with the steps or something. Anyways thank you everyone who reviews, and/or took the time to read this. Thank you.