We are just really getting into these chapters now. But either way, thanks for the reviews so far! We wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you guys!

Chapter 21

Shortly after Cissnei had left, the doctors came back into the room. Originally Zack thought to question how Tseng was able to get so many people here as an undercover operation, but then he remembered it was better not to question things like that. He knew the Turks had their ways of doing things that would seem impossible to someone else.

The doctors began to explain what would happen next for Zack and how the arm would work. It was a little more complicated than he though, but he still did his best to listen. What he could gather though was that the arm had special wires that would attach to his muscles and nervous system. That in turn would connect it to his brain and process it as if it were his real arm.

Though the only hard part about that was, he would have to work on training his mind to use it, as it would still take time to adjust. His brain would see it as his arm, but it would still register as something new to his body. Zack understood and found himself ready to face the new challenges of working with the arm. No matter what, Zack was rather excited to see what it was going to look like.

Sadly the arm wasn't ready, as no one actually expected this to have happened to Zack, but they were right on top of it as soon as they knew. It was going to take a few days for it to be made, but until then Zack was told as much as he needed to know about it. Now all he had to do was wait.

Hours later there was a knock on his door and it creaked opened slightly. "Zack?"

Zack smiled, seeing the familiar blond hair. "Hey Cloud, you can come in."

Cloud shuffled in, keeping his eyes to the floor. He made his way over to the chair that was next to the bed and sat down.

"So how are you doing Cloud? Sorry they couldn't let you see me sooner, but hey everything's going good at least."

Cloud nodded, barely lifting his head up. "That's good at least."

Zack analyzed how Cloud wasn't even trying to look at him. Carefully Zack shifted himself to sit up better in bed and scooted closer to the edge. "Hey buddy, is something wrong? Or did something happen?"

Cloud still refused to look up, still looking worried and distant.

"Come on, you can talk to me. Look at me, Spike," Zack said softly.

After a long exhale, Cloud finally look up. "But that's what worries me. It's seeing… you know… that." Cloud's eyes shifted over to Zack's right shoulder was, where nothing was.

"Ah… yeah it is still a bit weird to see it gone. Thankfully no phantom pains or anything… at least right now. Knock on wood for that. They said it would take a couple of days though until the arm as ready. Man, I can't wait to see it!"

"How… How can you be so excited, Zack? You lost your arm…" Cloud replied before shuddering.

Zack reached out his left hand and placed it onto Cloud's head. "Hey, it's not that bad, could've been a lot worse."

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

Zack still saw the worried etched into Cloud's face, though it did make him wonder. He knew that Cloud couldn't remember the fight due to blacking out. He couldn't remember that he was the one that caused Zack's arm to be lost, but it seemed maybe subconsciously he knew. It could have been that, or just Cloud was straight up worried.

Zack was starting to feel it could have been a mix of the two things. Cloud was truly worried for his best friend, but also deep down there were buried thoughts in his mind telling him that he was to blame for this. With a sigh Zack pulled Cloud into a hug, with what he had. He had to hope that those memories never resurface in Cloud.

"It's okay. What matters is that we're both alive. We made it to Midgar, and everything is going to be fine." Zack moved his hand to stroke Cloud's back.

"Zack…" Cloud murmured, sounding relaxed in Zack's hold.

"Remember how we agreed to be brothers? That still holds even now, and as the big brother it's my job to make sure that you are doing okay. If you have anything to tell me, you can always do it now. We got plenty of time anyways."

Cloud breathed out slowly as he continued to lay against Zack's chest. He listened carefully to the steady heartbeat and breathing from Zack, so calming and steady. All of the tension and worries that had knotted up in Cloud unwound the longer he lied there.

After a few minutes passed with the two of them sitting in silence, Cloud couldn't hold back the truth anymore. "I… I had a nightmare last night, and I actually remembered it this time…"

"Oh, I'm sorry Cloud. I wish I could have been there, but you know the surgery and stuff…" Zack replied quietly.

He had protected Cloud from all of his nightmares before, but now he missed one. It left him feeling a bit guilty inside even though he knew it was out of his control. He wanted to keep Cloud as safe as he could, wanting to make that he would recover soundly. The only thing that Zack was glad about was that it hadn't let Cloud into blacking out.

"Since Tseng isn't back yet, I can't ask him if they did anything about the mako in Cloud. I am sure he still has too much of it in him… It can't be good for his mind."

Finally Zack brought up the question that he knew that he had to ask. "What was it about?"

Cloud did a series of deep breaths, most likely trying to find the courage to explain what had tormented his mind. "We were in the battle with the Infantrymen… outside of Midgar, but it was different. I was stuck. Like I couldn't move, I felt like my legs were stone."

Zack could feel Cloud shudder within his hold, and he knew right away were this was leading. He continued to rub Cloud's back at least, hoping that it would help the boy get through it.

"You were fighting alone… fighting them, all of them, on your own. Sometimes bullets actually hit you… but you kept fighting. There was so much blood…"

Cloud gave another shudder before he gripped Zack's shirt tightly. Tears raced down his face, soaking into the fabric. He had tried his hardest to hold back the emotions, but now they seemed through the cracks and Zack was now exposed to the raw feelings Cloud wanted to hide away.

"You continued to fight, but you were getting tired. Eventually more men came in, and you kept getting hit. Then…" Cloud choked on a sob, trying to force out his words as fast as he could. "You finally were at your limit a-and… they g-got you. R-Right through your heart and then head… and so much more blood. I couldn't even scream for you. Nothing worked for me, but then they saw me… and were ready to shoot. Th-That's when I woke up."

Zack stopped rubbed Cloud's back and went to holding him as best he could. It was hard with only one arm, and Zack was desperately wishing he had his other right now. He wanted to hold Cloud as tightly as possible.

Zack felt completely awful after hearing that. As far as the two of them knew, Cloud had never remembered any other nightmare before, but even with that none of them seemed as bad as this. Zack felt his gut twist back and forth as he held his trembling friend in his arms, the friend who was so shaken from one bad dream.

"Dammit… why out of any night that he has a nightmare, it has to be the night when I wasn't there for him. I should have known he would have been shaken from that. I should have been there for him, should have had him near me."

Zack shook his head a moment later. "Stop it Zack, you can't blame yourself for things that you wouldn't know would happen. Yeah sure I know he has had nightmares before, but…"

A long and drawn out sigh left Zack. He couldn't argue with himself now, he had to focus on Cloud. That was the most important thing, not whether or not he could have been there last night. "I'm so sorry Cloud that you dreamt that, but it is just a dream. I know it probably felt real, and it was probably scary, but you can see I am alive like I said before."

"I know… but I was afraid… afraid I'd wake up to find you had died. Then I'd be alone and…"

"Shh…" Zack hushed Cloud gently.

He didn't want to think too deeply on it before, but he was certain now that Cloud was going to have some severe PTSD. Heck, even he was going to have some after all of this, but Cloud was going to have more of a struggle. He had been hurt far more than any boy should have been, and that made Zack want to help all the more.

"Cloud, you need to breathe. Just keep reminding yourself that it was only a nightmare and I am right here. You hear my heartbeat right?"

Zack waited a bit before Cloud slowly nodded.

"Yeah, you see? That proves your nightmare wrong," Zack said before moving his hair to Cloud's hair. He began to ruffle the soft fluff that was Cloud's hair. "You aren't going to be alone Cloud. I said it before and I'll say it again, we are brothers now, and I am going to protect my little brother as best as I can."

"Thanks Zack, but I guess I must be pretty pathetic… a sobbing mess at six… I mean seven, no… I guess twenty-one. I keep forgetting about that."

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. People cry all the time, no matter the age. It's just natural," Zack replied.

Cloud nodded again. "Thanks again Zack… I honestly don't know what I would do without you."

Zack smiled, glad he had gotten through to Cloud. "Of course, you're welcome. And hey maybe we can ask them to bring in a bed to the room here so you can be near. So if something happens again, you can wake me and let me know, okay?"

Cloud finally was able to push himself up and sit back up. He nodded while smile. "Yeah, that sounds good. Seriously Zack, thank you. I know I just keep repeating it, but I mean it."

"No problem little bro," Zack said cheerfully as he ruffled Cloud's hair once more.

With everyone working hard at it, the arm only took about three days to complete, and it was finally ready to be attached to Zack. It ended up not being anything crazy or grand, but it was cool enough to satisfy him. It was a sleek silver color for the entirety of the arm. As soon as the doctors had connected it to his side, he could already sense the signals his brain was trying to send the arm.

He narrowed his eyes as he concentrated on it, and slowly the fingers began to twitch. "Whoa, that is pretty cool."

"Yeah, that is really cool," Cloud added, who was watching in amazement.

Tseng came into the room a moment later, giving a small smile when he saw the slight movement. "Of course you would be adjusting to this so easily."

"Hey, I gotta start sooner than later," Zack replied as he continued working on moving the fingers. He was listening to what he was told and was starting simple. As much as he wanted to start moving his arm in full he had to start with the fingers then move to the entire hand and so on.

"Indeed," Tseng replied. "I am sure you will get used to it in no time."

"So was there something you needed Tseng? Besides obviously coming to visit little old me?" Zack chuckled as he continued to work on moving his fingers.

"Yes, I came to check on your progress, but also to tell you that you have a visitor."

Zack tilted his head to the side. "Huh? A visitor? I already saw Cissnei a few days ago… who could come here to see me? I thought others weren't allowed in here besides you guys?"

Tseng smiled and stepped aside, letting someone else step into the room. One first glance Zack wasn't sure who he was looking at. The man looked to be around Zack's age and had light skin. His hair was a dirty blond color and was cut short, but it was long enough to be slightly windswept in various directions. Aside from that, Zack could also tell that the man had brown eyes and maybe just a few freckles over his face.

From a quick glance, he noticed the man was clad in a decent amount of black clothing. He sported a pair of black pants that looked like slacks, with a pair of light brown shoes at the bottom. Above that, he was wearing a tight, black jacket that had a few pockets on either side. Under that was a burgundy-colored turtleneck, which resembled the ones that Shinra troops would wear as well; furthermore, that would mean that the man could possibly be a 2nd class SOLDIER. Either that, or he just liked the color.

Zack stared long and hard, searching through all of his interactions with everyone he met before, but nothing was coming to him. He tilted his head again, feeling a bit puzzled that he couldn't figure it out. "I don't get it… who's this guy?"

The man smiled before he started to laugh. "I know you've been gone for a few years, but don't tell me I'm that forgetful. Or maybe you still have the shortest attention span I've ever known."

That was all it took for Zack to put the pieces together. There was no way he could forget that voice, or that attitude.

With a large smile, he jumped off the bed, thankful now that he no longer was hooked up to IVs and other wires. He ran right up to the man and threw his arms around him. "Kunsel!"

Zack didn't even realize that he had caused his new arm to fully complete the hug. He didn't care at that moment that he was supposed to be going slow with it. He just wanted to hug his friend as best as he could.

Kunsel laughed again before he gave a hug in return. "It's good to finally see you again Zack. Oh Gaia, you don't know how glad I am to see you again. I am glad you made it."

"Same. Sorry I never answered your emails… I didn't want you to get dragged into my mess," Zack whispered.

"Well, it's too late for that, I already did," Kunsel said before he finally let go of Zack.

Zack let go as well, letting hi new arm fall down to side. He stared with wide eyes at Kunsel, wondering if he had heard him correctly. "What? But how did-"

Kunsel stopped Zack by holding up a hand. "Come on, Zack. You know me. I always have my ways about getting the information I want when I want it. I knew something was up and that you were clearly alive when Shinra said you weren't. So I did what I do best and dug in deep for the information. I already knew Shinra was up to no good for a long time, and now I have done enough that it wasn't safe for me to be there anymore."

"Kunsel…" Zack said, his expression faltering slightly. "What happened? Like what did you do?"

"First, stop worrying so much, Zack. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I am fine with it. I wanted to make sure that you would be okay and that you could make it alive."

"But that's so risky! You could have gotten into much deeper trouble… or you could have gotten hurt. You really shouldn't have done so much for me…"

"Zack, I know you think the weight of the world is on your shoulders, but having friends help out is no problem."

"I know, but like… I just want to know what you did that got you into trouble. How much were you risking?" Zack asked softly.

"First off, I haven't gotten into any trouble. I left before I could. Second, I did as much searching into trying to find you and made some progress. I knew you had close ties with the Turks, so I was able to get in touch and gave them all that I knew about Shinra and what was going on with you."

Zack looked over to Tseng as if for verification, to which the man nodded his head. "That's correct. The information that we did not already have at least."

"Yeah, and after I did that, I dug around everywhere trying to find anything else. Didn't care about security or anything else. Just wanted you to not die," Kunsel continued.

After a brief pause, he continued. "But I knew that I would be found out one way or another. And if Shinra treated you, their last big time 1st class SOLDIER, the way they did, I could only imagine how expendable any of the rest of us were. So after I did all I could, I left."

"But… you didn't-"

"Just stop Zack. It doesn't matter. You're here, I'm here, and for now we're safe. I'm happy to see you alive buddy."

Zack took a deep breath after being interrupted by Kunsel. If there was one thing he learned in all the years he had known the man, he knew that he was just as stubborn as he was. He relaxed slightly and then spoke back up. "All right then. I won't complain. But thanks, man. You're a lifesaver. Literally."

Kunsel almost started to laugh. "Wow, that's a bad joke. Even for you."

"I had to try something," Zack laughed.

"So, your friend Cloud was the other one that you escaped with?" Kunsel asked, looking behind Zack.

Zack turned around to see Cloud quietly sitting there, not really knowing what to do. Zack felt a bit bad that he almost forgot that he was even there. Seeing Kunsel again was something that was a total surprise for Zack, and it really had caught him off guard.

Either way he nodded back to Kunsel. "Yeah, we were the only two…" Zack trailed off as he let the memories flicker in his mind. It was only for a moment, and then he shook then away. "No matter what though, we made it together."

Kunsel waved to Cloud and gave him a friendly smile. "It's nice to finally meet you, Cloud. I remember Zack telling me about you."

"Huh? Really? Zack… talked about me before?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, he was excited to, as I quote 'have a friend who is a backwater boy like me'. I was worried that I would be in competition for best friend, but I suppose backwater friends are a whole other level."

Cloud stared for a moment, not knowing how to respond at first until he felt himself slowly start to laugh. "Yeah, I guess you can say that," he muttered out as he continued to chuckle. It was the first time he had been able to laugh properly in a while, but it felt good.

"Hey! I can have more than one best friend!" Zack shouted. "Doesn't matter if they are backwater or not. I care about each and every one of my friends."

Zack smiled greatly as he spoke those words. They couldn't be more true and he truly did feel great about it. He hadn't felt this happy in months now, so the warmth he was feeling in his chest was truly something to cherish.

Hey, Kunsel is alive! Yay. We thought about bringing him in since he was such a good friend to Zack. Thanks for reading!