Author's Note: So, instead of Cloud arriving and immediately going into the plot, I decided to give them time to establish themselves and heal up.
Also, bringing in Sonon Kuskabe because I liked the character.
This is also on AO3.
Arrival
It's a miracle that Cloud fully wakes up as they approach Midgar. He's shaky on his feet, but he's awake.
"Zack? What's happening?" His voice is quiet and Zack hugs him. "Zack?"
"It's okay, Cloud. You and me are going to go into business together!"
"Huh?" Cloud blinked and then stared at his hands. "Zack?" He asked as he looked at what he was wearing.
"Right, don't freak out, I had to change your clothes. Heck of a way to get a field promotion." Zack leads them into the slums. "Okay, if anyone asks, the two of us are both ex-Soldier first class turned mercenaries, okay?"
"Okay, but Zack … I … I don't remember… much."
"And we'll sort it out, I promise, we're partners. Ah, miss? Which Sector are we in?"
"Sector 5." The resident stared at them.
"Thank you!" Zack pulled Cloud after him.
Elmyra was not pleased to see him.
"I know I need to grovel to Aerith, I swear, I didn't mean to ignore her and- Aerith!" Zack almost knocked Cloud over as she opened the door. "I am so sorry! I can explain-! Whoa!"
Cloud had stumbled and Zack caught him.
"I'm okay, just … double vision." Cloud managed.
"Here." Aerith pulled out a chair. "You can explain over dinner."
"Right! So, after you called me, things started to go downhill. Genesis was at the reactor going all 'I'm a monster and you Sephiroth are a bigger monster' and Sephiroth holed himself up in a library for a week. When he emerged, he burnt down Nibleheim and killed pretty much everyone." He gripped Cloud's shoulder. "It … it was bad. I went after Sephiroth and Cloud followed. I almost had him, but Sephiroth blindsided me. Cloud beat him as an infantry man, but was badly injured. I thought the Calvary arrived, but … Hojo was interested in Cloud being unenhanced and beating Sephiroth. So he started experimenting on us. I came to in a mako tank, and I was able to break out and get Cloud out. Thing is, I thought I was only trapped a short while. A year at most. I was able to help Genesis stop being crazy after he had a guy eat my hair, don't ask, it was weird, and then I got your letter and learned it was more than one year. I am so sorry!"
"I guess I can forgive you." Aerith smiled.
"And what of your pursuers?" Elmyra asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. I kinda couldn't think past coming here to apologize to Aerith." Zack admitted.
"We're thinking of being mercenaries." Cloud offered, softly.
"Well, I can get you started on some rep. Captured or not, you still have to spend time with me." Aerith informed him.
"Deal. Probably should get you some gear Cloud, and a place for us to sleep." Zack realized.
"We have a guest room!"
"Just until you find a place." Elmyra crossed her arms.
"Deal. Okay, Cloud, you rest up, I'll get a couple jobs and get you some gear!"
"I…" Cloud looked down.
"Yeah, I know you just woke up, but you could use some sleep that wasn't Mako Catatonia. I promise, I'm not abandoning you."
"Would've been the smart thing …"
"No, that would have been the ShinRa thing. You and me are sticking together. I'm thinking Fair and Strife Mercenary Services!" Zack waved his arms as if he was hanging a banner.
There was a snort from Elmyra.
"Might want to drop the mercenary part. Or the services part." Aerith grinned.
"Fair and Strife Services then." Zack grinned. "For good and bad times. It's a perfect fit!"
"I guess?"
"Do you not want to? I realize I haven't really been asking if you want to?" Zack had just been telling Cloud what to do since he came to.
"I do, I just … don't know how much help I'll be … I…" Cloud looked at his hands.
"You're a little rusty, Cloud, you're not broken, you and I can both recover. I'll train you. We'll be okay, we just have to work at talking… I may have been pretending you could talk to me for a bit."
"I think I remember that." Cloud blinked. "Something about food?"
"Yeah. That was one of them." Zack smiled. "Anyway, you actually rest up, I'll get the gear, and tomorrow you and I find jobs and a place to live. Sound like a plan?"
"Yeah. It does." Cloud agreed.
Elmyra had her misgivings, she had watched Aerith cry her eyes out over her missing soldier.
But at the same time, Cloud was clearly a victim.
Within moments of falling asleep, the boy had a nightmare, crying out for his mother. Elmyra had hesitated and the boy had come back downstairs to sit at the table.
Like Aerith had as a child, he would curl up or hide his face when he felt uncomfortable.
"Too early to properly sleep, I suppose, help me with the dishes."
Cloud very cautiously approached, listening to her instructions.
Things went fine for a minute, and then he picked up a dish and a knife popped up, the tip of the blade pointed at her.
"Mom!" Elmyra nearly had her breath stolen as Cloud pulled her away from the sink. He was shaking.
Battle Shock. She had seen her share of Vets react- loud noises, glints of light off of metal, and sometimes even smell could set them off into a vision of the past or just a plain panic attack.
All you could do was reassure them.
"I'm sorry, I… did I hurt you?" Cloud seemed to come back to his senses.
"No, you just startled me. I'm ok." She moved him to sit down. "It was your home that was destroyed, wasn't it? Your mother?"
"Dead, she was stabbed… she died." He didn't sound like he wanted to believe that. "I couldn't save her."
"It happens, you can't always save the ones you love, you will fail sometimes, it will feel awful, but you can pick yourself up and do better next time." Elmyra softened. Cloud hadn't been a soldier until they forced the change on him. "How old are you, Cloud?"
"I … I don't know. I turned sixteen before we left Midgar, I think." He was shaking.
Sixteen, everyone he knew was dead and he was trapped in a lab for fighting the man who killed them.
"You're twenty-one now." Elmyra noted. But for him, he'd just seen the deaths and been fighting. He closed his eyes and tears started.
"Come here. It's okay to grieve." She hugged him and he all but curled up as he sobbed. "I'm here."
They stayed like that for a bit, before he finally pulled away.
"Sorry, not much like a soldier."
"You're better than that, Cloud. Like Zack said, you're going to be a mercenary that actually helps people." Elmyra softened. "Ready to help me with the dishes again?"
"Yes ma'am." Cloud followed her.
They ended up baking the rest of the day.
Aerith and Zack returned in time for dinner.
"Had to go into Wall Market for some things, that place has gotten better and worse than I remember. Got you a Hard Edge, we can practice tomorrow." Zack put up the blades. "Got us two Calignous Bracelets, Aerith helped me get the materia. You've got healing, Fire and a spot for any extra we find. Got room in the sword for some as well. Why'd you remove your right pauldron?"
"It felt weird." Cloud admitted.
Zack promptly fussed over Cloud's shoulder for a moment.
"Aw, should I be jealous?" Aerith teased him.
"No!" Zack looked panicked before realizing she was joking. "But I mean, would you blame me?"
"He is cute. Maybe I'll steal him from you." Aerith grinned.
Cloud leaned away from both of them and looked to Elmyra for help with wide eyes.
"Don't tease the poor boy." Elmyra took pity on him. "He helped with dinner."
"Sorry!" The two were genuinely apologetic.
"We'll wait until you're up for fighting back." Aerith promised.
Yes, Elmyra had reservations about Zack, but Cloud was a victim in need of help and child who had lost his mother.
Zack and Cloud were dismissed to sleep after dinner, but Elmyra pulled Aerith aside to clean up.
"Aerith, I need you to remember that while for us it's been five years, but for Cloud, his town and his mother have only just died. He might have flashbacks at unexpected times, brought about by things you think are harmless. Earlier he had a flashback and confused me for his mother."
"Right. I'll be gentle. But not too gentle, he looks so fun to tease!" Aerith grinned.
Elmyra shook her head.
Zack paused as he realized there was only one bed.
"Uh, Cloud?"
"Yeah?"
"I may have been cuddling with you some nights while you were catatonic. Are you okay that I did that?"
"… I think I remember that, it was usually comforting." Cloud admitted after a moment.
"Only usually?"
"Well, one time it changed into a nightmare." Cloud closed his eyes. "I don't want to remember that."
"Okay. You cool with sharing a bed or do you want me to sleep by the door?"
"… I don't want to sleep, all I had were nightmares earlier." Cloud sat on the floor so his back was against the bed.
"Then let's sit up for a bit." Zack sat next to Cloud. "I don't regret taking care of you, I knew you'd wake up someday."
"That could have been years."
"I know. Maybe I was more selfish than heroic bringing you with me, but Cloud … your presence kept me sane. Having someone to protect kept me from falling apart completely. You're my friend, right?"
"Yeah, always." Cloud leaned against him. "Zack, did we talk in the lab?"
"Yeah, my memories of the lab are hazy, but we were talking about everything and nothing. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you when they came for you."
"I think keeping me alive while I couldn't do anything makes up for it. Thank you."
"You're welcome." It took a while for them to doze off, but they did so sitting up.
"So, here's the plan, we start moving through the slums and helping everyone. No job too small! I think we'll also have to try the coliseum, might be the closest to training rooms we'll both get." Zack had a map of the slums spread out on the table the next morning. "Sector one's the training grounds for the infantry, as well as a garage for old vehicles. Sector 8 is a junkyard because I think they just finished building the plate."
"Sector 4 is a wasteland, that's the sector that fell when I was a child. I think a rocket crashed into it." Aerith added. "Sector two is home for infantry families, they're also temporary housing short list for moving onto the plate. Sector three is more housing for people moving to the plate."
"So Sector 5, 6, and 7 have less infantry presence and have to deal with monsters by themselves? Sounds good for us." Zack grinned.
"I guess. How do we do this?" Cloud looked a little better today, though still tired.
"Like I said, start with whatever job we can get! Might just be running errands to start, but that's better than no pay at all!"
"Right." Cloud adjusted the bracelet. "Thank you." He added to Elmyra.
"You're welcome. You two take care, alright?"
"I'll help you two get started!" Aerith grinned.
Cloud admittedly had poor memories and poor social skills, but he was pretty sure mercenaries didn't catch stray chickens.
That said, the coliseum fights were fun.
"Welcome to the Coliseum! First match! First timers, Fair and Strife! Soldiers turned Mercenaries!" Scotch and Kotch introduced. There were a few cheers but more boos and jeers.
And they started out with wererats. Cloud grit his teeth and followed Zack's lead.
The boos and jeers faded to cheers the more enemies they beat, especially as harder and harder monsters were thrown at them.
What Cloud didn't understand was the ShinRa troopers that were fighting. Were they troopers on their off day? People dressed up as troopers? No answer either way, so Cloud kept quiet.
Aerith joined them for a few battles.
"Check it out, a flower blooms between two thorns!"
"The former soldiers have a brought a sorceress!"
By the time they were done for the day, Cloud felt a little more comfortable in his own skin as they explored Wall Market.
"Least we have rent money now." Zack grinned.
"Greetings. I am Chadley! You appear to have quite a bit of materia!"
They stared at the young boy who looked far too young and far too clean to be a slum resident.
"Yes?"
"Would you be willing to help me with my research? I am attempting to create new materia."
"What do you need?" Cloud asked.
"I need information about monsters, strengths, weaknesses and powers and that's for every monster type. I also need to know how materia affects them." Chadley explained.
"I guess we can help." Cloud glanced at Zack and Aerith who nodded.
"Thank you! May I have your names?"
"I'm Cloud, he's Zack, she's Aerith."
"Thank you. I look forward to working with you."
"Great, you shouldn't stay here though, Sector Five is safer for children." Zack noted.
"I understand. I will move operations to the neighboring sectors." Chadley left.
"Hey, there's a Happy Turtle! C'mon." Zack grinned as they entered.
"You've heard of this place?"
"Yeah, long story, well, not that long." Zack followed the hostess' directions to sit. "There's one of these in Wutai, though a translation error had us calling it Turtle Paradise for a while instead." Zack paused for a moment.
"Zack?"
"Just wishing I could go back in time and kick younger me's ass for thinking war made one heroic."
"You were a kid, Zack, and ShinRa's good with making up stories to hide what they are." Aerith reminded him.
"Yeah. Well, Wutai and Avalanche aren't much better. Wutai gave POWs to a mad scientist to make Ravens loyal to them, and Avalanche just steamrolls over civilians, killing as many as ShinRa does. That's why I figured we would be mercenaries. No ties to any side, just help the people that need it- Cloud?"
"You okay?"
"Flashback, I guess. A hotel room… you told me ShinRa was a den of monsters and not to go in."
"Yeah, that happened. I should have left and taken you with me then."
"I don't remember much … it's all in pieces."
"It'll come back." Zack assured him, ruffling his hair. "I've got your back."
"I regret ever wishing to have an older brother." Cloud grumbled.
"Too late, no take backs on being unofficially adopted, you're stuck with me." Zack grinned.
"I guess I can accept that." Cloud smiled back.
"You better accept me as your older sister then. I promise to always tease you." Aerith grinned.
"Why do I feel like that's a trap no matter what I say?" Cloud asked.
Zack and Aerith laughed.
The table next to them, a lone diner finished his meal slowly, keeping his eyes down on his meal even as he listened to them.
He was supposed to meet Avalanche in a week, but he might've found an interesting diversion. Or at least, one that might help him better gauge the ones he had to meet.
Sonon Kuskabe paid the waitress quietly. When the trio left, he followed them.
End Note: Wutai working with Avalanche aka Fuhito and turning captured soldiers into Ravens is a before crisis thing, but I'm pretty sure Wutai would have done some pretty cold and pragmatic things in retaliation for ShinRa's atrocities.
I'll post when I have more for this, my Brain can't decide on my next hyperfixation so I'm bouncing around a bit.
