"Zack?"
Zack had been leaning heavily on the little blond next to him, half asleep, half daydreaming. His eyes blinked open with some difficulty. With a moan, he pushed himself off his friend and mutter an apology.
"Sorry C-C-Cloudy." He muttered, yawning and stretching his arms. "I didn't realize I was doing that."
The blond shrugged, leaning back against the well and gazing up at the stars. Clouds consumed most of the sky, but in between their curtain like function one could make out bright dots in the distance.
"Its not that. I don't mind, I know your tired. Its…It's Sephiroth."
"Oh." Zack slumped back into his original position, closing his eyes and using Clouds shoulder as a pillow. He snuggle up against him and the well, much like an un-comfortable dog may burrow deeper into its couch seat, and grinned foolishly. Cloud laughed and shook his head, yawning.
"You idiot." He muttered. Zack nodded as if to agree.
"You got that right. So what about Seph?"
It had been almost a full day sense the general and his men had returned to the village, and Cloud had said nothing to Zack. The two men had not had a moment alone to talk. Now though, all house lights were switched off, and only the dull glow of Zack's eyes and that of a lamp fixed outside of the inn were left to show the two men's whereabouts. No one would bother them, and for that Zack was glad.
"What happened up at the reactor?" Cloud asked, inverting is eyes from the sky down to Zack. "He hasn't come out of the inn sense we have gotten back and he left all commands up to you. That isn't like him, Zack. If there is one thing I have learned about Sephiroth it's that he is second to no one and he hates being stuffed up inside."
Zack nodded slowly, grabbing his navy jacket from where he had left it, hanging on the side of the well, and pulling it over his body. It was rather chilly outside. "Mmm, you have that right Cloud." He muttered, and smiled to himself. Behind his eyelids the young Tifa danced for him. Lucky for him, Cloud couldn't see into his head.
"So what happened? And why are you smiling?"
Zack quickly erased his smile and opened one eye to peer up at Cloud, erasing his dream quickly. For a moment he hardly saw the guard, but soon his vision cleared and he could make out the spiky head.
"Sephiroth thinks he was made like the monsters in the reactor."
Clouds body stiffened and his eyes grew. Zack sighed, closed his eyes, and poked his small friend. "Easy Cloud. You go board on me and I no longer have a nice pillow but a door."
Cloud snorted. "Very funny. What do you mean, monsters in the reactor?"
Zack yawned, bored by these memories. "Nothing we cant take care of. We plan to do it in a few days, we just need to get some stuff ready and call Shinra to report. Receptions not good out here."
It was his turn to be poked. "Zack! What monsters?!"
"Shhhh, keep your voice down. Damn your loud sometimes." Zack muttered, glaring at his friend. "Seph'll kill me if he knew you knew ahead of time. Look, it seems Hojo- The scientist that Shinra hired awhile back, the one who replaced Gast, has been playing with mako, humans, and another thing. Seph and I don't know what the last thing is, but he seems convinced there is something more. Jenova being there has something to do with it, I know it for sure, but I didn't even bring that up to Sephiroth. He was in a rage and that sword would probably would have ended up my ass."
"…What does Hojo's experiments have to do with the monsters?" Cloud asked. Zack blinked, shook his head, and closed his eyes tight.
"Everything Cloud. The monsters are being grown in the pods, in the reactor. The pods contain the mako. The-"
"the monsters where human!" Cloud explained. Zack poked him.
"Hush you. Don't wake up the whole town. Yes, the monsters were human. Hojo's playing with human experiments, and I think Shinra's playing us all."
Zack opened an eye to look up at Cloud. The boys face was filled with worry. Zack laughed and snuggled against him some more, merely to let the blond know he was still there.
"Oh jeez Cloud, don't worry about it. Seph and I will get to the bottom of this."
"I…Zack, do you think that some of the people from this town will be next? To…to go to the reactor and be…become…"
"Mmm, nope. I'm not going to let them, and you wont let the Shinra take them, so with us guarding this place, everything will be all set. Everyone will be fine."
"O-okay…"
"And Cloud, if we're going to go eliminate those friggen monsters, I wont let them eat you." He said in a serious tone, but his words were meant to cheer Cloud up.
The boy sighed. "I know." He said, voice filled with sadness. Zack glared.
"Oh you doof. Lighten up." He said, reaching up to ruffle Clouds spiked up hair. "Chocobo brains."
The little boy glared at first, but then Cloud smiled.
