The hand that rapped on the glass made hate course through him. His head pounded as the sound vibrated through the tube.
"Hey!" Zack let his eyes peer open just a tad more then they were originally, seeing the blue suited man thought a small slit. He looked gruff, not so handsome, and the very image of boredom and cruelty. Zack had seen him many times. In fact, he had seen him every day sense he had been in the God forsaken place. He had to stop himself from smiling, despite the ache in his body. Now he would get payback. "This is your food!"
Free at last. Sweet dreams. Body filled with glee, a giddy sort of energy and a grave sense of duty, the door to the tube swung back and Zack let his fist collide with the mans face. Pain stung his hand where his fist had collided, but the satisfaction he got from seeing the body reel and fall to the floor made him happy. For the first time in years he felt good. Free, though he was very much still a prisoner.
the stench of the lab smacked him full force. He stumbled back in his test tube prison for a moment, but manage to laugh despite his swimming head. fuck. He thought, clamping his eyes shut and holding onto the side of the tube. The air was tight and suffocating down in this hell, despite the cold. It was just as horrid smelling as the tube he had made his home for the last 5 years- only he had grown on the tube. Being out in the stench of the lab day after day didn't prepare him for this. The doctor usually drugged him. He wasn't drugged now.
He let his eyes, their childish energy restored, move to Clouds test tube slowly, realizing that his friend, too, was not drugged. The blonds body was now a limp and tangled mass, shoved against the glass and looking as if it would turn to dust in the faintest movement. He hadn't looked so frail a moment before. Maybe it was the fact that Zacks vision was no longer clouded by green mist and gray glass that he could now fully see and comprehend Clouds condition.
His eyes clamped shut and he took a rattling breath to try and steady his head and organize his thoughts before he leapt from the test tube and rushed to the door of Clouds. stepping over the body of the Turk dressed guard, he nearly fell to the cement. His body was wobbling horribly.
Hands pressed to the glass, he gave himself a moment to peer in on his best friend- his only real friend in the world. To look so weak and fragile, so helpless in this place, made everything inside Zacks body grow tight and hot. Rage gripped him and a thirst for revenge seemed to flow along with it, but if he went to seek revenge both young men would be as good as dead. They had been that way for 5 years. He didn't like that idea. He didn't want that for Cloud.
"I said I'd get you out…" He whispered to his friend behind the glass, watching him hang there for a moment more before he put on the best smile he could muster and hit the lock. different safety locks released themselves in the panels about the glass and he let moved away to examine the room. That was one less worry. Now that Cloud could get free he no longer felt the need to avenge him- just get him away.
Spicy green eyes met the shine of his weapon, resting on a lonely shelf on a back wall. "Oh phew." He whispered, dashing for it only to stumble and nearly fall a second time. He hadn't ran in so long it felt as if he could never manage again- but his body remembered how to run. It remembered how to function, and he didn't lose his balance and hit the cement floor of the basement like he had been expecting he would. His mind, for a brief moment, flickered to the thought of his body in a tube for 5 years- for he knew well every day he had been locked in that Hell- and that he may not be able to even lift his blade anymore.
His mind thought too late, as Zacks hands had already grabbed the sword and hefted it from the rack it sat upon. The weight strained his muscles, but only for a moment. His body again was reminded of what it was capable, and accepted the weight willingly once it realized that Zack once again held his Buster Sword.
A loud thud sounded behind the man, and his head shot around to see Cloud collapsed on the floor. His heart tugged and bled for his friend as he watched him helplessly struggle to get up and fail miserably. Tiny like a child, Cloud shivered and twisted, propping himself up on his elbows only to come crashing back to the floor. Again Cloud tried, and managed a gurgle before he again failed to control his body and movements.
"Oh, Cloud…" Zack whispered, shaking his head. "If this is permanent I-I'll never forgive myself for dragging you into this. I swear I'll kill that bastard if you're damage for good." He licked his lips only to taste a sickening flavor, one he never wanted to have to suffer with again. It reminded him of his life, that action and the taste he got. A simple action- breathing and living- and you get a sickening feeling and flavor. At least, though, he could manage an action. Life wasn't over yet. Not now.
His eyes scanned the shelving unit for something to fasten his sword to his back with, and he found the same item he had used before he was thrown into the mess. A weary smile graced his face as he thanked the Planet that Hojo had not thrown any of his belongings to the Shinra. That made things easier. He quickly discovered his armguard, though all the materia had been confiscated and sent away.
Maybe things we're so much easier after all, but that no longer mattered once a small moan escaped the fallen guard. Zack chewed on his bottom lip. They were running out of time, and he would waste it all away if he didn't get moving.
"Oh, hell." He croaked, rushing back to Cloud, mind still a spinning mess. If they got caught now it would all be over. Everything he had hung onto would be gone for good. He would be gone for good, and so wouldn't Cloud and his life. Zack wasn't about to have that. He couldn't have that, not for Cloud. Not for the only man who ever managed to try to care. Ivy would kill him, too. And he had Fox and her fight to think about. They wouldn't want Cloud dead, or even him.
He grabbed the boy under the arm, swinging Clouds arm about his shoulder. The boy let out a moan and tried to grab hold of Zack, or his shirt, or anything at all, but his body just collapsed. Zack tried hard not to let a tear of pain fall down his cheek. Right now his friend was as good as dead. He'd kill Hojo.
"common Cloud." Zack whispered, lifting the blond up and starting to half carry, half drag, him to the basement stairway. "We're going to get out of here."
Note: Would any of you believe me if I said I had writers block…?-.-;;
