Title: Drought

Category: Kingdom Hearts/Yaoi

Disclaimer: me how much do you know of Davy Jones? You not much. me yeah I own this.

(AN: Dick is a terrible name for a hospital.)

Chapter Five

It was raining heavily. The normally parched dirt was now steadily adding to the caked mess of mud accumulated on Cloud's shoes as he sprinted to the high security storage facility at top speed.

Please be ok, he chanted in his mind desperately.

It was late afternoon when Cloud heard the news from Shinra. He was passing by Rufus' head office when he crashed into Reno running at top speed out of it. He fell heavily to the ground swearing about the inept manner in which all Shinra Turks carried themselves.

"What the hell..? Watch where you're going Reno!" He groaned at the red head with a grimace. The offender in question sat up with a relieved look etched into his features.

"Cloud! Just the man I wanted to see!" He stood and offered a hand to him. Cloud was too annoyed to take it and stood on his own.

"What do you want?" He asked with a carefully constructed blank look.

"It's Zack. He's gone, and we think he's gone after Jenova." Reno's face held an uncharacteristically serious look.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Cloud burst out in shock. "Where?" he sputtered, already calculating how long it would take him to get his gun. Reno shook his head but looked at Cloud directly with a grave expression etched into his features.

"Hey calm down man, I've already sent word to the rest of Soldier. They'll deal with it, but I knew you would want to know." He spoke with a level voice, but his resignation showed on his face. Without another word, Cloud spun on his heel and raced out of the building.

"Oi! Cloud! Listen, Tifa knows where it is!" The red head yelled after him as he disappeared around a corner. Cloud didn't pay attention. He knew where it was, Niebelhiem was no maze, there was only one building large enough to be a storage facility for Jenova. And it just happened to coincide with the name Zack was muttering about in the middle of the night lately.

Now he was nearly there, soaked to the bones, and more worried than he had ever been in his life. Zack was in trouble and he didn't even know it. The outer walls of the building came into sight, efficiently fueling Cloud's drive to continue. Avoiding the outer sentries, he jumped the back wall and made his way inside.

Damnit Zack, he thought sickeningly, how could even you be so stupid? And why the hell was he going after jenova anyway? What could he possibly stand to gain by this foolish endeavor? He's a Soldier for crying out loud! Shinra would never allow something like this to go unpunished. Cloud hurried to the final holding compartment and after taking a moment to bypass the security measures, rushed into the chamber.

Zack was already there. He was standing in front of the glass tank with his huge sword at his side. As Cloud darted into the room he turned around slowly and put out his hand. He was wearing a gentle smile. Confused, the blonde began to stutter angrily at the older man.

"Zack, you idiot, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Despite the urgency in his voice, the dark haired man ignored his question.

"This world has been connected, tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed." There was an untamed fierceness to his gaze, even with the slow smile he was wearing.

"Are you mad Zack? What the hell is wrong with you?" Again, he refused to answer, but laughed instead.

"There is so much to learn, you understand so little."

Leon couldn't help himself, he was staring. Cloud Strife, for all his inhumanity, was truly a masterpiece creation. His face was perfectly sculpted to give the illusion of a woman's beauty, with all the callous nature of a man. With his high cheekbones and slanted eyebrows, one could easily mistake his demeanor, but his eyes gave away his true nature. Oh yes, Strife was no woman, and he made it inescapably clear to all those that knew him.

Watching him sleep, Leon wondered how anyone could resist the man. Even knowing he was wounded and bandaged underneath the covers, it took all of the mercenary's considerable willpower to keep his mind from wandering. Leon looked away from the tempting sight and focused instead on the window to the far right of the room. Cloud had a magnificent view of Traverse Town from here. He could see almost every section of every sector. Small wonder then, that nothing ever happened without Strife knowing about it almost instantly. He sighed. It was approaching dawn. Concern ate at him. Cloud rarely if ever stayed so far out of it when wounded. It was usually a task for anyone to keep him bedridden in fact, which was the main reason he was allowed to stay with him thus far (Cid had shown an alarming amount of resistance when Leon had suggested that he see to Captain Sparrow and his crew instead).

"Zack…"

Leon winced at the name. Cloud had been sleeping fitfully. At several points during the night, he had moaned and whispered to the memory of a man. From what Leon had heard, he had cared deeply about him. He donned his expressionless mask and looked at the bed. Cloud had opened his eyes and was staring about the room in apparent confusion. He started to sit up, but winced as a jolt of pain shot through his ribs. Evidently deciding that it was better to stay where he was, he leaned against the headboard and faced the concerned mercenary.

"How long was I out?" He muttered disinterestedly.

"A fair few hours. Since last night." Leon replied in like manner, staring out the window. He waited a few moments more for the ex soldier to make one of his scathing comments or attempt something stupid, but nothing happened. When the silence became unbearable, he turned to leave. He opened the door.

"Wait, Leon. Don't leave yet."

He stopped, but didn't turn around. His mind was screaming at him to just walk away, let Cloud do what he would till he's ready, but his feet would not obey. He found his body obeying the plea hopelessly. Cloud still needed him, he reasoned, if only to use as a walking stick.

"What's the matter?" He asked softly. The other man was wearing a sad expression and staring off into the distance. The effect was so dramatically different to his normal stoic manner that Leon was momentarily caught off guard. He almost smiled at the disturbance of normality. Throwing caution to the winds, he walked back to the bed and sat on the chair next to the beautiful blonde.

"Thank you for taking care of me last night." He whispered.

Leon frowned. Thanks? From Cloud? He must have damaged something more than his chest, the mercenary surmised. Still, different was not always dangerous and rather than risk a tragic return to normality, this was more than satisfactory to his emotions. Even so, this was no time to let his guard down again.

"You would have done the same for me Strife. It's not a problem."

Cloud's head lifted slightly at that, the use of his sir name did not escape his notice. A small frown creased his brow, but he didn't say anything. Leon decided to take advantage of the situation.

"Cloud, may I ask you something?"

The blonde lifted his gaze to meet Leon's earnest stare. He nodded.

"Who…who is Zack?" Even with his new found courage, his voice faltered. Leon cursed his ineptitude, but waited for an answer. The injured man held his gaze. His face betrayed no emotion, but there was a silent inquiry in his eyes. Hastily Leon amended.

"Last night, you whispered the name Zack. Is he someone important to you?"

The silence between them stretched awkwardly. Cloud seemed to be thinking of an answer, but the expression he wore was unreadable. Finally, when it seemed that he would not offer an answer at all, he replied.

"Zack is…was, a Soldier. He was my best friend. And my lover." He spoke in even tones, belying the confession he had just made. "He was killed by Sephiroth." As he spoke the words, his eyes changed. For the first time since Leon had met him, the ex-soldier seemed less exhausted. He didn't know what to say. From the manner in which he spoke it was clear that he didn't often admit his relation with the dead Soldier was more than ordinary. Leon felt a pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Cloud smiled and shook his head. The action sent wisps of blond hair dancing in front his eyes. He raised his hand to clear them from his face, but winced as another jolt of pain sent his mind momentarily askew. Without thinking Leon brushed his fingers over Cloud's forehead to tuck the stray strands behind his ear. The sudden contact surprised him almost as much as it did the blonde on the bed. Cloud's smile returned automatically as he continued.

"I'm glad you did. I haven't told anyone about it, although Cid may have guessed my preferences a while back." He finished with a smirk the mercenary could understand. For a foul mouthed pilot with a bad sense of humour, Cid certainly had a way of guessing the less than obvious.

"One of these days I'm going to feed Yuffie the rumour that he's in love with her." Leon added to his jest with a melodramatic shake of the head. The both relaxed into laughter as the image of an incensed ninja formed in their minds. It felt nice to laugh with him, the brunette realized. If Cloud was desirable with his mouth closed, he was downright seductive when he was happy. Leon closed his eyes to control himself as he remembered the last time he allowed his emotions to fun free. The memory burned as though someone had cast firaga under his skin.

"I have to go now," he started quickly standing, "I promised Aeirth I would show her how to use the defense system in Hollow Bastion." Cloud's face lost the sudden spark it had flared to life with. Wordlessly he nodded his understanding. It was stupid excuse and they both knew it. "I'll tell Cid you're alright. I believe you two have business to discuss." He stammered tonelessly. As he walked out the door, he had to force himself not to look at what he was leaving behind.

Cloud looked at the door despairingly. Why hadn't he said anything? He had just let him walk away, and by all the materia in the world, he deserved it. Damnit! He swore at himself. How was it that he was so easily disarmed by this person? Only one other man had ever been able to have that effect on him. He should have stopped Zack from leaving home that day. He knew it, he was able to prevent him from going after Jenova, and being the coward he was, he just let him walk away.

And he was just as much a coward now.

He was thankful there was a blanket over him. It had hidden the more obvious part of his anatomy from view and while he might have been able to conceal his mind's intent, his body was a completely different matter. Even now, he found it hard to be angry at the man when all he wanted to do was fuck him so hard it hurt.

He grimaced at the admission. After less than a moment's thought he knew it was right, he wanted to screw the beautiful bastard. But it was evident that Leon didn't feel the same way. He had that undead bitch of a summoner, whoever the hell he was, waiting for him. Helping Aerith with the defence system, hah. That has to be the lamest excuse he'd ever heard, Cloud thought bitterly. Oh he was going back to someone alright, but it most certainly was not her.

Damn Leon for kissing him in the first place. Damn Zack for dying and leaving him alone. Damn Jack Sparrow for being Jack Sparrow.

He wondered for a moment whether the drunk captain was still in the town, but the moment passed and he found himself not caring anymore. If Leon was right then Cid was already here and would most likely be seeing to him. The door swung open with a bang.

"Cloud! You ok? Leon said you were fine, but I expected you to be out of bed by now. Unless you're waiting for something, or should I say someone..?" Speak of the devil, Cloud groaned inwardly.

"Go fuck yourself Cid." He muttered at the smirking pilot.

"No thanks, unlike your poor constipated soul, I have others to do that for me." He retorted with his characteristic inhumanity that for some reason, he only seemed to show to the ex-soldier.

"Well anyone can make a mistake; I won't judge the poor, deluded creatures. They are human this time aren't they?" He threw back with an annoyed look.

"Hey! That girl in Wutai was considered most exotic where she came from!" he started defensively, straddling the chair previously vacated.

"She, if in fact it was a she, was green with little animals living in her hair." Cloud stated in an exhausted manner. "I take it you have a reason for bothering me at this god forsaken hour?"

"Sure I do. And I plan to get right to it as soon as I clear up a couple things with you first." He began. "So that idiot's ship was the reason you wanted me here right?" When Cloud nodded, he continued. "I took a look at it, not by choice I assure you, but the bottom line is, you were right. That gummi block is one of mine."

Cloud sat up, despite the pain in his gut.

"But the thing is, its one of my original experiments that wasn't fully developed. That explains why Sparrow and his crew deviated from their course without any knowledge of what was causing it. Also, it's among the ones that were stolen a few years back and since none were ever recovered, there's no way to trace where it came from."

Cloud nodded. He wasn't surprised, bad things usually come in innumerable scores. And from his own past, things were not about to get any better.

"Fine. I'll deal with this later. You said this wasn't the reason you came."

At that, Cid took on a strangely serious look. If anything could get his sarcastic ass serious, it had to be important.

"It's about you and Leon."

Cloud, caught completely off guard, did the only thing he could think of which also happened to be his natural reaction to almost everything. He glared.

"What about it." He stated, enunciating every syllable. Cid ignored his tone.

"You hate each other." He said matter-of-factly. Cloud frowned.

"No, I don't hate him. He's annoying, disruptive and arrogant. But I don't hate him." After a moment he added, "I hate you-"

"Yeah, yeah save me the sympathy willya?" He interrupted. "I don't particularly care what happens to you either, you're gonna do whatever the hell you want despite what everyone else thinks. But Leon is needed. Aerith and Yuffie, not to mention all of Hollow Bastion, they depend on him. We can't afford to have the city fall into the hands of the heartless because you're too emotionally constipated to tell the difference between your ass and your elbow." He paused for a moment, apparently waiting for some sort of argument. When none came, he continued,

"He, in turn, needs someone he can trust. He needs a friend, no more than a friend. He needs someone to love. And you can be as stuck up as want to the rest of us, but you need to stop being an ass and listen to him once in a while. Take a look at the way he acts around you, and maybe you'll understand that you can't allow him to lose to a memory."

It was so unlike Cid's usual unperceptive self that it was almost amusing. Still, he didn't know what the hell he was talking about, Cloud thought. He was guessing, and meddling in business that was not his own. Strife remained silent.

"I wouldn't be telling you this if I thought you didn't care about him too. I know you do Cloud, hell everyone knows it. And it's high time you allowed yourself something good for a change. You don't have to play the hero; this is no longer your fight alone." With that he stood and walked to the door. Before he left, he turned around.

"You're strong Strife, but not that strong. Just think about it ok." He shut the door.

At the window, the first rays of light were streaming in. The darkness of the dawn scattered before it, racing to the recesses from whence they came. Fresh and new, Cloud thought. Just like Leon's laughter. He smiled, and just for a moment, he couldn't quite recall what Zack looked like.

reviews are welcome…