Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or anything of the sorts.

AN: Thanks for the follower and favorite story. Please leave a comment. Whatever is on your mind. I will try to write and update constently. Thanks for reading this! ^.^

Zack shot up in the bed. His muscles ached, his head pounded. He looked at his surroundings. It was his room. He scowled at his belongings. This had to be some sort of trick that someone in the lifestream was playing. He did deserve some sort of payback from the stunt that he had pulled, but this was crossing the line. Someone in Zack's peripheral vision stopped at his door. It was Angeal standing there.

"I was about to wake you up. Breakfast is ready." Angeal turned around and walked off toward the kitchen.

Zack shook his head. He was at Shinra! Not a good thing. He stumbled to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The x-shaped scar was still on his chin. He looked at his eyes next. They still had the mako glow from after the lab. Zack felt a tug. Not a physical one, but still a tug. It was beckoning him, calling him to go find it.

Zack went back into his bedroom and pulled on his uniform. He walked to the front door to see his blade leaning there, next to Angeal's. Zack grabbed his broadsword and opened the front door.

"Zack?" Angeal called.

Zack turned around to see Angeal standing in the doorway for the kitchen with a plate of food. "I'm not hungry."

Angeal eyed him like he was sick. He had every right to. Zack would have never denied food before the lab. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah… I just have to go." Zack slipped into the hallway. He let his instincts take over, guiding him to the elevator. Up or down. Before Zack even realized it, he had pressed for the floor with the cadets' barracks.

"Cloud," he said, dread washing over him. Finally realizing what the pull was. He tapped his foot, impatient for the elevator to get to the floor. If he was back, he needed to see what condition Cloud was in. Zack knew how fragile his friend was.

Zack ran out of the elevator and straight for the pull that Cloud had on him. He made a left down another hall to see people standing around the doorway. He pushed back the crowd and entered into the room. He spotted the commander standing over his blond friend.

"Strife it is past time to get up," the commander yelled in Cloud's ear.

Rage swelled up in Zack. He walked over and threw the commander away from Cloud. He knelt down next to his friend and checked his heartbeat. Zack let out a sigh of relief when he found it steady.

"So someone included him in this trick," Zack said, barely audible so that only those with enhanced hearing could have heard it.

"Who do you think you are!" The commander was back over and yelling in Zack's face instead.

"What do you think you're doing yelling at a sick man to get up? Did you even pause to see if he was even coherent?" Zack yelled, getting in the man's face. "You are—"

"Zack!" Angeal's commanding voice stilled Zack. "What's going on?"

"Angeal, this is Cloud Strife. He is a friend of mine. I came to see if he had some free time this morning. I came in and the commander was in his face yelling at him. Cloud obeys every order that he is given. So I knew that he was sick." Zack jabbed a finger at the commander. "He didn't even check to see if Cloud was all right."

"What is wrong with Cloud?" Angeal asked.

"I… he…" He is suffering a lot of trauma to his body that wasn't there seven years before now. Zack wanted to tell Angeal, but not here. Instead, Zack picked Cloud up and started for the door.

"Zack?" Angeal laid a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from taking another step.

"I don't know, but being in the barracks where everyone hates him won't help his recovery." Zack knew that he was Cloud's only friend here.

"Fair enough." Angeal walked ahead of Zack, taking the lead back to their apartment.

Once Zack got Cloud settled down in his bed, he walked out to the living room and met Angeal's eyes.

"Angeal…" Zack's legs gave out from under him.

"Zack!" Angeal caught his student before he hit the ground.

"Sorry, I'm just…really tired," Zack said in between yawns.

Zack flinched at Angeal's cold hand. "Zack, your forehead is warm."

"I'm sorry." Zack's mind seemed to be filling up with fluff.

"Zack, don't apologize if you're sick," Angeal sighed. "I should have seen it coming. You were acting weird this morning."

Angeal helped Zack stand. Zack did the best he could to walk wherever Angeal was taking him. He felt himself falling and tried to catch himself. He relaxed when he heard Angeal's chuckle.

"There's a bed underneath you Zack. Relax." Angeal's voice sounded distant.

Zack let his body completely relax as he sank into something soft. He was able to see that he was in Angeal's bedroom before the darkness took over.

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

Angeal looked at his sleeping student. He was different, although Zack was known to act differently because of fevers. Still, Zack wasn't known to go kidnapping cadets from the barracks because they were sick as well. He will have to ask Zack when he was feeling better. Angeal's phone started ringing. He stood up and exited the room.

"Angeal speaking."

"Angeal, you are late for training. Are you coming?" Genesis's annoyed voice echoed in the training room.

"Zack came down with something, maybe later today," Angeal said.

"Angeal, just because he is your student doesn't mean that you have to nurse him!" Genesis snarled angrier than usual.

"I know, but he wasn't acting normal. He didn't eat breakfast and he threw a commander of the cadets across the barracks." Angeal hoped that this would convince his friend.

"He threw someone?" Genesis's anger was completely gone.

"Yes Genesis." Angeal was relieved that his friend was no longer mad.

"Fine. Stay with the sick pup, but we get you at 19 00," Genesis demanded, and hung up the phone.

edited 10/14/2012 ^.^