The smell of the wasteland after a rainstorm was pungent to put it nicely, and Zack found himself struggling to decide whether the smell of his sweat and blood caked shirt covering his nose was better than the acrid swamps that glowed with what was undoubtedly mako runoff from Midgar. The city loomed before the two, consuming the horizon, black smoke choking out the sky. Maybe it was because he had seen behind the veil of ShinRa, and he had looked the other way regarding their blatant abuse of the environment, but he could not recall the city looking so… Ominous. Cloud was a little more vocal in his sleep than he had been, and the black haired SOLDIER had to suppose that this was truly a sleep born from fatigue, no longer a coma induced by mako poisoning. The unconscious body of his best friend weighed heavily on him, the left arm of the blonde was draped over his shoulders, and his right arm was holding his waist tightly, trying to keep him standing. Throughout all of this, Zack was barely able to stand as it was, every five minutes or so, he had to lay down his friend to rest, but they had only come a short distance, and night was falling.

"When did I get so weak?"

The General would have told him it was because he was concerned with dragging around dead weight, Genesis would have told him that it was because becoming powerful was not truly what his heart sought. Angeal... Angeal would have told him he just wasn't training hard enough. The three most influential people in his life, such vastly different personalities, all of whom met tragic fates, and he wanted nothing more than to be a SOLDIER Second reporting to them once again. It was a simpler time; and right now he was desperate to go back to it. A pathetic groan from Cloud seemed to agree with him. With some effort, he lowered the blonde onto a dry patch of earth, sheltered underneath an outcropping of rock, then without any sort of dignity, collapsed onto the ground next to him, breathing heavily. He pressed his hand against one of the bullet wounds in his abdomen, trying to assuage the pain for a moment. The wounds burned with each breath he took, and the pain had finally become too much, forcing him to come to rest. There was no safety out here in the wastes, and with Cloud still out of commission, he could not truly get any rest. He grit his teeth and used his hands to push himself in an upright position, leaning against the rock next to his friend.

His hands were slick with blood from the wound and he grimaced. He was still pretty tapped out from his magical reserves, the materia in his equipment barely seemed to respond to it, flickering like a dying light. Casting anything right now would probably drain him of the last of his energy. Cloud mumbled again in his sleep, shifting his body slightly, rubbing up against Zack, whose blood was now visible on the pale skin of the sleeping blonde. It was getting cold now, though the chill had been settling in throughout the day as they passed from the areas of clear sky to underneath the dark toxic cloud, and with all of his mako enhancements using his remaining energy to work towards repairing his body, he was feeling particularly exposed to the elements. It occurred to him that Cloud was probably not better off, as his body was recuperating from an experience far worse than a couple of bullet wounds. In a couple of days, Zack would be fine, but he was not certain if the younger man would ever recover from the drastic experiments that he had been put through. Hojo had not even wasted his time trying to dissect the SOLDIER First Class, all of his cruelty had been channeled through the blonde. His eyes widened as he could feel the vibrations of something large moving towards their hiding place.

Struggling to his feet, Zack held a hand on the hilt of the Buster Sword, leaning his back against one of the larger boulders, hiding from whatever it was closing in. If he could get a surprise attack, then he could end it quickly, preventing a long drawn out fight while his body was in such a state. The vibrations in the earth began to slow as it approached the other side of the boulder the SOLDIER First Class was currently hiding behind, not entirely confident he had any strength left to combat anything that was coming. A rounded beak poked past the stone, followed by a large, curious blue eye, and then a whole lot of yellow feathers. Zack almost dropped the sword in disbelief as the Chocobo gave a happy squawk as it recognized a human, lowering its head down to his pockets as though he was supposed to have some treats for it. He rubbed the back of its large head, the soft feathers feeling comforting beneath his callous hands.

"Sorry buddy, I don't have anything, but if you help me and my friend, I'll make sure you get all the treats you ever need"

The bird looked at him with quizzical eyes at first, as though he understood the bargain that Zack was offering, before it let out a loud "Wark!" and puffed out its chest, its head bobbing merrily. Zack could still feel his heart racing, but he could not describe how relieved he was to have encountered the bird. He had the Chocobo wait where it was as he ducked under the stone, kneeling next to the prone body of his best friend, grunting in pain as he picked his limp body up. It took some effort, but he managed to get Cloud on the back of the bird. It may have found him, and it may have been willing to help, but it was still wild, and was not exactly comfortable with its treatment. By the time he was sure Cloud was secured on the back of the bird, he felt light headed, and his vision was beginning to blur. He pressed his hand against one of the wounds on his abdomen again, it was wet to touch, and looking down at the blood stained sodden earth at his feet, he realized he was losing a dangerous amount of blood. He leaned against the side of the Chocobo, its pristine yellow feathers now stained red with his blood. With the last of his energy, he managed to pull himself up onto the back of the Chocobo, and leaned his head against Cloud's back, falling into a deep sleep.

--

Zack awoke with a start, the darkness of the room left him disoriented and fear gripped him as flashes of the past day came to him.

"Cloud!"

He tried to stand, but as his feet hit the cool floor of the room, pain lanced through his body, preventing him from standing. He gazed down at his chest, his top was missing, though the bandages covered just as much of him as any of his clothing would. He ran a hand down the bandages, they were fresh, he must not have been out for too long. The SOLDIER First Class looked around the... room? He was in a barn, and he was not entirely sure how his heightened senses had not made him aware of this situation earlier. His bedding was a wooden plank with hay stuffed under a blanket and a pillow. After sleeping on the road for the past year, this felt like royal accommodations in comparison. It was then he was made aware of some other residents of the barn.

"Wark!"

The first Chocobo called out, which triggered a wave of 'Warks!' throughout the barn, and merry chirrups filled the air as they trilled and communicated with one another, possibly about the stranger in their home. Zack liked Chocobos, they had a very human range of personalities, the ones he grew up seeing around Gongaga were particularly mischievous. The bright yellow feathers brought him back to his original train of thought. Though unsure of his benefactors, Zack felt reasonably sure that if they had meant any harm, he would not have found himself with his wounds dressed and possessions still within reach. Cloud was likely being treated the same, and in fact, he was probably in the barn somewhere too. Easing himself from the makeshift bed, Zack winced as the pain settled in, but he was careful not to exacerbate it as he used the walls of the surrounding Chocobo pens as he moved through the barn. He peered into each pen that did not contain a Chocobo, and spent a little time petting the ones who were interested in investigating him as he neared them. What surprised him was that not all Chocobos were yellow apparently, as there was the pastel blue Chocobo from the previous night, and another one, that was similarly light colored, but green instead.

"Oh hey! You're awake!"

Zack turned his attention from the green Chocobo who was leaning its head against the top of the gate of its pen, his hand falling from its cheek causing it to ruffle its feathers indignantly as he stopped petting it. A small girl had opened the large barn door and she had two buckets overflowing with some sort of leafy greens. Dressed in a blue checker pattern dress with brown hair that was tied into uneven pigtails.

"You can help me feed everyone if you're up to it, your friend is already out in the pasture feeding the others"

Zack shrugged and grinned.

"Sure, I'll take these guys on this side"

She skipped over to him and handed him one of the buckets, and upon smelling the herbs, all the large birds began bouncing with excitement, the barn buzzing with excitement as the Chocobos all chirped loudly as the leaves were handed out to them. The first one he came to, Zack was a little worried about getting his hand near its huge, hungry beak, but they were unexpectedly gentle on top of being extra affectionate, demanding a rub on the beak before he could take his hand from the pen. He hobbled along with some difficulty, but he managed to empty the bucket, and turned to look at the little girl, who was currently climbing up the gate to reach over and feed the last bird before she hopped down and swung the bucket around as she ran over to the SOLDIER First Class, grabbing his hand.

"Come on! We can go see the others"

She tried to pull him, but he held fast.

"Woah woah woah calm down, I don't think I'm as fast as you are, but go ahead, I'll catch up"

She nodded and took off out of the barn. Zack gave the bird next to him one last pet on the beak then began his slow exit of the barn. The sun shone through the cracks between the planks that comprised the barn, the dust and dander danced in the beams of light. For the first time in a long time, he felt at peace. Opening the door to the barn, he stepped out into the sunlight and covered his eyes as the brightness of the world overwhelmed him. As his eyes adjusted to the outside world, he looked around. This felt like a different planet in comparison to the wasteland that they had been crawling through, though Midgar still served as a dreadful backdrop to this scenic farm. As his eyes wandered the horizon, it was punctuated by more bright yellow Chocobo that were sprinting around the enclosure that served as the centerpiece for the farm here, and with so many of the large birds, he almost missed the Chocobo-like hair of his friend, who was currently doing his best to wrestle one of the birds to equip it with a set of barding for riding. The playful bird seemed to think he was attempting to play with him, and was clearly giving him a hard time, flapping its wings and preening his hair.

On the side, sitting on the edge of the fence, a young brown haired boy called out, making fun of Cloud for being mistaken by the birds for one of their own. The blonde appeared to be in good spirits, or at least as energetic as Zack had ever seen him. The SOLDIER First Class managed to make his way over to the fence to watch the show, but as he managed to finally lean against the creaking, paint-chipped wood, the blonde noticed him and gave up on the bird, pulling the leather barding away, letting the Chocobo go running around with the others.

"Hey you're awake, I was worried you caught second hand mako poisoning from me or something"

Zack frowned.

"What? How long was I out?"

"It's been a week, Bill said you were just recovering, but still..."

The SOLDIER First Class whistled and his eyebrows neared his hairline in surprise. A whole week and he still felt like garbage. Maybe all of these enhancements weren't all they were cracked up to be. He was still alive though, and he was on the road to recovery, so those questions could be ignored, there were more important things to find out.

"Who's bill? Where are we?"

"Chocobo farm, Bill owns it, he told me to call him Chocobo Bill, but I'm not doing that"

A grin found its way to Zack's face at the familiar mannerisms of the blonde. It had been a long time since he had experienced that awkward sincerity.

"C'mon Cloud, I'm sure he asked nicely. What happened anyway? Last thing I remember I got us on the back of that Chocobo, then things got a little... Well I don't remember"

Cloud nodded, his expression as neutral as ever.

"Yeah, Bill said--"

"You mean Chocobo Bill!"

"Hn, Bill said that he found the Chocobo wandering around nearby, he was worried it was hurt because it was covered in blood, when he tried to catch it, it led him where he guesses we fell off of it. Smart bird."

"Yeah no kidding"

Zack grumbled as he lowered his body carefully into a pained squat, trying to ignore the aches that came with the movement, but he was too sore to not get his muscles moving. There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment before the boy that had been making fun of Cloud yelled over to them.

"EXCUSE ME! YOU'RE NOT DONE YOUR CHORES!"

Cloud winced at the voice, and Zack caught the roll of his eyes before he turned around holding the saddle up in the air and walking back into the group of birds as they bobbed up and down, welcoming him into their circle. The kid stuck his tongue out and focussed intently as he turned on the side of the fence, then leapt down to the ground, landing in a three point stance, before taking off in a full sprint, cornering around the fence and heading right over to Zack who had the decency to look impressed at the speed the child believed he displayed.

"Hey! Your friend says you're SOLDIER First Class!"

He was taken aback by the volume of the child at first, but quickly composed himself and began to answer.

"Uh, I mean I was, but--"

"If you're so tough, how did you get so beat up?"

Wow this kid was a jerk.

"Well, I mean there was a lot--"

"My grandad says ShinRa are the bad guys, does that mean you're a bad guy?"

"What? No I'm--"

"If you try anything I'll beat you up!"

Zack held his hands up, knowing when he was beat.

"Woah woah woah, alright you got me, I'll behave, but I'm not a bad guy"

He leaned in, his right hand pressed against his left cheek in a stage whisper.

"ShinRa is actually after me for being WAY too strong!"

The kid pressed his hands against his head as though trying to keep his mind from exploding. Zack liked the drama this kid brought.

"I guess you can help defend the farm then, but you're taking orders from me"

Zack gave a guidebook salute to the boy who seemed to get excited at the thought of having a SOLDIER as an underling.

"Ok! Well, grandpa says you probably still need to rest, so I'll let you off easy today"

He turned on his heel and marched back over to where he had been earlier, and proceeded to continue to yell at Cloud, who still appeared to be having difficulty with getting the barding on the bird. Zack leaned up against the fence and chuckled to himself. This place was quite scenic, if you could ignore the entire western horizon being swallowed up by the black clouds of Midgar. Once he found his way to Aerith, he would bring her here. Sure; there were Chocobos in Midgar, though it had been a surprise to him to find out, but because there were no real roads, the best way to get around the slums was in one of the many different Chocobo rickshaws that could be found. All run by a weird cowboy if he could recall correctly. That creeping sense of foreboding crept over him as he felt his gaze unfocus, and the soft green fields of the Chocobo farm slowly darkened as the unsettling smoke clouds over Midgar consumed his thoughts. Were they really safe here? Had they just painted a target onto the back of this poor farmer and his family? They were barely a days flight out of the city, and surely by now the Turks were investigating the battleground. SOLDIERs did not return to the Life Stream so easily, and he could not imagine how repulsive his own body would be to the Planet after Hojos sick experiments.

It had been a week, and it seemed the farm had either been deemed of no interest to the Turks, or they were yet to arrive. He was not too sure which one made him more uncertain of his future. Tseng was too smart to leave any stone unturned, if, through some miracle, the farm had been designated not of any interest, then where would they turn next to find him. Would Aerith be safe? There were too many variables, and thinking about them all at once made his already aching head throb a little more. He brought his head to his forehead and grumbled. Cloud would have some ideas; or even better, where was Kunsel when he was needed, that guy always knew what was up. Maybe when they broke into Midgar to save his girlfriend, they could swing by the Shinra offices and see if the SOLDIER Second Class would be interested in betraying everything he knew and coming to join them to be hunted by the most powerful company in the world.

He brought a bare hand to his face, feeling the days old stubble with some curiosity as he thought about what their next steps were. He needed new clothes first, and since Cloud was already dressed up, the ill-fitting baggy clothing seemed to be chocobo farm chique that he could be expecting. That was fine for now, he wouldn't sweat it, but he wanted to make sure he looked good for Aerith, so he wanted to make sure he at least got a chance to shave before he left the farm. He breathed in as deep as he could, the tightness of the bandages restricting the expansion of his chest somewhat, but the fresh air felt better than anything he could even imagine. The faint sound of a door closing caught his attention and he turned his head slightly towards the old man now exiting the small house off to the side of the barn. Even from this distance between the two, Zack could see the potion-bottle thick glasses on his face which seemed to give him an owl-like quality, magnifying his eyes to quite a comical degree. His greying brown hair was quite unkempt, almost as wild as his own or Clouds, though he was missing much more than the two young SOLDIERs, as the hairline was beginning to retreat, giving him a large forehead, exaggerating the magnification of his eyes even further. He was a portly fella, and the clothes they had fashioned for him must have been made some time ago. Maybe decades. He walked with an unusual gait, hands clasped behind his back, belly first towards the dark haired SOLDIER. As he arrived next to the taller man, he rubbed his thick greying beard as he looked him up and down.

"Humm… Looks like you're doing much better, we probably didn't need to change your bandages this morning, but Chole hasn't finished your shirt yet. How are you feeling my boy?"

Zack nodded as he picked at the bandages around his abdomen, not really sure if they helped him retain heat at all, ShinRa probably accounted for cooler climates when they fashioned SOLDIER, so it was unlikely to be an issue, but he was thankful all the same.

"I'm sore, but I'm alive, so thanks very much old man, is there anything I can do to help out around here?"

The bushy eyebrows of the man were drawn together in a frown as the dark haired warrior called him an old man, which made him rub the back of his head in an awkward manner.

"Humm... Chocobo Bill will do fine, and as for work, I could use some strapping young lads to do some of the heavy lifting around here, I'm not as spry as I was once you see"

Zack grunted as he did a squat in front of the old man, as if showing off his strength. Then he tapped his chin in thought.

"You got it Chocobo Bill! You point and we'll lift! Hey, just out of curiosity, there haven't been any, like, weirdos who have come by asking about stuff right?"

The old man raised one of his bushy eyebrows ...Man they have a life of their own… and stared at the SOLDIER in deep thought for a moment.

"Humm… The only weirdos I can think of, are you two, hum hum hum hum"

His laugh was slow and sounded more like someone trying to clear his throat, but he was clearly entertained by his own joke, but Zack could see the humour in it. He was happy to find out that their presence here on the farm had not yet attracted any unwanted attention. The old man cleared his throat, as though the laugh had brought up some dust from his lungs before speaking again.

"Humm… I'll let you and your friend get one more days rest, tomorrow we'll get you working, Chole will have your clothing ready for dinner this evening, I expect you're hungry"

As if on cue, his stomach growled angrily and Zack pressed a bandaged hand against it as though he was attempting to calm an angry beast. He chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess I am"

--

Dinner was a small affair, though with the addition of the two SOLDIERs, what was likely a quiet evening meal had been transformed into a much more energetic scene. Zack stood aside the table, chair pulled out and one foot atop the old woven fabric seat, one hand clasped the creaky wood, its worn, peeled paint feeling rough under against his hand.

"—and then I said, pineapple!? I thought you said he was from Wutai!"

The kids fell about in a fit of giggles as Cloud looked bemused at his older companion. The blonde had heard the joke before, but it seemed like every time the SOLDIER First Class told the joke, he became more animated, which brought a smile to his tired features. Zack, to his credit, had kept a straight face through the telling of his favourite joke, even as the old man let loose his dusty chuckle at it. Zack had acquired his shirt from Chole, it did not stray too far from the path of a simple burlap sack reworked into a shirt, with some softer linen sewed into the inside to create a more comfortable lining. He had thanked her and told her it was the coolest shirt anyone had ever given him, which had sent her off running away trying to hide her blush, though it appeared at dinner, his jokes had broken the ice and made the girl a little more comfortable in his presence. Billy, the bossy little boy who had initially tried to order Zack around had chattered endlessly about all sorts of things while his father prepared dinner, asking questions about everything from how SOLDIER worked, to who his favourite Chocobo was at the Golden Saucer, to claiming that one day, the best Chocobo in the races would come from this farm. Cloud had stayed mostly quiet throughout the entire evening, speaking only when spoken too, and otherwise letting Zack steer this ship as he was best at, but Zack noticed that the blonde seemed to be eager to speak with him the moment they got a chance. Until then though, he was happy to enjoy all the food Chocobo Bill had been generous enough to prepare. The vegetables were better than anything he had ever tried before, so fresh and clean, not like a lot of the lab grown stuff he was used to, the difference in quality was so obvious he could barely believe it.

The dusk had quickly faded as their conversations carried them easily into night, and the soft glow of the candles that lit the abode slowly burned themselves down to stubs, and the kids had worn themselves out, having fallen asleep in various places in the living room where they had set themselves up. Zack, and Cloud had picked the kids up and placed them in their beds as Bill had gathered some extra bedding and pillows for them to take out into the barn. As nice as it had been to eat and enjoy themselves indoors, the house was quite small, and they would be much more comfortable sleeping in the barn where they could stretch out and sleep comfortably. Zack pretended to yawn to stifle a laugh as Bill mentioned that the Chocobos probably missed Cloud, since they had accepted him as one of their own. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at the SOLDIER First who had clearly not done a good job at disguising his enjoyment. Together, the two thanked Bill one more time, and wished him good night as they left the house, walking towards the barn. As the door to the small abode close, Cloud opened up.

"It's been a week Zack, why has no one found us?"

It was definitely something he had been wondering about, but he did not have an answer.

"I dunno, I was wondering myself, but it seems we got lucky"

"You don't get lucky with the Turks, something is up, what are we gonna do? If we stay here, we'll put them in danger…. I don't want anyone else getting hurt…. I can't…. "

Zack grimaced as his hand gripped the rusted iron handle to the barn door and he pulled it open, the large door groaning as it opened slowly. Chocobo chirps could be heard, but by now their scents must have been familiar to the intelligent birds, and they did not seem to find them worthwhile to excite themselves over at bed time.

"If anyone tries anything, we'll stop them, no doubt, but we'll probably have to see if Bill has anything laying around you can use as a weapon. We gotta make a plan before we do anything rash, you're supposed to be the brains of this operation after all"

The soft light of their mako eyes revealed just enough of the blonde's face to tell him that his weak attempt at humour hadn't landed. He could understand why Cloud felt such dread at sticking around, he had already seen one home burn to the ground, and he likely wasn't looking for a repeat experience.

"Get some sleep, we've got work in the morning and I don't think Bill is gonna take it easy on us"

The blonde sighed and made his bed on a pile of straw and rolled over onto his side.

"Good night Zack"

"Yeah, g'night Cloud"