:UNLIKELY MIRACLE:

:HOPE:

...beep...beep...beep...beep...

His heard like hell and the incessant beeping was going to drive him insane. He groaned involuntarily. He felt stiff all over. He forced himself to sit up.

"Get the doctor! The boy's waking up!"

"You're kidding! After all this time! He's..."

"Just get the doc!"

Hey kid, you alright? How are you feeling.

He was about to say, 'I just exploded how do you think I feel?' But his dry throat only let out a hacking cough.

"Want some water?" asked the nurse.

He nodded and was promptly handed a glass of water. He drank slowly. His throat was so dry he felt he hadn't drunk anything in years. The doctor finally came in.

"Hey there. How are you doing? I thought you were never going to come out of your stupor. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

He tried to reply, 'Of course? What do you take me for a moron? I'm little, not stupid.' Only a series of painful grunts came out. He scowled.

"Don't worry. You'll get your voice back. For now just nod, yes or shake your head, no.

He nodded.

"Alright! Then I'm going to take your vitals and then do some brain scans to see how well you are functioning. There's nothing to worry about from here. Does that sound ok?" asked the doctor kindly.

The boy nodded.

.:Couple Weeks Later:.

"How's speech coming along?"

"It's better," the boy replied throatily.

"And your memory?"

"I think I got most of it back."

"Remember you name yet?" the doctor grinned.

"It's Zack." Zack sneered. The doctor and the nurses had made fun of what to call him since he couldn't remember his name. At least now he could be addressed properly.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"The fighter planes dropping bombs. We- we were running, Cloud, Squall and I. I told them not to get separated. We were headed for shelter. I guess we got caught in an exposion." Zack replied slowly, "Did you find any others with me?"

The doctor looked grim, "Zack... kid, we were lucky to find you. Honestly, you should have been dead. When we found you, you had a concussion and by the time we got you to a hospital you had gone into a coma. I almost thought that you wouldn't make it.

Zack nodded sadly, "Hey doc? How long has it been since the bombing?"

The doctor looked warily, "You were in a coma for two weeks but you went into a stupor. You have to understand...stupors can last a long time sometimes months to even years. Frankly- "

"Doc. How long?" Zack interrupted slightly irritated.

The doctor paused and then sighed, "It's been eight years Zack."

Zack looked shocked. Eight years. That meant that he was about twenty now. He had lost all his teenage years. The doctor had said he was a miracle case. People don't recover fully in these cases. Yet here he was. Eight years after the bombing, alive and doing fairly well.

"They have to be alive," Zack said more to himself than the doctor.

"I'm sorry. Come again?"

"Cloud and Squall...," said Zack determinedly, "I'll find them. There's no purpose of me being alive after all these years if they aren't alive. I'll find them. They had to have lived. They had to have."


A/N: Review? Pretty please? :)