AN: Well, nothing much to say. Just thanks to the people who reviewed, alerted, and favorited. …. No I lied. I also want to mention this will be heavily influenced by music since, well, you'll piece it together eventually.
Third Person
The sun had just risen in Midgar when Zack woke up to an empty bed. On instinct he called the cadets name. When he got no answer he automatically knew where the blond was. With an audible groan he rolled over and unceremoniously landed onto the hard floor, successfully waking him up.
The soldier trudged through the cadet hallways and turned down a familiar path towards the twenty flights of stairs that led to the roof top of the building. And sure enough once at the top, the cadet was sitting on the edge of the building with his legs dangling, and just slightly so he could just barely hear it, the blond was whispering a song.
Oh, when they come for me
Come for me
I'll be gone...
And all the people say
Aaaaahhhhhh...
"Cloud?" the raven regretfully interrupted the melodious sound that was being formed.
He abruptly stopped and turned around with a big smile on his face. The sunrise was setting off a orange glow on the teen's face while the wind playfully tugged at the blond spikes. The whole thing had a warm glow about it, giving the feel of perseverance.
"Hey, Zack," he greeted.
"What was that you were singing just a moment ago?" the soldier queried. He watched as the cadets eyes widened and a flicker of panic flashed in the blue depths before disappearing again. The blond slowly let the smile come back to his face.
"Just something I thought of. It happens a lot when I'm up here," he explained.
"Sounds good," the raven replied before sitting down next to the cadet on the roof.
"Why exactly do you come up here?" he asked and turned his head towards the sky like the boy next to him. It also crossed his mind to ask exactly how Cloud got up here with his condition, but he decided against it.
"You can see everything from up here. It's so high up it's like nothing can touch you. My mother said that's part of the reason she named me," he said.
Zack couldn't help but notice that the cadet practically snarled the word mother.
"What do you have against your mother?" the soldier asked.
The cadet turned and gave him a sad look.
"Sorry Zack, but that story's not for today. Or else I'll just be depressed for Shiva knows how long."
Zack wanted to press, but he had saw the underlying warning in the blue depths. They were simply screaming one word at him, Don't, as if he already knew what was coming.
Unfortunately, it had taken experience to learn to be able to see that warning. Whenever the young soldier had pushed too far Cloud had taken to taking on a stoic expression and ignoring him for unlimited amounts of time, but not before Zack saw the tears building up. It really tore at the ravens heart to see the blond so haunted.
The cadet had never opened up about to his past to the soldier. Part of the reason was because that same old warning was always there with the subject. He would even wake up screaming unintelligible things, like a different language. Zack thought they were going to take Cloud away from him the first time it happened.
XXXXX
The pearl white moon was struggling in an inevitable battle to shine past the clouds blocking it's path to earth. It knew though, as the wind carried the glowing objects cries to the people below, that so many were especially in need of guidance tonight. All of them would need guidance at one point or another. Whether it was from itself, or Gaia herself, the planet and all knowing couldn't help but think of what was going to occur without such help.
One of these people was in his room with his friend at his side. The blonde didn't want to take the sedatives from the doctor, but Zack wasn't having it. The blond knew what was going to happen if he took them. The memories would plague him. He didn't know if he would be able to contain them when they revealed themselves. And when the time came...
… He wasn't able to.
Zack on the other hand was having a much more peaceful sleep. One where he was back at home in Gongaga helping his mother prepare the rest of the dinner while his father went out to butcher the deer. The raven got squeamish at the thought of ripping open a live animal, or just killing anything in general. Funny, see as to what he did for a job now.
He was singing along with his mother to an old folk song when a earth shattering scream penetrated the joyful moment. As tortured as it sounded the voice was so familiar almost like-
"HELP! GET AWAY FROM ME!" the shout rang through again abruptly ripping the soldier out of his once pleasant dream.
His mako enhanced sight guided him through the night he was also brought to present that there was a frantic thrashing beside him. Cloud.
Training had already told him that trying to talk to him was completely useless at this point. Instead, he grabbed the small boy and clutched him to his chest.
"Shh... Shh..." he cooed straight into his ear. The boy was wailing so loud that it was most likely impossible that the words would be heard.
Slowly, but surely the wails died down. The cadet kept up the silence evening his breath, while listening to the sound of Zack's beating heart.
"Kaasan," he mumbled laced with so much anguish that you could cut through it with a knife. The soldier just continued to rub the teens back and whisper sweet nothings.
"Anata wa watashi o hochi shinai koto o yakusoku suru?" the cadet said suddenly. When he got no reply he lifted head up and stared straight into the lavender eyes.
"Promise!" he yelled this time with such desperation even the Turks wouldn't have been able to say no.
"Okay," the soldier said staring straight back. "I promise," he said not even knowing what he was agreeing to.
XXXXX
Zack shook his head at the memory. After that he never forced the cadet to take sedatives again. He also never brought up the promise he made. What would he say? 'Hey Cloud, do you remember the night where you had a mental breakdown and made me promise something. Yeah, what was it?' There was no way that was going to go down well.
The raven turned his head towards the horizon again. It was almost unfair, the situation. He had opened up about his past multiple times and been there for the cadet through thick and thin.. Shouldn't he at least get to know a little bit besides the the blond grew up in Nibelheim and didn't have a dad.
"Say Cloud after we go to the infirmary," he said waiting for the teen's full attention, "What do you want to do for the day?"
"What do you mean? There's no appointment today." the blond replied with a confused expression on his face.
The raven gave the cadet a slight shove on the shoulder while letting out a chuckle. "You didn't honestly think I'd let you get away with fainting did you?" he said smiling wider when he felt the tension lift from the atmosphere.
"Can't blame a guy for hoping can you?" the teen retorted
"Guess not," the raven said. He got up and offered a hand to the cadet. "Come on. Let's get this over with."
A wide smile spread over the boys face as he accepted the hand. "Yeah, let's go."
XXXXX
The over whelming stench of antioxidants and blood bombarded both teens as they calmly walked through the clear doors of the hospital wing. It just was about eight in the morning by the time they had finally made it across grounds from the roof.
"Zack!" a female voice called out from the other side of the room.
Said teen felt a wide grin plant itself on his face while the blond at his side let out a internal groan.
"Hi, Ann," he greeted warmly, completely oblivious to the bristling cadet beside him.
"Oh Zack," she said giggling like crazy. "Cloud," she added with a terse nod.
"Annabelle," the cadet greeted trying to hold back a sneer. In retrospect the girl had never done anything bad to the teen, not when Zack was around.
"So you here to give me credit for getting into first class yet?" she said while batting her eyelashes like crazy.
"Not yet. We're here to take little chocobo here to the Dr. Pazzo," he replied.
"Just because I have a PhD does not make me crazy Zack," the wise voice said with a slight teasing tone.
The soldier went rigid for a moment before relaxing as he realized the man was in a good mood.
"Dr. Haddix," he corrected as he turned around to face the young wutainese doctor, who was probably in his early thirties. Majority of the female staff looked up to him for his big achievement of becoming a ShinRa issued doctor. Hint- Hint, there's only fifteen for the whole army.
Truth be told, Zack had only seen Dr. Haddix two times. The man had been clad in a white lab coat and neatly combed hair both times, while sporting rectangular glasses.. Now the same man that stood before him was wearing tan cargo shorts along with a grey V-neck. Not to mention his hair made it look like a tornado had blown through. Still had the glasses though.
"Cloud, come discuss what you're in for as I grab your file." the doctor continued paying no mind to the soldier. Just as Zack was about to protest though, the doctor gripped the blondes forearm and dragged him particularly ruffly through the doorway to the private office. One thing that crossed Zack's mind before they flew through the door way was why was the doctor barefoot?
The cadets head was swimming with worries, questions, and plans. Dax (That's what Cloud calls him because Dr. Haddix seemed too formal), had to know the shot had wore off by now. Many people took him for a stern, mean adult, but really the man was a... bubbly person. Yeah... that was it, bubbly. Oh, who was he kidding? The he was insane.
"So," he started as he sat down in his leather chair. "Hey Blondie, hey! How's it going friend? Did Zack turn into a prince and swoop in to save the day when you fainted? Wait, I'm being inconsiderate. Are you still sick? How are you feeling?"
"Uh... I'm fine. No, Zack wasn't a prince, but he did catch me before I fell. I don't think I"m sick and I feel... good actually." the cadet replied. The group had gotten used to his rambling after a few weeks. Some because they didn't want to make him feel bad. Dax, rarely let anyone see his true personality, so Cloud took it like an honor.
Cloud could see the million questions starting to surface when a loud ringtone burst through the air.
'You're the devil. You're a filthy piece of trash. Gotta brush you off my shoulder~gonna let you kiss my ass. You're a diablo, a diablo, a diablo, a diablo-"
"Hello," the man answered unabashedly. Hell, the man got walked in on while showering by one of his friends and didn't even blush. There was no way he was going to be embarrassed by his ever changing ringtone.
The blond took a moment to think while the conversation went on across the room. He wanted to bite his fingernails out of nerves, but that would raise questions. It was one of the things that got Cloud scared: When Dax was wrong.
No, he wasn't over exaggerating. It was a dam to his emotions just completely disintegrated. No one wanted to be around him in his crazy faze. So that meant Cloud, by default had to deal with it because he was the closest based on where they all lived.
"Hey Cloud, Demyx wants to talk to you," his thoughts were interrupted by that same high pitched voice. Both males eyes widened as they realized the doctor's slip up.
Cloud quickly grabbed the phone from the frozen figures hand and quickly covered up the mistake. "Hey Jake. You're going to love what your big brother Dax just called you." then quickly pulled the phone away from his ear already anticipating the shrill voice that came through the speaker.
"DID THAT ASSHOLE CALL ME DEMYX AGAIN?"
"Dead on,"
"Sorry, I'll have to talk to you later Cloud. Would you be so kind as to pass the phone back to the, Oh So Great Dax." came the bit out reply.
He spared a glance at said man and was met with the vigorous shaking of the honey hair.
"Gladly" he finally replied into the receiver, mouthing payback afterword at the doctor who was gaping at him as he calmly handed him the phone.
Taking this as his chance, Cloud slipped out of the room while Dax tried to explain to his brother that it was an accident. He only wished that he would've of stayed inside the room when he saw the scene that was waiting for him outside.
Annabelle was sitting next to a very jittery Zack in the waiting area, scooting closer every half a second.
"Aww, but it would be fun. We'd be able to do whatever you want?" she kept whispering in a seductive voice while, not so subtly running her hand up his thigh. And- Oh no. Cloud knew that look. She was going to kiss him. Think! Think! Think!
Cloud quickly looked around the room, looking for anything that would help him stop this crime that was happening.
Man with ham sandwich, wheelchair, emergency fire ax, hm... No! He needed to stay on task. Um... There! The intercom.
Throwing all caution to the wind he quickly pressed the button and spoke into the speaker. "Attention: Annawhor- I mean Annabelle please report to Professor Hojo's lab. Again, please report to Professor Hojo's lab," he said in the most feminine he could manage, and quickly ducked below the counter before anyone could notice it was him.
When he peaked out from behind the counter he saw the nurse walking his way with a confused look on her face. When she was about 10 feet away he came up with a brilliant idea. It was mean, but she'd tried to kiss his Zack so it was okay right?
Moving quietly, the blond grabbed the broom under the desk next to him and stuck it out a good foot and a half in front of the girl's path.
And just as planned the brunette walked straight into the trap and fell flat onto her face, so perfectly that it looked like it was fresh off the Sunday morning cartoons.
You know how sometimes when someone says/does something hilarious and you laugh so hard that there's no sound? You kinda just sit there looking like a idiot that's choking on thin air. Well, that's what Cloud was doing right now sprawled out on the tile floor, nearly slamming his head on the roof of the desk. He'd been wanting the bitch to do that for weeks now. Parts of his brain were either focused on replaying the image, or committing it to permanent memory. He'd be damned if he forgot this piece of justice.
After he got his laughter under control he waited for Zack everyone else in the room to crowd around her to make sure she was alright. Then when no one was looking he walked out from the other side of the desk unseen and went back inside the hallway from where he just previously was, only to walk back out after counting to ten.
"What happened?" he addressed the group trying to sound as concerned and worried as possible, that was probably ruined by the glee in his eyes.
A pair of angry amber eyes focused on his and the blond really had to fight to not smile.
"You," she hissed, spitting blood on the ground as she did so. "I bet you had something to do with this."
"Nope. I was in the room with Dr. Haddix. You could go deny that logic and get hit with a chair. It fucking hurts." he replied.
Off somewhere in the crowd a person was heard saying, "That's why I had to buy the man another $200 dollar chair?" but was discarded when people started to move away to go back to what they were doing after realizing that the nurse was fine.
Except for Zack. Of course.
Feeling his temper start to go off he decided to do another thing he wasn't proud of.
"Ow," the blond started while stumbling, 'nearly', catching himself on the side of the desk. Automatically, the raven turned his full attention to the teen and went to go grab him.
"Do you need me to carry you back or do you got it?" he asked, completely ignoring the seething girl on the floor.
"I-I think I got it," the cadet followed Zack out the door and just as it was about to shut the blond stuck his head back in and yelled/whispered whore!, knowing she could see him.
XXXXX
"So how'd it go with doc?" Zack asked as soon as they got back to his apartment.
The blond hobbled over to the couch and put his head in between his knees. He remembered that from one of his earlier appointments that he should slowly act like he was getting better. It'd be too much of a miracle in such a short amount of time. He heard the faint sound of the T.V. clicking and the seat dipping beside him.
"Tonight on Inside-Out Stars we report to you about the last show for the new album Meteora by Three Days Grace(1) and Sora Parks release of 8bit Heart."
Upon hearing that, Cloud's head snapped up. "Did she say Three Days Grace?"
Zack's puffy, sandwich filled cheeks greeted him as he turned to get his answer. "Pheah, why?" the soldier tried to reply, but the teen had already turned his attention back to the T.V.
"Well that sounds like quite a mix of genres doesn't Cheryll?" another female voice cut in.
"Actually word going around is that the band and Sora are co-writing songs, maybe even a new album."
"Now that would be interesting considering that both artists have so many genres by themselves. A Nu-Metal band mixed with a hip-hop artist. That'll be something to look forward to. Now-"
Did one of the guys let the slip again? If they did there was going to be hell to pay.
"Cloud!" the shout snapped him out of his trance. He shook his head and turned to face the raven that finally put his plate of 'food' down on the coffee table.
"What?"
"What's up with that head of yours? You've been spaced out ever since they started talking." The soldier looked really concerned as he started to bounce his leg out of anxiety. A steady pink started to dust the pale face of his best friend. The ever feared glint decided to make itself known in his eyes.
"You like that band don't you Spikey?" Zack started, the teasing all too present.
You have no idea, the cadet thought before sheepishly nodding his head.
A large groan escaped the soldier as he threw his head back and dramatically fell onto the rest of the sofa. Cloud felt a small spark of desire at the sight, but he quickly pushed it down. Now was not the time for his stupid hormones.
"What's wrong with that?" he said, soundly slightly choked, as he desperately tried to distract himself.
"There's nothing wrong with it. I just wish you would of told me that earlier. We watched their last concert for their meter-something tour last night." came the guilt filled reply.
"Meteora," he corrected the older teen. He paused and glanced at the soldier to see he wasn't looking at him. The blond worried his upper lip for a second before decided to take another theoretical step forward.
He grabbed the soldier's hand and shifted to lie down next to him. He could feel the raven's body tense for a moment before relaxing and rolling to face the teen.
"I think I'm starting to feel better Zack," the cadet murmured looking straight into the lavender eyes.
The soldier squeezed the blond's hand as a big smile spread out over his face. "That's good Spike, that's really good," he said a little breathlessly as he brought the teen into a tight hug. "How long?"
"Dr. Haddix said a few more days and I'll be brand new. He also said that the fainting was just a effect of my body using so much energy driving out the virus." was the gleeful reply.
"So it's gone?" the raven asked his voice barely able to contain his excitement.
"Yep, completely"
"YES!" the shout filled the air and echoed as the soldier lifted them both from the sofa and swung the blond around a few times before just hugging him. When he pulled away he noticed the boy was considerably paler.
"Sorry. Forgot, motion sickness" he said quickly stepping back a foot or two to give the guy some space.
Cloud let out a chuckle. "Zack it's fine. You deserve to celebrate. And I thank you for being there for me the whole time from start to finish." Letting his own grin on his face as the soldier did.
"I gotta go tell Cissnei and Reno!" the raven yelled as quickly ran over to put his boots on and was out the door in thirty seconds flat. Blue eyes landed on the laminated keycard on the counter and called out, "Oi! You forgot something!"
A blur of black came rushing in the door and went right past the counter and to the cadet.
"You're right. Thanks Spikey." Zack replied and started to heft the small boy into his arms.
"What are you doing?" the teen shouted as the ground was ripped away from him.
"Can't go bragging without my trophy now can I?" was his light-hearted reply as he started to rush out the door to only be stopped by the blond to grab his keycard before he forgot it again.
Cloud shook his head as the hallway rushed pass him in a big blur. The man would just never learn.
AN: (1) Oh my gosh, it was so hard to type that. I probably accidentally wrote Linkin Park at least five times, maybe more. Why can't they just be two bands? No that would never work out for this story...
Well, that's the second chapter of Guarded! Was it any good? It feels kinda random, but I'm going to leave it as it is because I like the tiny bits of humor here and there. I have plans for Dax... Also what do ya think Sora's doing there? Please review!