Oh yay! I like this chapter much better! I think the formatting is a little less confusing then the previous two. Also WARRNING! This chapter contain YAOI. If you don't like it, skip it.
Again I do not own the character's Zack or Cloud.
"Cloud…" Cloud looked down at the soft mention of his name to see Zack's hazy eyes gazing up at him. It was obvious the man was having a hard time focusing and when he lifted up a hand Cloud kneeled to gently take it in both of his.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I'm so sorry." A few tears slide out of Zack's eyes to roll down his cheeks and into his ears. Cloud nodded, not quite knowing what to say. He'd never seen a man cry before and didn't know what to do, if anything. For some reason though Cloud felt his heart warm. It was special, he knew, that Zack was able to cry in front of him, that he trusted Cloud enough to show such vulnerability.
Though it's not as if he's in the best of shape right now, both physically and mentally. It probably wouldn't matter if it was me or anyone else holding his hand…
Regardless of his thoughts the warmth persisted and Cloud felt his grip tighten on Zack's hand.
"Stay with me…" Zack murmured and Cloud suddenly felt himself off balance as Zack drew the younger man down beside him. Covering him with his blankets Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud pulling him close.
Cloud lay very still. He could feel Zack's breath on the back of his neck. Feel Zack's chest slowly expand and contract as air flowed through his lungs, and the steady beat of his heart. Zack's body was pressed tight against his own and Cloud felt the returning heat of the other man's skin pass between them.
The smell of him filled Cloud's nose with each breath, and along with it came the rather strange thought of what Zack tasted like? Cloud tried to blush away the idea of actually licking Zack, tried to banish it from his mind but, like many other of his desires, Cloud was finding this one practically hard to get rid of. Especially as the object of his dreams was lying naked and comatose right behind him.
Letting his dozy mind wander Cloud further entertained the thought of licking a receptive Zack, of Zack kissing him in return: on his lips, chest, stomach, and groin of touching him and there bodies melting into a singular rhythm of burning pleasure…
"Cloud," Cloud started from his dream at Zack's quiet murmur into his hair. "I was so worried…so worried I had lost you ." He felt Zack's arms tighten around him. "I remember, dying, thinking I may never see you again…never tell you…"
Cloud's eyes widened at this confession; his heart beating so hard he could feel the vibrations throughout his entire body. Was Zack really about to say, no, he couldn't, but…Cloud closed his eyes not sure what to say or do. Was Zack just continuing his rambling, or was this something else?
Cloud could feel the older man's perfect teeth nipping softly up the back of his neck, and then a warm tongue trance his outer ear.
Yep, definitely something else, Cloud thought as he felt his and Zack's arousal grow.
"Cloud…" The man murmured and the blonde's skin goosed at the husky desire in the other's voice.
He bit down on Cloud's ear his breath licking the other's skin. "I want you, so much. I can't hid it anymore."
"But-but-Zack?" He shivered with small spasms of pleasure as Zack's hands began to explore his naked form. "Yu-you're not wh-well." Cloud stammered. This couldn't be happening could it? His secret hope. Zack was ill, not thinking right, he didn't really mean-
All Cloud's contrary explanations were abruptly shattered by a gasp as one of Zack's hands cupped his groin.
"Z-Zack!" He gasped again as a greater wave of pleaser rippled through him.
"I know you want me Cloud." The older man whispered and Cloud started to squirm deliciously as Zack's hand tighten and began to move along the blonde's hardening organ.
"I see it when you look at me… Your desire…I'm tired of games…I want you… I want to be inside of you." Cloud felt the hands around him suddenly release and needing no more of an invitation turned and pressed into his companion with a body hot and craving.
Suddenly in one powerful shove Zack pushed Cloud away.
"Cloud what are you doing?"
"Wh-what?" Cloud asked, his need for the other momentarily paused by a wall of confusion and hurt from the sudden and unexpected rejection.
"You just tried to kiss me."
"I what-but you…." Cloud's vision blurred as the misty world around him disappeared to be replaced by darkness.
Opening his eyes Cloud found himself face to face with the real Zack who was wearing an expression of surprised bemusement. Zack's hand was on Cloud's shoulder obviously in an effort to stop him from enacting out his dream fantasy. There was a painstakingly long pause as Cloud's mind tried to rationalize what had just happened when-
"I-I-I'm sorry!" Cloud stammered springing hastily away from Zack. Cloud lowered his face in an effort to hide his furious blush of embarrassment, only to realize that he had a prominent erection. Cloud quickly flipped one of the blankets over his nude lap before turning away to bury his burning face into bent knees.
God what have I done! He thought. Stupid, stupid! I'm so stupid! Now he'll hate me and think I'm some sort of pervert!
"Hey Cloud," Zack said behind him. "Calm down it's no big deal." Cloud raised his head slightly his mind a mess of absolute confusion. How could Zack say his attempt to not just kiss him but have sex with him was 'no big deal'? It didn't make any sense! Unless Zack actually did share similar feelings with Cloud, and at this thought he felt a familiar bud a hope begin to bloom in his chest.
Though, He frowned, if so why did he stop me?
Cloud open his mouth in an effort to voice some of the thoughts firing crazily in his head, but all he managed was a mangled "What?"
"Yup don't worry about it. It's more common then you'd think." Now Cloud was even more horribly confused. What the fuck? Did Zack mean that people commonly tried having sex with him when he was asleep! Zack must have caught a side glace of Cloud's face, which was scrunched in bewilderment and minor disgust, because he laughed again while patting the blonde's shoulder.
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised too the first time I found out." He continued. "But you know it makes sense. You take a bunch of guys, isolate them from friends, lovers, families, put them under huge levels of stress and discomfort, and you're bound to have a few intimate misunderstandings.
I remember this one time, I had been out on the front lines for three months, and one night I had this dream about Aearith. She was wearing one of those sexy little black dresses, you know, the ones that reveal everything, but somehow nothing at the same time, and she was…." He paused for a moment apparently reliving the dream, "….anyway, I ended up waking to one of the guys in my squad punching me in the face."
Cloud lowered his head back onto his knees torn between minor relief and a new kind of worry. So good he hadn't completely destroyed his friendship with Zack, but who was this Aearith? Did Zack have a girl friend? Maybe she was just someone Zack thought was hot? God he hoped so.
Zack chuckled, continuing his story, "I admit it was pretty embarrassing, but we ended up laughing about it later." Cloud then felt Zack lean in close behind him and a small shiver quaked through his body as the man's warm breath brushed by his ear.
"Though, truth be told," Zack said softly, "I really don't think he minded."
Cloud could feel himself growing hard again as Zack's smell once more perforated his senses and the heat from his naked chest caressed Cloud's back. For a second Cloud could have sworn he felt Zack lips brush the side of his neck, but then the man was gone leaving only a chilly void of air in his stead. Cloud heard the rustling of clothing as the older man got dressed and suddenly remembered the nasty wounds Zack had received only hours before
"Wait, Zack! Your wounds... "He said turning as Zack slide on his dried, if somewhat dirty pants, over boxers of similar condition.
"Huh?" He replied looking down at his heavily bandaged chest. Removing the gauss Zack started inspecting the stitching underneath.
"Wow…good work." He said impressed and gave Cloud a bright smile. "I've had professional doctors do much worse than this and those guys get paid for sewing me up."
"But?" Cloud gestured hopelessly. "Your wounds? You're going to rip the stitches if you move too much- doesn't that hurt?" He asked as Zack stretched his arms above his head before putting his shirt on.
"Not really." He answered doing a few more preliminary stretches. "I'm First Class SOLIDER remember. I heal pretty fast. By this time tomorrow there'll just be some scars left."
"Really?" Cloud asked amazed. If he had received wounds like that he'd been bed ridden for at least four days and in pain for weeks later. SOLIDER really was quite amazing.
"Yup. Pretty cool huh?" The blond nodded.
"Yeah…" Cloud's fantasy of becoming a SOLIDER himself one day was abruptly cut off as he realized that Zack was now fully dressed and he was still sitting naked on the floor. Cloud scurried to pull on his own clothes while still keeping the blanket wrapped around his waist, and then turned to see Zack making his way towards to opening on the caves far side. Grabbing the flashlight that he'd forgotten to turn off earlier, Cloud followed.
"So how did you find this place?" Zack asked as Cloud caught up with him at the archway.
"Saw the heat signature with my helmet from the helicopter. I tried to tell you, but we got attacked." He stopped as the suppressed memories of the night before came rushing back in dark flashes. "I-then we kinda fell into it."
"Huh." Zack said in response as he checked out the low ceilinged hallway.
"Well that was lucky. Is this where you found the blankets and stuff?" He asked opening up the door to the generator room.
"Yes. There was food and some sort of weapons too." Zack looked through the boxes confirming what Cloud had said, and then shook his head as he held up one of the weapons.
"These must have been here for a while. They're in too poor a condition to be much use." Tossing the weapon back into its box Zack looked over the remainder of the room and. seeming satisfied, left to explore the rest of the place.
They ended up finding three more rooms. A bunker big enough for about four people, a rec-room with an old couch and pool table, as well as some sort of computer room.
"This must be how they monitor the ventilation and other systems down here." Zack said examining one of the consuls.
"Cloud?" He asked a frown crinkling his face. "How long do you think was the last time anyone's been down here?"
"Ummmm, judging from all the dust, I'd say at least two months. Why?" Zack slide his fingers over one of the old computer screens.
"Because," He replied darkly holding out his hand for Cloud to inspect. "There's no dust on these computers." Cloud blinked, it was true. "I would be willing to guess that someone was here quite recently," Zack continued, "And it's very likely that this person was the one who shot us down. The type of missile used was short range so who ever fired it would need to be pretty close to the beach."
Cloud nodded, a coldness growing in his gut. "If I remember correctly this place isn't too far from where we washed up. But-there couldn't be anyone still here, could there?" He said, turning to look back down the corridor. Zack shook his head.
"No, if anyone was here they'd have killed or captured us as we slept. I bet they went to check the beach for survivors and then reported back to their base." Zack had been standing with hand on chin in contemplation over the room, when suddenly he turned to Cloud with wide eyes.
"Cloud!" Cloud started at Zack's abrupt loudness and somewhat frantic look. "On the beach, I don't really remember what happened last night, but on the beach, when you found me, did you see my sword?"
"Uh, no." He said after a moment's thought and then was alarmed to see the way Zack suddenly cave in on himself like a spoiled soufflé. "But it was dark, and I honestly wasn't looking for a sword, so I might have missed it." He added trying to sound hopeful.
Sighing Zack placed a hand on Cloud's back before moving past him.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. I just don't know what I'm going to tell Angeal if I ever lose that thing."
"Do you know where Angeal is?" Cloud asked following behind. "No one I've talked to has seen him in a while." When he didn't respond Cloud decided to drop the subject.
Re-entering the generator room, Zack began filling a backpack he'd found with some canned food, then took two of the old weapons, tossing one to Cloud.
"Catch." He said. It was a long narrow staff like contraptions with a few knobs along the side as well as a large cylinder attached near one of the ends. After a bit of inspection Cloud gave up trying to figure out which end was which.
"Ummm Zack…? How do I use this thing?" He asked sort of waving it around in an effort to try to get a feel for the weapon's proper use.
"Well, it needs a new charger before you can fire it, but for now I was thinking a blunt piece of metal was better than no weapon at all." Zack held up his. "Yeah, it's kind of like a staff." He said giving it a few test swirls. "Here let me give you a few pointers on staff use."
After a few minutes Cloud was at last confident that he could hold the weapon properly, though it was somewhat heavier then he would have liked. As he watched Zack show off with a few more elaborate twirls, spinning the rod as if it weighed nothing, Cloud began to understand how Zack might be strong enough to lift Angeal's famous Buster Sword. Another benefit of SOLIDER, he thought in awe.
The two men then proceeded to make their way back through the first cavern and down the adjoining tunnel. Zack stopped when he reached the large hole in the ceiling where he and Cloud had fallen in the other night.
"Wow." He said with a laugh. "I must have been really out of it to not notice falling down that." A slight smile crossed Cloud face and he nodded. "Yeah you were."
"Come here." He said motioning to Cloud. "I'll give you a boost." Zack laced his fingers together to make a holster which Cloud used as a step. Again he was surprised at the other man's strength, Zack lifted him with barely a grunt. Scrambling out of the hole, Cloud bent down, offered a hand to his companion and soon both of them were on the surface observing their new surroundings.
The sky was cool and clear with the sun still rising on the horizon and, Cloud guessed by its position, that the time was a little after 07:00. This meant the two of them had slept for almost an entire day. The ground and foliage was dry and Cloud could hear the sounds of birds off in the distant fir trees and see a few small bugs as they zipped pass. It was all deceptively calm and serine and Cloud was having a hard time imagining this as the same forest which had seemed so deadly the night before.
"This way." Zack said, motioning Cloud to follow him towards the strip of ocean that peeked out from gapes between the thick trees. Reaching the tree line Zack crouched in the shadows observing the beach from a distance. Cloud followed suit, but the sand looked empty to him and whatever evidence might have been left in it by their enemies was now long washed away. Zack must have come to a similar conclusion because he soon moved silently back into the forest and began walking along the tree line.
After a while Zack stopped and sniffed the air.
"Do you smell that?" He asked
"Yeah," Cloud replied as he inhaled the slickly heavy sent. "Smells like smoke, but," He paused letting the aroma roll around his noise, "it's really foul. What's burning?"
Zack frowned and continued, moving cautiously through the forest, following the scent until the air was thick with haze and the smell so foul Cloud had to cover his noise.
"What the hell?" Zack murmured as he entered the edge of a small clearing. Peering out from behind him Cloud let out a horrified gasp at the sight of the cindering bodies before quickly closing his eyes and turning away. He felt Zack move closer to the burning corpses, piled up in the glade's center.
Cloud's head spun as the cloying sent wrapped itself around him and clogged up his throat and lungs. His guts contorted into sickening knots as he stumbled to a nearby tree, gasping for a breath of clean air. Vision whirling, Cloud felt himself fall to the hard earth his stomach heaving painfully over and over as it tried to disgorge what little remained of his last meal.
"Cloud." Zack said in a low voice as a hand fell on each of Cloud's shoulders. Shaking slightly, Cloud look up to behold a face that he at first did not recognize as Zack's. All his friend's usual playfulness and cheerful carefree optimism that made him so enjoyable to be around was gone; replaced by a visage that was unsettlingly cold and harsh. Only the eyes seem the same as they gazed out to Cloud from this odd face that was both so familiar yet so strange. Looking into those blue orbs Cloud felt the deep pain and loss they radiated; the shame and unforgivable failure Zack would never let himself forget.
It's not your fault Cloud wanted so badly to say, but again words of comfort refused to pass his open lips.
One of Zack's hands gently ran through Cloud's hair and Cloud saw his mouth move though if any words were spoken he could not here them over another painful heave as his stomach convulsed again. He felt himself being picked up and lead through the forest; if somewhat drunkenly because his legs couldn't stop shaking. Not until they had traveled far enough for the smoke to have fully dispersed was Cloud able to regain sufficient awareness of his surroundings. Sliding down the trunk of a large evergreen Cloud looked dully up at the branches above him.
He knew for a fact that those ashen bodies were all that now remained of his former comrades. The same men he'd spent almost every waking and sleeping hour with for the last year, who he had laughed with, trained with, and been picked on by. Now all dead; nothing more than bones and burnt flesh in a fire place.
"Zack?" Cloud asked at last when the heavy silence between them had become too deep and long. "What are we going to do now?"
Zack was standing a little ways off, his back strait and arms crossed. Shafts of sunlight glittered through his dark hair and flowed over his body as he stood almost motionless in the quite wood.
"We will continue as planned." He said quietly, after a moment's pause.
"But-" Zack held up a hand, cutting Cloud off.
"Remember the purpose of our mission." Zack said his voice soft yet cold. "If we don't find the Dentari base and destroy their communication equipment dozens more of our comrades will fall. They're counting on us Cloud. Their lives are in our hands, and I'm not, going to let them down." Zack turned; his eye's fierce and vivid with determination and held out his hand towards Cloud. As Cloud looked into the intensity of Zack's eyes, he felt his own strength return and a fire ignite in his chest. Grabbing the offered hand the two men stared at each other for a moment longer before a relieved grin flashed across Zack's face and he pulled Cloud up onto his feet.
"Alright solider." Zack said with a hint of his usual merriment. "Onward ho!" And he slapped Cloud playfully on the back before moving off into the forest.