Disclaimer: I do not own final fantasy or its characters
Thanks to Mitchel for being my wonderful beta ^^
---CHOCOBOS---
Two figures walked into the small lodge at Healin. One had fiery red hair with a slant to his walk. The other one wore sun glasses and had a straight posture. They both wore dark blue suits.
Reno and Rude walked up to the desk where Rufus Shinra sat. Standing on either side of him were Elena and Tseng. "Report your findings." demanded Rufus.
"Well boss man, Genesis was right. Zack is alive but as a Chocobo." explained Reno. A week ago Genesis came to Rufus telling him he wants information to see if Zack was still alive.
"But why would Genesis want Zack as a Chocobo?" Elena asked. Reno only shrugged.
"Genesis has always been funny in the head. When he was with Shinra and when he had abandoned it. Whatever he has planned, we don't know. But what we do know is that he is planning to destroy the world again…maybe." Rufus spoke his thoughts out loud.
"But why would he need Zack?" Reno asked.
"Maybe he wants to torture him. Remember, when Zack was still…human…Genesis and Zack were enemies. Well Zack tried to help Genesis while Genesis was trying to kill him. Zack told me his intentions while he was still working for SOLDIER. He wanted to make it a personal goal to save Genesis from himself." explained Tseng.
"And does Genesis know about that?" asked Elena.
"Well that's now your job to find out. Tseng, Elena, go find out where Genesis is hiding, and also find out about his true ambitions. Why would he need Zackary Fair?" Rufus said. Elena and Tseng nodded their heads and headed out the door to the helicopter. "Reno and Rude, you say back for protection." Both Turks responded with 'yes sir'.
Rufus soon returned to his work trying to write down information about Zack and Genesis, and also how Genesis is alive, and why he wants Zack.
---
Getting Zack to move around Seventh Heaven was easy, besides walking up and down the stairs and hitting his head on the roof. But the bar was going to open soon, so poor Zack had to walk up the stairs and into Cloud and his shared room until Tifa closed up shop again. Cloud had to run a few deliveries so he was gone. Yuffie was also going be the bouncer for the night. So Zacks only company was Marlene and Denzel.
Zack was lying on his side while Marlene was patting Zack's head. Denzel was playing with the RC helicopter. It was of Shinra design but was a different colour, and didn't have the Shinra symbol on it. The RC helicopter had a little hook on the bottom so it could pick up things and fly the item to a new area and then place the object. Denzel was getting rather good at it.
Zack was watching him build a tower with the helicopter and some blocks. It was rather amazing. Zack got up to sit down with a lazy expression on his face, but was still interested with the tower.
"I'm thirsty." exclaimed Marlene, opening and closing her mouth to feel how dry her mouth was. "Yeah, me too, how about you Zack?" asked Denzel who was landing the helicopter with practice. Zack thought for a moment before nodding.
Marlene smiled then got up, after she gave one last pat to Zacks neck. She stopped in front of the door and turned back to see Denzel and Zack standing behind her. Zack gave her a confusing look then tilled his head to the side. Marlene looked at him.
"You can't come with us Zack, the patrons are still down there and they might be scared." Marlene gave a sad expression to Zack. Zack looked down sadly but soon looked up back to Marlene and nodded while putting a choco-smile on his face. He turned around and spread his wings to knock Denzel's head back a bit. Denzel huffed and rubbed his forehead. He walked a couple of steps before he turned back around to face Marlene and Denzel who was still rubbing his head as if he was trying to create static electricity. Marlene smiled at Zack before grabbing Denzel's arm, that wasn't rubbing his head, and opened the door before dragging him outside to get drinks for all three of them.
When they were out of eyesight, Zack looked in the mirror in the bathroom attached to the bedroom. He dropped his head on the sink counter with the feathers on the counter. They were quickly getting wet with the remnants of water that were not cleaned off the counter. Why? Why was he a Chocobo again? That was the question that was repeating over and over again in his head, he was going to get a headache soon. Zack lifted his head and looked in the mirror. Violet eyes stared right back as he repeated the question in his head again. Zack felt his left eye twitch as he let out a scream that sounded like a 'wark' of frustration and banged his head a few times on the sink counter hard enough for customers down stairs to hear it.
Tifa looked to the roof/floor where she heard a loud 'wark' upstairs that was followed by a few loud bangs. Some other people also looked up and then returned to their drinks and started to chat away.
Denzel and Marlene also heard it and quickly grabbed a couple of drinks and ran back up the staircase to see Zack. A man sitting on a stool near Tifa watched the two children run up the stairs. He sighed and ran a hand right through his short brown, and slightly spiked hair. Grabbing a half empty glass of whiskey, he took another drink from it. Mako blue eyes scanned the room. Some of patrons were already drunk and laughing at a joke that one of their mates had said. It was about some man that got slapped at the shop earlier that day from staring at some enlarged breasts on a woman. They laughed harder at the fact that the man was almost drooling at the sight. The man at the stool sighed and shook his head. He used to act like that with his friends, until his best friend was murdered. The man got up and grabbed his dark cloak; he was sitting on it, and walked out the door to dirty streets.
Tifa eyed the man who left. The man had been coming to her bar every night for the past two months. Not getting drunk, only tipsy. Tifa tried to recall his name but only remembered that it started with a 'K'. She shook her head and started to serve the customers that were waiting for their drinks.
---
When Marlene and Denzel ran upstairs and got to Cloud/Zacks room, they saw Zack bashing his head on the basin of the sink. They put down the two glasses and bowl that were full of water on Clouds work table, and ran to Zack to stop his head returning to the sink once more. Marlene held onto the right wing trying to pull him back, while Denzel went for the head. They both successfully pulled Zack out of the bathroom and made him sit down. The Chocobo's head was slightly swaying side to side like a piece of material in the wind.
"Why did you do that for Zack? You could of seriously caused brain damage to that chocobo head of yours." Marlene said worryingly.
Denzel snickeredd a little bit. "Like it could affect him." Zack shot him a glare, but it just looked like a chocobo trying to blink but not quite making it.
"That's mean Denzel. Anyway we got you your drink." Marlene quickly changed the subject before Zack could latch his beak to Denzel's head. She quickly got up and grabbed the bowl and gave it to Zack. Well, placed it in front of him.
Zack bowed his head down and started to lap the water, while Marlene got up to grab the two glasses. She gave one to Denzel. When Denzel had finished, he got up and went over to the RC helicopter and started to play with it again but making at bigger building with the blocks.
---
It was late at night and the bar was already closed. Tifa was cleaning the dried up alcohol left by the customers. Denzel and Marlene were upstairs asleep. Zack was also asleep, and Yuffie and left when the patrons left to avoid clean up and disappear somewhere in the night. 'Maybe to steal materia...again' Tifa assumed.
The rumbling engine of Fenrir could be heard when Cloud stopped in front of the bar. Tifa smiled when she heard the engine stop.
She was cleaning a dirty glass that some man had decided to spit into when he was finished drinking it, when the door opened and a smiling Cloud came in. She looked up and smiled.
"Well someone looks awfully happy." Tifa teased light heartedly. Cloud walked over to Tifa and told her to hold out her hand. When she did, Cloud dropped a bracelet in the opened hand.
"My second last delivery was at a jewellery store and the lady in charge of the shop said that she was happy about how early the delivery was, and how good condition the boxes were. She said I could pick out something for free. This bracelet caught my eye and I thought you might like it." Cloud explained, taking in a deep breath.
The bracelet was silver with a sapphire dangling from it. The chain was big, beautifully designed and shimmered in the light. The Sapphire was also of a beautiful shape. Like a smaller version of a materia but also somehow shaped as a diamond. When it went in the light, it reflected a blue light, water effect in most directions.
Tifa smiled and put it on her left wrist with a little bit of Clouds help. She hugged Cloud and he slightly stiffened but hesitantly hugged back.
"I love it, Cloud. I will wear it from this moment onward." Tifa happily said. Cloud smiled and nodded back.
"Remember that you're my best friend. No one could replace you." Cloud said before walking up the stairs. Tifa stared after Cloud left. She felt like squealing like a school girl.
---
When Cloud got upstairs and walked into his room, he quietly laughed at the sight he saw. Zack was lying on the floor with his head on the bed. His beak was slightly open, with a tiny bit of saliva coming out of it. His tongue bathed in it.
Slowly, Cloud walked to a chair near his desk and took off his gloves, goggles and placed them on the table. He then walked over to the bed to sit on the edge on the opposite side to Zack. He took off his boots. He then walked towards Zack to give him a light pat, liking the smoothness of the feathers between his fingers, and walked over to the bathroom to have a shower to wash off all the dirt his skin and hair collected thought-out the day.
Zack woke up to the sound of running water. He lifted up his head and saw the equipment Cloud took with him this morning, back in their original place.
Zack slowly lifted his head and looked down at the drool puddle he made and shivered. He could never fix his drooling problem. Back in SOLDIER, he once fell asleep on Angeal and ended up soaking up the first top. Zack quickly dismissed that thought because Angeal was a painful topic to him. Zack got up and walked towards the bathroom, where his beautiful Cloud was washing himself. When he was in the bathroom, he was greeted with hot steam. Zack stuck his head out of the bathroom, trying to cool down his feathers on his face. Who thought Cloud could have such a hot shower. Well the heat did intensify when you were covered in feathers that were black as the night. After his face cooled down, he moved back into the bathroom.
The shower stopped and a hand stuck out of the foggy glass door. It was moving around, looking for a towel. It looked helpless when it gave up and withdrew back into the shower.
Zack thought this was funny but sad at the same time. So the chocobo grabbed the towel with his beak, and leaned his head to tap his beak on the glass door. Cloud let out an unmanly squeak before opening the glass door and poking his head out, to see what made the tapping. It's not every day, or night in this case, that when you poke you head out of the shower, you come face to face with a chocobo. So Cloud did what any man would do, beside maybe chocobo bill. He stared surprised right back into Zacks eyes before letting out another squeak louder than before then ducking back into the foggy shower glass door.
Zack let out a sorrowful 'wark' before Cloud slowly opened the shower door letting his head poke out of the door, when he realized it was just Zack. But Cloud still freaked out just a bit. Cloud took the towel from Zacks beak.
"Thank you Zack, but you really didn't need to spy on me if I needed a towel or not. I could have just walked out of shower and got one myself." Cloud giggled.
Cloud moved back into the shower to wrap himself before taking a step out. Zack was still there with his beak opened and smiling. Cloud took a couple steps towards him before giving him a pat on the head. Zack nuzzled into the hand and cooed. Cloud moved away to go to the sink to brush his teeth.
Zack wasn't really in the mood to watch Cloud brush his teeth, so he walked out of the bathroom. As soon as he got out of the bathroom, Zack was suddenly hit by the cold and shivered. He just wanted to walk back into the blessed heat of the bathroom again, but he had to get back into the bedroom again to sleep and the bathroom will become cold. So he just stayed outside in the room. Cloud soon came out of the bathroom to dress, then to go to bed while Zack laid his head on edge of the bed. Cloud slowly reached his hand to pet Zack on his head. That motion slowly made Zack and Cloud fall asleep.
---Chocobos---
A/N: Do any of you people know how long this chapter has been haunting me?! Like for months because I couldn't think of anything! I know I said I had a plot, but that doesn't mean I had something to write. Also because I'm lacking reviews! Just like any other author, Reviews fuel us and it's what makes us write chapters quicker! And you people know it.
What's Genesis doing alive? What does it have to do with Zack as a chocobo? Who was that man at the bar? And when is Zack going to be human again? Well, you ain't gonna know if you don't review. Review = update. Let's see if we get this story to 15 reviews! I will be a very happy author if you guys do. If you guys don't review, don't plan on seeing this story updated in another...few months^^.
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