Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. (Its more of a character building and memory chapter, as most have been as of late) I know its an odd title, but you'll understand.
Zack opened his eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times until they adjusted to the dull light. He shivered as the cold breeze went through their encampment, bringing with it a small twirling
cloud of dust, and the faintest smell of spring.
Fenrir's head was resting on his lap, and there was a wet spot where the Chocobo had drooled on his pants.
He chuckled faintly, tilting his head to the endless heavens above.
The sun was still far from coming up, and the skies were a faint purple, the stars fading away quickly, like shadows taking to darkness. Beside him,
Flint slept on the ground, his cloak covering his body embracing him in black wings. Cloud was still sleeping against the tree stump, one side of his mouth quirked into a smile, his
breathing calm and regular. A sign of a sleep free of nightmares.
The fire they had started the day before was now only white ash, the warmth dead from the scattered remnants.
The flame of life that had seemed everlasting had gone out, leaving only darkness and cold.
Zack gently lifted Fenrir's head from his lap, setting it on the ground and standing up to stretch.
Fenrir emitted a soft wark and tucked it under his wing, resuming sleep. Zack gave him a gentle pat and busied himself collecting firewood.
They were now within a day and a half's reach of Costa Del Sol, according to Flint's map, and would most likely arrive in the late or early evening the next day.
Zack had been thinking about what would happen when they got there.
The money they'd had ran out after buying their provisions, so he suspected they would have to either stow away or find some other way to get enough money to buy passage across to
the port nearest to Midgar- Not to mention the cost of bringing two Chocobos on board, which wouldn't be easy to hide if they were to stow away. I guess we could leave them behind-
Zack thought, but then immediately rejected the thought. Without the Chocobos, they would have to walk to Midgar with all of their things, plus the fact that they wouldn't be able to
outrun any SOLDIER that tried to pursue them, especially while carrying Cloud on his back. No, releasing the Chocobos was not an option, but somehow, they needed to obtain safe
passage on the rig.
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"Mornin' Zack." Flint welcomed when Zack returned to the campsite.
"Morning." He replied, sitting the pile of firewood in the makeshift pit and starting to pile up kindling.
"Mmm." Cloud added.
"Morning Spike, how ya feeling?"
Cloud didn't reply, but Zack just smiled and ruffled his spikes. After getting the fire going, he put some water on to boil, and looked at the contents of the backpack. There were a set of
clean bandages, two soup packets, and several packages of smoked meat and dried fruit. "How would you like some fruit Spike?" he asked, receiving a hungry moan in reply.
"He might choke on it, you might want to stick with the soup." Flint said.
"If I soak it in water, it'll get soft enough for him to swallow."
Flint shrugged, going back to the string he was weaving. Zack took the water off the fire, pouring the contents of one of the packages into a bowl, and poured steamy water over it. He
examined one of the peices, putting the purple fruit into his mouth and sighing. "Purps. Haven't had these in awhile."
Flint raised an eyebrow. "You from Gongaga?"
"How did you know?"
Flint shrugged, "Purps only grow in Gongaga. There aren't many towns who're able to get good fruit from there, unless it's canned."
Zack smiled. "Yeah, Purp farming actually makes a good business. It isn't often you find fruit trees around, but Gongaga has the perfect climate.
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Cloud felt a warm sweet taste on his tongue. He couldn't tell what it was, but it reminded him of the canned purps they used to buy back in Nibelheim as a delicacy. It was sweet and explosive,
compared to the bland taste of soup he'd been eating for the last couple of days, and brought a wave of nostalgia. He remembered when Zack had made a purp cake for his birthday one year. He'd
accidentally burnt it, but Cloud pretended it tasted good. Zack had supposedly loved it, but then again, Zack would eat anything, and loved purps, as all Gongaga dwellers did.
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Zack smiled when Cloud ate the fruit eagerly, wolfing down the entire package. "Jeeze Cloud, you must really like these things." He said, remembering Clouds sixteenth birthday.
Zack stepped into the shared dorm, quietly closing the door behind him. Cloud was sleeping on the couch, the TV mumbling in the background. He looked down at his 'surprise cake' as he'd dubbed
it, ashamedly.
It was mostly ash, covered in chocolate icing with white writing. Aerith had helped him with the writing, and had even offered to re-bake the ruined cake for him, but Zack had little
time, as Cloud would be leaving for guard duty at seven, and it was already five-thirty.
He felt bad about leaving something this important to the last minute, but that was Zack.
He set the cake on the coffee table in front of the couch, opening the package of candles he'd bought and sticking them into the cake.
"Damn. Only fifteen." He muttered, and sheepishly broke one in half.
He lit them and sat down beside Cloud, and shook him awake.
"Hey, happy birthday Spike." He said as Cloud rubbed his eyes end blinked. His lips were parted slightly in surprise. He looked at Zack with a slightly confused look, and back at the cake.
"I thought-" He said, still staring at the cake.
Zack beamed, "Of course I didn't forget you big Chocobo Butt! It's my best buddy's birthday."
He said, and Cloud just stared at him for a minute. "Zack-" he said, and obvious lump in his throat.
"You gonna blow the candles out or-" he was nearly knocked off the couch as Cloud hugged him.
"Thanks Zack-" he said, pulling away sheepishly and scratching the back of his head.
"No problem Spikey." Cloud looked at the cake, taking a deep breath, and blowing out the candles.
Zack served them each a piece, poking at it hesitantly. "What? Trying to set off the bomb?" Cloud asked, taking a bite of his own. He nearly spat it back out, but with a moment's grimace, chewed
it intently. "How is it?" Zack asked.
"Great!" Cloud said, a little too enthusiastically.
"Oh good, cause I thought I bur-" He winced as he tasted the icing encased ash.
They both cleaned off their plates, and forced down a second piece, both trying not to gag.
He stared at Cloud who was still trying to swallow the last bite, and burst out laughing, sending cake crumbs flying.
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You're such a liar." Zack said between laughs. Cloud let out a half smile.
"So are you." he said, flicking a crumb at his friend's head. Zack smiled, and for a rare and beautiful moment, so did Cloud.
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"Okay, so maybe the cake wasn't the greatest." He mumbled under his breath as he cleaned up,
"But seriously, if you had have just come out and admit it was burnt, you wouldn't have had to eat it."
"Mmm." Cloud mumbled.
"You just seemed to be enjoying it so much, I didn't want to say I thought it was nasty."
"Nrrm."
"Yeah, I know you wouldn't have told me my cake sucked." Zack said smiling, ruffling Cloud's spikes.
"Mmmnn." Cloud moaned.
"Hm?"
"Mnnn." He moaned more persistently.
"What's wrong Spike?" he asked, bending down beside his friend.
Cloud had begun shaking uncontrollably, his whole body twitching. Zack set a hand on his forehead, flinching as he met ice-cold skin.
"Holy shit Spike. You're freezing." He lifted his friend's eyelid, seeing a constricted pupil, the iris pulsing green.
"Shit." Zack muttered, searching though the bag for meds.
"Dammit." He groaned, tossing the pack to the side.
"What the hell's wrong with him?" Flint asked, watching as Cloud began to shake more violently.
"It's the mako. His body needs to be weaned off of it; the shock of taking it all at once is a lot for his body to handle."
Zack said, his voice tinged with panic. He held the water skin to Cloud's lips, but he kept them closed. Suddenly, Cloud let out a frightened moan, and he stopped shaking.
His face pale as Cloud's, Zack lay his friend down on the dirt, his ear on his chest.
"Cloud. Don't you dare do this to me now." He muttered, pumping his hands onto his chest thirty times. He tilted Cloud's
head back, plugging his nose and pushing air through his mouth and into Cloud's.
He listened for a heart-beat.
"C'mon Cloud." He said, repeating the procedure twice more. On the last breath, Cloud's chest rose, and he began coughing, taking rapid breaths.
"Good job Spike." Zack said, pulling Cloud's head up to rest on his lap.
"Cloud okay?" Flint asked, putting a hand on Zack's shoulder. "Gave me a little scare there." He muttered, realising both of them were shaking.
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"Are you sure we should be traveling so soon?" Flint asked, mounting Fifer.
Zack nodded, "The sooner we get to Midgar, the better." He looked at Cloud nervously.
"He's just gonna get worse from here."
Sorry about how fast paced this chapter was. And yes, I stole Purps from Treasure Planet. MWAHAHAHA. They just looked so yummy, shiny and purple- anyways, another chapter within the week I think, hope you enjoyed :)
Lucifer