Disclaimer: Not mine

Warnings: Slash

A/N: So, I shall thank you for the reviews, and I am happy you liked it! For those of you that haven't played FF, and wonders who the hell is Zack Fair; Look it up! He is awesome!! I will be updating this frequently, and reviews are always appreciated!!

Love ya all!


Healing

Chapter Two

"Companionship"

-

Light.

Loads of Light surrendered him. In fact it was so much light around him that he could see nothing else

No traces of darkness.

Except for his own, he corrected bitterly, but as soon as the thought left him, he realized that he could no longer feel the darkness that used to stain his soul.

He blinked and tried to adjust to the sharp white surrounding him.

Tears prickled behind his eyes as he tried to catch his breath. Coughing, he panted for air, and at last managed to fill his lungs.

He felt as if he was flying, or fleeting more precisely and for some reason, the sensation was not foreign to him. He had been through this before. Just as he was about to recall when, he was shipped to his feet by an invisible force and once he was securely standing, he looked around in awe. Everything was completely white, even the ground he was standing on.

What had just happened?

Apparently his foggy mind was not operating the way it should. He tried to think back, but it seemed almost as if a brick wall was separating him from his memories of the last events.

How had he gotten here?

And more importantly where was here?

All those questions were giving him a headache.

As his eyes drifted shut, he suddenly realized that he could not feel his heartbeats, which was weird seeing as he was quite upset, not to mention exhausted. He lifted a shaky hand and placed it over his chest and his face changed slowly, a shocked expression left in the end.

Nothing.

His chest felt completely hollow.

What the fuck was going on here?

Cloud was not the one to be frightened easily, but this sure as hell made his gut clench painfully. He had never experienced anything like this. His heart had stopped beating?

Did— did that mean he was dead?

"You look a little confused there Chocobo-head."

His eyes snapped open.

It was impossible not to remember that voice.

"Damn. I really am dead, am I not?"

--

"Leon!"

The warrior's head lifted rapidly at the calling of his name, and Aerith almost screamed when she saw the look in his face.

Leon, formerly known as Squall, looked defeated.

His eyes, which usually held so much strength and character, were clouded.

Empty.

It was a completely heartbreaking sight.

The Cetra knew something was terribly, terribly wrong and the dark, unmoving figure his his lap confirmed her worst nightmares.

Cloud.

--

Zack's smile was as bright as ever. A perfect, pearly row of teeth, glistening towards him, lips pulled back in an almost predatory way. His eyes gleamed with their trademark tomfoolery and once Cloud looked into those deep, blue depths, he knew he would never forget that expression. Not in this world, or in Midgar. Feeling how the corners of his mouth tugged upwards, the warrior raised his hand in a silent, welcoming gesture.

The ex-SOLDIER grinned back at him, and as always when he was around, Cloud relaxed.

His dark haired companion was probably the only person that had ever evoked such a strong feeling of contentment inside of the blond. Whenever he was with Zack, he allowed himself to let his guard down and rest completely. Nobody else had ever made him act like that.

He trusted Zack Fair with his life.

Well, he thought a bit sadly, there were others he'd rely heavily on aside from Zack. Like Tifa, Aerith and the rest of AVALANCHE.

Or Leon...

Stay awake Cloud!

He knitted his brows a little. Why did his stomach flutter like that when he thought about the brunet? It wasn't a pleasant kind of fluttering, but one accompanied by a burning sensation in the pit of his belly. A feeling that implied that he had forgotten something important. Something important that involved Leon.
It was a feeling of severe unease and brows furrowing further, he tried to figure out what it meant, but was unable to decipher it.

Returning his attention to Zack, who looked exactly the way he remembered him, he waited for the ex SOLDIER to say something.

And by that, preferably give him some answers.

He was gravely disappointed however, when all the spiky haired warrior did, was grinning even wider.

Cloud was about to move forward, but a movement from Zack made him stop dead in his tracks.

Without a word, he raised his hand and held his palm up, so that it was facing the blond.

It looked as if he was telling the other man to stop.

Cloud frowned slightly and tried to take a step closer, but suddenly found that he could not move.

Now, lay still.

What?

All of a sudden, his head started throbbing and he lifted a hand and fisted it in his hair. It felt as if his brain was jumping and he got slightly dizzy from the pounding sensation.

The pain grew.

"Ah!" He panted and closed his eyes, Zack vanishing from his sight. He gripped his head with both hands and gritted his teeth, trying to block out the stinging pain. Tears formed in his eyes and suddenly, his chest gave a loud thud and his whole body jolted as if electrocuted.

"Zack!" He managed to wheeze as the pain took over his whole corpus, "make— ah! Make it stop!"

He heard a faint chuckle, and anger flaring within him, he wondered what the heck could possibly be funny about this. He was being fucking tortured! He tried to open his eyes, but the light was too bright and black spots soon danced upon his retina.

"Zack!"

"I'm sorry Chocobo-head," came the SOILDER's soft voice and Cloud swore it hadn't changed one bit, "I can't help you. And I won't."

There was a pause and Cloud's breath hitched in his throat.

"You don't belong here Cloud. Not yet."

Zack's voice was getting oddly blurry and for some weird reason, Cloud wasn't able to hear the words properly, "now get back to those who care about you."

His chest exploded and suddenly, it felt as if a dozen invisible limbs wrapped around him and brutally pulled him backwards.

Cloud opened his mouth and screamed.

"Stay awake Cloud!"

--

Darkness.

The light vanished in a flash and suddenly, the pain was gone too and all that was left was the feeling of his now rapidly pounding heart. He felt something soft under his head and a familiar smell tickled in his nose.

Clean bedsheets?

Yes, that made sense. The warmth that was surrounding him and the softness coating his back indicated that he was lying in some sort of bed, and the cushy object beneath his head had to be a pillow.

How?

Moments ago, he was with Zack in some weird white place, and now he was all of a sudden in a bed?

Eyes snapping open, he was momentarily startled by the sight a set of sparkling emeralds hovering over him and it took him some time to realize that those were Aerith's eyes.

"What happened?" He croaked, his voice nearly failing him.

Aerith smiled softly and silenced him by putting a finger on his lips. Green eyes sparkling with concern and care. "Hush," she breathed, "don't strain yourself."

Cloud froze for a moment.

Don't strain yourself.

Why did that sound so oddly familiar? Something about those words made his stomach flutter and brows furrowing, he tried to get a hold of what it meant. He searched his tired mind for answers, but it wasn't really cooperating.

Aerith pulled him out of his musings, by patting his forehead with a slightly cool hand. "You need to rest."

Cloud could only nod.

Even if he had wanted to say something, he didn't think he'd ind the strength to do so. He just blinked slowly up at her and sighed.

It felt good to have someone take care of him like this, despite the fact that he didn't want to be a burden to anyone. At least not to Aerith. The woman had done too much for him to ever pay back already, but he knew that she did not consider him a burden at all and the worst thing he could do was to worry Aerith more.

She reached for a glass of water on his nightstand. "Here, drink." She slithered a hand behind his neck and lifted his head up. He closed his eyes as the cool glass touched his lips and precious droplets of water wet his tongue. When he had stilled his thirst, she set the glass away and gently maid him down again.

"There we go."

He smiled tiredly at her and watched her eyes shining lovingly at him. "Now try to get some sleep will you?"

"Just one thing," his hand gripped hers and she felt herself give in even if she thought he needed his sleep to recover. She squeezed his hand back and waited for him to speak. "How did I get here?"

Her eyes widened and her brows furrowed. Her free hand lifted to hook some hair behind her ear and she swallowed thickly. Something was wrong. Cloud did not know how he got here? "You mean you don't remember?" She cleared her throat and grabbed a firmer hold of his hand.

The blond warrior glanced at her, blue eyes filled with confusion. He looked almost like a lost child. "No?" He uttered meekly, pursing his lips. "All I remember is—" he halted, his expression abruptly changing into one of extreme awareness, gaze flickering away from hers.

"What, Cloud? You remember what?"

He looked up at her, face strangely plain. "I was attacked from behind I think. Can't remember much. Just that I was consumed by this strange darkness." He drummed his fingers against the cushions, still averting her gaze.

"Darkness?" She breathed. "You mean as in—"

"I don't know." He barked sullenly, his voice almost reaching it's braking point. She drew back slightly, but he caught her by the wrist before she moved entirely away from him.

"Listen," he murmured, thumb caressing the back of her hand. "I don't remember what happened and my mind is not working very well right now." He watched as her features softened, bright emerald eyes doing the same.

"I'm sorry," she stooped her head a little and took his hand again. "You're probably just tired. No wonder your memory doesn't work like it should."

He grimaced at her, "no, Aerith. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm... I'm just not myself at the moment."

She patted his hand understandingly. "I know. Now," her voice turned firm, "now you need to try and get some sleep."

He nodded again, glad for this opportunity to get away, and let his eyes drift shut once more.

"Oh and Cloud?"

He cracked an eye open. "Yes?"

"Leon found you."

The blond's eyes snapped open and he eyed the flower girl intensively. "Leon?"

Aerith gave a nod. "Yes. Well, actually he found you while patrolling the Bailey and he called us here..."

"...By firing his gunblade." She added in a small voice.

"You were going into shock and he had no other choice. He could not leave you and considering your condition, carrying you would have been fatal." Tears were already forming in her eyes and she had to swallow several times to manage to continue.

"I got there just in time. Had we gotten there a minute later, you might not have survived."

She sniffled and rubbed her face, no longer caring about hiding her emotions. "I was so afraid of losing you Cloud. We all were."

He did not reply. Had no idea how to. He was not good with conversations like that, and had never really been either.

Aertih knew this, so she just continued to wipe away her tears, all the while stroking his hand.

Cloud felt his heart sting a little at the sight.

He knew she had been worried sick about him and it hurt him to see her like this. He did not want her to be sad for him, at least not now, when he was doing fine and was out of danger.

She should be proud of herself.

He wanted to tell her this, but he could not get the words to roll of his tongue. Instead he just intertwined their fingers loosely before closing his eyes. "Thank you." He breathed and felt how he was all of a sudden overcome with drowsiness.

"You're welcome, Cloud."

Aerith held his hand as he drifted off to sleep.

TBC