Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

A/N: I am thrilled that this story has taken off as well as it has so far. This chapter is a bit of a transition chapter and I'm not sure that I'm real happy with it. Hopefully though, it won't be a disappointment to you. Now, the next chapter is *squealing in fan girl fashion* one that I have really enjoyed writing. I am diligently working on finishing the edits and proof reading it and it will be out by this coming weekend. I sooo hope that you like it!

I do not have a beta, so forgive any mistakes and just enjoy them, I do!


"Don't think outside the box. Instead think as if there was no box." -Unknown

To You I Give My Heart

Chapter 8

~Delirious Stupidity~

Early the next morning Zack woke up to a gagging wet noise. Sometime during the early morning hours, Cloud had shifted to her back. Unable to clear her mouth on her own, she began to choke and was unable to breathe. In a rushing panic, Zack thrust his fingers in her mouth as he turned her to her side. Sweeping out as much out of her mouth as he could, he began to do CPR on her.

Speaking between each compression, he fought to save her, "Oh, man don't… you… dare… do… this… to me!"

Finally hearing a cough, he flipped her to her side again and she was finally expelled what got caught in her throat. So far, every morning she would wake him up puking. Cursing Hojo and his damned experiments, he hoped that one day, he would run into him on the street and then give him a bit of Zack's version of Soldier justice. Zack felt bad because he couldn't do anything to help her with the mako sickness.

Sitting back and looking at her from his rear, he worked at steadying his breathing. Fighting the urge to break down, he took his time. Closing his eyes he pictured them sitting together, smiling and laughing. Realizing that picture was just making things worse for him, he just cleared his mind. Seeing her in such a vulnerable state, he couldn't help but wonder what was happening to her. She had always been a fighter, full of fire and sass.

"Getting to Gongaga, my parents can help us," Thinking of his mom and dad, he knew that they were more than likely contacted about his 'untimely death' while on a mission. Since his and Cloud's capture, he had wanted to go to his hometown, but Shinra will surely have them under surveillance hoping that they would show up there. If he took Cloud there, they would most assuredly be taken again. Yet again, he was going to have to sit down and hash out another plan, "Damn it! Damn Shinra to hell!"

After trying unsuccessfully to feed Cloud, he quickly ate a little and got back on track. Since they left several weeks ago, he really hadn't covered as much ground as he would have liked. At least a few days ago, he came across a very tiny town that he was able to buy some more supplies. He didn't dare stay the night though, no matter how badly he wanted too. Getting started, he walked through the prairie land, tall grasses and an occasional large boulder and of course the ravenous monster population.

Luckily, with his sensitive mako hearing and sight, he was able to avoid many of the encounters. However, inevitably, he would have to quickly get the blond to the ground, slough off the bags and draw his sword. His ability to protect them once again got tested when he entered an area with taller grass.

Because he got snared in his own thoughts, he accidently came upon a valron. It looked like it was resting and despite that, the winged demon-looking creature instantly attacked. The purplish blue and red skin shimmered as it knocked him to the ground on his back. Cloud landed on top of him and with a tasty meal in its sights, the monster began grabbing at the unconscious woman.

Quickly wrapping his arm around her waist, he flipped over until she lay underneath him. A claw dug in to his back and with a growl, it wrapped one claw around his lower leg and yanked him up. Wanting to keep a hold of Cloud but not wanting her to get hurt any more than necessary, he swiftly he let go so she wouldn't be dragged along with him. Hanging upside down as the monster flew up into the air, one of the bags hung from his neck until he chucked it off.

Lifting himself so he could grab at the claws that dug in his leg, his blood lubricated so he could work his fingers under its claws. Getting a hold of one of the monsters finger like appendages, right above its claw, he yanked up and with a snap, he broke the bone.

With a loud shriek, it released his leg and dropped him from a higher altitude than he thought. Landing hard and knocking the breath from him he shook his head trying to get his bearings. Trying to shake his confusion from the drop, he looked around for his sword. With no more time to waste, the creature dove for him just as he rolled over so he could get at the buster sword. However, being out of practice and injured, he flopped back and dropped the weapon behind him.

Getting to his feet as quickly as he could, he cursed, "Damn!" Watching the valron start its charge, Zack mumbled under his breath, "This is going to hurt."

Preparing for the hit, he held his territory as the monster charged and knocked him to the ground again. Wrapping his arms around its torso, he latched his fingers together and squeezed as hard as he could. While in the hold, the wings flapped at his head and with its front claws, it clawed at his back as its ribs broke in succession from the tightening hold. Forcing his forehead to its chest so that its wings and front claws couldn't reach his face, mainly his eyes, Zack held on as they both rolled around. Locked together in a deadly hug, they both frantically fought for their lives.

Never had he felt so alive and feral during a fight or battle. With a wild beast in his arms, both battling for supremacy, the rush of testosterone and adrenaline kept his strength up. Man versus beast fighting for survival, he chanted in his head that he wasn't going to lose, he had way too much to fight for.

Fighting to move his legs away from its back claws, he almost lost his grip. Grunting loudly at the pain from his back, he thought that he could feel blood dripping from his back, but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't be surprised if he was bleeding, judging from the amount of pain. Quickly losing his thoughts about his back, the clawed feet began digging at his already bleeding leg. Unwilling to let go, he slowly constricted his arms around the ribs so that it suffocated into unconscious.

Rolling over so that it was no longer on top, he quickly ended the valron's life. Rushing back to Cloud, he found her lying right where he had left her, unharmed, but he had lost the smaller bag with the medical supplies.

Quickly wanting to find the bag before his adrenaline stopped flowing and he wasn't able to move as fast, he frantically searched.

Unfortunately, he began to feel the first signs of increasing pain shoot through him and the shaking of his hands signaled that he was losing his adrenaline boost. Buckling knees brought him down next to her.

Surveying his wounds, his left leg had deep punctures from the original attack. The tops of both his thighs had the worse scratches. It clawed him deeply enough that stitches were probably necessary, but that wasn't going to happen unless he found that bag. Knowing that his enhancements would help, it didn't mean that medical intervention wasn't needed sometimes. Feeling of what he could reach on his back, it felt as though it was in the same condition as his legs, "I've got to find that bag."

Stumbling to his feet, he took a deep breath, calming and centering his thoughts. With a renewed sense of calm, he did the math, looked from where Cloud lay and where he had ultimately killed the valron. As he worked his way back to the dead monster, he glanced around the path.

Pain wracked its own path of destruction in his body as he thought of Cloud. If he lost consciousness, she would be completely open to attack to any monster or animal looking for a meal that was already bested and ready for consumption.

A shiny object glistened in the bright sunshine, calling his attention to their small medical bag.

Feeling his heart beat getting slower, he knew he was just moments from passing out, it had happened before on a mission. Luckily, Angeal had been there and had gotten him to the medics before he lost consciousness. Right now though, he was on his own, except for Cloud and he was all she had for protection.

Feeling blackness creeping in and taking over his vision, his breathing slowed, but he had to fight it and get back to Cloud. Rolling over to his stomach, he weakly hooked the bag on his arm. Concentrating, he told himself, convinced himself that he wasn't hurt badly at all, "It's just a few scratches, nothing that a little of that awesome ointment and bandages can't fix."

Gripping at the soil and grass, he pulled himself to a small clearing and he found a large rock. Pulling himself up to standing next to the side of the rock, he took a few deep breaths, fighting off the drowsiness. Weighing him down, the pull to sleep was getting more difficult to ignore. It bit, clawed and called for him to just stop everything, "No I'm not… going to lose it now…"

Re-focusing on the warm jagged surface of the rock, his palm ran across it as he pushed up to standing straighter and got his bearings. Finding the direction that Cloud was in, he stumbled forward, shuffling his feet through the tall grass, holding the bag tightly to his chest. Luckily, he could see her and if she was closer than he originally thought, he worried just a bit less.

Like a weakened structure in a light breeze, he ended up on the ground, falling to his side. Looking at the spilled contents of the bag, he reached out and took some of the ointment. Knowing better, he should have put it on his wounds when he first found the bag. Now, he was mentally kicking himself for his stupidity. Chocking it up to delirium, his hands worked at pulling down his sweat pants to show some pretty nasty cuts. It looked a lot worse now that the material of his shredded pants weren't hiding them.

"Whaat I would-n't give fer ssome restore mate'ria or a poshion right a'bout now," Beginning to slur his speech, he chuckled to himself, thinking of what kind of sight he made at that moment. Pulling himself back from the scene to see it all in its entirety, he was lying in the grass, with his pants down around his knees and mere feet from an unconscious woman. If he wasn't bleeding so badly, he would have laughed it up, but he had more important things to concentrate on.

Getting the worst of it covered in the special mako ointment that field medics used on injured SOLDIERs, it sealed the wound so their quick healing or a potion could be administered. In the field during a mission, he was always trained to have a few materia in addition to the ointment and potions. He would worry about his back later. Popping a few of the pills that had a label with the words, "Mako Enhancement Booster" he lay the side of his head down and let the nice breeze caress his boxer covered backside.

Opening his eyes, he sat up in a rush. Gripping at his thighs, he noticed that the sun was much lower in the sky than it was when they were first attacked, "How long was I out?" Shaking his head, he jerked, "Cloud!" Shoving the things hastily back into the bag, he worked his way to his feet and pulled his ripped sweats back up. Able to stumble/walk better, he got back to Cloud half expecting an empty spot where he left her, but there she was, almost in the same position she was in before.

With a sigh, he flopped back to the ground, checking her for any wounds. Not finding any, except a few bug bites, he figured that they could make camp since it was getting too late to start-up again. Besides, he was still hurting pretty badly.

Seeing a couple of boulders that weren't too far away, he said, "Well it isn't a four star hotel or anything, but it will have to do." Carrying the two bags, his sword and Cloud was becoming heavier by the minute. Part way there, he dropped the bags at some smaller boulders and propped the blond up on the biggest of the rocks. The distance to the larger rocks was much farther than he felt he could go, so he stopped for the night.

Pulling out some food, he knew she was probably starving, because he was too, "Okay babe, which would you like, cereal bar or protein bar?" Watching her eyes move under her eyelids he sighed and sadly said, "Cereal bar it is."

Getting six bars down her, which she was becoming much faster in eating. Where as it did take her an hour to eat, now it was closer to a half hour. Feeling a little sorry for her that she didn't seem to chew the food, she still just swallowed the small bits whole. Getting her to drink some water, she relaxed in his arms and looked to just be asleep. After he ate, he pulled her to his chest and let the back of her head rest on his chest. With the medicine, his wounds would be tolerable by tomorrow, so getting some sleep and resting so that his body could heal was key, but Cloud had other plans.

Falling asleep sitting up with her still leaning on him, he was as comfortable as he figured he would get. He wasn't able to get to the cuts on his back, so lying in the dirt was not a pleasant idea. If he leaned back slowly, he was able to keep the pain to a minimum. At least with the boulders, he wouldn't get more pebbles and debris stuck in there. He just had to find somewhere he could take a dip to wash his wounds. Worrying about a bath could wait, sleep was taking him and he let it.

Waking up to flailing, Zack instinctively pulled her tighter to his chest. When she started screaming, he jolted and tried to get her quiet, not wanting any possible patrols to find them. Luckily, the screaming didn't last long, but she slipped down to the ground and began to sob heavily.

Brushing loose strands of hair out of her eyes, he tried to soothe her fears, "Shh, its okay. You're safe now." At the sound of his voice, she opened her eyes and looked around. His moment of excitement dashed away when he noticed that yet again, she didn't 'see' him, she looked right through him. However, her fists clutched at his shirt as she pulled them closer together. When she seemed satisfied at his proximity, her eyes closed again.


A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

Please send me your reviews if you want. It is really easy. Just click your arrow in the little box, write what you thought or felt about the chapter and then click right down there, just below the box. A little lower… a little to the right… yeah, right there! Click it! *grinning*