I've had this sorted out for a little bit, but this little AU bit will be done with the next one.
I also wanted to put forward some of my thoughts on the Guest who thought Evie shouldn't have gotten her ass beat by Sephy. ((Feel free to ignore the tangent))
It's kind of a lot to think about. Sephiroth is arguably the most powerful SOLDIERs to ever live - not including the fact Cloud kicks his ass like three times. Evie is strong. Stronger than Zack in some ways, which has a lot to do with her life before this story. To beat Sephiroth, who taught her nearly all that she knows is realistically not that likely. He knows her weaknesses and strengths better than anyone else. On top of that, Sephiroth's betrayal hits her hard. Seph was more than just her General. He was her friend and her mentor. She considered him something of a brother (not including the fact that he liked to sex her sometimes). To find out that the person who had murdered an entire town of people in cold blood was someone you trusted hurts. She wasn't even 20 when the incident occurred. She's still got some normal teenager problems going on in her life. She was in love with her best friend who was already dating her other friend and was trying to spend time with someone else to relieve the feeling and it all backfired and people died. Evie is tough, not doubt about it - but she's also human at her core. She was too wrapped up in herself to realize that Sephiroth was snapping and she feels guilty about it too. So yeah. End Tangent.
However, I'd like to give my thanks to everyone who reviews - even though I disappear a lot. Evie is was created over five years ago, and she's a long time coming. I think it'll be good to solidify my plans for her in FFVII itself. Ever tried just watching that whole game? Insanely difficult. But I've got some free time on my hands before college starts back up.
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Not once during our escape had I turned back to glance at the city covered in darkness. Maybe I was afraid, maybe I was concentrated, maybe it was something else. My eyes remained forward, determined to leave. My frazzled mind turned to Cloud. Who was missing. Just... gone. And we had left him.
Did that mean he had gotten up and left the spot we left him in? I tapped Rude's shoulder, softly asking him this. He gave a quiet nod and murmured that he hadn't been in the area by the time they had left to return us to Midgar. Had he continued to Midgar? Was he dead? Was he hiding? There were so many possibilities and none of them had settled well in my gut.
"I would worry about finding the kid after you're safe," added Reno. My eyes flicked to him, his red hair and silly goggled before landing on his eyes, that stared back at me without fear. I gave a jerky nod, unsure if it was concern for us, for him, for Tseng or even for the Turks. More than just Tseng could get in trouble for setting us free instead of killing us. I could understand the fear for one's commander.
Kalm wasn't too close to Midgar, but it was close enough to get there on foot with what little energy I had. With or without Zack. The very thought pained me because after being with each other for so long, it seemed difficult to part ways. Yet, once Reno and Rude had stopped escorting us out the city, Zack continued to follow me away from the city.
I decided to say something before he continued, "What are you doing Zack?" This stopped him.
"What are you talking about Evie? I'm going with you."
"I can get to Kalm in one piece, trust me," I sent him a tired look. I was ready. Beyond ready. I had started to accept the fact that he would be staying in Midgar. The last thing I needed was for him to walk me to Kalm and make whatever goodbye we had that much harder.
"What are you going on about Eves?" I gave a low sigh, not wanting to have this conversation with him.
"I'm not having this talk, whatever it is." I turned away, my footsteps continuing towards the smaller town.
"We can walk and talk," he continued with a long gaze towards me that I caught from the corner of my eye. I turned towards the moon, the Turks had left us around night time. Ensuring that the darkness would help to conceal us. On the other hand that meant, the temperatures were lower and our chances of being attacked by wild monsters were higher. I assumed that this was Tseng's doing, he knew what we could handle. This was one of those many things.
Zack picked up on my cold shoulder quickly. After fighting a third group of creatures, he grabbed for my shoulder and I shrugged away from it, trying to get him to take the hint.
"Evie, would you just," he gave a frustrated grunt and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards him. "Stop." I tugged from his hand a few times to find his grip only tightened. I stopped finally, but said nothing. Another sick feeling of hurt and betrayal rising up from my entrails.
"Wha-, why... I don't..." his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
I muttered back to him darkly, "Eloquent."
"Why are you acting like this?" he questioned, stepping towards me and tugging at my wrist simultaneously. Effectively making my attempts to wrech away from him useless.
"I told you earlier. I don't need you to escort me to Kalm. I can handle it. So just,"unable to speak the words, my lips pursed as I gave a shake of my head.
"Just what?" his tugging stopped as he stood before me. Close enough that I could feel his breath.
My eyes trailed to the ground, my voice impossibly soft as my throat tightened. "Just go back to her."
I gave another tug, my wrist finding freedom this time. For a moment, indecision filled me until I found the resolve to walk away from him. My heart sank lower and lower, the realization that Zack had probably turned around and was heading back to Midgar tearing at my already broken emotions.
I choked on the feeling. Knowing that after all this time, this was the end and we hadn't even seen the beginning. The feeling turned out to sting worse than betrayal ever could, but it was quite similar. As my feet hit the ground, each step pulling me further from the one person I cared most about, my chest felt heavy, my throat tighten and my eyes stung. I couldn't do it. My hands began to tremble and a shaky sigh escaped me. I swiped at my eyes roughly, wiping the tears that had begun to well up.
I'd have time to cry later, when I was safe, warm and in a place to stay.
"You can't make my decisions for me." I stopped walking, my eyebrows furrowing and I turned slowly in my spot. Some 50 feet away, Zack's mako eyes stared at me. In the light of the moon, I could see his eyebrow was furrowed. "I'm going with you Eves. I'm not leaving you or Cloud."
"But you're leaving Aerith," it wasn't a question, it was a statement and the words hung in the air for some time. "I'll find him Zack. Go bac-"
He interrupted me with a defiant step forward, "No." At my side, my hand clenched tightly, unable to bother with speaking again I stepped away from him. "I chose you Evie. A long time ago, and I was too stupid to see that I had. I'm coming with you. Not cause I'm leaving her, but because I refuse to leave you. I sent her a letter back... with Tseng. Apologizing. She'll understand."
I turned to look at him,"She deserves better than a letter." Zack grinned and instantly jogged towards me, his arms wrapped me into his body.
"This is why I love you, not only can you kick my ass any day of the week, but you care so much for people you call friends. You're a culmination of so many great qualities and you're my best friend. You're important to me Evie. You and Cloud need me. I'm coming with you even if I have to chain myself to you," he mumbled softly, and I could hear him smiling.
"I only have three good qualities." I piped in, deflecting the moment as best as I could.
"Sometimes I wonder how you made it into SOLDIER with that confidence," he chuckled leaving a kiss on my forehead.
"I was confident once. A long time ago."
"We should keep moving Eves. We've got plenty of distance to cover," his hand dipped down, entwining his gloved hand with my own.
"You're..."
"Handsome? Charming? Perfection incarnate? Sweet? Thoughtful?" he offered with a smug grin.
"A loser." I answered, a smile pulling firmly at my lips.
His free hand rose to cover his heart, "Ouch, that one hurt me my sweet."
I chuckled and clanked our armor together, "Don't start with the pet names." Silence followed, and this time it was comfortable. The need to say something equally as endearing nagged me until I spoke. "Thank you."
"Hm?" he hummed curiously.
"For staying... with me." I continued lamely.
"It... took me some time to realize we had finally made it to Midgar. After all that running and incessant need to return here, it kind of shocked me. We made it. It was then that I wondered what we had even traveled all that way for. Why did we need to get back to the city that was owned by a company that wanted us dead? Then I realized the answer was the box. The 89 letters I received from someone who was looking for me." Zack gave a small pause, and I squeezed his hand once to reassure him that I was listening. "Because she deserved to have an answer." The SOLDIER gave a shrug, as if unable to find the right words for what he was trying to say. "I guess I was intent on her having it from me personally, but considering our circumstances... The letter would have to do. Now we've lost Cloud, and Tseng gave me a serious beating for making Aerith worry so much."
"Got one of those too?" his eyes snapped to me furiously. I pointed to myself with my free thumb. "SOLDIER. First Class. I'm alright."
"I'm still allowed to worry. You're not invincible." I couldn't help but bite my lip as something in me fluttered. I said nothing, focused on making it to Kalm in one piece.
The walk's mood changed. The tone of everything more light. We fought back to back, moving between each other with comfortable ease. I gave Harpenger a twirl in my wrist and Zack chuckled mimicking the action as we settled our great swords along our backs.
From a distance Kalm had increased in size considerably. The small town was no longer as small. There were apartment buildings and businesses and real streets. Blending into the city was much easier with the number of people that lived there now.
Zack still advised we try to keep away from anything too showy, our uniforms were still a dead give away. Even if the entire town was ignorant to the problems inside Midgar.
"We'll need to talk about what we're going to do for somewhere to stay," he added as the sun rose over the town and the inhabitants came to life.
"I hadn't even considered that. Let's check the bags we got. Maybe there's enough provision for us to make shelter until we can get enough gil." I pulled the bag from my shoulder, opening the top and pulling out the rations inside. Food, clothes, water, new identites. "Tseng thought of everything..." I muttered.
"He did," my eyes snapped to Zack to see him holding a hefty looking bag, inside was gil – plenty of it.
Never in my life had I been so grateful to see a bed, the thought of laying down and resting somewhere comfortable for the first time in years was making me tired. Yet before I could come close enough to it, I was steered away and towards the bathroom.
"It'll be much more rewarding once you're all clean. You first." my shoulders sagged and even then I was too tired to even argue with him. I gave a small nod, clutching the bag to my chest and leaning Harpenger against the wall. Once rid of the sword, Zack mimicked my idea and placed his Buster sword next to it.
I gave him a weak smile, almost afraid to enter the bathroom and clean myself. Something about it felt wrong. Cloud came to mind, and the realization that Zack and I were going to be having a real sleep while he was somewhere missing left the feeling of unease and discomfort rise in me.
Thinking that I was too tired to even get to the bathroom, Zack guided me towards the room with a hand and grinned, even giving me a small good luck before closing the door.
It was a slow process, slower than it used to be taking my armor off. Maybe I was peeling off more than just armor. I was peeling off a decade of grime, of blood, of lives taken. Maybe I was peeling Shinra from me for the last time. Anxiety rose in me as well. The thought of safety nagged at me; vulnerable cause I was too busy showering.. After being on the road fighting for your life for so long, little things such as being without armor while sleeping made me almost jumpy.
The water was steaming and feel of all that grim finally leaving my skin rather than being covered in more grime felt indescribable. More than once we had managed to dip into a water source along our way, just to clean blood off or something of the sort. But to truly clean ourselves from top to bottom? No.
The complementary liquids and soap saved me the embarrassment of having to return to the bag on the counter of the sink. The suds turning black with dirt and I couldn't scrub my head hard enough. As I washed, I noted the different scars I had picked up. My older ones still faintly visible. My hand trailed upwards, touching the flesh covering the hole Sephiroth had created.
The reminder adding more weight to my already tired shoulders. I pressed the light colored flesh, the thin line that had impaled me and ran out to the other side of my body. Most wounds healed or scarred and eventually faded, but I supposed since Sephiroth had never been like everyone else... the wounds he delivered would last longer if not stay for the rest of my life. The thought of Sephirtoh caused images of him to flash before my eyes. My nostrils flared as I took a deep breath, my enhanced senses picking things up around me. The water, the soap, the sounds from a nearby room, Zack just outside of the room.
I had always been curious as to how it worked for us in comparison to Sephiroth. He was never hurt, was his sense more powerful? Was it just different?
Sensing another person was like feeling their lifestream within them. I could feel Zack's very essence of life, and oddly enough it comforted me, and reminded me that he was waiting to shower himself. At this I hurried to finish cleaning myself, sleep sounding like the perfect reprise from my constant thoughts.
Simple shorts and a shirt were the clothes provided by Tseng. And it was enough to sleep in. Zack was still awake miraculously as I had finally left the bathroom.
"Look at you, all clean. I can smell you from here," an odd blush rose over my skin at his words. Zack's attention was still unfamiliar to me. He chuckled, adding, "Alright, my turn then." I gave a quiet nod and smiled once he disappeared. I eyed the single bed, large enough to fit the both of us, but heat flushed my skin.
I had never actually shared a bed with someone unless it was to... My face grew hotter. Sleeping in a bed wasn't the same as sleeping on the ground next to each other. There was no where to go but on the confines of the bed. I sat in the seat Zack had previously occupied and waited, my face still hot.
His shower was considerably shorter than my own and his joyous expression fell when he saw me sitting, "I figured you'd be asleep by now."
"It's just the one bed," I muttered pathetically. He laughed boisterously.
"Yeah, now come on and get in it with me," My head sunk, my face growing hotter if at all possible. I stood quickly and rushed to the bathroom, pulling at my black tresses with the brush I had found in my bag. Tseng truly had thought of everything.
I watched in the reflection of the mirror as Zack sauntered towards the doorway, a smug expression on his features.
"Big bad, SOLDIER can't even lay in bed and fall asleep with me. Tsk, tsk," I rose a hand to cover my cheeks, trying to hide my blush from him, feeling it spread down my neck and to my ears. Sometimes I wondered what I had signed myself up for with him.
In the silence following my head getting redder by the moment, I eyed Zack's clothing. Or lack thereof. Pants. Just. Pants. I swallowed my saliva , my eyes returning to my now brushed hair and his expression grew even more smug.
"Looks brushed Eves," I gave another quiet nod my hand placing the brush on the counter as I tried to keep the flushing from getting worse. In the small room of the bathroom, the smallest sounds were amplified, especially to our enhanced senses. Once the chuckle reached my ears, I rose a hand to cover my face as well as possible which only made him chuckled even louder.
An arm snaked its way around my waist and pulled me back into the firm chest I recognized as Zack.
"I don't bite Eves," he paused as he squeezed once. "Besides, its been a long time since we've gotten any good sleep. Now, c'mon before I carry you into that bed."
A quick uncharacteristic squeak escaped my lips as bolted from his grip and jumped into the bed, scrambling to get under the covers. Before I could even get under the covers a growl erupted from behind me and I snapped my eyes to see Zack running towards the bed with a grin.
I laughed, and curled into a ball as I watched him launch through the air to land above me. The weight of him never hit, so I pulled my arms down and unfurled from my ball to see him hovering with a wide grin.
Another round of silence filled the room, and I shuffled a bit under his eyes, which made him smile wider.
"Zack," I muttered. He chuckled and hummed in question. "We going to sleep?"
His words were barely a whisper, "Yeah." He lowered his body down, nearly putting his weight down on top of me. I stared up at him, watching his eyes roam across my features.
"Going to do it before the sun rises any higher?" Zack shook his head, finally moving away from me to roll to what was newly designated as his side of the bed. I cleared my throat, my eyes moving to the curtains in our room, and getting up to promptly shut them.
Pulling the covers up to get into bed, I saw Zack's arm outstretch towards me with a soft smile pulling at his lips. As I hesitated I watched as his fingers wiggled, motioning for me to come to him and shook my head as I complied, ignoring the smug grin filling his lips as he arranged me to exactly where he wanted me.
"Night Zack," I mumbled softly against his chest.
"You mean, mornin' Eves." I huffed at him.
"Oh hush."
"Will do love," he muttered once more before leaving a soft kiss in my hair. Sleep was supposed to come easy then, as if the time we had spent with little to none was all going to catch up on me in one perfect moment and I'd wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed, but it didn't happen.
My thoughts became restless and I began to notice every detail in this little room. It felt almost like confinement. Despite knowing full well that wasn't the case. Something just felt off.
"Feel it too?" came Zack's voice in the dark.
"Yeah," Another round of silence filled the space between us. It was uncomfortable. Something was just wrong. I felt Zack pull from me and move around in the room. I sat up, watching him pad over to the door and double checked it was locked before shoving a chair against it.
He moved towards the windows checking it in every way he could think of before grabbing our swords and bringing them to our respective sides of the bed.
Security. I could feel it too then. I stood, moving to gather our things together and placing the two bags next to our respective sides. I gathered my armor and set it out as if a person were laying on the chair. I moved to do the same for Zack. The idea that we were truly free hadn't sunk in long enough. We were worried about being found, even now. Knowing that everything was put together for a quick escape. Something felt better. Like we weren't being cornered.
Zack laid down first, holding an open palm out towards me. I looked around once more, trying to reassure myself everything would be okay.
"I'll keep you safe Evie. I promise. We can't find Cloud if we're too busy being tired," I nodded finally, accepting his hand and laying down with our fingers intertwined. I gave him one last squeeze that he returned before I felt the tense feeling in my shoulders finally recede.
Clean. Tired. And Safe. It was over. The worst months of my life were over and best of all? When I was done sleeping, I'd get to wake up next to the one person I knew would never betray me, and never leave my side.
Three weeks after our arrival at Kalm, things had finally settled into a pace. We still worried just about every night that someone would be after us, but I suppose we'd never truly shake the feeling. It was a routine now, every night before bed. Lock the door, stuff a chair there, check the windows, move our swords and armor into place and settle in for the night.
We never needed it – at least not yet we didn't, but it felt good to sleep feeling safe and always ready.
Our need to find Cloud eventually outweighed our need to keep away from Midgar and Shinra itself. We traveled there searching for him a couple days a week, without any orders or jobs, we had nothing but time on our hands. Eventually the gil left to us was starting to run low and Zack and I realized that we'd have to start integrating ourselves with the town in order to keep our search up.
With any luck we'd be able to save enough gil to use it to travel farther than just Midgar, but where could one mako poisoned teen go?
That do everything and anything service that Zack had thought of doing seemed to work rather well for us. The town was in need of both help and repair. No experts in things like fixing roofs or plumbing, but we learned quick and were much stronger than the men who lived there.
They seemed suspicious of the strength, the agility and the way we did things with ease, but for the prosperity of their town – the people didn't question it.
One of the days that we had set up to search for Cloud crept up on me. An alarm sounded near me and a tan arm searched for the machine, giving a low grunt as it silenced.
"Eves, love. Time to get up." My arm wrapped around his naked torso, holding him down and pushing my own naked chest against his, a silent reminder of last night.
"No. Not yet," his chuckled reverberated around me, his hands trailing along my naked skin, tracing my scars absently.
"I'll have something to wake you up waiting for you. We can't keep the happy customers waiting," he muttered softly, pulling me closer to him and leaving kisses against my skin.
"It's our business we can make them wait if we want," I protested weakly as his lips trailed down my neck.
"C'mon beautiful, I'm getting up." True to his word, the bastard pulled his arms away with one last kiss and I was hugging the empty spot on our bed. I opened an eye, to see his shapely ass disappear into the bathroom. A grin pulled at my lips as I gave my own stretch, trying to wake myself up.
A week into our little service business, we had more than enough money to find a one bedroom apartment in the small village. It wasn't much, but we had each other. That was all we really needed. Well that and food.
I sat up finally, the comforter, pressed to my chest as a yawn escaped me. The door to the bathroom opened then, a half clothed and wet SOLDIER leaving the steaming room.
"Pancakes?" my eyebrows rose in disbelief.
"I'm feeling adventurous after last night," he replied with a grin. My eyes rolled and I stood with a smile.
"You're too much," I supplied lightly.
"Nope, I'm just right," he countered with a wider, toothier grin. He walked towards me, his hands reaching towards my body as he did. I leaned into him, biting into the cool flesh along his neck in a teasing manner. His arms wrapped around me, cupping and grasping at my flesh, making me hum in a pleased manner. I reached a hand up, pulling my fingers through his black hair and dropping my own kisses on his skin.
"If we keep this up Zackary, we won't be leaving this hours for at least another few hours," he nodded along, still distracted with touching my flesh.
"It is quite tempting Evelia. Quite... Quite tempting," he murmured against my skin. His lips had returned to pressing against my neck and he pulled away, dropping his hands abruptly. "But not today." He reached a hand up to cup my cheek as he pressed a kiss to my lips. I smirked as he moved away, releasing the blanket covering me abruptly and sauntering towards the bathroom.
"Gaia, I'm one lucky man," I heard him breathe.
Zack sipped at his glass of milk and paused with a thoughtful smile, "I lied. It's a search day."
I gave a shrug, "Just as important I suppose. It's not like I'll go back to sleep now that I'm awake. You know that." He offered a nod, and I watched him curiously. It was weird to watch him do something as simple as cut through a pancake. Seemed too simple for hands that had caused so much blood shed. The man seemed to notice my gaze and rose a questionable eyebrow. To which I responded with a small shake of my head. I looked to my own hands momentarily, trying to see if I felt anything for taking away the lives I had – and yet, nothing.
After eating to our content, we left the small apartment, set for a travel as far as our supplies would take us. Zack fiddled with my straps seriously as I waved to the different townspeople softly. Some of whom waved back others who greeted us. A couple people asked if we were heading out to Midgar, and asked us to deliver some things safely for them.
It was kind of two birds with one stone. We searched for Cloud while doing work. By the time we left, we had with us an extra bag of deliveries to attend to on our trip in Midgar. I pulled it over my shoulder and turned to Zack, "One day, we're going to get found delivering this junk."
"It's not junk and if we keep our heads down like we always do Eves, we'll be alright. Let's hope we find Cloud this time. I'm starting to worry," his Mako blue eyes flashed towards the dark city in the distance and my hand reached out to squeeze his once. He glanced to me and gave me a lopsided smile, instantly recognizing what the gesture meant.
We marched to Midgar, slicing and dicing as we went. It was day time, and more often that not we had to keep a lower profile on the way to Midgar, rather than the way back. It had become such a normal feeling for us, traveling together, working together, fighting together, living together. We complimented each other well, and fights between us usually ended within the same week if not the same day. Zack seemed to find a preference in getting over fights with some form of sexual activity – not that I was going to complain.
Midgar had changed, not in any good way. Shin-Ra owned the city. Shin-Ra was everything in this city and everything not connected to it was in the slums. The slums were the safest place for Zack and I, but it also seemed as though we avoided staying in them for too long and I noticed he often led us away from where Aerith's church could be found. I never said anything about it, but now that I could see the massive city, it made me wonder.
My thoughts rumbled with questions and ideas, but they often did that when I had time to myself. My Mako eyes roamed across faces, some of whom locked eyes and dropped their gaze soon after. The signature SOLDIER eyes had yet to change and it seemed that the city feared them more then revered them like they used to. Zack led the way through the slums and the city. A few slum kids had taught us how to travel above the plate without using their train.
As Zack pulled me into the street, I looked up. The black sky surrounding the city never ceased to bother me. It was like Shin-Ra was sucking life from it. It was only here that it happened too. Zack's hand pushed at my lower back, and I followed with a nod. We had work to do.