Chapter 32: Wildflowers
"Heeelllloooooooo." Zack shifted at the sound, feeling his consciousness begin to stir as his eyes opened, only to see the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen staring back down at him. Those bright eyes blinked, and Zack tried to focus on the long brown hair and pretty face staring down at him.
"Are you an angel?" he managed to get out, throat feeling dry and scratchy as he stared up at her in wonder.
The girl placed her hand to her mouth, giggling as she shook her head. "What an awful pick-up line. Near death must have made you rusty."
"Am I not dead? ...Oh." Zack stared in confusion at her, trying to piece together where he could possibly be. That was when the pain in his stomach kicked in, and everything came back full force. "Cloud!" He shot up, nearly crashing his head into the girl's, and groaned as pain pierced through him.
"Whoah whoah whoah!" She scolded, pressing her hands to his chest. "Take it easy. You're going to rip your stitches."
He couldn't give a fuck less about his stiches. Looking around, Zack took in the laboratory in the basement of the mansion, scanning every inch of the nightmarish place for blond spikes. "Where is he!?"
"Would you relax?" she scolded, pushing him down again. "Cloud's in surgery. There were some complications with his treatments, and they're just making sure he'll heal properly."
"Complications?" The Alpha's mind was running a million miles an hour as he tried to take everything in, reaching up to rub at his eyes, only to yank at the handcuff chaining him to the hospital bed. He sneered at the cuff, knowing with how weak he was he wouldn't be able to easily break it.
The girl sighed, sweeping her bangs out of her face. "There was a lot of damage...especially to his womb."
"The baby?" Zack breathed, looking up at her in question as she sadly shook her head.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?" he questioned, staring down at the scratchy blanket. "It wasn't mine." Cloud had given himself to a monster, and that monster had taken everything from him in kind.
"Who cares? It was Cloud's, and you love all of him, don't you?" she questioned. "I can smell it on you."
He raised an eyebrow as he watched her. "Who are you?"
She smiled at him as she extended her hand. "I'm Aerith, nice to meet you." She smiled at him, frowning a little as she realized. "I just wish it was under different circumstances."
Zack stared at the hand in suspicion, a wary caged feeling coming over him as he glanced around for any guards also keeping this girl here. "Do you work for Shinra?" Was she with Hojo? He inhaled, eyes dilating as he took in a familiar cloying scent. "You're an Omega."
She smiled down at him after the realization. "Nice detective work. I guess all of your senses weren't knocked dead with that last fight." Her friendliness turned to a bit of a glare as she watched. "And no, I don't work for Shinra. Watch who you're accusing of what around here if you want to make any friends."
"My apologies," Zack murmured, gripping his side as he still didn't quite trust this girl. "So if you don't work for Shinra, why are you in the mansion?"
"Is that your subtle way of asking me 'what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?'" Aerith questioned.
Zack grinned at her, liking her in spite of his suspicions. "Something like that."
Aerith shrugged, seeming to give up with the invasiveness. "This is where I stay sometimes...with my mother. Normally we are in the north with Professor Ghast, but Hojo asked a favor from her in order to save my brother."
"Brother?" the Alpha's voice held the same suspicion it had whenever Kadaj had called Cloud that. "As in siblings?"
Aerith chuckled, bangles rattling as she placed her wrist up to her mouth. "That's generally how it works, yes."
His face darkened slightly at her tone. "I didn't…" He took a deep breath, not sure how to explain himself without insulting her. "Kadaj calls him brother too." He fumbled for words, not sure why he was getting so embarrassed talking to her. There was just something about her...something that saw through you. "Is it an Omega thing?"
She watched him for a moment, finger pressed to her mouth as she debated what she wanted to say. "It's a bit different in Kadaj's case...in the poor souls up in the reactor."
"The ones grown in test tubes?" Zack bit out.
Aerith nodded sadly. "The grown ones. Cloud wasn't grown. He was born...just the same as me. We have the same mother...different fathers."
"What!?" Zack snapped, yanking on his bindings as surprise overtook him. "You actually are his sister?" The same mother...different fathers. This was Cloud's half sister? "Explain."
"So impatient," she scolded, clearly not deterred by the panic in his voice. "All you Alphas are always so quick to get to the point. It wouldn't hurt you to exercise a bit of self-restraint."
"You're right," Zack agreed. "Self-restraint is something that Alphas definitely need to work on...especially when it comes to Omegas."
She frowned sadly at him. "I am sorry about everything that's happened to you. What they did to you and Sephiroth wasn't fair."
"Fuck Sephiroth," Zack growled back without hesitation, hate pouring through his teeth as they grew to points. "I'd kill him again if given the chance."
"That's not a very empathetic way to see things," Aerith chided. "You're a fool if you don't see that he was also a victim in all of this."
Zack glowered at the Omega. "If you're going to defend Sephiroth to me, then you can go and leave me to rot on this bed."
"Serves you right if I did!" Aerith scolded, glaring right back at him. "But I'm not near as hot headed as you. Now do you want to hear the rest of the story, or not?"
He yanked at his hand to show her that he was still chained to the bed. "I'm all ears." He took a deep breath, trying to control his temper as all he could see was Cloud being stabbed over and over again. Sephiroth wasn't a victim. He was a harbinger of evil. He had systematically taken everything from him.
"My mother's name is Ifalna." Meaning that was also Cloud's mother's name. "She is the last of the Ancients."
The bottom dropped out of Zack's stomach as violet eyes just stared at her in stunned silence. Ancients...of course he had heard about them. When he was a cadet they had taken an entire class regarding ancient civilizations. They were supposed to save everyone...bring them to a promised land. "Cloud's an Omega," he argued, trying to somehow wrap his mind around the impossible words that had just left Aerith's mouth.
"Well duh," she teased, laughing. "But what exactly is an Omega? Do you know?" Aerith's smile somehow managed to calm his racing heart. "What's an Alpha for that matter? Two incredible beings that seem to have appeared out of nowhere." She held up a finger. "But not exactly out of nowhere, right? Shinra brought them back..both through terrible experimentation and genetic manipulation. But where did they start?"
"You're saying that they both originated from the Ancients?" Zack questioned, doing everything possible to suspend his disbelief.
"Everything comes from the planet...and everything will return back there in the end." Aerith brought a glass of water to Zack's lips, helping him drink and quench his parched throat. "Shinra has managed to dig up something they don't understand, and as always, have perverted the purity of it all. Breeding SOLDIERs...it's reprehensible."
"They've always just wanted power," Zack agreed. "They'll do anything to get it. Including whatever Sephiroth was."
"He was no Ancient," Aerith's mouth was stretched in a thin line as she spoke those words. "His mother, Jenova, was a calamity from space posing as one of the Cetra...my people." Cloud's people. "They tried to replicate the experiments done to create me...to create Cloud. They wanted something beyond the normal Alpha." She sadly shook her head. "I don't think they could have ever imagined what they were actually creating."
"A monster?" Zack suggested, clenching his teeth hard enough to hear his jaw begin to crack.
"A powerful being that they didn't understand," Aerith corrected with a frown. "What happened to him was monstrous, I do agree with you. I'm not justifying his actions on what transpired. I will remind you that Cloud is my brother, but kick a dog enough times and eventually it will bite you."
"There's no justifying stabbing the person you claim to love and your unborn child," Zack argued. "We all live shitty lives. He's no exception."
"His upbringing was poisoned," Aerith tried. "And as such his mind eventually followed suit. Insanity is a dangerous mechanism for tragedy."
"So is jealousy." Zack met her eyes, not backing down on his opinion on the man who he had cast down into a chasm to rot with his mother.
"You'd know all about jealousy then, right?" Aerith spoke softly, no judgement in her tone, only understanding. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. My mother had me out of love. She had Cloud from more sinister origins." Her voice darkened, and Zack's eyes narrowed as he knew that story without being told it...knowing Hojo was the father. "He's never had it easy. He's never known love...until you."
"Did you not love your brother?" Zack questioned as she seemed to be staring down at the floor in shame.
"I did," Aerith argued. "Of course I did. We were never allowed to interact, though. A stipulation my father set down after what happened to my mother. The fact that Professor Ghast agreed at all to help after all these years...well...I suppose miracles do happen." She shifted. "My mother hasn't seen him since he was born. She's in surgery with him now. They're using her blood." Sadness was etched into her voice. "She didn't want to give him up, but it was the only way. Professor Hojo had what he needed...cells of the Cetra. He could build his project from Cloud's genes."
Zack went cold. Every time he thought there was a way that the Omega hadn't been violated, he was proven wrong yet again. "So his mother gave Hojo a son so that she could live a normal life with her daughter?"
"That's not it!" Aerith shot back. "Zack, that isn't it! Shinra gets its claws in you! My mother wanted to find a way to get to him. She wanted to take us both and run, but we're watched at all times! My father somehow managed to bargain for us to be kept at his laboratory instead of here or at headquarters, but we're no less prisoners. She wasn't given a choice. Just like Cloud wasn't. Just like Sephiroth wasn't. My mother prayed to the planet every day to give my brother peace...justice. She made sure he was safe."
"Cloud's never been safe!" Zack argued right back, pain lancing up his side.
"He was safe when he was with you!" Aerith argued right back, face turning from guilt to anger at Zack's clear stubbornness.
"He wasn't safe," Zack argued. "And he was never with me...not really. He was just waiting for Sephiroth."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself!" Aerith snapped, fists clenched at her side. "He's only alive right now because of you!"
"She's out of line with the amount of knowledge she felt the need to divulge, but she's not wrong." Zack felt a growl leave his chest, turning to glare at the sound of the voice as Hojo came into where he was being kept. His hate and resignation faded slightly upon seeing him. He was draped in an apron that was covered in blood, and he didn't even need to smell the air to know it was Cloud's.
"Is he okay?" Nothing else mattered. None of what he had learned from Aerith meant a damn thing if he had lost him. His stomach roiled with the scent of blood covering the scientist. "Is he alright?"
"He's alive," Hojo finally conceded, and Zack felt his eyes fill with tears of relief, falling over himself as he laid his head on his knees and the scratchy hospital blankets. "For now."
Zack lifted his head up, staring at Hojo warily. "For now?"
Hojo scoffed. "That's what I said, isn't it? He's lost a lot of blood with the hemorrhaging. I was able to repair most of the damage, and right now I don't think he's going to go septic. But he will die. It's inevitable."
Zack felt his brain short circuit. A person could only deal with so much tragedy before they reached their limit. Hearing those words, he knew he had reached his. The sclera across his eyes grew as he saw nothing but red. He was out of bed in an instant, the piece of furniture clashing across the ground as his arm hung awkwardly at his side from the cuff, and his blood blossomed across his hospital gown.
"Zack!" Aerith cried in worry, but the Alpha could focus on nothing but the intense hate he felt as he dragged the bed across the floor to get over to where Hojo stood covered in his Omega's blood. "Zack you have to stop!" Aerith tried again, rushing in front of him and between him and Hojo as she pressed two hands to his chest. "Don't make me do this...just calm down and let him explain."
His mind couldn't possibly process what she meant by those words. All he knew was that he had always wanted to kill Hojo, and if he couldn't save Cloud—well—there was no time like the present.
"Control him, Aerith, or I'll have him put down like a dog." Hojo spoke dispassionately, only causing more rage to fill Zack as he snarled at the scientist.
"I'd like to see you try, you sadistic son of a bitch!" Zack bit out, taking a deep breath to prevent himself from shoving Aerith away from him and into a wall.
"Alpha…" Aerith spoke, and Zack's eyes widened as the cloying scent of wildflowers filled his nostrils, and his limbs felt like lead. He felt controlled...the way he had the few times Cloud had spoken to him in that tone. "Alpha," Aerith repeated, and he felt the sclera in his eyes contracting as he looked at her in betrayal. "Be calm. It's okay. You're okay. Cloud's going to be fine."
Shocked eyes watched her as his entire body succumbed to the command, instantly losing the rage inside of him. She was so much stronger than Cloud was. ...Stronger when it came to that at least.
"She's impressive, is she not?" Hojo spoke. "A real inspiration. Too bad her talent is wasted somewhere up in the Northern Mountains," he spoke in spite.
"I'm sorry," the beautiful girl apologized. "I just had to get you to calm down. You'll rip all your stitches. You can't help Cloud if you're dead." Aerith looked back to Hojo. "Professor, please explain what you meant. Why is Cloud going to die?"
"Because that lumbering oaf threw his Alpha into a pit," Hojo answered with distaste, and Zack couldn't bring himself to snap back with the calming haze that had filled his mind with wildflowers. "They are soul bonded. One half of Cloud's soul is swimming amongst the Lifestream. His soul longs to follow its mate."
"No," Zack managed to get out even through the sedation. Sephiroth wouldn't win in this. He wouldn't take Cloud away from him even when he was dead. "He can't have him."
Hojo sighed. "It's that kind of obstinate stubbornness that I unfortunately require from you." The scientist pressed his falling glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Cloud would be dead and with Sephiroth in the Lifestream right now...barring one contingency." Hojo's long gangly finger stretched out, pointing to Zack's neck. "That."
Zack's limbs felt like lead, but he reached up in spite of it, touching the small scar on his neck from when Cloud had bitten him before everything had gone so wrong. "I didn't bite him." The biggest mistake of his life.
"No," Hojo agreed. "But he bit you. He tied a part of himself to you, which is why he was never able to fully move on and succumb to Sephiroth's pull." He shrugged. "It's also what's keeping him alive now. His soul, as much of it is tied to Sephiroth through destiny and our own making, is also bound to you by his choosing." Hojo sneered at just the thought. "His foolish devotion to you may very well be the thing that saves his life. I suppose you can revel in the fact that he does truly love you." He sneered in disgust. "He's always been a disappointment."
Zack tried to fight through the numbing calm to understand what was being said to him. Hojo always spoke in riddles, but this seemed fairly straight forward. Cloud was still connected to him. He wasn't destined to fade and join Sephiroth just yet.
"I can save him?" His voice was broken as he asked it, knowing better than to express even an ounce of hope.
"You can," Hojo agreed with the assessment. "If you want to. He was badly damaged. His womb was removed. He'll never be able to perform his duties as an Omega. Who knows if he'll even be able to self-lubricate with how much dam—"
"Do you think I give a fuck about his ability to get wet for me or bare my kids?" Zack interrupted him, trying to fight through the field of flowers as his body felt like lead. "I've never cared about any of this Omega bullshit. In fact I curse the day I found out he was different at all! I just want him. I just love him. Tell me what I need to do, because I'd do anything for him."
Hojo sighed in disgust. "Young love, how it turns the stomach." He motioned towards the door he had come through. "Well come with me then. I'll take you to him." He held up a key to the cuffs. "If you try anything, do know that I have at least 50 troopers stationed upstairs, and they have orders to shoot you and Cloud on sight."
"I'll behave," Zack spoke through the haze, just wanting to get to Cloud. He warily watched as Hojo came closer, taking a deep breath as he leaned down to the bars of the busted hospital bed and undid the cuff.
Zack reacted instantaneously even through the fog. His hand enclosed itself around Hojo's throat, lifting him up in the air as he glared at the piece of shit who had ruined countless lives. "It would take an ounce of strength to snap your neck."
Hojo struggled, coughing as his legs swung. "Then he'll die. Your choice, Lieutenant Fair."
"Alpha," Aerith spoke from behind him. "Drop him." His hand opened to obey before he ever had a chance to consider it. He turned to glare at the Omega, but she interrupted him before he even had a chance to speak. "You're being a hot headed idiot. Cloud will die, and then Shinra will shoot us all. I don't like working with him either, but don't let your temper destroy your sense of reason. If he's telling the truth you are the only one who can save him." She motioned to the doors as Hojo coughed on the floor before picking himself up. "So go save him."
He opened his mouth to reply, but then realized she was right as he simply nodded to the girl who had shown him nothing but kindness. "Take me to Cloud."
Hojo merely rolled his eyes, rubbing at his throat as they made their way slowly to the doors as Zack clung to his stomach. Sickness roiled through him as he considered what he could see as those doors swung open. It felt like he had been punched in his wound as he saw the love of his life lying on the surgical table, pale and seemingly lifeless. Some assistant worked to mop up all the blood he had lost as more of it hung in bags around him pumping into his veins. A woman, who couldn't be anyone but Aerith's mother, sat in the corner crying, hiding her face that seemed to be covered in pain and shame as she couldn't bear to look at what had become of her son. Couldn't bear to be forced into the same room as her rapist as the only option to save a child she had never known. One day he would make Shinra pay for all of this. One day he would make sure that they could never hurt anyone again.
His entire body shuddered in agony at seeing him, crawling over as if in pain as he pushed up onto the surgical table. He carefully blanketed the small frail body, laying his forehead against Cloud's forehead and letting out a keening whine of pain at how cold he was—at the blood and death he could smell radiating off of him.
"It's okay, Spike," Zack softly cooed, lips shaking as he pressed them against the greasy blond hair. "You're going to be okay."
"Truly, he's not," Hojo spoke, causing Zack to flinch as he ran his hand through those spikes he loved so much. "He has a few hours...maybe." Zack heard a sob come from the corner, Ifalna burying her face in her hands. Zack knew she must be hurting...knew that seeing your child for the first time since he was born in this condition had to be beyond a burden any mother could bear. Right now though, he hated her just as much as Hojo.
His lips pressed to Cloud's cheek, dragging his eyes away from that perfect face to glare at Hojo. "How do I save him? You need more of my venom, is that it?"
Hojo tilted his head back and forth, considering. "You're not wrong. He does need that."
"Grab the needle then," Zack bit out, not knowing why they had hesitated in the first place.
"I think it'll take a bit more of a direct approach," Hojo started, motioning to the Omega. "He's tied to Sephiroth, but tethered to you still with a small string. You need to make that string grow. Bite him."
The color drained from Zack's face at the words, eyes widening in horror at the thought. "He's unconscious."
"And he'll remain that way unless you mate him," Hojo reminded him, and Zack felt like he wanted to puke.
"I'm not mating with him when he's unconscious!" Even the thought horrified him beyond comprehension. "He can't give consent."
Hojo began to laugh at that, going so far to even grab his belly as he bowled over. "Zachary Fair, you are like a broken record. So worried about an Omega's consent...how did that work out for you last time?"
"I'm not taking the choice away from him. For all you know he wouldn't want to be with me," Zack's mind was running at a million miles an hour, trying to get over his horror at the very idea to think of any possible other outcomes.
"Then he'll die," Hojo said simply, no grief in his tone. "It matters not to me. It's not as if he's good for anything anymore."
"He's your son!" Zack bit out through clenched teeth.
"Unfortunately, yes," Hojo murmured, glancing over to Ifalna. "And a failure of a son at that."
The Ancient looked up, eyes overwhelmed with tears. "Zack. Please. It's the only way. You have to save my son."
"Why?" Zack questioned her, seeing Cloud in her face as he studied her features. "Did you ever? I met Aerith out there, she's a very nice girl. You must be so proud."
"You don't understand." Ifalna looked ashamed as she pleaded.
"No," Zack agreed. "You're right. I don't understand. I don't understand at all how you could take one child and leave the other behind." He turned to glare at Hojo. "No matter how he was conceived."
Hojo shrugged off the accusal of rape as if it were meaningless to him. "Necessary steps to advance science."
"Fucking monster," Zack growled under his breath. "What happens if I do bite him?" he asked the scientist. "What happens to us?"
Hojo placed a hand to his chin as he thought that over. "I try to fix him. To make him of some value. I keep you around to keep him alive."
"You're going to torture us," Zack surmised.
"I'm going to improve you," Hojo corrected. "Common misconception."
"Why would I bring him back just to endure more torture?" Zack questioned. "At this point death would be a mercy."
"If you believe that," Hojo called his bluff. "Then don't bite him. Let him die on that table and his soul to join Sephiroth's in the Lifestream for all eternity." He waved his hand in dismissal. "It's ultimately your choice."
As if there was ever a choice.
As if he could ever just let Cloud die.
As if he could let him be with Sephiroth forever.
Ifalna got up from her chair, looking pale from blood loss herself as she came over to the bed. Zack resisted the urge to growl her away from the fragile Omega. "Please," she started. "Please do it. I can't let him die like this. I know I failed him as a mother. I know what I had to sacrifice to give at least one of my children a good life. I'm not making excuses, but I am begging you to help him."
"What if he's lying?" Zack questioned. "What if it doesn't work?" What if Cloud wanted to remain with Sephiroth.
"It'll work," Ifalna assured him. "It has to, because the planet isn't ready to take him back yet."
"Fuck the planet," Zack managed. "Fuck you as well." He turned to Hojo. "But most of all fuck you. I will kill you someday...and it'll be soon."
"I'm trembling in my boots," Hojo murmured, and Zack resisted the urge to fly off the table. "Come Ifalna, let's give them some privacy. Lieutenant Fair strikes me as the shy type."
Zack shut his eyes, waiting for the door to shut to re-open them to stare down at the comatose blond. His mind flashed to their bunks at headquarters, laying over Cloud as that face broke out into a brilliant smile. What if Cloud didn't want this? What if he didn't want to mate with him? ...What if he never had?
"Baby, please tell me that this is okay?" he pleaded to what would amount to a corpse in a few hours. "Did you ever love me like you loved him?" He asked, eyes beginning to fill with tears. "Did you? Do you know how much you've hurt me?" He wiped furiously at his eyes. "How pathetic it is that I'm willing to do this at all?" He glowered down at the unconscious body. "This is all your fault. You chose to come here. You had to know...and now look at what's become of us." Zack shook his head. "Sometimes I wish I never met you, but then I'm with someone besides you and it's meaningless." He exhaled the guilt and anger. "I was with Reno—your best friend, and do you know what I felt? Nothing. I don't feel anything unless I'm with you."
Zack motioned to the door where Ifalna and Hojo had just left. "Look at the burden it takes to be with you. The blood and bones you have to wade through daily. For what? For you to cheat on me? To put me through emotional hell?" He glared at the blond. "You're a selfish prick...and your upbringing does explain a lot, but it doesn't explain it all. It doesn't explain your willingness to go to his bed. I loved you so much, and you strayed...to my best friend. Guess we're somewhat alike in that regard."
"I'm sorry about the baby," Zack spoke softly. "I'm sorry that even if this works, it's only going to end up causing you more pain." He looked up at the ceiling, blinking to rid the tears. "I'm just sorry." He inhaled deep in the air, catching Cloud's scent as the sclera in his eyes grew and his teeth sharpened.
His arms wrapped around the blond's back, yanking him up and reacting before he could talk himself out of it as he leaned down and sunk his teeth into Cloud's neck on the side opposite of Sephiroth's own mark. The scent of Cloud exploded on his tongue, arousal filling him despite the situation as his instincts took over, biting harder.
Blood filled his mouth as pleasure overwhelmed him, clinging to his Omega. His. Only his. His mate. His lover. His everything. Possessive growling filled his chest, making himself rip his mouth off the other before he tore out his throat or fucked his unconscious body—he never was sure what his instincts called for him to do. He was panting as he pulled back, blood dripping in rivulets down his chin.
"Zack?" Cloud questioned softly, and Zack's eyes widened to saucers as those blue ones slowly fluttered open. "I was with Sephiroth...I was…" The SOLDIER felt his entire body tighten in pain and regret as of course Cloud had been with him. Of course he had been devastated to be ripped away.
"Spike, I'm so—"
Cloud cut him off mid apology, lunging forward and throwing his arms around Zack's neck. "Thank you for saving me." Tears poured silently down Zack's face as he slowly raised his arms up to wrap around that skinny frame. "Thank you." They pulled back, and Cloud raised his eyebrows from looking at him. "Zack, why is your mouth all bloody?" He reached up to his neck, touching it gingerly as if just realizing it hurt. He brought his fingers up to his face, seeing the blood there and turning confused eyes towards the Alpha. "Zack?"
"Spike," he tried, shaking his head back and forth in horror. "You don't understand. I had to. You would have died. You wouldn't wake up."
"You bit me?" Cloud questioned with confusion. He looked down slowly then, as if realizing something else. "Is the baby…" Zack looked stricken as Cloud seemed to be able to read the devastation off his face. "Is Sephiroth…" The look didn't change as Zack's arms tightened around him as Cloud seemed to realize his loss. "But...it can't be. It can't…" He stopped, losing the words as the Omega didn't seem to even know how to begin to articulate his loss. "It can't…"
The door swung open before Zack could say anything else. Hojo marched in surrounded by troopers on either side of him with guns pointed at them. "That's enough chattering, I thank you Lieutenant Fair, excellent service as always." He motioned to the guards and then back to him. "Put him back in his cell." A trooper lifted his gun, shooting it without hesitation as a dart stuck into the side of Zack's neck. Zack knew instantly that he had been drugged as wooziness immediately rushed through him as they grabbed him by an arm on either side and off of Cloud.
"What about Cloud?" Zack mumbled, voice slurry as his eyes were fixed on the broken blond just staring blankly at the wall as everything rushed over him. "He's still hurt!"
"Obviously, Zachary," Hojo murmured, rolling his eyes at the apparent stupidity. "Which is why he needs his first treatment. If I can't breed him, I'll have to make him useful to me in some other fashion." He looked to the guards, and Zack felt his consciousness waning as his head drooped forward. "After you're done with him, help me put this other one in the tank." Zack managed to lift his head one last time as unconsciousness pulled at him, seeing a lone tear roll down from haunted blue eyes, the Omega gripping his neck in confusion, and as Cloud glanced over at him Zack managed to see the look in Cloud's eyes before blackness overwhelmed him. It was betrayal.
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