Hey everyone, thank you so very much for your reviews to Chapter 12 and if you haven't gotten a reply yet you will. I'm on it, just wanted to make sure you had something to read in the meantime ;)

~Thirteen~

Cloud had to admit he was nervous about seeing Kunsel and speaking to him for the first time in so long. For the first time since he'd had the implant out of his head and also for the first time since regaining all of his memories. For some reason he couldn't shake a weird worry he had that maybe Kunsel wouldn't really want to see him. His mentor he'd had for a brief time had left Shinra after all. He'd been gone for so long. He chalked up his feelings to just some irrational fear but when he spoke to Zack a little later after getting back to his apartment, he thought maybe there was some validity to what he was feeling.

Zack had brought Kunsel back to his and Aerith's apartment and after Cloud dropping his stuff off at home he texted Zack to find out if he should go over there but Zack told him to hold off. He said that Kunsel was just going to be resting for the day and probably wasn't up for seeing him. In the early afternoon Zack came to visit him at his place so that they could actually talk in person and it was then that he relayed the things Kunsel had revealed to him about where he'd been for the past year. It was almost unimaginable what had happened to him and yet considering the things Shinra was capable of, it wasn't surprising.

"That's really messed up," Cloud said after listening. "He doesn't want to try to talk to Tseng though? Or anyone else about trying to make things right?" he questioned then.

"I guess not," Zack spoke sadly. "But, maybe he'll feel differently when he's dried out a little."

"Dried out?"

"Yeah, like after he's been sober awhile. Sounds like he hasn't had many of those days since he left SOLDIER," Zack explained.

It made Cloud feel kind of guilty hearing that when he thought about how he'd been drinking when he wasn't supposed to. It hadn't been a lot, but it hadn't been smart or safe. The last thing Zack needed was to have two people he cared about with substance abuse problems, especially when he'd struggled himself in the past with drugs.

"Anyway," Zack said then. "I gotta get another hug from you," he declared as he got up from the chair he was seated in. He motioned for Cloud to stand too so he could embrace him tightly. The first thing he'd done when he first got to the apartment was hug him but after their argument and Cloud taking off the day before he needed to hold him again. "I love you so much and I'm so sorry if I made you think differently or bad about yourself or something," he said.

"I know," Cloud said into his shoulder. "I'm sorry I hid so much from you."

"Where were you last night?" Zack asked him then when he let him go. He headed toward the fridge to get some water. "You said you weren't at home," he reminded him. "Where'd you go?"

"Uh, a hotel," he said as he sat himself back down. It wasn't a lie…exactly. Zack nodded without looking at him, filling two glasses with the water from a jug, as if the answer made sense and didn't require more information. His friend looked exhausted and overwhelmed.

"Zack," he said and his friend turned his head to look at him, setting down the jug of water and picking up the glasses, one in each hand. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said with a smile that seemed painfully forced. He held one of the glasses out to him. "You staying hydrated?" he asked. It seemed a little weird for him to ask.

"Yeah," Cloud told him as he took the glass from him. He drank a little out of it but set it down on the coffee table after. He watched as Zack sat down in the chair nearby and drank half of his own glass before just holding it in his hands and staring down into it. "You look really tired," he pointed out softly.

"Probably," Zack said. "Didn't sleep most of the night. I'm gonna have to catch a nap soon before heading to work later.

Cloud nodded. There was a bit of silence then before he asked, "What's going to happen with Kunsel now? Like outside of trying to get him to talk to Tseng or anyone else from Shinra about dealing with what happened?"

Zack shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "I have to help him," he said with a bit of a shrug. "Whatever I can do, considering he's not really supposed to be near me, or you probably." He dropped his head a moment and rolled the glass in his hands between his palms. "He said some...sort of messed up things," he said softly then shook his head. "Anyway, are we good? For real?" he asked when he looked up.

"Yeah," Cloud confirmed.

"'Cause, bud, you know even if we are, I'm still worried about you," he stated, making Cloud drop his own gaze. "Have you talked to your therapist about the whole…sex with strangers thing?" he asked.

"Not really," Cloud admitted without looking up.

"You probably should."

"So she can say the same thing you did?" he questioned flatly.

Zack let out a long breath before speaking again. "Is anything going to change now that you've told me what you've been getting up to? Or are you sticking to your guns?"

"Sticking to my guns?" Cloud echoed. "Not sure that's what I'd call it." He shook his head again slowly. "I don't really know, Zack. I wish I could reassure you. I wish I could say I was going to stop racing and stop having hook-ups, trying to screw away the past or whatever it is I'm doing…I just don't know. I'm hanging by a thread," he said to him earnestly. "You know?" he asked tiredly and Zack nodded.

"I know," he uttered quietly. "There's nothing I can say or do is there?" he asked.

Cloud shook his head slowly. "Knowing you are here for me and being the big brother to me that I probably don't deserve is seriously the one thing that keeps me from giving up completely."

Zack smiled at him with tears building in his eyes. "You ever give up on me and I'll kick your ass," he told him lightly.

"Deal," Cloud said. "I uh, I'm going to a race tonight," he said a little awkwardly. Zack sighed at hearing it. "I'll be careful," he said and Zack's eyes widened a little as though it were clearly of no comfort hearing that.

"You better be," he said, "Cause if I have to go up to that hospital again tonight they'll be checking me into the psych wing," he said, making them both smile.

000

The racing crowd was meeting a little farther out of the city than usual that night, near to the cliffs that rose up from the wasteland like some kind of megalith. One of the exciting things about racing out in the wasteland at night was that the riders didn't really know what the course was going to be before getting there. So far Cloud hadn't been bored or disappointed by any of the courses he'd ridden. He'd been apprehensive about some of them but that just made things more interesting. He hadn't before been presented with a course he didn't really want to ride, until that night.

"Where we heading?" he asked Rick after having a quick look around the crowd of people and riders. He hated to admit even to himself that he was actually looking to see if Marco had shown up. He shouldn't care. He wasn't even sure he did. He didn't know how to feel about him showing up if he did and he didn't really know how to feel if he didn't show up either.

"Down this stretch of road ahead of us and then up up up," Rick told him, pointing to the cliff face.

"To the top of the cliffs?" Cloud questioned. He was hoping that Rick was just kidding and that wasn't really what was in store for the run that night.

"Yeah the second highest plateau up there," Rick confirmed to his surprise. "Then back down. Here I have a map," he said as he reached into his coat pocket for a folded document. "You familiar with the topographic type," he asked.

"Yeah," Cloud said, nodding. He'd looked at quite a few back at the Academy and in the army.

"So up to this point," Rick told him, placing his finger on the map, "then down to the next lowest step of the plateau, then down to the road on the back side and back down here to the start point," he explained.

"All the way up to here?" Cloud questioned skeptically, indicating to the highest point Rick had pointed to and the guy nodded. "That's steep," he commented as he took note of the elevation intervals shown on the map. "Can your bike even do that?"

"Ish," Rick said with a nervous smile. "The path up is like a bunch of ramps with flatter segments in between. You'll get it when you see it. You gotta be smart with the throttle and clutch though. The way up might actually be easier honestly, coming down is more dangerous. The soil gets loose and it's a lot of braking. If the brakes get worked too much or too hard you may get a fade and maybe even total failure."

"Great," Cloud said, still staring down at the map.

"What do you think?" Rick asked. "It's a big pot again," he reminded him, speaking of the cash winnings."

"I don't know," Cloud replied.

He was thinking and not about the ride. Just about where they were supposed to be going. The course was going to take them straight through the place where Zack had nearly died on those cliffs a few years back. He was scared to be there again and he didn't really know why. Obviously Zack had lived but it was hard to think back on. He'd come so close to losing Zack that day, after his friend had gone through hell to get them both back to Midgar. He'd been basically comatose. Zack had to fight so hard to keep him safe on that journey from Nibelheim and after all of Hojo's torture and their four year struggle he was shot down like some animal by Shinra army soldiers and for a few minutes he actually did lose Zack. He'd watched him take a final breath as he bled out on the ground in the rain and somehow, by some miracle, he'd come back.

He had to wonder now if it had anything to do with Seraph. Rand had told him in Gongaga that Zack's body had actually accommodated the old Seraph strain, albeit not well. The strain had apparently made it possible for Zack to shatter the testing cylinder in lab the night they escaped. Given his own resurrection experiences with the later strain he wondered if that's ultimately how Zack survived.

"You look worried," Rick pointed out.

"No, uh, it's fine," he said, shaking his head, trying to appear unfazed.

"Yeah?" Rick questioned.

"Yeah," he said. "Should be good," he added, making Rick chuckle a little.

"Sure. Well, you know you're probably gonna stall out or lose momentum anyway during the climb, unless you manage your RPMs and keep traction. I'm proud of my babies but they can be whiny bitches on steep terrain," he said of his bikes.

"Guess we'll see."

"Hey, see that guy?" Rick said then. Cloud turned around to see who he was talking about. "It's Darius Marco. His family owns WhipCat, I was hoping to get you to meet him the other night."

So, Marco had shown up after all. "Oh, yeah, uh actually we did meet, at the bar," Cloud told him as they watched him talking with a few people.

As Marco looked their way Rick waved him over. He nodded in acknowledgement and a minute later he was coming over.

"Hey, Marco, not sure you remember me," Rick greeted him.

Marco nodded. "Richard," he said and Rick grimaced a little at hearing the name.

"Rick," he corrected. "Man, it's like hearing my mom call me," he added jokingly.

"Sorry, yeah," Marco laughed a little. "I remember." He looked Cloud's way then. "I'm Marco," he said, earning a curious look from Rick.

"Thought you met," he said, looking from him to Cloud, who didn't offer up any clarification.

"Uh, yeah sorry I was probably drunk," Marco said finally. Cloud smirked a little at Marco's awkwardness.

"Spike's my rider," Rick said to Marco. "He's had really good luck out here as a new kid."

"Luck huh?" Marco replied.

"Yeah the bike drives itself apparently," Cloud said with a light shrug.

"You make it look that way," Rick told him. "So you know, Marco, my machines are not a reflection of his talent," he said as he placed a hand on Cloud's one shoulder. "Was just letting him know he can expect to be at the back of the pack tonight. My rides aren't really great with rapidly increasing altitudes, but if he keeps bringing in the cash for me maybe one day soon I'll have something more powerful for him to ride,"

"I'd be happy to show you a product catalogue," Marco told Rick, though he seemed to be mostly joking.

"Oh, I'm familiar with the WhipCat line, trust me," Rick said. "One can dream. Anyway, better get the bike warmed up."

"Well I guess good luck," Marco said, smiling. Cloud just nodded at him, giving the subtlest of brief smiles back.

It was nerve-wracking waiting for that race to start. Cloud felt like he needed to keep checking everything, including his helmet and his gloves. He was nervous and he didn't like it. He stared up at the cliffside ahead. Midgar was settled into kind of a valley. They were starting at a part of the highway that ran from the city up to the third highest plateau on a gradual gradient along the back side. They were going to be climbing from the side of the formation to almost the very top. From what Rick had shown him on the map, they were going to then descend to that third highest plateau step which is where Zack had been shot by the army soldiers.

He tried not to think of where he was going and what he needed to do instead to have the best chance of a good finish. He would need to race hard at the start to hopefully get at the front of the pack, or at least near to it because by what Rick said he was going to lose time and probably higher placement during the climb. There were about twenty riders at the start and as the race began and they took off on the stretch of highway toward the cliffs, they stayed fairly close together. He found it hard to get an opening to get through to get closer to the front and only ended up moving up about three places. He'd come second in the last race he'd run so his name had been mixed with the others and pulled for a random placement at the start. He'd ended up in the middle of the pack and that's basically where he still was by the time they hit the first inclined stretch of terrain off the road.

It wasn't so bad at first. He could see what Rick was talking about. The lengths of incline interspersed with flatter portions of terrain that would allow for some recovery and to be able to pick up enough speed to make it up the next rising section of earth. The soil wasn't as compact as he hoped it would be and it was difficult to keep traction in some segments. It became clear pretty quickly that most of the riders ahead of him were struggling to keep momentum. As the climb grew steeper, a few of the riders weren't able to keep moving upward and had to stop. The path was wider than he'd expected by not wide enough to make it easy to pass the riders that were getting stuck.

It didn't so much feel like a race as trying to traverse a mountain, dragging a huge weight that wanted nothing more than to slide backward and pull you with it. It seemed like whoever was able to actually make it back down to the road first was going to be the likely winner. That definitely wasn't him. He kept a good momentum moving ahead and didn't run into any trouble but he was stuck behind another couple riders and there was no way he'd be able to pass. There was always the possibility of someone having trouble ahead of him, so he tried to keep optimistic.

He pushed on, climbing slowly to the visible ridge ahead and above. He saw the three riders ahead of him go over it one by one and a wave of relief went through him when he hit the plateau finally and he no longer felt the pressure of the incline trying to drag him back. He headed across the flatter surface, tempted to try and pick up as much speed as he could to gain ground but knew that was probably not the smart or wise thing to do considering he had to head downward on the opposing edge of the plateau. He saw the last of the three riders go down ahead of him and as he approached he felt his stomach clench up a little, seeing the steepness of it and the mini landslide that had been created by the riders ahead of him.

Down below was the place he'd had nightmares about. He was going to need to zig zag his way down a little to avoid some of the rocks that could bounce his front wheel upward and make it more difficult to keep control. He was going to have to go hard on the brakes a few times, just like Rick warned him. He tried to focus but he couldn't help staring down at the terrain below like it was a pit ready to swallow him up. It was so dark below. He could barely see and yet he imagined it looking how it had when he was there, sick with mako poisoning, rain coming down on him and the smell of gun smoke and blood hanging heavy in the air. It was so strong he could taste it in his mouth.

"Spike, behind you!" Rick's voice was bringing him back to reality and he turned his head back to see a rider coming behind him sliding and coming up on him fast. The guy's bike was going to collide with his. He let go of Rick's bike when the other slid into it, choosing to bail rather than get caught in the tangle of the two machines. Still, he was slammed by the other rider. It was a guy named Porter he thought. He and Porter where caught in something of rock slide then close to the edge of the cliff face. Their bikes seemed to be on a trajectory toward the edge and pulling them along in the slide. They were both reaching out to try and grab onto rocks or brush vegetation to slow themselves down. Cloud managed to catch hold of a root that seemed sturdy enough to hold his weight but Porter was too close to him, sliding into him and making him lose his grip. He did manage to catch hold of Porter's left arm though and held on. They were almost at the bottom of the steep slope to the next plateau step but still too close to the cliff edge for comfort and moving fast.

Porter's bike hit the edge of the ridge and plummeted over then. Rick's bike had gotten stopped by a cluster of rocks at the bottom of the slope, maybe saving it from the fate of Porter's ride and Cloud thought maybe it was just the anchor he needed. He held onto Porter's arm a little tighter. The guy was holding him so hard though that even if he did lose his grip it might not matter. He zeroed in on what he want to grab for with his other hand. When he got to the base of the slope he reached out with his left hand and caught hold of the frame between the handle bars and the front wheel of Rick's bike. He tensed his shoulder joints and muscles for the hard and sudden pull he knew to expect when he stopped Porter's momentum. He actually did almost lose his grip on the guy's arm but Porter held on and finally they were stationary.

Cloud shut his eyes even though he had on the helmet and visor as a heap of dirt and rocks came sliding down after them, covering them in silt. Finally then it was over. He felt Porter let go of his arm so he did the same, reaching up to rub away the dirt covering his visor. He looked to see that Porter had stayed mostly on the ridge, his feet over the edge and out in the open air. He might have got lucky if his body hadn't been pulled to a stop when it was...but he could have also gone over the edge. As they both sat up and started checking themselves for injuries, Cloud could hear Rick's voice in his ears.

"So that was fun," he said sarcastically. "You still in one piece?"

"Yeah," Cloud replied. "Your whiney bitch may have just saved our asses," he told him.

"That's my girl," Rick said happily.

Cloud pulled his helmet from his head so he could get in a deeper breath of air, coughing a little on the lingering dust floating around them.

"You okay?" He asked Porter. The guy gave him a thumbs up and proceeded to take off his own helmet.

"Thanks to you probably," he said. "Fuckin' brakes went. Damn bike is trashed," he added as he looked down over the cliff edge. "Sorry to screw up your ride."

He shook his head to that. "No worries," he told him.

He got up then to move someplace he wouldn't be in the way for the riders still coming down behind them. He tried to get Rick's bike standing and move it but it was wedged pretty hard into the rocks. As he looked down he thought he saw something glimmering a little in the moonlight. He leaned over to pick it up from under the dirt. It was hard. Cylindrical. A casing from some rifle ammunition.

There were more. As he kicked away at the dirt with his boot he found more. Casings from the bullets fired at Zack? Or had someone just been up there at some point for target practice. He didn't know but finding them had him feeling even more shaken that he had from the crash.

Rick told him he'd bring his truck up to the road nearby and would tow the bike out on a line if that's what it took to get it free. Once he was sure no other riders were going to be coming down from the plateau above though, with Porter's help, Cloud was able to get the bike free of the rocks and he was able to walk it out to the road. If Marco hadn't been there when they got back down into the valley he probably would have left right away, still feeling off after his trip down memory lane. While Rick went in search of a beer cooler, Marco came to see him where he was standing next at his own bike, taking off his gloves.

"You look pretty adorable in that racing suit," the guy told him in a quiet voice.

"Just what I was going for," Cloud replied dryly. He tried to pat off the dust that seemed to still be coating him. It was easier to see in the gathering area that was brightly lit from the headlights of the vehicles.

"I, uh, thought you said we weren't supposed to know each other," Marco said to him, speaking of earlier when Rick had called him over.

"I said I'd ignore you, not pretend to not know you," Cloud told him. "Kind of different," he added.

"Well guess you're doing neither," Marco replied, grinning. "That was a little terrifying by the way," he spoke of the race. "Didn't know you Midgar wasteland riders were so extreme."

"See ya next time, bro," one of the other riders said to Cloud as he passed by him then.

"Yeah," he said back. Looking in that same direction, he saw someone coming towards him he really didn't expect to see. Reno. He had a cigarette in his mouth and gave him a nod when their eyes met.

"Yo," he greeted when he was close. "Besides the actual batshit crazy racing, it's kind of low-key out here," he remarked. "Thought it'd be more like a rave."

"Why are you here?" Cloud asked him then.

"Well, see that walking whiskey bottle, Kunsel, is apparently going to be crashing at our crib and I can't stand him so figured I'd come check this shit out in person," he said as he looked around.

Cloud figured he didn't really have a choice but to introduce him to Marco then since they were both now standing next to each other. "This is Marco," he said and Reno looked at him, taking his hand when Marco offered it to him in greeting.

"Reno," the ex-Turk said to him, though he barely looked Marco's way before turning his attention to the cliffs.

"You got a lot of guts setting foot up there," he stated. "Place gives me the creeps ever since—"

"Yeah," Cloud said, cutting him off. "So, anyway, nice chatting with you," he said to Marco and took hold of Reno's arm to pull him a short distance away. He knew it was abrupt and rude, but he really hadn't planned on having Marco meet anyone from his life yet, if ever. "You wanna shut up," he said to Reno as he let his arm go.

"What'd I say?" Reno asked innocently.

"Don't really need a reminder of what happened up there," he told him sharply. Reno looked past him back the way they came and smirked.

"Something going on with you and that guy?" he asked.

"Why did Johnny say that?" Cloud asked quickly and Reno looked immediately confused.

"The hell are you talking about?" he said back to that.

Cloud shook his head. "Never mind. I don't know why I keep thinking you guys talk."

"Nope. Basically all business all the time with Six," Reno said. "No, the guy looks at you like I look at a pair of nice tits," he commented.

"Unlikely," Cloud argued. "Hey, how's Kunsel?" he asked, trying to switch topics. Reno scoffed and took a drag from his cigarette.

"That guy fell far, that's for sure," he said. "Super not impressed with having to get rid of all the beer in the house for the jackass," he added.

"He went through a rough time," Cloud said.

Reno shrugged to that. "Who hasn't? Shinra's good at fucking people. Especially good at making you think it's better to be fucked by them while serving them then just being fucked," he declared. "Anyway, when I say I can't stand the guy, it's actually a mutual thing for both of us. I mean it, especially now. Can I crash at your place?" he asked.

"It isn't that bad is it?" Cloud questioned doubtfully.

"You haven't talked to him yet have you?" Reno replied and he shook his head.

"Not yet."

"He's like a smelly douchebag alternate universe version of himself," Reno claimed. "Come on, please," he said, making Cloud roll his eyes a little.

"Fine," he sighed. "You should probably ask Ray too though. It's technically her place," he pointed out.

"If I must," Reno said.

"That's weird though. Thought Zack would have wanted him to stay at his and Aerith's place," Cloud said then, more to himself. Zack hadn't said anything about it and it seemed strange he wouldn't want to keep Kunsel as close as possible in the condition he was in.

"Yeah real mystery," Reno commented with clear sarcasm. At Cloud's confused expression he went on. "Well he's working the bar nights and men who leave best friends alone at night with their girls deserve to be cheated on." Cloud shook his head to that, thinking it ridiculous. "Obviously you're excluded," Reno told him. "You're like that one in a hundred zillion who wouldn't do that to your bud."

"Pretty sure most people wouldn't do that to their best friend," Cloud was quick to argue.

"Yeah well, them two have history," Reno said.

"Kunsel and Aerith?" Cloud questioned and Reno nodded. "Even if that's the case, Aerith's not going to do that to Zack, not now," he stated surely.

"Baby boy, you have a lot to learn about relationships," Reno said to him through a smirk.

"Whatever," Cloud said back, annoyed. "When was the last time you were in a relationship with someone other than yourself? Rude doesn't count."

"Ha ha. I choose not to be," Reno claimed.

"Right," Cloud spoke doubtfully. "Aren't you working tonight?" he asked then and Reno shook his head.

"Nah, fuck it," he said. "Let's get hammered."

"I can't," Cloud said, thinking that should have been obvious.

"Well, I meant like I'll get hammered and you can keep me company," Reno clarified. "Unless you have something else to do," he said "or someone." Cloud exhaled strongly and Reno shook his head. "Never mind. You do your thing. I'll do mine. I see some prospects out here," he noted as he looked around, gazing at some of the girls hanging out in the area. "Real interesting prospects…"

"Here," Cloud said as he took his keys from his pocket. He unclipped one of the keys from the ring to give to him. "Apartment key," he said. He still had another spare.

"What? You won't be around to let me in?" Reno asked when he took it.

"If anyone asks I was," Cloud replied. Reno grinned at that.

"Uh huh," he said and looked back over to where Marco was, engaged in conversation with Rick and a couple other guys. At seeing them both look in the direction, Marco caught Cloud's eye again. Marco shifted his eyes between him and Rick a few times as the guy was speaking. "Okay, so maybe it's not like looking at tits," Reno remarked of the way Marco apparently looked at him. "More like looking at a nice ass," he concluded, clearly amused by his own comment.

"Can you go away now?" Cloud asked him and Reno patted him on the back before heading away from him finally.

Cloud headed back over to his bike to get his phone so he could message Zack and let him know he'd survived the race. He figured he'd leave out all the details though. Zack really didn't need to know he'd revisited the place of his near-passing and what had happened. It wasn't too long before Marco approached him once more.

"So," he said. "What happens now? All-night desert party?"

"Hardly, a bunch of the people out here work," he told him. "I usually just go home."

"Usually?" Marco echoed. "Seems like kind of a buzzkill after the adrenaline rush," he pointed out.

"Less of a rush when I lose," he pointed out and Marco gave him a playful smirk.

"That's okay, I can be your consolation prize," he said. He thought about it then. "Somehow that actually sounds depressing," he decided.

"Definitely," Cloud said back.

Marco smiled again. "But, uh, you know maybe we could do something," he said.

"Not much to do at this time of night in the middle of the week other than gamble, drink and get laid," Cloud said without looking up from his phone.

"If you insist," Marco teased.

It pulled a bit of a smirk from Cloud. He hated he couldn't contain it and hide the fact he actually found the guy entertaining.

"I don't know that it's a good idea," he said when he finally forced himself to face Marco again.

"Why?" Marco asked and Cloud sighed, trying to decide what he wanted to say. "Did I suck last night?" the guy questioned after a moment.

"We both know who did the sucking," Cloud replied. "No," he said, shaking his head, partly at his own bad joke. "I just think…" he didn't know what he wanted to say. Actually he did. You're leaving so what's the point. In that moment he was forced to face the fact it kind of bothered him. He didn't know how to handle that. He looked out at the parked vehicles then. "Did you drive out here?" he asked.

"No I hailed a cab to the middle of nowhere," Marco said. "Yeah, I drove," he laughed. "Got my hot rental, remember."

"Can I drive it?" he asked.

"You…said you don't have your license," Marco stated slowly, a little apprehensively.

"You could probably teach me to drive then," he pointed out, even though he already did know how to drive. It wasn't rocket science.

"Out here? Right now?" Marco said, looking out into the darkness.

"No traffic to run into," Cloud pointed out.

Marco looked at him as if he was trying to decide how responsible it would be for him to give in to that request. "You know if something happens to the car, I'm liable right?" he said and Cloud scoffed.

"What's going to happen?" he questioned. "We'll end up out in the in middle of nowhere alone in the dark just the two of us with no one around to see what we're doing?"

The guy seemed shocked at the inference he was clearly making.

"I don't know how you did it, but you made a cruise through a barren wasteland sound sexy," Marco said. With that, he reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a set of keys that he held out to Cloud for him to take.