Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Tenacity ❯ Pity ( Prologue )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Strange and Intoxicating rsa 
The wastelands of Midgar...
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 07.24.2008 | Updated On: 07.25.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 236 | Status: Work In Progress
The wastelands of Midgar...
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 07.24.2008 | Updated On: 07.25.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 236 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating rsa, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations.
Prologue: Pity
Mako smelled of death. It was the only thought that ever crossed the black-haired SOLDIER’s mind. It reminded him of blood pooling around his chest, of instruments of torture in the name of science. That very blood congealed around his body, sticking to him and smearing across his pale skin. During this process, blood would be switched with Mako, overpowering, cruel, lifeless. Zack had screamed in the beginning, but after a while he stopped. Cloud didn’t stop screaming until the end.
“Keep walking,” the black-haired man uttered under his breath, pulling Cloud up, closer to his chest. Three days of constant walking had taken its toll on the First Class SOLDIER, but he had refused to stop, even for a moment’s rest. The first two days had been simple, “A piece of cake,” He remembered saying when he had dragged the limp blonde boy from the truck, thanking the driver. That had been three days ago, when spirits had been high. Not to mention the mako, the overpowering stench of mako, had been faint, easily swept away by the winds. Now, closer to the city, the entire surroundings of Midgar smelled of death.
“Well, this is interesting.” Zack ruffled Cloud’s hair, the way he had when the world made sense, when things had been so much simpler.
The boy moaned in response.
Hojo snickered when the two were brought in, his hands folded behind his back, his eyes filled with insanity. Two experiments, one able to kill the great ‘General’; oh, how interesting they were. Fingers touching the pale, sickly skin, probing places, writing words on his bloodless paper, his voice, his condescending voice, corrupting those within distance. He, in his search for Gaia knew what, injecting, poking, prodding. “Too much mako,” he had mumbled before the black and blonde-haired boys escaped, his alabaster finger prodding at the smaller of the two. After a time, the blonde, specimen ‘C’, silenced too, though his blue eyes, now bright as the stars, widened as he gurgled. ‘C’, the failed experiment.
Things had yet to change with Cloud. The bastard Hojo’s pointless scientific experiments never ended well. The blue-eyed boy, so fragile, spent most of his time moaning or screaming, if not stuck in a dream world. Zack had difficulties attempting to treat the boy, so impossibly sick with mako poisoning, but he tried his hardest. He spoke as though he was able to receive responses, acted cool and pretended nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.
Inside of tanks, Nibelheim reactor was nothing like the others, which only housed stores of materia and vast amounts of mako. Monsters, the green liquid surrounding them, it reminded the black-haired man so much of the things inside of Shina Headquarters, where Hojo kept his most prized and valuable experiments. At night, when all of the SOLDIERs went to sleep and the building was quiet, the shrieking would begin. Hojo worked during the darkness, when there were fewer people able to see his atrocious deeds, when the covers could blanket his insane chuckles and the screaming.
Way back when, when he was still part of Shinra and they weren’t chasing after him, Zack had seen more than his fair share of mako poisoned victims. Wannabe SOLDIERs whose bodies just could not handle the mako which was pumped into their veins were the main victims, but once in a while when Zack was sent up to the Scientific Research Department he could see silhouettes of what was once human. They were no longer recognizable, their faces distorted in pain, strange sounds bubbling from their lips, and their claws banging against the glass.
His first look at the city left him breathless. It was so large, towering, showing everything a country boy ever wanted. Nothing in Gongaga had ever been so... magnificent. The entire city seemed to sparkle, like the materia he was sure the Shinra would give him. The pollution clouds had been something so new, so different, it hadn’t even bothered him. His nose smelled far worse things than the smell of mako, he was sure, but even when his eyes began to burn as he entered the city he kept on staring.
Zack trekked on through the barren wasteland, towards Midgar. It was the city of rich fools who were set on the belief of world domination, their greedy fingers clutching to gold, sucking all of the mako it could possibly digest and twirling it around as if it was never going to end. The Lifestream, to them, was a way of means, money to fill their pockets with filthy, blood-stained gil. It was also the city of poor rich fools, convinced their government was saving the world, and fools, such a small number, a dying breed, which stood against the upper-class. Midgar, in full circle, was the city of fools, the city of never-ending scam-artists and lies.
Cloud whined suddenly, gripping his fingers together, the sound echoing from his mouth shaky and ear-splitting.
“You okay?” Zack asked, mussing the boy’s hair. Groggy eyes, shining like twinkling stars, blinked and then snapped firmly shut. The boy still looked like he was sixteen years old, as if the mako and experiments had warped his age. He had yet to be able to grab hold of a reflective surface, but he could feel his face. There was a smooth surface, and Zack was certain he looked chillingly like he had five years before.
“Stop,” Cloud gurgled, grabbing onto the black-haired man, his vice-like grip on the SOLDIER’s’s shirt turning his fingers white.
“Specimen ‘C’ has been crying more as of late. I have injected him with several new strains of ‘S’, twenty-five milli-liters in each dosage, but nothing seems to be changing. Tomorrow I shall be upping the dosage to fifty milli-liters, and see if that perhaps makes the transformation begin.” Hojo snapped the tape recorder down on the table, the sound of clinking instruments reverberating through the silent basement.
Zack looked down again, his feet still trudging through nothingness. “Heh, I’m not exactly sure what that was, Cloud, but there is no way I am stopping.” Zack smiled lightly, his face slightly strained. His feet continued through the nothingness, the only sight which greeted him was more rocks, rubble, and dead ground. Plants which had one point grown were now gone, the scorched planet unable to create life where the mako reactors had completely saturated every ounce of mako. The monsters in the area were weak, at best, and tended to stay as far away from the two as possible, corpses of their brethren leaving reminders of why not to cross the humans.
Cloud lifted his left hand up, letting go of the shirt, though his other still grabbed onto it for dear life, and ran the pads of his fingers against the scar on Zack’s face. It was gentle and innocent, yet probing. After a moment his small hand pointed up at the sky.
“Stop,” he gurgled, but at the same time, another voice mixed with his own. The helicopter above pointed its light towards them and Zack swore.
“Shit, Cloud,” the black-haired man whispered, pulling him closer. There was no place to hide the blonde-haired boy, and Zack swore again. He was not going to fight if there was not a place to hide Cloud. It was too dangerous, and Zack had promised, promised, to keep him safe. “I’m not going to let you be taken, either,” Zack snarled, glaring at the red writing on the side of the helicopter. ‘Shinra Power Company’...
“Zack, stop!” the intercom from the helicopter blasted out. Zack was running, and he spared a glance at the helicopter. It was landing, and a man, a man with bright red hair, jumped out from fifteen feet up, landing swiftly on his feet.
“Hey, the name’s Reno, and me an’ you seem to be stuck in a bit of a tiffy.” The red-head swirled the vodka in his glass for a moment before lifting in to his lips. “It looks like the big boys upstairs want us ta be partners, and I ain’t too happy ‘bout that. My normal partner, Rude, managed to blow up some bull shit experiment of Hojo’s, and now I ain’t got no one to go with me for this damn assignment.” The cold glass was drained before being smacked down to the table with a thud. “Anyway, we gotta go kidnap some guy off the plate. I gotta use you ta get in there. Some assassin from Wutai, or some shit like that.”
“Turks,” the violet-eyed man murmured, placing Cloud down on the ground, near a large rock, the only one for what seemed to be miles. The blonde clung to his shirt, but Zack pried his white fingers from the cloth. “Calm down,” Zack whispered, petting the boy’s hair with the other hand. Cloud whimpered, but soon obliged.
The black-haired man pulled his Buster Sword from his back, pointing it at the approaching Turk. “Don’t move,” Zack said, his voice dropping an octave. The Turk paid no mind though, and continued to walk forward, as he had stopped running the moment the black-haired man had laid Cloud to the ground. The EMR was poised on his belt, but when Reno grabbed onto it, he tossed it to the ground at Zack’s feet.
“I ain’t gunna hurt ya,” The Turk said, his voice filtering through the SOLDIER’s ears. Zack tightened his grip on the sword.
“And why would I trust you?” Zack asked, his voice acidic.
Reno smirked, “I owe ya, remember?”
Violet eyes narrowed. “You owe me quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.”
Aqua green eyes looked down, almost shamefully. Reno kicked at the dirt, putting his hands in his pockets. “Well, I know that. But look at me, I’m harmless!” Reno gave a smile, through to Zack it reminded him of a child who had eaten far too much candy.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Reno looked over at Cloud, who had curled himself into a tight ball. “Look, I know you don’t trust us, but I promise not to hand you over. I’m on my break, anyway.” Reno had always been the type of guy to completely disregard the rules to do something like this, but it didn’t stop the black-haired man’s stomach from knotting. Reno coughed. “Anyway, it looks like that kid over there needs medical help. They told us you’d be traveling with some pipsqueak, but they didn’t say he was sick or nuthin’.”
“Specimen ‘C’, I have deemed, is a complete failure.” The sound of shattering glass filled the room. “He has been unresponsive to the ‘S’ strain, and therefore is completely and utterly useless. I have decided that beginning tomorrow another set of experiments will occur, to see if ‘G’ cells may counterbalance the ‘S’.” Hojo cackled. “Experiment ‘Z’, on the other hand, is doing well with the ‘S’ cells, but is not fully taking to them. When the new regimine begins, I will be inserting more mako and more Jenova ‘S’ and 'A' cells into his body.”
“He is really sick, and I know who can help him...” Zack looked at Cloud, curled in a ball, moaning. The hoarse screams would begin soon, he knew. “I wouldn’t do this if it was just me, but Cloud needs help, soon. I’m afraid he’s going to die if I don’t get him to a healer soon.”
“Then, let’s go,” Reno said, exaggerating his arm movements. The look upon the black-haired man’s face was still untrustworthy. “Look,” Reno drawled, “I don’t like buttin’ in to other people’s business, but if we don’t get to it soon pipsqueak here ain’t gunna make it much longer.”
“I know that.” Violet eyes searched the red-head’s face once more.
“Plus, Tseng doesn’t want me to kill ya. He was the one who suggested this, y’know.”
Zack nibbled his lip, looking down at Cloud and then to Reno. “If anything happens, I swear to the heavens...” the man trailed off.
“Well, then we ain’t got nuthin’ to worry ‘bout. Who ya gunna bring the pipsqueak to anyway? I didn’t think there were any good healers that don’t have some connections to Shinra.”
“The planet thought that I was worthy,” the girl mused, running her fingers through her silky brown tresses. “I’m going to help save people with my powers. I’ve been always adept to using the cure materia, but sometimes, when I get hurt or get scared, these green tendrils touch me and heal. It’s rather odd, but if it helps, it must be a gift from the planet.” She bent down, grasping her clipping shears which she had abandoned moments before. “So, are you going to help me cut these flowers or will I have to do it all on my lonesome?”
“I know someone who wouldn’t have an issue helping me. She’s a good girl, and she’ll probably just fall in love with chocobo-head here. Anyway, Cloud isn’t a pipsqueak,” Zack said as he swung his sword over his head and into its sheath. He looked away from Reno and down at the bundle. He knelt closer to the boy and picked him up. “Hey, Cloud, come on, we’re going to go on a ride,” he whispered in a low voice, both of his arms making their way around the small body. Cloud went back to grabbing at the older boy’s shirt, his eyes staying focused on Zack.
“Now, you aren’t going to be giving us back to Hojo, right?” The black-haired man asked, seriously. Reno bent down and picked up his EMR, clicking it back onto his belt.
The red-head choked, “Do I look like a fool? Like hell, the guy gives me the creeps.” The two walked towards to helicopter, Cloud gurgling and Reno acting as though this was a normal thing, picking up runaways which the entire Shinra army were searching for.
“I hope you know,” Zack finally said, “I’m only doing this for Cloud.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that twice now. But look, the entire Shinra army has been sent to find your ass, as well as chocobo-head there, and Tseng doesn’t want ya to die. Personally, this only makes my life easier. So, in ya go!” The three reached the darkened piece of machinery, Reno pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He then held out the package to SOLDIER First-Class.
“Hold on.” Zack climbed into the helicopter, gently sitting down between the two pilot chairs, not letting go of the groaning blonde. Then looking back at the package, Zack shook his head.
“Eh, you, the chimney, ain’t smoking? Man, that’s a first.” Reno looked down at the package for a moment before shaking his head. “Well, your loss.”
“What about big boy over there?” Zack roughly pointed his chin at Rude, who just stared off into the distance.
This caused Reno to laugh. “Dude, we’ve both known Rude here for how long? Six or seven years, right? You know he’s basically a fuckin’ mute, so I wouldn’t worry ‘bout him.” The red head jumped into the seat, strapping himself down. “Lookie on the horizon. We’ve got company.”
Zack traced the horizon as the helicopter raised in the air, what seemed to be hundreds of SOLDIERs and grunts, tanks and trucks, not to mention the various motorcycles. “I would find this funny if they weren’t about to kill me,” He snarled, his eyes glaring out at the hundreds of men. “Shut the door!” The SOLDIER suddenly yelled, causing Reno to snap his head up and fumble.
“Shit!” the red-head yelled, knocking a box out of the helicopter. “Ah, double shit!” the man yelled again, throwing his cigarette out of the helicopter, looking down at the various scattered papers, floating like feathers in the wind, down, down, down.
“What were those?” Zack asked the moment the red-head managed to close the helicopter door. Reno visibly winced.
“Tseng gave them to me to give to you.” Reno pulled out the pack of cigarettes and took another out. “He said they were from that Ancient.”
“I’ll write letters until my hands fall off,” Aeris giggled, spinning around in the center of the flowers. “And I’ll keep writing them, every day- no, week- until you answer them! I’ll hide them in your apartment, in the slums, everywhere!” She giggled again, her leaf-green eyes shining in amusement. “And you promise you’ll answer them?”
“Hghg,” Cloud gurgled, snuggling closer to Zack, his mako blue eyes glistening.
“So, are ya pissed off at me?” Reno asked, lighting his cigarette, taking a drag.
“No, I’m not,” Zack answered, running his fingers through pale, dirty blonde hair. “I’m not mad,” he whispered this time, a small, sad smile on his face.
"I'll keep you safe if it is the last thing I do. I promise."
Prologue: Pity
Mako smelled of death. It was the only thought that ever crossed the black-haired SOLDIER’s mind. It reminded him of blood pooling around his chest, of instruments of torture in the name of science. That very blood congealed around his body, sticking to him and smearing across his pale skin. During this process, blood would be switched with Mako, overpowering, cruel, lifeless. Zack had screamed in the beginning, but after a while he stopped. Cloud didn’t stop screaming until the end.
“Keep walking,” the black-haired man uttered under his breath, pulling Cloud up, closer to his chest. Three days of constant walking had taken its toll on the First Class SOLDIER, but he had refused to stop, even for a moment’s rest. The first two days had been simple, “A piece of cake,” He remembered saying when he had dragged the limp blonde boy from the truck, thanking the driver. That had been three days ago, when spirits had been high. Not to mention the mako, the overpowering stench of mako, had been faint, easily swept away by the winds. Now, closer to the city, the entire surroundings of Midgar smelled of death.
“Well, this is interesting.” Zack ruffled Cloud’s hair, the way he had when the world made sense, when things had been so much simpler.
The boy moaned in response.
Hojo snickered when the two were brought in, his hands folded behind his back, his eyes filled with insanity. Two experiments, one able to kill the great ‘General’; oh, how interesting they were. Fingers touching the pale, sickly skin, probing places, writing words on his bloodless paper, his voice, his condescending voice, corrupting those within distance. He, in his search for Gaia knew what, injecting, poking, prodding. “Too much mako,” he had mumbled before the black and blonde-haired boys escaped, his alabaster finger prodding at the smaller of the two. After a time, the blonde, specimen ‘C’, silenced too, though his blue eyes, now bright as the stars, widened as he gurgled. ‘C’, the failed experiment.
Things had yet to change with Cloud. The bastard Hojo’s pointless scientific experiments never ended well. The blue-eyed boy, so fragile, spent most of his time moaning or screaming, if not stuck in a dream world. Zack had difficulties attempting to treat the boy, so impossibly sick with mako poisoning, but he tried his hardest. He spoke as though he was able to receive responses, acted cool and pretended nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.
Inside of tanks, Nibelheim reactor was nothing like the others, which only housed stores of materia and vast amounts of mako. Monsters, the green liquid surrounding them, it reminded the black-haired man so much of the things inside of Shina Headquarters, where Hojo kept his most prized and valuable experiments. At night, when all of the SOLDIERs went to sleep and the building was quiet, the shrieking would begin. Hojo worked during the darkness, when there were fewer people able to see his atrocious deeds, when the covers could blanket his insane chuckles and the screaming.
Way back when, when he was still part of Shinra and they weren’t chasing after him, Zack had seen more than his fair share of mako poisoned victims. Wannabe SOLDIERs whose bodies just could not handle the mako which was pumped into their veins were the main victims, but once in a while when Zack was sent up to the Scientific Research Department he could see silhouettes of what was once human. They were no longer recognizable, their faces distorted in pain, strange sounds bubbling from their lips, and their claws banging against the glass.
His first look at the city left him breathless. It was so large, towering, showing everything a country boy ever wanted. Nothing in Gongaga had ever been so... magnificent. The entire city seemed to sparkle, like the materia he was sure the Shinra would give him. The pollution clouds had been something so new, so different, it hadn’t even bothered him. His nose smelled far worse things than the smell of mako, he was sure, but even when his eyes began to burn as he entered the city he kept on staring.
Zack trekked on through the barren wasteland, towards Midgar. It was the city of rich fools who were set on the belief of world domination, their greedy fingers clutching to gold, sucking all of the mako it could possibly digest and twirling it around as if it was never going to end. The Lifestream, to them, was a way of means, money to fill their pockets with filthy, blood-stained gil. It was also the city of poor rich fools, convinced their government was saving the world, and fools, such a small number, a dying breed, which stood against the upper-class. Midgar, in full circle, was the city of fools, the city of never-ending scam-artists and lies.
Cloud whined suddenly, gripping his fingers together, the sound echoing from his mouth shaky and ear-splitting.
“You okay?” Zack asked, mussing the boy’s hair. Groggy eyes, shining like twinkling stars, blinked and then snapped firmly shut. The boy still looked like he was sixteen years old, as if the mako and experiments had warped his age. He had yet to be able to grab hold of a reflective surface, but he could feel his face. There was a smooth surface, and Zack was certain he looked chillingly like he had five years before.
“Stop,” Cloud gurgled, grabbing onto the black-haired man, his vice-like grip on the SOLDIER’s’s shirt turning his fingers white.
“Specimen ‘C’ has been crying more as of late. I have injected him with several new strains of ‘S’, twenty-five milli-liters in each dosage, but nothing seems to be changing. Tomorrow I shall be upping the dosage to fifty milli-liters, and see if that perhaps makes the transformation begin.” Hojo snapped the tape recorder down on the table, the sound of clinking instruments reverberating through the silent basement.
Zack looked down again, his feet still trudging through nothingness. “Heh, I’m not exactly sure what that was, Cloud, but there is no way I am stopping.” Zack smiled lightly, his face slightly strained. His feet continued through the nothingness, the only sight which greeted him was more rocks, rubble, and dead ground. Plants which had one point grown were now gone, the scorched planet unable to create life where the mako reactors had completely saturated every ounce of mako. The monsters in the area were weak, at best, and tended to stay as far away from the two as possible, corpses of their brethren leaving reminders of why not to cross the humans.
Cloud lifted his left hand up, letting go of the shirt, though his other still grabbed onto it for dear life, and ran the pads of his fingers against the scar on Zack’s face. It was gentle and innocent, yet probing. After a moment his small hand pointed up at the sky.
“Stop,” he gurgled, but at the same time, another voice mixed with his own. The helicopter above pointed its light towards them and Zack swore.
“Shit, Cloud,” the black-haired man whispered, pulling him closer. There was no place to hide the blonde-haired boy, and Zack swore again. He was not going to fight if there was not a place to hide Cloud. It was too dangerous, and Zack had promised, promised, to keep him safe. “I’m not going to let you be taken, either,” Zack snarled, glaring at the red writing on the side of the helicopter. ‘Shinra Power Company’...
“Zack, stop!” the intercom from the helicopter blasted out. Zack was running, and he spared a glance at the helicopter. It was landing, and a man, a man with bright red hair, jumped out from fifteen feet up, landing swiftly on his feet.
“Hey, the name’s Reno, and me an’ you seem to be stuck in a bit of a tiffy.” The red-head swirled the vodka in his glass for a moment before lifting in to his lips. “It looks like the big boys upstairs want us ta be partners, and I ain’t too happy ‘bout that. My normal partner, Rude, managed to blow up some bull shit experiment of Hojo’s, and now I ain’t got no one to go with me for this damn assignment.” The cold glass was drained before being smacked down to the table with a thud. “Anyway, we gotta go kidnap some guy off the plate. I gotta use you ta get in there. Some assassin from Wutai, or some shit like that.”
“Turks,” the violet-eyed man murmured, placing Cloud down on the ground, near a large rock, the only one for what seemed to be miles. The blonde clung to his shirt, but Zack pried his white fingers from the cloth. “Calm down,” Zack whispered, petting the boy’s hair with the other hand. Cloud whimpered, but soon obliged.
The black-haired man pulled his Buster Sword from his back, pointing it at the approaching Turk. “Don’t move,” Zack said, his voice dropping an octave. The Turk paid no mind though, and continued to walk forward, as he had stopped running the moment the black-haired man had laid Cloud to the ground. The EMR was poised on his belt, but when Reno grabbed onto it, he tossed it to the ground at Zack’s feet.
“I ain’t gunna hurt ya,” The Turk said, his voice filtering through the SOLDIER’s ears. Zack tightened his grip on the sword.
“And why would I trust you?” Zack asked, his voice acidic.
Reno smirked, “I owe ya, remember?”
Violet eyes narrowed. “You owe me quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.”
Aqua green eyes looked down, almost shamefully. Reno kicked at the dirt, putting his hands in his pockets. “Well, I know that. But look at me, I’m harmless!” Reno gave a smile, through to Zack it reminded him of a child who had eaten far too much candy.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Reno looked over at Cloud, who had curled himself into a tight ball. “Look, I know you don’t trust us, but I promise not to hand you over. I’m on my break, anyway.” Reno had always been the type of guy to completely disregard the rules to do something like this, but it didn’t stop the black-haired man’s stomach from knotting. Reno coughed. “Anyway, it looks like that kid over there needs medical help. They told us you’d be traveling with some pipsqueak, but they didn’t say he was sick or nuthin’.”
“Specimen ‘C’, I have deemed, is a complete failure.” The sound of shattering glass filled the room. “He has been unresponsive to the ‘S’ strain, and therefore is completely and utterly useless. I have decided that beginning tomorrow another set of experiments will occur, to see if ‘G’ cells may counterbalance the ‘S’.” Hojo cackled. “Experiment ‘Z’, on the other hand, is doing well with the ‘S’ cells, but is not fully taking to them. When the new regimine begins, I will be inserting more mako and more Jenova ‘S’ and 'A' cells into his body.”
“He is really sick, and I know who can help him...” Zack looked at Cloud, curled in a ball, moaning. The hoarse screams would begin soon, he knew. “I wouldn’t do this if it was just me, but Cloud needs help, soon. I’m afraid he’s going to die if I don’t get him to a healer soon.”
“Then, let’s go,” Reno said, exaggerating his arm movements. The look upon the black-haired man’s face was still untrustworthy. “Look,” Reno drawled, “I don’t like buttin’ in to other people’s business, but if we don’t get to it soon pipsqueak here ain’t gunna make it much longer.”
“I know that.” Violet eyes searched the red-head’s face once more.
“Plus, Tseng doesn’t want me to kill ya. He was the one who suggested this, y’know.”
Zack nibbled his lip, looking down at Cloud and then to Reno. “If anything happens, I swear to the heavens...” the man trailed off.
“Well, then we ain’t got nuthin’ to worry ‘bout. Who ya gunna bring the pipsqueak to anyway? I didn’t think there were any good healers that don’t have some connections to Shinra.”
“The planet thought that I was worthy,” the girl mused, running her fingers through her silky brown tresses. “I’m going to help save people with my powers. I’ve been always adept to using the cure materia, but sometimes, when I get hurt or get scared, these green tendrils touch me and heal. It’s rather odd, but if it helps, it must be a gift from the planet.” She bent down, grasping her clipping shears which she had abandoned moments before. “So, are you going to help me cut these flowers or will I have to do it all on my lonesome?”
“I know someone who wouldn’t have an issue helping me. She’s a good girl, and she’ll probably just fall in love with chocobo-head here. Anyway, Cloud isn’t a pipsqueak,” Zack said as he swung his sword over his head and into its sheath. He looked away from Reno and down at the bundle. He knelt closer to the boy and picked him up. “Hey, Cloud, come on, we’re going to go on a ride,” he whispered in a low voice, both of his arms making their way around the small body. Cloud went back to grabbing at the older boy’s shirt, his eyes staying focused on Zack.
“Now, you aren’t going to be giving us back to Hojo, right?” The black-haired man asked, seriously. Reno bent down and picked up his EMR, clicking it back onto his belt.
The red-head choked, “Do I look like a fool? Like hell, the guy gives me the creeps.” The two walked towards to helicopter, Cloud gurgling and Reno acting as though this was a normal thing, picking up runaways which the entire Shinra army were searching for.
“I hope you know,” Zack finally said, “I’m only doing this for Cloud.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that twice now. But look, the entire Shinra army has been sent to find your ass, as well as chocobo-head there, and Tseng doesn’t want ya to die. Personally, this only makes my life easier. So, in ya go!” The three reached the darkened piece of machinery, Reno pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He then held out the package to SOLDIER First-Class.
“Hold on.” Zack climbed into the helicopter, gently sitting down between the two pilot chairs, not letting go of the groaning blonde. Then looking back at the package, Zack shook his head.
“Eh, you, the chimney, ain’t smoking? Man, that’s a first.” Reno looked down at the package for a moment before shaking his head. “Well, your loss.”
“What about big boy over there?” Zack roughly pointed his chin at Rude, who just stared off into the distance.
This caused Reno to laugh. “Dude, we’ve both known Rude here for how long? Six or seven years, right? You know he’s basically a fuckin’ mute, so I wouldn’t worry ‘bout him.” The red head jumped into the seat, strapping himself down. “Lookie on the horizon. We’ve got company.”
Zack traced the horizon as the helicopter raised in the air, what seemed to be hundreds of SOLDIERs and grunts, tanks and trucks, not to mention the various motorcycles. “I would find this funny if they weren’t about to kill me,” He snarled, his eyes glaring out at the hundreds of men. “Shut the door!” The SOLDIER suddenly yelled, causing Reno to snap his head up and fumble.
“Shit!” the red-head yelled, knocking a box out of the helicopter. “Ah, double shit!” the man yelled again, throwing his cigarette out of the helicopter, looking down at the various scattered papers, floating like feathers in the wind, down, down, down.
“What were those?” Zack asked the moment the red-head managed to close the helicopter door. Reno visibly winced.
“Tseng gave them to me to give to you.” Reno pulled out the pack of cigarettes and took another out. “He said they were from that Ancient.”
“I’ll write letters until my hands fall off,” Aeris giggled, spinning around in the center of the flowers. “And I’ll keep writing them, every day- no, week- until you answer them! I’ll hide them in your apartment, in the slums, everywhere!” She giggled again, her leaf-green eyes shining in amusement. “And you promise you’ll answer them?”
“Hghg,” Cloud gurgled, snuggling closer to Zack, his mako blue eyes glistening.
“So, are ya pissed off at me?” Reno asked, lighting his cigarette, taking a drag.
“No, I’m not,” Zack answered, running his fingers through pale, dirty blonde hair. “I’m not mad,” he whispered this time, a small, sad smile on his face.
"I'll keep you safe if it is the last thing I do. I promise."