Final Fantasy Main Story RP Arc X

Baby blue eyes widened as the blond ran over, "Zack!" 

Cloud dropped to his knees by the raven haired SOLDIER as he felt drops of rain. "Not this... not this again..." The last time Zack died... He pushed his hand onto the man's chest and a green orb on his bangle began to glow a pearly white. Instantly, he channelled the Cura spell onto the man. 

Unlike the others, he was unaware of Zack's current Jenovian status, though none of that mattered. "I'm not watching you die, not again..." His eyes began to water as the rain continued to fall. The wounds, they looked like they were from the Masamune... which only meant one thing. But, that too, was irrelevant.

"I don't care," Cloud admitted. His hand holding the materia trembled, continually channeling the spell. "I knew it wasn't... I mean, I never would have guessed it would have been Sephiroth, but... I figured, that..." He avoided eye contact as he looked at all the blood.

It was just like the day Zack died for the first time.

Cloud shook his head, "I figured it would have been someone else... I... I always, really liked you; even when I was just a little cadet, you're always smiling, always so strong and just... What you did, for me... died, for me... I just, -- I'm not good at this, emotions, feelings. Sorry... I just, when you came back, I... I didn't know what to think or how to feel and I was in love with you, and you were with Sephiroth, and ShinRa and everything that happened..."

Blue eyes continued to water in the heavy rain, "I thought, maybe, when this was all over, I could tell you... I thought, maybe, when I told you, maybe you could... feel the same way, about me...

"I kind of knew that it wouldn't happen, that it was just some fancy I thought up in my head." Cloud stopped the healing spell and inspected the wounds. "You always had so many people falling for you, including Aerith and apparently Sephiroth as well, so why would it be me of all people? I'm just... If Sephiroth makes you happy, then I don't care. I just want you to be happy. You've been good to Denzel, and Sephiroth's good to Kadaj. You've got him and your own family, so I'll..."

He sighed, "I promised Denzel I'd give Sephiroth a chance, I know, but... You've got yourself a small little family now, and when this is over you'll be happy with them, and I know that if I wanted to, you'd let me be a part of that family, but... I don't really want to be in that picture. I don't want ShinRa or Sephiroth, and I'm not ready for any of that, and I may never be, so... Once this whole ordeal is over, and the world is safe, I'll do my best to keep out of your life."

He looked over to Zack, "And I'd appreciate if you did your best to stay out of mine."

There was a small light in his eyes that returned when Zack spoke those last words, but...

"Idiot." He sighed, closing his mako-blue eyes and shaking his head. "Don't say things like that when you're with Seph... and I'm sorry, I guess... I'm sorry I'm doing this to you, but I don't want you in my life. Not anymore. It hurts, Zack... it hurts, seeing you and knowing that every god damn inch of this planet always puts something between us... It doesn't matter what it is... Whenever I got a couple days off as a cadet, you were on a mission... When you came back, you were forced into ShinRa... and, I mean, when you died..."

Cloud shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zack, I love you, but..."

He closed his eyes. "I can't stand him. Sephiroth, I mean. I try, for Denzel, to get along with him, but he just... I hate him. I don't care if it was Jenova, I don't care if I'm wrong, or if I'm being irrational, but I don't like him. I can't stand him. And when this is all over, I don't want anything to do with him. And if that includes you, then it's for the better."

He looked at Zack and pushed his lips onto the man's cheek, placing a soft kiss before pulling away. "I know I'm being stupid, so I'm sorry. I just, I can't look at him without thinking about, about... the slash on Tifa's chest, Nibleheim, Meteorfall, and just, everything... I... I even went so far as to try to make Kadaj more like me so there would be one less bit of Sephiroth in the world, and in the end... Kadaj still wants to be family with him, even after I... I told him he could live with us, and work at the bar... it just... it sounded like such a great..."

Cloud closed his eyes and pressed a hand against Zack's chest, checking for wounds. "Forget it. All of it. We can talk about this later... How are you feeling?"

Zack, just... shut up... Cloud closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't, I don't... I don't want to talk about this anymore." His hand patted Zack's chest, making sure the wounds were good and he sighed, moving his hand away. He felt his eyes water and he shook his head. "Look, I just... all I'm asking is to leave me alone, alright?"

He sighed.

"I... don't want... Just go be happy with Sephiroth. Make sure you stop by the Seventh Heaven a lot, keep Tifa and Marlene company... make sure Denzel's looked after, make sure Seph's good to Kadaj, and that's it. That's all you have to do and I promise you, I'll be happy."

Cloud got up slowly. His mako-enriched, baby blue eyes gazed at the Hollow Blade he had given Zack, following it's curve with his eyes until he reached the tip. A part of him wanted to say Keep it or I don't want it anymore... A part of him just wanted to give the entire Fusion Blade to Zack. Because, without a weapon, maybe he could just never have to fight again? He was tired, tired of fighting and losing something every time he won.

He won against Sephiroth in the reactor, but lost Zack. He won against Jenova, but had lost Aerith to stop the Meteorfall. How many times would he fight to win, only to win and lose?

Closing his blue eyes, he slowly shook his head. "If you want to say sorry to Aerith, you should say it yourself... I mean, I don't know what's going to happen, it's possible if I have to... if I have to send her back to the Lifestream, myself, then you won't get the chance. If you don't get the chance, I'll let her know... but, sorry---I'm contradicting myself."

He glanced down the streets of Edge and shook his head. "After Aerith ran after you, I tried to find Angeal, but couldn't find him. What's going on?"

Zack's words were both kind and painful. They were the words he wanted to hear since he was sixteen, but that's also what made them hurt. He didn't want to hear them once, or twice or three times... he wanted to hear them everyday; he wanted to hear Zack's voice every day. He wanted to wake up to Zack calling him 'Cloudy' and hide under the sheets, cuddling with him. He wanted so much more, but as the rain fell in silent Edge, Cloud looked to the ground and shrugged. 

"Give Denzel to Tifa. She's his real parent. She does all the work. I'm just... I'm too tired to fight anymore. I mean, even the Planet wants Kadaj and Sephiroth out there—maybe my time's over. I never wanted to be a hero, never wanted to be a big brother to Denzel, and I never wanted to fight. It's time for a new her, I guess." 

He took Zack's sword and merged it with the rest of his weapon before handing it back. 

"I can't do anymore. I've done what I can. It's your turn, Hero." He offered a wry, sad smile and closed his eyes. 

"And, try to make it painless, for Aerith. Send her back to the Planet… she's an Ancient, maybe she'll be free from the corruption on the other side. We failed her, Zack. Well, it's not my first time failing her, but make this right again. End it quickly, if you can... but she's not a weakling. She doesn't have her staff, so get in close range. If you give her distance, her magic will tear you apart."  

Cloud nodded.

That was all he could do.

[Exit, stage right]
(Taking Cloudy out of the Edge-event for a bit)

Aerith nodded.

"I had feelings for you as well, Zack. You were my first love, Zack, I had twenty-three tiny wishes, wishes you wouldn't remember them all, so I had just one wish, the wish that was all of them. I wanted to spend time with you." Aerith said as the tears once more began to fill her eyes.

'Wake up Aerith! He is with Sephiroth now, your murderer. He will never love you as you did him! Aerith mentally slapped herself. It was time to stop being held back by the past, and to move on. Zack did. Cloud did. Both of them changed to the point that Aerith wouldn't recognize them anymore.

"Your apologize isn't accepted. If you were truly sorry, Zack, you would avenge my death a long time ago, not sleep with my murderer. You never truly loved me, you just used me for what you needed, but that time is over. Isn't it?" Aerith asked with a slight smile on her face that flowed with bitter tears.

Aerith felt as if she had been slapped.

"I never asked you to run from Shinra, I'm sorry that you even fell from the church ceiling! That I even met you!" Aerith yelled, only to fall silent still reeling from the shock of Zack's confessions and her own poisonous words.

Maybe it was true, maybe the negative lifestream had something to do with her bitter thoughts, or maybe it was because that her love was now in love with her murderer......

"Just like you never had a choice to be with my murderer!" Aerith cried as Zack had pulled her into a hug. The rage of emotions threaten to swallow all of her reason. The little bit she did have.

"It isn't fair, Zack. I waited for you, but you never came back. I lost you and when I finally came out of the Lifestream, you end up with a man. A man that killed me, and tried to destroy the planet that you die trying to protect." Aerith sobbed as she clung to him as if she was drowning and he was a piece of floating wood that was keeping her alive.