Ghost and Memory Remain

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they belong to SquareEnix.

Yay, my first Final Fantasy VII fic…
I hope you like it! Please R&R!

Ghost and Memory Remain

Times had been damn hard back at Niebelheim and Cloud had been positively happy to get out of the small village. Only the promise he'd given Tifa still had its effects on his life. He'd promised her to come back when she needed him. And she'd needed him the very night Sephiroth went totally mad. He had always been a little different but that night made it clear for everyone to see that he'd lost it.
And that was when Hojo got them. Zack and himself. Five years later Cloud had been a wreck and a burden for Zack. And still the older one had taken him with him when he had fled. Maybe, Cloud wondered sometimes, things would've ended differently if he'd had refused to accompany him. But on the other hand, on the night of their escape he hadn't even been able to talk properly.
ShinRa had soon found out about the incident and sent every available Turk on their trail. Cloud had been scared shitless. Not because of himself but because of Zack. Zack was healthy and strong and if he'd been alone…

"Leave me"
"Not a chance", Zack grinned and carefully covered Cloud with a blanket he'd brought along and as for a pillow he decided on his black shirt, since they hadn't been able to take much else from Hojo's place. When he noticed the cold stone wall Cloud was leaning against, forcing the blonde into a very uncomfortable position due to its rough surface, he came up with another idea.
He leaned Cloud forward so that his blonde strands fell softly over his angled knees and seated himself behind him, back against the stone. Then he pulled Cloud close, resting the younger one's weak frame against his chest.
"I'm of no use"
"That is not quite right like that. You're absolutely useless when it comes to fighting and stuff, that's true" His voice was as happy as could be. "But you're my friend, alright? What an ass would I be leaving you behind when having you with me keeps me going on?"
He went silent that second and Cloud cursed whoever had made that noise outside of their cave-like hiding place that had caused his comrade to shut up.
"Phew, I thought they'd found us"
Cloud's mind was racing, not with coherent thoughts but with images and weird formulas he'd read on Hojo's notepad. One of them would die. And Zack must live. There were so many things to be said before they went separate ways. Because the blonde was quite sure that he could convince Zack to leave him behind for his own sake. If only he could talk. Three, four words were all he could say and his strength was fading successively. But Zack must live.
"They will. Leave me"
"Don't say that. Either it's both of us or no one"
Cloud sighed heavily.
He would have winced at the sudden feel of arms sneaking around his waist to hold him in place if he'd had the mental energy. It required a certain amount of awareness as well as physical strength.
Greyish strands touched his cheeks and Cloud was surprised he could still recognise it as incredibly pleasant, combined with the warmth now slowly crouching through his body, starting from his back.
"You must live", he hoarsely managed to say and then his head sank back against his friend's strong shoulder.
"You too"
The whisper was so close to his ear that Cloud felt as if it came from within himself. As if Zack and he were already some kind of undividable unit or something like this. Cut the crap, he told himself. You're getting weird, thanks to Hojo.
But the idea was tempting. To be with Zack forever in some way.
"Try to sleep Cloud, I'll take care of everything. We'll go to Midgar, you know. I told you that, right? There we can find a job or something. With my skills as Soldier, what do you think I can do there?"
Cloud didn't have the strength to shrug or voice his opinion aloud so he just shifted his head a little to show Zack he had been listening.
"You're right, we'll find out soon enough. Now sleep"
When the heck had his best friend started reading his mind?
Cloud wanted to scream. His coherent state of mind was slowly slipping from his reach but the physical weakness was further advanced. Now you try bearing this pitiful condition while you're still able to consciously notice it. Cloud felt as if he was watching himself from somewhere above and felt awfully sorry for Zack who had to deal with the lifeless figure he was.
There were lips at his neck, accompanied by a hot, soothing breath. Cloud hoped it was Zack's and after chiding himself for having such situation-inappropriate thoughts he sank into the first peaceful slumber in a very long time, back into the only arms he had ever felt save in.

He hadn't been able to sleep long, ShinRa soon detected the two of them and the Turks pursued them all the way towards the desert. And that's where his consciousness had come and gone as it had pleased. He hadn't seen the helicopters, neither had he noticed they were after them. The only thing he really remembered, clearly as nothing else was the outcry and then, as the last thing, the smile Zack sent his way before he… well, what did he do? Except for saving the blonde's own screwed life? He somehow managed to stay with him. Zack was still there, wherever "there" was. If Cloud was there, so would Zack.
And every time the blonde went up to the point where you could overlook all of Midgar, his personal altar, he had the feeling of a light warm touch on his neck.

If he could have only smiled, back then…