Day 52: Game Room

[full_score]

Lunch had taken his mind from his worries, if only for a few minutes. But after the intercom sounded and the nurses began leading patients onto the next activity, one look at the bulletin board brought everything back in full force. No replies from Ashton, Dias or Dad. By now Claude felt like he was practically counting down until the end of the

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[zack_fair]

It was pretty eerie how much Gaia and Kratos' world had had in common, and their conversation at lunch had left Zack feeling weird contemplative and somber. The fact that he would probably never get to see for himself what Gaia's future would be -- if Shin-Ra would be taken down for good or if they would tear the whole planet apart -- put him in a strange mood. He knew that death was supposed to be for good, and so he didn't know if it was even right for him to wish he could make it back home to live out the rest of his lifespan. That life was already gone, wasn't it

[notthistrain]

"Planning on playing on your own?"

Cloud had caught a nurse leading the taller man into the game room and had followed. He didn't get to sit down and talk with Zack as much as he wanted to, though what they would talk about at this point he wasn't really sure. Future plans, perhaps. What to do with a night that seemed determined to end before they'd gotten anything done with it. (Or tossed them around in a way that made it feel more like they were someone's playthings than anything else.)

He sat down across from his friend without really asking. He knew a good few games on his own, though he hadn't spent as much time socializing with many of the other recruits outside of Zack. Sometimes there was just nothing better to do.

Uncomfortable conversation topics could wait. For now, he'd just let Zack deal.

[zack_fair]

Just as Zack was about to start dealing out the cards for a solo game, he was approached by a very familiar someone. He glanced up, his mouth pulling into a half-grin as he shrugged. "I was thinking about it." Seeing Cloud looking healthy and in a decent mood only helped Zack feel better, pulling him further and further away from his conversation with Kratos

[notthistrain]

"Whatever I'll have a better chance of winning at." Cloud answered easily and with a grin. Now that he thought about it, he and Zack had never really sat down and played a game of cards together, had they? It might have been something they could have done while Zack was hauling his ass all over god's green acre, if he hadn't been completely out of it the entire time. Though knowing Zack, he wouldn't be surprised if the guy had pretended to play a few games with him even then just to pass the hours.

...Wow, that was really depressing to think about.

Lots of things were depressing to think about right now, honestly, but when you had your old friend back from the dead and sitting across from you waiting to play simple game of cards as if nothing had ever happened, it was hard to stay that way.

[zack_fair]

Cloud's answer was clever enough to earn a laugh out of Zack, but he soon sent his friend a cocky grin. "You really think there's something you can beat me at?" he asked with a tilt of his head. It wasn't like Zack was some sort of expert, but he got the idea that he had a bit more experience with this than Cloud did. For one thing, card games were good for when you were stuck in a vehicle on the way to a mission site, and Zack already knew how Cloud passed that time.

And so he started to deal out a simple game of poker. This tended to be the most popular of choices among grunts and SOLDIERs alike, so there was really no chance that Cloud wouldn't know the rules.

"So, how've you been? Last night was pretty uneventful for me. Got a weapon of sorts from Tifa, but other than that, didn't get too far." He shrugged, knowing that that was more common in this place than it should have been. Sometimes that was hard for him, seeing how he was so used to being able to set out on a mission and accomplish it without a problem.

[notthistrain]

Cloud laughed, watching as he friend dealt the cards. "I'm sure there's a lot of things I could beat you at." Not that he was really up for the competition at the moment. It was still a bit of a surreal experience for him - mostly because that wasn't idle boasting. He knew there were things he could probably beat Zack at now that he never would have been able to before. Hopefully they'd be able to avoid anything more than cards for now.

"Tifa told me about the weapon when I spoke with her earlier. You guys actually got further than I did." Not a difficult task. He'd made it a pathetically short distance - only to Yuffie's room and not even out of it. On the plus side, at least their ninja friend was still with them. Things could have been a lot worse.

He sighed, but it turned into a chuckle. "You'd think they didn't want us to get anywhere important. ...So what are we playing?"

[zack_fair]

When Cloud made that statement, even though it was mainly in jest, Zack realized himself that it was probably true. If the two of them sparred right here, right now, who would even win? He remembered the way his friend had swung that huge sword around when they'd been fighting that Tonberry, and it was nothing to sneeze at. It just went to show that joining SOLDIER wasn't the only way to become that strong.

Although that brought up yet another question. Cloud had been wearing a First Class uniform when they had suddenly ended up on that airship the other night. Did that mean he'd actually joined up with Shin-Ra again to get to the top of the ranks? There was no way that they would have allowed it, unless he'd disguised himself. So maybe he'd stolen the uniform for some reason? None of the explanations were really making sense, though

[notthistrain]

Poker was simple enough, even if Cloud had never been terribly great at it. He was fairly certain he remembered the rules (and if he didn't he was sure Zack would remind him). The cards were just a front, though, clearly. His friend had other things on his mind, and he was making them known right off the bat. Never mind their exploits the night before. Those seemed to have been waved aside as the fault of the Institute, and understandably so.

He'd expected this to happen sooner or later (and really, he was surprised it hadn't been sooner). It had just been one distraction after another, hadn't it? The portals, Aerith... Cloud glanced at his hand. It was... pretty damn terrible. At least he thought it was terrible. What were all the combinations he could make again?

"So ask." He was going to have to spill it all eventually anyway. They might as well get it over with. The longer he put it off, the more awkward it was going to be once they got around to it. This was something he'd learned from experience.

[zack_fair]

It looked like Cloud was still trying to decide which cards to keep and which to toss away for new ones, and so Zack left him to that; he was much more interested in picking his friend's brain for some answers. It was difficult to tell if Cloud was reluctant to answer or just resigned, but either way he wasn't refusing him from the start or anything. Zack was glad for that, since he figured an explanation or two was the least that he deserved after everything that had happened

[notthistrain]

Cloud held back a sigh. Yeah, this was... this was going to be tough. Did he just dump it all out at once, or did he try to just reveal little pieces at a time? He needed to tell him all of it, but he had to take it at a decent pace, right? Otherwise it was just going to be one big confusing mess.

Though, to be fair, it was going to be one big confusing mess no matter how he explained it.

"I told you about how Tifa helped me, right?" He really wasn't interested in the cards, and he set his hand aside face down. "She found me and recognized me, and I recognized her. She was already a member of that resistance group. Thing is... I didn't really recognize myself."

That sounded silly after he said it, and Cloud rubbed at the back of his head. "I mean, I was pretty messed up. I'm surprised I could even recall which way was up and which way was down. I knew my own name at least, but aside from that..." and here went nothing... "I thought I was you, Zack. Or rather, my past history became a mix of yours and mine. For a while

[zack_fair]

At first, it was easy enough to follow what Cloud was saying. Tifa had decided to join that AVALANCHE group after her Shin-Ra had basically marched right into her hometown and ruined her life, and when Cloud had reconnected with her he had obviously been beyond out of it. Seeing how Zack hadn't even gotten a word out of him during their trek across a continent and a half, it was shocking that Tifa had managed to talk to him at all.

But then, as Cloud went on to explain, Zack paused and stared at him, also forgetting the cards as he set them down. He didn't know if it was due to what Hojo had put Cloud through, or if his own shattered mind had just tried to pick up the pieces and had gotten confused, but...

What really hit the hardest was that Cloud apparently hadn't even remembered him, the one who had gotten him out of that basement and back to people who could care for him. While Zack knew that Cloud was grateful now, it was still hard to hear that after everything he'd done. He was relieved it had worked out in the end, of

[notthistrain]

"It was... Sephiroth, actually. And Tifa. Mostly Tifa." The blond ran a hand through his hair, spikes sticking out every which way. He should have said all this sooner, that much was clear, but no time had just seemed right for it! And at least he wasn't waiting any longer than this, right? At least he was telling him now

[zack_fair]

Just hearing Sephiroth's name once again was almost enough to make Zack toss his cards to the side and slam his fist down on the table. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if he hadn't once looked up to the man with such admiration, only to have that trust ripped into shreds and then tossed in his face. He hadn't wanted to turn his sword on the general; he hadn't wanted to turn his sword on Angeal or Genesis, either. But things had always gone from bad to worse, and it seemed like that pattern had only continued after his death

[notthistrain]

Cloud could tell Zack was taking all of this in and wasn't too happy about it. He couldn't blame him, after the incident with Sephiroth. Hearing that the man had continued to mess with his friends after his death couldn't sit right with him. But he shook his head at that apology.

"Don't. You couldn't have known. I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for you." Would he have preferred that Zack hadn't died then? Of course. But it was hard to look back on everything that had happened and not see it as inevitable, painful as the thought was. It was enough to have him back now. That was more than he'd ever dreamt of.

He couldn't say he was too comfortable with the idea of Zack talking to Tifa about this, but he knew it would happen sooner or later. She'd probably handle the even more embarrassing aspects of it.

[zack_fair]

Even though Zack knew that Cloud's words were completely sincere, it was hard for him to take them to heart in light of everything he'd just learned. He did nod, to show that he'd heard and processed what Cloud had said, but in the end all he could do was move onto the next question.

"So, you thought you were me... sort of," he said. "Is that how you ended up running into Aerith? And Yuffie?" Cloud hadn't met any of them back when Zack had been alive, so this was all starting to feel like some weird coincidence. Some might have called it fate, even. Zack tried to remember if he'd ever told Cloud about the snotty "treasure hunter" who spammed his mail, but he couldn't be sure either way.

"And why were you wearing a SOLDIER uniform when we were back on Gaia?" he went on to ask. It was weird to even be phrasing a question that way, but he didn't know how else to say it. "You didn't go back to them, did you?" If Cloud had been confused and thought he was him, maybe he'd tried. But Zack sincerely hoped not.