(no subject)
Title: Goodbye
Rating: G
Characters: Zack/Cloud
Prompt: Assemblage 23 - Disappoint
Notes: For koyappi. I think I took this in the opposite direction of what you had in mind, but… This felt better.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected to survive that last battle with Sephiroth. The fact that he was standing here now, overlooking the abandoned ruins of what was once Midgar, surprised him more than he’d care to admit.
Everyone was still running on their post-”saved-the-world!” highs.
Cloud, however, was not.
After Tifa had pulled his mind back from the darkness, after everything (but not everything, if that even made sense) flooded back into his brain, there had been no time to mourn, or contemplate, or even consider.
He’d had a job to do, unfortunately.
But now, stretched out ahead of him, was all the time in the world.
He closed his eyes and reached behind his back, hand resting on the familiar hilt of his(their) buster sword. Cloud pulled it from the sheath, examining the ridges and groves and tiny hairline cracks.
Some were made by his own hand.
The rest all belonged to the swords true owner.
With no grave, and no body, it would have to stand as his memoriam.
Using his enhanced strength, he plunged the blade into the dry soil of the plateau, deep enough so that a strong breeze wouldn’t push it over the cliff.
And finally, he felt, he could properly say goodbye.
“Zack…” Cloud tried, but words felt wrong. He dropped down to his knees and pressed his forehead against the cool, clean steel. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t save her.”
He could almost hear the amused snort his friend(lover) would have made.
“But you’d want me to go on. You’re stubborn like that. And I -- I promise to live both our lives. I think I’d give… I know I’d give. Anything. Just to tell you everything I never did.”
Cloud pulled back and looked up at the blue sky.
“Bye, Zack. Take care.”
He stood, wrapped his hand around the hilt one last time, and walked away.
Rating: G
Characters: Zack/Cloud
Prompt: Assemblage 23 - Disappoint
Notes: For koyappi. I think I took this in the opposite direction of what you had in mind, but… This felt better.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected to survive that last battle with Sephiroth. The fact that he was standing here now, overlooking the abandoned ruins of what was once Midgar, surprised him more than he’d care to admit.
Everyone was still running on their post-”saved-the-world!” highs.
Cloud, however, was not.
After Tifa had pulled his mind back from the darkness, after everything (but not everything, if that even made sense) flooded back into his brain, there had been no time to mourn, or contemplate, or even consider.
He’d had a job to do, unfortunately.
But now, stretched out ahead of him, was all the time in the world.
He closed his eyes and reached behind his back, hand resting on the familiar hilt of his(their) buster sword. Cloud pulled it from the sheath, examining the ridges and groves and tiny hairline cracks.
Some were made by his own hand.
The rest all belonged to the swords true owner.
With no grave, and no body, it would have to stand as his memoriam.
Using his enhanced strength, he plunged the blade into the dry soil of the plateau, deep enough so that a strong breeze wouldn’t push it over the cliff.
And finally, he felt, he could properly say goodbye.
“Zack…” Cloud tried, but words felt wrong. He dropped down to his knees and pressed his forehead against the cool, clean steel. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t save her.”
He could almost hear the amused snort his friend(lover) would have made.
“But you’d want me to go on. You’re stubborn like that. And I -- I promise to live both our lives. I think I’d give… I know I’d give. Anything. Just to tell you everything I never did.”
Cloud pulled back and looked up at the blue sky.
“Bye, Zack. Take care.”
He stood, wrapped his hand around the hilt one last time, and walked away.