Ocean Blue: CloudxZack

The spiky swordsman strolled through the field of flowers, feeling the wind brush against his face in gentle waves. Above him, streams of green light danced across the skies. But was it really the sky? Was the wind all in his head? Perhaps the flowers were just an illusion. Zack could never be sure. The lifestream was the living consciousness of the planet. Yet everything seemed almost too ethereal to be considered real.

“You never stop asking questions,” Aerith remarked once during one of their long discussions.

“’Cause I want to know everything!” Zack replied enthusiastically. “We have all the time in the world! Forever even!”

“Nothing lasts forever,” the flower girl spoke, her eyes filling with gentle sadness.

She was right. Nothing ever lasts forever. Maybe if he had lived longer Zack would have believed so. But when you’ve faced death in the eyes, knowing that there’s no escape that perception changes quickly.

“Hell. I never thought of these things before. Why now?” he thought to himself.

A little part of him knew the reason. There was nothing else Zack could do. Except watch and speak to Aerith mostly. It was discouraged to try to contact your loved ones through the lifestream. But for Zack, the temptation to try to speak to Cloud again was almost too agonizing to ignore.

“You’d love it here Cloud,” he continued to muse sadly. “Everything is so peaceful. All that I never could give you.”

The former SOLDIER knew exactly where the blonde resided these days. Inside Aerith’s church where they had both encountered her in different circumstances. It pained Zack to see his lover bear the guilt for both their deaths. He saw the flicker of pain every time Zack looked into his eyes.  

‘You can’t go on blaming yourself forever you know!” Zack shouted to the empty sky.

“Zack?” a voice called out uncertainly.

The spiky swordsman turned around suddenly. No one behind him. He was alone. Yet he heard that familiar voice before.

“Zack? Are you… here?” Cloud called out again.

Zack felt a shudder of fear go through his body. Was Cloud hurt? Did the geostigma in his body finally take its toll?

He couldn’t be dead. Aerith would of felt it. But then how else could the blonde have heard his call? Zack took a steady breath and shut his eyes. Maybe if he thought of the blonde long enough he could see him more clearly.

A smile played across his lips at the thought. The eager boy that had joined SOLDIER so many years ago was now a man. Gold, spiky locks of hair that danced in the breeze. His body well muscled from the use of swords. His pretty lips so sweet when he smiled. And those eyes. Ocean blues that Zack drowned in every time he gazed into them.

“Sorry. I can’t wait anymore,” he thought and opened his eyes.

The scene changed to the familiar ruins of the church. Flowers still grew in it’s very interior. Zack looked around, take one slow step after another. He felt real somehow. As if he didn’t really die but rested and awoke to a new reality. Finally Zack’s eyes rested on the figure moving restlessly in his sleep.

“Cloud! Spiky it’s me!” he wanted too shout but was afraid of waking him.

Instead Zack walked down between the stone pillars, closing the distance between him and the blonde. He felt his heart racing and his whole body burn with desire and anticipation. But as Zack walked closer he could see that Cloud was shaking badly, clutching his arm so tightly.

“Why do you live like this?” he thought. “Why don’t you let others help you?”

“Because he needs you Zack. He watched you die and he couldn’t save you,” a voice inside his head spoke out.

Zack stopped and looked down. As if sensing his presence, the blonde relaxed his grip on his arm and lay limp. Determined, Zack kneeled carefully over his body and stroked his cheek tenderly with a gloved hand. Cloud hardly stirred. A smile split Zack’s face and he leaned in slowly.

“I promise you someday we’ll be together. Just let go of your pain in the meantime,” he spoke in Cloud’s mind.

The blonde’s eyes flew open, wide with surprise. Zack chuckled and ruffled his hair tenderly. Cloud only stared speechlessly at this. Still smiling, Zack moved closer, their bodies pressing together. The blonde’s lips moved as if to speak but he closed the space between them. For a moment neither of them moved. Zack could feel the agony and love radiating off Cloud and he blinked away tears. And still Cloud’s eyes stayed open, as if he wasn’t able to believe this was reality.

“I could spend forever looking in your eyes,” Zack thought as he shut his own.

The light blinded him as Zack suddenly stumbled to the ground. The lifestream came into focus and he struggled to contemplate what had happened. He was there, with Cloud! They had kissed for the first time since his death. The moment had been perfect, yet the swordsman knew deep down it couldn’t last forever.

But if it were ever possible Zack would spend forever drowning into those ocean blues.