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The Rescue Me Meme

'Cause, sometimes, you just can’t save yourself.

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1. A Bad Date - You get a text, a phone call, or maybe you can just see the other person floundering on what clearly must be the worst date of their life. Time to step in and save the day.

2. Prison - Maybe they've been wrongly convicted, or maybe you're an accomplice. Either way, it's jailbreak. Maybe the guards will fall for the old 'wounded prisoner' technique.

3. Taken Hostage - They're being held at gunpoint, either for money or for fun. Maybe you can talk down their captors, or maybe you are a captor, secretly working to help them.

4. Abuse/Neglect - Your body is damaged, your suffering taken it's toll. You can't save yourself anymore. You're wounded, you're starving, maybe even dying. Someone, help.

5. Addiction - Just one more. Nothing bad will happen if you just get one more. Either way, you can't save yourself from this downward spiral. Someone else is going to have to help.

6. Yourself - One bad choice after another, your self-destructive tendencies are going to get the best of you unless someone steps in, quick, to save the day.

7. Climactic Situation - You're hovering over an active volcano, a pit of sharks, about to fall off a cliff. Whatever it is, you've only got precious seconds of life left.

8. Loneliness - You've been secluded, locked away, and the emptiness is overwhelming. You need company, or you might just drown.

9. Unwanted Social Function - A family reunion, your three o'clock board meeting, whatever it is, you desperately don't want to go. Hopefully your good buddy can come up with a distraction.

10. A Bad Romance - You're trapped in a relationship that's headed south, and you can't seem to get away from the other person. Looks like you need a helping hand, maybe a prince charming.

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In response, Zack just grumbles. yeah, yeah, take the giddy edge off his relief, why don't you.

But no, he gets it. This isn't a long haul place to stay. When the army doesn't turn up anything, Hojo's going to be livid. He'll call for as much back up as he can get; Turks and equipment and scanners...maybe a couple of dogs to catch their scent, even. If they're not off this mountain by tomorrow night, they're going to be in a world of trouble.

Which means there's no time to lay flat and grumble, as much as he wants to. Drawing in a breath, Zack rolls back to his front, ignoring his body protesting the idea of moving, and peers at Cloud. His eyes are still too green, too unfocused, but there's a hint of sky blue in there. He's still in there. And, for once, Zack knows just want to do.

"Hey, Spike? Remember how I said I was gonna train you for the next SOLDIER exam?" Despite them being about four months late for those, he says it casually, pulling the Cure from his pocket. It doesn't flare in his hands, mana tightly locked away, but it rolls between his fingers as he reaches for Cloud's hands. This had better work...

"I know it's kinda behind schedule, but we're gonna start those Materia lessons." A smile, meant more for Cloud than anyone else--you can do this. You can pull through this--and then he closes Cloud's fingers around the bauble, watching green disappear behind pale skin. "Show me whatcha got."

He's trying, maybe unnecessarily, to save what's left of Cloud's pride. He'll probably have to go back to the beginnings if Cloud's as lost as he thinks he is, but...they can figure it out.

Kunsel stays right where he is while Zack talks, still holding Cloud's other hand. If he has to, he'll dig his thumb in again, using pain to help draw the teenager back to reality. It's not a particularly nice method of getting someone to wake up, but better a little pain than letting Cloud slip further into a coma.

And for a minute, it looks like he might have to.

But no, as heartbeats pass, Cloud slowly, sluggishly blinks. His fingers twitch, as though he's trying to curl them tighter around the materia. Kunsel holds his breath, waiting. Waiting.

Then something stirs, a whisper of magic in the air. It's weak, barely noticeable even to someone paying attention, but there it is. A featherlight touch of something cool and tingling that probably couldn't even heal a scrape, reaching out to settle on Zack's skin.

It feels almost like the faint mist of a drizzle on a muggy day; cool and faint and loved despite the soggy feeling left behind. Nothing changes on Zack's body, and maybe he's fooling himself, but Cloud's eyes seem just a tiny bit more focused, less lost in the mako. Hope blossoms in his chest again.

"That's it. You're doing it!"

It's hardly anything to be really impressed about; in proper materia lessons, this would get him to the front of the class and doing it on repetition. But under their circumstances, it cracks a bright grin across Zack's face. Baby steps are still steps.

"Can you do that again? Little stronger this time."

Baby steps are still steps. They just need to keep making them.

It's definitely something remarkable, considering all the factors. Cloud hasn't had proper lessons, and yet he's still managing the concentration despite the mako poisoning addling his brain. So even if it's nothing to write home about, nothing that would have gotten him anything like a good grade, it's still something as far as Kunsel's concerned. He squeezes Cloud's hand, offering his own bit of support, too. Support, and a physical anchor for Cloud to focus on, to help keep him aware of the real world.

"You've probably noticed how shaky Zack is, Cloud," he says out loud. "Do you remember what he looked like when we got you out? He probably could use another good spell." Sorry, Zack, he's going to throw you under the bus here and use you as bait to lure Cloud out and into trying again.

And you know what? The tactic works. Cloud twitches as though in response, eyes coming into a bleary focus on Zack, and after a moment, the magic stirs again. A little stronger this time, and directed more obviously on Zack. It lasts a few seconds before it falters, flickers.

But Cloud's still got his eyes focused on his friend. "Z-zack..."

Normally, Zack would squawk. Immediately try to refute that comment and get into one their usual, regular banter-slash-teasing sessions. Not this time, though. Both because it's true--he's still a bit of mess--and because it's working to drag Cloud out of the green he must have fallen into.

Zack's a little too busy being hopeful to be insulted. Kunsel, he will noogie you for that later. Or hug you. Maybe both. But later. Much later. Right now, he just leans forward with a grin spreading across his face. That's it! He knew Cloud had the strength to do that. He just needed some help, that's all!

"Morning, sleepyhead!"

As if Cloud simply overslept breakfast call. The faint honey taste of Cure lingering on the back of his tongue, Zack reaches forward, putting a warm hand on Cloud's wrist. On the pulse that pounds beneath too pale skin. Proof that he's alive, that he's still living. And if tears burn in Zack's eyes, it's been a long six months and they're finally safer. He can afford a few tears. He clears his throat, cheeks threatening to crack from his smile.

"One more time? Third time's the charm, right?"

Neither of them are going to call Zack on his tears. Not Kunsel, who saw the hell he rescued them from. Not Cloud, who was in that hell. If anything, when Cloud sees those tears making tracks on Zack's cheeks, he's too groggy to realize what they mean.

"You're... hurt...?" he slurs, but with an increasing awareness in his eyes.

Kunsel pounces on the opportunity. "He is," he says firmly. "And right now, you're the only one who can help him. My magic reserves are too low from using it earlier-" A blatant lie, but Cloud won't know any better. "-and Zack can't manage the concentration. Too much pain." Another lie, but he's counting on Zack to play along. "We need you to focus and cast the strongest spell you can."

Cloud's eyes flicker from Kunsel back to Zack, asking a question he can't quite manage with words. How bad is it, Zack?

Too much pain--aA protest dies in Zack's throat; they need Cloud coherent and stable, and casting magic is the fastest way to get him there. And yes, he does still hurt. They don't exactly know what Hojo did; his legs burn from the climb, his bones ache. If his smile becomes more a grimace, it's him trying to play along and chafing at the lie at the same time. How bad? Well...

"A few more spells wouldn't hurt."

They really wouldn't. He has to shift his weight, leaning more heavily on his knees. It's not entirely an act; he hurts. He'll live, of course, but ouch? What he'd give for a bedroll and a good nap right about now. Cloud comes first, though, and so he draws in a deep breath, swallows hard. As if trying to hold back a moan or a groan. Maybe he is. Hard to say, the way he's grimacing.

"Or more than a few. Ow."

He might be laying it on a little thick. Whoops.

Once Cloud looks away from him, Kunsel gives Zack an apologetic look. He knows how his friend hates laying, but Cloud needs this. He needs to have incentive to keep using that magic for as long as he possibly can.

And what better incentive? Worry draws lines on Cloud's face, then a glimmer of determination that pushes its way past the mako fogging his mind. His fingers grasp the materia on their own now and he even takes a deeper breath before concentrating. And casting. Again and again, none of the spells very strong, a fact that almost seems to frustrate Cloud, but he keeps going, eyes searching Zack's face for signs of relief.

"Better...?" There's a hint of a rasp in his voice, and his eyebrows are drawn down against a headache from all the casting, but he's already fumbling for the magic again.

He'll noogie you later, Kuns. Don't worry about that. He'll get his payback.

Later. Probably once Cloud's asleep. Having spent too much time in remedial materia classes, Zack knows what that furrowed brow means. Yes, they need him casting spells as much as possible, but at the same time...the aches are falling away, and so he leans over, face warm and open, lines of pain around his eyes lessened. Cloud's eyes are a bit more focused now. It's progress.

"Better." He reaches forward, putting his hand over Cloud's. It's alright, Cloud. You can stop for now. "You can do it again in the morning, okay? Handle all the sore backs from sleeping on rocks."

His smile's a little more genuine now; he does feel better, and the ground here is going to suck to sleep on, but for now, that's enough. Magic exhaustion on top of mako addiction? He doesn't want to think of what that could do to Cloud. Give him a little time.

For a second, Cloud looks like he might try to argue, but seeing something in Zack's face, or hearing it in his voice, eventually relinquishes his hold on the materia instead, letting Zack take it from him. "'Kay..."

Kunsel watches the exchange from the side while taking a moment to root through Zack's pack until he finds... There! He pulls out what he was looking for and hands each of them a ration bar. Best get some food into Cloud while he's still lucid, just in case this is only temporary.

"Thank goodness ShinRa makes these so they'll last a long time. Not that they could taste much worse," he cracks. Six months old or not, rations will always be fair game for insults. It's practically tradition at this point. "After that, you two probably ought to get some rest. We're not going to make it far in your state, and who knows if we'll find another shelter like this? I'll keep watch, just in case that search party notices our trail after all when they come back down from the reactor."

The materia is warm and smooth beneath his fingers, still glimmering even as Zack tucks it back into his pocket. A comment about taking shifts is swallowed down; Cloud needs to sleep, but so does he. Cures heal injury, not exhaustion. As much as it chafes at him, Kunsel's going to have to take watch for the whole of the dark night.

This is their life now, isn't it? Forever fleeing, forever hiding, never knowing what shadow is safe and which could hold a trap. They can't hide forever; not in this cave, not anywhere. Some life this is going to be, but...it is a life. And so Zack takes his bar with a sigh before busying his hands with getting Cloud's open enough that he can take a bite.

Six months on similar rations have done nothing to endear either of them to the taste, but nutrients are nutrients and they both need them. Once Cloud's wrapper is open, however, he turns a stern eyed look on his best friend.

"You wake me up at the first sign of trouble, got it? No handling them on your own."

He can't heft the Buster right now, but he can still throw what weight he's got left around. Can still throw a few punches. Desperation adds one hell of a lot of strength.

Pulling an all night shift is never a fun thing, but it's hardly the first time Kunsel has done it. And really, of the three of them, he's in the best condition for it, so he just quirks the corner of his mouth up at Zack's admonishment.

"Trust me, if something happens, you'll hear about it." Even if it's just to tell Zack to take Cloud and get out of there. One way or another, Zack will know if there's an attack.

"Wake me up, too," Cloud murmurs, the most coherent sentence he's managed since he came out of his stupor. Not that he has any idea what he'll do if there's a fight, but he doesn't like the idea of sitting, helpless and unconscious, if there's any chance of someone capturing them.

"Right, right," Kunsel says, waving their concern off with the hand that's holding his own ration bar. "I'll wake you both up, but only if you go to sleep first."

Go ahead, try to figure out the logic in that.

As if Zack would run and abandon anyone to ShinRa. He grumbles, tearing into his bar and chewing angrily. Grateful as he is for the initial rescue? Like hell is going to let Kunsel sacrifice himself for them. Not after everything else that's happened. He'll fight. No more hiding. Not tonight, at least.

"Eat first, Cloud." He says after swallowing a bite, chalky bits clinging to his teeth. They're not rancid, but these things never fail to taste horrible. Blech. "Then sleep. Give your stomach something to chew on."

That isn't itself. The first weeks were horrible for that. What he'd give for a Behemoth steak right now...he still grumbles, pointing at Kunsel with his free hand. If he's gonna have to watch you both, battered state or otherwise, he will. Don't think he won't!

"No stunts, you hear me? We're all getting off this mountain alive and free."

"Look who's talking. Don't make me tell Cloud about all the stunts you've pulled, Mr. I'll-make-First-Class-in-no-time." Kunsel even manages to pull off a semblance of Zack's cocky voice from back then. Is he teasing? Yes, he's teasing.

Hey, anything to distract them all from the saw dust and wood chips they're shoving into their mouths. Kunsel may be used to these things - heck, they probably all are - but that doesn't make it any easier to chew and swallow.

Cloud's mouth twitches. "I could... tell stories, too. About his stunts." Look at that. Another coherent thought expressed. He really is doing better, even if he's stumbling on words a little bit.

Kunsel grins. "Oh really."

"Hey, I made it through those!" He pauses, then sinks back and chews almost petulantly. "Just needed a Cure once or twice."

Or to run off the time he got almost hyper off ether fumes. Angeal had almost laughed when he came down from that tree, though, so it wasn't all bad! You know. Almost. He turns that petulant look on Cloud, though. Don't you dare, Spike.

No, really. Dare. Keep talking. Please keep talking.

"Hey, my stunts are nothing like that time in the woods, man."

If he can fish that memory out of the green, Cloud will know exactly what incident Zack is referring to, and will likely try to stop Zack from continuing to speak. Though, to be fair--and he usually is--that was nothing like what he got up to.

it was much tamer.

Keeping Cloud talking is definitely a good thing, at least until it's time for them to sleep. Kunsel's glad that Zack caught onto his plan without him having to spell it out.

Though really, it's not like he needs much incentive to give Zack a hard time about things.

"What time in the woods?" he asks. It sounds like this story might be more at Cloud's expense, but that's okay. If it gets Cloud talking...

Edited 2015-08-19 12:15 (UTC)

"The woods..." At first Cloud's expression is utterly blank, devoid of any recognition of the hint. Trying to dig the memory up feels like swimming to the bottom of a pond, darker and greener the farther he goes. Something's down there, he knows, but...

He makes a frustrated noise, crumpling his empty wrapper. "What happened-?" he starts to ask, before fumbling the words. He stops and starts again. "What happened in the woods?"

There. He at least managed that.

Oh, Cloud. The hope that had been bubbling in Zack's chest pops, and he swallows the last bite of his bar harder than he should have to. The woods wasn't that long ago, and that he can't remember it...the wrapper crumples in his hand, thin foil destroyed beneath his grip. Gods. They're really messed up, aren't they? He sighs.

"Well, a buncha guys he was grouped with decided to prank him. Threw us both outta the jeep we were in without our supplies so we'd have to walk through this forest back to camp. It wasn't that hard, but..." He leans back on his hands, blowing a lock of hair out of his face. "We ran into this family of chocobos. They kinda took us under their wings for a while."

For like. Ten minutes. It's funnier than he's making it sound, but...he smiles just a little.

"They had this chick, probably a year old...and it really liked Cloud. Started grooming him and everything. We barely got away."

"Wild chocobos?" Kunsel whistles. "Those are rare. And even rarer if they approached you guys. Usually they just run unless you bait them with greens, and sometimes even that isn't enough." He's taking his cue from Zack, keeping the conversation light, partly because he doesn't know enough to know what questions to ask.

But also partly because he can see Cloud's face screwed up with frustration and something almost like pain, like he's trying to remember but can't. The blond hunches over, fingers pressing into his temples.

"I don't..." he says. "I don't remember. Who... Who would prank two SOLDIERs?"

Kunsel blinks. Two? He casts a questioning look at Zack, not certain how to interpret that question.

For his part, Zack is just as confused. He opens his mouth to try and correct Cloud, but then he stops. Blinks once, twice, then pales and stares sightless at the wall beside Cloud's head. The lessons they got on mako addiction all those years ago are buried in his brain, next to magic exhaustion and potion overdose, but they're there.

They're there and they're surfacing now, leaving him to stare at the top of Cloud's head. Confusion was a symptom, yes, but at the same time...he turns to look at Kunsel, then shakes his head again. This isn't right. Something is very wrong with what Cloud is saying, but trying to correct him...Ifrit. Rock and a hard place.

They need to keep him talking for now. They can handle the rest later. He swallows hard, then forces himself to breathe as he leans back on his hands to keep them from trembling. Breathe, Fair. No good to him if you pass out now.

One thing's for sure: If he ever sees Hojo again, he will murder the man.

"Couple of idiots, that's who." His voice catches. He clears his throat, continues, "They surprised us, but ended up on latrine duty for almost a month afterwards."

Sephiroth had been amused, in his own way, but chain of command had to be respected. Zack honestly felt a little sorry for those two. They'd been reassigned, if he remembered right. At least they weren't around the next time he'd seen Cloud.

Kunsel catches the confusion on Zack's face, then watches it melt into something distinctly more disturbed before he very obviously and very deliberately pushes it away. Breathing exercises, even, and a subtle shifting of his posture that Kunsel only understands the meaning behind because he knows Zack so well. Whatever that comment about two SOLDIERs means, Zack's alarmed and trying not to show it.

Unfortunately, without asking, Kunsel can only guess at why - but Zack's made it clear that now's not the time. Kunsel represses the urge to sigh - he's never liked being in the dark - but resolves to ask him later.

"Sounds like they earned it," he remarks instead. "You just don't do that kind of thing with upper command."

"Yeah..."

None of it rings any bells in Cloud's head. Not the chocobos, not the prank, not the results. Frustration wells up in him, but he has no outlet for it. No outlet but to drag a rough breath in and shove it back out while digging his fingers into his head.

Damn it, what's wrong with him?

"I think I'm... ready to sleep," he says haltingly. Maybe this is all just leftovers from the dip in the mako tank and he'll feel better once he's sleep and had a chance to let the mako fade. Maybe his brain will clear up then, too. "Just make sure you wake us up if... if something happens."

There's a lot left to tell Kunsel. To guess at and try to explain. He's already mentioned that Cloud isn't SOLDIER. For him to think that he is, memories caught on that one lie....something's wrong. Really wrong.

"Don't worry," is what he finally says, though who he's trying to convince is the real question. "He will. Get some sleep, man."

He'll join his friend as soon as his heart stops pounding in his throat, the implications of what's going on sinking in and making his stomach churn. The weight of the ration bar is almost lead, but he still reaches forward to help Cloud lay down in case he needs it...and to ruffle blond spikes, as is his habit.

That it serves to remind him Cloud is still alive and that they escaped is just a bonus. They made it this far. They can make it further, whatever's going on in that head of his.

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