bakerstreet | Like ships in the night

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Like ships in the night

Ship
Prompts

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more?
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"You know that 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' thing?"

A clothing store first, definitely. Zack's uniform might be a wreck but the people around here had no trouble recognizing it for what it was. Cloud had to drop some extra gil to make the purchase without the shop owner asking questions. Luckily, Cloud knew her even if she didn't know him, knew her personality and what it took to buy her off.

"That's Tifa. If everything is how I remember it, she runs a bar in Sector 7. It's not a fancy place, but she doesn't need to hire bouncers so it keeps her overhead low. People know it's not a place you can go to cause trouble."

There was a smile of relief when he heard that. That was good. No one made it out of Nibelheim without scars but at the very least she made it, physically.

"Sounds like my kind of place." Not that he had a chance to frequent bars. Shinra worked them like a dog. Mostly.

He picked out something in a darker shade of blue. A tank top and loose pants. Casual, light, and easy to move around in.

"Think she'll remember me?"

Cloud gave Zack a quick once-over, trying to hold back a snicker. It didn't matter how low-profile Zack tried to be, appearance-wise. He looked like he belonged on SOLDIER fan-club posters, both the kinds that had them showing off their big brawny muscles waving a sword, and the ones where they posed alluringly. If the mako business had started drying up back when they still had SOLDIERs, Shinra could probably have kept itself afloat with centerfolds.

Then Zack asked his question and Cloud did snicker. "Uh, yeah... She only had the Planet's biggest crush on you."

Thanks, Cloud. If Zack knew what he was thinking, he'd appreciate it, especially since fan club wise, Zack didn't get his own until he became first class.

He paused in his steps and looked taken aback at his answer. "She did?!" He totally did not realize.

"Be cool about it, buddy." Cloud Strife, giving Zack advice on how to deal with women? The day was just getting weirder.

"She'll probably be embarrassed, especially if she thinks you picked up on it at the time."

"I totally didn't..." he trailed off. Welp, chalk one more up to the weird situation of the day.

As they kept walking, he started to relax, placing his hands behind his head as he looked around. "Man, I don't think I've explored this sector."

Cloud glanced back up at Zack and smiled. All the places in Sector 7, little holes in the wall and junkyards and everything he was sure he'd never see again, were all right here where they belonged.

"I lived here for awhile. Will live here. Uh, maybe not? ... We need to think of what I should call it. The past that never happened."

"Hero time?" Zack suggested while he peered over some junk to track a rat scurrying off. He quickly caught up to Cloud again, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

That was just the kind of ridiculous thing Zack would think of. It made Cloud grin and shake his head. They should call what's happening right now "hero time." At least Zack would get to be part of it, then.

"How about 'I once dreamed' about something. Like I once dreamed I lived in Tifa's bar for a few months because I couldn't afford a place of my own."

Zack tapped his arm as he looked away and nodded, sounding that out in his head.

"I like it. Let's go with that." Then something up ahead caught his attention. "Hey, that's the sector 6 playground right?"

"I think so, yeah." Had Zack ever been there? Cloud's own memories of the place weren't entirely cheerful, but maybe Zack's were.

"You want to go have a look?"

It was. But it had been so long it was tinged with an almost sadness. He walked over to it to touch his hand to the slide.

"Hasn't changed much."

It wasn't how Cloud remembered it, but the image of Midgar in ruins wasn't exactly comforting.

"She's here, you know. Waiting for you." ...Odin, was Cloud talking about Aerith or Jenova?

"Huh?" He assumed Aerith but he was being careful about bringing her up until they were good and ready. "I guess. It's been five years though." What girl would wait that long for a flighty romance?

"Nobody else ever got her attention. When I met her, she talked about you. Because I kinda reminded her of you. She said you were her boyfriend, sort of, even though it wasn't serious or anything."

But was that still true here? Was Cloud setting Zack up for a horrible heartbreak? "...In my dreams, I mean. I don't really know for sure. But it seemed real."

"She said that?" That, wow, it warmed his heart to hear that. At least he had that in Cloud's dreams. "Thanks," he said, clapping Cloud on the back. "Come on. Sector 7 is that way right?" He'd never been but it just took some basic deducting skills.

Considering the way Midgar was laid out, it would have been a bit disturbing if Zack couldn't figure it out.

Tifa was shocked and overjoyed to see them both, especially after how bad things were when SOLDIER collapsed. Zack the ex-SOLDIER, Cloud the not-quite-SOLDIER, two mercenaries who were by no means rich but could at least pay their bar tab. When Tifa mentioned, very quietly, that she might know someone who could offer them a job, Cloud was equally quiet when he asked her to wait until tomorrow to discuss it. Getting tangled up in AVALANCHE all over again was something he wasn't quite ready to face just yet.

Zack was happy to catch up with Tifa. Even if their first encounter hadn't ended pleasantly for anyone involved. He was admittedly curious when Tifa turned to Cloud and offered a job of some kind. The fact that Cloud was delaying it was enough of an indication for Zack that he should do the same.

He asked instead for a place to bunk for the night and they were pointed to the inn right across from the bar.

Only once they were there did Zack flop back onto the bed and turn towards Cloud. "Did you take the job in the dream?"

Cloud had been trying not to think about it even though he hadn't been succeeding. He flopped onto the next bed over, brooding at the ceiling.

"Yeah."

Zack turned to look at him, resting the side of his head against his hand. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know if I should." How was Cloud supposed to know what to do? Was he changing the past? The future? Was it wrong to burden Zack with the ugly details?

"I think I need to talk to Aerith. Maybe she can't help, but maybe she can."

Zack looked anxious again. He pushed himself into a sitting position.

"We're not ready."

"Then leave me here and go stay with her instead."

Cloud really couldn't fault Zack for reacting like that. Not after Cloud let himself worry out loud about killing Aerith.

"She'd have been dead, or worse, if I hadn't been there. We met a couple of days after I got to Midgar. If I'd been half an hour later it would have been too late. There's not a lot of time."

What?! He stood.

"Why didn't you say so?!" Between Cloud and an unknown, he'd rather deal with protecting Aerith from Cloud. "Let's go!"

Great, now he had Zack riled up all over again. "Relax. She's perfectly fine right where she is. If she isn't already asleep then her mom probably is. There's no reason to wake anyone up. Not tonight, anyway."

Cloud really was going to have to tell Zack the entire story, ALL of it, or this was just going to be one misunderstanding after another.

"I'll start at the beginning and tell you everything I can remember. I can't do it all in one night, but I'll try to make sure you know everything before it actually happens. Okay?"

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