Cheating Destiny

Gongaga

A/N: This honestly took forever to finish -_-

Zack fans should be happy though~~~

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It was an hour before the area was completely cleared of Shinra infantrymen. Fires had ravaged the village, and no buildings were left standing. A few trees and homes were still smoldering red-hot flames, and the sky was gray from the smoke in the air. But, so far, everyone's alive and well.

Roxas coughs, rubbing his watering eyes as he walks through the rubbled remains of Banora. He had lost track of everyone about ten minutes ago, leaving the group to venture off and try to find you. All he had seen since they landed was fire and a seemingly endless hoard of operatives from Shinra. No Sephiroth, and, more importantly, no you.

He ducks slightly underneath a hanging branch from a tree, heading out of the clearing and walking into an open field. His hands are shoved in his pockets, his body sore from being in motion for so long. A lump of black catches his attention, and he glances down and to the left.

'Just a body,' he thinks to himself tiredly before his eyes snap open in realization.

Roxas quickly jogs toward the body, only able to stare down in shock at Cloud's unconscious figure. He looks around the field, spotting no one else nearby – though there's a clear and distinct trail of blood leading towards the woods in the distance.

Figuring he can worry about that later, he kneels down, resting his weight between his knees and his feet as he scans Cloud's body. He's breathing, with a gaping wound to his torso. Blood is leaking out, drenching the already blood-soaked ground. His skin is even paler than usual, almost looking lifeless due to the dark gray skies above.

He quickly rips off his jacket, tearing off one of the sleeves as he presses the material to the wound. Cloud grimaces slightly at the action, his bright blue eyes slowly opening as Roxas does his best to stop the bleeding.

"Hey. You're okay," Roxas tells him, doing his best to sound comforting.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Where's [Name]?" Cloud asks, his voice coming out raspy and gruff.

"I don't know," Roxas answers honestly with a small sigh. There goes one of his last chances of finding you easily. "Why?"

"Sephiroth, he –" Cloud trails off in a grimace, pushing Roxas' hands away from him as he takes over applying pressure to his side. "I barely got there in time – fought him off while Zack got her outta here."

"Okay," Roxas mutters, knowing if he had a heart, this is where it would wrench uncomfortably. Why weren't you back yet? "C'mon, let's get you to the others."

Roxas wraps an arm around Cloud's neck, carefully standing to his feet as he hoists him up beside him. It has to be excruciatingly painful, but he doesn't show it. The two of them start to slowly make their way through the village, towards the unofficial base camp on the other side of Banora.