@dxnzelstrife sent: ❛ I don't know how you do it, Uncle Zack. if it were me, I don't think I'd have been able to get out of bed today. ❜
ANOTHER YEAR TO THE DAY. which day in his past is terrorising him this time? causing the ex-soldier to stare straight through the glass clenched in cold-sweat fingers, curled against seventh heaven's bar like if he just stayed here, and stayed still, he could avoid the mess that his life has become these past few years. just like a fugitive hiding from snipers among the rocks.
the day he'd made first class. the day he'd killed angeal. the day nibelheim burned. the day he'd escaped from a cold mako tank. the day he'd almost died on a cliff overlooking the city.
does it even matter which? all of them are awful in their own ways; some more visceral than others, but by no means taking away the pain of the other events when he glances back at them.
vaguely aware that someone has stepped into his vision across the bar ( similarly spiky-haired but not as tall as cloud, head barely poking over the wooden surface ), zack needs to blink a few times before his eyes will refocus. the words bring him back from his mind. back from the cliff's edge.
❝ huh..? oh. ❞ how to tell a child that the only reason he could drag himself out of bed at all most days was a lingering sense of duty left over from his late mentor. a need to protect what needs protecting. a sense that he'd managed to only just hold on to his life multiple times — to not then live it, would seem ungrateful.
a forced smile will have to do.
❝ you sure? i don't think tifa would let you stay in bed all day. that's my secret — ❞ he leans a bit closer, lowering his voice to the hush of a stage aside, ❝ the truth is, i'm too scared of her to not get up. bet she could drag me out herself with one hand tied behind her back, if she needed me for something. ❞
