Ren could smell the blood as soon as she got there. It was so strong, it made her stomach turn. She got off the motorcycle and rushed toward the scent. She hadn’t felt his return to the Lifestream so it couldn’t be she was too late...could it? She rushed forward. “Zack?”
Only a few more steps and the cliff overlooking Midgar came into view. She stopped in her tracks. Her hand flew to her mouth to try and stifle her gasp. “Goddess...” He was absolutely riddled with bullets. The attack was unnecessary...malicious...overkill. Emotions chased themselves through her heart one after another; anger, sorrow, pain...and then a slow dawning of an idea. If his life hadn’t slipped away...maybe there was a chance...
She rushed forward, fighting down nausea as she waded through all the blood and went to her knees at Zack’s side. “Zack...are you still with us?” She took off one of her gloves and reached out to pick up the other SOLDIER’s wrist. She placed her fingers in the right position to take his pulse, silently praying to Minerva that she would find one. A small thump brushed against her fingertips. Had she imagined it? No...the pulse was there...thready and weak, but there. It wouldn’t be there much longer if she couldn’t stop this bleeding and get the First Class stable, however. “Zack...hang in there for me, okay? I’m gonna try to get you out of here...”
She rushed back over to the motorcycle and pulled a shoulder bag out of its center compartment. She’d been in a hurry when she grabbed this stuff, and she just hoped she grabbed the right things. As she rooted around frantically in the bag, a small curse left her lips. “No Cure materia. Great.” She had managed to bring an emergency kit with her, but an emergency kit wouldn’t be enough on its own to save Zack’s life. She pulled the kit and a couple of potions out of the bag and jogged back over to where Zack lay. Nervously, she chewed her bottom lip as she got back down into a kneeling position beside him. “Well...sorry, Zack. Guess I’m not really a good thief. You’ll have to make due with a little healing from me. It’s not much...but it’s better than nothing, right?”
Why did she keep talking to him? It wasn’t like he was conscious to talk back. Still, somehow it made her feel better, like reminding herself that he was still alive. She fought down another wave of nausea as she placed her hands together. “All right here goes...CURA!” The spell activated and she could feel the power leave as it spread over Zack’s body, doing its best to heal what it could of the injuries he’d incurred. A fully leveled Cure materia would have done a better job but at least some of the injuries were closing, and the bleeding was slowing.
Maybe if she was lucky...she could stabilize him enough to move him now. Ren decided to give it a try. She started to pull bandages and medicine out of the kit. Then, with a silent apology, she pulled out a pair of scissors and started to cut away Zack’s ruined shirt so she could remove the fabric from the wounds and at least get them bandaged.










