Title: Recall
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Prompt: 21. Friends
Characters: Cloud
Rating: G
Notes: Thanks, onedeadbunny. And yes, I had to use the line. I blame watching Last Order last night.


The basement was pretty much the same as they had left it, back when Sephiroth had "invited" him to the Reunion. Vincent had suggested--reluctantly--going through the files. The records on Sephiroth would include weaknesses as well as strengths. They'd separated, each taking one bookshelf or pile.

Cloud moved on to the next binder in his pile, trying to ignore his pounding headache. Damn it, he'd run through the Reunion and managed to live through mako poisoning. Twice. Taking a break for some research should be cake. Cloud looked down at the page he was on. He'd lost his place. Damn it, now he was going to have to start again, and...

Wait. Twice?

He'd only been exposed to mako in such a high degree only once, when he fell into the Lifestream and they found him in Mideel...

"We're friends, right?"

A slow, easy smile. Everything would be fine. A faint glimmer, out in the distance. The wrong height for anything on the ground to be glinting in the sunlight...

"Cloud, run!"

He felt stupid. He couldn't move, couldn't scream. He stuck in a glowing green world and because of that, Zack was...

He was in Nibelheim. In the basement. Zack was gone.

Tifa reached him first, kneeling--when had he fallen?--to face him and asking if anything was the matter. Cloud shook his head. "It's nothing. I'll be fine." The problem was nothing he could change.