Cloud is good, Zack has to give him credit. And it's good that he's good, because Zack doesn't want to think too much either, not right now. He just wants to respond to attacks with counters of his own, and attack only to have it countered, steel hitting steel with devastating force and it's probably a good thing that they're alone, and in a place where they can't do much damage.
Well, much damage to anything other than themselves, perhaps. They're both skilled enough to avoid injury, but not all wounds are physical. No, the thing that hurts the most is the blue eyes that lock onto Zack's, the expression that he can't quite read because while it's Cloud, it's not really his Cloud, and Zack doesn't know the whole story of the man opposite him. But what he does know isn't pretty, not for either of them, and the only reason he doesn't break is that Cloud does so before him, blade sliding off into an attack ill-aimed, finding its end in the ground with the blond on his knees.
And Zack... Zack just needs a moment to breathe, because there's something about seeing Cloud so... so overwhelmed that tugs painfully at him. Didn't he promise that Cloud wouldn't have to hurt anymore? Isn't that what he spent a year trying to do, to get them to safety and make a life for the two of them? Isn't it what he died for?
What good is all of that, if he can't stop the pain that Cloud seems to be so obviously in?
Slowly, a second Buster is laid at the spot where the first pierces the ground. Slowly, and even more tentatively, a gloved hand finds Cloud's unarmored shoulder. Zack doesn't squeeze, doesn't restrain him, just kneels next to him and touches him, because Cloud's breaking down and Zack thinks he might not be too far after, if he's not careful, if he's not strong enough to hold it together.
(Truthfully, the strength to hold himself together ran out long ago. He's going solely on willpower, on desperation and the fear of alienating Cloud entirely.)
no subject
Well, much damage to anything other than themselves, perhaps. They're both skilled enough to avoid injury, but not all wounds are physical. No, the thing that hurts the most is the blue eyes that lock onto Zack's, the expression that he can't quite read because while it's Cloud, it's not really his Cloud, and Zack doesn't know the whole story of the man opposite him. But what he does know isn't pretty, not for either of them, and the only reason he doesn't break is that Cloud does so before him, blade sliding off into an attack ill-aimed, finding its end in the ground with the blond on his knees.
And Zack... Zack just needs a moment to breathe, because there's something about seeing Cloud so... so overwhelmed that tugs painfully at him. Didn't he promise that Cloud wouldn't have to hurt anymore? Isn't that what he spent a year trying to do, to get them to safety and make a life for the two of them? Isn't it what he died for?
What good is all of that, if he can't stop the pain that Cloud seems to be so obviously in?
Slowly, a second Buster is laid at the spot where the first pierces the ground. Slowly, and even more tentatively, a gloved hand finds Cloud's unarmored shoulder. Zack doesn't squeeze, doesn't restrain him, just kneels next to him and touches him, because Cloud's breaking down and Zack thinks he might not be too far after, if he's not careful, if he's not strong enough to hold it together.
(Truthfully, the strength to hold himself together ran out long ago. He's going solely on willpower, on desperation and the fear of alienating Cloud entirely.)