Chapter 10

The first thing Cloud felt when he woke up was… well, anything but rested. There was a headache throbbing in between his eyes and his skin felt sticky on his body as though it was melting. His eyelids felt especially heavy, like they had been open all night and had never once closed.

He tried to raise his hands up in order to rub that feeling away, but found his body less cooperative than normal. Every movement felt lagged and forced and he actually had to try his best just to move them. Just pulling his hands up to his eyes took more out of him then he thought possible.

Once Cloud's heavy eyelids did part, he instantly regretted the decision. Morning light was pouring in through the tent he slumbered in and it only made the throbbing in between his eyes turn into a loud pounding. He winced with the tiniest of groans as he closed them once more and tried to move his face away from the sunlight.

When his body rolled to the side only slightly, he was treated to an onslaught of new pain brewing in his leg. It was then that his sleep-lagged brain recalled the large gash in his leg from the previous day when he first arrived in Gongaga. When the burn and sting lingered, he whimpered quietly and pouted.

He didn't have time to feel groggy and hurt like this! He needed to get to Midgar as quickly as possible! If he didn't, he was worried Alpha might chide him for taking too long. If not Alpha, then Beta would most certainly step in and do it instead. The sun was up; there was no more time for rest!

Using more effort than normal, he rolled over a bit more on his side while being careful to mind his leg. It tingled a bit, but didn't cause any pain he couldn't handle.

His eyes soon discovered that the tent was empty. Zack was nowhere to be seen. The comforter on his side was rumpled and a quick tap to the surface told him it was cold. So wherever he went, he had been gone for a while now. Since Cloud himself had been asleep, he highly doubted any of the voices in his head knew where the older boy went. He'd just have to wait until he came back from wherever it is he had gone.

In the meantime, he was going to try and at least sit up. If he felt weak just from trying to move his hands, he didn't know how hard it would actually be to get up. Cloud worked his right arm until it was underneath his body. When it was, he gave a little testing push forward.

It was like gelatin –thick and slow with a touch of wobble. He hadn't even managed to push himself into a sitting position at all. He just slumped right back down into his previous position looking as if he had never moved at all. Why did he feel so sluggish and achy? It didn't make sense –he had felt just fine the night before!

Once more, he attempted to sit up with a little more effort. He managed to get halfway up before his whole body seemed to turn to goo and made him ungracefully melt down to the floor of the tent again. It was strange, it didn't hurt to try and sit up at all, but he felt so weak and tired that he wanted to cry as if he was physically hurt –well, minus his infected leg anyway.

Cloud just lazily threw his right arm over his eyes and whined. He felt bad and he didn't know why. He had been sick before, but he had never felt like this, ever. Everything was stiff and slow, sticky and hot, and even achy and miserable.

"Cloud? Are you alright? You're not sounding very good." The gentle voice of Gamma asked.

"I just… feel kinda icky." Cloud responded meekly, even in his own head.

"Oh, how so?"

"Everything feels heavy… my head hurts… and I just feel all weird and sticky."

"Weird and sticky? Hmm…" Gamma hummed, his voice vibrating in Cloud's head –which didn't do any good for his headache. "…sounds to me like you might have come down with something over the night." He surmised.

"How though? I felt just fine before going to bed!"

"That… well, honestly I'm not sure. Maybe because of all the stress you've been coming under lately."

"Stress?"

"Think about it: You've only eaten one decent meal since you left Nibelheim and you've been out running around in this summer heat with a wounded leg. I mean, I'm no specialist or anything of the sort, but I know for a fact you don't do very well in the heat. I'm thinking you finally got sick after all that."

"…" Cloud was quiet for a moment, not even a single thought murmuring through his mind.

"I'm pretty sure that Alpha might have you on a time crunch to get to Midgar, but your health is just as important!" Gamma brought up. "What good would it be if we got to Midgar only to have you in horrible condition and unable to follow his 'plans'?"

"That… makes sense I guess." Cloud mulled, his thoughts dragging slowly from his hot headache.

"You just rest and don't worry about Alpha or Beta, okay? If they pressure you about it, then tell them I said to back off for a bit!" Gamma encouraged, a cheerful lilt to his voice as he joked.

The fun tone of voice had Cloud smiling faintly. "Okay, I think I can do that."

Then it was quiet in his head again.

He was left alone with his sluggish self and his straggled thoughts as he was when he first woke up. He figured it wouldn't be long until Beta or Alpha would come griping at him, so he made a mental note to prepare for it. He thought about what to say and how to say it, changing up his words depending on who would be the one to nag at him first.

It took him a little longer than he would have liked to sort out his future thoughts due to his headache and general discomfort, but he managed fine. Now all he could do was lay there and wait for the voices to hound him, or for Zack to come back.

He didn't want to try sitting up again. Cloud felt as though that would just be a waste of the limited energy he had. Just trying to sit up the first two times took more out of him than he would have liked to admit. So he closed his eyes for a moment and focused on the gentle sounds around him, hoping to distract himself in the meantime.

He heard the grass swaying about in the wind –imagined it as though it were a massive green sea waving longingly to the land. He heard the rustle of trees from nearby where they had set up camp and even heard the tent rustle around too. Aside from those things he couldn't really hear anything else.

Things he felt… he felt the sheet over his body –though it felt like an extra layer of skin right now. He felt the beginnings of sweat start to form on his… wait, he was sweating now? Great. He tried to think of different things he felt, not just physical things over or on him.

He felt… a little exposed. Here he was in the great outdoors nestled in a tent so very far away from home. He felt a little lonely. He didn't have his mother next to him to confide in and seek comfort from. He didn't really have anyone right now. Well, there was Zack. But he, well… since most of the memories containing him were still locked up tight, he couldn't really connect with him on a deeper level. He was a friend for sure, but kind of a distant one, in a sense.

Cloud also felt a little nervous. Was he really traveling ahead to accomplish something great with the guidance of different selves? Or had he just gone crazy and was roaming around with no true goal?

His thoughts tangled up and soon there was a whole mess of neurons flashing and blinking different perceptions and anxieties in his brain. Somehow, there was now too much to think about, too much to feel, and too much to comprehend. He just wanted to shut off his brain now and just fall back asleep or something. But he didn't feel tired in the slightest, at least not in the sleepy sense. Yes, he felt exhausted even after not being awake for long, but not the type of tired where he could easily fall into slumber again.

He was mentally tired and physically exhausted, caught in a three-way limbo of goals and wants and being unable to do anything about it. He felt like crying all over again. Maybe he was really stressed out and it was finally taking its toll. Never had he really had the time to think about, well… everything.

He just wanted to take a really, really, really, long break.

Just when he thought he was about to cry just from the sheer weight of thinking, Cloud heard a rustle from outside. He slowly opened his eyes and tilted his head, trying to keep from moving as much. It wasn't the wind playing with nature –it was much too loud to be that. Could it be a monster? If it was, did it get curious about the tent set up in the wild like so? Was it coming to eat him?

But he soon found out that it wasn't a monster because… monsters can't hum folk songs.

There was deep, acapella voice gently humming a familiar tune from a few feet outside the tent and Cloud could now see the familiar outline of Zack from behind the tent flap. He heard a sizzling sound and a gentle rush of flame. He must be putting something over the fire they made last night. If he wasn't feeling so drained, he would have liked to leave the tent and see what was going on for himself. However, because of his condition, he was stuck laying down for a while.

He didn't have to wait long to wonder what was going on because a few moments later, the tent flap was quick to unzip with a swift and large arching motion. Zack soon made his way into the tent with a smirk on his face. Cloud noticed that the older boy's clothes were a little dirty and there was a smidge of dirt on his cheek. He must have wrestled around with something if the blond had to take a guess.

"Hey, you're up! You sleep good, champ? Oh! How's the leg?" Zack greeted with an even bigger grin as he sat next to him.

With all the intense thinking Cloud had done earlier, it was almost hard to comprehend what exactly had been said. It just seem to blend together as if the words were spoken with no pause at all. But he didn't have time to answer any of those remarks because Zack's face shifted from smiley to concerned.

"Hey, you feelin' alright, Cloud?" He asked, a little slower and with a touch less pep.

"I… what do you mean?" He responded with the most fine sounding voice he could muster.

He may not be feeling well at all, but he didn't want Zack to know that. He didn't want to cause him any more trouble than he already had. After all, they were both in this situation because of him; he didn't want to make that situation more of a burden.

"Your face is all flushed." Zack noted as he scooted a little closer.

Cloud flinched a little as the older boy placed the back of his hand to his forehead. His hand felt cold.

"-And you're burning up too." Zack added as that same hand felt his cheeks as well.

"I'm not burning up, your hands are just cold." Cloud dismissed as he forced a grin to his face.

"My hands are cold? I just wrestled us a decent-sized breakfast into submission with these hands, they are anything but cold." Zack countered, a grin on his face but no enthusiasm behind the action.

"Oh…" Cloud muttered, feeling almost as if he had been caught in a blatant lie.

Well, at least he knew where Zack had been now. He must have been out hunting. Maybe to make up for the food he shared with him last night?

"So, what are your symptoms, dear patient?" Zack held out his hand and poised his other hand in front of it, as though he had an actual pen and notepad out and ready to take notes.

"I didn't know you were a doctor." Cloud sarcastically responded, though a little less snarky than usual; it sounded more flat.

"Hey, I'm the son of one!" Zack countered. "I may not be as good as my dad, but I know a thing or two! So, symptoms, chop-chop."

Cloud gently rolled his eyes. "I just feel… tired. Sticky. A little weak. Really achy. Got a headache too. Oh, and the leg still hurts."

"Hmmm…" Zack hummed in thought, one hand now resting against his chin as his eyebrows furrowed in light concentration.

It was strange to see him look so analytical. From what he gathered about his personality, he was spunky, peppy, a little brash and a had loose filter. But he was also kind and considerate, Cloud having a firsthand experience with that side of Zack. But this was a new side he had never seen. It was different, but kind of interesting too.

"Y'know… I'll bet that you ended up getting a fever because of your infection." Zack deduced as he took his hand from his face.

"You mean my leg?" Cloud asked.

How the heck could his infection cause a fever? It didn't seem like it could be relatable, but then again… he wasn't a medical professional.

"Yeah, it's pretty common actually. I saw it all the time when I helped out my dad at the clinic."

"Oh, so it's nothing to worry about then?"

"What? No, of course it is!" Zack pressed.

Cloud wasn't expecting that response if he was being honest. He had plenty of fevers before, so why would this one be any different?

"Well for starters, were traveling to Midgar on foot. Because of that, it'll be hard to take it easy, which'll make it harder for your body to work it out. Second, you're also on antibiotics for your infection. I remember dad telling me that they can suppress your immune system and make it harder for you to recover." Zack explained.

"So… it's bad?" Cloud quietly asked. He was starting to feel a little scared now. He clutched the sheet over him with tight little fists.

"Well, looks to me like your illness just started. So if you take it easy then you'll be just fine!" Zack reassured, this time smiling bright enough for the action to reach his eyes. He meant what he said.

But they couldn't take it easy! They had to get to Midgar!

More specifically, Cloud needed to get to Midgar, lest he be under Alpha's scorn or Beta's judgement! He knew Gamma said to take it easy too, but… there was just too much at stake right now! He didn't know how much time he had left to get there and he certainly didn't know how much longer it was going to take to alter the future enough for Alpha's likings! The longer he waited, the worse off the future would be! He had already been chided plenty for wasting time! His grip on the sheet loosened a bit, but it still remained.

"Cloud…" Alpha's voice rang in strong inside his mind. "I can sense your distress... What matter has gotten your psyche so agitated? I cannot tell due to the panic swarming your consciousness."

"I'm sick! I have an infection! I'm tired and I hurt, but we need to get to Midgar quickly! I just keep wasting more and more time and I keep slowing us down!" Cloud spouted, his thoughts running together so quickly that each internalized sentence seemed strung together.

"…Cloud, you do know the most important matter currently at hand now, don't you?"

"Yes! Get to Midgar! That's what you keep telling me!"

But he actually heard Alpha… chuckle. He chuckled as though the situation was a complete laughing matter. It was enough to have Cloud's thoughts screech to a sudden stop.

"Yes, getting to Midgar is important. But now that you have fallen ill, it's imperative that you recover first."

"Wait… you mean, you want me to take it easy now?"

"Affirmative. Spurring you on like so in your current condition is not wise… nor is it fair to you… I do apologize for putting your health at risk due to my impatience."

Wait… Alpha was actually apologizing to him? Honestly, Cloud was shocked. So much so that he didn't even notice Zack waving his hand in front of his face and asking him if he had gone to lala-land.

"I had… forgotten how fragile the human body was… As a WEAPON, I never fell ill or succumbed to disease. Hah… Rather the imprudent fool I am to assume a human child could make it to Midgar without a setback or two."

It was so strange to hear Alpha sound so… forgiving. Normally, the eldest voice was always pressing him to keep moving forward, to not delay or take his time, but to always hurry. It was almost endearing… in an Alpha sort of way.

"From now on, I shall try my utmost to recall that you are still human and cannot persist as much as a tireless immortal. I shall try to refrain from impeding on your progress… but you will keep any unnecessary dawdling to a minimum at the least, won't you?"

A small grin fluttered across Cloud's face at that. "Thanks Alpha. I didn't know you could be nice like Gamma."

A dry chuckle from the oldest voice. "Do not try your luck, little one."

Cloud felt a little better now. Not entirely though –it's not like that internal conversation would magically make his illness go away. His mind felt a little more energized, even though the rest of him was still sluggish as a snail.

He still wanted to continue on. He didn't want to just lay here in this same spot until his fever passed. Besides, with all the trouble he caused in Gongaga, he just wanted to get away from the village as quickly as possible. Thinking about Jason made him shiver.

But how could he find a way to rest while moving forward at the same time?

Maybe Zack would help… if he felt up to his request anyway.

A/N: I know, a short chapter in terms of this story. But this is the best stopping place I can think of for now. Sorry it's been nearly three years since the last update by the way –I've gone through a lot of shit lately ^n^;

Hopefully I'll update sooner next time!

PS: If you're curious about what in the ever living eff happened to me these past some odd years, details can be found on my profile because there's too much to say in an A/N XD