Summary: Hojo didn't know it, but he had already discovered the secret to immortality. Too bad it got away before he found out... and lucky for Zack that he was dragging it around with him all that time.

Note: Rated T for some violence, and nudity(not sexual).

Phoenix Down

He Watched.

That was all he really could do. He tried to move… anything, but his limbs didn't want to cooperate with him, they barely even twitched as he tried his hardest to move them… and Zack was in front of him fighting off what seemed like the entirety of ShinRa's army.

Everything was in a green haze that ebbed with his heartbeat, and at times he couldn't even see through it to the battle Zack was waging on his behalf.

As he tried and failed to move again a bullet lodged itself into Zack's thigh and his leg buckled under him, giving the troopers an opportunity they didn't miss to fire at his momentarily unguarded torso, and began to steadily fill him full of lead, even as he got back up and charged at them one last time.

Despair and soul wrenching heartache did what effort and determination had been unable to do so far, and with a grunt of effort Cloud lurched away from the rock-face Zack had leaned him against, and landed with a heavy thud onto the dusty ground.

The sounds of gunfire and Zack wreaking havoc on the army covered the sounds of Cloud's movement so no one noticed, but with the effort that first lunge had taken when he had to fight through the green haze and hadn't moved under his own power for over a year, green sparks danced in his vision and he blacked out, the sounds of the battle fading from awareness and even the feel of the ground underneath him disappeared.

When Cloud came to it was raining, and he didn't know what was going on. He had been turned over on his back, and for a while just stared into the covered sky uncomprehendingly.

Everything came back to him after that moment though, and with new found urgency and determined will, he tried to get up off his back, but slipped back into the mud immediately, limbs clumsy with disuse, even without the green haze to hinder him anymore.

Cloud panicked at first thinking that he was too late, and he couldn't get to Zack to help him, but quickly pulled himself back together, and knowing he couldn't get up all the way, rolled himself back onto his stomach, and began to clumsily, or at least in a less coordinated manner than he was used to doing it in, began to crawl the way the drill sergeant at ShinRa had drilled into all recruits in boot camp.

With a steady, but slow pace, Cloud crawled around the tall rock formation between him and his friend, and saw Zack laying on the ground in a puddle of blood, full of bullet holes, and staring dazedly into the sky, just as Cloud had done when he had first awoken, Buster sword flung to the side and barely in reach.

From this distance, Cloud couldn't tell whether Zack was breathing or not…

Pushing himself forward with effort that seemed to get easier as he continued to move, Cloud finally reached Zack's side after what seemed to be an eternity of crawling, and pushed himself higher, so he could see his friend's face.

Now that he was by Zack's side, Cloud could hear his stilted rasping breaths, and see his chest rising and falling… though just barely. He pulled his knees under him so he didn't have to strain his arms as much, and leaned over so he was closer to Zack's face and tried to speak for several moments before anything would come.

"Z-Zack…" he managed to get out, his brain was heavy, and didn't want to work, he could still feel something trying to push him back…

Zack grunted from his position on his back, and seemed to come to himself a bit more, eyes focusing on Cloud and blinking for a moment before he gathered breath to speak, "For the… both of us…" he said, and stopped, as if waiting for a confirmation.

"Both… of us?" Cloud managed, confused. What was Zack talking about?

"That's right…" Zack confirmed, leaving Cloud in his confusion, "you're gonna…" and he paused again trying to take as much air in as he could without causing more pain.

"You're gonna…" Cloud coaxed, trying to figure out what Zack was trying to say.

Through what seemed to be sheer force of will, Zack pushed his arm up, gripped the back of Cloud's neck, and pulled his face into his bullet riddled chest.

"Live." Zack puffed out at last, and had to regain a bit of breath before he continued. "You'll be… my living legacy." He seemed to be trying to fit as many word as he could into one breath, and after he finished his hand slid back off of Cloud's neck and flopped back out to his side.

Cloud slowly rose, trying to comprehend what his friend was trying to say. Living legacy…? Was Zack… leaving him? Cloud stared dazedly at Zack, blinking even as dread began to rapidly spread from the place it had taken up residence in his gut when he came to, and fill his whole being.

Zack… couldn't leave him. Zack was all that Cloud had. There… there wasn't anyone else, everyone else was already dead! He couldn't lose Zack too!

From somewhere within him, something was beginning to uncurl itself, feeling his anxiety and desperation, and it felt like warmth and magic.

Zack looked over to his sword, and with more effort than it should have taken, pulled the enormous construct toward Cloud in a proffering gesture while he spoke again, "My honor… my dreams…" he paused a moment and kept going, "they're yours now." He finished, his eyes clear and determined.

Cloud could only stare at him for a moment, then at the hilt that was being thrust in front of his face. The warmth and magic he could feel welling up within him sounded like a song of a thousand melodious voices in his head, and he could feel it was bidding him to do something, and he knew it was right, a cleansing fire and a rebirth, he could feel it. His hand rose to the sword, but he laid it over Zack's fingers and pushed it back down.

Ignoring Zack's stunned expression, Cloud laid himself down half on top of his friend, til his head rested back on Zack's chest and muttered, "You… won't die… on me here… Zack."

And then the world burned.

He was burning.

One moment Zack was trying to pass on his legacy, to give his friend something to live for, to come out of the Mako Addiction permanently for, and the next moment blue-white flames had sprouted from every part of Cloud's body starting from the crest of his hair and working downward, consuming him and then they moved over Zack as well.

Though adrenaline had pumped through his body, accelerating his heartbeat to keep him alive those few minutes more when his friend had burst into flames, it had not been enough for his weakened body to move, and he could only watch as first his friend and then he himself had caught fire.

It was agony at first, as the flames had gone from blazing white and blue to orange and red as well, and then his head had filled with voices, a thousand voices singing that turned into the pure melody of phoenix song that had soothed all his pain and he had sunk smoothly into unconsciousness.

There was darkness, and then he was surrounded by a blindingly bright light that had seared every corner of his being until he was sure that he would never even see the flicker of a shadow out of the corner of his eye again, and then all was dark once more.

When Zack came to his nose was full of smoke and he was covered with ash. The clouds had broken apart and the sun was beginning to dry up the mud and puddles of water that had dotted the landscape like a bad case of freckles when he had fallen unconscious.

On top of him, in the same position as when he had begun sprouting flames, was Cloud.

A very unconscious Cloud.

At least he seemed to be actually resting now in true unconsciousness, eyes closed and breathing easy, not the mockery of unconsciousness that Mako Addiction put you into where you were awake, and experiencing everything, but not processing any of it.

Shifting, Zack became aware of the wet slime he was lying in, now it seemed with nothing between his skin and the muddy terrain. He could attest to that, because he could feel the muck in some very uncomfortable places. Zack curled an arm over Cloud's inert body, also naked, to keep him from sliding into the mud as he levered himself up and took a look around himself.

The plateau was as deserted as it was when Cloud had crawled over to him, the Buster sword was still beside him, but everything they had, had on them was gone, everything that could burn at least, the materia he had gathered on the journey from Nibelheim was scattered around him, the potions though had all evaporated, and everything else had burned away.

Slowly, Zack gathered his legs under him, testing them to see if they would hold under his and Cloud's weight, but they shook and slid out from beneath him like a newborn chocobo's and he nearly lost Cloud as he thudded back into the ashes and mud he had awoken in.

Huffing, Zack shifted Cloud so he had a more secure hold on him, and grabbed the Buster sword. He attempted to use it to lever himself up, but it was too big and he couldn't get it to a good angle to haul himself up with it. He looked regretfully down at Cloud, who was mostly clean of mud and apologized, "Sorry buddy, looks like you're gonna have to get a bit more dirty..." he trailed off as he heard a helicopter in the distance coming closer.

Adrenaline surged in his veins as he cursed. He didn't think they would be coming back this way so soon.

With renewed strength he secured Cloud, grabbed the Buster, and heaved himself up from the ground with a grunt. He glanced wildly in the direction of the ShinRa helicopter he had no doubt was manned by the Turks coming to survey the scene and either dispose of or gather the bodies, and moved Cloud over his shoulder before he took off as fast as he could.

Still cursing under his breath for not noticing the helicopter until it was nearly upon them, Zack ducked into a fissure that he almost hadn't seen in the side of a rock formation and prayed that the Turks hadn't been within range to see them yet and calmed his breathing. It was a tight fit, and his chest tightened with tension as the chopper neared even as he tried to relax and take deep calm breaths.

Yeah, that's a cliffhanger...

So I had this brilliant idea, and fused Cloud with a phoenix to give him awesome coming-back-from-the-dead-immortality or something powers. They also have the amazing bonus of cleansing Jenova by fire so now Cloudy and Zack...y won't get voices and stuff... yay!

Anyway, I started this a long time ago and just haven't made any progress on it, 'cause I've got no idea where I want to go with this, so I'm putting it to vote, which you can find on my prophile(hopefully).

Should the Turks find them or not? Note that even if the Turks do find them, they aren't going to go back to Hojo, I'm just having trouble figuring out what should happen in the immediate future.

On another note, I've had this idea long enough, that I don't know if I'll ever get very far with it, so if you like it and want to do something with it... Run Free! and have lots of fun while you're at it.

With love and maniacal laughter,

CEED