-For the… both of us .-


Once again, Cloud stood at the place where this formative event had taken place back then. There where not only his life changed, but also where that of the proud SOLDIER warrior Zack Fair ended. But did it really end? A few years had passed since that fateful day and still the young blond boy came here to find his peace and just to think. Often he did not succeed in this today. For an hour now, Cloud stood with his legs in his stomach and fixed the Buster Sword, which since then has stood here as a kind of souvenir. Rust and scratches had settled around the cutting edge. But it wasn’t because something else was taking Cloud's breath away. He just couldn't think clearly. This inner restlessness, which had been prevalent in him for days, was the reason why he had visited this place. He was hoping for a little help in whatever form. But this just didn't come. But even the actually patient man had enough at some point. So he turned away from the cliffs. “Take care, my friend.” Came from him quietly, he raised his hand briefly and walked away. With light steps he stepped to his two-wheeled vehicle, swung himself on it and looked around once more. Just to make sure no one had followed him. After leaving his scrutiny of the area, he started the engine and drove away with a breathtaking crash. He himself did not know exactly where his path would take him. For about a week he had been restless and above all haphazardly on the move. He had no real goal and did not see any prospects in his life at the moment. The only people who gave him at least one task at the moment were Tifa and the children. But even these could not fill this inner hole in him. There was something that was just missing. Not just the loss of his best friend, no, there was something else too. Maybe he was just looking for a filler at the moment. But he didn't know what caused this gap, with the best will in the world he couldn't remember what was about as important to him as Zack in his life before this life. Cloud sighed a little annoyed. He secretly blamed his loss of personality for it. But he couldn't undo what had happened, hard as it was for him and the others.

How much time passed, Cloud couldn't say, but it was dark now. His trip had brought him to a little unknown town. There he stopped to look around a little. Perhaps he could find some useful information here that would help him further. So he got off his vehicle completely without drive, took his sword and stowed it away. He started slowly and looked around in the darkness, you could never be sure what kind of figures were showing.Indeed, the people he met looked anything but friendly. While Cloud paid no further attention to them, they always made some stupid remarks or prominent looks. It was easy to see that he wasn't particularly welcome here. Some youngsters were even so brave and apparently were looking for a violent quarrel in the street. But the young man also skilfully avoided these provocations. If there was one thing he didn't want, it was a public fight. That he annoyed some with his behavior bounced off the hard shell. So after a few minutes he reached the center of the city and looked around. What was immediately noticeable was that it was still quite lively here despite the late hour. But it was dirty and it stank. In addition, this area was somewhat similar to the slums in Midgar. Cloud continued on his way until suddenly a bloodcurdling scream made him stop. He stopped immediately and looked around, confused, but could not identify the source of the scream. Just as he was about to move on, another scream rang out, but this time it wasn't just a scream. No, the person didn't just scream, they screamed a name. "ZACK !!" Alerted, Cloud tried to concentrate and was finally able to make out the direction. After all, he was a man of action and so he sprinted off in the direction from which his fine hearing perceived the screams. He ran down the street, not paying attention to the people he passed in his attempts to evade and who then stopped indignantly. But they also had nerves. Somebody shouted and judging by the voice it was a woman who might be in need and these people did absolutely nothing. Even Cloud hadn't experienced such ignorance in a long time. After looking into some side streets, he finally found what he was looking for.

"Hey doll, don't be so shy."

"Hands off! Please leave me alone or you'll be sorry."

"Exactly, let it go. It's your own fault if you walk around here like that."

The image that played in front of Cloud did not fit into his head. There was a gang of rather greasy-looking men or youngsters who harassed a defenseless woman and probably wanted to do worse with her if he didn't intervene now. The woman was already on the ground, squirming, trying to fend off the men’s greedy hands, but it was clearly difficult for her to do it. Cloud, who had made a name for himself at least in more well-known areas, did not hesitate for long, grabbed the hilt of his sword with his right hand and approached the group. "Get off her! Now!" it came from him and his dull, coarse voice echoed dangerously threatening again in the alley. Before the guy on the stranger knew it, cold steel was brushing his neck.Cloud could literally watch how his blood froze in his veins. The others involved stared in disbelief at the mercenary in Shinra uniform and began to make fun of him.

"What kind of clown are you?"

"Yeah, what's the point with your oversized bread knife. It's probably not even real."

Laughter could be heard. Cloud, however, didn’t find it laughing at all. With his piercing blue eyes he fixed the others briefly, who then fell silent. “You are welcome to try it out.” With these words, the ex-Shinra grabbed one of the men by the collar and threw him against one of the house walls. Immediately it sank to the ground. "Now to you! Let go of the woman or you will get worse." His voice was still calm and completely emotionless. Stunned, the guy stared at his disabled colleague and slowly got up. "Okay okay, we're going." After he sat up and stood in full size in front of Cloud, Cloud just looked at him. You couldn't say that Cloud was really big, but he towered over the guy anyway. “I hope so too.” With these words the man took his legs in his hand and disappeared. The others had probably also thought it smarter to move away from Cloud's field of vision. Immediately he ignored his weapon and crouched down next to the person lying on the floor. The first thing that caught his eye was that she was wearing similar clothes to himself. A few yards away he saw a sword. It was on the floor, in a cap of water and mud. You couldn't see it exactly, but it looked similar to what was on the cliff. Yes, it looked damned like Zack's sword. He looked questioningly from the sword to the woman. Was it all just coincidences? Who was this woman? And why hadn't she defended herself when she had a gun?