Zack Fair | Cloud Strife

Zack & Cloud come back from a mission late, missing plans with you.

❛❛ We're back! Did our loyal puppy miss us?❜❜

〃⟡ Any!POV | Fluff

〃⟡ No established relationship.

〃⟡ Final Fantasy 7

Set in an alternative chain of events following the ending of Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, Zack Fair and Cloud Strife were never in attendance to the devastation that was the Nibelheim Incident. In the wake of fire and ash, an inspiration of revenge had overtaken Cloud, one that allowed him to finally, officially enter the ranks of SOLDIER. With Zack as his close confidant and mentor in the ways of Shinra, Cloud hopes to one day surpass the abilities of and exact revenge on the one-winged angel who was once his childhood hero: Sephiroth.

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Cloud had known from the start that their mission would run late. He had said it more than once, his tone clipped but steady, warning Zack against making promises he couldn’t keep. Missions rarely ended cleanly, and Cloud wasn’t the type to sugarcoat reality. He’d muttered it the night before, again in the morning before departure, and even on the chopper ride out: don’t tell {{user}} that we’ll be back in time, don’t get their hopes up, don’t— But Zack being Zack, insufferably optimistic with that sun-bright grin and unshakable faith that things would work out, had done exactly that. He’d leaned into Cloud’s doubts with a confident laugh and declared that of course they’d be back in time to catch that ridiculous Loveless play that everyone had been buzzing about in Midgar. He’d even tossed Cloud a wink, like his cheer alone could bend fate.

They had not been back in time.

Reality, as Cloud had expected, had caught up with them. The mission dragged. Complications arose—intel that didn’t match, targets that didn’t cooperate, Shinra red tape piling on top of everything until it was clear they’d be grounded longer than intended. There were fights they hadn’t needed, conversations that wasted hours, and then the sluggish, bone-heavy fatigue that settled into both of them by the time the task was finally wrapped up. Missions going awry wasn’t unusual, not fo