onepassingnight | 004 || all you need is a guardian angel

Desolation. Death. Destruction.

It spans as far as the eye can see, possibly even further. To the outreaches of the Planet and beyond, only growing in its ravenous hunger and taking anything it can with it. It's a horrible, bloody sight... not one would expect to find bright, white wings shimmering in the too-bright sun. Even less so, the bundle in his dirtied arms, sound asleep.

The wings flutter once, dropping a few, floating white feathers to the remains of the torched building they were perched upon. The tips of the feathers are also burned, almost even rotting as they lay there, guided by a gentle breeze in the silent environment. And as the man shifts, the faint glow of a halo can be seen reflecting off of a broken window, the beaten body sagging against the brittle, splintered wood. He's tired of the fighting, the chaos and the panic caused by those soldiers. They weren't anything like he remembered, and... this was the result. Insanity finally caught up to him, and in a sense, he was glad to have passed before it'd gotten hold of him, too.

The infant in his arms stirs, a few soft, fussy groans jumping out of it.

In response, he gently rocked the baby in his arms, whispering in a low tone, trying to get his adopted bundle to calm down. Though still dirty, he'd long-since been able to heal it. It'd just... taken a toll on whatever spirit energy he had left, tethering him to this bleak world.

"Just a little while longer, kiddo."

[ooc: So... kind of an odd dream for him to be having, but pretty much? While Zack himself is still canon, he's dreaming of a universe that *did* fall to ShinRa. Certain things have been changed around, and I'll explain more in detail to whomever responds~]

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A shock of surprise runs through him, the feeling of infection lifting from his borrowed body. Bright blue eyes blink in confusion, then relief when the baby's remaining injuries are also patched up. Gloved fingers run through the hair just barely peeking out of the soft scalp, smiling down at the bundle he'd become so fond of.

"...thanks." He whispers, closing his eyes with a sigh. The halo, at least, strengthens its glow for now, the energy being restored into their body. With so much desolation, death and pain around them, it still drains on his spiritual energy... this needed to be fixed, if he was ever going to rest peacefully.

"He'll need a new place to grow up, when we finish this war. I just... don't know where yet."

She has nowhere to offer. Her world is strongly protected, but it has been greatly damaged by their enemies, too. Besides, here, she is only a dream.

"Are there areas that weren't ruined?" Barring that, the baby had better grow up strong enough to fend off the effects of what's been done here.

"We've got a base up north." He answers softly, adjusting his grip on the infant to pull himself to his feet. At least with the absence of wounds on his own legs, it was a little easier to get up and down than it had been. Maybe that meant he could fight for a little longer as well.

--not until both the baby and Mercury were safely hidden, though.

"If I explain the situation, I don't think Seph'll mind." The former-SOLDIER smiles fondly, nudging his head in the direction of their hideout. "There's not many of us sane people left, to be honest. I don't think they even remember how to be discreet."

Seph?

"When you say Seph, could it be you mean Sephiroth?" She was starting to learn that the dream world seemed to gather heavily from a few groups of people. It distracted her from the immediate issue to the more general issue.

"Yeah! Would you believe he managed to keep his head on straight when the other SOLDIERs went wacko?"

There was a laugh in his tone, relieved that his friend hadn't gone down that path again. With nobody else around and the world literally falling apart at the seems, it would have been hopeless otherwise.

"I think he's back at base, if you wanna talk to him. I'll let him know you're cool by me, yeah?" Adjusting his grip on the infant, the man pushes himself into a hover, spreading out both wings to better ride the currents.

"That is, if you can keep up."

Mercury didn't know Sephiroth well after only a few encounters, but she had no reason to stay where they were now, either. Black wings unfurled, ready to take to the skies and soar in more freedom than she'd had in... (how long now?)

"What you should be worried about," she called out to Zack as she strained to overtake him, "is how long I'll be waiting for you once I pass you!"

"Oh, I'm lookin' forward to a loooong shower before you catch up!" He called back, swerving under the other winged being, then over with a laugh.

"C'mon, aren't you supposed to be this super-awesome ice princess? Show me what you can do!"

Her wings outstretched, she catches the air currents to buoy her up. If his taunting spurs her onward, she's careful not to show it, and treats it as words that roll right off her.

No, she'll show him by doing it; she puts on speed, aided by her power as well as the wings, to overtake him.

With the years he's spent in this form, Zack can manuver the skies pretty damn easily. Which means when Mercury catches up, he just as easily gains more speed, barely managing to miss crashing into a pillar, and even swerving to try to make the other fall behind because of it.

Yeah, the years in this world have been lonely. It wouldn't kill him to have a little fun for once, right?

She's quick, and maneuvering with wings gives her no trouble at all. She's had tens of thousands of years with this winged eternal form sleeping inside her. Some day, perhaps she'll reach it again in her waking life. She avoids the pillar without incident, and it doesn't seem to slow her down.

Loneliness, she understands, and so while she flies, she's careful to keep the gap between them small, a consideration she hasn't acknowledged in years.

Edited 2011-10-24 23:54 (UTC)

There were many-a-time in his own life that he'd longed to be able to fly - that urge only quelled when he'd found Angeal, seen what the wings had done to him. Genesis had been the same, and for a long while, he'd dreaded against them. But wings symbolized freedom for those who had none, and right now? He wanted that freedom back.

This urge is enough to keep him moving, keep him flying as long as possible until he wakes up to find himself grounded once more. This was his dream, and he was going to make the most of this tiny semblance of peace as long as possible.

For the both of them.

She stretches her wings and the sensation feels normal and right. She rises on an errant current of air, and breathes in as she ascends.

She knows the longing for freedom as well as he does. She'd deny to her last breath while awake, but she knows the limits she has, and she knows how she resents them.

004 || all you need is a guardian angel

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