Quoted By:
"Again, I'm sorry that it had to end up the way it did. I know you just did what we both agreed you had to do." You lean back against your chair, humming a nonsensical tune to yourself. Just going with whatever sounds nice. "This is going to be a bit of a tone shift considering everything but...could you tell me about your comrades?"
"Comrades?" Cloud snorts. "How old are you again? Storm told me only old geezers say words like that."
[DYING LIGHT] Hey! It's not lame, it's the proper way to describe his group! It's not out of fashion, is it?
"Yeah, I got to admit, it's a bit silly." Zero remarks.
Your face heats up. "Look, I just want to know their names. I don't want them to die as faceless nobodies."
Cloud raises his hands up in mock surrender. Thick bandages are wrapped around them, still recovering from the nasty injuries they received. "Alright, alright. Snow, me, Rain, Ash..." He lowers his hands, the smug smile that was spreading on his face disappearing. "...Hail and Lightning. That was, uh, the six of us."
"Interesting theme for the names. Could you tell me a bit about them?"
"I, uh, was only really close friends with Snow and Rain. Never really knew the others that well." He mutters, resting his hands on his lap. "Snow reminds me of you. An old fart who's stuck in the past."
[HOPELESS WRECK] WE HAVE NO PAST. WE'RE FUCKING NOBODY BUT TITLES AND REGRETS.
"He would always go on about honor and fairness and shit. How we only needed six people because we were aimed to the teeth. I told him that ANNOUNCING THE FIGHT HOURS IN ADVANCE would get us creamed but hey. Look where we are."
"And for Rain?"
"..." His cheeks flash red for only a second before disappearing, leaving only a smile with no warmth left in it. "A mistake. I got too close. She got too close to me."
Zero seems to instantly recognize what he's on about because she wraps her arms around him. "Wh-" "Shh. I know the feeling, I do."
[DYING LIGHT] Oh. Guess even that can bloom in a battlefield, huh?
"Don't feel sorry. I knew it wasn't going to last long but...can you blame someone for trying to find some relief in this place?" You can't tell what his emotion is laces his voice. "It is what it is."
"I'm not sorry." You and Zero speak at the same time. After a moment to process that, she unwraps her arms around Cloud.
"Yeah. Ash was the one who blew up like a firecracker. She was always about blowing shit up, seeing it go to the skies. Lotta good that did her but...at least she died how she lived."
"Her death was, if nothing else, an explosive finale." Zero morbidly muses. Cloud snorts but offers no other response.
"Lightning ran to open your Disposable chamber. Didn't work. Hail was too focused on the meal to even bother fighting, fucking...cheap trick." Cloud mutters.
"It was us or them. I know what I picked." Zero taps her foot on the ground. "What happened is what happened, nothing else to do but to move forward."
"I know. I wished we won, still."
