Crossover: Final Fantasy VII/xxxHolic, Zack/Cloud, he would pay any price
Zack couldn't hold still. His fingers kept tapping on his thigh, his knee wouldn't stop bouncing. The woman on the other side of the table was arching one too-perfect eyebrow at him, and Zack felt himself flushing - he took a resentful breath and forced himself to stop moving.
Visibly, anyway. Inside he was still a storm of tension and impatience, as if he hadn't learned anything at all (from Angeal) those two years in Soldier. Without looking at Yuuko, Zack brought the sake cup to his lip and swallowed the last of its contents. The burn of alcohol down his throat steadied him somewhat. "So," he said, and his voice came out pleasingly normal. "Can you help him?"
Yuuko hummed thoughtfully as she refilled Zack's cup. "Difficult," she conceded. "The young man's mind has suffered heavy damage. I'm not confident that even my ability can restore him completely."
"Anything you could do would be..." Zack made a fist against his leg, aware he was begging. "You saw how he was. He's been like that since we escaped. Even if he's never the same as he was-" gods, his voice was breaking- "I want Cloud back."
Yuuko reached across the table and touched Zack just under the jaw. Such a simple gesture, even a comforting one on the outside - but the mysterious woman's scent invaded him, alcohol and musk and entirely too much magic to make her human, and Zack was shocked to find himself afraid. "I can grant your wish," Yuuko told him. "But there will be a price."
"I'll pay it," Zack said immediately.
"In return for one friend..." Yuuko closed her eyes, and a memory sprang between them. "You must let another go."
"Sephiroth," Zack whispered.
"You have the power to save him." Yuuko's words were heartless, pitiless. Inhuman. "Will you give that up, to save this boy?"
The memory of Sephiroth as Zack had last seen him - tortured, insane, blood-drunk - vanished, replaced by the image of Cloud as a helpless doll. "Gods, forgive me," Zack whispered, then, "Cloud. Let it be Cloud."
Yuuko let him go and Zack slumped, weakened. He barely noticed when Yuuko rose and left the patio, or when her assistant came and cleared the table. He watched the moon rise and sink, more still than he'd ever been, and then as false dawn teased the edges of the horizon, someone warm and bright and alive knelt and wrapped his arms around Zack's shoulders from behind.
"You stupid idiot, why didn't you leave me behind?" Cloud muttered.
Zack turned and caught his friend up close, hid bitter tears in his hair. "You stupider idiot," he teased, rough-voiced, "you know I never will."