A Moment of Courtesy

A mission in Modeoheim, and you get there by helicopter. It had seemed simple enough to Zack, but that was before they were shot down out of the sky and crashed somewhere in the mountains just north of their destination. Luckily for them, at least according to Tseng, Zack was a 'country boy'. As in, he was used to walking this kind of terrain. So here he was, leading the way to make sure no one fell off the mountain on the way to Modeoheim.

The snow crunching beneath his heavy boots as he walked, Zack turned around and cupped one hand to his mouth. "Yo! Don't fall too far behind!" he called to the Infantryman all the way in the back, pointing his finger at him as he faced forward. He glanced over at the other Infantryman who was actually keeping pace with him. "At least someone's keeping up," he joked.

The grunt looked up slightly. "Well, I'm a country boy, too," he replied.

This seemed to surprise Zack; it was written all over his face as he faltered for one step and straightened his back. "From where?" he asked curiously.

The man stopped, glancing at Zack as he, too, paused in his footsteps. "Nibelheim." Zack leaned forward, arms folded over his chest. He looked at the man for a moment, then burst out laughing as he turned around and walked a few paces away. The infantryman took a step forward, tilting his head ever so slightly. "How about you?"

Zack looked back around. "Me?" The SOLDIER nodded his head definitively and pointed a lazy thumb at himself. "Gongaga."

It was the Infantryman's turn to laugh. Zack advanced, pointing at the man accusingly as he spoke, and the Infantryman matched him pace for pace backwards as he covered his mouth gently with one hand. "Hey, what's so funny about that? You know Gongaga?" Zack demanded.

"No, but…it's such a backwater name," the man commented.

Zack rocked his head from side to side once in a sort of sideways nod. "Ditto Nibelheim," he retorted, and started walking forward again.

The Infantryman followed, set on defending his hometown. "Like you've been there," he returned, forcing Zack to stop and turn around once more to face him.

"I haven't," he admitted, "But there's a reactor there, right?" The man nodded a yes and Zack went on. "A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means—"

"Nothing else out there." The two of them finished the statement together. They looked at each other for a moment of mute shock, and then the laughter began.

Zack backtracked a few steps and held his hand in the air to get the Turk's attention. "Good news Tseng!" he pointed a thumb at himself again. "Me and…" he trailed off, and looked at the Infantryman expectantly.

The man took off his helmet, revealing a shock of spiky blonde hair and dark, deep blue eyes. "Cloud," he introduced, tucking his helmet underneath his arm.

Zack turned his attention back to Tseng. "Me and Cloud here," he gestured to the whole mountain with his arms, "are both backwater experts. Oh yeah!" The SOLDIER's hands became fists and he pulled them in so that his elbows touched his sides. Afterwords he let his arms fall naturally as Cloud smirked at Zack's good humored nature. The two new friends turned around and continued up the mountain path as Tseng called after them, "Good. Carry on then," without really bothering to see if they heard him or not.

Zack and Cloud kept up the idle conversation as they walked ahead of the other two, trekking through the snow with high spirits. Something also became very clear to the both of them then: the friendship they had forged here would last a lifetime.