Protect Her for Me - Complete

Lineart: [link]
Rainless: [link]
Clean: [link]

Phew! Finally finished. Here's the colored version of the lineart I submitted a few days ago, complete with blood, rain, fog, and Cloud's distinctive haircut. It took me forever, but I have to say I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The blood makes me proud.

I have both a "bloodless" one and one without the rain. I'll post both of them, though only the rainless one will be submitted to my deviations. The bloodless one will go into scraps. This is so that people can see details if they want.

Time: 7 hours and 15 minutes.
Media: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Wacom Bamboo tablet.
Original Size: 1920x1200 pixels.

FFVII (c) Square Enix 1997-2010.
Splintered Dreams (c) Fairheartstrife 2008-2010.
Image (c) me 2010.

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Gunfire reported over the desert, the sounds echoing with the rain. Zack was horrified to see Cloud, who had begun crawling from behind the shelter of rocks, riddled with bullets on sight.

"NO!" Zack roared. Rage and Fury lifted him from the ground, his own tattered body screaming in protest but he refused to let anything stop him from reaching his friend. He swung his arm, the heavy blade singing it's death song, removing two heads clean off their shoulders.

The third soldier ignored the commotion, raised his weapon and fired-- dead center to Cloud's chest.

"Damn you!" Zack plowed the broad blade of his weapon into the other man's back, nearly severing the man in half. Bloody entrails fell to wet sand, but Zack paid the mess no mind. He slid through the muck, leaning over his friend.

"Cloud! Cloud, can you hear me?"

A grimace. "…Zack…?"

"Cloud!" Zack gripped his hand. "Hang in there, okay? I'll get us out of here." He coughed, swallowing back bile and blood.

Cloud blinked up into the rain. "Zack."

"I'm right here. I won't leave you." Zack watched with a sinking feeling of helplessness as the flickering glow in Cloud's youthful blue eyes waned to a dull sheen. The hand gripping his so tightly but a moment ago went limp and a trickle of crimson escaped between pale lips. A shudder and the glow dimmed farther. Life was being erased from those fathomless depths and there was nothing Zack could do to stop it. He wanted to scream in frustration over his own helplessness.

Cloud struggled to speak, his throat working convulsively. "Zack..."

"I'm here, Cloud."

"T-Tell...Tifa..." A spasm and another grimace. Once the pain receded, Cloud tried again. "Tell Tifa I'm sorry...couldn't keep our..p-promise...wanted..." His breath was coming in short bursts, quick and painful. "Tifa..." Fingers clutched at sodden ground. "I never forgot..."

Zack's jaw clenched, teeth grinding together as he fought down tears. He pressed his gloved hand to Cloud's head, ruffling the blood soaked blond spikes in a familiar way. "Easy, man. Take it easy."

But Cloud was determined, as relentless on the brink of death as he had been in full life. Zack still recalled with vivid detail how strong and brave his friend had been in the depths of Nibleheim mountain, facing down the greatest warrior Shin-Ra had ever unleashed onto the planet. He had done the near impossible and killed Sephiroth--after being fully impaled upon Masamune.

Cloud was too young, too strong, too vital to die!

With dwindling strength Cloud his head, forced Zack to meet his gaze. "Swear it, Zack...swear you'll tell her...protect her…" Cloud clutched the back of Zack's head. "Protect her."

Zack could in no way refuse Cloud's dying request. Nor would he. He blinked back tears. "I swear it, Cloud."

Satisfied, Cloud nodded once and went limp, lying back into the cold mud. "Hnh... Not...cold anymore..." His lips quirked somewhere between grimace and smile. "Too bad...never made...SOLDIER..."

At this, Zack's carefully composed expression began to crack. He inhaled sharply, a choked sound catching in his throat. "SOLDIER's are monsters, Cloud. You... You're a hero. You're the best friend I've ever had." Zack couldn't finish. Didn't want to talk like this was the last time.

Cloud's smile was faint, but genuine. "Thank you..." His free hand settled across his wounded chest, fingertips searching for something. He lifted a picture out of his pocket.

Without seeing it Zack knew what it was. Tifa. Young and smiling impishly between Zack and Sephiroth mere hours before all their lives went straight to hell. Zack took the bloodstained photograph reluctantly. "I'll find her." Zack had no way of knowing if the girl had even survived the Nibleheim disaster, but if she had, he would find her.

Satisfied, Cloud nodded and closed his eyes. "I think…I'll sleep now…"

Zack's own eyes closed with regret and sadness; a solitary tear slipped past his long lashes, blending with the rain. "Goodnight, my friend."

-From chapter 1/Prologue of Splintered Dreams, and the inspiration for this illustration