Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zack closed his eyes, accepting the fact that he will never be able to open them ever again. He felt his limbs go numb, his senses go dull, and his mind go silent…

And then he heard a loud thud . Shocked by the sound, he opened his eyes. He stared up, uncomprehending of the fact that not only could he still hear, he could also see, and smell, and breathe.  

Against all odds, he was alive. He placed his right hand on his chest, marveling at the fact that he could feel his heart beating. “Alive,” he breathed, as if saying the word out loud would make it more real. 

He wondered how he survived through that whole ordeal, and looked down at where he knew his injuries were supposed to be.

Instead of bullet wounds and blood and a destroyed SOLDIER uniform, however, what he saw was his favorite Cactuar T-shirt, faded from continuous wears and washes. He definitely remembers throwing the shirt away the night after he turned 14 because he ripped a giant hole through the back of it while running around Midgar the first time he got there.

Even if she somehow managed to stitch it back to usefulness, it wouldn’t change the fact that the shirt would have been much too small for his 18…no, 22 year old body.

He looked at his too small shirt and his too thin arms and his too smooth hands… 

“No fucking way…”

Zack stood up quickly, rushing towards the nearest mirror. He had to see it. The Zack of before , before Nibelheim, before Sephiroth, before Angeal, and SOLDIER, and Shinra.

The first thing he saw was his awful bedhead. ‘Betcha the ladies would love that…’ He tried to wrestle with the dark strands, but after 4 painful snags from the tangles, he gave up.

“Was I wrestling with my blankets or something?” he asked incredulously. He stared at his young, round, chubby cheeks from the mirror, and had the sudden urge to pinch it. And so he did.

The sensation reminded him of Cloud, somehow. Even his new(old?) shorter height reminded him of the blond. “I wonder if he made it to Midgar alright… ugh…” He shook his head and closed his eyes. If he really did go back in time, then that means Cloud hasn’t become an experiment yet, either. ‘No need to worry about him, yet.’

He finally decided to look at the one thing he really wanted to see from his reflection. He was equal parts dreading and looking forward to what he’d see. Maybe it would be the indigo color he used to have, before he joined Shinra and SOLDIER, and the mako changed… tainted it…

…Blue.

No. Not just blue.

‘A SOLDIER trademark. Color of the sky, right?’

His body went cold. He couldn’t look away from it. ‘Am I marked by them forever?’ His vision began to spin and he noticed that his lungs hurt. He hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped breathing. 

Yet, even through his blurry vision, he could see the haunting green of the mako glow in his eyes. 

The cold feeling in his body was quickly replaced with hot burning rage .

”NO!!!” he roared, lashing out at the reflection, breaking the mirror with his bare(small, fragile, weak ) hands.

He didn’t want to see it. He didn’t want it.

No, never again.

He heard heavy footsteps urgently stomping up the stairs. “Zack!? Are you alright!?” his mother’s voice called out.

“Mom…” he whispered, getting hit by the overwhelming feeling of longing . “Mom, I’m okay…” he replied, voice cracking, hoping to assuage her worries.

His bedroom door opened, and his mom rushed to him immediately. “‘Okay’ my left foot!” she cried, trying to sweep the broken glass away with her sandaled feet while simultaneously wiping away the blood from his knuckles with the handkerchief she always has with a level of coordination and preparedness only an exasperated mother could have.

“Baby, what happened?” she asked, inspecting his hand for any embedded pieces of glass. After finding nothing, she sighed in relief. 

“It was an accident…” he replied weakly, embarrassed with his childish behavior. He might look like a child, but he was still an adult in mind and soul. He shouldn’t be acting like this!

“This isn’t because your father and I disapproved of you joining SOLDIER yesterday, is it?”

Zack looked at his mom, at her tired face and her downturned lips and her glassy eyes. ‘She looks exactly as I remember,’ he realized. He even remembers her wearing this exact outfit, and the bag he packed the night before right after the argument he had with his parents about his desire to become a SOLDIER.

This would have been the last day he ever saw his mom and dad.

He realizes that the loud thud that woke him up was the packed bag that had fallen off his bed after he’d accidentally kicked it in his sleep.

‘Restless, like a little puppy.’

He felt fat tears fall down his cheeks, and his mom moved immediately, pulling him into her embrace. “Shhh, Zack, baby. Don’t cry, mom is right here.” She soothed him, patting his hair and humming. “Does your hand hurt? Let’s get this cleaned up downstairs,” she urged, “Your know how good dad is at first-aid right? Your hand will be good as new!”

“No,” he sobbed, a big hiccup stopping the words from coming out. He buried his face in his mom’s warmth, trying to get some strength from her mere presence. “No, I…” he tried again, “... I’m not joining SOLDIER. I’m never joining SOLDIER.”

His mom gasped softly, freeing him from her embrace. She looked at his messy black hair and his round shiny eyes and soft red cheeks, wiping his tears and snot and detangling his hair in a few expert strokes. “Zack, you know you don’t have to say–”

“I mean it, mom,” he answered with conviction. “I’m never becoming SOLDIER, or joining Shinra.”

His whole demeanor must have been convincing, because his mom smiled widely. “Oh, Zack! I know you’d understand!”

She enveloped him in another hug. Zack could tell how happy his words made her, so he felt bad about lying to her.

‘Yeah, I’m never joining Shinra. I’m doing the exact opposite of joining them.’

Well, he didn’t lie directly, but lying by omission is still lying.

He looked over his mother’s shoulder and eyed his packed bag lying on the floor. He might not need it to go to Midgar, but he still needed it for a different destination. 

West instead of East.

Wutai.

Chapter Text

Zack glared at the pumpkin in front of him for the 4th time in the last hour, desperately trying to entertain himself in the back of his Uncle Walter's pick-up truck with, of all things, a staring contest.

So far, the score was 3-0. In Zack's favor, of course.

There was absolutely no way he could lose a staring contest to something that was: a) inanimate by virtue of being a vegetable; and b) not in possession of any eyes to stare back at him with.

He'd kept score anyway.

Anything was better than the previous game he'd been playing the day before, which was I, Spy. It got very old, very quickly after he realized that the only things around him for the first day of the journey were the jungle, the jungle, and the jungle.

The fact that it was the 2nd day of their travel, and they'd just reached the connecting highway left the dark-haired boy grumbling.

'I could have gotten to Cosmo by now if I still had that Shinra bike...' Zack thought ruefully, looking away from the pumpkin to peek through the small window where the truck's driver is, eyes scanning the scratched-up speedometer in the dashboard. His nose scrunched up in annoyance when he saw the indicator needle steadily pointing at 30. 'And why is Uncle Walter driving So. Hecking. Slow?!'

-2 days earlier-

Zack promised(swore) he wasn't going to Midgar(Shinra) any longer, but he still had to find a way to get out of Gongaga so he could get to Wutai.

With his hand injury, his mom kept him in what was practically her own version of house arrest. "But, ma!" he'd tried to argue, only to be given one of her patented Ma Looks This time, it was the "I'm incredibly worried about you, and I am also very tired" one, and Zack easily relented.

He still felt a bit guilty about getting her hopes up about him staying home, after all.

So he stayed home for 2 days, watching his skin stitch itself together through the mako in his body…

It was incredibly boring.

He had half the mind to just jump out the window and start his trek to Cosmo Canyon on foot if he had to. Mako-blue eyes(Zack wondered briefly how his mom hadn't noticed the color yet) peered out the window to gauge how far he'd have to climb down when he saw a familiar face.

His Uncle Walter, his mom's older cousin, was working on his old beat-up pick-up truck, whistling a local tune Zack couldn't quite name. 'I've really been away from home for too long...'

He wasn't sure how much time had passed with him just watching the old man work around the truck when their eyes met for a short moment.

"Zack!" the man called out, "come down here for a sec, will ya'?"

Zack bolted out of the house as fast as he could, using any reason to get out. 

His mom looked after him exasperatedly, but she must have heard Walter's request because she didn't try to stop Zack from going. 

"'Sup, Uncle Walt?" Zack asked as soon as he got out the door.

"It's harvestin' season, and my back's been hurtin' lately," Walter explained, twisting his torso to the left with a resounding 'pop!' 

Zack winced at the sound. "Yikes."

After a few more twists and stretches, Walter grinned. "Ya don't look like yer doin' anythin' right now. Ah, youth... "

"Yeah..."

Zack wondered why his uncle called him down to begin with. Did he need some help? Zack put his hands on his hips and looked around the area, vaguely remembering Uncle Walter having a son. Shouldn't he be helping his dad?

Walter noticed him looking around and sighed. "Yer cousin Balto isn't here anymore, if that's what you're lookin' for."

Zack gaped, shocked at how easily his uncle figured him out. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Balto, huh... Um, so where did he go?" he asked.

Walter shook his head and grumbled out, "He got caught up in one thing or other and left his ma and pa behind..." 

The exact same thing Zack was about to do now. He couldn't help but look away in shame.

Walter recognized that look, and he sighed heavily. He knew there was nothing he could do to actually stop Zack from leaving, especially if he was determined enough. 

'I've really gotten old and soft,' he thought to himself with a huff, considering his options, 'I can at least make sure he gets through the jungles safely.'

Walter cleared his throat, snapping Zack's attention back to him. "Anyways, I called ya' down here to help me with the deliveries. I need someone to load these babies up for me," the man gestured to the bundles and crates of local produce sitting next to his truck, "Ya can even come along to get some trade experience. Besides, It's a few days' travel to Cosmo Canyon, and I'd definitely appreciate the company. Whaddya say?"

Zack gaped at the man. He was starting to worry about how he was going to get to Wutai, heck, even out of Gongaga, with how strictly his mom was watching him, only for his uncle to suddenly give him an easy way out. He had heard that there was a way to get from Cosmo Canyon to Wutai from Kunsel, long ago. If he used that route… 

Zack grinned brightly, "You betcha I'm coming with!" 

-Present-

Zack was starting to regret coming with. 

He didn't want to sound like a nagging kid, especially since his uncle was kind enough to bring him along, but he couldn't help but ask. 

"Uncle Walt, how much longer is it gonna take?" Zack asked through the small window. Not only was he bored, he was also starting to bake under the heat. He had to know. 

"We gotta be careful with the speed, Zack," Walter explained, "drive too fast and the bumps get too crazy for the goods. I doubt the customers will like 'em all bruised up." 

"Right…" Zack looked at the pumpkin in front of him, definitely not wanting it to go splat if they drove too fast over a stray rock. 

"Besides, we wouldn't wanna drive straight into a dust storm, would we?" 

Zack perked up at that. "Dust storm?" He hadn't run into any of those during his time on the run. 

Walter chuckled at his confusion, "Ah, you younguns are really clueless. Ain'tcha glad your Uncle Walter brought ya along?" He paused, focusing on the road for a moment, driving around a particularly large stray branch before continuing, "The Nibel winds are blowing south this season, and it's kicking up lots of dry dust towards Cosmo. Visibility gets pretty bad, especially at night, so we gotta be extra careful on the road." 

"Gotcha…" Zack huffed, understanding the need for caution, but unhappy about the time it's taking nonetheless.

It took them another few hours of careful driving when Zack spotted the large telescope of Cosmo Canyon's famous observatory. He was tempted to tell his uncle to hurry up, but he remembered the man's words about winds and dust and decided to be patient, just a little bit longer. 

They were only a few kilometers outside Cosmo Canyon proper when Zack noticed the road they were driving on gradually disappearing under dust and sand. By the time he could actually see the village entrance, the road was completely invisible, at least an inch under the sand they were now driving over. There had obviously been a heavy dust storm just a few hours before, and it was as bad as his Uncle Walter said it would be. 

"Imagine we got here earlier. We woulda been buried along with the road!" the man joked. Zack didn't even want to imagine being covered in all that dust. 

They entered the village with little fanfare, with Zack quickly unloading the contents of the truck as soon as they found a suitable parking space.

Walter was stretching out his limbs, having been stuck driving for hours at a time, and watched Zack with awe. He wondered how his young nephew was managing to carry 3 full crates at once, knowing full well that he himself couldn't do that even in his prime. 

Just watching it made the man's back hurt even more. "Ah, younguns…" he sighed wistfully.

Zack finished up in record time, and immediately asked his uncle if he could take a look around the village. He needed to find someone that knew the route from Cosmo Canyon to Wutai before they had to go back to Gongaga. 

Walter looked at him strangely before sighing. "Alright, ya go take a look-see while I find some customers for these. Try not to break anything, 'kay?" 

"Gotcha!" Zack nodded enthusiastically, then ran off in a random direction. 

It only took him about 10 minutes to find some promising people. They were an old man and a younger woman talking to each other, their appearance and words practically screaming that they're from Wutai. 

"Excuse me," he called out, trying to get their attention, but he got no reaction. 

Zack briefly wondered if they could even understand him. 'Maybe they just didn't hear me?' he thought, so he tried again, a bit closer to them. "Um, hello?"

The woman(on closer inspection, she was definitely more 'girl' than 'woman') stopped talking, clearly having heard him, and looked at Zack stiffly. He tried to give her his sweetest smile, but it doesn't seem to have affected her at all. 

The girl wordlessly asked the old man for permission, and she got an even stiffer nod in response. She perked up and turned towards Zack, giving him a small, shy smile. "Yes?" 

Zack took a breath, relieved that they at least spoke Standard.

"You should smile more often, it suits you!" he pointed out flirtatiously, his old habit paired with his own charming smile rearing its head to put the girl at ease.

The girl giggled, ducking her head to hide her blush. She was about to say something when the old man cleared his throat loudly. 

"What do you want?" he asked in sharp, heavily accented Standard. 

Zack had suspected that the old movies he used to watch exaggerated the cliched "Wutai" accent, especially for older characters, but hearing the real deal made him realize that the movies made them sound like idiotic drunkards on purpose. It was anti-Wutai Shinra propaganda, through and through. 

Zack frowned in disgust, wondering how he ever willingly believed in Shinra's lies. Remembering the old man asked a question, though, he snapped himself out of his thoughts and replied, "I wanted to know if you could tell me how to get to Wutai from here?"

The old man stared at him long and hard before turning away. "I have nothing to say to you. Go back where you come from."

"But sir! I have to know!" Zack said desperately, hoping his urgency will reach the man, "Please! I have to get there before it's too late!" 

"It is very dangerous!" the girl cried out, "Why would you want to go there? Wutai is at war with Shinra…" 

Zack nodded gravely. "That's exactly why I have to go there! I have to stop Shinra before they hurt more people. Before they ruin even more lives!" 

The old man must have sensed something from his voice because he turned back towards him. He then lifted the sleeves of his clothes, revealing both of his arms, badly scarred and burned, the skin having barely started healing. 

"Shinra set fire to our village. I try saving my family from burning our home, but only get my daughter out…" he trailed off, his previously sharp voice now drowning in grief and anger. "This is what happens when you go against Shinra." The man held the girl's, his daughter's, hand for a moment, both of their expressions full of sorrow. 

"I know," Zack replied solemnly, reminded of his own desperate attempts at saving innocent people from their burning homes. People that had nothing to do with Shinra, that had done nothing wrong, just because a scientist thought it would be an interesting experiment…! He grit his teeth, trying to block out everything he could remember of what Hojo did to him in that lab in Nibelheim. "Believe me sir, I know." 

The old man studied his face again,  his expression turning horrified after finally noticing the mako glow of his eyes. "Even to children, they…!"

'Oh, you don't know the half of it…' Zack thought ruefully. 

The old man let go of his daughter's hand. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from one of his pouches, and started drawing lines and shapes on the paper.

It was the directions to the route Zack was looking for. 

"Papa, we musn't…" the girl said quietly, tugging at her father's sleeve, trying to dissuade him from giving the piece of paper to Zack. 

"We must not stop a man from getting his revenge. It is his right!" The man shook his daughter's hand off of him and continued writing. "It is a matter of pride and honor! Without those, a man is worth nothing!" 

'Honor, huh...' 

Zack doubted his quest for revenge was what anyone would consider honorable. The mere mention of the word reminded him of all of Angeal's words and teachings. In the end, the man threw his own honor away, in exchange for his pride. Even if it killed him.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth. Zack realized he'd been suppressing his true feelings about it this whole time, and wondered about why he even tried.

So he had a bit of a grudge. Surely, nobody can fault him for that.

The man had finished his rough map and handed it over to Zack. "Do not lose this. I pray for your success."

Zack nodded, determination glinting brightly in his eyes.

The girl next to them watched on with clear disapproval, but she stayed quiet. 

Zack wasted no time and left that very same hour, sneaking out of the village before his uncle could finish selling off their goods.

Walter was sitting in his truck, waiting. He got the feeling that Zack had already left, maybe already halfway towards Nibelheim or the Golden Saucer. Still, he waited, on the off-chance that his nephew changed his mind about leaving and wanted a ride back home.

It was 10 minutes later when he saw a girl frantically running towards the truck. She looked like a mess, clearly having been running for a while.

She spotted him inside the vehicle, and ran even faster.

"Sir!" she yelled before she even stopped running. "Your son, he has left!"

Walter looked at her, confused, before realizing that she was talking about Zack. He would admit to some family resemblance(in-fact, Zack and his actual son Balto could easily pass as siblings), but he figured correcting her at the moment wasn't really important.

So Zack really was gone, huh?

"Please, you must chase him!" She panted, clearly winded, but she quickly continued, "He has gone westward to Wutai! I hope it isn't too late, but--"

Whatever the girl said went ignored by Walter. 'Wutai? Why in the world would he go to a warzone?!' He only helped him get out of Gongaga because he thought the boy just wanted better opportunities, and the Golden Saucer, or even Rocket Town, were the closest destinations without crossing the seas to get to Midgar!

"When did he leave?" he cut through the girl's babbling.

She pursed her lips and looked away. "It took me at least two hours to find you, sir..."

So it was too late. Even if he went after him right at this moment, the boy would have reached the Wutai continent by now, and he'd have no chance of finding Zack in the wilderness. 

Walter slumped into his seat and covered his face with his hands. His young, foolish nephew will end up dead, far, far away from home, and it was all because of him.

How will he ever face the boy's mother, his own sister. He sobbed into his hands and grieved.

'What have I done?' 

Chapter Text

Zack took on the arduous task of traveling from the southern tip of the island to the Capital with nothing but a sharp knife and his wits, employing the knowledge and experiences on survival he gained during the last months of his previous life on the run from Shinra. 

The journey took him 4 days worth of trouble and a few close shaves with the local monsters and wildlife, only to be rejected at the entrance by two guards. 

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he breathed out, his exhaustion obvious on his haggard appearance.

"Go home, gaijin," the man on the left sneered. Zack dubbed him Nono in his mind. "Wutai is at war. We have no time to care for children." 

"But I–" 

"Go. Home." Nono repeated, punctuating his words by pointing his spear at Zack. 

"Hey, calm down," the man on the right soothed, putting his hand on Nono's spear. Zack dubbed him as  Gogo. "He is just a boy." 

"A boy that has no place here!" 

Zack scowled at their words. 'I'm not just some kid, I used to be a SOLDIER 1st Class! Hell, I even took down the whole of Fort Tamblin as a 2nd! I can probably take both of you on with my bare hands!' He was very tempted to say all of that out loud, but he knew they'd think he'd completely lost his mind, and his chances of ever getting into the Capital will plummet to zero. 

Instead, Zack crossed his arms, fearlessly facing Nono's spear. "I'm not going anywhere. I hate Shinra as much as you guys(probably even more!), and I know Wutai needs all the help it can get!" 

Gogo inspected Zack carefully, looking at his tattered clothes and scarce supplies, along with the bruises and the lack of actual scars. He was impressed, clearly seeing the boy's courage and potential.

"We will discuss it with the others," Gogo declared. Nono tried to argue, but Gogo held up a hand, silencing the man. "Before our decision is made, we cannot let you in the capital."

It was Zack's turn to try and argue. Gogo gave him a stern look, and he snapped his mouth shut. 'Yeesh, this guy's aura could rival Tsengs's during a bad day.'

"We will provide you with food and a tent, but you must stay outside the borders. Consider this a test. I expect good results from you, boy."

Zack wanted to groan. Wasn't his whole journey here enough of a test?

Maybe they wanted to see how long he was willing to wait, or maybe they'll be watching him to see if he was a Shinra spy. Both reasonable enough to do to a foreigner during wartime, he supposed.

It didn't stop him from feeling a bit bummed out, though.

Zack had been camping out for 2 days when he encountered a Shinra scouting team. They were clearly inexperienced, judging by their deer-caught-in-headlights expression when they ran into him. They were clearly not expecting to see anyone in that small clearing.

Which was ridiculous, since the whole reason they're scouting at all was so they can find outposts and people.

Zack used their momentary surprise to knock them all out, loot their supplies, and destroy their equipment.

It was too easy. He was almost disappointed.

He couldn't really fault them, though. They were barely any older than he currently was, and he mentally had at least 3 years(not counting his time as a... had his time in SOLDIER really been that short?) of experience over them. Hell, they were the same age as him when he was deployed to Wutai, and he had the advantage of having an Elite as a mentor.

Zack never took into account that he might be some sort of prodigy.

He looked over the unconscious men again, and not even 5 minutes later, Gogo arrived at the clearing. The man looked at him with approval, but said nothing. He took the men away.

Zack wondered if he should have just spared the men from the torture they were likely to experience by killing them instead.

The thought of killing such young men, who dreamt of being heroes and bringing honor to their family through the glory of war, made him sick.

But, this was the path they all chose, wasn't it? 

He had killed for Shinra before, and the men he'd killed were only trying to defend their homes. Shinra had no right to be in Wutai. Those SOLDIERs, young as they were, shouldn't have been there at all. He had no right. They all signed up for war, so they knew what they were getting into. Death is always a possibility. 

But it didn't mean they had to suffer. 

And so, Zack resolved himself to give any SOLDIER he encountered a swift death. A mercy-killing. 

Zack grimaced. 'How very kind of you, Zack,' he mocked himself. 

At least now, he was on the correct side. He was doing the right thing. 

Right? Right.

Another 2 days passed before something unexpected happened. Zack was in the middle of preparing a meal when he heard a shrill cry echo through the trees. A very familiar cry.

"NOOOO!! YOU STINKY SOLDIERS!! LET ME GOOOOO!!"

'Yuffie?! What is she doing out here?!'

Who was he kidding, of course she was out here. The kid had a knack of getting herself into trouble.

He took the standard SOLDIER sword, plus a couple of materia he'd looted from the scouting team, and headed off to the direction of the screaming.

It didn't take him very long to find Yuffie being carried by an angry looking 2nd Class, followed by three 3rd Classes that were chattering excitedly about the reward they'll get for capturing the Wutai princess.

Yuffie tried struggling out of the 2nd's hold, but her efforts were quickly stopped by a slap to her face, courtesy of one of the 3rds. "Be a good girl and shut the fuck up, or I won't go so easy next time!" he threatened. 

She immediately started crying, but it was clear that she was forcing herself to keep quiet, not wanting to be hit again. 

Zack was livid. She was just a child! How could they...? He shook his head.

Of course. He'd known plenty of good people during his time as a SOLDIER, but the root of Shinra will always be rotten. There were plenty of assholes like that 3rd, and they were usually the ones that called the shots.

Seeing the usually energetic Yuffie look so afraid and subdued... Zack jumped into action. The 3rds didn't even know what hit them. They all fell dead to the ground without much fanfare. The 2nd put up more of a fight, visibly in panic, and even dared to use Yuffie as a meat shield to protect himself. 

Zack saw red. He casted a Stop on the SOLDIER and carefully took the girl out of his grasp. He held on to her tightly, both to comfort her, and to make sure she didn't see what happened next.

There was no point traumatizing the girl any further. He'd grown attached to the little brat through the short time they spent together in his previous life, and he'd gotten protective of her.

He didn't know what he'd do with himself if she'd become afraid of him. 

Zack tapped into his Limit Break and chopped the man into a dozen pieces with a Chain Slash, making sure to end it as quickly as possible. 

It was quiet for a while, until Yuffie started squirming in his arms, protests muffled on his shirt. 

Zack loosened his hold on her, and she looked straight at his face with a mixture of both confusion and gratitude. 

"Hey, who are you anyway?" the girl asked, regaining some of her bluster.

Zack smiled, relieved to see her energetic again. "I'm Zack, and I--"

"He is an enemy of Shinra," Gogo's voice cut-in through Zack's introduction, startling both him and Yuffie. 

When did he get here? Was he watching the whole time?

Gogo seems to have read his thoughts, and explained. "I heard the young princess' screams, and arrived here a mere second after you did." He looked at Zack impressed, unable to hide the relieved smile on his usually calm face. "I clearly did not need to intervene, though I do not know how someone as young as you managed to take down four SOLDIERs by yourself. I doubt even one of our Crescent Unit could have done it as effortlessly as you did."

Zack gulped, not knowing how to even explain. He hadn't been expecting an audience, so he didn't hold anything back. 

"Just caught them all by surprise, I guess. I saw the kid in danger and my body just moved on its own..." he tried to go for nonchalant, but it came out more like a question.

Gogo narrowed his eyes at Zack's explanation, but he accepted it after a while. He'd dismissed the awkward words as a sign of the boy's youth, as he didn't even seem to be above the age of 15.

As he'd later learn from their informant in Cosmo Canyon, Zack Fair was from Gongaga, and was actually 13, younger than his estimates. He was apparently experimented on by Shinra, judging by his SOLDIER eyes, giving him a good reason to be against them. With such a prodigy on their side, he could be Wutai's only hope against Shinra's SOLDIERs, especially their Silver Demon, Sephiroth. 

They must hone the boy's skills, train him with all the knowledge of the Masters. Perhaps he'd even be powerful enough to wield the great Leviathan...! 

Yuffie had been watching the whole exchange quietly. 'Enemy of Shinra? So he's one of us, right?' She couldn't see what he did earlier, but she knew it was impressive. He took those SOLDIERs down like they were bugs, and he was so young, too! Barely twice her age! He'll definitely be less boring than any of those old curmudgeons her father assigned to her. 

If she could just get him to teach her how to fight, she'd be the greatest warrior ever...!

Both Gogo and Yuffie came to the same conclusion.

'I must present him to the Emperor Godo/dad immediately!'

It only took half an hour for the three of them to get to Wutai Village.

'Finally!' Zack thought excitedly, 'Sweet, sweet civilization!'

Yuffie had clung on to him the whole way, and Gogo had a contemplative look on his face throughout the journey, but Zack didn't think much of it. He was just happy that he was finally making some progress.

They'd rushed through the village, Zack missing his chance to have a proper look. He never had the opportunity to check what happened to Wutai after the war, and had only heard of its beauty prior to the war.

He'd gotten some glimpses of the architecture and some impressive statues during his deployment to Fort Tamblin, but now he'll be able to see much more of it, learn more of Wutai's history and culture, appreciate more of its beauty, before Shinra had tainted it. 

After some twists and turns, a lot of questions, and some guards confiscating all of Zack's weapons and materia(Gogo had sworn that it will all be returned later), they finally reached the throne room, in front of the Emperor, Godo Kisaragi himself.

The palace was lavish, full of rich reds and bright golds and intricate designs, but it definitely had an elegance to it  that the eyesore that was Don Corneo's attempts at emulating it lacked.

Godo sat with effortless dignity, exuding the aura of power without saying a single word. Zack couldn't help but be in awe of the man. He'd always wondered what kind of man would inspire such loyalty from such proud people like the warriors of Wutai, but now he understood. The man seemed to embody everything Zack had seen of the nation.

The man was clearly no tyrant. He'd cared about the people of Wutai, if his surrender after the fall of Fort Tamblin was any indication. Some people called it cowardice. Zack thought the man just wanted to save as many people as possible in the face of a hopeless situation. Zack remembered when Yuffie told him that Godo had received a list of information to use against SOLDIER, but he refused it out of his sense of honor. Emperor Godo was definitely nothing like the suits of Shinra.

He was definitely someone Zack could get behind. 

Zack's induction into the Wutai forces didn't take any time, compared to the days he spent waiting to get into Wutai itself. He'd been introduced to the other warriors without a hitch, barring a raised eyebrow or two.

Godo will apparently personally see to Zack's training, on top of the other studies he'd have to take. He wasn't the man's only student, however. Another boy, older than Zack, was in the middle of his own training.

His name was Sonon Kusakabe. He had a younger sister named Melphie, who bore a striking resemblance to an older Yuffie. Yuffie had complained about the fact that Melphie was allowed to train as a "proper warrior" while she was stuck reading "boring stuff". Zack knew Godo was just trying to keep her out of trouble, but she wasn't having any of it. She'd tried sneaking into their training sessions a few times, only to be caught by her tutors a few moments later, and get punished with more reading.

Zack knew she had potential, and she'd just get herself into more trouble sneaking around without any training, so he'd promised to teach her some of the stuff he learned in exchange for her good behavior. The girl's eyes sparkled brightly, nodding vigorously. She then ran off to continue her studies.

Zack watched after her fondly for a few seconds, before noticing someone watching him from behind. He turned around and saw Sonon with an amused smirk on his face.

"I saw that."

Zack shrugged. "It's not like I was trying to hide it."

Sonon chuckled, then gestured towards where Yuffie went. "You sure you wanna do that? The kid's already a handful as she is. Wouldn't want her knowing how to make bombs on top of that."

Zack scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Well, it's better than her trying to make bombs without knowing how to, right?" His eyes then widened, looking at  Sonon pleadingly. "Wait, it's not against the rules, is it? You're not gonna tell on me, are you?!"

Sonon laughed at the sudden shift. "Well, it's not like anyone ever told me not to do it, so I don't see why you can't." 

"Really?" Zack's mako-blue eyes somehow widened further, and it took on a ridiculously shiny quality. 

'How is this guy's puppy eyes somehow more lethal than Melphie's?' Sonon thought, completely baffled. "Uh, yeah. Really."

Zack's pleading expression quickly changed into a grin, and he sighed in relief. "Phew!"

Chapter Text

Before Zack knew it, 3 years had passed. His  memories of the past few years always had a tinge of static, like his brain had changed channels every few months, skipping over a local frequency or two. 

The last time he had felt anything similar was when he was right outside Midgar, when he... 

He chalked it up to stress. 

Currently, the war with Shinra was at an impasse. Both sides didn't make much headway, and it almost felt like a ceasefire. Zack suspected the lack of progress on Shinra's part was partly due to his own addition to Wutai's forces, being familiar with SOLDIER's tactics and weak points. 

In addition, he'd also learned a lot of Wutai's tricks. Big, flashy movements were too deeply ingrained into him, even with all his ninja training, but he used it to his advantage, throwing the enemies off his next move.

Zack was also amazing in a team. He was a natural leader, and morale within his unit was always high. He and Sonon made for an especially deadly combination, their synergy leaving no chance for the enemy to retaliate. The other warriors even refer to them as "Long(dragon) & Lang(wolf)". Sonon thought it was corny, Zack thought it was embarrassing, Melphie thought it was adorable, and Yuffie thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Sonon preferred staves and ninjutsu, Zack preferred blades and materia. They seemed to balance each other out, but Sonon knew it was Zack doing most of the work. Sonon didn't know how he did it, but Zack was able to adapt to any situation, using any style.

Just last week, Sonon managed to take down a 2nd Class with his Limit Break, Dance with the Dragon. Another 2nd appeared out of nowhere, and he didn't have any time to react. Suddenly, Zack was there, and he took down the 2nd with his own Limit Break, Dance with the Mad Dog. 

It looked very similar to Sonon's, and even had a similar name. He'd asked about it, but Zack shrugged, explaining that it "just happens sometimes". Godo suspected some use of an augmented Mime Materia, but a quick inspection showed that no materia was involved at all.

They tested Zack's abilities for a while, and Godo discovered that he could copy more than one Limit Break. Zack had ended up revealing Bloodlust, a version of Yuffie's Bloodbath.

'How did he know her--?! Ah. ' 

Zack awkwardly scratched the back of his head, Sonon coughed and acted like he knew nothing about it, and Godo rubbed his temples in resignation. The emperor had long realized that someone must have done something to make Yuffie become more diligent in her studies, he just didn't know who or how. Now that he discovered that she was simply bribed by Zack with training...

Well, at least his daughter was in the care of someone he trusted.

Speaking of Yuffie, she learned quickly, but she was still too young, too excitable to be a proper warrior. She'd always stay on the sidelines with Melphie, delegated to healing and ranged ninjutsu. Yuffie would grumble about how boring it was, but she wouldn't let anyone hear the end of it if she actually saved them with a Cure. 

Zack never needed it, being a master of materia himself, and Yuffie would brag that he was only that good because he was her "loyal minion".

Zack would laugh it off. "Can't argue with the little lady," he'd say, refusing to refer to her as a princess. She seemed to prefer it that way, anyway.

Godo was glad. He'd struggled taking care of Yuffie after the death of his wife, and hadn't realized that all his attempts at protecting his daughter had led to her feeling trapped instead, and she'd started acting out. Ever since Zack arrived, though, she'd gained new focus, without losing any of the energy that made her who she was. She stuck to him like glue, hanging on to his every word and lesson like he hung the stars in the sky himself.

Godo thought it was the cutest thing. His advisors recommended that perhaps Yuffie and Zack should be wed, and Zack should become his successor, but Godo adamantly refused. He will never see the two as more than siblings.

In fact, it was like Zack had become a sibling to everyone. He and Sonon were practically inseparable. The older warriors were protective of him like their little brother, and the young trainees all looked up to him like their big brother. 

The emperor would be surprised if the gods themselves didn't favor Zack in some way. He was clearly gifted, a much better fighter than the other, older warriors. Some of the Masters have even confessed that Zack seemed to know more than they did. Godo wondered if Zack could overcome the Guardians, or even Godo himself. He shook his head. Maybe he should leave those thoughts for another time.

Godo looked to the gardens, watching Yuffie play in the flowers. Zack was staring up at the night sky, his face always taking on the look of melancholy when he thought no one was looking. Godo had always wondered why, yet he never thought to ask. The boy was from somewhere else, after all. Perhaps he missed his old home. 

Maybe he should grant him permission to visit his parents when they had the time.

Surely, that time would come. 

The advanced scouting unit reported spotting a caravan approaching their various strongholds, and confirmed the presence of two of SOLDIER's Elites, along with unidentified machinery.

Godo frowned, worry marring his grave expression. The Crescent Unit have managed to take down 1st Classes before, but the Elites were a different story. Yet, it was certainly not unwinnable. Not with Zack on their side. 

Angeal Hewley was the less unpredictable of the two, but he was no less dangerous. He adamantly refused to involve civilians, nor did he ever capture any surrendering warriors. He was an honorable man. It was a shame that he worked for Shinra. 

In contrast, Genesis Rhapsodos was ruthless, and he cared not for collateral damage, which was most likely the reason why he had not been deployed to the war for so long. Shinra had no use for a pile of ashes, after all. 

But the fact that he was out here now... Shinra must have finally lost their patience.

Godo knew not why they didn't deploy the most powerful one of the Elites, Sephiroth. Perhaps Shinra thought it unnecessary. 

For once, he was thankful for Shinra's arrogance.

They'd deployed a unit of materia and ninjutsu specialists to intercept the machinery, the things apparently susceptible to Thunder.

They've also deployed several regular units to bolster their numbers through their different strongholds, not knowing which specific one would be Shinra's target.

They set the newly-created 'Ryuuron(Dragon Wolf)' Team, an off-shoot of the Crescent Unit led by Zack and Sonon, on standby. They were currently stationed in the middle of all their strongholds to make sure they could respond to any one of them as quickly as possible.

So far, there have been no reports of casualties on Wutai's side, and there were no signs of the two Elites in the frontlines. 

Godo prayed to Da-chao, wishing for their continued fortune.

'This isn't fair!' Yuffie thought, glaring at where Melphie and her unit had gone. 'I've been training my magic with them the whole time! Why wasn't I sent out there too?!'

She stomped forward, preparing to convince her father that she should be deployed too, when she noticed Zack and Sonon's unit getting stationed somewhere else.

They had no magic specialist deployed with them.

'This is my chance!' Yuffie snuck along their path, making sure to stay hidden. 'If I helped these guys out, then they'd have no choice but to acknowledge that I'm a warrior too!'

She'd never admit that she followed them because she was worried about her unofficial big brothers.

Zack sat completely still, mind racing. 'Angeal and Genesis are here... I'd have to fight them again, after everything that happened last time...'

He felt his stomach turn. He'd sworn to kill every SOLDIER that he'd end up facing.

The circumstances were completely different, but Zack wasn't ready to kill Angeal again, even if the man didn't know he even existed. He was a victim of Shinra, just as much as Wutai was. The same goes for Genesis...

'Still, they're fighting for Shinra! They're our enemies!' 

Zack stood up, frustrated with himself. Why did he have to have doubts now?! He did a few squats to clear his head, to no avail.

Sonon watched Zack fretting for a few minutes before deciding enough was enough. If Zack was nervous, then how was everyone else supposed to stay calm?

"Hey, what's wrong?" he called out, stopping Zack mid-squat.

Zack turned toward his friend gingerly, trying to school his expression from frustration to something a little less intense. It didn't really work, he wasn't exactly that best at the sneaky ninja stuff.

"I just..." he trailed off. Just what? What can he even say? "I'm not ready to fight my old mentor"? "I think I'll sit this one out"? "I actually died, went back in time, and now I don't want to kill the same guy again"?? 

No, those were all awful. He can't just leave these guys to deal with the Elites. He'd seen their skills. Normal SOLDIERs were no match for them. Sonon can even take down a high-rated 2nd Class SOLDIER on his own. Maybe it will take 3 of them to fight a lower-rated 1st... But against an Elite? 

Zack knew he was the only one capable of fighting them, let alone two. It was up to him to protect his unit. To save Wutai. To win the war. To destroy Shinra. He couldn't be selfish, not now.

"I just didn't expect us to have to face two Elites, y'know?" was the explanation he went with, following it up with a pathetic chuckle. It wasn't a lie, at least.

Sonon sighed and plopped himself down next to Zack. "I get you man, but... maybe tone it down a bit? The others are getting antsy just watching you. I am, too."

Zack looked at the others. They were sitting down quietly, tension flowing out of their whole unit in waves.

"Sorry..."

Sonon coaxed Zack to sit down next to him. "I didn't want to say anything since you're already a bundle of nerves." His eyebrows furrowed. "Honestly, we're no match against them without you. I think everyone here would agree. It's a bit shameful to admit, but it's just the truth."

'I already knew that, man...' Zack's expression soured, already knowing what his friend was going to say next.

"All I'm saying is, we're counting on you, Zack. We'll have your back the whole way, so just focus on dealing with those two, ok? Leave the other SOLDIERs to the rest of the unit. You and I are partners, so you won't be facing those Elites alone." Sonon laughed, more at himself than anything else. "I don't know how much help I'll be, though. I literally just admitted they're way out of my league."

Zack smiled at that, not quite soothed, but appreciating the gesture just the same. "Thanks, Long."

Sonon snorted, not expecting that silly nickname to come from Zack himself. "Sure thing, Lang."

Zack was touched, really. It was much more reassuring than when Sephiroth sent him out alone to go after Genesis and Angeal...

...It's not like he actually had to kill them, right? Maybe he can convince Genesis and Angeal to defect from Shinra, to join Wutai's side. If he could just talk to them...

He had to try. Maybe it would even work, this time!

Zack got the feeling that he was forgetting something very, very important.

Chapter Text

They saw the signal flare before they heard it. The Elites have been spotted at Fort Tamblin.

'What are the odds?' Zack thought, remembering that that was where he, Genesis, and Angeal also were at some point, before everything went to shit. The only one missing was Sephiroth.

Back then, it was Genesis that convinced Angeal to defect from Shinra. Now it was his turn to do the same to the both of them. To think that he'd tried to do the exact opposite thing, to convince them to come back to Shinra instead.

The irony of the situation was not lost on him.

The Ryuuron Unit got to Fort Tamblin in 5 minutes. A lot of their regular forces had already engaged the SOLDIERs, with none of Scarlet's weapons in sight.

'Good, looks like intel was spot on. I hope Melphie and her unit are doing alright. Those heaps of junk stand no chance!'

Somewhere to the east, Mephie sneezed, dropping the  chip she had in her hand. She and the rest of the magic specialist unit were already picking up pieces of the machines for spare parts, having completely wiped them out just a few minutes ago.

Zack and Sonon quickly cut through SOLDIERs, keeping an eye out for either of the Elites, but there was no sign of them.  Have they gotten through the gates already? Maybe they went ahead to get rid of the anti-SOLDIER creatures they had hidden in the dojo.

Sure enough, the regular forces they'd stationed to guard the place had already been cut down when they got there. Somehow, a few of them were still alive. Zack and Sonon moved the men near the fountains, where there was more light, so they could inspect their injuries better. Zack tended to their wounds, being the better healer between the two of them. 

Which left Sonon on look-out duty.

He surveyed the area, keeping an eye for anyone that might come out of the dojo's doors. 

He debated between two options: a) He and Zack storm through the doors themselves, catching the Elites by surprise, while hopefully not falling into a trap; or b) They wait for the two Elites to come out, reducing the risk of traps, but increasing the range of collateral damage.

He'd walked over near the dojo's entrance, checking if he could hear any movement from inside, but there was no sound. Not a good sign. 

'Those creatures are definitely dead.'

He turned back towards the fountain, not wanting to stay near the definite danger zone any longer than he had to.

He didn't even make it more than one step away when a red blur shot out towards him, not giving him any time to dodge. He was forced to block with his staff, but his stance wasn't as stable as he wanted it to be so he ended up stumbling from the impact.

Whatever it was, it hit hard.

Sonon saw a glint of light from his side, so he pushed the first enemy off of his staff and quickly stepped back, narrowly dodging the SOLDIER sword that would have probably cut him in two.

'Way too close!'

He quickly put up a defensive stance, making sure his back wasn't turned to either of his opponents. 

His opponents being Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley, the SOLDIER Elites that he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for.

'Gonna need back-up ASAP!'

"Definitely a cut above the rest." Genesis declared, almost sounding impressed. He gestured towards Angeal and smirked. "How long do you think this one would last?"

Angeal frowned, still pointing his sword towards Sonon. "I wouldn't be so confident, Genesis. Clearly, he didn't come here alone."

Sonon was torn between panicking and screaming for Zack, or being relieved that, for whatever reason, Hewley hadn't used the much larger blade at his back.

He wouldn't have been able to dodge that massive thing with a single step.

Thankfully, it seemed like he didn't need to call for help, hearing Zack's footsteps quickly approaching from behind. 

Both of the Elites noticed his approach and they both sprung into action, hoping to take Sonon down before it became a 2-vs-2 battle.

Sonon expected it, however, and quickly jumped out of their range, landing right next to Zack.

"You alright?" he asked calmly, as if he hadn't sprinted like a chocobo whose tail was on fire. 

Sonon smirked, feeling much more confident than earlier. "Yeah."

Mako-blue eyes kept watch on the Elites, gauging their strength. 

Zack wondered if he and Sonon could take both of them on at the same time, or if they should try separating the two SOLDIERs.

He also had to figure out how he was going to enact his 'convince them to defect from Shinra' plan without Sonon trying to stop him.

'I should have talked to him about this earlier,' he lamented. Zack briefly considered telling him now, before the battle actually started, but he discarded the idea immediately. 'They'll definitely think it's a trap, and Sonon probably wouldn't approve of it, anyway.'

Zack pursed his lips. He wasn't giving up on his plan just yet, and he figured that trying to convince them separately would be the most effective way to do it.

He knew Angeal was the more responsible of the two, so it might be harder to convince him to leave SOLDIER, but he was also more reasonable.

If he could just make him see how bad Shinra really was... 

On the other hand, Genesis had been the one to defect from Shinra back then, and he was also the one who convinced Angeal to do the same. But he was also unpredictable.

Zack tried to remember what caused the man to defect in the first place, but his mind was coming up blank. 

'It was because of a fight with Sephiroth, right? Or was it an injury...?' Zack cursed at his sudden lapse in memory, like it was physically being blocked. He forced himself to remember, but his mind felt like an old TV getting nothing but static. 

It had happened a few times before, but never at such a critical time.

'Damn it!' 

Zack wasn't given any more time to think because Angeal, apparently noticing that he was distracted, suddenly rushed at him, leaving Genesis to deal with Sonon.

"You lost your focus." Angeal's voice echoed in Zack's mind, the memory of the man saving him from the anti-SOLDIER monster during his first time in Fort Tamblin cutting through the static.

'Now it's my turn to save you, Angeal!' Zack swore.

He dodged and blocked  Angeal's attacks, perfectly reading all of the man's moves. 'Had he always been this slow?' Zack wondered, 'No, that can't be it. He's an Elite!' 

Speaking of Elites, he briefly looked over Sonon's battle with Genesis, and while his friend seemed to be struggling, he was holding on.

'I have to finish this quickly!' Zack thought, parrying one of Angeal's slashes without even thinking about it. The SOLDIER deflected the following counter-attack and backed away, obviously thrown off.

Zack watched Angeal's apprehensive expression and realized that, no, it wasn't that Angeal was too slow, it was that Zack knew his style too well.

Zack never thought that fighting his mentor, the man he looked up to for so long, would be so easy. 

Neither of them moved, and Zack knew that now was the perfect opportunity to talk to the man. He took a step back, showing he had no intention of fighting.

That gave Angeal pause. He realized much earlier on that this boy was the more dangerous opponent between the two Wutai warriors, yet he didn't seem interested in fighting at all. He'd also noticed the clear distraction in his eyes. His SOLDIER eyes.

Angeal briefly wondered if the boy was a defected SOLDIER, but dismissed the idea. He was in-charge of looking over every newly initiated 3rd Class SOLDIER's paperwork, and he was always in the look-out for potential proteges. He prided himself with his good memory, and he was fairly sure that he had never seen this boy's face before.

'Could it be Wutai's own attempts at SOLDIER-type enhancements?' 

Angeal noticed the boy looking over where Genesis and the other warrior was again. He'd tried attacking when it happened the first time, and it clearly didn't work. Perhaps if he used the Buster Sword...?

This short moment of indecision was all it took for the boy to disappear from his sight. Angeal quickly put up a defensive stance, but he belatedly noticed that the warrior had rushed away from him, not towards.

He looked towards where Genesis had been battling the other warrior, realizing that's where the boy went, and cursed his lack of focus.

He saw the other Wutaian warrior on the ground, bleeding from multiple sword wounds and burns, clearly made a result of Genesis' attacks. He was barely conscious, but he was clearly still alive.

Angeal then looked towards Genesis himself, and saw black. A lot of black. Everywhere. His mind hadn't processed exactly what he was seeing before all the black was covered by red. Usually, whenever Genesis was involved, seeing red would have put him at ease, yet he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

Angeal ran over to his friend, only to stop half-way. His eyes widened, finally noticing the large black feathers on the ground. And the red...

It was spreading.

He knew it could be nothing else but blood. A wet, choking cough caught his attention, and he rushed towards the sound immediately.

Angeal was hoping, praying, that it was coming from the warrior boy, as cruel as it was. 'Surely, Genesis was safe...!'

Angeal saw the mako-eyed boy standing on his feet, unmoving. He was covered in blood, but it didn't seem to be his...

He heard a rasping gasp, followed by another painful sounding cough. Angeal whipped his head towards the sound, heart suddenly pounding. His eyes followed the trail of blood, along with the strange feathers.

It all led to what seemed to be a large, dying bird. Its entrails had scattered on the ground, and its pale brown crest was barely peeking through red and black.

Angeal spotted its lower half a few steps away, barely connected to its torso by a thin strip of intestine, and noticed its strange legs.

Its long, black, leather-clad, human legs...

His whole body went cold.

He quickly kneeled towards the bloody lump, mindless of all the viscera his gloves and pants were getting in contact with. He lifted the large, singular, black wing, and his mind completely rejected what he saw.

It was Genesis, his glassy eyes wide open.

Sonon knew for a fact that he was being toyed with. He'd heard that Genesis Rhapsodos was a cruel fighter, but he didn't expect their battle to end up like this. 

He couldn't really even call it a proper battle, since it felt more like a predator playing with its food.

That is, if said predators had a sword for claws, and it could cast fire magic.

Sonon was able to get a few hits in, but the man would just shrug them off. 

Mostly. 

He'd noticed that the Elite would jerk back urgently, almost violently, when he got hit on the left shoulder, and then blast out a fire spell in retaliation.

'So that's his weak spot... But how do I get closer without getting completely roasted?'

He'd equipped a Dragon Armlet earlier, after much insistence from Zack. "It suits you, Long!" he'd teased, but Sonon knew that his friend was just worrying about him. He was exasperated earlier, but now he was thankful for Zack's fussing. The armlet was the only thing keeping him standing in his fight with the magic-wielding SOLDIER, and he was quickly running out of steam. 

He just hoped that Zack was faring much better in his own battle.

Genesis stood back, waiting for his next move. Smirking. 

Sonon's temper flared, and he tightened his hold on his staff. 'Arrogant bastard won't know what hit him.'

Sonon prepared his Limit Break, knowing his next attack could very well be his last. He breathed in deep, then dashed forward, his staff clashing with Genesis' blade. 

"Oh?" Genesis intoned, amused at his seemingly reckless opponent. "What are you up to now, warrior?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sonon replied through gritted teeth. "I just hope you're ready to dance!

He unleashed his Limit Break, Dance with the Dragon, and assaulted the man with quick attacks from every angle he could. He focused his aim on Genesis' left shoulder, hoping to at least incapacitate the man.

The Elite noticed his intentions quickly, and desperately weaved and parried each blow, even using magic to deflect some of the ninjutsu that Sonon cast in between his barrage.

It seemed that Sonon's gamble was hopeless, his Limit Break quickly approaching its end, and his own body was reaching his limit.

He thrust his staff one last time and...!

"Agh!" Genesis fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder in pain.

'Not quite a knockout, but that should keep him down for a while.'

Sonon could barely hold himself up, having spent the last of his strength, and used his staff as a make-shift. He eyed Genesis warily, waiting for what the man would do next.

The SOLDIER suddenly let go of his shoulder, and started standing up slowly. He was clearly still in pain, but to think his attacks did so little damage? Sonon tensed up and tried to go into a battle stance, but he knew it was no use. He could barely stand up anymore, what more actually fight?

Genesis' eyes were full of fury, glaring straight at Sonon, and his red coat shifted. "I don't know what you've done to me, Wutai scum, but I will make you pay for it!" 

A black wing suddenly sprung from his back, and he flew right in front of Sonon, his flaming blade ready to strike the warrior down.

'Did he just grow a fucking wing?!' Sonon desperately blocked the attack, but his attempt was almost completely broken through, the heat searing through his sleeves. 

He growled with the effort, pushing back with the last of his strength, even with the sword melting through his staff.

Genesis pressed on, focusing on nothing but destroying his opponent. 

Sonon couldn't keep himself up any longer, having used up the last of his reserves, and fell backwards to the ground.

'Shit!' He instinctively screwed his eyes shut and held his breath, preparing for Genesis' attack, knowing that he was completely vulnerable in his current position.

He waited a beat. And another.

But the sword strike never came. 

He slowly opened his eyes, expecting the red Elite to be standing over him, perhaps wanting to gloat, but all he saw were dark feathers in the air, and Zack's figure standing to the side.

'Wait, Zack?!' Sonon did a double-take, wondering when his friend had gotten there. 'This is starting to feel like dejavu...'

He looked around, not finding any trace of the red Elite-- no, wait. That thing on the floor...? Sonon squinted, making sure it was a trick of the flickering torches around them. 

Brown eyes widened. He was sure. Right behind Zack laid the bloodied form of Genesis Rhapsodos. 

At least, the top half of him. 

He was somehow still breathing, and... turning gray?

What the hell?

A sudden movement in his peripheral caught his attention, and he was reminded that there were supposed to be two Elites. He tried to push himself up, or at least call out to Zack, but he was completely out of strength. He could barely even lift  a finger.

The man didn't seem to be heading for either of the warriors, though. He went straight for his fellow SOLDIER, face unreadable.

Sonon could have sighed in relief, but he knew it wasn't over yet. He couldn't believe that Zack would come to his rescue even when he had his own opponent to face.

He really shouldn't be surprised at this point. Brown eyes flicked towards the boy, not wanting to completely take his sight away from Hewley, just in case the man finally decided to attack.

He didn't need more than a glance, though. Sonon immediately noticed that something was wrong.

Zack hadn't moved at all, back still turned towards the SOLDIER.

'What the heck is he doing?!'

He quickly turned his attention back to the remaining Elite, and noticed the man holding Rhapsodos' face, quietly speaking with his corpse. 

Sonon was fairly sure nobody could come back from that, not even with 100 Phoenix Downs, yet Angeal still casted a Cure, a Regen, a Raise, even a Slow to try and slow down the bleeding, to no avail.

Genesis' complexion, no, his whole being had already become completely gray, cracks forming all over his body like it was made with brittle plaster. 

It was the most surreal image that Sonon had ever seen.

Angeal silently watched as his friend joined the Lifestream, motes of light and strands of green escaping his fingers.

His face was crumpled in grief, eyes shining with something other than the mako in every SOLDIERs blood. Hewley looked upwards, like he was desperately searching for where his friend had gone, when he completely stilled. 

The Elite slowly turned his head towards Zack, finally acknowledging that the one who maimed Genesis was the boy he'd been facing just a few moments ago.

The look of grief on his face transformed into rage. 

Sonon's heart jumped, and tried even more desperately to warn Zack. 

'Why are you just standing there?! WHY AREN'T YOU MOVING?!' he wanted to scream, but he couldn't manage more than a few weak grunts. 

Hewley stood up steadily and unsheathed his blade, the infamous Buster Sword.

He turned his whole body towards the warrior, towards Genesis' murderer. 

One step forward. 

The boy did not react. 

One more step. And another.

He still stayed completely unmoving.

Usually, Angeal would be wary of such strange behavior.  He would have been more careful, looking out for some sort of trap. Perhaps it was an ambush, and being reckless would put him in great danger.

Currently though, he could not give more of a damn. There was nothing more important than getting to Genesis' killer. 

He had to cut him down. To hurt him, to make him bleed.  He had to kill him.

Striking an enemy from behind was thought to be dishonorable, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He tightened his grip on the Buster's handle, and gnashed his teeth together. 

Honor and pride be damned, all he cared about was revenge. It didn't matter whose blood it was that would stain his blade, he wouldn't stop until he was satisfied.

He thrust his sword, aiming straight at Zack's back, but it was deflected off-course by a shuriken, its efficacy compounded by ninjutsu. The sword ended up glancing off the man's left pauldron instead, its sheer momentum still enough to slice through it and rip it off.

It left a long, bleeding gash on Zack's shoulder, yet he still did not move. 

"What are you doing, Zack?! At this rate, you’ll be chopped liver!" came the desperate voice of a young girl.

Sonon's heart jumped to his throat. 'Yuffie?!' The girl wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the frontlines. Hell, she wasn't even supposed to be outside the capital! Yet here she was, and she somehow just saved Zack's life.

Her voice seemed to be enough of a catalyst to snap Zack out of his stupor, his body immediately tensing like it had been doused in ice water.

"Yuffie...?" he breathed out, eyes searching for the girl.

"Focus on your opponent, you big idiot!" She screeched, "Behind you!!"

Zack turned around immediately, barely able to block the giant blade that would have chopped one of his arms off if he had moved a half-second too late.

His arms strained from the sheer force that the SOLDIER was putting into his attack, but his face showed that he had no intention of fighting the man at all.

"Please, I--" Zack pleaded, taking a step back from the Busters' range, but staying on the defensive, "Angeal, I didn't mean to...!"

The SOLDIER ignored his words, ears hearing nothing but Genesis' last gasps of life, eyes seeing nothing but red.

Slash, thrust, stab, slice. Every one of Angeal's attacks were blocked, but he kept going.

Sonon could only watch in confusion. 

Why wasn't Zack fighting back? Why was his face so full of anguish?

He didn't know what was going on with his friend, but he knew he had to do something. Zack had saved him plenty of times before. Now it was Sonon's turn to save him, even if it was from himself.

Chapter Text

Zack didn't know what happened. One moment, he was facing Angeal, ready to convince the man to leave Shinra. The next moment, he heard Sonon's voice and he'd sliced through whatever winged monster hurt his friend.

It wasn't until his blade's momentum stopped that the static in his mind finally cleared. He finally remembered why Genesis had deserted Shinra before.

The memories all rushed into his head, blocking out the rest of his senses. His overwhelmed mind had shut its other processes down in an attempt to protect itself, rendering his body paralyzed, as if he had gone to sleep with his eyes open.

Genesis Rhapsodos had gotten injured during a spar with Angeal and Sephiroth. His injury did not heal, and he started degrading. Later on, he abandoned Shinra, and convinced Angeal to go with him. Zack caught up to them, only to discover that they'd both grown one wing each, believing themselves to be monsters...

One wing. Just like the one the creature he'd cut down had... 

The onslaught of memories came to a sudden halt, leaving Zack disoriented.

Sonon was fighting Genesis, and Genesis had a wing, and he'd cut down--

'No. No no no...' His attention was caught by a sharp pain to his shoulder, and a high-pitched voice echoing in the air.

"Yuffie...?" he breathed out, searching for her immediately.

'She shouldn't be here! I have to get her away!'

A quick warning from her kicked his muscle memory into action, blocking the incoming attack from behind him.

An attack from Angeal.

His face held an expression Zack had never seen before, showing nothing but cold despair and searing hate.

All directed at him. Zack's blood went cold.

He wanted to save them.

"Please, I--"

He didn't want to fight them at all.

"Angeal, I didn't mean to...!"

He knew it was no use, yet he kept pleading anyway. Angeal only replied with more attacks.

Reckless and wild, nothing like the man he knew.

Everything like the abomination the man made himself to be.

The one Zack was forced to kill.

He stumbled, almost tripping over Genesis' blade. Angeal used that short moment to disarm him, knocking the sword out of his hand with much more force than necessary. 

It was a death sentence. 

It was like the red SOLDIER helped his friend one last time from the Lifestream, ensuring Zack's death by his hands.

Zack watched as the Buster Sword swung towards his head, like everything was in slow motion. Was this really the end for him...? 

The sword didn't meet its mark, having been blocked by a half-melted staff and a ninjutsu-enhanced shuriken.

"Guess it's our turn to save you, huh?" Sonon grunted, his whole body shaking from the effort. It seemed that Yuffie had given him a bit of a boost, but she wasn't able to give him much over such a short amount of time.

Yuffie was adept at ninjutsu, but her physical prowess was still low.

Even Sonon and Yuffie together wouldn't be able to hold Angeal back for long. Yet, they were determined to. They looked towards each other and nodded. 

Zack tried to tell them to stop, to save themselves, to leave him to deal with his failures, but they both sprung into action before he could get a word out.

Sonon swung the staff around, launching Yuffie into the air. She threw her shuriken towards Angeal, and casted a hasty barrage of magic and ninjutsu upon him. Angeal managed to block most of them, but Sonon kept him busy from below, assaulting him with different attacks.

The SOLDIER seemed to be getting overwhelmed, the synergy between the two warriors too fast for even him to handle.

They were getting in the way. They stood between Angeal and Genesis' killer. And he'd had enough. He unleashed his own Limit Break.

Zack knew Sonon, in his weakened state, and Yuffie, much too young and frail, wouldn't be able to survive the attack, and ran.

The initial blow hit Sonon first, being the closest to Angeal. It knocked him away immediately, but Zack caught him before he could fly off too far. The warrior was barely conscious, but he waved Zack off, urging him to get to Yuffie even faster.

Yuffie, now in freefall, casted a Wall on herself. Angeal focused the rest of the blows on her, the shielding on Yuffie barely holding on after a single hit. Zack managed to grab on to her before the second blow hit, wrapping himself around her body.

He absorbed hit after hit of Angeal's Rush Assault, pain coursing through his body. He held onto Yuffie tighter, making sure none of the damage got to her.

Every one of Angeal's attacks hurt, yet most of the pain did not linger. Zack was briefly confused before realizing that Yuffie had been Curing him over and over again, completely burning through her mana reserves, desperately trying to keep him whole. To keep him alive.

Angeal's Limit finally ended, and Zack, with Yuffie in his arms, put as much distance between them as possible.

Sonon had dragged himself away from the battle area, near where Zack had healed the other warriors earlier.

Zack checked over Yuffie, the girl obviously completely exhausted.

"Heh, what do you think, minion?" she mumbled out, "The great Yuffie's... quick thinking..." she slurred, eyes fluttering closed for a few moments, "...saved your... stupid, sorry butt..."

Zack felt his throat tighten, his eyes burning. "Yeah..." he croaked out. "You were amazing..."

"Hehe..." Yuffie huffed before finally falling asleep, getting some well deserved rest. Zack looked away, towards Angeal, away from the close reality that he could have ended up holding on to her broken body instead of her sleeping one if he was just one step too slow. 

He had always been too slow. 

Angeal died back then because Zack couldn't get to him on time. Genesis died now because Zack's memories didn't come back earlier. Sonon and Yuffie almost died because Zack took too long to get a hold of himself. 

And he knew, if he failed to act now, Angeal would keep going. His desire for revenge will never be satisfied, even if Zack died now. His heart will keep hurting, will keep hating, until there is no one left to hurt but himself, until there is no one left to hate but himself.

He had to be stopped, before he did anything he'd truly regret.

'A mercy-killing, just like before, huh?' Zack laughed at himself, although it sounded more like a sob. 'I did all this, just to end up doing the same thing again.'

He couldn't help but think he'd just wasted 3 years of his life.

'Better than being stuck in a mako tube for 4 years...' He looked towards his Sonon and Yuffie one more time, and smiled despite himself. 'Besides, I met some really good people, didn't I?'

He knew nothing would ever be the same for him after this. Even if Wutai won the war next week. Even if Shinra imploded tomorrow. He will never be the same Zack his friends knew ever again. Sonon and Yuffie would wake up, and they wouldn't even recognize the man right in front of them.

A part of Zack will die along with Angeal, the same way it had before.

Zack set Yuffie down and picked up her shuriken. He readied his own blade as well, and approached Angeal.

Angeal had used Zack's earlier retreat to tend to his wounds, his body not being impervious to two Limit Breaks, even if they were low-leveled ones. He was instantly on high-alert when he heard approaching footsteps, immediately setting the Buster Sword at the ready.

"Always so focused," the warrior said, walking almost leisurely, not missing a beat.

Angeal scowled at his words. "Don't act as if you know me," he growled, already preparing to charge.

Zack recognized the stance immediately, and readied his weapons for an immediate counter-attack.

He threw the shuriken forward at the same time their blades clashed, but it completely missed. 

Angeal went in for a punch, but Zack blocked it with a single hand. The hold on his fist tightened, the warrior was keeping him in place.

Angeal heard the whoosh of approaching metal and belatedly realized that the shuriken didn't miss, it had been thrown so it would hit him on its way back.

He dodged as far as he could through Zack's iron grip, and barely prevented the shuriken from slicing his neck, although it still nicked his ear.

The grip on his wrist disappeared, being used to catch the returning weapon. Angeal jumped away, disengaging their swords, trying to get back to a safer distance, but the warrior casted a Blizzard where he would have landed. He rolled away at the last moment, but an ice shard caught his leg on the way, making him stumble.

The boy was definitely on a much higher level of fighting prowess than the other Wutai warriors Angeal had ever faced, if he could read Angeal's movements that well.

The SOLDIER knew staying at a distance will be disadvantageous for him in the long run, all his materia being supportive.

He wouldn't be able to block a shuriken, ninjutsu, materia, and swords all at once. He had to get back in and overpower the warrior, somehow.

Angeal sized the warrior up. He was obviously mako-enhanced, so he shouldn't underestimate him, but in a battle of attrition, how long can he actually last?

He just needed to last long enough to charge his Limit Break back up... 

Angeal took a gamble, and charged back in, Buster Sword acting as a shield.

It only took one look in the boy's bright eyes to know that he made a big mistake.

Zack punched the Buster's flat side, making it fly back towards Angeal's face. He let go of the handle immediately and ducked, hearing the sword land with a clang behind him. He sprung up with an uppercut, but his fist was met with the warrior's elbow.

The boy then tried to hit Angeal's temple with the back of his own blade, but the SOLDIER angled himself away, the blow hitting his pauldron.

Zack tried to throw the shuriken again, but Angeal caught it, barely, getting shallow cuts on his right hand in the process. The SOLDIER then proceeded to use the shuriken like a brass knuckle and tried to gore the warrior's face with a sharp jab. Zack was caught by surprise and he dodged to the right, as far as he could. The long blade of makeshift weapon still managed to cut him though, leaving a long, shallow scar across his face.

Angeal, emboldened by his success, transitioned his jab to a hook, hoping to catch the warrior during his tight dodge. 

Zack narrowly blocked it with his sword and ducked. He aimed the blade towards Angeal's chest and thrust it up with as much force as he could, imbuing it with ninjutsu.

Angeal blocked with the shuriken, but the force of both weapons hitting each other made them shatter on impact, sending shards of metal flying everywhere at high speeds.

Angeal caught the brunt of the damage, getting long gashes along his arms and face, with some of them embedding dangerously close to the veins in his neck.

Zack, meanwhile, wasn't in any direct danger from the shards, but he seemingly threw himself right in their trajectory for no reason. He got cuts all over his arms and a nick to his forehead.

Angeal wondered at why he would do that when he remembered the young girl, lying unconscious, barely visible behind the boy. She would have been cut by the shrapnel if the boy hadn't used himself to shield her.

His temper flared at the display, even if he didn't understand why.

He tried to get as many of the metal shards out of himself as possible, and casted Cure.

The wounds would not close. 

He tried casting a Regen instead, but it also did nothing.

Angeal noticed the warrior watching him with a wide-eyed look of realization on his face, eyes glistening.

'He knows what's causing it! He did this! He must have poisoned me!' Angeal concluded, completely disregarding the boy's other visible emotions. 

The fact that the unhealing wounds didn’t seem to affect the boy even if they were both injured by the same weapon never crossed his mind. 

The SOLDIER picked the Buster Sword up from where it landed, preparing to finish the warrior off now that he had no weapons.

He charged forward again, the constant damage from his open wounds at least continuously filling up his Limit Gauge.

Zack grabbed Yuffie and got them both out of the way, looking back at Angeal incredulously. It's like the man didn't care even if a sleeping child was caught in their battle.

It only fueled Zack to put him down even quicker. He knew he couldn't fight Angeal bare-handed, especially when he had the Buster Sword. Materia and ninjutsu can only do so much without a weapon.

Sonon's damaged staff was out of the question, and the other warriors' halberds were also a no-go, being too flimsy to survive a single hit from the giant blade.

He fired off a quick Blizzard to buy himself some time to think, halting Angeal's approach for a second, before he remembered the other available blade in the battlefield.

His eyes scanned the grounds, and found the red blade just beyond Angeal.

'I'll have to get past him somehow, but I don't really have much of a choice, do I?'

Angeal noticed his intent gaze and followed it, realizing what he was planning immediately. He gritted and ran straight at Zack, swinging the Buster wide. "Don't you dare--!"

Zack jumped, using the wide arc of the blade to jump on its flat side like a spring board, getting past Angeal and landing behind him with a roll.

Zack thanked all his previous ninja training for the flashy acrobatics and ran for his life, kicking the sword up and catching it with his hand instead of bending down and picking it up.

'He's not gonna like that...' Zack thought. He knew it was disrespectful, but he was desperate. He begged Genesis for forgiveness in 3 different languages.

As predicted, Angeal was absolutely pissed. 

The SOLDIER dashed towards him, baring his teeth, eyes glowing with his fully charged Limit Break.

Zack didn't get to familiarize himself with the red blade's weight, and hastily imbued it with ninjutsu, the same way Genesis would have with Fire.

He knew Angeal's Rush Assault only really triggered when he lands a kick or a punch, so he had to make sure to make the man keep using his sword as much as possible.

At least, until he could use his own Limit. It hadn't triggered one in a while, which left Zack a little nervous. It almost felt like it had jammed, but touching Genesis' blade seemed to have cleared it up, somehow.

He didn't have much time to ponder over it now, so he readied his stance.

He started with quick sword thrusts and slashes, forcing Angeal to bring the Buster Sword up to block, lest he collected more unhealing wounds. Angeal then started pushing back with every block, as if trying to break the blade to get through to Zack.

Thankfully, the red blade withstood every hit of the Buster, but Angeal's increasingly reckless actions have really started worrying Zack.

'Doesn't he care if Genesis' sword breaks? Would he rather it be broken than have me wielding it, or is he really just too far gone?'

Zack grimaced, Angeal's attacks somehow getting stronger and stronger even through his injuries.

Angeal swung the Buster overhead, and Zack prepared to block high. The SOLDIER smirked and suddenly, the Buster wasn't in his hands.

He'd sheathed it, and now Zack's middle was wide open for a kick.

Angeal kicked as hard as he could, knocking the wind out of Zack. His Rush Assault triggered shortly after. Thankfully, it seemed that one kick was the catalyst for Zack to finally trigger a Limit Break of his own.

Two of them, in fact. 

He jumped high, barely dodging the incoming punch from Angeal. Zack casted some magic and ninjutsu at quick succession, forcing the SOLDIER to cut his own Limit short and unsheathe the Buster Sword to use as a shield.

Zack used gravity to bring himself back down, putting all he weight on the red blade and aiming the point at Angeal. The man dodged to the side and immediately thrust the Buster where Zack would land.

Zack rolled away and blocked the thrust with one movement, then spun back around with his own slash of the sword, catching Angeal’s outstretched arm. The injury caused him to drop the Buster Sword, leaving him defenseless, and Zack used the opening to end their battle. 

He quickly jumped into range  and rained slashes, thrusts, kicks, punches, magic, and ninjutsu upon the SOLDIER, pouring everything he had into each attack.

Bloodlust and Dance with the Wild Dog, two Limit Breaks that were inspired by Yuffie and Sonon.

He wasn't sure how he managed to perform both of them at once. It left him completely winded, but it was incredibly effective.

Angeal hadn't stood a chance. His whole body was covered in wounds, blood pouring out of him in what seemed like waves. He fell forward, succumbing to his injuries. 

"Angeal!" Zack dropped the blade in his hand immediately and caught the man before he hit the ground.

The man groaned, feeling himself being let down gently. He watched his own body turn gray and cracked, the same way Genesis' did. He then felt something burst out of his back, but the sensation was negligible compared to the pain he felt everywhere else. 

He turned his eyes towards the boy, and saw him looking down at him mournfully. 

'Why?' he wondered, 'Why did he look so sad?'

Suddenly, his mind was clear. All the anger, all the hate he felt earlier was gone. He realized how recklessly he acted, how irrationally he thought. 'Why was that? What happened to me?'

The boy seemed to be talking to him, tears pouring down his face, but Angeal couldn't hear a single word.

In fact, he was starting to lose all his senses. He could still see, but it was slowly starting to blur into white. The pain had also completely gone away. 

Did Genesis go through the same thing? If so, he was glad. At least his friend hadn't suffered for long.

The boy kept crying, obviously calling out his name. Angeal didn't know what to do. He didn't want to see the boy so sad, even though just a moment ago, he could think of nothing else but killing him.

How very odd... Angeal never liked seeing kids get hurt. He always had a soft spot for them, and he could never forgive himself for making one of them upset.

"I'm sorry, it's over now. Don't cry anymore," he wanted to say, but he had lost all feeling of his body, not even knowing where his mouth was any longer.

He also wanted to apologize to the other young man, and the young girl too, yet they were nowhere to be seen.

He actually couldn't see the boy anymore, either. He couldn't see anything at all. 

Nothing but the bright blue sky.

'I'm coming soon, my friend,' he thought with a smile.

Chapter Text

Zack heard Angeal's slurred apology and sobbed, harder than he ever had the first time the man died in his arms. He clung on to the man, paying no mind to the mess of blood and feathers all over him, or to whoever might be watching. 

He cried for what felt like hours, curled up where Angeal's body had dissipated long ago, leaving no traces other than his blood, feathers, and sword.

Zack finally straightened himself up after a few more minutes, barely dragging himself towards the Buster Sword. He dragged it behind him, leaning it against a nearby wall.

He then went towards Yuffie, still on the ground. It seemed he hadn't managed to block all the shrapnel, seeing some small cuts on the girl. He tried to cast a Cure, but his reserves were completely dry.

He must have cried less than he thought he did, if he wasn't able to regenerate enough mana for a single cast.

Zack carried Yuffie next to the wall where he set the Buster Sword on, bringing her closer to the torches so he could inspect her injuries better. He grimaced at all the blood he'd left on her, but he didn't exactly have anything to clean himself up with at the moment. 

He brought out the small first-aid kit from his waist bag, rejoicing at the two small ampoules of potions and ethers in it. He drank an ether for himself and used the potion for Yuffie, using the bandages to wrap around her wounds, just in case. He looked over the other warriors, seemingly oblivious to his earlier emotional display. 

Sonon made awkward eye-contact with him, and Zack smiled back tiredly.

Boy oh boy, he was exhausted. He slumped against the wall, just taking the time to breathe. 

Sonon threw a helmet towards him, mouthing the word  "pillow". Zack caught it, hands still completely covered in blood, leaving a gruesome pattern on it. He set it aside, and mouthed "thanks" in return, touched by the gesture. He was sure his friend would have a lot of questions for him later, but for now he decided to focus on the mission. They had to survey the area, rendezvous with the other teams, and regroup back to HQ. Just thinking about what comes after was enough to give him a headache.

Zack looked up at the clear night sky and closed his eyes for a moment, wanting nothing more than to sleep for at least a year, but he still had allies to look over, people to protect.

Zack heaved a long sigh, and begrudgingly opened his eyes again.

Sephiroth was standing right in front of him, the bloody tip of the Masamune digging right into his chin.

"Where. Are. They." he bit out each word like a promise.

Zack looked off to the side, where Sonon and the other warriors were, and saw all of them either bleeding out from a single stab wound through their hearts, missing their heads, or missing half their bodies.

He couldn't see what happened to Sonon from this angle, Sephiroth's coat and long legs obscuring the view.

Zack thanked the gods for the small mercy.

He heard Yuffie mumbling about treasure hunts next to him, dreaming peacefully.

He unslotted a materia from his bracer slowly, and set it in the girl's left hand. Yuffie hummed in approval, praising her loyal minion.

Zack didn't take his eyes off Sephiroth for a second.

The man's expression was obscured by his bangs, his eyes completely invisible, his mouth nothing more than a hard-set line, yet Zack recognized it, understood how the man felt, knew what the look meant.

Zack wasn't getting out of this alive. 

Seems like that materia would be his parting gift to Yuffie. Hopefully, she'll get much more use out of it compared to the Bahamut Fury summon she took from him before. He almost wanted to tell the story to someone, maybe as a hypothetical. Sonon would have found it hilarious. 

Sonon, who had died just beyond his vision. He worried about what would happen to Yuffie. He worried about who would take care of Melphie. In the end, there was nothing he could do, whatever worrying he did now. 

Yet, he couldn't help but try to at least keep  Yuffie safe, even if he could barely move. 

His insides twisted, heart beating so fast it might just break through his ribs. He caught a glimpse of acid green, completely devoid of recognition, and his mind returned to flames, Nibelheim, and mako.

Zack plastered on a smile, trying not to shake too hard. He folded his fingers together, as tightly as his numb body could, just to hide his trembling. He felt like he would crumble to dust at any moment. 

"Heya... " he greeted conversationally, as if he weren't saying his last words.

Sephiroth seemed taken aback by his apparent nonchalance, so he soldiered on.

"Say, can we do this somewhere else?" He paused, then lowered his voice, as if he and Sephiroth were merely gossiping. "I don't wanna disturb the lady's beauty sleep," he whispered, as if he didn't want to be too loud.

As if Yuffie couldn't sleep through damn near anything.

Sephiroth knew what he really meant, though. 

"Please, not here. Leave her out of this."

Sephiroth looked towards the girl, and noticed something right next to her. The Buster Sword. His hand twitched, and Zack almost thought that his head would detach from his body right then and there. 

Sephiroth then looked towards the adjacent well and saw Genesis' sword propped up amongst some white feathers.  He noticed feathers around the warrior earlier as well, so he deduced the strange memorial was his doing.

Sephiroth did not know how the boy acquired all that blood on him, but it was the only evidence he needed to know he was the one to take Angeal and Genesis down. The blood just felt... familiar to him. 

As if it called out to him. It was the only reason he could track them down to Fort Tamblin at all. He had not been scheduled for deployment for another hour, but he knew that something was wrong. 

He rushed here as fast as he could, yet it was no use. His friends were gone.

He was alone.

Just like the warrior sitting, smiling in front of him. Just like the young girl will be once she wakes up from her slumber.

"... Very well," he said, commending the warrior for trying to protect the girl.

The boy was clearly in no shape to fight. He wanted to see how strong the man who bested his two friends could possibly be... was this truly it?

He should be feeling something else right now, shouldn't he? Sadness? Anger? Vengeance? Somehow, all he felt was a vague sense of disappointment.

He truly was not like the others... 

Later on, he'd experience the true extent of his grief, amongst the fire, and the screams...

For now, he turned towards the dojo, waiting for the warrior to follow him to his own execution.

Zack's flat smile got even wider. "Thanks, Seph."

Yuffie woke up hours later, Melphie and her cradled tightly in Godo's arms, wondering where her two brothers went.

Years later, she would join Avalanche, vowing to take revenge upon Shinra for taking Wutai's land and dignity away. For turning her dad into such a coward. For taking Zack and Sonon away from her. 

She never took the Full Cure materia Zack had left for her off her bracer. She always held on to her customized shuriken, its handle carved from a piece of Sonon's staff. 

Chapter Text

Static. He heard nothing. He saw nothing. He felt nothing. Nothing but the static.

He tried to run, to swim, to jump. Anything to get away from the encompassing numbness, but it was no use. He didn't even know if he had a body to move with.

The static grew stronger, the sound piercing through his non-existent ears, digging under his non-existent skin, its endless scratching etching into his mind.

His mind was sinking into the loop of oblivion, senses slowly blocking everything out.

And then, there was silence. He still heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. 

Other than the flash of green and the sharp slice through his neck. 

Zack gasped awake, wide-eyes staring up at a once-familiar ceiling.

Everything around him felt wrong. Even the bed he was on. It lacked the smell of incense and bamboo and tea. No traces of steamed rice and grilled fish and miso soup.

He looked around again, the mess of his clay-walled rooms, the muggy humidity in the air that still felt like home but different enough that he knew it wasn't the same .

He heard bird calls and whistled melodies and rushing water. 

And the very distinct, if distant, croaking of a Touch Me. 

He wasn't in Wutai any longer.

He'd somehow found his way back to Gongaga.

'What? How...?'

Zack tried to remember what had happened before he woke up, but he was drawing a blank. It was like his mind was running at the speed of molasses, and any headway he made into his memories was blocked by some sort of deluge. Like it was drowned out by static. 

The thought made him break out in cold sweat. His body was overcome by the feeling of urgency, like he had to get out , to get away .

But where was he even supposed to go?

His mind suddenly latched on to his earlier thought of missing incense and miso. Of home . 

Wutai. He had to get to Wutai!

He jumped out of bed, losing his balance, legs feeling weak, but he caught himself immediately, the years of Wutai training kicking in.

He grabbed the filled backpack next to his bed, somehow knowing it had everything he needed for a long trip.

He needed to hitch a ride from Gongaga to Cosmo Canyon as fast as he could, the path to Wutai just beyond it.

His Uncle Walter, his mom's older cousin, was working on his old beat-up pick-up truck...

The sudden fuzzy memory shocked him in place for a moment before he nodded to himself.

'Wouldn't need to hitch-hike if I can just drive there myself.'

Zack jumped out of his bedroom's window and landed smoothly right next to the truck. He whispered a quick apology to Walter before yanking the vehicle's door open and slinking in. He found the truck's keys in the glove compartment( 'How careless!' ), shoved them in the ignition, and drove out of the driveway as quickly as possible.

He checked the fuel and was pleased to find the indicator pointing to 'full'. He wouldn't need to haul any of the oil cans nearby, saving him precious seconds before anyone caught up to him. He drove straight towards the village exit, not looking back. 

He heard Walter shout after him, although it sounded less like "Come back here, Zack, you little bastard!" and more like "I haven't fixed the oil line on that thing yet!"

Zack's blood rushing through his ears blocked out most of the man's words, either way.

The truck creaked in ways he didn't remember it ever doing before, but he chalked it up to him driving much faster than his Uncle Walter did.

His nose scrunched up in annoyance when he saw the indicator needle steadily pointing at 30...

He couldn't even really remember why the man was driving so slowly to begin with.

'Must've been his old man bones,' he mused.

He drove for half a day, covering much more road than the 2 days drive he experienced before.

The cold wind of the early evening was picking up, and he could trace some sand and dust floating along with it. He ignored it, continuing on his drive.

"Besides, we wouldn't wanna drive straight into a dust storm, would we?"

The truck started sputtering by mid-evening, and eventually stopped running all together after another 20 minute drive.

Zack glared at the dashboard, seeing the fuel gauge pointing at empty. He hit the steering wheel a few times in frustration before grabbing his pack and stepping out of the vehicle.

No point in staying inside if it wasn't going to take him where he needed it to. He kicked its front wheel one last time, muttering "Useless hunk of junk" under his breath, and started trekking along the highway.

Zack estimated that he needed to travel about 6 hours on foot to get from his current position to Cosmo Canyon.

He'd definitely had longer, more difficult trips. At least he was just walking along the highway this time instead of Gongaga's thick jungles or Wutai's wilderness.

The wind picked up some more, and he was forced to bring out one of the shirts in his backpack to use as a sort of scarf, wrapping it around his mouth and nose so he wouldn't inhale any of the dust.

It was getting darker, and he was starting to lose track of the highway he was walking on. The lights along the road were getting obscured by the increasing amount of dust and sand in the air.

Zack's eyes were also forced almost completely closed, the cold wind drying them out and the particles it brought along with it stinging.

Zack was starting to realize that he made a mistake.

He started looking around for some sort of shelter, but he knew it was futile. He was stranded in the middle of what looked like a brewing dust storm.

'Wait, dust storm?'

Zack's eyes screwed shut, his mind suddenly assaulted with memories distorted by static.

Memories of Walter driving and explaining his caution about the dust storm.

Memories of getting to Cosmo Canyon and finding a path to Wutai.

Memories of his travels and training, his friendship with Sonon and Yuffie and Melphie, his respect for Godo.

Memories of the war...

Of Genesis and Angeal falling to his blade.

Of Yuffie falling unconscious in his arms.

Of Sonon and the other warriors being struck down in the blink of an eye.

Of Sephiroth standing before him and...

Ah. He'd died. He'd died, and he came back to Gongaga, at the age of 13. The same way he came back after his first death outside Midgar.

Now he was about to die again, in a dust storm he could have easily avoided if he just stopped and took the time to think .

And Zack was sure he was going to die. His make-shift mask had stopped blocking out the dust a while ago, his nose and mouth being filled with fine dust, making every breath he took scratch painfully down his throat. 

His eyes were now completely useless in navigation, unable to even open them up a sliver against the onslaught of sand around him. 

His ears heard nothing but the howling wind and his own frantic heartbeat gradually getting weaker.

His body stopped moving a while ago, the cold air making him numb, his body getting covered by sand and dust, burying him alive. 

Zack definitely preferred his life ending quickly on Sephiroth's blade compared to  suffocating helplessly.

He thought about biting his tongue to end it quicker. Maybe bleeding out will knock him unconscious, sparing him the sensation of dying slowly. He knew it wouldn't work, though. The mako in his body will close the wound before he could lose enough blood. 

The same mako that was the only thing keeping him awake now, knowing fully well that he had been able to get any oxygen in his system for at least 10 minutes. 

He was numb. He felt too much. His skin felt cold. His organs were on fire.

When will it end? Why wasn't he dead yet? 

Will he even come back to Gongaga after this? Where did he even get the extra lives from? What if he just used up his last one?

Wasted his last chance being a complete fucking idiot .

He would have cried if his eyes weren't so dry.

Zack's mind was filled with nothing but regret until he finally, finally died.

Chapter Text

...Or had he?

He felt safe, yet he knew he wasn't back on his bed in Gongaga.

His mind stayed clear, (unfortunately)remembering every detail leading up to his demise.

His ears could hear fine, the sound of something flowing and twinkling catching his attention. 

Blue eyes opened slowly, sight adjusting to the bright glow of gold and green around him.

He blinked a few times and saw a form standing before him. It was regally golden and distinctly feminine. It was also imposingly large .

Somehow, he instantly recognized what, or rather, who it was.

Minerva. The goddess herself.

"You've awakened," she stated.

"Y-yeah..." Zack wasn't sure if he was shocked that she could speak, or that she deigned him worthy enough to address him at all.

"That was much too reckless," she declared, tone perfectly neutral. Zack could still sense her clear disapproval, though.

He got the feeling that trying to explain himself will just make him look more like an idiot, so he just replied with an embarrassed nod.

Minerva looked him over and hummed thoughtfully. "I am partly to blame," she admitted, "It takes a lot of my power to preserve your life before it gets swept away by the flow of the Lifestream, but it does not erase the fact that I did not prepare you adequately. Your soul's backwards journey through the Lifestream is unnatural, leaving your memories unstable and your body disoriented." She bowed her head. "My apologies. I should have spoken with you sooner."

Zack gaped for a moment. He figured she had something to do with his resurrections as soon as he saw her, but for her to be involved to this extent? And now she was even apologizing…

Of course, he was grateful that she had granted him so many chances after death, but now his mind was full of questions.

'Why? Why bring me back? Why me ?'

Surely there were better people suited for whatever purpose she needed him for?

It seemed she could read his mind(Zack wasn't surprised one bit) and answered.

"The Lifestream's pull is immense, and a being's consciousness is absorbed within it at the moment of their death." She gestured to the green tendrils surrounding the both of them. The Lifestream. 

"Your mental fortitude is much higher than most. You are able to retain your sense of self, even when you absorb the essence of others. Very few people have that ability, and even fewer are inclined to do what must be done."

Zack stared back, uncomprehending. What the heck does that even mean? Absorb? Like when Angeal passed on his traits, but in reverse? He can't do stuff like that! It's not like he–

Oh. Oh.

That would explain his Limit Break. It copies other people's abilities, their essence, in a way, but with his own twist... His sense of self.

The realization left him disoriented. To think he could do something that was apparently special this whole time, and he barely even gave it any thought.

'I really was an idiot, huh?'

Zack shook his head. He probably wouldn't have figured it out by himself even if he did think about it. In fact, the last time someone he knew thought they had figured it all out by themselves, they killed dozens of innocent people and burned a whole village down to the ground. 

The memory of Sephiroth surrounded by flames made Zack shudder. At least there was actually somebody here to give him the right answers.

His mind focused back on Minerva's words, and realized he now had even more questions than before.

"You said 'very few' had the ability... So I'm not the only one, right?" She nodded. Zack continued at the confirmation, "Then why did you choose me? And what do you mean by 'what must be done'?"

Minerva answered immediately, apparently knowing he would ask those exact questions even before he said them out loud.

'Definitely a mind reader.'

"One of them is the Cetra girl, Aerith. I could not choose her, for she has already been given a different purpose."

Zack's heart ached at the mention of Aerith. He'd missed her so much, to the point that he'd risked going to Midgar, Shinra's stronghold, just to see her again.

He'd died for her... yet he barely even thought about her during the 3 years he lived in Wutai. Minerva said his memories were unstable, but he couldn't help but feel guilty.

'I've gotta focus!' he reminded himself, 'I'll make it up to Aerith later. For now, I need answers.'

“Does she know about me? About all... this?” he asked hopefully. Maybe they can help each other with their different tasks...

Minerva shook her head. “She will have no memory of you. Perhaps she will sense that you have a similar purpose, but she will not know of it.”

Zack's heart sank at the answer. “I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy…” he grumbled, but went back to his previous line of questioning, "What about those 'others'?"

The goddess paused for a moment, gauging what language she could use that a person like Zack could understand it. "They are able to retain themselves because of the Calamity's thorough influence on their very being. The Lifestream refuses to assimilate them to protect itself from the Calamity's taint. They are not viable."

"Uhh... 'Calamity'?" Zack tilted his head, the term ringing familiar in his mind. 

"It is what you mortals call Jenova."

That means the 'others' were people that had more Jenova cells in them than himself, a SOLDIER. Very few people are like that. Angeal and Genesis, maybe even Cloud...

Sephiroth.

He was starting to think that whatever 'must be done' is much more complicated than he can even dream of.

Zack sighed, bracing himself. "So what exactly do you need me to do?"

Minerva, for her part, gave him an apologetic smile. "I need you to be a hero."

Zack was back in his room in Gongaga, staring at the large golden item that Minerva bestowed upon him. She said he could change its size and form, to an extent, but he couldn't really think of anything other than a large, nonsensical clock.

A 'divergence meter', she called it. It was currently glowing, flickering between letters and numbers he couldn't quite comprehend. The further it went from 1, the more unstable his memories become. That would explain the static in his memories from the previous loops. He must have diverged too much. 

Right now, it read 1.100, meaning he hasn't changed much from anything at this point in time.

'How far is too far, though? How can I tell if things are going too far without risking my memory going to shit?'

Zack would need to do a couple of tests to figure that out, but he wasn't sure if one small thing will even show up on it properly, or if it will end up being catastrophically irreversible.

"If you find yourself stuck, you can reset directly using its mechanism," she assured him. Zack breathed a sigh of relief. That meant he'd lose all the connections he'd made with everyone, effectively resetting his Limit Break, and he'd have to start all over again, but at least it wouldn't have to physically hurt.

He definitely needed a concrete plan. He couldn't just do everything the same way he did when he was a SOLDIER. Joining Wutai seemed to have been a really bad choice, but he didn't regret it one bit.

If only he could go back much further in time, maybe he could stop the SOLDIER program or the Jenova Project from happening at all... No, those all started before he was born. Minerva can't send him back to a time where he didn't even exist yet.

Then how was he supposed to do his mission, to ‘rid the world of the Calamity’s taint’? Apparently, just killing everyone with Jenova cells won’t fix anything, especially since the Lifestream didn’t want the stuff anywhere near itself.

Why was being a hero so complicated? 

Well, at least he didn’t have to hunt down Angeal again…

Whatever the solution was, he still needed to get out of Gongaga. 

He thought about what he did last time, trying to list out what worked and what didn't.  He regretfully crossed Wutai out of his proverbial list. He missed his friends(siblings), but the divergence was just too much... 

He could always go to Midgar again through the port at the end of the connecting highway, but that meant going to Cosmo Canyon first...

'Note to self: Do NOT try going over to Cosmo Canyon during dust storm season... We all know how well that went last time.'

What would he even do in Midgar once he actually got there? He glanced at himself in the mirror, the glow of his eyes reminding him of SOLDIER. Minerva said the glow was from his new connection to the Lifestream, the same glow the Cetra had. It’s not mako, but it didn't really look any different from SOLDIER eyes. 

Zack thought about it for a bit. Joining SOLDIER will definitely be low on the divergence scale, but he needed more information on how to actually get rid of Jenova, and he wouldn't have enough clearance as a SOLDIER even if he made it all the way to First.

He knew that for a fact, already having experienced it all before. 

Besides, what if the scientists noticed his connection to the Lifestream? What if they thought he was an Ancient, and tried to lock him up, and did experiments on him, and...

He smacked his cheeks, getting himself out of that downward spiral of thoughts.

'Panicking is not gonna help! '

Zack took a deep, long breath.

His mind was set on going to Midgar and maybe infiltrating Shinra. All he needed to figure out was what would grant him the ability to snoop around while also keeping him away from the scientists' eyes.

Zack needed more time to think. Maybe a nice, long walk and some fresh air will do him some good.

He'd missed Gongaga so much, yet he didn't even really have the time to just take a look the last few times he was here. He couldn't even talk to his parents properly, or taste his mom's cooking...

How does someone feel homesick while being at home?

Zack wandered around the village, listening to the nature around him, the memories of his simple childhood playing clearly in his mind. He lost track of time, not paying any attention to where he was going, and ended up in front of Gongaga's reactor, still standing in one piece.

He looked up at the hulking structure, seeing something glinting at the very top, next to what looked like a bird's nest.

'Treasure!' his mind declared, his childhood treasure hunting tendencies having stayed with him all through his life.

It was no match for Yuffie's kleptomania, though. 

Zack climbed up the various pipes and dried vines slithering up the reactor's exterior. He reached the top in no time, claiming his treasure with a small flourish. 

It looked like a shiny, if slightly misshapen, gemstone. It had a dull glow, and it almost felt like materia, but his attempts at casting it yielded no results. 

The bird who lived in the nest next to it must have brought it there.  "Sorry, bird. My shiny, now."

He sat down on the edge, looking around from his vantage point, experiencing a view of Gongaga he'd never seen before.  It had always been a beautiful place, but his bored child self took it for granted. He never thought anything would change about it, yet the first time he went home after joining SOLDIER... 

It was in ruins, having experienced an apparent meltdown.  When did it happen? How many people got hurt? He didn't even get to ask, or check on his parents... 

At least Cissnei kept an eye on them. She assured him they were safe. He knows she didn't lie, not to him, even if she worked for Shinra as a Turk. 

...a Turk...!

"That's it!" Zack shouted, finally getting his answer. "I can join Shinra as a Turk, and--!"

"What in tarnation are ya doin' screamin' up a storm over there?!" someone yelled from below, interrupting him.  It was his Uncle Walter.

"Err... Heya, Uncle Walt!" he called down, hoping the man didn't actually hear what he said. 

"Get down there before your mother skins us both!" 

Zack climbed down as fast as he could("Be careful, you little scamp!"), making sure not to drop his shiny loot. 

He grinned up at his uncle as soon as he was back down at the ground. Walter tried making an angry face before bursting out with an amused huff. 

"Let's get ya home," Walter gestured back to the path. 

"Yeah!" Zack replied.

He thought about his current plan on their way back. He had to get to the highway, and remembered his first, more successful trip to Cosmo Canyon in Walter's pick-up truck. 

Zack looked at the man, whistling the same tune he had been before. 'I wonder how he'd feel about me hitch-hiking?'

He mentally prepared himself to stare at pumpkins again for the next few days. He also had to figure out how to make that divergence meter actually fit in his backpack.