Duck, dodge, swing, block, swing. Zack was just doing a routine mako reactor check in Junon with Sephiroth; kill some fiends of the area, the works. Zack jumped back and cart wheeled his arms slightly and stepped forward again, nearly having fallen off the cliff he was situated on. The arid smell of the rain that was falling filled his nostrils. It was storming heavily, and to fall into the ocean right now, from this height, Zack would be smashed into the rocks and most likely be killed. As if to answer this, a huge wave smashed against the cliff, making a spray that almost reached them. Yes, Zack definitely did not want to fall.

Sephiroth was busy fighting off a summon and Zack was on his own. They had been ambushed by Genesis Clones on the way to the reactor. Actually, it was Zack's fault for wanting to see the ocean before they had to enter the reactor. Zack had been attacked and called for Sephiroth, alerting him to the problem. Sephiroth had quickly run over, upon seeing Zack being steadily pushed toward the cliff's edge. That had been when the Genesis clones had unleashed their summon, Bahamut ZERO.

Where were all these clones coming from! Zack groaned and swung again, smashing a few of the clones into each other and out of his way. But before he could even move forward, several new stronger clones took their place. "Damn, you guys are really starting to annoy me!" Zack yelled at them as he swung again. He couldn't use a materia, in the time that would take to secure and charge it, these guys would be on him, and Zack would be knocked off the cliff or impaled by a sword.

From the pained roars of the Bahamut, Zack knew that it didn't have much time left. With this renewed sense of courage Zack let out a yell and he swiped at the Clones once more, grinning. The area he was on was rocky and soaking wet and the wind was blowing the rain straight into his eyes, but Zack still fought own, fighting his way away from the cliff. Zack blocked a sword swipe and parried with one of his own, knocking the clone away.

It was only when Zack heard the final roars of the defeated Bahamut that Zack looked up, only to see a grenade from one of the clones flying toward him. Zack's eyes went wide and he quickly scrambled for a barrier materia. It was during his attempt to secure it, two of the remaining Genesis Clones used a fire spell on him. Due to the rain the spells were not as powerful as they could have been and they knocked him back toward the edge of the cliff once more. It was the blast from the grenade that sent him over it.

Suddenly, Sephiroth was there, killing the clones and reaching out his hand to catch Zack. The last thing Zack saw was a look of horror and shock on Sephiroth's face as he literally slipped through his fingers and plunged toward the water.

…

Zack's eyes slowly opened and he winced against the bright light. Groaning he closed his eyes again and relaxed against his bed. He opened his eyes again and sat up sharply. Zack gasped and his eyes watered. He felt like he'd been run over by a truck! Also, this was not his room at Shin-Ra! "Where am I?" He muttered to himself.

"Ugh… I feel like I've been hit by a very large and very heavy truck dead on…" Zack groaned to himself. He looked down at his body to assess the damage and discovered that there wasn't a place that he didn't hurt. How did this happen? Zack recalled falling. He frowned worriedly and thought back further. He had been fighting Genesis Clones and… and what? Why had he been fighting? His head felt fuzzy and ached as he tried to think. Perhaps it would come back to him later, no it definitely would! For now, Zack would figure out where he was.

Zack grunted slightly and looked around, trying to figure out his location. The walls seemed to be made out of logs, and everything was mostly wooden. There was a single window on the wall to his left and beneath it was a shelf with a single picture and a few little knick-knacks. There were a few pictures on the walls that looked like they had been drawn by a child.

The door opened and a little boy, perhaps around ten or twelve came in. Zack looked at him and the boy stared. The boy was scrawny, and obviously underfed. He wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes and his pants were tattered. He was tan and the brown hair on top of his head was bleached a lighter shade from being out in the sun. His light brown bangs framed two large amber colored eyes. There was dirt on his face and hands, like he had been working quite a bit.

"Hey kid, would you mind telling me where I am?" Zack asked politely. The kid walked over to him and glared.

"Shut up you." He ordered his voice low. Zack blinked at the kid. The kid was glaring and now was getting something out of his pocket. A knife! Zack looked at it, then at the boy. The boy's eyes were hard as he got closer.

"Hey, kid, don't. You don't want to do this." The kid looked dead on and took another step and snapped at him, "Shut up you SOLDIER scum! Don't tell me what to do!" Now the knife was held against his throat. It was a kitchen knife, it was sharp. Zack could tell that the kid had never done this before as he pressed a little too hard and the knife made a little cut on his neck.

The kid stared at the blood that dripped down, seemingly not sure what to make of it. Zack searched his face and noticed that he was breathing very face. Excitement, anger, or… fear? Zack held still and looked at the kid.

"Listen," Zack said in a tone that was much calmer then he felt, "I'm not telling you what to do, but I can tell you don't want to kill me." The kid stared at him and Zack was suddenly afraid that he'd said the wrong thing. After a few moments had passed Zack was still alive, but the kid hadn't removed the kitchen appliance either.

Suddenly, the door opened and a young girl with short and scruffy raven black hair walked in. She had a small bottle of pills that Zack couldn't identify as well. We're these children planning to drug him? Her eyes went wide and she spotted what the kid was doing.

"Glen! No, stop, he's hurt!" She rushed over. The kid, Glen, glared at her and stopped her in her tracks. "Equen, he's a SOLDIER! He broke in here and… and, he's bad!" Glen shouted, turning to face her, and moving the knife from Zack's neck.

Zack headache got a few notches worse and he winced slightly, holding his head in one hand and rubbing his neck slightly with the other.

"But… maybe if we keep him here… maybe we can trade him! We can make a deal with the Shin-Ra!" The girl, Equen said excitedly. "Trade with the Shin-Ra?" Glen asked skeptically, "How so?"

Zack looked at the looked at the two children in confusion. They wanted to trade him get something from Shin-Ra? That would never work, the Shin-Ra wouldn't trade for him.

"You see Glen, if we traded, maybe the Shin-Ra could give us our Daddy back!" Equen whispered excitedly, "I mean, look at his uniform, he's obviously a high-rank!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Zack interrupted them. He was utterly confused as to what they were talking about and his mind was drawing a blank, "I'm not in SOLDIER."