We All Fall Down
A/N: This is an oneshot. If enough people want, I can make a multi-chapter version of this that goes into more detail of everyone's actions and what exactly is happening. For now, enjoy.
Summary: There was no escaping fate. Ashes to ashes; who was meant to die would die.
Pairings: None.
Warnings: Sad. Time travel. AU thanks to time travel. Tradgedy.
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
We All Fall Down
At first Angeal hadn't even noticed it. Besides one day training where Zack had been on the verge of a panic attack upon seeing the usually virtual Sephiroth Angeal loved to spring on him, nothing had changed. There were assigned a mission to Wutai. Zack was as bouncy as a young puppy upon hearing he was considered for First, but not so much as to restate his dream of being a hero.
In hindsight, that should have been the first warning.
On the mission they came face-to-face with three of Wutai's Anti-SOLDIER monsters. Or, rather, Zack had. He had taken out the first two relatively easily before Angeal called him, saying it was time to leave. Then a third had arrived. Angeal had been ready to cut in and save his student, but much to Angeal's surprise, Zack had easily taken it out as well and gotten out before the bomb detonated.
Angeal had felt a small pang of sadness at that. Maybe Zack didn't need him anymore after all. Either way, they still had to meet with the Director, and the result was that Zack might someday make First Class. But the apparent excitement was short-lived. Wutai warriors showed up. Angeal told Zack to take the Director and run, but Zack refused, and presented an argument that Angeal couldn't refuse. Angeal was higher in rank, and if they ran into more on the way, Angeal was better suited to stop them. So the bulky first had left with Lazard, then hurried back to check on Zack.
What he found were three thing that looked like Genesis, and no sign that Zack had ever been there. When Sephiroth had shown up, the implications just piled higher.
Zack had deserted.
Things only got worse. Angeal traveled to Banora upon hearing that something was going on, only to find that his mother had committed suicide and Genesis had emptied the town completely. No one was left. Angeal stared in horror as Zack shoved him away. Genesis, for his part, had only looked mildly surprised.
"I must say, old friend… I imagined the roles here reversed. Your precious Puppy begging you to come back to ShinRa. Not you begging the Puppy to come home. The Goddess truly works in mysterious ways…"
Genesis had, of course, tried to convince Angeal to join him. Had droned on about a 'Project G'. Angeal wasn't stupid. He saw the signs Genesis described. But getting Zack to come back to ShinRa was more important than implications of being a monster. In the end there had only been taunts, and Angeal had watched Banora go up in flames, destroyed by a ShinRa air strike.
Angeal chased Genesis and Zack after that, with Sephiroth's help. Along the way he met a few unique characters. The first was a teenage girl in the slums, who looked at Angeal knowingly and said that he need not worry about the wayward Puppy. That Zack knew what he was doing. Or, she hoped he did. Either way, Zack was strong. He would have to be severely weakened and taking on an army to go down; the same kind of army only a First could take on.
Angeal asked the girl how she knew that, how she could be sure. But she had only smiled at Angeal.
"Zack knows that he would be in a lot of trouble with a good friend if anything else took him down. He's strong, Mr. Hewley. Believe in him. I can tell you he would never abandon his honor."
Angeal had been puzzled by her statements, but in the end hadn't had managed to get anything else out of the girl. He visited every now and then, and the girl would tell him stories and show him letters from Zack. None of the letters were dated, and none of them showed any sign of where Zack was. The only thing that they did show was that Zack was trying to help Genesis find a cure, but was also spending a good deal of time treasure hunting.
The second person Angeal met was just a promising cadet hoping to get into SOLDIER. Angeal never saw his face; the cadet seemed as obsessive about wearing his helmet as that one Second who was friends with Zack. The cadet was quiet and soft-spoken, but also seemed to know Zack. He said that he though Zack knew what he was doing and that Angeal shouldn't worry about it. Angeal didn't get to see the quiet cadet often, but he did request the young teen for a few missions.
Including one to Nibelheim.
It was there that things came to a head. Something in Nibelheim snared Sephiroth's attention and simply wouldn't let go. The cadet- who had joined the regular army as a Trooper after failing the SOLDIER exam- had been even quieter than usual. Genesis had been insane, and called Sephiroth a monster.
And Zack…
At first Angeal hadn't seen Zack. There was too much happening. Sephiroth finally snapped after Genesis shouted the insult at him, and Angeal had barely been able to divert his attention away from the village. By the time he had followed Sephiroth up to the reactor and was ready to stop him, Angeal had been prepared to face his death.
He had not been prepared to see Zack there. Nor for the changes that happened next.
Zack stood in front of a shrine in the reactor, blocking Sephiroth's path, and the young Trooper stood behind Sephiroth, helmet discarded to reveal spiky blond hair and Mako eyes.
Mako eyes. On a Trooper.
And suddenly, the Mako in the reactor seemed to rise up and surround both Zack and the Trooper, and when it faded away, Angeal could only stare, all thoughts of helping forgotten. Zack looked so much older now, a scar on his cheek. His hair had changed; Angeal almost felt he was looking in the mirror except that Zack's hair was as spiky as ever, despite the new length. The purple Second Class uniform was replaced by a black First Class uniform, and there was a duplicate of the Buster Sword in his hand.
As for the Trooper… The outfit he now wore resembled a First Class uniform, but was noticeably different. He too looked older, his spikes a little shorter and perhaps a little more tamed. Mako eyes stared at Sephiroth through a face that looked almost saddened. And a large sword, almost like the Buster Sword, was held in the blond's hands.
The fight that followed was difficult. Sephiroth had been caught off guard by the change, but was no less dangerous to fight. In the end Sephiroth fell into the reactor, and the images of the two warriors reverted back to normal. Angeal stared down at his student in shock. All Zack did was grin up at him.
"I still can't save Sephiroth, Angeal… At least I saved you."
Before Angeal could puzzle that out, he was interrupted by the Trooper.
"Zack… He'll be here soon…"
Zack blinked.
"Oh right… Better get out of here Angeal. But keep living, 'kay?"
As much as Angeal didn't want to leave, he couldn't resist that tone. So Angeal left. But he didn't return to ShinRa. A notice was posted that Sephiroth, Angeal, and a Trooper had died on a mission in Nibelheim. No mention was made of Zack.
Five years later Angeal ran into Genesis.
Genesis had stared at Angeal and then had hugged him, sputtering about Zack. Angeal paled as he listened.
Zack, apparently, had died just two days ago on his way to Midgar after saving his friend, the small trooper, from Hojo. They had almost reached the city when Zack was gunned down. The trooper had last been seen in the uniform of a SOLDIER First Class on the way into Midgar.
Angeal had fled at that, and had taken his own life. It had been for nothing. All that hunting for Zack had been for nothing. All he had for it was a firmer belief in his own monstrosity.
In the Lifestream, he had been faced with Zack. And he looked so disappointed. It was then Angeal learned what this was all about. Zack, the trooper, and the girl in the slums had been given a second chance to fix things, but in the end the same people were dead and the same people were alive. The causes and order of death had just changed.
It reminded Angeal of an old children's rhyme.
Ring around the rosy, pockets full of posies, ashes to ashes…
"We all fall down…"