Hm... My inspiration for this story, about a month ago, I just thought Zack would make an interesting parent given that he LOVES womanizing (even though he loves Aerith the most).

XD Maybe having a kid around him would change his ways, you know?

Still, you'd be surprised how much I've already planned out for this story on paper. I thought about everything: past, present and future.

"I promise you, Aerith, I'm going to help you make the flower wagon as soon as I finish up these missions that I have."

"…All right. Good luck, and be careful," A grin curved onto his face.

"Thanks~" He hung up his cell phone, and from around the corner came one of his subordinates—a young woman with curly brunette hair wearing a suit; A member of the Turks, no less.

"You called Aerith~?" She joked.

"Geez, Cissnei, you're always watching me…"

"I'm a Turk. That's my job," Cissnei smiled. "So, you're going to head out to go visit her, right?"

"Later on. I suddenly got a few missions from the science department. They want me to test some new 'super creatures' of theirs, the norm…"

"Your kind of job."

"Exactly."

"Great."

"Well, be seeing you, Cissnei."

"All right. See you later, Zack."

"Where do you think you're going? Get back here this instant!"

He kept running, never once looking back. Multiple questions kept running through his mind: Why am I even running? And… if I stop, what's going to happen? Where am I going to go…? And then he saw a man in the distance fending off enemies.

Maybe he had finally come across his answer.

"I wonder why…" Clang! "The science department sent me to-" Clang! "WUTAI! Geez, back off, dammit!" With one swing of the Buster Sword, the experiments were cut to pieces. "…Man… These things are pretty high maintenance…" Zack pulled out a small notebook, brushing his single hanging strand from over his eyes before recording some notes.

Difficulty level… Abilities… Items obtained from-

Then his phone rang, and he heaved a sigh, answering it. "Yeah, Zack speaking."

"How's the mission going?"

"Cissnei?" Zack chuckled. "Going pretty well! Then again, no mission's too intense for First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, the clean-up guy!"

Now it was Cissnei's turn to laugh. "Well, I won't be long, trust me. I really only called because one of your infantryman asked me to pass along the little message of 'are we still on for dinner later?' to you."

"Tell him that I have to postpone for now. This mission is taking longer than I-" Zack glanced up ahead in time to see a young boy fall to the ground, unconscious, and then his eyes went a bit wide. "I'll, um, call you back!"

"Wait, Zack, I-" But Zack had hung up already, racing towards the boy.

"Hey, kid, are you okay?" Zack took a closer look and saw that the child was covered head to toe in what he believed to be claw marks; even his white hair had been scuffled up. "Wha…? Wait a second… he doesn't appear to be among the Wutai clan… Maybe these creatures attacked him and then he tried to run, or…?" Zack looked to the boy a second time and then groaned. "Man, I'm not getting paid enough for this job…!"

Zack managed to return to his bedroom—how he managed to go unnoticed while carrying a child on his back by the other SOLDIER members despite being a closet klutz, he would never understand—and set him on his bed as gently as he was able.

"…I could get into serious trouble for this… I don't know who would be more angry at me: Aerith for blowing her off, Cloud for blowing him off… Or Rufus Shinra for smuggling some kid into the corp. Damn… either way, someone's gonna give me an earful…"

"Nngh…" Zack glanced down at the boy and noticed that his once white hair was steadily turning black.

"…The hell…? Is this kid a hybrid or-" Then he recalled the claw and bite marks covering the boy's body. "…Or maybe he just BECAME one. I need to get advice on-" As if on cue, his cell phone began ringing. "…Talk about excellent timing…" He put the phone up to his ear.

"So, you've made other plans?"

"Cloud! Just the guy I needed! Hey, do you think you could come by my room? It's really, REALLY important!"

"…What?"

"Just come by!" Cloud sighed.

"Fine… Whatever you say, Zack…"

It didn't take long for the young infantryman to make his way to his superior's aide at command.

"Hey, Za-" The raven-haired young man had grabbed the younger by his shirt already.

"Just get in here!" Then he tugged and pulled him inside of the bedroom.

"WHOA!" Once Cloud was inside, Zack slammed the door behind him and then locked it. "W-What'd you call me for-?"

"What do you know about hybrids?"

"N-Nothing!" Cloud replied, still a bit panicked. "Why do you ask?"

"I found a kid out in Wutai during a mission," Cloud opened his mouth to speak. "And before you say something like 'you're harboring a Wutai spy in your room,' I only brought him with me because he's injured."

"…One of your frivolous hero acts?"

"…You wouldn't get it. You really wouldn't. Trust me."

"So, what are you planning to do with him?"

"As soon as he comes to, I'm gonna break some information out of him—where he came from, how he got attacked… The usual."

"Just hope that he doesn't suspect you as an opponent and try to attack you…"

"PLEASE! As if anyone could knock someone like me down all that easily!"

While Cloud and Zack had their backs turned, steel-colored eyes weakly flickered up at them before slowly closing again.

^_^ Well, that concludes the prologue!

:3 Review? Pretty please with Zack on top?

...

0_0 That had to have been the absolute WORST thing I've ever written in my own commentary.

And now I will prepare to run from the Zack fangirls that will want me gone for saying that. REVIEW! *Flees*