Author's Note: Okay, so this little gem is something I've been gradually working on for about four months now. It's set in an AU I plan to use frequently from here on out (if people like it) in which Zack, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal never desert SOLDIER in the first place, which means Final Fantasy VII (and most of Crisis Core) essentially never happens. *Le gasp!* Don't worry, though, it'll all make sense eventually.
In this fic, Cloud is 17, Zack is 19, and the Legendary Trio are all 33. So, with that in mind, enjoy (and leave a review for this chapter, pretty please!)
The day of the assignment began as a mundane and ordinary day at the office for Zack Fair and Angeal Hewley. The weather in Midgar was bleak, as it always was. The sun had risen slowly, offering little light and no warmth on that frigid January morning. Zack and Angeal were sparring in one of the practice rooms, neither knowing nor caring exactly what time it was, when the P.A. system crackled into life and announced that both of them were needed immediately in Director Lazard's office. Angeal shrugged at the questioning look from his pupil, and the two reluctantly sheathed their blades and strode off in the direction of the SOLDIER director's room.
"You're both being sent off on a new mission, starting tomorrow," Lazard stated as soon as they closed the door. This was a first – usually it took at least thirty seconds for him to tell them what they were being called in for.
"May I ask what it is we're doing?" Angeal asked patiently, noting how flustered the usually cool-as-ice Lazard looked today. The blond man ran a hand back through his hair, sighing and glancing irritably at his computer screen before replying.
"The executives in the Mako Research Department have decided they want to build another reactor, and the location they've chosen is too dangerous for most ordinary people to set foot in. So, against my protests, they've decided to draft a few of my SOLDIERs into scoping out the area instead."
"And what area would that be, exactly?" Angeal asked, his curiosity piqued.
"It is in the center of Modeus mountain range, several miles north of Modeoheim. Apparently, there are vast pools of mako trapped inside the largest of the mountains, and they need someone from SOLDIER to determine whether the area is accessible and stable enough to allow for the construction of a reactor." Zack gave Angeal a confident smirk; this was going to be a cakewalk.
"How long are we expected to be?"
"The Turks will fly you and Zack to the area just outside of the mountain range and drop you off. From there, you will have six days to hike to the reactor, document data about the terrain, collect a sample of mako if there is any to be found, and return to the area where you were left. This should be plenty of time; it should take only two and a half days to reach the area on the map, which gives you an extra day's time to rest before the Turks return, if need be." Angeal nodded, but something about the director's gaze was unsettling.
"Sir, if this is such an easy mission, may I ask why you seem so worried?" Lazard sighed and looked away from Angeal for a moment.
"Even if it is just a trek through the mountains, I am still reluctant to deploy two of my best SOLDIERs to some gods-forsaken pile of rock in the middle of the Modeus. If the Research Department wants that mako so badly, why can't they send some of their own employees to handle it? There are enough of them to spare, and there is always greater safety in numbers. Even for a SOLDIER, the monsters in those mountains can be quite a handful."
In an attempt to alleviate Lazard's concerns, Angeal suggested adding an extra SOLDIER or two to the mix. This idea eventually ended up being rejected since there were so few Seconds and Thirds available at the moment, and Sephiroth and Genesis, the only other Firsts, were currently on assignment in Wutai. So the discussion turned instead to the small list of cadets Lazard considered fit for the task. Zack immediately joined in and mentioned Cloud Strife, the young blond cadet he had befriended a little over two years ago and who, at least according to said raven-haired SOLDIER, was also a "backwater expert." Who, then, he reasoned, would be better to accompany Angeal and Zack on their mission than Cadet Strife?
Zack rushed off at top speed to tell his friend about their decision, and the younger boy had to pinch himself to make sure he was indeed awake. Though Zack and Angeal were very close, Cloud had always been intimidated by the enormous man, and he was still unsure exactly why Angeal would pick him over the more capable SOLDIER Seconds and Thirds. Not wanting to question his good luck, though, Cloud immediately agreed, and he rushed away as quickly as a racing Chocobo to begin packing his bag for the trek.
The following day found the two SOLDIERs and the cadet seated in the back of a helicopter on their way to the future reactor site. Angeal was snoring quietly, his head resting against the window of the chopper and his body slumped against the wall; an old, worn book lay open on his lap, abandoned in favor of his slightly uncomfortable window-pillow.
Cloud was sitting as still as a statue in the corner, holding his head down between his knees and clenching a bucket between his feet while tried to concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths. Zack was busy letting his airsick friend lean on him and quietly talking about the mission, his girlfriend Aerith, how small his paycheck was compared to the Turks' – anything he could think of to distract the blond and lessen his misery a little. This worked for a while, until Tseng swerved quickly to miss some unseen aerial obstacle. Cloud's face turned snow-white and then sickly green, and Zack barely had time to shove the bucket under the blond's chin before he found himself holding the longer pieces of his friend's hair out of the way and rubbing his back as his stomach decided to return his breakfast with interest. This woke Angeal, who immediately joined Zack in comforting the sick cadet until he stopped gagging and slumped tiredly against his raven-haired friend.
"Are you alright now, Spiky?" Zack asked as the blond swallowed hard and groaned, holding one hand over his belly and the other over his mouth. "We're almost there, okay? Just a few more minutes and we'll be out in the fresh air." The cadet nodded weakly, not trusting himself to speak.
"Are you sure he's alright?" Angeal asked with concern. "He seemed healthy a little while ago, but now…" Zack smiled at his mentor and nodded, patting Cloud's back reassuringly and grimacing when it just gave him the hiccups.
"He and planes just don't get along well. It'll fade once we hit solid ground."
Luckily, solid ground wasn't far off. Within another ten minutes, they had landed on top of the hard-packed snow at the base of the mountains; Tseng made sure to land gently once he learned that one of his passengers was airsick. Zack helped Cloud out of the chopper, sitting down beside him in the snow while Angeal tossed their packs down beside them and signaled to the Turk that he was clear to leave. Cloud had begun to feel better as soon as his feet touched the ground, and once he had convinced Zack and Angeal that he was able to keep down the small sips of water they forced on him, the three of them shouldered their packs and began their steady trek up the mountain.