I've been working on a series of one shots recently and decided to post them. This is the first, the one that sets up for all the rest of them.

They all center around Zack, but sometimes can be told from another's perspective or will involve other characters.

They'll probably jump around a bit. Different important moments in Zack's life...ones that explain his quirks and his friends.

Disclaimer: I admit it, I'm more than a little Zack-obsessed. If I owned FF7, I'm thinking he would still be alive. But I don't. I'm merely getting a chance to play with his character a little.

All in Good Time

Oneshot #1:

The Hilltop

Summary: After an arduous journey, Zack Fair has finally reached the Midgar Wastes. Excited, he wanders off alone, craving adventure. What he gets is a mouthful of dirt and a good many bright red welts...

Characters involved: Zack, Traces of Cloud and mentions Aerith Sephiroth and Genesis

The land turned uphill once more and he swore. His legs felt leaden and he was ready to just call it quits. After traveling for two months—with plenty of rest in the towns dotting the region—he'd been so excited to come upon the wastes…the last major obstacle separating him from his goal. He foolishly set off, stubbornly ignoring the warnings his ride had thrown at him. Warning him of the dangers of traveling the wastes on foot.

He was, of course, regretting it. The monsters he could handle. In fact, he wanted to fight them. They were the only thing he had thought dangerous when he began his journey. He relished the challenge. A little extra experience wouldn't hurt.

Except it wasn't the monsters that were the true danger on the wastes. It was the lack of moisture or cool breezes to relieve the threat of heat stroke. It was the flats where there was no shade for miles. It was the general featurelessness and the difficulty to navigate.

Fortunately, he was smart, contrary to what some people thought of him. He knew how to navigate by starlight from many a night sitting under the stars with his father back home in the country. He hid where ever he could find shade in the day or pitched a makeshift tent when he couldn't. And he hadn't come completely unprepared. Just as he had a cheep short sword clipped to his side for defense, he also had a great deal of water to refresh himself, and he still had a decent amount of food left over from the last town.

But it had still been a miserable journey. His first day he hadn't been so smart about traveling, and he suffered for it, covered in spots of bright red peeling skin. The air was chokingly hot. It stole the breath from his lungs, and his skin perspirated heavily as his body tried to cool itself. And it turns out it wasn't the big monsters he had to worry about on the plain. His journey had been absolutely boring in that respect. He'd only glimpsed one distantly, and it barely even acknowledged him.

It was the small monsters—the ones that snuck into his packs whenever he fell asleep—that were the problem. One broke into his bag and shredded through most of his clothing before it had saturated its curiosity and left. He mourned the loss of those clothes after a few days stuck in rather vile garments that were ripped and stunk of sweat.

Whenever a rare wind picked up—that was the worst. He'd grown accustomed to breezes being a good thing from his experiences in the country. On the hottest days they were a blessing. But the wind that blew over the wastes was hot, scorching. He felt like he was in front of a fire, the flames fanning heat at his face.

And even worse, they kicked up dust. Dust had become his mortal enemy. It got everywhere, staining his skin light brown, peppering his eyes and forcing its way down his gullet. After two days on the wastes his mouth had become coated in a film of mud.

He was ready to be done with it after that second day. But that had been nearly a week ago. And things only got more miserable from there. He longed to sleep in a bed again, to see his mother's face and to hug his father. Yet what else could he do? He couldn't go back. He'd feel like a failure if he did. So he kept on.

Then, just last night as he traveled by the light of the North Star, he noticed the skies seemed lighter; despite the lateness. Indeed the stars began to fade from his sight and he was left traveling blind against an ever lightening sky. It hadn't taken him long to figure out why. Light pollution. He was at long last nearing the end of his hellish journey.

He had been so excited that he decided against stopping when the sun finally rose. Even though it meant he would, again, be covered in blisters. Just in time to enlist. What a sight he would be, standing next to the other cadets who would, most likely, be squeaky clean and a great deal older. He grinned at the thought.

Yet for some reason, he hadn't expected any difficulties. He thought he would have a straight shot to the city from here. Wrong. Very, very wrong. He had to skirt around several rock formations and now he was, of course, going up hill. Didn't Midgar lay in a dried up lakebed? Wasn't that one of the stories he'd been fed by the travelers? Then why on earth was he headed up hill? Seemed counterproductive…

Subconsciously, he had prepared himself for a false alarm. He had been ready to be disappointed and find that he had another day of hard travel ahead. Which was why when he rounded that corner, he nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get a better view. Stretched out before him was Midgar at long last.

Two light blue eyes surveyed the horizon with interest.

Well, maybe interest was putting it mildly. The thirteen-year-old's eyes were practically bugging out of his head trying to take everything in all at once. He always had been told he bit off more than he could chew and this was really no different. It was like he was trying to absorb the metropolis, every nail and nook and cranny.

The city was just like all the stories. Suspended above the ground on massive pillars, shaped like a deep-dish pizza or maybe a pie. Mhm pie. Why did both those analogies have to relate to food? He was starving. The thought of another dry, sand covered roll made him shudder. That was definitely the first thing he was doing when he got to the city. Eating something that wasn't stale or disgusting or both.

The air seemed to hum with his excitement as he adjusted himself on the hilltop to get a better look. He had never seen a city that big…hadn't even dreamed there was one. And now he was going to live there. He already knew without thought that the most important years of his life would be spent behind those metal walls. He knew that the future he had so dreamed of was all waiting for him in that city.

What was he waiting for? It wasn't going to get any closer by him just gawking at it! And so Zack Fair quickly raced off to find a way down the cliff side. Toward the city…toward his destiny. Unaware that that same little spot on the cliff that he'd just stood upon would become uncomfortably familiar. For every story has a beginning and an ending. That bland spot on the hill facing Midgar had been both for him.

His mako-less eyes had yet to experience the roller coaster ride that was in store for him. Could not even begin to fathom all that waited for him beyond those walls. Friends and enemies. Lovers and traitors. And one sacrifice that would change the world forever.

Nor did he know that scantly a year and a half later, another man would be standing on that same cliff overlooking Midgar, shocked expression on his face. He couldn't know that this slight boy from Nibelhiem would become his pupil…his closest friend…his successor. And, one day, the savior the planet had awaited for so long…

All in good time.

This one is stylized differently than the others and has no dialogue. Not all of them will be like this one, though the last is planned to have a similar feel.

Next Chapter: We learn how Zack and Angeal meet and why Zack is so obsessed with squats.