Title : Prayers End
Author : Tariq ( formerly Aeris Jade Orion )
Rating : M
Pairing : ZF/AG
Timeline : End of Crisis Core
Spoilers : Crisis Core, FF VII
Summary : With Cloud dead from Mako poisoning, Zack makes a promise to stop Shinra once and for all.
Authors note: It's unbeta'd. At the moment I
have no beta reader for this genre. So drop me
a line if you're interested.
Second, due to health issues, and taking care
of my disabled mom, I haven't been able to
write much. But over the last several years
I've managed to slowly write on a number
of stories.
What I've decided to do is go ahead and
publish what I've managed to put together.
The stories are unfinished, and sometimes,
the last chapter I worked on is unfinished.
Plus, there maybe multiple chapters, each one a
different version. Just warning everyone.
So I apologize in advance.
Disclaimer : Not mine. All characters belong to Square Enix, Sony, and other unmentioned parties.
Prologue
" Things will work out. You'll see. Once we hit Midgar, we can find Aerith. She'll be able to help us. " Zack beamed at his younger friend.
He worried for Cloud, but he was determined to remain upbeat. During the shorts periods where the blonde was semi-conscious he could see a small spark of recognition.
Whatever he felt, whatever he believed his friends condition was, he wasn't going to do anything that would make him worry. That was the last thing Cloud needed.
As it was he could tell the kid was distressed at being unable to move, talk, or even stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time.
Truth be told, Zack was distressed over it himself.
Mako poisoning, in general, lasted only a few days, a week at most. The worst case he'd ever heard of had lasted a month.
Not one of those cases had shown the symptoms that Cloud exhibited. Not one had left the person a zombie, or left them with such violent fevers.
" Uagghhhh..."
The ex-SOLIDER cursed under his breath as his friend began to convulse. A green liquid streamed from the corner of Cloud's left eye, making the skin smoke and burn.
" Easy bubby. " Zack mumured, lowering the blonde to the ground.
" ...nmmm..."
Zack pressed down, trying to keep the boy from hurting himself, while fishing for their last potion. There hadn't been anywhere to restock, and no doctors.
They'd simply spent too much time having to dodge the Turks and Shinra troops. Too much time and no money to buy anything.
He'd spent the last year scavaging, hunting, and hiding. Mostly he'd been left playing healer and nurse to his friend. Learning healing on the fly.
Months went by while he experimented with created medicines and potions. Every herb, plant, and moss he'd found was used at one time or another.
Yet none had worked the way that was needed. None healed Cloud, or purged the Mako from his body.
Oh, they held off his fever once in a while. They would let him have a few extra minutes of consciousness, or sleep peacefully.
Now time had run out. No more potions, not even what he'd been making. No doctor, or healer. Even the cura materia had been broken in the fight with Genesis.
His hand closed around the potion bottle, and roughly grabbed the cork with his teeth.
" ...no... " Cloud rasped. " ...don't..."
He yanked the cork out.
" ...don't...let them..." Cloud pleaded. "...no one else... "
Zach pulled Cloud up, glad to see the convulsions were stopping.
" Easy, kid. It's almost over, then we can head out again. Maybe we can hitch a ride or something. "
He brought the potion toward Cloud, and frowned as the blonde grabbed it with his right hand.
"...stop...them..." Cloud continued. " ...promise me... "
Zack sobered and meet the clear eyes of his friend. Mako was filling them, drowning them. The green oozed from his ears and mouth now, and was spreading.
" I promise, kid. " He reluctantly vowed. " We'll both stop Shinra. "
" ...on...honor...? "
" Yeah, on my honor. " He repeated, binding himself to the vow.
"...Tifa..."
He closed his eyes, refusing to watch but hearing Cloud take his last breath.
" I'll stop them, kid. I'll make sure they don't destroy anyone else. " Zach mumbled, hugging his friend tightly. " For you, Tifa, and everyone else they betrayed. "
" I swear it. "
Zach stared out over Midgar, numb and feeling a guilt he'd felt only once before. The guilt he earned with Angeal's blood. The guilt he now suffered with the blood of Cloud.
He had failed as a friend, a SOLIDER, and a hero. He was a fallen. A man who had tried his best and came up short.
Someone that was just as bad as Seriphroth and Genesis. Someone who ranked up there with maniac's like Hojo, and President Shinra.
He could kill, it seemed, but he couldn't save. He couldn't protect, or survive. Which left him with what? What path was left for him to walk?
Violence? War? Hate?
He'd joined Shinra to be a hero. To protect the planet, and fight were others were unable. Instead he became involved with the evil he wanted to fight.
Did that make him evil? Was his soul tainted now?
He kneeled behind the boulder at the edge of the desert and the city. Hidden from view, safe for the time being.
His body was exhausted from a year of hiding, fighting, and trying to nurse Cloud. He was aching horribly from four years of experiments, and mistreatment.
But his hands...
They were bloody, torn, and quilted in dirt. Hands used to bury Cloud. Skin used to dig through six feet of earth and rock.
He curled up, his eyes flickering around for signs of discovery. Painful from little sleep, and the burning sun.
Blistered skin cracked and itched. Scolded from the wind, and sand. Lips parched from dehydration ached deep under the surface, making him flick his tongue over them.
His once immaculate cloths were now nothing more than rags. Dirt, blood, some unknown goop, staining the cloth.
The lids of his eyes slid shut, and he leaned his head on the boulder. Sleep was so far off...
He wanted to find it again. To relax, and let his body rest the way it needed. What dreams he had were torture, though.
Nightmares that ripped at his mind, reminded him of his failures, and haunted him with a vow.
' ...on my honor...'
He had sworn to destroy and kill. To draw blood, and lay ruin. To become the very thing Aerith hated. To walk a path that would take him from her arms forever.
' Aerith, forgive me. '
To become fallen.
Chapter One
Zack Fair, ex-SOLIDER 1st class, escaped experiment, and Shinra's biggest pain in the butt, cackled to himself with glee.
For three blasted months he'd been trying to assassinate Hojo the mad, and for three months he'd failed miserbly.
Not a complete failure, to tell the truth. His failure's had destroyed two Midgar labs, an arms warehouse, and the Materia Fusion plant. Better yet, he'd ended up taking out several top ranked scientist's, and a platoon of 2nd Class SOLIDER's.
Now, however, he was going to take down Hojo once and for all. This time the scientist wouldn't forget about a meeting, or resschedule a trip to one of the other labs, or arrive late.
No. This time it would be perfect.
Hojo would be arriving at the Transportaton plant personally escorted by the Turks. Which meant he would be on time, and there would be no more rescheduling.
Carefully he flipped on the handmade bomb, and started the timer.
20 minutes and counting.
" Perfect! " He smirked.
" Freeze! "
Zack glanced over and stared at the Infantry foot soilder approaching him at a run. Approaching, and ignoring the metal plate sticking up.
" Look out for the..."
He winced as the man tripped, stumbling forward, right into his bomb.
"...plate. " He finished.
Crack. Zzzzzzz.
" That can't be good. " He murmured, pushing the knocked out man off the bomb.
The display flickered, blinked, then let out a pitiful spark. A soft whistling buzzed from the hatch with the detenater.
Zack knew instantly that this required a cool, calm head, and a patient, gentle hand. With that in mind, and having been trained to be the best of the best, he acted.
SMACK.
The whistling faded, and the screen gave one blink.
" It always works. " Zack smuggly bragged.
Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep.
Horrified, he watched the timer began to spin smoothly backwards. The numbers running so fast, even his Mako enhanced eyes couldn't track them.
" Uh-oh. "
He blinked, the bomb blinked back. He inched back, the bomb twitched. He slowly stood up, the bomb coughed out a puff of smoke.
" Well, when the slap and tickle method doesn't work there's only one thing left. " Zack calmly stated.
He spun around, and sprinted down the hall like Ifirit himself was after his soul. He sped past a number of surprised SOLDIERS, and one fat man that looked greasy enough to be important to Shinra.
None the less, he ignored them all.
He hit the stair well, taking them three at a time, and knowing that he would never make it. He leaped onto the first turn of the stairs, and skidded to a halt.
Glowing blue eyes, stared up into the mencing red eyes of some sort of flying robot. Blue eyes narrowed with mischief, and relief.
He had just found his way out.
" This wasn't what I had in minnnnndddd! "
His left hand slipped from the machine gun barrel, causing him to look down, and down, and down some more.
The world shifted and he suddenly sympathized with poor Cloud. Odin's blade, he even felt sorry for the Great Ninja Yuffie, Princess and Greatest Warrior of The Wutai.
He jerked his head back up, and latched his hand back onto the chaotically flying robot. The bloody thing ignoring his attempts at controlling where it went.
BOOOOOMMMM!
Heat seared his back. Ash bellowing out over the slums. Charcoaled parts rained down around him, and over the ringing in his ears he heard a Shinra truck below.
Glancing down, his eyes widened in pure rage. Hojo, that twice damned Hojo, was in the truck. He was in the truck unharmed, and bored.
" Bastaaaaaaaaa..."
His hands grasped at air as he fell from the robot. He cursed his luck, Hojo, Shinra, the robot, and anything else that came to mind.
-
To Be Continued