For most of the afternoon, the three men crunched through the snow and up the slick, icy paths, too focused on keeping themselves warm, on top of the snow, and on their feet to bother speaking much. Even the puppyish Zack was more subdued than usual, his attention focused solely on the terrain and making sure he kept pace with his mentor. It was miserably cold, and although Zack and Angeal had enough mako in their bodies to keep them from freezing to death even without much outerwear, it didn't make the experience any more pleasant for either of them.
Angeal had initially worried that Cloud would slow them down since he did not have the mako-enhanced stamina of a SOLDIER, but the cadet had quickly proved that worry unnecessary by not only keeping up, but passing the other two and continually staying a fair distance ahead of them. When Angeal asked how he was faring so well in an environment that made even the thirty-three-year-old SOLDIER feel exhausted, Cloud had simply smiled and said that these mountains were tamer than the ones surrounding his hometown. Angeal had accepted that answer, resolving to ask Zack a little more about his friend later when they wouldn't be overheard.
By the time the sun began to near the horizon, the temperature was dropping to dangerously cold levels and the sky was darkening with the first clouds of an approaching blizzard. Angeal decided that it was time to set up camp for the night; there was no sense in risking their health by getting caught out in a snowstorm, especially when they had plenty of time to spare before they had to report back to Tseng. Besides, the snow in the Modeus was often too heavy for anyone to see through, even in daylight. If they were to go looking for mako-filled caverns in weather like that, it was likely they would pass right by them and never be any the wiser.
Zack and Cloud stayed close to him until he selected their campsite, a small clearing with a few scattered trees that offered at least a slight windbreak around it. In no time, the three of them had pitched the tent and made a fire in the center of the clearing, dropping their weapons off inside the tent afterwards. They took off some of their outer layers and hung them on a branch high above the fire to dry, and Cloud unpacked the blankets and bedrolls from their packs and laid them inside the tent before setting up a few pieces of cooking equipment over the fire.
While Angeal snapped limbs off of the trees to use as extra firewood, he asked Zack to go and get some water to boil for stew. He could see a fairly large stream nearby, and Zack was happy to oblige when his mentor pointed it out to him. Cloud followed him, seeing as he had nothing better to do at that moment, and he was thirsty besides. While he knelt on the bank of the stream and drank handful after handful of the crystal-clear water, Zack crouched about fifty yards away, dipping the first of two cooking pots into it and staring in fascination at the chunks of ice floating down on the current. Gongaga had a hot, humid climate, so ice was something he was extremely unfamiliar with. He brought the first pot back to the fire and walked over to join Cloud while he filled the second.
A moment after Zack sat down beside him, Cloud froze, getting the feeling he was being watched. Something was out there, hidden just inside the treeline. His eyes roamed over the edges of the campsite, scanning for the beast he was praying was only in his imagination. Finally, he saw it there, watching both of them with hungrily glinting eyes: a Bandersnatch. The oversized wolf-creatures were larger and stronger than the Nibel Wolves that lived around his hometown, and even Nibel Wolves were a force to be reckoned with in a pack. Cloud shuddered, hoping the Bandersnatch was alone and suddenly feeling as if there were hundreds of the things hiding in the trees.
"Zack…" he whispered, his heart beginning to race when he heard the wolf-like beast begin to growl. Zack turned toward him, completely unaware of the danger while he continued to play with the chunks of ice floating beside him in the stream.
"What's up, Spike?" the raven-haired First asked nonchalantly, stretching and yawning after he had set the pot of water down on the snowy ground. Cloud held a finger up to his lips, and Zack tilted his head in confusion but fell silent.
"A Bandersnatch. Right behind you," Cloud whispered in a voice so quiet Zack wouldn't have heard it without his mako-enhanced hearing. "Don't. Move."
"Oh. Ohhhh," Zack whispered, his eyes widening when the true fear in Cloud's words began to sink in. His muscles tensed immediately, instinctually beginning to reach for his SOLDIER-issue broadsword before he realized it was still in the tent with Angeal's Buster Sword and Cloud's rifle. He sighed, keeping his ears focused behind him and looking over his shoulder as far as he could without actually turning his head. "Alright, don't panic. Angeal's got our backs. Just sit still here and he'll figure out something's up." Almost on cue, the enormous man suddenly dropped from one of the trees right above the beast, driving the edge of Zack's broadsword through its neck and cleanly beheading it before it could move to fight back. Both Zack and Cloud breathed a sigh of relief while Angeal began wiping the creature's blood off of the blade and onto the snow.
"Thank you, Sir!" Cloud whispered gratefully, once again in awe of the older man's impressive skills. Angeal nodded and smiled, but suddenly froze when a much louder growl rumbled from somewhere in the trees. He immediately drew Zack's broadsword again, standing protectively in front of the two younger men while he waited to see where the sound was coming from. A moment later, a much larger Bandersnatch emerged from the trees, snarling and growling furiously while it foamed at the mouth. It took one look at its dead kin and threw its head back, giving an ear-piercing howl, before it suddenly fell completely silent, eyes focused unblinkingly on Angeal. Cloud gulped.
"Ah… Angeal?" he whispered, getting only a slight grunt from the big man to show he had heard. "That Bandersnatch you killed a second ago… If it's anything like a Nibel Wolf, than judging by its size it was just a pup. And, um… I think this one… might be Mom." Angeal sighed, his shoulders sagging a fraction of an inch before the she-wolf began stalking toward him and he took up his strong fighting stance once more.
"Wonderful."