Threads of Time

Part 3

Never Forget

Hikari: O.M.G. I just finished Dirge of Cerberus *SPOILERS* I thought they were going to kill Vincent, and I was about ready to smack them! Seriously, Vincent is soooooooo sweet. But Shelke is pretty dang cool. GOD, those memory capsules HATE ME! I'm replaying it, and I can't find the second one. UGH! *SPOILERS END*

Vincent: That's your own stupid fault for not looking for them.

Hikari: Your game sucks, and you're not much better.

Vincent: Thought I was your second favorite character.

Hikari: You are. But your game isn't my second favorite game.

Vincent: What is?

Hikari: Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories.

Vincent: I take it the second Kingdom Hearts game is your favorite.

Hikari: Yeah. Why aren't you in that? That would've been cool. Better yet, why isn't Zack? Aerith is, and she's dead!

Vincent: *glances at audience* I highly doubt your readers care much.

Hikari: Oh! Right! Sorry! Anyways, here's the third part!

~-~-~-~-~

"…packages for fugitives, huh?"

I shut the sound off, dangling the headset around my neck. I was having issues keeping my eyes open. It had been a mere week since my last meeting with Zack, and now I was hunting them like vermin.

"Wonder if he's awake…"

"What was that?"

I jumped. I must've hit the wrong button. Making sure the right buttons and such were pressed, I replied, "Nothing, Reno. Just talking to myself. Go ahead and keep looking. Nothing down here."

"Got it. See you later."

"Sure."

This time, I made sure to hit the right button. The weird thing Rufus Shinra had given me helped me tap into Reno and Rude's signal, or any of the Turks for that matter. Cissnei and I had been on the rocks since she gave me that cursed note, but she was a sweet girl. I knew she was going to get in trouble, though. She had been sent to find Zack, had found him, but reported that she hadn't.

I restarted my bike, and took off after the yellow truck I'd seen earlier. The Turks weren't looking for them to hard if they over looked a truck with a boy with a huge ass sword sitting in the back. Seriously.

The truck stopped for a mere moment before taking off. I slowed to a snail's pace, quiet as a mouse. I remembered that I'd told Zack I'd only see him once more. I thought I'd put it off a little more. He was the one thing I'd grown attached to, and I couldn't bear to loose him and his lovely smirk.

SO I thought nothing of it when I saw him stroll off. I merely shut my bike off, grabbed my sword, and headed to the spot my black-haired friend had just vacated…

…only to find a very awake Cloud.

Caught off guard, I jumped, smacking my head against a rock. It didn't hurt me nearly as badly as the last time, though. I guessed my head had hardened.

"Hello…who are you?" he croaked. He had apparently just awoken. It would explain the groggy look in his eyes, which were also mako green.

"Wanderer," I replied. Only Lazard, Reno, and Rufus knew my true name, and this blond boy wasn't going to learn it before Zack, "I'm an… acquaintance of Zack's."

"Oh," he replied, before falling silent again.

"Hey, what-" I started.

That's when the firing started.

Thanking my lucky stars that my bike was hidden, I hit the deck, pulling Cloud behind a rock.

"Zack!" He cracked, tears brimming to his eyes. Only then did realization hit me.

"He's out there? Are you shitting me?" I stood up, but Cloud grabbed the end of my skirt.

"Leave him. He wants to do this."

"I can't let him die! I have to talk to him!"

A glared crossed Cloud's face, his drowsy eyes leaving him for but a moment, "Leave. Him."

With a final jerk of on my skirt, I sat. My eyes close, a tear escaping at the corner, betraying my hard shell, "Damn it!" I cried, leaning my forehead on my knee, "He's going to die, and it's my fault!"

Cloud's eyes returned to their drowsy state, before closing again. I raked my fingers through my spiky red hair, sitting back up. The boy looked so conflicted, his brow furrowed, his eyelashes fluttering as he struggled with his dreams. I gently batted away a stray piece of blonde hair, regretting having yelled at him.

We sat in silence, listening to the distant sound of gunfire quieting to a few shots, then vanishing completely, "Should we…?" I started, glancing at Cloud.

"Help me up," he croaked, reaching his hand out to me.

I'm positive neither one of us were prepared for what we saw.

Zack lay on the ground, his blood covering the ground around him. As the rain started to fall, I set Cloud down before falling to my knees. The sitting boy crawled to the slowly dying one, as my vision blurred with black spots. I had grown used to blood over the years; I'd even watched as my teacher had bleed to death from torture inflicted by Shinra soldiers for treachery, falsely accused to boot. Even my parents had been slain before my eyes, by someone I had trusted as a friend. But this? This was too much. Vaeltraa had been in her later 30s, my parents well past 40; Zack was barely 20. Seeing a life flushed down the toilet was bad enough, but it being his made it even worse.

I didn't even realize they were talking until the spots cleared. Cloud looked at me, holding his hand out. I slowly crawled toward the once healthy SOLDIER, 1st class, not caring that I was filthy with mud and blood.

Blood that wasn't mine.

"Wanderer," he breathed, his voice strangely strong for someone who was moments from death, "Tell me your true name. Please."

Tears pulled at my eyes, "O-of course," I stuttered, "I'm called Spinster. Alexandria Spinster."

"Alexandria," Zack smiled. His gloved hand grasped mine, his other one on Cloud's head (which rested on his stomach), "How strangely perfect."
"I'll miss you," I sobbed, clutching his hand within mine. His was already going limp, and I noticed Cloud's once-blurry eyes starting to clear, tears replacing his spacey look.

"It's been nice knowing you, Spins," Zack murmured, "Bye, Cloud," he closed his eyes, "Keep our promise."

With that, his hand went limp.

I sat, staring at the boy on the ground in front of me. The only thing that brought me back to reality was the scream.

I shot back like a whip. Without looking down, I crawled around the still boy, and hugged the living one to my chest without a word.

"Thank you," I heard him murmur, "I won't forget."

He sat back up, and looked me straight in the face. He ran one gloved hand across my face, "You're…crying."

My left hand felt my eyes, and the water dripping from them, revealing a burn scar that was cracked and bloody from not being taken care of. I flipped it back before Cloud noticed, "Come on, we should go."

I stood, and offered him a hand. He shook his head, wanting to do it on his own. He stood, with the help of the Buster blade (when did he get that? Ah, Zack must have given it to him. Of course), and gave one last look to Zack, "Good night," he murmured. He looked into the distance for a moment, holding back his tears. He finally turned to me, "Zack," he finished, turning back to the spot we had vacated.

I betrayed myself and looked at the shell of the boy I had come to love. I reached up to my neck, and removed a small silver chain, on which a tiny symbol, the size of my thumb nail, hung. It was of a lightning bolt, my "ruling element" (as my mother called it). I bent down, and wrapped the necklace in Zack's warm, but lifeless, hand, "You gave him something to remember you with. Here's something to remember me when you're in the Lifestream."

"Come on, Spins," Cloud said.

I turned away, burning the image in my brain. Of all the things I'd screwed up on, this was by far my biggest regret.

I rubbed at my eyes, "I'm going to give you my bike. I can get another one."

Cloud's eyes widened, "You're leaving me?"

I shook my head, "No. You're leaving me. I have business to attend to that you don't need to be involved in."

Cloud glanced at the bike he stood next to. I glided past him, kicked the side open, and pulled out two more swords; including the rapier I'd tried to fight Zack with all those years ago. I was still struggling to keep my tears back; this boy didn't need to see my break. No one did, but someone would.

"Where will you go?" he questioned.

I straightened up, turning back to him, "I'll return to work with the Turks, though I do hope they'll let me leave. I need a taste of freedom, even if it means an untimely death," I bit my lip. That was Zack's mentality. Had been.

When confusion swept across his boyish face, I elaborated, "I'm an ex-first class. I left well before you ever joined, I can guarantee that. I was caught by the Turks a week ago, and am now working off my debt to Shinra by doing some espionage for them." I sheathed two of the blades on my hips before placing the rapier beneath my tights and into my boot on my left calf. I returned Black Magic, my black sword not much shorter than I was, to the Hollister that hung off my shoulders.

"Why go back?" he asked.

"I have a…friend with the Turks. You keep the weapons if you wish, but they're made for a female. No matter how girly you are, they won't work for you."

He seemed to struggle with his words, as if trying to figure out how to keep me with him, "Will I… see you again?"

My heart slammed against my ribs. That was what Zack had said after we parted the first of only three times. I laughed, trying to cover up my body's reaction, and ruffled his hair, "I promise that we will meet again in the future, darling."

"Darling…?"

My hand returned to my side, "Term of endearment. You'll have to get used to it. Hold on," I pulled my sleeve of my black shirt over my left hand, and rubbed at the blood on his cheek. It came off easily, so I attacked the blood in his hair.

"You're left handed?" he asked, a bit of surprise lacing his words.

I nodded, "Yeah, one of the three things Sephiroth and I have in common."

"What are the other two?" he questioned, when I had removed my hand from the vicinity of his face.

"We work for SOLDIER and we're both first class."

Cloud laughed, "I thought it would be something deeper than that."

I shook my head, "Not that ass. He put you in this mess, so I hate him. Plain and simple."

We were silent for a moment, before his eyes finally met mine, "I guess this is good bye."

"I shook my head, "More like… see you later."

After a final look, he jumped on the bike, Buster Blade in his lap, and took off.

I made sure he was gone before turning my headset back on, flipping it on.

"Reno?" my voice cracked.

"Oh, hey Lex! Did you find them?"
Tears sprung to my eyes, "Reno…"

"Where are you." It was a command, not a question.

"A cliff overlooking Shinra Manor."

"We're on our way."

The connection broke off then. As soon as I'd ripped off the headset, I sat down and burst into tears.

Reno arrived not long after. Apparently, the few soldiers remaining had taken the fall for the rest, which meant death. Upon Reno picking me up, I saw that Zack's body was gone, no doubt taken to the Lifestream. My necklace wasn't there, either.

"Lex, what happened to Cloud?" Reno asked, after we were safely in the helicopter, Rude driving, Cissnei in the passenger seat.

I sniffled. The tears hadn't stopped falling yet, "I-I don't know. He took my bike and ran off," which caused me to burst into another round of sobs. This was getting ridiculous. I had never cried this much in my whole life.

Reno sat next to me, an arm around my shoulders, "Well, think about it this way. Zack's probably with his mentor, Angeal, now. They have about seven years to catch up on. He won't get bored for another five, at the least. And don't think about ending your life. I highly doubt that's what he'd want."

I rubbed profusely at my eyes, the tears finally gone, "I know. I also know that you'd bring me back to life just to kill me again if I offed myself," I laughed pathetically. I'm sure I saw Cissnei cringe at the attempt.

"Reno, Rude, Cissnei, have you retrieved the target?" Rufus Shinra's voice crackled over our headsets.

"I'm right here, Sir," I sat into the headset, "You don't need to refer to me as an object."

"Apologizes, Alexandria."

"Please, Sir, Wanderer."

"Right, your silly nickname. Regardless, head back to headquarters. Wanderer, we'll need you to retell what happened to Tseng. I doubt he's going to be pleased. He had a few things for Zack," and then the line went dead.

I rolled my red, puffy eyes, "I'm not looking forward to this."

Reno hugged me tightly, "Don't worry, Spins. I'll be right there the whole time."

And he was.

In the following years, I leaned on Reno more than I should have. I followed Cloud's progress of life. However, I lost contact with the outside world two years after Zack's death, when I was excommunicated from the Turks for "bad behavior". Basically, Tseng was looking for a reason to get rid of me.

Not six months after I left the Turks, I was kidnapped by a scientist. I never saw his face, only ever heard his horrible voice. I escaped 18 months after my captivity had begun, with a body that would never age, and my need to eat was gone.

For the next three years, I wandered aimlessly through the land, stopping at random towns to stock up on healing items and other things to keep myself alive. I couldn't stay in one place for to long, because they would catch on that I didn't eat at all, and never fatigued. I also purchased a phone near the end of these years.

When I decided to return to visit Reno and show him I was okay, I was welcomed back rather oddly.

With a job to track three men who looked like Sephiroth, and get them to stop what they were doing.

~-~-~-~-~

Hikari: AND we know her name. Yes, the mysterious Wanderer's real name is Alexandria Spinster.

Vincent: That's quite a nice name.

Hikari: Thank you! I made it all myself.

Vincent: I just realized that I'm not even in the story yet. Why am I still here?

Hikari: You're in the rest of it. You make a pretty epic appearance in the end of the next section.

Vincent: …fine. I'll stay.

Hikari: *pauses, leering at Vincent. Rips his coat off and runs off* HA HA HA! IT'S MINE!

Vincent: GIVE THAT BACK YOU INSOLENT-!

Afterthoughts: Spins' parents were killed by Genesis when she was younger. He was kinda insane at that point… hell, he's a right psycho. And she'll be refered to as Spins from now on, since that's what she likes to be called.