Author's Note: Any idea of who took Aerith? If not, you'll find out in this chapter, and the song Zack is playing on the Lunar Harp is most definitely Aerith's Theme (I highly suggest looking a harp version up on Youtube; it's spectacularly calming).

Part 4: The Skeleton Trees

The Sleeping Forest was the picture of serenity. During the day the trees were luminous, like emeralds with dark navy leaves, and when the wind blew through the treetops, the leaves rustled and the branches creaked like whispers. The sun burned bright overhead, but the leaves allowed very little light through. Every sound was muffled, like the entire place was under a blanket; no birds could be heard, every twig that snapped underfoot was nearly silent, even speech was muted underneath the serene branches. Cloud seemed to love the silence there while Tifa marveled in the beauty of the jewel-like leaves.

Zack tried hard to like it. He really did. But silence and Zack did not keep good company and rather than feeling at ease in the Sleeping Forest, he was severely creeped out.

As the light began to fade from the sky, the trees, rather than becoming darker, began to glow whiter and whiter until the bark was glowing. Meanwhile, the leaves disappeared entirely, so that every tree looked bare and skeletal. The bark glowed so brightly that it was light as day out and white fireflies bobbed on the surfaces of the crystal ponds.

It felt as though they had not made any progress at all, even as the crescent moon rose higher in the sky.

Zack decided to call it a night after both Tifa and Cloud began to trudge leaning against one another. Cloud's blue eyes were half-open and he began to blink rapidly as Tifa stroked the blond hair from his forehead. Even as tired as she was, Tifa managed a smile for Zack as he looked behind him to see how they were doing. He sighed.

"We can rest here for the night. You two stay here and I'll go find some good drinking water." He didn't dare start a fire for two reasons, first because it was still bright enough to see and second, because he didn't dare burn any of the white wood.

Cloud gave an almost instant sigh of relief, sinking to the ground. Tifa knelt down next to him, pulling his head to her chest. Cloud slammed his blade into the ground and more than readily accepted the embrace, smiling as he was engulfed in what was probably the softest pair of pillows on earth. Zack smiled at his friend's happiness.

It was not hard to find water. Zack happened upon a small pool about five minutes from the campsite and he refilled six bottles worth, the water sparkling like a diamond in the white light. Somehow he knew it was going to be very sweet and refreshing.

The branches rustled above him and he looked up. The noise sounded like murmurs and Zack could not help himself.

"If the one I love is here…be prepared to give her up." He shook the water bottles in warning.

When he got close to the path, Zack stopped, as he heard Tifa and Cloud talking in muted voices. He didn't even dare to look out into the clearing, hearing what they were saying.

"Cloud." Tifa gasped breathily. "What if Zack comes back? You have to stop…We're tired…you have to save your strength! Cloud…" Tifa was too kind to rebuke him, Zack knew. "Cloud…"

"No." Cloud murmured softly. "Zack won't be back for a while…besides you almost got taken in front of my eyes today…I'm so jealous...I don't want anyone to take you away from me." Tifa tried to protest, but it was promptly silenced by what Zack imagined was a kiss. Alone with Tifa, Cloud became both touchy and talkative. "If anyone took you away from me…god, I would…I would get you back no matter what…"

"I know you would…" She said softly, returning the kiss. "Ok…we have to stop…" Cloud made a little noise of discontent and Tifa laughed. "I'm being serious."

"Me too. Just a bit longer…"

Zack wanted to laugh, but he turned away from the clearing and went back out to explore the woods. Heaven knew that if he had Aerith in his arms at that moment, he would most definitely want some time alone with her. He was willing to let Cloud be with Tifa as silent thanks. So he wandered through the forest until he found a place that suited him: an even smaller clearing with a calm pool and a fallen white tree that acted as a bench for him.

As he looked at his reflection in the water, Zack noted how much he had changed since his last mission: his spiky hair was longer than ever, his muscles were tighter, and there were slight hollows under his eyes. His eyes, however, had not lost any of their blue intensity and the mako energy seemed very strange in the natural surroundings.

Deciding after a very short minute that it was too quiet for his liking, Zack pulled the Lunar Harp from his pack and began to pluck it. Despite his restless nature, Zack actually was quite skilled with music and after a while the tune he was playing seemed to take on a comprehensive melody. It reminded him of Aerith: soft, sweet, and smooth like warm rain, and Zack felt his skin prickle at the thought of her. No matter where he was, she was always on his mind…As he continued to play, the harp pulsed in his hand like a heartbeat as he poured his emotion into the song, the trees and fireflies glowing even brighter with every note.

Zack leaned his head back, his temples in pain, but his fingers kept moving. "I'm coming to get you." He whispered, hugging the instrument to his chest, where it continued to flutter like a pulse. Soon…soon he wouldn't have to settle for a false heartbeat…

The leafless branches rustled above him…whispering…

….

When Zack, Cloud, and Tifa woke the next morning, it was to their great surprise that the forest had remained unchanged from the nighttime. Zack had wandered back to their camp at some point in the night to find Tifa and Cloud asleep next to each other, using Cloud's shirt as a pillow. Zack smiled at the both of them before also curling up on the ground to sleep, the Lunar Harp tucked securely under his arm. However, when the three of them rose, the sky was still dark, the trees still white and luminous…even though Zack's phone indicated that it was nine in the morning.

"What…is this place?" Tifa asked, in awe, as she helped Cloud to his feet. Cloud was still half-asleep and, therefore, at a loss for words.

"We're close to the Forgotten City, the capital of the Cetra." Zack said, slinging his sword over his shoulder. "I don't think the Planet plays entirely by the rules here…Let's just keep going and stay alert. I feel like…" He looked up to the sky, devoid of stars, but still with the crescent moon directly overhead. "I feel like we're getting close…"

With every step Zack took, he felt a tug in his heart to wander even deeper into the dark forest. Whether it was the pull of the Lifestream, he did not know, but he was on edge and it was rubbing off on Cloud and Tifa. They too looked about wildly, like some beast was going to leap from the shadows. But there were no monsters here. There never had been.

Still, there was something to be said for caution.

Zack was so much on edge that he heard the anomaly almost instantly. With one swift motion, he halted and threw his arm out to stop Tifa and Cloud, which they did, in mid-stride. Zack tried to not even breathe loudly as he scanned the forest for anything…in particular, shadows that moved. Everything seemed peaceful, but Zack knew he'd heard something that was not the whispers.

"What is it, Zack?" Tifa asked, fists out, as she stood back-to-back with Cloud.

"I…" Zack heard branches creak ominously and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. "I thought I…heard something…" He relaxed, although his heart still pounded and Cloud and Tifa followed suit. Zack scratched his hair. "It must have been my imagination…"

Tifa patted his shoulder. "It's ok. This place does play tricks on you."

Zack nodded, attempting to calm his racing heart. When he finally got it back down to a manageable level, he tightened his grip on his sword and took another step…He saw it flash by the corner of his eye: what looked to be a man dressed in all black, moving at an unnatural speed. Zack leapt backward with his next breath, yanking Tifa and Cloud backwards as well, just before bullets tore angrily through the space they had just inhabited. The white branches creaked again.

Zack repositioned himself, fury blazing in his body. "COME OUT!" He screamed, pulling out his sword and slicing it through the air. As a response, there was another volley of gunfire; Zack was prepared this time, slicing his sword deftly so that the bullets ricocheted off into the trees. "I COULD DO THIS ALL DAY!"

There was a sigh that was not the sound of the forest and the shadow dropped from the trees.

Zack had been expecting many things: a giant monster that could vanish into thin air, a man with glowing yellow eyes and sharp teeth, hell, even a creepy-as-fuck Deepground soldier would have suited his imagination better. Because the man in front of Zack, Tifa, and Cloud, with a smoking gun in one hand was nothing, if not beautiful.

He was tall and slim, with slender hips and limbs and a graceful neck, all of it covered in charcoal-colored leather. His features were delicate, even filled with wicked venom, and his face was framed by long silver hair. The only part about him that made Zack shiver was his eyes: thin and intense, they glowed green with a vertical, cat-like pupil. He grinned wickedly, beautiful and evil at once, and drew a second gun, pointing it at Zack's chest.

Zack glared and smiled simultaneously. One man. They could beat him.

As he moved forward to begin pursuit, Tifa gasped sharply accidentally stepping backwards into Zack as another man materialized from the shadows. Cloud drew his sword as a third person joined the fray and thus, they were surrounded.

The three of them could have been triplets. They all had shiny silver hair and greenish cat eyes that varied in degrees of evil, and all of them wore black leather body suits. But the man closest to Tifa was hulking and muscular with broad shoulders and huge hands, one clenched around some sort of claw that fizzled electric at the tips. Meanwhile, the one near Cloud seemed more like a child than a man; the shortest of the three, he had hair to his chin and an unstable smile as he gripped his double-bladed sword like he itched to run it through something.

Zack took his hand that was not on the sword and displayed the materia he held there. Cloud and Tifa accepted several orbs and pressed them softly into their forearms, Zack doing the same. The three men stared at them levelly ad the orbs sank into their skin but continued to glow underneath.

Zack shook out his body, feeling the anger and power course through his veins in tandem. "So, who do you want? Beauty," the one with the guns grinned. "Beast," the muscular man cracked his knuckles in excitement. "or Boy?" The shorter one glared in apparent dislike of his nickname.

"Beauty." Tifa said, switching places with Zack.

"Beast." Cloud murmured, burning with impatience.

Zack sighed and pointed his blade at the smallest one. "Looks like I'm stuck with you then. Unless you want to give up Aerith now?"

There was motion on all sides as apparently Aerith's name was a trigger. That incited Zack all the more. The little one was fast. Fucking, blindingly fast. In fact, if Zack had not been a genetically enhanced SOLDIER, it would have been really hard to keep up with the rapid movements of the slender guy.

In one moment he was in front of Zack, and in the next, Zack heard the sound of crunching gravel behind him, moving just quickly enough to avoid the razor-sharp bite of a double-bladed sword. Then, with mako energy swirling in his body, Zack sidestepped his shadowy opponent with grace that seemed to defy his build, and took a slash with his Buster Sword. Swift as a viper, the demon bounced up into the air, and the power from the blade sundered three trees in its' path sending white bark, like crystal, falling to the ground.

So the two of them continued their deadly dance, felling several trees in the process.

Even then, there were more hazards for Zack to avoid than just his own opponent. The other fights were also creating some interesting problems. Stray bullets from the tall beauty tore past them while Tifa's earth-shaking punches and kicks seemed to rattle the entire forest. Meanwhile, Cloud and his sparring partner seemed to throw strategy to the sticking place and were just destroying anything close to one another. Trees fell like wheat around them, torn from the roots by the claw-like weapon and sliced in half by the Fusion Sword, while the ground splintered under their impact.

Fights for all three groups were often brought into the air, into tree branches, and sidestepping giant cracks and craters in the earth.

Zack winced with every rupturing change in the earth, every fallen tree as the Sleeping Forest creaked and groaned in pain. He felt horrible for the violent destruction of the woods, but Aerith's rescue was first and foremost in his mind.

Upon the next swing, his sword was caught between the two blades of his attacker, and the slender man pulled him close, with surprising strength.

Zack gritted his teeth as he summoned a Blizzaga spell. "Where. Is. She?"

The shadowy man's eyes shot death but he smiled cruelly. "You can't have her back. She belongs with us. Leave this place or I'll kill you all."

Zack shook with fury and the magic built up inside him until it was near to bursting. "THE. HELL. I. WILL!" Blue ice shot like arrows through the air, blasting Zack away from the kidnapper, both of their blades sticking into the trunk of a white tree. Zack ignored it, and raced at the man in black, ready to rip his head from his slender neck.

Unfortunately, the slender shadow was just as fast dodging punches as he was swings from a blade. But Zack was a first class SOLDIER and he refused to let the wicked thing get away alive. Finally, Zack felt his hand close around a slender, leather-clad ankle and he slammed the body into the ground with all the strength in his body. His fist blazed with fire magic as he held it, coiled like a spring, just inches from the pretty face of the shadowy fighter.

"Aerith. Is. Mine." He hissed. "Give her back to me, or I swear to god, I'll beat you to death." The fights between Tifa and the gunner and Cloud and the behemoth raged around them, but Zack did not even notice. He was in his own world of rage.

Even though he was bleeding profusely, the man managed a cruel smile, mocking Zack. Zack screamed and pulled his fist back for impact.

"ZACK!"

Zack dropped his arm instantly and looked to the path, where he saw a flash of chestnut. Aerith, face pink and barefoot, ran toward the battles without fear, her green eyes wide with the strange mix of happiness and fear. But she was safe; that was all that mattered. Zack felt his breath catch in his chest as he got to his feet, the fights and anger forgotten. Angelic Aerith filled his vision.

"Zack! Stop the fighting!" She cried, running even faster to stop the insanity. "Kadaj! Stop this!"

As if in slow-motion, Zack saw in the corner of his eye Tifa hitting the arm of the gunner and a single shot was fired, ripping through the air, and hitting Aerith somewhere in the upper torso. She gasped, sharp and high-pitched before falling backwards against the hard ground of the forest. Zack felt all the oxygen leave him as she hit the earth.

"AERITH!" Zack bellowed racing towards her. All he could see was her body, limp on the ground; he didn't even notice as the fighting had ceased around him. The man with the long hair looked horrified, dropping his gun as if it had burned him.

"MOTHER!" Screamed the slender man, outstripping even Zack as he raced to Aerith's side. "MOTHER!"

Tifa looked to Cloud in shock and amazement. "… 'Mother'…?" Zack halted in horror.

What the hell was going on?