Title : Surviving (part 4/20??)
Author : Tierry Leoine
Pairing : Zack/Cloud
Disclaimer : sure, they're mine. And I'm redoing the game. And the white mice are eating your keyboard right now.
Warning : AU, possible yaoi, vioelnce, personality issues
Author's Notes : this is entirely Daughter of Night's fault. Entirely. I'm easy to bully it seems. But, she's also a wonderful person and a great beta, so all the existing mistakes are my own.
C&C : alwyas welcome, in any given form. i don't bite...usually.
Thanks : To the one and only and wonderful Daughter of Night, who bullies me into writing this and all the people, who cared enough, liked this enough to review! Thanks! I really apperciate it.
Summary : what would happen should Zack survive the whole ordeal and managed to get both Cloud and himself back to Midgar?
This had a real sense of déjà vu, he decided, lying there on the hard floor, staring at the whole in the ceiling. It really did. The setting lacked only a pretty girl looming over him and everything would be perfect. But there were none so far, as Zack managed to assess from his point of view on the wooden boards.
Really, who would have guessed….
-
"I met him in ShinRa." Zack decided a little truth would not hurt and might even help. He was still distrustful of Tifa's friends, whom he himself would call terrorists instead of planet protectors. And people changed. They really changed over years and he never knew much about the girl to begin with except for the besotted stories of his young friend.
"You did?"
"Yeah. He was a trooper when I met him. But that, as you can imagine, was years ago."
"How was he?" She sounded more like his mother to Zack than a past girlfriend.
"Good, I guess. A little shy, barely talking, but talented."
Tifa smiled.
"I'm glad."
Zack looked around then, hoping for Barrett to appear to save him from going further in this conversation and for once whatever higher powers there are actually decided to humour him. The heavy steps accompanied by a few shots and curses, followed by a bang of the door against the wall announced Barrett's arrival.
Inside the man glared around at everything, glared at Zack in particular and moved between the tables to the back door. Tifa shrugged when the Soldier looked at her.
The leader of Avalanche returned with a small girl in tow.
"Marlene, this is Zack. Why don't you say hello?" Tifa smiled at her, motioning to the mercenary and Zack tried hard to make himself look children-friendly. Apparently he had failed, since Marlene only hid herself behind her father's leg.
"Hi." He smiled, but Marlene refused to budge. Perhaps his smile worked only with ladies some fifteen years older. Sighing, Zack took out the mangled flower he got from Aeris and offered it. "I'm Zack."
"For me?"
Zack nodded, still smiling. The girl, encouraged by a small nudge from Tifa, took the flower.
"It's lovely." The young woman gushed, "Where did you get it?"
"I met a flowergirl." Half-truths were his specialty it seemed.
"Barrett, about…" He wanted go back home, to see how Aeris was faring with Cloud and instead he was wasting time here.
"If it's about the money, save it." He growled and threw Zack his gil.
"We'll have a new job tomorrow," Tifa said, "And I'm going with you this time."
"Fine." Zack nodded, "But this time it'll cost ya two thousand."
"WHA?!" Barrett's fists swung in the air, mouth kept mumbling curses, mindful of Marlene standing there, until Tifa pulled him to a side. She was clearly underestimating the Mako-enhanced hearing, if she thought Zack would not hear her reminding Barrett how desperately they needed help.
"Fine." Zack got a growl of agreement and was almost out of there before mock-saluting.
"See ya tomorrow!"
-
Zack groaned and tried moving his fingers experimentally. Nothing seemed to be broken. The roof and then the flowers apparently softened his fall. Again.
He still had all the materia he had purchased that afternoon, knowing it would come in handy. It always did. Zack had also found a hide-out then, a small place near the wall, close enough to Aeris and her church, that she could always visit without endangering herself too much. The owner said they could move in in two days.
That day had definitely ended in some brighter colors.
-
The evening he had spent with a restless Cloud, who kept mumbling incoherently. Even Aeris had not been able to soothe him.
His friend only calmed down, when they were going to sleep.
"Tomorrow's a day too, right, my friend?" Zack smiled at Cloud, who kept staring at a point behind the Soldier's left shoulder. Perhaps tomorrow…
-
Then again, Zack decided, this whole day had a sense of déjà vu. From the very beginning of the mission with its plan, the reactor, the goal, it was really the same except for Tifa accompanying them. She had been a surprisingly good fighter, fast and nimble, if vulnerable to stronger attacks.
Setting the bomb took a moment, then they were out of there, wanting to exit the reactor before detection. They failed and Zack had aching muscles to prove it.
-
They were rounded up on the narrow bridge between the reactor and the entrance to it. Zack did not need his knowledge of tactics to know they were surrounded, trapped.
Shit. He really had hoped that no security device caught him and that Jessie's IDs were good enough for the scanner.
Apparently, he decided looking at the troopers blocking their escape, not good enough.
"What the hell is this?" Barrett was fuming and Zack's hand itched to grab the hilt of his Buster Sword. But as far as his happy-go-lucky attitude went, the mercenary was not keen on seeing how good exactly his companions were with dodging bullets.
He heard the helicopter somewhere above them and cursed. This could mean Turks. And Turks meant trouble. But then he concentrated on the man coming out of the reactor.
-
There had been no mistaking the man, his height, the blonde reclining hair, the red suit. The president was there and Zack once again had to wonder on his luck of having never anything to do with the man. Wonder what about a nice fall could make someone think.
-
Old training, hardwired into his brain years ago by hours of drills, made Zack want to salute to the man. He refrained, since one, there was no reason to draw attention to himself and two, the man was scum, who had ordered or at least allowed what happened to Cloud. And, he decided glancing sideways, it was better to leave pointless talk to Barrett.
The ex-Soldier concentrated instead on the raising noise, wondering what his previous employer had come up with this time.
"This is the newest project of Shinra Inc. Meet the new Soldier." The president sounded very proud and Zack's eyes widened until he saw the source of the noise. A huge robot thundered in, Tifa and Barrett barely evading it, plastered to the handrails.
"Is this a Soldier?!"
"No. It's a machine." The robot cut off Barrett's charge at the president, who was currently making his escape. Behind the glass of the helicopter Zack saw a young blonde girl in Turk's usual attire.
Still, the moment the copter flew away, Zack had other things to worry about than the president and Turks recruiting. The robot charged again, cutting both Tifa and Barrett effectively off the exit.
"Shit." Zack cursed. It was time to get a little creative.
-
Now that he thought about it, this really did not seem like his day at all, déjà vu aside. From the very morning, when Aeris burnt pancakes and Cloud seemed more resistant that usually in his completely passive, uncooperative way. And it had been even more annoying that Zack could not really blame his friend for that.
-
"Zack!" Tifa called.
"Fight it! Damage it as much as you can!" Zack decided trying out his newly purchased materia would be a hood idea around now, as he summoned a bolt to strike the metal thing.
He kept hearing the bullets Barrett was aiming at the thing and Tifa frying a few of the cables with her fire spell. But as the man was reloading and Tifa suspended in the transit time before she could use another spell, the robot retaliated, hitting Barrett with one iron fist, while using the back cannon to shoot at Zack.
//Tough chance, tin can.//
The ex-Soldier used his wide blade as a shield against the bullets as he kept coming closer. After a series, he flipped the sword, the sharp and heavy blade easily cutting through the metal around the gun. Zack jumped back, as the machine started turning, slashing at its outstretched hand. The girl cut in then with the next fire and moments later Barrett resumed shooting.
The robot turned again, in want of eliminating the potential threat, allowing Zack to attack again, this time with a little more strength and a little less finesse. The sword drew an arc in the air before falling at the rear gun and damaging it with its mere weight. The additional flick and push did not hurt either. Sparks flew, illuminating the smile on Zack's face.
-
That blasted thing had to have been Scarlet's invention. A mechanic soldier, yeah right. She had always been jealous of the budget they got and how it was 'wasted on a merry band of men, who have too much time, while she could create new weapons kyahahaha'.
And what a damned pain in the ass it had been. First to defeat it with half-civilians in the way, for it was still hard to consider Avalanche anything else, and then the blasted explosion.
-
"Keep shooting," he told Barrett, as he jumped back again, aiming another bolt at the robot, which hit moments after Tifa's grenade.
The dents and flying sparks showed considerable damage had been done to the robot, but not enough to slow it down or for the machinery to cease working. It was still able to attack them – attack Tifa to be precise.
The young woman flew against the handrails, pale and bloodied. Zack cursed and changed the spell he was about to use from Lightning to Restore and targeted the cure on the girl.
"Thanks." The relief was obvious in her voice, as Tifa got up just to charge the robot at full speed and attack him with her newly restored strength. The melee attacks often managed to find the delicate pieces of machinery peeking from under the heavy armor. Finishing with an impressive kick, Tifa jumped back to allow Barrett the next go at the robot.
The mercenary attacked then, hacking a piece of armor away, the metal notwithstanding the strength leading the huge sword. Backing out he prepared the next spell to damage the insides and cables sticking out.
"The hell is with this thing?" Barrett was reloading, when he got hit with a metal arm flung at him. A potion later the angered man prepared a full-scale attack and while he was doing that Zack decided that some diversion was definitely in order here. He let the bolt loose. It connected moments before Barrett's fireball did.
Sparks flew.
"Let's wrap this up, shall we?" Zack smiled to himself. The Braver he used had three streams of energy. With all of them hitting the mark, the robot finally malfunctioned, turning around and flailing it's arms.
The mercenary had a bad feeling about this back and forth movement. His hunch proved true the moment the thing exploded in a ball of fire and bolts, taking piece of the bridge with it.
"Shit." Zack cursed again, as he was hanging, holding on to a piece of the metal sticking out from the concrete. He looked up at Tifa and Barrett trying to reach out to him. No good.
"Go."
"Zack?" Tifa asked wide-eyes, trying to reach for him.
"Go," he repeated looking at Barrett, who nodded in understanding, "before the security comes."
"Yeah. Good luck kid." Zack nodded with a tight smile. Then he let go of the wire before the reactor exploded in a world of fire and mako green.
-
Zack groaned and moved finally, slowly sitting up.
"Oh, man." He winced looking at his dusty, slightly torn clothing. "And Aeris barely managed to sew it all together." He mumbled.
Hearing footsteps, the ex-Soldier looked up and promptly saw a navy suit, red hair and a flapping jacket – all were attributes of someone he was well familiar with. Reno of the Turks.
The said man faltered in his step, when he saw Zack. Behind Reno, the mercenary could see three troopers, warily looking at Zack, the debris abound him and his dust-covered clothes.
"Yo, I know you."
Zack smiled, even if he did not really feel happy. It was not a very nice smile.
"Yeah, you do, yo."
The troopers took a cautious step forward, unsure of how to react. Zack fought the urge to shout "Booo!" at them.
"Fancy meeting you here."
"Fell from Heaven."
"Funny, yo." Reno was smiling.
"Ain't it?"
"Don't take this personally, yo, but I really hoped you'd stay dead."
"Nah." Zack waved his hand dismissingly as he got up from the ground. "Where would the fun in that be? Besides, it's all water under the bridge right?"
"Sure." Reno started advancing just as Zack kept backing slowly towards the door. "There's just one detail."
"Yeah?"
Reno nodded, drawing out his EMR.
"I still have orders, yo."
Zack did not say anything, an event unusual in it's own right. Instead he turned and ran, hoping these troopers were as bad at target shooting as the one he encountered the last time. He also knew Aeris would have his head, if he let those people ruin her flowers. And she would know.
"Yo, where the hell to, dude?!"
Zack sprinted into the next room and then up the stairs, followed closely by badly aimed bullets fired by the troopers, who seemed to shoot better when not facing a Soldier directly. But Zack had practice.
Up under the ceiling, Zack played bowling using old barrels and said troopers, having too much fun, he decided, for someone being chased.
"Hit." He grinned as the last trooper fell under pieces of wood. "See ya, Reno!" Zack shouted, before sprinting further on the beam towards the whole in the roof.
The ex-Soldier kept running over roofs, jumping from one onto another, just to get further and further away as quickly as possible. Of course he just had to encounter Turks at the end of this glorious day. The perfect finishing accent, really.
He had to go back to the house, knowing that, despite everything that happened, it was not him that Reno was looking for in that church. And they could just as well know where Aeris lived. With Cloud under her care.
Zack sped up.
ummm...runs off...
Hope you liked it!