Back again with a new chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter!

INFO ON THE SIDE: I changed the plot a bit, for example: Genesis and Angeal never defected from SOLDIER, Sephiroth didn't go mad and Zack went to missions in different villages for different purposes (Modeoheim) instead of tracking down Genesis and Angeal (like in the original).

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:

Aleph-vody: Thank you so much! I'm very sorry for the long wait! .

Honey-taste: Ah, I'm so sorry! T_T My schedule has been chaotic with all the different projects I'm doing and all the requests I have to write!


Chapter 7: The Memories of a SOLDIER

Zack sighed heavily, he closed his eyes in concentration, "I met Cloud when he was a cadet and I a Second Class SOLDIER…" he opened his mako blue eyes again, "I was sent to Modeoheim by director Lazard, a mako reactor had apparently malfunctioned and threatened the lives of the villagers there." He paused, images and memories flashing before his mind's eye.

"We had just been naïve young soldiers, ready to face the world..." he chuckled but it sounded hollow as he was lost in memories.

Flashback

"Cheer up Tseng! The weather's great!" Zack gestured broadly to the snowy scenery and the head Turk opposite of him could only cross his arms and snort.

"Breathtaking," the comment was dry and just like Tseng that Zack had developed a routine for when to tune out his dry remarks.

"Stop being such a hard ass! You'll see, this mission will be a cinch!" he winked, grinning widely as he trekked across the snowy terrain upward towards the steep mountain path.

Tseng sighed, falling back with another trooper, "I trust you know the terrain better so I'm counting on you to lead us to the reactor, Zack!" his call was met with a nonchalant shrug from Zack.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a country boy," he rolled his eyes good naturedly, before his combat boots left visible footprints in the soft snow as he walked.

After only minutes, Zack noted how Tseng and the other trooper were falling behind and sighed, shaking his head, "Suits...am I glad I never wanted a stuffy job like the Turks have..." he shivered, imagining how Reno must be feeling, true the guy was dedicated to his job to a 'T' but...well...he wasn't exactly something of a 'role model' concerning the proper dress code, decorum, punctuality...yeah.

Zack smiled when the trooper beside him seemed to keep pace with him with no amount of difficulty, seeming to navigate through the snow just fine like Zack himself.

"Well, at least someone's keeping up," Zack smiled when the trooper, obviously not expecting to be directly spoken to by Zack, jumped slightly in surprise.

He didn't say anything, so Zack prodded, "Say, have we met before?" he couldn't put his finger on it, but he seemed familiar...

There was a soft, young voice that came out of the duty helmet, "No, sir," Zack smiled in amusement.

"Hey, you can stop calling me 'sir', I don't think I'm your senior by much," Zack grinned encouragingly when the trooper hesitated.

"But...you're my superior so I should address you formally," the cadet nodded, soft spoken and polite.

That didn't deter Zack to attempt and bring him out of his shell, "Yeah, that goes for the rest, but I'm an easy going guy so you can call me 'Zack'," he smiled softly, intent on gaining some form of personal reply back.

The cadet nodded, "Um...alright," Zack looked at him expectantly, "...Z-Zack,"

Zack grinned, "See? That wasn't so hard! What's your name?" Zack was eager to finally find someone that didn't have a stick in his ass like Tseng, the Turk's sense of humor was rather dry and simple, but that didn't stop Zack from liking the man, despite his reservations.

The cadet took a moment to stop walking to answer, "...Cloud, Cloud Strife," Zack smiled when he took off the helmet, blond spikes immediately shooting upward and he met equally sky blue eyes identical to his own.

Zack's own widened, "Hey, wait! You've got the same eyes like me!" he pointed at him, surprised, "But wait, you aren't SOLDIER yet right? So why did they inject you with mako?" he tilted his head, confused.

Cloud looked embarrassed, scratching at his blond spiky head, "Uhm...there...there's been an accident a few months ago in the training grounds. A scientist accidentally released mako in the training room and as I was the only one there I got affected by it." Zack listened intently, amazed that such mistakes could be pardoned. Not even he heard of it.

Cloud shrugged, "I guess I've got the glow ever since and I feel physically fitter than before too," he smiled timidly.

Zack smiled back, grin in place as he rested his hands on his hips, "Oh I see, heh guess not all accidents are bad, huh?" he winked and both men chuckled.

Zack suddenly noticed something and decided to inquire the young man about it, "Say...you've got a familiar accent..."

Cloud stopped chuckling and seemed embarrassed by Zack's comment, "Oh um, I-I'm sorry, sometimes my accent starts showin'..." he cleared his throat, "I'm used to speaking it back at home,"

"Home?" Zack rose an eyebrow in question.

Cloud nodded, "Yeah, I come from Nibelheim," and suddenly there was laughter.

For the love of him, Zack couldn't hold back his laughter, he clutched at his stomach, trying to cease laughing at the stunned look on Cloud's face, but he just couldn't. Soon though, his laughter calmed into small chuckles here and there and he straightened his posture, craning his neck.

Cloud couldn't be more perplexed, "What's so funny? You know Nibelheim?"

Zack shook his head, chuckling, "No but there's a mako reactor there, right? Everyone knows a mako reactor outside Midgar usually means-"

"-nothing else out there," both men suddenly finished the age old phrase, staring at each-other in stunned surprise before they both burst out into laughter, the atmosphere turning joyful.

Cloud shook his head, "How did you recognize my accent?" he was interested to know.

Zack grinned, "I'm from Gongaga, we have similar accents too and a few travelers coming from Nibelheim visited frequently," he winked, chuckling. Cloud laughed as well.

"Heh, I guess that makes us both backwater experts eh?" Zack continued chuckling, shaking his head.

Cloud smiled, slightly more subdued but still chuckling alongside his new friend, "I guess," he nodded.

And that had also been the beginning of a long friendship...

Flashback End


Zack sighed, smiling and shaking his head, "In a way we all desired the same...back then and now..." his words were met with Tifa's questioning glance.

"What was it?" Tifa leaned in, eager to know.

Zack smiled, something painful about it, "To be human,"

The barmaid blinked, leaning back in confusion, "What do you mean? You guys are human...right?" for a moment, she wasn't so sure herself, those glowing blue eyes couldn't be all that normal.

Zack chuckled and shook his head, "Yes and no...at least not in the way any of us want to be..." he hung his head down, staring at his boots, "I think Cloud feels the same, every now and then, thinking back, how everything could have changed..." there was a thoughtful look about him and it made Tifa thoughtful in return.

"If you were such good friends then...what happened to have caused you guys to fall apart like you did?" she rested her elbows on her knees, looking at Zack from her periphery vision.

The tall man scoffed softly, "Cloud...wanted to leave SOLDIER," he paused, letting the words hang in the air, "...he wanted to leave Shinra, for good." He locked gazes with Tifa, "You heard the others talking about it, I didn't want Cloud being monitored like some lab rat or killed if he talked about Shinra. I didn't want that to happen to him, back then he was such a innocent kinda guy, a bit on the shy side, but he was determined and strong, strong enough to make SOLDIER," Zack sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "He reacted badly to the mako injections, so SOLDIER rejected him. Cloud took it hard and didn't show for a few weeks, then he decided to defect..."

Tifa slowly shook her head, feeling sweat gathering at the inside of her palms, "You mean...Shinra was out for Cloud? To kill him?"

Zack quickly shook his head, "Not necessarily. Cloud hadn't told anyone about Shinra, so he's in no danger. I covered his tracks so Shinra's grunts didn't shadow him all the time,"

Tifa asked the question Zack dreaded she would, "...Does Cloud know all of this?" Zack smiled dryly, shaking his head.

"I...never told him," his lips drew into a thin line, blue eyes hardening.

"But why? Surely Cloud can't say mad if you told him what happened. But if you protected him...why is Cloud so mad at you? At Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis?" Tifa hoped the questions weren't too much for Zack.

Zack leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling, "Honestly? I don't know," silence followed his words and before Tifa could ask again, Zack turned his head to look at her, "I don't know. Maybe he thought I tried sabotaging him or wanting him to leave SOLDIER. I...don't know." He crossed his arms, almost stubbornly so, "I'm angry that he never told me where he was, what he was doing, he never tried contacting any of us again. We had been friends Tifa, good friends," his eyes turned pained, "We've been to hell and back, fighting side by side in battles we were never so confident we would win..." he sighed.

Tifa frowned and squirmed in her seat, she had known the man...or uh...his ghost for a little while, but she had the impression he was the cheery type of guy and seeing him looking so down unnerved her for some reason.

"Hey..." she began gently, her voice soft and understanding, "Once you recover and wake up from your coma, you can explain everything to Cloud. I'm sure once he hears your side of the story he will think differently." She smiled encouragingly.

Zack's lips unwillingly quirked into a small smile, "Thanks Tifa, I guess it's worth a shot," he nodded, sighing and suddenly standing up.

Tifa's eyebrow rose when he suddenly moved in the middle of the room, "What are you... doing?" she titled her head to the side curiously.

Zack grinned, continuing his training, "I'm doings squats, just because I'm a ghost doesn't mean I can get rusty!" he winked, effortlessly pushing up to twenty squats when Tifa decided she needed an aspirin in order to calm her approaching headache from the touching story she just heard and from the fact that ghosts need to do squats.


"Where's Cloud?" Vincent asked as he nursed his drink quietly, perceptive eyes watching the patrons coming and going, it was already two in the afternoon and still no sign of Cloud.

Tifa wiped the bar counter clean of imprints from drinks, "Last I heard, he had a delivery in Costa del Sol to make. I don't think he will be back by noon today," her gaze saddened, "...if he comes back,"

She bit her lip when she sensed Zack's presence, sitting down next to Vincent, the lawyer completely oblivious to the ghost's presence. Zack looked apologetic as he watched Tifa's sad demeanor, but the barmaid smiled at him reassuringly, catching the attention of her quiet friend.

"Hm?" he rose an eyebrow, watching curiously how Tifa seemed to smile sweetly at no one in particular, at least none in the area caught his eye, "Somebody you know?"

Tifa's head whipped around to look at Vincent, "What?" she looked startled.

Vincent gestured to her expression, "You were smiling just now. Anyone you've seen?"

The normally composed barmaid's face flushed slightly in embarrassment, quickly turning around to tend to the dirty dishes in the sink, "I-I don't know what you're talking about Vincent,"

The dark haired male frowned slightly, unused to his friend lying so plainly, much less hiding something. There was little that could get past Vincent, given his profession as well as observant personality, so it intrigued him a little how Tifa seemed to have smiled so openly at someone that wasn't there.

True, perhaps she might have been thinking about someone, but who? He doubted it was Cloud, Tifa was now more worried about him than anything else. He heard bits and pieces of the incidents that occurred only short days before, but there were too many holes in that story.

Why would have Cloud come storming into the bar for no apparent reason? Or what friends was Tifa talking about that had set Cloud off? The woman had been very reluctant and private in revealing any more information about those 'friends' as well as negating any sort of suspicions concerning Cloud's odd behavior.

Cloud was generally a quiet man, much like Vincent himself. It was one of the driving points why both men managed to understand each-other without much communicating, partly to their similar character.

The blond delivery man was usually quiet, not very adept at socializing despite his job, he was a private man and he would be one of the first people who left a rowdy party for minutes of peace. It was true, Cloud had changed, in his younger years he had been shy, generally around women, had had more open humor, occasionally dry however and he had tolerated good enough socializing with friends.

Cloud wasn't rude by any means, but due to everyone's jobs, including his own, the friends rarely managed to see each-other anymore and since the break up with Aerith, Cloud had been prone to decline invitations for meet ups and catching up with his friends more often.

Usually, Tifa was the one who strongly tried to encourage him, but ever since her less than happy meeting with Aerith a few months back, he found her often forcing on smiles, specifically around Cloud and he noticed how both individuals made sure they were rarely ever alone.

Vincent could tell the crude assumption of Aerith, namely that Cloud had apparently had an affair with Tifa, had deeply hurt the barmaid. She had tried to hide it, as she always tried to hide her feelings, but it didn't delude him nor their other friends. Yuffie in particular had talked his ear off of trying to talk to Cloud about it, since Tifa was hurting so much and the "douche bag" was oblivious to it.

Vincent sighed, thanking his friend quietly after she refilled his glass and watching her closely when her lips moved, she was too far away to decipher the words, but she had her back to her customers so she wasn't talking to them.

He watched the same sweet smile cross her lips at seemingly nobody.

I'm very sorry for such delays! I've had so many projects running that my schedule is chaotic! .