A/N: DEAR GOD. I worked on this thing all day. Finally dooooone!

Nothing more to say here. Dinnertime for me 8D


Two more days passed without incident. I went on another mission with Kunsel, this time to clear out some monsters that were threatening Kalm. It looked like Shinra wasn't trusting me with sensitive missions just yet—I was perfectly fine with that. Honestly, I'd be okay with exterminating monsters forever. It was nothing I wasn't used to.

No answers came to my situation. Tseng didn't call me back, and I didn't suspect he would; there was no way for them to really prove my story wrong. There were no records of my existence, meaning my explanation was literally the only one they were going to be able to find. They could take it or leave it, and that was that.

That didn't mean I wasn't still sketchy about the whole thing. But as long as I kept being useful to Shinra, they probably weren't going to do anything. That was really what it boiled down to—how useful I was.

As far as my life went, I had no idea what to do. I couldn't leave my Exsphere in this world, that much was certain. If I did, it might change the course of events drastically. That kind of technology couldn't be left with the Science Department—for cripes' sake, it was created using human lives. Hojo reminded me of a nasty mix of Rodyle and Kvar, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't have a problem with killing countless people just to try and replicate my Exsphere.

The last thing this world needed was its own Cruxis—Shinra with an Exsphere-equipped SOLDIER army. It was a recipe for disaster and I needed to stop it before it went too far.

But how could I? It wouldn't be the first time I had infiltrated a technologically advanced base, but this time I had no help. Without Kratos or Yuan or intel from Mizuho spies, I was really at a big disadvantage. It was too risky…if I got caught, there was no one to rescue me, either.

And then there was the fact that I still had no clue how to leave this world. It had been far too long since I'd arrived and I was integrating too much into this world's society. I needed to start being more proactive. I had to discover how and why I had come to be here, and I needed to get the hell out before I caused any more damage.

"Don't let it get to you too much."

I nearly jumped at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder; I looked up to see Angeal standing there.

"There was nothing you could've done to help him," he went on to say. "Some things are out of our control. We just have to do the best we can with the resources we have."

"…Yeah," I replied with a nod, knowing he was talking about Jace.

We weren't supposed to talk about the identity of the monster, but Kunsel, Angeal and I were all well aware of the unspoken truth. The company report had come out early yesterday; Jace and two others had apparently been killed in action. I wasn't sure if the other two had really been gravely wounded or if they just hadn't been able to keep their mouths shut. With Shinra, it was impossible to tell.

"You know, he was always pretty nasty to me, but he didn't deserve this," I said, sheathing Kerberos and shaking my head.

"There are some fates I wouldn't wish on anyone," Angeal agreed with a sigh.

Training had just finished up for the day. Lately there had been a bit of a shift in mood amongst the guys; most of them were too focused on recent events to harass me. A lot of them still blatantly ignored my existence, but with Luxiere willing to talk to me now, things were just a little more bearable among the Thirds.

"By the way, it looks like you'll be shadowing Zack and I on our next mission," he added in a lighter tone, his somber expression fading a little.

"Hmm? Was that just assigned today? I haven't checked my email yet." I rubbed the back of my neck, surprised. Hopefully it was just a short-term mission, but if it was with a First, I had to doubt that…

Angeal smiled a little. "The Director will explain more at the mission briefing, but from what I understand it'll be a routine reactor inspection at Mt. Corel."

"Escorting some technicians through monster-infested wilderness? Sounds fun," I noted.

He chuckled. "A change of scenery, at the least. From your track record, I'd assume this should be easy enough."

My track record…Malboro, Midgar Zolom, Exbelua, and more recently Kunsel and I had finally taken care of that Eligor in the slums. Yeah, I was used to the nasty monsters.

I smiled sardonically. "I tend to attract trouble, sir, but we can hope. At the very least I make a pretty good meat shield."

Angeal's lips quirked with amusement and he opened his mouth to make a reply to this, but he paused at the sound of footsteps. Those of us that were still here from the training session were standing in the hallway outside of the training grounds, talking—everyone had fallen silent all of a sudden.

"Hm…" Angeal smirked knowingly, taking a step to the side to clear the way. Everyone followed suit, and suddenly we were all standing in a line to make way for the man approaching us from the direction of the elevators.

I was suddenly very conscious of my heartbeat pounding in my ears, reminding me horribly of the drums in Those Chosen by the Planet, of flames in Nibelheim, feelings of dread and impending doom.

Every other Third here was dead silent out of awe and respect—I was simply too smothered by my own apprehension. Those footsteps, coming closer. The subtle sound of leather brushing against leather, clinking metal. I found myself saluting along with the rest of my regiment. The movement felt rigid and mechanical.

Finally the man came into view, nodding to us and allowing us to relax our positions. I let my arms fall to my sides and frantically fought to control the tension that made my every muscle want to lock up.

"Finally back, eh?" Angeal was completely at ease, his face open and friendly. "It's been a while, Sephiroth."

The General came to a pause, looking over at his friend with a very faint smile of his own. "Indeed it has."

Sephiroth was identical to his simulated counterpart, over half a foot taller than me and very imposing. Masamune was in a sheath at his waist. My entire body was screaming at me to run, fight, do something—but I forced myself to remain still. I was being attacked by an onslaught of half-remembered blood soaked nightmares.

Always chasing Sephiroth's shadow, failing to catch up, wading through carnage and witnessing tragedies. Fighting and being run through, having my wrist crushed in his grip, being pinned under those murderous green eyes. I didn't know if the nightmares had been a premonition or not, and I really didn't want to find out.

"I hear the edict was signed yesterday," Angeal remarked.

Sephiroth nodded. "The war is over."

The Thirds on either side of me were suddenly exchanging glances, and the excitement amongst them was obvious. Of course, we were all standing before a war hero—and since the news hadn't even so much as passed through the company grapevine yet, we were the first ones to officially hear about it.

It still took a concentrated effort to keep my body from noticeably tensing up, to keep my face composed into a neutral mask. As I fought to keep this calm façade up, I found myself observing Sephiroth and noticed something—his eyes.

They were blue.

That was wrong. They were supposed to be venomous green with reptilian slits for pupils: cold and ruthless. It was the image of those eyes that had so terrified me in my dreams.

But his eyes now…they were more expressive. The intense hatred was absent, replaced with a cool thoughtfulness.

…Was this the difference, then? The Sephiroth standing before me was sane, and his mind was completely his own.

Then something else struck me. It had all started with my experience in the labs, the mako baths and injections. Those nightmares, could they have been caused by…?

My thoughts were cut off when I noticed that the SOLDIERs on either side of me were sidling away nervously. Okay…? Come on, I wasn't that scary—

Oh. Sephiroth was staring at me.

My blood abruptly turned to ice as I found my eyes locked with his. I had no idea how to react; it wasn't even the "the hell's this bitch's problem" stare that I had gotten from Kratos and Yuan so many times, either. It was a clouded, vaguely troubled stare with some other emotion beneath—curiosity? Suspicion? He was very hard to read. What the hell was that look supposed to mean?

I had to resist the urge to look around me and make sure it was me he was looking at. The reactions of the others were more than enough indication. If it were anyone else I would've given a cheesy little wave just to be obnoxious, but this was Sephiroth.

Ah, crap. He was coming this way. Crap crap crap, why the hell did this guy make me so goddamn nervous, what was I supposed to do—

"So the esteemed General returns," a sardonic voice rang out, stopping Sephiroth in his tracks.

He looked up, momentarily distracted, and I made silent declarations of love to Genesis in my head. The commander was sauntering up with a smug look on his face; to my right, Angeal crossed his arms and shook his head knowingly.

"It certainly took you long enough," Genesis continued.

"My apologies," Sephiroth replied in a completely unapologetic tone. "I was held up in Rocket Town. You missed me?"

Genesis rolled his eyes very theatrically at that, opening his mouth presumably to make some witty remark of his own, but I missed it when Angeal cut in.

"Don't feel obligated to listen to these two banter," the lieutenant said, walking to the front of the group once more. He smiled. "Training's over. You're all free to go."

"Sir!" Everyone piped up, offering one last salute before we all dispersed.

I wasted no time escaping, immediately making a beeline for the hallway that led to my room. Genesis caught my eye as I passed; I saw his lips turn up in a smirk and he looked like he was going to say something, but the second Sephiroth started to turn his head I booked it out of there. Sorry, Genesis, but that was a conversation I did not want to have.

Rather than remain in the vicinity of the trio of Firsts, I quickly made my way to my room; after changing, I headed out into the city and restocked my supplies in an effort to prepare for the next mission. Hopefully a certain person would have forgotten about my existence by the time I made my way back.


"Oh, wow! Check this out! Are you seeing this?!"

"Calm down, Zack. You're going to rock the car if you keep running around like that."

"Ah—heh, sorry." The teenager reluctantly plopped down in the seat next to mine, smiling sheepishly. Angeal just chuckled in response.

Two days after Sephiroth's return, I found myself on a small train headed for the reactor on Mt. Corel. Apparently at this point in time, the railways on the mountain hadn't been abandoned just yet. Probably because Corel itself was still standing.

Mt. Corel wasn't the only peak around us; from the map I'd gotten back in Banora, I was able to tell that this was just the eastern portion of the Nibel range. The mountains here were tall, rocky crags, cold and unforgiving. They reminded me of some pictures I'd seen of the Rockies. To be honest, Zack wasn't the only one fascinated with our surroundings. I just didn't broadcast my thoughts the way he did.

I had to hide a smile. He and Lloyd would probably get along. Lloyd…god, I missed that guy.

There were three technicians with us, sitting toward the back of the train car. They had conversed with us a few times on the trip here, but for the most part they were keeping to themselves. It was possible that Zack's boundless energy had tired them out.

We had taken an airship from HQ up to Corel, which had actually been pretty exciting for me. After riding around on the Rheairds so much, standing on the deck of the ship was nothing. I had spent most of the ride walking around and exploring, fascinated.

The citizens of Corel had been very accommodating. There had been no time to search for Barret, though I had definitely kept my eyes open for him. Not that it'd make any difference—what would I say to him, anyway? "Hey, I know you?" Yeah…better off to just leave the guy alone.

There was something else I had realized—the Gold Saucer didn't exist yet. The railway our train rode on went right past the station at the base of the mountain, where the ropeway to the Gold Saucer would be. This station was originally meant for miners traveling to and from Mt. Corel…

Of course, Shinra couldn't pretend to be the good guys if they were building a giant amusement park over this place…but it was something I hadn't considered. Not only was Shinra going to burn this place to the ground, they were going to add insult to injury and build a freaking amusement park over it all like nothing had happened…and turn the remains of the town into a prison. Heartless bastards.

What was Barret going to feel, seeing all of this go down? Shinra turning his old home into some garish tourist attraction? Thousands of ignorant people, blissfully enjoying themselves above the graves of his friends, his family…

"Something wrong?"

I looked up at the sound of Angeal's voice, and realized belatedly that I was holding the edge of my seat in a white-knuckled grip. I relaxed my hands and sighed, offering a weak smile and trying to brush off the wave of anger and disgust I had just felt.

"I'm not a fan of heights," I blurted out. Wait, how was that an excuse?

That was when I registered the fact that we were on an elevated stretch of railway, and looking out the window revealed that it was indeed a very long way down. And this train was old. And rickety. Oh god.

"Huh?" Zack blinked, clueless. "What do you—oh! Whoa, look how high up we are!" He ran to the window at the other side of the car, causing it to rock a little.

"G-Gah!" I tensed up, plastering myself to the seat and hanging on for dear life. "Don't do that! Not cool, not cool!"

"Zack," Angeal said in a warning tone when the technicians voiced similar protests.

"Sorry." He turned around, wearing a sheepish look once more—but once he caught sight of me, he outright gawked. "Man, are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine," I replied through gritted teeth. "But if you rock the car again, I might have to forcibly eject you."

"Got it," he replied, completely unaffected. He just grinned and flopped down next to me. "What gives, anyway? You were fine on the airship."

"Airship felt safer," I muttered.

"This is a much older piece of machinery," Angeal replied with a nod. "But there's no need to worry. The residents of Corel use this train every day; it's safe."

I spared him a grateful look. Calm and levelheaded…and there was no hint of criticism or judgment in his eyes. Over the past few weeks, I had developed a healthy respect for Angeal.

"…It's more psychological," I admitted, still feeling a bit nauseous. "Just…that view out the window. Ugh."

The train went over a bump on the tracks just then, catching me completely off-guard.

"Agh!" I cried out, immediately latching on to Zack's arm. I ducked my head, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Um…"

"We're fine," Angeal offered, though now I could hear some definite mirth in his voice.

"C'mon, we're SOLDIER! A fall from this height wouldn't kill you anyway," Zack said.

It was the wrong thing to say. Now all I could think about was the time I had fallen off a cliff in the Temple of Earth. Yeah, that had been a fun day.

"Gee, thanks," I replied. "I feel so much better now. Puppies and rainbows."

"So…my arm?"

I remembered myself and jerked back, immediately distancing myself from the Second. Dammit! Bad self! Just because he reminded me of Lloyd didn't mean I could be all weird and awkward around him too!

Another bump. I stiffened once more, latching on to the seat.

Zack watched me for a second, puzzled, and then offered a bemused smile. "Well, if you're that nervous, I guess you could have it for a little while—"

"Suck it," I replied without even thinking, making a face. "Your arm had its chance."

Angeal, who had been exchanging a few words with one of the technicians, now paused to raise an eyebrow at me.

The teen snorted, but then suddenly paused mid-laugh to give me a confused look. "…You must be really freaked out. You're not acting yourself at all."

I blinked, taken aback. Then my face fell and I forced myself to turn away.

Not acting yourself…

But I was. My fear of heights had caused me to briefly drop the façade. Well, at least I knew my act was working…

…Why did it hurt to hear him say that, then?

"Yeah…I guess I am," I replied with a shrug.

He just smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Hang in there, all right? We'll be there soon."

"Thanks," I said, and then fell silent.

The distance was what hurt. Constantly pushing others away was what hurt. I knew this feeling; I had felt it so many times on Earth, when one of my family members would make some remark, and I would realize they barely knew me at all anymore.

I hated feeling so alone.


The figure of the mako reactor loomed in the distance, set in the middle of the valley we were traversing. The train had reached its final stop about a half mile from here; the rest of the journey we would have to make on foot. And as expected, there were a lot of monsters out here.

"Feeling better?"

I glanced over at Angeal, smiling a little. "Yes. Now that I'm grounded, anyway."

"Ha!" Zack had cut down two Bombs ahead of us with one swing; now he turned to us, offering a thumbs up. "Talk about a cakewalk. We'll be out of here in no time!"

"Don't get cocky, Zack," Angeal said, though judging from his expression he probably knew it was useless. "We still have to make the trip back."

We were walking in a triangular formation; Zack at the head, Angeal and I bringing up the rear, and the three technicians protected in the middle. Though I could see where Angeal was coming from, I did sort of agree with Zack; this was surprisingly easy. What warranted bringing a First out here? Things probably would've been fine with just Zack and I.

Slowly but surely, we drew closer to the reactor. The monsters weren't much of an issue.

As we walked, something occurred to me.

"Hey, Angeal…" Crap—too informal, too late to correct it. I tried not to make a face, and focused more on what I'd been thinking. "How long ago was this reactor built?"

He didn't seem to mind the way I had addressed him. The First focused his gaze on the structure ahead of us, looking thoughtful. "It's still fairly new. Construction completed six months ago, if I'm remembering correctly. It won't be long before the coal industry here becomes obsolete."

"We're probably seeing some of the last use of that railroad, then," I remarked.

"Hmm…you may be right about that."

Only six months ago, huh…hard to believe. How long would it be before Corel burned, then? I didn't know if the game specified or not. Somewhere between now and the Nibelheim incident, anyway. Jesus. The only thing ahead was catastrophe after catastrophe.

Finally we arrived at the reactor, going inside and waiting while the technicians did their inspection. While Zack and Angeal exchanged a few words, I found myself leaning against the platform railing and watching the other men work. It was stuffy in here; the air was too warm, and it carried an odd chemical smell that almost reminded me of bleach. The labs of the Science Department had smelled like this, too.

That corrosive smelling stuff was really inside of me…it was still hard to believe.

The three men were making adjustments and taking readings at various parts of the reactor. After fifteen or twenty minutes, they all met up and conversed quietly, seeming to argue about something. Then one of them gestured to his right and started walking back to us. The other two moved to the spot he'd pointed at, moving to make some more adjustments.

"Something wrong?" I asked him, frowning.

He shook his head. "Everything is fine. We're just about finished here, thank you."

Angeal nodded and we waited for the other two to come back. After everyone had regrouped, they started making their way for the exit, Zack taking the lead once more. I trailed behind, looking over my shoulder at the spot the two technicians had been working on. The valve they had secured…was that steam or smoke…?

"Whoa! Wh-What is this?!" Zack's voice startled me out of my reverie, and I heard a loud roar come from up ahead.

Oh…not good! I swung around, seeing a commotion going on up ahead. The light from the open door darkened, a large shape shifting beyond. Everyone else had already gone outside; the platform shook as something slammed into the side of the structure.

I forward, unsheathing Kerberos and launching myself outdoors and into the fray.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light, but I wasn't pleased by what I saw. The source of the disturbance was two enormous dragons, circling us from the air. We were at an immediate disadvantage; the reactor was in the middle of a huge manmade hole in the earth. The only way to solid ground was a single metal bridge, a fall from which would probably mean a plunge into the lifestream.

One of the technicians had ended up outside of our protection, forcing Angeal to run to his rescue; then, of course, the second dragon had separated us from Angeal. It was up to Zack and I to hold our own and protect the remaining two technicians…but if one of those dragons slammed into this bridge, we'd be done for.

"Where did these things come from?" I growled at Zack, desperately wishing I had something other than Fire materia right now.

"West! Nibelheim," He called back, bracing himself. "Damn…we've gotta get off this bridge."

Our dragon swooped forward, narrowly missing the bridge only because Zack deflected it with a harsh swipe of his sword. The technicians behind us backed off, one of them letting out a cry of surprise.

"Zack," I said. "I have an Exit materia."

He started a little at that, and then nodded. "You think you can handle taking all of us? We can try to lure them back to land."

"I'll give it a shot," I replied, hurriedly backing up so the two technicians would be in my vicinity. Then I closed my eyes, focusing on the materia equipped on my right bracer.

When I felt its responding warmth, I pushed hard with my mind. Just get us to land…just over there…!

A loud roar. My eyes snapped open just as I cast the spell; one second, a dragon was swooping right at me, ready to snap my head off in its jaws, and the next…

The image faded away. Suddenly we were standing on the edge of the dropoff, about a quarter mile from where the bridge began. The dragons were safely out of range, refocusing their attacks on Angeal—who could have fought them off easily, if he hadn't been trying to protect someone.

"All right!" Zack nodded approvingly, and I saw one of his hands crackle with lightning magic. "Now to draw 'em back!"

He fired what I recognized as a Bolt 2 spell at one of the dragons, causing it to falter in midair and swing around to focus its eyes on us. I got the gist of it and threw a Fire spell at the other, knowing it would do no damage but that it would at least draw its attention.

Angeal understood what we were doing. When the dragons were focused on us, he unceremoniously threw the technician he'd been protecting over his shoulder and made a break for land. One of the dragons snapped at him, but Zack fired off another spell and caught it off guard. Both monsters snarled at us and began to come our way.

"Yeah, that's right!" Zack taunted, grinning. "There's more where that came from! Come and get it!"

Ah, crap…those things were huge, and at this rate it was going to take Angeal a few minutes to catch up to us. This might get a little hairy…hopefully Zack could back up that confidence of his.

Behind me, I saw a flash of light; I turned my head slightly to see that the two technicians had a protective magical barrier around them. Was that…Wall? Angeal…pulling off such a strong support spell from that distance? Man, the Firsts really were of an entirely different caliber.

All right, so we wouldn't have to worry so much about those two as long as they stayed out of the way…now to focus on those stupid dragons.

It'd be okay, right? I had fought bigger dragons at the Dragon's Nest in Tethe'alla, and those had far outnumbered us at the time. Too bad we didn't have Kratos to Judgment us out of this one…

Shit! They were here!

"I've got the one on the left!" Zack called, lunging forward.

"Roger!" I yelled back, launching myself to the right. The dragon lowered itself in front of me, landing with a loud crash. It opened its jaws and threw a wave of fire at me.

Crap…I was really having trouble living without Guardian! Mentally adding a protective materia to my shopping list, I struggled to dodge under the blaze without getting my hair singed off.

And I was limited in my techs, too…no fire in this battle! If I remembered right, dragons absorbed fire magic!

The dragon lashed out, opening its mouth and baring its fangs. I ducked beneath its head, twisting to get a good look at its throat. Its outside was covered in tough green scales, but its underside seemed to be weaker. All right, then, easy enough!

…Or not. The dragon turned its body with surprising speed, protecting its underside and nearly catching me with a swipe of its claws. I leapt out of the way and ran at it once more. Without hesitating this time, I rushed in and plunged my sword in a gap between the scales on its underside.

The dragon bellowed in rage, but I had already twisted the blade viciously in the wound before ripping it out and leaping out of range again. Now it barreled towards me, forcing me to jump so that I wouldn't get caught by its swinging tail. Its wound was spurting blood.

One more lunge, and I had embedded the blade in its flesh once again. I gritted my teeth and decided to take the risk of staying in range, instead gripping the blade and tearing it upwards with all my might. Kerberos ripped through muscle until it reached the monster's throat, tearing it open and drenching me with blood. I grimaced, finally ducking and dodging out of range as the dragon crashed to the ground.

Zack's collapsed mere seconds after mine. I breathed a sigh of relief; man, that could've turned out badly. Thank god I had that Exit materia. Now we could get the hell out of here before more of those damn dragons showed up.

The Second turned, grinning at me. "All in a day's work! Dragons…I sure didn't see that one coming."

I smiled weakly back, walking up to him. "No kidding." He offered a fist and I bumped knuckles with him—wait, no! No brofisting! Gah…this kid was getting to me.

"Hey, Angeal!" Zack laughed, walking past me once he caught sight of his mentor. "Looks like we didn't need you after all! Just leave it to us, all right?"

Angeal started to crack a smile of his own, now walking alongside the man he'd rescued. Then his expression changed, his eyes widening.

"Behind you!"

"Huh?" Zack turned around, but he wasn't the one Angeal had been talking to.

I noticed the looming shadow too late, turned around at the worst possible moment—just in time to be hit hard with a swipe of dragon claws. Zack's dragon hadn't been dead.

Blood flew and I was tossed backwards, tumbling to the ground. The dragon bore down on me, lifting its claws once more. Kerberos had been knocked out of my reach.

No! There was no way I could take another hit—from this angle, it'd disembowel me! There was no time to dodge…it couldn't end like this! Shit, shit!

When the monster struck again, its claws hit metal. Zack was suddenly in front of me, taking all the hits. The dragon managed to knock him backwards and blood flew as its claws grazed his shoulder, but he persisted. The Second ran between the dragon's forelegs and struck a gash he'd left earlier, plunging his sword in all the way to the hilt. He yelled from sheer effort, pushing forward and actually forcing the dragon to rear up; its attacks now hit empty air.

Then Angeal reached us. It was over in half a second; with one powerful strike of the Buster Sword, he decapitated the monster and sent the body flying over the edge of the dropoff.

And then, silence.

Well, until Zack broke it, anyway.

"Uh…the other one's dead too, right?"

"Yes, Zack." Angeal sighed.

Meanwhile, I inspected my wound carefully and resisted the urge to flop over and groan. It stung like a bitch, but it wasn't too deep to fix…powering up my Restore materia, I cast a Cure spell and carefully patched it up.

Still burned a bit…but at least the wound was closed. I was getting a little better at healing.

I wanted to hit myself. Dropping my guard like that…dammit! Kratos would've killed me himself if he had been here to witness that. I knew better by now. Man…that had been a really close call. Too close…

"Hey. You all right, Brit?"

I looked up to see Zack standing over me. He smiled, holding a hand out to me.

For a moment, I just stared at him, eyes wide.

So you wanna be in SOLDIER? Hang in there.

You're gonna make it too. You got that?

We're friends…right?

That look on his face. That smile. I could see it…the man he'd become…

Then the moment was over, and I immediately reached out to grab Zack's hand. He pulled me to my feet, steadying me.

"That was my fault," Zack admitted. "Should've made sure it was down and out for the count. Man…sorry about that."

"I…I'm the one who dropped my guard." I shook my head slowly. "Zack…thanks for having my back."

"Heh! Come on, you don't need to thank me for that!" He thumped me on the shoulder good-naturedly. "It's enough knowing you'd do the same for me."

Those words hit me like a ton of bricks.

Enough knowing that I'd…do the same…

He had saved my life just then. Thrown himself in front of me. What had I done to deserve it? I had been pretty cold to him up until now, so why—?

"This isn't over yet," Angeal cut in, walking up to us. He did not look pleased. "You two. Take up the rear. We're having a long talk when we get back to the train."

The First took point; I retrieved Kerberos, and the rest of us followed behind him. Zack was making a face.

"Oh, boy…we're in for it now."

I just let out a long sigh, too tired to mind at this point. A lecture from Angeal was preferable to being gutted by one of those dragons, at the very least…

…Zack.

I snuck another glance at him, but he was focused on the trail ahead.

He had seen me in danger and had run in without hesitation, putting himself between the dragon and me. He had risked his life to save mine. And for what? Me to walk away, leaving him to his own fate?

Zack…the one person everyone else wanted to push their problems on. He spent his whole life cleaning up other people's messes, and in the end just got killed for it. And here I was, ready to let it happen.

It's enough knowing you'd do the same for me.

God, how could I just turn away at that?

The truth of the situation sank in, and I realized with a sinking feeling that things had been heading down this track for a while now. Who was I kidding? None of these people were strangers anymore. Especially not Zack. Could I really walk away?

Not only that…it had been over six weeks since I had woken up in this world. I still didn't know how I was going to get back home. Whether I liked it or not, I had to accept the reality of it—I might be here to stay for a long time. And if I was stuck here, was I really going to spend my life avoiding these people and standing aside as they died one by one? Could I live with that?

No.

No, I knew what I had wanted to do all along. My instincts screamed that it was a bad idea, that I was going to be taking on way more than I could handle, that it could only end horribly. But at the same time…wasn't it worth trying?

It was. I had taken on Cruxis, the Renegades, the Desians…it wasn't like this was my only experience with huge, technologically advanced organizations. I was already in SOLDIER. I could change things from the inside. Maybe…just maybe…

That wasn't right. No, there were absolutely no 'maybe's about this. If I was going to do this…I was going to completely commit. No more running away, no more excuses.

Even if I was just one person, even if it was just me against the world…I would save Zack.

Commence Operation: Avert Crisis.


A/N: SEE WHAT I DID THERE?! HURRHURR

Sorry if the amount of Sephiroth in this chapter was not sufficient. *cackles* XD just a brief taste for now, but don't worry, he'll be back.

OC Brit now considers this to be SRS BSNS. WATCH OUT WORLD.

Next time: Gah! For once I haven't decided yet. Probably some Genesis. Look forward to that.