To A New Post

(Crisis Core OST)

Zack's first image upon waking up the next morning was Kunsel sitting in his tighty-whites at his computer.

"Oh god dude, my eyes!" he screamed, rolling over and shielding his face. "Tell me you're not looking at porn!"

"Please, we've opted to be roomies for the past two years, don't act like you've never seen me in my underwear before," Kunsel told him in the most plactating of voices. "Besides, you have this seemingly asinine idea that you must have a room alone and like to walk around in here streaking! I don't want to hear your mouth just because I wanted to check my email this morning first before getting dressed."

Touché, was the only response Zack could give.

As he got dressed, he started telling Kunsel about Aerith. "She's this really pretty girl with long, wavy brown hair. And whenever the sun hits it just right, you can see streaks of auburn too. And she sells flowers, man. Real flowers! When's the last time you've seen a flower? With this artificial top-plate grass, hardly anyone has a real plant…well, except Angeal. And how the hell is he doing it? Anyways! She's really amazing…I think I'm falling for her…"

The entire time, Kunsel listened with extremely bored interest, continuing to surf the net. "Uh-huh," he said, without ever looking at Zack. Clearly the subject was dropped.

Zack had no immediate plans for the day so he figured he'd first get caught up on what was happening with Shinra. The first way was to sit and listen in on the SOLDIER conversations, and that he did, resting in the break area as two guys bragged to each other about the day before.

"I totally walked right up to Genesis' face and I told him, 'Listen here, Mister, just because you're a First doesn't mean you can do whatever you feel like. There's a new first comin' to town and that's me! So you better watch your back, buddy, because I'll take you apart limb for limb!' That really showed him!"

On second thought, these guys were going to make him throw up due to how sugar-coated with lies their stories were. Zack was just about to leave when a young face popped directly into his view, blocking his escape.

"Hi Zack!" The boy said, radiant youth and excitement written all over him. But Zack wasn't so thrilled to see him. In fact, he needed to get away. Now.

"Hello, Luxiere," he muttered, trying to step around him but the kid got in his way again, If adoration was a palpable thing, the kid would be swimming in it. Instead, Zack tried another tactic and whipped out his cell phone to act like he was making a call. Maybe the boy would catch a clue and go away. He dialed the first name that popped into his head—Sephiroth. Wait, Sephiroth? He conceded that he had a few bones to pick with the man anyways and instead of listening to the bogus stories of his fellow SOLDIERs, Sephiroth would give him the true facts of what happened.

He dialed the phone and waited. For the next five minutes, he sat and listened to Smooth Criminal all the while throwing looks at Luxiere that clearly said Go away! But it was like the boy's gigantic smile rebuffed all negative communication. Naïve as the day he was born.

When it became clear that the great general wasn't going to pick up his phone, he was left with no choice but to sadly hang up and face the kid. "Guess he's not up yet…"

"Who, Zack?" Luxiere asked.

"Sephiroth," he muttered.

"Oh, Zack, don't you know? Mr. Sephiroth is in the data room! He's been holed up in there all day, hasn't eaten, hasn't taken any breaks and hasn't showered! And cell phones aren't allowed in the data room so that's why he's not picking up. I heard that he was looking into the history of the Science Department."

Zack didn't mean to but he let out a little gwaff of surprise. "And how do you know all of this?"

The smile actually faded for a moment and Luxiere shrugged. "Everyone knows."

"I didn't!"

Another shrug and then the smile was back. "Now you do, Zack! Don't worry, I'll keep you up to speed on everything happening here. You're a busy man, being a First and all. I can't wait till I'm a First! I want to be just like you, Zack! Have I ever told you that, Zack? That I want to be like you? Have I? You're my biggest idol!"

The compliment was that of a frothing fan and Zack felt it was sort of Stan-esque. He could only pray that Luxiere didn't have a room full of his pictures or something as well, nor would he kill himself with his worshiping. "Look, I really need to go…" and before he could be stopped, he made a break for the elevators.

"But Zack, wait—!"

But Zack was gone! He caught a lucky break that the elevator was just opening as he reached it, a woman in a lab coat stepping out and nearly getting bowled over as he stumbled inside.

"Comeon, comeon, comeon!" Zack frantically hissed, pressing the emergency close button rapidly. The door finally began to close, just in time for him to see the exuberant grin loping his way. The doors completely closed and Zack breathed a sigh of relief as he descended. Safe for a little while longer.

The elevator opened at the entrance to the Shinra complex, but out the corner of his eye, he could see his fanboy coming down the carpeted side stairs that led from the upper cafeteria. He looked at the exit. It was a fifty foot sprint. Could he make it?

Startling the hell out of everyone there (mainly important officials that were looking for a reason to invest in the Shinra company), Zack made a mad dash for that red exit sign. Behind him, he heard someone shout his name which made him pour on the speed even harder. He didn't stop running until he got to the top level of Sector 8, throwing a wad of cash at the train ticket window before grabbing a seat and ducking down low. He'd caught it just in time, for no sooner had he boarded did it take off.

But that didn't mean anything. Luxiere was a very determined individual and it wouldn't surprise Zack if he was latching on to the back ladder of the train.

Suddenly, the door to his compartment slid open and he sunk down even lower. He had nothing to shield himself and his clothes were the obvious storm black of a First. There was nowhere to hide.

The footsteps grew closer. Zack began to sweat. He could hear his heart beating in his ears. He could feel his chest straining to quiet his breathing. He could smell his own fear—not a very pleasant aroma.

And then…his stomach loudly grumbled.

And the footsteps stopped directly beside him.

He couldn't look up. Oh god, if he looked up, it would be like admitting he'd failed. And as his motto declared, that was not an option. Oh no, he was still there! He was watching him! Probably wondering what the hell Zack was doing curled up into a fetal position on the seat, his head nearly between his legs and shaking like a scared little bi—

"Ticket, sir?"

Now that didn't sound like Luxiere. Zack looked up into the face of a man he'd never seen before. The man was holding his hand out expectantly. "Ticket sir? Even Firsts have to pay to ride the train."

Zack gratefully dug out his ticket and gave it to the man who ripped it and gave back the stub, then proceeded his patrol of the car, already forgetting about him.

So it wasn't Luxiere at all. He sank back in his seat, breathing a sigh of relief that he indeed hadn't been followed—

"Hi, Zack!" the kid screamed, popping up from the seat in front of him.

"AHH!" Zack screamed and flailed awake. He cautiously checked the seat in front of him again. No Luxiere. It'd been a dream. Sometime during the fifteen minute ride, he'd fallen asleep and was now in the Slums. That was it, he was getting a restraining order against that boy.

Feeling twitchy and paranoid, he cautiously made his way through the Slums marketplace, heading for the large metal doors that would lead him outside of the entrapped area…and to the comfort of the church. Where a certain someone had been waiting to see him again.

"There you are, Zack! Been looking for you."

Descending from the sky oh-so-angelic-like was the honorable Angeal. Zack's nerves had been completely frayed from the last half hour and his brain didn't even care anymore of the younger SOLDIER caught up to him. Be that as it may, he was thrilled that it was only his friend dropping in.

"Hollander and Genesis have been spotted in Modeoheim," Angeal informed him. "I've notified Lazard and they should be picking you up soon."

"Yeah, well maybe I don't wanna go to Modeo…whatever! What the hell is going on here? What's going on with you, Angeal? I'm so lost and confused and just wish someone would explain everything to me!" Petulant Zack was not a favorable personality.

"In due time, I'll catch you up on everything," Angeal promised.

"Fine. But what have you been up to?" Zack asked curiously.

Graphic, XXX images of the night before filled Angeal's mind but his face remained stoic. "Nothing..."

Zack could only sigh, tired of being left in the dark. "I'm just not sure about anything anymore, Ange. It's like everytime I finally fix up one side of the puzzle, more pieces are dumped on me and they're harder and harder to figure out. None of this makes sense."

"Great poetic skills you got there, Zack, maybe you should look into publishing some," was Angeal's way of saying 'I kinda don't care.'. "Well, I'm a busy man, things to do, people to see. We'll talk again, I promise. Till then, adios!" And in a flurry of white feathers, Angeal was gone.

Zack trudged on. "I think I'm starting to develop abandonment issues."

At long last, he reached the blessed steps of the church. He was very close to pulling open the door when a voice spoke to him from behind.

"She's not there."

Great, just one more thing to go wrong today! He turned around to see Tseng regarding him in that bored way as always.

"Now how do you know that, huh?"

"Confidential Turk information."

"Yeah right, I think that's code for you've been spying—"

Zack was interrupted as a low-flying helicopter entered under the plate and settled down in front of them.

"We need you in Modeoheim," Tseng informed him. "We believe that's where Genesis' army, the Literate Union, has set up their new base."

The SOLDIER huffed, but walked towards the chopper anyways. If Aerith wasn't there, he had no reason to stick around. And like hell was he going back to Shinra anytime soon! So he decided to comply.

What he failed to notice was the white feather that settled on the church doorstep.

~.~.~

Inside the helicopter were three other people. Ignoring Tseng (who was ignoring everyone anyways), there was the pilot and some peaky looking guy sitting in the co-pilot seat. He was holding his stomach and looking absolutely miserable.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" Zack asked him, shouting over the sound of the propellers.

Face shielded by a helmet, the guy tried to put on a brave face and epically failed. "I…hate heights."

"Aw, don't even think about it! It's beautiful to be up this high! Going through the clouds, the world like a patch-work quilt below us! And it's like you get to become part of the horizon! Beautiful."

"Actually…I also hate movement," the guy said, his face suddenly turning green at the mere mention of the word.

"This is peaceful, dude! I mean, I really prefer a plane but it's not so bad once you get used to it."

"And I have an acute case of claustrophobia."

"...Well damn. Don't think I have any cures for that."

The man gave one pathetic whimper of warning before completely losing it.

Several death-defying seconds later and Zack came back into consciousness with his face buried in snow. Pulling himself up, he noticed that everyone else was pretty much in the same position but all of them were thankfully getting up as well.

"Thanks to this fucking rookie over here vomiting on the controls and shorting the whole system out, we have to walk!" The pilot screamed at the masked infantryman, who hung his head in shame. Behind them were the smoldering remains of the helicopter.

Ooohh, so that's what Square Enix forgot to mention. No wonder!

Tseng stood up and brushed his still impeccable, wrinkle-free suit off. "Thankfully, we have someone here who's skilled in this type of terrain." He looked pointedly at Zack.

The boy shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a country boy. Okay, everyone follow me!" And with that, he led the way.

Or so he thought. Somewhere within the first twenty minutes, he realized that the infantry guy was actually keeping up with him. "You from the countryside too?"

The guy nodded meekly. "Yeah. Nibelheim."

"HA! Nibelhiem? Fuckin' country bumpkin!"

"Hey! Where are you from, huh?"

"Me? Gongaga."

This made the other person fall into an utter fit of laughter, leaning on the side of the snowy mountain they were walking along to catch his breath. "Southern redneck!"

"What do you know about Gongaga?" Zack snapped.

"Nothing. It's just such a backwater name!"

"Ditto Nibelheim!"

"Like you know about Nibelheim!" the man said heatedly, quite intent on defending his hometown.

"You're right, I don't," Zack admitted. "But it has a reactor, right? A mako reactor outside of Midgar usually means—"

Together: "Nothing else out there."

They both froze and stared at each other in a moment of complete understanding, almost a deeper understanding than most husband and wife. "We really are from the country, aren't we?" Zack whispered.

"Git 'er done!" The guy smiled.

"Yeah, no, not that country," Zack shuddered. Turning to the others who'd fallen way behind, he shouted out, "Yo! It seems that me and…" he trailed off, looking expectantly at the other guy.

The helmet was finally taken off and Zack's first thought was What the hell did he do, dodge sunlight his entire life? Then his first real view of the man was of limp, sweaty blonde helmet hair that miraculously sprung right back into shape seconds later, as though an invisible stylist had run up and primped him. He also realized that 'man' was not the proper term to describe the guy, who was actually not even that tall either. That could be quite attributed to the fact that he was much younger than him. "Cloud," the boy supplied his name, clearly still in the grips of puberty.

Zack nodded at him and addressed, "Me and Cloud here are both backwater experts, oh yeah!" he cheered, doing an excited air thrust.

"Great for you!" Tseng shouted back. "For the record, it's a little hard to walk in snow with patent leather shoes."

"Excuses, excuses!" The First shouted back and both he and Cloud shared a laugh, instantly becoming besties.

As they talked and walked along, Zack came to know more about him. Cloud too had been immediately impressed with the glory of becoming a SOLDIER and, of course, being like Sephiroth (Seriously, they made those army commercials so enticing, with explosions and fight clips worthy of any Jet Li movie and even making long, flowy hair look downright manly). Since Cloud had somehow become a troublemaker in his village (Pfft, ha!) he had nothing else to really stay for except to leave and come back proving to everyone that he'd become a successful hero and that they should all kiss his ass.

…Except Cloud had been too scared to even try out for SOLDIER directly and instead went the much longer route of becoming an infantryman first. Which, on the Shinra ladder, was the lowest of military positions (Tseng wasted no time in shouting up to them that Turks were number one). Zack was amazed at the initial guts the kid had but also felt kinda sorry for him. Just another young soul trying to carve a place for himself in this world.

Then something occurred to him and pulled up short to actually examine the teen. "Cloud...how old are you?"

The boy looked at him with his naturally blue eyes—no mako needed—and blinked. "Fourteen."

"Mhm. And what's that on your back?"

Cloud stupidly had to check behind him. "My gun?"

"Are you old enough to drink?"

"No."

"Are you even old enough to drive?"

"Not yet."

"But you're old enough to have a gun."

"…"

Zack facepalmed. "What the FUCK! That's it! I'm done, Square Enix! My brain is tired of trying to comprehend and make sense out of your plots and characters! I'm through!"

The older boy stormed off and Cloud was left wondering what he'd done wrong…


This chapter seems much shorter than the other ones, but forgive me since I was on a bit of a time crunch. It'll be made up with the next chapter...I hope (lol!)