*sighs* Back again…yay… *sweat drops* I really hope I didn't mess up the chapter, feeling dead tired. Well, either way… I hope you enjoy it! :)
Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy, I just own the plot!
Chapter 9: Alliance
Barret asked gruffly while looking at the former SOLDIER:" So, yer sayin' you wanna help us fight that Sephiroth or whatever guy? Why?",
It seemed the former group f Turks unconsciously elected Zack to be their main speaker.
Zack squared his shoulders and said:" I have a history with him and a lot of people who are and were close to me suffered by his hand. I heard of Jenova and the Geostigma, I want to put an end to all this and try to stop any more unnecessary casualties."
Zack told the truth, Tseng nor Cissnei didn't tell him of their reasons, but he suspected it was something very similar to his own ones.
Barret crossed his large arms and looked at Zack up and down, he asked:" Let's say, I believe ya… what do ya want in return?"
Zack shot him a confused look, he asked while narrowing his eyes:" What?",
Barret clarified gruffly:" Are ya expectin' somethin' in return for yer services or are you doin' this because you really wanna help?"
Zack held his head high as he answered:" I – we – want to help because we care. We care what happens to these people, if Sephiroth gets his chance to harm the planet, he won't hesitate. He was implanted Jenova cells in his body when he was just an infant, when he learned the truth he went on a rampage and burned down Nibelheim. I don't want something like that happening again."
He looked at Tifa briefly to gauge her reaction, she didn't seem to mind him mentioning her and Cloud's hometown. But she looked troubled.
Zack leaned forward and asked:" Barret…where is Cloud? It's evening already, shouldn't he be back?"
He had heard Cloud had his own delivery service, surely it couldn't last this long?
The man remained silent at first, contemplating on how to explain this whole mess to Zack.
Cid said with a displeased expression:" The brat left, nobody knows where the hell he went! He just left to deliver somethin' to someone and didn't come back, has been gone for months now."
Zack's eyes narrowed. He grit his teeth and said:" I don't believe that! Cloud isn't a guy like that that's just abandoning his comrades and family without a care. I taught him better than that."
Tifa, who was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed, said:" He doesn't see us as family."
All eyes were on her. Zack fell silent.
Tifa looked directly at him and said with a bitter smile:" Me and the kids…we are just a chore. He doesn't think of us as a family. I know we aren't blood related but without them I don't think I would have survived alone."
Zack understood, he felt the same before his whole world broke apart when his father left him and his mother when he was just 8 years old and later when Angeal died.
Tifa said with a fire in her eyes:" But we don't need him. If he wants to be alone then so be it. He's had his fair chances until now and I won't allow him to hurt my family again. Marlene and Denzel deserve better. They need both parental figures to grow and evolve, I'll do what I can. But I won't allow Cloud to partake in it, he said he couldn't let go of his past and left us alone. Just what sort of friend is that?"
Zack's head lowered. No… this couldn't be.
Had Cloud really become so…cold?
Zack remembered a time where Cloud had talked so fondly of having a family of his own after SOLDIER…
"Oi! Zack!", a younger Cloud Strife jogged up to his best friend, 1st Class SOLDIER Zack Fair.
"Cloud! Where have you been?", he did their secret handshake and laughed with the younger man.
The blonde blushed lightly and said while scratching the back of his neck:" Sorry, I received a letter from Tifa and I promised to her I would write her every day so she doesn't worry."
"Tifa? Who's that?", Zack asked confused but with a sly smile.
Cloud turned shy and averted his gaze from his friend. He said:" S-she's my childhood friend from Nibelheim. She's really nice a-and pretty…"
Zack grinned widely and slapped his back saying:" Oi, oi. Who's blushing like a cherry now, huh? Being sweet on a girl from your village, it's a wonderful feeling!"
Cloud looked at his friend and asked:" You like someone too?",
Zack placed his hands behind his head and said with a light blush:" Well…y-yeah. She's a girl I met when I fell down the roof to the slums. She's always in a church, tending to a flowerbed. She's the most beautiful and caring girl I've ever met…"
Cloud snickered and teased:" Oi, oi. Who's blushing like a cherry now?",
Zack chuckled and punched his shoulder playfully and said:" Heh, alright. I give, I really like her. A lot. I think she likes me too. Though she says I'm bad at flirting."
Both boys laughed, Cloud asked suddenly seriously:" Hey Zack…did you ever think of having a family? In the future? You know, after SOLDIER?",
The dark haired man turned mako blue eyes to his blonde friend, his demeanour turned serious as he answered:" I'm still young but yeah, I did. After becoming the greatest and most well known hero in the world and helping anyone I can I would really like a family of my own. My pa left me and ma when I was 8 so I didn't really know him much. But there is one thing I plan to do when I will be a father.
I will never leave my family. I'll make sure to be by their side and watch them grow up even if it kills me. I'll teach them how to write and read, I guess how to fight too if I have a son and if it's a girl I'll teach her how to defend herself when I'm not around. I'll be the scariest dad ever! I'll scare off all the love sick boys with my sword and awesome wife!"
Cloud raised a fair brow and asked confused:" 'Awesome wife' ?",
Zack grinned and said:" Yeah! I want to marry a woman who knows how to hold her own and who can defend herself if I'm not around. I don't like women who are typical "damsels in distress". I mean, it's alright if they need help from time to time, really. Nobody is perfect or invincible, no man or woman. But I just don't want her to scream for help whenever something happens and hide. What if something happened to the children and she waits for me and can't protect them on her own? I need to depend on her too."
Cloud nodded, suddenly understanding Zack's view of women. He had dated "damsels in distress" a few times, but he left it with one date. He never went for the second or searched anything deeper and Cloud now understood why. Zack wasn't the flirt that some SOLDIERs had mentioned. Not at all in fact. He seemed like the typical family guy, even if it was a bit too early to be speaking about it yet.
He knew he was too young to truly understand the concept of "love" and wanted to be mature enough to understand it before he found "the woman".
Cloud offered his own view:" Well, I would like to have a family too. I'm thinking of two or three kids. I want to raise them in Nibelheim, teach them that they shouldn't take anything for granted and work hard for their achievement. I want them to grow up respecting their parents and everyone around them. Yeah, that's what I want in the future."
Zack smiled, it was a wonderful thought indeed. He ruffled his spiky blonde hair and grinned.
Zack said with a wink:" Come on, who's lagging behind will have to steal LOVELESS from Genesis! And you know he gets about his precious book."
The boys laughed as they raced each-other to the training grounds.
A family huh…
The thought brought a smile to Zack's face.
Zack couldn't believe it…didn't want to believe his best friend could become such a man…
Did he really let everyone down? Was he really unable to save anyone?
Hey…would you say, I became a hero?
He didn't know why he had thought of this now, but Zack knew he had uttered that question. When and where he didn't remember.
Who did he ask that? Cloud? Aerith? Himself?
The tall SOLDIER shook his head and smiled at Tifa, he said:" Don't worry, Tifa. I'll knock some sense into him once I find him, he's my best friend. However, if he still doesn't change his mind…me and the others will do our best to support you."
Tifa looked at Zack, a mix of surprise and slight disbelief in her eyes.
Until Zack said with a warm smile:" I promise."
She didn't know why.
She didn't know why she felt like she could trust him.
Sure, he was Cloud's best friend in their younger days and Zack had sacrificed himself just so Cloud could live.
But he was practically a stranger.
She felt a pang in her heart when she used the word stranger to describe him.
Zack Fair.
Former 1st Class SOLDIER.
Best friend of Cloud Strife.
Zack Fair.
The hero.
She watched as Zack planned with Barret and the rest on how to find out more about Sephiroth and on how to destroy him for good.
She didn't know why she was so intrigued by him.
Maybe it was the fact that she, along with Cloud, thought that he had died when he was fighting against that army.
Maybe it was the fact that her last words to him were "I hate you" and now he was smiling at her like they were good, old friends.
Or maybe it was the fact that she believed he could really change something in this dark, messed up world…
Chapter 9 finished. *sighs* Sooo…how was it? Good, bad, a case for the nut house? I hope Zack and the rest aren't too OOC here, I mean I imagine what Zack, the more mature, older Zack, would react like when he suddenly found out he was alive and wake up in a world that was falling apart and seeing Tifa and the others. Please review! Thanks! (thumbs up) :D
