Disclaimer-I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and all of the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing except for Zyloff and Mikhail.

Hello everyone. I'm so sorry that it took me forever to update. But better late than never though, right? Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. Just to warn you all, there is a little cussing but not a lot though, just a little bit. Something else that I think is important to warn you all about, is that there is a scene in the flashback where there's not really attempted suicide or anything. I think that it's more thoughts of suicide because he doesn't really try, just thinks about it. I'm not good at explaining it but I just wanted to give you all a bit of a warning because it's something that's a very sensitive issue. This chapter is more lighthearted in most scenes though. Well, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and hopefully it was worth the wait. Please enjoy and feel free to review.

Fight for Freedom

Chapter 10

"Jus' great. The hell we suppose to do now?" Barrett continues his rants as he paces back and forth in the small prison cell. He looks down at Kunsel and questions in a deep and stern tone, "Yer a SOLDIER boy..Why don't ya charge through the door or somethin'?"

Kunsel remains sitting on one of the bunks as he looks up at Barrett and answers in a calm tone, "The same reason why you won't blow up the door with your mechanical gun hand."

Barrett glares at him and crosses his arms in response. He finally stops pacing back and forth like a caged lion and leans his back up against the wall as he takes a deep breath. "Ya got any ideas?"

A deep breath passes through the younger man's lips before he replies, "No..not yet. I am working on it though."

"Kunsel? Barrett? Is that you?"

Both of the men quickly look around the room in alert with wide eyes after hearing the voice of a familiar young woman. "Aerith?" Kunsel asks.

"Yes. I'm here," she answers.

It doesn't take long for both of the men to realize that she's in the cell next to theirs. Kunsel can't help but wonder if anyone else has been caught by Shin-Ra. He climbs up onto one of the bunks and leans towards the ventilation shaft. "Aerith, is there anyone else in there with you?"

"Yes. Nanaki is in here with me."

Barrett and Kunsel look at each other with a puzzled expression on their faces. "Who the hell's that?" Barrett asks in a loud tone so that Aerith can hear him.

Aerith climbs up onto her bunk and leans towards the vent so that they can communicate better. "He's my friend," she answers. Her voice sounds a little shaky when she informs her friends, "We need to figure a way out of here. Hojo is here."

"What?" Kunsel says in disbelief. He's always been very good at finding out information that a lot of people didn't know. However, that was one of the few things that he actually didn't know until now.

"Who?" Barrett asks.

Kunsel looks at him and explains to him, "Hojo is a scientist and he's in charge of the Science Department." Talking about the mad scientist reminds him of what happened to his friends, Zack and Cloud. A chill goes down his spine before he continues to explain, "He's in a high position in the Shin-Ra company and he's someone that you never want to cross paths with."

Barrett furrows his eyes as he tells him, "Hmph, we come across him, I'll jus' shoot his ass."

Kunsel suddenly laughs in amusement when he hears Barrett's words. Now that he said that, he kind of hopes that they do come across Hojo so that Barrett can do that. For so many people, that would be a blessing.

"What's so funny?"

The former SOLDIER 2nd Class stops laughing so that he can answer him, "That's a really good idea."

Barrett smirks in response. "Course it is." After about a minute of silence, he decides to ask him, "Think we should bust out yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Why?"

Kunsel looks at him with his bright blue mako eyes and informs him, "Because the doors and walls of these cells are solid steel and they're several inches thick. Just beyond those doors are several security cameras and armed guards. If we try to take that door down, the guards will be all over us before we even get a chance to take a step out of the cell." He looks up at the ceiling next to the door of their cell and continues, "There's also a security camera there too." When he hears Barrett sigh in frustration, he adds in a hushed tone, "Chances are they'll probably interrogate us soon. It's better to just wait until they open the doors for us. That way the doors will already be open and we could just go from there." He sits down on the bunk again. "We would still need to be careful though because a lot of guards patrol these hallways and there's a security room just down the hall."

Barrett's a little amazed at how much information that Kunsel knows about this place. He has to remind himself that Kunsel did in fact used to work here. So of course he's going to know his way around. Perhaps having Kunsel, Zack, and Cloud on his side isn't a bad thing after all. They have helped them out quite a bit already. However, he's still not entirely sure if he can trust them or not because all three of them used to work for Shin-Ra..But perhaps he was wrong about them...

Zack takes a few steps towards Cloud as he asks again, "Tell me what?"

Cloud takes a deep breath and looks down at the floor as he tells him, "Shin-Ra took Aerith while we were gone yesterday." He keeps his eyes locked on the floor because he doesn't want to see the look of worry and hurt on his friend's face.

Zack's jaw instantly drops when he hears Cloud's words. "What?! Why didn't you tell me that Shin-Ra caught her sooner?!" Zack loudly questions Cloud as he furrows his eyes. He's not really angry with Cloud, just at the situation. He believes that Cloud should have told him before however because Aerith is his girlfriend and therefore he has the right to know.

Cloud looks up at him and answers, "I'm sorry, Zack. I wasn't sure how to tell you."

Zack replies in a low harsh tone, "All that you had to do was walk up to me and say it."

For once, Cloud actually feels intimidated by his older best friend. He knows that he should have told him that earlier. The reason why he didn't was because he actually wasn't sure how to tell him that. Zack was also injured at that time too and he didn't want for him to worry. Cloud slightly narrows his eyes and keeps his bright blue mako eyes locked on Zack's as he tells him in a stern tone, "You were hurt. I didn't tell you because it was best for you to heal first."

Zack understands his friend's reasons and he knows that he means well..however, his frustration gets the better of him as he shouts, "I don't care! You know what Shin-Ra does to people, Cloud!" He runs his hands through his black spiky hair as thoughts begin to sink into his mind of what Shin-Ra may do to her. He remembers Cissnei telling him a long time ago that Aerith is the last of the Ancients. His heart feels incredibly heavy now that he knows that Shin-Ra has her.

Cloud remains quiet as he stares at Zack in response. Zack's right..him and Zack both know what Shin-Ra does to people..After a few seconds, he grabs his sword and marches towards the door to leave.

"Cloud?" He turns around to see Tifa standing beside him with a worried look on her face. "Where are you going?"

"To get our friends back. We're not going to get anything done if we just sit here and argue."

She decides to remind him, "But..the last time that we tried, it didn't go so well."

He looks at her with his bright blue mako eyes and replies with a stern tone that's full of determination, "This time will be different."

"I'll go," Zack says in a tone that sounds calmer than before after he grabs the Buster Sword and sheathes it on his back.

Cloud looks at him and replies, "I'm going."

"Not without me you're not." The older man manages a faint smile as he forces a small joke, "And if you leave without me, I'll kick your ass."

Cloud remains quiet in response because he knows better than to argue with Zack. Once Zack has his mind set on something than it's nearly impossible to talk him out of it. Cloud sheathes his sword on his back before he looks at his older best friend. "Alright, let's go."

Tifa really wants to go with them. However, she thinks that it's best for her to stay here because someone needs to watch Marlene. Although Zyloff's here, he's busy watching over Mikhail. So she knows that she should stay here to watch Marlene and in case Zyloff needs any help. She watches as they march towards the door. "Cloud?" When Cloud turns around to face her, she keeps her worried gaze locked on him as she tells her friends, "Please be careful, okay?"

The former infantryman gives her a small smile of reassurance and nods. "Yeah."

After they leave, they quickly make their way back to the previous battlefield. "Whoa," Zack says in surprise when he sees a lot of Shin-Ra infantrymen patrolling the streets. Him and Cloud quickly run between two tall buildings in an alley to stay out of sight. He turns to Cloud and orders in a hushed tone, "Stay behind the buildings and follow me." Cloud nods in response. They both carefully move as they use the buildings as cover until they finally find themselves standing in front of the towering Shin-Ra building.

While they both gaze up at their previous headquarters, Cloud finally breaks the silence, "We should probably sneak in."

Zack looks at him and agrees, "Yeah." He looks to his left and orders, "Come on. There's an entrance over here." They march inside to be greeted by what looks like about a hundred flights of stairs. Zack softly chuckles as the scene brings back memories. He looks at his younger best friend and asks him, "Remember when we used to race up and down these steps?"

A small smile finds its way on Cloud's face as he recalls that memory before he answers, "Yeah. You always won."

Zack laughs and says, "Yep. Those were the days." He playfully nudges Cloud's side with his elbow and jokes, "Kept ya on your toes though, buddy." Zack wouldn't mind racing Cloud to the top of the stairs for old times sake. Now that Cloud is just as capable of superhuman abilities like him, he wonders who would win...He discards the idea when he reminds himself the reason why they're here and they need to move swift and be as quiet as possible to save their friends before they begin to make their way up the steps.

When they finally make it up to the top, Zack slightly opens the door and carefully peeks his head out to see if it's clear. Once he sees four Shin-Ra infantrymen guarding the doors on the other side of the room, he quickly yet quietly closes the door back.

"How does it look?"

Zack turns to Cloud and answers in a hushed tone, "There's four guards on the northern wall and they're not going anywhere."

"How are we going to get passed them?"

A deep sigh leaves Zack. "I don't know."

While they think of an idea, Cloud finds himself looking around the area until his eyes seem to wonder up to the ceiling. A small smirk suddenly appears on his face when he sees a ventilation shaft because it seems to be the solution to their problem and it looks big enough for him and Zack to crawl through. He turns to Zack to get his attention. "Hey, Zack?"

"Huh?" he asks as he looks at his younger best friend.

Cloud points up to the vent as he asks him, "What about that?"

Zack looks up to see what Cloud's pointing at. He gives his friend a proud smile as he tells him, "Now you see? This is exactly why we make an awesome team."

A small smile finds its way on Cloud's face after hearing Zack's words.

"Give me a boost."

Cloud immediately does as he's told as he braces himself and positions his hands to where Zack has a place to put his foot. With a lot of help from Cloud, Zack's able to reach the vent. Due to the constant weight, the bottom of Zack's boot is really starting to get to his hands. Cloud grunts as he urges, "Hurry up."

After examining the vent cover, Zack suddenly looks down at him as he asks Cloud, "You wouldn't happen to have a screwdriver, would you?"

Cloud just blinks his eyes a few times before he answers, "We're mercenaries, not a couple of repairmen."

Since Cloud's response was pretty much no, Zack says, "Okay. I guess that I'll just open it my way."

The former infantryman looks up to see what his older best friend is doing when he hears what sounds like a soft scraping sound. It sounds like metal scraping against metal but surprisingly, it's not too loud. Of course, Cloud doesn't care how Zack gets the vent open as long as it's not too loud so that they won't get caught.

The former SOLDIER finally climbs inside of the ventilation shaft after he informs him, "I got it, buddy. It's one of those ones that swings open. There was a lot of screws in it though." Once he's inside and manages to turn around, he looks down at his friend and sarcastically adds, "By the time that we leave, Shin-Ra's gonna need a couple of repairmen."

Cloud looks up to see what Zack's referring to. He isn't too surprised to see that there's several dents and scraps around the vent which indicates that Zack used his strength to pull it open. Cloud's eyes widen in alarm when he suddenly hears footsteps coming towards the door. He looks up at Zack and whispers, "Zack, someone's coming."

Zack immediately reaches his hand down to pull him up as he instructs him, "Jump Cloud. And be careful to not hit your head on the ceiling." Cloud does as he's told as he uses his superhuman abilities to jump high enough and tries to grab Zack's hand, but only to be just out of reach. "You need to jump higher," Zack tells him.

Cloud can feel his heart beginning to pound in his chest when he hears the footsteps stop right outside the door before he hears two voices speaking to each other. He jumps up again and this time, he manages to grab Zack's hand. His best friend quickly pulls him up to join him in the vent and Cloud can't help but take a deep breath of relief. He quickly pulls the vent cover back over the hole of the vent and manages to position it some to where it won't swing back open.

Zack gives him a gentle pat on the shoulder as he tells him with another proud smile, "You did good, Cloud." He manages to turn around as he says, "Come on. We need to move."

Barret takes a deep breath and leans his back against the wall of the cell. He's starting to feel a little anxious..but mostly bored. It feels like him and Kunsel have been in here forever. They've both been in here ever since they were caught and the small space is starting to make him feel a little claustrophobic. Without even looking at Kunsel, he says in a deep frustrated tone, "We're going to be stuck in here forever, ain't we?"

Kunsel rubs the back of his neck. "I doubt that we'll be in here that long." When they hear the door suddenly begin to open, both of the men quickly stand up and keep their eyes locked on the door in alert. Barret remains tense while Kunsel relaxes when he sees a young woman with red hair in a black suit with Aerith and an animal with bright red fur standing beside her. "Cissnei?"

Barret looks at Kunsel and asks him, "Ya know her?"

"Yes. She's one of my friends." The former SOLDIER 2nd Class looks at Cissnei and asks, "So, are you here to help us?"

Cissnei gives him a small smile in response. "Yeah." Her smile disappears and her eyes wander down to the floor. Her soft voice sounds a little distant as she informs them, "Something happened. The president's been assassinated.." She looks back up at them as she adds, "So, I don't really see the point in keeping all of you locked up."

Since the president's dead according to Cissnei, Barret comments in a deep tone, "Well, serves him right! One less asshole in the world!"

Kunsel shakes his head after hearing Barret's words before his bright blue mako eyes meets Cissnei's calm ones. "Who assassinated him?"

The young Turk replies, "..I'm not so sure that you'll believe me if I tell you..."

Kunsel keeps his eyes locked on hers as he calmly demands, "Who?"

She takes a deep breath before she answers in a tone that sounds surprisingly calm, "Sephiroth."

Kunsel's eyes widen in surprise and disbelief. "What?"

"Ya mean that weird general in SOLDIER?"

She looks at Barret and answers, "Yes." She looks back at Kunsel. "Masamune, Sephiroth's sword, is stuck in his back right now as we speak," she informs.

Barret replies in a deep tone, "Damn..But how can we know that you ain't lying? Ya could be leadin' us into a trap for all we know."

Cissnei knows that Barret doesn't trust her and she doesn't blame him because she does work for his enemy after all. She's not even sure if Kunsel does right now. Of course, she knows that she probably won't be able to stay with the company after this.

After he hears Barret's accusation, Kunsel intently keeps his gaze locked on Cissnei's before he suddenly turns to the older man. "She's not lying."

Barret crosses his arms and glares at Kunsel as he questions, "The hell ya know that?"

Kunsel calmly answers, "When people lie, there's a physical reaction. Their heartbeat increases, they act nervous, they breathe more heavy. The list goes on..Their eyes can also give it away."

"Awright." Barret glares at Cissnei and demands, "Where's Jessie?"

A deep breath leaves Cissnei after she hears Barret's question. She really isn't sure how to tell him what happened to her, so she decides to just tell him the truth, "Not long after she was caught, she tried to escape...She was killed by one of the guards."

"You're lying!" Barret yells. He doesn't want to believe that another one of his people was killed by Shin-Ra. He just lost Biggs and Wedge not long ago and he was hoping that he wouldn't lose Jessie too.

Cissnei looks down towards the floor. She does feel bad about what happened to Jessie and she does wish that she didn't get killed. "When she tried to escape, I tried to get to her first because I wouldn't have killed her...but the guards got to her first. There was nothing that I could do."

Before Barret has a chance to yell at her again, Kunsel says to him, "I'm sorry about Jessie, Barret. I know that it's hard, but Cissnei is telling us the truth."

"I don't...!"

The animal with the bright red fur suddenly interrupts Barret, "Are you going to argue all day or are we going to find a way out of this place?"

Barret and Kunsel's eyes widen after witnessing who was speaking. Cissnei suddenly turns around to look at the animal before she looks at Aerith. "Did you just say something?"

"No. I did."

Cissnei looks down at the animal with bright red fur and asks, "You can talk?"

The animal looks up at her and clarifies, "Of course I can speak." When he notices the strange look that everyone's giving him aside from Aerith, he adds, "I am just as capable of speaking as humans are."

Kunsel continues looking at him as he says, "Whoa. Sephiroth came back from the dead and killed the president, talking animals..I think I've seen everything." When he notices the animal roll his eyes, Kunsel is quick to add, "Sorry. I don't mean it like that. I just never seen your species before. What's your name?"

The animal with bright red fur looks up at him. "The professor called me 'Red XIII'. You can call me what you wish, but my true name is Nanaki."

Kunsel smiles and says, "I'm Kunsel." He looks at Barret and informs, "His name's Barret."

Before Kunsel gets a chance to introduce her, Cissnei tells Nanaki, "I'm Cissnei."

Although he feels as if he should've asked her sooner, Kunsel looks at Aerith and asks her, "Are you okay?"

Aerith smiles at him in response. "Yes. I'm fine."

"We should probably go," Cissnei urges.

Kunsel nods in response before they decide to leave to find a way out of the building. After they leave the cell and just before they leave the hall, they come across a few dead infantrymen. Kunsel recognizes one of the bloody bodies as the man who confiscated his cell phone and his pocket knife when they were captured. It feels as if his heart skips a beat and he swallows hard when he sees that the man's eyes are open and he has a horrified expression on his face. He slowly kneels down beside him and respectfully removes his SOLDIER helmet as he keeps his bright blue eyes locked on him. "I'm sorry.." he softly says in a sympathetic tone before he reaches into the man's pocket to retrieve his pocket knife and cell phone. He can't help but feel bad because he feels as if he's being disrespectful for disturbing the body. He quickly stuffs his recovered items in his own pocket before he reaches towards the man's face and gently glides his hand over the dead man's eyes to close them so that he looks more at peace.

"Ya know him?"

Kunsel looks up at Barret after he hears his question. "No, not him." He lets out a deep sigh and adds, "But I do know a lot of these soldiers. There was a time when a lot of them served under my command." He looks back at the dead guard and continues, "I did see this man several times before in the hallways...He served under Luxiere's command." When he notices all of the streaks of blood all over the walls and floor, he shakes his head and questions, "Who could have done this?"

Cissnei stands next to him and answers, "It was probably Sephiroth."

Kunsel looks down and shakes his head again. He knows that since Sephiroth is super human as well as the former general in SOLDIER, he was the best of the best. He has seen Sephiroth fight before and his skills are legendary. He has seen him stand alone and wipe out entire battalions of Genesis copies as if they were nothing. So far to his knowledge, the only person who has fought against Sephiroth and lived is Cloud. Unlike members of SOLDIER, Shin-Ra infantrymen don't undergo the process of being exposed to mako energy and Jenova cells, so they're just ordinary soldiers. "These men didn't stand a chance," he states after he climbs to his feet.

After several moments of marching down the hallway, Kunsel and Nanaki suddenly stops in their tracks when they think that they hear something. The rest of the group stops and Cissnei looks at Kunsel and Nanaki as she asks, "Are you alright?"

"And just what are we up to?"

Cissnei, along with the rest of the group quickly turns around to see Reno and Rude standing there after hearing Reno's question. Everyone looks surprised except for Kunsel and Nanaki because they knew that they heard footsteps.

Reno looks at Rude and sarcastically says, "Check this out yo, there must be a tea party around here somewhere and they forgot to invite us."

Cissnei makes her way through the group and walks up to them.

When the two Turks see Cissnei, Reno comments in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, did you recruit them to help us fight all of those scary invisible monsters in Midgar?"

Cissnei briefly looks down to think about what he's referring to. It only takes her a few seconds to remember what she told them when they were trying to apprehend Zack, Cloud, and Aerith a couple of days ago outside of the church in the Slums. Hopefully, they won't try to pin the president's assassination on them. She looks back up at them and replies, "I know that this looks suspicious, but you have my word that we had no involvement in the president's assassination."

Rude glares at her from behind his dark sunglasses. "We saw what happened on the monitor in the security room."

"Yeah, so unless ya'll can somehow disguise yourselves as Sephiroth.." Reno finds himself getting a little side tracked as he places a hand on his chin and thinks out loud, "Man, I bet that dude goes through a lot of shampoo..."

Cissnei can't help but faintly smile at Reno's words before she suggests, "Since you know that we wasn't involved, how about you just let us leave?"

A grin suddenly appears on Reno's face as he looks at Cissnei. "I got a better idea. How about we let our meeting be a little secret and you can be on your merry way.." his grin widens as he continues, "IF you go out with me for a year?"

Rude turns his head to look at his best friend. "You'll let them go if she dates you?" Since he knows that it's against the company's rules for employees to date each other, Rude tells him in a stern tone, "You DO know that's against the company's policy, right?"

Reno shrugs and replies, "Well, I'm off duty.."

Rude is quick to remind him, "Not anymore. We were on our way to Rufus, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Reno looks at Cissnei and asks, "Do you still work for Shin-Ra as of now?"

Cissnei shakes her head. "No." She knows that she can no longer stay with Shin-Ra after her actions because it could cost her her life.

Reno smiles as he looks at Rude. "See? It's okay because we're not co-workers anymore." He looks back at Cissnei and tells her, "So, we'll date for one year."

Cissnei counters, "Six months."

Reno grins in amusement. "Ten months."

"Four."

Reno's grin widens as he asks, "Four years?" He knows that she means four months, but he's trying to trick her.

"No. Four months."

Reno's grin slightly disappears because he didn't trick her. He really was hoping that he could trick her into accidentally saying four years instead. He would love to date her for that long. Reno decides to remind her in a casual tone, "Hey, who's the one trying to cut a deal with who? After all of this, date me for seven months..I ain't going any lower. So, take it or leave it."

Cissnei lets out a deep sigh and says, "Okay."

Reno smiles in victory as he tells her, "I'm a nice guy. I'll even buy you some roses if you want and before ya know it, you'll love me so much that you'll want to marry me."

The young woman feels like laughing at his statement, however, she simply rolls her eyes and replies, "Yeah right."

Reno keeps smiling at her as he tells her, "We'll make an awesome couple. Ya know, I have red hair, you have red hair. I'm a Turk, you're..well you was a Turk."

Rude decides to stop him there because they're suppose to be in a hurry. "Reno?"

He turns to look at Rude. "Huh?"

"We really need to get to Rufus."

"Oh, yeah." Before they go their separate ways, Reno looks at Cissnei with a big grin on his face as he asks her in a playful tone, "Can I have a goodbye kiss?"

Cissnei smiles in response because Reno can just be too funny. Even in serious situations like this, he has always been one of the few people who could easily get her to laugh or smile. When he moves a little closer to her after he notices her smile, she quickly stops smiling and answers, "No."

Reno keeps his distance because he actually doesn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. He isn't that type of guy. "Okay." Him and Rude begin to make their way down the hall in the opposite direction as they continue on their way to get to Rufus. Once they get a good distance away from the group, Reno lightly nudges Rude in the arm with his elbow and tells him with a smile, "She's playin' hard to get. I like that..it makes dating more interesting." Rude remains silent as he slightly shakes his head in response to Reno's words.

After sneaking around and going through several more ventilation shafts and elevators, Zack and Cloud come across yet another ventilation shaft. Cloud looks at Zack and asks, "Where does this one lead?"

Zack stares at the vent and rests a hand on his chin to try and think for a moment before he replies, "I think that leads on the other side of this floor."

"So, do you think that it'll lead close to the cells?"

"It should." Since the vent is a little high up on the wall, Zack presses his back against the wall and kneels down some as he tells Cloud, "Here. I'll give you a boost." Cloud doesn't waste any time and climbs up to the vent. As he opens the vent, Zack tells him, "Gaia, you're heavy."

As Cloud climbs back down after pulling the vent cover open, he looks at Zack and slightly tilts his head some. "Are you calling me fat?"

Zack softly chuckles in response as he playfully replies with a grin, "Maybe." He looks up at the vent and tells him, "You go first this time."

After Cloud climbs into the vent with Zack following close behind him, due to their joke earlier, Cloud asks him, "Do these pants make me look fat?"

His older best friend laughs and says in a playful tone, "You're an idiot, Cloud."

Cloud softly chuckles and replies, "No more than you." They continue crawling through the vent until they finally reach the vent cover a few moments later. Cloud peeks out to make sure that the coast is clear before he grips the vent cover and quietly pushes it open. He leaps out and tells Zack, "It's clear." He loudly grunts when something suddenly lands on top of him and knocks him down, pinning him to the floor without any warning. When he looks up, bright blue mako eyes meet his as he sees that it's Zack.

Zack looks down at Cloud with a big playful smile on his face as he jokes in a silly sounding tone, "Ooh, you've got the prettiest blue eyes."

Cloud slightly furrows his eyes some in annoyance to show his disapproval. He tells him in a hushed tone, "We're supposed to be quiet, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. There's no one around though." Zack looks down at Cloud and gets serious as he tells him, "I'm sorry that I yelled at you earlier. Ya know, before we left. I know that it wasn't your fault. I was just so worried about Aerith and I guess that I took it out on you."

Cloud looks up at Zack and accepts his apology as he replies in a calm tone, "It's okay. I know that you didn't mean it, Zack. Sometimes when people get mad, they say things that they don't always mean." He sighs before he adds, "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about that sooner."

"It's alright." Zack climbs up to his feet and reaches a hand down to Cloud and gives him a warm smile. "Friends?"

A small smile appears on Cloud's face as he looks up at him. "Always," he replies as he reaches up and accepts Zack's hand to help pull him up. Not long after getting up, they both find themselves looking around in alert when they suddenly hear footsteps approaching them from the next hall.

When Zack sees Cloud quickly make his way back to the vent in an attempt to hide so that they won't blow their cover, Zack grabs him by the shoulder and whispers, "There's no time for that." When he notices his younger friend looking at him as if he's silently asking him what they should do, Zack tells him in a hushed tone, "Come on. This way." He quickly leads him around the corner in a different hallway.

"Is this the right way?"

Zack's eyes widen in surprise after he hears that sweet voice because he knows that voice very well. 'That voice, it has to be..' he thinks just before he decides to carefully peek his head around the corner of the wall. "Aerith?!" Zack exclaims with a big smile on his face as his eyes light up before he quickly makes his way towards her. They give each other a big hug followed by a gentle kiss.

Cissnei finds herself looking down some as the couple embrace each other and kiss. Although she'll never admit it, she has always had a bit of a crush on Zack. She's not jealous or anything, but she does think that Aerith is very lucky to have such a nice boyfriend like Zack and she actually feels happy for them simply because they're happy.

Aerith looks up at him with her beautiful emerald green eyes and asks, "Zack? What are you doing here?"

"We came here to get you guys," he answers as their loving embrace comes to an end.

"Hey, Zack? I got my pocket knife back too." When Zack turns to Kunsel and slightly furrows his eyes in confusion to try and remember what knife that Kunsel is referring to, Kunsel reaches into his pocket and holds it up to Zack as he adds, "This one here that you gave me a long time ago when I made SOLDIER 2nd Class, remember?"

Zack's bright blue eyes widen as he stares at the knife that his friend is holding up as it automatically triggers a dark memory from the past.

Deep underneath Shin-Ra Manor, down the hall from the lab, Zack and Cloud remained in their stone prison cell. They both hardly spent any time in their cell because they were usually in the incubators that was filled with mako energy most of the time. As he slept on his small cot in a poorly lit and cold prison cell, Zack's eyes suddenly shot opened as he woke up and sat straight up after he heard a shuffling sound. It sounded like something was being dragged across the floor. His eyes quickly wandered to Cloud's cot which was right across from his..but only to discover that he was no longer there. He was surprised when he saw that his younger best friend was sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him. As he looked through the darkness, he noticed Cloud holding on to something. When he heard a soft whimper escape from the blonde, he immediately climbed off of his cot and asked in concern, "What are you doing?"

Cloud's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly gazed up at Zack with a look that a young boy would give his father who's trying to hide something. "N-nothing," he stammered in a nervous sounding tone.

When Zack's eyes trailed down towards whatever it was that the blonde was holding on to, Cloud quickly placed it behind his back in an attempt to hide it before Zack had a chance to see what it was. Now Zack felt very suspicious because Cloud was clearly trying to hide something from him. His eyes locked onto Cloud's eyes which were slightly glazed over as he asked him, "What's behind your back?"

Cloud began to stare down at the concrete floor because he couldn't bring himself to look at Zack at the moment..Not after what he thought about doing. "...It's nothing."

"Just let me see," Zack calmly ordered.

The blonde continued to stare down at the floor as he mentally argued with himself about if he should show it to his older best friend or not.

After he waited for about a minute, Zack urged, "Come on..Show it to me." The former infantryman hesitated for several seconds before he slowly pulled the item out from behind him and revealed it to Zack. His eyes widened in complete disbelief when he saw that it's a small pocket knife with the blade unfolded. "How did you get that?"

Cloud continued to stare at the floor as he slightly furrowed his eyebrows to try to focus on what he was trying to say as he slowly spoke to reveal, "A..A guard dropped it," he briefly paused and took a deep breath before he continued, "when he...walked by a few minutes ago while..you were...sleeping."

When Zack tried to swoop his hand down to grab it, Cloud managed to quickly jerk the item away and held it close to him.

Since the blade of the knife was unfolded, Zack immediately warned him, "Careful with that."

Cloud finally glanced up at Zack with a weak and slightly unfocused gaze which was due to all of the mako and Gaia knows what else that Hojo would drug them up with on a daily basis. Zack's eyes widened in shock when Cloud held the knife up to his own chest where his heart is and lightly pressed it up against the shirt of his infantryman uniform.

After he witnessed his younger best friend's actions, Zack held out his hand and ordered him in a calm yet stern tone, "Give that to me." Cloud continued sitting down as he held the tip of the knife to his chest and stared off into space. As if he hadn't heard him. Zack kept his eyes locked on Cloud as he called out his name, "Cloud?" When Cloud didn't even look up at him, let alone flinch, Zack called out again a little louder, "Cloud?" The blonde blinked his eyes several times as he broke out of his mako induced trance and forced his mind back into reality before he gazed up at Zack. Now that he had his attention, once again he ordered, "Give me the knife."

Cloud just gave him a blank stare for several seconds until he slightly narrowed his eyes in confusion after Zack's words sank into his mind. "...But I'm the one..who found it."

Zack sat down beside him before he replied, "I know. I'll just hold onto it for ya, okay?"

"...No." The younger man continued to hold the knife up to his chest with a weak trembling hand and his voice sounded slurred from the mako treatment earlier today as he added in a tone that was completely void of emotion, "I..I think that I can do it, Zack."

Zack swallowed a lump in his throat after he heard Cloud's words. However, he could tell just from how Cloud acted that he wasn't exactly all the way there. His voice sounded stern as he commanded, "Give me the knife right now." Cloud slowly turned his head to look at him with glazed over eyes that had a green mist of mako energy swirling around in them. Zack couldn't help but notice just how pale his friend looked. He knew just by the way that his younger best friend looked and acted that he clearly wasn't well. The experiments had definitely taken its toll on him. When Cloud remained silent, Zack ordered in a calm tone, "Look buddy, I promise that I won't be mad at you or anything, okay? Please just give me the knife." When Cloud didn't comply, in an attempt to try to get through to him, Zack decided to remind him in a stern tone to show his authority, "That was an order, Cloud. I am your commanding officer, so you will do as I say."

Cloud began to stare down at the floor again. His voice sounded weak and distant as he replied, "I..don't think that...matters..anymore, Zack."

When Cloud began to slip back into another mako induced trance again as he stared off into space, Zack immediately took that opportunity to quickly yet carefully snatch the knife away from him. Zack quickly managed to fold the pocket knife up and stuffed it inside of his boot. It took a few seconds for Cloud to even realize that he no longer had it as he snapped out of it. He gave Zack a weak glare as he made a futile attempt to try and get the small pocket knife back. When Cloud managed to weakly grab Zack's suspenders of his SOLDIER uniform, his older friend lightly pushed him onto his right side and pinned him down.

Since Cloud was quite weak from the experiments, he barely offered any physical resistance. Weak grunts left him as he tried to yell, however, he only managed to tell him in a trembling voice that was just above a whisper, "G-Get the..hell off...of me.."

Zack ignored Cloud's words as he began to scold him, "Were you going to do what I thought that you were gonna do?"

Due to Cloud barely being able to even focus because of the mako treatments, he was unable to comprehend Zack's question so he remained completely silent in response. Unknown to them, they were here for four years now. They have both managed to remain strong during that whole time, but now for the very first time, Cloud was beginning to finally break. "I..I don't want to...be here anymore, Zack. I don't..want to...live anymore..Not like this." He had hoped for so long that they'd get away...but now he began to think that the one thing that they tried to stay away from for so long was the only way out. He was beginning to believe that in their situation at that time, death would only be a mercy.

Zack felt terrible on the inside after he heard Cloud's confession. He realized that Cloud did have a point that was understandable. What did they have to live for in this terrible place? Being tortured and experimented on by Hojo and his assistants everyday? He knew that he had to find a way to escape from this nightmare because eventually there may not be much of Cloud or himself left to save. "I'll get us out of this mess, I swear," the former SOLDIER made his oath as he looked his friend in the eyes.

"When?" Cloud asked as he turned his head some and gazed up at him with wide glazed over eyes that looked as if his life depended on the answer that Zack gave him.

"Soon."

Once he heard his older friend's answer, all of the stress, fear, sadness, and anger that he had built up inside of him for so long began to make its way to the outside. Tears began to trail down Cloud's pale face as he began to weep in bitter despair. He didn't want to leave 'soon', he wanted to leave right now. "I want..to go home." After he mentioned 'home', he covered the side of his face with his arm and he began to cry even harder when he remembered that his mother's dead. He pressed his hands against his eyes and rubbed them in an unsuccessful attempt to try to make his tears stop. Despite his efforts, the tears kept flowing from his eyes and down his face. His whole body began to tremble and hot tears continued to roll down his face as he said out loud as if he was in shock, "So much..blo-blood."

Zack wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about. "What?"

"..Mom's dead." He sobbed for several seconds before he added, "S-Sephiroth..he..." He let out a few choked sobs again because as he talked about it, his mind forcefully replayed the tragic event in his memory. He missed his mother deeply and he hated Sephiroth for what he did to his mother, Tifa, Zack, and his hometown.

Zack's eyes widened in devastation. He didn't know what happened to Cloud's mother. He assumed that she was killed but he didn't know for sure and he couldn't bring himself to even consider to ask Cloud about it. He knew that Cloud was close to his mother. He recalled back when their lives were more..normal, when they worked for Shin-Ra before all of this happened. Whenever Cloud would get a letter from his mom, his eyes would always light up. "Cloud, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he told him in a saddened tone. Being forced to witness his younger best friend being hurt was the worst torture that's possible for him during that time. When he heard Cloud's cries, it hurt Zack so much that his heart would ache because he wasn't able to do anything about it. It felt as if he was being stabbed in the heart by several of Hojo's surgical knives. While the former infantryman continued lying on the floor with Zack pretty much on top of him from when he pinned him down earlier, Cloud's cries softened when he felt his best friend wrap his arms around him from behind to try to hug him tight in an attempt to help calm him down. "Shh, it's okay," Zack told him in a soft tone before he gently buried his face into Cloud's blonde spiky hair and kissed him on the back of the head to help comfort him. The former SOLDIER took a deep breath as he gently rested his chin on the back of his friend's shoulder and softly spoke to him in his ear, "When we visited your mom, ya know, when we were eating and you left for a few minutes? I promised her that I'd look out for you. We came here together and we're leaving together. So, we can't give up. You got that?" Cloud calmed himself down and nodded his head in response. Zack hugged him a little tighter as he continued, "You're my best friend, Cloud. I love you like a brother and I can't leave if you're not with me." In Zack's mind, he didn't believe that escaping was even worth trying if something happened to Cloud because he believed that they either leave together or not at all.

Now that Cloud was calm, Zack asked him in a tender voice, "You okay now buddy?" The blonde wiped his tears away and nodded in response. Zack gently grabbed him and helped pull him back up to where he was sitting up again as he told him, "Come here, let me see ya." Cloud hesitated for a few seconds before he weakly gazed up at him with bloodshot eyes. Zack gave him a warm comforting smile and asked, "So, are you with me on this?" He held up his right arm and a faint smile appeared on his younger friend's face as he seemed to immediately recognize the gesture. He held up his right arm and lightly pressed it against Zack's to form an 'X' shape.

While they did their own handshake, Cloud replied, "Always.."

Their handshake ended and Zack kept smiling as he suggested, "Come on. We should get some sleep."

As Zack climbed to his feet, Cloud gazed up at him with a dazed look on his face as he revealed to him, "I can't..move my legs."

Zack's heart sank after he heard his younger best friend's statement. The first thing that he assumed was that they could be broken. To test his assumption, he knelt down beside him and gently placed his hands on his friend's legs just below his knees. "Can you feel that?" When he didn't get an answer, he looked over at Cloud to see that he's staring off into space again. "Cloud? Hey, Cloud?" The former infantryman blinked his eyes several times and rubbed them to try and snap out of it before he looked at Zack. He repeated, "Can you feel that?"

"Yeah, I can..feel them...but I just...can't move them."

Zack knew that he's definitely gonna have to get them out of here. Since Cloud couldn't walk, he couldn't help but wonder how he climbed off of his cot and got himself towards the back of their cell. He assumed that he crawled and that must have been what the noise was that woke him up earlier. He gently scooped Cloud up in his arms and sat him down on his cot. Zack managed to come up with a rescue plan for themselves, so he decided to inform him in a hushed tone, "Listen buddy, I heard one of the guards say yesterday that Hojo's going to Midgar in a few days. Just give me a week. Hojo will be gone so I promise that we'll make our move then, alright?"

The former infantryman blinked his eyes a few times to try to avoid from going back into another mako induced trance before he asked, "Promise?"

Zack gave Cloud a reassuring smile and answered, "I promise. You know that I always keep my promises." Cloud managed to give him a hopeful smile in response. Not long after Zack sat down beside him, Cloud gently rested his head against Zack's shoulder because he felt really tired. The ex-SOLDIER immediately wrapped an arm around his little brother-in-arms and playfully ruffled Cloud's hair with his other hand as he let out a soft chuckle.

Cloud didn't feel like pulling away from him, so he told him, "Stop, Zack."

Zack stopped ruffling his hair as he looked at him and joked, "What?" He snickered before he teased, "Are you worried that your hair will get messed up?"

Cloud gave him a blank stare. How in Gaia could Zack joke around in a situation like this was beyond him. "No..It just...it makes..me feel...like a little kid."

"Oh." His eyes wandered to the wall on the other side of the cell. After a few seconds, a big smile appeared on Zack's face as he looked over at him and joked, "Like that?" He playfully ruffled his hair again, which earned him a faint smile from his younger friend. Zack smiled even more after he succeeded in cheering Cloud up a bit.

They both sat there for a few silent seconds before Cloud decided to break the silence, "Zack?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

Cloud hesitated for a moment before he said, "I..I don't feel...right."

Zack looked at him with concern in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Cloud felt very tired. He also felt a little dizzy and lightheaded. He couldn't explain it but he felt weird. However, he didn't want to worry Zack, so he just decided to tell him, "I'm..tired. I feel..so tired."

Unknown to Zack at that time, Cloud was in the earlier stages of getting mako poisoning. During that time however, he assumed that perhaps his younger best friend just wasn't getting enough sleep or it was from whatever it was that Hojo would inject them with almost everyday.

"How about you get some sleep?" Zack suggested.

The former infantryman yawned before he decided to take his older best friend's advice soon. He felt so tired that he was having a hard time keeping his eyes opened. When Cloud began to stare at the wall on the other side of the cell, he hesitated for about a minute before he decided to ask questions that he had asked himself so many times before, "Zack?"

"Huh?"

"Why..are we...here?"

Zack sighed before he answered, "I don't know."

Cloud's voice sounded a little slurred as he asked, "Why did..this happen, sir?"

Zack leaned his back against the wall as he kept his arm wrapped around his younger friend and answered, "I don't know, kid." He couldn't help but feel frustrated at himself because Cloud wanted answers to his questions and unfortunately, Zack didn't have the answers.

Cloud began to stare off into space for almost a minute as he went into another mako induced trance before he snapped out of it. He slightly turned his head some and finally replied with a sigh, "I'm not..a kid, Zack."

The former SOLDIER smiled at him and joked, "Okay then, you're a big strong man and one of these days you'll be a superhero and save the planet."

The former infantryman wasn't sure what to say in response to Zack's joke. Cloud stared at him before he finally replied, "I'm going...to..sleep." He continued resting his head against Zack's shoulder as his eyelids began to feel heavy and it wasn't long at all before he was almost asleep.

"Hey, Cloud?"

The former infantryman answered in a groggy tone, "Huh?"

"Night."

"Good night."

"Zack? Hey, man? Are you okay?"

Zack manages to chase the memory away as he comes back to the present after hearing Kunsel's voice. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Kunsel looks at him with a look of concern. "Are you sure?"

When Zack briefly looks over at Cloud, the former infantryman can't help but notice the look that's on Zack's face. It's the same expression that appears on his own face when he suddenly remembers...some things. Things that he believes would be better off to be forgotten forever.

The former SOLDIER 1st Class looks back at Kunsel. "Yeah." Zack smiles to help reassure his friend as he adds, "I'm just a little tired. That's all."

Kunsel has known Zack for too long so he knows that something is bothering him. "Is there anything that you want to talk to me about, Zack?"

"No. We should just get back to Seventh Heaven," Zack tells Kunsel before he begins to march away.

Okay and there's Chapter 10. I hope that you all enjoyed it. I also really hope that Cloud didn't sound out of character in the flashback scene or anything. That scene is meant to take place about a week before Zack and Cloud escaped, so in that scene Cloud was basically starting to break and was thinking about just giving up. Personally, I do believe that Zack and Cloud are both very strong and tough characters, but everyone has their breaking point and Cloud basically reached his in that scene. I guess that I'm a little worried if he sounded out of character or not. There is a second half of that flashback which will continue either in Chapter 12 or 13. It will probably be Chapter 12 but it really kinda depends on how long Chapter 11 turns out. So it might be in Chapter 13 instead. Oh, and I also want to say that the flashbacks of what happened to Zack and Cloud in the past, isn't really the main focus of this story. I decided for them to have flashbacks once in a while because I thought that it would be more realistic to show them trying to cope with it afterwards. Ya know, traumatic events like that never goes away no matter how long ago it happened. The part in the flashback when Zack told Cloud that he promised Cloud's mother that he'd look out for him, that bit there is meant to be referring to Chapter 7 of 'On the Run for Freedom'. That story is meant to be a prequel to this one. So, of course I decided to have little references to it here and there. Anyways, I would really like to know what you all think about this chapter. So, please feel free to review to let me know what you all think. I would really appreciate that and I really hope that you all enjoyed it.