Fearless

Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I owned this if only for the sake of being in Diana's place…however I do own her as my OC and the situation as out of my own head :)

A/N: Tek and Ultimate, you guys will laaaaugh at this one seeing as how you read February Breath…you'll see why, lol. Lotsa Zack stuff this chapter, and next chapter we have a major Genesis encounter XD so keep reading :) Enjoy the ride.

Chapter 11: Not So Powerless

Whoever tackled him was several inches shorter but surprisingly solid.

What the hell? Did Tifa know there was a freaking ninja wannabe in her room? What had the person done with Diana, if anything? She was right over there, sleeping…right? Betrayal by Tifa was completely out of the question, hardly even qualifying as a passing speculation. Who would want to assassinate Zack, anyway? Better yet, who would send this kid – it had to be a teenager – after him?

He stumbled but didn't fall, trying to turn to face his attacker, but the kid had already darted around his other side and was about to deliver a kick to his side. Zack blocked it with next to no expenditure of effort, only to receive a sharp jab to his right kidney.

Ouch! Jeez! Was the kid made of iron with a human shell or something? No teenager inflicted that much pain on a first class! Sure, it was barely anything, but it was definitely something, and that was something to worry about. Which made total sense. Okay. You wanna play that game? He grabbed the offending arm and twisted, not very hard for him, but plenty enough to send his opponent crashing to the floor. He was surprised again when the kid's leg came up and used Zack's momentum to send him all the way over in a flip to land in a similar way. In another fraction of a second, his attacker was up and down again, sitting on Zack's back. It was a tribute to Zack when he didn't blink when a switchblade was flicked open at his throat, despite his mild shock at the aptitude of his opponent. He didn't want to resort to drastic measures, but this kid was obviously not ordinary. Okay, fine. Here we go… The hood of his sweatshirt slipped off over his spikes when he moved slightly and he heard a stifled gasp from the kid with the knife.

Tifa had heard the crash of a falling body and rushed in alarm to her room. Had the girl taken out a window or something? What else could go wrong…around…here…?

"Erm, on second thought, maybe I'll be leaving now…" One corner of her mouth twitched slightly in amusement.

"Ohmygoddess!" Diana squeaked under her breath. "Zack?"

"That would be me," came the muffled, bemused reply.

She hastily snapped the switchblade closed and leaped off him even quicker. Whoooo, can we say WEIRD! "I'm so sorry! You had your hood up, and…" she trailed off lamely. Why hadn't she recognized him? Wait a sec… "Where are we?"

"Tifa's apartment – is that you, Diana?"

She jumped a little when he got up and faced her. "…Hey there."

"Di, what'd you do?" Tifa sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

She bristled. "Well, I didn't know where I was when I woke up, with no memory of how I got here, and then I heard voices so, I dunno, I got a little paranoid? Then someone comes in dressed in black with his hood up – I wasn't going to be stupid and take the chance of them not being on the friendly side!"

"You are getting paranoid, aren't you?" Tifa rolled her eyes.

"No, I see your point," Zack spoke up again. "Good to see you again, all the same." A cocky smile flashed across his face.

"Same to you, out of the hospital, I understand?" She planted her hands on her hips. "What did you do?"

"Er. Well, it's a long story, really, um… It wasn't my fault, really…" It was his turn to fade off vaguely. "The bright side is, I'm fine and I wouldn't be if not for…well, guess who?" He teased.

She grimaced inwardly. She sure set herself up for that one and she had little desire to hear the story of his rescue again. "…Cloud."

"Nope."

"Tifa."

"Not this time."

"Huh? Um," she had to be careful in how much she was supposed to know, "Sephiroth."

"Nooo…"

"I give up," she said in a grudging monotone.

"Really? You?"

"Yes, very funny, get on with it," she blew a piece of hair out of her eyes and made a joking face at him.

"Your brother."

"Really now," she said dryly. She really had to work on the 'surprised face.'

"What, no reaction?" he pouted.

"He always was throwing himself out there for other people's sakes," Diana responded truthfully.

"Well, it was pretty damn stupid of him all the same," he turned brooding all of a sudden.

She punched him lightly on the arm. "Don't say that! You wouldn't be here!"

"Under the circumstances—"

"No excuses from you!"

"But—"

"—Don't!"

"Then—"

"—None!"

Tifa rolled her eyes. Hell, they might as well be an old married couple already…

A sly smile made an appearance on his angular face. "Then I'm to understand you'd miss me that much?"

"Well – yeah! Seriously! I mean…" she found herself trying not to turn pink. Great. Just great. What was wrong with her? Snap out of it!

"Mmmmmm-hm. I have to say, though," he laughed, "I don't doubt you can handle yourself, either."

She laughed nervously. "Yeah… Sorry about that… I just…"

"I'd rather you be able to defend yourself than be totally helpless." She was definitely no damsel in distress. Well, maybe a damsel, but evidently not in distress for long if she could help it. Zack found himself liking it. She was the total opposite of the stereotypical frail blonde type who squealed at just about everything that moved.

He would rather? He considered it? He thinks about me? No, stoppit, stupid mind! SHUT UP!

"Well now, you two can have a lovely chat in here while I just…" Tifa swiftly vacated the premises and slammed the door behind her.

The two blinked, then looked at each other. "Um—" they both began.

"Gotta run," Diana said apologetically. "Really." She bit her lip, her green eyes getting bigger.

"Same here. Um, before you leave – do you want to, maybe, I don't know, meet up again? Sometime?" He was oddly nervous, again. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I…I'd like that," she hesitated slightly, then smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that a lot."

"Really?" he grinned.

"Absolutely."

"Great! I'll find you…"

"I'll be here at Tifa's at six on Friday."

"Cool. Sounds good." He wasn't going to pry as to what she was doing or anything else here. He was going with it. Cause, hell, he had a sort-of date on Friday!

"Th—" she stopped, jiggling the doorknob. Definitely locked. "Tifa…." She growled.

Zack frowned and tried the door too. "Tifa!" he hollered through it.

"Hm? Voices? What's that? Oh well. I'll just have to leave now and—" They heard Tifa's infuriatingly cheerful voice coming from the kitchen.

"Tifa! If you don't open this door I'll…uh…" Zack searched for a threat that would actually work on his friend. It was just plain sad that none came to mind.

"I'll kick it down! You know I can and will!" Diana yelled. Zack looked at her in mild surprise. "What?" He just shook his head smiling in response. What a funny girl. First being followed by him at a party and been chill about it, maybe even liking it, then jumping him without him noticing, now offering to kick down doors. Unique.

Diana was continuing when she got no reply. "I can easily frame you for something dumb and you'll have to pay for it and then you'll end up having a lovely chat with the Director who will later take you to Shinra himself and you're going to go broke between the door and food and you'll be a hobo living under the plate in an abandoned church in Sector Five forced to live off of—"

"Okay okay okay, enough! I'm working on it!" Tifa yelled back. Diana grinned in triumph. Zack gave her one of those 'was that even English' looks and she shrugged. Tifa finally (and grudgingly) unlocked the door.

"Ta-dah," Diana laughed. She let Zack walk ahead of her as she paused to grab her jacket from where it was hanging on a chair in Tifa's room. Upon emerging, she remembered something kind of important. "Hey, Za—"

And Tifa had artfully tripped her just as the addressed turned back around. She lurched forward, expecting to go splat, but was instead stopped by two muscular arms. She looked up at the face of the man to whom the arms belonged.

"Thanks," she whispered almost inaudibly. Oops.

"Careful," Zack breathed down at her, the infuriating half-smile making another gradual appearance.

Tifa watched in knowing satisfaction as the two spent another couple of seconds staring at each other. Zack started out looking a little surprised, then his blue spotlight gaze turned to one of an unexpected but easily won victory. Tifa was amused to see that Diana was struck into simply staring in fascination. Of course, it was a masked emotion that was hard for even Tifa to pick up on, but Zack no doubt saw through her defenses as well. Tifa couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The poor girl could barely express herself properly anymore. Still, it was entertaining to survey her handiwork taking effect between the two.

Diana ducked her head and leveled her balance again. She half-cleared her throat. "I was going to ask you who you were really looking for here. I heard some of the conversation."

"Oh. Yeah, um," he turned his head and ran a hand through his hair again, his earring catching the light. "A certain Devon Loveless seems to have pulled a Houdini. Tifa says he wasn't feeling good and passed out in the dorm last night, Tifa brought him here but he's currently M.I.A. Well, okay, maybe not the A. Or the I.A. for that matter. But definitely the M," he considered thoughtfully.

She drew on her 'surprised face' again. "Really. Well, he'll turn up. That's not much of a shocker. But I hope he's okay…"

"Hm. Figures. He'll be more than okay. Well, anyways he's about to be late for training—" he yelped, catching sight of the clock above the stove, "—and so am I! Angeal will kill me…I'll catch you later!" He flashed them a white smile and winked at Diana as he disappeared out the door.

Tifa looked at her friend, who seemed to have just come out of a little reverie and was now glaring fiercely. "What! Hey, I'm just speeding up the process of the inevita—"

"What process?" she fairly screeched. "Whatever! Never mind! See you – you heard Zack, I'm dead!" she pelted out the door, clutching her jacket and sticking her tongue out in farewell.

As she tore through the corridors and to the open air outside, muttering darkly about the horribleness of the old tripping trick, she realized that she had no idea where she was going. Damn, trust her to spend the time she was supposed to be learning her way around attending to…other matters. Humph. None of the rest of them had any excuse, none at all…

Well, whatever the case, she felt oddly exposed out here in the open in her feminine altogether, but it wasn't like there were any public bathrooms around. She looked around absently for a hidden space to…ah. She melted into the shadows behind a convenient stack of crates. Wait…too convenient. Ah, hell, she knew where she was. This was the courtyard, and that was the corridor, and there was the hall used for parties. Beyond it was a way back to the dorms. Huh. Well, there ya go. However, that didn't mean she felt okay wandering around unprotected. Yeah, as Tifa would say, you can easily just beat the crap out of someone; you're not totally defenseless, et cetera. Right now she didn't feel like listening to Tifa. Not like she was legitimately mad at her, she thought as she extracted various items from the many pockets of her ever-present jacket. Just temporarily grumpy. She was still her best friend, and best friends had to totally screw over each other's life events once in a while, right?

She strapped a knife to the side of her lower shin. Well, maybe not screw over. Maybe falling into Zack's arms wasn't so bad after a— Nope. End of story. She had to stop that thought before it went (inappropriately) further. Shut up, now, she thought fiercely to the little uncontrollably irritating voices echoing around inescapably in her head. I am NOT going to make my life awkward and suckish! I have enough to deal with! She whipped her belt off and back on (with a few additions in the form of throwing stars) with a little more force than was necessary. I am here to… Oh…right. The events of last night came back to her, not because she had forgotten, but because she had had no reason to think about them yet. She ran through the conversation, the motions, the sights, all over again in her head.

The hallucinations. Had they been hallucinations? Attacks of schizophrenia spurred by emotional and physical trauma? Seriously. Who in their right mind had visions of their dead twin brother in the mirror and hallucinations of his voice?

She thought over what he had said again as she secured an undersized handgun to the small of her back. Reflecting, she realized something…

Yes, she was a freak. Yes, she was a liar. Yes, she was in pain.

But you know what?

I'm a damn cool freak.

I'm lying to protect myself and I'll tell the truth someday after all.

I know pain's affected me and there will be more to come, but I don't care until then.

I'll live it up. I'm sure as hell gonna be all that I am until then and nothing and no one's going to stop me. I've been waiting for a time to show myself all along... But you know, I don't care that I can't truly be myself quite yet – this is my time now. It's gonna have to be.

Diana yanked on her favorite black gloves and clenched her fists. Well, I'm out of the shadows now… She chuckled quietly to herself.

She had just found her reconciliation and wasn't entirely convinced that seeing her brother (or hallucinating, or whatever) had nothing to do with that.

A/N: Yay for ix-nay on the depressing and self-deprecating thoughts :D And yay for Zack! Don't we all just want one? *sigh* All right. Serious business here. Now I've been getting a couple emails a day about people putting this on their Story Alert or occasionally favoriting it (!) Yet somehow there are no where near as many reviews as alerts I get. Just move the mouse a few inches to the right instead… Of course I love knowing you're all keeping tabs on my progress but it's the reviews that show that when it all comes down to it so just saying that's a little helpful that way :) Thanks for reading, especially my little spiel, hope you're enjoying the ride :)