Well, I got a hundred reviews, and then some! I love you guys! I think I'll write a one-shot because of that . . . or maybe a few depending on how many requests I get. Just leave a review and let me know what you want to see! Just no yaoi, or Clerith :P

Sorry it took a bit longer than a week to get this up. I've been busy, with the school year almost ending and re-writing Twilight is taking up some time. So go read it! It's currently under the title Sunset, but I will change it once I delete the original.

Special thanks to isamu-michi for giving me a heads up about how dog tags work! I went back and fixed that, so it should be correct :D

This week, my playlist was made up of Evanescence and Muse. Hope you guys like how it turned out!

Inspired by Illusor Meneald's Once More, With Feeling

I don't own FFVII

--

Zack pressed the side of the Buster Sword onto his forehead, and was met with the familiar coolness that the sword always emitted. His thoughts cleared instantly, and Zack felt connected to his mentor once again. The fact that he was in the Lifestream instead of merely six feet under comforted him, if only a little.

"Um, Zack, it looks like we have company," Cade said quietly, doing his best to alert his commander without bothering him.

Zack slowly lowered the Buster Sword, which left ashes on his forehead. It would be a sign to all the Wutai soldiers that he was fighting for Angeal. "Right," Zack said, "let's greet them." The words were a joke, but the dark undertone that was carried by them made the comment scarier than it was funny. "How many are there?" He asked.

Cade peeked his head around the tree, and Zack watched as his head nodded four times, counting off each soldier. "Four," he said, turning back to Zack.

"Stay here," Zack ordered. "Guard Angeal's body. I'll take care of the soldiers." Cade looked like he was going to protest, but closed his mouth when he decided it was better not to bother Zack at a time like this.

Zack quickly and quietly scaled the tree that Cade was hiding behind just a moment earlier. He grabbed each branch and hoisted himself up easily until he was at the top, crouching on a thick branch covered with leaves. He looked down and counted four soldiers, but as his eyes drifted to the north he saw a whole platoon heading towards the crash site. There were at about forty shoulders, and while Zack knew that if his body was fully developed he could take them easily, he wasn't so sure how his sixteen year old body would fair.

Zack turned his head down towards the ground and whispered to Cade. "There's a whole platoon coming. Those four were just scouts. Take Angeal's body and head south. There should be a base about seven miles from here."

"Are you crazy?" Cade whispered back. "I can't just leave you here. That's suicide!"

"Are you disobeying me, soldier?" Zack questioned, his voice harsh. His mako enhanced eyes could see Cade's face distort in annoyance for a moment, before his features turned into a resigned look.

"No sir. But Zack, you better come back."

"Don't worry kid, I will." Cade chuckled slightly, but Zack could tell it was forced. He heard the slight rustling of the ground underneath him as Cade picked up Angeal's body. He heard a grunt as Cade tried to adjust Angeal's limp form over his shoulders.

"I got him. Zack . . . thanks," Cade said, his voice barely above a whisper, but Zack heard it like he was speaking normally.

Zack glanced back at the troops who were heading his way. The four scouts were already almost at the clearing, and Zack prepared to jump down and ambush them.

Once he was sure Cade was far enough away, he made his move. He jumped out of the tree, unsheathing the Buster Sword in mid-air. He brought the blade over his head and swung it downwards just as he was about to hit the ground.

The first soldier was dead before any others knew what had happened. In half a second Zack had crossed the distance between him and the next soldier. The Buster Sword came around in an arc and cleaved the man's arm off. As he fell, Zack kicked him in the throat to prevent him from screaming. The lead scout fired a few rounds at Zack, but it was a spray and pray tactic; the bullets were far from hitting their mark. Zack jumped up again before landing on the soldier, grabbing his collar and pressing his feet down onto the soldiers chest. The soldier went crashing to the ground, and Zack punched him the face once, and knocked him out. The last solder opened his mouth to scream, but no words came out as the Buster Sword impaled him.

Zack didn't have any time to take a break. He needed to get the jump on the rest of the platoon, and the best way to do that would be to catch them in the forest where they wouldn't be able to get a good shot off at him.

He took off into the woods, sprinting. The Buster Sword was back on his back as he evaded tree roots, jumping on logs and rocks to get through faster. The first soldier he saw he smashed against a tree, killing him. Not much later, he saw another two soldiers walking. He sprinted up the the first one, grabbing his gun before turning it around and squeezing the trigger, filling the soldier with a few rounds of lead. He blindly fired behind him at the other soldier and hit his mark.

He heard the sound of gunshots being fired, and looked up to see twenty soldiers lined up behind a set of trees. Damn it. A trap Zack thought before unsheathing his Buster Sword again, ready to avenge his mentor.

--

Sephiroth did his best to keep his voice calm, but it was very difficult. "Angeal . . . is dead?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize, Commander Hewley was a great asset to the Shinra military, it is unfortunate that his passing came so soon."

"Where is Genesis?" Sephiroth rubbed his temples with his right hand. One of his best friends, dead. One of the Black Trinity, dead. President Shinra, who has no sympathy for anyone in the military, will probably yell at him later for the bad publicity this will cause. And then Sephiroth will be forced to come up with a plan to cover it up and make Shinra look good.

"General Rhapsodos had left for the crash site as soon as the cadet arrived. SOLDIER First Class Zackary Fair is still in the field and is supposedly fighting a platoon of Wutai soldiers on his own."

Normally Sephiroth would not worry if a First Class SOLDIER had decided to face off a platoon of soldiers on his own. However, Zack was just promoted, and was most likely in distress and not thinking straight after just losing his mentor. Seeing him in action, Sephiroth knew physically, Zack could handle it. Emotionally though, was a different issue. Angeal's puppy is either much stronger than we had anticipated, or he is just stupid.

"Once Lieutenant Fair gets back, send him and Cadet Raine back here immediately. I want those two in this building and debriefed in twelve hours."

--

A speck of red snaked its way through the forest as fluidly, avoiding everything in it's path. It emerged in a clearing where a tired First Class SOLDIER was busy fighting fourteen Wutai soldiers.

In a flash, Genesis flipped into the air and landed his sword into a soldier's chest. His hand shot out from his side as he cast a Hell Firaga at the four soldiers that surrounded Zack. Two more soldiers were quickly felled by his blade, which cut through them like they were butter.

The pressure easing up on the young SOLDIER, Zack cast a cure spell on himself before swinging again.

After Genesis' entrance, the battle was quickly over. Zack's hands were on his thighs as he bent over, panting.

Genesis flicked his hair out of his eyes before speaking to him. "That was stupid. You should have come to our base and alerted the troops."

Zack looked up and eyed Gensis. His face was hard. "I did. I sent Cade. I wasn't going to let another soldier die today."

Genesis had nothing to say to that.

--

Cloud sat in the locker room, his lip busted and his eye blackened. Dried blood began to cake his face, but he did not wash it off. He merely sat on a wooden bench in the locker room, his towel wrapped around his waist.

Kunsel, unaware of anything going on in the locker room earlier, entered with the small intention of using the bathroom. However, when he saw Cloud there, his blond hair flattened and matted with blood, any thoughts of his bladder were instantly lost.

"Holy shit," he muttered, rushing to the cadet's side. He grabbed a folded up towel at the end of the bench and spat on it to moisten it. It wasn't the most sanitary thing, but it would clean the blood off of Cloud's face. "Are you okay?"

Cloud stared straight forward before suddenly blinking and looking straight at Kunsel, his ice blue eyes piercing Kunsel's blue ones. "I'm fine."

Kunsel sighed, shaking his head. "You don't look like it. Come on, get dressed, I'm taking you to the infirmary." He grabbed Cloud's arm to pull him up, but was met with resistance.

"No."

"Wait a sec, you're Zack's pet, right?" Kunsel asked. Cloud gave him an odd look. "Yea, you are. Come on, you're going. If not, Zack'll kick my ass."

"No," Cloud said again. His voice was defiant, the opposite of how Cloud looked at the moment.

"Christ. Fine, if you're gonna be difficult, you're at least coming back to my room so I can clean you up." Cloud shot him a look, but without missing a beat, Kunsel said, "that's an order."

--

I hope you guys liked this chapter. Not as long, but Genesis kinda had a big part, and Cloud is back! Seph also made an appearance, as he will begin to do so now more often!

Leave any comments, questions or concerns! I love them all!

-The Lone Wanderer