XIV: March Back Home
In hindsight, Angeal probably shouldn't have brought Zack with him. He should have known the boy's reaction to the terrible destruction, the screams and cries that filled their ears and the still-smoking bodies. However, if this truly was a terrorist attack, he wouldn't dare leave him alone. He needed to keep his student close to protect him, but in the end, he was not able to do so. Perhaps it was simply impossible to protect someone from a situation like this, but even so Angeal felt like he had failed the younger man.
"Cloud!" Zack screamed, tears in his eyes as he tried to run towards the burning building. Angeal held him tightly, not letting him make a reckless dash straight into his possible death. "Angeal, let me go! Cloud!"
Angeal didn't obey nor respond and after a while the boy calmed down, if only a little. Enough for raven-haired First to let release his grip.
"Please, 'Geal, we have to find him, what if he's," Zack choked in his own words, no longer able to keep his sobbing under control. Angeal hugged him tightly and shook his head as his student clutched the older man's shirt tightly, freely crying into his broad chest.
The Commander scanned the crowd of people while rubbing Zack's back, looking for the mass of unruly, yellow spikes that was cadet Cloud Strife. Sadly, not even with his enhanced eyesight was he able to spot the golden crown through the smoke. The orange glow of the fire and the darkness of the night didn't help much in that regard.
Although he wasn't able to spot Zack's friend, his eyes did identify a tall, slender man wearing a long, red jacket, bellowing orders to anyone within hearing distance.
"Zack," he patted the boy on the back in a reassuring manner. "Let's go see Genesis, maybe he found Cloud."
Zack choked on another sob, an absolutely heartbreaking sound Angeal wished he'd never have to hear again, but nodded. The Commander put his hands on the younger man's shoulders and pressed a kiss on the top of his head, hoping the loving gesture would help the boy calm down.
He then guided Zack to Genesis, who was just standing there, eying the horrible scene with a hand in his red hair. The man looked more tired than Angeal had ever seen him. The redhead always carried an air of perfection with him, much like the General, and no matter what, he always looked flawless. Angeal had even doubted if it were even possible for Genesis to look anything but flawless.
"Gen," Angeal called his co-Commander to attention and the redhead quickly turned to them when he recognized the deep voice.
"Thank Minerva," he sighed as he released his locks and dropped his arm to the side, obvious relief showing on his tired face when he saw the two raven-haired men approaching.
"Have you seen Cloud?" Angeal asked, but Genesis shook his head. "Not yet, he might still be inside."
Zack whined, and Genesis coughed, quick to change the subject. "How about Sephiroth?"
"Sephiroth is guarding the President and executives. I haven't heard from Valon though."
"I saw Val only moments ago, I believe she ran off to the east."
Angeal raised his eyebrows. "She ran off?"
Genesis nodded. He explained about the shrieks they heard before and how the Lieutenant had charged at the source without second thought, taking a swords squad with her.
Angeal cursed, but decided he had to trust the Lieutenant, she had taken on the job to keep the approaching threat at bay, and he knew she was more than capable of doing so. Which meant that he himself would switch focus to another pressing matter.
"Zack, we're going to help inside. Taking survivors out of the fire is our number one priority, do you understand?" he told his student, and the boy eagerly nodded. Although his eyes were still teary, he quickly turned professional. There was no time to worry or grieve, and Angeal couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of the younger man's resolve.
"I'm going to help the Materia squads, we need to extinguish the fire as soon as possible." Genesis told the two as he extended his hand. Angeal took it firmly, the gesture saying more than words.
"Good luck, you two."
Angeal nodded and Zack saluted. After a brief moment, the two took off, running towards the burning building with no hesitation. A few feet before the entrance, the Commander stopped and pulled up the collar of his turtleneck, covering his nose and mouth with the thick fabric. Zack copied his mentor. The cover made breathing uncomfortable, but it would at least protect them somewhat from the smoke. Angeal grabbed his student's cover and pulled it a little higher, just to be sure, and nodded in approval.
"Stay close to me, Pup." he ordered sternly. Only when the boy promised to do just that, did they enter the building. Zack gasped at the destruction but, despite his cover, that only resulted in him sucking in a deep breath of smoke which instantly threw him into a coughing fit. Angeal patted him on the back as he lifted his hand to draw another SOLDIER's attention. The SOLDIER came running towards them and saluted messily.
"Where are we needed?" Angeal asked the man, who pointed towards the back of the hall.
"Only the last few rooms in the sleeping halls, sir. The rest has been cleared out."
Angeal only nodded as he grabbed Zack, all but dragging the boy towards the end of the hall and up a flight of stairs. The further they went, the worse the destruction became evident, and when they neared the dormitory wing, there simply wasn't anything left. Everything was black and burning and smoking and turning to ash in the inferno.
Angeal pointed towards one of the many doors and made a jerking motion with his head, ordering Zack to take that room. Zack nodded and ran off. When he reached the door, he had to take a short moment to summon some courage. He was absolutely terrified of what he'd find behind that door. Images of the burnt bodies outside flashed through his mind and, in a horrifying way, it worked motivating.
The second he stepped inside of the building, it became his responsibility to prevent more boys to end up like that.
Nodding to himself one more time, he steadied himself on the ground and, with all the strength he could muster, kicked the door open. The sheer force shattered the hinges and the metal fell down with a loud crash. Immediately Zack felt the flames lick at his leg, trying to burn and consume him, and he was quick to draw back his leg. He raised his arm in front of his face protectively as he stepped inside, quickly scanning the room for a sign of life, but the smoke made it impossible to see far enough.
"Anybody in here?" he yelled, carefully taking a few steps inside. He was only barely able to stop himself from gasping, not wanting to fill his lungs with smoke again, when he saw the state the room was in. The bunk beds were knocked aside as if they weighed nothing, the walls were cracked and parts of the ceiling had collapsed.
Zack took a few more steps and bellowed his question again, looking around as he did.
"Zack?" he heard a small voice croak his name. He whirled around, trying to locate the source, but the damn smoke was just too thick to see clearly.
"Keep talking, I'm coming for you!" he screamed, and the voice repeated his name. The SOLDIER Second made his way through the room, each step taking him closer to the sound.
"Zack, I'm here," the boy coughed, only a few feet to his left. Zack all but yelled when he spotted him, a boy with a golden crown of hair that was slightly singed at the ends, and bright blue eyes staring up at him in a pleading way.
"Cloud!"
Zack knelt down besides his friend, groaning when he saw the position the boy was in. His legs and back were buried in rubble, presumably from the collapsed ceiling, and what looked like the remnants of a bunk bed. A thin stream of blood trickled down his face.
"Cloud, are you okay?"
The blond cadet nodded. "I think so, but-" he coughed roughly. "I'm stuck."
"Shit, okay, wait," Zack rambled as he wrapped his fingers around one of the larger pieces of rubble. With all of his strength, he pulled it off of the boy, who groaned a little as a great chunk of weight was lifted off of his sore body. Now that he had some freedom to move, he wiggled his body around a little, testing every limb and muscle and sighed in relief when he couldn't notice any broken bones. He'd be black an blue by sunrise though, but at least the future seemed to look brighter. Hell, at least he seemed to still have a future. For a while he was sure he was going to die in the inferno, buried in the remnants of his bed. Not only would his death be a damn nuisance, it'd be awfully degrading. Death by flaming bed, how embarrassing.
Zack had to hurry it up though, or else he'd probably die anyway through smoking inhalation. He coughed again, and Zack made an alarmed noise above him. "Just a little more, Spikey, hold on!" he yelled as he pulled away more of the rubble.
"Spikey?" Cloud grimaced. Great.
"Can you move?" Zack asked as he lifted the bed, the muscles in his strong arms flexed in the effort. Cloud tried to pull himself free and could barely stifle the laugh that threatened to escape his throat when he was able to shift his body and move somewhat freely.
With a grunt, Zack threw the bed against the wall and crouched down in front of Cloud again, panting lightly from the effort. He grabbed his wrists and pulled, helping the blond cadet to freedom. With a yelp, he fell backwards when Cloud was freed from the rubble, pulling the boy on top of him as he landed on his back with a loud "oof".
In truth, it had only been a couple of minutes, but to Genesis it felt like hours had passed. As the last drops of all their water spells died down with the fire, all sounds seemed to die as well. No longer was the air filled with officers howling their orders, their ears no longer with grieving screams or pained shrieks. All that was left was darkness, the remnants of the thick smoke that filled their lungs, the horrendous smell of burnt flesh and silence. Genesis dropped his arms, now hanging uselessly at his sides. He loosened the death-grip he held on his Rapier and allowed himself to sigh in exhaustion. The last few survivors were dragged out of the building and the healers had patched up most of the injured cadets. His gaze traveled over the premises, analyzing the damage and trying to guess the amount of casualties.
He grimaced at the pang of guilt in his chest as he almost felt relieved. As far as he could tell, the losses weren't nearly as great as he had expected.
The men seemed to share his thoughts, one of them letting loose a roar of relief and only a fraction of a second later, more and more SOLDIERs joined the chorus. Some in relief, some just glad for it to be over, and all of them just letting out a primal response to be able to just feel again. They were trained to be like machines on the field, no thoughts allowed as the rush made them give in to only instinct and muscle memory.
Despite the jubilation around him, or perhaps because of it, the Commander found himself almost franticly searching for his friends. He supposed he wanted to know they were alright, or maybe he needed someone to share his relief with. Either way, he needed to find them.
But before he was able to spot them, they had already found him. Two raven-haired men yelled his name, waving at him from a distance. Safely hidden behind Zack's back stood a small, blond cadet. All three bodies and faces were covered in black smudges and their expressions were equally tired, but otherwise they didn't seem injured. Genesis caught himself smiling back at the trio, taking the first step towards them, when a familiar voice choked out "Sir?" behind him.
The redhead bit back a groan as he turned.
"Yes?"
"Commander Rhapsodos, sir," the man, Raphael Blair, saluted him. Raphael was the commanding officer of the Commander's personal squad, the Red Leather, one of the four best and most elite squads in all of SOLDIER.
"At ease, Blair. What's wrong?"
"Lieutenant Harper requested assistance from a Materia squad, Sir. I took the liberty to question which squad was sent her way, but dispatch made a mistake and none was sent yet." the SOLDIER explained, making large movements with his hands as he did. "Since the situation here is under control now, I decided the Red Leather could accept the back-up request, sir."
Fucking dispatch, Genesis thought angrily. "Very well. But where is her own squad?"
Now that he thought about it, it did seem strange the Lieutenant had taken a random squad with her instead of her own.
"The Monochrome Valkyries are stationed in Kalm, sir." Raphael replied.
During their conversation, Angeal, Zack and Cloud had made their way towards the Red Commander, standing by his side as a familiar and welcome presence.
"I'll come with you." Angeal stated, leaving no room for discussion. When Genesis nodded, he turned to Zack.
"You stay here with Cloud." a commanding tone, again leaving no space to argue. He clapped on his student's shoulders firmly. "See if you two can still be of assistance somewhere."
Angeal decided he had put Zack through enough for the evening. If Valon needed back-up, the monsters were either too strong or with too many. Either way, it would be dangerous. It wasn't fair to make his student fight for his life after all that had happened.
And beside all that, he wouldn't dare separate the two friends when they had reunited only moments ago.
"Where's your squad?" Genesis asked after Zack and Cloud had walked off with simple salutes and bright smiles.
"Helping the healers transport the injured to the infirmary." Angeal asked, no intention to call them back. As far as the raven-haired Commander was concerned, his priorities lay with the wounded. That, and with two commanders and the Red Leather present, there would be nothing they couldn't handle.
Genesis seemed to read his thoughts and agreed. Without further question, he turned to Raphael again.
"Location?" he asked, and the man saluted again.
"A mile east of the premises, sir."
"Very well," Genesis repeated himself. He turned to Angeal, making sure his co-Commander was ready. When his friend dipped his head in a nod, the Red Commander raised his stretched hand, palm flat and facing forward, a signal to his squad to stand ready. With his arm still raised, he turned to the east and took the first few steps towards their destination. Then, he moved his hand back down and took a deep breath.
"Move out!"
On cue, the SOLDIERs launched themselves into a mad dash, running towards the given location as fast as they could. Valon had waited long enough, Genesis decided. He assumed the woman and her squad weren't overwhelmed by enemy forces yet, since not a single monster had seemed to passed them, but he dreaded what could possibly happen if they took their sweet time.
The platoon kept running, and only when they neared their destination did they hear a terrible, bone-rattling screech. Genesis immediately raised a clenched fist into the air, wordlessly ordering the squad to halt. He drew his sword and judging from the sounds of metal scraping behind him, the Red Leather followed his example.
Another scream, but it wasn't a monster this time. No, it was clearly human. One of Valon's squad?
Genesis bit back a grunt of surprise when Angeal lifted the huge Buster Sword from his back in response. The man never used his beloved sword, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Another scream.
"Fuck," Genesis cursed. "Move!"
He roared his order and the group took off again, but they were barely able to start their dash when one of the beasts dared to show it's ugly face.
A huge, monstrous bird landed a few feet away from them. Before Genesis could respond, his co-Commander had already charged at it, swinging his huge weapon at it with all of his strength...
Only for it to bounce off the black body.
Angeal jumped backwards and out of reach before it could retaliate. Genesis grimaced, but quickly recovered his cool and stoic expression as his brilliant mind found a simple resolution. If swords didn't work, try magic.
And magic just so happened to be his strong suit. With some quick thinking, he realized that the birds were most likely the same as the one that had attacked Valon and Scarlet: Thunderbirds. Lightning-based creatures was the only logical conclusion, which meant...
"Water!" the Commander yelled as he stretched his arm, a violent wave appearing seemingly out of nowhere and crashing into the bird. Then, the water circled around the beast and it shrieked in terror as the spell caged around him like a bubble, filling its lungs and slowly drowning it. The bird tried to fight it, thrashing its wings around, but as the rest of the squad fired water spells as well, their waves crashing into it almost as violently as their Commander's, it slumped down and slowly dissipated into the green whisps of the Lifestream, finally dead.
Genesis didn't waste a second. As soon as the bird died, he commanded the platoon to keep moving. Running as quick as their legs could carry them, they finally reached their destination. The Red Commander counted seven dead birds and many bloodied SOLDIERs, but none of them seemed too badly injured. However, he couldn't find the Lieutenant.
"You!" he roared at one of the SOLDIERs. The man wasn't moving, just staring at the sky with his mouth in a thin line. Only when the Commander stood right in front of him, did he snap back to reality. He saluted, hands shaking slightly, and introduced himself to Genesis in a near-perfect textbook manner.
"Timothy Black, SOLDIER Second, commanding officer of Swords Two Theta, sir."
"Wasn't the Lieutenant with you?" he asked, not bothering to state the obvious and tell the man his own name and rank. Immediately, Timothy's eyes snapped to the sky again.
"She's up there, sir." his voice broke a little, but Genesis didn't notice as he turned his gaze skyward. His mouth fell open when he saw one of the monsters circling around like a vulture stalking it's prey. The tip of a black- and white sword was clearly visible, pierced from the back of its neck and through the throat. He gulped, what the hell was she doing up there?
"What's going on?" Angeal asked, sheathing his sword as he walked up to the two staring men. He followed their gaze and cursed when he saw what the other two were focused on. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words he let out a yell when the bird flipper over, turning it's back downward and a very bloodied Valon nearly falling to her death as a result. The only reason she could still hold on was her tight grip on her sword.
"We have to get her down," Angeal grunted.
"No shit," Genesis yelled, unable to peel his eyes off of the scene. What the hell were they supposed to do about that?
He didn't get enough time to think. The Lieutenant tried to swing herself upwards, but the sudden movement dislodged the sword from the monster's neck. Next to him, Timothy screamed. A couple of other SOLDIERs did the same, and Genesis almost screamed as well, but he subconsciously inhaled sharply and held his breath as the woman fell down.
He did roar when the bird turned its sharp beak towards the falling Lieutenant, dive-bombing towards her with intention to kill. After what felt like forever, the bird reached Valon, the beak piercing through her shoulder like it would through thin air. Then, it died, and the two flipped their position as the bird fell faster than Valon, and all the SOLDIERs could do was watch in horror as the two crashed into the ground and the Lieutenant slumped forward.
The men stood nailed to the ground for a moment, unable to move or walk or breathe or even be. Only looking at how a large pool of blood formed underneath the woman and small, green whisps rose up from the red.
Only a terrified scream snapped them out of it. "Valon!" Angeal roared, and he dashed towards her. Genesis followed suit and they crouched down beside her. The raven-haired Commander instantly pressed his fingers against her neck, cursing as he felt no pulse. He tried again, concentrating hard, but nothing. He dropped his hands on his lap, unable to grasp the situation, his eyes hazy and his mind a blur.
Genesis shook his head and grabbed her arm, casting all the healing spells he could. "Come on, please Val," he rasped as if his pleading would help his magic. He repeated her name over and over as he casted his spells, but the girl didn't open her eyes, didn't take a sharp breath to fill her empty lungs, didn't get her heartbeat back. She just lay there, covered in blood and cuts and bruises, eyes closed peacefully and a small smile on her lips.
Still, Genesis wouldn't give up. "Cure, come on! Life, life, life!" tears welled up in his eyes as he chocked on the last cast. "Please, live," he begged, but Angeal grabbed his co-Commander's hand and shook his head. "She's gone, Gen. She's dead."
Genesis screamed. He screamed at the top of his lungs, screamed his heart out, screamed in anger, until he couldn't scream anymore. He inhaled with a wheeze and slammed the ground with his fist.
"She can't be," he croaked. Angeal swallowed against the lump in his throat, fighting his own tears as he rose. He then patted Genesis on the shoulder.
"Let's bring her home."
Genesis nodded and rose. He drew his Rapier with one hand and with the other he grabbed the beak still impaling the Lieutenant. Then, only inches above the black- and white haired woman, he cut the beak clean off. He sheathed his sword again and watched as Angeal carefully lifted the body off of the bird and cradled her in his big, strong arms. Gently, careful, as if he was handling something precious, something fragile. He looked around for a moment to make sure there weren't any more birds lurking, nodding when there weren't. Then, he started the long trek back to the Shinra Headquarters in a slow pace, careful not to move too much, protecting the body he held in his arms so it wouldn't be disturbed. Genesis took his place beside his friend and the Soldier Two Theta squad followed them in a silent march.
No word was spoken during the seemingly endless walk back to the premises and when they finally arrived back at the Headquarters, even the grand mass of people fell silent. All eyes fell on the limp figure in the raven-haired Commander's arms, and the only thing that broke the silence were the sounds of their heavy boots on the ground. Others joined the silent march without second thought, and in a group that grew bigger and bigger, they made their way past the building that was no longer burning nor smoking, past the injured that were no longer groaning or screaming. They marched in silence up to the center of the premises where a tall figure with long, silver hair was having a conversation with three other men.
The four men turned towards the mass of people just as Angeal finally halted, the large group following suit. Then, the silence finally broke when Zack let loose a heart-wrenching scream, Cloud gasping in shock, Devon muttering a broken "No..." and Sephiroth's sword clattering as it hit the ground.