The Price of Freedom

Seven days….

Vague movie reference aside, they waited seven days before they heard from Sephiroth again. In fact, Sephiroth had a message for everyone.

Zack heard the fire before he saw it. The roar of the inferno as it engulfed half the houses of the village and the sound of snapping boards and shattering windows sounded more like a hurricane was blowing through. He quickly opened his eyes that morning and sat up to see Cloud standing at the window, looking horrified.

"Mama…" he whimpered.

"Cloud, I'm so sorry…"

"No! She's not dead! I can still save her!" Cloud ran from the window and down the entrance stairs of the hotel, bursting out the front doors with Zack following him. The older SOLDIER tried to grab him to hold him back but Cloud broke free and continued running to his house.

"You're not supposed to go inside a burning building!" Zack lamely cautioned to no avail. Cloud disappeared inside the flames, screaming his mother's name at the top of his lungs.

At the same time, he suddenly saw Tifa rush past him. "Whoa, where are you going?" He caught her arm, causing her to slow down as she struggled against him.

"My father went to the reactor to stop Sephiroth! Dad's a minor character and you know they don't live long!" She continued her running up the mountain trail, leaving him in a difficult spot to either go after her or wait for Cloud.

The decision was made for him. The boy stumbled out the house, clutching the body of his mother. He fell to his knees just outside the door and began to attempt CPR. He sobbed more than breathed air into her lungs but it was futile anyways. She was gone.

He took only a moment to cry, rocking her body in his arms until he looked up and whispered, "I'm going to kill Sephiroth." Gently, he let his mother's body rest on the ground before standing and sprinting off down the trail as well. Zack followed him.

Forgetting that Cloud was a frequent explorer of Mt. Nibel as well, they managed to make it back to the reactor in only a few short minutes. Outside, they could see Tifa…and she was kneeling over someone.

"I'm here, daddy. Please don't die on me," she sniffed, holding his hand. Zack almost couldn't watch, and steeled his emotions for what he knew was coming next. The man had a deep stab wound, and Sephiroth's sword stuck up out of his body. He wasn't going to make it.

"Ti…fa. Tell me…why did the chicken…cross the road?" He coughed and blood came up.

"I don't know, daddy," she wiped tears from her eyes. "Why?"

"To get…to the other…side."

"Daddy, that joke has never been funny. I thought…I should tell you that finally."

"Aw shit, I wish you would've said that sooner! I thought everyone loved that joke."

"No daddy, only you."

"Well…at least I can die…of laughter…haha." He passed away with a smile on his face.

She closed his eyes for him and slowly stood up. "I hate Sephiroth," she told no one in particular. "I hate Shinra. I hate SOLDIER!"

"Whoa, aren't you taking it a bit far—" Zack started but she cut him off.

"I hate being a tour guide on this damn mountain! I hate school! I hate Madison with her perfect breasts! I hate brussels sprouts! I hate it when I get a hangnail! I hate that I've never been in a car before! But most of all, I'll never, ever forgive Sephiroth!"

Before they could stop her, she ripped the blade out of the body and ran inside the reactor. Sephiroth was just making his way to the top (yes, he took all that time to walk up twelve steps. His knees aren't as young as they used to be). Without preamble, she charged up the flight, sword ready to pierce through his back.

As soon as she was close enough however, he spun around and grabbed the blade of the sword. Easily lifting her up, he flung her back down the steps. As Cloud went to tend to her, he continued his path into the once-sealed room marked Jenova.

Zack cautiously followed him, not wanting to be next on Sephiroth's trail of bodies. The man stopped before a large glass container not unlike the ones he'd seen in the basement lab. However, he couldn't see what was inside it due to a large metal mask of a woman blocking his view.

"I'm here, mother," Sephiroth told her. "I know you've waited so long for our reunion. I've finally come home.'

"Wow, you've sunk to a new low," Zack scoffed, still keeping his distance. "Some mommy you have, leaving you in the hands of scientists."

"They're here, mother," Sephiroth continued, looking over his shoulder to throw a nasty look at Zack. "They won't leave us alone. They don't understand us mother, these inferior dullards."

"Uh, I'm still here, you know," Zack informed him.

"Why do they keep talking to me, mother? It's like they don't know how to catch a clue!"

Zack gritted his teeth, hefting his sword up. "Why can't you just say that to my face?"

"Make them shut up, mother! Make them stop talking to us!" Sephiroth began to grab his head and stumble around, as though Zack's voice had penetrated his actual thoughts.

"That's it, I'm gonna get you the help that you deserve!" Readying the Buster sword, he leapt in the air to attack, but surprisingly, Sephiroth recovered from his psychosis long enough to raise his own sword in defense. With a single swing, he flung him back through the doorway and down half the flight of stairs. This time, being in the Fantasy universe didn't save him and he heard several of his ribs crack and something in his arm, too. It hurt too much to even scream and all he could do was lay there, praying that Sephiroth didn't come to finish the job.

With a 'humph', he returned back to the room to be by Jenova's side.

Zack controlled his breathing, trying not to take in air too fast so as to not disturb the broken bones. Shifting his head very slowly, his eyes landed on Tifa's fallen form at the base of the stairs. Where Cloud had been tending to her a moment ago, he was now backed up against the door, knees knocking together and hyperventilating.

"Cloud…I need you to finish Sephiroth for me. You're our only chance."

Cloud shook his head furiously, his huffing filling the entire room.

"Damnit, Cloud! You want to be a SOLDIER? Do this and you'll be the most bad-ass SOLDIER ever. Remember…if you land a hit, you get an A for the week. If you make him bleed, you're exempt from exams. Knock him unconscious, you're promoted to First. And…as your superior, I'm granting you to general if you kill him. Do it for honor, Cloud. Do it…for your mom." He exhausted himself with talking and had to fight to remain awake.

With the force of slamming a door, Cloud shut down the vision of his dead mother in his arms. He drew himself up and gave one resolute nod to show that he understood that he had a job to do. And Bob as his witness, Cloud Strife was gonna do it!

He picked up Zack's sword and quietly walked up the steps. Inside the next room, he could see Sephiroth standing before the mask of the woman. Cloud watched as he grabbed the mould and ripped it away, wires snapping free and wriggling like Medusa's hair. Sephiroth tossed it to the side, standing in awe before his true target.

The arms of her body were missing, her skin a pale blue, either from the liquid in the tank or that being her natural color. The only likeness she had to her son was his silver hair, but that was all the proof Cloud needed. He'd taken his mother; she was going to lose a son.

Sephiroth reached out an arm slowly, excitement making him quiver just a little. Finally, after years of wondering, after the years of being poked and prodded and being treated like a lab rat, and after all the lies, he was at last with the one person who could see him as just him. And who would understand his desire for revenge. Mother…

At that moment, Cloud would do something that seemed to be impossible with most heroes. He attacked without a word. No screaming about avenging the fallen, no long speech about dishing out just desserts. He went in and did what he had to do like any sensible hero should do.

In turn, Sephiroth didn't see it coming. He felt the sword enter his body, the tip cracking the glass of the chamber. He stumbled, supporting himself against the structure and saw in the reflection the sickly blonde kid that'd traveled to Nibelheim with him.

"Strident, was it?"

Cloud still said nothing, only buried the sword in deeper before roughly withdrawing it. He happily watched Sephiroth struggle to keep himself standing.

"I see I underestimated you. I won't be making that mistake again."

Before he could stop him, Sephiroth had pulled out his sword and used his momentum to knock the boy back. The Buster sword flew across the room out of his reach and he was initially too disoriented to attempt to pick it up. He heard the footsteps approaching and knew that he wasn't going to be as forgiving as he had been with Zack. He'd injured him (and the last thing on Cloud's mind was the fact that he'd be exempt from his exams). Sephiroth wasn't going to take being injured lightly.

And he was right. An excruciating pain filled his abdomen as the general stabbed him, easily lifting him with one hand while the other…held Jenova's head. It couldn't end like this…not after all the deaths. If he didn't stop this now, Sephiroth would walk out that door and stab both Zack and Tifa on his way out. There would be nobody alive to tell what had happened and he refused for Nibelheim to be forgotten like that.

He ignored the pain. His suffering was nothing compared to what everyone else had gone through. With willpower he didn't know he possessed, he gripped the blade and actually shoved himself on further to level the weight, which allowed his feet to touch the ground. With a little more force, he began to lift Sephiroth off his feet instead which was an extra hard feat considering the man was a foot taller than him.

"Aw, the rookie thinks he's actually going to kill me! I almost feel bad for having to bring you back to reality. Unfortunate for you, I have a little more common sense than the average villain." And with that, Sephiroth easily let go of the sword, which dropped him back to the ground. So simple!

At least, that's what Sephiroth should've done. Before he could let go, however, Cloud flung both him and the sword into the opposite side of the reactor, his back slamming into more exposed wires which temporarily paralyzed his nervous system.

"This…isn't over, Strife! My heart will go on and on!" He fell like a ragdoll to the deep abyss below. Cloud could even hear his body burning in the mako and cringed at what had to be a painful death. But at least this was over.

Or so he thought. That is until a loud popping sound, not unlike grease, rang in the enclosed space. One lone body part was projected through the air and came to rest at his feet, still sizzling. Cautiously, he picked it up, all to realize…it was a single wing, battered and fried to perfection, made just right with twelve herbs and spices. Sephiroth, original recipe.

But even chicken wasn't enough to revitalize him and he found himself struggling to remain standing as he headed back out the door. His knees gave on the first step and he slid the rest of the way down, stopping a few feet away from Zack, who woke up at the sound of his falling.

"Congrats…buddy. I hereby make you…General Cloud Strife, SOLDIER first class." He tried to stretch his arm to at least pat him on the back, but it wouldn't reach and it cost too much energy anyways. Who cared? The day was saved and soon, this would all be nothing more than a horrible nightmare of the past.

~.~.~

Fast forward two years.

Zack looked to his right in his mako container at the self-made calendar he'd created to mark how many days he'd been in there. It was too dangerous to move when a lab techie was watching him but when he was alone, he'd reach down and make a quick strike against the glass with his finger, the condensation allowing him to view it for days.

That is, until they came to clean the tanks. Then he had to remember what day he was on so he could start again when the mako was refilled.

Sometimes Cloud would wake up and the two would play tic-tac-toe on the glass of their pods. But the boy wasn't handling the mako well and would fall back asleep in the middle of the game and no matter how many times Zack pounded on his tank, he wouldn't wake back up. Cloud made for a sucky tic-tac-toe partner.

One day in the middle of one of these games, Zack had an idea. Over the last several weeks, the amount of assistants had slowly been dwindling. It once was that Hojo himself had been present, along with his numerous lackeys. Now there was only one guy, identified as "Josh" by his nametag.

Josh was bored and lonely and getting sloppy by the days with his job. Zack had to pretend to be asleep when he walked in since as far as Josh knew, the subjects had never gained conscious since their transport to the containers. And as Zack 'slept', Josh would pull up a chair and talk to them. He spoke of his frustrations of working under Hojo, revealed that he told everyone that he had a girlfriend…of which he'd made up. And even considered letting he and Cloud go once or twice.

They planned it for lunch time. During one of the brief times that Cloud was awake, he wrote out the instructions on his glass. Cloud looked at it and mouthed, "What?"

"We break out of here at 12!" He wrote back.

Cloud still shook his head, not understanding. He made a motion with his hands, as though trying to sign that Zack should turn something around. And Zack got it: the igit couldn't read his writing backwards. He had no way to mirror the words and he sure as hell wasn't about to actually write them backwards.

Instead, Zack mimed back with his hands that of someone holding a lunch tray. 'Lunch' for them was an injection of liquid nutrients that were inserted into a tube that went into the top of the tank and was embedded in their arms. It meant the person doing the feeding had to be close to them. Zack showed Cloud how to kick at the glass with all their might until it shattered and then showed how he'd use the tray to knock the techie out. Cloud nodded dreamily and was asleep again ten seconds later. Zack facepalmed.

Josh came in at exactly 12 sharp, according to the clock on the wall (Zack had never been more grateful for a clock in his life). Playing the role of the lifeless puppet, he allowed himself to go slack, closing his eyes all but a fraction. He watched the guy who was still young enough to be a sophomore in college as he filled up the syringe and stuck it in Cloud's IV. As he turned around to ready the second one, Cloud's vitals being recorded on the machine next to him began to bleep furiously. The heart-rate plummeted as did the reading of his oxygen levels. Zack looked and noticed that Cloud was clutching his air tube, keeping it closed.

It was perfect. Josh became frantic, trying to figure out why Subject B's health was decreasing so rapidly, checking his calculations of the injection and all-around having a massive panic attack. So much so that he didn't hear the thudding coming from Subject A's tank until it was too late. The glass broke on his third kick and Zack rolled out and quickly popped to his feet. He brushed the second syringe off the tray and struck the side of Josh's head with all the force he could muster. Thankfully he went out cold with the first hit and Zack pocketed the lab keys.

There was a more pressing matter at hand though. Cloud had fallen asleep yet again, either due to the mako or the lack of air and he hadn't let go of his tube yet. Zack pressed the same button he'd seen the other assistants press when they wanted to drain the mako and slowly, the tank was emptied. Cloud's breathing stabilized and Zack found the button to release the door, catching the limp body as it tumbled out. To buy a little more time, he shoved Josh's body in the tank instead and locked him in.

He hefted Cloud's body over his shoulder and made his way out the door until he heard grumbling. Looking back, he was reminded that there was a second sealed door in the basement and that there was someone "sleeping" in there. Clearly they'd woken him up with all their noise but the guy didn't seem to want to bitch about it this time.

They paused long enough for him to get Cloud a new change of clothes, figuring that being in contact with the mako for any longer would probably end up killing him. At that time, Zack searched his pockets to see if anything had been left to him. Miraculously, they'd left him his phone, which was water proof and turned on when he pressed the power button. Also in his pocket, in perfect condition as though neither mako nor time could affect it, was the list of 23 wishes from Aerith.

A lump formed in his throat that was harder to swallow than his first bite of haggis. Two years had passed…had she found someone new by now? Did she think he was dead? Or did she think he just got tired of her? He looked at the phone and thought about calling her, but it'd be too dangerous. He searched through his voicemail but there weren't any. Instead, his text inbox was flooded with messages, mainly from Kunsel.

Kunsel…it seemed like a lifetime ago that the two had been roomies in the Shinra bunks. He read through most of the messages, coming to understand that Cloud and Zack had been written off as killed in action. Kunsel on the other hand refused to believe that. The newest one was from only a month ago and even after mentioning that the Zack fanclub was officially disbanding now that Zack wad dead, he still wasn't going to buy it.

He couldn't help but smile. Either Kunsel was an idiot who had to see it to believe it or he had a stronger faith in him than could ever be imagined. Or, as they say, denial isn't just a river in Egypt. But the texts and Aerith's message gave him an idea.

"Hey Cloud…I need to go back to Midgar." Cloud hadn't woken up again and lay propped on the bed in a similar black uniform, the only clothes Zack could find. "I know, it makes absolutely no sense to go back to the same city with Shinra headquarters but…there's something that I have to do. You understand, right?"

The lifeless Cloud said nothing.

"Great! Knew I could trust ya!" With that, he hefted him up again and finally made their way out of the mansion.

~.~.~

"We just got reports of two subjects from the Shinra mansion escaping," Tseng told the lineup of Turks. Most of them stood to attention seriously, though there were some that'd never change.

"So, we get to play hide and seek with 'em? I'm gonna find them first!" Reno announced.

"It's not a race, idiot, you're not gonna get anything!" Elena told him.

"Actually…the person who finds them gets a raise," Tseng said.

They froze for just a minute before Rude announced, "Dibs on cockpit!" and shoved past everyone to get to the helicopter first. He heard the passenger door open and didn't even need to look to know that Reno had climbed in next.

"There's enough for everyone!" Tseng shouted hopelessly, but somehow they'd managed to scramble to the multiple helicopters already and were taking off. Pulling out the transmitter for their radios, he added, "Find them before SOLDIER does and bring them back alive. That's an order."

Fourteen shouts of "Sir!" echoed in his ear. They did him proud.

~.~.~

"Lucky us we were able to hitch a ride, huh?"

They sat in the back of a truck, riding through the desert. Traveling had been slow with Cloud all but awake but the boy was finally at a semi-conscience state and could move his feet on his own. They'd sustained themselves on stolen food, which ate at Zack's morals, until he remembered something Angeal had said about stealing apples in his hometown because his family was starving. It wasn't like he had money either or that he could show his face. If Kunsel's messages were correct, he and Cloud were wanted fugitives.

It was as they napped in a barn that they came across the old man. Rather, he came across them. Undaunted by their Shinra uniforms and oblivious to them being in the military in general, he enlisted the young men to help him carry the hay in the barn to his truck. He didn't ask their names and they didn't give them to him. In return, he provided them a free ride, food and drink for the journey as they assisted him with unloading more hay, feed and tools. Coincidentally, Midgar was the last stop on the list.

"After all this time, I'll finally get to see her," Zack said happily, his spirits at their highest in a long time. He sat up, smelling the clean (non-Nibelheim) air, letting the wind fluff his hair. "I just hope that Tifa's alright. Hey, I saw you back there, buddy. You had the hots for her, didn't you?"

Cloud's only response was to slump over more as they hit a particularly hard bump.

"You know, you're no fun anymore," he huffed, turning back to the front.

The shot came out of nowhere, whizzing just above his head. What with the sound of the engine and the tires on the dirt road, it seemed the old man didn't even know. Zack reached in the open driver window to motion for him to pull over. Before the vehicle could come to a complete stop, he grabbed Cloud and dragged him out the back, rushing to the side of the road to set him down against the rocks.

"Hey, stay here for a bit, I'll be back," he told him, patting his shoulder.

Cloud was actually more awake than he had been since his escape. He tried to call him back but couldn't, lifting an arm feebly as he watched Zack walk away.

"Hark! In accordance with article 72B, paragraph 8, section 12, clause 52, it has hereby been ordered that you are to be shot on sight! Any last words?"

Zack looked at the cluster of infantrymen, those three-eyed helmets on their heads like what Cloud wore. He smiled fondly and said, "Yeah, just a few. Over my dead body and that'll be quite a climb."

"Affirmative! We can arrange that! Shoot to kill!"

Zack immediately raised his sword to block the onslaught of bullets. As they reloaded, he charged them at full force. Taking a swing that'd make Babe Ruth proud, he hacked one guy's head off while at the same time, slicing through the shoulder of another man. Flipping the sword and bringing it upwards, he cut off someone's hands, the fingers still curled around the gun they'd been holding. A voice in the back of his head said that Angeal was probably rolling in his grave with all the "wear, tear, and rust" that he was giving the sword and he promised he'd give the Buster sword a good cleaning afterwards. If he made it out alive.

He finished his spree of dismemberment in record time, though that could be attributed to the fact that he'd never dismembered anyone before. He stood amongst the littered body parts and actually felt good! Leonidus had nothing on him! "Who else wants some?" he roared, wanting to rip off his shirt too for extra effect.

That wasn't needed. From behind the rocks and sparse plants, more infantrymen appeared. Twenty…thirty…fifty…Zack lost count. All of them had guns and all of them were trained on him.

He straightened up, brushing blood off his cheek and staining his clothes. "Boy oh boy…the price of freedom is steep." He chuckled a hollow laugh, readying his sword again. "Sometimes though…you just have to bleed a little for something you believe in!"

Major understatement.

When the battle was done, Zack looked like he'd been put through a food processor. His body was riddled with bullets and he knew he must look like Swiss cheese. Still…there happened to be three left. He couldn't give out now. Not just yet…

They struck first. Bullets ripped apart his flesh, robbing him of the last of his strength. He collapsed in the dirt, watching the dark gray clouds roll across the sky. He'd always found the rain beautiful. This wasn't such a bad day to die.

The three guards advanced. One of them stopped to radio back to headquarters that the target had been apprehended. The second one kept some distance, keeping his gun trained on him. The third person was an actual SOLDIER second class and had no fear of walking directly up to him, the laser from the gun moving to various parts of his body to find where the best place to hit would be.

"I tried to help you, Zack. Looks like you were too proud to accept it."

Zack blinked. He'd heard that voice before. Someone…small. And annoying. Someone like…Luxiere.

For confirmation, the helmet was ripped away, exposing the once innocent face of the boy. Though barely an adult, the sadistic pleasure on his face made him seem so much older.

"You were my idol, Zack. You know that? I meant it. I wanted to be just. Like. You." With every word, Luxiere ground his heel into one of Zack's hands, smiling wider as he cringed. "Why wouldn't you give me a chance, Zack? All you ever saw me as was a pest. You and Sephiroth and Genesis and Angeal. But they were much older than me and I didn't expect anything less from them. You actually indulged me at first, back when you were a Second and it was clear you were making quick progress. You spoke to me and gave me tips. But the day you became a First…you changed…"

The laser from his scope came to rest on his chest. Zack swallowed hard, trying to steady his breathing. This was insane, he barely remembered having a conversation with him. But maybe…that was just it. Nearly all his memories of Luxiere were of him running from him. But so much had happened after and even before becoming a First. Genesis' initial disappearance. Lazard leaving. Trying to capture Hollander. Angeal's death. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Who could blame him for not having time for idle chit chat?

Clearly, Luxiere could. The boy wrapped his finger around the trigger, his hand steady. He easily washed all emotion away. "Goodbye, Zack."

The shot came just as the first thunder broke, and then darkness.

~.~.~

"Hey…Zack? W-wake up. Please, wake up. Don't leave me here."

He opened his eyes at the sound of the voice, but at the same time, the rain began to fall and he flinched as the drops hit his face. Slowly turning his head, he saw Cloud kneeling on the ground beside him, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Hi, buddy," he whispered, not sure if he could be heard over the rain. "I look pretty awful, don't I?"

Cloud's eyes said yes. His head shook no.

"It's…okay. You don't have to lie to me. I know I'm not gonna make it." His smiled sadly for a moment. This was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end.

"Well, guess I can shed this thing now!" He easily sat up ripped away his shirt. Underneath was a bullet proof vest. "Found it back at the mansion. Seriously, Shinra dresses SOLDIERs like our only job is to be sex symbols! Do you know how many lives could've been saved with this thing? It's practically common sense!"

Cloud blinked, the reality not quite setting in yet. "You mean…you're not going to die?"

"Hell no! And even if I did, I have this!" He reached in his pocket and pulled something out, holding it up.

"A feather?" Cloud's voice was quickly turning to incredulous anger. "How would a feather save you?"

"Not just any feather! A Phoenix Down! You get like, what, four in the game? And unless you're playing on hard or something, you barely use these things! I still have a few from the very first time I ran through the game!"

"…I'm lost as to what you're even talking about," Cloud groaned. "Look, are we still going to Midgar?"

"Um, no. Considering I just got shot at by half the Shinra army and amazingly lived to tell the tale, I'm not going to tempt fate twice. I'll just do what I should've done to begin with. Call Aerith from a payphone. They're likely tracking my actual phone." He took it out of his pocket and threw it over the side of the cliff.

He used the sword to slowly stand up, turning around to admire the view of Midgar in the distance. As his first taste of the city, it'd always hold a certain allure to him. "I guess from this point on, we're outcasts. My only goal ever since becoming a SOLDIER was to help others. Now…I don't know if I really did that." He looked down, ashamed to say the next words. "Hey…Cloud? Would you say I became a hero?"

Unbidden, the tears came again and Cloud launched himself at him in a grip that was probably too tight to be classified as a hug. "You risked your life for me more than once. That's enough of a hero for me."

"Can I…make a bromance joke?" Zack figured he'd ask.

"Don't push it," Cloud muffled into his shirt.

"Gotcha."

They didn't have an idea of where they were going from here, but that didn't matter. They wouldn't be facing the uncertainly of the future alone.

At least…not anymore.

And with that, part one is complete! I'd be lying if I said I had a complete idea of what I want for this story from but I suppose that's the fun of writing sometimes, being able to make it up as you go. It'll probably be months yet again before this is updated again but till then, ja ne!