Haha, I knew my days off would mess up my posting schedule XD Anyway, I took a day off from the internet yesterday, and it seems I have some more people to thank for reviewing! Two, to be exact: Pinku-chan and 1st class Solider Girl13 :D Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone! As I'm posting this, there are 35! I feel so loved (': Er- at least, I feel my story is loved XD

A'ight, story time! Let's go! And there's more Zack in this one. Sorry about the lack of him in the last couple chapters *facepalm* (Though it seems no one really had a problem with that, so YAY hahaha)

-Chapter 14-

Zack

The next morning came all too soon. Ususally, I was really pumped and excited for a mission. And I was. But...why didn't I feel as excited for this one?

After breakfast that morning, I found Tseng. He led me out to a chopper, pilot already inside. Two grunts sat in the back, already strapped in.

Tseng got in the front next to the pilot, and I climbed in after him. I closed the door, strapped myself in, and we took off.

Just like any other mission, right?

"You alright?" Tseng asked, his voice reaching me over my headset.

"I'm fine," I replied. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem a lot less excited than usual, so I was just asking. You are, after all, a SOLDIER 1st Class now."

Okay, so it wasn't just me. I shook my head. "Whatever, Tseng." I rolled my eyes. "Whaaaaaatever..." I thought I saw one of the grunts smirk at me, but maybe I was just seeing things.

And it was as simple as that. Or so I thought.

Just before we got to Modeoheim, our chopper went down. Don't ask me why, since I don't know anything about those things...except they fly. And you can't ask our pilot because...well...to put it simply, he bought it when we crashed. Yeah, I know. Sucks.

I flew the furthest, and looked around to see myself lying in the snow on my stomach.

The chopper was behind me, lodged into a rock wall, and on fire.

Tseng and the two grunts were closer to the wreck, and seemed none the worse for wear.

I brushed the snow off of me and walked over. "Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do! Tseng! Hey, guys!" I called.

Tseng pulled out his phone and punched a couple buttons. He sighed and put it back in his pocket. "No signal out here."

I shrugged. "Well, at least we're all in one piece. We'll be alright."

"Thankfully, we have someone used to this kind of terrain," Tseng said, looking pointedly at me.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm a country boy," I said, shaking my head.

"Alright then." Tseng walked past me and over to the start of a mountain path. "We would've reached Modeoheim by now if we hadn't crashed. So we're going to need to make up for lost time."

I walked over in front of the group. "Alright! Follow me, then."

And we started up the north side of the Modeo Ravine.

Along the way, we ran into a few of these giant bird...creatures. Apparently, they were called Replicons. All I needed to know was that they wanted to attack us, and I had a sword that could take them out.

I guess I was a faster walker than I thought, because Tseng was falling behind.

I turned, still walking and called to him. "Yo! Don't fall too far behind!"

I looked at the two grunts at my side, who were easily keeping pace with me. One was notably smaller than the other. Maybe he's just younger, I thought.

"At least someone's keeping up," I said to them, smiling.

"Well, I'm a country boy, too," the first one said.

"From where?" I asked.

He stopped, as if thinking.

He needs to think about where he's from? I thought.

"...Nibelheim."

Oh, now I get it, I thought as I laughed, turning away.

"How about you?" he asked.

I stopped and turned back to face him. "Me? Gongaga."

Now he laughed.

"Hey, what's so funny about that? You know Gongaga?" I asked, pointing at him.

"No, but it's such a backwater name," he replied.

"Ditto Nibelheim!" I said, turning to keep walking.

"Like you've been there," the grunt said.

I stopped and turned to face him. "I haven't. But there's a reactor there, right? A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means..."

"...nothing else out there," we finished together. The two of us laughed, and the other grunt smiled a little.

I turned back to call to Tseng again. "Good news, Tseng! Me and..." I looked at the first grunt, waiting for him to say his name.

He took off his helmet, revealing a blonde head of spiky hair and icy blue eyes.

My first thought? Wow, chocobo head much?

"Cloud," he said, smiling.

I looked at Tseng again. "Me and Cloud here are both backwater experts! Oh, yeah!"

"Good! Carry on, then," Tseng called back.

I looked at the other grunt when he laughed. He suddenly stopped, as if he hadn't meant to laugh.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you okay, man?" I asked.

He cleared his throat and mumbled something like an "I'm fine."

I shrugged and walked on, Cloud and the other grunt following. "Is he okay?" I asked Cloud, nodding to the grunt.

Cloud's eyes flickered back to him, then to me again. "Oh, yeah, he's fine. I mean, you know how it is... Stress and all..."

"Mm-hmm," I said, nodding.

We rounded a bend in the path, and Tseng was even farther behind us now.

As we walked, the grunt tugged up on his gloves and flexed his fingers, exhaling.

I froze and looked at him.

He stopped and did the same. He didn't say anything.

"W...wait a second," I said, the wheels beginning to turn in my head.

"Something wrong?" Cloud asked, stepping closer.

I narrowed my eyes at the grunt. "I'm...not sure."

The grunt shook, and I wasn't sure if it was from the cold or not.

"Hey...can you take your helmet off?"

The grunt started.

Cloud looked worried, too.

"Oh, you're in on this, too?" I asked him.

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked.

I looked back at the grunt. "I knew I recognized that smirk. And that laugh. And the way you tug up your gloves." And I was pretty sure that almost-scar on the grunt's face looked familiar, too...

The grunt sighed and waved weakly, as if in surrender. "Hey...Zack."

It was her voice. I couldn't believe it.

Cloud sighed and ran his hand through his spiky hair. "Well...that cat came out of the bag real quick."

"Yeah, well, I didn't intend for it to be in the bag for very long," she replied, clearly rolling her eyes to look at him.

I just stared at her. "Take...take off your helmet."

She exhaled, then raised her hands to take off her helmet.

My jaw dropped. All her hair was gone. It was really short, and kind of shaggy now. But it was Kiku. My best friend Kiku.

"What the-?"

"Don't yell," she said quietly, glancing around.

I glanced around the corner. I still couldn't see Tseng. I leaned back around to look at her. "How-?"

"Don't get angry at Cloud. If you get angry at anyone, get angry at me, okay? I jumped Cloud last night and begged him for help."

"Wha...?" I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she'd sneaked into Shinra, jumped a grunt, and stolen a uniform. Not to mention come on a mission with me.

At that moment, it occurred to me that she was in the helicopter when it crashed. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, of course not," she said. "What are you-? Oh, the crash! Psh, I've had worse."

How could she be so calm about this?

She glanced around again. "Could we keep walking? I know if Tseng spots me, I'm done for."

I just nodded numbly, staring at her as we continued walking. "Wha...what happened? What are you doing here? I...I can't believe you're here!"

She peeked up at me through her eyelashes, then looked down, trying to tuck a short strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you...angry?"

"No," I said. Truly, I wasn't. I was just...in shock. "What happened?" I asked again.

She sighed, then leaned closer. "It was my father. He came to the bar last night."

My heart started pounding.

"I had to hide under the counter while Anna and Clay tried to convince him that I wasn't there. Apparently, he'd heard his 'buddies' descriptions of the new waitress, and came looking. He left, but not before promising to bring back police to search the place. And he said he would take legal action against Anna and Clay if they found me there. What else could I do? I couldn't let my new friends -not to mention one of your oldest friends- go to prison for helping me. So...I left last night. I told them to get rid of all evidence that I'd been there, and to deny everything. I figure I'll be able to go back...eventually."

I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. "Kiks...do you realize how much danger you're putting yourself in?"

"I can manage," she said, putting her helmet back on. "Cloud and I came up with an alias for me last night, and I can disguse my voice. And I cut off all my hair, so it's okay."

"Not just that," I said. "It's... You've heard the stories I told you. About the summons and the Genesis copies. It's dangerous out here for anyone, even a trained fighter such as yourself."

"I'll be fine," she said determinedly. "Don't worry about me." She glanced behind us. "And...if anyone asks, my name's Danny. Danny Miyamoto."

I looked at her. "That's...the most unsuspecting name I think I've ever heard."

She grinned. "Exactly!" She looked at Cloud. "You were right, Cloud! It's the perfect name!"

He just smiled a little, shaking his head.

I stared at her, still in shock. So she'd sneaked out of 7th Heaven, sneaked into Shinra, jumped Cloud -a Shinra grunt-, begged him for help (and he'd actually agreed to help this madwoman I called my best friend?), gotten a grunt uniform, and got herself on a Shinra helicopter, all without being detected?

Clearly, Shinra needed to up their security.

Kiku

Okay, I thought, so far so good. He doesn't seem angry with me. Though I think my being here really threw him for a loop. Who knew he'd recognize me so fast? And for such little things?

Suddely, a Replicon jumped out, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I got this," Zack said, unsheathing his sword.

I'd only watched him fight once before, so it was still an amazing sight for me. I won't go into the details again. I know it just bores you (no matter how fascinating it is to me).

"There," he said, smiling proudly and turning back to us and putting his sword back on his back.

I smiled, shaking my head.

Just then, another Replicon appeared, kicking Zack in the back and knocking him to the ground.

Instinctively, I reached for my katana, and was reminded that I didn't have it when my hand only grabbed thin, cold air. I sighed.

I reached into my holster and drew the gun that was regulation for all grunts to have. A couple shots fired before I could get my gun pointed at the creature though, and I looked up.

The Replicon lay on the ground, dead.

Cloud stood next to me, his gun pointed where the bird creature had been.

Zack stood, brushing himself off. "Thanks, man," he said.

Cloud smiled. "No problem."

I shook my head and put my gun back.

Zack smirked at me. "Better luck next time, Kiks."

I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed.

We rounded a couple more bends, then found ourselves up on a ledge overlooking a big building. We crouched down and looked over the edge.

Tseng walked up then. "Our sources tell us that Hollander and Genesis are inside," he said cooly.

"Okay," Zack said, nodding. "So what's the plan?"

I gulped, wondering what exactly I'd gotten myself into.

;;;;;

We got down off the ravine path, and stood outside what looked like a mini-base. Apparently, all the operations were underground. We would have to sneak past the guards, without being seen or heard, and get to the entrance.

Good thing I'm a good sneaker, I thought.

Cloud, Zack, and I crouched down on the sides of the entrance.

Zack looked in, doing a sweep. When it was clear, he signaled for Cloud to go in.

Cloud did as he told, and went in.

We waited a few moments.

No yelling, and no shots fired. Had he made it?

Zack did a sweep again, then pushed me up. "Go," he whispered, giving me a good shove in the back.

My breath caught in my throat as I ran to the first building, snow crunching under my boots. No pressure, I thought, sliding along the small building's side wall.

I peeked around the corner. It looks sa-

My hopeful thought was cut off by a guard appearing.

I snapped my head back as quickly as I could, hoping he hadn't seen me.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to get my pulse to return to normal, and waited for his crunching footsteps to pass.

I looked again. No sign of anyone.

I saw a hand waving, and looked to see that it was Cloud. He was waving me over to the entrance.

I looked around once more, than ran over, throwing myself onto the ground next to him.

"Quite graceful," he said quietly.

"Oh, hush, Mr. I-got-in-the-base-first."

He just smiled in reply, laughing softly.

Zack joined us a moment later. "Good job, you two. Now let's get inside."

We went down a cement ramp. It stopped at a door.

Zack opened it, and pushed us in.

The door closed behind us. No going back now.

We found ourselves on a platform overlooking a big empty...well, it looked like some sort of warehouse.

"Stay close," Zack whispered.

We nodded and followed him. No chance of anything other than that today, I thought.

A few minutes later, we ran into Tseng. He told us to go find Hollander, and, basically, apprehend him.

From what Zack had told me about his previous missions, I figured this was going to be easier said than done.

We found an elevator at the far side of the warehouse, and went in it.

"Up or down?" Cloud mused.

"Hmm..." I said. "If I were a bad guy..."

Zack and I looked at each other. "Up."

So he pushed the button and up we went.

When the door opened, we saw Hollander. But he wasn't alone. Another man was with him. He was pointing a red sword at Hollander.

I looked him up and down, taking in the red coat, gloves, boots (red everything, really) over a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform, auburn hair, and black wing. From all that, I figured it was Genesis. Having never seen him before, it was a pretty good guess.

Zack drew his sword and ran over between them, knocking Genesis' sword out of the way.

Hollander was spouting something about "stopping the degredation process".

I had no clue what any of it meant. All I knew was that these guys were baddies, and we had to stop them.

Hollander made a run for it, and Cloud grabbed him.

"Cloud! Good work!" Zack said.

Hollander elbowed Cloud in the chest, knocking him back onto the ground with a thud. Hollander ran again.

I grabbed him from behind, but he was definitely stronger than he looked. We wrestled for a few moments, but he finally just pushed me off.

"I'll take care of this and catch up with you," Zack said. "Go after Hollander!"

"Right!" Cloud and I said and ran after Hollander.

Adrenaline poured into my veins as we ran. I'd never felt such a rush in all my life. It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time, and, at that moment, I didn't know which I preferred. I didn't stop to think about it, though. Right then, I was just focused on catching the waddling, fat penguin of a man called Hollander.

Cloud and I stopped short when we found ourselves outside again. We looked through the snow blowing on us for any sign of Hollander. We got nada.

Zack ran up then.

"Lost him," Cloud said, his tone showing that he regretted to report this information.

"That's okay," Zack assurred. "We'll get 'im, don't you worry." He pulled out his phone and looked at it for a few moments. "Hmm...still no signal." He put his phone away and looked around. "I wonder where Tseng went...?"

I looked at him. "What about Genesis?"

Zack looked a little somber. "I don't think he'll be bothering us anymore."

I just nodded. What was I supposed to say? "Omigosh, you're a murderer"? Yeah, no.

I looked around, and noticed some old railroad tracks. I followed them with my eyes, and saw that they led to a stone tunnel. A sign stood out in front of the tunnel.

I walked away from Zack and Cloud and went over to the sign. I brushed some snow and ice off, and pieced together the words. "You guys," I said. "I think I found Modeoheim."