What If
Disclaimer: Don't own, never have and never will
Authors note: Here's three chapters which should get the right emotions going, not happy ones I'm afraid but meh, angst is always good in these sort of things right? Oh yeah there's been a time jump again, it's not apparent in the first one but just so people wouldn't get confused. Read and review, tell me what you think and I'll see what I can do.
Seventh Heaven
Zack didn't actually remember getting to the bar that day, nor what time he actually started drinking. He didn't even remember why he had been in the slums in the first place, let alone how he had managed to get there on this rather bleak and dreary day with the rain lashing down at the window and the distant roll of thunder in the background. If he had been more aware he would have thought it highly strange for a storm to be reaching this far down in Midgar but his brain was operating on a two way system. More drink and feel sorry for yourself.
Nursing the small whisky, the solider first class knocked in back in one go and almost immediately wished he hadn't. The fiery liquid burnt down his throat, practically stripping away the inner lining and making him feel worse than he already did. Coughing, he became aware briefly of a wet substance on the top of the bar which was not alcohol and traced his fingers in it briefly before placing his head down on the rough surface and closing his eyes.
The barmaid looked up from her current task of cleaning one of the tables and rolled her brown eyes skywards. She had heard that Soldier's could drink any house dry and still ask for more but this guy was either an extreme light weight or hadn't taken the right things today to make him practically immune to the effects of the drinks she had given him. Granted he had paid handsomely, caused no problems what-so-ever and in comparison to the usual riffraff that came here he was quite the gentleman. Tifa sighed and went back to her work; she would wait until Barrett came back before attempting to send him out onto the street at this hour.
Half an hour later the door opened and Barrett walked in, his gun-arm glistening with the water and his clothes soaked to the bone, "Yo Tifa! You still open at this time of night?" it was a general jibe at her the young woman knew but that didn't really bother her to much.
"Who else do you think it would be?" Tifa asked, before hitching her head towards the bar, "Besides we still got a customer and I didn't fancy carting him out by myself because I'm just a poor defenceless female"
"Defenceless? You?" Barrett had to raise an eyebrow in mock surprise, "you sent those little punks flying last month when they tried to rob the place and then had the courtesy to smack the living daylights out of their papa when he came a knocking barely two hours later"
"Well there's a difference between those Unders and the likes of him" Tifa said, hoping that Barrett would just get the hint and get the guy out of here. She really did want to close up before any of the night-time patrol's started up. They could deal with their own, that was her opinion on the fact.
Barrett stepped up to Zack, pulling him back and snarling before saying something about 'Shinra scum' under his breath and pulling the extremely drunk man clean out of his seat and across the bar.
Zack became aware of what was going on and semi-snapped out of his state, "Hey! What the!"
"All drunks get this treatment…go back to your precious Shinra and stay out" Barrett said, shoving the Solider forcibly forward. Zack found himself half-sprawled in the mud more out of the sheer surprise of the situation than anything else and turned with a glare back to the man who had shoved him so roughly out but before he could get a word in edgeways the door slammed and bolted fast.
"They're not my precious Shinra" Zack mumbled to himself before standing upright and lightly brushing off some of the mud that would give him away when he got back to the barracks. Looking up at the name of the bar, he made a mental note of it and started off down the well worn paths to hopefully get back before anything bad could happen. However barely a hundred yards down the road, Zack stopped and turned back to watch the neon light fizzle off. "Well I'll be damned" he murmured lightly to himself, turning back to the huge monster that was Shinra Building, "I think I know a way out of this mess…hang on you two. I'll save you both, I promise"
For no real reason that he could think of, Zack ran back to the bar and banged on the door. Of course no one answered him, not that he really expected it to happen but he was sure that this situation could be well worth all of the hassle that it could cause. Finding a scrap of paper and a pen in his pocket, who knew what they were doing their in the first place, the errant puppy scribbled a hasty note and slipped it under the door before taking off again. Why he had never considered this route before was beyond him but there were still things to be done. If he just left with no explanation then everyone he knew would be integrated.
Actually some of them totally deserved it but he was determined to ensure that his two closest friends in this god forsaken place were at least ready to help him out in some form or other. Convincing them would be downright tricky but Zack knew that if he were persistent enough both would have to break down their barriers eventually and listen to him.