Chapter 26

Zack looked back at the projector and stared in awe. She stood there in perfect health and looking as good as ever. Zack's heart began to pound, he remembered the pain he felt when he had "killed" her. He had spent many nights crying in secret, no one in the group ever knew. Well not everyone, he knew Nanaki could read his mind, and Aerith always held him tighter the nights he did. He felt so horrible about killing one of his friends, he only felt that way once. The day he killed Angeal, a pain he wouldn't wish on his enemies.

Cissnei saw the look in Zack's eyes, she gave him a nod. Zack knew it meant that they will talk later and there were more important things at hand.

"We uncovered several disturbing facts in the mansion. First let's touch on the location of Sephiroth, Weiss, and Hojo. From this point forward I will refer to them as SWH. We have flown all over the planet looking for the group and we have located and tracked the group. They appear to have fled to The Icicle Inn area. There is a well known lab hidden under one of the cabins, it was formally owned by Professor Gast. We assume that is where SWH had fled to recover from your battle. And for the record guys" Tseng said as he turned and looked at Zack and Cloud.

"You guys fucked them up." Tseng said with an extremely rare smile.

Reno could not hold back his laughter. He laughed so hard that he fell back on his chair. On his way down to the ground he grabbed on to Rude's collar and pulled the serious black man down with him. Tseng tried to hide his smile once more.

"If we could get back to the presentation, after a few weeks of recuperation SWH seemed to have moved on to a new location. The last contact we had with them they were heading towards the Gold Saucer. We believe they are searching for some sort of key. We already know that Sephiroth is after the black materia, so we assume this key must be important to gain access to some location. The black materia is said to be the magic of destruction. Legends say that it could bring an end to the planet. So our mission must be to stop Sephiroth from getting this materia, whether it is truly powerful I really don't know. But it's not a risk I'm willing to take. Anything could be used as a deadly weapon in Sephiroth's hands." Tseng told the group as he used a laser pointer on his presentation.

"So this materia can do what? It's just materia how dangerous can it be? Anyway you saw how we beat them; we will just do it again." Zack said as he put his arms over his head and reclined in his seat.

"Well Zack I haven't told you the bad news yet. But yes it is materia, but we don't know what it can do. We cannot take that risk Zack. Also Zack, don't get cocky. You know Sephiroth is nearly unbeatable in battle. Something was off about your last battle, but I just don't what it could have been. Zack you need to train hard, he will not go down easily this time. Prepare for the worst." Tseng said.

"Okay so he is all powerful…yeah yeah blah blah. That's all I ever heard when I was in Shinra. I will beat him Tseng, don't doubt me. This whole black materia thing could be nothing to worry about as long as we get our hands on that key that will kinda poop in their shoe don't you think?" Zack said a little scorn from Tseng's harsh words.

"You really have a way with words don't cha?" Reno said with his tongue out.

"Urgh! I swear to god! I am gunna!" Zack yelled as Cloud tried to restrain him.

"Look assholes, can we grow up a bit and get this meeting over with. Every second we waste is a second the enemy gets a leg up on us. So hurry along Tseng." Cloud said abruptly.

"He's right. Everyone shut up and let me get to the most important news. I read in Hojo's reports that he has done several strange experiments on Weiss. Well to make it simple, he used the remains of Nero and combined it with Weiss. So that explains his darkness powers. But it also seems that he has infused Sephiroth genes along with a strange form of Jenova cells. What concerns me most is the fact that Sephiroth has not been given any of these enhancements." Tseng said with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Obviously. Sephiroth never took any help from anyone. So why would this change now?" Zack asked.

"I thought that too at first, then Reno stumbled upon a document hidden within the library. This was Hojo's report, and it was hidden from Sephiroth. So this is my current theory. I believe Hojo is going to use Weiss to take down Sephiroth when the time comes. So this could be dangerous when the time comes." Tseng said.

"This isn't really horrible news. I mean if Weiss wins, then we can just take him down. Same goes for if Sephiroth wins. Then we only have to take down one of them at a time. So wouldn't it be smart to just sit this one out?" Cloud asked.

"I thought that too Spikey. But think about it a bit more. Hojo will want to eliminate us before he has Weiss take down Sephy. So we will still be target number one. Also the fight could be devastating to the people around them. When we fight our first concern is to fight where no one can get hurt. They will destroy the planet just to achieve victory. So it would be worth our while to step in and avoid this coup. "Zack said looking as though he was in deep thought.

"I couldn't have said ti better myself Zack. Let's get our things in order and head to the Gold Saucer and see if we can get any more intel about this "key". This concludes our meeting. You are all dismissed." Tseng said as he turned to organize his papers.

Zack walked out into the hallway directly behind Cloud. He did his very best not to make eye contact with Cissnei.

"Cloud, go on without me okay. I'll catch up with you in a few minuites okay?" Zack told Cloud.

"Sure Zack, no problem. Take your time." Cloud said with a warm tone.

Zack stood against the wall with his arms crossed. His leg was bent holding him up on the wall. His mind was racing on what to say to Cissnei. He couldn't decide if he was mad or more relieved she was alive. His time ran short as she walked out of the meeting room and headed towards him. His stomach suddenly felt like it had been punched and thrown around.

"Hey Zack…" Cissnei said with her head down looking at the floor, avoiding looking at him directly.

"So you a zombie or something? Care to explain?" Zack said with a little bit of anger in his voice.

"I know Zack…Tseng told me about how you reacted. I'm so sorry I had to deceive you like that, but it was for a good cause." Cissnei said with great remorse.

"Ya know, I can't think of any good reason to make a friend hurt, while your prancing around like the typical scum they call the Turks." Zack said with a bitter tongue.

"I didn't do it to hide from you. I did it…to make sure Shinra was gone…for good." She said.

"If I remember correctly you put Rufus in you helicopter and tried to flee. If you wanted to end Shinra you should have just let him bleed every last drop of his blood for the sins his company committed."Zack said refusing to look at her.

"Zack… I put the President in my helicopter…so he would die. Think about it, if I left him there, he could have gotten help and possibly survived." Cissnei said as she looked up at Zack who still was looking away.

"You weren't very smart hen huh…we rigged the building to blow, so chances are he would have died without your clearly brilliant plan." Zack said.

"Well what I was going to do is take the President to an area where no one could possibly help him. I was going to take him to the wasteland and shoot him Zack…I would never let anyone from Shinra live after what they did to you." Cissnei said as she finally made eye contact.

It hit Zack like a ton of bricks; he forgot she had feelings for him. He always felt bad that she was never going to receive his love in return. His heart belonged to Aerith, and it would never belong to any other. She was going to be in a world of hurt when she saw Aerith with him, and he had no intention of hiding his feelings for her.

"Cissnei, I guess my anger is miss placed. I'm sorry. Tseng should have told me, I guess I should be mad at him." Zack said with a more cheerful tone.

"It's not his fault either. He didn't know I was alive until you guys made it to Nibleheim. And you guys had that huge battle and had to recover so naturally you kind of missed out on seeing me. I wish I could have contacted Tseng sooner, but I couldn't find a phone until I reached the Gold Saucer. You guys kind of left a huge path of destruction, and being on foot kinda slowed me down. " Cissnei said with a smile.

"Yeah I guess so. Well it's good to see you Cissnei. How long has it been?" Zack asked with his obnoxious smile.

"Hahaha well depends on what you call the last time you saw me. When you left for Nibleheim…6 years, 3 months and 11 days. Or that time after your escape from the Shinra Mansion…2 years, one month, and 6 days. If you wana count on top of the Shinra Building, it's been a little over a year now." Cissnei said with love in her eyes.

"Well that's not at all creepy. Huh…it's been a year already…all this crap started back in May. I can't believe it's been a year." Zack said shocked at the amount of time that passed.

"According to Tseng you have been out cold for more than half of it. Both literally and metaphorically speaking! HAHAHAHA!" Cissnei said poking at Zack's bubble headedness.

"Yeha that's true…wait…that son of a bitch! He would say that. Asshole. Look Cissnei I know we just got reacquainted and all but there is something very important that I need to talk to you about." Zack said with a heavy heart.

"Sure what is it Zack?" Cissnei said with a bit of pip in her voice.

Zack could see it in her eyes. She loved him so much; she had a similar look that Aerith has when she looked at him. It would break her heart to know that he had no feelings for her. Actually he always looked at her as the sister he never had. She did mean a lot to him, but not in the way she wanted him to feel. Zack's heart began to pound hard, he knew he was about to break her heart.

"Well I need to tell you this now otherwise I don't think I'll ever get it out." Zack said.

Suddenly a door opened in the hallway. "Come on yo! Get a move on! You SOLDIERS always were lazy assholes!" Reno said sticking his tongue out at Zack.

"I swear to god Reno if you stick that tongue out at me one more time I will cut the damn thing off!" Zack yelled in anger.

"Hahahah he is right Zack. We do got to get a move on, and you really are kind of SLOW! HAHAHA!" Cissnei said as she hurried into the door Reno was standing at just moments before.

"Damnit all. Seriously man, fuck my life. Now when the hell am I gunna tell her? Ffffuuuucccckkk me." Zack said to himself with his hand on his face.

(In helicopter)

"Alright, everyone have everything they need? We won't stop for anymore items or anything. We got to get going." Tseng said over the communications system.

"Yeah I think we should be good to go Tseng let's just get a move on." Zack said.

Zack sat next to Aerith and held her hand, she smile at his touch. Zack looked in front of him and saw Cloud and Tifa giving each other rather loving looks. He smiled at the idea that they both are so shy to tell the other how they feel. His smile went from cute to devilish. He planned on putting a little boost into their relationship. Zack let out a laugh, but no one could hear it over the sound of the chopper.

Zack looked over and saw Nanaki who was sitting next to Aerith looking right at him with a grin. "Damnit! I forgot He can read minds…Hey Nanaki can you hear this… I swear to god I will shave your little feline head in your sleep if you don't stop doing that!" Zack said to himself

"Bite me!" Nanaki said back to Zack in his mind. Zack looked at him with a confused face. He stuck his tongue out at him; it was quickly followed by a snarl from Nanaki.

Cloud looked down at the sea of sand. Over the horizon he could see a huge golden dome. He began to smile; he was excited to go there just like a little kid. His smile quickly wiped off of his face when he realized that it was the first human feeling he had in a long time. His eyes filled with tears. Cloud put his hand at his eyes and felt the tears falling from his face. He looked down at his wet gloves his eyes widened; he didn't feel the fall from his face. He had grown so numb and so stone like.

He looked at Zack, "How does he stay so strong all the time. I know he feels everything I'm feeling, but he always seems to have a smile on his face. I have never seen him down, even in tragedy he still keeps it together. But I know deep down he is numb as a statue. Can everything be a mask? Or is it that he enjoys those he still has? I'm never going to figure it out am I?" Cloud said to himself.

Cloud felt a sudden weight increase on his right shoulder. He looked over and saw Tifa sleeping on his shoulder. Cloud smiled and softly kissed her head, hoping no one would notice, and praying she would not wake.

It happened out of instinct, he could not stop himself, he just acted upon it. "Tifa…I care about you so much, I wish I could tell you, but…I don't know. I just have a feeling you don't feel the same as I do. Ugh, this blows. I really could use somebody like you picking me up when I'm down. This really does blow." Cloud said to himself.

Cloud looked over to see Nanaki focusing on him. "Balls…I forgot about that…just don't say anything okay?" Cloud said in his mind.

Nanaki simply nodded and grinned.

After a three hour ride in the helicopter they had finally landed at the Gold Saucer. Everyone looked around in awe as they looked at the magical site. They could hear the screams of the people on the roller coaster going in and out of the giant gold dome. Everyone began to get excited; they could feel the joy in the air. Joy was a feeling many of them have forgotten.

Tseng looked at the group with a heavy heart. He could tell they were all longing for something fun, something to be excited about. But they were not here for fun, work had to be done.

"I know you all want to have fun….but we have a mission to do." Tseng said. Tseng looked over his shoulder and looked at Cissnei. She shook her head and smiled. He knew what she was saying, her face said it all. Everyone was human, they all had feelings, and they needed to have some sort of normality in their lives.

"But there's no need to not have a bit of fun while we are here. We have a lot of ground to cover, so we should split up. There are nine of us, so create you groups, and cover every inch of this place. Cissnei you with me." Tseng said to the group.

Cissnei looked over at Zack with sad eyes; she watched as Zack went over to Aerith and put his arm around her. She could see the love in Zack's eyes. Tseng called her name to come with him, her heart sank deeper. He chance to go with Zack had just become zero.

Everyone went into their separate groups. Zack went with Aerith, he was glad they could finally go on a date. He knew that his mission was very important, but he trusted his SOLDIER senses to look for anything out of the ordinary. Then needed to locate a key, but that was like finding a needle in haystack. They had no idea what the key looked like or where to start looking. He left that work for the Turks to figure out.

Zack looked over at Aerith who was looking around in amazement. It must have been the first time she had really been out of Midgar. Aerith never got a chance to see the world. Being in SOLDIER he had seen every inch of the planet. He had been to The Gold Saucer dozens of times. Zack looked around and saw all the people with their children, he began to feel alone. This used to be a place his father had taken him when he was younger. He loved it when his dad woke him up at the crack of dawn on his birthday. They always at Moogles pizza parlor, they had his favorite pizza there. He smiled; his dad always thought he was nasty with all the crap he likes on his pizza.

Aerith looked over at Zack she could tell something was on his mind, and he was partially looking at an old beaten up pizza parlor. She grabbed Zack's hand and pulled him towards the place.

"Come on! Let's get some pizza! I'm buying! No buts! You can have whatever you want!" Aerith said with a smile.

"Anything? Ok we will get my specialty pizza!" Zack said with a smile.

"What's on it?" Aerith asked.

"Promise you will eat it no matter what!" Zack jumped and smiled.

"Okay!" Aerith agreed with a smile.

"Hehehehe I hope you'll enjoy it. It has pineapples, m and m's, hot sauce, and a few peppermint patties on top. Oh and add the bacon! Lots and lots of bacon!" Zack said with a huge grin.

Aerith's face went pale and looked like she was about to puke. "What did I get myself into?" She thought to herself.

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