Chapter 35: Becoming a hero
On the roof of the Shinra company, a Shinra helicopter was waiting for Crisis, who began making his way toward it when he heard Tseng called out to him from behind and he turned around to faced him.
"Crisis! The Shinra army's mobilizing. Find the targets before they do." Tseng told him in an order.
"Understood, Tseng." Crisis answered him. "The army won't be as subtle." he turned but had to turned back again due to Tseng's next words.
"I want them alive, do you hear me, Crisis?" Tseng told him again. "You're going to save their lives."
"Of course! I have to save them, especially Laina herself. Or else Phemie will be…" Crisis said to himself, turned around again, went into the helicopter and it flew up and away from Shinra company.
"Help them, Crisis." Tseng whisper to himself as he glance up at the now distance helicopter. "As much as you can, at least."
XXXX
After Zack and Laina (with Cloud and Angelina over their shoulders) left Banora ruins and walked next to a road in the direction of Midgar, they got lucky when they heard the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind them and they both turned their heads to see that it's a yellow truck. Zack hold out his hand to halted the truck and it stopped next to them. Zack then asked the driver on whether the driver would give them all a ride to Midgar and he agreed. Zack and Laina then went to the back of the truck and got on it, put both Cloud and Angelina down into a sitting position on the truck before Zack and Laina sit down side by side opposite them.
"I'm just kidding, Cloud." Zack was saying to Cloud while he gazed up at the clear blue sky. "You know that I will not do that to you or to Angelina."
"Oh, really, Zack?" Laina replied in a teasing tone.
Zack glance at her. "You mean you don't believe me, honey?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
Zack chuckled lightly then switch his glance from Laina to Cloud and Angelina, smiling at them. "We're friends, right?"
XXXX
Another Shinra helicopter, driven by two members of the Turks Reno (a guy with long, wild unkempt red hair tied-up in a ponytail, wearing an unbuttoned black suit jacket, untucked white dress shirt underneath and loose black pants. Just like Crisis) and Rude (a bald head, brown-skinned guy wearing buttoned-up black suit jacket, black pants and dark sunglasses on his eyes) flew past several rocky cliff/canyons as they gazed down on the land, searching for the four escaping fugitives.
"They can't be serious." Reno exclaimed to Rude in an almost incredulous tone. "There's no way that we'll be able to find four needles in a haystack this size."
Rude let out a small sigh then turned his head to look at his partner. "Reno, there's no mission that's impossible for the…"
"Turks. Yeah, yeah, I get it." Reno cut him off.
"Hmm." said Rude with an inner smirk. "Also, Tseng apparently had something important that he wanted to give to them."
"Who? The targets?" Reno asked him and Rude nodded. "So we're courier now. Delivering packages to wanted fugitives, huh?"
Rude smirked at him then both the headsets which Reno and Rude wore on their heads began to buzzes.
"Reno, Rude. Status." said Crisis voice to them through the headsets.
"We got nothing here, Crisis." Reno answered back.
"What about you?" Rude asked Crisis.
"Negative on my part." replied Crisis with a disappointed sigh. "I'm going to head to Point 235 now, you two take Point 120."
"Roger."
"Alright, then. Let's get going, Rude." Reno told Rude before he turned the helicopter to their right and flew off.
XXXX
After a while of them sitting on the back of the truck, Zack decided to stand up and stretch his legs a bit. He placed his elbow on the roof of the truck (right above the driver), close his eyes and take a deep breath then open his eyes and smiled when he saw that they're almost to their destination. But then he stopped smiling and his face turn dark and serious when he heard gunshots began firing at him from afar and he quickly get back down.
"Laina! We're under attack! We've to get off this truck now!" Zack told her in a hurry and Laina nodded then grabbed hold of Angelina and put her over her shoulder while Zack told the driver to pull over and let them down before he grabbed hold of Cloud and put him over his shoulder too. The truck driver pull over near some large rocks and they quickly got off the truck and it drove off, leaving them behind.
Soon after the truck drove off, Zack and Laina quickly sprint toward the large rocks and hide behind them, then they carefully put Cloud and Angelina down and set them up in a sitting position side by side against the rocks. Zack and Laina stared at them with smirks/smiles on their faces before Zack's hand reach out and ruffled Cloud's head a little. Zack and Laina then turn to glance at each other, nodded and they stood up, turned and walked away. Neither of them saw that Angelina had opened her eyes, which is the colour of violet now (no longer crimson in colour due to the side-effect of the experiment) nor Cloud's hand as he slowly lifted it to reach out for them.
Zack and Laina, who's now hiding behind the rocks after they inched their way closer to whoever tried to shoot them, look out from their hiding place and saw about more than a dozen infantrymen armed with swords and assault rifles standing there, clearly in waiting for them. And as if that's not enough, they also saw several helicopters (armed with weapons too) flying above the infantrymen. They pulled back from looking and Laina noticed that Zack seems to be pondering something while closing his eyes before he opened them and glance at her seriously.
"Laina, I'm sorry for saying this to you but I want you to go back to Cloud and Angelina and stay safe with them." Zack told her.
Laina heard what he said and her eyes widened in surprised, shocked then anger. "What?Are you out of your mind? You want me to stay with them while letting you go out there and fight them by yourself? I won't do it!"
Zack gritted his teeth and grabbed her shoulder in frustration. "Listen to me, Laina! I can't let you go out there and fight with me against them! You saw how many there are waiting for us! Chances are you won't be able to survive this if I let you go out there with me!"
"And neither would you, Zack! Goddammit, we've both lose and leave behind some people who were close to us and I'll be damn if I'm gonna let you go out there to your death and lose you too!" Laina retorted angrily to him before she shrugged her shoulder out of his grip, lifted her left hand and showed him the lapis lazuli silver ring on her ring finger. "Take a good look at this, Zack! The moment you put this on my finger and then we got marry later on is the moment where we swear to each other that we'll stay together, no matter what, isn't it?"
Zack glance at her with love, tenderness, joy and a little hurt on his face as he listen to each of her words. His arms reach out and pulled her in for a hug.
"Thank you for saying those words to me, Laina." Zack thought to himself while hugging her. "I'm very happy to hear and know that you'll risked your life with me out there. But, even so, I still can't let you do so, Laina. I'm sorry." Zack's hand reach down into his pocket, pull out a Sleep materia and casted in on her.
After he did so, Laina began to feel sleepy and she realised a second too late that Zack had casted Sleep on her. Her hands slipped from his shoulder and he quickly grabbed her before she could fall, carry her back to where Cloud and Angelina were and put her down next to them.
"Forgive me, Laina." Zack told her while his hand slowly caressed her cheek before he stood up again and went off to faced them alone. As soon as they saw him coming out from the rocks toward them, they all raised their swords and assault rifles at him.
"Boy, oh boy…" said Zack to himself with a small smile on his face while shaking his head. "The price of freedom is steep." Zack then reach for the Buster sword behind him, pulled it out before him and then held it up to his forehead, his eyes closed. "Embrace your dreams, and whatever happen, protect your honour…" he open his eyes and lowered his sword. "…as SOLDIER. Come and get it!" he yelled out at them (which make some of them take a step back), raised his sword and swung it sideways at some of the infantrymen who stood at the very front line and they fell bleeding (and cried out in pain) to the ground.
As he began fighting the army of infantrymen and the Shinra helicopters with everything he got, memories of all that had happened during his time and life in SOLDIER, both the best and the worse flashes through his mind.
The first time he met Sephiroth, the SOLDIER hero after their mission in Wutai. The first time he met Crisis and Tseng of the Turks in the briefing room on the SOLDIER floor. The first time he met Angeal and trying to become a powerful SOLDIER 1st class like him under his tutelage. The first time he met Cloud after the Shinra helicopter crashed down onto the snowy mountain outside of Modeoheim then met him again two years later in Junon (while it's under attack by Genesis copies and robots) with an infantry woman named Angelina Pierce. The first time he met Aeris after he and Laina crashed down into her church by Angeal's hand and later on promised to sell flowers around Midgar with her.
And last but not least, the first time he met both Laina and Phemie Donovan after Genesis brought them into Shinra, becoming friends with them and then becoming Laina's partner, four years and a month later becoming her boyfriend, two years later asking her to marry him and she agreed then another four years later broke out, leave Nibelheim together with Cloud and Angelina and married her in Gongaga (which make his parents happy) while journeying/running from Genesis and Shinra, but now no more.
As the memories fluttered through his mind, Zack felt tears of joy then sadness started brimming in his eyes and he wiped it away swiftly with his black gloved hand before he continue fighting and taking down the army of infantrymen and the Shinra helicopters.
XXXX
Dark, ominous grey clouds came and completely covered up the once clear blue sky. A lone Shinra helicopter flew past Zack, who's now on one knee to the dirt ground (while still holding the Buster sword in his hands) near the edge of a cliff, his face is covered in dirt/grime and blood while his soldier outfit and body had several bullet holes/wounds on it which oozes blood too. He was panting/gasping heavily for breath now (after he killed off most of the infantrymen and take down some of the helicopters with his Flare and Ultima materia) as he raised his head and saw three remaining infantrymen began to approach him warily with their assault rifles. He gritted his teeth to ignore the pain on his entire body and struggled to his feet but before he could raised his sword to strike them down, they immediately opened fire on him, causing more bullet wounds to appear on his body and he cried out in pain before he fell backward to the ground.
XXXX
Zack's cries/screams of pain jolted Laina through the sleep magic casted on her and she opened her eyes, quickly sprang to her feet and run out of their hiding place behind the rocks to where Zack is. When she saw him lying on the ground, his body and face covered in bullet wounds, dirt/grime and blood, she immediately let out a yell full of anguish, despair and pain which causes the three infantrymen who stood looking down at him to turn around to her. They raised their assault rifles at her at the same time she glared darkly at each of them and suddenly they began to yell out in pain as blood began to pour out of their mouths, noses, eyes and ears and they all fell dead to the ground.
Rain began to pour down on the bodies of the dead infantrymens lying everywhere on the ground, on Zack who's lying near the edge of the cliff, still holding the Buster sword in his right hand and on Laina who swiftly approach Zack and fell to her knees near him before her trembling hands reach out and she gently lifted him up and put his head down on her lap, her face a mask of pain/anguish while tears fell from her mako-blue eyes down her face, mixing with the rain so that it's hard to tell whether she cried or not, but she did.
"Zack…" said Laina sadly to him as she looked down at him. He heard her voice, opened his eyes to glance up at her and gave her a weak smile.
"H-Hey there, honey."
"Why, Zack? How could you put me to sleep and came out to faced them by yourself?" She told him off. "If you haven't done that to me then I could have help you! I could have…"
"Get shot multiple times by them and then die with me?" he retorted back to her.
She bit her lip tightly at hearing his words until a thin trickle of blood came out and she gently lifted his head and held him close to her body, ignoring the blood and grime now staining/dirtying her soldier outfit. "Gaia! Yes, Zack, that's right! I could've help you and I don't care that they'll killed me with you and left us to die here, even if it means breaking my promise to get Phemie out of Shinra company and away from Midgar! You're my husband, Zack!" she choked out the words. "Always! I…I can't bring myself to keep on living without you, what more to say losing you here, Zack!"
Zack smiled at her then he weakly raised his left hand to touch her wet cheek. "I know you can't right now, Laina. But later on you'll have to, even if it breaks your heart. You have to live on, help both Cloud and Angelina and try to stop Shinra company with everything you've got, I know you three can do it, together…" His voice faltered and lapsed into silence. So does Laina until they both heard a noise and Laina looked up while Zack slowly turn his head to see who is it. They saw that it's Cloud and Angelina, who's now crawling across the wet/soggy dirt ground (which dirtied their soldier outfits) filled with bodies, helmets and broken swords/assault rifles (which they both ignored) toward them. Once they've reached Zack and Laina, Cloud looked down at Zack's face while Angelina slowly bring herself up into a kneeling position next to Laina.
"Z-Zack…" said Cloud to him in a sad and frighten tone. Zack's face winced in pain as he tried to breath before he looked at Cloud again.
"For the… both of us…" Zack said weakly to Cloud.
"Both of us?" replied Cloud, slightly confused.
Zack nodded to him. "That's right, Cloud. You're gonna…"
"You're gonna…?" said Cloud again and he, Angelina and Laina watched as Zack raised his left hand, put it behind Cloud's head and pulled his head down to his body. "Live." Zack told him. "You'll be… my living legacy. And also…I'll be leaving… my wife, Laina… to you and Angelina. Take care of her, alright?"
Both Cloud and Angelina nodded to him and he gave Laina a look to shush her when he saw that she's about to protest his decision. His left hand which grabbed the back of Cloud's head seconds ago went slack and it fell back to the ground. Cloud then lifted his head and Angelina saw that his face and part of his spiky blonde hair is covered in Zack's blood. Cloud looked down at Zack again, who smiled before he bring the Buster sword close and raised it to Cloud. "My honour… my dreams… they're all yours now, Cloud."
Cloud slowly reach out, grasped the handle of the Buster sword with both of his hands and Zack's hand leave it and fell back to the ground again.
"I'm your… living legacy…" Cloud repeated Zack's words and Zack nodded again before he switch his glance from Cloud to Angelina (who gave him a small smile) then to Laina herself.
"I'm sorry, Laina." Zack said sadly to her. "There's so many… things that I… wished I could have… gave to you… but…"
Laina felt more tears came out of her eyes and she shook her head at him to tell him that she knows what he's going to say to her so he don't have to trouble himself in saying it to her. She then bent her head down to his and kissed him for the final time, he closed his eyes and kissed her back until she felt his last breath left him and she knew that he's… dead now.
Cloud immediately let out a scream of anguish while Angelina covered her face with her hands and began crying. After a while, the rain stopped and the dark, grey clouds began to parted away to reveal clear, blue sky again. Laina lifted her head and glance up at the sky for a while before she glance back down at Zack's peaceful, smiling face.
She bent her head down to him again to kissed his forehead before pulling back to glance at his face again. "I love you, Zack. Until the day I die and reunited with you in the lifestream. I promised, Zack." She then slowly lifted Zack's head from her lap and put his head down on the ground.
"Thank you, Zack. I won't forget." Cloud said to him before he slowly stood up, holding the handle of the Buster sword in his left hand. Both Angelina and Laina stood up too (after Angelina dried up her tears and then gave Laina a hug to comfort her). Cloud closed his eyes (to hold back his tears) for a second then opened them to gaze down at Zack. "Goodnight, Zack."
Cloud turned around and began to walked away from Zack's body, dragging the Buster sword with his hands and with both Angelina and Laina following behind him. The three of them together, just like what Zack wanted.
"Hey, Laina." Zack's voice called out to her and she stopped in her tracks to listen to his voice. "Would you say that I've become a hero?"
Laina smiled at his words and looked down at the lapis lazuli silver ring on her finger.
"Yes, Zack. You're, without a doubt, a hero now."