Chapter Thirty-Six - They Said the 'Z' Word

Zack looked around the group. "So everyone's here, right?"

They all nodded, though they knew someone was missing. For a moment, no one moved.

Barret cleared his throat. "They said they finished fixin' the buggy." As if that needed saying.

"We should get going." Even so, Cloud stayed put.

Aerith looked at her feet. "So this is it, Red, Nanaki."

"Well, he's home now," Kunsel said, "so we can't ask him to come with us."

Unable to excuse delaying any further, they started walking toward the stairs down the cliff.

"Wait for me! I'm coming too!"

They turned and saw Nanaki bounding down the steps from the caves. Bugenhagen followed him at a much more sedate pace.

"Please look after Nanaki."

Zack stepped forward. "We'd be happy to, but what happened? I thought you wanted to stay."

"I think I grew up a little. That's what happened!" Nanaki passed them, running down the stairs to where the buggy was parked.

Zack scratched the back of his head. "Huh. Wonder what that was about." He turned to Bugenhagen. "Don't worry. We'll bring Nanaki back safe."

"Ho, ho, hoooo. I don't doubt it. Take care on your journey."

"Thanks. Okay, everyone, time to move!"

At that, everyone went down the canyon in much better spirits than when they started. Though in Yuffie's case, that seemed to mean complaining that Kunsel should have said cure spells hurt undead before she almost died. At the bottom, Zack grew serious.

"Hey, before we go, I have something that I should have said a while back but didn't since, well, things happened."

Aerith looked up at him. "What is it?"

Zack looked away and scratched his head again. "It's about Nibelheim. You know how I said it burned down?"

"I heard about that from someone, but not you!" Yuffie yelled before being shushed by the rest of the group.

"Yeah, well, it's been rebuilt."

Tifa's eyes widened. "You mean like North Corel? There were survivors?"

"No." Zack shook his head, unable to look Tifa in the eye. "I mean totally rebuilt, as if the whole thing never happened."

"Officially, it didn't happen," Kunsel said. "'Sephiroth and Zack Fair were killed in action while on a classified mission.' That's the story and no one's saying where it happened or how."

Barret let out a few choice curses. "Typical ShinRa. Anythin' ta cover their asses."

"Pretty much." Kunsel leaned on the top of the buggy. "It does bring up a bit of a problem, though."

Yuffie cocked her head. "How's that? There's a town there so there's gonna be an inn or some place where we can spend the night. What's the big deal?"

"Where do you think the people came from? Chances are they're all ShinRa employees, and we're running from ShinRa. We might as well just turn ourselves in."

"So we go 'round it. 'Less there's some big 'portant reason why we haveta go there."

Zack looked at Barret. "Well, I thought Sephiroth would be heading there but..."

"We haven't seen any sign of him in days," Kunsel finished. "There isn't even any evidence that he was anywhere near Gongaga."

"So what are we going to do?" Aerith said.

Kunsel shrugged. "Even if Sephiroth isn't going to Nibelheim, we should still check the mansion there. He read something that got all this started, so maybe we can find out what his plan is by going through those books."

"We have to study? Ugh!" Yuffie made a very dramatic show of leaning against the buggy as if exhausted. If her intent was to get sympathy, it backfired.

Cait turned to Tifa and Cloud. "Is there a way to get into the mansion without goin' through the village?"

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other. Tifa nodded. "Nibelheim is in a valley at the edge of the Nibel Range. The mansion is in a side valley surrounded by cliffs. It's possible, but rather dangerous."

"Sounds good to me," Zack said, opening the driver's side door. "Let's go."

*7*7*

Zack pulled the car over as both he and Kunzel groaned.

"What's wrong? Why did we stop?" Aerith leaned forward to get a look through the windshield. The sight made her gasp.

"Wha' the hell's goin' on?"

Zack turned around in his seat. "Nibel wolves. They've got a kill in the middle of the road up ahead and we can't get around."

Yuffie groaned. "I don't care, as long as the car's stopped. Ooooh gawds. I think I'm gonna die."

"I don't think we'll be able to just wait them out," Kunsel said. "They must be pretty desperate to eat out in the open like this, so they might attack the buggy as soon as they're done."

"You're probably right." Cloud took a deep breath before continuing. "We should probably do... something."

"This the third fight today! Wha' kinda messed up place is this?"

Tifa rubbed her ear. Once again, she was sitting next to Barret. "It's Nibelheim. This is pretty normal."

"There's not very many of them," Zack said, "so it shouldn't take too long." He was halfway out the door when he turned around. "Cloud, you want to help with this one?"

"Sure. I'll get our swords."

"I don't think we'll need them this time."

Tifa slid forward so she could watch the fight from the passenger-side door. Hand-to-hand combat was Tifa's specialty, so she could tell Zack has some training beyond the basics. He was also fast and could improvise, which helped a lot. It didn't take an expert, though, to tell that Cloud had no idea what he was doing. Tifa worried for a moment until she saw Cloud's movements change. The fight didn't last long enough for her to be sure, but he seemed to be copying Zack.

"Sorry about that, Cloud," Zack said after they tossed the bodies into the ditch. "I thought the infantry included hand-to-hand training."

Cloud shook his head, looking a little sad. "Just firearms and nightsticks. I guess someone assumed we'd always be armed."

"Weird." Zack stayed silent for while even after getting back behind the wheel. Then he turned with a mischievous grin on his face. "Hey, Tifa, how'd you like to give Cloud some training?"

"I..." Tifa felt her face redden. It shouldn't do that, it was just training! "That would be fine."

Zack laughed as he started the buggy up.

*7*7*

"People live in this $&#* place?" Barret looked up from the rock hills they were climbing to the grey, twisted peaks of the mountains just ahead.

"They did," Tifa said. Even with Zack's warning, it was hard looking over the cliffs and seeing Nibelheim as if that terrible day had never happened. She could even see her house. Any moment, her father could walk through that door into the village square.

"Looks like somebody still does." Kunsel pointed down the hill to the mansion's front gate.

Aerith gasped. "A man in a black cloak!"

"Two of them." Zack frowned. "They don't look so good."

Yuffie jumped onto Zack's shoulders to get a look. "Yeah! They're all zombie-like."

"Hang on," Barret said. "I thought the man in the black cloak wa' Sephiroth. Now you sayin' he ain't?"

Kunsel nodded. "That would explain a few things."

"Hey!" Cait waved his arms frantically from the back of the group. "Stop leavin' me out. Now what's all this about a man in a black cloak?"

Nanaki looked back at him. "We have been pursuing a man in a black cloak under the assumption that he was Sephiroth. However, it seems that wasn't the case."

"But Sephiroth was on the boat from Junon," Cloud said. "We saw him."

Yuffie, still sitting on Zack, crossed her arms over Zack's head. "So maybe he's following us. What?" She looked around as everyone suddenly looked horrified.

"Let's just get down there." Zack picked Yuffie off his shoulders and set her back on the ground, ignoring her kicks and protests.

They snuck around the wall around the estate until they found a spot where the brickwork had crumbled away. It was still a bit of a climb, and Barret muttered and cursed against 'all this sissy sneaking around.'

"Zack," Aerith said, dusting off her dress, "won't there be ShinRa people in the mansion?"

He shook his head. "When we broke out, there was only one researcher in the place. Since we're not there any more, I don't think ShinRa would have any reason to keep anyone there."

"Before that, I think we should have a closer look at the black cloak guys we saw earlier." Kunsel started walking toward the front gate.

Everyone else followed except Cloud. Tifa turned around and saw that he was just standing by the wall, looking dazed.

"Cloud, are you all right?"

He blinked and shook his head. "I'm fine."

Tifa smiled and took his hand. "It's a little strange being back here, isn't it."

"Yeah." They walked together, Cloud keeping his eyes steadily on the ground.

Tifa couldn't see Cloud's face when they neared the gate, but she felt him tense up.

"He's... calling..." One of the black cloaked men stumbled against the gate. "Sephiroth... is... calling..."

"Ew! What is up with these guys?" Yuffie crouched behind Cait's moogle.

Cait tried to back up. "Git off, lass! I'm not a shield!"

The second man shuffled up to the gate. Both reached through the wrought iron bars, apparently trying to grab Zack and Kunsel. "Re...union. Great... Se...phiroth... is... near... in... side... inside... mansion... urrrrrrrgh... reunion... Sephiroth..." Their hands and arms were chalk white and their faces devoid of any expression. The only color visible under the shadow of their hoods was the faint blue glow of mako from their eyes.

Zack backed far away from the gate. All the color drained from his face as he stared at what was left of two human beings.

Kunsel backed up, too, but not as far. "Numbered tattoos."

"What the #$#? I dun care wha' we'd find in that mansion, le's get out o' this creepy place!"

For a rare moment, Zack agreed with Barret. But Kunsel was right, there could be something valuable in there, and that was far more important.

"Let's get inside. Hopefully, there won't be any black cloaked guys in there."

With that possibility in mind, everyone ran for the mansion.

Nanaki sniffed the air inside. "This place isn't safe."

"Can't be much worse than out there." Zack looked out the door one last time before shutting and bolting it. "If nothing else, it's shelter for tonight. Hey, Cloud... Cloud? You okay?" He bent over, brushing Cloud's hair out of his face. Sweat matted his blond hair and his skin felt clammy.

Cloud looked up. He didn't remember sitting down, but he nodded, anyway. "I'm... I'm fine."

Zack frowned. "No. You're not." He pulled Cloud to his feet, keeping an arm around his shoulders for support. "There are beds upstairs you can rest on."

"Easier said than done." Cait pointed up. Floating along the ceiling and around the stairs were things that looked like pumpkins with paper tassels hanging from their bottoms.

Zack pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great. Dorky faces."

"Huh. They don' look so tough."

"Try 'annoying.'" Zack shifted his grip on Cloud, who was still trying to walk off on his own. "Not much to do about it except go though, I guess."

Yuffie twirled her shuriken. "Leave it to me! I'll clear the path!"

"Wait! NO!" Four voices shouted at once, but it was too late. The shuriken arched through the air like a pinwheel of death.

The dorky faces didn't make a sound. They only turned to face the intruders. Several opened their mouths, purple smoke billowing out.

"Damn it, Yuffie! Think before you..." Zack felt dizzy. He had to get upstairs. He had too... get away. Enemies. There were enemies everywhere. Fight. What was he holding? It was breathing. Was it an enemy too? It was moving. Struggling. Enemy. Noises. Something coming. A shape.

"AH!" Suddenly, Zack was very aware of a boot planted straight across his face. He knew who it belonged to, too. "Tifa!"

No good. She didn't recognize him. He caught her fist in his hand and twisted, hard enough to hurt but not so hard that he'd damage anything.

"Ow! Zack? What...?" Tifa looked around. Everyone was fighting each other. "Oh no."

"Yeah. I need you to make sure no one gets killed. I'm going upstairs with Cloud." He stayed just long enough to see Tifa give Barret a swift kick in the rear before tucking Cloud more securely under his arm and running up the stairs.

Cloud was still struggling when they reached the bedroom. Zack closed the door and dropped Cloud on the nearest bed. That instant, Cloud tried to punch Zack.

"Whoa! Watch it." Zack backhanded Cloud in the shoulder. "Now I'm kind of glad you stink at fist fighting."

"Huh?" Cloud blinked several times. "Where are we? Where is everyone?"

Zack pushed Cloud down onto the bed with one hand. "Relax. They're downstairs dealing with the mess Yuffie made."

"Oh, right. The dorky faces." He sat up, but Zack blocked him from getting off the bed. "Zack, I'm fine."

"Yeah. There's nothing wrong with collapsing in a cold sweat." Even so, Zack did back off just far enough to grab a chair. He sat on it backwards with his arms crossed over the back.

Cloud looked away. "I'm fine now. I just..." He didn't really know how to complete that sentence. He felt weak and pathetic for freaking out like that. And over some creepy guys muttering nonsense, too. "You shouldn't worry about me."

"Heh. We're friends, and friends worry about each other." Zack leaned forward and ruffled Cloud's hair. "You're just going to have to get used to a lot of people worrying about you."

Cloud pushed Zack's hand away and watched as he walked toward the door. "Zack?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm just checking on everyone. I'll be right back."

Moments later, Cloud was alone. The sound of fighting seemed to drift further and further away as he curled in on himself. He shouldn't have come. He was a burden. He thought about leaving, but the only thing he could think of doing was looking for Sephiroth by himself. He wanted revenge. Revenge for his hometown. Revenge for making Zack and Tifa suffer.

Just wanting revenge wasn't enough. He was supposed to protect people, but everyone ended up protecting him. If he couldn't protect anyone, how was he supposed to get revenge for them?

He rested his forehead on his knees. "I'm not needed. Zack's here. He can take care of everything."

I think I know why this part is so hard to write. It's, well, let's just say that I can identify with Cloud's current emotional state. A lot. And Zack's probably a little shook up, too, what with Cloud looking like he was going to have a relapse and all.

Anyway, things continue to go along very similarly to the original storyline. I'm actually a bit surprised. I wonder what that says about my typical writing experience, that I'm surprised the characters are following a pre-planned storyline. Just some fair warning, I expect something very different from the original to happen in the next dozen or so chapters. After Rocket Town, definitely. Unless the characters decide they like the game's storyline. Good grief.