Summary: Cloud arrives back at Midgar and wants to know what the hells Zack was thinking. Before he can decide if it was brilliant or a Very Bad Idea, disaster strikes – and like just about everything else related to Shinra, it's not natural.

Reminder: If you spot any SPAG or plot errors, let me know. Constructive criticism helps me make this story, and my writing, better.

Chapter 15: We All Go Together

Cloud pushed through the doors of the bar, totally ignoring the prominent 'CLOSED' sign. Honestly, the bar was closed so often during work hours that it might as well have a flashing sign saying 'Hinky Shit Going Down Here'.

Aerith was just inside the door throwing darts (badly) at the dart board. Zack was at the bar, next to Marlene who was colouring on some paper. The SOLDIER wore his trademark smile, but it was his trademark for a reason. Cloud knew it covered up all sorts of darker emotions.

Right now, it could've been real. Zack was watching his girlfriend and saying encouraging things to her. They didn't help Aerith throw any better, but they made her twinkle brightly at him and that was probably the point.

Cloud stopped in the doorway and put his hands on his hips. "Tell me again, but slower and more detail," he said firmly.

"Cloud!" Aerith yelled happily. She turned while throwing and nearly put the dart through the jukebox. At least she didn't have anymore pointy things when she jumped on him for a hug. "You're back early!"

"From that PHS call, think I was too late." He gave Zack a steely stare, but Zack's grin just widened.

"It's not a done deal yet," he said.

"Details," Cloud repeated. "I want details."

Before Zack could get started Tifa and Barret Wallace rode the pinball machine up from the 'secret room' in the basement.

"I can't believe you agreed to this!" Wallace growled.

"It's not a done deal, yet!" Zack called out.

Wallace pointed his gun arm at him. "You stay outta this!"

Zack shrugged.

"What do you expect me to do while you're off fighting for Shinra?" Wallace demanded.

"For one, I won't be fighting for Shinra."

"You'd be getting paid–"

Tifa held her hand up. "Not the same thing. This is a monster hunt. Possibly the deadliest monster on the planet." Her jaw clenched. It took a moment for her to continue. "And two, you can look after the bar for me. Marlene will love it."

"You gonna be here with me, Daddy?" Excited Marlene stood on her barstool. Zack automatically put out a hand to help keep her steady.

Wallace looked at his kid and caved. "Yeah, baby. Daddy's sticking around." Big, angry man with anger issues and a gun arm, and he was helpless before a girl that barely came to his knees. It was kind of funny. Although Cloud had noticed that it usually only worked when Marlene was right in front of the man.

It reminded him of his ma. Half the time, she never remembered he existed unless he was standing under her nose, either.

"You gonna learn how to mix drinks like Tifa?" The kid's voice was full of doubt.

Tifa laughed. "I think I'll get Biggs to do that."

"Good idea," Wallace muttered. More loudly he added, "C'mon sweetheart. Let's go getta ice cream and then see if we can find Sally in the playground."

Marlene squealed in joy, and jumped, absolutely confident that her da would catch her. He did of course, swinging her up as easily as Zack swung his big buster sword.

They all watched as the small family left. They all waited as Cloud flipped the lock on the door.

"Who could use a drink?" Tifa asked into the ominous quiet.

Cloud raised his hand. "Something hard."

"Make it two," Zack added.

"I'd like something with an umbrella," Aerith said, skipping over to the bar. Cloud noticed Tifa's eyes tracking the movement, how it took Tifa a moment to say 'sure', and the light tinge of colour in his childhood friend's cheeks.

His eyebrows went up – wasn't that interesting? Then he put it aside for the more immediate concern.

Swinging a leg over the stool next to Zack's, he leaned in. "Details."

.o0|0o.

"You asked for how much?" Cloud's voice nearly cracked, and his jaw wouldn't close. He didn't care.

"One hundred thousand up front, no refunds," Zack repeated. "Ten million if we get him."

"Dead or alive," Cloud asked.

"They'd prefer alive," Zack responded.

Tifa muttered, "I'd prefer dead" softly enough that they could ignore it.

"And expenses, and equipment–"

"New materia," Aerith broke in, clasping her hands under her chin.

"Materia…." Cloud trailed off. He scrubbed a hand over his head, digging into his scalp as if that would help his brain run more efficiently. "To hunt Sephiroth," he repeated.

Aerith nodded, Tifa glowered, but Zack just looked at him.

"What," he asked.

Zack sighed. He looked away for a moment, then down at his drink. He lifted it to Tifa, silently asking for a refill. She took it just as silently.

"I don't think it is Sephiroth," he finally said staring into the amber liquid in his glass.

That made everyone still.

"It was him." Tifa was the first to speak. "That coat. His hair… He used Masamune."

Zack nodded, throwing back the whisky. "Yeah, that was all there…" He made a face, perhaps unsure how to phrase it, or how they'd take whatever he had to say.

"But?" Cloud prodded.

A sigh. "He didn't move right," Zack finally said. "The walk was… Did you ever see him in person?" he asked Cloud.

"At ceremonies, parades, stuff like that," Cloud answered but Zack was already shaking his head.

"If you ever saw him walking in the hall, just as himself, y'know, and not THE SILVER GENERAL –" He looked at Tifa, "Okay, so there was some basis to thinking he had military rank." She just sniffed. He turned back to Cloud. "If you saw him away from everyone else, when it was just us SOLDIERs, he wasn't stiff like he was in public. His movements were deliberate, sure, but not fussy; he just moved from here to there as efficiently as possible."

"That's what we saw," Tifa said.

"Maybe. Okay, with the odd time jumps and stuff, but…" Again, Zack sighed. "The Sephiroth in the cameras…. He was far too aware of the way his body was moving – like a bad guy monologuing in a movie – but, at the same time, there was no weight to it."

"If it wasn't Sephiroth, then who?" Cloud asked.

Zack's eyebrows went up and he nodded. "That's the question, isn't it? Something Hojo cooked up to replace him? Maybe something that wants to continue whatever he started in Nibelheim."

Cloud looked at Aerith. She looked unusually serious, but she gave a small shrug. Either she didn't know the story either, or she didn't think it was her story to tell.

"What started in Nibelheim?" Cloud asked.

"You mean HQ wasn't buzzing with gossip?" Zack asked bitterly. "You didn't hear how we went nuts or whatever, and caused an explosion at the reactor?"

"Was in a coma 'til December," Cloud interrupted. "All I ever heard was the official version. What I know different, I got from Tifa." He nodded at his fellow Nibelheimer.

"I told Cloud the basics – what I knew, at least." Tifa said. "Something happened at the reactor –an argument, I guess, because Genesis went in and Sephiroth stormed out. He went to the mansion someone said, but nobody knew for sure. When he came out, he burned down the village, killed everyone he saw, then went to the reactor."

"You and your dad tried to stop him," Zack said. "I found you at the reactor and you were hurt." Tifa nodded. "Did he say anything to you?"

Cloud held up his hand. "Wait. Start at the beginning, so we all know the same stuff. And don't skip any –"

"Details. Got it." Zack nodded. He took a visible breath. "The beginning. Uh, that would be about the time Shinra captured Fort Tamblin." Aerith tipped her head, and Zack stopped. "No, maybe let's go back further. To whenever Shinra dug up a creature they called Jenova and decided she was an Ancient…."

.o0|0o.

It took a long time, and there were sidebars from everyone except Cloud. All Cloud had was questions.

Cloud looked at everyone. They'd already had two drinks and Cloud was thinking of asking for another. "So, base assumption is that Jenova – the thing used to enhance the original Firsts – was the Calamity written 'bout by the Ancients."

"Cetra," Aerith corrected. Zack just nodded.

"And Professor Gast – your father," he nodded at Aerith who nodded back once. "Assumed Jenova was an Ancient, I mean Cetra, 'cause…?"

"She was partly Cetra," Aerith answered. "At least the host body was probably Cetra." She frowned, and Cloud figured it was because she was trying to remember everything her birth mother had told her.

Talk about tragic backstories….

Out of the four of them, Zack was the only one whose parents were still alive, but he'd suffered four years being Hojo's experiment. Not a great deal as far as Cloud was concerned, but maybe Zack was close to his parents, so he'd think it was a good thing? Cloud wasn't sure he'd make that trade, but he hadn't been close to his ma. He'd loved her, but…. She'd been difficult to live with.

Aerith sighed and pulled Cloud's attention back to the conversation. "I don't know why, really. I think when they dug her up, she was encased in hardened mako? And something about where they found her supported the idea that she'd been buried over 2,000 years ago."

"Which is the Time of the Ancients," Zack nodded. "According to our archaeological record – which is Shinra's archaeological record so not necessarily to be trusted."

"Where was it found?" Tifa asked. "Did she say?"

Aerith just shook her head.

"Well, there's not that many places that have open mako pools," Zack said. "Not large enough to encase a whole body in hardened mako, anyway."

"There's a mako cave outside of Nibelheim," Cloud said. "Lotsa weird formations, all big."

Tifa looked at him. "Didn't know that." Cloud shrugged. He'd spent more time in the mountains than any other kid in Nibelheim. Mostly because the bullies wouldn't follow him off the paths. Too afraid of wolves and dragons. Cloud had been scared too, but Nibel wolves and dragons were rarer than Nibelheim bullies, so….

"Would fit with Shinra putting in a lab in Nibelheim," Cloud added, but Zack shook his head.

"Jenova was brought to Nibelheim," he said. "Hojo made that clear when he rambled."

"Too bad he didn't ramble about useful stuff," Aerith pouted. Zack gave her a soft peck on the cheek, and she cheered right up.

Tifa huffed out a breath. "Okay, so where else would it be possible?"

"Mideel has a huge open mako pool," Zack said. "But it's flat and the town's pretty well developed. No place to hide a large expedition.

"Northern Continent," Cloud said firmly. "They've that long-time dig going on, and half the continent's frozen and unexplored."

"It didn't use to be," Zack added. "A hundred years ago, Modeoheim was a summer retreat. Now it's cold all year round."

Cloud nodded. He remembered Modeoheim. "Wasn't there a reactor there?"

"It was never finished," Zack said. "They got the processor mostly done, but then… They just stopped."

Cloud hummed. "Never built the mako reactor in Wutai either. Or rebuilt the one in Gongaga. Why not?"

"Maybe that's when President Shinra became interested in the Promised Land," Zack said. "If he was looking for a better world than here–"

"Then why bother fixing this one," Tifa finished.

Cloud looked at both of them. "Is he looking for the Promised Land?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah. I remember Angeal and Lazard talking about how it'd become an obsession."

Tifa groaned. "Obsessions are bad for everyone."

Cloud wondered if Tifa realized that was equally true of her own obsessions. He didn't mention it though. They'd had that discussion too many times to start it up again now.

"Next question: what is the Promised Land."

Aerith, kept her hands tight against her chest and her eyes down. "I only know a little – just what I can remember from my real mother." Zack rubbed a hand down her arm. "She used to tell me this prayer. She said it was very old, and she didn't remember all of it, and probably not correctly,"

"Doesn't matter," Zack said. "Still more than we have now."

Aerith closed her eyes and a calmness came over her. "We who are born of the planet, with her we speak. Her flesh we shape. Unto her promised land shall we one day return. By her loving grace and providence may we take our place in paradise."

For a moment, the only sound was the music form the jukebox and the soft trilling of the pinball machine.

"Sounds like a place you go after you die," Cloud said. Zack and Tifa nodded. "How would dying and going to a heaven benefit Shinra, man or company?"

"Probably thinks it's filled with mako he can pump out." Tifa's suggestion was bitter, but nobody argued.

"I think Hojo might be responsible for whatever stupid beliefs the president has about it," Zack finally said. "He's the one who knew your mother was a Cetra – or an Ancient. And the SOLDIER program was winding down."

"War with Wutai was over," Cloud commented.

Zack nodded. "And he'd never managed to make another Sephiroth – or even a Genesis or an Angeal."

"They made you," Tifa pointed out.

Zack shook his head. "I wasn't on their level. I mean, I was good, but I couldn't slice though metre-thick concrete using my own energy or conjure fire out of nothing. I was closest to Angeal, but even he outpowered me."

"But you killed him," Tifa said.

It was a cold thing to say, and Zack dropped his head to hide the sting. "Yeah, but only because he let me." This time, Aerith's hand rubbed up and down Zack's arm.

"So, SOLDIER program was a failure, unneeded, or both," Cloud said into the silence. "Hojo needed something to keep the gil flowing – so he could keep doing his experiments. He uses something he learned from Aerith's mother a decade earlier, twists it to suit his needs, and sells it to old man Shinra."

"Sounds about right," Zack said. Aerith nodded.

Cloud nodded too. "How's that help us find Sephiroth now?"

This time the silence was broken by Tifa setting out some more drinks – her way of apologizing.

Zack laughed, a bitter scrape of sound. "Hells if I know."

"So we're going to do this?" Aerith asked. "Go after Sephiroth?"

Cloud scrubbed his filthy hair. He kinda wished he'd stopped at his apartment long enough to take a shower. "If the stuff he said to Zack's still his end goal…"

"Rule the planet, sail the stars," Zack squinted. "Or maybe that one was a dream… I know he said he and Jenova would take over the Promised Land."

"Another asshole obsessed with the Promised Land," Tifa muttered. Aerith held up her glass to be clinked and Tifa obliged before they both took long swallows.

Cloud decided a drink was a good idea. He held up his glass, and Zack picked up his, and there was clinking and drinking all round.

Then the floor moved.

"Woah!" Aerith breathed. She looked at her glass.

The bottles on the shelves behind the bar started to bump together. Then they started bumping off the shelves.

"Earthquake," Zack said.

"Earthquake?" Tifa echoed in disbelief. Cloud was already jumping over the counter.

Zack bundled Aerith up. "Get away from the glass; under the tables or something that'll cover our heads." He pushed some chairs away from the closest table and tucked both of them under it.

When Cloud looked under the heavy countertops for a place for him and Tifa to shelter out the worst of it he saw Marlene's small pink backpack, forgotten and incongruously bright in the dim space, but not enough space for them to use it as shelter.

He tried to pull Tifa out into the serving area. Zack's idea wasn't a bad one.

"There are no earthquakes in Midgar," Tifa said, as if that would stop what was happening.

It was a valid point, Cloud acknowledged, but one that didn't matter right now. Seventh Heaven may have been one of the stronger buildings in the sector, but the ground was heaving. The fridge had toppled. The small appliances slid all over the counter. It was dangerous back here.

One slid right off and fell at Tifa's feet. She hopped out of the way and finally followed him.

Half the chairs had bounce away or fallen over, so climbing under a table was quick.

"Grab a leg," he told her. "Try to keep the table above you." Then there was nothing to do but wait. Wait while the floor, shifted and creaked, heaved and groaned.

They dropped a metre or two, then what felt like five more in three brutal drops. The tables shifted and slid, so Cloud drove his fingers into the floor, using some of the unnatural strength Hojo's experiments had given him. It helped, but his knees still felt bruised as the world finally steadied.

They waited.

Most of the lights were gone, but some had only flickered and dimmed. The pinball machine and jukebox were quiet. Beneath him, the thick planks that made up the bar's floor had spread out allowing him a glimpse of a void dimly lit by greenish light.

"Think we fell into the secret underground lab." He repeated it louder for Zack and Aerith across the room under their own table.

"Real funny, Cloud," Tifa said, frowning. "This is a disaster. If Seventh Heaven is this badly damaged, then rest of the sector will be awful. We have to help."

She made to scramble out from under the table, but Cloud took his fingers out of the wood floor and grabbed her foot. "Need to survive first."

There was an ominous creak and then a chunk of the second floor came down on top of their table. If Tifa had been out there, she would've been crushed.

"Actually," Zack called out above the noise. "I think Tifa's got a good idea. Let's move to the door, taking the tables with us."

"Why?" he called out his question, even as he obediently started shuffling towards Seventh Heaven's front door.

"I think the plate might collapse," Zack called back. "At least part of it. I can hear metal shrieking." Beside him, another piece of the second floor fell.

"Might be the lab," Cloud suggested

Zack looked grim. "Maybe. Either way, I think something very important just blew up."

"So, maybe this isn't an earthquake." Aerith didn't say it as a question.

"But we called off the job," Tifa said. "We didn't go after the reactors."

They were halfway to the door, but there was rubble in the way that was hard to crawl over while under tables.

"I doubt this was Avalanche," Zack said, pushing more stuff to the side. "Even in Fuhito's day, they couldn't pull this off."

"Maybe they never tried before," Cloud suggested.

Zack shook his head. "If a plate goes down, that's big. That's internal."

"Great," Tifa muttered.

They were nearly at the front entrance when there was a long, slow groan. Everything rumbled – "Brace yourself!" – and they dropped another couple metres. They dropped so hard and fast that Cloud actually bounced. His head hit the table, and Cloud automatically let go of the table leg to rub the hurt away.

Unfortunately, the floor tilted out from under him, and Cloud rolled out and away from the dubious safety of the heavy tables.

He didn't go far, because the secret room under the pinball machine was halfway through the floor, and the second floor on that side was now completely down. He rolled into a stubborn beam. Dirt and small debris showered down on him. The whole building groaned, shook, but eventually stilled.

There was silence.

At least, it felt like silence after the last few minutes. The lights buzzed unhappily. He could hear water running from torn pipes, and there was dirt and plaster dust sprinkling down from everywhere.

Everyone called out to him. "I'm okay," he answered. "Pride, more 'n anything." He heard Aerith's okay and Tifa's tsk, but he didn't care. It looked like they'd all survived whatever the hells had just happened

He rolled away from the beam – and the weight of roof it was holding up. Looking around, he saw the whole right side of the bar was destroyed – the secret room had been pushed up, the wall was caved in, and everything was squished by the second-floor collapsing – but the rest of the room was recognizable. More or less.

There were huge cracks in the floor – gaps large enough to catch a foot in. More of the odd greenish light seeped through.

A metre or so away, the floor had dropped a half-metre further at least. It left that end of the bar hanging off into nothing, but it was whole. The left back corner, where the washrooms used to be, seemed to be completely missing.

"Now what?" Tifa asked. "Can we still get out the front?"

Cloud looked towards the front door. Where there should be sky, or at least plate, there was dirt.

"No," he said. "It's dirt."

"Up to the second floor then," Zack suggested, sticking his head out to see for himself.

Cloud looked up along the collapsed second floor, tracking an uneven line up to the next level. There were jagged edges sticking out from large, drooping cracks that would be great to impale invaders on. It all looked ready to fall. A large sheet of metal gave a 'twang' from somewhere upstairs, and the ceiling released a gout of plaster and dust, and whatever had been used as flooring.

"Not sure that's gonna be possible."

"Nope. That's out," Zack said watching the bits fall.

"Where then?" Aerith asked.

Cloud stood up carefully – he may have hit his hip a little harder than he'd let on to the others – and let his eyes drift over the rest of the bar. They might be able to get up the back stairs, but it was too dark to see if they'd survived.

In the corner of his eye, he saw greenish light coming from the bathroom that didn't exist anymore. Maybe it was a way down into whatever Shinra had built below the sector? Not a great option, but better than staying here.

"Hang on," Cloud said then very carefully took a step.

The floor under him didn't bend, didn't give.

He made his way to the far-left corner, carefully going from plank to plank, making sure each would take his weight.

The left side was a half-metre lower than the rest of the bar. Cloud stepped down carefully, and held his breath as things groaned in protest. He stepped forward – one step, two – until he was finally close enough to see that the washroom had fallen a further ten metres. It was a box of debris in a steel and concrete passageway that screamed Nefarious and Secret.

"Found a way out of the bar!" he called to the rest. "Not sure it'll take us to safety."

He turned to see that the rest of them had climbed out from under the tables. "Need to load up – every potion, every materia and anything else we can carry. This is definitely Shinra's secret underground lab.."

"Ah, fuck no," Zack sighed. "Why does it have to be a lab?"

Cloud winced in sympathy. "Could be storage. Could even be maintenance tunnels."

"We're not that lucky."

"I'm that lucky," Aerith said, smiling with significance at Zack.

"Floor's on the roof of a cage, right now," Cloud told them. "Don't hear any noises so must be empty."

"So, the floor's okay?" Zack asked.

"Should be safe as long as you don't jump." He might've added 'and don't weigh 130 kilos' but Zack was light on his feet for the amount of muscle he carried.

Except, apparently, the planks didn't care that Zack was light-footed.

The SOLDIER's first step caused the plank he was standing on to creak and bend ominously. Its movement caused the things around the plank to shift – like the front door. The bottom hinge popped, and the door itself swung crookedly from the remaining hinge. Dirt from the outside dribbled in.

Zack froze. "Well, shit,"

Tifa said held up a hand. "Me'n Aerith'll gather up supplies. We're light." Cloud nodded agreement. Zack didn't look happy, but he crossed his arms and settled in to wait.

Tifa and Aerith went to Avalanche's exposed secret room, where Tifa broke open the back of a cabinet and pulled out whatever her and her buddies had stockpiled. Cloud carefully ducked under the intact counter before climbing back up behind the bar. He grabbed snacks and water and whatever else he could fit in Marlene's small backpack.

When he got back to the gaping hole, Aerith, braced by Tifa, was looking down to the dimly lit bottom. "That's quite a way down," she said.

Cloud looked at her. She looked game, but nervous. "I'll go first, clean it out, then come catch you."

Aerith nodded, but Tifa didn't. "I can make the jump." She probably could, and it wasn't worth fighting about, so Cloud just nodded.

He drew Iron Blade, braced himself, and jumped down onto the remains of Seventh Heaven's washroom. He jumped off as soon as he landed. Good thing. The damaged structure shivered and collapsed into a large pile of rubble.

Cloud tried to filter out the sound of it to listen for anything hostile approaching. There was just the drip of water, and the gentle 'ting-ting' of falling pebbles.

When he turned back, his theory that Seventh Heaven was laying on top of a large cage was proven correct. Large and empty, with thick bars meant to hold something that was actively trying to escape, it was holding for now. But the foundation and flooring of Seventh Heaven was sliding through the openings. If enough fell away, the planks would start to slide and that would be dangerous for everyone.

He went back and kicked the sharpest bits of the washroom's remains to the side. He cleared out a small space, before calling up, "Jump to the left."

Tifa, smart girl that she was, caught herself on the bar's floor first, then lightly swung herself over the rubble pile. She landed in a perfect 3-point pose like the kind used by heroes in movies and comic books.

"Show off," he said fondly.

She just grinned at him. "You get Aerith. I'll check for monsters."

Cloud put his sword back in its harness. Aerith barely let him get into position before she jumped down. Cloud caught her, but he stumbled a bit. Aerith giggled. "Thank you, Cloud."

For some reason, that made Cloud blush red as Ifrit's ears.

"Everything looks clear," Tifa said from the side. "Should move over here, in case the whole thing collapses when Zack moves."

"It's not allowed to collapse on Zack," Aerith said with great seriousness.

Cloud ignored that in favour of following Tifa's suggestion. Once they were (probably) out of range of any debris, he shouted to his friend that it was safe to come down. They waited, listening for any tell-tale creak, looking for the sudden gush of debris.

There were creaks and there was falling debris, and it seemed to take as long as a Nibel winter, but eventually Zack dropped down. He landed lightly on bent knees, but otherwise looked like he'd just strolled down main street. The bright pink stripes in his shirt glowed in the dim light.

"Which way?"

"No idea," Tifa said. Cloud and Aerith had to shake their heads as well. There were no arrows, no exit signs, no helpful maps pointing them to a way out.

Zack closed his eyes, and they all stilled, letting him listen to things other than themselves. A moment later, he opened his eyes and shook his head.

"Would the main doors be closer to Shinra Tower, do you think?" Aerith asked.

Zack shrugged. "Makes as much sense as anything."

"Well, if that was the washrooms, the central pillar'll be that way." Tifa pointed her chin to the right of the hole.

"Alrighty-then," Zack said. "That's the way we'll go."

"We should redistribute Tifa's supplies," Aerith said.

Cloud looked up at the straining ribs of the bar. "Let's get out from under Seventh Heaven, then we can do that."

They hadn't gone very far down the wide, dimly lit corridor when there was a distant 'whomp'. All the lights flickered, and they could hear roars from things living down here – probably in more cages. It was all far away, until it wasn't.

"Fuck me," Zack whispered. "The floor's rippling up ahead."

"We should grab something," Tifa added.

It seemed logical to drop to the ground and grab the grated flooring. Except they hadn't counted on the flooring being unsecured. Maybe Shinra'd forgot to screw down this one or maybe relied on the weight of the metal plates to stay in place. Whatever the reason, one moment they were crouched, waiting for the tremor to pass, and the next they were falling, falling….

All Cloud could do was keep relaxed until he felt that first impact, and then roll. It wasn't quite as graceful as it could've been because his sword harness got caught, and his ribs hit the cross guard with breath-stealing force. "Wolf nuts!" Cloud said

Zack, the only one of them standing, gave a cough of laughter. "Really?" he said. "Wolf nuts?"

"Don't make fun of a man in pain," Cloud replied. He cast Cure on himself and got up. By that point, Zack had checked on both Aerith and Tifa. Aerith did what Cloud had and cast a low-level healing spell, but Tifa waved away Cloud's offer.

Cloud looked up. They followed his gaze. The original corridor was fifteen metres above them. "Deeper into the rabbit hole," he said. "Fun."

Zack's PHS rang and everyone jumped. It echoed in the large, empty space they'd landed in. Zack looked at the display – "Turks," he muttered – before flipping it open. "Hiya Cissnei."

If Cloud concentrated, he would probably hear the other side of the conversation, but he trusted Zack to tell them later, so he turned his attention to space they'd landed in. It was better constructed that the upper corridor. The walls were smooth, and there were large pipes for electrical, or water – or maybe they were more secret passages. Who the hells knew with Shinra? There were pallets on the floor and storage boxes piled haphazardly in corners. Out of curiosity, he walked over to the nearest pile and opened the top box. "Holy Odin's mighty sword," he whispered.

Inside the crate, tossed in like junk, were old infantry uniforms. Some were damaged, but many were just… here. There were bracers, and belly guards, and and some gloves that looked like they'd been made for a close-quarters fighter, with thick metal bands over the knuckles and wrists.

While Zack went "I don't believe that and neither do you," to his Turk friend, Cloud called Tifa and Aerith over.

"These aren't new," he said. "These belonged to soldiers."

"SOLDIER?"

"Infantry," Cloud clarified. "Regular army. I wore this exact uniform."

"Oh. Why're they here?" Tifa asked.

"Dunno." He lifted up a belly-guard. "You get given one of these when you join. Heavy, uncomfortable as Ifrit's Hells. You wear it day after day, and eventually, it fits, and you don't notice it anymore."

Tifa frowned. "It's just armour."

Cloud shook his head. "Change your uniform as you get promoted. Don't change this. "

"Did they die?" Aerith asked. She was hunched slightly away from the boxes. Clenched hand lifted to her chin.

"Uniforms don't look damaged. Used though. No names that I can see." Cloud sighed. "Bracers and accessories are supposed go to the family when a soldier dies, so I dunno."

"Wouldn't be the first time Shinra flouted their own rules," Tifa said and nobody could argue with that.

With a silent apology to the soldiers whose gear they were rifling through, Cloud held out the gloves he'd found. Tifa took them like he'd hoped she would. Aerith took a bracelet that had more materia slots than what she was using now. Cloud pulled out one of the heavy belly-guards, and looked it over for wear or damage.

Zack came over after his call ended. "So that was Cissnei – oh hey! Belly-guards!" He grabbed the top one and tried it on. "She just called to let me know that the decision on our contract would be delayed." He gave the one in his hand to Tifa. "This should fit you."

"But –"

"Better to have more protection. Don't know what we're going to run into down here." He was so serious, that Tifa took it without another word.

"What else did he say?" Cloud asked. He took the guard from Tifa when she couldn't figure out the buckles.

Zack was buckling Aerith into one. It looked odd over her delicate dress. "The official word is terrorists – Avalanche with Wutai's backing."

Tifa, in the middle of a kata, making sure she could move the way she was used to in the strange armour, spat "That's not true!"

Zack snorted unhappily. "We know it's not true, and they know it's not true, but everyone else in Midgar will be reassured that it's a known enemy."

"And not a reanimated super SOLDIER, or a copy of one."

Zack smiled at Aerith. "Exactly!" He'd finally found a belly-guard that fit, and the buckles clinked lightly as he fastened them. He shimmied a couple times once it was secure, did a couple squats. When he straightened, Zack somehow seemed more the SOLDIER First Class he'd been than at any time since Cloud had found him.

"Didn't tell her where we were?" Cloud asked.

Zack rubbed his scalp. "Ahh, no," he admitted.

"Why not?" Tifa asked, and Cloud had to agree with her. Having a super efficient member of Shinra's secret service out to rescue them…. Not a bad idea.

"Because what if they have standing orders to kill anyone who finds out about this place?"

"Would they?" Cloud looked to Aerith since she had the most experience with the Turks. Aerith, looking sad, just shrugged. "Guess we get out of this ourselves."

Cloud and Aerith opened the rest of the boxes. Aerith found one filled with potions and small items they might be able to use. Cloud found more uniforms including a better bracer for Zack and a materia – a red materia.

He touched it. It pulsed.

"Whatchya find, Cloud?" Tifa asked, coming over.

"An Ifrit summon," he said. He laughed. "A guy in my squad, Limri Nev, had an Ifrit summon. Passed down for, like, five generations."

Zack hesitated. "Was he in the squad that Hojo…?"

Cloud nodded. "Didn't come out of the coma, they said."

"Could that be his then?" Tifa asked.

Cloud's first instinct was to say that Shinra would've sent such a valuable materia home to Nev's family, but of course, they might not have. He tried sensing the materia, its history, but although he could feel the energy of the summon, he couldn't tell if this was Nev's or not. If Nev was alive, surely they'd let him keep it?

"Anybody mind if I take this one?" There were no objections.

After a moment, Zack continued his recap. "So anyway, Cissnei also wanted to warn me about the possibility that some experiments might manage to escape in the confusion. 'Might manage', right." He shook his head. "So, like the good little mercenary I am now, I asked if there'd be a bounty on all the ones we kill. Cissnei raised an eyebrow–"

"How do you know that." Aerith asked, curious.

"Well, she was deeply silent for a while. I knew she was giving me a Look."

"Hmm," she said, giving him what was probably the exact same look.

Tifa pulled out a net bag with three metal balls. "Are these grenades?"

Cloud looked at them. "Yah."

"Do we want them?"

"Nah," Zack said. "They're heavy and they don't do as much damage as your punch does." The compliment made Tifa blush.

Cloud hid his smile. "Can use the bag to carry potions."

At the end of their search, they'd found three ethers and two hi-potions, five regular potions, two phoenix downs and an elixir. They'd also found a couple antidotes, an echo screen (which Zack said would cure Silence), a couple remedies, and two more materia. Added to the stuff they'd scrounged from Avalanche's secret lair, and suddenly they had more materia than they had slots.

They went looking for more bracers and belts and anything that had a slot.

"We can double up on the accessories," Zack said in warning. "But watch yourselves. Just wearing materia can be draining, so if you got too much on just say so. Better to appear weak –" he air-quoted "– now, than to actually be weak in battle."

They all nodded. If they were like Cloud, they could feel the pull of all the materia they wore – a steady small drain that maintained the link between a person and the materia. It's how it stored power and how it leveled, and why nobody else could activate them remotely.

With two wrist bracers and his sword, Cloud was wearing nine total and that felt like his limit. It was manageable, he thought, but he'd have to see if that held true in combat.

For some reason, when they'd all finished scavenging, they lined up in front of Zack like recruits before battle, and the former SOLDIER was inspecting them the same way, checking straps and balance. Except for the kiss he grabbed from Aerith, it could've been any pre-mission check.

After that, he stood back, hands on hips, and looked at each of them in turn. He gave a small, bitter smile. "I only have one word of advice," he said. "No matter the situation, never let go your pride as a mercenary. Got it?

Tifa shifted, arms crossed. "Seriously?"

Zack's smile widened, became natural. "Nah. Let's do what we need to to get the fuck out of here."

AN: If anyone is interested, why yes, I did spend hours figuring out which materia they had, which ones Tifa pulled from the secret lair, and what levels they'd all be at. And then I spent even more time figuring out who had what. (I can provide you with a chart if you like… heh)

I cheated by allowing them to wear more armour and accessories than the game allows, but I hopefully balanced that by having a mental/physical cost to wearing materia.

Also, I have a constantly changing playlist on Spotify that I listen to while I write. Look for me there as etrixan if you're interested.