Prologue

"Yes. …. …. from the door … …. … injured…. … Zack… …. … fused with monsters…" Zack's mind slipped in and out of consciousness as Tseng's voice slowly pulled him back into reality. When Zack opened his eyes, Cloud's face with his lush blonde hair was the first thing that materialized before his eyes. "Zack, how are you feeling?", Cloud asked over the noise of the helicopter, leaning towards Zack.

Beside him, Tseng was still talking. "Excuse me? I just told you. Angeal fused with monsters and turned into a four-legged fiend. Zack battled with him." Zack's eyes fell shut again. "Shut up", he muttered. He felt Cloud's hand on his knee. "The fight went on for several minutes. Zack was hurt pretty bad, but he managed to incapacitate the monster." Zack pressed his hands on his eyes. "Shut up", he said out loud. "Zack, please calm down", Cloud said softly.

"Then it turned back into Angeal and-", Tseng continued. "his body had started to visibly degrade." Zack jerked around and yelled at Tseng: "Shut the hell up!" Tseng was on the phone giving his preliminary report of the events as he usually did after immediate danger had passed. He turned toward Zack with an irriated look on his face. He raised his free hand, palm facing toward Zack and continued to talk. "Angeal passed away as a result of the progressed degradation of his body and his injuries sustained during the battle with Zack." Zack clenched his fists and slammed them on his thighs. "Angeal is confirmed dead."

Zack slammed his fists on his thigh again, harder this time, as tears stung his eyes. Cloud grabbed his wrists and held them down. "Please, stop", he pleaded again. "I will call again later and give further details. That'll be all for now." He folded his phone and fully turned toward Zack. "In case you were wondering, I had to sedate you because you flew into a rage. It was for your own safety."

His fists still clenched and fighting with tears, Zack pressed out: "Is this what you do now? Turn SOLDIERs into monsters, cover everything up and after we do the dirty work for you, you just switch us off. Is it too inconvenient?" Tseng sighed. "I'm sorry I had to do it." Zack slumped forward and sobbed. "Why did he do that?" Tseng folded his arms and looked out of the helicopter window over the snowy scenery. "Why did he make me do that?"

Cloud wrapped his arms around him. "It's not your fault, Zack." Tseng stood up and switched seats to sit across from Zack. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at this," Tseng said to Cloud. Cloud got up and took the free seat, his arm still around Zack's shoulders. "It'll be OK", Cloud reassured Zack. How could it be OK? Zack's hand dug into his hair. Angeal was dead. There was nothing he could do to make it OK. He was dead. Zack had killed him. "Answer me!", he demanded with shaky voice. "Why did he make me do it?"

Tseng folded his arms again. "I can only speculate about that", Tseng responded. "I didn't know him that well. Personally, that is", he added. Cloud patted Zack's back. "I'm sorry I couldn't help. I wanted to, but Angeal was too strong." Pushing Cloud away, Zack yelled "Get away from me!" and withdrew into the corner of the seat.

Cloud stared at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't - ". Zack folded his arms and said angrily "I don't want to hear it." Tseng got up from his seat and looked down on Zack. "That's enough. It's not Cloud's fault either. I know this is a horrible time, but we need to get back to Midgar as soon as possible. If you can't pull yourself together until then, I will sedate you again. You can throw a tantrum as much as you want after we get back." Zack pulled his knees to his chest and went quiet.

Tseng shrugged and sat back down as Cloud straightened himself and kept looking at Zack, worried. "So that's how it is", Zack spoke out aloud. "Shinra can create monsters, then have my kind do the dirty work to clean up after them and when we don't function anymore, they put us down." Tseng folded his legs and rested his hands on his knees. "We will protect the company's secrets. But you're mistaken. People like you – and Angeal, for that matter - are extremely valuable to the company. If there had been any way to save Angeal, we would have done that." Zack buried his face in his arms. "I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but we're in a dire situation, and your personal feelings don't take priority right now."

After their helicopter landed on the helipad of the SOLDIER quarters, they were received by two Class-2 SOLDIER members who took Zack in their midst and started escorting him to his room.

"Um...", Cloud started, but Zack ignored him. Tseng was already on the phone again, giving the details of his report and orders on the further steps. He hadn't told Zack this, but he was extremely worried about how Sephiroth would take the news of Genesis' disappearance and Angeal's death.

He was still debating with himself how he would deliver the news to him. He knew that Sephiroth had been mentally prepared to receive news of Genesis' death ever since Angeal and Genesis were officially pronounced dead. However, seeing as Angeal had recently been in contact with both him and Zack, and his help during the attack on the Shinra building was acknowledged by the management, Sephiroth had gotten his hopes up that Angeal would eventually return to their side.

While Tseng secretly shared this hope (although he had his own reasons), he had not been as optimistic about it as Sephiroth. And at this point, Sephiroth himself was about to become their biggest problem. His eyes turned toward the two infanterists still standing by and dismissed them.

Cloud looked unsure, as if trying to ask or say something, but Tseng simply repeated his dismissal. Cloud saluted and walked off. Tseng really had no mind for the young man's issues. Although Zack had apparently taken a liking to him, he was just one infanterist out of many. He hadn't been much help in dealing with Zack earlier either, and Tseng doubted he would ever see this guy again.

Tseng sighed. It was no use. He had to tell Sephiroth.

Zack was taken to his room by the two Class-2-SOLDIERs. As the door closed behind him, the lock clicked, shutting him in. But Zack had no mind to think about the implications. Taking a few more steps, he broke down on the floor, sobbing.

He slammed both his clenched fists on the ground and screamed at the floor. Slamming his fists on the floor again and again and screaming as loudly as he could, he exhausted himself for several minutes. Tears were still streaming down his face when his fists hurt so badly and his voice had gotten so hoarse that he could not howl and scream any longer.

He sunk down, his forehead touching the floor and his eyes started to wet the floor. He stayed like this for some time until he finally found the strength to sit himself up again, his palms still resting on the floor. He crawled forward on the floor toward his bedroom and climbed on his bed. Laying down, he hugged his pillow and continued to sob until he eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.