In honor of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake releasing worldwide today, we bring you a chapter of this story! Woo! Happy Worldwide release day everyone and enjoy!

Ch.53

Cloud stayed by Tseng's side waiting until the man woke back up. While he waited he still had many thoughts about what he had just witnessed and what Zack was planning to do. But those thoughts didn't get to be thought on for much longer as he saw that Tseng was waking up.

The Turk groaned slightly before rubbing his forehead. "Thank you for your assistance."

"Oh! You're welcome!" Cloud said as he straightened up.

Tseng glanced around the room quickly as he started to try and stand up. "What happened to the others?"

Cloud sighed. "It all happened so fast. Angeal showed up suddenly and stopped Genesis, then both of them disappeared."

"Angeal? If he showed up, then I can guess Zack has gone after him then?"

Cloud nodded slowly.

"I see," Tseng quickly said. He then slowly made his way to his feet and brushed himself off. "Let's get a move on and catch up. He probably isn't too far off."

"Right, that's what I was thinking too," Cloud replied as he followed Tseng out of the door of the building.

"We have to see the mission through properly. There's not much time."

As they made their way, Cloud couldn't help but wonder what Tseng meant by what had just been said. But he figured it would be fine as long as they found Zack, then they could plan things out better.

Zack ran through the warehouse, trying to find any traces of where Angeal or Genesis may have gone. It wasn't as easy as he thought it might be considering they had only left right before he went after them.

"I guess I'll have to check every single place for them then."

He proceeded to go through and check each space that he could, but to no avail. Shortly though, he came upon the entrance/exit to the building, signified by two large sliding doors. Zack breathed in deeply before grabbing them and sliding them openly heavily. Within seconds, two beasts entered into the area almost on cue. He grabbed the sword off his back, ready to fend them off.

Just then a few bullets whizzed by his head and struck the beasts, knocking them dead to the ground. Zack looked back and saw a couple of familiar faces. But before he could say anything, the Turk spoke up.

"Zack, there's no time. We have to leave now."

"What? We're not even gonna look for those two?"

"Yeah what's going on Tseng?" Cloud butted in, clearly still confused by what was going on.

"All evidence of misconduct must be erased. Company rules. An air strike will neutralize this town."

"Wait, what?! But, why such measures?" Cloud exclaimed. Clearly there was something he wasn't aware of.

Deep growling came from behind and the group turned to see that more creatures were coming in. Tseng breathed in deeply as he went to pull out his gun.

"There's no time for idle chat. Zack, are you sure that nobody is at Angeal's house?"

Zack gave a pensive look and that was all that Tseng needed. He nodded and pointed his gun at the beasts that were preparing to attack. "Hurry!"

Zack and Cloud took off running as fast as they could. Thankfully along the way there didn't seem to be any creatures on the path that would cause any delays. However, it was a long path down the small mountain.

"Do you think we'll make it in time?" Cloud asked briefly as they were running.

"We have to. Gotta try to do all that we can," Zack answered swiftly, giving Cloud a serious glance.

Just then, Zack's phone rang. They stopped as he took it out to answer it. It was Tseng. This time he made sure to switch it to speaker so Cloud could hear the message.

"Genesis and his men have started bombarding the town."

Zack's face contorted into a look of shock. "Are you serious!? What do we do now?"

"There's two of you. One of you go and see if you can stop some of the attacks. The other go to Angeal's house. Got it?"

"Okay got it. I'm going now," he replied quickly as he put the phone away.

Cloud looked at Zack questioningly. "So what is it?"

"Cloud, Genesis is gonna start attacking the town. I need you here to stop the bombardment. Can you do it?"

"Uh, yeah I think so. But what about you?"

"I gotta get to Angeal's house quickly before the air strike. We're running out of time. Go!"

Cloud nodded and turned to head to where he needed to go, leaving his brother to his own mission.

Zack raced in the opposite direction down the mountainside. It seemed as though he was running forever at his current rate, the town not seeming any closer. But that probably was because the surroundings all looked the same the whole way. The same generic rocks and green grass lined the walls and ground.

Eventually though, he came to a clearing and could finally see the town again. It still looked in mostly one piece, which was good news to him. Right about that time, his phone rang once again.

"I explained our situation and had them briefly delay the airstrike. That will buy you some time," Tseng replied.

How on earth Tseng ever managed these things, Zack would never figure out. But he was rather thankful for the Turk in the end. "Thanks, Tseng!"

After that, Zack hung up and entered the house, hoping that he could convince Angeal's mother to come with him to safety. But what he saw instead was far from what he ever expected. His breath shorted while his heartbeat quickened once he was standing in the door frame. He stepped a little further though to make sure he was in fact seeing what he saw.

Laying on the floor completely motionless was none other than Angeal's mother. "What? She's… She's… no way…." Zack slowly started to retreat to the doorway. Suddenly he stopped and looked to see that Angeal was just to the right of him, standing against the wall.

Right away the uneasy feeling he felt twisted into something harsh. He charged at Angeal, shoving him abruptly against the wall. Angeal didn't even react to what Zack did, and Zack didn't even think twice about it. All he cared about was trying to get answers.

"What the hell did you do, Angeal!?"

Not even waiting for an answer he shoved him against before throwing a punch square into his mentor's face. Once again ANgeal just let himself be pushed around like a ragdoll, barely even reacting. Eventually Zack threw him out of the house, letting Angeal tumble to the ground rather ungraciously.

"Is that… is that your idea of honor!?" Zack shouted. He didn't care to contain his emotions at this point. He felt like he was going to boil over with anger and the longer than Angeal stayed quiet the worse it got.

Angeal let out a low groan as he slowly turned his body to be able to stand back up. Once he was too his feet, he tried looking at Zack, but never could manage.

"My mother… could not continue to live. And neither can the son…"

Zack's eyes flared with anger and confusion. "What are you even talking about!? What the hell is going on? Answer me Angeal!"

The man only stayed silent, refusing to look at Zack or to give him an answer. His gaze seemed fixated toward the ground.

Zack let out a long sigh, relaxing his tension that had built up. "I… just don't understand. None of this makes sense…"

"I told you…" a familiar voice rang in Zack's ears.

It was a voice that made him tense up once again. He casted a glance to his left to see Genesis having just landed and walked up to him. It seems that he didn't have to search hard for them at all, but this was not how Zack had wanted to locate them.

Genesis glanced back toward Angeal, who still appeared saddened by something as his gaze was fixated to the ground.

"You can't live on that side anymore."

"Just what do you mean!?" Zack shouted towards the redhead. But his mind was going through so much he had trouble keeping everything straight.

"Where is Cloud? I figured he would be caught up by now since the attacks stopped. This isn't looking good, especially if I have to fight him. Man, I'm not even sure what to do right now."

A sudden movement in front of his eyes grabbed Zack's attention though. Angeal finally moved, placing the sword he was carrying back onto his back, straightening up, and turning to walk away.

No, he couldn't just let him walk away now. He had to get some answers. He didn't want to let Angeal get away from him again.

"Angeal!"

He tried to run forward toward his mentor, but he didn't make it very far. He didn't see Genesis stick his leg out, and tripped over it, causing him to tumble to the ground. He scrambled to turn his body back to the right direction to find Angeal, who was getting farther away now.

"Angeaaaaaaaaal!"

His yell was mixed with anguish and longing. He had to do something more. Just as he was about to get up again, Genesis stopped him.

"Move! Out of the way," Zack yelled in frustration.

Genesis looked out toward the sky toward where Angeal had been going. "My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I?"

"Shut up!" Zack screamed as he was able to scramble back to his feet.

"All that awaits you-"

"Shut up! I'm warning you," Zack said as he drew his sword.

"-is a somber morrow. No matter where the winds may blow…"

One he finished, Zack was staring directly at him, almost as if glaring daggers straight through Genesis. Zack had lost his chance to talk with Angeal again, all because of Genesis again.

Genesis smirked. "I don't see Sephiroth today. Or his lapdog. Pity. But, are you game?"

Just as he finished, magic began to swirl around in his left hand. Soon, a summoning circle appeared as being crafted in the air. When it was done, it began to glow brightly as their surroundings grew darker and darker. It almost seemed as if a storm was coming, but the sun had just been out.

"What are you doing?"

"Zack! What's going on here!" a voice cried out in the distance.

Once he found the direction of the voice, he looked and saw the source. "Cloud!"

The blond quickly joined Zack at his side. "Just, what happened here?" he asked as he looked around quickly but not quite seeing anything significant.

"Ah so the lapdog is here. Two on one eh? Fine by me. This is what a true hero can do," Genesis spoke calmly as the magic began to take more of a form.

"Huh?" Cloud asked as a grimace formed on his face.

"Cloud. Short story, Genesis happened. The rest is..." Zack trailed off. "Just, let's focus on this for now."

"Okay, let's take care of it then."

Before them now was a large and rather angry looking dragon. Bahamut. But the boys didn't show any fear towards it. As they stood side by side they prepared themselves before lunging into their first series of attacks.

Surprisingly, the fight didn't last very long. It seemed as though it was only a few minutes of a struggle between them and the beast. Zack was certain he could have handled most of the fight himself, but Cloud being there made things much easier and faster.

When the dragon finally collapsed and returned to the summon materia, Zack moved first to pick it up. The storm clouds around the boys faded away and the sun was seen once more. He picked up the glowing orb, holding it in the palm of his hand until all of the clouds had vanished.

Now that it was clear again, Genesis stood before them, standing still with his expression too hard to read. Zack on the other hand was very easy to read, his anger showing in full force.

"Summons aren't meant to be used like this! What happened to dreams and honor?"

Genesis walked away from the boys, facing his back to them. "We are… monsters…" Slowly Genesis reached up and placed his fingers on his forehead. In a split second he stretched his arm out and a black wing shot out from his back. Black feathers floated all around the area now as Genesis stretched this new appendage.

Both Zack and Cloud stared with wide eyes at what they were seeing before them. Though for Cloud, something was tugging at the back of his mind. Something that made looking at this wing feel strange… or strangely familiar. It was the strangest sense of brief déjà vu that left in the very next moment.

"We have neither dreams nor honor," Genesis continued. The man flew up high into the sky as black feathers rained down upon the area where Zack and Cloud were. In a split second more, he was gone, just like Angeal from earlier.

Zack and Cloud both gazed up at the clear blue sky. Feathers continued to fall, with one of them landing right into Zack's hand. He caught it and looked it over, as if trying to figure out what it all meant at the moment.

Cloud glanced over at it himself. "What is it, Zack?"

The latter looked back toward the sky. "SOLDIER… doesn't mean monster… right?"

"Huh? Of course it doesn't."

Zack sighed once again. "Come on, let's get out of here before we get trapped."

"Oh, yeah. Good point."

The two of them raced quickly back up the mountain path. Just as soon as they got started, the whizzing sound of bombs started coming from the sky. Within the next few seconds, the town they were just in was set ablaze by the constant explosions that rained from the heavens. The blue sky began to fill with hues of orange as smoke billowed into the air.

Once they were at the top, they turned to look back towards the town. Or rather, what was left of it. Zack watched as the town smoldered and burned. He wished he could have done more. He wished it had not come to that. He watched as a dumbapple slowly was engulfed by the heat. It turned quickly from purple to black as it simmered and shriveled and then fell to the ground.

A Shinra helicopter flew in quickly beside them as the hatch door opened. Tseng was waiting for them to board as it held its place slightly above the ground. Zack closed his eyes with a clench before turning around.

"Come on Cloud, time to go," he said with an exasperated voice.

The blond didn't move from the spot though. He kept his eyes fixated on the burning town. There was something about it that just opened a pit in his stomach, something unsettling. It was like he had seen something like that before, but he knew he hadn't. Despite knowing that, he couldn't peel his eyes away.

"Cloud?" Zack asked as he turned back to look and see his brother still staring. "What's going on?"

Cloud never gave an answer. He stayed perfectly still.

'SOLDIER is like a den of monsters…'

"No, that's not right…"

'You have to leave… you have to live…'

"What?"

'Cloudddd!'

"Cloudddd!"

The sudden sound of his name made him turn on a dime towards the sound of the voice. "Who? Who's there? Oh, Zack."

"Who else would I be? It's just us here. Are you all right?" Zack asked with a confused voice.

"Yeah, sure. Yeah, I'm fine," Cloud spoke, but was unsure himself.

"Come on, we have to go. Now," Tseng's voice rang out.

"Cloud we gotta go. Come on."

"Right," he said as he finally turned and followed his brother to the helicopter.

He still had many questions. What was that just now? He could have sworn he heard some other things, but he couldn't recall what they were now. Gone like the wind, yet even if he couldn't remember, they left that strange familiar feeling in his chest. Maybe he could figure it out later if it would come to him.