Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy characters, places and things all belong to Squaresoft and other involved companies. I own none of it. This fanfic is purely for the fun and enjoyment of others and myself. I make no profit from it.
SHARDS COLLIDE
CHAPTER 22
Zack woke up for the fifth time. He simply could not sleep and not because of the horrible experiments he and Cloud were subjected to on a daily basis. It was something much worse, guilt. He simply couldn't stop worrying and blaming himself over all that had gone wrong. 'Why hadn't I told them before!' He berated himself mentally. 'They would have understood! If only I'd have just told them earlier, Jessie and the others may still have been alive. If only I'd have done something right off the bat instead of running away… if only…'
Zack angrily shot up out of bed. He had never been one to mope and feel sorry for himself. He had always been that type of person who was a doer. He would never let the moment consume him for too long. He would always handle what needed to be handled and be done with it. But why now? Why, after all these years, was he now feeling self regret and pity for himself. He had never remembered being this weak before.
Zack briskly shook his head to clear his mind of the troublesome thoughts that plagued him. What he needed now was a level head so that he could figure out a way to finally get them all out of this prison.
Zack sat there, letting the silence of the night wash over him, eliminating his worries with every wave, even if only temporarily. Zack loved silence actually. He felt as if it brought the stillness of time. A short reprieve where he could collect himself and relax from the everyday worries of life.
Suddenly something clicked to Zack, breaking him out of his light reverie. He narrowed his eyes in concern then propped himself out of his bed and looked around anxiously.
Red 13 shifted uncomfortably over at his spot by the door, awakened by Zack's commotion.
"What's wrong?" The Cat asked in a gruff voice. At one time, the Avalanche members found that voice somewhat intimidating, however as time passed they had all gotten used to the young animal's heavy voice and sometimes gruff exterior, accepting them both as normal. Thus Zack was not in the least bit alarmed by the animal's somewhat annoyed exterior or tone.
Zack shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not sure exactly… Something just… doesn't feel right…"
Red raised his eyebrow ever so slightly then slowly rose up to his 4 feet. "Now that you mention it…"
Now it was Zack's turn to cast his glance towards Red. "What is it? What do you sense?"
"…Blood. I smell blood. It's very faint but I recognize that scent anywhere…"
Zack tensed slightly and absently twitched his fingers in the start of a gesture of reaching for his buster sword. "Blood? Where?"
"A little ways beyond our cell. A couple yards at most…"
Zack nodded his head then rushed towards their cell door, looking out through the window slot. "Look's pretty quiet out there to me." He said, not turning to face the fire-tailed animal. "I wonder what's going on."
Then, suddenly, the door automatically hissed open by its own accord. Zack immediately jumped back and assumed a fighting stance. He looked around tentatively from right to left then stepped back into the room to regard the equally surprised cat.
"What do you think?" He asked lightly.
"Nowhere to go but forward."
Zack nodded his head and together the two prisoners cautiously walked out into the hall, completely on guard for any unwanted surprises.
"Looks quiet… too quiet." Red hissed in a silent whisper. Had the situation not been so tense, Zack might have laughed for the absurdity of how the young cat sounded in that very instance. However, Zack pushed it to the back of his mind for another time, then scanned ahead a few feet down the hallway.
"Hey Red!" Zack called after walking a few more feet. "Come over here. I think I see something."
Red caught up with the dark haired mercenary but quickly gasped and turned his face away in disgust. After closer inspection, Zack too averted his eyes away from the ghastly scene ahead of them.
"I knew I smelled blood close by." Red grumbled distastefully. Zack nodded and trained his eyes once more on the maimed body lying on the floor in front of them. Zack slowly kneeled down and turned the body over on its back. He felt like he was going to be sick for a week at the sight of how badly the body was torn and maimed.
"Well, one things for sure." Zack said, covering his nose from the terribly strong scent of fresh blood. "This guy was definitely our jailor. At least he was a few hours ago."
Red looked at Zack quizzically. "How can you be so sure this happened a few hours ago? This could have very well happened a few minutes ago and the killer could be waiting behind the corner to tag us next."
"I don't think so." Zack refuted. "Look at his wounds. The deep cut marks are fresh, of that I'm certain, but they're not that fresh. Usually when a wound like this has been opened, it take about a few hours for it to pucker out and decolorize like this. This guy's been dead for at least a few hours. Maybe two, three at the most."
Red nodded grudgingly then looked back towards Zack. "So what do you suggest we do now?"
"Like you said before, it's probably very dangerous out there. But still… these sword marks… only a pro could have killed this man with such precision and accuracy as this…"
"We should get the others…"
"Right!" Zack replied breaking away from his thoughts then rising back up to his feet. "You go on ahead and free the others, I'm going to scout ahead a bit and make sure our path is clear. Whatever's going on out there, Shinra brought it upon themselves and its got nothing to do with us. Our main goal is to get the hell out of here while we still have the chance."
"Zack are you sure you want to scout alone? You said, whoever's killing these Shinra guards is a pro, right? You may not be able to take him on by yourself."
"We've got no choice at this point Red. If we both go, who's going to alert the others? They need to be awake and ready as soon as possible or they might end up getting attacked too."
Red grumbled his disapproval but said nothing.
"Don't worry about it Red, I'll be careful. At the first sign of danger I'll turn the other way and find another way for us to take. You just focus on helping the others ok? Take care of em Red. I'm counting on you."
Red 13 gave Zack a final nod then rushed off towards where they had came. Zack watched him a few more seconds until he was completely gone then turned back towards the entrance of the hallway and continued down the narrow hall.
Zack still couldn't shake the eerie feeling that washed over him. He soon picked up the pace and began running further down the corridor, darting his eyes right and left in case of danger. Before he knew it, he was in one of the larger area's of the Shinra building, however the sight he saw now was suddenly more appalling then anything he could have expected. The floor was riddled with lifeless corpse and scattered body parts. Blood smeared the floors at all areas.
Zack could hardly believe his eyes. How could anyone kill this many people? Perhaps there was a group of them. They would all have had to have great skill to have been able to execute the Shinra guards in such a way though. Perhaps they were trained rebels. If that was the case then maybe the nightmare of Shinra would come to an end sooner then they all thought.
Zack quickly ran down the left corridor. If his memory served him right, that was the area where they usually stored prisoners weapons, assuming they still stored them there after all the years that had passed. Even as he neared further into the less open area's of the building, the death toll continued to intensify. Zack could feel his mind reeling from the acrid stench of blood and open flesh. He forcefully pulled his attention away from it and instead focused on his objective at hand.
Much to his relief, he found the weapons storage area which, indeed, had not been relocated since his absence. Zack anxiously grabbed his buster sword then rushed out of the room feeling somewhat more invigorated by the new weight of cold steel in his hands. He quickly headed back towards the way he had come. 'Now all I have to do is get everyone else here to retrieve their weapons too and then we'll be all set to get out of this hell whole!'
Once again, he ran through the main hall of that level then darted towards the corridor where he had come. Suddenly the blare of machine gun fire cut Zack off from his plans, causing him to avert his attention back towards the source of the new noise. Perhaps there were rebels fighting the Shinra soldiers. What if they needed help? Zack weighed his options then decided it best to at least check it out. It would also give him a chance to scout a little further ahead.
He quickly darted towards the escalators taking him upward. Once on the new level, a whole new world of death awaited him. Zack gasped inwardly at the sight of all the dead bodies lying around like huge heaps of meat. There were twice as many dead here then on the last floor.
Zack turned his head right and left in the hopes of finding any signs that someone was fighting close by but didn't spot any. He quickly ran up the next flight of stairs and the next after that, continuing up until finally he reached the top floor, only 5 floors above where their cell area was located. Zack was flabbergasted at the huge scenes of death he had seen on his way up but still determined to find out if these new enemies of Shinra were friend or foe.
He suddenly heard the faint noise of heated conversation above. Zack quickly scaled the last flight of stairs leading towards President Shinra's office. Both guards who usually guarded the door were now utterly slaughtered. Zack sucked in a tense breath and moved one of the bodies that had been lying in front of the door, out of the way. He promptly opened the door however the scene that welcomed him was far beyond anything he could possibly imagine.
President Shinra was lying face down on his table, blood oozing down his face from the huge wound on his back. And from his back was none other then a huge masamune sword. 'Masamune!'
Zack quickly ran up to the dead President to inspect the sword more closely. There was only one person he knew who carried a sword like that. The soft clatter of feet walking towards him suddenly broke him away from his thoughts and he spun around swiftly to face this new intruder.
"…It's been a long time Zack…" the new entity said in a soft tone.
Zack could hardly believe his eyes as he stared, wide-eyed, towards the figure standing before him. His breath came in short gasps and he felt fresh goose bumps race up his arms and all across his back. Only one solid thought penetrated his flustered mind at that exact moment.
"S- Sephiroth?!?"
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Author's note: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for chapter 23!