Stray Bullet

Stray Bullet

"I have come to rock your world.

I have come to shake your faith.

Anathematized anarchist,

I have come to take my place.

I am your apocalypse,

I am your belief unwrought.

Monolithic juggernaut,

I'm the illegitimate son of God

Book 2

Chapter 12: Leave But Don't Leave Me

5 Years Later

President Shinra was feeling awfully pleased with himself that he had finally gotten the whole Nibelheim situation straightened out. It had been five years, and his cover-up was working splendidly. No one suspected anything. Shinra's only real regret about the whole thing was Sephiroth's disappearance. No one knew exactly what happened to him; he was presumed dead, but there wasn't any proof of that speculation. He went ahead and made the announcement that the former General was dead anyway, though, wanting to alleviate tabloid rumors and wild theories. Even though the entire thing had cleaned up rather nicely, it still irritated him that the public was much less interested in his company now that his silver-haired mascot was gone.

The Shinra mansion was the only building in Nibelheim that had survived the fire, and the President turned it over to Professor Hojo. Hojo had requested its use for some of his experiments. He was continuing his research with Jenovah, and even though the organism had been moved to a high-security laboratory in Midgar, Hojo preferred a more secluded location for his next set of experiments. Nibelheim had its downside, however. The mutated animals that Hojo had made years earlier still roamed the place and were interfering with his work. He complained to President Shinra about it, requesting that a Soldier be sent out to help him.

Shinra had listened, and now the new General of Soldier stood before him, punctual as always, far more so than Sephiroth had ever been.

"Mr. President," the new General acknowledged, bowing his head slightly.

"Ahh, hello Mr. Page. I've a new assignment for you. How would you feel about returning to Nibelheim?" grinned Shinra.

Zack blanched visibly at the mention of Nibelheim. Shinra had always been hush-hush about Nibelheim since the incident five years earlier, and Zack was surprised to hear him mention it so brazenly. Zack abhorred the idea of setting foot in that place again; the terrible memories were still fresh in his mind. But he knew that Shinra didn't really care what Zack's feelings were toward returning to Nibelheim anyway, so he answered affirmatively.

"Very well, sir, if that's what you require of me," Zack answered.

"Professor Hojo is doing some work over there, and he's called me every day for the past week and half complaining about how the monsters and interfering with his experiments. He wants you to go keep them at bay," Shinra explained.

"Serves him right. He was the one who put them there in first place," retorted Zack. Zack's mouth had only gotten bigger since his promotion.

Shinra gave him a glare. "Be that as it may, you are leaving for Nibelheim tomorrow morning. Dismissed!"

Zack left the room, slamming the door behind him. Zack had been immediately promoted to General upon his return to Midgar. He'd been happy about it at first, but the novelty quickly wore off and he began to understand why Sephiroth had so detested President Shinra and his son. In Zack's eyes, being the General basically meant being the President's errand boy. All he'd done for the past five years were routine tasks and stupid little chores. Wutai had been the last country to oppose Shinra's rule, so there was really no point in having an army now anyway. The only good things about the job were the eye-popping salary and the luxurious apartment. Zack even hated the white uniform he had to wear. He'd considered simply not wearing it and picking out his own outfit as Sephiroth had done, but doubted he'd be able to get away with it. He wasn't quite as intimidating as Sephiroth.

Zack unlocked the door to his apartment and hastily removed the white uniform. If he'd known Shinra was like this all along, he never would have joined the army. Zack couldn't even believe the outrageous cover-up Shinra had instituted for the Nibelheim incident. Shinra had simply ordered a team of workers in to rebuild the town, exactly as it had been. He then recruited a group of volunteers and paid them exorbitant sums of money on a regular basis to live there and act as if nothing strange had ever happened. He got away with it because every single person who had lived in Nibelheim before, with the exception of Tifa, was dead. Zack, of course, knew the truth. He knew better than to tell anyone, knowing that Shinra would have him killed the moment the words left his lips. So there was nothing he could do but simmer with resentment and marvel at the sheer ludicrousness of the whole scheme.

* * *

The following day Zack found himself in the back of a cargo truck, sitting on a crate. The whole seen was eerily familiar to him. The déjà vu was so strong that he actually looked around expecting to see Cloud and Sephiroth before he caught himself and remembered that they were dead. Zack clutched his broadsword tightly as the truck rumbled to a halt in front of Nibelheim. Zack wordlessly stepped out of the truck and stared stupefied at the scene before him. Nibelheim was there again. It looked as if it had never been gone to begin with. The tall white gate at the entrance loomed before him just as it had five years ago. Inside he could see the huge well that supplied water to the entire town. The mountains loomed in the distance, and they looked no less ominous than they had five years ago. Zack shuddered. This was by far the creepiest thing he had ever seen. He swallowed back his uneasiness and stepped through the gates. The paid residents of Nibelheim turned and looked at him for a few moments before going about their business. A few girls gave him longer stares, but soon their attention was diverted elsewhere as well. That was another one of the few perks of his new job; girls paid more attention to him now.

Zack walked through the town, trying not to look around. Flames and screams filled his memories whenever he did. The Shinra mansion loomed at the opposite end of town, looking even worse than Zack remembered. He wasn't really afraid of it anymore; having walked around inside, he knew there was nothing overly creepy about it.

Zack explored the house again, looking for Hojo. He saw a few personal items scattered in the second floor bedroom. That was the same bed that Cloud and I slept in five years ago, Zack thought, fighting a sudden chill. He ventured into the room next door, and saw that the hole Sephiroth smashed in the brick wall was still there. The stairway, however, had been partially rebuilt and reinforced, allowing easier access to the basement. Lighting had been put in along the stairs, and in the basement below. Zack went down to the basement again. He was a little more confident now that he knew the stairs wouldn't collapse, but his bolt of confidence was shattered when he saw the walls. The same corpses still protruded from the walls, now in a more advanced state of decayed. They rattled Zack's nerves every bit as much as they had five years ago. Reaching the end of the hallway, he knocked on the door. A nasally voice came from the other side, "Who is it?"

"General Zackariah Page of Soldier. President Shinra sent me here," Zack answered. Another thing he disliked about his job; having to use his full name all the time.

The door in front of him creaked open just far enough to reveal a couple of bony fingers, some stringy hair, and a beady black eye.

"Wait at the bottom of the stairs," the nasally voice commanded. Zack did as he was told.

A few minutes later, a small bony man approached Zack.

"I am Professor Hojo," he said extending his claw-like hand to Zack. Zack shook it reluctantly and noted that shaking Hojo's hand was akin to holding a dead fish.

"What is that you require of me, sir?" asked Zack.

"Keep the monsters out of the house at night. They come in here sometimes and cause a ruckus. It disturbs my experiments. We can't have that," pouted Hojo, scrubbing his thick spectacles on his stained white lab coat. Zack was rather disturbed to see a multitude of dark stains marring the white of Hojo's coat; Zack's mind reeled as he thought of what they could be.

"Very well then. I can stand guard down here each night," said Zack.

"No, no. You can't come down here at all. You shouldn't even be down here now. You must never go into that room and disturb my experiments. Do whatever you need to keep the monsters out, but do not go into that room!" yelled Hojo, his soft nasal tone taking on surprising volume. Hojo hadn't realized that he had done exactly the opposite of what he intended; by forbidding Zack from entering the room, he had pretty much guaranteed that the new General would be snooping around there at some point. Zack's insatiable curiosity was the same as always, and he immediately wanted to know what was in that room.

"As you wish. I'll stay upstairs then," said Zack as he returned to the second floor.

As Zack unpacked his things in the room next to Hojo's, he ran through all kinds of ideas as to what the room might contain. Many of them were quite disgusting, but some were quite inviting. Maybe Hojo's hoarding money down there, or materia, thought Zack excitedly, or maybe tons of food, which is why the monsters are trying to get in. But then again maybe he's got all sorts of weird mutants living in there…

Zack's conscience and common sense loudly argued against his curiosity. He knew he should stay out of that room, do his job, and peacefully return to Midgar in a few days. But not surprisingly, that rational part of Zack's mind lost the argument and he quickly began devising a plan to sneak down there when Hojo was asleep.

* * *

Hojo didn't go to bed until a surprisingly late hour, and Zack had spent the rest of afternoon mindlessly wandering the mansion and town. He wondered who lived in Cloud and Tifa's houses now. Now that the eccentric Professor had finally retired Zack was free to prowl about the house, "looking for monsters". To put Hojo at ease, Zack had circled the house and kept away from the stairs for nearly an hour and half. After that he began to wander closer and closer to them, until he stood staring at the smashed wall. Before taking the first step onto the stairs, his common sense made one last objection, which was quickly overruled. Zack carefully descended, stepping lightly to minimize the creaking.

It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time he reached the bottom. Zack ducked into the shadows and stayed still for nearly five minutes before feeling confident that Hojo hadn't heard anything. Making his way to the end of the hall, Zack put his hand on the door. He wasn't surprised to find that it was locked. Fortunately, he had prepared for such an occasion and pulled out his pocket knife. He extended the smallest and thinnest of the blades and jiggled it into the lock. After a few minutes he was rewarded with a 'click'. Taking a deep breath to calm his jittery nerves, Zack pushed the door open. The library was nothing like he remembered it. It had been cleaned up a great deal, and it appeared that the books had been catalogued. A large table had been set up in the main room, and it was covered with pages of notes. The lighting was very strange; it came from the smaller room down the hall, and it was a bright green color. Mako energy. He's doing something with Mako, thought Zack. He was suddenly a bit afraid, remembering the Mako-drenched creatures at the reactor. He peered at the notes, barely able to make out Hojo's small sloppy writing in the dim green light. Much of what he saw appeared to be equations of some sort, but finally a page of letters caught his attention. Zack reeled back in horror at what he read:

Jenovah Project, Phase II. Cloning.

Initial test subject has been lost, presumed dead. This is irrelevant as I

Still have possession of initial test subject's DNA. Hair. Blood. Fingernails. Semen. DNA successfully extracted. First clones failures, though. Grossly mutated, to a point where it affected their survival. They were lost. Second group more successful. Humanoid. Survival achieved, but weak and of substandard intelligence. Released. Third group shows more promise. Distinctly human. Survival likely. Strength and intelligence likely. Ready for extraction.

Zack dropped the sheet of paper in horror. Hojo was making human clones? Clones of… Sephiroth? Zack looked cautiously at the green glow from the hallway. The clones must be kept down there. Zack swallowed and slowly walked down the hall. A giant cylinder came into view, filled with Mako. When Zack's eyes adjusted to the brightness of it, he peered inside. He clasped a hand over his mouth to stifle a scream and reeled back, nearly tripping over a large red armchair.

Inside the tube floated a blond boy with large, round blue eyes. His mouth and nose were covered with some sort of breathing apparatus. Even so, there was no mistaking his appearance.

"Cloud?!?" Zack said out loud, "What the hell… you died… I saw your body, you were cut in two!"

The blue eyes blinked calmly at him. Zack's breathing sped up with fear. This was so incredibly wrong… Yet if the boy in the tube really was Cloud, Zack couldn't just leave him. He had to help his friend.

Zack approached the tube and examined the control panel at its base. The first bar read "Mako Energy Level". Zack cautiously slid it all the way to the left. There was a soft whirring sound as the green glow grew dimmer until it nearly vanished. There were numerous other switches on the panel, none of which made sense to Zack, except one. That one was clearly labeled in large red letters, "Open/Close Capsule". He flipped the switch and the glass on the front of the tube slid open with a hiss. The boy inside hung limply against one of the walls, unconscious without the Mako energy to support him. Zack carefully reached inside a pulled the long breathing tube out of the boy's throat. The boy gagged, but didn't come to.

"All right Cloud, if that's who you really are, time to get outta here," Zack whispered.

He wrapped the unconscious boy in his white coat before tossing him over his shoulder and making for the front door of the mansion. Once he was outside the house, Zack had to stop and rest. The boy, while fairly small, was quite a burden to carry. Once he regained his breath, Zack continued scurrying through the dark streets of Nibelheim. He was already beginning to have a few regrets about freeing the boy. Zack had no idea what he was going to do with him. And in a few hours, when it was light, Hojo would find out and be incensed. Zack needed to get out of Nibelheim. As he walked past the hotel, his eyes wandered to the parking lot, filled with cars.

Zack examined several of the cars, mentally cursing himself. How many crimes did he plan on committing in one night? But how could he leave that boy in tube at Hojo's mercy? Especially when he looked so much like Cloud… So far, Zack couldn't see anything about the boy's physical appearance to tell him it wasn't Cloud, and Cloud was his best friend. So Zack did what he felt he needed to do.

Zack finally selected a car, a small, fast one that looked like it would have good gas mileage. He rapped on the side of the car and jumped back, testing for an alarm. When there was none, he tried the handle. Not surprisingly it was locked, and Zack once again made use of his pocket knife. He laid Cloud down across the back seat before popping the hood. Zack rooted around inside the car for a while before finding the two wires he was looking for. He touched them to the spark plug and the car grumbled to life. Climbing in the driver's seat, Zack threw the car into gear and sped out of Nibelheim.

"Well Cloud, we're on our way. I figure we'll make for Gold Saucer, and we can catch a plane to Midgar from there," Zack said. As he headed out onto the freeway toward Gold Saucer, his common sense finally caught up with him. He groaned as he made a mental list of all the crimes he had committed in a three hour period: trespassing, breaking and entering, espionage, kidnapping, grand auto theft, mutiny… Zack shook his head. He was going to catch some serious hell from Shinra. Chances are he'd be court-martialed, too. Zack sighed loudly. Oh well. He'd come up with some way to get out of this mess by the time Hojo had put two and two together. He just hoped that Cloud would at least be somewhat conscious by the time they reached the airport at Gold Saucer. It would look a little odd if he walked around carrying an unconscious boy slung over his shoulder.

A couple hours later, the glittering mass of Gold Saucer dominated the sky line. Zack had considered ditching the car on the side of the freeway and walking the last few miles on foot so as to throw off the authorities when they came searching for the car thief. It seemed like a good idea until he remembered that Gold Saucer was surrounded on all sides by several miles of inhospitable desert. The only ways to reach it now were by air and the freeway bridge that was elevated above the desert.

Feeling uneasy about leaving a stolen car in such a public place, Zack parked in the most crowded lot and set about the task of waking up Cloud. After a few good slaps in the face, the smaller boy finally groaned and opened his eyes.

"Cloud! You're awake," Zack exclaimed, "You can't walk around in there wearing nothing by my coat. Wait here in the car and I'll go get you some real clothes."

"Unnnhhh…?" the boy gave a confused grunt in response. Zack locked the car behind him and went to find Cloud some decent clothes.

About an hour later he returned, a shopping bag on his arm.

"Here you go, kiddo. Throw those on. I won't look while you change," said Zack. He laid out the items he'd bought for his companion; a ribbed, sleeveless turtleneck in a dark maroon color, a pair of black slacks and some boots. After several attempts, the boy sat up and shakily reached for the pants.

It took Cloud an agonizingly long time to dress himself. "Can you walk?" Zack asked once he was decent. The boy tried to stand, but immediately fell over. After several more tries he was able to keep his balance and take a few shaky steps. God, he can't even remember how to walk. What the hell did Hojo do to the poor kid?" Zack thought, noticing how Cloud's formerly toned muscles had grown slack and atrophied. Cloud leaned heavily on Zack for support, and they slowly made their way toward the entrance.

Inside, Zack followed the signs to the airport and walked up to the desk, very surprised that they would even be open at such an ungodly hour of the morning. Sure enough, the woman at the countered looked quite tired; her make-up was smudged and her smile was less shiny than it should have been.

"Can I help you two gentlemen?" she asked.

"When is the next flight to Midgar?" inquired Zack.

The woman pored over a computer screen for a few moments before answering, "3:35 AM. Would you like to buy tickets?"

"Yes I would, actually. One-way though. We're not coming back through here," answered Zack.

"Alright then, that'll be, uh, 877 gil," said the woman, consulting her computer screen again.

Zack fished around in his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out his Shinra credit card and handed it to the woman.

"From Shinra, eh? That would explain why you're traveling at this time of night. Normal people don't do things like that," she remarked as she swiped his card and handed it back. She handed him two plane tickets as well. "Have a nice flight, General Page."

Once the plane landed in Midgar two hours later, Zack was pleased to see that Cloud was doing much better. He could walk more steadily, and had fully regained the use of his hands and arms. The Midgar airport was actually just outside Midgar. The original airport had been too small to accommodate the flow of air traffic, and there was no more space anywhere within Midgar to build a larger one.

Zack sat in the terminal beside Cloud, sipping a cup of coffee. There was no point in travelling any more until the sun came up; they were far enough away from Hojo now that he was no longer an immediate threat.

* * *

One hour later –6:00 AM

Professor Hojo had just finished his breakfast. He wondered where the General was for a moment, but figured he was wandering outside somewhere. Humming cheerily to himself, Hojo slipped on his bloodstained lab coat and headed down into the basement to check on his test subjects. Hojo first noticed something was wrong when he tried to unlock to door. He couldn't do it because the door already was unlocked. Someone had broken into his lab during the night. Upon entering the library, Hojo saw that his carefully organized notes had been disrupted. Looking down the hall, he noticed the absence of the green Mako glow. Walking into the smaller room, Hojo was appalled to see that the capsule had been opened and his test subject kidnapped. Hojo's face instantly purpled with rage.

"God damn it! My experiment is ruined! That was one of my best clones yet!" he screamed before trailing off into ranting and swearing.

"That idiot General from Soldier! This is his fault! He was here to keep things like this from happening! Where is he?" fumed Hojo. He stomped upstairs and tore the house apart looking for Zack.

"General Page! Get your worthless ass out here! Do you realize what happened to my laboratory last night?!?" screamed the professor. Much to Hojo's distress, Zack was nowhere to be found. Could the General have been the one who broke into his laboratory? To Hojo, that sounded like a fairly logical explanation, since Zack had conveniently disappeared right after the break-in occurred. Without a second thought, the Professor got on the phone with Shinra and related the entire incident. Shinra assured Hojo that Zack would be found and punished accordingly.

* * *

"Well Cloud, the sun's up. We ought to head out," said Zack, tossing his coffee cup in the trash, "We'll just walk to Midgar. It's only about five miles away. I'd just as soon avoid attracting attention to ourselves."

It was a long, difficult walk to Midgar. Cloud tired easily and they had to stop often. After the first three miles, Cloud was out of energy and Zack ended up carrying him again.

"I think…there's a train…station…on that ledge…up there," panted Zack, "It's not…much further."

Zack's guess was correct. There were several railroad lines that crisscrossed more remote parts of the country side, and people from out of town used the to commute to work in Midgar. It was just after two in the afternoon now. The trains ran every half hour, so Zack and Cloud had a bit of waiting to do. Zack sat Cloud down against a tree in the shade.

"Stay right there, buddy. I'll go grab us some drinks," said Zack, mopping sweat from his brow. Cloud attempted to follow, but fell back down and lay prone. The door to the station swung open moments before Zack touched the handle. A group of five Soldiers greeted him.

"Ah, General Page. Just the man we've been looking for. Shinra's pretty pissed at you, you know. And I've heard some quite unsavory things about you, myself. Sabotaging official Shinra science research, committing a whole list of petty crimes… Tch, tch. Good thing we're going to kill you, Page. You're a dangerous bastard," hissed the highest-ranking Soldier.

As Zack reached for his broadsword, all five Soldiers pulled the triggers of their uzis. The bullets tore through Zack and he crumpled to the ground.

"Make sure he's dead," growled the leader. The Soldiers emptied their clips into Zack's body before calmly returning to the train.

Disturbed by the sound of gunfire, the boy crawled over to Zack's body, which lay in a rapidly widening pool of blood. Zack's richly tanned skin was riddled with bullet holes and his once-bright blue eyes were glazed with death.

The boy looked at the body of his rescuer, a vague sense of recognition furrowed his brow. His rescuer had called him…Cloud. Was that who he was? He cautiously laid his hand on Zack's forehead. As he did so, fragments of memories began returning to him. Nibelheim burning. He was very upset about his. Was he from Nibelheim? Yes, that must be why he was so upset. A Soldier, very high ranking. A Grand Admiral actually. Right hand man to… Sephiroth? Yes, Sephiroth. Vivid memories of Sephiroth. Everything he wanted to be, but then the destroyer of his life. He began to feel hatred toward this man named Sephiroth. As more and more tidbits of memories crept in the boy's mind, he regained his strength as well. He thanked Zack for freeing him before taking his broadsword. Cloud slung the sword over his back and turned his gaze to circular, two-tiered city of Midgar.