Disclaimer: I do not own this. Blah, blah, blah.

Chap. 6

She expected him to be shocked and he was.

She expected him to scream out his name and he did.

What she didn't expect was for him to grab his sword and start swinging at the pod. Everyone jumped out of the way as Cloud madly slashed and struck the chamber, the same way Sephiroth did years before. Finally, Barret and Cid managed to grab him and yank him away. Cloud struggled against them, his Mako green eyes flashed in anger.

"Let me go! I have to get him out of there!"

Cid struggled to hold him tight, "Calm down, Cloud."

Barret also barely held him, "Damn, this kid's a lot stronger than he looks."

Cloud continued to struggle and they were loosing their grip. Suddenly, Tifa stood in front of him and gave him a hard slap.

Whap!!!

"Cloud! Stop it!" Tifa snapped.

Cloud stopped struggling, shocked by what Tifa did. He then blinked a few times before slumping down to the ground. Tifa bent down to him.

She held out her hand and spoke softly, "We'll get him out. Don't worry."

Cloud looked up at her and nodded slightly. He took her soft hand and lifted himself up. "Thanks, Tifa."

Barret also looked at Tifa. Amazing. Cold and serious one minute and warm and soft the next.

Red XIII searched around the chamber, "There is a switch over here in the back. I believe it controls the power."

Vincent bent next to him, "You're right." Hitting the switch, the chamber light began to dim and fade and then disappear totally. Vincent then hit the latch and slowly opened it. A multi-green gas sprayed out and faded in the air and Vincent opened it totally. A body fell out and Cloud turned it over. Zack's body was basically unchanged especially with the black spiky hair, except that his right face and arm was distorted like a creature.

Barret looked over at him, "Is he still alive?"

Cloud snapped, "Of course he's alive!"

Barret backed off and Tifa gave him a sad look. Cloud noticed and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. Yeah, he's alive."

Red XIII moved closer, "Yes. He would not be in there if he wasn't alive. But is he..." He took a brief glance at Cloud, "...himself?"

Cloud looked at Zack and grew worried. Are you....still Zack? Still my best friend?

"Hey guys. Look at this."

Cid was standing in front of the Jenova door. Cloud lent Zack on the pod and walked up with the others.

"From the looks of this, someone's been in here." He pointed to a control panel which was partially shredded. "Something must have ripped this panel to get in."

"Strange."

"What?"

"Why would something rip the panel to get in here? If they did that, then they would have never gotten in. This door's lock opened only to Sephiroth, so nothing else could have gotten in."

"A trick."

"Huh?"

"This was done after someone exited the chamber to throw us off. The question is, who could have gotten in."

"Well, besides Sephiroth, there's no one else who could have gotten in."

"There is someone. Hojo."

"What? No way. Didn't we kill him on the Sister Ray?"

"True. But then again, we killed Jenova as well. Hojo infused himself with Jenova cells, so if Jenova lives, then it's quite likely that he is alive as well."

Jenova...alive. And Hojo as well. I knew I had a bad feeling.

Suddenly a low shuffle of movement was heard behind them. They looked down to see Zack standing up, hunched over. Cloud slowly moved down the stairs to his old friend.

"Zack? Are you...alright?"

In response, Zack suddenly lunged at Cloud and slammed him into the ground. Cloud looked up and saw his friend's eyes. They had no pupils and they glowed in an intense green. Zack lunged at Cloud again, but Cloud managed to flip him over and hold him to the ground.

"Zack! Come on, snap out of it! Don't you remember me?"

Zack snarled in response and flung Cloud off of him. The other moved in to help but Cloud held up his hand.

"No, don't. Anyone else here might make it worse." Cloud then slowly walked toward Zack, who was still growling at him.

"Don't you remember? It's me, Cloud, remember?"

Zack's growling began to calm down a bit.

"Remember when we first met. Everyone thought we were related because of our hair. How about the time when you first introduced me to Sephiroth. I nearly fainted and you helped me not to. I know you're in there Zack."

Cloud was a foot away from him and Zack had stopped growling. The others took a deep breath as it seemed that Zack had calmed down. Suddenly, a small rock fell from out of nowhere. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Zack to start snarling again and punch Cloud to the ground again. Cloud's sword fell to the side and Zack lifted Cloud up with his hands and began to strangle him. Suddenly, Zack's eyes fell on the Buster Sword.

My...sword? Seph...i...roth? Clo...ud?

Zack suddenly let go of Cloud and began to scream. He held his head and crumbled onto the ground in agony. His wail grew louder and then stopped altogether. Cloud finished gasping for air and moved over to his friend.

"Zack?"

Zack looked up at Cloud. The pupils were now visible and his eyes shimmered in a green glow.

"Cloud?"