*SeaLion Blues* (part 3)
A little AU, FF7 fic for Zack, because he deserves one.
Opening Notes:
-I am taking extreme liberties with the time line, so there. :-P
//…// for thoughts. Standard disclaimers apply.
*********************
A less attentive man might not have noticed the tell-tale twinkle in the dark-brown eyes. The Lieutenant had been amused by something, despite his stoic expression. Sephiroth watched the man disappear and retreated to his quarters.
// Great, a two-day trip with him of all people… //
It was uncanny how often he turned around and found himself having to deal with the trooper. There was no facet of the camp that Lieutenant Thomson wasn't involved in somehow. He was inescapable, and unfortunately, too competent to have replaced without a struggle.
The general firmly promised himself to make the trip out and back happen as fast as possible. He could have let one, or several of his men make the run. The SOLDIERs were a hardy enough bunch to return intact from whatever he was likely to encounter in the jungle, but hearing the statistics from them wasn't the same as seeing it for himself. If he was going to outmaneuver Heidigger on this little disaster, he would need every card he could play. It wasn't something he could trust to someone else.
A list of causalities and wounded dispatched to Midgar was waiting for him on his make-shift desk. The totals on the bottom of the page were staggering for such a small operation. Either the defenses had been manned by incompetents, or the rebels were better than expected. Having seen who was running the base, Sephiroth grimly accepted that it was likely a mix of both. He sighed and put the paper down before moving around the room and tucking various supplies into his deep pockets. He had read enough about the history of the situation, now he would just have to start doing something about it.
The knock on his door came sooner than expected.
// Well… better to head out… before I change my mind. At worst I can always leave him behind somewhere and go ahead without him if he's a burden. //
"Come in, lieutenant."
"Sir."
"Are we prepared?"
"I've packed the essentials, rations for a week and the like… getting lost out there is… well it happens, sir."
"I see." The general looked at the shorter man's gear, noting the sword had been left behind, but decided not to say anything about it. Mr. Thomson would have ample opportunities to prove himself, or prove himself a fool in the next day and a half. He would wait and see what would happen.
"Well then, let's go."
"Yes sir."
*****
Zack dared to glance over his shoulder from time to time, staring at his silent trek-companion under the guise of scanning the trees for sign of activity. The trail was as quiet as a cloister, their usually restless natives seeming to have been scared away by the recent activity around camp. He wasn't fool enough to think the village-militia had left all together. No, they were perched somewhere, watching, biding their time. From the occasional encounters in his childhood, and the few months of relative sanity in Kobani, he had always been impressed by the patient and meticulous nature of many of the people of Wutai. Not that they were on the whole better or worse than any other group, but culturally, they seemed to be proud of their ability to think things through. He only hoped that they'd 'think through' how nice a guy he was before deciding whether or not to blow him up. It didn't help his nerves any that he had a nice high-contrast target following ten-feet behind him. He hadn't even bothered suggesting a change of gear for the general. He had a hunch it would have just gotten him yelled at.
// City-folk. Bah. Without the sense given to infants, the lot of them. Ten points says he wouldn't know the difference between a tree snake and an anaconda until one tried to bite his face off. //
Of course, that was what he was there for. Zack grimaced, and continued to worry enough for two since he was certain his superior wouldn't know to bother, or what to even worry about. It was a nerve-wracking business, babysitting brass. If he acted too protective, he'd get his ass kicked by the man, not protective enough, and they'd both end up in a hole, or captured, or just plain hopelessly lost.
// Or all of the above, in random order. //
The locals had been deliberately monkeying with the trail, coaxing the wild-growing bamboo to overwhelm it in places, hacking fake new routes to lead the unsuspecting astray. He had already found and avoided one such trap, paranoia went a long way towards avoiding the others. He peered at a set of thick bushes distrustfully before halting altogether. It was simply too convenient a set up, nice clear path, just wide enough for a man to fit through, bramble on the right, wall of vegetation on the left. Zack felt his superior officer halt a few paces behind him with a sigh. "What is it, lieutenant? Another backtrack? Are we lost already?"
// Serves me right for not pointing out the pit full of sharpened stakes we 'back tracked' from a while ago, he probably just thinks I'm doing this for laughs. //
He kept his opinion firmly to himself, squashing the impulse to invite the general to go on ahead and get whatever it was right in the face.
// With my luck it's a false alarm and he'd go right through and think I was a moron instead of just a slacker. //
"Just a minute, general." Zack was pleased to find he could maintain a façade of civility when faced with the bored look from his superior and bent to fish a longish bit of branch off the jungle floor. He checked it briefly for leeches or fire ants or anything equally unsavory and content his find wouldn't hurt him, moved forwards a bit to gently prod at the bushes. The first few whacks sounded like nothing more exciting than leaves and twigs. The third hit resulted in an audible 'twang.' He all but threw himself backwards in his quest to get out of the way, avoiding a sudden flurry of wicked looking darts that erupted from the bush to ping in every direction. One of the nasty looking thorns landed in the dirt near his glove, most of them had embedded themselves into the trees nearby. He looked up and back, and blinked at the sight of Sephiroth calmly holding one, seeming to have plucked it right out of the air without thinking. The pale man gingerly lowered his arm, staring at the projectile with a soft 'hmmmm'.
"Fascinating."
Zack picked up the one nearby and examined it briefly before tossing it into the bush. "Poisoned."
"Plant toxin?"
"Possibly. Or powdered snake venom… or puffer fish… or any number of things… don't feel like testing one to find out." He picked up his stick and resumed his poking.
"Surely you've already triggered the trap?"
"Not all of it. They have this thing they do…" He paused his work, feeling charitable enough to explain now that he wasn't being glared at.
"Once we started looking for the traps, they got this idea that it'd be funny… to let us find the first one, and then catch us off guard with the second one. Sort of a bait-and-switch routine. The more obvious the first trap is, the more likely the second one will be a pisser… sir." The belated memory of who he was lecturing about the basics of guerilla tactics kicked in just in time to save him from looking a complete slob. He could have kicked himself for the lapse. He had been trying so hard to be well behaved this time too.
// Not that I know why I bother… I mean, the guy is just weird. But it'd be nice if I didn't manage to piss off every commanding officer I ever meet, otherwise Pavan is right, I'll be the only lieutenant of 43 years of age who didn't get there by being demoted like the doc was. //
Sephiroth didn't seem to mind the slip in the slightest, still preoccupied by the overgrown trail. "So what exactly do you look for, with these, double-traps?"
"Well…" He scratched his head, not sure how to answer. "Frankly sir, usually we just go on instinct… sort of put ourselves into their shoes… slippers, whatever."
"… and what do your instincts tell you?" The general's eyes were incandescent in the jigsaw of shadows thrown by the trees, making him look even more surreal than usual. With his bone white hair and frequent knack for moving silently and then standing perfectly still, Zack had a weird desire to reach out and poke him to see if the man was solid, or actually some sort of ghost. He focused on the question instead, talking through what was idling in the back of his head as he looked carefully at their surroundings.
"Well, the trap was intended for a large group of men, not just the two of us… so even if someone had spotted it, there would be confusion on the trail, maybe people running forwards or back, trying to get out of the way… a repeat on the dart trick would be particularly mean, hence me beating the bushes some more, but I doubt that's it… so something that would exploit the narrow trail, and the fact that there aren't many ways for a person to run…"
Interested, the general started to look around as well. Zack shrugged, poking the last few sections of plant mass for paranoia's sake before gingerly edging forwards, looking for recent digging in the forest floor or any sort of tripwires. A second pair of eyes, even a novice's, were always welcome.
"Mr. Thompson." The mild call caught him just as he was about to check further into the passage beyond. He looked back to see the taller man quietly beckon him closer. "… Might this be your 'unpleasant follow-up' ?" Pointing upwards with a black gloved hand, the general drew his attention to what he had thought was a thick tree trunk.
It was a tree all right, but lashed to it was another one. A mammoth sized piece of dead trunk several feet wide and easily twenty feet long. Looking up into the shady canopy he could just make out a system of ropes holding it in place. It certainly seemed deadly enough, but he couldn't fathom what the trigger was supposed to be that would make the giant log crash down. He just didn't want to be under it when it went 'splat'. "Yeah. Looks like a smasher of some sort."
"I think they've rigged it to swing actually. Quite clever." Unhooking his sword from over his shoulder, Sephiroth used the weapon to reach up and prod the trap.
// Is he insane? //
"Um, please don't do that sir?"
"You may want to stand back, lieutenant." The general murmured, ignoring his hesitant plea for reason. Zack edged back a few feet, and wondered if he should give the man a few yards just in case. It didn't matter, he was obviously the least of the SOLDIER's immediate interests. "I believe I've found the trigger mechanism."
// He is insane. //
// This will be the shortest Recon mission ever… half a day to hike this far… then two hours for me to run back with the mashed remains of yet another senior officer. Maybe if I fake a nervous breakdown in front of the board of inquiry they'll let me out on a medical discharge and I can go home and grow boring-ass sugar beats like a dutiful son and never get involved with Shinra again. //
Sephiroth's stretched up a little, increasing his already impressive reach by a few critical inches, and used the tip of his sword to saw through one of the ropes. It snapped neatly and the tree groaned and shifted, shedding weight as the piece of timber broke free and rocketed downwards. It was only after it started moving that Zack was able to make out what had apparently been readily visible to the SOLDIER all along, a pair of pivoting cables tied to the log's side, causing it to swing in a massive arc instead of simply smashing into the ground. It moved like a huge battering ram down the path, easily capable of bashing several dozen closely packed men to a pulp before it was caught and brought down. Gaping, he watched it reach the end of its arc and reversed course to swing back towards them. Even knowing he was out of range, he fought the urge to duck.
The general, seeming to delight in doing exactly the opposite of commonsense, stepped directly into the path of the thing.
// What the hell is he going to do, try and chop it in half with his oversized katana? //
Visions of a squashed Sephiroth, and the faces of a disapproving board of Shinra executives asking him why he just stood there while a promising officer got pulverized were enough to get him moving to the man's rescue, but not near fast enough. He was still more than a 'tackle' away when the officer calmly held out his arm and tried to catch the swinging log. Zack was close enough to hear the "Umph" at the impact, and was almost plowed into as the white haired man briefly lost traction with the ground and slid backwards. The tall SOLDIER dug his heels in however, and to Zack's amazement, halted the beam's progress. It swung away again, far less energetic than before. He simply stared as his companion reached out to catch it again, this time bringing it to rest with no effort at all.
"Holy shit." He hadn't meant to say it aloud, felt stupid when he realized that he had. The general looked back at him as if noticing him for the first time.
"I believe I like these natives of yours Mr. Thomson. They seem an economical bunch, and make good use of simple materials."
"They know their territory sir." He agreed meekly, still trying to mentally accept the idea of the unflustered man critiquing the death-trap in front of him with the awesome strength needed to stop something that heavy moving that fast. The thing was, Sephiroth just didn't look that strong. The man was ripped, that was certain, but despite being tall and broad shouldered he lacked any serious bulk. Up until now Zack had felt vaguely confident that they were probably an even match, despite the general's added inches of height. He didn't even want to contemplate wrestling with the man now.
// SOLDIER… remember? Just because he doesn't look like Pavan, doesn't mean he can't do all the same crazy-ass shit. Or more… the rumors did say 'indestructible'… 'Sephiroth, the indestructible, incorruptible man.' //
He almost smiled. It sounded like a great tag-line for a TV show. Somehow he didn't think his superior would appreciate the joke.
The man in question abruptly sliced upwards, splitting cable and chain to let the end of the log fall to earth. Hopping on the trunk, he briskly walked up its length until he could proceed to cut the second tether, riding the beam down to the ground and stepping off just before it impacted as if it had been his intention all along. He looked back and raised an eyebrow in silent enquiry.
Cursing himself out of his awed reverie, Zack scrambled over the log and moved to take the lead. He didn't get far before his commander paused behind him, bending to the side to grab hold of the end of a severed rope. Yanking it gently Sephiroth revealed that it was indeed the tripwire that would have set the log loose, tucked elegantly under a loose stack of rocks that either of them could have carelessly stepped on. "The lesson has been most informative, Mr. Thomson. Thank you."
"Yeah, no problem." He replied weakly.
"Were there other traps that I failed to notice earlier?"
"A few, I walked us around most of them…"
"Interesting. I should like to see them, if you don't mind pointing them out on the way back. But for now, it's likely best that we press ahead?"
"Yeah…" He shook his head, trying to get the image of Sephiroth catching a tree one-handed out of his mind. "Yes sir… right this way." Glancing at his watch, he grimly noted that they had taken over half a day on their little hike, and they had a ways to go. Shouldering his pack a little higher, he grimly re-estimated the length of the trip. If there was going to be fun like this happening on the trails, it might not be a bad idea to abandon them all together and just go straight through. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. Quicksand was far less tedious than constantly raking the ground ahead for buried explosives, and he had a hunch it would be only a matter of time before they started running into those as well as the rest of angry-Wutai's bag of tricks.
"With all do respect sir…" He glanced back.
"Yes?"
"Do you mind a bit of a cross-country hike?"
Sephiroth blinked. "What do you call what we've been doing so far?"
"Sticking to the trail like good little cannon-fodder." He grinned, not able to help himself. "I'm thinking, as crazy as it sounds, it'll be hell'a'safer in the bush then just constantly trusting luck to get us through the gauntlet they've rigged for us."
"If you don't like the game than don't play, is that it?"
"Yes sir. That's pretty much what I was thinking."
"I concur." The general smirked in reply, not a smile, but still, a far cry better than his usual impersonal expression. "Try not to get us lost, lieutenant?"
"Yessir." Feeling better already, Zack broke out a well-used machete and briskly began to clear a path through the brambles in a northerly direction. With any luck they'd hit the cove by nightfall.
*****
Their little makeshift camp on the cliff's edge was far more scenic than the base they had left behind. An easy distance below them was a slip of a beach and a handsome little cove. Sephiroth exercised the privilege of laziness that his rank merited him, and explored the short cliff and beach while his subordinate briskly took care of everything else. Initially he had set the man callously to work out of spite for his multitude of small irritations through out the day. Finding out that he had been coddled all morning was annoying enough, but he was quietly certain that not all the mishaps that had occurred during their trek through the unmarked wilderness had been accidental.
// To be fair, he seemed genuinely surprised about the bog… but the bats? And the overgrown beetle that looked like a rock…. And then the spiders? He had to have known about some of that. Hell I would have know about the bats if I had recognized what I was hearing. //
To be fair, the trooper hadn't provoked him to investigate the strange sounds coming from the hollow tree trunk, the man had already gone on ahead. He could have offered some sort of warning however. The sudden exodus of three hundred or so small winged mammals wasn't something that would have startled him had he been aware of the possibility of accidentally spooking them into flight. Too add to the minor disaster, one of the poor creatures had gotten tangled in his hair and had taken several tedious moments to detach and release. Sephiroth grimaced and nudged a seashell with his boot.
He was getting depressingly familiar with his subordinate's 'not-smiling' face. The man's eyes betrayed what his face was hard pressed to conceal. He was obviously having a great time, at his general's expense. Sephiroth had started watching the dark haired man very closely by the end of their hike, half paranoid about what else the trooper could possibly get them into, half reluctantly admiring how easily he moved through the obstacles. The specialist seemed to have a knack for dealing with the unexpected, even if he looked ridiculous in the process.
// At least I wasn't the one who almost got bitten by an irate… whatever that was… meanest looking badger I've ever seen… //
He hadn't done much, simply grabbing the odd critter by its tail as it had lunged for the startled lieutenant and pitching it a short way into the bog. It had hissed and chattered in it's grumpy way and swum off to do something more entertaining than harass them while they poured the water out of their boots. The specialist had praised his reflexes longer than strictly necessary, seeming to talk more when he was taken by surprise. Sephiroth wasn't sure what annoyed him more, the dark haired man's tiny smile of amusement when watching him blunder, or his blatant looks of amazement when he so much as sneezed. This was why he didn't bother interacting with the army directly if he had a choice. He hated being a spectacle.
// And if he so much as breathes about anything that's happened today, so help me god I'll crush him. //
The thought was hopelessly childish, but then so were many of his reactions to the illogical trooper. He turned with a sigh and found the convenient fault-line in the cliff that had brought him down to the beach in the first place. It was only a moment's work to go back the way he had came, transitioning from cliff to grassy outlook with a brief scrabble of loose pebbles. A small fire greeted him, hardly necessary given their climate, and meaning to ask about it he looked around only to find himself very alone.
// Damnit… I leave him alone for two minutes and he goes native on me? //
Unsupervised, there was no telling what the idiot could have gotten up to. He didn't hear any sounds of distress coming from the jungle, but that didn't mean anything. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he sighed and tried the obvious. "Lieutenant?"
"Here sir." The reply was prompt, the man's location however was a mystery.
"Here where, trooper?"
"Up, sir."
The cheerful answer had him craning his head back, mentally adding another demerit to the young man's profile for daring to defy gravity. The dark haired trooper was most definitely up a tree. Fairly far out along one of the droopy branches, he had his legs locked around it like an overgrown monkey while he industriously cut some yellow looking fruit free.
Sephiroth refrained from commenting sourly that the man had returned to his natural element. He had been to the zoo once or twice in the past, and with the dark mop of hair hanging down in a loose mane, the specialist really did look like some sort of exotic chimpanzee.
"What are you doing Mr. Thomson."
The man paused in his cutting to give him a tired look. His expression looked almost comical upside down. "… Permission to speak freely sir?"
"… Do you have any other way of speaking?" The general sighed.
His subordinate paused, and then grinned. "Well, permission to speak even more freely?"
"Go ahead, lieutenant."
"Would you mind terribly calling me Zack like everyone else does?"
Sephiroth blinked, startled by the odd request. "… Why?"
"I dunno… It's just weird to hear 'Mr.Thomson' all the time…" Shrugging while hanging by one's knees had to be an acquired skill, the general decided, watching as the man resume his cutting with a soft laugh. "My dad always had people call him 'Mr. Thompson'… and I so whenever I hear it I think of him."
"… Lucky you." He drawled, no longer particularly caring if he was at his 'professional best,' it wasn't like it mattered if the trooper was offended. The man didn't seem inclined to respect him anyway.
"Heh, you've obviously never met my father." Zack laughed abruptly, almost dropping his knife in surprise "Did you just say what I think you said? I'm sorry, forget I asked that, doesn't matter… here, lend me a hand?"
// When he says 'speak freely' he really means it… //
Somewhat stunned by the sudden candidness, he stepped closer and instinctively caught the bundle dropped down to him. "Careful," his companion warned, "They're very soft when ripe."
The fruit was unfamiliar to him but smelled fairly safe. "What is this?"
"Desert." The trooper chuckled as he worked his way back down the tree. "I figured, since this is your first time in Wutai… and since you came in the right season and all… least we could do is give you something to eat that isn't steam-pressed into a little bar."
"Is it safe?" He eyed the squishy produce doubtfully. Usually when things got that soft in his refrigerator, it was well-past time for them to be thrown out.
"Is it safe he says…" Staggering away from the slender trunk, the southerner relieved him of his burden. "They're Puddingfruit… 'Casimiora Edulis' if you want to be intellectual about it… Sapote is the native name I guess. Back in Gongaga we called them 'LittleSues' although hell if I've ever figured out why."
// the more he talks, the less sense he makes. //
Figuring he might as well satisfy his curiousity and give up on holding his headache at bay Sephiroth asked the other question that had been almost forgotten since the afternoon. "What was that badger-thing back at the swamp, I've never seen one before."
"Rowler. Nasty buggers, small, furry, irate, lots of teeth." The specialist summed up Sephiroth's first impression of the animal nicely. "Probably wanted to take a piece out of me for daring to lose my boot in its territory."
"Lovely."
"Hey, could be worse, we haven't run into any of the big shit at least."
The general rolled his eyes, confident that the growing darkness would keep the gesture from being seen. "Right. I've heard the rumors of flesh eating trees and moths the size of small children…"
"Oh, well those exist, but they're pretty rare." Zack shrugged, poking at the fire with a stick. "I'm more worried about tigers or dragons, frankly."
"I'll keep that in mind." He watched, perplexed as the trooper unearthed what looked like potatoes, wondering just how hungry he was. Campfire cooking had never been a favorite of his.
Seeming to read his mind, his unlikely subordinate handed him a well cooked tuber. "If you hate it, there are always 'tasty' rations in the pack."
"…point." Given his options, he suddenly looked at the humble entrée with more appreciation. Anything had to be better than freeze-dried protein. He could feel the heat of the thing through his gloves, and nibbled it cautiously. Nearby the ocean waves poured onto the beach with the incoming tide, a peaceful end to an altogether unusual day. He circumspectly watched the young officer as he too gazed out at the water, seeming content with the world. In repose his face was quite handsome. Sephiroth blinked at the realization and promptly squashed it.
// Oh no… no no no… There will be absolutely none of that. // He scolded his usually dormant libido. The very idea of having any more contact than strictly necessary with the wayward trooper was enough to make him have a pre-emptive breakdown. The man was completely inappropriate in every possible way, cleverness, dexterity, and looks aside, he was already an established discipline case.
// The last thing you need is to get weak kneed over some prank playing hick with a dangerous sense of humor. // Properly cowed, his subconscious let the impulse go, and he allowed himself to relax slightly. It was ironic that he wanted the man to talk, to irritate him, if only to put the unexpected attraction out of his mind for good. "How did you know the cove was here?"
"Well I've been here before, haven't I…" The wild haired man slouched back against his tree and wiped his hands on his pants to dust off the last of the crumbs. "Not for months, but yeah… some of us used to come out here every now and again for the fruit trees… the villagers too. Sapote is mighty tasty when it's in season."
"how does one eat it…?" He gingerly held one of the proffered fruit in his hand, afraid that it would disintegrate into mush if he breathed on it.
"Bite off the tip, but don't eat the rind, it's not good for you. Then just sort of squeeze it out into your mouth… nothing to it." Demonstrating, the trooper spat out the piece of the fruit's skin and carefully squeezed, demonstrating that the soft core of the fruit was indeed of a pudding sort of consistency.
Sephiroth did the same, glade that the soft pulp was safely mild flavored. Unusual but not at all unpleasant, he acknowleged that maybe the trooper knew what he was talking about. "… Why is it that I've never seen these in Midgar?"
"They don't travel well at all. Too soft."
"Pity, maybe if they were frozen."
"Would cost a fortune." Zack disagreed mildly, "You'd be better of exporting a tree or two… grow your own."
"Would they survive outside a greenhouse?"
"Probably not."
"Ah well." He dismissed the idea, and weighed the merits of a second helping. It was safer not to, despite the specialist's obvious familiarity with the fruit. There was no telling if he would wake up to find himself allergic as it was.
The moon was almost bright enough to read by, beyond their comfortable shadows. He reached out a foot to kick the little blaze out of center, encouraging the flame to die down quickly. "… I'll take first watch Mr. Thomson."
The younger officer gave him an odd look, silently understanding that their informal little 'chat' was done for the night. "In that case… Wake me when it's time, sir." A moment of shuffling with his jacket and he was curled into a compact huddle against the trunk of his tree. Sephiroth listened to his breathing as it readily settled into a relaxed rhythm. As quick to sleep as he was to do everything else, the trooper became dead to the world with awe inspiring speed.
// As if he hasn't a care in the world. //
He snorted, easily believing it to be true. Staring at the curled-up ball of fatigues and jacket and boots lost its appeal after the first few minutes. Luckily there was the entire expanse of the ocean to admire as well. Stretching his legs out in front of him, the pale man settled a little deeper into his trench coat and enjoyed the view.
*****
"Wake up, lieutenant." The murmured instruction was accompanied by a fairly business like boot to his calf and he came awake with a jolt. It wasn't the best way to start a morning, especially when the 'morning' was only a few hours old. Zack scrubbed his face with his hands to get his eyes to wake up, and blinked at how light it was already. A glance at his watch confirmed it. The general had let him oversleep by several hours.
// That's rather generous of him… unless he fell asleep too… and he really doesn't seem the type. //
Given that the pale man's only waited long enough to see if he was stirring before crossing his arms over his chest and tucking his chin into his collar, it wasn't likely he would volunteer an explanation. "… wake me in three hours."
"…yessir…"
Wracking his brain, he tiredly came to the conclusion that it had to be one of the most abrupt wakeup calls he had ever had.
// It's 3am… do you know where your generals are? //
With little to do but wait until sun rise, he fumbled in the dark for another pudding fruit, and then decided he might as well wash up a bit while the stuffy officer was too oblivious to get offended by it. There was nothing out of the ordinary coming from the jungle. A quick inspection and he was satisfied that nothing would eat his commander while he slipped down the cliff for a rinse off. The itch of drying salt water was vastly preferable to trudging in yesterday's dried mud.
// … could forage for breakfast maybe… //
He considered the bit of deeper water that he could make out. It was still a little dark for fishing.
// City-guy that he is, he might freak out if I try and feed him fish for breakfast. //
Given the option of fish or ration-bar, Zack knew which one he'd choose. He sighed and climbed back up the cliff to see if he had tucked something as useful as a fishhook and string in his bag on the way out of camp. If the officer didn't want any, it was just more for him.
The cove, facing east as it was, wasn't that great at sunset, but it made up for it by being twice as pretty in the morning. He was almost glad he was up to see it. Glancing over at his silent companion he couldn't help but notice that even asleep, the man didn't unwind so much as a hair. Or rather, his hair was the only thing about him that looked relaxed. Legs elegantly crossed at the heels, hands tucked into his jacket, the officer might have been lounging a quiet moment at a bus stop rather than claiming his drastically shortened second-shift in the middle of nowhere. If the morning noises of the various critters and birds bothered him, he made no motion.
// Somehow I didn't peg him as a deep sleeper either… //
He resisted the stupid impulse to poke the man to see if he was actually awake. He was breathing steadily enough, the slow methodical movement of his chest a little too regular to feel quite right. Visions of the man being secretly filled with clockwork danced through his head. It only lasted a moment. He had gotten the barest glimpses yesterday that there was indeed a person lurking under that flawless façade. As impossible as it seemed the super-soldier was definitely no machine.
// … It's like under all that spit and polish, there's a genuine asshole wanting to get out. //
The sun was high enough to come straight over the water at last, catching in the SOLDIER's white-blond hair and tinting it pale pink for an odd moment as the sky's color's shifted. Really looking at the odd colored locks he had to give up on calling them blond at all. It was more like the officer had gone prematurely gray, or in his case, white. There was no color at all to the long mane.
// He can't be more than mid-thirties… He's supposed to be like, the youngest general ever… and Heidigger is not yet 40… bet that really pisses the fat ass off… //
Glancing at his watch, he decided he could no longer prolong the inevitable. His breakfast was cooking merrily on the beach, the sun was up, and the small digital display informed him that the general's three hours were up. Zack cringed, hoping that the man wasn't a surly riser.
"Um, general? It's morning."
"I'm awake."
// No-one just wakes up like that… he had to be faking. //
The pale officer certainly didn't act like someone groggy from a nap. He gave a token effort to stretching and simply stood up as if ready to immediately set out. Zack moved to interrupt before the man actually put thought into action. "Breakfast will be ready in a bit, sir."
"… breakfast?" Sephiroth gave him an odd look. "Explain."
"Well it isn't much, but I have some water boiling for coffee… and then there's fish if you want it… or rations…"
At the very mention of 'fish' the general's expression tightened around the edges, proving his initial assumption was correct. Zack quietly filed the reaction away for another time.
// No fish for breakfast… I guess… or maybe just no fish at all…? Strange guy. I wonder if I…//
"Good fishing in this part of the coast, water is clear for miles… get some great eels too…" He kept his voice deliberately cheerful and oblivious, wickedly noting how the pale man got a little greener with every word.
"I shall be fine with coffee, thank you Mr. Thomson."
"I remember Midgar always had lousy seafood…" He escaped before the pale man could muster the energy to send him off on some chore to make him shut up, sliding down to the beach to put the finishing touches on his breakfast. With luck he could wrap a little of it in the leftover tinfoil and have a snack for lunch too.
True to his word, the general stuck to his coffee when he came down to join him. The officer stayed well on the windward side of the fire, eying 'breakfast' with subtle, but still obvious distaste. Zack watched him carefully and realized with pleasure that he was finally starting to get the hang of him. The man was by far the most pokerfaced individual he had ever encountered, but even he had a quirk or two that could reveal his moods.
// If I told him he had expressive eyebrows, he'd probably throw me half the way to Cozmo-country. No… no I think I'll keep that little revelation to myself. //
Having to keep up with a man who wasn't actually eating meant bolting his food and cleaning the rest as quickly as possible. He kicked wet sand over the fire to put it out. "After you, general," he nodded towards the little fissure they had used as a ladder, packing the last of his bag away and swinging it onto his shoulders.
Even before his stomach had settled, they were firmly back in amidst the trees, enjoying the fact that the insects wouldn't be up for another hour or so. Zack glanced back from time to time to check on his companion, but the general seemed quite content to let him cut a trail straight to the capital if that was what he had it in his mind to do. Luckily, his sense of direction was working just fine and they made good time across country only to pop out of the green right on top of the creek and trail that he was looking for.
"Is this the same..?"
"No sir. This is something of a local road, so there's a decent chance they won't have rigged it."
"It's heading back towards the coast."
Zack gave the man credit for keeping on top of where they had been going, not that he'd trust the officer to wander off on his own in the brush. They were making good time down the trail. He was feeling pretty confident about their chance of reaching the village before lunch. The jungle sadly had other plans. No sooner than he had cleared the trees to walk them through an overgrown clearing, than he smelled the impending danger.
"… Oops."
"What?" Irritated at his outburst, the officer stopped behind him and drew breath to make a more complete inquiry when his question answered itself. A rustle of bushes just ahead produced an angular head covered in iridescent gray-green scales. Two more rustles, and two more, and they were well and truly flanked. Each of the monsters was easily the size of truck and from the look of it, they had interrupted breakfast. He had been so busy patting himself on the back over the lack of booby-traps that they had walked right into the middle of a little draconic buffet.
Zack reached for a sword that wasn't there, and swore again. "Damn it. We won't out run them if they're hungry…"
"They are single minded creatures." Sephiroth blandly agreed. "Nothing for it I suppose but to go through the middle."
He shot the officer a look, wondering at how even a super soldier could calmly start his day off with five oversized man-eating lizards. After the man's little performance yesterday, he was marginally inclined to believe that he knew what he was up to. Still, it was a bit much. "… Anything you say, sir." He tried to keep the sigh out of his voice.
"Stay put. You'll be of no use to me if you to get eaten."
// Oh I'm not that bad… Jeez… think I've never fought a dragon before… //
Zack glanced down, idly noting that taking on a dragon with a semi-automatic was extremely stupid, and taking it on with a machete was probably suicide. Given his options, he settled for being stupid and thumbed the safety off the weapon. There was a chance of landing a lucky shot or two after all. "I'll just…" He was speaking to empty air.
He blinked and looked ahead only to cringe as the general sidestepped two lunging dragons bent on snacking on a limb or two. Sephiroth was doing exactly what he said he would, picking one of the beasts out at random and attacking it with precise movements. He was hampered somewhat by the other four nipping at him from all sides, but only barely. The first monster went down before Zack could shake off the shock.
// Move it Moron, before one of the critters gets a mouth full of his hair or something! //
The white mane really was an easy target. The dragons seemed particularly drawn to its sparkling hue. Moving before he had entirely thought things through, he raised his gun and caught one of the beasts in the shoulder, just to get its attention.
"Hey! Ugly! Come on!"
The scaly brute promptly left off harassing the general and turned his direction with a smoky hiss.
// Oh crap. Gray-green… does that mean their acid spitters? Fire? Ice? I can't remember… //
Jerking its head abruptly, it opened its jaws and released a gout of fire in his direction. He staggered backwards, and by some miracle, kept his footing.
// Fire it is. //
Trying to tell himself to be grateful it wasn't acid, and believe it. He dared a quick glance behind him to see what he was about to trip over, and then back at his target. It had multiplied when he wasn't looking, a second dragon lunging for him while the other chirped encouragement. The snap of teeth in the air where his knee had been moments before was all the wakeup call he needed. Zack caught a glimpse of white and the quick weaving of a long sword out of the corner of his eye but couldn't spare the man a thought. Knowing it was his only real chance, he bolted for the trees, hoping to draw the beasts into a less favorable battleground.
The crashes through the vegetation behind him proved that both the dragons had taken the bait, following him between the closely packed trunks and away from where their comrades were hopefully being turned into leather-goods complements of a very long katana.
// Hypothetically, all I have to do is keep the buggers busy until the general can get around to them…//
He ducked around a pile of boulders only to hear one of the dexterous monsters scrabble right over them and land with a heavy thump directly in his path. He shot it in the eye without even pausing to aim, dumb luck serving him better than any official training on the firing range. It howled in understandable pain, and he ducked around it while it was distracted, diving between two large trunks and down into a bit of a gully.
// … which… given how fast Sephiroth took down the first one… should be about what… ten minutes… //
The only problem he could see was that he probably would only last five. Spying something of an open path ahead, he focused on putting some distance between himself and his now furious pursuers. Their loud progress receded a few critical yards behind him, leaving him a moment's breathing room to consider his next plan. He burst out into another clearing, and cursed, veering right to duck back into the trees. Another abrupt right and he was doubling-back on a parallel course, temporarily losing sight of both of the sinuous lizards. He glanced behind him, paranoid. He could hear them close by, but had to make an educated guess as to which way to duck.
Zack was only partly right. One of the dragons was indeed lost behind him. The injured beast, being partly blinded, was further back than he had anticipated, erupting through the trees next to him with a wide blast of fire. He smelled his jacket start to char around the edged as he rolled out of the way and shot at it again. The bullet struck but seemed to lodge in its jawbone rather than doing any particular damage. He swore and tried again, waiting for it to lunge, its face inches from the tip of his gun. Judging by the way it flinched and wailed he had hit something soft in the back of the dragon's throat. Skittering back, he gasped for breath.
// I'm going to have to poke tiny holes in this thing until I hit something lucky? This isn't going to work… //
Actually aiming for once, he lined up a perfect shot for the beast's already bloodied eye, only to have his gun jam. Pressing the trigger caused a sick sounding 'ka-click' and did absolutely nothing useful.
"... no fucking way." He would have groaned in annoyance if he could have spared the energy.
Ducking yet more fire-breath, he blindly went through the motions of trying to bang the mechanism free. It was no good. It was well and truly stuck. The dragon was bleeding freely from the mouth, looking seriously messed up but not quite ready to die yet. He didn't dare take his eyes off of it long enough to stop and figure out how the defective weapon was broken. He used it to block a clawed swipe at his head instead, not feeling entirely sorry when it was swatted out of his grip.
A fresh bellow over his shoulder proved that whatever he was going to do, it would have to be fast.
// Now would be a great time for a rescue, sir… //
There was no sign of a white-haired SOLDIER in the near vicinity, and every chance that the man was in fact a well-chewed corpse by now.
The dragon in front of him tottered a little, proving that he must have hit something more important than he had thought before his gun had characteristically failed. He should have known better than to expect more than that from a piece of Shinra equipment. With no other immediate options, he bolted again, leading the second monster back through the jungle in the hopes of eventually working his way back to where he had left his superior. It was determined to catch him before he got far however, and it was all he could do to keep up in their little game of cat and mouse.
*****
Sephiroth dispatched the last dragon with a final swipe of his blade, neatly inserting his blade in a weak point between the plated-underbelly and the mottled hide along its back. A critical artery burst, halting the animal mid stride and leaving it sprawled on the ground like a broken toy. He eyed it critically as he completed the stroke, flinging the blood off his blade in a wide arc.
It looked dead enough. He really didn't have time to second-guess himself. There were still two more to attend to. Five mid-sized forest dragons, they were nothing to sweat about really, except that his lunatic of a guide had insisted on getting involved. The general distinctly remembered telling the man to stay put. The insubordinate trooper probably hadn't even heard him; too busy yelling some unintelligible challenge as he dove into the fray. He would have to speak to Zack later about that. First he'd have to find him.
The rustling trees all around him disoriented him for a moment. He had been standing within five feet of the dark-haired man when the beasts had attacked, but the ensuing fight seemed to have put some distance, and shrubbery between them. Cursing the younger trooper's folly, he pushed through the jungle growth; following the smashed trail of greenery to see if there was anything left of the shaggy mess of an officer.
Sephiroth was mildly impressed when he came across the carcass of one of the beasts. Prodding it with his foot, a glint of something muddy and man-made caught his eye amidst the lush plants. Long-range repeating with sight, clip and strap; it looked like it lay where it had fallen as its owner had retreated further into the brush. Picking it up, the general couldn't decide if he was pleased or annoyed to see that the empty slots in the clip almost matched the bullet holes in the monster's head. His temporary subordinate was no slouch in the field despite his bizarre take on discipline. He banged the weapon sharply against a tree to free the cartridge stuck in its internal assembly and found that it still seemed to function well enough. He shouldered the gun and looked around for further clues. The whole situation was puzzling.
It also left him with one dragon: missing, and one absent officer: unarmed. The general almost felt bad about the man having left his carthorse-sized blade back at camp; almost. It was hard to believe that the heavy weapon was usable in the slightest by a normal soldier, no matter how strong or energetic.
Twitching his own sword, he cut away a piece of offending brush as he followed the trail deeper. A sharp edge was far more appropriate for fighting armored dragon-hide than even the heavy slugs Zack had used to fell the first of his attackers. He was a little surprised more of the bullets hadn't bounced off. Either the specialist was an exceptional shot even under pressure, or Scarlet had been improving her 'special blend' of gunpowder again. His money was on Scarlet.
Bending back a frond easily as tall as he was, he was presented with an unexpected sight. Not only was the specialist still alive, he was still attacking.
// Is he for real? Specialists really are 'above and beyond'... Any more 'fearless' and they'd be psychotic. //
The pale man blinked as his guide nimbly dodged two gouts of flame by running up the side of a mammoth boulder, and then springing off the top to literally catch the monster by the horns. Using his grip and momentum, Zack administered a ruthless kick to a serpentine eye. It was impossible to say whether the move was planned or just ludicrously lucky. The man didn't present like he had a clue what he was doing, hanging on for all he was worth as his unlikely perch tried to shake him loose. The beast screamed in frustration, finally throwing its head back violently enough to toss its attacker head-over-heels into the brush several yards away. The bush-rat of a trooper crashed into a banana tree with a startled "Woot!"
Taking advantage of its exposed neck as it turned to look for its tormentor, Sephiroth sighed and closed in for the kill.
// The man has balls, I'll give him that... //
Using his speed to best advantage, he was in position before the dragon was aware of his arrival. Catching it just below the jaw, he decapitated it in a smooth stroke. Even in the heavy air of the tropics, the blood steamed thickly as it poured free. He blinked as the vapor stung his eyes.
Looking away, he was confronted with an equally unappealing sight.
Zack seemed to have suffered no lasting harm from his impromptu flight. The dusky trooper was leaning against his tree with an air of lazy amusement. Sephiroth resisted the urge to bawl him out, and then the closely following impulse to ask if he was all right. Instead he took a moment to ground his unnaturally energetic reaction to the man, raking him with a cool glare that took in muddy knees and leaf-be-decked hair.
"... So," the trooper drawled. Instead of being properly cowed by the silent scolding, Zack seemed to take it as a challenge. His grin was of a broad friendly sort, displaying a set of brilliant white teeth.
// Either born lucky, or got braces once he got to Midgar… wonder which it was… //
He crushed the irrelevant thought and stepped over the corpse to close the distance between them. "Yes, Mr. Thomson?" He sighed in annoyance, handing over the lost gun.
"…What kept you?"
Sephiroth blinked, startled by the teasing question. The insufferable man had the audacity to laugh when he didn't answer immediately. He glared at the back of the dark-haired head as his escort paused to get his bearings and briskly set off again, leading him god-only-knew where.
// I should have let the dragons eat him. //
*****
*****
Every time I sit down to put out a chapter of this I get distracted by something for a month *Crosses fingers* here's hoping the next one won't take quite as long. -- Lunar