CHAPTER 5

A bright, warm light pierced Zack's eyelids, stirring him from his sleep. Instinctively, he pulled his covers up over his face, and turned away from the glow. He vaguely remembered some voices, then something... no, someone pushing him lightly where he lay. Out of lazy rebellion, he refused move. In any case, his aching, tired body would have been unwilling to accommodate him if he had wanted to.

...

Zack awoke with a start, his heart racing from panic. "SHIT!" he yelled out. He looked around. The room was empty. There were dirty plates left on the table from breakfast, and everyone and their equipment was gone. He knew he was going to be in severe trouble. He had no clue how long ago his companions had awaken, but for all Zack knew, they could have just left two minutes or two hours ago. In a scramble, he went to find his boots and equipment.

Zack flung a bag over his shoulder, and grabbed his sword, sheathing it behind him. He ducked into the bathroom quickly to wash his face and brush his teeth, doing so quickly and vigorously. He slicked back his maim, and looked himself over. With a nod of self-approval, he turned on his heel and practically ran out of the room, grabbing an apple that sat in a bowl on the way.

Without looking the apple over, he bit into it...

"...?"

His jaw could not pierce the fruit. He disengaged it from his mouth and looked it over, and spit out in disgust.

"Blarg! Plastic!" he yelled, tossing it unconcernidly behind himself. He closed his still heavy eyes and shook his head, and his stomach began to growl, as tight muscles screamed for just a few minutes more of rest...

"What a fuggin way to start the day..." the SOLDIER lamented to himself. As he reached the base of the stairs, he turned to the Inn-Keeper in desperation.

"Hey, you got any fruit that's -not- made of plastic?" He asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. He must of succeeded, or the Inn Keeper didn't notice, for he gave a curt reply and retrieved an large, perfect apple for the young man. "Thanks!" Zack said with a close-eyed smile.

As Zack left the building, sunlight assaulted his eyes once more in force. The morning Air in Nibelhiem was cool, and he shivered slightly, not having sleeves. Though he knew that it would get hotter as the day went on... or so he hoped. He looked around, and saw Sephiroth and the others congregating at the edge of town, with some civilians scattered about. He quickly gobbled down the apple as he went into a jog to catch up to the rest of his team.

"You're late," Sephiroth stated flatly when Zack was close enough.

"...Again," one of the MPs shot jokingly. Much to Zack's disdain, Sephiroth actually smiled when the MP said that. Zack just gave the troop a look.

Zack looked about, taking in every last detail, and observing the people around him; a by-product of SOLDIER training. One of the men nearby was Tifa's father, looking over the group with a critical frown. It deepened into a flat out angry scowl when he and the young SOLDIER made eye contact.

"When the guide gets here," Sephiroth began to announce, "we'll be on our way."

"...Guide?" Zack questioned.

"I told the others last night, weren't you listening?"

"I think I was passed out..." Zack replied lamely, scratching his head.

Tifa's father strode up to the legendary general, trying to remain cool-headed and seem neutral. "Listen to me, Sephiroth, if anything happens..."

"Don't worry," Sephiroth said assuringly.

Zack looked on in confusion... was the guide really...?

Tifa came running up to the group. She wore a leather-skin sleeveless vest and skirt which went down to her thighs, both articles possessing tassels on the bottoms. She wore heeled cowboy boots which went half-way up to her knees, a white sleeveless shirt and a large brown cowboy hat which finished her outfit. Zack smiled to himself, while Tifa's father shot her an angry glance, disapproved of the way she was dressed. Still, he didn't want to bring it up...

"Relax, Dad. I have two men from SOLDIER with me!" she replied to her fathers comment. She gave Zack a wry glance, then looked at Sephiroth. "My name's Tifa, nice to meet you!" she had said.

Sephiroth simply nodded, and went to turn around...

"... You're the guide?" Zack asked in amusement.

"Yup," Tifa responded, "It just so happens I'm the number one guide in this town!" she explained, practically gloating.

Sephiroth was about to give the order to leave, when suddenly...

"Uhm"... A man who'd been standing there all along, but seemed inconspicuous, spoke up... "Mister Sephiroth! I.. please let me take a picture as a memento?" he asked with both hope and fear. Not so much fear of rejection as fear of ticking off the legendary warrior and getting decapitated!

Sephiroth looked at his charges. One of the MPs gave him a nod, as Zack and Tifa took positions to pose in the picture as well. Sephiroth reluctantly trudged over to the group and stood straight.

"Cheeeeeese!" the man sang. The camera clicked, and Sephiroth simply walked away. "Great, thank you!" the man said excitedly, "I'll give each of you a copy once it's developed!"

...

The group finally took their leave of the town, and headed north, towards Mount Nibel. At first, the path was still a grassy plain, which steadily increased in altitude as the mountains surrounded it. Zack made a mental note about the mountain's shapes... instead of coming to peeks, they branched out like gray, rocky fingers, or spikes in some cases. Soon the grass disappeared, and all that was left was the barren trail through the mountains.

Despite the fact that Tifa was the guide, she stayed behind Sephiroth. The path so far was pretty straight-forward, and every time they did come to a split or a fork, Sephiroth had some how automatically chosen the correct one. Tifa wondered about this, but said nothing for the time being. Though she did begin to wonder how she could be a contribution and not a hindrance.

Soon, the party had come to a bridge. The two MPs stopped for a bit and relaxed for a moment. Sephiroth continued onto the bridge, but stopped in the middle. It was a rope bridge with rotting wooden planks, and the rope seemed dangerously old and worn. As he looked around, all he could see were mountains. He didn't think they had traveled far, but he could no longer see the town, nor the plains which surrounded it.

"It gets harder from here..." Tifa announced to the group, making sure Sephiroth heard her, "Follow me!" She jogged up the bridge, sure of it's ability to remain intact. She had come this way several times; if it ever would break, it would have done so a long time ago.

Unfortunately, she failed to take into account that the bridge was supporting four heavily armed men..

As the group made it past the mid-point, everyone's attention was grabbed by a very disturbing sound. Sephiroth SAW it first... the top rope on the left side was becoming unbraided, and before even he could respond, it snapped!

The bridge tilted over, now being barley held together. The SOLDIERs held fast, Tifa almost fell, but was grabbed by Zack. Kawolski fell over as the bridge rocked, and into the depths below! But before Zack could even shout out his name...

-SNAPT!-

The other three ropes gave way simultaneously, sending the remaining four plummeting down the mountainside!

As they fell, everything went into slow-motion in Zack's mind. He had to focus... he knew he could survive the tumble, but could Tifa? He grabbed her and clutched her to himself, and aimed his body at the rocks below. As they fell, Zack and Tifa were separated from Sephiroth and the other MP, and they rolled down another path after Zack hit the mountain.

He bounced down the path, gravity seemingly determined to pull the SOLDIER down into oblivion. As he tumbled, he protected Tifa's body from harm, and took the brunt of each and every impact. Finally, the path began to even-off, and they rolled for several yards...

Before coming to another drop.

Zack fell a good 10 feet, and stopped dead with a bone-breaking THUD... all the while still holding Tifa in his arms. The trip down had caused a great deal of dust to gather onto them, making Tifa cough violently as she tried to take deep breaths...

"-cough- -COUGH-.. Z-Zack.." she whispered. He had to be alive... a dead person couldn't hold onto her that tight... could they?

"uugh..." was Zack's reply, turning his head ever so slowly. Tifa breathed a sigh of relief.

"That... you... wow, you just save my life!" she said, still trying to process what happened, and being in mild shock. She looked at Zack's bruised face... "But you can let me go now..." she continued flatly.

Zack opened his eyes... "Aww, yer -cough- no fun," he replied, opening his arms. Tifa sat up, sitting on his abdomen. They just looked at each other for a moment... "Hey, you mind scooting back a bit?" Zack teased with a wink.

Tifa looked from side to side for a moment, as if in thought. She then narrowed her eyes and glared at the SOLDIER unenthusiastically. "You're such a pig," She stated. She stood up and started stretching. She looked down at Zack..

"You gonna get up or not?" she asked.

"uuh, I'd rather not," Zack replied with a groan.

"And why's that?" the young girl asked.

"Well for one, this is a HELL of a view!" he stated with a grin, looking her up and down, but continued before she could reply, "and two.. ow... I really effed-up my back..."

Tifa backed off a few steps, and raised an eyebrow. "You're not winning any points by being a pervert and playing possum," she advised. "Now get up... and no dick jokes." She stated, offering her hand.

"Did I already say you're no fun?"

"About a minute ago. C'mon, I'll help you..." Tifa took Zack's hands and began to lift him up... Zack wasn't helping the effort much, more surprised and amused by Tifa's strength...

Her grace and agility needed work, however. She slipped on some dust, and wound up releasing Zack. She flew back a few feet and landed on her behind as Zack collided with the ground once more.

"Oowww.." Tifa whined, putting her hand to her back, and trying to stand again.

It was about that time that Sephiroth and the remaining MP came around the bend from behind a bolder.

"Is everyone alright?" the general asked... though his voice lacked concern.

" ugh... no.." Zack said weakly. He held up a finger. "...Medic!" he joked weakly.

Sephiroth refrained from rolling his eyes, and walked up to Zack. He closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply. A large green materia orb in his bracelet began to glow, and green energy surrounded him. The energy dissipated, and Sephiroth let forth his hand...

Multi colored lights surrounded Zack's body, re-setting bones and curing his injuries. Even his hang nail was now gone. Tifa looked on in amazement at the cure spell.. she even felt that just being near it was healing her as well. Sephiroth turned to her, ready to cast it again, but then looked at her bewilderingly.

"How are you uninjured?" he asked. Tifa pointed to Zack...

"If anything, the guy makes a good human shield!" she quipped. Zack was going to respond, but decided he deserved every slam she had to give out.

Sephiroth nodded in comprehension, and began to look around. "Will we be able to get to the reactor from here? Or even back to town?"

Tifa stood up and nodded. "These mountains all share caves and paths, which are intertwined, like an ant farm," she explained. She looked around quickly, "Oh, and Sephiroth... one person seems to be missing..."

A hint of sadness came across Sephiroth's face, but it vanished just as quickly. "It may sound cruel, but we've no time to search for him. We cannot go back, so we must go on."

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Sephiroth started walking. The group rejoined him, and followed him up the path. The path was steep, and went up for several yards. The group finally came across a cave...

The cave was full of stalagmites and stalactites. The party had to watch their heads as well as the ground where they were walking. There were several small caves which went off to the sides, all along the twenty-or-so foot wall. But the single outstanding feature of this cave was the color: it was green. Sephiroth had explained that the coloration was due to the mountain's abundance of Mako, which is why the reactor was built there.

Tifa tried stepping to the front of the line...

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked.

"I'm the guide, aren't I? So, I'm guiding..." She replied, starting to walk backwards.

"If we are attacked by monsters, I do not want to have to worry about you getting in my way," Sephiroth stated, almost coldly.

"Relax, it's not like there's any monsters..." suddenly, Tifa bumped into something.

Something big, green, and scaly.

"... in... here?" She looked up at the dragon wide-eyed, wondering just where the hell this huge dragon had come from.. it wasn't there ten seconds ago. This had to be why they were called "random encounters"...

Tifa ran forward with a yell. The MP opened fire, distracting the dragon while Sephiroth went to decapitate it. The dragon turned its head at the sight of the blade, and ended up getting it's face sliced in half. The neck and the rest of the head swung around wildly for a moment before the dragon collapsed.

Zack had just unsheathed his sword, but it was already over. Tifa was next to him, breathing quickly and heavily, fear still fresh in her eyes.

"Wow, talk about a splitting headache!" Zack commented. Sephiroth glared at him while re-sheathing his Masamune...

"Zackery, while I do not mind the occasional witticism, please, do me a favor, and keep your bad puns to yourself."

Zack became flushed with embarrassment, and Tifa calmed down enough to giggle at his expense. The MP had turned to face Zack, pointed a finger and made a laughing motion, for which he received a rough -but still playful- shove. "Shut the fuck up..." Zack grumbled.

The group made it out of the cave without further incident, Tifa gladly maintaining position behind Sephiroth and next to Zack. Soon, they had reached a very strange cave. It was open at the top, letting the sun in, and strange, winding plants grew all around. In the middle of it all, a pool of liquid energy released beams of light up and around a crystal-like formation. It seemed to sing like a divine orchestra humming their art.

"Wow..." Tifa exclaimed. Apparently, she'd never been in this cave before.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

"It's a Mako fountain; a miracle of Nature." Sephiroth explained, walking up to it. Zack and Tifa followed suite, while the MP lingered behind.

Tifa observed the wondrous sight. She turned to face Sephiroth... "If the reactor continues to suck up all the energy..." she worried aloud, "This fountain will dry up, too!" she finished, holding out her arms to emphasize her point.

Sephiroth ignored Tifa, and walked right up to the fountain. He recognized the crystals as... "Materia. When Mako energy is condensed, Materia is produced," he pointed out, "It is very rare to see materia in its natural state."

"Say.." Zack inquired, coming up to Sephiroth, "Why is it that when we use materia, we can use magic, too?"

Sephiroth gave Zack a disgusted look. "You're in SOLDIER and don't even know that?"

Zack remained silent, afraid that what ever he'd say would only tick Sephiroth off more. Sephiroth sighed and went on to explain...

"The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely call upon the powers of the land and Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the Planet... or so they say."

Zack nodded. "Magic. A mysterious power."

Sephiroth let out a hearty laugh, which actually looked kind of strange, enough so for Tifa to start laughing.

"Wh-what'd I say somthin' funny?" Zack asked in confused embarrassment.

"A man once told me never to use unscientific terms like 'Mysterious power'," Sephiroth answered, "It shouldn't even be called 'magic'! I still remember how angry he was."

"And who was that?" Zack asked with a sweep of his arm.

"Hojo, of Shinra, Inc. An inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes." Sephiroth replied with a disappointed shake of his head.

"So this is where the knowledge of the Ancients is..." Tifa mused to herself. Without another word, the group unanimously decided to continue on their way.

A half an hour and three groups of monsters later, the group finally reached their destination. The Mako reactor stood as a tower of machinery in the middle of the wilderness, making a stark contrast. It stood at a hollowed-out dead end of the mountain path, parts of it were rusted, and there were a few places where sheet metal had been used to cover breaches, and pipes cut into and through the mountain like a hospital patient on life support. A fifteen foot staircase lead into the only entrance to the reactor. Sephiroth and Zack started up, but then they both turned around...

"Tifa, you wait here..." Zack told the girl in an uncharacteristically commandant tone.

"I'm going inside, too!" Tifa rebutted adamantly, "I want to see!"

Sephiroth came down the stairs a bit, "This place is full of Shinra's industrial secrets. Only authorized people are allowed."

"But..." Tifa tried, but to no avail.

Sephiroth cut her off, and turned to the MP. "Take care of the lady," he commanded with a nod. The MP hesitated for a moment, but nodded. He stood in front of the stairs and held out his hand as Tifa tried to pass, shaking his head.

"Mmm, Man!" Tifa whined, stomping her foot. She walked off a bit to chill out, but had to take out her frustration somehow... She turned her head to the MP... "You better take real good care of me, then!" she shouted.