CHAPTER 6

Sephiroth and Zack made their way into the reactor, Zack feeling a little bit guilty about being such a jerk to Tifa back at the entrance. However, he had to concentrate on not falling into the Mako pit several hundred feet below them: the entrance to the reactor was a few pipes covered with wooden boards, after which one would have to climb down a shaky, rusted ladder, and then make their way across a large pipe with no guard rails to hang onto.

After he and Sephiroth had made it across, Zack gave a small sigh of relief. While he had been through many much worse obstacle courses in his SOLDIER training, Zack was still uncomfortable with the fact that one minor slip would result in a rather undignified demise. Zack shook his head and continued forward into the next chamber, carefully eyeing some large, rapidly spinning gears off to his right.

The next room was mostly red, with several white... pods of some sort, with large, pipe-like cables going out through their tops and into the ceiling above. They were arranged in rows of three, with about three rows going all the way up each side of the steps which went up the center of the room.

Which is where Sephiroth stood, appearing to be contemplating something. Zack strode up to him, spying a sign above the door Sephiroth stood in front of: J.E.N.O.V.A. Zack thought that sounded familiar, and tried asking Sephiroth what he was doing. But Sephiroth barely noticed his young charge, wrapped in his own concerns. The general experimentally tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

He casually turned and walked back down the stairs, Zack following him closely. Sephiroth eyed each of the containers with suspicion, until they reached the second lowest platform. Sephiroth pointed over at the first pod to his right, seeing something Zack couldn't distinguish. "This is the cause of the malfunction. Zack, close that valve," Sephiroth requested. Zack gave a nod and knelt in front of the strange container, and pulled out his pack. Inside, he found just what he was looking for, a specially fitted monkey-wrench. He used it to turn the valve until it would turn no more.

Sephiroth did not bother to oversee Zack's progress, and busied himself with his own thoughts. "Why did it break?" he wondered quietly to himself, putting his hand to his chin. He looked over at the pod next to him, and pulled himself up high enough to look inside the circular window which was also present on all of the pods. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, and hopped back down. "Now I see, Hojo... but doing this will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast," he muttered to no one in particular.

Zack happened to of been standing there when Sephiroth said this, and gave Sephiroth a puzzled look, not knowing what the hell he was talking about.

"This is a system which freezes and condenses Mako energy, that is, when it is working properly," Sephiroth began to explain, "Now, what does Mako become when it's condensed?" he asked Zack rhetorically.

Zack put his hand to his chin and looked up, "Hmmm, uhm, oh yeah! It becomes Materia!" he answered, looking at the general.

"Correct," Sephiroth replied, "But Hojo put something else in the tank. Take a look for yourself," he offered.

Zack looked over at the pod, and jumped up to grab the window and pull himself up. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next...

It barely looked human. It had large, gray spikes coming out of its forehead, and wrinkled, scaly skin... where it even had skin. Some portions were burned away, letting show red, glowing organs. It turned its head and looked at Zack with... what where its eyes should have been, there were only hallow pits which oozed out energy.

"Yahg!" Zack yelled in surprise, dropping his ass onto the cold, hard metal floor. "W-wh-what the fuck was that?!" he asked in a panic.

Sephiroth looked down at Zack and waited for him to pick himself up before responding. "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans showered in Mako. You're different from others, but still human." He paused for a moment, "But what are they? They've been exposed to a far higher degree of Mako than you."

"What do you mean 'normal members of SOLDIER'? You're talking like..."

"...no..." Sephiroth mumbled slowly. He started to shake, "Am I the same as all these monsters?!" He yelled out in defiance. He unsheathed his Masamune and began slashing at the tanks in frustration. Zack had to duck and jump out of Sephiroth's way as to not get himself chopped into bits!

"Sephiroth...!" Zack tried, but Sephiroth would not listen. He took his frustrations out on another tank... yet somehow his blade was unable to pierce the metal containers.

"You saw them!" Sephiroth yelled out in a frenzy, "All of them... were humans!"

"Humans? No way!" Zack replied in disbelief.

"Ever since I was small..." Sephiroth started to say as he began to calm down, "I felt as though I were... different. Special in some way. But never... not like this..." he said melancholaly, lowering his head and shaking it.

Suddenly, a noise made Sephiroth snap to attention, drawing him out of his momentary depression. One of the containers near the top of the steps began to shake violently, sputtering electricity. It proceeded to crack open, as the creature inside yelled out with a cursed, high-pitched scream. The front opened up, as the creature fell to the floor.. it shook with weakness from not having moved since its incubation, which was who knew how long ago. It shook and trembled and convulsed, until it finally died from shock. Sephiroth looked at the display with wide, horrified eyes...

"Am I... human?" he wondered aloud...

The crowd looked at Zack in stunned silence, as he paused for a minute to collect his own thoughts. Dyne was the first to speak...

"So the Shinra were making monsters? That... I mean... wow... these guys are worse news than even -I- thought," the AVALANCHE leader pondered, scratching his head with his good hand.

Zack stood up and stretched out. "Yeah, and there's more, too.. but I wanna kinda take a break for a minute," Zack said with a yawn.

Tifa stood up as well, "I'll make some drinks... anyone want anything?" she offered. A few people replied, so she started for the bar...

...but not before grabbing Zack by the arm and dragging him over with her.

"He-e-e-ey, wh-what's the big idea?" he protested lightly. Tifa hopped over the bar, turned to Zack and gave the ex-SOLDIER a sour look. She leaned over and spoke softly...

"You're not going to bring up what I THINK you're going to bring up, are you?" she whispered harshly.

Zack rolled his eyes and gave her a smug smile, "I was considering it. Unless you want to give me some... incentive not to," he replied coyly.

Tifa put one hand to Zack's throat, and the other digging into his jaw, causing his whole upper body to jolt in pain, "If you do, I'll make the last thirty seconds of your life the most painful!" she hissed angrily.

"Is there a problem over there?" Dyne shouted. Tifa promptly took her hands away from Zack's person.

"Mmm, no," Tifa replied innocently, and went back to making drinks. Zack rubbed his neck and cheek, giving Tifa a cold stare. She either didn't care or notice. Zack shook his head and resigned himself to sitting back down and ignoring her, for the time being, at least.

After a few minutes, everyone sat back down, a few with drinks in their hand and ready for Zack to continue his tale. Once everyone was all situated...

Tifa paced slowly back and forth, keeping a cautious eye on the MP in front of the reactor. She couldn't tell if he was staring at her or asleep because of his helmet/mask that protected his face. She had heard rumors of Shinra employees -particularly in the military- taking advantage of local women when they were out on assignment. She had to be cautious, as she had been with Zack so far. But aside from talking like a pervert, he seemed like an okay guy. This MP though seemed like something else. He hadn't talked the whole time, and if she didn't know better, Tifa could have sworn the young troop seemed extremely nervous... for what reason, she could not fathom. Maybe he was -thinking- of jumping her, and trying to balance the pros and cons of such actions... or maybe he just liked looking at pretty girls, never having the courage to even approach one.

Or maybe she was wrong about him being nervous. He was standing straight, trying not to flinch... maybe he was just trying to instill a SOLDIER-like discipline upon himself. Or maybe he already had a girlfriend, or maybe he was gay, either scenario meaning that he wouldn't be too interested in Tifa, and that she had nothing to worry about.

Tifa had no further time to worry about the MP's intentions, however, when Sephiroth hurriedly evacuated from the reactor, and started down the path from which they came. Zack was behind him, practically in a jog trying to keep up.

"C'mon you two!" Zack yelled out to the guide and the MP.

Tifa and the MP looked at each other, shrugged, and ran down the mountain path after the two SOLDIERs.

Sephiroth's path was seemingly sporadic, and Tifa herself wound up getting lost. She tried to warn Sephiroth, but he paid her no heed. They kept walking up and down mountain paths for what seemed like hours, until finally the mountains began to level off, leading to the plains in front of Nibelheim. Tifa had no clue how Sephiroth had navigated them to this point with such relative ease, but she could see the town a small distance away. Tired and full of joy that they had not gotten lost in the mountains like she had begun to fear, Tifa shook off her doubts and headed home.

"UGH I'm exhausted!" Zack proclaimed, plopping himself down on his bed, and peeling off his boots.

The MP grunted in agreement, slipping off his mask. He gave Zack a look...

"Oh, right..." Zack said. He looked over to the General, "Hey, Sephiroth, you gonna write to Kawolski's parents about him or should I?"

Sephiroth gave no answer. His eyes looked empty, and he appeared completely lost in thought. Zack had never seen the man like this, and Zack felt almost chilled to the bone by his presence. Sephiroth slowly exited the room and went into the one down the hall. Zack could faintly hear Sephiroth locking the door to his new room.

"The hell's goin' on?" Zack wondered to himself.

He tried for the remainder of the afternoon to get Sephiroth's attention, but Zack would not be heard. Even the MP tried, but to no avail. After several hours, Zack finally realized the futility of his efforts, and plopped himself down on his bed, tired from the days expedition.

Zack awoke sometime during the night, his rest interrupted by his stomach's cries for sustenance. He reluctantly pulled himself up, then off the bed. He looked down at his dirty, soiled clothing, and decided a change would be in order. He quietly picked up his bag and made his way into the bathroom, gently closing the door as to not interrupt his friend's sleep.

Zack turned on the faucet and bent down to drink its aqueous yield while at the same time peeling off his one-piece SOLDIER uniform. He replaced the purple cloth-armor combo with a pair of cargo pants and a blue tee shirt. The shirt wasn't exactly tight on him, but it still displayed a good deal of his chest and shoulder muscles in the right light. Splashing his face with water, Zack took a final look at himself, and nodded in approval.

The young SOLDIER made his way quietly down the steps of the Inn, and peeked around what served as the lobby. It didn't look like their small kitchen was open at this time of night. Zack wondered what time it actually was, and saw a clock while looking about. It read either 1:00 or 12:05; Zack was never very good at reading clocks, let alone in a dark room illuminated only by the moon-beams from outside and a small candle which had been carelessly left lit on the counter. Zack played the good Samaritan and put the candle out by literally grabbing the flame with his fingers, snuffing it.

Zack wandered over to the general store, dismayed to find it locked. His stomach began to squeeze itself painfully, almost making Zack want to keel over. He put his hand on the wall, and looked downward, trying to collect himself. He had been taught how to survive for days without food during his SOLDIER training, and started to try and remember all he had learned.

Suddenly a sound caught Zack's attention. He perked up and looked over to his right, a slight smile coming to his face in the process.

Tifa jogged up in much the same clothing as she had worn the night previous, not really caring how her body bounced with each new step. She had seen Zack on her way back down from the mountain, and started right for him, almost eager for some company.

"Hey!" they both said at once. The two youngsters looked at each other with bemused, puzzled expressions for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"shh, shh!" Zack warned playfully, "Your dad might hear us!"

"Hm? Oh, no. We don't have to worry about that. He's with half the village trying to repair the bridge," Tifa responded informatively. Zack smiled at the news.

"Rreeaallyy?" Zack replied with a wide grin coming to his face, inching a bit closer to Tifa. Tifa looked up and to the side for a moment before responding.

"Y-yes, 'rreeaallyy'.. why do you ask?" she asked slowly, a bit of nervousness creeping in.

"Well, can I come over?" Zack asked plainly. Tifa's eyes widened a bit, and she looked at the SOLDIER skeptically for a moment before she replied.

"Why do you ask?"

"Cuz I am like, SO hungry," he answered, putting his hand to his stomach, "All I've had to eat in the past day and a half was an apple," He finished with a shrug.

Tifa looked at her new "friend" for quite a while before replying. She wanted to make sure he was completely telling the truth. He seemed to be on the level: He was slightly hunched over, his usually mischievous eyes didn't seem to hold an ounce of mistruth. Tifa shook her head lightly to herself, telling herself to stop being so paranoid. A part of her wanted to stay as far away from the older teenager as possible. Another part wanted to grab him, throw him on the ground and make out until the sun came up. She wasn't used to feeling like this. Most of the boys in town had left just after she hit puberty, so she was unused to someone her age being around who was interested in her, and the feeling was somewhat mutual. She wasn't used to harboring such feelings, either. Was this natural? She had just met him, why would she want to do something like that? Well, because he was hot. But it would be wrong, and her father would kill them both!

But he was still hot. Not that that mattered, he was kind of a jerk.. but he did seem to have a sweet side...

Tifa sighed, and collected herself. With a smile, she motioned for Zack to follow her back to her house.

"Sit," she commanded, motioning to a chair in the kitchen. Zack looked around the older-looking house. The floor was made of large planks of dark wood, which was starting to fade, crack, and show its age. There were rugs here and there, possibly to conceal the worse parts of the floor. A portion of the floor was made of stone, where a large oven stood, possibly as a heater. There was also a china set which stood next to the fridge, which was followed by the cooking stove and an old, metal sink, all of which took up the east portion of the wall and the corner.

Tifa was standing by the stove, busying herself with something. Zack couldn't believe what he thought he was seeing...

"Uhm, Tifa?"

"Yeah?" she replied without turning around.

"A-are you actually cooking something?" he asked, unsure of himself.

"Of course, you said you were hungry, right?" Tifa replied, turning her head a bit.

"Well, yeah, but I thought maybe you were gonna give me an orange and toss me out or something.." Zack said, scratching his head.

"What makes you think that?" the younger girl asked, turning back to the meal she was preparing.

Zack blinked, but didn't say anything. (Well, actually he did, but "..." doesn't really count, now does it?) He looked over at Tifa, trying to get a glimpse of her body. This time, she was wearing a sports bra under her muscle shirt, so he couldn't see a whole lot. Zack shook his head and decided to be at least semi respectful, and just looked down at his hands, which were folded in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked after a few moments.

"huh?" Zack replied, looking up at her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were humbled by something..." she said, trailing off, giving Zack a look he couldn't decipher.

"Well, you don't know me better, do ya?" Zack responded with his usual coy smile, putting his arm on the table and using it to support his head.

Tifa launched a carrot at Zack's arm, knocking it out of place. Zack's head collided with the table with a slight thud without his arm to support him any longer. "Yeow!"

"No elbows on the table!" she reprimanded, pointing at Zack with her wooden mixing spoon.

Zack grumbled something Tifa didn't understand. She just looked at him with a sarcastic smile and he pulled his head off the wooden table. Any resentment Zack held towards Tifa at the moment melted away when he saw her looking right at him with that smile. They just looked each other over for a minute before Tifa went back to making...

uhm...

"Hey, what're you making, anyway?"

"It's a surprise," she teased.

After a few minutes more, Tifa began distributing the contents of the pot into two bowls. She handed one, along with a large spoon, to Zack. He looked it over: It seemed to be some kind of stew or soup. It had some carrots, celery... some kind of meat Zack thought might have been chicken. He took an experimental bite...

"AGH! HOT SOUP! HOT SOUP!" he yelled, almost falling out of his chair. Tifa chuckled.

"Of course it's hot, it's right off the stove, ya doofus!"

"Ya'd think I'd know that," Zack said, recomposing himself. "It's just... it's been a long time since I've had a hot, home-cooked meal.." he said, trailing off. He didn't want to think about then...

"Hm?" Tifa mumbled out, taking a bit of her own. She noticed the sadness that appeared on Zack's face as he said that last sentence. "Something wrong?"

"N-no," Zack muttered, obviously lying through his teeth. Tifa decided not to pursue the subject. The two just continued eating, not saying much, but stealing the occasional glance at one another. After he was done eating, Zack stood up and took his plate over to the sink, and offered to take Tifa's as well. She simply stood up and brought it over herself, accidentally brushing her body against Zack's as she did. Both of them pretended not to notice.

"That.. was delicious!" Zack commented, looking at Tifa with a broad smile. She blushed a bit.

"It.. it's nothing. Ever since Mom died, I've had to do all the cooking," Tifa said.

"Your dad makes you cook?" Zack questioned.

"No, but I still didn't have a choice. He's AWFUL at it! He can't even make a sandwich right!" This was followed by about a minute of laughter. After they calmed down, Zack put his hand through Tifa's hair...

"Well, at least he did something right..." Zack said, looking Tifa right in the eye. She shied away and blushed a bit more.

"Zack..." she muttered half-angrily, trying to fight off her own urges.

"Sorry, sorry..." Zack replied, holding up his hands. "But I owe you for this. Anything, you name it."

"No, really, you don't have to-"

"I insist. I always repay my debts," Zack interrupted, taking Tifa's hands.

Tifa looked up into Zack's glowing blue eyes... "Zack..."

...

The fields outside of Nibelheim were dark, vacant, and full of high, all concealing wheat crops... The perfect place...

"Ugh!"

"Aaah!"

"Hrmph!"

Zack got down on his knees, sweat covering his body. His muscles begged for relaxation, his nerves fried at over stimulation. He had no clue that this one girl could take so much of of him...

A high kick to his jaw snapped him out of his stupor and he hit the ground hard.

Tifa stood over him, triumphant. "Is that the best you can do, SOLDIER-boy? The country-girl isn't even sweating yet!" she boasted, despite the small amount of perspiration on her brow. She pushed her attack, charging at the fallen young man. Zack rolled away and quickly -though reluctantly- stood up. He blocked Tifa's attacks, but his arms were starting to weaken under the constant pressure.

Tifa tried a spinning high-kick, which Zack caught and hung onto. He tried sweeping her other foot, but she launched herself up, and using her captured leg as a balance, she ferociously kicked Zack with her free foot several times before he let go. Zack staggered back, and shook his head. He wasn't getting anywhere going on the defensive. He charged at Tifa, ready to fake with a high punch and sneak in a low hit. He swung several times, Tifa barely dodging each attack. She finally grabbed Zack's arms and pushed them away, opening him up to her own attack: a slap to the nose.

"OW!" Zack cried out, holding his face. He swung at Tifa again, who ducked under his arm, then came up with a jump, grabbing his shirt. She pulled it over his head, and before Zack could respond, Tifa tied it up in a knot, trapping him inside his own clothing!

Zack squirmed to get free, and Tifa took a time out to take a good look at Zack's naked, chiseled chest. She smiled in self-satisfaction, and pushed Zack one-handed to the ground. "You give up yet?" She mocked, bending over. Zack squirmed for another minute or so, before stopping and plopping himself flat on his back.

Tifa dutifully freed Zack form his textile prison and lay down next to him. She didn't want to admit it, but she was exhausted, too. She looked up at the star-lit sky, its beauty and mysteriousness calming her. She turned her head over to Zack and smiled.

"Whatchya thinking about?" she mused. Zack blinked at turned his head to her. Their faces were only inches apart.

"I think... I wanna rematch..." he said between breaths.

"Now?" Tifa teased with a smile.

"No, no!" Zack replied in exaggerated fear, cowering away and holding his arms in front of his face defensively.

Tifa giggled and pulled Zack's arm over to and behind her head so she could rest on his shoulder. "Well, thanks for practicing with me. You were almost a challenge..."

Zack stuck his tongue out defensively, but soon was smiling again. They both scooted closer to one another, letting the hypnotic pattern of twinkling stars put them to sleep...