Chapter 22 : Zena

"So, this... is the place?" Zack stared at the building in front of them.

Cloud had the same expression as he saw it. "Look's like it."

This area looked exactly like the rest of the east district. Poorly built structures and dirt paths were the best it had to offer. The structure ahead though stood out a little more than the rest of the buildings. Most houses here had only a ground floor, this one had at least three levels from the looks of it. The out side was coated with bright neon signs, each flashing some message about the girls or pleasures inside apart from one big one in the middle that said 'The Red Carpet'.

Most likely where the name came from, a dusty red carpet led up to the front door, which was guarded by three heavily armed guards.

Cloud walked straight down the carpet and stopped in front of the men. "Mind if I take a look inside?"

The middle one looked down at him. "You a member?"

"Err no but..."

The guard cut him off. "Then get lost."

"How about a question?"

The three lifted their automatic weapons and aimed them all at Cloud's forehead. "Get lost."

Sighing Cloud turned round and walked back to the others.

"Well?" Yuffie gave him a hopeful look.

"Unless you're a member the only thing you can get is a face full of metal."

"So what do we do?" Zack asked puzzled.

"Can't you guys bust in?"

The two Soldiers looked over at the guards. "No, with those automatic weapons all it would take is a lucky shot."

"Plus we don't know if there are anymore inside" Zack finished.

Cloud crossed his arms and thought back to what Dawkins told him. "Well, to be a member you need someone from the inside, like one of the girls."

Yuffie looked round at the various groups of girls in the area, each group were wearing so type of costume. "Hey, is this like some sort of party?"

"Not quiet." Zack scratched the back of his head. "They are erm, ahh...." He leaned down to her ear and whispered the last part, Yuffie's eyes widened as he explained.

"No way!" The ninjas face went red as she took another look around.

"It doesn't matter what they do." Cloud stepped in. "All we have to do is get one of them to let us in."

"Hey there."

The three turned round hearing the voice.

"Haven't seen you boys around here before." A young woman wearing an odd combination of leather and silk walked up to the group. She had insanely bright red hair and a thick layer of make up on her face.

"We're new."

"Really, well would you care for some company while you look round." She put her arm around Cloud's.

"No." Cloud quickly pulled back. "But what we could use is a way to get in there." He pointed to Dalzell's building.

"Sorry, I only recommend good customers for there." She stepped up to Zack and did the same. "How about you handsome?"

"Err, sorry." He shrugged and took a step back. "On duty."

"Hmph, we ain't you guys a riot." The redhead sighed and shook her head. "If your not going to do business with me then why should we help you?"

Zack shrugged. "Erm, because it's the right thing to do?"

"The right thing to do?" She stared at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "What a bunch of losers."

"Hey! We are not, we just need to get into this place!" Yuffie stuck her tongue out.

"Hmm well I don't see that been a problem for you."

"Huh? Why me?" The ninja looked confused.

"Because we always need new girls, why don't you join up?"

Cloud and Zack both looked at each other unsure of what to say.

"Join up?" Yuffie repeated. "Eww gross, like I'd want to do that."

"Well, your loss honey." She flicked her hair and turned to walk away.

After the redhead had left Cloud started to think about what she had offered. "Girls can just join up huh?"

Zack and Yuffie both looked at him with a surprised expression. "You can't be serious, I can't join... 'this' place."

"I know," He scratched the back of his head. "But if we had a girl to join then she could go in."

"But we don't." Zack crossed his arms. "So we're back to square one."

Cloud tapped his foot on the floor while thinking. It took a few minutes but while he was watching the woman they'd just met talking to another man he got an idea. "Hey Yuffie." He motioned for her to come closer.

Yuffie stepped next to him and listened as Cloud leaned down to her ear and started to whisper something.

"You're kidding?" She turned to Zack smiling. "Well... I guess it could work."

"What?" Zack had a dumbfounded look on his face.

"I think we just found our volunteer." The blond grinned cruelly at him.

"Explain to me how I ended up like this."

Zack was stood in front of a large mirror, staring blankly at his reflexion. As he did he slowly looked down from the top of his hair, which looked normal and slowly went down until his eyes rested on the particular piece of clothing.

After leaving the red carpet area Yuffie had been able to find a clothes store, it was fairly run down like the rest of the place but it would suit their needs, plus it had a backroom where they could set up. The difficult part was trying to explain to Zack that he was the lucky volunteer for Cloud's plan.

"Because your the only one that can do it." Yuffie smiled cheerfully as she did the zipper up on the back.

"What about Cloud? He's the same size as me." The black haired Soldier pouted.

"He's already suited up with all that Soldier armor, you don't even have your weapon."

'Knew I should have made him wait while I got it.' Zack looked back to the mirror. "But, but why a dress? Can't I at least wear pants?"

"Nope, we have to make you look all girly." She smiled as Zack gave her a cold look. "Anyway, you want to save Aerith too, don't you?"

He mumbled something under his breath before agreeing. "So what's the plan?"

"First you get inside." Cloud walked through the door and sat down, he tried really hard to hide the smile on his face from Zack. "After you get accepted you come out to us and tell the guards your recommending us to become members. Then we get inside, find Aerith and get out before they realize what happened."

"Wait? Why do we have to go in?" Yuffie made the finishing touches to Zack's dress.

"Cause if Aerith is been guarded then Zack alone can't take out armed guards, at least this way we'll have a better chance of beating them."

Yuffie shrugged. "Well, sounds like a plan to me."

"Yeah, great plan." The black haired one pouted again.

"Oh stop complaining." The ninja walked round the front and rubbed her chin. "Hmmm, something's not quite right..."

"Not quite right?" He repeated. "Let's see, purples not my colour, it's a little tight and oh yeah, it's a dress!"

"Ah! I know, wait here." Yuffie shot out of the room.

Cloud put his feet up on the table, still trying to hide his smile. "You know if you don't like the colour I think they have one in red."

"Don't push it." Zack shot him and evil look. "And if I hear any jokes after this I'll kill you all."

"Not a problem." The blond said, still smiling.

A few moments later Yuffie came running back with two oranges in her hands. "Ok, this should do." She stepped up to Zack and shoved them both down his top.

"What the hell are those for??"

"To give you err, more appeal?" The ninja moved them around so they looked right. "There, perfect."

Cloud nearly fell back in his chair as Yuffie moved away so her could see. "Well, you should be able to get in easy now. Just don't get carried away and actually get a guy."

"I'm warning you man!" Zack turned back to the mirror and gritted his teeth. "Ughh, lets just get this over with."

"Don't worry," Yuffie took a black wig from the table Cloud was sat at and placed it on Zack's head. "Plus it's night time, just keep your head down and this might actually work."

He sighed shaking his head. "I don't know which is worse, been caught or actually convincing them I'm a girl."

"So, we ready?" Cloud stood up.

"Ummm," Yuffie stood back and looked Zack over. "Yeah, now if we can just get him to smile we might pull this off."

"Don't push it girl."

"Alright come on, we've wasted enough time. Now Zack you go pay for the dress and..."

"Hey wait a minute," Zack interrupted. "Why do I have to pay for this, thing?"

Cloud shrugged. "It's your dress."

Finding it difficult to argue with that logic Zack just sighed and nodded. "Right, go on..."

"I'll head to the red carpet area, Yuffie will take you to the guards and get you inside. After that with any luck you'll join and be able to meet us outside." He finished.

"Right, got it, now lets get this over with."

"What do you want?"

"My friend here wants to sign up." Yuffie stood in front of Zack as she spoke to the guards.

"Her?" The middle guard seemed to be the leader of the three, he had expensive looking clothes compared to the rest of the people here along with a fully automatic weapon slung around his arm. "Alright, what's you name?"

"Zaaaa.., Zena?" Zack stuttered as he realized a girl having Zack for a name would be a bit of a giveaway.

"Zena huh? Well go on in to the desk, someone will sort you out." He clicked his fingers and the other two guards stepped to the side allowing entrance.

Zack gave Yuffie a worried look before walking inside, the ninja smiled at him and gave him the thumbs up. "Good luck Zena!" She heard him mumble something else under his breath before entering.

Cloud watched patiently as Yuffie succeeded in getting Zack inside. Although he looked calm on the outside, inside he was getting ready to burst, it must have been over ten hours now since Aerith was taken. He resisted the urge to draw his sword, just holding it to his side for some reason would always calm him down but right now drawing any attention to himself could jeopardize their plan.

"No problems?" He asked as Yuffie approached.

"Nope he's in, so what do we do now?"

"There's not a lot we can do." The blond crossed his arms. "We just wait until Zack comes back, then we do a floor by floor search for Aerith."

Yuffie looked a bit uncomfortable asking the next question. "She's ok, right?"

It was a simple question but with a hard answer. "She will be, otherwise this Dalzell guy will have a very short life span."

"Say," The ninjas look charged from concern to curiosity. "Your in Soldier, they are suppose to be the bad-asses of the army right."

Cloud nodded, a little curious to her choice of language.

"Well, on any of your missions, I mean, have you ever.. killed anyone?"

Giving her a strange look as she asked Cloud nodded again. "On some of the missions I had to, but ever since Sephiroth I decided to quit those types."

"I don't think I could ever do something like that, even if I really hated the person."

"With any luck you'll never have to worry about it."

A few minutes went by as the two waited. Yuffie had asked Cloud a few more questions about his time in Soldier, mostly about what it was actually like to be brought up that way. When Cloud asked why she was so curious she replied that Squall had been the same way, although he'd never killed anyone he had the same determination Cloud had once used to become a 1st Class.

"I still don't know what's wrong with him though."

Cloud looked down at her. "Have you asked?"

"I've tried, but he just won't tell me."

"Maybe your not been hard enough."

Yuffie scratched her head. "Eh?"

"Sometimes you have to be harsh, it's the only way some people will open up."

"Oh," She put her hands on her hips and thought about it. "Well maybe I'll try that."

Cloud smiled realizing that he'd probably just condemned Squall to hours of torture by the little ninja.

Zack nodded and entered the room. So far he'd managed to pass the first part of the initiation by just nodded and saying 'yes' in a girlish voice, after that he was told to wait in this room for the final part.

The door to the room had a number '3' on it, altogether there were five of them.

Zack slowly looked around, the wallpaper was strangely colourful and the carpet was thick and red. In the corner was a huge round bed with plenty of cushions shaped like hearts 'Oh crap.'

He suddenly felt a pit in his stomach as he realized what this room was for.

"So gorgeous..."

The black haired Soldier straightened up as he heard the deep voice. He half turned to see the man who'd entered.

"..shall we get started?" The man took a few steps closer to Zack who was trying hard to hide his face. He was a tall large build with dark brown and was wearing way too little for Zack's comfort.

"Uh started with what?" He tried to act dumb hoping some how there was a way out of this.

"What do you think? You know what you're signing up for right?"

"Yeah, umm this is part of the initiation right?"

"Uh huh, should you pass this test you get stamped and become a full member." He lifted a rubber stamp with 'The Red Carpet' printed on it.

"So I need to be stamped by that to prove I'm a member?" Zack started planning.

"Yep, but I require a full treatment." The brown haired man walked past and laid down on the bed. "So, show me what you can do."

Resisting the urge to run out of the room and throw up Zack walked closer to the bed. "Uhh yes you uh, just close your eyes." 'Ok, just relax, all you have to do is get that stamp.'

He slowly edged over to the bed, feeling a cold shiver down his spine as his 'companion' closed his eyes.

"Alright, but don't make this too long, I've two more girls to see after this."

Zack rolled his eyes and stepped next to the bed. He could see the stamp held firmly the guys hand. "No problem." He grinned and raised his fist into the air.

"What's taking him so long?" Cloud tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

Yuffie looked down at her watch. "It's only been half an hour."

"How long does it take to get into one of these places?"

Outside it was getting deeper into the night. The street lamps were just oil soaked rags that were suspended on metal poles and only provided a limited amount of light.

"Hey!"

The two turned round hearing the odd voice. Zack quickly ran down the carpet while trying to keep himself from tripping up over the dress.

"Hey did you do it?" Yuffie ran up to meet him.

"Sort of."

"Sort of?" Cloud repeated as he joined them.

"Well," Zack scratched the back of his head and gave him a forced smiled. "Lets just say I had to cheat on the final test."

Cloud rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't want to know. Just tell me we can go in now."

"Yup," He lifted his hand that had an ink print 'The Red Carpet' on it. "All I have to do is show this and were in. And also we might want to hurry, I don't think its going to be long before somebody finds my interviewer."

"I said I didn't want to know." Cloud gave him a disapproving look before starting towards the entrance.

"You again?" The leader guard stared at Cloud.

"Yeah, I want to go in."

The three guards lifted their weapons. "This is your last warning, get lost."

"Hey wait wait wa..." Zack coughed realizing he just spoke in his normal voice. "I mean, there with me. You know, I can recommend them to become members." He finished in his girlish tone and raised his hand to show the mark.

"Both of them?" The middle guard gave Cloud a cold look.

"Yes both."

"Wait a minute, why would a girl want to become a member?"

"Uhhh," Yuffie stepped back as the guard approached her. "I'm not, I'm uh.. thinking about joining and wanted to take a look around first."

Giving them both a suspicious look first the guard stepped to side and lowered his weapon, the other two doing the same. As they passed Cloud couldn't help be give him a cocky 'I win' smile.

"Can I get out of this thing now?"

"Sorry." Cloud shook his head. "If someone asks who we are with then having a guy with that stamp might not work so well."

Zack pouted and crossed his arms, he made a silent promise that once all this was done he was going to set fire to this god-awful thing. "Fine, so where do we start then?"

"Did you search anywhere earlier?"

"Only the lower floor, its mainly all single bedrooms and a kitchen."

Cloud walked up to the stairs and looked up. "So that leaves two more floors."

"Then lets go." Yuffie sprinted up the first set and waited at the top.

The two soldiers joined her and looked round the second floor. It was basically a balcony that circled the floor below, all round were about five sets of large double doors. As they watched one of the doors opened and a man in a fairly tacky but better than most around here, business suit walked out.

"Looks like an executive level." Zack guessed.

Cloud nodded. "We need to find Dalzell, he will know where Aerith is." He walked over to the opposite side where there was a third set of stairs. "He's probably going to be at the top floor."

Yuffie sprinted round followed closely by Zack. As they walked around the balcony the businessman who'd left one of the rooms bumped into Zack.

"Woah!"

"Oops sorry miss I...." He stopped in mid sentence as two oranges dropped to the floor and rolled over the edge.

Zack watched them fall over the side and gave the businessman a half smile. "Err, well how about that huh?"

"...? You, your not a..." He reached over and pulled on Zack's hair, removing the wig he was wearing. "Y-your a man!"

"Uhh, well I would have never guessed." He shrugged. "Well we'll be on our way now." He ran past towards Cloud and Yuffie but before he could reach them the very surprised man started shouting for the guards.

"Well, this is going well." Cloud leaned over the balcony and saw some of the guards from below running up the stairs. "We better..."

He stopped short he saw another four armed guards walking down the stairs in front of him, all four weapons were aimed at him.

'Wonderful.' He turned to see another two walking around the balcony to meet them, slowly he raised his hands into the air and surrendered..

"Stop right there." One of the two from below was the leader guard from outside, he gladly returned Cloud's grin from before. "So, I see we have a spy." He turned to Zack and laughed.

"Hey shut up." Zack stepped towards him but stopped quickly as two of the guns were pointed toward him. Sighed he raised his hands into the air.

"Mr. Dalzell will be pleased to meet you all." The guard grinned and clicked fingers, the four from up the stairs blocked off the two sides of the balcony while himself and the last guard led the way up to the top floor. "I wouldn't expect anything less than execution for you al......"

A huge flash of light from upstairs cut the guard off, this was quickly followed by the doors exploding and a dark figure been thrown down to the floor below.

"Mr. Dalzell!" The leader identified him. "Are you ok sir?"

"Ughhh." Moans and mumbling was all he could get out of him.

"Sir, what happened?" The leader looked up the stairs as he heard footsteps. "Who the hell are you?"

A woman began to walk down the stairs, her hand still sparked from the discharge of the magic. She was shielded by two pure white wings that descended down her back.

"Aerith?" Cloud lowered his hands and stared wide eyed at the angel.

Aerith stepped off the last stair and stared coldly at Dalzell before kicking him in the chest. "Pervert!" She turned to the guards and gave them a cold look.

"Hold it right there!" The leader raised his weapon. "What the hell do you think your doing?"

"Get lost." Aerith raised her hand and instantly shot out a burst of light.

The two guards that were stood in front of her were both hit by the pulse and the force of the blast sent them smashing through the balcony railings and over the side. Cloud took this advantage and drew his sword, the two guards that blocked one side of the balcony were caught off as a flash of silver hit them. They concentrated back of who ever was attacking them and raised their weapons only to find that both had been cut clean in half.

Aerith smiled and turned to the last two guards who were stood on the other side. She raised her hand again but before the spell could be cast the two men ran into one of the executive rooms and quickly slammed the door behind them.

"Aerith!" Yuffie ran up to the flower girl and wrapped her arms around her. "You're ok!"

"Of course I am." Aerith happily returned the hug. "But what are you all doing here?"

"We're uh.." Cloud crossed his arms. "..here to err.. rescue you?"

"Oh." She smiled bashfully. "Well, that's sweet of you." For the first time she noticed Zack who was trying to hide behind Cloud. "Umm? Is that a? Why are you?"

"I'll give you the same warning I did these two, any jokes and you all die." He crossed his arms and turned away.

Aerith gave Cloud a confused look and the blond just shrugged. "What happened here?" He looked down at the half conscious Dalzell.

"I'm not sure really. When I was taken away they used some kind of drug on me, I was unconscious up until a few minutes ago when I woke up in that perverts room." She gave Dalzell another cold look.

"He didn't do anything to you, right?" Cloud gave him the same look.

"I don't think so, well not yet anyway. His plans for this evening were a little.. hopeful on his side."

"Uh guys, what do you say about us getting out of here now?" Yuffie fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt while watching for more guards.

"She's right." Cloud took hold of Aerith's hand and began to walk around the balcony to the stairs that led down, Zack and Yuffie quickly followed. "I think it would be best if we called this vacation a little short."

The group managed to get outside and to the end of the red carpet before someone from behind shouted out. Cloud stopped and turned round to catch a quick look, he saw that the leader of Dalzell's guards had recovered from Aerith's attack and had brought re-enforcements.

"Where are we?" Aerith stopped next to Cloud.

"The east district, we should be able to lose them in this area and then make a run for the hotel."

They sprinted on ahead, weaving in and out between buildings, using the maze like layout to their advantage. Zack and Yuffie had taken a different route at some point and had disappeared from Cloud's sight. After passing through most of it though Cloud looked back to see the most of the guards still following them.

"This isn't working."

Aerith looked back too and realized that she wouldn't be able to keep running like this for much longer. The area around them was still full of scrap and half built structures, the perfect place to hide if they could just lose them for a few seconds.

"Hey, wait." She stopped suddenly.

Cloud saw her stop and skidded to a halt. "What?"

"Come here." She opened her arms.

Walking up to her Cloud had a funny look on his face. "This isn't really the time for a hug."

Aerith smiled and stepped up to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest. "Just hold on, this is the fastest way to lose them."

Cloud did the same and put his arms around her back. As soon as he did Aerith's massive wings opened up and he felt the ground beneath his feet disappear.

The on coming guards watched as the two took off and flew over part of the district before setting down again. They hadn't traveled far but it was enough to take them out of sight, making it much more difficult to catch up with.

Aerith's decent was a bit more hasty then the other time Cloud had been with her. As soon as they hit the ground she fell to her knees and started panting heavily, the white wings faded and disappeared from her back.

"You ok?" Cloud kneeled down in front.

"Yeah.. I, I just need to catch my breath." She closed her eyes and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Already hearing the shouts from the searching guards Cloud put one arm behind Aerith's back and the other under her knees. He lifted her up off the ground and started running swiftly to the end of the district, if they could get to an area with the automated security bots then the guards would have to be careful about causing a disturbance while looking for them.

After a few minutes of running Cloud slowed down to a more comfortable speed, he could no longer hear any shouting from behind. The guards had most likely had to search each building they passed now that they had disappeared from sight, giving him the time to put more distance between them.

Still running Cloud let his eyes slowly wonder down. Aerith had her eyes closed, he couldn't tell if she had fallen asleep or was just resting, her breathing had also slowed down to its normal pace.

Ahead of them Cloud could see the start to the central part of the city, already he could see two security bots walking down the sidewalks. From here the resort was just an easy walk away. From the central part you just have to pass right through the south district and head down half a mile, that was as long as the guards were far enough behind not to cause any more problems.

It was deep into he night by the time Cloud was able to see the lights from the spa. He could see Zack and Yuffie waiting for them at the front gate, and already Zack had managed to rid himself of his former clothes.

"What took you so long?" The ninja ran up to meet him.

"We had some trouble losing the guards in the city, but in the end we found a way."

Yuffie looked down at Aerith who was still in his arms. "She's alright isn't she?"

Cloud nodded and continued on to the front door.

"What do you think we should do next?" Zack was leaning against the wall.

"I don't think it will be long before they figure out were stopping here. Go wake Cid and Squall and tell them to be ready to leave in an hour."

"Vacation cut short eh?" He pushed off the wall and followed Cloud inside.

On the way Zack went off to find Cid and Squall while Cloud took Aerith to their room. He walked inside and laid her down on the bed, still out like a light. In the other room he could hear Zack dragging Cid out of bed kicking and screaming.

Reaching into his pocket Cloud felt the small sphere that he had kept earlier. He still didn't understand what it actually was, even though Aerith had shown him that little trick he guessed there was a lot more to it.

He studied it closely for another second before placing it down on the bed next to Aerith's hand. 'I'm sure you'll show me some day.'

Ok a much bigger chapter, the biggest one so far actually. Those who have played FF7 will easily figure out where the inspiration for this chapter came from. I hope this chapter turned out well it was one of those that are a real pain to write. Also 10 reviews in under a week that's really cool, keep them coming. I have also started going through some of the earlier chapters and tried tidying them up a bit, chapter 1 and 2 have been done and I will slowly get round to doing them all. Its also 1 year and two days since I started this story, even though it hardly feels that long.

Maiden Of Nightmares - Sea-EnigmaDare - swtlil-azn - Thank you, I hope you all keep reading, and reviewing of course. When I get chance Maiden I will take a look at your story.

RaspPunkyCS - I have thought about putting Tifa in at some point but so far I haven't been able to think of a decent role for her.

aerisfan12 - Another new reviewer, thank you I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Clorith - Glad you like dark Cloud, it's not going to be the last of him.

XXAeris4rmff7XX - Interesting site, I'll take a better look next time I have time.

DarkNightAngel - There may be a romantic scene coming up soon, I'm currently deciding 'how' romantic it's going to be.

moonwolf0 - Yes, dark Cloud is going to be an important character in this story.

lena-jade - I see what you mean, in the game I always saw Aeris as the damsel in distress for some reason even though she is one of the bravest characters in the story like you said.