Chapter Four: The Battle for Fort Tamblin

As soon as they landed, Sephiroth immediately set out on his own.

He left behind Lightning with the orders to do the preparations for their mission. And also to keep Cloud from getting into a knife fight with Reno and sped through the trees. As he did, he raised the yellow gem on his hand and sensed outward. In the distance, Sephiroth felt Angeal and Zack.

Picking up his pace, Sephiroth sped silently through the trees and came to a halt. Looking down over a path from the trees, he saw Angeal and Zack make their way down. Behind them were the corpses of several Wutai soldiers. Every one of them looked to have been hacked repeatedly, and a trail of blood was behind them. Zack's sword was covered in blood and entrails, while Angeal's was still sheathed.

"So Angeal, what's the deal with 'dumbapples'?" asked Zack, cleaning the blade.

"The official name is Banora White," said Angeal. He looked at the blood on Zack's face with a disturbed countenance. Though his expression didn't change. "The trees bear fruit at random times during the year. Because of that, the townspeople affectionately call them dumbapples.

"The local farms had plenty of them to spare."

"Oh, really? So you stole them?" asked Zack, finishing cleaning his sword before wiping off his face.

"We were poor, Zack," said Angeal.

"Nice excuse," said Zack.

"But even then, I had my honor," said Angeal. "The largest Banora White tree grew on a wealthy man's estate. It was rumored that those apples tasted the best. But I never stole from that tree because the wealthy man's son was my friend."

"If he was your friend, you should have just asked for some," said Zack.

Sephiroth crept alongside them down the path.

"Honor can be quite a burden, at times," said Angeal with amusement.

"...And what exactly does this have to do with me?" asked Zack.

"No story is not worth hearing," said Angeal.

"What? That's it?" asked Zack.

But Angeal just strode ahead, laughing uproariously. Personally, Sephiroth didn't see what he found so funny. Neither did Zack because he just looked confused and ran after him. "Yeah, well, thanks a lot."

The two of them made their way to the ridge and looked out at Fort Tamblin. A huge fortress with massive walls, it was all that stood between Shinra and victory. What had been seen as an inevitable victory, however, had been stopped time and again.

Zack and Angeal kneeled by the cliff and looked at the guards walking.

"B unit will set off an explosion. That's our cue," said Angeal.

"The diversion will allow us to infiltrate?" surmised Zack. Not very bright, was he?

"Right," said Angeal. "I'll set the bomb inside the fortress. You'll charge the front gate and..."

Zack leaned forward, eyes wide with interest. "Uh-huh? And? And? And? And?"

Angeal smiled. "Indulge yourself."

"You got it! That's what I do best!" said Zack.

Sephiroth drew out his communicator and made a call. He peered out at the walls as he did and saw Cloud and Lightning approaching the walls under cover of darkness. "Cloud, have you set the bomb yet?"

"Yes, I'm working on it," said Cloud, by the wall. The explosives expert, Cloud, had apparently been taught by Jessie Rasberry. And he was apparently quite good if Tseng's reports were accurate. "You know, this would be a lot easier with a distraction."

"You are the distraction," said Sephiroth. "Sephiroth out."

He cut the channel.

Zack was getting antsy, glancing over and over at the fort. He was like a child waiting to go on a rollercoaster. "Come on, B unit."

Angeal drew his sword and put his head to it as if in prayer. Zack looked at him in surprise. "You know, I've never actually seen you use that.

"Don't you think it's sort of a waste?"

"Use brings about wear, tear, and rust," said Angeal. "And that's a real waste."

"You're serious, aren't you?" asked Angeal.

"Yeah," said Angeal with a smile. "I can be... pretty cheap."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Zack.

"Bomb set, and we're ready Sephiroth," said Cloud. "We can blow it any time."

"Do it," said Sephiroth.

The explosion roared through the night and was blinding even out of the corner of Sephiroth's eye. The wall was blasted open, and men were thrown into the air screaming as dirt flew up in crowds.

"Begin mission," said Angeal, even as Wutai troops rushed to fill the breach.

Apparently, however, Wutai had not been so foolish as to not leave a rearguard at the gates. A large contingent of soldiers remained outside. Zack leaped down from the cliffs and ran toward them. He drew his sword with a smile.

"No one passes beyond this point!" said a Wutai Captain. "The enemy is but one man! Obliterate him!"

They opened fire en masse, but Zack was too fast. He dodged and weave and clashed a man in half. Blood spewed from the corpse as Zack cleaved a skull and went after the next one.

"What is he..." began a man before having his legs cut out from under him.

"He's a monster!" screamed a man, slashing with a spear, only to be impaled.

"Stop him! Stop him!" screamed someone.

"Please! NO! DON'T KILL ME!" screamed someone.

"Get away from me, I have a son!" cried another.

Sephiroth stared at the horrific carnage. He realized then why Zack was called Zack the Butcher. These people were nothing more than mannequins, which he had to knock down to win.

"All right! Piece of cake!" said Zack, crushing the skull of the man whose legs he had cut off.

Sephiroth decided he'd seen enough and made his way back to his post. It took a lot to make him feel disturbed, but Zack managed it. The horrified screams of men within the fort were soon echoing throughout the air. And Sephiroth reflected that Zack was a... disturbing creature, to say the least.

He found Cloud and Lightning peering out from their perch with binoculars. The Turks had long since left for their observations.

"Sephiroth sir, awaiting orders," said Cloud, saluting.

"At ease," said Sephiroth.

"We've been watching the attack," said Cloud. "Where's Angeal? Shouldn't he be with Zack?"

"He may have chosen to stay back," said Sephiroth. "Zack was listed as expendable, after all."

"Expendable?" asked Cloud.

"Sometimes, a SOLDIER becomes unstable and is a danger to the missions," said Lightning. "So you list them as expendable and send them on missions with a low rate of survival.

"Officers are instructed not to go save them."

"So they're sending Zack to die?" asked Cloud, voice horrified.

Did he not hear the howls of agony?

"Yes," said Sephiroth, the gears beginning to turn. "Still, this is informative. We now know that Zack is not part of the conspiracy."

"What makes you say that?" asked Lightning.

"The conspirators would not throw away so valuable an asset," said Sephiroth. "In contrast, sending Zack to his death makes perfect sense if he is not on their side. It would deny the loyalist faction a powerful agent."

"We can't just wait here," said Cloud. "The soldiers in the breach have all moved into the fort.

"Let's move in and rescue him."

"We have been given orders to adopt a wait and see approach when it comes to Zack," said Sephiroth.

"Orders by people who might be working with Lazard anyway!" said Cloud. "Zack never did anything bad to me. He gave me my Lightning Materia, and he's served Shinra loyally. We owe him assistance."

"Technically speaking, we don't owe him anything," said Sephiroth. "Shinra signs his paychecks."

"I'm not talking about technically speaking!" said Cloud. "He's one of us! We can't just abandon him!"

"Zack has become increasingly detached from the consequences of his actions," said Sephiroth. "He is a danger to all those near him while on a mission. It may be better if he doesn't make it back from this mission."

"Funny," said Lightning. "They said something similar about me."

Sephiroth was getting very sick of Cloud's attitude. If it were just some rookie thirsting for blood, it would be easy to dismiss. But Cloud had a tendency to make points that were difficult to dismiss out of hand.

Which, incidentally, was making Sephiroth think he might be obligated to put some work in.

It wasn't as if Zack was losing or anything in there. And Sephiroth was just resting here, having completed all his mission objectives. And now Lightning had taken Cloud's side. Sephiroth reluctantly concluded the obvious. The going to reinforce Zack was not a total waste of resources. "...Very well. Stay here and keep watch.

"I'll handle this."

Leaping from behind cover, Sephiroth raised Masamune. From it, he unleashed a wave of lightning on the walls. The flash probably killed anyone hiding there. Certainly, if anyone was left alive, none barred his path. He shot through the breach and found only corpses.

Lots and lots of corpses. And utter silence.

Finding Zack wasn't difficult, in the end.

All Sephiroth had to do was follow the blood, and there was a lot of it. The Wutai soldiers lay dismembered and butchered by the hundreds. It looked more like they'd been savaged by a wild animal than killed in battle—the trail of bodies led through the fort until it reached a set of double doors.

Zack was standing there, on a communicator with someone.

"I was really only expecting you to get their attention," said Lazard. "I'm very pleased with the results so far. Proceed to the next objective."

Zack pumped his fist and then opened the doors before rushing through them into a huge shrine. Two statues of demonic figures stood on either side of red and gold painted doors.

"Ah! That must be the central area!" said Zack.

And he ran into it. Sephiroth watched from the shadows as the kid ran to the center of the stairs. As he did, however, a voice cried out from nowhere.

"One, avoid unnecessary training!" It said. "Two, protect Wutai at all costs!

"Three, ugly Shinra dudes...

"...must be PUNISHED!" And at the top of the steps appeared a twelve-year-old with her belly exposed. Her hair was held back by a headband, and she wore white shorts and a green shirt.

"Who are you?" asked Zack.

"I'm Wutai's greatest warrior!" proclaimed the girl, as if there hadn't been horrific battles going on around them. Sephiroth could hear moans from injured people even now, and yet neither of them seemed to hear them.

"If you wanna go further, you have to go through me!" said the girl.

"A kid?" said Zack. "You shouldn't be playing here; it's dangerous. You should go home to your parents."

And then the girl was behind him in a stance. "You're the one whose going to go home?!

"If you insist on going further, you'll have a fight on your hands!"

"Oh man..." said Zack. "What am I supposed to do here?"

Then the girl ran forward and unleashed a series of fake punches at Zack. Zack pretended to respond and fell to the ground. Soon it dawned on Sephiroth; she didn't know there was a real war on. She had no semblance of an idea that an attack was happening.

"There!" said the girl, as Zack fell to his knees, feigning injury. "That'll teach you to mess with me! Once again, I've brought peace to Wutai!"

And she ran on, past where Sephiroth stood in the shadows, oblivious. She had a smirk on her face as she did. "Morons left the gate open this time.

"What is that noise?"

"Boy oh boy, you've gotta admire that energy," said Zack, before racing up the steps.

A theory then came to Sephiroth, and he looked out in the direction of the smoke rising from the breach. From there, he turned and walked into the shrine and looked over the walls to see no sign of it. None of the moans of agony could be heard either.

It was a very elaborate illusion.

Which meant Sephiroth was looking at someone's daughter. Someone important enough to train her in martial arts and pay for this kind of illusion. Moving out through the gates, he followed after her, hands in his pockets.

He rounded the corner and found the girl staring at the trail of corpses. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw had dropped. She was shaking visibly. "Oh my god.

"What is... what is going on here...

"All these people are dead! How did this happen?"

"Well, there is a war on," said Sephiroth.

The girl whirled around, and Sephiroth noted a resemblance to the Wutai King, Godo. A theory came to his mind. He remembered reports that the Princess of Wutai, Yuffie, had been moved to a secure location.

"What... who... who are you..." asked the girl.

"I am Sephiroth," said Sephiroth. "Princess Yuffie, I presume."

"How... how do you know my name?" asked the girl, backing away from him.

Sephiroth raised a materia on one gauntlet and cast Sleep. Yuffie shuddered and fell forward, eyes drooping as she landed. Kneeling down, Sephiroth reflected on things. If Cloud hadn't pressed him to do this, Yuffie would have been here when Angeal blew the building up.

That would have been wasteful.

Picking up Yuffie, Sephiroth leaped over the wall. He shot back to Cloud and Lightnings position. Kneeling, he set her down. "Cloud, Lightning, watch this girl. Bind her and ensure she does not escape."

"Who is she?" asked Cloud.

"The Princess of Wutai," said Sephiroth. "Her capture should make for excellent bargaining power."

Then Sephiroth turned and headed back to the shrine. Coming to the wall over it, he developed a theory. Based on how horrific the war in Wutai had become, a thought occurred. Perhaps Godo had decided to hide it from his daughter while she was secured. Likely she'd gone to Fort Tamblin and had her movement restricted.

Judging from her display of skill, she had received ninja training and had been using it to try and escape. Based on that, she'd done it before but either never succeeded in getting out entirely or never tried. She probably knew there was a war but had the full details hidden.

It was amusing to think of just how quickly her entitled masquerade could shatter.

When he got to the shrine, Sephiroth heard the sound of combat inside it. Coming to a window, he peered in and saw Zack fighting with two ogre-like creatures. They slashed at him, but he dodged and weaved. Little by little, his blade flashed and made little wounds, and over time the beasts slowed.

Finally, he slashed twice, and they fell backward, dead.

Sephiroth peered and saw Angeal by the door, unknown to Zack.

At that moment, a third black ogre dropped from above and struck at Zack. Zack rolled away before leaping into the air and slashing downward. The creatures screamed in pain and fell forward. Zack neared the body before it suddenly smashed him against a wall.

Rising up, it raised it's mace to deliver the last strike.

Sephiroth put a hand to his sword. He could save Zack, or he could do nothing, and no one would ever know if he did. In a moment, he decided to aid Zack, and then someone else got there first.

Angeal slashed the beast in half from behind, and it dissipated.

"That's one more you owe me," said Angeal, moving forward. "You lost your focus."

"Uh... yeah," said Zack, eyeing the blade. "Oh, sorry if your sword got any wear, tear or rust on it."

Angeal sheathed his sword and smiled. "Well, you're a bit more important than my sword.

"But just a little."

Then he offered Zack a hand.

"...Thanks," said Zack, taking it.

Touching.

"Sephiroth, we've got Genesis copies coming out here en masse!" said Cloud.

Sephiroth wondered why Lightning was having Cloud do the communicating. "I'm on my way."

It was one more thing to deal with.

Sephiroth needed a vacation.