Set Against the Grain
Drabbles following the exploits of Zack and Cloud, via Final Fantasy VII/Crisis Core.
--5--
Helplessly dragging the almost dead weight behind him, Zack climbed the winding staircase with slow, even steps, his breath escaping in harsh gasps. Being unconscious had zapped most of his strength, though he was immensely relieved he had any at all. The darkness provided no path by which to follow, but he kept his mind focused and his steps sure so that he didn't trip himself or drop the comatose cadet he was carrying.
He didn't quite understand how they had escaped. Flashes of memories assaulted his consciousness as he attempted to gain his wits about him.
How did we get here?
The last thing he remembered was encountering Sephiroth post-breakdown. Someone or something flipped a switch in the general that wasn't meant to be touched. One moment he was leading them through Nibelheim and Cloud was visiting his parents, the next moment had the silver-haired man going off about "Jenova" and "mother," both of which Zack didn't know if he really wanted to understand. Not to mention Sephiroth burned down the town without preamble. It was almost as if someone else had taken his place. Something else was controlling him.
There was no other explanation Zack could give for the general's uncharacteristic behavior. It was unprompted. It was illogical. There were no signs.
Sephiroth was rational to a fault. The only other person who could compare on the same scale in terms of sagacity was Angeal—but they were far from alike. It made Zack wonder if Sephiroth had somehow succumbed to the same madness that had taken Genesis. However, when he thought about it, Sephiroth still had had a degree of level-headedness about it, no matter how impulsive and reactionary his behavior had seemed. It was as if Sephiroth had found something that had unknowingly triggered a part of him that no one knew existed. Because no matter how hard Zack wanted to argue that Sephiroth was not acting himself, he remembered the look in the general's eyes. The once perfectly controlled man was afraid of something, and Zack wanted to know exactly what that was.
If Sephiroth could react so violently so suddenly, then there must be something worth looking into. And once he and Cloud returned to Midgar, he wasn't going to stop until he found out exactly what that was.
