IV Revenge and Close Calls

"Have a seat Zack," Tseng offered kindly when they got to his office at the newly rebuilt ShinRa building.

"If this has anything to do with me coming back to SOLDIER, I'm not interested," Zack told him as he sat down.

ShinRa had changed, or so they said. Rufus had formally apologized for the things in the past that his company had done, and permanently shut down and dismantled all of the Mako reactors around the world. These days, most things were solar or lunar powered, but it was taking time to switch things over to natural renewable resources.

Kunsel had hesitated at first, but went back to SOLDIER a few months ago. According to him they really had changed their ways, and while Zack trusted his friend on that, he turned down any and all offers he received for him to come back. He would never be able to forgive them for what they did. No amount of apologies could make amends.

"No," Tseng told him, making Zack a little curious to why he had been summoned.

"We have some Intel that we thought would interest you."

"I'm listening then," Zack said calmly.

Before Tseng could tell him the door opened behind them, making Zack glance back a bit uneasily. It was just Reno, so he relaxed a bit, but noticed the icy glare that the red-headed Turk was aiming at him which made him tense.

"What's he doing here?" he said coldly, continuing to glare at him.

"He deserves to know more than anyone else, Reno."

"Have you forgotten what he did to Cissnei?" he shouted, sparking both anger and regret in Zack. "A monster like him should be-"

But he didn't get to finish. Zack's infuriation rose dramatically in milliseconds, and in a flash he stood up and shoved Reno into the wall before he could even blink.

"You think I killed Cissnei on purpose, that I wanted this?" Zack yelled in his face. "I think about what I did to her every damn day!"

He punched his left fist into the wall right next to Reno's face, making Reno flinch as well as creating a large dent in the wall, but also made him see the faded scars of his previous suicidal attempt. Silence passed between them as Reno glanced at the scars, rather surprised at the evidence of Zack's suicidal attempt, then shut his mouth and lowered his head in guilt. Zack let him go, then headed towards the door.

"Zack, wait." Tseng said as Zack opened the door to leave.

"What?" he asked in annoyance, still trying to calm down so he wouldn't snap and hurt someone.

"It's Hojo. He's alive."

Those four words froze him. Anger, fear, and the sudden need for revenge all came up inside him at once. He tried to remain as calm as he could, and took a deep breath to help. Knowing that he could snap at any given moment if he didn't, and as he turned around he saw Tseng taking out a manila file folder and placing it on the desk.

Zack carefully opened it, and flipped through a couple of pictures taken from a helicopter of Hojo walking into ShinRa Manor in Nibelheim. Some of them were blurry, and there wasn't one with a decent shot of his face, but he could tell by the way he hunched over and knew that greasy, long, black pony tail anywhere. There was no doubt in his mind that it was him.

"When were these taken?" he asked.

"Yesterday."

That was all he needed to know.

Going back to Nibelheim brought back many painful memories for Cloud, so that's why he tried to avoid going back there as much as possible. However, the day after Hojo had been sighted, Cloud had a delivery to make for someone in the village. He could've politely turned it down, but he had other deliveries to make in Rocket town, and since it wasn't to terribly far away he decided to take the job and get it over with.

He parked Fenrir on the outskirts of the village, not bothering to take out any of his swords since he was only going to be there for a few minutes. Memories of his childhood flooded him as he looked at the village entrance, but he also remembered it burning. Sephiroth killing everyone he could as it all was reduced to ashes was the only thing that stood out in his mind anymore, it covered up all the happy memories he had here.

I never should've taken this job...

The village had stayed as ShinRa had rebuilt it, but the people they had put there to cover up the entire incident that happened eight years ago had all moved elsewhere, and it was now filled with regular residents. He sighed to himself as he shook away the memories, and carefully lifted the small square package that he was supposed to give to one of the villagers. He had been so lost in his past that he didn't see the dark figure come out of the shadows and slowly walk towards him from behind. All he felt was a sudden hard blow to the back of his head, then everything faded to black as he fell.

Isn't that Cloud's bike?

Zack had caught a glimpse of it from the air, and since he was already close enough to the village he decided to land and check it out. He had only been able to see brief glimpses of his friend in Edge since he still didn't want to be found out, but he knew his sleek black custom job motorcycle anywhere.

He frowned as he recognized it up close. He now knew that Cloud was in the village for some reason, and could spot him if he just waltzed right in. Not wanting to risk it, he took the long way around the village to the mansion instead of cutting through it. As he got closer his anger and rage at Hojo started to come back, so he removed his gloves and flexed his claws. Hojo was going to pay.

The front gate was open, so he just walked right in. It was just how he remembered it: Dark, dusty and crawling with monsters. He guessed that Hojo was downstairs in the basement laboratory, working on some sick new experiment. Zack made his way up the stairs, locating the secret passageway within the stone wall by memory.

He didn't bother climbing down the ladder, he just jumped down and headed towards the lab, eager to get his revenge. A few minor monsters got in his way, but he easily cut them down and continued on. The door to the lab was partially open, so he quietly peaked around the corner. He wanted to make sure that he was actually in there, and there weren't any unfriendly surprises waiting for him.

Hojo stood there over the cold steel table that Zack had once been restrained against. He took a closer look and saw Cloud unconscious and restrained while Hojo prepared to inject the all-too-familiar black liquid into him. He didn't waste a second in jumping into action.

He took Hojo by surprise as he barged in and roughly shoved him against the wall. Zack knocked the syringe out of his hand in the process, and had a tight grip on his throat, but loose enough so Hojo could breath. Zack wasn't going to kill him just yet.

"Remember me?" he growled, looking into his eyes with pure anger and hatred.

Hojo didn't seem to be afraid at all; he just looked at him and laughed.

"Ah yes, the little runaway specimen from project SM. Specimen ZF-001, I presume?"

"Shut up!" he spat as he tightened his grip. "I have a name, and I'm not some experiment any more!"

Hojo made gagging noises as he spoke, obviously choking, but Zack didn't care. With one swift stroke of his claws across his chest he ended his life, then dropped him to the ground as a pool of blood began to surround his corpse. He stood there silently for a moment, staring down at him and making sure that he was really dead. The monster inside him wished that Zack had tortured him a bit more; made Hojo's death slow and painful. He had thought about it, slowly dragging his claws deep into his chest and pulling down until he pleaded for him to end it, but he wouldn't have it that way. Hojo's death had been rather smooth and quick, his honor wouldn't let him with the alternative.

He checked for a pulse just to be on the safe side, and once he felt none he went over to Cloud and undid the restraints that held him to the table. He would come back and grab the syringe he had to see if he could find out what exactly is was that Hojo has injected into him, as well as any notes around about the project he was apart of. However, right now his highest priority was getting Cloud out before he woke up.

He had a strong sense of De ja' vu as he gently lifted his old friend onto his back, and chuckled at the irony. Everything was coming around full-circle now.

"Ironic, huh, Cloud?" he muttered.

They got out without any problems, and Zack went around the village once more to where Fenrir was. He decided it would be best to just leave him there since he would most likely wake up any minute now, but would watch in the shadows until he did, just to make sure he was alright.

"Be safe now, you hear?" he told him as he set him down on the bike.

He smiled as he ruffled his hair a bit, then with a gentle pat on the back as a goodbye, he left.

Cloud groaned as he began to wake up and come to his senses. Overall he was fine, but his head still ached where he had been clubbed, and he was very confused to what had happened. He remembered being knocked unconscious from someone in the shadows, but here he was in the exact same place with all of his belongings. Fenrir was all in one piece, and he still had his wallet, phone, and keys, which meant it hadn't been any kind of robbery.

He frowned as he picked up the package he was still supposed to deliver off the ground, and tried to put the pieces together. What kind of person just knocked someone out for the hell of it? He tried to remember anything from before his blackout, but all that came was a bunch of blurry voices.

"Be safe now, you hear?"

That, however, was loud and clear to him, and he recognized the voice perfectly, but it still didn't make any sense. Zack was dead, so why would he be hearing his voice all of the sudden?

I must be going insane…

He decided to just shrug it all off for now, and think about it on the way home. He went into the village and delivered the package without any problems or complaints, but as he was leaving the village a loud distant explosion startled him and all of the villagers. A few of them ran towards it to see what had happened, so he followed to make sure no one was hurt.

Even though it had only been a few moments there was already a small crowd gathered near the flames, and even though Cloud was stuck in the back it was easy to tell that ShinRa manor was burning. They contained the fire so it wouldn't spread to the village, but they let the old mansion burn to the ground.

Zack had gone back for the syringe as planned, and since he had some time he went ahead and looked around for any notes Hojo had about project SM. He searched the place from top to bottom, but found nothing. He let out a frustrated groan as he kicked the wall, and decided it would be best to destroy the place. Nothing good had come out of it for anyone, and ShinRa had abandoned it years ago anyway. Surely they wouldn't complain too much.

He fled before his explosion went off and attracted attention, and got back to Edge that night. He was tired, but that was mainly because he was due for another transfusion pretty soon, and all of that flying had sapped a lot of his energy. He still never got sleepy, and nightmares still haunted his dreams.

It was after a long day like this that he wanted a drink, so instead of heading straight home he walked around until he found a open bar. He didn't glance up at the sign as he walked in, and even if he did he would have only wondered why Seventh Heaven sounded vaguely familiar. As he walked in no one paid any attention to him, and he did the same in return. He just kept his head low, sat down at the bar and quietly ordered a beer. The bartender brought it to him a moment later and he muttered a "Thank you," but as he picked up his glass he noticed that she was still in front of him.

"Do I know you?" she asked curiously.

He glanced up for a moment when he heard her voice, realizing it was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. He mentally cursed when he saw it was Tifa, and quickly lowered his head trying not to panic.

"No" he lied calmly, hoping that she wouldn't recognize him.

She continued to look down at him for a moment, but didn't press any more questions on him, and moved on to her other customers. He breathed a sigh of relief as she walked away, then finished his drink and put the gil on the table before leaving quietly. That had been to close for comfort.

Author's Notes

First, a big thank you to shippudenfanatic for beta reading this, and another thank you for everyone who gave me wonderful reviews. It really helped my motivation. Unfortunately, I am sorry to say that I am still not done with chapter five (I've been working on it since I posted this fic) so it's probably gonna be a week or two before I can get it up. I'm almost done with it, but I wanna go back and edit an entire scene before I send it off to my beta reader. Plus even though that it is Summer, I still have to find a summer job, and finish up some cosplay stuff. Plus this time of year is the only time I have to chill and get caught up on some anime, so writing's not the highest on my list (it's up there though).

For those of you that have played Dirge of Cerberus, I am well aware of the giant plot whole surrounding Hojo, but for the story's sake were just gonna say that that whole confusing fragment business didn't happen. For those that have no clue what I'm talking about, good.

Until the next chapter, please keep giving me some feedback, and really does help.