V Breakout

After Zack got home he decided to try his luck with sleeping. None of his nightmares haunted him that night. In the morning he was awoken early the next morning by his phone ringing. Since he had a mild headache from the alcohol and was too lazy to get up and answer it, he just let it go to voice mail.

About an hour later he did get up, but didn't check his phone until he showered and had some breakfast. It had been Tseng, but he hadn't left any messages for him so he guessed it wasn't that important. Still, he supposed it was about how he handled Hojo and blew up the mansion, so he decided it would be best to call back. Tseng picked up on the first ring, and didn't even bother saying hello.

"I see that you decided to get rid of the mansion."

Zack scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit that had never broken.

"Yeah, well, I figured you guys wouldn't mind since it's been abandoned for a while now. As far I know nothing good has ever come out of that place," he said calmly.

"You're not in trouble Zack, but now the citizens in Nibelheim are a bit suspicious."

Zack sighed. He hadn't really thought about the attention it would attract at the time, he had just wanted to get rid of the place.

"I assume you got the job done beforehand?" Tseng asked.

"He was long dead before I even thought about destroying the place, trust me."

"Good. There's something I'd like for you to look into."

Zack frowned, but decided to at least hear him out. He didn't have much else to do.

"I'm listening then."

"There's been an outbreak in monster activity in the Corel area, and we've lost contact with both the WRO team and the SOLDIER First Class we sent in to investigate. I'd like you to look into it."

Sounded perfectly reasonable, but one thing was bothering him in the back of his mind. He knew that he probably wouldn't want to know the answer, but he asked anyway.

"Who was the SOLDIER you sent?"

"Kunsel."

That was all he needed to know to get moving.

He got his equipment and materia together quickly, then headed towards the ShinRa building. There he boarded a helicopter with two infantrymen that would accompany him to the Corel area. Tseng had told him that they had lost contact with the WRO squad about ten miles south of the town, and that was where Kunsel had been sent as well.

The whole flight Zack sat there in silence, fidgeting with worry. He tapped his fingers against the seat as he watched the landscape go by, half wanting to just jump out and fly the rest of the way himself. As they finally started to land, Zack didn't waste any time and jumped out when it was still ten feet in the air. He couldn't wait any longer, and started walking ahead.

The silence bothered him greatly, for it usually wasn't a good sign. He took his gloves off as his eyes scanned the area for anything lurking in the shadows. He thought about calling out to his friend, but he knew that it could also attract the unwanted attention of the monster he was looking for. If possible, he wanted to take it by surprise.

He started to walk forward slowly, eyes darting left and right, keeping his guard up. He didn't like the dark feeling he got at all. The infantrymen behind him both had their guns ready as they walked on.

The three of them stopped when they got to a clearing. Zack's eyes widened when he saw the corpses of the missing WRO troops littered about, all of them covered in blood. His eyes scanned each of them quickly, then finally landed on the one in a black SOLDIER uniform.

"Search for any survivors!" Zack told them as he ran over to his friend, hoping that he was still alive.

He sighed from relief as he felt his pulse and saw that he seemed to breathing normally, but Kunsel did seem to be quite injured. There were various cuts and bruises on him, (some of them more severe than others), and his left leg was also bent at an awkward angle. It was safe to assume that it was broken.

Kunsel groaned as Zack looked over his wounds, and slowly opened his eyes.

"Z-Zack...?" he said weakly.

"Don't push yourself," Zack told him.

"Monster...It killed them all, headed towards town…"

Zack clenched his fist and mentally swore, but tried his best to remain calm and focused. It wasn't good to charge into battle blinded by anger and rage, especially since he could snap and go on a rampage easily. A whole village could be getting slaughtered just like Nibelheim, and he was already afraid that he could be too late.

"There are no survivors, sir," one of the infantrymen said as they came over.

"He needs medical attention, and the monster is heading towards civilization. I'm going after it."

Trusting that Kunsel would now be safe, he ran off towards the town.

From above, the town looked alright. After Meteor fell and ShinRa got back on their feet and forever changed their ways the company had formally apologized for destroying the village and reducing its people to poor, broken, and living in rusty metal shacks. With compensation from ShinRa, and help from the WRO, the village was fully rebuilt to its original state.

That was what he was hoping to see: a nice, quiet, peaceful little village going about like it usually did everyday, but it was a gruesome sight. It may not have been in flames like Nibelheim, but the bloody corpses scattered about and broken in houses were the same. He was too late after all.

He could tell that some of them had tried to protect themselves as best they could, for their personal weapons were usually near them, but the monster had gotten to them anyway. Women, children, families, it didn't matter. It was merciless. His mind flashed back to his rampage at ShinRa years ago. He saw Cissnei die right in front of him again, just like it happened in his nightmares. He quickly shook the memory away; this wasn't the time to break down.

It was then that he heard a low inhuman growl coming from behind. He quickly spun around to face the monster that was a mere two yards away, crouched down and ready to pounce. Once he laid his eyes on it his heart skipped a beat , and fear surfaced once more.

No way, it can't be!

There were differences, like the bright red glowing eyes and sharp canine like fangs, but the claws and black wing were the same. There was no doubt about it; this was another one of Hojo's successful experiments. He noticed it still appeared to be somewhat human, but no one would've guessed with it almost completely splattered in the blood of its victims, and the absolute rage and urge to kill in its eyes. He couldn't help wondering if this was how he looked to everyone when he snapped and killed.

Zack was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed when the creature sprang at him. He snapped out of it at the last second and dug his heels into the ground so it couldn't knock him back. He held the creature an arm's length away, but it kept on trying to push past his strength and claw at him. He knew that he couldn't keep it from doing so forever, and that he needed to end it quick if he wanted to come out of the fight unscathed. With one swift motion he grabbed a hold of the creature just for a moment, then kicked it right in the jaw before letting go.

There was a sickening crunch bones shattering on impact, then an animalistic screech as it was knocked to the ground. . Zack then sprang upon it, and pinned it down roughly as it tried to get up once more. It struggled beneath him as it tried to get free, but even with its massive strength it was no match for the Ex-SOLDIER.

The monster inside him wanted to make his death slow and painful as punishment for slaughtering so many people, but he reminded himself that it had once been a normal human just like he had, and probably had no control of his actions right now. He frowned down at it, wondering if he could help him at all, try and snap him out of it like Cissnei had been able to do with him. Then he remembered that the only reason it had worked with him was because he heard a friend call his name, but he didn't know this person much less his name.

Seeing the anger and rage in his eyes made Zack's heart ache, and he knew that there wasn't much else he could do besides giving him a quick and painless death. He wasn't really religious, but he said a silent prayer to the Goddess, hoping that it would at least be able to rest in the lifestream peacefully. He snapped its neck quickly, cringing at the sound, but relieved it was done. The struggling and noise stopped instantly, and the light faded from its eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

He closed its eyes gently, then rolled the corpse over and lifted the hair off it's neck so he could take a look. It was just as he feared, P: SM-S 005 was tattooed on the back of it; they were indeed part of the same project. He sighed, and felt the back of his own neck, knowing that Hojo tattooed P: SM-S 001 back there as well. It would always be a permanent reminder of what he was.

"So Hojo got around to making more, that's just great," he said sarcastically.

He got out his phone to call Tseng and tell him what happened, only to find out that he had no reception. However once he was up in the air he was able to make the call and explain everything that happened. Then he killed time by searching the town for any survivors while he waited for them to arrive.

"Damn it!" he said as he punched a wall in frustration.

It was the last house that he was checking for anyone who might be alive, but all they found was another family of bloody corpses. It truly was Nibelheim all over again. They both heard the sound of helicopters approaching the village, so he went outside to see three of them landing, and the WRO troops began to put all the corpses into body bags so they could be identified and handed over to any family they had.

"Any survivors?" Tseng asked him as he walked over to him calmly.

Zack lowered his eyes and shook his head, then looked Tseng in the eyes seriously.

"This isn't going to be covered up like Nibelheim, is it?"

"No," Tseng told him, making Zack relax slightly. "ShinRa has truly changed their policy, and the public needs to know about this."

Zack nodded firmly, glad that the matter had been settled.

"I would like to see this specimen."

Zack nodded again, and silently led him to its corpse. Tseng bent down to examine it closely. Zack kept his distance as he did so, not wanting to look at it for another second. Just the thought of knowing that others had suffered the experiments as he did sent a mix of confusing emotions through out him.

"Project SOLDIER Monster," Zack began, keeping his eyes downcast. "He's the fifth specimen, which means that there's likely to be at least three more somewhere out there."

Not good news Zack to tell, especially since there was no way to tell how many Hojo had succeeded with, but it needed to be known.

"He was in SOLDIER."

"What?" Zack asked as he lifted his gaze confusedly.

He leaned over to get a better look. Tseng had gently opened one of the specimen's eyelids to reveal Mako infused eyes with only a vague tint of red left. His heart skipped a beat as fear set in. Fear that he could've killed one of his old comrades without recognizing him. Fear that the others were people that he knew. He quickly looked away, not wanting to look at him any longer.

"I'll have some DNA samples tested so we can find out who he is," Tseng assured him as he stood up.

"I just don't understand why this is happening now. Hojo's dead," he said.

"You're absolutely sure of that?" Tseng asked him.

"Of course I am!" Zack shouted at him in frustration, momentarily attracting the attention of the soldiers around them. He glanced around and noticed this, then took a deep breath to calm down. After a few moments, the soldiers went back to their business.

"He probably was working with others then, maybe a new terrorist organization."

"Still doesn't make much sense if you ask me," Zack muttered.

So far there wasn't a slightest clue of who the monsters were created for or why their purpose was, but as far as he could tell the resulted experiments were to create mad killing machines that never stopped. What was the point in that? He had never got that with Deep Ground, either.

"I'll let you know as soon as we find something more. You're free to go unless you want to help here."

"No, thanks," Zack declined politely.

He wanted to get away from this as fast as possible. He needed to get home to think in peace and quiet, and see how Kunsel was doing in the hospital.

As Tseng promised, the news completely covered the Corel massacre. The people were warned of the monsters, and were also told that both WRO and ShinRa troops would be patrolling around every major town and city until the rest of them were found and dealt with. Zack turned his television off after that. He didn't want to hear any more.

Tseng had called him a while ago, and not with good news. The DNA samples had confirmed that it was Luxiere; he had killed another one of his friends. It was then when he began to hate himself once more, and isolated himself in his room. He sat there silently on his bed gazing at his hands. The hands that had so easily killed Cissnei and Luxiere.

I really am a monster...

He glanced down at the scars on his arm and thought about trying to end his life once more, but quickly pushed that thought out of his mind for good. He still hadn't found his reason for living, but that didn't mean that it wasn't out there. Plus he had to help with this current crisis and find out who was behind it all.

He sighed as he laid back and wondered what exactly he had done to deserve this. Every time things seemed to calm down and lighten up again, something always came crashing down right on top of him like this. He wasn't sure if he could take much more.

"Just gotta keep moving forward," he muttered to himself.

He let out another deep sigh and closed his eyes so he could try and get some sleep. As soon as he was starting to drift off his phone rang. He groaned in annoyance as he rolled over and grabbed it off the night stand, and squinted at the screen to make out Kunsel's number on the caller ID.

"Hi Kunsel," he said a bit groggily.

"Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry..."

"It's fine, I wasn't even asleep yet."

"Yeah, ok." There was a pause, and he could make out some background noise from the beeps of the heart monitors and doctors being paged.

"You ok?" Zack asked him.

"I think I should be asking you that. Tseng told me what happened."

"Oh..."

"Zack, listen to me, ok? There wasn't anything you could've done for him."

"You don't know that Kunsel."

"You tried, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Zack."

"But I-"

"Zack!"

But I should've recognized him...I should've done something more to help him.

It was very reasonable that he didn't recognize him though. He hadn't known Luxiere all that well, and had rarely seen him without his SOLDIER helmet off. He could've easily forgotten his face, but even knowing that he still kept blaming himself.

"You can't keep beating yourself up over things like this, Zack."

"I know..." he said quietly.

"You sure you're gonna be alright now?"

"Yeah. This won't push me over the edge again, I promise."

"Good. I'll probably be out in a day or two. I'll come by and check on you ,alright?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later then."

"Bye."

He hung up and checked the time. Almost midnight; maybe he had fallen asleep for a while after all and hadn't known it. Either way, he didn't feel tired enough to try and rest now. He figured he would go out for a nice walk to get things off his mind. At this time of night he could go where he felt the most calm without taking the chance of anyone being there: Aerith's church in Midgar.

It had been a long hard day of work for Cloud, and he was finally starting to wind down and take it easy. He had just finished doing the dishes and was just about to head upstairs for a nice shower and some sleep when he heard the soft tapping of Aerith's come down.

Elmyra had, unfortunately, been one of the victims of Geostigma that hadn't made it before Aerith had been able to summon her healing rain. After her death Cloud and Tifa had invited Aerith to come live with them. She had accepted with joy, glad to live with close friends rather than being alone.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"I know it's late, but it looks like there's gonna be a big storm coming in soon and I'm worried about the flowers."

He saw her point. She cared deeply about those flowers, and since there was hardly any roof left in the place and rain got in often she kept a tarp over at the church to cover them whenever she thought it was going to rain pretty hard.

"I can take you," he told her.

He didn't really see any problem with it. It was only a few minutes away by motorcycle, and the kids were already asleep in their beds.

"Thanks, Cloud," she said with a smile.

He grabbed his keys as she went and got her shoes on, then waited for her outside by Fenrir. He thought about saying goodbye to Tifa, but she was downstairs running the bar and he figured she'd be pretty busy with her costumers.

"You forgot something, Cloud," Aerith said as she came outside with his helmet.

He groaned when he saw it, but still put it on. He hated it since it was really tight and messed up his hair, but Aerith and Tifa had gotten it for safety reasons. They were always telling him that one of these days he was going to get hurt if he didn't wear one. And while he promised that he was always extremely careful, he now knew that they were right. It was mainly because he had gotten clobbered two days ago, and that was proof enough that anything could happen.

They drove to Midgar without any major problems. They saw the patrol outside of Edge, but Cloud just drove right past them, not wanting to be stopped . One of the soldiers yelled at him as he went by, but didn't try and stop him.

"It'll just be a minute" Aerith assured him as she hopped off Fenrir when they stopped in front of the dilapidated church.

"Wait." He drew one of his swords and went ahead of her. A few monsters lurked in the Midgar ruins, and a time or two they had gotten an unfriendly surprise when they went inside. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially since he had seen the news.

He opened the door quietly and kept a tight grip on his sword. Nothing jumped out at him, so he scanned all the dark corners with his eyes. As far as he could tell it was empty, but he stepped inside for a closer look to be sure.

"All clear!" he shouted as he sheathed his sword.

She then came in and with his help put the tarp over her flower bed and the pool of water that still remained from the time that she summoned the lifestream water to help Cloud and cure his Geostigma. Then they tied it down so it wouldn't be blown away, and headed back towards Fenrir.

It was then that he became uneasy. Some would call it SOLDIER instincts, but since he never got into SOLDIER he didn't refer to it as that. Aerith noticed that he suddenly tensed up and grabbed a hold of his sword, and was about to ask what was wrong when they both heard a low growl come from the shadows.

"Get back inside, I'll take care of this," Cloud told her.

She nodded, and quickly ran back inside the church and began silently praying that he would be alright.

Outside Cloud barely had enough time to draw his sword before the monster leapt at him. He was able to block the first blow easily, and even knock it back a bit, but he knew that the monster would most likely come at him again in moments He decided to first get it away from the church, just to be sure that Aerith wouldn't get hurt.

When the creature sprang at him once more he continued to knock it back with hard blows from his sword, until it retreated into the shadows. Cloud stiffened, knowing that he was now vulnerable from anywhere now. He scanned the area slowly as he took slow steps away from the church, keeping his eyes peeled for any sudden movement in the darkness.

Unfortunately he failed to notice that behind him the monster was scaling the church wall with his claws, until it jumped down at him for a fatal blow at his neck. Cloud noticed at the last moment, and was able to spin around and block the blow with his sword.

He mentally cursed when he got a minor cut on his arm, wishing he had grabbed some materia before he left so he could heal it up. He quickly looked around for other options for a quick and easy kill, and spotted the remains of a brick house in front of them. With all his strength he gave a good hard shove at the monster, forcing him to collide hard with the wall.

There was a sickening crunch as the skull was cracked, followed by dark blood staining the wall and pooling around it as the monster finally collapsed dead. Cloud poked at it with his sword, then sat down, absolutely exhausted, when he was sure it was dead.

He would just rest for a moment, and then go home safely with Aerith.

Meanwhile, Zack had his own hands full with yet another one of the monsters. He had been on his way to the church as he had planned, but on the way he caught a glimpse of it heading towards Edge, and jumped into action before it spotted him. However this one seemed both stronger and even a bit more strategic than the last one, and was giving him some serious trouble.

Zack tried to pin him down like he had done with the last monster, but as soon as he had him down on the ground the monster swiped his claws across Zack's chest. It didn't create a deep wound, but it was enough to make him bleed and cry out. Here is where you should probably say something about Zack getting knocked backwards and off the monster. He quickly got up, anger now adding to his determination to defeat the monster.

He saw it start to climb the church, so he quickly ran and leapt at it, tackling it into the wall. It gave away from the sudden extra weight, sending them both sprawling onto the church floor as it fell. Zack glanced up when he heard a scream, immediately recognizing it as Aerith's.

Fear settled in quickly. What was she doing here at this time of night? Did she see him? Did she now know what he was? He glanced up as the fear began to course through him, and saw her unconscious on the floor. She had been knocked back by them, and had hit her head. Rage quickly took the place of his fear, and he glared down at the monster pinned beneath him, suddenly wanting to tear it apart for hurting Aerith.

Cloud bolted right up when he heard Aerith scream. He tried not to panic, but his mind flashed back to when Sephiroth almost killed her. If he had gotten there a moment later, then she would be long dead now. Back then he had pushed her out of the way just in time. Ever since he had been paranoid that something like that would happen to her or someone close to him again, and he wouldn't be there to save them.

He got back to the church in seconds thanks to the sudden adrenaline rush, and began looking around for her, as well as any danger. His eyes landed on a monster seemingly exactly like the one he had just killed, but this one had been torn to shreds. He looked away quickly, not wanting to think about what other monster could've killed it and possibly done the same to Aerith.

"Aerith?" he called, his heart pounding with growing worry.

She was no where in sight.

Author's Notes

Thank you for being patient with me, it took a lot longer than expected. This is officially the longest chapter I've ever written so far. The next chapter is already done and shouldn't take to long to edit, so I should be able to update on time for once. I sense some Zerith coming up…