IX A Changing Situation

"Wow," Zack commented.

It had been decided earlier in the evening that it would be best for them to all sit down and catch up, so they had all headed back to Seventh Heaven. The bar wasn't open yet, so Tifa had decided not to open it for the night so she could join them.

Zack had listened to Cloud's story patiently about what had happened after he had escaped from ShinRa, all the way up to the present. He had heard bits and pieces of what happened to Sephiroth, but hadn't heard the full story until now. There was also other good news that he was more than happy to hear; Cloud and Tifa had been married for the past two years, and now had a son of their own.

"You named him after me…?" he asked, looking at the nine month old baby in Cloud's arms.

"It just felt like a good thing to do," Cloud told him. "I hope you don't mind," he added.

Zack wasn't sure how he felt about it. Part of him felt honored and glad that his friend had done such a thing, but how would the kid feel when he got older? A lot of bad things had happened to him, and little Zackary Strife might take his name the wrong way.

"Nah, it's fine," Zack told him.

There was no use in worrying about it now. Besides, it seemed to fit him well. He had inherited Cloud's natural spiky hair, but it was dark black like Tifa's. His eyes were also a deep blue, but different from his father's mako infused ones.

"Can I hold him?" he asked.

"Sure," Cloud told him as he gently passed his son onto him.

Little Zack was just one of those babies that everyone thought was absolutely adorable. He didn't whine or cry when Cloud let him go, or freak out about being held by a stranger. Even Zack had to admit the kid was pretty cute. That, of course, that was before he reached up and clasped his tiny baby fist around the loose lock of Zack's hair and started yanking on it.

"Ow, hey!"

He knew that he couldn't really blame him since he was still very young, and while such a thing should be expected from a baby, he still didn't like it. Cloud and Aerith chuckled softly, while Zack ignored them and gently pulled his own hair out of the baby's hand and tucked it behind his ear. Unfortunately it was very stubborn, and just flipped back out into place. He groaned in annoyance, and little Zack laughed at him happily.

"You're a little stinker aren't you?" he asked.

What he got in reply was getting spit up all over his sweater.

"Thanks, kid..." he muttered sarcastically. Cloud gently took him back so he could clean him up, while Zack walked towards the bathroom to try and do the same.

Time began to flow quickly for Zack. He was once again happy with his life, and everyone noticed it. Kunsel observed that his old cheerful self was back, When he commented on it, Zack simply told him that he had finally found his reason to live.

Deep down he still knew and hated what he was, but since none of his friends saw him as a monster it didn't bother him much anymore. He hoped his parents would be the same way when he finally told them someday, but right now he had other things to deal with first.

More of the experiments had been popping up all over the globe, in both major cities and small towns. Zack had them plotted over one of his copies of the world map, but no matter how many times he thought and stared at it he couldn't see any kind of pattern. His last encounter with them in particular bothered him greatly. Their voices were forever in his mind, and it scared him.

He was just glad that ShinRa and WRO had gotten better at dealing with them and could now dispatch the experiments quickly and efficiently. There were less casualties every time. It was one less thing to worry about, which gave him more time to spend with Aerith.

Whenever he was with her, all his problems and worries seemed to disappear or melt away, for she really was his reason to live. They had decided to take it slow since it had been years since they had been together, and there was no reason to rush things. Most of the time he would just spend time with her and help her sell her flowers when he didn't have to work, but he had taken her out on a couple of formal dates as well.

There was one night when he was walking her home late at night when it started to rain. When it became apparent that it wasn't just a little sprinkle they ran for it, but by the time they made it back they were both completely soaked.

"You should come in and dry off, Zack," She told him.

He didn't argue with her about it. After all, even a strong Ex-SOLDIER like himself could still get sick. They both left their shoes outside by the back door, then tip-toed upstairs to the bathroom quickly so they could dry off without dripping all over the floor or waking up the kids. Aerith handed him a fresh clean towel, then gently began to undo her hair while Zack dried his.

He then peeled off his wet shirt and slung it over the shower rod so it could dry. What he really wanted to do was stretch out his sore wing, but the bathroom was small and he didn't want to risk knocking anything over or hitting Aerith in the face.

"Does it ever hurt at all?" she asked.

"Huh?"

He turned around to see her struggling to get the ribbon out of her damp and tangled hair while keeping her eyes on him.

"Your wing."

"Oh," he said. "No, not really," he told her. He watched as she continued to struggle with her wet hair. "You want some help?"

The moment he spoke was when she finally managed to get it out, tearing the thin material in the process. She frowned as she looked at the big tear that went right through the middle of the ribbon, knowing that it wasn't repairable.

"We'll go get you a new one tomorrow," he told her.

"Thanks, Zack."

She looked up and smiled at him before he gently kissed her. The world melted away as the kiss deepened, and they forgot about everything but themselves. They were the only thing that mattered at the moment. Still in their damp clothes they moved from the bathroom to her bedroom, then to the bed. It was only when he reached behind her to unclasp her bra that he stopped and realized things were moving very fast right now.

"Do you wanna stop?" he asked her.

"…yeah..." she said softly.

He nodded, then rolled over to give her some space. It was so quiet that they could both hear the rain pouring down on the roof and windows.

"Mind if I stay here until it stops?" Drying off just to get wet on the way home didn't really make sense.

"Stay as long as you want, Zack."

She moved closer to him to let him know that it wasn't as awkward as he thought, and gently rested her head on his chest. "Can we just stay like this for a while?" she asked.

He smiled and nodded, then gently wrapped his arms around her. They laid there like that for a while, and pretty soon they were both asleep.

He and Aerith were standing together in an endless field of flowers. The bright cloudless sky was above them, and the sun was shining down upon them brightly. He smiled down at her, and gently pulled her into a deep kiss. Moments later she stiffened and quickly pulled away. He knew something was wrong when he saw the look on her face. Fear, horror, betrayal, shock, it was all in her eyes.

"Why, Zack?" she asked.

He was about to ask what was wrong when he felt a warm liquid on his hands, and smelled the stench of blood. He glanced down to see fresh deep claw marks on her stomach, and her blood all over his hands.

"Why did you hurt me?" She asked.

"No..." he whispered.

He had hurt her.

"No!"

He stepped away in horror as she fell to the ground. Her blood quickly flowed out of her and seeped through the flowers.

He had killed her.

He continued to back away from it all, trying to avoid the blood at all costs. His heel bumped into something, and he turned to see what it was. His eyes widened when he saw that it was another corpse, and he stumbled away when he realized it was Cissnei's. He turned to run only to see Luxiere's corpse was laid out right in front of him.

The blood was everywhere now, he could feel it squish beneath his shoes with every step. There was no getting away from it now. He closed his eyes, hoping that would make it all go away. He stiffened when he felt the cold metal of a blade against the back of his neck, and turned to see Angeal holding the Buster Sword.

"Monster," he said flatly.

There was a hard look in his mako infused eyes, he remembered seeing it only a few times when he was ready to kill in cold blood.

"You tarnish the SOLDIER name."

He didn't even have a chance to scream before the Buster Sword was brought down on him.

Zack bolted upright in bed, panting and sweating heavily. When he realized it had all been a dream, he breathed a deep sigh of relief, and sank back down into the mattress. He then remembered Aerith, and hoped that he didn't disturb her, but saw her still sleeping peacefully beside him. He smiled, realizing that she was pretty cute when sleeping. She shivered a bit, so he gently pulled up the covers around her.

How can I protect her when I can hurt her so easily?

Self control or not, accidents could happen. He tried not to think about all the possibilities of those accidents happening, but his mind often wondered when he couldn't sleep, and there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep again after that nightmare. He could tell by the silence outside that the rain had finally stopped. Upon glancing at the clock on the wall, he noticed that it was nearly dawn. He debated whether or not to just get up. He didn't want to take another chance at waking Aerith, and he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. However, on the other hand, he didn't want to just lay there for a few more hours until everyone else got up, he didn't have the patience for that.

He decided he would just take a short walk and come back later. Maybe he would be able to get some coffee or something along the way. So he slowly lifted the covers off himself, and slipped out of the bed without waking her. She stirred a bit when he did so, but stayed asleep.

He then grabbed his now dry shirt and gloves from the bathroom and put them on, before quietly coming back to her room and giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He then proceeded to tip toe down the hall and stairs wincing, at every little creek from the old floorboards. The last thing he wanted was for the baby to wake up.

"Zack?"

He looked up as he put his shoes on to see Cloud fully dressed and holding little sleeping Zackary in his arms.

"I didn't know you were here," he said in a soft voice so he wouldn't wake his son.

"I brought Aerith home and she said I could wait out the rain inside so we—"

"I don't need to know that much."

"…Just fell asleep," he finished. "Nothing happened between us, Cloud." He decided to leave out that something almost did happen, but as Cloud had already pointed out he didn't need to know everything.

"What about you?" he asked. "You're up awfully early."

"Just finished giving this guy a bottle a little while ago," Cloud told him. "I was just about to put him back down and do some morning training in the backyard. You're free to join me if you want."

"Sounds good to me."

Cloud smiled, then went upstairs to put Zackary to bed, and came back down with his fusion swords, as well as Zack's old Buster Sword.

"I've been meaning to give this back to you," he said as he handed it to him.

Zack smiled as he took it, for he had missed its familiar weight in his hands. He noticed there were a few minor scratches and dents from the times that Cloud had used it, but overall it still seemed in very good shape.

"Thanks for taking care of it for me."

To be honest, he had been a little worried about it. He didn't know how well Cloud handled weapons when he gave it to him, and was relieved that he didn't use it recklessly or just leave it somewhere and let it rust away.

"It was the least I could do."

Zack nodded, then followed him outside. The backyard was rather small and barren except for a few patches of grass and a few of Aerith's planted flowers by the house, but it was enough for them to spar. Zack swung his Buster Sword a few times to try and get the feel for it once more, then took his place across from his friend.

He bowed his head onto his sword respectively, then gently put it aside and caught the sword Cloud tossed to him for the match.

"Cheater," he said when he noticed Cloud was using two swords instead of one.

"You ready?" Cloud asked, completely ignoring his comment.

Zack nodded, then didn't waste a second charging at him. With two swords Cloud was easily able to block all his blows against them, but was only barely able to keep up with Zack's speed.

"Not bad," Zack said with a fierce grin as he ducked under Cloud's sword to avoid it.

His skills had certainly grown since his cadet days, that much was obvious. If he was in SOLDIER Zack had no doubt Cloud would be First Class like he was.

Cloud didn't comment, for it probably would've distracted him. Even if it was just a friendly sparring match, he wanted to be absolutely focused and looked rather serious.

Zack tucked and rolled behind him, then slashed at him from behind only for Cloud to roll away at the last moment. Cloud slammed his sword down at the ground sending a blade beam right at him, but Zack saw it coming and extended his wing so he could leap back into the air.

"Oh, NOW look who's cheating!" Cloud said, rather annoyed.

"You're just jealous that you can't fly," Zack said with a smirk.

Cloud rolled his eyes, then leapt up into the air while he was floating, and brought his sword down on him while his guard was lowered. Zack had brought up his own sword to defend himself, but was still forced back to the ground by the blow. A cloud of dust went up when they fell, then Zack felt his sword being knocked away and the tip of another being pointed to his throat.

"Dead," Cloud said flatly.

"Fine..." Zack grumbled in defeat as Cloud lowered his weapon and offered a hand to help him up. He took it and began dusting himself off once he was up and off the ground.

"I'm just getting warmed up though," he warned him.

"I could say the same thing," Cloud said with a smile.

They took their places across from each other once more, but this time Zack stuck Cloud's sword in the ground and removed his gloves.

"You should be a little more prepared to fight these monsters," Zack told him. "They're fast, strong, just want to keep killing people, and seem to be getting smarter."

"I noticed," Cloud said.

Zack sighed as he stuffed his gloves into his pocket, and looked up at his friend with serious eyes.

"Cloud, if I snap—"

"That won't happen," Cloud interrupted, knowing where this was going.

"But if I do," Zack continued, "Hold me back. Try and get me out of it, knock me out, something, anything, just don't let me hurt anyone," he told him.

He thought about asking him to take him out for good if that actually happened, but he knew that Cloud wouldn't go through with it. Even if he did, he remembered the pain he went through when he killed Angeal, he didn't want anyone of his close friends to go through that like he did.

"Just promise me that much, ok?" he asked.

"Alright," Cloud said.

Zack smiled softly, then charged at him once more without any warning. Cloud brought up his sword in front of him to defend himself, but Zack kicked it away and pinned him to the ground.

"One swipe and you're dead Cloud," Zack pointed out with his claw right above his throat. "Can't let your guard down for a second."

Cloud mentally hit himself for losing focus, but knew Zack meant well and was right. They continued to spar until the sun came up, but no matter how hard Cloud tried Zack beat him every time. By the end he was sweating and panting. Both he and Zack had taken their shirts off a while ago, but unlike Cloud Zack had barely worked up a sweat and still seemed to have energy to continue.

"You wanna call it a day?" Zack asked, noting that Cloud was worn out.

He wanted to say no and tell him that he could keep going, but he was absolutely exhausted and didn't want to push himself. If it was the real thing he would, but he knew his limits for just a simple sparing match.

"Yeah. We can finish some other time."

Zack groaned as he buried his face into the table. No matter how much he stared at the map, he couldn't find any kind of pattern or clues about where the monsters suddenly popped up and attacked. It was like trying to play connect the dots with half of them missing and extra points thrown in to throw him off. He heard a knock at the door, but didn't bother getting up to answer it.

"It's open," he told them.

He heard the door open, followed by the sound of Kunsel walking with his crutch.

"Any luck?" he asked as he hobbled over to him at the table.

"What do you think?" Zack asked with his face still on the table.

Kunsel sighed, then took a seat next to him. Only then did Zack look up at him and slide the map towards him so he could take a look.

"Maybe you can figure it out, you're good at these sort of things."

Kunsel studied it closely, noticing that Zack had actually done a good job at keeping track of where and when from the very beginning. First one was in Corel, then the two near Midgar the next day, followed by Kalm the day after. When Kunsel noticed there had been some in Junon, and Wutai as well the pattern became clear to him.

"ShinRa," he said.

"What?"

"Every place they've been there's been a big ShinRa related incident happen there."

Author's Notes

Ugh, over a month since an update T_T Reasons? I started college, and my beta reader had one computer problem after another (her PC is like fourteen years old or something like that). Anyway, Zackary Strife is a bit based off my adorable little baby brother in this fic, so it was based on my personal experience with babies.

I sent the next chapter to my beta about two days ago, and her laptop is fixed and working now so it shouldn't be to long, but we are both in school. I will try and get working on the final chapters, but between school, trying to get a job, cosplay stuff, and spending time with my new boyfriend it might take a little while...