XI Revelations

Zack groaned as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. He recalled the final moments before he blacked out quickly, and took in is surroundings. He discovered quickly that both his hands and feet were hand cuffed to the chair that held him, and when he tried to break them with his strength he received an electric shock.

He gritted his teeth as he bit back a scream. They had been made to be SOLDIER proof, of that much he was certain of. He glanced around the room to see if there was something he could use to help him get out, or if there was any sign of Cloud. It was nearly pitch black, and even with his mako enhanced vision the outline of the closed door was the only thing he could make out. He didn't have a single clue where he was in the building, or if it was even the same building he'd entered earlier. Where was Cloud? How long had he been out? Minutes? Hours? Days? Too many questions with too few answers.

"Cloud?" he called, hoping that he would answer if he was in a room nearby. "Cloud, can you hear me?"

He didn't get an answer, But moments later the door swung open, the bright light from the hallway beyond blinding him." He looked away and blinked so his eyes would adjust.

"So you're awake."

His eyes widened in recognition of the, and immediately turned to look at him in the light.

"Genesis?" he asked in disbelief. "You're a part of this?"

He refused to believe his eyes. It was true that Genesis had done terrible things in the past when he waged war against ShinRa, but that was all because of Hollander and the degradation. All he had really wanted then was to stop the process and go on with his life. The Goddess herself had seen that and saved him. Zack had thought for sure that he would be on the road to redemption, there had to be a logical explanation otherwise.

He watched as Genesis slowly smiled, then chuckled lightly as he approached him.

"The Genesis you know is long gone, Zack."

As he stepped closer to Zack, the light hit him just right for Zack to see that his eyes weren't his normal Mako infused blue, but rather green and resembled Sephiroth's all too well. He stiffened at the sight of them, and remembered Cloud mentioning that Sephiroth had been able to control some of the people that had Jenova cells planted inside them. He was dead, that much was true, but apparently that didn't stop him from making Genesis his next victim.

"Sephiroth." Zack spat as he narrowed his eyes coldly at him. "What do you want?"

"What I've always wanted, Zack," he said as he began to pace around him. "The destruction of this planet." It was then when he stopped, and smiled as he gazed at him. "And you're going to help me."

"Like hell I would!"

"Oh, you will Zackary, whether you like it or not."

He then took out a radio out of his pocket, clicked it on, and spoke three words into it that immediately caught Zack's attention:

"Kill the Cetra."

At first, Zack thought he was bluffing and just trying to trick him. After all, Aerith was safe and sound at home. But she was alone, he had left her unprotected and vulnerable. His eyes widened in panic when he realized that she could indeed be held by him as well, completely defenseless. He flinched when he heard her brief scream, followed by a gunshot a moment later.

"NO!" he screamed.

That moment continued to play over in his mind, even after Genesis had clicked the radio off and left the room. Aerith was dead. She would no longer laugh or cry, and he would no longer be able to comfort her or hold her close.

No...

Guilt overtook his sadness. It was his fault, he had been the one who left her completely alone, he couldn't do anything to save her.

He clenched his fists, he hated himself for it, but he hated Sephiroth more. He wanted to make him pay, he wanted to rip him apart slowly and painfully until he bled to death. His hatred sparked the anger and rage deep within him, and soon that was all there was left in his mind. Just him and getting his revenge.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted, breaking free of his bonds instantly with his strength before the pain got to him.

Nothing would stand in his way. His rage had completely taken over.

Aerith couldn't remember much of her capture. She had been at home unpacking her things, trying to keep her mind off worrying about Zack. She had been so distracted, she hadn't noticed the shady figure coming in through one of the open windows. They grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth before she could scream. She tried to struggle, but they cast sleep on her before she could get away.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in one of the cells in the old ShinRa building. Her hands and feet were tied together loosely, but when she saw an armed Genesis copy guarding her she thought twice about trying to get free.

It was only moments later when the door opened and Cloud was thrown in with her. He too was restrained, but with sturdy SOLDIER proof handcuffs. He was unconscious, but the impact of landing on the floor woke him up.

He quickly took in his surroundings as he awkwardly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He stiffened in surprise when he saw Aerith, but didn't say anything because of the guard. He narrowed his eyes at him, vaguely remembering the war with Genesis and his copies from his cadet days. He saw that the copy was armed, and kept his eyes on him iat all times. Cloud knew he probably had the keycard to get out on him, and even though he himself was unarmed, he could still take him down if he had some sort of distraction.

One thing bothered him though. Where was Zack? They had obviously separated them on purpose, and the fact that they had also gone through the trouble to kidnap Aerith and bring her here put a bad feeling in his gut. He didn't know what they were planning, but he didn't like it.

It was then when they heard static from the copy's radio and all of them turned their attention to it.

"Kill the Cetra," said a voice on the other end.

Cloud's eyes widened, while Aerith completely froze with fear beside him. The moment the copy drew his gun, Cloud leapt into action and kicked it out of his hand. Aerith let out a short scream as it went off, while Cloud jumped up and awkwardly kicked him in the face. He lost in balance in the end and fell face first to floor, but the copy was out cold for time being.

"Are you alright?" he asked Aerith as he sat up once more.

She nodded silently, still in shock.

"Can you untie yourself at all?"

She nodded, and with a little effort was able to shake the loose rope from her wrists before removing the ones around her ankles.

"See if he has anything for these handcuffs."

She went over to him cautiously, then seeing that he was indeed unconscious and not faking it to catch them off guard she began to go through his pockets. She found a keycard and grabbed that first, but found nothing for Cloud's handcuffs. She frowned and shook her head at him.

Cloud sighed, then took a deep breath before he tried to pull them apart. Less than a second later he received an unexpected electric shock from them and gritted his teeth. Aerith flinched when she saw, and looked at Cloud worriedly.

"Don't hurt yourself!" she pleaded.

"I have to get out of these somehow, Aerith."

But he knew she was right. The harder he pulled, the more intense the shocks got. Even if he managed to break them apart he would be completely drained afterwards, and he would need his energy to get them both out of here and find Zack.

He closed his eyes as he sighed, and leaned back against the metal base of the cot as he tried to think of a plan. He decided to give the handcuffs one more try, and pulled as hard as he could. Luckily for him, the metal near them shorted them out and he was able to break the handcuffs them apart. He sighed from relief, then stood up and grabbed the guard's gun.

"Stay close to me, okay Aerith?"

She nodded, and Cloud opened the cell door with the hand gun in his hands, ready for action. He preferred swords over guns a lot more, but remembered how to use them well from his cadet days. He hoped his aim was still as good as it had been back then.

The two guards standing right outside saw him at once, but Cloud jumped into action before they even had the chance to draw their weapons. He shot the first one in the head and watched it fall to the floor, then quickly spun around and elbowed the other in the stomach before putting a bullet between its eyes.

He scanned the area for more he would have to deal with, but saw none. Seeing that they were on the SOLDIER floor he guessed that their equipment would be held in the materia room locked up tight, and quickly led Aerith there. There was another copy guarding it, so he assumed that he was right and took care of him the same way he'd taken care of the ones before.

"As soon as I get my equipment back, we'll look for Zack," he told Aerith.

Getting it back, though, was still going to be a problem for him. The room was locked, and he remembered how it was pretty much impossible to get in without a key card. He was never in SOLDIER, but he had asked Zack to teach him a little bit about using materia one time. It was their rotten luck that Zack had lost his key card that day, and he had tried everything to get into the room from smashing the key pad to breaking down the wall, but both were extremely durable to prevent anyone from breaking in, even SOLDIERs.

Cloud sighed as he looked up at the vents in the ceiling. Had Zack tried crawling through those back then? He didn't remember, parts of his memory were still fuzzy. He decided to give it a shot.

"I'll be back in a minute, Aerith," he said before he jumped up and grabbed a hold of the grate.

"Wait, Cloud!"

But he had already yanked it off and crawled inside. It took him less than a minute to find where the vent led into the room, so he tore off the grate there, then hopped inside. A small cloud of dust blew up around where he landed, suggesting that it wasn't inhabited in a while. The shelves that once held the materia for the SOLDIERSs to use were now empty, but in the corner laid his sheath and swords, as well as Zack's. He slid them both into his sheath after putting it on, grabbed their materia, and was about to head back into the vents when the door slid open.

Expecting copies he spun around with his sword drawn, only to see it was Aerith with a key card in her hands.

"It was on the guard, Cloud," she told him.

"..."

He felt like an idiot for not checking to see what that guard had had on him first, but what was done was done. They both flinched at the sound of gunfire coming further down the hall, and assumed that Zack had also broken out of his cell.

"Stay behind me, Aerith," Cloud told her as he cautiously moved towards the sound of combat.

Something about it bothered him greatly though. There was no doubt that Zack could handle them even without a weapon, but something just didn't seem right. He poked his head around the corner where most of the chaos seemed to be coming from and stiffened.

Blood was splattered everywhere, and the corpses of Genesis copies were scattered about, but what startled him the most was seeing Zack in the middle of it all. He was on all fours crouched down with his claws and wing out, and attacked anyone who came near him. None of the copies had been able to lay a scratch on him no matter how hard they tried. He had snapped, and now nothing was stopping him from endlessly killing people.

Aerith gasped when she saw him, then quickly looked away, not wanting to watch. She was about to ask Cloud what they were going to do now, when she saw him reaching for his sword.

"Cloud, no!" she pleaded.

"I'm not gonna hurt him," he assured her. "I'm gonna try and get him to calm down."

She nodded silently, hoping that he would succeed without getting hurt as well. Cloud slowly drew his sword as he walked towards his friend, ready to defend himself when he attacked.

"Zack," he said, getting a low warning growl in response. "Snap out of it!" he shouted.

He sprang at him a moment later, and while Cloud quickly brought up his sword in front of him to defend himself Zack was still able to dig his claws into his shoulder. He gritted his teeth as he forced down a scream, and shoved Zack back into a wall.

"Remember who you are, Zack!" he pleaded. "You're not a monster!"

But Cloud's voice didn't reach him. He counter attacked and sent Cloud's sword flying. Before he could blink Zack had him on the ground, and was about to spring at him once more to deliver the final blow when Aerith screamed. The sound of her voice got to him, and he hesitated. She saw this, and very slowly began to walk towards him.

"Aerith, no!" Cloud told her, panicking when he saw what she was doing.

But she ignored him and kept walking towards him.

"Zack," she pleaded softly. "Please, come back to us."

He growled at her as a warning as she got closer, but made no moves to attack. When she got close enough, she knelt down and gently wrapped her arms around him, hoping to calm him.

"Please," she whispered.

She saw the anger and hatred slowly fade from his eyes, and confusion quickly replace them as he was brought back to his senses.

"Aerith?" he asked softly.

She sighed from relief, then smiled at him as she hugged him tighter.

"I'm here," she assured him.

For a moment he thought for sure that he was dreaming, but feeling her warm embrace convinced him otherwise. He frowned when he saw that Cloud was slightly injured, and while part of him wanted to look around to see what other damage he had done while he was out of it, the rest of him didn't want to know.

Both he and Cloud heard footsteps approaching, and quickly found themselves surrounded by the few remaining copies ready to open fire on them. Cloud had already cast cure on his wound, and didn't waste any time snatching up his sword, while Zack took priority of protecting Aerith over himself.

He gently shoved her to the ground as they open fired on them, and shielded her with his body. He bit down a scream as the bullets tore through his flesh. He heard Cloud cry out his name, and Aerith gasp beneath him.

"Are you ok?" he asked her weakly through the pain.

The gunfire had stopped, so he assumed Cloud had finished taking care of them. Aerith didn't answer. He felt her blood on his hands and automatic panicked. Had she been hit?

"Aerith?" he asked, starting to feel dizzy from his own blood loss.

He heard Cloud call out to him again as he made his way over to them, but it sounded far away. He pulled his hands away from her to find out that he had accidentally dug her claws into her when he had pushed her.

No.

She was bleeding badly, and it was all his fault. He vaguely heard Cloud say something to him, but couldn't make it out. Aerith was dying, all because of him.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered as he began to drift into unconsciousness.

The last thing he saw before the darkness overtook him was her slowly bleeding to death.

Author's Notes

Another long wait T_T Sorry about that, and I know you guys probably hate me right now for the cliffhanger, and even more when I tell you there's only one chapter left. However that one chapter is almost done, and I promise you I will have it up by the end of the year ^_^ Happy Holidays everyone!