Zack had taken to prowling the building. He doubted there was a single floor he had not walked every inch of. Energy tingled under his skin and raced along his veins. Genesis assured him the feeling was perfectly normal for several days following enhancement to First Class. Three days in and Zack did not feel any better. It made him want to rip his own skin off.

He had killed as many VR sim monsters as he could stand, done squats until he tore out the back seam of his favorite boots, and spent hours running sword kata forms with Angeal's sword until his arms burned too much to lift it. None of it helped to burn off the excess energy.

The only bright spot of the whole day was that Angeal was finally awake. He had barely been coherent and fell into a more natural sleep after the doctors had finished examining him, but they seemed to think he would recover.

Zack had hurried to tell Sephiroth and Genesis the good news. They were both relieved. After everything they had revealed at his "celebratory" dinner, Zack could hardly blame them. He had learned more than he ever wanted to know about Soldier and the tests done on the three powerful Firsts that had brought the program to where it was. Sephiroth confirmed that they had believed Shinra behind the attack on Soldier. That was why Angeal had taken the mission in the first place.

Shinra was full of monsters. Zack had always believed that he was doing real good by joining Soldier. As he grew stronger, he would be able to protect the helpless and save lives. He thought that was what Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis did on a daily basis. Now he knew just how corrupt the company truly was. The stories Sephiroth and Genesis had told him about missions they have been assigned had given him nightmares. It was nothing like he had expected it to be.

In the end, he had taken the enhancement to First anyway. Despite it all, he believed they could do better. If they could find proof that Shinra was killing Soldiers, the entire force would defect. They could take their power to Wutai or Cosmo Canyon, one of the few remaining independent powers, and overthrow Shinra's hold on the world. The regular army would never be able to stand up to Soldier and Shinra would not be able to replace Soldier fast enough to mount a successful attack.

Sephiroth said they would cross that bridge when they reached it. Genesis had flat out called him a naïve optimist. They both demanded caution from Zack, pointing out that he would have to survive long enough for them to find proof of Shinra's guilt before anything could change. He had promised to watch himself.

He had even meant it, until he found himself walking the cadet training floor.

The blonde hair was like a beacon. Once Zack spotted it, he could not take his eyes off of it. The spikes appeared and vanished in a sea of cadets making their way through the halls. Every detail of that blonde asshole was burned into his brain and there was no doubt that he was looking at the back of the man responsible for so much death. Zack followed the bobbing blonde head, waiting until the crowd thinned out. The last thing he wanted was cadet casualties.

How had he managed to hide among the cadets? That amount of skill would be impossible to disguise, not to mention the mako eyes. It made no sense.

The blonde knew he was being followed, he had realized it quickly. Zack could see it in the way his fingers clenched and his shoulders tightened. He made no move to try and lose Zack, continuing down the hall past where the rest of the cadets were turning off to reach their barracks.

Once they were clear, Zack stopped and called out, "Hey, Blondie."

"Fine. Let's just get this over-" The cadet turned, his glare aimed at the middle of Zack's chest, "-with?"

Zack honestly was not sure who was more surprised. His enemy's eyes slowly climbed until they reached his face. The little cadet- and he was little… Zack wondered how he could have missed the height difference- gaped up at him, horrified. He quickly stepped to attention, thrusting his chest out and his chin up, "Sir! I'm sorry sir! You were not who I thought you were."

"Yeah, uh, you either." Zack moved closer to the cadet. The boy was much younger than the Soldier killer and several inches shorter. There was no hint of mako in his blue eyes, but his face was exactly the same.

"Is there something I can… do for you, First Class Fair, sir?" He asked, trying not to shift away from Zack's intense scrutiny.

"You know who I am?" Zack murmured, immediately suspicious again.

"Who doesn't know who you are? Sephiroth himself promoted you for valor." Hearing hushed awe from the voice that had told him he could keep his mentor a while longer made the hair on the back of Zack's neck stand up. The cadet blushed and looked down at his boots, "Sorry. We've just all been talking about it, sir. "

Zack glanced at the name stitched onto the cadet's uniform shirt, "That's alright, Strife is it?"

Strife. How fitting.

"Yes, sir, Cloud Strife." The cadet said, standing a little taller.

Cloud Strife? That was… less fitting.

Zack bit back a smile at Cloud's eagerness, "Listen, Cloud, you uh… got any family in the military? Maybe in Soldier?"

"Oh… I don't know." Cloud fidgeted uncomfortably, "My father worked for Shinra… but Ma didn't like to talk about him. They weren't… well acquainted when I was… uh born. That's part of why I joined up, I thought maybe someone would recognize me."

Zack silently let out a long string of curses. Cloud was looking up at him sidelong, trying to hide the hope that Zack knew his father. It was unsettling. The logical thought would be to assume that the stone cold bastard was this kid's father, but their faces were identical and voices too similar to be different people. Of course, this cadet was obviously not the one who had attacked Angeal either.

"I'll, uh, keep an eye out." Zack said, scratching the back of his neck anxiously, "From the back you looked like a guy I met once, but he couldn't be your dad."

Cloud nodded, trying to cover his disappointment, "Well, I hope you find whoever you were looking for."

"Thanks, Cloud. I'll see you around, I'm sure." Zack tossed him a wave, trying to look calmer than he felt. He needed to go find Sephiroth and Genesis so they could tell him he was losing his mind, "If I think of anybody who might be… you know… I'll send them down to have a word with you."

He smiled and ducked his head, "I appreciate that, sir. Trust me, I'm not getting my hopes up or anything. Goodbye."

Zack turned and rushed back the way he had come. He had to fight not to turn around and look when he felt Cloud's eyes watching him leave. Logic was telling him that the cadet could not be the enemy, but his instincts were all screaming for him to run.