Chapter Six - I'm not in Midgar anymore...


Karakura Town, World of the Living

"Ugh...w-what?" The voice of Zack Fair emanated lowly from his throat, his ears still ringing as he tried to blink away the dust made from a previous impact, and the blood that had dripped briefly over his eyelids. With nothing but his bare hands, Zack pushed his body, sore and cut in several places, up from the middle of the street, only to be greeted by the sight of ungodly abominable monsters.

"Oh...yeah, I remember now," Zack said in a resigned tone, remembering what actually struck him into the ground to begin with and had been maiming his body. Getting on both of his feet, Zack raised one hand out before the other, assuming a fighting stance as he would make his last stand, "well? What are you waiting for? C'MON!"

RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRR!

All dozen Hollows, having been impeded from their hunt, were attracted to the being that openly challenged them. Within an instant, they all lunged at once, aiming to maul and tear his body apart so they could feed as much as they could.


Sometime earlier...

Zack Fair woke up with a start. His body, promptly deposited upon a field of grass within a shaded park area, by a bright emerald light that had manifested out of nowhere, jolted his "sleeping" body awake. He felt himself sit up, as if something jolted him awake.

"W-Wait...this isn't the Lifestream," Zack spoke aloud, curious as he observed his surroundings with keen senses and a scent of unfamiliar life filled within the center of the highly populated city, "am I...in Midgar? No...I'm...somewhere else. What the Hell is going on?"

Standing to his feet, he blinked away any haze he originally had, before noticing this world was far different from his own. He could tell it wasn't anything unordinary, at first, as most of the horizon held suburban buildings that towered as high as skyscrapers, while the majority reached only apartment level. In the distance to Zack's right, he could see mountains and many trees, showing far more life than Midgar ever held.

That, and his body tingled with an unnatural energy coursing through his being. Raising his hands, he flexed, feeling as if he hadn't died at the hands of Shinra at all. In fact, he felt rejuvenated, and oddly empowered as if something in the air gave him strength...

Clink!

...his reverie halted when he noticed a Buster Sword, HIS Buster Sword sheathed upon his back. Now that he thought about it, he wore all of his gear, as if he never got a scratch.

"What the Hell did the Lifestream do to me? Am I on another planet, or is this a timeline I never been to?" Zack mused aloud, realizing that the it was early morning and no one was up about he could ask questions to.

But there, in the distance near the playground, he saw a weeping little boy in the distance.

Looking side to side, Zack realized no one was around to help, and he needed to get information from somebody. With a sigh, Zack jogged over to the boy, making sure he didn't come up suddenly, as to not frighten him with his unusual appearance. As he made his way to stand amidst the sand-filled playground, he bent his knees and rested his forearms on his legs, clearing his throat to get the boy's attention, "Hello there."

Blinking away the sadness, the tear-filled blue eyes of the brunette boy couldn't have been more than eight years old. Wearing nothing but a orange shirt and a pair of jeans, the boy curiously had a chain protruding from his chest. After overcoming his sadness, he spoke up, "H-Hello...mister..."

"My name is Zack. What's your name?" Zack said with a calm, polite tone, making sure to smile as he didn't want the boy to start crying again.

"M-My name is...I...I don't know actually," the boy sagged his head, beginning to sob once more, before Zack raised his hands in earnest plea.

"Now now, its okay. I just wanted to ask you some questions, but it seems you're lost. Did you get separated from your family?"

"I-I think so...I know where I live...but I was too scared to go alone, cause of the monsters..."

"Monsters?" Zack arched his brows, wondering what kind of peaceful town would have to worry about monsters for. Surely they were better equipped, given the scenery he seen, to protect their homes and families, right?

"Yeah...nobody can see them, but I can!" The boy nodded his head vigorously, his eyes wide with fear, but seemingly filled with a childlike fear.

Sighing with a chuckle, Zack assumed it was nothing but a child's imagination and delusions from being separated from his family. Reaching down, he picked the boy up without a second thought and placed him on his shoulders, saying with confirmation, "Well, then let me run for you, and you look out for those monsters, okay? Show me the way to your home, and maybe I can ask your parents a few questions about where I am..."

"You're in the park, mis-Zack..."

"I don't mean right here, I mean, what country? What timeline?"

"Are you a time traveler, mister?"

"I'm wondering that myself..."

"You look like those funny guys with black cloaks and swords..."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," The boy shook his head adamantly, pointing across the street towards a distant apartment complex, "my family lives there on the top floor. Be careful or the mons-"

"I know, I know," Zack waved off the boy's fears with a comically dry expression. But that soon changed into one of mischievious adventure, as he reared his legs back and a smile donned upon his face, "now, hang on tight! I'm going to go really fast..."

"Okay mis-TERRRRRRRRRR!" The boy's eyes widened with shock as one moment they were standing still...and the next...they were moving like the wind. Zack's body moved with unparalleled speed, despite holding a child over his head and shoulders and his Buster Sword sheated on his backside. The boy soon began cheering aloud, never having felt such excitement in his life.

Zack moved with grace and agility unparalleled by any olympic athlete, as he would be at one moment hurtling over fences to running straight across vertical inclines of buildings within allies, before somersaulting within the air over what little traffic there was in the middle of the morning.

With a skid, he finally stopped in front of the ten story apartment. The boy was giggling ontop of him, as his hair was blown up and gave him a disheveled appearance, but the warmth and excitement flowing through him calmed him down considerably and washed away his momentary sadness.

"THAT. WAS. AWESOME!"

"I know, right?!" Zack asked rhetorically, chuckling to himself as he felt his heart beating within his chest, but didn't feel the least worn from his jog. The fact that every step he took made his feet feel lighter was both refreshing and slightly unnerving.

"The door is open, so we can go up to the fifth floor, no problem," the boy spoke with an outstretched hand pointed to the entrance of his home.

"Alright!" Zack pumped his fist, before rushing through the doorway and lobby, hardly paying attention to the fact while not highly populated, no one gave a second glance about a tall man with black spikey hair with a giant sword on his back and a eight year old child on his shoulders.

"HOOORAAH!" Zack shouted as he rushed up the apartment stairs, causing the boy to bob his head up and down, feeling like a bobblehead, as the spirited young SOLDIER rushed upwards to the top floor. When finally reached, Zack, stopped dead in his tracks.

"That way!" The boy pointed to his right towards the middle door of the hallway. He was thrilled, anxious to see his family he had been lost from.

Zack, deciding to walk a casual pace, walked up to the door and knocked upon it. Patiently, he waited for a few seconds, before looking up at the boy, asking him, "You think anybody is home this time of day?"

"Its still morning, so my sis might be hanging around the house. Its a weekend after all, but my dad and mom might still be-"

C-CLICK!

Zack immediately re-focused his gaze to meet that of an attractive, seventeen year old raven-haired girl open the door. Her hair was disheveled, (mentally, Zack assumed his hairstyle wasn't uncommon here, then), and she wore a very tired, perplexed expression upon her face. Taking a good look at Zack, from head to toe, she placed a hand upon her sweats-covered right hip, while her left hand held the door handle, seemingly prepared to close it, "Uh...may I help you?"

"I-I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your weekend, but the thing is-"

"Listen, buddy, if you're that guy who keeps trying to get some, I got a red belt in Tae Kwon Do that will kick your ass into next Tuesday! If you're trying to sell something, beat it! I'm not interested in random guys waking me up on my day off-"

"Uhhhh," Zack's eyes widened at the hostile mannerism, realizing she must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed. She also was probably too cloud-headed to notice that he was holding onto the ankles of a young boy. That is...

"Sis! Big sis, its me!"

That voice alone caused the girl's eyes to widen, and her flushed expression to pale. As Zack bent his knees to allow the boy to wave to her fervently, with a priceless adoring expression on his face as he was reunited with one of the members of his family, she began to break.

The girl almost stumbled onto her backside, as if she seen a ghost, ironically as she whispered aloud, "N-N-No...this cannot be happening...you...Mikado? Is that really...you?"

"Taki!" the boy practically lunged off Zack's shoulders, tackling the girl, faceplanting his head into her expansive chest while hugging her tightly. After getting the wind back in her lungs from the impact, she knew it wasn't a dream, and practically smothered the little boy, knowing it was her brother.

"Oh my sweet little Mikado," the big sister practically wept, causing Zack to feel slightly awkward among this familial reunion.

As he began to turn away to leave them, Taki practically shouted out, "YOU! Don't you dare walk away! I have some questions for you...you...uh..."

As Zack ducked his head in, the ex-SOLDIER presented himself within the entrance of the apartment, smiling politely as he spoke in a level tone, "My name is Zack Fair. I'm new to this town, but I'm afraid I might be new to this world as well...if you could help answer a few of my questions, I'll be more than willing to answer yours..."

"Of course! Please, come in!" Taki got up, keeping an arm around the now dubbed Mikado while closing the door behind Zack while walking towards the main living room area. While it was an averate Mid-Western style apartment, as most of Karakura Town was modeled for, the place seemed clean, with only a few recent messes around the plush leather couch in front of a big screen TV. Taking a chair, Zack waved off Taki's imploration to give him something to eat or drink.

"So," Taki settled upon the couch with her arm around her brother, smiling brightly up at her while continuing to snuggle into her side. Her stare was a mixture of confusion, thankfulness, and suspicion as she eyed at Zack. While she glanced at the metalic shoulder pads, the military grade boots, she mostly averted her eyes towards the behemoth sword sheathed upon his back, "what's a young guy like you doing with something like that?"

"I'm a SOLDIER," Zack said with affirmation, then realized that Taki wouldn't buy what he said, as she gave him a arched brow of humored disbelief. Raising his hands up in emphasis, Zack re-stated, "a former SOLDIER. To be precise, where I come from, I was a...combat specialist, of sorts. This is the kind of weapon we're given, and once we perfect using it, we stop at nothing to obtain our objective."

"So then, Zack," Taki furrowed her brows, still trying to swallow all of what she was hearing down with some grian of proverbial salt, "explain to me...how you came across my little brother...since he was clearly dead for over a week."

This stopped Zack cold.

"D-Dead?" Mikado looked up with sudden donning, wondering if that was the reason why he was all alone, and why the monsters chased him.

In emphasis, an almost eery knowing gesture, Taki grasped the small steel chain protruding from her brother's chest, and spoke aloud in a bittersweet tone, "My brother died in a car accident the day I was taking lessons. My father was hospitalized, but only recieved minor injuries, whereas my brother wasn't so lucky. I never even got to see him because the condition his...body...was in," ruffling his hair, Taki sniffled as she smiled through tear-ridden eyes, "that is, until now..."

"I don't understand," Zack rubbed his right gloved hand over his face, trying to fathom what's going on, "if he's dead, why was I able to talk to him, or why is he here? Is he...a ghost?"

"A bodiless spirit," Taki spoke with intuitive knowledge, looking towards Zack, gesturing to him, "despite not having a chain upon your chest, I can tell just by looking at you. This knowing I have, that you're dead yourself, aren't you?"

"This doesn't make sense!" Zack stood to his feet, exclaiming aloud his predicament and why he was here, "I died in Midgar! My body was turned into a disembodied light that was absorbed into the Lifestream. I shouldn't even be here, let alone talking to a dead boy and his sister who can apparently see spirits!"

"Well, its not that uncommon around here," Taki spoke in a solemn tone, sighing as she waved her hand towards the door, "while there isn't many that can see spirits, this city thrives upon a large volume of ambient energy that causes the dead to be restless and wander the city. Given time...they become monsters..."

"Monsters?" Zack asked, remembering what Mikado had said about not being able to find his home, due to having to hide from monsters.

"I'm not sure if you know this or not, but people who wander too long will become corrupted. I don't know why, or how, but I've seen it happen, and its not a good idea to stick around when that starts to happen. They kill anything they believe is food, or threatens them. Sometimes they attack the living, for reasons I cannot fathom," Taki emphasized by pointing to herself, something that offended Zack for some reason or another.

"C-Can I see mom and dad?" Mikado asked, knocking Taki out of her serious tone, locking her softening gaze to her wide-eyed little brother, "I-I promise I'll...go...afterwards. I just want to see them one last time, okay?"

Barely able to hold her tears back, Taki wrapped her arms and enraptured her little brother in a tight hug, burying her tear-stained face on her deceased sibbling's hair, sighing within it in a muffled tone, "Alright...that's fine..."

"Now let me ask a few questions," Zack spoke aloud, knowing he had to move on after he felt satisfied that the boy was safe, "where am I? If you know I'm dead, and from what I've told you, not from around here, exactly what place is this city located in?"

"I hate to break this to you, but its probably in a place really far away from home," Taki sighed, saying it bluntly as she looked back at Zack with sympathetic eyes, "you're in a city called Karakura Town. Its located on the larger island of Japan, located upon the Pacific Ocean near the continent of Asia, which is one of the smallest countries within the world-"

"So I really am in a different world?" Zack spoke aloud, feeling as if the nagging feeling within his mind made sense. This place was filled with far too much life and normalcy to be anything remotely like Midgar. That means...he was separated from everything he cherished and everything he sacrificed for, "but...why? Why here of all places?!"

"I'm sorry, but that's the truth-"

VMMMMMMMMMM!

"!" Immediately, all three of them felt a sensation, alien to one, while familiar to the other two. It felt like a force exerted upon the air, distorting the vision of what they could see clearly, like static, and hummed in a ungodly way.

What followed after, caused Mikado to widen his eyes in panic...

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWRRRRR!

"Its the monsters! They're coming for me!" Mikado screamed, hiding behind the couch, even as Taki rushed to pick him up, to take him towards the door.

"No, you should stay here!" Zack implored, as he grasped the handle of his sword, unsheathing it with a slow and memorable motion, his body becoming alight with an unknown energy to himself as his gaze hardened as he focused on the closest energy signature, "I'll fight them off, and bait them away from here. I'd rather not let innocents get caught up in this..."'

"Are you insane?!" Taki shouted, huddled over Mikado, she picked him up into her arms as she stared at him wide eyes filled with incredulous disbelief, "you can't fight them! I don't care who you are or where you come from, there's no way some random guy who's got sword skills can take out a monster larger than a bus!"

"That's where you're wrong," Zack said with a smile, walking towards the door, he opened it and looked back once more, "for you see, I was made for this. And maybe...just maybe...this is the reason why I was sent here."

"Don't go, Zack!" Mikado shouted, his fear-filled eyes imploring his desire for his rescuer and newest friend to stay and not fight the monsters, "I don't want you to die too!"

"That's the thing where your sister is right about me, Mikado," Zack said with a sad, grim tone as he walked out into the hallway, noting the behemoth monsters scaling the apartment complex, "I'm...already dead!"


SHINK-CRASH!

With as swift slash of his Buster Sword, he blasted away the glass separating himself, from the monsters, before lunging off and dropping down towards the first of the dozens of creatures littering the streets, as they were all coming towards his direction.

SPLURCH!

"BURN!"

VRRRRROOOOAAAR!

With a decisive thrust into what looked like a plaster-carved mask onto an amphibian creature, he discharged a waft of fire energy into the fissure he made into the beast's skull, causing it to rupture and explode violently, sizzling the blood that flew into the air and caused the body of the entity to fall heavily to the ground.

VMMMMMMMMMM!

An unfamiliar impulse caused him to project his power, emanating a similar pressure in the air, as he shouted out to the lot of the Hollows to focus solely on him, "Come on! That's right! Come and get me!"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!

If the creatures weren't aiming to come after him earlier, they certainly got their attention to him now. As if united in a hive-mind objective, they all lunged off the buildings and other locations to attack him with their bestial and unusual powers.

At first, it came easy for Zack to fend them off.

SHINK-SPLUUUURCH!

With a deft, precise blow to another monster's skull, he created such a powerful fissure of force through the air, that the cleanly cut halves were blown back across the street, causing invisible shockwaves to form in their wake before they dissipated into ashes. And they kept coming. One after another.

SHINK-SHINK-SHINK!

Using his superhuman strength and dexterous abilities, he weaved in and out of the strikes the monsters haphazardly launched upon him, severing limbs, squewering masks, and cutting them to pieces one after another. It felt exhilerating to be sure, and even exciting, as he finally found something he detested in destroying wasn't human entirely.

"FIRA!"

BOOM!

WIth an outstretched hand, Zack summoned a familiar pool of energy within himself, and discharged a fireball from his left hand, blowing apart an ape-shaped creature before setting aflame several others.

As he noted a towering dinosaur-appearing Hollow smashing across the landscape, charging towards him, roaring in protest, Zack grasped his sword with both hands over his head, speaking to himself, "Let's see...if I still...got it!"

VRRRRRRWHOOOOSH!

With a mighty swing, a powerful discharge of Firaga alond with pressurized cutting force rammed directly into the towering monster, causing it to roar in pain before it was completely severed in half, and fading into ashes from the flames that enveloped it.

As one creature fell to his hand after another, he noted the number didn't dwindle, but rather increase. While he could keep them at bay with his swordplay with his own use of magic, he knew someone might be put at risk eventually.

Even as a bat-shaped creature launched a series of webbed balls from the air, he somersaulted forward and jumped across the street, halting as a car narrowly stops and veers off the road, as the invisible forces waged a war around them. After seeing it crash, he could see that the people inside were dazed.

And to his dismay, one of them was a young girl, pushing her way out of the car and risked herself being in the path of another primate-shaped monster. It charged towards her, thinking it to be prey, as the pressure Zack emanated distorted its keen senses and attacked blindly.

Rushing to place himself between the passenger, he knew he wouldn't be able to defend properly. None-the-less...

WHAM!

"Gak!" Even as he pushed the girl back into the car, his body was smashed by the giant fist, causing him to lose his breath as he was sent through a few trees, tumbling head over heels before resting upon another street, "that...was dumb..."

To affirm this, another creature that resembled a scorpion, slashed out towards his injured frame, slashing his shoulder with its scythe shaped appendage before rushing to impale him with its obvious poision tipped tail.

"HRAH!" With a well-timed swing of his blade, he severed the tale before it would make contact, and then brought the full weight of the sword upon the monster's skull, smashing it and cutting it deftly in half from the force utilized.

"Who's ne-KRRRRT?!"

CRUNCH!

What felt like a flail-embodied appendage strike his head, he saw stars as a bloody gash opened over his head, sending him sprawling and smashing into a distant street corner.


And that brings him all back to the present...

"Oh...yeah...I remember that," Zack said that as he pulled himself out of the crater, too weak to pull his Buster Sword out of the crater that had wedged it in between a busted pipe, but strong enough to raise his fists, "what are you waiting for?! C'MON!"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRR!

The enraged creatures lunged at him, baring fangs, claws, fists, and appendages to crush him while mauling him all at once. While it seemed to be over for Zack, as his vision blurred before him and his enemies...

"Getsuga Tensho!"

SHHEEEEEOOOOOOW-BOOM!

A brilliant blue light enveloped the overall wave of Hollows, cutting them into deft pieces before burning them alive, causing them to almost comically stand still as they were deftly destroyed within a single blow.

Zack caught sight of a young man in the distance. He wore black garments, similar to what a samurai would wear. He bore a red band over his right shoulder, as some form of ornament of sorts, and had a number of 'X' shaped bands over his hands and a 'X' shaped collar around his neck. With brilliant orange hair, fair skin, piercing hazel eyes, and a large butcher blade in hand, still simmering from the fierce blaze of energy that had been launched but moments ago, the man caught Zack's eyes with a bewildered look.

"Hey! You okay over there?!" The orange haired, sword-toting teen asked the bleeding and battered Zack.

"Y-Yeah. Never been better," Zack laughed, but that was all he was able to do. He felt himself fall, and fall on his face he did, hearing a crunch, even as he knew he would feel the throbbing pain later, but his consciousness faded.

But still, he couldn't help but hear the young man's questions as he his mind sifted into unconsciousness, "Hey! What's the matter with you?! Hey! I'm talking to..."

To be continued...!


A/N: Hey guys...been a really long while. But I'm back! I got back from work today and decided to blaze through this, and I wrote this chapter in just three or four hours. While this is based upon my original chapter, I hoped to give Zack a bit more credit and give Ichigo the spotlight in this chapter first

I'm planning to submit a chapter a week and that way, there is going to be a nice rythym. While we're shifting focus away from Cloud at the moment, we will be back to Cloud after the next chapter. We want our hero Zack to be acclamated and meet the gang you all know and love, and probably get some answers what he is and why he's here!

So stay tuned...!

Next time: Chapter 7 - You're not from around here, are you?