"What lovely eyes."
Zack swiveled his crystalline, sky blue eyes over to the complimenting woman who was bandaging his arm. It was the passenger from the car, the young woman who was accosted by the Shina.
The woman, who Zack thought looked very much like Scarlet, the Head of the Weapons Department of Shina, was busy tending to his wounds. She was all curves, her face soft and delicate with blond hair curling down to her shoulders. He failed to suppress his inner flirt.
"Not as beautiful as yours," he said. The woman blushed all the way to her ears.
"But mine don't sparkle. You've got me beat," she said.
"Ah, it's just the mako," Zack said lazily.
"So you are SOLDIER." Zack ripped his eyes away from her and gritted his teeth. He didn't want to think about it. Hearing the word SOLDIER no longer filled him with pride. Only the sting of betrayal and the bitter taste of regret came to him now. The woman saw Zack's expression change into one of disgust and quickly changed the subject.
"I'm Krista, by the way. I hope you don't mind me stitching you up a bit. You were injured quite badly."
"It's fine. Where am I?" he asked as he scanned the room.
Zack had blacked out immediately after shooting the guards. It seemed his strength did have its limits. Everything was fuzzy and hazy afterwards, like static in between radio stations. He couldn't remember how or why, but he had woken up in frilly, pink bed that sat in a tiny pink bedroom. Everything was pink, actually. The curtains, the furniture, even the rug on the floor was pink. It made him think of Aerith.
"Kalm. It's not far from Midgar. This is my daughter's room."
"She must really like pink," Zack thought out loud.
"Yeah, it's her favorite," said Krista giggling softly.
"How did I get here?"
"My mom and I picked you up. It's the least we could do after you saved us from those men."
"What were you doing out there anyway?" asked Zack.
"The Shinra are a wasteful lot. They're always trying to say that they believe in mako energy and trying to conserve the planet's natural resources but they throw out so much stuff that can still be used. You know the saying, 'One man's trash is another mans treasure'. A lot of the things we have in town was scavenged from the Shinra. So when we saw the soldiers pass by earlier on in the day we thought they'd leave behind some good stuff. But…all they left behind this time was bodies."
Zack took his eyes away from her again. He focused his attention on the plush lavender bear that sat at the end of the bed. It stared soullessly back at him with its brown button eyes. Soulless like all of the men that lay dead in the field.
"Why did you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"Shoot those Shinra men? They're on your side, aren't they? I mean you are SOLDIER right?" Zack scrunched his eyes shut. He searched for the words to say, but he couldn't grasp them. He wanted to tell her any old story because dodging these questions seemed unavoidable. But he owed her an explanation, he supposed.
"I stopped being SOLDIER a long time ago," Zack said bitterly. "I couldn't do it anymore. Shinra Inc. has a lot of secrets. Knowing too much made me a liability. But you can't just quit Shinra. And they don't take kindly to those who try to run out on them."
Krista's eyes grew round. "So they sent all of those soldiers just to capture you?"
"Well, obviously one hundred guys wouldn't have been challenging enough. I'm kind of flattered they thought so highly of me. But I doubt they were trying to capture me. You don't go to capture someone with three hundred men." Krista looked at Zack pensively for a moment and then nodded her head in agreement.
"Well whatever happened, it doesn't matter. Most of the people of Kalm can't stand the Shinra. And if it wasn't for you, me and my mother would have just been part of the body count. We owe you are lives, Mister--?"
"Zack. And don't worry about it. It was nothing. Anyway, I could never respect any man who would hit a lady," said Zack, cracking a crafty grin.
"Oh my mom's alright," said Krista, patching up another of Zack's many bullet wounds. "She's tougher than she looks. She's one of those whose bite is worse than their bark." Krista took another roll of bandage and started on setting Zack's arm.
"That's good to hear. But hey listen--," Zack shifted himself and tried to get into sitting position. But he didn't make very far. He lifted himself maybe a few inches off of the bedspread before pain rocketed through every inch of his body. He collapsed back onto the fluffy pink pillow.
"Ow," he managed to say.
"No, no! You shouldn't be moving yet! You've got some really bad injuries, Zack!" said Krista, who was furiously trying to reset Zack's broken arm.
"But…I can't stay here. I've got to get to Midgar," he gasped. "I--I left something important there."
"You're not going anywhere. You've got to get yourself some rest first!"
Zack shook his head vehemently. "I have to go now."
"Zack, please--"
"No, you don't understand. I've been gone WAY too long. I need to go to Midgar."
"Alright, alright. Here me out," said Krista, changing tactics. "I can see that I won't be able to convince you. You need to get to Midgar. But getting into the city is going to be tough. The Shinra locked all of the outer gates. They're trying to catch some terrorists that keep blowing up their mako reactors, can you believe that? I think they're called AVALANCHE or something like that…but anyway, you're not going to get in so easy."
Zack took this all in. He'd heard of AVALANCHE before. He grinned at the thought of Shinra running around in a panic after such a small resistance group.
"I still have to go. I'll find a way," Zack persisted.
"Ok well let me finish," said Krista hurriedly. "There's a guy. He lives a few doors down from here. He's a merchant. He trades with some of the shops in Sector 5 and Wall Market. He can get you into Midgar."
It wasn't a bad idea, Zack thought. It'd be easier to sneak his way into Midgar than to bash his way in. Which was what he would have done if he was in top condition. It was more fun that way. He wanted to get to Midgar as soon as possible but he could barely move right now. He didn't want to admit it, he needed a break.
"When's he going?" asked Zack eagerly.
"Well he goes every two weeks, but I think he's due for another trip next week, Tuesday. You can take the time from here to then to recover a bit. Then you'll be able to handle yourself when you get to Midgar."
Zack pondered this and then said, "Alright, deal. But I'm not staying in this room. There's no way I can recover surrounded in pink."
The next week was the longest week of Zack's life. He was used to being on the go twenty-four/ seven. Whether it was doing missions or working out doing squats, there was always something for him to do. So sitting in a bed for a week had been pain-stakingly difficult. He had all of this energy bursting out at the seems but he couldn't do a thing with it. Lying in bed was like watching paint dry.
Even so, Krista had been right. After the week had passed, he felt exponentially better. Krista and her mother were astonished that almost all of Zack's wounds had closed up nicely and he was walking around flawlessly. There wasn't even a limp in his step, despite how heavily damaged his legs had been. The only proof that Zack had even been injured at all was the cast and sling that still held his arm. But even that was healing quickly. Zack couldn't tell the two women that his SOLDIER conditioning was the culprit for his rapid healing, so he lied and told them it was his good genes instead.
Zack left with the merchant early Tuesday morning. Krista had given him some of her husbands old clothes to wear. Besides the fact that his SOLDIER uniform was riddled with holes, he didn't want anyone to notice him when he slipped into Midgar. He lay in the back of the merchants wagon, hidden amongst the boxes, dressed in snug fitting jeans, some old black work boots and a green cable sweater.
"What lame clothes," said Zack in exasperation.
"What was that?" the man craned his neck over into the back of the wagon to get a better look at Zack. The man sat up in the front of the old fashioned wagon, directing the enormous chocobo that was pulling it with the reins in his hands. He was pleasant looking enough. He had a long grey beard and a head of tangled grey hair that was stuffed under a worn straw hat.
"Nothing old man! Just talking to myself. How much longer to Midgar?"
"Another five minutes maybe. You got business in Midgar boy?"
"Yeah. Unfinished business," Zack answered from the back.
"Not the kind of business that can wait until the Shinra unlocks the gates? Not the kind that doesn't have you sneaking into the city in the back of a wagon?"
"Afraid not," chuckled Zack.
The man stroked his beard. "Well, that sounds like it can only be one of two things. Your business either involves money…or a woman. And I'm banking on the latter."
Zack felt himself blush involuntarily. "How'd you guess, old man? Am I that transparent?"
The old man laughed and slapped his knee. The chocobo pulling the wagon chirped along with him. "It's all in your attitude, kid. I may be an old timer, but I haven't forgotten the days of my youth. I know how ya feel! You see, money and women are two of the things that make this world go 'round. And boy let me tell you, I love 'em both. But money--money will never love you back the way a woman can. And that's the kind of love that makes men do crazy things. Like sneaking into a locked down city, for instance."
A smile creeped up onto Zack's lips. The guy was right. He exhaled and peered up into the blue sky that hovered above. Not a cloud in sight.
"It's been five years. Five years since I've seen her."
"And it was the money that was keeping you away, wasn't it?" said the merchant, barking out another laugh.
"Ah duty calls. But I'm done with that now."
"Good for you, son! But I'm gonna need you to keep that SOLDIER mentality for just a little bit longer."
Zack heard the change in the man's voice. He tensed up and hunched down into the shadows of the boxes. "Why what's going on?"
"We're at the Sector 7 gate now. And there's a mess of Shinra soldiers waiting for us."
"What do they want?" Zack itched for his buster sword. He suddenly felt uncomfortable without it.
"It's an inspection point. They usually don't bother because I come through so often…but there's twice as many guards than there usually is."
"How many?" said Zack, running through battle tactics in his head.
"I'd say about seven. If you're gonna jump ship, boy you'd better do it now."
Zack smirked mischievously. Seven guards? Nothing he couldn't handle.
"No way, old man. I owe those guys some pay back. Hold on to your hat, this is gonna be fun."