A/N: SO sorry about the delay! I had a rough time trying to figure out how to make this chapter flow. I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted to happen and I couldn't get them all laid out in a particular order. I had to cut out some scenes and rewrite other parts to make it fit better. Certainly isn't the same chapter I originally started out with, that's for sure.

Anyhow, enjoy!

Chapter 15

Zack was a little more than surprised to see both Zen and Kunsel hanging around the lounge area on the SOLDIER floor of the Shin-Ra headquarters. The three of them haven't been on a mission together since they became members of SOLDIER and, because of that, they rarely ran into each other all at the same time, even in the lounge. Stroke of luck, or perhaps something big is on the horizon?

"You both are on the same mission today?" Zack wonders curiously as he approaches his two best friends.

"We sure are," responds Zen, rubbing her nose with a finger. "It's been a while since the three of us have gone on a mission together, huh?"

"Considering there's not a lot of SOLDIER members to begin with, it was only a matter of time before we took on missions together again," Kunsel points out. "We don't exactly outnumber infantrymen or anything."

"That's true," agrees Zack, scratching the back of his head. "Wonder if we'll be seeing Angeal or Genesis today."

"Well, well, if it isn't the newbies we've heard so much about."

Zack, Zen, and Kunsel all turn around to see a couple of fellow Third Class SOLDIER members standing behind them. One of the two had very dark brown hair combed back while the other donned a mussed blonde mess on his head. The brunette approaches them rather curtly while the blonde follows slightly behind.

"Over six months' worth of missions and we're still considered newbies?" scoffs Zen, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she raises an eyebrow incredulously.

"A woman in SOLDIER?" exclaims the brunette, perturbed by the discovery. "Is Shin-Ra getting that desperate?"

"What's that?" growls Zen, feeling very tempted to reach for Promise.

Zack moves in front of the young woman in a bid to keep her at bay.

"Well now, you guys are Third Class just like us, aren't you?" he remarks back with a grin, hoping to alleviate the growing tension.

"Don't make us out to be the same as you three," snorts the brunette. "Essai and I have been here for over a year now. We'll be promoted to Second Class before you know it, so don't even think you'll get anywhere in the short time you've been here."

"Now, now, there's no sense getting all wound up for no reason," spoke up Kunsel. "We're all on the same team, after all."

"With an attitude like that, you'll definitely get nowhere," the brunette continues smugly. "Looks like I was worried for nothing."

With that, he left for the briefing room, leaving his blonde associate behind. Once gone, Essai turns to look at the three sheepishly.

"Please excuse Sebastian for his attitude," he pleads. "He's a really great guy once you get to know him."

"I'd rather have Promise's blade become more familiar with his head," Zen responds curtly, her arms still crossed in irritation.

"There's always a group of infantrymen promoted to SOLDIER status every year," articulates Essai. "Sebastian just gets nervous because of all the 'competition.' He's just a really proud person and it would shatter him if someone got promoted to Second Class in a shorter amount of time than him."

"Wait, you mean all those Third Class SOLDIER members we were initiated with were promoted at the same time as us?" exclaims Zack with wide eyes.

"Of course," answers Essai matter-of-factly. "SOLDIER wouldn't be the size it is today if Shin-Ra only promoted a handful of infantrymen every year."

"That does make sense, now that I think about it," says Kunsel, bringing a hand up to his chin thoughtfully. "The Mako showering serves to enhance a human's abilities anyhow so as long as Shin-Ra can find physically capable candidates, SOLDIER will always have a steady stream of new members coming in."

Zen notices Zack seemed to be depressed by the whole revelation. Squatting on the ground and hugging his legs solemnly, the young man was meekly drawing small circles on the ground with his finger.

"Aww, are you sad you're not special anymore, Porcupine?" she banters with a smile.

Zack's head hangs a little lower in response. "…Maybe…"

"You certainly are a strange one," Essai laughs in response.

Walking along in the mountains of the Wutai continent, all Third Class SOLDIER members and accompanying infantrymen were on edge as they could be ambushed anywhere at anytime. Couple that with the rugged rocky terrain and restricted pathways and it's no wonder why they haven't started panicking yet.

Zack, on the other hand, was still bummed out by what Essai had told him and the others earlier.

"C'mon, Porcupine. Stay alert," warns Zen, walking ahead of the two boys.

A solemn moan was the only response she got from the young man.

"Zack, don't be so depressed," sighs Kunsel, nudging his helmet slightly upward to get a better view of his friend. "Regardless of how many newbies get admitted into SOLDIER, the fact that you have to be selected for promotion is still something to be proud of at least."

"Kunsel's right," adds Zen with a smile. "Remember what Angeal said at our initiation? Follow your dreams and protect your SOLDIER honor."

"He says that every chance he gets," remarks Kunsel with a smirk.

"Hey, don't make fun of Angeal," retorts Zack, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

"Good, you're back to normal," Zen grins happily, turning back to face her brethren. "Whoops!"

She suddenly loses her footing and falls on her back. Before Zack could reach out to help her up, a gunshot rang out and a sizable hole appears in the cliff wall where Zen once stood.

"Shit!" Kunsel cries out as he pushes Zack down.

Immediately, the infantrymen returned fire with their submachine guns as the SOLDIER members scrambled behind boulders to shield themselves from the firestorm. They watched as Wutai soldiers emerged from the rocky outcrops along the opposite side of the path they were on. A couple of soldiers come down on the three, but Zen quickly leaps to her feet and cuts them down with Promise.

"AAUUUGGHHH!"

Zack turns to see another Wutai soldier stab his gunspear deep into Sebastian's shoulder. The brunette struggles to fight back, but could not counterattack as the Wutai soldier pinned him squarely against the rock wall behind him. In the blink of an eye the Wutai soldier fires the gun portion of his weapon, splattering more of Sebastian's blood against the rocks.

"Sebastian!" Essai cries out as he rushes to reach his friend.

Gritting her teeth, Zen knocks the attacking Wutai soldier back with the butt of her sword and flips the blade around to slash the man's chest. Once he was disposed of, she doubles back to hold off another Wutai soldier aiming to finish off Sebastian.

Soon enough, Essai arrives at Sebastian's side and quickly heaves the young man's limp body over his shoulder and heads back to a safer area. As he did so, Zack and Zen both covered their escape.

Just then, a Wutai captain from above knocks the two Third Class SOLDIER members to the ground. He swiftly kicks Zack in the chest, knocking him out cold. He then aims to stab Zen in the back when she speedily rolls out of the way. Getting up, she manages to parry the captain's gunspear away with her horse cutter. With a twist of the barrel, the captain tries to bring the blade of the gunspear came down on her head. Zen just barely manages to dodge out of the way, receiving a small cut above her right eye as she leaped back.

As blood began trickling down her face Zen was left with no choice but to close her right eye, handicapping her depth perception greatly. Seeing his chance, the Wutai captain lands a kick to her chest, which she immediately blocks with Promise's handle. Using that as a platform, the captain connects his other leg with her head with a roundhouse kick, sending the young woman flying a good distance into the rocky ground.

Feeling victorious, the Wutai captain rushes to deliver the final blow with his gunspear. As he aims the barrel of the weapon at her uncovered head, he pauses his finger on the trigger when he got a good look at Zen's face.

"A woman?"

Those were to be his last words as Kunsel comes up behind him and spears his sword through the man's chest. Zen's eye widen in surprise as she watches the captain slump down to the ground, blood trickling out of his fatal wound.

Kunsel reaches out a hand to Zen with a smirk on his helmed face. "Consider us even."

Zen lets out a half laugh as she grabs Kunsel's hand with her own and gets lifted to her feet. At that moment, they hear the chopping of helicopter blades as the redheaded Turk Rodney fires the vehicle's guns at the remaining Wutai soldiers.

Three hours after the Wutai ambush, Zack awoke to find himself and the others heading back to Midgar via a military cargo plane. The cargo hold of the plane was filled with SOLDIER members and infantrymen alike, all bandaged up in one way or another. A number were lying in stretcher-like cots for major wounds and injuries, him included.

Zack tries to get up, but the pain from the chest injury he received from the Wutai captain forces him back down on the cot he was on. He could hear Zen's voice not far from him, talking to someone whose voice he didn't recognize.

"Oh wow, you're a girl like me!" He could hear Zen exclaim.

"Mmm."

"Man, I was starting to feel like I was the only member of the Shin-Ra army that didn't have a penis. Glad to see someone else knows the monthly pain in the ass like I do."

"Uh…"

"Oh, sorry. Did I make you feel uncomfortable? You don't talk very much, do you?"

"Third Class Zen, would you please cease your chattering?"

That last voice Zack instantly recognized as the almighty First Class SOLDIER member, Sephiroth. Turning to his left, he watches as the silver-haired man approaches Zen, who was sitting with a Shin-Ra soldier still wearing a helmet.

"Sorry, sir. Just trying to lighten the mood," chuckles Zen. A white strip of cloth was wrapped around her forehead to contain the cut above her eye. No doubt that'll leave quite a scar she'll be proud of.

"That sure explains why I feel lightheaded," jests Sephiroth with a smirk.

"Ah ha, nice one, sir," responds Zen with a grin. She turns and notices Zack was conscious. "Oh, look. Porcupine finally woke up!"

"About time," sighs Kunsel, walking up to the both of them with his helmet under his arm. "You two are like trouble-attracting magnets, I swear."

"Hey, that's Zen's job," banters Zack.

"What can I say? I just have that effect on people," chuckles Zen, interlocking her fingers behind her head.

"In that case, I'll be staying as far away from you as possible," adds Sephiroth jokingly.

"Say, where were you when the battle went down?" wonders Zack, managing himself to sit up on his cot.

"A Wutai soldier had summoned a Vajradhara Asura so I had my hands full with that beast," explains Sephiroth, crossing his arms. "They truly know how to use their environment to their advantage, those Wutanese." He then began to look a little uncomfortable, conversing with a group of Third Class SOLDIER members. "Well, I should be heading back to the cockpit."

"See ya, Seph!" Zen waves eagerly at the man.

"Let's not make him more uncomfortable than he needs to be," suggests Kunsel, forcing the young woman's head down playfully with a hand.

"Well, look at you," speaks up Zack, looking at the brunette. "Nothing but minor scrapes and bruises. Is our little Kunsel growing up before our very eyes?"

"Heck yeah," exclaims Zen, pushing Kunsel's hand aside. "I mean, you really saved my butt back there."

"I-it was nothing," stutters Kunsel, his fair colored face flushed red. "I mean, I haven't forgotten what you did for me two years ago, Zen."

"Kunsel, have you forgotten our oath already?" asserts Zen, bringing her hand up into a fist. "All for one and one for all, remember? We look out for each other because we want to. Don't feel you have to repay everything we do for you."

"Not only that, you've gotten a lot stronger now," adds Zack. "It's about time you stop selling yourself short and start thinking of yourself as on the same level as Zen and me. Because you are, regardless of what you think."

Kunsel scratches the side of his head with contemplation. "I know."

"Oh, whatever happened to Essai and Sebastian?" pops Zack curiously. "Did they make it out alive?"

When he didn't get a response from either Zen or Kunsel, Zack knew something was up. He gives them a look that says "tell me now, or I'll figure it out one way or another."

After a few more minutes of silence, one of them finally speaks up.

"Sebastian… lost a lot of blood," began Kunsel. "A lot. He needed a transfusion quick."

Zack's eyes widen with concern. "What happened? Is he…"

"We… tested everyone who was able to give blood…" Kunsel continues.

Zen began crossing her arms and looking rather irritated as she focuses her eyes in another direction away from Zack's gaze, mainly towards Kunsel.

"And the only match to Sebastian's blood…" Kunsel says very hesitantly, knowing he was well within Zen's striking range. "was… Zen."

The young woman began grumbling annoyingly as she turns her eyes to the ground.

Zack was in a state of utter shock. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could prepare him for what could be the most hilarious turn of irony he has ever had the pleasure of being involved in.

"Are… you kidding me?" he gasps. He tries very hard to not start snickering, but it couldn't be helped. "Seriously?"

"Oh, shut up, Porcupine," retorts Zen, rolling her eyes.

"Does Sebastian know?" continues Zack.

"Uh…" drones Kunsel, turning his eyes away. "No. He was unconscious during the whole thing."

It was just too much. Zack couldn't help but start laughing. "Oh, man! Oh, this is great! I can't wait to see how he's going to react to this. This is pure gold!"

"Porcupine…" growls Zen as she tightens her fists angrily.

"You should've seen it," Kunsel adds as he smiles nervously. "It took two other Third Classes and me to hold Zen down in order to draw her blood. She was really adamant about not giving it to Sebastian."

"Gee, I wonder why," Zen drolls sarcastically.

"Ahem!"

The three of them turn to see Essai standing meekly with his helmet in his hands. Some of his blonde hair splattered with specks of blood was over his eyes as he sought to find the words he wanted to say.

"Sorry to interrupt," he apologies sincerely. "But… I just wanted to say…" He turns to Zen, who was looking slightly calmer. "Thank you. For saving Sebastian's life."

"Just keep it on the down low and we'll call it even," responds the young woman.

"Oh, but I'm bad at keeping secrets from Sebastian," admits the blonde bashfully. "Especially when I know he'll want to know why he's still alive."

Zen sighs and began pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

"Zen, sooner or later, you're going to have to come to a truce with Sebastian," says Zack with a smile. "We're all fighting on the same team here. You can't avoid him forever."

"I can try," Zen pouts angrily.

"Please, Zen," begs Essai, gazing at her innocently through Mako eyes.

The young woman was taken aback by the puppy eyes. She had only gotten to know Essai for a few days and already he was growing on her. She certainly didn't have any problems with the blonde, but it was his best bud whom she really had trouble trying to get along with. She likes Essai as a friend all right, but certainly not to the extent that she would do anything for him. Especially this.

Sighing exasperatedly, Zen caves in to the young man's demands.

"Okay," she admits. "You guys have to break the news to him, though. Then, I'll start trying to get along with him."

"It's a deal," agrees Kunsel.

"This…" began Zack. "Should be good."

A/N: Sebastian and Essai don't have official concept art so I'm making up their looks for the sake of this fanfiction. Hope you guys aren't too confuzzled with the brunette invasion. (No, don't worry. There will not be a Squall insert in this story. No matter how much I want to. *sweatdrop* )