(A/N) Sorry for the thousandth time. I had to work on "A Bit of Bad Luck" for a little while to feel less guilty about that but, now that I've updated that one twice, I'm free to work on this. Good thing too because this chapter brings the story out the lull it fell into.
I couldn't believe how much my arms ached. Honestly, the training wasn't that difficult and Zack didn't force me to push too far past my limits. The soreness of my limbs was my own fault. Whenever he'd told me to stop I'd kept at it. It was just so strange, like I'd done the exercises before. I couldn't exactly remember but I had to guess that they were something ShinRa had us do during training. That would explain it. Otherwise it would have to be some crazy reincarnation thing. And I had to doubt it was anything like that. Either way, I would get to thinking about things like that and lose track of time. Zack had to step in and stop me before I pulled something. I hadn't even noticed the growing pain until he did, then it all just hit me like a rock. I'd flopped over onto my back and just lay still until it became absolutely necessary to move. Of course I'd accidentally complained and been unable to stop Zack from picking me up and carrying me to my room. I'd felt so tired on the trip there, slept for six hours according to the clock, but now the muscle twinges were keeping me awake. It was impossible to get back to sleep, but it also felt like it'd be impossible to get up.
A part of me knew I'd have to try. I just didn't want to risk waking anyone up by doing so. Before I'd been too tired to notice but Zack was in the bed next to me! I was afraid that if I moved I'd wake him up! Of course, I might have to soon. He had his arms around me, couldn't tell if he'd meant to do it or if it'd ended up like this in the middle of the night but this was the current issue. Not that it was a huge problem. The warmth helped the pain a little. It still wasn't enough but it was something at least.
It was my plan to wait until everyone else was awake and just fake being asleep for as long as I could. Seemed like a good idea. And it was going well until I heard an odd scratching at the door. I was all set to ignore it when Zack released me and turned over. So, with my excuse gone, I slowly worked on getting out of bed. Something that turned out to be as difficult as I thought it would be.
The hardest part was trying to stay quiet. It was so tempting to groan but I trapped it in my throat. I couldn't wake Zack up, I didn't know what would happen if I did. This was so strange. It was obvious that Zack wasn't going to hurt me but I was afraid. This was all still so new to me. It was a wonder that I didn't react more like myself when I'd woken up, causing an uproar I mean, and I may have if I weren't so spent. I definitely wasn't expecting to wake up in his arms, you'd figure that would be cause for alarm, and it was. I just lacked the energy to act.
The scratching sound came again, it had to be Orion. I took a few steps toward the door and stopped. What if it wasn't? I glanced at the window just in case. It wasn't likely that anyone was there but I still needed to check. Zack said the disguises would help with hiding us. That should've meant that I didn't need to worry about the two with silver hair, I just got the feeling that they were still watching. There was the strangest sensation in the back of my head. It wasn't quite like the usual nagging. I couldn't explain it. Perhaps it was just the pain of my limbs? Who knew…? I was probably just tired.
Quickly deciding that I was being silly, I made my way to the door and opened it. Luckily I'd guessed right and the small chocobo stood in front of me. His eyes told me that it was urgent. Great. Now I had to go down stairs and outside. No, no, no. Now I was just being selfish. Orion was just coming to me so he could relieve himself without getting in trouble, like he should. And I was being a grump. It wasn't fun, not that I thought it would be, my mind was a mess. Everything felt jumbled and when I tried to focus it felt like there was a physical block preventing me from doing so. No, maybe not a block. It was almost like there was a weight in my head. A magnet?
I shook my head before stepping out into the hall. What did any of that matter? Trying to figure out exactly what was in my head wasn't helping anything. It was only wasting my energy; which was something I felt I would need if I wanted to make it down the stairs without hurting myself. My legs were complaining with every step. I kept my eyes to the floor, carefully watching my feet, to make sure I didn't trip. There was a sound behind me and Orion darted under my feet.
I felt myself start to fall forward. This was bad, I was gonna fall down the stairs! I closed my eyes but nothing happened. Somebody grabbed my arm and pulled me to their chest.
"You okay?" I heard them ask. I didn't even need to look to know it was Zack. That meant I'd failed at sneaking out and woken him up.
"I'm fine," I muttered into his shirt. I hadn't actually fallen so…
"You don't sound okay," He patted my back lightly so as to not agitate anything. And as much as I appreciated the gesture, I couldn't enjoy it.
"Too tired," I grumbled.
"Well I told you to stop. You pushed yourself too far."
"I didn't notice…" I said while stepping away from him. Orion still had urgent business after all. Taking the smell into account, it was better to go outside than clean up the mess.
"Whoa, whoa, wait," Zack grabbed my arm, "You probably shouldn't. You don't have your wig on."
"Hmm?" I'd remembered the disguises from the day before. I suppose Zack had taken off the brown wig before putting me to bed, the details were blurry but that had to be it. Yet I'd forgotten until my blonde bangs swept in front of my eyes. Zack was right. I couldn't risk going out and having someone unfriendly recognize me. Although… I'd already run around outside the day before as a blonde…
No. No, no, no. Zack was right. If I was going to think like that then why bother with the disguise at all. Might as well make use of it and hope it works. And hope that I wouldn't have to hide for much longer. What if I really did have to live the rest of my life this way? Never able to go home, was mother worried? I hadn't gotten to tell her anything. And it'd been a while since I'd last sent her any sort of message. What did she think? Or did she think much of it at all? I had left without telling her. I'd like to think she was concerned. Especially if this guy, whoever he was, had shown up looking for me.
Oh no… What if he had? What if he'd hurt her? And I had no way of knowing! Oh no, this wasn't good! I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. If she was hurt it'd be all my fault!
I looked around for Zack and found that I'd been left alone on the steps. He must've gone to let Orion out since I didn't hear the chatter anymore. Feeling the need to follow him, I went back to the room as quickly as I could and became a brunette before returning to the stairs. Going down was more difficult than I'd thought. Probably because I'd forgotten about the soreness until that point. Just moving was bad enough but going down the stairs was much worse. It felt like something in my leg was tearing. Geez. Judging by the stiffness of my arms, lifting anything was going to be impossible. Why did I do this to myself?
My whole body was pins and needles when a gloved hand came to rest on my shoulder; causing an embarrassing noise to escape me.
"What're you doing up so early?" Judging by the tone, the voice was that of an older man. Cid was his name, right? Yeah… Good thing there weren't too many people here. It was always so awkward when I called another cadet by the wrong name. This would've been no different. Or maybe worse. I'unno. The point was it would've been bad and I was happy it didn't happen. Not that I'd answered him… whoops.
"Couldn't sleep," I said quickly. My mind was a storm, as usual, but my body wasn't ready to speak in full sentences. I'd need some food in order to get out of this slump. I could function without if I got over ten hours or so but before that? Forget it. I was dead on my feet.
"You sound tired. Sure you shouldn't go back and try?"
"Nah…" I sighed. What would be the point in that? It would really only be a waste of time. And, after joining the army, I didn't really like to waste the day. Of course I had to notice that Cid was behaving strangely. He had a bit of an anxious look. Weird.
He left when a loud noise came from the direction of the kitchen. Sounded like someone had dropped something. And I coulda sworn I heard Yuffie shout and Tifa silence her. What was everyone doing up so early? I looked toward the door in confusion when I heard Zack come back with the chocobo. He looked oblivious. So was asking him even worth it? I decided it was.
"What's going on?"
"Huh?" He asked, ignoring the bird as it walked over his foot.
"What're they all doing in the kitchen?" I pointed behind me.
He stepped closer to the sliding door and listened, "I haven't the foggiest," He shrugged.
I narrowed my eyes. If he was lying he'd gotten good at it. It was suspicious but his expression was sincere. So I guess he really didn't know. "Whatever," I slumped my shoulders, "Is there anything to eat?" My stomach made a loud complaint following the question. I started toward the kitchen when he stopped me.
"Nope, I don't think they've gotten around to stocking this place with food yet. Why don't we go and see if some breakfast place is open?" That was even more suspicious and yet he still looked sincere.
I held my breath, trying to think of something to say. Some way to test whether or not this was an act. But I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't focus on any one topic for very long. My mind was everywhere! So I exhaled and waved my hand, as though I were pushing the topic aside, "Fine." Normally not knowing what the others were doing would bug the crap out of me but, at this point, it seemed insignificant. What was the worst thing they could be doing in there anyway? They were probably just trying to organize the place a bit and dropped something. That didn't explain the anxious behavior though… Ugh… whatever. I didn't care. Food was my main motivation right now.
Zack nodded and approached the front door. He grabbed a sword, opened the door, and looked out before signaling me to follow. I couldn't help but notice he didn't have his helmet on. He was wearing the rest of the disguise but left his head uncovered. The mask that covered the lower half of his face hung loosely around his neck but I think he was more or less hoping that no one would be all too observant at this hour.
We walked in silence, the only noise being our footsteps on the gravel path. Good thing too. I wasn't up for small talk. Not until I knew I would be getting food soon. And by soon I meant soon. We needed to get wherever we were going, order whatever, and be in the middle of waiting for it to come before I would be able to hold a conversation. A decent one anyway. And the last thing I needed right now was for Zack to think I was angry or something so… Food, coffee, anything that would wake me up would be great. Wait. I didn't like coffee. Urgh. Get it together. Get it together.
The first few places we checked weren't open and caused me to build up a bit of frustration. So I really kept silent for fear of lashing out at Zack. It wasn't his fault. It was the hunger combined with the weird sensation in my head that felt as though it was turning into a splitting headache. What was this? Why was it happening? Should I tell Zack? No. I didn't want to come across as whiney. And there was the possibility that he might overreact. That wouldn't be good for the headache. Best keep it to myself. But he did tell me to do the opposite, right? No. No… he said don't be whiney. Okay. No whining. Got it.
"Here's a place!" Zack said, slapping a hand to my back. I grit my teeth but held in the groan. We were in public now. I wasn't gonna allow myself to make some weird noise like last time.
Almost as soon as it was mentioned, I began to smell the food inside the shop. Couldn't be sure how I stopped myself from drooling. The only thing that mattered was that I did. Maybe it was because I was too busy trying to figure out what kind of food it was based on smell. I could recognize it… sort of. And then it was mixed with a bunch of aromas I'd never encountered before.
A look inside explained it. The overhead menu was comprised of food from all over it seemed. They had things I didn't know how to pronounce and then that'd be listed next to something like pancakes. I was so hungry anything looked good. Hopefully Zack could afford all of the food in the place. I could've easily piled everything into a burrito and eaten it.
"So!" He began, "What would you like?"
"Surprise me…" I mumbled. I meant it when I'd said anything would do.
"Really? You sure?"
"Yeah, get whatever."
"Okay, two orders of whatever with a side of surprise." He said, jokingly. The look on his face when the server nodded was so funny it made me smile. I would've laughed but… well I kinda laughed. Half a laugh. Zack just shrugged and took a seat on one of the stools in front of the counter. "I'm up for just about anything I guess."
Ah, so he did feel the same way I did. He was just better at appearing to be alive in the morning. Impressive. How did he do it? How did anyone do it? It must've been something so simple I was overlooking it. That or I just didn't feel like doing it. Could've been either. Could've been both. I still didn't really care enough. I just sat next to him. He put his hand on mine with that goofy grin on his face; all I could do was shake my head. Zack never failed to make me happy. And if he did I couldn't think of it right now.
No, at the moment I found myself staring at that scar. Had I already asked him about that? And, more importantly, did he give me a straight answer? Probably not. It went along with how his whole appearance had changed shortly after the first time I'd seen him. He'd even gone up a class! How did that work? I hadn't heard anything about it. Not that they kept cadets up to date on everything. But a promotion like that was usually big. That was typically in those news letters the company would mail everyone… Come to think of it, I hadn't received anything from them in a while. And those things were at the very least weekly. I hadn't seen any vehicles from the company either. Only that helicopter back at the Gold Saucer. The Gold Saucer that was located near the absent prison. Everywhere I'd gone had some significant changes about it. Not that I'd done much travelling before. But there were some things people just knew about. And now we were in Wutai and I hadn't heard anything about any battles. No excess of Wutai Troopers, no one from the ShinRa army, and there certainly were never any sounds of gunfire. Not even from a distance. So what exactly was going on here?
"Whatcha thinking about?" Zack asked while twisting up a discarded straw wrapper.
"A lot of things," I answered absently, "But it's nothing." Not like he'd explain anything anyway. He'd probably say something along the lines of 'that's weird, I never noticed' or 'well things change.' And then I'd get indignant because these people thought I was simple and then it'd just be awkward. It wasn't worth it to ruin things with questions that wouldn't be answered.
"You aren't depressing yourself I hope."
"No, not really." Though now that he had me thinking about it- No. I didn't want to do that. It was just so hard not to get depressed when thinking about the guy and the goons that worked for him. Since when did I get involved in anything like that? It was like there had been some lapse in time. Like I'd blacked out for months and done all of these stupid things to get myself in trouble.
Gaia! Was that it? Did I black out and do something I shouldn't have? I did inexplicably wake up in that wasteland!
I jumped slightly when Zack put a hand on my shoulder, "You alright? You're kind of pale."
"What did I do?" I asked. The thought of blacking out scared me. And if that was what happened… would I do it again? Did I hurt people?
"What do you mean?" Zack furrowed his eyebrows.
"Why was I in that desert when you found me?"
"I don't know. You didn't say."
Well yeah, because he knocked me out shortly after he found me. After that I had no idea what was talked about. That might've been why he did it. But wait. How could he have known that I fall asleep so easily with that trick? Perhaps I was over thinking it. Or was I just now thinking clearly? And did I realize how dumb I sounded? This was ridiculous.
"What're you talking about?" Zack laughed, "You're acting all nervous."
"Because I feel like I'm missing something."
"If you are it's nothing big," He said while glancing at the eavesdropping server, "I would've told you if you were."
"Would you?" My eyes narrowed. These people had no problem keeping secrets.
"I wouldn't keep something like that from you. So what's going on? Why're you acting like this?"
I didn't know what to say. Or whether or not I should say anything at all. I did feel something like a gap. But I also felt like I was acting like a lunatic. I didn't know what was going on; it felt like a mood swing of some sort. From the hunger perhaps? Or maybe it was the oncoming headache from that pulling sensation in the back of my mind… I shook my head, "It's nothing."
He looked like he wanted to argue but didn't, "If you say so," He sighed.
"I'm sorry. I just have no idea what I'm thinking right now." The headache seared and I put a hand to my head. I looked up at him in time for his face to flush of any color. That was strange. What was wrong with him now? He brushed it off before I could even ask.
"Don't worry about it. I just thought your eyes- Now I'm seeing things." He scratched the back of his head and looked at the counter. Had my eyes really done something that freaky? I knew they were a light blue but so were his. The presence of mako made the eyes of a SOLDIER practically glow so what could mine have done to make Zack act like that?
Before anything could get weirder the food came. I'd half expected it to be something with tentacles but it was just pancakes. Two plate-sized pancakes. If I weren't so hungry I'd say that might've been too much food but that wasn't the case. It was only making me worry because things like pancakes felt as though they expanded in the stomach or something. But I couldn't really remember if they burned off quickly like Wutain food. Meh, it shouldn't really be a problem as long as I ate all of it and didn't stop when I felt full. Although I didn't want to make myself sick either.
Why was I wasting time thinking about it and not just eating anyhow? I could see that Zack had already dumped syrup on his and was devouring them. I quickly followed his example and was grateful for it. Within minutes I could feel the gears begin turning. They didn't taste any different than regular pancakes but my mind was telling me they were the best things I'd ever eaten.
"So are you feeling better?" Zack asked when I was about halfway done. I noted that his food was gone but didn't give it much thought.
"I'm alright." I answered after taking a drink from the glass in front of me. A part of me wondered when it'd gotten there and another part of me was still too one-track to care. It was true that I felt I should be a little cautious but not about something Zack didn't appear to be worried about. He had a glass in front of him too. Though it didn't stop me from taking a look around while I was thinking about it.
"Don't worry, Cloud. I'm keeping watch."
"Huh?"
"I said don't worry," He reached for my head but stopped. Ah, so the wig was preventing him from ruffling my hair. I didn't know whether that was good or bad.
"I'm trying not to," I said while continuing to look, "Believe me."
"Well you can't be trying too hard. You're still glancing around everywhere." He began looking where I was looking. "Do you know how easy it is to pick silver haired guys out of a crowd? Especially Loz? The guy doesn't exactly excel in the methods of stealth."
"What about Yazoo?"
"Yazoo's easy enough to deal with once you've spotted him," Zack shrugged.
"That wasn't my experience…"
"Cloud," He sighed, "You were unarmed and he exploited that." What he was saying made sense and yet I felt like he was lying. Or maybe he was just trying to avoid telling me what I already knew, I was weak. Who knew if that was still the case? I'd trained a bit and found that I could wield a sword fairly easily. But when you pit a sword against a gun… Well you'd figure a gun would come out on top.
"Is there a trick to Yazoo that I should know?" Yazoo being the only one I was concerned with. I'd already figured Loz out. He was easy to outsmart and he seemed to be fairly sympathetic from what I remembered. I dunno it just felt like he wouldn't be so quick to hurt me.
"Hmm…" He pondered for a moment, "Yazoo relies heavily on his speed and agility in order to evade close range attacks, he then strikes from a distance, albeit he's a skilled marksman and does not easily miss." He drummed his fingers, "He fights well with Loz, whose melee attacks make it difficult for the opponent to dodge themselves. So I would say avoid a fight with the two of them at once. Yazoo alone can be tricky but it's best to try and stay close."
Just in case, "What about Loz?"
"Loz…" He appeared to be analyzing the two's fighting styles right then and there, "Loz has a tendency to treat things like a game. He'll toy with his opponent and make it look like they can win. He's dangerous when he gets serious, this of course only happening with prompting. But he's incredibly strong, even when compared to a member of SOLDIER. His primary weapon allows him to release jolts of electricity, usually into the body of his opponent. You've already experienced his speed." Whoa… That was a lot to take in. Maybe I'd underestimated them. I'd underestimated Loz at least.
But wait, "Have you fought these guys before?" How did he know so much? Were they some notorious group that I'd gotten myself mixed up with?
"Once. But I've heard stories from others who've had run-ins with them."
"Really," Something about that didn't feel right. On another note, it did sound like they were a renowned group that I'd somehow managed to anger. How did I do that? I really wanted to know. It was bugging me that no one would tell me. Did anyone know? I felt like these were things I'd already troubled myself with but how could I ignore this bizarre circumstance?
Zack had told me that it wasn't necessarily something I did but more that the guy in charge was insane. A madman with a fixation on me. It'd made sense then and it still explained it I guess. I just thought I would've had to do something that was news worthy. Something that would tell him that I existed. Otherwise, how did he know about me well enough to target me? It wouldn't be the first time I'd managed to make an instantaneous impression on someone. That was the way it usually went with me. But this was making me wonder just how many people I'd made an impression on without knowing it. The thought made my skin crawl. There'd always been people who made me uneasy, ever since that man when I was a kid. There just seemed to be something about me that got me unwanted attention.
"It's nothing the others can't handle," He nodded as he thought, "And I'll step in if the man himself shows up."
"Have you fought this mysterious leader before?" Whoever the guy was.
"I have. And I don't advise trying to take him on yourself," He waited for me to start eating before continuing, "He's the leader for a reason. And only a few have ever matched him in strength."
"Were you one of the few?"
The look on his face wasn't what I was hoping for. I knew before he even answered, "No," He then took on a look of confidence, "But that was years ago. I've got to be more than a match for him now!"
"You think he hasn't improved as well?" Honestly, what would he be doing all this time?
"Hmm…" I could at least say it looked as though he'd thought of that before. That was good. "I still have to try. Can't run forever, right?"
"Right," Could this really work? I know I'd just said I didn't want to hide forever but I didn't want Zack or anyone else to get hurt either.
"I figure we've got some time while they search elsewhere," He shrugged, "Plus we're in disguise. That gives the others and I time to figure out a plan."
"A plan that includes me just running and hiding?" Not that that would be a bad idea. I could see his reasoning; it'd be stupid for me to be out in the open during a fight. That didn't stop me from feeling a bit useless and in the position of a damsel or something. I understood though, I was weak and I'd most likely be in the way.
"I'm not sure what your part will be, but don't hide," He answered, "Hiding often boxes you in. If they found you you'd have nowhere else to go."
I guess that was true. Never would've thought of that before it was too late. I didn't exactly know what I was supposed to do if I couldn't hide though. I couldn't just keep running. I'd eventually slow down and be caught anyway. Wow. Was there a way to get through this or were we ultimately gonna lose? That's what it was beginning to feel like.
"It'll be alright," He said before paying for the food, "Try not to think about it too much. Things will work out, they always do."
They did? That hadn't really been my experience. Things tended to bite me whenever they could and, lately, there'd been plenty of opportunities. Zack seemed confident that we'd be fine and maybe he was right. What was I saying? Of course he was right! He hadn't steered us wrong yet. Sure there had been close calls but that was because of me. Falling outta the airlock wasn't part of his plan.
"Let's just try to have fun today," He smiled, "Who knows how long we'll have to relax. Take advantage of it while we can."
"I don't know, Zack. What if-"
"Nah! Don't worry about it," He put a finger to my lips, "You don't smile when you worry."
My expression went blank. He obviously wanted me to laugh or something but it was just so… Well… If Zack said it'd be fine then it'd be fine I guess. It did take a lot of energy to worry about all of the hypothetical things crossing my mind. I found it difficult to look on the bright side at the moment. And I'd been described as a pessimist before. Though never due to a situation as serious as this. It was usually a joke or something. Now it was life or death! How did they expect me to respond? Just not think about it? Let them worry about it? Well if they wanted me to do that then they shouldn't have told me in the first place. Of course it would've become obvious that something was going on when I got attacked out on the street shortly after. And then I would've had to find out from Yazoo and Loz and there'd be an even bigger trust issue, okay. I could see why they had to tell me now. But, for whatever reason, they only told me what I absolutely had to know. As if this man's identity would hurt me somehow. Wouldn't it be better for me to just know and have the time to get past it?
"Just tell me one thing?" I asked. Zack looked confused, perhaps trying to figure out what I was going to say before I said it, "How am I supposed to avoid this guy if I don't know what he looks like?" Yet another question I wasn't sure if I'd asked before, or even how many times I'd asked it if I had.
"Well that's why I'm going to stick by you. So I can tell you if need be."
He got up to leave but I was hesitant to follow. That didn't sound like a good idea to me. I couldn't exactly figure out why. Something about it just felt like someone should've said something against it. There were others involved in his decision making, why didn't anyone say something against this? Then again, I couldn't put my finger on why it was a bad idea. Maybe they couldn't either. And if there was no reason to tell me…
My eyebrows furrowed, I wanted to say more but I knew how it would go. There was nothing I could do. No matter what I tried they'd all dodge my questions. I was expected to tell them everything, not keep secrets. And yet I didn't get the same courtesy from them. I'd told them this and how unfair it was, they still refused to budge. So I'd just have settle for now. None of them were doing it to hurt me, I knew that much. It was the opposite in fact. They all thought they were protecting me by keeping me in the dark. I would just have to keep telling myself that.
I looked toward the door to see that Zack was waiting for me. There was no look of malice about him, no triumph in deceit, he only looked concerned. Remembering how I still didn't want to get into an argument with anyone, I got up and walked out. He obviously didn't want to get into anything today either. I had to wonder why today was turning out to be so important to everyone. As far as I knew it was just a normal day. Well. As normal as things usually got recently.
"Is there anywhere you wanted to go? Anything you wanted to do?"
"I dunno. I don't know the area," I shrugged.
"That's right," He stopped and thought, "I've only ever been here on missions."
Yeah, and it probably wasn't a good idea to visit any war sites. If there was a war going on at least. Going there to see would be the easiest way to find out, but I had to figure Zack was smarter than that. Then again, he didn't need to be too much smarter. I was only a cadet. I'd never been out to Wutai so I had no clue where the battles were held.
"There's no harm in winging it."
Winging it? Did he seriously want to just wander around in a strange land? What if we stumbled on something? Some secret base of operations for anti-ShinRa movements. Sounded too risky to me, we probably should just go back to the house. "I don't think that's a good idea, let's just go."
"Oh c'mon Cloud, it'll be fine," He offered me his hand, "We won't go too far."
It still didn't sound good. I was getting a bad feeling. My mind was screaming at me to demand to go back but he looked like he really wanted to be out and about. And I did the other day, though I didn't have that feeling the other day. It wouldn't be fair of me to make Zack do something based on a feeling, right? So I ignored it and took his hand. After all, what could go wrong? He was a SOLDIER. Not many people could mess with him and come out of it clean. Except maybe another SOLDIER. But they were on the same team, why would one attack another?
We followed a small path out into the forest. Surprisingly, there weren't any monsters on the path. Before we'd gone into the forest Zack had mentioned monsters as though he'd been expecting it. I looked to him questioningly but he just shrugged.
"Maybe they cleared them out," He said while continuing on.
Once we got out of the woods there was a trail leading up into the mountains. My concerns were forgotten when we encountered a few monsters. Nothing serious, just some strange insects and Razor Weeds. Zack made quick work of it, slicing up the insects. It was almost frightening how easily he dealt with them. The Razor Weeds moved more quickly and were lower to the ground. He got rid of two of them by casting Fira while the third scrambled towards me. I stepped back.
"What do I do?" I asked, Zack just stood by.
"I don't think it'll put up much of a fight. There's no need to kill it, just scare it away."
Scare it away? How was I supposed to do that? I looked around for a potential weapon but couldn't even find a branch. Zack folded his arms. Fine, I could do this by myself. I wanted to prove I could be useful, right? And this was just one Razor Weed. One! I jumped at it and it looked like it would run but then it started making a high-pitched noise and skittering around. I looked back over at Zack who was mouthing the words 'kick it'. Kick it? Wouldn't that hurt it? It eventually didn't matter, the Razor Weed jumped up onto my foot and tried to crawl up my leg. Instinctively, I flung it and sent it tumbling down the trail.
I quickly caught up to Zack who was holding in laughter, "Nice one."
"I don't have much experience with this," I frowned, "And you have a weapon."
"I know, I know," He patted me on the back, "Let's keep going."
"Hold on," I looked up the mountain trail anticipating even stronger fiends.
"You still sore?"
"No, not really." I didn't know exactly when that had stopped but I could hardly feel the aches that'd been so prominent this morning. "Um… Didn't you say there were Rapps up there?"
"I'll handle the more powerful enemies."
Well that was obvious. I mean, what would he have expected me to do otherwise? It was what could happen if we got outnumbered that worried me. Could he really be sure he could protect us both during each encounter? What if he couldn't? We were far away from the village, no one would know if we got hurt. At least not for a few hours and by then it might be too late! That feeling I'd had all day was getting worse, we should go back. At the very least get closer to town. I tried to say something but Zack turned to continue up the mountain. I bit my bottom lip and contemplated going back on my own. Although I knew the only thing that would do was cause a lot of trouble. I could potentially get yelled at by a lot of people, not to mention it would hurt Zack's feelings if I ditched him.
I heard his footsteps stop before he turned back to see me standing there. Maybe I was just being silly. No, I was being silly. This feeling was all in my head. I shook it off and followed him up the trail, "Your head is everywhere today," He smiled.
"I know," I nodded, "But I'll try to focus."
"It's fine, considering how much I space out…" He stopped briefly to effortlessly knock out more monsters. And it continued on like that for the rest of the trip up to the top. We'd progress a few yards, get jumped by monsters, Zack would beat them in a matter of seconds, and then we'd move on while chatting about something.
He glanced back, "We made pretty good time."
"What's up here?" I asked. My legs were beginning to feel sore again. Just going up was bad enough but there were figures carved into the mountainside that we had to hike around; needless to say, it made things a little more complicated.
"Nothing really," Zack shrugged.
He helped me up over the last ledge and we both stood overlooking the statues as well as what appeared to be all of Wutai. The sun was low above the horizon and illuminated the village with an otherworldly glow. It was a breathtaking view. Of course the thought made me nervous when I thought of just how high up we were. I didn't want to think about the possibility of falling but hey, there it was. I was so negative…
"Looks like there are finally some people meandering around down there," He pointed down toward the village. "Wonder if they even notice us up here."
"Probably not," I sighed, "We're not doing anything to draw attention to ourselves."
After looking down for too long, I sat before I could start feeling dizzy. Zack sat next to me in a more relaxed manner. A moment passed and he casually put his arm around my shoulder. I looked up at him but didn't complain. It made me feel more secure to think that he'd be holding onto me in case I slipped. I leaned in and began to think that maybe it was more than that. I'd kissed him before, if that counted, and thought that'd established so sort of relationship. Something that was beyond friends. But then I turned around and pretty much treated him like a friend didn't I? That wasn't exactly what I'd wanted. I did want it to be more but I just didn't know what to do. I'd been through this dozens of times before, he was making it so I was in control. I'd never been in control of anything before. How was I supposed to know how to initiate anything? Just do it? I couldn't. So we'd been at a stand still, with the both of us waiting to make a move. How much longer would it go on? It was true that I was afraid of some things that generally occurred later, was that why I couldn't bring myself to do anything past holding hands? I had to be making this more difficult than it needed to be.
I looked back at Zack, intending to start a conversation, and stopped. He was looking at me the way he usually did before someone came storming into the room. I wasn't sure what my expression said to him but I had to guess it wasn't one that discouraged him. I didn't feel like I was hiding my nervousness and confusion. My heart was racing and my face must've been pink.
The next thing I knew his lips were on mine. And it was… gentle. A soft touch that made my stomach flutter. My head was spinning by the time he pulled away. I felt so light, it was a good thing he had a hold of me. It felt like I was steaming; if I was pink before I was beet red now! But I wasn't angry or upset like I usually was when someone tried this. It felt nice, warm even, and left a tingling feeling on my lips. I almost wanted to feel it again.
Perhaps he knew it, he looked like he was more than willing to lean in for another when his phone sounded. He quickly checked it and got up, helping me to my feet as well. "Let's get going."
"To where?" I didn't feel ready to leave yet. My limbs were like jelly.
"Nowhere specific," He shrugged. Fair enough, it was probably a bad idea to stay up here anyway.
The trip down was a blur. I had to guess there were monsters, they didn't attack though. Maybe Zack scared them off on the trip up? The haze was preventing me from caring, I had to focus most of my energy on staying upright and not tumbling down the mountainside. When we reached the forest that feeling came back, only this time the pull felt stronger. There were still no monsters and it was quiet. Very quiet. There weren't even any birds or other animals that I could hear. I looked to see that Zack was on edge too. His eyes were warily looking on either side of the path. The difference between us in this situation was that he appeared to reason it away shortly after, I didn't. But I told myself to trust him. His intuition musta been more fine tuned than mine. I had to do something however, so I moved closer to Zack and tried my best to ignore everything. Closing my eyes even seemed like it'd help but it wasn't a good idea. Stupid nagging feeling. Why couldn't I-
"Get down!"
Huh? What just happened? Zack just pushed me all of the sudden.
I lost my footing and ended up in the brush before I heard something collide with metal. Was there some sort of monster attacking? I opened my eyes and saw two human forms, one had to be Zack but they were moving too quickly for me to make out any clear details. It all happened so quickly. I could only hear the ring from each impact. There was a flash accompanying each movement of the weapons, making things even more difficult to see. I tried to get up but only succeeding in falling further into the bush and having a sharp twig jab me in the back. I couldn't stop myself from crying out and, unfortunately, heard the sounds of fighting stop. Someone grabbed me and helped me up before I opened my eyes.
My eyebrows furrowed. I wasn't expecting to see the General. He must've shown up to help.
But wait… how could he have known? We were halfway across the planet and I didn't hear Zack contact anybody. Not only that, but he seemed off. He was smirking in a way that made me feel uneasy. Then again, the one time I saw the man he was at orientation. I couldn't really make much of a distinction from that, still. The look was making me feel less ridiculous for hiding from this guy in the halls.
"Cloud no!" Zack shouted, "Run away!"
"What?"
"It's him, Cloud! He's the guy!"
What guy? What was he- The guy? The General was the one who had the inexplicable fixation? The reason we were running, the one who sent Yazoo and Loz after me, that guy? My jaw dropped and suddenly I was reminded of that weird dream. The older me had told me, be wary of the General, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I glanced down; the man still had a hold of my wrist. Shit!
"Your warning is coming a bit late, Zackary," He pulled me closer and slipped the wig off my head. "Did you really think this old trick would work?" I felt his fingers running through my hair; an action that Zack frequented but now it felt wrong. It made me wake up and try to get away, the attempt only made him laugh.
That got to Zack more than it got to me, he ran toward us with an angry look, "Let him go you son of a bitch!"
I felt my feet leave the ground momentarily before I was thrown back down with his boot rested firmly on my back. It was a little confusing as to why he was doing that but I figured it out once Zack attacked. In order to block the General had to put more of his weight on the foot that was standing on me. It hurt but I knew it could get worse. And as the fight went on it steadily did. He always put his weight on his right, the side I was under, even when he didn't have to. It got to a point where I was afraid my spine was going to break. It took one last strike from Zack and I had to scream to get them to stop in time.
Instantly, Zack stopped and gave me a shocked yet apologetic look. The General took advantage of the confusion and slugged him in the jaw. I clawed at the dirt when Zack staggered backward. There was blood at the corner of his mouth and it was my fault for acting so dumbfounded. He grit his teeth and came back for what looked like another onslaught. The General prepared to block but this time, instead of attacking, Zack used his own blade to push Masamune aside and tackled. The force sent the both of them flying backward. I scrambled away once I was free and made a break for it. I stopped not three steps after and looked back. They were still fighting each other, seeming to have forgotten about the swords, the punches looked like they'd send a normal person flying though. It looked like Zack was actually winning until I saw him get pinned. It didn't seem necessary but the General continued to hit him. It was horrifying.
Feeling frantic, I looked around while trying to think of something I could do to help. He told me to run… but he was in trouble. I had to help him! I didn't want him to die!
I started throwing anything and everything I could find; mostly rocks and sticks. My heart sank when hardly any hit him, or if they did he didn't show it. It wasn't until I threw a particularly large stone that he looked in my direction. My heart was pounding and my stomach was in knots. Crazy or not, throwing rocks at a superior officer had to have consequences. And I was hoping it'd be handled by someone else because the look in his eyes was one of murderous intent. I was caught in it, almost felt like I couldn't breathe. The man looked as though he was going to come after me until Zack repaid him one punch in the jaw.
That caused them to go back to wrestling. I exhaled and jumped through the brush, searching for something. Also keeping an eye on the fight, I gasped when the General wrapped his hand around Zack's neck. Not good! I ripped a branch off the nearest tree and ran back. The next thing I knew the branch was splintering over the General's head.
For whatever reason I expected it to take him down and yet I wasn't surprised when all it did was stun him for mere seconds. It was enough for Zack to push him away but still, I wanted to be more useful than that. Of course I guess I couldn't expect to be more useful than a SOLDIER operative. Not without becoming one myself anyway. Hearing the sound of metal being dragged through dirt I decided that if nothing else I could get out of the way.
Zack stepped in front of me as the General reached out at nothing. Then Masamune, wherever it had landed, was back in his hand. I didn't know he could do that! Since when could he do that?
"Zack," I whispered loudly, "Maybe we should both get outta here…"
"I'm working on it," He answered.
"You should probably stop working so hard," The older man sighed, "Because ultimately one of you is coming with me, and one of you will die."
He looked and sounded so confident I was believing it. I swallowed a lump in my throat and stepped further away. If I could be anywhere else in the world right now- But I had no choice but to stay right here and hope Zack could take the General. As impossible as that sounded. How could I not see this coming? With the way people described him and how powerful they were, I'd thought they were on the same level as the General but I'd never thought that it was the General! What did I do to make him angry? I hadn't ever spoken a word to him!
The metallic sounds had started again and though I was looking in the direction of the fight I wasn't paying attention. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. This all made no sense. I knew I'd probably said that before but now it made even less sense! Was it the same thing that got everyone else so angry with me? Maybe I was so weak that it infuriated or frustrated him to the point of wanting to kill me! But why? He hated me. I couldn't believe it. My hero hated me!
I blinked when there came a bunch of flashing lights. Things were moving too fast again. A puff of dust rose up in front of me and everything came to a halt. Waving a hand to try and clear the air, I looked down at my feet. My heart jumped up into my throat and my eyes felt hot; Zack was in a bloody heap on the ground.
"Zack!" I all but fell down and shook him. "Zack no! Get up!" I tried to pull him up but he was too heavy, all I was doing was getting blood all over my hands. "Zack! We've got to get out of here! Zack!"
"That's enough of that," I felt a gloved hand on my shoulder.
"Is he alive?" I didn't care who I was talking to at the time, I just wanted to know. My eyes darkened when I heard the other laugh again.
"I would guess not. I was intending to kill him after all," His grip went back to my wrist. I struggled but couldn't help but be yanked to my feet. He tried to walk. I dug my heels into the dirt and tried to root myself to the spot. It wasn't working as well as I'd hoped but it did slow him down. It also left a very obvious trail, or at least giving whoever came through here next an idea of what happened. "Cloud, don't be difficult."
"Then let me go!" Sweet Shiva I was yelling at the General… Not that he cared. He simply lifted me off the ground and out of the rut I'd dug. I was turned around a brought closer to his body, probably to try and stop me from fighting. "No!" It wouldn't work! I jabbed my elbow into his gut and stomped on his foot. He released me with a groan, obviously not expecting that. Granted, it wasn't a tactic I would normally use but this was a special case.
I ran back toward Zack. He had to be alive! He couldn't be dead, this was wrong! M-Maybe this was all a nightmare. I passed out back on top of the mountain and my mind was putting random figures, like the General, into a crazy dream! Aw, who was I kidding? This all felt way too real to be a dream… "Ow!" What was th- I didn't think my eyes could be wider. I'd bumped into the General! But he was… And I… How did he do that? His expression was terrifying. I backed away when he grew a large black wing from his right shoulder. I'd definitely never heard he could do that! Oh man, it only reminded me and made me wish Kozue was there! He would've beaten sense into the General and then Zack never would've gotten hurt! Wait! He wasn't blocking the path anymore! I could go for help!
I tried to run the opposite direction but he grabbed me before I could take a step. And this time fighting wasn't working at all. All I could do was kick as he stepped into an opening in the trees. There was a jolt that made me close my eyes and then the ground was gone. "No! Zack!"
(A/N) Oh no! Cloud's been kidnapped! But I think most, if not all, of you were expecting this. I wasn't going to put an Author's Note after this chapter but I felt I should warn you that the next chapter is going to be another one with short segments from multiple people. I know, I know. But there are things that need to be covered before Cloud continues.