.

9. Trust the Wolf

.

They had to find shelter. Now he knew they were still in the Nibel mountains, Zack could begin to construct a plan. Escape was all very well, but what now? He hadn't thought much beyond getting them out of the facility. Making plans was useless until they knew what they were going to face on the outside – a battalion of SOLDIERs, maybe, or a vampire city, or an arid wasteland where Cloud would be burned to a crisp the moment the sun caught them in the open.

What they were actually facing was biting winds, snow and unstable terrain. In a stroke of complete luck, it was night-time. It was a double-edged sword, however: Cloud was safe from the sun at night, but it made navigating virtually impossible. Zack didn't know the area nearly well enough to travel through it at night. He wished Cloud was awake enough to advise him on where to go. Cloud had been born in these mountains; he knew how to survive out here. Zack was from the tropics, and while his SOLDIER survival training was useful, in extreme conditions nothing beat the voice of an expert.

Go north,Alpha said on cue.

You're going to be my expert?

Wolves lived here many lifetimes, Alpha said cryptically. Go north.

Zack turned his face into the wind. Even his altered vision was blind. Superior nose and ears were worthless in weather like this. His thick coat protected him for the most part, but his paws and undercarriage were numb. He blinked snowflakes out of his eyes and snorted them from his nostrils.

Cloud clung on regardless. He still hadn't woken up. He was naked in a blizzard, but he was a vampire. It wasn't like he needed to retain body heat anymore. Zack couldn't be glad about that, but at least it meant his friend wouldn't freeze to death.

What's north? he asked Alpha.

Safe place.

How do you know? Have you been here before? It's not a Shinra outpost, is it? Or a sympathetic village? Are wolves common in these mountains, or will they think it's unusual to see one? What am I saying? Of course it'd be unusual to see a naked guy riding a gigantic wolf through the wilderness. All this cold must be freezing my brain –

Humans talk too much. Go north!

Zack couldn't smile, but his ears twitched. Who knew wolves could sound grumpy? All right, all right, north it is. I'm trusting you to know what you're talking about.

Trust good. Alpha trusting Zack with wolf body right now.

This is your body? Zack had thought this was his own body twisted into a different shape. That was bizarre enough. Now he was supposed to accept he was actually in a body part-exchange with the sentient wolf in his head?

All wolf bodies are Alpha's.

What?

Zack shivered. He had accepted Alpha for the time being, though he still didn't fully understand who or what he was, or the nature of their relationship. Zack now knew he wasn't a werewolf. Equally clear was the fact that Alpha had been around, inside Zack, for far longer than he had realised. All things considered, Zack thought he was doing a pretty good job of rolling with the punches. He supposed he should be getting used to it by now – first Gongaga and his parents, then SOLDIER, then that awful business with Genesis and Angeal, not to mention Sephiroth vamping out and infecting Cloud, and their stint in Hojo's lab – but this was still pushing it. His disbelief was suspended so far it was a mere speck in the sky.

If I wasn't walking on four legs right now, I'd think I was going nuts.

Zack is Zack, Alpha insisted. Alpha is wolf and Alpha is wolves, so Zack is wolf too, but Zack is still Zack. Hard to explain. Too long. Go north now. Explain later.

Snow splattered Zack's vision. He shook himself to fluff up his fur for extra insulation. Cloud clung on like a limpet. Works for me.

….

He hurried along the corridor. Angeal had said he would be in the medical wing for his check-up. The medical officer's refusal to reschedule was why he hadn't been able to go to the announcement board this morning. Almost bursting with excitement, Zack rushed to tell his mentor the good news.

"Angeal!" He couldn't slam open the door, since they were automatic and slid along runners with a noise like a choir humming. Still, before it was even halfway open, he was calling. "Angeal, guess what?"

The room was empty. Shiny metal surfaces covered the place from top to bottom. Bottles of brightly coloured liquids sat on the side, splashes of colour along with posters warning against missing check-ups and not getting your regular mako treatments. Stern depictions of Sephiroth's face glared down from the walls, menacing anyone who even considered skipping an appointment.

"Hello?" Zack looked around. "Is anyone here?"

This was only part of the medical wing. Zack had been in the emergency subdivision, most recently when he broke his arm during a training exercise. It was always a hive of activity. This was unnerving in comparison.

"Hello?" Uncertainly, he advanced into the room, and became instantly aware of voices behind a door at the back. One sounded familiar, though it spoke too low for him to make out actual words. "Hello? Angeal?" Zack hesitated. Should he wait out here or knock? Where were the doctors and nurses? His enthusiasm bubbled inside him like a pot of boiling water with an ill-fitting lid.

"You're not listening!" someone shouted loud enough for even some who wasn't eavesdropping to hear.

"I am," Angeal replied sombrely.

"No, you're hearing me, but you're not listening to me."

"I think most of Shinra is listening to you right now. Keep your voice down."

"I've kept silent too long, Angeal! This isn't the way it was meant to be. I've played along with your ill-advised schemes since the beginning, but not anymore."

"We have to stay. They need us."

"They don't! They never have! You're just too blind to see that they're perfectly fine on their own! Look at what they've built since we came to them – most of it without our direct involvement. They can cope with whatever the future brings and they don't need us to hold their hands while they do it."

"And the vampires? Should we just ignore them too?"

"We should be concentrating on ourselves."

"That's exactly the kind of thinking that nearly destroyed everything before. At least here, right now, like this, we can do some good to try to make up for that."

"I take it back; have you listened to yourself? You're trying to be a martyr. I've seen you out there, training and fighting, going on missions you used to dismiss out of hand. Now you struggle. You never even struggled to keep up with Sephiroth before."

"He's a very talented warrior. He was always the most genuinely talented of the three of us."

"Because his gifts are earthly? Ours are barely more than that anymore. Yours may even be lower than that. You're nearly dry, aren't you?"

"I have mako treatments like any other SOLDIER."

"You're not any other SOLDIER. How much do you have left?"

"What business is it of yours?"

"You idiot! Once your reserves gone, that's it!"

"That's my choice to make."

"And me? What about me, Angeal?"

"You have your own choices to make."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. If you use up your reserves and … if you … then I'll be …"

"You're acting like it's inevitable."

"Keep going this way and it will be. I've seen you, Angeal. You push yourself too hard, especially for that stupid child. Why you ever decided to mentor him, I can't fathom. All he does is drain you –"

"What I choose to focus my energies on is not for you to judge."

"It is if it's making you act irrationally."

"It's not me who's acting irrational."

"I fell with you. I won't die with you too."

"And that's your choice to make."

"We weren't meant to die, Angeal."

"Technically, we weren't meant to live."

"But we are alive. We fought for it, to make our own choices, and we paid the price for it. I refuse to squander the time I fought for on these pathetic, ungrateful little … people."

"Whatever you choose to do, I won't stop you."

"You couldn't even if you tried."

Zack sprang away from the door at the approaching footsteps. He crashed into a trolley, sending a tray of implements cascading to the floor. Frantically he tried to pick them up, but stopped when the door wrenched open and a shadow fell across him.

Genesis's expression was something between a snarl and a grimace. It switched to disgust when his eyes fell on Zack. "You." He didn't need to say anything else. Revulsion dripped off the word like poison off a viper's bared fangs.

Zack squared his shoulders. He refused to be cowed – not today. "I was looking for Angeal."

"Of course you're looking for him." Genesis's lip curled. "You're his little lapdog, after all."

With some effort, Zack kept his voice level. "Have you seen him?"

Genesis jerked a thumb over his shoulder and left. He couldn't slam the door either, but somehow it seemed to slide shut more forcefully for him than it had behind Zack.

Zack turned his attention to the back room. Screw Genesis. His news filled his mind almost to the exclusion of all else. "Angeal?"

Angeal sat on the end of an examination table, boots flat against the floor, hands clasped and pressed against his mouth as if in deep thought. Zack had never seen him go to church, but he looked almost like he was praying.

"Well?"

All trepidation fell away at his mentor's wide grin. He had never doubted his student. Zack gave a thumb's up, glad he was worthy of such faith. "You're looking at the newest SOLDIER Third Class."

"I knew you could do it." Angeal got up and clapped him on the back. It still sent Zack stumbling forwards a few steps, but he didn't mind. He was a SOLDIER. Soon he would have his first mako shots; then not even Angeal's pats would knock him off his feet.

Zack frowned a little in thought. "Angeal, are you okay?"

"Of course. I told you, this was just a check-up prior to my next mako treatment."

"Yeah, but …" Now he had shared his news, the strange conversation he had overheard resurfaced in Zack's mind. "You'd tell me if you were sick, right?"

Angeal gave him a puzzled look. "What brought this on?"

"Wouldn't you?" Zack insisted.

Angeal hesitated maybe a second too long before saying, "Yes, I would tell you if I was sick."

"Promise?"

"Zack, what's the matter? Are you sick?"

"Me? I'm fine. Fit as a fiddle. Fit as a flea. Fit as … a SOLDIER Third Class." Zack beamed.

Angeal shook his head. "Congratulations. You deserve this. You've worked hard for it."

Angeal never lied or broke his word. He seemed incapable of being untruthful. Ergo, whatever he and Genesis had been talking about, it wasn't Angeal's health. That made their conversation even more confusing, but also dispelled the worst of Zack's concerns. It was one more piece in the mysterious puzzle that was his mentor's past, and yet another mystifying thing about his friendship – if you could even call it that – with Genesis. Why did that man hate Zack so much, anyhow?

"Now, I think I mentioned something about a gift if you made Third Class?" Angeal said.

Zack's reply was whiplash-fast. "Dinner at Chez Henri's, and I get to make them bring ketchup to the table."

"Ketchup at one of the fanciest restaurants in all Midgar?" Angeal's expression spoke volumes. "They won't like that."

"You said I could order whatever I wanted. Steak tastes awful without ketchup."

Angeal ruffled his hair indulgently. "Okay, since I promised, I can't go back on my words now. A man's worth is judged by the company and promises he keeps."

"Hey! Quit that!" Zack ducked away from the ruffling. "I'm not a little kid, y'know. Especially today."

"Say what you want; while you still order ketchup at every meal, you'll always be a puppy to me."

.

To Be Continued ...

.