When Zack awoke, his arm was one numb, slightly drooled on, throbbing mass. "Eugh." He started to turn on his back, freezing when his shoulder collided with the warm body behind him. "What?" Zack jerked into a sitting position, then relaxed and sighed. "Shit." No offense, Callie, but I was kinda hoping this was all a dream. Not that you really dream or even sleep in the Lifestream.

Zack crept forward enough to look outside, the heat and the sun's position in the sky told him that was somewhere in the early afternoon. Moving back into their shallow sheltering of rock, the First Class leaned against one of the "walls" and contemplated his current, shitty situation. Why do I always get chased by creepy scientists? How did they even bring me back? The redhead resting next to him let out a low moan and shifted uncomfortably. I guess it doesn't matter right now. I'm here and since I drug Callandra into this I gotta help her get out. When she let another groan, Zack frowned in concern. "Callandra?"

"Ugh. Yeah?" she replied sluggishly, "Did you get the number on the Marlboro that ran me over?"

"No," he smiled, "But that's only 'cause it clipped me too."

"Stinky bastard," Callandra muttered, using her arms to push herself upright. She winced slightly as she did so.

"You better let me take a look at it," Zack said.

Shrugging, Callandra edged back against the wall and allowed Zack to carefully unwind the bandage from her middle. "Well isn't that pretty," she sighed.

The cut no longer bled and indeed had closed almost completely but the skin around it held a distinct resemblance to a thunderstorm.

"Yeah, but still, you heal really fast," Zack said, "Well, at any rate, I think I'm good for a Cure3 which ought to fix this."

"Let me check your forehead first," Callandra insisted, "Just in case."

"I'm fine."

"Bandage. Off. Now." Callandra snapped.

"Okay, okay." Zack peeled off the bandage and sat still so Callandra could inspect the injury.

The mako in his blood had done a good job of repairing the damage to his forehead. The bump was gone and all that remained was a small scabbed-over cut. "You don't heal too bad yourself," Callandra mused, "It's almost gone. Do you even have a headache anymore?"

"Not really," Zack shook his head, "So will you stop being stubborn and let me Cure you now?"

Reaching into her pocket, Callandra produced her Restore materia. "I guess," she teased, "Since it means so much to you."

Though Zack smiled as he took the materia the smile faded as he stood back and prepared to cast the spell. "It is my fault you're in this situation."

Callandra frowned as the materia's healing energy blanketed her form and eased the ache from her muscles. "I told you not to be sorry. I'm not. Besides it's not like any of this is your doing." Healed, the redhead rose gracefully, stretching to get the remaining kinks out of her muscles. "Thanks."

"No problem," Zack handed back the materia. He turned and looked past the opening and across the seemingly endless wastelands. "I just can't believe any of this, you know?"

"Yeah, but," Callandra gave him a sympathetic smile, "You know what Angeal would tell you right?"

"Yeah," Zack sighed wistfully, "The situation is what it is and I can go nowhere but forward."

"And forward seems to mean Edge," Callandra pointed out, "I'd like to get there alive. And I've spent enough time in labs."

Zack nodded grimly. "Yeah, I hear ya on that one. How far are we from Edge now? I got kind of disoriented last night."

"I think it'll take us about a day and a half on foot," Callandra shrugged, "We'll have to be careful. It's mostly open ground out there."

"So that means traveling at night."

"At least for the first day," Callandra agreed, "If we cover enough ground tonight then we can push on during daylight until we reach the city."

"Sounds like a plan," Zack nodded, moving to sit against one of the rock walls.

Sitting down across the small shelter from him, Callandra sighed with the thought of the hours they had yet to wait. Looking around, she spotted her bag and pulled it over. Reaching inside she pulled out two water bottles, keeping one for her and tossing the other to Zack.

"Thanks," Zack said catching it and unscrewing the cap. After taking a sip, the ex-SOLDIER set the bottle aside and leaned back, bringing one leg up and resting his arm on top of it. "So, what were you doing in Midgar anyway?"

"I could be alone there," Callandra shrugged, "After I left Shinra, I wandered for a bit but there was nothing and no one to tie me to any specific place. And in each village I stopped at, the people had heard of Sephiroth's strange green eyes and were frightened of me. So, I returned to Midgar not long after Meteor."

"So you were here during that whole thing with the Remnants and Deepground?"

"Hmmm. Is being in the Lifestream like watching a reality show? Do you just sit around and watch what happens on the other side? You know an awful lot for someone who's been dead for four years."

Zack laughed at the irreverent question. "Sorta. Aerith and I . . . well we were really worried about Cloud and we've been known to help our friends out on occasion. You already know that Aerith is an Ancient. As such, she has a special place in the Lifestream. It was . . . nice that I could still help people." He sighed, sadly. "I miss her."

Unwilling to sink into a moping session, Zack turned curious blue eyes on his companion. "You see to know a lot about me. Did Angeal tell you?"

"Yeah," Callandra smiled, "Angeal was always talking about his 'puppy'. Said you had amazing potential."

"We've never met," Zack pointed out, "How did you recognize me?"

"Angeal showed me some tapes of your training sessions," she replied, "Said he looked forward to the day when he would be able to introduce us. He really was proud of you. You said Angeal was with you in the Lifestream?"

"Yup," Zack confirmed, "He's happy. So, Callie, did Angeal give you an 'honor and dreams' speeches?"

"I don't think there was anyone who didn't get those," Callie laughed, "Angeal was the most protective, paternal person I've ever met. In addition to the dream speech I also received many on controlling my temper . . . and not letting Genesis talk me into things that would get us both in trouble."

"Seems like you and Genesis were close," Zack observed, "What was he like . . . you know, before?"

Smiling absently, Callie willingly dived into the memories. "Genesis was . . . well, he was Genesis. He could be cold and arrogant but that was really just the mask he used. He had a really cutting, dry sense of humor but if you were one of the people he cared about then he was fiercely protective. Genesis was everything I could have wanted in an older brother."

"So what kind of things did you do that got you in trouble?" Zack asked, having seen spurts of Genesis' mischievous side during the encounters.

"Oh, where should I start?" Callandra grinned, "There was the time we put the diuretic in Hojo's morning coffee. The asshole couldn't start his day without it. He spent the majority of that day in the bathroom. We were going to go with a laxative but decided it lacked originality." The grin faded a bit, "We pulled that stunt so that Sephiroth could have a day out of the labs. Hojo had been at him really hard for a week straight."

Zack smirked at the thought of Hojo's discomfort. "What else?"

"One time, we snuck into Angeal's apartment in the middle of the night and replaced the Buster Sword with a plastic copy," she chuckled, "Angeal was not happy. If there had been a single scratch on that blade when we gave it back he may have strangled us." Her eyes twinkled, "After that, Sephiroth refused to let Masamune out of his sight for a whole month."

Callandra was ticking events off on her fingers. "We dyed all of Hollander's underwear pink. Oh . . .do you remember when the VR room was down for a whole week? Genesis and I reprogrammed it so that all the monsters would have Hojo's face. We found the program rather therapeutic. He'd never admit it but Sephiroth spent several hours in there before the technicians were allowed to fix it."

"What did they do to you?" Zack asked between bouts of laughter.

"What could they do really? I was technically a First Class even if I was a secret. Most of the usual punishments would have exposed me to others. Finally," Callie's grin became wicked, "I heard a rumor that Rufus Shinra had found the situation extremely funny."

"Rufus knew?"

She nodded. "A lot of the top brass did. Rufus, the President of course, Scarlet, Hojo and a few others."

"What about Tseng?"

"Yes," Callandra confirmed, "Because of his leadership of the Turks it was necessary that he knew the truth."

Zack was silent for a moment and then said, "How could they keep you such a secret? I mean you were right there in the Shinra building. Didn't they ever let you out?"

Much of the humor faded from her expression. "Most of the time, Hojo tried to keep me in the secret area assigned to me. When I was training in the VR room it, the company usually told everyone else that it was closed for maintenance. When I had to move about during the day I had to dress in civilian clothes and most people probably thought I was someone's secretary."

"That must have been hard," Zack said, "Did you ever get to go out when you weren't on a mission?"

The smile was back. "When they could, Genesis, Sephiroth, and Angeal would sneak me out of the building at night and we'd go to clubs and things like that. Sephiroth had been completely deprived of a childhood and wasn't allowed to do any teenage things either. They didn't want me to go through that. When I was sixteen or seventeen Sephiroth took me to the Shinra winter solstice party."

Zack cocked an eyebrow, "Didn't that defeat the point of trying to keep you a secret?"

"Not really," Callandra disagreed, "I mean Hojo didn't like it but Lazard figured that no one had ever seen me dressed as anything other than a secretary and really, how many people remember a secretary or take the time to notice in the first place? Sure there were whispers about the General having a date but no one really dared to question him."

A dreamy look brightened her eyes. "I had so much fun that night. I danced with Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis. I was wearing the most beautiful blue gown. I'd never really felt pretty before that."

"You don't need a gown to be pretty," Zack said before he could stop himself.

Callandra's eyes snapped to his and she blushed. Zack scratched his head awkwardly and seemed to be at a loss.

"What will you do after you get to Edge?" Callie asked to change the subject.

"I don't know," he sighed, "I guess I'll figure that out when I get there."

They spent the rest of the day shifting between dozing and idle conversation. By the time the sun began to set both were fidgeting restlessly. As the sky faded to pink, the First class sprang to his feet.

"We can get going pretty soon," Zack said obviously delighted.

"Thank, Gaia," Callandra sighed, "My ass fell asleep two hours ago. Here," she dug into her bag again and tossed Zack one of the rations.

"Do you have the kitchen sink in there?" Zack teased as he tore open the package.

"I tried," she deadpanned, "But I couldn't get it to fit."

Rolling his eyes, the brunette ate his unappetizing meal in silence while Callandra did the same. When he was finished, he tossed the container aside, nearly vibrating with the need to get going. "I think it's dark enough. You ready?"

Nodding, Callandra stood, and hefting her bag, joined Zack at the entrance of their shelter. "Let's go."

Side by side, they set off across the scorching sands of the wasteland, the shadow of Midgar looming in the distance.

"Things change so fast," Callie murmured to herself.

"Yeah," Zack agreed, "And there's never any going back."

Author's notes: And there we are. I was a little iffy about this chapter so PLEASE review and let me know what you think. Next chapter: the trek across the wasteland. Is anything ever so simple? And now cookies and thanks to my reviewers.

Amberblood: LOL. I try to be signed in though I'm almost always signed it. I do too much stuff on here not to be. I'm kinda signed in by default. I'm glad that you think I'm keeping Zack in character. Also, I agree that Zack probably didn't get a vote on the puppy thing but hate to tell him it really did kind of fit. If you watched the cutscenes there's times when Zack tilts his head a certain way and it really does remind me of a puppy. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to review!

Shade the bat: LOL. Not even I know the answer to that one yet. I have my suspicions but the muses keep changing their minds. We'll figure it out soon though. As far as choosing . . . well life is full of choices and most of them aren't easy. Thanks for reviewing!!