Hello everyone! I hope everyone's doing alright. A little info on what this chapter will be about; Now we know what happened in the past and what happened in the beginning of Zack's imprisonment but what will the future hold for him? I plan on ending his jail time soon don't worry.

Quick side note: Since I'm only 18 and have never been in prison before (and hopefully won't lol ;) ) I have no idea if what I'm writing is even close to the truth, I've just got the references from documentaries I've watched, some not-too-cliché-movies and some of my own thoughts on it. That goes for all the military-themed situations mentioned in all my fanfics, not really personal experience :P If anyone knows it better, feel free to PM me so I can write more realistic stories! Thanks!

RATING PROBLEM HELP: This may sound weird but…I have no idea if this story is too "horrific" to be rated T but I'm skeptical if it's suitable for "M" rated. What do you guys say? Too heavy for "T" rated?

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS: (from "My Family" story)

Sunflowerspot: Hey bud! Haha Thanks for your review, haven't heard from you in a while huh? ;) I tried writing out the scene as I imagine it would be CLOSE to real life, of course it may be farther from the truth than ever but I tried . I hope you enjoy my new story and the new Zack! :3

Chapter 4: The Alpha of the Pack

After Tifa had come to visit them, Zack and the others fell into their usual routine, training, trash talking about guys they couldn't stand, thinking over the things they have done, laughing about the good old times when the world didn't plunge into all sorts of crisis…yeah.

The usual routine.

"Thinking of her again, huh?" Barret placed a large dark hand on Zack's broad shoulder in sympathy.

Zack shook his head, turning away from their only available source of light out of a small window with steel bars.

In times like these, Zack found himself often thinking of Aerith, his late girlfriend, how bright and radiant her aura was, her ability to make anyone smile and forget their worries, how she kept annoying him to the roots of his hair and vice versa…how he always worried her when he went on missions for Shinra…

Shinra…

Zack clenched his bare fist, feeling the small cuts and callous' on it from his numerous battles. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, memories of them together flooding his mind. He felt at times that those memories he cherished somewhere deep in his dead, cold heart were the only things that kept him going in this hellhole. His only connection to reality.

Memories of more cheerful and peaceful times. When Shinra hadn't been as powerful, when he hadn't been so stupid to actually join…when he had imagined a sappy future for Aerith and him and a family, with their friends, Cloud being alright and not being even more stupid to follow him into joining SOLDIER…when Tifa and Cloud had started dating and everyone teased them relentlessly, especially Zack himself…

Memories of his friends, how they weren't fighting to survive, how their jobs weren't on the line because of his sorry ass…everything…

Everything went downhill the moment the economy plummeted and Shinra rose to power, nobody knew how, Shinra had been like a deadly snake, waiting patiently in the shadows for an opportunity to strike, then striking precisely and deadly.

At the beginning, SOLDIER had been an independent unit of the military program where young men and women could, in rare cases though, be celebrated as war heroes, where they traveled to places in which the land's militia wasn't as strong, like Kalm and Nibelheim, to protect the people there threatened by enemy forces. SOLDIER had been successful, people had looked up to it, in SOLDIER, it hadn't been important how powerful you were, what mattered was how you used that power to help others.

Then, war broke out. It had been Wutai that had been the first to oppose. They had sought more territory to call their own, had become too greedy in the midst of their wealthy agriculture and rich soil…

Shinra had bought SOLDIER as their own, for a pretty penny as well, and so SOLDIER had become Shinra's, the electric power company's, primary destructive force.

Though because of Shinra, it was like SOLDIER had lost its glory and honor. Every SOLDIER had been taught to fight to protect people, to use their hands as weapons only then when people's lives were endangered, to lift their weapons in the air only to protect and defend, not to cause death and destruction.

The old SOLDIER would have never welcomed a war, they would have tried to solve the issue with Wutai by diplomatic means. Their three most powerful leaders would have made sure of that.

Now the new SOLDIER, a part of Shinra, had welcomed war like an old friend. Many had lost their lives, men and women with families, children were turned to orphans, families ending up on the streets because their only source of income was gone, not enough money to pay for medical bills and treatments…ending only in death and growing poverty.

Zack shook his head, better not to think such dark thoughts. He knew well from experience on what such thoughts could cause in a place like this.

One could quickly lose something more than his pride if one wasn't careful.

Zack chewed on his meal, eyes twinkling in amusement as he watched Barret pale at his food and Cid how he swore loudly. Jail food wasn't necessarily the best food, sometimes they were skeptical if it was even edible, but it was good enough most days.

The cafeteria ladies, at least those that worked longer there, were pretty rough around the edges. Whoever the criminals they served the food to were, they didn't care much. The newer ones though were more nervous, avoiding eye contact at all costs and making sure not to attract any kind of attention.

It amused Zack to no ends when one of the newer ones found out who he was and practically shook in fear when serving him food.

Zack's glowing blue eyes intimidated even the veteran cooks into quiet submission and fear, none dared to give him a cross look or raise their voice above normal.

Then, one naïve fool thought he could beat Zack into submission.

A softball sized raw potato found itself slammed into Zack's plate, the tray falling noisily to the floor.

"Oops, guess I missed your head,"

"Sorry, I mistook the potato for your head, but guess I'm gonna have to take care of your rolling head myself," Zack announced, his eyes glowing dangerously along with his smile, teeth and all.

The brunet frowned who threw the potato from god knows where, "Second Class" was tattooed on his left forearm. Zack's eyes zeroed in on the tattoo, a frown appearing on his lips, then he met the identical glowing blue eyes of his supposed challenger.

"I heard about you, Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class," the whole cafeteria was silent, "You rose up the ranks quickly, were called a prodigy even by the best of the best," the eyes narrowed, "Then you became greedy and betrayed SOLDIER, betrayed our people. Guess that happens to wannabe heroes who can't handle the heat huh?" he shook his messy, short brown hair, "Me and my buddies…we looked up to you ever since we became Thirds. Now, they are all dead,"

"Because of you!" Zack was about to get into a defensive position until the chef of the kitchen, the lady in charge, Helga, suddenly stood in front of him.

Unlike many cliché beliefs, Helga was actually well built, she had thick arms, coming from her training but otherwise she wasn't considered chubby, one of the few cooks and cafeteria ladies with a lean, healthy body built.

"I will not allow some ruffian who thinks he's some big shot to create chaos in my cafeteria. Either you take this when it's your time out or you take it with the guards, there's nothing I hate more than cocky bastards who look for trouble," her venomous green eyes narrowed sharply, her tan skin peeking a little from under her uniform.

"Don't stick your nose in other people's business you fucking bitch!" the former Second Class SOLDIER aimed a powerful fist toward Helga's determined face.

Everyone but Barret and Cid had expected for the lady to go flying, however none but Barret and Cid knew Zack Fair well enough.

It was the Second that cried out in pain, with Zack holding his broken fist in his palm.

Zack had shoved Helga out of the way, her blonde pony tail flying as she was pushed out of harm's way by Zack.

"Listen up, Second, I have no idea what Shinra brainwashed into your head and I don't care. But I won't just sit and watch how some kid goes beating up innocent people for my ass," another sickening crack echoed and the Second's knees shook.

Blue glowing eyes narrowed, "Stay away from them and from anyone here who doesn't give you a dirty look got that? This is my party and I'll damn well make sure that it won't get busted up cause of irresponsible pups like you," he released the Second's broken hand, the limb falling limply to the man's side.

"You don't have normal SOLDIER strength, who the fuck are you?" fearful, glowing blue eyes looked into fierce blues.

"Devil to some, angel to others, one would say. I kicked the angels ass long ago and I stopped doing contracts with the devil so I ain't in either category. Call me what ya want, but keep your fingers to yourself. I'm too old to be breaking young bones all the time, don't ya think?" Zack turned around, picked up the tray and roughly shoved it into the bin, grabbing Helga's arm and ordering a cafeteria lady to take care of her.

Zack's glowing blue eyes haunted the former Second, future encounters only ended in half assed fights. The guards had decided to drag the Second to another department, they left Zack alone, they knew he desired freedom far too much to be doing anything rash now.

"You knew this Second shit?" Barret asked the same day the Second had been escorted to another facility.

Cid was on his knees, praying to a deity he had never believed in before to get him out of her as fast a godly possible and get him his precious cigarettes. Cid Highwind wasn't the same without his cigarettes.

He was the classy smoker, smoking either the finer cigarettes or the ones you could buy for a few bucks at a gas station, either way he never tried any heavy things since his youth. And he left it with that. Bad memories that were…

"Praying to your precious cigarette god again Cid?" Barret teased, shaking his head at his friend. Zack looked at Cid, shrugged and joined his friend on the floor, kneeling beside him with his hands clasped together in what he assumed was a praying pose.

Barret's eyes almost bulged out of his head, "What the hell are you prayin' for Fair?! Ya don't even know how to pray!" Barret almost fell out of his bunk bed when Zack hissed 'shhh' and made a shushing motion with one hand.

"You're breaking my concentration Wallace," Zack muttered, taking a deep breath.

"Aha…" Barret slapped a hand to his face, "Figures…I always get stuck with the craziest of weirdos out of the whole bunch…"

"Hey Zack," Cid piped from beside him, eyes still closed.

"Hm,"

"….What are you begging for exactly?" Cid opened an eye to look at the supposedly praying SOLDIER beside him, hell, at least he had damn good reasons to even kneel in the first place.

"Beggin' for a steak, I need some meat in me, do you know how long ago it was I had some half decent meat in me? Or at least something that looked like meat?" Zack opened his eyes and grinned, "Nah, I'm just shitting ya," Cid chuckled while Barret huffed in exasperation.

"It's for my sword actually," his two friends fell silent suddenly. Zack seemed serious all too quickly.

"Your sword huh? You mean the one you…they took away from you in your last battle?" Barret asked carefully, feeling a bit out of place asking his friend, who was a rather private person, such prying questions, even if it was him who opened the discussion topic.

"Yeah, but you can bet your tattooed ass on it that it wasn't my last battle," Zack's grin was enough to convince both Cid and Barret that it indeed, that hadn't been his last battle to fight. If they knew Zack at all, they could count on the fact that if the guy had set his mind to something, he would pursue it relentlessly until he got it, no matter what it was.

If the guy wanted his sword back he would damn well get it back, pronto.

"So…why your sword all of a sudden? Wait…you named it didn't ya? What's it called again…uhh…" Cid rubbed his slightly stubbly chin.

"Buster." Zack replied calmly, his hands falling to his sides, "Actually, it wasn't me that named him." Cid and Barret's eyebrows rose to their hairlines in surprise, Zack was going to reveal something private to them? Oh damn today was meat day alright.

"What? Then who? Why would you let some other guy name your sword?" Barret scratched his head, finding his question valid and not understanding Zack's words at all.

Blue eyes uncharacteristically softened, "My mentor. Buster used to be actually his at the beginning until he bestowed him to me." Zack turned his back to them with his hands in his pockets, "Buster represents my honor and dreams, he presented my mentor's honor and dreams as well. He was his pride and joy," a smile grew on Zack's face, but it vanished just as quickly as it came.

Barret and Cid immediately felt the mood shift, confused over why Zack turned from content to furious in a matter of seconds, there was only one explanation to it; Shinra. Cid out of all people could understand it well too, Shinra had robbed him of his precious wife Shera after all and drove him mad with fury, prompting him to kill one of Shinra's boys when they had killed his wife to squeeze information out of Cid concerning the battle airships.

It didn't fall on deaf ears that Zack had used past tense when referring to his mentor, they wondered how he died, then again Shinra may as well be at fault here too.

Wait…

Zack had said he had been his mentor…that meant…

"Say Zack…was he…was your mentor…was he also a part of SOLDIER?" Cid's throat suddenly felt all too tight, he wasn't usually one to beat around the bush, but he considered his friend's feelings and didn't intend to step out of line because of a poor choice of words.

Zack turned to regard them with a unreadable expression on his handsome face, "He used to be one of the leading generals of SOLDIER, one of the Three," Cid's eyes widened in shock, Barret just looked at his friend in confusion.

Who were "the Three"? Zack and Cid seemed to know them, Cid was definitely shell shocked.

Zack noticed the look of realization pass over Cid's eyes, he knew.

Zack had excused himself to use the bathroom, once Barret made sure the two were alone, he spoke in hushed whispers, "Hey! Cigarette prayer, what were you two talking about? Care to fill an outside in on the whole thing with 'the Three'? Who are those guys?"

Cid sat heavily on his bunk bed, opposite of Barret's, he swallowed before he looked Barret seriously in the eyes, as if confessing a secret of the highest caliber.

The former pilot leaned in to whisper, "The Three of SOLDIER…the three Generals that led SOLDIER together before Shinra took control…"

"The Silver General, Sephiroth, a.k.a the 'Super SOLDIER' or 'Project S'. The Heart of SOLDIER, Angeal Hewley, a.k.a 'Project H' and the Red Commander, Genesis Rhapsodos, a.k.a 'Project G'."

"Those three were the strongest men in SOLDIER, the most powerful of all. You either look up to them or fear them."

Barret's mouth fell open and both men froze when they heard the serious voice of their friend sound in the cell, "That's right. But that's not all to them. Want me to tell you a bedtime story?"

Zack was leaning against the wall, a dangerous smirk on his lips as his eyes glowed almost fiercely so.

All the rumors centering around Zack Cid had ever heard suddenly echoed in his head.

Watch out for him, he's as dangerous as they get.

He's bad news Cid, I wouldn't pet the wolf's fur if I knew the wolf would kill me.

You know the saying, 'wolf in sheep's clothing'? Hell, he's the lion clad in wolf's fur!

He'll kill you in your sleep without even missing a beat!

Those eyes don't get all of 'em foot troops ya know? That title and the eyes, the eyes what makes him look dangerous, it's the title that proves it.

Stay away from him, even the most experienced of my men don't dare to provoke his anger. He may be on the side of the angels, but he's worse than the devil, Cid.

And suddenly Cid understood why all his previous friends were so deathly afraid of Zack Fair, a man he trusted deeply and considered one of his closest and most mysterious friends.

Those are the eyes of a killer.

A SOLDIER trademark.

Those who saw those eyes were the last thing they ever saw again.

Zack's grin that rivaled the devil's remained as he told the tale of three legendary warriors who were gone but never forgotten.

Good? Bad? Could be better? PLEASE leave your opinions and reviews for me! I'll continue the story if it's worth the read! :)