Well, this is the second update that I promised. I wasn't sure if it would be ready in time, but I had some free time the other day and used it to catch up on updates so, yay! Ahem, anyways, while I'm working on current updates I also started a few other stories. Yes, I have more than enough on my plate, but when an idea comes to you, sometimes you can't just ignore it. That's one of the things about being a fanfic writer, or any writer period. That's how this story came to be and while the new idea I'm working on has both the start and the final climax written it's no where near ready to be uploaded. That will come after I've finished at least two of my current stories. It is FF7 related and it's another AU, but it's one I've never tried before and it has a returning character that I felt shouldn't be forgotten. I'm not saying who it is, but I'll give you a hint: He's shown up in a Kingdom Hearts fanfic of mine that isn't as popular as my others, however he has strong ties to the FF7 characters. Plus we get to see baby Cirrus grown up, yet it doesn't follow the storyline where she is born.

Okay, enough spoilers. Time to get to the main attraction. Enjoy this latest chapter everyone and I'll see you later!

Happy Holidays!

The elevator ride up was a nervous one. Had Zack not been a First Class SOLDIER he'd have been in fear for his life. After all, not many got a personal escort from the General. Pushing his nerves aside, Zack wracked his brain trying to figure out why the General had personally come to fetch him. At least it seemed that way. Sephiroth certainly hadn't made any indications that he had wanted to get off and he looked rather annoyed. It was very hard to tell what the General was feeling, but Zack was starting to get an idea. For example, his normal stoic frown seemed a hair more intense and the way he glared at the control panel was another indication. Zack deduced that he was either annoyed or irritated. Not that he'd be surprised. This place could get the better of you on the best of days. And Zack being Zack, he wanted to try and cheer his general up.

"So, how's it going?"

No response.

"Any word from Wutai?"

Still no response.

"Did you hear who won last night's Chocobo Race?"

"Lieutenant."

Zack shut up at the hidden reprimand. Obviously he was only making things worse.

"I'm sorry General, I've just been gone for so long that I missed you."

Sephiroth glanced in Zack's direction which made the ravenette both happy and nervous. He had gotten the General's attention, but was it a good thing?

"The details of your failed mission will be discussed shortly. I suggest you think carefully about what you say. Shinra doesn't take kindly to those who are incapable of turning out positive results."

"Positive results?!" Zack did a full body turn. "What the heck does that mean?! It wasn't my fault the mission failed!"

The elevator dinged and Sephiroth closed his eyes. "Then I'd make sure you have proof to back up your claim since you were the only SOLDIER to make it back."

Zack actually glared at the General as he stepped off the elevator, but the General's voice made him stop.

"And I suggest you find another home for whatever pet you brought back. A traveling pack is not a proper habitat. You wouldn't want the science department to get a hold of it."

With that the doors closed and the Elevator moved on to the next floor. Zack huffed at the thought. "As if. He thinks he's knows everything just because he's the best warrior. He may have silver hair, but it doesn't make him all knowing and wise, right Spiky?"

The bag was silent. Zack guessed the kid was too nervous at being caught to chance a reply. The SOLDIER just shrugged it off and kept heading down the hall. It was then that it dawned on him. This wasn't his floor. This was the floor for the meeting rooms. He turned to leave when someone approached him from further down the hall. "Lieutenant Fair, we've been waiting."

Zack was a little surprised to see a Turk here. It only meant that this was a more serious matter than he first thought. Though he had to admit, he was a bit disappointed to see Rude and not Tseng. He had barely known the man other than a few passing glances in the halls. Rude was always so quiet and rivaled Sephiroth when it came to a sense of humor, though Reno had told him that it existed, it was just very hard to get to.

"Why don't I catch up? I've got to drop off my stuff and then I'll be back. It won't take long."

"Neither will this," Rude replied.

Zack merely shrugged, "No, seriously, my pack reeks. I tussled with a Zolom the other day and when I killed it the thing's blood and guts spewed all over it before the creature finally fell. I spent almost two hours trying to dig it out. I think I'll be doing all of us a favor if I take care of it now."

Rude made no movement at first, but then he adjusted his glassed and turned, "Be quick."

Zack hid the smirk as he rushed back to the elevator and pushed the button for his floor, hoping that the General had already gotten off. Thankfully when the doors slid open it was empty and it didn't take long to get to the SOLDIER floors. With a relieved and heavy sigh, Zack entered his apartment and plopped the bag down before collapsing on the couch.

"Boy, does it feel good to finally be home," he exclaimed as he leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling. A noise to his right reminded him that he had forgotten something very important.

"Gah, sorry 'bout that Cloud!"

Zack was quick to unzip it and Cloud poked his head out and gasped for breath before glaring up at Zack. "Thanks for remembering me," he replied flatly.

"Hey, I said I was sorry." With his friend freed, Zack waved his hand around the apartment. "Welcome to my humble diggs. What's mine is yours. Feel free to raid the kitchen, though I don't think there's much in the fridge. I haven't been home in a while, so the milk's probably bad. I'll order us some pizza or something when I get back from my debriefing."

"What are you going to tell them?" asked Cloud.

Zack shrugged, "Mostly the truth, though I will have to leave a few details out."

"Like how I came back with you?"

"Pretty much. After all, it's not exactly legal what I did. By all rights I should have left you with Nanaki and Bugenhagen."

"Yeah, but I was originally going to join SOLDIER anyway, so I would have ended up here eventually."

Zack huffed at his little friend. "Yeah, about that - You're still underage."

"What do you mean?" asked Cloud.

"You've got to be at least fourteen to even start training to be a cadet. Shinra doesn't let kids join the army, no matter what branch they're aiming for. You've still got a good three years before you can even dream to aim for SOLDIER."

Cloud was surprised by this news and out of anger he kicked Zack in the shin. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Zack sat up and rubbed his shin before pouting his reply. "First of all, ow. Secondly, We didn't exactly get a chance to talk about it with all the craziness we had to face on the return trip home."

Cloud walked over to sit by the window and folded his arms. "Well this stinks. I finally make it to Midgar yet I'm farther than ever from making SOLDIER."

Zack sighed before standing up. "Look, I'd explain everything now, but I've got a meeting to report to. Try not to get into too much trouble and try to keep it down in here. SOLDIERs have very good hearing thanks to mako."

Cloud didn't even look at Zack as the SOLDIER went to leave. "Sure, whatever."

Zack shook his head in defeat as he opened the door. "Later Spiky."

. . .

Zack let out another sigh as he stepped off the elevator and headed to the meeting room where Rude had been waiting. He wasn't there now which told Zack that he made the Turk wait too long and would most likely get a reprimand for it. It would go along nicely with the kind of day he was having. So far he had annoyed Sephiroth, crushed his new friend's hopes and was in desperate need of something to eat other than rations.

Suddenly a hand came out of nowhere and slapped him hard in the back sending him stumbling forward a few paces. He turned to glare at the guy only to smile instead.

"Angeal!"

"Pup," the older ravenette replied.

Zack happily gave his mentor a salute, but the older man merely placed his hand on his pupil's shoulder. "It's good to see you home and safe."

"It's good to see you too," Zack replied. "Haven't gotten too bored while I was gone I hope?"

"Heh, more like made me worry if I had lost my best student. You've given me more gray hairs in this past week then in the last five years."

"Ou~ can I see?"

Angeal chuckled as he fended off his protégé while Zack tried to peer over his head to get a good look. "Down boy, we're late for the meeting."

He led the way through the double doors where they took the remaining empty seats. Zack was a bit surprised to see everyone who had attended the meeting. The director he expected, but he was a little surprised to see Professor Hojo of all people. Beside him sat the Turks Rude and Tseng.

"Where's Reno?" asked Zack. Normally if two Turks were present for a meeting it meant something serious, especially if one of them was Tseng.

"It doesn't matter; let's just get on with this report. I'm very busy at the moment," snapped the professor. It didn't take Zack much to figure out that he was in a bad mood, though, when the guy was ever in a good mood was a mystery to him.

"Indeed," the director replied. He then looked over to Tseng who nodded. Everyone was ready to hear the SOLDIER's report. "Please, begin Lieutenant Fair. What happened on your mission and why did it take you so long to return?"

Zack rubbed the back of his neck before Angeal cleared his throat as a warning to not keep those present waiting any longer than he already had.

"Right, so, the chopper I was in crashed and I was the only one who made it out alive. I was totally lost until I ran into a kid. He pointed me in the direction of Nibelheim and when I got there I was already too late. From what I got from the villagers I would have been too late even if the chopper hadn't crashed. Still, I scouted the area for any sign of monsters."

The director held up his hand and Zack stopped. "What kinds of monsters were responsible?"

"There were a few Nibel wolves in the area," Zack replied, "but they weren't the cause. From what I gathered it was two large dragons that had descended from the nearby mountains. A villager told me that the mayor had sent a group to investigate and returned with a dragon's egg, which they destroyed. It was only then that the dragons attacked. I followed the dragons' trail and found them both dead. They had been killed by a hunter in a red cloak."

"A red cloak?" asked Tseng. "That doesn't blend in very well. What makes you think he was a hunter?"

Zack shrugged. "Who else would go out and kill two dragons? Though, he did say that he saved some villagers and he also mentioned something about the mansion."

"What about it?" asked Hojo.

This surprised Zack. Since when did the professor care about anything other than science? "Only that it was destroyed. That's what made him wake up or something."

The professor's eyes shined in a way that made Zack feel very uncomfortable. Angeal noticed and tried to change the focus of the topic. "What happened after that?"

Zack nodded a silent thanks to him before continuing. "The villagers mentioned that many of them had died, but there was one who had left before the attack started. They said he knew about the monsters when he left and they blamed the cause of the attack on him. But I had spoken to him and he said he tried to warn everyone, but no one listened to him."

"I think you've mixed up your story, Fair," Tseng interrupted. "How could you have spoken to him if he had already left?"

"Because he was the kid who pointed me in the right direction; I helped the villagers as best as I could before running off to find him. It was getting dark and there was a storm coming. When I finally did find him hours later it was a in a roaring blizzard and he had fallen on the ice. As I went to get him the ice broke and he went under. Naturally I saved him, but he was in serious danger from the cold. I brought him to a nearby village and left him there…"

He went on to tell them of the journey back, though most were uninterested in it. Zack hated lying about leaving Cloud out of most of the story. "And then the Zolom let out a painful cry before it fell and I cut my way out of its lung and that's pretty much it except for the trek back to Midgar." He finished, finally glad to have that story over.

"Sounds like you had the eventful week," Angeal commented.

"Yes," the director replied before looking back to each of the others in the room before looking back at Zack. "Well, I'm glad you returned in one piece Lieutenant. If no one else has any additional questions…" he waited for a moment before finishing, "you're dismissed."

Zack stood and saluted, "Thank you, sir," and stepped out with Angeal following behind.

Once in the hall Angeal eyed his student closely. They got on the elevator together and waited until they were on the SOLDIER apartment floor before he chose to speak.

"I know you, Zack. You left something out. It's a miracle you manage to hide it from Tseng."

The younger warrior smirked in defeat. Of all the people in Shinra it would be Angeal to figure it out first…

"What took you so long to get home? I know you're a lot faster on foot than that!"

…or maybe not.

"Well, to be honest, I was worried about the kid. He didn't look so good when we got into town. I stayed, hoping he'd pull through."

Angeal nodded in understanding. "And did he?"

Zack nodded, "the village headman said he'd be okay. The guy's grandson hardly left his bedside. He knew a lot about healing and was pretty smart for his…age."

Angeal nodded. "I'm surprised you didn't take the kid back with you."

At this Zack got a bit nervous. "Are you kidding?" he forced a chuckle. "A country kid like him wouldn't last two days on the mean streets of Midgar."

Angeal smirked at his student. "Genesis said the same about you when I chose you as my pupil."

"So, why was Hojo there for the meeting?" Came Zack's next question.

Angeal only shrugged, "Who knows? That's partly why I sat in on it."

Zack smiled and tried to tease his mentor. "N'aww, you were worried about me?"

"Please, give me some credit pup. I was merely curious."

Zack placed his hands on his hips and nodded, "Sure, sure. Whatever you say Angeal."

Angeal chuckled before placing a hand on Zack's shoulder. "In any case, I'm glad you're back safe. Try to get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow for our early morning spar."

"Rodger that sir," Zack replied with a friendly salute. Angeal just shook his head with a smile and turned to head back to the elevator.

"Oh, and I already ordered you a welcome home pizza, but it looks like it hasn't arrived yet," Angeal called back.

Zack waved to him before turning the knob on his door. He had a feeling he knew where the pizza had gone and sure enough he was right. The pizza box was lying open on the coffee table with four pieces missing. Zack noticed something else was missing, or rather, someone. A burp towards the kitchen told him where his little buddy had vanished to.

The fridge closed as Cloud rested his glass and a bottle of soda on the marble island. "This stuff is horrible. Why do you have it?"

Zack chuckled as he walked over and looked at the date on the soda bottle. "I told you, I've been gone for a while and that stuff's gone flat by now. It's normally pretty tasty."

"Yeah, well I needed something to wash down that pizza. I was hungry."

"I can tell," Zack replied as he grabbed a plate and took the rest of the pizza for himself.

"Hey, what if I want more later?" asked Cloud.

"You've already eaten half of it! I'll get some more food tomorrow. SOLDIERs need a lot more food than normal people. We can't leap twenty feet in the air and survive horrible wounds without a lot of fuel. Mako only does so much ya know."

Cloud shrugged before plopping on the couch. "Sure, fine. So, how'd your meeting go?"

"Boring," Zack replied. "Well, except for this one creepy guy that works here. I don't know why he was at the meeting. He's normally cooped up in his lab. Let me tell you Spiky, if you ever bump into a guy with greasy hair with glasses and a white lab coat, run the other way. Hojo is one freaky dude and I'd trust him about as much as I'd trust a Nibel wolf to guard chocobo eggs."

Cloud shuddered at the thought of that. "Noted."

Next time: Zack and Cloud go shopping and Yellow meets Silver!