Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

Reviews, critiques and flames are welcome. I absolutely love all reviews about the story as it gives me motivation, I use good constructive criticism to help my writing improve and I feed the flames to the fires of my imagination.

Thanks to my before posting beta Queen of Jokers and my after posting beta SubZeroChimera!

"The secret of all great undertakings is hard work and self-reliance." –Gustavus F. Swift

Chapter 60

The lab was quiet and that was exactly how he liked it. His concentration level went up and so did his productivity. The lab techs worked at their projects he assigned to them and his notes kept him busy. He got up from the microscope and marched into his office and shut the door, "Now what were you really after?" He looked over the inventory that was taken and it struck him. He knew that it had to have been Z, C, or S, maybe even all three of them.

He pulled his desk chair out and the wheels squeaked and he reclined back in the chair, "The stasis gel, that was odd that they would take that and put Tseng's arm in it. Maybe Tseng was working with them? Maybe they were friends, or were friends. Let us see, shall we?" He leaned forward and began typing into his computer. Pulling up the security footage that he just learned to gain access to with the help of that bald headed Turk, he searched for something to point to his specimens.

Looking up the footage from the Turk offices where Tseng was found, he watched the tapes, he scratched his chin, "Interesting." He pushed some keys on the keyboard and then picked up his phone. "Sir, I have some information that you may want or need to see… Yes sir, I will be right there." He hung up the phone, stood, turned to the back of the office and picked up a small stack of papers. When he turned back around, he dropped the papers.

"Hello again."

"You've come back to me?" His eyes widened in restrained glee.

"No, I need more information," Coming around the desk, he loved that she was so graceful, Hojo thought she floated silently across the carpet.

"What do you need my dear? I will help you if I can," He backed up a step when she closed in quickly.

Pointedly, she asked with narrowed eyes, "What am I?"

"You are perfect my dear," He reached out to touch her, but she ducked under his hand and moved to the other side of the office. A picture of Hojo in some labs with all the equipment under construction drew her attention, "You are the product of Jenova."

"And what of my fathers?" Her gaze remained on the picture. Her hair shined in the fluorescent light, the black intertwined with the silver in a beautiful dance of contrast.

Hojo stepped toward her again, "They are of no consequence right now. You won't need them just yet. Right now, you need to get ready in the northern crater. That is where you have to begin your journey to reunion."

She turned back to him, "Will I know when it is the time for my fathers to join me?"

Hojo reached out and she allowed him to touch her hand, "Yes my dear, you will know and so will the world. When you retrieve your minions… uh… I mean fathers; your destiny will show itself. That is why your name is Destiny."

Shaking her head, she answered, "But that is not my name, not anymore. My father has named me Jade," She tilted her head and she advanced on him. Her hands went to the sides of his face and studied him for several seconds before she spoke, "You hurt my fathers unnecessarily. Why would you do this?" She closed her eyes as Hojo whined in pain and his hands went to his ears. When she released him, he fell to the floor on his hands and knees, "Now I see, you are a scientist. I know this word, it means explorer. Are you exploring me and my fathers?"

Hojo picked himself up and leaned on his desk, "In a manner of speaking, yes. I wanted you to be mine. That is why I made you. You need me." He breathed hard and pulled himself to standing, "Take me with you when you go, I can be of great use to you."

She walked around the desk and looked at him over her shoulder, "I will consider it." She opened the office door and left. He ran out to the hall, but she was gone. Going back to his office, he straightened his clothing and picked up the papers that were spilled on the floor and ran to the elevator. He had to hurry, when Jade came for him, he wanted to be ready, but until then, he had other business to attend to.

When he entered the office without knocking, the president was holding a staff over his head. Hojo stepped over Tseng, who lay on the floor, and headed straight for the President's desk. Shinra adjusted his shirt and proceeded to his desk, "Tseng you can leave." The Turk leader rolled over and grabbed his staff and rose from the ground and left in a hurry, "What do you have for me?"

Hojo went to the computer and pulled up the file transfer, "Just this…" They both watched in silence and then the president called Tseng back into the office.

Everyone had a job and they did it efficiently. After getting things sorted out and set. Aerith and Red got started on making something for everyone to eat, while Barret fought the urge to kick the firewood, "This stupid fuckin lighter!" He threw the lighter toward a boulder and it skidded across the ground, "Where're the damn matches?" Aerith and Red looked at him and laughed. Barret growled at them, but Aerith pointed to the bag behind him and bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing again.

After Yuffie helped with a perimeter check, she headed over to Cloud, "So, how much longer until we are out of these creepy mountains?"

Continuing shaking out a few of the blankets, "It's hard to tell. It depends on how many monsters we run into and how many times we have to stop. Why?" When Cloud shook one of the last blankets, a large beetle flew out and hit Yuffie in the neck. A shrill scream found it's way out of her tiny frame and in the process of hitting herself trying to rid herself of the offending insect, she tripped over one of the rolled up blankets. Cloud busted out laughing and the screaming brought a crowd to see what happened.

Yuffie found her way to her feet and ripped off her jacket as the insect started crawling down her chest. Her hands flailed trying to get it off of her and she was jumping up and down. Before she could pull her shirt off, Vincent remained calm long enough to grab her upper arm. Unruffled, he reached out and took the beetle off of her chest and threw it toward a couple of trees.

She sighed out and did a dance of revulsion, "I HATE bugs!"

Sephiroth approached and glanced around, "What happened?"

Cloud stifled his laughs, "Yuffie had a big beetle on her. Evidently, she doesn't like bugs."

Yuffie put her hands on her hips, "Stop laughing," She raised her nose toward the air and turned her head, "I happen to have had a very traumatic experience with a bug when I was younger. Thank you very much." She stuck out her chest and walked over to Aerith and Red. From a distance they heard her ask Aerith and Red, "Ya'll are laughing at me too? I can't get any compassion can I?"

After the moment of levity passed, Sephiroth looked at Vincent and pulled him off to the side, away from everyone, "I would like to speak with you. I know that I could have said something before, but I just didn't know how to start until now." Sephiroth looked at Cloud and then Vincent, "You let on that you knew my birth mother."

"Yes I knew your mother," Vincent's crimson eyes peered straight at Sephiroth's face, "Her name was Lucrecia Crescent, she was a scientist that as a Turk, I was charged with her protection."

Sephiroth clenched his fist and then made himself release them, "What I want to know is where she is now. I want to ask her why she let Hojo do everything that he did to me."

"You will have difficulty with that. I haven't seen her in many years," Vincent's eyes pierced his until he turned to leave.

"Wait," Sephiroth straightened his spine and clenched his fists again, "Are… you my father?"

Vincent did not turn back around, but he answered over his shoulder, "I do not believe so. The timing isn't right." The man in red continued walking over to help Red and Yuffie plate up dinner.

In silence, Sephiroth helped Cloud with the rest of the blankets. Lost in his thoughts, he accidentally elbowed Cloud in the chest, "Sorry." Cloud didn't let it bother him. Ever since being back down in the labs, they both tried to suppress their pain. Pushing it away, neither wanted to deal with it, at least not while out on the road in the middle of nowhere. After getting all the blankets shaken out, they headed over to the fire.

While they warmed themselves, they looked over at the dim light coming from the back of the truck. Cloud leaned over, "I'm going to relieve Harding here in a bit. I'm just gonna get a plate of food for Zack first.

Harding had been put in charge of Zack, keeping an eye on the extra IV bags that he'd been able to pick up in the labs and making sure that Zack didn't pull it out. Tifa and Vincent had gotten out, helping with camp. Zack had been awake for a while and sitting up for the most of the afternoon. He had nestled himself into the corner of the truck bed, right behind the extra gas cans and the back of the cab. While Zack was occupied with the voices in his head, Harding took the opportunity to read more on the papers. He was sure there was something, but he just hadn't seen it yet. Everyone felt that Zack could be getting worse and he had to find the answer.

The talking to his left was rising in volume as Zack began to argue with himself again. Harding paid it no attention as he'd been doing it for hours now.

While on one interesting section that was written in Hojo's own hand, there was a small paragraph that he couldn't make out, "Damn Hojo and his messy handwriting." The garble of talking stopped and Harding suddenly felt eyes on him. He cut his eyes to his left and Zack said nothing, just stared right at him, straight faced. Zack raised his hand up and with the knuckles of his hand, he nudged Harding's shoulder. He moved his face close enough that he could feel Zack's breath on his cheek. Harding leaned away from him a little and Zack moved with him, "Zack, can you move back a little? You're crowding me."

In a very serious tone, Zack spoke, "You're not Cloud… "

Harding furrowed his eyebrows together and in a slow manner he answered Zack's observation, "No, I'm not. Do you want me to get him for you?" Harding looked at him from the corner of his eye.

Zack changed his posture, attitude and then he hopped in place with a smile, "Yes! I'm hungry too!"

Removing the empty IV from the brunette's arm, Harding said, "O…kay I'll be right back," Harding slid himself down to the tailgate. "Hey! Cloud!" Cloud looked up, "He wants you."

Cloud moved past Harding and lifted the flap of the cover. Zack sat with his legs crossed in front of him and he was clapping his hands quietly to himself, "Zack? You wanted me?"

Hopping up onto his knees, "Yes! Come here." His tone almost sounded like a five year old asking for his birthday presents. Zack held his arms and hands out to Cloud and wiggled his fingers in motions to cue Cloud to come closer. Cloud jumped up into the truck and as he approached, Zack rose up and grabbed the front of his shirt. Cloud grabbed at the hands on his shirt as his friend pulled him closer, "I have something to tell you." Cloud hesitantly went forward remembering a few nights ago when Zack used him as his personal teddy bear.

Cloud asked, while trying to maintain a small distance, "What is it?" Zack had him so close that their noses were just an inch away from each other.

The facial expression dropped to one of sadness and slow pleading, "1, 2, 3, 4 mako shots. When there is four we don't want more… It's all my fault." His voice then lowered in volume until it sounded like mumbling to Cloud, "All my fault, all my fault, all my fault…"

"Zack, it's not your fault," Cloud went ahead and sat down in front of him. He still had a firm hold of his shirt, "Listen, we are going to figure this stuff out and we'll get you fixed up okay?"

Zack shook him a little, "You promised that it would stop. Please, Cloud just end it. Every day it's more and more. I can't take it." Zack let go of his shirt and his head fell forward and the top of his head rested on Cloud's chest. The smaller man put his hand on the back of Zack's head and softly ruffled his hair. This was the most coherent he'd been since they had gotten him back, "Please. It's like having thousands of stinging fire ants crawling around inside my head," Zack's voice cracked from tears, "It's my fault this happened. He told me you would help, but you won't."

Zack reached around to the side of Cloud's waist and pulled his knife out. He took one of his hands and pushed the handle of the knife into Cloud's hand as he sat back up. He whispered as his eyes traced up Cloud's chest, neck and finally found his eyes, "Please," Cloud caught Zack's gaze and he didn't like what he saw floating around in his eyes. A dismal display of heartbreak played with the light glow of aqua. Tinged with a troubled self-hatred, Zack's eyes churned dark ideas and unfortunate circumstances, "If you kill me, it will all stop. Jade will stop."

Cloud pushed up from the truck bed, "No Zack! I'm not going to kill you." He put his knife back in its sheath and jumped out of the back of the truck. He landed hard and went to his knee and Zack was right behind him and leapt on Cloud's back and they rolled as Zack began to hit him.

Zack got a punch to Cloud's face. In a small bit of desperation, Cloud rolled him over and when Zack's back was on the ground, Zack bared his teeth and growled. Getting a handful of blond hair, he yanked hard and flipped out from under him. A kick to Cloud's ribs and another to his stomach had Cloud shocked and rolling over to his back. He got a glimpse of Zack running out toward one of the cliffs, "ZACK!" He jumped and ran after him.

Yuffie hearing the commotion saw Zack jump out and attack Cloud. She yelled for someone and Sephiroth and Vincent came running. They got there just in time to see Cloud running away from camp. Sephiroth quickly asked as he grabbed his sword, "Tifa! Where does this path go?!"

"Seph? What happened?" She ran up at the sound of alarm in his voice.

"Cloud ran after Zack. Where does it go?" Sephiroth began running in the direction as Tifa told him.

"It goes out to one of the higher cliff faces," She tossed him the flashlight she held as he ran.

The sound of steps, rapid steps, rapid breathing, wind pushing past his ears, the sound of his heart pounding, blood flowing through his veins and he held his pace. His thoughts raced. 'If something happens to him, I would never be able to forgive myself.' He knew this place fairly well. He'd spent a lot of time out here when he was a kid because none of the other kids came here so he had it to himself. No bullies, no taunts, just the wind that conveyed the impression of blowing his problems away with it. He knew that a very long drop was fast approaching and he had to get to Zack before he took that dive. Scanning the area in front of him, he finally saw what he'd been looking for, "Zack!"

Zack's pace slowed. With his energy drained he dropped to the ground and a shrill scream burst forward. He rocked back and forth and screams became sobs. Cloud caught up to him and slid down and across the gravel on his knees and pulled his pained friend to his chest. Cloud firmly held him when he heard Sephiroth in the distance and Cloud yelled, "Over here!" Zack's rocking was hard enough that he rocked Cloud with him. With handfuls of Cloud's clothes, his sobs continued unabated.

Barely recognizable as words, Zack chanted, "It's just too much, it hurts so much."

Sephiroth ran up with the flashlight, he shined it forward and they saw that Zack and Cloud were right on the very edge of the cliff. Cloud inhaled loudly and held it. Cloud's gaze flew up over his shoulder and Sephiroth stopped a few feet away, "How stable is this area?"

Cloud tried not to move, but Zack's rocking was making small pebbles slide over the edge, "It's not stable. That's why it was blocked off when I was a kid," Cloud whispered, his eyes nervously fixed on Sephiroth.

"Cloud!" Tifa and Vincent came up and she grasped Vincent's arm.

Sephiroth kept looking at Cloud and he held up one hand toward Tifa and Vincent. Calmly he said, "Someone go and get a rope or something." A large section covering and area of about 20 feet wobbled and a large visible crack crossed in front of Sephiroth's feet. Aerith ran up and Sephiroth held his arm out to keep her from going any farther.

Vincent took a step forward, "I believe that I can get them."

"How?" Tifa stepped up with Vincent.

Sephiroth interrupted, "The section is separating, any more weight and it might..."

Cloud cautiously moved his eyes from Sephiroth to Vincent. Holding Zack tighter, he was trying to calm him. The ground shifted again with a tremor and the blonde's face dropped and a panic he hadn't felt in so long ran up his spine. He unconsciously gripped Zack roughly, as if he was the anchor that held them to safety. Whispering to his hysterical friend while still looking at Vincent and Sephiroth, Cloud tried, "Shh, Zack, it's okay. Shh."

Seeing this, Tifa ran back to camp and the search was on.

"Tifa, what is it?" Yuffie ran alongside Tifa once she got back to camp, "What are you looking for?"

A hysterical Tifa shouted, "I need a rope! Or something to help Cloud!" Tifa's heart was sinking as the seconds ticked by. She finally had the man she loved and had loved since she'd met him. The pounding in her chest, her shortness of breath, the swimming of horror in her head, made it difficult to think. His face in the morning, his timid smile, the way his hands felt on her, the way deep blue in his eyes churned just under the glow when he was looking at her, flashed through her mind. She just seemed to be running around in circles when Barret grabbed her.

He shook her, "Tifa! Calm down. You can't help him if you don't calm down." Barret paused until she calmed enough to look to his face, "Will a blanket or something work?"

Tifa stopped and a flash went through her face, "Yes, that's it." She ran past him to the pile of blankets stacked over by the motorcycles. She grabbed a few and took off back to her love. Yuffie, Barret and Red followed her closely, hoping to be of some help.

The closer Tifa got to Cloud, the more her heart seemed to guide a stampede under her ribs. The stampede stopped instantly with one word from Sephiroth, "NO!"

A/N 2: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

Please send me your reviews if you want. It is really easy. Just click your arrow in the little box, write what you thought or felt about the chapter and then click right down there, just below the box. A little lower… a little to the right… yeah, right there! Click it! *grinning*