Authors Note: I feel like I wrote this chapter in strange circles… I also kept writing it when I couldn't sleep.
Anyway, I streamlined it as much as I could, but the dominoes are starting to clatter to the ground.
Cracked
Maintenance Tunnels, Sector Seven Slum
Barret still wasn't sure what to make of the two mercs.
Tifa said her friend had been a kid, taken in by ShinRa's lies, and while Barret didn't trust anything with ShinRa attached… seeing the blond suffer through random headaches and flashbacks was starting to tug at his heartstrings, especially whenever the blond dropped the stoic mask and looked around in honest confusion.
Barret still had nightmares of Corel, of Marlene crying and his struggle to get to her. He knew what it was like to get caught in a memory and for a horrible moment not know how to get back to reality. It got better, Barret used his love for Marlene and his anger at ShinRa to anchor him, but Spikey was having trouble with doing the same.
That didn't stop him from being a little shit about money, though according to Tifa that part may be because he was raised just by his mom and some people in their village tried shortchanging her. (Barret could almost respect that. Almost.)
Fair was a different matter entirely, walking around with that entirely unwanted friendliness.
Like the man hadn't witnessed how bad ShinRa could get.
And Fair might've kept Tifa updated on information as he found it, but Barret still didn't trust him.
"No one has the key, so we haven't tried getting in." Tifa explained as they stood in front of the gate.
"Doesn't stop anything from getting out through the spot where the cables and pipes go. And most gates like this open from the inside, more for keeping things out than in." Fair boosts Tifa over the gate so she can open it. "No telling what's down here."
There's a ladder to a break room gathering dust and beyond that, there's a cavern, and Barret is horrified- there's no proper shoring, it's haphazard at best and he wants to grab Tifa and get out of there before everything comes down on their heads. Or collapse under their feet.
"All this time, right under our feet … how could they do this?" Barret managed, his voice echoing. This would have severely weakened the foundations of the buildings above… no wonder the old buildings had all collapsed.
"The lab in Nibleheim was similar, I bet they were building this before they built the plate." Fair looks grim.
"Zack." Spikey said. Drawing their attention to something infront of them.
"That's not good."
"No shit." Barret retorted. Because there are cages- some with animals still in them, but most are broken, and as they watch another cage door breaks.
"We need to clear out the lab. Stay together." With that Fair and Spikey launch into battle, Tifa not far behind them.
The two soldier boys move fast and hit hard, worth the money, and Barret almost respects their skills.
Fair stops them when they find giant fans blocking them from the rest of the facility.
"We don't have a map of this place, last thing we need is to get lost."
"And leave the job unfinished? Who knows what else is down here?!" Barret objected.
Something roared, and something else roared back.
"We're low on supplies. This is a bigger problem than we expected. We'll have to resupply and return tomorrow." Fair grimaced. "We need more people, too, this is the kind of job where we want someone on the door to make sure nothing escapes."
"I bet they taught you all that in ShinRa?"
"Not exactly." Fair headed back up the steps. Spikey followed after Tifa.
"Zack, was that door open when we came down?" Tifa noticed.
Right as some sort of humanoid monster lunged at her from the ceiling.
Spikey pulled her out of the way and Barret filled the monster with bullets until it stopped moving and dissolved.
"What the hell was that?"
"Our next target. Doors are bent open so Cloud and I will stay here, make sure nothing else comes out. You two go and get some help and supplies."
"Me and Spikey will stay, you go with Tifa. I need a break from the ladders." Barret grimaced.
"Okay. Stay sharp." Fair agreed.
"We'll be fine." Spikey crossed his arms. "Not the weirdest place you've left me."
"Good point. Be back in a bit." Fair and Tifa scrambled up the ladder.
It was only after they left that Barret realized he was now left in a very awkward silence. Spikey was doing an impression of a statue.
"You know Mako's the lifeblood of the planet. ShinRa suppresses that info, but what Mako is is the lifestream, filled with souls of those who have returned to the planet." Barret decided to lecture to fill the silence.
He had trouble sitting down long enough to write out a manifesto, but talking he could do.
Spikey rolled his eyes exactly once, but didn't say anything, just listened as Barret talked, trying to fill the silence with as much information as he could (as well as some insults to ShinRa).
"Mako is also memories, which is what materia is."
"Memories?" Spikey asked, so softly Barret almost missed it.
"Yeah, cause of all the souls. Mako has memories of the dead."
"… would that be why … some of my memories don't seem like mine?" Spikey asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, but … Zack says I never went into the library in the Nibleheim lab, but I remember being in there." Spikey rubbed his temple for a moment, before snapping to attention. "Barret!"
Barret blasted the face of the creature that had tried coming through the door.
There's a moment as something hisses, before silence returns.
"Any guess as to what those things are?" Barret asked.
"A few. Nothing I want to think about."
"We're back! Wymer and Biggs have the gate, Wedge is watching Marlene." Tifa came back with Aerith in tow. "We've got Aerith and that Sonon guy. He wants any materia we find down here."
"Fine by me." Spikey retreated to being a statue as Sonon joined them.
"Let's go!"
There's a lot of the humanoid creatures, plus the granddaddy of all of them.
Aerith is almost constantly healing them as the battle goes on. Sonon is flipping past, striking out with his staff and occasional magic.
The big one goes down hard, hitting the wall so hard that the wall actually breaks, revealing a new room.
A room with tanks, some with Mako, others without, but most with a human body. A couple halfway to looking like the humanoid monsters they just fought.
"Wait, were those people we fought?!" Barret demanded in horror, hearing Tifa gasp.
"Yeah. Science occasionally gets bored and leaves the people they experiment on to pickle in Mako, see what happens." Fair looks ill. "Looks like some of them were able to break out, but only after they mutated."
"Damn ShinRa. Wait, you said Spikey was Mako poisoned …" Barret remembered.
"Yeah, they had the same tanks in Nibleheim. I got lucky, broke out of mine, got Cloud out of his. Cloud-?!" Fair caught his friend who seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.
Tifa and Aerith went to help, leaving Barret with Sonon, another merc, apparently.
"How could no one notice all these people going missing?" Sonon wondered.
"Probably listed as died in an accident and then just hidden away, no one looks for the dead." Barret sighed. "Of course, ShinRa doesn't go looking for dead people either." He rubbed his arm. "Better let Wymer know, he can organize some burials or something."
Sonon hissed softly. One of the bodies had mangled hands, most likely from trying to break the tank.
These people had been left here to rot, because ShinRa had gotten bored.
"Damn them." Barret hissed. "Bad enough they use the lifestream to power the city and their monstrosities, but this …"
"Some of these people are Wutaian. I don't know… could they have been prisoners of war?" Sonon noted.
"Or people who got arrested for breaking the old curfew. Rumor is some of them were never released." Barret sighed. "Heard plenty of horror stories when I moved here a couple years ago, but I thought it was just people trying to talk me out of starting fights."
"I see." Sonon looked away.
"Hey, ShinRa's gonna get their reckoning, for everything. I swear it." Barrett's not letting this go unavenged. "Their sins are overflowing, it's more than time for a reckoning."
There's a bit of a spark in Sonon's eyes at that.
"If there's a way to do it without affecting innocent civilians, count me in." Fair said from behind them, surprising them both. "C'mon, we can plot ShinRa's downfall later, let's go home and rest up."
Something roared in the distance.
"I have to fight whatever that is tomorrow, and I need a nap." Fair informed them.
"Aw, did the big bad soldier forget his nap today?" Barret mocked, hoping for a rise.
"Yep! Oh, here, Cloud reminded me we found this earlier down here." Fair tossed Sonon a materia. "This area was a bit of a bust, huh?"
"Honestly, there might be a materia in one of the fuller tanks but …" Sonon grimaced at the body floating in it. Most of the bodies were male, only a couple were female. If they'd ever been anything else, there was no way for them to know.
"Yeah. You're probably gonna want some protective gear to get it. I checked earlier, security cameras down here are disconnected, already broken or easily spotted and blown up. I'm betting something broke containment and they just sealed up the place instead of actually doing something."
"Ignoring the lives of the people above."
"Welcome to the monsters den, it gets worse the deeper you go." Fair gave a bitter smile. "Leaving people in Mako is almost a kindness for science."
"Is Cloud alright?" Sonon asked, following Fair but not following up on that comment. Barret wanted to yell at Fair for being so calm about this.
"Yeah, this just brings up bad memories, for both of us." Fair glanced at an empty tank, and for a moment the reflection on the glass made it look like Fair was inside the tank, trapped and angry. Fair smashed the tank, breaking the reflection and heading out.
So Fair wasn't calm, just better at hiding it.
Barret decided not to press as everyone separated and headed home, Wymer having set up a Watch rotation for the night.
It was after Marlene had nodded off that the thoughts he hadn't wanted to think about had come floating back.
Fair had broken out of a lab like that. Spikey had been rescued… Mako poisoned, Fair had said. Spikey had also had a panic attack seeing the tanks.
They'd both been listed as Killed in Action and then just vanished into a lab, like so many other people. Like people from Nibleheim, who'd survived the fire only to be turned into lab rats.
A fate that could have been Corel's, if not for some strange twist of luck. His little Marlene could have been in a damn tank and left to rot.
Some of the tanks had been empty of Mako but the bodies inside had been slumped or curled up. Left to die a slow death of dehydration and starvation, if they were lucky they'd been braindead and unable to notice. Corel had been on the edge of a desert and everyone knew to hydrate and how quick dehydration could turn deadly. Rumor was Mako could extend that time.
In the end, though, it was just another abuse of the planet's resources, the lifestream used to torture people. ShinRa would pay for that.
Maybe Barret would consider working with the mercs going forward, Tifa wasn't completely on board with bombing a reactor.
He probably should have asked her to stay over tonight, she shouldn't have been left alone.
Avalanche S7 Cell Base, Medical Clinic Basement, Sector Seven Slums
Sonon couldn't sleep. The clinic had multiple cots in the basement, mostly used for temporary accommodation instead of actual living.
Sonon was tempted to go back to the apartment above the Happy Turtle, it had been a spare room that Hikaru had rented out, and absolutely no soundproofing, but at least that hadn't felt like sleeping in enemy territory.
Even the rented room in Sector Five had felt more comfortable.
It didn't help that the lab was replaying in his mind.
Nayo and Zhijie had listened to his report of the lab in horror, before Nayo had mentioned she had access to the missing persons database, so she could look up pictures and find family members, if any were looking. She'd gone to talk to Wymer about that.
There were going to be unknowns- those humanoid monsters had once been human, whatever their faces had been there was no remains of that now. In some cases there were no remains, the creatures had dissolved into Mako upon defeat.
That lab wasn't torture for information, or a hostage situation, or even a straightforward execution; ShinRa had used a combination of their own people and Wutaians in experiments until they got bored and then left them to die.
Sonon had hated them for the casual destruction of his people and the murder of his sister, but that was an invasion, a War, no matter how unjust and therefore the casualties were somewhat understandable.
The lab on the other hand… that was cruelty beyond belief.
Apparently he could still be surprised by the depths of ShinRa's cruelty.
And Fair had called that being kind, with the type of certainty that came from experience.
Sonon didn't want to know what the soldier considered unkind.
About halfway through the night, he gave up on sleep and got up. He needed a walk.
He hadn't gone very far before he notice the martial artist from earlier.
Tifa, she had called herself. She was sitting on the steps to a ramshackle apartment building, a bottle of liquor in her hands as she stared up at the under side of the plate.
"You alright?" Sonon asked, moving forward. He startled her in the process.
"Sonon, right?" Tifa blinked. "I'm fine."
"I'm not. That was pretty bad down there." Sonon offered, stepping closer. He could see the bottle was still closed.
"Yeah." Tifa sighed.
"I know we just met, but if you want to talk …" Sonon offered, not expecting much, but any information was good.
"Thanks." She glanced up at the underplate again. "You know, nights like this, you can almost pretend the underplate is just the night sky with stars. My hometown, I could look up every night and see the stars. Cloud and I even made a promise under them." Tifa closed her eyes. "Even when the town was burning, the stars were there. I never realized how much I took them for granted you know? And now I'm here and I miss the sky. You can't even see stars on the plate, too much light pollution."
"I honestly haven't thought about it before, I noticed there's not much greenery here." Sonon offered. He glanced up at the underplate. It did sort of look like stars.
"Not much greenery anywhere there's a reactor. Population slowly declines as well. You can look up census data and notice it."
"I'll take your word for it." Sonon leaned against the rail. "You and Strife were friends?"
"Neighbors. Didn't really get a chance to know him until now."
"He seems pretty cold, compared to Fair." Sonon said, hoping she would say more.
"Yeah. Seems." Tifa sighed. "Cloud said talking and getting angry about how unfair what happened was won't solve it, so he doesn't want to waste energy." Tifa opened the bottle. "I can see his point, I can get angry and scream all I want, but that's not going to help those people, or save any other victims right now." She took a swig from the bottle and held it out to him in silent invitation.
"Some sense in that." Sonon agreed and took the bottle, taking a drink and promptly coughing as his throat burned. "What the-"
"Ah, sorry, that's really cheap cinnamon whiskey. I should have warned you." She took the bottle back. "I wanted to sleep without nightmares, this stuff can knock you out."
"After burning your throat?" Sonon blinked as she took another drink. "Are you sure that's not poison?" He was starting to feel his fingers go tingly and numb.
"Not poison, just really cheap, I promise you'll wake up in the morning. If you need a place to stay, I can cover for you with Marle in the morning." She gestured to a room upstairs. "She gives free rooms to people who are anti-ShinRa. Doesn't ask questions. Which is nice."
"Yeah, I'm going to have to take you up on that." Sonon grimaced, taking the bottle and taking another, though smaller drink from the bottle. The burn was less, possibly because he'd already burned away the lining in his throat. It almost tasted nice.
Tifa took back the bottle and sealed it, before leading the way upstairs. "You can take that room. If you're gonna help with the lab again tomorrow, everyone's meeting at Seventh Heaven, our bar."
"Got it." Sonon was unconscious as soon as his head hit the pillow. Thankfully, he didn't have nightmares.
Zack and Cloud's Apartment, Sector 5 Slum
Zack ended up joining Cloud on the floor again.
"I hate this." Cloud managed after a moment. "Falling apart so easily… you don't."
"I broke down and cried on you when I realized you might be catatonic forever. I pulled myself together after, but I do fall apart." Zack wrapped an arm around Cloud, who leaned into him. "I wanted to be strong enough so that you could sort your shit out and be safe, because it was my fault, I should've been able to stop Sephiroth. Should've cast sleep or stop on the man when he went longer than forty-eight hours without leaving that damn room. But I did nothing and the town paid the price for my lack of action, and then I wasn't able to fight him properly and you nearly died because of that."
"Why couldn't you fight him?"
"Because Angeal had made me kill him, I had to put down Essai and Sebastian, Genesis was a lunatic, and I still couldn't fight Sephiroth because he was my friend and it hurt to see him do the exact same thing as the others. I should have been able to fight better." Zack closed his eyes. "You're not weak for being traumatized by Sephiroth razing your village and time in the lab."
"… Then you're not weak for being traumatized by your other friends that you weren't able to handle Sephiroth." Cloud offered. "We're both hurt by the lab."
Zack tightened his grip on Cloud. "You're right." He had held back against Sephiroth, reluctant to kill yet another friend, despite the fact his friend had massacred civilians. Zack had wanted to wake up and discover it had just been a nightmare … it sucked being the one to kill a friend, even if your friend had gone crazy and had killed innocent people.
"Cloud, promise me something. Don't ever ask me to kill you. Because I will snap instead." Zack managed.
"As long as you don't make me kill you, it's a deal."
Neither slept well that night, both waking up from nightmares to check the other was still breathing, or that they weren't once again imprisoned in tanks unable to touch anything.
Aerith brought them breakfast in the morning and they headed to Seventh Heaven, only to notice a gathering crowd and murmurs about ShinRa.
"I'll investigate, you two head to the bar." Zack decided, jogging to see what was happening.
There was ShinRa security blocking the access, Tseng was in an argument with Wymer.
"Protocol dictates-" Tseng was trying to say.
"Hang your damn protocol!" Wymer was close to snapping.
"Problem, gentlemen?" Zack interrupted.
"They're trying to arrest my men!"
"The trespassing of ShinRa property-"
"Okay, Time out. Tseng, yesterday some of those lab rats escaped and ended up near children, it was only quick action that no child was hurt but a teacher was. I sure hope you're not going to tell me that a monster cull is no longer ShinRa policy when monsters infringe on a populated area? Especially since such a vital piece of ShinRa property was left unguarded in a clear dereliction of duty." Zack kept himself between Tseng and Wymer. "Doesn't look good for the company reputation when civilians get hurt, or that mercenaries had to be called in. Careless, it looks like." Zack crossed his arms. There's a crowd forming and a couple of the infantry are starting to look nervous about the situation.
"And what would you suggest?"
Zack didn't get a chance to say anything.
"Release the two guys who were guarding the gate, and then you go deal with the monsters before we decide to submit a request to be properly paid for a monster cull. I'm sure ShinRa would appreciate you taking the initiative to deal with monsters attacking the slums before it became a problem." Cloud spoke up, and Zack was going to lecture him about staying in place later. "You answer to Heidegger, don't you? I'm sure he needs all the good publicity he can get." Cloud added.
"… I suppose that will be satisfactory for all involved." Tseng allowed, studying Cloud. Zack resisted the urge to hide his friend behind him.
"Don't want trouble if that's what you're worrying about." Wymer added, "Just want ShinRa to do their damn job. That gate should've never been unguarded!"
"Very well." Tseng gave the order for the two Watch members to be released. "I should hope for you to stay out of further trouble."
"Wasn't your hair pulled up before?" Cloud asked, ignoring the warning.
"Yes. I take it you remember me?" Tseng focused on Cloud.
Zack had almost forgotten Cloud had known Tseng.
"You crashed the helicopter in snow. Modeoheim Mission." Cloud studied Tseng. "Something about an ambush?"
"I cannot discuss ShinRa business with you no longer in the company." Tseng said, studying Cloud in turn.
"That's fine." Cloud shrugged. "C'mon, Zack, I'm hungry."
"If you have any materia from the lab, I must request you hand it over." Tseng said as they turned to leave.
"We don't have any. Though with that layout, if any are missing from inventory, they probably fell." Cloud lied easily. "None of the local watch found anything either."
"Like he said. See you around!" Zack followed Cloud back to the bar. Biggs and Sonon were waiting at the door, keeping an eye out. Barret was actively being pinned by Wedge, Tifa and Aerith. The muffled growls informed everyone that yes, he would start a fight the instant they let him up.
Zack didn't start fully breathing until they were inside the bar. "Cloud, what were you thinking?!" He didn't mean to raise his voice, but Tseng was dangerous.
Everyone froze, Biggs looked like he was going to jump in before Sonon stopped him.
"That it would be harder for him to disappear you if I was there." Cloud put his hands on hips. "Or did you think I wouldn't notice that you sent me and Aerith to hide? I'm awake, Zack, let me protect you on occasion!"
"I know you're awake! That doesn't make it easy to know you're in danger!"
"Oh, and getting dropped random places wondering when you're coming back is?"
"What?" Zack managed.
"I told you! I couldn't move, but sometimes I was awake! You left me in some weird places and sometimes I would wake up terrified that you'd left me alone and were dead somewhere! I couldn't move and you'd just leave … I'm not doing that anymore. ShinRa comes after us, it's better we're together!"
It hadn't really sunk in that Cloud had been aware at times. Zack had gotten too used to pretending that he was, to cover up the fear that Cloud was completely braindead.
"What do you remember?" Zack had a terrifying thought.
"I remember the truck. I remember you dropped me off behind a pile of rocks while people were shooting at us. I couldn't grab you and I passed out trying to get up."
Zack can't really breathe. Because he hadn't really thought about it, wanting to move before more soldiers came, but Cloud hadn't been where Zack had left him. Zack hadn't thought anything about it, just a passing thought that maybe he hadn't put Cloud against the rock properly.
Cloud had been trying to get to him.
How many times had Cloud moved, trying to find Zack, and Zack hadn't been nearby to notice?
"Zack!" Cloud was not pleased to be grabbed in a hug, because he clearly wanted to argue some more.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think I was abandoning you." Zack muttered.
"I will beat you up the next time we spar, Zack." Cloud grumbled, not quite accepting the apology.
"We'll see about that." Zack pulled away and ruffled Cloud's hair. "We'll talk more later, huh?"
"Fine." Cloud rolled his eyes.
"I'm helping Cloud! It's very rude of you to hide us away like that!" Aerith piped up, helping Wedge up as Barret struggled to his feet with Tifa's help.
"You should let me gun him down! Damn ShinRa rat." Barret snarled.
"That particular rat has a direct line to the President and is willing to burn down a town to cover things up, Barret. We want him to forget about Sector Seven as soon as possible." Zack sighed. "Cloud and I may have to avoid the area for a couple days. Make it look like we're not attached to any sector in particular."
"So you don't end up in a lab again?" Tifa crossed her arms.
"You didn't know there was anyone down there, Tifa. How many other labs are hidden like that, with prisoners trapped only a short way from home?"
Aerith wordlessly leaned into him, letting him wrap his arms around her.
"I want you to check in on occasion. Or I will start finding out how many labs there are when I go looking for you." Tifa informed him.
"We can do that. Bar's got a landline, right?"
"Yes." Cloud answered.
Sonon heads out with a wave as Jesse and Marlene come up with the news the get along shirt still needed to dry. Zack didn't ask.
B3- General Affairs, Auditing, ShinRa Tower
Tseng had a headache.
He had just given his incident report to the President, Heidegger and Tuesti. A sensor had tripped in an abandoned lab in Sector Seven. Some animals had escaped and gotten close to children and had bitten their teacher.
It had taken a day to get a group of infantrymen to check it out thanks to Heidegger and in the process mercenaries had done a partial monster cull.
It was not a good look for the company. Director Tuesti had been vocally horrified, and even the President had acknowledged that monsters near children wasn't a good look for the company.
Unfortunately, all that was done was relocking the lab and putting two men at the gate. No further culls even though there were still monsters inside and it wasn't fully secured.
It wouldn't hold. Heidegger would reassign the two men without a second thought the instant something Heidegger deemed more important happened and the lab sensors were damaged now and not able to be replaced due to age. Director Tuesti would be able to get one new sensor on the gate, but that was easily circumvented.
He had not mentioned Fair and Strife by name. Partially because Strife had remembered him and had his cognitive abilities intact, negotiating instead of fighting.
There was always the chance of degradation still occurring, but the two appeared to be themselves. A more thorough evaluation and investigation into the two was just not possible at this time.
If only there had been a way to keep more Turks, but the majority had gone with Veld and were likely in hiding.
Bedroom, Undisclosed Location
Shuriken, alias Cissnei, real name [Redacted] checked her email for the third time. It had stung, leaving before knowing if Zack had made it to safety with Strife. Hopefully he hadn't actually gone to Midgar, but a farm where he could hide himself and Cloud Strife. Who was an entire other mess.
A chime pulled her out of her thoughts.
1 New Email, From: Zack Fan Club
Cissnei stared at it for a moment. That wasn't possible. The club had disbanded due to financial difficulties.
She clicked on it, half expecting malware.
It wasn't. It was a blurry picture of Zack Fair walking with Cloud Strife.
'Zack Fair Lives?! There's been talk of a couple new mercenaries where I live, I've seen some fliers too, and today my brother pointed them out to me. I recognize the sword and the handsome face, but I don't know who the partner is. If Black Suit can be reached, they used to know everything about Zack Fair, maybe the death report was mistaken?'
Below the message was a flyer, for 'Fair & Strife Services', the person taking the picture had an awkward angle and cut off which sector number to investigate.
Cissnei couldn't breathe. How dumb could you be, going and living under ShinRa's very nose?!
(She ignored the thought that the Ancient did the same, as that was with the Turks help.)
She couldn't even get to Midgar. Everyone was scattered and working on establishing their new identities. She couldn't just uproot herself, Shotgun and Gun needed her to stay put to be able to provide help in maintaining their covers.
She needed to contact someone about this, but who?
Zack's friend. Kunsel. The one who observed everything. She still had his email!
End Note: Making a surprise return, Cissnei and the Zack Fair Fan Club! She probably won't return for a while save as emails and messages to Kunsel.
Sonon is going to be slowly finding he has more in common with the splinter cell Barret has, than the regular one. All roads will lead to a reactor bombing … but also to the arrival of a certain ninja.
Cloud's starting to push back against Zack's orders, which is actually a good thing. That doesn't mean it's going to be perfect or not cause a problem, because let's face it, when learning a new skill, mistakes will be made.
Heads up for those of you approaching drinking age: if someone cheerfully tells you they decided to make their own cinnamon whisky by buying a bottle of whiskey and put both ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks in it, ask them what type of whiskey they used before you drink it. If the answer is 'really cheap' ask to water it down or mix it with something like soda or even hot chocolate. Also Tums will be your savior the next morning.
Please learn from someone else's mistakes. They sell cinnamon whiskey. Drink that responsibly!
