Summary: Zack heals physically, but emotionally he has a harder time. Cloud turns out to be pretty cool though. A hero in his own small way.

AN: This chapter mentions Hojo's "scientific experiments". It's not explicit, but we know enough about Hojo to have it blow up in our minds.

Chapter 2: Stumbling Into Safety

Zack dreamed of flying around his home village as he chased a laughing, flying bear that trailed sunshiny sparkles. It was a great dream until the air turned green, the sparkles started to burn, and the giggles morphed into Hojo's insane crackle.

Thankfully, his PHS trilled and he dragged himself further out of the dream with each ring. He shuffled around, trying to find it. It had to be somewhere near his oddly lumpy bed…

"Hi."

An unknown male was right next to him.

"Where are you? Expected you in last night." That voice was female; not one he knew.

"I'm fine, Tifa." Actually, oddly, the man's voice was somewhat familiar.

"And you couldn't call me?"

"You're not my mother, Tifa. Don't owe you updates."

Woah! Harsh. The hurt silence from the end of the PHS agreed with Zack.

"Sorry."

The guy should be.

"No. You're right," the girl said. "Friends though, so I'm allowed to worry."

"True. Just…" Zack heard cloth rustling and felt the guy next to him sit up. "Shinra was blocking the road with some kind of military action. Waited until they cleared out, is all."

"Heard nothing on th…"

The voice faded as Zack's body grew heavy and he became slightly removed from everything except his skin. He was hyper-aware of every touch of cloth, every bit of breeze… He could feel every bullet, every blast, every bit of magic that had been thrown at him.

"What's that?"

Zack must have made a sound.

"Something on the ridge, maybe," the guy said. "I'm gonna head out. See you soon. Probably not today. Or tomorrow."

Zack didn't listen to the rest of the call. He was busy swallowing and trying to breathe through a suddenly tight throat. They'd killed him.

"Fair?" The voice was gentle. It made Zack's chest hurt.

Like Genesis and Angeal, he'd been declared dead before it was true, and so Shinra had sent an army to kill him and they'd come damn close.

"'s okay." A warm hand gripped his arm. Everything else felt cold. "You're allowed to cry. So I'm told." The dry snark in the last sentence forced a reluctant huff of laughter from Zack.

"Mostly dead all day?" he managed to say.

"Yah."

So Zack raised his arm to cover his eyes and let them leak out all the pain and stress he'd felt since he'd escaped from the lab in Nibelheim. He didn't even begin to touch the time spent in the lab, but it was enough for now.

Around him he heard the guy – vaguely remembered from… last night? – move around the space. A fire, the smell of food cooking, then a chocobo's soft kweh. It was such a hard disconnect from the memories in Zack's head that he actually felt dizzy, just lying here on the ground.

The fit, or paroxysm, or spell, or whatever had just happened passed, as they always did. Zack still felt heavy – and now he had a headache – but he also felt a little better. And a lot embarrassed.

A handkerchief fell on his face.

"Food's just about ready," the guy said. "If you're up to eating it." Zack's stomach growled loudly in anticipation. The guy laughed softly. "That's a yes."

Then Zack felt the familiar zing of a healing spell. His headache disappeared, along with various other small hurts he'd been ignoring. His torso still radiated pain, and his sinuses were still plugged, but he had the handkerchief for the latter.

When his eyes were wiped and nose blown, Zack looked at the thoroughly used bit of cloth in his hand.

He looked at the guy he'd woken up beside and whose name he should probably know. His good Samaritan was in his early 20s. He had very blue eyes, pale, freckled skin that was maybe a little sun burnt. His hair stuck up every which way, and there was a hardness about it that spoke of bad experience and tough living. He looked like he didn't smile much.

"I'm sorry. I don't remember your name." Easiest to get that out of the way. "And, uh…?" He waved the drenched handkerchief.

"Name's Cloud. You're Zack, by the way. Just in case." Zack gave an exaggerated frown. Cloud's eyes crinched in amusement. "Keep the handkerchief."

Zack didn't actually want to. (It was disgusting.) He casually dropped it on the ground next to him.

When Zack turned back around, the guy was still watching him. This time he was smiling in gentle mockery. In his hand he held an enameled field cup filled with steaming black liquid.

"Can you sit up on your own?" Cloud asked.

It was a good question. Zack still felt heavy – like his bones were stone and his muscles were straw. Only one way to find out…

He clenched his abdominals and barely got his shoulders off the ground. Then there was a strong arm under him, lifting him the rest of the way.

"Tried that last night," Cloud said. "Didn't work then either."

"I nearly died."

"Waited near two hours for the fighting to stop."

Fuck.

Zack thought, why hadn't they used the Turks? But he said, "That's a lot of bullets."

"Yah," Cloud agreed. "Speaking of, you probably got rid of more overnight. Might want to empty your shirt?"

Zack frowned. "Empty my…?" He plucked at his shirt, looking down at it, and realized that it wasn't his shirt. It was a blue tank top that was just a little too small, and "Where's my stomach guard?" He felt around his shoulders. "And my harness."

"Gone. Shot to shit and useless as a dragon's prayer," Cloud answered. "Dumped 'em in a ravine so Shinra wouldn't find 'em if they went looking for you."

Zack had been ready to get angry, but Cloud's answer was logical and practical. And somewhat heartbreaking. He'd worn a stomach guard nearly everyday since joining Shinra. It was an intrinsic part of the uniform. It was as much a part of him as his hair, or the eyes.

All he'd ever wanted was to be a hero. SOLDIER had seemed like the perfect way to become that, and Zack had loved being a SOLDIER. Most of it. Most of the time. Until he realized that SOLDIER was built on lies and betrayal. Shinra hadn't been making heroes – they wouldn't know how. Instead they made monsters because they were monsters themselves.

What the hells was he supposed to do now?

"A whole world of choices for you now." Cloud said as if he could read Zack's mind. "Maybe we don't need SOLDIERs, but always a need for decent people who are kind and try to make things better." He handed Zack the cup.

It was coffee, kind of. Actually, it was mostly grounds when he took a sip, but it was still tasty.

"And how do I make things better?" Zack growled. "I can't sing."

Cloud snickered. "People in every sector say the same thing: monsters are getting worse, harder to kill, sneakier. Hire yourself out as a mercenary like me. Clear out the monsters, keep the sectors safe for ordinary people. Be a hero but for hire, yah?" Cloud slashed him a look. "Might get paid in chickens and potions, but still worthwhile."

Zack could've been suspicious, but he was mostly tired. He drank the coffee (or ate it, depending on the viewpoint) and felt some brain cells come back online. "How'd you know I wanted to be a hero?"

Cloud gave him a lopsided smirk. He exchanged the empty cup for a plate full of breakfast. "People joined SOLDIER to be famous or a hero. You weren't that famous."

Zack stopped with the toast halfway to his mouth. "You recognized me?"

Cloud tipped his head, embarrassed. "Wanted to join SOLDIER once." He glanced back at Zack and answered the next question. "Famous, to show my hometown I wasn't just a weirdo."

Zack nodded. First thing Luxiere had done on being made SOLDIER Third was to go home and show off.

"Actually, we met once," Cloud said quietly. "Mission in Modeoheim, six or so years ago. Just two backwater country boys out for a stroll in ice-covered mountains." Cloud kept his gaze on the fire, but Zack knew the guy was focused on him, on his reaction – would Zack remember him.

There were a lot of things about that mission he wanted to forget, but they were kind of etched into his brain. Tseng crashed the helicopter and they'd had to walk. The only one who'd kept up had been some blond kid from Nibelheim…

"A mako reactor outside of Midgar…" he started.

"Usually means there's nothing else out there," Cloud completed.

Zack could almost chuckle – that mission was second only to Nibelheim for worst assignment he'd ever had.

"Sorry you didn't make it into SOLDIER."

"I'm not. Not anymore," the guy said.

There was a wealth of bitterness behind his flat tone, so Zack backed away from the conversation and ate more breakfast instead. He wondered how Luxiere was doing. He'd been a junior Second when Zack left, anxious for promotion. In fact, his last message had been… Zack hadn't responded because it had felt a little off, but maybe he'd been a bit paranoid?

He checked his pockets. They were flat and empty. "My PHS!"

"Sorry. Destroyed in the fight," Cloud said. "Tossed it in a hole."

Zack dropped his head. All his messages! Kunsel, Luxiere – even the fan club updates. Gone. Another disconnect from who he'd been.

"Got your SIM card." Zack vaguely remembered SIM cards as permanent memory or something. "Soon as you plug it in, Shinra'll know you're still alive."

It was a fair point. Was it worth it? Would Shinra send out another army to kill him? "How long since Shinra declared me dead?"

"December. Year 3," Cloud said softly. Zack must've been quiet for a while. "But you disappeared a couple months before, during 'The Incident'."

Zack could hear the air quotes, the utter rejection for whatever story Shinra had put out to cover Sephiroth's actions.

"What about Sephiroth?" Zack asked. "Was he declared dead?"

Cloud nodded. "Both of you. Same mission."

Zack didn't want to ask the next question, but he had to. "And what year–"

"Year 7. Asked the same thing last night." Cloud looked at him and tipped his chin. "Eat up. Still hava delivery to make."

"Aren't you… Y'know, gonna ask?"

The guy lowered his half-empty plate. "Wanna tell me?" he asked back.

Zack's instinctive response was a resounding 'no', but maybe he should tell somebody?

"Find somebody you trust, then tell them," Cloud said and went back to his food.

Find somebody he trusted. Zack nearly snorted. The people he'd trusted most were dead or spies. That made him think of Tseng.

He'd put Aerith in Tseng's hands before he left to go to Nibelheim. He wondered if the Turk had kept his promise, or had he gathered her up and turned her over to Hojo? Because that had been the threat, hadn't it? The last living Ancient would be left alone to live in the slums as long as Shinra didn't want her.

"I need to get to my girl," Zack finally said.

Cloud paused what he was doing – scraping the remains into the fire it looked like. "Think she's waited?"

Zack shrugged. "I gotta hope so, right?" Gods, he hoped so.

Cloud gave it careful consideration before nodding. "Gotta have dreams," he said, and the air rushed out of Zack's lungs. "Makes waking up each day a whole lot easier."

Unattainable dreams are the best kind.

"Zack?"

Zack's lungs were tight. He couldn't breathe. He could hear his heartbeat, feel it in his head. It was… It was…

"Hey, s'okay. Look at me. Look at me."

Zack raised his head. Cloud was right there, eyebrows wrinkled in concern.

"Breathe with me, okay? Just breathe. All you gotta do."

And they breathed – in two, three, four; out, two, three, four – until the grey faded from Zack's vision. He sucked in a huge gulping breath. And it was over. Whatever 'it' had been.

He looked up at Cloud, who'd helped him once again.

"Panic attack," Cloud said.

Oh.

Okay.

"Used to get them before. Might again, I suppose." Cloud clapped him on the shoulder. "Finish your food. I'll clean up."

Zack did as he was told, mechanically funneling the food from the plate to his mouth. He was probably doing it a disservice, it was probably very tasty, but it was enough that he was doing it. Why was he falling apart now? He'd been on the run from Shinra for months, and yet an hour with Cloud and he'd bawled his eyes out and freaked the fuck out. Why?

Worse, by the time he'd finished eating, his arms felt beyond tired. They felt like his first days learning how to use a sword – every muscle from his neck to his fingers felt like that snotty rag he'd discarded.

The plate fell from his hands.

Cloud picked it up. "Don't worry about it."

Zack tried to smile. "Mostly dead, right?"

Cloud nodded as if it were that easy. Zack watched Cloud clean the plate and pack everything away in saddle bags. Zack watched Cloud prepare the chocobos – a lovely green and a sturdy-looking yellow. He watched Cloud bury their small campfire with dirt, and he watched Cloud pick up traces of their visit. All while he sat there and did nothing.

Something screeed from up on the cliffs, and the yellow hopped anxiously. There wasn't much light in their little space of the planet, but it was enough to see…

"Is that my sword?"

Cloud glanced. "Yah. Figured you'd want it."

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." He'd just assumed that Cloud had dropped it in a hole like Zack's armour and his phone.

Cloud nodded and went back to doing everything.

Zack looked at Galatine, the sword he'd inherited from Angeal. If he'd died on the cliff top, who'd have taken it? Who'd have carried on the legacy? "What do you think of it?

Cloud looked at him, surprised. He shrugged. "Decent balance but heavy. What's it weigh?"

"More than it should, sometimes," Zack acknowledged sadly. "It was left to me. A symbol of dreams and honour."

"Your dreams and honour?" Cloud asked mildly. "Or somebody else's?"

It snapped Zack out of the memories. "What?"

But he'd said it too softly for Cloud to hear because Cloud was over by the green chocobo, putting some final bits of kit into the saddlebags.

Zack tried to stand up.

Nothing happened.

Giving up on anything like his usual style, he rolled over onto all fours and levered his way up piece by piece. He got to his knees and had to take a break.

"Not bad," Cloud said. He cast another healing spell, and it was enough for Zack to get his feet under him. (He had to use Cloud for balance, but otherwise it was all him.) He gave a (very) small bounce, testing the waters as it were, and hit his head on the stone roof for his daring.

"I'm jingling," he said. "Is that the bullets you were talking about?"

Cloud nodded. He grabbed the skinny bedroll and shook it out. Zack saw even more metal fall to the dirt. "So many bullets. Every Cure pushed more out through your skin," he said.

"Eww!"

"Didn't know SOLDIERs did that."

"Neither did I," Zack grimaced. "Glad I was unconscious for most of it." He untucked a corner of the tank top. He tipped a little (using the rock to brace himself this time) and let the little bits of metal fall. There did seem to be a lot of them.

It felt weird not to have the stomach guard or the shoulder pads. He was pretty sure he hadn't been allowed them in Hojo's lab, but he'd been unconscious or drugged most of the time. They could've kept him naked and he would've hardly noticed. In fact, he was pretty sure he had been kept naked for most of it.

"So, mercenary huh." He shook his right leg. "Is that what you are?"

"Pays the bills," Cloud shrugged. "Plus, depending on the creature, I can salvage body parts and sell them to artificers for potions. Decent money and better than working for Don Corneo."

"Who's Don Corneo?"

"Runs Wall Market: prostitution, smuggling, illegal fights – or would be illegal if Shinra gave a shit about the undercities."

"Wall Market," Zack said, confused. "The one in Sector 6?"

Cloud nodded. Then his brows went up as if enlightened. "Corneo only moved in couple years ago, so you wouldn't know. Real scuzzbag," he said. "Showed up outta nowhere with enough muscle to take over the busiest district under the plate. All his competition – gangs or legitimate – disappeared or died in less than a year. Leaving only him."

"I missed all that," Zack said blankly. Could he have stopped it if he hadn't been in Hojo's hands?

"Sound of your voice says you woulda fought it,"

It was Zack's turn to shrug.

Cloud shook his head. "Corneo's backed by someone powerful. Only way to take over a whole sector that fast. That means Wutai or Shinra's staking him, and if it was Wutai, then the Turks woulda gotten rid of him by now."

"You think he works for Shinra."

"Lotta information gets funneled through Wall Market one way or another. Even odds it's going above the plate." He paused. "It's bigger than it was, louder. Decent people can still live in the edges where Corneo's not interested. Has the best blacksmith under the plate. Made my sword." Cloud tipped his chin at the blade mounted in a fancy harness attached to the green chobobo's saddle. "Haven't lost a battle with it yet."

"Any other big changes I should know about?" Zack meant it sarcastically, but Cloud frowned in thought.

"Gongaga reactor blew up couple years ago."

"That I already knew."

Cloud looked at him. "Went back to your hometown?" Zack nodded. "Did they rebuild it? Make it look like nothing happened?"

Zack shook his head, no, but then he wondered why not? Shinra had completely rebuilt Nibelheim. So perfectly that Zack had felt like he'd actually gone back in time.

"Lucky," Cloud said. "Nothing makes you more lost than having a hometown that isn't yours anymore."

Again, Zack's breath was taken from him. "Your… folks? Did Sephiroth–"

"I don't deliver to Nibelheim." Cloud's back was stiff. "Last time I was there, they had four strangers calling themselves 'Strife' – husband, wife, two kids. But before, there was only ever me and my ma. They erased us, erased her, 'cause we didn't matter. Just stupid peasants." He glared up at the plate before striding away to … somewhere else. The green gave a soft, sad kweh.

Unlike the chocobo, Zack didn't try to call Cloud back. Instead he decided it would be a good time to empty his bladder. He tried to push away from the stone, and he did manage to stand up straight. Moving his feet was another matter entirely.

In the end, he leaned against the rock and shuffled around the corner like a drunkard. He had to keep one hand on the rock so he wouldn't fall over, but he managed his business without getting any on his boots. Then he shuffled back around to see every trace of their campsite erased – except for all the bullets scattered in the dirt.

"Think you can ride a chocobo?"

Zack considered how rubbery his legs felt even from the short distance around the rock. "Not by myself."

Cloud nodded as if Zack's confession was neither surprising nor worthy of note. Zack saw the gleam of green materia, and then he was surrounded by a cast Cura. Cloud's straightforward approach to Zack's weakness helped the SOLDIER feel less embarrassed by it

"Deza can take us both. You ride behind and hold onto me, yah?" Cloud was already moving towards him, already taking some of Zack's weight, helping him over to where the two birds waited patiently.

They stopped at the green. "Deza," he said. He pointed his chin at the yellow. "Wex. Told you their names last night, but you might not remember." He gave a soft whistle, and Deza crouched. "Don't fall on my bird, or I'll kill you again."

Cloud helped Zack get his leg over and to sit down without falling. The green warked nervously but Cloud whistled softly and it settled, concerned but trusting. Then Cloud took his place in front of Zack and the green rocked up to his feet – all the way up.

Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud's waist and held on as the bird heaved forwards and backwards.

"Fucking hell! Please tell me it's not going to be like that the rest of the way." He'd forgotten how tall these suckers were when you were actually on one.

Cloud huffed a short laugh. "Don't like chocobos?"

"We had training on them – this is the front (it bites), this is the back (it shits) – but I didn't take to them like some of the other guys did, and honestly? I was usually flown into my missions," Zack said. "I used a motorcycle for personal stuff. Or ran. I used to like running. Any kind of exercise, really." Zack had a sudden memory of being in line at medical, doing squats as he waited to be called in for his SOLDIER injection. He'd been so young and optimistic.

"Well, don't worry. Gonna stay slow – easier for you and Deza. Gonna take a while to reach the outskirts," Cloud said. "Might as well nap if you can."

Zack felt the unfamiliar bounce and drop of the chocobo's movement, looked at the ground passing below him and doubted he'd be able to sleep.

"So how much trouble would it be to take me to Sector 5," he asked.

Cloud glanced over his shoulder. "Trains to the upper plate in most every sector."

"Yeah, but my girl's in Sector 5."

"Your girl's under the plate?" Cloud said in disbelief.

"Uh-huh, she sells flowers," Zack replied proudly. "At least, I hope she's still selling flowers."

They were silent for a hundred metres. "Heard of a girl in Sector 5 who grows flowers," Cloud said eventually. "In a church?"

"Yeah! That's Aerith. That's my girl!" Zack practically shouted it. Aerith was still alive, still free!

"Thought her name was Aeris."

Zack waved that away, "Aerith. Aeris. It's her," he said happily.

Cloud watched him for a long while, but Zack didn't care. Aerith was out there. There was still a chance.

"Need to stop at Wall Market anyway," Cloud finally said. "Do that first then Sector 5's just beyond."

"Oh, man!" Zack's smile was wide enough to hurt. "I'm gonna owe you so much."

In front of him, Cloud shifted, head dropping. "Thanks aren't needed."

"They totally are," Zack argued. "I'll be completely in your debt for the rest of my life. Which, if the Turks have orders to kill me might be within five minutes of showing up at Aerith's."

Again, Cloud turned around to stare at Zack in disbelief. "That likely?"

Zack raised his shoulder, "Ehh?"

Cloud turned back to face front, and there was quiet between them until it was time to stop for lunch. Zack was more than ready to get off the chocobo, and he thought that maybe he could do it by himself, but rather than take a chance he let the smaller man help him up and off.

Good thing, too.

As soon as Cloud let him go, Zack's legs folded under him like an accordion. He ended up sitting cross-legged in the dirt, right next to the green's very big, probably sharp claws.

"Can I be embarrassed now?" he asked of no one.

"Tomorrow," Cloud replied and cast Cura. It was enough of a boost that Zack could stand again. He pulled the tank top away from his waist and let the bullets fall. He'd been picking them out as they rode. "I'm surprised I have any guts left, given all the metal that's come out of me." He shook a leg and it jingled a little too. "We could've made a decent sized sword if we'd kept them and melted them all down," he said morbidly.

After a minute of staring, Cloud shook his head. "Shinra uses cheap metal. Would never hold an edge."

Zack laughed. "Maybe a gun, then?" He watched Cloud consider it before giving an uncommitted head wiggle. "I guess it might be conspicuous if we tried to sell twenty kilos of used bullets?"

Cloud smirked. "Just a little, maybe."

Zack shook his other leg, and it jingled as well. He'd never been hurt so bad before.

Well, that was a lie. Hojo had hurt him plenty, but he'd never been shot so much before. Sure, he'd taken bullets – half a dozen or more sometimes. It was considered acceptable damage to reach the target.

This, however, was ridiculous because Cloud was right: Zack wasn't that well known. His reappearance wouldn't be news. Unlike with Angeal or Genesis, his mere existence wouldn't destabilize Shinra. Plus, people in the company had known he hadn't died with Sephiroth. Every scientist, lab assistant, cleaner, cook and delivery person in that lab had been Shinra employees.

Hojo hadn't even tried to hide Zack's identity – Specimen Z!

But not one person had called him by name. Not one person had tried to help. They'd seen him, and they hadn't cared. If they'd reported it, their superiors hadn't cared. If they'd gone to the press – well. The press was Shinra's too.

All the way up to the top, after spending years telling him how valued he was by the company, how they appreciated all his hard work, his loyalty…

If he had Sephiroth's power right now – and a whole lot of his crazy – Zack would be tempted to try and take down Shinra. Stride right into the president's office and skewer the bastard in his high-backed chair. And then he'd cast Quake in the foundations and shake the rotten cesspit into dust.

But he wasn't as powerful, and he wasn't as crazy.

And even if Zack did kill Roman Shinra, Rufus would just take his place – or Scarlet, or Heidegger – and nothing would change.

To take his mind off Shinra and evil in general, Zack shuffled carefully back to the yellow pack chocobo. The bird made a nervous sound as he approached but Cloud was suddenly there, calming the chocobo.

"Want your sword?" he asked.

Zack said yes, and Cloud nodded back in understanding. He'd shifted his own weapon from the saddle to his back, carrying it in a low-slung sheath made for a side draw.

It took some time for Galatine to be untied. "Gotta not cut the ropes or the spell holders, yah?"

Zack was careful, but it was hard not to yank it free.

When it finally slid all the way out, he let it swing a little, keeping the arc shallow. It wasn't easy. (When he looked at his arms, he could see divots where bullets had torn through the muscle – muscle he needed to wield the sword.) He managed to keep control, though, and ended his short (very short) kata with the blade in front of him and not on the ground. He bowed his head, resting his brow on the metal as he had so many times before.

"Embrace your dreams," he whispered. "And protect your honour as SOLDIER."

He let the blade drop to his side, missing the harness already. Cloud held up a ration bar. "Can't cook here. The smell will attract animals – dangerous ones."

Zack wasn't sure how they'd be able to smell anything over Midgar's pervasive stench, but he shrugged. When Cloud sat, he sat too. It was a chance to look over Angeal's sword, his legacy. The hilt needed to be rewrapped, of course. Zack had put something together to replace the braid that had fallen apart on the road, but he kind of wanted it to be red again. Like when Angeal had given it to him.

There were nicks, and a few scratches shining through the dull coating it had acquired over four years of imperfect care, and outright neglect.

" 'Use brings about wear, tear and rust'," he murmured sadly as his fingertips explored the damage.

"Good steel to survive that battle," Cloud said.

Zack jerked his eyes to Cloud's. He'd forgotten he wasn't alone.

"It was my mentor's," Zack finally said. "A symbol of his family's pride and honour. He didn't have anyone else to give it to when he… When he was killed."

Cloud gave Zack the water bag. "They reported seeing him around a while back. Nothing recent though."

"Yeah, I heard." Zack kept his eyes on the blade, tracing the lines carved into it. They could use some work, too.

"It true then? He alive?"

Zack shook his head. "It wasn't him. Just another Shinra experiment gone wrong."

"And Genesis Rhapsodos? Is he really dead?" Cloud asked. "Cuz those Crimson Army freaks looked a lot like him under the helmets."

"I think so?" This time Zack shrugged. "He wasn't doing too good last time I saw him." He took another sip of water and wished that it were whiskey. Then he wished that he could still get drunk on whiskey.

Beside him, Cloud snorted. "Does any First Class SOLDIER stay dead?" He flashed Zack a quick smile. "So far, Shinra's wrong on three out of four."

Zack chuckled. Cloud wasn't wrong. "Well, I ran Sephiroth through with this." He held up Galatine. "He was shot a lot, and then someone flung him into the reactor's liquid mako resevoir, so I'm thinking he's gone for good. Angeal… " His laugh died. "I killed him, too." He looked at Cloud, gauging the guy's response. There was nothing but calm attention.

"He asked me to do it. Forced me to." Zack went on. He kept his eyes on the weapon, hands sweeping along its length restlessly. "They were degrading, him and Genesis. Something in how they'd been made went wrong, and they stopped healing, grew wings and all sorts of weird shit."

"Wings?" Cloud asked, voice soft.

"They weren't just injected with mako," Zack said. "Hollander – their creator – used cells from some alien-looking creature, and there was probably other stuff too. To make them stronger, faster. Invincible." He took a breath. "It worked for a while. Long enough to conquer Wutai."

"All the chimeras and copies?"

"Experiments. Looking for a cure."

Cloud grunted, an unimpressed huff of sound. "Sephiroth? He degrade too?"

"No… I don't know," he corrected. "He was made with a different process."

"More of those alien cells though, right?" Zack looked at him, eyes narrowed. Cloud waved a hand over his face. "The eyes."

Zack nodded. "Jenova. She was… enthroned, at the reactor. Sephiroth thought she was his mother." He gave a sad laugh. "That alien thing couldn't have given life to a flea, let alone Sephiroth. I don't know why he believed it…"

"Hmm," Cloud's response was non-committal, and Zack remembered Cloud's mother had been one of Sephiroth's victims. All the people he'd grown up with had died at Sephiroth's hands.

Zack put his head up. The sky was half plate now, and the ground was mostly in shadow. "Shinra is fuuucked up. But if it falls, Rufus and Scarlet, and Heidegger and Palmer will kill us all in their fight to take over."

A hand landed on his shoulder. "Not your concern, right now," Cloud said. "Right now, you have to let your flower girl know you're alive, yah?" Zack gave the guy a weak smile. He was right, but it still felt like a cop out.

He let Cloud help him to his feet, and he let Cloud thread Angeal's sword carefully beside the packages on Wex. He managed to mount Deza on his own, so there was that.

He could see the outlines of the shacks that made up the sectors under the plate. He knew there'd been villages here before Shinra, but he'd never seen any remains. Except for Aerith's stone church. Other than that, all the houses and shops and warehouses down here were made of scavenged metals and wood.

That said, he'd never had a reason to visit all the sectors under the plate. Maybe, in Sector 2, there was a whole village that looked just like Healin?

He didn't think so, though. Shinra would've torn it down just because.

To pass the time (and to take his mind off the dark thoughts that had been invading it since before he'd killed Hollander in Gongaga), Zack asked Cloud questions. Whatever he could think of: why had Cloud been out on the ridge yesterday? How long had he had Deza? Where should Zack take his sword to get the damage buffed out? If he wanted to take a bath before meeting up with Aerith, where should he go?

He was so busy asking his stupid questions, and picking apart Cloud's increasingly short answers, that he barely noticed the gorger swarm jumping in front of them.

Cloud was off Deza instantly, whistling a command at the green that had it backing away. The guy pulled out his sword and got ready to swing. The gorger on the right lunged, and Cloud swung, leaving his left side open and vulnerable.

"Ah, hells no," Zack muttered. He swung his leg over Deza's head and slid off. He wobbled a bit on the landing, but he was steadier than he'd been at lunch.

Cloud had dodged the initial attack, but he'd been forced to the side. One of the gorgers was heading towards the birds.

No time to unwrap the buster, so Zack glanced over the ground, looking for something, anything he could use. A thick branch, dried nearly to stone, would work. He picked it up and walked out to meet the oversized worm.

It was different using a club. When Zack hit the creature, the weapon didn't slice through in one smooth motion. Instead it impacted, and the shock ran back up the length of the branch and rattled the bones in his hand.

Zack ignored the sensation and swung again. He adjusted his target area though. If he could smash the thing's tiny brain, that would be as effective as slicing through its neck.

He hoped.

Gorgers were tough. They had to be to survive in Midgar's wastes. And with an unfamiliar weapon (and having been mostly dead just yesterday), it took a lot longer to kill this one creature than it usually took Zack to kill a cluster of them. By the time he was sure his was dead, Cloud had killed the other three.

Zack was also breathing a lot harder than he should've been. He actually had to bend over.

While he did that, Cloud pulled out a long, slim knife and cut open the mouths of the gorgers he'd killed. Zack watched as Cloud removed small poison sacs out of their cheeks. The guy tied the sacs closed or twisted them somehow. Whatever he did, once he'd done it, he carried the deadly poison with ease.

He passed Zack on his way back to Deza. "Pharmacists make antidotes from them. Get 20 gil each."

Zack straightened. "Not bad, I guess."

Cloud looked at him, smirking. "I also get a discount on potions and ethers for keeping them supplied."

Before Zack had never had to worry about buying potions, or ethers. Shinra had kept them supplied. All he'd had to do was go to the quartermaster and sign a bunch of forms.

He had a lot of new, non-silly questions, to ask his rescuer.

"Oh, hey. Nearly forgot." Cloud held out a hand. In it, was a slightly small orb of blue materia. "Found this on the ridge. Might be Absorption. It's yours."

"Mine?" Zack looked at Cloud. The guy was serious. "Why?"

"Almost died for it, didn't you?" Cloud rolled it so that it was held only by his fingertips.

It was… That was gruesome. But not untrue, Zack supposed. And he'd been without support materia since he'd escaped.

He didn't have a socket in his gloves, so he shoved it in his pocket.

Cloud caught it when it fell it through the bullet holes. "Maybe your other side."

Zack took it back. "Thanks."

This time he checked the pocket before putting the materia in.

The next couple hours were uneventful, aside from Zack's endless questions about the cost of things he used to take for granted: food, clothing, potions, weapon repair, gas for a motorbike, an actual motorbike… The basics.

Again, it took him a while to notice something. This time, that they weren't getting any closer to any of the buildings under the plate. When he leaned forward to ask the guy the reason, Cloud jerked his shoulder and whapped Zack in the chin.

"That's Sector 8," Cloud said while Zack checked his jaw for dislocation. "We want Sector 6."

"Uh-huh," Zack said. He already knew the load of kurie greens was for a guy outside of Wall Market.

"Walls between each area," Cloud continued. "Each one with security. Go in now and we show your face to every camera at every wall. Also," he added. "It takes three times as long. Streets just kind of grew under the plate; none of them go straight. None of them are wide. All of them'll be crowded, so lots of people looking at us two idiots on chocobos."

Zack thought back to his memories of visiting Aerith before… He actually couldn't remember a single person below the plate riding a chocobo.

"We'd kinda stick out, huh."

"Kinda," Cloud confirmed dryly. "So, stay out here 'til we reach Sector 6. Then use the latest smuggler's path over the debris which shouldn't have cameras yet."

"You know all the smuggler's paths?" Zack made sure his voice matched Cloud's for dryness. Cloud just smiled and didn't respond.

They stopped once more to stretch their legs and water the chocobos, but they made good time. Zack's stomach was just starting to seriously protest the lack of proper attention when they reached a huge pile of girders, concrete, and garbage that divided the Midgar wastes from the undercity. The pile next to Sector 6 was double the height of the one next to Sector 7.

"Why is this so big," Zack said. He looked up at the plate. Sector 6 was as unfinished as ever. In fact, it looked like some had fallen off.

"Leftovers from abandoned construction. Plus some of the plate collapsed earlier this year." – Hah! Zack had been right – "Most of it was pushed out as the undercity grew; stuff that couldn't be salvaged immediately. Some of it placed so outsiders couldn't see in."

"That Don Corneo dude built his own wall?" He laughed.

Cloud looked over his shoulder at him. "Don Corneo's no joke. Takes his money very, very seriously." It was a warning.

Zack quieted, accepting it, but Cloud wasn't finished.

"If he needs you, he'll go after your family, the people you love, or just some stranger off the street. Doesn't care if they're young or old, male or female, as long as it lets him control you. Or causes you pain."

In some ways, it reminded Zack of how Shinra operated.

"Personal experience?" he asked.

Cloud tipped his head. "Not mine, but yah."

Zack let the next few kilometres pass without comment, wondering why he was so surprised there was evil under the plate. He'd spent enough time in the undercity to know the citizens weren't saints, and then there was Reno. But he'd somehow had the impression that the residents were all united somehow – pride at surviving or something. Obviously not.

He should've known it was a naive idea, left over from when life was simple. From when he'd been simple.

He could picture the leaders of Shinra laughing at him all those years ago, thinking 'Just point Fair at target and tell him they're bad guys. He doesn't ask questions.' And he hadn't.

Why are we invading Wutai? Why do so many of the mediocre SOLDIER recruits disappear and where do they go? Why does Shinra let Hojo get away with so much? What good is Shinra for the world? How can it be good when it causes such misery? How can he ever be a hero when he contributed to it all?

Those questions he didn't ask.

The climb into the debris pile passed mostly without any conversation between them. Zack was surprised to see so many worn paths through the debris.

"Salvagers mostly," Cloud said. "Looking for metal." Cloud explained that Sector 8 had been set up as a manufacturing area, before Shinra'd moved everything to the upper plate. "Some enterprising groups went in, started up the smaller factories, and suddenly there's a buyer for all the scrap metal and broken glass."

That sounded cool. "What do they make?"

Cloud shrugged. "Housing stuff – support beams and roofing. Windows. Nothing fancy."

"I suppose if they got too ambitious Shinra would shut them down."

Cloud hummed agreement.

Deza gave a sharp wark and Cloud was immediately alert, which meant Zack went on alert too. All he could hear was wind, a little, and the sound of small pebbles rolling downhill. They listened, but whatever had set Deza off never came any closer.

More ups, more downs – more huge girders pointing up at the sky and rusting. They rounded another jagged slab of concrete.

"That's not good." Cloud's said quietly. He swung his leg over Deza's head and dropped lightly to the ground. Zack tried to do the same, but his legs seemed to be mostly numb.

He was spared the humiliation of asking for help when Cloud whistled to his green and Deza crouched. Zack climbed off stiffly and tried to subtly shake feeling back into his legs.

"He's a good animal," he said. "Well trained."

Cloud looked away from the gorge he was staring at. "Smart," he said. "If given a choice, pick a smart one."

Not that Zack had any intention of going near a chocobo in the future, but he nodded at the advice. It was the same with SOLDIER candidates. Smart ones learned how to compensate for their physical weaknesses. Dumb ones…. Refused to see the rot until they were eyeball deep in a tank of mako.

Zack sighed and tried to let the bitterness go. They had problems right now, right here, and he should help.

"What's the problem?" He stepped forward, looking at the gorge that cut through the path. It was a little too wide for most people to jump across, and a little too deep to make failures survivable. To fix that, there was a wide plank at the narrowest point, anchored half-heartedly on each side. It looked sturdy enough. He pointed that out to Cloud and got a head shake in return.

"Should be two," he said. "Easier to get chocobos across on two."

Zack looked down at Dezi's feet. Yup, he thought. Those are big.

"Can't he just jump across," Zack asked. "That's a thing greens can do, right?"

Cloud sighed. "He can." Cloud slashed a look at their burdened pack chocobo. Wex appeared to be trying to catch dust motes.

"You didn't pick Wex for brains?" Zack smirked.

"Didn't pick him at all." Cloud sighed. "Would be easier if he wasn't carrying a truss of greens."

Zack looked at the canvas-wrapped bundle on the yellow's back. It was big, and kind of awkwardly perched. "How much does it weigh?"

"160 kilos."

"No problem then," Zack said with a bounce. "I'll carry over the freight; you worry about the bird."

Cloud gave him a dubious look. Zack grinned and stretched his arms above his head, making sure to flex his biceps.

It was obvious Cloud wasn't completely reassured but he shrugged anyway. He untied Zack's sword and switched it over to Deza. Zack's fingers twitched with the need to take it, to hold it. To feel its familiar weight.

Oblivious, Cloud took his supply box off Wex next. It was a largish, insulated carrier with handles. "Take this over first?"

Why not? It would be a warm-up for the larger bundle.

The handles were cold when Zack touched them. He wasn't expecting it, so he jumped. Cloud, of course, saw it and smirked.

"Got a mild Blizzard spell on it," Cloud said. "Keeps the food cold." Zack nodded, trying to gather his dignity back around him. This time when he touched the handles, he didn't flinch.

The board creaked a bit under his weight but didn't bend. He found a flat spot on the other side and set the carrier down. He rubbed his hands together and bounced a little to dispel the lingering cold.

Despite Cloud's assurances that he was doing good for someone who'd been "mostly dead" just a day ago, Zack couldn't help but be concerned. He'd been hurt in battle before and it hadn't taken more than a couple potions or a Curaga for him to be bouncing back to his feet. Cloud had been casting Cura on him intermittently all morning, and at no time had Zack felt like he hadn't needed it.

Then again, he thought as he released more mangled bullets from his pants, his body was still ejecting metal, so no wonder he still didn't feel one hundred percent healed. He gave another small bounce, and this time he didn't jingle.

Cloud was guiding Deza over the board. The green was a sure-footed animal, but even Zack could see how carefully he was placing his feet. When Deza was finally on solid ground, he fluffed out his feathers in relief.

Zack thought it was relief. What the hells did he know about chocobo feelings?

On the other side of the gorge, Wex warbled unhappily. The yellow pulled against his lead rein, but Cloud had tied him off on an outcropping of rebar. He wasn't going anywhere.

Zack ignored the board on the way back and just jumped over the gorge. The jump and landing were both smooth, easy, and reassuring.

Cloud, on the other hand, used the board. He didn't do anything flashy, he just walked as if he was on a sidewalk in the upper city. In an odd way, it was just as impressive as Zack's lofty jump – a surety in his physical abilities that reminded Zack a little of Sephiroth… From when he'd been SOLDIER, and before he'd turned evil and wiped out a whole village.

Zack's competent rescuer managed to get Wex to crouch, though the yellow warked repeatedly as if asking if Cloud was sure this is what he wanted Wex to do. Cloud gave him a reassuring pat. The low height made it easy for them to untie the bundle of greens. Cloud held Wex's head when Zack moved to the rear, positioning himself at the best angle to lift the cargo.

160 kilos.

He could do this…

And he did.

Bending as if for a squat, Zack wrapped his arms around it, getting extra grip from the rope wrapped around it like a net. When he stood up, the heavy bundle didn't slow him even a little. When he took a couple steps with it, his legs didn't shake, his arms didn't cramp. It was as if yesterday hadn't happened.

Finally!

Zack let out a relieved breath. He aimed for the board. Turned out, he couldn't see in front of him very well.

"Maybe two paces ahead of you, and half step right," Cloud said. Zack obediently adjusted his feet sideways. Then he took those two paces, not surprised that Cloud's estimate had been dead on. Between Cloud's soft direction and him being careful, Zack made it across without incident – and without feeling exhausted.

He kind of wanted to keep going, walk the whole rest of the way to Sector 6 carrying the damn thing, just because he could. Instead, he set it down next to the supply box and turned to wait for Cloud to lead the yellow over.

Because of Wex's nervousness, Cloud walked backward onto the board. He kept up a stream of soft praise and chatter that even Zack's enhanced hearing had a hard time picking up. Zack kept his eyes on Cloud's feet, giving the guy the same kind of help that Cloud had given him. It was the kind of teamwork Zack hadn't felt since… Since before Modeoheim.

Cloud was nearly all the way over, and Zack was just about to relax, when something spooked the yellow chocobo. The thing gave a little hop – just a tiny one, but it was enough for Wex to lose his footing on the board. Cloud reached out to steady Wex, but Zack knew it would be useless. The chocobo would pull Cloud down into the gorge.

He leapt from where he was, not even a run up. He twisted in mid-air, landing so that he was facing the pair, and then he shot forward. He pushed the bird and grabbed Cloud and they all landed on the far side of the gorge in a startled pile.

With an unhappy kweh, Wex jumped up only to hide behind Deza who made angry noises on the yellow's behalf.

Zack stayed were he was, letting his brain catch up with his body.

"Get off."

And his body said that the ground under him was warm and bumpy… And staring at him with shining blue eyes.

Zack frowned. "You have mako eyes!"

Cloud's eyebrows came down and his stare turned into a glare. He brought his arms up and managed to push Zack off.

He climbed to his feet and stalked over to the chocobos.

"Cloud," Zack demanded the guy's attention. "You said you didn't get into SOLDIER."

Cloud kept silent. He took some fancy greens out of his supply box and fed them to the agitated birds. His voice was soft, but that was the only thing about him that didn't radiate tension.

Zack softened his voice. "Cloud, what happened?"

A quick glance in his direction. A couple more perfunctory pets. Then Cloud's shoulders dropped. "Exposed," he said. "Deliberately. As an experiment." He gave Zack another look. "Should've known when my squad was made up of guys who'd been exposed in the past – childhood accidents and such."

Cloud ran a hand down Wex's neck. He wasn't finished, Zack knew. He was just building up courage. "Took me a year to recover. When I woke up, half my squad'd disappeared from medical. Never saw them again."

Zack couldn't look at the guy. He let himself collapse and lifted his forearm to cover his eyes. He wanted to scream – at Shinra, the world, his past…

"That what happened to you?" Cloud asked quietly. "Experiments?" He didn't need to speak loudly. Zack could still hear him. He could hear the chocobo's trilling purr as it relaxed. He could hear noises from Midgar. They were faint, but truck horns and shift change alarms weren't meant to be quiet.

He could also hear Cloud waiting.

"Sorta," Zack finally said. "Maybe a little more intense." Hojo had tortured him – to make him more "susceptible" but really, it was revenge for having killed Sephiroth. Plus Hojo was just a sick fuck anyway.

Again, Cloud let the silence stretch, but Zack had done enough talking about it. He got to his feet. "Ready to put this stuff back on so we can mosey?"

Thankfully, Cloud wasn't stupid, and he wasn't cruel. He let the subject drop.

It didn't take long for them to have the chocobos repacked, and for all of them to be back on the road. Like Cloud had said, they wanted to be under the plate before dark.

.o0|0o.

Far away and high up, President Shinra smoked a cigar as he stared over the city that he had built – the jewel in the empire he had created.

According to the reports, something was stirring in the world. Normally stable mako sources were fluctuating. The strength of the liquid halving then quadrupling at random intervals. Levels rising and falling unpredictably.

Was this the moment predicted by the Ancients?

He didn't look at the hard-faced man standing next to him. "Is there any unrest stirring?"

"There's always un–"Heidegger started.

President Shinra waved that away. He didn't need Heidegger to excuse his incompetence. "Useable unrest."

"Not since the Turks destroyed Fuhito and Avalanche fell apart."

The president sneered. It had taken them long enough to kill that madman, and it had cost him some of his best assets. Turks mutinying! He should've given them all to Hojo.

None of that was in his voice when he responded. "Unfortunate. However, we have time to make some unrest," he said. "Encourage one of those fringe lunatic groups to organize. Use the Turks if you have to." They couldn't say no to him anymore.

"How long–"

"Two months. Maybe three," the president answered. "We need to be ready to move forward by then."

From the corner of his eye, President Shinra saw Heidegger give a small bow. If the general had doubts about the plan, he kept them to himself, which was just how it should be. It was up to the board to see that his orders were obeyed. He was their emperor, after all.

He looked out over the city he ruled – his soon-to-be-obsolete creation.

He puffed his cigar.

He couldn't wait to leave it.