I've decided that I really *do* run on reviews... they make me happy and more eager to update ^_^ Many thanks to those who favorited and put this story on alert. I had fun with this chapter, enjoy!

Minor edits made 20 Sep 2017

Chapter Six: Democracy at its finest

A lone Kalm Fang trailed his nose along the Lifestream-parched soil of the Midgar Wasteland. The game in this area was typically poor, yet sometimes a lost Mu burrowed in. The vulpine beast dropped to his haunches and scratched an ear, violet strands of his mane drifting lazily in the cool, soon-to-be-hot morning air. His ears swiveled as faint scraping underground reached his ears.

Luck was on his side today!

Stalking carefully to the shifting soil, he crouched, ready to pounce on the tasty ground rodent. A hole opened and dusty black spikes of fur emerged. While an unusual color for a Mu, he wasn't about to give up an easy meal and sprang at the creature. In mid-air, the beast caught the widening of glowing violet eyes on the two-foot's face. With the unnatural speed common to the glow-eyes, the two foot yelped and leaped from the hole prepared for battle.

The Kalm Fang had half a moment to regret his hasty leap before the two-foot raised his not-foot, a bright-stone shining on it. Smoke obscured his vision just as he bounced painfully off the two-foot and skidded on the rocky ground.

So much for luck.

Cloud popped his head from the hole and stared at the disoriented frog attempting to get to its feet. He climbed out at a much more sedate pace than his tall friend. "You know Zack, I think that's the first time I've seen you use your transform materia on an enemy."

"I forgot I still had it equipped," Zack defended, switching Alfonse out of his bracer.

Cloud snickered at his friend's affronted look, and looked back at the squirming frog. "Sort of over-kill though, I almost feel sorry for it." The mammal-turned-amphibian finally figured out its body and hopped away as fast as it could.

"You wouldn't if you remembered how many times one of those things tried to eat us." Zack grumbled, crouching to help Aerith out of the tunnel.

As soon as the humans cleared the opening, Red XIII gracefully leaped out. "Man, cats are so cool. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to do that?" Zack asked, grinning down at the feline.

"You can do that Zack, and you have dirt and cobwebs in your hair again." Cloud pointed with an amused half smile. The former SOLDIER squawked and ran his fingers through his hair. Chuckling, the blond helped Zack get some of the dirt off his back.

Red rumbled a small laugh, and then eyed both of the mako-enhanced men a moment. "If we are to become a pack, we should have a clearer order of command."

"That's a good idea." Tifa chimed, looking up from picking a few cobwebs from the ends of her long ponytail. "I think Cloud would be a good leader."

"Forget that! I'm the leader!" Barret raised his gun arm in what might have been an attempt at a heroic pose. The others stared at him and he glowered at them. "Ain't anyone gonna agree with me?"

Aerith scratched her cheek and gave a sheepish laugh. "How about we vote on it?"

"Damn," Barret's shoulders slumped. "But I've got the leadership skills!"

"You may have led terrorist attacks, but I have experience leading military movements." Zack countered, taking advantage of being the only one who could truly look the man in the eye.

"Will it be open voting, or secret ballot?" Cloud asked. His forehead creased and his eyes darted between the two glaring men. While Barret kept his expression grim, Zack turned it into a staring contest and started making faces at the other man. Barret rolled his eyes and looked away while Zack whooped over his victory.

"We could do a secret ballot." Aerith hummed, a smile spreading across her face. "I have a pen and pad of paper. You can go first Zack!" She handed her boyfriend a pen and a piece of paper before giggling and passing single sheets to the others.

"I feel so emasculated," Zack moaned holding the bright pink pen and the flower-shaped, purple sticky-note with his fingertips. "Cloud, Barret, don't either of you have a pen or paper?"

"Hurry up and write on your pansy, you pansy." Barret snarled, adhering the paper to his gun arm and waiting for his turn with the pen.

Aerith fairly bounced with delight. "I'm impressed Barret, I wouldn't have thought you could tell it was a pansy." Zack crowed with laughter at the man's abashed expression.

"Stop whining and write," Cloud huffed at his friend and wiping a trickle of sweat off his cheek. "It is starting to heat up and I want to get off these plains."

Sniffing daintily, Zack scrawled the name on his paper, folded it with an exaggerated haughty expression, and passed the pen to Barret like it was a dirty tissue. Barret rolled his eyes, long desensitized to things "girly" due to raising Marlene. Cloud's expression didn't even flicker while he wrote, although Tifa winced slightly at the intense pink. Aerith wrote Red's vote down for him, pocketed her pen and froze. The party stood in a loose circle, folded scraps of purple paper in their hands. No one said anything, and the awkward silence stretched out while the temperature continued to rise.

"Um, now what?" Cloud asked, growing tired of not-quite meeting anyone else's eyes.

Aerith frowned a moment and then made a small 'aha'. She elbowed Zack in the ribs. "Give me one of your boots."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!" she hissed, squatting and nearly ripping his left boot off. When she had it in her hands, she triumphantly dropped her and Red's votes inside. A second later, she froze, and her green eyes widened. She held the footwear between pinched fingers much the same way Zack treated her pen and set it in the center for the others to drop their votes in. It didn't take long for the stench to reach the rest of the party.

"This is worse than the pen," Tifa moaned in a whisper to Cloud. The corner of his mouth twitched in a smile of agreement.

"'Least you got a free hand to plug your nose with," Barret grumbled back at her when he overheard.

Choking back laughter, they looked at the last person to put in their vote. Zack balanced on one foot like a tipsy crane and whined. "How am I supposed to reach it?"

"Hop." Barret huffed, still annoyed with the former SOLDIER. "Or are you not skilled enough to make it?"

Pride stung, Zack hopped three times before his foot caught a rock and he stumbled to hands and knee, left leg raised to keep his sock off the dirt.

"Hm, peeing dog position." Red mused in a deadpan voice. "I give this fall four points." Aerith squeaked and turned around red faced, her shoulders quivering. Tifa shook her head and Cloud rushed to Zack's side to let the pouting man lean on his shoulder for balance.

Barret's laughter rang across the empty waste. "If that was a four, what about the one in the tower?"

The leonine dropped to his haunches and flicked an ear. "I'd say a five. While this one gets points for artistry, the stair skid included a rather impressive display of distance."

"Is that five out of five?" Tifa asked, the corner of her mouth twitching as she fought a grin.

"Of course not," Red sniffed raising his nose in a mock-condescending gesture. "The score is points out of ten. While Zack is an apprentice at artistic falls, he does seem to be learning."

"You guys are mean," Zack's lip trembled in an attempt to use kicked-puppy eyes on them. The effect was spoiled when the corner of his mouth twitched as he fought a grin.

Ignoring the pathetic play for sympathy, Tifa turned to Aerith who finally managed to stifle her giggles and asked. "Now what?"

"Now we take the papers out and count the votes." Aerith chirped and then stared down at the boot. She grimaced and shot Cloud a pleading look. Rolling his eyes, the blond left Zack and snatched the boot from the ground and then extended it to Aerith.

She shied back, hands raised. "Why don't you just read them Cloud?" The flower girl insisted in a strained voice.

Rolling his eyes, he thrust his hand into the boot and pulled out the folded slips of paper before returning the boot to its owner. Ignoring Tifa and Barret's whispered remarks that he should burn his glove later, he unfolded them one by one. The votes fell two for Zack, four for Cloud. Shoving the small pile in his pocket he tried not to grimace while most of the party congratulated him.

Scratching the back of his head, Zack sighed. "Aw man. Well at least Aerith voted for me!" He winked at her, not catching the look she shot the slightly frowning Cloud.

"Actually, I didn't vote for you Zack." She admitted taking one of his large hands in her own. "I think Cloud voted for you." His grin faltered and his shoulders slumped. She tugged his hand, motioning for him to let her whisper in his ear. He leaned down and she cupped her hands around his left ear.

Cloud scratched the back of his head and dug the toe of his boot into the cracked and blackened soil. Even if Aerith only breathed her words he would be able to hear. Zack froze at Aerith's words, and the sparkle slowly returned to his eyes, followed by a goofy grin. Cloud's eyes widened and he spun to face away from the pair. He ducked his head towards his shoulders, suddenly missing the infantry neck-scarf that could have hidden his furious blush.

"Brilliant!" Zack whooped, looping his arm around her waist and swinging her in a small circle. "I'm glad you're smart enough to think ahead. And Cloud, thanks for the vote of confidence." Still facing away from the pair, Cloud tossed back a weak wave and tried to avoid Tifa's questioning eyes.

"Well, oh great leader, what should we do now?" Zack asked, slinging his free arm around the younger man's shoulders and smirking down at his red earlobes. Cloud coughed a few times before responding.

"Kunsel said to go to Kalm." He raised a hand to shield his eyes and scanned the area to get his bearings. He pointed to a bit of the wasteland indistinguishable from the rest of the horizon. "The town is that way."

"Now just a moment." Zack's hand tightened on his friend's shoulder. "Are you sure you want to follow Kunsel's directions so closely? Don't get me wrong, Kunsel is a great friend and his ability to gather information is... scary! But..."

"But?" Tifa prompted, lifting the thick mass of her hair away from the back of her neck and fanning it with her other hand.

"Well," the former SOLDIER pulled away from Cloud and Aerith and paced, waving his hands as he tried to articulate his thoughts. "I've noticed that if you start following Kunsel's 'leads' he'll end up jerking you all over the place."

Tifa and Cloud rolled their eyes at each other. "You're preaching to the choir Zack. I grew up with him, remember?" The blond shook his head with a rueful grin. "Remember the Dorky Face?"

She half-laughed, half-moaned. "How could I forget? Where did he find that thing anyway?"

Chuckling and shaking his head, Cloud pulled his expression back to a more serious look. "Anyway, if we didn't go to Kalm, where would we go? Sephiroth should have headed there as well."

"Ah, but you forget," Zack waved a chiding finger. "Sephiroth is now a fugitive so he should be avoiding heavily populated areas. So, where would he go?"

"Kalm." Barret huffed.

"Not being part of Shinra, you would say that. But at this time every year, the Junon tunnels close for repairs. It would be beyond easy for the general to sneak past a few maintenance men. With a little skill, we can do the same!"

Cloud adjusted the direction of Zack's arm slightly so it pointed the right way, and then grimaced. "Actually Zack, that's not why the tunnels close. This is when the army's motorcycle-response section practices advanced maneuvers."

"Advanced maneuvers? Like drivin' on the walls and roof?" Barret joked with a smile.

"Actually, yes."

The former First's jaw dropped. "No. Way. Why didn't anyone tell us about that? I would have been all over riding a bike on the ceiling!"

"Which is why they kept it a secret Zack." Cloud sighed, rolling an ice materia in his palm and then sticking it against his sweat-soaked neck.

"I should have joined the army." The tall man whined. "It sounds like you guys learned a lot of cool things."

"That's alright Zack, we still know who to call to do our heavy lifting and change our light bulbs." Tifa teased.

Seeing Zack getting ready to present another argument, Cloud raised his arms and said. "Even though most of SOLDIER didn't know about the closures, Sephiroth did. Our best bet is to follow Kunsel's advice."

Heaving a deep sigh, Zack nodded and waved a hand towards the party. "Shouldn't we split up first? Judging by the soil, we're still close to Midgar,"

Cloud frowned and looked the group over. "I'm not to sure that's the best idea..."

"The smaller hunting party avoids predators more easily," Red XIII rumbled in support of the plan.

Still frowning, Cloud nodded. "Alright. Barret, Tifa, you're with me. Zack, we'll meet you three in Kalm. We've got each other's PHS number in case of emergency."

"You got it buddy, of course, we'll be waiting for you!"

Cloud tossed a two fingered salute over his shoulder and his group quickly grew indistinct among the wasteland's heat mirage.

"I regret my choice." Red growled to Cloud when Zack's party dragged themselves to Kalm long after sundown. "We should have stayed together."

Cloud frowned down at the irritated feline's matted mane, the pouting flower girl and the filthy former SOLDIER. "We expected you hours ago and you didn't answer your PHS Zack. What happened?"

"Nothing! Ab-solutely nothing!" Zack insisted forcefully, shooting the feline a warning look. Red XIII heaved a weary sigh, flopped to the floor, whimpered once, and then fell asleep. Aerith shook her head and slipped into the bathroom for a long shower.

Tifa, Cloud, and Barret exchanged dubious looks. Tifa picked a clump of dirt from Zack's hair and shook her head. "Whatever happened was messy. I'm glad you all made it though, we were worried."

"Just a little trouble," Zack gave her a twitching smile and ran his hands through his hair to remove the larger chunks of mud. "I'm going to use the shower in the other room." Avoiding Cloud and Tifa's concerned gazes, he slipped through the door.

Cloud blew out a long breath. "Sorry Barret, we'll have to fill you in on the situation with Sephiroth tomorrow, I don't think Zack's going to be up to it tonight."

The Avalanche leader grunted in agreement.

The next morning the rag-tag group gathered in one of the inn's rooms and assembled to hear Cloud and Zack's history with the errant general. Red XIII curled on the rug in a patch of sunlight. Zack sprawled on the bed closest to the window while Tifa and Aerith sat on the center bed. The Ancient swung her legs over the side while the younger girl braided her hair. Cloud leaned against the wall by the window and watched the sleepy town come to life.

Barret slammed the door shut and threw himself into the last bed. He folded his arms and glared at Cloud, Zack, and Tifa. "So spill. You and Cloud said Sephiroth killed the old prez one minute and that he couldn't because he's been pushing up daisies for years the next. What's going on?"

"I only know part of it." Tifa raised her hands palms out and shook her head. "Zack and Cloud know most of it."

"Zack." Cloud shook his head his expression darkening. "You saw more of it than I did. We can fill in if we remember anything more."

Flinching at the subtle reminder of his friend's still patchy memories, the tall man fidgeted against the headboard and drew his knees up. "It all started on a mission to Nibelheim. General Sephiroth and I were acting as the ranking SOLDIERs and Cloud was with us as an infantryman."

"Wait, that's another thing that's been bothering me." Barret interrupted and squinted up at the blond leaning on the wall by the window. "Cloud keeps mentioning being a grunt and you keep backing him up. Since when do grunts get the glowy eyes?"

"That's part of the story." Zack sniffed turning his nose up. "Anyway, poor Cloud was sick as a dog-"

"Zack, why are you even including this part?" Cloud cried blushing in humiliation when Aerith tutted in sympathy. "Skip ahead Zack, we don't need to cover every step of the journey."

"You have no sense of atmosphere," Zack sniffed before continuing. "Anyway on the way we met a dragon..."

Much later...

Cloud, Tifa, and Zack each sprawled on a bed after relating the events from Nibelheim's fall up to the return from Hojo's labs. As light as the former first class had attempted to make the tale, some things defied the light mood. Sensing the need for time, the others left to give the three a chance to recoup from the difficult tale.

"Hey Cloud, why did you skip over the best parts?" Zack asked in the contemplative silence.

The blond stopped stroking his shirt over the scars in his chest and looked up, expression wary. "What do you mean?"

Zack grinned at Tifa, "Cloud forgot to mention going to your house..." Cloud's eyes widened.

"What?" Tifa propped herself up on one elbow to look at him. "You went to my house?"

When Cloud hung his head, Zack continued. "Yeah, even though he didn't have the guts to talk to you as an infantryman, he went into your house and jammed on your piano."

"Cloud, did you really play my piano?"

"Just a little." Cloud admitted with a shrug. "I started to learn how to read music while in Midgar."

Zack nodded, his mouth stretched in a shark like grin. "And then I saw him leave with a pair of women's orthopedic underwear..." Tifa clenched a fist, the leather of her gloves squeaking ominously.

"ZACK!" Cloud bellowed. Leaping over Tifa's bed, he crushed a pillow into the man's face, trying to smother him. "My mom gave me those to deliver to old Lady Herrin! It had nothing to do with Tifa's house!"

The aura of fury faded from around Tifa and she frowned in confusion. "Old Lady Herrin? Didn't she move away from Nibelheim ten years ago? You met her again?"

Disappointed that his prank had fizzled, Zack pushed Cloud off and sat up. "Some old lady doesn't have anything to do with this." Cloud's eyes darted around the room nervously, peering into the corners and he shuddered.

"Yeah," Cloud squeaked and huddled where he'd fallen against Zack's bed. "She's not involved in this at all."

"Although, it would be great if she lived here," Tifa shook her head. "That woman seemed to know everything that was going on in Nibelheim and even gossip from outlying cities, didn't she, Cloud?"

He gave a weak nod, growing pale, he needed to change the conversation but couldn't think of how. He hated to think of the punishment Kunsel would mete out if people realized that Old Lady Herrin didn't exist. "She" had been Kunsel the entire time, the guise of the elderly woman served as the first of his cousin's methods of obtaining information. The blond still had nightmares from the threats his cousin leveled after he inadvertently discovered the ruse.

"Come to think of it... Kunsel lived with her as an errand-boy before she moved away and he joined SOLDIER." Tifa mused resting her chin in her cupped hand. "I wonder if that is how he got started on his information networking?"

Cloud slowly peeked over his shoulder in trepidation. Zack stared into space, frowning slightly and rolling a lock of hair between his fingers. If Zack figured it out, Cloud's cross-dressing fiasco coming to light would be the least of his worries. Mind scrambling like a cat slipping off a greenhouse roof, he leaped to his feet. "That's it!"

"What? What's it?" Zack yelped, accidentally pulling his hair.

"We'll do what Old Lady Herrin would do: look for the gossip." Cloud said. 'Please work, please work.'

Tifa slowly nodded in agreement. "I'll stay here to let the others know what you're doing. Keep an eye out for older women, they are some of the best sources of information."

"Right-oh!" Zack saluted before he leaped off the bed and dragged Cloud out of the room. "We've got old ladies to stalk."

"Zaa-aack," Cloud moaned, hiding his face in the palm of his free hand. "Do you ever listen to what you're saying?"

After exchanging a few good-natured jibes, Cloud relaxed a little more. With Zack distracted, he'd likely forget his budding suspicion about Kunsel and Old Lady Herrin.

The pair wandered the streets of Kalm for an hour without success. "Man, there aren't any old ladies out." Zack grumbled in between bites of an apple.

"Maybe they heard your comment about stalking and ran away." Cloud jibbed and then froze as he witnessed a pair of middle-aged women walk out of a house and give them an appraising look.

"Did you hear what Alicia did to her hair?" The brunette asked in an overly loud voice. Cloud grimaced as Zack bounced on his feet and failed to look like he wasn't eavesdropping.

"She's the girl with the long black hair on Fourth Street, right?" The plump woman with the graying red hair asked in an equally loud voice, her eyes darting to Zack and Cloud then away.

"That's the girl, she put gold streaks in it!" She shook her head. Cloud grimaced, Kunsel said his agents would let them know who they were, but this was almost painful. "But speaking of black..." she continued. "Did you hear about the man in black that passed town a few days ago?"

"This is it!" Zack crowed, shaking the blond's shoulder.

"Oh yes, I heard he was headed for the Mythril Mines." The motherly woman shook her head.

"That poor young man must not be right in the head. There is a horrible monster in those swamps. Even if he did have a big sword it just isn't safe." The first woman wagged a scolding finger.

"The only way to safely cross now is to get a chocobo from Choco Bill's farm." The plump woman nodded and then lowered her voice considerably, only the SOLDIER enhancements allowed them to hear her. "Do you think they got the message? Or should we tell agents Molly and Kara to stage another conversation?"

"I think they got it," The brunette responded in an equally quiet voice, her eyes flicking to Zack's pensive expression. "You know, Kunsel wasn't kidding they do make you want to take them home and feed them cookies."

Zack's jaw dropped and he dragged Cloud back towards the inn. Cloud shot a nod to the women along with a resigned smile, the red-haired woman laughed and waved.

"Those were the agents Kunsel was talking about!" Zack cried when he noticed Cloud's bemused laughter. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"You heard them Zack, they just want to mother us," Cloud shrugged free from his friend's grip. "That scares me a lot less than the younger women who..." He grimaced and shook the thought from his mind.

"Right. But still, from what they said, they aren't even the only agents in town. Your cousin is scary Cloud." Zack breathed.

Cloud's PHS buzzed and he flipped it open. "You avoided disaster," The message read. "Let's keep it that way."

"You have no idea Zack." Cloud shuddered.