Chapter 63: Sins

In Coral Valley, Zack found himself weary from the battle, but grateful that he had been rescued. He knew he could not have taken down Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo on his own.

His rescuers, a man and a woman, were beside him.

But he was alone inside, as he only felt failure.

"I knew it would be useless," Zack lamented. "Vincent, what do you know about this?"

"I come here often," Vincent replied. "I've seen what Kadaj's group is doing. The Stigma. It's a symptom of alien matter infesting the body. The body tries to eliminate it and overcompensates. Inside our bodies is a current, like the Lifestream. That current is what fights off any malevolent intruders."

"Just say immune system," Lucrecia insisted.

It was none other than Vincent Valentine and Lucrecia Crescent who had rescued him from an unfortunate fate.

"Intruder?" asked Zack. "Like a virus?"

"The Sephiroth gene," Vincent clarified. "Jenova's memetic legacy. Call it what you want."

"Are you in med school now?" Zack jokingly asked.

"He would make one hell of a shrink," Lucrecia added.

"The prime Tseng and Elena," Vincent continued. "They were brought here half-dead. They must have been brutally tortured. I did what I could to save them, but..."

"But what?" Zack asked.

"Well, we'll see," Vincent finished.

"And what do you mean about being brutally tortured?" Zack inquired.

"They had it coming," Vincent replied. "They got their hands on Jenova's head."

"You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes," Lucrecia added.

"So that's what Kadaj means by his mother," Zack observed.

"Heaven's dark harbinger," Vincent replied. "The calamity, Jenova. If they wanted to, they could re-create Sephiroth."

"What is Kadaj?" Zack asked. "Where did he come from.

"A sacrifice," Vincent answered.

"An innocent girl's life," added Lucrecia. "Back in 0008, Sephiroth, using his Jenova avatar, impregnated three unsuspecting women. All gave birth to a remnant, and died in the process."

Suddenly, the three of them heard a rustling in the bushes.

Zack immediately rose to his feet and drew his sword.

A moment later, Sage rushed out and threw her arms around Zack.

"Sage!" he exclaimed.

"Zack!" she exclaimed. "It's Yuffie! And Denzel!"

"Yuffie recovered," Zack assured her.

"I want to see her again!" she begged. "I want to hear her voice."

"No problem," Zack said as he reached into his pocket.

He then realized his phone was missing.

"I think it fell out of your pocket during the fight," Lucrecia informed him.

Zack looked at Vincent.

"Vincent," he began, "will you bring Sage to Yuffie? I'm gonna go see Shinra and get a few answers."

"I can't do that," Vincent declined.

"But..." Zack protested.

"Just forget about it, Zack!" Sage snapped. "You're just going to go off and ghost us again!"

"Listen, Sage," Zack began. "Some serious shit is about to go down. I have no idea what it is. In the original timeline, I heard Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj were fused to resurrect Sephiroth. But here, Sephiroth never died. I need to find some answers. Okay?"

"No!" Sage replied. "It's not okay!"

"Zack," began Lucrecia, "what if the answers aren't that different from the original timeline? Things are playing out like before, only with different people involved."

FLASHBACK...

Zack stood in his bedroom with the prime Reno and Rude, and Yuffie, who was still sitting under the covers.

"Took them where?" Zack inquired.

"They're at their base now," the prime Rude replied. "The Forgotten City."

"Aw, shit," Yuffie sighed.

"The what?" Zack asked.

"You don't want to know," Yuffie said as she continued to sit up in bed with the covers over her lower half. "We all have bad memories of that place."

Zack turned to the prime Reno and Rude.

"I think I need to have a word with Rufus," he said.

"Dammit, Zack!" Yuffie suddenly snapped as she sprang out of bed and to her feet. "You can't run this time! You might not be able to help Denzel and Sage even if you do track them down! You can't undo everything that happens!"

She then took both of Zack's hands in hers.

"Look," she continued, "I know the possibility that this might not have a happy ending frightens you, but we have to deal with that. Your personal battles aren't the only ones that need to be fought. And you know this! You might have ghosted me, but you didn't block me, either!"

Zack looked Yuffie in her beautiful brown eyes; she appeared on the verge of crying.

Before Zack could say anything, Yuffie threw her arms around him, and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Just don't forget that I still think you're an incredible boyfriend," she sniffled. "I love you to the moon and back!"

For a moment, the two lovers continued to hug.

"Beautiful," the prime Reno then announced.

"Indeed!" added the prime Rude. "It looks like one of those epic movie scenes."

Yuffie immediately broke the hug, turned to Reno and Rude, and blushed.

She had forgotten they were there.

"Zack," said Reno, "get the damn kids."

With that, he turned, and left the room.

"And Yuffie," Rude added, "get some rest. You need to recover from Loz's attack."

"Will do," Yuffie agreed with a smile.

Rude turned and began to walk out. When he reached the door, he turned back to face Yuffie one last time.

"And you have no pants."

Yuffie immediately remembered she was in a tee shirt and panties.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as she tried to hide her underwear with her hands, though Rude immediately turned again and left after that.

...END FLASHBACK

"Are we ever forgiven for our sins?" Zack sighed.

"I've never tried," Vincent admitted.

"Neither have I," Lucrecia added. "And I doubt all of them can be forgiven, anyway."

Suddenly, Zack felt a surge of confidence.

"I'll give it a shot," he announced.

"Does this mean we're going home?" Sage asked.

Zack nodded.