Zack was a hero.

For the last five years—ever since the Ancients had cowardly wiped out the diplomatic delegation the President had sent—he had thrown himself headfirst into the forefront of the fighting. Most of the battles always seemed to take place around the Reactors, showing just how determined the Ancients were to prevent them from being able to have easier lives. It frustrated him to no end. Why did they feel that they were the only ones who deserved to be happy?

This war, though, was what Zack had been training for his entire life, and he'd proven himself more than prepared. Across the entire army, only Sephiroth was more widely regarded and praised for his service to their cause. One of these days, Zack was going to manage to surpass even him. How could he not? Everything he was doing was to protect those most important to him—his parents as well as Cloud and Tifa.

The moment the President had announced what the Ancients had done, he'd immediately canceled his plans to return to the city. Since then, he'd only had a few chances to go back home, and only for brief trips to see his family. His fellow Fang members never seemed to be around during his visits, but he wasn't overly worried about them. Cloud and Tifa had both gone through the same training he had and were more than capable of taking care of themselves. He assumed they were either out with their own units, or possibly even defending Midgar itself.

As if the Ancients weren't enough to deal with, a new terrorist organization had sprung up at almost exactly the same time the war had broken out. Calling themselves Avalanche, Zack had initially been concerned that it had some kind of connection to the gang from his childhood, but the leader was someone named Barret—not Biggs, Wedge, or Jessie. They claimed Shinra was evil and corrupt. That the reactors were killing people. While it was obviously all nonsense and lies spread by the Ancients, some people did seem to believe them.

Today's battle was once again at the newest reactor's construction site. It was the fourth one to go up outside the city and by far the largest one yet. Hojo claimed it would single-handedly be able to produce as much mako as all of Midgar's reactors combined. Assuming it ever finished, that was. The Ancients seemed determined to prevent that from happening, throwing nearly their entire military might at it over and over again. So far, Shinra's forces had managed to hold them off, but each day was growing more and more desperate. Zack hated to admit it, but he wasn't sure how much longer they'd be able to keep this up.

Ducking out of his personal tent, he headed to the giant, central command area where a large group of soldiers had already formed. Zack had never been much of an early riser, so he was usually slightly late to the morning briefings. Thanks to the fact he wasn't an official Shinra soldier and only a volunteer, he was exempt from any punishments for his tardiness. Despite not being one of them, the other soldiers around him still gave nods of greeting as he joined them—a hard-earned recognition of his status as a hero.

"Alright you slackers!" the commander roared, his voice the same booming drone as always. "You know the drill by this point. Those Ancient bastards are going to come at us with everything they've got, but will we break?"

"No!" the soldiers around him all shouted back.

For his part, Zack only yawned widely, not seeing the point in wasting so much energy this early in the day. There would be plenty of time for shouting later.

"You're damn fucking right we won't! They think they're so much better than us, but we'll show them just how wrong they are."

The ironic part was that the Ancients were better than them. There was no other explanation for why the battles were so evenly matched despite Shinra's forces being ten times the size. A single Ancient could take out dozens of soldiers before eventually being overwhelmed. Their strategy so far mostly consisted of "continuously throw troops at the enemy until we win"—something Zack wasn't terribly pleased with.

". . . but I'm pleased to announce that the latest shipment arrived earlier this morning," the commander announced to a loud cheer.

Having missed the first part of whatever the man had been saying, Zack glanced over in the direction he was gesturing to see what the excitement was all about. It was a struggle not to groan when he did—a new batch of Hojo's "magic" rifles were being handed out to soldiers.

The weapons were undeniably powerful, somehow capable of firing blasts of energy that while not identical to the spells the Ancients used, were shockingly close. Assuming they didn't blow up in your hands that was. How anyone could want anything to do with something so incredibly dangerous was beyond him. A good sword was all Zack needed.

To be fair, his sword wasn't entirely normal either though. Embedded in the hilt was a small green orb—another of Hojo's experiments although this kind was far safer. Or, at least, it hadn't blown up on him yet. By focusing on it, Zack was able to create magical barriers that could, for the most part, block spells thrown by the Ancients. He assumed they were less prone to accidents since they were defensive in nature, but none of this magic stuff made any sense to him.

"You coming?"

The question caught him off guard, snapping his attention back to the present and making him realize the briefing had ended. Nodding his head, he followed after the soldier who had spoken. It didn't take them long at all to reach the defensive perimeter they'd established around the reactor, the sun just barely beginning to peak over the tops of the trees surrounding the construction site. There were no Ancients in sight, but Zack knew they were there, lurking in the shadows and waiting to strike.

Shifting his grip on the hilt of his sword, he took several deep breaths. Not out of nerves—heroes didn't get nervous—but rather in anticipation. The Ancients fought in a wholly unique way, unlike anything he'd experienced before the war had started. It was strangely exhilarating—testing his skills in new ways almost on a daily basis. Zack could feel himself getting stronger, and for that, he was grateful to his opponents.

Shadows began slowly slipping out from the forest, forming into the shapes of people. The Ancients had arrived. Scanning their formation, Zack shifted clockwise around their defensive perimeter to place himself where he expected the fighting to be fiercest. It wasn't something he had to do, but rather what he wanted. Not only did it give him the challenge he was looking for, it also ensured he'd be able to help prevent the line from breaking.

"Ah shit, the self-proclaimed hero is here. Today's going to suck."

"Eh? Why? I thought he was one of the best."

"Oh, he's skilled alright, but the safest place on the battlefield is anywhere he isn't."

"Wait, are we in trouble then?"

Zack ignored the chatter. He didn't particularly care what the soldiers thought of him. It wasn't like he was out here to make friends, although it certainly would have been nice to have Tifa or Cloud watching his back. As much as he tried to not let it bother him, he didn't like not knowing what they were up to. Maybe next time he was in Midgar he'd more actively try to hunt them down. But for now, he needed to focus on the battle at hand.

As was usual, the Ancients started things off with a barrage of flaming spheres, lobbed high up into the sky so that they would rain down on Shinra's forces. Back when the war had first started this had been a devastating attack, but now—thanks to the barriers Hojo had provided them—it was almost entirely pointless. While it was still possible for a barrier to fail and collapse under the assault, it was a relief not to see that happen today.

Releasing the protective shield he'd put up around himself, Zack struggled not to comment as the two soldiers who'd been talking earlier stepped out from the protected space around him. He had more important things to worry about than their hypocrisy.

"Fire!" the commander roared from off to the left, and a moment later several beams of magical energy shot toward the Ancient lines.

There was also a loud explosion, followed closely by screams as one of the magical rifles detonated instead of doing what it was supposed to. Zack didn't take the time to look over, both because he'd already seen the results of that particular accident several times before and had no desire to once again, and also because the Ancients had started charging towards them. Similar barriers rippled in the air ahead of their front line, absorbing the elemental beams with ease.

Moving up to the front line, Zack quickly scanned the oncoming warriors, looking for anyone who seemed especially dangerous. He settled on a taller man, wielding a sword in either hand with a shield strapped to his back. The Ancient in question had caught Zack's attention a few days back when he'd nearly broken through the defensive lines on his own. If he were being honest, Zack wasn't entirely confident in his ability to beat such a competent fighter, but none of Shinra's soldiers would fare any better.

He stepped out to meet the Ancient, the others ignoring him as they ran past to smash into the wall of soldiers. That was one of the nice things about the Ancients—they at least had the honor to recognize duels and not fight dirty. It was actually a little strange, given that there was no possible way Zack would ever be able to take on even two of them at once. Not that he was complaining.

"Come and get it!" he shouted, grinning widely at his opponent as he spun his sword over his head.

The Ancient gave him a sharp nod before gracefully closing in, both of his swords whistling through the air as he swung directly for Zack's neck. Parrying the attack with his own blade, Zack grunted from the weight of the blow. He was forced to twist away, shifting his body to deflect the attack since it was too much for him to directly oppose. This fight was not getting off to quite the start he'd hoped for.

Knowing that staying on the defensive wasn't an option, he used his current motion to his advantage, sweeping his leg out in an attempt to trip his opponent. It didn't work. The Ancient saw the attack coming and easily jumped over it before spinning in midair to add additional speed to his next strike.

Zack didn't even attempt to block this one, opting to jump backward out of the way instead—the tip of the Ancient's sword barely missing him. Once again, he used the movement of his defensive maneuver to fuel his counterattack, this time coiling up like a spring before launching himself directly back at his opponent. The Ancient's eyes widened in surprise briefly before he smoothly exchanged one of his swords with the shield on his back, barely managing to pull it into the path of Zack's blade in time.

The force of the impact sent a tremor down his arm, nearly causing him to drop his sword. On the other side, the Ancient let out a loud grunt as he dropped into a crouch to more easily absorb the weight behind Zack's blow. It wasn't enough, though. Only a heartbeat later, his opponent shouted wordlessly as he surged upward, throwing Zack's blade to the side and taking a step forward as he thrust his sword in a lightning-fast strike aimed at the center of Zack's chest.

Pure reflex was the only thing that prevented him from being impaled on the wickedly sharp blade as Zack barely managed to use the flat of his blade to block the lethal attack. Even so, it still sent his own weapon slamming backward into him, nearly knocking the air from his lungs before he managed to jump away and put some more distance between them.

"You fight well, for a Human."

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself."

The Ancient smirked slightly, clearly recognizing that Zack understood he was outmatched.

Expecting the fight to be slightly easier now that his opponent only had a single weapon, Zack was quickly proven wrong. The Ancient didn't only use his shield for defense, he was more than willing to treat it as a weapon of its own—striking with its sharp edge or using it to try and knock Zack off balance. He lost track of time as they continued exchanging blows, the larger battle raging on around them.

As proud of himself as he was for putting up a good fight against the strongest opponent he'd ever faced, Zack was all too aware of one, major issue. He was getting tired more quickly. Even the Ancient was moving more sluggishly by this point, but it was obvious that he was weakening far slower. At this rate, it wouldn't be much longer before Zack made a mistake he wouldn't be able to recover from. In their exhaustion, neither of them noticed the Shinra soldier until it was too late. A simple stab from behind and the Ancient dropped to his knees with a groan—a look of pure betrayal on his face. Zack opened his mouth to explain he hadn't known, that this wasn't how he'd wanted to win, but it was already too late. The Ancient was dead. Everything happened so quickly that it left Zack reeling—and furious.

"Why did you do that?" he demanded angrily, his hand shaking on the hilt of his sword.

The soldier gave him a confused look, clearly not understanding why Zack was so upset. "Because he was the enemy? I saw an opening and it took it, I'm not going to apologize for stealing your kill. Anyways, the commander sent me. He wants to talk with you."

Zack frowned, not only frustrated with the soldier's complete disregard for honor but also because of how surprising the last part of what he'd said was. The commander had never asked for him personally before, much less in the middle of an ongoing battle. Before he could ask for any more information, the soldier turned and ran off, disappearing into the chaos of the fight raging around where the duel had been taking place.

Deciding that it must be something important—in addition to needing a moment to recover from the duel—Zack quickly made his way back toward the reactor, threading his way through the fighting as best he could until he reached the command tent. Thankfully, it seemed like Shinra's lines were holding fairly well today—the fighting was still quite a distance away from where the reactor would be in danger.

"Sir? You sent for me?" Zack asked as he entered the tent.

The commander looked up from the array of papers spread out on the desk in front of him. "Ah, yes, good. I'd like to hear your assessment of the current situation, soldier."

"Sir?" This was why he'd pulled him away from the fighting? To ask his opinion on how things were going?

"I understand some of the soldiers' opinions of you aren't the highest, but I can recognize talent when I see it. You've been a key resource in nearly every battle for the last year. I respect that. What I'm curious to know is how you think the tide of this war is going."

"Poorly," Zack said bluntly. "We're not losing, but we're also not winning. It's dragging out and the longer it does, the more people are going to die. Not to mention it's only a matter of time before the Ancients succeed in taking down this reactor."

The commander didn't immediately respond, his head only nodding slightly as he shifted some of the papers around. "I don't think many of the soldiers would agree with you," he eventually said, "but I do. We need something to claim as a victory, something to motivate the troops and to get the Ancients to give us a bit more room to breathe. That's where you come in."

Zack wasn't terribly thrilled with where this was going. "What are you asking of me?"

"I can't order you to do anything, but you're also the only one in this army who's capable of doing something like this. I want you to sneak behind enemy lines and take out as many of their mages as you can. They're at their most vulnerable right now when their soldiers are away and engaged with ours. You should be able to catch them completely off guard and kill at least a few."

It was arguably a death sentence, but no one ever said the path to freedom was gentle. He'd only be able to kill "a few" because once the others realized he was there, they'd kill him on the spot—assuming Hojo's magical orb couldn't save him. But . . . if anyone could pull it off, it would be him. The commander was right, the mages were the single biggest threat to the army. Even if Zack only managed to kill one, it would be a colossal blow to their enemies. Because of that, he didn't have to think for very long.

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Excellent. I look forward to news of your success."

With that, Zack turned and left the tent as the commander returned his attention to whatever strategy he was planning. He wondered if those plans accounted for his success or for his failure. Despite the apparent danger, Zack was still confident he could pull this off. Mostly.

Locating where the fighting was the weakest, he slipped away from the battle seemingly unnoticed and made his way for the distant tree line, crouching and doing his best to not be spotted. He made sure to circle around from where the mages had launched their initial assault earlier that morning, hoping it would help him to remain undetected even if it meant more ground to cover. Once he reached the trees—hopefully without having been seen—he slowed down to a crawl and began carefully making his way in the direction of where he thought the Ancient's camp was.

Zack hadn't gone very far at all when he came to an immediate halt as he rounded a tree. There, in front of him, crouched in the bushes and watching the battlefield was a person. A woman, specifically, with long brown hair running all the way down to her waist in a ponytail that was tied up with a red ribbon. Considering it was all but impossible to sneak up on an Ancient, he would have assumed she was Human, except given the circumstances that was clearly impossible. She must have been incredibly distracted to not have heard him coming.

Heroes didn't ambush people from behind, even if it was the more strategically sound idea. There simply wasn't any honor in it, which made it not an option. Zack cleared his throat, tightening his grip on his sword and preparing for the Ancient to notice him. As soon as she did, then he'd strike.

It turned out to be a fatal mistake.

He was no stranger to Ancient magic after all this time, and even if it was incredibly powerful, it also had several weaknesses—in particular, how slow it was. Except this time, for some reason, that didn't appear to be the case. The Ancient whirled around in surprise, her arm thrusting outward in his direction and Zack found himself blown clear off his feet by a massive blast of wind.

His brief trip through the air came to an abrupt halt as he crashed into a tree trunk, his sword falling out of his numb hands and dropping to the ground at his side as the air rushed out of his lungs. It should have been impossible, except he'd heard the tales and had discounted them as nonsense. The stories of an Ancient being able to use magic in the blink of an eye were too laughable to take seriously. If they could do that then the war would have ended before it began.

It was just his luck that the Ancient he'd randomly stumbled upon was the one responsible for those rumors and they were clearly, painfully, true. Strangely enough, Zack found that he didn't regret not ambushing her. She had bested him, fair and square. He could vaguely make her out through the stars filling his vision as she cautiously approached, chestnut hair framing her face—her eyes a shocking emerald green. The last thought that crossed Zack's mind before the darkness consumed him was that at least if he was going to die, it was at the hands of a beautiful woman.

So, just to be abundantly clear, no, Aerith didn't just kill Zack, he's very much still alive, just unconscious. Five years have passed since the destruction of Farstar, and the war is in full swing as the Cetra attempt to stop the construction of the largest reactor yet. Zack is... not super well informed about what's going on in the bigger picture, clearly, as he's been isolated enough to still believe Shinra's lies. We also learn that Avalanche has officially been labeled as a terrorist organization, although Zack again doesn't make the full connection here as Barret has become the leader. Hojo's Materia are in circulation now and are giving the Humans a fighting chance in this war, assuming they don't just... blow up. Zack is partially right here about why his defensive one seems safer, it's because Hojo is working off of the Healing Materia so anything closer to its functionality is more stable.

Another mid-week coming up, although I'm preeeeetty sure the new PoV in it is going to catch everyone by surprise.

Next Chapter: Doubt