Shinra had once been the planet's primary provider of Mako power for almost a decade. Stationed in Midgar, once the most technologically advanced location ever constructed on Gaia, it provided the rest of the planet with energy, weapons, and much more. Now, it's nothing more but ruins and a painful reminder of what power can inflict on weak and greedy minds. It, along with the rest of Midgar, is nothing more than a soon-to-be-forgotten chapter of Gaia's ever-growing history.
Within Shinra's broken-down structure, Zack exhaustingly climbed its many unstable staircases while carrying his unconscious partner on his back. It had been long since he was this active, so his ascending was too slow for his comfort. Either way, there was no other option to get up the top floors, so he had to make do with the exercise. His goal for scaling broken staircases and avoiding rubble and debris is to get to the SOLDIER floor. The floor was where SOLDIER operatives not only gathered to rest or train but also to receive new weaponry and supplies for their missions. He did try the supply shop on the second floor of the reception hall, but it was buried under a large amount of rubble; it would take too long to dig it out. So his best option, although a few floors up, was the SOLDIER floor.
He tried his best to avoid monster confrontation as much as possible due to him being handicapped at the moment. One of his handicaps was the rusted metal pipe securely strapped to the belt around his abdomen. The pipe in question was fully rusted; sure, he could hit with it, but it wouldn't last long in a fight. His second handicap, and the biggest reason he was being extra careful, was the unconscious Aerith resting soundly on his back.
He was utterly shocked when he saw her in that Mako chamber a while ago. Finally, the person he wanted to see the most and thought to have missed his chance years ago was right in front of him. She has aged well, looking slightly different from how he remembers her. She was a bit older and mature looking, but her signature smile and soft facial expression were still as adorable and beautiful as he remembers. And to top it all off, she was wearing a pink dress! She considered his idea after all. He smiled this whole time after seeing her, but then he frowned, realizing something terrible. Why was she here? What was the experiment they wanted her for?
The thought loomed over him; He was used in some experiment that much was a given, but then she was also in the same lab, which meant that she was involved in the same experimentations as himself. What kind of experiments were they? What was possibly done to them? Unfortunately, no one conducting the experiments was around to answer him, nor was the project report available. So, for now, there was no point in thinking about it. His priority now was to get out of these damaged and Mako-drenched clothes, get some supplies and equipment and leave this place as fast as he could. Who knows what dangerous rogue experiment could have gotten loose in a place like this.
Stepping into the 49th floor, he breathed a sigh of relief; he finally made it to the SOLDIER floor after endless hours. His feet throbbing, he carefully leaned Aerith on the wall beside the door leading back to the staircase, then sat himself down on the floor beside her catching his breath.
"I need to get back into shape after all this, don't you agree, Aerith?" He glanced towards her side with a chuckle. This journey was starting to get very similar to the one with Cloud. Only, on this journey, the destination was Edge, and his travel buddy was Aerith. He looked away from her and stared into the Midday sky beyond the broken windows.
"The sky actually looks clear today. Last time I saw it I remember how dark and cloudy it looked. It was raining too. Aerith, I know you wrote that it was over between us, but if I could... I want to try again, I want to make 'us' work. If you'd let me, then I promise you that I'll do better."
His intense hearing picked up on an echoing sound of grunts and steps somewhere in the area. They weren't alone. He slowly reached towards his belt and took out the rusted pipe while determining where the source was. They needed to move to a safer spot; being out in the open was not a good idea. He quickly picked Aerith up and made a beeline to the briefing room's antechamber. Thankfully, the threat wasn't anywhere near that location yet.
After getting safely into the room, Zack gently placed Aerith near the supply pods. Then he opened one of them in hopes of finding something of use. As luck would have it, one of the lockers was stocked with the standard SOLDIER Sword. Unfortunately, much to his luck, the sword has gotten slightly rusty around its edges, making it dull. Zack admits that the weapon has seen better days, but it would suffice for the current predicament.
"Sorry, Angel, but I have to leave you alone for a sec. I'll be right back, promise." He got up to his feet and went out onto the open floor. He did his best not to make a sound to catch whatever he was up against; it was off guard.
He quickly went past the Materia room and into the large lounging area. It dawned on him that the creature might favor staying away from areas that allowed natural light to seep through. So wherever the threat was, it was in one of the darkest rooms in the area.
He had already checked the Briefing room, so the monster was either in the Training room or the Materia room. Since he was close to the Training room, he'll start there. The grunting noise got louder as he got closer to the closed door. He was definitely on the right track. He stood right in front of the door; it wasn't opening.
"No power hu? Easy fix."
He took a few steps backward, focusing on the metal door as he did. Then, with all his might, he kicked it open, breaking it off its tracks. Inside, the room was pitch black that any average person would have been able to see; thankfully, he wasn't normal. The Mako-infused eyes of SOLDIER operatives functioned as night vision goggles, so he could see perfectly fine at night or in dark places. With the door open, he crept inside the room as quietly as possible. Looking over every nook and cranny of the room, he walked in deeper while keeping his hearing free to listen to the monster's grunts. The glass partition that separated the monitoring system and the VR chamber was shattered entirely, its remains all over the worn metal flooring. There was a massive hole in the middle of the VR chamber leading down to the ground floor.
"I'd hate falling into this rabbit hole. Odd though, I don't hear its grunts anymore-" He was cut off mid-sentence by a back attack that almost made him fall into the hole. But, to his luck, he got away with just claw marks on his back.
Behind him stood a Guard Hound, very much known for its shiny raven fun, colored fire antenna which sticks out of the back of its head, and menacing yellow eyes. It was much larger than the regular variety, most likely due to exposure to the Mako radiation in the old building. Either way, surely it had the same weak spot as the regular Guard Hound, its head.
It gave Zack no time to plan as it charged right at him. The hound, having its sharp toothy jaw parted beforehand, lunged at Zack's unprotected side and tore his shirt along with a slight amount of flesh. He had no time to address his wound as the beast continued its advance. This time, however, he drove the sword right between its jaws.
"I won't fall for the same trick twice!" He pushed the hound back and, in turn, gave himself some room to move away from the drop that was behind him.
The giant hound changed its strategy and swiped its acidic claws toward its human prey. Zack did his best to dodge its every swipe with his sword. But the weapon was no match for the breast's claw and broke after deflecting several attacks.
"Oh man, it's the simulation all over again." Zack complained after getting himself a safe distance from the hound. Examining what remained of his weapon, a halt with a half-broken sword still stuck to it, he concluded that he should switch to offense and end this fight quickly before any more casualties were made. He retook his battle stance, still using the broken weapon, and eyed the monster. "Mutant or not, you're still a Guard Hound. And like all your species, you have a weakness."
This time, Zack was the one to lung at the beast. As soon as he saw it lift a claw, he got his body low enough to let his free man touch the floor. This allowed him to quickly change his direction, evading the attack and stopping behind the hound. Within seconds, Zack jumped up its back and made his way up to the head, stabbing the damaged blade into the beast's skull.
The Guard Hound howled in pain and tried to shake the Ex-SOLDIER off its back, yet Zack clung ever so tightly. Before willingly dismantling it, Zack stomped his foot onto the sword's halt, digging it deeper into the beast's skull, then jumped off and landed on his feet safely on the metal floor. The sound of the giant beast falling to the floor followed suit.
"Gotcha!" Zack proclaimed victoriously. Turning his back to the hound in an attempt to level the room after believing that he killed it. Unfortunately, it stood back on its wobbly feet with what little strength it had left.
The beast, still determined to be the victor no matter the cost, lifted its upper half as high as it could, then swiftly brought it down, causing the weak floor to give way underneath them. Zack felt himself fall through and panicked. As he fell, he spotted an old pipe sticking out of one of the floors that he would be passing soon. Acting quickly to his gut instincts, he reached out and grabbed onto it without a second to spare. Lucky for him, the pipe was strong enough to keep him from falling. The Guard Hound, however, wasn't as fortunate, meeting the ground floor with a loud thud, followed closely by the fallen rubble and rock of the VR's broken flooring.
"Oh man, that was a close one!" Zack sighed with relief but realized he was still dangling for his life. "How do I get back up there? I can't leave her alone for too long."
He was too far for his footing to reach the ledge of the floor he was hanging from. As for which floor he was stuck on, it was the 29th, the clue being the actual floor number written in bold on the far-off wall. Now he could get up and stand on the pipe, but then what? The rest of the pipeline leading to the floor's edge was covered in liquid Mako; if memory serves, that stuff can be very slippery.
"What I wouldn't give for those wings right about now Angeal."
He pulled himself up on the pipe at least and sat there. He was examining his surroundings for some alternative way to escape his predicament. Then, unconsciously, his hand slipped into one of his pockets, a habit he usually did to pull out his spare materia during his service at SOLDIER. That's when his gloved fingers encountered a cold, smooth surface. Surprised, he quickly pulled it out, discovering a small light green colored materia. Because of its size and the fact that he was already feeling cold from the wet suit, it was no wonder how he did not take notice of it before.
"Well this is convenient, but what spell are you?" He asked the small sphere, not that it would answer him. Instead, he clutched it in his hand tightly, bringing it to his forehead. He took a quick breath and closed his eyes to read what spell this materia carried.
He focused solely on the materia and allowed the knowledge it had to flow through him. White magic classed, not quite popular even during the ancient times, mainly used to avoid hidden ground traps. Its effect is to grant the user the ability to float.
"Float? That's new. I never heard of anyone having one though. Must be one of Jerry's prototypes again." He did not have a very fond memory of the materia scientist and his prototypes. They blew up in his face whenever Zack tested them because they were unstable. But, now that he thinks about it, he did offer to test this one before he left for Nibelhiem. "Well, it's not like I have anything else to do. Might as well try it."
Zack took the Materia in his left hand and pulled off his glove from his right with his teeth, uncovering a Shinra Beta+ bangle with its slots empty. Zack inwardly cursed the Materia thief that stole his Materia after his defeat, then slipped the supposed Float Materia in one of the vacant slots.
"Here goes nothing." he took a deep breath and focused on the power that now flowed in him to his hand from the Materia. It wasn't reacting weirdly as far as he could tell. Next, he cast the energy that built up in his hand onto himself. No negative side effects occurred, which was a good thing. He soon felt himself get lighter physically; his feet slowly lose touch with the pipe. His eyes shot open in panic, thinking the spell might have backfired and destroyed the pipeline. Thankfully, that was not the case.
Looking down, he saw his feet hovering inches off the pipe. And the fact that he got no adverse side effects from using the spell, plus it did blow up like the usual prototypes he tested, made him feel ecstatic. "It... worked? It ACTUALLY WORKED?! Thank you, Jerry!" He proclaimed as he made his way safely across the pipe and onto the 29th floor.
Within 15 minutes, He finally returned to the 49th floor and returned to the briefing room where he left Aerith. After entering, he immediately checked up on her. Seeing that she was safe and unharmed, he visibly relaxed. "Thank Gaia you're ok. Sorry if I took too long. At least now we can focus or getting supplies and getting the hell out of this place."
Emptying every last one of the supply pods in the antechamber, he began collecting the supplies he deemed necessary for the upcoming journey to Edge. He found some working materia, a spare well-kept SOLDIER Sword, unused bandages, two SOLDIER 2nd class uniforms, and a backpack. The rest items he found were either broken, torn, or simply useless.
After placing the items he found next to his sleeping angel, he took out one of the uniforms and headed to the opposite of the room to change. He stripped off the worn-out and drenched uniform and threw it aside without a second thought. In the corner of his eyes caught sight of a shiny object. Turning towards it, he spotted his reflection in a broken mirror. He couldn't help but inspect himself, for this was the first time since he woke that he had the chance to see himself.
The first thing to grab his attention was the faint bullet and blade marks that scar his broad chest down to his belly. He slowly placed a hand on them, feeling them to verify if they still gave him pain, which they didn't. Instead, they were a permanent reminder of what Shinra had done to him.
Shinra and SOLDIER were his idols growing up. Every kid back then wanted to be SOLDIER. He was no exception; he ran away from home, trained to the bone, and did so much to get into their ranks, aiming to become the hero he had always dreamed of being. But now he knew better, He knew the dark secrets it hid from the world, and his perspective changed because of it. But one thing won't change, his morals and respect as SOLDIER, the SOLDIER he learned from his mentor Angeal, he would keep holding on to that for as long as he lived.
After he got changed and had packed the supplies up in the backpack, it dawned on him that he had forgotten something important. He slapped his forehead with a bit of might that caused a slight echo to be heard in the room. As trivial as the problem might have been, considering that it was her that he was dealing with, it may end badly. Nonetheless, it had to be done for her good.
He did his best to force a smile on his face, an awkward one, took a deep breath, then sighed loudly. Just the thought of it caused a slight blush to appear on his cheeks, and he felt a tad hot. But he then composed himself as much as possible and turned his sights to his unconscious partner. He had to get her out of that Mako-drenched dress.