Everyone had expected a scream of pain from Cloud or, at the very least, a menacing laugh from Sephiroth. But none of that happened; instead, the copy of Cloud had burst out laughing like a lunatic. That didn't fit the image of Cloud they were used to.
Cloud, on the other hand, was more focused on the giant sword that had stopped just inches away from smashing his skull in two. He finally relaxed when he saw the blade move away from him. But then the copy extended his hand to him, and Cloud looked at it confused 'is it... offering to help me? After almost trying to kill me, honestly?' his expression changed to that of anger, slapping the offered hand away and getting himself on his feet. The last thing he wanted now was help from a copy of himself.
"Oh, come on Cloud, don't be like that I was just kidding," the copy laughed, his voice sounding nothing like Cloud's. Cloud stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look back at him. His face filled with shock and confusion as he seemed to realize who he was but didn't believe it.
'Man, he is going to freak when I let this cat out of the bag,' He snickered, reaching up to his own blond hair and pulling it entirely off, revealing his raven black hair. His cocky smile never left his face, especially after seeing Cloud's face twitching with his eyes wide open.
"Z-Zack? B-but you were gunned down by Shinra's army three years ago," Cloud stuttered as he spoke; he still couldn't believe that his best friend was standing right before him. "H-How did you-"
"Honestly, Cloud, I have no clue how myself. I do remember dying and handing you my sword," Zack quickly replied, scratching the back of his head before adding, "I woke up in a mako tank in one of the labs at Shinra a few days ago. And I don't know how I got there to begin with". He then turned his attention to the group behind the barrier. "Oh damn, Sorry, I forgot all about you guys!" he yelled in a panic as he detached the barrier materia from his bangle, which finally caused the barrier to disappear.
The group came running towards the two men and gathered around Cloud mostly. Tifa went straight into Cloud's arms. "You ok?" she asked but realized how stupid it sounded after it came out of her mouth.
Cloud hugged her, patting her head. "I'm fine, it's just a scratch," he replied to lessen her worry over him.
Zack offered a cure materia with a natural smile on his face. "Here, You can use this to heal faster."
"Forget it! We don't need any help from SOLIDER!" Tifa snapped at Zack, still connecting him to the Nibelhiem incident.
"B-But I'm no-" Zack stuttered, trying to explain. Seeing the hate in her eyes made him not bother to continue his sentence. Instead, he sighed, clearly seeing that he wasn't wanted. "Alright, I understand. I know when I'm not wanted" he lifted his arms to the level of his head in defeat. He slowly backed away from the group of friends who crowded Cloud.
He looked up at 'Sephiroth' and gestured for them to come down, to which they responded with a nod. The long silver-haired figure flew down to Zack slowly and carefully. As soon as the figure landed in his arms, they detached the fake black wing and wrapped their arms around his neck, trying to comfort Zack from the rejection he had just faced.
"You worry too much. I'm all right." Zack smiled in response to their support. Besides, rejection was much better than a beat-up from the angry prank victims, in his opinion. "We should get going. I can feel the daggers already," He jokingly said as he turned his back to the group and slowly made his way towards the construction yard's exit.
The fake wing had caught the group by surprise and had their full attention; they stared intensively at the two as they made their quiet exchange with one another. Cloud walked closer to Zack to get a closer look at what was happening. "That's... not Sephiroth?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Nope," Zack simply replied and turned around so that they were now facing the group. The Sephiroth imposter reached out to their silver hair and pulled it off, revealing earth brown colored long hair that almost reached the ground with segmented bangs framing her face, Hair tied in a ponytail with a big pink ribbon. "This is my girlfriend, Aerith Gainsborough," He added with a warm smile directed at the girl in his arms.
"AERITH?" the group yelled in unison, shocked by this sudden discovery. And making the man and his partner jerk quite a bit from the loud yelling.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
7th Heaven bar, almost midnight...
Everyone returned to the bar afterward; Cloud and the others all huddled around Zack and Aerith on one of the large tables that the bar had. At that moment, her friends were scaring her with how they stared at her silently. She clung to Zack's shirt just in case one of them decided to pounce on her.
"How are you alive, Aerith? I am grateful, don't get me wrong, But it's just a lot to take in." Tifa questioned her old friend noticing how uncomfortable they made her feel. Though how she knew Zack and got that close is beyond her, she might need to ask her in private later.
"I don't know, I woke up next to Zack so you should be asking him about it." She gestured to her boyfriend next to her. But looking at Tifa, she could tell she didn't want to ask him.
Meanwhile, Cloud was still staring blankly at the two friends he thought he had lost years ago, as they were sitting right in front of him, looking alive and well. He started questioning if this was a trick his mind had set up because he missed them. But as he wasn't the only one seeing them, he knew that this was reality and that they were real. He soon returned to his senses when Barret slammed his hands on the table, shaking it hard and almost breaking it.
"How do we know that you two aren't some imposters and are working for Shinra?" Barret asserted, pointing his robotic finger at Zack in particular.
"I did say that I woke up in one of the labs at Shinra along with Aerith. But no one was there, and the reports that were scattered around noted that we were part of some failed experiment. And just to point out, I quit Shinra a long time ago, didn't Cloud tell you that?" Zack looked over at Cloud, whose expression was between worry and shock. Cloud's only response was a nod to his friend's last st. Didn't
"Alright, everyone settle down." Reeve tried to keep everything under control before things got worse, mainly due to Barret looking ready to shoot at any moment. "Now then, Zack, can you tell us exactly what happened?" he felt that if Zack explained more, then maybe everyone would be at ease.
"Well, the lab looked like Hojo's, but I needed to walk up the stairs to get to the SOLIDER floor and get supplies," Zack explained in detail about what happened to him when he first woke up till he reached Aerith's church. He excluded, of course, his detailed encounters with some of the local beasts. Nevertheless, everyone listened carefully to him, taking in all his information.
After the explanation, Vincent walked over behind the group, a vague idea of what might have happened. "Sounds like one of the labs Deepground used. They were probably trying to get new members that would benefit their Omega plan, but since they didn't get the response they wanted, they probably just abandoned them in the labs and left. Though without the actual reports, I can't say for sure," He continued to add before falling silent.
"I could conduct an SND to retrieve the missing reports if you want, But I need to go to that lab first and connect to the local network," Shelke added to the conversation. With her point made, everyone stared at Zack, expecting him to accept the offer straight up, which he did.
"Ok, I'll take you there no problem. When do you want to go?" Zack calmly answered, getting off his chair. He then saw the Chocobo-dressed girl and the vampire-looking man get up as well 'wait, they want to go no. Theyl, I guess the faster we get this done, the better'. He smiled and announced to his two companions, "Ok then, let's go."
"Wait, Zack! I'm coming too!" Aerith called out as she floated towards him. But as she got closer, she started to fall; thankfully, Zack caught her just before she got hurt.
"Whoa! How are you doing that Aerith?" Yuffie yelled out in excitement.
"Oh, I'm using a prototype float materia that I borrowed from Zack." Aerith replied to Yuffie, taking out a dark green materia that had a small crack on its side. "looks like I've overused it though," she sounded sad as she stared at the dimly glowing sphere in her hand.
"Why do you need that for? You're done with that mean prank, arent you?" Yuffie questioned, looking confused. Instead of replying, Aerith frowned, looking down at the sphere again.
Zack took Aerith off the floor in silence and placed her back in her seat. He gently brushed her bangs behind her ears, giving her a soft smile. "I'll be back this time, promise." he kissed her forehead before leaving with Shelke and Vincent in the direction of Midgar.