Mideel Continent, Banora, Saturday Morning
Before they left, Zack and Tseng had a conversation that started off in a manner that Zack would consider rocky (Be alert or you'll fail? Thanks, Tseng!), but it ended on an okay enough note. Sure, Zack had learned during the talk that originally, this had been Sephiroth's mission, but the SOLDIER 1st was refusing to go. But when Zack had insisted that they spoiled Sephiroth too much, Tseng had nearly laughed!
And so he was added to Zack's list of "bestest friends forever." It was a Zack thing, and really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anybody.
Now they had arrived at their destination, and Zack couldn't help but notice the odd archway of trees set out before him, bearing blue fruit... Blue apples? He put his hands on his hips as he walked up to the orchard, leaving the helicopter that they'd flown in on behind him.
"Weird looking trees," he noted.
"These are Banora White trees," Tseng explained. "AKA dumbapples."
"Wait, that means we're in Banora?" ... Huh. Angeal had talked about dumbapples a month ago, in Wutai. It was weird, how they were here, looking around at the trees that Zack's mentor had stolen from in his youth. "Angeal's hometown?"
"That is correct," Tseng confirmed. "Genesis and Angeal have known each other for a long time."
And then they were pressing on ahead... Only to find themselves cut off by a Genesis copy, armed with a pair of wicked scimitars, just the same as the ones that Zack and Angeal had encountered on their mission in Wutai. And just as easy to deal with, too. Zack ran ahead and made short work of him, and the friend who had shown up a split-second later.
That pretty much confirmed that Genesis was here. And since they hadn't encountered any of the townies yet, Tseng theorized that Genesis and his copies might have taken control of the entire town. After all, Genesis hadn't just taken 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIERS with him when he'd left. He'd taken their weapons with him, as well.
"Leave it to me," Zack practically chirped, and then he ran along ahead, taking out a few stray Guard Hounds on the way. If Genesis had ShinRa weaponry, then it was a good thing that Zack had tagged along. After all, taking down the Big Bad wasn't Turks work. SOLDIER was ShinRa's power, and Zack was made for battle!
... Oh. Hey. There was one of those weapons that Tseng had mentioned. Though Zack didn't exactly remember a giant robotic tarantula as being a part of the SOLDIER budget. The two Genesis copies that were guarding it were easy enough. A slash of his sword here, a good kick there and some more sword-work, and they were out of mind entirely. But the action had woken up the robot... thing, and it locked in on Zack, firing a missile at him.
The grin on Zack's lips was almost manic as he learned that it was entirely possible to cut a rocket-powered heat-seeking missile in half with his sword so that the two sides of it sailed harmlessly past him, only to explode somewhere behind.
Nobody had ever accused Zack of being brilliant, here.
The robot itself hadn't been a walk in the park, but Zack finally beat it to a burnout, mostly by keeping his distance and dropping Blizzard shards on top of it. If he got too close, the thing would lunge at him, attempting to skewer him through with its front legs. And it moved too quickly for him to get behind it, and so keeping far, far away was his best bet.
Once it had been reduced to scrap, Zack found himself staring down at the pair of Genesis copies that he'd taken down before.
"A Genesis copy," he said aloud, staring down at the unmasked corpse laying on the ground. Human copies. That was never going to stop being entirely too eerie for his tastes.
"Where did you hear that?" Tseng came up from behind, inspecting the debris of the robot.
"Sephiroth said it."
"The technology was stolen from our scientists." Tseng turned around to face Zack as he spoke, his expression grim. "It apparently allows Genesis's abilities and traits to be transplanted... To SOLDIER members, and monsters."
SOLDIER members.
Most of the 2nds and 3rds in SOLDIER had deserted with Genesis, so these bodies on the ground were--
Zack shook himself out of that train of thought. There was something else, there. Something that didn't sit quite right at all.
"SOLDIER and monsters? We're the same?"
The town of Banora itself was a tiny place, a circle of housing facing an inner common-area of sorts. A windmill was turning nearby, and Zack was pretty certain he hadn't seen a sky so blue since he'd left his own home in Gongaga at the age of twelve.
What really caught Zack's eye, however, was a place that was practically a mansion, with a huge lay of land not far off that seemed to all belong to it, and the most spectacular looking Banora White tree in the entire town growing overhead.
"This is Genesis's home," Tseng explained, stepping up beside him. "His parents are wealthy landowners."
Zack didn't so much as turn around, at that.
But I never stole from that tree, because the wealthy man's son was my friend...
As though Tseng knew where Zack's mind had wandered, he stepped past him and continued speaking.
"They weren't mere acquaintences. They grew up together, and were best friends."
"So Genesis deserts and gets his best friend Angeal to join him..." Zack didn't like the taste of those words as they left his lips. But this was the first second since Angeal had left that anything made any sense. He couldn't deny that much. "Is that it?"
"Sephiroth believes that's the case," Tseng replied. It was possibly as close to a confirmation as Zack was going to get from the Turk. Something had caught Tseng's eye not far off. A pile of stones under a tree, where the earth had been disturbed. "There. A gravestone. Still very new. Zack, go find Angeal's house. I'll check the grave."
"Ugh..." Zack followed Tseng toward the gravestone, furrowing his eyebrows. That was nasty. Elena had never mentioned anything about digging up dead bodies, thanks. "So Turks always do this stuff?"
Tseng didn't seem phased by Zack's reaction in the least. He simply pushed on ahead while Zack stood back and grimaced.
"Someone has to do it."
"Must be rough."
"Dont worry," and Tseng held up a hand dismissively, smiling as he walked. "We're paid much better than you are."
... NO WAY!
Tseng hadn't been wrong to assume that Genesis had taken control of the town. The area around the houses was crawling with copies and Guard Hounds... Monsters, and SOLDIERS turned monsters. Zack ended up trying every door, and battling his way to the next, before he finally stumbled across one home that was inhabited by a living being that wasn't out to kill him.
The woman sitting at the table in the middle of the single-room house looked up at him curiously, her face tired and her hair gray with age. There was a small air of concern in her voice, but Zack's entrance didn't seem to be what was throwing her off, really.
"Can I help you?"
Really, after trying so many empty homes, Zack was a little put-off himself. Some part of him hadn't been expecting any survivors at all, let alone one that was so calm, asking if he needed anything.
"Uh... Uh, greetings, ma'am." Okay, time to go for broke, here. "Are you Angeal's mother?" No response. Pressing onward, then! "Uhm. My name is Zack."
The woman looked away, seeming to reflect on something for a moment, before looking back at him again, abruptly and expectantly.
"Are you Zack... The puppy?"
HEY.
"Excuse me?
"My son wrote to me once about you," the woman replied with a small laugh. So she was Angeal's mother! "Zero attention span, restless as a little puppy."
And then she was laughing again.
"Aah. Thanks, Angeal," Zack sighed. That nickname was going to follow him to the grave, wasn't it?
"You're not... here together with Genesis, are you?" Angeal's mother seemed curious, again. Not particularly concerned. There was just... an idle flicker of wanting to know, perhaps.
"No," Zack replied. "I'm not. Don't worry."
He could have added more. He could have added that he was here hunting for Genesis. That Genesis had deserted ShinRa and SOLDIER. That there were men out there that he had once considered friends, fellow 2nds and 3rds, who were now running around wearing that man's face. He could have asked how Angeal was doing. He could have told her how he and a friend were speculating that Angeal had gone deep undercover, and he'd come out any day now and everything would be alright again. He could have done one of a million things that he wanted, now that the opportunity had come up.
He didn't.
She looked so sad.
"What is happening with my son?"
"I'm not really sure." And there went Zack's heart, hitting the pit of his gut again. What a rotten thing to have to tell a mother.
Angeal's mom went quiet again, looking down at the top of the table that she was sitting at.
"Genesis came back here, a month ago, with an army of cohorts. And they proceeded to take the lives of many townspeople." Zack couldn't contain the shocked look on his face as she told him that. He'd put his hands on his hips, trying to look like he was in control of the situation, but the thought that someone could go home and take the place apart was appalling, and the expression he wore stated that much quite clearly as Angeal's mother continued speaking. "Genesis... he used to be such a good boy."
"Is Angeal...?"
"He came here," the woman replied, looking up again. "But, he left his sword and went off somewhere."
Zack followed her gaze with his own. There, in the corner, propped against the wall? Angeal's Buster Sword. The one that he never used. Zack stared for a moment more, before taking a few steps toward it.
"That sword represents our family's honor," continued that soft woman's voice from behind him.
"I see... No wonder..." Zack turned to face her again. He had to tell her. Something. Anything, at this point might be some sort of comfort. "He never uses this sword, really ever." She remained quiet as he stepped closer to her, stooping down on one knee to look up at her. "I'll take care of Angeal. You should go and hide somewhere."
"Don't be concerned. Genesis..." Her face took on a firm expression, and she put her chin in the air, closing her eyes. Defiant. It was no mystery where Angeal had gotten it from, really, was it? "...Cannot harm me."
Zack couldn't argue with that. It wasn't his place to argue with that. And so he nodded, pulling himself to his feet again. Turning to cast another look over his shoulder at Angeal's sword. The woman must have noticed him staring, because she spoke again, then.
"When Angeal joined ShinRa, my husband had that sword made for him, in the hopes that he would become an honourable warrior. We had to borrow a lot of money to have it made, and then, while fervently trying to return all the money, my husband succumbed to fatigue."
That explained a lot, too.
Zack spent a little while longer in the room with Angeal's mother, making certain that she was alright, admiring the family photos lined up on a small desk nearby, wondering over the Buster Sword. Hoping that he'd find Angeal alive and well. And when he left, the woman really only had one thing left to say to him.
"Please be a good friend to my son..."
There was no danger of Zack ever failing at that.
[Mmm, delicious canon catchup. Ganked in entirety from Crisis Core and adapted for Fandomy-Zacky goodness. NFB and NFI for distance and such, but OOC is welcome, if you wanna. There... will be more on the way, yes. Later today, so as not to be spammy.]
And so he was added to Zack's list of "bestest friends forever." It was a Zack thing, and really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anybody.
Now they had arrived at their destination, and Zack couldn't help but notice the odd archway of trees set out before him, bearing blue fruit... Blue apples? He put his hands on his hips as he walked up to the orchard, leaving the helicopter that they'd flown in on behind him.
"Weird looking trees," he noted.
"These are Banora White trees," Tseng explained. "AKA dumbapples."
"Wait, that means we're in Banora?" ... Huh. Angeal had talked about dumbapples a month ago, in Wutai. It was weird, how they were here, looking around at the trees that Zack's mentor had stolen from in his youth. "Angeal's hometown?"
"That is correct," Tseng confirmed. "Genesis and Angeal have known each other for a long time."
And then they were pressing on ahead... Only to find themselves cut off by a Genesis copy, armed with a pair of wicked scimitars, just the same as the ones that Zack and Angeal had encountered on their mission in Wutai. And just as easy to deal with, too. Zack ran ahead and made short work of him, and the friend who had shown up a split-second later.
That pretty much confirmed that Genesis was here. And since they hadn't encountered any of the townies yet, Tseng theorized that Genesis and his copies might have taken control of the entire town. After all, Genesis hadn't just taken 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIERS with him when he'd left. He'd taken their weapons with him, as well.
"Leave it to me," Zack practically chirped, and then he ran along ahead, taking out a few stray Guard Hounds on the way. If Genesis had ShinRa weaponry, then it was a good thing that Zack had tagged along. After all, taking down the Big Bad wasn't Turks work. SOLDIER was ShinRa's power, and Zack was made for battle!
... Oh. Hey. There was one of those weapons that Tseng had mentioned. Though Zack didn't exactly remember a giant robotic tarantula as being a part of the SOLDIER budget. The two Genesis copies that were guarding it were easy enough. A slash of his sword here, a good kick there and some more sword-work, and they were out of mind entirely. But the action had woken up the robot... thing, and it locked in on Zack, firing a missile at him.
The grin on Zack's lips was almost manic as he learned that it was entirely possible to cut a rocket-powered heat-seeking missile in half with his sword so that the two sides of it sailed harmlessly past him, only to explode somewhere behind.
Nobody had ever accused Zack of being brilliant, here.
The robot itself hadn't been a walk in the park, but Zack finally beat it to a burnout, mostly by keeping his distance and dropping Blizzard shards on top of it. If he got too close, the thing would lunge at him, attempting to skewer him through with its front legs. And it moved too quickly for him to get behind it, and so keeping far, far away was his best bet.
Once it had been reduced to scrap, Zack found himself staring down at the pair of Genesis copies that he'd taken down before.
"A Genesis copy," he said aloud, staring down at the unmasked corpse laying on the ground. Human copies. That was never going to stop being entirely too eerie for his tastes.
"Where did you hear that?" Tseng came up from behind, inspecting the debris of the robot.
"Sephiroth said it."
"The technology was stolen from our scientists." Tseng turned around to face Zack as he spoke, his expression grim. "It apparently allows Genesis's abilities and traits to be transplanted... To SOLDIER members, and monsters."
SOLDIER members.
Most of the 2nds and 3rds in SOLDIER had deserted with Genesis, so these bodies on the ground were--
Zack shook himself out of that train of thought. There was something else, there. Something that didn't sit quite right at all.
"SOLDIER and monsters? We're the same?"
The town of Banora itself was a tiny place, a circle of housing facing an inner common-area of sorts. A windmill was turning nearby, and Zack was pretty certain he hadn't seen a sky so blue since he'd left his own home in Gongaga at the age of twelve.
What really caught Zack's eye, however, was a place that was practically a mansion, with a huge lay of land not far off that seemed to all belong to it, and the most spectacular looking Banora White tree in the entire town growing overhead.
"This is Genesis's home," Tseng explained, stepping up beside him. "His parents are wealthy landowners."
Zack didn't so much as turn around, at that.
But I never stole from that tree, because the wealthy man's son was my friend...
As though Tseng knew where Zack's mind had wandered, he stepped past him and continued speaking.
"They weren't mere acquaintences. They grew up together, and were best friends."
"So Genesis deserts and gets his best friend Angeal to join him..." Zack didn't like the taste of those words as they left his lips. But this was the first second since Angeal had left that anything made any sense. He couldn't deny that much. "Is that it?"
"Sephiroth believes that's the case," Tseng replied. It was possibly as close to a confirmation as Zack was going to get from the Turk. Something had caught Tseng's eye not far off. A pile of stones under a tree, where the earth had been disturbed. "There. A gravestone. Still very new. Zack, go find Angeal's house. I'll check the grave."
"Ugh..." Zack followed Tseng toward the gravestone, furrowing his eyebrows. That was nasty. Elena had never mentioned anything about digging up dead bodies, thanks. "So Turks always do this stuff?"
Tseng didn't seem phased by Zack's reaction in the least. He simply pushed on ahead while Zack stood back and grimaced.
"Someone has to do it."
"Must be rough."
"Dont worry," and Tseng held up a hand dismissively, smiling as he walked. "We're paid much better than you are."
... NO WAY!
Tseng hadn't been wrong to assume that Genesis had taken control of the town. The area around the houses was crawling with copies and Guard Hounds... Monsters, and SOLDIERS turned monsters. Zack ended up trying every door, and battling his way to the next, before he finally stumbled across one home that was inhabited by a living being that wasn't out to kill him.
The woman sitting at the table in the middle of the single-room house looked up at him curiously, her face tired and her hair gray with age. There was a small air of concern in her voice, but Zack's entrance didn't seem to be what was throwing her off, really.
"Can I help you?"
Really, after trying so many empty homes, Zack was a little put-off himself. Some part of him hadn't been expecting any survivors at all, let alone one that was so calm, asking if he needed anything.
"Uh... Uh, greetings, ma'am." Okay, time to go for broke, here. "Are you Angeal's mother?" No response. Pressing onward, then! "Uhm. My name is Zack."
The woman looked away, seeming to reflect on something for a moment, before looking back at him again, abruptly and expectantly.
"Are you Zack... The puppy?"
HEY.
"Excuse me?
"My son wrote to me once about you," the woman replied with a small laugh. So she was Angeal's mother! "Zero attention span, restless as a little puppy."
And then she was laughing again.
"Aah. Thanks, Angeal," Zack sighed. That nickname was going to follow him to the grave, wasn't it?
"You're not... here together with Genesis, are you?" Angeal's mother seemed curious, again. Not particularly concerned. There was just... an idle flicker of wanting to know, perhaps.
"No," Zack replied. "I'm not. Don't worry."
He could have added more. He could have added that he was here hunting for Genesis. That Genesis had deserted ShinRa and SOLDIER. That there were men out there that he had once considered friends, fellow 2nds and 3rds, who were now running around wearing that man's face. He could have asked how Angeal was doing. He could have told her how he and a friend were speculating that Angeal had gone deep undercover, and he'd come out any day now and everything would be alright again. He could have done one of a million things that he wanted, now that the opportunity had come up.
He didn't.
She looked so sad.
"What is happening with my son?"
"I'm not really sure." And there went Zack's heart, hitting the pit of his gut again. What a rotten thing to have to tell a mother.
Angeal's mom went quiet again, looking down at the top of the table that she was sitting at.
"Genesis came back here, a month ago, with an army of cohorts. And they proceeded to take the lives of many townspeople." Zack couldn't contain the shocked look on his face as she told him that. He'd put his hands on his hips, trying to look like he was in control of the situation, but the thought that someone could go home and take the place apart was appalling, and the expression he wore stated that much quite clearly as Angeal's mother continued speaking. "Genesis... he used to be such a good boy."
"Is Angeal...?"
"He came here," the woman replied, looking up again. "But, he left his sword and went off somewhere."
Zack followed her gaze with his own. There, in the corner, propped against the wall? Angeal's Buster Sword. The one that he never used. Zack stared for a moment more, before taking a few steps toward it.
"That sword represents our family's honor," continued that soft woman's voice from behind him.
"I see... No wonder..." Zack turned to face her again. He had to tell her. Something. Anything, at this point might be some sort of comfort. "He never uses this sword, really ever." She remained quiet as he stepped closer to her, stooping down on one knee to look up at her. "I'll take care of Angeal. You should go and hide somewhere."
"Don't be concerned. Genesis..." Her face took on a firm expression, and she put her chin in the air, closing her eyes. Defiant. It was no mystery where Angeal had gotten it from, really, was it? "...Cannot harm me."
Zack couldn't argue with that. It wasn't his place to argue with that. And so he nodded, pulling himself to his feet again. Turning to cast another look over his shoulder at Angeal's sword. The woman must have noticed him staring, because she spoke again, then.
"When Angeal joined ShinRa, my husband had that sword made for him, in the hopes that he would become an honourable warrior. We had to borrow a lot of money to have it made, and then, while fervently trying to return all the money, my husband succumbed to fatigue."
That explained a lot, too.
Zack spent a little while longer in the room with Angeal's mother, making certain that she was alright, admiring the family photos lined up on a small desk nearby, wondering over the Buster Sword. Hoping that he'd find Angeal alive and well. And when he left, the woman really only had one thing left to say to him.
"Please be a good friend to my son..."
There was no danger of Zack ever failing at that.
[Mmm, delicious canon catchup. Ganked in entirety from Crisis Core and adapted for Fandomy-Zacky goodness. NFB and NFI for distance and such, but OOC is welcome, if you wanna. There... will be more on the way, yes. Later today, so as not to be spammy.]