(no subject)

[1st_class_zack]

First Outcome of Prompt If Zack Hadn't Killed Angeal

"To prepare you ... for your next fight."

Zack had known exactly what he'd meant by it, but certainly Angeal wasn't being serious. Maybe he was crazy, but not serious.

And then Hollander was explaining. Explaining that he was Angeal's father? That Angeal's mother had killed herself because of the truth. That Angeal had been bred inside of her with Jenova cells. And while Hollander could only speak with crazy enthusiasm for a successful experiment, Angeal could only hate the man.

As he turned his attention back to Zack, his mind made up, the decision final, he began to speak of being a perfect monster. Of enemies being all that created suffering. That Angeal had created his own suffering.

"Zack, let me show you." Then he had raised his hand and they were surrounded by monsters. Hollander was begging for a sample. And Zack knew his counter arguments had been useless. He readied himself for the attack. But it never came. The monsters ran past him and attacked Angeal all at once and he cried out in agony.

Zack could only stand and watch, Hollander having made a hasty exit. A hulking, monstrosity which bore a resemble to Angeal turned toward Zack. All of the monsters had joined with Angeal and created this creature. It didn't speak, but instead attacked Zack, slashing his face.

"Angeal, what happened to honor?" he yelled in anger and frustration. This was not the way he wanted things to go. He only wanted Angeal to see that he wasn't a monster and come back to SOLDIER. He wanted things to be the way they had been.

The creature didn't answer. It just glared menacingly, ready for an attack. Zack wanted to be a hero and this was what heroes did. His free hand made a fist and then gripped his sword as he charged in. He used his sword to slice at the monster and aimed his materia attacks at it, burning it and freezing it. This thing wasn't Angeal, he tried to tell himself.

But he couldn't convince himself of that. Not entirely. He stopped mid-fight, unable to go through with it. "No. I won't do this," he said firmly.

The creature, however, did not stop. Maybe if it had known Zack's plan, it would have halted. But it was too late. And Zack took the full force of the attack. He looked surprised at the monster Angeal had become for a moment before he cried out and fell over, mortally wounded. The creature seemed surprised itself. It didn't make sure it had finished the job, instead it ran.

It ran out into Midgar and began destroying parts of the town. Killing anyone in its path with an unstoppable rage. If anyone had bothered to notice, it might have seemed as though the creature was crying out in agony as it went.

Sephiroth was called, but he still refused to fight his former friend. He would not do what Zack had been unable to do. So the Shinra army was called in and the monster was stopped. Not before many people had died and part of the towns stood burning.

And Zack had died shortly after Angeal's attack. All alone on the floor of the abandoned warehouse. The Planet had cried over the loss, rain falling on his motionless face until he had turned into energy and joined the lifestream.

The young Aeris knew something had happened as she was always aware when there was a change, but she didn't know what it was exactly. When Zack never came back, she just assumed he'd found someone else or gone off on a prolonged SOLDIER mission. And she soon forgot his name. They'd only known each other a few weeks and been on one date. It hadn't been memorable.

Months later, when Sephiroth discovered the truth of his origin and burned down Nibelheim in his rage, a young infantryman named Cloud defeated him. Hojo had been upset by the loss of his experiment, but hoped to test a new theory: Reunion. He took the young man on as an experiment. There he was subjected to many tests and infusions over a span of a little over four years, but eventually he died from the mako addiction. A failed experiment. No one even cared.



Eventually the Turks had come for Aeris and without a bodyguard, she was taken. When Sephiroth re-emerged, there was no one to stop him. He summoned Meteor and destroyed the Planet. Using it to move to new worlds to conquer.

*****

Zack Fair woke up on an island much like Costa del Sol, only with more jungle then he'd remembered. He was certain Angeal had killed him, but he didn't feel dead. Walking along the beach, he thought about everything Angeal had ever taught him. To embrace his dreams and protect his SOLDIER honor. That their enemies were all that created suffering. He had embraced his dreams and protected his SOLDIER honor. But for all of his trouble, he'd just ended up dead. The only one who had ever created Zack's suffering had been Angeal.

It first the idea was irrational and foreign. He rejected it outright. But he wasn't his old self. He felt moody and depressed even. What had he done with his life? It was such a waste. He'd always wanted to be a hero, but instead he was stranded on some tropical island paradise, a wasted life killed too soon to have mattered for anything. And the idea returned to him. Angeal was the reason for all of his suffering. A small fire began to burn in his heart. It started out as a dislike for the man that grew as time went by into a burning rage of anger and hatred.

Zack made no friends on the island. He lived in a hut he made alone, waiting for the day that Angeal would arrive on the island or for his time here to be up. He would be prepared for Angeal this time.

Second Outcome

Zack stared at the hulking, monstrosity which bore a resemble to Angeal as it turned toward him. All of the monsters had joined with Angeal to create this creature. It didn't speak, but instead attacked Zack, slashing his face tauntingly.

"Angeal, what happened to honor?" he yelled in anger and frustration. This was not the way he wanted things to go. He only wanted Angeal to see that he wasn't a monster and come back to SOLDIER. He wanted things to be the way they had been. And he wanted Angeal to stop attacking him.

He wanted to stop the creature. It was what heroes did. But something inside of him refused to attack his former friend.

"No! I won't do this!" he yelled, making up his own mind.

The creature seemed enraged and reared back its legs then slamming them down. Zack was hurled backwards into the wall, he groaned with the impact. He jumped to his feet quickly, ready to defend himself, but unwilling now to retaliate. The Angeal Monster though was gone.

"Angeal!" he yelled to the emptiness. "Angeal, where are you? Come back," he muttered to himself.

His phone rang. The display read Sephiroth. He flipped it opened, not bothering with a greeting. And Sephiroth didn't wait for an answer.

"Angeal is destroying the city. You have to stop him. He's turned into a giant monster." Sephiroth's voice was just as calm and commanding as ever, despite the dire situation.

"I know," Zack said, annoyance dripping from his voice. "What are you doing? Why do I have to stop him. I won't do it, Sephiroth. It's your turn take a mission instead of putting them off on me."

"That's one of the perks of being a 1st class, Zack," Sephiroth replied, deliberately. "I need you to do this." Then he hung up.

Zack stared at the phone in disbelief, then closed it and put it back into his pocket. It would seem that fate had already decided the outcome of this battle. It was just a matter of how many people would have to die before Zack would do something about it.

Sighing in frustration, Zack started running toward the monster. His guilt would be doubled when it was all over. Angeal would still hand Zack his sword, give him his thanks, talk about honor and dreams, but Zack would have to live with the fact that people had died because he'd refused to take action initially. He would learn the hard way that heroes sometimes had to make difficult decisions. Decisions no one else wanted to make, but that had to be made before the situation grew worse.

And when he grieved, it was not only for the loss of his comrade, his mentor and friend, but also for those people he could have saved, but hadn't.

Prompt If Angeal Arrived on the Island

It was a day just like any other. Squats and then jogging on the beach. A shower and breakfast in the compound. Patrol with Austin. Paperwork in the office. He'd spent some time working on the sword he was carving from the mostly cured wood. It wouldn't be as good as the one Cloud had, even with all of the rust, but it was better than a fork or nothing at all.

He'd gone to dinner. And visited with friends. Javert seemed to be learning to forgive himself. And Karolina was slowly recovering from Gert's disappearance. Zack often found himself thinking about Angeal. Probably because he didn't want to think about him, he wanted to put it out of his mind. There was nothing else that could be done or said. Zack would just have to wait until he saw him again.

And suddenly there was he was, walking toward the compound with a member of the IPD whose name he couldn't remember at the moment.

"Angeal!" Zack shouted, running straight for his mentor. "Angeal!" He picked the man up in a bear hug of an embrace.

"Zack?!" The other man didn't have any chance to react at all before he was being picked up and hugged. He sighed in pretend frustration. "Put me down," he said trying not to let his happiness show in his voice. "I see you still haven't learned to control yourself."

"Huh?" Zack said, letting out a sound of surprised indignation as he set Angeal down. "Yeah."

The other IPD member left with a nod to Zack. No point in sticking around for awkward moments. It was understood that Zack would take over all of the island introductions and necessary paperwork.

"Angeal, I ... "

"It's good to see you, Zack." They started speaking at the same time, but Angeal finished.

Over the next month, they spoke a lot of the past. The outcome with Genesis and Sephiroth. How Zack had defeated Hollander and Lazard had become an Angeal copy.

They decided to build a hut near the dojo. It was seemed like too much to expect Yuffie to house yet another stray. They'd all helped, Yuffie, Cloud, Aeris, Zack and Angeal. But mostly it was Angeal and Zack's project. They'd like the dojo idea so much, that it became incorporated into the hut design. It might be handy if any of their other friends ever showed up.

Zack had left out the parts about him dying and had avoided talking about Angeal's death. There was always something to do that could warrant putting off that discussion. Angeal was happy enough to avoid subjects that might make Zack emotional, he just wasn't the touchy-feely type. And Zack was prone to hugging people.

But one day the topic came up. Cloud finished polishing and repairing the Buster Sword. It was inevitable that Angeal would ask why Zack was no longer in possession of it. And when he did, the story finally came out. The whole story. Cloud had made sure to say that he thought Zack was a hero. Though there had never been any doubt in Angeal's mind. Just as Zack had been sorry to have missed Sephiroth's return and the ensuing battle, Angeal was sorry that he hadn't been able to fight with Zack when the army attacked.

Zack's emotions ran high and near the surface as he talked about Angeal's death. How he still couldn't forgive himself for what he'd done. Angeal had said what everyone had predicted he would say. It wasn't Zack's fault. It was Angeal's own fault for being so weak. And Shin-Ra and Hollander's fault. He'd thanked Zack again for making the decision he'd made and apologized for forcing Zack into that situation.

And for that one day, they were completely honest with each other. Zack admitted that Angeal had been his hero, a father figure. And Angeal confessed that Zack was a lot like a younger brother, no more like the son he'd never had. It was sweet and poignant and sad and just a little sappy.

When things grew quiet, they said in unison "You're a little more important than my sword." Then laughed that it had been on both of their minds. "But only a little." And they'd gestured a little at the same time.

While they still had friends that were missing from the island, things weren't so depressing anymore. Zack stopped worrying about the past altogether and started to wonder about the future. The distance future, years down the line. He started to think about children, but quickly put the thought of his mind with a smile.