Crisis Core chapter 3

Chapter 3


Zack pushed open the large double-doors and stepped into the courtyard of the building ahead of him. The place was filled with large stone statues of warriors and dragons, stuff that Zack thought was kind of pointless, but hey, it's Wutai.
He made his way up the stairs to the entrance of the building, ready to face whatever was inside. He opened the doors, which were much smaller than the huge ones at the gates, and stepped inside the building.
His footsteps echoed around the room as he walked across the dully colored tile floor. He looked around, wondering why there wasn't anything there. This was part of the mission, right? Maybe he was missing something in the dim light of the lanterns on the support beams. He put a fist on his hip, perplexed. He thought for a moment, then heard a noise, followed by some dust falling on his head from above. He looked up and saw a gigantic monster dropping down. He gasped and ran to the edge of the large room, just in time so the monster wouldn't fall right on top of him. It landed in the middle of the room, standing about 20 feet tall, wearing Wutai armor and wielding a large axe.
Zack was ready to take on the beast, when another one dropped from the ceiling, similar in appearance to the other. Zack grabbed his sword with a determined look on his face. "You must be the anti-SOLDIER monsters I've been hearing about." he shouted right before dashing towards them. He slashed at one's abdomen, barely making a scratch due to the armor, then moved to its back and slashed again, leaving a large cut. Zack noted in his mind to attack the back. He stabbed his sword into the monster, making it roar and swing its axe. It spun around and hit Zack with such force he flew into the wall, and left a large gash in his side. He stood back up, grunting in pain, then grabbed green materia out of his pocket. He tightened his grip on it and felt warmth spread through his body. He reached down to his side to confirm what he already knew, that the wound had healed in the instant he used the materia. He placed it back in his pocket and got a bit more serious. He lunged for the monster again, apparently hitting something vital, causing the beast to collapse on the ground. Zack locked his sight on the next one, going straight for it's back. This monster wasn't smart enough to learn Zack's trick, so it wasn't as responsive as the last one. Zack was able to take that one out no problem.
Once both monsters were lying lifeless on the ground, Zack put his sword back, then his phone rang. He answered it, grinning, and said, "SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack, victorious once again!"
"Good work." Angeal answered on the other end. "Now get out of there quickly. Only 5 minutes until detonation."
"Understood." Zack said, flipping his phone closed. He put his phone in his pocket, then put his fists on his hips and looked around. "Director Lazard, are you watching?" he called out, then started running, heeding Angeal's words. "Gotta move!" he laughed happily.
Thanks to his fast reflexes, he was able to run and slide out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by another monster falling from the ceiling. He gasped as he looked at it, instinctively grabbing his sword. "No time to play!"
This monster was much larger. He also had more armor and a mace-like weapon which was potentially more dangerous. Zack ran up to it, ready to attack, but, unfortunately, it was ready to attack as well. It spun its mace around and swung it with all its might, sending Zack into the wall again.
Zack's head took most of the damage, considering it hit the support beam of the building when the monster hit him back. He fell to the ground, then lay on his side, his hands on the back of his head, his ears ringing and his breathing heavy and irregular. The monster approached him again, looking menacing.
Zack held out his sword and tried to sit up, leaning against the beam he had hit his head on, for support. "Not good..." he grunted.
The monster loomed over Zack, lifting its mace. Right before it swung, there was a slashing sound, followed by the monster stopping, then falling to the ground, making a loud thud.
"Huh...?" Zack breathed in bewilderment, lowering his sword.
As the body lowered to the ground, the person who had struck it down was made visible. Angeal stood there, holding the Buster Sword in his hand. He took his eyes off the monster and looked at Zack.
"That's one more you owe me." Angeal said, then smiled.
Zack groaned and shook his head, still recovering from the fight.
"You lost your focus." Angeal said as he walked up to Zack.
Zack shifted uncomfortably. "Uh...yeah?"
Angeal turned around and looked back at the monster. Zack looked at the Buster Sword. "Oh, sorry if your sword got any wear, tear, or rust on it." Zack said.
Angeal swung the sword onto his back, still not facing Zack. "Your a little more important than my sword." he said, then paused and turned to Zack. "... But just a little." He put his thumb and index finger about a centimeter from each other, showing Zack just how little, then laughed. He extended his hand down to Zack who was still sitting and leaning on the beam.
Zack smiled. "Thanks." he said, taking Angeal's hand and standing up.


The walk back up the mountain was rather dull, and was full of lectures from Angeal about keeping focused, which Zack had to endure, and tried to tune out.
Zack heard footsteps coming towards them from behind. He and Angeal turned around to see Director Lazard running up to meet them, his blonde hair and white gloves contrasting against the dark foliage of Wutai behind him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Lazard apologized, stopping beside Angeal and Zack, breathing heavily. "I'm not used to being on site."
"You didn't have to come." Angeal said.
"This operation will bring an end to the war." the Director said, crossing his arms. "I had to see it through personally." He turned to face Zack. "SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack."
Zack straightened up, putting his arms at his sides. "Sir!"
"You performed your duties admirably at Fort Tamblin. I saw it with my own eyes." Lazard praised. "Frankly, my evaluation of you is..."--he pushed up his glasses on his nose--"You supported Angeal well by diverting the enemy. An acceptable level if work for a 2nd. Be ready for your next mission."
"Zack." Angeal said. Zack turned and faced him. "Do you know the difference between a 1st and a 2nd?"
After a moment of thinking, Zack shook his head no.
"A SOLDIER 1st Class performs above and beyond the call of duty at all times." Angeal continued. "Remember that." He turned to continue walking. "Now, lets hurry. Sephiroth is waiting."
Zack's eyes widened. "Sephiroth!? The SOLDIER hero?!" He fistpumped, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Wow! I get to meet a real hero!" He was practically shaking with excitement. He was going to get to meet THE Sephiroth! It would be nothing like seeing the holographic version of him in the training room not too long ago, which wasn't very much like the real Sephiroth anyway.
Zack went to go catch up with Angeal and Lazard, who were way ahead of him at that point, when he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around and saw three figures wearing red armor and helmets jumping out at him. They surrounded him. He grabbed his sword and took a fighting stance, ready to start slashing. The people in the armor held blades in their hands as well, already swinging at Zack. He spun in a quick circle, holding out his sword, and hitting all three of them in the abdomen, tearing through their armor. They fell to the ground, dropping their weapons.
"Zack! Hurry up!" he heard Angeal call out ahead of him. Zack put his sword back and ran up to meet Angeal.
As soon as he caught up, he noticed Angeal and Lazard looking at something on the ground. He walked up to them and looked down. There were two people lying on the ground, clad in red armor and helmets, just like the ones Zack had just fought. He wondered if it was just a coincidence, when two more jumped out of the bushes.
"Take the Director to a safe place." Angeal said, stepping forward towards the mysterious attackers.
"And then contact Sephiroth." Lazard instructed.
"Zack is more than enough." Angeal assured. "Now, go."
"Follow me director." Zack said, leading Lazard away from the immanent fight between Angeal and the attackers.
They ran until they saw some Shinra infantrymen up ahead. Zack took the Director to them.
"Thank goodness you're alright, Director Lazard." one of the infantrymen said, relieved.
"I'm fine now, Zack." Lazard said, turning to him. "Go assist Angeal!"
"I know! I know!" Zack said, running back to where Angeal was at.
When Zack made it back, sword in hand, Angeal was gone. He looked back and forth, wondering where he could've possibly been. "Angeal?" he shouted. "Angeal!" Still no response. Only the dead attackers lying on the ground remained. He took a closer look at their armor. "What? These guys aren't Wutai troops..." If they weren't, then who were they...?
He looked back up, still perplexed as to where Angeal could've gone, and saw a sphere of red, flaming materia floating in the air, then exploding into a flash of light. He shielded his eyes from the blinding orange light, and when it subsided, a giant monster stood before him. "A summon?" he gasped, realizing what it was. "Who called it out?"
His wondering was cut if by the large, horned beast knocking him off his feet with its fist. It summoned fire from nowhere, then sent it after Zack. He shielded himself as best he could with his sword, but got badly burnt on his arm, right below the pauldron on his shoulder. The monster ran towards Zack and rammed into him with its horns, knocking his sword away. Zack drew in a sharp breath as the monster's horn pierced his leg and threw him back a few yards. He landed on the ground wincing in pain and frantically digging in his pocket for his Cure materia.
The monster ran up and knocked Zack through the air again, accidentally putting him within reaching distance of his sword. Zack had a determined grin on his face as he grabbed the sword and wrapped his hand around the glowing green materia. He quickly healed himself and charged at the monster, shouting obscenities at it. Zack only landed one hit on the monster before being knocked back to the ground with extreme force, almost making him black out. He was exhausted and didn't know if he could beat the monster if he couldn't even get a scratch on it. He sluggishly stood up, breathing heavily. Cure materia sure helped, but it didn't fix everything all the time. He got a blue sphere of materia out of his pocket and got far away from the monster. He held out the materia, causing a large block of ice to materialize above the monster and fall on its head. The monster roared in anger, and Zack repeated the attack. He did this quite a few times, but eventually got to the point where it made him weak to use the Materia, so he had to quit. For reasons Zack didn't know, there was a limit to how much Materia he could use at once. Now he had no other way of fighting the thing without getting near it, and the monster still seemed to be going strong, despite all of Zack's attacks. He ran towards it as fast as he could and stabbed his sword into its abdomen, and, to Zack's surprise, it fell over. Zack was relieved to see this, happy he was still alive after that encounter. He put his sword on his back and started walking away to go find Angeal. Behind him, the monster stood back up, apperently not dead, and raised its fist, a fire ball materializing around it. Zack sensed the movement behind him and heard the noise the monster was making, then turned around, his heart sinking in his chest as he saw the giant ball of fire. The monster threw the ball straight at him, causing the ground around Zack to catch fire. If the designers of the SOLDIER uniforms hadn't had the foresight to make the outfit fireproof Zack would've gotten more injured than he did, but it was still extremely hot where he was standing, surrounded by the flames. He blinked some rising ashes out of his eyes, and when he looked back up, there was a man with long silver hair standing before him. Sephiroth.
Sephiroth stepped toward the fiery monster calmly, then made one slash at it with his long, thin sword, instantly killing the beast where it stood.
The flames disappeared as the monster did, but Zack payed no mind. He simply stared at Sephiroth in awe, jaw dropped. "Holy..." he breathed, astonished.
Sephiroth ignored Zack and walked over to the mysterious people in red armor lying on the ground not far away from where they had fought the monster. He knelt down next to one and grabbed ahold of its helmet, pulling it off and revealing the person's face.
Zack thought the person looked vaguely familiar, but he didn't quite know where he saw him.
"Genesis..." Sephiroth mumbled, appearing not at all shocked.
Zack's eyes widened. "The missing SOLDIER 1st Class?"
Sephiroth took off the other person's helmet.
"They're identical..." Zack said in bewilderment.
Sephiroth studied them a bit more. "A Genesis copy."
Zack was taken aback. "A copy? A human copy?" He had never thought that that was even possible, at least for creating humans. As far as he knew, even the Shinra scientists couldn't accomplish something to this extent. Not even Professor Hojo.
Sephiroth looked up at Zack. "Where is Angeal?"
"I thought he was fighting somewhere around here..." said Zack, looking around and walking in circles.
Sephiroth looked back at the Genesis lookalikes. "Humph. So he's gone, too."
"What?" Zack said, turning around to face Sephiroth. "What does that mean?"
"It means that Angeal has betrayed us as well." Sephiroth said, still sounding almost indifferent.
"No way!" Zack shouted. He wasn't going to let anyone accuse his best friend of anything like that. "I know what kind of guy Angeal is! And he'd never do that!"
Sephiroth stood up, preparing to leave, then turned around to look at Zack.
"Angeal would never betray us!" Zack defended. "Never!"