Crisis Core Chapter 5

Chapter 5


Zack walked further into the town of Banora, searching for anything that had to do with his mission. Any signs of Genesis, Angeal, stolen machinery. Anything. He followed the path that led to a rather large estate. He glanced over the land, the large house, the windmill, the Banora White trees. It was an amazing sight. Zack could tell why Angeal had loved his hometown so much.
"This is Genesis's home." said Tseng, walking up behind Zack. "His parents are wealthy landowners."
As Zack was looking at the largest Banora White tree in the yard, he remembered what Angeal had said during their mission in Wutai. 'But I never stole from that tree, because the wealthy man's son was my friend.'
Tseng walked ahead of Zack and looked at the large house. "They weren't mere aquaintences." he said. "They grew up together, and were best friends."
Zack walked up to Tseng. "So, Genesis deserts and gets his best friend to join him." he said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Is that it?"
Tseng turned and looked at him. "Sephiroth believes that's the case." Tseng explained. He looked over by a tree on the other end of the yard. At the base of the tree was a pile of dirt and rocks, as if someone had recently buried something there. "A gravestone. Still very new." He turned to Zack again. "Zack, go find Angeal's house. "I'll check the grave." he said, walking towards it.
Zack walked with him. "Ugh... So Turks always do his stuff?"
"Someone has to do it."
Zack stopped. "Must be rough..."
"Don't worry." Tseng said with a wave of his hand. "We're paid much better than you."
"No way!"
Tseng bent down and examined the grave. "Angeal's house should be in that group of houses over there, Zack." he said, nodding at a circle of smaller houses a bit downhill from them. "Go check there. But be careful. It may already be under enemy control."
Zack nodded and went on his way. He went down the dirt path of the hill and walked to the center of the houses and looked around. "Let's see, Angeal's house is..." He looked back and forth at the four houses, wondering which it could be. They all looked relatively the same, tan sides, brown roof. "I have no idea!" he growled. He sighed, "I'll just have to take a guess, I suppose...?"
He decided on the house farthest from him, thinking it was just as good a guess as any. He walked past the fountain in the center of the circle of the houses and grabbed the handle of the door, hoping it was the right one. He pushed the door open and stepped inside the house.
"Can I help you?" came a woman's voice from the middle of the room. She was sitting at the kitchen table of the dilapidated looking house. The only light came in from the window; shadows fell on the rest of the room.
Zack was startled. "Uh, um, greetings, ma'am!" he stuttered. "Are you Angeal's mother?" He noticed that she looked a bit like Angeal, upon closer examination. She had the same dark hair--though her's had streaks of grey--and their facial features were similar.
The woman sighed and looked down at the table.
"Um, my name is Zack." he said nervously.
She looked up at Zack, a hint of recognition on her face. "Oh! Are you Zack, the puppy?"
"E-Excuse me?" Zack asked, utterly confused.
The woman closed her eyes and laughed. "My son wrote to me once about you." she explained. "'Zero attention span. Restless as a little puppy.'"
"Oh, thanks, Angeal..." Zack grumbled, crossing his arms.
The woman shifted a bit. "You're not...here together with Genesis, are you?" she asked.
"No, I'm not. Don't worry." Zack assured.
"What is happening with my son?"
"I'm not really sure..."
Angeal's mother frowned and looked down again. "Genesis came back here, a month ago, with an army of cohorts. And they proceeded to take the lives of many townspeople..." Her voice was shaking with sorrow. "Genesis... He used to be such a good boy..."
"Is Angeal...?"
"He came here." She looked behind Zack, at the wall. "But, he left his sword and ran off somewhere."
Zack looked at the large sword, leaning against the wall, looking very out of place in the run down house. He walked over to examine it closer, as Angeal had never let Zack get near it.
Angeal's mother returned her gaze to the table. "That sword represents our family's honor."
"I see..." Zack said, finally realizing why Angeal was so protective of it. "No wonder..." He looked back over to her. "He never uses this sword. Really, never." He walked up to her and knelt down beside her, looking into her eyes. "I'll take care of Angeal. You should go and hide somewhere."
She shook her head. "Don't be concerned." she said, then took a deep breath. "Genesis...cannot harm me."
Zack stood, pondering her statement, and looked back over at the Buster Sword. He hoped to find Angeal. Soon.
He exited the house and stopped outside, thinking. "Angeal... Where did you go?" All of a sudden, a loud crashing noise came from somewhere. "What?!" He ran over to the source of the noise, a broken wooden fence set between two steep hills, with three Genesis copies waiting for him. Once he had destroyed them, his phone rang. He answered the call from Tseng. "Hm?"
"There's a factory on the outskirts of town." Tseng said. "I saw a Genesis copy go inside"
"You think that's their headquarters?" Zack asked.
"Most likely." Tseng stated. "I'm currently on a cliff overlooking the factory. A frontal attack is inadvisable. We'll go in from above."
Zack nodded and hung up. He ran through the broken wooden fence and walked on an uphill path between two steep hills, finally getting to the cliff Tseng had mentioned, and was kneeling on, examining the factory-like building below. Zack ran up and crouched down next to Tseng, following his gaze to the glass roof of the building.
"Genesis's parents were in that grave." Tseng said.
Zack's eyes widened. "Wait, he...his own family?" he stuttered in disbelief.
"We can't expect reason from him." Tseng replied, hanging his head. "What about Angeal?"
Zack's gaze dropped. "He wasn't at the house." he said dejectedly. He looked at Tseng with pleading eyes. "But, please, give me time! If I find Angeal, I can talk to him. If I can convince Angeal, maybe Genesis will come back, too."
Tseng looked over at Zack. "I understand now why Sephiroth chose you."
"Huh?"
"Genesis and Angeal." Tseng paused. "Those two were Sephiroth's only friends. He didn't want to fight them. That's why he refused the mission."
Zack found it hard to believe that Genesis and Angeal were Sephiroth's only friends. Although, Zack supposed, being such an excellent SOLDIER 1st Class, Sephiroth wouldn't have much time to be making friends. Either that or Sephiroth just wasn't a very social person. Or it could've been that Sephiroth was a bit frightening if you didn't know him. But still, if Genesis and Angeal were the only friends he ever had, he must've been incredibly lonely. "Well, Angeal is my friend too!" Zack said, trying to make up for the fact that he had said that Shinra spoiled Sephiroth, when in fact, Shinra probably just let him off the hook because he couldn't handle chasing after his only friends in attempt to capture them.
"He's counting on you to bring them both back." Tseng stood. "Time is short. Lets go."
Zack nodded and stood as well.

The glass of the ceiling shattered and rained down onto the floor as Zack jumped through the roof, landing in a crouch one of the catwalks of the factory. He stood up and rolled his shoulders. "Infiltration successful!"
As soon as he had said it, three Genesis copies ran towards him from the shadows. Zack didn't even find them as a threat anymore. He had already learned their fighting style and their weak points. It was only a matter of swinging his sword by then.
Tseng jumped down beside him, wielding a handgun.
"Go on. I'll take things from here." Zack said, grabbing his sword. Tseng nodded and ran off to further explore the factory.
Zack swung his sword at two of them, killing one and injuring the other. He swung at the other one and then swung at them both. They were all on the ground by the time Tseng called over to Zack.
"Zack, this way." Tseng shouted, on a catwalk on the other side of the room. "Keep an eye out for enemies."
Zack walked down the stairs of the catwalk he was on to get to the other side, where Tseng was, taking out the occasional Genesis copy. He then walked down one more staircase which led to the main floor, where a horde of Genesis copies stood by a piece of flying machinery. Zack held out his sword and they ran toward him, attacking with everything they had. While he was getting rid of them, the machine shot at Zack, who was able to dodge the bullets. He ran over to it and impaled it with his sword, making it fall to the ground, crushing some Genesis copies, then Zack pulled out his sword and took out the last copy.
"Zack," Tseng called out from a doorway on the other side of the room. "This way."
Zack followed Tseng into a smaller room off to the side of the factory. In it stood an old white computer, which displayed various information. Tseng went over to it and clicked a few things, examining many files.
"It looks like the Genesis copies are being made here." he said. "Check the second floor. Genesis may be there."
There was a door in the room that led to a staircase, which Zack ascended, following Tseng's instructions to look for Genesis.
As he neared the top, he could hear a man's voice on the second floor.
"'Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seem it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the waters surface. The wandering soul knows no rest.'"
Zack looked over by the window of the room to see a brown haired man sitting, reading from a book, and wearing a red leather jacket. He looked up from his book at Zack and grinned. "Hmph."
Zack looked at him sternly. It was Genesis. The real one.
"Settle down..." Genesis said, still grinning. "Zack, the puppy."
Zack gave a slight growl, along with a more intense glare. He barely knew Genesis, but he already hated him. He had taken his best friend and had caused so much damage.
Tseng entered the room and hurried over to a rusty machine near the wall. He looked through the circular glass window of a tank attached to the machine and saw a Genesis copy inside, floating in the Mako-filled tank of the machine. He looked back over at Genesis. "The grave at the house..." he said, trying to keep his composure. "We found the remains of our people there as well." Zack could tell Tseng was getting agitated just at Genesis's presence, something he didn't expect from someone so calm and collected.
Genesis leaned on and looked out the window. "It didn't take much to have them send false reports." he said, sounding a bit smug. "Just some mild threats..."
Tseng took a step towards Genesis, his face starting to get red with anger.
Zack interrupted what would've resulted in a fight between Tseng and Genesis. "They would've done that anyway! At least your parents would have."
This struck a nerve in Genesis. He looked over to Zack. "My 'parents' betrayed me." he said bitterly and stood up. "They always betrayed me, from the very beginning."
Zack and Tseng stood silent.
Genesis clenched his hand into a fist, a glow of magic emanating from his gloved hand. "What do you know...?" he said, sounding calm for a moment, then exploded in fury, casting fire at Tseng, making him fly back against the machine and collapse on the ground. "Shinra lapdogs!!"
Zack looked over at Tseng, who was grabbing Cure Materia out of his pocket, and then back at Genesis, a new form of rage surfacing. He reached for his sword, glaring at Genesis, but before he could attack, Angeal suddenly ran up and stood in front of Zack, and in that moment had taken Zack's sword, much to his bewilderment.
Genesis did a little half grin and held out his arms. "Welcome, partner."
Angeal, now with the Buster Sword on his back, held Zack's sword out to Genesis.
"I see..." Genesis said. "You've finally made your decision." He put his hand to his chest and looked at Angeal. "I'll respect your wishes, old friend. However..." He walked right up beside Angeal, not looking at him. "Can you really live on that side?" He continued walking.
Angeal paused, then looked over at Genesis and turned to follow him.
"Angeal!" Zack pleaded, but was shoved away by Angeal, who then stuck Zack's sword in the ground between them. They looked at each other for a moment, then Angeal scoffed and walked away.
Zack pulled his sword out of the floor and ran down the stairs and to the main room of the factory, only to find that Angeal and Genesis were gone. "Where did they go!? Did they leave the factory?" He ran over to the large doors of the factory and pressed the button to open them. They slowly parted, revealing three dog-like monsters ready to attack Zack. He grabbed his sword, also ready, but then he heard a gunshot behind him, followed by one monster falling. Then another. Then another. He turned around and saw Tseng holding his gun, recovered from his beating from Genesis.
"There's no time." he warned. "We have to leave now."
"We're not gonna go look for those two?" Zack asked.
"All evidence of misconduct must be erased. Company rules." he said. "An air strike will neutralize this town."
"Are you sure there's nobody at Angeal's house?"
Tseng was silent for a moment. "Hurry!" he instructed, giving Zack permission to quickly check the house.
Zack nodded and ran out of the building as fast as he could. He quickly made his way back over to the houses, stopping outside of the circle as his phone rang. He picked it up and heard Tseng on the other end.
"I explained our situation and had them briefly delay the airstrike." he said. "That will buy you some time."
"Thanks, Tseng!" Zack said, smiling. Even if they did delay the airstrike, time was still of the essence. Zack ran quickly over to Angeal's house and went inside, to just be sure that Angeal's mother wasn't still there.
She was there, lying lifeless on the ground.