Final Fantasy Main Story RP ARC VIII

"What a great idea," Nero said coyly with a smirk that was by no means a good sign. "We could go together, Zackary." He closed his eyes and the sound of metal grinding was heard. Like gears, the sound didn't stop until his mechanical wings released from his back. They curled back and tried to stay as small as possible, and Nero pretended nothing happened as he sipped his coffee.

"I don't know what friends would not let you see this famed country. I heard it's quite the sight of beauty. You would be missing out on so much if you had to leave soon." He looked between the two and frowned. "When is Sephiroth coming? I don't have all day and I would rather handle this civilly, as instructed by your lovely president, than having to take lives in my search for him." The guns on his wings snapped up and pointed at them. "Don't move, and don't do anything stupid."

The sounds of the thunder rumbled loud enough to drown out any sounds of pain coming from the man who was laying on the floor, unable to do more than pitifully whimper. He was unable to stop shaking terrified of the monster wearing a woman’s skin. He’d never regretted anything like taking her into his home.

He had been driving back to his home in the middle of nowhere, when he saw the woman walking on the roadside; a storm was coming in, he couldn’t leave her out there to the weather. He’d been disturbed by the look in her eye as he invited her into his car and drove them to his home. She had given little away in the form of conversation; when asked why she was out there, her answer had been - ‘I am merely putting aside my plans darling, it is about time I had a little fun.’ He should have stopped the car and forced her to get out then, the predatory grin which twisted her lips had unsettled him enough, but she was a woman alone, he felt obliged to give her shelter.

The screams of his wife and kids were etched into his memory as was the look of pleasure on the demented woman’s face as she slowly took their lives and he had no doubt this was the ‘fun’ she’d intended. He couldn’t even close his eyes without seeing them; he barely turned his head enough to throw up again. Fear shook his body as he heard her footsteps approaching him again.

“Well darling,” The woman purred as she looked down to her handiwork, “I suppose that my time for fun is over for now,” A cruel smile twisted her lips, seeming only to enhance the sadistic lust burning in her eyes, “Your hospitality was very welcome,” she laughed, the tip of her blade hooked under his chin, forcing him to look up at her. She smiled again before letting the blade pierce his skin.

She tilted her head to one side as she watched the blood slowly seep from the wound, allowing herself the pleasure of watching the man die. Once the wound ran dry, she merely turned to walk out into the rain, leaving bloody footprints in her wake.

Looking to the sky, she closed her eyes briefly, “Well Nero my darling, where are you hiding yourself?”

A cruel smile twisted her lips; she would have fun searching for him.

For the longest time he had been blissfully oblivious but everything came crashing back almost painfully as awareness came to him. His eyes fluttered open to the harsh light, impeded by the heaviness of his lids and his limbs refused to cooperate either. He tried to speak, to call out and see if anyone was there, but a soft groan was all he could utter. Distantly he could hear someone talking, but it sounded too muffled to be the uniformed person standing over him. Giving up, he closed his eyes again.

For days, he drifted in and out of consciousness, although he woke up properly, not feeling quite so heavy. He was given a drink and allowed to ask a few questions. He learned that he had been found passed out on the side of the road, although he had no recollection of how he’d got there, and someone who found him had brought him in to a medical facility near Kalm, but that had been a little while ago now. In return, he was asked a few questions although he was liberal with answering them, including a false alias. The fictionalised identity did nothing to dissuade some of the rumours of - ‘he looks like that dead SOLDIER, you know Angeal Hewley’, he’d hear some of the nurses say.

He remembered everything that had happened, down to the last little detail, although the time after was still a little fuzzy in his mind. He had failed everyone so dismally, he had forsaken everything which he had once stood for and instilled in others. His thoughts turned to his friends, his actions had solely been for Genesis, trying to help him, but through that he’d turned into a monster that he could not recognise as himself. With little thought, he’d abandoned Sephiroth and Zack with no explanation but Genesis had needed him…now he could see that there would have been other ways around it, hindsight was always perfect he thought bitterly.

He was kept in under observation for a few days before being released; it hadn’t come soon enough - he needed to make up for what he had done.

Where did he start? He stood outside for a while, as if divine inspiration would strike him, but there was nothing. He decided to start out toward this Edge he’d heard a lot about on the outskirts of Midgar’s ruins, he might find something on the way.

Cloud smiled, "Sure. Shower's up here." He guided the other one up the stairs and turned the corner to the shared bathroom. "Soap's here, shampoo, conditioner," he began pointing at things. "Turn this one for the hot water, this one for the cold water... besides that, should be easy to figure out." The blond looked at the silver haired teen and then looked at the Turk uniform. "I'm not sure if I want to burn or wash the clothes ShinRa gave you, but you can hand the suit to me."

Angeal sighed to himself as he looked around Edge; it had taken him a little while to get there; he’d walked part of the way although someone had offered him a lift and drove him to the outskirts of the new town. The walking part of journey had given him time to think, perhaps too much time. The guilt for what he’d done, what he’d put Zack through was almost overwhelmingly painful. He’d gone against everything he once believed in.…how could he show his face again? It had been a while…but still…He shook his head to himself.

The drive had felt slow; the man, Alain had been very talkative and Angeal had obliged him out of politeness. When asked, he’d given a very vague account of looking for someone as his reason to travel, perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn’t, he didn’t even know himself yet. After establishing that he had no money to repay the driver, Alain had insisted that he took a few gil, to get him to his next destination. Angeal got the feeling that Alain had lost people as well, as he seemed overly willing to help, but Angeal had politely turned him down, getting a ride was more than enough, and so on the outskirts of Edge, they’d parted ways.

What was he to do now he was there? He spent some time wandering through the streets, just taking in how much things had changed. He found himself outside of a bar, he wondered if they had any rooms, it didn’t look like it would be an overly expensive place to stay, just to try and plan his next moves.

He looked around the deserted bar, pausing as he saw two who were the only occupants and assumed that they were running the place, he waited until they finished talking before clearing his throat, "I apologise for the intrusion, are you open for business?" he asked.

"I'll leave your new clothes outside?" He said with a crooked smile and turned as he heard another voice. For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Angeal? He never met Zack's mentor but he had heard quite a bit of him in passing, not to mention he was an avid follower of the Keepers of Honour before Angeal was... 'Killed in action'. He looked back to Kadaj and forced a smile, "Don't worry about it. Holler if you need me." His voice was noticeably shaky as he stepped away and moved towards the ex-SOLDIER.

Sephiroth had come back. Zack had come back. Jenova had come back and Kadaj had come back. Seeing this, as it were, should not have surprised him as much as it did, but still he oogled at the First Class until he shook his head. "The bar's closed, but I can make you a drink if you want."

Angeal considered the blonde for a moment, he seemed to be a little...stunned for a few moments, "Is everything alright?" he asked rather than answering the question, despite everything, he couldn't help the concern that came naturally to him when something could be amiss, "I will just leave if you'd rather?" He offered.

Cloud shook his head and motioned to the bar. What was a calm way to say this? Oh, fuck it. "Sorry, sir." He stopped himself and sighed, "Old habits..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Cloud Strife," he offered his hand. "I used to work with ShinRa, and I was friends with Zack." He suddenly corrected himself, "Am friends with Zack. He's back, and I think he'd be happy to see you." After you made him kill you, he silently added, then took back. He knew circumstances were different. He didn't have the right to judge.

He reminded himself that of all ShinRa's monsters, Angeal was about honor.

Cloud flipped out his PHS, "Yeah, do you want me to..." His voice trailed off as he read the two texts from Zack. He swallowed hard, fighting back the urge to throw his phone across the bar. He gave a sigh and looked over to the sable-haired SOLDIER. "Sorry, do you want me to let him know you're back?"

So Zack was still infected with Jenova... Denzel, Sephiroth and Zack were all ShinRa. Rufus might use them to lure him in? Cloud didn't voice his thoughts on the manner, knowing full well how he would reply if Rufus even tried. He glanced up to Angeal, wondering how he could explain the whole thing. "Zack is... He's in a bit of a trouble. Ugh, where to start." He put a hand against his forehead and shook his head.

"Start at the basics, I guess: how much do you know about Jenova?"

"I would appreciate it if you let him know I am here," He nodded his head; that way Zack could decide for himself what he wanted to do, he lost the right to coddle him a long time ago. He sighed to himself as he folded his arms across his chest, 'Zack' and 'trouble' caught his attention instantly as he looked to the blonde; his old habits and desires to keep the Pup safe urged him to get out there and see how he could help, but he pushed them back reluctantly for the moment, after what he'd done, would Zack even want his help? The next question made him pause, "Jenova..." He shook his head, "I know of Jenova being used in experiments..." he trailed off as his thoughts turning to Genesis again, where was he? Was he alright? Sephiroth...? He put a lid on that thought trail, he would deal with this one at a time.

"I'll let him know." He muttered and looked at Angeal. Where the hell should he start? "Jenova... Her cells were used in the making of Sephiroth." He had heard the rumours of Angeal and Genesis being from a similar project, but he couldn't confirm it. "Anyway, she also came back. She started infecting people for a while, and then we made a cure. I'm not too sure about what happened after that, but Zack is still infected, but he isn't contagious. He's with Sephiroth now. Jenova broke the masamune, and they're fixing it up. That's all I know. Either way, there are a lot of problems going on... It's your choice, but we could use another hand." He pulled out his phone and texted Zack.

That's just great, Zack. ShinRa
to the last. Good news, though,
Angeal's back. He seems sane
enough. I've never met the
guy before. It's slightly awkward
but we're talking.

He decided to leave out the Kadaj bit.

Angeal took in the information and fell quiet for a few moments; there was very little he would achieve by seeking them out, particularly not knowing where he stood with them at the moment; he knew that Sephiroth would keep Zack safe, so he was not overly concerned, to hear they were both still out there and seemingly alright was enough for the moment. He looked at Cloud consideringly, the way he mentioned Zack so tensely, there was something not right there, but he didn't press, "If you need help, I will give it of course," he nodded to him.

Cloud eased at that, moving to slip behind the bar. He noticed a cup that was used and turned on the sink to begin washing it. "Well, the planet's going to need every warrior we can get," he sighed. "Jenova's stronger than you could ever imagine... and more than that, it's all mindgames with her. You think you're saying something logical, the next thing you know you're yelling at a thirteen year old kid." He grabbed the sponge and began cleaning it, "Whichever side you want to side with is your choice. Zack and Sephiroth apparently got duped into working with ShinRa, again."

His frown grew as his scrubbing became more aggressive. "ShinRa's the enemy," he muttered casually. "If you want to join them again, then you had best go on your way. Even if they're friends... I'm not working with ShinRa. Even after everything, they're using mako-shots and unethical enhancers. And they don't care who they give it to."

Angeal regarded the blonde a moment, there was a lot of bitterness in his tone, he leaned against the bar to watch him, wondering what had caused that, "I see," he murmured, he'd left Shinra because of what he'd learned; Cloud seemed to be suggesting that little had changed, he doubted that he could go back to that...although he doubted that he would be welcomed. "And you cannot put aside your...hostility toward Shinra to work with your friends against a common enemy?"

"Depends who," he sighed, giving a defeated shrug. "It's not the pawns I don't like... some of them are close friends, some are my family taken from me." He looked up and stared at the sable-haired SOLDIER. "The old president's dead, and his son took over. Rufus isn't greedy when it comes to money, but considering he's decided to let a thirteen year old become a SOLDIER, which means brutal mako-shots and enhancements, he's just as ruthless to get what he wants.

"Take down Jenova, and ShinRa will be the new threat. From what I understand, Rufus has got something over Zack's head. As long as Zack's forced to follow his orders, I can't trust him... Of course, situations vary. Nothing is that clear-cut in reality." He grumbled something else before going back to washing the glasses.

"Things rarely are clear," he inclined his head in agreement. "You said yourself that they are close friends and family of yours," he stated, "Perhaps it does not truly matter who they work for. Perhaps yes, they will follow orders, but they still have their own choices how to complete them," he looked to him, "Perhaps you should not be so quick to judge them on a change of loyalty, they are who they are, no matter who is giving the orders."