CHAPTER 14
Zack sat at a small table inside of Seventh Heaven, one arm holding his head up as he leaned down on it, a thoughtful expression on his face. The place was a bit busier now than Zack had seen it previously, as people, mostly AVALANCHE'ers, but a few civilians as well filled the small tavern. Zack found it amusing that both normal people and militia members could share the same space, laugh it up and hang out together. In all honesty however, such thoughts were far from Zack's mind.
Cloud had seemed to be doing better just as Zack had brought him to Midgar several days ago, but his condition had not improved much since then. Dox was waiting until Dyne woke up to give Zack an update on his friend's condition, but for what reason Zack couldn't fathom. The raven haired ex-SOLDIER clenched his fist as a bit of worry welt up inside of him. Anyone could figure out that Cloud hadn't been shot... but Zack knew that he had no clue how Cloud had been wounded. He had seen the sword wound when he took Cloud out of his soiled, torn MP uniform and placed his spare SOLDIER one on him just after they escaped from Nibelheim. But Zack couldn't very well of said that he didn't know what had happened.
Also occupying Zack's mind were his memories of a girl, a very special one from a long time ago. He had met her when he had been transferred to Midgar to complete his SOLDIER training. She was beautiful, yes, but there was something else... no, a LOT of "something else's". She was pleasant, well mannered, and seemed to know everything. She and Zack had dated... but Zack always got the feeling that she was, to put it lightly, bored around him. No matter WHAT he had done to try and surprise her, she always knew it was coming. She knew about things before they happened.
He had tried to leave her a note before going away on assignment to Nibelheim, but she had been waiting for him.
"Don't tell me. You're going away." She held a pout expression on her face, obscure by her light brown hair. She was wearing a small jacket over a long night dress, but still felt terribly cold.
"Erm... yeah. I didn't think you'd be up, and I didn't want to wake you..."
"So that's it, you were just going to leave me a NOTE?!"
"Well I..."
"Didn't it ever occur to you that we'd never see each other again?!" She had yelled out in an uncharacteristic fit of anger. "Don't I mean more to you than that?! I'll never see you again and you want my last memory of you to be in a poorly written note with bad spelling?!"
"Now wait just a... You haven't even seen it yet!"
"Oh? Does this sound familiar? Oh, and I'll pronounce this phonetically just to point out your spelling, too! 'Dear Airees... ' You don't even know how to spell my name right... 'I know we were suposed to go out next week, but i have to go on a mission and it might take a while, and i don't even know where we're going. But i get to work with Sefiroth, ain't that great? But i don't know when i'll be back, just don't turn into a lesbian on me'?!? DAMN IT ZACK!"
"Ah.. uhm... that was supposed to be a j.. hey wait, how do you know..?" Zack tried, but found himself interrupted again.
"Anyways...'Ha ha, just kidding. I know i should tell you in person, but by the time you wake up i'll already be on my way and i don't want to wake you.' Gee Zack, that's almost thoughtful. 'Well anyway i'll make it up to you when i get back'..."
And with that, the girl paused. She lowered her head as tears came down her eyes. "But that's the problem Zack. You're NOT coming back. I don't know what will happen, all I know is I won't ever see you again. I always knew this day would come. I don't even know why I ever bothered going out with you if you were just going to disappear... except that I HAD to. Do you know how much that hurts? Having to love someone only to watch them get whisked away by the same fate that brought us together? You never even told me you loved me..."
Zack was extremely confused. He tried to process all of this, but failed to comprehend the scope of the girl's words, which were just coming out without really being all that thought out. He tried to say something, but no words would come.
"Zack, just... just go," the girl had said, turning around and back towards her large red house. She paused momentarily and twirled back around, grabbing the note from Zack. She looked down at the folded up paper somewhat nonchalantly and held it with both her hands. "At least this way I have something to remember you by." And with that, she reentered her home and shut the door.
Zack stood there, lost, sad, and cold. "What?!" He yelled out. "What did I do THIS time?! If you'd just explain it to me, I could... I," and with that, the young SOLDIER began to quiet down. Somehow, he realized he probably wasn't going to get an answer. Plus he'd probably wake up the girl's mother, who wasn't all that fond of him to begin with.
Zack sat up in his chair and shook his head. He made a mental note to go see Aeris as soon as Cloud was better. IF she was even alive. He knew that she liked to go up onto the plate to sell flowers, especially Sector 8, one of the sectors affected by the blast from yesterday. Zack took a deep breath and repressed a shudder. He noticed that the air didn't really smell like most bars. There was nobody smoking, and very few people seemed to get plastered enough to make the place reek of booze like many other such establishments. He looked around and noticed that an older, dumpy-looking woman was tending bar in Tifa's stead. Zack turned and looked out the window, and observed Tifa training about four or five other AVALANCHE members in fighting maneuvers.
Tifa glared at her students as they held their fighting stances. Each one was different, as each person had their own fighting style, strengths, and weaknesses. One person's stance in particular struck Tifa as being woefully inadequate. His arms seemed to just hang in front of him, and his feet were at a lazy 30 degrees angle from each other. She looked the man, who was about 28, up and down in disapproval. "What kind of stance is that?" she questioned with a motion of her hand.
"Uhm... a defensive one?" the older man lamented.
Tifa shook her head and looked to the others. "Okay, now, what have I said a MILLION times on the subject of offense and defense?"
"They're one and the same, MA'AM!" The other four shouted out obediently.
"That's right. In a fight, if you go on defense, you lose. Any action that's defensive in nature will open up an offensive opportunity, and thus can be considered a component of an attack!" Tifa pointed out, glaring at the man as she said that last part. "And I didn't mean that. I mean, what's with your stance? Your arms are nowhere, your legs don't look ready to move... and why are you showing me your front? Unless you plan to grapple with your opponent, you ALWAYS stand with your SIDE facing! It gives them less places to hit."
The man gulped and repositioned himself so that his right side was facing forward. His feet moved so that they were at a 90 degree angle to each other, and he brought his arms up a bit higher. Tifa's eyes narrowed when she saw his feet. "I'll give you 2 seconds to fix your feet," she said in a harsh tone. The older fighter-in-training looked down at his feet, and then remembered that they were both supposed to face forward. He shuffled his rear foot back into position, and looked back up to see if Tifa would approve.
What he saw was a flying, incoming fist! With a yell, the man closed his eyes and waited for the impact. It didn't come. He opened his eyes to find Tifa's fist barely a centimeter from his nose. He breathed a sigh of relief that the younger ninja had shown him mercy... until she flicked him hard on the tip of the nose.
"OW!" The man cried out, holding his face and stumbling backwards.
Tifa shook her head with a bit of a smile, which soon faded as she said "And NEVER take your eyes off your opponent."
Zack smiled as he observed this from the relative safety of his table inside the bar. "Yup... that there's one deadly maneuver," he mused to himself referring to the painful nose-flick.
"Indeed it is."
Zack cocked his head and turned around to the source of the voice. It was the man who had initiated the attack on him when he and Cloud first arrived in Sector Seven. Zack's hand slowly went for his sword, which was leaning against the wall. At that, the you man held up his free hand, the other one holding onto a crutch.
"Hey, hey, relax! I'm not gonna do anything this time, I swear! I know we got off on the wrong foot... but that's what I was ordered to do! I did it earlier than I was supposed to, Dyne and Tifa were supposed to of been there to watch, but..." As he said this, he eased down into a seat adjacent from Zack's
"Wait wait wait..." Zack interrupted, "What do you mean 'supposed to'?"
"Well, we KNEW you were coming, and Dyne wanted to see how you'd react to a bunch of civilians gaining up on ya to see if he could really trust a former member of SOLDIER to enlist in the cause. He shot me because without him and Tifa there, you could have easily slaughtered us, but you chose not to."
"Yeah, well, I'm just a helluva guy!" Zack remarked.
The other man chuckled. "Yeah, well listen... My name's Derric. If you don't wanna be friends or anything, that's cool, but I just wanted to apologize and stuff." As he said this, he began to stand up...
"No, hold on, wait..." Zack said. "It's cool." With that, he offered his hand to shake. Derric took it and proceeded to sit once more. Zack looked back out the window. "Man, I can't believe Tifa's been teaching these guys and they still can't fight for squat..."
"Oh, they can..." Dylan informed the ex SOLDIER, "But they kinda hope that Tifa will get mad and start roughing them up a bit."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, this one time Tifa was trying to train me to flip her, but I effed up, right? And so she somehow countered by tripping ME up, but we both wound up on the ground, and I got a face fulla cleavage!"
Zack raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Get outta here! You're shittin' me!"
"Nope! Pretty much the best memory I have since joining this group!"
"Your best memory? That's kinda sad, dude," Zack remarked.
"Yeah, well, you gotta understand, the best part was that she was wearing this thin, white, low cut halter-top... oh man, If I died right then and there, I woulda died happy!"
"Well, what if you died now with that memory, would you still be happy?" Zack asked pointedly.
"Uhm... maybe, I dunno, why?"
A broad smile slowly and mischievously made its way onto Zack's face. He glanced up a bit, and started pointing at something behind his new friend.
Derric resisted the urge to gulp and slowly cocked his head back, only to be met with two large spheres blocking his vision, though he could just make out Tifa's scowling face above and behind them. "Awww crappity crap... How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to hear that last part," Tifa informed the now very worried man.
"Lemme guess," Zack asked Tifa, "You're one of those people who sneezes or gets that weird ringing in your ears when people are talking about ya, right?"
"Actually, I came in to get some ice; I accidentally twisted Kendal's ankle. But then I heard you two talking. Oh, and D, While normally I WOULD hit you for that, you're already on crutches and handicapped, so I'll let it slide this time..."
"Actually, he's 'Handi-Abled'..." Zack pointed out. Derric shot Zack a cold look, and Tifa put on a smile and looked back at the "handi-abled" man, cracking her knuckles.
"Oh yeah, good point!"
"Aagh!" Derric cried out as he put his hands over his head for protection. Tifa shook her head with a chuckle and left to tend to her student's foot.
Derric dared to come out from behind his arms after Tifa had left, only to see Zack laughing to himself. "Do that again, and I'll shove this crutch right up your... hey, c'mon quit laughing, I'm being serious here!"
"Whu'z goin' on?" Jessie asked, approaching the table. She had a hot coffee in one hand, and was rubbing her eyes with the other. Her hair was tied back as opposed to sticking out in front of her as she normally wore it, and she also lacked her armor and accessories which Zack had seen her in last. Then again, it's not like people would walk around wearing body armor... Which reminded Zack that he hadn't washed the SOLDIER togs he was currently wearing in well over two weeks. Zack noticed that Jessie was a tad more curvaceous than her armor had let on, and reasoned that it probably pushed against her, and he found himself wondering if that hurt at all or if maybe it even felt nice. Though he decided to question on her current half-asleep zombie like state instead.
"What's up, you look like you haven't slept all night," Zack asked.
Jessie waved dismissively "I haven't. I've been..." She let out a long yawn before continuing, "...Looking at my records and stuff, making sure I didn't build the bomb wrong or nuttin. Also, staring at a computer screen for hours on end doesn't help."
"You guys have a computer?! I thought only really rich and smart people could own or operate those things... uh, I don't meant that you're not smart..." Zack lamented.
"Oh, a lot's happened with computer technology in the last five years," Jessie explained.
"Yeah," Derric went on to clarify, "Most middle class people own at least one these days, and there's not an office or cubicle without one hardly anywhere. They're pretty cheap and easy to use... well, until they crash anyway."
"Those are only on computers that run 'Doors', though. We use Xunil, which while it's a tad buggy, it hardly ever crashes. And if I ever find a bug, I can just go in and fix it, as the source code is public and free to tamper with. It also doesn't use as much memory or resources as Doors does." Jessie proclaimed proudly.
Zack looked at the two other occupants of his table dumbfoundedly. "Uhmmm, whaddya mean, 'Runs on Doors'? Like one of those things over there?" He asked, pointing at the door of the seventh heaven bar.
"No, no!" Jessie chuckled, "That's the name of a type of GUI Operating System made and supported by Macroware, a subsidiary of Shinra, inc... or so everyone thinks. The Shinra claim that they really have nothing in common with Macroware, but they're lying, of course."
"..You lost me again," Zack admitted after a few moments of silence.
Jessie took a big swig of her coffee and got up. "Well c'mon, how about I show you?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah! C'mon!" With that, Jessie tugged up on Zack's arm, though her effort was somewhat weak. Zack got up slowly, and with a shrug to Derric, allowed himself to be dragged into the back.
"This's a kitchen..." Zack pointed out. It was a small kitchen with only one stove, a deep fryer and sink. It did not appear as though it was used all that often. There was also a large refrigerator against the north wall. Jessie slapped an inconspicuous brick, causing the fridge to slowly move to the side, revealing a doorway which led into a dark room with only a few lights.
Zack slowly walked into the small brick room. Two long tables held about four or five computers each, the only source of light was a couple overhanging lights and a few monitors which had been left on. Jessie walked over into the corner and showed Zack a seat to the computer next to hers. "Sit," she offered.
Zack plopped down on the seat, but almost lost his balance, as he didn't realize that the back would recline slightly, as well as spin or move because of the wheels. It was made of fake leather, and had cushioned armrests. Zack spun around on the chair and rocked back and forth on it playfully for a moment before settling down. Jessie smiled at Zack somewhat enduringly for a second before leaning over and toggling the mouse, causing the computer to wake up from its hibernation mode.
The ex-SOLDIER blinked as the screen came to life. It was green with a silver-ish bar at the bottom, with various icons spread throughout the display. Jessie stood up and went over to her own console. "Feel free to play a game or something," she offered. Zack just looked at the screen, completely lost.
"Uhm.. how...?"
"Don't you know how to use a computer?" Jessie asked with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.
"Uhm, hello, I've been inna tube for five years...?"
Jessie raised an eyebrow and laughed to herself. She got up and leaned over next to Zack, resting her chest on his shoulder. He pretended not to notice, but still took a quick glance down the girl's shirt. She took his hand and put it on the mouse, instructing Zack on its use. "This is called a mouse..."
"Why?"
"Uhm, it just is. When you move it, it moves that pointer on the screen. When you see something you want to select or open, you press this button," she said, moving the pointer towards a "button" near the bottom of the screen, pressing Zack's finger down onto the left mouse button. With a click, the "button" inverted and brought up a list of options Zack couldn't make heads or tails of. He noticed that Jessie began pushing the mouse up, which moved the pointer up on this menu, causing each new option to become highlighted. Jessie finally stopped and on an item labeled "games", which brought up another menu. The slightly younger computer wizard slowly went over to a game called "Dread!", and again forced Zack's finger to click the mouse.
The screen flickered, bringing up a large start menu with the word "DREAD" in some kind of creepy, blood-spewing font. "You should like this game.." Jessie began, looking at Zack's deep, dark blue eyes. "You basically go around shooting monsters."
"...Do I get a sword"
"Mmm, no-o-o," Jessie replied "But you can use a chainsaw!"
"I wanna sword!" Zack responded childishly.
Jessie shook her head and clicked on the hardest difficulty setting (labeled something along the lines of "Got my Will already written out!"). "Just move using these buttons..." Jessie explained, indicating the arrow buttons on the right side of the keyboard, "And click the mouse button to fire. You have limited ammo, so be careful!"
And so Zack started down the poorly rendered hallway. Several pixilated monstrosities came towards him, and Zack rapidly hit the mouse button, watching red bursts spill from their bodies. More came up to his position, and the former SOLDIER panicked as they began attacking him, making the screen flash red. Zack tried to focus, but the fact that he was in no actual danger, plus Jessie's breasts almost smooshed next to his face, made him lose his concentration. Quickly, the young ex-SOLDIER's training kicked in. He backed up several paces and unloaded the remainder of his ammunition upon the beasts, but still not all of them fell. A few more hits later, Zack's character died.
"That is SO unfair!"
"Oh, what's wrong?" Jessie asked teasingly.
"Well you put it on the hardest difficulty... and you're distracting me..."
"How?" The brown-haired girl asked with a smile. Zack looked right at her bosom for a moment, then looked her back in the eye.
"..You just are," Zack replied with a half smile.
"Oh, THIS isn't distracting you," Jessie pointed out, "THIS is." And with that, Jessie came around slowly and sat on his lap, facing Zack and putting her arms around his neck. Zack remained neutral, though a slight smile came to his lips, which Jessie took as an invitation...
[[BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!!!]]
Jessie shot her head up and looked at her terminal. The screen had popped up some kind of error message, which was blinking sporadically along with the electric beeping. She quickly abandoned any thoughts that had been in her mind just a moment before and hopped off Zack's lap, racing over to see what all the fuss was about.
The former SOLDIER just sat back, both a bit disappointed, but more relieved. He watched as the hacker clicked a few things and typed out some commands... a few windows popped up with some scrolling text. Jessie's eyes widened in horror and shock at what she was seeing, though Zack couldn't make heads or tails of the information flooding her screen.
"Omigod..." Jessie finally said, plopping down in her chair, still staring at her screen, unblinking. Zack rolled his chair over and looked at the information out of mere curiosity. A lot of it was mathematical formulas which didn't seem to make a lot of sense. Jessie started to explain without being prodded, "These were the specks I used to make the bomb we used on reactor number one... but... but... these equations.. they..."
"Uhm," Zack interrupted, "I'm not that good at math, but I think you forgot the remainder," he said, pointing near the bottom, indicating a long division problem which wasn't even completed correctly.
"I didn't forget anything," Jessie replied slowly. "I... I just never checked over the equation, I was sure the computer would make sure it was right.. but this.. it's all gibberish! This isn't a formula at all! There's NO WAY this could've..." Jessie stopped to absorb what her mind was already racing to process. Without another word, she quickly got up and left the room.
That was just when Johnny walked in, Jessie almost running him down like a truck. He looked back at the girl for a moment before turning to Zack, "What's with her?"
Zack shrugged. "Math is hard," he replied childishly.
The bright red-headed man looked at the screen of the computer where Zack was sitting. "Dread? Lemme guess, Jess is trying to get you hooked on it, too?"
"Somethin' like that..." Zack muttered. "I didn't do that good..." he admitted for no particular reason.
Johnny gave Zack a wolfish smile. "Here, let's both play," he offered, sitting next to Zack and getting ready to set up a multi-player match.
"Oh cool, like on the same team?" Zack asked ignorantly.
"Who said anything about us being on the same team?" Johnny answered with a wicked grin.
Zack blinked, but then returned the grin, contemplating the other man's intentions. "You're so on!"