"This has to be a fucking joke," Zack muttered, dragging his feet slightly as sweat ran down his forehead. His lungs burned with the exertion, and frustration colored his voice. He glared at his two companions—Cloud and Barret—who stood beside him looking annoyingly calm after their ride in the elevator.
While Zack had powered up sixty floors on foot, the others had simply fought their way through mechanical guards between elevator rides. Yet somehow, both groups had spent about the same amount of energy and arrived together, which made their entire split feel like a cruel prank.
Now, the trio pushed forward toward the 60th floor. They had just secured the keycard from the robots guarding the previous level, and though the path had been bloody, the eerie quiet around them was worse.
"Outside of the almost minimal security, it's strange nothing has shown up since the 59th floor," Barret grumbled, his tone uneasy. "It's like they want us to go up."
"That might be the point," Zack said, casting a sharp glance at Cloud. "Your capture is near the top of Shinra's most-wanted list. Right up there with Sephiroth."
Barret froze at that, staring at Cloud with wide eyes. The blond only shook his head, as if tired of repeating himself.
"I told you," Cloud muttered, his voice low and grim. "To them, I'm more valuable than you realize." His eyes dropped to his hands, his expression tightening. The veins under his skin seemed to pulse, and for a fleeting second, he swore he saw scales shimmer against his flesh before vanishing. Something deep and hostile stirred inside him, something he barely kept restrained.
"The worrying thing is that my limits are splitting into two forms… one tied to my spear, and the other…" He clenched his fists, but his thoughts trailed off when a firm hand grabbed his shoulder.
"What?" Cloud asked sharply, shaken from his spiraling thoughts.
"We're here," Barret grunted, pointing at a heavy steel door. Zack was already at the front, scouting the area.
"I checked," Zack said when he returned, his brows furrowed. "No guards. Which makes no sense. This floor's the Shinra checkpoint. Every officer, every high-ranking employee is supposed to be logged here. Security should be airtight, but…"
Cloud stepped closer, peering inside. The hairs on his neck bristled. "Zack. Did you smell it?"
"I know," Zack answered grimly. "The stench of blood. Thick, but I didn't see a single corpse. Someone else is moving through this building."
Cloud flexed his arms, his muscles twitching uncontrollably. Something about this scent lit a fire in his veins, like a primal hatred awakening against his will.
Zack noticed instantly, his voice dropping into concern. "Cloud. What the hell is happening to you?"
"It's nothing," Cloud muttered.
"Bullshit," Zack shot back, eyes hard. "We're in the middle of a mission that could cost Aerith her life. Don't shut me out now. Tell me."
Cloud hesitated, then spoke with a low growl. "My body reacts on its own. Hostile. Like it recognizes something up ahead… and hates it. I don't know why. It's like my blood remembers something my mind doesn't."
"Is this the same thing you felt in me?" Zack pressed.
Barret's brows rose. "The hell does that mean?"
Zack gave a bitter laugh. "Didn't I tell you? Hojo shoved something in me. I don't know what, but whatever it is, it triggers this reaction in Cloud. Like his whole being wants to rip it out. Over time, we've… gotten used to it."
Barret scowled, shaking his head. "Shinra really are sick bastards…"
Zack's voice softened, just a little. "Aerith said she feels it too sometimes. Like she's scared to be left alone with me." He clenched his hands, staring down at them as if they belonged to a stranger.
The silence that followed was heavy. Barret finally broke it with a question that carried both suspicion and reluctant empathy. "Why do they want your girl so bad?"
Zack sighed, the weight of his secret lifting as he answered. "Because she's the last Cetra. The ancients. A race tied to the planet itself, to the Lifestream. They carried knowledge older than humanity."
Barret nodded slowly. "And Shinra wants that knowledge for their own shit."
"They want the Promised Land," Zack confirmed. His voice hardened. "A place overflowing with pure Lifestream. They think if they find it, they can build a reactor there. Infinite power. They'd be untouchable."
"Figures," Barret muttered, anger flashing in his eyes. "Parasites, draining the world dry."
"But how does she even know what Shinra's after?" he pressed, suspicion creeping back in.
"Because the Cetra can connect directly to the Lifestream," Zack explained, his tone grave. "They hear the voices of the dead preparing to be reborn. The planet speaks through them."
Barret was silent at that, his fist clenching tight. Everything about Shinra's cruelty made him sick, but the more he learned, the deeper their crimes sank.
Zack crouched suddenly, his gaze fixed on the floor. A smear of blood glistened faintly in the sterile light. He touched it—and a sharp current jolted through him. His breath hitched.
"Zack?" Cloud asked, tense.
Zack shook his head quickly. "It's fine." But the flicker of unease in his eyes said otherwise.
Cloud studied him but let it go. For now, there was only one priority: Aerith.
They climbed the stairs to the 61st floor. Silence pressed down on them, broken only by the hum of distant machinery.
"This is it," Zack whispered. "Shinra's cafeteria." But the usual buzz of employees was absent. Only emptiness—and the suffocating stench of blood—remained.
Barret's nose wrinkled. Even he could sense it now. Cloud's hands shook uncontrollably, black scales flashing over his skin before disappearing.
"Let's check it out," Cloud said, his voice low, his eyes scanning the desolate room.
"I'll use Sense," Zack offered. He closed his eyes, unleashing a faint wave of energy that shimmered almost invisibly through the air. His eyes snapped open. "There's someone alive."
They followed him behind the counter, where a trembling man in a Shinra suit crouched, his eyes wide with terror.
"Hey," Zack said carefully.
The man flinched, bolting backward like a startled animal. "D-Don't kill me!" He froze when he saw they were human, but his shaking didn't stop. "W-Who are you?"
"That doesn't matter," Cloud said coldly. "Tell us what happened here. Where's the blood coming from?"
The man's face went pale. "A-A monster! All I saw was a red flash… and a silver silhouette. Blood and guts everywhere, and then—they vanished!"
"There's no blood here," Barret pointed out, frowning.
"Because it absorbed them," the man cried, voice breaking. "All the remains, gone! Like nothing ever happened!" He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a keycard with trembling hands. "Here. Take it. I don't want it anymore!"
Before they could stop him, the man bolted for the elevator and punched the first floor, desperate to escape.
Cloud turned the keycard over in his hand. "Well. At least we don't need to search for this one. But if that thing is climbing too…" His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Barret muttered under his breath. "Don't know if I should feel relieved or sick. Shinra deserved hell, but… nobody deserves that."
The trio turned back toward the stairs. A red flash. A silver silhouette.
Cloud's eyes narrowed, the scales flashing once more on his hands. "Why do I feel like I already know what's waiting for us up there…?"
-
NEW WORLD - FINAL FANTASY VII ( AFTER THIS - DRAGON BALLS ]
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