Chapter Text
Chapter 6: Angeal’s Betrayal
Zack never seemed to recover from the thought that Angeal had betrayed SOLDIER. Kurama would be up late and listen to him mutter Angeal’s name in his sleep along with other words like “don’t go” or “come back.”
Sephiroth had taken Kurama out to Wutai and other places along with some of Angeal’s stuff in order to attempt to track the man down. But every time, they came back empty handed. Zack still believed that Angeal hadn’t betrayed SOLDIER, but with more and more evidence showing up of his disappearance, he couldn’t help but begin to think that it was true.
Many days had passed since Zack began to give up hope. He was on the SOLDIER floor doing his usual routine of squats before he got a phone call.
“SOLDIER Second Class Zack?” the voice asked.
“That would be me. Who is this?” he responds.
“Director Lazard wants to see you. Go to the briefing room,” and with that the call ended.
“C’mon boy,” he calls and heads off to the briefing room. As soon as he was inside, he asked Lazard if there was any word of Angeal yet. There was none. No contact with family either. But that wasn’t what they were called here for.
“You two have a new assignment. I want you both to go to the hometown of our missing SOLDIER First Class, Genesis,” Lazard states. They were to go and investigate the town and make sure no one was hiding anyone, or anything. He motions to the door behind them.
“He, will go with you,” he says and a man in a black suit and a ponytail walked in.
“Tseng, of the TURKS,” he introduced, “let me know when you’re ready to go.” He seemed to ignore the fact that the dog was there. Kurama growled and Zack gave him an unhappy stare.
“Hey that’s not nice,” he says and taps the akita’s nose. Kurama sneezed and left Zack’s side, walking out of the door as if he was angry. The pair left to go get ready. Though not really wanting to get this assignment started, they left the briefing room altogether.
“Oh hey guys,” a voice greeted them. Kunsel was standing outside the doorway, “I was just about to call you up and ask if you wanted to go down to Sector 8 for a bit.”
“Sure thing,” Zack answers and they follow their friend outside the building. The two friends talked, catching up on news about each other and what they’ve encountered so far. Once they hit the lobby, Zack had stopped at the entrance and clipped the chain he had in his pocket to his companion’s harness.
“I thought you kept that in your room?” Kunsel asks.
“I started carrying it around everywhere with me since when we go to Sector 8 people think he’s mean,” Zack explains. Kunsel just nodded and they continued outside.
The three friends reached the fountain in the street and Kunsel had gotten their attention...well...Zack’s attention. Kunsel had said something about not regretting not doing anything before going on a mission and left. Zack sighed.
“Man...I can’t believe he ditched us,” Zack says. He puts his hands in his pockets, letting the handle of the chain rest around his wrist and dangle from the weight.
“I suppose we could walk around for a little though,” he states and begins to walk off towards LOVELESS Ave. Kurama trailing beside him.
The partners spent about an hour traversing the different sectors before returning to the ShinRa Building.
“May as well get this over with,” he says and heads towards the briefing room again. He hadn’t even bothered taking Kurama’s chain off.
“Ready to go?” Tseng asks.
“A routine job right? Should be easy,” Zack states.
“I wonder...Originally, Sephiroth was assigned to this mission. That means it’s a top-priority matter. Be alert, or you’ll fail.”
“That’s what he’s here for,” Zack says motioning to his dog on a leash, “he’s my ears so he will alert me. By the way, what about Sephiroth?”
“Refusing to go, apparently.”
“Oh what is that? They spoil that guy too much!” Zack whines. Tseng laughed.
“Why don’t you say that to his face?” he states.
“No thanks!” Zack begged, hoping Tseng wouldn’t tell anyone he said that.
A chopper had dropped the three of them off on the outskirts of the Banora village. It was lush and green and it seemed like a nice place. Very content, just like home in Gongaga.
“Those are some weird-looking trees,” Zack mutters.
“They are Banora White trees, AKA, Dumbapples” Tseng answers as he continues to walk ahead of the SOLDIER.
“Wait so we are in Banora?” Zack asks. He was told that Angeal and genesis grew up together so this was their hometown. The small conversation ended with three Genesis copies appearing and attacked. Zack had taken care of them quickly.
When Genesis had deserted SOLDIER, he had taken a large arsenal of equipment with him as well as other SOLDIERs who would follow him to the end. Some of the things he took were ShinRa security weapons as well as the things needed to make copies of himself.
“So we have to go and get it back then?” Zack asks.
“That is correct,” Tseng says.
“Alright!” Zack says and kneels down to unlatch the chain on Kurama’s harness, “we’ll run on ahead and see if we can find anything.”
The two partners encountered a few more Genesis copies on the way to a large house. In front of it was a large machine and two copies, which Zack took care of quickly. The machine activated and armed itself.
They had recognized it as the Guard Spider, a large robot with six legs and the ability to take down hordes of enemies with its guns.
“Stay out of this will ya?” Zack tells Kurama who only whined and stepped back to give Zack his room to fight.
Zack hacked and slashed at the machine with his sword, hitting the joints that kept it together and soon the thing began to fall apart from parts being destroyed. It fell and began smoking as it started short circuiting. The machine would not be able to be used again unless it was rebuilt.
Tseng caught up to the two of them and told them they should hurry.
“There hasn’t been any townspeople sightings yet so we should check the homes,” Tseng says. Zack nods and runs off with his companion in tow. Tseng followed behind shortly.
The three ShinRa troops appeared at the beginning of the village. There were houses that followed the path in a circle and led up into the mountains. Zack stepped to the side to look up at a large house.
“This is Genesis’s home. His parents are wealthy landowners,” Tseng says. As Zack’s eyes moved over to the large tree in the yard, he remembered what Angeal told him. He never stole from the wealthy man’s tree because the man’s son was his friend.
Genesis and Angeal grew up together and were best friends. Genesis deserts, and gets his best friend to come join him. At least that’s what was believed by Sephiroth and Director Lazard.
Tseng turned and pointed to a fresh grave by a tree.
“A gravestone...still very new...Zack, go find Angeal’s house. I’ll check the grave,” Tseng says and begins walking toward it.
“So you TURKS always gotta do this kind of stuff?” Zack asks, a little disgusted at the fact that Tseng had to go check a fresh grave.
“Someone has to do it,” he responds, moving out of the way of Kurama who had his nose to the ground, sniffing out for Angeal’s home.
“Must be rough…”
“Don’t worry. We’re paid much better than you are,” Tseng says, making Zack stop in his tracks. He was about to ask if that was true, but a loud bark from Kurama brought him out of his trance. He must have caught something.
As Tseng kneeled down the check the grave, Kurama barked once more, but this time it was an aggressive bark. Zack saw him launch himself at a Genesis Copy that had unfortunately wandered into the canine’s path. A strong bite to the neck, and the Copy had died.
“Alright bud, lead me to it,” Zack says, patting the canine who had gotten blood on his silver and white fur. Kurama walked forward and walked past each house until he came to the last one and sat in front of it. Zack had decided to check the other houses to see if anyone was inside. While he waited, Kurama began licking his chest where the blood had gathered.
“Alright, this is it?” Zack asked. A whimper from the dog. Zack knocked and heard a voice tell them to come in.
“Can I help you?” a voice of a kind woman sounded as they walked in. In a chair at a table sat an older woman with black hair, a white shirt, a brown skirt and a green shawl around her shoulders. She sounded very kind and it made the two males relax. Kurama looked up at Zack as he stuttered out a question.
“Uh...greetings, ma’am!” Zack starts, trying to keep his manners, “are you Angeal’s mother? My name is Zack.” The woman looked away for a second and closed her eyes as if she was thinking of something.
“Are you...Zack the puppy?” she asks after turning to face them again. Kurama’s tail wagged at hearing the nickname he had become familiar with over his time at SOLDIER after working with his master and Angeal. Zack had groaned at the nickname, making the woman laugh softly. She suddenly got more serious.
“You’re not here together with Genesis, are you?” she asks.
“No, I’m not. Don’t worry,” he responds.
“What is happening with my son?” she asks, her face falling a little. Kurama couldn’t help but sneak over to her and rest his head on her lap, one of her hands came and rested on his head, gently rubbing one of his ears.
“I’m not really sure, ma’am,” Zack apologized. She turned back to the table, her fingers still running through Kurama’s fur. She had told them about Genesis coming back a month ago with an army. They killed many of the townspeople. Angeal had come home as well, but left his sword. Zack glanced over and saw the Buster Sword, sitting there against the wall. He looked at it in awe and told the woman that he hardly ever used it. That sword represented their family’s honor. Zack moved to kneel down beside her. He put a hand on Kurama’s back and stroked it once.
“I’ll take care of Angeal,” Zack started but was met with a growl.
“Okay okay, we will take care of Angeal,” he corrects with a small chuckle, “you should go hide somewhere.” The woman turned away.
“Don’t be concerned. Genesis...cannot harm me,” she said. Zack stood and patted his thigh twice, signaling to his companion that they should get going. He took one last glance at the Buster Sword, and headed out the door. As soon as they stepped outside, a few Genesis Copies had broken down a barricade that led up to the mountain. Zack charged forward and cut through them with ease.
Rriiing. Zack’s phone sounded from his pocket. It was Tseng.
“There’s a factory on the outskirts of town. I saw a few Genesis Copies run in there,” he said. It must have been their headquarters. They were ordered to come to a cliff top that overlooked the factory. As Zack hung up, he pulled Kurama’s leash from his pocket and clipped it on the harness so he wouldn’t run off if he found a better way inside. The walk was slow until they came to a fork in the road. One road went up, the other went to the factory. Kurama saw that and began pulling Zack towards the entrance to the factory.
“Kurama no!” Zack growls, tugging on the leash and pulling the dog back, “we can’t go that way!” Kurama snorted but followed his master where they needed to go.
As the two got to the top, they saw Tseng kneeling down, looking into the factory.
“Genesis’s parents were in those graves,” Tseng states.
“Wait, he...murdered his own family?” Zack mutters surprised.
“We can’t expect reason from him. What about Angeal? Did you two find anything?”
“He wasn’t at home. But give us time. We can try to talk to him. If we can convince Angeal, maybe Genesis will come back too,” Zack says. He hadn’t noticed that Kurama was steadily watching the windows of the factory, his tail curled tightly and his ears pointed forward. Tseng chuckled.
“No wonder Sephiroth chose you two,” he mutters. It was time to move.
Zack and Kurama jumped first, breaking through the glass roof and landing hard on the metal floor of the second floor. As if on cue, three Genesis copies appeared to take on Zack. He unclipped Kurama’s leash and stuffed it back in his pocket.
“Go on ahead with Tseng,” he orders. The dog turned and ran off with the man in the suit. The canine sniffed around for any clues and his ears were always pricked for sound, making sure Zack was okay as he explored on his own. Kurama led Tseng into a back room and began sniffing around in there. Eventually, Zack had come in.
Tseng was on the computer.
“It looks like the Copies are being made here. Go check the second floor,” he says. Kurama was waiting at the door to the stairs and followed Zack up. As they neared the top, Kurama’s ears perked up and the smooth velvety voice of a familiar SOLDIER First Class sounded.
“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water’s surface
The wandering soul knows no rest.”
LOVELESS, ACT 1. There by the large windows, sat Genesis Rhapsodos, the Crimson General. He sat there, reading his book for the nth time. He glanced over at Zack and Kurama and scoffed softly. The room went quiet for a moment and Kurama’s fur was bristling. He was unsure as to what Genesis was going to do but he was ready to fight just in case.
“Settle down…doggies,” the man says, referring to Zack’s nickname and the canine partner he had. Zack and Kurama growled as Tseng ran in. He instantly went to a machine that had a green glow to it. Inside was a Genesis copy.
“The grave at the house…” Tseng starts, turning to Genesis, “we found the remains of our people there as well.”
“It didn’t take much to have them send false reports. Just some...mild threats…” Genesis responds.
“They would have done that anyway. At least your parents would have,” Zack snaps. He received a glare from the red SOLDIER as he stood.
“My “parents” betrayed me. They had always betrayed me, from the very beginning...what do you know, ShinRa lap dogs!” Genesis shouts and throws a ball of fire at Tseng, throwing him into the machine behind him. Zack instantly drew his sword and Kurama charged forward, a snarl on his face. But he couldn’t move. Genesis stood there watching them before welcoming the new member into the room. There stood Angeal. He had grabbed Zack’s sword and Kurama’s harness.
“I see...you’ve finally made your decision. I’ll respect your wishes, old friend. However…” Genesis trails off. He stepped forward enough to stand next to Angeal.
“Can you really live on that side?” he says, and walks away. Zack turned and called Angeal’s name. The black haired man turned and tossed the canine he had in his arms at Zack, pushing him back before shoving the sword he held into the ground. Kurama and Zack fell to the floor for a moment before Angeal scoffed and left the room. Zack pushed the dog off of him and grabbed his sword, running after his mentor. Kurama whimpered as he stood up, being left alone in the room with an injured Tseng.
The akita moved over to the hurt TURK and licked his cheek a few times.
“I-I’m alright,” Tseng says, patting the tiger-striped akita, “go help Zack, he needs you more than I do.” Kurama whimpered and left, sprinting down the stairs to catch up with his master. Zack was headed outside the factory and a pack of Guard Hounds appeared. A howl of anger sounded and Kurama shot forward, surprising Zack, and taking down one of them with a swift bite to the neck before moving on and fighting the rest.
Kurama began to get overrun. One Guard Hound grabbed one of his legs and pulled, another grabbed his neck and pulled. They turned him over, pushing him onto his back while another took a bite at his stomach. The akita whimpered in pain but still continued to fight as he had gripped another by its neck; it’s tentacle cutting Kurama across the bridge of his nose in attempt to have him let go.
The sound of bullets whizzed by Zack and took out the Hounds attacking Kurama. He jumped up and returned to Zack’s side, panting hard. Tseng stood there with his gun out, the tip smoking from firing off bullets.
“We have to leave now,” he says.
“We gotta go look for Angeal and Genesis!” Zack responds.
“There is no time. I ordered an Airstrike on the village. It will be neutralized soon. Go rescue whoever is at Angeal’s home, you have enough time to do so,” Tseng says. As soon as Kurama heard that, he sprinted forward, leaving the two men behind and using his fangs to cut through the Guard Hounds that stood in the way. Zack thought it was strange for Kurama to act without orders, but at this point he wasn’t going to complain. Tseng shot a path through for Zack and the SOLDIER ran after his partner.
As Zack stepped outside, he had lost sight of Kurama. He could only assume that the dog had already gotten to the village. As he neared, he thought he heard fighting. Kurama’s growls and then suddenly, a yelp. Zack stepped inside Angeal’s home and saw his mother lying on the floor, dead. To her side, Kurama was on his side against the wall, whimpering softly. He was too late. He didn’t save her. Behind him, he hadn’t realized Angeal was standing there with his Buster Sword drawn, one of his gloves had bits of Kurama’s fur in them and there was a bleeding bite on his sword arm, showing that Angeal had to protect himself from the SOLDIER dog. Out of anger, Zack attacked his mentor.
“What the hell did you do, Angeal!?” Zack shouts, gripping the man by his shirt collar and slamming him against the wall. He pulled him back and punched him in the cheek, making the older man stumble out the door and fall onto his back.
“Is that...is that your idea of honor!? Killing your own mother and hurting a dog!?”
“My mother...could not continue to live. And neither...can the son,” Angeal says, picking himself up off the ground. It was obvious he was upset at the fact that his mother was dead, but it didn’t excuse the fact that he was the one that killed her.
“What are you talking about! What’s going on here?!” Zack yells. He felt Kurama come and rub against his leg.
“I told you,” a voice says, “you can’t live on that side anymore.” It was Genesis. His pretty face held a smirk that just unsettled the two “ShinRa lapdogs.” Kurama growled and launched himself at Genesis, only to be hit away with ease. Angeal looked at Kurama trying to pull himself to his feet again. He put his Buster Sword on his back and walked off, telling Kurama to stay down.
“Angeal!” Zack calls, running after the man but fell as Genesis tripped him, making him fall into the dirt. Zack called his name again, making the man glance over at the screaming young man and the now barking canine, before continuing to walk away.
“My friend, do you fly away now?
To a world that abhors you and I?
All that awaits you is a somber morrow
No matter where the winds may blow”
Zack kept shouting at Genesis to shut up as he spoke his poetry, but he held up a glowing orange orb.
“I don’t see Sephiroth today, but...are you game?” he asks, using the Summon Materia he had in his hand. Zack stood, his canine partner coming next to him as a bright light brought them into the Summon’s world. Down came a dragon. Bahamut. Bahamut roared at them and Kurama got into a fighting stance, ready to take on the giant creature.
Zack drew his sword and charged at the beast. Kurama attacked what he could to deal damage. The akita kept aiming at his wings, trying to tear at them to stop the beast from flying. But as a Summon, Bahamut wasn’t normal and tears in his wings would probably not stop him anyways. This one seemed tougher than Ifrit was, but with the two of them working together, like against the Behemoth, they managed to bring down the creature; though both of them were pretty injured by the time they had finished. Bahamut disappeared and returned to his Materia form, falling to the ground and rolling over to Zack’s feet. He picked up the orange orb and stuffed it in his pocket before the two had returned to the current world.
They were faced with Genesis once more.
“Summons aren’t meant to be used like this! What happened to dreams and honor?” Zack says. Genesis wasn’t facing them but his posture could tell them that he was upset.
“We are...monsters…” he says. He took a gloved hand and put it up to his face, concentrating for a moment before shooting his arm out to the side. Along with it jutted a large black feathered wing. Feathers fell around them as he flapped the wing once. Genesis looked over his shoulder.
“We have neither dreams nor honor,” he says before launching himself into the sky and flying away. Zack looked in awe as he caught a feather in his hand.
“SOLDIER...doesn’t mean monster…” he mutters, “...right?” he looked down at Kurama whose Mako blue eyes watched him. Zack felt like he needed reassurance at the thought of SOLDIER operatives being monsters. But seeing the innocent look of his dog, who is a SOLDIER operative, told him that they weren’t. Because if Kurama wasn’t a monster, neither was he.
Zack’s phone rang.
“Zack, time to go. The Airstrike will commence shortly,” Tseng says. He told him that he would be up on the cliff where they were earlier and there would be a chopper waiting for them there. Zack clipped the leash to Kurama’s harness and the two ran off to the pick up point.
As they got there, they heard the bombers flying by and the bombs that began dropping on the village of Banora. Zack felt saddened by seeing it destroyed, but he couldn’t do anything about it. The chopper came and picked them up like it said, and as it flew away, Zack couldn’t help but hold onto Kurama as he watched the flames burn everything to the ground.
“Angeal…”