Paper Angel, 1/4 , Final Fantasy VII (Sephiroth and Zack)
Title: Paper Angel, 1/4 Author:dogmatix Rating: PG Warnings: Zack being not-Zack Word count: short-ish Prompt: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Zack and Sephiroth: role switch - Zack as the bad guy, Sephiroth as the good guy. Summary: In the absence of Her Son, he will do. A/N: @_@ I'm having the worst time just sitting down and typing this, and also I haven't finished CC yet, dangit. So, a work in four short parts.
"Zack, you're scaring me," Cloud finally tried, desperate. The uneaten sandwiches sat next to the cold coffee, untouched by the SOLDIER 1st. Cloud had brought those yesterday. Zack hadn't returned to the inn last night and the cot in the corner hadn't been slept in.
General Sephiroth was three days late to Nibelheim as all air-transport out of Costa del Sol grounded by a massive storm, and Zack had not been idle during that time. The first day had been fine, with Zack getting Cloud to show him around Nibelheim, but then he'd found the library in Shin-Ra mansion.
Zack's glazed look lifted a bit, focussing on Cloud, though he never closed the file he was poring over. "Oh, hey Spike. D'you know when Our-" Zack blinked, "when Seph's gonna get here?"
"I- shouldn't you know that?"
"So you haven't heard?"
"Heard? Heard what? The last I knew he was due tonight, what's changed?" Cloud asked, alarmed. If the General had been delayed even longer-
"Good," Zack nodded, "That's good," and returned his attention to the pages he'd been reading, clearly dismissing Cloud.
Cloud backed out of the library, feeling numb. He almost ran out of the mansion, Zack's half-heard mutters about saving 'him', and making sure nobody could hurt 'him' ringing in his ears.
It was almost like Zack was... was.... He couldn't think it. And who could he tell? What if they didn't believe him? Worse, what if they did? If he was just over-reacting, which was entirely possible, would it hurt Zack's record?
It was later than he'd thought, once he stopped to look. He could see a helicopter off in the distance, the red light of sunset sheening the curve of the flying machine. That had to be the General. The General! He'd know what to do! Clapping his helmet on, he ran for the landing area.
~((0))~
A hand was shaking him awake. Sephiroth forced himself to relax, the roar of the helicopter negating any real attempt at conversation. He'd made himself sleep on the way to Nibelheim, partly to catch up on some much-needed rest, and partly to avoid having to stare at Tseng the entire flight.
Looking out, he saw snow-capped mountains all around, rapidly rising above them as they came in to land at a small town in the middle of nowhere. He didn't know why he'd been sent here, and they were fools if they thought he believed it was for something as smple as this mission was on paper. After all, when the Turks showed up as your personal escort, something was up.
Someone was running up to the helicopter's landing area, and... was that fire, in the village? The figure was waving at the helicopter, though only Sephiroth probably saw that, with his improved eyesight. They were almost on the ground now, and he could make out a light blue uniform. Defintely not Zack, not with that shock of blond hair. Perhaps Fair had sent the trooper to get Sephiroth while he handled whatever was going on at the town.
But something twinged warningly in the pit of Sephiroth's stomach.