Fanfiction: Rewind; Replay, Prologue [CCFFVII]
Title: Rewind; Replay
Chapter: Prologue: Goddess
Genres: Friendship/Drama
Rating: PG-13
Characters (by chapter): Zack Fair, Minerva, mentions of Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough, Angeal Hewley, Sephiroth, Genesis Rhapsodos & Hojo
Spoilers/Warnings: Most of Crisis Core.
Disclaimer: Crisis Core ~Final Fantasy VII~ belongs to Square-Enix.
A/N: This story is set when Zack is on the run with Cloud, and inspired by the mail Zack receives from Kunsel after he defeats Minerva. ^^
Summary: It sounded unreal, but it wasn't. He'd been given a chance to undo everything. But there was a chance he'd never meet the lives that he'd change. Could he bear to give them all up... Even if he wouldn't even know it the next time he awoke?
ShinRa, he decided resolutely, could be a bunch of idiots. How else would he, Zack Fair, be able to still access the SOLDIER missions database when he was on the run from the said company? It was highly illogical.
Of course, some could say he was an even greater idiot for accessing the database in the first place. He was on the run for heaven's sake! If ShinRa ever decided to check which SOLDIER was actually doing the missions... he'd be seriously, seriously screwed. Why ShinRa never bothered to try tracking him via his PHS though, Zack didn't want to consider. He'd thank Gaia for small allowances, even if he were risking it by having contact with the company's database.
However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and through his own personal experience, Zack knew that whenever he went for such missions before, there would be a lot of useful items lying around those areas, strangely enough. Items that he needed to gain an advantage over the pursuing Turks and the ShinRa military, especially since he had a semi-comatose friend to protect at the same time. It made the journey to Midgar slow and laborious, but he’d be forever damned if he ever complained about it or left Cloud behind.
He’d done several missions already, despite being on the run all the time since breaking out of the hidden labs in the old ShinRa mansion. Each time, he’d feel more elated over finding an item or a new materia than he would've over defeating the monsters he encountered. Zack didn't know whether it was just his imagination, but despite having been stuck in mako-filled tubes and laboratories for Gaia-knew-how-long, he seemed to have not lost his fighting instincts other than when he'd still been slightly disorientated right after breaking out of the mako tube... They'd actually seemed to get better, and his reflexes seemed to have improved too. He wasn't sure if he wanted to thank Hojo for whatever experiment he’d done on him when he’d been held captive. But whenever he took a look at Cloud’s blank face and remembered how unresponsive he was no matter how hard Zack had tried to talk to him in hopes of getting a response... He would resolutely declare that the world would be better off if Hojo had never even been born.
Now, he was on a mission that was proving to be one of the most dangerous one's he'd been on. He'd left Cloud hidden safely in an area where he'd cleaned out all the monsters, no matter how weak they’d been. Then he'd cast Wall around Cloud, just to be on the safe side. He wouldn't risk having Cloud injured at all, and leaving him behind for a little while would be safer than dragging him into the unknown caverns where monsters lurked everywhere. Today, he was exceptionally glad that Cloud wasn't in the vicinity.
The missions he'd been choosing these days had been the harder ones, through no real choice of his own. It wasn't as if he had ShinRa behind him to get him to the places where the missions were. He could only choose those that were along the way when he and Cloud went running and hiding. So by sheer luck (if it could even be considered luck), he was now deep in a cavern and after killing annoying though relatively strong monsters... facing off against an armored being whose stats were definitely off the charts just going by his instincts. The sheer power that radiated from that... being (he really didn't know what to classify it as... it certainly felt holier than the monsters he'd fought against) made him feel as if it was born of Gaia itself. But regardless of what it was, he was determined to fight and win against it. He had to get Cloud to safety, and he had promised Aerith that he'd return from his mission in Nibelheim... as disastrous as that mission now was.
Holding his trusty Buster Sword steadily and tightly in his hands, he charged towards the being...
He'd done it. It had to be the longest and toughest fight he'd ever had in his life. But he'd made it through. The being had disappeared in glowing green light that reminded him of the Lifestream, well, the pictures of it that he'd seen rather. Strangely enough, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he hadn't actually killed the being, and that it’d retreated because... well, he didn’t know why the being retreated, but he fervently hoped that it wouldn’t come back for Round Two.
Barely two seconds later, Zack realized that he was actually right about the retreating bit (but not the coming back bit, unfortunately) as an orb of green light appeared before him once again, just like how the being did earlier. Before he could even utter a heartfelt curse, much less ready his exhausted self to fight again, the orb of light expanded, engulfing him and everything became white...
'Zack Fair.'
He awoke to the sound of a feminine voice calling his name. It was by no means Aerith, although it had the same soothing quality to it. Blinking open his eyes, he realized that he was no longer in that cavern with mako crystals. Instead, what lay before him was green... and more green. What in the world...?
'Zack Fair.'
The voice spoke to him again, and he was startled to realize that it didn't exactly come from one particular direction. It was omnipresent, all around him... or rather, Zack realized with growing unease, he was hearing it in his head.
"Um... who is it?" he managed to ask guardedly.
A vague sense of amusement threaded through him, but he knew it wasn't him feeling that amusement. It had to be from that being who’d taken him here. Wherever here was. The shimmering green rivers surrounding him and flowing gently around him would’ve been quite calming, but he was too keyed up to really appreciate it.
'It is not surprising that you do not know where you are. You are not one of the Cetra, and most humans only arrive here if they have returned to Gaia.'
Zack was not an easily annoyed person. But he didn't like the sensation of hearing a voice in his head, but not seeing the person, or being, doing the talking. Still, he managed to keep his cool and carefully process the words he was hearing. The Cetra? What did they have to do with his current predicament? The only Cetra he knew that was alive though, was Aerith, and he sincerely doubted Aerith actually knew of his whereabouts at the moment. But the part about returning to Gaia... it was a way of saying that someone had passed on...
Cetra.
Dying.
"The Lifestream?" he blurted out, eyes widening. But he wasn't dead! Right?
'Indeed, but only at the very fringe of it. But Zack Fair, you are not dead. I have merely brought you here to have a talk with you.'
"...Who are you?"
'I am the Goddess of Gaia, Minerva. I have been waiting for you to come.'
At that, the form of the being that he'd fought with earlier appeared before him in full regal armor. Except it, well she, was no longer wearing the intricate helmet that covered her elegant face and long, flowing golden hair. Zack was stunned and awed by the sight and realization for a moment. He'd just fought the Goddess of Gaia? It seemed too surreal, but his gut was telling him that this was no dream.
"Oh... Hello," he said instead, feeling rather self-conscious and vaguely stupid right now. He wasn't about to try working his charm on Her, and the fact that he’d been whacking the Goddess of the Planet around earlier... Well, to say the least, it wasn't the best way of getting into someone's good books. Much less an all-powerful Goddess. He wondered if he'd landed in hotter soup before, and the answer was sadly, a resolute no.
'Do not be so tense, Zack Fair. The fight was merely my way of testing you. No harm was done.'
"That's nice... Maybe it'd be kinder of you to tell me beforehand," Zack muttered to himself, but he knew that She would hear it anyway.
He wondered absently for a second if Minerva's "no harm was done" could also be taken literally. She certainly didn't seem to be looking any worse for wear, while he could say that he could still feel his muscles aching, even after having taken an Elixir shortly after he'd thought he had defeated Her. Then he registered Her second sentence.
"Hold on a second. You said that you were testing me? For what purpose?"
He thought he saw the hint of a vague smile grace Her features before She spoke again. 'Yes, I was testing you. Not just your strength in battle; it was a test of your determination in defeating me, even if the odds were against you. You have immense willpower, Zack Fair, and a kind, righteous heart. It was not wrong of me to decide to rest my hopes on you.'
While it was flattering to hear about his good qualities from a goddess, it was still confusing the hell out of Zack. What hopes was She talking about? What could he do, if She, the Goddess, could not? But Zack need not voice his questions, for Minerva continued.
'Gaia is prescient to a certain extent. The Planet, and hence I, know of certain key events to come in the future. The future presented before me is bleak. You have experienced a great tragedy at the hands of the Calamity's Son, but it is not the end but the beginning of future tragedies stemming from him. Despite my powers, I am unable to directly influence the outcome of the future. I therefore need a mortal to help, and you are the best candidate for that, Zack Fair.'
Nibelheim was a tragedy that Zack did not want to see repeated ever again. Truth be told, he never wanted to turn his sword against a friend ever since the moment Angeal forced him to turn his sword against him. He had killed Angeal, and while he had not succeeded in killing Sephiroth, the pain of betrayal stung even more. Because he had to do something he didn't want to again. If Minerva foretold of even greater tragedies to come... He certainly did not want to know what would happen, or even live it through. But...
"Who is this 'Calamity's Son'? And why... why do you believe that I can change the future? I mean you're the Goddess of Gaia, not me."
'You would know the Calamity's Son as your former General, Sephiroth, and you would know the Calamity herself as JENOVA, an alien being that crashed onto Gaia centuries ago. It infected a Cetra and proceeded to almost entirely wipe out the Cetra race, but the some of the Cetra managed to contain JENOVA and froze the body in the Northern Crater,' Minerva said, explaining the first part of his question.
'You can change the future for you are not bound by the restrictions that I, as the Goddess of Gaia, have. I can only act when the danger directly threatens to consume Gaia instantly, and by then it can be too late to preserve what remaining life forms there are on Gaia. You can change the future because you are closely linked to the humans whose lives you will change, and thus, you will have that much more motivation to want the change. You will not do this out of personal gain even if you may eventually benefit from it. If you so choose to do it, you will because of your love for your friends and the powers of Gaia resonate strongly with such positive feelings.'
'If you agree to this, Zack Fair, you will have my powers for the duration of a week. You will have to use this time to determine what events of the past you wish to change and then implement it. What you will risk, however, is the possibility that you will never meet those people whose lives you have changed. You may never know them again like you did in your present life, even though you will have no memory of it when you next awake. Keep in mind too that your actions in changing the past may not always lead to a desirable future; an action will always have a consequence.'
Zack's mind whirred at his took in all of what Minerva was saying. This was an unprecedented opportunity being laid before him. It meant that he could prevent the Nibelheim disaster from ever happening, Sephiroth wouldn't go insane, Angeal wouldn't die the way he did... and generally, he could prevent all the shit that ShinRa had ever dealt out from happening. It was a dream come true, yet at the same time, it was a potential nightmare. If he made one mistake tinkering with the past, things could turn out ten times worse and he'd fail those that he'd sworn to protect. But even more than that, could he... could he really let go of everyone he knew in this life?
Could he do it, knowing that there was the possibility that he'd never meet Aerith, his lovely, dearest girlfriend because he would not have fallen into the Sector 5 slums?
Could he do it, even if it meant that it was possible that he'd never know Angeal the next time he regained consciousness because Angeal might not have left Banora Village?
Could he do it, and perhaps not know Cloud or Sephiroth, two important people to him, forever because SOLDIER might not exist?
Even if She had said that he would have no memory of what he'd done and whom he had once known... Zack felt that he would still feel like a part of him was missing. Like there was something, someone, many someones there, but had been mysteriously taken away. He would feel strangely incomplete for the rest of his life perhaps, and he'd never get any explanations for it. Could he do it? Could he?
He then remembered the time where Sephiroth told him the story of how he, Angeal and Genesis had spent their time together fooling around in the ShinRa Training Room. Zack was sure that Sephiroth and the other two First Classes were close friends. He contrasted that Sephiroth he knew to the one he faced down in Nibelheim, and he knew he'd give anything to bring back that Sephiroth who would tell him about his friendships when it was clear that the silver-haired man was a private person.
He remembered the patient way Angeal would mentor him and guide him along. Angeal had been his mentor since he was a Third Class, and he was really fond of his mentor. They had shared many memories, some pleasant, others not so. Regardless, Zack knew that Angeal did not deserve to die the way he had. It had pained him greatly to fight and eventually kill Angeal... and he would do anything to get back his kind but strict mentor. To let Angeal live a life that would probably be as peaceful as the time before Angeal (and Genesis, by extension) left Banora Village to join SOLDIER.
He remembered the first time he'd met Cloud, on a mission to Modeoheim. He'd become friendly with Cloud during that trek up the snowy mountain and hadn't looked back since. Now, the Cloud he was with was a pale shadow of the Cloud he knew. Zack still blamed himself for being partly the reason that Cloud fell into Hojo's sadistic hands and also for not getting him out of the mako tube sooner. He wanted to see Cloud smiling and talking again, not stuck in his mako poisoning comatose state. Most of all though, he wanted to make sure that his younger friend would never ever see his hometown burning down before his very eyes with that said burning being committed by his childhood hero.
Yes, he wanted to change all of that if he could. It was likely that he'd ever meet all of them again, but surely... Surely it was better than what the situation was now? And it'd definitely be better than the coming future, or why else would Minerva seek him out? It was a tough decision to make, but Zack had made it. He would undertake the task Minerva had for him and see it through.
"I'll do it," he declared, determination shining in his eyes.
The faint smile on Her lips that he could now clearly see did not widen, but Zack felt a sense of pleasure and satisfaction in his mind that came from Minerva. The Goddess was pleased with his decision, no doubt.
'You will have access to all my abilities; they will come to you as if you have been using them all your life. The extent of your control over them remains to be seen, though. But I have faith in you, Zack Fair.'
"Thank you. But before you... do whatever you have to do, can I..."
'Your friend will be safe. I will watch over him for the duration it takes for you to make your decisions in the Lifestream. Dangerous creatures generally do not come near when I am around.'
"Well, that’s for sure. You are the Goddess of Gaia," Zack replied cheekily, "I don't think anyone, save for myself, has actually tried fighting you!" Then in a more solemn tone, he added, "But thank you for doing that all the same."
'Have faith in yourself, Zack Fair. I wish you luck.'
Then Minerva shot an orb of pulsating green light towards him. It hit him straight in the chest, penetrating into his heart and an odd warmth started to fill him from that spot even as he felt like he was losing consciousness simultaneously. Before he blacked out entirely, he heard Her last words to him.
'When you next awake, you will be deeper inside the Lifestream and your time limit starts there. Until it ends... you will be the temporary God of Gaia.'
Zack swore She sounded amused at Her last sentence, before all thought ceased to exist.
I was partly inspired by all the time-travel/change-the-past-change-the-future fics that I've been reading (and re-reading) and following. However, they all seemed to center around Cloud (not that it's bad or anything, cause I absolutely love them XD). So I decided that I wanted something different. Then one day, I read the mail Kunsel sent to Zack after he defeated Minerva (on my friend's PSP cause I don't own one D:), and giggled at the awestruck tone Kunsel's mail seemed to have. And so, everything went... downhill from there? XDD"
So I have to thank suchcandor for letting me read that mail as well as providing remarks (like whether ShinRa even checks who's doing all those missions, since in CC you can still access missions even after Nibelheim happens, and actually suggesting that Zack = God of Gaia from Kunsel's mail XD) that made me want to write this story so badly! :D Never found the time until now though. ^^"
Well, the new year is coming soon, and I'll be getting really busy soon too with school and all. This story won't be updated too quickly, unfortunately. But I've got the general chapter plans out already, so it will definitely be finished. ^^"
Early Happy New Year, Everyone!
Hope you enjoyed it so far and feel free to comment!
x-posted to:
zackfans
crisis_hardcore
_crisiscore_
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Chapter: Prologue: Goddess
Genres: Friendship/Drama
Rating: PG-13
Characters (by chapter): Zack Fair, Minerva, mentions of Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough, Angeal Hewley, Sephiroth, Genesis Rhapsodos & Hojo
Spoilers/Warnings: Most of Crisis Core.
Disclaimer: Crisis Core ~Final Fantasy VII~ belongs to Square-Enix.
A/N: This story is set when Zack is on the run with Cloud, and inspired by the mail Zack receives from Kunsel after he defeats Minerva. ^^
Summary: It sounded unreal, but it wasn't. He'd been given a chance to undo everything. But there was a chance he'd never meet the lives that he'd change. Could he bear to give them all up... Even if he wouldn't even know it the next time he awoke?
ShinRa, he decided resolutely, could be a bunch of idiots. How else would he, Zack Fair, be able to still access the SOLDIER missions database when he was on the run from the said company? It was highly illogical.
Of course, some could say he was an even greater idiot for accessing the database in the first place. He was on the run for heaven's sake! If ShinRa ever decided to check which SOLDIER was actually doing the missions... he'd be seriously, seriously screwed. Why ShinRa never bothered to try tracking him via his PHS though, Zack didn't want to consider. He'd thank Gaia for small allowances, even if he were risking it by having contact with the company's database.
However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and through his own personal experience, Zack knew that whenever he went for such missions before, there would be a lot of useful items lying around those areas, strangely enough. Items that he needed to gain an advantage over the pursuing Turks and the ShinRa military, especially since he had a semi-comatose friend to protect at the same time. It made the journey to Midgar slow and laborious, but he’d be forever damned if he ever complained about it or left Cloud behind.
He’d done several missions already, despite being on the run all the time since breaking out of the hidden labs in the old ShinRa mansion. Each time, he’d feel more elated over finding an item or a new materia than he would've over defeating the monsters he encountered. Zack didn't know whether it was just his imagination, but despite having been stuck in mako-filled tubes and laboratories for Gaia-knew-how-long, he seemed to have not lost his fighting instincts other than when he'd still been slightly disorientated right after breaking out of the mako tube... They'd actually seemed to get better, and his reflexes seemed to have improved too. He wasn't sure if he wanted to thank Hojo for whatever experiment he’d done on him when he’d been held captive. But whenever he took a look at Cloud’s blank face and remembered how unresponsive he was no matter how hard Zack had tried to talk to him in hopes of getting a response... He would resolutely declare that the world would be better off if Hojo had never even been born.
Now, he was on a mission that was proving to be one of the most dangerous one's he'd been on. He'd left Cloud hidden safely in an area where he'd cleaned out all the monsters, no matter how weak they’d been. Then he'd cast Wall around Cloud, just to be on the safe side. He wouldn't risk having Cloud injured at all, and leaving him behind for a little while would be safer than dragging him into the unknown caverns where monsters lurked everywhere. Today, he was exceptionally glad that Cloud wasn't in the vicinity.
The missions he'd been choosing these days had been the harder ones, through no real choice of his own. It wasn't as if he had ShinRa behind him to get him to the places where the missions were. He could only choose those that were along the way when he and Cloud went running and hiding. So by sheer luck (if it could even be considered luck), he was now deep in a cavern and after killing annoying though relatively strong monsters... facing off against an armored being whose stats were definitely off the charts just going by his instincts. The sheer power that radiated from that... being (he really didn't know what to classify it as... it certainly felt holier than the monsters he'd fought against) made him feel as if it was born of Gaia itself. But regardless of what it was, he was determined to fight and win against it. He had to get Cloud to safety, and he had promised Aerith that he'd return from his mission in Nibelheim... as disastrous as that mission now was.
Holding his trusty Buster Sword steadily and tightly in his hands, he charged towards the being...
He'd done it. It had to be the longest and toughest fight he'd ever had in his life. But he'd made it through. The being had disappeared in glowing green light that reminded him of the Lifestream, well, the pictures of it that he'd seen rather. Strangely enough, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he hadn't actually killed the being, and that it’d retreated because... well, he didn’t know why the being retreated, but he fervently hoped that it wouldn’t come back for Round Two.
Barely two seconds later, Zack realized that he was actually right about the retreating bit (but not the coming back bit, unfortunately) as an orb of green light appeared before him once again, just like how the being did earlier. Before he could even utter a heartfelt curse, much less ready his exhausted self to fight again, the orb of light expanded, engulfing him and everything became white...
'Zack Fair.'
He awoke to the sound of a feminine voice calling his name. It was by no means Aerith, although it had the same soothing quality to it. Blinking open his eyes, he realized that he was no longer in that cavern with mako crystals. Instead, what lay before him was green... and more green. What in the world...?
'Zack Fair.'
The voice spoke to him again, and he was startled to realize that it didn't exactly come from one particular direction. It was omnipresent, all around him... or rather, Zack realized with growing unease, he was hearing it in his head.
"Um... who is it?" he managed to ask guardedly.
A vague sense of amusement threaded through him, but he knew it wasn't him feeling that amusement. It had to be from that being who’d taken him here. Wherever here was. The shimmering green rivers surrounding him and flowing gently around him would’ve been quite calming, but he was too keyed up to really appreciate it.
'It is not surprising that you do not know where you are. You are not one of the Cetra, and most humans only arrive here if they have returned to Gaia.'
Zack was not an easily annoyed person. But he didn't like the sensation of hearing a voice in his head, but not seeing the person, or being, doing the talking. Still, he managed to keep his cool and carefully process the words he was hearing. The Cetra? What did they have to do with his current predicament? The only Cetra he knew that was alive though, was Aerith, and he sincerely doubted Aerith actually knew of his whereabouts at the moment. But the part about returning to Gaia... it was a way of saying that someone had passed on...
Cetra.
Dying.
"The Lifestream?" he blurted out, eyes widening. But he wasn't dead! Right?
'Indeed, but only at the very fringe of it. But Zack Fair, you are not dead. I have merely brought you here to have a talk with you.'
"...Who are you?"
'I am the Goddess of Gaia, Minerva. I have been waiting for you to come.'
At that, the form of the being that he'd fought with earlier appeared before him in full regal armor. Except it, well she, was no longer wearing the intricate helmet that covered her elegant face and long, flowing golden hair. Zack was stunned and awed by the sight and realization for a moment. He'd just fought the Goddess of Gaia? It seemed too surreal, but his gut was telling him that this was no dream.
"Oh... Hello," he said instead, feeling rather self-conscious and vaguely stupid right now. He wasn't about to try working his charm on Her, and the fact that he’d been whacking the Goddess of the Planet around earlier... Well, to say the least, it wasn't the best way of getting into someone's good books. Much less an all-powerful Goddess. He wondered if he'd landed in hotter soup before, and the answer was sadly, a resolute no.
'Do not be so tense, Zack Fair. The fight was merely my way of testing you. No harm was done.'
"That's nice... Maybe it'd be kinder of you to tell me beforehand," Zack muttered to himself, but he knew that She would hear it anyway.
He wondered absently for a second if Minerva's "no harm was done" could also be taken literally. She certainly didn't seem to be looking any worse for wear, while he could say that he could still feel his muscles aching, even after having taken an Elixir shortly after he'd thought he had defeated Her. Then he registered Her second sentence.
"Hold on a second. You said that you were testing me? For what purpose?"
He thought he saw the hint of a vague smile grace Her features before She spoke again. 'Yes, I was testing you. Not just your strength in battle; it was a test of your determination in defeating me, even if the odds were against you. You have immense willpower, Zack Fair, and a kind, righteous heart. It was not wrong of me to decide to rest my hopes on you.'
While it was flattering to hear about his good qualities from a goddess, it was still confusing the hell out of Zack. What hopes was She talking about? What could he do, if She, the Goddess, could not? But Zack need not voice his questions, for Minerva continued.
'Gaia is prescient to a certain extent. The Planet, and hence I, know of certain key events to come in the future. The future presented before me is bleak. You have experienced a great tragedy at the hands of the Calamity's Son, but it is not the end but the beginning of future tragedies stemming from him. Despite my powers, I am unable to directly influence the outcome of the future. I therefore need a mortal to help, and you are the best candidate for that, Zack Fair.'
Nibelheim was a tragedy that Zack did not want to see repeated ever again. Truth be told, he never wanted to turn his sword against a friend ever since the moment Angeal forced him to turn his sword against him. He had killed Angeal, and while he had not succeeded in killing Sephiroth, the pain of betrayal stung even more. Because he had to do something he didn't want to again. If Minerva foretold of even greater tragedies to come... He certainly did not want to know what would happen, or even live it through. But...
"Who is this 'Calamity's Son'? And why... why do you believe that I can change the future? I mean you're the Goddess of Gaia, not me."
'You would know the Calamity's Son as your former General, Sephiroth, and you would know the Calamity herself as JENOVA, an alien being that crashed onto Gaia centuries ago. It infected a Cetra and proceeded to almost entirely wipe out the Cetra race, but the some of the Cetra managed to contain JENOVA and froze the body in the Northern Crater,' Minerva said, explaining the first part of his question.
'You can change the future for you are not bound by the restrictions that I, as the Goddess of Gaia, have. I can only act when the danger directly threatens to consume Gaia instantly, and by then it can be too late to preserve what remaining life forms there are on Gaia. You can change the future because you are closely linked to the humans whose lives you will change, and thus, you will have that much more motivation to want the change. You will not do this out of personal gain even if you may eventually benefit from it. If you so choose to do it, you will because of your love for your friends and the powers of Gaia resonate strongly with such positive feelings.'
'If you agree to this, Zack Fair, you will have my powers for the duration of a week. You will have to use this time to determine what events of the past you wish to change and then implement it. What you will risk, however, is the possibility that you will never meet those people whose lives you have changed. You may never know them again like you did in your present life, even though you will have no memory of it when you next awake. Keep in mind too that your actions in changing the past may not always lead to a desirable future; an action will always have a consequence.'
Zack's mind whirred at his took in all of what Minerva was saying. This was an unprecedented opportunity being laid before him. It meant that he could prevent the Nibelheim disaster from ever happening, Sephiroth wouldn't go insane, Angeal wouldn't die the way he did... and generally, he could prevent all the shit that ShinRa had ever dealt out from happening. It was a dream come true, yet at the same time, it was a potential nightmare. If he made one mistake tinkering with the past, things could turn out ten times worse and he'd fail those that he'd sworn to protect. But even more than that, could he... could he really let go of everyone he knew in this life?
Could he do it, knowing that there was the possibility that he'd never meet Aerith, his lovely, dearest girlfriend because he would not have fallen into the Sector 5 slums?
Could he do it, even if it meant that it was possible that he'd never know Angeal the next time he regained consciousness because Angeal might not have left Banora Village?
Could he do it, and perhaps not know Cloud or Sephiroth, two important people to him, forever because SOLDIER might not exist?
Even if She had said that he would have no memory of what he'd done and whom he had once known... Zack felt that he would still feel like a part of him was missing. Like there was something, someone, many someones there, but had been mysteriously taken away. He would feel strangely incomplete for the rest of his life perhaps, and he'd never get any explanations for it. Could he do it? Could he?
He then remembered the time where Sephiroth told him the story of how he, Angeal and Genesis had spent their time together fooling around in the ShinRa Training Room. Zack was sure that Sephiroth and the other two First Classes were close friends. He contrasted that Sephiroth he knew to the one he faced down in Nibelheim, and he knew he'd give anything to bring back that Sephiroth who would tell him about his friendships when it was clear that the silver-haired man was a private person.
He remembered the patient way Angeal would mentor him and guide him along. Angeal had been his mentor since he was a Third Class, and he was really fond of his mentor. They had shared many memories, some pleasant, others not so. Regardless, Zack knew that Angeal did not deserve to die the way he had. It had pained him greatly to fight and eventually kill Angeal... and he would do anything to get back his kind but strict mentor. To let Angeal live a life that would probably be as peaceful as the time before Angeal (and Genesis, by extension) left Banora Village to join SOLDIER.
He remembered the first time he'd met Cloud, on a mission to Modeoheim. He'd become friendly with Cloud during that trek up the snowy mountain and hadn't looked back since. Now, the Cloud he was with was a pale shadow of the Cloud he knew. Zack still blamed himself for being partly the reason that Cloud fell into Hojo's sadistic hands and also for not getting him out of the mako tube sooner. He wanted to see Cloud smiling and talking again, not stuck in his mako poisoning comatose state. Most of all though, he wanted to make sure that his younger friend would never ever see his hometown burning down before his very eyes with that said burning being committed by his childhood hero.
Yes, he wanted to change all of that if he could. It was likely that he'd ever meet all of them again, but surely... Surely it was better than what the situation was now? And it'd definitely be better than the coming future, or why else would Minerva seek him out? It was a tough decision to make, but Zack had made it. He would undertake the task Minerva had for him and see it through.
"I'll do it," he declared, determination shining in his eyes.
The faint smile on Her lips that he could now clearly see did not widen, but Zack felt a sense of pleasure and satisfaction in his mind that came from Minerva. The Goddess was pleased with his decision, no doubt.
'You will have access to all my abilities; they will come to you as if you have been using them all your life. The extent of your control over them remains to be seen, though. But I have faith in you, Zack Fair.'
"Thank you. But before you... do whatever you have to do, can I..."
'Your friend will be safe. I will watch over him for the duration it takes for you to make your decisions in the Lifestream. Dangerous creatures generally do not come near when I am around.'
"Well, that’s for sure. You are the Goddess of Gaia," Zack replied cheekily, "I don't think anyone, save for myself, has actually tried fighting you!" Then in a more solemn tone, he added, "But thank you for doing that all the same."
'Have faith in yourself, Zack Fair. I wish you luck.'
Then Minerva shot an orb of pulsating green light towards him. It hit him straight in the chest, penetrating into his heart and an odd warmth started to fill him from that spot even as he felt like he was losing consciousness simultaneously. Before he blacked out entirely, he heard Her last words to him.
'When you next awake, you will be deeper inside the Lifestream and your time limit starts there. Until it ends... you will be the temporary God of Gaia.'
Zack swore She sounded amused at Her last sentence, before all thought ceased to exist.
I was partly inspired by all the time-travel/change-the-past-change-the-future fics that I've been reading (and re-reading) and following. However, they all seemed to center around Cloud (not that it's bad or anything, cause I absolutely love them XD). So I decided that I wanted something different. Then one day, I read the mail Kunsel sent to Zack after he defeated Minerva (on my friend's PSP cause I don't own one D:), and giggled at the awestruck tone Kunsel's mail seemed to have. And so, everything went... downhill from there? XDD"
So I have to thank suchcandor for letting me read that mail as well as providing remarks (like whether ShinRa even checks who's doing all those missions, since in CC you can still access missions even after Nibelheim happens, and actually suggesting that Zack = God of Gaia from Kunsel's mail XD) that made me want to write this story so badly! :D Never found the time until now though. ^^"
Well, the new year is coming soon, and I'll be getting really busy soon too with school and all. This story won't be updated too quickly, unfortunately. But I've got the general chapter plans out already, so it will definitely be finished. ^^"
Early Happy New Year, Everyone!
Hope you enjoyed it so far and feel free to comment!
x-posted to:
zackfans
crisis_hardcore
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acfiction