A/N: Alrighty...this is my first ever FF7 story. Was hesitant to write/post this because I was afraid this would be a dead genre, but we'll see. If people don't read and review, lol, I'll assume that no one checks the FF7 section anymore. :( It is as the description states: What if Tseng had reached Zack in time to save him? How much of an impact would that have had on the story of FF7? This is my rendition of what would have happened.

Final Fantasy VII

Shadow: Prologue

Zack gave a small smirk, dark brows furrowed as he strolled forward. The Buster Sword was drawn, though the hefty blade rested on his shoulder. Upon coming to a stop, his mako infused blue eyes scanned the massive Army that stood between him and Midgar.

"Boy...the price of freedom sure is a steep one..." he mumbled, before he brought the sword down, the smirk darkening to a deadly one. "Sure do hope you guys can cover it."

With that, the dark haired SOLDIER dove into battle, the tip of the Buster Sword digging into the ground in his wake. The first of the Shinra soldiers hadn't even known how to respond to a massive-sword wielding man rushing their ranks.

And they were the first to go.

The Buster Sword swung a wide arc, cleaving several of the guards cleanly in two. Zack spun with the swing, narrowly avoiding a butt-stroke from one of the other soldiers in the process. He stopped the sword, though, mid-swing and reversed it, bringing it back across and taking that guard out in one strike.

A whole Army stood in between him and Midgar, and they were stunned that this lone man wasn't intimidated by their numbers—he was dismantling them one company at a time. The General of the Army didn't know what was scarier—the fact that he was dismantling them, or that he was doing it smartly. The first company to fall had been the only artillery company they had brought—thinking that they'd only be their for show. The majority of the companies were nothing more than Infantry men, grenadiers, and a few flamethrowers. Luckily, however, the General had an ace in the whole.

He turned to his adjutant, nodding before speaking. "Call in the close air support."

Two companies down, and streaked with blood that wasn't his own, the SOLDIER worked mechanically, cutting men down with an indifference he rarely showed. He was a compassionate man, most of the time, but in the rare moments that he displayed this behavior it was certainly called for. This army of men were enemies—and they stood in between him and a woman he made a promise to.

A woman he loved.

Zack had fallen into a trance at this point, his body acting on instinct as he moved through waves of enemies, cutting them down, and whipping the Buster Sword around in such ease that it was frightening. Bullets seemed to ricochet off the massive metal object before striking him, such was his skill with the large sword.

His thoughts were focused, mainly, on the many people he had met while serving in SOLDIER. He did this for them. They had all helped him, in one way or another, guided him to where he was now. This was his destiny, and he'd be damned if Shinra got their way now. The image of a brown haired woman entered his mind, her eyes the color of honey. She was smiling at this time, breaking out into a laugh that seemed to echo through him.

"You can do it, Zack!"

He smirked at the memory as he leaped into another company sized element, cleaving his first two opponents down before planting the tip of the Buster Sword in the Wasteland dirt. He hunched down and turned his body slightly as the tell-tale whistling of a missile came in, striking the ground in front of the blade. The broad side of the Buster Sword took the majority of the blow, but shrapnel and fragmentation whistled past him, some cutting cuts into his arms. But that didn't matter—what mattered was something that just became evident:

They didn't care if they killed their own people.

Several of the soldiers had been severely wounded in that attack, screaming in terror as some were blinded, or their friends outright killed. A handful of them were missing limbs entirely now, and would bleed out in the next few moments.

The image of another friend entered his mind, the blonde spiky hair bobbing slightly as the youth laughed with Zack.

"Show them, Zack, the power of SOLDIER!"

Zack ripped the Buster Sword from the ground as he stood, taking it airborne with him as he leaped up. The blade twirled around once, twice, and with the third he swung it, firing a heavy barrage of mako infused energy into a group of soldiers, felling them where they stood.

Landing, he was a terror to behold again, as he rushed the next group of soldiers. They had already opened fire, and due to the sheer number of them—combined with the arrival of the close air support—Zack was sure he got hit more than once. But he couldn't feel it. His adrenaline was rushing too fast, pumping too hard, for his mind to register anything other than his desire to make it through this, to see the smiling face of his love at least one more time.

To hold her in his arms. To propose. To see their first child. Hell, if he was lucky and she put up with him long enough, their second too!

As Zack reached the group, he brought the sword back up to deflect a bullet, though he fumbled slightly, and the blade was knocked from his grasp.

"Zack. Embrace your dreams...and no matter what...never forget your honor."

Zack had leaped into the group, the same mako infused energy as before seeming to guide his bare-handed blows. He was a blur, striking men down with naught but his fists, clearing out another company of men before he leaped back towards his sword.

Another missile struck the ground where he had just leaped from, the force sending him back a bit further than he intended, and peppering his body with shrapnel. He managed to land on all fours, skidding back—and scooping the Buster Sword up as he did so.

The concussion of the blast sent him dazed for a moment, causing a heavy ring in his ears and everything to seemed to blur together and move in slow motion.

Grinding his teeth together, he made his way back to his feet, rushing towards the last two companies of men. His legs felt heavy, but he pressed on, again sure he was taking more bullets than he stopped. He reached the first of the men and rammed his sword through the man's abdomen. He spun around—the man still on the blade—and used him as a blunt object to scatter the men before he swung the sword like a baseball bat, flinging the impaled soldier off and sending him airborne.

Be it luck, Hojo's experimentation, or the pure skill the Zack claimed so effortlessly, the body that was sent airborne struck the back of one of the helicopters sent in for close air support. The body broke off the tail, sending the aircraft into a spinning sideways descent—and into the second copter that was sent as well, taking them both down in one blow.

The company backed off from the panting SOLDIER in awe and fear. Zack regarded then with a wild look before he leaped in.

"Yo, do you think we'll find em," the red haired man asked as he looked to Rude, or merely glanced sideways (at least he thought he did, behind the sunglasses) to his partner.

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes, then. Sheesh man...how come we get all the shitty assignments," Reno asked as he leaned back, placing his feet up on the dashboard. The helicopter they rode in shook violently as he had accidentally hit some instruments. Tseng, who was seated in the back, gripped the seat in front of him as it done so, and Reno let out a nervous laugh as he let his feet down.

Tseng turned his head back out the side of the aircraft, letting out a sigh. He squinted slightly and leaned to the side where he was looking.

Was that...smoke?

"Rude. Turn the aircraft west. Check and see what that is," Tseng said calmly and Rude nodded before the aircraft turned immediately.

Zack's momentum had dropped significantly. He was in the midst of the last company of soldiers, cutting them down one at a time, but again was taking rounds left and right, shrugging them off through grit teeth. His body was slowing down though, and he knew it from blood loss. It was only a matter of time before his body gave way, adrenaline or no. He brought sword around in wide sweep, taking off the firing arm of one of the soldiers, and spun with the swing, bringing it down in an overhead chop, taking the last soldier down with a heavy swing at the neck.

The tip of the blade hit the dirt and Zack found he hadn't the strength to lift it again. But there were still two soldiers left, the General and his Adjutant. The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the wasteland, and all of the pain seemed to catch up with Zack as he spun with the round.

He stumbled back, releasing the sword from his grasp before another round stuck him, then two, a third knocking him off his feet. Landing on his back, Zack let out a shaky breath, the effort labored. He lifted his head to watch the General and his adjutant walk to him.

Everything seemed dull. The colors, the sounds, he couldn't tell anything with his senses anymore. The coppery taste of blood, he thought, was in his mouth, but he couldn't be sure. He let his head fall back, and he looked at the sky. When had it gotten dark?

Rain had began to fall, at this point. Or maybe, Zack admitted, it had been falling all along? He wasn't sure. The image of his love fleeted across his mind, and he let out a smile. It was probably raining in her church right now, too. She'd be there, of course, making sure her flowers got enough water.

He watched as the General appeared in his sight, the adjutant to his left, both had guns pointed at him. Zack didn't want to see this..he wanted his last thing seen to be Aerith. And so, he closed his eyes.

The sound of a muffled gunshot came to his dull senses, and Zack felt nothing. Just the immense pain he already felt. Another gunshot rang out, louder, and Zack felt his senses returning to normal.

He opened his eyes and noticed both the General and adjutant were not there. He took in a shaky breath, tried to move, and found he couldn't. His head lolled around, and he watched Tseng walk into view, purposely. He pointed his gun somewhere Zack couldn't see, and fired the object twice more, before letting it drop and looking to Zack.

"T...T...se...ng," Zack got out, and Tseng shook his head.

"Save your strength," Tseng said as he kneeled.

Two more of the Turks appeared and Zack couldn't help but grin. "H...ere to...t..ake me..b...back, eh?"

One of them, a red haired one merely let out a sigh. "Sheesh...he looks like hell. Shouldn't we just leave em?"

Tseng shot a look to the man and the red haired man merely shrugged. "Alright, alright."

He leaned down, securing Zack with a bald man to his left, before dragging him towards a helicopter Zack hadn't heard come in. But then...Zack hadn't heard much of anything, either.

Once on the aircraft, the red haired man and the bald one set to piloting the aircraft and Tseng set about healing as many of Zack's wounds as he could. Zack said nothing, at first, before he finally felt it wouldn't exactly kill him to thank Tseng.

"Thanks...Tseng...but you could have grabbed my sword...it was a keepsake," Zack said with a faint grin, and Tseng merely gave him an odd look.

"Your sword, or your life?"

"That sword..has my honor..," Zack came back, and Tseng shook his head. He leaned down, and produced a shoe box sized container, before placing it next to Zack.

"And this contains your life. Be thankful...and an answer to your question, Zack: We are taking you back...but no one will know."

Zack looked back blankly, before Tseng went on. "Zack Fair died on that field, killed by Shinra, officially. We're taking you back for...other reasons. That's a talk for another time."

Zack allowed his face to remain stoic as he looked at the ceiling of the aircraft. He hoped, at least, that Cloud was alright.

The spiky haired man in question crawled slowly across the muddy wasteland, towards the sight of a familiar object. Reaching the massive sword, that lay standing upright in the ground, he pulled himself up to a kneeling position on it.

"Zzz...ack? Zz...ack," Cloud repeated as his brilliant blue eyes scanned the area. There were massive amounts of dead troops that Cloud had crawled through to get here...but in this particular location, there was only the sword and a puddle of blood that lead the yellow haired man to believe his savior had been killed.

"Do you have any plans, for Midgar?"

"I'm gonna become a mercenary!"

"Yeah, I got a girl. She's beautiful...when we get back, I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

"Cloud...we're friend, right?"

"Remember, no matter what happens...never forget your honor as a SOLDIER."

Cloud let out a whimper, and slumped back down on the blade. He wasn't a SOLDIER, he never had been. One had died, making sure he—a lowly Shinra grunt—had survived.

Cloud wept freely for a long moment before he released the hilt of the sword and wiped away the tears. He gathered his strength and wrenched the blade from the ground. "Zz...ack...thank...you," Cloud said as he began trudging away, dragging the sword behind him.

A SOLDIER may have died protecting him...but that didn't mean he would let the man's honor fade away. Zack Fair would live on, one way or another. Cloud decided that it wasn't Zack who died that day—it was the man Cloud had been. Zack would live on, through his own actions. Cloud had been weak. Incapable of saving someone who was his friend—Zack had been everything he wanted to be. Strong, capable, and willing to go the distance to protect those he cared about.

He would be everything Zack never got the chance to be.

A/N: Well, how was it? Please let me know, and there is-certainly-more to follow!