A/N: Well as promised this is the beginning of the end of this story. This has been a real surprise to me that so many people liked this story. I have a confession to make, I was going to make time to work on this story over the Christmas break from school, but I got into playing Final Fantasy 15… 5 play-throughs down and it still ends the same… No matter how many times I try, it always ends the same lol! It's a fantastic game though and I can't wait until the Gladio, Ignis and Prompto episodes come out! I bought some of the music to listen to also. My favorite musical piece out of the game would have to be "Apocalypsis Noctis."

Well, I passed the first semester of nursing school and I'm in the second semester, which is a whole new animal to tackle. Longer hours, more clinical rotations, and way more assignments. I started working on chapter 46, but its slow going because of school and my kiddos. I'll work on it when I can and hopefully have it out before the end of the year…lol!

Thanks to my belly-dancing for jelly beans beta Tyrant Chimera! *See Note at the end of chapter

"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men." – Confucius

To You I Give My Heart

Chapter 45

~Corruption at its Finest~

As dawn broke the darkened sky, Zack, accompanied by Genesis, strode with confidence through the front doors to the Shinra building. Sharing a glance, they nodded in recognition that this may be the last time they walked the planet. Both were willing to give their lives to end the tyranny that enveloped their lives for the last many years – and end it they would, even if it took their lives to do it. Zack seemed to focus on the fact that Genesis wasn't the enemy as he'd thought for so long. Proud to have him at his side, they awaited the flood of enemies that Shinra was bound to throw their way.

The first wave of enemies were lowly infantry soldiers, mere cannon fodder for the company of liars. Zack killed them quickly, not wanting to allow them to suffer, but Genesis tended to play a little more than the dark-haired Soldier cared for. The screams of the men were almost more than Zack could manage to maintain his sanity. Instead of allowing it to cloud his mind, he focused on the task at hand, bringing down the company that ruined his and his family's lives. Getting revenge for the hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers that disappeared under Hojo's watch seemed as though it helped Zack to gain more strength and increased speed.

Wave after wave of men and robotic fighters were thrown at them, all dying quickly with the softly glowing sword or roasting at the hands of the fire spells from Genesis.

"We must get to the upper floors quickly." The red-head's words broke his concentration enough that a stray bullet pierced his forearm with a minor grazing wound. Not letting anything stop him, Zack followed Genesis to the express elevators to the executive, Soldier and lab floors. "I'll bet my old materia that the codes are the same as they were when we worked here."

"Agreed." Zack nodded and felt a twitch of nostalgia as the doors to the elevators closed. He quickly spied the foyer where he'd first met Cloud and the ghosts of his past filled him with a stronger will. His chest barreled as he inhaled - the smell of blood filled his nostrils and out of habit, his stomach growled.

Watching Genesis punch in the codes suddenly made him realize something he'd heard from Hojo during his captivity, "Wait!"

Not reacting fast enough cost them dearly. Genesis pushed the final number and the alarm set off. Instead of going up, the elevator went down, to the lower secret labs that neither one of them had really thought of prior to their two-man invasion. Not that either of them had really had a concrete plan except to demolish as much as they could.

"Well, this is a little unexpected." Looking up, Genesis spied the roof of the elevator with reinforced steel, "I cannot say I'm surprised though."

"You remember the lay-out?" At the affirmative noise from Genesis, Zack slung his sword over his shoulder onto the harness. Bending down and pulling off the panel to the elevator controls, he asked quietly, "Which one was it?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Back when I was a cadet, me and a couple of my buddies hotwired this elevator so we could sneak into Seph's office for a little… reconnaissance."

No further explanation was necessary as Genesis placed himself between Zack and the door. Holding his sword in his left hand, he readied a firaga spell to cast as soon as the door opened.

The soft "ding" of the elevator marked the end of the ride and the doors opened. Feeling a spray of blood caught Zack's attention as he noticed Genesis was edging closer to him as bullets ricocheted off his sword, but a few found purchase in his flesh. Feeling a sting in his calf, Zack hissed but continued with his task.

"Any chance you could hurry?"

"Almost got it. Just hang in there." Fiddling with the wires, pulling the wax covering off with his fingers became slightly more difficult as his fingers were sweaty and smeared with drops of blood. Just as he was almost ready to give up and join Genesis' side in the fight, the yellow wire covering peeled away, leaving the copper wires beneath. Twisting the yellow and green wires together, Zack once again had control of the elevator. Punching the button that closed the door, he stood and caught Genesis as he fell backward a step.

Watching as the doors closed, Zack lowered Genesis down to the floor, "Come on, I got ya."

Coughing, Genesis had a spray of blood from his lips. For the first time in recent memory, Zack felt concern for his former Commander, "All that magic in your blood, you happen to have a healing spell?"

Reaching over his chest, he pulled back bloody gloves, "I don't believe that I have enough blood in me to heal all… this."

With a small grin, Zack lifted his hand, "I guess it a good thing I brought this then." Holding the glowing green orb he'd gotten from Aerith, Zack ran it over Genesis' body and the wounds slowly began stitching themselves back to together.

Genesis lay still for a moment before he coughed again, bringing more blood with it. Raising his gloved hands, still dripping blood he absentmindedly wiped the speckled blood into a streak of blood across his chin, "Is it wrong of me to have wanted monsters instead of armed soldiers?"

"I get what you're saying."

"Do you?" A quick glance at the Commander made him fill with self-pity, but the look in his eyes are what caught his attention next, "Do you really?"

Sitting back, drawing up his knee, Zack ran his fingers through his hair, leaving this hand on his forehead. He really didn't want to admit it, but what he was right then was Hojo's making, and he had done things for the scientist that he shuddered to remember. It was not even a year ago that he was a guard to some of Hojo's secrets. Killing, ripping and tearing apart anything or anyone who came close to what the mad scientist had told him to keep safe – for a reward of course. He wondered if it was then that Reno had seen him and decided that enough was enough.

Tears of shame threatened to rise, the thought that his enemies, allies and his daughter had seen him at what he considered his worst. Was he destined to be the animal Hojo wanted him to be, or could he move past it to make a life with Cloud? Whether or not he was making it out of the Shinra building alive entered his mind, but he knew that the blond would be safe and would raise their daughter to the best of her ability.

Sitting up, Genesis eyed Zack, "You will make it out of here to raise your little girl." Zack looked up as Genesis slowly stood and finished, "I will be damned if I let my little charge go without her father." Reaching a hand down, offering to help him up, Zack took him up on his offer. Standing face to face with his former commander, the red-head did something he never expected – he took his hand in a firm handshake. "I never thought you of all people would become such a great Soldier." Pulling his hand out of Zack's, Genesis locked his hands on the broad shoulders of the brunet, "I am honored to fight by your side."

Feeling the elevator begin to slow, Zack bowed his head. "I never thanked you for keeping them safe did I?"

"No."

Pulling the sword from the harness, Zack glanced briefly to his side, cleared his throat and urged his voice to stay strong, "Maybe I will after this is all over."

With a one sided grin, Genesis also took up a stance of battle, "Very well then."

As battle ready as they were, both in stance and attitude, neither one of them were prepared for what they saw after the elevator doors opened. The entire floor had been gutted and made a gaping hole in the side of the main tower. No intact furniture remained, a stray document floated in the breeze and launched itself higher, caught in a stronger wind. Sparks sprayed from above them as a screech of metal across concrete made them cringe. Feeling the wobble of the elevator, figuring that it was only being held up by a sheared cable, they stepped quickly before it could take them back down in a one-way trip to death.

Peering up, the upper floors were visible, all the way up to the helipad three floors above them.

"By the Goddess… What happened here?"

Swallowing down the lump that formed in his throat, Zack glanced around, looking for any clues. The voice that jarred him to his very core spoke from somewhere above them. "Hello Project Z, so glad you could make it. I was looking forward to see what you were capable of since your latest upgrades - before you escaped."

Feeling a nudge on his arm, Genesis silently noted a stairwell that was across the small entrance to the executive office floor. As a distraction, Genesis belted out, "Hojo, I have come to speak with you."

"Oh, it's Hollander's failed experiment. Come to roost? Or are you here to get the cure to his incompetence?"

With Genesis making his way to the middle of the floor, keeping himself out in the open, Zack slowly made his way to the stairs, hoping that they were still intact. Finding a stairwell with very little noticeable damage, he began to make his way up. Genesis' voice echoed around him.

"I don't need your cure. Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky." Willing his wing into existence, Genesis rose above the floor, to look for the prey he longed for. "I have found my cure, and you will not taint it with your vile hands."

As Zack wound his way up the stairs as quietly as he could, he found a person of interest that stood before him – on the other side of a glass wall. The glass wall was that of a cell wall, thick and impenetrable.

His heart stopped, sank and collapsed in on itself. Cloud's blue eyes welled with tears. Hojo's hand slid lightly on her cheek. A knife digging into the soft skin right above her collar bone was being held by a woman in a hospital gown. The gown clad woman had her head down, her features hidden by long brown hair.

As Cloud stood on her knees, hands bound behind her back, her sword stuck in the wall several feet from her and her captor. Zack couldn't move except to place a hand hastily on the glass. The scientist looked at him and grinned, "It seems that C did not die after all."

Jerking to the right, Zack's foot struck a desk chair, stopping at the wall that led to a hallway. Making himself look at Cloud again, she slowly shook her head and bit her lower lip as the knife dug into her skin more as the hollow woman grasp the handle of the sharp knife.

"Z, my annoyance with you is becoming something that I can no longer tolerate." Leaning down, Hojo patted Cloud on the top of her head, "Now that I have the specimen that I've been searching for these last several years, I can properly dispose of the specimens that no longer hold any use to me…" Hojo's eyes slid to Zack's panicked face, "You included."

A noise caught Zack's attention when the young woman that held Cloud cast him a side glance. The dark circles under her eyes told of more than just a torturous life time, it told of living in Hojo's hell. He recognized the girl, but the life in her was gone, she was just a shell of the prostitute that he'd known.

"Project T." At Hojo's voice, Tifa turned to him, awaiting her instructions like the good little monsters that he made, "Help me to dispose of this waste of a female specimen and then turn your attention to the male."

Her grip flinched on the knife before a scream broke the silence. Tifa began to flail until her body was engulfed in flame, leaving her nude form. Her skin began to bubble on her torso, arms, and legs until the flames died down leaving what resembled a body suit of tough dark leather-like armor. Her eyes flashed before taking her gaze to Cloud as she was still on her knees. Hojo backed away, leaving Cloud to fend for herself.

"Do you remember Z? Do you remember how you took care of my other specimens that were of no more use to me?"

Raising his hand to his head, his memories raced at all the creatures, and humans, who he'd killed for Hojo. But just as he was beginning to lose himself, Cloud's eyes caught his attention, the tears pleaded with him to listen. Was he going to sit by and watch Tifa do the same to Cloud as he'd done to so many others?

Tifa charged at Cloud just as she rolled backward and jumped to her feet, barely making it to a defensive position before Tifa was on her. During her roll, Cloud was able to move her tied hands from behind her. Quickly trying to loosen the special rope braided with metal, kept her eyes on her attacker. Double blades from thin air appeared in Tifa's hands and began to slice the acrid air. Cloud was losing her footing on the broken floor and inching closer to the edge of the precipice.

A loud crash from behind him didn't take his immediate attention - that was reserved for what was happening in front of him.

"Damn it! Stop this Hojo!" Zack glanced behind him, looking for a way out to his best friend and lover, but he was trapped. Hitting his fist on the glass, Zack uselessly shouted, "Cloud!"

Time slowed, Cloud's face frozen in determination, Tifa, it seemed, was far faster than the blond. She screamed at him, "Charlotte!" As the two blades in Tifa's hands suddenly sliced through her abdomen and chest, she again froze, this time with her eyes on him, blood trickling down her chin, "Ch-Charlotte, Zack." That bastard scientist had his little girl.

Unable to leave, he watched as his world crumbled when the blades pierced his love, again and again until Tifa finally tossed her body over the edge of the building. Tifa's eyes burned with fire, the dark circles under them gone from the glow that now focused on him. The spot where Cloud had been thrown, covered in blood droplets, her blood – he couldn't look away. His heart exploded in anguish, his head trembled in anger, and his body quaked in place, the floor cracked under him as he felt himself start to lose control. The beautiful love of his life was gone, his daughter was in the clutches of a mad scientist and he was stuck in a glass room.

With a ferocious roar, Zack's bones creaked, his skin tightened and his roar became a howl. Long sharp teeth filled his mouth, dagger-like claws formed at the ends of his fingers and his chest barreled, making his shirt tighten. With a quick swipe of his claws, he ridded himself of the confining material. It was then that his nightmares clashed with his memories. Hojo had made him a monster, had mixed his DNA with a Nibel wolf. All the times he'd fought, it was this that he'd become.

Glancing down at himself, he noticed the sword laying on the ground at his side, dropped and forgotten after witnessing his horrible hell. Bending down, he ran a clawed finger down the hilt, remembering all the things that Angeal had said about Shinra, "Shinra is full of monsters." Grabbing the sword, he fastened it to the harness that still hung from his shoulders. He would use it, as promised, on Hojo.

His booted foot kicked at the glass, but it didn't budge. A rush of anger ran through him, he was not going to leave his daughter to Hojo so that he could do what he wanted, what he'd done to Sephiroth, Cloud, and countless others. With a blood curdling roar, Zack kicked again, leaving a crack in the glass barrier. With that small crack, he exploited it, hoping to get through. On the other side, Tifa slowly paced back and forth, her blades sparking as she flicked them together.

The sides where the glass was locked in place within the walls began to break. Plaster dust fell, drywall pieces dropped with a tap to the floor, and with anger driven madness, Zack busted his way through to the waiting demon that Hojo had created with Tifa's body.

A/N 2: Update (4-22-17) So, here is the deal. I totally wrote this out, sent it to my beta, got it back and there was a problem with the formatting from the beta'ed chapter to my computer, so I printed out the beta'ed chapter and put it down and lost it…and then forgot all about it. Nursing school isn't easy! I've been so busy, I totally forgot all about this until I got a PM from one of the story's followers this morning and then I remembered that I was supposed to be writing something other than care plans for laboring mothers or asthmatic teenagers…

*Also it should be noted that this chapter was beta'ed, but I'm unsure about the changes at this time because of me losing the copy that my beta sent me.