Chapter 15
Zack wouldn't have minded another day or two of rest (or partying), but there was always more to do, and he wouldn't have felt right knowing Reeve was already back at it. When things were a little more stable, he and Wedge were working on a plan to kidnap the guy into a vacation.
But before anything else, there was one thing he wanted to do.
During the evacuation of the Sector 3 headquarters, Reno had been relocated from the locked office which had served as a makeshift holding cell to the brig of the Sector 4 infantry barracks. Wedge had never been there, but it was a familiar location to Zack and Cloud both. Zack had been stationed there before making it into SOLDIER, and Cloud had called the place home during his own time in Shinra's ranks.
Neither one of them had been back to it since the day they'd left for the Nibelheim mission. It was weird to remember now what good spirits they'd been in--assigned to another mission together, one with the prestige of Sephiroth's command, and headed to Cloud's hometown where Zack had hoped to learn all sorts of new things about his shy friend.
"This is... weird," said Cloud, his step slowing once they were through the gate.
"Yeah," Zack agreed. "Man, what do you think they did with your stuff when you never came back?"
"Tossed it," Cloud said with certainty. "Nobody to send it to."
He was probably right. Zack's parents hadn't received so much as a notification that he'd gone missing in action, much less any of his belongings. Shinra the company hadn't bothered with it, and once the notice had gone out about Sephiroth, Zack's fellow SOLDIERs had probably figured him dead alongside him. He wondered if they'd hesitated over throwing out his stuff, maybe divvied up the less personal items among them.
"Hmm..." he said, determined not to drag the mood down. "You had buddies, though. Maybe somebody held onto it! You should ask around."
"It was five years ago," Cloud reminded him, because sometimes they both needed that reminder. "You really think anybody remembers?"
Zack ruffled his hair. "You got a pretty memorable look. And there were guys who'd been around a good while when we were coming up. It's worth a shot, right? You didn't wanna talk to Reno anyway."
Cloud looked skeptical, and Wedge broke in.
"It wouldn't hurt to just say hi to people," he suggested. "In the name of furthering AVALANCHE-ex-Shinra relations. I've never asked who's stationed where, but I bet we know some of them."
Zack nodded. "Yeah. And take a poll while you're at it: new names for whatever the hell organization they are now. They've gotta be getting sick of 'Reeve's guys' or 'ex-Shinra.'"
"I'll bet," said Wedge.
They split up once they were inside. Wedge clapped a hand on Cloud's shoulder and hailed the first guy they saw, while Zack headed off down eerily familiar hallways towards the brig. He'd managed never to get in trouble serious enough to land himself inside of it, but he'd visited a friend or two who'd gotten caught pulling stupid stunts.
Reno wasn't exactly a friend. Zack wasn't even sure if he was an ally. But something about the guy bugged him all the same.
Reno had always pushed the limits of what uniform violations Tseng would tolerate, but by now the rumpled state of his suit was well past them. He lay on his back on the bench that passed for a bed, and barely glanced over when Zack entered.
"Nobody think to bring you a change of clothes?" Zack wondered.
Reno snorted. "I'm not wearing an infantry uniform."
"Thought Rude might've brought you something."
"Nah. Think he's mad at me for some reason."
Zack couldn't differentiate Rude's usual silence from a cold shoulder, but he didn't doubt Reno's conclusion. "He been to see you since the other day?"
"Yeah..." Reno's expression fell into a frown. "He came by, confiscated my phone again, told me he'd put in a good word for me with Reeve. But he's pissed."
"I'm thinking you might need more of an advocate than Rude."
Reno threw him a look. "Just because he doesn't talk doesn't mean he can't." He paused. "Why, you gonna volunteer?"
Zack shrugged. "I dunno. I mean... I kinda came here to say thanks. It was last minute and not exactly the most you could've done, but if you hadn't tipped us off... Things might not've worked out."
"Well, you're welcome," Reno said dryly, returning his attention to the ceiling. "Good to know at least one of you sees that."
"I think most of us don't really wanna dwell on what might've happened." Maybe he and Aeris would've been okay, if they'd run off to help Tifa instead, but... "It... would've been bad," he finished. Worse than Sector 7, everyone had feared. They still didn't have an accurate death toll for that tragedy; Shinra hadn't dedicated any resources to cleaning it up, or even compiling the reports of the missing. Reeve didn't have any to spare.
"I know," said Reno.
Zack shook his head to clear it. "You know we're gonna come out on top, right? Shinra's losing more and more ground."
"Eh, I give you 60-40," said Reno. "But that's why I decided to stick it out with you guys."
"Conscience didn't play into it at all?"
"Why would it?"
"Seems like it does for Rude," Zack pointed out. "I think he cares about what happens to Midgar. You work for Reeve and you get to actually help people. He's never gonna ask you to disappear somebody and say it's for the greater good."
Reno laughed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Reeve's got you thinking he's some kind of goody two-shoes, but he stomached working for Shinra for a long time. In the right situation, I'd say he'd give that kind of order."
"And an order like Sector 7?"
Reno frowned again, and he didn't answer the question. "What're you looking for from me here?" he asked instead.
"Say you wanna change," Zack proposed. "Say you wanna believe in something, even if you're not there yet."
"Maybe all I want is to do my job in my city with my partner."
"Gonna be a little hard if you let Shinra destroy it."
"Well, I'm not sure what you expect me to do about that while I'm locked up in here."
"And if we let you out?" Zack wondered.
"That doesn't seem too likely."
"Y'know, for a guy who's supposed to be out for himself, you don't seem to wanna help yourself out much right now."
"Oh, no. You got me. I'm so wracked with guilt, I'm sabotaging myself." Reno finally sat up and fixed Zack with a flat stare. "I'm just being realistic. You guys never trusted me. And as long as there is another side I could be playing, you're not going to."
Zack had to admit, he was probably right. Most of AVALANCHE was a lot more suspicious than he was, and Reno had already burnt through what little good will they were willing to extend after Holy. They would always, always suspect him of feeding information to Rufus if he had any means to do it. Zack thought he probably wouldn't--but it was just that: probably.
"...do you regret trying to play both sides?" he asked.
Reno shrugged. "Well, it got me here, so yeah, I guess so. Maybe I shoulda gone all in with you guys, like Rude did. You're not doing half bad."
"Thanks," Zack said wryly.
"If you do get me outta here, I'm not making any promises. But hey, I'm rootin' for ya."
That was the best he was going to get out of Reno, wasn't it? Zack let out a sigh. Hell, he didn't know quite what he was after here either. "Okay," he said. "Well, good luck rethinking your whole everything. Looks like you'll have plenty of time."
"Good chat," said Reno, shifting to lie back down. "Maybe bring me a magazine or something next time, all right?"
"Yeah, sure."
Zack left the brig, and stood for a second in the hallway outside. He would be back again, he thought. Reno was a little shit, but he wasn't a lost cause unless they gave up on him.
When they'd left this place for Nibelheim that day, Zack had still been so naive about what Shinra was. There'd been a gulf between him and any understanding of the state Sephiroth was already in. The man's fury had blindsided him.
If Zack had known... He doubted his support or encouragement would've been any counterbalance to everything else that Sephiroth had come up against in Nibelheim, but if Zack could've gone back in time and done those days differently, then he would have. Just to be certain that, at a crucial moment, he hadn't failed to give a friend his all.
Hindsight, and all that.
Reno wasn't a friend, but whatever he said, Zack thought maybe he could use another one.
Okay. This visit wasn't supposed to be depressing. He had to look on the bright side. Every other person in this building had cut ties with Shinra, and kept doing their jobs out of a love for their city instead. That's what this place should've reminded him of. All the people who were still around, who'd found the right path for the right reasons.
It took him a minute to track down Cloud and Wedge, engaged in conversation with a pair of off-duty soldiers.
"Hey," he said, joining them. "Find some old friends?"
"We- were in the same unit," said Cloud.
"This must be your SOLDIER buddy, huh?" said one of the men, looking him over.
"Hey, ex-SOLDIER," Zack corrected. "We're with AVALANCHE these days."
The man shook his head disbelievingly. "We heard AVALANCHE had a couple ex-SOLDIERs, but most of those guys went with Rufus."
"Elitist assholes," said the second man. "No offense."
"None taken," said Zack. "There were definitely some jerks."
"I guess AVALANCHE are the new big shots anyway," said the first man. "I was surprised you took Cloud. I mean, the guy's still so scrawny."
"Aw, I wouldn't say scrawny," said Zack. "He's compact! Boyfriend-sized, even."
"You're not helping," said Cloud.
The two soldiers exchanged amused glances, and then the second said, "You guys get looped in on stuff before we do: are things really quieting down now?"
Zack lifted his hands. "Well, I don't wanna jinx it, but I haven't heard anything. Reeve's got people looking into the reactor damage, and Shinra's sitting tight for now."
"You guys are tough, though," Wedge added. "I mean, you say AVALANCHE are the big shots, but there's no way we could've stopped that attack on our own. You must've gone up against SOLDIER, too."
"We didn't run into any," said the second man. "But yeah. There's some units who had it rough. Still came out on top though, in the end."
"Sorry," said Cloud.
The soldier shrugged. "That's the gig, isn't it? Least it feels like somebody actually gives a damn about us these days. We were cannon fodder to Heidegger."
"He's really dead, right?" asked the first soldier. "Though, I wouldn't mind getting the chance to spit in his face."
"Nah," said Zack, "they found his body when they went looking for survivors. I'm not sure where Reeve had 'im buried, but I guess you could spit on his grave."
"I imagine that'll be pretty satisfying, too," the soldier decided.
"I'll see if I can find out where it is for you," Zack promised.
"Any other requests," Cloud asked, "for the big shots?"
One of the soldiers snorted. "Listen to you. I'd outrank you if you were still with us, y'know. Just keep up the good work and don't die."
"Got it."
It wasn't until they were out of the barracks that Zack asked, "Any luck with your stuff?"
Cloud shook his head. "He said... they tried to send it home to my mom. They knew I was on Sephiroth's last mission, but they didn't know about Nibelheim. Shinra probably intercepted it."
"Ah, well. At least you found some familiar faces, right?"
"...yeah. We weren't close or anything, but... guess I kinda forgot, not everything was bad, back then. A lot of the guys were pretty nice."
"Not so sure they would've outranked you, though," said Zack.
"I'm not a leader," Cloud said skeptically.
"You've got the potential!" Zack insisted.
"You're definitely more level-headed than Zack," Wedge put in.
"Wow," Zack said, turning to him. "I really thought I inspired more loyalty."
Wedge gave him a sheepish shrug and a smile. "Well, you've got that kind of leadership style that makes people comfortable speaking their minds."
"But I guess I can take over for you," said Cloud, "if you need to step down."
"Mmm, nope!" Zack decided. "I'm not gonna be insulted. A leader recognizes his weaknesses and makes sure he's got dependable people to back him up."
Cloud gave him an affectionate shoulder bump as they walked, and Zack forgave him.
They caught an early lunch near the Sector 4 station, then took the midday train down to the slums, where they put themselves to work helping the evacuees return home. A lot of them were irritated that they'd been dislodged from their homes when nothing had befallen them. Some were just relieved to be able to return. A handful were grateful--glad someone was trying to look out for them.
It did go smoother than when they'd evacuated Sector 3 in the first place. Some people outright refused help, but there wasn't any need to fight them on it. They'd get home a little slower, but that was all right. Zack thought even the ones who grumbled weren't quite so mistrustful. AVALANCHE might've been a pain in the ass, but they were an honest one. It was progress.
They were on the evening train back to Sector 5 when Tifa called. Given the timing, he took it for a check-in that they'd arrived in Wutai, until he caught the tone of her voice. Level, not really worried yet, but serious. The three of them moved to the end of the car, away from the other passengers, and Tifa explained what had happened. The Highwind had been shot down.
"Is everybody okay?" asked Cloud.
"We're all right," said Tifa. "Cid brought us down easy enough that nobody was seriously hurt."
"You call that easy..." Barret muttered somewhere in the background, and Zack smiled briefly in spite of himself.
"It's gonna take us a good few days to get anybody out to you," he said, turning his mind to logistics. The Highwind was their only long-range aircraft; they'd have to take the sea route now to reach Wutai. Would things be over by then? He doubted Shinra could get the Highwind back in the air by then, but whether anyone could arrive in time to help Tifa...
"I know," said Tifa. "I'm not sure you need to mount up, just yet. We don't know the size of Shinra's forces, or if they'll even come after us. They might just want the Highwind."
"You think we can afford to wait?" Zack wondered.
"I think Reeve doesn't have a lot of resources to spare. We just held off an assault two days ago, and he only has a handful of cargo ships-- Midgar needs those."
"Ah, but you forget," said Zack, "we captured two personnel carriers in the attack. At least one of 'em should be fit to sail."
"Still," Tifa insisted. "I don't want to pull defenses out of Midgar until we know more. You can loop Reeve in for me, and see what kind of help he could offer us. I'll keep you posted."
Zack exchanged glances with Cloud and Wedge, but none of them fought her on it. "Okay, boss," said Zack. "I'll touch base with Sash, too, see if this's got anything to do with what the Gelnikas are up to. But, I bet it's gonna be a pain in the ass more than anything else. Shinra's always underestimating us. You let me know if we can help, but kick their asses if you run into 'em."
"I will. Thanks, Zack."
The call ended. Tifa was usually the first to worry, so if she wasn't, then Zack told himself there was no reason he should either. But, it was harder to pick up on subtle things on the other end of a phone call, and easier to worry when you were denied the option of leaping into action.
"...she sounded okay," said Cloud, probably on a similar train of thought.
"Yeah," Zack agreed, keeping his tone light. "I mean, c'mon. Compared to most of the stuff we deal with? No big deal."
"I hope Marlene isn't too scared," said Wedge.
Zack ran a hand through his hair. "Well, she's got Barret and all her parent-adjacent figures with her. Plus Yuffie can distract her with her million cats. She'll be okay."
Wedge nodded, smiling. "Yeah. You're right."
Zack relayed the situation to Reeve, who sounded wearily unsurprised to hear of another minor disaster. He left a text message for Sash, not sure if she was safe to talk now or not. They were nearly back to Elmyra's house before he got a brief response saying she'd look into it.
Zack did most of the talking over dinner, which wasn't exactly unusual, but he felt it. The smallest disconnect from the words coming out of his own mouth, knowing it was taking a fraction more effort because the intent was to distract himself.
He didn't like waiting. He didn't like doing nothing.
Wedge took the dishes that night. Zack went on up to their room, and checked his phone again. No new texts. No missed calls.
Behind him, the door tapped lightly against its frame as Cloud entered and nudged it shut. His hand came to rest against Zack's back.
"We should try and get some sleep," he said.
"It's still early," said Zack.
"The waiting'll go faster if you're unconscious," Cloud pointed out.
Zack couldn't help a laugh. "You know what? You're absolutely right. Let's give it a shot."
Even if he couldn't fall asleep just yet, holding Cloud always made the world look brighter. Plus, if they turned in now, they could fit in a decent makeout session before Wedge came up. That felt a lot less like waiting.
His entirely unfounded worries eased, and he drifted off not long after Wedge came in.
Zack woke in the night to Cloud shaking him insistently. There was sound like a TV was on, but Elmyra didn't own one, and the power was out for the night anyway.
"What?" he mumbled, pushing his hair out of his face.
"It's Sash," said Cloud, and Zack realized it wasn't a TV, but background noise from a phone call on speaker. By the dim light of the screen in Cloud's hand, he could see that Wedge was already awake, sitting on the sofa.
Zack sat up, taking the phone from him. "Sash? What's going on?" Sash never called from anywhere where she could be overheard; the sea breeze and a faint mechanical hum comprised the typical backdrop to her calls.
Now, her surroundings were full of shouting. In the middle of the night?
"A monster's attacking Junon," Sash said brusquely. From the way she spoke, he thought she was moving, hurrying somewhere.
He rubbed at his eyes. "What, just one?"
"This thing is huge, Zack," she said. "The size of the Shinra building."
"What? That's crazy!"
"I know," said Sash. "Everyone's panicking. I... I'm not sure what to do."
"Can you get to shelter somewhere?" asked Wedge. "Where is it coming from?"
"It's in the ocean. Near the harbor. I'm in the back streets now, so I can't tell you a whole lot. If I can get back to the base--"
She cut off at a distant but reverberating roar that momentarily silenced the clamor around her, too. Even over the phone line it was eerie.
"No," Zack said quickly. "I mean, not unless you think the base'd be safer."
"I'm supposed to be here for intel," said Sash.
"Yeah, and what good is that if it kills you? You staying alive is more important than any piece of intel you could grab."
There was a short silence. It was the kind of thing they'd never have heard in SOLDIER. "Understood," she said.
"If it's coming from the sea," said Cloud, "I'm guessing Shinra's prepping the main cannon."
"Probably," Sash confirmed. "I can hear the regular artillery fire from here. Cannon should be ready soon."
"What about the civilians?" asked Wedge. "Is Shinra doing anything to handle the panic?"
"I haven't seen anything organized. Shinra's scrambling all personnel to man the base."
"Figures they wouldn't prioritize civilian evacuation," Zack said. He could understand forgetting in the initial shock, but there should've been protocols in place to fall back on. "They try to leave on their own and they're gonna bottleneck."
That could get bad fast. With all the people they'd taken in from Midgar, Junon was at capacity, and Shinra had been stoking their paranoia for months. It wasn't an attack by the dreaded AVALANCHE, but they were already primed to panic. The late hour might delay them in getting a move on, but it could fuel the horrors of their imaginations easy enough. These people hadn't stuck by Midgar; he didn't expect them to stick by Junon either.
"Assuming Shinra even lets them out," Sash added.
"You think they'll default to lockdown procedures?" said Zack.
"Probably."
"Shit."
"Hang on," she said. "They're moving the cannon."
Zack hadn't thought to ask where exactly she was headed, but she must have moved off the side streets, because those buildings would've blocked her view of the cannon. He hoped she wasn't ignoring him and heading back to the base.
The clamor around her quieted--not completely, but noticeably. The boom of the cannon sounded, followed by another roar. Zack found himself waiting, like you waited for the thunder after a lightning flash.
"...did they get it?" asked Wedge.
"No," Sash said at last. "The artillery's started up again."
Cloud met his gaze in the dim, his brow furrowed. "If a cannon powered by Huge Materia can't kill it, then..."
"Well, we don't know that," said Zack. "It could've wounded it! But hell, where did this thing even come from? I've never heard of anything that big."
A Shinra experiment gone wrong? Or maybe some deep sea creature mutated by Mako pollution? Even that seemed like a stretch. Everyone who'd ever lived near a reactor knew about Mako-mutated creatures, and yeah, they tended to be bigger and stronger than what they'd evolved from, but not that much bigger. There was no way, except that Sash had seen it, and she wouldn't have said it if she had doubts.
"Wait," Wedge said suddenly. "Weapon."
"What?" said Zack. Shinra already had the cannon.
"Those videos you guys brought back from Aeris's parents-- did you ever watch them all?"
Zack ran a hand through his hair. He'd only seen what they'd watched together at Icicle Inn, and honestly he wasn't sure what had happened to the video tapes. Had they gone to Cosmo Canyon? That sounded right. "No," he admitted. "Why?"
"In a few interviews," Wedge went on, "Aeris's mom talked about this thing the Planet made that she called Weapon. It was supposed to battle Jenova, but the Cetra managed to confine it before Weapon was completed, so it just went to sleep."
"A weapon the Planet made..." Cloud considered. "You think it was a monster?"
"I guess it's not like the Planet would make a big gun," said Zack.
"Right," said Wedge. "And where do you think it's been sleeping?"
"Somewhere deep in the ocean?" Zack wondered.
Cloud shook his head slowly. "Someplace undisturbed, but... not far from where Jenova showed up. The Northern Crater."
"Shit," Sash said over the line. "The survey team."
"Yeah," Wedge confirmed. "That's what I'm thinking."
Barret had mentioned it. Shinra had lost contact with their people at the Northern Crater a couple days ago. "So Shinra's survey team wakes this thing up and it comes straight for them?" Zack put together.
Wedge spread his hands. "If it's trying to protect the Planet, then why not?"
Zack frowned thoughtfully. "If the Planet had this thing up at the Northern Crater, then why didn't it help out when we were up there?" They'd fought Jenova and everything.
"Maybe it trusted us to handle it," Cloud suggested.
"Are you saying it doesn't trust us now?" wondered Wedge.
Zack thought about what Aeris had told him; Holy had lanced the infection, but the Planet was still healing, still wounded, and maybe it was getting scared again. AVALANCHE wasn't acting fast enough.
But he said what he figured Aeris would. "Maybe it's just strong enough it can lend a hand this time around. But if that monster's really the Planet's work, then it's a little heavy-handed. We've gotta do something."
Sash spoke up again. "...there's a crowd gathering outside the airbase," she said. "They're not letting people through."
So that was where she'd gone. Zack was relieved in her choice of direction, but it wasn't good news. He could hear voices in closer proximity to her now; it was still hard to pick out words, but their tone was anxious, frightened, and farther away somebody had started a shouting match. If the civilians tried to get violent with the soldiers in their way, he wasn't sure there'd be a good outcome. The soldiers might step aside. Or they might start shooting.
Zack let out a breath.
"Okay," he said. "Here's what we're gonna do. Sash, see if you can convince them to open the way. Make up orders, appeal to their better natures, whatever works. At the very least, get yourself out of there. I know the kinda stuff they told us in SOLDIER, but there is absolutely nothing you can do against a Shinra-building-sized monster."
"Got it," said Sash.
"Wedge," he went on, "you're gonna call Aeris and see what she thinks about your Weapon theory. Cloud, you and me are gonna talk to Reeve about getting down there with some help."
Cloud regarded him uncertainly. "You think we can do anything against a Shinra-building-sized monster?"
"Not really. But I think we can get people out. If Shinra's all-hands-on-deck fighting this thing, there's not gonna be much resistance if we show up at their airfield to commandeer the available aircraft."
"Damn," Sash said abruptly. "I forgot."
"What is it?" Zack asked.
He heard her moving away from the crowd some. "The whole reason I was leaving the base," she said. "I needed to update you about the Wutai situation. Shinra's got additional troops en route on the Gelnikas. They'll be there in another five or six hours."
Zack shut his eyes momentarily. Hadn't things been going really well not even 24 hours ago? "Okay," he said. "Wutai's not your problem to worry about. You let us deal with that."
"Right," she said.
"Stay safe, Sash. We're gonna get to work here."
"Good luck."
Zack ended the call. The time on the screen read 1:37am. Good on Cloud for getting them to sleep early, because that was as much as they were likely to get for a while.
"How are we planning to get down there in time to do any good?" asked Wedge.
Zack looked up. "Junon's a few hours by helicopter. It's just been a really bad idea until now."
"It's still risky," said Cloud. "You think Reeve'll go for it?"
"Do something risky to help civilians?" said Wedge. "I think he will."
"Plus I plan on being persuasive," Zack put in. He wondered if Reeve had even gone to sleep yet. The guy was perpetually exhausted.
Wedge lit a candle and headed downstairs to call Aeris so they wouldn't be trying to carry on two conversations in the same room. It would be a reasonable hour in Wutai, and maybe they'd have an update, too. Tifa hadn't left any messages while he'd slept, and maybe no news was good news. Maybe they'd dealt with Shinra already and taken back the Highwind no problem, and that was one dilemma they could go ahead and cross off the list.
Zack thought about the Gelnikas en route, and decided to find a shirt before he tried Reeve.
"Hey," Cloud said softly. "This is a lot. Are you okay?"
"'course I'm--"
Cloud didn't even have to say anything. Under that look, Zack stopped himself.
"...I'm holding it together," he said instead, pulling the shirt over his head. "What else can we do?"
"We can take a second," Cloud suggested.
Take a second, Zack thought. Every second that ticked by, Junon was scrambling. He wanted to be down there in the thick of it with them. Just skip over the next few hours and be somewhere he could do some good.
Cloud's hand slipped into the neck of his shirt, freeing the last of his hair, and Zack could feel the tension in his own muscles. That was no good.
"Does the second include kisses?" he asked.
"Sure," said Cloud.
Zack leaned into him, closing his eyes and finding his lips by feel. "Tell me everything's gonna be fine," he murmured.
"Better than fine," said Cloud. "We're gonna be heroes down there. They're gonna take down that ugly statue of President Shinra and replace it with you."
"I don't know if I want a statue of me," Zack said.
"Not even if people start rubbing your butt for good luck?"
Zack snickered. "How are you joking right now?" he asked. That was usually his job. Maybe Cloud had been taking notes--definite leadership potential.
"'cause..." said Cloud, "we've been through worse. We've always been through worse. We're in it together and we're gonna come out okay."
"Yeah," said Zack. "You're right." He kissed Cloud one more time and then forced himself to pull away and grab his phone. "Okay, let's get to work saving the day."
As he scrolled down his contacts to Reeve's number, he wondered absently what the statue-making process was like. Did you have to pose for it or did they just take photos? He didn't think he'd want one solo, though. Didn't seem appropriate somehow.
Cloud's fingers twined into his free hand, and Zack hit the call button.