The Measure of a Man: Chapter 06

The instant the first rays of sunlight began to peek over the horizon the next morning, Angeal was awake and getting ready to depart. He moved like a whirlwind, gathering supplies together and stuffing them into his pack while somehow managing to dress and eat some sort of dehydrated food at the same time. Sephiroth and Genesis helped him, although they went at a much less frantic pace. Had their reason for departing at first light not been so urgent, Genesis would usually have teased his friend for racing around in such a frenzy; that was a rather Zack-ish trait, after all, and Genesis loved to tease Angeal about the puppy rubbing off on him. Today, though, he kept his mouth shut, not even bothering to offer a sarcastic response when Angeal shouldered his pack and hurriedly gestured for Genesis and Sephiroth to follow him.

The blizzard from the night before had left three inches of fresh snow on top of the layers that already coated the Modeus mountains year-round, making their going even slower as they trudged through the now calf-deep blanket of white. None of them bothered speaking much, too focused on plowing their way through the snow that in some places had created drifts ten feet high. Sephiroth had the easiest time of it, seeing as he was nearly seven feet tall and his legs could easily step up above most of the snow; Genesis and Angeal, though not much shorter, were forced to take high, prancing steps that made them look more like clumsy draft horses than SOLDIERs. A quick glance back at the two made Sephiroth's chuckle halt in his throat; the look in their eyes stated plainly that they knew they looked foolish and didn't need to hear it from him, too.

After two hours of tromping through the snow, the three of them stopped to rest at the top of the ridge they had just crossed. The paths had all been covered in snow, and now seemed like a good time to make sure they were still on the right track to finding Zack and Cloud. Silent as ever, Sephiroth carefully sat down on the icy ground and folded his legs under him, spreading a map on the ground before him and scrutinizing it carefully.

"So, Angeal," he began after a few moments of silence. "Zack and Cloud fell into the stream about fifty yards from the tent, right?"

"Yes," Angeal answered, trying not to imagine the many different things that could have happened after that.

"We've kept the river in sight since we left this morning, though," Genesis said thoughtfully, looking down from the edge of the rocky ridge to where the river shone against the snow. "Shouldn't we have seen where they got out by now?"

"If there hadn't been new snowfall last night, yes," Angeal answered softly, the worry on his face making him look ten years older than he actually was. "The problem is, we have no idea how far downstream the current took them, and whatever tracks they may have left will be covered up now."

"So what would you suggest, Angeal?" Sephiroth asked calmly, keeping his emotions far-removed from the discussion so that he could think clearly about his strategy.

"I think the best thing to do at this point is stay as high as we can, in case we spot them somewhere below us. We'll travel toward the reactor site as planned. I know Zack will do the same once he gets his bearings. With any luck he'll have already gotten there by the time we reach it."

"And… if he hasn't?" Genesis asked hesitantly, hating to see the flicker of pain that travelled across his friend's face before he could mask it.

"Then we'll think of something else. As you said last night, Gen, let's not get bogged down in the 'what-if's right now."

"Right," Genesis said, standing and shouldering his pack with his ever-present smirk back in place. "Let's go find those two so I can light them on fire for causing so much trouble."

Angeal couldn't help but smile at that.
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The next time Cloud awoke, he was still in Cid's tent with Zack beside him, although the pilot had already gathered his things and departed at first light, leaving the SOLDIER and cadet to fend for themselves. With a gasp, Cloud jolted up from underneath his blankets, holding his head in his hands while he pulled himself together and woke up fully. He heard Zack snoring beside him and looked down, seeing his friend curled around him like a cat while slept. Cloud was completely unfazed; Zack was a very cuddly person when he was asleep, and several missions with him had desensitized Cloud to waking up with First Class pressed against his back. It was simply unavoidable when one was around Zack Fair.

The raven-haired SOLDIER had woken briefly during the night, but he had only stayed that way long enough to dress himself and crawl back into the warm nest of blankets between the already-sleeping Cloud and Cid. Despite how exhausted Zack must have been, Cloud was still shocked to see him asleep after eight. Zack was usually up with the sun, bursting with energy and annoying everyone around him while they tried to shut out his unbearably cheery chatter. Now, though, he was dead to the world, and it took several shakes from Cloud before his eyes fluttered open and he yawned very much like a tired puppy.

"Ssspike?" he slurred, rubbing his eyes and yawning again before coughing softly into the crook of his arm. "What're you doin' up s'early?"

"It's not early, Zack. It's almost nine."

"Really? Huh. Just five more minutes, 'kay?" Zack asked blearily before rolling over in the blankets again. Cloud frowned, now a little concerned.

"Zack, get up," he said firmly, pulling the blankets off of his friend and chuckling softly when the older SOLDIER made a pitiful whining noise in protest. "We have a mission to finish, remember?"

That woke Zack up in an instant, and he was out of the blankets and packing up the camp before Cloud had even followed him outside. The blond was pleasantly surprised to notice that Cid had left them quite a few of his surplus supplies, from the tent itself to blankets, a few different cooking items, and some of the dehydrated food he had brought along. Cloud smiled to himself while Zack began making some soup from a packet in a pot of boiling water; for someone who supposedly hated Shin-Ra, Cid had certainly made sure they were well-equipped for the trip back.

"Cloud!" Zack called, dividing the soup into two cups and thrusting one in Cloud's direction. "Hurry up and eat, man! We gotta get going! Angeal probably thinks we're dead or something!" Cloud rolled his eyes, choosing not to call Zack out for being the one to slow them down in the first place, and took the food, letting it warm his body from the inside out even as the snow threatened to turn him into an icicle the instant he let his guard down. While he slurped the soup, he heard a couple of soft coughs and noticed Zack wasn't eating as quickly as usual. He idly wondered if something was wrong, but he didn't have a chance to ask before Zack was already up and pulling him up too, walking off in the direction he knew the reactor site to be.

"Come on, come on!" Zack said excitedly, shouldering his pack and pulling Cloud along with him once he had picked up a bundle of his own. "We'll be there by tonight. I can feel it!"

What Zack couldn't feel, apparently, was the fact that he was headed in the opposite direction he should have been, and that he was taking them farther and farther away from Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis. In a mountain range like the Modeus, where the weather was constantly changing and the environment unforgiving, this could prove to be a very costly mistake indeed.