zack's story

If there is one thing in all of Final Fantasy 7 that they could have elaborated on, it was Zack's Story. There was much to him and his character that made him very interesting and that they left out - which was pretty disappointing. But here's all the information I could scrap on the man.

Zack was (probably) born and raised in a town called Gongaga Village where he lived with his two parents. When he was in his teens, he met Aerith and they became very close. Aerith said the he was her first love. At some point he must have taken off, leaving Aerith behind, waiting for him to return. When he joined Soldier, he must have trained for a while and was raised to first class Soldier where he did cool mission like going to the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim with Sephiroth. After that particular mission, him and Cloud were held captive in the Shinra Mansion, where they were kept in glass tubes. I'm supposing that this is where the both of them where infused with unhealthy amounts of Mako substance.

In the sequence of Cloud's flashback, someone comes to give them some food, and when he opens the door, Zack gives him the 'ol one-two. Together, Zack and Cloud escape and hitch a ride to Midgar. Throughout the sequence, Cloud is totally incapacitated. He can't talk or move, and his head keeps lolling up and down, yet Zack talks to him like a normal person. During the ride to Midgar, Zack speaks of his life and what he wants to do, and plans to crash at his girlfriends house "But not wait ... the mother lives there too ...". He declares then, that he wants to become a Mercenary. He also asks Cloud what he wants to do, and get's a strange response, then tells Cloud that he wouldn't leave him behind - that they would be mercenaries together. Do boring stuff, dangerous stuff, and get really, really rich.

After this scene, there is one of Zack almost dragging Cloud on a cliff towards Midgar. Just as they get there, they hear gunshots. Zack leaves the scene to go an check it out, while Cloud lays on the ground. Then he comes back with the Soldiers juist behind him. He bends over to check on Cloud and see if he's okay, but then gets shot in the chest. He tries to retaliate, but they shoot him several times more in the head, and then leave him to die. Cloud becomes conscious and crawls towards Zack's dead body. It starts to rain. Cloud picks up Zacks sword and inspects it stupidly. Then he starts shaking like mad in despair, then the scene fades away. Cloud was hit by this particularly hard because Zack once said that Cloud was his only true friend.

After that, Cloud took on Zack's identity and became a Mercenary and met Aerith. Aerith almost noticed the resemblance right away. From then on, she stuck with Cloud, possibly because he reminded her of what she lost. And that's Zack's story. I need a hanky.

Go Back