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OOC Information
Name: Joh
Are you over 18?: Y
Contact: love.a.riddle@gmail.com
Characters: N/A

IC Information
Character: Zack Fair
Age: 23
Canon: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Canon Point: End of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII


History:
Zack Fair @ Final Fantasy Wikia
Zack was born in either 1984 or 1985 (sources conflict with each other) in the backwater village of Gongaga, which is why Zack calls himself a country boy. When he was 13, he left to Midgar to join SOLDIER, an elite group of soldiers by the Shinra company, and seems to have done fairly well as within three years he managed to make it to Second Class rank. During this time, his mentor was Angeal, a man from Banora and a SOLDIER First Class. At this time the only known First Class SOLDIERs were Angeal Hewley, Genesis Rhapsodos, and Sephiroth (who doesn't get a last name, though technically I suppose it would be Hojo).

The Wutai War ended when Zack was 16, and shortly after Angeal also disappeared. With Tseng of the Turks, Zack then investigated Banora which was Genesis' and Angeal's home town, and found out that Genesis was somehow manufacturing copies of himself to wage war against Shinra. This was also when Zack discovered the Buster Sword's lineage from Gillian Hewley, Angeal's mother, before she took her own life. Banora was then destroyed by Shinra to cover up Genesis' deeds.

It was around this time when Zack met Cissnei, a girl working for the Turks who was then ordered to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately for her, she seemed to grow a few feelings for him in the process of watching him as well...

Genesis also went missing before during the Wutai War, and given these things Zack was promoted to SOLDIER First Class by Lazard, though it wasn't under the circumstances that Zack had thought they would be. During a mission with Sephiroth at one of the Mako reactors in Midgar, Zack fell down, through the hole in the roof of a church in the Sector 5 slums, and met Aerith Gainsborough, the last remaining Ancient/Cetra/Special Person/etc. Though he didn't find out that fact until much later.

As a thanks for her plants saving his life, he then promptly asked her for a date.

As ludicrous as that meeting was, Aerith was somebody special to Zack. It wasn't too long after they met that he bought her the pink ribbon she always wore in her hair, and the two shared several memories together, such as "whenever we meet, you have to wear pink". She made such an impact on him that Zack wrote back to his parents in Gongaga saying he managed to land a girlfriend.

It wasn't too long after that when Zack met Cloud during his mission in Modeoheim, where they both discovered they were country boys. After this initial meeting, Zack made sure to hang out with Cloud every so often as sort of a big brother figure, to buying him lunch and such and encouraging him. However, the trip of Modeoheim didn't end well; Zack ended up fighting Angeal, taking his life, and his Buster Sword as part of his legacy.

When he was seventeen, in Before Crisis (as this event is only alluded to in Crisis Core), along with the Turks Zack went to Icicle Lodge/Inn to destroy AVALANCHE's secret hideout, an anti-Shinra group. During this time, friends of his named Sebastian and Essai were killed on duty.

Later that year as Professor Hollander was detained in Junon, Junon was attacked by Genesis' army, and Zack failed in securing Hollander. After this, Zack made Aerith three flower carts to help sell her flowers all around Midgar. "City full of flowers, wallet full of money", after all. However, that was the last time they spent time together... Aerith had a list of twenty three wishes she had for Zack, but consolidated them into one. "I want to spend more time with you."

When he was eighteen, the infamous Nibelheim incident came to pass, where Zack accompanied Sephiroth who went mad and destroyed Nibelheim. It was ultimately Cloud who managed to kill Sephiroth and toss him into the Lifestream, but injured, both Zack and Cloud were collected to be part of Hojo's Jenova Project S as Sephiroth clones.

Lazard, now an Angeal copy, was the one responsible for helping Zack break out of his stasis tube, and Zack helped Cloud, who was unconscious due to Mako addiction/poisoning (depending on the canon). Changing Cloud's Mako-soaked Shinra infantryman duds for SOLDIER First Class ones, Zack ran into Cissnei who allowed him to escape. This and that happens, and eventually Zack faces off against Genesis in a hole in Banora in the Lifestream and beats him up, saving the world.

Yet, when he tries to return to Midgar after finding out he lost four years, to return to Aerith... he died at the hands of the Shinra army. Much like how they erased Banora from existence, so, too, Zack was erased. Handing Cloud the Buster Sword, Zack then told him that he would be the proof that he existed.

In the Maiden who Travels the Planet, Aerith as a Cetra could materialize the souls of those she knew using her powers, and met Zack once more, so Zack could witness Meteorfall and how Cloud and the others saved the Planet. It's assumed that while Aerith's presence was in the Lifestream, Zack also watched over Cloud and the others during the events of Advent Children.

Personality:
As literally one of the last characters to be added to the plot of the original standalone Final Fantasy VII, Zack was basically shoehorned in to answer any outstanding mysteries surrounding the plot (until more were torn open due to the incessant addition of spinoffs and universe expansions) since Cloud Strife, the main protagonist, had to base his false personality off of. Luckily, the actual Zack that is shown through the localization-added scenes and additional titles (notably Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII) that he's not nearly as mopey as our Chocobo-headed protagonist. He had a dream and went out to make it happen, even if (stereotypically) it turned out to be a nightmare (because everything is Hojo's fault).

Zack Fair is generally an outgoing extrovert who's not shy to meet and say hi to new people or the people he already knows, and generally maintains a good rapport with almost everybody he meets. He's a cheerful guy, and it's difficult if at all possible to hold it against him. On top of this he's typically optimistic and is always wanting to emphasize the positive possible outcome over the negative ones. He also has a bit of a difficult time saying things on his mind without a filter, and given his rather innocent and puppy-like nature despite the shit he's been through it's tough to hate him for it.

He also has bit of an altruistic streak, having to help anybody he sees in need. Anybody who happens to be his companion at the time either loves him or hates him for it, but more times than not it ends up in more trouble than it's worth - considering that while Zack's intentions may be good, he tends to go about things in a rather reckless manner due to his lack of focus. At times he comes off as a brainless brute; while he may not exactly be brainless, he tends to jump into things headfirst with the motto "act first, think later". It serves him rather well to this point, but not much further. It was a point of contention for his mentor, Angeal.

There's also a flirtatious aspect of his behavior, and most women find Zack rather charismatic and endearing. He will hit on you if you're female, and he certainly has a preference toward the fairer sex. Perhaps some may find him cocky, but his joyful demeanor is difficult to pass up for most. Most of the time he's not looking for a relationship; he's only looking for some fun times. Besides, there is a genuinely romantic side to him which he reserves for Aerith. That doesn't seem to stop him from flirting out and about, though. One has to wonder if the young woman ever felt tinges of jealousy. Despite all this, he did have a fanclub which had several members in it.

The guy simply doesn't take much seriously, and whether or not that's a fault depends on the situation. There exists a more serious side to him, as hinted by his altruistic sense; Zack has a clear definition of right and wrong, and while there's gray area, a lot of it is on gut instinct. He takes the concept of "justice" fairly seriously and doesn't like seeing good people get hurt. He also has the muscle to back up most of it, too. Rather than regret the past, he's the type of person to forge forward on what we can do in the future; the guy's full of hope.

In conclusion, Zack may have been a rather last-minute addition to the title, but he's cool enough where he got his own spinoff and many of us played it despite knowing the ending already. And many of us also put up with it since it was the game where Aerith was finally upgraded from a plot device to an actual character finally with decent voice acting!. He's not incredibly deep, yet there's something lovable about the derp.

Etc:
Zack has also been injected with Mako and Jenova cells as a member of SOLDIER and as a part of the Jenova Project S, but other than glowing blue eyes this has not been shown to have altered him in any specific way.

Persona
Name: Beleth
Branch: Combatant

Type(s): Physical, Psy

Style(s): Healer

Passive: Offensive

Writing Sample
Prompt 4 - A New, Old Life

It was odd.

Okay, that was an understatement.

It was downright screwed up.

He still felt itchy at the spots where he remembered being gunned down, and found himself touching those spots all over his body to make sure they weren't there anymore. He may or may not have actually given himself some bruises from obsessively checking. He hadn't even thought about death in his "life". Like, he was young, tall, had abs of steel - he was supposed to be invincible! But in his true life, that wasn't the case.

It was a world of impermanence.

The worst of it was that he was supposed to act like nothing wrong was going on during the day. He couldn't just drop everything. He has responsibilities, and if he stood out he would just come off as some crazy weirdo who needed to be institutionalized. Maybe he should've. It might've been easier.

No.

That would make him give up whatever edge he may have had to need to beat this thing down.

He still had responsibilities here. People to take care of. A job to do. Grinning and bearing it was supposed to be something he was good at, right? At least that skill would help him out now. But keeping it all inside was kinda tough. He needed someone else to talk to about this weird whacked-out crap.

Looking at the odd new phone on his home screen, Zack - with trepidation - took a deep breath and clicked on a few buttons. The only way to go was up, right?

So does anyone else think the things that go on at night are something we should talk about?

Hopefully that was enough to get a conversation started. Maybe. Oh well, too late to do anything else about it now.

And barring all else, he would just go on a date. That usually did a good job of getting his mind off of things.