{x} complete

[outlocked]

Who: Tifa, Zack.
What: Loungin'. Chillin'. Waitin'. What else is new for Tifa?
Where: By the residential/fountain area.
When: Present, after the children event. I'm just. REALLY BORED. And waiting for Zack. :|

Comments

[outlocked]

Oh, if Tifa had the heart to punch Zack in the face, she would. But Tifa wasn't the type to punch someone for such a petty reason; hell, even if Zack left for a week without telling anyone, she figured that he had a good reason for whatever he was trying to pull off at the time. Tifa wanted to not give him the benefit of the doubt and scold the ex-SOLDIER, even if she was slightly put off by his rash decisions, but...

... boys would always be boys, and there was nothing she could do about that. Since their conversation over the communicator earlier, Tifa had taken some time to cool off. While she was peeved at the man, it was also a sign of worry; some could have found comfort in the fact that Tifa actually cared enough to put Zack through this. She didn't want to lose anyone here, especially to those who came from the world. To those who had already been lost in the world. Perhaps it was favoritism as well as undermining their abilities, especially Zack's, but at the same time, the fact that they had already died in their world made her feel more paranoid than others, such as Cloud and Yuffie.

But it wasn't just Aerith and Zack she was worried about. Tifa had her own problems, her own insecurities, and her own fears to worry about; they seemed to pop up and go, silently lurking about the world of Nuadoria. To her, the silence was more frightening than the constant bickering between Kadaj and whoever his new target was at the time. Here, the man who started the nightmare as well as the man who tried to execute the nightmare's climax was in Nuadoria somewhere, hiding and waiting for the right moment. It was thoughts like this that made her worry about Cloud and Aerith and right now--

Right now she was getting off topic.

When Zack appeared from the distance, Tifa placed both her hands on her hips and waited until she could hear his voice call out her name, to which she replied to with a simple, "Zack." It was curt, to the point, and almost cold to hear, but eventually Tifa gave in to Zack's anxious puppy face, managing a long sigh and waving an idle hand in front of her to wave off the subject. "I'm not going to badger you," she started, "You're probably older than me, anyways. But. If you ever do that again I'm going to have to punch you, okay?"

It was like she was speaking to a child, which was normal for her. She practically lived with three of them back at home, even if one of them happened to be older than her. "What happened?"

[existenta]

It was something he only did with women, still. The puppy act, that is. While in his younger days he'd worked it over a couple times on Angeal before the other became (mostly and at least outwardly) immune, he just didn't really care to sport it with males. Just didn't have the same effect. By now, he rarely used the the technique at all, except with Aerith. When he decided to try it on Tifa he wasn't sure if she'd fold the same way. And she didn't. But, boy did she fold. He nodded at her ultimatum on his next absence and her responding actions, more than happy to comply with those consequences. There were no plans in his immediate future to do that again and even if it did somehow occur, he was praying that he'd actually end up back for her to punch him.

His expression melted off when she asked what happened, forming a more thoughtful and serious consideration to the question. What had happened? It was something of a blur, but he'd pick out the pieces as best he could. "Well, this kid got insulted over something stupid and insisted on fighting me to protect his honor.. So I finally relented because I didn't want him bothering Aerith. But I'm not going to fight a kid -- hell, I don't want to fight anyone here if I can help it. We got enough to worry about. Where was I -- oh, right, so I decided the only way I could get the fight over with without actually fighting him was to use the landscape against him."

Those words picked the lock to the floodgates of this conversation. Zack wasn't one to be vague once he got into it, and he made sure he told her everything his memory allowed. He went from the battle and how Sasuke had managed to hold up a little longer than he'd anticipated to how once the other did lose it, he also lost it worse than expected. "I had to drag him out," the ex-SOLDIER said, his voice strained at the recollection. If Zack had been any other type of person, he would have been terrified at Sasuke's breakdown. But, he'd witnessed similar breaking points in others, so he only knew concern for the teenager in the end. "But, I guess we'd gone in farther than I thought, so we were in there longer, too. Because by the time I dragged him out, I couldn't help myself. I swore I saw something. No, I saw someone. I've had hallucinations here before, but this was so unlike them. It was so real I felt like I could of touched him. So... I left Sasuke and went back. I had to make sure."

In the course of telling his story, he'd at some point sat down on the rim of the fountain. He looked worried, thoughtful about the replay of events in his head. "I don't know. Maybe it was real. Maybe for a little bit there I was back home," he offered in possible explanation, peeking up at the brunette. "You said I was gone for a week, right? It was only a few hours for me. And I don't remember much of the landscape, honestly. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was just some crazy side effect of being in those zones for so long, but I really can't confirm that one way or another." He was on his feet in the next moment, running a hand through his hair in subconscious nervousness. For a moment, his attention shifted from the girl in his actions, but then his eyes were back on her, looking almost pleading. "I wouldn't leave you guys on purpose," he insisted suddenly, latching onto Tifa's words from their earlier conversation over the communicators. There was an urgency in his voice, like he suspected the others would silently accuse him of such. No, he would never, especially not after hearing about Aerith's concerns. Not after finding that Sephiroth was here. There was no way Zack could leave his friends to deal with that by themselves if anything happened. "Not you. Not Cloud. Not Aerith. We're all leaving together, got it? I promise. Or, at least, you guys are all leaving and I'm not leaving Aerith here."

It did momentarily pass through his mind if Aerith would end up leaving him at some point, with some people reporting disappearances, but now wasn't the time to dwell on something so off topic.

"You believe me, don't you?"

[outlocked]

Despite her folding, Tifa was still a mother. Mothers did not fall for the same trick twice, and Zack would be no exception to this clause. Though her threat was harsh, it was obvious that Tifa didn't mean it and would never do such a thing, especially not to Zack. Nuadoria was an odd sort of place for her, where the dead came to be alive and the living ceased to exist; in such an environment, anything and everything could happen. The thought of the impossible being possible irked Tifa, and the thought of an old friend disappearing into an unknown world was a thought worse than death. At least before, she knew he was dead and dwelling in the Lifestream. Here, she would never know if he ever disappeared into thin air, just like how she would never know what happened to Pearl.

With the start of the narration (it seemed to Tifa that they only met face-to-face to discuss about Aerith's safety arrangements and to exchange long-winded stories, but that was besides the fact), the woman crossed her arms as she nodded along to the story. She wanted to say it was a foolish idea, but then again, who was she to judge? They were human, after all. When Zack sat on the fountain edge, Tifa instinctively took a seat next to him, arms making sure that she didn't fall off the edge as she leaned forward, placing her weight on her arms, just to get a closer look at Zack's face.

To her, he seemed to be telling the truth. Zack was an honest person, genuine at heart--this Tifa knew, but at the same time she had learned not to trust anyone so easily, especially after her adventures. So she studied his face carefully, like a detective looking for traces of lies, deception, oh hell, she was just looking for any suspicious signs courtesy of Zack. "And?" she questioned every once in a while, allowing Zack to go on and on about his adventure into Nuadoria's unmarked territories. "You know, Sasuke got back at the beginning of the week," she interrupted, glancing over at the grass that never seemed to need cutting, in the past month that she had been here. "I heard Aerith went with someone to go heal his wounds, but even then he wouldn't tell us what happened. We already knew you two fought in the area, but... nothing about you." It was partially why she was so worried; she couldn't speak for Aerith personally, but Tifa figured the worry was twofold for the woman.

So this unsaid worry was channeled to Tifa, the mother of the group. The person who worried for the sake of others. It was a tough job, yes, but someone had to do it... and in this world, the responsibility fell on Tifa.

And then there was Zack, with his overflowing optimism, even after learning that he was already dead in his world, even after Sephiroth's arrival, even after everything he had gone through. It made Tifa feel guilty when she compared herself to the man. It was why she resolved to be better. Offering Zack a worn smile at his reassuring words, Tifa nodded slowly, sliding off of the fountain and once again, standing.

She took this time to think to herself, really close her eyes and think about this world and what would happen if Zack and Aerith crossed the border from Nuadoria to Gaia. "For now, I want you all to stay safe. Returning, that's fine and all. But I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you guys, here." What was the point of returning home, if one of them was going to die in the process? She wanted to return home, together with everyone. Perhaps with or without Zack and Aerith, but that was something to think about when the prospect of escaping this world became clearer.

To Tifa, promises were important. At Nibelheim, it was Cloud who promised Tifa to come to her rescue if she was ever in trouble. And despite all the confusion, the time, and not knowing fragments of their past, he came through. He saved her time and time again, from when she was stabbed through by Sephiroth to when she almost fell into the Northern Crater. Now, Tifa understood clearly what a promise was, and how heavy a burden a promise could be.

"And," she continued, letting out a deep breath. It took her a lot to say this, because a promise to Tifa was just that. A promise. It meant so much more than what she could put into words. "And I'll keep you to that promise."

[existenta]

Something about Tifa's words struck home with Zack, and he did not immediately jump back with a response. In fact, he floundered.

She was going to keep him to that promise?

Never did he ever let it show, but he'd lost his confidence long ago for keeping his promises when hard-pressed. At one time in his life, promises had been words that were to be upheld. Now, to say 'I promise' was as equivalent as 'I'll try my best'. He'd broken too many. Too many to himself. Too many to others. It really was just that, a burden, and the consequences for being unable to fulfill a promise were earth-shattering, especially when heavy. When each of your promises fell through one after another, with you watching some consequences before your eyes and only able to imagine the others, it was hard to find the strength to take them on again. What little time he'd spent here with Aerith had proved that. He didn't want to see the expression that marred the flower girl when she looked at him ever bleed to Tifa's due to his actions.

It wasn't to say Zack was taking things lightly when he'd said I promise moments ago. He didn't just shoot the word "promise" off. He meant it in the sense he wanted that to be the case. Circumstances willing, he was going to uphold it. But to agree to a promise like Tifa was expecting? 'Circumstances willing' wasn't good enough. He'd never been one to believe in fate, and real promises didn't, either. Circumstances were to be made favorable to keep them, no matter the cost. And, despite everything, Zack had managed to keep a few of those types of promises - perhaps the most important to him, too.

He'd never abandoned Cloud, right down to his dying breath.
And he never backed down - never gave up on anything - even when the odds were completely and absolutely against him.

The soldier's thoughts carried him, letting his somewhat childish nature of pleading and begging from earlier erode away in the silence. It was his turn, then, to close his eyes. Zack could one of two things: accept or deny Tifa's words. To deny them meant going back on his words of a "promise", but to accept them meant he damn well hold to keeping it. There wouldn't be any of this 'trying his best' business: no trying, he'd have to do it.

Period.

Tifa needed that. But, more importantly? Tifa deserved that. From her stories and even listening to their brief exchanges on the communicators, he could tell their friend was a handful for her. From his own experiences, Zack knew Cloud Strife was more than enough to worry about and that the last thing Tifa needed was more burden. And it was obvious he'd made himself some. She'd probably been the most concerned about his absence. More than Cloud. More than Aerith. And Zack was thankful for it, despite not wanting her to feel those fears when she already had enough of them.

So, what was it going to be? The dark haired man shook his head. There was only one logical choice. He couldn't do this. No, he wouldn't do this. Zack shifted, his eyes opening to glance down at Tifa for a moment. And that was his only hesitance in his decision, before the response. The slightest trace of a smile tinted his face as the distance between them closed and Zack wrapped the young woman in a hug. It was odd to think, but he hadn't offered the comforting gesture to anyone here, yet. Not even Aerith. Tifa was strong, he knew this, but she was standing on her own, trying to keep everything together in a place where that pretty much was impossible. But, she didn't give up and Zack couldn't turn his back on that. He wouldn't. Maybe it was because he respected her and she needed it, or maybe it was he felt they were more than a little similar and he needed it more. "Yeah, you do that. Don't worry, I'll make sure I keep it."