Incomplete.

Oct 02, 2008 12:28

Who: Zack Fair [existenta] + Aerith Gainsborough [curatia]
What: Sephiroth has released Aerith and she's asked Zack to meet her.
Where: Outskirts of the city.
When: After Sephy leaves Aerith to go to the docks.

You have all of me. )

ffvii: zack fair, ffvii: aerith gainesborough, completed logs

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existenta October 2 2008, 03:45:38 UTC
To say he was surprised would have been an understatement when he heard Sephiroth had let her go, but it was honestly the farthest thing from his mind now. He'd wonder why later.

She had been so short in her words over the device, barely asking to meet with him, that he almost outwardly panicked. He'd wasted no time running off to meet her, even if he did find it troublesome how far she was from him. He'd done so much running around the past amount of time, but after things had settled, he'd been at a loss of what to do. Unfortunately, he'd never found Tifa when she ran off, and in Aerith's case he'd ultimately been at a loss.

Thus, the fact she'd just been let go and he could go find her was... almost too convenient. Way too perfect and easy despite the emotional angst, and so he worried what had transpired and knew he would worry until he found her. And probably worry some more after that, too. Worry about why Sephiroth had let her go. Then, why he'd taken her in the first place. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd worry-no, he was already worrying-how exactly Angeal would take all this, too. It was so obvious to Zack that while Angeal was still himself, Angeal was also still... well, himself. In a way, it was admirable how he was trying so hard to understand his once-friend, but it really unsettled Zack, too. The last time Angeal did that he'd ultimately ended up having to face off with his mentor. The younger SOLDIER had made a promise if he ever had a second chance to never let that happen again.

He just hoped that he wasn't letting that slip from his grasp without even knowing it.

But, Angeal could take care of himself. And while Zack worried, he trusted Angeal to leave him be. Aerith could, too, and he certainly trusted her, too. But it was just different. He'd had time to deal with losing Angeal. He'd never had the time to really deal with the fact he'd lost Aerith in the end, too.

Luckily, events that had recently transpired made the city more tame than he'd ever seen it, and his trek across was mostly undisturbed. The bridge was a place he hadn't visited since his encounter with Sephiroth, really, though, and even without the atmospheric effects, this particular place still held a curtain of unease over him. Still, he gave it minimal attention and was across it faster than he could even really process his feelings about it. And then he'd been out the gate, stumbling onto grass, the green almost shocking him. Even though the barrier had been lifted, he'd never actually ever got a chance to venture out.

This was where he initially stopped, surveying the area. The lack of buildings and trees and pretty much the lack of everything made the device now unnecessary. Even without it, he spotted her form in the distance. "Aerith!" he yelled, at the very least to get her attention as he started in her direction in another run.

It wasn't until he was closer that he realized why she most likely had been the way she had over the communicator. And only did he stop again when he could actually gather her into a tight protective hug, every thought in his head that wasn't about Aerith being who he hated most right now. Because, goddamn, she looked so upset.

And, really, it was a toss up between two: the culprit for this mess and himself for ever walking away from her at the church in the first place.

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curatia October 2 2008, 05:00:07 UTC
Aerith's dulled green gaze fell onto Zack upon hearing him calling out her name. The sight of him caused a sense of longing to slip over her heart, and before she knew it she was being held tightly in his arms, sobbing freely into his shoulder. Both of her hands were pressed firmly against his chest, his heartbeat pulsing directly under her right palm. She felt safe, much safer pressed up against him...but it didn't help.

Whether Zack tried to comfort her or not Aerith didn't seem to respond. Allowing herself to freely sob until she felt a dull ache behind her eyes, it was all she could do to keep herself standing. Sephiroth had robbed her of her dignity it felt, and along with it her strength. She didn't see the need to continue trying to be brave and successful now that she had lost her one possession that had once belonged to her true mother. The ribbon too...had he really known just how much those two pieces meant to her?

"He..he took them..."

It took her awhile to catch her breath in order to speak, yet she tried and succeeded with a quivering, soft voice. Reflecting on how Sephiroth had simply snatched her ribbon and the small white orb, she squeezed her eyes shut until she found it within herself to still her laboured breathing and quieten down.

Aerith didn't know what to do, or what to say. Judging on the placement of her head against his shoulder, Zack would undoubtedly see that her ribbon was missing and she felt she didn't need to say it out loud. The silence enveloping them both as they embraced was soothing..

Yet she could still hear Sephiroth's voice in the back of her mind, telling her to go.

"I don't know what to do. He just...took them."

Upon those words, Aerith summoned a small amount of strength and pushed back from Zack slightly, enough to look up at his face. One hand rose and wipe the dampness from her cheeks, before she pressed her lips together tightly to hold back fresh tears and locked her gaze to his chest. She felt ashamed, yet couldn't explain why.

She hadn't asked to be kidnapped...

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existenta October 4 2008, 04:26:10 UTC
She was okay.

She was alive, and an emotional mess, but at least she was okay.

Physically, anyway.

Zack tried to verbally calm her once, see if she would look at him and maybe tell him what happened, but was quick to realize that none of that was going to happen. And so he just held her, letting Aerith cry as much as she needed, listening and let it sink in so heavily what had transpired. He let her go, but had obviously traumatized her a good deal more than Zack would have expected with circumstances in the city having been the way it were not long after her capture. The thing was, Aerith said he hadn't hurt her. So, what exactly did he say to her that-

-them? Zack found he was just as surprised by her statement as hearing her voice now. Them. Then for the first time, and he wasn't quite sure why he hadn't noticed before, he realized her ribbon was missing. It took him a moment, a long hard and pressing moment to register this. The ribbon was gone. He'd taken some things from her.

...She wasn't fretting over the ribbon?

The ribbon had been a gift, yes, but, for Zack, it was a relatively small token that could have been replaced. That was, if Sephiroth even had taken the ribbon at all and that was one of the reasons she was so upset. Maybe she'd simply lost it. But, no, her losing it from the way she'd talked about it when they first met here didn't make sense. Still, it was materialistic and ultimately replaceable. Hell, he'd replace it now. Here. Somewhere. Somehow. Just as long as she didn't have to come in contact with Sephiroth again. The only downside to his logic was he knew Aerith wouldn't agree. It wasn't an item of small value to her. She'd made that very clear to him, and she probably wouldn't do with a replacement, either. And, then, to complicate matters-or simply make all his thoughts on fixing this null and void-Sephiroth had taken something else. Whatever it was, that had to certainly be of more value and importance; something he couldn't replace.

But, no, no, please; don't cry over the ribbon. If she had to cry about the other thing, then she had to, but he didn't want her crying over something he had given her. Zack opened his mouth, prepared to say something along these lines, but he stopped just before the start of his first word.

She was... really upset, wasn't she.

Saying something like the ribbon wasn't that important wasn't going to help things. But, for the young man, it really wasn't. He'd given it to her as a gift and that gift only meant something in his mind now because the girl he'd given it to was important to him. So much more important than anything.

It was almost too bad that what was important to him, though, didn't matter in this case.

Now, it came down to what else she lost to the ex-General. When she pushed back, Zack loosened his hold on her accordingly and met her gaze with his own, albeit a bit taken aback by the reaffirmation over the amount of hurt her face expressed over this. Maybe he just couldn't understand. And then her green eyes were gone from his sight as she looked back down. He took a moment, then, searching for how to best say something. How to get her to calm down. His actions were done so subconsciously while he thought this through, and while it seemed like hours, it was merely no more than a minute of hesitation before he leaned to bring his lips gently to the top of her forehead. It was a short lived gesture, however sincere at its attempt for comfort was, and when he lifted his head away, his words were quiet. Because even though he was now speaking, he still didn't really know what to say; "Aerith... it's okay, we'll figure out what to do."

She just wasn't going to do anything on her own. Especially not after what had just transpired. If that wasn't enough, Tifa's story pricked at the depths of his subconscious, reminding him just what happened the last time Aerith had run off to do something on her own. How unfortunate it was that he knew the next question would confirm he wasn't going to be able to simply replace the items taken. "...What did he take?"

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curatia October 6 2008, 00:48:57 UTC
Her eyes closed as the soft pressure of his lips met her forehead. It was a comforting gesture, something her mother used to do when she wasn't feeling up to scratch. The memory and the feeling of Zack being close immediately allowed her to relax. Aerith sighed, both hands moving from his chest to lightly rest at his sides. She was grateful that he had rushed over immediately to come and get her. She honestly wouldn't have made it back home on her own and to know that the little things he did showed he cared helped more than she'd want to admit to him.

Her staff also seemed to be lost. That definitely wouldn't have helped.

She remained silent until Zack spoke. He didn't know about the dormant materia...in fact, no one except for herself and her mother knew, and now unfortunately Sephiroth had proven he did too. How he had known she needed to find out...maybe he knew her biological mother...

"Well....my ribbon." She started slow, trying to find the words to use that would express exactly what she wanted to say without her exploding into a tearful tirade over her biological mother again. "But...he also took something else. I used the ribbon to tie something else into my hair, so I could keep it close to me all the time." Aerith's eyes rose to meet Zack's, the sadness she felt earlier still painfully evident. "My...mother...my real mother gave me something just before she died. I don't know exactly what it was, but I think it was a piece of materia that didn't work anymore. It was white..and it glowed slightly in the dark..."

Absently describing the bauble almost caused her to break into fresh tears all over again. She knew however, with Zack's resolve, that she'd get her materia back. The white bauble and the ribbon Zack had bought her all those years ago would come back into her possession.

Aerith was known for being bright and positive almost all of the time. Truth is her friends were a big part of that. Since meeting Tifa, Yuffie and soon Rinoa...well, she knew for a fact that Sephiroth didn't have a chance. The thought made her smile slightly.

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SORRY MILLA I'VE BEEN SO BAD WITH TAGGING YOU ;___; *loves and apologies forever* existenta October 11 2008, 02:22:10 UTC
Ah, now it made sense.

Zack had always felt particularly lucky in his arguably short lifetime; despite all the hardships he'd went through, he'd never lost his parents. While it seemed almost common with many of the people he met-or watched them lose their parents while he knew them-he just never had the misfortune himself. It was a wonder if that made him less sensitive to the entire concept of never knowing a parent, but for Zack he was pretty sure it made him all the more sensitive to the idea. He felt lucky to have them, and to think someone else didn't... well, it was bothersome to say the least.

So to hear a gift from her mother had been taken-not even Elmyra, but her biological one-put it into perspective. Just as he suspected, right? Something indeed really irreplaceable. "Sounds kind of like a materia I found on my way back from Nibelheim," he said offhandedly, referencing the goddess materia, but his mind was from even paying attention to conversation. It scattered itself thin in an attempt to think of something...anything... that could convince him that they could get those items back for her. But, when he came up empty handed on ideas, he wasn't surprised. For whatever reason Sephiroth had wanted it and taken it meant it the possibility of getting it back was practically zero to none. But he would not say that to Aerith, and he knew that if she wanted them back, he'd help her regardless of the odds for being successful.

Besides, the item was more than personally precious, right? If Sephiroth had it, trouble was almost bound to ensue. It being that important to Aerith had decided Zack would help her get it back. It being something Sephiroth could use to cause more damage had decided that he needed to get it back. The last thing Nuadoria needed to deal with was some ridiculous circumstance like the one Tifa had described. Even if it was one-fourth the magnitude of that incident...

"Anyway, don't worry!" Zack smiled cheerfully, pushing the other feelings tumbling around away. He was upset that she was upset. He was angry because of what Sephiroth did. He was guilty because he'd let it happen in the first place. But, optimism was always the best way to go. And when there was nothing else that could be done, it was really the only way to go. "Those are pretty obvious items, we'll get them back. But for now, let's get you back somewhere safe." Yes, thinking about getting the items back later was the best idea. It also gave him a chance to talk to Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie about this so-called useless materia. Sephiroth didn't do things without a reason. While Zack still couldn't understand him taking the ribbon, the materia must have been of more importance than a simple mother's memento. He'd bring Aerith for that conversation if circumstances allowed, as she above all had a right to know why that man had taken her item. Such options could be discussed later.

It was now Zack's turn to step back, far enough to end the hug only to instead reach to take one of her hands and gently pull her along to start walking back to the city. It was a bit colder than he'd have expected and her getting physically sick on top of her distress was the last thing either of the would have wanted. "We'll have to get you something temporary for your hair, too, okay?" Continuing a conversation that veered off into a less serious subject was probably the best idea for their trip back instead of silence.

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IT'S OKAI. I took awhile with this one. Just exhausted. ;_; curatia October 16 2008, 01:52:00 UTC
His cheerfulness had always been contagious, much like her own had been. His quick outburst immediately had her believing that yes, he was right, they would get her belongings back. The slight stinging behind her eyes faded as she managed a small smile at him, both bright green eyes slightly red from her distress. There was no use being upset. She had always believed that it didn't really change anything. Shedding tears for someone that had moved back into the Lifestream never brought them back. Crying over things that one wanted to be changed never changed them.

Crying over her materia and her ribbon wouldn't make Sephiroth turn around and return them to her.

He was still out there somewhere, yet close by. It had felt like a lifetime, waiting there until she had heard Zack's voice carry her name over the wind, however it couldn't have been more than an hour. Where had Sephiroth gone? He had just suddenly left, gone to take over some other business at the harbour, it had seemed...

Zack's hand sliding over hers broke her from her thoughts, both green eyes settling on his own and softening immediately. His words made her smile again, a hand absently raising to smooth over the thick braid she kept tied all the time. "I guess so..." It felt strange having nothing there to brush against her head whenever she moved it. It was empty, an empty cold that pressed against her skull and made her head feel faint. She didn't like it.

There was more in that ribbon than anyone could ever understand. There was friendship, hope, serenity and most importantly love within it. She had clutched at it at her most desperate times. It had been given to her on their first date.

Aerith shut her eyes tightly and took a moment to gather her thoughts, before allowing herself to be lead into the city to where ever Zack wanted to take her. She fell into silence, thinking to herself about the various things that would inevitable just upset her again. She couldn't help that however. The only thing she could do was hold onto Zack's warm hand and walk by his side just to feel that little bit safer.

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