Jan 24, 2010 17:16
It had all been going so well
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rika,
kirk,
s.t.,
meche,
kagura,
donna,
tsubaki,
badou,
yuna,
anise,
teisel,
the doctor,
beelzemon,
sam winchester,
indiana jones,
raz,
forte,
utena,
allen,
naminé,
tk-622,
luke fon fabre,
euphemia,
zex,
taura,
kinomoto sakura,
peter parker,
luxord,
kurogane,
lunge,
shinichi,
ruby,
raphael,
mello,
brainiac 5,
ange,
the flash,
phoenix,
kanone,
albedo,
nunnally,
usopp,
remy,
tsukasa,
heiji,
lord recluse,
peter petrelli,
mele,
two-face,
yuffie,
ritsuka,
erika,
edgar,
neku,
tifa,
the scarecrow,
mori,
ayumu,
honey,
okita,
battler,
howl,
scourge,
zack,
l,
haseo,
sokka,
shinji,
carter,
ronixis,
kitty pryde,
kenshin,
asuka,
senna,
haine,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
kaito,
gumshoe,
hanatarou,
beatrice,
sora,
jason,
ashton,
junpei,
renamon,
claude,
keman,
guybrush,
haruno sakura,
alkaid,
joshua,
teresa,
dean winchester,
pied piper,
tim drake,
hk-47,
grell,
von karma,
hanekoma,
kenren,
hanyuu,
guy,
alfred,
kairi,
abe sapien,
hinamori momo,
chekov,
depth charge,
nigredo,
tylor,
lelouch,
chise,
ratchet,
yomi,
riku,
fai,
aerith,
rolo,
yue,
sheena,
aidou,
kaworu,
edward cullen,
beatrix,
falis,
mccoy
It took Aerith a few moments to get ready; asking the nurse for a few hair ties to pull her hair up into something at least kind of resembling her usual braid had actually been a good call. If nothing else, it made her feel a bit more like herself than the drab gray sweatsuit usually allowed. She thought about just marching out in her usual attire just to be stubborn, but losing the only thing she considered hers here wasn't something she was willing to chance. So, a few hair ties and twists later, Aerith was on her way to breakfast.
The cafeteria was pretty full already by the time the young woman stepped into line. As always the stupid food smelled delicious. Aerith selected an egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich along with some fruit and a glass of orange juice as she moved down the line. At least they fed their prisoners well here. Once her tray was piled with enough food to give her a good start to the day, Aerith turned around and scanned the room for a familiar face; she wanted to check in on Cloud or Yuffie even if she was almost 100% certain they'd turn up okay.
[for Zack bawwww]
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Blacking out bugged him. It was way too similar to the way he'd been in and out back in the lab, and Zack quickly jumped out of the bed to rid himself of that feeling. He drew a hand through his hair and sighed. And they hadn't even gotten to properly look around before getting cut off, on top of it all! Talk about unfair.
Hopefully Cissnei was all right. There was no reason she shouldn't be, so Zack quickly moved on to the next important fact: his comatose roommate was nowhere to be found. Maybe he'd woken up and headed out early?
"I'm already sick of this place," he said with a sigh, stretching his arms up before doing a few squats to limber up his body. The doctor on the intercom was going on about the wonderful food they'd be served for breakfast, causing Zack's stomach to grumble in response. He really needed to figure out just how safe the food was here...
It was around that point that a nurse came in, going on about "Lance" this and "Lance" that. Zack ignored the name as best he could, but each time was like a slap to the face. What was wrong with Zack, anyway?
While he'd known that the nurse was planning to take him to the cafeteria, Zack didn't miss the big bulletin board they passed on the way there. He stopped in his tracks, getting the nurse's attention to ask with utmost charm if he could post a quick note. She seemed happy enough to oblige him, and Zack scribbled out a few questions he'd been wondering about before he returned to the woman.
And then... into the mess hall. The food smelled just as delicious as it had the day before, and his increased hunger only added to it. Just how long had he gone without eating, anyway? He'd been dead for he didn't even know how long. Zack wanted to hold out until lunch before eating anything, though. Hopefully someone would have given him some answers on the bulletin by then.
He couldn't stop his eyes from lingering on the food line as he searched for a place to sit, though, and it was as he was making eyes at other people's trays of food that he saw the last person he would have expected to be here.
Maybe all of those A names had been a sign. Zack didn't really know, but he stopped in place and allowed himself to stare for a few seconds, just to be sure. Maybe the hunger was going to his head. For one thing, Aerith looked... older. Still as sweet as always, but she had matured. He remembered her final letter to him, though, and that unfortunate number: four years. That's how long she'd waited for him, so of course she would seem older now.
She'd grown up without him.
Which was great! He was glad that she'd moved on, but he was also bothered to see that she had somehow ended up here. Why would they bring Aerith, of all people, to this place? But once again he forced himself to acknowledge that she wasn't the normal slum girl she'd always presented herself as being. She was the last of a fallen race, and that meant she was far more interesting than she'd ever wanted to seem.
That didn't give this place any right to do this to her, though. Zack could understand how he'd ended up here, but Aerith? It wasn't right.
Though in the end, all he wanted to do was talk to her, see how she was doing. See if she even remembered him. Smiling to himself, Zack slowly worked his way around until he was able to walk up behind her. He reached forward and tapped the girl on the shoulder. Maybe it was cruel, but they'd always been like this with each other. Why change now?
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"Good morning, Sunshi-" The words died on her lips as soon as she turned around and saw exactly who had tapped her on the shoulder. The smile faded into a look of pure shock, wide eyes, gaping mouth, and all. Aerith would later swear that her heart had stopped right in her chest in that very moment. For her everything froze, and she was transported back in time to that moment in the church when a soft rain fell, when she'd known something terrible had happened. Her lips fumbled with words, but nothing came out. For the first time since she or anyone else for that matter could probably remember, Aerith Gainsborough was speechless. She couldn't even say his name. She could scarcely think his name. All that time, all the letters, everything that she'd bottled up came rushing back.
Hands trembled, no longer working, but Aerith hardly noticed as the tray slipped out of her hands and clattered to the ground.
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The tray fell out of her hands before he could do much about it (other than letting out a load "Whoa!") -- unfortunately, the fact that he'd come so close meant that most of the food fell onto his slippers or splashed up against his sweatpants. It was decidedly uncomfortable, and yet he couldn't even care all that much about it when he had Aerith looking at him as if she'd just seen a ghost.
Oh, wait. Maybe--
"Sorry about that!" he quickly sputtered, grabbing Aerith by each of her shoulders to make sure she didn't fall over or anything. Seeing how she'd just dropped her tray, Zack wasn't going to take any more chances. He bent his knees enough that he could look straight into her eyes. "Are you all right?"
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"Oh no!" Aerith finally sputtered, shaky but at least somewhat in control of herself now. She shook her head. "No, it's my fault. I went and spilled everything all over you!" Her voice quivered a bit even as she tried her hardest to keep it steady. His hands were on her shoulders, and he was looking right at her with those eyes... Yes, they were most definitely his eyes. The flower girl forced out a laugh that probably wasn't at all convincing. "It's just... it's been..." Her voice trailed off. She couldn't even properly tease him. Wow, she needed to learn how to breathe again.
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The fact that she couldn't even manage to laugh naturally meant that this was even worse than he'd thought. What had happened while he'd been gone? He felt his stomach start to twist with worry, but he had to stay strong for now.
First things first. They couldn't keep standing there with Aerith's food all over them, and so Zack let go of her so that he could kneel down and start to pick up the remains of the sandwich and the pieces of fruit and pile it back on the tray. The orange juice was obviously the bigger issue, but hopefully they could ask the nurses for help with that. It looked like one had already noticed the mess they'd made.
Grabbing the tray in both hands, Zack stood up again and handed it over to the nurse as he shot her a goofy grin. "Sorry about that. We kind of stumbled into each other." She didn't need to know just how important this was, after all.
The nurse had a small smile on her face. Apparently she thought it was kind of funny. Zack couldn't blame her. "I'll get you some paper towels so you can get cleaned up," she said, walking off.
"Phew!" Zack glanced over at Aerith and let his shoulders loosen up. "See, no harm done!" This wasn't even touching at the real issue, but he figured they would get to that soon enough.
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"Wow, you're... It's really you, isn't it?" she started softly, trying to fight back tears. She'd never let herself cry, mostly because she'd convinced herself that he was off somewhere and happy with someone else, that it had just been too hard for him to tell her about it. Four years of not crying made it especially hard to fight them back now. Still, Aerith had always been stubborn, and she was trying as hard as she could. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again." She reached up, furiously wiping at the corners of eyes with her left hand. The next laugh sounded a bit more natural. "I think I got some orange juice in my eye." She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't.
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"Neither did I," he plainly admitted, and that was for a completely practical reason. He shouldn't have been able to see her, but he wasn't about to complain now that it had happened. But even if Aerith was trying to act like she wasn't on the brink of tears, Zack wasn't that much of a dumb soldier. He noticed, and he wondered why she felt like she had to hide it. He'd cried openly in front of her before, so why didn't she figure that she could do the same?
Then again, this was in a crowded room. Still, Zack remembered what Aerith had done for him after Angeal's death, and so he decided to return the favor by leaning forward to wrap her into a hug. It lasted only a few seconds before the nurse returned with paper towels for them, and Zack had to release the girl in order to take the napkins from the woman. "Thanks," he said sincerely.
The nurse nodded. "Now why don't you two go sit down?" she suggested.
Zack could tell that she was worried that they'd somehow make more of a mess if they didn't get settled, and so he decided to just do as she said. "Sounds good. Thanks again." He glanced back toward Aerith and then started toward the nearest empty spot, handing her half of the paper towels as he walked.
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When the nurse returned with the napkins, Aerith reluctantly took a step back and away from Zack. "Yes. Thanks," she added, for once genuinely thankful for a nurse's help. The smile she wore now was completely genuine, and she was sure it showed even through her tears. Hastily wiping them away again, the flower girl followed Zack to an empty table, moping up as much of the orange juice as she could as they walked.
She wasn't sure what to say at first, but maybe that in and of itself was a conversation starter. Shaking her head, she finally found the words. "Wow, for once I really don't even know where to start. It's been such a long time. So much has happened." Aerith paused and took a moment to breathe. "You're... How are you?" Okay, so it was a little lame, but it was something!
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As he moved to the other leg, Zack kept his attention on Aerith. Even though he was handling this a little better than she was (probably because he had always known she was somewhat safe -- he had Tseng to thank for that), that didn't mean he wanted to take his eyes off of her for any longer than he had to. Now he really had the chance to notice all the differences that had taken place over those years -- if anything, she'd only gotten prettier.
"Me?" he asked with a laugh. While he was curious to know what had happened during his long absence (one that should have been permanent, he realized), Zack knew that he was going to have to take things slow. This was surreal for both of them, after all. "Well, I guess I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not too glad to be here, but it's better than some alternatives, right?"
Once again, he had no idea of how much Aerith really knew. Had the news spread about him already, or had Shin-Ra kept it all under lock and key? Still, after a certain amount of time passed, there was really only one conclusion to make. He watched Aerith, trying to judge from her expression if she'd heard of his death.
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"All this time, and you finally look me up in a mental institution." It was probably a pretty weak joke, but at least she was getting her sense of humor back. It was getting easier to smile too. That, of course, didn't last long as Aerith realized there was a lot she still had to ask him, things she wasn't sure she actually wanted answered. That same feeling reared its ugly head again... The one she didn't want to remember. The sense of passing, of something joining with the Lifestream. She'd felt it when Elmyra's husband had died, and she didn't want to assign the feeling she'd felt that day in the church to Zack. Her face fell a bit, and she stared down at the table for what seemed like hours before looking back up at him.
"Zack..." Her eyes probably asked what she couldn't. Maybe, just maybe, she was wrong.
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Though deep down, he'd always known that there was a good chance he wouldn't make it. Their last moments together hadn't been properly meaningful, and he still felt guilty for leaving Aerith the way he had. Maybe he could make up for that now.
Unfortunately, that look she gave him coupled with the way she spoke his name just made him feel worse. He'd let her down; he'd died on Cloud after everything they'd been through... How was he supposed to own up to that?
Still, hiding away from it would be even more cowardly. He let out a breath and managed a smile. "What is it?"
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"...I finally got to see the sky, you know," she opted instead. "It-" reminded me of you "-was nice." Yes, maybe it was best to dwell on happier things. So long as she steered clear of the end of her own journey, things could be less solemn. "I bet you'll be surprised to know I even left Midgar and went on a big adventure of my own." Aerith wanted to ask him what he'd been up to as well, but it was hard; she was too afraid of the answer.
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Zack fought not to look down at his chest again. It still took some getting used to, this living and breathing thing.
When Aerith mentioned the sky, Zack immediately found himself smiling. It had been something they'd been working toward, and while he hadn't been able to show it to her himself, he was still glad to hear that she'd made it on her own. What was even more shocking, though, was that Aerith had gone so far as to get out of the slums and explore the world for herself. Zack's smile expanded into a grin.
"You're not kidding, right? You really did that? Aerith, that's great!" He leaned forward and patted her on the shoulder -- it was the sort of thing he was more used to doing to a fellow SOLDIER, but he wasn't sure what else to fall back on when they were in a space that reminded him of the mess halls back at HQ. "I knew you could do it," he finished proudly.
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"I wasn't by myself, though. I had a lot of friends with me. One of them... really reminded me a lot of you sometimes," she finally said, resting her hands in her lap.
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He was genuinely shocked to hear that someone had reminded Aerith of him, though. Zack had been under the impression that he was one of a kind, so it almost bothered him, even though he knew that she couldn't have meant anything bad about it.
"How so?" he asked. "There's no way he could have matched up to my good looks." He leaned in toward her, flashing a smile as if to make his point. He was just going to have to hope that she agreed with him.
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