Unresolved Spaceship Tension [Open to Zack, & Aerith and Cloud later]

[silver_soldier]

With Integra and Sora having left - and the girl who'd been on Zack's shoulders, whoever she'd been, having vanished at some point - Sephiroth gestured to Zack (not that he probably needed any prompting) to follow him back into the hotel. He was still without a coat - it seemed like forever since he'd lost it - and Zack wasn't wearing one either,

Comments

[twilight_dark]

Getting back inside was for the best. Zack hadn't even had a chance to wash up and put his hair into some sort of order, considering the rude awakening he'd received. Being out in public would not be a good idea. The fact that the first thing Sephiroth did once they got inside was apologize took him by surprise. He knew that the general didn't do that sort of thing unless he meant it, which meant that he should have took his friend's words at face value

[silver_soldier]

Normally, Sephiroth would never have recognized such a subtle show of resentment as that; social awareness was one of the few skills he had to a more or less negative degree. However, when the source was Zack - for one thing, he knew Zack better than almost anyone else and always had, and for another bitterness from Zack was so rare that when it appeared even the most subtle show of it seemed almost blatant in comparison to the man's usual cheerfulness.

"I would have liked to go back with her, yes," Sephiroth agreed, giving Zack a questioning look as he did so. "It's been a long time since I've seen her, not to mention the fact that she knows the way back to Hollow Bastion and I don't. And the more time I have to get used to the idea of her being the general instead of me, the better I'll be able to deal with it." He tilted his head slightly. "Do you have some sort of problem with Integra that I'm not aware of?"

[twilight_dark]

The fact that Sephiroth had to go ahead and explain himself really just made matters worse. Of course, it was something he'd do, and Zack was exactly surprised by it, but it was like having salt rubbed in his wounds. The general had always been blunt. There were no games to be played, and no tact to be enforced. It was something Zack liked about the man, but he had to admit that sometimes it stung

[silver_soldier]

Zack's success was half and half. On the one hand, Sephiroth could fully believe some girl Zack had never met before had ambushed him in his sleep; with Zack, one eventually became accustomed to hearing tales like that and taking them at face value. (Less because Zack wouldn't make up such stories and more because he never really needed to.) On the other... "There was a time you'd have practically had to have a hose turned on you to prevent you turning that into some sort of lewd joke," Sephiroth observed, rather startled. If Zack could say something like that without a hint of amusement, something was further wrong than he'd imagined. "Was it that red-haired girl? She was only a child."