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rune-writes · 4 years ago

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Yellow Flowers of Reunion

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Word count: 3265

Rating: G

Summary: It has been four years since Zack moved to Midgar. When he is having lunch with Aerith and her mother, he is reminded of his home and his parents.

Note: Part 1 of an ongoing Mother’s Day series centering on Zack, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. Part 1 is Zack’s story.

Read on AO3.

~*~*~*~*~

It was a spring morning when Zack was sitting on one of the church’s benches, watching Aerith tend to her flower bed. He had sneaked out of morning practice. Thinking he had been making good progress with no one noticing his absence, he almost jumped when his phone beeped just as he reached the sector 5 slums, and he realized that was not the case at all.

Right. Go and have your little date with Aerith. I’ll just be here covering your ass.

Zack couldn’t help the snicker. He could just imagine the frown and resigned sigh on Kunsel’s face. Of course, his friend would have figured out where Zack had disappeared to since early in the morning. Even when he hadn’t even told him about Aerith, Kunsel had somehow known that Zack was seeing a girl. Actually seeing one.

Anyway, Zack would have to treat his friend to lunch later. He silently promised Kunsel that as he made his way to the Sector 5 Slum’s church.

It had been too early—Aerith hadn’t even gotten to the church yet by the time Zack arrived. So he stood there, looking around, walking around, sat on the bench then crouched by the flower bed. No matter how many times he had been here, he was still amazed real flowers could bloom in a place as barren as Midgar. A miracle. It shouldn’t be odd then, should it, that he had thought of her as an angel when he fell down through the hole in the roof of her church?

Zack stroked his finger down the soft petals of the yellow flowers, a small smile playing across his lips. Where was Aerith? What if he made a surprise visit to her home instead?

Zack jumped up to his feet, the thought of the surprise lining Aerith’s lovely face filling him with glee, when he realized he didn’t know where the girl’s home was.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the sound of heavy creaking against the wooden floor drew at his attention. Zack looked up to see the double doors slowly opening and Aerith slipped through them, her light blue dress swaying around her. She stopped short when she spotted him. Even in this distance, he could make out the slight widening of her eyes and her mouth opening in a silent gasp.

Well, he didn’t get to see Aerith’s home, but he did get to see Aerith’s surprise. Zack’s lips broke into a huge grin, his hand flying up in an encompassing wave, and her name rolling off his tongue before he could think.

“Ah, right!” Aerith’s sudden outburst broke through his reverie. When Zack looked, she was already looking up at him from her spot by the flowers. “My mom’s inviting you for lunch.”

Zack blinked. “Your…mom?”

Aerith nodded with a smile on her face. “I know you’re busy, and I told her you might not make it, but she still said you should come whenever you can, so…” Aerith let her voice trail off. He noticed the anticipation in her eyes, but Zack’s brain couldn’t quite catch up. He was dumbfounded that Aerith’s mom knew about his existence.

“You’ve…told your mom about me?”

Aerith nodded.

Zack blinked again, and again, letting it slowly register that yes, her mom knew about him. When it finally did, he bit his lower lip, trying to hold back the smile threatening to break free. He wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. He wanted to jump and dance and pick her up and swing her around. But Zack remained on the bench, finding his gaze fixated on a bit of a crack on the floor by his feet.

“So, can you or can you not make it?”

Zack cleared his throat and took a deep calming breath. “Today?”

“Yes, today.” A hint of exasperation in her voice but all he wanted was to smile. Good thing he had most of the day off. Treating Kunsel to lunch would have to wait for a while longer.

“Sure, I can make it,” he finally replied, and when he met her gaze again, Aerith smiled so sweetly, her eyes crinkling in the process, and he thought he was probably the luckiest guy in the world right now.

***

Her house wasn’t hard to find, actually. Even if he had gotten lost, Aerith seemed to be quite well-known among her people that if he were to ask for direction, they would probably tell him. Though on the other hand, him dressed as a SOLDIER operative might prompt them to give him false information—judging from the side eyes he had received from some of them.

Past the train station and into the Sector 5 Slums, through various shops and rundown, densely packed neighborhood, they entered the grassy area between an orphanage and a community center that led to a winding tunnel-of-sort and opened up to the most beautiful scenery Zack had ever witnessed in the entire metropolitan steel city. So much sun; so much greenery. A huge clearing within a wall of rocky outcroppings. Water fell down the face of the cliff on the other side into a stream between a cute little cottage and what seemed to be Aerith’s own personal flower garden.

If he were to describe the place in one word, it would be vibrant.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Aerith asked with a coy smile and a glance up at him.

It was, to the point that it made him speechless with awe. He could only reply with a nod. Aerith giggled at his loss for words.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his arm and leading him down the short flight of wooden stairs into a small riverbank with makeshift wooden bridges on either side. To his right was the garden beyond, with a plethora of reds and yellows and greens and oranges dotting the vast winding yard as far as his eye could see. Aerith led him to the left, past a mailbox and over the rickety bridge. The water beneath was so clean, and so clear, with water lily leaves scattered on the surface and schools of fish swimming underneath it.

They reached the stone pavement beyond, where rocks were stacked on either side to create more flower beds. Zack spotted roses and daisies and marigolds and even cattails among others. A mixture of various sweet scents teased his nostrils.

When was the last time he was in a place like this? So calm and peaceful and serene. Far from the hustle and bustle of city life on the upper plate, where smoke from factories and vehicle exhaust coiled the atmosphere. It reminded him of his home.

Aerith opened the cottage door and Zack was immediately greeted by the rich smell of stew boiling in the kitchen. He adjusted his eyes to the slight dimness and found himself in circular dining room that probably also served as a living room, with a singular round table and four wooden chairs around it. More flowers lined the walls, in vases or baskets, on tables and cabinets. A small CRT TV nestled in one corner. A staircase led up to a second floor.

“I’m home!” Aerith called.

A reply came from his right, where a woman in a green dress and an apron was stirring the pot of stew on a stove. “Welcome home, Aerith.” She looked over her shoulder with a smile. Her gaze flitted over to Zack and the smile bloomed into a beam. “And you must be Zack.”

To be honest, whenever he had the time to let his mind wander, Zack had conjured countless scenarios of meeting Aerith’s parents in his head. He had wondered what her house looked like, and how her parents would receive him, whether they would accept him or reject him, and what he would do were that to happen.

To be honest, Zack had never thought her mother would be the first one to invite him for lunch.

Zack hastily bowed his head. “I’m Zack,” he said with a light flush to his cheeks. “Thank you for inviting me over.”

He was rewarded with a soft chuckle. Aerith’s mother wiped her hands on her apron as she turned to face him and stepped out of the kitchen area. “Yes, the pleasure’s all mine,” she said. “I’m Elmyra, Aerith’s mother. My daughter’s told me quite a lot about you. I heard how you’ve helped her a lot.”

“Ah, well—” Zack scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin, “—we help each other a lot I guess. Aerith’s been really kind to me ever since I met her.”

A giggle from his side and he glanced down to find Aerith covering her lips with a finger.

Elmyra smiled. “Well, I’m pleased to meet you, Zack,” she went on. “We’re going to have chicken stew today. Just make yourself at home, okay?”

Zack nodded stiffly.

“And Aerith, you can go ahead and set the table.”

“Okay—”

“I’ll help!”

Aerith was heading for a cabinet on another side of the room when she laughed at his interjection. “Stop being so uptight,” she said. “Just put your sword down and take a seat.”

“But—”

She shushed him with a hiss and Zack had no choice but to back down. He pulled his sword from his back and let it stand against the wall. Aerith gave him an approving nod before making her way to the tableware cabinet.

Zack pursed his lips and resigned himself to follow the mother and daughter. He turned to face the table and took in the small room.

Elmyra had said to make himself at home, but to be honest, it was actually difficult to make himself feel not at home. Aerith’s house had that sort of warm, homey feeling to it. The smell of stew cooking in the kitchen, the tableware cluttering as Aerith pulled them out of its cabinet, and the scent of aging wood mixed in with the various flowers on the tables—they weren’t much, but they did remind him of home. If he shut his eyes, he could just imagine that he was back in Gongaga with his mother cooking in the kitchen while his father worked outside, and as he entered the house, she would turn around with a smile on her face and said, “Welcome home, Zack.”

As Aerith set the table, Zack found his eyes drawn to the set of photographs on a side table by the TV. One was an old photo of a young couple he thought was Elmyra and her husband, smiling in front of the house. The other had probably been taken several years after, and in it was a slightly older Elmyra, holding a little girl around seven or eight, wearing a cute orange shirt with a matching orange skirt, her long brown hair tied to the back. The man from before was nowhere to be found.

“Who gave you permission to look at photos?” her voice piped in from behind him. Aerith bobbed her head around his side and peered into the frame Zack was holding.

“Little Aerith was too cute, I couldn’t resist the temptation,” Zack replied with a grin. “I don’t see your father, though.”

Aerith didn’t answer immediately. She stared at the other photo, her eyes drawn. “He died in the war,” she quietly said.

“Oh—” he caught himself. “I’m sorry—”

But Aerith only shook her head. “That’s okay,” she replied. She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t ask anything more, because Elmyra called for them, then, saying their lunch was ready. The smile was back on Aerith’s face, as though Zack hadn’t just broached a sensitive topic. She plucked the photo from his hands and put it back on its place, ushering him to take a seat at the table.

***

Three bowls of hot steaming stew lay on the table. Having now sat before one of them, the chicken stock smelled even more overpowering than ever before. The broth was thick with potatoes and carrots and a dash of parsley at the top. The chicken thighs looked crispy. It made his mouth water.

“Dig in,” Elmyra said from her seat across from him.

Zack nodded, grabbed the spoon, and scooped the broth with the potatoes and carrots into his open mouth. The taste exploded inside him—so rich and delicious, the vegetables so soft. It warmed him inside out. Zack didn’t remember the last time he ate something so good and he was smiling before he knew it and had already scooped another spoonful of stew.

“It’s good,” he said. The chicken, especially, was so tender and it seemed to melt in his mouth. “It’s really good.”

The smile on Elmyra’s face was so bright as she looked at him. Then she looked at Aerith and nodded at her daughter to enjoy her meal. They started talking, then—about life in Midgar and Zack’s job as a SOLDIER, about the slums and the people living under the steel sky, about Aerith’s days and the flowers she had tended to—and it made him feel warm. This house and the two people living inside it made him feel a sort of warmth he hadn’t felt in years, and when Elmyra asked her next question, Zack found himself pausing.

“Where are you from, Zack?”

“Gongaga,” he replied.

Elmyra blinked in surprise. “That’s a long way from here.”

Zack chuckled, somewhat self-deprecatingly. “That goes for most of us SOLDIERs. I came here when I was thirteen.” That was barely four years ago—a mere boy from a backwater town who had looked up at the stars and dreamed of becoming a hero.

“Have you ever been back home since you came here?” Elmyra asked again.

Zack shook his head. “We don’t get a lot of time off,” he said.

“Your parents must miss you a lot, then.”

It was a simple, innocent statement, one anyone he’d met on the street would probably have said, but it made Zack go still, because unlike other boys who had left their village with the blessings of their families and townspeople to look for jobs in the big city, Zack had gone in the dead of the night, without a word or a letter to his parents. His hand had stopped midway to his mouth, the stew forgotten.

It had been so long since he had any home-cooked meals. All he ever had since he arrived in Midgar were either the cafeteria food they served in the barrack, rations he got on missions, or, if he were up for a splurge, the various restaurants and bars in the upper plate. He had been too preoccupied with his new life that he had never even thought of his home, or his parents, in the years he had been here.

***

“Do you think I should send them something?” Zack asked Aerith once they were out the door.

They had finished their meal and Zack had bowed and thanked Elmyra for having him. He promised to visit some time, but Elmyra just laughed it off and told him not to worry.

“Who?” Aerith asked.

“My parents.” They walked leisurely down the stone pavement toward the bridge at the other end, waiting for the stew to go down his stomach and he was ready to face whatever wrath his friend would unleash upon him once he returned to Headquarters.

“Hmm, well—” Aerith had a finger to her lips, deep in thoughts. Zack’s gaze flitted over to the flowers just as Aerith said, “Why not flowers? It’s going to be Mother’s Day soon, too.”

Mother’s Day. How could he have forgotten about that? In fact, Zack didn’t remember having sent his parents anything in the past four years.

But, flowers were a great idea. His mother loved flowers. And he would write a letter, too. They weren’t much, but they were a start. He’d write them more letters after this.

“And good thing you’ve got someone with a beautiful flower garden such as this,” Aerith went on, beaming as she spread her arms wide to encompass the entirety of her garden. Zack couldn’t help but laugh at it.

“What sort of flowers do you recommend, then?”

“Well, carnations are best for Mother’s Day—” her eyes turned downcast, “—but sadly I don’t have carnations. You can probably find some in the upper plate, though.”

Zack shook his head. They’d gotten past the first bridge, and instead of taking the stairs up on the right that would lead him back to the Slums, he led Aerith through the other bridge toward her personal garden. A patch near the bridge by the water was filled with the very same flowers he saw in her church.

“What about these?” he asked, crouching down by the yellow flowers. “They’re the ones that grow in your church too, right.”

“Good eye, Zack,” Aerith said, crouching down beside him. She caressed the long yellow petals with a smile. “These flowers mean reunion. They’ll be perfect.” Her bright smile was still plastered on her face when she looked up at him, and it made him want to smile back.

***

Kunsel was waiting for him in Headquarters with a frown and his arms folded, because Zack had gone out for more than half the day without so much as a notification or any sort of permit and Kunsel had to come up with a half-baked lie whenever someone asked about him. He gave a resigned sigh when Zack promised to buy him lunch, and instead, shifted his focus to the large bouquet of yellow flowers in Zack’s hands.

“Aren’t you supposed to give flowers to the girl and not the other way around?” his friend asked.

“These aren’t for me,” Zack said with a laugh. “They’re for my mom.”

Kunsel stared at him at that, as though he had sprouted two more heads, and Zack laughed. “It’s Mother’s Day,” he said. “Want me to let her know you’re looking for a bouquet too?”

Kunself scoffed. “For one thing, I know it’s Mother’s Day soon and I’ve already prepared something for my mom.”

Zack whistled teasingly.

“For another,” Kunsel went on with a frown, but the frown was only short-lived, and it was replaced by a small smile. “I hope your mom likes it.”

He hadn’t expected Kunsel to say that, and for a split second, Zack was left speechless. Kunsel chuckled, and gave him a pat on the shoulder, before leaving off to who-knew-where. He looked back once, saying, “Don’t forget about that lunch, now!” and disappeared behind a door.

The short quip broke through his trance, and Zack found himself laughing in the empty hall. He had promised. He wouldn’t forget. But now, he would go back to his room, pull out a paper and pen, and write his parents a letter. An apology for leaving town so suddenly and for worrying them, because he wanted to become a SOLDIER so bad, he hadn’t thought his actions through. He hoped his parents were all right, and he wished for their safety and health.

Happy Mother’s Day, he wrote. His pen paused over the paper, biting his lip. But the sight of the yellow flowers beside him brought his mind back to that afternoon in the flower garden where she smiled her bright smile as her green eyes met his. The smile blooming on his face was so instantaneous and instinctive and he saw no problem writing it down.

P.S. I have a girlfriend.

~ END ~

#zerith #zack fair #aerith gainsborough #fanfiction #ff7 fanfic #final fantasy vii #final fantasy #ff fanfic

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zackfiar-a · 5 years ago

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FRIENDSHIP ENDED WITH SHINRA NOW AVALANCHE IS MY NEW BEST FRIEND

it took me 10 hours to write all this. i did change up canon quite a bit, but it’s generally the same in some places. i dont blame u guys if u want to skim it LOL

i rewrote zacks canon from when he joined soldier then a little bit after the Infamous Shinra Showdown PLEASE read this !!!!

i will be applying THIS canon to my portrayal for now on esp the part where he lives but knowing my dumbass, ill be forgetting pieces of canon information i meant to add before ill be adding this to his about shortly once i wake up with a better thought process

if u have any questions pls feel free to ask !!!

being a naive kid at 13 and hearing the glorifying the heroic stories of shinra and SOLDIER, zack makes leave for midgar while writing a note to his parents not to worry about him, he’s aiming for greater things; far more than what gongaga can give him. his dream is to be the wrong idea of what being a hero means, which is wanting to be loved by many and being admired simply for the fame. sephiroth could do it, so why couldn’t he? anything is better than the boring life that gongaga gave him.

at 15, he makes it into SOLDIER as a 3rd class with the sheer force of determination and the passion of not giving up, which is what his higher ups find lacking in the military chain. being young and impressionable, shinra puts into their head of the glory they give. SOLDIER and the military is what the people look up to for protection while some think of SOLDIER as just dogs. this doesn’t deter zack, genuinely thinking that shinra is doing well for midgar. during this time he gets injected with a dose of mako, which is what they give all members of SOLDIER. this enhances their abilities and strength at the cost of body degradation and the risk of dying earlier than everyone else. zack questions this: giving up literal life for power? well, shinra wouldn’t lie to him! right? if this is price of being a hero for the people, then it has to be worth it while completely clueless of the manipulation of propaganda and ideology that shinra has shoved in his face and forced to intake.

when he turns 16, he’s promoted to SOLDIER 2nd class and befriends kunsel, who helps him give more of the inside scoop of shinra. he’s one of the first real friends zack has made, even exchanging e-mails to communicate outside of missions and SOLDIER. all the while, he is put under the tutelage of angeal. he can sense the hesitance in his mentor for training an actual kid while zack thinks being in SOLDIER is all fun and games. zack hasn’t even seen the horror of the underbelly of the beast, only fighting the surface of the war and just blindly following orders (anyone who dares stand against shinra is a bad guy and aligns themselves with wutai). fortunately, zack doesn’t fully believe that. regardless, angeal teaches him what it means to be SOLDIER, something along the lines of having SOLDIER honor. he doesn’t get what angeal means by that with furrowed brows as he continues to drill that into zacks mind, ontop of zack admittance of the reason why he joined SOLDIER in the first place aka becoming a hero for shinra and the people of midgar. angeal doesn’t even try to alter that dream knowing very well that’s not something he should be aiming for, deciding to let zack figure it out for himself.

if you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams and honor. how many times zack has heard that, he would be a rich man. eventually he takes it to heart, looking up to angeal because of how wise and strong he is.

when he’s 17, angeal nominates for him to be a 1st class while being sent out to a mission in wutai. lazard says this will stop the war, but in actuality it’s used as a false sense of justice of using SOLDIER to set up another reactor in its place. zack is unaware of this, thinking of serving as justice against wutai, using this as a place and opportunity to prove himself. in the end, lazard uses zack’s tenacity and naive enthusiasm to show he could prove himself to overtake fort tamblin. ontop of that, while navigating lazard to safety, angeal is gone and is approached by sephiroth that angeal has possibly betrayed and abandoned SOLDIER.

no! angeal wouldn’t do that! that’s not the angeal i know! he tries to tell himself that. it’s now where he begins to doubt in shinra and question their motives. he’s so enraptured at the loss of his mentor, he’s stuck inside of his mind on why angeal would leave? he has honor, right? it’s not honorable to leave that what you’re loyal to. having infatuation and admiration for sephiroth, he quickly loses the shine. maybe it’s disappointment, maybe it’s the loss of his mentor. shinra had glorified the 1st class members on all forms of media, but in reality, they weren’t all that special. he takes this time to talking about the SOLDIERS (some that don’t really care for him), about shinra and why they’ve joined it while trying to see if anyone knows anything about behind the scenes. he confides in kunsel, who does give some information on former 1st class genesis and all the 3rd and 2nd classes he took with him.

going with tseng to banora, he immediately feels a sense of dread. it’s strangely quiet, especially when when he comes across angeal’s mother. while he explains to her he doesn’t know where he is, he is determined to bring him back no matter what, not knowing the meaning of his own words. finding out that genesis buried his adopted parents, tseng and zack make their way to the apple factory on the outskirts of town. tseng tells him that sephiroth was originally assigned to this mission but pushed this on zack, for selfish reasons, he thinks. he doesn’t know whether to be angry or relieved because he feels like he can convince angeal to return to shinra but angry because how cowardly can you be? when he finds out that the planes are going to bomb banora, he rushes to try and help gillian escape only to think that angeal had killed her. he feels enraged, punching him, yelling at him about honor and the fact that was his own mother. the respect for him was rapidly being lost, feeling immensely disappointed when angeal leaves without explaining himself. he comes to greatly hate genesis and seriously distrust shinra.

coming back to hq, he is promoted to SOLDIER 1st class. lazard thinks zack would be happy about his promotion, but is only met with a sad face. i don’t deserve to be SOLDIER 1st class. i don’t want it. which, this is what he wanted in the beginning, but with everything that’s happened, he feels like can’t. being unable to convince angeal, the loss of a village and the death of gillian, he feels like he’s going backward from his goal of being a hero. it doesn’t help that he’s a 1st class by default from the lack of leadership. lazard doesnt listen and hearing that genesis copies have attacked midgar. doing so, he meets cissnei. finding out that she can handle herself, he immediately hits on her but is shortly sent on a mission with sephiroth to sector 5 reactor. they look for hollander, instead they find papers for project g. seeming that sephiroth is interested in the details of the experiments, zack is appalled that genesis is a result of a failed experiment and the fact that hollander experimenting on others. is this why he took a bunch of 3rd and 2nd class SOLDIERS with him? to use them to help himself?

finally finding hollander and genesis, he chases hollander through the mako reactor to eventually come across angeal. there’s a momentary relief of seeing him again, however is quickly flooded by reddening anger. angeal tells him, because he is also a monster, he only dreams of 2 things: world domination and revenge. zack is thrown aback at the declaration, resisting the temptation to punch him again. you’re not a monster. monsters don’t have honor. they’re scared. they’re selfish, so they fight and punish the weak. you’re not like that, angeal! and then he remembers what cissnei said about wings that symbolize freedom. angels aren’t monsters. angeal after gets into a fighting position and demands that zack defend himself. hurt at the notion that he would attack him, he’s momentarily stunned. before he can get into a fighting stance or defend himself from the blow, he falls below into sector 5.

he wakes up in a church with aerith hovering over him, briefly thinking it’s his mother when he’s convinced that she’s an angel that has come to greet him in heaven. there’s a funny feeling of meeting her, but he brushes it aside and asks her for one date as a thank you for saving him. he notices the flowers, suggesting that she should sell them to make midgar happy with the motto midgar full of flowers, wallet full of money. on a little detour, zack and aerith chat while she explains she’s afraid of the sky and SOLDIER. they fight and they like it, she explains. however, zack explains that he’s a part of SOLDIER and maybe that it was a mistake that he joined in the first place. not all of them enjoy fighting for the fun of it. that some of them joined because of a childhood fantasy and it’s not at all what it’s cracked up to be. SOLDIERS motives and goals were vastly different from his own and he doesn’t know if he wants to continue to align himself with shinra. he apologies that he shouldn’t have put that all on her since they just met. though he reassures her that since his eyes are the color of the sky, there’s nothing to be scared of. he decides to take her out to see the real sky one, to reassure her that it won’t swallow her. his stay is cut short when he’s called that genesis has attacked midgar and that he should hurry back.

when aerith takes him back to the sector 5 gate, zack decides to buy aerith a pink bow as a gift for their one - day anniversary of meeting. before he leaves, he helps a guy name the bar that would later be named 7th heaven.

he makes it back to shinra hq and is ordered to go protect hojo, for hollander is probably using this as a way to kill him. finding hojo, he seems less than troubled and more annoyed about hollander. he says that SOLDIER should do their jobs as brutes and do less thinking to protect geniuses like him, which angers zack a little bit. he never really did trust him, seeming to enjoy it too much when hojo injected him mako upon first entering SOLDIER. people aren’t made to throw their lives away for someone who seems them as less than human and shows no compassion. regardless, he does his job, fighting the bahamut fury. he swore he saw angeal during the fight; genesis is gone.

months later, he’s sent to modeoheim with a couple of shinra infantryman and tseng. on the way there, the helicopter crashes and he meets cloud while the infantryman can’t quite keep up. he learns that cloud is from nibelheim and they instantly bond as being “country boys”. eventually they find a mako excavation facility, which zack takes the initiative to infiltrate while tseng and the others continue to modeoheim. he finds a bickering genesis and hollander, which he immediately aims to fight and kill him. even though he has no personal connection to genesis, he knows that he was close friends with angeal and sephiroth, and he feels like it’s his duty to finally end him. albeit hesitant, he charges forward and wins the fight with genesis while he continues to run after hollander. in the bathhouse, he finds tseng and cloud tired and beaten as they had fought angeal. they warn him to be careful. doing so, he runs into angeal and hollander.

with his sword shaking in his hand, he decides that he has to bring angeal down and stop this cycle. that as long as he’s alive then genesis will be as well. he finds out that angeal is a result of project gillian and that said gillain actually killed herself in her home. he feels so bad, so disgusting that he had accused angeal slaying his own mother. those thoughts aren’t with him for long, but he sees him combining with all of this copies to become angeal penance. this is it, this where he is where he’s going to have to slay his mentor, the man that he’s looked up to and found as a role model. angeal, his friend that he had confided so much of his secrets in, dead by his blade. it’s like the battle was over in an instant, because now angeal was on the ground, blood pouring out of his wounds whilst slowly degrading. while zack sustained injuries of his own, the most noticeable one was the x on his cheek, with blood slowly running down his neck. it doesn’t take long for him to realize that his whole intent was to kill him, while angeal still had some semblance of honor left. it wasn’t fair, he shouldn’t have to be the one to do it.

angeal weakly hands him his buster sword and tells him to remember dreams, that zack should aim to be a true member of SOLDIER and protect his honor.

when he dies, he takes a deep breath and presses the buster sword to his forehead much like angeal did before he went on missions. sorry, angeal. i can’t do that. i can’t be the SOLDIER you want me to be. my dreams… what does it even mean to be a hero? what honor do i have left as SOLDIER? as long as i stay here, i have none. i will continue to live with what’s left.

later he confides in aerith, traumatized over angeal’s death. he doesn’t want to be in SOLDIER anymore, not what’s going on behind the scenes. unfortunately, while being under the contract of shinra, he’s forced to stay in and serve as a SOLDIER 1st class.

at 18, he’s one of the few SOLDIER 1st class left, the other one being sephiroth. when interacting with a brigade of shinra troops, he tells them that if they want to be a SOLDIER, they must have dreams and honor. while the troops have said to find his speech admiring and they they look up to him with his cool, new look! it’s any rare time that he gives a somber look. don’t believe what shinra says. think for yourself. he doesn’t want to promote and encourage more people to join SOLDIER. deny them as much man power as he possibly can, even if it gets him in trouble with the higher ups. as long as he’s here, he’s under the thumb of shinra.

as a “congratulatory break”, he’s sent to costa del sol to rest and relax. except the fact that he was opposite of that. cissnei was here with him, and any other time he wouldn’t mind, but he knew why she was also on “break” with him. though he’s warned that genesis copies have been spotted, and he has no choice but to fight. a soon to be vacation was over with, when he’s also informed that hojo broke out of prison with the suspicions of lazard, who was said to have disappeared prior before. he rushes to midgar to help stop the genesis copies with the stolen tech of shinra. when he found hollander, it was too late and he escaped. lo’ and behold sephiroth has finally arrived and tells zack that his mission was deemed a failure. he’s just tired of all of this, more concerned about the towns people that caught up in the mess than hollander. at this point, he was too deep that he has no choice for hollander to seek justice for what he’s done. needless to say, he doesn’t care much about seeing sephiroth, but hearing him say he forgives him of his misdeeds relaxes him. with sephiroth’s permission to go back to midgar to see aerith, he heads off there immediately.

when he arrives at the church, he spots an angeal copy with aerith. at first assuming the worst, he aims to kill it but aerith says not to. instead, the copy protects aerith instead from an uninvited monster. zack doesn’t trust it, but leaves it in the church’s beams anyways to watch over her. he tells aerith that he’s going to be gone for a long time, and he won’t know when he’ll be coming back. so she suggests that zack makes the flower wagon he promised her long ago. when he gets the pieces together, he’s disappointed that aerith doesn’t like it but uses it anyways. he’s with her for several hours, selling flowers, but when he sees aerith being lenient with the price, he tells her not to settle for less. make your stand and not sell it for 1 lousy gil. the flowers deserve to be 10 gil a piece, at least. when a costumer comes across aerith and zack selling flowers, he tells them that it’s their dream to make midgar full of flowers. unfortunately, it isn’t a bit later that he gets a called away on his last mission. before he leaves, he tells aerith that aerith should do something for zack every time he comes to visit her, like wearing pink. he thinks pink is a really endearing color on her. he finds tseng hiding behind a piece of playground equipment, and even though he doesn’t fully trust the turks, he’s really the only one he can trust to take care of aerith, not exactly understanding tseng’s role in the first place.

when zack gets back, he finds cloud, who’s trying to round everyone up for the next mission. zack is elated and excited that finally another mission with him. he finally meets with sephiroth, accompanied by cloud and several other unnamed shinra infantryman, and sephiroth tells them they’re leaving for nibelheim. their goals there were to inspect the incoming monsters infiltrating the town and a malfunctioning reactor. although zack is surprised that cloud has his helmet on, he has his suspicions, he asks why. cloud doen’t give a direct answer, so he brushes it off, not wanting to push the issue. hearing that sephiroth doesn’t have family, he perks up when he hears him mention jenova’s name. jenova… jenova… isn’t that the cells they were using for the monsters? genesis mentioned something about that, didn’t he?

when they go check out the reactor, tifa is there and offers them around nibelheim as a tour guide, even taking pictures in the process. the reactor is now fixed, but among the pods they find monsters soaked in mako. zack is disgusted and feels bad to the people who were affected by this. what were the lads words they said to their family? what were they doing when they got kidnapped? climbing the stairs, he finds the biggest pod with jenova and he can’t help but stare at the plaque. jenova… wait, that’s sephiroth’s mother! before he can think about it more, sephiroth starts to speak. you average SOLDIER members are mako - infused humans. you’re enhanced, but you’re still human. …but then what are these things? their mako levels are exponentially higher than yours. when sephiroth explains that they are monsters spawned by mako energy and that hojo created them, it didn’t take long for zack to connect the dots. he didn’t want it to be true, but it wasn’t a coincidence that the three best friends weren’t human at all, just experimental pawns made by the scientists of shinra. zack approaches him, and tries to be careful on the subject. he didn’t want it to be true. you said “average” member. what about you? that should’ve been an instance where he kept his mouth shut.

this whole thing was no coincidence. seeing sephiroth suddenly grip his head and ask himself if he’s an abomination, that he’s not like the others. zack can’t help but wonder what’s wrong and console him or to be shoved away. makes it no better that genesis came to confirm that’s the case, blowing zack away; that sephiroth is not human because he was created from jenova, or the remains of those failed experiments. finally, when genesis leaves after sephiroth, zack rushes after him to see zack be blasted by a monster and helped by tifa. it makes sense that sephiroth possibly the strongest monster out of angeal and genesis. when he helps tifa and cloud back to the inn, he goes to check up on sephiroth, who is in the basement of the shinra basement. in a mistake of one room, he comes across a seemingly sleeping man in a coffin. oh, creepy. finding sephiroth, he is immediately shunned away with him burying his face in the books. it was his fault this happened anyways, that he had to ask why sephiroth thought he was different from the other SOLDIERS, even angeal and genesis. he was going to try again, because he wasn’t going to have sephiroth betray them too. except sephiroth continued to ignore him and even threatened him to leave. there was a terrible feeling in his gut, but there was nothing he could do, so he left to go check on cloud back at the inn.

cloud was fine, but he wanted to talk to him about tifa and the fact that he was hiding his face the whole time he was in nibelheim. it was a personal issue it seemed, but cloud said if only he was in SOLDIER, then he would be strong enough to protect tifa and others. except, zack wasn’t on board. SOLDIER is a den of monsters. don’t go inside. everything shinra has told you about it is a lie. how great it is… how it produces the best heroes in the world; they don’t settle the peace, they’re just glorified monsters. they don’t care about what happens to the people, as long as it funds their goals in the end. cloud seemed confused, wanting to know more about what he was talking about. zack has the experience of being in SOLDIER in his belt, he just wants to prevent people from being in the same situations he’s been in many times. you know, i asked myself what it meant to be SOLDIER. when i first joined, i thought i was proud to be a part of shinra. everyone talked about how great being in shinra was, but no one knows what lies in the dark. only i know the truth. cloud, do me a favor: don’t ever look in SOLDIER’s direction, before you get turned into a monster, too.

cloud is still confused, but agrees with him regardless because he was someone who looked greatly up to zack, and it must be serious if he’s saying stuff like this too. though he couldn’t help but ask if zack was considered a monster also. zack doesn’t answer for a long moment, even considering. … i might be. all monsters are infused with mako energy afterall. wouldn’t it make sense if i were one? cloud doesn’t know how to answer it, so he nods towards the buster sword, telling zack that’s never seen him use it. zack picks up angeal’s sword and thinks. this is a symbol of my dreams and honor. it was a symbol of angeal’s burden of SOLDIER honor, not his own. no, it’s not. it’s symbol of my freedom, when i finally leave SOLDIER for good. when i make up all the wrongs it’s done to the innocent people of midgar. this is a symbol for… my own honor. this is proof that i am alive and that i exist. who gives a damn about SOLDIER anyways? no, he wasn’t a monster and never will be one. he’s a kind, and cares for others. do monsters do that? he smiles at cloud and sets down the blade. he thanks him while going straight to sleep. cloud doesn’t even have a say in what for.

a week passes. zack hasn’t seen sephiroth in town and every time he visits him, he is shoved away and ignored. it doesn’t even look like he’s been sleeping. it’s his horror when he wakes up to the increased heat in october and the smell of smoke that he finds out nibelheim is on fire. going to confront sephiroth, he sees tifa curled up, cursing shinra and SOLDIER. he meets him in the reactor where he’s talking to jenova, which he fights him not soon afterwards. just like genesis and angeal, monsters from experiments. sephiroth is no longer the man he had once trusted and admired, so he must either kill him or try and talk him out his hazed trance of god superiority. which is pathetic to think about, because if he couldn’t convince angeal, what makes him think he can talk to sephiroth? zack is striked down, too weak to fight on, so seeing cloud approach, he begs for him to finish sephiroth off. for what he’s seen, it looks like killed him. that victory is short lived when he becomes unconscious.

for the next 4 years, his dreams died as fast as he desired them. he vaguely remembers such unjust experiments done to him; pumping in so much mako and the power of jenova cells it feels like the flesh is melting off his bones and his heart pounds heavily in his chest. zack doesn’t even realize it’s been 4 years, maybe several days max when he sees angeal’s image in his sleep. he tries to scream for him, but nothing comes out. he bangs on the glass, but there’s no sound. the next few seconds flash by, and now he’s on the ground in some lab. where was he? that didn’t matter. he’s free now, and he’s see cloud in a pod that was next to his own. from then on, it was his duty to take care of cloud until he woke up. it didn’t matter if he didn’t wake up for 3 months, he was still going to be by his side. it’s the least he could do, he owes him so much for getting cloud involved in this mess.

when he’s finally able to change his clothes, he realizes upon closer inspection that cloud is suffering from severe mako poisoning. he’s seen it in several SOLDIER members who were addicted to it, like they were in such a catatonic state it took them a day to several to get over it. he can’t imagine the intake he has taken, but zack was fine, already being infused with it previously.

he takes cloud to the coast of a beach that wasn’t far from nibelheim, but by the time he got there, it was night time. he didn’t mind, he needed a break anyways and they had to wait it out until morning because of all the shinra patrols. which, has hasn’t figured out why there were so many to begin with. he’s approached by cissnei, but she wasn’t here for a friendly conversation, her weapon drawn. she asks if he’s the runaway specimen, which gives zack the idea that while he got his wish of no longer being a SOLDIER, he is now seen nothing as an experiment gone wrong. that’s not quite what he had mind, but also finding out that being gone for 4 years makes sense, being presumed dead when he was captured. how was he supposed to function in this world now when it’s moved on and you’re left behind? it was cissnei’s orders to capture him alive, but zack would be dead than rather to be back in shinra’s hands. seeing her able to actually put up a fight, zack escapes to meet back up with cloud. cissnei comes back, but offers him her peace, and a vehicle for them to runaway in. he thanks cissnei, and cloud and zack attempt to back to midgar, while trying to run from shinra.

another year passes, he sees genesis on the road, which he’s been told that zack’s “gift of the goddess”. becoming captured, a genesis clone eats some of his hair to help stop his degradation, except the cells had adapted to zack’s body, having already intaken mako in the past. the clone transforms into a monster, which zack has to fight to pass. he does, becoming more frustrated and angry until he reaches gongaga. he decides to make a pit stop, but cissnei finds him, telling that his hometown is such an obvious place for shinra to find zack. except he spots a white wing and a flash of angeal’s face.

he leaves cissnei and goes to chase the figure, finding out it’s lazard who had become an angeal copy. once wanting revenge and filled with anger, absorbing angeal’s cells caused him to have a strong will and the desire to help out zack. he’s degrading, and it shows by the withered feathers. unexpectedly, he asks what zack’s dreams were. this time, he takes serious consideration. no longer someone of shinra or SOLDIER, he’s free to do whatever he pleases, however now that’s very sure in his goal, he tells lazard that he wants to a hero. this time, not for fame or to see how great people are. if he can save one person, then he can be a hero. if he can help at least one person, then that’s good enough for him. he doesn’t care about fame, or the glory that comes with a praised name. that’s boring and not for him at all. lazard laughs and tells him exactly what he had said before when he first asked those years ago: unattainable dreams are the best kind.

genesis and hollander find them, which hollander now has become a genesis clone. genesis informs him that cloud is the last bearer of pure s - cells. upon them trying to take it, zack officially kills hollander at last, which he leaves cloud with a wounded lazard. zack finally gets the hint with the constant banora apples he always holds that genesis works from banora. he asks a dying lazard to look after cloud as he goes to finish off a further degrading genesis. he chases him underground and finds and finishes him. after all this time, he can’t feel the harbor of anger and hatred he once had towards genesis, but now only pity and sadness. all this for a shred of immortality, just because he was afraid of dying. however, he can’t forgive all those people he’s captured and extracted for any hopes to stop his degradation process as a failed experiment. he leaves genesis down in the banora underground where the lifestream goes through.

coming back to the surface, he sees lazard dead with the angeal copy that had protected aerith in her church. zack rests with cloud when the last angeal copy to dies, thanking it for protecting aerith this whole time while he was away. with his new found motivation, zack hitches with cloud on the back of a truck on the way to midgar. zack tells him that he wants to become a mercenary, any job that’s dangerous or boring, as long as it has pay. he also informs cloud that he’ll join him too, because they’re friends, right? he also has “conversations” with a continued catatonic cloud about how he can’t wait for him to meet aerith. zack thinks the two of them will get along perfectly, like they’re two peas in a pod. also recalling how cloud had issues with talk about tifa, he hopes that cloud gets that resolved because he’s sure tifa misses him a lot and wants him to come home (which, it’s unfortunately no longer nibelheim). zack continues to talk to cloud about nonsense, even silly stories about being in SOLDIER. he says once that kunsel had e - mail’d him like crazy when he mysteriously found that he was still alive. it’s like he’s too ashamed to face him now.

he spots a shinra road block, which zack thanks the driver and sets cloud to the side, telling him he’ll be right back. he’s convinced that he will die here but he will continue to fight for his freedom as long as he was associated with SOLDIER in any time frame. that’s fine with him. approaching him, he gives a sigh and a shake of his head. then pressing the blade to his forehead, he speaks to himself. whatever happens, protect your dreams… and your honor. fight for your freedom and your right to exist! come and get it! before charging at the army in his wake.

it feels like the battle went on for hours, being targeted at several different directions. the weight of the buster sword was becoming too heavy, his arms feeling like lead and legs feeling like jello. dodge a bullet there, block a punch there. even several summons later, it like his body was running on auto - drive. he’s lost vision in one eye, but he can still fight. the pain is numbed by the adrenaline running through his body and how his lungs are struggling for air with every swing he takes. was he really going to die here? his first mistake was believing in shinra’s ideals and goals, and continuing to follow them, what kind of idiot was him? quickly went down from being a respectable, admirable leadership to someone who’s the lowest of the low. shinra won’t keep midgar safe. everyone is pawns, they’re all expendable. they don’t care about its people, they will sacrifice as many as they can. what’s their end goal? he doesn’t know. he just wants to right all the wrongs he’s done, all the ignorant stuff he’s said. it’s all over. he owes the people.

i’m sorry. i’m sorry.

it’s almost a hour later, his back is laid against the bloodied ground with a cloudy sky above him with the hilt of the blade loosely being held in his hand. did he… make it? his heart rate is slow but as long as he can still move. was cloud okay? that was his main concern. cloud… his voice is quiet, rasp as he struggles to sit up. blood is pouring down his face and neck, a rib was cracked, but that was the last thing on his mind. cloud, we did it. there’s a very weak smile on his face, his left eye is non - functional, and he’s using his buster sword as a crutch. a rather pathetic sight. did you see that? he finds cloud resting exactly where he rested him. good, he’s so relieved. he struggles to pick cloud up, but with his arm held across his shoulders, he’s wincing and in so much pain, but they had to keep moving. we’re almost there. then he can see aerith again, the freedom of the sky of his victory well won.

however, he collapses upon half way making it to midgar, unconscious from blood loss, but when he wakes up, he’s at the slums sector 7 train station. he looks at his side and see cloud still knocked out. he’s safe. he’s spotted by tifa, who regonizes cloud and brings them back to the apartments. zack is treated by a doctor, with 2 cracked ribs and a loss of his left eye, which is covered up with a bandaged eye patch. cloud is still catatonic, however slowly regaining consciousness, as he is showing more body function than he has in the past year. while recovering, zack is introduced to avalanche, who’s goal was to fight against shinra and their greedy destruction of the planet. zack decides to still work as a mercenary while aiding avalanche, to take back what they’ve killed and caused chaos with. he decides to take tifa to the side and apologize for what happened in nibelheim and her dad, even feeling solely responsible.

when zack is able to fight, he takes up the job to help bomb a reactor, albeit hesitant, and helping up around the sector 7 slums with the neighborhood watch, even going to the sector 5 slums and reuniting with aerith. even after all this, he still maintains a positive face, joking with the lack of a brain cell.

however, bombing the reactor has tied him with shinra once again, instead of being a SOLDIER 1st class, he’s an escaped fugitive; a betrayer of shinra. the events after this is still to be determined.

#m.#my eyes hurt ............. ill be back later after taking a nap or something

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theclosetpoet7 · 5 years ago

Text

If My Heart Was A House page 8

Day Eight of @clotiweek

free day

"Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. Nothing’s like before."

"People seem to mistake us as a married couple."

She's surprised that he brought it up so suddenly, still blushing because of the misunderstanding.

Cloud had walked in when one of the patrons asked Tifa why she doesn't wear her wedding ring while at work. And because she was vividly aware of the fact that he had just come home, the barmaid almost dropped the tray of tequila shots she brought to the table. The glasses quivered in her hold, nearly falling over, only for leather-clad hands to steady it for her, saving the business woman from wasting hundreds of gil.

He regarded her with genuine concern in his light azure eyes, faintly whispering;

"Be careful, Tifa."

The smooth tone of his voice caressed the shell of her ear, making her teardrop earring sway. She swallowed a gulp while she tried to regain her balance, smiling sheepishly at the group before her. She didn't hesitate in correcting her customers with a forced smile on her face.

And, after bowing down, the Nibelheim girl cheerfully told them to enjoy their drinks.

Now, to have him mention the topic while she cleans up and slides a mug of Corel beer to her best friend slash lover, Tifa flushes in girlish delight at the prospect of him suddenly taking interest in their relationship status.

They never thought much about how people saw them.

Or at least, she never thought he did.

In truth, Tifa does think about it from time to time.

And who could blame her? He doesn't know how often returning customers ask her about where "her husband" is. Doesn't know that she had been swift in denying it only for her patrons to snort as if they didn't believe her.

Occasionally, when they do acknowledge the fact that she's legally single, she would receive looks of pity that she honestly doesn't care for.

Except when an insensitive middle-aged woman would casually gossip about how hard it must be with the children there.

Tifa adds more pressure while she wipes the smudge off a wine glass.

"Yeah, people can be quick to make their own assumptions sometimes."

Though she does wish that they properly defined what they were.

Cloud wasn't the type to ask 'Can you be my girlfriend?', even if what they've been doing the last couple of years since that night definitely doesn't fall into the category of just friends~ living in the same house...raising Marlene and Denzel together. She touches the wolf ring on her right hand.

She never really yearned for such titles.

Never really considered herself as less important because of the lack of it.

They have a connection that transcends beyond the binding judgment of social constructs.

And, for as long as he wants her beside him, she'll stay.

For him.

For their family.

Besides, Cloud was always more vocal with his actions, especially behind the closed doors of their bedroom.

Tifa blushes at the thought, knowing well enough that after she finishes closing up the bar and they head back to their shared quarters, Cloud would take her in his arms again.

He had been gone for over a week, saying he had something important to do in Gongaga.

She wonders if he's gone to visit Zack's parents and decides that maybe she'll ask him about it later so that next time, she can send over some of her best wine and chicken pot pie if they want.

A light thump interrupts her inner musings.

Tifa turns to look at her childhood friend who is sitting on the bar stool with an odd look in his blue orbs. One that reminded her of a treasured memory all those years ago, like he's being shy again. She tilts her head to the side but glances down at the bar where he has placed a small item on the wooden surface.

What she sees nearly makes her fall to her knees.

"Say, we make it official?"

Her carmine eyes widen.

The ring was simple but quite elegant. A thin silver band, with a blue diamond at the center, and tiny dots of barely recognizable star-shaped gems, sparkling like the night's sky she's always associated with their more intimate moments.

Simple, yet beautiful at the same time.

Perfect.

"Cloud."

He's blushing furiously, offering his hand out to her while he tries not to meet her surprised stare. He takes the ring out of the blue box and holds it between his thumb and index finger.

Waiting for something.

In an act that manages to speed up her own heart's beating, Tifa places her hand over Cloud's.

Accepting his offer.

He inhales a sharp intake of breath.

Grasping her worn out left hand, he gently holds it. Then, he finally lifts his head to look straight at her, giving her a look that held so much more meaning than it ever did before.

He's never been good with words, however, the way Cloud gazes at her with all the love she knows he has for her, Tifa couldn't help but tear up.

He's asking permission in his own way, the hand holding hers shuddering in anticipation.

Telling her without words.

Marry me.

Tifa wipes the tears off her face and nods her head.

There's a flash of relief in his person.

And she watches, with immense happiness, as he slides the ring delicately on her finger, touching her skin and sliding the pads of his fingers under hers, brushing the tips of her digits to study how the ring looks on Tifa's hand.

"Beautiful."

Cloud smiles sincerely.

“Tifa, let’s make a promise.”

The softening of his features.

The way his cheeks crinkle his orbs into upside down crescents.

And how he recalled exactly what she had said once before, nearly makes her heart burst.

"I want you to stay with me." he starts.

She smiles back at him.

"I want to make you happy."

As if he isn't satisfied with what he just said, Cloud shakes his head.

"I'm going to make you happy."

She already is though, so Tifa settles with nodding in reply.

"I don't know what the future brings..."

Tifa laces their fingers and shakes her head. She's still crying out of joy. He returns her hold and tugs her closer to him over the counter.

Cloud lovingly cups her cheek in his hand and tilts her head to him.

"But, when I'm with you, the future doesn't scare me. Not one bit."

He seals his new promise with a kiss, pressing his mouth to hers in an act full of warmth and adoration.

Solidifying the bond they've built over the course of the decades they've known each other.

Twenty years after she met him.

Eleven after he made his vow to her under shimmering lights.

Four years after she found him beneath Sector 7's plate

And three and a half after he claimed her as his while the stars shined brightly above, their only witness.

fin ________________ Author’s Note: Yo, thank you so much to the staff of Final Heaven discord and to everyone there! This week was so much fun. I love that we’re spreading all the love because of our mutual love for Cloti. This was a blast to write!

#ClotiFallFestival2019 #ThankYouCloti #cloti-fanfic #cloti fanfic #cloti

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