It was only nine in the morning, but Zack was tired. Tired of walking, for one thing – he'd been out for three hours now, and the chill was only just finally burning off with the light of the sun. Tired of wearing his jacket, that was another thing, but that was easy to remedy. He slid it off his shoulders with a small sigh. Tired of trading one vice for another, he couldn't help but think as he finished his cigarette and put it out.
Tired of being in his stupid apartment all alone, that was for sure.
He tossed the used butt of his cigarette into a trash bin and popped a breath mint into his mouth. It wouldn't wholly cover the smell of smoke, but whatever. At least he wouldn't be terrible to talk to, like this. And some people dug a guy who smoked, as uncool as it was quickly becoming.
He could use a break, though. A break from walking. His bad leg was beginning to act up a little bit, and he glanced around. He walked these streets fairly often, and there used to be an empty building here. But now, as he looked at the storefront, he realized it had been bought and repurposed into a little coffee shop. Lily Brew.
The name reminded him of something.
Well, whatever. He could always use some coffee, and with any luck, the baristas wouldn't be terrible at brewing it here. He walked on in, noting the cute little chime that the door, and glanced around. There was a woman behind the counter with long, brunette hair, and...oh, he knew that face. He knew why that name sounded familiar now, too.
“Aeris?” he asked, breaking into a wide grin. “Aeris Gainsborough, that can't be you.”
It wasn't easy to get into Midgar, especially when you were half starved, sporting a few bullet wounds, and dragging your semi-conscious, mako addicted best friend with you. But with such a big city, there were always people entering and exiting, in ways that were legal and not so legal. It was just a matter of slipping through the cracks.
Zack chose the sewers to wade through, even though it was a terrible idea in the condition he was in. He had tied off all his wounds with the last of the bandages he had stolen somewhere around Junon when they had passed through, but the less than clean environment was certain to be a detriment to his health. Not to mention Cloud's health – the poor kid was barely a slip of a thing to start with, and now he was all skin and bones. This couldn't be good for either of them.
But it allowed him to slip unnoticed into the city. He'd need new boots after this, and maybe new pants. But for now, the smell of sewer clinging to him just made strangers steer their way around him. No one questioned why he was dragging his companion; it was late enough at night that he just pretended they were drunk, and no one said a word.
They made their way through Sector 4's residential area, and then into Sector 5. Zack was bristling with excitement. He hadn't seen Aerith in, what, five years now? The excitement was immediately tinged with nervousness. It had been a long time. Would she even still remember him? Not to mention, he was here to ask for a pretty big favor.
Aerith had always been something of a healer, Zack knew, and he had hoped she'd be able to do something to help Cloud. It was a big ask, especially for a guy who had disappeared for five years.
But he didn't have much of a choice. He didn't have a lot of allies, and all of them that he had were in Midgar. Kunsel had never given up on him, but Zack had seen the danger in contacting him or anyone else in Shinra. Where else could he even go from here?
It was early morning already, the sun just beginning to peak over the edges of the city, when the old church finally came into view. It looked exactly like he remembered it, patched roof and sagging door frame and all. It was such a feeling of relief to find that something had stayed the same that he could have wept. Aerith wouldn't be there this early, but neither would anyone else, probably.
“You see that, Cloud? This here's Sector 5, my old stomping grounds,” he commented, unable to keep the grin off his face.
His arm was numb from dragging Cloud along with him, and his senses were dulled with lack of sleep. But they would be able to rest soon. First they would nap in the relative safety of the church, then they would see Aerith, and Zack would buy them all breakfast with the last of the gil he had earned in the farms outside Junon, working as a farmhand.
The doors opened with a shove, a little harder to shove than they had been before – maybe he could oil the hinges to help out Aerith tomorrow – and the air smelled of the lilies that grew within. It was such a sweet, nostalgic scent that again Zack found tears in his eyes threatening, but he just swallowed them back and glanced around.
Everything looked the same. There were more lilies growing, he thought, and the pews had been pushed back a little bit. The sun was beginning to peak in through the roof, although the patch of light that reached within hadn't hit the flowers yet. The only thing missing, of course, was the pretty gardener who tended the flowers.
“Here we are, Cloud. We can take it easy here for a few hours before Aerith gets here, okay? I don't know about you, but I could sure use a nap!” Zack said cheerfully, dragging Cloud up through the center of the church.
Cloud, of course, didn't reply further than a quiet moan. The noises were new, and, Zack thought, probably a good sign.
He arranged Cloud on the floor near the first pew in the church, and then he lay down next to him, sword easily within reach, just in case it wasn't Aerith who came through that door first. He was fairly certain they hadn't been seen or followed, but you could never be sure.
He tucked his hands behind his head and couldn't contain his smile as he closed his eyes and thought of all the things he was going to say to Aerith.