aterat | Meeting Friends, New And Old

Entry tags:

ffvii (ou): zack fair

Meeting Friends, New And Old

Who; Zack Fair, Aerith, Open
What; A promised meeting with Aerith, and Making new friends
Where; The Flower Shop, Fountain
When; August, throughout the Month
Warnings; None

I. Years Overdue | Closed to Aerith

Two hours and sixteen minutes. That's how long it takes him to finish what he was doing and then find the florist shop. With the help from other people's directions he'd found the markets once more. And, luck of all lucks, his eyes had caught a little jewelery stall on the way there.

It was a sign, he had decided, when his eyes had caught sight of a set of little pink earrings. Sure, it wasn't the sort of stud he usually preferred, but promises were promises. He'd bought them on the spot, tucked his silver stud carefully into a seam of his pants to keep is safe, and put the earring with the small and importantly pink earring in his ear. There, perfect. Not as much as he'd want, but it would do. And hey, he thought he looked good with the little carved rose.

He was perfect, and so he got directions and... Well, he'd come here. To stand outside of the florist shop. There were deep breaths to be had, psyching himself up. And then, at last, he pushed his way in.

II. Many Happy Meetings | Open

Damn but he felt alive. Impossibly alive. Properly alive. Better not to think on it too much. For now, Zack had to figure out what he was going to do with himself. But now he was somewhere that the three people most important to him all were, ShinRa wasn't going to be able to come after them, and hey, no monsters.

Now if only he could figure out what else he wanted to do with himself now that he was here. Well, he supposed there were some options. Like what Zack was doing right now. He sat on the edge of the fountain, smiling up at the sky, breathing deeply. A world without the taint of mako in the air. A world without the war that he'd seen the tail end of. A world with hope.

"Damn it's beautiful here," he laughed to himself.

His energy didn't let him stay relaxed for long, though. So, while he wanted to experience the pleasure of the sights, and the wonder of the fountain, he had to be doing something. So Zack bounced to his feet and started to go through some squats, even as he let his eyes wander so he could watch it all.

"The world could do with more places like this."

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True to her word, Aerith had run out real fast to grab a little snack. It wasn't much, just two blueberry muffins, the kind that her trusty employee Watts had brought for her time and time again. She made a mental note to thank him for introducing herself to the spot. Not only did they make pretty good baked goods, but it was also pretty close so there was less of a chance of him arriving before she got back.

That'd be their luck wouldn't it? Him to show up there only for her to not be there herself. Luckily for both of them she'd made it back before him. Which just meant she'd had a bit of time to...be nervous. Not that she hadn't been nervous earlier! It was just fully hitting her now and gosh it really was a lot of emotions. She busied herself putting together a few bouquets until the little bell she'd finally installed on the door chimed to let her know someone was coming in. She had a huge smile on her face as he walked in.

"You sure have kept me waiting, mister." She couldn't resist a little light hearted teasing, besides, maybe it'd help make things less awkward.

Aerith. Seeing her made his heart race. There she was. It had been so long, and no amount of texting could replace the sound of her voice, the look of her face, the way she teased him.

"Yeah," he agreed, his voice soft and he smiled softly. "Hey. I... I'm sorry about that. But I'm here."

She stood there for a moment just looking him over, as if she couldn't quite believe it. Then she threw her arms around him for a hug.

"I'm just glad to finally see you again. I waited you know, but..." nothing had ever come. No information at all.

There she was, in his arms. His own folded around her and he embraced her tightly. She's alive. He's here. It's what he had been working toward for so long. A year of journey, and only now making it.

"I got your last letter. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Something tells me it wasn't your fault," she said as she squeezed him. Her eyes were welling up but she was resisting pretty well. This was a happy occasion, no sense ruining it with tears, right? It'd been so long and so much had happened.

"Maybe you could tell me about it?"

Absolutely wasn't his fault. He'd worked so hard, so hard to get back to her.

"It's a long story. Probably classified. I'd be happy to."

Because any of his secrets could be hers. He didn't care about what Shinra would think of it. Not now.

"Luckily for you I got snacks, so I'm prepared for long stories," she said with a smile as she gestured to what she'd grabbed. "It's not much, but better than nothing?"

"I'm not going to be interrupting your work, am I?" he asks, wanting to be certain. Because telling her was important, but it was a thing of hours. And he was all for 'pocket fulla gil'. Or whatever money was here.

"Nope! In fact I should turn the sign to closed for now," she stepped past him quickly to the door to do just that. "Best part about owning the place is I can choose my own hours!" And this seemed so much more important, at least to her.

Well, there it was. Door closed so he can talk to her. Makes him feel important, because he's worth changing her plans for. Good.

"Well then, this might take a bit. We're talking years here. Can we sit somewhere? I'm good with the floor too."

"We could go to the back! There aren't that many flowers back there right now and there's a little table with some chairs we could use!" She started back towards the door behind the counter and waved for him to come. The storage room behind was more of a small office with shelves that held a variety of flowers scattered about, a few vases that looked like they were being used as test examples of future products, and some books that looked like they probably kept a tally of orders. In the center there was a small wooden table with four chairs around it with a teapot in the center (that currently had nothing in it) and four cups. It was probably fairly obvious that it was also their breakroom.

"Chairs seem better than the floor. Just a tiny bit more comfortable."

Damn, this is a lot more organized than he was expecting. Which wasn't a comment on her, just that Zack didn't really know what went into a well organized business. The shops in Midgar didn't bring him behind the counter, and the ones in Gongaga had just been small things run out of the front room of homes.

"Nice setting you've got here. Oh! Tea. This girl said it's really good to have tea with people important to you."

He'll happily take a chair.

"This is uh... mostly a friend," she said with a big smile. She probably could have claimed it was all her, but that wouldn't have felt right considering how much help she got.

"He's only part-time but he works hard!" she took a seat and gestured for him to sit down too. "That's my friend too. Sometimes I get a bit too wrapped up in things. So he brings things to remind me to take breaks." The shop was probably the hardest Aerith had ever worked on...anything. Well, besides the whole stopping Sephiroth thing. But that was a different kind of working, wasn't it?

"I'm so glad that you've got help," he says with a smile. She deserves help. And he smiles at her. More friends and support for Aerith.

"Well, let's have that tea."

"I can't wait for you to meet him! I bet you'll get along." Then again who didn't get along with Watts? Pretty much nobody.

"It might be a bit cold but it shouldn't be too bad. Sadly all we have right now is some honey green tea in there. Nothing too fancy." But she poured them both a cup, there'd be time for better teas later.

If she felt it, then Zack would probably get along with them. Aerith was an amazing judge of character. And an amazing judge of him.

"I'm sure cold is amazing," he says with a smile. "And sweet is always to my liking. I mean, I do like you."

She passed him a small cup after she'd poured and then got one for herself.

"True and I'm about as sweet as one can get, right?" she replied with a laugh. She was slightly more hesitant with her follow up, not wanting to push too much: "So...about that story?"

Alright, time to get into that. Zack takes a deep breath and then the cup of tea. Even takes a sip and looks pleased with the taste. Then, and only them, does he start into the story, beginning with the trip to Nibelheim. And while he doesn’t go into all the darkest details, preferring to brush over them so he doesn’t upset her, Zack absolutely does go over the general shape of what kept him from her for so long. Even takes a moment to go over how her last letter had gotten to him and he’d worked so hard to get himself and Cloud back to Midgar.

How he’d been fighting to get back home.

Maybe the trip wasn’t perfect, maybe there were choices he could have made that would have made it easier. But in the end, he didn’t regret the trying. And when he finished, it was without telling her that he’d died. She’d know if she knew Cloud. She knew that. So it didn’t need said.

“And then here I was. Waking up and then I ran into Yuffie, damn but the kid grew up, and she said you were here, and I knew I had to find you.”

For much of his story Aerith had to actively try to keep from looking as concerned as she felt. There was enough about his story to make her realize he was probably leave some of the more unpleasant things out. It was a nice gesture, even if she would say she could have handled it. Everything about what he said seemed unfair, but she knew that saying it was unfair would just be an empty statement. An empty somewhat childish statement. A lot about what they'd all gone through as a group was unfair and they all knew that already.

"Well, it looks like you found me eventually," she finally said with a somewhat sad little smile. Even her best attempts couldn't keep all of the sadness away from her expression. Not when it came to a story like that from someone she cared for as much as she cared for him. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. But...I'm glad you weren't completely alone at least."

“I did,” he agreed with a smile. Not through any success of his own, but some extra-dimensional luck and a more than amazing dose of healing to go with it apparently.

“Yeah, I wasn’t. I had Spike. My good friend. Yuffie suggested he found you. I’m glad. Did you help him, with the Mako poisoning?”

"I'm glad you did. I've...I've missed you." A lot. She wants to add that part so bad but she tries to hold back a bit. It's hard though, it bubbles up to the surface with a gentle smile cast in his direction.

"Mmm...I'm trying to help him, to guide him, but..." how to explain? "It's...where I'm from is a bit different than where you're from," she said with a little laugh. "It's a bit different than where Yuffie's from too. I guess the universe couldn't help but complicate things, huh?"

Different? Zack makes that little questioning noise he does and tilts his head to the side. There was a reason he’d been compared to a puppy. The way he got when he was confused was definitely one of the reasons.

“Different how? I mean, I guess since I’m here I have to believe all that sci-if ‘different worlds’ things. Especially after everything Sephiroth was on about too. I just… It’s hard to understand what’s going on.”

Things may be different, but some things stayed the same, like how adorable he was sometimes. She made a humming noise as she tried to think of how to explain things.

"Something happened and Sephiroth showed up before he should have." Did that make sense? It didn't make sense to her really. Not completely. "Then these things started showing up. Whispers. The arbiters of fate, beings born of the planet that were meant to keep fate on the right path. We fought them. Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Red, and I. We fought Sephiroth and then we fought them and I guess...well, I guess we killed Fate. Fate with a capital F."

Okay, Zack had a headache developing. The way she had said it all, Zack had to wonder if she didn’t know something of the future. Was that a power she had before? And fighting Fate? What the hell?

“You and Cloud fighting fate, huh? That’d be a thing to see. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help, but I guess we both know that was never going to happen.”

"It was! The Whisper Harbinger was huge. I never imagined we'd be up against something like that." Truthfully, there had been a moment where she'd wondered if they'd be able to do it. Fighting something that big? It was terrifying. Fighting something that big that was also the representation of the Fate the Planet wanted? Even more terrifying. But she'd had to put her faith in everyone together.

She shook her head. "I wish you had been there. But...maybe there's still a chance now that we've changed things?" She knew that was probably just wishful thinking. Even if they had killed Fate, it probably wasn't going to change his fate. Or her own. It was still a nice thought though, wasn't it? To think there was some sort of chance that they'd all run into each other and then they'd face Sephiroth all together. She gave him a little smile touched with just the slightest hint of sadness.

"I guess you'll just have to make it up to us here, huh? If Fate ever shows up we can all tackle it together."

He’d left her to all of this, when he was supposed to be her bodyguard. Or was he supposed to be her friend? Boyfriend? Man, he didn’t even really know anymore. Did he even have any claim to her after all this time, after the life she had come to live after him?

“I intend to make up for it here. To find a place. To figure it out. And hey, if it shows up here, then you’ll have me to help. Once I get a weapon.”

She reached out to put her hand on his. "Just as long as you remember you're not alone. If you need help with figuring it out, I hear I'm pretty helpful. Plus I could help you out now too! I have a fair amount of money here so maybe I could help you pay for a weapon!"

The touch earns a soft, nervous smile from him. He doesn't even know what to do here, he's half lost and he doesn't know how to say it.

"You are super helpful Aerith. And pretty pretty. But you know I don't wanna just ask you for money. Not any more than you would have wanted to do the same to me back home."

In most instances she finds it easy to just babble away, her mom always said she was a chatterbox and that was never untrue. Yet somehow she keeps getting all tangled up in her words here.

"Only pretty pretty?" she teased with a tiny smile. "I know. I figured I'd offer anyway. Even if I knew you'd say no."

"Awwww, you got me. You're stunning," he laughs, before gesturing to what she's wearing. "It suits you. But everything does."

Honestly, he figured saying that would help move on from the question of him borrowing money.

"So, did you help Cloud get out of his Mako Poisoning?"

"That's better," she giggles lightly but his question quickly caused her smile to drop. She shook her head.

"No, I think...he's better? Kind of. Sometimes I worry about pushing too much. He...his memories seem really off. He just seems to go away?" That probably didn't make much sense.

"He never even said a word in the year we were traveling," Zack admitted with a sigh.

Still, going away worries him.

"Think there's any way I can help him?"

"He says at least a handful of words now!" she responded with a tiny smile. Perhaps it wasn't the best subject for a joke, but it seemed like the mood needed to be lightened up at least a tiny bit. A smidgen. Besides, it was true. Cloud still wasn't a big talker. Her expression took on a more solemn expression when she spoke again. "Not about those things though. When I asked him if he had ever run into you he just..." she shook her head. "He went away into his head. I guess the memories were too much for him." And so she hadn't pushed.

"I'm not sure. Maybe seeing you and talking to you will actually help to not get lost. He could use friends." They'd been friends one before, so surely they could again, right?

A handful of words? Zack frowns. The kid used to talk so much. But he supposed everyone reacted to trauma differently, and shit had Cloud been through so much. So had Zack actually. Just... different trauma. Very different trauma. Zack hadn't lost anyone he loved after all. Or his home.

"I'll see what I can do. It's a shame to not have him as bright and sunny as I remember him being. But he's not going to get away with not being friendly to me. You know me, Aerith."

"Bright and sunny?" she frowned at that. "Is that what he was like before?" That's just...extremely depressing. She understood how much he'd gone through, how much both he and Zack had, but it was still sad to hear. "With our powers combine, we'll get him to talk more!"

"Yeah," Zack said with a smile. "Maybe a bit shy too. And very determined. Hard to believe that the kid is so different."

But now he's got a mission and he grins at it. Yeah, that sounds about right.

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Meeting Friends, New And Old

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