I Death

All he had wanted to do was go home. He risked his own life to see her again, to come back to Midgar and see her smiling face when he walked in that old church in the slums. Every time it felt like he wasn't going to make it, his thoughts of her got him up and going again. He almost made it, he was so close, but then he was killed before he could get there.

Zack Fair would never see Aerith again...

But even his death wouldn't be able to end his love for her, and he would still be able to watch over her through the lifestream. Angeal explained to him that the lifestream allowed him to travel around the planet freely and he would be able to watch over whoever he wanted, but no one would be able to see or hear him.

However he didn't really mind those rules, he had to check up on Aerith after all, to make sure that she was doing alright. She wouldn't be able to see or hear him, but that didn't matter to him. As long as he knew she was alright, he would be able to go on. At least that's what he thought back then.

Of course he found her the first place he guessed to look: The church. He smiled when he saw her there tending to her flowers happily as she hummed a tune he wasn't familiar with. She still wore that pink ribbon that he had gotten her, but she was now wearing a long pink dress with a short sleeved red jacket.

In the corner sat the wagon that he had made for her, and like Kunsel said one of the wheels had broken and never got fixed. It sat there, now old and dusty after five years of not being used. He frowned when he saw this, and wished he could fix it for her.

They both flinched when the church door opened, and turned to see Tseng walking towards her. His expression was unreadable as usual, but Zack had a bad feeling about this. He knew that it was his job to watch over her, but why would he come to her directly? He looked back at Aerith, and judging by her expression she was confused as well.

"I believe these are yours"

He held out a thin small box out to her that was sealed shut with a piece of tape that said SEALED on it in bold capitalized letters. She gasped when she saw it as if she knew exactly what was inside.

"My letters!"

"Eighty eight of them" he told her.

She took it from him, and Zack peered over her shoulder to see that it actually appeared to be the rest of her letters to him that he never got.

"Tseng..." she began softly. "Where is he?"

Don't tell her. He thought. Please don't tell her!

He didn't want her to know that he was never coming back.

"I'm sorry" Tseng said.

"No!" Zack shouted at him even knowing that it wouldn't do any good. "Don't tell her!"

Tseng didn't say anything else after that, he just walked away and left the church, but she knew.

What hurt Zack the most then was being forced to watch her break down and cry, and not being able to do anything about it. He wanted to hold her and comfort her, to tell her that he was still here watching over her, but he couldn't. He wasn't alive anymore.

Author's Notes

Alright, new story! I've seen plenty of fics where Zack is alive and stuff, and as much as I love those, there's just not enough where he's dead, and I thought this would be interesting. I know it's really short so far, but it will get longer I promise. However this fic is only going to be 8-9 chapters, so it's not going to be a super long one. Uh, I think that's about it (It's really late right now so I can't think) so please review!