'Is that…the ocean?'
Zack slowly sat up, feeling like he was floating on clouds before he realized that he was lying on a fluffy feather bed. The smell of the salt water nearby was further complicated by the sound of the waves. "Strange…" He stretched his arms over his head and looked around.
That was where things got stranger.
The room he found himself in was huge, with three doors and only a circular wooden table for furniture besides the bed he was on right now. The walls and ceiling was white while the carpet was deep red.
Getting up off the bed Zack took a few steps towards the glass doors near the bed when a person walked through them. It was a woman wearing a light pink dress with black outline and slightly puffy sleeves and the skirt going to her ankles. She was a brunette with her hair in a tail that reached her waist, and it was tied with a pink ribbon. She had a handful of yellow flowers in her hands and placed them in an empty vase on the table, silver bracelets dangling from her wrists. When she finally noticed Zack all she did was smile at him.
He knew exactly who it was.
"Aerith?!"
She stood up straight, hands on her stomach, "Zack…"
Not knowing what was going on, Zack stood on shaky knees, and he would have fallen had Aerith not run up and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face against his chest and held onto him tightly.
Getting over the shock quickly enough, Zack put his arms around Aerith, and right now he didn't care what happened, he was with her and that was all that mattered to him.
"Sorry it took me so long to get to you," he said with a rather shaky voice.
Aerith pulled back to look up at him, her emerald green eyes welling up with barely contained tears, "Better late than never."
"You ain't kidding there—" that's when he suddenly remembered. "Wait…aren't we, you know…" He stopped short of finishing what he wanted to say. Not just because he didn't want to ruin the happiness that Aerith had for him, but also because she pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. She knew what he was going to say and refused to hear any of it.
"Let us have this moment."
Feeling the emotions well up inside himself, Zack couldn't say anything further. In fact words were not needed now. He brought his hands to gently cradle her face, the tears finally falling from her eyes as he kissed her.
Years of unchecked emotion had come back and washed over them like a tidal wave, and for many reasons it felt right to be with each other again, and no one would deny them of that wish.
The kiss lasted for no more than a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity, one they repeated over and over again until at last they needed air. All the while the tears kept flowing from Aerith, going down her cheeks and neck. Zack used his thumbs to gently wipe them away.
Sniffling was heard, and at first Zack thought it was from Aerith, but when he glanced up he saw a furry little moogle floating in the air, his little hands up to his little black eyes.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to intrude, kupo…*sniffle*"
Zack lowered his hands to rest of Aerith's upper arms. Aerith turned her body towards the moogle. She remained in a state of bliss and didn't seem upset with the moogle for ruining the moment. If anything she felt concern for the creature. "It's okay…what's wrong?"
"…my name is Mogina, I'm a servant at this resort, kupo…" through the sniffling she gave the moogle motioned to the cart behind her. It was silver and lined with dishes of varying sizes. "…I didn't want to bother you but breakfast is served, kupo."
Aerith turned back to Zack, her cheeks still wet from all the tears, and gave him a look that told him they'd finish where they left off later.
On his part Zack wasn't disappointed. Despite the circumstances he didn't let it get to him. In fact, looking at the cart made him slightly hungry. "Breakfast huh…"
Aerith smiled up at him, "We'll talk more after breakfast, okay?"
"Sounds like a date to me," he said optimistically.
Even after being gone for so long, Aerith appreciated his attitude.