"I trusted you Sephiroth!" Zack angrily stepped forwards, sword drawn. He couldn't believe that he was about to point his sword at the man in front of him. Sure, he'd wanted to fight Sephiroth before, but not here. Not like this.
Standing above him, the other man seemed to shrug indifferently.
It doesn't matter, Sephiroth's body language seemed to say, I left that behind.
Cold eyes followed Zack's movements before turning back to stare at the ugly creature in front of him. The look on his face was chilling, sending shivers down Zack's spine.
Clenched fists balled tight, Zack gritted his teeth. To him, this betrayal stung much more than when Angeal had betrayed him. He couldn't put his finger on it, only remembering words Sephiroth had once said to him, "we'll see each other again".
Angry, Zack felt his muscles clench, remembered their conversation before Sephiroth had sequestered himself in the dank, dark recesses of Shinra Mansion's library. He bit the inside of his cheek while reminiscing -
"-hey," Zack had said. "Sephiroth."
Standing by the water tank, Sephiroth glanced over. "What is it?"
"Don't you ever take vacations?"
"No," Sephiroth said with a twitch of his lips, as if he was about to smile. "Never. I should. Maybe."
"We should go for one. Costa del Sol?"
"I don't swim," Sephiroth responded.
Zack pondered that for a moment, resting his chin on his fist. "Well, we could go visit my parents. Gongaga's kinda boring though. I'm not sure if you'd-"
"I'd like that," Sephiroth interrupted and Zack grinned, thinking of his mother's cooking.
Overhead, the night sky was dotted with stars; Zack pretended that he could pluck them from the sky. He would make things out of them, he thought, and he'd give them to everyone important to him.
After observing Zack, Sephiroth glanced upwards. "The stars are pretty, aren't they?" He said wistfully. You never saw stars in Midgar, even above the plate. The lights the humans used dulled out the natural beauty. Sephiroth smiled.
"You should smile like that more," Zack leaned forward to look at Sephiroth.
"Smile, huh." Sephiroth gave Zack another smile and Zack grinned.
"Just like that. Picture perfect." Sephiroth shook his head, unable to keep himself from chuckling at Zack -
- who charged at him, brow furrowed in rage. Sephiroth's face contorted into something ugly. He felt disdainful of the human who was trying to stop his work.
Traitor, Sephiroth wanted to scream, I will destroy you for all your race has done to my mother.
He swatted Zack away like a fly, glaring at the pathetic man.
As he watched the momentary flash of fear in Zack's eyes, Sephiroth turned his lips up in a mockery of a smile.