Hello dear readers! This is a story prompt from my friend Kender20! It's an interesting idea and I gladly brought her idea to paper (or err…in this case fanfic paper), this story will focus more on the thoughts of the characters and one sided conversations. This time it's a Zerith (Zack&Aerith) story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy, Square Enix does! Just own the plot!

Chapter 1: The Man without a Voice

Zack panted heavily, his face showing the difficulty of battling his closest friend and mentor, Angeal. He was sent along with Sephiroth, to kill Genesis and Angeal, two First Classes who defected from Shinra.

He didn't want to, he would never do that, that's why he tried to warn him to flee and get the hell away from Shinra. But Angeal was a stubborn man, way too stubborn.

"Angeal! Why are you doing this? Why did you defect from Shinra?! Tell me!", Zack shouted, his sword held in his hand but not raised, he wasn't going to fight.

"I told you. World domination…revenge…those usually are the objectives of a monster, aren't they?", Angeal said solemnly, the pure white feathers from his wing fluttering about.

"You're wrong! Those aren't the wings of a monster.", Zack said as he was nearing Angeal. "Well, then what are they?", Angeal questioned him suspiciously, willing him to speak his mind.

Zack caught a white feather in his gloved hand as he said:" Angel's wings.", Angeal turned away, not willing to believe Zack's interpretation of his wings, what they symbolize…he was a monster nonetheless.

Angeal turned back around to his pupil as he said with eyes that burned with betrayal and pain:" Then what should an angel fight for Zack?", he looked up at the ceiling as he shouted out the next words in anger:" What do angels dream of?!", he lowered his head, his chest heaving slightly. Zack couldn't understand, he didn't understand what was going on yet.

Mentor and student stared each-other down, before Angeal rammed his sword in the ground and started approaching Zack, who took a few steps back in alarm as he said:" Angeal…", the man wasn't deterred as he said:" Angels dream of one thing…", Zack's curiosity burned, burned just beneath the surface, he wanted to know what Angeal thought of all of this.

Angeal stopped, his eyes having such a lost and desperate look in them, desperate for someone to understand him, to understand his situation, him being a "monster" and having Jenova's cells…it just wasn't fair. Angeal said those words with a certain strain and sadness:" To be human.", he sounded sincere, like he himself wanted to achieve that goal, that seemingly unreachable goal.

And then suddenly, in a split second, Angeal was close to Zack, his fist connecting harshly and powerfully with Zack's protected abdomen as he sent the younger man flying. Zack's breath left his lungs upon impact on the cold, hard metal of the ground, he rolled a bit before he came to a stop, clutching his stomach.

Zack's eyes widened in realization, wait…Angeal didn't punch him. He just pushed him away with his open palm, that wasn't a punch. Zack's eyes softened, he hadn't meant to hurt him, not at all. He was just angry at himself for his predicament, he wanted Zack to stay out of it, to protect him.

Zack got up slightly shakily but managed to find his balance as his fists raised and then fell back down to his sides in defeat, he didn't want to fight Angeal no matter how many times he sent him flying. He wanted to make clear that he believed in him despite everything, that he trusted him. That Angeal was understood and accepted for who he was, which was not a monster but an angel.

Angeal barked harshly:" Defend yourself!", his eyes narrowed at Zack's slacked stance, why didn't he raise his fists and fight back?! Why?! But Zack only smiled and shook his head, which prompted Angeal to send a blast of magic his way in his frustration at his pupil's refusal. He slammed his magic imbued fist on the ground, creating a energy blast which raced straight at Zack. Zack winced in pain, it wasn't as painful as it was supposed to be, Angeal was holding back, that much was sure.

The sealed floor beneath Zack burst open from the impact and Zack felt his throat constricting painfully tight as he was falling towards the ground. His ears were ringing but he could have sworn he had heard Angeal's voice calling after him. With that darkness enveloped his vision.

"Tell me what happened.", the voice of what seemed to be his mother reached his still slightly ringing ears. Zack didn't know where he was, he just saw darkness and the white feathers of Angeal's wings in his vision.

"Mom?", his voice sounded strained, groggy. Zack shook his head, at least he thought he did, before he answered:"I…I want to help out a friend…But I don't know how I can do it…", his vision was starting to turn black again just as he heard a different, but also female voice sound:" Hell-llooo.",

"Hell-lloo.", again, that voice. It wasn't his mother this time or was it? "Mom?", he questioned again. But then a sudden streak of white flashed before him.

Zack's mako blue eyes slowly opened slowly, his eyes blinking and clearing again. The first thing he saw when his eyes opened was heaven….or something close to that.

Was he dead? No, Angeal would never hurt him…that much. And the fall shouldn't have been as deadly as it appeared…but when his eyes met bright green/blue ones and a beautiful face smiling down at him, he really thought he was in heaven.

"Hooray!", the young girl with brown hair cheered happily upon seeing him awake, was she an angel? Zack had wanted to voice his question but when his mouth opened and no words came out, horror filled his entire being as his mind froze.

Why couldn't he speak? He could just grunt and sigh, why weren't words coming out of his mouth?! The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion, she asked concerned:" Um, hello? Are you alright? You just fell from the sky…", she looked up at the ceiling, which now had a large hole from where he fell from.

Zack slowly sat up, looking up at the beautiful creature before him. He frowned as he couldn't even speak, how could he tell her who he was?! The girl's face only looked more worried as she asked:" Are you injured anywhere? Can you speak?",

Zack grit his teeth in frustration but then an idea came to him. He moved one hand up to his mouth, trying to indicate he couldn't speak. "You are hungry?", he shook his head furiously and tried again, pointing with a finger towards his open mouth and sighing repeatedly. The girl was smart for she understood what he was trying to tell her, even without words.

She kneeled down next to him and asked:" What happened that you can't speak? Maybe you're in shock from the fall?", she looked up again at the ceiling before she scanned his body for any injuries, she relaxed when she found none. Zack shrugged his shoulders pitifully, the girl giggled and said with a warm smile:" Well, I'm Aerith. I know you can't speak but umm…", Zack understood and looked on the ground for a stick or a rock. He grabbed a small, thin stick and drew his name on the mud in big letters.

He pointed at the name "ZACK" on the ground and Aerith giggled again before she said:" Ah, alright. Your name is Zack. Could you tell me why you fell from the sky?", Zack contemplated on what to tell her, he couldn't exactly tell her the truth. Instead he wrote on the mud again:" I slipped and fell through a hole in the ground while I was taking a stroll."

Aerith shook her head in amusement and rose an eyebrow as Zack drew again:" Are you an angel? Am I in heaven?", again she giggled and said with a raised finger:" Not quite. Church in the slums would be best to describe it.", realization dawned on Zack as she said those words and his lips tilted upward into a amused smile at his stupid questions.

He was flat on his back again as he placed his palms beside his head and planted his feet firmly on the ground before he jumped up and rose from his crouched position to his tall height, he was towering over Aerith easily. The handsome SOLDIER smiled at her and waved with a friendly smile, Aerith laughed and waved back saying:" Well, aren't you charming.", he scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment and sent her a bright grin.

Aerith smiled back and watched as Zack had offered her one date as compensation for scaring her and destroying her beloved flowers.

So, what do you think? I hope you guys (and of course Kender20) like the story so far! There's more where that came from! ;) Please tell me what you think!