Wait for Me
Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy (games, anime, OVA, characters…etc.) I just own the OC's.
Chapter 1: SOLDIERS and Letters
Hi there,
Yeah, I know, this is probably the 99th letter I'm sending to you. You're probably annoyed, but I don't care. Well, I miss you if that's what you are wondering.
Marlene and Denzel miss you too, a lot actually, do you have any idea how many pictures they drew of us? Well, I sent some of the best ones to you so you don't feel so lonely.
You mentioned in the last letter that you are coming home soon, is that true Zack? This isn't some sort of joke is it? Because I would personally beat you up and send you right back if it is! Ugh…I'm sorry, I'm just worried you know? I know you're a really tough, super SOLDIER and 1st Class, mind you, 1st Class! But, I think I'm allowed to be worried. You're moving in dangerous territory and I bet you haven't slept in a bed in months. I don't even want to know when was the last time you properly bathed either, we have a lot of fixing up to do once you get home mister!
Whatever the case, I really miss you a lot. I feel so lonely at night, it's not the same when you aren't there to hold me and protect me to keep the nightmares away. I sound like a child don't I? Well, all the more reason for you to come home as quickly as you can alright? Don't you dare get injured or I WILL injure you tenfold!
Please, take care Zack. I love you.
Your super strong-extremely worried wife,
Tifa.
Zack smiled as he re-read the letter over and over until the text was branded into his mind, he did so with the other 98 letters as well. Just a few weeks ago he had received news what almost every soldier here wished to hear, he was allowed to return home.
It would be a matter of time when they would require his services again, with the threat of a war breaking out, but returning home made his battle weary mind settle at ease.
Zack looked at the pictures his wife sent him of the kids' drawings. On one, there was, what seemed at least, like him and Tifa hugging and laughing, a tall building behind them with the word "Shinra" written on it sloppily. The other was of their whole family along with AVALANCHE, he had to stifle a laugh at how abnormally spiky Cloud's hair looked and how Nanaki looked more like a dog than the feral beast he looked like in reality. He shook his head, carefully folded the pictures and pocketed them in his breast pocket, right over his heart.
He missed them. He missed his family, dearly. He looked at the calendar he acquired, various "X" marks crossed over each day, one day in particular, which was exactly 12 days ahead, circled with a red marker. That was the day he was going home. Finally. After finishing his military training, being accepted into the SOLDIER and fighting his way up the ranks to the top of 1st Class, a small, elite group of SOLDIERS, he felt the growing need to go home increase more with each passing day.
He felt a presence behind him, silent but there. He immediately knew who it was. He grinned and jumped to his feet, he turned around and greeted cheerfully:" Hey there Choccoass! Where were you so long?",
The blonde, spiky haired man lightly frowned at his best friend before replying:" Hi there, puppy. Angeal offered me one of his famous speeches then Genesis began with quoting LOVELESS while Sephiroth kept telling him exactly which paragraph and act he was quoting.",
Zack Fair laughed and rested his hands on his hips while saying:" Yeah, those three are a crazy bunch. But so are we ne?",
Cloud chuckled and nodded, he noticed the piece of paper the tall, dark haired man was holding and asked:" What's that?", Zack looked at the letter and smiled fondly, he said:" It's from Tifa. She says she and the kids miss me and they can't wait for me to come home.",
Cloud suddenly asked:" Do you regret it?". Zack's bright, blue eyes shot to his best friend Cloud Strife, he understood.
He answered:" No. Where would I be if not for SOLDIER?", Cloud offered:" Home with a family?", Zack shook his head and replied:" If I never went to investigate that mako reactor at Nibelheim on that day I wouldn't even have a family to return to. If I never met Tifa there and saved her then who knows what would have happened? I would probably be miserable and losing myself in work because I'm lonely. And nobody wants that.".
Cloud understood and nodded, he said quietly:" Yeah…you're right.", Zack asked:" So, how is Aerith? Everything alright?",
Cloud quickly snapped back to attention and said:" Oh, yeah. She's in the 5th month now and goes regularly to the doctor. She visits Tifa and the kids often since she's feeling lonely and she has extreme mood swings…",
Zack had to laugh at the look on Cloud's face. The blonde asked:" Will they ever stop?", Zack shook his head in amusement and replied:" Nope! Not even after the pregnancy. But don't tell Tifa that!", he warned playfully.
Cloud groaned, Zack snickered and said:" Don't worry, every married man and expecting father will have to go through that. It's normal, but if she reaches for her gloves, weapons or anything of the sort then run because if you try to hide she will find you.", this time Cloud burst out laughing at the haunted look on the tall man's face.
Zack grinned and said with a hand to his chin:" Of course, if she's feeling frisky then hell go for it! Because you never know when next time will be…sometimes mood swings can happen during that and NO man wants that!", Zack rubbed his head, as if remembering a painful memory. Both males shuddered in fear before returning to their watch stations.
Zack thought with a smile:" Just 12 days left…don't worry. I'll come home.
Just wait for me, Tifa."
The battles raged on and Zack gave it his all in every single one of them, in the back of his mind he always thought of Tifa and the kids, always.
If not, he would have gotten killed long ago. That's what kept driving him on for so long, his family.
It was just like Angeal, his mentor and closest friend, kept telling him before his marriage with Tifa.
If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams…and honor.
His family was his dream and his honor, his pride and joy. He would give his life in a heartbeat to ensure their safety.
As Zack and Cloud dragged themselves away from the blood bath that they were forced to see daily, they sat heavily inside the medic helicopter, letting the medics treat their injuries.
Ever since Zack had his family and Cloud is an expecting father, both men were far more careful on the battlefield and watch each-others backs more closely. Angeal and the other Firsts were also picking the not-so-dangerous missions for the men to do, of course not favoring them in any way but simply putting into account that, like some other soldiers, they had families waiting for them at home.
11th Day at SOLDIER
Zack was packing his bags, it wasn't much to be truthful. Some clothes, his SOLDIER uniforms of course, a spare pair of boots, gloves, two short knives, four healing materia, two fire materia and two paralyzing materia.
"Just your average luggage", he thought with a smirk.
The last item he packed was the one thing more precious than all his belongings together.
The picture of him and his beloved family.
He stared at it, lightly tracing his rough hand over the smooth, glass surface over the figures of his gorgeous badass wife and their two precious children.
He could only imagine how Tifa would give him an earful once he got home, "why was he injured again", "was that a new scar", "did you eat well", "I think you lost some weight", "oopf! Zack, you're heavy!"….etc.
That last thought made him grin, heh…well, he was bigger than her and had more muscle, of course he would be heavy once he was on top of her…on their bed, in their sound proof room at home-
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts, straightening immediately when his best friend coughed from beside him.
Cloud shook his head, a small smirk on his face with his arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other. He said knowingly:" Don't worry puppy, you'll get enough of alone time once you're there. Just give me a call if I need to watch the kids to prevent them from getting scarred for life.",
That earned him a pillow to his face from Zack, who pouted at him. He accused playfully:" Pff, as if you aren't thinking along those lines bird-head.",
Cloud shrugged, internally agreeing with his older friend.
Zack threw himself on his hard bed, SOLDIER wasn't exactly known for providing the softest beds in all of Midgar, and looked up at the ceiling, smiling.
He said softly:" Cloud, we are going home.", the blonde smiled and said in thought:" Yeah, we are Zack…",
Both men reflected on their respective families before turning the lights off and getting the best sleep they had in a long, long time.
After all, they would have to look their best tomorrow when they finally go to the one place where they feel like normal men and not the super SOLDIERS they were: home.
Chapter 1 finished! *.* I was listening to "Wait for Me" from Theory of a Deadman while writing this and got pretty inspired :3 Hope you guys liked it! Please review and tell me how you like the story so far!