Note:Hi! Just a small introduction…I had this story in my mind for a while now and I finally decided to post it after some serious thought. This will be something about Aerith falling in love with Zack but then she thinks he's dead when she receives some news about him and she's miserable until a certain someone comes into her life. The worst part is that Zack is not dead but willing to return home to Aerith. We will see how it goes…
Love, Aerith
Chapter 1: Beginnings
He was the one falling from the sky and yet when he opened his eyes to see where he had landed he claimed to have seen an angel.
It all started that summer morning when she was in the church watering her flowers like she was used to. But she was far from imagining that that was no ordinary summer day. She heard a loud crack coming from the ceiling before a man came falling down onto her flower bed, if she hadn't moved two steps back the man would have fallen on top of her. That wouldn't have been nice.
The next thing she remembers, Aerith was staring into a pair of deep glowing blue eyes that reminded her of two polished sapphire jewels. She wondered, that moment, how could have he survived such fall? Must the flower bed be that soft? He wasn't even bruised. He even managed to jump up to his feet in a flip of his back. She had turned sixteen that year and it felt to her that the heavens must have granted her with the most beautiful of the gifts, she thought. Love. Of course, she didn't know it at that moment. All she knew was that the two deep blue eyes were staring at her intently.
"I'm Zack!" He had to repeat before she could finally realize she had been lost in his gaze for a long minute while he was there. She was dazzled at how beautiful he looked like. He had black spiky hair, golden tanned skin and those glowing blue eyes, a perfect combination. Not to mention the muscled body he hid under black pants, a dark blue navy turtle neck shirt and dark boots.
He had told her, once they started knowing each other better, he was training to become a hero, to be the best SOLDIER around so it was only natural that he spent almost everyday training in the Shinra Corporation headquarters or out on missions. But when he wasn't training he spent his days with her. Soon enough they had become two teenage best friends, but Aerith couldn't have predicted that day, that their love wasn't meant to last.
Four months after the day they met, winter had brought rain with it. It rained almost every day now but they didn't care much. Aerith even told him she enjoyed the rainy days. Too much sun was a bit annoying actually until she gets tired of the rain and hoped for the long sunny days.
They sat on a bench from the park of the slums, well, Zack sat while Aerith rested the back of her head on his lap and the rest of her body on the rest of the bench. She was looking up at the sky; on that particular part of the slums the platform above had a gap that allowed seeing the grey sky above. It wasn't raining anymore so they took the opportunity to take a walk when they finally decided to sit down. The air smelled like wet dirt and there was a cold breeze blowing. Everyone was tucked inside their houses so the streets were mostly empty. They could hear the sound of raindrops gently falling from the roofs to the floor. It felt peaceful there.
"I don't get it." Aerith confided looking up at the clouds above. "If you're already first class… Why do you say you want to be the best? I thought it didn't get better than that. I thought you had reached the top already."
"There are many first classes around, well not as many as seconds or thirds, but there is quite a selection of first classes. I want to be above those first classes you know? I want to be hero type." Zack replied smiling dreamily.
"I see…" Aerith sighed closing her eyes. "Don't they get more and more dangerous the missions they give you once you're on that level?"
"Yeah!" Zack grinned. "They start being entertaining."
"You're so full of yourself!" Aerith giggled patting him on the forehead. He reached for her hand and with her fingers under his hand he caressed his cheek softly with them.
"The best part of it of course is when I come back and you're here waiting for me. I love it that when I'm coming down the road to meet you, you have this huge smile across your face." Zack spoke smiling down at her. She had eyes the most beautiful green he had ever seen.
"Oh stop it!" Aerith giggled sitting up on the bench. "I bet you say that to every girl you meet on your journeys."
"Only to the special ones." Zack smirked and Aerith's hand went flying in his direction until it hit him in the arm. "I'm kidding!" Zack closed his eyes faking some kind of pain she knew he hadn't felt. His muscled arms were too strong to feel a girl's punch. That, and Aerith could never hurt him even if she wanted to although he sometimes deserved it with his remarks.
"When will you stop?" Aerith looked down to the ground seriously now. "Going on missions I mean."
"Never!" Zack blinked at the girl. "It's what I love doing!"
"I know, but I get so worried that you might get injured one of these days." Aerith played with her fingers looking down.
"I'm a first class for one reason Aerith! If I wasn't able to walk out of the missions alive and well I wouldn't be first class!"
"You can't always be that optimistic!" Aerith turned at him glaring.
"But it's how I am!" Zack retorted but he felt bad for her, after all it wasn't fair for her to always be waiting for him while he was gone and asked her not to be worried about him. He himself worried about her even when she was safely inside her house. He reached for her placing one arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him. She grasped her red buttoned coat to her so she could get warmer and rested her head on his shoulder.
The next day he sent a message to her mobile phone that he would go meet her later that night.
"He knows I don't like to go out at night…" Aerith murmured watching the text message he had sent her and sighed. If it was dangerous to walk during the day because of the monsters and the Shinra infantrymen who enjoyed whistling and say inappropriate things to the girls, at night it was even more dangerous and propitious to those. She would walk with Zack of course but she always felt uncomfortable to leave at night. She also didn't like to be depending on him to save her all the time.
She had thought before to start learning some kind of fighting skills so she could learn how to defend herself if the situation called for it. Zack couldn't be always around her to protect her all the time. She asked Zack if he could help her once and he did but the lesson ended as soon as Aerith scratched her knee and elbows, so Zack quickly gave up on continuing the training although Aerith had to yell at him that the scratches were nothing.
"Do you prefer I get attacked by some monster and can't defend myself?" Aerith had said. "I'm bound to gain more than a few scratches if I don't learn how to defend myself!"
"I won't let you get attacked ever! I'll always be there to protect you." Zack countered.
"You know that's not possible!"
But the discussion ended there and in fact there hadn't been one day Aerith got attacked when Zack wasn't around. It was like Zack had made a contract with the monsters to only attack once he was with Aerith. It wouldn't surprise her if he had actually managed to do that.
"But if it's the only time I can see him, it will have to be at night." She sighed and rolled over on her bed to get up by the other side of it. She put on a pink knee-length dress and a creamy white long sleeved buttoned coat over it. Finishing with her brown hiking boots she decided to leave her golden brown hair loose shaking it with her hands so it could fall freely down her back. She looked to the mirror and saw her reflection. She never thought of herself as pretty and she found herself thinking if Zack didn't too. They had been hanging out for such a long time now it seemed and Zack didn't show any interest in her more than being best friends. She wondered if she had something in her that wasn't really his type of girl to date.
Her feelings for Zack were starting to become clear to her. She loved to be around him, he made her laugh, and he could be so sweet to her at times it was hard to resist falling into his arms. But was it love? Did she love him to the point of wanting to be his girlfriend, to be able to kiss him whenever she wanted and still keep that relationship they had between them so far?
She sometimes felt afraid when thinking about getting involved with Zack. She had never had a boyfriend before. She felt her cheeks blush lightly feeling a little embarrassed at how she would look like being his girlfriend. When he would stare intently into her eyes smiling while caressing her flushed cheeks right at the edge of a kiss. How would she react? But the most important of all, did she want to be more than friends at that moment? More important than that actually, did he want to be her boyfriend? Did he look at her differently? Her stomach was killing her as she felt nervous to think those things about Zack.
She looked away from the mirror. Boyfriend or not, the truth is she couldn't be without Zack. Their friendship was more important than anything to her.
The night came in slowly and painfully just as she thought it would be. She didn't like waiting that much, especially waiting for Zack when he was coming from a mission, she always felt uneasy. But the hours passed by with no sight of him. Elmyra, her mother, told her when it was past midnight that maybe he wasn't coming anymore and her daughter should go to bed. Aerith gave up waiting for him at last and went upstairs. Soon enough she was asleep on her bed, fully dressed and with her mobile phone held tightly around her hand in front of her face in case he called.
Tap…
It was about 3 in the morning when she woke up startled by a tapping noise at her bedroom window. Another tap. She lifted her head listening closely. Another one of those taps. She sat up in time to see a pebble gently hitting her window pane causing those taps she had heard. She rose to her feet rubbing her eyes to open them widely. Reaching her window she slid it open and poked her head into the night air. Outside and looking up at her window stood Zack grinning at her. He waved.
"Are you insane?" She whispered loud enough for him to hear and low enough to not wake her mother up.
"Come down!" He whispered back calling her. "I said I'd come at night!"
"Yes but not this late!" Aerith replied before disappearing into her room.
Once outside, she carefully closed her front door hoping she hadn't made much noise coming down. She didn't want to worry her mother by having to leave that late at night. Elmyra trusted Zack but that might have been a little too much for the older woman to take.
"What are you doing Zack?" She glared at him shaking her head. "Do you know how late it is?" Aerith didn't usually get mad at him but she had waited all day for him to come and now that she was asleep he woke her up to come into the coldness of the night.
"I'm sorry…" Zack apologized. "But would you rather I didn't come at all?"
"You could have warned me you'd come this late…" Aerith sighed. She had to admit she was always happy to see him no matter what time it was and that made her feel better.
"I have something important to tell you and it couldn't wait." Zack reached for her hand and pulled her along the road with him. Aerith followed him thinking that she should have left her house wearing a scarf since the night was cold. What could he possibly want to tell her that made her leave her house at 3 in the morning that it couldn't wait until the next day? Soon enough they stopped walking at the park next to where they had been sitting the other day.
"Aerith." Zack swallowed closing his eyes. Aerith wondered what could possibly drive Zack nervous. "What I wanted to tell you is… that I'm crazy about you."
"W-What?" Aerith's world froze right on that minute. She widened her eyes and looked at him petrified. Gently, it started raining. She looked up at the skies feeling the cold raindrops on her skin and then she looked back at him. The two blue beams stared intently at her while his lips were pressed into a thin line.
"I can't stop thinking about you Aerith. My friend Angeal says I'm even more distracted when fighting and all! He also says he would love to meet the girl who makes my mind wander away from work!" Zack took both her hands in his and closed in on her resting his forehead on hers. "At first I didn't know what it was, but the truth is… I want to be with you more than just a friend. I spend the days thinking about kissing you. Aerith I… I love you."
They both closed their eyes and as the rain started getting heavier wetting their hair they gradually leaned towards one another. Aerith felt his warm breath on her lips, the gentleness of his skin on hers. Slowly and tenderly they kissed and it was magical like Aerith had always dreamed it would be.
"I understand if you don't feel the same way-"
"I love you too Zack…" Aerith interrupted him smiling widely and kissing him again and again. Aerith placed her hands on his cheeks to hold his lips against hers. The cold, the rain, their wet bodies didn't matter; nothing could stop them from kissing.
He liked her more than just a friend after all. Suddenly Aerith's fears vanished into thin air. She was in his arms, he loved her back. She knew then being together wouldn't ruin their friendship it would only make it stronger. Nothing would break them apart except for one thing they could never have guessed. But that night everything was perfect.
He was the one falling from the sky and yet when he opened his eyes to see where he had landed he claimed to have seen an angel. After Zack had taken her home at 6 in the morning Aerith lay down on her bed grinning like she had never grinned before in her life. I look like a six-year-old child with a brand new toy. She thought and laughed at herself from how silly she looked like being there on her bed chuckling at the ceiling. Stop that. She told herself, but the smile didn't vanish from her lips. She raised one hand to cover her mouth and laughed a bit more. What is happening to me? She rested her hand on her forehead. But she knew exactly what was happening to her. She was slowly but deeply falling more and more in love with Zack Fair.
The slums were hectic with the winter fair. Whenever the fair was held it seemed like everyone inside Midgar would go there. There were colourful small tents everywhere exposing different varieties of items some more eccentric than the next ones. Each of the tents had light bulbs of all colours illuminating them to draw attention. It wasn't exactly the fanciest of the fairs but it did gather a lot of people who were looking for collection items or even objects with smaller prices whether it would be weapons, wood-made figurines, materia, clothes, everything was there. There were even fortune tellers with crystal balls, hand-readers and card readers as well. Aerith pulled Zack towards the popcorn tent and got them a bucket of sweet ones with different colours. She smiled happily as he picked one from the top ones in the bucket and lifted it to her lips so she could eat it.
"Where do you want to go next?" Zack asked laughing as she had dropped one popcorn from trying to take it from his fingers to her mouth.
"Hummm…" Aerith giggled looking around. "I want to see that table over there!" She pointed at one table covered with a blue blanket which had different kinds of ribbons on it. Approaching the table Aerith looked excitedly at the ribbons until her eyes paused to stare at a silky pink one that stood out from all of the others in her eyes.
"Do you like that one?" Zack asked noticing how her eyes glowed looking at it.
"Yes!" She nodded. "But I don't really need it." She said sadly thinking she couldn't afford it.
"Ribbons are never enough." Zack smiled at her and pulled out his wallet from his pocket.
"What are you doing? I don't want you to buy it." Aerith widened her eyes at him.
"Can't a boyfriend buy his girlfriend a present anymore?" Zack asked ignoring her and already taking out 50 gil to hand to the seller who took it and thanked Zack. "Here." He helped Aerith tie the ribbon to her pony tail.
"How do I look?" She turned to Zack tilting her head right and left.
"Beautiful." Zack said lifting her chin up with his fingers and leaning in to kiss her lips. Aerith couldn't stop looking into his eyes as he smiled warmly down at her.
"Thank you Zack." She said. "Let's go to the fortune teller now!" Aerith pulled him by the hand.
"You know I don't believe in that stuff…" Zack sighed while he was being dragged between the crowded streets.
"It's just for fun!" Aerith turned to reply. "There, the card reader!" Aerith pointed to a tent covered in dark blue curtains decorated with silver stars along the fabric. On top of the tent was the name of the fortune teller in flashing bright letters: "Caith Sith."
"Hello!" Aerith greeted getting inside the tent. The fortune teller was a cat on top of a huge moogle white suit. The cat greeted them as well and motioned for Aerith to take a sit across the table she had the spread deck of cards on. Aerith sat down while Zack remained standing behind Aerith's chair. "Can you read my fortune?"
"I'm going to scatter all of the cards and join them in one single deck and I need you to cut the deck in two with your right hand." Caith Sith instructed and Aerith did as she was told cutting the deck of cards in two. "Very well. Now let me draw them onto my table and I'll be able to tell you your fortune in one minute."
"Thank you." Aerith couldn't help giggling, she had never experimented those kinds of things before so she felt a little nervous while waiting.
"Hummm…. Hummm…" Caith Sith kept purring as she drew the cards one by one onto the table. "I have bad news and good news." She finally spoke. "See this card right here, the Lovers, is upright which means harmony and union between your loved one and you. But it also means you will have difficult decisions to make in the near future. The Fool came out upright as well meaning new beginnings leading to happiness."
"So far so good!" Aerith smiled.
"Not so fast young lady." Caith Sith sighed. "The Strength card came out reversed… which means pessimism or defeat. Usually when this card comes out reversed followed by two positive cards it points to something that will happen in your life that will bring you down taking away all of your happiness and leaving you unwilling to live. This card here is telling me you will have a hard time with your partner but then this one is leading towards a change in your life."
"Enough with the nonsense." Zack glared at the fortune teller. "You should not believe in any of these things Aerith. They just want to make easy money."
"Caith Sith's foresight is no lie!" The cat said exaltedly. "And keep your money… You should worry about your girlfriend she will suffer because of you."
"Let's get out of here Aerith." Zack grabbed her hand and they walked outside. Aerith looked back and the fortune teller a couple of times before closing the curtains of the tent once outside. Zack was right she should not believe those things but then… why was she feeling suffocated by her words? Did that mean something was about to happen to Zack that would leave her devastated? Her heart could no longer rest.
"Hey…" Zack's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Don't believe in any word that crazy cat said ok? It's nothing but a bunch of lies! Nothing will keep us apart." Zack placed his arms around her shoulders holding her tightly to his chest. He pushed her slowly away and leaned down to kiss her lips. "Let's go find a good place to see the fireworks shall we?"
Aerith nodded and they walked away from the crowds of people and into the park, their park which was deserted, to watch the fireworks that were about to start.
"Hey what's wrong?" Zack lifted her chin up with his hand. He had noticed she was staring down to the ground.
"Nothing…" Aerith lied. "Well actually I was thinking about the fortune teller."
"Aerith stop thinking about it! Those things are all lies. I promise I will always be by your side." Zack stared into her eyes and a second later the sky was illuminated with red, yellow, green and white lights exploding into thousands of sparkles of the same colours showering the dark night. The sound blasts of the fireworks made Aerith blink but Zack held her face between his hands comforting her. He had never in his whole life seen anything as beautiful as those fireworks reflected in her eyes.
February had finally arrived and they soon forgot about the premonition the fortune teller had warned them…The following day was going to be her birthday. She had told him that once but she didn't know if he remembered it so she was hoping he didn't have any missions due to that day so they could do something together, she had thought maybe they could go out and have dinner somewhere. Maybe they could go up the plate into the city.
"Where are we going?" Aerith asked walking hand in hand with him through the slums streets. Zack was uncommonly quite that night. He just kept walking in front of her leading the way. "Something happened?"
"No…" He simply answered; his eyes were covered by his dark hair making them shadowy so she couldn't really tell how he was feeling. Suddenly she realized they were taking an elevator to the city above the plate. There was no need to tell him anything after all. She had lost track of how long they had been walking through the streets of Midgar when they finally stopped in front of a double-door glass entrance to some building.
"This is where I live when I'm not in Shinra." He said entering the building's lobby and pressing the elevator's button.
"Oh!" Aerith was taken aback by the information. The elevator made a single bell sound and came to a stop. They walked through the corridor passing by the other doors until they reached 8th floor, door D.
"This is my apartment." Zack took out his keys. "But I need you to cover your eyes first, I have a surprise." He told her and she giggled covering her eyes with her hands. She felt his gentle hands pushing her slowly into the apartment. But then she felt his lips caressing the bottom of her neck and she heard him mumbling that she could open her eyes now. As she did, she was standing in his living room but in front of her were sliding glass to-the-floor windows opened and revealing a terrace illuminated by candle lights and in its middle stood a well arranged table ready for dinner to be served.
"Zack this looks beautiful!" Aerith opened her mouth in awe. She didn't know what drew him to do that if her birthday was only the next day.
"I thought we could spend the night together. This midnight will be your birthday right?"
"Yes but… I thought we could go out tomorrow…"
"Let's enjoy our dinner now." She could almost guess he was avoiding telling her something but she didn't know what it could possibly be so she let it go. He pulled out her chair so she could sit down. She had been right about her supposition, Zack didn't talk much during dinner because he was definitely hiding something from her or trying to find the right words to tell her something. After dinner was over Zack took her to the small wall protecting the edge of the terrace. They could see the whole sector from there, the buildings, the lights coming from the windows and the theatre with posters of the play "Loveless" on its walls.
"Is there something you want to tell me Zack?" Aerith finally had the courage to ask him.
"How did you know?" Zack stared into the nothingness thoughtfully.
"You were awfully quiet the whole night and I would love to know the reason why."
"Aerith I…" He started before taking a deep breath and turning to look at her. "I have to go away tomorrow."
"Where?"
"I'm going on a mission, a big one. I don't know for how long I will be gone."
"That's why you picked me up to have dinner tonight right?" Aerith looked down. "You couldn't be with me tomorrow."
"Yes…"
"It's ok!" She tried to smile. "You will keep in touch with me right?"
"Of course! When I can!" He assured her but he himself couldn't tell when he would be able to contact her. Against her will, Aerith's eyes started watering, she didn't want to look weak in front of him but she had the feeling that his departure this time would be the longest time away. "Please don't cry." He cleaned her eyes with the back of his fingers.
"I'm being silly I'm sorry." Aerith shook her head. "But I will miss you so much."
"I know… me too…" Zack said kissing her forehead. "Do you think you can sleep here with me tonight? It's ok if you can't I just wanted to spend as much time as I can with you before I lea-"
"Close your mouth soldier." Aerith interrupted placing one finger on his lips. "Of course I'll spend the night with you." She whispered before she started kissing him slowly turning it into a more passionate kiss. She didn't care if she had to go home; all she wanted was to stay in his arms.
"Happy Birthday Aerith." Zack whispered in her ear when the clock turned midnight. He slid the thin stripe of her pink dress down and kissed her softly on the smooth bare skin of her shoulder pulling her carefully against him while he laid her down on his bed under his body.
That was the last time Aerith saw Zack.
Note: Thank you so much for reading and please tell me what you think about it, it really helps me a lot. I really hope you liked this first part.
