Author's note:

I do not own Final Fantasy or the characters in the fict.

I'd like to give a big thanks to my friend who played out as Zack and Cloud in this selection. Please thank her as well if you have to need to...thank us at all?

This IS a roleplay, but it's a bit modified and sorted out to flow better.

Anyway~

Thanks Zakkusu Fea for being an amazing Zack Fair!

"I've spoken to him once before, Aerith. Are you really sure you'll take on this patient?" Tifa said softly as she watched Aerith grab a clip board from the white sign-in desk before her. Aerith nodded, her green eyes shining in excitement. "Mhm." was all she did to respond. Tifa furrowed her brows slowly and nodded for Aerith to follow her. Aerith did so as the walked down the clean and polished floors in the building. "All I was really able to get out of him was a name..." Tifa began, exhaling slowly. "Cloud...Cloud. He'd mutter to me. I...I don't know who this Cloud is, but maybe a relative?" she gave a side glance at Aerith as they continued their way to the room in which this patient had been staying in. Aerith took in the bits of information Tifa had explained and stated as they went through the large building. "Aerith, many people have tried to help him. It's near impossible now. We might just let him go...well we thought of taking him back to Midgar, but then your offer came up. I'm surprised you're willing to take on such a challenge on you second month of work." Tifa said as she pulled a pair of keys from her white lab coat. Her black hair was tucked neatly behind her ear, glasses at the edge of her nose.

She unhooked a small golden key from the metal ring and held it out with Aerith. "You'll need this, and take when I have told you to thought. Trial and Error will be your best friend." she shot a friendly grin. Aerith took the key into her hand. Her green pools narrowed as she looked at the clip board infront of her. A small journal atop of the medical sheets and other paper work of this...patient. Aerith tucked her blue ink pen behind her ear and clasped the key beneath the metal clip on the clip board. "I understand, I'll check in again to tell you my progress..." Aerith spoke softly as Tifa stopped her infront of the patient's room. "If I'm not around and you need help at any point in time, Yuffie and Lulu should be of assistance to you." Tifa set a hand on Aerith's shoulder before laughing softly and turning on her heels. "Luck, my friend." she gave a two fingered wave. Aerith watched the other female leave the turned for the white metal door behind her. She injected the silver key, clicking it open and walking inside slowly. Her throat grew dry and her palms were sweaty in nervous. The female let go of the door knob after clicking it shut, her clip board tucked under her arm. "Hello." she smiled softly at the figure in the room with her. "It's nice to meet you."

He was not crazy. The tennis ball kept hitting the wall repeatedly; a dull mantra in Zack's ears. That last therapist of his suggested the tennis ball, something about keeping hand eye coordination or something. Zack hated being here, hated the stares he got from the workers here. So what if he saw Cloud every once and a while. That didn't necessarily mean that he was crazy. There had been reported instances of those dead coming back to speak to the living from the Lifestream, so, what made Zack's case any different? The tennis ball flew back into his outstretched palm and he held it there to study the yellow fuzz on it. It should have been him. He should have died that day, on that cliff out looking Midgar. He had been the one shot countless times by those damned soldiers. If only Cloud had waited just a little while to wake up. As soon as one of the MP's turned his back to see the blonde crawling toward his motionless body…

Zack shook his head and violently hurled the tennis ball at the wall to try to calm his thoughts. The little yellow missile flew past Zack's hand when the voices outside his room began distinguishable. Someone was out there. Concentrating on the sound, Zack noticed that it was that one woman with the large chest, Tifa, and some other person; a girl from the way the pitch of her voice carried. So they're going to try another one of those damn therapists…"The rapist," muttered the man, giggling to himself at the bad pun. That was the perfect way to describe some of the people who came into his room, always staring at him with those beady eyes of theirs. That one man, Hojo, was the worst. Zack had been ready to scream for his fucking mother, just at the sight of that /man/ alone. When the door clicked open, Zack lifted his head and stared at the woman. She looked nice at least with light brown hair and bright green eyes. He bet that she wouldn't last a week. When she addressed him, Zack arched one brow in acknowledgement. Like he said, seeing people wasn't a sign of being crazy. Zack wasn't crazy.

Aerith frown a bit once the male had looked toward her. She swallowed softly and walked forth to him. Pausing as she passed a small metal stool. Dust was building up upon it, like it was never used. But she noticed in the middle of the stool was a dark circle where dust hadn't reached fully yet. What was on there? A vase of flowers more likely. She outreached a hand and slid it along the cool surface of the metal. A puff of dust swirling away. Aerith jolted her head back to avoid inhaling the dust. Her murky green eyes narrowed a bit once her hand hooked upon the sitting item. She picked it up and brought it over to the side of the patient's - Who she had bothered to look up the name yet- bed. Aerith dropped one of the journals that had been on her clip board. She gasped slightly, watching it hit the bed once she had been seated on the stool. Her gaze went up to look at the other. She painted another warm smile on her lips; taking the pen that was behind her ear and clicking it on. "Look, I probably know what you're thinking-..." she paused to moved the other journal away from the sheets of paper.

Zack Fair.

That was his name. "Zack..." she stopped again and pressed the clip board to her chest, her legs crossing. "I'm not here to help you. I'm here to get to know you. I'll be nothing like the others that have came through that door. I wish to get along with you." she said softly, her gaze drawing to the ground. Of course this male had probably heard this before, many times before; but she -unlike them- was telling the truth. Aerith saw the look in those blue hues and knew he didn't belong here. "It's not fair, right? To see other's outside that window that should belong in here rather then you." she whispered. A fragile hand lifted to tuck a few loose strands of chocolate brown hair behind her ear. She laughed numbly as her eyes fluttered close. Pushing back into her chair she opened her mouth once more. "You can trust me, mister Fair...but if you don't want to then I won't stop you. We've just met. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."

Zack cocked his head to the side as the woman seemed to be fascinated by the little stool by the door. One of the nicer doctors, he believed her name was miss Crescent or something, had put a vase of flowers there. She hadn't worked there for years, but, Zack had kept the vase. Currently, the purple vase with green swirls was hiding under his bed, the flowers that had been there crumpled and withered. He hadn't had the heart to take them out after all of the trouble she had gone to. His bright blue eyes snapped up to the journal that the woman tossed onto the bed. He bent forward to pick up the journal with his hand, twirling the book between his fingers. Listening patiently as she spoke, Zack bit the inside of his cheek. No matter how sincere she sounded, she was just like the others. This chick probably thought he was mental and that he was some charity case that needed help. He took the moment to study her. The green eyes he had noticed at first seemed to be like the ocean, depthless and vastly pretty. Zack shook his head to himself. He shouldn't be thinking about how pretty his therapist's eyes were. But her words struck a cord with him. Even if she was just here as a pity case, she was speaking the truth.

The soft voice spoke from Zack's other side,

Ain't she pretty.

He didn't need to turn around to know that Cloud was there again, leaning with his back against the wall as he surveyed this scene. Zack looked over his shoulder, noting that Cloud was wearing the exact same thing he had died in, albeit it fit better now. His shoulders slumped a bit before he turned back to the woman. He wouldn't let her see the reason why people thought he was crazy, not yet. Cloud laughed softly behind him before his image faded away. Zack set the notebook back where she had tossed it before drawing his legs to his chest, resting his chin on his knee as he waited to see if she had anything else to say.

Aerith watched Zack fiddle with the other journal she had accidently dropped. She leaned over to lift it up and set it on her lap. She set a hand on Zack's shoulder and tilted her head. "Will you atleast say something to me? I don't want to feel like I'm talking all to much." her lips curled down as she slid her hand away from his shoulder. She already felt as though he had been prodding to much today. Lifting the journal from her lap and set it on the clip board. She fliped to the second page and scribbled down the time and date at the top right hand corner. She stared at the page through half lidded eyes. She dragged the pen along the paper, writing an entry quickly.

It's the first day with this patient. Nothing but a few reactions is what I have gotten from him. He only looks at me with those soft blue eyes, looking away every once in a while. I don't know what he's actually thinking, but on my mind right now I believe strongly that there is nothing wrong with him. Then again, I have just met this patient. Zack Fair is his name by the way, it says before in the sheets of information that he used to be a SOLDIER. Is there anything else to say about him? All information picked up on him is basically useless. All the other therapists and doctors that have come to his side only wrote down the things they had watched him do, the few words he would say. None of them are personal though. I conclude that this will be hard. I'm willing the work with Zack. Even if he doesn't speak a word to me, I will be here. Until then, this journal entry has ended.

She drew back the pen and clicked it off. The metal tip of ink sinking back into the dark plastic. "It'd rude of me not to introduce myself, isn't it?" she giggled softly, snapping the journal closed. "I'm Aerith Gainsborough, you can call me anything you'd like though." she said. Looking over to the white clock that was hammer into the wall, her head tilted. Only thirty minutes had passed and this was a slow progress. She had all the time in the world though, even if she had to check in soon. Nothing was wrong, even though Tifa acted as though this patient would go berserk on her or something. He seemed harmless. Like...a puppy one would say.

The ex-SOLDIER jumped when he felt the woman's hand on his shoulder, looking up at her with widened eyes. Why was she touching him? Wasn't that like, against their code of conduct or something? Not to tough a patient? If she wanted him to say something bad, he might as well humor the girl. "You…already know who I am," he spoke quietly. Not talking to anyone in months does a thing to a person's voice. But, he still liked to think he had his sense of humor, even if he wasn't used to showing it as much since….since it happened. She had fallen silent, writing down some notes in that journal of hers. Zack waited patiently until she was done, playing with the hem of his shirt. She just came in here to write in her diary? Really?

The ravenet sighed and closed his eyes, resting it on his knee with a sigh. Maybe if Cloud had decided to stick around, they could talk about something, anything, so that he didn't die of boredom. Or Zack could take them to Gongaga again. Even though Cloud had been overcome with poisoning at the time, and he's dead now, if he would stick around long enough, he could show him all the sights from his old hometown. It would be a place that Cloud would have loved. His focus was brought back on the woman when her pen clicked, signifying she was done writing and had begun to speak again. So her name was Aerith Gainsborough? Pretty enough name; it suited her well. Maybe he should just call her….well, he'd think of a good nickname the longer he knew her. His nose twitched when Aerith's scent hit it. She smelled like a bouquet, which would be the best way to put it. Like, she had rolled around in a patch of flowers before walking into his room. He sighed and tried to block the smell out of his thoughts, it made him slightly sleepy. And it would be rude to fall asleep on someone that was supposed to 'help' him, wasn't it?

Aerith rose her brow slightly when he spoke to her. She opened her mouth to say something, but paused and left her brows furrow in confusion. Then she laughed a bit, she understood when he ment. Her eyes moving to look at the clipboard again. "Not really, I just know your name and what you used to be." she muttered, brown locks falling infront of her face as she leaned down to fix her shoe. "I suppose we'll get back to this tomorrow then, you must be tired. I am a bore after all." Aerith said as she got to her feet. "It was very nice to meet you, Zack Fair." she waved her hand. "Until then, have a good day." she said, turning on her heels and walking toward the door once more. She gave one last glance at the male over her shoulder before opening the door and stepping out. She exhaled heavily and hung her head. "Was it easy?" Tifa looked up from her place against the wall, a slight grin on her face. "At least you got a sentence out of him, congrats." the black haired woman waved off Aerith. Aerith jolted a bit as the other woman spoke. She weakly smiled and walked past the other. "He seems nice." Aerith commented, and leaving before Tifa could say anything else.

The brown haired girl went home after an extremely short day of work for much needed rest. She'd be back tomorrow, she planned to. Aerith would come everyday, not because she had to. It was because she wanted to. Aerith had a day off tomorrow though. Oh well, it'd be worth it in the end. She could feel it in her veins almost. Laying back into her bed with a soft thud, Aerith shut her eyes. Sleep casting her away.

The next morning was like any other. The alarm blarred off into her ear and she got out of bed with a loud groan. She wabbled her way to the closet, clutching the door frame as she picked out a nice dress to wear. She changed into it and pulled her hair back with the pink bow she had for a while now. Smoothing out the wrinkles in the white and red peach colored dress, Aerith began to hum softly. She jogged over to her white lab coat and slipped it over her shoulders. Her usual work uniform was a white button up shirt, black dress pants, and the white lab coat. Though since it WAS her day off she'd at least wear her favorite dress. Aerith also thought it best if she wore the coat to not seem all too suspious when she went to the mental home today. She lifted her journal from the counter and left the house.

On her way to the large building in which she worked, she stopped by a very special church that was a few blocks from her home and the building. It was in the middle of her path there actually. She pushed the broad doors and entered. Deep within the broken building she seeked out the large patch of green, white, and yellow. The flowers she had taken care of on her free time, usually before and after work. Aerith gave the large garden-like-patch a watering before plucking two flowers. A yellow and white one. As she stared at the two flowers, Aerith began to wonder what would go best with them. A gasp left her lips and an idea sprung into her mind. The young female ran to the other side of the church to reach a small box she had left there last time. In the box was a needle, thread, and an old pearl white lace ribbon. She slipped the ribbon from the box and tied it around the flowers. A numb smile on her features and a gleam in her eye was all there was when she entered the building.

She waved toward Tifa and Yuffie who both seemed to be conversing about something that wasn't all too important because they waved back. Aerith knew they must have been confused to why she was there, but she shrugged it off. Her hand lingered into her pocket to pull the golden key from it. Once she had made it to the room, she did the same as she did yesterday. She injected the key into the lock and came in casually. Her hand trembling slightly as she gripped the flowers. Was she nervous? "Did you have a good night?" she asked, greeting Zack with a smile. Her notebook tucked under her arm. She didn't need the clipboard anymore. All there was, was useless information. So why bother with it?

"I got you something, Zack."

Falling onto his back once Aerith left the room, Zack sighed and closed his eyes, letting his arms cross behind his head. That had to have been the most he's spoken to one individual person in the years he's been here. No doubtedly she'd come in here tomorrow with the hopes of getting him to speak again. Maybe he could 'mysteriously' come up with the flu and lose his voice for….forever. Forever sounded good.

"You know, she's just trying to help." Cloud was back, sitting at the foot of the bed. His arms were crossed over his chest as he regarded Zack. He sat up and faced the blonde, giving him a sad look. "She's going to take one look at me and think I'm crazy. What if she was in here when I started talking to you? She'd call the guards and then I'd get shot up again with some kind of Mako-fortified shit." Cloud shrugged and put his hands behind his head. As he opened his mouth again, Zack held up a hand to forestall it.

"I swear to Gaia if any word that comes out of your mouth is LOVELESS, I'm going to smack you." Cloud promptly shut his mouth. Apparently, being dead has given him the chance to study LOVELESS, and Zack didn't like it one bit. The blonde held up his hands as his form began to fade. "Don't hold grudges, Zack." The ex-SOLDIER grumbled and flopped back down on his back, curling up onto his side. His thoughts eventually lulled him to sleep, having a dream of when he used to be SOLDIER. He woke up in the morning in a cold sweat, sitting up and putting his head on his arms as he tried to control his breathing. It was just a memory.

Once he was able to sit up straight, Zack ambled over to the small bathroom he had, doing his morning activities before flopping back onto his bed with his back turned to the wall. It must have been a few hours before the door opened again and Aerith walked in, smelling like she had rolled in flowers again. The smell was amplified however, by the two flowers in her hand. And she was asking about his night? He reluctantly rolled over to face her and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Good," he replied simply. Dimly, he realized that her clipboard was gone, and that she was just holding that journal. Aerith's smile was infectious, it seemed, and Zack found himself slowly smiling back. Instead of speaking, he raised an eyebrow in question after she said she had something. Did she mean the flowers in her hand?

Her reaction brightened a bit more when he had replied. Aerith walked back to the stool that was still there from yesterday. Her lips pursed as she pulled herself back on to the stool, her flat shoes propped against the metal poles attached to the legs of the stool. "See, I got you flowers. They aren't much, but it's all I could get in short time. Plus I've heard it's hard to get flowers now these days." she exhaled softly and held out the flowers to Zack. Her gaze drifting back to the white tile floor. Her teeth tugged slightly against the thin pink bottom lip. Her heart thudded hard against her rib cage. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she hardly knew this guy, but she was already willing to do things to do great lengths to get him to talk to her. "If you don't want them, I don't mind..." she muttered, glancing back up at Zack.

Her green eyes locked on to the blue hues that made her heart skip a beat. Those eyes were probably was appealed to her most, how they has so much emotion in them. She liked them alot, but it made her a bit uneasy when she started at him. It made her feel like she was some kind of creeper or freak for doing so. Her and began to shake slightly, almost about the drop the flowers. "And by the way." she began to chime sweetly. "I'm here more as a visitor then a therapist...or doctor you could say. I say this because it's my day off, and I wished to see you again." a hollow giggle escaped her.

Looking up, she stared at the window that had been along side the bed. Quite a view it had, you could see the people walking along and children playing on the streets aimlessly. It was nice to be young. So carefree and happy. If only she could go back to those days. Those nice long spring afternoons with her mother. The way they would bake and garden. Back when the soil the lived around was still nice and fresh. She sighed in content, her thumb stroking along the top of her journal. She had her pen clipped up on her pocket instead of loosely hanging on the back of her ear.