Hello guys! This is my first story, and writing it mainly as a way to deal with getting out of a long-term relationship with my ex-girlfriend. It's kind of . . . cathartic, I guess. Anyway, this story is completely fictional (don't worry, I'm not angsting about my own life here, this is all made up), and my break-up merely gave me the idea for this :D

This first chapter is fairly short since it's only the prologue, but chapters will be longer after this, promise.

If you feel so inclined, please review, anything's great, be it praise or criticism. I would like to grow as an author, so if you have any advice, please let me know!

I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

I've never been nervous before. Well, okay, I've been nervous, but never nervous. At least, not like this. In my current state, I was hyper-aware of everything around me. My palms were sweaty, and my fingers kept shaking back and forth, I couldn't stand still. My sweatshirt was oddly heavy and I felt hot, even though it was sixty degrees out with a good breeze going, that I felt press against my face and push my bangs out of my eyes. I could feel my feet pressing against the ground, the denim of my jeans against my knees, and my dried out mouth.

"Zack?" a voice called out to me, drawing me away from my hyper-aware state. My eyes shot up from the ground, and my voice caught in my throat. There she was. My girlfriend – well, ex-girlfriend. Huh, that title would take some getting used to. Her arms were crossed and her hip was sticking out. I could tell she didn't want to be here. She was wearing a tank-top and pajama shorts – probably studying for our midterms that were coming up next week.

The breeze picked up for a second, and I saw her shiver. I began to instinctively unzip my sweatshirt, ready to pull it off and offer it to her. She shook her head at me. "I'm fine. What do you need?"

Blunt and to the point. Excellent. I took a step backwards and sat down on the bench that was behind me. She began tapping her foot, waiting for me to start talking. I ran a hand through my unkempt black hair, trying to find the right words to articulate my thoughts.

I clasped my hands together and rested my chin on them, looking up at her. "You know the feeling, when you want something so bad, that you'd do anything for it?" I asked, biting my lip while I waited for a response.

She nodded. "Yes, I do." It was killing me how formal she was being, but what else could I expect? She was the one who ended it, and this was my final shot, my . . . Hail-Mary, if you will.

"You're that feeling. Look, you told me to take a week off and get my feelings together. And I did. A lot of things changed. Hell, half of my outlook on life changed. But one thing stayed constant. That was you. You're the thing that I'd do anything for." She started shaking her head slowly, looking away. "Cissnei, I know you think I'm not in the right mindset right now, but I am. Trust me, I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

I rubbed my face with my hands before continuing. "I still love you. I know our relationship was rough for the past month, but you know I've been dealing with shit in my life, and I know you've been busy with school and your family too. But this is a two-year long relationship, and I'm not just willing to throw it away because of a rough patch."

She sighed. "The rough patch has been going on for more than a month, Zack."

Well, that was unexpected. "What?"

"Zack, we haven't been the same since winter. I've tried to drop you hints -"

"Hints?" I interrupted. "What is it with you and hints? Why couldn't you just flat out tell me something was wrong so we could work on it?" My voice rose slightly, and I clenched my fist to keep myself under control, taking a deep breath to calm down so I didn't say something I'd regret.

"I told you if things didn't change that something would happen."

"You didn't tell me what to change though." I shook my head, my black hair falling in front of my eyes again. "What about the dreams you had? The ones where we got married? Did those just never happen?"

There was a pregnant pause as Cissnei looked down, obviously uncomfortable with what I said. Eventually, after what felt like eternity, she looked up and into my eyes, and I saw something in them . . . was it wistfulness? Regret? I wasn't sure, all I knew was that it was pain of some sort.

"Dreams change, Zack. I'm not the girl for you, Zack, and I don't think I ever was."

That hit me like a tidal wave, and I just looked down at my hands, noticing the wrinkles of my palms and the callouses of my fingers. I started nodding quickly, affirming what she had said. I felt numb. That was it. We were done. Two years of love, down the drain, a waste. I had nothing to say.

"Zack, I'm sorry for being so harsh, but –"

I held a hand up to silence her, interrupting again. "No, it's fine. Good, actually. I needed to hear that. Well, sorry for making a jackass out of myself. I guess that's that, then. We're done, the two of us." She nodded sadly. I think she was pitying me.

I stood up and started to walk away from her, ready to get away and do God knows what, just something, anything to feel something. Numb was an odd feeling, one that I wasn't used to, and didn't care to get used to.

"Wait, Zack!" I paused for a second, tilting my head in her direct to let her know I was listening. "I still love you as a person . . . just, not romantically. If you ever need anything, you can talk to me. You're still my best friend."

I let a short, harsh, bark of a laugh that didn't even sound like a laugh. It sounded cold and heartless, even to my ears. "That's a good one."

I wasn't sure how long she stood out there after that. I never looked back. I just started walking. I wasn't sure where, and I didn't really care. I just wanted to get away at that point.

At the time, I felt like an idiot. A jackass. A tool. I had laid my heart out on the line for her, and I got rejected, hard. It was the stupidest thing I had ever done – never before had I been that vulnerable to someone.

Looking back though, it was the smartest thing I could have possibly done. If I hadn't done that – put myself out there, I would have gone through the summer regretting not telling how I felt, regretting that I hadn't tried getting her back, wondering what could have been if I had just told her that I didn't want to give up on the relationship. But now, I realized that telling her got a weight off my shoulders, let me know that I needed to move on and not dwell on her.

She was right all along though. She wasn't the girl for me. I didn't know that at the time though, and I didn't realize it until later on that summer, when I met Aerith.

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?