How to Be Dead, a final fantasy vii fanfic

Disclaimer: Not mine!

A/N: Because there's no way Zack would let this kind of thing keep happening if he could help it.

Please keep your hands down
And stop raising your voice;
It's hardly what I'd be doing if you gave me a choice.

-- From How to Be Dead by Snow Patrol

How to Be Dead

"And this time you're staying put."

"Zack." Aerith coalesces next to him, radiating concern and disapproval and amusement all at once. He was always amazed by how many emotions she could get into a single look when she was alive, but it's even more intense now he can sense them as well. "What are you doing?"

"Just making sure Cloud's okay. You could call it an insurance policy."

"An insurance policy?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Sure. Why?"

"Nothing. Except … did you ever consider a career as a spin doctor before you decided to try out for SOLDIER?"

Zack grins.

The landscape around them is hazy and dreamlike, but solid enough to be recognisable as a field of wildflowers. This makes the wooden chair extra incongruous, and its unconscious occupant extra absurd. In life there was no way he could've been contained like this, but here, now, in this place, desire to protect is even stronger than ropes around wrists, ankles and waist. Actually tying someone up is mere indication of a much more powerful force from those who know how to wield it.

Aerith tilts her head to one side speculatively. "This makes me sound perverted, but I think he looks kind of cute like that."

"Really? You little minx. But don't let him hear you say that, or he'll go bananas. He likes to make out he's stately and aloof, not cute."

"Then maybe," she replies, "you should've thought about that before brought his spirit here to hide it from Jenova."

Fin.