Past mistakes and new beginnings
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the like in this story.
Warnings: Mentions of: character death and nudity, nothing explicit.
Summary: Zack and Sephiroth reflect upon the rift left behind by a shared friend, and realize they are more alike than they would have thought.
Zack had woken up in the gentle light of a new day to the quiet air of his apartment. Not a single sound was heard in the empty space and he shivered slightly as his body tried to adjust to the cold outside of the bed. He had risen early; it was a habit he had gotten just recently. He had always had problems getting up in the mornings, but now it was harder to fall and stay asleep.
He went through the room, padding quietly over the cold floor on his way to the kitchen. Once there he put the coffee machine on and headed for the shower while he waited for it to be done.
He let his sleeping pants drop to the floor and entered the shower and turning the hot spray on. He winced as the first hot drops hit him but soon adjusted to the heat and soaked quietly for a minute before he started to work in some shampoo in his dark hair. Rinsing it quickly and then scrubbing his body down thoroughly, he exited the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist and took another to dry his hair with. Zack dried his hair roughly and when he was done he let the towel hang from his neck down his chest. His dark raven spikes where jumbled about and he smiled a bit at the mess.
Not bothering to fix it he walked out of the warmed up space of the bathroom and went to the kitchen to get his coffee. He nearly burned his tongue on the hot liquid and he could nearly hear his mentors lecture.
A twinge of pain through his heart was the first thing that greeted him as his thoughts went to his former mentor.
He felt how he shivered again, no, trembled. Carefully he put down his half-empty mug and then put both of his hands against the counter and leaned heavily on them. Hot fresh tears fell from behind his closed eyes and with his enhanced hearing he could hear how they hit the surface of the counter. He didn't care for that; he knew he wouldn't be able to stop the tears anyway. He had learned that from experience by now.
As the trembling continued to rack his body, quiet sobs following suit, he felt how his arms and legs got weak and kneeled down, resting his forehead against the counter in front of him. A choked whisper escaped his lips; it was the name of the source of his sadness.
Angeal…
The general sat behind his desk and worked on the never-ending pile of paperwork he had to go through. He had entered his office about an hour earlier as he had woken up early. And that meant earlier than what he usually did. He had been sleeping badly over the past several weeks; the reason was obvious for any person that knew him well enough to notice. The people that included were few.
Both Genesis and Angeal, his two childhood friends, had deserted and Angeal had been killed just two weeks ago. He had been killed by his own student, Zackary Fair. Sephiroth had sent him there, he hadn't been able to cut down his friend so he had sent his friends beloved puppy instead.
Sephiroth had stopped in his work and sat staring idly at the report in front of him.
He hadn't realized just how cruel that decision was until he saw his second in command come back from that mission. Those eyes that had always been so bright and innocent were tainted by sorrow and knowledge and the smile that adorned his face was forced.
Sephiroth had not only done something extremely cruel to his best friend's student, he had also forced him to attack that student.
No, maybe he had hoped that Angeal wouldn't be able to strike the puppy down. Maybe he had thought he would realize his mistake and return. Maybe.
He closed his eyes and sighed before he returned to his work. There was no need to reflect on past mistakes.
It was nearly lunch time when the door to the general's office was forced open with a bang and he looked up with annoyance at his second in command.
"Did you have a special reason to break my door today or did you simply think that it was about time to change the hinges?" He asked, obviously annoyed. Zack gave him a short pout before dropping down in a chair in front of Sephiroth desk and lodged his feet on the general's desk.
"Neither, and there's no need to be so cranky! I just thought it was about time I went to meet my dear friend." He defended and gave him a smile. Sephiroth had returned to his work even before the man was done speaking though, and he heard how Zack huffed in exasperation.
"So much for that conversation…" He muttered and Sephiroth resisted the sudden urge to snort. It hadn't really been a conversation to start with, just a short exchange of words; more like a greeting in their case.
Zack removed his feet from the desktop and put them steadily on the ground before he let his gaze travel the figure of the man in front of him. The mesmerizing green eyes were focused on the task at hand and the silky hair of his bangs framed his angelic face like a cascade of flowing silver.
His expression was, well, expressionless, and he barely moved while he quietly read the report in his gloved hand. Zack noted that his friend looked slightly tired which was unusual for the man; he even saw that bags had started to form under his eyes.
Sephiroth shifted as he felt a scrutinizing gaze travel across him and then glanced up to meet the gaze of the man. He was surprised by the mixed emotions he saw play across the younger man's face and when said man spoke up, it was with shared compassion.
"Trouble sleeping?" Zack asked and Sephiroth lowered his gaze to the desk. The sadness and guilt he felt was most likely visible in his posture and he was surprised beyond words when he heard a soft laugh.
"We truly are alike in some aspects. I'm sure Angeal would scold us both if he knew how we behaved right now." Sephiroth turned to the younger SOLDIER once more and saw the soft longing in his eyes.
"I'm sure he would." Sephiroth found himself answering and the two men exchanged a look that revealed more than words had.
The moment of feelings that transferred between the two mourning friends ended when Zack's PHS rang. He picked it up and answered it. Sephiroth could hear the muffled voice on the other end of the line and recognized it as his lieutenants CO. The call ended quickly and Zack sent an apologetic smile at the general who simply waved his hand in dismissal. He had his own duties to attend to and he had been distracted enough from them.
Zack rose and headed to the door where he paused and looked back at his friend.
"I don't blame you for what you did." He said quietly, certain that the general would be able to pick the message up with his enhanced hearing. He noticed how the man froze slightly before he went back to work. Sighing, he left the office and headed to Lazard's office, he had a new mission to attend to.
Sephiroth was surprised by the quiet confession the raven head had done. To not blame him… how could he not? He had been forced to slay his own mentor at his orders; there was no reason for him not to be blamed. Zack truly was a strange human… No, it was that he was kind; too kind.
And yet, Sephiroth found that he was relieved. He had thought that Zack would hate him for what he had done and only came to meet him due to a sense of duty.
But the short conversation that had been exchanged in this room but moments ago pointed in a different direction, one that stated that maybe he wasn't hated. Perhaps he could still be forgiven.
It was a small hope, but Sephiroth couldn't dismiss it. He had truly feared the loneliness that would have come if the pup had decided to leave his side as well.
Since when had he become so reliant on others? He wondered.
Sephiroth was soon forced to leave his musings as his own PHS rang to remind him of a meeting he had to attend. He put the phone away again and looked at the mess that had been created by Zack's feet on his desk.
Dried mud lay is small crumbled heaps and some of the forms had been crumpled. He'd have to reprimand the youth for that. With a small quirk of his lips, the general exited his office and headed to the mind numbing meeting between the higher officers. Thoughts of revenge swirled through his mind and he actually chuckled, scaring a nearby secretary in the process.
At least he had some interesting new thoughts to entertain him trough the next hours of boredom.
Zack felt a shiver run down his spine and furrowed his brow. What was this ominous feeling he had? As his CO once more dragged him back to the present he dismissed the feeling. Must have been his imagination.
A/N: Well, here we go with a little oneshot drabble about Zack, Sephiroth and their loss of Angeal. What did you think? Please review! ^o^
Oh, and should you want this to be continued, I may do so. Its all up to you though!