Yay for the second chapter! I don't really have much to say, except that I'm sorry my writing's not all that great. ^^;

"…What am I…?" Zack rubbed his eyes and sat up. Eerie white mist had been replaced with rugged hills and pine trees, a dark starry sky overhead.

"Nngh…"

He turned around, quickly jumping to his feet. "Who's there?" Whatever the hell was going on, he didn't want to get ambushed right here and now.

Aerith blinked a few times, wiping the sleepiness from her eyes. "Zack? What's going on?"

"I have no freakin' idea. Thought you were a monster."

"Well where are we?" She asked worriedly, taking Zack's hand as he pulled her up off the ground. "I'm still groggy. Wait, is this…?" The earth pulsated under the Cetra's feet. There was no doubt about it now, not a foggy thought in her mind. Aerith's eyes glazed over as she said to him, "This is Gaia. We're on Gaia, Zack. We're back on earth."

Zack blinked. "But…no! We're dead. Dead, dead, dead. That's what we are. We belong up there!" He pointed towards the sky, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I can't explain this either," she said quietly. Her head was spinning, mind dizzy and excited and scared all at once as the realizations hit her again and again. She now had a beating heart and a working brain. At the same time however… "We're messing with the planet. This will cause an imbalance. Why did it even happen?"

Zack was starting to get irritated. "It's who-knows-how-late at night, I'm insanely tired, and I have no idea what just happened. All I know is that we need to find a safe place to sleep, and we'll see what happens in the morning."

Aerith coughed. "Sorry…I kind of forgot you've got no clue what's going on either. Now that you mention it—" a yawn escaped her lips. "I'm really drowsy too."

Zack noticed a small cave carved out of a nearby hill, and bobbed his head towards it. "C'mon, we'll rest there."

She nodded. "M'kay." Slowly they made their way up the hill and into the cave.

Zack slumped his shoulders and propped himself against the wall, falling asleep in a flash. Aerith, on the other hand, as worn-out and frazzled as she was, couldn't get her eyes to shut. She sat at the mouth of the cave, resting her head on her hands. "Good night, earth," she whispered, finally feeling her eyelids droop. "I hope I don't cause you any more trouble. If I do, let me know, okay?" She smiled, satisfied with her one-sided conversation to Gaia. "And…same goes for you, Cloud, Tifa, everyone. I'm… sure you …can hear me…wherever you are…" With a small tired laugh and a yawn, she closed her eyes and let her mind wander.

"Gooood morning!"

Aerith pushed herself up off the cave floor where she'd ended up sleeping the night before. "G'morning to you too," she giggled, still drowsy. "Wait… Zack, we're still here!"

Zack raised an eyebrow. "And where've you been? Duh we're still here. C'mon, I'm hungry and we gotta find Midgar."

Aerith nodded. Something about that sentence wasn't right, though. "Right, right…But I'm still tired."

"Sucks to be you, then! Get up or I'll have to scream."

"Okay, okay! I'm up."

Zack grinned. "Good. Now, I think I know what forest we're in right now. I recognize that mountain over there. If I remember correctly, Midgar is east…"

"Uhh, Zack…"

He sighed. "What is it now?"

"Midgar is in ruins now. We should be looking for Edge."

He was about to yell at her when he remembered that she was right. "Ah…oops! Well, in that case, we'll wander!"

Although it didn't seem like the smartest idea, Aerith couldn't exactly come up with anything better herself. Zack guided them through the woods and into a large clearing, with wild grass sprouting up at every corner.

Aerith allowed a huge smile to form on her face as she looked on at the beautiful field. "Zack, this is a flower field!"

He scratched the back of his head. "Huh, I guess it is. Well, this turned out to be a dead end, let's try—"

It was too late. She was already running towards the wide open clearing, giggling the whole way as she ran. "Can we please take a quick break here? Ple-e-a-a-se, Zack? I mean, I've b-been through so much…I just w-wanna play a bit…!"

He couldn't resist her sad voice. "Alright, fine." He jogged towards where she was sniffing some flowers and smirked as he shouted, "Tag, you're it!" and tapped her back.

Aerith looked up. "Hey…wait! That's no fair!" She could see her breath as she chased after the young man, arms outstretched. Awfully cold for a summer day, she thought to herself. Ah, oh well.

Every time she got close to tagging him, Zack would make a quick left or a sharp right or a total one-eighty, and she'd be right back where she started. Eventually, the two collapsed into the flowers near the middle of the field, their bodies shaking with laughter, chests rising and falling with every heavy unstable breath.

"You…are…dead…" Aerith panted, at last slapping his shoulder and tagging him as it.

"Took you long enough! But, I already quit, so you can't tag me. Ha-ha!"

"I…give up!" She said, shaking her head and stretching out her arms.

" Yeah yeah, quitter," he said jokingly. It was then that they heard the roar of a far-off engine. "Hey, what was that?"

Aerith sat up. "I-I dunno…" She stood and walked over to the far end of the field, near what seemed to be a road. "Maybe we went the right direction after all! Here, I'll make sure no cars see us and when the coast is clear we can start walking along the road!"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea…I mean, this could be somebody's property or something! We don't want someone to see you 'keeping watch' and get us in trouble with the law."

She sniffed. "Hmm…that's not the daring, up-for-anything Zack I remember from when we were alive. Guess you're just not as brave anymore."

"Eh…?" Zack blinked, taking in her words for a second. "EH? Are you insulting me?" Aerith knew just the right buttons to push. "In that case, go ahead and keep watch!" He jerked his heads towards the road. "And then, y'know what, we will start walking on that road! 'Cause like hell I'm not brave!"

"Aha-ha, that's what you…think…"

"Aer, you okay?"

"Wha…?" Aerith couldn't believe what she was seeing. The engine's sound had gotten closer and closer, and now, here it was. Her heart had stopped and her eyes were huge. Was this her imagination? Her way of coping with things?

The man stopped his motorcycle in the middle of the road, slowly lifting up his riding goggles. "Holy…Aerith…?"

She was trying to say something. The words longed to come out of her mouth and spill into the air, but she couldn't seem to get them out, as hard as she tried.

Zack, on the other hand… "Cloudy-boy! Funny meeting you here, eh? Whoa, are you wearing a cape skirt?" He was starting to run towards the young man when he flipped his goggles back over his wide and shocked blue eyes and brought the engine to life again, speeding away as fast as he could. "Hey! Dude, that is awfully frickin' rude of you! Your best friend comes back from the grave and all you can do is run?"

Aerith's heart was beating again, but she still wasn't sure if she could speak. "Nngh…" She dropped to her knees.

"…We should follow the road, I think."

"Duh," was all she could say.

/End of chapter 2

Gah, sorry if these guys are out of character. I'm trying hard to keep them as in-character as possible. (: