Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy, I just own the plot.

Chapter 2: Speaking with no Sound

Zack had to admit, attempting to flirt with a beautiful girl while he couldn't even use his deep, alluring voice was…difficult. Nonetheless he drew on the mud again as he asked her for one date. Her reaction was unexpected to say the least.

"A date? What is that? Don't be silly!", she turned away from him, looking at her beautiful, yellow flowers. She noticed from the corner of her eyes as Zack's shoulders slumped in defeat before he was walking forward carelessly. She said in alarm:" Don't step on the flowers!", Zack immediately lifted his foot before it made contact with the plants underneath. He turned to her and smiled sheepishly, she shook her head and said:" Normally, people are more careful with flowers.", raising and waving her finger.

Zack raised his finger and made circling motions near his head, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as if to say he was crazy and not a normal person, Aerith giggled at the display and said:" Well, you do seem a little crazy to me.", she smiled brightly and he shook his head in amusement, crossing his arms.

Aerith turned back to look at her flowers when Zack clapped his hands, gaining her attention once more. She looked at him slightly confused as he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together and pointed at the flowers.

He repeated the action several times and drew a kind of cart or something on the mud with the stick, Aerith asked slowly:" Wait…money, flowers, the cart…", she thought for a moment before she said:" You're telling me to sell them? In a cart? No…a wagon! A flower wagon!",

Zack jumped up and grinned widely, clapping in joy at her realization of his plans. She giggled and said:" But I don't know…I don't know how to make a wagon anyway…", Zack smirked and pointed at himself proudly, wordlessly saying he was the right man for the job. Aerith shook her head and asked softly:" You're saying you would really help me with selling flowers? Why?",

The young SOLDIER contemplated the idea before shrugging and again drawing on the mud "Don't know. But you seem nice, so I'll help you out.", he gave her a large, friendly grin, bowing jokingly.

Aerith smiled and laughed, saying in the end:" Alright! Let's-", there was a ringing sounding throughout the church. It came from his pocket.

Zack flipped open his phone without a second thought and cursed his inability to speak as Tseng called him:" Zack, where are you? Lazard requested for you to come back to HQ.",

Zack grunted and hung up before Tseng could question his unusual silence over the phone. The tall SOLDIER looked at the beautiful girl before him and grinned sheepishly, she asked:" Um…work?", he nodded sadly.

She smiled and crossed her arms behind her back as she said:" Don't worry, you promised to help me sell my flowers so I know you will come back, right?", at that Zack's bright smile returned. Aerith couldn't help but return the intensity of the smile, he sure was a cheerful guy.

He waved at her as he left for work again, he found himself briefly stopping a few feet away and just watched her for a minute. Thankfully her back was turned to him so she didn't notice his lingering gaze, he smiled and started walking towards HQ.

Wherever that was.

Lazard asked him bewildered:" You can't speak?", Zack nodded, grinning sheepishly. The director asked him:" What happened?",

Zack frowned, he couldn't say anything about his fight with Angeal otherwise he would be questioned about why he didn't kill him or at the very least call for backup upon sighting him. Zack cleared his throat and wrote on a piece of paper:" I don't know. I was on my way to search for the targets when I slipped and fell through the roof into a church. Since then I can't talk.", the man sitting at his desk nodded upon reading it.

He rubbed his forehead as he said:" Sephiroth,", the super SOLDIER looked at his director with mild interest, "keep an eye on him and try not to get separated again. Perhaps next time he will come back without his head.",

Sephiroth couldn't help but smirk when he saw Zack giving Lazard's back the middle finger in annoyance, the silver haired man beckoned him out to cool him off. The young pup sure had a temper.

Sephiroth crossed his arms and asked:" So, what did really happen? Have you encountered Angeal?", Zack sighed and nodded solemnly, his hands on his hips as he walked in uneven circles.

Sephiroth frowned and said:" You said you fell into a church. That much was true wasn't it?", again, Zack nodded. He rose an eyebrow as Sephiroth was suddenly deep in thought.

He raised his arms and made a motion with his hand to spill out what he was thinking, Sephiroth frowned and replied:" Perhaps the impact upon the ground jostled your body so much so that you went into shock and lost the ability to speak. I assume it will only last for a week, but get yourself checked in with Hollander just in case.", Zack frowned but nodded nonetheless. Great.

The black haired male stretched his arms above his head and did a couple of squats before his friend Kunsel suddenly greeted him out of nowhere:" Hey Zack! What's up buddy?", he fist bumped with Zack and smiled beneath his helmet.

Zack grinned brightly, glad to see a familiar face. He didn't see Kunsel for a pretty long time come to think of it, then again the man probably had missions of his own to do.

When Zack didn't offer him any answer the young man frowned and asked:" Hey, is something wrong? You're unusually quiet.", Sephiroth spoke up as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed:" He suffered a accident and won't be able to speak for about a week.",

Kunsel exclaimed with surprise:" Oh dude! I'm sorry Zack, that must be really hard on you. Well, look on the bright side! At least now I won't have to hear your constant yapping about honor and dreams and everything.", Zack saw Kunsel grin playfully under his helmet.

Zack shook his head in amusement and playfully punched his friend, who shoved him in return. Kunsel excused himself under the venomous glare of the First Class and left briskly.

"Gee, thanks a lot Kunsel. But he's right…I do talk about dreams and honor a lot lately don't I?", Zack's thoughts drifted toward his mentor again as he thought:" Angeal…where are you?",

Sephiroth and Zack made their way onto their next mission as thoughts of Angeal still plagued Zack's mind, Sephiroth either suspected what he was thinking about or he chose not to comment on it as he observed the frowns and worried looks Zack was making.

"The pup didn't figure it out but then…did you figure it out Angeal? About Hollander? Or why did you leave SOLDIER? Why would Genesis leave SOLDIER? It didn't make any sense except that they found about the project and Hollander's goals…", Sephiroth thought with a grim look as he led the young SOLDIER out of HQ.

I'm sorry it's so short! (bows over and over) Ugh, I just can't seem to have any inspiration lately! I'm sorry guys I'll try to update more often! Thank you for reading!