Notes: I think my
favorite part here is the conversation between Cloud and Zack. Their
interaction is so much fun! Thanks to Kaze and Lisa for the plot
help! And yay random Yu-Gi-Oh! references! In case it was never made clear in Twilight and Dawn, the gang now lives in my version of Domino City, in Oregon.
Chapter Two
Zack grunted, stretching his arms high over his head. In his back, the tired muscles popped and crackled. Wow, that felt good. Now he was realizing just how active he had been today. And things would no doubt pick up again as evening neared. But hopefully it would only be in a positive way. With a sigh he flopped onto the couch, on his stomach. "Oh man," he mumbled, half into the pillow. "That was an experience."
Aerith leaned over, placing her skilled hands on his shoulder blades as she began to rub. "You spoke to Trista Mueller?" she asked. She had received a call from him earlier, explaining the situation and wondering if she had any ideas for a special dinner in case they would be able to come. She had been very happy that Maryn had been discovered alive and well, and she knew Zack was thrilled about Pala, too. But talking to Maryn's aunt, under the circumstances, had no doubt been trying.
Zack nodded, his body starting to relax. "Yeah. And boy, was she upset." He frowned, the harsh words coming back into his mind. "She wondered how I could even want to keep being around Seph, after everything he did. I mean . . . of course what he did was horrible. Seph himself would be the first to agree with that." He tried to look up at Aerith. "But you've gotta consider that he was out of his mind! It wasn't like he went bad on purpose!"
Gently she pushed his head back into the pillow. "Of course," she said, her voice firm.
Zack sighed again. "But it's not like I blame her for being upset, either," he said. "If I had a kid, I'd be pretty wary of letting her around Seph too. If I didn't really know him, I mean." He arched his back as Aerith discovered the most knotted spot. "Oh, that feels good," he declared.
She regarded him in amusement. "Then stay down!" she scolded playfully, pressing with gentleness on his back.
Zack obliged, sinking back into the cushions. "I kinda don't know how it happened," he admitted, "but she finally did say that Maryn could come. And that she'd be coming along too."
"She might not trust Sephiroth," Aerith answered, "but she trusts you."
Zack gave a slow nod. "Yeah, I guess so," he agreed. "So! What time's dinner going to be ready?"
She fixed him with a mock scolding look. "It will be done before they get here," she said. "You and your stomach, Zack!"
He smirked. "Hey, what can I say? The people on this planet must like food a lot too. They have a whole holiday for it!"
She could not help but be amused. "Yes, we've been hearing you talk about Thanksgiving ever since Halloween was over. Which, I might add, you were ecstatic about too!"
"Free food! And dressing up! What could be a better combo?" Zack chirped. "I love this planet!"
The timer beeped in the kitchen, causing them both to look up. Aerith smiled, straightening her posture. "And that will be the chicken now," she announced, turning to walk into the spacious culinary room. Tifa was still there, making the dressing and the gravy on the stove.
Zack sat up, stretching again as the delicious smells wafted into the living room. He could not help but be both excited and worried about the upcoming dinner. The last thing he wanted to see was tension around the dinner table, but that was what could very likely happen with Trista's ill feelings and Maryn's apprehension. Slumping back against the couch, he stared off across the room as a sigh escaped his lips.
Seph was still reaping the consequences of his insanity, even on a new planet.
Footsteps coming from upstairs caused him to tilt his neck back to look, upsidedown, at who was approaching. Then he grinned, snapping into a normal position as he watched Cloud come into the room. "Hey!" he greeted.
Cloud nodded. "So . . . Sephiroth said that you found Maryn," he said, crossing his arms.
"Yep!" Zack confirmed. "She and Pala and her aunt are coming for dinner."
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Pala?" he repeated.
"My old chocobo!" Zack reminded.
Only slight surprise registered on the blond's expression. "It's still alive?" he said.
"You know they live about as long as that horse animal lives on this world," Zack answered. The horse seemed to be what people here used instead of chocobos. Zack had to wonder what Earth people would think of a bird so big it could be ridden.
Cloud shrugged, walking around the couch to stand near the window and look out at the oncoming twilight. "You don't think it'll be awkward, to have a bird over for dinner when chicken is the main dish?" he said sarcastically.
Zack gave a sheepish grin. "Well . . . I bought a lot of lettuce and other greens for her!" he replied. "There'll be a salad for us, but she'll probably just eat the veggies down like they are in the bags."
"Heh." Cloud smirked slightly, his reflection vague in the glass of the window. "You're worried about how this is going to go."
Zack ran a hand through his hair. "Really? It's that plain to see?" he asked.
"Oh yeah." Cloud met the eyes of Zack's reflection. "You're worried that it's going to dissolve into people being at each other's throats, with Sephiroth at the center of it all."
Zack sighed. "Yeah, you're right, pal," he admitted. "I mean . . . Seph can't help what he did when he lost his mind, but he's still hated a lot for it." He shuddered. "Can you imagine what'd happen if we ever went back to Gaia? Someone'd always be out for Seph's blood. He'd never have any peace." His voice lowered.
". . . You wouldn't want to go back," Cloud deduced.
Zack hesitated. "Well . . . it was home almost all my life," he said slowly. "Can't just forget about that. But . . ." He shook his head. "We're all settled here now, aren't we? New jobs, new lives. . . . Would you really wanna make it all null and void, give it all up? What's really left for us on Gaia?" He smiled a bit. "I mean . . . we're all here."
"And home is where the heart is, right?" Cloud's voice still carried a note of sarcasm, but he did not sound hostile or unfavorable. It almost seemed that he had expected this conversation would happen.
Zack smirked, hopping up and walking over to his friend. "Of course!" he said, poking Cloud on the arm.
Then he sobered. "What about you, Cloud?" he wanted to know. "Do you want to go back?"
Cloud shrugged. "It wasn't making too much difference to me what we did," he admitted. "I figured either way would be fine." He frowned. "But honestly . . . Gaia is a dump. Maybe I should feel like I'd want to go back and fix it, like Reeve's doing over there, but . . . you know I hate being a hero." He sighed. "As far as I know, things were pretty calm over there when we left. And I don't think any of us would be missed too much, since we're rogues and underdogs and the megalomaniac who tried to blow up the planet."
Zack nodded. "And hey, who'd wanna leave Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas, anyway?" he said lightly.
Cloud looked over at him. The brunet blinked back, his expression innocent.
At last Cloud shook his head. "Dork."
"Aw come on!" Zack protested. "You've gotta admit, the holidays here are better than anything on Gaia!" He grabbed Cloud by the shoulders, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Cloud looked away, hiding the smirk of amusement.
The knock on the door brought them both to attention. Zack released Cloud, heading over to the door and turning the knob. As he hauled it open, Maryn beamed up at him from the porch. Trista Mueller stood next to her, looking as though she felt awkward and uncomfortable to be there. Behind them, Pala warked happily from the walkway.
Zack broke into a grin. "Hey!" he greeted. "You're just in time. Dinner's almost ready!"
Trista nodded. "I wondered if we'd be late," she said, sounding almost apologetic.
"Nope!" Zack said.
Maryn held up Pala's reins. "Where should I take her?" she asked.
In a moment Zack had slipped into his shoes and was out on the porch. "Let's take her around here," he directed, hopping down the steps two at a time and patting the bird before heading around to the left side of the house. Maryn quickly followed, soon catching up where Zack was standing in front of a large corner window.
"Right here," he said.
Maryn nodded, the excitement obvious in her face as she tied the reins around a tree. "I can hardly believe I'm really here," she said, her voice soft and almost reverent in the tones. She looked up at Zack again, her eyes shining. "It feels like it's a really beautiful dream that can't be happening."
Zack smiled, petting Pala again as she warbled in bliss. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it," he mused. "It's hard to believe a lot of things've happened. All of us being here, alive and well, Seph being sane. . . ."
"Is he back yet?" Maryn asked.
"He should be, any minute!" Zack chirped. And his insides twisted. The meeting between Seph and Trista would be a big test of how things might go for the evening. But surely she would do her best to be civil, for Maryn's sake if nothing else.
"Zack?"
He came back to the present, looking at Maryn's serious face in surprise. "What is it?" he asked.
She ran her hand over Pala's downy feathers. "You had that friend named Angeal, didn't you?"
He blinked in surprise. "Yeah," he said. "What about him?"
She looked up at him. "Do you know if he's here too?"
Zack's smile turned melancholy. "I haven't seen him," he replied. "But I've been looking. I'm not going to give up on finding him!"
She nodded, biting her lip. "I think . . . maybe I've seen him."
Now Zack could only stare. Could that be true? Could Angeal be right here, somewhere in the city? It was a fairly good-sized place, though nothing compared to New York or Tokyo or any of those huge cities. It seemed weird that Zack would not have seen Angeal at some point, if he was in town at all, but such a thing would not be impossible.
"Where?" he exclaimed, finding his voice.
"Sometimes I see this guy walking around my neighborhood," Maryn told him. "He looks like he might be Mr. Sephiroth's age, or even a couple years older. He has dark hair and a really serious face. He also kinda has some whiskers here." She ran her hand over her chin. "He really looks like Angeal did in that old picture you showed me."
Zack's expression broke into a wide and ecstatic grin. Finding Maryn and Pala and Angeal all in one day. . . . This was amazing! It did sound like Maryn had seen Angeal. It sounded almost exactly like him!
"Did you try to talk to him?" he wanted to know.
She nodded. "Sometimes I call 'Good morning' or 'Hi', and he looks at me, but he gives me a really weird look, like he's trying to figure out where he knows me from. The last time he finally asked me why I always talk to him, and I said because he always looks sad. But then my bus came and I didn't get to say anything else."
Zack nodded as well. That also sounded like Angeal. He would be bewildered if some strange girl was always calling hello to him.
"Hey, do you think tomorrow you could show me where you usually see him?" he asked, barely able to contain his growing excitement. If Angeal was here, and Zack could bring him home, then he would have all of his friends back together again! And maybe even Seph and Angeal could repair their old friendship. And Cloud would probably get along really well with him. . . . The possibilities were endless!
"Sure!" Maryn smiled, also excited. To be able to help Zack find someone he cared about and had been looking for would be wonderful! Zack had always done so much for her. She wanted to have the chance to help him now.
The sound of a car door slamming caused them both to look up. "Seph must be here," Zack determined. "Let's go back to the front and say hello!"
Maryn nodded, hurrying past Zack to get into the front yard. Her aunt had remained on the porch, and might still be there, and Maryn wanted to be there before she and Sephiroth encountered each other. That was liable to be a disaster any way she looked at it.
She came to a stop on the walkway, right near the silver-haired man. "Hi, Mr. Sephiroth!" she greeted, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Sephiroth had always been an imposing and intimidating figure, especially in comparison to Zack, but knowing what Sephiroth had done and tried to do in his madness made it much worse now. He seemed sane now, and yet could he really ever be sane after how far he had fallen?
He looked over, nodding to her. A smirk of amusement crossed his features as Zack ran up next to her and nearly knocked them both over. Quickly he reached out to steady them.
"Good evening."
His gaze transferred to the porch, where Trista Mueller was standing. Her posture was stiff, her eyes boring into his, as if searching for the insanity that had nearly been Gaia's downfall. Zack had spoken to her, but she was still wary---even borderline hostile in her tone. It was nothing Sephiroth had not expected.
He gave a slow nod. "Good evening," he answered, his own voice guarded and polite.
Zack hurried to interfere. "Dinner's ready!" he said. "How about we all go inside and eat?"
Both Trista and Sephiroth nodded in response, the action almost mechanical. As Zack dashed past them and into the house, they and Maryn followed.
Much to Zack's relief, the dinner proceeded in a fairly normal manner---or at least, relatively civil. Trista seemed content to speak with the other members of the mismatched family, and Maryn seemed to get along particularly well with Marlene. Sephiroth was content to eat in relative silence, just observing it all. No uncomfortable questions were directed his way, or anywhere else. For now, at least, they could all be relaxed.
Zack leaned back, as happy as a king---and promptly yelped in surprise as something took hold of his hair.
Everyone looked up, their eyes filled with questions. Assessing the situation, Sephiroth began to smirk.
"That's what happens when you invite an animal to dinner," he remarked, as Pala gently tugged and rearranged at Zack's spikes from where she was leaning in through the window.
Cloud snickered into his glass.
Recovering from the shock, Zack reached up to pet the bird's long neck. "Hey, she loves me," he grinned.
"That's obvious," Sephiroth grunted.
Trista looked to him now, but there was not open hostility in her eyes or her words. "What exactly is it that Jenova Corp does?" she asked. "I realize that it specializes in virtual reality technology, but what do you do with it? I've heard that you don't want to merge with the large gaming companies in the city."
"That's right," Sephiroth nodded, taking up his knife and fork to cut off another piece of chicken meat. "We have contracts with several organizations, including the military. They use our technology in their training." In a way, it was a piece of home. He had certainly spent a lot of time in Shinra's virtual reality training chambers, as had Zack. They both knew a great deal about how they worked, and had been successful in setting up the technology on Earth.
"We also do sell some of the programs to the gaming companies," Zack put in. "Especially Kaiba Corp. Sometimes Industrial Illusions, too."
Cloud rolled his eyes. "The president of that place is crazy," he declared. "And if he isn't, he does a good imitation of it."
"He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him," Zack put in. "He usually ends up drunk at the business dinners."
"And then he goes on rants about the best cartoon shows," Cloud said.
"Really?" Maryn giggled. "That's weird."
"And that's putting it mildly," Sephiroth grunted.
Sephiroth sighed to himself as he wandered into the sitting room after dinner. Feeling along the wall, he located the light switch and clicked it on. The spacious room was bathed in the bright glow, revealing that save for its new occupant, it was empty. And that was fine with him.
Zack was taking Maryn and her aunt on a tour of the mansion, with Sephiroth's permission. It would be a while before they would get all the way down here, and he could use the solitude. Or maybe he should just go into his private office behind the library. Zack would not be showing it to anyone. He knew it was Seph's personal sanctuary. Both it and Sephiroth's bedroom were off-limits to visitors, except in special cases. Zack was almost always allowed in both.
"Mr. Sephiroth?"
He froze, looking towards the sound of the voice. Maryn was peering into the room, looking hesitant.
He studied her, his expression deadpan. "I thought you were on the tour," he remarked.
She bit her lip. "I . . . I wanted to talk to you about something, and Zack said I should come find you," she replied, her fingers gripping tightly at the edge of the door. Being alone with Sephiroth was not something she particularly wanted right now, and yet they needed to be alone for her to ask what she had to know. She was not going to let this drag on indefinitely.
Sephiroth could see all of this in her conflicted expression. He gave a slow nod, gesturing with his hand for her to enter. "Come in, then," he said.
She nodded, nervous as she stepped inside. "I wanted to thank you for letting us come to your house," she began, placing her hands behind her back.
"It's Zack's house as well," he answered. This was not what she really wanted to say. She was just starting out with a polite statement before getting to the heart of the matter.
She shifted. "Aunt Trista was worried," she said, "about how you might be, I mean."
"I know." He watched her. "Did you feel the same?"
She looked at the floor. "I kinda wondered," she said, her voice quiet. "Meteor was so horrible. . . ." Her voice caught as she looked up at him again. "How did you get like that, Mr. Sephiroth? How could you have wanted to get rid of the whole planet?!"
Unmistakable pain and sadness flashed through the older set of green eyes. "I don't know," he admitted.
Maryn shook her head. "Why? Why, Mr. Sephiroth?! Do you know how many people got hurt when you were acting like that?! Do you know how many got killed?!" The tears were coming to her bright green eyes. Throughout the day she had been able to control her emotions. But now she no longer could manage it. Sephiroth had seemed so blasé, so unconcerned, when he had said earlier that he was fine. And Meteor had shredded her heart so much, as well as many other hearts. Didn't he care? Did he care at all about what he had done? How could he be fine after doing such terrible things?
"I trusted you, Mr. Sephiroth! You and Zack were always so nice to me, helping me when I needed somewhere to go . . . and then you started acting like . . . like that . . . !" Her voice dropped. "I . . . I felt so betrayed. . . ." The tears broke loose, slipping down her face.
Sephiroth looked her straight in the eyes as he took hold of her shoulders. He had known this was coming. It had been obvious ever since Maryn had spoken to him across town. And it was somewhat of a relief, that she was dealing with her feelings now, instead of bottling everything up as Cloud had done. The last thing he wanted to deal with was another experience such as that.
"Yes, I know." His eyes were filled with seriousness, as well as indescribable sadness and regret. "I know you did, as did many others. I let everyone down---you, and Zack, and Cloud, and the people I was supposed to protect. I think every day about what I've done, Maryn. I can't fully explain what was going on in my mind at that time. I didn't have possession of my senses at all. But it isn't an excuse. It could never be an excuse. I am responsible for the destruction of countless lives." Slowly he released her. "I don't expect to be forgiven. I don't deserve it."
She stared at him, biting her lip. The feelings she had seen in his eyes were so intense, so powerful, so . . . so heart-twisting. He cared. He cared so much more than she could ever comprehend. It was tearing him up inside. Somehow he had tried to move on, to turn his life around, while still being chained by his past. And it would always haunt him.
"Mr. Sephiroth. . . ." She gazed into those tormented eyes. "I . . . I do forgive you! I forgave you a long time ago, when Cloud talked to me. I knew it would be so horrible, to . . . to be doing those things, when it isn't even what you would want if you really knew you were doing them and could stop yourself. . . ." She caught herself, knowing she was starting to ramble. "I . . . I just . . . I didn't understand today . . . when you acted so . . . so . . ." She shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Sephiroth. I'm the one who should be asking your forgiveness, for not just knowing that you would be feeling awful, even if you weren't showing it!"
Sephiroth gazed down at her. Now she was the one who looked tortured, as if she had committed some treacherous sin. He smiled slightly, kindly. "There's nothing to forgive," he answered.
She brightened, moving forward slowly and then pausing, debating within herself. But then she reached out, wrapping her arms around him in a shy hug. "I'm really glad you're back, Mr. Sephiroth," she said in earnest. She had never been as close to him as she had been to Zack, true, but she cared about Sephiroth as well.
Sephiroth blinked in surprise. That was not what he had expected at all. After a moment he reached out, awkwardly placing one hand around her shoulders.
Zack, observing from the doorway, had to smile. "Well," he said quietly to the woman standing next to him, "what do you think?"
Trista sighed, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "He's not the man who tried to cause Meteor," she admitted. "And he also isn't the man who came with you to bring Maryn to me." She paused. "This man is much more sad."
Zack nodded in agreement, looking sad himself. "Yeah, he is. And really harmless to everyone, unless it's some creep causing trouble." He gave a rueful smile. "There's really not anything to worry about."
Trista nodded. "I believe you," she said.
The smile widened. "Then this accidental eavesdropping is a success," Zack declared.
"He might not appreciate it," Trista pointed out.
"Hey, it's for a good cause!" Zack answered.
Trista only shook her head as she turned to walk on.
