Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of my reviewers and people who have favorites this story or put it on alert. If I wasn't so broke, I would buy you all some cookies. You'll have to settle for virtual cookies for now. (hint: I would love to get even more feedback! :D)

I am very very sorry about my absence as of late. It is obviously not by choice that I put school ahead of my recreational writing. :P I wish. But I did have a string of exams, assignments, projects, and a hella lot of studying. I tried my very best to get this one up by Sunday but it just didn't work out that way. So right now, I am awake in the middle of the night because I just have to get this done today. I edited this story rather quickly and in the past few days that I put it together, my brain was much fuzzier than usual. So there may be mistakes and weird parts and whatever else my dull brain likes to skip over. And with that I ask that you notify me of anything odd that you notice and I shall be forever thankful. (:

Oh, and of course the theme of April had to be rain. I adore rain and every aspect of this but I didn't really see how I could make this story work with a billion paragraphs on describing how awesome rain is. So I didn't but I stuck it in anyway. xD Yeah, just like I expected, these one-shots are becoming based on the theme or common subject of their associated month. Any guesses what May is going to be about?

April

It began as the surprise of a lifetime.

All he really wanted to do was make his girl happy, to make her face light up as it always did when she smiled.

He didn't deserve this.

Zack frowned as yet another raindrop slipped off his wet sagging black spikes. Somewhere up there, he reasoned, some powerful and mighty being was probably laughing at him and his drooping hair. The too-good-to-be-true plan was obviously bound to eventually go wrong. He just didn't realize it at the time.

Meanwhile, Aerith really seemed to be enjoying herself. She stood in the pouring rain, already soaked to the bone, laughing as more and more raindrops hit her delicate face. He had never seen her in such joy over the light sprinkles that she sometimes fell through the Church roof and he wondered what exactly about this gloomy rainfall could make a girl smile so hard.

He just didn't get it.

The whole day promised to be wonderful. The weather was nice and the city was as bright as it ever got and he happened to have a day off. Aerith was so happy when he told her that he was going to take her to Midgar that day, so delighted at the idea of it, that they left immediately. And so, with a pretty girl on his arm and a smile on his face, Zack wondered just how his day could get any better.

Perhaps he let his confidence get to his head because the day simply couldn't get better. So it didn't.

The ascent to the city was smooth and the look on Aerith's face as she saw Midgar for the very first time filled Zack with even more joy and more warmth and more certainty. She was in absolute awe of everything, from the flashing lights, to the structure of the city, to the people rushing by. They stood side by side for a while, Aerith in absolute amazement and Zack, the happiest he could ever remember himself being, not daring to venture beyond their first step together above the Slums. It reminded Zack of his own first day in the city, back when he was nothing more than a country boy from a small town with a backwater name....

The ever darkening skies should have been an omen for bad things to come. But back then, Zack couldn't care less. Even as it started to drizzle, he was in high spirits. Hand in hand, Zack and Aerith ran through the streets, past the faceless people, laughing as raindrops landed sloppily on their heads.

The drizzle didn't last for long.

It soon turned into a downpour, blurring their surrounding. That may have been the reason that one wrong turn led to another and yet another wrong road. And thanks to his man ego, Zack didn't admit to being lost until the two of them were nearly mugged in a dark alley.

Nearly.

Pulling a frightened Aerith behind him, Zack's eyes turned hard and he warned her not to look as he disarmed and disabled the attackers before cursing their bad luck.

By then it was almost pitch black and the rain grew even heavier than before. Aerith was slightly shivering, whether from the cold rain or the previous encounter he did not know. Hesitantly put a warm arm around her shoulders and was slightly surprised to feel her trying to burrow further into him. He expected to feel her fear but instead, all she ever gave him was unconditional trust.

It was by the sheerest luck that they stumbled upon the train station. Zack silently thanked his lucky stars, the ones that remained eternally hidden by Midgar's murky skies. Sure, the train station didn't have a roof, but Zack now at least had a chance to find his way back.

With somewhat of a fallen spirit, Zack looked over at Aerith to apologize for his failure but was greeted with a huge youthful grin. It only added to his confusion.

They were both dripping wet and while he was as close as he would ever get to being depressed, she seemed to be having the adventure of her life.

Aerith looked back at him questioningly, not understanding why he was upset. Her light brown hair was plastered randomly to her delicate face and he still thought that she looked like an angel, albeit one that had accidentally fallen into a lake. Zack smiled slightly at the thought and that made her smile as well, the contagious smiles quickly turning into mad laughter that rang from every surrounding corner. Zack felt like crying.

When the train finally arrived, Zack already knew that it was much later than he had promised to return Aerith home. He let a small sigh escape him. He had wanted so much yet he had failed at achieving any of it. He had gotten himself lost in the city he boasted to know most about and Elmyra would most likely skin him alive when (and if) they managed to find their way back down to Sector 5 Slums. His entire fate was now in the hands of the wretched train.

The said train suddenly buckled and screeched to a sudden stop. Zack caught Aerith around the waist before she was thrown across the empty cabin. Without a word, he set her down and walked over to a window, purposely avoiding her wide watchful eyes.

A glimpse of brilliant blue momentarily reflected back at him from the glass surface before he was able to look beyond the inside of the train cabin. The roads still looked wet, the lights were nothing more than blurs, and the streets were barely recognizable, but at least Zack could tell that they had stopped on a bridge hovering above a section of the city. Maybe the view would have been nice if it wasn't the city of Midgar he was looking at. Heck, Zack thought, the view would probably look nice if it wasn't pouring outside and you could tell the difference between buildings, people, and lampposts.

"Midgar Transit is sorry for the inconvenience," a bored buzz sounded form the intercoms, spooking Aerith further and even making Zack flinch ever so slightly, "This train is temporary out of service due to mechanical failure. Meanwhile, we will ask all passengers to remain within their cabins as the doors cannot be open right now due to fear of electrical and fire hazards. Thank you."

Zack didn't know if it was shock or annoyance or anger that caused his entire being to go numb. At the announcement, he did nothing but stare blankly at the blurred lights outside the wet window, unable to get his mind to start working again. The pestering sound of what sounded a lot like elevator music burst through the speakers. Zack had never hated it more. He wondered if there were even any other passengers on the train or if the train driver just felt like annoying him out of his mind on purpose. Just then, a gentle voice interrupted his moment of pure loathing.

"Are we stuck like this?" The seemingly simple question broke him. He didn't want to admit his failure, didn't want to hear the damned words of defeat come out of his mouth. But his silence was no denial of the sad fact that nothing just happened to work out.

Zack didn't even really understand why this bothered him so much. He had made plenty of foolish mistakes, had thousands of "bad days," and had put himself in dumb situations numerous times before. But somehow, this time was different. This time he wanted to make it the best night not only for Aerith, but also for himself. He wanted to take her to the fanciest restaurant in Midgar and then to a small café that made the best hot chocolate in the world. He planned to show her the rare glimpse of beauty of the city life and the stars outside of the city's walls. He had planned to take her dancing…

With a fluid motion, Zack spun around, outstretching his arm and bowing towards Aeirth at the same time. "May I have this dance?"

He couldn't see her expression but the bewilderment didn't hide well enough in her voice: "Now? Right here? To this?"

Zack nodded wordlessly, a slow smile creeping up his features, and pulled her from her seating position. Aerith stood awkwardly as Zack placed her hands on his upper arms where she could reach, and wrapped his own arms around her tiny waist. Neither with much experience in dancing, the two began swaying clumsily from side to side.

The music was definitely not made for dancing but the repetitive rhythm coming from the speakers had a hypnotizing effect. Before long, Zack was twirling Aerith all around the train cabin, almost effortlessly avoiding the poles and benches that stood in their way, all to a beat of his own. She, however, had already given up trying to keep up to his crazy movements and let herself be led while pressing an ear to his chest and listening to the steady rhythm of his heart, much like the rain softly pounding on the outer walls of the train.

And right at that moment, he was almost completely human and she was almost completely normal; just a girl named Aerith with a boyfriend named Zack, dancing their clumsy first dance together. She smiled and relaxed against him.

It was no night under the open sky but this was a thousand times better.

***

The faint jolt of was enough to wake up the sense-enhanced Zack. His tired eyes opened slowly to see that the rain had finally stopped and the now focused view outside was beginning to change. The thought of freedom was enough to get the rest of his body awake quickly. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since Midgar was dark during the day and the night but Zack didn't care anymore. They were finally getting out.

Excited, he gently shook the slumbering Aerith in his lap. "Aerith? The train's moving again." He whispered softly as his swept a stray bang behind her ear.

Aerith stirred ever so slightly, and barely opened her eyes. And with one quick look around she simply shook her head against him and settled herself more comfortably in.

Smiling, Zack wrapped his arms around her tighter and closed his eyes once more.