Tonight this could be the greatest night of our lives
Let's make a new start,
The future is ours to find
Can you see it, can you see it in my eyes
Can you feel it now, can you hold it in your arms tonight
-"Greatest Day", Take That
In Hollow Bastion, you're basically considered an adult at sixteen. It's the youngest age you can join the Royal Guard, so most would quit school to join, whether to support their families or get away from school or for their own reasons. Few continue school after they turn sixteen.
And so a tradition started with the class below them; every year they would raise money to throw a party for the graduating class. Rumors and stories of parties past float through the school, each class ready to do better than the ones before them.
Only the top two classes can attend the party, (the givers and the receivers) unless you are invited by an upperclassman.
And Aerith is going.
She didn't believe it at first. She still didn't believe it when Rinoa declared a "girls only day" and took her and Tifa shopping.
"I don't see what's so hard to get," Rinoa said. She'd already found a dress—a pretty white halter-top that fell to her knees—and waited patiently for the others to finish.
"It's just weird." The party is supposed to revolve around a fairy-tale theme, and most of the dresses were already gone. The three were the only ones in the store, though, and spread out to find Aerith something wear. "I mean, he always teases me."
"Of course he does, because that's what guys do. It's like reverse psychology." Due to being both the oldest and the only one with a boyfriend, Rinoa has declared herself the "master of men". (Tifa tried to convince her otherwise, because her boyfriend is Squall and all of them have known him since they were like, six, but Rinoa shrugs her off.)
"But he doesn't even talk to me that much. I mean, only when we hang out with everyone."
"Because he's shy." Rinoa smirked, pointing a hanger at her. "Face it, Aerith. You're the only thing that can make loudmouth Zack Fair speechless."
She blushed and busied herself amongst one of the clothing racks. Rinoa turned to Tifa. "Are you going?"
She shook her head. "Some guys asked me, but I turned him down."
It's not surprising. Tifa is only thirteen but with an air of "maturity" about her; that, combined with her tendency to not talk to anyone beyond her circle of friends, makes her "mysterious" and popular with the upper classes.
"Hey, I think I found something." Tifa grabs a dress off one of the rack, and Aerith and Rinoa run over to look.
It's formal but not too fancy, with one-inch straps and a modest neckline. The flowing skirt sweeps the ground and reminds Aerith of the princess costume she wore for Halloween a few months ago, only better.
"You have to try it on," Tifa insists, pushing the dress into Aerith's arms. Rinoa giggles. "Does she have to? I can tell by that look in her eyes that she's already buying it."
"Aerith, you look amazing."
Tifa sits cross-legged on Aerith's bed, thumbing through an old book even though her attention is clearly elsewhere.
"You think?" Aerith spins around, watching her reflection in her mirror. The pale pink dress comes just short of touching the ground, and the skirt swishes when she moves. She doesn't wear any jewelry, but her hair is out of her usual braid, fastened instead in a half-ponytail that leaves brown waves falling down her back.
"Of course." Tifa gets up and stands beside her, watching the mirror and smiling. Aerith stares too. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing much." Tifa shrugs. "Just hanging out with Cloud while you four dance the night away." She sighs a little, which makes Aerith glance back at her. "I thought you didn't want to go."
"I don't." She shrugs again. "All the guys at our school are morons. They think you'll drool all over them because they're upperclassmen. They act like it would be a privilege to date them, and if you do go out with them they just treat you like a piece of property." She sighs and repeats, "Men are jerks."
"Most men."
"Most men," Tifa clarifies. Suddenly her eyes narrow, and she pushes Aerith's shoulder. "Hey! Stop focusing on me. This is supposed to be about you, not me."
Aerith giggles and Tifa joins in. They're stopped by the ringing sound of the doorbell downstairs, followed by Aerith's mother calling, "Aerith, Zack's here!"
"I'll leave through the back door," Tifa says quickly, squeezing Aerith's shoulder. "Good luck."
"Have fun with Cloud."
Tifa gives her a final smile, and then she's gone.
Aerith leaves her room and takes the stairs slowly, so she can get a good look at Zack standing by the door. He's attempted to look nice, but everyone knows Zack hates getting dressed up and formality in general, so the key word there is "attempted". His khaki pants are grass-stained already and his white dress shirt sleeves are unbuttoned, the right one pushed up to his elbow. His dark hair is as messy as usual, and his polka-dotted tie (polka dots? Really? His father's, of course) is loose and crooked.
She reaches the bottom of the steps, and she sees what Rinoa meant earlier. Zack notices her, but he has no reaction. He just blinks. It's a cross between comical and shocking, because Aerith's pretty sure he's never been speechless a day in his life.
She steps forward and waves a hand in front of his face, and he jumps as if he's suddenly jerked to consciousness. "H-hey."
"Hi." She giggles. "Do you want to leave before my mom breaks out the camera?"
"S-sure."
She gestures for him to follow and they leave the house, Aerith calling out "I'm leaving!" before shutting the door behind her.
They make it down the street without saying a word, heading towards the direction of the school. Aerith is wondering exactly what she should say when Zack speaks. "You look nice."
"Thank you." She stops and spins once, making her dress flare out a little. "You look nice, too."
Zack grumbles under his breath and pulls at his tie. "I hate this stuff."
"You look handsome."
Zack blushes a little, but the glimmer in his eyes is playful. "I got you something."
"Did you?" She keeps her voice teasing, and the awkward feeling that had settled over them washes away. Zack smirks and puts a hand in his pocket. "Yep. Turn around."
"What is it?"
"Just turn around."
She does so and shuts her eyes, and feels Zack next to her, his hands at her hair, tying something onto her half-ponytail. It takes him a while to get it right, and when Aerith squirms he protests "I'm not good with this kind of thing!" and laughs good-naturedly. Finally he lets go and announces, "done!"
Aerith turns and finds her reflection in a window. Her hair is tied back with a ribbon; it's simple, a strip of pink satin, tied into the best bow Zack could manage. She never does anything to her hair, apart from the usual braid, so seeing something different is a little surprising. She reaches up to touch the ribbon. "Thank you."
He grins at her, and she smiles back, and suddenly he grabs her hand, pulling her forward. "Come on; you don't want to be late, do you?"
"Of course not," Aerith answers, and the two start walking again.
She notices that Zack's hand never lets go of hers.
Aerith doesn't think much of Zack's class, and according to her friends they're all a bunch of idiots, but they've done a fantastic job of decorating the schoolyard for the party. Streamers and waves of fabric are everywhere (Aerith can see where Zack got her ribbon from) and the fairy-tale theme is enhanced by the shadow of Hollow Bastion's actual castle in the background.
Rinoa looks beautiful in her white dress and Squall looks nice as well (definitely more put-together than Zack) and they all laugh when they find out Squall and Rinoa were actually placing bets on if Zack would actually dress up or not. ("You owe me ice cream," Rinoa declared proudly.) They dance for a while; Aerith doesn't think she's very good at it, but Zack coaxes her through the steps anyway, blushing when Aerith asks how he learned. ("We taught ourselves, so we wouldn't look completely stupid.")
Eventually Zack and Aerith get tired and leave Squall and Rinoa behind, Aerith finding a table to sit at and Zack grabbing punch and cookies, and the two start talking.
It's different than talking with their friends. Aerith never noticed before, but Zack never talks about himself; he's always turning the focus on someone else. So she learns things about him she never knew before; she notices things too, little things like the way he drums his fingers against his leg when he's listening to someone talk.
Neither of them move to do anything else, so they just sit there and talk and talk and talk, occasionally glancing at Squall and Rinoa (who are still dancing, stopping every once in a while to talk to some people in their class). They're unaware of how much time has passed until a couple of kids start yelling form across the schoolyard.
"Whoa!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Lockhart, wanna dance?"
Tifa shoots the last voice a glare and tightens her jacket against her body. She spots Zack and Aerith by a table and hurries over, ignoring the stares.
"Tifa?" Aerith blinks, and Zack raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"
"Have you seen Cloud?"
"What?" Zack looks over at Squall and Rinoa; the two are just standing there with confused looks on their faces.
"Cloud! He was supposed to meet me at my house but he never showed up."
"He lives next door to you," Aerith points out.
"I know! That's why it's so weird. I went to his house but his mom said he left already."
"Relax," Zack advises. "He probably went out to go buy something and lost track of time."
"Cloud?" She shakes her head. "Yeah, right. He doesn't lose track of time. Cloud's never late to anything and you know it."
"Well, excuse me for doubting Spike's punctuality." Zack holds up his hands in mock defense. "No offense, Teef, but aren't you being a little overdramatic?"
Tifa fixes him with the same death glare she gave the boy who asked her to dance before spinning around and running to Squall and Rinoa. Zack watches her for a moment, and then focuses his gaze on the tablecloth. Aerith knows what he's thinking.
"You wanna go look for him, don't you?"
Zack looks at her. "You sure? What about—" He gestures around him, to the party.
"Don't worry. It's nice, but pretty boring." She takes a look around the schoolyard. Some people are eating, some talking, some dancing. "Where do you want to check first?"
"The park. It's closest by." Somehow Zack's gaze meets Squall's, and he gave a nod. Squall returned it—Rinoa didn't notice, too busy talking to Tifa—and Zack immediately started walking, so quickly Aerith has to almost run to keep up. "Wait," She calls, and grabs his hand to make him slow down.
The playground is deserted, probably because everyone is at the party. There's no one here—and definitely no Cloud. Zack slips his hand out of Aerith's and runs towards the jungle gym, leaving Aerith behind. She tries to catch up with him and suddenly her shoe catches on the hem of her dress, sending her sprawling with a surprised cry and the rriipp of tearing fabric.
Zack runs back to her. "Are you okay?" He asks, helping her up.
She nods, surprised more than anything, but gasps when she tries to smooth down her dress. There's a large tear in the skirt, almost torn completely off at the knee. "My… my dress…"
"Here, I'll take you home."
"But I want to help look," She protests.
"Aerith, you can't run around town in that." He pushes up the sleeve of his shirt and takes off his polka-dot tie, stuffing it into his pocket.
"But—"
"Come on. I promise I'll find you the minute we find him."
Aerith sighs. She doesn't want to admit it, but she knows Zack is right. She can't do much roaming around Hollow Bastion in a ruined dress. "…The second."
"The second," He repeats. "Let's go."
Aerith has been up all night.
She's been up in her room, but she hasn't been asleep. Her ruined dress sits on her bed, and she sits by the window, watching the outdoors. The clock ticks by, and Aerith can see the hint of the sun rising in the horizon.
She absently finishes her braid—it's taken awhile to do by herself, but then again she's had all night to do it—and glances out the window again. Still nothing. She glances at her bed, picks up the ribbon Zack gave her, and ties it into her hair.
Still nothing.
She doesn't see anything outside. The clock strikes five.
She stands up, putting her dress on her desk rather than her bed, leafing through an old spell book. She's in the middle of reading about the history of Curaja when something catches her eye.
There—white, brown, and black. It's hard to see in the dim light, but Aerith can recognize him at once. She debates opening her window to call to him, but she doesn't want to wake her mother, so she heads out of her room and tiptoes down the stairs instead.
Once she's out of the house she runs to him, leaving the front door open. Zack's surprised to see her, and just looks at her for a moment as she skids to a stop in front of him. He's just as tired as she is, if not more tired, with dark circles under his eyes.
"Zack?" Aerith whispers and tilts her head to the side, like she always does when she's worried about something. "Zack," She says a little louder.
She catches a good look at Zack's eyes in the rising sun. The look in them is strange—it isn't the usual mischievous look, or the determined way he gets when someone has the nerve to tease his friends. They're empty, and it's kind of frightening to see him look this way.
"Zack."
He yawns, so much that he sways and looks like he'll fall over for a second. "…Me and Squall looked…" He says tiredly. "We looked everywhere… Teef and Rin looked, too, until we had them go home, and we've stayed out all night, and, Aerith, we didn't find him anywhere. He wasn't home, wasn't at anyone else's house. I don't know what happened—" He stops to yawn again.
"Here, come into my house," Aerith suggests, pulling his arm. He doesn't move to pull away, so she pulls him inside. "You can sleep on the couch or something. I'll tell my mom you're here."
"Aerith…" Zack says, and doesn't sit down until Aerith practically pushes him on the couch. "I don't know what happened. It's like… I don't know. Like he disappeared or something. Just… gone." He repeats the words, more to himself than anything else. "Cloud is gone."
This took me WAY longer than it was supposed to. It's pretty long though, so I hope it makes up for it. But, now that this is done, I get to continue with the story! (This was my main 'roadblock' chapter)
Well, at least I got it up. I should be asleep, because I have a Speech meet I have to get up for at like, 4:30, tomorrow, but I wanted to finish this. I want to finish this story before Birth By Sleep comes out in the US and deems this story AU, so I need to get working on it.
But it's okay if it's AU, because ZACK. FAIR. IS. IN. BIRTH BY SLEEP! -cue fangirl screams- Woo!
Well, I'm off to bed. New chapter should be up soon... unless it is one of the ones that got erased when my computer crashed. Hm...
Hope you enjoyed, and happy holidays!
-Twila