Notes: 'She' got me to thinking about Aeris. Don't ask me why. And 'he' made me think of Hojo. Hm. Two in two days, huh? Maybe my muse is coming back. There might be multiple alerts, for those who added this, because I keep having to edit the bad grammer in here. (shrug)

Characters: Aeris, Zack, and a slight bit of Reeve/Vincent.

Warnings: Sap. Yes. Weird sappiness, at that.

Rating: PG

Theme: He

Clear Water (Part2)

"He sure does talk to you a lot."

Aeris sighed as she placed a hand on her hip and the other over the edge of the carved bowl she was looking into. Zack watched her for a long moment with a steady, unwavering gaze. "I know," she finally said. "Honestly, sometimes there are people more like a child than Cloud ever was."

"Is," Zack corrected, half-joking and half-serious.

The bowl was made up of solid granite, old it seemed, chipped at the edges, and the water in it was dark despite the light around it. He often found her like that, staring into it, watching… Well, not that he could blame her. He watched sometimes, too. After all, that scatterbrained blonde-spiky-headed idiot needed all the help he could get sometimes. But he was watching Aeris this time, not the dark water of the living. Her eyes were narrowed in thought and her lips were pushed out in a soft pout.

Part of him would always love the way Aeris looked when she was thinking.

"Is," she amended after another moment. "You knew Reeve, right?"

"Not really. We've met once or twice, maybe." Zack frowned slightly, folding his arms over his chest.

Aeris sighed again and her arm dropped. "I didn't think so. I'm not sure there's much I can do for him. He tries so hard, and sometimes he forgets that he can help himself more easily than not." She paused, a finger coming up to tap thoughtfully at her chin. "Hey, Zack, what did you say to Cloud when you first met him?"

"Huh?" the man uttered, brows furrowing. He cocked his head slightly. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Zack!"

"Heh. Well… I told him best of luck. After that, I don't remember. Always seemed like we were always friends. But you know he's been here all along, right?"

"I know that."

There was a moment, long and quiet, and Zack finally gave up and let his arms drop from their position, coming up to stand beside Aeris at the bowel of water. He leaned his gloved hands along the edge. "Alright," he said, "You're up to something sneaky. I'll bite— what is it?"

Her green eyes didn't hold any mirth when she smiled this time. "It's the same situation, Zack. Cloud can only help himself now, and Reeve can only help himself."

"What about the other guy?"

"Him?" Aeris shook her head. "He's already doing that on his own, too. But there's one last thing I can do, I think, before I have to stop watching."

Zack was still scowling, still wondering, moving to lean against Aeris a little. Her weight pressed back. And they were leaning against each other, and he knew she was tired. Hell, anyone would be after all the effort she put into watching over the people she loved. She was the only one who could. And he appreciated her for that.

"What's that?" he asked after giving the woman a brief smirk.

Aeris nodded and reached into the bowl, fingers dipping into the dark water, and the whole thing turned clear under her pure touch. Her hand reached in, in far enough it seemed, and clenched her fist around a small, soft, white little light. Zack didn't recognize that light. Cloud's was green, brighter, and twisted and turned like fire. Or at least the Cloud he used to know— the one that was there, but not there(1). Zack knew what the water was, knew full well that it was one of the few pools like it. A well of soul, little lights, a thing collecting pierces of people that were left behind.

Cloud's had long ago disappeared.

Zack wrapped his left hand around her submerged wrist, helping Aeris pull her hand up from the water. When her touch left, the water was dark again.

The light was in her hand, flickering, small. But it was soft, despite it all. Powerful.

"What's this?" Zack asked, squinting at the unfamiliar fragment.

Aeris smiled softly at the little light as it huddled in her palm, her other moving to stroke fingers along the shivering thing. Like it was alive.

"Zack, you know what fragments are."

"Alright, who is it?"

"It's…" she paused, the smile tipping down slightly. "It's one of the countless fragments Hojo left behind."

Zack flinched slightly at the name. How could she say something like that so easily? That, perhaps, he'd never know. But she knew. Aeris knew what this little light was— so small and fragile. It was warm in her palm but not entirely afraid of her. The little light was… something special.

"How's that going to help anyone, Aer? Reeve doesn't seem like he lost something in the Lifestream." Zack let Aeris' wrist go, shaking a little of the water off.

"It doesn't belong to Reeve, Zack."

"So… the other guy?"

"Yeah. It's the part of him that died. It's been waiting here a long time. Hojo did such… terrible things. He wasn't even allowed here after all of it. The Planet hated him so much, Zack. And this fragment is only kept alive by that hate."

"So…" Zack pointed at the little light. "That's hate? Something that…" he trailed, suddenly.

Hojo's name had never once been able to pass his lips since… since…

Since a long time ago, really.

Aeris shook her head at him. "No," she murmured, feeling her heart clench up like it always did when that terrible monster was brought up. "This isn't hatred at all. It's the part that stopped feeling."

"What are you gonna do with it?"

"I'm going to give it to Reeve. Everyone needs someone. Even us, Zack. You and I are just waiting for that someone to come back."

Aeris wrapped both hands around the little light, feeling it quiver with a soft sense of apprehension. I know you don't want to, she silently told it, whispering a soft word of a little prayer. But that man that you hate, that other half of yourself, those are things that you'll never find here.

With one final look in the dark pool of water, she let the little light go, and it fell to it, sinking quickly below the surface. Gone, within seconds.

Reeve, you better take care.

Zack and Aeris stood there for a moment longer, lingering, and then she smiled at the dark-haired man.

"Well… I guess that's all that there is left, isn't there?" Aeris asked with another of her billion-watt smiles.

Zack resigned himself. There was never any fighting her. "I guess so. So… what now?"

"Well, we wait. What else?"

-----

Reeve grit his teeth, fingers hurting when they clenched so tightly and—

"Reeve?"

—he jolted straight upright, eyes wide for one split second before he even knew he was twisting around to the voice behind him.

Vincent was behind him, a damn bloody mess.

It took Reeve two seconds longer to realize it was literal. And he stood, lips slightly parted, as he looked the man over. Covered in blood. It had to be, despite the fact that it was flaking. But it was streaked across the man's face and his cloak, making it a darker red. His dark hair was matted with it and with mud. Or maybe it was just the blood mixed with dirt. And Reeve looked away, feeling bile rise up his throat like a sickness.

"Uh…" Reeve couldn't find the words. There was anger settling in his stomach like liquid fire. He could feel eyes on him, unwavering. "When did you… get back?"

"It's mostly mine, if that's what you're worried about."

The brunette made the mistake of glancing back, and the thought that it was… all of that blood? It was his? "Rosso? You didn't… did you?"

Vincent shook his head. "No. I didn't."

"How long have you been back?"

"An hour at the most."

"Why didn't you call?"

Vincent moved, shifted, and he seemed tired, before holding something out to Reeve.

Reeve opened his palm and something dropped into it; a PHS, broken, the casing cracked. It was the PHS Reeve had helped construct, one that was supposed to be able to withstand… well, just about anything, really. The brunette blinked at it. At the shattered casing and the hole ripped clean through it.

"What the…?" he began, trying not to look at Vincent, but also trying not to make it obvious he was relieved to see him.

"I wanted to apologize. It took a few bullets," Vincent stated simply, frowning over the collar of his cloak. "This seemed like the most logical place to find you."

Reeve closed his fingers over the shattered PHS. "You're a terrible liar, Vincent."

"…Maybe."

"Thanks, by the way."

They looked at each other for a brief moment; before Reeve couldn't stand the sight anymore, and had too glance away again. The next morning, it was as if nothing had happened, except that Reeve was back at the church, picking up something that he'd noticed from the water flashing up at him from the noon sun in the shadow of a worker walking by. A small bronze screw, actually, that seemed rather beaten up and was thin and long, essential looking. And when he'd looked at it closer, he realized why Vincent wasn't wearing his gauntlet anymore.

It was missing an important piece.

Later, months later, Reeve got to thinking about it, helping Vincent straighten his tie, even after it'd been a long time since Vincent had ever worn that gauntlet. He'd wondered, briefly, how the screw had gotten where it had in the first place.

But, then, when his coffee mug was handed to him, he'd forgotten all about it.

1- Most people seem to forget that the Cloud from Zack's past is dead.