Blind Soul
By BlueFox
DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!
If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests.
~INTRO: Ah, a new chapter today, like I promised yesterday. Before anyone asks, Shay, Maren, and Rachel are all real people, in fact they are some of my best friends at school. Amelia and Jaccsn are characters my friend Sarah created and I am using with permission. And yes, I stole that scene near the end from FF8.
~ABOUT FLAMES: If you decide to flame this story because of the few OCs in it, or for some other reason, it will be commented on, and laughed at publicly. You've been warned.
~DISCLAIMER: (insert favorite one here)
Part I
Chapter Eleven
"Make it all worthwhile."
Sephiroth drew back from the vision with a harsh snap, staring wide-eyed at Aeris, who slept on peacefully. Shaking the vision, he swung his legs out over the bed and dropped quietly onto the floor beside Aeris. Quickly, he picked her up and lay her on the bed he had only just occupied, before grabbing Masamune on the way out of the door.
He felt sorry for any monsters that dared cross his path that night.
Zack felt a little numb as he stared ahead of him. The other members of AVALANCHE all shifted a bit in their seats, Tifa sending him a curious look, Tiffania a knowing one, while all of the others just gazed out of the window at what they had found.
A town in the middle of a forest.
Tifa reached out and put her hand on Zack's arm. She felt a little surprised when he flinched and then gave her a distant look. "Yeah, Tifa?" he asked her.
"Is there something wrong, Zack?" she asked him softly.
Zack shook his head, before turning to face the forest again, his face broken out into a large smile. "Nope, nothing's wrong," he told her. "That's just my hometown, is all."
Everyone's heads (except Tiffania and Tifa's) snapped to him. Yuffie seemed to have gotten over her motion sickness and was bouncing in her seat with joy. "Really? Canwegoincanwegoincanwegoin?" she asked him.
Everyone started to join in with Yuffie's efforts to get Zack to let them in, and Tiffania laughed a little. "Since when do we need Zack's permission to go into a town?" she asked them, and it suddenly grew silent. "I mean, just because he's the leader doesn't mean we have to listen to him, and all."
Suddenly, the engine revved and Zack sped the car forward straight into the trees. Instantly, Tifa grabbed the side of the door, Barret grabbed the back of Tifa's seat, Cait Sith fell off his Mog, Red XIII gripped the floor of the car with his claws, Yuffie grabbed her stomach, and Tiffania threw her hands up as high as she could, breaking out into peals of laughter.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Cait Sith cried as his poor little cat body tumbled around in the extra row of seats in the back.
"I DON'T FEEL SO GOOD!" announced Yuffie, doubling over, looking an ominous green.
Zack began to join his 'sister' in laughing when he heard his comrades' reactions. Red XIII began to howl, Barret was swearing up a storm, and Tifa was screaming.
"WEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Tiffania cried, before Zack suddenly swerved the car into one of those cool stops where they spin and kick up a cloud of dust. Tiffania opened her door and jumped out, giggling like mad as she spun around like a five year old. Red XIII slunk out, his four legs shaking. When Barret and Zack got out, Barret immediately began to yell at Zack, telling him, "If you ever drive like that again, Imma kick your ass!" Zack was just as ecstatic as Tiffania, all starry-eyed. Yuffie immediately fell into the bushes and lost the contents of her stomach. Tifa fell to her knees, patting the ground appreciatively, and Mog pulled Cait Sith haphazardly out of the back of the buggy.
Zack turned to face the town he had spun into, only to see people curiously poking their heads out of their windows and their doors. Zack breathed in the fresh Gongaga mountain air, then spread his arms wide and called, "Zack Fair has returned!"
Almost immediately, it seemed like the whole town ran out of their doors and jumped out of their windows to greet Zack. Apparently he had been well known in his town. A certain girl, around fifteen, cautiously approached Zack. She was a cute girl, red hair in pigtails, freckles covering her face, her blue eyes full of shyness. Zack saw her and smiled.
"Rachel, is that you?"
Rachel suddenly brightened, happy that Zack remembered her, and ran over to him, throwing her arms around him in happiness. "Zack, it really is you!" she cried.
Zack hugged Rachel back, grinning down at her. "Yeah, yeah, it is me."
A blonde girl followed behind Rachel. She had wide blue eyes and her hair was in a small ponytail, the rest allowed to flow freely. She fiddled absently with the cross-ring on her right hand as she gazed at Zack. She, too, looked about fifteen. "Zack, we were all worried you'd never come back," she told him.
Zack lifted his violet eyes from the attachment known as Rachel, to the blonde. "Shay, it's good to see you again," he greeted. "Besides, I would've made it back, somehow."
"You could've at least sent us a note or something," she reprimanded him, putting her hands on her hips.
Zack rolled his eyes and stretched out a hand. "Stop being so serious, Shay. At least give me a welcome hug," he told her.
Shay stared at his hand for a few seconds, before sprinting forward and hugging him tightly. "We missed you, you dumb monkey," she told his shirt.
"You're a monkey, Shay." A brunette came into the fray, tall and flat chested, with sharp hazel eyes.
"Still using that comeback, eh, Maren?" Zack said, looking at her. Shay and Rachel let go of him and he stretched out a hand. "I know you're not a huggy-huggy kind of person, so a handshake would be enough, right?"
Maren swatted away his hand and embraced him briefly. "It's been seven years, Zack," she told him. "You've missed a lot."
"You'll have to fill me in," he told her. Then he remembered AVALANCHE. Turning a bit red, he brandished a hand to the ragtag group behind him. "Introduce yourselves, guys."
Tifa was the first to go. She fiddled a bit with her gloves as she smiled at the townspeople. "I'm Tifa Lockheart, and I come from Nibelheim," she greeted. "I specialize in martial arts."
Barret coughed, and several people gasped at the gun on his arm. "Hey, I'm Barret Wallace, an' I'm from North Corel."
Red XIII raised a paw in greeting. "I am Red XIII, and I hail from…" Before the large feline could finish his sentence, several little kids had bounded over to pet 'the big, pretty kitty.' Red XIII sighed and accepted his fate.
Cait Sith fell to a similar situation, and Yuffie instantly made friends as energetic as her. When it came to Tiffania's turn, she was nowhere in sight. Zack looked around, but he didn't see hide nor hair of Tiffania. Scratching his head, he shrugged, before turning toward his house.
Standing on the front step was his family; his mother, Amelia, with a bright smile on her face as she reached up an absently pet at her hair, falling out of her bun, and his father, Jaccsn, his broad arms crossed, a proud expression upon his bearded face, and a twinkle in his violet eyes. Suddenly, Zack found himself running through the crowd to his parents, spreading his arms. Amelia ran forward to meet him, and they embraced each other tightly, Zack feeling tears come to his eyes as Amelia let herself go in her son's arms.
"Hey, Mom," he murmured weakly, noticing the gray hairs streaking through her black strands. "It's been so long…"
Amelia nodded vehemently as she stepped back, raising a shaking hand up to wipe her tears. Jaccsn came over and wrapped his arm around Zack's shoulders, before giving him the noogie of his life. "That's what ya get for worryin' us, Zack!" he reprimanded half-heartedly.
Zack backed out of the noogie, laughing. "It's good to see you, Dad," he said to Jaccsn.
Rachel and Shay came up behind Zack. Tifa followed, wanting to meet Zack's family. As she was being introduced, Shay tapped Zack on his shoulder. "So, where's Cissnei?" she asked.
Zack turned a red as he remembered that conversation.
"How's my mother doing?" Zack inquired, glancing at the dark house that he used to live in. "She's worried about you. Now that you've gotten yourself in such a mess she's worried you won't find a wife." Cissnei raised her arms in an 'I don't know' kind of way, shaking her head. Zack shook his, too. "That's so ridiculous," he told her with a chuckle. "Nice parents huh? They're doing quite well," she told him. "I see." Zack shrugged. "If they're well that's good." Cissnei smiled. "Honestly." "What about yours?" Zack asked after a moment. "I was raised by Shinra." There was a long pause after that. Zack nervously scratched the back of his head, trying to ease the tension he felt. "Anyway, Cissnei… Could you talk to my mom for me?" She nodded. "It'd be my pleasure," she told him. "Just don't tell them anything that would make them think you were my bride-to-be," he advised-more like pleaded. Cissnei giggled a bit. "I've already told them." "Cissnei!" Zack sunk to the floor. "How could you?!"
"Uh, we, uh…" Zack fumbled to find an excuse that didn't seem too 'out there.' "She…she had to…stay in Midgar." It was honest enough, last time he had heard about Cissnei she was in Midgar. Suddenly, Zack cringed, remembering a bit too late that Cissnei had conveniently disappeared not long after his 'death.' His audience seemed to accept it, though.
Amelia sniffed, straightening her hair and smiling at her son, her pride and joy. "Well, get your friends and come inside. We have a surprise for you."
Zack, always one for surprises, whistled to his friends. When they looked his way, he beckoned for them to come and join him. They did so.
A Little Bit Later…
Zack and Yuffie both let out incredible sighs and slumped back in their chairs, having just polished off a huge amount of food. There were similar reactions around the table in which AVALANCHE had eaten.
Amelia, her eyes sparkling merrily, leaned forward on the table. "So, Zack, do you think you could go to the dance tonight, or do you have to leave?"
Zack's eyes opened halfway. "Mmm? Dance? For what?" he asked her.
Jaccsn laughed from his seat. "Your birthday, Zack!" he cried joyously. "Today's the day you turn 24!"
Amelia smiled. "The entire town throws a dance for you, after hearing how successful you were in SOLDIER," she told her son, who was blinking very fast at the dawning of this news. "And finally the birthday boy is here to spend it with us."
There was a momentary silence, before it was broken by AVALANCHE, encouraging him to go, to have some fun. Yuffie broke into the birthday song about halfway through their clamorings, and Zack laid his forehead down on the table and chuckled at the horribly off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday.'
"Well, if you guys put it that way, there's no way I can say no," he told them.
The Dance!
After bowing to his latest partner, Zack stumbled off to a lone balcony in the large and new school that had been built during his absence. It was funny he hadn't noticed it before during his exceptionally brief stay in Gongaga while on the run with Cloud.
Blowing upwards into his hair, Zack sneaked a peek upward into the sky. Just his luck-he caught sight of a shooting star careening across the night sky. Zack closed his eyes and made a wish.
I wish that we will get Cloud and Aeris back soon, and that all of this madness would end.
Zack opened his eyes and turned around. His breath caught and his face vaulted at the sight of Tifa, whom he had not seen earlier due to all of the girls clamoring to get a dance in with the birthday boy. Her hair was left to fall freely down her back, and she wore a light blue dress that accented her…erm, body, really well, leaving any man breathless. She was wearing matching high heels, and was wearing her Power Wrist accessory as a complement to the dress. Her eyes were closed, and he got the idea that she had just been wishing on the same star he had been.
He wondered what she wished for.
As if she knew someone was staring at her, Tifa opened her eyes and looked around, before meeting Zack's violet gaze. He turned a bit red when she gave him a knowing smile and pointed up. Zack tilted his head a bit to the side, looking like the epitome of innocence. Tifa giggled and walked over to him.
"Enjoying your birthday, Zack?" she asked him, putting her hands behind her back. Zack numbly picked at his father's old tuxedo (worn at his wedding to Amelia) and grimaced slightly at the smell.
"Doesn't feel like my birthday," he told her honestly. "I don't even feel 24."
"Well, you are," she told him. Glancing back, and noting the end of a song, she looked up and smiled at him. "You want to dance?"
"………"
Tifa gave him a knowing nod. "Oh, I see, you only dance with people you like, hm?" she teased, and Zack threw her a surprised look. How had she come to that conclusion? Tifa took his chin in her hand. "Look into my eyes," she murmured softly, her breath floating across the small space between them, smelling like cinnamon, with a hint of cherry. Or was it cherry with a hint of cinnamon? Zack felt his thoughts slowly drifting away as he met Tifa's burgundy eyes. "You-are-going-to-like-me. You-are-going-to-like-me," she chanted, letting go of his chin as they both laughed a little. She cast him a sly look. "Did it work?"
"I never disliked you in the first place," he reprimanded her playfully. "That was unnecessary."
Tifa laughed. "So you say. Will you dance with me?"
"I'm tired of dancing," he admitted.
Tifa rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. "Come on; one more won't hurt." She pulled him away from the cool night air and back into the stuffy room with the clear ceiling-how did they afford that?-and spun toward him suddenly, causing him to stumble a bit, grabbing onto her arm. Tifa took that hand and held it to her waist while taking his other hand in hers. She put the hand holding his to her waist up onto his shoulder, and began to lead him in the dance.
It didn't go so well. Zack's heart was outmaneuvering his body and his brain, and therefore he stumbled a lot and fell against Tifa one time too many. Finally, when it seemed like the song had ended (the music sounded like it was fading out) he started to head for his balcony, going extremely red in the face. However, Tifa lunged forward and grabbed his hand. "It's not over yet," she told him, and he gave her a kicked puppy look that had no effect on her whatsoever. She put his hands in the appropriate places again, and they tried to dance together again. This time, they actually collided with a couple, which caused them to stumble. When the man of the couple sent them a glare, Tifa stuck her tongue out at them and Zack averted his gaze, going even redder than before.
The song then abruptly changed, and Zack and Tifa held their hands out in between them. Finally, a dance the ex-SOLDIER knew! This time, he performed the dance perfectly, his embarrassment from before slowly fading away, until the final time Tifa spun back into his arms and they ended, facing each other, their faces maybe and inch apart. Zack caught wind of the cherry-cinnamon smell on Tifa's breath, and distantly wondered what it would taste like.
Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM sound coming from above them, and both of their heads snapped up, to see fireworks exploding in the sky, green, red, gold, blue, and Zack's favorite, purple. He smiled at looked down at Tifa, who was also smiling as she looked up at him.
Time seemed to freeze for them, as they realized just how close they were…
One inch, and their lips would touch…
~END: AHAHAHAHA! Cliffie-kind of! Will Zack and Tifa…KISS?!?!?! Oh well, I guess you won't find out till next time! Haha! And yes, I stole that scene from FF8, like I mentioned earlier. But I fixed it around a bit to fit Zack's character, and the setting of FF7.
Next time: More Tiffania and the unveiling of her Rescuer/Rival from Midgar, Flame teaches Cloud more about his ability, CLERIS, and the end of Zack's b-day celebration.
Demand updates. Updates happen.