Waves
by the infamous and notorious tocasia
10/17/2017
43. waves for Seph&Zack Friendship 100 Themes
At the beach.
tags: AU, Sephiroth and Zack friendship, the beach, stream of consciousness, glass, interdepartmental rivalry, silly
The air was definitely sweeter here, despite the crowds. It had been a good idea.
Earlier, Zack had dared him to write something in the surf with Masamune. Absentmindedly, he'd drawn a heart. He hadn't even struck a line through it when he'd noticed.
He'd said, "It's nice that the waves come back."
Zack replied, "Hmm, never thought of that. Why wouldn't they?"
"Once... not just the fish, but the whole ocean will be destroyed..."
"Huh? Did you quote something, Seph?" Zack sounded concerned. "Was it from that book you're reading, what was it? 'Lonely without the Sea'?"
"That could be it, yes."
He'd left the book at the inn. He took good care of his things.
The last he'd seen of his second-in-command was Zack dodging the unopened bottle of sunscreen he'd thrown at his head after enduring yet another comment about hot babes. Practically cackling, Zack had run off to help teach an excitable small child how to fly a kite.
That kite was in for the ride of its life. Probably the kid, too. Perhaps he should have stayed to watch.
Now he was far from the popular spots, enjoying his privacy, lying down next to the beach chair he'd brought and set up for appearances. Stretching out on the hot, warm sand was better, though. The view was so bright, and the reflections on the water brighter. Sephiroth put on his shades and let his thoughts drift.
So peaceful and warm and comfortable... Nobody was around and maybe he could just relax and fall asleep on a towel, something he hadn't been permitted to do when he was younger... Sunburn wasn't a problem anymore. No, don't think about why he hadn't and how it wasn't... For frustratingly rational reasons! The medications and their side effects, the treatments and their schedules, and the Mako because he shouldn't burn inside and outside at once since it would be too hard to heal at this stage and while it was working they needed to monitor everything and the sun would interfere with the data. No. Think about the sound of the ocean, instead.
It hadn't been that bad.
Unfortunately, there was an obvious explanation for why this section of beach was empty of tourists, and soon he discovered what it was: so many monsters (mostly large, black-feathered Tonadu birds; surprising, this area wasn't within their recorded range) that the rippling waves from his Exit materia outnumbered those crashing against the shore.
The creatures didn't get the message. He got tired of casting and decided on a different approach...
...so now the beach smelled like death. Which, really, it always did, with the detritus that washed up, but he'd tried to forget that. A tiny patch of smooth sand not clumped with sticky blood remained, and the towel was unstained, but the moment had been ruined.
Sephiroth heard the shifting grains and felt the vibration of footsteps. Someone was coming towards him. Good timing, Zack.
Wait, why did his friend stop short? Was something wrong? Oh. The carnage. And he'd planned to be caught innocently sunbathing...
"I, uh, I'll just..." Zack was already turning to leave.
This called for an exasperated sigh.
"It's fine, I'm sane. You can stay." With an impressively dramatic flick of his wrist, Bolt 3 vaporized the monsters' carcasses and melted the sand beneath. "Tell me what color the glass is."
Wondering why Zack still believed him, he walked down to the water and waded out until he couldn't touch the bottom and let the waves rinse the blood from his hair, replacing it with salt and more sand, but that was okay.
Zack waved away the acrid smoke and watched the glass cool. It was boring. Good thing he was a paragon of discipline.
"Ya know, Seph, when you float on your back, your hair looks like tentacles."
"Why do you say things like that?"
A few minutes passed.
'Great General' though he may be, Seph had no right to be so distracting coming out of the water. Zack stared fixedly at the darkening glass. He'd studied glassmaking a little, so of course this was his reward. Photography, glass, guitar... any subject Sephiroth was awful at, Zack strove to become an expert in, with varying degrees of success. For, uh, teamwork reasons. Yeah. ...and because being better than Seph at something was so damn satisfying.
"Kinda gray. Not enough quartz, plenty of organic impurities so lots of holes. Typical lightning glass. What, were you expecting green again? What's up with that, anyway?"
Sephiroth shrugged, grabbed the rainbow chocobo-print towel, shook it so that the sand didn't blow into Zack's face, and slung it over his shoulder. He folded up the chair to carry it under one arm.
"What was the reason you came looking for me?"
"Beach volleyball. The SOLDIER team is losing against the Turks."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know, asking you to play is... but it's not exactly cheating... well, we're not. As for them... Maybe you could come and referee the match?"
No immediate denial? Awesome! Seph was actually considering it!
"They have Tseng," Zack added, glancing at the sky. Interdepartmental rivalry, don't fail me now.
That sealed the deal, alright. Sweet Shiva, the glow in Seph's eyes!
"Let's go."
Ha! It may as well have been 'Move out!'. The Turks didn't stand a chance.
Semi-Important Author's Note:
Lightning glass is called fulgurite. Moldavite is green. I love the beach.