Hey guys! Time for another new chapter of the story! After that angsty chapter last time, we return with the next day.

Chapter 24

The next day dawned as a solemn one, at least for Zack. After the events of the night, he had no idea what to think. He spent the next couple of days contemplating his choices, trying to go about each day on autopilot while doing the things he would normally do. The feeling was akin to what he felt when Angeal had first died. It wasn't as bad, but it was bad enough.

Cloud had apparently noticed his distance as well, as the former tried to talk to his friend about what was going on. Zack, however, shrugged it off, saying things were okay. But Cloud knew better. Zack smiled like he always did, trying to act as cheery as possible. But something just was not right, and it began to worry Cloud.

"Zack, I'm just… concerned," Cloud said with a slight hesitation on the last part.

"You don't have to be. I said it's all good buddy. Honest," Zack replied, his tone not very convincing.

He breathed in sharply and exhaled. "Look, I'm sorry if I've worried you Cloud. That is not what I want. You can relax. I just have some things on my mind is all," he trailed off as he looked to the side. The next second though, he quickly turned back. "But don't worry, I'll keep going!"

Cloud managed a slow, small smile. He liked it when Zack was upbeat. "O-Okay Zack."

The two of them soon went to bed, Zack thinking quite a bit to himself again. "Darn, I even worried Cloud. That's not what I need to do. Come on Zack, you gotta get a hold of yourself." However, that was easier said than done. Once Zack did manage to fall asleep again, his dreams were laced with more fears and doubts. But one instance called to him more than the others did, and he cursed himself in his sleep for neglecting the very thing he had made the journey for.

By the next day Zack had finally had it. The first thing he did once he woke up was head straight to Tseng, all while the thoughts were fresh on his mind. "Tseng, you have to let me go. I can't stay here any longer."

"You still need to get used to the arm a bit more. I know that you're better now, but you have to know what is best for you."

"Best for me? Like you would know…" Zack trailed off, a sarcastic attitude in his tone.

"Since that happens to be my job, then yes, I do know. I already told you that I have been personally keeping an eye on her up until recently when we found you."

"It's not that!" Zack yelled. "I just… I miss her. Tseng… it's been nearly five years. She's the reason I made this journey. I have to."

"I know that she's important to you, but you have to think about yourself for once too."

"I am thinking about myself. I'm thinking about what would make me happy. And it's her," Zack trailed off.

He collected his thoughts for a moment before continuing. "I don't know if she hates me for being gone so long. There's been no more letters so it's hard to tell. But I can't just keep sitting here. I have to know. Please," Zack begged with the biggest puppy eyes he could manage in the moment.

Tseng nearly laughed at the face Zack was making. But he kept his composure. "At least your perseverance hasn't changed after all this time."

"So? Does that mean you'll let me go?"

"And what about Cloud? Are you suggesting that you just run off and leave him behind?"

Zack winced, internally scolding himself for not thinking about Cloud this entire time. "Of course not. He'll come to, that's all apart of my plan."

"And you think that you can help him with your current condition?"

"My current condition is not that bad. I can still fight. I haven't lost everything you know."

"I understand that but listen to me for a moment," Tseng stated, clasping Zack's shoulder. "We went through a lot of trouble to find you, try to save you. I'm glad we did. I don't want all those efforts going to waste now if you rush off too soon."

Zack thought about what Tseng had said. Deep down, he knew that Tseng was completely right. He didn't want to rush off too soon and put himself or Cloud in any danger. He knew Shinra would be looking for him too, but he didn't want to just keep staying there. There had to be something that he could do, some way that he could go…

"Seems that you do care Tseng. Not often I hear something like that," Zack remarked slyly.

"Hmph. Think of it what you will. But do you see my point?"

"I get it. I really do. I don't want to end up in a situation like that again…" Zack sighed, thinking of what happened a short time ago, even though it now seemed like ages since then.

He hung his head, knowing that Tseng was right. But he didn't like it. He wanted to do what he had his mind set on. He wanted to rebuttal, but he could think of nothing sufficient. He waited a little bit instead and soon enough Tseng spoke up again.

"You still have plenty you can do here until I think it is safe for you to head out. Don't you still have her letters to read?"

"Ah… yeah, you're right," Zack replied. He had thought about reading them several times since he first got here. There were nights where he held the case in his hands and stared down at the pile of letters inside of it. Sometimes he would even run his fingers along the case, almost tempted to open it. But he had never actually done it yet and it still remained closed, sitting on his dresser.

"Good, then if we are at an understanding, I suspect you should get back to training?"

"Yeah yeah," Zack said, sighing heavily. "I guess so, but I still want to see her… soon at least."

"Yes, but I do implore you to wait until you're sure you're fine. I doubt that I could stop you if you choose to leave, nor could anyone else here. But, that is your call," Tseng replied honestly.

"I just… can't you bring her here at least? Or get me a phone to call her? I'll take anything to talk to her right now," Zack said, nearly pleading just like before.

"You should know she doesn't use technology. Besides, something like that would be dangerous with Shinra keeping tabs on her," Tseng stated.

"So… even bringing her here? To this location?" Zack asked, not wanting to admit defeat yet.

"It's not something that we want to risk, I'm sure you would understand that," Tseng replied, still as calm as ever in his demeanor. "I know you care about her, but I know wouldn't want to put her in danger."

Zack opened his mouth, ready to reply, but this time he stopped. He held his breath, contemplating over the words Tseng had told him. He wanted to see her. He wanted to see her so badly. To see her and hear her voice again, being from it for so long was driving him crazy.

Letting out a long sigh, Zack curled his hands into fists. He held them there at his sides, not moving them at all. Eventually with another sigh, he loosen his fingers and lowered. "Fine… Whatever." He tried not to make his tone too harsh, but he had a feeling Tseng knew what he was feeling anyways. Before Tseng could even reply, Zack turned around brisky and left the room without another word.

Zack rushed back into his bedroom and headed over to the bed before flopping down on it. He sighed again, this time heavily into his pillow. "I just want to see her…" He whispered quietly into the pillow, just letting out his thoughts.

"Zack?"

Zack lifted his head up to see Cloud sitting over on his bed. Zack sighed to himself, forgetting that Cloud was usually into the room most hours of the day. With the biggest breath he had, he sat back up and smiled. "Yeah Cloud?"

"You doing okay?"

"Yeah, just fine," Zack grumbled.

"How did the talk with Tseng go?"

"Fine… just fine."

Cloud frowned slightly at Zack's short responses. "You sure? You don't sound too happy."

"I'm telling you…" Zack said before shifting to his dresser. He saw the case still sitting there. The case that contained the letters. Not bothering to finish his words he marched over there and picked up the case. Heading right back to the bed and tore off the seal on the case, not caring to be neat. He picked up the letters and began sorting through them until he found the oldest one of the bunch. "I'm perfectly fine."

Zack clutched the letter in his hand. His eyes read the lines over and over again. The words each time impacted him more and more.

How are you?

I wish I knew where you were.

It's already been four years now.

This is the 98th letter that I've sent to you, but I don't even know where to send them anymore.

I really hope that this final letter that I am writing gets to you.

By the way, the flowers are selling very well.

They make everyone so happy, thanks to you, Zack!

-Aerith

Zack sighed while he read it once more. He probably had read it at least a hundred times by this point. It had hurt his heart the first time he had read it, but now after reading all of the other letters, it hurt even more than before.

"Don't worry Aerith," Zack whispered. "I got them. I finally got your letters…"

He decided to get up from his bed and walk around the room for a bit. Currently at the time he had nothing to do. Cloud was out of the room, presumably getting something to eat, so he had the whole room to himself. Thankfully he didn't have to go and do any training on his arm for the day, he wasn't sure if he could metnally get through it.

Zack felt a slight rumble in his stomach, but had no desire to even get any food. In fact, he hadn't done much eating nor drinking in the past two days. Besides some slight training, he barely would leave the room recently. He let out a heavy sigh and circled back around to his bed and plopped face first down on it.

"What am I even doing? I know that I should do something, but I can't. This feeling… it's so draining… just like…" Zack trailed off slightly, trying not to think too hard on the event that caused him so much pain.

However, those thoughts were always there, but he tried to keep them shoved back. Now they were once again at the forefront, fighting for control with his thoughts after reading the letters. It all was so confusing to him lately. It left him completely frustrated.

"Angeal… what should I do?"

"Well, I'm not Angeal, but maybe you should stop having a pity party for one," a voice came from behind Zack.

"Wait, what? I never even heard the door. Who is-" he started to sit up and turn around, but stopped after he saw who it was. "Oh, it's just you Tseng," he said in a more autonomous voice than before.

"Zack, you need to stop this. It isn't healthy for you," Tseng said right away.

"I can do what I want, thank you very much," Zack replied in a sarcastic manner.

Tseng sighed before stepping further into the room. "I've let you go this long moping around, but it has to stop. You will only be dragging yourself down further if you let it carry on like this."

"Then let me leave already! I'm tired of being stuck in the place!" Zack shouted. "And I don't care if your reason is 'I need to be adjusted to the arm' cause I'm good enough with it. I don't want to do more training, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all of this confinement. I just… I just want to see her again. I need to know if she still cares… or not."

"I know Zack. If you will let me speak for a moment-"

"You don't get it…" Zack interrupted. "How could you? You know me Tseng. Come on. I'm tired of being cooped up."

"Yes, I know," Tseng spoke louder with more firmness than before. "That is why I am here. After today, you will be going. You and Cloud."

"Wait… What?" Zack asked. He was so caught off guard by Tseng's statement that he wasn't even sure he had heard him right. "You said… I can leave?"

"I did. If you so choose, you can leave if you think you are ready. I only wanted to help you not rush off. But I see how hard you've been working when you haven't been cooped up in here," Tseng stated with assuredness.

"Of course I'm ready to leave! I've been ready for days now to just get out of here."

"Then you can start preparing. I already explained the situation to Cloud," Tseng replied.

"Thanks Tseng… really thank you," Zack said as he began to smile.

"Though there is just a few other things we need to go over. Shinra isn't entirely sure if you are dead or not, so they still may be looking for you. We have some more casual clothes for you and Cloud to wear though. Your SOLDIER uniforms would no doubt draw the wrong attention."

"Aw dang really? I like this outfit though. It's quite comfortable to me now…" Zack paused for a moment. "But I understand what you're saying though. I do wanna keep a few things from it at least. For later."

"You can hold onto it if you prefer. Who knows if it may come in handy down the line," Tseng replied, smiling ever so slightly.

"Right! Well, I'll be ready for tomorrow then. I can't wait! I'm dying to get to Midgar."

"You'll get there. But maybe save the "dying" for later on," Tseng replied snarkily.

Zack couldn't help but laugh. "Hey! I'm much stronger than you think. I should have died plenty of times, but I'm still here in the end! I'm pretty much unkillable!"

Tseng's small smile faded away. A much more serious expression told control instead. "And wasn't the 'great' Sephiroth suppose to be unkillable?"

Zack faltered slightly. "Ah... Um yeah, but you know I fought him and still lived. I fought all three top 1st class and survived. I'm just more durable than I expected."

To be honest, Zack knew that wasn't entirely true. There were plenty of times he thought that he wouldn't make it, and there were many instances that he recalled. But there was none such as hard as the fight he had recently had. He tried to not reflect on it too much, but it was all etched in his memory. He shook his head, trying to get the images that were replaying out of his mind. He knew Tseng was still there anyways, so he tried to bring himself back to reality.

Once he looked back up, he saw a curious look from Tseng, but the latter did not press on what he had seen. "Just continue doing what you can. I have business elsewhere."

Just as he was about the leave, Zack thought of something. "Hey. Before you go, there's something I want to ask. About Aerith."

"What is it?"

"You said you had been keeping tabs on her right? So Shinra wouldn't be able to get her. That means you've seen her. Has she… has she said anything about me at all when you saw her? What is she like now? I don't know why I didn't think to ask before, but it just never crossed my mind," Zack admitted, slightly embarrassed of his ignorance.

"She's doing just fine. But I think it is best if you go to see her yourself," Tseng replied.

"But I-" Zack stopped before he spoke too much. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, and proceeded to exhale in the same manner. He opened his eyes and looked back at Tseng. "That actually makes sense. I can hear it from her. That means I have something to look forward to!"

"Yes indeed. Now, you might not see me again for a while after this as I will be going back to HQ. That is, unless Shinra has me to tail any of you."

Zack flinched and nearly stumbled back. "Wait what?!"

"The Turks are still loyal to Shinra Zack. You should know this. We have to be, at least for now. I am the head, so I have to, even if I would rather not. So if something happens, don't hold it against us okay?"

"Yeah, that makes sense I guess. You don't want to just leave like I did apparently," Zack replied, relaxing himself while trailing off his words.

"Good. I'll see you around at some point," Tseng said nonchalantly as he walked out the door.

The next day was filled with a different feeling in the air. Positivity was radiating around Zack from the moment he had woken up. He was ready to complete what he set out to do over a year ago now, and see the person he's kept waiting.

Aerith.

Cloud knew this as well, and it was evident that Zack was acting slightly different as a result. But it was a good thing from what Cloud could tell. Zack was smiling more, and it didn't feel forced like all of the other times in past days. It felt genuine and honest, and that made Cloud all the more happy that Zack was doing better.

The boys had just changed into their casual clothes that Tseng had given them. With that they could blend it better with the crowd… for the most part. Zack still knew there were a couple of things that still would make them stand out.

One of them being their eyes. Mako always made the eyes glow brighter than what a normal person's would be. Zack already had those eyes because of what he went through in SOLDIER, the only reason Cloud had it was because of what Hojo put him through back at the mansion, which Zack figured had to be close enough.

The second was the buster sword. There was no way that Zack would ever leave it behind, especially when he still had to keep trying to carry Angeal's dreams and legacy. With that sword though, he knew they would get some looks. He only hoped it wasn't Shinra that would be giving the looks.

Zack breathed in deeply as he walked towards the exit of the building. Whatever this building was and where it ended up, it still outside of Midgar. There would be some walking until they reached the city before they could really get anywhere. Either way, Zack would get to where he wanted to go.

He and Cloud were led to an unmarked van once again, since Tseng wanted to keep the place under wraps. Just as they were getting there, one of the Turks leading them, whom Zack had never seen before, turned to them and directed them to get in. They did like when they had first come there and loaded up, and before long they were on their way out. Of course, that vehicle was lined with darkly tinted windows, so it was nearly impossible to see anything on the outside. Zack remembered how long it was when they first came to the place, so he and Cloud chose to relax until they were at Midgar.

"So Zack," Cloud asked, disrupting from Zack's short rest. "Where are we going to go first when we get to Midgar?"

Zack smiled as he thought over it. He had his plan since the start, but he had never told anyone else yet. Not in exact details. But now it was finally the time for that. "We're going to head to Sector 5."

"Sector 5? Isn't that in the slums?"

Zack nodded, still smiling happily. "Yeah, but there is a very special church in Sector 5 that I want to visit first."

Finally! On the way to Aertith! So close to that reunion! We hope you all enjoyed!