Legacy
"We're almost there."
Every step he takes is a less one towards her. It feels as painful as a thousand daggers tearing his flesh apart like his skin was nothing but tissue paper, but still he is going to make it, he had to.
Why had Sector 5 had to be so goddamn far?
He drags himself step by step, slowly, pausing to regain his breath and pull Cloud higher to him, he keeps sliding down as he walks.
"Come on buddy." He pulls him again, every muscle on his body aches. That last fight towards freedom had taken everything from him. Took his every breath, leaving him alive by a string.
But he wasn't going to die without seeing her one more time. He had to go on. He had promised her so much and left her there without a word goodbye. It wasn't going to end like that. He needs to tell her it hadn't been his fault. That he was being kept. Went through hell but made it out.
How long had it been since he last saw her? Four years? Five? More? He didn't have a clue. Lost complete track of time inside that fucking lab.
"Wait Cloud." He breathes heavily, letting all the air leave his lungs in a gush. He sat Cloud against a wall and fell against his shoulder, tired. So tired he felt that if he closed his eyes now he might just sleep for another five years. "Need to catch my breath for a bit."
It was already night time when they reach Midgar. The streets were quiet. Where were they already? Somewhere halfway through to Sector 5. Midgar had stayed the same apparently. Dark, cold, gloom, ugly. Didn't differ much from what he remembers. But he knows where the flowers grow, where water streams and the air is slightly cleaner.
Where she is.
And all because nature flourishes all around where she is. Only she can turn a place like this grey concrete jungle into a slightly prettier place, sprinkling the streets with flowers and green plants.
God he misses her. Misses her smile, the look in her eyes. Her touch...
What had she done all this time? He can't deal with the pain of having left her without a warning. She probably hated him.
He doesn't care. As long as he gets to see her, just look at her one last time. She was so beautiful. He thought about her so much all the time he was inside his prison lab, he hadn't forgotten one single detail about her. She had been his happy place in time, his escape when he felt like giving up. And it had been so fucking hard not to let go of everything.
"Ok." With renewed strength from thinking about her, he makes one final effort to stand up with Cloud's arm over his shoulder. "Can't give up now. Let's go."
It is early morning when he finally sees the tall tower of the church, rising above the degrading slums houses in a near distance. It makes his eyes tear up just remembering the same image he saw all those years ago every time he went to see her.
"So close... we're so close Cloud." His voice breaks. He shuts his eyes to let the tears fall and regains himself.
The last walk towards the church is faster, instead of dragging themselves, he is quickly limping, eager to finally be able to rest. He needs to ease his mind, heal his body, it is so bruised even the wind blowing stings his skin.
He takes the steps to the church doors. Falls heavily against the hard wood of the doors and they don't budge.
"Hold on Cloud." He grips him tighter. "Why do these damn things have to be so heavy." He mutters under his breath and with all the strength he can find pushes the doors open.
It is quiet inside. Too quiet. No one there. But there it is, the flower bed. The same he had fallen into all that time ago, how long was it again? Seems like a lifetime ago.
Dust particles dance in the light beams coming from the shattered old windows. The wooden floor shrieks under their footsteps, its sound echoing through the walls around them.
Yellow delicate fresh flowers bloom and glimmer with the morning dew. It smells like her.
He approaches the flowers, lays Cloud carefully on one of the benches nearby and kneels on the edge of the flowers, where the wooden floor cracks and is replaced by a patch of brown dirt where they grow so magnificently.
Don't step on the flowers!Unable to control them anymore, Zack buries his face in his hands and lets the tears fall heavily down his cheeks, curling down onto the flowers as if they are able to hold him in a safe embrace. He is home, at last. At least, that's what it feels like.
"Zzzzaa..." he hears Cloud calling. He cleans the tears from his eyes and reaches his blond friend who had turned his head, probably looking for him.
"I'm here buddy. I'm not leaving you." Zack runs a hand through the blond's hair, messing it even more than what it already is. "You really had it bad, huh?" Worried eyes look at him, he still can't believe he has survived all of what they have been through. There is more in his blond friend than what he had shown. A simple rookie wouldn't have survived... he is certain of it.
"I'm going to take care of you." Zack tells him. He takes Cloud's hand and grips it reassuringly. "You're going to be fine."
The aquamarine blue eyes of the blond flicker in the light as if trying to reply. Zack feels his friend's fingers tremble in his hand, effortly trying to squeeze his hand back. Cloud is coming back to his senses, slowly, but it wouldn't be long now. He turns his head the other side and succumbs into sleep, with his heart at ease that they are finally safe.
Zack leans against Cloud's bench and looks up at the whole in the ceiling. Her laugh echoes in his ears, a long distant memory. The place looks suspended in time, it's just as he remembers.
He hears the rusty metal locks of the church's doors clanking, breaking the quietness. The doors open and light comes in as well as the silhouette of a girl against it. He turns his attention to the sound and grips the bench to stand up, his abdominal area strikes a sharp pain as he does. He limps up.
Noticing movement close to her flower bed, Aerith takes a few steps down the aisle to take a better look at the intruders. She is halfway down when she stops abruptly. Drops the bucket she carried in her hands.
As she recognizes him, her hands immediately cover her mouth to hold in a gasp. Her eyes water almost instantly. Her legs start shaking and for a moment she sees the world spin around so fast she has to grab the edge of a bench to keep herself from falling.
She had dreamed about that day so many times before, she is finding it hard to gather the strength to approach him and then realize it's just another ghost from her imagination.
But he seems real. She reaches him, hesitantly at first. He stands there looking at her, smiling at her. His eyes glowing, filled with tears. He is hurt, bruises all over his body and still he smiles at her.
She lifts her shaking hands to him, places her palms on his cheeks to feel his skin. Her hands explore his neck, slide down to his shoulders, then his arms. She presses her forehead on his and then collapses into his chest, holding him so tight she is afraid she will disappear in him.
"Is this real?" She asks as she breathes him in. She doesn't have the courage to open her eyes and find she had only been dreaming again.
"I'm back." He says, his voice hoarse, holding her slender body in his arms and kissing her hair over and over to feel her warmth, breathing her scent to fill his lungs with her perfume he had longed for, for too long.
She looks the same as he had left her. Her glowing green eyes so full of life, her graceful innocence, just like he remembered her, were still there. She is even wearing pink. She is probably more mature now, as he felt her body in his, she is curvy, the body of a woman now.
She pulls apart to look at him again, her hands go to his face and without a warning she pulls him to her and her lips take his. Desperate, hungry to taste one another they kiss as if there was nothing else in the world but them in that moment.
She grips his arms so tightly to make sure he's really there that her fingers leave purple bruises in his already hurt skin. She kisses his closed eyes and then his mouth again.
He holds her tight and they embrace each other, needing one another more than breathing. She presses her hands to his heart, feeling it beat. He traces her skin with his fingers, softly, taking in every silky bit of her. His eyes close again just to feel her, rests his forehead against hers. The pain he felt coming here had been worth it just for this moment, he would do it again one hundred times over just to get to her.
He presses his hands to her face and stares into her eyes, so full of sorrow, he notices. Life hasn't been easy on her too he can tell.
"Mama, I have the seeds basket you asked fo-" they are interrupted by a soft voice coming from the entrance of the church. A boy stood there, wears a navy blue shirt with light blue shorts.
Aerith closes her eyes as Zack turns his attention to the small being coming in towards them.
"Mama?" Zack looks at Aerith, confusion spread across his features. He was still holding her face, his hands slip down along his body.
Of course, life had moved on for her. He couldn't have asked her to wait for him all this time. It wasn't fair for her to. His heart sinks down to his feet. The pain in his muscles is now replaced by a desperate ache in his heart.
"Mama, who is this?" The boy asks, a couple of steps away from them. He has light brown messy spiky hair with shimmering sapphire blue curious eyes, the boy looks over at Zack, as if he is analyzing him.
"Hey buddy." Zack swallows all the strength he has left in him. If the Shinra dogs didn't kill him before, this was probably going to cut it. "I'm your mama's friend."
Zack glances at Aerith. She's looking down, eyes staring into nothingness. She holds herself with her arms, she looks like she's about dismantle into a thousand pieces like a fragile dandelion in the wind.
"I... I didn't know..." Zack is trying as hard as he can not to break. "How old is he?"
"He's five." She looks up at him.
"Five..." Zack tries in his head to count, to understand how long has it been since they were last together, doing the math as if by any chance this might just be... but he can't, he has no clue what year it is or how long he has been gone.
"He looks like you." Zack smiles, he loves her so much he would love everything about her, even her child with another man. He has no right to judge her and it definitely wasn't the child's fault, the pain he was feeling was consuming him whole. "What's his name?"
"He takes his name after his father." She says, smiling warmly at the child who stared from one another, scratching his foot carelessly on the ground. "You still haven't figured out..."
"I'm Zack!" The boy says cheerfully, proud to have the name that came from all the stories of the hero that was his father, many times told by his mother.
The world collapses right there and then for Zack. His head spins and he's in the verge of dropping down to the floor loosing his senses. Tears fill up his eyes, his vision turns blurry, a knot forms in his throat. He stares from Aerith to the child. He sees it now, the resemblance. He has his eyes, he has his smile, even the hair is spiky like his, only it is a golden brown just like his mother's.
"Is.. is he mine?" He stutters, his voice is shaky.
"I'm shocked to think you doubt it." Aerith's lips slightly turn into a pout. Her hands rest on her waist. "I was going to tell you in due time."
"The letters...?" He asks, he had lost them at some point, stopped getting them.
"No not in the letters, I couldn't." She says. "He's like me, Zack."
"You mean... a Cetra?" Zack's eyes widen. It's too much for a person who just had been through hell, his brain was trying its best to process all the information.
"Yes." Aerith breathes. "I told Tseng he wasn't yours. If they knew.. it's bad enough that he's my son, but yours as well... I think they know it but they must focusing on something else for now. Tseng must be leading them somewhere else."
"You trust him..." Zack hisses at the mention of the Turks, his blood starts boiling at the thought of them laying a finger on his... family. The word resonates in his head.
He has a family.
He looks again at the boy, so beautiful, so innocent, he does look like him.
He kneels in front of the child. The boy blinks, glances at Aerith, who smiles and nods reassuringly.
"Can I hug you?" Zack asks the boy.
"Yes." He answers and places the baskets he was holding on the floor next to his feet and extends his arms to him. Zack bites his lip to contain his emotions, he can't believe this small being is his. The boy wraps his arms around his father's neck and leans his head against his shoulder. "Nice to meet you."
Zack holds him tight, the tiny body of his child. Thinking back a few days ago they were breaking out of Hojo's lab, completely broken physically and mentally. Knowing about him and Aerith awakens in Zack a new purpose in life. Was he finally getting his peace, his freedom, the life he dreamed about? One thing is for sure to him, he will protect them with his own life and he isn't going anywhere.
There is movement coming from where Cloud laid on his back. Zack turns his attention to the blond.
"I have someone I want you guys to meet." Noticing he's awaking, he helps Cloud to sit up on his bench. Cloud's eyes strand from Zack to Aerith for a few seconds and then they pause to stare blankly into space. "This is Cloud."
The little boy reaches the blond man. His curious innocent eyes look at him intently. His tiny hands rest on his knees and he smiles at Cloud.
"His hair... looks like a chocobo." Little Zack says leaning against him to take a better look. Zack chuckles.
"Hello Cloud." Aerith crouches besides the blond. She places the palm of her hand on his cheek and smiles warmly. For a second Cloud's lips twitch, his gaze locks on hers, but then his head falls to his chest, exhausted. "What happened to you two?"
"We've been through hell. He's severely mako poisoned." Zack's eyes darken.
"He needs to rest it off. It'll come out of his system." Aerith stands up. "He'll be fine but we need to get him some place to sleep properly."
"Zack, what do you say?" Aerith smiles at her son. "Shall we take our new friends home and take care of them?"
"Yes!" Little Zack smiles widely, places his hands on his hips, expands his chest forward, posing like a superhero. "Can I show Cloud my toys?"
"Of course!" Aerith chuckles. "I think he'll like that."
Zack stares at the scene between the two. He still can't believe this life was waiting for him to come back, here. His heart is filled with such happiness he doesn't know what to do with it.
Aerith and Zack pick Cloud up, place his arms around their shoulders to help him walk towards Aerith's house. Little Zack walks in front of them happily kicking small pebbles out of the way.
When they reach the house they take Cloud to the guest bedroom and Zack helps him to take a shower and change clothes. They leave him to rest. He needs quiet, piece and stability to figure things out inside his mind.
"Can I go play outside?" Little Zack asks, round pleading eyes begging his mother.
"Sure." She nods. "I'll be right here at the stairs." She sits on the porch of the house, looking at the boy run along the garden with some wooden toys while Zack goes to take a long needed shower.
When he joins Aerith at the porch, he sits down leaning against her, his forehead falls on her shoulder. The breeze blows softly that quiet morning. But he can't help feeling it's just a suspicious quietness before a storm. Had he really cut the strings connecting him to Shinra? Somehow he feels his freedom is but a brief moment in time.
"I'm so tired." He says.
"You should get some sleep too." Aerith wraps him around her arms.
"I don't want to leave you." He takes her waist in his arms. "I'm afraid I might be dreaming and then when I wake up I'll be back there." Tears burn his eyes.
"We'll be right here." She whispers in his ear. Takes his face on her hands and kisses him softly and delicately. Several minutes pass by them when they just feel each other's warmth.
"How was he growing up?" Zack finally asks, looking at where his son is playing amongst the flowers.
"He's a free spirit. Wild. He likes to sleep on the grass, be close to the plants. He's lively, like you were, can't stay still. Takes after you." Aerith smiles, bumps his shoulder. "It was hard... with you gone." Her expression becomes serious as she thinks about the countless nights she spent crying, missing him, not knowing what had happened and thinking the worst.
"I'm sorry..." He says. "Where I was, I'd rather be dead than having to go through that again. It broke us. Ruined us..." his voice cracks, he buries his face in her clavicle while she hold him in her embrace.
"You're here now. Safe. Whatever comes next, we're together and we'll always be together from now on."
Aerith kisses his shaking lips, tightly holds him against her. They watch as their son climbs up the stairs to meet them.
"Wanna come play?" He asks Zack extending his hand. The eyes of his legacy glimmer in the light, promising him a future where they can all live free.