Aerith had spent most of the day thinking about the mission coming up tonight. She'd briefly dropped in at Seventh Heaven, noting that Cloud was back and still drinking. It had been tempting to go over and reveal she was aware of what he was doing and get an explanation of why, but somehow she'd managed to keep her curiosity in check. Instead, she'd chatted with Tifa for a bit, gotten that drink the other woman had mentioned the other day, and then headed back home to prepare for the mission.

Her dress tonight was much simpler than the one from the first dance. It was light pink, and instead of the straps going up over her shoulders, they instead went to the sides, wrapping around her upper arms to the back. This left both her upper chest and back largely exposed, only covered by her black hair. It was down, loose and flowing instead of up in its normal braid, although her bangs were the same as always—draping down over the front of her shoulders.

While the top of the dress was tight and snuggly fit against her body, from her waist down it flared outward, the wide, voluminous skirts stopping just before brushing the ground. They provided a large range of movement already, but a slit running down the front granted additional freedom. A pair of rose-gold heels completed the outfit.

The guards standing outside were different tonight. Aerith hoped that wouldn't matter, but as she reached the front of the line and moved to walk past them, the older of the two reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Tightly.

"I'm afraid this party is restricted to invited guests only. We can't just let anyone who dresses up all nice and pretty wander on in, now can we?"

Aerith glared at him, wanting nothing more than to reach out and snap his arm. She barely managed to restrain herself. "Your boss told me I was welcome to come and go as I pleased," she said coldly.

"Lady, if I had a gil for every time I heard that line, I'd be able to afford that fancy dress you're wearing. Look, if you want some fun I can tell you where the guardhouse is, I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

As she began to slowly work out the intimate details of exactly how this man was going to die, Aerith shifted her attention to the other guard, whose eyes were nervously flicking between the two of them. "Rufus is going to be incredibly upset when I tell him you turned me away."

"Captain, I think we did have orders to let a specific woman through," the guard whispered to the one who was still firmly holding her arm.

"Well is it her? Midgar has a lot of women in it, although I'll admit this one is a step above the rest." He leered at her, his eyes riveted to her cleavage. "Go and check inside, I suppose, I'll keep our little friend company while we wait."

The other guard saluted and hurried away, vanishing through the doors into the ballroom. By this point, Aerith had settled on a slower, more painful death, although she hadn't yet decided on the exact means. She tried to pull her arm free from his grasp, but the captain tightened his grip, frowning at her.

"You've got a bit of muscle on you, don't you? Get a lot of exercise I bet, being in your line of work and all."

"You have no idea," she hissed.

"Let her in, let her in, let her in!" The words repeated over and over, growing gradually louder as the other guard burst through the doors and came rushing back, his face a mask of pure terror.

The captain's brow furrowed, and he frowned as the guard came to a stop next to them, his hands on his knees as he gasped for air. Finally, his hand relaxed on her arm and she jerked it free, rubbing the spot where he'd been holding her to help restore the blood flow.

"What in the world is wrong with you soldier?"

"Direct orders . . . from the President, Sir! She's to be . . . allowed inside . . . no questions asked," the guard panted.

"I see, well, you certainly set your sights high, didn't you?" The captain stepped out of her way, gesturing towards the doors leading to the ballroom with his hand. "Enjoy your . . . dance."

"Oh I will, I'll also be sure to let Rufus know exactly how you treated me," she snapped, enjoying the look of alarm that flashed across his face. She wouldn't actually bring it up—this man was ultimately beneath her attention—but it was nice to at least get a bit of payback.

Stepping through the front door, the miraculous sight of the ballroom greeted her. Even though it had only been a day, she was once again impressed with how beautiful it was. Say what you would about Rufus, it couldn't be denied that he had good taste. She scanned over the crowd quickly, noticing the host himself in a conversation with a large group of people, but he wasn't who she was interested in. To her relief, she spotted Tseng against the far wall, talking with Reno and Rude.

"How is it possible for you to somehow be even more beautiful tonight than before?" a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

Spinning around, Aerith wasn't at all surprised to find Zack standing behind her, a smile on his lips. Her eyes narrowed in on his tie—it was pink, matching her dress. "How did you . . ."

He grinned widely, flipping it up to show the backside was a deep, royal purple. "You said pink or purple so I figured this was the safest bet."

Again he'd managed to throw her for a loop, and already so early into the night. This didn't bode well for what might come. Steeling her defenses, Aerith struggled not to smile too much. She had to admit the combination of the pink tie with his tuxedo complemented her dress quite nicely.

"Not many women here are wearing pink, perhaps the purple would better suit a wider range of partners."

"Ah, but you see, the only woman who matters is."

She struggled not to grind her teeth. He hadn't even paused, the answer seemingly ready and waiting on the tip of his tongue. None of her plans had accounted for Zack. In retrospect, it was an obvious oversight—there was no chance he wasn't going to be here, not after the way the first night had ended. She wasn't in a hurry to get to her mission, however, and honestly, he would serve as a good distraction until it was time for her to make her move.

"It's possible to be too damn charming, you know?" she grumbled.

"Who? Me? No!" He even had the audacity to wink at her. "By the way, your lipstick is incredible, I don't think I've ever seen that shade of light purple before."

Aerith paused, taken aback by the tangent, surprised he'd even mentioned it. "Thanks, it's very special, I actually make it myself."

His eyes widened. "Wow, that's impressive! I don't think I've ever met anyone who makes their own makeup."

"It's actually the only type I make, far too much work to do it more often." She really didn't want to be talking about this. "Anyways, I don't want to bore you to death, should we dance?"

"I thought you'd never ask." He offered her an arm which she accepted, slipping hers under it and gently leaning into him as they moved to join the people already dancing.

"So, special makeup for a special night?"

"Yup." He was more than welcome to misinterpret that.

The band was playing much slower, more intimate songs tonight. She didn't mind—since it better suited her plans—despite preferring faster, more chaotic dances. They settled into a slow waltz, Aerith sinking into Zack's hold as he firmly held her, swirling them across the floor. She was immediately reminded of how much she enjoyed this, the freedom, the elegance, the comfort. Dancing together with Zack was just right.

She couldn't help but think back to yesterday, and her concerns about why he was bothering to pay any attention to her. She was willing to accept it hadn't been on Rufus's orders, but that didn't explain enough. Would he even be honest with her if she asked? There was only one way to find out . . .

"Zack?"

"Yeah?"

She hesitated for a moment, almost scared to go on. "Why are you here?" she asked quietly.

He blinked at her, clearly confused. "I'm . . . not sure I follow. Here at the dance?"

Aerith shook her head lightly, unable to look at him. "No, here . . . with me. I'm just some random woman who showed up screaming at you and it doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's not like—"

"Aerith."

She stopped rambling, glancing up briefly before her eyes darted away once again upon seeing him staring down at her.

"I'm here because you're fun. Because you're a damn good dancer. Because you're—"

She saw him biting his lip from the corner of her eye. What had he been about to say? "You don't even know me," she pointed out.

"So tell me about yourself, I'll listen. Happily."

"Oh? And what if I say I'm a crazy killer with loads of bodies stashed away? You still going to hold me close then?" she asked playfully.

Zack's arms tightened around her, almost imperceptibly, as he frowned. "I'd ask what your reasons were and what they'd done to deserve it, but I'd trust that you'd have a good explanation."

Aerith faltered, missing a step at his response. That hadn't been the answer she'd expected at all.

"That wasn't a very funny joke," he continued, his tone extremely serious for once.

"Sorry, I know. Can we just . . . forget about it, for now?"

His hand soothingly ran over her back, muscles she hadn't even realized were tense gently relaxing under his touch. "Of course. There's no rush. Once you're ready to talk, I'll be here." Aerith was startled as he removed one of his hands from her waist and cupped her cheek, tilting her head up so their eyes met. "Look, I know we've only just barely met and we hardly know each other at all, but . . ."

"But?" she asked, her heart pounding in her ears.

"I like you, Aerith. A lot."

It was as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist. She and Zack were alone, standing in an empty white void, complete and utter silence filling her ears. He liked her?! She didn't need him to clarify what he meant by that, it was shockingly clear, even if it was the first time anyone had ever directed those words at her. Her immediate reaction was to evaluate how she felt about him, but that was already extremely complicated on its own. He was right, they'd hardly known each other for much time at all, and yet . . . She could understand where he was coming from, to an extent. Yes, she knew hardly anything about him other than the fact he worked in private security, but she still felt a connection with him. It was crazy. Pure, undiluted insanity. And it scared the living daylights out of her. She was a Shadow for Gaia's sake, and even if she had mostly been joking around moments before, Zack would never be able to accept that if he found out. Which he absolutely never would.

"Aerith? Aerith!"

Zack's voice brought her back to the dance, although they were completely stopped and in the way at this point. Recognizing she was back, Zack firmly placed his arms around her and moved them back into motion, rejoining the flow of people around them—her feet instinctively following along.

"You alright?"

She nodded her head softly. "Yeah . . . sorry about that. Kinda took me by surprise there," she said, laughing weakly.

"My bad, that came out of nowhere, I know."

Aerith didn't know what to do. Should she tell him not to apologize? That she'd liked it? Had she? That was at least easy to answer, realizing she had. Letting him know that was a completely separate matter, however. Maybe there was a middle ground?

"No need to apologize. I'm still mostly just confused about what you see in me."

He made a small humming noise as he continued to guide them around the other dancers, eventually responding. "If I had to settle on any single part of you—and that's already tricky—I'd have to go with your personality."

"My personality?" She frowned.

"Yeah. You're always so . . . lively. Like how you took control of our first dance or even the way you introduced yourself. You're nothing like anyone else I've ever met, which I know sounds super cheesy, but I swear it's true." He spun her out and away until their arms were fully stretched, then pulled her back in close once again. "Plus I really meant it when I said you're an amazing dancer."

She laughed. "Thanks, Zack, I'm glad all those years of practice are finally paying off."

They continued dancing in silence, the earlier fluidity now noticeably absent. It wasn't only her either, Zack seemed as lost in thought as she was. Eventually, the song came to an end and the two of them separated, slightly stepping away from each other.

Zack broke the silence first. "You're looking a little pale. Have you eaten yet?"

She hadn't. Not since before getting ready for the dance hours ago, and if she were honest, she was getting a little hungry. "I haven't," she admitted. "But I'm fine!" she hurried to add as he looked at her in concern.

"Nope, not good enough," he said, guiding them to the edge of the floor and moving up the steps, gently pulling her after him. "Food is important I'll have you know, especially when you're going to be dancing with me for hours."

Aerith raised an eyebrow in amusement, even though he couldn't see it with his back turned to her. "We're hardly moving at all with the type of songs the band is playing tonight."

His shoulders drooped a bit. "It is a bit disappointing, isn't it? I was hoping for another repeat of our first dance."

"It was fun, wasn't it?"

Zack spun to face her, causing her to slightly jerk back in shock, a wide smile on his face. "Hah! You admitted it! See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

She shook her head ruefully. "I don't think I ever denied it."

"Well, maybe not, but still, after you ran off upset I was a little worried. Anyways, food!"

He waved his hands and a chocolate-covered strawberry seemingly appeared out of thin air. She'd noticed them passing by on a tray moments earlier, but it had been an impressive feat, making it show up like that. She hadn't even seen him grabbing one in the first place.

"Thanks, but I shouldn't." Of course, her stomach had to decide right then that it did, in fact, want that strawberry as it audibly rumbled, causing her to flush in embarrassment.

"Really? Cause it certainly seems like you want it," he said, grinning at her. "Here, open wide." He held the strawberry out, his hand stopping in front of her face.

Aerith panicked. If she let Zack feed her she would die. She reached out and grabbed the dessert from his hand, delicately eating it as best she could without ruining her lipstick. "There, happy?" she asked once she swallowed the last bite.

Zack's attention was focused on her lips and she could feel her cheeks heating up from the embers smoldering in his eyes. "Very."

Her face was on fire and she spun around, unable to handle his stare. Thankfully, the band came to her rescue, a sparkling melody filling the air. Couples began filing to the dance floor, settling into a swaying slow dance.

"Dance with me?" Zack whispered into her ear, his hand gently wrapping around her to rest on her stomach.

She nodded—unable to speak—a swarm of butterflies whirling around inside her. What was wrong with her? How had she fallen for him so hard, so quickly? He was supposed to have been a distraction, an entertaining way to spend the first part of the night before she had to move on to what she'd come here to do. Instead, he'd completely taken over. Aerith desperately wanted to spend the rest of the night dancing in his arms, but she had a mission.

One more dance, just one more, then Tseng, she told herself.

They moved back down to the dance floor, turning to face each other once again, his hands moving behind her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. Swaying gently back and forth, they moved in a tight circle, a dance completely unlike any of their previous ones. As much as she enjoyed the explosive, heart-pounding motions of faster dances, Aerith had to admit this was nice too.

"Another slow dance," she observed, unsure what else to say.

"Not going to lie, I don't really mind. Gives me a better chance to watch you."

"Zack," she said firmly, her lips fighting a smile.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll just appreciate in silence, that okay?"

"You're impossible!"

"Impossibly amazing? Impossibly handsome? Impossibly right?"

"Impossibly impossible."

They both laughed at the same time, Zack's blue eyes swallowing her. Aerith took a step closer to him, shifting her hold so her arms were wrapped around his neck instead, her head resting against his chest. A part of her was warning that this was dangerous, that she wasn't supposed to be encouraging any of this, but she pushed it away. She deserved this. Was it really so much to ask for a brief moment of comfort? Of happiness?

"I'm so glad I met you," he whispered in her ear.

She nodded her head against his chest but didn't say anything.

"Aerith, I just want to make sure you know, but tonight has been incredible."

As enjoyable as this was, she did need to bring things back under control. It was nice to dream that there was some kind of a future for the two of them, but the unfortunate reality was that there simply wasn't. She'd have to come up with some way of telling him, but that could wait until another day. For now, she loosened her arms slightly, taking a half step back and lifting her head to look up at him.

"Zack, I—"

She hadn't anticipated how close his face was to hers. His lips were right there, hovering in front of hers. It would be so easy to slide in just a bit, tilt her head up, and—

Zack leaned in, his mouth moving closer and closer to her own . . .

Aerith frantically shoved him away, throwing herself out of his arms and nearly sending herself crashing to the floor. That had been so close. Far too close. The look of hurt and confusion in his eyes wrenched her heart.

"Aerith, what . . . I—"

She didn't know how to recover from this. How to not make things worse. It felt like everything they'd built together was suddenly teetering on a knife's edge.

"Zack, I—I'm sorry. It's just too soon, and—"

Her words weren't helping, the look of hurt on his face only growing stronger as he shook his head and turned away from her.

"No, I get it. I was an idiot, sorry."

"Zack!"

But he was gone, moving away through the crowd as people very obviously pretended not to be paying attention.

How had everything managed to go so wrong, so quickly? She wanted nothing more than to chase after him, to explain exactly why they couldn't kiss right now, even though she had wanted to as well. But it was getting closer to the end of the ball, and she still hadn't done anything about the primary reason for her being there tonight.

Forcing herself to focus back on the mission at hand—even though it killed her inside to do so—Aerith scanned the crowd for him. There. He was at the far end of the hall, chatting with a woman in a scarlet dress. As she made her way over to Tseng, Aerith paused, hiding behind a pillar when she heard an all too familiar word she hadn't expected.

"Please, Shadows are merely a rumor, you don't seriously believe in them, do you?" a man asked scornfully.

"No they're not, I've seen shapes on the roofs at night!" a woman protested.

"Nonsense, those are cats."

"I heard they have red eyes and can kill you just by looking at you," a second woman said, her voice quavering.

"Well I heard they have to kill at least one person a day or else they have to take their own life!" declared the previous woman.

"Do you have any idea how—"

Aerith moved on, not bothering to listen to whatever the man had to say. As amusing as it was, it wasn't about her, which meant it didn't matter right now. Drawing closer to Tseng, she could tell the woman in the red dress was flirting with him, presumably trying to get him to dance with her. That wouldn't work at all with her plans, so she hurried forward, placing her hand on his shoulder and smiling sweetly up at him.

"Would you dance with me? I can promise you a better time than she ever could."

"Excuse me?"

Aerith ignored the woman. She knew she was overdoing it, but she was tired now, wanting nothing more than for this horrible night to be over already.

Tseng looked at her in confusion, his eyes darting between the two women. "I don't think—"

"Perfect," Aerith said, grabbing his hand and bodily dragging him towards the middle of the room.

"Whore . . ." the other woman muttered, glaring daggers at Aerith. She stuck her tongue out at her in response, struggling not to laugh at the look of shock on the woman's face.

Tseng winced next to her. "Apologies, Scarlet doesn't handle competition very well. Although there was no need to be quite so forceful."

"I'll admit to generally just taking what I want. Makes life so much simpler."

He glanced over at her, his face mixed somewhere between surprise and confusion. "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Aerith shook her head. "No, although you may have seen me around from time to time."

They reached the dance floor, and Aerith was immensely thankful as Tseng smoothly slipped into the proper position, his hands moving around her waist as she placed hers around his neck. He slowly moved them into the crowd, making sure to keep them from bumping into any other couples as they gently swayed from side to side.

"What exactly is it you do?" he asked once they'd settled into a comfortable rhythm.

"Oh, this and that, whatever odd jobs your boss needs done. Nothing that important," she said with a laugh.

"Interesting. Still, he must value you highly to invite you to these balls."

Aerith made her cheeks flush slightly—easily accomplished simply by thinking back to how she'd felt in Zack's arms—averting her eyes modestly towards the floor. "It's just special for tonight, you won't see me at the next one."

"I could speak to Rufus for you?" he offered.

She refrained from tightening her grip on him—that was exactly the last thing she wanted right now. "No, no," she whispered, moving to press herself more closely to him, "this is more than enough for me."

"As you wish. I have to say, you're a fantastic dancer, I loved watching you and that man the other night."

Damn it. She really had stood out too much. Giggling softly, she looked up at him through her lashes. "You're such a charmer." She was pleased to see him blush at this, his eyes darting away from hers.

"He's . . . uh, not going to show up and be angry to find us dancing together, is he?" Tseng asked nervously.

"What? Oh, no, we're not together or anything. That was the first time we'd even met."

"Apologies for the assumption, you just had such natural chemistry together it seemed like the obvious conclusion."

Zack and her? Chemistry? Already during the first dance? Aerith almost stumbled, barely catching herself and using it as an excuse to press them together even more closely, her entire body now firmly pressed against him, her cheek resting on his upper chest. As they continued to sway, she struggled to focus on what Tseng had said, her body suddenly feeling heavy and wooden.

Something was wrong.

Tseng had clearly noticed as well, his steps faltering as he moved away from her to look down at her face. "Are you alright? Wait, your pupils are massive."

"Shit." Shit! She hadn't meant to say that out loud. "I'm fine," she tried to say, although the words ended up slurring together.

"Are you . . . drugged?" he asked, his eyes widening in alarm.

Well, this wasn't going according to plan, not at all. Recognizing that she was quite likely about to lose her one chance at pulling this off, Aerith forced herself to focus. She stood up on her toes—nearly toppling over in the process—and looked directly into Tseng's eyes before leaning forward and kissing him deeply.

He jerked against her for a brief moment in surprise before sinking into the kiss, his lips eagerly moving against hers. She held the kiss a moment longer, making sure his tongue passed over her lips, before breaking free. Flashing a smile at him, she slipped—stumbled really—out of his arms.

"Wait, what just—" he called after her, but she ignored him.

She needed to get out. Aerith staggered away, her eyes fixed on the massive doors at the end of the hall. The signs were even more pronounced now—people close to her were more blurry, while those at a distance still appeared normal. Or at least, as normal as they could be while swaying and wavering in a decidedly non-natural manner. It was embarrassing how badly she'd messed this up.

The lights of the chandeliers were blindingly bright, forcing her to shift her eyes down to the floor to avoid the pain caused by looking at them. Her mouth was horrifically dry, but she refrained from trying to grab a glass from one of the waiters circling the dance floor. Best case scenario she'd end up smacking the tray out of their hand and the last thing she needed right now was a huge scene like that.

Finally reaching the doors, she slipped out, immensely relieved as the cool night air washed over her sweat-slicked body. Thankfully, no one was in sight out here, the guards all stationed inside the hall.

Zack.

Had he seen her? Why did she care? She hadn't noticed him during the entire dance with Tseng, and she was glad he hadn't shown up during her frantic escape. This night was already enough of a disaster, she didn't need something like that added on top. Her heart was pounding as fast as she could ever remember and none of her breathing exercises were helping to slow it down. That was fine, she'd dealt with this several times in the past. She knew how to handle this, it wasn't enough to—

Aerith dropped to her knees, coughing, a smattering of blood flecking the cobblestones beneath her. Okay that, that was bad. She reached down and ripped off the shoe on her right foot, wincing slightly as the strap was destroyed. With shaky fingers, she pulled the sole of the shoe out, revealing a hidden compartment underneath with a small vial inside. Grabbing it, she popped it open, immediately guzzling the clear, tasteless liquid. It wasn't enough to fully cure her, but it would dramatically increase her chances of actually making it back home alive.

Aerith collapsed onto her bed with an enormous sigh of relief. She wasn't dead. The trip back to her room was a blur—a haze of disjointed memories involving staggering through the streets of Midgar. It was a miracle she'd made it, given the condition she'd been in. Even with the resistance to belladonna poison she'd developed over the years, this had been an exceptionally bad case.

The flower itself wasn't enough to kill, at least not without an extremely high dose—far more than had been in her lipstick. It did, however, work as an excellent way to numb and knock out a target while the true poison did its job. In this case, that had been the nerve agent she'd mixed in. Obviously, it was extremely risky to paint such a lethal combination of poisons onto her lips, but it wasn't the first time she'd done this.

The strawberry had ruined everything.

It was the obvious oversight in her plan, and even though she'd done her absolute best to eat it carefully, she'd clearly messed up. Fortunately, she'd planned for things not going smoothly and had hidden the antidote for the nerve agent in her shoe. That had been enough to get her back here, where she'd been able to quickly make a separate antidote for the belladonna.

She had originally planned on making a far more graceful exit after Tseng had left on his own, which would have allowed her to even further distance herself from him. With the way things had ended up going, it was going to be far more challenging to seem innocent.

I confessed my love for him and fled when he turned me down.

While it was far from a good excuse, it could still work. People would still have their suspicions—Rufus, Reno, and Rude in particular—but they'd also have no solid evidence against her. It was going to make things incredibly awkward at the next ball, however. If it ended up being enough of a problem then it would likely be her last one—she could protect Rufus from Avalanche while hiding on the roof just as easily as from inside if she had to. Assuming she didn't die of boredom first.

It would be sad to lose the dances with Zack, although after how tonight had gone . . . She wouldn't be even remotely surprised if the man never wanted to speak with her again. She tried to tell herself it was for the best, that there had never been a realistic chance for anything between them in the first place, but it still hurt. Especially after what he'd told her.

Aerith forced herself to stop thinking about him. It wasn't like there was anything she could even do at this point, she'd made her choices and now had to live with them—as she always did. Instead, she hopped to her feet, even though her body was screaming at her to crawl into bed and pass out. She walked over to her closet and removed her Shadowsuit from its hiding place, slipping it on.

She'd promised Cleaver she would be there tonight, and after how horribly the evening had gone, she hoped he'd at least be able to cheer her up a tiny bit.

I wanted to try and mirror Chapter One a little here, where it's not entirely clear what Aerith's plan is going into the scene. Of course, this time you should be expecting her target to die, but did anyone pick up the clues as to what she was going to do before it happened? Let me know if you did!

Zack continues to throw Aerith off her game and is indirectly responsible for poisoning her as well, oops.

Thank you to everyone who's been reading from the start and also to the people just picking up the story for the first time. Your support means so much to me!

I'm also extremely happy to announce that you'll no longer have to wait two weeks between updates. That's right, the next chapter will be up next week and posts will now be weekly! I'm super excited to finally be at this point and I can't wait for everyone to be able to read the rest of this story.

Next Chapter: Hurt