Ch.3

Zack snuck carefully around the slums. Even if there weren't any signs of Shinra, he knew full well that they could be hiding. They had already made it this far into the city undetected, he wasn't going to let anything slip them up now.

Though he still had to always check on Cloud. He could walk on his own now, but he was still a bit slow. Zack was certain that there was still far too much mako in the poor guy's system and only waking up a little over a week ago wasn't enough time to adjust. All this moving and running around didn't hell either. He needed to rest and relax properly.

"We're almost there, Cloud. Just a bit further. Just let me know if you wanna rest, okay?"

"I know," Cloud said softly.

They proceeded further through the slums with ease. A few people gave them glances and others would avoid eye contact entirely. Zack sighed wishing he knew exactly what Shinra has been up to after all these years. He knew fully well that most people already had a negative opinion of SOLDIER and Shinra but now it felt a whole lot worse.

Then there was also the fact that Zack's outfit was riddled with bullet holes. Sure his body had healed up at this point and the rain had helped clear away all the blood, but the outfit was still a mess. No doubt that also factored into why people gave him such odd looks if they dared to stare at him.

"Guess we should probably look for some new clothes, eh Cloud? Something more casual to blend in better."

"Yeah that sounds good."

"Thankfully with all the traveling we've done and stuff I managed to find enough gil that should be good," Zack replied. "Hey, maybe we can find something matching. I bet it would make us awfully cute."

Quickly Zack turned to see Cloud was already bushing. "I don't… know about that…"

"Oh my gosh, Cloud. You make this too easy!" The way Cloud reacted to his teasing now that their feelings were out there in the open, it was all just too much fun for Zack. The little tease would send Cloud into a full blushing mess. Though honestly there could have been another reason why it was so easily. A less favorable one.

"It's possible that the mako is just enhancing his feelings. To make them way stronger than what would be considered normal. I really hope not… it's too much fun to tease him like this. But if it is… maybe once the mako clears or settles or whatever, he'll still have some good reactions. Overall I think the mako is in his head too much cause he still is pretty emotionless except when it comes to embarrassment. I guess I just really need to keep an eye on his emotions."

Sighing, Zack put aside all the difficult thoughts. When he felt like they could just relax and nothing else, then he would think deeper into it. For now the focus to getting to a safe point was what he needed to keep in mind.

Suddenly a familiar sight up head was enough to shift his thoughts entirely. "There! Look ahead Cloud! There's her church!"

Pulling Cloud by his wrist they ran all the way up until they reached the doors. Once there Zack stopped and closed his eyes. He started taking in deep breaths before he opened his eyes again. "Okay, here goes nothing. Let's hope she's here today."

Zack pushed the door open and peered inside and right where he expected to see Aerith, he did. She sat in front of her flower garden that looked as vibrant as ever, tending to them. Though at the sound of the door opening she turned around and her eyes widened.

"Zack?" she asked in a soft voice before raising a hand to cover her mouth. Slowly she stood up and continued to stare, as if confused by why she was seeing before her.

Right away Zack ran over to her and embraced her. He couldn't bring himself to speak to her, but he still held on to her, resting his head against hers.

"Zack…" Aerith whispered. "It's really… You're actually here."

"Course I am," Zack replied. He pulled away and smiled at Aerith as best as he could. "I guess I got a lot of explaining to do."

"You really do," Aerith replied. Her tone was light, seeming to be playful. But there was an lingering feeling in her words. Eventually she sighed and stepped away from Zack.

"It's been five years, Zack."

"I know. Just let me explain," Zack replied.

"I will, but this is all a lot to take in. I… I was," Aerith wrapped her arms around herself. "I wasn't sure if you were ever coming back at this point."

"I know," Zack repeated. He felt like he was going to be doing a lot of that at this point. "I'm so sorry if I hurt you cause of this. But… it was all on Shinra. After the mission went south… we were captured and held in a lab in the basement of a mansion."

"We?"

"Oh!" Zack said turning around. Cloud was standing in the doorway, looking a bit awkward as he shifted from foot to foot. "Come on Cloud, you can come on in."

Cloud slowly moved until he was standing next to Zack. Right away Zack put an arm around him and gave him a quick side hug. He could tell Cloud probably was worried being around Aerith, considering what had been talked about before. But Zack kept on believing that he could get this to work. He knew that everyone could hopefully be okay once he was able to talk about it.

"Cloud and I were both captured. A lot of stuff happened… I don't really remember much though. Just read the reports that Hojo had been trying to experiment with us." Right away he could see that Aerith became tense, so he thought to try and deviate to something else quickly.

"We escaped though of course! Just took this past year to travel back to Midgar while trying to avoid Shinra."

"But isn't it more dangerous to be here because of Shinra?"

"Yeah… but there were reasons I wanted to come back…" Zack said, his eyes drifting to Aerith's. Her eyes were still so gentle and beautiful. Zack couldn't deny that he still thought that about her… which only made his newer feelings feel more conflicted. He knew he had to figure it out though. He had time now to just relax and think all of this through.

"Plus! Once Cloud and I have rested enough, we were thinking of becoming mernaciaries. That way we could get back at Shinra for all they did to us!"

That made Aerith laugh at least. "It's good to see that you are still the same as ever. Such energy."

"You bet!"

After a moment Aerith took a step forward towards Cloud. She smiled kindly towards him. "Hi Cloud. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh… Yeah… Hello."

Zack ruffled Cloud's hair slightly. "Cloud's still recovering from some bad mako poison, so he is a bit quiet. But he has been getting better at least. Isn't that right, Cloud?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. Getting there."

"I was wondering though… Do you think you could help him in any way?" Zack asked Aerith.

"Hmm, I wouldn't know what to do. I'm not a doctor or anything. But if there's anything," Aerith said as she trailed off. She reached out and took Cloud's hand. "Come this way."

She led him over to her field of flowers and smiled again. "I've heard that flowers and their nice scents can be a way to clear the head. Why don't you take a seat and see?"

"I can sit here?" Cloud questions as he looked from Aerith to the flowers. "They're pretty…"

"Thank you," Aerith replied. "Just make sure not to step on or crush any of the flowers."

Cloud took a seat right at the edge of the flowers and started to breath in deeply. Slowly a small smile came on to his face. Zack couldn't help but smile at the sight, hoping that it would help Cloud in some way. "Now, if Cloud you wanna sit there, I wanted to talk to Aerith a bit more privately. If that's okay with you. Nothing to worry about though! Just ya know, gotta do some catch up."

"Oh… Okay," Cloud replied softly. "I'll stay here then. It's nice."

Zack sighed with relief before motioning Aerith to follow him to just outside the church. Once it was just the two of them standing outside he sighed again. "I'm still so, so sorry Aerith."

Aerith shook her head. "You don't need to keep apologizing. You told me what happened."

"But… I found your letters… well one of them at least." Zack said as he pulled out the now crumbled letter from his pocket."I read it and it made me want to come back to you again, but I started to wonder how much all of this had to have hurt you."

Aerith looked away from Zack, crossing her arms before she finally looked back at him with a solemn look. "I was hurt… for a while. I feared that you weren't coming back. I even lead myself to believe terrible things to make it not hurt as much… if anyone has to be sorry it has to be me."

"Huh?" This was not what he expected to hear. "Now what do you mean by that?"

Aerith looked away again. "I waited and waited… but I sometimes let doubt grow in my mind. I had a feeling something bad had happened. I didn't want to believe it though… so I let myself believe that you just didn't want to come back. That maybe you had found someone else…"

Aerith now filled turned away from Zack, her voice growing soft at the last few words. "I regretted ever thinking such things… After that I tried to just forget about it all entirely. Just trying to figure out how to keep going with my life…"

"Aerith…" Zack said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know this is all just a lot of messed up stuff, but… I understand. I wish I just could have done something to tell you so you wouldn't have had to worry so much. Honestly, I really am sorry for any hurt you went through."

Aerith gave thoughtful hum before facing Zack once more. "Yeah, that's the good thing. You're back and alive and that is what matters most!"

"Yeah… though there is still something else on my mind. But it's a whole lot harder to talk about…" Zack started to scratch the back of his head while trying to gather all his thoughts. He knew that it was best to just try and get it out of the way. Waiting and letting things build up would only make it worse later on.

Aerith looked at him inquisitively. "And what would that be?"

"It's a bit hard to explain… and I know it's only going to make things all the more messy… but… It's about Cloud… and me."

Zack waited to see if Aerith had anything to say, but she stayed quiet as she listened. With that Zack continued on though now his heart was beating so much faster. "Along our journey here, Cloud woke up from his catatonic state… and he kind of confessed something to me. That he… loved me."

There was a pause while Zack lowered his head. "And I think I love him back."

Zack waited. He waited for the crying or for the shouting. He waited for anything, but instead he was met with silence. Nothing was said at first and he found that to be more worrying than Aerith actually shouting and getting mad at him. He didn't dare raise his head though. Far too afraid to see what exactly her reaction was.

"Oh. I see…"

There was silence again after that. But then Zack felt a hand on his shoulder. He carefully raised his head to see Aerith giving a rather bittersweet smile.

"I didn't expect it Aerith. But just… I've been caring for Cloud this past year, and after all we've been through, I can't bear to leave him or anything. I think it's love, but I just… ah…"

"Have you listened to your heart?"

Zack now stood back up straight. "What?"

"Listening to your heart, so you know what you're feeling."

"Oh… uh I guess maybe. I don't know." Zack closed his eyes as he tried his hardest to think. "I think so… Thinking of Cloud in the tricky battle I had outside of Midgar is what kept me going. Thinking of him and what he felt for him, it gave me strength."

"Then… I think you have your answer," Aerith said with far more calmness than Zack expected. "Don't worry, I understand and I'm happy for you."

"What? A-Are you sure? I mean what about… you know us?"

"I know," Aerith said. "But it has been five years. We're not teenagers anymore. I guess fate just had something else planned for us. But…" Aerith reached out and took Zack's hand. "We can still be friends, right?"

"Oh of course!" Zack said as quickly as he could. He took Aerith's other hand, holding it tightly. "A hundred percent we can be the best of friends!"

"Good. Sounds like a plan," Aerith said before Zack wrapped his arms around for a hug. She laughed and hugged him back in return.

In all honesty it had gone better than Zack had expected. Now a huge uncertain weight had been lifted from his chest. Though he knew he still had a lot to think on, he was glad that Aerith had remained the most understating. She really was something special and he was glad that they could still be close.

"I'm still really glad to see you again, Aerith," Zack whispered.

"Me too," Aerith replied.

"And me too."

The extra voice was not what Zack had expected… but it was a voice he knew well. Pulling away he looked at the bottom of the church stairs to see a young man dressed in casual clothes. While the outfit was not all too familiar the face surely was, even if he hadn't seen it in five years.

It was a lean face with straight dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders and hung across his eyes. Just like Zack he had the striking bright blue mako enhanced eyes. He had the lightest dusting of freckles though over his nose. He smiled cheerfully at Zack whose eyes were growing wider by the second.

"Kunsel!" Zack nearly tackled the man to the ground in a large hug. A moment after he looked at his old friend feeling very confused. "Wait, what are you doing here? And in casuals too?"

"Were you really not able to read any of my emails?' Kunsel asked. "I'm sure I said in one of them that I was checking in on Aerith for you. But Shinra's getting tight about things so I gotta go 'incognito' when coming out here."

"Ooh yeah… I think I remember reading that."

Right away Kunsel gave him a light punch to the arm. "You mean you've been reading them this whole time and didn't reply or anything? Dude do you know how worried I was about you?!"

Zack went right away to rubbing the back of his neck. A usual tick of his when he felt bad about the subject at hand. "Yeah… I know, but I was trying to keep a low profile. I didn't want Shinra tracking me any further if I sent out an email or called."

"You know I could have kept it low profile and encoded so no one would know. I told you I was willing to do whatever I could to help you."

"I get that, but I didn't want to get anyone else involved. Still…" Zack grabbed Kunsel, pulling him back into a hug. "Thanks man! I'm glad you're still on my side. And hey… I made it back, just like you wanted me to."

"I'm glad too," Kunsel replied before laughing. He hugged Zack back while also resting his head against Zack's shoulder, taking in the moment. "And you're welcome. I'm just really happy to see you again."

"Same here Kuns."

Zack had already let go from his hug, but Kunsel still held on. Zack didn't say anything though and just let his friend continue on. Zack didn't really get it at first, but now he saw how much Kunsel must have been worrying. It made him feel happy though to know how Kunsel cared. He knew that Kunsel was a good, true friend. He was willing to go against Shinra just to help him. Honestly it made Zack feel really honored that he knew someone like that.

After a few more seconds Kunsel finally let go. "Right. So now that you're here, you're seriously going to have to lay low. After that stunt you pulled outside of Midgar, while I gotta say is highly impressive, Shinra knows you're still not dead."

"Oh so you heard about my great battle?" Zack boasted cheerfully as they walked up the staircase. Aerith was still standing there smiling at the two reunited friends.

"Well you did wipe out an entire infantry battalion all by yourself right? When no reports came back I could easily piece it together."

Zack went from being boastful to seeming more solemn. "I didn't really want to fight that battle. But as you know… Shinra wanted me to stay 'dead' and it really sucks after everything I did for the company."

"It's just gotten worse these past five years…" Kunsel replied. "I'll fill you in later though, okay? Let's just take the time now to relax now that you're here." Kunsel then took the moment to give Aerith a quick hug. "And now I finally can have the chance to say good afternoon to you."

Aerith gave a light, friendly laugh. "Good afternoon to you Kunsel."

"Oh! I guess I gotta thank you as well for watching out for Aerith all these years," Zack said.

"Just did what I could to keep company," Kunsel replied with a nod.

After that the three of them stepped back into the church. Right away Zack froze up when he saw that Cloud was laying down on the floor. Quickly he ran over to him and knelt down before him. "Cloud! Hey, you okay?!"

"Huh?" Cloud turned and looked up at Zack. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Then… why are you laying down?"

Cloud titled his head to the side, as if Zack's question was really odd. "To see the flowers better. Can see them closely this way."

"Oh… Oh okay yeah I get it. Sorry buddy. Guess I just got a bit worried for nothing."

"It's okay. Who's that?" Cloud was now looking at Kunsel who supplied a friendly smile.

"Oh, that's my friend Kunsel. He's a 2nd class SOLDIER, but don't worry. He's on our side. I guess you never really saw him cause you were in the infantry."

"I guess… don't remember much though…"

Zack sighed. Cloud still couldn't remember too much from before waking up. There were a few things, but everything else seemed to be forgotten. He knew full well that it was just the side effect of mako poisoning, but that didn't make it feel any easier.

"I doubt he would have remembered me anyway," Kunsel said as he stepped forward. "Rarely was seen without my helmet, remember? Not many people knew what I actually looked like."

Zack nodded before going to sit down next to Cloud, who had gone back to watching the flowers. "Yeah, I guess I forgot about that part."

"Either way, so this is the other guy you escaped with? Cloud? Where did you get the out-"

"There was an extra in that manor. Wanted to get Cloud some fresh clothes… hoping it would help some with the mako poisoning. You wouldn't happen to know what to do for that would you Kuns?"

"I mean I've read a lot of reports. Sometimes if it's severe enough it can be pumped out, but most times you just have to wait for it to fade out. Looks like he is doing well though."

"Yeah…" Zack said as he went to ruffle Cloud's hair lightly. It was almost instinctively at this point. "Just keep on recovering Cloud. Got you that?"

"Hmm yeah. I will."

"Well now that we got that settled, Zack what's your plan now that you're here?" Kunsel said as he took a seat. "If I can, I want to try and help."

"I got some plans don't you worry!"

While Zack started to talk about his plans and ideas, Aerith walked over to where she had been tending to her flowers. Sitting down she listened to Zack talk and explain things in his usual cheerful manner. While he talked she noticed that Cloud had begun to smile more, leaving her to figure that hearing Zack's voice brought out more expression.

There were still some lingering thoughts from before once she laid her thoughts on the subject. The conversation had gone as well as she could make it and she was glad that nothing bad had become of it. Her heart did ache slightly the longer she thought about it, but she knew it would pass in time. She had gotten through these past five years as best as she could and now she could proceed to do the same. No matter what though, as long as she could see Zack again, that was what mattered most.

Nice long rambling chapte . And I suppose now I shall continue on this and all. I think it would be fun. So thanks for reading!