Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy 7 characters, places, and things all belong to Squaresoft and other involved companies. I own none of them. This fanfic is purely for the fun and enjoyment of others and myself. I make no money from it.
SHARDS COLLIDE
CHAPTER 4
The door creaked open as Zack slowly made his way into the room. He was aching all over and was anxiously awaiting the comfort of his nice warm blankets and pillows. He deftly jumped up to the main floor and stealthily crept to the end of the room, trying not to awaken Cloud or Aeris in the process. As he made his way by, Zack noticed that Aeris and cloud were both sound asleep in separate beds. Zack vaguely wondered if Cloud got his hint when he decided to take off and leave them alone. After a moment, he dismissed the idea and continued to creep stealthily to the back of the room.
Zack's jaw dropped in shock. Much to his misfortune, there were no other beds. "Damnit!" Zack seethed in a quiet voice. He slowly crept over to one of the shelves in the room, looking for blankets. He found none. Zack clinched his fists in anger but simply let out a defeated sigh and slowly walked back over to the far edge of the room. Taking off his mildly wet cloak, he placed it on the floor then settled himself on in comfortably.
"Are you really going to sleep all the way over there on that wet pile of cloth?" Came a hushed voice from the other end of the room. Zack shot up like a bullet. "What the… Aeris? Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
Aeris laughed softly but waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. I was already awake. I guess I just couldn't sleep. So much has happened in only a few hours you know?"
Zack nodded his head sagely. "Yeah I guess you could say that. Things have been rather drastic today haven't they?"
Aeris rose up out of her bed holding one of her blankets then set the blanket on the floor and sat next to Zack. "Yeah I guess you could say that." She was quiet for a moment signaling that something was troubling her.
Zack gave a sly smile then leaned toward her in a conspiratorial way. "So, you got the hot's for Cloud huh?"
Aeris suddenly shot back, her face beaming a deep red hue. "…Uh… no that's not true,…I…"
Zack chuckled softly. "Heh, you don't have to lie to me Aeris. I can keep a secret ya know?"
After a moment, Aeris simply lowered her head in defeat. "I really don't know what I'm feeling exactly…I mean we only met a few hours ago. It's crazy that I would fall in love with someone in such a short time."
Zack leaned against the wall in thought. "Hmmm… love at first sight, perhaps?"
Aeris was quiet for a moment. "I don't know… maybe. It's just that every time I'm around him, I get this strange feeling and all of a sudden I want to be with him."
Zack tried his best to keep from laughing in amusement. "Aeris and Cloud sitting in a tree, K. I. S. S. I. N. G."
Aeris couldn't help but giggle at his childish behavior about the whole situation. "Oh shut up you! But seriously, I really don't know how to deal with these new emotions…"
She then looked at Zack with a far off look in her eyes. "Have… have you ever been in love before? Do you have any idea what I'm going through right now?"
Zack stared at her for a moment, an unusually serious expression on his face. He slowly raised his head and closed his eyes in thought. "You know, I've never thought about it before. I mean sure I've dated lots of women and did my fair share of flirting… But to actually be in love with any of them… No I can't say that I have." He then turned his head towards Aeris. "I'm sorry but I don't think I would be any help in that particular area."
Aeris nodded slowly in understanding. A quiet silence passed between the two. Suddenly Aeris thought of something. "Hey Zack? What was it like when you met Cloud the first time?"
Zack gave her a quizzical look. "Huh? I'm not sure I know what you mean exactly."
"Well, when I talked with Cloud, he told me the two of you first met when you saved him from the wreckage in the mountains of Nibleheim."
"Oh! You mean that!" Zack stared up with a far off look in his eye's as if recalling something tragic."
"So… What was it like?" Aeris prompted.
Zack looked back towards her as if he were coming out of a daze. "Oh… sorry… Hmmm lets see… For one thing, it was a very emotional time. I mean Cloud was a wreck, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I was originally in the area because I was looking for work down that way. You see, I was a mercenary at that time too. Only thing was, I was still fairly inexperienced. I had only been hired twice and I was seriously hoping things would look up for me once I reached Nibleheim. I guess life has a funny way of turning out huh? Anyway, I saw the big fire and rushed towards the town as fast as I could. Everything was a wreck. I couldn't find any survivors. It was terrible. So, not knowing what else to do, I followed the blood trail up to the Mako reactors. That's where I found Cloud. The whole area was on fire and a beam was just getting ready to fall on him. Luckily I was fast enough to drag him out of there before the whole place collapsed. It was terrible. There were many times when I didn't even think he was going to make it. He had all kinds of deep gashes and cuts. One wound traveled straight through his abdomen. I used as many healing spells as I could but still, he was way too injured for them to be of any real use."
Aeris was now deeply engrossed in his story. "So how did you manage to save him?"
"That's just the thing! I don't think I had any real influence on how her survived. I did the best I could, given the situation. It was pretty obvious he couldn't be moved so I just tried my best to heal him just 5 miles west of the reactor. After the third day I was exhausted. During those days I would use healing spells nonstop. I was spent. Then one day I saw him sitting up looking around in a daze."
Aeris was shocked. "What?"
"Yeah I know. It kinda freaked me out too. I guess he has a strong sense of will power. Anyway he was still wounded pretty bad but the remaining injuries he had, I took care of easily. But that was the easy part. Even after full recovery the guy was a wreck. He had lost everything in that fire; his family, his friends,… his whole life. I did the best I could to help him through it all and I guess in the end it all must have worked. We became partners and soon got into the whole mercenary lifestyle together. I guess I really lucked out then. Don't tell him I said this but he's a really good friend."
Aeris had a wistful look in her eyes. "Yeah, he's special isn't he?"
Zack smiled slightly. "So are you, ya know? You may not have noticed but I saw the way Cloud was looking at you during the dinner. I'm sure he's feeling the same way about you as you are about him."
Aeris blushed. "You really think so?"
"I know so." Zack said, nodding his head purposefully.
Aeris couldn't help the giddy feeling she was beginning to feel all of a sudden. She placed her hand on Zack's shoulder in friendship. "Thanks a lot for the talk Zack. You're a real friend."
Zack returned the gesture of friendship by patting Aeris on the back. "Any time you wanna talk just come my way." He said with a friendly smile. "And thanks a lot for the blanket." He added. "I was freezing my ass off trying to sleep on this ice cold cloak."
Aeris giggled heartily and walked over to her own bed. "Goodnight Zack. And thanks again."
"G'night." Zack lay back on his blankets staring blankly up at the wall. 'I guess I'll be playing matchmaker for a while.' He thought to himself with an amused smile playing across his lips. Soon sleep began to claim him. The last thing that drifted through his mind was the offer that the young woman offered him earlier that night. 'AVALANCH huh? Might be fun…'
:::::::::To Be Continued:::::::::
Author's note: Thanks for reading and thank you all for the great reviews. Please stay tuned for the next chapter.