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 6
Zack was bored. A complete day had passed since they set out for Midgar. Throughout their whole journey they had only encountered one fight. They had been trailing down a narrow path when suddenly a few skimpy monsters jumped from out of the bushes and attacked Aeris. Cloud had been the first to react but soon after, Zack joined in and together they defeated them in no time. After that, things just went down hill for the black haired mercenary. Now that Aeris was officially part of their group, Zack thought things would be looking up for him but instead all that resulted in this was that Cloud and Aeris began spending more time talking together.
Zack had no problem with that. He fully supported his friend in his developing relationship with Aeris. What troubled him now was that it left him with nothing to do. Whenever traveling, he usually occupied himself with either fighting off monsters that attacked them or harassing Cloud. With neither option free at the moment, Zack was at a loss for anything to do now but mope and groan as they neared closer towards the Shinra Capital.
Cloud looked on into the horizon and saw the first signs that they were nearing their destination. The surrounding area was barren and dead. It was a complete wasteland. Not surprising for the man who believed anything Shinra had its hand in eventually would lead to death anyway. An ocean of memories flooded Cloud's mind as he studied the landscape. Too painful to dwell on it, he violently shook his head to clear it of the troubling thoughts. A tender hand gently rested on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Aeris staring sympathetically towards him.
"I know how troubling this must be for you." She said, quietly. "Returning to Shinra after all this time must be extremely hard for you. Knowing what they did to your town, it must really be tearing you up inside."
Cloud didn't reply but simply nodded morbidly. Aeris lightly touched his cheek looking at him with tender eyes. "It's ok. I'll be with you. At least we have each other right?"
Cloud found himself once again trapped in her beautiful eyes. So spellbound was he by her magnificent beauty that, for a moment, he couldn't will himself to answer, as if afraid the slightest interruption would crush the moment. Thus he offered her a weak smile and once again nodded his head. "Yeah… You're right…" He said silently.
Aeris continued to look into his eyes. Their faces drew nearer when suddenly.
"Ok, ok break it up you two!" Zack interrupted in a mock-authoritative voice. "We're nearing the boarders of Midgar now. There's plenty of time for the two of you to suck face when we get there. For now lets just focus on reaching the city before daybreak. We are on a deadline here, ya know?"
Both Cloud and Aeris blushed violently once they realized what they were doing and that Zack had figured them out. Cloud cleared his throat loudly. "Yeah, umm you're right Zack." He said in a nervous voice. "Let's keep moving." He turned to Aeris and held his hand out to her. Blushing, she accepted it warmly.
"Oh for the love of god! Will you two just cut that out already!"
Cloud and Aeris both laughed at Zack's frustration but continued their journey towards the big city.
****
Four hours later, the group finally made it to the front gates of Midgar. Zack was overjoyed by their arrival. Cloud and Aeris also seemed pleased by their progress. Zack promptly took charge of the situation.
"You two hold back and let me take care of the guard. I'll have us in, in no time at all."
Cloud rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Yeah right! I guess you've just got all the keys to every lock in the whole freaking world huh Zack?"
Zack shot him a mischievous grin. "Exactly! Just watch the master in action."
Zack walked up to the guard standing by the front gate. "Hey how's it going? We're just travelers here tying to check out this great city we've been hearing so much about."
The guard's expression was unchanged. "That will be 400 gil to proceed." He replied coldly. Zack looked at him with a pained expression.
"Sheesh! 400 gil? Geez prices sure are going up now adays."
"400 gil!" The man repeated, this time more forcefully.
Zack regarded the man wearily but complied to the demands. He fished in his pouch and pulled out the 400 gil handing it to the man slowly as if not wanting to part with it all.
The guard quickly snatched the currency and deposited it into the money machine at his side. "You may now enter." He said coldly.
"Sheesh." Zack waved for Aeris and Cloud to catch up then they all walked into the blustering city.
Once they were through the front gates, Cloud chuckled at him.
"What's so funny all of a sudden?"
"Yeah, that was real smooth work there, Mr. 'I can get through any entrance with no trouble at all'."
Aeris giggled at the remark making Zack even more red in the face. "Shut up!" He said angrily and continued walking ahead of his companions.
Cloud's expression quickly became more serious. "In any case, we still need to find our contacts so we can find out exactly what kind of a job their offering us."
"They said they were in sector 7 right?" Aeris inquired helpfully.
"Yeah but you really didn't bother to ask exactly where in sector 7, did you Zack?" Cloud asked with a frown on his face.
Zack glanced at his partner sheepishly and laughed nervously. "Heh heh, well… I guess I kinda forgot to ask… Heh heh."
Cloud threw his arms up in frustration. Aeris saw that things were deteriorating and quickly took the lead. "Well guys, there's no sense in crying over spilled milk right? Lets just head towards sector 7 and do our best. We may get lucky and find them there."
Zack nodded enthusiastically while Cloud just shrugged still heated over Zack's irresponsibility.
The group continued their trek down the rundown city, anxiously looking around for any signs that would tip them off to the location of their contractors. "I wonder what sector we're at right now." Aeris wonder out loud.
Cloud shrugged nonchalantly. "Does it really matter? We're here for one reason, to find our contractors and find out about our job offer. We don't need to worry about anything else."
Aeris suddenly gave Cloud a hurt look then turned her back to him. He blinked rapidly, wondering what he had said to hurt her. Zack shot him a sidelong glance then turned away focusing his attention on the surrounding scenery.
Cloud quickly walked up to Aeris and touched her shoulder. "Aeris, what's wrong?"
Aeris turned towards Cloud with tear glazed, eyes. "So that's all you feel for the people surrounding you Cloud? You feel nothing for the struggle these people are going through?"
Cloud was shocked speechless. He had never thought of it that way and that was certainly not how he wanted to come off as sounding.
Aeris took advantage of his shocked silence and continued. "I thought that you of all people would feel differently then that Cloud. Can't you sympathize with what these people are going through? Doesn't it effect you at all?"
Cloud regarded her with regretful eyes. "Aeris… I…"
Aeris wouldn't listen to anything else he had to say. She quickly turned around and ran down the dirty streets into the darkness. "Aeris! Wait!" Cloud called after her. He started to follow but suddenly a rough hand grabbed his arm.
"Wait." Zack said in a serious voice.
Cloud looked after the retreating form of the young woman who had earn a place in his heart. He swung around violently glaring at Zack. "What the hell are you doing?" he seethed in unbridled anger. "I have to go after her!"
Zack matched the blond's anger with his own, flashing a dangerously serious gaze towards him. "NO! What you have to do now is cool off Cloud. Look around you genus! Take a look at your environment and then tell me you feel the same way!"
Cloud complied nervously in response to his friend's unusually serious and authoritative tone. As he observed his surroundings more closely it all shined on him bright as day. The concealed figures staring at him from the distance, the crooked strangers glancing his way, the local thugs willing to give anything for a quick night brawl. It hit Cloud like a mallet. This was not the place to exploit one's emotions. Cloud turned to regard his partner once more. Zack gave a crisp nod.
"Now do you understand?" He asked in a soft tone. "These thugs will be on you in a heartbeat if you show even the slightest weakness, even if unintentional and the last thing we need right now is to draw attention to ourselves."
Cloud lowered his head in shame. He then looked up pitifully towards his best friend. "Then what are we going to do? Aeris is all alone in this crooked environment. What if she needs our help?"
Zack let out a soft sigh and closed his weary eyes. "Can you trail her without marking yourself off as some lovesick idiot?" he asked in a patronizing tone.
Cloud glared daggers at him but Zack could see the anxiety in his eyes.
"Yes." Cloud replied in a flat, even voice.
Zack sighed once again then turned around to take in the full view of the boisterous city once more. "Then go after her." He said softly with his back to him. "But don't approach her directly. Aeris just needs some time to herself right now. Watch over her. Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble but by no means should you approach her. She's hurting right now. She feels like you've betrayed her trust in a way. Let her cool down and figure things out on her own before trying to explain anything to her. Things will work out better that way."
"What about you?"
Zack turned his head slightly towards his friend, flashing him one of his famous grins. "Don't worry about me. I'm going to keep looking for our contacts. Once I find them I'll find you. Don't worry about it."
Cloud was hesitant but the urge to protect Aeris took priority and so he turned on his heels but stopped midway. "Zack… if you run into anything you can't handle out here…"
Zack chuckled a bit. "Don't worry, I'll be fine Cloud. Just go after her. And be careful yourself ok?"
Cloud nodded sharply and without another word he was gone.
Zack turned his full attention towards the crowded city now carefully examining every part of it. 'Not much has changed here…' Zack thought to himself as he encompassed the whole sector with his hazel brown eyes. 'This is sector 6, "A" district. So that means sector 7 should be two blocks to my right. It's been far too long since I've last set foot here. Yet even though the city is the same, much has changed since then…' Zack quickly shook his head to divert the onrush of painful memories. 'Nothing I can do to change the past but make up for it while I'm still living in the present.' He promptly picked up his pace and continued his trek towards sector 7 in stoic silence.
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Authors note: Thank you for reading and please stay tuned for chapter 7!