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PART 2 A Reason to Live


Zack stumbled backwards as he shook his head in disbelief. "What...
What do you mean by she's gone?! Is she coming back???!!!"

Cloud turned away from him. "I'm afraid..." he said. "I'm afraid that's...
not possible, Zack..."

"NO! No, she can't be! Don't tell me it's true!"

Cloud forced himself to look at Zack. "It is true, Zack!" he said painfully.
"Aeris is gone! She's dead!"

Zack fell to the floor, his head lowered. He hastily wiped away the
droplets of liquid that seeped out of his eyes. "Aeris... I wanted to
spend the rest of my life with her... I had everything planned out...
After I had gotten rich from being a mercenary, I'd go to her and tell her
mother that I was the right one for her... I'd tell her how much I loved
her and we'd have a happy life together..."

"I'm sorry... I couldn't believe it either. But, yes, Aeris did die. I know
it's hard to believe. Even I can't believe it."

"Don't be sorry, Cloud. It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I could have
been there for her. I could have protected her. It's all my fault..."

"Don't go blaming yourself! You know you couldn't have done anything
about it!"

Zack buried his face in his hands for a while and then looked up. "Cloud...
Do ya think...do ya think...I...could see her?"

"Yeah, Zack. Sure."

"Thanks."





~*~*~*~





Cloud left Zack for a while at Aeris' memorial. Zack kneeled in front
on the stone memorial that was built in remembrance of the flower girl
who had given up her life for the planet. There, Zack let the tears
fall freely.

"I'm really sorry..." he said to the hunk of cold stone. "I'm sorry for
everything... But why? Why did you have to go? I loved you so much...
and I know...you loved me, too..."

He took out something from his pocket and kept it in his fist. "You'd
be really happy to how peaceful it is now... It's everything you wanted.
And more... I never stopped thinking about you, ya know... I even..."
He placed a silver ring with a bright diamond in front of the memorial. "Got
this for you..."

He choked back a sob. "I hope ya like it, Aeris. I'll be seeing you..."




~*~*~*~




Tifa looked up when the door opened. Finally. Cloud and Zack had
come back. She wanted to say something to them but when she
saw the heart-broken look in Zack's eyes, she decided to keep quiet.
Cloud led Zack to the small bedroom and came back out.

"I have to go meet someone, Tif," Cloud said. "It's about a job.
Take care of Zack, all right?"

Tifa nodded and Cloud went out the door.

"Hey lady!"

Tifa saw a drunken man pounding his fist on the counter.

"More booze!" he ordered. "Rai now, bitch!!!"

"You're already drunk enough," Tifa replied sternly. "I think it's time
for you to go. Unless you learn to talk properly, you'd better not
come back!"

The man looked infuriated. He stood up and went up behind the
counter. "Now lookie here... Ya betta give me some beer now or I'm
gonna hafta make ya...and then some..."

"GET OUT!!!" Tifa yelled. The man just pushed her. Tifa kicked him
in the face. He wiped away some blood as a few...well, actually, a
whole bunch, of his friends stood up, prepared for a fight.

"Wanna fight?" Tifa asked. "Bring it on!!!"

The six men lunged at her at once. It was pretty hard. They were
the only customers at the bar that night. With Midgar being rebuilt
and all, the bar was not always full of people.

"GET OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. The
men were taken off her and she saw Zack help her up. He faced the
drunken men.

"HAH!" one of them sneered. "Think this pretty boy o' yars can take
us all at once?"

"Most definitely," Zack answered. He went for them, beating every
single one of them up with great ease. They staggered out the
door. When they were gone, Zack clutched at his wound in pain.

"Zack!" Tifa gasped as she rushed over to him. "Are you all right?!"

Zack nodded reassuringly. "Yeah, Tifa, I'm fine."

He groaned. He looked down at his hand covered in blood.

"No, you're not!" Tifa said. "You're hurt! What did they do to you?!"

"It was nothing! The blood probably seeped through..."

Tifa led Zack back to the room to take care of Zack's wound.





~*~*~*~




"I'm glad you were here, Zack," Tifa said as she put a new bandage
on Zack's wound. "I would have been a goner if you hadn't."

"That's not true," Zack replied. "I hear you're pretty good at kicking
some ass."

Tifa stared at him for a while and then giggled.

"Did I say something wrong?" Zack asked.

Tifa shook her head. "No. It's just that...I felt like laughing."

"That's good. But you're sure there's nothing on my face or anything?"

"You're fine."

"Good."

Tifa giggled again.

"What?! Did I do something wrong? Anything on my face?"

"It's nothing."

"If you have another urge to laugh, I'm gonna..."

"You're gonna what?"

"I'm gonna...be really glad. It's nice to see you smiling, ya know."

Tifa felt her face get warmer. "Uh...thanks," she replied. She
looked over at the clock. "It's really late. You think we should
head over to the flat?"

"I dunno," Zack replied. "It's up to you."

"Cloud's probably gonna be out all night and...oh, I don't know!"

"If Cloud isn't gonna be there then it's okay to stay here. Is
your place far?"

"Pretty much..."

"Then we should stay here. Ya know, those drunks could probably
be coming back and thrashing the place."

"Well...all right. It doesn't matter to me."

"You sleep here on the bed and I'll just sleep on the floor or
something."

"No, you can't do that! You're a guest! Take the bed!"

"You're a lady!"

"It doesn't mean that just because I'm a lady, you have to treat
me specially!"

Zack sighed. "You really know how to put up a fight, ya know..."

Tifa grinned. "I know."

"Well, how about this? We either share the bed or we both
sleep on the floor."

"That's a great idea," Tifa said sardonically. "We'd fit onto that
one person bed perfectly together since I have such a small frame."

"Geez, no need to be all fussy about it..."

"I'm not fussy about it."

"Well, you're fussy about something."

"Just...forget it..."

Zack shrugged his shoulder as he got in under the covers. "Well?
Aren't ya coming?"

"You really didn't think we'd actually share the bed, did you?"

"Seems like a good idea."

Tifa rolled her eyes and decided to just give up. It was late and
she was sleepy. She reluctantly got underneath the covers with
him. She tried to sleep but it was quite difficult. Sleeping with a man
she hardly knew? It was just a bit uncomfortable. But still...

She turned off the lamp and tried to get some sleep. She heard
Zack let out a yawn.

"G'night, Tifa," he said sleepily.

"Good night," she replied. He was already fast asleep. His breath
was steaming down her neck. They were so close together. It felt
so strange yet...right, in a sense. She shrugged it off and eventually
fell asleep.





~*~*~*~




Tifa woke up to find herself on the bed, laying next to no one. She
got up and fixed the bed then went out. Zack sitting down on one
of the tables with his head buried in his arms.

"Zack, are you all right?" she asked. He immediately looked up.

"Hey there. G'morning, Tifa," he said as he sat up.

"Good morning. How long have you been up?"

"About a coupla hours..."

"I see."

Zack's stomach then let out a loud growl. His face turned bright
red. "Um...er...sorry about that..."

"You must be hungry. I'll go get you something. I don't know if I
can get a decent breakfast but...I'll try."

"I already looked..."

"Oh. Well, we can always go order out!"

"Really? In Midgar?"

"Yep. It'd take a while, though, so I hope your stomach could hold it."

Zack chuckled nervously. "It'll try..."

After Tifa had ordered, she went and sat down next to Zack. "They'll
be here in 20 minutes or so."

"Okay."

Tifa took a deep breath and stretched her arms.

"So," Zack said. "How was your sleep?"

"It was very good."

"See? My plan worked after all."

"It seems that way. But I will not have it like that again!"

"Why not?"

"It's just...well...it's just a little bit...awkward, you know..."

"I didn't think so."

"Really?"

"But if it makes you so uncomfortable then that's fine with me."

"Um...all right..."

Zack grinned but then flinched when a pain shot up through him.
He clutched his wound and squeezed his eyes in pain.

"Zack!" Tifa gasped as she stood up and knelt down by his side. She
removed his hand from his wound and saw his palm covered in blood
again. "What happened?"

"It's nothing," Zack reassured. "I'm fine. I... ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Zack
wrapped his arms around his wound. Tifa quickly got some medicine
and bandages. She had a very worried look on her face as she looked
up from bandaging his wound.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Zack looked at her with pain in his eyes and then looked away,
saying nothing. Tifa was even more worried. She lowered her head.
She saw from the corner of her eye, Zack reaching for something. She
looked up and he quickly enclosed the item in his clenched fist.

"What's that?" she implored.

"What's what?" Zack asked, hoping she didn't notice.

"That thing," she said. "In your hand."

"There's...nothing...in my hand..."

"I saw you take something from the table."

"I didn't take anything."

"Then open your hand."

Zack paused.

"Open it," Tifa demanded.

Zack slowly opened his hand, revealing a piece of pink cloth.

"It was Aeris'," he said, his voice sounding much more melancholy
than she had ever heard. "I left right after I was sure you were asleep.
I went to her memorial to find something...anything... I looked and
looked and finally, I found this. It's very small but...it really means a
lot to me. I miss her a lot and I...I don't know! I just went to her
memorial and as I was coming back here, those dumbasses were there
and they got a good punch at me here!"

"I'm sorry... I didn't know..."

"I ain't saying you should've."

"But, Zack, you didn't have to go alone. I would have gone with you
if you wanted me to! I don't want you to get hurt."

"I wanted to be by myself. It's because I..." He stared at her and then
lowered his head. "You wanna know the real reason I went? I wanted to
die. That's what I was gonna do. If I couldn't have Aeris, I didn't want
anyone else. She was my whole life, ya know. She was my reason to live.
Every time things went wrong, she was always there to help me out.
Even when I wasn't with her. Just thinking of her gave me a reason to
survive! Have you ever had someone like that for you, Tifa? A person who
had such a big impact on your life that you went and made them your
whole life?"

"I... Yes. Yes, I have..."

"So you'll know how I feel, right?"

"I do know how you feel... But that doesn't mean you should give up on
living!!!"

"She was my whole life. Now that she's gone, I don't know what I'm
gonna do... No place to go, no one to turn to..."

"There's always Cloud! He's your best friend, right? And there's..." She
placed her hand on his. "There's always me, you know..."

"You don't hafta waste your time on my pathetic life, Tifa. You're too
nice. You got your whole life ahead of you."

"You do, too. Besides, I'm sure you'd do the same thing for me. And even
if you didn't, I wouldn't mind."

"I...don't know what to say..."

"Then say nothing and let me assume that you're agreeing with me."

"Um..."

"Then it's settled! You promise not to end your life, right?"

"Well...all right..."

"That's good."

"And...um...Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it."