Hojo was in the main laboratory, holding the report in his right hand, his left folded behind his back, rather like a general surveying the status report of his troops. The expression on his face was not pleased at all, a fact which had made his lab assistants try not to get in his way today as possible.
The report detailed of a rather concerning news regarding Shinra's most elite soldier, Sephiroth, who was currently under assignment near Wutai. It seemed that the "Black Angel of Death" (as he was commonly known to everyone) had, as of late, been prone to bouts of brooding and dark silence. Oftentimes, the report said, he had been observed as looking towards the east, lost in thought, as if hearing something in the air. This had made the soldiers who were with Sephiroth nervous, to say the least. They were fearing that maybe, he was losing his mind. The report ended with "Please advice on what to do next".
But what caught Hojo's interest more was the fact that, for the past few days, there had also been disturbing reports about an alarming increase of monster activity and sightings in the Mako reactor in Nibelheim's mountain; one of Shinra's biggest and oldest. Give or take a few days, Sephiroth's strange behavior began to manifest a few days after the Nibelheim reactor monster phenomena. Hojo raised an eyebrow, his keen mind trying to piece together several hypotheses. To the ordinary Shinra employee, there seemed to be no other connection between Sephiroth and the reactor in Nibelheim mountain, aside from Shinra. But Hojo knew better. After all, it was in Nibelheim where they kept 'it'.
His musings were suddenly interrupted by a laboratory aide who was hesitantly trying to catch the professor's attention. "Uhhh...P-professor Hojo, sir...?" The aide was stammering.
"What?!" Hojo snapped. The aide almost turned to flee.
"T-there's someone w-who wants to s-see you, sir, uh..." the aide was trying his best not to tremble. He knew how Hojo could be when he's interrupted in deep thought.
"Well? Out with it!" It was more like a roar.
"M-mr. Halcyon sir...h-he would like to see y-you. S-said it's something important," the aide said. "About his m-mission, he said..."
Hojo snorted and started walking towards the door as if the aide never existed. The man heaved a sigh of relief, perspiration on his brows. His heart was beating wildly, but at least it was calming down. His job was safe, for the time being.
"You're what?" Hojo was seated behind his office desk, his hands clasped together in front of his face, resting just below his nose; the very image of a senior official who did not like what he had just heard. Behind his thick glasses, his eyes were piercing.
"I request that I be taken off this mission, sir," Zack said.
"And for what reason?" Hojo asked.
"Personal, sir," Zack said. "Suffice it to say that I cannot carry out the job that is assigned to me without going against my personal principles." The last statement was a lie. Zack knew it had nothing to do with his principles. It had everything to do with his heart.
Hojo was silent for a moment, eyeing the young SOLDIER as if weighing him. For the first time since they met, Zack felt nervous under Hojo's gaze. Finally, Hojo leaned back on his leather swivel chair and said, "Request denied."
Zack's expression turned into one of a mixture of fury, disbelief, and fear. "But sir--! I will not be able to accomplish this mission! That I know! Give it back to the Turks! Sir, I say to you--!"
"My mind is already made up, Mr. Halcyon," Hojo said. "You still have the mission. The Turks already had their chance for ten years. Besides, their hands are already full with theirs, as it is."
"Dammit Professor, you don't understand!" Zack practically shouted, slamming his hand on the table. "I cannot find this girl! I take back what I said. I am not cut out for this job! Please, give me another. Assign me to a recon mission, or espionage, or a fucking camp in some damned backwoods outpost! Anything, but this!"
"Is there something you want to tell me, Mr. Halcyon?" Hojo suddenly asked. "Last week, you strike me as full of confidence and arrogance. Now, you seem as if you're almost...begging to be taken off. What happened?"
"N-nothing," Zack said, stepping back, trying to get back an aura of calmness. He drove back the urgent nervousness in his mind. He chided himself on being too emotional. Any more, and he would have betrayed everything: Aerith, him, their love. "Nothing happened. It's just that...I don't think I'll be able to accomplish this mission, given my...feelings for the matter."
"Your feelings?" Hojo asked.
"I...can't, with all good conscience, track down a girl to be made as a human experiment," Zack lied. His voice trembled a bit and for once, wondered if he sounded convincing. It was half-true, he said to himself, in an attempt to make himself believe it. He had this thought that if he'll believe in what he said so much, then the lie won't show. It was half-true.
"You don't have a good conscience, Mr. Halcyon," Hojo said. "Remember, I read your files. You are a person who believes in living life at the moment, taking whatever pleasures you can, as long as it's not totally illegal."
"What are you saying?" Zack said, frowning. His voice wavered, betraying his nervousness.
"You play with women, Mr. Halcyon," Hojo said. "You pick them, you fuck them, and you pay them to do it. You could care less about them. What makes this one so special?"
"But...! But--!" Zack said, trying to think of a good reason except for the truth.
Hojo turned to look at him. "She's just a girl, Mr. Halcyon. She's not special to you. You haven't even met her yet. She's just another job to be taken care of. Another mission. And it isn't even a dangerous one."
It took everything in Zack's power not to jump at the bespectacled professor's throat and rip it out. How dare you fucking think of Aerith that way, he thought. Instead, he tightened his jaw and clenched his hands into fists so hard his nails dug in his palms. Then, he opened them again. "I'm a changed man now, Professor. I've recently acquired a greater respect for women."
"I'm sorry Mr. Halcyon, but you don't sound terribly convincing," Hojo continued. "Unless there's something else? Perhaps you have a better reason other than your 'morals'?"
"Why must it be me?" Zack asked.
"Simple, Mr. Halcyon," Hojo said. He put on a patronizing smile. "You're the best."
Zack went out of Hojo's room with a heavy heart. Fate, he decided, was a bitch that delighted on torturing poor mortals with the promise of love and happiness while, behind its back, it held a dagger with a wicked edge. Or maybe, it was just his own dumb luck that the woman he had chosen to fall in love with was the same woman he was tasked to find and capture. Automatically, his mind went back to the experiments done on Ifalna, (stupidly, his mind helpfully supplied that she was Aerith's mother; and then, perversely, he remembered what Hojo said the first time he was briefed: "...a beautiful one, I might add, if her mother was any indication.") and he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
There's no bloody way he was going to let Hojo do those horrible things to her. Not to his Aerith.
His mind was blank and his eyes were seeing nothing on its periphery, his thoughts rising and jumping over each other like so many fruits put together on a blender, not making any sense at all. Vaguely, he could feel Hojo's electronic office door close behind him with a hiss, the momentary draft of cold air conditioner inside the office against his back. He started walking, when he heard an exaggerated sigh.
"Mr. Halcyon..."
Zack stopped in mid-stride. Tseng's voice was soft. There could have been a hint of a chuckle in it. Zack could feel the derision in its tone. He turned his head back to look. Tseng was leaning on the wall just beside the door, his arms folded casually, his feet crossed. When he turned to look at Zack, however, his eyes were empty. It was strange. There was no mocking quality in Tseng's eyes.
"Fuck off, Tseng," Zack said. The calmness in how he said it was an indication of how serious he was. Right now, the last thing he needed was another sarcastic barb session with the Turks. He turned around to continue walking, paying no heed to the Turk leader.
"It's quite a predicament, isn't it, Mr. Halcyon?" Tseng asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Zack said, continuing to walk. Behind him, he could hear Tseng's shoes clicking on the tiled floor.
"It's quite a kick in the gut to know that the one you've been looking for has been under your nose all along." The clicking sound stopped. "What happens to Aerith now?"
Zack stopped. Slowly, he turned around and looked at Tseng, unsure if he had heard him right. "What--?" he started.
Tseng just tilted his head to one side, like a puppy studying a human.
Zack blinked unbelieving eyes. "You knew."
Tseng turned around, his hands clasped behind his back. He started to walk. Slowly, as if in a trance, Zack followed him.
Fate, indeed, was a bitch.
Tseng's room was in one of the expensive suites in the 37th floor. The whole room was colored a professional gray. Expensive upholstery and furniture were everywhere; a burnt-brown living room sofa with matching armchairs, all wrapped in expensive leather, a wide-screen 40-inch television, state-of-the-art digital stereo component, and various expensive modern paintings that hung on the wall. A multi-colored furry rug was on, what Zack assumed to be, the living room. There was even a fireplace (Zack couldn't figure out where the exhaust went). From the large glass windows, Zack could see the wide expanse of Midgar. The whole place, like the whole of the building, had centralized air-conditioning. It seemed that being a Turk paid well.
Tseng went to the bar. Zack just cautiously stood near the living room, unsure of what to do. "Please, sit down." Tseng said casually, as if Zack was a close friend and guest. As if everything wasn't happening. "What would you have, Mr. Halcyon?"
"You knew," Zack said, not quite sure where to start. "All along, you knew. How long have you known about her?"
Tseng poured himself an ice-cold martini, stirred it, taking his time.
"Damn it Tseng!" Zack shouted, angry and confused and out of patience. "I'm not here to socialize with you! I want answers!"
"Are you familiar with the JENOVA project?" Tseng asked casually, not really minding Zack's impatience.
"I am not interested with Shinra's projects unless it is a mission assigned to me," Zack said. "What the hell has that got to do with Aerith and my question?"
Tseng raised the drinking glass to his lips and took a sip, delighting on the way the liquor flowed into his throat. Then, he started talking.
"A couple of decades ago, while looking for mako-rich locations around the Planet, Shinra happened to dig up a frozen life-form in the Northern Crater. It was quite unlike any creature that has ever existed on the Planet and, after much intensive research and experiments, the Shinra scientists came to the conclusion that it was extra-terrestrial. Sensing that it could prove to be a valuable military asset, President Shinra ordered the formation of a group of scientists that would research solely on it. The life-form came to be known as JENOVA, and the task was, of course, designated as the JENOVA project. A brilliant scientist named Professor Gast was tasked to be its leader, and his assistant was Professor Hojo."
Great, Zack thought. I asked a simple question and he proceeded to give me a Shinra history lesson. He merely kept silent, however, waiting for Tseng to continue. Tseng looked at his glass of martini for a moment, shook it around slowly, and then started to walk to the living room where Zack was still standing; his right hand inside the pocket of his dark pants, and his left holding the glass. He continued.
"While doing extensive research on some old books and reading materials regarding JENOVA, Professor Gast came upon some information regarding an ancient race of people called the Cetra, or the Ancients, as we call them, and it was there that he learned that the Cetra and JENOVA had, in the long past, a connection together, but the manuscript was vague as to what, exactly. Professor Gast, then, decided that much of JENOVA's history would be known if he could somehow find a survivor of this ancient Cetra, and he decided on following this angle of the story.
"Professor Gast told this to his assistant, Hojo, who merely laughed and said that such myths had no place in the scientific world but that Professor Gast should, instead, focus on JENOVA itself. Undaunted by this, Professor Gast approached President Shinra and proposed his theory. President Shinra approved of it, much to Professor Hojo's embarrassment, and so, Professor Gast took it upon himself to track down the remaining descendants of the Cetras, if any did exist. After a year of searching, Professor Gast finally managed to locate the last remaining true Cetra; a woman, in a place way up north called Icicle Inn. The woman's name was Ifalna, and I would bet that from the moment he saw her, Professor Gast fell in love with her.
"Anyway, Professor Gast brought Ifalna here, to Midgar, and she willingly submitted to some tests provided that it was Professor Gast who would conduct it. Meanwhile, during this time, Professor Gast was already getting accolades from both the big eggs at Shinra and his fellow scientists. And, with the help of Ifalna, they managed to glean much more information from JENOVA. Much of what we know about JENOVA now was largely a result of Professor Gast's research. It was also during this time that the subject of the Ancient's Promised Land surfaced, and that they've noticed that Ifalna exhibited some sort of extraordinary powers. Professor Hojo suggested that Ifalna be subjected to more rigorous tests, to which Professor Gast vehemently objected to. Professor Hojo couldn't do anything. After all, Professor Gast was still his superior. But Professor Hojo took it upon the administration of Shinra. Of course, this is Shinra we're talking about. If it meant a probable new weapon, or energy source, or power, they'll approve of anything. With the pressure of the Shinra admins breathing down at his neck, Professor Gast suddenly disappeared and he took Ifalna with him."
Zack snickered without humor. "Heh, even then, Professor Hojo's a dick, huh? Does this lead to anything, Tseng?"
"You might live better if you'd learn patience, Mr. Halcyon," Tseng said. And he proceeded with his tale. "Anyway, with Professor Gast gone AWOL, Professor Hojo did not waste any time taking over Professor Gast's work. But try as he might, he was not able to make any new breakthroughs. It was then that he decided that he needed Ifalna. Of course that would mean having to deal with Professor Gast once he finds them. So, with the permission of the Shinra administrators, Professor Hojo scoured the whole world looking for his former boss and the Ancient. Six years later, he succeeded in tracking them down to, ironically, the first place where Professor Gast and Ifalna met. The report said that Professor Gast tried to attack Hojo in which case the good professor had no choice but to kill Professor Gast."
Even after hearing it a few decades later, Zack still smelled the stink of the story. He shook his head. "And Shinra believed that? Heh. Not even a six year old child would buy that story."
"This is Shinra we're talking about after all, Mr. Halcyon," Tseng said, as if that explained everything. "In any case, regardless of what actually happened, Professor Gast's body was disposed of--Professor Hojo won't say where-and they finally brought Ifalna back here, in Midgar. She was carrying with her a child, six years old."
Suddenly, Zack had the immense feeling of wanting to chop off Hojo's head and testicles, and shove it into his throat while the head still had consciousness. Poor Aerith, he thought, shaking his head sadly. My poor, poor Aerith. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears, in sympathy of his beloved. He tried to hold them back, however, not wanting to give Tseng the satisfaction of seeing him crying. Instead, trying to speak with a level voice, he looked up at Tseng and asked. "And that's when you met her."
"Even as a child, she was very beautiful," Tseng said, his stare looking out of the great windows of his suite, into the vast expanse of Midgar before them. It was already deep sunset, the horizon already streaked with dying grays and deep, rich crimsons. Tseng's voice was soft, and it was obvious that he was already transported back to that day ten years ago, when he first laid eyes on Aerith. "Looking at her then, I could already know that she's exceptional. I know beauty when I see one, Mr. Halcyon, and I knew then that Aerith's was rare. I wanted to hold her then. That's how much she struck me." He smiled as he turned back to Zack. It was a wolf's smile; Zack couldn't compare it to anything else.
"Of course I am first and foremost a Turk. So I had to set aside those feelings. Anyway, once Professor Hojo got hold of Ifalna and Aerith, he was all giddy. Happy. He thought he'd surpass Professor Gast's achievements, and he immediately ordered intensive tests and experiments on Ifalna. I think you've read quite a few of them when you were researching the database?"
Zack did not reply, but the way his jaw stiffened was answer enough for Tseng. He continued talking.
"Aerith, meanwhile, was placed on another containment cell. Professor Hojo thought she was too young to be fully experimented on; that her frail body might not be able to take it. That was a good thing, because I didn't want anything to happen to that beauty. I really tried my best to be her friend, you know. I visited her everyday, talked to her, smiled at her. I brought her flowers. And you know how rare flowers grow in Midgar, Mr. Halcyon. Fresh flowers, mind you, not the withered shit they sell on flower shops."
Zack noticed the slow change in Tseng's demeanor. As if he was suddenly losing touch of his calm and cool Turk persona. Slowly, little by little, Zack saw the person behind the mask. With voice dripping with disgust, he commented, "God...she was just six."
"She was beautiful!" Tseng snapped. There was a momentary flash of snarl in his otherwise relatively handsome face. And then, just as suddenly, as if it was never there, he suddenly became the cool Turk again. He walked towards the bar again. Poured another shot of ice-cold martini on his drinking glass. "Anyway, after she and Ifalna got out of this building, Professor Hojo immediately sent us to look for them. I am the leader of the Turks, Mr. Halcyon. I know how to manipulate them. Reno, Rude, Vin--...no, Vincent was already dead by that time. Or disappeared. Vincent. Poor Vincent. And he was such a good Turk..."
He's becoming unstable, Zack thought. Then, he suddenly noticed something and out loud, he said. "You said 'got out'. That Aerith and Ifalna got out of the building. What do you mean?"
"I had to help them...her. I could care less about Ifalna, but I don't want Aerith being subjected to those kind of tests." Tseng replied. He stared down at his martini, as if the scene was playing there. "So...one night, I opened Ifalna's cell. And I told her to get out and bring Aerith with her. I already took care of the guards. Nothing like a mastered Sleep spell to knock them unconscious. They got out. I let them escape."
"Why didn't you just take it a mile further?" Zack asked. "Bring them out of Midgar. Out of this place."
"I'm a Turk," Tseng replied, as if that explained everything.
Zack was still trying to digest everything. He shook his head. "All this time, you knew where she lives, and yet kept your fellow Turks and everyone else in the dark. For ten years. God Tseng...what the hell did you hope to accomplish?"
"I tried visiting her a couple of times, you know," Tseng said, sadly. "But every time she saw me, she always ran away. She'd always shout 'No! no! I won't go back!' and then run up the stairs. Maybe she thought I'd bring her back to this place. To the lab. All I ever wanted was to be close to her. She was so pretty and I think I fell in love with her..."
At her age?! Zack thought incredulously.
It was at this point that Tseng's voice suddenly became stronger. "That's why I don't want anyone finding out about her..."
"So...it was you," Zack said, realizing just now. "You were the one who deleted her files in the database."
"When Professor Hojo handed the task of finding her to you, I knew I had to make sure you don't find her," Tseng said. He gulped down his drink, very swift, very fast. And he poured himself another. His hand was shaking. "But you did. Damn you."
"You're crazy," Zack said, and he meant it.
"I love her!" Tseng turned around suddenly, viciously shouting; the martini in the glass he was holding on his right hand spilling to the white tiled floor. This time, all traces of confidence and coolness that was ever-present in the face of the leader of the Turks were all but gone. Tseng's face was distorted in anger, his breath coming in raspy and ragged. His eyes blazed with mad passion. "For ten years I have watched her grow! Watched her become more beautiful as each year passed! For years I've wondered how it must feel to clasp her lips with mine. Every night I've dreamed of fucking her, imagining that pale skin turn crimson in orgasm. I desired her! And you...! You just suddenly waltz in and take her away from me?! How dare you! She's mine! I've looked after her! It's my right! I found her first!" His face was flushed red with fury.
"Listen to you," Zack said, shaking his head, wondering if he should feel anger or pity for the Turk leader. "You don't love her. You're obsessed with her! And you're too fucking blind to see that!"
Tseng took a step forward, the glass he was holding in his hand shaking. He was not the poised and calculated Turk Zack knew. He had become a raving, impassioned madman. "Call me what you want. Think what you want. But I love her, dammit! I love her! And she's mine! No one else's! Mine, you hear me?! MINE!"
Tseng fell down on his knees, his breath coming in fast as if he had just ran on a marathon. His eyes were glassy, and his dark suit stained even darker with sweat. Even with the cold air-conditioning, perspiration ran on the smoothness of his skin. It seemed that his outburst had taken much of his energy. And still, he kept mumbling. "Mine...mine..."
Zack looked at the Turk leader with surprising detachment. He saw the real man behind the stoic exterior, and it was someone that sickened Zack. What else could he think of a man who got terribly and violently attracted to a six year-old girl, who had stalked her for ten years, watching her grow up, and, in his own world, had claimed her as his own? Ever since Zack had joined SOLDIER, he had already heard things about the greatness of the Turks, how exceptional they were, comparable to (some would say even greater than) the first class SOLDIER elites. Never in his lifetime would Zack have believed that the man before him was the leader of that elite group if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. Sadly, he said, "You're wrong, Tseng. Aerith had already chosen me. She was never yours in the first place. Maybe we all could be grateful you saved her life ten years ago but still. Aerith and I already pledged our love to each other. There's nothing you, or the goddamned world, can do anything about it."
Tseng looked up at Zack, his eyes wild. And he was smiling a smile that sent chills up Zack's spine. "Nothing? We'll see about that, Mr. Halcyon. Before all this is over, she'll be mine again." And Tseng laughed, empty and without humor.
Zack turned around and started to run out of the beautiful and lavishly furnished suite. There was urgency in his steps. Tseng's laugh came after him. It did nothing to ease his feelings at all.
It was early evening when Zack entered the small place in Sector 5 where Aerith lived. He went up the small wooden steps on the entrance of the garden in one single bound. When he got to the door of Aerith's house, he rapidly knocked on the door, urgently trying to look at the windows inside.
Presently, the door opened halfway and Elmyra's face appeared. "Zack. What do you want?"
"G-good evening Mrs. Gainsborough," Zack said, trying to catch his breath. "But is...is Aerith here? I-it's kinda important."
"No, she hasn't arrived yet," Elmyra said. She frowned in concern. "Is something wrong? You seem to be in a hurry. Did something happen?"
Zack swallowed hard. What should he tell her? That Shinra was looking for Aerith again, and that he was the one tasked to do it? Elmyra would flay him alive. No, he had to tell Aerith first. And he had to find a way to get her out of here. "I-it's kinda hard to explain, Mrs. Gainsborough. I'm sorry but...listen. You have to get out of here. You and Aerith. And..." His mind was racing. What to say?
"Zack, what are you trying to say? Why should we get out of here?"
"I-I don't have time to explain," Zack said. "I have to find Aerith."
"She'll be here in a few minutes," Elmyra said. Her face was beginning to show fear, and she instinctively narrowed the distance between the door and its frame.
"I'll just meet her halfway, then," Zack said. "Thanks, Mrs. Gainsborough. And please...whatever happens, I love your daughter." And with that, Zack disappeared in the darkness.
Elmyra watched the darkness for a few minutes before finally closing the door. Her heart was racing. She always had this feeling when something really bad is about to happen. She leaned back against the door and slid down. And she cried.
The dark sky was cloudy, and the moon was nowhere in sight. Even so, Zack seemed to be running on instinct, with Aerith's image in his mind as a beacon. He ran past familiar roads and streets and he came upon the little playground he and Aerith sometimes visited (they would just sit on the double swings talking about nothing at all), remembered that this was already Sector 6 territory, cursed himself for his stupidity, and backtracked to the entrance of Sector 5. He sprinted on the dirt road that led to outer Sector 4, got past the old church that was their own special place. And when he saw the familiar slender silhouette carrying a rod walking up ahead, his heart leaped and his face smiled in relief. He increased his run.
Aerith was humming a song she had taught Zack days ago, adding in a little "la-la-la" of her own improvisation. She was twirling her rod around when she saw a dark figure up ahead running towards her. Immediately, she gripped her Guard Stick tight, going into that defensive stance Zack taught her yesterday before they went to the old church. Her heart was racing nervously. When she saw who it was, however, her face brightened into a smile. "Zack!"
Zack's response wasn't what she had expected. "Aerith! You're okay!" He hugged her tight. She felt him trembling.
When Zack let go but with his hands on both her shoulders, Aerith smiled, but it was mixed with confusion. "Of course I am, silly! Why? You look like you've just seen a ghost! Is something wrong?"
"Listen," Zack said. "I have to get you out of here. You and your mom. Out of Midgar. Away from this place!"
"W-why?" Aerith asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"I don't have time to explain right now, but we've got to hurry!" Zack said. "I'll take you to my place. In Gongaga! We'll be safe there and--!"
"I don't understand!" Aerith said, frowning. Her face showed utter confusion. And she was getting a little scared. "Zack, you're scaring me."
"Listen! I'll tell you everything later! When we're out of here!" Zack said, shaking his head. Then, he looked straight into Aerith's eyes. "Aerith...just trust me, okay?"
Aerith was silent for a moment, looking into her boyfriend's blue eyes. She opened her mouth and was about to say 'yes' when, suddenly, a voice interrupted them. It was cold and crisp. "Very well done, Mr. Halcyon. Professor Hojo will be delighted with this."
Both Zack and Aerith turned around. From a dark alley on the right, Tseng emerged. He was the composed and calculated man again, every inch the Turks' polished leader. With him were a dozen or so Shinra soldiers, each holding a submachine gun pointed at them.
"Tseng!" Zack said under his breath. He gritted his teeth.
"I'm sorry I doubted your ability to track down the girl," Tseng said. He was smiling a wolfish grin. There was a maniacal glint in his eyes. "You were right. Maybe it was just my ego. Now I see I'm wrong. You are, indeed, the best. Well done."
Aerith turned to look at Zack. "Zack...? W-what does this mean?"
"Aerith, I can explain--!" Zack said frantically.
"Mr. Halcyon's mission here was to track you down," Tseng supplied helpfully. "At first we Turks doubted his ability, but I see now that I was wrong. He did his job excellently. Professor Hojo will undoubtedly be pleased."
"Zack..." Aerith said, her voice barely a whisper, unable to believe what she had just heard. "Is it true?"
"Aerith...please. I--," Zack started. And he realized that he did not know what to say, or where to start. He looked at Aerith's eyes, pleading.
That was when Aerith saw the truth in Zack's eyes and she stifled a gasp, her hands instinctively covering her mouth. In the night's silence, the audible 'clink!' as the Guard Stick dropped to the ground echoed. Almost immediately, a tear rolled from her eye and ran down her smooth, pale cheek. She took a step backward, away from Zack. And Zack saw pain in her eyes. But worst of all, he saw the look of someone whose deepest trust had been betrayed.
And Zack would have been willing to die a thousand painful deaths than to see that look in Aerith's eyes again.