Chapter 32: The Ocean's New Current
They had been walking for hours now or so it seemed since they both last left the empty home in the northern continent to them. Zack at first tried to think of how to get to the Bone Village, but then quickly remembered the risk about going there because of how cold and deep the marshes were around it, and how deadly the monsters were as well.
Zack's arm was wrapped tightly around Aeris's waist in support as they walked on, but felt himself starting to give way at the knees as well. Aeris raised her gaze slowly then to only meet eyes with the ocean that separated them, from Midgar.
Breathless, she collapsed out of Zack's loosen grip now, and fell weakly into the sand pieces below. It was only noon but she didn't care, she was tired enough as it was and didn't much want to move from her state. The sand below her was soft but warm from the sun's high rays.
Zack fell back beside her as well, his eyes sagging from his lack of sleep and weakness. She turned her head in the temperate sand and gave him a small smile as best as she could, but didn't really know what else to do. He slipped his hands down into his pocket after returning the expression and pulled a bottle of water, and a vial with a small amount of a bright bluish liquid from his pocket.
Confused, Aeris partly raised herself and looked to him for an answer onto what the vial was filled with.
"Zack?"
"Yes?" he whispered as he examined the bottle for any contamination.
"What.. What is that?" She asked with deep curiosity in her voice, and her eyes beginning to glow as bright as the syrup inside with surprise.
"It's. well it's kind of hard to explain." he started, as he laid it out beside him, half burying into the sand.
"It's like, well a potion, a good one, but one of the best. They're extremely rare to come by, so it's best not to use them to quickly. I think it's called. hmmm an Elixir actually, cures both the mind and body completely. A small drop of this on your tongue will keep you running for days, just have to warm it up a bit that's all, then it'll be easier to drink."
"Oh ok. but. how are we going to get to Midgar? Isn't it across the ocean from here, straight ahead?" She asked him in confusion again, as she eyed the bottle beside him.
"Across the ocean to the left actually, straight ahead is practically nothing, and to the Right, well, that's Niblehem, Rocket Town, and you know the other places." He explained to her slowly.
"Oh all right then." she whispered, as she seemed to drift off into another deep sleep to recover her strength for their journey onwards.
"Alright." Zack told her as he sucked in a deep long full breath and scooped up the vial from the deep sand.
He gripped it slightly, and slipped his thumb's tip towards the top where a cork rested within the tube's opening, blocking off the exit and entrance of the liquid. He then pushed it gently against the rubbery particle and it gave a soft popping noise and fell below, into his other out stretched hand.
"You ready?" he asked her, grinning playfully at her as he started to pull the glass to his lips.
"Mmm hmm." she answered quickly, as she tried to push herself to her feet to be really ready for him.
At that moment, Zack slowly closed his eyes and gently tipped his head slightly back, letting the fluid slip down the sides of the vial passed his lips and slickly down his throat.
Almost at once, he shot up with the biggest grin Aeris had ever seen spread across his face, his eyes glew with the utmost excitement and his face gleamed brightly with energy. Aeris giggled slightly at him as he started to jog in place and quickly through the cork back on the top of the vial and through it back into his pocket.
"Ok, gotta go, let's go, hurry up, don't wanna wait." He quickly responded as he continued to jog in front of her with glee.
"Alright, alright." she whispered as she straightened herself in front of him quickly.
Without even a seconds thought, Zack then lounged at Aeris and swiftly wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, throwing her back to the ground with him, giggling uncontrollable as she struck the soft warm sand.
Smiling, with his eyes still lit, he pushed down against her, delivering a passionate kiss to her tender lushes lips. Aeris pushed back in return for him, smiling as she did so and slipped her arms up around his shoulders, holding tightly to him, but he released his lips from her own and looked down at her chuckling as he started to speak.
"Do you always have to hold on to me like you wanna take it all the way ever time I kiss you?" he asked playfully.
Aeris just giggled in response and slightly blushed, her cheeks starting to burn a deep reddish color. Before raising himself, Zack then lowered himself, capturing another gentle kiss from her.
Aeris let her arms slide from their grasp around his neck and she quickly pushed herself up with him as well.
"Alright, let's go now!" Zack told her swiftly as he jumped back to his feet and grabbed her hands, yanking her up with him as well.
"How are you planning on crossing that thing?" Aeris asked him after he let go and started towards the water's crisp foaming edge.
"Swim, what else?"
"SWIM!? But it's an ocean! It'll take you days!" Aeris screamed, her eyes growing instantly at the mention of the word.
Zack just shrugged to her response and turned back to face the water, starting to wade into it now, and then stopped, turning back to face her once more and outstretched his hand gently to her.
"You want me to swim that far too?" she quickly asked, folding her arms back into her chest remembering how cold it was to be frozen before.
"Hell no, I'm gonna carry ya, just come on in, this is spring water, so it's quite warm, you won't have a problem, I swear." He tried to explain, curling in his fingers to motion her in towards him.
Aeris thought for a moment about it, but then finally figured out that there wasn't any way around it, that she had to go into the water.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Aeris moved towards the supposedly warm water, and started to walk gentle in it, letting her shoes start to soak up the warm as it raised itself until it reached her waist.
Starting to become more adjusted to the water's soothing temperature, she then raised her own hand that was once gliding along the surface of the liquid, up to his own and clasped it gently.
Slowly, Zack pulled her close to him and slipped his arms around what was left of her waist above the water and held her close to him, his expression, unchanged.
"Next time we do anything, I'll make sure it's in some water, even a shower will do, but keep your clothes on, you look so much better like this." Zack joked, eyeing her body down to where it disappeared into the sea. All Aeris could do was blush much more fiercely this time, but didn't know what to say in response.
Slowly, Zack continued to wade deeper into the ocean's salted waters, nearly slipping a couple times as he went, holding Aeris still with him on his one arm strapped around her.
"Zack, you know I can't swim that far, not even half the ways. I can't even see the southern shore from here!" she announced quickly when she noticed the liquid starting to rise to her chest now.
Zack turned to face her, and nodded in agreement to her reaction to the water's deepness.
"I know, but you won't have to swim, remember? I'm carrying you over to Midgar."
"But, you'll weigh yourself down. You'll sink before you can go very far.." Aeris added as she tightened her grip around his own waist in fear.
"Calm down. I got it all figured out," he told her smoothly as he shoved his other hand down his side and beneath the ocean's surface.
Aeris could faintly make out what he was doing but noticed his hand disappear for a moment, probably into his pocket. Then, as quickly as he had pushed his hand under the water, he pulled it out with it clutched tightly around something seemingly small and light.
Confused, she just stared at him, wandering what he was hiding within his closed fingers but he then began to slowly uncurl them to answer her mind's question.
A glittering greenish orb revealed itself to her, lying softly in the palm of his black-gloved hand.
"What's that?" Aeris quickly asked curiously, wondering if it could be the same orb that he used on her before in the broken down cabin.
"It's called, Float," he whispered, eyeing the gentle white swirls that intermixed with the greenish tint inside.
"Didn't you use that before, you know, back there?"
"Naw, that one was actually, Ice. I know it might seem strange, but there's a bunch of green ones like this one, all looking exactly the same but all with a different power. They're called, Materia, and pretty much now, my favorite little toys. Do you remember when I first met you?"
Stunned, Aeris didn't know what to say. at first she thought instantly she knew when that was, but then it slipped her mind like an oncoming train and at that moment, she knew, she had no clue of when she first met him.
"Actually. no." she whispered, turning her gaze from him and gazing down at the glassy water's surface into her own reflection in confusion.
"You don't? Hmm. maybe that's because you hit your head that day. Well actually, you were pretty knocked out when Dyne and I found you. You were lying on the side of a beach really, completely, or so it seemed unconscious. At first, we thought you were dead, but Dyne said you still had strength in your body, so he carried you back to our cabin, over the hills of Midgar I think actually, in a town called, Kalm. It was a relatively small town, not many people lived there, they all just came and went throughout the places on journeys and whatnot, but something happened that day." he whispered, looking away from her now as she raised her gaze back to him for the rest of the story.
"What.?" she gently whispered, wondering if someone he knew died or something and that's why he was so quiet.
".The Weapon came. You had just gotten up, and acted completely determined about being able to stop it, we all ran out of the house, and practically had to drag you out with us, but then you yelled about how you didn't need help and how you could stop it yourself even though you were still much to weak. You broke free of my grasp and we fought for a second because you refused my help. The Weapon picked up the houses, the paved streets, sidewalks and even the trees and was thrashing them around the entire area."
Aeris now was starting to remember that day now as he spoke with the details so clear in her mind. The pain and fear in the people around her that fled desperately, and screaming for their own lives. Yelling about how it had destroyed the small village of Mideel as well down below on the farest part of the world.
"The Weapon hurled a tree at me." she whispered, beginning to recall what Zack hadn't even spoken now.
"Yes, he did, and you put your hands up and there was this massive blast of light that surrounded you. It was the Materia you probably still carry somewhere on you, called Shield. It's one of the most powerful pieces of Materia that exist today, no other barrier orb can match it's defense, but the orb is only as strong as the owner. you were still much to weak to hold it for long and it broke."
"And I hit my head when continued to come after me." Aeris continued for him.
"Right, but you were still conscious, just not as feisty so we carried you for as far as we could until that night were we went and rested by that one stream and the weapon. it came and attacked again, that's the first time we were all sent into another world."
"But where did Dyne go?" Aeris whispered to herself, knowing that was probably the answer to why he had attacked them so recently in so much hate that even his body in death had to come back for revenge.
"Yeah. your right. where did he go?" Zack repeated to himself starting to concentrate on his own thoughts now of where he might have gone.
"Zack??" Aeris started beginning to look around the area now.
"Yes?"
"Umm. I'm getting kind of cold. maybe we can talk about this after we get to Midgar?" She told him, partly asking to be relieved of being pruned since they had been standing in the water for quite some time now.
"Oh, umm yeah, let's go then," he quickly responded, and started to clear his throat, as he pulled the Materia in front of his eyes. Aeris's eyes grew in shock as he let go of the shining orb and it floated in midair between them, slightly bobbing with the wind's flow.
"Zack?" she started but he didn't respond to her. Not a word passed his lips as he closed his eyes gently, feeling his energy beginning to drain slightly to power up the crystal of magic.
His lips parted for a moment, but closed just as swiftly as if he was changing his mind about what he was about to say, instead, a soft hum came from him, not rising a single note in pitch, staying completely straight in rhythm.
Then, at that moment, Aeris's eyes grew instantly as she noticed the orb's once gentle soft white and greenish swirls were beginning to glow and become more radiant in texture, but also the swirls were beginning to spin faster within the glass from Zack's steady humming for the crystal of power.
Aeris wanted to back away from it, fearing it more then she wished to, believing that it might backfire at them any moment causing more damage then helpfulness to them.
Slowly though, Aeris began to feel much lighter then before almost as if she had instantly dropped a hundred pounds from her body and it seemed to be the same for Zack as well. Her body began to glide upwards, passing the water's glass surface gently within Zack's arms.
Shaking in fear of what was happening, she glance frantically around her, looking for an explanation but could find none but noticed the orb stayed locked between Zack's tenderly closed eyes, as if it was pulling them upwards all by itself like a crane would.
The water dripped down from them, at first pouring as if forced by the power surrounding them because they had now become lighter then the air itself. Soon, Aeris felt as dry as she had first started out, not even her boots felt the slightest bit damp any longer and Zack began to reopen his eyes.
Swiftly, the radiant light died down as quickly as it had started up and fell down towards the water, but Zack thruster out his hand and snatched it from the air, snapping his fingers closed tightly around it in protection and security of it's safety.
"There. now that wasn't so hard." Zack whispered as he curled his lips back into a smile in amusement at Aeris's surprised expression.
"H- how you'd do that?" She managed to ask him, looking deeply at him now in great confusion for an answer. Zack only chuckled at her question, knowing that he had partly explained it before to her, probably not good enough for her to understand though.
"I'll explain when we get to Midgar, and don't worry, you won't fall." He assured her as he took one step back from her so they were now parted, and released her hand so that she was standing alone without any support. Aeris shook in fear, believing that she might drop back into the water but quickly noticed that she was still in the same position that she had been in when holding to Zack still.
"See? Now, come on, we have a long walk ahead of us." He encouraged as he placed his hand out behind him for her to take.
Cautiously, Aeris lifted her hand above her waist and slipped it into his grasp in trust of his judgment.
Taking in a deep breath, Aeris then took a step forward, praying not to fall back into the waters below and after she felt secure she reopened her eyes, only to find that she was still floating.
"You'll get use to it, I promise baby." He assured her, his expression still locked in amusement.
Aeris finally broke her own lips into a soft tender smile as well and nodded in agreement to him, feeling much better now.
"Remember, the first step is always the hardest, it'll only get easier for you now, it's just we'd better hurry because if someone sees us, they're going to attack us. Materia isn't common anymore; it's lucky if you get a single piece that's been almost destroyed." He quickly explained to her.
"Well then, running will be better for us."
"For me, you mean." Zack told her quickly and Aeris looked to him.
"Yeah, guess so." Aeris whispered in response and started towards him slowly, wanting to just lunge at him in protection.
"Come on, a little closer." He continued, curling and uncurling his fingers on his left hand for her to take.
"I'm not a baby you know." She joked with the same attitude she had when she first met him.
Zack could only laugh at her spunky attempt of reminding him of those days long past.
Finally she reached out and gripped his other hand and then instantly fell into his arms, clutching him tightly.
"Oh come now, that wasn't so bad!" he teased as he slightly bent his head over and pressed his lips against her forehead in comfort as he hugged her lightly after releasing her hands from his own.
"Don't be a tease!" she yelled, but her voice was muffled so he didn't understand her. He softly chuckled at her words, slightly beginning to make sense of them.
She pulled away then, a smile spread on her face, and eyed him curiously while turning her smile into a devilish smirk.
"What?" she whispered but Zack just raised his left hand in front of him and started waving it while shaking his head furiously, trying to calm himself.
"Nothing, nothing." He quickly told her, as he held himself back but then dipped his head to the side slightly and captured a deep passionate tender kiss from her lips, placing his hand softly on the side of her face in support.
As he backed off, he took in a deep breath and looked up to the sky in satisfaction whispering to her.
"Now, if only there was a dance club around.. Then I could teach you how to dance too.
"Who says I don't already know?"
"Oh, so you do know how?"
"Just wait until we get to one, then maybe I'll show you."
Zack's eyes widen in surprise, he had never knew Aeris to be so feisty during the day, only when night fell could she really surprise him before.
"Alright, alright, but we've wasted enough time for now, don't you think?" he asked her gently.
"Yeah, guess so, come on let's go then." She encouraged back as she held to his hand and tried to back herself away from his tight hug only to be swept off her feet by his quick movements.
She smiled to him happily and clung her arms around his neck gently as he started to walk off towards the new continent ahead of them, against the ocean's current.
They had been walking for hours now or so it seemed since they both last left the empty home in the northern continent to them. Zack at first tried to think of how to get to the Bone Village, but then quickly remembered the risk about going there because of how cold and deep the marshes were around it, and how deadly the monsters were as well.
Zack's arm was wrapped tightly around Aeris's waist in support as they walked on, but felt himself starting to give way at the knees as well. Aeris raised her gaze slowly then to only meet eyes with the ocean that separated them, from Midgar.
Breathless, she collapsed out of Zack's loosen grip now, and fell weakly into the sand pieces below. It was only noon but she didn't care, she was tired enough as it was and didn't much want to move from her state. The sand below her was soft but warm from the sun's high rays.
Zack fell back beside her as well, his eyes sagging from his lack of sleep and weakness. She turned her head in the temperate sand and gave him a small smile as best as she could, but didn't really know what else to do. He slipped his hands down into his pocket after returning the expression and pulled a bottle of water, and a vial with a small amount of a bright bluish liquid from his pocket.
Confused, Aeris partly raised herself and looked to him for an answer onto what the vial was filled with.
"Zack?"
"Yes?" he whispered as he examined the bottle for any contamination.
"What.. What is that?" She asked with deep curiosity in her voice, and her eyes beginning to glow as bright as the syrup inside with surprise.
"It's. well it's kind of hard to explain." he started, as he laid it out beside him, half burying into the sand.
"It's like, well a potion, a good one, but one of the best. They're extremely rare to come by, so it's best not to use them to quickly. I think it's called. hmmm an Elixir actually, cures both the mind and body completely. A small drop of this on your tongue will keep you running for days, just have to warm it up a bit that's all, then it'll be easier to drink."
"Oh ok. but. how are we going to get to Midgar? Isn't it across the ocean from here, straight ahead?" She asked him in confusion again, as she eyed the bottle beside him.
"Across the ocean to the left actually, straight ahead is practically nothing, and to the Right, well, that's Niblehem, Rocket Town, and you know the other places." He explained to her slowly.
"Oh all right then." she whispered, as she seemed to drift off into another deep sleep to recover her strength for their journey onwards.
"Alright." Zack told her as he sucked in a deep long full breath and scooped up the vial from the deep sand.
He gripped it slightly, and slipped his thumb's tip towards the top where a cork rested within the tube's opening, blocking off the exit and entrance of the liquid. He then pushed it gently against the rubbery particle and it gave a soft popping noise and fell below, into his other out stretched hand.
"You ready?" he asked her, grinning playfully at her as he started to pull the glass to his lips.
"Mmm hmm." she answered quickly, as she tried to push herself to her feet to be really ready for him.
At that moment, Zack slowly closed his eyes and gently tipped his head slightly back, letting the fluid slip down the sides of the vial passed his lips and slickly down his throat.
Almost at once, he shot up with the biggest grin Aeris had ever seen spread across his face, his eyes glew with the utmost excitement and his face gleamed brightly with energy. Aeris giggled slightly at him as he started to jog in place and quickly through the cork back on the top of the vial and through it back into his pocket.
"Ok, gotta go, let's go, hurry up, don't wanna wait." He quickly responded as he continued to jog in front of her with glee.
"Alright, alright." she whispered as she straightened herself in front of him quickly.
Without even a seconds thought, Zack then lounged at Aeris and swiftly wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, throwing her back to the ground with him, giggling uncontrollable as she struck the soft warm sand.
Smiling, with his eyes still lit, he pushed down against her, delivering a passionate kiss to her tender lushes lips. Aeris pushed back in return for him, smiling as she did so and slipped her arms up around his shoulders, holding tightly to him, but he released his lips from her own and looked down at her chuckling as he started to speak.
"Do you always have to hold on to me like you wanna take it all the way ever time I kiss you?" he asked playfully.
Aeris just giggled in response and slightly blushed, her cheeks starting to burn a deep reddish color. Before raising himself, Zack then lowered himself, capturing another gentle kiss from her.
Aeris let her arms slide from their grasp around his neck and she quickly pushed herself up with him as well.
"Alright, let's go now!" Zack told her swiftly as he jumped back to his feet and grabbed her hands, yanking her up with him as well.
"How are you planning on crossing that thing?" Aeris asked him after he let go and started towards the water's crisp foaming edge.
"Swim, what else?"
"SWIM!? But it's an ocean! It'll take you days!" Aeris screamed, her eyes growing instantly at the mention of the word.
Zack just shrugged to her response and turned back to face the water, starting to wade into it now, and then stopped, turning back to face her once more and outstretched his hand gently to her.
"You want me to swim that far too?" she quickly asked, folding her arms back into her chest remembering how cold it was to be frozen before.
"Hell no, I'm gonna carry ya, just come on in, this is spring water, so it's quite warm, you won't have a problem, I swear." He tried to explain, curling in his fingers to motion her in towards him.
Aeris thought for a moment about it, but then finally figured out that there wasn't any way around it, that she had to go into the water.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Aeris moved towards the supposedly warm water, and started to walk gentle in it, letting her shoes start to soak up the warm as it raised itself until it reached her waist.
Starting to become more adjusted to the water's soothing temperature, she then raised her own hand that was once gliding along the surface of the liquid, up to his own and clasped it gently.
Slowly, Zack pulled her close to him and slipped his arms around what was left of her waist above the water and held her close to him, his expression, unchanged.
"Next time we do anything, I'll make sure it's in some water, even a shower will do, but keep your clothes on, you look so much better like this." Zack joked, eyeing her body down to where it disappeared into the sea. All Aeris could do was blush much more fiercely this time, but didn't know what to say in response.
Slowly, Zack continued to wade deeper into the ocean's salted waters, nearly slipping a couple times as he went, holding Aeris still with him on his one arm strapped around her.
"Zack, you know I can't swim that far, not even half the ways. I can't even see the southern shore from here!" she announced quickly when she noticed the liquid starting to rise to her chest now.
Zack turned to face her, and nodded in agreement to her reaction to the water's deepness.
"I know, but you won't have to swim, remember? I'm carrying you over to Midgar."
"But, you'll weigh yourself down. You'll sink before you can go very far.." Aeris added as she tightened her grip around his own waist in fear.
"Calm down. I got it all figured out," he told her smoothly as he shoved his other hand down his side and beneath the ocean's surface.
Aeris could faintly make out what he was doing but noticed his hand disappear for a moment, probably into his pocket. Then, as quickly as he had pushed his hand under the water, he pulled it out with it clutched tightly around something seemingly small and light.
Confused, she just stared at him, wandering what he was hiding within his closed fingers but he then began to slowly uncurl them to answer her mind's question.
A glittering greenish orb revealed itself to her, lying softly in the palm of his black-gloved hand.
"What's that?" Aeris quickly asked curiously, wondering if it could be the same orb that he used on her before in the broken down cabin.
"It's called, Float," he whispered, eyeing the gentle white swirls that intermixed with the greenish tint inside.
"Didn't you use that before, you know, back there?"
"Naw, that one was actually, Ice. I know it might seem strange, but there's a bunch of green ones like this one, all looking exactly the same but all with a different power. They're called, Materia, and pretty much now, my favorite little toys. Do you remember when I first met you?"
Stunned, Aeris didn't know what to say. at first she thought instantly she knew when that was, but then it slipped her mind like an oncoming train and at that moment, she knew, she had no clue of when she first met him.
"Actually. no." she whispered, turning her gaze from him and gazing down at the glassy water's surface into her own reflection in confusion.
"You don't? Hmm. maybe that's because you hit your head that day. Well actually, you were pretty knocked out when Dyne and I found you. You were lying on the side of a beach really, completely, or so it seemed unconscious. At first, we thought you were dead, but Dyne said you still had strength in your body, so he carried you back to our cabin, over the hills of Midgar I think actually, in a town called, Kalm. It was a relatively small town, not many people lived there, they all just came and went throughout the places on journeys and whatnot, but something happened that day." he whispered, looking away from her now as she raised her gaze back to him for the rest of the story.
"What.?" she gently whispered, wondering if someone he knew died or something and that's why he was so quiet.
".The Weapon came. You had just gotten up, and acted completely determined about being able to stop it, we all ran out of the house, and practically had to drag you out with us, but then you yelled about how you didn't need help and how you could stop it yourself even though you were still much to weak. You broke free of my grasp and we fought for a second because you refused my help. The Weapon picked up the houses, the paved streets, sidewalks and even the trees and was thrashing them around the entire area."
Aeris now was starting to remember that day now as he spoke with the details so clear in her mind. The pain and fear in the people around her that fled desperately, and screaming for their own lives. Yelling about how it had destroyed the small village of Mideel as well down below on the farest part of the world.
"The Weapon hurled a tree at me." she whispered, beginning to recall what Zack hadn't even spoken now.
"Yes, he did, and you put your hands up and there was this massive blast of light that surrounded you. It was the Materia you probably still carry somewhere on you, called Shield. It's one of the most powerful pieces of Materia that exist today, no other barrier orb can match it's defense, but the orb is only as strong as the owner. you were still much to weak to hold it for long and it broke."
"And I hit my head when continued to come after me." Aeris continued for him.
"Right, but you were still conscious, just not as feisty so we carried you for as far as we could until that night were we went and rested by that one stream and the weapon. it came and attacked again, that's the first time we were all sent into another world."
"But where did Dyne go?" Aeris whispered to herself, knowing that was probably the answer to why he had attacked them so recently in so much hate that even his body in death had to come back for revenge.
"Yeah. your right. where did he go?" Zack repeated to himself starting to concentrate on his own thoughts now of where he might have gone.
"Zack??" Aeris started beginning to look around the area now.
"Yes?"
"Umm. I'm getting kind of cold. maybe we can talk about this after we get to Midgar?" She told him, partly asking to be relieved of being pruned since they had been standing in the water for quite some time now.
"Oh, umm yeah, let's go then," he quickly responded, and started to clear his throat, as he pulled the Materia in front of his eyes. Aeris's eyes grew in shock as he let go of the shining orb and it floated in midair between them, slightly bobbing with the wind's flow.
"Zack?" she started but he didn't respond to her. Not a word passed his lips as he closed his eyes gently, feeling his energy beginning to drain slightly to power up the crystal of magic.
His lips parted for a moment, but closed just as swiftly as if he was changing his mind about what he was about to say, instead, a soft hum came from him, not rising a single note in pitch, staying completely straight in rhythm.
Then, at that moment, Aeris's eyes grew instantly as she noticed the orb's once gentle soft white and greenish swirls were beginning to glow and become more radiant in texture, but also the swirls were beginning to spin faster within the glass from Zack's steady humming for the crystal of power.
Aeris wanted to back away from it, fearing it more then she wished to, believing that it might backfire at them any moment causing more damage then helpfulness to them.
Slowly though, Aeris began to feel much lighter then before almost as if she had instantly dropped a hundred pounds from her body and it seemed to be the same for Zack as well. Her body began to glide upwards, passing the water's glass surface gently within Zack's arms.
Shaking in fear of what was happening, she glance frantically around her, looking for an explanation but could find none but noticed the orb stayed locked between Zack's tenderly closed eyes, as if it was pulling them upwards all by itself like a crane would.
The water dripped down from them, at first pouring as if forced by the power surrounding them because they had now become lighter then the air itself. Soon, Aeris felt as dry as she had first started out, not even her boots felt the slightest bit damp any longer and Zack began to reopen his eyes.
Swiftly, the radiant light died down as quickly as it had started up and fell down towards the water, but Zack thruster out his hand and snatched it from the air, snapping his fingers closed tightly around it in protection and security of it's safety.
"There. now that wasn't so hard." Zack whispered as he curled his lips back into a smile in amusement at Aeris's surprised expression.
"H- how you'd do that?" She managed to ask him, looking deeply at him now in great confusion for an answer. Zack only chuckled at her question, knowing that he had partly explained it before to her, probably not good enough for her to understand though.
"I'll explain when we get to Midgar, and don't worry, you won't fall." He assured her as he took one step back from her so they were now parted, and released her hand so that she was standing alone without any support. Aeris shook in fear, believing that she might drop back into the water but quickly noticed that she was still in the same position that she had been in when holding to Zack still.
"See? Now, come on, we have a long walk ahead of us." He encouraged as he placed his hand out behind him for her to take.
Cautiously, Aeris lifted her hand above her waist and slipped it into his grasp in trust of his judgment.
Taking in a deep breath, Aeris then took a step forward, praying not to fall back into the waters below and after she felt secure she reopened her eyes, only to find that she was still floating.
"You'll get use to it, I promise baby." He assured her, his expression still locked in amusement.
Aeris finally broke her own lips into a soft tender smile as well and nodded in agreement to him, feeling much better now.
"Remember, the first step is always the hardest, it'll only get easier for you now, it's just we'd better hurry because if someone sees us, they're going to attack us. Materia isn't common anymore; it's lucky if you get a single piece that's been almost destroyed." He quickly explained to her.
"Well then, running will be better for us."
"For me, you mean." Zack told her quickly and Aeris looked to him.
"Yeah, guess so." Aeris whispered in response and started towards him slowly, wanting to just lunge at him in protection.
"Come on, a little closer." He continued, curling and uncurling his fingers on his left hand for her to take.
"I'm not a baby you know." She joked with the same attitude she had when she first met him.
Zack could only laugh at her spunky attempt of reminding him of those days long past.
Finally she reached out and gripped his other hand and then instantly fell into his arms, clutching him tightly.
"Oh come now, that wasn't so bad!" he teased as he slightly bent his head over and pressed his lips against her forehead in comfort as he hugged her lightly after releasing her hands from his own.
"Don't be a tease!" she yelled, but her voice was muffled so he didn't understand her. He softly chuckled at her words, slightly beginning to make sense of them.
She pulled away then, a smile spread on her face, and eyed him curiously while turning her smile into a devilish smirk.
"What?" she whispered but Zack just raised his left hand in front of him and started waving it while shaking his head furiously, trying to calm himself.
"Nothing, nothing." He quickly told her, as he held himself back but then dipped his head to the side slightly and captured a deep passionate tender kiss from her lips, placing his hand softly on the side of her face in support.
As he backed off, he took in a deep breath and looked up to the sky in satisfaction whispering to her.
"Now, if only there was a dance club around.. Then I could teach you how to dance too.
"Who says I don't already know?"
"Oh, so you do know how?"
"Just wait until we get to one, then maybe I'll show you."
Zack's eyes widen in surprise, he had never knew Aeris to be so feisty during the day, only when night fell could she really surprise him before.
"Alright, alright, but we've wasted enough time for now, don't you think?" he asked her gently.
"Yeah, guess so, come on let's go then." She encouraged back as she held to his hand and tried to back herself away from his tight hug only to be swept off her feet by his quick movements.
She smiled to him happily and clung her arms around his neck gently as he started to walk off towards the new continent ahead of them, against the ocean's current.