In Edge, the people both young and old were all busy preparing for the night of fright, The MeteroFall festival. Adults were climbing ladders and such hanging scary decorations on their building and streets while the children were running around with pumpkins and scary looking moogle dolls, Their laughter and chats attracted Zack's attention as he walked the busy streets with Aerith on his back. He curiously looked over at the children's direction and observed their carefree behaviors that caused a smile to appear on his face. One of the children in the group spotted Zack and Aerith and got excited for some reason, he made his way to them and pulled on Zack's pants "Hey mister! Where did you get the cool costume from?" the kid eagerly asked as Zack stared at him puzzled "costume?" "Yeah, The SOLIDER costume you're wearing" they're exchanged attracted the attention of the other children around them, all waiting for him to answer them.

He felt cornered like a Chocobo in a ranch on riding season with everyone wanted that particular Chocobo to ride at once. Thinking fast, he came up with an easy solution to the mess he got himself into. "Sorry kids but the store where I bought this costume from is sold out, and I don't know any other store that sells them" he acted as natural as possible. If he acted otherwise the kids would quickly pick up on the lie, an experience he learned from dealing with a certain kid from Wutai long ago. Lucky for him, the kids believed his little white lie and dispersed to continue what they were doing before. "Oh good, they took the bait… maybe we should get a different set of clothes" he spoke to no one in particular and made his way to what he believed was a marketplace.

Before entering the store, he placed Aerith down on a bench right next to the store he was going to enter for her to rest. He gave her a quick peck on her forehead before whispering in her ear "I'll be right back" he moved the strands of loose hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear then made his way to the store. After he had left, Aerith opened her eyes and looked around; she had pretended to be asleep since they entered the city to give herself time to think. When she was sure that the coast was clear she lets her giggles loose, the event that happened a few minutes ago with Zack and the kids was just too priceless to miss. She was surprised at how she was able to hold in her laughter back then and not get exposed. This sudden change of event had completely removed all her worries of Zack leaving her for her silly little disability. Sure she was worried about how he would react, but she can't assume the worst without actually trying first. Besides he was too kind hearted to pull off a cruel act, she has to have more faith in him.

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Marlene and Denzel happened to be in the marketplace at that exact time. They were helping Tifa by gathering the supplies for a party that would be held at the bar during the festival. Both of them were in possession of bags filled with decoration and food. While the boy was busy looking over the list that he had, Marlene's eyes wandered the district, observing the bustling stores and busy people around them. She kept throwing her gaze about at nothing in particular, till they rested on a beautiful looking woman with long brown hair in an odd uniform sitting on a bench. The uniform reminded her of the one Cloud used to wear when she first met him but in a dark shade of purple rather than navy blue like his. She stopped dead in her tracks as she continued to look over at the odd woman, leaving the ever so busy Denzel with his long list to walk forward without her. The woman in question flexed her head upwards and gathered her long hair in one hand while looking over the bench for something. Marlene's eyes widen after realizing the striking resemblance the woman had with the flower girl that used to tag along with her father and his friends, they both had that unmistakable vivid green eyes that symbolized the life stream in some way. She had to know who the woman was now so she slowly made her way to where the woman sat.

The woman was still searching for something on the bench, that's when Marlene came to the conclusion that she may have lost her hair band. She took off her bracelet "Here you go ma'am" she offered it to the familiar looking woman in a polite manner "Why thank you Marlene" The woman replied just as polite, taking the little girl's offering and using it as a hair band to keep her hair up in a ponytail. Marlene was already in shock after getting a closer look at the woman but the fact that she also knew her name was another surprise to her, it only confirmed her suspicion "Are you…her?" "Whom do you mean by 'her'?" The women replied playfully to her vague question. The shock made her lips feel heavy and dry as she tried to clear her previous question "Are you… Aerith?" there she finally said it, all that's left was to wait for the answer. The woman in question placed a hand on her chin and tilted it to the side, acting like she was thinking "hmm Aerith… did you mean the girl that used to sell flowers in Midgar? And had a pretty pink bow on her head like yours?" she playfully pointed at Marlene's hair piece and smiled warmly at her, to which Marlene just nodded eagerly for her final answer "y-yes!" "Then yes, I am Aerith." she giggled at how eager the little girl was to find out whom she was.

Marlene was just lost at that moment; she didn't know how she should react to this new discovery. She was excited to see the woman after not seeing her for so long, but she was conflicted as well as to why did she reappear now after such a lengthily time period. How was she to ask the long forgotten woman without sounding rude? Well, she could do what Tifa would usually do when Cloud returned after a long delivery trip "So… where have you been?" she acted as laid back as possible looking down at her shoes while waiting for her to answer. "I was around" "Where exactly is 'around'?" She kept pressing for answers, she wasn't going to leave it at that, not today. But before the woman in question could answer, a man sporting the same uniform as her walked over to her side, bags in toll.

"You girls having fun?" The man asked looking excitingly at them as he placed the bag on the bench. Although he didn't look familiar at all, the giant sword on his back did. Wasn't it the sword Cloud polished and placed in the church where the healing water was? She walked over to the man and looked over his should to the sword on his back, and indeed it was the very same one. She glared at the man with her cheeks puffed up "Why do you have Cloud's sword mister?" the tall man in front of her was in trouble now.

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What was he to do now? This little girl obviously knew Cloud for some reason and that he owned the Buster sword at one point too. It would be easier to just come out and say who he was but then what? He didn't know what she would do with that information, and he wasn't really ready to face another army if, knowing his luck, they somehow found out that he was brought back from the dead. He just wanted to blend in with the crowd rather than be the center of attention. With all his thinking he didn't realize that he stood awkwardly and that his hand was rubbing the back of his head. He was brought back to reality by Aerith's sweet giggling as she was amused by his unconscious action "Don't worry, Marlene is a friend" her calm expression and sweet voice gave him the resolve to finally answer the angry looking girl glaring at him.

He took off his sword and left it standing on the bench next to his partner as he squatted down to Marlene's level "Hi… Marlene was it? My name's Zack Fair. I'm a friend of Cloud." he said light-heartedly as he extended his hand to her, hoping she would shake it, but she just stared at him. This was getting awkward he thought, so maybe he should try something else? "So… nice ribbon, looks exactly like the one I gave Aerith way back when" he pointed at her hair piece with excitement. Then he recalled something "By the way, Aerith where's yours? You two would look like mother and daughter with it on" he directed his attention to his partner with excitement as he realized the cute coincidence.

"Sorry Zack, I lost mine" Aerith Shrugged, Marlene was now stuck listening to the two grown-ups chatting about a whole other subject, while her question was left unanswered.

"That's too bad, do you miss it?"

"Well yes, I promised to treasure it since it was my first gift from you" Aerith smiled, she must be recalling their first date, she was so young minding her own business tending to the flowers in the church when he, a carefree young man came crashing into her life, literally. He offered to take her on a date in exchange for saving him, such a silly excuse to ask a girl he just met out but that's what made her want him to stick around more. At the end of their odd first date, he gifted her a beautiful pink ribbon for her hair. She swore to treasure it, and she must have at one point, but now it was gone for whatever reason "Sorry." She apologized turning her gaze down to her clapped together on her lap.

"Hey, no need to get upset over it. It's the memories that are important" Zack added. As long as she was happy being with him, he didn't mind. But that didn't stop him from surprising her with a new pink ribbon that he just bought from the store he was at before "But I don't want to see you get upset, so I got you a new one."

He knew he got her the right gift when he saw the sparkle in her eyes "Want me to put it on for you?" he added as he got behind her and tied it up in her ponytail like he did back then. As he finished his eyes beamed down back at the little girl, she was still waiting on his answer. "Oh sorry Marlene, what was the question again?"

"Why do you have Cloud's sword?" She repeated the question; she still wanted that answer, persistent little girl ain't she?

He had to hand it to her parents, they taught her well. "Um, well you see… I actually own this sword, he was keeping it safe for me" He replied scratching the back of his neck, the usual action whenever he's in a pickle.