After the kids were back home safe and sound, everyone started heading home as soon as it got late. Barret was spending the weekend at Cloud and Tifa's to have some time with his daughter. Reeve and Shelke took the float materia and the portable materia fusion chamber with them to repair the damaged sphere for Aerith. All who were left and awake were Cloud, Tifa, Zack, and Aerith.
Aerith was cleaning the table she was seated at to the calm atmosphere around, well almost calm. Zack was putting all the furniture back in their places, as well as picking up the wrappers and papers from off the floor. And finally, Cloud and Tifa were in the kitchen cleaning up the plates and glasses.
Zack went over behind Aerith after she was done cleaning the table and lifted her up. "Next table?" He snickered walking around the room for a bit before getting to the destination and placing her at another table that needed cleaning.
"Thanks Zack but I'm just a burden now without that materia" Aerith blurted out as she started cleaning the table. That's when she noticed Zack leaning on the table staring straight at her.
"Aerith, I told you before you aren't a burden to me" he mentioned still staring at her with a gentle gaze "Trust me, you can still do stuff with or without your legs. You'll understand what I mean someday" He turned back to his chore.
Afterward, when both Zack and Aerith were done, Zack sat in a seat beside Aerith, bored from the silence. The only sound he was hearing was the tapping of Aerith's nails on the table, and the running water in the kitchen from the Nibelhiem couple cleaning the glasses and plates. He rested his head on his hand as the other resting on the cold counter top. The exhaustion from the long trip, the prank, and the trip to the lab again has finally caught up with him. He could feel his eyelids lowering to a close. While it is rude to fall asleep during a gathering, but the others might forgive him if he shut his eyes for just five minutes, right? Forgive him or not, he dozed off in a deep sleep soon enough.
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He opened his eyes to the warm sunlight hitting his face. He instinctively raised his hand to block the light from his eyes. Flattering open, his blurry vision slowly got into focus. He felt the hard wooden floor was underneath him. Overhead was the familiar broken ceiling, the bright blue sky stretched as far as he could see. He was at Aerith's church in Sector 5's slums, that wasn't hard to figure out. The air he breathed was filled with the relaxing floral scent that Aerith's flowers were known for. Images of the many dates he took her on around the slums. One of which was dinner at the local diner, he remembered having a stomach ache that day.
Hearing quiet sobs, he jolted awake, looking for the source. To his left was Aerith, In the pink dress he had seen her in before, hands clapped to her chest as if praying. He couldn't hear what she was whispering, so he moved closer, reaching his arm towards her. But when he did, he fell through the floor, he was suddenly in a very dark space and still falling. Streams of green lights passed by him, leading his eyes to the next event occurring under him. Again, he saw Aerith walking along a long hallway within an old looking stone building with murals all along the walls. The green stream entered the wall, lighting images of winged creatures, demons, Minerva, and the Omega weapon. But he couldn't understand what they meant. To his ears, it sounded gibberish.
The stream soon led him deeper down, now he was dropping down into another set of structures. Each was made of giant seashells, green stones, and other sea related building materials. He could see water effects all around the ceiling the deeper he fell. Whispers echoed all around him, he could barely making out what they were saying. Cetra, Home, Holy, Minerva those were the only words he could hear clearly.
The voices suddenly went quiet, the air was filled with dread, it made his skin crawl. The atmosphere around him got denser as if he was dropped in water. The stream wrapped around him then moved towards a small glowing orb, beckoning him to reach out for it. It helped that the small orb was warm and inviting, encouraging him to do so.
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He abruptly woke up from his strange dream just before he could touch the orb. The reason for this was because his head had slipped from his hand and hit the counter hard, alarming Aerith.
"Are you ok?!" He asked, her voice filled with worry. She even rubbed his lightly wounded forehead.
"Yeah, just feel asleep is all. I was kind of bored of waiting." He quickly explained. Jumping to his feet and stretching a bit helped him feel awake if only a little. But what he really needed was a way to keep his from falling asleep again, or else the next dream he has might be a nightmare. Spotting the radio gave him an idea.
He headed to the radio on the counter and turned it on, listening to the different channels available. He then stopped at a channel that was playing a calm version of the waltz, He nodded his head in approval then glanced at his girlfriend back at the corner. He kicked off the counter and headed to Aerith, extending his hand to her "May I have this dance pretty angel?" he asked her politely.
"B-but Zack I can't" Aerith was confused at his sudden gesture. But she didn't have time to answer him properly before he pulled her out of her chair. He placed his arm on her back for support, and lift her up, and her feet were on his, his free hand intertwined with hers and he started moving to the soft melody from the radio "See, You're a great dancer. Just keep your eyes on me." He teased her as he carefully placed his forehead on hers. She smiled back at him in delight; she enjoyed his little antic in trying to cheer her up.
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In the kitchen, Cloud and Tifa looked up from the plates in wonder on where the music was coming from. They placed down their work and walked over to the door, peeking at the couple dancing just out in the next room. "Aww, that's cute. Nice of Zack to try cheering Aerith up." Tifa whispered going back into the kitchen. "Too bad they aren't living here with us. It was fun having them around."
Cloud went over to her and continued cleaning "Well, then why don't we ask them to stay?" he suggested, an off-handed comment. He really did want them around and knowing their condition, they don't have anywhere else to go to. Kind of reminds him of how he was when he arrived at Midgar after four years. "We have that empty room upstairs that we can clean up and give them."
"I know, but there's no bed in there. We can't let those two sleep on the floor" Tifa added with a sigh. Placing the plate she just finished on the drying rack and moving on to the next one.
"We'll just put in one of the beds in our room. We haven't been using it since we got together." He replied, pulling the plates in the cabinets. "I'll go up now and fix the room up for them. just try to convince them to stay, Zack could help out with the bar when I'm not around if you want." he added then heading up the stairs without the dancing couple knowing.
Tifa smiled like a proud mother. Cloud looked and sounded like a very excited child. Having both Zack and Aerith around has helped improve Cloud's quite a lot. At the same time, she has both a friend to have her girl chats with and extra help when her boyfriend is out on his delivery runs. If anything, She was just as happy as Cloud was at having them over. As soon as she finished the last of the dishes, Tifa walked over to the couple after their dance was over, doing her best to convince them to stay.
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While just outside, a man stood on top of the tallest structure currently in Edge. His profile silhouetted by the full moon as he stared down the soon empty city streets "To become the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies. I offer thee this silent sacrifice." after he uttered those words a single black wing sprouted from his back. The mysterious figure flew into the night, leaving nothing but black feathers behind.
