VIII Answers

Zack panted heavily after he had finished off the last remaining monster. For some reason, most of them had all gone for Cloud, and hadn't attacked Zack at all unless it was in self defense. It was definitely strange and had complicated things a bit, but Zack had Cloud's back covered the entire time. He could feel Cloud's eyes on him when it was over, something he'd expected. Exhausted, he leaned against the nearest wall for support, then just gave up and sat down.

"Zack?" Cloud asked worriedly.

"I'm alright," he assured him. "Just worn out."

Cloud nodded silently, trying his best to stay calm as he took in Zack's monstrous form. There was no way this could be real, it had to be some kind of nightmare. There was no way Zack could be a blood thirsty monster. Who would do such a thing to him? Then he remembered the sick bastard Hojo was, and clenched his fist. It had to be his doing.

"I was afraid of what you would think of me like this," Zack said softly.

He stood up moments later, and saw Cloud reach for his sword out of the corner of his eye. Denial, terror, fear, they were all in his eyes. Zack's heart sunk as he lowered his eyes and turned away from him.

"I can see now that this was a mistake," he muttered.

He should've just stayed dead, it would've prevented his pain. He sighed quietly to himself, then stretched his wing out so he could fly home.

Cloud saw this, and was immediately filled with regret. It wasn't Zack's fault that he ended up like this, and he was still his friend on the inside. Zack was one of his only friends back in his cadet days, the person that never blamed him when he screwed up or called him weak. The person that had saved his life and passed on his legacy to him. He was still the same on the inside, that couldn't have changed.

"Wait." he said suddenly, making Zack turn around to face him. "I'm sorry, it's just a lot to take in..."

Zack nodded, noticing that Cloud was now a little more relaxed and calm. He was trying his best to do what Kunsel did, to see past the monster before him to his old friend within. He smiled softly, glad that Kunsel had been right about this after all.

"It's alright, I kind of expected you to freak out a bit."

"Do you want me to tell Aerith anything?" Cloud asked.

He shook his head.

"No, I want to tell her myself." Zack told him.

Cloud nodded, knowing that it would be better that way. He just hoped that she would take it all well, he would hate to see Zack get his heart broken. He raised an eyebrow when Zack searched his pockets for a scrap of paper, then again for a pen. Then, after he scrawled a short note on it, he folded it neatly and handed it to Cloud.

"Could you give that to her?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Aerith glanced at the note Cloud had given her again as she approached the church.

If you still love me, then come meet me at the church.

-Zack

Cloud had given her the note when he came home, and had agreed to drive her there before she ran out the door. She asked about how Zack was, wanting to know if he was alright.

"He's… changed a bit," was all he told her.

She thought about that the whole way there. She remembered how distant he had seemed the night before, not at all like the Zack she remembered. Then there was his note. It all sounded like something horrible and life changing had happened to him. Cloud obviously knew about it now, but she didn't pry about it. Zack wanted to tell her himself.

Zack sat in one of the pews near the front. He had gone home to shower and change, then trusting that Cloud would pass on his message he went to the church and began to wait. Being the impatient man that he was, he began to assume the worst when she didn't show up after a few minutes. He thought that maybe she wasn't coming because she didn't love him anymore, or maybe she pressured Cloud into telling her about him and now she was afraid.

He shook his head, pushing those thoughts away. He was overreacting He had faith in Cloud that he would do as he asked, and while he still wasn't entirely sure about Aerith she did seem to still care about him greatly. He stiffened when he heard the sound of a motorcycle coming close, knowing that it was probably Cloud bringing Aerith by.

Please let her accept me, too.

He couldn't remember the last time he actually prayed for something, for he wasn't that religious, but it just seemed like a good thing to do at the moment.

"Zack?"

He gulped nervously when he heard her voice followed by her soft footsteps approaching him. He glanced up at her, smiling softly as he tried his best to stay calm and collected.

"Hi, Aerith."

There was none of his old cheerfulness, and he knew that she could tell that his smile was a bit forced.

"About last night…" he began, pausing to scratch the back of his head. "I'm sorry I pushed you away and put you to sleep like that. It was stupid of me, I wasn't thinking right."

Even to him it sounded like he was making excuses, but it was the truth.

She nodded silently, knowing that there was more to the whole story.

"You might wanna sit down for this." he told her.

He poured out everything slowly. How ShinRa had pronounced him dead and hunted him down before he got back to Midgar, then dragged him back to Hojo's lab. He told her about the experiments that were done on him, then hesitantly showed her what he really was.

He lowered his eyes as he removed his gloves and showed her his wing, but he could feel her eyes on him. He heard her gasp, then he decided to glance up at her when she was silent. He saw tears fall from her eyes, and he quickly looked away. It hurt him to see her cry like that, but what hurt the most was knowing that he was the one who made it happen.

He closed his eyes tightly, regretting it all and wishing it would all go away. Then he suddenly felt her arms around him in a tight embrace and blinked.

"You're still the Zack I love," she told him.

A wave of relief swept over him after he heard those words, and he gently hugged her back. They stood there in silence for a while, both savoring the moment.

"You really accept me then?" he asked.

"Yes."

He gently pulled her closer to him as she rested her head on his chest. Neither one of them wanted to let go.

"Do you want to get back together?" she asked him.

"Yes," he answered honestly. "But I'm afraid I could snap and hurt y-"

He was cut off by her lips suddenly pressed against his. He blinked a few times, then gave in and enjoyed the kiss. He had missed the sweet warm feeling of it all, it made all his worries and fear fade away.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked when they finally broke apart.

"What for?" she asked worriedly, afraid that he was going to disappear again.

"For being an idiot all these years. I should've come to see you a long time ago."

Author's Notes

Yeah I know it's a short chapter, but I thought that was a good place to end it. Zack and Aerith are back together now, which means no more depressed Zack (he'll still have a moment or two, but that's it). Chapter nine is almost done, but at the moment I do not have internet at home (I moved for college) and I have a bunch of stuff to do before Natsucon next weekend, so it may still be a bit before the next update.