My mother's name is JENOVA.

JENOVA.

JENOVA…

Zack took in the monster before him, remembering Sephiroth's words from so long ago. Was this her? The mother of the most decorated and feared man on the planet? How could that be? Sephiroth was a man, not a monster.

"Everyone be careful!" shouted Zack. "If we take it on together we should be able to defeat it!"

Zack and Cloud leapt into action at once. Cloud, the only other person in the room who knew exactly how Zack felt, mirrored his every move, flying forward with swords drawn. Each let out a fury of attacks, charged with fear and anger. Tifa went to work on the monsters right side, pummeling it with devastating blows. Red leapt up to the monsters head, weaving between its disgusting tentacles and began ripping them away with his claws. Aerith put all the materia they had collected to good use, casting a storm of spells. And Barrett unloaded all the ammo he had in his gun arm, showering the beast with a hail of bullets.

But Jenova was a fearsome opponent. She swung round, flinging Red off of her and let off a chain of her own attacks. Red smashed into a stack of metal barrels, crumpling to the ground in heap. Zack tried to get over to him but Jenova lashed out, casting spell after spell. Tifa, focused on dodging Jenova's tentacles, wasn't quick enough to dodge one of her Stop spells. It hit her full force, freezing her in place instantly as if she were frozen in an invisible block of ice.

"Aerith! Tifa and Red need help!" Zack bellowed as he dodged another blow.

"I'm on it!" Aerith leapt over to Tifa's side and began casting an Esuna spell. Tifa immediately recovered, jumping back into the fray as if nothing had happened. She continued her barrage of kicks and punches which made the creature stagger backwards from sheer force.

All of a sudden, Jenova stopped attacking. This threw the others off for a moment, not sure what to expect. She paused, the air thick with uncertainty, before she reared back and raised her tail above her.

"Watch out!" screamed Barrett.

There was a loud crackling sound followed by a blinding flash of light. A beam of hot light escaped from Jenova's tail, devastating everything in its path. Zack moved just in time, the blast narrowly missing him, but the force of the laser blew him so far backwards that he smacked right into the iron side of the ship. He felt his shoulder dislocate.

Zack gritted his teeth, biting back the sting of pain weaving through his arm. He tried to lift his sword back up but it clattered uselessly to the ground beside him. Desperation seized him. This could not happen. Not now. Zack threw himself back into the iron wall, bashing his shoulder back into place. He didn't have time to be injured, he needed to get back into the fight. Jenova's tail strike had thrown them all off balance and given her the upper hand. Barrett and Red were both knocked out now, with Aerith frantically trying to revive them; leaving only Tifa and Cloud on the offensive.

Zack was just about to make another grab for his sword when Cloud dashed out in front of Jenova. Zack felt ice cold fear for a moment; Cloud was in the direct line of the beasts tail laser.

"Cloud! Get out of there!"

Instead, Cloud ignored him and moved forward, closing the distance between himself and Jenova. He drove Angeal's buster sword deep into her center, burying it all the way up to its hilt. Jenova stuttered to a halt, obviously feeling the pain of the blow. Then, Cloud braced his feet into the floor and leapt upwards into the air, dragging the sword up with him. He cut Jenova straight through the middle, splitting her in half.

Everyone stood frozen in sheer amazement. Cloud floated back down to the ground effortlessly as if he were light as piece of paper. Jenova faltered and fell backwards right into the ship's open furnace. She burned into nothing, a hissing scream escaping her leaving only smoldering ash.

Zack rushed towards Cloud, the pain in his arm forgotten, and captured him in a celebratory embrace.

"Cloud that was sooooo cool! That was the greatest move ever! It was EPIC!"

Zack was jumping up and down, bursting with joy at their victory, but Cloud remained motionless and silent. Zack pulled back and looked to Cloud's face.

Cloud's eyes were glazed over, much like they had been at the Chocobo Ranch. He was here, standing next to Zack, but his mind was somewhere else, miles away. He looked detached and cold.

"Cloud?" asked Zack as he shook him slightly. "Are you alright?"

Cloud's eyes refocused and shifted to Zack. "What….what happened?"

"What do you mean what happened? You just kicked Jenvoa's butt!"

"I did?" he mumbled as he looked at the buster sword in bewilderment.

"Yeah! And it was bad-ass!"

"Uh-thanks.

"You sure you're okay?" Zack asked again.

"Yes. Fine. Is everyone else ok?"

Zack looked over to Aerith who was making her way over to the two of them, staff in hand.

"How's everyone doing?" said Zack.

"They're good. Red's bruised up pretty bad and Barrett's got a huge lump on the back of his head but they should be fine. We should get off this boat as soon as possible though so we can see to them properly."

"You're right," said Zack, nodding his head in agreement. "We'll be docking soon. We should get back into our disguises before someone comes and investigates."

Zack, Aerith and Cloud helped the others back into their uniforms. They had the most trouble with Red, who could barely stand on four legs, let alone two without help. Zack saved putting on his costume for last, not wanting to return to the putrid smell of his helmet but manned up and shoved his head back inside. The six of them headed back out into the hold and disappeared into the other soldiers, waiting for the ship to meet the calm shores of the western continent.

Zack had seen a postcard of Costa Del Sol once before. His old friend Kunsel had traveled there and brought one back with him. Kunsel had sung praises of the beautiful village and its picturesque landscape. But no words or any picture could ever capture the feeling of seeing it with one's own two eyes.

The town was small, a handfull of homes and stores with thatched grass roofs. Men and women walked leisurely, clad in trunks and barely there bikinis. Children ran happily, playing games in the street, blissfully unaware of the silver-haired terror that threatened to turn the planet upside down.

Everyone had decided to take some time to relax when they'd finally gotten off of the ship. Why not? They'd been traveling and fighting for weeks without rest and deserved a least a day to be free of worry and doubt.

The little boy in Zack took over immediately. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a vacation that didn't turn out badly and was determined to make this one, however short, be the best one yet. Zack took the first chance he got to take a surfing lesson. He'd always wanted to try it. To tackle a wave and take it for his own. It took him about thirty tries, but he finally managed to stand up on the board and glide along a liquid curl, with Aerith cheering him on from the shore. It only lasted a few moments, but Zack felt accomplished and proud and most importantly, even as the wave crashed down upon him, happy.

The sun was low in the sky, making it a deep orange color, when Zack stopped his battle with the ocean. He returned to the shore, plunged his surfboard upright into the sand and lay alongside a bikini clad Aeirth, who was lounging on a huge, green beach towel. The sun's rays had bronzed her, giving her skin a glowing healthy shine. Zack's hands itched to touch her.

"You were surfing so well, Zack!" she said, sitting up. "I can't believe you picked it up so quickly."

"What are you talking about? I wiped out about fifty times!"

Aerith laughed. "It's better than I would have done! You were great. Maybe I'll let you teach me one day when I pluck up enough courage."

"You can fight terrible and disgusting monsters but you're too scared to try surfing?"

"Oh hush," chucked Aerith. She playfully pushed Zack, making contact with his shoulder and he winced in pain. Aerith pulled her hand back sharply, her face becoming serious.

"Sorry. I forgot."

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt as much as before. I think the swimming helped," said Zack, rubbing his shoulder gingerly.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you dislocated it. You could have done some real damage knocking it back into place like that."

"It was nothing. I'm fine. Really."

"Are you sure?" Worry knit itself into the lines around her eyes.

"I've been hurt before, Aer. I can handle it," said Zack. "Plus, Red needed you more than I did. How's he doing by the way?" he added when she opened her mouth to protest.

"He's fine," said Aerith, sifting the soft yellow sand between her fingers. "His hind leg was bruised up pretty good, but as long as he rests for a few days, it'll be alright."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah."

A silence spread between them, punctuated by the ebb and flow of the waves and the distant sound of children laughing. Zack cut his eyes to Aerith, drinking her in. She looked out over the ocean, deep in thought as her eyes scanned the golden horizon. A gentle breeze curled her hair around her shoulders, framing her delicate face. Now this moment right here, this was postcard worthy.

Aerith was the first to break the silence. "You think I'm fragile. But I'm not. It's okay to tell me if you get hurt, Zack."

"I don't think that."

"You don't?"

Zack shook his head fervently. "No. Absolutely not."

"So why didn't you say anything? You were gone for five years, Zack. I thought you were dead. I think I can handle a shoulder injury."

There was a bitterness in Aerith's tone. She dug her fingers even deeper into the sand, burying her silent accusations. Zack knew that Aerith had been hurting for all that time he had been away. How could she not have been? Waiting everyday for a person who might have never returned?

Zack drew a deep breath. "I didn't want you to worry about me. I knew I would get it fixed when we docked, so I kept it quiet. But it was never because I thought you were…fragile. Or couldn't handle seeing me hurt. You are one of the strongest people I know. In fact I should be thanking you."

"For what?" She cut her pale green eyes back to him, searching his face for answers.

"For just…." Zack laid back down onto the towel and stared up into the auburn sky. He wanted to say exactly how he felt but he was never any good with words or speeches. Whenever the moment came for him to say anything important, it always came out wrong, like his mouth belonged to a ten year old boy. Aerith was all he had, he couldn't mess this up.

He sat up again and stared right into her eyes when he spoke.

"You're always taking care of me, Aerith. Ever since I, literally, fell into your life, you've been taking care of me. You were there for me when I…I lost Angeal. You've listened to me sob for hours and held me in my weakest moments. You helped make me realize that there was more to life than fighting. You made me better. I wasn't just another stupid soldier, who marched blindly into battle without a second thought. You were strong. Strong for me."

"Zack…"

"Let me finish. Please." Zack cupped Aerith's face in his hands. "You don't have to worry about me anymore. I'm not going to disappear. I'm here. I'm not leaving you again. And it's my turn to take care of you. To be strong for you. It's my turn to be your support so you can sob your eyes out. Or yell if your mad. You can depend on me. I would do anything for you. I would die for you."

"Figuratively speaking, of course? About that last bit?" asked Aerith. A tear leaked from her green eye but she still managed to give him her perfect smile.

"Take it anyway you want. I mean it either which way." And Zack sealed his words with a tender kiss pressed to Aerith's soft lips. He spoke his next words against her mouth, breathing the words from his soul into hers.

"I love you, Aerith. But you already knew that."

Something escaped from Aerith's throat, a mixture of a sob and a laugh. She whispered those three simple words back to Zack, words that made his heart soar off into the sunset as she returned his kiss tenderly. The outside world seem to disappear, turning into meaningless sensory distraction. There was only Aerith. The sound of her voice. The feel of her skin. The beat of her heart. And there would only ever be Aerith. She was the only thing that mattered.