Part 2
"It's Aeris!" cried Cloud.
Zack whirled around to Vincent. "Can you do anything?" he asked.
"I don't have a Phoenix Down," Vincent replied.
"Well, well, let's get one!" Zack sputtered desperately.
"Wait, there might be some back at the bar, " said Cloud. "If there is I can take her back with me. I'll call Tifa." He drew his own phone from his pocket and dialed the number. "Come on, pick up," he muttered as he held the phone to his ear.
"Strife Delivery Service," said a voice on the other end.
"Tifa? It's me. You know that locked cabinet behind the bar, the one with the old magic stuff? Can you open it for me and—"
"Cloud, you're talking way too fast, what's going on?" Tifa said, her voice taking on a worried tone.
"You're not gonna believe this," Cloud said. "Zack's alive. And Aeris might be, too…uh, soon."
Tifa's hand went to her forehead and she rolled her eyes in frustration. "Cloud…" she said impatiently, in a voice that told him she did not believe him at all.
"It's true, I swear!"
"Come on, ask her!" Zack urged.
"Can you open that cabinet and tell me if we've got any Phoenix Downs in there?"
"Um, sure..." Cloud heard the sound of keys jingling as Tifa opened the cabinet and bent down to look inside. "Yeah, there's one kicking around in the back."
"Okay, great. Could you have it out for us please? I'll be home real soon," said Cloud, still talking too fast.
'Us'? thought Tifa . "Yeah…sure…"
"Okay, thanks a lot, bye," Cloud hung up.
Tifa hung up and stared at the phone. "…just don't make me use it on you," she murmured.
"You've got one?" Zack said to Cloud.
"Yup," he replied. He put away his phone, bent down and lifted Aerith's body up from the rubble. "Wish me luck."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," said Zack, following Cloud out of the room and to the door. "I'm coming with you."
"What?"
"You ready to go topside again?" Vincent asked Zack.
"You think I'm gonna let you try and drive that bike home and hold on to that body at the same time?" Zack said to Cloud. "No way. A.) you'll get yourself killed in the process, and B.) I loved Aerith too, and if you think I'm going to miss out on the possibility of her coming back like me, you're even more messed up in the head than I thought. And I've seen that bike. It's massive. There's room if I hold onto her good. Besides, what better way to prove to Tifa that you're not crazy?"
"All right, you win," said Cloud. He handed the body over to Zack and opened the door. "All aboard."
"Thanks for everything, Vincent!" said Zack as he and Cloud exited the house and settled onto the bike. He held tight to Aeris's body on his lap. "Alright, Spiky," he said, "drive."
***
Not much later, Tifa Lockhart saw a very strange sight coming down the street as she looked out the window. The motorcycle that had carried one person that morning now seemed to be carrying three. The driver, and another man behind him, carrying a woman on his lap. She looked over at the Phoenix Down sitting on the bar. Moments later, the door flew open. Cloud came in with Zack at his heels carrying Aeris.
Zack grunted. "Hey, Tifa," he said, "long time no see." She just stared in disbelief. "Bet you guys don't make this sort of delivery every day"
"What the hell…?" she said slowly, looking at the trio, blinking rapidly.
"I told you," said Cloud with a smirk. "You got that Phoenix Down?"
"Yeah…right here…" she said, reaching for it and sliding it closer, still staring at Zack. Cloud swiped it off the bar.
"Thanks Tifa, you're the best," he said.
"Uh, thanks."
"Okay, this way," Cloud said to Zack. He lead him upstairs, and Tifa followed. They entered a room and Zack laid Aeris down on one of the beds. He stared at her for a moment. Cloud cleared his throat. "Here goes," he said, and applied the Phoenix Down. Zack bit his lip; the three of them stared at Aeris, hardly daring to breathe. Suddenly she started to cough and gasp as life was breathed back into her. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Aeris!" cried everyone in unison.
The girl tried to get her bearings as the room came into focus. She caught sight of the delivery boy first. "Cloud…? Is that you? What's going on?"
"Y-you're alive," Cloud said, hardly believing it himself.
Suddenly Aeris noticed the other ex-SOLDIER standing over her. "Zack!" she said, startled, "I thought you were…"
"Dead? I was…" Zack said. "And so were you," he added with a half-smile. She smiled up at him weakly.
"Oh my God," said Cloud slowly, turning and flopping backwards onto the other bed, arms stretched out, "it actually worked!"
Zack looked over at his friend, who was for once very happy. "If anybody else comes back to life today Cloud's gonna have a heart attack," he said with a grin. Tifa laughed, and shook her head.
"I'm so confused," she said.
"Tifa? Hi..."
"Hey, Aeris," said Tifa gently. "Good to have you back."
"Understatement of the year," said Zack, sitting next to Aeris on the bed. Though her heart had been frozen two years, his smile instantly melted it.
"How can this be?" said Aeris, still quite foggy.
"Well I might as well catch everybody up," said Zack. He relayed to Cloud and the ladies all that Vincent had told him about his coming back to life.
"Holy crap…" said Tifa, staring into space.
"Wow," said Aeris.
"So I owe Vincent a lot," said Zack, pensively. "He saved my ass twice. I guess he has a habit of doing that."
"I've noticed," mumbled Cloud.
"Maybe you could help fix his roof in return," said Tifa.
"Heh, yeah, maybe."
"Sorry about that," said Aeris.
"Hey, not your fault at all," said Zack. "In fact it was very convenient." Cloud rolled his eyes at his friend's flirting. "So. You know the only reason I was headed for Midgar was to see you, right?" Zack continued. Aeris smiled up at him again. "Yeah, I was makin' some nice plans before those bastards had to go and mess everything up for me," he added, looking up at the ceiling. "And I was also thinking of asking you....of…as...king you...um—a question." He faltered as he looked into her eyes.
Cloud rolled his eyes again. He knew just where Zack was going. "Just say it," he said.
"I've met several women in my time," Zack said, trying to ignore him. "But somehow you were just…different…special. I was never happier than when I was with you."
"Oh, Zack," said Aeris, "You…you really mean all that?"
"Every word," he said, smiling sheepishly. "So, I was going to ask you…to marry me." Aeris's eyes lit up. Zack's voice sped up as he grew more and more nervous. "Unless of course you don't want to, in which case that's perfectly fi—mmff…" She kissed him on the lips mid-sentence. Cloud and Tifa started to laugh at the expression on Zack's face. When Aeris was finished he flopped backwards onto the pillow, his face red as a beet, staring at the ceiling. "Wow," he said slowly.
"I think that would be a yes," said Tifa. Zack sat up and took Aeris's hands in his.
"It's just that, having that happiness every day for the rest of my life would be…amazing," he said.
"You'll have it," Aeris said, looking at him, smiling and shaking her head. "I promise."
"When I was plotting my new life as a free man I decided it would be nice to share it with someone," Zack continued.
"With me?" said Aeris.
"Well, I mean, Cloud's a good friend, but…" he cracked, drawing more chuckles from Tifa. "But let's face it, you're prettier."
Aeris giggled, flattered. "Although, there was that one time…" she said.
"Oh no," said Cloud. "Don't tell him about—"
"where Cloud dressed in drag."
"What??" said Zack, turning to Cloud. He nearly fell off the bed laughing.
"Aeris!" cried Cloud, grabbing his head in protest.
"Cloud in a dress! Ha ha ha!" Zack cried. "I love it! Oh, bad imagery, bad imagery!"
"Hey, it was for a good cause," said Tifa with a smile.
"And what might that be?" Zack asked.
"Long story man, long story. Tell you later," said Cloud with his face in his hands, shaking his head."
"Oh all right," said Zack. He got up off the bed and looked down at Aeris. "So is it a yes?" he asked her. She smiled and nodded. Suddenly he scooped her up and twirled her around. "Woohoo!" he crowed. Aeris gave a little cry of protest but it soon turned into laughter as Zack laid her back down.
"You made me dizzy," she said.
"You make me dizzy without even spinning, so I guess we're even," said Zack with a grin.
"Alright you two," said Cloud, who had taken his hands down.
"I guess it's easy to pick up the pieces when you've both been dead for two or three years," Tifa mused.
"Hey, I was in a coma," said Zack. "Let's give Vincent a little credit here."
Suddenly a small boy poked his head into the room. He had been out playing with some other children. "Tifa? Cloud? What's going on?"
"Hey there," Cloud greeted him. "Heh, you wouldn't believe it if I told you."
"Hey, little guy," said Zack. "What's your name?"
"Denzel," the boy said.
"Cool, I'm Zack. This is Aeris. We're friends of Cloud and Tifa," said Zack, giving the simplest explanation possible.
"Nice to meet you," said Denzel politely.
"Hey, come here," said Aeris. Denzel walked over to the bed and Aeris took a good look at him. "Say, I remember you. I saw you when I was in the Lifestream and sent that water to fix all the geostigma."
"Geostigma?" asked Zack.
"It was this bad disease that a lot of people had," said Aeris. She tilted her head and looked at Zack questioningly. "You must not have been in the Lifestream during that time," she said to him.
"By what Vincent told me I don't think I was in there very long at all," Zack replied.
"Can you believe we're having this conversation?" Tifa said to Cloud. He shook his head, smirking a little.
"Anyway, you had it real bad, huh?" said Aeris, leaning forward and looking Denzel in the eye. He nodded.
Zack got down on one knee to do the same. "But you got through it okay, did you? You must be one pretty brave kid," he said. Denzel shrugged and gave a shy half-smile. Zack turned to Cloud. "Where'd he come from, anyway?" he asked him.
"His parents are dead," Cloud answered. He's been living here with us for the last year or so.
"Have you ever thought of finding him some…un-dead parents?" Zack said, his eyes twinkling.
"You mean…" said Aeris
"…you two…" said Cloud.
"…marry, and adopt Denzel?" finished Tifa. "That would be so sweet!"
"Oh Zack, " said Aeris, "what a wonderful idea!"
"What do you think, Denz?" said Zack, turning back to the boy.
"Wow," Denzel said. He had never really thought about being adopted before. The thought of having real parents again pleased him very much. "I think it would be great."
"It's done then!" Zack exclaimed, standing up straight again. He turned to Cloud. "Anything we gotta sign?"
"Hell no," Cloud scoffed. "I can't remember the last time I saw red tape around here. Though I'll warn you, it could be risky. You are a marked man now, after all."
"I don't care," said Zack, shaking his head. He pulled in Aeris and Denzel on either side of him. "I'll protect you—both of you," he said, looking from his future wife to his future son as he spoke. "I'll do anything—I'll die again!" he said excitedly.
Cloud put his hand to his forehead and groaned. "Don't even say it," he said.
"Lighten up pal, I'm just kidding."
"Still, I'd like to be able to keep an eye on you guys, somehow."
"Hey, I know, we can stay here with you guys! I saw a couple extra rooms," said Zack.
"Huh?" said Cloud.
"Oh, don't worry, we'd earn our keep. Maybe I could help with the delivery service, and maybe Aeris can get her flower business going again, and we could help out in the bar by night. And if anybody tries to hit on her, well, you've still got my buster sword somewhere, right?"
"Heh, yeah, I do. But I've got to tell you, the delivery service doesn't get many customers."
"That's all right," said Zack. "I have a feeling things are going to get better in this town. I think the economy will bounce back."
"One can hope," said Tifa with a bit of a smile.
"Well, first thing's first," Aeris pointed out. "We have to get married."
"Right," said Zack. He turned back to Cloud. "You got any clerics in this dump?"
"I think so," his friend answered. "But I heard he's on vacation for the summer."
"Pity," said Aeris. "I think I know just the place to do it though," she said, looking at Zack, her eyes sparkling.
"Of course!" he replied. "Oh well, we can wait." He put his forehead against Aeris's, and took up her hands again. "We've got all the time in the world."