The Graveyard (AU)
They walked through the graveyard together, him and her. They offer flowers for the people who died in the Gongaga blast- as well as his parents.
"I'm sorry, Zack. There was a raid, during the Deepground Incident. It took everyone by surprise, and we...we couldn't..."
The quiet Gongagan village is empty, but the animals in the jungle go on like nothing happened, like no one was ever there.
"At least I don't have to fork out for a retirement home, huh..?" he says half-heartedly. It sounds callous, but sometimes you need to laugh to survive.
"Same here. Don't know how we'd pay for all those orphans if I still had my dad to worry about," she concedes.
He laughs, timidly. She follows suit, and soon they're both at it. The sound tastes sour in his throat, but somehow, it's necessary.
"Hn...Is everything okay?"
Vincent Valentine stalks from the shadows. No human emotion flickers across his face, but concern is hidden within the deepest recesses of his voice. He accompanies them out of guilt.
"Hey. I gotta hand it to my ma and pa, though," Zack says quietly. "Even after all that time, they never built me a grave."
"They always believed you'd come home alive. They asked us about you, when we passed through," she says.
"Come home alive? Ha...Well, I guess I did."
The earth is cold, but the jungle air is warm and sticky on his skin. It makes him glad to be alive.