IV Moving On

After that things began to be painful to watch. ShinRa succeed in dropping the plate and killed hundreds in the process, including three of AVALANCHE's members. Cloud and Tifa had gotten out in time, along with their leader Barret, but Tseng had broken his promise to Zack about protecting Aerith, and turned her over to ShinRa, and while they had gotten her out, the fact that Hojo had almost gotten his hands on her made his blood boil, and now the world had a much bigger problem to deal with: Sephiroth was alive.

He watched over them as they all decided it would be best to go and look for him, and put a stop to whatever he was planning. A few others joined them along the way, like Red XIII, who they had also broken out of Hojo's lab, and Yuffie, who he recognized as the little girl he saw in Wutai all those years ago, and then was sent on all those stupid missions because of her.

However, he didn't really care that much about the rest of the group, he still focused on watching over Cloud and Aerith, especially now that they were after Sephiroth. He began to notice that the two of them had grown rather close. They talked more often, and he could tell by the way Cloud acted and looked at her that he liked her. He wanted them to be happy, he really did, but it hurt him to see her with someone else. It was then, more than ever that he wished he could be there.

It was also around that time that he decided it would be best for himself not to watch over them constantly, so he distanced himself from them. He wandered the planet a bit, going to places that he didn't get to see much when he was alive, and he also decided to go back to Gongaga to check on his parents.

He had written a few times when he was in SOLDIER, but he actually hadn't been able to visit since he left home at thirteen, and he wanted to know how they were taking his death. He watched over them silently for a few hours, just observing their daily life actions to see how they were. When neither one of them mentioned him, he looked over the mail that was on the table to see if there was any letter from ShinRa saying he was officially KIA, but didn't see any.

However, he was interrupted when the front door opening, and Cloud of all people walked in, followed in by Aerith and Tifa. He blinked in surprise wondering what they were doing here, and why the heck they just walked right in like they owned the place.

"You're a traveler?" his father asked him. "No wait, your eyes...You in SOLDIER?"

"Oh you're right!" his mother said, noticing Cloud's Mako infused eyes as well. "Do you know anything about our son? His name is Zack. It's been close to ten years since he left for the city, saying he didn't want to live in the country." she explained.

"He left saying he was going to join SOLDIER, you ever hear of a Zack in SOLDIER?"

Zack blinked. It didn't make sense, how come they didn't know he was dead? Then he remembered what Cissnei had said to him about not wanting to give his parents bad news, had she somehow prevented them from finding out?

"I don't know" Cloud told him.

He frowned. He had hoped on the off chance that something like this would jog Cloud's memory a bit, but it didn't seem so. Then he noticed the pained expression on Aerith's face, and the tears in her eyes.

"Zack…" she whispered.

"You know him?" his father asked her.

"I remember he wrote us six or seven years ago saying he had a girlfriend" his mother put it. "Could that have been you?"

"That can't…"

But Aerith never did finish her sentence, for she ran out the house crying. Worried, Cloud followed after her to make sure she was alright, as did Zack.

"Aerith…" Cloud began.

"I didn't know he was from this town" she said softly, wiping away her tears.

"You know him?"

"Didn't I tell you?" she asked. "He was my first love"

Cloud was silent.

"Zack, SOLDIER First Class, the same as you" she said.

"Strange" he said. "There aren't many people who make First Class, but I've never heard of him" he explained.

Yes you have Cloud. He wanted to say, but held it back.

"It's alright" she told him. "I was just worried because I heard he's been missing"

"Missing?" he asked.

"Five years ago he went out on a job and never came back." She told him. "I even wrote him a lot but he never answered. He was always a real ladies man, so I bet he found someone else…"

There was both sadness and denial in her voice that he picked up easily, but he wasn't sure Cloud did the same. He had grown silent again.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing…" he lied.

"Are you jealous?" she asked. "Hmm? Are you Cloud?"

He still didn't say anything, but apparently she hit a soft spot because he turned away.

"I'm kidding, I'm sorry" she apologized. "I have you now Cloud"

Then she got up onto her tiptoes and gave Cloud a quick kiss on the cheek, and that one moment hurt him the most. He wanted her to live a good happy life, but to see her with someone else was just heartbreaking. Then he remembered what her last letter said, saying she was ready to move on with her life. Maybe it was time for him to move on too.

"Take care of her Cloud" he whispered as he watched them walk away.

That was the last time he watched over both of them, because even if he accepted it, it was still to painful for him to see them together.

Author's Notes

Just so you guys know, this is pretty much as far as Clerith is gonna get in this fic, the rest is just really implied (same with Cloti). Also, ya'know how I said this is gonna be 8-9 chapters? Well it might just be 7. I was looking at the lay out I planned for it, and I think I'm just gonna combine some stuff to make them a bit longer instead of more short chapters. So yeah, Zack's kinda emo here, but it gets better (He's not gonna go all Cloud emo or something).