Chapter Six
A soft thudding woke her weightless body from the afterlife. Or at least that is where Tifa thought she would be. Instead, she was among the fields of the Promised Land, blinking in the vast expanse of white.
"There really should be some kind of sky here."
As if her words willed it, a wash of watercolor blue tinted the white canvas surroundings. A turn of her head provided Zack as her source of wishful thinking.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
They fell silent while Zack gazed at her form and Tifa finally looked at what he saw, dreading what she unwillingly believed it to be. She was in Aerith's body again. Her throat choked with tears and her legs folded under her as she cried in the never ending greenery.
"It wasn't supposed to happen this way," she sobbed, not bothering to hide her tears with her hands. Zack would just have to learn to deal with despairing womanly hysterics from now on.
He was learning fast as he stood beside her and placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. It wasn't what she wanted but she was thankful, not being picky at the moment. It wasn't until her cries died down that she realized Zack had tears glistening on his cheeks as well.
Tifa felt the guilt pull her up out of her misery and stand beside him, holding his free hand as he very quietly cried. How could she have been so selfish, not realizing he had lost the love of his life and after life?
She had reclaimed the body of the woman he loved as her own even if it was against her will. Her heart broke to see him like this; it reminded her so much of how Cloud looked on the inside of the day he lost Aerith too.
"I'm so sorry." Her head hung low and the words were barely a whisper.
Zack's head lifted to watch the tears silently this time fall from emerald eyes and trail down porcelain cheeks to light pink lips. He pulled her close to him, both figures enraptured in their own sorrows of all they had lost.
They only had each other now for eternity…they would have to last to see it out to the end.