Here is the rewrite of chapter 11 for all of you. Hope you enjoy this edit.

Sitting on the outskirts of Nibelheim leaning against a large rock, Claire enjoyed the silence of before dawn. The smell of the dew on the grass and the gentle country breeze slowly lulled her to sleep.

Her steps echoed through the abyss as if she were walking down a cobblestone street. No light had any chance of penetrating this darkness. It was pure, unnatural, impossible. Claire's feet continued to move forward even though she was commanding them to stop, turn around, and run away. Trembling with fear, Claire walked further into the darkness, striding until her foot landed on something which snapped loudly under her boot.

"Don't be afraid," A gentle feminine voice echoed. Claire looked down and saw a skeleton, glowing white in contrast to the abyss.

Claire wanted to scream and run, but skeletons did not scare her. She had seen many things much worse than bleached white bones but she wanted to know why they frightened her now. Something drifted across her gaze and she focused on it. A large black feather, much to big to be from any bird including chocobos. Claire watched the feather drift lazily to the ground and turn into mist the moment it touched the ground. The pink haired soldier looked back up and was met with the sight of two glowing red eyes.

The eyes held the same glow as any average SOLDIER member, but had an unnerving kindness. Kindness only present when it is being used to hide an ulterior motive. A hand slowly came out of the darkness, Claire assumed the hand belonged to the red eyes. The hand had flawless gray skin and nails painted black, it was palm up and open, as if asking Claire to take it. Claire started to reach out towards it, without telling her hand to do that and her eyes widened in fear.

"Don't be afraid, Claire," the same feminine voice echoed "Reunion is upon us," Claire had almost reached the gray hand but at the last moment she was able to pull her hand away. The feminine voiced screeched and the glowing eyes and gray hand fell back into the darkness.

Claire's phone vibrating in her pocket snapped her out of dream. She quickly shook her head to wipe the memory of the dream away and pulled the phone out of her pocket. Without looking at the display, Claire flipped the phone open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" Claire noticed that the sun was almost fully above the horizon.

"Hi Claire!" Serah said cheerfully, her voice distorted by the mountains "How have you been?" for a moment, Claire was curious as to why Serah was calling so early. Then she remembered that it was close to evening in Bodhum right now.

"I'm fine Serah. But why are you calling?" Claire was genuinely curious about that fact.

"Well I was going…" the call dropped for a moment "… and Sephiroth in Midgar for the weekend but they told me you were still in Nibelheim…" the call went silent again "… tried calling the last couple of days but I guess…" the call went silent a third time.

"Serah?" a muffled and static filled response answered Claire "I will call you when we go back to Midgar. The mountains here are interrupting the signal."

"Okay, talk to …" the call went dead before Claire could respond. The pink haired SOLDIER flipped the phone closed and dropped it back in her pocket. She leaned back against the large rock and tried desperately to erase the memory of the dream, the same one she has had the last four days. Deciding that it was best to be busy, Claire pushed herself to her feet.

Claire walked back through the village, up to the Shinra mansion's second floor, then down into the basement to check on Sephiroth. The silver haired operative was down to the last three report books, Claire noted as she turned and left. Dropping by the inn seemed like the best thing to do at the time, so Claire decided to check on Zack and Cloud. Cloud was standing out in front of the inn, just as he was assigned to do by Claire and Zack.

"Is Zack in there?" Claire asked the blond soldier that still refused to take of his mask.

"Yeah, I think he's still asleep though," Cloud replied "Uh, ma'am!" Cloud snapped a salute as he corrected himself. Claire just nodded to him and went inside.

She climbed the stairs and opened the door to the one room with three beds. Zack was sitting up on one of the beds, with his back to the door. He moved slightly as the door creaked on its hinges but did not turn to face her.

"Have you made up your mind," Zack said, confusing Claire "I think you should tell her the truth and then ask her to be your girlfriend. What are you–" Zack turned to look at who had entered the room, holding the 'oo' sound as he turned "–are not Cloud," Claire saw his face go blank as he realized he had said something that was not for her ears. She felt in her mind grind to a halt as she attempted to put the pieces together.

"Who do you mean by 'Her'?" Claire asked before she could stop herself. Zack let out a long breath before standing to face her.

"Cloud is in love with Tifa," Zack rolled his eyes after speaking, annoyed at himself for starting there but it was better than nothing "He wants to ask her out but he is ashamed of himself because he had made her a promise but wasn't able to keep it."

"Okay," Claire replied slowly, very glad she was not the 'Her' in question.

"Well I am pretty sure you really don't care about the love life of some random kid that happened to be assigned here with us. But I just could not bear to see the poor guy so miserable. All he had wanted was too join SOLDIER and be Tifa's knight in shining armor," Zack took a deep breath before continuing "I hate how I feel so compelled to put the worries of others on my shoulders. But at least there is a bright side," Zack started to rub his temples with one hand.

"What is the bright side to this?" Claire asked genuinely interested in what Zack meant.

"Heh," Zack chuckled "At least I didn't tell him to ask you out," Claire sent a mock glare at Zack.

"Yeah," Claire let a smile and small laugh appear "Because I'm sure that..." Claire quickly thought of something funny to call Cloud "Chocobo haired boy and I would just be the perfect couple," the sarcasm was so thick in Claire's voice, it dripped.

"Can I be honest about something, Lightning?" Zack said without any humor in his voice.

"Of course you big oaf," Claire leaned onto her right leg and crossed her arms.

"I thought I had made you hate me for what happened with Angeal in Modeoheim. But I was scared of what you might say so I never asked."

"Oh," Claire said as she glanced to the side, the floor suddenly becoming absolutely fascinating "Actually I knew what happened because Angeal once told me that the only way he would give up the Buster Sword is with his dying breath. I was giving you space to mourn, but I guess that was when we both needed a friend," Zack gave her a quizzical look be she waved him off.

"Well whats done is done, and this big clumsy oaf that enjoys being a hero needs to take a walk," Zack said with a laugh.

"Oh that's not true," Claire commented making Zack raise an eyebrow "You're not a hero," Zack gave her his 'kicked puppy' look that made Claire feel terrible for making that joke. The look was gone in an instant though.

"Hey, there's something I want to show you," Zack said proudly as he grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the door "I found it during one of my shifts and you have to see it."

Zack lead Claire away from the village and up a small trail that wound up into one of the mountains separate from the Nibel cluster. The duo met a few fiends on the climb but nothing even remotely threatening to two SOLDIER first class operatives. When they finally reached the place Zack had been pulling Claire towards, the pink haired SOLDIER was speechless. Zack had lead her to a hidden grove of wild roses.

Claire stepped towards the untamed bushes and gingerly stroked the petals of one of the many flowers. As she looked around at the tall green and red bushes, a small green head with a large beak poked through one spot. Claire stepped back in surprise and her hand was instantly on the handle of Blaze Edge. Zack chuckled at her as he held out his hand towards the bird.

"Have you never seen a mountain chocobo before?" He asked sarcastically as the bird walked towards him to investigate the people.

"It surprised me," Claire defended. A larger version of the green chocobo appeared from behind the bushes and decided to investigate alongside its child "I thought chocobos were rather timid," Claire commented as the parent nudged her arm so she would pet it.

"I heard the green breed was the friendliest of the bunch," Zack replied as he scratched the neck of the child "But if you prove to be a threat, they can also be one of the more vicious breeds. Or so I've heard."

The two SOLDIERs decided to leave the chocobos in peace and left the hidden grove. Just before they started back down the path, Zack snapped his fingers and disappeared into the grove. He returned shortly with a single rose and he was in the middle of removing the thorns. Claire raised an eyebrow at his behavior.

"A rose without it's thorns is just another way of insulting nature," Claire commented to Zack.

"True, but then it would hurt to put it," Zack slipped the thorn-less rose into Claire's hair and tucked it onto her left ear "Here."

Claire had to look away from Zack as a strong blush started to climb into her face. The blush she felt in her cheeks was so intense she felt as if Zack might see steam rising off her. Zack lightly grabbed her chin and pulled her gaze back to him, she was curious as to how someone like Zack could have such a gentle touch.

"Thank you," Claire said quietly "I don't think your girlfriend would like you doing this though."

"Don't mention it," Zack said with a slight shrug "And Aerith wants everyone to have flowers. Plus I thought the SOLDIER Rose needed a rose.

"The SOLDIER Rose?" Claire asked back, knowing Zack did not just make that up.

"It's what Angeal used to call you. Said you were the rose among weeds," Zack reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Before Claire could react Zack flipped it open and took a picture, Claire's blush vanished as irritation replaced it "Ha! Kunsel owes me two hundred gil," Zack chuckled.

"What?" Claire asked Zack "What do you mean?"

"I bet my friend I could make you blush," Zack stated with a mischievous grin "And let me say, it was surprisingly easy," Zack shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Well you may be a moron, but you can be quite clever. We should probably head back."

"Right," Zack agreed with a nod.

When they reached the village at the base of the Nibel mountain range, it was little after noon. The village was still quiet, sleepy, and cool from the air coming down off the mountain. Several villagers did a double take when they noticed the rose in Claire's hair. She really did not care what they thought, the flower was beautiful. Not to mention Genesis wore heeled boots and earrings, clearly meaning first class SOLDIER operatives were encouraged to be eccentric.

Zack and Claire stood by the front gate swapping stories. For the first time in years, Claire told the story of how she and Serah were forced into the slums of Midgar and how she met Sephiroth. Zack told her about how he heard about the Great Sephiroth and set off on foot to get to Midgar from Gongaga. They shared many laughs from their numerous stories of solo experiences or what mischief Sephiroth and Angeal had gotten into when no other SOLDIER operatives were around.

They traded stories until the sun sank close to the horizon. Zack pulled Claire to a good spot to watch it set, the place was the other side of the rock Claire had fallen asleep against in the morning. They sat and watched the sun fall behind the horizon. With her arms crossed, Claire leaned against the rock, let the slight breeze rustle her hair and carry the scent of the rose down to her nostrils. Zack inexplicably started to laugh.

"Okay puppy," Claire said cheerfully "No more coffee for you."

"I just thought of something funny," Zack said as he tried to calm down.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Can you imagine us together?" the look of horror on Claire's face made Zack erupt in laughter again. Claire's laughter soon followed.

"That is more than impossible," Claire and Zack laughed again "We may as well be from different worlds."

"No doubt," Zack replied with a smile.

When the finally calmed down, a few chuckles still slipped out every now and again, something caught Zack's attention. Claire heard Zack take a series of short breaths as he sniffed the air, just like a puppy. He looked down at her with a curious look.

"Do you smell something burning?"

For those of you just joining the story, this chapter has been rewritten. The original draft had included Zack/Lightning starting a relationship, but it is better this way in my (and others) opinion.

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