Summary: Tseng shows up at Aerith's.

AN: Warning for mild sexy times between Zack and Aerith.

Chapter 6: Old Friend and Worse Enemies

Zack was in the kitchen doing dishes with Aerith by his side. At the small table, just on the other side of the counter, Elmyra sat and watched him. Zack knew she thought he would bring trouble down on them, but she'd always thought that, even back when he'd been a lauded member of SOLDIER.

Not that he could fault her. Aerith's freedom and her life sat on a very precarious ledge and they all knew it. Any day, Shinra could jerk the leash and the Turks would pick her up. Elmyra was very aware, that Zack's very-alive presence could be the final stone on the scale.

There was another reason Elmyra was staring at Zack in judgement: Aerith was touching him. Constantly.

And when she wasn't touching him, she was pulling his head down to give him soft kisses (on the cheek, but still.) She also looked at him like she wanted to lick him like he was an ice cream cone – which was how she was looking at him right now.

And hoo boy! That was not a thought to be having in front of her mother.

He was probably looking at her the exact same way.

There was a knock on the door.

Both Aerith and Elmyra turned to it in surprise. Their reaction was enough for Zack to grab Angeal's sword from where he'd propped it against the wall. He positioned himself so he'd be able to see the visitor as soon as Aerith opened the door, but they wouldn't see him.

He blocked out Elmyra's disapproval, and the effects of Aerith's approval, and tried to listen through the wooden door: how many people were outside? Was there the clink and jangle of armour and weapons?

Aerith opened the door, just a little at first, and then all at once. "Tseng!"

The Turk looked at Zack. He didn't reach for a gun, but Zack didn't lower his sword.

Tseng gave Zack's outfit one wide-eyed look before he gathered his stillness around him. He dipped his head slightly at Aerith. "Aerith." Then Aerith's mom. "Ms Gainsborough." Then he turned back to Zack. His bow was a little deeper. "Zack."

Zack analyzed the tone. Then he did it again because it didn't sound like a threat, or a warning. In fact, he'd swear Tseng sounded… apologetic. Or something.

"Tseng," Zack answered cautiously. "I guess Reno reported in."

Tseng nodded. "I came as soon as I could get away safely." The Turk made no move to step into the room. He made no move at all. He just stood there. Holding a box.

"What's in the box?" Zack asked. He was starting to feel an ache in his shoulders. Buster swords were made for swinging not holding.

"Your letters." Tseng's eyes dipped. "I apologize that I was unable to deliver them earlier."

What the hells?

What did that even mean?

Zack looked to Aerith. Should they let the Turk in? Kick him out? This wasn't how Zack expected this meeting to go.

"I won't have bloodshed in my house," Elmyra broke the stalemate. "Let him in, Aerith, and Zack. Put your sword away."

Zack lowered the sword, but he didn't want to put it down, not really. This was Tseng. If this was some kind of set up, not having Galatine in his hand could be the difference between capture and freedom, life and death.

"I'm not here to arrest you," Tseng said. The look he gave Zack was understanding. "In fact, officially, I'm not here at all."

"I won't go back."

"No," Tseng agreed.

Zack relaxed his stance, but it took an act of will to place the sword against the wall. To turn his back on Tseng – the Number 2 man in Shinra's most deadly division.

When he turned back to the room Tseng had placed the box on the table in front of Aerith.

"Are these…?" she asked.

Tseng nodded. "Yes. Unopened."

She ran soft fingers over the lid. Then she straightened and turned to face the Turk. "Did you know where he was?" she asked. Her voice was the flattest, most unfriendly that Zack had ever heard from her, but he couldn't look away from Tseng. He'd assumed that Tseng had known, but maybe…?

Tseng didn't look away from Aerith. "Yes. I knew."

The air went flat and hollow.

Zack wanted to kill him.

He wanted to jump on Tseng and fucking strangle–

Aerith slapped Tseng.

Hard.

The sound of palm on cheek was followed by Elmyra's frightened gasp.

Zack didn't look at Elmyra. He only barely saw Aerith, standing furious and glorious.

He saw Tseng. Who'd accepted the slap but didn't apologize by word or gesture.

"I gotta get out of here."

Zack grabbed Angeal's sword and… Ran? Jumped? Strode? He left.

Across the bridge. Aerith's flowers… (no flowers in Hojo's lab...)

Under a light that chased away the night… (no lights in the cells….)

Through fields filled with colour… (acid green filling his vision, everywhere always…)

Down the path, storming across a second bridge… (begging for water, for food…)

He jumped up straight up onto the raised landing… (always on display, always exposed…)

He stood at the entrance to the tunnel. He could run down it, move, get away.

But then he'd be leaving Aerith and Elmyra with that traitorous, son of a…

Zack put his head back and howled.

And when he had no more breath, when tears blurred his vision so much that he couldn't see the path, he heard footsteps.

They were deliberate, heavy. Not the footsteps of a flower girl. He pulled his sword and spun. The old moves coming back easily for once.

When he stopped, he was braced on the lower path and Tseng stood in front of him, unmoving. Only a small slice in his suit showing he'd come too close to the ex-SOLDIER.

Zack stood up slowly, sword out but down.

"I want to fucking kill you, Tseng so fucking much." His voice shook he didn't care.

"I understand."

Zack's gaze narrowed. He could feel the mako heating his blood. "Do you."

Tseng stood absolutely still, hands up and empty of weapons. Again, he didn't apologize. Just stood waiting for Zack to…. To do what? Slap his other cheek? Break down crying?

"How could you do that to me!"

The blade went up. Then down.

Zack's cry echoed around the walls of Aerith's little hollow…

Then died.

Angeal's sword glinted in the low light. Buried halfway into the ground less than a handspan from Tseng's toes.

Tseng lifted his chin. "Hojo wanted Shotgun as well."

Zack just stared at the Turk. "So, you traded me for her? Is that it?"

Tseng gave a small nod. "That's exactly it. Thank you for her life."

"I don't want your thanks," Zack spat. "I didn't volunteer to be her hero. I didn't volunteer for anything–"

"Except you did."

Zack stopped. He shook his head, denying…

Tseng looked right at him. "When you agreed to join SOLDIER, there was fine print," Tseng said. "You probably didn't read it."

"Of course I didn't fucking read it!"

Zack tried to swallow his rage, but it was a ball at the back of his throat, in his lungs. His skin felt electrified with it. He pulled the sword out of the ground and paced away and back. "Did I agree to vivisection, Tseng? Was that in the fine print. Without anaesthetic, mind, because narcotics might alter the results."

He heard Tseng pull in a breath.

"Or what about the old cleaner dude who tried to slip me some chocolate? Did he sign up to be genetically fused with a rabid fucking wolf?"

"We have no control over Hojo's proj–"

"Don't kid yourself, pal. None of you have any control over Hojo," Zack sneered. "He's working toward something, and it's not old man Shinra's Promised Land, so you'd better be prepared for him to burn you all when he's decided he's done."

"We are aware that he's–"

"A sadistic megalomaniac with a side order of fucking insane?"

Again, Zack's voice echoed around the hollow. Tseng let it fade before speaking. "Things have changed in the last five years, Zack."

Zack grit his teeth at Tseng's casual use of his first name. As if they were the friends Zack had thought they were back before. "President's still trying to rule everything, Hojo's still doing his evil experiments, and the Turks are still covering everything up. What's changed?"

"Veld deserted," Tseng said. His voice was emotionless, as always. "He discovered Elfe, Avalanche's main warrior, was his daughter. Fuhito, the leader of Avalanche, had experimented on her–"

Zack snorted. "Did she not read the fine print either?" He flipped the sword onto his back, enjoying the solid 'clunk' as metal met magnet

"She was supposed to have died in '97."

"Well, gee," Zack sneered. He crossed his arms and glared at Tseng. "Looks like the club's getting bigger. Me, Genesis, Veld's daughter. All we need now is Sephiroth coming back from the dead."

"Despite what you might be feeling now, I am glad you survived." Tseng allowed a little emotion to colour his voice. "As soon as I found out about the orders to the army, I had Reno and Rude looking for you."

"Why?"

"To rescue you. To help," he said. "I'm not actually sure." Tseng finally looked away, crossing an arm across his chest.

Zack looked at Tseng. There was finally a trace of embarrassment in his posture, but it could've been fake. He turned away, looking out over Aerith's flowers. The miracle she'd brought to life in this sunless land. He thought about Tseng watching over her, hiding her, so she'd grow up here, with Elmyra, and not in Hojo's lab.

Zack thought that. And he thought about the kind of risk it would've been for Tseng to have helped him in any way yesterday. Then he thought of four long years….

"I'm not actually sure that's enough to make up for everything," he said finally. He looked up and saw Aerith silhouetted against the open front door. He couldn't see her face, but she looked anxious.

"I'll consider it," he said abruptly. "I'll consider everything you said, and we'll just see where it goes."

"Very well." Tseng gave a long nod, kind of like a bow.

"One last thing," Zack said, voice flat and cold. "If anyone tries to take Aerith to that bastard I will kill them. I don't care who it is. You can even send another battalion, and I'll kill them all."

Again, Tseng nodded. "Understood."

"Time for you to go." Zack shifted off the path. After all, the Turk couldn't leave as long as Zack blocked the way. And leave's what Tseng did, without another word. He climbed the stairs to become a dark shadow walking into the even darker tunnel until he was gone. It was like he'd never been there at all. Except Aerith was still standing at the door.

Zack put his hands on his hips. Was he ready to go back into that small house, or would he bark at Aerith and her mother? Take out this restless, frustrated something on two people who had done nothing to deserve it.

"Zack?" Aerith's soft voice called to him. She was nearly within reach.

He looked at her. He sighed. "I am really angry right now."

"I know." She did. She'd actually slapped Tseng after all.

A little grin flickered on his lips. "You know, if you're going to go around hitting people, we should get you a better weapon."

She made a face. "I don't actually plan on hitting anyone else."

Zack's smile fell away. "You might not have a choice. Eventually, Shinra's going to want you back. If you're not willing to go, then you need to be able to defend yourself."

"I don't know…"

"At least until you can run, or I can get to you," he said. "They're not going to forget about you, Aerith. They never have. The Number 2 Turk doesn't watch ordinary people. Not even extraordinary flower girls."

"I know." It was a soft sound.

He stepped closer, so she could see more than just his glowing eyes. "I'll help you, if you let me."

She didn't say anything. She just stood, thinking and Zack let her. She'd been patient with him, after all.

He held out his hand offering it to her. With a look up at him, she took it. Her hands, though slim, were strong with years of working Midgar's hard, dry soil. He led her back over the bridge into her beloved flowers, knowing they would steady her – much like his grip on Angeal's sword steadied him.

She led him off the path to kneel in a cleared area, just out of the light.

"I never told you," she said. "The flowers, they... I sometimes feel that they have something important to tell me. Something they need to share with me. But I can't hear them yet."

"Do you want to hear them?"

She looked at him, before turning back to the flowers. "I don't know. I think… Whatever they're trying to say it must be important."

"Or they wouldn't make effort," Zack said in agreement. He wasn't sure flowers could talk, but in a world with Tonberries, it wouldn't be the strangest thing Terra had produced.

"I'm… a descendent of the Ancients," she reminded him. "That's pretty much it, really. It's why my flowers grow, and why the Turks watch me."

"Right…" It made perfect, awful sense.

"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "They think I can lead them to the Promised Land."

Zack grunted.

"I can't, by the way," she said. "And I wouldn't even if I could."

"No kidding," Zack agreed with a laugh. "The moment Shinra gets to the Promised Land, it's fucked."

It made her giggle – probably in shock, but it was still a happy sound, and he grinned in response. The spot here was mostly flowerless, so Zack stretched out on his back, hands behind his head. "Sorry, guys," he said to the couple plants that he might've knocked. "You smell better from down here anyway." Aerith thumped him lightly on the chest. It didn't kill his smile.

"You know, from everything we know about them, Ancients were pretty bad ass."

"I'm only a little bit of one," she said sadly. "Oh, just so you know, that's not their actual name. They called themselves the Cetra."

"Ehh," Zack wiggled his head. "I kind of like the idea of you being an Ancient. Means I'm making it with an older woman. Rawrrrr."

This time, when Aerith hit him, it almost hurt. He pulled her down on top of him, and they both laughed. Zack loved her laugh. How she smiled and the way her eyes lit up. But when he looked into her eyes, the laughter died away.

Even in this dim light he could see the way her eyes flicked to his mouth. She pursed her lips, as if tasting them, and he sucked in a breath.

"Aerith." No louder than the wind passing through the flowers.

He made sure his grip on her was light, easily broken, but he wanted to grab. He wanted to hold.

She leaned, closer and closer until her lips touched his, softly, delicately. He couldn't help himself. He opened his mouth a little and tasted her. Nothing much – just a little lick.

This time she sucked in a breath. "Oh." She blinked down at him, licking her lips in the spot he'd touched.

This time… When she leaned down for a kiss, she licked his lips. She traced their shape, and it was great, it was fabulous. Her hard little tongue against his sensitive skin. He was instantly hard like he was fourteen again.

She pulled back and Zack swallowed his instinctive protest. At least, she didn't go far. She was panting slighting, breath rapid and shallow.

"Aerith," he breathed. "Anything you want. I'm yours."

She put her hands on his chest, rubbing it through the obnoxious T-shirt Cloud had bought him. When questing fingers discovered hard nipples, they paused. "Oh."

She stroked them as if they were the petals of a flower and Zack couldn't stop the groan. She pulled back her hands.

"No, no. It's fine. It's fucking better than fine," he said. Then he groaned again. "I might cum in my pants like a teenager, but it's all good."

She giggled at him. "I like seeing you like this," she said.

"Yeah?" he managed. "Then go right ahead. I'll just let you explain the wet spot – to your mother."

She stared at him silently. He could see the calculations going on in her head. She was going to kill him. Somehow.

He was okay with that.

She tapped her fingertips over his belly at the top of his shorts. "If you take your clothes off, there won't be any proof."

"Fuuuuuck," he moaned.

Her fingers withdrew. "Is that a–"

"It's a yes! Fuck yes." He sat up quick enough that he nearly knocked her in the chin. His hands went to the bottom of the T-shirt and dragged it up, but he'd forgotten the button-up he was wearing over it, and the sword harness he hadn't taken off, and he wound up with an arm tied up around his head somehow, and Aerith laughing at him.

"Oh Zack." She helped him pull everything down again. Then she helped him take it all off.

"Do you want me to…" He waved at his shorts, or maybe it was his crotch. It was both.

"As long as you don't hurt yourself doing it," she said with a twinkle.

Zack fell onto his back, arm over his eyes. "I'm never living this down, am I?"

"Never," she laughed. She also undid the top button of his shorts and took his breath away.

"Aerith?!" It was Elmyra.

"Fuck!" Zack immediately curled up and tried to cover his nipples. Hopefully, Aerith's mother was calling from the front porch and not the balcony on the third floor. She'd be able to see them from the third floor.

Aerith, the witch, laughed at him, and stood up as if she hadn't just had her hands on his pants. Right near his penis.

She took a couple steps closer to the light. "Mom? Is everything okay?"

"I was going to ask you…" It didn't sound like she was coming any closer, which was good because Zack couldn't find the opening in his effing T-shirt.

"We're fine," Aerith shouted back. "Zack's just… a little worked up. Tense, you know."

Zack stopped mouth open. Was she…?

"They didn't fight?"

"No," Aerith answered. "He just doesn't want to come in the house. You know, in case he loses control of himself and makes a mess?"

She was. She was making sexual innuendos in conversation with her mother!

He poked her ankle in protest.

"I appreciate his consideration," Elmyra shouted from the house. "Come in when you're ready, then."

"Thanks, Mom!" Aerith stood waiting until Elmyra closed the door – or just to be a tease.

Zack poked her again. A couple times.

"Would you stop that, Zack." She frowned down at him.

"How could you do that?" he hissed. "With your mom!"

She grinned at him. "Because it's fun watching you squirm."

He groaned. "I'd forgotten you can be evil."

"I'd forgotten you're so easy to tease." She knelt next to him, primly tucking her skirt under her.

Suddenly it wasn't funny. He'd forgotten. She'd forgotten. That was what five years had done. He grabbed the hand that was reaching for his chest. "Aerith." His throat closed.

She looked at him when he couldn't continue.

"Ah, okay." He cleared his throat. He sat up more fully. "So, it just occurred to me that, umm… Yeah, okay, this could be the dumbest thing I've ever done."

"Zack?"

He couldn't look at her or else his good intentions would evaporate. "So, five years is a long time, and we've both changed a lot, and… " He groaned, slapping his free hand to his head. "Fuck me, this is hard."

This time when she called his name, he could hear the small chuckle.

"Wedon'tneedtodothisnow," he rushed out. "I mean, if you want to wait before… you know, intimacy."

"I don't want to wait." It was said calmly and cleanly. A statement with no doubt.

He finally turned to look at her. "Are you sure? Because it's like we're meeting each other again, for the first time."

She laughed. "Za-ack! Of course I'm sure." She used their joined hands to gently push him flat. "Did you know I sell flowers on Loveless Avenue?"

He shook his head, holding his breath as she climbed on top of him. Her legs were very warm against his hips.

"There are some very interesting shops on Loveless Avenue," she continued, settling her weight a little south of his belly button. No way she could miss that his penis approved of the position.

"The owner of this one shop loves my flowers. She always comes out to buy a couple, so we got talking and I told her all about my handsome boyfriend who'd been sent on a mission so far away, and how much I missed him, and longed for him and do you know what she did?"

He just shook his head, unable to form words. Aerith was undulating, lightly and slowly. It was probably an accident, but Zack's brain was melting either way.

"She gave me a very interesting book." She tipped her head to the side and put her finger to her lips. "It's kind of an anatomy book? But also kind of a how-to book."

That brought some of Zack's brain back online, because the way Aerith was speaking, it sounded like…

No way.

Aerith's smile was triumphant. She knew what this was doing to him. "She also gave me a toy. A long, cylindrical toy–"

Holy shit!

"–with batteries."

"Oh fuck!" Zack could only whisper it. "You have a dildo?"

"Um-hmm. I've used it too." She leaned forward onto her hands, face directly above his. "So when I say, 'I don't want to stop', I mean I don't want to stop."

What the hell was he supposed to say to that, Zack wondered. She wanted him. He wanted her. They had some privacy.

"Funny thing…" His voice came out as a squeak. He coughed. "Funny thing," – much better – "I have some condoms."

Aerith's smiled warmed. "You see?" she said. "It's fate." She let her full weight down onto his erection and rubbed. Zack whimpered in surrender.

Now that he'd conceded, she became crisp and efficient. "Shirts off, please," she said as she stood and – quite casually – reached under her dress and removed her panties!

Zack, who'd obediently reached for the hem of his T-shirt, froze and watched breathlessly. He didn't see anything – the skirt was too long; the light was too dim – but that wasn't really the point because Aerith had removed her panties.

They were really doing this.

He'd never… Well, He'd kind of hoped, but…

"Shirt, Zack," she reminded him, and he scrambled to obey.

Before the mission to Nibelheim, when life had been chasing Genesis and trying to be a hero, Zack had planned their first time. There would be a nice dinner, a play in Loveless Avenue, casual strolls through the shopping districts above the plate where he'd spoil her as much as his budget would allow. He'd even, during his sunny exile before Nibelheim, imagined taking Aerith to Costa del Sol. (Aerith in a bikini!)

But each plan had ended the same way: Zack taking Aerith back to an expensive room in a swanky hotel with a bed as big as a boat.

Now here they were, fumbling around in the dirt, at risk of having Aerith's mother catch them, and surrounded on all sides by flowers.

It was perfect.

Aerith settled onto his knees, and she reached for the zipper of his shorts.

He put his hands over his face. "I don't know if your 'very interesting' book would've included this, but I might not last very long. I mean, yeah. Because it's you, and I've dreamed…" His voice cracked. "No matter what, I'll make sure you enjoy it."

She smiled softly at him. "Oh Zack. Of course I'll enjoy it."

She leaned over, pressing a kiss just above his navel, while she slid the zipper down.

"My book is very detailed."

Zack was right about his non-existent staying power, but he kept this promise, and Aerith enjoyed it fully.

.o0|0o.

Aerith insisted he take the box of letters upstairs with him once they finally made it back to the house. She was on the other side of the wall, separated by Elmyra coming out of her first-floor room to wish them good night, and standing there watching them…

He sat on the bed, in the dark, and stared at them. A simple box wrapped with a cord.

His past, and yet, somehow, also his future.

AN: My apologies for the delay. I'm learning how to DM. For a group of 5 players... Over Discord. At least there's only 2 time zones. /sigh

I should also mention that this is self-beta'ed. If you spot any typos or tense shifts, or anything else that takes you out of the story, please let me know.