Chapter 27: Goodbye, Hello

Summary: Arriving at Junon is bittersweet, weird, and downright dangerous. Kinda fun, though.

It was dark when they were dropped off at the Junon station. Although how they could call it that when they were still an hour away from the old fishing village….

From here, people could go three ways. Straight up, to the top of the cliff and the military base – the part Zack was most familiar with. A goat track on the other side of the tracks would take them down to the old fishing village, overshadowed and being choked out by the stronghold literally carved from the cliff above their heads.

The final direction, and the reason they were all awkwardly standing on the station's platform, was to the right. Shinra's main port, and the loading dock for the ferries to the western continent.

It was a fifteen-minute walk to the terminal, an hour to old Junon, and it wasn't getting any lighter, but Zack had a greater appreciation of the need to say goodbye to friends you may never see again, so he kept his mouth shut.

Besides, it wasn't like there was much around Junon that the five of them couldn't defeat, no matter how dark it got.

"Stay safe," Tifa ordered her friends again. They were hugging each other, and then hugging again.

Aerith was also hugging people. Cloud was talking to Red about safest vs quickest route to Cosmo Canyon. Zack was standing with Genesis. Waiting.

"Did your family do this when you left for SOLDIER?"

Zack looked at Genesis. "Am I supposed to feel sympathy because yours didn't?" Genesis' eyes slid his way. Zack tipped his head. "I don't. And I won't. I might've – considering your family was fake, but you killed them–"

Genesis slashed a hand down. "I barely remember it."

"You don't remember killing your parents?" Zack didn't try to hide his scepticism. "You buried them."

"Yes!" Genesis hissed. "Because when I could think again, I saw them… I saw." The former-SOLDIER wrapped his arms around himself, lifted his chin, and looked away – off to sea. "I had no intention of…. I just needed answers."

Zack sneered: it was always someone else's fault with Genesis. "And they didn't have any?"

Genesis' voice was soft. "Not the ones I wanted at that time." He sighed. "They weren't horrible. They were distant, yes, but…." He gave himself a shake. "But we didn't have that." He nodded at Tifa, now hugging Marlene.

There was a wistful tone that stopped Zack's next (dismissive) comment in his throat.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "This might be a little excessive even for my family."

"It's good. To have bonds." Genesis lifted his chin. "Friends."

Zack gave Genesis a sharp look, but the redhead was aggressively defensive. He was turned away, shoulders high, arms tight across his belly – obviously expecting a verbal attack. (It would be easy to remind Genesis of the friends he'd betrayed.)

It occurred to Zack that he didn't know Genesis that well – not sane Genesis, at any rate. They'd met a couple times before, mostly at the start or end of one of his sessions with Angeal. Quick exchanges only because Zack would never go near him unless Angeal was around. In fact, he didn't remember a time he'd talked to Genesis alone until well after the start of his degradation. (Every time he saw Genesis' red-brown hair, rich in colour, it was startling, because Zack was expecting grey.)

"Gives you something to fight for," Zack said quietly. "Something to come back for."

Before Genesis could say anything else (and he was frowning hard enough for a dozen questions to be floating around in his brain) Cloud stood up to join them. "Whadya talking about?"

"Friendship is magic," Zack answered solemnly.

Cloud gave his best 'are you mentally stable' look but didn't say anything. Mostly because Aerith and Tifa finally pulled themselves away from Barret's people and joined them on the platform. Aerith walked right into his arms like she belonged there.

Zack did nothing to discourage that feeling.

They waved as the Avalanche group drove away in their buggy (purchased second hand, because fuck Shinra. Other people could use the gil.) Then they were down the hill and out of sight.

"C'mon," Zack said. "It's going to be a long ride to the village, and I, for one, am looking forward to a proper meal."

Aerith, Tifa and Genesis went in the truck. Tifa drove, because neither Aerith nor Genesis had ever learned how. He and Cloud drove motorcycles. They'd be more mobile in the field, better able to defend the truck packed with supplies. (Nothing to do with looking cool.)

The road (called that because technically people could drive on it) was ridiculously narrow and rocky, barely maintained. It was like they were actively discouraging people from going to old Junon, and looking at the run-down buildings once they reached the bottom, Zack thought he was probably right.

The bones of a thriving fishing village were there – the buildings were mostly of stone, solidly planted and built to withstand storms whipping in from the Emerald Sea. However, there were plenty of signs that the present wasn't as kind as the past had been. Empty cottages. Shingles that needed replacing but hadn't been. A wooden boardwalk that had mostly fallen in. Hanging nets slowly rotting into dust.

Cloud pulled up in front of the largest building in the town, so Zack assumed it was an inn. Looking at it, however, he could only hope it wasn't. There were barely any signs of life inside. A dim light glowed through a lower floor window, but that was it. It looked more like a haunted house than a place of rest.

"This isn't the inn," were Cloud's first words after getting off his motorcycle.

"Oh, thank the Goddess!" Genesis replied.

Tifa frowned. "What is it then?"

Cloud took off his goggles and rubbed away the marks. "Civic building, guess you'd call it. Infirmary, top floor. Sheriff's here. Jail's in the basement – very creepy. Mayor's got an office, but there's barely enough villagers to need one."

"Why?" Aerith asked. Her nose was crinkled as if she was smelling something bad. Whatever it was, it wasn't fish. "I thought this was a fishing village?"

"Fish're gone." Cloud tipped his chin at the overly-bright far end of the street. "Ever since Shinra put in the base, water's too polluted."

"I guess we're not going swimming then," Aerith said.

Zack looked down at her. "Do you even know how to swim?"

She shook her head, smiling brightly. "I'm hoping you can teach me, though."

Aerith in a bathing suit… Zack's brain shorted out a bit at the thought. All that lovely, silky skin to touch…

"Uh," he managed.

She smiled even more brightly, like she knew what he was thinking. He looked into her eyes…

She knew what he was thinking.

He wanted to kiss her. He leaned forward….

Cloud broke the moment. "The place I think we can stay there's no private rooms."

Zack blushed and pulled away, flicking a glance at his friend. Cloud shrugged. "Thought you should know up front, yah?"

"What do you mean 'think' we can stay?" Genesis pushed forward. "This place does have an inn, does it not?'

Again, Cloud shrugged. "Gimme a sec." He walked across the street to a large one-storey house, and everybody followed as if magnetized.

On the porch, in a rocking chair, pulling the ends off green vegetables like a documentary stereotype, was a woman. She looked like everyone's mother – like she should be in the dictionary as the illustration. She was heavy set, but thick-boned rather than fat – although extra weight would've actually looked good on her. She had broad, high cheeks, a rich mouth, a warm, gold eyes. Her braided hair was lightly streaked with grey. Her hands were thick and strong, and there was a very thin – probably very sharp – knife on the table beside her.

Cloud didn't hesitate. He just waved and walked towards her. "Heya, Londa."

The woman looked up. "Cloud?" She shaded her eyes as if Junon station above let much light reach the beach. "Planet's sake! It is you!" she said immediately and smiled.

It wasn't a mother's smile.

She kept on talking as she set aside her bowl. "It's been ages since we've seen you in Junon! Well, a couple months, at least. And it's good to see you!

By this point she'd come down the stairs, hips swaying, hands extended. "Have you been taking care of yourself? You look fit, anyway. A bit skinny – maybe it's a growth spurt? We'd both like that, I imagine." Cloud took her hands in his and let himself be reeled in for kisses on his cheeks and then one – longer and decidedly not motherly – on the mouth.

Zack was sure he wasn't the only one whose mouth dropped in shock, but since he couldn't look away….

When Cloud finally pulled away, his cheeks were flushed, but there was a soft smile playing around his lips. "Me 'n' my friends need someplace to stay tonight, maybe tomorrow," Cloud said as she lifted his arms "to get a better look".

"Oh," she said. Her disappointment was obvious, but she didn't let go of his hands. "Oh well. Of course, I have room." she replied. "The folks up top never think of coming down here unless it's to drink and cause trouble. I can make up the beds in no time. You'll have to double up." This was directed over Cloud's shoulder at the rest of them.

She looked at them and then looked harder. "Where's Deza? You didn't ride him into town?"

Cloud jerked his chin at the two motorcycles and the truck parked outside the two-storey building.

The woman clucked in either sympathy or rebuke. "Shinra make!" She clucked some more. "Priscilla will be disappointed. She does so love that bird. Planning on being a trainer, she is. Did you know she's using what you showed her to train a dolphin? At least she's trying."

"She's what?" Zack asked involuntarily. The woman turned to him and looked surprised that he could talk. Or maybe that look had a different meaning because it extended to a thorough toe-to-heel examination that made Zack feel decidedly underdressed. He gripped Aerith's hand in self-defence.

Londa's gaze zeroed in on the movement. She gave a small, sad sigh.

While that was going on, Cloud pulled a hand away and introduced them. "Londa, these are my teammates, friends." He introduced them. Zack waved from where he stood. Next to Aerith. Maybe a little behind Aerith.

Tifa shook Londa's hand. Aerith moved in for cheek kisses. Genesis, however, lifted Londa's hand to his lips and declared himself, "Enchanted."

Londa hummed and an eyebrow went up. She gave Genesis the same kind of look she'd given Zack just moments before. "They do grow them handsome in Midgar, don't they?" She shifted a half step towards Genesis. "Or are you not from Midgar," she asked the redhead. "You seem very familiar. Are you an actor? I bet you'd look good on the stage. Or in my bed."

Genesis leaned in. "My friend, your desire is the bringer of life; the gift of the goddess."

"Loveless, Act III," she cooed back. "I knew you were a man of refined taste."

Cloud took the opportunity to pull his hand away. "Gonna go find Priscilla. Say hello."

"She's on the beach," Londa said, somehow shifting even closer to Genesis. "Training dolphins like I said."

"Dolphins swam alongside the ferry, when I came over from the western continent," Tifa said, hesitantly. "Looked cool."

Aerith put up her hand. "I'd like to see a dolphin!" Zack nodded hastily. "That sounds like fun." Anything to get away from the blatant foreplay going on in front of them.

"Back in an hour. Ninety minutes tops," Cloud informed the air above the couple.

"Make it two hours and I'll have supper ready for you all," Londa said, not taking her eyes off Genesis. "I hope that's not too inconvenient?"

"Why can we not control how time passes?" Genesis quoted. "Are we not masters of our fate?

"Instead, we are either a rushing river, or a mountain dragging itself to the sea," Londa finished.

Zack figured it was more Loveless. He also figured he'd heard (and seen) enough.

"We should go before it gets much darker." He even opened his arms wide to shoo the rest of them away from whatever was starting up between Genesis and their hostess. (As soon as he thought "hostess", he saw Londa in a Honeygirl outfit. He shook his head to try and get rid of that image.)

"I wonder how long it's been since Genesis had sex," Aerith asked when they weren't far enough away for this conversation. (Nowhere was far enough away.)

"I don't care," Zack said hastily.

"Not our business," Cloud said.

"I thought you liked men?" Tifa said, proving that her mind was on a completely different track than the rest of them.

"Yah," Cloud answered.

Tifa turned to frown at Cloud. "But you and… and that woman…."

"Yah?" Cloud's voice was unwelcoming.

Zack hoped that would be enough to shut down Tifa's questions–

"Why didn't you bother Genesis about condoms?" Aerith asked with a little skip. "You're always giving them to Zack."

Tifa gasped as if shocked. Zack groaned theatrically. Cloud gave Aerith a small, grateful smile. "Londa has her own supply."

"Smart woman," Aerith said with a giggle.

"Aren't you jealous?"

Cloud looks at his childhood friend. "Londa and I aren't a couple, Tifa. Got no right to be jealous."

He kept walking towards the path. Tifa followed seconds later. Her "I don't understand…?" was cut off by Cloud's, "Do you have to?"

Tifa didn't stop. "But you like guys."

"Bisexual, Tifa. Means attracted to men and women." Cloud shot a quick glance at where he and Aerith trailed awkwardly behind. "Sometimes at the same time."

Beside him Aerith giggled and gave a little curtsey. "Thank you for the compliment, Cloud."

Zack let their voices fade away. He didn't want to look down at Aerith and see what kind of expression she was wearing.

Except that he kind of did…

He looked down. Aerith was looking up.

Thankfully, her cheeks were pink, too, so that was nice. And she was shifting her weight and avoiding his eyes, so he didn't feel quite so silly for feeling the exact same way.

The way Aerith looked a little awkward a little flushed, meant she looked very cute, which meant he had to kiss her a few times.

He ran fingers over her warm cheeks, and just marvelled that she was alive, and he was alive with her, and they had this. He could touch her, for real, and not in a dream. Just the smell of her, the rhythm of her heart, was enough to make warm Zack's belly, to send tingles to his groin. He wanted….

"Is this a dream?"

She giggled and pulled his face back down to hers. "If it is, it's the best kind."

"Are you two coming or what?"

Cloud led them easily and quickly through the small village to the path with the stone stairs to the beach. It was a wide beach, and there were boats pulled up onto the shore. A couple of them looked like they were rotting into the sand. Maybe they were.

He held Aerith's hand as they walked in the sand.

There was still sunshine here. Shinra's landing platform didn't block the light completely, but it gave it a damn good try. Huge steel and cement pillars braced the bottom of the landing pad above them.

He let himself be pulled along as Aerith chased small crabs that scuttled away as they got close. He stopped with her and stared into small puddles of water, left by the receding tide. He held her hand as she balanced on rocks made slippery with algae. Up ahead, a girl squealed Cloud's name and came running up the beach at his blond friend.

Because Zack looked, he saw the dolphin, skipping through the water, following the kid up the beach in its own way.

Because Zack was standing on the rock balancing Aerith, he saw the darker shadow streaking towards the dolphin, getting bigger….

"Shit. Call off your dolphin!" He shouted at the girl as he jumped from the rock, already running towards the surf.

The girl stopped and looked to the water. She shrieked and fumbled at her neck, and then she started running towards the water instead of doing what Zack had told her.

Zack was nearly at the water, wondering if he should turn back and catch her even though the shadow was practically under the dolphin, when Cloud whistled, short, sharp – the order to stop. Zack had heard him use the tones on Deza. The dolphin knew them, too.

It couldn't stop, but it turned its swim into a twirling leap that left it facing in the other direction.

The other water creature also burst through into the air. It wasn't nearly as good looking as the dolphin. In fact, it looked like one of Aerith's garden pests – the wormy kind – but bigger.

And with teeth.

It came all the way out of the water, jaws snapping on air.

When it realized it had bitten nothing, it didn't fall back into the sea. It gave a chittering screech and spun, searching for its dinner.

It didn't see the dolphin. It saw Zack.

"Oh shit." Zack wasn't that close to the waterline, but the way this thing was floating, it wouldn't be an issue. He'd already pulled out his sword. All he could do was hope he'd chosen the right materia. (It would be great if the stupid thing turned into a frog!)

As he leaped, he felt Aerith's Barrier settle around him, and then Cloud's Haste made it look like the thing was floating in soup.

Pretty colours on it, he thought in the level above the one that was calculating angles and weak points. If it did turn into a frog, would it be pink?

Then he was there. The highest point of his jump.

Slash at the mouth – down, up – and then again.

Spin as he fell, slashing at the neck. The scales were too thick. His sword barely scratched it.

He kicked off from the neck, changing the angle of his fall. Aimed for the wing - a good, solid hit. He hadn't sliced off the wing, but he'd broken the bone.

The creature screeched and swung its massive head towards him.

Zack looked down and realized he was over water. "Fuck." He didn't know how deep the water was, but since he couldn't walk on it, it was bad either way.

He tucked his arms in, extended his feet, and prepared to get wet.

That's not what happened though.

Just after Zack prepped for entry, he heard a clicking sound from the water, and the little girl screamed at him. He looked down, and the damned dolphin was swimming right at him. It jumped and dove just before Zack hit the water.

Down he went – one body length, two. Then there was a solid (ish) surface under his feet, and he was going back up.

He was going back up really fast.

Zack felt like he'd erupted from the water. He felt like a total badass. Especially when he leaped off the dolphin's head, sword out and ready, and landed on the monster's spine.

He didn't feel quite so badass when he nearly lost his footing but stabbing the buster sword down between plates help him regain the feeling somewhat.

He heard the crack of Lightning materia and tugged the buster free. He jumped just enough to avoid getting hit by the Bolt.

Back down and slicing at the other wing. Angle was bad though, hardly did any damage. He lifted his sword for another try, but it whipped around in a spin and Zack went flying.

This time he wasn't going down feet first.

He tried to flip himself, but all he managed was to roll over so he could see the waves he was going to hit with his face.

A chittering noise made Zack look over. He was looking over at the dolphin, but he could see enough to watch the monster's scaley tail whoosh through the air right at him.

This was going to hurt.

Zack managed to take the brunt of the hit down the length of his calves. It distributed the force enough that it merely fucking hurt instead of breaking bones.

It also had the unexpected benefit of tossing him onto the beach, just beyond where they'd planted the kid to keep her safe. Mostly safe. Well, he didn't hit her when he rolled through the sand like a demented bocce ball, so it had worked.

One, two, three bounces before he rolled to his feet like he planned it. "Hey, kid," he said in his most casual voice. "You okay?"

Her mouth hung open and she looked at him like he was the cheesiest kind of action hero, but she nodded so he nodded back and ran back towards the beach.

The monster, some kind of aquatic bug dragon, shrieked at his friends. A huge wave appeared in the water from absolutely nothing.

Zack heard Cloud yell, "Brace!" and then all three of them were underwater.

The wave receded as quickly as it had appeared, but when it was gone there was a bubble of water around Tifa. Not quite clear, not quite dirty, it didn't move. It stayed a bubble around the dark-haired fighter. Zack saw her punching out, jumping to the side, crouching – trying to break free of the bubble.

He also saw her struggling to hold her breath – struggling, struggling, until she couldn't anymore. When she dropped to her knees this time, it wasn't a strategy but the beginning of the end.

Cloud shouted Tifa's name and swung Iron Blade at the bubble surrounding her. The metal slid through the water. The water sealed up behind it.

"Use magic!" Zack shouted. It was a guess. "Lightning, or, or Aero!" he added. That was also a guess, but he couldn't see Fira being very effective against a bubble of water. And if it did work, the steam it caused could do as much damage to Tifa as suffocating.

He didn't stick around to watch. He couldn't. The water monster looked like it was gearing up for another attack, and either Tifa would die for real, or one of the others (Aerith) would be water-balled, and that was unacceptable.

He screamed as he ran back to the water. He was angry enough, hurt enough, powerful enough to take this fucker out! He knew how to jump, and he knew how to kill, and he could remember the feel of his old Death Jump materia. Artificial or not, that shit had been powerful.

As he gathered himself to leap, jumping over a blast of boiling water the thing shot out its mouth, he built on his memory of using the rare materia – the feel of it, the movements, the power….

And he went up, and up. And the creature's eyes followed him.

Zack hit the top of his arc and started down. The monster's eyes narrowed, and Zack swore it smiled in triumph.

It opened its mouth and shifted sideways, so that Zack would fall right in its mouth.

But Zack wasn't falling.

Zack was plummeting towards the ground. He didn't try to change his trajectory. Instead, he held Angeal's sword – Buster – point down, driving it ahead of him.

It was as if gravity had double or even quadrupled in strength.

He was a bullet.

He was a meteor.

And when he entered the monster's throat, he kept the Buster point down. It sliced through the thing's tongue and jaw. It split its long throat and tore open its gullet. All the way down until it ran out of creature, and Zack was back out in the open air.

He landed on the ground and created his own mega-wave, driving the water away from him.

It didn't last long.

The blood from the monster – still floating – poured down around Zack coating him completely and turning the sand and the water red-brown with gore.

It tasted fucking awful! It felt worse. "Ah!"

Zack had just decided to run for clear water when the monster finally fell from the sky. Its head fell in front of him, its body behind, and the sides of its split neck fell to each side of him.

More blood came out, which he tried to dodge. Other things came out as well: a rubber boot, a leather bracer, a piece of a boat, chunks of what had maybe once been either a large fish or a small person. (Given the half-digested boot, Zack was betting on the latter.)

He grabbed the bracer and the boot and jumped over what was left of the monster's body.

The first thing he saw, before he'd even cleared the carcass, was Tifa standing on her own. Cloud was close by, but he wasn't supporting her. Aerith was running in his direction, so he made sure to land with his arms out, ready to give her a hug.

She didn't hug him though. "Why are you carrying a boot?"

Zack looked at the raggedy remains, lifting it as if it were hiding something. "I think that thing ate somebody," he said. "Maybe there'll be a name?"

She smiled at him. "Good idea." It was probably a stupid idea, but Aerith loved him anyway. "You are also absolutely filthy."

Since he could feel the blood drying in his hair, Zack didn't bother arguing. He just grinned. He held out the buster sword. "Hold this."

He ran down the beach, past the others – "Hey, Tifa! Glad to see you up!" – until the sea water was free of blood. He ran right into it, noticing for the first time just how cold it was. He shook the boot and bracer, making sure (as best he could) that he got all the monster guts off the two items. Then he tossed them onto dry sand and proceeded to shake himself in the water the same way. It seemed to take a long time for the water around him to stop taking on a pinkish tinge.

The dolphin snuck up and butted him hard enough to knock him over. Then it stuck its head out of the water and freaking laughed at him. "Yeah, sure. Thank you too, asshole," Zack muttered.

The dolphin chittered some more before swimming away, out to sea. A full-body shiver convinced Zack that it was time to leave the water or risk being turned into an iceberg.

He walked out until the water barely hit the soles of his boots. He looked at Aerith, standing close, drag marks in the sand from pulling the sword. She was smiling. He smiled back.

Then he shook himself like a dog.

Aerith shrieked to wake the dead. She tried to run away, but the buster sword was dead weight. She moved maybe a hand-span before she decided to use it as a shield, ducking down behind it. It hid a surprisingly large amount of her.

She was also (for her) cursing up a storm. It was hilarious.

Still shaking out the cold, dirty sea water, Zack started to laugh. Between the laughing and the shaking his head began to spin. He stopped shaking. The laughing took a little longer.

Aerith's voice emerged from behind the buster's wide blade. "Are you quite finished?"

Zack grinned – she sounded like an offended pixie. "Yeah, I'm done," he said before striding over and taking the buster sword.

"That was nasty," Aerith stated. She glared at the hand he held out to her, (looking like an offended pixie) but she took it and let him lift her to her feet. He didn't let go.

"I could've pulled you into a hug." He grinned down at her. "Gotten you really wet."

She raised herself on tiptoes. "There's better ways of getting me wet," she whispered and shorted out Zack's brain. It was her turn to laugh.

He let her drag him back along the beach to the others while he tried to stop thinking about making out with his girlfriend. (He resisted thinking it was "hard" to do – but not by much).

A breeze blew up from the ocean, the rising tide bringing cold air.

Zack liked his ugly short-sleeve button ups, he really did, but they did nothing to keep him warm. Especially when wet. Right now the fabric clung to every bit of skin it touched. "Fuck, is it cold!" he spat as a shiver ran from his butt to the base of his skull – a horrible sensation.

Aerith just pulled harder until they were both running. He caught up quickly but didn't try to outpace her or pull her off her feet. He just ran beside her, enjoying it.

It didn't take them long to catch up to Cloud and Tifa and the kid who'd already started the long trek back to the stairs. The kid, Priscilla, was talking nearly non-stop: about how cool her pet dolphin had been, and how scared she hadn't been.

When Zack figured out that she could (and probably would) keep talking all the way back into the village, he shifted closer to Cloud. "Has it been two hours yet?"

"Not even an hour," Cloud responded just as softly.

Another breeze came up from the ocean. Another body squeezing shiver. "Gonna need to change out of these," he said.

Cloud looked him from toe-to-top. "Cold?"

"As Shiva's kiss." It was another one of Cloud's fake ruralisms. Zack liked it.

"Bags in the truck," Cloud said. "Use the civic building's washroom to change."

"Thanks," he said. He fell back with a grin, happy to have a plan.

Zack knew he wasn't good at strategy. He'd learned the basics, (as in he could identify the best places in any terrain for attack or defense) but he didn't have the gift for it the way Sephiroth or Angeal had had. Cloud was like them: he could instantly assess options and variables in any situation and come up with solutions.

Zack would envy it, except skills like that led to leadership, and leadership brought paperwork – endless piles of paperwork. Cloud was always filling in forms – order forms, bounty completion forms, expense forms, tax forms ….

He suddenly wondered if Heidegger filled out his own forms.

Lazard had. He'd actually been good at all that bureaucracy stuff, and he'd shielded the SOLDIERs from as much of it as he could. He'd been a good director, but Zack absolutely could not see vain, pompous Heidegger even knowing what an official equipment request form looked like, let alone taking the time to complete one for his SOLDIERs.

"Whatcha thinking?"

He looked down at Aerith. She was smiling, like she usually was, but there was more than a hint of concern in her eyes.

Zack realized he was squeezing her hand pretty tight.

He let go. "Sorry!"

Aerith shook it, wiggling her fingers as if he'd cut off the circulation. "No problem, but you must've been thinking some unhappy thoughts for you to forget your strength like that."

Zack looked up and at the trio in the lead. The kid was still talking, and Tifa and Cloud were still paying attention (or pretending to).

He tipped his head down, kept his voice soft. "Just thinking of Lazard."

"The former director of SOLDIER?"

He'd told Aerith all about him, of course. His defection, his betrayal by Genesis, the cloning and the deterioration. He'd told her of Lazard's death; how he and the winged Angeal copy had fought off a squad of Shinra infantry in Banora and saved Zack's life. Or at least, kept him free.

"He was a good man," was all Zack said now. "SOLDIER was never the same without him." Zack's life hadn't been the same.

His clothes were still damp, but Aerith pressed herself close anyway.

End note: I had forgotten about the floating bug monster that showed up in Junon until I watched this part of a playthrough. Bottomswell (yes, that's its name) kind of reminds of some of the odder Pokémon you can find. You look at it, tip your head, and still can't figure out why they put those elements together. But the bubble attack was really cool, which is why the fight shows up here.

I will again offer my apologies for how long it's taking me to get these chapters out. It's not like I don't know where I want this story to go, but my energy for most things is kind of low. Be assured, however, that I have no intention of abandoning this story.

As always, thanks for reading, and be kind to yourself.