Zack XLIII: Monster hunting
By the time the magic twinkle of the cure spell surrounded Zack for the third time, he was so overtaken with joy and pride in Aerith that he hugged and kissed her enthusiastically. "Wow, you're a natural!", he exclaimed. "It took me weeks to figure out how to do that for the first time." While embracing her, he noticed that she was breathing heavily and let go, while continuing to support her. "Sorry…", she panted. "It's ok", he responded. "Let's take a break. Come on, sit down." He led her a few steps on, sat her down on a rock and pulled her on his lap. "It's kinda hard", she continued, leaning against him, after she caught her breath again. "It is, but you're doing great! You'll have it figured out in no time if you practice regularly." She nodded and said: "Thanks", as she undid the clasp of titan bangle holding the green cure materia, both of which she had borrowed from him. He pulled her hand to his chest and reassured her: "You can keep those." – "What? But that's…", she protested. But Zack shook his head. "Don't worry. I have like a dozen cure materias. And I can't really use the titan bangle anymore, so it's really not a bother at all. In fact…" He pulled out his phone, brought up his inventory management system and pushed a few buttons, which caused another green materia to appear in his hand. He handed her the materia and closed her hand around it. "This is a fire materia. It's a little easier to use, but a wee bit dangerous. You need to be veeeery, very careful with it."
She looked at him with wide eyes and shook her head. "Why would I even need that?" Zack shrugged and responded: "Isn't it kind of dangerous down here at times? How do you protect yourself?" – "I run away, normally", she responded. He smiled and pulled her closer. "Maybe you don't need to run away quite as much as you have been." She opened her hand and looked at the materia indecisively. "That sounds a little scary." This time, he nodded. "At first, yes. But I think you are really gifted. Will you try it? I'll protect you." She contemplated for a moment and then pushed the materia into the free slot in the bangle.
"Maybe just once?", she agreed reluctantly. "Yay!", Zack exclaimed and helped her up. Reaching for his sword with one hand and for her hand with the other, he took a few steps and looked around. "Now where was it? I thought I saw a nest of hedgehog pies somewhere close by on my way here." She followed him with quick steps, but objected: "Hedgehog pies? Aren't they, like, really nasty?" He looked back at her and contemplated for a moment. For an unarmed person, certainly, hedgehog pies could be quite dangerous. But generally speaking, they were quite weak. "Don't worry, they won't touch you", he tried to appease her, which apparently worked, because she kept trailing along.
I should not have to say this, I suppose, but Zack was really the one and only SOLDIER I ever met who would get excited about taking his girlfriend monster hunting as a part of a date. Naturally, as a slum inhabitant, she should be able to defend herself. Many of those who lived under the plate were armed and knew how to use their improvised weapons, to at least keep away the weaker fiends from their houses, friends and family members. Aerith had to be very good at running if she had gotten by so far without learning how to use a weapon to defend herself. Still, Zack's idea of a fun date was refreshingly different.
As he walked on toward the Sector 5 train station and passed a fork in the road, he remembered all of a sudden where he had seen the hedgehog pies. "You scared?", he wanted to know, looking back at her as he followed the little trail leading them deeper into the maze of scrap piles that covered a large part of the Sector 5 slums. "Nu-uh!" She shook her head while stepping closer and hugging his arm. "As long as you're with me, there's nothing that scares me." He took it as a compliment and smiled to himself as they continued to walk. Although it was harder with Aerith clinging to his arm, he enjoyed the feeling too much to ask her to stop.
He noticed a chatter when they approached a bend and stopped to carefully look over the pile of scrap metal. There were three of the small, red creatures bobbing around in the dirt. Perhaps Aerith thought them nasty, but from a certain perspective, they were a little bit adorable, round, red-pinkish creatures with short, pointy spikes on their backs, large bellies and large mouths, always twisted into what looked like huge grin revealing their small, sharp teeth. "There are three of them. If you aim well, you can take them out with a single shot." She looked at him doubtfully and clenched her fist. "Hey, relax!", he tried to calm her down, taking her hand. "If they get too close, I'll take them out, ok?" – "Oh, but there's a problem", she began. "What if I hit you?" He chuckled and kissed her cheek. "In that case, I guess you just have to heal me after you take those guys out." She finally nodded and Zack drew his sword.