Zack VI: Distraction

Zack was still curled up thinking about Angeal, when his phone finally beeped some 10-15 minutes after he had sent the message about Sephiroth to Tseng. His response was curt and nondescript: "I'll come see you tomorrow." Zack frowned. Why had it taken him so long to come up with such a useless answer? He pushed away the message without bothering to answer. Tseng could be a mystery sometimes. Sephiroth was not easy to see through either. He was tired of all this nonsense. Life would be so much easier if everyone just said straight out what they wanted or required or what they needed him to do. He was annoyed when people pushed their issues on him, but it bothered him even more when people he considered his friends shut him out, lied, or would not tell him about their problems.

He checked he time on his phone. It was late at night, but he was not tired at all because he had spent most of the afternoon sleeping. and his conversation with Sephiroth had been too upsetting for him to go to sleep. He sighed. He just did not know what to do with himself when he did not have a mission to do or was not engaged with any of his friends. It was too late now to text Aerith. Or maybe he should? She probably would not respond because she would be asleep at this time and he did not want to wake her up.

He thought of Cloud, whom he had met just today. He seemed like a cool guy, but Zack did not have his phone number. He opened his contact list and scrolled down to find anyone he felt like texting and stopped at Cissnei's name. He had met the Turk a few times throughout the past months since Genesis' disappearance and they had been through some hot messes when Avalanche attacked Shinra, tried to abduct Shinra scientists, and she had been with him when he had to look for Sebastian and Essai, who had been abducted and experimented on by Avalanche's second-in-command.

He had heard that a mole inside the company had been apprehended a few weeks ago, closing the tap on Avalanche's source of money and information, but somehow, Cissnei still seemed extremely busy. She was out of town pretty much all the time and had ended up injured a few times, too. He started a new text: "Hey, what's up? Wanna hang out?" and sent it. He had tried to ask Cissnei out on a date several months ago, but she had rejected him swiftly and unambiguously. She had opened up a little towards him since then, though. And ever since he started dating Aerith, he just wanted to be friends with Cissnei anyway.

"You know it's past curfew", she responded immediately. The SOLDIERs were not allowed out of the building past their curfew (unless they had to be for a mission or an emergency) and yes, Zack knew that perfectly well. "The Turks don't have a curfew", he replied. It would not be the first time she came to the SOLDIER quarters, but she reminded him anyway: "That's against the rules." Visitors were not allowed, though the Turks had access to almost all of the buildings that belonged to the company, and had clearance to enter at any time it was necessary. They needed special clearance only for high-security areas, which the SOLDIER quarters obviously were not. Turks came to the SOLDIER quarters all the time for a variety of reasons (just as Tseng had been there earlier), so she could easily come up with an excuse if she wanted to.

"Are you on duty?", he asked. Her response came swiftly: "Just the usual. It's pretty quiet tonight." Cissnei did not give straight answers most of the time. She could just have told him she was occupied. But for some reason, she always wanted him to keep asking just to turn him down in the end. They had been through this routine several times. He was not in the mood for that today. "Have fun", he wrote and, thinking the conversation over, he put down his phone. But it beeped again with another message from her: "My shift is over in one hour. I can stop by then if you want." Shift, huh? An observation or personal security mission perhaps? "Sounds good!" The prospect of having someone to talk to who was not a complete enigma was so thrilling that he did not mind staying up a little longer.

"Your girlfriend is still awake, by the way", she notified him. He rolled his eyes. So she was observing Aerith. Zack really liked Cissnei, but she had to be one of the most whimsical people he had ever met. He believed that she meant well, but she had a really strange way of going about it. "Thanks!", he typed and after a short moment, he added: "See you later!" She did not respond, so he had no idea if she would actually stop by later or not, but he would find out soon enough.

He selected Aerith' name from his contact list and texted her: "Still awake?" His phone rang almost immediately and he picked up. "Hey! How's it going?" She answered energetically: "Hey Zack! How unusual of you to call so late!" He smiled while looking at the ceiling above. He would not tell her how he knew she was still awake. "I thought I'd give it a shot. I took a nap earlier and now I can't sleep." She giggled. "Maybe you shouldn't take a nap so late." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Hmm, I was pretty beat from today."

"Hm, I understand that. How do you feel now?" Zack sighed. "A little better. I had some time to think." Without pause, he continued: "So- how come you're still awake?" Aerith did not respond immediately. "The truth is, I couldn't sleep."

"Sorry to hear that. Why? Did something happen?" Her voice was a little shaky. "I- I was worried about you. You were acting so differently this afternoon, I was a little shocked." Zack thought for a moment about what she meant.

"You hung up on me and then turned off your phone?", she reminded him. "Oooh, right!", he exclaimed as he sat up in his bed. "I'm so sorry about that. It wasn't really about you."

"I'm sorry, you had a difficult day. I didn't mean to put you in a tough spot. It's just -"

"It's fine!", Zack interrupted her. "Tseng told me he asked you to talk to me."

"Mhm", Aerith affirmed carefully.

"But I was really confused because you talked about him so naturally as if -" He paused for a short moment. "As if you'd known him for some time." Aerith did not respond immediately. "And I feel like you're not being honest to me about something and - and I guess that makes me a little insecure."

"Hm", Aerith started. Realizing that she would not say anything unless he asked her directly, he pressed on: "Tseng won't tell me anything either. I just think it's getting too much. Is there anything going on between the two of you?"

"No, never!", Aerith exclaimed. "Why would you even think that?" Zack scratched his head, flustered. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I mean, I would totally understand it if –" What the hell was he saying? "He's the worst!", Aerith groaned. "I don't want anything to do with him!"

"Oh", Zack responded, looking at the floor. That was harsh. "Did anything happen?" He could hear he shuffling around over the phone. "I can't stand it when he's around me. I would never." Zack didn't know what to say. "I'm really sorry." After a short pause, he added: "Um, do you want me to tell him to leave you alone?"

"No. He doesn't need to know anything." She sounded hurt. "I- I see", he nodded. He did not know what to say. He did not want to hurt her, but all the secrets were too much. "I'm sorry, Zack. I'm really tired. I think I'm going to bed now", she said. Zack nodded again. "Okay", he admitted in defeat. "G-good night!"

"Good night, Zack!" She hung up without another word.

He lowered his hand with the phone in it and let himself fall on his bed. Had it been a mistake to ask her about Tseng? Was he imagining something? No, it couldn't be. Both of their reactions had been really strange. From what he understood, Tseng and the other Turks were supposed to observe Aerith, but making themselves known the target was not usually part of observation missions. Yet, they clearly knew each other. Neither of them would tell him how, and both of them were acting weird. He rolled on the side and stared at his phone. He hesitantly typed a short text to Aerith and sent it.