acatalepsy_logs | [closed] i have twenty-three tiny wishes

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[closed] i have twenty-three tiny wishes

Who: Zack Fair & Aerith Gainsborough
Where: Temple of Beginnings
When: October 23
Rating: G
What: These two have some serious ducks to align about what happened back home. Thanks to a certain spiky haired blond that got his story wrong.

[After everything has settled down it is about time that Zack searches out Aerith to talk to her about a few things that have happened to them that just don't add up. So, he searches for her in the places that he thinks he’ll find her most. More than likely wherever flowers grow in one of the temple courtyards or ruined clearings outside.

When he does find her he lets out a simple greeting and a wave of his hand.]

Yo. Thought I’d find you out here.

[He walks over with his hands in his pockets. He has no sword with him today as life settles for him at the Temple. It's easier to leave it behind in his room some days. It's peaceful enough around here for now.]

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[Though she's tempted to close the distance between them and do the same, there's too much left unsaid, and his question causes her hold on him to loosen slightly. She pulls back, though not completely away— just enough space to make it easier to talk, with the hand at the back of his neck dropping to rest on his knee, instead.

Right. Where to begin with that?]

It's a very long story.

[Get comfortable.]

I told you he started out as my bodyguard, but it wasn't long before we were swept up into something much bigger than either of us realized. Tifa, too— she was there, and there were others. Sephiroth was seen in Midgar, even though nobody had seen him for ages.

[Zack watches her carefully.]

Yeah. I remember you saying something about him returning. I thought he was dead. I thought Cloud managed to finish him off.

[But if he is alive then he wonders just how pissed of his old General actually is. After all that mumbling and crazy talk he did about being superior to human life only to get nearly killed by a foot soldier... If he knows anything about Sephiroth it's that he's probably pissed.]

[She nods slowly, and she already knows she won't be able to give him as detailed a story as he'd offered her— there's just so much that they don't know, but what she does know for certain is disturbing, at best.]

Cloud was surprised to see him, too, although I'm not sure he remembered that part.

[He hadn't mentioned killing Sephiroth, only that he never saw him again. It was thought that he'd been away on a mission for a long time— at least, that was one of the many rumors that circulated.]

... he killed the president of Shinra. When we all left Midgar, we followed him, but never quite managed to catch up, until he found his way to the Temple of the Ancients. [She pauses briefly, searching his face to see if that seems to mean anything to him.] Have you ever heard of it?

[So even after all of Zack's efforts Sephiroth still somehow managed to get out alive and cause issues for everyone. How far did his madness go? ...

He looks to her and furrows his eyebrows trying to recall anything about a temple.]

... The Ancients.

[Tseng said something about that once, didn't he? Maybe.]

Sort of. Thought it was just all textbooks and myths.

[She shakes her head, pressing her lips together momentarily.]

They're very real. My mother... she was one.

[Which means that she herself is, too, but she's sure he can draw that conclusion himself.]

I didn't know what that meant for a long time. It's only recently that I started to learn more about the people that came before her, although— I think Hojo has kept most of that information to himself.

[Always back to that bastard Hojo.]

So, you're special. I knew it. I knew you were an angel when I first saw you.

[There's a slight happy smirk from Zack, glad to add in a bit of lightheartedness into the mix. All of this has been so heavy he feels like he needs a smile from her soon or he'll wither up.]

... Tseng used to say something about you having to be protected.

[She can't help but blush at that— she's not the shy type these days, but still. Zack has a certain way with words.]

Well, sounds like you were right.

[At least about being special. At his mention of Tseng, she smiles, though there's something bittersweet about it.]

Some people saw it that way. I don't think I would have been very well-protected with Shinra, though.

[Zack presses his lips in a thin line at that. He agrees that ShinRa, for the most part, are piles of shit. He's not sure why he stuck around for as long as he did. But Tseng and Cissnei were probably the biggest factors why alongside his desire for seeing the good in his career and trying to hang on to that. If it weren't for Tseng and Cissnei, Cloud might have died before Zack could get him far enough away.]

But Cloud managed to find you. Eventually.

[He nods.]

With Sephiroth on the run I'm sure ShinRa got even shader in their dealings and trying to cover it all up.

He did.

[She nods, and there's a faint smile that tugs at one corner of her lips, soft and undeniably fond. She's grateful for the time she'd been able to spend with Cloud, even if it's over now.]

It was by accident, of course, or at least I thought it was, but... maybe it was fate.

[Or maybe Zack himself had somehow managed to guide them to one another after returning to the planet. That's—

No, that's silly.]

Shinra's been chasing after Sephiroth ever since he showed up again. They've gotten close, but even if they did manage to catch up to him, I don't think they would be able to do anything. What he wants...

[She exhales, shaking her head.]

Not just anyone can stop it. He took the Black Materia from the Temple of the Ancients, and his plans for it will mean destruction for our planet. There's only one way to stop it that I know of, but— I don't know if I was successful.

Black Materia?

[This is where Zack sounds a little confused. Sephiroth means to destroy the whole planet? He gets that the guy was having some serious mother issues and felt that he had been denied ... something but to destroy all life?

How did Sephiroth even get that much power?

... Angeal... What would say if you could hear this?]

What was... the one way to stop it?

The White Materia.

[She instinctively reaches for her ribbon as if to pull it free and show him the materia in question, but of course her fingers only brush against pink silk and her own hair. Right... it hadn't made the trip with her, and for good reason.]

My mother left it to me. For the longest time, I thought it was useless— good for absolutely nothing, but the Ancients spoke to me. I knew I had to find the City of the Ancients and draw on the energy there to make it work, but—

[She averts her gaze, unable to meet his eyes.]

Sephiroth caught on. He followed me. I knew that he might, that I was taking a risk in going on my own. He was determined to stop me.

[Somehow- Zack doesn't need Aerith to finish her explanation from the last few points she makes. She found a way to stop Sephiroth and the man went after her first.

The blood on Aerith's pink dress when he saw her here--

The look in her eye when he told her of his own apparent fate--

Sephiroth had always been a man that Zack looked up to. A man that would take initiative and that burned with ambition and fire. He was stern and stoic but there was a way about him that people were drawn to him. The life almost other-worldly in his eyes. He was a man that never gave up and when he wanted something he took it.

... He stopped Aerith.

Zack doesn't say anything as he pulls Aerith into his arms and holds her tightly with trembling shoulders. He heart feels like it could break into a thousand more pieces. There are regrets deep inside of him. Why didn't stop Sephiroth? Why wasn't he strong enough? Was pushing Cloud to go on without him not enough? There are so many things in his head that it feels like it might split.

All he can muster is a quiet...] You... pulled it off, though. Didn't you.

[The White Materia.]

[Though she's sorry to have to give him this sort of news at all, that telling him about the future means revealing that she wasn't as safe as he might have hoped, she's glad that he's able to put the pieces together. She's glad that she doesn't have to spell it out, that there's an understanding between them, however grim the circumstances might be.

But to his question, she nods, a small and somber movement.]

I did. At least... I think I did. I don't know if my prayer reached the planet or not, but... I hope so. I gave it everything I had.

[Holy would come, wouldn't it?]

Aren't we two peas in a pod.

[Zack lets out a slightly defeated sigh. The both of them had fought so hard for something bigger and more important than themselves. Honestly, someone should write a play about them. A real screwed up version of Romeo and Juliet.

He glances at her and looks at how green her eyes are.]

But with you behind the prayer... I'm sure it worked. You've got nothing to worry about.

We have more in common than we first thought, don't we?

[She smiles faintly, even though neither of their tales are any laughing matter. Still... she has no regrets. She had given her all, and it would have to be enough— for everyone's sake.

She takes his hand once more, lacing their fingers together.]

I knew what the risk was, and in the end, it means I got to see you again, doesn't it?

[He squeezes her hand in his. It's a small comfort to know that they're together again despite the grim circumstances.]

Maybe staying in this world for a little while isn't so bad after all.

[Because they can be together this way. At least... For a little while.]

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[closed] i have twenty-three tiny wishes

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