Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ So I Love Your Smiling Face ❯ Back ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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PART 1 Back


He slowly opened his eyes and found himself
on a nice warm bed. His shirt was taken off and
a bandage was wrapped around his chest.

'Where... Where...am I...?'

He looked outside the window and saw rain
beating hard at the panes. Then the door
opened and in came an attractive brunette
carrying a tray of food.

"Hi there," she greeted upon seeing he was
awake. "Good to see you're awake."

"Are you..." he began. Then he stopped and
thought for a while as the girl stared at him
with curious eyes. "Wait... I remember you...
You were...our tour guide... You followed
Sephiroth and got hurt... Your name...um...
Iifa? No, no. Um...Tifa? Tifa? Tifa, was it?"

The girl was shocked at what he said. "How...
did you know?"

"You were our tour guide, remember? Before
Sephiroth...changed..."

Tifa's eyes widened. "Yes! I remember! But...
I don't remember your name..."

"My name? Zack."

Tifa smiled. "Well..." She held out a hand. "It's
nice to see you again, Zack."

Zack shook her hand. "Same here. But I don't
understand how I got here..."

"You knocked on the door yesterday and you
fell down unconscious when I opened it. You
were bleeding so badly and so I bandaged your
wound."

"I remember now. I was in a fight with some
crazy guy and he stabbed me with that stupid
knife of his. I saw this bar and...I knocked."

"It's probably my fault you're like this. Those
guys just can't handle a glass of beer. I'm
really sorry."

"Aw, don't be. If it means getting taken care
of by you, I'd go out and get myself almost
killed everyday."

Tifa's smile widened.

"That is," Zack added, "if your boyfriend
doesn't mind."

Tifa's smile faded. "I...don't have a boyfriend..."

"No boyfriend?! I must be really lucky."

Tifa's smile returned. "I'll have to think about it."

"So...if you don't have a boyfriend, who helps
you out when those drunks come back barging in?"

"Well, Barret helps me out a lot. And there's
also Cloud---"

"CLOUD???"

"Um...yes."

"Cloud Strife?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's just...I really wanted to see him again. But I
never knew that I would see him so soon... This
is really great. He was like my best friend..."

"I didn't know that. Well, he's at home sleeping,
I think. I'll call him and tell him to come over."

"You don't hafta do that. I can wait."

"No, it's all right."

Tifa stood up and went to call Cloud.

Zack had a huge smile on his face as he looked
up at the ceiling. 'Wow. I'm gonna see Cloud
again. I've been waiting for this day to come. I
haven't seen that guy in years... I hope he'll
remember me. I hope...she'll remember me...'





~*~*~*~




Tifa walked over to the door to open it. Cloud
was at the door with a smile in his face.

"Where is he?" Cloud asked breathlessly, as if
he had ran all the way from their flat to the bar,
which is really what he did.

Tifa gestured towards the door of the small
bedroom in the corner of the bar. Cloud went
over to the corner and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Zack's voice from inside said. Cloud
entered and his smile widened when he saw his
long-lost friend again. He was speechless. He had
always thought that Zack was gone. When he
had last seen Zack, it was as if a part of him died.
Now, he was right there, getting up from his bed,
very much alive and well.

"What's up, Cloud?" Zack greeted.

Cloud was too shocked to reply. He just
embraced his friend tightly and patted him on
the back.

"I thought you were dead, man!!!" Cloud
said.

"I thought I was dead, too!!!" Zack replied
with a chuckle. "Turns out that those bastards
weren't able to kill me after all! And it turns out
they weren't able to kill you either. I heard
about how ya saved the planet, Cloud. I'm really
proud of ya."

Cloud placed his hand on the back of his head.
"Heh. Well, it wasn't just me. I couldn't have
done it without Tifa and the other guys. I really
wasn't the one who saved the planet. There was
also..." His smile faded and he stopped talking.

"You okay, man?"

"Y-Yeah... I'm just peachy."

Zack raised his eyebrows. Peachy? Cloud would
never say that. NEVER. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be? I'm really
happy to see you!"

"Well...if that's how ya feel..."

"Yeah. Well, where were you at?"

"Where I was for the past few years? It's a long
story. Well, when I woke up after being shot, I
was in a coma. I have no idea how I got there
but I was there and it turned out that I was there
for a coupla months. When I got well enough to
leave the hospital, I didn't know what to do. I just
walked around Midgar with no idea of what the hell
I was gonna do next. I knew I couldn't let ShinRa
find me again so I looked for a place to hide out. I
eventually ended up in the slums, living with some
old guy. I lived with him for about 4 years and then
somehow, someone learned that I wanted to become
a mercenary. So I worked as a mercenary. Remember,
Cloud? Just like I said... And then I found out about
you defeating Sephiroth. Everyone was talking about
it. After the fall of ShinRa, I decided to find you. And
so...here I am."

"I'm glad you did."

"Me too. And, ya know...I was...kinda hoping that...
I heard she was with ya, Cloud. Aeris..."

Cloud's heart skip a beat at the mention of her name.
He looked away. "Zack...don't you know...?"

"What..." Zack said, worry in his voice. "What's
wrong? Did anything happen to her?"

"Zack..."

"...Yeah...?"

"Zack...Aeris...is gone..."