Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Tenacity ❯ Into the Dream ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Strange and Intoxicating rsa 
In a home with flowers...
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.23.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 180 | Status: Work In Progress
In a home with flowers...
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.23.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 180 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter Three- Into the Dream
“You need more clothing.” Aeris brushed the hair out of her green eyes, sweat glistening on her forehead. She wrung out the SOLDIER uniform, looking at the bloody water, dirt and grime floating like clouds in the soapy suds. Her fingers pulled out the stopper, allowing the brown water to swivel down the drain.
“Tell me about it. You know how gross it is to have to wear the same clothes I was wearing five years ago? I swear, it smelled disgusting.” Zack twitched his nose.
The green-eyed woman filled up the bathtub with clean water and began soaking the clothes again, her laughter radiating through the bathroom. “Oh Zack, you haven’t changed at all. Still, you are extraordinarily lucky my mother has kept some of her husband’s old clothes. It would have been a disastrous event if you had to run around without your clothes on. Mom may just have her heart give out with you walking around in nothing but a small towel.”
Zack pulled on the gray pants, which were a bit too large. “Well, at least I’m not wearing a shirt with a chocobo on it. Poor Cloud,” the black-haired man snickered as Aeris wrung out the last of the water from his dark pants, tossing them in a nearby plastic basket.
“Well, I hadn’t been able to dig out the box of old clothes, so that shirt had been just big enough to fit to him. Granted, I believe he would have been able to fit into just about anything, he is so skinny. You should be happy I hadn’t put him in one of my nightgowns.” Aeris touched the dark blue sweater-vest, her graceful fingers gliding along a shredding hole. “Hand me the sewing kit, please.” The woman reached out her hand to where Zack sat on the toilet, playing with his towel around his clean black locks.
He handed her the needle and black thread. Her fingers worked with diligence; not once did the long needle prick her finger. It always surprised Zack how quick she was with a needle, how the hole, no matter the size, was patched up easily enough.
“I remember trying to teach you how to sew the first time you came to me with a hole in your uniform.” Aeris pointed to a small gray patch, a few small stitches in the blue material. “You nearly destroyed this poor shirt so many times.” The smile on her face was the same as it had been six years prior. She waved her finger. “‘Don’t sew your fingers to the shirt, Zack! Do you have any idea how badly your uniform is going to smell with rotting skin sewn into the hole?’”
“Hey, I told you I was practically useless when it came to any of those ‘homely’ things. A SOLDIER learns how to kill someone with one finger, how to strategically destroy an entire city, the art of stealth--“
“Yet they can’t cook, clean, or sew up their destroyed clothes. Let alone clean them, mind you.” The woman stuck her tongue out.
The ex-SOLDIER clamped his hand across his chest, as though he was covering a bleeding wound. “Oh, right through the heart, my dear.”
A knock silenced the two. The door jarred open, and two mako-blue eyes peered in.
Aeris smiled and situated herself into a more comfortable sitting position, fingers still clutching the needle. “Well, hello there. Come on in, though there really isn’t much room. Zack, move your feet so he can get by.” Her halo of brown hair covered her face as she finished the few last touches on the sweater, Cloud not having moved from the doorway.
Zack looked to the blonde boy standing at the door, his pale fingers a contrast against the wood. He looked so young, like he had five years previous, no creases of age or worry etched into his delicate skin. He was clothed in a long blue shirt with a warking white chocobo on the front, the words ‘Chocobo's are cute!’ across the top of the shirt. His face was filled with tension and though Zack knew the boy would never admit it, a small tinge of nervousness and embarrassment. His feet were awkwardly positioned, not being inside the room with the others, but seemingly wanting to take him there.
“There, this is done. Now I have to wash it.” Aeris turned the water on hot, adding a splash of blue liquid onto the dirty shirt.
“Aeris, did you get to cleaning Cloud’s clothes?” Zack rubbed the fluffy pink towel over his head for a moment longer before throwing it over the sink. It collided with a few hair products and the toothbrush holder, knocking them down. The raven-haired man didn’t even have the decency to look shamed.
Aeris gave him a reproachful look, but nodded her head. “Yes, Cloud, it’s clean, but needs to dry. You’ll have to stay in that for a while longer. They will by dry by tomorrow afternoon.” Her green eyes glanced over to the clothes, then back to the blonde. A large smile graced her face.
“Um, thank you,” the blonde stumbled over his words, not used to the kindness the woman was radiating. “Thank you for cleaning my clothes. I’m not that good at it.” Aeris looked pointedly towards Zack.
“Those people have to teach you the necessities of surviving without your mother.”
“Well,” the raven-haired man picked at his hair with a comb that had been previously on the counter, “we aren’t going back, so I doubt there will be any need to tell them how to treat their grunts and SOLDIERs.” The man huffed for a moment, slamming the comb against the counter, pulling at a large chunk of hair which refused to unknot.
“Oh Zack, you’re hopeless.” Aeris dropped the shirt and wiped her hands on her pink dress. She yanked his head down, the black mane of hair silky and pleasant smelling, asking Cloud to hand her the comb.
“Just don’t cut it,” the man begged. From their expressions, he wondered if they were picturing a look of unadulterated fear in his violet eyes. Were his pleas to be ignored?
“I doubt she’ll cut your hair, Zack.” Cloud looked down at his feet, his fingers playing with the design on the front of the lengthy shirt. The raven-haired man could see the milky, almost unhealthy, thighs of the boy in front of him. There were various small incisions across the pale skin, making Zack wince. He told himself that this reaction was because of the sharp tug Aeris gave to his hair, the knot staying firmly in place, not the smooth skin marred by slashes.
“Hey, kid, you don’t know how evil this girl can be.” This gained him a light pull on his tresses. “Oh, don’t be so mean, Aeris. My hair is the most beautiful thing on this planet, you know, and to rip it out would be just a waste of perfection--“ Aeris gave a hard yank, “Ow! That fuckin’ hurt!”
The two other occupants in the room laughed, Aeris near hysterics, Cloud snickering ever so lightly.
“She didn’t pull that hard,” Cloud stated, taking a hesitant step forward. He kneeled next to Aeris, lifting Zack’s head up, who still had swear words passing his lips. Aeris sat back, her laughter shaking her body rhythmically back and forth.
“You’re such a puppy.” Cloud ran his hands over Zack’s head in a petting gesture. Suddenly, the laughter in his eyes dwindled to a trace. He stared off, a bit confused. “A puppy.”
Zack’s ears rang with the words. “A puppy?” he repeated. “Have you ever called me that before?” Cloud shrugged his shoulders and ran his fingers back through Zack’s wet hair.
“I don’t know. Did I?” Cloud jerked his head to the side. Aeris had quieted now and was watching the scene unravel in front of her eyes.
“I’m not really sure.”
--
Aeris’ mother, Elmyra, was not pleased with the two men in her home. It was clear by her tense actions, her short and cold reception.
“Mom, you remember Zack, right? And that’s his friend, Cloud.” Zack lifted his hand and gave a wave, but when the woman’s eyes glared, he dropped it to his side. Cloud’s eyes stayed trained on the glass of water in front of him, tracing the rim of the cup.
“Yes, I remember him,” Elmyra glanced at her daughter’s face, “They aren’t staying here.”
Aeris’ mouth gaped open, “Mother! They have nowhere to go--“
“Well, apparently he did when he just walked off and didn’t come back, didn’t he?”
Her daughter huffed.
“Mother, please come over here.” Aeris dragged her mother away from the kitchen table by her arm, across the room and out the front door, which had been left wide open. Aeris turned and gave Zack a reassuring smile before swinging the door shut.
“What are they saying?” Cloud didn’t lift his eyes from the glass. Zack sighed and put his hands behind his head, leaning back on the chair. Two of the wooden legs went into the air.
“Eh, I don’t know. I can’t hear them. I can imagine that Mrs. G is telling Aeris that I’m an evil monster who left her for five years without call, yadda, yadda, yadda. She never liked me much anyway. Corrupting her daughter or something.” Zack inhaled and then exhaled quickly.
“Five years? We were gone for five years?” Cloud asked, shocked.
“Yep,” the raven-haired man answered simply.
“Where were we? Or did I just recently forget everything?”
“Well, I...” Zack stopped speaking for a moment. Do you want to know? Really want to know? “I don’t really know the details. I can’t remember all that much either.”
Cloud looked up from his glass, “You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”
The raven-haired man shook his head vehemently, “No! Of course not, Cloudy-boy. Why would I lie to you?”
The blonde shrugged, “I don’t know.”
The room was uneasy, silent. Zack cocked his head to look out the window, but it was far too dark to see the silhouettes of Aeris and her mother.
“I think she still likes you, Zack,” the blonde said suddenly. The chair the violet-eyed man had been sitting on tilted back and hit the floor with a loud thud. “Oh Gaia, are you okay?” Cloud yelled, jumping from his chair, skirting over to the place where Zack had been sitting, throwing his hand for the raven-haired man to grab.
“Oww.” The older rubbed his head with one hand, allowing the other to grab hold of Cloud’s helping hand. “That’s why I hate getting snuck up on, you know,” he whined, standing still. The boy picked up the chair, lining it back up under the table and in perfect sequence with the lines of the wood.
“You’re such a klutz.” Zack nodded his head. “A weirdo.” He nodded his head again. “And she likes you.”
“Eh, maybe. It was a long time ago, you know, chocobo-head. Anyway, how would you know?”
Cloud winced.
“Okay, that was a little harsh. Go sit down, I’m fine.” Cloud nodded and went back to his chair, his head hanging low. “You know, you need to start yelling. Get mad, do something other than just follow what I say. I’m not gonna yell back at you or anything.”
The seconds ticked by slowly, agonizingly. Cloud had taken to staring off into space, tugging on his night shirt. Zack hummed a random tune, waiting for the daughter and mother to come back into the house. He had sat back down, the chair screeching against the floor.
“She has a white dress in her closet,” Cloud broke the silence, “It has these white flowers sewn into the sides and light pink lace. She made it about five years ago when you promised her that you would marry her--“
“What!” Zack yelled in amazement. “How do you know that? I never told you about that! Hell, I only told two people about that.”
Cloud looked away, embarrassed, “I’m sorry, that was out of line.”
“But how do you know that?”
“I saw it when I fell asleep. It was after you told me about mom.” The blonde grew quiet, a small sniffle erupting from his nose. “I don’t know how or why though. I wasn’t even sure if it was true until I went and looked in her closet. It was tucked between a blue and white dress and a blue sweater.” He closed his eyes and the raven-haired man could almost see what was playing behind the eyelids.
Zack sighed, “Yeah, I did do that.”
Cloud nodded his head, eyes still closed. “I thought so. She’s nice, so I wouldn’t worry ‘bout anything.”
Elmyra and Aeris entered through the front door a few minutes later, Elmyra annoyed, her daughter ecstatic.
“You guys can stay here for now.” The brunette glanced at the clock near the door, “Well, supper won’t be ready for a while, but I can imagine you two will be fine for an hour or so?” She didn’t wait for an answer, going straight into the kitchen. Elmyra went and followed behind, leaving the two to wallow in their silence.
--
Cloud fell asleep on the bed in Aeris’ room and Zack had decided to take the floor. He had readied for bed, changing into his underwear, the only things which had been remotely dry. The small makeshift bed on the floor wasn’t comfortable; on the contrary it was hard and the blanket folded on the floor did not keep all the cold out, but it would do.
“Zack?” Aeris whispered into the dark room.
“I’m down here, on the floor,” he whispered back. The door opened and her lithe figure slipped through the crack, the door shutting with a small click. She walked forward, tip-toeing over to where the raven-haired man lied, his glowing eyes guiding her towards him in the dark. Then, after reaching her goal she dropped to her knees and rested one of her hands on his cheek.
“I missed you,” she said, running her finger over the scar on his face. Zack was reminded of Cloud’s fingers that short time ago, in the middle of the barren wasteland. She lied down next to him, one hand touching his chest. “I waited here for you to come back. I knew if I waited long enough you would come back for me.” Her breath tickled his lips.
The space closed between the two and Zack sighed. She was so soft, her skin warm and smooth. The hand which had been tracing his face moved to his hair.
“Aeris, stop,” Zack gasped out when the hand, which had moments before laid on his chest, moved to the rim of his underwear. She pulled her hand back and the raven-haired man could feel her face warming with shame.
“I’m sorry, Zack,” she whispered, mortified. He chuckled, shaking his head. “I just, I just...”
“Shhh,” Zack pulled the woman close. They laid there for a few minutes, Aeris listening to the heart beat of the man she loved. He said, “So you remember when we met and you said that you wouldn’t do anything remotely sexual until you were married?” and Aeris laughed in shame. “Well, I don’t think you’re the same girl you were back then,” he finished.
“No, I’m not.”
Zack closed his eyes. “I think you should go back to your mom’s room. She won’t like waking up and finding you in here with me.”
“I know. It’s just been so cold without you here. The flowers bloomed, but they never had the color they had when you were around,” she whispered into his neck. He shivered. “You still look exactly as you did when you were eighteen. Not a thing different. It’s for that reason alone that I noticed you so quickly. You’d been in my dreams so often, the same face of the eighteen-year-old who left for that SOLDIER mission, and it was haunting. I thought I had fallen asleep in the flowers.”
She left him not too long later, a simple kiss left on his lips. Zack looked around the room after the door shut and he sighed. Her lips left a tingling feeling, but at the same time the feeling of coldness. It was so hard for him to feel her body pressed against his own. So many things had changed since the last time they had seen one another and though her smile and hands assured him that she was still very much in love, Zack couldn’t erase the past.
“You need more clothing.” Aeris brushed the hair out of her green eyes, sweat glistening on her forehead. She wrung out the SOLDIER uniform, looking at the bloody water, dirt and grime floating like clouds in the soapy suds. Her fingers pulled out the stopper, allowing the brown water to swivel down the drain.
“Tell me about it. You know how gross it is to have to wear the same clothes I was wearing five years ago? I swear, it smelled disgusting.” Zack twitched his nose.
The green-eyed woman filled up the bathtub with clean water and began soaking the clothes again, her laughter radiating through the bathroom. “Oh Zack, you haven’t changed at all. Still, you are extraordinarily lucky my mother has kept some of her husband’s old clothes. It would have been a disastrous event if you had to run around without your clothes on. Mom may just have her heart give out with you walking around in nothing but a small towel.”
Zack pulled on the gray pants, which were a bit too large. “Well, at least I’m not wearing a shirt with a chocobo on it. Poor Cloud,” the black-haired man snickered as Aeris wrung out the last of the water from his dark pants, tossing them in a nearby plastic basket.
“Well, I hadn’t been able to dig out the box of old clothes, so that shirt had been just big enough to fit to him. Granted, I believe he would have been able to fit into just about anything, he is so skinny. You should be happy I hadn’t put him in one of my nightgowns.” Aeris touched the dark blue sweater-vest, her graceful fingers gliding along a shredding hole. “Hand me the sewing kit, please.” The woman reached out her hand to where Zack sat on the toilet, playing with his towel around his clean black locks.
He handed her the needle and black thread. Her fingers worked with diligence; not once did the long needle prick her finger. It always surprised Zack how quick she was with a needle, how the hole, no matter the size, was patched up easily enough.
“I remember trying to teach you how to sew the first time you came to me with a hole in your uniform.” Aeris pointed to a small gray patch, a few small stitches in the blue material. “You nearly destroyed this poor shirt so many times.” The smile on her face was the same as it had been six years prior. She waved her finger. “‘Don’t sew your fingers to the shirt, Zack! Do you have any idea how badly your uniform is going to smell with rotting skin sewn into the hole?’”
“Hey, I told you I was practically useless when it came to any of those ‘homely’ things. A SOLDIER learns how to kill someone with one finger, how to strategically destroy an entire city, the art of stealth--“
“Yet they can’t cook, clean, or sew up their destroyed clothes. Let alone clean them, mind you.” The woman stuck her tongue out.
The ex-SOLDIER clamped his hand across his chest, as though he was covering a bleeding wound. “Oh, right through the heart, my dear.”
A knock silenced the two. The door jarred open, and two mako-blue eyes peered in.
Aeris smiled and situated herself into a more comfortable sitting position, fingers still clutching the needle. “Well, hello there. Come on in, though there really isn’t much room. Zack, move your feet so he can get by.” Her halo of brown hair covered her face as she finished the few last touches on the sweater, Cloud not having moved from the doorway.
Zack looked to the blonde boy standing at the door, his pale fingers a contrast against the wood. He looked so young, like he had five years previous, no creases of age or worry etched into his delicate skin. He was clothed in a long blue shirt with a warking white chocobo on the front, the words ‘Chocobo's are cute!’ across the top of the shirt. His face was filled with tension and though Zack knew the boy would never admit it, a small tinge of nervousness and embarrassment. His feet were awkwardly positioned, not being inside the room with the others, but seemingly wanting to take him there.
“There, this is done. Now I have to wash it.” Aeris turned the water on hot, adding a splash of blue liquid onto the dirty shirt.
“Aeris, did you get to cleaning Cloud’s clothes?” Zack rubbed the fluffy pink towel over his head for a moment longer before throwing it over the sink. It collided with a few hair products and the toothbrush holder, knocking them down. The raven-haired man didn’t even have the decency to look shamed.
Aeris gave him a reproachful look, but nodded her head. “Yes, Cloud, it’s clean, but needs to dry. You’ll have to stay in that for a while longer. They will by dry by tomorrow afternoon.” Her green eyes glanced over to the clothes, then back to the blonde. A large smile graced her face.
“Um, thank you,” the blonde stumbled over his words, not used to the kindness the woman was radiating. “Thank you for cleaning my clothes. I’m not that good at it.” Aeris looked pointedly towards Zack.
“Those people have to teach you the necessities of surviving without your mother.”
“Well,” the raven-haired man picked at his hair with a comb that had been previously on the counter, “we aren’t going back, so I doubt there will be any need to tell them how to treat their grunts and SOLDIERs.” The man huffed for a moment, slamming the comb against the counter, pulling at a large chunk of hair which refused to unknot.
“Oh Zack, you’re hopeless.” Aeris dropped the shirt and wiped her hands on her pink dress. She yanked his head down, the black mane of hair silky and pleasant smelling, asking Cloud to hand her the comb.
“Just don’t cut it,” the man begged. From their expressions, he wondered if they were picturing a look of unadulterated fear in his violet eyes. Were his pleas to be ignored?
“I doubt she’ll cut your hair, Zack.” Cloud looked down at his feet, his fingers playing with the design on the front of the lengthy shirt. The raven-haired man could see the milky, almost unhealthy, thighs of the boy in front of him. There were various small incisions across the pale skin, making Zack wince. He told himself that this reaction was because of the sharp tug Aeris gave to his hair, the knot staying firmly in place, not the smooth skin marred by slashes.
“Hey, kid, you don’t know how evil this girl can be.” This gained him a light pull on his tresses. “Oh, don’t be so mean, Aeris. My hair is the most beautiful thing on this planet, you know, and to rip it out would be just a waste of perfection--“ Aeris gave a hard yank, “Ow! That fuckin’ hurt!”
The two other occupants in the room laughed, Aeris near hysterics, Cloud snickering ever so lightly.
“She didn’t pull that hard,” Cloud stated, taking a hesitant step forward. He kneeled next to Aeris, lifting Zack’s head up, who still had swear words passing his lips. Aeris sat back, her laughter shaking her body rhythmically back and forth.
“You’re such a puppy.” Cloud ran his hands over Zack’s head in a petting gesture. Suddenly, the laughter in his eyes dwindled to a trace. He stared off, a bit confused. “A puppy.”
Zack’s ears rang with the words. “A puppy?” he repeated. “Have you ever called me that before?” Cloud shrugged his shoulders and ran his fingers back through Zack’s wet hair.
“I don’t know. Did I?” Cloud jerked his head to the side. Aeris had quieted now and was watching the scene unravel in front of her eyes.
“I’m not really sure.”
--
Aeris’ mother, Elmyra, was not pleased with the two men in her home. It was clear by her tense actions, her short and cold reception.
“Mom, you remember Zack, right? And that’s his friend, Cloud.” Zack lifted his hand and gave a wave, but when the woman’s eyes glared, he dropped it to his side. Cloud’s eyes stayed trained on the glass of water in front of him, tracing the rim of the cup.
“Yes, I remember him,” Elmyra glanced at her daughter’s face, “They aren’t staying here.”
Aeris’ mouth gaped open, “Mother! They have nowhere to go--“
“Well, apparently he did when he just walked off and didn’t come back, didn’t he?”
Her daughter huffed.
“Mother, please come over here.” Aeris dragged her mother away from the kitchen table by her arm, across the room and out the front door, which had been left wide open. Aeris turned and gave Zack a reassuring smile before swinging the door shut.
“What are they saying?” Cloud didn’t lift his eyes from the glass. Zack sighed and put his hands behind his head, leaning back on the chair. Two of the wooden legs went into the air.
“Eh, I don’t know. I can’t hear them. I can imagine that Mrs. G is telling Aeris that I’m an evil monster who left her for five years without call, yadda, yadda, yadda. She never liked me much anyway. Corrupting her daughter or something.” Zack inhaled and then exhaled quickly.
“Five years? We were gone for five years?” Cloud asked, shocked.
“Yep,” the raven-haired man answered simply.
“Where were we? Or did I just recently forget everything?”
“Well, I...” Zack stopped speaking for a moment. Do you want to know? Really want to know? “I don’t really know the details. I can’t remember all that much either.”
Cloud looked up from his glass, “You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”
The raven-haired man shook his head vehemently, “No! Of course not, Cloudy-boy. Why would I lie to you?”
The blonde shrugged, “I don’t know.”
The room was uneasy, silent. Zack cocked his head to look out the window, but it was far too dark to see the silhouettes of Aeris and her mother.
“I think she still likes you, Zack,” the blonde said suddenly. The chair the violet-eyed man had been sitting on tilted back and hit the floor with a loud thud. “Oh Gaia, are you okay?” Cloud yelled, jumping from his chair, skirting over to the place where Zack had been sitting, throwing his hand for the raven-haired man to grab.
“Oww.” The older rubbed his head with one hand, allowing the other to grab hold of Cloud’s helping hand. “That’s why I hate getting snuck up on, you know,” he whined, standing still. The boy picked up the chair, lining it back up under the table and in perfect sequence with the lines of the wood.
“You’re such a klutz.” Zack nodded his head. “A weirdo.” He nodded his head again. “And she likes you.”
“Eh, maybe. It was a long time ago, you know, chocobo-head. Anyway, how would you know?”
Cloud winced.
“Okay, that was a little harsh. Go sit down, I’m fine.” Cloud nodded and went back to his chair, his head hanging low. “You know, you need to start yelling. Get mad, do something other than just follow what I say. I’m not gonna yell back at you or anything.”
The seconds ticked by slowly, agonizingly. Cloud had taken to staring off into space, tugging on his night shirt. Zack hummed a random tune, waiting for the daughter and mother to come back into the house. He had sat back down, the chair screeching against the floor.
“She has a white dress in her closet,” Cloud broke the silence, “It has these white flowers sewn into the sides and light pink lace. She made it about five years ago when you promised her that you would marry her--“
“What!” Zack yelled in amazement. “How do you know that? I never told you about that! Hell, I only told two people about that.”
Cloud looked away, embarrassed, “I’m sorry, that was out of line.”
“But how do you know that?”
“I saw it when I fell asleep. It was after you told me about mom.” The blonde grew quiet, a small sniffle erupting from his nose. “I don’t know how or why though. I wasn’t even sure if it was true until I went and looked in her closet. It was tucked between a blue and white dress and a blue sweater.” He closed his eyes and the raven-haired man could almost see what was playing behind the eyelids.
Zack sighed, “Yeah, I did do that.”
Cloud nodded his head, eyes still closed. “I thought so. She’s nice, so I wouldn’t worry ‘bout anything.”
Elmyra and Aeris entered through the front door a few minutes later, Elmyra annoyed, her daughter ecstatic.
“You guys can stay here for now.” The brunette glanced at the clock near the door, “Well, supper won’t be ready for a while, but I can imagine you two will be fine for an hour or so?” She didn’t wait for an answer, going straight into the kitchen. Elmyra went and followed behind, leaving the two to wallow in their silence.
--
Cloud fell asleep on the bed in Aeris’ room and Zack had decided to take the floor. He had readied for bed, changing into his underwear, the only things which had been remotely dry. The small makeshift bed on the floor wasn’t comfortable; on the contrary it was hard and the blanket folded on the floor did not keep all the cold out, but it would do.
“Zack?” Aeris whispered into the dark room.
“I’m down here, on the floor,” he whispered back. The door opened and her lithe figure slipped through the crack, the door shutting with a small click. She walked forward, tip-toeing over to where the raven-haired man lied, his glowing eyes guiding her towards him in the dark. Then, after reaching her goal she dropped to her knees and rested one of her hands on his cheek.
“I missed you,” she said, running her finger over the scar on his face. Zack was reminded of Cloud’s fingers that short time ago, in the middle of the barren wasteland. She lied down next to him, one hand touching his chest. “I waited here for you to come back. I knew if I waited long enough you would come back for me.” Her breath tickled his lips.
The space closed between the two and Zack sighed. She was so soft, her skin warm and smooth. The hand which had been tracing his face moved to his hair.
“Aeris, stop,” Zack gasped out when the hand, which had moments before laid on his chest, moved to the rim of his underwear. She pulled her hand back and the raven-haired man could feel her face warming with shame.
“I’m sorry, Zack,” she whispered, mortified. He chuckled, shaking his head. “I just, I just...”
“Shhh,” Zack pulled the woman close. They laid there for a few minutes, Aeris listening to the heart beat of the man she loved. He said, “So you remember when we met and you said that you wouldn’t do anything remotely sexual until you were married?” and Aeris laughed in shame. “Well, I don’t think you’re the same girl you were back then,” he finished.
“No, I’m not.”
Zack closed his eyes. “I think you should go back to your mom’s room. She won’t like waking up and finding you in here with me.”
“I know. It’s just been so cold without you here. The flowers bloomed, but they never had the color they had when you were around,” she whispered into his neck. He shivered. “You still look exactly as you did when you were eighteen. Not a thing different. It’s for that reason alone that I noticed you so quickly. You’d been in my dreams so often, the same face of the eighteen-year-old who left for that SOLDIER mission, and it was haunting. I thought I had fallen asleep in the flowers.”
She left him not too long later, a simple kiss left on his lips. Zack looked around the room after the door shut and he sighed. Her lips left a tingling feeling, but at the same time the feeling of coldness. It was so hard for him to feel her body pressed against his own. So many things had changed since the last time they had seen one another and though her smile and hands assured him that she was still very much in love, Zack couldn’t erase the past.