Thank you to my wonderful beta FullMentalPanic for editing not only this story but my original one too. Honestly I would have probably gotten frustrated with this story long ago if it wasn't for you keeping me on track! ^_^

Part Two

Chapter Eleven

"Everyone's worried here except for you! Don't you understand how… how scary that is?" How had it turned out like this? Why were they arguing? Everyone was getting along justfine until they reached Kalm.

"No, you don't understand, Aerith!" Zack stomped a step closer, and she unconsciously curled away. She didn't mean to, it was just … she had never seen him so angry. No… frustrated. He was frustrated. And being incredibly stubborn and exceedingly rude.

"Really?" Why were they yelling? Why was she… when had she gotten... She couldn't think right. She could barely even think back to how it had gotten to the point that it did. "Tell me, okay? Tell me then." She closed the small distance between them and shoved him. "If I don't understand then tell me! What's so hard about that?"

He retreated backwards with her shove, until his back hit the dark wall of the building in front of her. He shifted his head to the side. "You act like a funeral procession. Or something." He chuckled weakly. "After leaving Midgar everything is business, business," he rolled his hand at the wrist, "business."

"What's so wrong about that?"

"What business are you going to?"

Aerith didn't know what to say to that. What business? She hadn't really thought about it before, or at least she had never pondered about what they were going to even do next.

"That's what's wrong with you," she whispered, unsure of what she was saying exactly but knowing that whatever was bothering Zack had to have been on his chest for awhile.

"No."

What? Aerith's eyes fluttered with the word. That wasn't fair!

"No?" Her teeth were set on edge, though she couldn't really comprehend why. It just happened and a warm feeling began to spread into her chest and then make her sick. She wanted to scream. No… she wanted to scream at him..

She was angry.

Zack looked to the side, before rolling his eyes to the ground and gripping both hands to the back of his head, threading his fingers into his hair. "Tell me, Aerith, what your mother's like."

"My mother?"

"No, wait, don't answer that." He let go of his hair, and looked up at her. She saw only a small corner of his face, where the streetlight managed to peek over the building and into the alley they were in.

"Zack—"

"What's your home, like?"

The pit of anger sunk deep into her stomach until she felt like she was about to vomit. Oh. This had something to do with that… with Sector Seven…

She forgot.

She actually forgot. It had been what, two, maybe three now, weeks since it fell? Why hadn't she thought… why… Well admittedly when he first told her they were in the crisis and then that guard… and then he didn't wake up for two days… and then she had just been so happy he was awake…

In their hectic escape from Midgar she just…

Forgot.

She forgot what he'd lost. She forgot and… Zack… had been following them. He had just been following them when he had no reason, absolutely no reason to join them. He helped her… she sort of just assumed…

She couldn't say anything. She felt like she would choke on her own words and die from her own stupidity. Here she prized herself on being compassionate, and yet she had ended up being the cruelest of them all.

"What's your home like?" he repeated.

"Fine," she croaked. Something stung behind her eyes, she used her forefinger to pad underneath her lid.

"Mine's," his voice was so quiet, and yet it was unbearably loud at the same time. He didn't need to say it, she knew— "obliterated."

She winced. How… how could he be so callous? How could he just stand there and talk about thousands of lives that were lost…

No.

She was the one sugar-coating it. Zack always used words like murdered and slaughtered and obliterated. She was the one that made herself feel better by saying their lives were lost, that they had been taken too soon …

That didn't make her a coward, did it?

"I know."

"Barret has his daughter, or at least I hope it's his daughter," Zack shoved his hands into pockets that were a size too large due to their overestimating. "Cloud has Tifa, Tifa has Cloud."

Aerith bit her lip at how casual he made them sound.

She tried not to be jealous. She had promised herself at the beginning of their run towards Kalm that she wouldn't come between them… but that didn't mean Aerith wasn't making a sacrifice herself. Just help Cloud. It was hard when what he needed was the very thing she promised not to…

No. Zack. Zack was in front of her, Zack was the one with the problems. Just because they had been drifting apart in recent days, or weeks or whatever it was, didn't mean anything. Zack was the one hurting, Zack was the one that needed help.

She was getting tired of having Zack coddle her. She'd never realized how protecting people could seem like a massive brush-off.

So that was what was bothering Cloud.

That wasn't important at the moment.

"Red has his home. You have your mother," he paused, "and your home."

She shook her head. He needed to stop thinking like that! "We all have each other."

"I didn't grow up in Midgar." He stepped in towards the back of the building, the light on his face eaten away by shadow. "Did you know that?"

She didn't know what the right thing to say was. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what he wanted. "No."

"It was a tiny town named Gongaga. Backwater place. I hated it. Well," he sighed noisily. "I didn't hate it.

"It's gone too."

Somehow she managed, "how?"

He licked his lips, and leaned his head against the building. "The reactor blew up."

Who died? She wanted desperately to ask that question, but she didn't dare. She couldn't. Asking would be an horrible encroachment on his personal space. He was goading her. He wanted to get mad at someone, and she was right there. She was there and she was to blame. She made him kill, she nearly got him killed, and now he needed someone to lash out at.

Cloud dealt with the monsters first. Everyone else was backup. The point was to make Zack not strain himself…

But instead they made him idle.

"And who died?" She felt like the most horrible person in the world, but if Zack needed someone to hate, then it should be her. She was the only one he opened up to about this, as far as she was aware.

"Aerith," his tone was clipped; she prepared herself for the yelling, "You're really annoying."

Her eyes opened – had she unconsciously closed them? "I'm sorry?"

"You're doing it again." She couldn't see his face. "It's annoying."

"Doing what?"

"Making yourself a martyr," he pushed himself away from the wall with his shoulder. "You don't need to take the brunt of everyone's—"

"Maybe I do!" Oh, Gaia. Her breathing was heavy, in through her nose and out. She had just yelled, screamed. Why? She didn't feel all too angry before, in fact … why? Why? What was so wrong about what he said there and now? Why… why did she feel like—

She ran up to him and pushed him back into the wall. He fell into it, and she dimly saw his surprise. "Maybe if people," she slapped his arms, she just… she wanted to hurt him. She… she didn't know what she wanted to do.

"Just—"

He grabbed onto her wrist, no, no, no!

"Just took care of themselves instead of pretending everything was alright—"

"What right do you have," he leaned towards her face, "to force grief onto me? All of you."

She gritted her teeth. "Then what are you still doing with us?"

He let go of her. Her wrists burned. She wanted to… she didn't know what she wanted to do. Her hands felt useless, and it was only in the silence she realized what it was that she'd blurted out.

"W-wait—"

"Probably best," he dodged her attempt to grab onto his arm, to keep him there. "Take care, I'm sure everything can be fixed if you just try."

His sarcasm hurt. It hurt more than anything. Run. Run after him, Aerith. Run, run, this was supposed to be a date, right? You screwed it up. You brought it up. Everything was fine…

No. Everything was horrible. It had started out bad and just gone worse. They had pushed him and pushed him…

Right from the moment that he woke up.

Two Weeks Previous

Enough was enough; it was time for Zack to wake up!

"You're sure?" She looked over to Red as she leaned over Zack's sleeping form.

"He woke up while you were gone," Red confirmed, his head tilted towards the door and settled on his paws. Aerith almost couldn't help but squeal in excitement, except she wouldn't want her patient to get worse.

"Then what?"

Red was quiet for a moment, something that caught Aerith's attention. Curious, she leaned over to look where Red lounged at Zack's feet. She raised an eyebrow as a continuation to the question.

"He woke up, had a slight fever, got a drink and went back to bed."

"Oh," Aerith nodded as she sat down on the bed. Then, as she bit the inside her cheek to keep her laughter at bay, she poked him. Nothing, oh, come on! More determined, Aerith repeated the action, jamming her finger in his cheek. Nothing – okay then. Challenge accepted, Aerith pinched his nose, pulling it up. The strange snort that resulted nearly had her doubling over in laughter. Hold it, hold it – she clasped both of her hands around her nose and mouth and turned rigid as she tried to hold the laughter in.

Breathing her giggles outwards, the laughter turning into a few high-pitched wheezes. Aerith pressed her lips together and reached out with both hands. Placing them on either side of his head, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Her cheeks burned. Looking off, shaking herself – really, what was she thinking? As if… though…

He still looked like a foot. "You do."

"Do what?" Red asked from behind her.

"He looks like a foot," Aerith explained, turning her head to look at Red. Red tilted his head before looking down at his paws. Aerith laughed at his bewildered look, picking up a paw he placed it in the line of sight with Zack.

"I fail to see a similarity." He looked so put out, like he really should have been able to make the comparison.

"He does," Aerith disagreed.

"Gee," the groan was surprising – wasn't he supposed to be asleep? Her cheeks burned again, and she looked back to the person whose face her hands held. "Thanks."

Her lips stretched into a thin smile. "Hi," she began awkwardly.

He wasn't quite awake, so instead he blinked blearily up at her instead of commenting on the rather… odd situation she had placed herself in. Oh, come on Aerith! Let go before he makes some sort of snide remark. Let go, let go – go! Awkwardly, she retracted her hands, brushing a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear.

"Morning," she started, not knowing what to do with her hands.

He yawned, and sat up, dragging the thin blanket with him. The creasing fabric pulled her so she stood up. Red let out a low growl but remained where he was. Zack winced when he jostled his arm, and blinked the sleep away from his eyes. He leaned forward, the bags deep and his hair fluffed up here and there.

Red growled again, pushing his body away from Zack.

"You're finally awake!" Aerith clapped her fingers together. She bit her lip as she smiled, and tilted her head in a slight apology. Zack stared at her, the life in his expression reaching the very high calibre of zombie.

"What?" He worked his mouth, scratched his face – the slight stubble made him look like one of the homeless musicians who would play songs on their harmonicas back home. "I," he yawned, and only towards the end of it did he use the back of his palm to cover his mouth, "I know you, right?"

"Nice to know I'm so forgettable."

"Something about cake."

She forced her smile into a neutral expression. "No," she mused, "I don't really remember that."

Zack raised a brow at her. "Mm, I clearly remember something about a cake."

"You're mistaken," she quipped.

"Oh," he looked so crestfallen.

She had done something wrong again. What now? Their game had suddenly been yanked from her – what was she supposed to say to that?

"Uh," think of something, "yeah. Oh." Nice.

"New song?"

"I don't understand you."

"I'm really hungry," he wrapped his arms around his stomach, and winced when his wounded shoulder moved. "And hurt. That means you can't be mean to me."

"Like a Drill Sergeant?"

His slight grimace smoothed out, as he thought about it. He snorted. "Sure. Or a butch nurse."

"I'm hardcore," she leaned heavily on her hip and nodded to the air.

Red looked between the two, an ear was twitched up and his head was cocked to the side. Aerith almost felt bad for confusing him so much in such a short period of time.

"Am I missing something?"

Aerith had to keep her lips pressed together to keep from laughing at Red's question. Oh, this wasn't nice. They were bullying Red.

"You can talk," Zack stated stupidly. His attention fully focused on the creature at his feet. "And you're keeping my feet warm."

Red had nothing to say to that. Aerith shook. She couldn't do it! Hold your nose, Aerith, hold it! Pinching her nostrils together, she tried to breathe through her laughter. Air escaped into the chasm, and a massive snort resounded through the room.

Red and Zack broke their 'staredown' and turned their attention to her. Zack burst into a fit of girlish giggles.

"Is that a noise humans make often?"

Red was so composed. How did he do it? Aerith couldn't breathe. Oh Gaia she couldn't breathe. She slowly sank to the ground and laughed until she hiccuped and then until she was making hyena shrieks every time she had to take in a breath.

"What," Zack choked. "What is that supposed to be!"

She couldn't see him, oh, why was this so funny? Her eyes were blurred with her tears and her hair was getting dirty on the hardwood. Ha. Okay, calm down, calm down, stop laughing, why is this funny?

"What is goin' on here?"

The small boards she had placed to clog up the laughter broke through at Barrett's appearance. "I'm so—" she gasped to replenish much needed air, "sorry."

"You broke her," Zack accused, but she couldn't tell if it was Barrett of Red that he was talking to.

"I didn'!" Barrett huffed. "She was like tha' already!"

"At least she could breathe before."

"She can't breathe?" Red interjected, his voice growling with panic.

Aerith panted, the laughter slowly subsiding. That felt wonderful. She hadn't laughed like that in a while. She blinked the tears away, and smiled to the ceiling.

"Yes," Zack snapped his fingers. "That's right. You can talk."

"I'm glad that the issue has been cleared up," Red replied hesitantly before jumping off the bed.

"You jus' woke up?" Barrett walked further into the room.

Okay, time for the serious business. With a sigh Aerith rolled to her stomach and sat up, brushed off her clothes and stood. Stretching, she looked around.

Zack's face was carefully blank. Aerith frowned, wondering why. He stared at Barrett before his gaze flickered over to Red, and then back.

"I guess," he shrugged.

Barrett's left eyebrow dipped low enough to make the right one look higher. Eventually though, he shook his head and turned to her. "Spike says that once the kid wakes up we'll need to move out."

"I'm twenty-three, actually."

"So?"

"I just thought you should know that I'm legally an adult."

"That don' matter! I say you're a kid, so you're a kid."

"Than you're a geezer," Zack shrugged. "Eh, Old Man?"

Barrett's face darkened, filling with a flush of indignation that couldn't easily be seen. The door behind him opened.

"What's going on here?" Tifa, with light steps, began to circumnavigate around Barrett.

"Zack woke up!" Aerith found, to her embarrassment, that she seemed more excited about the fact than even the patient himself. Her mouth open like a suffocating fish, she leaned back, snapping her jaw shut with a click. Well… what a way to start a conversation.

Tifa cocked her head to the side. "Oh, okay?"

"I probably need to heal him."

"Yeah," Zack tossed a few layers of his covers off, "so I can stop looking like a foot."

It felt slightly strange, or she felt awkward. Perhaps it was because once she healed him she would finally know what he looked like. She felt giddy, too excited for simply healing someone.

"We need to hurry, Aerith," Tifa interjected. Her solemn tone halted Aerith's movements. Tifa… she turned to look at her friend. What was the harm in—

They still had not gotten over last night. Oh, so that was it. Aerith gave her a smile, but it felt tight and unnatural.

"Sure," she nodded. Shinra was after them and she was getting excited over someone's face! How… how vain could she be? Really?

Slightly numb with shock at her own… self-centeredness she stood next to Zack. She gave him a smile similar to the one she gave Tifa, just for reassurance – she needed to instill confidence in him about her abilities…

His stare was heavy, his frown made her toes curl inward and her stomach… she didn't know. She felt like she was being reprimanded and something else all at the same time. "I need to—"

"You're right, I didn't hear it."

What? "I'm sor—"

"That whole conversation that just happened, I really just couldn't hear or anything."

Aerith flushed. She hovered for a moment, trying to determine something to say, something to reply to that. "Um."

"Um."

She lightly flicked the side of his head.

He recoiled, "Oh, please, please! No—"

"Okay, what?" She stomped her foot. "Could you act like you have a normal thought process for one second?"

"I think I fell down a flight of stairs."

"Did you really?" She doubted it, but she made it seem as earnest as possible, going with a hunch. If she just gave him the reaction he was going for, perhaps it would throw him off and she would—

"Oh yes," he nodded. "My temple, here," he placed the pad of a finger near his hairline, "got hit by the rail."

Plan failed.

"Shut up, kid," Barrett huffed. "An' stop bein' a pain in the ass."

Zack shrugged. "Only if you ask nicely."

Nicely, Aerith could do that. "Please?"

It didn't come out the way she wanted. She had expected it to be somewhat sardonic, to match with the atmosphere. Instead it came out as a pitiful whisper. Zack's expression halted beneath the skin, and she realized she had just started to play dirty.

She'd found it; her trump card.

"Fine."

The desert was dry.

What an obvious statement.

"Angeal," Genesis murmured. "You've heard the locals, right?"

The batty old fools, all huddled up on their hill they named Cosmo Canyon. Of course, Angeal disagreed, saying that just because they didn't live in a crevice didn't mean they didn't live in a canyon.

Angeal, sitting to his right and polishing the polish on his weapon, paused. "I have."

"What are we going to do about it? Ignore him?"

Angeal chuckled. "I don't think anyone can."

How… accurate. Even as a walking corpse he still managed to garner the attention of the world, and still people clamoured for even whispers of him. Genesis' arm whipped out, unbidden, and his fist slammed into the cave wall. The firelight flickered along the rock.

"No need to be childish."

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey, In my own salvation."

"And your eternal slumber," Angeal finished. He scratched his brow with the back of his hand, and stood to set his artifact to lean against the cave wall. "LOVELESS, Act IV."

"Whose? Mine? Or his?"

"I suppose I could argue for both."

Genesis turned his head, the firelight warming a spot on his face like a patch of glowing embers. His eyes flickered to the ground, and he looked back out into the dark landscape, his face cast back into darkness. "He deserves nothing."

"Neither do you."

Genesis pressed his fingers against his forehead. "Yet you humour me."

Angeal hesitated, the silence dead save for the snap from the fire. "Indeed. If it can be called that."

Though it was morbid, Genesis did derive a certain amount of satisfaction in prolonging Angeal's supposed gloom. A long time had passed since Genesis had dared to call himself heroic in his actions, but selfishness suited his needs nicely.

Angeal might want to die, but he would have to go through quite the effort to succeed.

Perhaps it was a form of vanity. Hollander had honoured Angeal with the status of perfection. If Angeal dubbed himself horrific enough that his honour refused to allow his very existence, then where exactly did that leave Genesis? Degrading, a monster, and a filthy castaway.

As long as Angeal lived there was some hope.

With a sigh Angeal stood and stretched out his back. "Don't you have a deal to uphold?"

"Kunsel will find the lab she's in, and when he does he'll call me."

"And if Hojo is there?"

The traces of a manic grin grew unbidden on Genesis' face. "Do you even need to ask?"

"This escape plan sucks." Zack wasn't picky, on certain things, but he felt like he had a right to complain. It could just be the utter unfairness – what an annoying pun on his name, dammit, don't do that! He tried to make it a point to avoid stupid puns. Fair. That's not fair, you're right, Zack, you're fair. It was annoying to say the least.

What took the cake, however, had to be his current predicament.

"Shuddap!" Barrett.

He was stuck with Barrett in this wonderful escape plan. The two had been roped together because he was still incredibly sore and therefore didn't want to be cramped into a tiny space and Barrett was just too big to fit in the first place. Red would have come with them had his sense of smell not been so… acute.

The escape plan had two different exit points. One was to be smuggled out in crates from a local who frequently traded with Junon. The man, having gone out and in the city during Zack's extended nap, could safely say that the guards only checked the first few crates in his truck. He could hide people inside if they could hide in the crates.

Aerith and Tifa were the obvious choices initially, because not only were they the smallest but they were also the only ones with any sort of money on them. Cloud had been next because he was the smallest man, and then it came to the final decision.

Between Red and Zack.

Still seems rigged, Zack grumbled to himself, and tried to breathe through his sleeve. There was Cloud with two girls – and as irritating as Tifa was with her hovering, especially around Cloud, it seemed, he couldn't deny she was attractive.

Zack's only real consolation was that each person would get his or her own crate - they had to pay 1000 each, the damn ass. Therefore there would be two planks of wood between Cloud and Aerith… and Tifa. And Red.

Screw my sore muscles, he thought, I would rather be in the truck.

The second part of the plan, concocted by Barrett, surprise, surprise - actually, Zack had been incredibly surprised he had come up with such a sound-proof plan - was to use the sewer systems.

Which, by the way, stank to the high heavens.

"It stinks," Zack whined. He couldn't help it. Really, who the hell chose the sewer to escape a city? Especially one that apparently flooded twice a day with toilet water and all the other lovely bits that made their way through. Barrett – or rather Barrett's friend who helped him plan this – assured all of them that they only flooded at 8 AM and 9 PM, the average time when people went to the bathroom in the morning and when they went to the bathroom at night.

His eyes had long since blurred, and the flashlight Zack held in his hand wasn't helping.

"There was honestly nothing else?"

"Even if there was more space we couldn' afford it."

Zack frowned. That was true, as the four thousand it cost had completely depleted their gil amount to almost nil. Not to be a downer, but Zack had a hard time grasping the fact that they expected him to work.

He was… tired.

Incredibly tired. He felt like he was rotting away from the inside, and to compensate he forced all his energy into making sure no one knew what was wrong with him. Why? He … he didn't exactly know why. It was personal, at the very least. He was who he was, and regardless of what he was now he didn't want to change. He couldn't stand being in constant grief, so he supposed …

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Stop it.

He plunged on, his feet soaking up to his ankles, and the air clung to him with grime that made his skin feel like it was about to arbitrarily shrivel up and die, flaking away until he was nothing but bone.

They turned a corner, and suddenly an endless dark tunnel ceased, and a small pinprick of light poured in. The exit.

Which meant that he would probably never return to Sector Seven. Stupid! He cursed himself, shaking his head to clear it.

"What's tha matter?"

"Headache," he lied. Barrett let it go. Aerith may have healed him, but who was to tell him if he could have headache's or not?

He didn't say goodbye.

The water sloshed as Zack's gait faltered to a stop. He hadn't said goodbye. He had been so busy not letting the grief overtake him that he didn't… they… he wouldn't see them—

"Wha' are you doing? Get yer ass movin'!"

Zack licked his suddenly dry lips, "Have you said goodbye to them yet?"

Barrett's large form tripped forward. "Wha?"

"To your friends."

"They're on their way—"

"The ones that aren't going anywhere." Zack didn't know how much more clear he could make it, but Barrett didn't ask any more questions on the clarification.

"They're dead."

A harsh laugh bubbled out of Zack. Great, he was becoming jaded. "Not for them."

"For who then?"

"Never mind." What was he even doing? Expecting Barrett to understand? No… he did understand. That was the part that hurt. Barrett would understand but he wouldn't...

"Did already," Barrett pushed into his back with his gun arm.

Of course he had. Zack shook himself. "Well that's good then," and to appease the giant who had taken to crouching and occupying the entire space of the pipe to avoid grazing any side of it, Zack walked forward. It wouldn't matter if he said goodbye here or there or anywhere.

He wasn't ready for it yet.

He would much prefer to just shove it all away.

Okay, it was official, he hated dark tiny spaces. He needed to get out. They were making him depressed and they were making it very hard to feel better.

He would find Aerith soon enough. At least she didn't frown at him every time he tried to lighten the mood. It almost felt like it had become a conspiracy whenever she would quietly drag her knees up to her mouth to hide her smile.

"Get a move on, don' wanna be here when it floods."

"If it floods, then you got some very faulty information."

"I'm terribly sorry," Red's muffled voice broke Tifa's musings.

"For what?"

"When… are we going to be let out?"

Tifa smiled briefly in understanding. It was true, and even she was horribly cramped. "Not long." I hope. She had her feet jammed in a corner near the top of the crate, and her back in another. She couldn't even stretch her arm across without her wrist hitting the other side. The air was stale and humid and it made her hair stick to her neck and dampen. When they got out, it was probably going to frizz.

"Um," she felt almost embarrassed to ask, "Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going? After this. In general."

"Kalm."

"After that."

Cloud didn't answer her immediately. "Probably Wutai, if we need to go somewhere else."

"I've never been to Wutai before." Was it selfish of her to hope that Aerith had fallen asleep? Red would probably only butt into their conversation if he wanted to ask a question. Tifa was fine with that. But please, just let us talk a bit more…

"You haven't?" He sounded a bit surprised.

"No" A smile pulled at her lips. "I always wanted to."

"I thought..."

"I taught myself." Those were the darkest days of her life, when she wandered the countryside mindlessly beating anything that came her way. She was just… so angry. She reformed her Master's teachings until they were adaptable regardless of her opponent, but other than that… "I taught myself after..." she trailed off.

She couldn't look for another teacher.

"We'll go to Ningbo then."

"Ningbo?"

"It's a traditional town… you'd like it."

Now that wasn't fair. She bit the knuckle of her thumb, unable to stop the smile from spreading across it. "What's there?"

"It's not a tourist attraction… like the other towns. It's in the mountain range that Da Chao Mountain is. It's hard to get there but the tradition is more or less the same before-"

"Shinra."

"Before the war."

There was a difference? Tifa decided not to press it, even though she wasn't entirely certain why he would talk of Wutai like it was an old friend. He hadn't been in SOLDIER when Wutai was at war. He hadn't …

"Do you remember," no, she shouldn't say it. Oh, come on, Tifa! "The, uh, the promise you made?"

"Of course."

Her cheeks felt hot. "That's … good."

"Is it?"

Tifa brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "It is."

"I'm … sorry."

"For what?" What could he possibly be sorry for? She tried to think about it, but… nothing came to mind. For leaving? He didn't have to be sorry for going after his dream… which he accomplished. He replaced the disgraced General.

"For not being there. When…"

Oh. He wasn't there. He wasn't there at all. Some part of her had hoped that he had, that he had been for some reason. That he was one of the foot soldiers in the helmets. Apparently not.

"Where," she took in a deep breath, "were you then?"

"I don't know."

"What?" Tifa's body lurched forward, towards his voice. "What do you mean?"

"I was told about… home. But… I don't," Cloud took in a deep breath, "I don't remember what I was doing when it happened."

Then… that guard… Was it really too much to hope for that it really had been Cloud back then? He didn't seem to recognize her, but his voice had been so soft. She twisted her fingers together. "I thought…" she swallowed, "I thought you might have been there. As a guard."

"If I was," he sounded relieved, "then…" she heard a soft chuckle, "I'm sorry for not saying hello. Properly."

"You said hello." He talked to her quite a bit, when the General Sephiroth disappeared for those horrid days. "Or… he did—"

The entire car rocked, and in that moment she realized that they had really left Midgar.

"What did he do?"

"He kept me company," when she actually sought him out, "a little."

He sounded so much like you. But… if it was… then Cloud had left her that night. He'd left her and disappeared when she needed him the most.

Listening to their conversation made Aerith feel wholly unwanted. Red didn't say anything either, and she didn't dare join Tifa and Cloud's conversation or start her own. Not for the first time, she wished that Zack was there.

If only for someone to talk to.

Aerith had her suspicions before, about how Tifa felt about Cloud, but this conversation was something on an entirely different level. It didn't even sound like the Cloud she knew when Tifa talked to him. It sounded like he had become quieter, softer – more gentle.

He sounded his age.

Aerith wouldn't… she couldn't interfere.

No matter how much she liked Cloud's attentions.

The convoy rocked again, and Aerith drew her knees closer. She just wanted out already.

A/N: Hello everyone! I am VERY sorry for the incredibly long summer wait - but here it is! The first chapter of Part Two, or the second arc, if you will. I hope it didn't disappoint in any way! Please, read and review! The next chapter is halfway or so done, but because the start of my university term is coming up updates may be a lot slower - I'll try to make them a lot longer in order to make up for it! R&R please!

Note: I have started a major project called The Fated, which started as a spoof for how ridiculous vampire and werewolf stories were nowadays and morphed into a massive work that will have an even larger sequel. If anyone is interested I will post the first chapter on my website darksentences (.com). After that there may be a long wait because I plan to have the book entirely finished and edited before I release anything after that.