Chapter 28
"Do I still have to be tied up for this?" Zack was asking.
"Whoever you are, you're ex-SOLDIER," said Barret, "so yeah. You're stayin' tied up 'til Tifa says otherwise."
But Aeris was sure, this time. She couldn't have explained it in so many words, but the way he looked at her, the way he spoke, even the slightly exasperated shrug of his shoulders... it was him. He was alive, and he was okay, and he was here.
"Are you at least gonna introduce me to the rest of your friends?" he asked, looking over their motley crew with raised eyebrows.
"Not yet," said Tifa.
"Soon," Aeris promised. She didn't want to argue with Tifa, even if she disagreed. Tifa had every reason to be cautious after Gongaga. To be slow and thorough, instead of trusting anyone's gut feeling, even Aeris's.
"Okay then," said Zack. "Nibelheim." But he hesitated still. "This isn't gonna be a fun time, Tifa."
"You think I don't know that?"
He nodded. "Right. Sorry. I just... haven't talked to anyone about it before. Sounds like you have."
Aeris felt for him. Nibelheim might not have been his hometown, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful for him to recall. Sephiroth had been his commanding officer, maybe even someone he'd considered a friend, and in a few short days he'd watched him descend into madness and slaughter innocent people.
"We know Tifa's part of the story," Aeris confirmed. "And we've talked to Cloud, too. But they're both missing some things."
Zack blinked, but Yuffie must have already told him about Cloud, because he didn't seem so surprised. "Right," he said, "if he's with you guys then... Well, at least he finally came clean about that." He paused, and under Tifa's steady gaze, he nodded again and went on.
"Okay. The reactor, then. You and Cloud were waiting outside, so you never saw how it all started. It wasn't a malfunction that the reactor was producing monsters; Hojo had set it up that way as part of some experiment. And right in the middle of it, there was this door with the name of Sephiroth's mother on it--"
"The door in there says 'Jenova,'" Yuffie interjected.
"Right," said Zack. "Sephiroth's mother."
Vincent finally looked up from the file Aeris had given him, but it was Jessie who said, "His mother's name is Lucrecia."
Zack frowned and shook his head. "Look, I only know what he told me, and he didn't say anything about a Lucrecia. He said his mother's name was Jenova, and that she died giving birth to him."
Vincent bristled. "Then he was lied to," he said.
"Yeah," said Zack. "That much I know. But just finding that door, and those monsters, he started freaking out. He was saying, maybe he was a monster, too. That he wasn't human."
It was still easy to pity Sephiroth, thinking of the life he'd led until then, and what he must have felt in that moment. Like Aeris, Shinra had treated him like a lab rat, but unlike Aeris, he hadn't always known what he was, where he'd come from. But the man he'd become... if that was really a path he'd chosen for himself, then there was no place for pity anymore.
"And then he went to the Shinra mansion," said Tifa.
Zack nodded. "I found him down in the basement, reading all these old files on something called the Jenova Project. The day he lost it... He told me that he was the product of an experiment, that Jenova was an Ancient and so was he. He said that humans had stolen the Planet from the Ancients, and that he was going to take it back."
Aeris frowned. "So, he really thought he was an Ancient, back then?"
"Are you saying he's not?"
"Jenova isn't an Ancient," Aeris said. "It's... something else. An alien thing that nearly wiped out the Cetra two thousand years ago, and wants to destroy our Planet. And Sephiroth knows that now."
"How do you know all that?" Zack wondered.
Aeris faltered. He was the one person here who still thought she was normal, and human. She realized as she thought of it that there was no longer anything appealing about that pretense, but she didn't think this was the moment to tell him.
"You still haven't finished your story," said Tifa.
Zack looked back at her, and then broke her gaze. It wasn't like him, but he'd never talked about anything like this with Aeris before. "Tifa... you know what happened next. I ran after him as fast as I could, but by the time I got out of the mansion, everything was already up in flames. Zangan told me you'd gone to the reactor looking for your father, and Sephiroth was headed there, too. But I got there too late. I really thought you were done for... I'm glad I was wrong."
"What happened then?" Tifa pressed.
"What else? I tried to put an end to it. To Sephiroth. But I... couldn't. That's when Cloud came. He took my sword and stabbed Sephiroth in the back."
Tifa blinked in surprise. "Cloud did?"
Zack nodded. "But I blacked out after that. Next thing I knew, Cloud and I were down in that damn basement, with lab techs looking after us."
"You remember being there?" Aeris wondered. Cloud didn't seem to remember any of it.
"Some," he said. "I was in and out a lot. I had no idea it'd been years until I got out of there."
"Yeah, an' how did you get out?" Barret asked suspiciously.
"No idea," Zack said with a shake of his head. "We were trying to plan an escape, me an' Cloud, but we never got to it. I had some weird dreams, and then I woke up outside of Midgar. Must've been about three weeks ago now."
"That's around the time Sephiroth was there," said Jessie, looking to Aeris. Aeris swallowed, remembering her theory that it might have been one of the clones who had freed Jenova. Zack was one of them, as much as Cloud was. But it couldn't really have been him that they'd seen in the Shinra building that night, could it?
"I'm not Sephiroth," Zack said, sounding like he'd said as much to Yuffie a few times already. "I don't know how I wound up there, all right? Still kinda freaks me out, to be honest."
"Well, how did you wind up here then?" Tifa asked him.
"I was trying to go back for Cloud," he explained. "I came down through Junon, and made my way west from there. Got really lost in those mountains for a couple days. I must've made it back to Nibelheim just after you guys had passed through."
The same general route that they had taken, Aeris thought. Had they really been so close this whole time, missing each other by days everywhere they went?
"You knew we were there?" Tifa asked guardedly.
"The kid told me," he said, "and the Turks showed up, while I was there. They'd been tracking you--tracking AVALANCHE, anyway. I didn't know that was you at the time. I figured I'd hitch a ride with my old buddy Tseng, and maybe I could find out from him what happened to Cloud and why the town looked like that."
"Tseng didn't say anything about that," Aeris said, brow furrowing in confusion. He'd handed her that file without a word.
"Sorry, I meant I stowed away and pretended to be one of his men." Zack nodded down at the uniform he was wearing. "I picked up this disguise back in Junon. Smelled better than what I'd been wearing, and it's really great for hiding in plain sight." He glanced at Tifa. "Even people who know you don't recognize you."
Tifa didn't respond to that. Instead she said, "And that's when you found out about his meeting with Aeris."
"Right! I couldn't pass up the chance."
"What about Cloud?"
Zack shook his head. "I found the mission report. The Turks didn't know where he'd gone either, and I guess after all this time I just really wanted to see a friendly face. Anyway, it worked out. He's back at Cosmo Canyon, right? That's not even an hour away from here."
His eagerness was obvious in his voice and his posture, and Aeris looked to Tifa. "Convinced yet?"
At last Tifa nodded, and Aeris hurried forward to untie him. His hands freed, Zack rubbed at his wrists.
"Am I allowed to hug you now," he asked, "or will your friends murder me?"
"No one's going to murder you," Tifa said, her voice finally softening.
Aeris was already wrapping her arms around him. She felt his enfold her, his chin coming to rest on the top of her head. There was a familiarity to it that took her back years. She'd been so much younger then, a different person really. They'd both been through so much in the time apart.
"Sorry about the third degree," Tifa went on. "We just... had to be sure, this time."
"I get it," Zack said over Aeris's head. "I mean, I don't really get it. The Sephiroth I knew would do a shit job of impersonating me, and I don't know why he'd do it. But... he's a dangerous guy. I get that."
"Yeah, well, I'm still gonna be keeping an eye on you," said Yuffie.
"Who is this kid anyway? She's pretty... forceful."
Aeris bit back a laugh and drew back from him. His hands dropped to her waist. "That's Yuffie--" she began.
"And I'm not a kid!"
"Right. She's young, but she's capable. I guess I'd better introduce you to everyone. This is Barret, he started AVALANCHE, and Jessie, she's our tech expert, sort of the brains of the operation."--Jessie beamed at the description--"And that's Nanaki, of Cosmo Canyon--yes, he talks. And that's Vincent... former Turk," she decided. There was a lot that could be said about Vincent, but that was how he'd introduced himself to them.
Zack did a double-take of Nanaki, who had yet to actually speak in his presence, and eyed Vincent curiously--he would've known any Turks from his time, and Vincent definitely wasn't one of them. "All right," he said. "Weird circumstances aside, it's nice to meet everyone."
Aeris caught Tifa's eye and went on, "And of course you've met Tifa, but she's the leader of AVALANCHE now. And... my girlfriend."
"Your girlfriend?" Zack repeated, and after a beat he hurriedly lifted his hands from her waist. "Sorry. Didn't know."
His reaction seemed to amuse Tifa, and she said, "It's okay. There's a lot you don't know, really."
"Five years in a tank'll do that," he said. "Care to fill me in? ...maybe on the way to Cosmo Canyon? I really wanna see Cloud, too."
"Sure," Tifa decided.
Between the two vehicles, there was plenty of space for them to ride comfortably, but Tifa was driving the old truck, so Aeris and Zack sat up front with her to talk, and Barret insisted on riding in the back. Zack might have been Zack, but he was still a newcomer, and Barret always had some suspicion for those.
"Where do we even start?" Aeris wondered as the truck got moving. "It's been so long."
"How's your mom?" Zack asked. "Is she doing okay?"
Aeris nodded. "She's fine. She's staying with some friends of Tifa's right now."
"That's good. I'm glad to hear that."
The first thing he'd done was ask after her mother. And as far as he knew, Elmyra was the only mother she'd ever had. "Actually... Before anything else, there is something I want to tell you, about me. It feels strange that you don't know, since you met me before everyone else, but I was working really hard back then to keep it a secret."
Zack quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is it that you're into girls? Because I think the cat's already out of the bag on that one."
"No, silly, and that was never a secret." She shook her head, smile fading. "I'm talking about... my heritage. Elmyra isn't my birth mom. I'm a Cetra. The very last."
"What?" said Zack, his expression slackening in clear surprise, and Tifa glanced over at him. "You don't mean... like Sephiroth thought he was?"
"Right. But, I really am."
"Wow. That's... Feels a little surreal."
"You're not freaking out, are you?"
Zack shook his head quickly. "No, no. I'm just trying to figure out what it means. Do you have any actual powers? Can you read my mind? ...man, I hope you can't read my mind."
Aeris laughed. "No, nothing like that. But, I can speak to the Planet."
"Huh. What, uh... What exactly do planets talk about?"
"Oh, lots of things," she said. "Right now... it's mostly worried."
"Because of Sephiroth?"
"Mm. He's trying to destroy it. But, we're not going to let him do that."
"I don't know if we should get into that too much," Tifa interjected finally.
Zack leaned forward, looking past Aeris to catch Tifa's eye. "Why not? I can help, you know."
Aeris exchanged glances with Tifa.
"...what am I missing here?" asked Zack.
"You know," Aeris began cautiously, "how Shinra was experimenting on you, right?"
Zack ran a hand through his hair. "Kinda hard to miss that," he said.
"Well, part of that experiment was to inject you with Jenova cells. Cloud went through the same thing, and... we think Sephiroth's been able to spy on us, through him."
"So... you can't read my mind, but you're saying Sephiroth can?"
Aeris shook her head. "Maybe. I'm not sure how it works."
"Well, why do you think that anyway? What's he done?"
"He... he knew something I'd said to Cloud in private. And I think he must have known how badly we wanted to find you, and that's why he tried to impersonate you."
Zack was quiet for a moment. "You were looking for me?"
Aeris nodded. "Once Cloud told us you were alive. And I really wish you could help, Zack. I'd like it if you could come with us."
"Well--" His mouth twisted into a grimace. "Come on, that's bullshit. Just don't tell me anything sensitive if it's gotta be that way. I can still swing a sword at him."
Tifa glanced his way again. "Well..."
"...he also took control of Cloud," Aeris finished. "Just for a second! But..."
"What the fuck?" said Zack. "Is Cloud okay?"
"He's been feeling pretty guilty about it, but he's not hurt," said Tifa.
"I know he'll be glad to see you," said Aeris, but then she remembered how much their run-in with Sephiroth in Gongaga would temper that, and she added, "Once he's sure it's you. He'll probably be wary at first, too."
Zack shook his head. "Man. I didn't need any more reasons to hate Sephiroth, but he's really racking them up. Making it so my friends can't trust me..."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault. But you know, I feel fine. I feel good. I feel like I could kick his ass."
Aeris looked hopefully to Tifa, and she frowned, but she said, "I'll think about it."
Zack sighed. "Can you at least tell me something about this AVALANCHE business? I was trying not to stare, but a lot of your crew is really begging for an explanation."
Tifa's expression softened. "Sure," she said. "I think we can catch you up on most things. We just can't get into our plans. That's all."
There was a lot to tell, and Tifa kept things brief as she told Zack how she'd wound up in Midgar and joined AVALANCHE--she still called it that, even though it sounded to Aeris like she and Jessie and Barret had formed it together. She told him about her bar, about Marlene, about Wedge, who he wouldn't meet just now, and Biggs, who he never would.
Aeris went on to tell him how they'd met after the bombing mission, and how everything had escalated from there. Sector 7's destruction, Aeris's kidnapping, their escape from the Shinra building... Meeting Yuffie on their journey west, the ocean crossing, their arrival in Nibelheim, where they'd found Cloud and Vincent, and some answers at last. They told him what had happened in Gongaga, and about the Turks' attack at Cosmo Canyon that had enabled them to negotiate with Tseng.
They left things out, of course. Aeris didn't want to get into what she'd learned of her father, and it wasn't their place to tell him the more personal things they'd learned about their companions over the past few weeks. He'd only just met them.
"Damn," said Zack, running a hand through his hair. "You guys have had an eventful few weeks."
"We really have," Aeris agreed. "After we beat Sephiroth, I think I'll take a vacation."
Tifa glanced at her. "You'll have earned it."
"Oh, you're coming with me," Aeris insisted. "There are still lots of places we haven't been to, so we're going to pick one, and we're going to go there, and do absolutely nothing."
"I'm not sure doing absolutely nothing would suit you," said Tifa. Was she implying what Aeris thought she was implying, or was she reading into things again? She decided not to test it, with Zack there.
The sunset light had gone from the sky by the time they reached Cosmo Canyon. Tifa was slow getting out of the truck, definitely getting tired, and Zack outpaced them up the steps. Ira greeted him at the gate, to their mutual confusion, since it hadn't really been Zack here a few days ago.
"Where's Cloud?" he asked as the others came up behind him, though he immediately turned again to the gatekeeper. "Spiky blond hair? He around somewhere?"
Aeris looked across the common and pointed. "Is that him at the bonfire?"
Zack was off in a flash to confirm it, and Aeris exchanged glances with Tifa. They started after him, but Yuffie was faster.
"Are you stupid or something?" Aeris heard Yuffie demanding as she caught him up.
Cloud still maintained a wary distance from Zack by the time Aeris and Tifa reached the bonfire, but he looked to them hopefully for confirmation.
"It's really him?"
Aeris nodded. "It really is."
"We grilled him pretty good," Tifa added.
"Boy, did they," said Zack. "This teenage punk tied me up and everything, and--"
He broke off as Cloud pulled him into a hug, and his expression softened as he returned it.
"Missed you, too, buddy."
"I didn't know where you'd gone..."
"Me neither, honestly. I'll tell you about it."
Most of the others had gathered behind them, there to witness the reunion, though Aeris noticed Vincent going off on his own. She couldn't blame him; Lucrecia's file didn't have any definitive answers about what had happened to her, but there wasn't much room in it for hope.
"Guess he's passed the Cloud test, too," Yuffie remarked from beside her, folding her arms.
"Weren't you the first one he convinced?" Aeris wondered.
"Yeah, but then he called me a kid, so he's back on my shit list."
Aeris smiled and shook her head. Zack and Cloud pulled apart, and Cloud looked him over.
"What are you wearing?" he asked.
"What are you wearing?" Zack replied, plucking at his shirt. "This is a real country boy look you've got going on."
Cloud blushed.
Oh, Aeris thought. Too soon to say for sure, but maybe she and Cloud had even more in common than she'd thought. She glanced at Tifa, but she didn't seem to have noticed anything.
"Maybe we should leave you two to catch up," Jessie suggested, and Aeris caught her eye. Had she seen it?
"What?" said Zack. "Come on, we just got everybody together. I'm thinking: huge party. Can we get cake here? I can't remember the last time I had cake."
"I'm surprised it wasn't a priority," said Aeris.
"Chocolate ice cream was the priority," Zack informed her seriously. "I've got a whole list here, but somehow I haven't crossed off cake yet," he went on, and Aeris stifled a laugh as he actually pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of the pocket of his uniform.
"You're such a dork," said Cloud, smiling.
"Like you're not," said Zack, ruffling his hair. "You just try an' tell me you don't have the biggest cake craving right now."
"...cake does sound nice," Cloud admitted.
"Well," said Tifa, "a party's not such a bad idea. It's probably our last night here."
"You sure about that, Teef?" Barret asked, and Aeris worried, too, that she was pushing herself too hard. Today hadn't quite been the day of rest that it should have.
But Tifa nodded. "Yeah. We need to get moving."
Zack was looking at her like he wanted to ask her again about coming along, but he kept his mouth shut. He hadn't given her much time to think it over, yet.
"There was some talk already of a welcome-home celebration for me," Nanaki spoke up. "Perhaps we can still put something together. Considering our mission and what you all have done to protect the canyon, I know people will be willing to help."
"Oh," said Tifa, "I didn't even think to involve them. I thought it would just be low-key."
"On such short notice, it likely will be."
"Do you need any help?" Jessie asked him.
"I will let you know," he said, and he trotted off towards the pub.
When was the last time Aeris had been to a party? And she'd never been to one under open sky, she thought as she glanced around the canyon, trying to imagine it. It was too bad she didn't have anything fun to dress up in. Her eyes fell on Zack, in that stolen uniform, and she frowned. That wouldn't do.
"All right," she announced, reaching for his hand, "you're coming with me. You can't go to this party in a Shinra uniform."
"Oh!" Zack glanced down at her hand and then at Tifa. "Well, if you insist..."
Aeris caught a look of disappointment flash across Cloud's face, and she nodded to him. "You, too, Cloud. It's about time you got some clothes of your own."
"No, that's--"
"My treat!" Zack interrupted. "Come on, it'll be fun."
Cloud nodded, relenting easily. Aeris threw Tifa a smile she hoped was reassuring before she led the two boys away from the bonfire towards a clothing shop she'd noted when she'd first explored the canyon. The styles here were earthy, maybe not to Zack's taste, and maybe not any less 'country' than what Cloud already wore, but better than nothing.
And Aeris could at least have fun looking.
"So, I get the feeling Tifa doesn't like me," Zack remarked as they started browsing.
"She just doesn't know how to talk to you," Aeris assured him. "And she approved your party idea, didn't she? Give it time."
"I guess we did meet at a weird time. Still, maybe you could put in a good word? Me and Cloud, we're not useless, you know."
Cloud glanced up from checking the size on a pair of pants. "What're you talking about?"
"If they're fighting Sephiroth, I wanna join up," said Zack. "Don't you?"
"...I can't, Zack."
"They told me what went down in Gongaga," said Zack, looking at him sympathetically. "But if Sephiroth's got some kind of mind tricks, we'll just have to keep each other sane. I mean, hell, you were the only one of us who even scored a hit on him back then."
Cloud stared at him. "Me?"
"Yeah, you. You stabbed him in the back, you really don't remember that?"
"Not really," Cloud admitted, but he looked thoughtful, and Aeris wondered if knowing that would give him any more confidence in himself. Maybe it would help him combat whatever hold Sephiroth might have on him, and maybe Zack was right, that they could fight it better together.
"I'll try talking to Tifa about it," she said. "I know she's hated leaving Cloud out of things, but she's worried. She's trying to think about what's going to give us our best chance."
"I feel like our best chance is to stick together," Zack insisted. "I hate to think of you facing him without me. You weren't even involved in any of this, before."
Cloud glanced between them, folded the pants over his arm, and picked up a shirt seemingly at random. "I'm gonna go try these on," he said.
Did he feel like he was intruding, again? Or maybe it was the way Zack had said that. It didn't seem like he'd told Cloud about her, but it wasn't hard to pick up on. It had been long enough, for her, but she could tell Zack's feelings hadn't had the space to fade.
"A lot's changed since then," Aeris reminded him. "I'm involved in it now. And, I think it was inevitable. I was called to this."
He quirked an eyebrow at her. "What, like a destiny?"
"More like a duty. Even before I knew Jenova had anything to do with it, I thought it was time. I have to do my part to protect this Planet."
"Heh."
"What?"
Zack shook his head. "Nothing, you just... It's really been five years, huh? You've grown up."
Aeris put her hands on her hips. "If you're saying I was immature..."
"Pot calling the kettle black, I know," he said. "We were both kids back then. And maybe I haven't changed that much, but you seem so much more sure of yourself."
"Well, I have had a lot more experience," she said, and then she threw him a sly look. "Maybe I'm the expert in kissing girls now."
Zack looked at her in exaggerated shock. "What? Come on, I can handle losing you to Tifa, but you really gotta move in on my territory like that?"
"Sorry," Aeris giggled. "But, since I won't be kissing any boys for the foreseeable future, maybe you could give that a try instead."
"Uh..."
"Not an option?" she wondered, and she glanced behind him, but Cloud was taking his time.
Zack scratched his head. "I didn't say that. I just didn't realize you knew."
"Subtlety isn't exactly your forte," Aeris pointed out. "You definitely checked out some guys' butts, back when we were dating."
"I... probably did do that, yes."
Aeris smiled and pushed a few shirts at him for him to try on. "Let's get you out of that uniform then," she said. "For the boys."
Zack smirked back at her. "All right. Okay. But then we gotta see about getting you dolled up for Tifa. Only fair, right?"
"Right," Aeris said, and she was glad, for how well he was taking it. While she'd given him up for a lost cause, she wondered if the thought of a reunion was something that had helped him keep going, during his captivity. Even after learning five years had passed, he must have still hoped, and she wouldn't have blamed him for showing his disappointment.
Instead, he seemed determined to show her that he supported her decision. They'd never just been friends, but it felt like an easy dynamic now. She hoped they could be.