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Progress: Incomplete.
Summary: Set a few hours after Aerith arrived in his world. Zack takes a detour from his travels to Luca to go and pick her up.
Location: The streets of Alexandria.
Date: Dated the day of Aerith's arrival.
Warnings: None~

She had started off all fine and good after her call with Zack. Everything felt so surreal, that the flower girl hadn't given herself the opportunity to entirely realise that he was here and so very much alive. Each time such thoughts circled within her mind, the flower girl would do something to keep her busy and distract her. At first, she investigated the church within. It was quaint, but nothing like the small little church she had back in Midgar.

The church had only kept her distracted for so long before the flower girl had been unable to resist the lure of exploring such an unknown city. Her attempt worked like a charm, and she so easily found herself distracted by everything she saw around her. It was so unlike anything she'd ever encountered before that she couldn't help but dart from shop to shop in excitement. Everything was just so different, and the whole city just felt so alive!

Stepping out into the main shopping area, her gaze fell on the hat stall just off to her right. The owner was busy talking to another customer, but that didn't stop the flower girl from moving over to stare at the odd assortment. She couldn't help but giggle lightly in amusement as she saw the corn-shaped hat, and unable to resist, Aerith plucked it off of the stand before testing it out on her head.

"Not many can pull it off, but you're one of the lucky few," the cart owner said moments before Aerith spun around to face him.

"You think so~?" She asked before laughing lightly, "I'm not sure how well I can pull yellow off though teehee~"

The man seemed to ponder for a moment before reaching up and taking a large pale sun-hat from the display. "Try this one on. A pretty girl like you should't be hiding behind that anyway."

"Well, if you put it that way," Aerith teasingly said with a bright smile. Pulling the corn hat off of her head, she happily exchanged the hats before trying on the new one. "How do I look?" She asked while giving a demonstration of the hat by twirling for her audience.

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Finding an airship to Alexandria hadn't been super hard. Anyway, Zack would have walked there on foot if he'd had to. Right before he'd gotten here, he'd been taking Cloud to Midgar so he could - kinda selfishly - find Aerith and grant her wish. He still had the note in his pocket, even now! No way was he going to forget.

She'd looked different, too, but he hadn't let it get to him. Tifa was from the future. Hopefully Aerith wasn't, because man, that would be weird! And he'd feel like he'd let her down, and he didn't want to do that...

He shook the thoughts out of his head. The airship ride felt like it lasted basically a zillion years, and he was antsy.

FINALLY he arrived in Alexandria. He asked several times for directions to a church. She'd said she was going to wander around, but he had to start somewhere. People were a little weird about it, and he heard someone whisper something about "sky people" again, but he paid them no mind.

Finally, in the midst of several shops, he saw her. He recognized the ribbon he'd given her. Wow! She was really still wearing it! That made him pretty happy, and he all but floated through the crowd towards her. When he reached her he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Have time to miss me yet?" he asked, grinning as wide and convincingly as he could manage.

It seemed that her sole audience member approved of the hat, and the thought made her smile subtly to herself. She saw that his attention drifted when someone approached from behind, but the flower girl just assumed that it was another customer. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt the sudden tapping on her shoulder, and with a surprised gasp, Aerith spun around to see who it was.

She felt an onslaught of emotions at the sight of just who it was, that her heart simply couldn't decide how to feel. "Zack," she murmured while looking at him with wide eyes. That smile was one that she remembered, and despite her jumbled emotions, the flower girl offered a fond smile in return.

"Have you had time to miss me yet?" Aerith asked instead of answering his question. There would be time for talk later, and after she took the hat off and gave it back to the seller, she offered her thanks before turning her attention back to Zack.

"You're late~" she said with a soft smile. For such simple words, they held so much meaning in them.

She definitely looked different, although he couldn't put his finger on what it was. She was still pretty, though. And still her. And she wasn't too mad at him for...anything, at the moment! That was a really good sign!

"Well, sure I have! I mean, a lot happened, and..."

He sighed, and his face turned semi-serious.

"Yeah. I know I am. Man! I looked at the list you wrote me, and I came as soon as I could. I mean, I was taking Cloud with me to Midgar, to see you, because he was all messed up from Shinra capturing us after Sephiroth went nuts in the Nibelheim reactor. I wanted to come sooner, but I had to take care of him, too, you know? But! But I didn't forget, see!"

He fumbled around in his clothes for the note in question, and produced it proudly.

How he had managed to not lose it, even he couldn't say.

Zack had always been cute when he fumbled around with his answer, but that was just one of the things that had drawn her to him in the first place. There was just so much to talk about, and half of what she had to say left her feeling cold inside. How could she even bring up what had happened? What would happen?

There was one thing that she was certain of, and that was simply that now wasn't the time for such discussions. It would come soon enough, but for now she just wanted to enjoy the fact that Zack was living and breathing right here with her again.

"Mmm~ I do know, and I'm glad that he had you there to look after him," she honestly murmured before her gaze fell down to the letter in his hand. Aerith knew well what it was, and she felt her heart skip a beat at the thought.

"You got it?" Aerith couldn't help but ask as she took a step in closer to Zack and peered up at him. "I didn't think that you got any of them."

Zack unfolded the letter, his grin back in full-force.

"Well, you didn't trust me to remember all of them, right? So...spend more time with you. That's easy! I can remember that all the time. And you...you're still even wearing that ribbon! I'm really glad you liked it so much."

He looked down at her, wondering what she was thinking. There was something that had passed over her face that he wasn't sure how to read. Something...bad? Had something happened? How many days had he been stuck in Nibelheim, anyway? Stupid Shinra. Stupid Sephiroth. Stupid Nibelheim.

Well, they were here now. At least he could try to make some of it up to her.

"There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't worn it," she admitted honestly. It was one of her most treasured possessions, and even when she'd began to give up hope for Zack's return, Aerith could never bring herself to part with it. Doing that would have let him go entirely, and the flower girl simply couldn't bring herself to ever do that.

"I also got a new dress," Aerith said after a moment. Stepping back to show him, she twirled to give a demonstration of her pink dress before turning back to face Zack. "What do you think?"

He was touched by that information. It was just a silly ribbon, right? But to think that she actually liked it so much!

He nodded his approval. "Yeah, it looks great! You look great."

He'd been so damn worried, and in such a rush to get back. He'd really missed her, after all. He was sorry she'd basically been waiting for him with no word or anything. And he still couldn't be sure how long he was in that stupid tube. Hopefully not too long.

"You think so?" She asked while brushing down the pink material. Aerith was certain that even if he didn't, Zack would still say that he thought she did. The thought brought a smile to her face before she inwardly shook her head and took a step passed him.

"Let's go for a walk," Aerith suggested, but she wasn't exactly giving Zack too much of a choice either as she began walking towards one of the side streets. It was easy enough to keep things light between them for now, but she didn't want to discuss the past with him so publicly... or at all at the moment, since it seemed as though that he didn't know the fact that Cloud made it to Midgar, but he never did.

"'Course I do!" he said, sincerely. He sure as heck wouldn't have told her otherwise, but he did like the dress. It matched the ribbon, anyway, didn't it? Everything all together and all.

"H-hey! Wait up!"

It didn't actually take him long to catch up, of course. He was tall, and she wasn't exactly running. But still. She was pretty impulsive. He guessed he was, too, though.

"Where are you going? It's not like you know where anything is, is it?"

She couldn't help but giggle lightly at his call. Even if she'd wanted to, Aerith knew that she couldn't get away from Zack, and it didn't take long for the SOLDIER to catch up and walk alongside her.

"No~ but it's an adventure trying to figure all of that out, right?" Aerith said. She honestly had no idea where she was walking to, but the flower girl got the feeling that she'd just know the right place to stop when it came time to it. "It really is lovely here, and so unlike Midgar."

Zack shrugged. He guessed she had a good point. It wasn't like he knew anything, either. He still had to get to Luca so Tifa wasn't waiting forever. But once they were done exploring, he figured he could take Aerith there, too. She'd probably get along great with Tifa, right?

"Yeah, this place is pretty. I forgot, you've never been out of Midgar, huh? See, the sky here...it's not scary at all." He pointed up, as if to prove his point. He'd always liked the sky just fine. In a way, living someplace like Midgar would suck.

It took all of her willpower not to pause at the mention of never leaving Midgar. That had been true up until the moment that she'd run into Cloud and the others, and since then, Aerith had seen more of the Planet than she ever dreamed of. But that had been after Zack had disappeared, and the reminder of that was a constant weight in her mind.

That didn't stop her from glancing up to the sky he pointed at. Shaking her head lightly, her attention dropped back down to Zack. "No, you definitely showed me that it wasn't," she murmured with a smile. It had been all because of Zack that so many things in her life had changed, and Aerith knew that she owed the SOLDIER so much. "Is it true that Midgar's here? Someone else mentioned that Wutai was as well."

"I...I did?" He tried to think when that was. Had he taken her to see the sky? BOY he'd sure meant to. Damnit, why was everyone but him from the future! That still didn't make any sense!

"Well, I haven't been here very long. I heard Midgar was here, but...it's ruined. It's just...moogles and stuff, now. I don't know why. I haven't heard about Wutai, but it's on the map?"

He pulled out the phone he'd been given, messed with it for a minute, then held it out to her. The map was displayed, and sure enough, Wutai was on it.

Aerith realised her mistake, and she covered up her reaction with a light laugh. "Well you spoke so fondly of it, how could anyone stay afraid?" She said. While he may not have proven it to her personally, it had been his encouragement that had eventually drawn her to the upper plate.

"Mmm~ I did hear that about Midgar," she murmured while her attention drifted down to the map on the display. She hadn't played around with her skyphone much yet, so this was the first time she actually saw what the world looked like.

"That's where we must be," Aerith said as she reached over to point at the dot indicating Alexandria. Trailing her eyes along the map, she felt them widen when she saw just how close to Midgar they were. "We're so close to Midgar!" Glancing back up at him, Aerith put on her sweetest smile as she asked, "Can we quickly go there before heading to Luca?"

Zack sort of frowned at her. It wasn't an angry frown, just a concerned one.

"Well, I dunno. You sure you really want to see your home all messed up?"

Although, if it had been such an important place to him, he'd go anyway. He knew that. She loved her home, and her little church, as far as he knew. So...he could guess what her answer was going to be.

The frown was cute, but it didn't strip away her hopeful expression while he spoke those words. Aerith could understand his concerns, but while it would be hard to see her home and church in such a state, she had other reasons for going to visit the Midgar ruins.

"Mmmhm~ it will always be my home regardless of what it looks like," Aerith cheerfully said before reaching down to tug at his hand. "Besides, there's nothing to worry about if I have you there with me, right?"

Well, if she really insisted...

He took the phone back and put it back in his pocket. "Okay then! Let's go. But...don't be too sad, okay? Just remember that back home, the real deal is there, and it's just the same as ever! And you're right. You'll have me to protect you."

Aerith's expression instantly brightened when Zack gave in. "I promise!" She said without hesitation. Elmyra was safe back in their Midgar, and Zack... Zack had evaded his fate by being here in this world. That was something that would keep the smile on her face.

"I think that all the monsters will run the other way with you there with me," Aerith said with an amused giggle before she turned and began heading off again. Now all they had to do was find their way to Midgar. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

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SO LATE I AM SORRY

That's okay! i remember you saying that you'd be busy sun/mon :3

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