Zack pulls her abruptly in and Aerith lets out a merry laugh, half out of habit and the other half of joyful surprise, because of all the people she expects to see here, it wouldn't have been him. But then again, her own death leads to this place - is it really that strange that he is too? Isn't that always what she's wanted, anyways: to see him again? ( Maybe in a different context. Or a different time. Or a different something. Just not now when she can't think or breathe or even blink without feeling overwhelmed by it all. )
He's warm, warmer than she can recall her fuzzy memory of a faded romance - if you could call it that, given their younger years are so inexperienced and too hopeful for a callous world. But it's the sort of searing heat that's uncomfortable, not quite burning but makes you yank your hand away. When he touches his forehead to hers, she looks up to see a familiar blue.
But not her blue. In his absence, she has moved on from her love of the skies. It is now the azure of the sea, the ocean, a lighthouse calling sailors home from its unpredictable waters. She has always loved blues and the never-quite-reliable individuals that embody the color, but now her heart no longer wishes for cerulean but is more than happy with an aquamarine. Or a sea-green.
"Zack--" She's saying his name, softly to be gentle, but trying to rip him from his reverie. Her smile is there, but it's strained and unfamiliar. She's not the young romantic she once is, and when he leans in, it breaks her teenage heart.
Once upon a time, this could have been their fated reunion, two long lost lovers brought together by fate, broken hearts restored once more.
But now, she sees it clearly: though each part of a puzzle piece, they do not fit together; their edges do not match; they simply crammed it together before to find some semblance of comfort. And now? Aerith doesn't need to. Not with Liz.
A hand comes up to press against his lips. "Zack," her voice comes a bit firmer this time, calling his attention in a more serious demeanor. She's apologetic in her smile, furrowed eyebrows and stressed posture, as she tries to lean away from him. It doesn't tear her apart as badly as she thinks it does, at first - the guilt comes from knowing he seems to feel the same and she... just doesn't.
"I'm sorry." She doesn't know what else to say. What else can you say? "Will you listen to my story?"
he’s stopped, when he knows he shouldn’t have been and that ━━ takes him a moment. first, he thinks he’s imagining it, that time slowed to a stop the moment their lips collided and it’s just taking a moment for his brain to catch up. in a second he’ll feel that specific warmth he gets only from aerith, from kissing her and having her wrapped around him, all sunflower in bloom and everything he’s ever needed to keep his heart full, his soul alive.
then the second passes. then two, and three, and ━━ “ i’m sorry. ”
zack pulls back, but only just. there’s a light smack as his lips dislodge from what he sees, now, is aerith’s palm, and she’s looking up at him and it’s not what he imagined at all. a dying man’s imaginations can be wild but he knows what it’s like to have aerith look at him in love, like he’s just as much her light as she’s always, always been his and ━
this is something he’s never seen on aerith before.
numbly, zack’s hands fall an inch from aerith’s waist and he rears back another inch. as if the space will clear his vision, will change anything about the saddened twist to her face and make her look at him like she’s awestruck, and in love, and happy.
zack’s brain can be a little slow in the uptake, but it’s working now. the moments are slotting into place, and he sees them, goes through them, like thumbing back the pages of a book to connect the clues. aerith looked shocked, then stunned, then a little sad. a lot sorry. her smiles don’t hit like they should, and maybe that’s because they’re strained, halfway to falling from the effort just to keep it there.
zack blinks and the sound of it is like a slam in his ear, the thud of a book being firmly, suddenly closed.
“ aerith, what ━ are you ... ” his hands won’t tremble, he won’t let them. zack did not falter before an army of men, and he will not falter here. “ ... is everything alright ? ”
