Aerith's traveling soldier 2

Chapter 2

I write down my finishing time into the staff log book. My hand briefly brushing the pocketed letter promising Zack’s return hidden in my jeans pocket. I folded up the apron I’d been wearing and placed it in the cabinet for whoever was coming in after me. Tifa and Lili both wishing me good luck as I go outside, where the sun had peeked out behind the clouds and the breeze had finally gone down.

I walk a little away, but not so far that he couldn’t see me when he came. I found a small bench and sat down while I watched the sun send a rainbow across the sky. I bow my head for a moment, hoping it meant good fortune for the many soldiers, both here and elsewhere, and that they would see their loved ones again.

As the time passed I could feel my heart beats getting quicker with the anticipation of his return. It was still a little early I thought, fingering the letter that have moved from my pocket to my hands and it had only been 40 minuets since he’d left. I don’t think I’ve ever had a longer 40 minuets, and hope I never do again.

My eyes scan the people walking up and down the sidewalk, checking every uniformed soldier to see if it was Zack returning. Then in the corner of my eyes I saw a soldier running, and I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding and smiled. Zack matched my smile as he came closer and closer... before falling flat on his face as he tripped on the step just ahead of where I’d been sitting.

I jumped up and ran over to him. He laughed as he lied on the ground as he turned himself onto his back and looked up at me looking down at him.

“Ah, I must have hit my head harder then I thought when I tripped just then” Zack said, with a half formed smirk on his lips.

“What?” I ask, lending a hand to help him up.

“Well, I must be in heaven, cause surely I’m looking at an angel’ he grinned brightly as I blushed. I let go of his hand letting him fall back on his behind. I pouted for about a moment, before strait out laughing.

“That has got to be one of the corniest things a guy has told me... but I liked it” I smiled, feeling more relaxed now.

“Here” he opened his hand to show a pink ribbon, “I, uh, searched all over for a gift that could come anywhere near meeting your beauty”. I took the pink ribbon, made of a soft silky fabric with edges embroidered in a darker pink. It did look beautiful, simple and elegant. I tided my hair into a ponytail, my hairs natural ringlets falling into place. I looked back to Zack who looked at me as though I really was an angel. He blushed quickly, looking down.

“Uh, yeah. Pink surely suits you”. I walk over to him and stand on my toes and chastely kissed his cheek. I grin as his blush deepened.

“Thankyou” I say, and take his hand as I lead him towards my favourite place in the town, on the side of the river beside the pier. As we walk together in silence he intertwines his fingers with mine. I let him.

“By the way, my name’s Aerith”

“Aerith” Zack sounds it out slowly. “Yup, sounds like an angels name to me”

I give him a playful shove and he starts jogging backwards as I chase him, both of us laughing loudly.

I stop chasing as we pass a patch of tulips, my favourite flowers. Zack notices me pausing to look at them. His blue eye’s gazing at mine. It nearly feels like you are looking right through to the sky behind him, or into a personal heaven held within him.

Zack smiles at me and picks a soft pink flower out of the multicoloured patch and holds it out to me. I take the flower and place it behind my ear where it feels comfortable.

“Do you think that I look pretty with the flower in my hair hmm?” I ask, grinning at him.

“No” he laugh softly, to which I respond with a pout, “I think you make the flower look good”. I’m flattered by his comment, and only for a moment before I start laughing again.

“You know, there’s something about you that just makes me want to chase after you” He says, his arms folded looking very serious.

“Oh really?” I ask, “Well, then why don’t you give it a try?” I laugh a Zack's quizzical expression for a moment as I take deliberate backward steps along the road, keeping his eye’s locked to mind. Then he follows, taking one slow deliberate step, then another and then a quicker one. I turn, laughing out loud, as I run towards the beach with Zack closing the gap between us quickly.

In a matter of moments Zack catches up. I slow down thinking he’d grab me from behind but he keeps going until his in-front of me. For a second I wonder what his plans are. Then he ducks. I do a double take as I feel his arms go around me and I’m lifted up over his shoulder. I laugh hard as Zack walks towards the pier with me over his shoulder, as though I weighed nothing.

“You’re a funny guy you know” I say after a moment, still smiling and still lying over Zack’s comfortable shoulder. Zack puts on a hurt look for a moment before grinning.

“Maybe so, but I still got us to the pier a lot quicker” He puts me down and I look forward to see the sandy hills that surround the beach near the pier.

We climb over the top of the sand banks and Zack looked in awe at the ocean and the pier, the sun was already in the last quarter of the sky and hinting at the vibrant sunset the smattering of clouds left in the sky would make before it finished it’s decent. What was best though, was that the beach was completely empty so we had it all to ourselves.

We walk over to the pier which was sticking out of the sand at our chest height from where we were standing, lower down on the slope. Zack lifts me up and sits me effortlessly on the pier’s edge before pulling himself up.

He takes my hand again as we walk out along the water and sit letting our legs swing under us. We sit and talk a while, while the sun reminds us that outside the world was still turning.

“You know what?” he asks after we had been talking for a while.

“Mmm, what?” I ask back.

“I bet you got a boyfriend, but I don’t care. I got no one to send a letter to. Would you mind if I sent one back here to you” He looks at me, our eyes meeting again, and they send a charge through me as they always seamed to.

I sit stunned for a moment, the idea of having someone write back to me to unreal after knowing all my friends who had men writing to them. I’ve always been the unattached one. But something about Zack just makes me curious.

I smile at Zack as I come back from my thoughts, “Of cause you can Zack, and I don’t have a boyfriend”.

“Really?” his grin ecstatic. I laugh at his cute expression. He takes my hand again and we spend the rest of the time we had together learning about everything we could about each other.

We talked about our jobs, our families, favourite things, our most hated things, where we see ourselves after the war and everything else in-between.

As the sun spreads colours over the sky, turning the clouds a spread of reds, violets, pinks and oranges above us. We had moved off the wooden pier to the beach as the afternoon had worn on. Zack pulls me closer as we lie together in the sand, to keep me warm and I rest my head on his chest.

“You know what Aerith?” he asks

“Mmm? What?” I ask him

“I want to come back here and sit with you watching the sun fall once the war is over. I’ve had such a good time with you. You’re a great listener.”

I feel Zack’s steady breathing making my head rise and fall on his chest, and the regular beating of his heart sounded comforting and... permanent.

“Zack” I say quietly, to not mess with the mood of the moment

“Yeah?”

“I want you to come back here and sit with me watching the sun fall again and again”

He moves his hand from my stomach and finds mine, resting in the sand, and intertwines his fingers with mine, his other arm wrapping around me, holding me secure and safe in our little world.

The colours flowing through the sky deepen to magenta, dark violets and striking reds. While we lie together with identical soft smiles in the sand with no one around.

“So...” I begin, when a muted beeping sounds from nearby.

Zack, swearing quietly, releases my hand and moves to sit up, pushing me up in turn. He rummages in his backpack for a moment before pulling out the beeping object, a small alarm.

Zack looks back to me, the emotions on his face unreadable.

“That was my alarm, my bus is leaving in an hour, we have to get back to the bus stop or I’ll miss it.” He said, the sentence getting quieter and quieter as he said it. His shoulders slumped slightly, and turned back. Facing away from me.

I get up and I walk calmly up behind him and when I reach him I wrap my arms around him from behind, resting my head against his back.

“Damnit, as much as I want to fight, I’d far rather be here with you. Even if it was only for another hour.”

“You would get in so much trouble though... You know I’ll wait for you right?” I say, barely audible, but as his head nodded I knew he heard me.

His hands took mine and he undid the hug, before turning around to face me and hugging me properly.

Silently we released each other and walked together to his bags. He picked up the largest one, and I took the smaller. Without a word he took my hand and we walked together back to the bus station. Nothing had been so quite and yet still felt so comfortable to me before. And while we didn’t talk, in our silence we said plenty.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sit at the cafe looking out the window at the place the bus took Zack from me, just over half a month ago. He left without ceremony. He placed his pack in the luggage part of the bus, I handed him his smaller bag, which he planned to carry with him. We held each other, as other teary couples did around us, and as he let me go our eye’s met and I stepped forward and stood on my toes and kissed him. The whistle sounded and he picked up his bag, held my hand for a moment longer and his steps took him away.

Tears blotch the envelope, unopened, under my hands. I raise my hand and wipe away the tears, my hand momentarily brushing the pink ribbon I now never leave home without. The letter under my hand is addressed to me. My name and address written in the senders scrawling hand.

The sender.
Zack.

I ever so carefully begin to open the envelope...