Right. But at the time, I didn't remember how it happened. There were a lot of things I didn't remember, and things I remembered...differently from how they really went. Tifa and the others helped me restore my memory before Meteorfall.
[Cloud wonders what Zack's told her, if anything. Wonders if she knows how Zack died, or even that he did definitely die. Nothing for it but to keep going.]
It...wasn't just me and Sephiroth on that mission. It wasn't my mission at all. I was just there on security detail. The other SOLDIER in Nibelheim that day...it was Zack. He was my friend. Best friend I had. Only friend I had, really. Aerith...I never was in SOLDIER. Never made it, not for lack of trying. Everything I told you about...being First Class, joining the program after the war ended, all of that. It was all a lie. I just...didn't realize it.
[His gaze has dropped by then to their hands clasped on the bartop.]
no subject
[Cloud wonders what Zack's told her, if anything. Wonders if she knows how Zack died, or even that he did definitely die. Nothing for it but to keep going.]
It...wasn't just me and Sephiroth on that mission. It wasn't my mission at all. I was just there on security detail. The other SOLDIER in Nibelheim that day...it was Zack. He was my friend. Best friend I had. Only friend I had, really. Aerith...I never was in SOLDIER. Never made it, not for lack of trying. Everything I told you about...being First Class, joining the program after the war ended, all of that. It was all a lie. I just...didn't realize it.
[His gaze has dropped by then to their hands clasped on the bartop.]