Got lost...course he did. [Cloud's tone is fond; Zack is many things, but a savvy navigator, he is not.
Aerith is right: Cloud really doesn't want to hear that he's amazing. Not for this. Not for surviving this. He shakes his head, jaw clenched, but he still holds onto her hands.]
I didn't beat shit. It was all Zack. Worked himself to exhaustion keeping us both out of Shinra's grasp. ...he had a plan. I kinda remember bits and pieces of that year, more closer to the end of it. He told me we were gonna become mercs together in Midgar.
[We're friends, right?]
And he was headed back to Midgar to see you. If...if it wasn't for me slowing him down, he would've gotten back to you so much sooner. Would've gotten back to you at all. Instead, he...
[No, he has to stop again. He finds himself squeezing Aerith's hands a little too tightly and quickly eases up, taking in a slightly shaky breath and letting it out, swallowing hard. He's gotta get through this story. She has to know.]
...Zack died...because of me. We were so close, but Shinra caught up to us. Sent in the army. And Zack, he...
[The price of freedom is steep.]
He fought them all. All by himself. Held them off. Protected me, knowing there was no getting out of there alive. Knowing it might all be for nothing. And I...knew, when he walked away, he wasn't coming back. Wanted to stop him, but I couldn't. Couldn't do anything.
[He's told the story before, but never to the love of Zack's life. Never to a woman who loved Zack so much she waited for him for five long years, hoping against hope that he was still alive and would come back to her.
Except he wasn't, and never would. Because of Cloud.]
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Aerith is right: Cloud really doesn't want to hear that he's amazing. Not for this. Not for surviving this. He shakes his head, jaw clenched, but he still holds onto her hands.]
I didn't beat shit. It was all Zack. Worked himself to exhaustion keeping us both out of Shinra's grasp. ...he had a plan. I kinda remember bits and pieces of that year, more closer to the end of it. He told me we were gonna become mercs together in Midgar.
[We're friends, right?]
And he was headed back to Midgar to see you. If...if it wasn't for me slowing him down, he would've gotten back to you so much sooner. Would've gotten back to you at all. Instead, he...
[No, he has to stop again. He finds himself squeezing Aerith's hands a little too tightly and quickly eases up, taking in a slightly shaky breath and letting it out, swallowing hard. He's gotta get through this story. She has to know.]
...Zack died...because of me. We were so close, but Shinra caught up to us. Sent in the army. And Zack, he...
[The price of freedom is steep.]
He fought them all. All by himself. Held them off. Protected me, knowing there was no getting out of there alive. Knowing it might all be for nothing. And I...knew, when he walked away, he wasn't coming back. Wanted to stop him, but I couldn't. Couldn't do anything.
[He's told the story before, but never to the love of Zack's life. Never to a woman who loved Zack so much she waited for him for five long years, hoping against hope that he was still alive and would come back to her.
Except he wasn't, and never would. Because of Cloud.]