"It's actually not as bad as it looks," said Aerith as they headed down torn up avenues. "There's even a market by the big hole in the wall. We'll pass it in a minute. I walk through that way just to people watch. There it is over there…"
Zack saw a huge blown out hole in a brick wall where people hustled in and out. He and Aerith followed them in.
The Wall Market was purgatory for gypsies and unlicensed vendors, selling everything from jewelry to Materia to drugs—a third world wonder of Social Darwinism.
Something rushed by Zack's leg.
"All right! Wutai's greatest warrior strikes again!"
"What? Hey my Ice Materia!...AND MY WALLET!" Zack pat his pockets freaking out.
"Oh no Zack, did you lose something?"
"My freakin' wallet! That freakin' kid stole my wallet!" And sure enough they saw a cropped-haired sprite dashing around a corner in the marketplace.
"It's alright, I know that girl…" said Aerith. "So strange, she would never usually do this."
"…I beg to differ," glowered Zack.
"Let me see if I can bring her here."
"We'll split up. Meet back here in fifteen sharp."
She threw him a salute and a wink, then took off into the market.
Zack ran off in the direction he saw the kid go, but stopped when he realized she was nowhere to be found. As he was about to quit, he thought he saw her standing by a wall looking completely innocent. She didn’t try to run at all when he approached her, and he leered with a suspicious look in his eyes.
“Hm…? Hey, you. You wouldn’t happen to be the girl who stole
my wallet, would you?”
“I’m a boy!”
“Eek! Sorry about that. Well, could you help me, then? She
looks like a cross between a bean-pole and a samurai.”
"Yeah I know that kid!”
And he ran off to go get her. Zack leaned against the wall with his arms crossed waiting. The boy would be back any minute. How long could it take?
Fifteen minutes later, he was still waiting.
Aerith saw Zack from behind a storefront, but he didn't see her. An urge seized her, and she ducked back behind the wall with butterflies in her stomach. She peaked out and saw him, looking exasperated and rubbing the back of his neck. He was so naïve it was adorable, so goofy and cute it made her bubbly. Besides…there was something special about him.
Finally, after a personal record of twenty-one minutes waiting, he went off to go find two kids now. Rounding the corner, he saw BOTH of them chatting by a trinket table.
"H-hey! That's the kid who took…" Zack stumbled over himself so flustered as he ran, but they both darted away to get lost in the Wall Market.
Defeated, flabbergasted, he sighed and slumped so far down he could almost touch his toes. What was in his wallet anyway? His ID Card, a picture of his mom's cat, something that young guys keep in their wallets, and if anyone was going to use his bank card—good luck.
Then he saw Aerith running up to him, alone.
"Aerith!"
"Zack!"
"Looks like you've had no luck either…" She sighed and shrugged, and he felt like a huge imposition. "You really don't have to help me, you've helped me so much already. It was my wallet that was stolen after all."
"Oh no Zack, I don't mind, really I want to."
She'd said she wanted to. Ooh that made Zack's heart leap up.
"Let's try again Zack. I'm certain we can catch her this time.”
Her insistent smile lifted him off the ground, and he nodded. They each took either side of the street, him looking one way and her looking another. Finally, Zack caught an unmistakable glimpse of the culprit.
"There she is! I got you now! Aerith! She's running towards you!"
Aerith jumped in front of the little girl with her hands on her hips.
They cornered her against a wall, and he went up to her with his hands on his own hips. "You sneaky little weasel. Why’d you rob me?”
"None of your beeswax!"
"When you stole my wallet, you made it my beeswax!"
Aerith giggled. She turned bright eyes on the little girl, boring into her as if saying you know better.
"You promised me a long time ago you would never steal again.”
The girl sighed. "Fine. Here's your wallet."
She tossed it to Zack and he caught it, then promptly checked all its contents were still there. "Thanks. Next time, if you want something, don't steal from me, just come talk to me!"
The girl crinkled her nose at him. "I'll pass. I think even I have more money in my wallet than you do."
"Hey you little punk, is that how you thank someone who just cut you a break?"
"This is how I thank ugly Shinra SOLDIER dudes!"
She punched him straight in the crotch and dashed off. Zack crumbled to the ground as Aerith caught him.
"Once again, Wutai's greatest warrior is victorious!" And the little girl ran off into the Slums. As for Zack…
"Aaaaaaah I'm gonna drop that squirrel into a reactor!"
But Aerith wrapped her arms around him, helping him to his feet. Maybe getting wacked in the jewels wasn't so bad half the time.
"Poor girl," Aerith fawned.
"Poor girl?!" Zack exclaimed.
"She's a refugee from the Wutai war, she's taking her emotions out on people. She's traumatized."
Zack just pinched his knees together. "Yeah. Totally. Traumatized."
"Are you okay?"
"Yip, awl gude." Zack clenched his teeth, taking deep breaths.
"Let's get out of here, okay?"
"Way ahead of you."
They headed toward the West exit passage, which passed by the souvenir stand on the way.
"Hey Aerith!" the guy working the stand recognized her. "Is that your boyfriend?"
Zack and Aerith exchanged uncertain glances.
"To be honest, I don't really know who he is. He just kinda dropped into my life."
"That's usually how it happens," the guy chuckled, making them both fidget nervously. "I have something you'll like my dear, I thought of you when I was making it."
She walked over and he presented a sterling silver forget-me-not necklace. She gasped.
"It's my favorite flower!"
"I'll give you a special price for all you help out with in the neighborhood."
Zack saw the glint in her eyes, but she just shook her head. "Thanks but I don't have any money right now. Maybe next time—"
"I'll get it."
"Zack!" she almost yelled at him, but he held up two fingers, shushing her. He took out his wallet, paid the man, took the necklace, and motioned for her to turn around. After a tense moment, she caved, and did as told.
He got to brush her fiery mane away from her neck, the flash of her white nape sent blood rushing to his head. He draped his arms over her shoulders for a fraction of a second as he fitted the chain, fastening it with fingertips that tittered against her skin.
She turned to face him, and she was glowing. She felt the necklace with her hand, caressing the sterling with her fingers.
"Thank you," she beamed. They stayed locked in a steady gaze for a long moment, until the souvenir guy broke their spell.
"Hey, you're that guy who lost his wallet. I saw how you let that kid go. Aerith, you're not gonna find a decent, honest, kindhearted guy like this very often. This one has my stamp of approval." She looked at Zack, and Zack looked at the guy. They thanked the man and went on their way, while Aerith kept glancing at Zack sidelong…he saw it.
They walked down an avenue filled with condemned townhouses. This neighborhood was old, colloquial, and sported street signs in another language. Aerith and Zack seemed not to notice any of this, walking beside each other not quite sure what to do with their hands.
"So my house is down this road, but there's a little park over here that's nice to walk through. Would you like to go?"
"Whoa, that kinda sounds like a date."
She looked up at him with shy eyes. Zack smiled, and they turned down toward the park.
A sad little playground with dried sandpits and molded jungle gyms met them. A little path wound around to the most polluted waterway in the city, a river called the Gowanus. Zack scratched his head when they got there.
"It has its charm,” Aerith shrugged.
“Must get so stuffy here, living under the Plate all year round. Don’t you miss the sky?”
“I’ve never seen the sky.” Zack stood taken aback, while she sighed up at the massive durasteel Plate. "The sky frightens me, I feel like its sucking me in."
"That's just because you've never seen it," he reassured her. "Someday, you should come above the Plate to see the sky, a real sky, not a plasteel dome with floodlights. It's beautiful, I know you'll love it."
He was heavily implying that she should let him take her above the Plate sometime, he hoped she would get the hint.
"What color is it?"
Zack stopped for a moment, getting daring, really daring. "It's the color of my eyes."
Brave move. He knew this was all about timing. The hunter in him had instincts not just for hunting monsters, but now he wasn't sure if his quarry would take the bait. He reined his dogs in and kept his cool. She'd either go for it or she wouldn't.
A lulling calm seemed to settle over the playground, something that hung listless in the air between them. A breeze swept wish-flower florets past Aerith that fluttered around Zack in foxtails, and she got lost in his eyes.
"…So pretty," she whispered.
Nailed it!
"You can take a closer look if you want."
A step toward her put him in arms length, locking eyes. Tourmaline oceans gazed down on her, cyan waves taking her to higher planes of awareness. Mako infusion gave him that vibrant neon hue, but she could tell his eyes had been a beautiful blue from birth. As she floated on seas of lapis lazuli, she felt him draw even closer, an electric-edged haze sending silent signals between their worlds.
A sudden nervous jolt in her stomach, and she pushed him away playfully.
Fail.
They walked together down the footpath to the concrete waterfront. Zack kept conversation going.
"So what other hobbies do you have besides gardening?"
"Um…I like to cook."
"What a coincidence! I like to eat!" That got a laugh. "You should cook me dinner sometime, and I can tell you how much you rock at it."
"Maybe if my mom lets me. She's the kind of woman who can wear a suit of medieval armor and take out a whole cavalry by herself. She's lived here her whole life, and is really tough."
A thought occurred to Zack. "Is she your real mom?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You said before 'the woman who raised me.' Just curious."
"Well actually I am adopted, but I consider her my real mom. She took me in when I was a baby, she's been there for me my whole life. Why wouldn't I call her my real mom?"
"She took you in? What did she like find you?"
"No," she chuckled, "an agency helped her get all the paperwork taken care of with the city, but she took me from a woman who couldn't take care of me. That's all I know."
"Have you ever thought of trying to find your real mom, just to know?"
"Not really. I love my mom and she'd do anything for me, that's what makes a family after all. Your true family is the one you make for yourself."
That hit him. Zack stopped dead where he stood. The whole reason he was down there came flooding back to him, and Aerith turned to see him whirling in his mind. She seemed to know what he was thinking, and reached for him in a soft voice.
"You must have really cared about your friend. That fall you took for him, you could have died."
Zack nodded, but he couldn't say anything.
"He's probably more than a friend to you then," noted Aerith, and he sighed.
"…yeah."
They came to the water's edge, where a yellow rusted railing stood drilled into the chipped-concrete embankment. Aerith and Zack folded their arms over it, watching the oil pockets bubble up from the floor of the riverbed. Now the mood was still as the water's surface, reflecting their waving images against halogen gel-light overheads. Zack worked up the nerve to speak, and went for it.
"So hey…uh…I want to ask you something, but I'm afraid of being too forward."
A silence gripped them, and Zack braced to ask his question, expecting an answer he didn't want to hear.
"Do you have a boyfriend or anything?"
She stared at the churning currents shaking her head in a sad sigh. "No. Actually, I've never had a boyfriend…I've never even been kissed."
Run. Now.
"What? No way! I don't believe you for a second. A pretty girl like you should be beating guys like me away with a baseball bat!"
She shook her head. "My mom won't let me."
"Well that never stopped anyone!"
It got a giggle out of her, but she held herself over the railing, as if trying to contain everything inside her from spilling out. "It doesn't matter anyway, boys don't come around me."
"Why not?"
Her arm was touching his now, shoulder to shoulder they leaned on the railing together as she shrugged up at him.
"They don't like me."
Nervous System paging Zack Fair: Bail out! Bail, bail, bail!
An auburn tress of hair fell across her face, Zack brushed it behind her ear with two fingers, pausing now to lose himself in her iris eyes. His heart did cartwheels in his chest.
"Well…that's their loss."
He felt the pull, and she didn't pull away. With a slow sweep he brought his lips to hers, and kissed her like they were back in grade school. She gasped a little as his energy invaded her, edging through his soft lips and gentle fingertips against her cheek. Just a little tongue, he knew how to give a girl her first kiss.
That's it. We quit. The guys in Pleasure Center have all the fun.
When their lips parted, they parted in grins. A sweet aroma of candy filled their nostrils with each other's warm breath. Unable to contain themselves any longer, they burst out in giggles.
They walked back from the park holding hands like kids. Aerith lived down a little cul-de-sac lined with red wood houses, and Zack could tell they'd ventured into another neighborhood.
When they got to her doorstep, he gave her back her bag and they stood facing each other on the stoop.
"Aren't you glad you let me walk you home?" he asked.
"Are you glad you let me help you find your wallet?" she replied.
Zack smirked with sly eyes, while she blushed the shade of the apple she'd given him.
"Did you think today was going to be this awesome when you woke up this morning?"
"I was thinking it was going to be a normal day, and then…some guy fell out of the sky."
"C'mon that's not all that bad."
She still held his hand, interlacing her fingers in his. Her other hand played with her hair as she wondered what to say now, but he beat her to the punch.
"I'd ask if I could call you, but there's something wrong with my phone."
"What's wrong with it?"
"It doesn't have your number in it."
Her eyes flew wide, she cupped her hands over her mouth trying not to squeal. "That was terrible!"
"You liked it," he teased.
She shook her head, this scoundrel really was going to be a handful. She took out her cellphone to get his number—a pink flip-phone with bumblebee stickers—and he took out his without thinking. Too late, she saw.
"I like your phone," she commented.
"You know, I find it helps me get in touch with my sensitive side," Zack didn’t miss a beat.
She held in her laughter, but it was no use, she ended up halfway in his arms.
"Oh Zack, I've known you for a few hours and I already know the most important thing about you!"
"Oh really? What's that?" His hands on her shoulders, his smart grin drawing ever closer, her small hands on his chest.
"You are such a liar."
His lips parted to receive her, the scent of camphor lip balm. But the door opened revealing a big woman like a medieval berserker, and she did a starjump.
"Noh noh noh! Noh boys! Shoo shoo shoo!"
She flicked her apron at Zack scooting him like a stray dog. Then she pulled Aerith inside and shook her finger at her. The last thing Zack saw before the door slammed in his face was his potentially new girlfriend's sunshine smile.
He walked off her stoop strutting, swaggering like a hero. He was the man! As long as there was a pretty girl at the end of every tragedy, he was game.
[Received Amulet]
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