Crisis Core: The Novel

Chapter 39 - Sacrament

A day came that everyone hoped in their hearts would never come. Zack went down to the church with a solemn rouse. Aerith smiled as he walked in with those echoing SOLDIER waffle-stompers that she'd met him in, and he smiled back, genuine, full, lighting him up from the inside. But then his glow diminished, fading to a forced grin.

"I have something to tell you," he said in all seriousness, and her face went stark pale. Her body remembered the last time she'd heard that phrase, but he caught her fast. "It's not bad..."

It didn't help her relax much as a somber silence filled the vastness of the cathedral. He looked her in the eye and said one thing.

"I'm deploying."

Her stomach lurched, her heart fell on the floor. The words that she'd been dreading to hear for two years didn't seem to register in her mind as her panic-stricken eyes reached for him with urgency.

"Don't go Zack."

"I have to go."

"No you don't. You can get out of it. Somehow."

He sighed, expecting as much, but truth be told he'd expected a little more support on her end. He kept his tone even and his eyes soft.

"I'm a Squad Leader. I lead others into dangerous places and lead them out alive. Most of them are kids, just like the ones who come down here on weekends looking for guidance from you, I give that to the guys who serve under me. Would you have me abandon them, leave them to die? If I don't do this, then Angeal died for nothing. I'm a SOLDIER, it's what I do."

"Oh dammit Zack! I know Angeal meant the world to you. He means the world to me too, but don't listen to him, listen to me now!"

But Zack shot her a knowing look, a serious gaze with raised brows.

"Aerith, those were your words."

The realization like slumping defeat brought on the terrible tears, and she fell into his arms in great sobs that shook her body to her core. Her angelic frailty clung to him like a child losing family, she choked to breathe through cries as his lips swept her ear.

"I know this is hard, but we've talked about this."

"I had a bad dream. Please, I don't want you to go." Incoherent and delirious with grief, she sobbed as if she'd already lost him, like she was hugging a ghost. "I don't want you to die."

"Hush sweetheart I'm not going to die, I've run so many missions already and I've always come back. I'll always come back, remember?"

"I can't live without you. I'll die too, I'll die if I lose you. You've touched the lives of so many people, not just me. Everything you do is a smile. You're friends with people who have no friends. People have told me they've gone on living because of you. You're an inspiration, you have no idea how important you are to so many people, me included. You're my hero Zack."

"Good grief, did you rehearse that?"

She stopped, a confused expression crossing her anguished features.

"...No."

He just smirked, holding her close.

"...Well, you should really rehearse it next time. It sounded kinda rushed."

She broke down crying the most epic wailing sobs. Oh him and his jokes at the darkest times! Was he always going to be that light that pierced through darkness like he was laughing at the world? Everything was a big funny joke to him at other people's expense, wasn't it? He was a rascal and a scoundrel, stealing girls' hearts and dropping them on the ground with slippery fingers, putting them back together with scotch tape and bubble-gum whilst breaking his own heart in the process. By the end of this charade, any girl that stuck with him was so calloused and tough that taking care of a little child was nothing compared to taking care of him! She pounded her fists off his chest like she hated him more than anything, and he swept her up, carrying her to the front pew.