Fic: Realization(FFVII: Mercverse/Zack/06-Exit Only <lj site="livejournal.com" user="25_streetsigns"

[icedark_elf]

Title: Realization
Author/Artist: GW Katrina aka icedark_elf
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII: mercverse
Pairing/Character: Zack
Theme: 06-Exit Only (25_streetsigns)
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is not owned by me, though the concept of mercverse is.
Wordcount: 337
Warning: None


Realization

Strangely enough, it was the first time he saw Cloud come back from the dead that made Zack realize something.

One day, he was going to die.

It was just something that suddenly appeared in his head. Well, after he had had the time to wake up and adjust.

It was while he was cleaning up. Suddenly, as he washed his hair for the first time in forever, six year old Zack realized that he was going to die.

He had seen death before. Old Jojo had died the winter before, his breathing all funny and shallow. And he had seen more than one whore knifed, or person shot. Not as many as he could have, but the others had protected him as much as they could. He was just a little kid, and they tried to stay away from the rougher areas.

But Cloud had died. Only…he hadn’t stayed dead.

Zack suddenly realized that, if it had happened to him, he would have stayed dead.

Six is a horrible age to realize one’s own mortality.

But Zack just accepted it and moved on. All it meant was that he only got to live once. So he had damn well better make it count.

Years later, Chaos would ask why Zack acted the way he did, the headlong rush through everything. Zack will take the half-demon’s hand and press it against his chest, so the other man can feel the heartbeat.

“One day, this will stop. I don’t want to have not given it the best run it could have had.”

Then he will walk away, leaving a very confused Chaos behind.

For Zack knew that, when he died for real, it was a trip he wouldn’t be coming back from. No returning, no retrying. All that left was a chance to exit gracefully and with style.

When it was his turn to exit off stage with the dancer called Death, he would do it with a grin and with as few regrets as he could have.


crossposted to icedark_elf, 25_streetsigns, acfiction, and mercverse

Comments

[forgottenlover.livejournal.com]

Oh Zack you dear child ::hugs him::

[icedark-elf.livejournal.com]

He's got such an interesting thought process in my head.....

[forgottenlover.livejournal.com]

::pets him:: always does

...

::points upwards:: tell my brain it didn't just connect Wrath and Zack please.