Chapter Text
Apparently, heaven is cold and dark. There is something fundamentally unfair about that. He"s all alone, floating in space... No, not floating, gravity isn"t the one who died. Zack, that"s him, is lying down on his back. He"s breathing, which means he must be alive. So he can open his eyes, maybe.
Yes, he can.
A high ceiling above. He"s in a place, on a bed. The darkness is less, illuminated by a pale green shine from across the room.
"Welcome back."
Zack screams the way he couldn"t before.
"Shhh, shhh, it"s alright now."
Nothing would ever be alright again.
"Can you talk?"
Zack doesn"t want to answer that voice, but he wants to know for himself.
It seems that he can, if only quietly. "You. You killed me!"
"Yes." Sephiroth"s tone is flat, no sorrow, no apology, nothing.
"But you revived me."
"Yes." Sephiroth sounds amused.
"How? I thought...."
"It wasn"t the sword." Just a reply to a question, as if someone had asked Sephiroth, "How was your day?" instead.
The black wing, then. Sharp, deadly sharp. Sephiroth had killed him with the wing. And he was talking about it so casually....
"You will recover soon, which is a relief." If Sephiroth is actually sincere, Zack doesn"t trust it.
"Recover? From this? Ha! You"re insane!"
Sephiroth sounds remorseful now. "I wanted to keep you safe! When I tried to compel you to retreat, you broke down the door. When I tried to make it seem like everything was fine so you didn"t need to, you still stayed. Why did you have to be so brave?"
"Because you were my friend! You said you"d burn down the world if I died. Did you even think about how I"d feel if you died first? I wasn"t going to let that happen! I thought you needed help! I was worried about you!"
Sephiroth doesn"t say anything for a long time. When he does, it is gentle. "Please, next time I ask it of you, let me be alone."
"You won"t ever have to ask again."
Sephiroth understands what Zack means, and leaves the room without another word.