POV: Zack Fair
Zack's world spun, blurring the line between reality and painful memory. Standing before him was the figure he respected most in the world, yet now, he was an opponent Zack had to strike down.
"What do you know about an angel's dream, Zack?"
Angeal's voice was heavy, filled with authority and a crushing sadness. The man stepped forward, the massive Buster Sword on his back seeming to weigh him down like a burden of sin.
"Angeal..." Zack took a step back, his voice hoarse. "Stop this..."
"An angel dreams of only one thing..." Angeal didn't stop.
"Tell me!" Zack screamed, desperate.
"To be human."
WHAM!
Angeal drove a bare fist into Zack's gut. The punch was so powerful it launched Zack backward several meters, his back slamming against the steel floor of the reactor. The air was forced from his lungs.
Zack scrambled into a combat stance, but his hands trembled. He looked at his teacher, his mentor, his best friend. He couldn't do it.
"Defend yourself, Zack!" Angeal barked.
Zack shook his head, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "I can't, Angeal..."
Angeal struck the iron floor beneath his feet. A shockwave exploded outward, slamming into Zack, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling into a bottomless darkness.
Falling...Keep falling...
===============================================================
In that darkness, his mother's voice whispered softly, "Tell me what happened, Zack?"
"Mom?" Zack whispered in his sleep. "I... I want to help a friend..."
"But?"
"But I don't know how I can do it..."
The darkness slowly faded, replaced by a blinding white light. And a cheerful voice.
"Hellooo!"
"Mom?"
"Hellooo! Hooray!"
Zack's eyes opened slowly. The first thing he saw was sunlight streaming through stained glass, and the face of a girl with emerald-green eyes looking down at him with concern.
"Heaven?" the young man mumbled, staring at Aerith with a blurry, awestruck gaze. "Am I in heaven?"
The girl giggled softly. "No. This is a Church. In the Slums."
"And you..." Zack blinked, his vision clearing. His signature grin—a smile capable of melting ice—slowly spread across his face. "An angel? You must be the angel guarding this place, right?"
"No," the girl pulled back slightly, blushing. "I'm Aerith... You just fell from the sky. It scared me."
Zack stared at the gaping hole in the roof high above, then looked back at Aerith. "So, you saved me..."
"Not really," Aerith answered honestly. "I just said 'Hellooo,' that's all I did."
Zack leaped to his feet. He dusted off his Black SOLDIER uniform. His body ached, but his energy returned in full force the moment he locked eyes with the beautiful girl in front of him.
"Thanks a lot, Aerith. I'm Zack. Zack Fair. I gotta repay you somehow."
Aerith waved her hand. "Don't worry about it."
Zack leaned his face in closer, turning on his best charm. "How about one date?"
===============================================================
POV: Johnny
Johnny hadn't brought flowers. In his right hand, he carried a large sack of premium fertilizer from Wall Market—he wanted to help Aerith enrich the soil in the back of the church.
However, his heavy footsteps halted right in front of the fragile wooden doors.
His sharp ears picked up a sound that didn't belong. A male voice. With Aerith.
Johnny didn't enter immediately. He stood frozen behind the door, peering through a gap in the warped wood, listening.
A young man. Spiky, raven-black hair. With Black SOLDIER uniform.
The young man groaned, then slowly opened his eyes. Bright blue eyes. Eyes that glowed with Mako.
"Ouch..." The young man looked up, seeing Aerith's worried face.
"Hellooo?" Aerith greeted softly.
The young man's eyes widened. He sat up slowly.
"Heaven?" he mumbled, staring at Aerith in awe. "Am I in heaven?"
Aerith giggled. "No. This is a Church. In the Slums."
"And you..." The young man smiled broadly, a contagious, confident smile. "An angel? You must be the angel guarding this place, right?"
Behind the dark pillar near the entrance, Johnny froze. His hand gripped the fertilizer sack, but his mind was elsewhere. His leather gloves creaked from the pressure of his clenched fist.
Angel? Johnny thought, heat rising in his chest. How dare he...
Aerith laughed again, more freely this time. "No. My name is Aerith."
"Aerith..." The young man stood up. He dusted off his uniform. His movements were energetic, showing no sign of pain despite Johnny seeing the broken glass above—he had fallen from a significant height. "I'm Zack! Zack Fair. I gotta repay you somehow!"
Zack stared at Aerith again, mesmerized.
"Hey, Aerith. To say thanks for waking me up... and because you're really beautiful..."
Zack leaned in, turning on the charm.
"How about we go on a date? Just one!"
SNAP.
Johnny's blood boiled instantly.
The sack of fertilizer in his right hand dropped to the ground. THUD. The contents spilled out, but Johnny didn't care.
The demonic voice in his head began to whisper. How dare he... How dare this Shinra pest flirt with Aerith...
Inside the church, Aerith laughed crisply at Zack. That laugh... that laugh was supposed to belong only to Johnny.
Jealousy mixed with a possessive, protective instinct detonated within him. Johnny's pupils constricted, then dilated, surrounded by red veins. A pitch-black, smoky aura began to seep from his pores.
Berserk State: Active.
Johnny kicked the church door wide open.
BLAM!
The rusted hinges screamed in protest, followed by the sound of old floorboards cracking as Johnny stepped onto them.
CRACK.
Zack turned his head sharply. His elite soldier instincts flared. "Who's that?"
From the darkness of the doorway, Johnny stepped inside. The sunlight from the broken roof backlit him, casting his face in a terrifying, dark shadow. He didn't look like a human; he looked like a titan rising from hell.
Johnny didn't speak. He just walked.
THUD... THUD... THUD...
Every step was heavy, as if he carried his own gravity.
Zack took a step back, his eyebrows raising. He felt the air pressure inside the church change drastically. The oxygen felt thin, replaced by a thick, suffocating Killing Intent.
"Whoa..." Zack muttered, his hand reflexively moving to the hilt of the Standard SOLDIER Sword on his back. "Friend of yours, Aerith?"
"Johnny!" Aerith cried out, surprised. Her smile vanished when she saw Johnny's expression. That face... it was the same face Johnny wore when he slaughtered monsters. "Wait! Johnny, don't get angry! He just fell from the sky!"
Johnny didn't hear Aerith. His focus was locked entirely on Zack.
He stopped exactly three meters from Zack. Zack stood at 185 cm, possessing the athletic build of a super-soldier. But in front of Johnny—who stood 190 cm tall with a body as thick as a fortress wall—Zack looked... small.
"A date?"
Johnny's voice came out low, raspy, like the growl of a beast echoing from a cave.
He stared at Zack with eyes burning red beneath the shadow of his hair.
"You fall from the sky..." Johnny pointed his chin at the broken roof.
"...you destroy my church..." Johnny gestured to the scattered glass.
"...you step on Aerith's flowers..." Johnny looked at the lilies flattened under Zack's SOLDIER boots.
"...and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is asking for a date?"
Slowly, Johnny's right hand reached over his shoulder for the Dragon Slayer.
CREAAAK...
The sound of massive metal sliding against leather rang out, loud and painful to the ears. Johnny drew the sword—a rough slab of black iron larger than a human body—and slammed the tip into the floor beside his foot.
BOOOM!
The church floor vibrated. Dust flew into the air. The tip of the sword buried itself deep into the concrete foundation, creating a crack that snaked all the way to Zack's feet.
"Leave," Johnny growled. Steam seemed to hiss through his clenched teeth. "Before I cut off your arms and throw you back up to the sky."
A terrifying silence descended. Aerith covered her mouth with both hands, terrified by the overflowing aura coming from Johnny.
Zack paused for a moment, staring at the illogical giant sword, then looking into Johnny's eyes, which were filled with pure hatred.
However, Zack was Zack. He didn't know fear. Or perhaps, he was too stupid to be afraid.
A lopsided grin slowly carved itself onto Zack's face. It wasn't the friendly smile from before; it was the challenging grin of a fighter.
He drew his own sword with a swift motion.
SHWING!
"Hey, relax, Big Guy. I was just trying to be friendly," Zack said, twirling his standard sword nimbly in his right hand before settling into a combat stance.
His blue Mako eyes shone bright, clashing against Johnny's dark black aura.
"But if you insist on dancing..." Zack smirked, adrenaline flooding his system. "A SOLDIER never turns down a challenge."
Johnny pulled the Dragon Slayer from the floor, gripping it with one hand as if it were a twig, and pointed it straight at Zack's face.
"Good," Johnny whispered. "Then die."