you only had 1 job — CLOSED

[backwater]

[ Zack really shouldn't even be in this city anymore. There's too much potential for things to go wrong, for someone to show up in just the right place with memories of exactly the wrong time. Every second he spends within the city limits is a great personal risk. (Probably? Hard to shake that feeling, after spending so much time on the lam.) He really needs to cut it out.

But then he's steering around that car that he's, uh, still borrowing, looking for a good spot to refuel, when he finds himself in Sector 2 and realizes that it feels familiar in a different sort of way. Yeah, this is like the parade route, and then if he takes his next right up here, slips under the dark cover of the bridge and parks at the meter, everything comes flooding back to him.

He finds himself upon the precipice of the old landing pad. There's a few crafts parked around that he doesn't recognize the make or model of, but otherwise, it's exactly the same as that day, the one with Hollander, with yet another failure, with Tseng rushing past him and standing at the edge and shaking his head in disappointment.

And Sephiroth, too. It's one of his fondest memories, and it slips over him like a warm, comfortable sweater as he leans on the rail and gazes out at the waves. It was the first moment he'd really felt like a 1st, like he was a part of something big and great, like he belonged. Sephiroth had his back, respected him.

And now look where that's gotten him. ]

Do you even remember?

[ Is it weird to be talking to someone who isn't there? For some reason, no. Not when it's Sephiroth. It's probably the better alternative, considering his propensity for stabbing. ]