meme #004 | slow-dancing ( think outside the boxstep )

[the]

slow dancing ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ a meme → COMMENT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME, FANDOM, AND PREFERENCE. → PICK A CHARACTER YOU WANT TO TAG AND GO FOR IT. → PLAY NICE; NO WANK, FLAMES, OR GENERAL HUMBUGGERY. ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ the deal FORMAL OR INFORMAL, WITH MUSIC OR WITHOUT, YOU COULD BE AT A GLAMOUROUS GALA WHILE A SINGER CROONS SOFTLY OR IN THE SILENCE OF YOUR OWN LIVING ROOM. WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE THE URGE TO DANCE. DID YOU ASK YOUR PARTNER OR DID THEY ASK YOU? HAVE YOU GOT TWO LEFT FEET OR IS THE VIENNESE WALTZ YOUR JAM? IT COULD BE AWKWARD, IT COULD BE ROMANTIC. EITHER WAY IT'S CUTE AS HELL.

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[more_than_words]

[Her brows come down at his words but it doesn't deter her. Instead she seems to firm under the admission, growing steadier, surer. She understands. It's Zack's job to get her safely there and after that it's her job to do - whatever it is that needs to be done. Just because she doesn't know what that is yet doesn't change the fact that it's her part of the mission to handle that part. If Zack can pull himself together and save her in the maelstrom of lost souls and the very Planet trying to rip them apart, than she is just as determined to do her part and do whatever comes after that. He has faith in her and even if Zack's faith wasn't a hard thing to disappoint, she would still be determined. He's made this chance for her and she's not going to mess it up.

Somehow.

Her head does come up though from the dip that had been watching downward at that light, her fallen star who still glowed even buried and lost. Eyes of wine and garnet focus on Zack's, younger for a brief moment, almost fifteen and unstintingly helpful as if she hadn't learned to guarded against men asking for favors yet. A nod.]

Mm. What?

[soldiernoclass]

[ For one last time he breaks through the gloom, leaning in close as that painfully innocent expression permits, his hands on her shoulders again, though it seems they haven't moved at all. And solid ground collides with the soles of two sets of boots in the same instant he presses a kiss to her forehead, dark strands of hair swept aside by some errant spectral breeze.

There's more in the simple, chaste gesture than in the solid support he's been, so far, a glimpse of the kinder nature of the Lifestream. The very same souls it tears down and repurposes, it draws together and intermingles, as well, and though the brush of memory isn't all light or pleasant, there is a sense of overwhelmingly persistent hope threaded through it all. And he doesn't expect her to forgive him, but there's a hint of that in it, too, like some bittersweet aftertaste.

The gates of Nibelheim are still there when he opens his eyes, now nothing but a shadow in the shape of a SOLDIER. The world of darkness around them has opened up upon an island of glowing green and cobbled together fragments of the past, but somewhere beneath that enshrouding black, his gaze is still steady on her. ]

Pass it on.

[ And then his hands fall away, and he becomes somehow more insubstantial, reaching back to touch the shape of the sword on his back almost unconsciously. ]

...Well, I guess that's my cue. I'd better not keep you-know-who waiting any longer, anyway.

[more_than_words]

{the kiss is somehow more of a surprise than anything else that's happened to her so far and her eyes go wide and blink in response. She understands it's not just a kiss he wants her to pass on, feeling it all the way down to her toes even more than the jar of steady ground under her soles and her face goes up to look at him - not sure she can convey everything that single touch holds. Her brows come down though after that second, determined and stubborn and she nods, just once, firmly. She'll find a way to pass it on to Cloud and he'll understand if she has to pass it on a thousand times before she gets it right enough.

There's still a moment of panic though, sharp and hard down through her, when Zack's hands finally let go, the inward terror that the green will take her without ghostly protection. It's only there for a second though and it doesn't wipe out the stubbornness on her face or the hard darkening of her eyes as she mentally prepares for whatever's ahead she needs to do. It's not all battle warrior though and she hesitates before she turns, using up possibly precious seconds to focus on the SOLDIER shadow in front of her. Remembering him as clearly as she possibly can after smoke and flame, nightmares and hollow aches and five years of remaking herself from the sweeter, more open cowgirl that hadn't survived any more than her town had. Once he's as sharp in her mind's eye as she can see him, she firmly says:}

It wasn't your fault. Nibelheim. Any of it. Not for even a second. Not once.

{she's not free with them but, in that moment, as if it will seal the truth of her words for eternity, she leans up, quick, and presses a kiss to his insubstantial cheek, a brush of velvet and smoke. Her eyes mean it when she pulls back just as quick, red meeting what's left of blue and mako. Another quick nod and she's spinning around to head through the gates at a trot. Whatever's on the other side of them, wherever Cloud is, she'll find him and, together, they'll finally fix things. She's not alone - and neither is he. Not anymore.}