HOME | DD

Description
"Time of death: five thirteen PM." You heard this, but you were unable to respond.

Everyone began crying – everyone except Zack. But why wasn't he crying? You two had been best friends since preschool. He wasn't crying because he knew you weren't dead; you just couldn't be – and you had promised him you wouldn't die young. He was right – you weren't dead. It all started about five hours ago.

-------FLASHBACK-------

"Come on, Zack! You have to be done by now; we're going to be late!"

"Perfect hair doesn't just happen instantly, (y/n). You seem to know that, with how long
you take every morning."

"Yeah, but that's different – I'm a girl and my hair is much longer than yours. And today I woke up early so we could get there early. You should have done the same."

"Sorry – I was up late last night finishing our report."

"I finished my half in class while you sat there talking to Cloud. I feel bad for him – he almost didn't get to finish his project, thanks to you. Luckily he had Tifa to help him out."

It was a Saturday morning, and a very special one to you – you were going to the town's annual spring festival with your best friend, Zack Fair. That was the day you were planning to ask him to be your boyfriend, so you were especially excited.

He walked out of the bathroom. "Alright, (y/n), I'm done."

You walked into the bathroom and your eyes widened with shock; it was so sloppy that you couldn't help going in there and cleaning up his mess yourself. That was what slightly annoyed him – you could sometimes be a bit of a neat freak.

"I'll be waiting for you in the car; be there soon or I'll leave you behind."

You rolled your eyes; you knew he was joking. You were a few months younger than him – although you two were in the same grade – but he'd taken his driving test already and had miraculously passed. You were taking your test in a month and a half.

When you finished cleaning Zack's bathroom, you ran to his car to meet him there.

"Are you ready to go, (y/n)?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. I'm really excited, too; how about you?" He nodded as you shut your car door and buckled up. He turned on the radio and backed out of his driveway.

"Hey, I love this song! I wish it weren't so sad."

He quickly glanced at you. "So you do, eh? It's my favorite. It's new though, so I've never heard it too much. But I know some of the words." He looked at you again, to see a hopeful look on your face. Reading your mind, he told you, "but I'm not going to sing it, although you can." You frowned – you'd always wanted to hear your friend sing. You imagined he was really good at it, but you couldn't be sure.

You started to sing the song; you knew the words as well, and you were in the mood to sing that day.

"Hitomi no oku ga boyakete mienai. Kokoro no soko no kimochi wa aru no?"

When the song ended, two more came on, but you didn't know the words to either of them, so you struck up a conversation with Zack. You two talked about the strangest things together, like always. He told you a funny story about your former best friend Sephiroth.

"We were partying all night and finally, we crashed at four thirty. In the morning, he harassed me by throwing pillows at me, telling me to go make breakfast. He asked me to make pancakes for us, but all I had to make them was the ingredients, so I had to make them from scratch. So after I threw all the ingredients together in the pan, I started flipping them. I accidentally flipped one too high and it hit the ceiling and stuck. To my surprise, it was too high for me to reach it, so I just had to leave it there, hoping it would fall down soon. Roth walked in just as it did, and his reaction was hilarious! The middle was still a bit undercooked, so it started dripping down his hair and face. He pointed to his face and said irritatedly," as he imitated what the Roth had said, he even deepened his voice in a failed attempt at making his voice sound just like Roth's, and he even went so far as to fake a serious face that you just had to laugh at "'Zack… what is in my hair?' I held back a laugh as I told him that it was a pancake and he totally freaked out because he'd just showered and combed his mountain hair!"

"Wow, that sounds like fun! I'd love to hear some more stories!"

By the time you two got to the park where the festival was being held, you had gotten to hear three more of Zack's stories and all four of them had made you crack up.

You loved being with Zack – he was always a ball of energy, almost like a puppy and he always smiled and cheered you up when you were sad. The two of you never got into arguments – you two were too similar to disagree on anything, and you couldn't stay mad at him anyway.

You both got out of the car and searched for a good place to set up your blanket.

Zack turned to you. "How about under the oak tree, for some shade?"

"Okay, yeah, sounds good to me." You laid out the blanket, put your bags down, and tossed him a bottle of sunscreen. "It's going to get hot so we'll need all the protection we can get. I've already put it on myself."

Zack rubbed the sunscreen on and tossed the bottle back in the bag, just as an announcement came on.

"Ladies and gentlemen – if I may have your attention please – the pie baking competition is about to begin. All contestants please bring your pies up to the table and the judges will taste them momentarily. We will have a first, second, and third place winner, as usual, and the pies will be left out after the competition for anyone else to try some. Thank you."

You grabbed your friend by the wrist. "That's us, come on, Zack! I want our pie to win first prize this year!" You two had never won the competition, but that year, you were determined to win first place.

"Okay, okay, easy there, (y/n)! You're hurting my wrist!"

Immediately, you dropped it. "I'm sorry, but I just really want to get a spot. Do you remember last year?"

The previous year, the two of you were late to the competition, so you had to set up your pie on your blanket, which lay on the ground. That was a disaster.

The two of you managed to get a spot this time, only there was just one slight problem – you two were seated right next to three of your worst enemies – Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj.

You stiffened as you awkwardly sat next to them and put your pie on the table. Zack took the card and pen to write "cherry pie" on it.

"You know, it's useless for you two to bother to enter the competition, isn't that right, Loz?"

"Of course it is, Yazoo. We're going to win first prize this year for mother."

You stared straight ahead, even though you knew they were talking to you. Zack, however, had taken option B.

"Oh, so you think we're going to lose to a bunch of mama's boys who are obsessed with a frickin' head?"

None of the "mama's boys" could say anything to that though, as the judges came to their pie.

"Oh, this is delicious!"

"My word, I've never tasted a pie this good before."

"Indeed; these young men just may win first prize for their… Jenova Pie?"

Loz explained to the judges: "we named it after mother."

You tried your hardest to keep from cracking up. It wasn't easy, but you somehow managed to do it.

The judges came to your table next, and got a sample of your cherry pie.

"I must say, this pie is very good!"

"Most delicious!"

"I sense tough competition."

With that, they moved on to the next pie.

"Aah! Did you hear that?! They like it! We'll win for sure!"

Zack looked pleased as well. You two both looked down to the other end of the tables and saw that the judges had only a few more pies left to try.

"Oh, Zack, look¬¬¬ – they only have five more pies to try and then we get to taste them for ourselves as they vote! And then we'll find out who wins!"

That was another thing you liked about the contest – you got to eat a slice of the other contestants' pies if you wanted. You decided on trying a bite of yours first – you wanted to know how much your hard work had paid off. You took the slice from the table that had already been cut for yourself and you cut another piece off the pie for Zack.

You forked up a bit and ate it.

"Aah! It tastes sooo good! I love it! Zack! What do you think?"

He forked up a bit as well. "It does taste good. I want to eat it all!"

You laughed. "Easy there, save some for everyone else."

Suddenly, you heard snickering from the table to your right. Looking over to see what was going on, you realized that all three of the Jenova's boys were laughing at you.

Your face went bright red – you wanted to ignore them, but you were curious. You started looking yourself over to see if you'd gotten some of the pie on your clothes or something.

"Ack! What did I do?"

Loz answered, though still trying to catch his breath.

"You – hahaha – y – haha you ate – our pie! Hahahahaha!"

Zack jumped in, to your defense. "Oh? What's so wrong with that?"

"This:" Yazoo held up a bottle and you and Zack knew instantly.

"What did you do to her?"

Kadaj answered this time. "Oh nothing – just switched the pies is all…. I'd say she'll die in a few seconds."

You looked at the pies and realized how similar they looked – you couldn't even tell the difference. You began to feel lightheaded, and the last thing you saw before you collapsed was Zack, going at the Jenova's boys' throats. Then you fell into darkness.

------- END FLASHBACK -------

"Time of death: five thirteen PM." That was the first thing you heard as you regained consciousness. That was how you knew you weren't dead, but you soon came to the realization that you couldn't move or talk; you just had to lie there, listening to every word that made you feel sick to your stomach. You couldn't even open your eyes, but you sensed that you were in the hospital. You were glad that the effects seemed to be wearing off, as you were already able to hear. You struggled to open your eyes, to move, to talk – anything that would get people to realize you weren't dead before it was too late.

"No. She's not dead. I've known her all my life and I can tell you right now that she's not dead." Zack! Oh thank God he knew.

"I'm sorry, sir, but she's gone. Her heart rate stopped. I'm sorry, but you'll have to accept it. I know how hard this must be for you."

"Put her back on the heart monitor and you'll see. She's alive and I know it."

"Sir–"

"Alright then, I'll attach it for you." You felt your bed shaking violently.

"Sir!" You then heard a beeping noise – Zack attached you to the monitor and it was beating.

"She's not dead."

"But I – this is impossible!"

"Accept it." You pictured Zack grinning with his arms crossed.

"Well we have to find some way to get her out of this coma. She could still die."

"I highly doubt that. I know (y/n); she's strong."

"I'll get a nurse." The doctor ran out of the room.

At that perfect timing, you attempted to open your eyes again and it worked. Slowly, you found yourself able to move again and you saw Zack smiling happily.

"(Y/n)!"

"Zack!"

"(Y/n), I knew you weren't dead! Those Jenova's boys tricked us. I was able to get it out of them that the poison had only put you into a coma. Still, they paid for it. They won't go near you again without getting their butts kicked."

You two hugged and you felt something warm and soft brush against your cheek, but its presence left your face before you could question it and Zack pulled away. Nevertheless, you felt your whole face getting warmer.

"(Y/n), I hava a confession to make. I – I like you a lot and I have ever since we met and I always thought you were so cute and sweet and – I love you. I – I'm sorry if you don't feel the same way."

"Zack, I don't know what to say."

"Say you love me too," he joked.

"Yeah, I do."

He looked totally shocked at that. "Wha – wait, you do?"

You nodded, shyly as you looked away. To your surprise, he glomped you into a giant hug.

"Oh, (y/n), that's great; I'm so glad!"

You hugged him back and when you both pulled away, he kissed you on the lips. You were startled by this, but you kissed back. Although you missed most of it, that day turned out to be the best of your life.