Your Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts/Others Experience

Chapter 131

“That’s his house there, isn’t it?” Noctis asked, nodding off at Zack’s house.

“Yeah…” You said nervously, not sure how to feel. Cloud was coming home, and had asked that you meet him at Zack’s house, and you knew that it was because he wanted to talk to him. The last time you saw Zack, he wasn’t exactly in a talking mood. Maybe it was good Cloud was going to be talking some sense into him, but as for you, you didn’t know if you could look Zack in the eye again.

Noctis’ arm came around your shoulder and pulled you over to him. “Are you okay?” He asked, rubbing his hand gently up and down your arm to try and warm you up. The sun was setting, and it was well below freezing out. Up above you could see snow falling and dissolving in the atmosphere. Snow in Traverse Town was rare due to the incredibly thin atmosphere, but it wasn’t unheard of, and often cold enough for it.  

“I don’t think so.” You shook your head and he hugged you closer against his side.

He let out a sigh, “I’m so sorry, but I need to get back to patrolling. Prompto is going crazy…” He said, cuffing his hand over his pocket where his cellphone was buzzing once again.

“Oh. Okay. It’s fine…I’ve kept you for too long anyway.” You said, hugging yourself as his arm began to leave you. He put his hand on your shoulder and turned you to face him.

“Hey, keep it together, kid.” He said soothingly and pulled you into a real hug. He kissed the top of your head and gave you a squeeze before pulling away and sticking his hands in his pocket. “See you around.”

You tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and nodded,  “Be safe.”

“Of course.” He smiled at you, then turned on his heel and began walking down the street that would take him back into town. He grabbed his cellphone and you could faintly hear him arguing with Prompto on the line as he disappeared down the road.

You watched him walk away for a while, feeling rooted to the spot. Your stomach hurt every time you thought about going to see Zack. He was absolutely heart broken, and you couldn’t do a thing for him. You just decided to take Noctis up on his advice and pull yourself together enough to force yourself to walk up to his house. You let yourself in and turned on the lights to the living room. You half expected him to be sitting on the floor with the same photographs in his hands.

“Hello?” You didn’t hear anything anywhere in the house, and the quiet was making you nervous. “Zack?”

There was still no answer, so you decided to go up into his room to look for him. The stairs were dark and creaky, and the only light switch you could find didn’t do anything. You saw why as soon as you got up to the hallway and noticed that the light blubs were all shattered.

You walked as quickly as you could to get to his room, feeling terribly creeped out by the silent, broken house.

You pushed open his bedroom door and saw him lying in bed with a half empty bottle of scotch in his hand, hanging over the side of the bed. In his hand he had his cellphone, and it was playing a voicemail of his mother telling him to come home, that she thought something was wrong, and that she loved him.

“Zack, what are you doing?” You half-whispered.  

“≈≈≈≈≈≈….to what do I owe the pleasure?” He sat up and took another swig from the bottle.

“What are you listening to?” You gestured to the phone with your head.

“Oh…it’s nothing…just the pretty echo’s of the long dead…” He sighed and took a big gulp of alcohol.