Faithless Memories

...Now Is Found

Chapter 50

Kris ended up staying in her room for several days, only coming out when she absolutely had to. Angeal and Sephiroth had both come to check on her, but she had refused to see them. Zack tried to explain that it probably didn't have anything to do with either of them. Thankfully, they both seemed to understand.

On the morning of the fourth day, Kris was in the shower when Zack got up for work. He was shocked when she came out with a determined look. As bad as she had taken everything, he expected her to still be grieving. Especially when he went back and got that letter from her classroom. He had put the necklace on her while she was sleeping, and put the letter up for safekeeping. He may not have liked Genesis, but it wasn't his place to destroy the little of him she had left. As far as he could tell, she still had the necklace on. At least he could see the chain peeking out from her shirt.

He didn't have time to ask her about it. He had been given a couple of days off to help her if needed, but he had to get back to work. He was further shocked to see her ready to go to work with him when he came out. He gave her a questioning look. "Sis, are you sure you want to go in today? They said it was alright if you took some time off."

She grimaced slightly. "I will have to call Mr. Alexandros about this weekend, but I have to talk to Sephiroth and Angeal. This has already waited too long for me to get my head straight."

The look he gave her was clearly unconvinced. "Uh-"

She cut him off before he could get started. "I want you there too. I only want to go over this once."

He was shocked by how even her voice was. It almost sounded like she was angry about something. He still expected her to be crying at the mention of Soldier. He would have understood that, but this was unexpected. He didn't get a chance to keep asking about it, as she was already headed to the door. She looked back at him as she opened the door. "Are you coming?" He nodded without thinking and followed her out.

Kris didn't wait to see if the head Soldiers were in a meeting. She was barely slowed by all of her students as they saw her passing through. Many of them stopped her long enough to give their condolences. Zack could tell she was tolerating it, but she looked more irritated by it then sad at the constant reminders. The closer they got to his mentor's office, the more worried he got. He was beginning to wonder if something was terribly wrong.

By the time they made it to Angeal's office, there was a general uproar on the Soldier floor. None of them had expected to see Kris back for a couple of weeks at least, and definitely not with a steely glint in her eyes. She didn't have the air of a grieving woman.

She paused outside the doors and looked back and forth between the two offices before she knocked on Sephiroth's door. She barely waited for the voice inside to answer before she swung the door open. She was glad that both Firsts were there. "Good. I need to speak to both of you."

Sephiroth raised a brow at her announcement. Angeal gave her a worried look. "Are you alright to be back?"

She finally allowed her grimace to form at his question. "I am far from alright, but that will not stop me. We have things to discuss, and I have a feeling it isn't going to be easy for me to convince you both."

They both looked over her shoulder to where Zack was standing. The younger man shrugged. He was still as shocked by her behavior as they were. Kris rolled her eyes and moved to stand right in front of Sephiroth. "Let me get straight to the point. I know I had a breakdown, but that was not because of Genesis' bullshit. It was because I finally remembered my past."