Chapter Summary: Before he can enter the church, Zack is waylaid by Reeve bearing an unexpected surprise. The possible repercussions leave him stunned. And back in Mideel, Cloud and Kera are dealing with Denzel's continued coma...

Revelations

Chapter Ten the 'Denzel Chronicles'

Ivy Elise Tanté

Walking into the church in the ruins of Sector 5 was the hardest thing Zack could imagine. A part of him was besieged by memories of meeting her for the first time after that tumble through her roof. Her twenty-three little wishes all rolled into the desire to spend more time with him. The various flower carts he built. The teasing, the flirting, the laughter, all her smiles…

The endless journey to return to her that he never completed…

Standing in the sunlight just outside the entrance, he rested his hand on the door and wondered if he had the courage to go inside. Before he could push it open, however, he heard a voice calling his name. Turning, he saw Reeve running towards him, a black box wrapped with yellow tape tucked under one arm.

The Director of the WRO came to a skidding halt beside him, out of breath from his dash through the debris surrounding the church. "Can't believe I managed to catch you," he gasped. "You move entirely too fast."

"Habit," Zack found himself saying as he reached out a hand to steady the older man. "Why walk when I can run?"

Reeve gave a wheezy laugh and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Bet you're wondering why I'm chasing after you so desperately. I needed to give you this before you go in there." He held out the box, watching as Zack took it with a puzzled expression. "While trying to stop Sephiroth, Aerith was captured and returned to the ShinRa tower by Tseng."

Zack blinked at the unexpected change in conversation, then nodded. "Cloud's group was tossed into the cells when they tried to rescue her. They escaped later when they found all their doors were left open. Kunsel admitted he's the one that freed them."

That was obviously news to Reeve. "I… didn't know that," he said after a moment, then shook himself to stay on track. "Anyway, during the time she was his prisoner, Hojo took samples from her; skin, hair, blood, fingernails, saliva."

Looking down at the black container in his hands, Zack suddenly shuddered. "And this is…?"

"What remains of those samples."

There was a look in Reeve's eyes that stopped him from asking just how he came into possession of it. A wild thought was starting to run through Zack's mind as he tucked the box under his arm. "And you think…?"

Reeve shook his head. "I'm not really thinking of anything at all right now." He took a step back, and in the brilliant sunlight his face seemed more worn than before. "You're back because your cells were injected into Denzel, and you used them as a conduit to the world outside the Lifestream - just as Sephiroth did with the pieces of Jenova. This is an entirely different situation. But I can't ignore the possibilities." Shrugging, he turned to walk away. "I would never forgive myself if I didn't act on that chance, no matter how slim."

Zack watched him leave, thoughts tumbling over thoughts in his mind as he turned the box over and over in his hands.

Could there be even a miniscule chance…?

And did he dare to attempt…?

Resolution firmed. Turning, he strode towards the doors.

‚¬ƒ

Sitting by Denzel's side, Cloud clutched his son's hand and shifted in his chair. Though two days had passed, there was no change in his condition. The machines around him continued to monitor his vitals, liquids still dripped from the hanging containers into the lines running down both his arms.

No matter how Cloud tried, he couldn't drape the hospital gown in a manner that covered Denzel completely. In the gaps, fine white lines, similar to those marring his own skin, traced the sites where Bergstein had operated on him. Everything on the outside of Denzel had been treated, mended through either medical science or the magic of materia.

But inside him the battle still raged.

"Denzel," Cloud finally breathed out. "Please. I can't lose you this way, not after everything we did to bring you home safe. Please, son. And you are my son." Raising the hand he held, he pressed it to his heart. "You have been from the moment I found you at Aerith's church."

The sound of a stifled sob made him look up. Kera stood in the doorway, hands clamped over her mouth to stop further sound from disturbing the man sitting by the bedside. Tears streaked down her cheeks.

Giving her a sad smile, Cloud held out his other hand. In moments Kera was curled in his lap, weeping silently as Cloud hugged her close.

Whatever assurances he intended to speak went right out of his head when the lax hand resting in his suddenly tightened.

"Denzel?!" he yelped, leaning forward.

"I knew," came the weak response. Though Denzel didn't open his eyes, he did turn his head slightly towards the sound of Cloud's voice. "I knew, even when you didn't know yourself."

Throat so constricted he could barely breathe, Cloud unwound his arm from around Kera and reached out to gently stroke Denzel's hair. "It always takes a while for something to sink into this rock hard head of mine."

The weak laugh ended in a cough. After sipping water through the straw Cloud held to his lips, he finally opened his eyes. His irises were now cobalt blue, darkening to lambent midnight towards the center. Unlike Cloud's, the green mako stain was but a slight lightening in color before the black circle of his pupils. "You define hard-headed."

"So Tifa always says," Cloud returned lightly, still stroking his hair, still marveling over the fact his son had survived Bergstein's warped experiments.

For a moment both Cloud and Kera thought Denzel had fallen asleep when his eyes fluttered closed. Then the teenager smiled and said, "I'm trying to think of a way to ask to speak with Kera alone without making you feel unwanted."

Cloud had to snort at that as he rose. He was surprised to find his knees wanted to buckle, the relief he felt so huge tears threatened to overwhelm him completely. Knowing he needed to get out of the room before his composure crumpled, he gave Denzel's hand a reassuring rub as he said, "I need to tell the doctor and Tifa that you're awake, anyway. Better talk fast; it's not going to take them long to run in here so they can see for themselves."

Despite his best efforts, his voice came out husky from suppressing his emotions.

Denzel's heart clenched in his chest. Knowing that his father was fighting back tears just tore into him. So he directed his attention to other matters. "Is she all right, dad? Her and the baby, I mean?" Denzel asked, craning his head a bit to look at Cloud as he paused in the doorway. The wicked smile that flashed onto his father's face had the glowing eyes going wide.

"She and the twins are just fine," he said as he disappeared into the hall.

Denzel looked up at Kera as she came to stand by the bedside. "Twins?" he stammered.

And Kera gave a delighted laugh as she bent to kiss him. "Yep. Two Strifes for the price of one."

Another weak laugh sounded. "I can tell you've spent too much time around Dad. You're picking up his wacky sense of humor and that is not a good thing." He smiled as she wrapped both hands around his. "I thought about you constantly whenever I was conscious. You and Dad are what helped me hang on. I knew he would never stop looking for me. And you…" Despite all the tubes connected to his arm, he managed to lift it enough that he could touch her face. "I kept remembering that last kiss just before I left for the farmer's market."

Tears glimmered in her eyes but Kera forced them back. "I blamed myself for the longest time. That I distracted you, made you think of me when you should be paying attention to your surroundings." She shook her head before he could speak. "Cloud showed me the ambush site. You weren't distracted at all to catch signs of it so soon. I was so proud." Her voice broke, and she rested her head against his wrist, turned to press her lips against the pulse that beat there.

Her caress had his stomach doing a strange little flip inside him. Mustering what strength he could, he stretched the fingers of his captured hand to play with her hair. "I was so pissed," Denzel admitted. "So angry because dealing with them would make my delivery late." When she looked up, he smiled again. "Which would mean even longer before getting back to you."

Such blatant admittance made her blush, but Kera couldn't lower her eyes from his. "Denzel…" she said softly.

"Hush," he ordered, and nearly laughed at her sudden mulish look. Searching around, he finally found the mechanism for raising the bed. Once sitting up, he brought their entwined hands to rest on his heart. "I realized a lot of things while Bergstein tortured me. One of them was that I love you, Kera. Dad has always said Tifa was his reason for hanging on even when things were as bad as they could get. You're mine."

That he meant the words with all his heart was evident.

"So… what are you saying?" she ventured hesitantly. She wondered if her blush had so stained her cheeks it would become permanent. The dream of finding Denzel was realized, but now she had to face all the repercussions of having him back in her life. She could remember all the fun and entertaining flirting done while dating. The kisses, the tears, the soul-deep longing that took them both by surprise.

The Denzel that returned to her had been through life-altering trauma and near death countless times. How was that going to change him? He was still joking and teasing, but she knew it was to put those around him at ease. What intentions lay underneath the smiles and displays of humor?

And was she prepared to deal with them?

He touched the wolf's head ring she wore and looked at her so solemnly. "I know it's not something we've really thought about, but I want to marry you, Kera. I want to be your husband, I want you to be my wife." His grip tightened slightly when she would have pulled away in shock. "It doesn't have to be soon; I understand both of us are still very young to be this serious. But I want to spend my life with you."

Kera only had a couple of seconds to pull herself together before Tifa nearly took the door off its hinges as she raced into the room…

‚¬ƒ

Thankfully there was no one in the church when Zack slipped through the doors and stood looking around, trying to adjust to all the changes. The community had worked tirelessly with Reeve's WRO to restore the chapel without taking away the spirit of the ancient building. He could vaguely remember hovering with Aerith in the rafters, discussing the various crews and their efforts.

And the one bumbling architect that thought he could walk in and snap his fingers at everyone. He'd run screaming when Aerith, in a rare show of temper, pinched his cheek.

The memory made him smile as he walked further into the church.

A large area had been cleared around the pool to allow for a flowerbed, and a set of steps leading into the crystal clear water. Something he knew was necessary as there were still sufferers of Geostigma being found, even after all this time.

A muscle in his jaw twitched as he looked over to the wall where the Buster Sword used to rest among the lilies. He'd finally been able to retrieve it just before manifesting fully to help Cloud rescue Denzel.

Taking a deep breath, he whispered, "Aerith?"

There was no response. In fact, there was no sense of her presence at all.

Hadn't Cloud always said he could feel her whenever he walked into the church?

His heart shuddered in his chest, and he wasn't aware he was crying until a tear splattered onto the hand holding the black container. Looking down at it, there was a part of him that wanted to throw it away from him. It might contain the last hope of bringing Aerith back, but if it didn't work - Zack wasn't sure he would survive if the attempt failed.

Their spirits had merged, mingled, bonded. No other could ever hope to touch him as she had.

The ringing of his cell phone sent the box flying as he jerked in shock. It landed in the water with a resounding splash as he dug around in various pockets, trying to figure out where he had stashed the darn thing. Finding it, he glanced at the container now bobbing around like a cork in the waves rippling through the water. The box was sealed and water-proof, so it wouldn't come to any harm before he could get in there and drag it out.

Should've known I'd end up all wet, he thought in disgust.

He answered the call just before it went to voicemail. "Fair," he barked into the phone, pacing back towards the pews.

With his back turned, he didn't see the black box suddenly disappear beneath the surface of the water, almost as if someone had grabbed hold of it and yanked it down.

Cloud's voice came over the line, breathless as though he was running, "He came out of it, Zack! Denzel's out of the coma!"

Zack's smile was so wide it threatened to split his face, "Oh man, that's awesome! Is he talking and everything?"

"He threw me out of the room so he could talk to Kera." The glee in the tone was unmistakable.

"So there's going to be a wedding soon?" Zack teased, then turned back to look at the pool after hearing what sounded for all the world like a hastily suppressed giggle.

The phone dropped from his suddenly numb hand as his jaw hit the floor and bounced around his boots. Rising from the pool like some kind of just-born goddess, wet hair in gleaming ribbons streaming down her body, Aerith gave another laugh and made a come-hither gesture towards him.

Zack could hear Cloud shouting faintly from the phone, but he paid it no mind as he stumbled to the edge of the pool like someone sleepwalking. Kneeling, he wasn't prepared when she reached out, grabbed hold of his suspenders and pulled him into the water.

"Aerith!" he sputtered when he surfaced, then lost his breath entirely as she wrapped herself around him and yanked his head down.

His arms banded around her as the kiss he'd longed for, imagined, even dreamed of finally happened.

Neither of them gave the frantic voice echoing from the cell phone on the floor a single thought…

‚¬ƒ

Cloud yanked the phone away from his ear to check the screen. According to it, he was still connected to Zack's. Slapping it back to his ear, he was about to yell again when a faint giggle made his breath back up in his throat.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the sounds coming through the phone. As he began identifying and separating the noises, a small smile tugged at his lips. There was a soft wind brushing over Zack's cell, and the gentle ripple of water.

All normal and expected.

The other sounds, however, made him laugh as he disconnected the call. Cheeks still a bit pink from his inadvertent eavesdropping, Cloud gave into the urge and gave a few jumping skips out of sheer exuberance.

Then he raced back into the clinic, nearly bursting to get out the additional good news…