TALK TO ME. I'LL BE WAITING.

No. Cloud refuses to treat her like that or hold her above the rest of her fellow humans; he's no Shinra SOLDIER anymore but it doesn't matter if she's a Cetra or not or if she is more connected to the Planet than the rest of them--she's still just Aerith. They didn't get the luxury of growing and understanding themself. And anyway Aerith might have had the same experiences as Sephiroth but seeing the anger in their eyes when he gets brought up is even easier than saying 'Not interested'--Aerith is not like Sephiroth no matter their shared loneliness. And at this point, Sephiroth is likely to find that diverting path a sin for which Aerith must atone.

Reunion...Cloud shudders.

Kunsel is better at comforting than Cloud is, always has been, gently rubbing at Aerith's terrified arm, pulling her into a loose, watery hug, casual endearments falling soft as cumulus wisps. And Cloud watches. Aerith's green-leaf eyes touch his like a stone falling into water. His eyes meet hers easily, blank, expressionless, ripples of nothing emanating outwards in his irises, a mirror of nothing but mako-blue and extorted Lifestream energy. Why do they look so apologetic? They've done nothing wrong.

"Good," he finally says and realizes his hands stopped shaking at some point a bit ago. Kunsel is listening. Kunsel understands. Suddenly he has a second epiphany: he didn't think Kunsel would trust him. Why? They're best friends. "Good. Yeah." A wash of relief. Kunsel can be saved. This doesn't have to be just watching and waiting anymore. Cloud was bad at action but--someone was good at it. A shroud settles a cheerful pat on Cloud's shoulders and says nice job. "We can settle this before the Planet explodes." In anyone else's words it'd be a joke. Cloud, of course, delivers such a silly line with the utmost seriousness. "We have to. Oh. And. To answer your question... I think we're heading back to the Gold Saucer soon."

None of them want to fight Sephiroth for glory. Thank goodness, thank goodness. She exhales a tiny laugh helplessly after Cloud's comment about the Planet, the sound tearing out of her with bitter relief, and she lifts her hand to pat at Kunsel's on her arm and leans into him, too, more grateful than she ever thought she could be for having another person nearby who grounds themselves with physical touch. Yeah, I did just show up again. Oopsie.

"If there's anywhere you could sneak to easily, it'd have to be there, right?" They sound almost recovered as they ask, voice lilting up high-pitched and teasing again and they rub a fist at their cheek with their free hand. Some of her fingers brush the floppy brim of her hat. It's exhausting. All of it. They're tired of being afraid all the time and it just never stops. So they have to do what they can to make it less scary and stay themself. Another tiny sip of their drink.

"But you don't have to decide now, it's just." Another sigh under her breath and this one is a quick punch that she finishes off with a small smile, "We are worried about you. And you just have to deal with it." Cloud seems more solid now, too. There's still a contemplative slowness to some of his words, but Aerith is sure she's the only one who notices. They're slowly coming to an understanding of him, they think. They're really not sure what anyone thinks of them. But that's okay. That's okay. So long as everyone is safe and so long as they all work together, everything will turn out okay. "And now you'll have Cloud to get you cute umbrellas, too!" They snort another warm giggle and beam at Cloud, lashes nearly eclipsing their irises entirely.

Kunsel playfully sets his chin on top of Aerith's hat, careful not to crush it, giving her one last squeeze before letting go - he doesn't want to come across as too clingy after all... even though Aerith would know he shares her comfort in holding and being held — how many evenings had they spent sitting side by side on the church pews, stewing in the company of someone that was there, physically, concretely.

"I think I can make it work... if you give me a week." Kunsel answers coolly, raising a hand to ruffle his still slightly flattened curls. "Don't particularly want the planet to explode, I live on it. Guess it means I have to tag along." He takes it as more of a joke than not, unaware how truthful Cloud's words are. That, and perhaps he'd have an opportunity to pick at Sephiroth's brain. If anyone knew what happened, it would be him... though it seems the chances were low on that, considering that Sephiroth lost it.

Genesis too, after a while, stopped making sense, his actions and orchestrated attacks growing more spontaneous and irrational... until he eventually disappeared.

A moment passes, Kunsel looks Cloud over. He seems to think something over... and then offers his hand for a fist bump. "It's a plan."

"He won't do it again." Is she saying it so firmly for herself or for Cloud or for all of them? Aerith really doesn't know. It probably doesn't matter. They're angry and they're tired of pretending not to be. They can't smell the smoke that Cloud can but hearing his breath cut up each word is enough. Sitting with Kunsel in silence for the few times a year they could see each other, watching him try not to cry is enough. They pluck the umbrella out of their drink and wield it like it might be their staff, pointing it at some point on the horizon, some spot between her two friends that's invisible to anyone but them. If she were any less tipsy, she'd never let the cold touch her voice like this, "He thinks nobody can stand up to him. That he can choose for the Planet."

It's so stupid. If Aerith were a crueler person, they might laugh at how nonsensical it sounds from their perspective. Why should any one person have that right? Nobody else is her, though, so it's unfair. Before she says anything else, she drops the umbrella back into her drink and pokes at the melting ice cube there. They don't even realize they're clenching their jaw until they exhale softly, cheeks burning.

"If they send SOLDIER to fight him, you have to get out, Kunsel. You have to leave." This she adds more fearfully, only just realizing the exact way Shinra will want to clean up their mess. SOLDIER for SOLDIER and if everyone's gone in the end, then that's everything mopped up. Green eyes go wide beneath the shadow of her hat brim, finally meeting Cloud's with a half-apology--for?? even they're not sure exactly, for sounding upset maybe? or talking about it more than they have already, for saying things she's not sure she's entirely admitted before--and then Kunsel's with a fierce sort of fervor. "He isn't who you knew. Who--" He's not Zack's friend, he's not the hero Shinra made dance for them in their war--"You shouldn't have to. To--"

Desertion. Kunsel idly rubs Aerith's arm as he mulls over his thoughts with a grim expression. He thinks he knows what's at stake if he does that… never able to contact his mom again, losing his intel access, being on the run constantly. But what if it's worse than even that?

… worse than staying at Shinra, and rotting away in fearful inaction?

Kunsel pulls Aerith into a loose side hug, a weary sigh escaping him. "You're giving me a whole lot to think about and you just showed up again, miúda." But he doesn't sound frustrated… no, he is resolute, his mind being made up right now.

His eyes glance in Cloud's direction, figuring him the impromptu leader of their little group - him, or the bulky gun-arm guy, it was hard to tell at times. "Where are you headed to next? I need to get my affairs in order," damn, he thinks, it's not like he's gonna die… unless of course he does,"before I can say anything concrete on if I'm able to break free of surveillance." He might not have acted on it so far, but he was a known flight-risk.

He shakes his head; in a manner too brusque to be described as apologetic or maybe because it's Cloud it's the perfect amount of stand-offish and sorrowful at once. "I'm not giving you all the answers. I'm not putting you in danger..." he pauses, the word suddenly foreign when he follows up with, "buddy." A taut frown. Cloud turns his cup around a few times in his palms and tries not to think about it too much.

"Sephiroth isn't dead. But he's..." glassy-green-blue eyes focus on nothing except a small shiny artificial halo blooming on the edge of his can. It's terrible. I really admired him. Putting this in the vaguest possible terms so Kunsel will feel satisfied without making him want to learn more is going to be difficult. "Something happened to him and I have to stop him. He burned down Nibelheim, Kunsel, and he's not gonna stop there." A determined sip of his drink. "Don't ask anything else about it. That's all you're getting from me." For your own good. He gives Aerith a sort of similar look, one that's not quite begging but that implores them to try and be a little confidential about it nonetheless. There's a lot Cloud doesn't really remember about it anymore but he'll never forget those flames and their heat.

Maybe if she says it like this, Cloud will understand that this is what Kunsel and she were talking about when he was gone. Or maybe it will be enough for Kunsel to push off of to get another small fraction of an answer. And maybe it's truthful enough to remind them both that she doesn't like that they're talking about it. That they've seen that look from Cloud and aren't going to change anything they're doing because of it, but feel the same way. None of this will bring Zack back and none of it will give them an answer from Sephiroth's mouth, a real reason.

Aerith's smile is weak and lopsided. She takes another swig of her drink and again it isn't very cute. It's a Midgar All-in-One, a slam-the-cheap-plastic-Shinra-branded-mug-back-on-the-bar-counter-for-more-because-there's-nothing-else-you-can-afford-to-enjoy style move, but she's aware enough of being in both her friends periphery that only half the drink disappears instead of the whole thing. (It's always a little funny being the odd city kid out lately.)

"If you--" They struggle a little to find what word they want and twirl their umbrella again, toeing toward tipsy pretty quick after the half a drink from earlier too, "maybe if you were traveling with us it'd be less--Dangerous since you'd already be..." On the run. Ugh. She doesn't want to remind Kunsel of that right now. "But Shinra, they'd--If they find out you know, Kunsel--" Aerith thinks of his beeping PHS and exhales deeply enough to make her hat bob (and this time it is done very) cutely on her head as her shoulders dip, tired.

Kunsel lets the sentence fester in his mind for a scant few moments, but it's clear in the way that his brow frowns ( man he's gonna get wrinkles at this point ) that he did not find that answer anywhere near enough, not after all the time spent searching and worrying and splitting himself in two between working for Shinra and yet working to undermine them.

But… this is a starting point. Sephiroth burned down Nibelheim - another first class losing it. Man… he really didn't want to be promoted, the prospects so far are NOT in his favor, but you can only be so unassuming for so long before your helpful reputation catches up to you.

"Cloud, look, you can't just end it at that. Not with me, not after everything I went through trying to find out what happened in Nibelheim on my own. It's been years and I was still waiting on news from you two." Cloud and Sephiroth, who else would it be? Zack. Zack. Zack. Zack. Zack. Za—

Aerith cuts through the noise in his head, timid and toeing on tipsy, and he relaxes his frown again, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes now that they were uncovered.

"If you two are worried about me, don't. I know the risks. I'm one foot out the door, I'm just looking for the right opportunity." Means he to say that he's been paralyzed by indecision, aware of the reach he has within Shinra and how he'll loose his networking the moment he turns against them. "One wrong move where I am right now, and I'll be labeled something much worse than a deserter." Traitor, betrayer, unlike the others smart enough to leave he'd be easy to corner in and catch given the circumstances at hand.

After the shot did its work he suddenly realized Aerith had sent him on a mission and the hero had abandoned her--mako-blue eyes lighting up, bartender flashing a cheeky little smile at him when she realized the alcohol had done Something, Anything-at-all to the SOLDIER she was hoping to make a great tip off of. The smile became more cheeky when he requested a pink umbrella in the strawberry basil gin fizz he decided to order for Aerith. The hero rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively and blushed a little. No it's not for me he'd said, gesturing with his head at the huge sunhat bobbing in the distance talking to the other-SOLDIER and the bartender had said that's a cute hat and the hero hadn't said anything else because he's Not Interested.

He closes his (really it's his and Aerith's) tab and returns with their drink and some sort of mango pale ale for himself, setting the cup gently into Aerith's open hands. "Here you go."

(Cloud has forgotten being sent / away or being / angry or anything before / is glad to see / Kunsel and Aerith hanging out and notes the tired expression in his buddy's gaze / and that Aerith's shoulders are stiffer than before.)

Now that mako-infused look flits up to Kunsel and his bad case of helmet hair. Someone else says, "You don't look half-bad even though Shinra's running you ragged," through Cloud's mouth.

This pose makes it easy for her to see Cloud when he comes back into view, too. No longer a vague smear against the bar, a mirage in every way aside from his tangibility, but bright in the sunlight and vivid. Costa del Sol might be good for him if he'd let it be, they think. But then again, Aerith doesn't feel like she knows much of anything today. It'll pass, they're sure, but it's hard not to be off-balance. They will themselves to wave at Cloud as he picks up both drinks from the countertop and can't tell until he's close again what he got / What might be on his mind. "Thank you!" She replies once he's handed off the drink, smiling hopefully, her voice light, and when his focus falls back on Kunsel, it's Aerith's turn to take a drink. How can he sound just like--?? That's not the Cloud she's been trying to know. They stare up at his Chocobo hair for a second to hold onto that fact.

"It's true," she manages between one long gulp and her second. At least she has strawberry flavor in this trying time. The fact Cloud's tone isn't half-hearted and his words aren't clipped gives Aerith a bit of pause. Something again isn't right. He'd seemed upset with--Her at least, maybe both of them when he left. Their fingers catch on the umbrella and their gaze drops there, too. It's easier. Lets her take a breath before, "SOLDIER is lucky to have Kunsel after everything."

They mean it in the most basic of ways: Shinra should have lost everything after what they've done. Kunsel stays because it's the only way he can get closer to the truth. They're lucky to have him. She doesn't want to help him bring up his questions, not really, but she gives him the maybe-opener anyway. Because everything is mako and Nibelheim and SOLDIERs going missing and missions gone awry and redacted information and Aerith knows it.

Because Shinra doesn't care about them, never has, not on an individual level - but that's where Kunsel finds himself, stuck on his vantage point of all that he knows… and what use has it gotten until now? All of his knowledge amounts to nothing tangible, Cloud standing right there in front of him was proof enough of it.

His eyes then flick between Aerith and Cloud, catching onto her slight permission to pose his questions… and he takes it, taking effort to be mindful of Cloud's uh… whole deal.

"I could talk about myself all you like, but you know me," or think you do, he thinks, "all about work all the time. Are you planning on filling me in at all on what happened in Nibelheim? Spent a couple years going crazy trying to figure things out."

Thing is... here, now? Maybe not the place. And somewhere else, later Kunsel can't be because he's still... SOLDIER. He's still Shinra. But his answers are right there, just waiting to be spilled. His PHS beeps again with another message, and Kunsel huffs as he holds up a hand as is signaling "hold that thought", pulling out his phone with practiced ease and checking what was up. An alert to let him know he was back on duty in about 45 minutes. He pulls a face - he's kind of being put on the spot here.

"Sorry, again, work."

"I've been trying to tell you because I talked to both of them, I was--" They frown again but this time it's at themself. "You're my friend too. I don't want to--You're all--" What? Important? You all deserve something that none of you will get out of this. She can't say that. It's not her choice. "I want you to know, too. But..."

This is becoming another one of those scenarios that Aerith feels an audience too rather than a player. Times that she feels so out of her body and far away and useless. She hates those. But Kunsel deserves answers and she can't stop him, not really. She can only try to protect her friends in the ways available to her. "I'll help you talk to him. But if I tell you to stop something, you have to. Or I'll be very mad at you. And I'd do the same to him." They know Kunsel knows them well enough to believe they mean it. He heard Zack call her stubborn too many times, has sat with her too many hours to believe she'll simply wilt away and watch them talk.

"… Fine. I can work with that. I won't hound him." A concession, Kunsel inhales deeply and sighs deeply again, attempting to cool his nerves and not get ahead of himself. Both hands raise and he reaches for his helmet, dragging it and the balaclava below off of his head, a hand moving to ruffle flattened curls back to life before running over his face.

His expression is now fully visible, and it softens at the sight of her now face to face. The mess of his emotions isn't on Aerith, he's tried to not lean too hard on her with the depth of his heartache or to take out his frustrations on her. He can trust her enough to share what she knows in time, right? He used to be able to be patient, where did that go?

"It's good to see you. Haven't said that yet, have I?" He sets the helmet down on the table behind him and leans against it. "I'm glad you're seeing the world... even if you're following what's supposed to be a dead man."

He wouldn't make that up. Aerith gets that fierce look in her eyes again, her frown a challenge. She's not sure any of them will like whatever answer Cloud can give to Kunsel's questions. But Aerith knows, too, that there's only so much she can do to protect him without point blank running away--That Cloud would follow her, yes, but she'd lose another friend as soon as her feet turned her around. Caught between a rock and a hard place but what is a god&@#$ hard place?? She can't think of Kunsel as an obstacle that way, not after she already had to do the same with the Turks.

"I think you can tell that'll be a bad idea, Kunsel. I've told you as much as I know from what he can remember, and that was when things had happened to, to--" They hesitate for a second. How can they describe what's been happening to Cloud? He's not usually open about it unless she catches him clutching his head, can pull him out of space long enough to get a pained half-answer. He's scared of worrying her, or just plain scared. "To bring it up."

As Kunsel's PHS beeps, Aerith's eyes flick wide for a moment, the sound familiar enough to make her heart jump just once. There can't be anyone else coming, right? Their head turns on a swivel quickly enough to spy Cloud's seated figure and nothing else out of the ordinary. No suited silhouettes or echoing beeps from other Shinra staff's. She gives a puff of an exhale / It's impossible for her not to keep on edge when it's just the two of them talking, Shinra a constant topic of conversation and fear, and maybe that's why her voice raises just a bit, squeezing tight in her throat. "Kunsel had better not hurt Cloud, I don't want either of you to--"

He's good at that, usually. Why is it so hard now? … He doesn't bother answering that to himself, eyes falling to the glint of the Buster Sword in the hot sun.

Kunsel doesn't deal so good without answers to his questions.

"Aerith - I'm not going to hurt him, not if he doesn't do anything." He cuts her off, a single hand raising to gesture placatingly, a sigh escaping him as he shakes his head, hating that he has to reassure her of his intentions. "But I need to know what he thinks happened. I deserve that much after all this time trying to find out on my own, c'mon." Here his voice turns softer, quieter, almost pleading - his turn to whisper now. "Especially when you're saying there's someone else that can corroborate his version of events."

Kunsel is someone who they've always done the same with: Zack was gone and Aerith refused to play the lonely girl part even if Kunsel, of everyone, would have understood it. Doing that would mean Zack was really gone, that of the few people she was connected to, even fewer were still alive. It hurt too much. And now there's Cloud who they can only hope can be saved from... Whatever happened to Zack. Cloud was there. He remembers what he remembers, the bits and pieces handed over to she and Tifa and the others filled with holes and pauses and his frustration with recollecting. But Sephiroth, he--

"Kunsel," Aerith frowns seriously. They've always been honest with Kunsel, regardless of the things they did to protect their own heart, and they're not going to change that now. Her voice lowers further, each word like a bomb she's trying not to jostle too much and set off, and she scooches onto her tiptoes to whisper closer to his ear, "Sephiroth is what happened to Nibelheim."

This is probably the wrong venue to be saying something so serious: Her hat flops stupidly in the gentle beach breeze and the salt in the air smells fresh, will likely leave Aerith's hair wavier than ever when they head back to their lodgings. There shouldn't be giggles and laughter and sweet drinks around when she breaks something that'd been kept from both of them for so long. She'd like to forget everything and start this over; Kunsel should get to enjoy his time in Costa del Sol. Not have her pummel his peace to death. "He's not... Whatever he is now, he's not right. He was in the Shinra Building and the people I've been traveling with--" He knows who, she reminds herself, no need to risk saying their names here, "we've been following him."

About this, there is no room in their expression for doubt. Sephiroth is responsible for what happened five years ago. Sephiroth who should have been dead like all the others on Shinra's list of unrecovered bodies. Kunsel may have very few reasons to trust it, but she adds, "Cloud saw it happen," anyway. She trusts him. Tifa remembers it too, even if she won't say more without making a face so sad it breaks Aerith's heart. And suddenly she remembers something else. They start to worry one thumb over the other, their gaze casting down to the sand again. Sephiroth knew Gast, she thinks, stricken. It's something that no one else will understand, that she does only because of her mother's stories. How could he do all of this? To people? To the planet? "That's why," she says firmly. She can't afford to get angry about it all now. Not when they so badly want Kunsel to know they're telling the truth.

What could she mean Sephiroth was what happened in Nibelheim? What? Did he just lose it? With Zack right there? Is that why Zack was in hiding?

Kunsel stands there silently for a few moments more before his head turns to look to Aerith, and then to Cloud, only to look back at Aerith. It's clear that he's stewing in his thoughts under that helmet of his, and he bites his lip to stop himself from stewing all the questions that spring in his mind. Like a hound dog, he wants to chase the leads placed in front of him, and he has half a mind to go over to Cloud and shake the answers out of him.

"Cloud's told you what happened in Nibelheim?" His voice is clipped, almost hurt, but he reminds himself that Cloud also thinks that they're friends, so not the most reliable narrator. "… How can you trust what he says?" He doesn't ask it to be mean, a genuine question from someone who just had a mess of conflicting truths handed over to him. "When he gets back I want to talk to him."

It's not the time or the place, but he wants the truth, and he wants it now, he's been searching for it for the past half a decade… his job entirely forgotten even as his PHS beeps twice in the alert of a message.

Aerith doesn't blame Kunsel. In truth, he and Zack knew each other much better than she was ever able to know him. Even when Zack first went missing she hadn't been jealous of that. It made her happy. Zack had people who cared for him and were holding onto him. He wouldn't disappear from memory because Shinra wanted it. And now she's glad for the same thing for Cloud--Whatever's happened to him, she's certain now that he was almost erased too. Not SOLDIER, was part of the very same mission as Zack, steeped in Mako and lost. There's no real way for her to know the truth unless Cloud tells her, but she and Kunsel both know that Zack would never leave anyone behind. He'd only done that to them because he was in danger. Right?

"I wish too." She reaches to pat Kunsel's arm softly and then folds her hands again. It would make the explanation a lot more straightforward if Zack were here. Why can Cloud do so many things a SOLDIER could? How can he possibly know Sephiroth if Zack was the one--? Aerith shakes her head. Too many moving parts. She doesn't want to speculate on her own anymore while using Shinra's version of events that Kunsel relayed to her years ago for reference; They sigh softly and it wobbles their bangs. "But I know he's not doing it on purpose. Cloud is too--"

Vague in the quiet? Shell-like when he isn't fighting, and even sometimes when he is? Clearly hurt by Aerith sending him away but not able to say it? He's too different from Zack to be trying to be him fully. They poke at him too much to not see that, and even Kunsel must have spotted that strange, faraway look on Cloud's face as he left. Aerith wants to scrub her hands up and down her face roughly and stomp her foot. There's a weird anxious pressure in her chest. "Cloud saved me," she exhales and it doesn't help dislodge it. Makes it worse. But still, a small smile finds its way back onto her face.

"He's a good friend. He doesn't want to hurt anyone but Shinra, Kunsel. And--" she hadn't even thought to mention, but now he's on her mind again, too, flashing bright and all wrong and Aerith swallows, her eyes going wide for just a split second, not sure how much Kunsel already knows about what's happened, how much the corporation documented AVALANCHE and the escape and Hojo and, and--they take another step closer, adding quietly, "and... Sephiroth."

This is a delicate situation then. Kunsel wishes he could convince himself he was apt to handle it but at times he knows he has all the subtlety of a power drill when trying to get to the bottom of something. He'll have to… What? What can he even do right now to find out more? Follow after them? After years of paralyzed inaction the thought feels daunting, unreasonable, he'd just be painting a target on himself and telling Shinra to come get him.

… He's a coward, a thrum of ache going through his chest. He should've deserted all those years ago, when Zack first went missing, maybe then he could've found him, done something.

Kunsel swallows his thoughts and sighs wearily, gaze falling to the side, watching the waves in the distance as he gathers his thoughts - more things to be sorry for. Cloud saved me. All the while Kunsel had no idea what was going on until it was all over with, stationed in Junon away from the action, left to read the mess of reports after the fact.

"Aerith, I --" He wants to hurt Shinra too, Kunsel wants to say, he does it in his own way, leaking information to anti-Shinra cells and protecting independent journalists as much as he could. But his thoughts are entirely interrupted as his mind catches up with Aerith's words.

Sephiroth. Sephiroth? He's alive? Another thread, another lead. Yet one more person "dead" running around.

He's dumbfounded for a few moments before he can find his voice again, lowering it to a conspiratorial whisper - he's heard of sightings but they were all insubstantial, evidence less, easy to discredit.

"Sephiroth..? You mean he's also out there? Why would Cloud want to hurt him?" The Sephiroth he knew was a bastion of stability in the program, handling way too much responsibility since he was way too young, but doing it with a grace that was to be aspired to. He truly has no idea what transpired in Nibelheim, not fully.

Aerith is sorry, too. But not like Kunsel biting off the impulse to apologize for honesty. Aerith is sorry she doesn't know more. She's never had the answers about anything. Cloud is her friend, though, and Kunsel is too. "He must've killed Zack, or stolen it from him..." They put on a slightly gruffer imitation of Kunsel's voice when they say it, waving a finger. Any other day it would be funny. Now it just makes Aerith's heart hurt. "That's what Kunsel is thinking, right?" They cross their arms over their chest uncharacteristically fierce. Defensive. There's no coldness, she wouldn't know how to aim that at Kunsel, but she's firm. Maybe it's unfair but she'd fend for both of them if they needed her to. Cloud is just the one being suspected now. "I can't believe that. I can't." She swallows. Her shoulders curl up around her like a cage.

"Zack, he... Wherever he is, he must've helped him. Cloud. Something isn't right with all of it, but he's not. Cloud wouldn't--Not if they were friends." Cloud is lonely. Cloud is hurt. Cloud thinks Kunsel is his friend and Aerith has only seen that familiar look of recognition in his eyes a few times, his words skipping and stuttering. Kunsel is lonely. Kunsel is hurt. Kunsel is isolated and suffering and Shinra has taken everything again and again. Aerith is lonely and that's never been new. They're worried and afraid and want to help and know they can't do a single thing--And they don't say any of those feelings out loud.

She follows his gaze toward the bar and asks Kunsel while watching Cloud almost disappear in front of her eyes, "But what you're saying... So he's not SOLDIER?" Then how--? They tear their eyes back over to try and meet Kunsel's but of course can't find them under his helmet. It only makes them feel more defeated and look it, too. Maybe if they weren't out in the open, were back in Midgar in Sector 5, everyone hiding and forgotten, maybe she'd know how to handle this. Something familiar to ground her. As it stands, Aerith lifts both her hands and holds them up helplessly at the sides of her face, so lost in the logic of it all that she forgets how to smile in the face of it. Her eyes drag to footprints in the sand. They shouldn't stare Kunsel down while they disappoint him. After all the times he's tried to share information with her, the one time he asks for some back she comes up empty. "Kunsel, I don't--Then I--"

And now he has here this random guy, apparently believing he was friends with Kunsel all along, carrying the Buster Sword, acting like he was an ex-SOLDIER… Basically taking over Zack's life. How was Kunsel supposed to think anything other than he was doing it on purpose? Because if Zack had helped him like Aerith's suggesting… why isn't he around? Would he just ditch the Buster Sword?

"Maybe he didn't steal it… but he obviously took it." Kunsel chews on the inside of his cheek and has half a mind to berate himself for letting his mind wander there immediately, doubting Aerith's trust in the guy... But Zack's his best friend, still. He can't help but protect the idealized image of him he's grown to have. "Sorry. You're right. Zack probably set him up and helped him. I just wish I knew where he was, it'd make this way easier to figure out."

If she knew anything… She'd tell him. They spent enough time together in the uncertainty of waiting to understand the ache it leaves behind.

"Look, he wasn't SOLDIER, not when I knew him, not when Zack went to Nibelheim. Whatever happened in that last mission… he's clearly gone under the enhancement procedures." The mako glow in his eyes is unmistakable… although a little sickly green looking.

Kunsel is searching her face and he finds a meek sort of smile. A promise to make good on his patience. She breathes a small laugh when he holds out the umbrella and takes it between her fingers gingerly, like he or she or all of them might be made of fragile glass. "I've been practicing, too," she adds softly, knowing that to Kunsel this might even sound like a dangerous fact--she's running with AVALANCHE after all, after all this time trying to stay hidden--and turns to Cloud, leaning into his personal space so his chin is almost on top of her head.

"See, he's not so bad!" Her voice springs back up like when she first tried to sell him a flower, bright like sunbeams, "Maybe you've known each other longer, but you don't get to hog Kunsel!" And they hold out the umbrella for Cloud to take, "Will you get me a new drink? We can put this in it!" For a second she searches his face, too, that recognition swimming in his glowing eyes so clearly that Aerith feels like she could feel it under his skin too, more feeling than she's seen in his face for a while, clinging to him like the sweat they're all feeling in this heat. Or maybe he's grabbing onto it with white knuckles. She doesn't know Cloud well enough. She wishes that was different. "Kunsel can have my old one." Right? She tips her head slightly and her hat slidessss toward the SOLDIER a little.

They hope Cloud can see that she's going to explain: They hold his gaze forcefully, willing him to find in the fondness and concern there and know that they're not trying to hide things from him to be mean. Even if she feels terrible--How could they have met before?? Even if he doesn't feel like she's been lying, or any of his concern over it is now being eclipsed by whatever memory he's mentioning to Kunsel; Her teasing tone lilts the same as ever. "You have to pick what I get this time, Mr. Cloud."

His expression changes just a bit when Aerith pipes up again and holds out that pink umbrella. Cloud might be...well--Cloud. Awkward. He knows he's awkward. And not great at talking to people and he knows whatever's going on here between Kunsel and Aerith is awkward in its own way too. That seed of jealousy finally sprouts into a soft green-leaved stem. Even though Kunsel just said they weren't together. Cloud still can't help but wonder for a moment. Yeah, he's just Cloud, and this guy's a SOLDIER, he's got all the right stuff, so--. A little shadow of hurt crosses into his features, not quite schooled out by the years of battles he's fought or the mercenary work or even Sephiroth. She's sending me away. "Oh. Oh, yeah." She doesn't want me here.

But it's Aerith and they look nothing but kind even when they're trying not to. And Cloud's 'not interested.' He's the indifferent type. Yeah. He doesn't care. He takes the umbrella between his fingers, suddenly feeling quite small, casting another look at Kunsel like he's trying to piece something together or get help from his friend, but the telltale SOLDIER mask makes it impossible to read anything on his features. It always has. Cloud hates that thing. "Yeah, um," he swallows, trying not to think about what the two of them might talk about away from his ears. Away from him. Lost time and secrets and maybe even what-ifs, if they get this thing sorted out, if they get a chance to have a normal life. Even though, he reminds himself, they just said that wasn't what happened. "I got it. No problem. Do you--," turning properly to Kunsel again, "--do you want anything, Kunsel?" Suddenly he's a little angry with Aerith. Kunsel is his friend too, why do they get to act more entitled to his time? But mostly he just feels like the little friendless boy in Nibelheim again and he always, always hated feeling that way.

When Kunsel answers Cloud nods and looks wobbily between the two and turns around to slink towards the bar with the tiny umbrella held like one of Aerith's beloved flowers between his fingers, the ground slipping further and further away from him with every step, until he is not sure where he's walking at all and only knows it's bloodstained land he's treading, dragging some sword behind him, eyes growing more unfocused until he returns to the seat he abandoned and stares and stares and stares until the bartender snaps her fingers in front of him to wake him up.

Aerith looks almost guilty she not so subtly asked Cloud to leave the two of them alone, but Kunsel is glad she did, they needed a moment.

Mostly to ask what the hell is going on.

Once he's sure they're out of earshot, Kunsel sighs, the sound clipped and somewhat uncomfortable, turning to face Aerith with an unreadable expression. "… I don't know him, not like that at least." He confesses, and he almost has a mind to sound apologetic but what was there to apologize for? The truth? "He was actually Zack's friend - there wasn't a department where he didn't have at least one friend, you know? I met Cloud a couple times, I think… but it was work related, we weren't buddy-buddy."

Kunsel crosses his arms again, eyes glancing at where Cloud sat at the bar - catching the barman trying to get the 'ex-SOLDIER's attention. There's clearly something up with him… but where Kunsel's gaze lingers is the Buster Sword.

"… That's Zack's sword." He says, quietly, and looks at Aerith like they might have the answers. "Is he…" What is he even trying to ask? Does Aerith think he's acting? Is this a case of stolen valor? He's heard the reports, he knows Cloud has done some feats only expected of SOLDIER… but that just leaves more questions than answers. "Do you think he believes what he's saying, or do you think he's just playing?"

"The guy passing as ex-SOLDIER." Kunsel adds on to Aerith's introduction of him, nodding in slight recognition. He's been hearing a lot of things... and feeling immensely frustrated that he's pulled away from the action every single time. Seems like he caught a lucky break, finally.

"For work they'll happily send me anywhere, I'm just still overdue a proper vacation. Don't remember what it means to relax at this point, got them breathing down my neck every moment of the day."

Cloud squints at him funny. Kunsel does too - taking in the full details now that they were face to face and — the sword. That's... there's no way around it, that's the Buster Sword. The reports were right. No doubt his expression turns somewhat cold at this point now, a frown to the brow hidden behind a helmet but his lips form a tight line as he finally has an opportunity to ask the questions that have been driving him mad.

What happened? Where's Zack?

"Where did you —" They speak at once, and he snaps his mouth shut at the question directed at him, momentarily stunned by the bluntness offered. The boyfriend...? How clueless is this guy? He can't seriously not know. "... No. No we never dated." Although there might or might not have been a moment of weakness where he was charmed by the idea - not that he'd ever confess that now, his gaze briefly glancing at Aerith fondly. "We became friends after Zack went missing." The name slips from him easily, why shouldn't it? He looks at Aerith with a slight tilt to his head, questioning what she had and hadn't told Cloud, crossing his arms idly.

"No, Cloud," she tries to interject and straightens her back again when Kunsel answers instead, trying to wash all of her discomfort out of the face she's making at them both. It's not like it's their fault. But Cloud is... And Kunsel knew Zack, he'll see the same things she has been and--"We don't know what happened to him." Aerith lets her voice go quiet and it almost seems like as she droops, an overwatered vine, her hat does too, and she hangs her folded hands in front of her. For a second she stays like that, like she knows that any other added explanation will only make things worse. Then, "But, this is Kunsel!"

They try to smile properly again, warm and friendly, friends meeting friends is a good thing! And they can't exactly explain everything because they don't. Well. Know. Not all of it. Cloud must've known Zack somehow, but he doesn't seem to remember. It must've been bad. Like the labs were for her. Like running and blood and cold and stabby needles and she doesn't want to make things worse. Aerith pokes her cheek with a finger and leans between both of them, bending at the waist to recapture their attention. For once, the act of it can't make her look less sorry, but she tries! "Maybe you can both have a vacation here! It's so beautiful and we've already been out on the beach all day! Oh, that's my--" After they shift to smile at Kunsel, they turn back to Cloud and spy the umbrellas in their bodyguard's hand. Now she looks embarrassed again but in a good way. The giggle is like skipping stone ripples as she explains for Kunsel, "My umbrella! He was so mad I didn't get a pink one, hehe."

But he's definitely confused. If this isn't the boyfriend and Aerith knows another SOLDIER, then...? Well why didn't she mention something like that? The little seed of jealousy springs further. Cloud turns his questioning gaze over to Aerith's profile as if to ask two? and it's not like Aerith has to tell him everything that's going on, they're not close like That, but it also feels like a silly secret to hide. The cast look that's meant to beseech Aerith for answers instead immediately tells him that Aerith is deeply uncomfortable and in turn casts a shadow over Cloud's heart. Like swimming in ground.

What's going on...?

Aerith starts drooping like she's had her wings cut again and Cloud's hands start feeling foreign at his sides again. There's a bigger scope of things going on here. Things Cloud can't see. For whatever reason these are things Aerith feels compelled to be hiding from him too. His mouth takes the shape of a question he knows he has to ask but he finds that can't find the words to form it and that his mouth doesn't even know how to form those words in the first place. But it doesn't actually matter because 'but, this is Kunsel!' He doesn't know a Kunsel either but suddenly this one time kunsel and i... oh yeah. It's his best friend in the whole wide world.

"No way--," Cloud chokes on air. "Kunsel. Wow. I--," really owe him an apology for just disappearing like that haha... when we get back the three of us will have to go out properly drinking together, you guys would really get along i think. "I thought that--," he's a really cool guy you can trust him when we get back i'm sure he'll be on our side and help us out. "Are you--," from fonte santa but shinra's being rough on him so he hasn't been back in a while but you should really hear how he talks about the place 'cause he knows all the good spots.

He doesn't know what he's trying to say. Cloud shakes his head a little and tries again. "It's been a while. Uh, sorry for taking so long and for disappearing like that. I'm glad they let you come home finally. It's just like Shinra to hold out that much on someone." He smiles a little bit, just a small quirked thing, that leans a bit challenging when his gaze flicks down to the pink umbrella in Kunsel's drink. "Also, yeah. Aerith obviously needs the pink umbrella. ...If you're up for trading."

They're similar like that.

She seems to trust Cloud, stands between the two of them to keep peace. Every second that passes fills Kunsel with an uneasy uncertainty that he doesn't know how to handle, gripping his arms tighter, hugging them against himself for a brief moment before relaxing as Aerith tries so hard to lighten the mood again - she's uncomfortable, and he hates that him trying to pry is making her so sad. He's getting the hint that this is something they should talk about alone, without Cloud there.

And it's not like Cloud looks too happy to be dealing with him, no doubt feeling pressured by the sight of a proper SOLDIER First Class, daring to even scoff at his implication that Cloud wasn't the real deal, giving Kunsel atitude even as Aerith plays peace keeper.

Until she says Kunsel's name.

He was looking at Aerith when a sudden exclamation breaks free of Cloud's lips, tone completely diferente from the sulking one used up to this point. The expression that greets him is oddly… familiar, almost surprised, like he hadn't recognized Kunsel until now. Which was fair, as the rare times they crossed paths in the past Kunsel was Second Class.

But… The way he's talking is too animated to belong to the guy that had been staring daggers at him since the start of this conversation. It's like he thinks they were friends once.

He tries to mask his confusion, helmet thankfully hiding the deepening furrow of his brows, but the silence that stretches on after Cloud speaks is telling - until Kunsel glances at Aerith. Something was up here. Something she knows.

"Right… I don't hold it against you, buddy." Kunsel speaks it as a means of placating the conversation, not wanting to immediately pull the rug from under the guy and start arguing that he doesn't know him, but it's clear from his tone an edge of uncertainty is there, his eyes lingering on Aerith before he finally meets Cloud's way too familiar gaze. "Lots of things happened while you were… gone."

When the distraction of the drink umbrela is given, he gladly takes it, uncrossing his arms and reaching behind him for his caipirinha and picking out the decorative toothpick, offering it to the two of them. "Won't catch me saying no to Aerith - she hits hard." He offers a slightly unsteady smile, playing along only because he does't have the full picture yet. Kunsel takes another sip - he needs it.

"Oh man.." and the words come out loud, too. Hahhhh, how weird! Her smile doesn't fall short of a beam all the while, though, and she lets out a little laugh of delight as he greets her, not even sure where to begin. Aerith's heart feels like it might burst for how glad they are not to have lost anyone else. "I'm just--Oh!" She turns halfway to motion toward Cloud who is looking particularly on guard and, well, that just makes sense doesn't it. They pat the side of his arm gently like that might get him to take a breath (and not just make him more embarrassed or confused, which is likely incorrect). "This is Cloud. He's been helping me since--" Aerith wobbles a hand in the air like leaves in the wind. Since you know. Because Kunsel must, she's sure. Some of it at least. He's First Class and Sephiroth is involved--But there's no way Kunsel would turn them in. The possibility never crosses her mind, all of them standing in Zack's shadow. She nods back at Cloud with a twinge of an apology in her smile and adds, "It's okay, he's a friend!" Then she whips around, a flower stem leaning in the breeze, "You got to come home? I thought you said they weren't letting you--?"

Oh, wait. He remembers the playground, the sphere dome beneath his legs and boot soles. He remembers Aerith saying something about knowing another SOLDIER, her knees tugged to her chest, the soft melancholy in her voice, something about liking him. And like a bolt of lightning Cloud immediately becomes deeply jealous and is filled with an equally deep measure of embarrassment over said jealousy. There's no reason for him to feel this way at all. But he stops squinting and his eyes widen a little, straightening suddenly, fingers loosening on his arms, parasols sagging softly now that he's not quite so taut. "Is this--um." Maybe they aren't dating anymore? Aerith said it wasn't serious. But he has no other way of asking. "The boyfriend." Because at least if this is there's no way mystery-SOLDIER is going to turn them in or suddenly decide to fight them when the pleasantries are up. Even if it makes Cloud feel like a petulant little kid to think about this guy and Aerith. Oh grow up Cloud! Who cares!!

"The guy passing as ex-SOLDIER." Kunsel adds on to Aerith's introduction of him, nodding in slight recognition. He's been hearing a lot of things... and feeling immensely frustrated that he's pulled away from the action every single time. Seems like he caught a lucky break, finally.

"For work they'll happily send me anywhere, I'm just still overdue a proper vacation. Don't remember what it means to relax at this point, got them breathing down my neck every moment of the day."

Cloud squints at him funny. Kunsel does too - taking in the full details now that they were face to face and — the sword. That's... there's no way around it, that's the Buster Sword. The reports were right. No doubt his expression turns somewhat cold at this point now, a frown to the brow hidden behind a helmet but his lips form a tight line as he finally has an opportunity to ask the questions that have been driving him mad.

What happened? Where's Zack?

"Where did you —" They speak at once, and he snaps his mouth shut at the question directed at him, momentarily stunned by the bluntness offered. The boyfriend...? How clueless is this guy? He can't seriously not know. "... No. No we never dated." Although there might or might not have been a moment of weakness where he was charmed by the idea - not that he'd ever confess that now, his gaze briefly glancing at Aerith fondly. "We became friends after Zack went missing." The name slips from him easily, why shouldn't it? He looks at Aerith with a slight tilt to his head, questioning what she had and hadn't told Cloud, crossing his arms idly.