The town was more devastated than before... The mako reactor was gone. Completely ******** gone. And with it, it took the whole god damn town. All that was left was a store or two, which were mostly used as homes, and a couple houses...and a graveyard.
This was Gongaga. Zack's home. And he was completely unprepared. The reactor had exploded not too long after he had left, and has been like this for many years.
Why had he never gone to visit when he was dead? Maybe he was afraid. He couldn't remember now... But he just hoped the man he was looking for was still alive.
Zack parked the bike in front of town and stepped across the dirt. Not even a single blade of grass had grown. He held his sword at his side, making sure he didn't look as if he were about to attack anyone...
He walked into a building. It was where the old weaponsmith used to be. He figured it would still be there... Thank god it was.
"Uh, you're..."
"...Zack?!" cried the old man. He lowered his glasses, looking at Zack more closely.
"Yeah..."
"We thought you were dead! Well...besides your parents. That or you'd abandoned us..." he said.
"Ah... My parents! Are they...?"
"Go see for yourself," sighed the old man. "Now what do you want? Look at that sword, it's all rusted. Give it here, I'll fix it up for free. It'll be done in an hour."
Zack's jaw dropped. "That fast?!"
"I'm the best god damn smith you'll ever see around here," he said, grinning as he took Zack's sword into the back.
"But nobody knows, do they..."
"Not a damn soul. No one comes around here anymore. Why should they? This is a beat down village... Now get outta my house, come back later."
"Alright, alright..." Zack said, turning around. He left the house...and continued to his own. It was broken down and almost completely reshaped, but he recognized it... He didn't know how.
Stepping through the door, he stared into the empty room. Everything was dusty, untouched. A broken TV sat in the corner and the only window in the room was broken.
"..." Zack heaved a sigh and held his face with both hands. This was bound to happen, he thought. Don't cry over a lost cause...
He never did get to speak with his parents. He never saw them when he was dead. Maybe because he spent so much time in Gaia...rather than back in the far plains. The promised land.
Shin-Ra had been so obsessed with finding the Promised Land that it had been right under their nose. The Promised Land was in their hearts. And it was, to Zack, also after death. A haven for the dead. Yes, the lifestream, but...everything was just so different from back then.
Zack spent his hour, even more than an hour, at his parents gravesite.
[xD Sorry for the long post... Another one is coming up after this, but not so long. Very short, actually.]
