Zerith

CANON

Final Fantasy

Character	Character
Zack Fair	Aerith Gainsborough

Canonical?

Canon

Status of Relationship

Together in death

FANON

Type (?)

Het

Also Known As

Zakuea; ザクエア

Tropes

• First Love
• Birds of A Feather
• Chastity Couple
• Understanding Boyfriend
• I Will Wait for You
• My Girl Back Home
• "Dear John" Letter
• Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder
• The Lost Lenore
• Star-Crossed Lovers
• Her Heart Will Go On
• Together in Death
• Romance on the Set

6

12

1

Zack – “Okay, I'll come visit. This is a promise.”

Aerith – “I'll be waiting”

— Crisis Core Chapter 013: I Promise

Zerith is the het ship between Zack Fair and Aerith Gainsborough from the Final Fantasy fandom.

Canon

Both characters debuted in Final Fantasy VII. In the game, Aerith was a major character and a party member. Zack was a minor character and hidden within the game. His story has since been expanded on in sequels and prequels to FFVII.

Zack Fair grew up in a backwater town, Gongaga. At a young age, he became endeared with SOLDIER, a program hosted by Shinra Electric Power Company. He travels to the city of Midgar to apply and is accepted as SOLDIER.

Aerith was the daughter of Ifalna, the last of the Cetra, and Gast Faremis, head of the Shinra science department. However, Gast was killed by Proffesor Hojo and captured Ifalna and Aerith. Aerith grew up in the Shira headquarters, and the scientists paid no mind to her as they experimented on her mother. Eventually, Ifalna and Aerith escaped Shinra, but Iflana was mortally wounded. They were found by Elmyra Gainsborough, and Ifalna entrusted Aerith's life to her. Now living in Midgar, Aerith took a liking to a local Church and spent time growing flowers there.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

In April 0001, while on a mission for Shinra, Zack falls off the upper plate of the city and crashes through the roof of the Sector 5 church, landing on Aerith's flower bed. Aerith awakens the dazed Zack, who asks Aerith if she had saved him, to which she responds "Not really.". Nontheless, Zack thanks her and offers a date as a reward; Aerith agrees to go on the date with Zack. They walk around the slums where Zack buys a perfume and a pink ribbon for her for Aerith, but their date is interrupted as he gets a call to return to headquarters. Aerith asks if she would see him again and Zack assures her positively.

The two spend a lot of time together thereafter and become intimate with each other as lovers. Many people know of their relationship, including: The Turks, who guards Aerith, Zack's best friend Kunsel, his mentor Angeal Hewley, the members of his Fanclub, and surprisingly also Sephiroth. One day in autumn, Zack seeks comfort from Aerith after the death of Angeal, in which Aerith embraces him.

From their first meeting, Zack encourages Aerith to sell flowers and promised her to build a flower wagon. But time goes on and she demands it right before he leaves for his next mission; he fulfills it, but as she isn't satisfied with the wagon. She then hands him a note of her 23 tiny wishes written on it; Zack reads the note that says, "I wanna spend more time with you". The couple sell flowers together later on at the playground in the Sector 6 slums and relish the happiness of being together despite the short time they have. Zack asks her to wear a pink dress for their next meeting when he comes back.

Aerith gives Zack a note of her 23 wishes .

The mission happens on September 22, 0002 as Zack goes to Nibelheim with Sephiroth to investigate the town's Mako reactor. It's during this mission that Sephiroth learns of his origins and massacres the entire town, setting it aflame. Zack fights Sephiroth but is severly wounded. Later, he and Cloud Strife are found by Shinra scientists, who would experiment on them for the next four years.

Aerith is stuck waiting for Zack to return. Zack's Fanclub, and also Kunsel, check on her during Zack's absence. The flower wagon breaks, so Aerith continues to sell flowers with a basket. Kunsel even offers himself to fix it, but Aerith only wants Zack to do it. Aerith writes letters to Zack hopes of reaching him and delivers them through Tseng, one of The Turks who is close to both her and Zack. After writing 88 letters in four years without any reply, she loses hope of ever seeing Zack again. She writes the 89th letter as the final one and delivers it through an Angeal Copy.

Suddenly, on December 19, 0006, Zack awakens and breaks out of his cell; he also busts Cloud out of his cell, but he is now in a Mako-induced coma. Now fugitives of the company they once served, Zack and Cloud spend months on the run with the hope of reaching Midgar, with Zack wanting to fulfill Aerith’s 23 Wishes. When he finishes his confrontation against Genesis Rhapsodos in Banora, he receives her 89th letter. He screams out to the sky in realization that four years have passed and the mention that it’s her final letter; now he's determined to return to her despite the risks. A few days later, Zack and Cloud finally reach the outskirts of Midgar, but they are surrounded by Shinra troops. After hiding Cloud, Zack faces the troops alone in the fight for his freedom; he successfully fights off most of the army, but he is gunned down by the three soldiers left.

Aerith, who was tending her flowers in the church, senses Zack's dying moment due to her Cetra blood. She prays for him and looks to the sky. It also turns out despite her final letter, she’s dressed in pink for the promise of their next meeting.

Ultimately, Zack takes his last breath after passing his Buster Sword onto Cloud.

Final Fantasy VII

On December 9, 0007, Aerith meets Cloud as she is selling flowers in Sector 8. Cloud later falls into the church as Zack did, and Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard with a date as payment, just as Zack did to her. She takes Cloud to the same playground she went to on her first date with Zack, where she then asks Cloud if he knew her first love because both were in the same rank in SOLDIER. Aerith still doesn't get closure of what happened with Zack nor been aware that his death is part of the reason behind Cloud's fake persona she could sense as Cetra.

Aerith leaves Midgar with Cloud and the others, set on a journey to pursue and stop Sephiroth. They pass across Gongaga and unintentionally meet Zack’s parents. The parents ask the group if they knew where Zack had been since the last news they heard about him is from the letter he sent to them 6-7 years ago, during the time that Aerith and Zack were dating. In the letter, Zack mentioned that he had a girlfriend, and both Aerith and Tifa are asked if they were his girlfriend. But neither of them replies to his parents as they burst out of the house, implying both shocks.

In the Gold Saucer amusement park, as Aerith goes on a date with Cloud in the gondola, and she confesses that he reminds her of Zack and that is part of the reason why she felt strongly attracted to him at first. But she also learns that things are different and wants to meet the real Cloud, indicating that she's finally ready to let go of Zack and move on with her life.

Unfortunately, Aerith is killed by Sephiroth days later in the Forgotten City while trying to summon Holy. Her death occurs in December 0007, just three months from Zack's death.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Two years after both Aerith and Zack's deaths, Cloud is still struggling to cope with the losses and distances himself from his friends; on top of that, he is also suffering from Geostigma. He spends his days in the Sector 5 church and keeps visiting Zack's grave. At this time, three remnants of Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, are luring children from Edge, including Cloud's foster child, Denzel.

During Cloud's journey to defeat the remnants, Aerith and Zack’s spirits occasionally appear through visions to aid him in fighting his enemies. After Cloud is narrowly killed by Loz and Yazoo, divine intervention from Aerith and Zack allows him to him survive. They send Cloud’s spirit back to the living world, joking that he’s too big to be adopted, meaning it isn’t his time to die yet. After waking up in the church surrounded by his family and friends, Cloud sees Aerith and Zack at the glowing entrance; they smile at him before they depart.

At some point the following year, yellow flowers are blooming on the spot where Zack died. The rusted Buster Sword, previously Zack’s grave marker, is polished and moved to the Sector 5 church, where it's surrounded by flowers, and serves as a monument to both Zack and Aerith.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Zack walks past Aerith from a different reality.

The story of this game follows the events of Final Fantasy VII that take place only in Midgar with some differences, especially with the existence of Arbiter of Fate. Major changes happens in the last chapter.

In Midgar expressway where the party confronts Sephiroth, Aerith gets a vision of Zack's final battle against the Shinra army. Sephiroth opens a portal, and invite the party to follow, Aerith refers to Zack’s line about freedom that entering the portal would change many things. As the party defeats Arbiter of Fate later on inside, Zack didn't die in his last stand and continues to drag Cloud headed to Midgar, implying that his fate has changed.

When the party reaches the outskirt of the city as they leave to pursue and stop Sephiroth, Aerith and Cloud walk past Zack, most likely from another timeline. Here, Aerith stops walking for a while under the rain and gazes at the cloudy sky.

As the party arrives at Kalm, Zack (in the other timeline) arrives at the church. He opens the door expecting to find Aerith, only to see that people have taken up shelter inside instead. He has no idea of what has happened and utters Aerith's name worryingly.

What will happen to Zack after that, and whether he can reunite with Aerith, is still unknown.

Trace of Two Pasts

During the voyage from Junon to Costa del Sol as the party infiltrate Shinra’s ship and disguise themselves as infantrymen, Aerith shares stories with Tifa about her past. She tells Tifa about times when she and her mom escaped from Shinra, continued with stories of her living with Elmyra Gainsborough in Sector 5 slum. When Aerith reaches the part of her having a first love and is about to tell Tifa, Cloud interrupts them to stop chatting since the girls are too loud. Aerith tells Tifa that she would tell her about the story of her first love next time.