"Yep, that was Spike," Zack agrees, and when the cat is in their laps he reaches out carefully to pet it. Cute thing. Maybe he should get a pet. "My little trooper buddy. My best friend, other than Kunsel. Hell, I guess you could say even more than that, given all we went through. Not that Kunsel isn't great. I know he was still alive when I got free, I got some messages from him. But I could never send one back."

If he had, might he be alive back home now, rather than dying to protect Cloud? Who knows.

"Did you keep selling flowers?"