That petting hand slowed more and more the quieter Zack became. Perhaps it was the small apartment with little things set around it to torture himself. The flowers that looked like they came from Aerith's garden sitting on his pathetic dining set. The cat in his kitchen that reminded him of the friend he had dragged around the world, trying to get home, and eventually had to let go so they could both survive. He sucked in a breath, exhaled, and it was all shaky like he was trying so hard not to cry.

"You're gonna be okay..." He managed, petting him one last time before scooping up Roman in his hands and pulling him up and up to cradle against his chest. He sucked in a breath, tried to get that purr to sync to his heart, perhaps calm him down, but it wasn't working very well. "You're gonna be okay."