Zack watches Teresa leave with the servants, looking rather miserable. However, he trusts that Teresa will treat Maria’s body with respect and so sits down in the place where she was lying, keeping his head lowered. He is quite sad and depressed, but he is also happy that Maria is no longer suffering or in pain.
*”Take care of her. I appreciate the fact that you want to bury her with her family. They would have wanted that. As for the girl, take care of her. I can’t think of much more to say other than that. Farewell…”*
As he ends the telepathic connection, he just remains sitting there and sobs for several hours. After night has fallen, he has calmed down enough to begin cleaning up the house, packing up several items of food in a carry sack to take with him. He stuffs the stove as full of wood as he can get it, and then lights a match and walks out of the house as the flames leap out of the stove and onto the wooden floor. As he walks into the surrounding wilderness, he does not bother looking back as the house quickly catches ablaze. There is no reason for him to stay there any more, and he figures that people will not ask questions about himself or Maria if the house catches fire and burns to the ground.
Zack spends the next few weeks wandering the land as a nomad. He sleeps in barns across the country side, steals food from the farms, and flees each time he is discovered. He continues to wander for another few weeks, not really having much pattern to where he stays. Later that month, Sephiroth opens a portal to the area after finally finding the right time and place. He steps out of the portal, grunting as he ends up in a corn field with what appears to be the remains of burned wood nearby. He pays this no attention and takes to the skies, immediately scanning out Zack’s location.
He finds him some time later. Zack just looks back at Sephiroth gratefully, but they exchange no conversation.
“Don’t ever use that machine you made again,” Sephiroth grunts. “It is unreliable and got you stranded here.”
“Don’t worry…” Zack replies, “I don’t think I will…”
Sephiroth opens a portal back to their real time and place in the universe, and Zack gratefully steps through. He is more than happy to get home, but the memory of Maria and what has happened will stay with him for a very long time.