Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. I do own this plot.

Warnings: None.

Author's Note: I got Final Fantasy VII the other day, and I got to the part where you met Aeris in the church. The game is just amazing...each character has their own distinct personality. So, I decided to write a short piece about Cloud and Aeris, despite knowing I could never capture what made the flower girl, well, the flower girl. There is some symbolism hidden within this, and there's a little guide at the very end if you're interested.

Dream Girl

He would have never guessed her hidden talent. Emerald eyes closed, serene look on her face, perfection. Her fingers danced left and right, hitting each ivory key to create nothing short of music perfected. She would never hesitate; she always hid her mistakes so well that I would never be able to disinter them. The beautiful sound grew louder and quieter, accentuating the best parts of the song.

But would Aeris ever know that even she did not compare to it? She was well out of her league, so to speak: she was much, much more beautiful than that song.

"Let's go," Aeris said in quiet, gentle tone. She abruptly stopped playing and stood up, taking a few steps towards the door before looking back at me. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," I assured her, smiling fondly at her childlike enthusiasm. She grabbed my hand in her own, smaller one, and together we walked to a secret spot, one where no beasts dwell and no men roam.

"Poor things," Aeris remarked, eyes showing the slightest hint of sadness at the flower's pitiful state. What should be a field of many different colors instead was a field of monotony, everything brown, save for me and her. "Let's do something, Cloud."

"...Okay. What?" I asked curiously.

"Just watch," she instructed, walking into the decaying field. Upon reaching the center, once again she turned to me and smiled. I had no idea what she would do. Seconds later, the most beautiful scene began to unfold before my eyes.

Once more, she closed her eyes and hung her head low, as if she were looking into the earth itself, into the Lifestream which gives and takes our lives. Suddenly, the field erupted in a collage of yellows and whites of all shades. Flowers bloomed, petals soaring into the air. I ran towards her, extending my arm to touch her just one more time. She was floating into the blue sky, but I managed to grab her hand before it escaped my grasp.

She looked at me and whispered, "Time to let go, Cloud."

I did as she asked, and watched as she rose higher and higher until she was out of my sight.

I suddenly sat up in my bed, awoken from my dream. I looked at my hand, and saw the oddest thing: yellow and white flower petals. I stood up, made my way to my bookcase, stumbling all the way. I fell to my knees and pulled a book from the shelf. I opened it carefully, choosing a blank page. I shut the book on the two petals, knowing that they would be preserved for all time.

-The End-

Brown field of flowers? It actually represents the slums of Midgar. They're both dirty and dare I say disgusting.

Then the flowers bloom, and that action represents the beginning of a new era. In Advent Children, the slums are pretty much gone, seeing as Midgar is effectively destroyed. The new city they built, Edge, seems to be much better than Midgar. And besides, most of us like alive flowers, not dead ones.

As for the flower's colors, yellow means happiness and white means purity. If you're around younger kids, they sometimes draw a sun as yellow and with a smile. I think both yellow and white represent Aeris very well, and I'm almost certain they're the colors of the flowers in her church, anyway.

Floating Aeris and her line is a reminder to us that Cloud has a hard time letting go of the past. Even in AC, he feels some sort of guilt by not being able to save Zack or Aeris. He seems to have let go by the end of the movie, but he still seems pretty emo to me. But I digress.

The flower petals being pressed in a book just shows that Cloud will probably never forget Aerith or her personality, and it can also mean that happiness and purity can always be found, even in the most unexpected places.