Disclaimer: Characters and places belong to SquareEnix. The song "Fields of Gold" belongs to Eva Cassidy.

Fields of Gold

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
among the fields of barley.
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky,
when we walked in fields of gold

In the abandoned Church, she knelt by the alter, hovering lovingly over her flowers, watering them and arranging them beautifully. She always loved coming here; it was like a second home. As she reached out to handle a delicate red rose, the roof suddenly caved in with a large crash, effectively blocking out her scream. The wood and tiles crashed on the ground, covering her in a wave of dust.

Coughing, she used her hand to wave it all aside before her eyes widened at the sight before her. An unconscious blond man lay in the flowers, his chest slowly rising and falling. After her heart had calmed down from the sudden intrusion, she took a delicate step forward, tilting her head to the side to look at him before she kneeled down and brushed the spiky blonde hair from the man's face. She could not help but think that he was handsome, even if it was not the most appropriate situation for thinking such things.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" she called softly, gently shaking his shoulders.

He gave a soft groan in response but made no other indication of being on the verge of consciousness. With a sigh, she leaned back to give him some space and glanced around for something to do while she waited for him to wake up. She was rather curious as to how he fell through the roof and what he was doing but she supposed she would have to wait before she got some answers from him.

"Aeris?" a voice called, jumping her out of her memories and bringing her eyes to meet them. She gave a small smile as she recognised Zack walking up beside her.

"What's up?" the raven-haired man asked in his usual cheerful manner before he glanced at the window that showed Cloud's frame as he tossed and turned in his sleep. Zack's lips became a hard line as he gave a small sigh.

"Is he thinking about his past again?"

Aeris nodded, her eyes fixed on the image. She could not deny the contrast between it and the Cloud she had once knew. The Cloud who had fallen through the roof of her Church so long ago never had these nightmares and troubles. He was a completely different person to the one she had once loved. She knew why he was afraid to sleep. It was because he would have to relive the nightmares of losing Nibelheim, his mother, Zack, and he would replay her death repeatedly in his mind.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine!" the raven-haired man assured her, his trademark grin making its way back on his face.

Aeris sighed and slowly shook her head. She knew better than anyone else did that Cloud would never live down his past no matter how many times they told him that he was forgiven. Of course, she did not want him to completely forget about Zack and herself or the memories they had made. She just wanted him to forget the way they had left him. All she wanted him to remember was the people that she and Zack were. She wanted him to visit her from time to time but not as often as he had once, when he was feeling sorry for himself.

Zack gave a small pat on her shoulder, squeezing it gently as he tried once more to comfort her. She gave him a grateful smile but it was obvious to the former soldier that she wanted some time alone so he silently stepped backwards, telling her he'd be close by if she needed him. She didn't respond, her eyes still fixed on Cloud as he jerked awake, his body covered in cold sweat from his nightmare as he glanced around the room, trying to hear anything over the sound of his heavy breathing. He slowly lowered himself back on to the pillow and closed his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep.

It tore Aeris apart to see him like this. Cloud was not meant to be Zack, who had always seen the bright side of life and hardly let anything bother him. But that did not mean that he had to always be depressed about every bad thing in his life. She just wished that someday he would realise that he was never responsible for the death of Zack or herself. And hopefully one day, he would be able to move on.