I hold no rights to FF7, or I'd never be writing this.
In the darkness, Aerith smiles.
She smiles at memories, both the fleeting ghosts of long ago and the far more solid remnants of the last month.
It's probably an odd time to be happy. She is, after all, waiting for a fate she's always felt but never acknowledged. She's lived each day a little more brightly than she should, spending a lifetime in far too short a time, because she's always known. There will be no long life for her, no marriage, no growing old, gracefully or not.
The memories are with her, and she feels less alone, even as the darkness ahead thickens.
She's always felt alone, even though she never is. The voice of the Planet is always with her, but it is too big for her to understand, as she is too small for it to comprehend. It's a cold companion. Even if it knew what she does now, would it care? She doesn't think so. An ant colony doesn't miss a single worker.
Disturbed by these oddly disloyal thoughts, she retreats to memory again. There's a (man? boy? She's never really decided) who bought a flower from her, who took her home, who rescued her, who even now follows her. He'll be too late to save her again, and even as she smiles she grieves for what the next day will bring to him. He hides the breaks, but his soul is broken; tomorrow will either paper over the cracks with determination or break him completely. She thinks he'll be fine. He's stronger than he looks, and he has someone else to help with the glueing back together.
Even with that someone else, he still follows her, and that alone gives her the strength to keep going.
And as destiny finds her, so does he; as her eyes close, his are the last thing she sees, and she takes that memory with her too.
Alone
I walk into darkness
I leave you only
Memories of me.