He watched her as he approached, a perfect
angel upon the altar. Head bowed, hands clasped as she prayed for
Holy. To save her friends. To save herself. To save the planet.
"Aeris.." Cloud murmured. He
stepped out onto one of the small platforms that would lead him
to her. Yuffie walked up behind him, stoutly ready to follow his
lead. He turned to look at her, held up his hand and shook his
head in a silent message. Let me go alone. She nodded
slightly and backed off to stand beside a concerned Tifa.
Cloud hopped from platform
to platform until he was finally on level with her, and smiled. Aeris,
he thought, you don't have to do this alone. We're in this
together. We're all here now, to help..
The blonde warrior's
thoughts were interrupted as he felt his body stiffen, then go
rigid. He stood on tiptoe for a short moment, as if someone had
snuck up behind him and pulled the tender hairs on the back of
his neck. Pain seared through his head, so much that it caused
him to be blinded temporarily.
He knew this feeling. It
was Sephiroth. It always was.
Cloud soon recovered his
vision. He felt himself reach for his sword's sheath, grasp the
handle and slowly draw it.
What the hell am I
doing?!
He began to advance upon
her, with slow, struggled steps, fighting every inch of the way.
His hands grasped the sword hilt so hard that his knuckles turned
white. And here she was, a few feet away from him, head bowed in
prayer. So trusting. Perfectly innocent.
No! he though
desparately as he raised the sword above his head, ready to
strike. No! No,This isn't happening! Sephiroth, you sorry
bastard..
"Cloud!" A
shocked voice ripped through his thoughts as if they were paper.
Tifa's. It gave him the strength to fight, a stronger will. Tifa
often had that effect over him. He broke from his enemie's
control and lowered his sword. Taking a step back, he shook his
head violently as if to rid it of something or someone.
Down below the scene, Tifa
allowed a quick sigh of relief. Aeris was safe. She glanced up,
about to thank the heavens, and froze. There was Sephiroth,
levitating above them as he watched. A second later he turned his
head in her direction and smirked victoriously. Positioning his
masamune downward, he began to let himself drop.
"Aeris!!" Tifa
screamed in terror. Her body began rushing forward without her
mind's consent. She leapt the platforms as quickly as she could.
She had to save Aeris. Her best friend! She had to save her. It
was inexplainable. She just had to.
Before she knew it, Tifa
was pushing past a petrified Cloud at an almost superhuman speed.
"Aeris, please no!" Sephiroth was nearly on her! The
woman's mind was numb with horror. She shoved Aeris bodily aside,
sending her sprawling from the danger.
Tifa gasped as she watched
Sephiroth's sword growing from her chest. Even then, she knew it
was fatal - he had stabbed her right through the heart. Slowly it
retreated back through her body and out of her back, the needle
sharp tip drawn from her crimson-stained clothing. Sephiroth
looked up at Aeris, who had been watching in a state of horrified
petrification, much like Cloud. 'Next time.' His lips
formed the words as he narrowed his turquoise eyes in a confident
smirk. Then he arose towards the heavens, and was gone.
"Tifa!!" Cloud
suddenly found himself able to move again. He rushed to her side
and rested her back and head in his lap, looking into her
beautiful, kind, crimson eyes, frantically searching her face for
an answer. "Tifa.."
"Cloud...I.."
Her slender hand reached to brush his cheek, and the power of
speech left her. ..Love you.. Her hand dropped, halfway
to his skin, as her chest ceased to rise, her body fell still and
her eyelids fluttered closed, never again to open.
Cloud reached for her hand
and held it against his cheek, striving for the smallest scrap of
comfort. He merely sat like that for several minutes as his eyes
glazed over, not noticing Yuffie desparately shaking him, or
Aeris calling his name.
For some reason or
another, Cloud had always thought that Tifa would be with him,
there for him. She always had, right from their childhood - maybe
that was why he assumed she always would be. She was his constant
companion, a friendly face in a foreign land. A comfort in times
of trouble and strife. His best friend. His.. his love?
Realization dawned, clear
as a bright afternoon after a long morning of thick fog. His
love. He loved her. All along, he had loved her. And now, he
realized, she had loved him too. Was that why she would sometimes
catch him in an awkward moment, about to say something - but
hesitate, back off? Tifa.. he thought brokenly. I'm
so sorry.. It was like a slap in the face.
Cloud blinked slowly,
feeling a burning sensation on his left cheek. He actually had
been slapped in the face. Looking up, he met Yuffie's bright,
teared eyes.
"Cloud! We.."
She broke off and took a
step back. Any sort of aggression, anger, or annoyance vanished
from her face as she saw his eyes. They were hollow. Almost
emotionless, as the rest of his face. Broken windows to his
soul.. But somehow she knew how badly he was hurting behind that
mask.
However, now was not the
time to ponder this. Yuffie winced as she felt Jenova's Blue
Light attack sear through her again. Yes, that monster was
here, now - she had appeared in much the same manner as
Sephiroth. Out of nowhere.
The young ninja wrenched
Cloud upright and cautioned a glance back to Aeris, who was
attempting to fight Jenova solo while Yuffie retrieved Cloud.
"Fire 3!" The air cackled and cracked like a
mad thing as glowing red spots began to appear around the
monster, only to vanish in an awe-inspiring explosion. A short
wave of heat washed over them, then cooled as Jenova's Aqualung
bubbled around them.
Cloud seemed to have
regained his senses. He rushed to the battle spot with Yuffie.
They chipped away at their opponent's HP, and she theirs. Aeris
kept them going with a good Regen. Pain seared through Cloud's
body again as he mindlessly covered for Aeris when Jenova
attempted yet another Blue Light.
He felt his limit top and
break in the same second. He uttered but a single growl: "Meteorain!"
Cloud rose into the air and meteors sprouted from his sword tip,
battering down on Jenova like a wind-driven rain. That ended
their battle completely. Jenova let loose an unearthly shriek,
and vanished slowly into a swirling red light.
Aeris immediately turned
to Yuffie, her eyes shining wetly. "It should have been
me," she whispered hoarsely. "It's my fault.. she's
gone.." She cried into her friend's shoulder. Yuffie
awkwardly comforted her, and for once her mind had left herself
and all her materia to care for something much more deep.
Cloud mechanically
sheathed his sword. Quietly he approached Tifa's prone form and
carefully picked her up. With slow, measured steps, he left the
City of the Ancients.
Aeris and Yuffie followed
faithfully, sobbing. But their leader's grief was beyond tears.
------
Three months
later.
------
Cloud approached a small
gravestone embedded carefully into the ground of a hilled crest
that boasted of a breathtaking veiw of Mt. Nibel and the lands
beyond. The grass was fertile, and several different wild flowers
thrived. She would have liked it there - the only reason Cloud
had chosen this spot. He knelt to the grass and placed a
beautiful boquet of flowers on top of her grave. Standing up, he
gazed at the gravestone with his hands in his pockets.
"Hi, Teef," he
began. "I'm sorry it's been a few weeks since I've talked to
you. A lot has been going on, I hope you can forgive me. We're
back on Sephiroth's trail again, but I can tell you about that
later. We don't know much yet.
"We've been running
all around the planet, hunting for chocobos. Did you know? We
finally figured out how to breed them and get the right results.
Just last week, we got a golden chocobo! She's wonderful.
Yesterday she won a ton of things at the tracks at the Gold
Saucer for us. I named her Angel, like you always wanted,"
he said. A stray tear trickled down his cheek, and he made no
attempt to brush it off.
"You probably know
I've been moping about now for a while," he admitted with a
sigh. "I know you don't like it, but it's so hard to move
on." Cloud paused. "I'm going to though. For you. Like
you used to say, the sun's going to come up tomorrow whether I
like it or not. I just have to face the challenges the day
brings." He lapsed into silence and watched the countryside,
still standing before the gravestone. Before long, Aeris's gentle
voice hailed him.
"Cloud.. it's
time." He looked at the hill behind him, beyond which his
friends waited for him. "Alright," he called back to
her.
He crouched beside the
gravestone. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. I'll see
you next week," he promised. "I love you. Don't you
ever forget it."
Cloud kissed his
fingertips and touched them to the stone, then walked down the
hill. As he crested the hill and saw his friends, he smiled.
And somewhere, up in the
heavens, he felt Tifa smiling with him.
Alright, it was kinda 'mushy', but I'm
such a sucker for those things. I started to cry while I was
writing it, but I'm a very emotional person =) I originally
planned it to be Cloud/Aeris, but the fanfic just writes it self,
you know? ^-^ Oh, and sorry for writing a battle scene, I've read
that some people don't like 'em. x.x Reviews are warmly welcomed!
This is my first FFVII fanfic, so please be gentle =)
