Flowers Blooming in the Church
The ghost of a fallen comrade revives painful memories. A journey begins to find what was lost, to revive a piece of them that was suddenly taken away. The journey that wasn't seen.
Chapter 1
Returning
The air vibrated a low murmur from the west. The airship Shera was going to visit Midgar this fine evening. It was little past dinner, and AVALANCHE stayed clear from the piling heap of "food" the captain laid on the table. Tifa was usually the one to lay out a hardy meal, but today, she didn't feel like cooking. No one blamed her. No one even cared to eat, even if it had been Tifa's cooking. They would perhaps pick at the food, as not to let her efforts go to waste. Broken spirits couldn't seem to find the strength to eat anymore. Everything happened so quickly. They couldn't find the time to take a breath, collect themselves, even after the fall of Meteor just a few weeks ago.
The engines were taking a break as the large machinery lay only a few miles from the outskirts of the slums of Midgar. The engines roared, yet no one was there to listen to the impressive sound.
The once bustling massive city, was now reduced to nothing but ruins and empty air. Somehow, the empty air seemed to affect the crew the moment they entered its perimeter. Midgar still held its way with people; in its prime glory or in its demise.
Cloud was the first to exit the Highwind that evening. An air about him made even Tifa look away. His eyes were set on Midgar, fiery yet glazed as if all sense was lost. The battle had been a tiring one. One that took every ounce of strength (mentally and physically) to render himself victor. Yet, to what price?
Tifa had thought that maybe after the world was silenced of threats, she could finally live her life the way she had dreamt it to be. That was far from what she was experiencing now. She watched as the only person that remained of her childhood drifted into a grand and mencing hole, being consumed by its darkness. Tifa lost sight of the man whom once told her everything would be all right.
Tifa stayed a few feet behind him, hiding in the deep shadows of the midnight dark. Cloud didn't bother to notice, for his sights were elsewhere, gazing over the bland valley of criss-crossing junk and crippled skyscraper structures unrolling before him. He asked Cid to fly him here. His intentions were to carry out his will on his own.
He threw the rope ladder over the Shera's metal side, watching as the metres and metres of rope hss-edits way to the ground. His ears were listening to the thud it would make once it hit the bottom, the only way he would know if it was safe to climb down.
Tifa watched from the safety of the shadows as Cloud climbed slowly down to the ground. The fading moonlight eluminated the swaying of the rope under Cloud's weight. Tifa waited until the movement ceased before she could follow him. It was minutes before it had and she felt confident that what she was doing for Cloud's own safety. Cloud was far from weak, but his mind and jugdement were feeble and on the point of breaking. Tifa felt obliged to help him as he had helped her countless times.
Into the shadow of the Shera, she crept, following the man that seemed to personify meaning to her, saving him from the only threat that still existed: himself.
It was silent. The wind had halted its path to Midgar and took another route. The dead of Midgar rested as the living took shelter under the rubble. The moon shone not on the metal hell, instead hid its shame in the thick clouds of poisonous ash Cloud's breath slithered through his lips, the only sound of life in Midgar.
It was an exhausting decent for Tifa. Her muscles ached as she jumped from platform to platform. Her eyes were straining against the thick veil of darkness covering them. And the reek of Midgar made her soul crawl. But she was determined, and would be damned if anything happened to Cloud.
Cloud was unaware of how long the descent was, and he couldn't care less. The only thing on his mind was his destination. The sweet fragrance of the delicate flowers. The warmth emitting from the comforting chapel. The gentle trickle of the waterfall. The smile of dear Aeris...
The endless loop of thoughts was interrupted by a cry, a child's plea under the debris. Tifa stopped herself, orienting herself. The brief moonshine danced over Cloud, ten metres or so below her, and stopped dead in his tracks.
A squirming arm snaked through two metal planks. A child! She held back her cry. Yet Cloud continued walking. Hadn't the man heard it? No, he did. But was he blatantly to leave him there?
Tifa was baffled. She watched as Cloud continued his journey down. She waited for moments to pass before she herself could aid the mangled boy.
"Hold on, kid," She heard a murmur as a shimmer of blond climbed up the metal platforms.
She heard the grind of metal on metal as he pried the crashed debris off the boy with a metal pole. A cry of relief came from the boy's mouth as Cloud helped him to his feet. The boy sighed and let out a quick thank you, simply relieved. He explained why the panels fell over him.
"They said Midgar is gonna be rebuilt after we get those poor folk trapped from the plate up. They'z actually starting now!" Cloud showed no interest; however, Tifa kept an ear open to hear the boy's claims. How people who lost everything of importance to them would actually rebuild a city that gave them grief was beyond her.
"That's nice, kid. Just go to your family and stay with them."
"I ain't got no family," he sighed.
Cloud stopped in mid-jump. No family... the punk actually looked like him, way back when. He turned around, facing the kid that followed him down a few planks. He placed two solid hands on the boy's shoulders.
"You never lose everything. There's always something to look forward to, got that?" He started back down, "rebuild your Midgar. All the power to you. "
"Thanks Cloud." She heard the boy murmur as he followed his own path that led into the darkness that surrounded them. She smiled as she heard him whistle a tune, the tune Aeris would be caught whistling from time to time.
She sighed discontently as she prepared herself for another jump. No matter how lost Cloud may seem, there was always this light tailing him in silence. She just wondered how long this light would last before it too disappeared in the darkness of his memories.
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! And here is a brand new and improved version of Flowers Blooming in the Church. A million and one thanks goes to my beta reader: Manda and her incredible english skillz. If it weren't for you, this fanfic would remain a big sloppy mess of mistakes. Again, thank you.
