Disclaimer: This is a disclaimer. It says I don't own these things. Now it's over.
Aeris lay on the stone ground gasping for breath. Her lungs were burning. "Just came back and almost drown. When I find out what I was doing at the bottom of fifty feet of water..." she ranted on to herself. "and just look at my dress," she started wringing the water out of it. "..and my boots are ruined...bet my hair looks awful." She took the next several minutes accessing herself and her clothes.
Her boots were ruined. Her hair was a mess and she couldn't find her ribbon. She'd be able to sew the hole in her dress back up but her favorite jacket was beyond repair (torn and the metal was rusted) and the metal bracelets had rusted up. Ruined. and it was a gift from Zack too! Despite all the hard work she had done to make sure her skin was perfect (which was really hard to do in the slums) she now had a bad scar from where she was stabbed. Not the best way to come back but at least she was back.
That's when it hit her. Where were her friends? Shouldn't they be here to greet her or something? "Maybe they just went of to get something to eat, or went to the store or something." she said top herself. "I guess I'll just head back to town and wait for them there." The stone floor was a bit hard and cold on her bare feet. She wasn't about to wear her water longed boots.
She eventually got back to bone village and found some people that were nice enough to take her in for a while until her friends came back for her. Two weeks later, still no one had came back for her and the people that took her in were getting rather impatient, so she left. With no real idea where to start looking, she caught a ride headed for home. While a good hunk of Midgar was completely gone at this point, (she didn't know why) remarkably her house was till standing. (Granted it was in great need of some repair but it was still standing.) She walked up to the door and started knocking because she had lost her door key somewhere in the bottom of the lake.
"Yeah who da' 'ell iz it" a deep voice came from inside. Before she could answer, the door flew open and Barret stood before her.
"Hi Barret," she said rather casually.
"Dat you? Not no, nothing in disguise or my mind trickin' me or nothing, right?" he scratched his head.
"It's really really me." She smiled. "What exactly are you doing here anyway?"
"Helping yer, mom rebuild. Fig'ured we owed her. 'Sided no place else to fer me and Marlene ta' go." he stepped back inside the house "come on in, ya' got more right to da' place dan I got. Yer mom and Marlene are out right now shoppin'. Should be back soon."
"That's okay. I think I'll go upstairs and change real quick." she took off before Barret could say anything to her. She came back down in less than a minute. "Where's all my stuff?" she crossed her arms and started tapping her foot impatiently. "Tell me. I've had a real bad time since I came back."
"When when I told her, yer mom dat is, dat you were dead ,she went and donated yer stuff ta' charity. Threw the rest away, I figure."
Aeris felt like throwing something. All her pretty clothes, her diary, photo album, favorite stuffed toy, everything was gone. One of the worst parts was that many of the people she had pictures of in her photo album weren't even alive anymore. She walked back down the stairs and slumped over in on of the chairs.
"But yer alive again. Least ya' got that." Barret tried to cheer her up.
"Yeah, sure whatever."
The front doorknob started to turn. Barret threw himself in between the door and Aeris, obscuring her from view. "Got a surprise fer ya' two" he addressed the two that had just came threw the door before stepping aside to reveal Aeris.
"AHHHH GHOST!" Marlene shooting before cowering between her father's legs. "keep it away from me daddy" she whimpered. Aeris looked at her for a moment. She'd explain things to the little girl later.
"Hi mom!" She exclaimer stretching her arms back for a hug that never came. Instead Elmyra shook in fear.
"stay..stay away.....why...why are you torturing me like this?" her mother stammered slowly backing away from the resurrected Cetra.
"It's okay mom. I'm not here ..." she put her hand on her mother's shoulder to comfort her and was going to say "I'm not here to hurt you." but her mother fainted dead away.
When Marlene saw this she screamed and ran up the stairs hollering, "she hurt her. the ghost hurt her."
"Maybe, ya' should leave an' not come back." Barret suggested.
"I'm starting to think that. Do you know where Cloud's staying.?" Aeris asked
Barret put his good hand over his chin and a look of deep thought came across him. "naw...no clue, try Reeve. He might know."
"Ummm....why would I ask anybody in Shinra?" Aeris puzzled.
"Damn that's right, fogot 'bout that. Seems Cait Sith was Reeve." Barret explained not sure where he was supposed to say Reeve was Cait or Cait was Reeve.
"Really? You're kidding me? So what about Cait sith?"
"Robot broke during our last flight on the Highwind when it crashed." Barrett forgot how much exactly she had missed out on.
"You got to ride on the airship? And you wrecked it?" Aeris whined "Cloud promised me he'd take me on it one day....." her voice trailed off. Then she did. It took her several hours to track down Reeve. She knew what he looked like but never actually saw the man in person which made it much harder. Finally she tracked him down over seeing a group of sculptors working on a large marble statue. It was female in form but that's about all she could tell about the unfinished statue at this point. she tapped him on the shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned around.
"AERIS! You died" he stammered.
"Don't you remember me saying that'd I'd come back?" she smiled.
"Damn it!" he yelled and threw the plans he was looking t to the ground. "Take five guys!" he yelled back at the group. "Do you know what this is!?!" he yelled at Aeris pointing to the statue. she shook her head no slowly. "It WAS going to be a monument for a woman who was the last of her kind and sacrificed her life to save the Planet. It was. But ten she came back. Nobody wants a statue of the woman who STANDS ON THE STREET CORNER AND SELLS FLOWERS!" his voice went from a whisper to yelling.
"Excuse me for coming back to life! You know I liked you better when you were a cat!" Aeris yelled back at him.
"sorry...sorry....It's just that I planned everything out for you being dead and all.....now that you're back, I just don't know what to do. Wouldn't happen to know anybody that would want a twelve foot marble statue of you would you?" Reeve calmed down. "there's no way I'm going to get reelected after wasting so much of the town's money on this thing. My political career is over"
"Sorry. Mum could I ask you two favors real quick?" Reeve nodded signifying that it was okay for her to ask. "Have you seen Cloud lately?" she asked.
"Yeah. Normally I have him working security for me but he's on vacation........somewhere. I forget where he said. You might want to ask Cid. He flew them there." Reeve motioned the workers back to the statue but couldn't figure out whether he should tell them to go back to work or not. "oh yeah. What was he other favor?"
"Could you lone me some gil? I'm broke."
With the gil Reeve borrowed, she paid for a lift over to Rocket town and went to knock on Cid's door. Sherra answered and smiled at her.
"Hi, Is Cid in?" Aeris asked.
Sherra turned back into the house and called out to Cid. "Captain, one of you friends is here."
Aeris could here Cid's gruff voice call back "If it's Yuffie tell her to go away."
Aeris looked into Sherra's face. she could tell the woman hated to get caught up in things like this. "Tell him it's Aeris."
"She says her name is Aeris" Sherra called out.
"Ask her if she wants her mother's Holy materia back" Cid's voice called out.
"e want to know..." Sherra started.
"I heard him. Tell him 'yes please'. You see that all I have of my real mother to remember her by." Aeris told Sherra.
"She said yes" Sherrra called once again to Cid.
"Tell Yuffie to get outa here!" he called.
"Look at me." Aeris said flatly to Sherra. "Do I look like Yuffie? Describe me for him."
"Captain, she's wearing a pink dress and has long braided hair. Green eyes." Sherra started to list various things about Aeris's appearance.
"I said...never mind I'll take care of it." Cid's voice called back. in moments he appeared in the doorway. "Ya' got a better costume this time but last time ya' tried this ya' walked outta here with all my best summon materia. I ain't falling for your %$@@! again, Yuffie!" he blew smoke in her face.
"But it really is me this time!" Aeris pleaded.
"not listenin'. Now get yer stupid &^$#@! outta here. 'sides yer too damned ugly ta be Aeris." he slammed the door on her face. Aeris didn't even bother knocking again. Cid wouldn't believe her.
"Might as well check with Yuffie next" she said to herself.
A few days later in Wutai, Aeris ran into Yuffie as she was leaving the Materia shop.
"Aeris? what are you doing here?" Yuffie exclaimed started at the appearance of her once deceased friend.
"Don't worry about that. I just wanted to say hi to all my friends."
"Well thanks a lot Aeris" Yuffie said with sarcasm.
"What the problem now" aeris was starting to sense a pattern.
"The problem is I just yesterday traded a Mastered Bahamut Zero materia for this." she said reaching into her Pocket and pulling out a small piece of materia.
"What's that" Aeris said almost afraid to here what the answer was going to be.
"Reviver Cetra materia. You have NO idea how rare this is. Think it's one of a kind actually. Lot of good it does me now." she chucked it into the stream that passed through the town and watched it disappear. "Why didn't you let us know something! That was one of my favorite summons I traded for that uses piece of junk."
"It wasn't useless Yuffie! You could have brought my mother back. She died when I was five! Did you ever think that maybe I didn't want to be the very LAST of my kind!?!""
"What good does that do me" Yuffie said as she started to walk off.
Aeris slumped her shoulders in desperation. she was getting tired of everybody not wanting her back and didn't feel at all like arguing with the young ninja. "Just tell me where I can find Cloud."
"casta de whatever that place is called" yuffie said not bothering to look back.
Another few days later, aeris found herself on the shores of the Casta del Sol. She wasted no time asking around for people she knew, stopping the first person she saw.
"Excuse me, have you seen a cute guy named Cloud around here? Or a dark haired girl named Tifa Lockheart?"
The man took a minute to think, she waited patiently and noticed when the recognition came to his face. "Tifa....Tifa...I know SOMEONE named Tifa but I think you got the last name wrong." he told her. Aeris smiled and nodded. He was probably wrong, or maybe she was using a false name to escape the Shinra. there was no telling what was going on right now. "Yeah um, old Shinra place. They staying there I think." She thanked the man graciously and then ran off in the direction of the building.
"Hi Everybody!" she announced throwing open the door.
"Aeris?!?" Cloud yelled jumping out of bed to greet her. "is that really you?" he asked squeezing her so tight she thought she was going to die all over again.
"Yeah. it's me. Say, how come none of you were waiting for me back at the City of Ancients?" Aeris inquired.
"Well….. you died" came Tifa's voice from the bed that Cloud just jumped out of. Aeris paused for a minute before it actually sank in.
"Oh. Am I Interrupting something?" she asked.
"Not tonight anyway." Tifa got out of bed herself and walked over to her resurrected friend to give her a big hug as well. "and as for nobody waiting, you died Aeris. We didn't expect you to come back."
"didn't I say I'd be back when it's all over? I could have sworn I did." she arms crossed across her chest. "it just took me a while to make it here."
"Sorry. We just didn't think...." cloud stuttered. "You were dead for a long time Aeris. Months."
"And you couldn't wait for me? I thought you loved me."
"Aeris. You DID mean a lot to me but I only knew you for about two weeks. If that. It hurt me really bad when you died. I was depressed for the longest time. You can ask Tifa."
"He's telling the truth. Nobody could really stand to be around him for a while." Tifa chimed in.
"But you where dead and I had to move on with my life." Cloud finished.
"But but but..." it was Aeris's turn to stutter.
"If you need anything. A place to stay or something, we don't mind." Tifa rested her hand on the Cetra's shoulder to comfort her. Aeris looked over to her friend.
"Have you kept up your martial arts, Tifa? you look like you're putting on some weight." Aeris remarked.
"I'm pregnant." she said
"we WERE going to name her after you. but since you're back...." Cloud reluctantly explained.
"you were going to ...wait...PREGNANT!" Aeris wasn't feeling well all of the sudden.
"Yeah, if we had known you were coming back, we would have held off the wedding." Tifa told her.
"w....w.....w......wedding." she stuttered.
"yeah um...." Cloud was clueless what to say. How did you tell someone who came back to life for you that you really didn't need her anymore. "maybe it's time we all went to bed for the evening. Besides we promised Vincent we'd stop by tomorrow. He's been kinda down, worse than usual, since Red disappeared."
"Red's gone too?" Aeris asked. She had been hoping to see him too.
"Maybe. we just can't find the guy. haven't seen him in a long time, said he was going out into the wilderness for a while. Who know when he'll be back. Anyway, the couch folds out to a bed, Aeris. You need anything else before we turn in?"
"Got a change of clothes? I need pretty much everything." aeris gestured to her completely water ruined dress. "I've been wearing this outfit at the bottom of a lake for the last few months apparently. Probably be to much to ask that you'd have some fresh underwear my size."
"Well I can't help you there..." Tifa said walking over to her closet.
"I can." Cloud said and tossed her some gil. "buy whatever you want."
"But I can help you here." Tifa finished what she had started saying as she opened the closet and pulled out one of Aeris's old dresses and jackets and tossed it to the Cetra. "sorry I don't have any of your boots."
Aeris looked over the outfit. It was one of her dresses! They must have picked it up before Elmyra gave them all away. but..."Why do you have this?" she asked.
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other uncomfortably. "well....uhhhhhh....errrr" Cloud stammered. "man this would be a good time for one of the WEAPONS to attack" he muttered to himself.
"You see .....sometime we like to......do things.....differently.." Tifa muttered scuffing her feet across the floor.
"what?" Aeris completely didn't get it.
"You know…things." Tifa went on again.
"oh…I think I see." Aeris said finally catching on. As if the wedding and the pregnancy weren't bad enough, the fact that Tifa dressed like her for some of it, that was just wrong.
"You'll have to see my Sephiroth costume sometime." Cloud added. Both women gave him a cold glare. "what? What did I say? It's a nice costume."
"thanks for the clothes." aeris said as she left the room and the house, hoping to find a clothing store open at this hour. It would be nice to see Vincent. He was always depressed. He could use all the happiness he could get.
The next morning, Aeris took a quick shower, hoping in and out of the water as quickly as she could, having spent much more time underwater already than she cared for in her lifetime. She then changed into the swimsuit she had bought (nothing other than swimsuit shop had been open last night.) and put a clean dry dress and jacket over it. when she was ready, the three of them headed over to Neibelham to meet Vincent.
Vincent was, as usual, in the coffin room polishing his collection of guns. When he saw Aeris walk in, the immediately walked over to her and poked her slightly with his metal fingers to make sure he wasn't seeing things again, like that time in the church. Then he stared at Cloud in that way he did that always made everybody freak out.
"Is this who I think it is?" he asked.
"Yup. It's me Vincent. Little ol' Aeris. Do you want a flower?" she asked holding out a small bouquet she had picked earlier.
"This. Is. The. Last. Straw." He drug out the words before exploding in Cloud's face. "you have to have everything don't you? It's always all about you! You spent five years in a tube! I spent thirty in a coffin! You got upset because Sephiroth took you over a few times! I routinely am forced into being a variety of monsters! And if you don't think that hurts you are quite mistaken! But this!" he pointed to Aeris. "this is the last straw! You were so upset when Aeris got killed despite the fact that every third woman we meet fawns all over you! And now SHE'S back too! My woman left me for HOJO! Do you have any idea what that's like? Hojo is one step above a Dragon Zombie, personality wise! and SHE left ME for HIM! You! get out. All of you get out. I'll be back in thirty years. maybe you'll all be dead by then." Vincent said as he walked over and closed the coffin lid over himself again.
"that could have gone better" Cloud awkwardly smiled.
It just wasn't any use. Nobody wanted her back, Aeris thought. There was no reason to come back and nothing to come back to. She starting thinking. The lifestream really wasn't THAT bad. It was actually really nice. And she did still have someone. Zack, her first love. Zack was still in the lifestream. He'd still be there for her. Aeris went to the nearest materia store and bought a Death materia. Last time she died it was quite painful. This time she wanted to go much more peacefully.
Aeris felt he life draining away and then the comfortable embrace of the lifestream embracing her as she returned. And as expected, her Zack was there to greet her.
"Hey Aeris, been a while ain't it?" he addressed her. "I'd like to introduce you to my new girlfriend Jessie."