Drabble #76: Happiness
Summary: Without Aeris, would he be happy again?
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
Happiness was a strange emotion to him. Cloud Strife hardly ever smiled or laughed. He was always seen pouting or scowling about something, his eyes always having this lost look about them. Tifa could only watch helplessly from the bar as he sat quietly in one of the corners staring gloomily into his untouched glass.
However painful it was to realise the truth, Tifa knew it couldn't be denied. The last time she had seen Cloud genuinely smile had been the night Aeris had gone to his room and asked him for a date. The last time he had laughed was when he had first met the flower girl.
Now, since her death he had returned to the silent, brooding man he had been before, cutting himself off from everyone around him. He never spoke unless he had to, he never stayed around his friends for too long. He was always found either in Aeris' church or on the mountain top where Zack had died.
Tifa was intelligent enough to realise that it wasn't just Aeris' death that had stole that little piece of happiness he had grabbed on to, but also for the lost of his best friend. However, Tifa knew Cloud had loved Aeris and to have to stand there and watch her get skewered by Sephiroth would have undoubtably effected him.
Sometimes she wondered if, without Aeris, he would ever be happy again.