Hey there. c: It feels good to be able to write again. I wrote this after I heard "Airplanes" (Part 1/Part 2) by B.o.B., featuring Haley Williams and Eminem a few days ago. I'm not really into rap, but I love the chorus (the first three lines that are in italics). This takes place during the scene in Advent Children where Loz and Yazoo use the mako they stole to kill Cloud (and themselves). I really wanted to know what happened in between the time you see Tifa freak out, and when you see Cloud with Aerith and Zack in the World of Pure White, so I made a little something-something up. There's going to be more chapters, but I don't expect this to be very long. This really isn't my best--I just did it for fun--but you should still feel free to read and review...and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, as always. ^_^ Enjoy. c:

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky

Are like shooting stars?

I could really use a wish right now

Cloud was dead.

It didn't feel so quite really yet—the numbness was paralyzing. Time seemed to have slowed itself; if not stopped. The damning, black ash cloud that drifted beneath the Highwind's propellers created a shroud of opaque silk; blocking any light from entering below it. Nothing could be seen, and the only sound that could be heard was the roaring of sliding granite and the roof of the former Shin-Ra building finally surrendered to the fire and quake.

Tifa could feel her eyes filling with hot tears.

Not another friend. Not another person she cared about.

She could still hear his voice—telling Denzel that he was going to meet them back at the Seventh Heaven. She could feel her knees giving way from under her; her thoughts becoming hazy as nothing seemed to matter anymore.

They had lost too many already. There was Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse. And then Aerith, right as they thought that nobody else would have to die. And now Cloud, the only one who seemed to hold her together when she felt as if she couldn't push on; was gone, too.

Tifa turned back to face the others. Their faces were all the same—a look of horror and pure shock. The air was still, and it was becoming harder to breathe. The smell of ash and smoke filled her nostrils through the airship's fans, and the dry, hot air only made her already-stinging eyes burn even more-intensely.

"…He'll—he'll come back, Tifa…he always does, right?" Yuffie nodded nervously; giving Tifa a smile.

Nobody replied. The group remained silent as they waited for the smoke to clear. He most-likely wasn't even there anymore—the impact was too big to have kept him in the same area. He was probably laying somewhere in Midgar's ruins by now; bleeding or burning to death with broken bones, if he wasn't already dead. Tifa winced slightly at the thought.

" 'Yo, think we can land this thing?" Barret turned to face Cid.

"Not yet—smoke's too thick," Cid rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't holding a cigarette. "We'll crash the fuckin' thing if we get too close."

Cait Sith jumped onto the glass flooring and look down. "Do 'ya think the lad's even down there?"

Although Vincent said nothing, Tifa could see him shaking his head out of the corner of her eye. After several minutes, she turned to face them. "…Cloud's with Aerith, now. We just have to remember that he'll be taken care of as long as he's with her," A warm tear slowly trickled down her cheek. "He wouldn't want us to worry about him."

"We don't know if he's dead or not, though—" Yuffie argued, if only trying to keep a last bit of hope alive.

"Look down, Yuffie," Tifa pointed to the ash cloud. "Does that look like anyone survived?"

The young ninja fell silent. Her eyes glistened slightly.

Tifa turned around again to the windows. Her wine-colored eyes narrowed slightly. "…We're going to have to look for him, though. It wouldn't be right to just leave him wherever he is."

Cid flipped a few switches on the control panel. Glancing to the others for a moment, he turned the ship. "…Then we better get a move on."