Sunflower
-Cloud's POV
Tribute to CloAer
On a very special Valentine's Day
The day dawns strangely for me today.
I had to have the luck of waking up to Cid's abusive remarks hurled in my face. He is extremely cranky today, mentioning words of Shera more than just a few dozen of times, making me wonder what she has done to anger this very violent comrade of mine off. There's no doubt, too, that Tifa's been giving me some rather funny looks that appear too complex and cryptic for me to decipher. I don't like what's going on. Even Vincent's not spared. He's quiet, yes, but today, he's playing the role of a mute.
It always means he's thinking of Lurecia, and it makes me come back to the point. My friends around me are behaving weirdly. I don't understand why, and I don't like it when their attention stray off to some unnecessary things when we should focus on the tasks we have in hand.
I am looking out towards the landscape of Costa de Sol, sitting on the sands as I inhale the morning breeze of the sea. There's something tugging at the back of my memory that's reminding me of something I'm forgetting, and it's bothering me abit. I'm going to stretch a little, before heading back indoors to prepare ourselves on our next journey.
I like a little time alone to myself sometimes, it gives me enough serenity to settle about for me to think about things. The wind play with my strands of hair, and I allow my Mako-infused eyes to scan the lapping shores before me. It is then when I suddenly feel the familiar prick against my skin, and the funny sensations set in all around me.
My in-built radar alerts me that I am not alone, and that my ears are picking up some really familiar footsteps pit-pattering against the grounds behind me. I acknowledged them as someone I know ; it is easy to tell. Her footsteps are different from the rest - there is always something light, optimistic and angelic in the way she walks. It is as if every step she takes radiate a sort of warmth seeping into your soul.
Only Aeris Gainsborough possesses such a capability, and when I sense her, I cannot apprehend the sudden ramming of my heart against my ribcage when I turn around to acknowledge her presence.
But when I set sight upon her, my breath halts momentarily, caught somewhere between my throat.
I have always known she is beautiful, but I swear, each time I see her, each time she gets impossibly lovelier. I don't know how that is possible.
Right now, she makes her way up towards me, her luscious brown curls whipping about her ivory features as a smile touches her petal-pink lips. Set against the sun drenched scenery, her cheeks are sprinkled with hues of pink and red, and it registers in my mind a little slower of how tranquil and bright an aura she seems to give off wherever she sets feet upon.
And those eyes. Those forest green eyes, shimmering beneath her eyelashes.
What am I thinking? If I'm not careful, I actually will find myself thinking about Aeris when I have nothing else at hands to worry about. This is not good, and it's getting a little too dangerous threading on these territories.
But she still looks arresting like this.
Sheesh, Cloud, you are a man. Men don't ogle at girls, at least not this way. Get a hold of yourself, you jerk. You're acting like a goofball from head to toe. That is not going to look nice on your bad boy image of Cloud Strife, the lonely, cold mercenary of ex-SOLDIER.
"Hi Cloud, lovely day, isn't it?" She smiles brightly at me, taking her place by my side on the sand and closing her eyes to inhale the breeze like what I did previously.
I can only nod dumbly. I always lose my nerves when I'm around the flower girl. Don't ask me why, there's something unnerving about her that makes me falter in my movements. I don't wish to think too much about it; I tend to blame my hormones going into overdrive, but then again, I'm way past that puberty stage now.
Stupid, Cloud. She obviously senses my discomforted silence, and giggles in my face. I hope I'm hiding it well now, because there's a blush definitely coloring my face, and the last thing I want is for Aeris - of all people - to see it. Cloud plus blush does not go together like sugar and spice. It's a foreign term.
But it's when Aeris starts to talk, that I find myself slipping into another world of my own. The one where I only allow myself to open the door to invite her in with open arms. Everytime she chatters and chirps away like a happy-go-lucky, joyful nightingale who hums the tune of only today and tomorrow and of the present, I always find myself getting lost in her daydreams as well.
I love hearing her speak. Aeris has this uncanny ability to talk about even the boring weather, and have you listen intently to her. She starts talking about Barret, laughing about his funny habit of cursing before he brushes his teeth, and about Nanaki, and how she loves the way he honors his father. She goes on and on about her flowers in Midgar, and hopes someone is helping her take care of them now in the church.
It is when I see it all falling into place of why I am so fond of her so.
When she speaks, her eyes are vivid and full of life suddenly. They sparkle with the luminescent glow of green, twinkling with vitality and enthusiasm. Her lips part slightly, and close, in a repetition of movements as I watch her, animated in her gestures, movements and words. Aeris paints a picture when she tells her stories all the time.
"Oh, I've been talking so much about yourself, Cloud," she giggles, and I emboss into my memory how cute she looks with the fusion of pink shades on her face, embarrassed, "why don't you tell me something funny that happened today?"
The Cloud Strife you know does not open up easily. This Cloud Strife is introverted, aloof, and most of the times, keeping to preferable silence. He does not appreciate opening to others, feeling much at home in his barricaded shell of solitude and loneliness. But the Cloud Strife around Aeris Gainsborough is a different person.
Suddenly, I feel like a dozen monsters have jumped into my mouth and possessed me, because I start to talk, and I can't reason why.
It must be Aeris. The Aeris effect, as I begin to classify everything she uncannily does to me under this malady's cause.
"Vincent's been acting strange today." And I tell her about my eccentric experiences this morning - where Cid's exceptionally cranky, and how Barret actually drank beer in the early daylight, and Vincent's sudden interest into playing mute. There were more, I told her about Yuffie's sudden caffeine-induced personality, springing up from her bedroom and declaring how sweet a day it was. I mean, it is bad enough that Yuffie is already a hyper ninja, but to actually be on a high was pretty bad for a team leader like me to handle.
When I finish, I am surprised by the sudden flicker of amusement and mirth dancing in those eyes. "What's so funny?" I ask her, annoyed.
"Don't you see it, Cloud?" She places a gentle palm on my knee, and I hate the way my guts twist and turn into knots. I swear she's making it difficult for me to think coherently. Her touch is sending some red alerts into the senses of my mind, and it feels akin to a high bolt of electricity sending my nerves into a state of emergency.
"See what?" I ask, trying not to think of her touch on my skin. I am aware that my heart is pounding at a stupid, abnormal rate, and I don't exactly call myself proud of it.
"It is a special day for them, as it is for you and everybody."
There she goes again, the enthusiasm shining in those green swirls of her eyes. I blink rapidly, trying to catch up with what she is trying to explain to me. Aeris likes to speak in riddles all the time.
She laughs when she realizes I really have no idea.
"What?" I give up, I tell her.
She grins, and shakes her head in mock exasperation, "It's Valentine's Day, Cloud!"
Valentine's Day? Oh, I see. And what is so special about that, other than it's a day where couples get together to celebrate their love? Pretty pointless, if you ask me. So that was why Vincent was all quiet, thinking about his lost love, and Cid gets cranky because Shera isn't with him? And Tifa… She obviously is expecting something, I supposed then.
I think Aeris sees me with a mere raised eyebrow, for she playfully pokes me in the ribs.
"Nothing special." I explain my less-than-enthusiastic behavior.
She shakes her head, pushing forth her lips in a cute pout. I find myself savoring every moment with her even more, embedding the classic Aeris poses I remember into my brain more than often. "Nothing special? Oh, Cloud, you missed out too much."
Hmm, maybe, you're right. Like back then when you asked me for a date as a debt, and I went blank on you. Cloud Strife, the mercenary who knows nothing about his own social life. Better yet, he doesn't have a social life.
"Valentine's Day is also about showing the people around you how much they mean to you, and that you care about them." She elaborates, before standing up and swiping off the dust collected on her skirt.
I guess I never knew that. I thought Valentine's Day was strictly restricted to a day for lovers only. Now I know better. Aeris always teaches me beyond what I learn as an ex-SOLDIER. She opens me up to more of the world, and I guess I have to thank her for that.
"Where are you going?" I ask, and before I know it, I have myself off the ground, too. Aeris obviously has this magnetized-Cloud-wherever-she-goes thing around her, because I'm finding myself matching to her pace more and more nowadays.
Honestly, it scares me.
"I'm going to buy some flowers!" She beams up at me, those eyes of her absolutely dazzling to behold. Aeris can look like an angel all the time whenever she talks about her flowers. "To show the people around me that I care about them. See, Cloud? Valentine's Day is really special, because it gives you the opportunity to do all these lovely things!"
And I think I'm beginning to see it, Aeris. You're showing it all to me.
I follow you down the streets, and I'm surprised how right you are. The people are behaving different today, there is an air of hospitality and warmth as I walk Costa de Sol. Some shopkeepers stop by to wave at us, and you cheerily wave back like you always do. Even those I used to deem as hopeless, mean residents are talking animatedly to one another today.
Valentine's Day sure does change this place around abit, isn't it, Aeris?
We stop by a flower shop, and you bend down and begin to pick the sweet-smelling roses before you. I see you pull out stalk by stalk - one, two, three, four…and more. I count down mentally. For Barret, for Tifa, for Cid, for Yuffie, for Vincent, for Cait Sith, for Nanaki…
And a tiny voice within me asks in small hope: For me?
I turn away, embarrassed at the length of my thoughts, and I long to bury myself in the ground, in shame. Stupid, stupid, Cloud.
It is when your voice drifts aloft in my head, sounding like silver, tinkling bells.
"Valentine's Day is also about showing the people around you how much they mean to you, and that you care about them."
Coincidentally, something catches my eye, and I blink.
It is a stalk of flower in its very striking color of vibrancy, standing out amidst the bouquet of others like a sunny, lovely thing in all its glory. A sunflower among the roses.
So much like you, Aeris, so much like you.
Without so much consciousness, I have the stalk between my fingers, and I find myself walking up to the saleslady even before I know it. You are unaware of this still, busying yourself with the picking of flowers, and I smile at your innocence and childish fussy nature. You say you want to choose the best flowers for the best people in your life.
Sweet and sunny you, Aeris, and exceptionally sincere in showing how much friendship resides in the heart of your soul…
Right now, we are walking back to the inn, and you are still too happily in your own world of flowers to notice the small stalk of flower sticking out of my pocket. I am ever so conscious about the million hues of crazy pink and red colors powdered on my cheeks, and I hate my guts, and I am cursing like a Cid replica under my breath this instance.
Funny, how I can slay a gazillion monsters, chase after some mad black-caped psychopath, and still be affected by the mere presence of you, Aeris.
I become so caught up in my maelstrom of thoughts that I do not notice you peering up at me with innocent green eyes. You catch my gaze then, and it is when you hold out a stalk of rose.
A red rose.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Cloud!" You smile, hands outstretched with the rose between your fingers.
And everything begins to go fuzzy. My heart swells; butterflies flutter their wings in the pit of my stomach. My mind blinks. My breath ceases.
I forget everything, saved for your hopeful smile and sweet rose.
I accept it wordlessly, and you would have turn away if not for me pulling you back.
"Aeris." It is easy to say your name, but it takes much to muster the courage to look you directly in the eyes, especially with my outstretched hands offering a stalk of sunflower between my fingers.
Hoping, hoping, just hoping.
My heart falls at a quick speed when you freeze, but it begins to pound like crazy when a giggle flows with your breath and you smile.
You take the sunflower in your hands, and hold it before your face, admiring it.
And then I realize, I'm falling for you more and more…day by day, and there's nothing I can do about it.
"Thank you, Cloud," your voice is laced with earnesty and fondness, and your eyes twinkle with a playful glint, "but why a sunflower?"
I pause and stop to think.
Actually, the answer isn't so hard to process, because I already know.
"It's just like you." I answer simply, honestly, and I know I've said the right thing, because you lean in and catch me off-guard by embracing me.
Yes, Aeris, it's just like you, it's really so much like you.
Owari
A/N:
Yup, it was a rather long and lengthy fic, and there were definite points where Cloud was OOC, but hey, I wasn't born a descendant of the Strife clan, and I do not inherit genes to read minds of introverts, so it's not an easy task to do Cloud's POV flawlessly! Point taken, right! And no, I don't play Final Fantasy VII, and I don't know if I got the facts right, so please do not flame if there are wrongly-mentioned details! Yikess..
And on this special, special day, I wish all of you a happy Valentine's Day, and may love continue to flourish between your loved ones and your heart!
Cloud, Aeris, this is your special gift, from yours truly. Cheers!
Review!
mysterio000