Title: Scented Rhapsody
Summary: What if Cloud had met Aeris, not Tifa, after Zack's death.
Parings: Light ZackCloud and hinted CloudAeris
Zack would always smell like rain and gun metal and blood. That was the last detail that Cloud remembered as he passed out from the pain. It was pain that came not from just losing Zack, but from the startling realization that he was alone again.
Cloud found that he was waking, a warm hand on his shoulder shaking him to consciousness. Cloud recognized the gentle voice, and sat up to yawn.
"I thought you got enough sleep last night, jeez," Zack reprimanded, "if you keep this up then you'll have difficulties."
Glaring at Zack's reprimand, because when was six o'clock in the morning a suitable time to wake a person?, Cloud threw his body off the standard issue Shinra bed, staggering past Zack. "You kept me up all night, remember?"
Zack blinked at the comment then had the dignity to look sheepish. "Oh, yeah. That's right. I totally forgot that you had duty this morning."
"Yeah, sure. I'm surprised that you haven't tried abusing your SOLDIER power and looked up my schedule," Cloud huffed as he kept his back to Zack and changed next to the small bureau near the bed.
Cloud was ignorant to the fact that Zack was watching him change, and continued, "I had this really weird dream last night, though."
Zack sounded thoughtful as he spoke from behind Cloud, "Really, about what?"
Pulling on his pants, Cloud brushed some blonde hair away from the nape of his neck before zipping up the pants. "I don't remember. I think it was all the alcohol you had me drink last night," Cloud paused, turned around and looked at Zack, "I think we were running somewhere together."
"Running away?" inquired Zack. Cocking his head to the left, Zack asked seriously, "You weren't in a dress, were you?"
"Zack!" Cloud threw a pair of folded socks at his SOLDIER friend. Zack easily dodged, laughing as he did so. "It's not even six-thirty, stop laughing," Cloud demanded, turning to the bureau and grabbing a shirt to put on.
"Fine, fine," Zack said, holding back his laughter, "I'm better now, I swear."
Cloud nodded, not quite sure about the better now part, but pleased that Zack had stopped laughing like a loon. "It was dark out," he blurted out suddenly after tugging his shirt down over his head. "Really, really dark." Cloud found Zack's arms wrapped around him, holding him to a chest. "Zack, just what do you think you're doing?" Cloud asked as he tried to struggle out of the hug.
"Holding you," Zack responded.
"I can see that. But why?" Cloud kept up his struggling.
Zack pulled Cloud even closer, "Just so you know you'll never be alone."
Cloud stopped struggling at Zack's statement. "I have you, Zack, so I'll never be alone." Closing his eyes, Cloud felt almost a guilty pleasure at leaning into his friend's embrace.
Cloud breathed in deeply, smelling cloth and flowers and dirt. Opening his eyes suddenly at the strange change in Zack's smell, Cloud jerked sharply out of the hug. He was in a beautiful church, flowers growing near where he had been laying. A stranger was standing over him, looking at him with concern.
She didn't look familiar. "Who are you?" he asked. Everything hurt. All Cloud could remember was the thought of being alone, and how he was alone. He was a First Class SOLDIER? He had to be; he wouldn't be wearing these clothes if he wasn't, right? He stood.
She gave him a kind look at the question. "I'm Aeris. Are you alright?"
He was Cloud, right? He was a SOLDIER. He was Cloud. He nodded that he was alright to Aeris's question. "I'm Cloud, but I'm alone, now though," he said, almost sadly. Why was he alone now and why did he feel like he already had a conversation like this?
"No, you're not," she replied, reaching out and grabbing his hand in her small one. "You have me now." She smiled, and Cloud allowed her to grasp his hand. "And as long as you have me, you'll never be alone."
---
I no longer have Jewel to beta things for me; she's busy with college ;; so I apologize for any errors that I did not catch, and if anyone was OOC. I've been trying to work on the latter for some time now. Thank you for reading.