It had been thirty years. Thirty years of remorse, remembrance, and decay. It had been three decades since Sephiroth had dealt Cloud's love her final blow, forever staining his hands the deep crimson of Aeris's blood; blood that had seeped and poured from the black-clad demon's wounds on their final and fatal encounter; blood that Cloud had felt pounding in his veins as he descended like a hawk of death upon the kneeling Sephiroth, savoring the amazingly ironic situation. In that moment, he had been the one crumpled on the ground, staring up with a helpless grimace of terror as the tip of Cloud's blade pierced his heart. He had been the one to cry out as a million hot sparks of pain flooded his body. He had been the one to die that day. And though it would never bring Aeris back, her avenger relived that bittersweet moment every second he could.
The City of the Ancients had changed drastically since he had last shown his face there. The conch shell buildings, spiral and delicate, were in ruins. The glass altar had been mostly destroyed in the earthquakes that had shaken the planet after Meteor had been vanquished. The high rock cliffs now had cracks and open crevices in their faces, marring their once dazzling perfection. In fact, the only thing that remained the same was the bridge crossing the lake of cool blue and the lake itself. So much had changed in merely thirty years...far too much. Including himself.
Breathing shakily, Cloud opened his unnaturally blue eyes adorned with fresh tears. The wooden half-log bridge upon which he kneeled seemed to shake with its own wave of emotion. Slowly, he rose to his feet and gazed longingly into the crystalline water that had claimed Aeris's body.
Though it was painful, he let his mind drift back to the day he had carried her limp form from the alter and into the soothing water. He felt the dead weight in his arms, felt the soft fabric of her clothes against his bare hands, felt her silken hair across his chest, all as if it had happened merely moments before. In his mind's eye, he saw the water soak into the fabric of her bloodied dress. He watched himself hesitate at first, and then he reluctantly gave the body of the last Ancient to the place of her origin. Watching as she floated delicately to the bottom, he grit his teeth against the sorrow that savagely ripped a gaping wound in his soul.
The memory ended, and Cloud realized that his eyes were squeezed tightly shut, barred against the numbing pain. Even through his clenched eyelids, tears cascaded down his pale, sunken cheeks, falling with soft dripping noises in the perfect aqua surrounding him. The light, almost inaudible sound of his tears increased in number as another memory floated to the surface of his grief-stricken mind. Gasping futilely for steady breath, he felt the heartbreaking pain that this memory brought to bear.
She was before him, kneeling in prayer. He was in front of her, his sword lifted high above his head, preparing to strike her dead in her helpless state. Something dark whispered softly to him, urging him to rid the world of her disgusting and vile presence. Slowly, he lifted the heavy blade higher, higher, until his arms could stretch back no further. That evil voice whispered to him again, telling him that if he completed this act of charity to the world, he would be greatly rewarded. After a moment's hesitation, he dropped the blade quickly towards her neck.
Tifa's voice broke the silence, shouting his name just in time to stop his murderous act. One simple adjustment sent the edge of his sword sailing harmlessly to the right of her, producing a loud 'clang!' as it hit the stone of the altar. Tifa's scream roused Aeris enough so that she looked up at him, a puzzled look playing across her features. No fear of him was held in her eyes. Slowly, she smiled.
Cloud suddenly lashed out and slapped the water's surface, producing a large 'splash!' and a plume of water. The droplets shimmered and sparkled like broken glass as they hung in midair, seemingly frozen in time. Eventually, gravity caught each of the droplets and pulled them back down onto the mirror-like lake, producing ripples that expanded from each tiny splash.
Crumpling back to his knees, he ran his wet hand through his graying hair. Feeling the soothingly cold water against his scalp brought him a small amount of peace as he watched the rings expand and swell on the water's surface.
The ripples on the surface of the pond crossed, forming an intricate web of shimmering water that danced and moved with every second. Each one faded, either snuffed out by the white sand beach or ran its final course, becoming one with the lake again. For a single moment, he envied those drops of water for their return to the larger pool. If only he could do the same, leave his physical body and sink into the rivers of Lifestream, he would be reunited with her. If only...
Even after the ripples had died, Cloud sat kneeling on the primitive bridge, staring past his aged reflection to the bottom of the clear lake. There, it seemed, time had ceased to exist. Or perhaps it never had.
It looked the same as it had the first time he had laid eyes upon it; the crisscross patterns of light on the bottom, the wrinkled look of the snow-white sand, and the bits of waterplant that clung to that sand were all present and exactly how he remembered them. The water was the same color, the sand the same tint. Nothing about this lake had changed, and Cloud wished with all of his heart that it never would. It was the only tombstone that Aeris had, the only thing that even suggested that she once existed. If it suddenly dried, nothing would stand to remind the world of her and her sacrifice.
At the thought of this, Cloud buried his face in his hands. A world without Aeris Gainsborough, or even the memory of her, was like a world without a sun. If she had never been born, there would be no light, no life. And yet, no matter how much Cloud objected to the idea, he knew that Aeris's name would slip the minds of the people as generations passed. She would be forgotten, and this hidden sanctuary would be lost or destroyed.
Sighing deeply, Cloud raised his head from its resting place. He looked from the ruined buildings to the white sand, and back to the sapphire water. Out of the corner of his red-rimmed eyes, her saw a glimmer of something small and green. Cloud furrowed his brow in thought and turned to get a full view of the object. What he saw there made his eyes widen and his jaw drop.
Directly in front of him, a ball of molten green and white no bigger than a marble floated on the surface of the lake. It spun lightly, reflecting the light it caught onto Cloud's face. With a trembling hand, he reached out and plucked it from the sparkling water. Rolling it out onto his palm, he saw it glow brighter than before. Cloud's eyes narrowed to slits and the green luminescence of the small object slowly dissolved into the pure white it had once been.
Closing his hand over it, he brought the lost White Materia to his lips and kissed it delicately. With fresh tears in his eyes, he clasped the hand containing Aeris's last possession to his heart. More salty badges of his hidden emotions rolled down his face, and he made no attempt to stop them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Cloud slowly rose to his feet, put the materia into his breast pocket, turned, and left.