Drabble #40: Death
Summary: He was scared of death but not for the obvious reasons.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
When people say they are scared of death, they often mean it in relation to themselves. They don't want to die. For Cloud Strife, however, he couldn't care less whether he lived or died. He was quite happy to die if he was being honest. He was scared of death for a whole different reason.
It made him fear for his friends. One too many of his friends had been killed and it was his fault. The very word death sent shivers down his spine and instantly set him into protective mode. He couldn't lose anyone else. The very word death made him have nightmares of his past. He also had nightmares of what could possibly happen in the future.
On the rare occasion, however, he would dream peacefully. He would dream of a beautiful young woman, with soft kind eyes and thick chestnut hair that was tied in a tight braid. Aeris Gainsborough, the woman who had stolen his heart. The woman who had been killed in front of his eyes.
But even the sight of his beloved did little to comfort him. He was just reminded of how he had let her die and had done nothing to save her. It made her death scene replay again and again in his mind. It drove him crazy.
Sometimes, he wished he could just give up and die. Jump off a cliff, slit his wrists, he didn't care. But then he knew it wouldn't be fair on Tifa and the kids. They didn't deserve that. Besides, it would only make Aeris upset and he couldn't bear to hurt her anymore than he already had.
So instead, he would just have to wait until death took him naturally. Until then, he would have to live with his nightmares.