Drabble #10: Children
Summary: When the child smiled in thanks, Cloud felt quite pleased but that feeling doubled when he turned and was met with Aeris, whose eyes were sparkling with admiration from his act.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
"Oh, Cloud! Look!" Aeris cried, grabbing his arm and pointing across the land.
Cloud turned his head to see two young children, a boy, and a girl filling baskets with grain. As far as he could tell, they were not managing very well and from the look on Aeris face, he knew her heart was breaking at the sight. The gentle flower girl was the kind of person who always put other people before herself. She would make sacrifices so long as it made somebody else happy. So he could not even begin to imagine what was going through her mind at such a horrible scene. Even he, Cloud Strife, emotionless King was sickened by the fact that innocent children had to work so hard everyday to survive. Children were never meant to suffer in his opinion. Their youth was meant to be used in carefree tasks such as building a den or climbing trees. Struggle for survival was something for adults to deal with.
"When I have my own children I will never let them suffer like this!" she whispered defiantly, her eyes burning with passion and rage.
Cloud murmured an agreement and stepped forward, handing the boy a ten gil coin. It was not much but it would buy them food for the day at least and then they would have whatever they had gathered today for tomorrow.
When the child smiled in thanks, Cloud felt quite pleased but that feeling doubled when he turned around and was met with Aeris, whose eyes were sparkling with admiration from his act.
