Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy 7 related takes a deep breath characters, world, settings, bosses, monsters, items, weapons, materia, limit breaks, towns, dungeons, villains, plot devices, or copyrights. All of that is the property of Squaresoft. The only thing I can lay claim to is the plot, but then again, the Greeks probably beat me to that as well.
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He became dully aware of something cold dripping on his face. He struggled to wake himself enough to find out what it was. A sudden stab of pain shot through his body causing him to gasp for air. He gritted his teeth against the pain, trying not to cry out.
Thoughts ran madly through his mind "What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here? What happened?" He tried to move his arms but found he didn't have the strength to lift them. He lay there struggle to stay conscious trying to remember how he got there. "Where am I?" he asked again. He then concentrated on trying to open his eyes. His eyelids felt heavy beyond belief and he was only able to open them to slits for a few seconds before they slid shut again. He puzzled over what he had seen above him: a dark mass of what looked like metal pressing down on him. He winced as he felt a plate sink deeper into his right arm. He tried to cry out but the sound was choked up in his throat and couldn't escape. The metal plate dug deeper into his arm. Darkness fell again.
He opened his eyes to see a dark, purple-red sky over him. The meteor was still falling, tumbling towards the planet. His gaze fell away from the strange sky to see a dark haired girl standing beside him on the deck. She turned to look at him, her wine red eyes searching his, a frightened smile upon her face. Then in a blink, she disappeared. A pair of green-blue eyes appeared in her place. Snake like they were, and they glowed with a violent power. He backed away, realizing too late that the deck was floating in the sky. He tumbled off the edge, hurtling towards the ground. He braced for the impact, but it never came, as a sudden whirlwind of flower petals whipped past him, stopping his fall completely. He lay on a thick bed of petals. Like colourful rain, they drifted down, and covered him completely.
He felt more light headed as he became aware of the world again. As his senses returned, he felt a warm liquid below him. "Blood." He began to panic, his heart hammering against his chest, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He felt the blackness start to close in. "I have to stay awake," he thought. "I must endure. I have to." He resisted against its pull, struggling to keep awake. "How did I get here?" He tried in vain to distract himself from the constant pain surging through him. "We... were... we were... at the north crater. Sephiroth was defeated and... and..." a flare of pain caused him to wince, crying out in a silent scream as the metal sank deeper into his arm and pressed down around him. "I'm going to die here." The realization of this sent a shock through his system. "I'm dying." His mind was blank for a while, stuck on the words and their meaning. "Tifa..." His heart sank at her name. "She'll cry over me. Won't be able to accept... my death after all this. She won't believe that I'm gone. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Tifa. If only I could have seen your face again. Just once. I wish I could see you again." He began to tremble. A plate shifted, sliding free to crash against his chest. He gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his brow, the darkness leaping forward to consume him. He struggled against it, but to no avail.
He was gently falling through a storm of petals that danced around him, fluttering to a silent tune. He reached out to touch one that floated by, only to have it dart out of reach. He glanced down to see where he was heading. A figure stood below dressed in pink. He caught his breath, staring at the figure on the ground. She smiled up at him, raising her hands up to him.
"Aeris..." he breathed, reaching out, clasping her fingers in his own. She pulled him slowly to the ground till his feet had touched down. "I..."
She let go of his hands shaking her head. "You don' t have to say anything. I've come to help you."
"I don't deserve your help," he replied, ashamed, looking away from her.
"Cloud!"
He jumped at the new voice, swirling around, searching for the sound. "Who?"
Aeris watched him calmly. "That was Tifa. She must have found you. Cloud, you're dying. You can't do this to Tifa. I can help."
"Help?"
"I can help save your life. But you have to let me help you."
He hesitated, his eyes fell to the flowers at his feet.
"Cloud hold on."
"Aeris... can you really save my life?"
"I can."
"I'm sorry, Aeris, that I couldn't save you. But here you are, rescuing me. It... it doesn't seem fair."
She smiled sadly at him. "Nothing in the world is fair."
"I don' t deserve this. Not from you."
"What about Tifa? You wished to see her again."
"I did."
"Then I'll start." Cloud nodded silently. She smiled again, and closed her eyes, whispering a prayer. The wind picked up, sending petals flying. The petals whirled about him, blocking out all traces of light.
His senses rushed back causing him to grimace. He could hear two people above him talking and moving. He struggled to open his eyes. Above him were dark storm clouds with Tifa kneeling just to one side. Rain fell relentlessly, smacking him with its cold drops. He still felt woozy and didn't have the strength to speak. Tifa looked down to see his dull blue eyes staring back.
"Hold on Cloud," she said, trying to put on a brave face. "Cid should be back soon with supplies." She gently gripped his left hand. His eyes slid shut, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. "Please just a little longer."
"I'll try," he thought. He could still feel the tug of blackness threatening to pull him away, but past that he could feel something else. It puzzled him as he felt a strange warmth spreading out through his body. It started in his right arm working its way out. He heard the sound of approaching feet, then Tifa speaking quickly to the other. There voices shifting in and out of his hearing. The strange warmth had completely enwrapped him. He could feel his right arm slowly healing. "...Aeris, she really..." He felt someone pull him up into a sitting position.
"Cloud? Can you hear me?" asked Tifa. "I need you to drink this, all right?" He felt a jug pressed against his lips. He struggled to swallow its content. The thick, bitter liquid sloshed through his mouth and down his throat. Already the pain began to lessen. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to get them to focus.
"Tifa," he murmured looking at her. She was holding the empty flask in her one hand while still supporting him. She looked tired and her hair had been soaked by the rain. "W-what happened?"
She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. "Do you remember seeing the lifestream rising from the ground to help holy? Well it knocked out the airship's power causing it to crash."
"Cid mustn't be to happy," commented Cloud.
Tifa smiled. "No he isn't. Longest list of curses I've ever heard."
"What about the others? Barret, Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith, Red, how are they?"
"So far we've found Barret and Red. Cid's gone to help them. As for Yuffie, Vincent, and Cait Sith, we haven't found them yet."
"I should help," he said, moving to get up.
Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder. "Oh no you don't. You've lost a pile of blood and you know perfectly well potions don't help with that. Now we've set up a shelter over there. I want you to go and get some rest, all right?" Cloud sighed, nodding his head. "Good." She helped Cloud to his feet and took him over to the tent they had set up. Red was resting inside the tent. Cloud sat against a pile of rubble that made up one of the walls. "I'm going back out to look for the others. Try and get some rest." With that she turned and wandered off.
Cloud watched as she disappeared into field of debris. Rain crashed down around him, filling the air with a thick mist. He turned his gaze away looking down at his right arm. It was completely healed now and didn't have a scratch on it. He flexed the muscles finding them stiff.
"Well," he thought to himself, "that's to be expected." He turned his gaze out on the rain. "Thank you, Aeris. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead now... thanks. I hope you're looking out for the others as well." Lightening flashed through the sky, followed by a crack of thunder that shook the ground. "Storms getting worse." The winds were picking up, causing nearby trees to thrash the air and the pouring rain to blow wildly about. "I can't stand just sitting here." He lurched to his feet and stepped out into the storm. He staggered through the rubble looking for his friends. He climbed up a pile to get a better view. The wind whipped at him throwing rain and blond hair into his eyes. He squinted out into the storm, spotting Tifa and Cid pulling Yuffie out of the debris. Barret was off farther to the left hurrying over to help. Cloud caught a flicker of red in the corner of his eye. He turned in time to see a red cloaked figure disappearing into the fog. "... Vincent."
"... Cloud..."
He jumped, looking around for the whispering voice that had spoken. His gaze fell on Tifa who was running up the pile towards him. "Cloud! What the heck are you doing up here?" she demanded.
"I wanted to help, so I thought I could see someone from up here."
"Well Cid just found Yuffie down there. As soon as we find Vincent we've got to find shelter."
"I saw him walk off that way."
"Then... I guess we're finished here."
Cloud nodded silently and followed Tifa down to the tent. As they reached the bottom of the mound, Cloud stumbled, falling to the ground. Tifa assisted him to his feet.
"You all right?" she asked.
"I just felt really dizzy there for a moment."
"That's what you get for walking around like that," scolded Tifa. "Here I'll help you." She pulled his arms over her shoulders and supported him the rest of the way.
They reached the tent to find Barret was there helping Red. "Now where to?" asked Barret as they approached. Cloud turned to look at Tifa.
"Do you know where we are exactly?" he asked.
"We're somewhere outside of Kalm," answered Tifa. "We'll head there."
Cid showed up a few moments later with Yuffie hanging onto him.
"Ugh," she moaned.
"Wha's wrong with her?" asked Barret.
"The wuss's still airsick," replied Cid
"Never again!" whimpered Yuffie. "I'm never ever going to ride an airship again."
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My first chapter of my first Fanfiction! Yippie! I'm soo proud. wipes away a tear I need a celebratory cookie.