Tearing at my Soul
by Rose Dincht
Author's note and Disclaimer - For your convinience, assume the story takes place after the events of Final Fantasy VII but at least a year before Advent Children. The story is a MAJOR AU crossover, and many characters may also be OOC. Also, certain things will be edited and differ slightly from the video game (like Square-Enix did in Last Order). I hope you enjoy anyways. I do not own Final Fantasty VII or Advent Children, just as I do not own Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. That honor belongs to Square-Enix and Tecmo.
Chapter One
His eyes were out of focus... that was the first thing his friends noticed. As Tifa and Vincent approached their partner, they also noticed that he had fallen onto his knees in exhaustion. Perhaps he was lightheaded, perhaps he was going into shock. Both Tifa and Vincent had felt their hearts sinking and the wind escape their lungs after the incident. Instinctively, the two sprinted up to the alter, leaping onto the marble columns to the aide of both of their friends. As they approached the alter, Tifa had a look of horror on her face at the sight before her.
At the same time, Cloud had seemed to break out of his trance. His eyes, fixed on the floor, had slowly begun to focus clearly. For a moment, he didn't even know where he was. He remembered the columns, and approaching the alter... and now, he was staring at the floor. His eyelids fluttered for a moment, as if trying to fight back the lightheadedness, but what he saw next made everything cease. He heard a heartbeat... a loud, thundering heartbeat that pounded against his ears. His glowing blue eyes widened, and his skin seemed to have went numb.
Blood...
Blood on the marble, white floor...
Blood everywhere...
The heartbeat pounded harder, thundering in his ears. A terrifying question rang in his head, one that made his thoughts run wild and frantic as the heartbeat slowly began to grow fainter and fainter.
Who's... blood... is... this...?
He placed a hand on his chest, patting his chest, throat, and stomach. No wounds... not any on him. The blood did not belong to him, which gave him some comfort. His eyes fixed on the red substance that stained the white marble floor, and slowly, he followed the trail to it's source. His head rose, and he noticed the heartbeat had grown quieter. Then... his eyes focused on the source.
The heartbeat had stopped.
Cloud's eyes burned. Quivering, deep inhales shakingly made their way into his lungs. A weak, sorrowful whimper escaped him as two large tears streamed down his cheeks. Vincent and Tifa, almost frozen in place, watched as their partner practically crawled towards the source of the blood, weak sobs escaping him and growing louder. Cloud's quivering gloved hands smeared the streams of blood as he moved towards the now lifeless body that laid before him. His arms reached out, enwrapping around the body and lifting the limp, lifeless corpse against his chest. More painful sobs escaped him as he rested his forehead against her's. The one that had been taken from him. The one he would never again hear her laughs, or see her crying, or even grow nervous when she was angered.
In the end, while holding her close against him, Cloud managed to whimper a name between his sobs. A name he would remember for years to come. The name of the person who was most dearest to him...
"Aeris..."
One year later...
The house was empty, quiet, and pretty much in ruins. Apparentally the people of the Corel prison believed too many rumors, and Cloud felt embarassed and ashamed that he had actually believed them. A year had gone by since he had defeated Sephiroth. In that time, Cloud had been traveling with Tifa, Barret and Marlene, aimlessly searching for a place to call home while at the same time running a delievery service. Somewhere along the line, probably by the influence of something he read in the paper or saw on TV, he picked up the habit of photography. He read or watched someone say that it was a good way to bring relaxation to the photographer. Just a few pictures of an ocean, or of a forest or mountain, something peaceful.
He also read in he paper that taking pictures could also trap images of spirits.
The crew had stopped at many places, trying to find a place to settle in. At that time, Cloud found himself wandering on his own to find abandoned houses or burnt down buildings and taking pictures of nothing but rubble. Maybe it was out of curiosity... what would it be like if he actually captured a ghost on camera? Or maybe curiousity in that department wasn't the case at all... maybe he knew exactly why he went to abandoned houses and burnt down buildings, but couldn't bring himself to admit it.
"Cloud...?"
He pushed the button on the camera, taking one final snapshot before looking up. Tifa had followed him... and judging by the look on her face, she seemed to be worried. Typical of her, always worrying about her childhood friend. At times Cloud realized that there was just no fooling that girl, she could tell almost instantly if he was bothered by something. Naturally, he would come up with an excuse or a lie, just so she wouldn't worry as much, but his attempts failed many times. Yet even if she knew his sorrow was triggered by something else, she wouldn't pressure him into telling her the entire truth.
"What's the matter...?" she asked, looking at him with curiousity and concern. Cloud stood straight, lowered the camera and focused his eyes on it.
"I heard this place was haunted... too bad it isn't." he hissed, partially annoyed with the lies.
"What do you mean...?" Tifa questioned, brushing a few strands of black hair out of her eyes.
"Would've been interesting to catch a ghost on camera... is all I'm saying." was Cloud's reply as he looked over at her and smiled slightly.
Tifa didn't return the smile. Obviously she didn't buy it this time. But as usual, no pressure.
"Rumors are just... rumors..." she said, then turned to leave. "Come back to the inn as soon as you can, dinner's almost ready..."
Cloud nodded slowly. At this, Tifa smiled slightly, then turned around completely, exiting the building. Cloud returned the smile just as her back was turned on him. He rose the camera to his eye and focused the lens on her. The lenses caught her image from the waist up as she slowly exited the building, and the sunlight was so intense from the outside world that when it enwrapped around her it looked like she was walking towards a glowing, white wall. He pushed the button and the flash came... along with something else.
It was there and gone. A jolt of fear shook Cloud's heart as the poloroid picture exited the camera and fell onto the ground. Cloud lowered the camera and nearly tripped over himself in order to pick it up. At first the picture was a white piece of paper, then it slowly began to take form. Cloud watched as the back of Tifa's body began to form in the picture, and the whiteness was tinted to an almost albino-goldish color due to the sun's light, which surrounded her. Then he watched as the doorway began to form around her as well...
That was when he saw it.
Another figure... another person in the picture.
A woman turned to the side, her head turned slightly, unabling Cloud to see her face. She was standing in a hallway to the left side of the door, next to Tifa's. His eyes widened...
It can't be...
Cloud's head jerked up from the picture. Tifa had left him to himself... but he did not feel alone. Surprisingly enough, that feeling was not a comfortable one.
A sound built up in his ears, in his mind. A faint, pounding sound, as if somebody was gently beating a drum in the distance. His eyes scanned the room, jerking away from the doorway to the ceiling, to the cornors, and all the while he heard that beating sound grow slightly louder. At one point, he wondered if it was his heartbeat... maybe he was overreacting. Maybe he was just hallucinating or something. He had been stressing over many things as of late... most of them were very simple things. When Marlene would ask a series of questions, or if Tifa would tell him to do something for her, everything seemed to be a huge deal for him. But never once did his heart began to race like this. As he continued to look about the room... the beating grew louder, rapid, intensifying with every desperate and fearful glance of the abandoned house until it sounded nothing more than a buzzing noise.
When he turned his head towards the door... that's when all was silent.
Either out of fear, or out of shock, not one sound filled the room. His eyes widened, and everything within his body and soul seemed to have went numb.
A woman... at the hallway. Turned to the side, her face turned away from him. Long brown hair tied back by a pink ribbon and falling down to her hips in a braid. A red vest, a long, pink dress...
And the floor had melted away from where she stood, surrounded by white and yellow lillies...
"Aeris...?"