Drabble #60: Children

Summary: He saw Aerith in them

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix


If it wasn't for the children, he didn't think he could make it through. There were some days, when he had been thinking about Aerith too much and it resulted in him just not wanting to get up. Marlene would often come in and sit beside him, telling him about how the flowers were doing in Aerith' Church.

"It's because she's still there," she would say. "Her spirit is always going to be there, watching over us."

Normally, Cloud would say it was just a child's innocence making her believe such things but, Cloud really wanted to believe in that too. Besides, he knew that Marlene had shared a special bond with the Cetra and there was no way she would ever make anything up about Aerith.

Denzel had never known Aerith but the young boy reminded Cloud of himself. The way he was determined to prove his worth, how he looked up to Cloud as a hero like Cloud had once looked up to Sephiroth. Denzel trusted Cloud completely, and so did Marlene. It was similar to Aerith's trust in him, the firm belief that he would be there when they needed them.

"I never blamed you, not once. You came for me. That's all that matters."

He had been there to hold her as she died. She had trusted him to come to her at the end, even if he couldn't have stopped her death, she believed he would be there. And he was. And he would not break the children's' trust in him again. He wouldn't let them down. Aerith would never come back to him, however horrible the thought was to admit, he knew it was true. Yet, with Marlene and Denzel, he reckoned he could make it through. Because, sometimes, he saw Aerith in them, smiling up at him.