The light echo of his footsteps were no strangers to the flowering room of the dilapidated church. Many times before he could remember having walks those very same steps as he came here to remember those days long past, those days when she was there to fight and walk beside him. Many times in the past he had sworn that he had seen her, or what appeared to be her, continuing her care of her flowers. As soon as he had dared take a step to cross the hall towards the holy flower bed, she would disappear.
As if she had never really been there...
But this time was different. The children that usually took care of the flowers for her were missing, probably at home, wherever that was. A few more steps took him farther down the hall, closer. She was there again, her misty form taunting him as if she was still alive. He had expected this image to leave as had all the others. Sephiroth had taken the real thing from him, his imagination deciding to torture him with false images.
But she stayed, the misty form of her continuing with her work as she admired and weeded the small flower bed. She brushed her hands off, standing to look at him. There was no way, he decided, that he was imaging things now. That smile looked too real, too lifelike to be a figment of his Mako deluded mind.
"Aeris?" He reached out to her suddenly, hoping that she would answer.
No answer came. The misty form of Aeris vanished, followed by a cool breeze. Cloud caught the hint of the way Aeris used to smell on the wind, fresh and beautiful.
He had more to fight for than just for the Planet. He had Aeris, even if she wasn't there to watch. He still couldn't understand what she had wanted to tell him that one night, that "date", at the Gold Saucer. That night seemed so long ago...
He fell to one knee at the edge of the garden, watching one of the flowers sway in the gentle wind that seemed to come out of nowhere. The words he had wanted to say had never been said the right one. Sure, Tifa was great, but did he really love her? It was more of a friendship relationship between the two of them. She wanted more, but he wasn't sure if he did. With Aeris...
The way she looked at him...
The way she laughed...
The way she cried...
The way she was always optimistic...
All of it made him want more, to say more when he never did.
As he stood and turned to walk back out, he looked over his shoulder once more where the figure had stood. "I did love you. I still don't know why I never said it."
A few steps carried him to the door. Before he was able to take that step that would carry him back into the world, a wind blew across in front of him, a pink flower that had found its way into the wind settled at his feet. Holding it gently in his hand, he left.