Don't leave me

Don't leave me
Chapter 1: betrayal
Aerith sighed as she watched a bird fly over the roof of the church she was in. the lilies flew in the weak wind, and the scent of them spread around in the whole church. The pink dressed woman missed Zack, she had felt it, and she had felt the presence of him ever since the day they told her that he was dead. Still he wasn't here for real, but she could still smell him, feel him, he was still there, oh Gaia, she didn't want to let him go.

Cloud had spent most of his time in the church together with her, something that obviously made Tifa disappointed. The blonde man had sure been good company for her, because he kind of reminded her of Zack, the same eye colour, and kind of the same personality, the only difference was their hair colour, and the fact that Zack had been taller than Cloud. She blushed a bit, but didn't say anything.

Cloud sat in the middle of the church, in front of the lilies, face buried into his hands as he choked a sob. She could understand that he had a bad time, and wasn't sure if he cried or didn't, since she hadn't seen him cry before, not once. He removed the hands, but it wasn't any tears there, so obviously he wasn't crying. And it worried Aerith a little, it was human to cry, everyone cried once and awhile. But not Cloud, she bet that he gritted his teeth so hard to pull himself together, that it injured him. It was actually a wonder that he had any teethes left in his mouth at all, he bit them too hard. But she did understand that he had a hard time, his best friend had just passed away.

"Hey, it's going to be all right again you know." The brown braided girl muttered soft, so soft that it sounded like she nearly sang it. The woman embraced the blonde man and felt him trembling under her touch. She held her arms around his waist, and lent her chin on the top of his head.

"how can you say that it's going to be all right? It's my fault that he died!" Cloud hissed low for himself and closed his mako coloured eyes. Aerith's bright green eyes peered up, at the clouds through the whole in the church roof.

"don't blame yourself!" the brown haired braided woman whispered quietly, but Cloud only made a disapproved sound and tried to shake Aerith off, but she held him, and he kind of liked it, so he gave up.

"it was my fault Aerith! I betrayed him!" the blond man continued, but the woman shook her head and smiled for herself. He was wrong, she knew he was. Judging himself wouldn't make anything better, so she would stay with him, as long as he needed her.

"you did not betray him!" she muttered softly, and chuckled, even though she felt her heart break seeing him like this. He reminded her of Zack, that day when he was broken in her church, Cloud sat at the exact same spot as Zack had done, and Zack had been broken because of Angeal's death. Both of them needed comfort, so they were actually more similar than she had thought of before.

"I did! Everything's my fault!" she was pulled back to reality when she heard his sobbing voice. She knew he was wrong, and somehow she knew that he knew it too. Then she thought of Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa. Why was he here? Couldn't he stay home with his friend? Wouldn't she comfort him? Not that it bothered her; she appreciated the company he gave her.

"what does Tifa say about this?" Aerith wondered, and Cloud held his breath for a few seconds. He hadn't seen that one coming from her.

"I… I haven't exactly talked that much to her!" he sighed and looked up and into Aerith's green eyes. A pale smile wore her pink lips, and her light skin felt soft against his neck.

"you should!" she murmured and hugged him again, Cloud's eyes widened.

"no, I shouldn't!" the blonde man shook his head, but Aerith nodded.

"I'm sure she would have understood it, and supported you!"

"Please… I don't want to leave you… please… let me stay here" he clung tighter to Aerith; death gripped her like he was trying to hold onto his own life. Like he was on the edge of a cliff, half falling, and half safe.

"Cloud"

"I like it here…" he sobbed, and Aerith's heart broke again.

"Cloud!"

"Aerith please! I can't go back to her, not yet…"

"look…"

"please… can't I stay here?"

"I guess you can… only for a little while at least"

"I don't like how it ended"

"what ended?"

"Zack's death… it was unfair!"

"he saved you, and you are the evidence that he lived! Please, he wanted you to live on for him!"

"he also wanted me to take care of you"

"the only thing I request is that you take care of yourself first"

"I" Cloud started, but was interfered by Aerith..

"please, Cloud… I'll be all right when you're all right! There was nothing you could have done anyway!"

Authors note:
Chapter's done, short chapter, but I'll make the next one longer. I'll update soon, I promise, but the characters does not belong to me, they belong to Square Enix. All FF7 characters (C) Square Enix.