Dying isn't so sad.
I could see their shocked faces as I felt the blade bite right through my stomach but I held no fear. I could always feel the planet and here, in this peaceful place, I could hear the individuals that had long since passed.
I guess I knew this would happen. That this place would end up being my grave, but I had to do something. I knew he would come for me when he found out that I was trying to stop him. The others… I think I felt the saddest about my fate for them. They would not know, not for some time yet at least, that dying isn't so sad. It's worse for those left behind.
I knew. I had felt it before, being left behind. I had known when he had returned to the planet and I had cried for a very long time until I realized it.
Dying isn't so sad.
I remember it the most because it was raining. Cool and somehow fitting.
I had planted the seed. Holy had fallen with my death but the others, they are sad and hurt but they will fight. They want to protect this planet. It is good. Cloud… realize. You are not a puppet. Easily swayed, yes, but not a puppet. You are so much more…
When I saw him for the first time I had felt a recognition and it stirred something so deep in me that I had thought it long gone. Just like him… They had been so alike at some points that I think I fell in love again. Not with Cloud, no, but with the person he had been trying to emulate. Someone dear to both of us…
Take care of him Tifa. He'll need you. I can hear them crying or sending prayers, I can feel their sadness at the lost of a friend and I try to tell them though I know they cannot hear me.
Dying isn't so sad.
It's okay, I think. I know, I will still be with them, watching them, ready to help when they need it. But first… I must return to the planet. I fall, slowly, into the darkness, waiting until a warmth surrounds me. Gentle light pushes back the darkness and I can hear the familiar voice that I had longed to hear again in over 5 years.
"Sorry I kept you waiting."
"It's okay." I tell him, smiling as I looked at that goofy grin of his, feeling a gladness that I cannot really name. "It'll always be okay…"
Because Dying isn't so sad.