Drabble #91: Mind
Summary:
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
To say Cloud Strife's mind was in turmoil was an understatement. For so long, he had witnessed so many brutal things but instead of finding comfort in somebody, he had repressed them, letting the problem grow larger every day.
Watching his beloved Aerith die was the last straw. His mind went blank, his body numb with grief. He couldn't have stopped Hojo messing with his mind no matter how much he had wanted to. With the state it was in, he stood no chance.
And in the lifestream, despite Tifa's efforts, he couldn't bring himself to bring the pieces back together. Something was missing. The person he wanted to fight for was dead and gone. In his mind, there was no point carrying on without Aerith. He had thought that if he lay there long enough, the Planet would take pity on him and just let him die.
It was wishful thinking. Though he managed to be rescued from the lifestream, his memories restored, he still felt incomplete, more so than when he had pretended to be Zack. Aerith had been the glue that held his fragile being in one piece and now that she was gone, everything had fallen apart.
And now, as his mind replayed her death over and over again as he slept, it was all he could do to murmur her name and a small apology.