Cliffie: A little ficlet that popped into my head the other day. Final Fantasy VII setting, before a certain someone's death scene and after the collapse of Section Five. Time doesn't really matter though, I suppose.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters. This is for entertainment purposes only.
She's beautiful, in a way that's almost unearthly. Beautiful and fragile, but not fragile at the same time. Her eyes are far more wise and strong than anything he's ever seen before. She radiates strength: hard, dirty strength that masquerades as fragility and makes her face thin, but she's strong.
And she looks at him, green eyes wide and curious yet knowing, and he catches his breath. She's beautiful and in pain. She's tragic. She's not as innocent as everyone else seems to think she is, just because of how strong she is and how much agony she's been forced to go through, making her grow up far faster than anyone has a right to.
She's old, and she's wise, and she seems so damn innocent when she's not. He wonders if she's ever been innocent, and finds him thinking that she hasn't. She's tainted, and she's dirty, yet she's also lovely. Because of what she's gone through, she grasps at the straws of innocence, pulling whatever tattered shreds exist tight around herself. Yet when she looks at him, he sees the pain and the world in her eyes, and it makes him want to weep.
He's never wanted to weep before, or at least he thinks he hasn't. But the way she stares at him – knowing the sins and the pain and the ugliness of the world – is too terrible for someone like her.
She's beautiful in her pain.
He wants to take it away. Throw it away, make her pure again. Would that diminish her beauty? Would her sadness, which she hides and pushes away with smiles and laughter, make her less beautiful? Perhaps, but he doesn't care. He can't find it in himself to care if she loses her beauty. He'd rather her be happy. For a Turk to want someone to be happy is a damn strange thing, yet he can't banish the thought. He aches when he looks at her, looks at the repulsive world and the tragedy of a not-innocent flower girl.
She's beautiful in her pain, and he hates it down to the blood-stained soul of his being.
He wonders if it's partly his fault.
He knows he's just as dirty as her. He's long accepted it. Yet now he looks at the Cetra and wonders when the hell everything had gone wrong – and whether he was one of the pawns to destroy her innocence and break the world just a little further.
She's beautiful in her pain, and Reno can't – won't – do a damn thing about.
Cliffie: I must say, I'm rather pleased with the piece. I've been wanting to do something Aeris-centric for a while, and, while this turned somewhat Reno-centric as well, I'm happy with the outcome. I love Reno/Aeris interaction. The pairing is interesting, and not quite one of my favorites, but the two have a certain dynamic, I think. And yes, I do think Aeris isn't as innocent as everyone thinks she is. She's down in the earth and dirty and pretends. And maybe she is innocent and sweet, in a sense, but she's tainted all the same.
/coughs/
All right, done with that rant now. Reviews would be much appreciated, my friends! Buh-bye!