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When he fell through the church roof, there was only a single thought through the young woman's head. The promise that he made so many years ago would finally be kept.
He had come back to her.
Then she got a really good look at him and felt her heart seize for the second time that year.
Despite the familiar sense of person she knew, this man was not him.
Yet, her wishful heart lingered on him. Over the course of time, Aerith found herself slowly falling in love with the gruff, cold man called Cloud.
He who didn't care about the planet or her bloodlines. He didn't have affection for anyone and only held the other woman at arms reach. Later, when she and Tifa were alone she forced herself to ask the other woman what was between them. The story the younger woman told her was filled with wishful thinking and a terror Aerith could very well understand.
Unlike Tifa though...
She had never come face to face with Sephiroth.
She prayed she never did.
Still, she found herself watching that blond warrior named Cloud.
The one who's very veins thrummed with the power of Gaia and whispered to her of a promise of more. He carried a lingering shadow of the man she had once loved and in the darkest hours he terrified her as the sky once did. He was full of mystery and complexity. He cared for nothing by his own words and acted as bravely to protect those in his charge by action.
Who was this lingering person named Cloud Strife?
Really?
He was as fragile as he was strong and reminded her of the flowers she tended in the church. The crackle of a fire snapped the young Cetra from her musings as a piece of firewood was tossed into the pile. The woman gave a soft smile to the cold hearted warrior, the glow of his mako eyes stealing away the essence of his humanity.
Once, Cloud had been no different to her existence then the thousands of other humans. Yet, like the SOLDIERs and especially Zack, he now stood out.
Like the moon in its sea of stars...
She wondered if that was how other Cetra would have been.
Hers was a lonely existence despite the comfort she was given by Gaia's precious life. When she considered that blond man, so cold and distant from them all, her heart ached. She wasn't alone in her feelings of wanting to offer comfort to him. She shared that position with Tifa Lockhart and despite that she couldn't help but become friends with the fist fighter.
Even so they couldn't help him. Not really with the biggest thing when they began to learn the truth. Cloud Strife's life was one barren of promise and full of pain. He sought only one goal.
To destroy Sephiroth.
It was madness.