Drabble #34: Loss
Summary: The day he lost her, was the day that would always haunt him.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
He had never felt such pain coursing through his veins before as he held the fragile body in his arms. He had never felt so...lost.
He lifted the limp body up a little, bringing his face to rub into the soft fabric of her pink dress, using it to dry up the tears that kept spilling from his eyes. His hands took on a tighter grip as his fingers began to tremble and his lips went dry as he saw the shadow looming over them, breaking the tender moment.
"Do not worry, soon this girl will be with the Planet. All that is left is to go North to the Promised Land. There I will become one with the Planet, as will this girl."
Cloud gritted his teeth together, wanting nothing more than to turn and shove his sword through the silver-haired man's stomach, killing him in the way he had killed Aeris, who lay cold in his arms, her hair undone and free of the white Materia that had sat perfectly on top of her head. Both her ribbon and Materia were lost in the water below somewhere.
"Shut up!" Cloud snarled, gently putting Aeris down and turning to the man. "The cycle of life and your stupid plan, they don't mean a thing!" he cried, balling his fists in anger as he looked down at the Cetra's peaceful face. "Aeris is gone," he whispered sadly. "She'll never laugh, cry or get angry again! What about us? What are WE supposed to do?"
"Are you telling me you have feelings?" Sephiroth scoffed, rolling his eyes at the pathetic scene.
"Of course I have feelings!" Cloud yelled, ignoring the dull ache in his chest that was growing more and more painful with every second of realising that Aeris was lost to this world. The words that Sephiroth spoke afterwards were just blurred in Cloud's mind as images of Aeris flashed through his mind. The time he had bought a flower from her, when he had fallen into her Church, rescuing her from Hojo and escaping the ShinRa mansion.
It was Tifa and Yuffie who ended up killing off Jenova, who had appeared after Sephiroth disappeared. Cloud could hardly bring himself to fight, barely striking the creature more than three times. His eyes just kept drifting over to the woman who lay peacefully at the side of the alter, out of the line of battle.
It was Sunday morning on April the Second at two minutes past ten when Sephiroth striked and killed Aeris Gainsborugh. It was forty-two minutes past ten when Cloud let her body sink to the bottom of the Forgotten City lake.
That day when he lost the most precious person in the world to him would always remain vivid in his mind until the day he died because his heart was lost with her.