Drabble #75: Wine
Summary: To Aeris
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix
Long, pale fingers brushed against the flowers delicately with an almost tender caress. The owner closed his blue eyes, a long sigh escaping his mouth. So this was it. It was finally over. Geostigma had been cured and Sephiroth had been defeated once and for all. It was over. He opened his eyes once more, looking through the hole in the roof that he had created two years ago. She was finally able to rest in peace.
He hadn't wanted to say goodbye to her all over again but, in some ways, he was just glad that this time he actually had a chance to say it before she was taken away from him. And at least this time, he hadn't stood and watched her die. The very word 'death' sent shivers down his spine.
"I'll visit tomorrow, Aeris," he promised before he left the Church.
"Cloud!" Denzel and Marlene cried as he entered the bar, tackling him as they tried to hug his waist. He smiled and patted their heads gently in greeting before he looked up and noticed the whole Avalanche gang sitting by the bar with matching grins. Tifa held up a glass of wine to him with a gentle smile and Cloud took it with a confused expression.
"We wanted to wait until you came back before we held a toast," Yuffie explained and Cloud nodded in understanding. He didn't want to have a toast to defeating Sephiroth. It wasn't a big deal and he had done it before. Tifa raised her glass and Cloud closed his eyes.
"To Aeris."
He blinked, unsure that he had heard right but the way he was smiling proved him wrong. They were toasting Aeris...the true saviour of the Planet. He met Tifa's eyes and whispered a thank you and she shrugged in reply, a silent reply that Aeris would always have a special place in all of their hearts.