It was cold

It was cold.
It was very cold.
Yet, the beauty of this landscape couldn't be denied. It was gloriously radiant, and bursting with life, despite the frigid temperatures.
Such a contrast.
Lucrecia could feel her own spirit slowly dwindling as she approached the waterfall. Why did she even bother to venture here? It was so beautiful she deserved not to see this.
So why did she come to it?
Because the water was aqua so beautiful. It reminded her of his eyes.
Her son's eyes. Her beautiful baby boy, whom she'd only seen once. But he was the most darling thing she'd ever laid eyes upon. So small, so young. And he was perfect in every way. From his rosy round cheeks to his perfect little feet. Oh, how she wished with every ounce of her heart and soul that she'd been allowed to hold him. Just once, for the boy to feel his mother's loving arms, and for her to touch the babe's soft form. To tell him how much she loved him even if he was too young to understand.
The poor boy. He would grow and never know his mother's loving touch.
The poor mother. She would grow old without anyone to return her love.
Perhaps perhaps, she should have loved someone who loved her back.
Perhaps she should have chosen Vincent instead.
Yes. It would have been better to choose someone who would return her affection for ages to come. Someone who would always be by her side.
And never leave her out in the cold like this. Like she had done to him.
Lucrecia had always thought it clear, since the first time she'd met him, that Vincent only had eyes for her. He'd loved her. And it had been painfully obvious, though he'd been too embarrassed to say it aloud, often.
What had she done? She'd smiled and pretended not to notice. She had loved another at the time.
No. Love wasn't the right word for it. Hojo, that cunning man, had wooed Lucrecia somehow. And she had always been under the illusion that he had loved her. How blind could she have been? All he had wanted was her body, her, to further his experiments, to lift his name above Gast's, to be in the history books.
What had he given her? Misery, a son who couldn't be hers for she had never held him, and this. What she was doing now.
Vincent would've given her the moon and stars if he could've found a way. And even if he couldn't. Such a terrible thing for her to have done to him, leaving him alone. But by the time she'd realized she loved him back it had been too late.
So here she was, in the dead of the winter, staring into this pool by the waterfall, that reminded her so of her son's eyes. Her beautiful little Sephiroth.
Oh, he was going to grow up to be something special. She knew it, even if it was Hojo who would raise him. The boy had her spunk and determination, and she had seen it in his eyes, that one time she'd snatched a look at her son. He'd never let anyone hold him back. Oh, she only wished she could capture another glimpse of the little cherub.
But she could never be with him now. Not her son, not Vincent, not anyone. Not after all the pain she had caused, and all the pain that had been inflicted upon her.
She sighed lightly. Then that was it. If she had to live in exile, she would.
And what better place to live than here?