Author's notes: Here goes chapter 2! I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter. I'M SO SORRY!

So…

I do not own any of the characters related to the Final Fantasy Role Playing Games!!! They are all by Square Enix!

Phew…please accept my apologies and I hope you'll leave a review on your thoughts of the story so far!


In the last chapter:

"Not alone…" she merely whispered from an attempt at a scream. She had meant to yell, wave her arms, scream, but she couldn't. From her efforts, a whisper resulted.

The whisper caught him.

He looked ahead of him, towards where he was falling and saw her.

Their eyes met; turquoise clashing with her blue and green eyes.

"I'm not alone…" he managed to whisper back. And Yuna heard him loud and clear.


The Inevitable: Collide

Chapter 2: Don't Let Go

Cloud could feel his hair whipping in every direction, the strange void approaching closer to him as he continued to fall. He had been so tempted to rest his eyes…just to hear her beautiful voice once again. He had promised himself he would do everything possible to find the owner to the voice next time he got the chance and he had thought that chance was NOW.

He wanted to talk to her about his problems face and face, not to the swirling mass of lights anymore. Not to the ghost of his "dream-mate". He longed to ask her so many things, about the island home she talked of, the evil she knew as Sin…the man she loved named Tidus.

Here he was, not in a pleasant dream with her but in some nightmare where he had chased Aerith flying off the edge of an altar tower. He had been stupid enough to give chase even as the ground beneath him couldn't stretch out for him any longer.

So he fell.

He had been falling for a while, wanting it to end, for the spirit of the flying Aerith to swoop him in her arms and tell him everything would be okay. Why? He always wondered why out of everyone, it had to be her? To be Aerith? Why Zack? Why Aerith… Why?

"Not alone…"

Her voice like twinkling chimes in the wind echoed to him over the howling wind in his ears…but just a soft whisper.

An angel…

His eyes widened at the falling princess in white, the veil of sheer only enhancing an ethereal touch to her beauty, the long white gown billowing around her like excited doves…flying toward him. No, she was falling towards him.

He gazed at her, his heart thumping in his chest rapidly as he noticed they were coming closer to each other. Yes, they were getting very close now. "No, not alone…" he whispered. The dancing lights in her unique eyes gave his breath a pause of awe when she heard his voice.

Her face surrounded by soft strands of auburn silk was tied up under her veil, adorned with jewelry that did little to pretty her already gorgeous face. She stared at him as he stared at her, curious and hopeful. The same way he felt at the moment.

But they were not slowing down as they approached each other in the middle. He feared they would pass each other.

A silken gloved hand…

"Please, reach for me." Whispered the girl, pleading and desperate.

He made no answer as he extended his own leather gloved hand, the first real movement he had been able to make since falling off the altar. Yes, he would be able to reach her. If he didn't, he would miraculously sprout his own wings and go after her, he was sure of it.

There was that exact moment where their hands neared and the second where the tips of their fingers were mere inches apart…he only focused on her face. And then he couldn't tear his mako eyes from her. The terror of not being able to reach her filled him in that one second, the fright of seeing her leave him as they'd fall farther apart into unknown voids.

I will take her hand. I can reach for it.

Reach.

Cloud gasped silently. The stark contrast of her white glove with his black one, her slender fingers holding his tenderly…it was just perfect in its complementary design, its fit and naturalness.

Their free hands met so they formed a ring between them.

Cloud's heart leapt to his throat as a force threatened to rip their hands apart. No, he wouldn't let go! He wasn't going to fall from her!

A small terrified cry escaped her lips. "No!"

They were going to loose each other.


Yuna's grip tightened as his did the same, both fearing the same nightmare within the nightmare. "Please, don't let go!" she cried, more tears beginning to float from her eyes. He met her gaze again and she saw the panicking emotions mirrored in his face. But he gave her an affirmative nod.

"I won't let go, I promise." He said firmly.

If they would let go, where would they fall? To a paradise? To a hell?

Her eyes widened as she felt his arms give way, a startled gasp of fright involuntarily escaped.

Then those arms wrapped around her gently.

She closed his eyes as she felt her tired frame rest against his, the tears still falling from her eyes. She moved her arms and wrapped them around him in turn, clinging as though he was her life float, her only anchor to anything sane. "…don't…let…go" she whispered weakly, muffled by the fabric of his shirt against her lips.

He only hugged her tighter in response.

His left arm and pants leg draped in black flapped along with her white gown, dancing around their legs together in unison. What direction were they falling towards together now?

Together.

Her fear as they fell was no longer merciless, it subsided a little as she focused on the feel of the grooved, cerulean cloth against her cheek. The feathers around her gown moved in motion with the black material like a rapid dove's wings beating against raven ones, both fervent from an escape out of the prison of their shared nightmare.

Yuna gripped the material of his shirt as she felt a sudden wave of uneasiness, the air around them slowing down. Her partner in this desperate fall moved his head around them, analyzing the abyss they had been left in.

"We stopped falling."

Yuna thought them the most beautiful three words she had heard in months. She looked up from hiding her face in his shirt and noticed they were now just floating together in nothing. The air had become thick and their bodies were pressed against invisible liquid. The veil on her head floated behind her as the unusual pink string tied around his forearm fluttered against her shoulder.

"So we have," she managed to say after a while.

She turned her head and found herself now face to face with the stranger.

No, not a stranger, not just anyone…this was the voice that she had longed to speak to in person for so long now.

He had a strong face, a face that hid emotions but when they did give someone the pleasure of finally seeing them…he turned every expression into a work of art. Blond spiky hair that stuck in different directions, powerful in their structure yet gentle to touch.

She had lifted her gloved hand to his hair unaware of the act.

His turquoise eyes continued to meet her own green and blue eyes. Princely, she thought instantly. He dressed in dark clothes but there was no mistaking the light that was lit inside of him.

The air glowed eerily.

"How did you come to be here?" he asked her.

She stared at him, still memorizing his face. "I fell asleep. I knew a nightmare was coming." She sighed softly, deciding to lay her head back against his shirt.

His lips moved against her veiled head. "What is your name?" he whispered.

"Yuna," she responded. "What is yours?" she whispered in the same tone as his.

She felt him shift his head so his cheek lay against her head. "Cloud," He paused, brief images of what he should be doing and where he should really be ran through his head. "I fell asleep...fell asleep staring at the flowers." he chuckled lightly. The noise came pleasing to Yuna's ears. "I was supposed to be on a job from Reno," he muttered.

He felt her smile against his chest.

"I just wanted to be over with the nightmare," Yuna said softly. "I wanted to let it be and then wake up…but…" Cloud instinctively held her closer as he felt her shoulders shake with a silent sob. "They did not end with the day…"

"They will end," he reassured her.

Yuna nodded. "They did…temporarily…only when…when…" Her voice faded.

Cloud felt a hard surface land against his back. Colorful lights began to dance on Yuna's white dress. What was going on? He attempted to hold her tighter when her arms around him began to dissipate when the colorful hues danced across them.

"What--?" he gasped.

He stared at her face frantically, at the melancholy smile she wore, tears flowing against the wet streaks left from earlier. She leaned closer to him "You're waking up…" she merely breathed into his ear gently. She continued her sad smile as he tried to hug her, hoping she would stop disappearing. "You can't, Cloud," she murmured as she laid her head against his chest again. She was beginning to become transparent and his hands no longer felt the slim waist of the young woman.

"No, Yuna…" Cloud whispered.

She looked up at him. She wanted a final look at him. "They ended when I heard your voice, Cloud, only yours." she said wearily, her eyes closing as she was almost gone completely.

"Thank you," she said, smiling through her tears that escaped her closed eyes.

Cloud studied her soft expression as she was lying against him comfortingly one second and then gone the next. She had been replaced by the glittering lights of the abandoned church's stained glass windows. The ex-SOLDIER sat up; half believing she would still be there with him on the pew, the pew he had wanted to take a quick nap on. But he was alone in the church save the flowers still thriving among the ruins.

"Yuna…" His whisper echoed in his ears.

The duty at hand flashed through his head again, interrupting his thoughts of the dream girl that had fallen into his arms and he into hers. Cloud knew he had a job to do. He still longed to fall into another dream and into the sanctuary of her arms…and she into his, as the haven he hoped he had been for her too. But he still had a job to do.

He stood now with a new found energy and took his broadsword into his gloved hand. He gripped it tightly as he left the threshold of the church, the Buster Sword's wide blade gleaming in the white light…

The stark contrast of her white glove with his black one… The image floated in his head. Her voice whispered in his ears. The feel of her arms clinging to him…as though he was her savior warmed him. It gave him strength for what was ahead.

…and the feeling of her gossamer veil tingled permanently between his sword and his glove.

He was still reaching for her. He hadn't let go. If he didn't, he wasn't alone.


Please leave a review! Thank you for reading chapter 2!!!

Okay, so I'll explain this. This is at a time maybe a year or two after FFX-2 and Yuna is still mourning over her lost Tidus. But for Cloud, this takes place somewhere near the beginning of FFVII: Advent Children so he hasn't defeated big ol' baddie Sephiroth or Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo yet.