Shattered Dreams
Trinity,
Chapter 3. Reminiscences and Discoveries

Been a long time??? Sorry, I've been making my web page (It's almost up!!!) Hmm… anyway, here it is… Chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, character names, materia names, etc.
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Her emerald eyes, full of intent and peacefulness, gazed into his sapphire eyes. His eyes showed profound concern and anger.

They locked stares in silence, a deafening silence. Her lips slowly arched into a gentle smile, and her somber eyes closed, back into intense prayer.

Swiftly and silently, evil swept down, a massive sword representing its wrath…

A glint of silver reflected throughout the crystalline city, and a shadow cast over the two.
The next events happened extremely slowly in the blonde's eyes.

A sword sliced through the praying female, and the wielder showed his face. Cold eyes, pale skin, silver hair and all… With a demented smile, he twisted the katana slowly, ousting massive amounts of blood.

Cloud realized it was too late. Aeris screamed out in agony, piercing the disturbing silence, and breathed her last breath…
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"Aeris!!!" Cloud woke up in a cold sweat, realizing he had another nightmare. He quickly became conscious of where he really was.

The ocean waves made a metronome of rhythm, while the beach's inhabitants made their visceral sounds.

The moon was partially hidden behind the midnight clouds. Enough light got through to envelope the earth in a pale radiance.

In the room, Rikku was snoring lightly, mumbling something about her father.

Cloud stood up from his bed and walked outside.

A lone boulder lay in the beach, an ideal seat for the war torn mercenary.

Cloud sat down on the rock and looked up at the stars above him.

He sat contemplating. He thought about what happened to him, what his friends were thinking, what they were doing. He then thought about his dream. His hell.

He missed Aeris greatly; his heart ached every time he thought of her, her smile, her laugh. He missed every thing about her.

He blamed himself for her death, even though everyone else blamed Sephiroth.

Sephiroth. The name rang in Cloud's ears loudly. Even after his death, many people still suffer from his actions. Cloud hated the deceased warrior with all his heart. He hated him as much as he loved Aeris.

With a sigh of discontent, he stood up. As he turned around, a lone tear fell from his cold cheeks…

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The candle flickered gently, illuminating the room in a quiet, mellow light. Yuna gently stroked Tidus' face, brushing away a stray strand of hair from his eyes.

Tidus was still unconscious after thirteen hours, having been found in the beach. Yuna still stayed with him, making sure he got all the attention he could get in his cataleptic state.

After two months, it was the first time Yuna saw him again. Her mind was occupied by two questions, how did Tidus get back to Spira? How did Cloud?


She sat there, ruminating upon the questions her mind had laid upon her…

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As Cloud walked along the shoreline, the sand crunched under his boots, and along with the crashing of the waves, it made a rhythm matching each of his steps.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

The shrill yelp of a female echoed throughout the beach and quickly caught Cloud's attention.

He ran into the direction of the yelp and quickly saw what was happening. Three dogs were circling around a woman, gnashing their teeth at her.

Cloud knew he had no sword with him, so he called out to the tents where the rest of the people were.

The animals' gaze were now fixated upon him now, their eyes fixed in an almost-human stare.

Cloud quickly realized they were like the beast from Aeris' church. He dug his hands into his materia pouch and felt for a magic spell.

He pulled one out and found Ultima. The green orb glowed in the same hue as life stream, the materia's creator. He conjured up the spell and was about to release it when he remembered the girl. "Great…"

He shuffled around in his pocket and pulled another materia out. Comet.

He muttered some Cetra words and conjured up a comet. He forced it down onto the dog farthest away from the girl, hard.

The rock crashed upon the canine, crushing it in a spray of dark blood. Cloud's eyes then gazed upon the two remaining fiends…

Yuna and her friends ran up onto the hill, just before seeing a familiar flash of the Hell Fire attack.

Yuna looked in surprise as she saw Ifrit fighting along side Cloud.

The yelp of what seemed like a dog reached their ears, and with their eyes, they saw the animal drop to the ground.

Yuna broke into a sprint towards the battle site, the others trailing behind her…

Cloud, bloodied with scratches and bites from the animals, dropped down in exhaustion. His physical health was not so good, and his magic supply was low, him using magic so much.

He managed to conjure up a curaga spell, and cast it upon himself. His wounds closed up and healed in a matter of seconds; He then grabbed a bottle of super-ether and gulped it down.

"Cloud!"

The blonde turned his head in her direction, "I'm fine!"

A groan sounded from the woman that Cloud had forgotten all about. He stood up and ran towards her. Her face was hidden behind a mask of her own blood, and other wounds were visible even in the darkness.

"This woman needs help!"

Cloud cast another round of Curaga on her, but her wounds were too serious to be fixed solely by magic…

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At the tent, magician healers were treating the injured woman while Cloud and the others sat outside.

Lulu looked at Cloud, "You know how to use magic AND summon Aeons!?"

Cloud looked surprised, " Yeah, I know how to use magic, but what are Aeons?"

Lulu laughed lightly, "Don't tell me you don't know, you just summoned one about half an hour ago."

Cloud looked at her strangely, "Ifrit? I only used materia… Don't you use materia?"

The Spira denizens responded in unison, "What? Materio?"

"You know… Materia!" He pulled out a cure materia.

Yuna seemed transfixed by the orb. "What are they?"

Cloud was dumbfounded, "You really don't know? They're basically just lifestream!"

"Lifestream?"

Cloud sighed, "The force of the planet, souls put simply."

Yuna face lightened as she seemed to understand, "Oh! Are you talking about the Fayth?"

Cloud again was confused. He was about to answer when one of the healers stepped out of the tent, "She is fine now."

Yuna thanked the healers, "Okay… let's talk about this later."

Cloud followed the people into the tent and caught a glimpse of the woman.



His breath was caught short as he quickly realized who it was. "Aeris!"

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I finally updated!!! :) Like the chapter? Hurry up and review. Like a said, its going to be a Claeris fic. (Aeris and Cloud Pairing)