Please note that as much as I wished that I owned Final Fantasy and its characters, I don't.

((The emo angst depressing stuff starts here! And it won't get happier. Sorry. I got this idea from an anime I saw a while back. I'm going to twist the ending because I really didn't like the way it ended. Enjoy!))

Chapter 4

Cloud got home after taking the longest route possible back to his own place. He had officially decided that he was going to tell Tifa that his love had faded. And this time, he would actually go through with it. He refused to chicken out like last time. But as for what to do with Aerith, he had absolutely no clue.

He pushed his dulling silver key into the lock and turned it slightly to hear it click open. He pulled it out and stuffed it back into his pocket. He turned the bronze doorknob lightly pushing open the door.

Kicking his shoes off, he went into the kitchen to get himself something to drink. He would have preferred something very strong with a large amount of alcohol but he told himself that getting drunk wouldn't help his problem.

Right as he was about to enter the kitchen his phone rang. "Great," he mumbled. "I bet its Tifa."

He went back into the living room and over to the table where the phone rested blaring its angry ring at him. "Hello?" he answered.

"Cloud?"

"Aerith?" Cloud said a bit in surprise. She never called him, let alone anyone really. "Uh, is something wrong?"

"No!" she said quickly not wanting him to worry. Cloud had a tendency to worry over every little thing until it drove him mad. That was the last thing she wanted right now. "I was just thinking about the little chat we had at my place this afternoon."

"Oh, that," he said feeling the blood rush to his face. He was really glad he couldn't see her right now considering that his face had just turned her favorite color. "I'm really sorry about how I acted. I shouldn't have just thrown that on you…"

"It's okay!" she said with a soft laugh. "I guess your emotions were all out of synch because of what Tifa said, right?"

Cloud shrugged. "I guess so. So what's up? I mean you normally don't call so I'm guessing it's something kind of big."

"Not really," she said with a sigh I was just thinking that maybe tomorrow afternoon we could go get lunch together. I mean, as friends! Because of you and Tifa and…"

"Yeah, that'd be good. I need to talk to her anyway," he said his voice trailing off. He hadn't meant to say that. He knew it would bother Aerith knowing that he was going to break up with Tifa right after telling her that he loved her.

"About what?" she asked a little hesitant. I hope he's not breaking up with her, she thought a bit worried. And right after he told me…

"It's nothing," he said quietly. "I don't want you worrying about it, ok?" he added hoping that Aerith hadn't put two and two together and figured out he was breaking up with Tifa.

"Alright," she said with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow then. How about we meet at noon at the central train station?"

"Sounds good," he said with a smile himself. He was finally going to start fixing things. It made him feel better already.

"Well, I'll see you then," she said happily. "Bye."

"Bye, Aerith," he said into the receiver before lowering it from his hear and placing it back into its place. Everything will be fine tomorrow. I can fix this. I can make it work.

Cloud paced himself through the busy afternoon streets. He passed through all the people thinking about how he was going to break the news to Tifa that evening. He silently prayed that she wouldn't cry. The one thing Cloud Strife could not handle was people crying. But more importantly, women.

He was about to take the next street when he noticed a young woman who resembled Tifa eyeing a jewelry stand. "Tifa?" he asked as he approached her.

She turned around with a big smile. "Cloud!" she said with joy throwing her arms around him in another hug. "I didn't think I'd see you out here so early."

"It's nearly noon," he said with a bit of a sarcastic tone. He took a double take to notice that he was going to be late. "I have to go Tifa," he said, but she had stopped him by locking onto his arm.

"Waiit!" she pleaded. "I saw this really pretty ring…" she said with a mischievous grin. Cloud could already feel his wallet get lighter. Tifa was a good person, just very expensive.

"Okay," he said fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. Tifa grinned and jumped with joy.

"You're the best," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I like this one," she said picking up a knotted Celtic ring. She took a few minutes trying on the different sizes and making sure she had the perfect one. She eventually decided on one that pleased her. It wasn't cheap either.

"Thanks soooooo much Cloud!" she said again with a huge smile. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Cloud nodded and watched her walk off in the other direction. He was officially ten minutes late meeting Aerith. Knowing her, she wasn't going to pleased. He felt a knot forming in his stomach, however he had a strong feeling it wasn't coming from the fear of being yelled at by Aerith.

He noticed an extremely large crowd of people had gathered around the entrance to the train station. He spotted an ambulance and police cars as well. He just figured that there had been an accident. He made his way through the crowd looking for Aerith.

The knot only tightened when he couldn't find her. She probably went home. Maybe she thought I wouldn't be able to find her in this crowd. He took a deep breath to calm his rising nerves. He stepped up to the police tape to see what everyone was looking at.

Blood. Blood stained the pavement. The phone booth glass was shattered and pieces were reflecting off the ground, covered in blood as well. Cloud's heart sped up when he noticed what was in the center of the scene. A pink ribbon. It can't be.

"Did you identify the victim?" he heard a police man say to another.

The other man nodded with a grim face. "She was young."

The knot in Clouds throat tightened. There's no way. There's absolutely no way it could be her.

"Her name is Aerith Gainsborough sir."