The sun crept its' way into her room and conveniently into her eyes. Strangely she didn't mind, the sun was warm and it brightened the dark room. The room was beautiful, decorated with the finest décor. She stood up out of bed and saw a white dress on the vanity. She smiled and looked closely at it. It was a beautiful white with lace details. There were white shoes below it and a small pink flower on the vanity also. She continued into the bathroom and washed up and put on the ensemble left for her. She decided to leave her hair down and glancing at the little pink flower, put it behind her ear and walked out into the hall.
She had seen the halls before when she first came here and recognized where she was, one door away from the princes' room. She walked slowly to the door and saw that it was ajar. She peaked in and saw the prince sound asleep. She remembered how peaceful he had looked the last time she saw him sleeping and this was no different. She thought she heard him whisper something and gathering up her courage she entered his room.
It was just as finely decorated as hers had been, but his belongings were everywhere. He had his clothes thrown about and his weapons on the table. She approached his bed and giggled. She had thought his hair to be wild when they first met, but she had never seen it before it hadn't met a brush. "Father?" She turned her head and realized he was talking in his sleep. She sat gently down on the bed and looked at him. "Father…no…hurts" Her lips turned downward, he was having what seemed to be a nightmare. His body twitched, "I'll do better…sorry father" She reached down and touched his hand, he had helped her through her nightmare and she'd help him. "Cloud." His body turned once more, "Mother…no…don't come." Suddenly he bolted up right and knocked right into her. She instinctively grabbed on to keep herself from falling, but except took him down with her. She looked up to see Cloud above her, "Good morning Cloud." He looked down at her and after a few moments realized he had her trapped and stood. She turned to him, "I'm sorry for coming in; I thought I heard you speaking." Cloud sat on the bed and she observed he was shirtless and blushed. Looking down he said, "It's fine." She walked over to the bed and sat beside him. Aeris could see the scars on him back from where she sat and she reached out and touched one. She felt Cloud tense under her touch but he didn't pull away, "Did your father do this?" He reached back and grabbed her hand, "Don't worry yourself with my problems, I'll get dressed and we can eat breakfast." He released her hand a moment later and she left his room with questions running through her head.
They quietly ate breakfast and he showed her the palace garden. He watched her look at the flowers and smiled, "We found the men who hurt you, I made sure that they will never be able to do it again." She looked at him curiously, "You didn't kill them did you?" He chuckled, "As much as I might have liked to, no." She wondered silently what he meant by that simple statement. She stood up and walked over to him and reached out to touch his back, "Then you can understand why I need to know." He looked down, "Come with me." He took her to a fountain where they sat, "I once had a twin brother, Zack, and we had been playing where we knew father said not to. We were thirteen and curious. We thought it would be fun to ride wild horses except it ended up with Zack breaking his neck. Father did and still does blame my carelessness for Zack's death." She touched his hand gently, "Cloud that was six years ago, surely he can not blame you for his brothers actions." Cloud looked down at his hand that was covered by hers, "Each year I receive a new one on my birthday for Zack." She was appalled, "Cloud that's horrible! There's got to be a way to stop him." Cloud smiled gently, "Being alone helps, nobody knows. I don't even know why I told you, I've never told anyone else." She smiled at him, "We have many things that need fixing we can help each other." For the rest of the day he showed her around the palace and she showed him the town. When the stars came up they said good night and she fell softly asleep in her bed.
She was swinging and looking up at the apples had father loved to paint and heard her mother coming. "Mama when will Papa come back from fighting?" Her mother looked down, "I wish I knew sweetie." Her mother had been acting strangely since her father had left and she wondered why. Two years passed and her father never returned. She had traveled into a beautiful field full of flowers and horses. While picking flowers another child with crazy black hair approached her, "What're you doin?" She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled, "Picking flowers for my Mama." She stood brushing her hands off onto her overalls, "I'm Aeris." He smiled, "Name's Zack."