Chapter Twenty Nine

I don't know when Cloud sleeps during our journey, and I don't know where our ultimate goal is, but I know I sleep a lot, and I think a lot and that makes me sleepier, which makes me sleep even more. We barely stop anywhere, and when we do I rarely have enough presence of mind to ask him where we are going. I don't even know if he knows.

We leave Nibelhiem...we don't dwell there. There are too many memories and too many 'what if's' for us to stay there comfortably...not that there is anywhere to stay anyways.

If anything my overwhelmed mind thinks that maybe Cloud is just trying to shake any pursuers. But we've barely seen anyone on the roads, and no one asks a SOLDIER questions, especially if they have a half conscious and dirty looking passenger with them.

So our trip passes in relative uneventfulness, and I sleep, and I wake up tired, clinging to his back going down a road somewhere. The scenery changes around me so fast I wonder if I dream waking sometimes. I dream of tall mountains, then flat plains, deserts, forests, and long, wide fields of tall grass and hay.

But reality has a way of finding its way back to me, and my life.

It is hard telling how many days it has been since Zack died, and how many days it has been since I last saw Nibelhiem, but we finally roll to a stop that jerks me awake. I stretch as Cloud climbs off the motorcycle.

"Stay here. I'll be right back."

The words make me jump into present time and place. Any time we've made a pit stop I've gone with Cloud. There are no questions asked. It just is.

My weary mind briefly contemplates that maybe he is abandoning this crazy woman that ruined his life, but then I remember he left me with the motorcycle so I highly doubt that. I watch him walk away carrying the bag he got when we left Midgar, and finally take in my surroundings.

We're in a well populated town with tropical trees, and an open market to my left. I try to gauge the reactions of the people around me, but they walk past uncaring. Strangers are expected in this part of town. The sun is bright overhead in a clear, blue sky, and the buildings are whitewashed with bright shutters and doors, and the roads lined with white bricks.

Time passes slowly, and I begin to wonder where Cloud has gone to. I get off the motorcycle, stretching my legs. I can't remember the last time I walked. The heat is almost unbearable in the jacket and helmet, but I leave them on. I want to take off the helmet, but I'm afraid. I'm so afraid that someone is looking for me. That Cissnei or Tseng or some other Turk is lurking in the bushes waiting to attack on Hojo's orders.

Of course, if that were the case they probably would've already grabbed me with Cloud being away for so long.

Where is he?

I lean up against the motorcycle and cross my arms, huffing impatiently.

Then I curb my thoughts. Honestly? Do I have a right to be impatient with him after all he's done for me? He probably needed some alone time. I still don't know if he's properly dealt with Zack's death.

Then I see him come around the corner, and my breath catches. I haven't looked him in the face in days, so it surprises me.

There are large, purple bags beneath his eyes, and dirt smudged all over his cheeks. The goggles he wears while driving his motorcycle dangle around his neck, and his shirt is unzipped slightly lower than usual, probably because of the heat. His clothes look worn, and so does his face...his spikes look like they've been flattened from all the wind driving, but his eyes are open, and uncaring or worried, so that helps me to relax. Something about him, though...I feel like I'm seeing him for the first time...I feel like he steals my heart every time I look at him.

Wow...this traveling is really doing wonders with my brain. That was so freaking sappy.

I shake my head, noticing the bag he took with him looks a little emptier, but not much. He's also carrying a larger bag with him in one hand.

He places the bags in the compartments of the motorcycle without saying anything, and then he climbs on, and I climb on after him.

When was the last time we spoke? Nibelhiem? When was that?

He pulls out of the town slowly, and I fight to keep my eyes open. The motorcycle has a lulling sense to me now, always pulling me towards sleep. The road is curvy as we wind around hills, almost always descending though. We drive for about an hour through forests, weaving back and forth between green hills and wild flowers. There are houses more around the town, but the further we go the more sparse they become, and the more extravagant.

Cloud finally turns off the highway we've been following, and down a smaller, side road. The forest thins considerably, and soon it is open, with houses scattered half miles apart. We take another turn onto another road, and my curiosity is peaking as we wind up another hill. Then we pull onto a gravel road, decelerating considerably. My heart races as I spot a house ahead of us, whitewashed like the others, with plain, blue shutters. Cloud pulls up to the house, cutting the motorcycle off, and gets off. I do the same, pulling the stifling helmet off my head. I breathe a sigh of relief as my hair falls free; I was getting a head ache.

But now that the engine is no longer roaring, I can hear a faint sound...one that rubs against my memory slightly. I run towards the edge of the hill, and as I reach the crest, I see before me bright, blue ocean, and a long, empty, white beach. There are wooden stairs leading down to the sand, and tall grass blowing in the wind along the dunes.

"Where..." I ask, but I don't turn.

"I remember you said once that you would love to live at Costa del Sol."

I turn quickly, catching his eyes. He's holding his bags, and he stares at me, at my confused expression.

"...live?"

Cloud nods his head, looking away. "I bought this...a year ago under a different name. A way to escape, when I needed to." He looks at me, serious. "It's your home now."

I feel my breath catch in a moment of surprise.

"We'll be safe here," he says, staring at the house again.

He's embarrassed I can tell. But I don't care that he just said that he's sharing his home with me, but it's the fact that he said we, which means he won't be going back to Midgar. Which means I won't be alone.

And I smile big, and yell, "Come on!"

And I run, not looking to see if he follows. I thunder down the stairs. I love to swim, but I'd be surprised if I could remember it's been so long. I drop the helmet as soon as I hit the sand; he'll probably get mad but I don't care. I strip out of the jacket, and before I know it I'm unzipping the vest I usually wear. I discard it on the sand, struggling with my shoes and socks. I hop on foot, nearly falling into the sand. And since I'm brave, or stupid or because I have nothing else to lose, I wiggle out of my pants. I'm leaving on my shirt though, and my underwear. There's no way I'm skinny dipping, no matter how empty this beach is.

I hit the water at full run, not slowing down even as the cold chill spreads through me. I dive deep into a wave, allowing the current to tug me beneath the water. I come up with a spray of water, getting smacked fully in the face by another wave. I don't care, though. I find my footing in the sand, stretching up to stand as the waves break before me.

Cloud is walking slowly, shaking sand out of his helmet, and picking up my discarded clothes. I have to laugh at him, and I see him smile a crooked smile at my laughter. I start walking out of the water, feeling the breaking waves rush around my thighs. I giggle; my giddiness is like a high...it's uncontrollable, uncontainable.

"Come on! Swim!" I threaten him with a small splash as he bends to pick up my pants.

He grimaces. "I'll watch."

"No! You'll swim!" I start running towards him.

His eyes widen. "No! You're wet...back off."

But I don't, I keep running, and when he sees I'm determined to get him wet, he drops my clothes and starts running away.

I chase him, practically in circles, because he's not really trying to get away, and I'm not really trying to catch him.

And this is so out of character for him, to be playing like this, to be so light. And that thought makes me catch him, tackle him from behind.

He falls forward, into the powdery sand, and I plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek, laying on his back.

And he smiles, like he never would've smiled in Midgar because we're in a house that no one can find, with a name no one knows, with an identity all our own that we can build...that we can start fresh and be new.

I sit up as he rolls beneath me, and I'm in a very promiscuous position, straddling his waist, but I'm too busy looking at the sun as it cast rays over the ocean. His hands on my hips brings my smile back to him, and I lean down, kissing him on the lips.

I break it though, quickly. "God you smell. I smell. I need a shower." I catch my hair in the wind, pulling it from my face and grin. "Let's go see our house."

But he's not quite ready, and with a freeness and boldness that can only be felt in this moment, he grabs my shirt and pulls me down for another kiss.

xxx

Turns out Cloud had been thinking ahead, and he had stopped in town to pick me up some fresh clothes, and groceries. He says that a woman comes by and cleans the house once a month, but now that we're here he's going to call her and tell he doesn't require her services anymore.

I rub my hair with a towel, chomping down on an apple. I'm ravenous. I rummage through the groceries sitting on the counter top. The house is small, but clean. There's only one bedroom, and one bathroom and a small study, but the living room is a pretty good size and the windows give a generous view of the beach bellow. The kitchen is well furnished in the area of tools, and gadgets, but the food selection is lacking.

I sigh, poking the microwavable dinners Cloud has purchased.

He looks up from the table where he's trying to free a razor from tightly wrapped plastic.

I told him that his stubble was cute, but he doesn't seem to agree.

He raises an eyebrow, and I sigh again. "Do you not know how to cook?" I ask, holding up the dinner.

He smirks small, a welcome change from his usual behavior. "No. But I figure that would be faster."

I frown. "You're right. I can't remember the last time we ate." I start ripping into the package. "What are we going to do for money?"

Cloud points at the bag on the table that he picked up when we left Midgar. I free the dinner, and pop it into the microwave before walking over to the bag and opening it.

My jaw drops. It's full of money. We have a small fortune here.

"I figure I'll get a job, though. Nothing special. That will run out eventually," he says, freeing the razor at last.

I wrinkle my forehead. "Geez...how much do SOLDIER make?"

He glances at me. "A considerable amount. I've saved most of mine though. Zack would..."

I turn to look at him again. His brow is furrowed, and he's paused in his movements.

He shakes his head after a moment, as if waking from a dream. "Never mind."

"No," I say.

He looks up at me, and I sit down at the table beside of him. "You can't stop talking about Zack, please." I study him as he looks away when I say Zack's name. "If you just ignore what happened it'll be like he never existed. He was your best friend–

"I know," he says sharply, trying to end the conversation.

I know he's uncomfortable, but we can't let Zack just fade into the background like this. "Tell me about him...please. He was my friend too, and I didn't know him long enough to learn things about him that you have. You probably know things about him Aeris doesn't. I want to know about him."

He stares at the floor for a long time. The microwave dings, but I don't move to get the food. The clock ticks in the background, and I stare at him. I won't push him anymore...if I do he might break, but I know he needs a push, everyone does every now and then. I know it hurts him, it hurts me too, but if we keep just ignoring the fact that Zack died we'll never be able to talk about him and be happy, about the memories he left us, and the personality that he gave us.

He was to bright a light to just stop talking about him, to ignore him.

"Zack was always nice, even before he saved my life." His voice is hoarse, lined with pain. "He believed I'd make it into SOLDIER more than I did. There was a time when he took me to Angeal, and made me practice sword fighting with him. Angeal was surprised by my potential, he said, and Zack was so happy. I was embarrassed. Zack took me out for drinks, even though I wasn't old enough, but he flirted so much with the bar tenders they didn't care, and no one questions a SOLDIER." I nod my head; I saw that the other day. "I realized then he was a womanizer."

I can't help but laugh at that, and Cloud's face lifts a bit as he trails through his memories. His words come easier, and he talks more than I've ever heard him talk. Some memories are tougher than others, but they usually end on a good note, and he smirks at inside jokes that he and Zack shared. As he keeps talking I grab the dinner, and two forks and we dig into it while he talks. I don't say anything. I'm afraid if I do he'll stop talking.

"I remember the first time he met Aeris. We were walking past her flower shop, and he just happened to glance in and see her. She looked at him, and smiled, and I remember his jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide, and that was about the time he stepped in the pot hole. She dropped the pot she was holding, and I started laughing because he had a huge scrape over his face, and he broke his nose. Even though SOLDIERs heal fast, our noses still get broken easily anyways. Well, he was bleeding all over the sidewalk, and I was laughing, and Aeris came out of the store and she actually threw her little shovel at me because I was laughing. Zack went back there every day to buy a flower from her until she agreed to go on a date with him."

I smile softly. That sounds like them.

"He said to me once 'That's the one... I'll marry her'. He'd said that before, but there was something about the way he said it about her, it sort of scared me. He changed after he met her, I mean, his personality didn't change...but maybe his outlook on life." And then suddenly his face shifts closed. "We shouldn't have left Aeris. I wasn't thinking."

I stare at my hands hesitantly. I have been selfish this entire time...barely have I even thought of what it would do to Marlene and Barret...now Aeris, who has lost the love of her life, has lost two close friends that hold her secrets. "I don't think...either of us was." My eyes flicker up to him, but he's got his eyes hidden behind his palm.

"Cloud I-

And I feel something akin to what I felt in the church, and I almost recoil from it; it brought me so much pain and anguish last time. But...it feels different...more welcoming, and...aware. When I fell into Aeris in the church she had no idea of my presences within her. I still don't know if she knows what happened, but...I have to try.

I fall into it, biting back my fear, and closing my eyes.

She sits in her room, twirling the ring on her finger. She sits before a vanity, a oval mirror before her face, and I see lines there that weren't there the last time I saw her, and wasn't her. But she smiles, a very small and broken smile, but her smile none the less. It's akin to the one she smiled to me that day in her garden as she spoke of her Cetra origins. She tilts her head back in a sigh at the memory, we tilt our head back, and we both think how far away that feels, but it really wasn't that long ago. I feel her pain at the loss of Zack, at the loss of her friends, but she's rooted. I see a flash through her mind of a vaguely familiar woman, and a name comes with it. Her mother, Elmyra. And then the more painful flash of Zack's face. This was where she knew, met, and loved Zack. To leave it would be to leave what little she had left of him... and Tseng was always watching for suspicious behavior.

That's something we both can relate to. I flash her memories of that day, before Zack left, when Tseng and him both arrived at my office. She tenses, clinging to the image of Zack, but feeling the distrust in the air, my distrust, our distrust at Tseng.

I tried to stop it...I think...but I didn't know how. I can't control them, I can't change them.

She knows what it is that I think of. Death. It's a powerful word for both of us.

Be free...she thinks...do what you must.

I can see it in the mirror as we smile, and I understand.

When I open my eyes Cloud is staring at me intently, a few inches from my face.

"What was that?" His voice is a lot more intense and fierce than I'm used to.

I blink. "What?"

"You ...went into this like coma....for fifteen minutes. I couldn't get you to say anything."

"Oh. It was that long?" He frowns. "I was talking to Aeris."

"What?"

I sigh...this is going to be difficult to explain. "Remember I told you I'm sort of a Cetra?" He nods his head. "Well... I think something happened...like, I've almost awakened a new power since I know about it. It only happened once before, but it's almost like I can share Aeris's body with her, and feel what she is thinking. She won't leave, even if we go back for her, because that's where she knew Zack, and because she has her mother to think of. She's safer there, she said. If she leaves now it'll only look suspicious."

He still stares at me though, like he has difficulty believing this. I would too. He's already accepted so much of my supernatural powers...it's hard to ask more of him. I can't stand his scrutiny, though.

I glance at the clock. "It's late...we've got shopping to do tomorrow, or at least I do. You need to learn better to stock, and it was very kind of you to buy me clothes, but your fashion sense is not that great."

He nods his head in agreement. "Yeah."

I stand, and he does too, slowly. "I do believe you."

And I smile at him over my shoulder, because I know he does, and because he knew I needed to hear that.

A/N: Check this stuff out: http:// avalonsinspiration . weebly .c om/ I'll love you forever if ya do...it's temporary right now, but we're trying to make it happen...they're all better than me. Lots of love, loves. :D

Thanks to cEscalante (Legend? O.o that makes my job more difficult to live up to. I'm sure you're doing great with your story! Have faith!) Niaka1 (...there's so much I want to say about your speculations, but it'd ruin the story! Thanks, though! Any more ideas would be interesting to hear) KCVII (ffnet hated everybody that day) Sugarhoney91 (Tragedies are a conflict in themselves...hypocrites. We love to hate them, but we still LOVE them...or at least that's how I am) Aveira, purple parasol (So that moment wasn't very vulenerable when they land on the beach, but I thought of that moment the second I read your review. I hopes that satiates your taste for a while :D) City of Dis (DUDE I did not even think of that...sigh... I feel like I'll have to write a humor once done with DOABM or else I'll drown in my own fictional ANGST and TRAGEDY. ERG! On a happier note I won a game of beer pong! WOOT Aren't you proud of me?) 11tiggers, FF009 (Feeling like a pirate is a good thing) vx-Luna-xv, koalababay (I love Sephiroth now, especially after Crisis Core) zaz-zaa0, HisaAngel, GundamWingFanatic90, pythagorasrulz (I know tragedies are sad, but I'm glad you're reading...I find tragedies very satisfying for some reason) zenbon zakura, punkiemonkie (OMG werewolves? The wolf in AC?! Agh! mind blown) greeneyes322, , animelove0713, Pink Priestess