Note: Hi! Earlier update than intended! Remember I said the next chapters were shorter? Well, I think this one is longer than the previous one, lol don't know what happened.

Warning for a little angst and some minor graphic depictions of blood, sorry, it was necessary.

Warning for Yuffie as well.

Cloud knows she doesn't mind the scrutiny, the intense search for what makes her real. The lingering touches to feel the warmth of her body, the lingering eyes on the color in her skin, watching gleaming cheeks tinging pink, rosy lips smiling kindly, the hair rising on her skin and the pulsing fast beat in her wrist.

Barret stares incredulously, Cid can't stop scratching his head as his pale-azure eyes open twice their size to scan her in disbelief. The only one who doesn't seem as surprised is Vincent, but Vincent isn't one to show it and he has always had his own perceptive demeanor. She doesn't mind, but he worries it will wear her out.

"It's good to see you, Aerith." Vincent bows shallowly, the shadow of his smile biding on his lips as he takes her hand in his, subtly making sure she is flesh and bone.

"What do you mean, it's good to see you?" Barret asks, his voice laced with a coldness that isn't natural about him. "It's not like she's back from vacation!"

"Barret! That's not nice to say!" Tifa lashes out. It's too much. Cloud takes a step forward, ready to end the meeting, his eyes glaring unrelentingly at the taller man. Aerith lifts a hand up to stop him.

"It's alright." She says sweetly. "Of course you must all be very confused."

"Confused? I'm stupefied!" Barret's sharp raucous tone fills the room, it reverberates through Cloud's bones. Luckily the bar is empty of clients that night, though he's sure if there were any Barret would have scared them away by now. "I was there, I saw you…" he swallows down the words he meant to say, his small eyes widely distraught. All of them were there that night but Cloud had been the one holding her tight against his chest, synchronizing his heartbeat with hers until hers slowed down into a silent devastating stop, he had been the one carrying her lifeless body in his arms, feeling her blood cooling down with each step he took.

His stomach turns with a maddening revolt rising up in him that they would question it.

"Now hold that thought down a minute. With the amount of shit we've seen in life, we shouldn't be surprised about this right? Was it some kind of magic spell?" Cid asks trying to lift the sudden tension, no doubt in his mind that he had seen her die.

"A materia? Had to be a powerful one." Barret answers questioningly. The atmosphere is deep knife-cutting stiff. Aerith opens her mouth to speak but not a single sound comes forward. Cloud can't stand it anymore, fury and grief clash inside his chest, Barret says something else but he looses it in the sound of rushing blood in his ears, it silences their voices, he feels he's about to explode. One hand lifts to press on his throbbing temple, he shakes his head, blinks back the tears welling up in his glaciar blue eyes.

"Let's not ask too many questions." Tifa interrupts, her voice is clear amongst the muffled sounds. It calms him down. "It's too soon to make assumptions, Aerith needs time."

Silence falls over the bar for a moment. "Sorry if I seem a little off…" Barret apologizes, his shoulders sag down defeatedly, Cloud knows him enough to tell he means it. "What I'm trying to say is… just… people don't come back from the dead. If that's something that could be done… then…" it's hard to say it, not that Barret isn't happy to see her, Cloud knows that's not it, he knows what he's going to say. "Then Jessie and Biggs and…" he trails off.

Zack.

Cloud's glance flickers towards Aerith; he knows she's thinking the same as her lips press firmly into a thin line and her hands clench into shaking fists alongside her body. If there's a chance to bring them all back, to bring him back, he won't hesitate.

"I don't think that's the case about Aerith." Vincent's out of the ordinary calm voice melts the ice keeping them all frozen. "She's a Cetra. The others were human. The same laws don't apply."

"I don't know what brought me back. I wish I did." Aerith finally speaks. Cloud finds sorrow in her eyes before the softness of her voice hides the fragility of her thoughts, that she'd rather have them all here instead of her, and it twists his heart excruciatingly.

"Of course." Barret takes her hand, his eyes glimmer with tears forming at their corners. "I'm sorry that came out all wrong… I'm really glad you're back. That's what I should have said from the beginning." He wipes them with his knuckles right before they cascade down. "I won't mention it again, I just wanted to understand if there was a way."

"It's okay." She smiles, how can she smile?

"What you have to understand is she's not here because she chose to." Cloud says resolutely, fed up. "Enough about this. This was a mistake, we should go." His hand softly presses against the small of Aerith's back.

"Hey, hold your horses there kid. You just got here for fuck's sake!" Cid lowers his eyes to the cigarette dangling on his lips as he lights it up between cupped hands.

"He's right. Yuffie should be here soon." Tifa softly places a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "At least wait for her a bit."

Blue eyes search down for Aerith's, the florist nods in agreement with a quiet smile playing around her lips.

Marlene grabs her hand and takes her to a table where she keeps her crayons and a pile of papers blooming with drawings of flowers and trees.

"These are beautiful." He hears Aerith exclaim as she watches the bright colors in the flowers the little girl had painted. Cloud wishes he could talk to her, mend the wound in her heart, but their friends need her attention as well. For a brief moment her eyes turn a lightless green as she stares into Marlene's colorful papers, her mind going somewhere else.

"We don't have these anymore." Marlene points to an apple tree she had drawn in pigments of bright green, full of crimson red dots amongst the strokes of the leaves.

"What do you mean?" Aerith asks, he's unable to read the look on her face as her gaze shifts around the rainbow-colored drawings displayed on the surface of the table.

"They all withered." Marlene tells her, absently painting another yellow flower, like the ones they keep in a pot at the table.

"Oh…" Aerith blinks in confusion.

Barret pulls up a chair to sit on the same table as the two and Cloud immediately shifts to walk towards them when he's stopped by Tifa wrapping a hand around his arm.

"You know he means well." She says, he doesn't care.

"Not the best time to mean well." He shrugs, his mind traveling to Aerith's panic attack the day before. The look of fear in her eyes as she gasped for air… none of them would have made any questions if they had seen it. "She's not fully recovered…"

"I know. And I know no one understands her better than you do." Tifa says, her voice as gentle as a warm day of spring. "But she's strong, they were just trying to understand how she's back."

"I get that." He decides to just drop the topic, learning that the best way to do it is to agree with whatever. As the conversation dies out, he circles their table to sit on the chair beside Aerith.

"I'll show you. Stupid—" Yuffie chokes on the anger seeping up her body and tightening her throat, too frustrated to even finish her cursing. "Idiot!" She groans as she kicks the doors open so hard, the hinges screech and shake. She furiously stomps her way to the bar where she buries her head in her arms.

"Tough day?" Tifa asks from the other side of the counter, she finishes cleaning its glossy wooden surface with a piece of cloth and rests her chin on her palm amusedly looking at the infuriated girl huffing and throwing plagues and lizards out her tongue.

"It's that idiot son of a gun Reno!" She throws her arms in the air. "Found this materia, a poison one, but it's electrified, never got across one like that before." She sucks in air, blows the hair away from her eyes. "And out of nowhere— correction, he must have been following me, that's the only explanation I have. Anyway, out of nowhere there's that stupid red-haired freak, stealing it right from under my eyes! Who does he think he is?"

"Yuffie." Tifa calls calmly, getting an opening in between the girl's ranting.

"Let me finish. What do I do? I throw a fire spell right at his ugly-ass face." She pours herself a glass of water from the jar on the counter, downs it in one gulp, her eyes fleet the slightest back as she gets distracted by one of Marlene's giggles, but turn right back to Tifa who opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted once again. "And what does he do, you ask. He dashes at me with that stupid weapon of his, I mean who has a taser rod for a weapon? So dumb! And tries to strike me with it! And he burned me!" She stretches her arm in front of Tifa's eyes, showing her the coin-sized mark of burned skin. "Look at this! The asshole left a mark on my skin! Even had the nerve to say I looked much better branded! Oh I could have killed him with my bare hands if I wasn't so focused on the materia."

"So he stole it from you?" Tifa had given up trying to get the girl's attention, compromising with just letting her finish her story first.

"You know I would never let him get away with it." Yuffie grins with a glint in her eye, slips the green materia orb out of her pocket and flashes it at Tifa. "But I'm so mad!" Her eyebrows quickly knit in a frown as her mouth turns grim. She spins around fast in her stool, rests her elbows on the counter behind her and sweeps the room with her eyes, until they double dance on a person dressing in a pink dress just like Aerith's, a pink ribbon tying her braided hair just like Aerith did, sitting next to Cloud on a chair at the table, absently talking to Marlene at her side. "Great, now I'm seeing things."

"Let me guess, you're seeing Aerith?" Tifa taps her fingers on the counter, enjoying the clueless Yuffie show.

"Good guess. How did you know?" Yuffie's lips part in awe.

"Why don't you try talking to her?" Tifa suggests in a chuckle.

Aerith rises from her chair, takes a few steps closer to the younger girl, locks her hands behind her back and leans forward, eyes soft, a playful smile, it's almost as if she's there.

"Hiya Yuffie!"

"Tifa, can visions speak to you?" Yuffie petrifies on her seat, body ice cold, unblinking eyes as round as saucers.

"I don't think so, no." Tifa replies, her lips shaking to burst out laughing.

"That's a relief, it must mean I'm very much real." Aerith giggles. "I know it's hard to understand but—"

"WHAT THE FUCK!!?" Yuffie shrieks into a high jump out of her seat to the floor. Behind Aerith, Cloud rolls his eyes skyward, arms folding as he leans against his chair.

Aerith smiles weakly. Yuffie stands still for a brief moment, her eyes shifting from Aerith to Cloud in the back, then at the Cetra again.

"I guess… that reaction would be expected…"Aerith giggles nervously.

"Is this happening? Is this for real? What did I miss?" Yuffie asks on repeat as she leans closer to Aerith, her hands shaking as she pokes a finger into Aerith's arm. It bounces in plump elasticity. "She's solid." Yuffie whispers, wide eyes staring in utter amazement.

"Let the girl breathe for God's sake." Barret scoffs from his seat next to Cloud, he rubs his neck in embarrassment to his previous behavior.

"I am breathing!" Yuffie replies, examining Aerith's hands in hers, turning them in all angles possible.

"I meant Aerith!" Barret retorts. "Let her breathe."

Aerith laughs and Cloud wonders how many more people were left to see her. Red wasn't around, hadn't been in a long while. So, hopefully, that must be about all of them.

"She's breathing alright!" Yuffie shrieks.

"Brat is not convinced she's not made of wax yet." Cid grunts from his place at the window.

"Shut it gramps! Don't you have a newspaper to read?" Yuffie briefly interrupts her Aerith's examination to shoot a glare at Cid who casually flashes her a middle finger in between puffs of smoke.

"Come on, I'll fill you in while you help me in the storage room." Tifa calls.

"It's good to have you back." Yuffie crashes against Aerith's chest wrapping small thin arms around her before she follows Tifa behind the bar, discreetly wiping her eyes as she walks.

The night air eddies and swirls softly around them as they step outside. They welcome it into their lungs, allowing it to lift the heaviness built up in their chests, letting it kiss their faces and refresh their souls.

"Sorry about that." Cloud says now they're alone.

"I think it went well." Aerith says lightly.

"You think so?" Cloud asks, his gaze wanders up to the night sky, so clear they could see every crater of the moon. She should be looking at it, living in the slums she never could. Life under the steel, the moon was made of dreams. But instead she watches quietly as the breeze sways the blond hair over his eyes with a gentle caress.

"Honestly, I was expecting screams and some chairs flying around." She smiles and slowly… he smiles back.

"Hey Cloud…" she calls as they idly walk back their path down towards Cloud's room. It isn't far from the new bar, though he had chosen to live away, he was at walking distance, in case they needed his aid around anything urgent. He waits quietly for her to continue. "Why aren't you closer… to them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah…" her smile melts into a smaller one, her hands lock behind her back as she takes slow wide strides beside him. "They look, you know, close to each other, accustomed, friendly… and you seem a little distant from the group that's all. I know you were sad, but you could have let them… in. I don't know… maybe it would have been easier for you."

He turns silent after she finishes talking. That would have been for the better, he should have let them in, accepted their company, accepted their invitations to come around or just hang out. But after Sephiroth, life was supposed to be better. He had engraved that premise so hard in his heart that when he finally killed Sephiroth and saw the sentiment hadn't changed in him, he fell back into the depths of his pain, because realization sunk in that nothing would bring her back.

So he remained rooted to the past. Still is, in a way. It's hard for him to think about it, it's even harder to explain it to anyone. She was there in the past, Zack too.

It's difficult to understand, he doesn't expect anyone to. From his lowest he found Zack, from the time he had been most lost, she came around, a beam of sunshine casting a light on the confusion swirling and thundering inside his head, to give him purpose and a course to follow.

With both of them gone what was left of him? The remaining had collapsed with the rumbles of Midgar. Fallen in decay. As sick as it made him feel, the city had been the only link he had with them and he often found himself searching amongst the ruins of scrap metal for any traces of them left. Scavenging for pieces he could use to feel closer, to fight the unsettling feeling of emptiness in his incomplete heart. Then, despite their friend's efforts to pull him back to the surface, he was already in too deep to turn back as he grew accustomed to the loneliness. Everything else was just noise. By this time he knew they were already tired of trying, his case was a helpless one, so they just let him be and he just let them be as well.

Maybe with her there now… he could try to enjoy their company again. He's sure Aerith will want to spend more time with them all and if anyone can take him out of his limbo, it's her. Maybe he could spend less time building, focus more on missions for money, he feels it's all he's good at. Try to give her a life in the new city if she wants, whatever she wants.

He doesn't need to say it, she already knows, it's another thing about Aerith he had missed, she doesn't have to dig deeper to understand what goes on inside him.

She grabs his hand gently as they walk, lifts it close to her chest, but she doesn't simply hold his hand, she gathers him whole in one piece, at last.

"Do you know where Elmyra is?" She asks after a moment of empty silence, despite his bustling thoughts.

"Yes." He says. He had helped build her house.

"Do you think I should go see her?"

His eyes soften with her question, his eyebrows slightly rise. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I'm afraid… it'll be too much for her." She says it gently, but the sound of her voice feels almost as if her heart is about to break.

"She might hear it from someone else." He says, not sure what to think about the sadness of her tone and he wonders if she knows about something she's not telling him. "Everything alright?"

"Yes." She says promptly. "It's silly, of course I should go see her." She smiles, a kind warm smile, the tip of the iceberg of what's underneath. "Take me there tomorrow?"

He nods, glowing blue eyes linger on her, that smile had covered all of her burdens once, he knows it only too well, regrets never having noticed what it stood for before. But there had been enough questions for tonight, he'd always have tomorrow.

When they finally get to Cloud's room, it feels solitary and bleak. He had told Aerith before, him living there was supposed to be short-term, just until he helped enough with the construction of houses. Still, she makes a mental note to ask Tifa for a flower pot from the bar, a bit of color sure wouldn't hurt him, and short-term would probably mean longer than sooner.

But as he softly shuts the door behind him, an overwhelming sense of dread washes over all of her instincts. She needs to take a shower, need, is an understatement. She would do anything to feel the hot comforting water raining down her back. But there is something she has to face first. Getting undressed and see the skin where the blade had pierced her through. The thought of it petrifies her still on her feet, she gets light-headed as a prickling sensation creeps up in her stomach, the same place she had felt the blade rip through her body.

"What?" Cloud asks in alarm as his eyes flare towards her and the sudden lack of color in her features. She can't keep scaring him like that.

"It's… it's stupid really, I'm a little embarrassed to say it." She stutters. It's the first time he sees her hesitate like that. "But I'm mostly terrified of speaking about it."

"What's wrong?" He tries to sound steady but the way his voice raises a higher note gives it away.

Her hands press flat on her stomach, fingers curling on the fabric of her dress, rubbing at the itchiness. She closes her eyes, swallows hard the lump building in her throat. He levels his gaze down to the place she's covering, understanding flickers through his face.

He shortens the distance between them. It's not stupid, it's everything but. The scar is as much physical as it is mental. He too carries them with him, though his physical one is there, sunken down his chest to remind him of the monster he had defeated. Him and her, they're the same in many lights. Been through the same in different ways.

He takes her hands in his and lets them fall slowly alongside her body. Her breathing quickens and her shoulders shake. She keeps her eyes close, feeling the magnetic pull of his warm body in front of her. It's not about the mark the blade has left on her body, it's what it represents, the constant reminder of her death. The memory of his face disfigured by the pain in his eyes as he stands there watching, powerless, her life gradually fading.

He carefully unbuttons the first button of her dress.

The sound of metal impaling flesh deafens her ears.

She feels his fingers dwelling on the next button down.

It scares her, it overpowers all of her existence. She squeezes her eyes tighter.

Then he unbuttons the next, then the next all the way down the length of the dress to the hem just below her knees.

His hands hover around the opening a moment, he gently pushes the light fabric aside, exposing her body. Bare fingertips trace down her warm skin and he feels it spark and crawl under his touch. Her breathing catches, makes her stomach slightly retract.

"You can have a look now, it's alright." He says softly. She opens her eyes to look down trusting his words.

"Well, look at that!" Green eyes widen as she watches her skin unmarked, flawless, with no evidence of anything ever having pierced across. No scar, no taint, no wound, just velvety-smooth skin. Emerald eyes blinded by tears dart up to meet his warm blues.

She doesn't know how or why she doesn't have a scar. A smile spreads across her lips, followed by the realization that she's standing right in front of him with thin straps almost falling off her shoulders, that could leave her in only her underwear. He seems to be thinking the same as his glance shoots upwards and his cheeks bloom a bright pink.

"Excuse me." She wraps her dress around her chest, tries to pass by him but he shifts in the same direction as her and they end up slightly bumping against each other awkwardly.

"Sorry." He mumbles and moves the other way but so does she and he blocks her passage again. "Shit. Sorry."

"It's okay. Just don't move." She giggles. He freezes on his feet and she contours him towards the bathroom, successfully this time.

Once she closes the door, he breathes out the air he had been holding in.

On the other side of the bathroom door, Aerith leans her back against it, she turns her palms up so she can try and stop her hands from shaking. She covers her face with them, trying to gather her thoughts, it feels they're all over the place. Why is she here? The question is leaving her breathless, it keeps her from letting herself go when she's close to him.

She can't give him hope and then destroy his world again. But she can't help wonder what's best. She had died, she had been ripped away from him. Now she's there and he's right there, but she can't just ignore the feeling bubbling up inside her chest that it's only temporary. But at the same time… if it is… she breathes out a deep exasperated sigh, she's too tired, her thoughts can't be trusted. It's best if she just rests for the night.

After she's ready, she joins him on his bed, settles beside him as they face each other under the diamond-silver moonlight filtering in through the curtains. He arranges the blanket over her shoulders and she leans in closer until she presses her forehead into his and their breaths become one. The intimacy feels more and more natural even though it's hard not to let go and she's straining every muscle of her body back.

"Thank you." She whispers quietly. She wouldn't have had the courage to look at the scar on her own.

As Cloud closes his eyes, the room doesn't feel so lonely anymore.

Notes:

To AnriMia24, since I can't thank you through a private message I'll say it here! Thank you so much for the reviews!! They fill me with joy!! :) I'm really glad you like my story so far!! (Hope you're reading this though lol)

Hope I didn't scare anyone away with this chapter. Aerith is a little down here, no surprise there, she's still very confused about everything as well as scared to leave and Cloud is as much her support system as she is his. I didn't want to rush her healing, I hope the pace is okay. Things will get a bit brighter from now on though.

Don't know if everyone reading played Crisis Core, the scar in Cloud's chest is based on a scene from the game where Sephiroth, well, is being Sephiroth.

Yuffie saved the day here, she's so much fun! And Cid is the most coherent one xD

Forgive Barret, he's really a nice guy who wants to see everyone alive! They're all very shocked. I wanted to focus on her death scene because the impact was tremendous for all of them, especially Cloud, he suffers a great deal and is still in a dark place in his head.

As always, thank you so so much for reading, thank you for the support. Hope you keep enjoying!