Note: Hey everyone! We're in for a long one again! :) thank you for your support and thank you for reading!!!

A Cetra, the last one of her kind to have walked the Planet. Forehead resting on top of her bended knees as she hugs her legs to her chest, holding desperate tears from falling down her eyes as she thinks of everything and of nothing at the same time.

But she doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of watching her cry. She had been deceived into thinking it would all be alright. It had all been a lie, meteor still fell, she had died and her friends had been left there to collect the pieces after the devastation Sephiroth had left on the planet and to the people.

The silver waterlake ripples gently against her curled toes, forth and back, erratically, kissing her in comforting traces of warmth. The fringes of her dress dampen with the water splatter, she doesn't care, it doesn't bother her.

The forgotten city falls unsettlingly quiet, bare of any sound as a white light spills from above though she's not sure it's from the sun, it's too brittle to be sunlight. The beams of light that reach the water wash out the color like a hazy dream, blurring the imagery in hues of silver that merge the undulation like glimmering diamonds extending to the shell tower at the shore and out of sight.

She would call it beautiful, an ethereal place even, if the reason of her being there was another. To her it just seems plain and bleak and desolated. It's as beautiful as it is tainted with the truth behind the scenery.

Next to her, small shimmering green lights start gathering into a shape. As if a bright ink had been dropped into a current, the lights flow in lazy swirls until they become the form of someone she knows, or used to know. She feels his presence immediately and barely lifts her gaze to the water, sees the horizon as a thin seam where the full silver sky and the plenitude of the lake hem each other into a crystal lining.

"Heard you were leaving." He says, gently, it eases the clench around her heart, his voice has always been soothing to her.

"Really?" Her gaze flickers to him a little in surprise. Cerulean blue eyes as bright as stars stare back at her. "Is that why I'm not allowed to leave this place?"

"Don't know." He shrugs, the hand hanging from his bended knee slants up casually with the movement of his shoulder. "No one tells me anything here. Everything is just…"

"Vague and incorporeal?"

"Vague and incorporeal— exactly."

They laugh. It's bittersweet.

Time passes in a serene quietude that silences the soul, no wind, no sound, no movement except for the rhythmic pulse of the water sway.

"Hey… if you get to see Cloud, tell him I said hi."

Aerith wakes up slow. There were words… important words she can't remember. And blue eyes and dark hair. Her mind travels back until there is no more road, she reaches a glowing silver and blurred place she can't fully visualize. It disappears.

Remnants of tears moist her eyes as she blinks them open.

The first thing she sees is Cloud, sitting with his back towards her at the edge of the bed, bent down fastening his boots.

She has gotten used to waking up beside him for the past few weeks. Grown attached to the sky-blue of his eyes, the freedom, the peace they bring her every morning. But today the morning feels a bit different. There's a warmth in her chest that expands through her body, rushing through her veins and making her fingertips prickle.

"Good morning." His voice.

"Good morning!" She replies sitting up and he grimaces when their gazes meet, his thumb softly brushes the corners of her eyes.

"Nightmare?"

"No…" she answers. "Zack."

"Oh." For a fragment of a second, a shade of sadness darkens the color of his eyes, his body tenses.

"It's…" she gently grabs his hand, circles his knuckles soothingly. "I think I dreamt… he wanted to tell you something. I can't remember..."

His gaze drops down, turns distant, the wound was still open about Zack. She lifts his chin with her fingers, lifting up his light back, she leans in to brush her lips softly against his. His hand rises to her back, carefully presses her closer. The kiss grows more urgent as she searches for him, engraving the texture of his nourished lips deep into her heart. When they part, their faces are flushed and their breaths uneven.

"We should have done this on our date..." She whispers to his mouth and feels its corners quirk up the slightest. They should have done a lot of things.

"Will you be okay?" He asks everyday. His forehead presses into hers, he closes his eyes as if soaking in her presence.

"Yes." She says everytime. It took him a week to leave her for the first time. He insisted on being by her side, couldn't stand the thought of not having her near but he had agreed on new missions, monsters were getting closer to the houses at the borders, a different kind of monsters, a new breed.

Cloud, Vincent and Cid had partied to take care of the problem. Unless he wanted her to tag along, (and placing her close to any form of danger was out of the question), he needed to leave her safely with Tifa and the others. "Unless you want me to join you." She tries lightheartedly, he knows she would have no problem joining him but he ends up grunting anyway, it makes her laugh, clear and merrily.

"Maybe some other time, I think you shouldn't push yourself so hard yet. Tifa should be here soon. And then I can go." He says. The dim light streaming through the blinds draws strip patterns on his skin, some of those strips cast on the blue of his eyes, highlight the tiny freckles of his nose and cheeks, his soft graceful features make her pulse accelerate.

With the dark shadow of her purpose lifted for a while as their life adjusted to a new routine, she was starting to get accustomed to him, their lives adapting to each other as if… she stares as he stands up to finish dressing… as if they had been finally given the chance to live a life together.

Elmyra had grabbed onto her the day they went to see her. Cried for long minutes against Aerith's chest. She asked them to move in with her, her house had an extra bedroom. But they needed their own space to be together. Aerith didn't care about the scarce room with no kitchen.

She came to love their afternoons coming back from the bar, how the pale tint of orange and yellow lights of the sunset tinged his locks of blond hair a golden fire, how the feeling of entering their room made her feel more and more like home.

But most of all she loved there was nothing left to do, in a room with no distractions, than to lay beside each other on a bed meant for one, close, - so naturally intimately close - talking about their days.

Maybe it's because of the breach in space and time she spent away from him, the year lost, maybe it's the sudden realization that her life these past few weeks had been with him, or maybe it's the way he pulls up his suspenders over his shoulders, the way his hair is a mess of blond locks that morning, the blue-green light of his eyes, but all she knows is her heart suddenly stutters in her chest as she stares at him opening and clenching his hand and his fingers adjust to the leather of the glove. It shouldn't have happened. They should have never been apart.

He notices her lingering stare and his cheeks tinge a light pink. "Anything happens, you—

"Call you right away." She finishes, regaining her composure. "I know."

"Please, take it seriously." He sighs, she knows it's important to him.

"Don't worry." Aerith's bare feet touch the cold wood of the floor, she stretches her arms up. "I know what to do."

"I can't… not worry." He says, she giggles at his frown. Even though there was no danger in Edge, she knew he never rested assure.

They hear a knock on the door, warning them Tifa is there and it's time for Cloud to leave.

He reaches out, presses his lips lightly against Aerith's with a sudden resoluteness that takes her by surprise. How is this her life? He turns to the door but she tugs at his arm, pulls him back to a hushed stolen kiss. Feels his breath catching and then the smile on his lips as her fingers glide through the nape of his neck.

"See you later." She whispers.

Cloud lingers, then reluctantly opens the door to a smiling Tifa.

"Call if—

"Anything comes up, I know." Tifa completes and then salutes him in a playful chuckle.

He rolls his eyes, glances longingly one last time at Aerith who waves at him reassuringly

"Cloud!" Aerith calls alarmingly, he was already by the stairs. She reaches him out of breath, straps a yellow lilly under his suspender and placing her palms on his cheeks she pulls his head down to kiss his forehead. "For luck." It happens so fast that color doesn't flush his face until she's back inside the room.

It disarms him, everything she does.

And he hates leaving her. It twists his stomach upside down, leaves him with a sense of insecurity throughout the rest of the day. But he knows it's impossible not to. The monsters had been developing an odd behavior, he isn't surprised, since after meteor and the Weapons' attacks nature had been unstable, everything became disordered and off balance, there had been earthquakes, droughts, sandstorms, thunderstorms, all of it consequence of the bleeding of lifestream. The planet was dry of its life source.

Even the monsters became more aggressive, venturing closer to the city which they usually didn't, but now it just seemed their motivation was territorial and they were trying to push civilization back. It needed to be taken care of. Midgar had been safer on that end, the metal walls around the city kept the monsters away. Edge is without protection as it's still expanding, there were other priorities. So, often soldiers and former-soldiers, mercenaries, sometimes even Turks - under Reeve's orders and not because it was their pleasure - joined forces to remove the threats.

It's a nuisance, he had better things to do within the city, plans involving the building of a house like no other, but it ended up having to wait because that week they were short on fighters.

"How's the lady?" Cid asks, his spear leaning against the rock wall while he snaps his knuckles.

The question feels homely and makes Cloud's heart thud unexpectedly in his chest. He never thought he'd have a home. "Fine." He answers. The sun is burning hot that day, he closes his eyes at the bronze sunlight, the wind feels thick with a kind of dust that clings to the back of his throat.

They rest under a shade amongst the desolated rocks, not a single green spot for miles. It's a dry soil-cracking, tongue-parching apocalyptic desert everywhere they look. Even the greenhouses in the distance seem abandoned of life. A white field of ragged plastic naked of any indication of growth. It really is odd, he thinks, not long ago he remembers watching carriages of greens being brought into Edge, but then again, he had lost track of time sometime ago. His memory was foggy, unreliable, so he isn't sure anymore when he did see the carriages for the last time.

"Everything is drying out." Vincent tells him, following his gaze into the distance, aware that Cloud's mind was questioning the things he was looking at.

"Drying out how?" Cloud lifts an eyebrow.

"Everything in the greenhouses didn't thrive. The crops are dying, there are only a few fruit trees left." Vincent continues. "Our food reserves are coming to an end."

"Why is everything dying?" Cloud asks, his eyes slightly widen in surprise he had no idea that was happening.

"No one knows." Vincent shrugs slowly. "We have water, but it's like the soil doesn't prosper. Everything people seed, doesn't grow. No matter the care given."

"Why didn't I know about this?" Cloud asks.

"We tried warning you a while ago." Vincent answers, his gaze crossing with the blond mercenary's. A while ago… before Aerith, he didn't care about anything he was told. "But a while ago it was starting. Now it's getting dangerous."

"Can something be done about it?" Cloud asks, his tone laced with a sudden worry.

"Farmers are trying everything they can, scientists too." Vincent informs. "But there haven't been any news."

"Basically we're fucked. Fucking Shinra caused the problem and then meteor finished the job." Cid gets a grip around his spear, his eyes set on the movement coming their way in fast strides, he lifts the spear to rest it on his shoulder. "I got these. Need the exercise." And he darts towards the advancing new breed of giant centipedes, leaving a track of dust in his trail.

Cloud lingers his gaze on the abandoned greenhouses. A thought forming in the back of his mind that Aerith's return could have something to do with it. Then his gaze drifts down over the flower on his chest. The flowers grow. He shakes his head, it's too premature into thinking that over, there could be no connection at all.

"What do you say?" Vincent interrupts the blond's musing, tilts his chin towards the battle ahead. "Do we let him finish them all by himself?" They could hear the stifled clanging sounds of Cid's spear clashing against the monsters' exoskeletons.

"And miss all the fun?" Cloud smirks, lifts his arm to wrap his hand around the sword's hilt on his back. A spark of excitement finally returning to his eyes as he narrows them towards the fight.

Usually Cloud gets back from monster hunting when the light of the day starts flickering an orange rose glow.

Aerith helps Tifa in the bar during the afternoon, after they spend their mornings visiting the orphanage, a lot of children had lost their parents during meteorfall, very few had been adopted, it was too crowded and in need of all the help they could get.

The two girls show the children all the love and affection they can but everyday Aerith's heart clenches a little tighter seeing the damage and desolation meteor had caused, the meteor she had tried to stop and felt she didn't.

In the bar, business was slow as people were still busy organizing their lives, it becomes lively at night but most nights Aerith isn't there.

"We're out of potatoes for the soup…" Tifa sighs, places her hands on her hips. Aerith takes a break at sweeping the floor with her broom, rests an elbow on top of its handle.

"Anything I can do?" Aerith asks.

"No not really." Tifa shakes her head. "I'll manage today but hopefully the provider will show up tomorrow." Her burgundy eyes survey the small square outside the bar, the street seems quiet that end of day. "Put that thing away already and take a rest Aerith, there's no need for you to do that."

Aerith blinks. "Actually there was a lot of dust to be swept today." The girls laugh. "Honestly, I just want to be helpful." Aerith pauses, she needed to find herself a way she could contribute to the people, to her friends. So far it's been the orphanage, the bar and Tifa but she sees the way Cloud strains himself, hunting, building, helping around while she's just there. There's so much more she can give, it never feels it's enough, she thinks quietly while the sun slowly and silently sets in orange gold stretching far and wide in the horizon behind the hills. The girls sit on the stairs of the porch outside, waiting for the boys to come back.

"Hey, you're doing the best you can. People love you and the help you give is much needed." Tifa says quietly, noticing the sudden disenheartment with which Aerith crashed down on the steps. "Business has been slow here lately that's all. Can't really blame anyone." Tifa stares ahead for a moment and Aerith takes the time to look closer at her, notices the purple circles under her eyes, her wrinkled brow and pale skin.

Though her features remained as jovial as she remembered her, there was a certain maturity on the blaze of her eyes, forced by the meteor hitting the planet and all of what had built up until it did.

Tifa must have had to pull up her sleeves and take it upon herself to take care of everyone, worry about everyone, rebuild what had been destroyed. Cloud had certainly contributed to the tiredness, to her lack of sleep, which part of had been caused by Aerith's disappearance in a chaotic painful chain of events very much like a snowball rolling downhill crashing down everything in its way. Tifa notices Aerith staring, her cheeks turn bright red.

"Sorry I didn't mean to stare!" Aerith averts her gaze nervously, giggles lightly. "It's just… I'm grateful for all you've done. I can only imagine the strength it took to take care of everyone after meteor and the destruction caused by Sephiroth, the pain that must have caused everyone."

Tifa smiles warmly. "Aaah everyone did their share… we all came together to do what we could for everyone. So many lives lost, we all had the same cause." Tifa says. The setting sun light catches on the dark of her long hair wrapping it in a warm-yellow aura. A moment of quiet silence goes by between the two. The calmness of the sunset reminds Tifa of a different one over the skies of Midgar, one that cast upon the ruins of Sector 7, another lifetime ago. That one had spoken of ruin and sorrow. The sunset she watches alongside Aerith feels like a prelude to hope. "Cloud suffered the most… not just because of meteor, he had it bad after you were gone."

"I know…" But she didn't really, she had been kept away as if chained helplessly, she could only but imagine.

"It- it's fine now." Tifa stammers, watching as Aerith's eyes shade a murky green. "Maybe he can finally heal, with you here."

Aerith nods slowly as her gaze gets lost in the distance.

"How are things between the two of you?" Tifa tries to change the sudden melancholia of their talk, but can't help her cheeks from flushing. "Not that I'm asking— not that I want to know the details of…" she trails off waving both her hands restlessly.

Aerith laughs watching the embarrassment in her friend's face.

"It's okay, things… it's difficult to explain. Given just a few weeks ago I was… some place else. It's still hard to believe we're together the way we are. When I saw him back at the church, I just wanted to hold him so bad. But we want to take it slow. Cloud is… you know he does things slowly. He needs time to adapt and he needs time to sort out his feelings." Aerith says, a whimsical smile on her lips.

"I'm really happy for you two." Tifa curls her knees closer to her chest.

"Hey Tifa… is it okay talking about this with you?" The Cetra asks, her gaze shifts to her friend next to her. She never had the chance to talk about Tifa's feelings for Cloud with her. There had always been the question in the back of her mind that Tifa could be in love with him.

"Of course." Tifa widens her ruby eyes, straightens up. "Me and Cloud… I guess he has always intrigued me, growing up… I wish we could go back in time, just so I could have treated him better as kids. When we met again all those years later, I was surprised about how much he had changed. But it all made sense then, with what he went through… the Cloud I knew was different than the one I met then." She pauses, looks blankly up at the heart of the violet dusk sky with the golden lining of clouds slowly fading into the night. The street lamps turn on into rows of orange glow, they flicker her gaze towards the streets. "But I guess, there was nothing there between us, he was just so…" she shrugs. "…so distant, unavailable. I love him, but in a kind of admiration way, we take care of each other, that's pretty much it."

"Wow. That's not it. That's a lot actually." Aerith smiles sweetly, moved by her words, thankful he had her near when she was gone. Aerith slides closer to Tifa's side and wraps an arm around her friend's shoulders. "I'm really glad you guys are friends." She says quietly. But can't help wondering for a second what would have been the development of all of their relationships if Tifa liked him more than a friend.

Tifa blinks at Aerith's silence, she feels her cheeks burning a crimson red as she took a guess at the Cetra's thoughts. "And you know… since the moment he entered through the door with a flower strapped under his suspenders I knew something was up!" She exclaims. "Then when I met you and I saw the way he looked at you, I knew he was done for. I think you changed him, not changed… more like, brought him back."

"Really? Took me long enough to reach him. I might have flirted with him very aggressively in the beginning. Poor guy was so clueless I don't think he understood any of the things I said. I even thought at some point he just said yes to everything because he didn't know what to respond."

"Whatever you did, it makes me really happy you did it." Tifa says.

"You should have seen him in Wall Market before we went for you."

"That's what I mean… he let you see a different side of him right from the start." Tifa's eyes mirror the dark violet and orange colors of the sky as she turns to Aerith. "One of these days you're going to have to tell me all about Wall Market, because I only know a few vague details!"

As they choke with laughter, Cloud turns the corner of the street, walking in a hurried pace into the square but as soon as his eyes land on them, his shoulders seem to relax a bit.

"What do you think?" Aerith's smile blooms like a flower as she watches him approach. "Should I run to him?"

"Thought you said he likes to take things slow." Tifa's eyebrows rise and she smiles in amusement, resting her chin on her palm.

"Well, he does, but sometimes I don't." Aerith winks and stands up to leap down the steps. Landing on her feet she starts running his way, her eyes light up, a wide smile breaks across her lips, her chest full with happiness that cannot be contained.

Cloud watches her jump the stairs. It has been a day but because of what had been stolen from them, it feels like much more. He hastens his steps to meet her, somehow the square seems too long to cross.

He wants to tell her what it means to him, seeing her, but the words seem to inaccurately form in his head, in his simple mind of a soldier. He has always been guilty of no poetry for expressing his feelings, he can't come up with the right words for it. His lips quirk up into a smile instead, only a few weeks ago her presence was missing so his footsteps feel as airborne as the ones of a dream.

But she is no longer gone and the distance between them shortens, it makes the dream as real as he is, his feet take him closer to her in a quick wanting stride until their bodies crash against each other, longingly and solid and certain. She buries her face in his chest, locks her arms around him and he holds her gently against him, a hand softly bracing the back of her head with fingers threading in her hair and arms warm and protective, he closes his eyes as his lips brush her ear.

His drumming heart settles down into a slower pace now he's holding her again. And he finds he doesn't need words to allow himself to be lost in this placid moment, when there is only them and the sky and the night lights.

If only these moments could last forever.

"Ain't that nice!" A croaky voice interrupts them from behind Cloud. They break apart but their hands remain clasped together. "We had heard the rumors but damn, seeing you alive and breathing again…" Reno tilts his chin at Aerith, winks and flashes her one of his arrogant wide smiles. Behind Reno, a visibly shaken Rude shifts on his feet. Even behind his sunglasses they were able to notice the look of astonishment spread across his face. "Good to see ya again sweetheart."

Aerith hums. "Can't say the same about you." She smiles, her voice tinged with a spark of humor.

"Ouch." Reno says sharply, takes his hands out of his trousers' pockets, places one palm on his chest.

"What do you want?" Cloud's hand squeezes hers, he takes a step forward with irritation pricking at him, he knew it wouldn't take long for them to show up - wondered what had taken them so long - his eyes glow a light green as they anchor on the Turk.

"Relax dude!" Reno raises his hands to his head this time. "We're not here for trouble."

"Get to the point then." Cloud breathes, kneading at his aching temple.

"Boss wants to see ya." Reno says. "Tomorrow morning, you know where."

Notes:

Not gonna lie, Zack's line asking Aerith to say hi had me shedding a little tear! Anyway, enter the Turks!

Thank you so much for reading!!!