"Uncle Red!" Marlene excitedly runs towards Red upon his entrance followed by Cloud and Aerith. The little girl buries herself in his mane wrapping her small arms around him in a warm embrace.
"Nanaki!" Tifa exclaims. "It's been a long time!" She grins affectionately at their friend.
"Though I do, feel happy to be back here, I'm afraid I don't carry with me the happiest of news." His head falls slightly, his eyes close as his sadness visibly overcomes him.
"What's wrong?" Aerith kneels beside him, wraps an arm around his torso.
"I've traveled across the plains around Cosmo Canyon, visited towns on my way here. The scenario is the same everywhere… desolation. Everything is desert, there is no grass, no trees… no green. People are scared, the smaller towns are at the verge of becoming ghost towns, because people traveled somewhere else to find life."
"It's like that everywhere… we know." Vincent nods. "It's happening here too."
"My…" Red hesitates, thickly swallowing with dark eyes glimmering. "My grandfather has passed…" He says in a weak voice that makes Cloud's stomach wrench.
"Oh no!" Aerith gasps, tightens her arm around him.
"I'm sorry to hear that Red." Barret stands up from his stool, he takes Marlene's hand as the girl had walked lightly back towards him.
"He was weak and he was expecting it to happen." Red says, his voice quivering. "He lived a fulfilled life, his purpose on this planet was met."
Silence overwhelms them as they share a mournful moment to honor the memory of Nanaki's grandfather.
All except the only one who wasn't acquainted.
"Well!" He breaks the sullen silence. "As much as I'd like to stay and chat with you bunch of losers, that is my cue to head out." Reno winks a cheeky "Catch ya later", at Tifa - to which she responds with a flustered roll of her eyes - and waves a hand nonchalantly making his way out of the bar.
"Yeah, good riddance!" Barret scowls, squeezing Marlene's hand instinctively.
"New client of the bar?" Red asks, clearing his throat.
"Long story." Cid says as he approaches his friends. Lands a heavy hand on Cloud's shoulder. "What do you know, gang's all together again."
Cloud looks around the room to the gathered group of his friends. Complete now. He lingers his gaze on Aerith and as she meets his blue eyes she smiles warmly in recognition, tilting her head lightheartedly.
The last time they had all been together was after the Temple of the Ancients… just before she left the group to head towards the Forgotten City. Alone. Leaving him out, leaving everyone out. It seemed like a lifetime ago, a memory floating around the cold, merciless sea of time. Distant… but not forgotten… impossible to be forgotten.
"Give or take one." Vincent comments, his voice jolts Cloud out of his thoughts.
"Ah— Caith's around." Barret replies. "Reeves's doing a hell of a job restructuring Edge. We need him there."
Aerith shifts towards Cloud, aware of the sudden brightening of the mako in his eyes, heightened by the anxiety in his chest, she slowly wraps a hand around his gloved one and the gesture briefly eases the struggle inside his head.
"So, what is our plan?" Yuffie asks, excitement making her fidget from one foot to the other. "Can't wait to be back in action!"
"Guess we don't have one yet." Vincent says. All of their eyes fall on the Cetra, expecting some kind of decision or some kind of answer. In the end, it seems up to her.
But she doesn't have all of the answers, so she hesitates a moment.
"Before he took his last breath…" Red starts, thoughtfully. "My grandfather felt your return to the planet." He turned his head at Aerith. "He told me to come to you. He was aware the planet was withering away, too many souls have been lost when the planet bled out of lifestream after meteor. It's time to gather them back into the current."
"I'm trying to figure it out." Aerith says, her hand gently squeezes Cloud's. "My instinct is telling me it's Holy. I can't explain it, it's a sort of calling. I can't really hear it, but I can certainly feel it."
"He said, the Cetra are the only ones who can heal the wounds of the planet, that you should search within you to find the answer how." Red's voice is gentle, carrying with its soft tone, the clairvoyant knowledge of Bugenhagen. "It only makes sense that it's Holy."
"Oh I like it!" Yuffie exclaims, her triumphant smile lights up the room. "We could be your guardians when you summon it. Not to take any risks to… uhh… to, uhh…" She cuts off embarrassedly as reality sinks in to what had happened the first time Aerith summoned Holy. "Not that it could be repeated." She laughs nervously, scratches the back of her head.
"Ah Yuffie." Tifa sighs. "Always saying the right thing at the right time."
"It's okay." Aerith giggles. "I don't think it will be repeated!" She tries, cheerfully. "But I like the idea of having you guys around this time."
"It's settled then!" The young ninja raises a thumb up. "We're going to be your guardians while you do your magic!" She grins widely.
"But where do we start?" Tifa manages a small apprehensive smile. "And, I'm a little worried you have the burden all to yourself…" she adds, pondering about the responsibility of healing an entire planet, the energy it would take her friend to.
"No, not all to myself." Aerith shakes her head. "I'll have you there with me, giving me strength."
"When do you want to start then?" Barret asks. "You know… summoning it."
"Start?" Aerith hums. "As soon as I have it."
"What do you mean? You don't have it with you?" Tifa asks, her eyes open wide.
"No." Aerith shakes her head. "I lost it. I guess I dropped it when Sephiroth—"
"We'll find it." Cloud involuntarily tenses at the mention of his name. "If it's still there, I'll find it."
"At the Forgotten City?" Vincent frowns, his reluctancy showing in his voice as he looks at Cloud from across him.
"How are we supposed to get there?" Yuffie asks.
"Damn, how indeed." Cid folds his arms to his chest, scratches his chin in sarcastic thoughtfulness. "It almost makes me wish we knew the best pilot in the whole of Gaia."
"You mean that old clunker still flies?" Barret's voice spills out in a mocking tone.
"Who're you calling old?" Sharply inhaling and grimacing as if he had just been pierced through the chest, Cid shakes him a fist. "She's perfect! Still has years to take us to the far extreme end of Gaia and back, a shit load of times! I've made modifications, repaired things around! She's as good as new."
The world is muffled in their ears as Cloud glances to Aerith who returns his glance with a smile that grows wider by the second. He sees her eyes lighting up at the thought of riding the Highwind. He blinks a couple of times before returning her smile with a small bewildered curve of his lips, both of them thinking the same thing.
"I'll take you someday."
"You can take the ferry for all I care!" Cid groans. "Good luck walking there!" Their voices come back into clear words of argument about the Highwind being in bad condition.
"When can we go?" The Cetra turns promptly at Cid, interrupting the two friends.
"Well, if I leave right now to prepare it, I'm guessing, tomorrow afternoon." Cid scratches his blond head.
"Maybe that's a bit soon to—" Cloud starts.
But she only takes three seconds to think. "Done!" Aerith half jumps on her feet, her cheeks blooming pink with enthusiasm. "It's not soon enough!"
"You sure you can have the Highwind prepared by tomorrow?" Barret asks unconvinced. "Coz' I ain't dying on an airship crash."
"Damn right I can!" Cid nods assuringly, a toothy wide smile spreads across his lips. His pale blue eyes glint with excitement. "About time baby flies again!"
The faint light of the street-lamps outside sifts through the window of the bar as Cloud leans against it, watching the night slowly harvesting the remaining golden glow of the sun under its dark cloak.
It's getting cold out, the first signs of the unbalanced weather of a changing season. Days are hot and dry, the nights are cold and humid. Condensation dotted the window pane of tiny drops around its corners, blurring the image of the world outside.
Edge is much calmer than Midgar, for the saddest of reasons, it has less people. Before, even in the slums, day or night, there was always movement, people running, busy, carrying their worries and frantically trying to fulfill their schedules, swallowed by their jobs' obligations and struggling to survive the hard life in the slums.
But in Edge… he's grown to enjoy the replacement of the frenetic bustling so characteristic of the big city for a quiet and peaceful way of living, that slightly reminded him of a slower-paced state of mind he had experienced long ago in Nibelheim. He hadn't noticed it before… before her everything was the same.
But now… He can hear the wind, see the stars, he can hear the soft whisper of the night, seeping through the cracks of devastation. It's bitter, though it's relaxing at the same time.
He can hear his own thoughts amongst the quietness. But when before… the calmness forced his mind into a whirlwind of troubling memories, good and bad… now it only takes a look towards her, for the darkness to lift and his thoughts to collect soothingly back into place, it has always been an affect Aerith has on him.
He enjoys the peacefulness now, welcomes it even, as long as she is there.
"Hey Cloud…" He hears Tifa's soft voice calling him from behind. He slightly turns his head as she enters his peripheral vision to stop right beside him, a hand wrapping around her other elbow.
He waits for her to continue, his eyes flitting over to where Aerith sat at the counter, weaving Marlene's hair into a neat braided ponytail. He hears their laughter echoing across the room, the sound fills the bar with joyful lightness, despite the gloomy atmosphere that had sunk in from the previous events of the day.
The promise of riding the Highwind had left everyone vibrating with expectation for the following day. All except Yuffie and her motion sickness. The ninja was already head-sunk in her arms at the counter in anticipation of the ride.
"How are you?" Tifa asks, her ruby gaze sets on the street outside the open window. Cream curtains slightly dance in the breeze pushing its way in. He turns his gaze at her, blinks in surprise at the question.
"It's just… we haven't talked much lately." She doesn't meet his gaze but senses curiosity in his eyes. "I was just wondering." She shrugs lightly as he kept silent.
Before Aerith's return, Tifa wasn't used to seeing much of him either, but somehow when she did, she made sure to ask how he was doing even though she knew what his answer would be. As she stands there next to him, she realizes the question came out automatically… an old habit resurfacing, after such a long time of worry, it was hard to turn the chip around.
"Better." He says. "Much better."
She giggles softly at his honesty.
"That's good to know. Certainly an improvement." She says. "Before, your answers were always grunts."
"Yeah…" He turns his eyes back at the street. The sky flickers with tiny silver spots, multiplying the darker it got. "Sorry about… all you went through with me."
She stiffens, memories of his blank stares, blunt answers, soft muffled cries coming from his room during the night, it all runs along her mind like a moving train. Her helplessness about it painfully tightens her chest at the remembrance.
"I'm glad it's all over now." A hint of relief in her words.
"Tifa…" he breathes her name, hesitates a moment, his blue gaze still set out the window. Anxiety with a splinter of premonition mix restlessly inside his chest, he needs to ask or he'll explode, "You think she's staying?" He winces at his own words. "I sometimes wonder… if the planet wasn't dying, she wouldn't have returned."
It takes Tifa by surprise. It takes her a moment to consider it. "Well, you shouldn't be thinking that way." She shakes her head, her ruby eyes flicker to him. "Maybe it was always meant to be, her coming back. Maybe it's a kind of thing that goes beyond our comprehension, you know Aerith is different than us. Her connection with the planet is different. Maybe she'd find a way back to you, somehow."
He muses about her words for a moment, finding it hard to believe it would have happened hadn't it been the urgency of the planet taking a chance at surviving. "Yeah… maybe."
"But I think she's staying." Tifa says, a warm smile coloring her features. "No, I'm sure of that. What's the point of coming back if she were to be sent away again? It kind of never crossed my mind that she'd leave." She looks straight at him. "Why don't you ask her though?"
He feels the knot in his throat choking him. "I'm afraid to know the answer." He replies, then exhales sharply as if he had been holding his breath for a while now. "But I don't think… even she knows."
"You're right." Tifa nods, she has never seen him so concerned about anything or anyone before, not when they were kids, not when they spent time in Midgar, not even during their journey to save the planet, especially not after defeating Sephiroth. It warms something in her, his devotion about her friend, how much he… Her gaze drops down to the floor briefly, than flits at him again with reinforced determination. "We won't let her, never again, right?"
Cloud finally turns to look at her. Blue eyes smile kindly at his friend. "Right." After a moment, he nods back. "Thank you."
She returns the warmth. "Aren't you excited for tomorrow?" She changes the subject to a happier note, at least for some.
It twists his stomach, he's not excited, he's everything but. It's uncertain, anxious and troubling.
The thought of going back to that place… he shrugs reluctantly. He should be excited about Aerith riding the Highwind… but the place they are going to has filled his nightmares for a long time since the day they were there. It surpasses any sort of excitement that could form at the idea of riding the airship together. If anything, he feels dread.
It seems an eternity ago… but the feeling gradually comes upon him, he lost her there.
Almost lost her by his own hands.
Something heavy clenches around his heart as he realizes that the burden she had carried then, she's carrying it all over again. Something heavy grapples around his soul, searching, digging into its unexplored corners. Hands curl at his sides, shaking. Everything feels new, but at the same time… everything is different.
"Sure." He replies lastly, not a drop of emotion in his voice.
"Hey, there's no Sephiroth this time." She notices the sudden stiffening of his shoulders, the tremble of his hands. "We're all going to be there." It worries her.
"I know…" he manages to say. But the memory is too painful.
His mind flickers back unwillingly, her small faint gasp, behind clasped hands…
"Mister bodyguard sir." The sweet gentle voice of an almost angry florist interrupts, and even her scolding tone sounds like a melody in his ears. She couldn't have called at a better time.
He can feel the pout of her lips before turning to face her and already a smile threatens to surge at his own lips.
The memory recedes, fades away with the sound of her voice.
"It's time we go get some rest, don't you think?" Aerith asks, her hands landing on her hips, with Marlene by her side mimicking her gestures and soft frown. "We had a long day today, and we'll have a longer one tomorrow."
Cloud's eyes soften at the sight of the two girls. "I was waiting for you."
Aerith's smile brightens.
"You could crash here if you want, I'm sure our rooms at the back are better than where you're staying at now. Less lonely too." Tifa suggests, then regrets having asked as she sees Aerith's cheeks flushing a bright red, watches as her breathing accelerates.
"Thank you, but we don't want to wake anyone in the middle of the night." Aerith winks at her friend and quickly takes Cloud's hand in hers to pull him towards the door, flashing Tifa a wide grin and a wave before turning around. Aerith is pretty much aware that kind of intimacy hasn't happened between the two… yet.
Just like Aerith had told Tifa, they are taking it slow. Still, the look of terror in Cloud's flustered face as she pulls him into the night… is worth the insinuation.
"Why, do they snore?" Marlene asks innocently as she tugs at Tifa's hand by her side.
Tifa struggles to keep her laughter in, biting down at her lip. "Yes honey. They snore. I'm sure they snore a lot."
The room smells of flowers when they come in, she has kept some in a pot on the small table. The open window lets the crisp air of the night renew the ambience of their home.
It's a new favorite of Cloud's he never knew he'd get a chance to get accustomed with, returning home with her and it having their scent. Her scent. Intertwined with his. Sweet and subtle, fresh and at the same time warm. It sparks in him a warmth of belonging.
He places his sword back at its usual place against the wall. Thin cold arms don't waste a second to wrap around his waist from his back, he feels her heartbeat thrumming against him, strong and steady, rhythmically synching with his…
… and he suddenly looses concentration on what he's doing.
"I'm freezing." She says, her voice soft against his back. He barely finishes taking off his gloves, before he turns around to face her inside the gentle embrace she doesn't break apart. He has to do something about it then, he thinks.
Warm, soft but firm hands slowly glide along her freezing arms, and rest upon her back, he pulls her in to him, squeezes carefully, letting his warmth envelope around her body like a comforting blanket.
As he kisses her hair, she lifts her eyes to him and their green hues of life fill his vision.
"You missed." She murmurs. His breath catches as he looks warmly at her, holding a chuckle from escaping his mouth. He pulls back the slightest, aiming his angle lower, blue eyes fixed on her smiling lips. He kisses her as she holds his face between her hands, then under her sigh he presses his forehead against hers, breathes her in.
Just a few weeks ago… she was gone. She was but a dream inside his heart. Now he has her in his arms, solid, warm, delicate, real.
"We're finally riding an airship together. I don't think I'll be able to sleep." She shakes her head against his forehead, closing her eyes to him. The smile in her words makes him smile in return.
"I'll stay up with you."
"All night?"
"All night."
Notes:
Ooooh all night Cloud! ;)
About this chapter. I was a bit unsure about the "gang's all here" line because Caith Sith isn't here. I love Caith Sith but honestly I can't fit her/him anywhere I was confused about its role in Advent Children, so here it's implied that she's still around.
Also, I'm about finishing writing the story, and there will be about 6/7 more chapters, give or take. I feel I should do a warning for the upcoming chapters, it'll get a bit angsty. But, as you can see from the tag, we're going for a happy ending. Though it'll be a tough path getting there.
Anyway, that's for later, thank you all of you who have been here, hope you continue to give this story a chance.
I'm focusing on Holy right now, and I'll try to be quicker at updating it, since now it's mostly editing until ready.
Thank you for being here!
AnriMia: Again, thank you so much for your reviews!! :D hope you continue to like the story!! :)