Almost Losing Aerith
Our group continued to progress towards Junon. The structure of it, with its colossal sized Mako Cannon, only grew bigger and bigger. What I thought was a mountain, slowly turned into dark muddy metal walls of a large city resting against tall costal rock cliffs.
I watched the sunset closely to my left, the dark sky with little pockets of red from a sun I couldn't see. The ocean seemed to be aggressive, its waves forcing their way into the rocky beach to make booming sounds, creating a mist of sea water that lingered in the air almost like a fog. But as we got even closer to the city, the fog slowly turned into dark smelly grimy soot. The smell reminded me of jet fuel, like we stepped into an airport.
We found an empty old road, with many pot holes and greenery growing through the cracks of asphalt. Eventually, that road led us straight into a little fishing town, all covered in shadow.
All of us stopped as soon as we passed the first sign of civilization, a small market with its wooden paneled walls sinking in. There was no welcome sign, no gate, nothing. Only a few people were out, crossing the only road into the tiny town. A couple of onlookers stared, but then they kept their heads down, as though the weight of the city above them fell heavily on the backs of their necks. I looked up, and found the sky blocked off by a huge platform high above.
No sky.
It reminded me of a tiny hint of Midgar, and I mumbled to myself, "of course Shinra built on top of a town."
Aerith overheard and leaned her arm against mine.
"It seems Shinra likes that sort of design. To remind those who are on the bottom and who are on top," she added. I sighed into her shoulder, and savored her closeness in a place that needed it.
Red stared solemnly out to the sea, with metal rigs holding the platform up, an oddity mixed into an old pier with a dock that seemed neglected judging by the wearing of the wood covered in barnacles and sea moss.
Metal legs were scattered all around the pier and along the beach, with tons of garbage floating around them. No one was fishing. The only signs of activity were seagulls, plucking at garbage islands with little interest.
"Gawd, what a dump," Yuffie blurted. She kicked an old crunched beer can, and it toppled into the water to join the rest of the litter.
I walked along the pier, surprised the wood was still sturdy enough, and watched the dark clouds reveal more of a red sun mixed with a black haze of pollution.
"Reminds me of the slums of Midgar," I said just as Tifa walked in next to me. She smiled sadly, taking the scenery all in, and sighed, "yeah. Reminds me of home."
Missing Sector 7 was in her eyes when I silently watched her, the red sun only enhancing her eye color into a more crimson state.
Red peered his nose into the murky water, a foamy dark mess. Usually, he would draw his tongue in for a drink, but the creature only sniffed above its surface before recoiling back with a tremble.
"Not my kind of water to drink," he uttered, and turned his tail to the sea.
Cloud stood close by, next to Tifa, and crossed his arms while taking in the gloomy horizon. His and Tifa's pale faces were red from the fading sunlight, and I thought of how much that reflected their anger towards Shinra.
"Do we go up to the city, tonight?" Aerith asked, frowning at the plate above us.
"Maybe we should talk to some of the locals first. Figure out if Rufus is already here, and when his ship is going to leave. I just hope we aren't too late," Cloud suggested.
We all scattered throughout the fishing town, too small to really go too far away from each other. Aerith and I wandered towards the beach, taking old stone steps just behind an old small box of a house, and dipped our boots into sand. I was tempted to go barefoot, but decided against it when I saw how much litter was on the beach. Because of the platform above the town, there was a cold chill to the whole place, the whole beach covered in shade. Just a hundred yards away, across the water, the platform ended, revealing a light over the water that will never reach the shores of this town.
I took Aerith's hand, glad to have her close despite what I did to her special rod hours ago. The guilt hovered over me, which led me to say to her, "Aerith, I'm still very sorry. I assumed you would know what to do about my magic, but you know just as little as I do. Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"
Her hand squeezed a little tighter around mine.
"It's all right. I know it was an accident. How are your hands?"
We stopped and she took both of them into hers to analyze. I laid my hands out for her, open palm, and found the red blistering to have faded with nothing but red lines branched off like little lightning strikes across my skin. Aerith's fingers delicately traced along the red lines, more like tiny branches of capillaries than lightning.
"I've never seen anything like it. I wonder if you're a dark magic type. You see, I can't cast destructive magic. Only healing spells and white magic," she said. The waves crashed near us, trying to get to our feet while pushing aside thrown bottles and empty cans into the sand. Over the background of the roaring sea, I watched my fingers close around Aerith's as I thought about the painful experience harnessing such power. I wondered if her mother went through something similar.
"What about your mother? What kind was she?" I bravely asked.
Aerith's shoulders dropped, her look distant. Quietly, she gazed out to sea, its muggy chill tossing her long bangs away from her oval face.
"White magic…" she replied in a low voice.
I eyed her, watching her steep in her thoughts. Her eyes curved towards me, pink lips a frown with half her face reddish orange from the sunset.
"Aqua, have you noticed something strange about the Planet?"
Despite the two of us as Ancients, Aerith rarely approached me with serious questions about what she was experiencing on her own. Sometimes, I wondered if she was protecting me, avoiding certain truths that she thought I would not be able to process yet. It was like…She was distracting me.
Don't let Aerith distract you. Red's words of wisdom suddenly sounded more meaningful.
Her troubling question caught my attention as she squeezed my hands again, her eyes moist.
I swallowed, thinking about the disturbing dreams of the Lifestream, the cries of the planet seeming easier to hear outside Midgar.
"Yes, I have," I finally answered. "I've been having dreams. Something is disturbing the Lifestream."
Aerith's eyes didn't portray any surprise, which meant she already knew that. She dropped her hands away from mine and hugged them over her white cloak.
"Do you think it's Sephiroth?" She wondered.
"I don't know," I regretfully admitted. I then added, "the Lifestream, the voices in it, didn't say what it was. But it's not the Mako Reactors. I'm scared we're dealing with something much more horrific than just GreenPeace problems."
Aerith lifted a brown eyebrow. "GreenPeace?"
I shook my head and quickly threw in, "never mind. Not relevant. My point is, what's happening to the Planet, is completely being overlooked, since no one but us can listen or communicate to it."
I then sighed, and asked in a shaky voice, "what do we do, Aerith?"
The flower girl gazed down at her boots, the leather toes of them brushed against the approaching waves. A plastic wrap floated next to her, and rested behind her heel.
"We keep doing what we're doing. Finding Sephiroth. And…," she paused, and smiled up at the hidden sky. "We keep laughing, and having fun while doing it."
With hands behind her back, she turned her smiling face to me and added, "okay?"
I was enchanted by Aerith's beauty, that even on a dumpy beach behind a hazy sunset, she was as stunning as any human being could possibly be. Her eyes sparkling in their treasury way, her smile like an innocent child's, and half a face aglow with red. It was an odd color to see on her, half her body in such a hazy light that almost seemed horrid and beautiful all at once. I blinked, to refocus on her words, and replied, "right!" But then I had to ask, "can you see into the future?"
Aerith giggled, her face up to the plate above us with closed eyes.
"If I did, then wouldn't I be changing things around here?" She challenged playfully, smiling back to me.
Wouldn't she?
I shook my head slowly, not fully believing her.
"Aerith, I hate the feeling you're keeping things from me," I confessed.
But of course, her attention shifted away when an unknown whistle blew in the air. A part of me was curious of it, but I stayed grounded on our discussion and tried to reel her back in with, "are you?"
Again, the whistling, and Aerith turned her braid to me, the smell of her hair flowing into my face.
"Hey, look at that!" She gasped, pointed across the stretch of beach. I glared at her, knowing all too well she was a pro at changing subjects, but her tricks weren't going to work on me so easily anymore. I let it go for now, fuming, while I looked over her shoulder to find a little girl in a dark pink skirt and yellow bikini top. The girl, maybe eight or nine years old, had a pink whistle in her mouth, and she blew into it, her small cheeks puffed with each exhale.
And then, something leaped out of the water in a perfect arch, and disappeared nose first, back into it with a splash.
I could've sworn it was a dolphin.
"A dolphin out here in this crap?" I wondered aloud. Aerith took my hand. "Come on, I want to get closer!"
I let her drag me along, smiling at her back, despite still feeling a little troubled by her dodging of my questions. But Aerith has always been that way. Looking back, I could understand that. She was just trying to make the most of everything, living each experience to the fullest. I eventually knew why she was always so keen on having fun with me, the two of us acting like kids.
Aerith.
There was that strange feeling again, like back in the plains outside of Kalm, one that made me chill under my skin all the way to the bone. I gripped her hand tighter. I knew, she knew so much. Oh, so much more than I thought. I wished she could've shared them all, but then again, if she had, then maybe, things would've been different, in a way she preferred not to play out.
Aerith was changing things around here, but unfortunately, for a price she was already aware of.
I was so gullible at the time.
Aerith pulled me closer till the little girl dropped the whistle from her mouth to awe up at us. She was pale, with scattered freckles around her goosebump arms and legs, and a few across her little nose. With big amber eyes, she blinked up at us, open-mouthed, while her whistle rested over her flat bikini top by a pink string around her neck. Her messy red hair sat atop of her head in a bun, with strands of it escaping along her face.
"Wow, you two are beautiful!" She gasped, her clear voice indicating she was more eleven or twelve.
I rolled my eyes while Aerith giggled. "Thank you. Um, we're sorry to bother you, but we wonder what it is your doing with your whistle? Are you making that dolphin jump?"
The girl beamed proudly and walked her bare feet closer to the waves.
"You bet! I've been training Mr. Dolphin for months!" She took her whistle into her hand and turned her little head up to us with a closed lip grin that reminded me of a frog.
"Want to see?"
"Of course!" Aerith chirped.
"Yes, please," I chimed.
The girl held her pink whistle close to her mouth, red bangs flowing away from her eyes.
"Okay. Watch!" She took in a deep inhale, and then blew into her whistle. It was a cheap little plastic whistle, but it was loud enough that the Dolphin could hear it because it jumped out of the water, very high, like fifteen feet at least!
"Whoa!" I gasped, watching the beautiful, gleaming blue creature bring its long nose back into the ocean with a gentle crash. Bits of water sprayed everywhere, touching our faces.
"Holy crap!" I saw that Yuffie came in to join, Butters scampering behind her while struggling to walk through sand with large chicken like feet. Yuffie's eyes sparkled at the girl. "You taught him to do that?!"
The little girl nodded without turning around, her eyes on the water.
"Yep! Now I just need to train him to say my name!" She searched to find the Dolphin's head poking out of the water, waiting for instruction.
"Okay, Mr. Dolphin! Can you say my name? My name is Pri-cil-la! Now you say it!" She demanded.
The dolphin only whistled and clicked, and then descended back into the sea.
The little girl, Pricilla, twirled around with a bit of a hiss, but then she gaped when she saw Butters.
"Is that a Chocobo?!" She squealed. Before we could answer, she gasped and rushed up to the large bird to wrap her little arms around Butters's feathered chest.
"Oh my gosh! I've never seen one before! Wow! How did you get one all the way out here! Oh my gosh, can I keep it?! Can I?!"
I was about to protest, but then Aerith tapped my arm, and gave me a look to hush. I knew Butters wasn't going to be able to come with us much further, so I didn't glower at her, but I also wasn't ready to depart with the lovable creature just yet.
"Well," Cloud's voice suddenly chimed in. I was surprised I didn't notice him enter the beach, but here he was, walking up to the party as he said, "the Chocobo can't come up with us much further.
Pricilla gasped when she saw him, her face red as she hid behind Butters.
"Shinra!" She screamed.
Cloud lifted his hands up while Yuffie snapped, "he's not Shinra!"
But Pricilla spat, "I don't believe you! Get out of here before I get my Pa!"
"Whoa, that escalated quickly," I whispered to Aerith, and her eyebrows went up, agreeing.
Butters suddenly flapped her wings over-reactively, and turned around to run towards the houses. Disappointed, Pricilla watched the Chocobo hastily disappear while I twirled around to see what it was that scared her off.
And then, my eyes grew when a tall wave, maybe fifteen feet, swooped in out of nowhere.
"Whoa, whoa!" Yuffie screamed.
We all tried to run from it, but it was too late. Clumsily, a roof of dirty water arched over me before I was shoved into the sand by the sea's incredible force. My body spun, feeling sand rub against my shoulders and legs while holding my breath, eyes shut tight. The water tasted terrible, a salty, bitter taste that I didn't want to leak into my mouth. The pull of the waves reeled me back towards sea before I had a chance to get my head over the surface. I gripped at anything, sand mostly, but my fingers just brushed through it.
The sand quickly disappeared, leaving me afloat. I scrambled up, eyes open to find the surface, though they quickly burned from the salt.
I kicked my legs, air escaping through my nose and lips as I exhaled while reaching for the little light that came to the beach.
My head broke the surface, mouth wide open to take a loud gasp of air into my stressed lungs. And then, I just floated there, disoriented for a moment. That wave was so unexpected. Was it a ship?
Suddenly, something large hovered across the water, its force pushing back white waves. I swam away from whatever it was, almost believing the Midgar Zolom lived in the sea too, but this monster was smaller. The monster looked more like a kind of blue scaled dragon, but its speed was too fast for me to get a good look of it.
I watched it soar towards the beach, Cloud and Yuffie quickly getting up from wet sand. Where was Aerith?
Keeping afloat, thanks to egg beating my legs, I twirled my body around in a circle, searching for her. My eyes spotted red hair easily in the mess of dark water and bits of floating garbage. I gasped, seeing the little girl was floating face down. I swam towards her as fast as my legs and arms could crawl, keeping my eyes above water to stay hold on her easily spotted hair color.
"Aqua!" It sounded like Aerith. I almost stopped to swim, but told myself to keep going for the little girl. She was unconscious. Aerith wasn't.
I reached for Pricilla, turning her face up to the muggy sky, face white and eyes closed.
Oh no.
I swam on my back, taking her with me with her head above water, as I frog kicked my way to Aerith's voice.
"I can't swim!" Aerith cried. I located her a couple of yards away, her arms waving up.
"I'll get to you!" I yelled.
But before I could, another wave suddenly lifted us up into its swell. The water dragon, whatever it was, crashed its colorful pink scaled face into the water and flicked its tail over me and Pricilla. I sank back down into the water at the same time the wave pulled me in, still gripping onto the child. I held what little breath I had, the wave carrying us with speed until I crashed onto the beach.
The water pulled back, ready to take me once more, but Cloud's hands gripped my free arm, keeping me in place while the waves returned to sea empty-handed. I held on to Pricilla's hand, and coughed up gross water, my hands, and knees sinking into deep sand.
"Aqua, are you okay?" Cloud tried to help me up, but I was panicking, gasping while wet hair and seawater slathered across my face.
"Aerith! I couldn't get to Aerith!" I wailed at him, hands gripping his arms while I was having a full-blown panic attack. Cloud's face scrunched with worry, but before he could console, I pointed to the unconscious child.
"Take the girl!" I shouted to him, having Pricilla lie face up in the sand. Cloud was struggling to speak over my anxiety, but I ran away to go find Aerith, leaving him with Pricilla. Yuffie was busy distracting the water monster with her Shuriken and Lightning Materia spells while I ran in my long wet skirt, wet boots and leather corset. I thought I was dragging ten to twenty pounds of extra weight in water as I huffed my way over the sand. I wiped my hands across my face to get the water and my hair out of my face, gasping and crying at the same time.
The amount of effort to run across sand in leather boots was enormous, my heart already at an all-time high rate. I spotted Aerith, laying limp across the sand, half of her body still swallowed up in the waves.
"Aerith!" I screamed, hoping she would wake to it and lift herself up. But she was still, face down.
I pumped my arms up, trying to go even faster, even though I may fall into a dysrhythmia doing so.
Something roared behind me. I turned my head around, and stopped to spot the water dragon floating towards me. Yuffie was stuck inside some large blue bubble, unable to do anything but attack from the inside to get herself out, while Cloud was casting lightning spells from far away, only to miss the monster. Lightning struck sand multiple times, spraying it everywhere, while the creature flurried its long body pass me. It was going after Aerith!
"No!" I growled. Heat made its way up my legs and around my chest.
The flying water dragon, with long pink translucent fins trailing behind its long face, began to open its sharp toothed mouth, ready to take an unconscious Aerith as a meal.
Wind flurried sand around me as I lifted my bracer arm up into the sky. Green energy twirled like a small twister, blowing up my wet hair and skirt as I immediately thought of striking the monster down. All the Planet's energy rammed its way into the bracer, stored in it and waited to be released.
I waved my hand down like I was smacking down at air, and suddenly, chains of lightning extended out of nowhere. Bright bursts of energy struck the water dragon, and the whole creature froze in midair in a wave of spasms. A sheet of lightning covered up its scales and long sharp tail, causing the monster to curdle a cry before it dropped into the sand.
Did I just do that?
Fatigue washed over me, but I still wobbled onward, passing an opaque eyed monster, with its skin turned into a dark crisp. Smoke sizzled off it, a fish barbecue. Along with the trails of smoke, Its spirit drifted up into the city above, giving back the green energy it borrowed from the planet.
"Aerith!" I cried, panting. I sank on my knees and immediately rolled her onto her back, her white face up to the sky.
Tears, mixed with seawater, dripped down on her cheeks when I peered down at her, checking for a pulse with my two fingers pressed against her jugular artery.
There was no pulse.
I silently wept while getting to work, my hands over her chest where her xyphoid process of her sternum would be, and with straight arms, I did chest compressions. The movement wasn't new to me. So many times at work, I've done CPR, though often with negative outcomes. Ribs would break. Blood would gurgle out of my patients' mouths into their endo tubes. Their arms would be flapping up and down by the force of the compressions, like flopping fish gasping for air. Usually, the room would be chaotic, everyone working all at once, putting in lines, starting IV bags, shouting orders, typing in notes, taking vital signs and injecting more medications into those IV lines. I thought I was a veteran suddenly back in combat, doing what I used to do easily, thanks to muscle memory and repetition.
"Please," I begged while pushing down on Aerith's small chest, her soaked white cloak clinging to her. After thirty compressions, I pulled her forehead back while taking a deep inhale.
I opened her lips and touched them with mine, blowing air into her. Two breaths.
Back to thirty compressions. I didn't even notice Tifa and Barret trembling next to me, too focused to give them a glance.
Tifa sniffed and asked, "what in the world happened?"
I didn't answer, too busy counting out loud. "Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…" I kept going, up to thirty, and then I blew a large breath into Aerith. I watched her chest rise to the breath, my fingers shaking as they held her head. It was challenging not to break as much as I wanted to, the mental trauma trying to shove my autopilot aside, but I held on. I took in another inhale, and breathed into Aerith's mouth, tasting her energy bar and salt water.
Suddenly, a cough blew up in my mouth. I reeled away, and watched her cough again and again, until she choked up water. To my relief, Aerith's eyes opened wide up to the plate while she gasped an inhale.
She immediately sat up, heaving with her hand to her chest, her coughs in gurgles.
I embraced her so tight, I was afraid to have choked her.
"Oh, thank Gods!" I wept, my head resting over her shoulder while my wet hands clung to her back. "I was so scared!"
I never wanted to let go.
"Aqua…" She struggled, still breathing hard while choking more bits of water. Her body shook with each cough, but she eventually calmed, and I felt her weak hands on my back.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Holy Fuck, kid!" Barret charged in, on his knees, and wrapped his large arms around us.
"Don't scare us like that," he whimpered.
Tifa joined in, sighing with relief, with one of her arms on Barret and the other on me.
"We're so glad you're okay," she breathed. We seemed to have fallen into a quick group hug, suffocating Aerith until she giggled under the piles of arms and bodies.
"Guys, I'm fine, really," she sang.
We all released, pulling back to give her some air.
I gave Aerith a hand, and she wobbled into my arms, still gasping some while struggling to stay standing.
"That was scary," she struggled, sounding a little breathless.
"Here!" Barret knelt down, and Aerith gladly took her wet arms around his neck, her legs hoisted at his sides for him to carry her over his back.
She settled herself, her head atop of his, and closed her eyes.
"Thanks." Aerith looked like she could fall asleep.
"Barret!" Tifa pointed across the beach and gulped, "isn't that Cloud trying to save a little girl?"
We all ran.
With dread, I watched a distant Cloud performing chest compressions on the little girl, Pricilla, while Red and Yuffie were beside him with troubled faces.
When we got close enough, Tifa asked again, "what happened?"
Yuffie flailed her arms up and down in the air like a cartoon as she screeched, "some huge ass water dragon swooped in out of nowhere, creating huge waves and tried to eat us!"
I leaned against Barret, exhausted, as I watched Cloud carefully work his own CPR. He was doing it correctly, his arms stiff and straight, most of his weight over them to perform deeper compressions. He blew into the girl's mouth, one hand on her forehead while the other tucked her chin down to open her little mouth.
"Pricilla!"
Someone screamed from the homes beyond the beach. Some of us looked up, and watched a middle-aged man with old sun damage stumble onto the sand, his jeans stained and t-shirt fluttering agains the wind. He was a scruffy guy, with short messy red hair, and bulging veins from lean and tanned arms.
"My Pricilla! What the hell happened to my daughter?!" The man exclaimed, frozen in rage as he miserably watched Cloud blow breath into his little girl.
Yuffie sighed tiredly, and once again, was about to repeat what she had just said, but then someone gurgled.
We all dropped our eyes to the little girl, squirming under Cloud's weight with gasps. He rolled away, his hands slapped in the sand, just as Pricilla's father knelt down and swooped her into his arms.
"Oh sweetie!" He bellowed. She coughed into his chest, spitting up water while tears welled from her burnt eyes.
"Papa-!" She coughed again, and lifted her face up to us to display eyes as large as plates.
Her father, too, looked up, and at Cloud with glimmering eyes.
"Thank you! Thank you! Please, come on over and have supper with us," he begged. Cloud was silent, his mouth open with struggling words, while Pricilla's father stood. He carried her in his arms, and turned towards the row of tiny homes above the steps.
"Come! Come," he urged all of us, looking over his shoulder with a smile brighter than the sun in this town.
Everyone began to follow. I felt Barret's arm disappear from under my hand, and I just stayed behind, watching him give Aerith a horseback ride. I didn't want to move, the shock still well in my chest that I wasn't able to release just yet. It was frozen in place, waiting for an opportunity to explode, but I held it firmly with both hands, shoving it back down as I tried to remain calm.
I followed the group up to a small home, its backyard practically overlooking the beach, with just a bit of tall grass. I stayed outside, to hide, and sat along the back of the house's wall, my rear in the sand.
And wept.
The potential trauma, what could have been, had finally come out in hushed sobs. It was uncontrollable, my shoulders shook as I inhaled sharply and exhaled in gasps, hiding my eyes with one hand while the other laid limp beside a coiled old hose.
We almost lost Aerith.
The experience struck me so heartily, I couldn't even go inside the house to join on the late supper. I gave the excuse of needing to find Butters, but I lied, just so I could be alone. I could hear Butters trill, her large steps carefully coming up next to me, until I could feel her beak pick up my messy braid gently, not a tug but just to let me know she was near.
I sniffed and looked up at her lovely round eyes through a film of tears.
"Thank you, Butters," I struggled, and sniffed again, wiping away the hot mess on my face. There was vaguely a sunset to watch. Through the legs of the city above the town, I eyed a dark horizon, with a red sun almost completely submerged. The sky was a mix of dark red, yellows and grey, mixing with the ocean as it calmed some.
Butters sat next to me, her feathered wing encircling my shoulders, and I leaned against her.
I sighed long and tiredly. "I've never been so scared before," I whispered to her. There was no telling if she understood me or not, just more trilling and breathing through her beak. Her heart beat against my ear, nice and calm, soothing to me.
Just talking felt therapeutic, and so I continued, "I wasn't scared for my life back in that lab. I didn't care. But Aerith. I don't know what I would do if she were suddenly gone," I continued.
I closed my eyes, trying not to get offended by the musky fishy smell of the breeze that blew in my face, mixed with that jet fuel.
"I love Cloud, but he doesn't know me like Aerith. Without her, I would feel so completely alone," I muttered to the Chocobo. If Cloud ever did love me, would that even be enough? Could anyone ever take Aerith's place? No, I needed them both. Losing Isaac has already left a hole in my existence. Losing Cloud or Aerith would just add to the growing pit that was my loneliness. Just thinking about it made the top of my chest feel completely hollow. More tears escaped, and I mumbled, "gods, I wish it would stop."
My hands rubbed at my face, wiping the tears quickly in case someone came out to join, but luckily, I was left alone. I wasn't convinced whether I was disappointed or relieved.
When it got too dark and too chilly to sit outside anymore, I dragged myself up to the side of the house, and opened the door.
A startled old woman put a hand to her chest when she saw me.
"Oh, for the Planet's sake, what a fright you are," she gobbled in an accent that sounded a bit Southern to me.
Behind her, I spotted Cloud sitting on the side of a bed, his arms resting over his knees while he peered down at a sleeping Aerith in her bed next to him. I noticed he was alone. Where did the others go?
"Excuse me, I'm with them," I muttered, already passing the old woman. She clutched to her shawl, bug eyeglasses watching me as I skittered across the unpolished wood floor and old carpet. My footsteps creaked loudly, wondering if the carpet was there to prevent splinters from getting up to one's feet.
"Okay, welcome," the old woman's voice faded out, and I stood at the end of Aerith's bed, watching her rest peacefully. She laid on her side, facing a closed window, and her back to Cloud. Her mouth was slightly open, breathing in quietly though her lips.
Cloud raised his head up to eye me quietly, either waiting for me to speak or he decided to give me a moment.
My heart flapped again at the site of Aerith's stable condition, relieved.
"How is she?" I asked, not taking my eyes off her. My eyes began to water again, and I sniffed. I thought I've taken care of all of that outside, but here I was, ready to feel the tears all over again.
"She's fine. Just resting," Cloud replied in a hushed tone. He eyed me carefully, and straightened his back, arms off his knees.
"You didn't join us for supper," he began, trailing off for me to fill in.
I sniffed and blinked up at a low ceiling.
"I had a lot on my mind," I whispered truthfully.
Cloud drummed his hands on the bed, thinking, and then he rose, just so that he could take a couple of steps to lay a supporting hand on my shoulder.
"You saved Aerith today. She's doing fine because of you. It's okay," he said through a small smile.
But I wasn't smiling. Instead, I blinked back tears when I looked down at her again, shaking my head slowly.
"I was so scared, Cloud. I almost lost her," I sniffled.
His hold only tightened, but it wasn't until he said, "WE almost lost her," that I finally looked up at him.
Of course. Aerith was important for everyone. Was Cloud scared too? How did everyone else feel? What would happen if someone in our group just died? We've just started having our own little family. I'd hate to see it break, but I knew the reality of nothing lasts.
Eventually, we will all scatter once more, back to our hometowns and families, our old lives and making new memories. Maybe back to our worlds.
I didn't want it to ever end.
When I looked into Cloud's eyes, they were the same as back in that forest, accepting, though a glint of pain dwelled in them. They glowed, but not from the Mako. It was gentle, and it swirled inside the blue of his eyes incredibly.
"Right. WE almost lost her," I corrected, dropping my head low just to lean my forehead into his chest. His shirt has dried, and his chest fluctuated slowly with his calm breathing. Cloud stayed quiet, his hand traveling from my shoulder onto my back until I turned my head into him, my cheek resting there against his chest. He smelt like salty seawater and grimy asphalt, and I smiled to it, lips against his shirt with my hands pressed against him gently. My palms could feel his heart pound while I heard it beat strongly, and it calmed me down. All of my worries melted away, feeling him so near and Aerith resting so calmly. I thought we were acting like parents adoring over a sleeping baby, one we both cherished deeply.
Cloud's other arm swooped around my shoulders, letting me process as long as I needed.
"Just hugs and hand stuff," he muttered through what, I thought, was a smile.
I expelled half a chuckle against him, and opened my eyes to a sleeping Aerith.
I could've sworn she wasn't smiling in her sleep a minute ago, but there, I saw it.
In her sleep, Aerith was grinning from ear to ear.
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