A Wing and a Prayer
An original work of FF7 fanfiction by Ry (OzZMaN)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not
here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."
--Epicurus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4
My feelings were exploding within me. My thoughts were running in circles. Aeris was truly here, I could feel her around me, in my arms. We finally ended our embrace, and I looked upon her angelic face. She was crying softly, but the tears only made her glowing eyes sparkle more, and her beautiful smile was plastered to her visage.
"I've missed you so much Cloud, you don't know how happy I am to finally see you again."
"No, Aeris, if you could only feel what I'm feeling right now, you would know how happy I am to see you. My life has been incomplete without you."
Aeris looked down for a moment. The look on her face turned somewhat grim at my words. I immediately noticed it and it puzzled me, why she wouldn't be a little more enthusiastic to see me.
"Cloud, I have watched you day in and day out torture yourself over me. It wasn't your fault that I died, Cloud, you didn't fail me, you helped to save this world. If I hadn't done what I did, Sephiroth and Meteor would've won, and everything you care about, including yourself, would be dead. The point is, Cloud, that I can't stand watching you do this to yourself. It tears me apart inside, even here in the Lifestream, when I see you seclude yourself from the rest of humanity, wasting away because I'm no longer on this Planet."
"Aeris, you don't understand. You left too quickly, it was all so sudden to me, I didn't know what to make of it all, my feelings, what you felt, it left me confused and disheveled. Aeris, I.."
I had to tell her how I felt, and maybe if she knew, she would accept what I'm trying to do now. Give her life once again.
"What is it Cloud? You know you can't stay here, it'll kill you, and I'm no longer alive, I just want you to please accept my death and move on, because I can't take it any longer having to see your spirit in agony."
"Aeris, I've come to bring you back."
Her eyes grew wide with shock as she took a step away from me. She was obviously both surprised and upset at my intentions, thinking that I'm willing to undo everything we ever fought for by reversing her destiny.
"Cloud, I am dead. I can't be brought back, Planet wouldn't allow it, and even if I could, why do you want to? Give me a good reason why you would go through all this just to bring me back. Many others have died as a result of Sephiroth, so why can't they be brought back too? I'm much too insignificant, Cloud, compared to the hundreds of others that died."
She wanted a reason. It was time to tell her the real reason I was here, and why I must not leave without her by my side. And yes, Planet will allow this.
"I love you Aeris, ever since I laid eyes on you. That's my reason, and none other. I didn't even know what love was until I met you; it was something you taught me. You are so caring about everyone, Aeris, and it moved me in a way that I've never been moved before. I didn't know how to respond to these intense feelings I felt when I was near you, and I also didn't know how to express them. When we went on that date at the Gold Saucer, you can't imagine how much I wanted to tell you, which is even more of a reason why I can't forgive myself for letting you die, because I never got a chance to tell you how I felt. Well now I'm telling you, Aeris. You are so perfect, and beautiful; you are an angel on this earth, Aeris, and I can't live without you. I don't care about anything but you, and I won't let this opportunity of my life slip away as I did you. Please come back with me, I am nothing without you."
All of it hit her at once, and her reaction wasn't easily figured out at first. Fresh tears had begun to brim in her aqua green eyes, and the look on her face changed from sorrow to pure joy.
"I had no idea you felt for me that strongly, Cloud," she whispered. "I don't know what to say…"
"Say you feel the same way, Aeris." God, please don't let her reject this, I won't be able to handle it…
"I……I love you too, Cloud."
My heart skipped a beat upon hearing the words I had for so long wanted to hear. I walked over to her and held her divine face in my hands. She was smiling. Just like when Sephiroth had murdered her. She was smiling to the end, but now she was real, soon to be fully living again, I could touch her, feel her. I leaned down and kissed her, a chill running through my spine as I did. Part of my spirit I think left my body that moment, and entered hers, as did hers for mine. All time seemed to stand still at that moment, and all that mattered was us.
Aeris wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me closer.
Cloud loves me, she thought.
We ended our embrace and gazed into each others eyes, illuminated by the glow of the Lifestream.
"Come with me, Aeris. I'll never leave your side again."
"Okay," she replied almost inaudibly.
As she spoke, her voice faded off into an echo, and a brilliant white light grew around us, then enveloped us as I lost consciousness.
What's happening? I thought.
Then darkness.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tifa paced back and forth inside her home. She'd gone to the bar, he wasn't there, he wasn't at his house, where else could he be? She was starting to get really worried, why would he leave and not tell anyone? Suddenly there was a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" she called out.
"It's Red."
"Oh, come in, it's unlocked."
"I can't open doors, Tifa."
"Oh yeah, I'm sorry." She giggled a bit as a mental image appeared of Red trying to open a door with a fingerless paw.
Tifa got up and opened the door to find a rather grim and worried expression on the firey beast's face.
Immediately she sensed something awry.
"What is it?" Tifa asked.
"Something strange is happening to the Planet."
Those words sent shivers of fear and confusion through Tifa's frail body. She couldn't find Cloud, and now she had Red showing up at her door saying something is wrong with the Planet.
"What do you mean?" she asked fervently.
"I've been studying the equilibrium of the flow of the Lifestream up in Grandfather's observatory for some time now, and someone or something has severely interrupted that flow. The results of this could be disastrous to everyone living on this world."
"How has someone interrupted the flow of the Lifestream? How is that even possible?" The concern was now evident on Tifa's expression.
"The Lifestream acts as the blood of the Planet, with Holy at the heart. As you know, the Lifestream is made up purely of the spirit energies of every living thing that has died and returned to the Planet. The normal cycle of the Lifestream includes something being born, living its life, then dying, and its spirit energy returning to the Planet. Then, that energy becomes part of a huge collective of spirit energy, Lifestream that is, coursing through the veins of the Planet, keeping everything in balance. The spirit energy of a deceased human, plant, or animal eventually will become the life force of a new being, born somewhere on the Planet at a predestined point in the future. Thus, someone's spirit energy perpetuates itself, always existing from one life form to the next, and then returning to the Planet."
"So when something dies, it returns to the Planet and roams the Lifestream for a while, then eventually is used in the creation of another living being?"
"Exactly, but sometimes it will roam the Lifestream for thousands of years before being used naturally by the Planet to give life to a new being. When that happens, if it was a human being, their consciousness is lost, and they gain a new one when their spirit energy is used to create another life form. However, when someone or something already living on this Planet forcefully extracts a deceased person's spirit energy, it throws the natural process of the Lifestream off balance. This will lead to a chain reaction ending with the Lifestream basically self-destructing because of its inability to perpetuate itself as a result of that one spirit energy which was pulled from it. In simpler terms, someone here on this world is trying to resurrect a deceased person or persons, and by doing so is destroying the harmony of the Planet."
Those last words cut Tifa like a hot knife through butter. It hit her like a ton of bricks at once. She knew what was going on, she knew exactly who was doing this and why. Cloud. Cloud was trying to resurrect Aeris, and was obviously succeeding at bringing one life back, but at the expense of all others. Tifa was overwhelmed by why Cloud would do this, why he would sacrifice everything he knew simply because he was in love. But then again, love can be a very powerful thing, capable of destroying worlds or bringing all things together, she thought. It still didn't justify it. She had to do something.
"Oh God, it's Cloud, isn't it? You know it is him, don't you Red?"
"Yes, I fear that it is our friend and companion, Cloud, who is the culprit. He probably has no idea what he is doing, or even cares. He is blinded by his love for Aeris, and obviously did not think of the consequences of reversing the destiny which the Planet had decided for her. Much worse, if he has already succeeded, then there is no way to reverse it. And I'm afraid this is true, or else I wouldn't have noticed the disturbance in the Lifestream."
"We have to find Cloud, Red. I have a pretty good idea of where he is."
With that, Tifa didn't even give Red a chance to speak before grabbing her gear and barging out the door.
"Tifa, wait! You can't go alone!" Red shouted out to her, but she was already out of earshot. He turned and ran back to Cosmo Canyon as fast as he could sprint.
Alright, this one has turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, so I'm thinking at this point that I'll wrap this one up within the next 2 or so chapters. So, how do you like the events unfolding? Seems as though our selfish little Cloud is gonna get more than he bargained for, or was it all simply a test? Find out in the upcoming chapters! Till then, peace.
Signed Ry…..