A Vampire's Tale

Hi. I thought about this chapter really quickly and typed it up. It may be a little confusing but I still think it's ok. But anyway, read and tell me what you think! ^_^ I also do not own Final Fantasy VII.

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Chapter 5

About an hour after Vincent left, I got up and went outside to watch what was left of the sunset. I sat down on the grass and leaned against the barn. I looked up at the pink and orange sky and I started to feel a little better. I liked being alone with nature. Soon the sky turned from orange to dark blue and the stars soon appeared. My eyes still hurt from crying. But then I saw a familiar person walking toward the barn.

"Hi Aeris", Cloud said.

"Hi", I replied while quickly wiping a tear away. Cloud walked up to me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, why do you ask?" I replied looking away.

"Well, you kinda look like you were crying."

"I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about it", I said looking up.

"Well, okay", Cloud replied quietly. He looked toward the chocobos. "Umm… you wanna go for a ride with me tonight? It might make you feel better." I looked down at the grass in front of me.

"Why don't you ask Princess Tifa? I'm sure she would want to go." Cloud sighed and sat down beside me.

"How did you know about her and me?" he asked.

"I have my sources", I said still looking down. Cloud sighed again.

"It's an arranged marriage", he said looking at the sky. "Neither of us wants to get married. Besides, I she has a crush on one of the castle servants. We're really good friends but I don't want to marry her." I was confused.

"Okay, but who arranged the marriage?" I asked.

"Her father, King Sephiroth. He wants us to get married so that our countries could join to make one big country".

"King Sephiroth? I've never heard of him. Which country does he represent?" I asked.

"His kingdom is the whole Icicle area", he replied.

I couldn't believe what I heard. I had never felt so surprised in my life. I jumped up to my feet.

"Icicle!? But how? How could there be a king of Icicle?! The town was destroyed!" Cloud stood up

"Woah, calm down! How come you're so sensitive about that?" he asked with his hands on my shoulders. I looked into his eyes.

"I was born there. My mother and I fled after my father was killed in a battle a long time ago. My mother died a few years later of a wound from a stray arrow."

"Did this battle happen about thirteen years ago?" he asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Sephiroth's army won that battle and that's when he became king".

I looked away from Cloud. I never wanted all of those memories to come back to me all of a sudden. I even remembered the criticizing voice that was in my head after my mother died. It kept telling me that it was my fault that my father died. It was my fault that my mother was shot with the arrow that later caused her death. It was my fault that everything bad happened to my family. I then noticed that tears were running down my face. Before I could wipe them away, Cloud unexpectedly gave me a hug and whispered to me.

"It's okay, Aeris. Stop crying. The past is gone, so let it go."

I started to cry even more. I cried because I was happy to have someone say that to me. I leaned my head against his shoulder and I calmed myself down. I whispered back to him.

"Are you always this comforting to be around?" I asked without looking up. He started laughing.

"Wow, no one has ever said that to me before", he said. I smiled.

As much as I didn't want it to happen, we ended the hug. I wiped away what was left of my tears.

"So… umm… you still want to go for a ride?" he asked smiling. "You don't have to if you don't want to".

"No", I said quickly, "I'd love to go".

After a few minutes, we were riding across the meadow on a blue chocobo I had named Rain. Cloud was indeed right. This did make me feel a lot better. I put my arms around him and leaned my head on his back. I closed my eyes and felt the cool breeze against my skin. "I'm enjoying this too much", I thought to myself. I didn't want to fall asleep so I decided to start a conversation with him.

"So, who is this servant that Princess Tifa has a crush on?" I asked.

"Umm…I think his name is Vincent", he replied. "Yeah, it was Vincent Valentine". I became surprised yet again and I started laughing.

"Are you serious?" I asked, trying to suppress my laughter.

"Yeah, why? Do you know him?"

"A little", I said, still trying to fight off the laughter. "He's a nice guy".

"That's good. Tifa deserves a nice guy", he said with a smile.

"You seem to be acting like you're not getting married to her", I said.

"We both agreed to do whatever we could to stop the marriage, but we still don't know how. But I can honestly say that her father scares me."

I started laughing again. "I guess he has to be really scary to be able to scare you, huh?"

"What do you mean by that?!" he asked.

"Umm… nothing", I said smiling.

"But seriously, his sword is enough to scare anyone. It's twelve feet long".

My heart stopped. A familiar scene that I've always wanted to forget emerged in my head. "It couldn't be", I whispered.

"Umm… Cloud? What does he look like?" I asked him.

"He has long silver hair and really freaky eyes. When he stares at you, it almost feels like he's trying to kill you".

"Oh my God" I whispered into the air. Cloud stopped the chocobo and turned around to look at me.

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked with a serious look on his face. I looked up at him.

"He's the one who killed my father", I whispered with obvious hatred.

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Ok, I don't know what to say about this chapter. But I think it's getting a little more romantic. By the way, I support all couples in FFVII, but mainly Aeris and Cloud. I think they're the cutest couple!! I could write a Cloud/Tifa fic if I have some time. A lot of people were asking me to make this an Aeris/Vincent fic. I could've but the friend I'm writing it for wanted it to be an Aeris/Cloud fic. And if Mallow64 decides to read this, I want to thank you for inspiring me to actually start writing fics!! So… thank you!! ^_^ But anyway, I am in serious need of sleep right now so, gotta go!

Yunalesca Strife ^_^