One comment now though, before I begin. I noted that a lot of people want to see Cloud's Avalanche and Sephiroth's Avalanche meet and I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed. The premise behind 'The Other World' NEVER wanted those two groups to meet but was rather to get Cloud and Sephiroth together. However, thanks to all your evil ideas and requests (Ideas and suggestions are always evil when they plant a fic idea in my already over crowded head (I'm trying to write three or four on going fics here, not counting TOW, plus all the other miscellaneous ideas that get written up.)) I do happen to have come up with a way for the two groups to meet. I MAY write it as a sequel and am still deciding how much, if any, foreshadowing I should be putting into the next chapter. But that is an issue I will have to decide. So for the moment, please enjoy...
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Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Final Fantasy VII are property of Squaresoft Ltd. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.
This has shonen-ai in it and at least the implication of yaoi. If you don't like or can't tolerate that then don't read.
:: :: Conversation happening in someone's head.
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The Other World
By Jade Tatsu
Chapter 13 - Good Bye
Cloud closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the wind against his skin and the gentle warmth of the sun. It was so peaceful here and nothing ever changed. It was, in its own way, perfect. He smiled as he reached out slightly. He could still feel him, even though he was asleep. He could still feel Sephiroth. The man had a solid warmth, a strength Cloud knew he could always turn to, one that would always be there for him. It was a comfort all of its own.
Cloud shook his head slightly, opening his eyes and looking out at the endless waves of grass around him. He was here for a reason. He'd never come here unless there was one. It was just, without Sephiroth here, he had no idea what that might be. He'd never been here without Sephiroth.
"Oh, there is a reason," a hauntingly familiar voice hissed at him in the unknown tones of anger.
Cloud spun and came face to face, eye to eye with a set of emerald green eyes, set in delicate features, that were twisted in the foreign emotion of hate and that was all framed by soft brown hair. "Aeris?" he questioned.
"So... My murderer knows my name?" she hissed at him. There was angry, hateful recognition in her eyes and she held the Parasol ready to attack him.
"Aeris..." Cloud choked, taken aback by this unknown woman. "I didn't... Sephiroth..." He tried to start but with each attempt her eyes flashed and he knew if he continued she would attack. She slowly began to circle around him, those green eyes examining every centimetre of him.
"You didn't what?" she asked when she was behind him, causing him to jump slightly, the hairs on his skin rising, screaming danger. "You didn't kill me? Sephiroth did?" She paused briefly, making the statements questions and he could only stand there as she continued. "Oh, I know... Believe me, I know," she said as he gulped. "But that doesn't mean I have to be gracious about it. That I have to like the fact that Sephiroth loves someone who bears my murderer's face."
"Aeris... why are you here?" Cloud asked, now understanding who she was. This was Sephiroth's Aeris. Her rage towards him was understandable and remarkably well controlled.
"I'm here because the Planet sent me. The attack Sephiroth blocked was only postponed. It can be renewed at anytime and it will be if you are not true."
"True?" he couldn't help but question.
"If you are not truly what he believes you to be, if you are Jenova, Cloud Strife, you will die," she said as she completed her circuit. The words were said with a chilling note of finality. "What?" she added, after a moments silence, raising one eyebrow as she looked up at him. "You aren't going to try to defend yourself?" she questioned.
Cloud looked back. Despite the anger that was twisting her features she was identical to the woman he had known. Aeris... "If I truly killed you then I have no defence, except to say that I am not that Cloud. I am not the one Jenova used."
Aeris narrowed her eyes, those beautiful emerald orbs reduced to mere slits. "We will see about that," she said, holding one hand out over his chest. "We will see," she hissed, again as green energy arced through the space between them and began entering Cloud.
Cloud stiffened but did not fight the Planets energy. He could feel it enter his heart and from there its warm power spread all through him. It covered his chest first, then pulses of energy shot up his neck into his brain. The world acquired a green tint over it's usual blue haze. Everything felt tingly as the power spread through every blood vessel, seeping into every muscle, every tendon, every nerve.
It tingled but it did not burn and though she tried to hide it, Cloud could see the faint disappointment in Aeris' gaze. She had truly believed or hoped he was Jenova so that the Planet could hurt him. "Aeris, I am sorry if my presence causes you pain but I am not the Cloud Strife who killed you. And deep in your heart you know that, just as you know that it was not Cloud Strife who killed you. It was Jenova and despite the face she wore, you know you should hate only her. I am not Jenova, I have never been Jenova and she does not lie dormant within me. She cannot be reborn through me.
"I am Cloud Strife. I grew up in the town of Nibelheim with nothing more than the desire to be stronger. I tried to join SOLDIER but I failed," Cloud continued to speak to her softly and as he related his story he tried to send her the images, his memories that accompanied his words. "When I was sixteen, I returned to Nibelheim with Sephiroth and Zack. Sephiroth went insane and it was thought that when I threw him into the Mako pit he died. For five years after that I was a lab experiment, a specimen for Hojo and during that time, despite my failure as a Sephiroth clone I did get the powers of a SOLDIER. After those years passed Sephiroth returned and wanted to become the Lifestream itself. This is not exactly what happened her but it is what I lived and for both of us it is the past."
Cloud looked into Aeris's eyes as the green tingle and haze faded. She glared back at him and before he could speak again she spoke. "Because it is the past, it should not be forgotten. in this case the past is just as important as the present." She stopped and sighed tiredly. "But," Aeris began again in a new voice, one of slight resignation as she looked to the ground. "I can see now, the Planet can see now, you are true. You are not Jenova hiding as Cloud Strife." As Aeris lowered the Parasol into a more casual position she looked back at him, searching his face. "I have seen the man you are Cloud Strife. Make him happy or I will not forgive you." She snapped turning in the long grass and walking away, her image fading with each step she took.
"Aeris," Cloud whispered, wiping away a tear with the cuff of his glove. "I will. I promise you, just as I have promised myself." He looked around in the sudden silence. Despite Aeris' sudden departure it didn't feel like his purpose for being here had been fulfilled. There was still something that had to happen.
Cloud looked around slowly and smiled when he saw a shadow in the grass. A thin shadow that even in the shifting grass he could see the outline of a shoulder guard. "Yuffie?" His voice was soft with the question. He didn't want to disturb the quiet about him.
The ninja girl turned and her eyes widened in surprise. "By Da-chao! Cloud!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been? The others told me you were gone but my father said I had to say in Wutai. He said something about perfecting a change for the pagoda. That's gross though! Ain't no way I'm gonna change! That technique's icky! Besides which, I bet 'em all without one so why do I gotta?"
Cloud smiled. Yuffie hadn't changed. "Yuffie, you wouldn't believe it if I told you," he began, answering her earlier question with a challenge that would focus her attention back on him. He didn't have infinite time so he couldn't be distracted.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you try me Gramps?"
"Hey, since when have I rated a 'Gramps'?" He questioned somewhat indignantly. Yuffie could always turn things around. "I never rated a Gramps before," he added, "and I'm not that much older than you, child."
"Yeah well you rate one now. Anyone I talk to in some mystical dream world has gotta rate a gramps. This ain't my scene, this is an old person thing," Yuffie's eyes twinkled mischievously.
"This isn't exactly a dream, Yuffie," Cloud said with a sudden serious note in his voice. "
"Yeah, so what is it then?" she asked, sliding up to him.
"This is a place where souls meet and the opportunity for me to say good-bye." As soon as he said it he knew that's what he was there for. To tie up those loose ends, those few remaining desires that would have forever hung over his head. You could not jump from one world to another with no regrets. This way, he had a chance to say good-bye, to cut the threads that bound him to that world before he wove them into the new world. No regrets, Sephiroth. I will have no regrets, he thought with a soft smile.
"Cloud," Yuffie breathed, her eyes wide. "What do you mean?"
"I mean... I mean to say good-bye, Yuffie," Cloud told her.
"What?" There was alarm in her voice.
"It's not like that, Yuffie. Nothing's wrong. It's just that I've discovered where my life lies and it's not here. I'm not going to die, Yuffie, not for a very long time. I just won't be able to see you again, so this is 'Good-bye.'"
Yuffie's face lost some of her alarm. "You're weird but if you're sure about this then nothing I'm gonna say will change it." She jumped at Cloud, wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "Well then Gramps," she said to the now surprised Cloud. "It's never 'Good-bye,' it's just 'See you later!'" With that she jumped back, her usual mischievous glint in her eyes.
Cloud smiled gently. Yuffie could always be counted upon to put the best face on things but she was predictable. He held up a small bag. "Sorry Yuffie, they're my materia."
"Hey, no fair, Gramps!" Yuffie complained. "If you are leaving then they rightfully belong to me! I mean, I'm the one you said 'Good-bye' to first. Doesn't that count for something, and don't I get a going away present?" Yuffie pouted as she began to fade.
"Sorry Yuffie, I might still need them but you know where I got them all from, right? You could hunt them down again."
"That's no fun!"
"Train hard, Yuffie, fight hard, live well," Cloud said as she disappeared entirely.
Cloud looked around in the sudden silence. Yuffie's presence was dynamic to say the least and the field felt quieter with her gone. He sighed slightly. That wasn't being fair to Yuffie, all his friends had vivacious personalities.
"Hey, kid!"
Cloud turned to face Cid, who was leaning against the Venus Gospel, cigarette hanging from his mouth. The man looked strangely at peace in the shifting grasses.
"I'll give you one thing kid, when you do things you don't go halfway, do you?" Cid's eye's twinkled. "But do you want to tell me why, when I was about to steal the blankets back from Vincent that when I roll over, I find myself awake, dressed and standing in a field facing you?"
"Do you want the long or short version?"
"This is me! The short! I got better things to do than listen to your babbling."
"You found you love with Vincent, which was surprising. I have found my love but it is something that is even more surprising and it means that I won't be coming back. I'm not dead, I've just gone somewhere else so I can be happy."
"So that's what that red light was," Cid nodded to himself an unfamiliar note of understanding in his tone.
"That's right. A summoning from one world to another. I was needed here, more so than I am needed there," Cloud explained, as much as to Cid as to himself. The day was going to be full of these little revelations.
"Then this is Good-bye?" Cid questioned quietly.
Cloud nodded slightly.
Cid sighed and looked around, his face suddenly flushed with colour. "Stupid," he muttered. He looked up again at Cloud, a sudden welter of emotion reflected in his eyes. "I shouldn't feel so stupid about this," he snorted. "But I gotta thank you. I just can't just let you go without thanking you."
"Cid, what are you talking about?" Cloud questioned in confusion.
"I gotta thank you," he said again. "The Rocket.... I know the Rocket's gone so the town doesn't really have a name but without you, you spiky haired jerk, the Rocket would never have launched and I would never have gotten my dream. I never would have seen space, have seen the Planet and everything else. So for everything, I gotta thank you."
"Cid... I..."
"Don't you dare! Don't you go telling me you only went into space for the Huge Materia or that you only came to the town to get the 'Bronco! 'Cause I don't care. It doesn't matter why, the fact remains that if you didn't come, it never would have happened and now you're going on some other adventure so I had to thank you." Cid looked up at him, a smirk on his face. "You have fun now and," he held out his hand, a battered packet of cigarettes in his palm. "When you remember Cid and the team, ya smoke one, ya hear, ya smoke one to remember us by!"
"Cid... I..." Cloud reached out and gingerly took the very dented package of cigarettes. The cardboard looked like it would disintegrate any second. "I've never had a cigarette in my life!"
Cid moved and slammed his hand down on Cloud's back. "Well, it's about time ya did. Ya remember me now, from time to time," he added as he began to fade away. "But be careful, those things'll kill ya, SOLDIER."
"I'll remember you, Cid," Cloud murmured, tucking the cigarettes into a pocket. "I don't think I could ever forget," he added, rubbing his back where Cid had got him as he wondered who would be next.
"Hello Cloud."
Cloud jumped at the sudden voice. "Nanaki, don't do that," he breathed as he turned. The big cat was sitting in the long grass, head resting lightly on his front paws. He raised his head as Cloud sat down to face him.
"I wasn't really expecting you," Nanaki said by way of apology.
"Expecting me..?" Cloud asked slowly. "So you've been here before?" How else could the big cat have known where he was?
Nanaki nodded. "Only once or twice. I talk to Grandpa sometimes but today, I guess I'm here to talk to you... Cloud, where are you? What happened?"
Cloud smiled. He would be explaining for a little while yet. "I'm in another world, Nanaki, a different Planet. I was summoned because I was needed and I am here to say Good-bye." That was about as condensed as Cloud could make the story without going into too much detail. If he started going into detail he would worry his friends because he didn't have the time to explain. And could they really accept the truth, that Sephiroth could be anything but an enemy, when it was clear that Sephiroth's Avalanche couldn't accept him? He was here to put their fears to rest, not to give them new ones. And that is what he would do.
Nanaki blinked and nodded slowly, considering. "Grandpa once said to me that the world we saw was not the only world, that there were hundreds of possibilities and that every future, every action and decision had to be played out somewhere. You're not coming back, are you?" he asked suddenly.
"No." Cloud shook his head with the simple answer. "I'm not even one hundred percent sure how I got here but I know, I can feel that it's not something which is easily repeatable. I can be happy here though, not plagued by the... " Cloud trailed off. "If I remained I would be plagued by the past, by what I know could have been but here, it's a different past," he began again, reconstructing the sentence to reflect more of the truth. "I can be happy here and I will be."
"No life ever really comes to an end, the path it follows just changes. Our journeys will continue, yours will just be apart from ours, and if we travel long enough, we will met each other again."
"Perhaps we will. Considering that I never thought this was possible, who knows what the future will bring. Be happy Nanaki, and fight hard against the Gi. I know you won't let them win," Cloud held his hand out towards Nanaki.
Nanaki lifted his paw, placing it in Cloud's hand but he was careful to retract his claws. "You live well too Cloud and thank you for helping me to grow so that I can see things now with different eyes. Good-bye Cloud, for now." The big cat closed his eyes as he faded from view.
"Good-bye, Nanaki. Thank you for giving us wisdom and the knowledge of how to continue. Live well, Nanaki." The big cat's presence faded.
Cloud leaned back in the long grass, looking up into an impossibly blue sky that mirrored his eyes. He could still feel him, feel Sephiroth. The man was in the back of his thoughts, not dominating like last time but a solid comforting presence. If it hadn't been there, if he hadn't been able to remember why he was doing this, what was waiting for him, he knew he wouldn't have been able to do this. Say good-bye to his friends, his old life with a smile and comforting words for them all. It would have been too painful. But Sephiroth was waiting, the same and yet so different from his world. That was something he could live for and the reason he was not depressed saying good-bye. And really, as Nanaki said perhaps they would meet again. They were friends, so they could never really be apart.
"You shouldn't fall asleep in the dream realm. You never know when you'll wake up."
"Vincent!" Cloud sat up, looking at the soft spoken man. His red clothes made a brilliant splash of colour against the green and blue of the grass and sky.
Vincent looked back, examining him carefully. "You look older, Cloud," he finally came to the conclusion, flicking his hair over his shoulder, out of the wind.
"I feel older," Cloud replied. There wasn't much more he could say. Vincent was adept at seeing the truth. "But I am happy."
"You're going away."
It was not a question but a simple statement. Cloud nodded anyway as he responded. "I always thought it would be you who would disappear but I guess you've now got reasons not to."
It was Vincent's turn to nod, although his expression remained as blank as always. "And you have reasons to go. Someone you have found."
"I have, in the last place I would have ever thought to look. I am just lucky that it looked for me." Cloud smiled but he couldn't help the feeling that Vincent would see that something was wrong, that he would push for more detail, although he was not usually one who pried into the affairs of others. There was something in his eyes, in the way he shifted his weight slightly, he was going to do something unexpected. Cloud narrowed his eyes considering. Despite his connection with to everyone involved, Vincent might be able to see some logic in the truth. He couldn't do anything about it, Cloud's decision was made but he might benefit from knowing that Lucrete's son didn't always self destruct.
"There is something else, something you haven't told the others," Vincent sad. His statement, made before he could volunteer the information was enough of a question.
"There is," Cloud acknowledged. "I haven't told the others because there is nothing you can do. My decision is made and the information would only worry them, although in time they may come to understand. Nanaki though, understands the concept of parallel worlds well enough and that's what here it. It isn't a mirror, with everything reflected but a different world where the events in our world occurred as well, although there were some changes."
"Changes?"
"I was the one who wielded the Masamune. I was the one Jenova inhabited. In the North Crater, it was I who called the Meteor and I who died when Avalanche came." Cloud hung back from saying the truth. Something said to him, it felt to him that once that fact was uttered, it would all be over.
"If you were the one Avalanche fought then..." Vincent began softly, understanding beginning to light in his eyes although he could not see Cloud's reluctance.
"Then," Cloud nodded, swallowing hard. "It was Sephiroth who lead Avalanche but that is not this worlds only difference," he continued past the truth in a rush. "Sephiroth was always Jenova's Child but he was also Cloud Strife's lover. But that ended when the Cloud of this world and Jenova physically merged into one being." He didn't want to explain but had to explain what he knew of this world. If the truth was too be known, then the whole truth should be known. "Somehow that Cloud managed to trap Jenova in his body so that when it died, she would too and it was in an attempt to free herself from that, Meteor was called. Sephiroth and Avalanche killed Cloud and in killing Cloud killed Jenova and stopped Meteor. Then they went on with their lives until ShinRa decided to clone Cloud and bring Jenova back. And that's when, about a month ago, I began having dreams in which I loved Sephiroth. That was him calling for me and eventually I answered."
Vincent nodded although Cloud could see that he was troubled. It was a lot to take in all at once. "That is what happened here, Vincent. Jenova is dead now and this world can be at peace. Is it so wrong for me to stay here to be happy? I am happy here, happy in a way I cannot be there." Cloud paused. He didn't have to justify this to Vincent, if he said he was happy then that would be enough. "You can tell the others, if you think it will help them but please remember that I was not forced to do this, I chose to come here and I am happy. I am not plagued by the guilt and regret that I didn't realise I had until this happened. But they are gone now and I am happy. Vincent, live your life so that you can be happy as well. Don't think it's 'sin' because happiness is also a part of life. Be well, Vincent."
"You be well, Cloud," Vincent said as he began to fade. His face had lost the faint disbelief it had borne at Cloud's initial explanation and now he seemed contented. As for sin, my sin will come now if I cannot be happy. Good-bye Cloud. Be at peace."
Cloud smiled at the words. For Vincent that was an open declaration of his feelings when he usually kept so quiet but it was reassuring. Cid was getting to him. "Good-bye my friend," he said finally.
Cloud closed his eyes, gathering himself. Despite everything, the next good-byes would be the hardest. They were, after all, the people he had fought with the longest, those who had seen everything and who had been there at the very beginning, who would be the most betrayed by what seemed the truth. Sephiroth. Their mortal enemy, his beloved. What am I going to tell them..? They're gonna push for an explanation beyond what I want to give, beyond what I can give... And it wouldn't be fair to tell them to ask Vincent... Cloud looked up at the sky, eyes shimmering with concern. My love lies here, my future. I know that but without causing them pain, without betraying them, how do I make them see?
"You stupid, dumb, cocky, spiky haired jerk!"
Cloud bolted upright to come face to face with the barrel of the Missing Score. All thoughts of betrayal left him when he saw Barret, trembling slightly although his gun arm was steady. "Barret..?"
"You stupid bastard! If Reeve was giving you trouble, why didn't you tell us?" Barret roared as he lowered his arm. "And then you go and vanish without a trace! Tifa's been worried sick! You inconsiderate jerk, you should have told us!"
"Barret... I... It all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to tell you! And it wasn't like I intended to vanish without a trace. That was unexpected for me as well!" Cloud snapped at Barret, angry that the man could so easily and completely blame him for things that were no one's fault.
Barret blinked. "You mean, you really have gone somewhere?" he questioned, suddenly quiet. All his anger, his bravado seemed to flow out of him all at once. He looked at Cloud through eyes that begged him to say it wasn't so.
Cloud sighed. "I have," he said, losing his own anger because it was just a useless shield against emotion. "I really am going away forever. I'm only here to say Good-bye. But Barret, believe me when I say this is for the best. It is a chance for me to be truly happy."
"What about us? What about Tifa?" Barret roared, his anger flaring. "I thought I was wrong about you but you really do only care for yourself, don't you?"
"Now you know that's not fair! I care about you all but I have to do what is right for me! Suffering just to please everyone else is not right and you know that. If you are truly my friend then you know I have to do what's right for me," Cloud screamed at Barret. The man had the gall to call him selfish!
"So it's forever?"
"Of course it's for forever. That's why I'm here, why you're here;. To say Good-bye. Until the next life, this is forever but knowing my luck my train to forever will probably be searched by ShinRa and I'll have to bail right back into Midgar."
"Yeah, you always were the cause of most of Avalanche's problems. I just wanted to stop mining Mako and save the world, but then you have to go drag us into a real fight..." Barret paused. "You lead us against the real evil, we'll miss you but if you say it's for the best then I guess you are right."
Cloud blinked at Barret. The man as always was quick to anger but when it was a friend he was equally quick to take their word, to understand the situation they were in. But it was startling to see him change and the emotion in his voice was not usual. "Barret..."
"I'll miss you kid, where ever you're going but if ya ever get in a fracas, ya holler, ya hear? You've always been the real leader of Avalanche. Took me a while to see it but I guess I always knew that from the minute you walked in, ya practically took over the show. So if ya ever need us, ya holler, and we'll be there." Barret smiled at Cloud. The unusual expression highlighted the white of his teeth. "Cloud, I'm sorry about before..."
"It's all right, Barret. If I didn't know this was for the best, if I was seeing this from your position I'd be saying the same thing. But me going away is for the best. I'll explain it to Tifa so she'll understand. there is nothing for me there Barret but the future in the place I am is before me. I'm not dead, I've just gone somewhere else... Nanaki or Valentine could explain it better," Cloud added with slight exasperation.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't understand it," Barret continued to smile. "I'll see ya at the end of the line Strife, so don't you dare jump trains on me."
"Be well, Barret. Live well and say bye to Marlene for me."
"I will," Barret got out before he faded completely.
Cloud looked around before closing is eyes, briefly steeling himself for what, who was to come. Tifa... He cared for her, not in the way she wanted but he did care and they had known each other for so long, had been through so much together... She was his friend, they were all his friends but Tifa had been there a very long time. He reached out, brushing lightly against the presence that was Sephiroth seeking reassurance.
"Hello Cloud," the voice was quiet and came from behind him but he knew who it was. There was no way he could not know.
Cloud turned slowly to see Tifa materialise before him. She was dressed in her fighting uniform, white shirt, shorts, boots and those gloves. Her hair was mostly tied back but her fringe (bangs) still fell forward to give her face a soft frame. Her lips were parted in a soft smile and she looked at him through sparkling eyes that shone with faint hope but a deeper resignation.
She knew. Softly, slowly and in the silence of his mind Cloud breathed a grateful sigh of relief. His decision was made. He was going to go away no matter what she said or did but it was going to be easier to say good-bye because she was not crying, because she knew that trying to stop him would be futile.
"Tifa," Cloud began with a slight smile. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too Cloud. We didn't know what had happened but I'm glad you are safe. The worst is not knowing what happened."
"I know, that is why I am here."
She looked at him, that faint smile and hope fading and tears beginning to form in her eyes. "You're going, aren't you?"
He nodded. "Yes, that's what that light was. It was my call to somewhere else." The explanation wasn't too good but he wasn't about to say he was going away with Sephiroth. She wouldn't understand and it would only upset her, far more than she already was. "Tifa, I'm not dead. Somewhere else is not that realm. It's the place my future lies," Cloud sighed. The next bit would seal it. "This world, Tifa, the world were we fought Sephiroth offers me a future containing only grief, sadness and old memories. Tifa, even if I stay with you, in 50 or 60 years time you will die, all our friends will die and I will be alone, living with nothing more than the memories of what was. I would have to watch our children die, our children's children, down through the years and I couldn't stand that. I couldn't, I can't be alone forever... This place that I am is different. Jenova still ravaged the Planet, killing the last Cetera and she was still destroyed but it happened differently so that I will not be alone forever if I stay here." Cloud finished the explanation, holding back the flinch as he bent the truth. But he hadn't lied to her.
Omittance is the same as lying.
It's necessary this time. I can't be silent now and I have to tell her something!
The battle raged in his mind but the decision had been made long ago and nothing showed in his eyes as he looked earnestly at Tifa.
Tifa closed her eyes briefly, holding back the tears. "It's okay Cloud," she whispered, opening her eyes with a soft, sad smile. "I know," her voice was firm despite the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. "I guess I've always known, somewhere inside, when I meet you in Midgar that things had changed, that we weren't meant to be. If you'd never left Nibelheim... Maybe." She sighed deeply. "But that's not what happened. That's not what is. I know we're not meant to be but it's only know that I can see, that I can understand why at times you have been distant, why it is better this way."
"Tifa," Cloud smiled. In the face of her honesty that was obviously hurting her he couldn't say much else. "I will miss you and I will see you again, some day, just not for a very long time. You be well in that time." He reached over to her, gently taking her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "Be well, Tifa, the world is too large for sorrow alone."
Tifa looked up at him, diamond tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes but she smiled softly. "I will Cloud. Live the life you want and don't regret... Good-bye," she sighed as she faded. "Good-bye Cloud."
"Good-bye Tifa," Cloud sighed into the once more empty plain. He'd done it. He'd said good-bye to everyone, said good-bye to one world so he could move to the other. Now all that was left was for him to let go with his heart and embrace the other. All he had to do...
"That's not quite true!"
Cloud's heart stopped. No, she couldn't be here. He could face everyone else but he couldn't face her. How are you meant to look into the eyes of one you had loved briefly, as you had loved Tifa and tell her that you are going away with the one who killed her? It wasn't something a mortal should have to do.
"Cloud, calm down!" That voice came again. "I know exactly what's going on."
Cloud barely breathed but his heart started again as he slowly cracked open one eye. "You do?" He asked timidly, half expecting the pain of some attack to sear through him.
"I do, and if you relax for an instant and remember, you'll see that this is what I have been telling you to do all along."
The blond frowned, but opened his eyes to look at Aeris. She was, as the previous Aeris had been, bathed in a gentle green glow but she was immaculate. Her pink dress the perfect counterpart for her large green eyes. And the red of her jacket surprisingly didn't not clash with the pink but rather complimented it and was softened by it. The red instead brought out the highlights in her long braid of hair. "You have?" He could remember her voice telling him that it wasn't his fault, ordering him not to torture himself over her death but he couldn't remember much more.
"I have, although I am honest enough to admit that Sephiroth was a big surprise. I thought you'd get together with Tifa, but you were never happy with the easy road were you?" She grinned at him. She was so different from the previous Aeris. Sephiroth's Aeris.
"Cloud," the green eyed girl began. "Don't get me wrong. If Sephiroth was standing before me I would have a very hard time holding back my anger. But I know that the Sephiroth you are going to isn't the one who killed me. And now I know why after we discovered that the enemy was Sephiroth, why you were sad. Cloud," she breathed, making sure he was listening to her every word. "I am happy for you. Believe me. It doesn't matter how I feel, you are the one who needs to be happy."
"Aeris, I..."
"Don't feel that you are betraying me!" Aeris said firmly, cutting off his objections. "I only wanted you to be happy. I didn't want to make you unhappy so if going to Sephiroth is going to make you happy then I am happy for you." She smiled at him. "Truly I am."
"How have you been?" Cloud changed the subject. If she already knew what was happening then there was no need to discuss it further and despite the pleased and understanding face she showed, he had no desire to discover how thin the fasard was.
"Good. Bored but good and any more than that I cannot say. It's just not allowed for the death to speak of these things. Reeve though sends his regards. He want you to know that he is happy that his prediction was wrong."
"His prediction?" The man behind the stuffed mog had made lots of predictions but Cloud had long ago given up trying to keep them straight.
"Silly!" Aeris laughed. "You know the prediction he made when we first saw him, the one that said that to be happy you had to lose everything. He's glad that he was wrong."
"Wait a second... Reeve's dead?"
Aeris looked sad for an instant. "I'm sorry Cloud, but his death was something that had to happen. He didn't want it but in the end he was happy to sacrifice his life to stop Jenova. He was her final strike. He'd be here now but he has already merged with the Lifestream."
"I... uh... What happened?" Cloud couldn't help but blurt. He'd been so preoccupied trying to hide what had happened to him that he hadn't bothered asking what had happened to his friends.
"Nothing Cloud. Nothing that hasn't already been handled. As the world you are going to is free of Jenova so too, now is the one you are leaving. The battles are finally over and we can all be free." Aeris lent over to him, whispering the last in his ear as if to say it a loud would be to shatter it's truth.
She pulled back, smiling at him with flower in her hand. "Anyway Cloud, you can't be here much longer. I came to say Good-bye and to give you a message to give to him. You tell him, from me, that if he hurts you, I will haunt him forever!" She smiled at him, that angelic special smile that had graced her face at the end as she gently pressed the flower into his hand. "Tell him and be happy Cloud," She added as she faded, leaving him alone with the smell of flowers.
Cloud smiled in return. He couldn't help it, the irony had not escaped him. One Aeris warning him, the other warning Sephiroth. "I will Aeris, I will."
He looked around. The sky was still blue, the grass was still waving gently in the wind but something was inexplicably telling him that it was time to go. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply and sighed. It was time. He couldn't delay it any longer. "Good-bye, everyone. I will see you again."
As the last word fell from his lips everything twisted and rushed past him and was gone. The last tied had been undone and he now was firmly placed in one world. And then the oblivion of sleep claimed him as the exhaustion he knew his body had to be feeling caught up, once again, with his mind.
To be Continued...
For those of you wondering what is to happen, let's just say that Sephiroth has a sad story of love and the truth about what happened in his Nibelheim is revealed. On, and his Aeris might make a come back.
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