Chapter 1

FROM DUSK UNTIL DAWN

Cloud has just finished his training at area outside Midgar. His sweat is falling around his forehead, yet his sword is still swinging around, thrusting and slashing air around him. Even though the last battle between The Avalanche and Sephiroth was finished some months ago, he still needs to take training as disciple he got from SOLDIER. He trained his moves and his limit breaks, that is special moves that gives more damage to enemy and drains his energy as well. He thinks to himself whether he will achieve his limit breaks if there was no battle against Sephiroth. Surely, he has became stronger because of that battle, and he doesn't want to be weaker after that. He is a fighter, and protector for the rest of team, so he must be strong, that is what he thinks.

Now Cloud takes a seat on big rock near him. He stares a moment at his huge sword that has saved him many times, then gazes to the sky above and his thought flies freely. It has been nice and peaceful days for months, yet he still feels something is going wrong. He still senses a little menace is spying around them, and worse, he does not have any idea what it is. He usually ignores that feeling if that thought comes to him.

Sephiroth is dead, he was beaten. Meteor is already crushed. Shinra is no longer exists, also the guys behind it, except Reeve maybe, since he must control Cait Sith. What else can be happened ? What more could go worse ? I had a weird feeling that this is not over yet, that this peace only lasts for temporary..is it because I used to live in those tough days ? Cloud tries to ease his thought. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He recalls his past experience, an awesome experience which makes separation of life and death was as thin as a sheet of paper. Undoubtedly, he got a lot from it : fighting skills, consciousness over his bitter past, a lot of gils, friends and their friendship, loyalty, truth, hope, belief, tears, battle scars,…and also love.

I wonder what next comes to us. Heck with it, I guess, life goes on, should there be any more villain, just crush it together, he smiles to himself as he opens his eyes lids.

He feels a cool wind blows to him, drying his sweat. Cloud puts back his Ultima sword into its sheath on his back and then leaps down from the rock he sits on.

"Time to go home…",he mumbles to himself. He feels exhausted, thirsty and hungry. Cloud stretches his arms above his head, spins his waist, and crackles his finger.

It will be dusk soon, he looks at darkened sky. Better leave here as soon as possible. Monsters usually roam around in the dark. This time I don't have time for them. Cloud starts his walk back to Midgar. As he moves his foot one by one, he sings unnamed melody. His hands are inside his pocket on his thighs.

After some walk, he comes to a spot where he can see Midgar from above. There is no roof anymore above it after Meteor destruction, so he can watch city lightings from Midgar buildings start to light, give light to city surroundings. Cloud stops for a moment to catch a breath. He stares down to Midgar, as his eyes are looking for a familiar spot within Midgar.

There it is, he then moves down toward Midgar. He didn't have plan to go to that spot actually, but  suddenly he feels an urge to go to that spot. He does not know why he did that, but he only knows that his heart wants to, so he just follows his heart. As he enters the gate, a lot of vehicles run around him, but not as many as it was before Meteor destruction.

This city really never sleep. Although there was Meteor disaster few months ago, things seem to be like those old days. People here really want to make this city as a biggest city as it is used to be, he thinks himself as he avoids a motorcar that suddenly passes by him.

"Whoa…!", he startles and moves backward. He continues walking in the streets of Midgar. As he moves closer the spot that his heart wants to go, he paces his steps a little faster. He is no longer feeling thirsty nor hunger. He walks into an alley.

"Good evening, young mister, would you spare a few gil for me…? I have no gil for my empty stomach…", suddenly a faint voice comes to his ears. Cloud stops and looks for the voice source. There is a boy, a thin boy standing near him inside the alley. His looks are begging for mercy. He looks so weak and pale.

He is as old as Marlene, Barret's daughter, what's he doing around here ? Cloud thinks.

Cloud moves toward the boy, and sweeps boy's hair.

"Hmm…it is night already. You don't belong here, boy. Here, take this and buy some warm food for you…", Cloud pulls out his wallet (Author : does characters in FFVII have wallet ?? ^-^) and gets some gil. He then hands his gil over the boy's hand. That boy is surprised. His eyes are sparkling.

"Wow…is this for me ??? Really ??…", he looks at Cloud, rather in disbelief.

Cloud just nods his head.

"Well…thank you, young mister…you are so generous… kindness like yours is  very rare around here…", he quickly saves Cloud's gil into his pocket.

"Umm…if you don't mind, may I know your name, young mister ?", the boy asks a question to Cloud.

Cloud only raises his eye brows.

"My name does not matter boy…it is your hunger that matters..", Cloud replies, rather coldly. The boy's eyes turn to uneasy one.

"I..I just want to know the name of someone who has been kind to me…", he speaks slowly.

Cloud notices this change, he then puts his hand on the boy's head and speaks out,

"Boy, don't bother about me, you look like a good boy actually... ", he chuckles,"..well, you can call me Cloud, and you won't find another same one in this world !", he jokes to the boy.

The boy's eyes are sparkling again, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Cloud, my name is Chris. Thank you very much again, for your kindness, now you will continue your walk, aren't you ? I guess you are going to that building ?", Chris' finger points to a building at the other side of alley. Cloud only nods his head.

"Well then, I am leaving now, Mr.Cloud, once more, thank you…".

"You are welcome ", Cloud replies, and watches Chris going to another part of the alley.

Well, well, Cloud, you have changed a lot, Cloud thinks to himself after Chris is out of sight, he is smiling.

A few months ago, you were a selfish and cold person, you only care about yourself and money. What a little heartless brat you were ! His smile is broader than before.

What in the world could make you change like this ? Surely, it must because of her…..Cloud then starts his step toward his final destination, the building that Chris pointed out before.

After some final steps, Cloud stops in front of the building. He looks at the building from its roof to its doorsteps. It is very quiet there, no one around there. Cloud takes a deep breath. His memory swims up to the surface of his consciousness. He just lets his memory wanders around his brain, retelling the past events that made him remember about something…someone….

/*flashback*/

"Ugh…..ouch…it hurts….where…where am I ? Am I still living ? ",

Cloud slowly opened his eye lids. His breath was heavy. His head felt dizzy, his vision was blurred. After some times, he recovered from his dizziness, and his sight was getting clearer. As he started to see his surrounding, his eyes met a figure of young woman.

Cloud gasped. He then checked his heartbeat. It was still beating. He then looked again at the young woman kneeled before him. She was so beautiful, innocent, and graceful. Her long brown hair was tied neatly with soft pink hair ribbon. Her bow-like front hair made her looked so cute. She wore a long dress in pink with short red jacket that made her look attractive. That was her emerald green eyes that took Cloud's breath away. Cloud did not think about it further, but somehow he felt dejavu….

She smiled to Cloud and said,

"Are you all right ? You don't look well….". Her voice was like a tingling crystal bell. Very nice and comforting.

"Umm…I guess I am alright, after all….er…what happened actually ?", Cloud said while moving his body to sit up.

"You fell from roof and then went unconscious after that. Fortunately, you fell on top of flower bed, so your bruise may be better than if you fell on floor", she giggled.

Cloud then looked around the area where he landed. There are flowers around him that held his body when he fell from above.

"Well, I am sorry for bothering you…..I guess I am going now…", Cloud said as he tried to stand up. He still felt a bit dizzy, so he shook his head to remove his dizziness. His back didn't feel so much pain since he fell on flower bed. After some stretch of his limbs, he felt better.

After he stood, he stared around his environment, and finally gave a questioning look to the woman.

"Where are we ?", Cloud asked the young woman.

"Inside the Midgar church, in the slums area…", the woman replied. Cloud just observed around the church. He then nodded to her and said,"Girls like you doesn't suit to live in such area….".

"Why ? ", she asked as reply.

"Err…forget about that…by the way, what's your name ?", Cloud questioned the woman.

"I am Aeris….and may I know your name ?", the woman, Aeris, asked Cloud again.

"Cloud…Cloud Strife….", Cloud answered shortly. He then took a  more detailed look at Aeris, thinking for a moment as he tried to remember something, and he looked at flowers inside the church.

"I think I've met you before….", Cloud said to Aeris,"…if I am not wrong, you were selling flower to me when I reminded you to leave from that Mako reactor…", Cloud hesitantly spitted out his words, waiting for Aeris' response.

Aeris just smiled to him as response.

"I guess you forgot about that, well, I was wrong", she finally said.

"Never mind", Cloud scratched his head.

Aeris continued her words,"I thought you were someone I knew…you much looked like him…well, never mind…", she blushed.

"Whatever", Cloud spun his body aroud, leaving her.

Suddenly two men in blue uniform rushed in. They rushed to Aeris and stopped only a few feet from her.

"Here you are !!! Now come with us, Hojo is waiting !!", one of man said to her and tried to grab her hand.

Aeris leaped backward quickly, "NEVER !!!", she yelled and tried to escape, but those two men blocked her way out. Cloud just watched that event. He knew that those men are from SOLDIER, but he didn't know what business they were in, involving Aeris. He wanted to help Aeris, but he was not sure about that. He was just standing still at his spot.

"Hey Cloud, please help me !!! Please !!!", Aeris shouted to Cloud. Cloud, from his still position, gazed confusedly to Aeris, but then he nodded and drew his enormous sword.

"Okay guys, I don't know what happened here, but I think I must protect this lady from rude men like you !!", Cloud shouted to two men from SOLDIER. They now looked at Cloud and mumbled something. They nodded to each other as a code, then they jumped to Cloud and the fight began.

/*end of flashback*/

Cloud still gazes to building in front of him.

There it is, still like that time. I wonder how is inside, is it still the same ? He then walks slowly toward inside of the church. There, he only sees what a church should be, with some exceptions :  there is a hole on the church's roof and a small garden of flower. He smiles and hopes for his sake, that no one knows about what, or to be exactly, who, has made such a big hole in this church's roof.

He then observes a flower bed on a part of the church. It is still colourful and beautiful as it was. He walks to the flowers, kneels down and plays a flower petal with his finger. His thought is wandering everywhere. Cloud picks up a flower and watches it closely. His mind is absolutely not into what he sees. Physically, he watches a flower he just picked up, but inside, he feels a pain, an ironical pain. He feels sorry that the person who used to take care of the flowers could not see how beautiful the flowers now when they are blooming like this, and that's all because of careful treatment of that person toward the flowers.

"Aeris…", he whispers to himself. He feels his eyes are getting warm. A tear is about to fall. He fights back his tears.

This is not the place I supposed to cry, she doesn't like me to cry…Cloud thinks to himself.

"These flowers are missing you, too….they miss their mistress,don't they ?", he mumbles to flowers near him. He just stares at them. A moment of silence raises. A soft wind blows into the church, swinging those flowers as they nod for an agreement. Cloud just smiles and continues,

"…and we do, either…..I, Tifa, Barrett, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Red XIII, we all miss you….", Cloud hangs his head down. He reaches his front pocket, and pulls out something from there. It is a pink hair ribbon, Aeris' hair ribbon, he found it when he was sitting alone on the grass near Kalm some hours after Meteor destruction (Author : well, if you don't know what, when, where about it, please check my first fanfic : Live Forever…J ). Since that, he always brings that ribbon wherever he goes, always placed in front pocket, close to his heart. He kisses the ribbon with all his heart, as if he could really kiss the one who wears that ribbon.

"Aeris…your hair now must be untied since you gave your ribbon to me", he smiles in bitterness," but that's okay, you are still beautiful, my angel…you'll always be…you are truly beautiful to your heart..". He whispers to the ribbon, tries to picture Aeris with her hair untied.

She is really beautiful, he concludes his thought.

Cloud then stands up and walks toward a bench. He falls himself to it as he sighes. His head hangs up and his eyes traverse every inches of church's roof. He sighes again and takes a deep breath.

Aeris, how long has it been ? Four months ? Five months ? Cloud lets his thought playing around.

Do you know that every night I still pray for you ? I pray for your happiness over there, in the world of Lifestream…and how I pray that miracle will be happened someday, but I didn't ever mention what kind of miracle…I just called it 'miracle'….because I myself don't know what miracle I want…Cloud laughs softly. His thought is still wandering on past memories.

You said you want to meet me when we had a date at Gold Saucer, well…I still don't know what do you mean, but I do want to meet you alive….maybe that is a kind of miracle that I pray every night ? Ha…I was a funny one, huh ? I often faced miracle did happen over impossible things, turned them into possible ones…but…my kind of miracle ? Miracle to meet you alive ? Should I put my faith on it ? Will it be happened ? Frankly speaking, I don't know…I'm not sure…Better not counting on it…You said I have to release you, right ? I also promised to live my life normally, but one thing will be unchanged : I will always remember you, my angel…

Cloud starts to feel sleepy. He is very tired now because of his training. He yawns and starts to close his eyes. His stomach shouts to him, but he just ignores it. He also feels his throat is dry, but he ignores it, too. At this time, he doesn't want to think about eating or drinking. If it is only hunger and thirst, he will be okay, since he has experienced worse things in the past. He only wants to take a rest right now, in a place that carved memory in his heart.

Aeris…I'm going to have a big plan…This is about my promise to live my life happily…I need your support Aeris…I really need it….

As Cloud finishes his thought, his consciousness falls to void, as the night swallows the light. He falls asleep there this night, on the church where he started to get close to Aeris.

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Well, as long as I don't write the big "THE END", then the story is not coming to its end yet J. At this chapter, maybe you haven't got the point where this story heads to, it's okay, I'll reveal it one by one in next chapters. Please R &R !!