EPILOGUE
"Hi, Tifa…", Yuffie's head pops out inside Tifa's room. Her face is cheerful. She smiles playfully. Tifa, from her sitting position, lifts her head and smiles at Yuffie.
"Come in, Yuffie", she welcomes Yuffie. With a broad grin, Yuffie steps inside Tifa's room and takes a seat.
"Pheww…finally…we did it again, Tifa ?", Yuffie asks Tifa with playful tone. Tifa shows her thumb to Yuffie and grins at her too. "You improved a lot, Yuffie. Your ninja skill is awesome !", Tifa teases Yuffie. Hearing Tifa's words makes Yuffie blush. Smiling shyly, Yuffie responses to her, "You are good, too, Tifa…You're still sharp with your fist and kicks ! However, there are a lot of things that still surprised me ! I never thought that Sephiroth mimicked Cloud, and now I can't hold my laughter whenever I recall when Sephiroth mimicked Barret !". Yuffie starts to laugh uncontrollably. Tifa laughs too, and she laughs more when she recalled real Barret's expression on seeing he was being mimicked. They laugh together. This makes Tifa feel better. She forgets her wound and bruise for a moment because of her conversation with Yuffie.
After some laughs, Yuffie then adds, "Sephiroth even tried to mimic Aeris ! I bet he could mimic us all, except for Red !!!". Their laughter goes louder.
(At the other side, Red feels his nose is itchy and goes itchier when he hears female laughter from other side of Highwind).
"If Sephiroth was a good guy, maybe we just let him to mimic Cloud..", Yuffie says between her chuckles. She then looks at Tifa with teasing eyes. "Maybe if there are two Cloud, you and Aeris will have no competition over him…", without innocent feeling, Yuffie speaks her words. Tifa's eyes suddenly grow wide. She frowns. Although she knows Yuffie is just kidding, mentioning 'Aeris' and 'Cloud' makes her recall her another problem. Tifa becomes quiet suddenly. Yuffie notices this change, and suddenly she realizes that she made mistake. Her face grows sad, then she hangs her head down.
"I am sorry, Tifa, I just want to cheer you up…", Yuffie's weak voice comes to Tifa's ears. Trying to smile, Tifa pats the Wutai ninja's shoulder gently. She says, "It's okay, Yuffie, I know that you are just kidding…I am not angry, honest…". Slowly, Yuffie lifts her head up and stares at the beautiful ruby eyes in front of her.
"Really…?", Yuffie asks Tifa carefully. Her eyes look concerned. With a smile, Tifa replies, "Sure…at least, that's not very bad at all !". Seeing Tifa's expression, Yuffie feels lighthearted. "Well, I still do apologize, Tifa, geez…I guess I have something to do…May I leave now ?", she asks Tifa again. Still smiling, Tifa replies, "It's okay, thanks for accompanying me…". Yuffie then stands up and walks towards the door. Tifa only sees Yuffie's back until she is out of sight. After she is alone, Tifa stands up and walks to the window. There, she can see a row of white clouds are arranged in such unique formation. Sunlight is reflected by those clouds, emitting a warm radiance to Tifa's heart. She watches the clouds solemnly, thinking of someone. Her mind flies to a scene where she caught her fiancée and her…love rival stood together at midnight in Cosmo Canyon (Author : refer to Ch.9 pleaseee…). They did not notice her because it was dark in the night. She only felt her heart torn apart when she witnessed that her love was being hugged by her love rival. She could only cried after that. Jealousies, uncertainty, love, were mixed inside her heart. She did not know what to do, yet she did not want to know. However, her love rival was also her best friend. She only ran to her room and cried, until she fell asleep. She was sleeping when she realized that someone had opened her room door quietly. She was just preparing for the worst, but to her surprise, that someone, absolutely male, did not do anything to her. She decided not to open her eyes or moved. The man who had just entered her room just knelt beside her bed. She then felt his hand caressed her cheek gently. It was so…gentle, so caring touch. Then, the man stood up and left her room quietly. Before the man closed the door, Tifa opened her eyes and tried to recognize the man without being noticed. Actually, she already knew who he was, but she wanted to make it sure. She could not see clearly in the dark, but as she noticed a spiky hair, she felt a peace embraced her heart. She wanted to call his name, but at second thought, she then let him close the door. That was enough for her, because she could sleep again after that, with smile formed on her face.
Tifa smiles as she recalls that event. She knows that he still loves her, but she also knows that he still has feeling to the other one. Tifa lets out a sigh and hopes that the time will come, a time where he loves only her as his true love.
…………
"Captain, what are you thinking about ?". Shera's soft voice brings Cid back from his daydreaming. Inhaling his cigar deeply, he then replies with low voice,
"Everything".
Shera gets closer to him. She takes a glance at steering device, and notices nothing out of ordinary.
"What are you going to do after this, Shera ?", Cid asks her. Shera gazes at him lovingly and replies, "Your men at Rocket Town deserve a better care since you left them to Midgar…and…me too…". Shera teases her captain. Cid coughs suddenly as he hears Shera's last two words. "What the $#@*& ??", he shouts to her, but he does not mean it. He is just startled. Shera never express her feeling clearly before.
"Nah…you're cursing again….how rude you are, Captain ! Cursing to woman who really cares about you so much !", again, Shera teases Cid. The Mighty Stubborn Bad-Ass Cid Highwind cannot say anything. However, his face grows crimson red. He blushes. Shera giggles. Nowadays, since Cid became nice to her, she likes to tease him. She did that not for nothing. She wanted to know what he tried to hide from her. Now her heart feels like singing as she uncovers his heart piece by piece. It seems everything will be by her side : Cid Highwind, along with his heart for her.
………….
A man gazes to the west horizon on Highwind's deck. The sunset shines on his tired face. He just stands there quietly for about half hour. He lets the evening wind plays along with his hair. His arms are folded in front of his chest. A lot of thoughts roam inside his mind. Until a few days ago since Meteor was defeated, his life was an ordinary life like the other people. Now, he has another tough experience. However, everything seems all of a sudden to him.
I never have thought that thing like this will be happened…What am I ? Who am I ? Why is it me, who must take care of such matter ? I cannot find the answer yet…Will Sephiroth be back again ? Or Jenova itself, perhaps ? We never know…However, life must go on…good and evil, darkness and light, those are things that will last forever…
"Cloud…", a voice calls the man, Cloud, from behind. Without turning his head, Cloud knows who the caller is.
"Vincent, your cold voice will surely never change, don't you ?", Cloud responses with a bit of sigh. This time, he wants to be on his own, alone.
"I know what you're thinking about", Vincent steps to Cloud's side. As his eyes catch the sunset, he adds, "You were thinking about everything that has just happened, right ?". Cloud does not reply. He only nods slightly. Vincent does not need to hear the answer. He knows it already. Again, he asks with cold tone, "Have you decided about…her ?". This question makes Cloud startled. Vincent is asking him right to the point. Without waiting for response, Vincent continues with sharp tone,
"Sooner or later, you have to decide which one, otherwise, you will make them both hurt !".
After that, he spins his body and walks toward inside, leaves Cloud on the deck. Cloud only shakes his head. Amongst the others, only Vincent cares about his personal problem, although Vincent does it with his grave-attitude. After taking a deep breath, Cloud stares at the sunset again.
……
Planet…Planet….
Please reply me…
Am I doing the right thing ?
What is your plan to me ?
This is too much for me….
Why must I be back to life ? To watch myself suffer ? I love him…with all of my heart…but I cannot have him…His heart is too far away from me…He is already someone's else…Now my fate turned that I must be close to him, but not his heart…It hurts me a lot…a lot….
With a sad look, Aeris sweeps Red's head fur. Red XIII looks at her with concerned look. He has been accompanying Aeris for about an hour. Actually Aeris did not ask him to, but Red knew that the flower lady needed a companion, even though they just kept quiet after that. Being Shinra's specimen along with her made them felt closer to each other because they ever suffered the same pain, the same fate.
"You…still love him…don't you ?", Red asks her although he already knows the answer. Still in sad face, Aeris nods as reply. "Truly with all my heart", she then adds. Red stares into her emerald green eyes. "Do you still feel unfairness that falls upon you ?", Red asks again. Aeris forces herself to smile, she then stands up and walks over Red, approaching the window. There, she gazes to the sky. Red watches her, waits for her reply with patient.
"Yes", she finally replies with faint voice. Red XIII feels concerned to see the woman in front of him. She used to be a nice, caring, and warm person. She always tried to cheer up the others, but now she is downhearted, and nobody can cheer her up. This thought makes Red shakes his head.
Nobody can bring her up…he thinks, nobody…except him….
"Aeris, take your own time, I don't want to ruin your moment", with a deep voice, Red speaks to her. He then turns back and walks toward door. He knows he is not needed in this place anymore. Aeris really needs her own time.
"Just remember", Red stops for a moment before completely goes out from the room. "There will be a way…there will be. That's why Planet revived you again, to let you find your way…in this life…". Red then continues his step and in short time, he is completely out of sight.
Aeris takes a deep breath. There will be a way…that's why Planet revived me..to let me find my own way in this life….she repeats Red's words inside her mind. She keeps quiet for a moment, and finally, a smile is formed on her beautiful face.
THE END
AUTHOR'S POST-STORY NOTE :
Well…finally, this fanfic comes to 'THE END'. At first design, I never thought that this fanfic will be 14 chapters length, including prologue and epilogue. As grand design, I planned to write fanfics with different titles, but they are related to each other. It is like a Star Wars trilogy, perhaps. On the way writing this fanfic, I often met a better idea than I had before, and I decided to write it instead of my previous plot. I hoped my newly-found idea would add more spice to this fanfic ! As the result, my fanfic went longer than I expected, but I still kept on writing and writing…..yeaaa !!!
I want to thank for everyone who read my fanfic, and I send my deepest gratitude to those who submitted review. I really appreciate them !! Thank you, readers !!
Oh, by the way, do you notice that the love triangle is still retained ? ^_^ I did that because I didn't intend to have Cloud make decision on this fanfic. I AM true CloRis, for sure (how about that, AnimeBunny ? ^_^), but after have some thinking, I conclude CloTif also deserves some place…hehehehehe…I got confused, how to overcome this, but I found a way at last. No, don't ever think that Cloud is going to leave them both (I'm not kind of that type !! How cruel !!) or someone will take place over Cloud, no no no no….big mistake ! The answer lies within my incoming new fanfic : Lay Your Heart On Me, which I will upload sooner. I promise ! Please check it out, and …one more review on this fanfic, pleasseeee ?? ^_^
PS : I changed my email to ndhuts@yahoo.com , of course ndhuts@hotmail.com still exists, but from now on, I will use ndhuts@yahoo.com
