Standard disclaimer: I own no Final Fantasy characters. (on the flip side, none of them own me either so I guess it works out. I originally posed this as my first story. Somehow, I accidentally deleted it so, here it is again.)
Red XIII:
Cloud surprised me today. I actually saw him and got a chance to talk to him for the first time in three years. The rumors that I had been getting from the others turned out to be true. He was definitely a changed man. Walking into town the way he did. Alone and hidden by his own shadow, when I first saw him my more base instincts told me to be afraid. He's gotten a lot darker since we saved the planet and went our separate ways. Granted he wasn't exactly cheerful before but the stories didn't even do justice to him now. You can tell just by looking at the man that he's been thoroughly and utterly defeated. Permanent darkness shrouds him much as does the ragged cape he has taken to wearing about his neck and lower face. Anyone else would have turned and fled but we were old friends. He sat down and talked with me for a while. He didn't ask what I was doing these days and I didn't ask about him. It was if the present no longer mattered. We sat and talked about old times and our adventures together. We told almost every story either of us had that didn't involve Sephiroth of Aeris. For a few brief moments he seemed to cheer up. But only briefly. Then he went back to his impossible quest. To bring back a loved one that had died more than three years ago.
Barret Wallace
Man, Cloud's acting funny. I never realized how messed up he was after her death. I mean, we all saw him. He was hurt bad and I got the feeling was hurting even more than he let on. But this is just screwed up! Tifa came back the other day after , what was it?, a few months. We all knew that he was going traveling. Said he wanted to find a way to bring her back. So, this is what I get out of it, he been tracking down every rumor, every quack that says he can bring back the dead or talk with them or anything thin' like that. I mean, I was as sorry ta' see her go as anyone but, ya' gotta move on. I understand how it can take a while myself. But man, when is too much too much?
Cait Sith
It's funny how late at night your mind can start thinking about things that you had tried to forget. I guess that's my fault however. After our group had split up several months ago, I asked for mementos from each of them to help me remember them by. On the shelves next to my old Cait Sith robot is one of Vincent's guns, an old wrench of Cid's, one of Red's combs, and other knickknacks. Believe it or not, even a low-level materia from Yuffie. The collection is probably what got me thinking. I don't have anything to remember Aeris with. Or rather nothing physical. I really doubt that any of us will ever forget how she died. Especially Cloud. None of us would admit it at that point but that changed everything for us. Granted we had all seen our share of pain and suffering but we trudged on with a deep-rooted notion that we were invincible and nothing could ever hurt us. Sephiroth killed her. With one stroke of his sword Sephiroth made all our worlds a much darker place to live. A place were bad things happen to the greatest of people. And she was the greatest of us all. Even for the little time I knew her I could tell. I hear that Cloud is about to start another journey. Somehow he believes he can bring her back. I wish we could too. But perhaps Tifa will be able to talk since into him........I think I'll pick a fresh flower tomorrow and keep it in her place.
Yuffie Kisaragi
It's just ,like, not fair! We saved the world here, people. There should be happiness and celebrations and all sorts of fun stuff, ya' know? But there isn't! It's not like fair! But I don't think anyone really wants to celebrate now? 'Cause after all this, any partying we did would be for all of us. And we're not all here anymore! And that's the worst part of all. Aeris deserves the credit. She's the one that died. It's just, not fair! She was just so loveable (and don't get me wrong l didn't feel that way about her!) and Sephiroth killed her. OOOOhhhhh I wish he was till alive so we could kill him again. But Cloud's still got us right? I mean, it's not like he has any choice but to move on, right?
Vincent Valentine
I do not wish to associate with the others more than need be and since I neither want to speak nor keep my piece about what is bothering me, I shall write it down here. Our journey draws itself to a close. Soon we must face Sephiroth for the final time. What I worry about is if the team will be able to handle it, since her death in what is probably a shorter time ago than it seems. She didn't deserve this. She was a brilliant flower picked from a sea of darkness. And like a flower, she could not survive once uprooted. There is much pain here now. Pain in all of us. As if the team itself has lost it's heart. Cloud seems to be left heart broken. I wish I could have mourned that way for Lucretia, but she was dead when I awoke. There are times when he looks out at the sunset or sees a patch of wild flowers and stops dead. Those are the times that I reach to him. I stand at his side not saying a word. I believe he understands. One day he too will move on.
Cid Highwind
It's been three days and already it don't seem right anymore. $%#@% that! It's just down right #$@%-up! I mean she just ain't here no &*$%*% more. She should be here trying ta' comfort Barret. Or maybe talking with Tifa. !!#&%!@!! she could even be scold me fer cussing to damn much. It ain't %$#%&$ right! I keep 'xpecting her ta' come runnin' up with some more wild flower she found and showin' 'em off ta' Cloud. Hmph. Now there's a sad sack these days. Ya' don't even really see him talk much no more. Just stares off into the sky like he's waiting fer something. And o' course none of us can do a damned @$%#$@&!-ing thing ta help him. He don't even mention her no more even when we can pull a couple of words out a' him. It's like there's a dead weight hanging over us.....ah man. Damned. Didn't mean ta' put it that way.
Tifa Lockheart
Aeris, I'm not sure you can hear me but please please please please survive this. I'll do anything! Anything! Cloud is all yours! I'll step out of the way! I promise! I know that you probably can't hear me and maybe I'm just saying this to help myself but I just can't face it now! I can't go back into that room! Because if I do I'll see you dying! Dying? Are you already dead? It been hours since he stabbed you...hours. Why haven't they brought you out yet? WHY?!! Don't they see that if they got you to a hospital or a healer or....................You're not going to make it are you? I'm sorry I wasn't nicer to you! I'M SORRY! Please forgive me! Please!..........I guess...I guess I'll have to be strong......try to cheer Cloud up. Don't worry Aeris. I'll protect him for you.......
Cloud Strife
The sword passed through her and killed us both. Never again. I reached for her. I noted Sephiroth was still talking to me but I can't really hear him anymore. I think I said something to him. I know I vowed to kill him. But not right now. Right now, she still had a few moments of life left in her and I wanted them. It was her last moments, I had to spend them with her. I didn't care about anyone else right now. I think that if Sephiroth chose that moment to kill men I would have went. But for now, I had to make sure she went happily. Her life was sapping away in my arms. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright, but I couldn't. I didn't want to lie to her. Not even now. She tried to talk to be but no sounds came out. Then she smiled. A sad smile. A weak smile. Her last smile. Tear burst from my eyes. I couldn't recall the last time I cried, if ever. I tried to wipe my tearstains off her dress and noticed that she had stopped breathing. I looked in her eyes for the last time and told her I loved her. Then she passed away taking the best of who I was with her.
Aeris Gainsborough
I didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. that was what I wish I could have told them if I had still possessed the strength to speak. I was dying but not in vain. my friends would now be able to save the world. now Sephiroth is drawing the sword back out of me. I can't feel it. I only feel sad. I feel sorry for Cloud. I wished he didn't have to see this. I wished he didn't have to be here. If there was anything I regret it was hurting him. Please don't be sad Cloud. Now he's leaning over me. I can no longer feel my arms or my legs but I feel his tears falling on my face. I wish it didn't have to be this way. Now he's picking me up. His eyes. There's something wrong about them now. His eyes always had a certain hopefulness behind him. Despite everything. I can't see that light anymore. he whispers something to me. I can't hear it. my vision is fading away. I'm leaving the world and my friends now. goodbye everybody. you were the best friends a I could have ever asked for. I'm sorry cloud. I love you.
Sephiroth
I sat there and watched. I held his strings in my hands and moved him like a puppet, and yet he broke free. A temporary victory at the best. He must have been so proud of himself, but in a mere a few seconds she'll be dead anyway. No one opposes me. My lips curve into an all too infrequent smile as I think about what legacy she leaves in the world. Her will have been a short life. Quickly forgotten. She will have left nothing. I do hope they cry out her name in pain and desperation because I must admit, I have forgotten it.
Red XIII:
Cloud surprised me today. I actually saw him and got a chance to talk to him for the first time in three years. The rumors that I had been getting from the others turned out to be true. He was definitely a changed man. Walking into town the way he did. Alone and hidden by his own shadow, when I first saw him my more base instincts told me to be afraid. He's gotten a lot darker since we saved the planet and went our separate ways. Granted he wasn't exactly cheerful before but the stories didn't even do justice to him now. You can tell just by looking at the man that he's been thoroughly and utterly defeated. Permanent darkness shrouds him much as does the ragged cape he has taken to wearing about his neck and lower face. Anyone else would have turned and fled but we were old friends. He sat down and talked with me for a while. He didn't ask what I was doing these days and I didn't ask about him. It was if the present no longer mattered. We sat and talked about old times and our adventures together. We told almost every story either of us had that didn't involve Sephiroth of Aeris. For a few brief moments he seemed to cheer up. But only briefly. Then he went back to his impossible quest. To bring back a loved one that had died more than three years ago.
Barret Wallace
Man, Cloud's acting funny. I never realized how messed up he was after her death. I mean, we all saw him. He was hurt bad and I got the feeling was hurting even more than he let on. But this is just screwed up! Tifa came back the other day after , what was it?, a few months. We all knew that he was going traveling. Said he wanted to find a way to bring her back. So, this is what I get out of it, he been tracking down every rumor, every quack that says he can bring back the dead or talk with them or anything thin' like that. I mean, I was as sorry ta' see her go as anyone but, ya' gotta move on. I understand how it can take a while myself. But man, when is too much too much?
Cait Sith
It's funny how late at night your mind can start thinking about things that you had tried to forget. I guess that's my fault however. After our group had split up several months ago, I asked for mementos from each of them to help me remember them by. On the shelves next to my old Cait Sith robot is one of Vincent's guns, an old wrench of Cid's, one of Red's combs, and other knickknacks. Believe it or not, even a low-level materia from Yuffie. The collection is probably what got me thinking. I don't have anything to remember Aeris with. Or rather nothing physical. I really doubt that any of us will ever forget how she died. Especially Cloud. None of us would admit it at that point but that changed everything for us. Granted we had all seen our share of pain and suffering but we trudged on with a deep-rooted notion that we were invincible and nothing could ever hurt us. Sephiroth killed her. With one stroke of his sword Sephiroth made all our worlds a much darker place to live. A place were bad things happen to the greatest of people. And she was the greatest of us all. Even for the little time I knew her I could tell. I hear that Cloud is about to start another journey. Somehow he believes he can bring her back. I wish we could too. But perhaps Tifa will be able to talk since into him........I think I'll pick a fresh flower tomorrow and keep it in her place.
Yuffie Kisaragi
It's just ,like, not fair! We saved the world here, people. There should be happiness and celebrations and all sorts of fun stuff, ya' know? But there isn't! It's not like fair! But I don't think anyone really wants to celebrate now? 'Cause after all this, any partying we did would be for all of us. And we're not all here anymore! And that's the worst part of all. Aeris deserves the credit. She's the one that died. It's just, not fair! She was just so loveable (and don't get me wrong l didn't feel that way about her!) and Sephiroth killed her. OOOOhhhhh I wish he was till alive so we could kill him again. But Cloud's still got us right? I mean, it's not like he has any choice but to move on, right?
Vincent Valentine
I do not wish to associate with the others more than need be and since I neither want to speak nor keep my piece about what is bothering me, I shall write it down here. Our journey draws itself to a close. Soon we must face Sephiroth for the final time. What I worry about is if the team will be able to handle it, since her death in what is probably a shorter time ago than it seems. She didn't deserve this. She was a brilliant flower picked from a sea of darkness. And like a flower, she could not survive once uprooted. There is much pain here now. Pain in all of us. As if the team itself has lost it's heart. Cloud seems to be left heart broken. I wish I could have mourned that way for Lucretia, but she was dead when I awoke. There are times when he looks out at the sunset or sees a patch of wild flowers and stops dead. Those are the times that I reach to him. I stand at his side not saying a word. I believe he understands. One day he too will move on.
Cid Highwind
It's been three days and already it don't seem right anymore. $%#@% that! It's just down right #$@%-up! I mean she just ain't here no &*$%*% more. She should be here trying ta' comfort Barret. Or maybe talking with Tifa. !!#&%!@!! she could even be scold me fer cussing to damn much. It ain't %$#%&$ right! I keep 'xpecting her ta' come runnin' up with some more wild flower she found and showin' 'em off ta' Cloud. Hmph. Now there's a sad sack these days. Ya' don't even really see him talk much no more. Just stares off into the sky like he's waiting fer something. And o' course none of us can do a damned @$%#$@&!-ing thing ta help him. He don't even mention her no more even when we can pull a couple of words out a' him. It's like there's a dead weight hanging over us.....ah man. Damned. Didn't mean ta' put it that way.
Tifa Lockheart
Aeris, I'm not sure you can hear me but please please please please survive this. I'll do anything! Anything! Cloud is all yours! I'll step out of the way! I promise! I know that you probably can't hear me and maybe I'm just saying this to help myself but I just can't face it now! I can't go back into that room! Because if I do I'll see you dying! Dying? Are you already dead? It been hours since he stabbed you...hours. Why haven't they brought you out yet? WHY?!! Don't they see that if they got you to a hospital or a healer or....................You're not going to make it are you? I'm sorry I wasn't nicer to you! I'M SORRY! Please forgive me! Please!..........I guess...I guess I'll have to be strong......try to cheer Cloud up. Don't worry Aeris. I'll protect him for you.......
Cloud Strife
The sword passed through her and killed us both. Never again. I reached for her. I noted Sephiroth was still talking to me but I can't really hear him anymore. I think I said something to him. I know I vowed to kill him. But not right now. Right now, she still had a few moments of life left in her and I wanted them. It was her last moments, I had to spend them with her. I didn't care about anyone else right now. I think that if Sephiroth chose that moment to kill men I would have went. But for now, I had to make sure she went happily. Her life was sapping away in my arms. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright, but I couldn't. I didn't want to lie to her. Not even now. She tried to talk to be but no sounds came out. Then she smiled. A sad smile. A weak smile. Her last smile. Tear burst from my eyes. I couldn't recall the last time I cried, if ever. I tried to wipe my tearstains off her dress and noticed that she had stopped breathing. I looked in her eyes for the last time and told her I loved her. Then she passed away taking the best of who I was with her.
Aeris Gainsborough
I didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. that was what I wish I could have told them if I had still possessed the strength to speak. I was dying but not in vain. my friends would now be able to save the world. now Sephiroth is drawing the sword back out of me. I can't feel it. I only feel sad. I feel sorry for Cloud. I wished he didn't have to see this. I wished he didn't have to be here. If there was anything I regret it was hurting him. Please don't be sad Cloud. Now he's leaning over me. I can no longer feel my arms or my legs but I feel his tears falling on my face. I wish it didn't have to be this way. Now he's picking me up. His eyes. There's something wrong about them now. His eyes always had a certain hopefulness behind him. Despite everything. I can't see that light anymore. he whispers something to me. I can't hear it. my vision is fading away. I'm leaving the world and my friends now. goodbye everybody. you were the best friends a I could have ever asked for. I'm sorry cloud. I love you.
Sephiroth
I sat there and watched. I held his strings in my hands and moved him like a puppet, and yet he broke free. A temporary victory at the best. He must have been so proud of himself, but in a mere a few seconds she'll be dead anyway. No one opposes me. My lips curve into an all too infrequent smile as I think about what legacy she leaves in the world. Her will have been a short life. Quickly forgotten. She will have left nothing. I do hope they cry out her name in pain and desperation because I must admit, I have forgotten it.