LAY YOUR HEART ON ME

AUTHOR'S NOTE :

Hi, it's me again. After I wrote Live Forever and Lasting For An Eternity, then here comes the final fanfic of my FF 7 trilogy !! On my previous fanfic (Lasting For An Eternity), I still retained the love triangle between Cloud – Tifa – Aeris. Now, I am going to settle that thing once and for all ^_^. I conclude that both girls deserve Cloud, but there supposed to be only one. I didn't know how to overcome this since I like both Aeris and Tifa. Finally, I decide to write two fanfics as sequel to Lasting For An Eternity, BUT these fanfics are different from the others. One fanfic is simply CloRis version, while the other one is CloTif version. Both of them "sit" together on the same "timeframe". So, the path you hope may be like this : you should read Live Forever first, then Lasting For An Eternity. After that, you decide : if you want to settle Cloud with Aeris, then read the CloRis version. Otherwise, if you believe that Cloud and Tifa should take place (since Cloud has proposed Tifa on my previous fanfic ^_^), you should check CloTif version ! With this approach, I hope I could serve CloRis and CloTif together ! About this fanfic, I am sorry I cannot tell you from the start which version this one is ( CloRis or CloTif  ). You may know by reading it ^_^

Chapter 1

THE EMERALD'S GRACE, THE BEAUTY OF RUBY

Cetra…

Silence.

Cetra….

Aeris, in middle of her sleep, starts to gain her consciousness and realize the voice.

Cetra…wake up….the time will come….

Huh ? Aeris cannot catch the voice rings inside her mind clearly.

The time…will come…..The mysterious voice reaches Aeris' mind again.

Yes, Planet ? Aeris asks. She finally opens her eyes. She was sleeping before when suddenly a mysterious yet familiar voice rang inside her head. Planet contacted her again. Aeris then wakes up from her bed and sits on the bedside. In her sleepy state, she still tries to concentrate on communicating with Planet.

Cetra...the time will come…prepare yourself….Again, Planet's voice comes to her mind.

Planet, what do you mean ? Aeris sends her response back. She does not understand why Planet contacted her at midnight, especially when she was sleeping.

You will soon understand what lies beneath….Planet replies her. Slowly, Planet's voice fades out from Aeris' mind. The communication is over. Aeris lets out her sigh and yawns because she still feels sleepy. She shakes her head, then stands up.

It happened again…she talks to herself in mind. She then walks toward the window. There, she can see a view of Midgar in the night. After a few moments, she starts to regain her thought. Her fingers unlock the window and push it open. A night wind blows softly on her beautiful face as the window is completely opened, playing her nightgown and her untied hair. Anyone ever sees her at that time will surely feels like seeing a graceful angel silhouette.

A cold wind…she thinks. However, she keeps the window open. It is very quiet outside. Aeris then stares at the Midgar's night sky and keeps quiet. Her mind flies to the event when she was resurrected and she cannot forget how happy she was at that time. Some moments after that, it had been revealed that her resurrection was not without a purpose. There was a price she had to pay, a fight against Sephiroth again. Fortunately, she still had her friends, The Avalanche, stood on her side. Together, they fought Sephiroth for the second time. It was a rematch battle between The Avalanche and Sephiroth after Meteor destruction. They won the battle, and now Sephiroth, with his Jenova cells, is truly eliminated from this world. At least, that is what they believe. She hopes they would not find any events threatening The Planet again. She really hopes that she could live her life normally although she does not know how she would do that.

It has been two weeks since Sephiroth was defeated again…What else happened ? This is the first time Planet contacted me again since that fight…Aeris talks to herself in her mind.

Planet told me to prepare myself…I can't understand what it means…Maybe I have to wait for another time to understand it…I should be prepared then…

Aeris takes a deep breath into her lungs, then lets her green emerald eyes stare again to the sky. She smiles as she remembers when she saw a fallen star, together with Cloud at Cosmo Canyon. She prayed at that time for other's safety, especially Cloud's. Looks like her pray come true, until now. She cannot forget how she savored that moment. She knew she could not be like old times, always close to Cloud. Cloud is now different, not on his personality, but much on his status. Remembering that event makes Aeris recall her another problem.

Cloud. Tifa.

The first name is always inside her head since she started to know him well, but both names stick to her brain every time since she knew that the man she loves has been engaged to her best friend. Aeris sighs again. It hurt her. It always hurts her deeply inside her heart. When she was alive, she felt on top of the world. She knew that Cloud would love her although he did not seem so, and she relied on her hope very much. She often showed to him and the others how she felt toward him. When Sephiroth murdered her, she felt her world was taken away abruptly because she must leave her friends and Cloud, and went to Lifestream, yet she knew that was her fate. Inside Lifestream, Aeris learned to leave Cloud to Tifa. She believed that Tifa would make him happy and alive, something she wanted to do badly which was also something she definitely could not do because of her fate. She had already accepted that circumstance, but suddenly Planet resurrected her. She gained her life back as well as her hope on Cloud. Although she knew she was being resurrected for a reason, she was overjoyed to have a chance to make her dream came true, to reach Cloud's heart. She was going to make it until she noticed an engagement ring put on her best friend's finger. Again, she felt fate played her well. However, deep inside her heart, she still loves him, and she still reserves a bit of hope that Cloud will be back to her.

Suddenly she shakes her head. She knows she was wrong. She cannot have a thought like that. She does not want to ruin other's happiness, especially her best friend's and her lover's. If they are happy, then it is enough for her. It must be enough.

What am I ? Who am I ? I was presumed to be dead, and who would wait for such a dead person ? Aeris mourns for herself. Cloud and Tifa deserve each other, they grew up together, and Cloud joined SOLDIER just to impress Tifa, right ? And now, he is going to be her husband…What else could make me think for other reason if it's not because he loves Tifa ? And Tifa…she is…she is my best friend, she is kind too, she will surely make Cloud happy…Yes, Tifa…not me…not a simple flower girl who came back from death…

Aeris folds her arms in front of her chest. Her face grows sad. Aeris knows she pretends herself that she will be all right. She knows the truth. She knows her own heart.

But…this feeling…I cannot forget him…I cannot ignore him..I..I just love him very much…Aeris lifts her head. Tears start streaming on her cheeks. She tries to depict Cloud on her mind. Imagining his Mako-blue eyes make her a little better. Be strong…Cloud…and be happy too…

With a graceful motion, she pulls back the window and shuts it. She feels tired now and needs to continue her sleep. Before she closes her eyelids, she once again looks at window glass to see the night sky.

I wonder if there will be a fallen star like I saw at Cosmo Canyon, because I have a wish…Aeris smiles a bit. I wish you, Cloud, Tifa,…friends….all of you will be happy for the rest of your life…and Cloud…I wish I could be together with you….maybe some other time…… After Aeris made her wish, she sleeps again with a better feeling. Some moments after she completely falls asleep, a beautiful silver light traverses Midgar's night sky.

"A fallen star…", Tifa mumbles to herself as she notices a long sparkling silver light along the starry sky. She is sitting on window frame inside her bedroom. Her eyes try to follow the path of the fallen star until it is vanished from her sight. She smiles.

People often tell to each other if someone makes a wish upon a falling star, then the wish will come true…Well, that's not too harmful to try…Tifa thinks for a moment to decide what wish would satisfy her. Finally her ruby eyes sparkle nicely.

"I wish…everybody reaches their dreams…and I…together with Cloud…will be married soon…and we will have everlasting happy marriage..", she makes her wish. After that, she chuckles. I hope that wasn't too many wishes…She chuckles again. After she is back to normal, she watches her finger, mainly at the ring that wraps it. She studies it carefully for some seconds with expression of joy and hope as well. Finally, her dream will come true. At least, half of it. The man she loves all the time finally gave her this ring along with his proposal to be his wife. She recalls how nervous he was when he made proposal. She never thought that he made it at last. After he put the ring on her finger, he also put another ring on his finger too. Surely, that was surprise for her, and the most precious gift she ever had. Tifa looks down at her nightgown, imagining how beautiful she will be when her gown turns to a white satin wedding gown. She will present her beauty to the man who deserves it. Cloud Strife. And to her excitement, those will be happened soon. She giggles a little when imagining how Cloud will be in his wedding suit, and she grows curious whether Cloud will let the wedding dresser "play around" with his spiky hair. Not being satisfied with those imaginations, she now imagines how her children would be. Yes, her and Cloud's children. Tifa's cheeks turn to crimson red. She blushes. Thinking about their future now becomes her activity when she is alone. Still smiling, she looks at her engagement ring again.

It has been two weeks since that fight…I hope we will not be in dangerous action anymore…I really want to live my life with Cloud in peace….

Tifa's memory flashes back into their last fight with Sephiroth. They were severely wounded, but two weeks rest suffices their needs. She remembers how she was very scared to see Cloud fought Sephiroth bravely, yet almost desperately. Cloud's wounds were the worst amongst them, but he was the fiercest on that fight. He was near-death indeed. When Cloud stayed inside Lifestream, her worried feeling grew to its peak, and it reached the maximum when Cloud fought Sephiroth alone inside Lifestream while the others, except Aeris, waited for him outside. Fortunately, her friends kept her mind cool so she did not act recklessly. She never imagined if something terrible happened on Cloud. She just could not do that. She felt like waiting for thousands years when finally Cloud jumped out from Lifestream just before the portal totally closed. Finally, they won, and she was very delighted to get her real Cloud back, alive. However, while in the battle, Tifa had a little concern about someone.

Aeris.

Her best friend. Her old love rival. She noticed that she was not the only one who worried about Cloud. Of course, Barret, Cid, Red, Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith, everyone was worried about him, but she, and Aeris, had different kind of worried feeling. It was much like a worried feeling because a special feeling toward the person, that was Cloud. She knew well how Aeris cared about Cloud's safety. She also captured Aeris' feeling to Cloud during the fight, it was reflected on how she looked at him and how hard she tried to protect Cloud. Tifa knew that, because she simply did that too, but because they were in the heat of the battle, she tended to ignore that for a while. Anyhow, that was completely Aeris' right to worry about Cloud.

After the fight was over and everyone took their time to heal their wounds, Tifa started to think about it over. She grew concerned that Aeris was still in love with Cloud. It was clear enough for her. Witnessing how close Aeris to Cloud were at Cosmo Canyon made her heart hurt. She wanted to pretend that Cloud had nothing special for Aeris, but Tifa could sense something. Cloud still had affection to Aeris, but that was still unclear to Tifa whether it was love feeling or something else. Tifa shakes her head. She hopes that she is wrong. She really hopes that.

"Cloud….Aeris….are you two meant to be together ? What about me ?", Tifa mutters her words alone in sad tone. She strokes some of her hair backwards and then gazes to the starry night. She remembers what Cait Sith said inside Ancient Cave about Cloud and Aeris. It also hurt her.

She often asks herself whether everything will be going like current circumstance if Aeris never get killed by Sephiroth. Of course she does not want Aeris die, but she realizes it comes with a price : their love competition. Tifa shakes her head again. She then remembers when incidentally Aeris knew her engagement with Cloud by noticing her engagement ring. She really did not know what to do at that time. She should act normally because she could show to her love rival that she won over her, but she could not do that. After all, her love rival was Aeris, who was also her best friend. Tifa really did not have a heart to do that. Fortunately, they both could suspend their personal matter during the struggle to save Planet for twice, but now, after everything is settled down normally, Tifa felt a bit awkward whenever she faces Aeris. Moreover, now Aeris stays with them.

I wonder how Cloud will act on such condition….Will he stay with me…or…Tifa cannot finish her words. She is too afraid to imagine her worst thing, even just to describe it with words. She bites her lower lip.

No…please…don't let it happen…please…Cloud…I can't live without you…

A breeze touches her. Tifa takes a deep inhale and lets out a sigh. She leaps down from her sitting position and closes the window.

Maybe I was too afraid, however, I still sense that he loves me…Tifa concludes her monologue. After closing the window, she walks to her bed.

Cloud…be with me…don't leave me…I love you…Tifa finally falls to the embrace of peaceful night sleep.