Cloud's conciousness faded in and out. He knew he was gone. Nothing could
save him now. Did he even deserve to be saved? Slowly, his eyelids
drooped. His chocobo had succumbed to the cold a while back, and now he
struggled to just hold on to life. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came
from the direction of the crater. Cloud felt himself being blown backward,
what was left of his equipment flying off. He now lay in the snow, half
dead, and with nothing to help him. His last thoughts were of Tifa before
he passed out. One thing you don't do in Great Glacier is pass out.
Tifa ran quickly to the front door of her house, hoping it was Cloud. With every step she took, she whispered his name, and it grew in volume the closer she got. When she ran past the TV, Cid and Vincent bolted up, yelling about Cloud. Kris sat in her easy chair, not showing too much interest in the door at all. The Price is Wrong was on TV, she wasn't getting up. Tifa got to the door, and flung it open.
"Cloud?!" she yelled, looking at the man standing there. He held a long package wrapped in cloth.
"No ma'am, just a package from Icicle Inn. Please sign here." said the man, apologetically. Tifa quickly signed for it, then slammed the door, running back the the TV room. Tifa threw the package down on the table, gleefully expecting a present or a message or something from Cloud, he'd been gone almost 8 weeks. Tifa tore open the card that lay on top of the clothed item before taking off the wrapping. It was a somber note.
"Dear Ms. Lockeheart, one week ago, on January 18th, a man passed through our town. His name was Cloud, the same man who had came here many times, with you and another person. He was riding a Black Chocobo. We warned him of the increasingly bad weather at the peak, but he was determinded to return there, one last time. He said he needed closure about the Crater incidents before he could ever attempt to find the one he lost. He was mumbling very odd, almost to himself. Cloud was always staring off, at nothing most of the time. Well, Ms. Lockeheart, there is no easy way to say this. On the 25th, Cloud's chocobo rode into town, carrying what we guessed was most of his equipment. We couldn't stop it, and it shed most of his stuff and ran into the wild. Worried about Cloud, we sent a large search party. We made it all the way to the crater, searched everywhere we could, but only found this. I'm sorry. He was a great man, and there is nothing we could do to ever make it better."
By the end of the note, Tifa's eyes were dripping with tears. She knew it was not good. Cloud was dead, or lost, or both. Trembling, she unwrapped the package. It was the Yoshiyuki. She screamed in agony, her heart going completely numb. Her head collapsed into her knees, and she lay there, sobbing intensely. Kris had picked up the note, read it and passed it on. Kris' gentle comfortings were meaninglss, nothing could help Tifa. Vincent stared off into oblivion. Nothing he could say would help at all. After Cid read it, he bolted up, threw his cigarette on the ground, and attempted to storm out of the house.
"Hey! Where are you going?" asked Vincent, somberly.
"Fuck this. Cloud...he's friggin...God..." said Cid, hysterical. He kept grabbing his head and throwing his arms out, pacing. Quickly he took another cigarette and lit it. He remembered the first night he was ever alone with Cloud. It was the night he found out Cloud smoked too. He never would have pictured it. The physique and build of him just didn't portray his vile habit.
"Calm down. Go get your yourself a drink, find Shera. She'll help you." said Vincent, wishing Yuffi were here. But he only wished half heartedly, because she'd be bawling her eyes out. Cloud trusted her, even after she stole from them. They were very close.
"Godammit...why Cloud? I mean, he was the best of us. Why did he have to die? Just when Tifa was about to finally tell him. I know it. Don't attempt to deny it." said Cid, looking directly at Tifa's shocked face. "We all knew you loved him. Thing is, he loved you just as much. He told all of us, maybe not Kris, but all of the original AVALANCHE members. He just never knew that you did, and didn't want to fuck it all up. We had a pool going at one point, who would tell who. It got up to five thousand Gil before it got too pathetic to watch anymore." said Cid, occasionally stopping to take a drag of his cigarette. "I'm going, I need a drink, and Marlene'll be closing up the bar soon."
"Hey-wait!" said Vincent. He didn't care about Tifa knowing he smoked anymore. "Lemme get a cigarette Cid."
Cid threw a cigarette at him, and Vincent looked sheepishly where Tifa was laying. But she wasn't there. She had gone upstairs, and he could hear her crying. Poor girl...she's taking it so hard...thought Vincent.
Cloud's conciousness flooded back into him. He was alone, cold and half naked, lying in an organically shaped house. He recognized it as the city of the Ancients.
How the hell did I get here? he thought. Suddenly, the answer appeared before him. A green tendril of light shot out of the ground by the foot of his bed. He grabbed his shirt, laying on the ground, and walked over to it. Lifestream. But had it saved him?
"No." said a familiar, hauntingly beautiful voice. {Note-since this is a very emotion part of the story, if you have the midi of Aeris' theme from the game, play it now, it's the song that's played when thy put her body to rest-I am when wiriting it, and it's making it better.}
"Aer-Aeris?" aksed Cloud, his voice trembling and eyes watering. The tendril took form, the form of a young girl. She was wrapped in white linen, looking very angelic. The green faded, color spilling over the form.
"Yes...Cloud...I'm speaking through the lifestream...I saved you." said Aeris, giggling slightly in her cute little way.
"Why? Why did you save me, but not yourself? Why did you leave me with just memories, things to attempt to remember you by. I loved you Aeris, and I let you get killed. Why save me? I'm worthless." said Cloud, sobbing.
"Cloud...your too hard on yourself." said Aeris, calmly trying to rationalize. "You didn't die, because it wasn't your time. Nothing in this world would have changed for the better had you died. The team would have lost contact. You are one of the last threads holding them together. Constant fighting and distance is tearing them up. As for my death, it was for two reasons. I knew neither at the time, but I thought I was killed because I was incompetent. I couldn't protect anyone, let alone to the planet. Basically the way you feel now. But the planet changed all that. When I was melded into the lifestream, the very knowledge of the planet flooded into me. I knew...the reason I died was to protect you. Holy cannot be summoned without the ultimate sacrifice being made by humanity. At the time, Sephiroth thought he was being controlled by Jenova...this will be explained later. But the planet itself was controlling Spehiroth when he took my life. The planet thought that I was that sacrifice. To it's protectors, it was. The planet itself had a decision to make, and if it made the wrong decision, Holy would not move. But as I was the last Ancient, I was that sacrifice." said Aeris, pausing every couple of mintues.
"Aeris...is that what you think? You died because your bloodlines made you the most important human? You were the most important thing to us because of you...you held us together. Not one of us ever had a bad thought about you. Never once have I ever heard you say a bad thing about anyone or anything. You were the most important thing to us, and the planet, because of you. The planet also loved you just as much as we did. After all, you are the first ever person to re-fertalize Midgar. That had to help it out." said Cloud, eyes welled up in tears, while showing half a smile.
Aeris giggled slightly. "I know...thank you, but I know. But Cloud, one more thing before I go."
"Same here. I'd like to ask first though." said Cloud, and Aeris nodded. "You said there was two reasons you died. What was the second?"
"You always were keen on details. That is what I was going to say. After I reached the lifestream, I found your mother, and my mother, Ifalna, and talked to them for a long while." said Aeris. Her visionary appearance was flickering, the color fading.
"Aeris! No!" yelled Cloud.
"Shut up and let me finish, my seconds are precious!" said Aeris, waving his concerns away. "I died, for you...and Tifa. The love brooding between you two was from long ago, and I could not interfere. As perfect as we supposedly were for eachother, I couldn't do it. I loved you, so very much. Nothing in my life was more important to me. But, you had been getting too close to me. You were falling for me, forgetting about Tifa. I believe, that is one of the reasons the planet called me home. I asked about it, nothing answered, so I know I'm right. Now Cloud, I need you to go. Leave this place, find Tifa. Express how you feel. Tell her, she'll answer just in the way you hope she would." Aeris' form began to fall apart, it was now completely green.
"Aeris...thank you...I...love you...please always remember me." said Cloud, breaking up. He couldn't bear to see her go again.
"Goodbye Cloud...I'll see you again...sooner than you think, if I'm correct on a few things..." said Aeris. Her voice was distant and echoing. Cloud broke down, falling to his knees in tears. The last bits of lifestream formed into Aeris' face and hands. It lifted Cloud's head, he gasped a little. Aeris pulled herself into him, their lips touching. They sat there, kissing, for only a few seconds before what was left of Aeris' form faded. Cloud pulled his knees to his chin, and drifted back to sleep, thinking of Aeris. Suddenly, Tifa burst into his thoughts.
"Go to her..." said a low, sweet angelic voice. Aeris' parting wish.
Tifa sat at one of the tables, crying. Nothing was bringing Cloud back.
Look at the bright side, thought Tifa, at least he's with his true love. Aeris probably missed him a lot.
Tifa pushed the thought of Cloud with her out of her head. She always wanted Cloud. Now Aeris, her best friend, was with him, though they were in the lifestream. She pushed those thoughts out too. Aeris didn't do this. It was not for her to decide who takes the blame. Tifa sunk into her knees. She was alone, the bar empty. Everyone else was at home. Tifa smiled a little. Cid had told her about Barrett. Suddenly, the little bell above the door rang. Somebody was coming in. Vincent and Yuffie. Like she needed to see a couple right now.
"Hi Teef. I heard...I'm really sorry...no one deserves to find out like that." said Yuffie. She wasn't good at these kind of things, and it showed. But any sympathy was good sympathy.
"There is nothing we could ev-" started Vincent.
"er do to help, but we'd like to try. Ya know how many times I've heard that lately. No one knows the size of the whole Cloud left in my heart. I barely feel anything anymore. I haven't been this hurt since I returned to Nibelheim to find my entire family dead. But theres nothing you can do to help. Cloud is gone. I don't care if Cid scours all of the Great Glacier. He'll never find him. Cid is wasting his time." said Tifa, eyes burning like twin embers.
"I'm sorry you feel that way Teef..." said Yuffie. Yuffie turned to Vincent, and started up a conversation, quietly. Tifa turned to stare at the door.
"Cloud..." she muttered.
"Vincent turned towards her, and turned away. "Poor girl..." he muttered.
"Cloud..." muttered Tifa again.
"WE miss him too ya know...repeating his name won't bring him back"
"Cloud!" said Tifa, pointing at the door. The bright light of the setting sun silouetted a medium build man. His hair stood on end, and his green eyes flashed in the light. Tifa jumped up, and ran to him. He caught her, and spun her around in her arms. He stared into her eyes when they stopped, and Cloud leaned in. Their lips made a small spark of static eletrcity when they touched, but neither notcied. Their own electricity was filling the room.
"Yuff, let's go. We have to find Cid and the others..." said Vincent. Yuffie had to be dragged out, she finally got to witness them together. Cloud broke the kiss, and stared into her eyes.
"Teef...I love you...so much" he whispered.
"I know...I always have...some how...I love you too Cloud." said Tifa, resting her head on his chest. Cloud picked her up, and carried her upstairs to her bed. They both needed sleep.
"What happened to you..." said Teef, as she was being carried upstairs. "They said you died."
"I'll explain...let's just say I had a visitor, who taught me a few things about my life." said Cloud, and Aeris' smiling face suddenly entered his mind.
Thank you... he thought.
"You're very welcome..." Cloud thought he heard.
It's not done, but I've neglected it for a while, and thought I should update in a big way. Expect 4 in about a week.
Tifa ran quickly to the front door of her house, hoping it was Cloud. With every step she took, she whispered his name, and it grew in volume the closer she got. When she ran past the TV, Cid and Vincent bolted up, yelling about Cloud. Kris sat in her easy chair, not showing too much interest in the door at all. The Price is Wrong was on TV, she wasn't getting up. Tifa got to the door, and flung it open.
"Cloud?!" she yelled, looking at the man standing there. He held a long package wrapped in cloth.
"No ma'am, just a package from Icicle Inn. Please sign here." said the man, apologetically. Tifa quickly signed for it, then slammed the door, running back the the TV room. Tifa threw the package down on the table, gleefully expecting a present or a message or something from Cloud, he'd been gone almost 8 weeks. Tifa tore open the card that lay on top of the clothed item before taking off the wrapping. It was a somber note.
"Dear Ms. Lockeheart, one week ago, on January 18th, a man passed through our town. His name was Cloud, the same man who had came here many times, with you and another person. He was riding a Black Chocobo. We warned him of the increasingly bad weather at the peak, but he was determinded to return there, one last time. He said he needed closure about the Crater incidents before he could ever attempt to find the one he lost. He was mumbling very odd, almost to himself. Cloud was always staring off, at nothing most of the time. Well, Ms. Lockeheart, there is no easy way to say this. On the 25th, Cloud's chocobo rode into town, carrying what we guessed was most of his equipment. We couldn't stop it, and it shed most of his stuff and ran into the wild. Worried about Cloud, we sent a large search party. We made it all the way to the crater, searched everywhere we could, but only found this. I'm sorry. He was a great man, and there is nothing we could do to ever make it better."
By the end of the note, Tifa's eyes were dripping with tears. She knew it was not good. Cloud was dead, or lost, or both. Trembling, she unwrapped the package. It was the Yoshiyuki. She screamed in agony, her heart going completely numb. Her head collapsed into her knees, and she lay there, sobbing intensely. Kris had picked up the note, read it and passed it on. Kris' gentle comfortings were meaninglss, nothing could help Tifa. Vincent stared off into oblivion. Nothing he could say would help at all. After Cid read it, he bolted up, threw his cigarette on the ground, and attempted to storm out of the house.
"Hey! Where are you going?" asked Vincent, somberly.
"Fuck this. Cloud...he's friggin...God..." said Cid, hysterical. He kept grabbing his head and throwing his arms out, pacing. Quickly he took another cigarette and lit it. He remembered the first night he was ever alone with Cloud. It was the night he found out Cloud smoked too. He never would have pictured it. The physique and build of him just didn't portray his vile habit.
"Calm down. Go get your yourself a drink, find Shera. She'll help you." said Vincent, wishing Yuffi were here. But he only wished half heartedly, because she'd be bawling her eyes out. Cloud trusted her, even after she stole from them. They were very close.
"Godammit...why Cloud? I mean, he was the best of us. Why did he have to die? Just when Tifa was about to finally tell him. I know it. Don't attempt to deny it." said Cid, looking directly at Tifa's shocked face. "We all knew you loved him. Thing is, he loved you just as much. He told all of us, maybe not Kris, but all of the original AVALANCHE members. He just never knew that you did, and didn't want to fuck it all up. We had a pool going at one point, who would tell who. It got up to five thousand Gil before it got too pathetic to watch anymore." said Cid, occasionally stopping to take a drag of his cigarette. "I'm going, I need a drink, and Marlene'll be closing up the bar soon."
"Hey-wait!" said Vincent. He didn't care about Tifa knowing he smoked anymore. "Lemme get a cigarette Cid."
Cid threw a cigarette at him, and Vincent looked sheepishly where Tifa was laying. But she wasn't there. She had gone upstairs, and he could hear her crying. Poor girl...she's taking it so hard...thought Vincent.
Cloud's conciousness flooded back into him. He was alone, cold and half naked, lying in an organically shaped house. He recognized it as the city of the Ancients.
How the hell did I get here? he thought. Suddenly, the answer appeared before him. A green tendril of light shot out of the ground by the foot of his bed. He grabbed his shirt, laying on the ground, and walked over to it. Lifestream. But had it saved him?
"No." said a familiar, hauntingly beautiful voice. {Note-since this is a very emotion part of the story, if you have the midi of Aeris' theme from the game, play it now, it's the song that's played when thy put her body to rest-I am when wiriting it, and it's making it better.}
"Aer-Aeris?" aksed Cloud, his voice trembling and eyes watering. The tendril took form, the form of a young girl. She was wrapped in white linen, looking very angelic. The green faded, color spilling over the form.
"Yes...Cloud...I'm speaking through the lifestream...I saved you." said Aeris, giggling slightly in her cute little way.
"Why? Why did you save me, but not yourself? Why did you leave me with just memories, things to attempt to remember you by. I loved you Aeris, and I let you get killed. Why save me? I'm worthless." said Cloud, sobbing.
"Cloud...your too hard on yourself." said Aeris, calmly trying to rationalize. "You didn't die, because it wasn't your time. Nothing in this world would have changed for the better had you died. The team would have lost contact. You are one of the last threads holding them together. Constant fighting and distance is tearing them up. As for my death, it was for two reasons. I knew neither at the time, but I thought I was killed because I was incompetent. I couldn't protect anyone, let alone to the planet. Basically the way you feel now. But the planet changed all that. When I was melded into the lifestream, the very knowledge of the planet flooded into me. I knew...the reason I died was to protect you. Holy cannot be summoned without the ultimate sacrifice being made by humanity. At the time, Sephiroth thought he was being controlled by Jenova...this will be explained later. But the planet itself was controlling Spehiroth when he took my life. The planet thought that I was that sacrifice. To it's protectors, it was. The planet itself had a decision to make, and if it made the wrong decision, Holy would not move. But as I was the last Ancient, I was that sacrifice." said Aeris, pausing every couple of mintues.
"Aeris...is that what you think? You died because your bloodlines made you the most important human? You were the most important thing to us because of you...you held us together. Not one of us ever had a bad thought about you. Never once have I ever heard you say a bad thing about anyone or anything. You were the most important thing to us, and the planet, because of you. The planet also loved you just as much as we did. After all, you are the first ever person to re-fertalize Midgar. That had to help it out." said Cloud, eyes welled up in tears, while showing half a smile.
Aeris giggled slightly. "I know...thank you, but I know. But Cloud, one more thing before I go."
"Same here. I'd like to ask first though." said Cloud, and Aeris nodded. "You said there was two reasons you died. What was the second?"
"You always were keen on details. That is what I was going to say. After I reached the lifestream, I found your mother, and my mother, Ifalna, and talked to them for a long while." said Aeris. Her visionary appearance was flickering, the color fading.
"Aeris! No!" yelled Cloud.
"Shut up and let me finish, my seconds are precious!" said Aeris, waving his concerns away. "I died, for you...and Tifa. The love brooding between you two was from long ago, and I could not interfere. As perfect as we supposedly were for eachother, I couldn't do it. I loved you, so very much. Nothing in my life was more important to me. But, you had been getting too close to me. You were falling for me, forgetting about Tifa. I believe, that is one of the reasons the planet called me home. I asked about it, nothing answered, so I know I'm right. Now Cloud, I need you to go. Leave this place, find Tifa. Express how you feel. Tell her, she'll answer just in the way you hope she would." Aeris' form began to fall apart, it was now completely green.
"Aeris...thank you...I...love you...please always remember me." said Cloud, breaking up. He couldn't bear to see her go again.
"Goodbye Cloud...I'll see you again...sooner than you think, if I'm correct on a few things..." said Aeris. Her voice was distant and echoing. Cloud broke down, falling to his knees in tears. The last bits of lifestream formed into Aeris' face and hands. It lifted Cloud's head, he gasped a little. Aeris pulled herself into him, their lips touching. They sat there, kissing, for only a few seconds before what was left of Aeris' form faded. Cloud pulled his knees to his chin, and drifted back to sleep, thinking of Aeris. Suddenly, Tifa burst into his thoughts.
"Go to her..." said a low, sweet angelic voice. Aeris' parting wish.
Tifa sat at one of the tables, crying. Nothing was bringing Cloud back.
Look at the bright side, thought Tifa, at least he's with his true love. Aeris probably missed him a lot.
Tifa pushed the thought of Cloud with her out of her head. She always wanted Cloud. Now Aeris, her best friend, was with him, though they were in the lifestream. She pushed those thoughts out too. Aeris didn't do this. It was not for her to decide who takes the blame. Tifa sunk into her knees. She was alone, the bar empty. Everyone else was at home. Tifa smiled a little. Cid had told her about Barrett. Suddenly, the little bell above the door rang. Somebody was coming in. Vincent and Yuffie. Like she needed to see a couple right now.
"Hi Teef. I heard...I'm really sorry...no one deserves to find out like that." said Yuffie. She wasn't good at these kind of things, and it showed. But any sympathy was good sympathy.
"There is nothing we could ev-" started Vincent.
"er do to help, but we'd like to try. Ya know how many times I've heard that lately. No one knows the size of the whole Cloud left in my heart. I barely feel anything anymore. I haven't been this hurt since I returned to Nibelheim to find my entire family dead. But theres nothing you can do to help. Cloud is gone. I don't care if Cid scours all of the Great Glacier. He'll never find him. Cid is wasting his time." said Tifa, eyes burning like twin embers.
"I'm sorry you feel that way Teef..." said Yuffie. Yuffie turned to Vincent, and started up a conversation, quietly. Tifa turned to stare at the door.
"Cloud..." she muttered.
"Vincent turned towards her, and turned away. "Poor girl..." he muttered.
"Cloud..." muttered Tifa again.
"WE miss him too ya know...repeating his name won't bring him back"
"Cloud!" said Tifa, pointing at the door. The bright light of the setting sun silouetted a medium build man. His hair stood on end, and his green eyes flashed in the light. Tifa jumped up, and ran to him. He caught her, and spun her around in her arms. He stared into her eyes when they stopped, and Cloud leaned in. Their lips made a small spark of static eletrcity when they touched, but neither notcied. Their own electricity was filling the room.
"Yuff, let's go. We have to find Cid and the others..." said Vincent. Yuffie had to be dragged out, she finally got to witness them together. Cloud broke the kiss, and stared into her eyes.
"Teef...I love you...so much" he whispered.
"I know...I always have...some how...I love you too Cloud." said Tifa, resting her head on his chest. Cloud picked her up, and carried her upstairs to her bed. They both needed sleep.
"What happened to you..." said Teef, as she was being carried upstairs. "They said you died."
"I'll explain...let's just say I had a visitor, who taught me a few things about my life." said Cloud, and Aeris' smiling face suddenly entered his mind.
Thank you... he thought.
"You're very welcome..." Cloud thought he heard.
It's not done, but I've neglected it for a while, and thought I should update in a big way. Expect 4 in about a week.