Several weeks have passed since Cloud died and the relentless work of the
team was keeping the heartless from entering the 1st district. There had
not been one death or transformation since the team started guarding the
town. Periodically Sora would return from his travels and come to say hello
and find out how they were getting on, but he could never stay for long
enough to be any real help. In some ways this annoyed Aerith after all he
was the keyblade master what was he doing to help? And her suspicions were
made even more complete by the fact that the number of people entering the
town everyday was increasing. But on the few times she expressed her
feelings she was taken to one side and told the same thing. "We are sorry
for your loss really we are, but Sora is doing the best he can." And this
was the reason that Aerith was getting more and more distracted during her
watches. Everyday she would go and sit at clouds grave and read him things
tell him stories and she always ended with 3 words "I love you." It was
however during one of her watches when she realized how stupid she was
being. This is not what cloud would do if the roles were reversed he would
be going out of his way to protect her gravesite and the others. He would
also be strong and keep the others happy and good spirited. But what was
she doing complaining and bringing the party moral down. She should be
ashamed of herself. And then for the first time in 3 weeks the door buckled
and the heartless poured through, slightly less than the last time but
still over 100 heartless a formidable force. But Aerith rising to her feet
walked calmly out to the center of the road and drew out her staff. The
heartless charged straight towards Aerith but she was ready for them. With
quick swings of her staff she sent them flying back and when they were on
the ground she unloaded blasts of magic setting them on fire and destroying
them. As Leon rounded the corner Lionheart in hand he suddenly saw the
sight he never thought he'd see. It was obvious to him Aerith had changed
and fairly recently. She was now focused and controlled she made no rash
decisions and kept her line never advancing or retreating as both could be
equally as lethal. The heartless were unrelenting and growing with strength
all the time. But Aerith was finally using all the skill she had learnt and
was defeating the heartless with relative ease; he decided he better stay
until he was sure the problem was cured. After a few minutes of fighting
the heartless retreated back into the 3rd district and Aerith closed the
door. "This door really needs barricading." She said in a voice of slight
irritation. "Well don't be lazy Leon get me some planks of wood nails and
some heavy object." Leon went bright red turned round and walked off
wondering how she could do that. It wasn't the first time she had done it
either she was almost impossible to creep up on. Later when Aerith was let
off duty she went to Clouds grave and while she was sitting there telling
him of her day and the brake in, she suddenly remembered something she had
once read in the great library of hollow bastion. She shouted, "I love
you." And the joy in her voice was obvious. She ran home and wanted to know
the second Sora got home. After 3 days of waiting Sora finally landed, he
had discovered a second Nav-gummi and was wondering where it led. Cid was
all over it he cheeked all his databases and spent some time searching for
it. During this time Sora told stories of his adventures and the team was
amazed just how many places there were they had not heard of or realized
existed. Aerith vowed that her plan would not failed she just had to ask
Sora one question. "Sora," she said "you said you had heard of a being with
fire spouting from his head and arms." "Yes I did." Said Sora "Can you take
me to him." Said Aerith. "Well maybe we could take a trip there," said Sora
"what do you think Donald? Goofy? "We should go," Quacked Donald "there is
a tournament on at the moment." "Then it's settled." Said Sora in a decided
voice "as soon as we get this gummi fixed on we'll go to the games."
Suddenly Cid said loudly "I knew it. You've found the gummi to hollow
bastion. Guys we can go home." "NO!" shouted Leon "We will not leave this
town whilst there are heartless here." This caused everybody to jump. Leon
usually kept himself to himself but now he was physically blocking them
from leaving. Aerith looked at him for an answer. And Leon said only
"Aerith go! But come back soon." Aerith's face lit up as she realized she
could finally put her plan into action. It was later that day when Cid had
finally installed the gummi Aerith was packed and ready for her trip. She
guessed she would need to find her own way back from the games but was
always ready to get a lift with Sora and company. Sora was busy spending
his Munny in the stores around the first district. He sure had a lot now
but she guessed he needed it and had earned it. After all he seemed to have
done a lot of great things recently. Including finding their home. And so
she tried not to be jealous of the fact that they could afford to buy new
equipment every few days and she could barely afford some flowers for the
house and Clouds grave. "How did Cloud cope with all this." She suddenly
thought out loud and to her embarrassment Sora was standing right behind
her. "What? How did he cope with what?" Sora asked. "Nothing." Lied Aerith
and wished she didn't have the tone of regret in her voice. "Well I thought
we could go put some flowers on Clouds grave." Said Sora almost as though
he had read her mind. "Yes please can we do that." Said Aerith and so they
went and bought some flowers and headed towards the grave. Something
shocked Aerith when they arrived at the Grave, where there had previously
only been a small head stone with some small writing scribbled on it and a
plane grass lawn, in which he had been buried, had changed. Now there was a
mass of flowers an arch over the now great headstone, which was being
worked on by some masons who were carving delicately onto the stone. And
there organizing the whole thing was the mayor. As she walked over he
turned and simply said, "We said we would give him a proper burial. And
this is the proper burial for a hero." Aerith noticed a nice new bench
placed at the side of the grave and placed her flowers on the grave its
self and then began to cry. The mayor noticing this ran over and asked,
"What's wrong? Please say you like it. We can change any of it! What don't
you like?" At which point Sora cut in and said, "I think she's just
overwhelmed I am sure she loves it." This was true she did love it and yet
she couldn't help but cry this infuriated her and yet even her anger could
not stop the tears. After a few minutes in the gravesite Aerith got up and
left, Sora followed her at a discrete pace and soon they all arrived at the
gummi ship. Aerith had dried her face and was back to her composed self;
she never thanked Sora although she meant to somehow she could never find a
way to. They boarded the gummi ship and she realized just how uncomfortable
Sora's life was. The cockpit was barely able to fit 3 people in let alone
all their equipment and now with her in as well the cockpit really was too
small. She considered asking them why they didn't upgrade but decided it
would be rude. And so she sat there in silence, the journey didn't take
very long thanks to the warp drive Cid had installed, she made a mental
note to thank Cid for this upgrade as if they had had to fly on standard
engines she would have probably gone crazy. She wanted to know how the 3
survived when flying long distances, she was sure that they would kill each
other one day. But soon the Stadium came into view. The thing was huge and
magnificent balanced on a sheet of clouds, she couldn't quite believe her
yes but still it looked like the descriptions she had read and therefore
was quite probably the right place. After a few minutes of circling the
structure they proceeded to land. The whole process took only a few minutes
but it felt to Aerith like hours, she tried to busy her self by getting her
equipment ready. It was at this time she wished she had brought more but
realized that on balance she would be better off with out any more stuff.
The landing sequence consisted of 3 parts, Aerith measured the time it took
to do each part and this made the time drag on. The second they landed
Aerith thanked Sora and Donald for piloting although she doubted they heard
over their arguing. And then she left for the main entrance; the doors were
huge but weighed almost nothing and so with the lightest push of the door
it creaked open and then suddenly a thud she looked round to see Donald
lying on his back spread eagled on the ground. And then she crept quietly
into the entrance hall. "Phil?" she said quietly and when she was satisfied
there was no reply she walked in and through the door into the main
stadium. And then she realized her mistake; the stadium was being prepared
for the tournament and so there were 20 or so people there. She crept round
in the shadows of the stands and eventually after a couple of near
sightings she finally made it to the back of the stadium and to the grill.
"Hades," she said in a steady calm voice "I wish to make a deal." "Hades
god of the underworld what can I do for you?" came the quick response. "I
wish to have cloud back!" Aerith said simply. "Ah lovely soul he is I think
ill keep him thanks." replied Hades. "I don't think you understand." said
Aerith and with one flick of her arm froze Hades solid "I'm not asking."
"You know I could talk better if you froze my lips," said Hades "But I
suppose that you can get him back it requires a simple spell. Unfortunately
its in Cerberus's mouth." "You better hope he plays nice." said Aerith
angrily "Yeah great just leave me frozen why don't you." Shouted Hades. To
which Aerith simply froze his tongue. Cerberus did indeed play nice and
released the spell very quickly, seemed he didn't have the same resistance
to fire that his master had. And so with spell in hand Aerith made her way
back to Traverse town. The journey home was much nicer as she got a
passenger vessel taking people from a recently destroyed planet to traverse
town. When they arrived She got off and went to Clouds grave where she
began the spell instantly and as she was nearing the end A voice said "No
you don't," and a blade slid up her back cutting deeply into her flesh.
Aerith Whipped round muttered a word under her breath and then mustered up
all her strength to fight Sephiroth. But Sephiroth was too fast and there
was no way she could match his pace. After just 2 minutes of fighting
Aerith collapsed and the blood started to drip out of all her wounds.
Sephiroth walked over slowly raised his sward and set about to plunge it
into her neck. But then the words "I don't think so." Echoed out around the
gravesite and then a huge scream of pain as Sephiroth received a punishing
blow across his shoulders, his blood hit the ground and he teleported away
from Traverse town. Aerith looked up and then fell into Clouds arms. "I
spoke to you everyday at your grave," Aerith Said quietly energy fading
from her eyes "Did you hear?" "Every word!" replied cloud and then Aerith's
eyes slid shut. 2 Days Later Cloud Called to the others. And then She
suddenly realized what had happened. "Cloud." She said, "I missed you."
"I missed you too."
