Chapter 4: Zack and Cloud
Aeris walked out of the back room hallway, smiling, looking at Mike and Jenna.
"Hey, who are you guys talking to?"
"That guy who says he knows you."
"Well who could that-Cloud!", she runs over to Cloud who is standing in a small clearing in the flowers as she stepped quickly and gingerly to make sure she didn't trample the flowers. She hugged Cloud tightly, and looked back at the kids and shot a diminutive, devious look with her small, beautiful smile. The kids giggled and then ran into the back room.
"Cloud! How'd you find me?! I thought I had to go to Nibelheim!"
"I just like to come here when I'm all stressed."
"Maybe this'll help." She kissed him so deeply that he felt the world spinning around him, that time had completely stopped, and the sunshine pouring in from the hole in the roof became warmer, engulfing his entire body. More giggles were heard from the hallway corridor, and you could see Mike and Jenna's heads poking out. With that same diminutive look, she said, "Come on guys. You're embarrassing me." The kids ran off again, still giggling about what had happened. Aeris looked back at Cloud, and kissed him deeply once more.
"How's that?"
"Feelin' better already. Um, should we be standing in the flowers like this?"
"It's okay. This is the exact place where you fell, you know?"
"Figured that's why there's a small clearing here. Aeris, the reason I'm here is because there is a new Weapon."
"A Weapon?" Cloud explained everything to her, the details, what's been happening, etcetera. "Hmmm.", she looked slightly troubled at the news.
"What are you thinking about now?"
"Don't worry", she smiled. "Everything'll be okay. I'm sure of it."
"Well I have to go back. Are you coming?"
"Sure I will! I'll just ask if Mike and Jenna will take care of the flowers a little longer." After she gains there approval, they hurry out of the church, until they reach the gate.
"Ooh! I have to see my mom!"
"Your mom? Sure you want to give her a heart attack? I mean, after you've been dead for seven months?"
"Come on, I couldn't forget mom!" Then she ran off to her house as he followed her, grabbing on to her hand, until they reached the front door.
"Mom?" Elmira was washing dishes when she said to herself, "Must be hearing things. I guess I miss Aeris too much." She looked up and immediately saw Aeris standing in the doorway. "Aeris!" She ran over to her, dropping the plate she was drying, and gave her a huge hug.
"Mom, that was your best plate."
"It doesn't matter. Oh, you're alive! And your home! Are you hungry? Tired? Can I do anything?"
"Heh," Cloud interrupts while walking onto the tiled kitchen floor. "Only a mother's love."
"Cloud?! Did you bring Aeris? I'm so thankful. But how did this happen?", she asked as she pulled away from Aeris.
"It's a long story, really."
"Well I guess you can tell me later. It only matters that you're home. Cloud, are you staying?"
"I can't. I promised Tifa I'd get back."
"Um, mom? Can I go back, too?"
"Only if you bring a sweater and-"
"Mom, I'm already wearing a jacket."
"Just be safe dear." Elmira hugs her again.
"I will mom. I will." Aeris walks out the door with Cloud, smiling at him as she exited, and while Elmira was looking back at them.
"Aw, my little girl has a boyfriend!"
"Mom, I heard that!", Aeris calls back.
"Your mom really loves you.", notes Cloud. "Yeah. I guess I'm lucky.", she replies as she leans her head on Cloud's shoulder as they both leave the sector 5 slums together.
Knight was waiting for Cloud and looked curiously at the girl he brought with him. He lowers his head to get a better look at Aeris, and pokes his nose around to make a clear inspection. "Awww, is this your chocobo?"
"Sure is.", he said. "Hop on." Aeris makes a few pitiful attempts, almost resulting in choking Knight.
"Well, I never said I was a world class chocobo jockey.", she admits in defeat.
"Let me help you then." Cloud picks her off her feet, into his arms.
"Cloud! Hey! Don't drop me!", she says a little panicky.
"Don't worry." He gently puts her down on top of Knight and then
climbs onto the front.
"Hold on! This here is an S rank chocobo! Giddyap!"
"Whoaa!", she yells, tightly clinging onto him as they move like lightning streaking across the land, shadows dancing on the ground. They rode through the cool evening air as they rode back to Nibelheim, readying to meet Tifa.
Tifa was in the backyard, practicing martial arts in a small sweatshirt and gym shorts. She was standing in a stance, balanced on one foot, hands together. Her eyes sharply opened, kicked a log into the air, spin jumped, and punched it into splinters. When she hit the ground, she spun around and shot toward a tree, performed a flash kick and a clean cut cleaved the tree in two.
"Ah, more firewood.", she concluded. She dropped down and started doing one-handed push-ups. Looking at her lean figure, you wouldn't expect the enormous storage of power in her body. She had soft features much like Aeris, but her bold brown eyes added more strength and subtlety. She was much stronger than Aeris though, and she attacked with her hands instead of a weapon like everyone else. "Eyaaah!" She cast a small rock into the air, sending it near the high peak of Mt. Nibel. "Now to test internal power." She put on her gloves and equipped some materia. Her eyes closed again and she began to glow green. She had always practiced all that her master, Zangan, taught her. She was taught about things like how to stretch the limits of your external power, increase your internal power, how to focus, and balance. Her eyes flew open again and lightning shot down from a mass of some newly appearing storm clouds and lightning jolted from the sky, landing only ten feet away from her. The storm clouds vanished as quickly as they came, while she looked a little disappointed at the smouldering patch of grass in front of her. "Not as good as yesterday..oh well. That can be fixed." She began stretching out, as that helped increase the flow of internal energy circulating about the body. Under Zangan, she learned how to manipulate external and internal power, as well as improving her senses. As her eyes were closed, she heard a faint buzzing around her ear. Her hand shot out in a flash, quite literally, and when she reopened her eyes, a fly was capture in her hand, but it was left unharmed, as she had mastered her strength. "One more shot.", she said. She redid the spell Bolt 3, but this time, there was a much larger explosion of power, leaving a smoking crater in the ground. "Perfect."
"Hey Tifa! I think you might want to see this!" Tifa heard Cloud's voice as she had just finished her basic exercises. She walked back inside and checked the oven, as dinner had already been cooking while she was outside. She had taken it out and set two places at the table as usual, unless Vincent joined them, which was relatively a rare occasion.
"Okay Cloud! But you might've wanted to wait until I was done outside. I didn't even break a sweat yet." She looked at the doorway, expecting to see Cloud enter, but instead was a familiar face from her past.
"Hey, Tifa. Remember me?" A loud crash was heard as Tifa dropped the plate on the ground, in complete shock at who had just randomly appeared on her doorstep.
""Geez, with welcomes like this I shouldn't enter a china shop."
".Aeris? Am I hallucinating?"
"Not unless I can see it, too.", said Cloud. Tifa however was almost left speechless. "I found her at the church where I was calming my nerves."
"Um, uh."Tifa was still searching for words. "Um, sit down, I'll clean this up." Cloud and Tifa had quickly cleaned up the broken plate and moved dinner on to the table.
"Are you sure I shouldn'tve helped Tifa?", asked Aeris politely.
"No, you didn't have to. I guess I'm still a little shocked. Cloud told me about it, but I didn't know it would be so soon. But if you don't mind me asking, ever since you died, I've wondered if the Planet really existed. So, would you mind telling us? I mean no one has ever had a first hand account of being dead before."
"If this is what you mean, I did return to the Planet. It was wonderful. It was more fantastic than anyone could possibly dream of." When Tifa heard these words, she began to ponder a little over her dinner, and then finally speaks.
"If it was that wonderful, then why did you leave?", asked Tifa.
"I guess it might not've been as wonderful as it sounds, at least to me.", said Aeris. "It was missing something. It had all these sorts of people, yet.", she trails off.
"And yet what?", asks Cloud.
"I missed you. All of you. It all felt a little emptier." Time had passed as it grew uncomfortable, without any conversation except the occasional, "Pass the salt." They were all wondering about the Planet, except for Aeris, wondering about the uncomfortable silence. Dinner had finally ended, and Aeris stood up from her seat.
"I'd better go.", she declares.
"It's late. You should probably leave in the morning.", suggested Cloud.
"I don't want to be a burden."
"No it's okay. I've got a spare room.", said Tifa.
"Thanks.", said Aeris.
Cloud retreated back to his house, as Aeris made herself comfortable in Tifa's guest room.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else for you to wear to bed.", apologized Tifa, referring to the nightgown she let Aeris use.
"Nah, it's okay.", said Aeris. "What happened while I was gone? Like between you and Cloud?"
"Well."
"Don't worry, I won't tell.", says Aeris with a smile. "I know. You already told him you loved him, right?"
"Are you sure being psychic isn't part of being a Cetra?"
"Don't change the subject."
"Fine. I finally did tell him.", said Tifa, as she sat down on the bed next to Aeris.
"Good, it wasn't any use to keep it locked up."
"But I thought you loved him. Weren't you referring to him at dinner?"
"I did miss all of you, but I guess I did miss Cloud the most. I really wanted to see him so badly. You know, Zack was there."
"Zack? Really?"
"Yeah. Even though the two looked a lot alike and acted so much alike, I still missed Cloud. Seeing Zack there still wasn't enough to keep me from missing Cloud. In fact, that made me miss him even more. Cloud's just.very unique."
"Yeah I hear that. He's very different compared to everyone else. He's been bottled up ever since you died. It was like he lost a part of himself."
"Cloud? Cloud the cocky fighter? You're kidding me."
"No. He really thought you were something special."
"Heh. The first time we met, he was probably the rudest, most self- absorbed person on the planet, and Zack was the perfect gentleman. I supposed I loved Cloud more because there was always something to him, other than his similarities to Zack. And you know, you said he was all bottled up, but even before he saw me, he seemed fine. He was talking to the two kids who help me with my garden on the church and he wasn't bottled up at all. And I think the reason he was fine was because of you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, and I think you did more than tell him your feelings for him to be acting this way."
"I don't kiss and tell."
"That means you did.", said Aeris.
"And how would you know?", asked Tifa.
"Because only people say that if they did kiss someone."
Aeris walked out of the back room hallway, smiling, looking at Mike and Jenna.
"Hey, who are you guys talking to?"
"That guy who says he knows you."
"Well who could that-Cloud!", she runs over to Cloud who is standing in a small clearing in the flowers as she stepped quickly and gingerly to make sure she didn't trample the flowers. She hugged Cloud tightly, and looked back at the kids and shot a diminutive, devious look with her small, beautiful smile. The kids giggled and then ran into the back room.
"Cloud! How'd you find me?! I thought I had to go to Nibelheim!"
"I just like to come here when I'm all stressed."
"Maybe this'll help." She kissed him so deeply that he felt the world spinning around him, that time had completely stopped, and the sunshine pouring in from the hole in the roof became warmer, engulfing his entire body. More giggles were heard from the hallway corridor, and you could see Mike and Jenna's heads poking out. With that same diminutive look, she said, "Come on guys. You're embarrassing me." The kids ran off again, still giggling about what had happened. Aeris looked back at Cloud, and kissed him deeply once more.
"How's that?"
"Feelin' better already. Um, should we be standing in the flowers like this?"
"It's okay. This is the exact place where you fell, you know?"
"Figured that's why there's a small clearing here. Aeris, the reason I'm here is because there is a new Weapon."
"A Weapon?" Cloud explained everything to her, the details, what's been happening, etcetera. "Hmmm.", she looked slightly troubled at the news.
"What are you thinking about now?"
"Don't worry", she smiled. "Everything'll be okay. I'm sure of it."
"Well I have to go back. Are you coming?"
"Sure I will! I'll just ask if Mike and Jenna will take care of the flowers a little longer." After she gains there approval, they hurry out of the church, until they reach the gate.
"Ooh! I have to see my mom!"
"Your mom? Sure you want to give her a heart attack? I mean, after you've been dead for seven months?"
"Come on, I couldn't forget mom!" Then she ran off to her house as he followed her, grabbing on to her hand, until they reached the front door.
"Mom?" Elmira was washing dishes when she said to herself, "Must be hearing things. I guess I miss Aeris too much." She looked up and immediately saw Aeris standing in the doorway. "Aeris!" She ran over to her, dropping the plate she was drying, and gave her a huge hug.
"Mom, that was your best plate."
"It doesn't matter. Oh, you're alive! And your home! Are you hungry? Tired? Can I do anything?"
"Heh," Cloud interrupts while walking onto the tiled kitchen floor. "Only a mother's love."
"Cloud?! Did you bring Aeris? I'm so thankful. But how did this happen?", she asked as she pulled away from Aeris.
"It's a long story, really."
"Well I guess you can tell me later. It only matters that you're home. Cloud, are you staying?"
"I can't. I promised Tifa I'd get back."
"Um, mom? Can I go back, too?"
"Only if you bring a sweater and-"
"Mom, I'm already wearing a jacket."
"Just be safe dear." Elmira hugs her again.
"I will mom. I will." Aeris walks out the door with Cloud, smiling at him as she exited, and while Elmira was looking back at them.
"Aw, my little girl has a boyfriend!"
"Mom, I heard that!", Aeris calls back.
"Your mom really loves you.", notes Cloud. "Yeah. I guess I'm lucky.", she replies as she leans her head on Cloud's shoulder as they both leave the sector 5 slums together.
Knight was waiting for Cloud and looked curiously at the girl he brought with him. He lowers his head to get a better look at Aeris, and pokes his nose around to make a clear inspection. "Awww, is this your chocobo?"
"Sure is.", he said. "Hop on." Aeris makes a few pitiful attempts, almost resulting in choking Knight.
"Well, I never said I was a world class chocobo jockey.", she admits in defeat.
"Let me help you then." Cloud picks her off her feet, into his arms.
"Cloud! Hey! Don't drop me!", she says a little panicky.
"Don't worry." He gently puts her down on top of Knight and then
climbs onto the front.
"Hold on! This here is an S rank chocobo! Giddyap!"
"Whoaa!", she yells, tightly clinging onto him as they move like lightning streaking across the land, shadows dancing on the ground. They rode through the cool evening air as they rode back to Nibelheim, readying to meet Tifa.
Tifa was in the backyard, practicing martial arts in a small sweatshirt and gym shorts. She was standing in a stance, balanced on one foot, hands together. Her eyes sharply opened, kicked a log into the air, spin jumped, and punched it into splinters. When she hit the ground, she spun around and shot toward a tree, performed a flash kick and a clean cut cleaved the tree in two.
"Ah, more firewood.", she concluded. She dropped down and started doing one-handed push-ups. Looking at her lean figure, you wouldn't expect the enormous storage of power in her body. She had soft features much like Aeris, but her bold brown eyes added more strength and subtlety. She was much stronger than Aeris though, and she attacked with her hands instead of a weapon like everyone else. "Eyaaah!" She cast a small rock into the air, sending it near the high peak of Mt. Nibel. "Now to test internal power." She put on her gloves and equipped some materia. Her eyes closed again and she began to glow green. She had always practiced all that her master, Zangan, taught her. She was taught about things like how to stretch the limits of your external power, increase your internal power, how to focus, and balance. Her eyes flew open again and lightning shot down from a mass of some newly appearing storm clouds and lightning jolted from the sky, landing only ten feet away from her. The storm clouds vanished as quickly as they came, while she looked a little disappointed at the smouldering patch of grass in front of her. "Not as good as yesterday..oh well. That can be fixed." She began stretching out, as that helped increase the flow of internal energy circulating about the body. Under Zangan, she learned how to manipulate external and internal power, as well as improving her senses. As her eyes were closed, she heard a faint buzzing around her ear. Her hand shot out in a flash, quite literally, and when she reopened her eyes, a fly was capture in her hand, but it was left unharmed, as she had mastered her strength. "One more shot.", she said. She redid the spell Bolt 3, but this time, there was a much larger explosion of power, leaving a smoking crater in the ground. "Perfect."
"Hey Tifa! I think you might want to see this!" Tifa heard Cloud's voice as she had just finished her basic exercises. She walked back inside and checked the oven, as dinner had already been cooking while she was outside. She had taken it out and set two places at the table as usual, unless Vincent joined them, which was relatively a rare occasion.
"Okay Cloud! But you might've wanted to wait until I was done outside. I didn't even break a sweat yet." She looked at the doorway, expecting to see Cloud enter, but instead was a familiar face from her past.
"Hey, Tifa. Remember me?" A loud crash was heard as Tifa dropped the plate on the ground, in complete shock at who had just randomly appeared on her doorstep.
""Geez, with welcomes like this I shouldn't enter a china shop."
".Aeris? Am I hallucinating?"
"Not unless I can see it, too.", said Cloud. Tifa however was almost left speechless. "I found her at the church where I was calming my nerves."
"Um, uh."Tifa was still searching for words. "Um, sit down, I'll clean this up." Cloud and Tifa had quickly cleaned up the broken plate and moved dinner on to the table.
"Are you sure I shouldn'tve helped Tifa?", asked Aeris politely.
"No, you didn't have to. I guess I'm still a little shocked. Cloud told me about it, but I didn't know it would be so soon. But if you don't mind me asking, ever since you died, I've wondered if the Planet really existed. So, would you mind telling us? I mean no one has ever had a first hand account of being dead before."
"If this is what you mean, I did return to the Planet. It was wonderful. It was more fantastic than anyone could possibly dream of." When Tifa heard these words, she began to ponder a little over her dinner, and then finally speaks.
"If it was that wonderful, then why did you leave?", asked Tifa.
"I guess it might not've been as wonderful as it sounds, at least to me.", said Aeris. "It was missing something. It had all these sorts of people, yet.", she trails off.
"And yet what?", asks Cloud.
"I missed you. All of you. It all felt a little emptier." Time had passed as it grew uncomfortable, without any conversation except the occasional, "Pass the salt." They were all wondering about the Planet, except for Aeris, wondering about the uncomfortable silence. Dinner had finally ended, and Aeris stood up from her seat.
"I'd better go.", she declares.
"It's late. You should probably leave in the morning.", suggested Cloud.
"I don't want to be a burden."
"No it's okay. I've got a spare room.", said Tifa.
"Thanks.", said Aeris.
Cloud retreated back to his house, as Aeris made herself comfortable in Tifa's guest room.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else for you to wear to bed.", apologized Tifa, referring to the nightgown she let Aeris use.
"Nah, it's okay.", said Aeris. "What happened while I was gone? Like between you and Cloud?"
"Well."
"Don't worry, I won't tell.", says Aeris with a smile. "I know. You already told him you loved him, right?"
"Are you sure being psychic isn't part of being a Cetra?"
"Don't change the subject."
"Fine. I finally did tell him.", said Tifa, as she sat down on the bed next to Aeris.
"Good, it wasn't any use to keep it locked up."
"But I thought you loved him. Weren't you referring to him at dinner?"
"I did miss all of you, but I guess I did miss Cloud the most. I really wanted to see him so badly. You know, Zack was there."
"Zack? Really?"
"Yeah. Even though the two looked a lot alike and acted so much alike, I still missed Cloud. Seeing Zack there still wasn't enough to keep me from missing Cloud. In fact, that made me miss him even more. Cloud's just.very unique."
"Yeah I hear that. He's very different compared to everyone else. He's been bottled up ever since you died. It was like he lost a part of himself."
"Cloud? Cloud the cocky fighter? You're kidding me."
"No. He really thought you were something special."
"Heh. The first time we met, he was probably the rudest, most self- absorbed person on the planet, and Zack was the perfect gentleman. I supposed I loved Cloud more because there was always something to him, other than his similarities to Zack. And you know, you said he was all bottled up, but even before he saw me, he seemed fine. He was talking to the two kids who help me with my garden on the church and he wasn't bottled up at all. And I think the reason he was fine was because of you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, and I think you did more than tell him your feelings for him to be acting this way."
"I don't kiss and tell."
"That means you did.", said Aeris.
"And how would you know?", asked Tifa.
"Because only people say that if they did kiss someone."
