Faded Dreams, Falling Like Rain
A Final Fantasy VII Fan Fiction by Sarah Digna Yudlowitz
Dream . . .
Dream of death . . .
Dream of moonlight . . .
Legal Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all of its characters belong to the company of Squaresoft. I do not claim these
characters or the concept of the game for my own. This work is not to be distributed, sold, or posted anywhere without the
consent of its author. Comments and encouragements are always welcomed, as they are a part of the enjoyment of writing Fan
fiction. Please take this into consideration while you read the following fiction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Yes, it's another chapter. How special for you, eh? Yesterday's chapter was considerably lighter than the
rest of the chapters, but this one is kind of bitter sweet. Drat, Cloud doesn't throw up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Fourteen
Midgar was everything that Cloud had expected. There was rubble everywhere, and upon
inspection, the plate had crashed to the lower level slums, leaving everything caressed by the
sun. But it was a cruel kind of lighte, for every once in a while, there would be a group of
charred corpses, destroyed by Meteor and Holy. The SOLDIER members were the most
unrecognizable of all. The only thing left to identify their roles, were their melted swords,
Shinra's insignia half way burned off. It was a ghastly sight.
Lilith commented to the horrified Cloud that she had always wanted to see what life was like
for the common citizen, and when she finally had, she knew she'd never fit in. They loathed
Shinra, and everything about her was Shinra, because she was a product of experimentation.
That was when she found Aiden.
"Aiden sought me out of the crowd of normal citizens, like everyone else had, but he was
kind. He understood, because he was a SOLDIER first class," Lilith explained. "When he died,
he said he died for me. I told him not to say such things . . . but . . . it was too late. I've seen the
makou leave a person's eyes before they died many times, but I thought, at that time, that it
was never more beautiful or sad. He had hazel eyes . . . before he was infused with makou."
Lilith was like Sephiroth in this respect. As she talked about someone she cared for very
much, there was little emotion on her face, but there was a hint of it in her voice. It was the
same when Cloud heard Sephiroth talk about Professor Gast. His respect was laced with
sadness. So was Lilith's. Vincent was silent--as usual--walking with purpose. The death around
him seemingly unaffected him, but Cloud knew that he was silently blaming himself for it,
somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind.
"I felt the same way when Zack died," Cloud said, many minutes after, if only just to break
the awkward silence. Lilith looked down at him, smiling sadly. Before she could say anything,
however, Vincent swung his mechanical arm out as a barrier so that Cloud and Lilith would
not walk forward. The throttle of a vehicle could be heard, and it was coming this way. Cloud
was pleased that Vincent used to be in the Turks at this moment; his senses were heightened,
and he always kept a gun on him. He had Death Penalty (his ultimate weapon) in his hand and
cocked in a split second. And Lilith had a strange looking rifle out as well. It glowed a faint
green, and ribbons of the gun's material coated her upper arm, glowing the same faint green.
"Organics," Lilith whispered to Cloud. He was familiar with the mold of the weapon and
nodded, remaining silent. As the vehicle came closer, Vincent noticed the cannon gun attached
to the hood and coaxed Lilith and Cloud back. He tumbled with grace behind a half-melted
steel wall, and used that as his barricade. Lilith and Cloud joined him seconds after, Lilith
tugging the blonde along with her protectively. The cannon had begun spewing ammo shortly
after Vincent sprang out of the way.
The vehicle made a sharp turn, screeching loudly as it pulled onto the curb where the three
had been standing. A figure clad in ripped up faded black jeans and a white T-shirt ridden with
holes jumped down from the driver's side of the front. Numerous things were strapped to his
shoulders, across his chest, and holsters rested on his hips. They were slightly burned, too.
Several others jumped from the vehicle. Strapped to the initial figure's head was a light, which
streamed past his surroundings. Vincent held his gun ready, his eyes narrowed.
"We saw you!" he shouted. Cloud grumbled. Of course the bastard saw his party; he was
shooting like there was no tomorrow! One of his crew handed him a gun, which he cocked.
"In the name of Neo-Midgar's new president, we demand that you come out, hands raised!"
another of his crew yelled. Neo-Midgar? President? These extravagantly armored attackers
looked like kids to Cloud. He wondered if Lilith and Vincent saw that, too.
"Wait here," Vincent whispered to Cloud and Lilith, and he eased his way across the
barricade, stepping out from the protection. He had his gun aimed at whomever this
"president" was, his clawed arm ready at his side. "Drop your weapons, and I'll drop mine!"
Slowly, the crew complied, dropping their heavy artillery to the ground. Vincent dropped
Death Penalty to the ground then, and slowly advanced. Two other figures came running from
the vehicle, excitedly.
"Vincent!" they both exclaimed at the same time. They dropped their helmets to the side, and
made their way to where the "president" stood, explaining who Vincent was to the boy.
Vincent remained where he was, slightly perplexed, but then he saw Yuffie bounce her way to
where he stood, grinning obnoxiously. "Hiiii!!!" she beamed.
"What are you and Tifa doing here?" Vincent asked. Cloud came from behind the barricade,
Lilith walking after him, putting her Organics gun back into its holster, where the glowing
green faded to a dull emerald. It was no longer in contact to her skin.
"CLOUD!!!" Tifa yelled from across the distance. She seemed so excited she could just die
right there. The boy she was talking to sweat dropped as she ran over and crushed Cloud in a
great big bear hug.
"We've been helping these guys restore Midgar," Yuffie explained to Vincent.
"Ah," he responded, going to retrieve his gun. Meanwhile, Cloud turned purple.
"I need to breathe, Tifa!" Cloud exclaimed, breaking the hug, breathing in big gulps as he
stood, slouching. Lilith walked over to Vincent, and hid behind him. Tifa faltered as she
noticed her. She was exceptionally tall. She was just about Vincent's height, and the fact that
she looked remarkably like Sephiroth didn't escape her. It didn't on Yuffie, either.
"Sephiroth?!" Both girls exclaimed. Cloud shook his head, lightening quick.
"This," Vincent said, gesturing toward Lilith, "is Sephiroth's half-sister, Lilith. I'll have to
explain it to you later." Neither Tifa nor Yuffie was happy about that, as they were eyeing
Lilith suspiciously. Cloud was still hacking and coughing, trying to breathe. Yuffie giggled at
him.
"We've gathered a lot of materia," Yuffie said. "Materia lost its magick, though, when
Lifestream destroyed Meteor and Holy, though, and returned it to the North Crater, so that all
of the spirits can work to mend the planet's wound. At first," she continued, "I was really
pissed, but then I saw that these make really pretty gems. Because they're so rare, as the makou
rivers have dried up, we could get a lot of money for selling these babies, as like rings and
stuff." Vincent noted that Yuffie seemed a little bit more mature. She'd make, at the very least,
an interesting businesswoman.
"We've also been burning the bodies of the dead citizens and Shinra soldiers," Tifa sighed.
"There's . . . Too many to individually bury them, but it will at least give us all some kind of
closure." She smiles grimly, wiping some sweat from her brow. Something caught her
attention, and she ran over to a clearing, why there was no junk in the way, and kneeled down
beside a flower that was growing from beneath the ground. The lighte from the movement of
the plate was spilling onto this tiny area, and aiding the flower to grow. She looked up at the
shaft of lighte and began to grin ecstatically. The "president," followed by those of his crew
gathered around the flower, careful as to not disturb the lighte.
"This is a joyous thing! We should begin removing the plate immediately!" the boy cried out,
and those around him cheered for the proposal. Cloud smiled and knelt by the flower.
"Aerith's death wasn't in vain," Cloud whispered softly to the little struggling plant.
