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.

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Author's Note: Once again, ANOTHER chapter of Faded Dreams, Falling Like Rain! Dear Lucifer do I hate Tifa. Anyway . . . hey! Cloud doesn't throw up again! Hehhehheh. He should get his just dessert soon, though. The way I'm updating this should tell you that I have absolutely no life, though. Oh foo. Cooped up in a house, no one to love me. Please review? No one's been reviewing since the updates! *sniffs* *pleads desperately*

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Chapter Fifteen







Lilith stared down at his face. She didn't know that it could get so pale, because it already was. His face had never seen natural lighte. It only knew the lightes of the laboratory. And his eyes . . . they were creepy. Lilith knew the symptoms of Makou Poisoning, and she knew that this was a very high degree of the sickness, because his jade-colored eyes were now a disturbing shade of misty, glowing blue, and they were open . . . staring up at the ceiling.

Lilith would not even know that he was alive, if it wasn't for the heart monitor he was hooked up to, which steadily read his heart beat. The IV extending from his forearm carefully administered calculated measures of morphine when the computer he was also hooked up to beeped, meaning that the morphine's effects had probably worn off. It was a measure of time in relation to the amount of Cc's of morphine administered.

But the way his eyes stared like that . . . it made Lilith shiver.

She remembered the last time Sephiroth had Makou Poisoning. Professor Gast had carried Lilith in, propped her on his hip, and was holding the boy's hand. Slowly, they curled about his fingers, and the man smiled down at him. She remembered asking Gast if she could have a dress. She'd read Sleeping Beauty, and knew that all little girls wore dresses. Like the beautiful sleeping princess in the book, Lilith wanted her dress to be fashioned by magick. She knew that Professor Gast hadn't believed in magick, but the science of the planet, and its spirit energy used in that science. But a little girl was a little girl . . . even if she had been subjected to things no other little girl would be.

Suddenly, she saw Sephiroth's eyes close and flutter open naturally, his eyes returning to their color, his expression now grim, instead of slack.





"Professor . . . Gast is . . . dead," Sephiroth struggled to say, and two tears fell down his cheeks. He cried even harder because he did not know what it was to cry . . . he had never done so until now. Lilith remembered taking his hand, nearly immovable because of the medication he was on. His skin was icy to the touch, like he really had been dead. His breath continued to come out evenly, however. Lilith didn't know how Sephiroth would know such a thing, unless it was due to his condition. Lilith just smiled at him until he fell asleep. Soon after, Vincent came into the room. He came over to Lilith, and patted her on the head, smiling slowly.





"It's Sephiroth's twelfth birthday today, so that means that you're nine," Vincent said. She and Sephiroth's birthday was determined by the date they started injection outside of the womb. This was the first time that Lilith had heard her age, and she smiled. She thought she was so much older by now, but she supposed that it wasn't so bad. She wished that she knew just how a normal nine-year-old girl acted. Rufus was six, but he didn't act much like a childe . . . it was more like he acted like the future heir to a monopoly, which was exactly what he was. There was nothing Rufus Shinra couldn't have.

Lilith walked over to the window of the infirmary, looking down below the plate at the tiny structures of Midgar, and the train that supposedly passed ever ten minutes. Hugging her teddy bear, she sighed greatly, and looked back to Sephiroth, who was now awake, staring at her intently. She whirled back to the window, covering her head with the scarf that was around her neck. Vincent was talking gently to Sephiroth, telling him in the most sensitive way that Professor Gast had passed away. Lilith wondered absently how he had known once more, but she knew . . . in the back of her mind, that she had the same capabilities as Sephiroth had. Closing her eyes had brought everything clear to her.



***







The infant stared up at Professor Gast with large emerald eyes, capable of seeing wonderful sights that only one new to this world could harbor. He smiled, and thought them to be the most beautiful eyes, because they were exactly like Ilfalna's. The Cetra experimentation kept growing more and more distant in urgency for Gast every time he looked into that beautiful woman's eyes. She beckoned to him, and he came, holding little Aerith like a treasure, a delicate and new star cradled in his universe. She giggled, and Ilfalna laughed too. So did Gast. They were a family.

Gast had never thought he would have children, but he loved them dearly. Looking at Aerith reminded him of Sephiroth and Lilith and he was almost inclined to frown. They would never have the chances at life that Aerith would. It was the first time he thought of them in months. Gast pushed it out of his mind hurriedly. This was his life now. Ilfalna and Aerith were the only people he had to be concerned of. Smiling, he turned on the camera built into the contraption stationed at the side of the house, and with all importance, showed off Aerith to the camera.

And then someone knocked on the door, sounding terribly important. Gast was not pleased. Everyone knew that he was not to be disturbed. Handing Aerith over to Ilfalna, he walked to the door, opening it, only to have Hojo storm in, flanked by a hideous amount of Shinra soldiers. As gunfire broke out, the camera was destroyed. Ilfalna screamed, holding tightly to her baby as her husband died. And then she ran . . . faster than she could ever possibly run, gunshots worming their way into her arm and her side. Gast's last words were instructing Ilfalna to go to Midgar with Aerith, to save her.







Lilith could see the stars as she looked up, but only faintly. It was after all, the city, and when Shinra ran Midgar as its base, it was also the most polluted place in the whole planet. The North Crater was so pure, Lilith remembered. The snow was untouched, always falling anew. The nighte sky was full of lovely stars. Lilith knew all of the constellations because she loved Astrology. She took all of the books on the subject from the Shinra building's library for resources, and devoured each one. This included books on Astrologists, her favorite being Ptolemy. She loved romantic notions such as "From the dawn of civilization, humans have looked with wonder and awe at the heavens, seeking to understand the nature of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. With the limited means available to them, ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks studied the regular movements they saw in the sky."

She smiled as she searched for her favorite constellation, Cepheus, and then frowned, as it would be difficult to find in such a polluted city.





"Something wrong?" Vincent asked her.





"I'm trying to look for a constellation," Lilith said, flustered.





"Which one?"





"Cepheus . . ." she muttered, still searching the sky.





"It's a little more north, then," Vincent said, using his flesh arm to guide her hand up. Lilith sat, and looked at it, smiling. She stayed like that for a while until she realized.





"You know about the constellations?"





"Of course. Astrology was my favorite subject in school," Vincent said distantly.





"You were in the Turks . . . for a long time. Even before Sephiroth was born," Lilith whispered.







"I had no choice but to abandon my education to become a Turk. It paid well, and I was a good fighter," Vincent shrugged. "And then I met Lucrecia. Beautiful . . . Lucrecia." Lilith looked at this man who was supposed to be her father. Surely she was older than him physically, but he was closer to fifty in actuality. He would live forever with his guilt, that Lucrecia's death was his fault . . . that Sephiroth's death was his fault.

Tifa came stiduing over to where Vincent and Lilith sat. Cloud came after her, sitting next to Vincent.





"Aren't they beautiful?" she commented, looking up to the sky. "It's such a clear nighte for them in Midgar. It reminds me of that nighte in Nibelheim, Cloud, when you promised me that you would be my knighte in shining armor!"





"But I'm no one's knighte," Cloud frowned. "It was a miracle we all survived."





"Nonsense, Cloud. It was because we all worked as a team. Would Aerith want you to say such a thing?"





"I don't know what Aerith would have wanted," Cloud shook his head, "but she was protecting us with Lifestream . . . in the end . . . but I really don't want to think about it much more," and he buried his head in his folded arms, feeling sick again. Tifa went to console Cloud, but Vincent shook his head. Tifa sighed, and kicked at a rock with her booted feet, fidgetting with the oversized shirt she was wearing.





"So, do you guys want something to eat before we start our funeral, of sorts?" Tifa finally asked. Lilith, noting that she hadn't eaten anything in three days, nodded. Vinxcent had been looking at her expectantly. She found it strange, but he was the same as when he came to check up on her and Sephiroth. He kept to himself, but he was very caring. He still felt like her father. Yesterday was the first time she had hugged anybody. Usually, any kind of contact reminded her of Hojo's experimentations, but . . . with Vincent, it was different.

Lilith regarded this Tifa woman. She was quite short, mousy for sure. Her hair was long and tied at the end, and she wore extensive pads covering her elbows, forearms, and shins. She looked like she would have a mean kick. But she didn't feel that there was anything to Tifa. She seemed very stuck in the past, and she had been clinging to Cloud for the past few hours. Suddenly, a gloved hand was extended to her. Lilith drew back a little, but then took it, shaking it lightly. Tifa had a nice grip. She was smiling widely at Lilith.





"I'm sorry I was judging you," she said. Her slight bangs were ruffling in the wind, and her chocolate brown eyes were twinkling in the nighte. "Now, when I come back from rustlin' up some grub, will you tell me your story?"







"It's okay," Lilith responded. " And sure, although I'm not so sure if it will be all that interesting."