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: A warning comes before this chapter. There's a bit of yaoi, and it's damn sad to all Hell, or something like that.





Chapter Seventeen







Lilith looked out the window at Midgar rushing by. She imagined a lush field, and a beautiful sky rolling by and smiled. Hearing about Aerith had made her think of all of the possibilities for this city. Cloud had told them about her, and occasionally Vincent and Tifa had broke in to add something. Yuffie was just silent. Lilith could feel her spirit getting closer and closer. Had Aerith really returned to the planet? Cloud turned toward Lilith, a confused look on his face. He had noticed the pull of her spirit, obviously.





"What . . . is that?" Cain asked. Linora kept driving as normal, but she nodded.





"Yes . . . I feel it too."





"What the Hell is that?!" Yuffie demanded.





"It feels . . . so warm," Tifa smiled.





"One of the spirits hasn't returned to the planet," Vincent said, wonderingly, "but which one?"





"It's Aerith!" Cloud exclaimed, excitedly. Lilith nodded her ascent.





"She's been waiting for Cloud," Lilith said quietly.





"She's a ghost, then. Why is her spirit so strong?" Cain asked.







"She's Aerith," Cloud said, smiling. "She wanted to make sure everything was just so . . . before she returned to the planet, and found her Promised Land. She was the last Cetra. She told me that she didn't know what it meant to speak with the planet. It seems she knows how to now." Cloud remembered when she had first spoke of the Promised Land.







It was nighte. Cloud was almost sure of it. From the sounds outside, the security was a little less strict. The nighte watchmen for the prison cells only remained. Some of them were talking down the hall. Cloud heard little of their conversations, but none of what they were saying was important . . . or interesting. He sat, wondering how they would get out of the Shinra jail.





"I wonder how Aerith is doing," he said, a little too loudly. Tifa, who was formerly sitting on the one cot they had in their cell in a dazed-like fashion, was about to say something, when Aerith's voice was heard from the side wall.





"Cloud, are you there?" Aerith asked. Her cot was near the wall, just like Cloud and Tifa's. Cloud practically jumped when he heard Aerith's voice.





"Aerith?!" he said, moving against the wall, and then lowering his voice so as not to alert the guards. "You safe?"





"Yeah. I'm all right," she answered. Cloud could picture her smiling.





"I knew that you'd come for me," she said. Cloud shrugged.





"Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?" He answered. He smiled, tapping at the design of SOLDIER on his broad belt, rocking back and forth on the heels of his boots.





"The deal was for one date, right?" Aerith giggled. Cloud looked to Tifa, who suddenly appeared flustered.





"Oh, I get it," she said bitterly. Her arms folded over her chest.





"Tifa!" Aerith sounded very surprised. Cloud mentally slapped himself. "Tifa, you're there too!" Now she sounded happy. Cloud blinked. He . . . didn't get women.





"Excuse me," Tifa said, standing up. To Cloud, it appeared like Tifa would start a rather irritating brawl of words with the Flower Girl. Cloud was going to stop Tifa, when her whole demeanor changed.





"You know, Aerith, I have a question." Cloud really didn't get women. He sighed.





"What's that?" Aerith asked sweetly.





"Does the Promised Land really exist?"





"I . . . I don't know," Aerith replied, sounding saddened. Cloud frowned.





"All I know is," Aerith started, and there was a pause as her boots made sounds against the floor, "the Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet." Her boots made a scuffing noise as she turned around, possibly toward the wall. "And . . . then the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness." Her voice had become whimsical and dreamy.





"What does that mean?" Tifa asked quietly.





"More than words . . . I don't know." Cloud could picture a sort of sad smile on her lips now. Her eyes were probably on the Heavens.





"The Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And then the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness," Cloud said, reiterating Aerith's words. The faces of those in Ragnarok were dreamy, just as Aerith's was. They were full of hope . . . just like Aerith.







Sephiroth came down from the sky in a blinding flash, Masamune halfway in the ground of the Sleeping Forest's floor. He looked up from his crouching position at Cloud and smiled, his lips curling like an omen of misfortune. He looked like a dark knighte.





"Kill her," he said simply. The searing pain came back to Cloud. It was always his eyes . . . his ears. He looked at his hands, wavng them in front of his face. They trailed with the motion, making his head swim. He gripped his head. Sephiroth snarled and got up, pulling Masamune from the ground effortlessly, the soil spurting as if a fountain. Suddenly, the pain was gone, and Cloud could hear a loud heartbeat. The ground seemed to shake, but he did not feel it. Sephiroth remained perfectly still, holding his sword at his side. Cloud tried to speak, but the pain came back. His anger was beyond words. "Doing it that way won't help you," Sephiroth commented. Cloud didn't understand. "Speak with your mind." Now that Sephiroth mentioned it, his lips hadn't been moving. He had been speaking into Cloud's mind.





"What are you talking about?!" Cloud growled. Sephiroth mirrored it with a laugh. He started walking toward Cloud, who immediately backed up. Sephiroth laughed again.





"You know your destiny," Sephiroth said. "I know mine. Mother and I--"





"Shut up!" Cloud shouted into Sephiroth's mind. Sephiroth shook his head, and sighed disappointedly.





"You still don't understand, Cloud?" Suddenly, he and Sephiroth were in Tifa's bedroom. Cloud didn't know how Sephiroth would know about this, but he tried to remain calm. Sephiroth seated himself at her piano and at his own leisure, removed his gloves and armlets. His pale hands rested on the keys, and he began to play a discordant tune. Cloud's eyes widened. He knew this tune very well. "Our minds are one, Cloud," Sephiroth grinned. More anger shook Cloud and he shuddered, his fists balling. "There's no need for such emotions," Sephiroth countered. He kept playing the tune, over and over. Cloud stared at his fingers as he played it, and he grew more angry.





"Stop it!" Cloud shouted into Sephiroth's mind. Sephiroth sighed and stilled his hands, breaking the tune with even more discordant keys. He stared at them for a while, and sighed again.





"Vincent taught me this tune," Sephiroth said, grinning again. Cloud didn't like that grin. He wanted to kill Sephiroth. He didn't understand why he thought that was so amusing. Cloud bared his teeth. He stopped, then blinked.





"Vincent? Wha?"





"Oh yes," Sephiroth said, returning to the tune. "Vincent taught me many things before Hojo took him away." This made Cloud even more angry. He groped for his sword. "Don't even try that," Sephiroth said without looking up. Sure enough, as Cloud grabbed the hilt, it disappeared. "You're lucky that Mother likes you. You don't seem to want to listen. You're governed by your anger. Maybe that's why the Omega experiment didn't work." Sephiroth frowned. Cloud's sun-colored brows knitted together in confusion.





"What do you want, Sephiroth, god damn it?!" Cloud stepped forward, but was immediately held back by invisible restraints. Sephiroth smiled.





"You . . . and Aerith's head on a platter," hesaid contemplatively. "It's beginning," Sephiroth said, his voice growing ominous. "Mother and I have almost found the Promised Land." He began to shake. "So . . . near." Then he swivelled around, put his gloves and armlets back on, and stood. "That Ancient girl stands between the careful plans Nother and I have worked so hard to gain. She encumbers our search. You must kill her, Cloud."







"What?!" Cloud gasped, and he struggled, trying to pull himself free from whatever control Sephiroth had on him. Sephiroth frowned sadly. His theatrics were like a Greek play. He was his own ominous Chorus as well. He stepped toward Cloud and they were in the Sleeping Forest again.





"Beyond the forest is the City of the Ancients. The former home of the Cetra," Sephiroth said bitterly. Cloud knew that. He bared his teeth again. What was Sephiroth getting at? "The girl is there, praying for her miserable soul. You must kill her before she further ruins the plans that Mother and I have constructed so carefully." Then he yanked the back of Cloud's head forward, tugging sharply on his hair, and kissed Cloud's lips hard. He then smacked Cloud across the face, throttling him backward. The mind restraints had melted away quite suddenly. Sephiroth was gone, and when he woke up, he could still feel Sephiroth tongue in his mouth.





"Whoooaaa! Heeeyyyyyy! Planet to Cloud! PLANET TO FRIGGEN CLOUD!!!" Yuffie screeched, waving her arms obnoxiously in front of Cloud's eyes. Cloud snapped to attention to see everyone staring at him. He blushed slightly.





"Where were you?" Tifa giggled.





"I was just remembering something Sephiroth said to me," Cloud responded. He scratched his head and shrugged.





"Damn bastard. I'm damn glad he's dead. Materia's nil 'cause of him!" Yuffie exclaimed. Vincent smacked his forehead.





"Anyway," Linora started, clearing her throat, "we're here." And she pointed to the huge corroded sign that now was crashed to the ground that said "Sector 5." Among the charred remains of that was a Loveless sign. She opened the Ragnarok's front door, and scrambled down the side of the huge vehicle. Once everyone was out, Cloud led the way, running as fast as he could to get to the church, his legs taking his exhausted body across the way effortlessly. A peace was in his heart, washing over him. Aerith was so near . . . so near. He closed his eyes as he ran . . . letting her lead him toward her. He left everyone behind, but that didn't matter to him. When he finally reached the church, he took a minute to catch his breath, and then he looked up, smiling. The church was gone, no more than ashes, but everywhere there were flowers of all kinds. In the center was a lush tree. Everywhere was a beautiful lighte.





"Lifestream," Cloud muttered, in awe. He saw things growing before his eyes. He walked forward and let the lighte bathe him. He smiled, and tears came to his eyes. It was so beautiful. Aerith's spirit was so pure. The lighte danced around him, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them, Aerith's figure, transparent and so like a projection floated before him. She reached her hands out and touched Cloud's face, wiping away his tears. He felt warmth there, like she was real.





"Don't cry, Cloud," she spoke into his mind. "You've come so far. You've done so much. And now the Planet is healing." Cloud's brows knitted together and he reached out to hug her, but his hands passed through her. More tears ran down his cheeks. He felt so foolish. Aerith was dead because he couldn't stop Sephiroth. He would never forgive him for that. But he also understood why he had done it. Sephiroth's wide dying eyes flashed into his head, and he wished he could embrace Aerith. Her image flickered, and she embraced Cloud. Warmth enveloped him. He smiled through his tears. "Don't blame yourself, or Sephiroth. He is helping to heal the Planet for his penance. He told me to tell you to be strong. And he also says, 'thank you', because you've set him free." Aerith's smile soothed him, but saddened him. He would never see it again. "I died hoping, Cloud. Remember that hope is always alive. Hope is the strongest thing in the world. It brought me so much closer to you and everyone else. It brought me so much closer to the Planet."





"I don't want you to leave," Cloud said, his shoulders shaking as he continued to cry. Somehow, with Aerith, it was okay to do so. She embraced him again.





"I can't stay on this plane much longer," Aerith whispered. Cloud knew it. She would have to return to all of the spirits . . . where the Planet needed her. "But I will always be in your heart, Cloud," Aerith said, and her voice made him so calm that he stopped crying. She took his hands in hers and looked toward the blooming life. Her hair streamed about her head as if she was under water. "A part of me will always reside here in Midgar," Aerith continued, "helping it to be beautiful and full of life."

The crew, Vincent, and Lilith finally caught up. They remained there, staring in awe, and were quiet as Cloud and Aerith were saying their goodbyes. Suddenly, Aerith floated toward all of them. She smiled at Vincent, Yuffie, and Tifa, in particular, and then at Lilith. Cloud joined her, and all of them bade her goodbye. Aerith hugged Vincent, Yuffie, and Tifa, and floated back to Cloud.





"Remember, all of you . . . there is no Promised Land, but for the place that resides in your heart. To unlock the Planet, do everything with your heart and with others in mind. To speak with the Planet, you only need to listen." And then Aerith faded away, leaving a ghostly lighte behind her that encircled everyone. Cain tried to grasp at it, staring in wonder as it danced away into the Heavens. Cloud looked up as it disappeared, and he smiled softly, uttering Aerith's name one more time, whispering it gently. Happiness filled his chest as the others watched Aerith's spirit recede.







Author's Note AGAIN: I played Aerith's theme toward the end, and cried my ass off while writing it. I also played the Overworld Theme as I wrote the dream memory sequence. This has to be one of the best chapters I've written so far. I'm actually really pleased with it. Very much so. If you think Cloud has been acting OOC for the course of this, just remember that throughout most of the game Cloud was putting on an act, taking on Zack's characteristics. If you look closely, I've still written in some of those characteristics. But that's only if you actually like the story enough to take note of that, which I highly doubt that anyone does. And even though you might think that this story is over by the time you read the last paragraph, it isn't. There's still a little more to it. Oh well, enjoy. *gives the readers free boxes of Kleenex*