Barefoot


She walked barefoot through the grass as they made their way across the sun drenched plains, towards a temple, in a clearing, in a forest, a place immersed in the knowledge of the Ancients. Her heart swelled as they travelled closer, and the gentle humming in the back of her mind unravelled into separate voices, still overlapping, but she could discern one from the other as they whispered all the secrets of the Planet to her, and she could almost feel all the magic of the Promised Land flowing through her, fingertips to toes. They watched her as she wrapped her arms around herself, a brilliant smile on her face, sunlight in her hair, and Barret grouched that he didn't know why she was so damned happy, seeing as the Shinra had the Keystone and Marlene, and they'd most likely be in the temple and have found the Promised Land by now.

"Aerith..." Cloud said, walking towards the Cetra as she stood in the grass, dress blowing around her ankles in the breeze, and still that smile. "We really should get a move on."

She nodded, watching him fondly as he walked away, joining Barret and the others, and wanting to make him understand, to share her happiness with him, to explain how she could hear them so clearly, more clearly than the church in Midgar that she'd loved so much, how they made her feel like she was part of something that no one else could ever take from her. And maybe... Maybe after everything was over, she could tell him all that. And other things besides.

The group had started off again, Tifa trying to reassure Barret that things would be alright, and Marlene would be safe, Cloud standing nearby, waiting for her. She laced up her boots and hurried to his side, unable to wipe the smile from her face, and he gave her a questioning glance.

But not yet.

She grinned, shading her eyes and scanning the horizon. They had all the time in the world for that.