I hope you like this chapter. Reviews and emails might help me type faster if I know this is being appreciated cough! write! cough!
Lysaandi
Oh, by the way:
'Denotes thoughts'
!!! Followed by Italics denotes flashbacks. (Not in this chapter, but just to let you know)
Got it? I hope so!
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To Catch A Dream
Chapter 2:
Doubts
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Cloud stood there, stunned, for several minutes before moving. He walked slowly up to the flower and Materia, still not quite certain it was his imagination, or if he was dreaming again. He picked it up, and both were solid in his fingers.
"I love you", came a whisper from the Materia. Cloud almost dropped it in surprise. It dissolved before his eyes, leaving only the flower behind.
He stood there a moment longer, then turned on his heel and left the church. The town of Midgar was stirring, people already moving to set up stalls or shops. A girl rushed by him, carrying a basket of flowers to sell near the busiest shops.
She wore pink. 'Pink?' he thought. She turned, and Aerith winked at him with a saucy smile before disappearing.
'What the--?' Cloud shook his head. 'This lack of sleep must really be getting to me. Am I still dreaming?'
He walked back to the inn, where Yuffie was eating, or rather, attacking, her breakfast. She spotted him and waved him over to sit with her.
"Whr r oo?" she asked, her mouth full to the brim with toast.
"What was that?" Cloud asked as he wiped crumbs off of himself.
She swallowed. "I said, where were you? Want some?" She shoved a piece of toast under his nose.
"No." He shoved the toast away from him and wiped his face; She had buttered it liberally, and it had smeared all over him. "I went for a walk."
"This early? Where?"
"Nowhere," he said uncomfortably as she eyed him critically.
"Oh, come on! Don't give me that! Tell me!"
"Nowhere! I just went for a walk in the streets!" Cloud almost shouted, but managed to keep his voice down to a growl.
"Touchy, aren't we?" She said with amusement, attacking her bacon. "I know where you went."
Cloud started. ".........."
"The church, right?"
"............"
Her smile faded when she saw his face. "You did, didn't you? Stop torturing yourself, Cloud! It's not your fault, but there's nothing we can do."
"Is there?" he asked, very, very quietly. "Look at this." He brought out the rose.
"So? It's a flower. What's so special about it?" Yuffie asked in confusion.
"Never mind." Cloud put it back in his pocket.
"What?" Yuffie demanded. "What's with you, Cloud? You've been acting really strange lately!"
"............"
"Hey Yuffie. Cloud," came a voice from the stairway. It was Tifa. She noticed the two staring at each other intensely.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.
"I don't know. He won't tell me!" exclaimed Yuffie indignantly. "All I asked him was where he went for a walk, and he got all quiet."
"So where did he go?"
"Will you both stop talking as if I'm not here?" Cloud yelled. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine!" He stormed out of the inn, knocking over his chair as he went.
"Cloud?" Tifa called after him. His response was to slam the door.
"You'd better go after him," Yuffie said, picking up another slice of toast. "He won't talk to me."
Tifa left. Cloud was nowhere to be seen, already lost in the crowd of people. She kicked a rock that was near her shoe in anger. What was wrong with Cloud these days?
'Yuffie's right,' she thought bitterly. 'He has been quiet lately. I'll bet he's thinking of Aerith.' Tifa felt a little guilty thinking of Aerith with bad thoughts. She liked her, certainly, but she could never get over the feeling that she had stolen Cloud from her. She was too-- perfect. Yes, perfect was the word. And yet, she was so likeable, it was almost hard to feel mad at her.
'Damn!' Tifa thought angrily. 'Why does everything have to be so HARD! It's not like I can walk up to Cloud and say something about it. I love him, but he can be so hard to deal with when he wants to be. He needs to open up his feelings more.'
She walked down the streets, keeping a lookout for the spiky haired man. Her steps echoed those of Cloud's earlier as she ended up in front of the church. 'How did I wind up here?' Tifa thought, a trifle annoyed, because at the moment she wanted to forget about Aerith.
Nevertheless, she pushed open the door and walked inside, half expecting to see Cloud. He wasn't there. She saw a flower on the ground in front of her and picked it up. 'Strange. There are no other flowers around here. Why would there be just one?'
She examined it closely. It was a pale pink rose, closed, but there was a strange greenish tint to it, as if something was glowing on the inside. She went to sniff it, and stopped. It slowly began to unfold its petals. Inside was a green Materia.
"I'm sorry," came a voice, and it disappeared. Tifa dropped the flower in surprise.
'How was that possible?' Even the voice in her mind was shaky. 'How could that have happened? Aerith is dead! How?' Her trembling fingers picked up the flower and tucked it in her pouch that she had bought recently. Tying it back around her waist, she left the church, shaken thoroughly.
Upon leaving the church, she saw a girl drop her basket. Flowers fell everywhere. Tifa gathered them up and placed them back into the basket where they belonged. She handed the basket to the girl.
"Here," she said, and gasped. Aerith took the basket and flounced away in the direction of the inn. A crowd of people blocked Tifa's view of her, and she tried in vain to catch sight of the girl she knew was dead. When they passed, Aerith was nowhere to be seen, although there were no alleyways or anywhere else for her to go.
"This--can't--be--happening!" Tifa moaned under her breath as she ran back to the inn, forgetting Cloud for the moment. 'This isn't possible! The next thing I'll be seeing is Sephiroth,' she thought. She forced herself to walk the last few feet to the inn, calming her breathing. She went inside, pushing the door open slowly.
"Did you find him?" came Yuffie's voice. Tifa shook her head. "Oh well. Come and eat something."
Tifa sat down automatically in a chair, feeling as if she was on autopilot. A tail brushed up against her leg. She looked down to see Red XIII. He sniffed the air curiously and looked at her.
"Why do I smell fear, Tifa Lockhart?" he asked her. "And something else. A rose?"
She pulled the rose out of her pocket, realizing it was the same shade of pink that Aerith wore. "Something happened."
"What?" asked Yuffie, ever the nosy one. She glanced at the rose, and was suddenly lost in thought. "Tifa, where did you get the rose?" she wondered aloud. "Cloud had one just like it. I was asking him if he was thinking about Aerith because he had walked to the church, and he wouldn't answer me. I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault she died, and he got this weird look on his face when I said there was nothing we could do about it. He brought out a rose just like that one, and said, 'Is there.' It was weird."
Tifa grew pale. Red XIII growled slightly. "The fear is back, Tifa. What happened?"
"I think I saw a ghost."
"There's no such things as ghosts!" chided Yuffie.
"Is there?" came Vincent Valentine's voice, a warning note to it. "Are you always so certain, thief?" He turned his attention to Tifa. "Now tell me what happened."
Tifa told him. She showed him the rose, but he could find nothing strange about it. He sat down to think for a bit, and then spoke again.
"I think we should pay a visit to the church." Yuffie choked on her yet another piece of toast.
"But-- there's a ghost!"
"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts?" asked Vincent, amused. She blushed.
"Well, uh, I just-- don't want to go there!" She quailed under Vincent's piercing gaze. "Alright! I'm scared of ghosts! Leave me alone!" Her face grew into a deeper crimson as the whole group laughed at her.
"Perhaps we could wake Barret first?" she pleaded, anything to delay the dreaded trip to the church.
"Alright," Tifa said, recovered from the shock of seeing Aerith. "Who wants to wake him?" And had her own laugh at the faces of the others. Not even Vincent wanted to wake Barret, who was the grumpiest person of them all in the morning.
Cloud sat on the roof, glad to be alone with his thoughts. 'The NERVE of them! Couldn't they see I wanted to be left along? And then to talk about me as if I wasn't there... I suppose I overreacted...' He gazed out at the busy city, but didn't notice Tifa go by directly under him.
"Aerith," he whispered, fingering the rose that he had again brought out of his pocket. "Why can't I stop loving you? Why can't I decide who to love?"
But no answer came to his question, save for the breeze that ruffled his hair and clothes.
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So? What did you think? Gomenasai for all the dialogue, but I needed to get it in there somewhere. Review please, or email!
Lysaandi