Hola, kinichiwa, guten taug, Hello, and Bienvenue!!! Thanks for reviewing and onto ch 9!

Chapter 9: The Return of a Goddess

Cloud didn't know where else to go except to the church to pray. He walked slowly up the aisle, reached the altar, and collapsed on his knees. He prayed for the children, he prayed for strength, he prayed for a way to help.

"I don't know what else to do…" He whispered.

Someone put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be leaving soon, Tifa," He said without turning around. He knew it had to be her.

But the hand on his shoulder tightened.

"Tifa, I---" He started. He turned around, and backed away from her touch despite himself. His mouth went dry. His palms sweaty. For the person that stood before him was a ghost.

Aeris.

Not a day over twenty-two, same pink dress, big green eyes wide and sparkling… just as he remembered her.

"I must have finally lost my mind," He whispered, staring at her. "You can't be real!"

"Cloud," She called out to him as he backpedaled, "Cloud, wait. It's me,"

"It can't be," He said. "You're dead. I want you to be here, I want you to be real, but no matter how much I want it, it can't be. I laid you to rest myself."

"Cloud," She said, taking a small step toward him. "Please," She added, tears beginning to leak out of her eyes.

"NO!" He shouted. "Why can't you leave me in peace? Why do I have to come here every day praying I'd see you again? Why must you haunt me?"

She took a small step toward him again.

"Stay there! Just stay away from me! You're not Aeris!" He shouted, one hand reaching for the sword on his back.

"I am Aeris," She whispered. "And I need your help."

Cloud stared at her, raking his hands through his spiky hair. "No… no, get out of my head! I'm not a puppet! I'm NOT!" He withdrew the sword from his back. His blue eyes blazed with intensity. "I'm not a puppet!"

"I promised," She said. "You have to remember! I promised I'd come back…"

Cloud peered at her. "No… no…"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe?" She asked. "I know you've been searching for me, and I've come back to you, and I need your help now. You were my bodyguard, right?"

He took a small step toward her. "What did you say?"

"You're my bodyguard, Cloud. You're not a puppet, you're my bodyguard."

Before he could control himself, before he could stop himself, he was walking to her, and in a matter of seconds, him arms were around her.

He felt flesh and bone, she was real! Was this even possible? Holy, she had come back to him like she said she would!

He cupped her face, and ran his thumb along her ruby lips. "Aeris," He whispered, his voice catching in his throat. Did that sound really come from him? "Is it really you?"

"It's really me."

There was the sound of rapid footsteps behind them. Cloud turned and found Tifa standing there. "Cloud, I heard you shouting…"

"Tifa," He started.

"Aeris," She replied.

"She's back," Cloud told her. "Tifa, Aeris is back!"

"That's not Aeris," Tifa said. "I know she may look, talk and sound like her, but that's not her! Aeris is dead, Cloud!"

"I am back," Aeris said. "Ask me, Tifa. Ask me anything and I'll prove it."

Tifa then walked up to Cloud and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go,"

"I can't," Cloud said. "I can't leave her. I can't lose her again."

"I know how to save Marlene." Aeris whispered.

Cloud turned to her. "What?"

"Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. They're Sephiroth's children. He's using them to reach the Promised Land, and he created this virus called Geostigma that attacks all of the innocent souls on the planet." She grabbed his arm. "But the only innocent are children. He's draining their souls!" There were tears in her eyes, "he's draining their souls, Cloud."

Cloud stumbled back into a pew and sat down. "He's draining their souls? How?"

"The Black Materia. He's got to be using the Black Materia, nothing else could do something like that…" Aeris whispered.

"What do we do, Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"We head to the Temple of the Anicents." Cloud said.

They ate their meal in complete silence that night. It was so quiet without Marlene sitting by Cloud's side, and her babbling about the kids at school. It felt… wrong. Aeris was the first to excuse herself, and Cloud watched her go up the stairs. Tifa got up shortly after, and started clearing away the dinner plates. Barret turned to Cloud, who was watching Tifa loading the dishes into the dishwasher with a slight frown.

"What did you do to her?" Barret asked.

"Hurt her in the worst possible way," Cloud said.

"She loves you, you know."

"I know." Cloud sighed.

There was a silence between them.

"You did the right thing." Barret said. "It's better you told her now than later. She'll get over it." He sighed, and then said, "she always does."

He got up from the table, too. Cloud stood, walked a foot in Tifa's direction. He wanted to say something to her, but he didn't know what, or how to say it. What did Barret mean by 'she always does'? However, he turned and went up the stairs in search of Aeris. It didn't take him long to find her. Aeris was nestled in Marlene's bed, the small girl in her arms. Marlene's room had gotten significantly smaller with all of the machines she was hooked up to. Cloud saw Aeris chanting, and he knocked on the open door.

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "It won't work, Cloud."

Cloud walked into the room. "What won't?"

Aeris held in her hand a turquoise orb. Healing Materia.

"I know it won't. The doctors tried…"

"I thought I could get it to work, since…" Her voice trailed off.

Cloud walked to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you get some rest? I'll watch over her."

"I can't sleep." She sighed. "Why don't you sit with me?" She moved over in the bed to make room for him. Cloud sat down, and Aeris rested her head on his shoulder. Cloud wrapped and arm around her shoulders. It felt so good having her back again.

"You must think it's cruel of me to come back now. Just because there's a crisis…" Aeris whispered. "I couldn't come back before. I wanted to, I wanted to come back to you, you know."

"I know." He sighed.

"How do you know?"

He looked at her, and noticed she was smiling. He shrugged, "Lucky guess."

Aeris took one of her arms off of Marlene and placed it around Cloud's abdomen. "Remember when I said that I wanted to get to know you?"

He nodded, "On the Gondola."

"I still do, but…"

"But what?"

"All of this…"

"Maybe after all of this."

"Yeah," Aeris whispered, snuggling closer to him. "Maybe after…" Her eyes closed lightly.

Cloud kissed the crown of her head, and took the Materia from her. He placed it on the bedside table, and noticed a figure in the doorway. Tifa.

"Can I talk to you?" She whispered.

Cloud nodded. He got up, and laid Aeris down in the bed. He followed Tifa out of the room and closed the door. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, it seems like she's back." Tifa started. It was like she had rehearsed it. "I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the way I acted and…" She shook her head, and sighed. "I'm just sorry… for everything."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" He asked.

"Nibelheim." She whispered, avoiding his eyes, "when we were kids. I didn't know what a great guy you were. I didn't know about the great man you'd turn into. I was a stupid kid."

Cloud held up his hand. "We were kids, Tifa. That happened about seventeen years ago. It's in the past."

"But…"

"You don't have to be sorry." He said with a shrug.

"But… if I had…" She started, and then, "It's stupid."

"What is it?"

"If I had gotten with you then, when you loved me, would you still love me now?" She stared up into his dark blue eyes.

Cloud seemed to be caught off guard. He rubbed his hand through his hair, and looked back at the sleeping Aeris. "No…" He whispered. "No. Since I met Aeris--- Tifa, I'm sorry…."

To his surprise, Tifa barely nodded. He had expected a slap in the face, or a punch in the gut, anything… but she just nodded, walked into her room and closed the door quietly.

"Tifa…" Cloud sighed again.