Cloud stared at the swaying brown hair in front of him. The owner of the brown hair walked in front of him, humming a tune as they head towards their next destination.
" Your hair…is very long, Aerith." He blurted out without thinking and covered his mouth with his hand.
" Ha?" The browned hair, flower girl turns to face him with a confused expression at her company's sudden statement.
Cloud reached out his hand to touch the soft, gentle feeling of her hair. " Come to think of it…I don't remember a time where I saw your hair down."
Aerith raised her brow with deeper confusion and started hitting Cloud's forehead with the tip of her finger. " Earth to Cloud? Do you have a brain in that small head of yours?"
The blonde soldier frowned at her statement, his face slightly red from embarrassment. " What does that suppose to mean?"
The flower girl suppressed a giggle, " Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it…just, well…what you said. Don't tell that you've just noticed that I have long hair right now?"
Aerith smiled at the soldier's silent response. " Well, we can't just stand around here. We've got to hurry and meet with the others."
Cloud once again stared at the swaying brown hair in front of him. And just that moment…he'd wish he could see her hair down just for once. See how she would look like. Would she look the same? Or somewhat different?
He never knew his wish would be granted in a cruel way.
--- ------ ---
" Aerith!!!"
Blood spluttered and splashed onto the cold floor. His long, silver sword stabbing through her slender body. Her body slowly fell forward as soon as he slid the harmful weapon out from her. The ribbon…the White materia fell and bounced across the altar. It was then swallowed into the cold, blue water.
Cloud caught her body before she can hit the floor and made it face him. " …Ae…rith?"
He can feel the heat slowly disappearing from her body. He could feel the back of his eyes growing hot as he saw the single tear flowing from her now-closed eyes. He can hear Him…the one who had just killed her in front of him…Sephiroth saying something above him. But then those words of him barely reached his ears. All he could hear now…was her fading heartbeat.
" Aerith…"
And then…the heartbeat stopped. Cloud felt something snapped inside of him as his body started to tremble in rage. He gritted his teeth so hard that he bit his lip and could feel the taste of blood pouring into his mouth.
" Shut-up…"
An image came to his mind. An old image. Sakura trees standing around them. Yes. It was when they visited Wutai, Yuffie's hometown.
Aerith stood under the Sakura tree, eyes closed, the sakura petals falling like snow around her, and her hands clasped in front of her as though to pray. She then looks up at him, Cloud, and smiles. A beautiful smile.
" …I don't care about the cycle of nature…your stupid plans. Aerith is going to be gone. She won't talk…smile, cry, or even…be angry."
Cloud tightens his fist in anger. " What are we suppose to do? This pain…what can I do about this pain? My fingers are tingling…my throat is dry…the back of eyes are hot!"
He stood up to face the long, silver haired, once known and called to be a hero and shouted, " Because of you…Aerith is dead!!!"
----- ---------------- ---
Cloud carried Aerith with a frozen mind. He couldn't think of anything. No. What is there to think of ? The body he carries in his arm is now cold. Too…cold for him. He could feel the aura of sadness and shock behind him…around his friends. He slowly walked…towards the lake.
As he walked into the water, he almost winced his eyes from the stinging coldness. The coldness of this water is too much…even for Aerith. Would she be cold…alone…in this water? He was almost hesitant to release his arms.
Aerith…
Aerith…
As soon as he released his arms, Aerith slowly sank into the water. Her long, blood-stained brown hair spread like wings growing from one's back as she sank. Aerith's hair without the usual ribbon. The one and only image of her hair down. The one image Cloud wished to see some time ago.
…And she was beautiful.
Though,
He never thought he'd see it like this.
Cloud opens his eyes to find himself in bed. The morning light was shining brightly on him from the window. He brought a hand to his face to find it wet.
He had been crying.
He had been dreaming.
A very sad dream.
The blonde soldier wiped the tears that were still flowing from his eyes as he got off from the bed. What was he dreaming about? It must have been something to make him cry like this. He'd never cried before. Not even when…
His eyes widen in realization.
Yes. Not even when…Aerith died.
But that was because he was too shocked…
They say that when you're too shock of something, you are unable to cry. Even if you wanted to.
Yes. That time. When he held her cold body, he wanted to cry. Cry his heart out. But something in him refused to. Was it fear?
Fear of admitting the reality of Aerith's death? Fear of losing his mind?
He was afraid. Afraid to lose his mind. Afraid to accept the cruel truth. Be swallowed into painful sorrow. Be captured into darkness and will never be able to find the way out.
He wanted to cry. So badly. But he just couldn't.
And now…
He could feel the back of his eyes growing hot again. Like that time.
Now…
". . . . !" Cloud brought both of his hands to his face. The tears silently rolled down his cheeks. Now…the tears he have been holding for all these time…are now flowing madly from his sapphire eyes. Is it sorrow? For not being able to save her that time? Or happiness? That she has come back…in front of him, no matter what her reason is.
And this time. He won't fail again. This time…even if it means to lose everything…everything he has…
He will protect her.
But first…
---- ----- ---- ---- ------
" Ha----," The Kuno-ichi sighed heavily with her arms wrapped around her knees, which were brought closely to her face, as she sat on her bed. " No matter how much I stop thinking…I can't help it."
She could feel her cheeks growing red and hid her face between her arms. " What am I going to do?"
No matter how much…how much she tried to stop thinking…
She couldn't stop thinking about him. His long, disheveled black hair. His battle-worned, red cape. His pale skin. Just can't stop thinking about him.
" Vincent…" Yuffie whispered softly to herself. " When did I start having feelings for that old, boring, creepy, gloomy guy?"
Surely, she never had this feeling during those times when they were on a journey to fight Sephiroth. She had always just thought of him as a gloomy, always-talking-about-his-sin guy but at the same time, a strong comrade to have. He had saved her life at times, and in return, she had saved his life at times, too.
" We were just comrades at that time. That's all. But…now what?"
Unlike him, she never liked to think deeply in her thoughts. It always confused her in the end. Besides, she never liked the gloomy aura that comes with it. It always made her sad and regretful and makes her think all the negative thoughts. Instead, she always liked to stay out in the sun, hang around with Tifa and Aerith, make fun of Cloud and Barret at times, wrestle with Cid, play with Nanaki, ask Caith Sith to do a fortune for her (though she always never believed the results he gave her), and all those other fun a stuff. She never liked just staying inside and do nothing at all, just sit or sleep. That's just boring.
Sure, there's nothing wrong with thinking back of the past. She has nothing against it.
' Besides…' She thought, ' Let's say I admit I have feelings for that guy, he'll never accept it anyways. He's always thinking about that female scientist, the one he said is Sephiroth's biological mother. What was her name? Lucre…Lucrecia. Yeah, that's it. I wonder what kind of person she was?'
During the journey, they came upon a certain waterfall. It was really nothing special if you looked at it from outside. But, Vincent said he 'feels' something inside so they decided to check it out. She didn't go in though. Of course, she would've been happy if there was a good treasure or a really rare materia in there, but at that time, she was too tired and exhausted from the long underwater journey in the submarine. She never liked transportations. It always made her sick.
But anyways, since nobody else wanted to go, Cloud, Vincent, and Cid decided to check it out while the others wait outside. It didn't take them long, only about ten minutes or so. But they came out with Vincent holding something like a new weapon for him and his usual somber expression, only this time, it was like he was about to cry. Cloud explained what happened while Vincent was leaning on the rocky walls, his arms crossed, with a depressed expression.
' At that time, I was just like ' That's it? You guys didn't find any treasure or rare materias!!?'. But come to think of it now…I wish I 'd gone with them, just to take a look on how this 'Lucrecia' person looked like. I wonder how Vincent felt. After seeing the one woman he loved and thought was dead the whole time. Was he happy? But…remembering the expression on his face that time…I doubt it.' Yuffie sighed again and jumped off the bed, landing softly on the floor. ' Why did I ever like that guy? When I could be thinking of getting more materias for Wutai!? Aargh! What am I going to do!!?'
Knock knockShe jumped from the sound and slowly turned to the door. " Who…Who is it?"
There was a moment of silence and then, "It's Vincent."
' Speak of the devil…' Yuffie sighed and walked towards the door. At the same time, she tried to stop her cheeks from growing red. When she opened the door, Vincent was standing there with his usual pale face and beautiful red eyes. " Yeah, what do you want?"
' Stupid, Yuffie!' She kicked herself, ' Why can't you be nice to him just for once!?'
Vincent sighed as he tucks some of his black hair behind his ears, " Tifa asked me to call you downstairs. She said she wants you to help make breakfast."
"…Yeah, whatever. I'll be coming down then." Yuffie said with a half disappointed tone in her voice. ' What was I expecting?' She sighed mentally in her head. She was about to close the door when…
" Yuffie…" Vincent's voice stopped her.
" What?"
". . . . . ." He stayed silent, trying to find the right words.
" Come on! Get on it already!" She said in half frustrate tone.
" …I…"
" Yuffie-------------!!!" Tifa's voice called from downstairs. Yuffie sighed and stepped out of the door, closing it behind her.
" I'm coming!" She yelled and turns to Vincent. " Whatever you want to say to me, you better start straightening it in your head, cause I have a life too, you know?"
". . . . . I will…try…"
" Don't try! Do it!" Yuffie frowned, " I swear to my Wutai ancestor's, you'll always be missing the chance if you always hesitate like that! You gotta say what you gotta say!! Or you'll just keep failing and failing!!"
Vincent looked surprise for a moment, his eyes slightly wide. But soon, he smiled, his red eyes narrowing gently and his pale lips curved. One of his rare, nice smiles.
" You never change, Yuffie." He said softly.
Yuffie quickly turned her face away, feeling her cheeks turning red and hurried down the stairs, leaving Vincent standing on the hallways alone.
' You gotta say what you gotta say…huh?' She thought as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looks up, ' I guess I should be saying that to myself, too.'
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- Hikaru
Hey! Sorry for not updating for so long! I was very busy and my god, these teachers are already giving out projects!!! Nooo---!!! It's too early!!! Well, hope you guys liked the chapter!! Please review!!