Final Fantasy VII
from Cloud Strife's P.O.V
Dare You to Move
5 years.
Sometimes, the memories of everything that we have weathered as one makes me forget the length of time we have been together. Yes, 5 years, and it seems like it's been only yesterday since you were in my arms while I was crying tears of infinite sadness for you.
And to think, back then, I held you while you were on the verge of dying.
I died back then with you, emotionally, when everything around my walls began collapsing. I knew not what happened in my world when you left, but when you did, god only knows what went on my mind after that. I don't think anyone quite got through to my head after you left me from this world, and I became quite a blockhead until one year later when you simply reappeared.
During this period, you left me to be on my own. It was hard, but I tried to pull through with the help of others. Your strength left on me, and I felt weak and dizzy to the unusual sensation of being alone. I didn't fight alone without your warmth. This time, I was my own soldier.
But because I loved you, I fought. Your voice back then whispered to me, and my heart broke into two. I remember holding onto my buster sword as I stood in the flowered fields. You were there in the blue sky, and I was there with tears rolling down my cheeks dampening my eyelids like always.
You spoke to me directly for the first time. Two simple words, and it changed my life forever.
Be strong.
I did it, all for you, because I loved you too much. I wanted you to see me as a soldier, not a crying weak one on the verge of dying, but a soldier. You remembered me as the mercenary who owed you a date, as the soldier who did strong deeds and was never one to fall. I want you to remember me as that soldier always.
When you returned, I knew what was life again. My head cleared. My gratitude to my friends for standing me for this one whole year was beyond normal debts. Your mere presence made me feel like I can take on the world without any weapons once more. Your warmth made me realized how much I have missed out on mortal emotions. Your kindness made me realized how much I have owed the people around me.
Because I loved you simply too much to have words describing it even in a 1000-word essay, because I loved you simply because you gave me strength, because I loved you simply because you were so beautiful beyond words, because I loved you because you were just you, because I loved you because I just needed and wanted you forever…
I married you.
5 years now, and I have never regretted making that decision since day one.
Your brave eyes of forest green conquer my soul each time I hold you in my arms. Your delicate arms cling onto me as if so fragile, I hold you as if you are my only precious gem worthy of in this lifetime of me. Your plaited brown hair that moves down my fingers in an easy zephyr makes me want to whisper your name over and over again in your ear.
And the way my name roll so naturally from your lips makes me remember why I am here blessed with this lifetime.
"Cloud…"
It has never sound so magical before. It makes me feel invincible.
It makes me recall the years of our marriage as one.
Back then, I was vulnerable to humanity. As a cynic, I never believed in the faith of love. What was love anyway? I despised the practice of kindness. Why do so when in the end, it is only the strongest who will live? The world is cruel. Live it that way. There is no other option.
When you came into my life, I grew skeptical at first of your too-kind viewpoint of life.
But you taught me well. Your eyes would always implore mine, as if in a challenge, asking me: What have you learnt today, Cloud?
I stared back blankly. You tried again with a smile.
Kindness is a necessity in this world. Let us not forget that.
But I still didn't see. You were a patient teacher, and you taught me slowly. I was a slow pupil, but you made me see eventually. In the end, on the night where I promised I would be your bodyguard and protect you forever, I remembered the expression my Mako eyes returned.
Finally I was able to give an answer.
Yes, because the world is harsh, acts of kindness are a necessity. If we can make one person see, and the one person makes another see, wouldn't the world be a better place?
I remembered your smile. Sweet, loving and tender.
I am glad you finally learnt.
From the day onwards, I was never the same again. I couldn't apprehend those feelings when I turned to the floor whenever you walked by, or merely grew hot in the face when you waved at me, or tried a dozen times ignoring the butterflies in my stomach when you smiled. Or the times when I began to talk in pathetic stutters when you would affectionately brush my blonde hair with the tips of your fingers.
You would giggle, and I would look away in bathing pink.
Back then, I already fell for you. Simple as that.
Your giggles remind me of silver bells. Like the warm sound clinging in the midst of utter darkness when I am lost. Your giggles direct me to your smiles, and then your forest green eyes. Sometimes, I would look at you in smothered despair.
I am lost.
You shook your head each time and gave my hand an encouraging squeeze. "Are you sure you're trying hard enough, Cloud?"
So I tried even harder.
The more I tried, the closer we became and the more encouraged I felt whenever your green eyes bore into mine.
Soft, kind. Always with a hint of a secret.
Your eyes - green and subtle like the ocean waves lapping upon shore - would always pose the same expression to my blue eyes, as if putting me to a challenge, telling me:
Isn't kindness a great thing? Isn't love a wonderful thing? I dare you to move, Cloud Strife, as though you've never move before. Let these beautiful things change your life from today. Love helps achieve great things. Move with it, Cloud, and you will no longer be lost.
I dare you to move.
And I did. I moved. I moved with the greatness of love and I founded you, Aeris Gainsborough. I dared myself to move with your encouragement, and I realized how much love would help me out from this dark tunnel I thought I was destined to be in. I dared myself to move, and I found myself in your arms.
I moved with these great things, Aeris Gainsborough, and at the end of this journey, I have finally found you.
5 years, and another lifetime of eternity. Yet it seemed like only yesterday when I held you in my arms crying when you left me to die slowly.
In your eyes then, at the most beseeching level, I read them loud and clear. The message spiraled towards my direction.
Have you not learnt enough, Cloud? Have I not taught you? What have you achieved?
Now, Aeris Gainsborough, as I embrace you under the starry, starry sky of tonight's, I can finally be honest enough to answer you.
You have dared me to move, and I did.
Owari
chiri no tenshi