Just a short, random oneshot based after the game and just a little before AC. (I can hardly wait to see this movie!) Please enjoy, all comments and constructive critisism welcome.
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Quite some time has passed since the world nearly ended. Since then the 'fight for what's right' has warped into the fight to make ends meet; her hero days shuffling to the back of her mind and settling like age-worn and dust covered photographs. Nice things to look at and recall, if only she ever had the time...
But there's much to occupy her these days–too much, perhaps–and dwelling on the past often seems like a waste.
Try telling him that, some hidden part of her mind snaps; the same part that likes to bring all her 'what if' and 'could have been' thoughts out to play. Like what if Aerith hadn't died? Or what could have been, all those years ago when they still clung to childhood innocence, if she had payed Cloud more attention?
Then responsibility creeps back in like an old friend, and reality comes rushing in with bills to pay and sad-eyed orphans to care for. He's gone off again on another odd job, jetting from one end of the world to the next; trying to recapture the past, she's sure. What little of it is left.
And despite it all, 'was it all worth it' pays a visit from time to time, breathing a cold breath down the back of her neck and weaving it's bone-dry fingers through the cobwebs of her brain. Unbidden, she shivers.
The back door suddenly springs open, bringing with it a darkly clad, spiky-haired youth. He forgets to shut the door and he's tracking mud all over her clean floor, but he's back and so she doesn't mind. He slaps a wad of gil on the table, assuring her that they'll make rent this month.
"Welcome back," she murmurs as he turns to leave the kitchen. Before he jet's upstairs, he graces her with a sweet but all-too-brief smile.
"Yeah. Good to be home." He replies, and then he's gone.
In the following silence she, too, can't help but grin. There's a warm feeling inside, making the tattered world beyond the kitchen window seem just a little less dismal.
Yes, she thinks with conviction. If only for the little things in her life that he brings, It's worth it.
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Thank you for reading.