title: breath of life
word count: 340
pairing: cloud/yuffie - implied cloud/aeris and vincent/yuffie
summary: i don't know what this was inspired by either, but it was sad to write. i'm replaying ffvii right now, and i'm almost to the "big dramatic SAD scene" and so i wanted to write something with a reference somewhere to the great aeris.
They sit up together some nights, and she'll tell him a story about her mother and her father before her mother died. Sometimes he'll follow up with a story of his own, though his past is intricately more twisted, and they try to stick to stories that won't involve too much delving into their activities with Avalanche. She knows that he'll remember her and then the night will be ruined. She hates the shadow of another woman always hanging over her, but she does what she must.
On that particular night, they sat together on the couch, the girl draped unceremoniously across his lap and tummy while he sipped on hot chocolate and stared into the fire. Usually he was good for conversation, but that night he was too busy reliving the past.
"Cloud," she whispered quietly, not wanting to break his reverie. He looks down at her, smiles, kisses her forehead.
"What is it?"
"What are you thinking about?"
He sighs, shakes his head, and frowns. "Just things from back then. From Avalanche." But it was her on his mind and she knew it.
"Aeris again?"
He glanced away and nodded. "Yeah... I can't get her out of my head. Lately it's just been... hard."
The girl nodded. She understood perfectly. After Avalanche parted, she had never seen the man she adored again - and it had been two years. She wasn't holding out hope to catch a glimpse of his red cape again. "Let's go to sleep... I'm tired and it'll be a big day tomorrow."
He gently picked her up and carried her to their bedroom. After getting ready for bed, the two settled down on the comfortable mattress, and the girl snuggled into his arms. "I won't be able to sleep," he murmured. She turned to him and smiled softly.
"You'll fall asleep eventually." Soon enough the girl dropped into dreamland, and the man was lulled off by the soothing noise of her even, steady breaths, the only sign that she was living - his lullaby.
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