Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is not mine. It's property of Square-Enix, Tetsuya Nomura, and some other people. I'm just borrowing characters for my own pleasure.
NOTE: This fic takes place after the events in Final Fantasy VII, but before Advent Children.
Valentine's Day
by teh Lizzi
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February 14.
Somehow, someone, somewhere thought it was a good idea to take a completely random day like February 14 and turn it into a "holiday" for lovers. And for the single people in the world, February 14 was just some regular day that just so happened to be an excuse to give out candy or simple gifts to friends. Or it was a day to sulk for being loveless, and wallow in self-pity while eating all the caramels out of a box of chocolates they got for half-price at the nearby drugstore.
For people like Cloud Strife, however, it was a day spent in an abandoned church, in hopes of seeing a certain someone there. And that someone would be busy tending to that patch of yellow and white flowers that replaced the church's altar, or kneeling in one of the empty pews, praying. He had seen her there before, if only for a few seconds.
But whenever he got anywhere close to her, to hold her hand or run his fingers through her light brown hair, she would just disappear into oblivion. Was he going crazy? To the unknowing eye: Probably. But love is crazy, and so is fate, and destiny, and all those other things that somehow kept Cloud connected to Aeris, even after she was killed so many months ago.
But here he was, in an empty pew across from the one where she normally prayed, in hopes of seing her on this special day for lovers. It was five minutes until February 15, and the only light coming into the church was from that bright full moon that shined down onto Midgar, and through the vast holes in the ceiling. But there was no sign of Aeris anywhere.
Four minutes until midnight. Cloud sighed, and was just about to leave when he heard something he had wanted to hear for so long: her voice. Calling his name.
"Cloud..."
He turned his head in the direction her voice came from. Nobody there. When he started heading for the large double-doors at the far end of the church, he heard her voice again.
"Wait up, Cloud!"
Cloud just stood still. Either he was finally getting what he was waiting for, or he should really stop eating Tifa's cooking, but he could have sworn he felt some kind of breeze pass through him. He heard that cute little giggle Aeris seemed to master, and realized that his waiting had finally paid off. She had materialized right before him.
It was two minutes until midnight when she said, "I just wanted to wish you a happy Valentine's Day." She held out one of her transparent ghostly hands.
Speechless since the moment he set foot in the church, Cloud reached out in an attempt to hold her hand. But just as he touched the late Cetra's cold, airy fingertips, she was gone.
Twenty seconds until midnight. Right before Cloud left the church, he murmured so quietly he could barely hear himself speak:
"Happy Valentine's Day, Aeris."
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Happy belated Valentine's Day, everybody!
Please, if you're going to review this fic, don't flame the couple. Why bother reading a fic for a couple you don't like in the first place?
- teh Lizzi