Aeris was incredibly challenging to write. She's this angel that carries her burdens with a smile and never seems to show how weary she is; it's like they wanted to create something perfect. But even the angels had problems, right?
Waking and sleeping, sleeping and dreaming, eyes open and closed, she hears it. It fills her head with whispers of every possible thought, every possible object-it tells her things she doesn't know and things she doesn't want to know. It's constant, never-ending and sometimes, the current is so strong she's sure that it will sweep her away, living or not. This, she reminds herself, is the way of the Cetra.
Her mother had warned her that the pull would be strong. The planet, above all, is the mother of the Cetra; the planet speaks to them alone-
Alone. The word rings through her, bouncing off the walls of her mind. It stops the whispers because they know she needs to think on it. Alone. She is alone, even in the most crowded of places, because the planet is dying and it wants to use her up. It demands her blood as sacrifice to heal its ravaged body; it is adamant that she should return from whence she came. She wants to laugh at this, but she dislikes the sound of bitter acceptance.
She finds comfort in the fact that even if she is the last of her race, there are others capable of understanding this feeling-the Guardian knows what it is to be the only child of his kind. She finds comfort in the fact that others know what it is to be a prison-to have someone locked inside of you that wants nothing more than your life. The one in the cloak, she knows, has monsters clamoring inside of him, begging for control…and the SOLDIER. She feels it when his mako enhancement, the leftover voices of her mother, talk him into strange ideas.
She finds comfort in the fact that the rest, even if they do not have this experience, are under such pressure as well; the martial artist that lost her everything to the Great General, the ninja that is giving her all for her country, the large man with the gun that only wants to provide a better life for his child. The planet demands that they give themselves for her cause. It clamors for the blood of martyrs.
And perhaps, in that respect, she is not alone at all.
A/N I don't know who's next in this, but I'm thinking of Tifa or Barret. Maybe even Vincent.