Disclaimer: I love everybody! But that doesn't mean I own them.

This one goes straight to The Rouge Stallion: I would accept your proposal if I weren't already taken as well and living in Zimbabwe. I don't really live there though. It's just more interesting than saying Oxford. But I'll keep that in mind should my samurai ever die suddenly. O.O Heehee I'm writing now.

I'm not that twisted am I?

Chapter Seven

The question I should have been asking myself before I thought about how to make Cloud understand would have been where he's going to look. When did he 'see' her first? He said the church. That makes sense. What am I talking about? That doesn't make sense! He didn't see her, you dumb ass. I look down at the cracked pavement. That's true. It's awfully annoying running in a dress like this. I don't see how the hell Aerith did it. I can barely breathe for God's sake. Even though I only button the bare minimum on the dress, the skirt part keep bunching between my legs and it's making me stumble. Every two seconds I have to pull it out again. It's pretty damn pointless to own a dress like this unless your only goal in life is to look hot. Or like a whore. I gotta stop thinking like this. I have to step into her role. I need to act innocent. I smirked, jumping a puddle. Cause she's innocent. Yeah..

Yuffie and I split ways a while ago. This city's just too big for us to stick together. She'll search her side till she comes to the outskirts and then she'll probably go to Kalm. Me, I'm searching till I reach the end too, then I'm going to her burial site. The Forgotten City. I can't help but think how many drunken bums are on the streets tonight, staring up at forever cloudy sky, trying to remember what stars look like. How many of them have looked up and seen me streak across the roof tops? Who's called me a fairy? Or an illusion? Angel like Aerith? I laugh thinking about how many men have seen my underwear.

I run my hands over my hair, making sure everything hasn't fallen out. It crunches under my finger tips. I think Yuffie went a little over board on the gel. Retighten the bow as I sprint across a building. Trip on my damn dress. I feel like I'm getting no where. My phone rings. The caller I.D. says it's private. "Hello?" I pant.

"I heard you were looking for Cloud."

"Vincent?"

"Yes. If you're heading to the Forgotten City, he's still here."

"Are you close by? Can you stall him?" It gets staticky as I drop to a lower building. "Vincent?"

"We'll see what happens." After that comes that little click older phones make. Since when does he have a phone? How the hell did he get my number? Shrugging it off I keep going, slowly making a left. I don't know how I'm going to get there yet but I have to before he leaves. Vincent isn't exactly helpful trying to stall some one. Not exactly talkative. But maybe Cloud will confide in him too. Maybe he'll think Vincent will understand. That's weird to think about.

After that it was pretty much straight to the city. I kind of like it there and I don't. The whole place is very beautiful to me and its iridescent glow is creepily comforting. Everything feels almost comfortably strange. And you're probably wondering why I would say I don't like it after saying it's beautiful and comfortable. Well, you did hear me say creepy, right? It is. Everything is just so quiet you could hear a pin drop sometimes. On dirt. Or grass maybe. Well, you get the point. And the rivers and creeks freak me out. I don't like looking at them, being in them, going near them. It's childish to think this way but I'm scared I'll see Aerith's skeleton down there or her skull'll come floating by. That would be damn nasty! But yeah...

I stood at the water's edge. Thought about Cloud letting Aerith go back to the life stream. Thought about when Denzel stepped into the very same water and got temporarily 'healed'. Was it by her he was healed? Or just that this water is so close to the life stream. That, I think, makes a little more sense. You can see my reflection in almost still water. To me it's like everything I just said. It's like I'm looking at her down there. As if she had been preserved in the silt and water. Like it never let her go. Maybe she is a doll after all? I touch my face. And now I am too. "Why didn't you tell me before I got here?" I whisper. Vincent's somewhere I can't see him but I know he hears me.

"I had borrowed his phone. I can't warn you from a phone I don't have."

I look around, trying to find him while talking to him. "Couldn't you have just called me before he left? Would he really have told you no to that?"

"Would have been suspicious." I can't find him. I give up. "Do you really think this is going to work?" I look down at my reflection again. More like her reflection really. "He may have gone mad but even mad people can see the difference in things. Especially if it's the thing they lost their mind too."

"What else is there to do? What choice do I have?" I reply sadly.

"You could just give him up and move on. Don't worry about him anymore."

"But I love him, Vincent. You have to understand."

The trees barely rustle as he moves somewhere else. I shouldn't have said that. He's probably thinking about his wife and how he had coped with her passing. This isn't the same as him and his wife. I don't have to grieve over Cloud. He isn't dead...yet. I feel wretched for bringing it up. It really wasn't fair of me. "If you're going to go after him, you should have left already. You know he's heading back to the city." Oh thank you Vincent for telling me that now. "If you leave now, you might be there in time to tail him."

"Right..." I look around again in vain. "Vincent..thanks." He doesn't tell me anything else. I nodded for some reason before throwing my energy into my legs again. My skirt's in one hand as I run down the paths. With the other hand I dial Yuffie again. She doesn't pick up so I have to try again. "Come on Yuffie. Come on Yuffie!"

"Yo!"

"Yuffie!"

"That would be me."

"That's great. Cloud's heading back to the city. He's way ahead of me. Try and find him. I'll be there as soon as I can. Okay?" I pant.

"Yeah. I got ya."

"Call me if you see him?"

"Okay. You might want to run faster though. Later." Am I really that out of shape that she would know I'm pumping my legs as hard as I can?

"Yuffie-"

"Blame the dress. Bye!" The phone is silent again and I have to smile. She has a point. The dress is pretty tight but at least I'm already close to the edge of these creepy bright trees. As I pass through them I come to the very sad realization that chocobos don't exactly stick around. Fuck. Me. This is going to suck a lot more than I thought. My hands hit my knees as I take a deep breath and think about what I'm doing. If I do this I could hear things I never wanted to hear but if I don't I might lose him forever. I have to do this. I glare at the distance. And nothing can stop me.

Blah blah blah. All done! Next chapter soon to show up on the...sometime this month I'm sure. It might be the last chapter. Maybe the second to last. I never thought I could finish a story. I mean... I have a quota of my FF eleven story so it'll be a long time before I finish that one. But this one just flew didn't it? Ska chan is so happy you guys like my stories! Yay!