The Past of the Future

Sephiroth's body, cut up and bloody, fell to the ground. Cloud felt hollow inside. He thought victory would be better than this. He finally realized it. Killing Sephiroth was never going to bring Aeris back. He had sinned. Sephiroth was evil, but it was not for him to decide if he should live or die. "Aeris, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "It's my fault. It's my fault you got involved in this mess. I'm sorry." At the peak of his sorrow, a shining light came from above. "What's going on?"

"It's not your fault Cloud. Don't blame yourself. I hate it when you cry."

"Aeris?"

"Cloud!"

"Hunh?"

"What the hell is going on?" He looked up. A bewildered Seifer was staring him in the face. This time, fortunately, he was fully clothed. Cloud looked around and saw rubble everywhere. He saw Tifa talking with police. She was shaking her head and waving her arms a if to say there was no problem. Then he saw Cid. Unconscious and trapped under a floor board, he still had that cigarette in his mouth. Then he remembered what had happened.

"HEY CLOUD, WASSUP?"

"Wait, Cid, slow down!" SMASH Cloud, Cid, and the apartment staff member went careening into the apartment. Cloud's eyes were as big as dinner plates. They flew impossibly far across the room. As Cloud struggled to gain control of the flight path, seemed to become 3 times as affected by gravity, and he smashed into the ground. Cloud grabbed onto a chair, drastically slowing down his velocity, but destroying everything in his path. Unfortunately for the staff member, he went flying out the window.

Cloud thought this over, thinking about what he would tell Seifer. He decided on one answer. It seemed to be the best.

"Cid was drunk again," he said, pulling himself to his feet.

"I see…" Seifer had an understanding look on his face. Cid always got like this when he was drunk. Cloud walked over to Cid and kicked him. Cid snapped to attention immediately.

"Woah. Hey Cloud...Damn! What happened to this place?"

"…"

"Cloud?"

"You."

"Me?"

"You happened to this place."

"What do you mean…oh. I see. Well damn. I gotta switch to somethin' else. I dunno. Maybe tea?"

"Just…shut up Cid."

"Fine." Cid walked over to Tifa and as he was talking, repeatedly gestured over to Cloud. As Tifa walked away, Cid started to apologize to the police. Tifa walked over to Cloud. She was wearing a small, tight, black shirt and really short jean shorts. The small shirt emphasized the size of her already large breasts. Cloud never realized he was blushing. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about her like that. She was the landlady. And besides, he already has a girlfriend. He needs to stay faithful to Aeris, even though she is dead. Would she mind?

"Hey Cloud, I know what you're thinking," Seifer whispered in his ear.

"Really? What?" Cloud responded.

"You're thinking that Tifa is really hot. You want to get into her pants, but you feel like you would betray Aeris. Then you ask yourself if she would really mind."

Wow…he's good.

"Worry no longer my friend, I will take the burden off of your hands. Seifer the lovemaster!"

"Oh…thanks Seifer, I appreciate it…WAIT A SECOND!" It was too late. Seifer was already making moves on Tifa. His moves. This had nothing to do with Cloud. He sighed. Sefier would just make things worse.

"Hey Tifa, I thought "very-fine" only came in a bottle." Seifer opened up with one of his doomed to fail, cheesy pickup lines.

"Please Seifer, spare me…" Tifa rolled her eyes in annoyance. Seifer lost his suave composure.

"You didn't like that one? He're I've got another one." Seifer regained composure and tried again. "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together." Tifa swiveled around and looked at Seifer. Oooh! I got her with that one. Tifa slowly walked up to Seifer, put her face near his, leaned towards him, grabbed his coat…and chucked him across the room.

"If Cid's pickup lines don't work, why should yours?" Ouch. That must have hurt his pride. Cloud thought. Tifa walked up to Cloud. "Cloud, what the hell happened? No wait, you don't need to tell me. Cid and Seifer got drunk and bulldozed everything down. Uh oh, she's angry. Tifa was scary when she was angry.

"Actually it was just Ci…" Cloud tried to explain the actual events.

"No Cloud, I don't want to hear it! I can't keep paying for the repairs. I know it says that the landowner will pay for the first five house problems, but your five is costing me as much as five thousand of other peoples."

"Please Tifa, it wasn't me." Tifa put a heartbroken look on her face.

"No, no more. I'm sorry Cloud. I'm sorry about Aeris. She was a good friend of mine too. We all felt bad. We all got over it. It's been two years. You lost your job as a mercenary, so you got a job as a desk clerk. You slacked off and got drunk, and when your boss called you on it, you put him in the hospital. You've been jobless for nine months. Amazingly, Cid and Seifer can keep their jobs to pay for your rent. It may be the other guys who destroy things, but it's because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were drunk, Cid and Seifer always were positive. They always tried to snap you out of it. When Seifer first came to Midgard, he was hard hearted, but you pulled him out of it. When you got drunk, Seifer would try to help, but you'd shun him away. He decided all that you taught him was hypocrisy and started to drink. That just pushed Cid over the edge with his already bad drinking problem."

"Tifa, I'm not a drunk anymore."

"I know that. But I can't put up with this anymore. It hurts me." Tifa put her hand on her chest. "It hurts me right here. You're depressed because Aeris, your love, is dead. I wish I could have had that love. The love that someone else has taken away from me is causing me pain and trouble. I'm sorry Cloud." Cloud looked down solemnly. He knew what was wrong. It may have taken him two years to figure out, but he knew it know. He was holding on to the past. He was holding on to Aeris. He was holding on to Sephiroth. He was trying to hold on to his old life. The life he had. Now he remembered Vincent's words before the man disappeared.

Cloud was lying down. His broken and battered body was immobilized. He beat Sephiroth, but his life would never be the same. He felt a strong hand on his chest. He looked up. It was Vincent. The caped man was rubbing some sort of lotion on his wounds.

"Vincent…"

"Quiet. Don't talk." He looked at Cloud with a powerful emotion in his eyes. It was an emotion he thought he'd never see from Vincent. Was it sadness? No. It was empathy. Vincent knew exactly what he was going through. "You have lost a loved one. She meant everything to you. You tried to get revenge on the one who took her away. You succeeded, and yet, you feel empty inside. You long for your old life, but deep inside, you know you can never have it back. You know that the moment you joined Soldier, you would have to deal with loss, pain, and death. Now you damn the choices you made. I went through the same thing." Vincent stood up. He had finished rubbing Cloud with the salve. "But remember this Cloud: you can never change the past. If you try, you will only end up hurting yourself. Pain only lasts forever if you let it, but true love will never die, no matter what happens. Vincent jumped into a tree. "I came to Earth to do good, but I failed. I needed your help. The words I just told you, you had already told them to me. Not through your words, but your actions. I hope we meet again Cloud. I have learned much from you." As he finished his sentence, a beam of light came down from the clouds. "You were my cloud. You were everyone's cloud. You were dark and gray. You gave us shade from painful sun: you gave us rain to quench our thirst. You cooled the heat from our burning pains. O Cloud my cloud, shade us from the heat and sun, and become pure and white again." Vincent's poem soothed Cloud. There was a flash of light and Vincent was gone.

It took Cloud two years to figure out what that poem meant. He, Cloud, was dark and gray inside. His personality was tainted by Soldier. This grayness was extracted by people around him, his friends. The grayness of his heart was turned into the joy of others. Defeating Sephiroth was the turning point in his life, whether he liked it or not. Vincent meant that he wasn't supposed to hold on to his burdens anymore. It took so long to realize. He looked up at Tifa who had a worried look on her face.

"Cloud?"

"So, I have to go right?"

"Cloud…"

"It's alright. It's time for me to leave anyways. I've stayed here too long."

"What?" Cloud put his hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"I have hurt you Tifa, and I'm sorry." He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't hold it against me. There is someone I must find. He taught me something that I already know. I have to find myself, inside of me. Goodbye Tifa." He turned from her and walked away. He lifted the door off the ground and fixed it securely in the doorframe. He took one last look at the apartment, opened the door, and closed it behind him. Then the wall collapsed.

Seifer and Cid were sitting in the lobby.

"So, where do ya think Cloud is?" Cid looked around.

"I don't know, he said he'd meet us in the lobby." Siefer tossed his head in annoyance. "Next time he asks us to wait, I'm putting up a two hour limit. Only two hours." Cid had a blank look on his face. "What?"

"Nothin'. It's just that two hours is still a long time." There was an awkward silence. After about five more minutes, a figure appeared in the elevator door.

"It's about time you got here." Seifer stared at Cloud, waiting for an answer.

"Did you bring the suitcases?"

"Yes."

"Alright," said Cloud. He motioned Seifer and Cid to pick theirs up. He walked to the door. Took one final breath and walked to the door. He turned around to talk to the other guys. "Well, this is it. Once we walk out this door, we'll be new men. No worries, no depression, and most of all, no beer." Cid shuffled when Cloud said this. This would be hard for him to quit drinking. Seifer took the lead walking out the door.

"Well? What are you waiting for? It's go time!"

Well, Cloud, Seifer, and Cid are starting new lives. I wonder what's going to happen next. Wait, I'm writing it. I know. Ha! Don't forget to send me reviews people. I want to know what you think. Thanks to everyone who does send reviews. When I read a good review, I really appreciate it;