Disclaimer: Not mine.
Note: So sorry about the long wait! I haven't been on that much…
Second Note: I've decided that the very LEAST amount this fic is gonna have is 32 chapters! You know, to include a whole month (31 days—it's July, I suppose) plus one day for when Sephiroth dropped Aeris in the last chapter…so yeah. Yay.
Third Note: I'm a Cloud fan, and I like Cloris and Cloti the same. Also, I don't believe Cloud is an idiot, so don't expect me to bash him in this chapter, Sorry if that disappoints you…
Chapter 5: Yellow Flowers, Yellow Hair
"We're here! THANK YOU!" Aeris said desperately as Sephiroth landed and released her just outside the gates of Midgar. Aeris collapsed onto her knees and started bowing to the land.
"Get it together, you idiot," Sephiroth growled, yanking the Cetra woman up by grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her up that way.
"EEP!" the pink-clad flower girl cried, but the ex-General ignored her. "So what are we going to DO here, anyway?" she asked.
"I haven't figured that out yet," Sephiroth said coolly, ducking as to avoid getting thwacked in the side of the head by an angered Cetra fist. "I suppose you can go see if anyone still lives here that you know. Besides didn't you have some flower garden here or something stupid like that?"
"Oh, yeah. The flowers. I should probably check on those," Aeris mused absently, then entered the now cleaner metropolis.
"Just so you know, we AREN'T staying here overnight…you know those Midgar hotels, all of them only have one room," the silver-haired man said.
"My house has two bedrooms," said the Cetra. "So we could stay there if my mom doesn't mind."
Sephiroth snorted. "You still live with your mom?"
"Yes, but it's not like I'm a forty-year-old jobless bum who still lives with their mom. I couldn't find any other place to live in Midgar and I didn't want to leave Midgar and leave my garden," Aeris said coolly.
"You didn't want to leave your garden? It wouldn't even miss you! IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY FREAKIN' LIVE! IT'S A GATHERING OF PLANTS!"
"…Someone didn't get their morning coffee…"
"For your information, missy, I don't drink coffee."
"Are we going to my house or not?" Aeris asked, starting to get a tiny bit aggravated.
"…Fine."
As they walked to Aeris's house, Sephiroth stayed at least thirty feet behind her, creeping in the shadows when possible, which drew odd looks and one old lady saying, "Excuse me, miss, but I think you have a stalker."
Aeris attempted to smirk, but couldn't, so she just smiled. "No, he's just a confused old man who likes pretending to be a spy."
Once they reached Aeris's house, Sephiroth glared at his unwanted companion. "I am NOT a confused old man. I'm only in my thirties, and I'm not confused! And I CERTAINTLY don't like PRETENDING to be a SPY! I don't even like pretending!"
The pink-clad woman rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Mom, I'm home," she called. But as she searched the house, her mom (as those of us who finished the game know) no longer resided there. She found a note on the table:
Aeris,
Welcome home! I no longer live here, though. I moved to a place in Kalm in order to get some quiet and safety. This house, then, belongs to you now! Feel free to come visit me.
Love,
Mom
Aeris shrugged and sighed, sliding the note into her pocket (which the author decided to give her). "I'm gonna check on the flowers at the church. Please don't break anything, okay?"
Sephiroth glared. "So you're leaving me alone in a cheerful, femininely decorated house surrounded by bright, happy flowers with an annoyingly calm song playing somewhere in the distance?"
"Yep. If you don't wanna be seen, lock the door and stay inside. Don't think you're locking me out, because whether you like it or not I have the keys with me," Aeris said, and exited the house.
Sephiroth's eye twitched slightly as he looked around the house. "Why is it that everything that has to do with that woman is always so calm-like? Even that song that started playing out of nowhere when I killed her was calm and serene and pretty! Well…for the sake of my reputation, maybe not pretty, but definitely calm."
At the Midgar church…
"I see nothing's changed," Aeris said quietly to herself, looking around the church as she entered. Her footsteps didn't seem to make a sound as she slowly walked up to the flowerbed. Then she noticed that someone else was there, as well…someone with hair the same yellow color as the flowers.
"…Cloud?" the pink-clad Cetra whispered. Well, it wasn't really a whisper, because whispers are more like making words when you breathe, and not really with your voice, if that makes any sense at all. But it was close enough to a whisper, so we'll just say she whispered.
Cloud looked up from where he was kneeling by the flowerbed, and stood.
"Cloud!" Aeris said.
"You're…not dead," he muttered, walking closer to her. Then he hugged her so tight she couldn't breathe, and yet she didn't really care. "How are you alive?" he asked.
Aeris told him about the Planet's deal, and his eyes narrowed slightly when she mentioned Sephiroth was alive too.
"So…How've you been?" she asked.
"Not bad, I guess…er…Tifa and I are married now," he said awkwardly.
Even though she felt like she was getting stabbed, Aeris smiled. "That's so sweet…"
"Either way, I'm extremely glad you're alive," Cloud said, smiling.
"…Glad you're happy. Good luck with you and Tifa. I have to go check on the flowers by my house now—I'm not really sure the Planet wanted me to meet up with anyone I knew before I died, so please don't follow. Bye," Aeris said, practically running out of the church.
Back at her house, the Cetra didn't even bother checking her flowers. She jammed her keys in the front door, flung it open, ran up to her room, locked her bedroom door, and threw herself down on her bed, sobbing into her pillow.
Sephiroth, despite his hatred for the girl, noticed how upset she obviously was and felt a tiny bubble of sympathy growing for her somewhere in his chest. So, he decided to go listen in to whatever she might be muttering to herself.
"…Married," he heard, pressing one ear against the door. "Of course he would be! I mean, I was dead already. I knew he loved her. Did I honestly expect him to wait for some miracle to happen? Whatever. As long as he's happy, I guess." Aeris's sobs had subsided as she began muttering to herself, but she still wasn't a very happy person.
Sephiroth crept back downstairs. Was it because of the Planet's trial and will that he felt sorry for her, or was she actually beginning to grow on him?
Yumesuta: Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block still invades my mind. Evil thing, writer's block is. Not much of a cliffhanger ending, I know, but it was the best I could think of! Sorry if this chappie wasn't as funny as the rest. Anyways, REVIEW!
