Chapter 2 of "Clouds in the Sky"

Disclaimer- Everything that doesn't belong to me belongs to their respective owners.

Remember this just a flashback to set the mood for the present day atmosphere. I tried to stick to the game events but I varied it just a little bit.

Once again I tried to stick to the characters not acting to OOC.

Thanks for the reviews! The more I get more compelled I will be to write more!

As Aeris's body slowly fell to the floor, time seemed to have slowed down. Cloud's eyes shook with an uncertainty as if they couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

"NOOO!" Screamed cloud in his mind.

She couldn't be gone. It was impossible for him to accept that. All they had been through, all the battles they had fought, all the time they had spent together was for naught? Was human life that fragile? Could it be that with one slice of a blade that the flame of life could be put out so easily?

Cloud looked into Aeris's now dark green eyes. The life that had filled her was gone. Aeris was dead.

"Aeris!"

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Tifa, still wide-eyed from seeing Sephiroth descend from the heavens upon Aeris,was left not knowing what to feel. As the realization of the situation caught up with her she saw Sephiroth's sword, Masamune, sticking right through Aeris. Tifa put her hand up to her mouth and fell to her knees. Tears began to well up in the corner of her crimson eyes. Those eyes looked to see the silver-haired Ex-soldier smiling.

"How could he be smiling?" Thought Tifa, as she stared at Sephiroth, and at that moment, Tifa wanted nothing more than to make him pay for killing Aeris...her friend.

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"Do not despair Cloud, she has not truly left this world. What has only happened is that she has returned back to the earth, where she belongs."

Cloud overwhelmed by grief couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sephiroth had just killed Aeris...He made it even sound like it was a good thing. Yet, how this could be good?

"Aeris is dead! Can't you understand that! She can't smile anymore, she can't care anymore, or even love anymore. How could have you kill her!"

Sephiroth looked down upon Cloud. "I did what had to be done. The life stream is the fate of all humans. All I did was helped her return to where she would have eventually turned up"

"You bastard!"

No longer able to stand the sight of Sephiroth standing over Aeris, Cloud grabbed his buster sword and lunged head first toward his intended target.

Sephiroth sidestepped out of the path of cloud's blade and took two steps back. He quickly regained his composure and resheathed his sword.

"Don't worry Cloud, i'm not here to kill you and all your little friends..." He glanced up quickly toward the young black haired woman seemingly unable to stand, on the verge of a breakdown, and a rowdy ninja that seemed to be incapable of shutting up. "...yet..."

"Maybe next time perhaps?" Sephiroth couldn't help but smile. To see Cloud in such a state over this 'Aeris' person was oddly almost as satisfying as it would be to annihilate the human race. He chuckled at the thought and turned his back on Cloud. He jumped up and disappeared into the darkness almost as fast as he had appeared from it. Before he would depart though, he decided to leave a little parting gift for the dearly departed's friends.

With that a monster spawned from jenova emerged from the waters surrounding the sanctuary. Its massive size towered above Cloud and Aeris. It looked around and saw the two people on that tiny platform, the blond haired spiky man was crying over the lifeless body of a brown haired woman. Unaffected by this emotional scene the creature let out an anguished roar and started to move toward the two determined to destroy them along with this place.

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Yuffie stood there watching the monster slowly close the distance between it and cloud. She couldn't let it kill him especially when she said she would help him, now could she?

"Tifa! Comon, we have to help Cloud!"

She heard the words strong and powerful inside her head but they came out as little more than feeble whispers.

"She's dead...Aeris...she's dead..." Tifa said still in a daze from just witnessing the death of close friend.

Yuffie couldn't tell Tifa to just forget about Aeris and move on. She wasn't heartless, but if she didn't do something fast, they might lose another friend to their inability to act. Yuffie grabbed Tifa and turned her so they could look into each other's eyes

"Tifa, look... Aeris was my friend too...but if we don't help Cloud he might die too! O hell! If we don't help him he will die! Do you understand that Tifa! Cloud is going to die because of us!"

Tifa stared into Yuffie's dark brown eyes and then looked toward Cloud...She was right, if she sat here unable to help she would lose more than one important person in her life. That, she doubted, would be more than she could bear. Tifa's daze which had lasted for almost the entire ordeal ended almost instantly. That determined gaze that she wore replaced the feelings that she portrayed before. She pushed herself off the ground and pulled the gloves on her hands back to tighten them around her fist. She clenched her fist and turned to look at Yuffie.

"Now that's the Tifa I know" Grinned Yuffie

Yuffie knew this wasn't really the right time to smiling, but it was better than to let herself be dragged down by this. Plus she had more than enough time after saving Cloud to really think about what happened. What mattered was the here and now, and now, a huge water type monster was threatening the life of another friend, and Yuffie being the determined girl that she was, wasn't about to let another friend die on her today.

"Thanks..." Tifa said with the insides of her eyes blazing with a burning fire" Lets go kick that monster's ass!"

"Yaaaaaaa!" They cried in unison.

With that Tifa and Yuffie jumped down the stepping stones, racing the quickly intercept the monster that was on a collision course with Cloud who was still hugging Aries closely to his heart.

(A/N)I'm not great at leaving people in suspense, but I think that the next chapter will end this flashback. It's already way longer than I intended it to be, but o well. Anyway. Can I get some feed back on this?

Thank you! Much appreciated!

All reviews I will try to respond to just to show how much I care)

Sorry about this chapter being short, but it felt right to end it here.