Welcome back to the Fluff Show, ladies and gents. Tonight, we'll be reading a new segment of this story.
THS : THANKJ00! Gives you a cookie Sad/Sweet? Perfect! Also ,couples are open… sort of, all except Clorith. (Huggles Clorith fansites)
Bright Lotus: Thankies! And also, (this is my interpretation) I think Cloud was about to cry when she died, so seeing that over and over will not help. Poor Cloud.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, etc.
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Chapter 2: Devotion
Cloud opened his eyes. It was strangely dark, for the time he normally woke up at. Oh. There was something blocking his view. That's strange, nobody usually comes here. Tifa understood what Cloud was doing, the others had no idea where he was. Tifa had promised that she wouldn't say where he'd gone. Who or what was it?
His eyes began to focus. The contours and lines of a young face started to make themselves known to Cloud. There was a warm feeling on his forehead, like there was a hand on it. God, he was soaking. Shaking slightly, too. He remembered the dream he had had last night. It was horrifying. A culmination of all the others. Aerith. He had yearned for her. Just to touch her face one more time… No. No. This couldn't be.
He shot backwards, still almost horizontal, changing to being upright in mid-air. He picked up the Buster Sword from the ground close to him, and, holding the hilt in his right hand, pointed the tip straight towards the girl's throat. "Who are you?" he said in a harsh tone, left arm already glowing with readied materia. "Cloud? It's me… Aerith!" Cloud was frustrated by this girl's idiocy. Aerith wasn't coming back. She couldn't. "No, you're not. She died. Because of me. All because of me. She is not coming back." Cloud was revealing too much. His guilt was manifesting itself in his words. "Cloud, why…" she began. Cloud gritted his teeth and began to shift his weight forwards. "Cloud, stop, please!" she said, hands clasped as if in prayer. "Cloud, it's me. Aerith." She began to step towards him. His resolve was being tried. "Stay back!" he shouted, stepping back just a fraction. "Cloud. I'll prove to you that I am Aerith." She knelt on the floor, the tip of the Buster Sword almost at her throat's fair skin. She closed her eyes in prayer.
Holy was lifted from Cloud's chest. It glowed, a magnificent fire of pure goodness, coming to rest in front of Aerith. It attached itself to her hair the way it had done before she was taken away and it fell into the lake. She made all this happen. "Aerith…" Cloud mouthed. She began to smile vividly. She dashed over to him and hugged him. He couldn't bring himself to respond. The smile playing around his lips was evidently false. "I…" he began. Aerith stopped for a moment as he stepped away from her concerned about his sadness. "I… couldn't possibly face you again. You were taken because of me. I couldn't save you. Forgive me. Please, please forgive me." He was gazing intently at the floor. Aerith walked over. "For what, silly?" she laughed, hugging him again. He was dumbstruck. "What do you mean, for what?" he asked, still not hugging her back. She gazed up at his face. "Don't worry. You didn't do anything. You don't need forgiveness, least of all from me!" She smiled broadly. Cloud stood still for a moment. He then hugged Aerith back awkwardly. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against his muscular chest. He just held her, stroking her light brown hair, the other hand round her waist. He'd regained his confidence. She was back. The two lay together, simply enjoying the knowledge that the other was back. "Thank you, Aerith." He said gently, before they drifted off to sleep. ((Note: No sex, romance is the word!))
He had no nightmares that night. Just peace.
They had slept inside the small building outside the cave. He woke up in the middle of the night, to a strange sound. It sounded like something scratching at the walls. He silently removed his chest from under Aerith's head, walking silently towards the door. Placing a gloved hand on the handle, he pulled at the door and was thrown backwards, straight into a wall. He leapt outside into the fresh night air, seemingly unharmed by this body-to-wall collision. Something immediately whizzed in front of his face, and there was an inhuman cry as the monster stopped to see its new prey. It was an ugly thing. The head constantly changed form on the humanoid body. The monster towered over Cloud, at least twice his height. The whole thing appeared gooey, constantly flowing yet solid. Where there was once a longer finger this quickly morphed into a shorter one, and back again, the same sort of fluctuations going on all over the monster's 'liquid flesh' body. It swung a mace-like hand at him, which he ducked, whilst moving quickly forwards to give his blade some momentum. As he swung upwards, however, the beast nimbly dodged the huge sword and slammed Cloud in the back, sending him flying towards a tree trunk.
All this was causing quite a stir. Aerith had woken up at the sound of the screech, realising Cloud was gone. For a moment, panic shot through her, but then she heard the familiar sound of the Buster Sword slicing through the air. She picked up her staff and dashed downstairs. She peeked out of the door to see Cloud swinging upwards, but then being hit badly. "CLOUD!"
Cloud regained control in time to slice the tree trunk in half and then, using the width of his sword, to send this flying towards the monster. Direct hit, but this abomination wouldn't go down from simply being knocked to the ground by a mere tree. It grabbed the trunk from on top of it and threw it straight back towards Cloud. He jumped from the trunk of a tree that he had managed to land horizontally on, and ran along the flying projectile's trunk, leaping high into the air with the sword held in both hands behind his back. He swung it down with amazing speed as he hurtled towards the monster. It was hit again, but it dodged out of the way and lost only a couple of fingers. It was heading full speed towards Aerith. Cloud's eyes widened and he readied his Mako-generated power to slam his sword on the floor to release a beam heading straight for the monster.
Aerith took herself into a fighting pose with her staff, readying herself for the worst. The monster charged towards her, tiny eyes red with loathing. She was breathing hard, adrenaline working its hardest to rouse her so quickly. It was close now. She ducked to the side, spinning her staff to deliver a resounding blow directly on the now-broken nose of the somewhat disoriented ((Well, it WAS hit with a tree – Haeron)) monster, sending it reeling back and straight into Cloud's beam. It exploded, though it left no remnants, just a few wisps of spirit energy that soon dissipated and were absorbed by the Lifestream.
"That was strange," observed Cloud after the fight, he and Aerith sitting on a bed together, "The monsters don't usually attack here." Aerith was thinking. "Something's happening. The Planet is trying to tell me something. It's all jumbled up. Something really is wrong." Cloud looked down at the girl with her head on his shoulder, her brown locks framing her face perfectly, "I don't think we're safe here anymore." He said concernedly. Aerith nodded in agreement. "What shall we do?" she asked the man whose shoulder she was resting her head on, sad-looking features that were so easily brightened by one of his true, heart-warming smiles. "I think… I think we should go to Midgar." Aerith cheered with joy. "We'll see everyone again!" she said, smiling broadly. Cloud was smiling too. There it was, that gorgeous smile. She looked into his eyes, and walked over to him, put an arm round him and rested her head on his shoulder as they set off.
Bliss.
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End of chapter the second, folkies! I liked writing this one. It seemed to flow.
Also, few changes. Aeris is now Aerith since my fingers just wanted to type that "th"
And the title has changed from "The Limitless Cruelty of Love" to "The New Reunion" for plot reasons. Enjoy Chapter 2, please R&R!
Haeron