'He made me feel... like I had a heart.'

The first thing she felt when she awoke a few hours later was the pounding head ache killing her. With a groan, she sat up in bed and threw her hands up to her head thinking that was going to do her any good. Her eyes fluttered open and scanned the room she was now sitting in then furrowed her eye brows in confusion. She didn't remember being in this room before, the last thing she remembers was falling asleep upon Leon's back.

A pain in her wrist caused her to snap her head down to it and frown. A rush of memories poured into her causing her frown to deepen as she remembered everything that happened during the night. A sigh escaped her lips as she laid her head back down on the feather pillow behind her as she tried to figure out exactly what she was going to do. She figured she was back in the cabin since Cloud had come to take care of her during the night and not Sora.

While realizing that Sora had not been the one to come in, it made her question to if he was here or not. She let out a deep sigh as she pushed all those thoughts to the back of her head. It didn't matter if he was here or who ever, she really didn't care anymore; It wouldn't make a difference in the long run. No one else mattered except for the boy who was never going to walk through these halls again.

Thinking of him brought tears to her eyes but she fought hard to hold them back and in the end won the battle only managing to have one tear escape her which she whipped away quickly. Why did it have to be him, she questioned in her mind. He had never done anything wrong in life, and when ever he did, he fixed it and made it better. Why wasn't some one less fortune to all the worlds taken away instead? She did not understand how fate worked and at this moment hated it with every fiber in her body.

Downstairs the friends sat around the small dinner table while some sat on the couch as they silently wondered what they were going to do for the girl who had not made an appearance yet. Tifa was the first to speak from her spot on the couch, "Why doesn't some one go and check if she's awake for breakfast?"

Yuffie placed her hands behind her head as she walked over to the wall by the door so she could lean against it. "I remember Sora telling us that she was the type of person who slept till late in the afternoon." She started off, "So I doubt she would be awake anyways."

Aerith sighed softly as she shook her head. "Such a tragedy…" She whispered softly sadness coating her words. "He was such a nice young man."

The girls nodded their heads then it was silent in the room for a short moment before Aerith decided to speak again. "Poor girl." She said. "So young, but this travesty will age her greatly."

"That's what I'm worried about." Leon stated suddenly from his spot in a chair at the table. "I'm not sure how she's going to adapt to this change."

He wasn't sure if her emotional state was going to reject this change, or she was going to be like a hollow shell. Was the change going to be a good one or be a negative one even for everyone around her, these were the questioned that rushed through his head as he stared off at the wall blankly, tuning everyone else out to be lost in his thoughts.

The look on her face as she cried to Cloud last night broke his heart in two. He even had to leave Cloud to handle her instead cause the pain was almost too much for him to take as she silently broke apart in the inside. He let out a deep sigh as he leaned farther back in his spot on the couch as he thought about the girl. He never usually felt as bad about these kind of circumstances to people, since they happen all the time and even to him. But something about her stirred something inside of him causing guilt to fill him once more having this sort of thing happen to her.

"Oh, well, well, well," Yuffie said with a bright smile as she jutted out her hip and placed her hands upon them while bringing Leon out of his thoughts. "Good morning to you, Jessica."

The group of indifferent people turned their attention to the girl who was slowly descending down the wooden stairs in pajama's. She looked up the meet the eager ones of her ninja friend and tried to put on a smile but it looked more pain then anything causing them all to exchange sadness struck looks. Yuffie held back a frown and pasted that grin on her face as she made her way over to Jessica. "Did you find everything well this morning?"

The short haired brunette girl nodded her head quickly as she walked over to Leon and look the empty seat between Leon and Cloud. They looked down at the girl as she pulled her short legs up to her chest and leaned against her brown headed friend. Aerith looked around the room feeling slightly awkward by the silence coaxing the room. "Are you hungry?" She asked the girl with a gentle smile. "We still have some left over food from earlier if you would like that."Yuffie nodded her head suddenly with a smirk playing over her lips. "Better get it now before you have to fight over it with Cid when he gets here."Tifa laughed and shook her head recalling the last time some one wanted the extra food that Cid had 'claimed' from everyone else. "He doesn't usually share." She said inwardly. "He can be a bit selfish a lot of times especially when there is food involved."

It was Yuffie's time to laugh thinking of the last time some one tried to take the left over food we had stashed away for another time. "You should have seen him with Sora when he came to stay the day with us over here. They almost got into a fist fight over it."

Jessica wanted to smile but she had lost her reason for it. She didn't want to fake it cause she knew her friends deserved much better then that. But then again, maybe she should fake it for her friends to at least think she was much better then what she actually was. That thought lingered in her mind for a couple seconds before she pushed it to the back of her mind and shook her head. She was never really good at pretending especially when it was about her feelings that were plainly stated across her unusually pale face.

Maybe instead of faking a smile, she thought about just speaking to them what was on her mind. But when she opened her mouth to speak, it was as if she had lost her voice. The reason was plainly obvious , she truly didn't want to speak nor did she find a reason to as well anymore. Her voice was something she didn't want to waste or have give away how she was truly feeling about all these events: This was just something she was going to keep to herself. She frowned slightly and backed farther back in the couch away trying to avoid everyone's questioning and unpleased eyes.

"Maybe later then." Leon said to Aerith for the girl. Jessica looked up at him for a moment and the man knew she was silently thanking him which he nodded to then switched his attention to Cloud. "Are you ready?"Cloud looked over at his friend and nodded his head before standing up and heading for the door. "Where are you going?" Tifa questioned the two men.

"Out to patrol." Cloud said "Make sure everything is working smoothly."

Leon nodded his head and went to stand up but a hand caught onto the bottom of his shirt causing him to look down at it with a puzzled expression. Jessica sat at the edge of the couch with his shirt balled in her fist wearing a desperately pleading look. She was afraid of being departed from the boy's, they were her the only reason as to why she had left her room in the first place. They were the ones who came to her when she needed some one the most, she felt a sudden pulse demanding she had to always be with either of the two because of that.

The brunette man's face soften at the sight of the girl who was crumbling away with such fear. His eyes traveled over to a set of blue ones which melted slightly just as well. "Alright." Leon sighed. "You can come along."Jessica's face brightened some what at his response towards the her actions. In a matter of seconds she was already up the stairs and in her newly selected room changing into something more appropriate to go traveling outside with.

Cloud looked over at Leon as he leaned his back against the door with his arm's hanging slightly across his chest. "That was unexpected." Stated the blonde.

Aerith nodded and sighed quietly to herself. "Just as we feared." She knew that the girl wasn't going to be the same, this event made it evident to them not. The old care free girl who would run through the halls screaming out of delight while playing that silly game of tag she loved so much.

"We can still stop this change!" Said Yuffie with a shake of her head. She did not want to believe that one of her close friends were silently changing right in front of her to something she was not. Jessica's love wouldn't have wanted this to happen and it was their job to help this from happening.

Tifa pumped her fist in the air with a smile at her friends words. "That's right, we are all friends here." She said, "We'll just help her get back on her feet."The blonde shook his head softly at the words he was hearing. They were acting like this was something that was going to be easy, something that would require no time at all. Like they could snap their fingers and everything would be right again. "Easier said then done." He stated silently causing all the girls to look at him with a confused glance. "It's not going to be that easy like you all seem to believe.""He's right." Leon said as he placed his hands in his pockets. "It's going to take possibly more time then you have to give to her."

A sigh escaped the girls lips once more as she looked down at the wall with a thoughtful expression, her hands placed behind her back. There was a couple silent moments between them all before she spoke again, sure of her words. "Well, then we'll all have to work together on this," Aerith cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Won't we, Cloud?"

He stared at her for a few minutes with a look of defeat on his face before he nodded his head softly. He sure hoped they all knew exactly what they were getting themselves into by taking on this responsibility.

'And who knows: starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe it has already begun.'

Authors note:

Finally, some one reviewed my story ! I've been waiting for that before I posted anything. So this chapter is for you 'Rainxul' (:

Rainxul: Thank you for being the first one to leave your feed back on this story . It made me excited, you don't understand how happy I was, hahaha. Yeah, so basically she is in a bit of denial about his death. That's were the dream came from and I'm glad you understood it cause some of my friends when they read that chapter, they didn't understand it. So I guess I did something right? Yeah, I tried to capture the personalities as well as I could because if I changed them, it wouldn't make the story right. You know what I mean? Before I even write something that the other few characters say I have to sit there and picture it in my head how exactly it seemed like they would react or say in a situation that I put them it. It is really hard, that's why it takes me so long to put out another chapter. And yes, those are the quotes from the games. At least some one noticed ;D Thank you again for reviewing, it means a lot to me ! Hope you like this chapter and hope to hear back from you soon ! 3

In case you guy's can't take a hint, reviews will make me post and faster for that matter. I love reviews even if all you have to say is "Hi , I like the story so far." or even "when will you post again?" So please guy's, review !