Beween Life and Death
Aerith felt her body numb… She moved her right hand carefully and slowly only to feel the softness and freshness of grass underneath her. A soft breeze blew upon her, waving her golden brown fringe slightly. She felt good in that calm place. Not too far from where she was laying peacefully, she heard birds chirping, flapping their wings, flying on air. She breathed in and out heavily and opened her eyes softly to close them again due to the burning sunlight streaming down onto her from between the green leaves of the tree she was under. She blinked a couple of times before securely opening her glowing green eyes and stared at the leaves waving in the wind. She sat up, wondering where she was and how she got to that place. Looking around the flowered fields surrounding her, she got even more confused. That place was somehow familiar and yet so strange to her.
"So you have woken up." She heard a voice she perfectly recognized saying from behind her. She looked down to the ground, not bothering to look back. She could almost feel the smile forming in his lips as she didn't look back. Passing her strength to her hands, she pressed them to the grassy ground and got up, stretching her arms above her head. She smiled and looked up to the blue clear sky above them. She was no longer afraid of him, she no longer feared him like she used to. Now, he was more like a support for her. A person like her.
"Sephiroth... Why did you bring me here?" She asked picking up some yellow flowers from the ground. Behind her, she felt his eyes leaving her for a moment to look at the horizon of the immense green of the fields all around. She smiled, she didn't need to know.
Afraid that Squall would do something stupid after seeing him rushing out of the Inn with the muscles of his face contracted as if he was ready to kill someone, Cid followed him to the training cave where he was heading. Once inside, Cid saw Squall take out his sword and hold it tightly in his hands.
"Something wrong kid?" Cid asked approaching the brown haired man. "Hey you cut your long hair! Looks good!" Turning back quickly, Squall sparred against Cid and he blocked his attack with his long spear. Squall was trying a little harder than usual to beat Cid. But Cid was better than what Squall expected. He just kept blocking and parrying. And all the while they were fighting, Cid talked about someone he cared about. He told Squall about what he had with Sherra, without actually saying her name, making Squall kinda pissed. How can Cid be doing two things at once? Blocking his attacks and still talking about his romance.
"Where is she Yuffie?" Cloud asked almost in a hiss. The young ninja shrugged and looked at Rinoa.
"Rin, I'm calling you Rin!" Yuffie said.
"I heard that." Rinoa giggled, looking back at the ninja. She admired the way she was so cheerful and how she felt so ease around Cloud and how she could bring the real Cloud up and not just the cold ex-soldier.
"Yuffie, I don't have time for that now, where is Aerith?" Cloud asked again, this time, starting to shake with impatience. The girl shrugged again, but fearing Cloud would burst right there into yells, she patted his shoulder to calm him down a little.
"She must not be too far from here, come on we'll find her!" The girl said. "Come with us Rin!"
Aerith continued picking up flowers and messing with them as the mysterious figure of Sephiroth kept standing behind her. She talked to him. She smiled as she talked about the sudden dilemma with Cloud and the 'Woman in Blue' as she calls Rinoa. She, then, looked out the corner of her eyes to the dark angel.
"But you knew. Didn't you? You knew that nothing would bring us together again." She looked forward and closed her eyes. You separated us in the first place, all." The darkly clad man looked back at her, motionless, just hearing the Cetra. Sephiroth had not harmed her. He never really had. Except for the time he 'killed' her.
He came from above, watching her far in the floor of the altar, kneeled, praying for Holy, praying to save the Planet… from him. He didn't want to kill her. She was the only one who he felt most related to before. But he was being controlled, and there was nothing he could do to stop himself from killing the Cetra. And in a second more, he was impaling her. Her life passing by him, by the sword he held in his hands.
Suddenly, Cid knocks Squall back. The SeeD gritted his teeth and charged back, and again, Cid blocked his attack.
"So, what was her name, boy?" He asked, making Squall almost angry with the sudden question. Once again, Squall goes for the attack, but Cid just laughs while blocking and dodging.
Cloud kicked the door of the red room with his knee since the door made it quite clear it wouldn't open. They had knocked on the wooden door to see if the flower girl, once from the Slums, would reply but the room remained in silence. Thinking that they might find something that could help them know where the girl was, Cloud kicked the door and it burst open, letting them in.
"Careful! We don't wanna break anything here!" Yuffie said in a sigh, Cloud rolled his eyes and rushed into the room followed by the two girls. "I wonder where she is… unless!"
"Anything we need to know?" Rinoa asked the ninja, now worried about Cloud, who she felt was almost collapsing with the thought of something happening to the girl they talked about.
"Maybe she's with Leon!" Yuffie jumped slightly. They looked at the materia thief.
Aerith stood with a flower in her hand and turned to face him. He stood there with the darkness all around him. One black wing was revealed from his back. He stretched it letting some black feather fly in the wind. He's come to take her. She's still upset, but she feels it's meant to be this way. She had seen him one more time after so long without him. She had met him. That was more than enough. He was with the 'woman in blue' and he seemed glad with her, he didn't need her anymore. Smiling, she hands Sephiroth the little yellow flower.
"Are you done now? I'm starting to get tired." Cid asked resting his spear. Squall was panting, looking at him with his blue eyes, his sword down. How does he do that? He thought to himself, passing the back of his hand by his forehead to clean some sweat drops that had formed while fighting. Squall placed his sword back in his belt and sighed heavily.
"I'm gonna fight no more with you." He said coolly to the blond man in front of him. Cid grinned and nodded.
"Good, because my back can't take it anymore!" Cid said putting a hand on his back and rubbing it. He laughed then. "You're pretty good with that thing kid!" He said pointing to his sword."
Yuffie was leading the two towards the training cave. She found it quite strange no one was at the hotel, so they could only be in one place. Cloud followed quietly and asking no questions, hoping it was now he could be reunited again with the only woman he needed right in that moment. As for Rinoa, all of that was new. Those people who seemed so different from her friends and yet so similar. That new world. She kept walking, following them, and entering a small door who would lead them to another room which she could notice was large, she saw it was empty, she noticed the water flowing next to them, the grey floor under her steps and then, her eyes caught him.
A white feather came down from the air, appearing there in that same place as a sign. Cloud looked up, noticing it. It came floating down to his hand. He caught it and held it in his strong hand.
"Aerith…"
For my friend May…
