ATE: Again, I'm sorry for not updating in such a long time. I started writing this chap this morning and I just finished at 7:12 PM and it's 7 pages long on word document.

Declaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I do own a copy of the game, my own character, and this plot.


Chapter 9

A Returning Nightmare

And so Cloud had agreed to let Zack stay at the Seventh Heaven. Remember how I had said that there were two beds in my room when I first got here? Well…it turns out that Zack was going to sleep in…you guessed it…my room…!

Oh, believe me, I was surprised that we would have to share a room, but the good news is that there are going to be some rules laid down for us (courtesy of yours truly). They were as followed:

Knock on the bathroom door before going inside

No nighttime pranks (provided by Cloud, heh heh…doesn't mean that I can't do it to you…)

and

No peeping when someone's in the bathroom (how am I supposed to know if Zack's a pervert…?)

The good thing was that Zack agreed right away to the rules, which I was thankful.

That night I had just come out of the bathroom from changing into my PJs. I saw Zack laying on his bed with a satisfied look on his face.

"Ahh…it's good to be alive again." He said.

"Why's that Zack?" I asked.

Zack looked up at me, his grin reaching his eyes.

"Well, for one, I haven't slept in a bed in a long time. Being in the afterlife doesn't exactly give you the luxury of a nice soft bed."

I couldn't help but smile from Zack's joke. I then had a sudden thought.

"You know what Zack?" I asked.

"What?"

"I noticed that you don't have a pair of PJs yourself. I think I'll convince Tifa if I could go out and buy you some."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes really. And I know the perfect kind to get you."

I couldn't help the thought of buying Zack purple PJs with chibi black puppies on it, since Cloud had sky blue ones with chibi chocobos on his.

"What, I can't come?"

"No. It's a surprise of what kind I'll get you."

"Not fair." Zack crossed his arms and started pouting like a kid.

"Life's not exactly fair, Zack Fair." I said. "Now let's get some sleep."

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As I slept I had a dream.

I felt that I was on my knees in a praying position with my eyes closed. I soon heard footsteps approaching me, clicking against the floor. The footsteps stopped near me and it was quiet until I heard people shout for the person to stop.

~(3rd POV, outside dream)~

Zack woke up to see Tori getting out of bed, watching as she walked a little ways before going on her knees and got into a praying position.

"Tori, what are you doing?" Zack asked as he got out of bed. Tori didn't respond or say anything. Zack's eyes widened.

"Better get Cloud!" He thought.

Zack ran out of the room that they were sharing and started knocking on Cloud's bedroom door. A few seconds later, a sleepy looking Cloud answered the door, looking at Zack.

"What is it Zack?" Cloud asked.

"It's Tori. She just got out of bed and started to pray."

At this Cloud eyes widened. He started to make his way to Tori and Zack's room with the latter following behind the blonde. They soon came back into the room and Cloud saw what his friend meant. Exactly as Zack had described it.

"This looks familiar…" Cloud thought.

~(Tori's POV, dream)~

I lifted my head to look up at the person that was in front of me. It turned out to be Cloud but he was dressed differently and I noticed that he had his sword out.

"Cloud…?" I thought. "What is he doing here…?"

~(3rd POV, outside dream)~

Just then Tori lifted her head and opened her eyes. Cloud's eyes widened in shock as he gasped quietly.

"This is…!" He thought.

~(Tori's POV, dream)~

I stared at Cloud still pondering why he was her until I felt something sharp pierce me through my stomach as I felt my arms drop to my side and I fell forward.

~(3rd POV, outside dream)~

Suddenly Tori fell to the ground as blood started to bleed out of the wound on her stomach. Cloud ran to her and held her in his arms. He was shocked that this happened. It was just like before…when Aerith died. Cloud eyes went wide. The blood…the wound…everything! It was just like before.

"Zack!" Cloud said. "Get Tifa. Tell her that Tori's bleeding and to get restore materia, first aid kit, and potions that she can find"

"What about you?" Zack asked.

"I have a restore materia with me at the moment. I'll use that to help her while you get Tifa."

Zack then left the room leaving Cloud to use the restore materia he had with him to heal Tori. She was bleeding and he wasn't going to let her die again.

~(Tori's POV, dream)~

I opened my eyes only to have them widen at the sight of a blade coming through my stomach. I felt my breathing become slow and struggled as I stared at the sword.

"I know what this is…!" I thought realizing what was going on. "Aerith's death…! I'm reliving it…!"

Suddenly I felt the sword painfully being removed from my stomach, causing me to fall forward. I thought I was going to hit the ground until I felt someone catch me before I made impact. The person was cradling me in their arms.

~(3rd POV, outside dream)~

Zack soon came back with Tifa, both of them carrying materia and medical supplies as Cloud continued to heal Tori. Zack soon came over to Cloud holding a restore materia in his hands.

"Let's use Regan on her and then heal her with Cure3." Zack declared.

Cloud nodded and used the restore materia in his hand to cast Regan on Tori. The spell was successful and while Regan was in affect Zack and Cloud kept casting Cure3 simultaneously on her.

~(Tori's POV, dream)~

I was in pain and I could literally feel my life slowly fading away.

"This feels real… Am I…dying…?" I thought.

"Hang on, Tori." I heard a voice say to me.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that my surroundings had become a white void. I slowly looked up at the and saw Aerith with me.

"Ae…rith…?" I said quietly.

My head was laying on Aerith's lap as her green eyes gazed down at my weak form. She nodded her head.

"I thought…you…left…"

"I never left. I've been with you this whole time." Aerith said.

"Why…are…you…here…?"

"You're injured and dying. It's affecting you physically in the real world."

"Am I…going to die…?" I asked.

"You would have if Zack hadn't told Cloud and Tifa what you were doing." Aerith started to light stroke my forehead as if I was a child. "Right now they are doing everything they can to save your life."

"Cloud and the others are doing everything in order to save me…?"

"Even I'm here to help you. As they try to heal you physically, I will try to heal you spiritually. That way we will surely save your life."

"Thank you, Aerith…" I tried to smile, but all I could accomplish was a small smile.

"You're welcome." Aerith said. "Just relax as I try to heal you."

I closed my eyes as I tried to relax. I suddenly felt warmth spread throughout my body and then the pain seemed to disappear completely.

"Tori. I'll always be with you. Never forget that." Aerith's voice seemed to echo around me.

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"…can you…pulse…?" I heard someone say. I couldn't exactly make out what they were saying.

I faintly heard footsteps sounding on a wooden floor and suddenly felt something grab my wrist gently. It was quiet for a while until I heard a sigh of relief.

"…can feel…pulse …faint, but…alive..." I heard someone else say.

Slowly awareness started to creep back to me and noticed how I felt as someone was holding me. I heard myself moan and suddenly heard quiet gasps.

"…looks…she's coming to." Someone said.

With difficulty I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry at first but soon came into focus as I saw Cloud, Tifa, and Zack looking at me with worried looks. It was then I noticed that Cloud was holding me.

"Cloud…Tifa…Zack…?" I said. "What…happened…?"

"You don't remember?" Zack said. I shook my head softly. "I woke up to find you getting out of your bed and stand on your knees praying as if you were in a trance."

"Zack came and told me about what you were doing. We came back and you looked up and then…" Cloud trailed off, as if he was scared to say what had happened next.

"You suddenly fell to the floor bleeding as if you were stabbed through the stomach."

"Stabbed…?" I thought.

I looked down to my stomach and saw a lot of blood staining my PJs. Upon seeing it I was suddenly overwhelmed by the pain that was coming from my stomach. I cried out in pain as it seemed to just register in my brain that I was injured. I've never been in this much pain before.

"You shouldn't move! It'll make it worse!" Tifa said. I watched as Tifa got out a bottle of some strange liquid. After opening it she held it to my lips. "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."

I opened my mouth a little as Tifa tipped the bottle slight to help the liquid go down. When I had tasted the liquid, I noticed how horrible it tasted and shut my mouth.

"I know it may taste bad, but you have to drink all of it." Tifa said as if she knew what I was thinking.

"What…is that?"

"It's a Hi-Potion. It'll help heal the injury."

I then opened my mouth again and started to drink the horrible tasting potion, trying so hard to focus my mind away from the taste. When the bottle was empty Tifa took it away and brought out a roll of bandages.

"Zack can you help me?" She asked.

"Sure. What do you need help with?" Zack asked.

"I need you to hold Tori while I bandage her."

"Okay." Zack made his way over to where Cloud was holding me. "I know that you don't want to let her go, but we need to bandage her, Cloud."

I could tell that Cloud was somewhat reluctant on handing me over to Zack, but I had a feeling that he knew that he had no other choice but to do so. With care, he handed me over to Zack, who carefully held me as he sat on the ground near Tifa. Tifa lifted my PJ shirt so the injury was showing (It looked very horrible) and started to wrap bandages around my stomach.

As Tifa was wrapping my stomach, I looked back at Cloud whose gaze had fallen to the wooden floor and noticed that a lot of blood had stained his PJs.

"My blood…" I told myself in thought. I ruined his PJs with my own blood.

As if sensing my gaze was on him, Cloud looked up at my and I saw that his Mako infused eyes held a look of sadness in them. I couldn't help but feel sad when I saw his eyes express the emotion so powerfully. I wanted so much as to tell him that everything was going to be all right, but I felt as if I doubted the very words that I had thought. I felt tears fall from my eyes that only did little to express how I really felt.

Soon Tifa was done bandaging my stomach and started to put everything she had brought away.

"That should do it. Now try to get some rest Tori." Tifa said.

I nodded my head telling her that I heard her. Tifa soon left the room leaving Cloud, Zack and I in the room.

"You can have her back, Cloud." Zack said.

Zack carried me over to where Cloud was sitting on the ground. His gaze must've returned to the floor after I looked away to listen to Tifa. Cloud didn't look up at us.

"Cloud."

I watched as Cloud looked up at Zack. Zack smiled at him as he carefully lifted me over to Cloud, who held out his arms to hold me and I was soon back in his arms.

"Cloud…" I said. He looked down at me, letting me know that he was listening. "I'm sorry. I worried you and the other…but mostly you..."

I then had tears falling from my eyes. Cloud lifted his hand to my face and started to wipe my tears away. Why was he so quiet all of a sudden?

"I was…so scared… The nightmare…scared me… But…it's gone…right?"

Cloud carefully leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. He lifted his head up and nodded.

"It's gone…" He said.

Cloud carefully got up and started carrying me over to my bed. I looked over to Zack's bed and saw that he had been asleep for a while since he was lightly snoring in his sleep. As we got closer to my bed, I remembered the nightmare and I was suddenly fearful of going to sleep. What if what happened to me happened again, but only worse?

"Cloud…" Cloud stopped walking and looked down at me again. "I'm scared about falling asleep again."

I saw an emotion in Cloud's eyes that could only be that of understanding. He continued walking over to my bed and laid me down on my bed. I watched as Cloud walked around to the other side of the bed and lay on the bed himself, carefully pulling me closer to him.

"I'll stay here with you." He whispered in my ear and I could feel his warm breath on my ear.

I couldn't help but smile. I think I don't have to be afraid since Cloud was here with me. I closed my eyes to sleep with the thought of Cloud keeping my company.


ATE: Since I've just updated and all the readers reading this chap, I would like to thank you for being patient and waiting for this chap to be posted. I hope that I'll be able to update the next chap sooner so you can all know what happens next.

Please Review :)