-Aerith-

"AAAAHHH! WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT?"

That became my alarm tone this morning.

Before making a thorough search in all the rooms, I remembered I had only one guest in my inn—so I skipped all the other rooms and ran directly to door number 7. On the way, I frantically browsed through my bundle of spare keys and found number 7 when I arrived at that door.

Though uninhabited, monsters sometimes appear in the area and I couldn't help but think something attacked my guest, which I wouldn't let off. No one has died in my inn and this won't be the first time. Out of panic, I totally forgot he was a SOLDIER in the infamous institution.

Without knocking, I barged in and found my blonde guest crouched at the head of the bed with his pyjamas on and a very horrified look on his face. I slowly approached him with caution and noticed that his bloodshot eyes were fixed on a single place.

"What's wrong, Cloud?" I asked softly, trying to soothe the savage look in his eye.

He quickly pointed his trembling finger at the window-side table without looking at it. Something, whatever it is, was scaring the living daylights out of him!

I followed the direction where his finger pointed with my eyes and saw sunlight gradually streaming in from the windows. It was 6 o'clock in the morning and the sun was beginning to rise from the mountains. The darkened room was now bathed in light and the sky-blue curtains that draped the window were flowing softly, blown by the wind. It was a gentle sight, somewhat melancholic.

This room is special to me. It's the biggest of all the rooms here in the inn and holds many fond memories—though I didn't bother to tell the blonde. To him, it's only a room, nothing more. When the wind had settled down, a vase that held fresh flowers appeared on the table. I picked the newly bloomed flowers yesterday and thought I'd place some in Cloud's room to brighten up the place. There was nothing else to see, except for a white butterfly with silver linings that rested on top of a yellow lily. I've never seen that type of butterfly before. There's a season when multi-colored butterflies would visit my inn, but this season was unlikely for a butterfly to visit… was it lost?

"How beautiful," I commented before approaching the table to greet it.

For some reason, the butterfly didn't mind my presence and it even transferred to my finger when I offered it. I looked at it tenderly and turned back to Cloud to let him see, but the way he looked now was even worse than before. My gaze dropped to the butterfly and then returned to the blonde.

"Oh," I giggled which earned me a glare from Cloud. "I get it."

-Cloud-

"I swear to Gaia, Aerith, if you take one more step I'll—" I was about to say 'kill' but I stopped that delicious word, the word I was very fond of and often used, from escaping my lips.

"You'll what, Cloud?" She answered most fervently, most infuriatingly.

The woman was slowly walking towards me with that… that monster in hand. It had a pair of huge wings; two eyes that looked at me with murderous intent; and inestimable long hairy legs. I could almost see it mocking me with its big black eyes. It was small, but it was no factor for killing a person. It may have venom! With its wings and diminutive stature, it could fly up to me with the speed of light and kill me with a single bite. I have never seen such a unique and compact killing machine such as this creature. Enemies of the institution must have sent this monster to prevent me from delivering the woman. But why? Why does it rest silently and almost comfortably on Aerith's finger? Maybe my theory was wrong. Maybe it was Aerith's bodyguard! My chest began to fill with hate at the thought. I backed away when she stepped closer, but my body was already pressed up against the wall!

"I get it. You're using it to kill me," I spat as sweat began to flow down my neck. "You're not as innocent as you look, Miss Gainsborough."

Without any explanation, without any moment for second thoughts… she laughed.

"Oh, Cloud, you crack me up!"

I gritted my teeth in frustration at being mocked. How dare this woman ridicule me! I may never get my mission done at this rate. This woman just begs me to do unwarranted things to her.

"It's a butterfly, Cloud. Have you never seen it in your life? I bet you didn't, but then again you haven't seen so many beautiful things in life have you?" She said with a knowing grin before releasing the so-called 'butterfly' out of the window. "It's not a weapon of mass destruction, I assure you."

I blinked many times before wholly composing myself. Should I believe her? I looked at her again, and froze. She was bathed in light, her chestnut brown hair was being swept by the wind and a gentle smile graced her pink lips. For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

"I'm cooking breakfast," she stated, looked at me from top to bottom and giggled. "You should change and help me, Mr. Strife."

I watched her exit the room and when the door clicked, I slumped down the floor. I could feel heat rising up and blood filling my brain, making me unable to think coherently.

"Butterfly? Flying…butter?"

Damn it. I'm going insane.