Eight years had passed. Cloud was now thirty, and Serena was ten. She'd grown up never knowing who her mother was and Cloud had raised her alone, but had never re-married. To him, Lightning was the only woman he'd truly loved. He noticed that Serena was the spitting image of her mother. While Serena was at home, Cloud had decided to take a walk in the forest. The wind brushed against him. He felt a shiver up his spine, as though he was being watched. The night before, he'd kept seeing Lightning in his dreams.
As he walked through the forest, he couldn't stop thinking about his wife.
This feeling...
He turned. A woman was standing alone. She appeared to be an angel, with bright wings shinning on her back. "You?!" Cloud gasped. It was Lightning. "So, you are here." he smiled.
"Yeah. There's something I need to tell you." she replied.
"I see...It's been a while, Lightning." he sighed.
"I know. Please forgive me." she nodded.
"You've missed a lot." Cloud announced.
"How's she doing?" Lightning asked.
"She grows stronger every day. She misses you so much." her husband replied.
"I wish I could see her." she sighed.
"She'd like that." Cloud replied.
They started to walk together. "Oh, you had something to tell me, right?" he remembered.
"Yeah." she nodded. She looked at her hands. No! she thought.
"Hey!" Cloud yelled.
"Sorry. Looks like my time's...now up." she sighed. He looked sad as he watched her vanish. "I love you." her voice echoed on the wind.
Back home, Serena was busy doing her homework, when she heard footsteps.
"Dad!" she exclaimed.
She ran outside to greet her father. Cloud embraced his daughter, and looked up at the sky.
Lightning, keep watching over us, he prayed.
THE END