A/N: Yes, it's sad. But I thought that Cloud and Aeris fit for the prompt 'Hold'. I hope you enjoy. =)
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII Characters and Places belong to Square Enix.
The water was cool as he walked through it.
He didn't seem to notice anything else except for the water around him and the weight in his arms. A weight he never thought in a million years that he would have to carry. Who knew that life would turn out like this? Who knew that this would happen to him, that this hell would come to him? He surely never did anything to deserve this, did he? After all, had he not already lost everything? Why now this? Why would Gaia, or the Goddess, or whatever it was that controlled lives throw this at him?
He stopped when the water reach his waist, standing there and staring at the angelic face. Her head craned back with dead weight, her legs hanging loosely off his arm, arms hanging with no life in them. The wound in his stomach had stopped bleeding, leaving only a bloody spot to stain the beautiful pink of her dress. Her face was pale white, like snow.
Aeris Gainsborough was dead. And Cloud Strife had failed to save her.
He could feel tears welling up in his eyes again, yet he ignored them as he slowly started to lower the dead Cetra into the water. His grip on her was tight, gripping onto her as if hoping that if he held onto her long enough and hard enough, she would come back and tease him for his silly behaviour.
Cloud knew better than that.
Slowly, with all his mental ability, Cloud started to loosen his grip.
It was so hard to let go, as even though he knew it was pointless to keep a grip on her…
Cloud wanted to hold on.