Author's Note:

I was quite busy so I apologize if this took a while, it might take a little while for the rest of the chapters though. I try to juggle this fanfiction, other writing, life, drawing, and of course, other hobbies. I am still very happy this captured some attention, even if it isn't much. Thank you. =]

004: Truth.

The delivery to his customer's party was simple and easy enough, he hadn't been too far, and it didn't take too long to proceed back to the bar. As soon as Cloud pushed right past the front door, her name reached his ears, practically leaving them burning. "Aerith."

Cloud had walked into 7th Heaven that following evening, Tifa and the costumer from earlier were having a conversation when that name was spoken from the other young woman. Tifa's dark brown-red eyes had fixed right onto Cloud as he stood by the doorway, the other woman had turned back; she watched him as well. His expression remained unreadable and all he could wonder was how she came to know that name. It couldn't be, could it?
"You know Aerith…?"
"I…" The woman dragged her sentence, blinking mismatched eyes of green and blue. "I've heard of her."

Aerith was known as the last of her race, the only who knew that had been Shinra, her adoptive mother, and of course, Cloud and his team. So how did she come to know Aerith? Were they old friends?
"I…I was brought here through her letters…through a woman named Ifalna. She wrote to my father a long time ago, they were friends, and I was hoping I could meet her if I came here." Tifa and Cloud hadn't known what to believe as they heard the foreigner's explanation – the mention of their late friend's mother who had been a friend of her father's, someone who had actually came to visit from so far away that he still couldn't quite figure out where she could even come from. But it has been so long, did she really hope to find Ifalna now?
"Aerith…she mentioned her in her letters. She said she wanted my father to meet her but..." Green and blue eyes blinked, focusing on the floor beneath them. "But my father passed away before she could even do that, I was only seven at the time." But they weren't interested in hearing her life story, she was sure."I just want to make sure that Ifalna and Aerith know what has happened to him while I still have the chance to speak to them. You must know who they are," she judged by their reactions to her mentioning, "so that can only mean I am a step closer. Please lead me to Ifalna and Aerith." Though deep down inside she truly did not expect it to be this easy to find her answers, she figured it would take her a good while before she found anything.

Tifa could only watch, frowning deeply as she turned her attention aside. Cloud, however, glared at Yuna, blue irises glowed intensely with a mash of emotion – was it anguish? Was it disturbance? Chills ran down Yuna's spine; it was both incredible and yet intimidating.

"Please, I want to know…"
"Ifalna's been dead for a long time now." Cloud answered. "And Aerith," he turned his back to the younger woman, immediately heading for the front entrance, "she's been dead over two years now." He didn't speak any more than that, refused to stick around any longer and just pushed through the front door and left. Silence had submerged the women in room, and a painful lump had formed at Yuna's throat, she tried to swallow it down but it only got worse.
"I…I didn't know…"
But Tifa only shook her head at her response, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way." There was a pause between the two women before she went on. "Did you ever actually meet Aerith and her mother before?"
"No, I just read her mother's letters to my father; she mentioned a place called Icicle Inn? But I imagine that's further north up here." The letters mentioned Ifalna traveling up north and residing at a snowy place known as Icicle Inn, so she could only assume. "The way she wrote about my father, and the way she reached out to him – they seemed so close." Yuna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, remembering of how the letters spoke of escape, a journey to seek out Braska right after her baby had been born, to continue living her life with him, her lover, Yuna, Yuna's mother, and Aerith. "I just wanted to make sure they knew."
Through a hesitant curiosity and a small pause, Tifa piped up. "Knew about your father?"
"That they knew he sacrificed his life for our people."

Outside, Cloud had hoisted himself up on Fenrir when he heard a young woman's voice call out to him, he turned to see the brunette from the bar hurry out, and she called him by his name even if he had failed to learn hers. "Please wait!" She ran down the steps and right toward his bike, stopping right at his sight, immediately eyeing Fenrir with a puzzled expression. "I'm sorry about what happened inside."

Tifa hadn't told the full story but Aerith had obviously been someone very special to the both of them, even more so with Cloud, even if Yuna hadn't known she still felt bad for bringing her up. But again, she hadn't been told the full story. It was as Cloud told her; it was two years ago but surely the subject had still been touchy. So would've it been alright to ask just what exactly went on? Aerith had been no older than her, only slightly but she was still dead, as was her mother. "I need you to tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me what happened to them." They were last connection to her father, her last hope to finding a purpose, and now they were gone.

He hadn't known just how to react, the mention of Aerith from this complete stranger, this woman who had looked no older than the rest of them had just been a shock. He didn't know exactly why, maybe he was still getting used to moving on that he had almost forgotten. But he couldn't forget, even if that meant telling the story of his memories for another person.

So his story went like this – he met a young woman in pink who often occupied the church in the slums of 'Sector 5', a section that existed in the old city called Midgar, a little west of Edge(the remains of that city had been noticeable at a distance.) But Cloud hadn't mentioned much of the history of Midgar, just that its rubble had helped built this new city, that it was the reason the grass wouldn't grow, that the area surrounding it had been reduced to nothing but dead plain. Existing within that city, in 'Sector 5', had been Aerith who had managed to grow flowers in an abandoned, broken down church. He fell through the roof during a mission of his previous mercenary days; fell upon a flowerbed of yellow and white flowers. That was his start of his journey with Aerith.
He learned of her race – the Ancients, he learned of Shinra's pursue for her, learned through her adoptive mother that Ifalna had died when Aerith was only small child, injured during their escape with Shinra.

Yuna leaned against Cloud's bike during the entire explanation, wary at the vehicle at first, but thankful that it wasn't as dangerous as it looked to be. While he provided the explanation to Ifalna's death, he certainly hadn't provided one for Aerith's.

Cloud grew tired of talking, he felt he provided enough for the woman's curiosity to dull over; it was time for her to go. "Go home," he said, "there isn't anything for you to do here." Again, he didn't mean to come across so cold, and deep down inside he even felt bad for her. He just found this to be more reason for her to venture back to wherever she came from.
Yuna, on the other hand, felt unsatisfied and needed to know more. The blond ignored her anyway, waved her off and got on his bike. She desperately tried to form a sentence, she wanted to plead, but her mind was terribly foggy, she still tried to comprehend just what she had heard.

Ifalna was dead, Aerith was dead – their race now officially extinct. Yuna, who was so lost, so confused, who searched for her meaning of life had been stuck once again. As she watched the blond man ride off in his vehicle, she couldn't help but to blame herself.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she scolded herself in her mind, how could I be so stupid?
Left with no choice, she walked right back into the bar where she spent most of the day in silence. She had no plan, she hardly had any gil, and she needed to get out. Her search for a job hunt bumped up to be her top priority.

The evening had been spent with Yuna at the bar debating on the idea of ordering an alcoholic drink, she didn't want to take advantage of the 'on the house' deal too much, didn't want to over welcome her stay even though she knew no other place to go. The bar had begun to fill with bystanders from outside, and already things had grown a tad bit livelier. She apologized to Tifa, wanted to apologize to Cloud, and Tifa could only smile and assure her nothing was wrong.

Still, that guilt hung onto Yuna and it festered within her, no matter how hard she tried to think of something else, it always distracted her; though there was one subject on her mind that poked at her.
"Can you tell me about the Cetra?"
Tifa wasn't an expert on the subject, she knew only what she had been taught from Aerith and from what she heard back at Cosmo Canyon, which had been the place Tifa recommend after she explained what she could. But Yuna hadn't been so sure she could afford travels anymore, her plan was shot down and she knew she had to get back home. But it was real tempting.

"What I can tell you is that Aerith was …certainly different from most humans. The Ancients have a special type of power that allowed them to communicate with the planet," Tifa explained, "it's really hard to explain but that's why I'm not the best person to ask this kind of thing."

'Communicate with the planet' – Yuna's curiosity certainly had been peeked. She lived on this planet as well, and all of her life, she would've never really taken the idea that it was possible to speak with it somehow. But Tifa's details were lacking, as she said, and she would only learn more through this Cosmo Canyon town. But again, gil was short; Yuna found herself feeling downhearted again. All this effort and time had been wasted.

It was then, as Yuna manifested her own pity that two new customers arrived; one seemed loud and greeted Tifa as soon as they walked in. "Hey! We're friends, right?" The man who spoke had cherry red locks of hair tied back to a ponytail, blue eyes, and a red mark to each of his cheekbones; these were the traits that stood out most to Yuna. The man beside him had been bald, no trace of hair other than the small bits of stubble above his lips and to his chin, and he wore sunglasses despite being indoors, his ears decorated with earrings, and leather gloves to his hands. The both of them wore navy blue suits, though the redhead's suit had been more 'casual' compared to the bald man's suit, as he wore no tie, his suit jacket was open, and the white shirt underneath been untucked. Definitely something Yuna hadn't seen before.

"That depends…" Tifa replied, watching them questionably. "Are you trying to skip out on your tab?" Despite their intimidating exterior (especially toward the man with sunglasses) and the many glares they caught from the other customers, Tifa seemed to have tolerated them enough. Occasionally the redhead would turn to observe Yuna, to which she awkwardly avoided eye contact as she sat a few seats away from them at bar.
"Don't remember seeing you around here." He spoke but didn't turn to her, his focus remained to the drink at his hand, and his friend remained silent. "I definitely don't see people dressed like that around these parts – what brings you here?" Her wardrobe seemed too 'nice', sort of like someone else he used to know…someone he used to pursue.
"Nothing." The woman replied, mumbling and keeping her head down. Tifa, at the other side of the bar, shook her head at him, but Yuna continued to speak. "I'm not from around here."
"That's obvious." The rim of his glass touched his lips as the redhead took a sip of his drink, Yuna responded with a scowl. "Edge is hardly a tourist spot."
"I was looking for someone." It was clear that the redheaded male grew curious but Yuna hadn't gone any further with her explanation.
Tifa had shaken her head once again. "Reno, please."
It was then the redhead pulled back and taken another sip of his drink. "Alright, then…" He said, before replying with a different question. "Where are you from?"
Yuna hesitated with her answer for a moment. "Spira."

The glass had only pressed against the lips of their lips when they heard this name. Reno's eyes scanned the young woman beside him, along with the gaze of his companion that had been hidden behind sunglasses. Now where had they heard that name before?
"Spira?" The bald man repeated, making sure he heard right, and Yuna nodded in confirmation. The men in navy suits exchanged looks, before finally turning back to Tifa, fishing out gil from their pockets and placing it on the counter. "We gotta get going." Silently, they made a beeline for the entrance and headed right now.

Yuna and Tifa stayed behind in confusion, exchanging looks of their own, looks of worry. "They…heard of Spira before?" Yuna asked, but Tifa could only shrug.