AUTHOR'S NOTE: Cough, Wheeze! Sorry still a little beat up from Omega's last "present". Dude still going easy wtf? Damn remind not to make you mad again lol! Without further delay here is chapter 28. Let it just be said that this is friendship only and in no way is it Clerith, I hate that pairing it just doesn't work. I actually listened to Aerith's Theme the whole time writing it. So I hope y'all enjoy
XXX
"Hey, Aerith?" Cloud said into his phone.
"Hey Cloud, whatsup?" Came her reply. It pulled at Cloud's heart to hear her voice. No longer did she sound cheerful and bubbly. Now her voice sounded distant and listless.
"I'm just calling to ask how your doing, you know- after everything that's happened."
"I'm okay, I guess," her voice sounded tired. "How about you?"
"That's kinda why I was calling," Cloud said as his heart began hammering. "I have something important to tell you."
"Sure, fire away."
"But, not like this, not over the phone. How about we meet up somehwere?" Cloud replied.
"Cloud, you're scaring me right now," Aerith said slowly. "Look I have to go now, but how about we make some plans. Its still vacation time and well, we might as well do something and you can tell me then okay?"
"Yeah sounds great!" Cloud said, licking his dry lips.
As she hung up, Cloud walked aimlessly around the streets. He puffed absently on his cigarette. His head was killing him and he figured he should just about head home.
He felt like such a coward. He was only delaying the inevitable. He would have to tell her sometime, but he just couldn't bring himself to bring her anymore sorrow.
XXX
His phone rang later, just as he arrived home.
"Hey Cloud!" Aerith's voice came through the receiver before he even had time to say hello. "Listen, sorry about blowing you off earlier. You mentioned going out? How's about in an hour or so we go catch a movie or something?"
"Hello Aerith," Cloud replied, unable to keep a smile away at the girl's enthusiasm. "Sure we can go. But I refuse to watch anything too sappy!"
"Gotcha!" Aerith said, sounding delighted.
"Are you at home right now?" Cloud asked.
"Uhm yeah I am, why?" Aerith asked.
"How about I come get you now and we go grab something to eat before the movie?" Cloud was acting on impulse.
"Sounds good to me, as long as we aren't going anywhere fancy!" Aerith replied.
"You can count on it," Cloud chuckled as she unknowingly reminded him of his disaster date with Tifa at Mcdonalds.
"Okay sure, I'll be ready by the time you get here!"
XXX
Cloud inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that it was only late afternoon as he drove through the Sector Five slums. He couldn't believe Aerith lived in a place like this.
He swore the dwellings looked like Hell Houses! The streets were dirty and run-down. Shifty looking characters wandered dangerously around, almost as if looking for trouble. The houses looked as if the inhabitants had built them out of anything they could scavenge; scrap bits of metal and bricks that were mostly dust. Nothing grew in the slums, no trees stood, no flowers bloomed, not even weeds were present!
Mentally following Aerith's directions, he finally arrived at a house quite different to the rest in the Sector Five slums.
It was still modest compared to some of the other houses Cloud had seen in Midgar, but vastly better compared to the rest of the slums.
It was a proud, sturdy looking brick house with brown roofing. It was two stories high and had some modest curtains at the windows. Cloud noticed, unlike the rest of the slums, that there were trees growing nearby.
He pulled up near the front door as there was no drive-way and slowly got out of the car. He knocked lightly on the door and heard a faint scuffling as someone approached the door.
He heard a click as the latch slid free and the door opened a crack, Cloud felt himself gazing into a pair of gray irises.
"Can I help you?" A soft voice asked.
"Uh, yeah, I'm looking for Aerith," Cloud answered.
The eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you want with her?"
Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "My name's Cloud," he tried. "We were supposed to go out for a while."
The woman still looked suspicious, but she opened the door a little wider. Cloud saw she was a small built woman with her gray hair tied into a neat bun at the base of her head and she wore an apron around her waist. He noticed she had a weary expression on her lined face.
"Come inside," she said. "My name is Elmyra, I'm Aerith's mother."
"Pleased to meet you," Cloud said extending his hand, but Elmyra ushered him quickly inside.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Its best not to leave the door open for too long."
Cloud understood. The neighbourhood looked extremely dodgy, Elmyra probably didn't want any more trouble than was necessary.
"Aerith is just getting ready," Elmyra said. "Would you like some coffee?"
"That'd be great, thanks," Cloud answered.
He followed her to the tiny kitchen. Cloud noticed how clean everything was, and how pretty flowers decorated every room.
"So how did you and Aerith meet?" Elmyra asked as she boiled the kettle.
"Aerith was my first friend at Shinra," Cloud replied. "We met on the first day when I sat next to her."
Elmyra nodded. "I see. Are you two close friends?"
Cloud shrugged. "I'd like to think so, we've pretty much spent every day since we met together."
"Are you two...dating?" Elmyra asked, pouring the coffee.
"No-no!" Cloud nearly shouted, but then managed to remember himself. "I've never looked at Aerith that way! We're just, really good friends."
Elmyra nodded, bringing him his coffee. "I'm sorry I seem so blunt, but I'm really concerned for her. All her life she's been very sheltered and I'm afraid its my fault that she's more than a little naïve."
Cloud chuckled. "Yes she is!"
"I was especially worried when she got involved with Zack," Elmyra said, almost to herself. "Although after a while, I came to know what she saw in him. Its a shame, he was a very nice young man."
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, he was." He's insides gave a shudder as she reminded him of what he needed to do.
"Mom is Cloud here?" Aerith's voice came as she climbed down the stairs.
"Yes, dear," Elmyra answered. "He's here with me in the kitchen."
Aerith walked in. Cloud saw she was dressed pretty nicely. She wore a long pink skirt with a red bolero jacket. She smiled when she saw Cloud. "Done giving him the third degree mom?" She asked. "Did he pass?"
Elmyra chuckled. "With flying colours."
Aerith looked visibly relieved. "Thank heaven!"
"So we ready to go?" Cloud asked standing up.
Aerith nodded. "Yup! All set!"
"Thank you for the coffee Elmyra," Cloud said as the older woman lead them to the door.
"Getting Aerith home safely will be thanks enough, Cloud," she replied.
Cloud smiled as they got into the car.
"So where are we going?" Aerith asked excitedly.
"I figured we could go to the movies first instead, then we could go for dinner afterwards," Cloud replied.
"Why the change of heart?" Aerith asked.
"Well I figured if we ate first then we wouldn't be able to get popcorn."
Aerith shrugged. "It doesn't make any difference!"
They soon pulled up at the cinema. Aerith wasted no time in finding the most girly movie they were showing.
"There is no way in hell I'm watching that, Aerith!" Cloud protested.
Aerith pouted. "Well what sort of movies do you usually watch with Tifa?"
Cloud winced. "Usually the weirdest action movie you'll find!"
Aerith giggled. "That's so Tifa! Well okay, this one doesn't look too bad," she said pointing.
Cloud looked at the picture. It was a woman and a man in a tight embrace above "Time Compression" written in large letters. The picture was a bit sappy, but it was classed as action-romance.
"I guess it meets somewhere in the middle. I say yeah!" Cloud replied.
"Awesome!" Aerith said as she dragged him to the popcorn counter.
XXX
Nearly two hours later:
"I'll be waiting...here, so if you come here, you'll find me...I promise."
Cloud found Aerith's head on his shoulder. He turned to look at her. Her eyes were shining as she stared entranced at the movie. He turned to the front and his head unconciously fell onto hers.
They watched the remainder of the movie in that position. There was no romance between them, no sexual attraction. Both of them knew the other's heart belonged elsewhere. But Cloud knew he loved Aerith, as a friend, nothing more.
After the movie ended they walked out of the theatre, eating the rest of the popcorn as they did.
"That was a nice movie," Aerith said as they walked.
"Yeah, I'd definitely wanna see that again!" Cloud replied enthusiastically. "How about we go and get dinner now!"
"Sure!" Aerith replied. "There's a nice place a few blocks from here so we don't have to take your car and you can have a smoke on the way!"
Cloud laughed. "Yeah, hold onto this!" He said holding out the popcorn.
"Its empty!" Aerith protested.
"Yeah, so toss it in the trash!"
Aerith glared, but threw it as soon as they neared a trashcan.
They soon reached the diner Aerith had mentioned. It was a classy looking place with a beautiful red interior. Polished oak tables and chairs with diners everywhere gleamed in the gentle light of candles.
A woman in blue escorted them to a small table when they asked for a table for two.
They ordered and began waiting for the food in comfortable silence.
"Oh look Cloud!" Aerith said excitedly as the food arrived.
Cloud saw that she was pointing at the small stage in the center where a beautiful lady in a red dress walked to a piano and began playing.
"She plays wonderfully," Aerith whispered, her eyes on the woman.
"Sure does," Cloud answered. He had to admit, even though it wasn't his cup of tea, that the music was very calming and set his mind at ease.
XXX
"So what you wanna do now?" Cloud asked.
"Well," Aerith said. "We could always go to my special spot."
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Aerith looked as if she was debating with herself. "There's this place I usually go when I wanna be with myself, you know just to be alone. I'd like to show you."
Cloud shrugged. "Why not?"
"Great! Its back in the slums but don't worry its not to dodgy!" Aerith said.
They paid the bill and got in the car.
"Sector Five!" Aerith said happily. Cloud smiled at her enthusiasm and did as he was told.
He soon saw that she had directed him to a church.
"Here come inside, but be quiet or else you'll disturb the flowers!" She whispered.
Cloud followed her as she opened the door. Moonlight leaked through the rafters. It was a run-down old place, with half the benches turned over and the altar was damaged. All the same, Cloud felt an air of trainquility about the place.
Aerith hurried to the front where Cloud saw, in place of a few broken floorboards, directly under a ray of moonlight, a bunch of small flowers grew.
"How are you guys doing?" Aerith cooed. "I'm sorry I haven't been to see you for so long! But things have gotten pretty rough for me! You guys remember Zack right? Well, he's gone now and its been tough on me!"
Cloud felt like he was intruding for a second and he made to back out but Aerith called to him.
"Cloud wait! Come here for a moment!" She called.
He turned and walked towards her. "Yeah?"
She gave him a radiant smile. "I'm sorry for ignoring you. I just wanna say a quick prayer and we can go okay?"
"Uhm sure, take your time," Cloud replied.
She smiled and turned to the front. She kneeled and clasped her hands in front of her and closed her eyes.
She bowed her head slowly and Cloud saw tears glistening on her beautiful cheeks as she prayed silently. She opened her eyes and raised her head, her emerald green eyes shining in the bright moonlight overhead.
XXX
"So you mentioned having something to tell me," Aerith said as they sat down on the slide in a small playground.
"Yeah," Cloud said looking down.
"Well, what is it?" Aerith asked cheerfully gazing up at him with a smile.
"Its kinda hard for me to say Aerith," Cloud said looking at his hands.
"I'm sure it can't be that bad-"
"Its my fault Zack died."
Cloud had said the words barely above a whisper, but Aerith heard him clearly. "What do you mean," she asked, Cloud noticed her hands were shaking.
Cloud took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "The night he died, I was drinking and taking a whole lot of things. I didn't have a ride home so I called him and on the way...we were hit!"
Aerith went silent, Cloud couldn't bring himself to look at her.
"Cloud?"
Cloud didn't reply. He just kept staring at his hands.
"Its not your fault."
Cloud looked at her, he saw she had no tears anymore, perhaps she had shed enough. "No one, could have known what would happen," she seemed to be talking more to herself than him. "You didn't kill him!"
"If it weren't for me-" Cloud began.
"Don't even say it!" Aerith snapped. Cloud saw tears began to fall from her green eyes again. "It was his time to go! Placing blame...isn't going to bring him back. That was his fate!"
"Do you actually believe that?" Cloud demanded, his guilt making him lash out. "Or are you just trying to make yourself feel better?"
Aerith closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "A little bit of both I guess. But Zack wouldn't want us to stop living because he's gone. He would want us to move past this! Maybe its a cliche, but think about this Cloud! Zack died to allow you to live! So are you gonna insult his memory by ending your life? Or are you gonna come out of this all the stronger?"
"I don't know!" Cloud nearly shouted. He let out a feral growl and his head fell into his hands. "I just don't know!"
He felt her hand touch his shoulder. "Time will heal the wounds Cloud," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him. "But until it does, you need to be strong, we all do."
Cloud had no answer for her, but he heard a strange sound. Looking up he saw a carriage being pulled by a small team of horses. A figure stood near the back, looking forlornly into the distance, a figure that looked amazingly like-
"Tifa!"
XXX
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Who noticed the rather obvious reference here? Anyways I hope you had a blast, even though it got kinda said at the end. I had difficulty with Elmyra, but I think it turned out okay. So please review!
