This One-Shot was inspired by the amazing fanfic penthesilea from starryhighqueen from Ao3.
It only has a chapter right now, but it is a gorgeous piece of literature, you have to read it!
Here is the link: /works/50927074/chapters/128658328
Aerith's death hits them all hard, but no one rages quite like Dalia herself.
The only connection to her missing brother…
The young woman who took her in, when she was alone in the world…
Who loved and cherished her as they were from the same flesh and blood!
Dead.
Killed.
Slaughtered!
By the demon Sephiroth.
Dalia's screams echoed through the Forgotten City.
A physical manifestation of how the world lost its brightest light.
She tore through the new JENOVA abomination like it was made out of cheap cardboard.
When it's finally death she spits on it.
She curses it with any foul word she knows.
Tifa tries to comfort her, but she slaps away her hand.
Dalia doesn't want any comfort.
She wants to spill Sephiroth's blood.
Wants him to beg for the sweet embrace of death.
She would make him suffer, she swerves on Aerith's soul.
Without looking at anyone, she turns her back and walks away.
She can't stand looking at Aerith, Aerith's corpse when she had been full of life only a half hour ago.
After Sephiroth's death, after the planet was safe from the meteor, Dalia Fair returned home to Gongaga.
Her parents take her back in without a word.
She is quiet the first few weeks anyway.
Probably looks like death herself, she musses.
Dalia sits on her childhood bed, looking at Zack's empty side and can just cry.
Cry for her brother who lost his life to protect Cloud from ShinRa.
Cry for Aerith who had sacrificed herself for them all.
It's too much.
It's unfair!
Why did two of the best and most amazing people she knew die?
She cries for her big brother.
Her protector, her rock, her hero since childhood.
And she cries for the woman, who would have been her sister in another life.
She rages, she shouts, and she destroys her meagre things.
Is this a woman's destiny, she wonders, to sacrifice themselves for the greater good?
If one day she would have a daughter, she would teach her to rage against destiny itself.
No one should be a martyr for this people and this planet.
Cloud came for her one year after she had returned to Gongaga.
She wears one of the flowy dresses Aerith preferred in a soft blue.
Her black hair long and spiky like Zack's had been with a little blue bow on her left side.
It's probably not sane to represent her dead loved ones like this, yet Dalia is beyond carrying at this point.
Only like this, she feels close to Aerith and Zack.
She curses herself any day that she can't hear the planet, the voices in the Lifestream.
Maybe if she was capable of it, she could talk to them again.
Cloud looks at her sadly.
The fierce archer is gone.
Leaving a husk clingy to memories.
He understands her.
The weight of the Buster Sword crushes him any waking hour.
"I miss you.", he tells her quietly. "I know I should leave you alone, you made clear, you don't want anyone of us near you but….I miss you."
And Dalia realizes at the exact moment, she had missed him too.
The little flower of love that had blossomed between them, before Aerith's death and the truth about Zack's disappearance came to light, is still there.
Barely living, but present.
Can she just be happy with Cloud?
Was it fair since Aerith and Zack didn't get the chance?
Dalia opens her mouth, maybe to say no, she can't, yet it's like she hears Aerith's voice, sweetly whispering to her: "Be happy. For me and Zack."
She listens, gulps and throws herself in Cloud's arms.
They hold each other tightly, scared the other would disappear if they let go.
"I missed you too."
And maybe this is enough.
Geostigma was terrible.
Never felt Dalia so useless.
She can't help this time, the child under her heart, can't be risked, she knows this.
Cloud knows this.
All their friends know this.
And again it's like Aerith talks to her, begging her to not risk the child's life, the life of her niece.
After Geostigma is cured, Dalia delivers a beautiful little girl with short blond hair.
Exactly like the voice of Aerith had said.
"What should we call her?", ask Cloud full of wonder at the life he created with Dalia.
Were there any other options?
"Aeris."
In remembrance of the women who made all this even possible.
Years pass and Aeris is joined by a brother named Zack, and two younger sisters named Azalea and Amarilis.
Dalia and Cloud are a happy couple and even happier parents, looking at how their children grow up in a world free of ShinRa, of Sephiroth.
She never misses telling her children the story of their aunt Aerith and their uncle Zack.
However, she makes one thing clear, especially for her girls: "No one is worth it to sacrifice yourself for them. You have the right to live to the fullest like everybody else."
Zack, Azalea and Amarilis take the lesson, but soon forget because they are more busy with living life, which is what Dalia wants.
It's Aeris who makes her worry.
She is the only one of her kids who has Cloud's blond hair and spikes, making her look like a Chocobo chick and blue eyes like Zack and herself, who seem way too old for her young face.
Aeris is a silent and kind girl.
Sometimes she looks into the distance, seeming to see something which no one can.
One day Dalia asks her what she sees.
The answer her child gives is both frightened and elateding.
"It's Aunt Aerith. She talks sometimes to me. With her is a silver-haired man. I don't think they like each other very much."
That night, when she is sure Cloud and the children are fast asleep, she gets outside and curses Sephiroth out.
Dalia makes clear that she can and will find a way to make his afterlife hell if he doesn't leave Aerith alone.
This earns her a soft familiar giggle in the wind.
A little smile forms on Dalia's face.
At least she can still make Aerith laugh.
When Aeris becomes a mother herself, giving birth to a beautiful baby girl named Claudia, both mother and daughter talk again about the long death.
"Aunt Aerith was here.", tells Aeris, while Dalia coos at her first grandchild. "With the silver-haired man…I think they get along now."
Dalia raises an eyebrow and gently cradles little Claudia.
"Really? Are you sure, Aeris?"
"I am, Mama. Sephiroth…he is more human, no he is a human now. Not the monster from your and Papa's tales."
Huh, of course, Aeris would find out the connection between the silver-haired man who was beside her aunt in the afterlife and the monster they fought.
Still, Dalia can't help but ask: "Are you certain, sweetheart."
Aeris nods which makes her spikes bounce.
"They seemed… happy. I'm glad Aunt Aerith isn't alone anymore."
Dalia purses her lips and looks down at her grandchild.
Aerith and Sephiroth are together in the afterlife and are happy with each other.
That sounds like a bad joke, yet her daughter wouldn't lie to her.
When night falls again Dalia slips out of her home to talk to them.
"I…don't know what happened…And I'm sure I don't want any details but…if you make each other happy… continue…Still, Sephiroth if you harm or break Aerith's heart I will find a way to resurrect you, only to kill you again!"
Again, like so many years ago, the wind carries soft and familiar laughter only joined by a more masculine chuckle.
Dalia blinks, while the wind caresses her like a loved one, making her long black hair with silver lines in it dance.
Don't worry about me….about us…we are happy…don't worry anymore Dalia…
The woman gasps as she hears these words in her head and can't help but cry.
Oh sweet, sweet Aerith…
She would do it, for her.
Strong arms circle her waist and Dalia sinks into the warm body of her husband.
"Done with talking to the souls?"
Of course, Cloud would know.
She nods.
"Yeah, let's go to sleep."
With that, like when they were young, Cloud carries her bridal style into their home.
Dalia laughs like the young girl she was once, while Cloud smiles at her cheeky.
I love you Aerith…be happy! You deserve this more than anyone.
The door to the Strife household closes with a clink, as the wind dances around the flowers they had planted with their children there.
And if you listen closely you would hear the laugh of a young woman and a man.
I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT!
ESPECIALLY YOU starryhighqueen!
THANKS FOR LETTING ME PLAY IN YOUR SANDBOX! *muah*