Cloud felt like a complete asshole.

It was even worse because he'd felt that way for the last three days. Everything had started the first night after they'd left the Cetra capital and had settled into camp. Dinner had been delicious, but then, afterward, the conversation had taken an obvious turn to what had happened the night before on their date and he'd completely panicked. Not knowing what else to do, he'd made up an excuse about checking the surrounding area and then bolted. As it happened, he knew it was a mistake, and the entire time he spent wandering through the woods afterward he'd known he should have just gone back.

But he hadn't.

He'd been too afraid to. Afraid to hear what Aerith had to say. Afraid to have what he already feared said out loud. Afraid to acknowledge the fact that he'd somehow thought it would be okay to kiss her without saying something first.

So even though it only made things worse, and only made him feel like more and more of the asshole he knew he was, he continued to do anything he could to avoid the subject. Things hadn't improved when she'd clearly given up trying to talk about it, no, it had only made him feel even worse. It was his fault though, so there was nothing to do but live with it.

Or so he'd thought.

"So, why are you avoiding Aerith?" Tifa asked, dropping down into the chair on the other side of the table he was sitting at.

They'd returned to Seventh Heaven to plan, prepare, and rest up before the Weapon arrived at the city sometime the next day. While the others had gathered around the bar to chat and eat, he'd instead settled down here, off to the side where he could just let his mind blank out. Or that had been his plan before he'd begun spiraling down the well of memories from the last few days.

"I'm not avoiding her," he said, not meeting Tifa's eyes. "Just wanted a moment on my own to think through some stuff."

Tifa made a skeptical-sounding humming noise. "I've known you for how many years? I can tell when you're being . . . well, you, and when you're bottling something up, and let me tell you"—she gave him a stern look—"you're not fooling me."

Cloud winced, frustrated that she'd seen through him so easily.

"The thing I don't understand," Tifa said, continuing on, "is what exactly is going on between the two of you. When I asked Aerith, she said that you guys were fine and just tired from traveling. Was she covering for something you did?"

"She said that?" Cloud asked, looking up at Tifa, a faint feeling of hope building up inside him. "She wasn't angry?"

Tifa pursed her lips. "I haven't known Aerith for very long, but I have a hard time imagining her angry—especially with you. I suppose it's possible, but isn't it far more likely that you're making a big deal over something you shouldn't be stressing about in the first place?"

Her words hit him almost as hard as one of her punches would—if not slightly harder since she'd probably hold back in an actual fight. Especially because her words had a ring of truth to them that he struggled to deny. "Even if what you're saying is true, after the way I've been avoiding her, it's not like she's not going to want to spend time with me to talk about it."

A wide grin spread across Tifa's lips. "Oh, there's no reason for you to worry about that, I've got an easy solution."

Cloud felt a wave of dread surge through him. "Wait. What are you—"

"Oh, crap," Tifa shouted, jumping to her feet with a clearly exaggerated look of concern. "I just realized we're missing some key supplies. Aerith, could you and Cloud go fetch some things for us?"

Everyone in the bar turned to look over at the sudden outburst, a wide range of confused and surprised expressions on their faces.

Aerith hesitantly stepped toward them from where she'd been talking with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge. "Uh. Sure? I guess?" She cocked her head to the side and gave Cloud a look that clearly asked, 'What in the world is going on here?'

He shrugged in reply.

Not hesitating, Tifa grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet before all but dragging him to the entrance of the bar. Pushing the swinging doors open, she led the two of them outside into the cool night air. It was shortly after the sun had set, late enough that the street lamps were turning on, but not so dark that they were needed yet. The usual clamor that filled the city during the day had died down as most people settled in for the night, broken only occasionally by small groups of people getting ready to party the night away.

"Feel free to take your time!" Tifa called out from behind them. "Have a nice walk, chat a bit, we'll be just fine until you get back."

Cloud was tempted to point out that according to her made-up story, they were supposed to be fetching essential supplies, but decided not to press it. If anything, he appreciated how effortlessly Tifa had created this situation for him. Now he just had to not royally mess it all up.

He glanced over at Aerith, but she didn't seem like she was about to say anything—she appeared to be content walking at his side with her hands clasped behind her back as she looked upward at the stars. It almost seemed like she was smiling softly, although he imagined that was mostly him seeing what he wanted. A smile was certainly better than a frown, especially when hers had the ability to jumble him up so easily. Now that he was looking at her, it was hard to look away, but he forced himself to focus on where he was walking as he nearly tripped over a pothole in the road.

Was the silence drawing on too long? He'd heard people referring to awkward silences before, but what made a silence awkward, exactly? Cloud had always been a fan of silence, especially when it let him think. He'd already been doing a lot of that the last few days, though, and it was well past time to move on to talking. There was a lot he wanted to say to Aerith, but he didn't know where to start. Did he open with an apology for the past couple of days? Did he try and find out if she was upset with him first? Or should he open with something completely unrelated and see if the conversation would end up in a favorable direction? Every option seemed like a non-starter, and so the silence stretched on.

As they continued to walk through the streets, they wound up in one of the nicer sections of the city. Not that it was anything at all like the Cetra capital with sprawling parks and natural life all around them, but the roads here didn't smell as bad as most of the city did, while the shops and homes were larger and more decorated than the area he lived in. It had actually been quite a while since the last time Cloud had just wandered through the streets with no real goal in mind, and now that he knew what another major city looked like, he realized just how big of a difference there was between the two of them.

"Hello?"

Somewhat dishearteningly, this thought helped him to see where the President was coming from, if only to an extent. The man had obviously never seen the things Cloud had, but if he had, then it would only have served to further his agenda. After all, if any sane person had a choice between the two cities, he couldn't imagine very many would pick Midgar. Not that something like that justified the war. There had to be a better way for them to make Midgar a nicer place to live than that.

"Hello in there!"

Cloud snapped out of his thoughts as he realized Aerith was calling out to him. They'd come to a stop in the middle of the closest thing to a park in the city—an open plaza with shaded benches spread around it, surrounding a large statue of the President in the center.

"Everything okay?" she asked, looking up at him in concern. "You looked a little lost there."

"I'm sorry for kissing you without warning," he blurted out, cutting directly to the heart of his worries. He wanted to get this over with, wanted to let her lay into him so they could maybe move past this transgression and start over with a clean slate. If that was even still an option.

Aerith's brow wrinkled, one of her eyebrows raising much higher than the other. "You're sorry about . . . wait, what? Why would you apologize for that?"

"Because I messed up. I acted on instinct instead of checking with you first which was wrong. I'm sorry."

She blinked rapidly several times, giving him a perplexed look. "I mean . . . I suppose I can understand where you're coming from here, to an extent, but what about that night gave you the impression I was upset with you? Wouldn't I have not kissed you back or tried to push you away if that were the case?"

It was his turn to blink, although he did it much more slowly as he thought back on that moment and what had happened. He certainly hadn't forgotten—in fact, he was fairly certain that kiss had been burned into his memories for the rest of his life—and now that he focused on more than just how it had felt to kiss her, he realized how right she was. And how dumb this made him look.

"Then . . . you liked it?" he asked, just to make sure.

Aerith nodded, her confusion replaced with an amused twist of her lips as she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned towards him slightly. "I did. A whole lot, as a matter of fact."

"And you're not angry with me?"

"Well, if I'm being honest then I am a little frustrated with how you've been avoiding me, mister. Is that what this has all been about? You thought I was upset that you'd kissed me?"

He nodded weakly.

"Then yes, I'm a little bit angry with you," she said firmly, straightening back up and poking his chest with her finger. "Communication! I know it can be hard, but it's important! I need you to be able to talk to me or else we're never going to get anywhere, okay?"

Cloud lowered his head, too embarrassed to meet her eyes since he knew she was absolutely correct. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I promise I'll work on it."

Reaching out, she gently lifted his chin so they were looking directly at each other, her earlier partial frown now completely transformed into a gentle smile that caused his heart rate to speed up. "Good, that's all I'm asking for. Please don't beat yourself up over this, we learn from our mistakes and move forward. And just to be completely clear, I'm not angry anymore either."

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, he felt all of his built-up tension begin to drain away, leaving him feeling far more relaxed. "So, just to make sure . . . I can kiss you again?"

Aerith giggled. "I'm certainly not going to stop you."

Of course, knowing he could kiss her again, and actually doing it were two entirely separate matters. Even if he wanted to, just leaning in and giving her a little peck was completely out of the question. Sure, Zack could do something bold and crazy like that, but Cloud? Uh-uh, no way. "Well, is there anything you'd like to see before we head back? Maybe I could give you a bit of a personal tour of the city."

She hummed softly and gave him an amused look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were asking me out on a second date."

"Maybe I am," he said, feeling strangely emboldened after their earlier conversation. "I'm not sure Midgar is the best place for it, honestly, but it has its own unique . . . specialness. Plus, it's late enough that we mostly have the city to ourselves."

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Aerith's eyes almost seemed to brighten before she responded. "This isn't really a great date idea, but I have to admit that ever since you mentioned them as a kid, I've been curious about the food factories you talked about. Do you think we could check those out? If they're still around?"

It was probably the last thing he'd expected her to mention, but at the same time, it did bring up good memories from their childhood. "They've mostly shut down by this point, but there are still a few in operation, I think. You're . . . sure that's what you wanna see, though? They're not at all what I'd consider a highlight of the city."

She nodded firmly, a determined look on her face that was simultaneously amusingly adorable.

"Alright then. The factories are on the outskirts so it'll be a bit of a walk."

"Lead the way," Aerith said, making a sweeping gesture with her hand.

The massive factory towered over them in the darkness, a hulking mass of metal that during the day would have been belching smoke and making a huge clamor, but now slept—silent and motionless. It had been years since the last time Cloud had visited one, and he couldn't say that he missed them.

"This is one of the two or three that's still in use," he explained as they walked closer, Aerith's head craned upward as she looked the building over. "For a while, I think they'd all been shut down, but then as food started to become more scarce, they once again resumed production."

"If it wasn't so awful, I'd almost say it was impressive how quickly the city managed to destroy the surrounding environment," Aerith said, a clear note of bitterness in her voice. "Did people even care, or were they content to return to getting their food from here?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no, there was plenty of anger, especially after how used to the markets people had gotten. The only problem is, thanks to Shinra, all of that anger was directed at the Ancients."

"Let me guess: because we're horrible, awful people, we used our magic to blight the land and make you suffer."

Cloud let out a short, mirthless bark of laughter. "I see you were listening in on the television announcements too. Avalanche tried to spread the truth and over time I think we've actually been able to make some progress, but the majority of people are all too willing to accept whatever Shinra tells them. It's a lot easier to just blindly believe what you're told on television than to think for yourself, after all."

"I suppose it's not really their fault," Aerith said with a heavy sigh. "They've all but been brainwashed their entire lives. I only hope that once we're able to put all of this behind us, they'll be willing to open their eyes. Anyway, we're getting a bit off track. Is there any chance I could see the food it makes, or not since it's all shut down?"

"I'm sure there's still some food left in the fridges if you're really that curious," Cloud said, gesturing for her to follow as he led the way to the side of the building. "The food here is always free and the machines make more than is needed, especially these days, but are you absolutely sure about this? I can promise that you're not going to like it."

Aerith laughed softly as he held the door into the refrigeration room open for her, the light inside flickering on automatically. "The more you try and turn me away, the more interested I become. I mean, how bad can it be?"

"Bad." Cloud walked over to one of the large fridges that lined the walls of the room. Yanking the door open, he scanned the shelves quickly before reaching in and grabbing a tray with a plastic cover. It was lasagna, or at least, what he'd thought lasagna was as a child—and also his favorite meal back then. Now, just looking at it was enough to make him cringe. Closing the fridge, he took a deep breath before turning and presenting the "food" to Aerith.

She took one look at the contents of the tray he held out before her face went a sickly pale. "You'd eat that?" she asked, obviously horrified. "I'm . . . I'm not sure that even qualifies as food."

"That's all we really had before the Barrier fell," Cloud said with a sad smile down at the mound of gray sludge. "Now that I know what real food is like"—he shrugged—"yeah, it's pretty eye-opening. It might look and taste like crap, but it did keep us alive. Somehow."

Aerith wrinkled her nose. "I suppose that's what matters most, but . . ." She shuddered. "I think I've seen enough."

He nodded understandingly before returning the tray back to the fridge he'd gotten it from. Giving the lasagna one last, brief look, he closed the door, knowing that this was the final time he'd ever see it. Hopefully, it was only a matter of time before the factories completely closed down, and no one had to rely on them at all anymore. It was a future worth looking towards, but in order to reach it, they first had to end this war. He turned away from the row of fridges and then walked over to hold the door for her.

Stepping back outside ahead of him, Aerith did a little spin as she gazed up into the sky above them. "It's nice and clear tonight, would be great for stargazing. It's a shame the lights from the city make that so challenging."

A flash of inspiration struck Cloud at her words. "That gives me an idea for one last place I can show you if you're interested."

"Oh?" Aerith turned back around to look at him, her face painted with curiosity. "Where?"

"It's a surprise, but I think you'll love it. And it's pretty close, too," he finished, already feeling a bit less sure of himself than when he'd come up with the idea.

"Hmmm, well okay then. At this point, I'm too curious to say no."

Leading the way, he brought them even further into the outskirts of the city, all the way until only their destination stood between them and the walls surrounding Midgar. He came to a stop in front of the old, familiar chain link fence, a soft smile forming on his lips as memories from the past flooded through him.

"This looks an awful lot like a junkyard, mister."

A sinking feeling began to fill his stomach until he turned and saw the amused glint in her eyes. "It is, but . . . I just thought it might be a good place to better see the stars. There's a watchtower in the middle that we can use."

"Well this certainly isn't what I was expecting, but I love how out of the ordinary it is. Let's do it!"

Relieved, he made his way over to the gate. Thankfully, it was still as unsecured as it had been all those years ago, making it easy to push open—other than it getting a little stuck halfway—and allowing Aerith to move through before he followed after, letting it swing shut behind them. Cloud led the way onward, relying more on his memory of the path than his eyes since it was hard to make out too much in the darkness of the night now that they were away from the lights back on the road.

It wasn't long until they reached the base of the watchtower—its platform up above looming down over them. Cloud went first this time, wanting to make sure that all of the rungs of the ladder were still intact and wouldn't be a danger. His worries proved to be unfounded as he reached the top without any issue, offering Aerith a hand up to help her join him at his side.

Together, they walked over to the railing and looked out over the junkyard surrounding them, or, what little of it they could make out in the dark. Just as he'd hoped, while the city's lights were still somewhat present, it was dark enough this far out that the stars above were now much more clear.

"Now this is much better," Aerith said, her neck craned to look up at the glittering lights overhead. "It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than I expected without having to completely leave the city." She tilted her head to the side slightly to look over at him. "How did you know about this place?"

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt Aerith lean gently into his side. Forcing himself to focus on her question and not how close she was, he swallowed nervously. "We used to play here, as kids. It was like a secret base, in a way, a place away from the adults where we could mess around and have fun. There are even bases on each end, although you can't see them now, that allowed us to hold competitions between the gangs. Those were the real highlights, where we'd face off to see who the strongest in Midgar really was." As he talked, he grew more and more relaxed, Aerith's presence against him no longer so daunting but rather comforting.

"It sounds like you have a lot of good memories, although I have to say, it sounds way more like fighting than it does playing."

He chuckled. "I guess it was a bit of both. Things usually weren't all that serious, though. I still remember when Zack and Elena were going on about dating and how Zack was trying to convince me that girls weren't so bad." He immediately snapped his mouth shut, realizing exactly what he'd been saying and to whom.

"Oh?" Aerith asked, drawing the word out and making it clear from her amused tone that she wasn't about to let the topic go. "And what do you think about them now, mister?"

"I . . . uh, I mean, they're . . . you know."

"I don't think I do, Cloud," she said softly, her warm breath hitting his cheek and making a stark contrast to the cool night air. "Please, tell me."

"They're . . . pretty great?"

He thought he heard her giggle softly, but it was gone as quickly as it had arrived. "Pretty great? That's it? Nothing more?"

"I—" He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then turned to face her. As he reopened them, he could only make out the vague outline of her head and the possible hint of a smile on her lips thanks to how dark it was, but even so, his mind's eye was enough to fill in the emerald green eyes and the twinkle he knew was shining deep with them.

"I love you, Aerith."

He waited in absolute terror for any form of response, growing more and more nervous as she remained perfectly silent. Had he messed up? Had it been the wrong thing to say? Was it too soon? Just as he was about to try and say something else in a desperate attempt to salvage the disastrous situation, she leaned closer and before he knew it, her lips were pressed against his own.

"You know, you're not too bad yourself, mister," Aerith whispered into his lips. "I'd give you a 'pretty great' rating too."

Rather than respond with words, Cloud simply kissed her back, losing himself in the sensation and the happiness surging through him. One of her hands slid up his back, pulling him closer to her while the other caressed his cheek. Unsure what to do with his own hands, he settled for wrapping them around her in a tight embrace.

Eventually, Aerith pulled slightly back and surprised him by breaking down into giggles. "Did you—" She gasped for breath. "Did you just confess to me in the middle of a junkyard? Not that I mind," she hurried to clarify, "it's just, not exactly what I pictured. And before you get all worried, don't. I loved it. I love you."

Impossible as it seemed, somehow hearing those words from her lips made Cloud's heart soar even higher until it felt like it would reach the very stars themselves.

A gentle gust of cool air blew through the tower just then, causing the hair on his arms to stand up and reminding him of how late it had gotten. With how tightly they were pressed together, he felt the slight tremor of a shiver run through Aerith's body as she felt it too.

"Perhaps it's time we headed back," he said reluctantly, not at all wanting to, but also not wanting her to catch a cold. "We've got a busy day tomorrow, after all."

Aerith sighed, leaning in against him to rest her cheek against his chest. "I suppose you're right, even if part of me wishes we didn't have to. It would be so nice if we didn't have this . . . weight, looming over us. If we could just live our lives, be happy." She sighed again, heavier this time. "Sorry, I'm killing the mood now, aren't I?"

Chuckling, he gave her a brief squeeze of reassurance. "You're not, I feel exactly the same way. But we'll have that, the day after tomorrow, once this is all behind us."

She shifted her head to look up at him. "Promise me?"

"I promise."

Raising up onto her toes, she brushed her lips against his once more before stepping back. "Are you going to be able to lead us back out of here or should I make a light?"

He'd completely forgotten that was something she could just do, and while he was relatively confident of his ability to lead them safely out of the junkyard, it was better to be safe than sorry. "That would be great."

A moment later, a small glowing sphere popped into existence next to her shoulder, gently bobbing up and down in the air as it flooded the area around them with bright light. Cloud immediately shielded his eyes, blinking rapidly as he tried to adjust to the sudden brightness.

"Oops, that was a bit stronger than I thought it would be," Aerith apologized, the light dimming dramatically as she spoke. "Sorry about that, still getting used to all this."

"Don't worry about it," he said, heading over to the ladder and making his way down first. "It's still so cool to me that you can do that."

Once they were both back on the ground, the path leading to the entrance was clearly lit by the floating light, allowing them to follow it with ease. After just a few steps, one of Aerith's hands found his, their fingers intertwining. He gave her hand a brief squeeze and she shifted closer, slightly leaning into him as they walked. It made their pace a bit slower, but Cloud didn't mind in the least.

Even so, the return trip back to Seventh Heaven passed far more quickly than he would have preferred. As they neared the doors of the bar, still with light shining through them despite the hour, Cloud found himself wishing that he could have spent even more time alone with Aerith. They had their promise though, and plenty of time ahead of them, so he did his best not to let it weigh too heavily over him. The magical light at Aerith's shoulder winked out of existence as they reached the doors and he pushed them open, revealing a largely empty room except for Tifa and Barret who turned to look over at them.

"So? Where's the stuff?" Barret asked, looking between them—his eyes dropping to their held hands before jumping back up—and clearly noting the fact they'd returned empty-handed.

Aerith glanced over at Cloud and burst out laughing. "Oops?"

I know people have been upset with Cloud after his behavior in the chapter before last, hopefully, this makes up for it somewhat. There are a bunch of callbacks, both to canon and the earlier chapters of this story here, all of which made this a really fun chapter to work on. Taking a trip to one of the food factories was important to me, mostly to help clarify exactly what Cloud was eating all the way back in the first chapter, and how bad it really was. At the time, he thinks that's just what lasagna is, but it's not, at all. And then we end up in the junkyard, for a romantic confession of love. Good job Cloud. ;)

Next week we've got the single largest chapter I've ever written for a story. There's so much that happens without a good break in the middle that it's pretty much just two chapters in one. There's a Weapon, a Summon, a massive canon, Turks, and a whoooooole lotta action. I hope you're looking forward to it.

Next Chapter: Daughter