Memories of an Ex-SOLDIER [Aerith]

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Before continuing to walk ahead, Cloud came to a halt. His boots stood close to each other, his dark gloved hands were hanging at his sides; curled up in loose fists. His whole body was relaxed in that steady way. It was a habit of being ready for anything, including surprises. But this wasn't about a surprise. It was more of an instinct. Some strange feeling that told him to stop here and look around. So he stopped, a hand reaching up to the back of his head; ruffling at his blonde hair and looking around with his blue eyes. He was dreaming of things, that was for sure.

His eyes were able to catch the sight of double tall doors of a building. Wooden and the walls were cotton white. Windows were made with perfect colorful mosaic glass, each was describing another scene. It was a church, reminding him the old and non-used one in the Slums.

Lowering his eyes for a moment, he let the memories fill in his head. And just for the sake of the memories, he wanted to see inside of this place. Stepping at the doors, Cloud pushed it with one hand; opening it silently and easily. He already could feel the wood and that aromatic scent coming to his nose, which he inhaled deeply and even closing his eyes to pretend this was the Slums. This was Gaia.

Only not.

Stepping inside the church, the blonde haired young man walked down the carpet; heading for the center. He didn't really pay attention to the people around and there was the fact that it was almost empty anyway. No one was here at this hour, but he did notice the colored glasses and paintings around. It was a nice church. Clean and tidy. But it didn't smell flowers.

Cloud once again stopped at the middle row, taking a seat after pulling his sword off from his back and placing it to the side. His head was bowed and eyes were closed. The Ex-SOLDIER wasn't praying, but he was thinking.

Thinking of all the good memories, so he could smile.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith was a bit surprised to find out that Bhujerba had a church of some kind, from what little she'd learned of the place. Probably an altar for people to pray to the Occuria... if that as even what they were called. She'd hardly been paying attention. Perhaps what was more surprising was the spiky haired guy that walked in to it. It was surprising that Cloud was here at all, even moreso that he was going in to a church to do... whatever he was going to do. Pray for something probably. Aerith decided, on a whim, to follow and see how effective a ghost thing would do as a way of scaring the daylights out of him.

As it turned out, she'd developed the ability to magically float for short periods of time. Probably an effect of being in the Lifestream for so long. But then, maybe she'd always had the ability and just didn't know about it until now. Who knew?

Aerith maneuvered the hovering wheelchair device close enough that she could get to him without the spiky haired man noticing. She then levitated and moved behind him, trying not to laugh. "Whyyyyyyyy did you kill meeeee Cloooooooud?" she asked in her best impression of a ghost voice, raising her hands and wiggling her fingers. She thought she made an impressive specter. Then she couldn't help herself, and erupted in laughter as she floated down in to the seat behind him.

"Y-your face...!" she said between laughs, holding her sides and hoping she wouldn't end up sliding down off the pew. "I got you, Cloud! A-and you said I couldn't be scary," Aerith continued, finally catching her breath after a minute or so of laughing. She must have looked crazy, she thought in the back of her head.

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Cloud sat in the pew still thinking about the past and what he could have done...what he should have done. Why did he have to be unconscious when Zack fought by himself? If he would have helped him then perhaps he could still be alive. Then there was Aerith, she died a death that was really hard for Cloud to comprehend. He saw her die before his very eyes by the hands of Sephiroth, his arch nemesis. He just swooped down like Batman and stabbed her, like really? C'mon. It wasn’t like he had her held hostage or anything. She was just minding her own business trying to save the world and then duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh BATMAN! He just drops downs and stabs her. Just like that.

Cloud shook his head and cleared his mind of that memory, he didn’t like reliving it. That is when a small chill ran down his spine. It was weird because it wasn’t even cold inside the church and there was no breeze coming in from anywhere. The he heard it,

"Whyyyyyyyy did you kill meeeee Cloooooooud?" What. The. Hell. Cloud's ears were filled with a ghostly speech. The blonde man froze in place, even more than he already was. There was NO way he was actually going to be haunted by a ghost, just no. Cloud then looked around and that is when he noticed her. A female with long brown hair held in a braid with a pink bow at the end. Her green eyes stared at Cloud and her smile smiled at him. Apparently she thought she got Cloud in terms of scaring him, which he wouldn’t admit it aloud, but she did. The Ex-SOLDIER stared right back with his blue eyes, not knowing what to say because really, he had so many thoughts running through his mind.

“Aerith...” is all Cloud let roll off his tongue. He wanted to say more, so much more, but he couldn’t. The spiky haired man didn’t even have to ask if it was really her because he just knew it was her.

Even if she was in a hovering wheelchair.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Cloud, as she remembered, wasn't a talker. In fact the only thing he actually said was her name. When she finally stopped laughing, Aerith puffed out her cheeks a little and crossed her arms. "What? I came back to life and all you can say is my name?" She huffed, quirking her head to the side and glaring a bit. She wondered off-handedly if she should mention now that he'd been the one who killed her via drowning... and decided against it, though she didn't stop glaring.

"Why d'you look so glum? Don't tell me you're not happy to see me after, what, five years? Well, except for you spacing out and me popping in your head to tell you to do stupid stuff. Like that time I convinced you to punch yourself because you weren't sure if you were alive. That was funny," she said, more or less rambling at this point. She uncrossed her arms and clasped them together, leaning forward a bit and hoping her unresponsive lower half wouldn't decide to take the motion as an invitation to make her slide off the pew and on to the floor.

"Okay let's try again," Aerith said, smiling and quirking her head to the side. "Hi Cloud; long time no see! How've you been?"

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Cloud looked at Aerith when she puffed out her cheeks, and then crossed her arms. He knew that she knew he didn't talk too much and really he wanted to say more but the words just wouldn't roll off his tongue. He continued to listen to the girl. Cloud didn't really even know why he was so glum. Perhaps it was because he was in some random world and was confused on how he had gotten there. When she made the comment about him punching himself to see if he was alive, he smirked slightly, but then quickly went back to a straight face.

"I'am happy you're here." he replied, again looking at her. He then figured he would ask, "Why are you in that chair?" he really wondered why she was in this floating chair type deal. Before Aerith answered that she quickly began to speak again. Her question was quite easy to answer and Cloud did just that.

"I've been okay." he replied, turning from looking at her to looking at the ground.