Cloud was walking gingerly down the sweeping transparent crystal steps into the city of the ancients. Vincent, who had wanted to tag along for some reason or another, was walking softly following him; his blood-red cloak fluttering in the wind like a death wing. Further behind him still, Barret brought up their rear, his good hand resting on his gun-arm, muttering something about "#$%&*^" glass steps". It was then that Cloud saw her. She was sitting; kneeling, really, in the center of a strange crystal dome, her eyes closed, deep in meditation. He breathed her name, "Aeris!" and dashed recklessly down the remaining stairs. He barely paused through the landing at their base to find the next set of stairs, the set he was looking for, the set leading to Aeris. The stairs wound up to be a set of wooden posts set deep into a limped pool of silvery water. Even with the massive quantities of adrenaline rushing through his veins, it was only with effort that Cloud leapt from pylon to pylon, l úeaving his comrades far behind in his haste to get to Aeris. He rushed up to the entrance of the crystal hemisphere, wondering how it was that a woman as petite as Aeris was ever able to reach her present location. But that mattered little and gave him only slight pause, what mattered was that she was safe, and that Sephiroth was no where near her. "Aeris?" he queried. It seemed she hadn't moved an inch since he caught sight of her. Of course, he thought, that was impossible. She had to breathe, didn't she? He dismissed the thought as trivial. The moment he stepped into the transparent half-globe, something strange, very familiar, and very wrong began to happen. He felt strange, displaced, distanced from his body, as if he was outside looking on at someone else's body. He half felt, half sensed the all too familiar tingling in the depth of his chest, spreading like wildfire through his torso. The sensation moved like lightning into his arms, then to is upper legs; all the while, that whic þh was the essence of Cloud looked on, powerless to do anything but fear the actions to come. Driven by an iron will that was not his own, the hand raised the sword high above the young man's head, and like an executioner, he made the last step toward Aeris. Cloud's mind screamed in resistance, every fiber of his soul strained on the strands that held him so loosely to reality to halt the looming juggernaut of death his body had become. Somehow, his body faltered.* * * Meanwhile, back on the landing, Barret was gauging the length of the jump he has going to make. Vincent had leapt to the step-collumn with an envious grace, and was now watching the spectacle Barret was sure to produce. "Damn!" he swore beneath his breath. "How the hell did Cloud do that?" he asked himself as he looked up, and found himself lacking air, saw Cloud standing above Aeris, holding his titanic sword above his head, ready to bring it down, hard. "Damn it, Cloud! DAMN IT!" he bellowed, pumped shots into t æhe air in a desperate attempt to draw his attention. Cloud warned them this might happen. Fool that he was, he didn't pay attention. Vincent whirled around, his red eyes boring holes into Cloud's back. Drawing his nine millimeter in a blur of motion, he fired a shot at Cloud's exposed right shoulder. He held his gun at the ready, more than willing to shoot off a hand; or an arm if necessary; in order to save a life.* * *
It wasn't. The single, searing needle of pain gave Cloud the opportunity he needed to regain control over himself. Instantly he stepped away, lowered his sword too the ground. He fell to his knees in front of Aeris, she too kneeling, when she opened her eyes.
Cloud opened his mouth to say something, worked his jaw, but nothing would come out. His heart was flooded with emotions, emotions he couldn't control, he found he didn't want to control. He wanted to apologize, to take her in his arms, to know how she got here, to know what sh e was doing, to ask her to marry him... It seemed he had never seen he before, never so beautiful, never so forgiving. Her deep blue eyes captivated him. A man could drown in those eyes, he thought, and then laughed softly at the impossibility of it. Aeris granted him with as wry smile in return. Cloud marveled that such a beauty might be his, a man with a history of nothing but trouble, the man that had gotten her into this mess, the man that had almost killed her; twice. Twice? he thought, When was the first? Then the thought hit him. The Temple. When Sephiroth showed... Sephiroth. A chain of thought went off in his head like a machine-gun. He lost it before when Sephiroth showed up, and every time he felt... displaced... like that, it always had something to do with Sephiroth... It was because of Sephiroth... Sephiroth was here... now... above him. His head snapped up as if sprung. He didnÕt think; he didn't have time to, Sephiroth was falling to fast, the blade would run Aeris through if he took the time to think. Suddenly it seemed he could move faster than he could ever moved before, the muscles in his arms grew hard as steel cables, the weight of his sword was suddenly insignificant. With the one arm he had on its handle, he drew upon every ounce of himself, and swung the sword as hard as he could. The edge drug on the stone tiles for a moment, until the blade lifted itself into the air like a terrible metallic wing. The blade if the enormous Wakizaski sung in the air, symbolizing it's incredible speed. As the sword leveled off, Cloud reunited his hands on the sword grip, and with a fierce snarl on his lips, drove thee sword home. It worked. He did the impossible. He beat Sephiroth. His blow was enough to throw the falling Sephiroth aside, the giant Katana Masamune had missed Aeris completely. Aeris was now safe, crouching in the opening of the crystal half-sphere.* * * "Vince, did you juz see what I saw?" Barret had only seconds ago th ought he was seeing things, now he was almost sure he was seeing things. His gun-arm hadn't even cooled yet. Things happened too fast. "I saw it. I saw it and I don't believe it."
* * * Cloud's breathing was heavy, his arms weak, suddenly all he wanted to do was let himself collapse. But he couldn't do that. Sephiroth had freed Masamune from its entrapment in the stone, and was moving against him. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were glowing emerald green. He raised his swor d. They met... Cloud sat bolt upright in the bed. He couldn't move. His face was covered in sweat, his clothes drenched. Finally he drew in an unsteady breath, let it out slowly. He ran gloved fingers through his long, blond hair; shuddered. As he glanced around the room, he saw Barret sleeping face-first on a couch, snoring; and Vincent standing in the corner of the room, silent and immobile. He laid back down and drew the blankets around him defensively. It had been three days since Aeris died. They were sleeping in the house of an old man who lived at the base of the Great Glacier.
Could it have happened that way? He knew if he asked the question too many times he would drive himself insane, but he had to ask... Could it? Could it? Could it?
Glierskey@aol.com
Like the story? mail the author.
