Of TiSsuEs, and RibbOnS

Fin--->September 19, 1999

Disclaimers apply...These characters are property of: SquareSoft, and Square Co., Ltd.
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Of Tissues, and Ribbons
- Hiei&Yukina

The sun shone through a glass. It startled a young man who was on a bed, in the room. He closed his eyes again and opened them.

"Damn...It's already morning..." he mumbled.

Unwilling to greet the day, he turned to the other side of the bed and closed his eyes.

"Hey!" a man's voice was heard, "Get up, you fool!"

'Who's this damn...?' Cloud said to himself, 'I was just about to go back to sleep."

He looked at the culprit and sighed.

"Hey, Cloud," the man started, "You look tired. Didn't sleep early, huh?"

"Barret, leave me alone."

"In a bad mood...Must be because of..."

"Stop it, Barret!" Cloud commanded, "Leave me alone."

"Okeih, I guess you need time to cool off."

Cloud sat up, as he heard Barret's footsteps going down the stairs. He got his blanket and shielded his eyes with it. Once he let go of the blanket, he saw wet spots that looked like streams of water.

'Tears...' he told himself.

He remembered everything that happened the day before. He got a red ribbon from his pocket and grasped it in his hand.

'I was walking towards an altar, a water altar. I saw a beautiful lady, the lady I loved. Her eyes were closed, and she was praying...Then, I felt something come over me. To my surprise, I...No, it was not me...Cloud...He pulled out his sword and stood in front of the woman I cared for. He held it high, and suddenly...I...Yes...I put it down. Very confused, I shook my head and dropped my sword.'

Cloud stood up. He approached a corner of the room and sat there, still holding the red ribbon.

'This was hers,' he thought.

"Hers..." he said, "Aeris'."

Then, the events played in his mind.

As he looked on, Aeris opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. Suddenly, Cloud heard something break the silence, the silence through which they were speaking. He looked up, and he saw a tall man, a man with dove-gray hair. He held a long sword. He was charging downward, headed for...

"Aeris...My beloved, Aeris..."

Cloud couldn't help it. With the ribbon in his pocket, he went down the stairs, passed his friends who were eating breakfast, and headed for a strange structure. He ran to the bottom part of the spiral hall. Then, he saw glass figurines in front of him. There was a fish, and there were seaweeds, which gave the impression of an aquarium.

He tried to grab the figurines, but he found out they were not actually figurines. They were mirages, but somehow, they were in his way. Somehow, they forbid his entry to the stairs below.

Cloud's knees dropped to the floor, followed by his hands. Then, tears started to drop to the floor too.

'That man, Sephiroth, my buddy...He killed her. He charged downward, and...'

He stared in horror as the long sword made its way through his most cherished. Her eyes widened, closed and stared blankly into the air, as she was dropping to the bottom surface of the altar. In shock, Cloud saw the light in her eye disappear. Sephiroth withdrew his weapon and smirked. Cloud blinked and saw Aeris. He immediately held her in his arms, and tears started to run down his cheeks. Sephiroth raised his arms and looked at the pair. His eyes were met with blue, blazing eyes.

Cloud decided to go back to his friends.

'They must be waiting for my return.'

But before he left the mirage, he stared down and saw the beautiful glass-like stairs below. He faintly saw the city, the City of the Ancients, also known as the Cetra, and the water altar. Still staring downward, he stood up and left the structure.

Walking back, he came into realization, and suddenly, his atmosphere changed. He started cursing himself. Stopping before the lagoon surrounding the structure, he looked at his reflection.

"It's all your fault...Our fault...If we didn't let her come with us on this journey, she wouldn't have died! She would have still been breathing and smiling, with her Mother in Midgar, away from danger and away from the pain she shouldn't have felt. She should have been alive. Then, we could have gone back to Midgar and visited her. And who knows? We could have lived together for the rest of our lives. It's all our fault, Cloud!"

He blinked and saw himself enveloped in darkness for a moment. Then, he saw a brown-haired lady wearing a pink dress, and a long-sleeved vest in front of him.

"Aeris?"

"Hi, Cloud!" she said as she gave him her sweet smile.

"It's you..."

"Yup. Hey, what's that on your cheek? I didn't know my bodyguard had tears to shed."

"Aeris...Aeris, I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have let you come along in the first place, or even let you accompany me on my way back to Sector 7 in Midgar...Aeris..."

She stepped closer and held his hand.

"No...Don't blame yourself...I decided to come along. And even if I would have stayed, everything would still be the same or worse. I have always known that I would die that way. It was my fate, and no one could ever change fate...Cloud...Don't..."

Cloud looked in Aeris' eyes as tears started to escape from them. He got out a tissue and gently wiped them away, and he held her in his arms.

Silence grew dominant. The two individuals just stared in each other's eyes. But they didn't need words. They understood what they wanted to say.

Tears were shed and brushed away as soon as the eyes let them go.

Cloud held Aeris closer, and she decided to hold him just the same. Then, he leaned closer and closer, looking deeper and deeper into her enchanting emerald eyes, until Aeris' eyes closed. Their lips met, and Cloud closed his eyes, too. They were in each other's arms, as the water reflected the light of the sun.

"Yo, Cloud!"

Cloud was startled, as he opened his eyes. He found Barret staring at him.

"You look like you're enjoying your sleep. Must be because of a dream or something, but you gotta get up, fool. We gotta go to Cid. He's calling us. I think he's gonna tell us about something important. Maybe he's planning to marry Shera," he said, followed by a laugh.

"Barret, do you think it's possible to dream that you're dreaming in a dream?" he asked.

"What did you say?"

"I asked you if it's possible to dream that your dreaming in a dream."

"Damn, man. Speak the English we can all understand."

Cloud sighed and spoke, "Never mind."

"Well, get your ass off that bed, and go downstairs. Or else, I'm gonna be forced to tell the others that you just peed on your sheets."

"What?!"

"Look at your sheets, man. Their wet!"

"That's not pee!" he objected, but reluctant to say that they were tears.

"Oh yeah?...That's what I'm gonna tell."

"Cut it out, Barret."

"Okeih, okeih...Just hurry up, and go downstairs."

"Yeah."

Barret left the room, and Cloud got up. Then, he fixed himself up and headed out the door.

Going down the stairs, he got the ribbon out of his pocket and kissed it.

'I guess kisses won't get any sweeter...' he told himself and smiled, 'Eventhough it was just in a dream, which I was dreaming in my dream...'

As he put the ribbon back, he felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out, and it was a tissue, damp with tears.

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It's our first FF7 Fic!!!

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"Never give up even when the heart is challenged by sorrow."

- Hiei