Aerith... I'll do the rest.

She does not hear Cloud's voice as a sound: vibrations of that kind cannot reach her where she is now. Instead, his voice is something that she feels. Something that she knows.

Within the Lifestream, his words are textured things. His resolve is lent all the solidity that he feels. It grabs onto her heartstrings. Pulls. Her heart rings out to him like a long-forgotten bell.

Cloud has not just made her a promise. What he has made is deeper and greater altogether: he has made for them a reason. She had been right to put her faith in him.

Aerith senses the voices of her friends too. Theirs are a jumble of words and not-quite-words that make her want to laugh. She had been right to trust them: to believe that their hearts would see them follow the same path as Cloud and her. Her friends care for the Planet, and if not that, they do for each other. If she is a church, then they fill her pews with their warm camaraderie.

It is not lost on her that Cloud is addressing her personally. Aerith witnesses the moment his heels lift up from the dais a second time. His whole body stretches upward to her. He is reaching for her, even if just unconsciously. His heart is extending a hand out to her.

Aerith would take it if she could. As things are right now, it is just not possible: the part of her that could be understood as her hands are tied. They remain clasped together with a pray between her palms. Given the slightest opening, the animosity infecting the Lifestream will turn her wish to nothing.

Someday, she will take his hand into her own.

Thank you... Aerith.

Cloud has promised her that he will do the rest. The bell that is her heart rings out as a laugh might. As a cry might. He has a habit of collecting expectations and worries that he should not carry alone. Thankfully, the others will fight alongside him.

She will do the same.