Thinking of You
Director's Cut By DClickAuthoress's Notes
… More like, "Director's Hack-and-slash-into-a-zillion-little-pieces".
Sephiroth: *does so gleefully*
DC: Excuse me, but who died and made you director? (Well, author. Whatever.)
Sephy: … You. *draws Masamune, smirking evilly (Aikaya: Not to mention sexily. ^_^ Epsilon: *levitates a big neon sign reading "FANGIRL" to float above Aikaya's head* Aikaya: ¬_¬;;)*
DC: *blinkaga* Um… *Runs. Like. Hell.*
(A few minutes later, after DC teleports to safety and Aikaya proceeds to glomp Sephiroth… then gets dragged away by Epsilon before Sephy (who is apparently in one of his mass-murder moods ^_^) decides to kill her instead…)
BTW- I would have said something along the lines of "Revised Edition" instead but then I thought of the "director's cut" joke above. ^_^ Besides, Director's Cut just sounds better. Anyway…
OK, let's all face it. Thinking of You was my worst fic since Assorted Nuts (the only reason I don't delete that particular excuse-for-a-fic is because it's kind of the "origin" of Someplace. :P). And as I got further in the game (I'm somewhere in the middle of Disk 2 now), I began to see where it doesn't even fit with the plot.
However, I still liked my original idea… so I decided to rewrite the fic! Hopefully it's a LOT better now. If not, I think I'll go take a swim in the Lifestream.
Sekani: o.O Why?
DC: Because. Hopefully the Mako screwing up my head will give me better ideas ^_^
Sekani: Riiiiiiight. Can we just continue with the fic already?
DC: Sure. BTW- this is set around the point I'm at in the game… after the looooong flashback-y part after Tifa and Cloud end up falling into the Lifestream. Fwee.
Disclaimer (*sics a rabid Chocobo (o.O) on the Evil Lawyers*): I don't own Final Fantasy 7… I don't own any of it's characters. I do own myself and my muses/Review Crew/original characters (pick the name you like best), even though we only appear in the insane authoress's notes above.
If there was one advantage to being dead, it was the travel plan.
Although perhaps this only worked for Cetra, Aeris had found that via the Lifestream she could go anywhere she liked… well, sort of. Unless she wanted to appear as one of the mute, old-looking spirit bodies that had been wandering around in the Temple of the Ancients (what had happened to them when the temple shrunk into the Black Materia? she wondered), she couldn't really go anywhere on the normal Planet, the same plane of reality as the living. However, there were alternate dimensions she could access, which was nice when she got tired of wandering aimlessly through the Lifestream or when she just wanted to be alone (the annoying thing about the Lifestream, if you were dead- if you were alive the annoying thing was the fact that if you stayed too long the Mako would poison you, of course- was that it was really rather crowded. After all, this was where the spirits hung out until they were reborn into a new person/animal/plant/etc.).
She'd chosen a nice little alternate plane that allowed her to wander the Planet as herself, by herself. The whole universe was open to her now but she still liked it there…
Despite the fact that it held some rather bad memories (like being dragged through it by Sephiroth on the way to the city that would be her grave), Aeris had always been rather fond of the Sleeping Forest. She'd found a nice little pond there surrounded by flowers, and often went there when she just wanted to think.
And remember.
She hadn't expected to live for too long, really. You wouldn't either if you'd spent most of your life being chased by the Shinra ^_^;; And she certainly wasn't afraid to die, knowing that there was still eternity waiting for her. However, she hadn't really factored in things like falling in love.
Cloud… She'd liked him from the start. For all his indifference, mental problems, and eerie similarity to Zack, there was just something about him… and you had to admit he wasn't too bad looking, either. But anyway, after all they'd been through in the short time they'd known each other, her feelings for him had grown…
Feelings that she'd never quite admitted to him, now that she thought about it- though, she had to admit it'd been pretty obvious anyway.
She hadn't even told him that she loved him.
Let alone kissed him.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. There was really no use dwelling on it now, was there?
But she couldn't help wishing.
Aeris looked down at her reflection in the pond, which shattered into a circle of ripples as a tear fell.
If only she could be with Cloud one more time… or at least talk to him again. Hmm, had anyone invented phones that worked between dimensions yet?
How can I make jokes now? she wondered.
Oh well. She couldn't actually have a conversation with him, but…
"Cloud. You probably can't hear me, but… it makes me feel a little better to say this out loud anyway.
Know that I'm thinking of you, wherever you are now.
I wish things hadn't ended the way they did, before I even…
Before I even told you…"
(Spit it out, Aeris! she thought.)
"Before I even told you… I love you.
Did you feel the same?"
She paused, trying to figure out what to say next.
"Excuse my language, but kick Sephiroth's ass for me." Aeris giggled.
"For me, and for the planet.
I'll be right here, cheering you on.
Be strong.
I know you'll succeed.
And when things get tough on the way, I'll be your guardian angel."
Aeris trailed a leaf through the water, watching a tiny fish chase after it for some reason or another.
"Though I wish it were during… happier times, I enjoyed the little time we had together.
Remember our date at the Gold Saucer?
When we had to act in that play, and you kept messing up all your lines?
I wasn't really mad- it was actually quite funny. You should show
your sense of humor more often…
And then after the play, when we went on the gondola at Round Square.
The view was so pretty- I especially liked the fireworks."
Aeris remembered something she'd said to him that day.
"Remember what I said, about how I didn't know the real you?
I think I finally began to know you near the end." Obviously, by "the end" she meant the end of her life.
"Cloud…
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I never told you how I felt.
And I'm sorry I couldn't be more help saving the world while I was alive- disagree with me if you will."
The fish somehow, through some miracle of nature and authoress powers, caught the leaf… then promptly swam off upon discovering it wasn't edible. Aeris let the leaf drop, and it drifted out towards the center of the pond.
"Also, thank you, for all the times you've helped me out. Like when we
first met, and the Shinra were chasing us- remember?
And thank you for allowing me to experience the joy of falling in love."
Perhaps it had something to do with his recent dunk in the Lifestream, but somehow Cloud sensed that Aeris was trying to say something to him… and he could get the general idea of what she was trying to say, though he couldn't hear her words.
"Um, thanks…" he mumbled.
The others looked at him strangely. "Thanks for what?" Tifa asked.
"Huh?"
"You just said 'um, thanks'."
"What, is your memory THAT bad now that you can't even remember what you just said?" Barret couldn't resist making a smart-ass comment.
Cloud shrugged. "I didn't say anything. You must've been hearing things."
"Okay…" Tifa didn't look convinced.
"Yeah, maybe, but I thought hearing things was your department," remarked Yuffie.
"Oh, shut up."
Cloud wasn't sure who he liked- or loved?- better. He'd known Tifa for as long as he could remember (not that that was saying a whole lot; this is the guy that has more holes in his memory than Swiss cheese ^_^), and he had to admit he'd been interested in her… as much for her personality as her abnormally large chest, mind you. (Yes, I had to make some sort of joke about that.)
Aeris, however… She was one of the nicest people he'd ever known, and as pretty as the flowers she'd been selling when they first met. Of all the people that could have died, why'd it have to be her?
Cloud was thoroughly confused. (Wow, big surprise.)
But why was he thinking about this now? Maybe he'd had some feelings for Aeris, but she was dead now. And there was still Tifa…
"Um, Cloud? Earth to Cloud?" Yuffie waved a hand in front of his face.
"What?"
"Quit spacing out on us, will ya? We don't have all day! We gotta save the world, y'know?"
"Oh, right." And so the heroes continued on, Cloud not noticing until much later that a few of his Materia were missing.
A/N: Yuffie, Yuffie, Yuffie. When are you going to learn? lol
Still short, still sweet, still sad, and considerably more humorous than before. I think I did better this time, don't you? ^_^