anciently | entraya inbox

[ Ping! Suddenly you receive a photo of.. a piece of paper with text on it? Apparently someone wanted to send you something, but didn't want to bother finding out where everyone lives..

It's a photo of a card that has text on it in perfect yet somehow also still legible calligraphy. It looks ridiculously fancy for what's written on it, which is-- ]

You are hereby cordially invited to:

ADAINE AND FABIAN'S BREATHTAKING BIRTHDAY BASH!

It will be held today, June 3rd, in the rec room of the apartment building. Presents are not necessary, but a good attitude is most definitely required! There will be drinks, dancing and general merriment, because we all deserve something good after that labyrinth!

Trust me - it will be the party of the century here, and you DO NOT want to miss it!

- Fabian Aramais Seacaster

P.S. If you do not know my good friend Adaine yet, make sure to get to know her at the party. She is an absolute delight, and I want her to have the best birthday party possible!

[ For all characters who would attend, there is a log right over here! ]

Long time no see, says Aerith's network post. Cloud frowns at it. He just saw her, literally yesterday. What's she talking about?

He reads on. She...went home? And then came back? In the span of 24 hours? Did she go back to where she started, leaving Costa del Sol, or...later?

Forget texting, she lives right down the hall. He gets up and heads out like a man on a mission. He knocks on her door, firm but not too urgent.

"Aerith? It's me."

Before she makes it out of her apartment, after the return, Cloud seeks her out. Aerith is still on the couch, deeply entrenched in her conversations on the local network, when the knock, the voice, comes.

There's a pause. She draws a deep breath, setting the device down. Eventually she rises, moving to unlock and open the door.

The usual, pleasant expression is fixed in place when she greets him.

"Hi. Funny...I just saw you, back home, but here we are again." She steps aside, pressing her back to the door to let him pass. "Wanna come in?"

Cloud does step inside, but he doesn't go far before he's turning back to look at her again.

"You just saw me...what was I doing?"

"Leaving."

At this point, she's still got her back pressed to the door, and closes it with a snap. Cloud may or may not be used to this, but her face is a mask of pleasant enigma, and she tilts her head as she looks at him.

"You were on your way to stop Sephiroth. Like you promised."

And she...would not be traveling with them anymore. (Not in the same way, anyway.)

"So. Can you finally tell me what you were keeping from me? What I didn't remember? 'Cause I'm hoping I'm all caught up now."

For better, or for worse.

Leaving.

You were on your way - not we.

Cloud is very used to her face looking like that, though it's been a little while here in Etraya. He wishes she wouldn't. Though it's a little weird, since she seemed legitimately content with how things went, last he saw her - so maybe she's still missing events, or maybe she's from further on than he is now. Hmm.

"...yeah, sure." He leans an elbow on a nearby piece of furniture, the Cloud version of getting comfortable. "I mean, there's a lot. So, guess I'll just start with the last thing I remember." Could be this is Cloud's subconscious creating an excuse for not talking about the whole black materia thing. Could be just a coincidence. Who knows? Not Cloud.

He doesn't look directly at her as he speaks. "We caught up with you in the Forgotten Capital. You were praying. The Whispers were everywhere...all of 'em, not just Sephiroth's. He tried to keep us out, but we managed to open the way enough for me to get through. When I got there..." His expression darkens. "He was there. He tried to kill you." There was more going on there than that, but Aerith doesn't need to know the Whispers tried to make him kill her himself if she doesn't already.

"But, I stopped him. Just barely." If he hadn't, if she'd died there, Cloud never would have forgiven himself. A sudden flash of something, something painful, flickers through his mind, and he flinches - but he recovers quickly enough. Whatever that was must not have been all that important.

"Then you...well, I'm not really sure what happened. But you were okay." He looks up, as if the truth might be written on the ceiling. "I think...you must've used that white materia to travel between worlds. Like Sephiroth does. So you decided to go stop the meteor out there while we went to stop Sephiroth up north. Last thing I remember's getting back on the Bronco...and parting ways with you."

Edited 2024-08-16 19:39 (UTC)

She listens in silence from start to finish. Cloud's eyes are elsewhere, but she keeps hers on his, training on that Mako gaze.

All I want...is one thing. To keep the others safe.

Their memories were finally matched up, then. ...More or less. Aerith closes her eyes now as he speaks, and can easily recall Cloud's anguished yell as he'd fought the whispers, his blade held high over both their heads. The crash of his sword against Sephiroth's. The feeling of relief, and happiness, when Cloud had held her tight, and she been safe and sound.

~~The wrenching pierce of Masamune, anchoring her to the floor: impossibly sharp. The blood, pooling. Everything going white.~~

"Seems like we're on the same page now." When he looks back at her, she's watching again, with that same, mild smile in place. "We've both got things we need to do. I'm just sorry I won't be along for the ride anymore."

There's a pause, and she moves to stand by one of the windows. That inscrutable, green gaze scans the city beyond her apartment, though what she's looking for isn't clear. Eventually, she turns again, hands behind her back.

"...Thanks. For saving me." Whatever happens, don't blame yourself. "You've been doing a lot of that lately. It's a dangerous world for little old me."

"Cloud! Save her!" I did it, Zack.

"Well, you've saved me a lot, too, y'know. Dangerous for all of us." A slight smile creeps onto his face, but it doesn't last long, fading as he stops leaning and stands up straight again.

"'It's okay.' That's what you told me, right? Might not be along for the ride for a while, but we'll see you again when the mission is done." He tilts his head. "You okay?"

No. She isn't, not really. Between everything that's happened back home, to returning here and realizing she'd forgotten everything from Etraya...Aerith isn't okay.

"Yeah." But it's something she intends to sort out for herself, and so she offers him another little smile. "I'm okay. Just need some time to...get back up to speed."

It's a lot of memories to have flood back into your head in an instant, after all. The times where they'd had to pretend to be married, or went to the beach for his birthday, feel...so far away. So too, though, does their 'date' in that world where the sky had been fractured.

Looking at Cloud, it feels like an impossible gap is stretched between them. She wants more than anything to cross it, and that feeling clutches at her heart like a vice.

"You'll have to tell me all about it, next time I see you. Back home, that is." She moves her hands behind her back, leaning forward slightly in her signature pose. "And no skipping any details, got it?"

For Cloud, none of it feels all that far away. They just went to the beach the other day, they just got back from their false life in Moorecroft...but even those things that were longer ago for him don't feel distant. Sometimes when he looks at her, has looked at her for the past few months, he sees her sweet smile when she was lying in his arms; the sad one she wore when she hugged him in the church and then pushed him away; the one filled with wonder when they watched the fireworks at the Gold Saucer...he sees other things, too, less pleasant things, but many of those are fuzzier for him, for some reason.

"Heh. Wouldn't dream of leaving anything out." He takes a step closer to her. "If you need any help catching up, you know where to find me. You helped me when I first got here, after all. Only fair."

There are questions he could ask her now, questions that feel like yawning holes in his understanding of things. All those coy non-responses she'd give him back then that really didn't explain much, cryptic things she said, things she seemed to know...and why the materia she gave him had no color. What it meant. What he was supposed to do with it.

But he's not going to bring any of that up now. She's overwhelmed enough as it is. He'll give her time to settle in again, to get used to things, to process. Then he'll ask.

"Yeah. Appreciate it."

He doesn't ask about anything that happened, doesn't mention the details. She's grateful, honestly, because...it's complicated. It's all more complicated than ever, and Aerith herself feels...overwhelmed. She's always had things like this that were hard to talk to anyone about, and she'd grown used to that. More recently, it'd been a relief to have Nanaki to share some of it with, but after what happened - and in Etraya - all of it is in her hands again, and in her mind. A jumbled mess of a life. Of a death.

She shifts where she stands, watching him.

"...How're you feeling, Cloud? Not just right now, I mean. Just - lately."

Cloud tilts his head. That sounds like one of those leading questions Aerith always asks, where she's looking for something but never reveals what it is. He gives it a moment's thought, then shrugs.

"Dunno. Not too bad. Been a little too quiet around my place, I guess." There's this creepy feeling of being watched, too, but he doesn't want to tell her it reminds him of Sephiroth. "Why?"

"Hmm." The answer earns a little quirk of her lips: an almost-smile. "In that case, should I come by for a visit? Bang some pots and pans together, maybe?"

If it's too quiet, that can be easily remembered...

"Just asking. I haven't seen 'this' you in a while, after all." At his core, though, he's the Cloud she'd just left. The one Sephiroth had his hooks in, who'd been compelled to chase the black materia, and...

There's a lapse, and then she steps forward, reaching out to take her hand in his.

"I'm glad to be back. Know we didn't say goodbye that long ago, but it's not the same on my own." She doesn't keep his hand hostage for long, though, offering a squeeze before releasing it again.

Cloud gives her a Look. "Visit all you want, but leave the pots and pans at home." He really does mean that, too - that she should visit all she wants. Having her around more often again...it would help a lot.

He nods - right, last she saw him, he hadn't yet come to Etraya. Weird thought.

She takes his hand, and he glances down at it with a slight smile. He wonders if...if she might want to make 'next time' sooner rather than later. He's not sure if she'll remember that, though. Was she 'his' Aerith, or another one from another world? Definitely not something he intends to ask right now.

"Yeah..." He looks back up to meet her eyes. "Not the same without you, either. Nice to be on the same page again, too." It was uncomfortable, hiding everything from her for so long. Important things, but also...smaller, more personal things.

He squeezes her hand back, but then she lets go, and he tries not to look disappointed.

"If I must..." There's a histrionic sigh as she shrugs. If she's hamming it up a bit, it's because she's masking the conflicting mess of feelings, after-...everything. This isn't the best, or healthiest, way of dealing with things, but...well, in her defense, she hasn't had very long to figure it all out yet.

Aerith can nearly hear the musings, the questions, circulating in Cloud's own brain. She looks up from their joined hands to his face, searching for a moment before she releases the hand again.

"Right. Yeah, it's better this way." 'The same page,' huh? That obviously isn't...really true, though. Not now, and...maybe not ever.

Her stomach twists.

"You don't have to leave or anything. But I'm also okay, y'know. If you have to be somewhere."

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