Final Fantasy 7 Epilogue- Part 1- "In Time"

In a great white flash of light, Cloud had been sent to a beautiful land. The ground was engulped and bedded with... flowers? He felt a cool breeze lift up around him, and his injuries began to heal. Suddenly, a small warm hand fell onto his shoulder.

He twirled around. A familiar pair of emerald-green eyes looked back at him. They could only have belonged to one person.

Aeris. Aeris Gainsborough. She looked even more beautiful here than she had on their world. She smiled; a heavenly shine.

"A... Aeris?!?," was all he could manage to say.

"Cloud...," she replied, and walked into his arms. They embraced in the middle of... wherever they were, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I could see the entire thing," she said, "and I can never thank you enough for what you've done for me." She looked up at him. "You freed me," she continued, "I'm forever indebted to you."

"I only did it for you," he said, "you were my inspiration." "Cloud, don't lie to me," she replied, "you did this for Tifa. All of it. I know you love her; I've known all along. You don't have to play games anymore."

"You know me too well," he said, "yes, I did; and yes, I do."

She suddenly got a glint in her eyes. He had seen it before, and knew what it meant. She leaned her head closer to his. He closed his eyes, lips parting slightly in anticipation.

He felt a kiss, but it landed on his cheek. Her voice was soft in his ear. "Tell her how you feel," she whispered, "tell her how much you love her; she's been waiting long enough." There were a few moments of awkward, hellish silence.

"Okay," he whispered in reply as he faced her, "I'm glad you're finally happy." He scanned their surroundings once more.

"Aeris," he asked, "is this--the Promised Land?"

She nodded. "Yes," she replied, "it is our Promised Land. Isn't it wonderful?"

"It's stunning," he said, "and it's almost too painful to look at it. It's so bright..." Cloud then noticed an older woman looking at them. She waved to Aeris, calling her over.

"Oh," she said, "coming, mom."

"Mom?," he asked, "is that... Ifalna?"

"Yes," she replied, "she was waiting for me here." He smiled. "Good," he said, "I'm glad you finally found her again."

"Yeah," she replied, sounding sad. He knew why; this was the last time they would ever talk or see each other again.

"So," he began, "I guess I should get going. It wasn't a good idea to keep this bottled up for all this time, was it?" He looked over at her, and saw that her head was tilted down, and she was crying just a little.

He cupped her cheek in his hand. Her beautiful eyes were threatened by more tears, but stayed transfixed on his. "I'm going to miss you forever," he whispered, and lightly kissed her forehead. She shivered slightly.

"I'll miss you, too," she whispered, "I love you. You're like the brother I never had." He smiled again. "I love you, too. Like my sister." She began to slowly back away.

"Goodbye, Cloud," she whispered.

"Goodbye, my Aeris," he replied. As they continued to back away, their fingertips barely touching....

Suddenly, Clous was transported back into the middle of the collapsing Crater. He shook off the dizziness, but soon realized... he couldn't stop. The ground was cracking and rumbling underneath him.

"CLOUD!!!!!"

A yell pierced the rumbling. It was Tifa's voice. He looked all around himself panicingly, trying to spot her. He then noticed the faint outline of something falling. He ran towards it.

"CLOUD!!!," she screamed again, "where are you?" Her voice was breaking down. "Oh, what's the use anyway?," she said, "he's gone. He's not coming for me this time."

She intentionally loosened her grip, but that was soon countered by a grab onto her wrist. She shot her head up, and saw a familiar pair of blue eyes staring back at her. The eyes of Cloud Strife.

Her Cloud Strife. Her hero; her savior. He had come to her aid again.

"Cloud?!?," she chirped. She grabbed his forearm, and he lifted her up. The LifeStream bubbled below her as he pulled her onto her feet.

She looked directly into his eyes; he was feeling a stinging pain in them. He had been extremely close to losing BOTH of the women he loved. She could finally hold back no more, and she just let the tears overtake her, and she cried against his chest, wrapping her arms around him.

Cloud held her too, caressing the small of her back to calm her down. "Sshhhh," he whispered, "it's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you again." She gathered up enough courage to look at him again.

"Where did you go?," she managed to ask.

"I'll have time to explain it all later," he said, "right now, our first priority is to get out of here. Where did everybody else go?"

"HEY!!!," a deep voice yelled.

They looked up, and saw Barret leaning over the rail of the Highwind's deck. "Barret!!," Cloud yelled, "throw down the rope ladder." He did this, but the ladder was a good distance above them.

"Damn," he said.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?," Tifa asked as Cloud pulled her out of the way of a falling boulder. Cloud looked around, and finally saw the ledges. "We climb," he said, excitement building in his voice, "come on." He grabbed her hand, and they ran towards the far wall, dodging debris.

Cloud took 2 holds on the ledges. "Give me your hands," he said. She did, and he wrapped them around his neck. Tifa was glad he was facing the opposite direction; she was blushing a little. "Hold on," he said, and he began to climb.

He scaled the mountain, with Tifa hanging onto his neck (still blushing slightly), until the ladder was directly beside them, about 10 feet away.

"How do we make it over?," she asked.

"Easy," he said, and looked up again. "Barret!," he yelled, "throw the rope ladder over to us." The ladder flew towards them, and Cloud grabbed it.

"Cloud...?," Tifa asked nervously and at length, "what are you gonna do?"

"Just watch," he said, "and HOLD ON!" He pushed off the ledge. Tifa yelped as they flew into the air, and she held on for dear life. Cloud began to climb up again.

They reached the top of the ladder. Tifa climbed off his back, and over the deck's railing. Cloud followed. The second his feet touched the deck, Tifa threw herself into his arms.

She hugged him so hard, he found it difficult to breathe. After a few moments, they turned to watch as Holy and LifeStream joined forces to destroy Meteor within mere minutes, and then disappeared. Leaving only the stars and the night sky to shine.

Eventually, the two of them walked back into the Highwind, to be greeted by the sounds of cheers and celebration. They nodded to each other, and ran to join the party. Cloud found it kinda hard to admit to himself that he had just saved the world, but he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about Tifa.

After all was finished, and everything was finally cleaned up, Cloud literally collapsed into a chair. Cid's crew had directed the crippled ship to Cosmo Canyon, and had landed it just outside of town.

Cloud re-opened his eyes and scanned the room. He was about to get up and head to the Inn for the night when he noticed a figure, an old brown blanket strewn over it, fast asleep on a far bench.

Tifa.

It was painfully obvious to him that she was not having the best sleep ever. She was tossing and turning; shifting positions constantly, trying to find a comfortable one.

/After all that she's been through today, she deserves a goon night's rest/, he thought.

So he stood up, walked over to where she was laying, and gently lifted her up. Her carried her with him to the Cosmo Inn. The clerk, on the count of all Cloud had done for Cosmo Canyon, gave him the rooms for free. With thanks, he carried the still-sleeping Tifa to hers, and laid her on the bed.

He had just turned to leave when he heard her stir. When he looked back, he caught her gazing at him. "Hi, sleepy," he remarked, placing a hand on her cheek. She smiled.

"Hey," she replied, a bit sleep-drowned. "Excitement too much for you?," he asked.

"Sort of," she said, "I guess it was just a mixture of the party, the fight, the... cliffhanging. . I'm just really tired." Cloud perched on the edge of her bed. "Yeah," he said, "me, too."

"Well," he said, clearing his throat and standing, "you rest up tonight, and we'll talk some more in the morning. Okay?" He turned around again to leave.

But a grab stopped him.

He saw that Tifa had grabbed his wrist. "Huh?," he remarked, turning back to her. He didn't see the usual, always-happy Tifa he had just seconds ago. This Tifa was holding a lot of pain in her eyes.

"Cloud," she said, pain evident even in her voice, "with all that's happened tonight, could you just... stay with me tonight? I don't... I don't feel safe being alone, somehow."

Cloud searched her eyes, trying to find the source of where her sudden outburst had come from...

Instead, he thought he found something MUCH more interesting, but didn't dare reach for it. Didn't dare to believe it were possible.

"A--All right," he stammered, and sat again. Tifa moved over to allow him room to lay down, and once he did she squirmed over to his side. Laying on her stomach, she looped an arm over him and sighed. "Thank you," she whispered.

He put his arms awkwardly around her shoulders, and just absorbed the fact that he was here, he was with her, and nothing stood in their way anymore.

Their feelings would be known to each other.

In Time.

WELL, IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!! So, what do you think? This part IS the longest one, so don't freak out. It was my first attempt at a fanfic, and I couldn't stop writing. But, never the less, I think it's pretty good. Watch out for Part 2, COMING... EVENTUALLY!!!!

OH YEAH!! E-mail comments, questions and critisism HERE!!: