Feet pounding. Pounding on the ground, loudly, echoing in her head. Crashing through the brush, almost slipping in their dresses. Run faster…run faster…the voice echoing in the little girl's head urged her tiny legs to propel her forward at a breathtaking speed. She had to keep up with her mother's long, panicked strides or she might be left behind. She might fall and be killed.

"Duck," her mother uttered, and the little girl bowed her head obediently. The tiny girl's head missed a low hanging tree branch by a few inches. They kept running through the woods, with no real sense of direction on where they were going. They just knew they had to get out of there. The girl was frightened, whimpering, on the verge of tears.

Something bad had happened. That was why they were running. Escaping…fleeing…Their feet pounded faster and the little girl's mother slapped harsh thorns out of the way, ducking her head under a thick cover of leaves. The little girl breathed heavily, beginning to tire.

BOOM!

The sound frightened the little girl and she screamed out loud, earning her a panicked look from her mother. The sound had been loud--too close for comfort. The little girl's deep green eyes were almost on the verge of tears. Her mother looked down at her and gave her another look, though this one was full of love and worry. Holding tighter to her daughter's hand, her mother kept pulling her along. The girl almost stumbled over trees, rocks, things on the ground, but she kept following, frightened of what lay behind.

BOOM!

This time something ricocheted off of a tree branch, coming dangerously close to both the girl and her mother. The girl looked up at her mother, wanting to scream again. Her mother now had worry lines around her eyebrows.

It was hard to run in their dresses--the little girl in her tiny green dress tied in the back with a white bow, adorned with a white peter pan collar, and the mother dressed in a worn red skirt, the fringe coming off of her pink shawl, and a white long shirt. It was cold, freezing, and the sky was gray overhead. Thunder rumbled almost as loudly as the shots had been. The little girl was panicked now, wanting to go home. Wanting her daddy.

They heard running footsteps behind them. Her mother turned to look, her face falling. She tugged hard on the little girl's hand. And still they ran, leaping over twigs, ducking under limbs, running for their very lives.

The little girl couldn't take much more of this. She had been running longer and faster than she had ever had in her entire 6 years of life. She needed to stop, to rest, to take a breath. Already her side was beginning to hurt.

"Mommy," She whimpered, but her mother only looked down at her and held a tense finger to her lips. The girl's exhausted tears almost spilled over onto her green dress. "But mommy," She whispered.

This time her mother gave her another sad look. Almost as if she were debating something in her head, she paused.

BOOM!

Both the girl and her mother jumped. Coming to a quick decision, the girl's mother pulled her off beside a thick tree. Looking jumpy and anxious, the little girl's mother stooped down to the girl's level, kneeling in the crunching leaves of the forest. Thunder roared and lightning flashed overhead. The beginnings of a thunderstorm.

"We will not have to run much longer," Her mother panicked. She looked over her small daughter, at her whimpering, dirt-stained face. "Aeris…my darling, are you alright?"

Aeris nodded wordlessly, putting a small thumb into her childish mouth, feeling the sudden need to feel secure. She was scared, the footsteps were getting closer. She could hear harsh, male voices. "Mommy," She whispered. "Mommy, I want to leave this place."

"We will leave soon…" Her mother said, putting a hand to her side. "It hurts right here…a cramp." She closed her eyes for a brief moment, sweat droplets clearly showing on the right side of her face. Her dark hair, tied back by a simple scarf, was coming loose. "Just let me rest a second."

Aeris waited a few more seconds.

Ifalna opened her eyes once more. "Aeris…" Her eyes were suddenly deepened, full of incredible sadness. Sadness that Aeris couldn't understand, at least now. "I'm going to have to leave soon, my dear."

The little girl's mouth fell open in shock. "Leave? But where?" She whispered urgently. "Where will you go? Let me come, mommy, let me come!" She was almost shrieking with panic.

Ifalna clutched Aeris's small, white, trembling hands in hers. "My darling…where I go…you cannot follow." She rubbed Aeris's hands gently, trying to bring warmth to the tiny hands, trying to rub the spark back in Aeris's sad green eyes. "Oh, Aeris…"

She snapped out of her reverie as the footsteps grew dangerously closer. Her eyes widening with panic, she hastily reached into her skirt pocket. Aeris followed her hand with a curious gaze, frightened yet interested at the same time. Lightening illuminated the dark woods, and they could hear the loud murmur of men's voices.

"Where are they?"

"I don't see 'em anywhere…"

"We can't let them escape. Hojo would kill us."

"Take this," Ifalna whispered to Aeris, in the faintest whisper Aeris had ever heard. She pressed something hard and cold into Aeris's hand, and Aeris closed her fist over it. "Put it in your pocket." Aeris did so, slipping it in to the tiny green pocket of her dress. "Never, ever let them have it, Aeris, it is very important. If something happens to me, don't let them take it. Promise me that." Her eyes bored into Aeris's.

"What is it?" Aeris whispered back.

"I cannot explain any further," Ifalna anxiously whispered back, her eyes darting around the clearing, listening to the men's voices. "When the time comes to use it, you'll know." She paused, still crouching. Slowly she stood up. "Aeris, when I count to three, start running to the left." Her dark, frightened eyes met Aeris. Thunder crashed.

Aeris nodded, panicked to the bone. She didn't want to run without her mother. She wanted her mother to come with her. She wanted her daddy. She wanted to lay down with her stuffed bunny.

"One…two…"

Aeris tensed. The voices grew louder.

"Wait a minute…I think I see something…"

"Three!" Ifalna pushed Aeris forward, and immediately her little legs began to run in motion. She was running forward, crashing noisily through the dried leaves on the ground, stumbling over the rocks, crying from fear and exhaustion. The tears poured down her cheeks, flowing freely from her eyes like the rain that had not yet fallen. She had gotten quite a ways away until she realized her mother was not following.

Immediately she stopped, turned around, her eyes scanning the clearing for a sign of any trouble. She started back, ducking around trees, trying to keep quiet. Mommy…

Finally she saw her mother, surrounded by men dressed in black, with large guns in their arms. Her mother was crying, pleading with the men. Aeris watched from behind a tree, crying soundlessly, pleading internally for the men to leave her mommy alone. Pleading for a God that was not listening for them to just be okay, to be transported to a safe place.

"You can take me," Her mother sobbed. "Just leave my baby alone."

One man pushed her harshly forward. "Let's get her back to the building. Then we can look for the little girl." Ifalna fell on her knees.

"No," Ifalna sobbed, staining the leaves on the ground with wet, salty tears. "Leave Aeris alone…you can take me…just leave her alone. Please…" She broke down into harder, shuddering sobs. "Leave my baby alone…"

Apparently her sobs had gotten to one of the men, because he looked suddenly uncertain. He opened his mouth to say something when another man stepped forward and kicked Ifalna, hard, in the ribs. She rolled over, with a shriek of pain. Tears were still falling down her cheeks.

Aeris couldn't take it anymore. She stepped out from behind her covering, with an utter look of horror on her face. "MOMMY!" She shrieked, coming into plain sight of the men and her mother. She was just across the clearing from them. If she ran, maybe she could make it to her mother in fifteen seconds.

"AERIS! NO!" Ifalna's cry was broken, defeated.

Aeris couldn't understand why her mother sounded so sad, so against her decision to come into the clearing. Then the men came alive, like stone statues being brought to life. Sparks flew in their eyes, fire from their hands as they gazed at Aeris.

"There she is!" One man shouted, pointing. Lightning flashed across the clearing, dangerously close to them. Aeris jumped, squealed, equally afraid of the coming storm and of the men.

"NO!" Ifalna cried, just as the men started forward. She was up to her feet, running towards Aeris in an instant. Her baby, she had to protect her baby. It was only a mother's love that made her run faster than the men clothed in black, somehow she was ahead of them. Her feet scurried across the ground, her hands outstretched. "RUN AERIS, RUN!"

BOOM!>

This shot was deafening. Aeris watched in horror as suddenly her mother let out a choked cry of surprise. Her eyes widened as her mother clutched her right side, suddenly stumbling and falling forward into the ground. The leaves rustled as she fell, face down.

"I got 'er!" A man crowed gleefully, as if this were all some sort of sick game.

"MOMMY!" Aeris's cry was shocked, pained. She wanted to cry again, but now was not the time. The men were approaching her mother. She had to get to her. Quickly, quickly, her tiny feet ran, coming to her mother's side. Impossibly strong arms got their strength from somewhere she didn't know, somehow managing to shake her mother awake, helping her mother up, helping Ifalna begin to stumble through the trees, maddeningly.

Aeris kept her eyes away from the dark red spot spreading across her mother's red skirt and white shirt. She kept supporting her mother as they both stumbled/ran through the woods, more and more shots getting closer and closer. Frightened, wild eyes, looked for a way out.

"Look Aeris," Her mother croaked, some strange look in her eyes. "A town…"

It was true. A small town was up there, in the distance. A train whistled from far off. It gave Aeris new hope and she and her mother stumbled across through the woods, more and more shots coming. Once more her mother cried out, another wound piercing her body. It's going to be okay, Aeris thought, tears springing down her face. It's going to be okay.

Thunder roared again.

The frightened pair emerged, stumbling, from the woods. They were across the wet grass, halfway to the cobblestoned train station before they realized the gunmen weren't following them. Of course. They couldn’t follow them into a public place. They were safe now…

Aeris felt her pace quicken underneath the familiar stone of the train station. "Mommy," She told her mother, avoiding curious stares from other passerbys. She didn't even take the time to examine the trains. "It's going to be okay, mommy," She informed her in her high, childish voice. "It's going to be okay."

Her mother said nothing, only kept stumbling along with Aeris. Aeris didn't know where they were going. She kept saying the same thing over and over again. "It's going to be okay, mommy. It's going to be okay." She didn't know whether she was reassuring herself or her mother at this point.

They reached the stairs leading from the town to the train station. Suddenly, Ifalna jerked from Aeris's arms. She flew forward, teetering on a step, then crashing forward, onto the cobblestone ground. Her breathing was shaky, erratic. Little Aeris caught for the first time just how badly her mother's wounds were. Deep blood was openly flowing from the wounds in her mother. Tears flowed from Aeris's cheeks, mirroring the blood.

"It's going to be okay," She whispered, although this time, she almost didn’t believe it.

She gasped and fell to the ground beside her mother, shaking her, shaking her again and again. Her mother's eyes were closed, her skin felt cold. "Mommy…mommy!"

Ifalna's eyelashes slowly opened and she gave Aeris a pained, sickly grin. "My beautiful baby girl….my beautiful….beautiful girl…"

Lightening flashed.

"Oh mommy…mommy just wait a few minutes. Everything will be okay," Aeris reassured her mother, taking her big hands in her little ones. "Mommy, just keep awake. Keep talking to me. I'll ask someone to get help. Please, mommy just…" She was babbling now, in panic. She couldn't lose her mother. She had already lost her father. She couldn't lose them, not now. She loved her so much.

"I love you so much," Her mother croaked to her, mirroring her own thoughts.

"Don't go to sleep," Aeris urged her. "Don't." She looked around, at the blank people who didn't look down at the little girl and her suffering mother on the steps. No one seemed to care about them, nor wonder what was going on. They all looked like they had a place to go and a time limit to get there. "HELP US!" She shrieked. "SOMEONE HELP US!"

Nobody turned their head, no one even looked their way.

"HELP US!" Her cries grew more and more urgent.

Suddenly a woman appeared, like an angel. She had a worried look to her face, as if she were waiting for someone, her dark hair pulled into a bun. She approached the girl and her mother quickly, worried. "What's wrong?"

"My mommy…" Aeris sobbed. "My mommy's been hurt."

The woman bent down, closer to Ifalna. Aeris watched as Ifalna looked up into the woman's dark eyes, as if inspecting her. After a long pause, Ifalna suddenly whispered, "You'll do. What is your name?"

"Elmyra…"

"Elmyra, watch over my little angel for me," Ifalna whispered, obviously going to great lengths to get the words out of her dying mouth. "Watch over my…little…angel." Her eyelids floated closed again. Elmyra clasped Ifalna's hands in hers, shaking them urgently.

Aeris crawled closer to her mother. "Mommy, wake up," She said again, shaking her mother's shoulder. "Mommy, wake up." She shook her mother again and again, until Elmyra put a restraining hand on Aeris's shoulder to stop her. Thunder growled.

"NO!" Aeris shrieked. "Mommy wake up!" She shook her mother again and again. Suddenly something came over her. She leaned down and laid her cheek against her mother's. It was cold, so cold.

She realized her mother couldn't wake up anymore.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The little girl's shriek of distraught and pain echoed through the heavens, just as rain began to pour down with one loud thunderbolt. The heavens cried, as did Aeris, as she lay her tiny, trembling body on top of her mother, sobbing her heart out, wishing her mother would come back to her.

***

I have never been the same since that day. Elmyra was great, wonderful to me, a real mother, bringing me up in my own mother's place. She took care of me, brushed my hair, bought me clothes, and I knew that she loved me. And I loved her, too. But there was something inside of me that my mother tore out when she died.

Something that…that left a great big gaping hole in my life. Something that couldn't be filled.

My mother's death hit me pretty hard. I cried for days, for weeks, almost never wanting to stop. I just wanted to cry. Some part of me wanted to die, even though I knew that would be selfish. My mother had died so that I might live. Why would I throw away such a precious gift of life my mother had worked so hard to give me?

Tears filled my eyes again and I looked at my red-rimmed eyes in the reflection of the inn's mirror. We were staying in one of those horrible inns, the ones where the beds squeaked, roaches ran free, and the heater and the AC unit was broken. Cloud said we had to stay here until he got more Gil. I pushed those thoughts off, reaching automatically for my brush across the dresser.

What had brought those thoughts on about my mother?

Then I remembered. Ever since I had joined up with Avalanche, we had been involved in a strange, chaotic journey, something that both excited and frightened me. Then we met a character…someone who had almost seemed familiar to me in an odd way.

His name was Vincent Valentine, and he carried a gun, much like the ones those men had, a long, long, time ago. He was cold, and aloof, and never wanted to open up to anyone. Anyone. When I saw his gun barrel in the first battle my face went pale, and I wanted to scream and clutch the gun out of his hands. I wanted to rip apart the metal of the gun, to avenge my mother's death by killing the make of the gun that carried the bullet that had rippled through her skin.

The thought of my mother again made tears come to my eyes. Stop crying, I ordered myself.

But I couldn't stop. These past few days had just made me realize just how lonely I truly was. I was surrounded by smiling faces…but I was so alone.

I needed something, something to fill that gaping hole that my mother had left behind. For 16 long years I had to live with that hole, that hole in my heart. For 16 years I had to deal with the death of my mother, pretending that I was happy inside. For 16 long years I had to pretend I was content with the way life was, I had to cradle flowers in my palm and sell them for Gil, to make a hobby, to keep my mind off of this hole that was eating me alive.

I needed something…

Something I didn't know yet.

There was a knock at my door. I hastily wiped the fresh tears from my face, running a brush through my hair. "Come in!" I called. "The door's unlocked."

The door swung open and in stepped Cloud, bathed in the happy sunlight of my room. His dark blue suit caught the light and he seemed like sunshine himself with the broad grin on his face. He seemed happy to see me, I noticed, giving him a warm grin.

"Not wise to keep your door unlocked," he teased, waving a finger at me.

I need something to fill that hole…

"Why would I need something to keep my door locked when I have Mr. Muscles right next door to me?" I joked back, pointing at him. My heart immediately felt light when he was around. Like Cloud was erasing all of the pain that had flooded me.

"Yep, that's me," He grinned, flexing an arm at me.

I need something…

"Is there something you wanted?" I questioned, setting the brush down.

"Yeah, we're going to dinner soon. I just wanted you to look your best." Cloud said, putting his arm down and wiggling his eyebrows at me. "You know what that means. A gorgeous evening gown…"

"Oh, Cloud," I said, laughing for the first time that day. I really did feel better. He was a ray of sunlight in my life. Thank God for him…thank god for the way he made me feel when he was around.

It was that moment when I realized…

I did need something, no, someone to fill that hole in my heart.

That someone was Cloud.

FINISH

Author's Note: Ah, the end of another startling short story. "Another weird one," I bet you're thinking. I actually wrote the first part of this one from part of a transcript of "The Mansion", which I and my friend Alvina, are currently working on. I hope you enjoyed seeing more into depth on Aeris and how her mother's death hit her. I hope it wasn't too sad for you! Thanks for reading!