A Divine Story

❛  it wouldn’t be the same without you. we’d really miss you !  ❜ ❛  now, are you gonna stand around with your mouth open or cut me loose ?  ❜ ❛  what am i going to do with you ?  ❜ ❛  you must have me mixed up with somebody else.  ❜ ❛  you have the wrong girl, i can’t be the one.  ❜ ❛  i’m really sorry, i’ve got to get back. my family will be looking for me.  ❜ ❛  you really think she has something special, don’t you ?  ❜ ❛  it’s just … i’m not brave like you.  ❜ ❛  hmm, i supposed i could help you.  ❜ ❛  you still think you can interfere with my destiny ?  ❜ ❛  we don’t want to worry about what’s out there anyway. we’ve got enough to do here.  ❜ ❛  well, you never know. maybe there’s something amazing to discover just around the corner.  ❜ ❛  so exactly how scary are we talking about ?  ❜ ❛  you’re braver than you think.  ❜ ❛  i don’t know you … and you really don’t wanna know me.  ❜ ❛  oh, i know that look. you’re thinking, aren’t you ?  ❜ ❛  how did you get here ?  ❜ ❛  you obviously have no idea with whom you are dealing.  ❜ ❛  this is the worst day of my entire life !  ❜ ❛  thank you … you saved me.  ❜ ❛  do you really want to help me ?  ❜ ❛  fin my family, tell them i’m alright and that i’ll be home soon. they must be worried …  ❜ ❛  well, what did i tell you ?  ❜ ❛  what ? that’s not fair !  ❜ ❛  you realize true love is very rare.  ❜ ❛  true love, well, it’s when two people love each other more than they love themselves.  ❜ ❛  that kind of selfless love has awesome power.  ❜ ❛  do you know what i see ?  ❜ ❛  i suppose it doesn’t matter that i don’t know the first thing about dancing at a ball.  ❜ ❛  it gives me chills to be back here.  ❜ ❛  so, how do we get in ?  ❜ ❛  we’re just supposed to hang out here and watch ?  ❜ ❛  i’m so glad you came !  ❜ ❛  will you dance with me ?  ❜ ❛  you know, i promised my mother i’d find myself a bride tonight … and i never break a promise.  ❜ ❛  i guess what i’m asking is … will you marry me ?  ❜ ❛  thank you. you’ve been very helpful.  ❜ ❛  [name], aren’t you forgetting something ?  ❜ ❛  so, what are you afraid of ? come and get me, i’m right here !  ❜ ❛  wait ! i’ve got a serious situation here !  ❜ ❛  is that the best you can do ?  ❜ ❛  you don’t know when to give up, do you ?  ❜ ❛  did you really think a puny little human could stop me ?  ❜ ❛  it’s you i love … if you’ll have me.  ❜ ❛  i’m so proud of you !  ❜

"it makes me mad how pretty/handsome you are"

"i don't have to be drunk to know how much i love you."

"i wish i was the only person you looked at like that."

"goddamnit, i told myself i wouldn't cry."

"we should just, like, run away together." "and go where, exactly?" "anywhere."

"you know me better than so many people."

"i don't deserve you." "yes you do." "no. no, no, no, i don't. you're, like, so out of my league it's insane."

"i think you're my soulmate."

"i knew i shouldn't have said that. i'm sorry."

"kiss me." "you're drunk." "pfft. it's just a kiss."

"your hands are so warm. feels nice."

"i don't wanna go home." "why not?" "'cus you're not there."

"you're my favourite person in the whole wide world."

"you're not gonna leave me, are you?"

"you should let me paint you. i'd do such a good job at it."

"if you keep looking at me like that i'm gonna fall even more in love." "even more?"

"i don't care if i forget this in the morning. i'm just happy to be with you right now."

"i should've told you how i felt before. woulda saved a lot of time and heartache."

"your smile is so beautiful it almost makes me nauseous." "you don't know what you're saying." "in a good way."

"i can't believe i just said that. it was supposed to be a secret."

"i wasn't lying when i said i didn't want anything serious. i just didn't realize i only want it with you."

"are you sure you don't want anything serious?" "i'm sure." "you're breakin' my heart."

"that guy/girl you're seeing? he/she doesn't deserve you."

"you're my favorite person, you know that?" "i know."

"i'm so scared i'm gonna fuck this up."

"sometimes i feel like you're the only one who gets me."

"i know i love you more than you love me. but that's okay. i still get to be with you. and i love you."

"i wrote a song about you." "did you now?" "yep. and it's super poetic."

"your hands are so much bigger/smaller than mine."

"i'm so glad i exist at the same time as you."

"you ever think the universe wanted us to meet and fall in love?" "i know it did."

"x?" "yeah?" "kiss me." "what?" "please. kiss me."

"please. let me kiss you." "why?" "i need to prove how much i love you."

"what would you do if i kissed you?"

"i really want to kiss you." "that's not funny." "who said i was joking?"

"i'm gonna be eighty before you finally kiss me, won't i?"

"you're blushing." "how could i not after you kiss me like that?"

"you know, i still remember the first time i ever kissed you. even though we were both drunk/high out of our minds... i still remember the first time i kissed you."

"i could kiss you for the rest of my life."

"come on, x, it's very clear that you like them." "what, i can't kiss my friends on the cheek?"

"i'm not very good at this." "well, i guess it's a good thing we have forever to practice."

"why did you do that?" "i've been wanting to for so long. i couldn't help myself."

"can we go somewhere more private?"

"i can't stop thinking about it. you tasted so sweet."

"jesus, i never would've taken you as a rough kisser."

"it doesn't mean anything." "maybe not to you."

"nobody's ever kissed me like you just did."

"i just can't take watching someone else kiss you when it should be me."

"i told you you could kiss me, but watch your hands, x." "they have a mind of their own. i can't help it."

"i can't stop thinking about how your lip gloss tasted."

"you look so pretty with your lip gloss/stick smeared on your face."

"i want to be your last first kiss."

"could i kiss it better?"

"can we talk? about the kiss?" "why, so i can feel embarrassed again?"

"you just look so cute, how could i not want to kiss you?"

"if you really don't feel anything, then surely a kiss would prove that, right?"

"please, just... one kiss."

"you know, you could've just asked me to kiss you. you didn't have to pine over me for so long."

"aerith? what are you doing up?" because the last person she expected to still see up was her. or that she had been followed on her walk around the perimeter of their campsite. first watch was hers and she didn't mind. it was hard to settle her thoughts right away to get to sleep anyhow.

how could she? all the adults in her life were the same age as her. or rather she was the same age as them, but things were worse. she knew the truth. she knew the future. and now she intimately knew just what they suffered.

there was an agony in being left behind during all of this when she was four. now she knew there was also a blessing to it. the long days, the danger, the battles, the infighting and the uncertainty. there was a four year old version of herself in midgar tucked asleep in bed in elmyra's house.

dropping into the past wasn't exactly a plan so much an accident, but she was here now and she thought she'd give it a shot.

it was easy enough to wiggle her way into a spot with them. pretend to be her mother's cousin named Lene (to avoid name confusion), a second cousin to little marlene, to explain the resemblance. she could fight thanks to her cloud's training so she'd be useful. the most useful aspect being that she knew what would come along the way. knowing that no matter what she'd have to keep aerith alive somehow and find a way to minimize sephiroth's control over cloud.

how she was going to do it all she didn't know- hence the often sleepless nights and her late night walk guised as a perimeter check.

Aerith sat in the warm glow of the fire, her eyes lingering on Lene. There was something unsettling about the way her chest tightened whenever she looked at her for too long. It felt like standing before a photograph she had never seen and somehow remembering. The shape of their face, even the silence surrounding them stirred a strange ache in her heart. As though she were looking at her future. Or perhaps at something she'd lost.

She couldn't explain it, no matter how many times she turned the feeling over in her mind. It was like reaching for a memory beneath water, and it slipping away. A ghost without a name. Yet the connection remained, quiet and persistent, threading through her thoughts with every glance. Familiarity wrapped around her like a half-forgotten song, leaving her wondering why someone she barely knew could feel so impossibly important. That happened so often these days, that feeling of almost and then it was gone again.

– 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺. || @pulchralilium asked:

"I wish you could come with me" to Cloud

Cloud felt lost. He never knew how to say the right thing, always floundering until he fell mute. It was nothing new, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Aerith's words caused the same reaction. For a long time, he just looked at her, his hand clenching and unclenching at his side.

"Why can't I?" he finally questioned, barely stopping himself from reaching for her. She felt so far away, even though she was standing right in front of him. Their surroundings were oddly blurry, but Cloud paid no attention to it. To him, it was nothing new. The world often warped, making him question his reality. He kept that truth close to his chest, not wanting to admit that something was severely wrong with his mind.

"If I can't come with you, then stay. You don't have to go." Why did he feel so desperate? It wasn't that bad, right? Where did Aerith even need to go – for some reason Cloud couldn't remember.

His response caught her off guard, the certainty in his voice shaking something she'd thought was settled long ago. Aerith swallowed hard, grateful she'd turned away before he could see it. A sad smile touched her lips as her hands fell to her sides. "Stay?" she echoed softly, the word felt foreign and heavy in her chest. "I've never thought about staying," she admitted, almost to herself. The possibility felt strange the moment she spoke it aloud, like stepping onto unfamiliar ground. "I don't know what happens if I stay, Cloud."

And that was the truth of it. The future he was asking her to reach for was one she'd never let herself imagine. It was unwritten, uncertain, frightening in ways fate never was. "I don't know if they'll let me." Cryptic, blurred lines she wasn't sure they could cross. The thought of staying however, gave a flutter in her chest.

' Look - it's just that . . . ' He starts , one hand reaching for her own, thick gloved fingertips encasing hers. ' I -- I like you too. But if something happened to you , I don't know what I would do , Aerith. ' He squeezes her hand a bit , and sighs deeply. ' I've always just . . . been in the military. I've never . . . done this. Dated , or . . . whatever this is. And . . . it's not like it's out of the realm of possibility that something could happen to one of us. ' He feels a sting of pain , and his mind flashes to Sephiroth , but he forces himself to push it aside. '

Viridian orbs pop back to his face as his hand wraps around her. "Cloud, it's o" Her voice falters when he echos the same sentiment. Blinking up at him again with a surprised expression written on her face. There is a pang in her heart when he confides in her why he's hesitant— a thread of guilt wrapping around her heart. The future...What did it hold for them? Before she might of known, that sense of foreboding but now...the path she thought to follow felt different, altered and unsure.

"Cloud" Her voice is soft, twisting her hand until her fingers can intertwine with his. Aerith took a breath, the weight of his words settling heavy on her shoulders. She knew he had a point, that in this moment...Cloud was the rational thinking one. Her gaze fell for a brief moment before lifting to his, "I don't want to live with regrets" Aerith is surprised how softly the words leave her, how honest and raw they felt in her throat. "I don't know what tomorrow brings, I don't know if we both make it out of this—" She stumbles, the words catching in her throat.

He lets his grip on her ease , and mako eyes spent several moments looking at her , trying to understand.

"Oh" Aerith takes several seconds to simply blink at Cloud, the smile slipping from her features. "You don't want people to see us?" Her brows knit together, it dawning on her that perhaps this, hadn't been as straightforward as she had originally thought. Her shoulders dropped slightly as his hands slip away from her, the rejection stinging. Maybe Cloud didn't like her.

Her gaze dropped to the toes of her boots, the shift in the air almost tangible. Aerith moved, plopping back down onto the seat with a little shrug of her shoulders. "Well—," She hadn't meant to echo his words, but it happened naturally. "Because I like you, Cloud" Her gaze turned, her body following to look out the window and hiding her expression from him completely. The last thing Cloud needed was to be guilted by the look on her face.

Cloud finds himself easing a bit more in her proximity , and his eyes close only for a moment as she brushed delicately against him. Their whole journey was filled with so much misery and pain . . . maybe he could allow himself to relax for just this moment . . .

Aerith felt her cheeks burn, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as the words bubbled up in her throat. "Like...the beach or on a date or....—" A tiny shrug of her shoulders, "Other places when we're alone" Her heart was thrumming steadily in her chest, wondering how Cloud would respond. She was always a little more bold, but right now it felt like figuring out how to find their new footing together.

Her mouth curved into a smile, a little breathless chuckle as she exhaled. Aerith pitched forward into his chest, steadied by his hands around her waist. "Oh" She mumbled, her head tilting the opposite way of his. "...I don't think so" She mumbled, "Don't you want to kiss me whenever?" She teased softly, leaning back to catch his gaze.

He feels her fingertips curl against him , and he can't help but look down at them. They're so close. Why did it make him feel so nervous ? He curses himself for not knowing what to do next. But thankfully Aerith acts first , and for a second he freezes -- then eases himself into it. He dares to let a hand brush gently against her hip , a deep blush forming against his pale features.

"Mm, is that so?" She chimed back, her cheeks warm as his hand brushed at her hip. Her gaze flickered briefly to his lips before returning to his eyes, mischief sparkling. "Then I guess we'll have to find somewhere besides a Ferris wheel" Although it had been perfect evening, she'd never experienced something like this...And to have Cloud next to her through it, Aerith thought her heart might burst from how full it felt.