Breathing

By: General Quistis

Disclaimer: I neither own Final Fantasy VII nor its characters.

Author’s Note: This fic was inspired by the following songs: Breathing by Lifehouse; and Bituwin (English translation: Star) by Itchyworms. Since I already have another Clerith fic called “Stars” based on Bituwin, I decided to just call this Breathing. The setting? Sort of Neo-ShinRa… Of course, I’m still a Tifa+Rufus so it’s implied here… but this is more of a Clerith so if you hate my preferences, just leave… if you still insist on reading this, then go on, I’m not stopping you…

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And even if you don’t wanna speak tonight

That’s alright, alright with me…

Coz I want nothing more than sit outside heaven’s door

And listen to you breathing;

***

            He could not take it anymore. Everything was driving him crazy. “I have to…” he thought silently with a deep frown on his face as he scanned the lake. The summer heat was beginning to drain the energy from him but the mere thought of her being with him again gave him the motivation to go on with his plan.

“No one is going to stop me now… not even Tifa… hahaha… she’s not even worth my time. She was never worth my time… I never loved her, did I?” he asked in his thoughts with a mean look on his face as he removed his boots and left them on the ground before he started to walk towards the lake. “It was you whom I had loved…” he whispered softly with a half gentle smile on his face as he stepped into the water. He continued to walk until the water level was above his chest and he just submerged himself into the water, his eyes still open as if searching for something.

“I am searching for someone… she’s not a something… she’s a someone…” he thought as he gazed around, seeing the new surroundings. Everything water.

Ahead of him was already the deep section but he did not hesitate to swim down further. “I have to… even if I run out of air… no! I can’t run out of air! I have to save her!” he thought as he swam faster.

***

            “Where is he?” Yuffie asked impatiently as she paced back and forth across the front door of the Church.

“He’s going to miss Tifa’s wedding day! How could he do this?” Elena asked as she saw the bridal car finally arriving. “She’s here…” she thought silently.

“Elena, where is the Best Man?” Reno demanded as he marched to her from the altar.

“Cloud Strife isn’t here yet.” She replied before going to Tifa to assist her.

“What? Wh…who’s gonna be the Best Man? Where the hell did he go?” he asked.

“What’s going on?” Tifa asked as Scarlet handed her the bouquet of roses.

“Kya~h… the Best Man isn’t here yet.” Scarlet replied with a snotty look on her face.

Tifa blinked before turning to Barret and Vincent. “I thought he was with you guys?” she asked.

“I didn’t see him this morning. The last time I saw him was during the bachelor’s night last night.” Vincent explained.

Rufus, from the altar, was staring at them discussing from outside. “What are they doing, Reeve?” he asked.

“I think they’re talking about your best man.” Reeve replied.

Rufus rolled his eyes. “If that guy isn’t here yet then just get Reno as the proxy! We’ll deal with Cloud later…” he told Reeve.

***

            He continued to swim and stopped when he finally saw her body…

To his surprise, it was still complete…

It wasn’t even rotting yet. He rejoiced deep inside as he got nearer to her, grasping her arms gently and slowly lifting her up to him in an effort to take a much better look at her.

Her hair had been unbraided already but she still looked perfect.

“God… you’re still perfect… the most perfect girl…” he thought as he finally decided to swim up back to the surface again because he was running out of air.

Moments later when he got themselves out of the water, he was panting heavily but he still managed to carry her a little bit further after he put on his boots again. When he got a little tired, he decided to take a rest. He put her down on the dry ground, her whole body soaked. “Are you cold, Aerith?” he asked as he knelt down beside her and made the body sit down, leaning her head against his shoulder.

She looked pale…

“You’re not dead yet… if you’re dead, you wouldn’t be as beautiful as you are right now, Aerith…” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her and gazed down at her lovely pinkish lips.

Now if only he could gaze into her lovely emerald eyes…

But they were closed.

“Nah, you’re tired… just sleep, Aerith,” he said with a slight smile on his face as he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before he carefully removed her pink jacket and set it aside on the ground. “Better get you some dry clothing, Aerith,” he said before he got up with her in his arms, carrying her again.

With that, he started to walk again.

The heat of the sun was starting to dry them up.

He could smell her.

She smelled good.

It made him smile and look down at her. “You’re so beautiful,” he thought silently as he adored her beauty. “Did I even get the chance to tell you that before?” he thought.

He continued to walk until they finally reached a small town. Everyone stared at him and the body in his arms as he passed by, but he didn’t care. He headed straight to the nearest inn.

“Good… afternoon, sir,” the innkeeper greeted, stopping at first because of the sight of the girl in the young man’s arms.

He nodded his head in greeting.

The innkeeper forced a smile. “A room for two?” she asked weakly.

“Yes.” he replied.

The innkeeper opened her logbook and got her pen.

“We’ll only be staying for the night. She’s very tired and she really needs to rest…” he said as he admired Aerith’s beauty.

The innkeeper raised her eyebrows at them. “Okay… that’d be 100 Gil. May I have your name please?”

He went to the couch and placed Aerith there for a while before reaching for his pocket and pulled out a hundred Gil and handed it to the innkeeper. “Cloud Strife.” He replied.

The innkeeper wrote his name. “Okay then…” she got the key. “Second floor… 6th room to the right.” She said as she handed him the key.

Cloud got the key and nodded his head in gratitude before heading back to Aerith and picked her up in his arms again. “Don’t worry, Aerith… you’ll be laying down in a very soft bed tonight with me… don’t worry…” he whispered with a loving smile on his face before he proceeded upstairs.

The innkeeper turned to the other people inside the inn when she heard some of them saying, “I think the girl’s dead…”

“Well if the girl’s dead… you mean, that’s a corpse?”

***

Author’s Note: Is it demented? :) I really wanted it to be demented… Is it dark? I wanted it to be dark. Did you like it? I hope you did… somehow… You want more? Go ahead… I’m giving you more… :)