A Dreams' Reality

Disclaimer: I no own Characters.

A white, near blinding light that surrounds me entirely. I can't place where I am while the light is still potent and in effect. I am suddenly touched by the scent of flowers in fresh bloom, and as the light disappears I realize where I am; Aeris' church. Confused by this setting, I attempt to move my feet only to realize I can't, as if I'm glued to the floorboards between the aisles of dusty benches. I expect silence, but I distinctly hear someone crying in the distance. I'm not able to turn my head; my body is completely restricted to looking in front of me where the bed of flowers lay before me.

My confusion remains as a form appears, one that I know but can't completely make out since they are encased in the same white light I was. But as soon as it leaves this form of a person, I know exactly who it is. I can make out her every outline and detail, from the pink ribbon holding her auburn hair to the brown boots at her feet. She stands in the middle of the flower garden she worked so hard to maintain in life, and each step she takes toward me to avoid crushing the ruby petals is taken with care and determination. She is smiling, brightly, and I am still in shock.

"Cloud...it's been so long." She says to me as the distance between us slowly begins to close. And still, that crying that I can't place...

No words come from me. No sounds other than subtle breathing, no movement other than the rise and fall of my chest. I'm still as a board, staring at her, unknowing and confused. I can't make sense of this encounter. I can't make sense of the weeping.

"Cloud..." Once again I hear her, I watch her lips form the words as she approaches me, and boldly her arms are around my neck. Still, I can't move a muscle. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I know this is less than comforting. "I've come to be with you, to love you. It's time we come together as one..." And just as she leans up and forward to kiss me...

I'm up like a bold of lightning, tossing the sheets from my body as I sprint for the bathroom, nearly colliding with the floor as my feet crashed into my discarded boots. My hand reached wildly for the light switch, and once it was upturned I regretted the decision. It took several moments before my eyes adjusted. Gazing at myself in the mirror, I saw no change, nothing out of the ordinary. I was my bathroom, I was in my own skin; I was moving and blinking at will. Every gesture was my own.

Running the water faucet with cold water, I scooped it and splashed it on my face, jarring myself of any sleep left. Only then was I satisfied that it was only a dream—one of many to come and haunt me.

"Cloud?" I heard a soft voice say from the bedroom, "Are you okay?" The voice comes closer than it was before, and by the time I turned my head to look past the doorway, I saw Tifa standing there, wrapped in the bed sheet I tossed in my haste.

Patting my face dry with the gray towel hanging on the wall, I tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, it was just a weird dream, it's not important."

The concern on her face was still present, but my words to her set her at ease enough for her to return the smile and reach out her hand to me. "All right. If you want to talk about it, let me know. Now come back to bed."

Rarely could I ever refuse her requests. Taking her hand, I returned to bed, by her side, and thankfully I wasn't bothered by any more dreams that night.

After Tifa and I had come to the understanding that we couldn't ignore each other anymore, that we were honestly and truly in love and remaining just friends was more difficult than we at first anticipated, we moved to the next level. Everything quickly progressed, and I suddenly came to the realization one night that there was no one else for me. She made me happy; she gave me comfort and understanding. She was my security when I thought I had none, and when my hope vanished, she was there to help me find it again. Everything I could have wanted was in her and every part of her.

We had a year of bliss. Of course, there were a few arguments and disagreements down the road, but we learned from each of them, and it made us both stronger in our union. It was at the end of this year we shared that I wanted to make things solid, and impenetrable. I wanted to propose to her.

However, the very night I came to this conclusion, my first dream of Aeris came to me, and every night after I had one similar to it. Sometimes were we in her Church, other times at the Temple of Ancients, and even in Gold Saucer. She made all the moves, and I stood there, dumbfounded. I never told Tifa, I never told anyone about these dreams that haunted me night after night. After each one I would wake up, alert and in a cold sweat, but after the first night I controlled my impulsive nature to make a mad dash for the bathroom. They were dreams, and they would stay dreams.

The day came where I would purchase the engagement ring. Tifa was a woman with simplistic needs, and I knew something extravagant was unneeded to impress her. A diamond encrusted golden band was my choice for the presentation. It reminded me of a starry night, one of many that we shared together, a setting that meant a lot to the both of us. I kept it in a midnight blue velvet box and hid it successfully from her sight in my pocket, even when she prodded me about my whereabouts and attempted to tickle me into submission. I was going to do it the following night. I already had it planned.

It was that night I had my final dream of Aeris.

Once again, we stand in her church, the flowers not only flowers, but had sprouted vines that entwined with the benches and rafters above, each one with dozens of thorns protruding from the plants. It isn't bright in the building like many times before, but dim; almost to the point of squinting darkness. The crying, like in every other dream, sounds in my ears...

And there she is, standing before me, a smile upon her face. However, the look had a grim touch to it, as if she were hiding something deep inside herself, and fighting to keep it there. She approaches me, like all times before, but this time, the words that come from her are different than all of the others.

"Cloud, do you love me? Would you be mine? Will you make love to me?"

And unlike every other dream, this time I move. I move away from her, pushing her arms from around my neck to her side where I stand an arms length from her. "I can't do this with you, Aeris. There is someone else."

Her eyes narrow, but she makes no move to pursue me. She simply stares at me with a heated expression, her green eyes dull, yet alive with anger that quietly boils, "Tifa."

Unsure of how to approach this matter, I merely nod to her statement.

There is a long pause between us as the crying continues, and it becomes a discomforting sound effect. Suddenly she moves past me, the press of her boots to the floorboards clear in sound before she stops short of a few feet from my turned back. As I turn to look at her, she speaks, "Then I suppose I'll just have to get her out of the way..."

The moment I catch her in my gaze, I see her sprint down the aisle and through the double doors of the church. A feeling a dread strikes me as I start after her, the weeping turning to screams as I race to catch up with her pace. I crash through the double doors into the rain where my boots splash through muddy puddles to catch up.

It's only moments I'm running, when I find myself standing in the middle of mine and Tifa's living room, surrounded by darkness. I'm still, attempting to absorb my surroundings, listening for any sound to indicate movement other than my own. I'm tipped off to the sound of careful footsteps treading up the stairs in the darkness. I can just barely make out the picture of a pink silhouette as I rush toward it, "Aeris, what are you doing?" I call to her, unsure of what else to do or say, all I know is I'm filled with terror and I'm clueless as to why.

As soon as my voice is heard, the pink silhouette disappears from my view, yet I still trek on. The screams are loud and blood curdling, and I'm in a near panic as I reach the top. At once I'm drawn to a dim light, a light emitting from the bedroom me and Tifa share. The fear was indescribable. And as I rushed for the doorway, my eyes were greeted with a horror I never expected to witness.

A blade was struck through Tifa, my Tifa's spine through the stomach as she lay face down upon the bed now soaked in her own gore. I'm horrified by the sight, and I don't even pay much attention to Aeris standing to her side with bloody hands. When I race toward my fallen Angel, she turns and stands defiantly in my path. The tears are thick in my eyes, the rage that is consuming fueled and flaming, every fiber of me burns with this indescribable feeling of devastation. But she stands there, in my way, with a gleam in her eyes that is familiar, but not from her. And the screaming...

For only a second, but a second is long enough to see the face of my old nemesis with a grin so menacing that everything inside me snaps. I don't see the face of Aeris anymore; it is only him, him who insists on taking everything and everyone I ever loved anyway from me.

"That's two." She says, but it doesn't matter. My hands are around her neck, squeezing and choking as hard as I am capable. I'm barely satisfied with the gasps and the silent pleas. The screaming is louder, but I hardly hear it, my only satisfaction would be the life wilting in my grasp.

When the breathing ceases, the squirming halts, I release my hold on the bruised neck, watching as it crumbles to the floor with a pleasing thud. However, this feeling is fleeting, when I suddenly remember the reason for my anger, and the murder I committed. My attention darts toward Tifa, only to realize that is not who lies where I last saw her.

Upon the bed, the run-through angel is none other than Aeris Gainsborough. And when I slowly avert my eyes from the body on the mattress to the one resting motionless at my feet, I can see that she is my Tifa.

The blade was the Masamume.

I moved too fast for my mind to keep up. My head was above the toilet vomiting all that my stomach had to offer. I was physically sick and distraught. The nightmare, the thought of it was utterly horrifying. My mind was in such disarray that my body lost control. Terrified, so terrified...

Deep breaths and gargling followed soon after until I was satisfied enough to return to bed. It seemed I hadn't awoken Tifa this time, and I wish I had. I had allowed these dreams to manifest to the point where they felt less like a dream. It was time to confess them.

Treading slowly to my side of the bed, slipping beneath the sheets to press my skin to hers...it was only when I did, did I notice the horrible chill. Staring down into her face, brushing my fingertips against her pale cheek, I was once again greeted by the cold. My mind screamed, hollered in panic as a shaking hand motioned to wake her, rouse her from her slumber.

"Tifa...?" I whispered, my voice trembling. The impossible...the impossible came to me, and I denied it. I denied it all.

Reaching for the lamp by my side, I turned the knob, light shining from the bulb as I looked upon my sleeping lady. It took only a moment for me to notice the bruises at my darlings' neck. Oh my darling...

Cloud fell silent as he fingered the golden band in his possession, staring at it intently as he had the entire time. There were visible black bags beneath his eyes, while his body was adorned in an ivory robe. His hair was fairly unkempt; the spikes that normally stuck out straight fell limp around his stark white visage.

The room was silent, no sound echoing off the gray, padded walls of the cell, only the breathing of two individuals. Vincent Valentine sat across from the patient, resting his hand and claw upon the square, plastic table as he carefully watched Cloud's every move, every expression.

A smile suddenly appeared on the blonds' lips as he caressed the piece of jewelry in his grasp affectionately. "It's okay though. It'll all be okay. I know in my heart, that this is all a dream. I'll wake up any moment, by Tifa's side like every morning. I'll propose to her, just as I planned, and she'll say yes. We'll have a small, intimate wedding. Only our close friends' invited. That's means you Vincent." His expression suddenly darkened as he clenched the ring within his palm. "I don't know why I'm saying all this, knowing I'll wake soon. I suppose our subconscious makes us say some silly things in our dreams."

Vincent was silent a moment, processing all that had been said. He was one of the few of Cloud's remaining friends' that could sit within this padded cell and not feel to urge to rip him apart. Valentine knew pain, understood insanity well. He couldn't hate Cloud for this. "Cloud...What if you don't wake up? What if it's not a dream?" He spoke calmly, softly to the distraught patient.

Strife shook his head, unclenching the ring to caress the band once more, never establishing eye contact with his dark comrade, "But it is a dream."

"What if it's not...?" Vincent persisted gently, gazing at Cloud firmly from across the table. There was pity in his eyes that he could clearly see if he were to look. He hadn't looked at anyone since he was committed, and it didn't surprise Vincent that he wasn't making the effort to now.

The patient was utterly silent and still, as if contemplating, yet no further words came from him. He was lost to his own world, his world of dreams that were reality, in a reality that was nothing more than a horrible nightmare.

Standing slowly from the plastic chair he occupied, he looked toward Cloud once more before making his way toward the cell door where a man stood guard on the outside. "I'll see you tomorrow, Cloud."

It was then that Strife finally raised his face to gaze at his retreating friend. It was then that the friend found the emptiness within his now dull, mako eyes, "No Vincent, you won't."

fin