When Love and Death Embrace
March 28, 2024, 07:46:10 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: New songlist up! Not the sucky iMeem one!
 
  Home Help Search Gallery Staff List Login Register  

Born from the Shadows (My Aervin fic)

Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Born from the Shadows (My Aervin fic)  (Read 546 times)
Rhoey
Newbie
*
Posts: 6


"Son of a Submariner!"


View Profile WWW
« on: September 24, 2007, 08:19:36 am »

Chapter 3 is in the works...

Title: Born from the Shadows - chapter 2
Song used: "Soul mate" by Natasha Bedingfield
Genre: General/romance
Rating: T
Warning: Lots of angst?
Summary: Aeris' loneliness grows all the more obvious. Vincent tries his best to comfort her, yet has a foreboding feeling that Aeris keeps some dark intention hidden within.
Other: Post-game (5 years after). Don't know what else to add.


Chapter 2

Who doesn't long for someone to hold

Who knows how to love you without being told

Somebody tell me why I'm on my own

If there's a soul mate for everyone

(Soul mate by Natasha Bedingfield)


------------------------------------------------

The days rolled by slowly. Cloud and Tifa busied themselves with Claude and other tasks around the camp site. Claude required the most attention. Being the lively two-year-old that he was, he would often run off by himself, having his mother worry out of her wits. Shera had been generous to look after him at times. After all, since she had married Cid, she too had experience with children, because she had three.

Both of them noticed quite keenly, how Aeris’ spirits slowly uplifted again. It was a mystery, but it didn’t escape their notice either, that she spent more time than the others, with Vincent.

She would often smile at him, and only him, and sometimes giggle for some reason when they talked. The way she acted made it seem like Vincent was her only friend in the world (and the best one too).

One evening, a little more than a week after the first night they arrived, Aeris decided to go for a stroll in the forest and Vincent joined her. The air was calm and warm, and not a cloud obscured the starry sky.

“Are you feeling better now?” Vincent asked her sincerely as they made their way through the forest.

Indeed, even though her mood uplifted over the past few days, there was still an aura of sadness around her. The girl looked at him, and in response, a smile lit up her lovely face.

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

“I’m glad.” He acknowledged with a nod.

An awkward silence followed. Neither knew what to say to the other. Instead, they continued walking down the path which led to the river, and the weeping willow by the water. Under which Aeris sat for long hours on the first night, crying, remembering her past, mourning her own death, and the death of many others, especially...her mother. But the instant that she caught a thought of Elmyra, Aeris shook it off.

Vincent sensed the girl’s turmoil and the troublesome thoughts battering her brain, yet said nothing. He kept his eyes fixed on the tree ahead.

Upon reaching the tree again, Aeris touched the rough bark and ran her fingers along it in silent wonder. She looked up, beholding the thousands of long, thin branches curling and hanging like ropes, some so long they touched the surface of the river’s water. Together, the rope-like branches made an amazing curtain around the main tree trunk and obscured almost everything under it. Aeris liked it here. This small sanctuary, away from the others, and out of sight. Here, she liked to lounge in the shade for hours on her own. Nobody would disturb her.

“Cloud seems so busy,” she remarked suddenly. Though her voice was calm, the strange tone caught Vincent’s attention. However, he had no comment to offer.

“He’s with Tifa, though. And it’s understandable, I mean, I wasn’t there. And besides...he and Tifa knew each other since they were young...almost like me and Zack. Now, he has a son to look after, too, so I understand. I’m not expecting him to pay attention to me...when he’s married, with a child.”

From the way she spoke, Vincent could tell she was unhappy with the situation.

“Are you jealous?” Vincent broke the silence at last.

“W-what?” The unexpected question startled her. She instantly shot her eyes up, only to meet his calm, crimson eyes lingering on her lovely face.

“Are you jealous of Tifa?”

Aeris fell silent for a moment, then looked down at her feet. She nodded her head slowly.

“I see.”

“Why? Is that a bad thing?” Aeris asked under her breath. She seemed ashamed of herself. Vincent pondered her question for a moment.

“Personally, I’d like to think that...if Cloud has found happiness with that woman, maybe you too should be happy...for him.”

“I am...in a way,” she declared, turning to face him, then sighed, “But honestly, I...I just wish things would have been different, that’s all.”

“I understand. But you must realize, Aeris, that you cannot change the past. Even though it pains you, there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Y-yes, that’s...”

“Perhaps now it is time you let go of the past, and start looking ahead, to the person you are today, this second chance, and start anew. After all, you are still young, you have your whole life ahead of you...and with this “second chance”...maybe there is a purpose for you here. A purpose you have yet to discover.”

At the conclusion of his speech, Aeris smiled at him, then looked away from him again, this time avoiding his eyes.

“You’re a paradox, Vincent. I mean, here I am, being comforted by you...the one who, after 35 years, still clings to Lucrecia, and your past!”

“I do not wish to see you pursue the same path as I have. You have a good heart, Aeris, and you are a good person. I cannot predict the future, and I have no hope to offer...but I would rather see you happy than end up like me.”

“What about you? Shouldn’t you do the same? Or maybe you just don’t practice what you preach?” Aeris replied, almost angrily. But she then managed to check her feelings in time, and forced out calmly, “I thank you for your concern, I really do. But I’m fine. Really, I’ll pull through this. It’s just a phase.”

They beheld each other in silence for a long moment.

“I just sincerely hope that you won’t try anything foolish.” Vincent stated gently.

“’Try anything...foolish’?” Aeris echoed, sounding confused.

“Yes.”

“H-how do you mean?”

Vincent pondered. Aeris waited patiently, always watching him.

“You may claim that I exaggerate, but I believe I have caught a glimpse of...death-wish...in your eyes the other day.”

Aeris wrenched her eyes off him and stared down at her feet for several minutes.

“...d-death-wish...”, she echoed, slowly sitting herself down onto the grass. Her reaction certainly baffled Vincent. He too, sat down onto the grassy ground right beside her.

“Aeris...”

Aeris remained silent. She had nothing more to say, because she knew that he was right. Recently, even though she tried to put her worries and sorrow to rest, there was still something in the back of her head, a dark thought so tempting. What it was, however, she didn’t know. All she knew was that at times, it grew so intense that it burned her sanity blind. That must have been what Vincent had seen and it concerned him.

But would she really go as far as to call those thoughts a ‘death-wish’?

Was that it? Secretly, did she really want to die? Had she been giving up all hope on life? Aeris didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to tap into it. But still, she...

“You mistook whatever you saw in my eyes for something else. I feel lonely, that’s all,” Aeris said, growing more irritated with every word. Intense bitterness poured out of her bosom, “I don’t want to be here, can’t you see that it’s painful for me? I don’t want to be around Cloud...and Tifa, and their kid! I just want to run away and never, ever look back again! Why are you torturing me? Can’t you all just leave me alone!?”

In the end, she was practically shouting in Vincent’s face. The man, however, did not flinch a muscle. In fact, he somehow managed to maintain a stoic expression as he watched the woman struggle with her own frustration.

It took her several minutes to soothe her temper.

“Aeris...I want you to know that I never had any intentions of upsetting you,” Vincent stated clearly for her to hear, “If you want me to leave, I’ll go away. If you want me to stay, say so and I will. So, tell me: do you feel better if I leave?”

It took him by surprise.

The instant he uttered those last seven words, he felt something crash into him. He realized it was Aeris. Baffled by such odd behaviour, he wanted to open his mouth to speak, but Aeris hugged him even tighter against herself and silenced him.

“Please...don’t,” she begged in desperation.

Vincent felt awkward in her tight embrace, but gently patted her back, silently reassuring her of his presence. The distraught woman couldn’t control her emotions any longer. They all burst forth, spilled out from her bosom through heart-wrenching moans and sobs. She clutched the collar of Vincent’s crimson cloak as she wept.

Vincent understood her only too well. He also felt so angry at his own helplessness. He found no words to comfort this poor soul. He understood how she was in need of understanding, and a friend who would be there to console her. She had nobody who would hold her, nobody to embrace her away from the pain...

And every time she had somebody, she always lost them. They either died, or forgot about her. The one person she had wanted to be with had chosen somebody else.

Vincent could relate only too well. When he had loved Lucrecia, she had chosen Hojo over him. She chose her own path, not wanting Vincent to interfere. No matter how he tried to reach out for her, how many times he cried for her, she belonged to someone else.

Cloud belonged to Tifa. And Aeris...

For a long time, Vincent held her in that embrace, letting her pour it all out.

All the while Vincent held the young woman like that, a foreboding feeling clung to his heart.

So many ‘what ifs’ raced through his mind. So many questions, suspicions...and dread.

He dreaded that some harm may befall her. He couldn’t explain it, but the more he thought of it, the stronger this feeling grew in his heart that Aeris was withholding something from him. From all of them. And she didn’t let him guess it.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2007, 08:26:13 am by Rhoey » Report Spam   Logged



Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum

Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy