"Aeris?" Cloud strived against the chains, struggling to reach out to that figure in front of him, but, somehow, all that effort was in vain. The harder he fought it, the tighter the chains became.

"Is that you Aeris? Answer me." Tears started to roll down Cloud's cheek. "Come back to me. Please!"

"No, Cloud...."

"...."

"I wish I could but I can't."

"Why? I need you, Aeris."

A hand gently touched his face and wiped away the tears. Cloud slowly touched it with his hands, afraid that she'd suddenly disappear, leaving him once more.

"I must go now." The white figure withdrew her hand from Cloud's grasp and began to fade away.

"Nooooo!" Cloud screamed at the top of his lung, desperately trying to break free. "Don't leave me again! EVER!"

"Whatever you do Cloud," Aeris ignored him and continued, "just remember...."

"How can I do anything without you Aeris?" Cloud suddenly felt the anger bursting from within, he was mad at Aeris, for dying, for leaving him all alone to suffer her death.

"It's... not... your fault...." The last word reached him just as the world spun and then... darkness came.

***

Gasping, Cloud woke up to find himself sweating like a pig on his bed. He could still feel the pain that he'd experience, as well as the smooth, silky skin that had touched him.

"I will find you Aeris!" he murmured. "I will travel to the end of the world to find you. To touch your face again. And this time..." Cloud got out of bed and straightened up himself. "...I will not let you go."

Cloud opened the door to the outside world. The sun still shined, the leaves still rustled, and the wind still blew. But somehow, he felt as if something was missing. And he hoped that this search would lead him to the answer that he'd been looking for so long.

"Aeris, be there for me."

***

Spira had always been a cold place. Every now and then you might see the birds fly across the sky or the rabbits coming out to eat. But most of the time, the trees were dead as the sky was cloudy.

Yuhie looked across the bar to the young man who now resided at the table closest to the window. There was something about him that made Yuhie want to go over and kiss his flesh. She had always liked strong and muscular guys who weren't afraid of anything (well maybe except him) and yet, she was drawn to this lad who didn't show more than the bottom half of his face. He wore a scarf that covered up his neck and chin, while his long blonde hair covered his eyes. There was something on his back that Yuhie couldn't make out but she didn't care. She knew he was dangerous. The type of person that would get you into trouble no matter how hard you tried to get out of the circle. And she liked him.

***

It had been a year since he left home and made the journey. Cloud still remembered how it happened just like it was yesterday. Perhaps it was, he noticed that time traveled very differently here, there was no day or night, the sun did rise and set but sometimes it would be there forever and then suddenly, blackness would come.

Cloud touched his back, making sure that no one could see what he was hiding there besides his Ultimate Sword. He knew that if he did show them, then everybody would be frightened off since he was told that The Calm had lasted here for only 2 years, and by showing this destructive weapon, perhaps The Calm would vanish. As he made sure that everything was right in place, Cloud's mind raced through what happened a year ago. His mind went back to that place, the first place he thought he would find Aeris, or what was left of her there, their secret place. He remembered how they had cherished that day, when he and Aeris sat there talking about what they would do afterwards, not knowing of the futures that laid ahead of them. Cloud tried hard to push back the tears that would come out and mentally followed the track that he had gone. He had went to their place and how it happened, he still didn't know. All he could remember was Aeris leading him into a strange bright light. She had also said, "This is home." And she left him.

"And here I am." Cloud sighed. "In a strange and wonderful place called Spira. No enemies, no monsters to kill, no Sephiroth." He gaze into the distance. "And no Aeris...."

Cloud had been searching the place ever since, trying to find a memory of Aeris, but all he had done was lose hope. But yesterday (as he called it), he found a scroll that was buried under a tomb. On the tomb was written "Black & White". Cloud couldn't remember how he had tumbled upon it but his instincts told him that it would lead to the answer he'd been searching for.

"Anima... she... Aeris... sent... Earth... protect... destroy... Mana...."

That was all he could comprehend. Cloud had been asking around since then about Anima, and he had found out where the fayth used to be. He was there. Now he was thinking about what he would do, if he ever found out the truth, or Aeris again.

***

Cloud stood up, leaving enough money to pay for his meal. As he left he noticed how the young girl at the bar was looking at him... the way Aeris used to. It hurt him just to think that he’d have to break another girl’s heart but he had to do what he had to do.

***

Cloud took a big breath as he entered the temple. He flinched as he experienced a strange feeling. It was as if something or someone was trying to strangle him. But it faded away very quickly. Maybe too quickly.

Cloud moved further into the temple. He could see six statues on either sides of the hallway, they all looked very strange. It seemed as if someone had recently entered and placed some gems on them. Cloud went closer to one of the statues and touched its red gem. The ground shook a little beneath him then stopped.

"Everything is so different here," he thought as he examined the strange gem.

It radiated with a dim, red light and if you looked closely you would see an object, something moving within it. Cloud held it up towards the light and, to his amazement, he saw an incarnation of Ifrit turning wildly inside.

"Ifrit?" Cloud wondered. "But he looks so different... stronger... much stronger."

The thought stayed with him as he attached the gem back into its original place. The ground shook again. Cloud quickly realized that this was some kind of trap door. If he had carried the gem, the seals that were guarding the entrance that led deep into the temple would remain and he would be stuck there. He rushed to the door, as he thought it was unsealed, and opened it. As soon as he touched the door, again, Cloud had a feeling he was being watched. A mechanical voice suddenly awoken from somewhere.

"Welcome back, Epsilon Number Two!"

"What the hell?" Cloud thought to himself. "Why did it just call me Epsilon Number Two?"

"You have done well," the voice continued. "Earth is now safe. Your mission ends here."

Cloud unexpectedly felt nauseous. It seemed like the whole world was twisting and fading in front of him. His insides were burning and melting. Cloud looked up and saw a floating eye glaring at him.

"It must be doing this," the thought ran through his mind. "I must destroy it."

Cloud gathered all his strength and tried to cast a Bolt 2 on the eye. But he was shocked to see that nothing happened.

"What are you doing Number Two?" the voice commanded. "You're home now. Didn't you know there's an anti-magic shield here? And what was that Bolt 2 for? Your mission is accomplished. You will receive eternal rest now."

"TO HELL WITH YOUR BULLSHIT!" Cloud exploded with rage.

His back suddenly moved, his cloak was literally torn apart and gave way to two, black, feathered wings.

"The Devil's Curse!" the voice gasped. "You've been infected, Number Two. But don't worry, your sleep is almost here."

Ignoring the voice, Cloud flapped his wings and flew up to it.

"HYAAAAAH!" Cloud flashed his Ultimate Sword at the Eye.

"What... are... you!" The tone was rather scared than surprised as the eye went down, flaming.

***

"So this is it," Cloud thought as he faced a huge statue. "This is all there is. But that scroll... what did it mean?"

Cloud tried but he couldn’t hold back his feelings. His eyes were sour, his stomach was sick, and his heart was broken.

"Aeris, help me!"

At the sound of "Aeris" the statue broke open swiftly into two parts, revealing a secret passage.

"Yes." Cloud hardened his face and entered the trail.

***

"Aeris...." Cloud gasped as he saw what there was inside the room at the end of the hallway.

In front of him lay the girl that he longed to see. Her beautiful, silky hair covered up her face. She had let her hair flat now; it made her look more mature.

Cloud moved closer to touch her body.

"So cold," he thought. "What happened to you Aeris?"

The eyes opened not long after they touched.

Cloud happily whispered to her, "I'm here Aeris, I'm finally here with you. As I promised."

The innocent face looked at him. There was no emotion on that face.

"Wake up, Aeris," he continued, "we'll go home and live the life we've always dreamed of. You'll be the lovely wife staying home with the two children we will have."

Cloud felt as though he was going to cry again.

"And you'll be the husband off to hunting and coming back home to me." The girl finished his speech.

"Yes." Cloud's eyes brightened. "You still remember, Aeris. Let's get up and go fulfill those dreams."

"Aeris" slowly sat up and looked up him, her face remained expressionless. "Why do you call me Aeris?" she asked.

"But aren't you?" Cloud stuttered to find the words,. "But you remembered those dreams of us. Please Aeris, don't play around with me. You know how much I love you."

"You must be talking about my predecessor, Number Four," the girl answered, her eyes still dulled but there was something alive in her voice. "She was sent to Earth a few years ago."

Cloud was speechless.

"She had accomplished her mission to stop the Black Materia from destroying Earth and you were there to give her the eternal rest."

"NO!" Cloud yelled at the girl as he realized what he had just heard. "You're lying! You're all lying. I'm a human, Aeris was human and we loved each other."

"What is love?" the android asked herself. "We weren't programmed to have feelings. Did the human teach you how to feel? How to anger? How to hate? And how to love?"

"Tell me the truth!" Cloud drew out his sword. "Tell me what really happened that day! Tell me that Sephiroth killed Aeris."

"No I cannot," the girl answered, her face lacked the fear that he expected. "That ability is only programmed for the Epsilons, I can help you but you must help yourself."

She raised her arms and touched his temples.

Images suddenly raced through his mind at lightning speed. Finally it stopped at the scene where he was meeting Aeris.

"She was so innocent," he thought. "Not knowing her death was just moments away."

***

"Aeris, what are you doing here?" the young Cloud asked Aeris.

"The end draws near, Cloud," she answered. "It is time!"

"Time for what?" Cloud was confused. "Where IS Sephiroth? I will kill him and we'll live our lives the way it was."

"No Cloud." Aeris refused to look at him. "I'm sorry, but it won't happen."

"Now I know what she meant by that"

"Why Aeris? I WILL succeed if that's what you mean."

Aeris smiled weakly. "Yes, you certainly will, Cloud. You will. But remember, it is not your fault."

"She had said this to me again in the dream that I had, what did it mean? Humph, I'll find out soon."

"What is happening? How come the images suddenly froze?"

"Someone has been messing with your memory, Number Two." He heard the girl's voice. "I'll help you get past the lies and find the truth."

"Do it now, Number Two," Aeris suddenly raised her head to look at him and commanded.

He could still remember how she looked, all that sadness in her eyes, those tears.

"NOOOOOOO!!" Cloud screamed as he realized what was happening.

"White Materia activated," Aeris murmured as the young Cloud pulled his sword out from her heart.

"Come here, Cloud," she whispered.

The young Cloud walked to her and held her in his arms. His face was somewhat expressionless, like he was hypnotized.

"I've always loved you, Cloud," Aeris whispered to his ears, tears kept rolling from her eyes. She put on a weak smile and said her last words. "I'll always love you."

Aeris touched his forehead and finally let out her last breath.

***

Back in the chamber, the horrified Cloud remained silent. His face was burning with rage. He was furious at himself. He didn't want to believe what had happened but somehow he knew it was true. He knew that he had killed Aeris as commanded. He also knew that Aeris had erased that part of his memory to save him the sufferings.

"Why me?" he murmured to himself. "WHY?"

"Earth and Spira have always been one. We both existed on the same planet, called Gaia, but in two different parallel dimensions. Every 10 years, there would be a destruction of both worlds by some mysterious power we haven't been able to discover. Spira is dominated by Sin, while the Black Materia rules Earth. That's why every ten years, we will take a few chosen teenagers from the other world to our own to try to stop the destruction. This time, you, Epsilon Number Two, and Avalon Number Four were chosen as the savior of Earth. Avalons are created as vessels to contain the White Materia, the only possible source that is able to destroy the Black Materia."

By now, Cloud has been deep inside his thoughts, but the android continued.

"But Avalons cannot activate the Materia themselves, that is why you, Epsilons, were created to combine your power to activate it. Of course, in order to activate the Materia that's inside Avalons, you'll have to cut off the main power line. Thus, the Avalons will be destroyed. There have been experiments on Earth to create these vessels and activators themselves but they've all failed."

The android was going to go on when Cloud interrupted it her. "Don't you guys ever think about their feelings?" he shouted at her.

"We, you and me, do not have feelings." She remained calm.

"But how... why create something and give it the ability to think then only to destroy it?" Cloud was overwhelmed by his emotions. "I won't let you do this anymore. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!"

Cloud rushed toward the android and before he realized what he had done, Avalon Number Five, as she called herself, was in pieces. Cloud threw his Ultimate Weapon toward the Dark Gem that was on the wall behind her. The Gem exploded and the whole room shook violently.

"WARNING! WARNING! Anti-Magic shield OFF." This was the third mechanical voice Cloud has heard since he entered this temple.

"TO HELL WITH YOU ALL." Cloud gathered all his strength and summoned Knights of the Round. The dark avengers roamed the chamber, destroying everything that they could and went out of the room to destroy others.

"The roof is damaged," Cloud thought, "but it doesn't matter anymore."

Cloud stood there, thinking about all the lies that he'd been through.

"Aeris, wait for me."

He raised his sword.

***

"Come Aeris," the little boy with blond hair giggled as he held the little girl's hand and ran. "I just saw some cute puppies."

"No Cloud," the girl said but still followed him. "You're always up to something."

"Well, suit yourself," the boy said, "but do come and watch."

The two of them ran toward the plain, laughed and chattered along the way, as if the whole world didn't matter to them anymore. They were together.

THE END