askerian | (no subject)

pornandkittens is truly a magical community. *_*

So life goes on. The streets of Midgard's Edge grow cleaner, its houses prettier, the desolate plains all around bloom; in a few years, there might be a forest. People smile on the streets. Babies are born. Denzel and Marlene grow up.

Cloud still does his deliveries. He's gone often -- he needs to feel the wind on his face too much -- but he always comes back to Tifa's bar. Tifa's house. Tifa's bed, eventually. It's like gravity.

She's happy, she thinks. They're happy. She doesn't miss their violent days too much. She doesn't miss the violence, at least; though she will always be glad for those days. They forged her will, her heart.

She doesn't miss the sense of unity, the common goal. She was often afraid, back then, that nothing they did would be enough; and besides nowadays she can still see her friends and work with them without having to be on the run. Rebuilding is hard, but it's still a lot less stressful a cause.

There is only one thing she misses from those days. It's an ache, she thinks, that will never go away. And perhaps she's jealous of Cloud, a little, a lot.

She wonders, if she died, would Aeris be there for her? Would she smile, and say, perhaps, "it's too early"?

... "Welcome home," maybe?

It's a little unfair, she thinks, that Cloud got to see her, to say goodbye, and Tifa didn't. But then, she tells herself, Cloud needed her absolution a lot more than she does.

(and even now she doesn't want to say goodbye, anyway. Perhaps it is better that Aeris doesn't visit her; she would refuse to let go.)

So then, there she is, and she's a little late -- Denzel was late for his shift at the bar, Marlene needed help getting ready for a date. She's late, but the flowers will forgive her the wait.

"There you are," Aeris says, and smiles, and Tifa's heart tears in two -- "I missed you" and "you'll leave again". She doesn't move. Her feet are rooted in the ground. She wonders if she will be able to move before the ghost, the presence dissipates. Perhaps she shouldn't try.

But Aeris comes to her instead.

"Sorry I'm so late," she murmurs, and her eyes soften, compassionate; and then she grins. "Honestly, you wouldn't believe how busy it's been!"

Tifa sits. A bench catches her, though that's something of an accident.

"I'm glad it's all done now," Aeris continues, seating herself beside her.

Their knees touch, and she's warm.

"Well, there might be need for some little adjustments, but..."

Tifa's hand finds Aeris' on the bench and squeezes.

She's thirty, she's a woman, she's leading a good life. But Aeris looks timeless.

Aeris squeezes back, and doesn't say anything about how much Tifa's white-knuckled grip must hurt. "... I'm here now."

Slowly, Tifa's head comes to rest on Aeris' shoulder, and she cries and cries; and maybe she's laughing too. When Aeris kisses her cheek, she kisses back. Cheek, jaw, temple, eyelids; Aeris giggles softly; Tifa shifts to hug her better.

Aeris always looks so stable and self-assured, Tifa forgets she's physically stronger. They tumble in the flowerbed. Aeris makes a little "oof" of surprise, and laughs again, and then she's not wise, benevolent, ageless, otherworldly; she's Tifa's best friend, just a girl, with a tendency to play armchair psychoanalyst and a propensity to tease, and she's back and she's back and Tifa is never letting go.

They cling. They caress each other's hair. Their legs tangle.

When one of Tifa's little kisses lands on Aeris' lips, Aeris kisses back, and Tifa never thinks to pull away.

+

When Cloud gets worried and comes to find Tifa, he finds them cuddling tight at the edge of the pool, Aeris' button-up dress spread under them to ward off the humidity from the soil. Tifa's knee-length skirt is bunched up at her waist, and Aeris is wearing Tifa's jacket and a whole lot of nothing else.

Aeris doesn't wake, and this is what convinces him that she's real, and here to stay.

... I love the idea that Aeris was really just staying away for as long as it took to cleanse the Lifestream and smooth the flow and stuff. XD Should write one where she brings Zack along, too (and maybe Sephiroth. :D)

Aeris: Hay Tifa, Cloud, mind if we crash here a bit? ♥ I promise he's housebroken. Well, Sephiroth is, at any rate.
Zack: OI. ;_; babe, you're mean.
Tifa: ... DDDDDDDDD: WAITWHATNO.

edit: ARGH FFNET WTF BITCH. I posted an edited version of the narusasusaku porn-ness there two days ago and not only does it have yet to send me the alert for it, it also hasn't sent me the alert for the couple of reviews it and other fics got, either. >:O RARR.

I wonder if it's FFnet, or hotmail being retarded again. I'm getting a little tired of my emails coming back with "hay we couldn't connect to that perfectly alright server so uh try again later k? we won't do it again and again rly. :DDD" messages attached. (Kin, t'as pas recu ma réponse à Viny? Enfin y avait rien de spécial, je suis d'accord pour la pause. Mommyrogers, ♥♥♥ ;_;)