[Cloud starts out trying to protest that she does need to know. That they can't talk about anything else before she's aware of the truth. But he pauses, mouth half-open, as she keeps going.
I love you as a friend. If I lived, maybe it would have been different. Then why kiss him? Why say she might do it again once she does get to know him? Why--
I'm not even a person to you anymore, am I?
The words stab him through the chest as surely as the Masamune once did. No, she's wrong. She has to be. He stammers for a moment, unable to get any words out, but the look on his face belies the pain he feels at the thought, his desperation to deny it, the fear that he can't.
[Her mouth trembles once, showing the emotion she was holding back. She did this. She did this to him, and her. But he had already come up with reasons why he wasn't good enough for her, didn't he?
Or that she wasn't good enough, couldn't love him couldn't try to bring him close and kiss him because...what? Because she was dead? Because he was alive?
Because she was nothing more then a painful memory?
The stammering was answer enough.
She moved to walk past him, her gaze finally sliding away from his face.]
[Because Zack loves her, and because Cloud would do anything not to hurt Zack, and because...
...because he doesn't know how to just pick up where they left off as if nothing's changed. He doesn't know how to adjust to her suddenly back in his life. So much of his guilt, his despair, all this time has been bound up in her death. If she's no longer gone, if she's right here, then...what does he do with any of it?
He drops his gaze to the floor and doesn't look up when she passes him by on her way to the door. He's never quite been able to say no to her, so when she tells him 'don't,' he doesn't. Doesn't say another word, doesn't make a move to try to stop her.
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onlyembers
no subject
Date: 2024-07-31 05:55 am (UTC)Cloud...
[She starts. Stops. Takes in a deep breath.]
I don't need to know that right now.
I love you as a friend. If I lived, maybe it would have been different.
[Her hand dropped. But she never looked away from his face.]
I'm not even a person to you anymore, am I? So... don't tell me.
Not until you're ready.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-31 06:16 am (UTC)I love you as a friend. If I lived, maybe it would have been different. Then why kiss him? Why say she might do it again once she does get to know him? Why--
I'm not even a person to you anymore, am I?
The words stab him through the chest as surely as the Masamune once did. No, she's wrong. She has to be. He stammers for a moment, unable to get any words out, but the look on his face belies the pain he feels at the thought, his desperation to deny it, the fear that he can't.
Eventually, he manages just one word.]
Aerith...
no subject
Date: 2024-07-31 06:26 am (UTC)[Her mouth trembles once, showing the emotion she was holding back. She did this. She did this to him, and her. But he had already come up with reasons why he wasn't good enough for her, didn't he?
Or that she wasn't good enough, couldn't love him couldn't try to bring him close and kiss him because...what? Because she was dead? Because he was alive?
Because she was nothing more then a painful memory?
The stammering was answer enough.
She moved to walk past him, her gaze finally sliding away from his face.]
Just...don't.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-31 06:52 am (UTC)...because he doesn't know how to just pick up where they left off as if nothing's changed. He doesn't know how to adjust to her suddenly back in his life. So much of his guilt, his despair, all this time has been bound up in her death. If she's no longer gone, if she's right here, then...what does he do with any of it?
He drops his gaze to the floor and doesn't look up when she passes him by on her way to the door. He's never quite been able to say no to her, so when she tells him 'don't,' he doesn't. Doesn't say another word, doesn't make a move to try to stop her.
Doesn't react at all.]