Tifa asks to go with you when you visit Aeris' grave, and you're not sure that you want her there. It's not that you dislike having her around, but Aeris was special to you, and mourning her is the kind of painful you don't know how to feel in front of another person, even someone like Tifa.
But it's hard to say no to a childhood friend, especially when you've been through so much together, so you bring her along despite your misgivings. She insists on picking flowers on the way, which you never would have thought of, but you suppose Aeris would have liked. She lays them on the surface of the water when you arrive and they float lazily around. The scene is a peaceful contrast to the tumult inside you.
"I miss her," Tifa admits quietly, breaking the silence and carefully not looking at you. "I know we wouldn't be- I mean, things would be different if she'd lived, but still." She kicks at ground at her feet. "I wish she were here."
"Yeah," you say, because you feel uncomfortably like you have to say something, but you doubt Tifa even hears you, because when you look at her you realize she's started to cry.
"She was just so friendly, and energetic and alive," she chokes a little on her tears as she speaks all in a rush. "And of everyone I've ever met, she's the last person deserved to die like that. It's not fair, Cloud. It's just not fair!"
For a long time after her outburst, there's silence except for her sobs and the sound of the water lapping at the bank. Finally, she laughs through her tears, and it sounds self-deprecating. "Sorry. Here you came to mourn your-" she makes a hopeless motion with her hand, as though she doesn't know how to describe Aeris' relationship to you. "You came to mourn Aeris and I'm crying all over the place."
"It's fine," you tell her, and in a way it is. Yours wasn't the only life Aeris touched. You weren't the only person who loved her. "I'm glad you're here." Tifa sniffles again, but presses her face into your shoulder, so it must've been the right thing to say.
But it's hard to say no to a childhood friend, especially when you've been through so much together, so you bring her along despite your misgivings. She insists on picking flowers on the way, which you never would have thought of, but you suppose Aeris would have liked. She lays them on the surface of the water when you arrive and they float lazily around. The scene is a peaceful contrast to the tumult inside you.
"I miss her," Tifa admits quietly, breaking the silence and carefully not looking at you. "I know we wouldn't be- I mean, things would be different if she'd lived, but still." She kicks at ground at her feet. "I wish she were here."
"Yeah," you say, because you feel uncomfortably like you have to say something, but you doubt Tifa even hears you, because when you look at her you realize she's started to cry.
"She was just so friendly, and energetic and alive," she chokes a little on her tears as she speaks all in a rush. "And of everyone I've ever met, she's the last person deserved to die like that. It's not fair, Cloud. It's just not fair!"
For a long time after her outburst, there's silence except for her sobs and the sound of the water lapping at the bank. Finally, she laughs through her tears, and it sounds self-deprecating. "Sorry. Here you came to mourn your-" she makes a hopeless motion with her hand, as though she doesn't know how to describe Aeris' relationship to you. "You came to mourn Aeris and I'm crying all over the place."
"It's fine," you tell her, and in a way it is. Yours wasn't the only life Aeris touched. You weren't the only person who loved her. "I'm glad you're here." Tifa sniffles again, but presses her face into your shoulder, so it must've been the right thing to say.
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