Second Chance

From the Stream

This scenario was all too familiar to her. The feel of the air around her and the soft scent of flowers in the atmosphere, it reminded her so much of home. But that can't be possible.

She was dead, Wasn't she?

She remembered roaming in the lifestream, helping Cloud to forgive himself for her and Zack's death, taking in the three remnants of Sephiroth so after. While Deepground did cause some trouble a year later, everything in the lifestream was relatively peaceful nonetheless. She even made up for lost time with her first love, Zack Fair. So while looking after lost and confused children was time-consuming, she was still happy.

One day, he suddenly vanished from the lifestream, which made her anxious. She tried asking the planet a few times before about where her lover could have gone, but its answer to her was always Midgar. So she decided to go to the Midgar region at one point and look for him. But as soon as she got close to the city's remains, she was forcefully pulled towards it. No amount of Will power that she had could help her break free from the pull. The scenery changed drastically around her, from barren deserts surrounding the city to the busy streets of Edge, then finally in the Midgar ruins; afterward, everything went black. Along with that came a sharp pain surging through her spiritual body. The pain was too much for her to bare that she fainted.

The next thing she felt was movement; it was as if someone was moving her from one place to another judging from the changes in the air around her. She couldn't open her eyes to see who or what it was, but for some reason, she felt she could fully trust whatever was ushering her around and about. She sometimes felt warm, and in the next minute, she was cold, then warm again. This warmth came with a caring heartbeat and rough breathing, the kind that comes from someone on a long journey to reach somewhere far. They were forcing themselves to reach that impossible goal, that much she could confirm. She wished that she could tell them to stop and rest or thank them at the very least. But her voice betrayed her intentions; she never uttered a single word once since the start of this whole ordeal. The only thing keeping her from being upset about the situation was the calming and gentle heartbeat of whoever was helping her.

By then, she realized something she had overlooked; she was breathing right now. And not only that, but she physically felt everything that got within her physical range. That should not be possible with a spiritual body at all. A Spirit can't breathe, nor can it feel anything, not even pain. Yet here she was, breathing, aching, feeling, things she used to do when she was alive. She was outright confused and partially scared. She didn't know what was happening; it was too much to take in at once. That's when she heard the familiar whispers of the planet, assuring her that she needed not to worry about her dilemma.

Gaia responding to her cries had somewhat calmed her anxious nerves. She felt like a child being comforted by its mother, enveloped in their warm embrace. And it continued to soothe her until Aerith felt her carrier's encouraging heartbeat again. The planet then reassured her that she was in good hands. Her long search was finally at its end.

The time she felt her partner spend traveling seemed to have reached its end by the time she spent speaking with the planet; For she felt herself being put down on something wooden like a chair. Next, she felt someone's breath very close to her, then a light contact on her forehead. The person later moved away from her, yet she did not want them to go and leave her; she was afraid enough as it is. That's when her hearing finally kicked in, allowing her to hear her environment for the first time since she gained consciousness.

Her ears quickly picked up on the heavy footsteps echoing around the area. They were somewhere indoors with a big hall at most, and the floors were wooden, as evident from the sound of the gentle crack and creek it made when there was a heavyweight moving over it. The footsteps got slightly farther away from her sometimes but got closer a bit later. She sometimes could make out some of the words they spoke; the voice was rough, so the person was male. He sounded familiar, which made her relax even more than before.