ɪᴛs ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴘʀɪɴᴄɪᴘʟᴇ

9

"No it's okay, I can head back to my place." Cloud suggested.

"You sure? It's really late and I'd be concerned if something happened to you." Y/N said.

"I'll be okay, thank you." He said, scratching the back of his neck slightly.

"Alright, let me walk you out." She offered.

"Sure." Cloud said, heading to the door as Y/N followed.

       Y/N and Cloud left the apartment and headed towards the elevators, Y/N pressing the button and they waited for the doors to open. After a short time, the metal doors opened and the pair stepped inside. Y/N pressed the button to the lobby and the doors shut. As the elevator slowly moved down, they stayed in comfortable silence. Y/N staying with her eyes closed, looking as if she was in thought and Cloud noticed this. He looked to the woman, wondering what she was thinking. The elevator went down floor by floor and it just piqued his interest more of what was on the girls mind.

       The elevator finally reached the lobby and dinged, making Y/N open her eyes and Cloud look to the doors immediately. The heavy doors opened and they both stepped out one at a time. Heading towards the glass entrance, Cloud opened one of the doors as Y/N thanked him, heading outside to the chilly night. After she stepped out, Cloud followed after and let the door close on its own. They walked a little down ways the empty streets to wear Cloud's motorcycle was parked, slightly illuminated by a single orange lamp post. They reached the vehicle and Cloud turned towards Y/N.

"Thank you again for helping me out today, I really appreciate it." Y/N said, hugging herself as an attempt to keep herself warm from the chilly air.

"No worries." Cloud said as he sat down on the vehicle.

"Before you go, there's something I kinda have to inform you of since it regards you of your job." She warned, as his ears perked up.

"Sure, what is it?" The ex-soldier questioned, now curious about what this task was.

"My manager just told me I have another performance tomorrow and seeing as your my bodyguard. I was wondering if you could accompany me, you know to keep me from getting trampled and stuff." Y/N explained.

"Sure but I thought you were on a break from performing and singing." Cloud said, confused at this.

"I thought so too but he informed me that this was already set and planned a while ago and I can't just cancel last minute. I have a few more of these shows and then I'm done for a good while." She informed.

"Alright, do you need me to pick you up?" Cloud questioned.

"Yes please, I think around six in the evening would be great since this show is late." Y/N said.

"Alright, I'll be here to pick you up by then." He said, agreeing to this.

"Great, thank you so much again." She said, being grateful to the man before her.

"No problem, now I should be going." Cloud said.

"Right, goodnight and drive safe." Y/N said, as he started up his vehicle.

"I will, take care." Cloud said, as he started driving off down the street and Y/N waved at his leaving figure before heading back inside the building.

       Cloud drove down the fogged up streets, nothing but the sounds of Fenrir and the occasional cricket filling the air. He drove with ease, nothing on his mind but just heading back to the inn. Suddenly, a certain someone entered his empty thoughts. He composed himself as he was driving, trying to keep his thoughts on the road. Cloud didn't know why but he was getting frusterated, not at the thoughts the sled but his confusion to why they were there. He wasn't doing anything and all of a sudden they were there. He instinctively made a sudden decision to make a detour trip.

       He drove up to the old church and parked Fenrir nearby, turning the vehicle off while sitting there for a minute or so. Cloud finally got up and walked over to the tattered entrance. He hesitated before finally entering and seeing the inside, nothing had changed. Still run down and with a bed of yellow flowers. Aerith's flowers. Cloud walked over to the bed of flowers and kneeled down in front of them, admiring them as a calm face rested on his features. He relaxed and took in the subtle smell of them.

       As he did, he felt a presence with him in the church. He looked behind him to see the person but no one stood there, when he looked back he saw a figure stood before him. He looked up to see her.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Cloud." A soft voice said.

"It has been Aerith." Cloud said, standing up and earning a smile from the girl.

"I'm guessing you've been really busy with deliveries and personal life stuff." Aerith assumed.

"You could say that." He said, sitting down near the bed of flowers as Aerith did the same.

"So, what brought you here today?" She questioned, crouching down to his level.

"I just needed to clear my head." Cloud said, half hazardly.

"I don't think this is the right spot then if you're trying to relax and clear you mind." Aerith said, jokingly and earning a smile from the stone cold soldier.

"You're right about that, I mostly just want to think over something." He said, looking down.

"Oh? What about?" She questioned curiously.

"About my emotions and thoughts I'm having." Cloud admitted, now earning her full undecided attention.

"Wow, look at you. Being all emotional and having feelings." Aerith said, giggling.

"Yeah yeah, and I kind of wanted to talk to you about it." He said.

"We'll talk away, I'm not going anywhere." She said as he sighed.

"Remmeber when, we talked that one time." Cloud said.

"We've talked a lot of times, you're going to have to be more specific than that." Aerith joked.

"When we were at your house and we were outside, you told me not to fall in love with you. He said, making Aerith go quiet.

"...why did you tell me that?" Cloud questioned.

"You know why." Aerith answered quietly.

"I want to hear you say it." He said.

"...because I knew I was going to die." She admitted, Cloud earning a response from the first girl he officially loved but was now long gone.