𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖢𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖽 𝖮𝖿 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖯𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖾𝗍

19: 7th anniversary.

It's been weeks since I have stepped my foot into sector 7. In the first days, it was hard to not go there after stopping by every single day, but the more time was passing, the more easier it was becoming to not have an urge to come there. 

My nightmares got back to its original form - seeing world through Cetra people's eyes. This whole nightmare was a big wonder to me. How come I dreamed of myself and Cloud and now about Cetra people?

Aerith, Zack and me decided to have a picnic at the church again. It was our getaway place and we all could talk freely about stuff there. I knew Aerith wanted to ask me about before.

"I have something to tell you, Yui." said Zack as we were approaching the church.

I looked at him curiously, "It sounds serious." 

He chuckled, "Well, yeah. It's actually serious for once. But only for you." 

I didn't quite get what he meant by that but I decided not to pry because I would get to know in the end.

When we set our picnic and sat down, the focus went on me.

"So.. Let us start the questions. What was that day about?" Zack looked at me intently.

"He means the day you ran out to the sector 7 and came back the same night, looking horrible." Aerith continued.

I felt myself smile at their "insulting" questions.

"Okay.. But how do you know I was in sector 7?" I raised my eyebrow.

Zack laughed out, "It's not hard to figure out where you've been going lately."

I felt myself blush at their point. But I heard Aerith sigh out.

"Did something bad happen?" she asked with a concern in her voice.

It's been a while now that I managed to get over it. Of course, there was still a slow process of moving on because it wasn't easy to forget about it, but as the time passed, I learnt to not dwell onto my decision. I did what I knew was right. 

"Cloud isn't a person who would hurt people. He has a hard time understanding people's feelings, and when he knows, he doesn't know what he should do." Zack spoke out, almost as if answering my assumptions about Cloud, "I thought so.." I said.

"From what I heard from Zack about Cloud, he seems like someone who is trying to understand you the most–" but Zack then hugged Aerith super tightly, "Aerith, sweetheart, don't tell her that." he laughed out and Aerith also chuckled, "She should know, Zack." she looked at him lovingly.

Their love towards each other made me feel so left out, but watching Aerith from sidelines, being happy, I was happy she was able to be like this thanks to the decisions I've made.

"Yui.. Cloud grew attached to you because you're the biggest mystery in his life currently." Zack said whilst rocking Aerith gently in his arms.

I felt myself smile, "I bet.. In the end, I was the one who made things confusing for him. He isn't aware that I changed your destiny which led to different outcome in this world." I said, and with that, I felt my eyes travel to the flowerbed of yellow daisies that me and Aerith grew together.

I didn't know why, but looking at those flowers dancing in a wind made me realize that even a flower, that has its roots deep in the ground, has seen things that are almost unimaginable. But they are still strong thanks to their roots. It made me think of me. 

"Wait..." Aerith said which made me look at her, snapping me out of my thoughts.

She quickly got up, looking around. Zack was concerned about her as he grabbed her hand, "What's wrong?" he asked her.

Aerith frowned. I was only watching silently.

"Today is our 7th anniversary.." she said sadly.

This time I was able to see flustered Zack who rapidly got to his feet, "Uhh.. I didn't forget about it, don't worry. I have actually everything planned out for us. The stargazing on our most visited place from 4 years ago and many more attractions.." he said, smoothly trying to talk himself out of it.

Aerith looked at me sadly, "I'm sorry, Yui.."

I smiled, "Don't worry about me and go enjoy yourselves. Because 7 years? That's a lucky number." I laughed out.

Obviously, in the depth of my heart I was quite lonely because now I would be alone, but I knew it was their big day, it wouldn't be fair to keep them here with me. We could discuss this any other day.

They packed up their things which made the picnic disappear. I walked them out of the church and wished them a nice rest of the day.

"Hey.. We might not make it home today, but I'll bring Aerith tomorrow, will you tell Elmyra for me please?" Zack asked with a wink.

I felt myself at the loss of words. This was too straightforward that I felt my cheeks redden at the true definition behind this.

"I will.. Happy anniversary to you two." I smiled with a hint of redness on my cheeks.

They chuckled at my flustered-self, "See you tomorrow, Yui. Don't wander alone at night, okay?" Zack kept his sly smile, "See you, Yui.. Love you!" she smiled bashfully once when Zack's hand traced more down her back.

I felt my eyes roll, "Bye.." I laughed out as I turned on my heels.

Those two were heard laughing at me even from a pretty good distance, "How could you forget about this day, Zack?"

"Hey! You also seemed to remember it out of nowhere!"

They always managed to brighten my mood at some point. It made me think of how important those two were for me.