Final Fantasy VII: Cloud's Dreaming Again... By Sky Render Cloud shook his head. How did he lose her? What happened? Looking around the old shell-ridden city, the yellow-haired youth began to wonder if he'd really seen Aerith die here just three days ago. "It can't be," he told himself, and downed a Potion. But he knew that it was true. He'd been on a Potion-drinking binge ever since then. Cloud shook his head and sighed. He was a wreck, beyond saving with a Phoenix Down or Remedy. "What now? Where do I go?" He shook his head again, and downed a High Potion. Feeling drunk, Cloud meandered over to the pool, and looked down into it with longing. "She's still down there... Why did I have to throw her in there? I didn't even try using a Phoenix Down on her!" Cloud gulped down three X-Potions in rapid succession, and sat down hard on the ground. He yelped as a sharp shell impaled his rear, and jumped up. "Ow! Now I NEED a Potion..." He scrounged through his endless knapsack, but Cloud only found one Potion left, nothing else. "Damn, that means I've drunk 98 Potions already..." he muttered, and gulped down the sugary solution. Cloud hiccuped, and sat down a bit more carefully on the ground. "I can't live without her... Why did I throw her in that pool, WHY?!" Cloud began to cry then, and didn't stop for about two hours. At that point, Tifa walked up to him, and tapped his shoulder. "Are you okay, Cloud?" she asked him. Cloud looked up at Tifa, and his face changed to one of rage. "How could you know how I feel?! You didn't love her! You just wanted to off her so you could have me for yourself!" Cloud screamed, and jumped up. Tifa stepped backwards, startled. "What?! Cloud, I did no such thing!" But Cloud wasn't listening. He drew his Ultima Weapon, and sliced Tifa in half. Then, as he sheathed his sword, he smacked his forehead. "Damn it, she had all of the Elixirs on her. Now I've gotta revive her..." Cloud threw a Phoenix Down on Tifa's remains, and watched as she wonderously jumped back up, full of life. "Cloud, why did you kill me, and then revive me? That's just sick!" Cloud grinned, and snatched Tifa's knapsack. "That's all I really wanted. DEATH!" As Cloud shouted the spell, a grim reaper appeared, and sliced Tifa through the midsection, severing her again. "Ooh! I'll get you for this, Cloud..." Tifa called out, and fell to the ground, dead once more. Cloud shook his head again. Damn, he needed something with a buzz to it. He downed an Elixir, and then another, and then another. Soon, he'd drunk up every last one of the 99 Elixirs in the knapsack, and he still felt terrible. "I'll never get her back..." he said mournfully, and drank a Megalixir. The force of the potion meant for three people knocked Cloud off of his feet, and into the lake. "Augh!" Cloud cried out, and quickly put the Underwater materia into his Ultima Weapon. He breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly floated down into the pool, towards the corpse of Aerith. "Damn, I love this thing..." Cloud said as he admired the little purple Underwater materia. It was the only one of it's type, capable of letting the holder breathe underwater, and he was glad he snatched it when everybody parted their own ways. Cloud realized that Aerith's corpse was quite close, so he swam closer to it. Her face was still so calm, despite the fact that she was dead. "Damn," he said, "she's lucky she didn't have to fight that damn Sephiroth like the rest of us..." Cloud carefully picked up Aerith's body, and swam to the surface slowly. He placed Aerith's corpse on he blood-stained ground where Tifa had previously been killed, and got out of the water. "Now I shall revive you, my love!" he said, and threw a Phoenix Down on Aerith. The feathers slowly landed on her corpse, and Aerith began to breathe again. Cloud jumped up and down in joy. She was alive again! "Cloud..." Aerith said, looking up at him. Cloud looked down at Aerith, and smiled. "You're alive again! Woohoo!" Aerith shook her head. "Cloud, damn you!" she said, and smacked him with her Princess Guard. Cloud fell backwards, stunned. "What did I do wrong?!" he asked her. She shouted at him, "I don't WANT to be alive! I died for you, so that you could save the world, and what do you do? You go and revive me! Don't you have ANY respect for me?!" Cloud shook his head. "Aerith, the world IS saved! I revived you because I missed you!" Aerith raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked Tifa?" she asked, and then noticed what she was lying in. "Gaah!" she cried out, and jumped up. "You... YOU KILLED TIFA! YOU BASTARD!!!" Aerith shouted, and began to beat Cloud with her staff. "Ow! Ow! Aerith, stop it and listen to me! OW!" Aerith continued to beat on Cloud with her staff, and Cloud began to get very angry. "Aerith, cut it out! Please!" Aerith stepped back, and gave Cloud a smack in the face to remember. Cloud felt his rage reach it's limit. "Limit Break, Omnislash!" he cried out, and began to slice Aerith to shreds. Fifteen slices later, he stopped, and realized what he had done. "Oh no! I killed her, too! Why, why?!" Cloud shook his head, and drank another Megalixir. This time, though, the force of the potion blew him all of the way back into the shell hut nearby, down the fish tank, crashing through the crystal stairs, and into the lake below. Cloud lost conciousness as his back snapped on the hard metal pipes in the pool, and the last thing he saw before he died was the now-dull white materia, sitting there on the bottom of the lake. * * * * * * * * Cid stepped out from behind the shadows, and laughed. "What a show! That Cloud..." He took out two Phoenix Downs, and threw them on the two mutilated corpses. Once the two ladies were recovered, he looked at them, and smiled. "Hey ladies, wanna have some... fun? Hehehehehe..." Aerith, still a bit angry at Cloud, decided the the most just revenge would be to go with Cid. Tifa didn't really care about Cloud herself, she just wanted to have some "fun". The three of them departed from the shell city, and a few weeks later, a wrecking crew came in and destroyed the place. And so ends the tale of Cloud Strife, the only man who revived someone who couldn't be revived in the first place, and ended up taking their place on accident. THE END