[Voice]

[herobydefault]

A question. [Cloud says it like it's punctuated with "for you strange people."]


If you don't have a Lifestream keeping your Planet alive, what's holding it together?

Comments

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

She tried to use you too? To get to the Promised Land?

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

I wonder... She spoke politely, but when you get down to it, how they handled things showed no manners whatsoever! [She pauses.] They were probably desperate, too. She was sick. One of them thought the Promised Land would be able to cure her, but... what was wrong with her, it wasn't a physical illness. [She shakes her head.] There was a voice inside her, crying out in pain. I wanted to help her with that, but I didn't know anything I could do. In the end, I didn't do anything at all.

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud feels bad that she was sick, but...]

Then she wasn't any different than the Shinra.

You aren't a commodity. You're Aerith.

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that. There are a few people who need that written down to remember. Maybe on their foreheads?

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Maybe on your forehead. So they'll actually see it.

"My name is Aerith and I am not a commodity." [That last part is said in his Miss Cloud falsetto for your listening pleasure.]

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Hojo's wrinkly old face deserves it more than mine! [Though gj, Cloud, she can't srs face when the falsetto starts so suddenly.]

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Hojo's face got what it deserved.

[...come to think of it, does Aerith know? She was there at the end but he doesn't know if she knows everything yet.]

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Huh? [No, she does not. Though it's not hard to get the implication, coming from Cloud.]

...I see. It's a little strange to finally hear.

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

...do you want to hear what happened? [Some of it Cloud doesn't want to talk about, but if anybody deserves to know it's Aerith.]

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[It takes a moment, but she answers:] Please. I want to know.

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Could you come over?

Sophie's asleep so I can't leave.

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Be there soon.

[Aaaand eventually there will be knocking (soft, to not wake Sophie) on Cloud's door.]

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[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud has to unlock the door to let her in -because Sophie is a demon child and will escape if he doesn't- and steps aside.]

Thanks.

[action]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[She steps in, taking a few feet into the living room area before she turns back to Cloud.] Professor Hojo... what was he doing?

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud pauses -that's jumping right into it- before he quietly shuts the door and locks it back up. He heads over to the couch and sits down heavily on the armrest.]

You mean when we killed him?

[action]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[She remains standing, her hands clasped at her waist, though uncertainty flickers across her expression when Cloud sits down. Maybe she shouldn't have asked like that...]

Yes. ...Are you okay telling it?

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

I'm fine telling it.

[Cloud lifts a hand and flaps it.] He'd gone completely insane. Completely. He was trying to revive Sephiroth, and he even ended up injecting himself with mutated Jenova cells. He turned into even more of a monster than he usually was.

So we killed him. [And looking back on it, it felt very, very good.]

[action]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Revive...? [because someone doesn't yet know her killer was actually Jenova controlled by Sephiroth. But she looks both horrified and disgusted about Hojo injecting himself with Jenova cells. Of anyone, he would understand best what he was doing to his body.]

Didn't he understand what Sephiroth was trying to do? No... he probably did, but it was just another experiment to him. The way he thinks is just so... twisted and messed up... [It makes her angry, thinking about it, so she tries to stop.] But if he's dead now, he can't hurt anyone else again.

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Exactly. So you don't have to worry about it.

[Because Cloud took care of it for you. ...Cloud and everyone else.]

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[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[...He's seen a world where she finally wouldn't have to worry about Hojo.

She wants that life, so much, a mixture of hope and yearning (she missed that life) passing over her face. It's strange to think about Hojo really being gone. Sometimes, he seemed like a specter that would always haunt her.]

I can't imagine Shinra's going steady after all this. [And she doesn't even know about Gyahaha and Kyahaha kicking the bucket. Or... WEAPONs.]

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

No. Shinra's collapsed.

[...very strange things happened. Cloud's not sure how to say it; Shinra kind of helped them BUT KIND OF DIDN'T. Um.]

The world was really, really different when I was last there.

[action]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Shinra was a way of life for many. [Most, even.] It must be different. But, people can find new ways of living.

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we will. Somehow or another.

[But without Aerith. ...it seems wrong to even hint at that with her sitting right there. Can she come back with him, alive and well? She and Zack both?]

[action]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

And one day, everyone will think it was ridiculous Shinra was popular at all, because living in-tune with the Planet's not so hard. That's what I'd really like to see. [She smiles, though she's trying not to think about the fact that she may or may not be alive to see it.]

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

It hasn't been so easy so far, though.

[Cloud hates to admit it, but Mako -and Mako reactors- made life much, much easier. Fossil fuels are in such low supply that nobody knows how to get anywhere other than by chocobo, nowadays. Let's not even talk about power.]