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They were surrounded; all the doors were barricaded while the rush of footsteps flooded the stairs of the Shinra building. He could've just charged forth with the florist behind him to protect his rear—she kicked more butt than he ever realized—but being swarmed by nearly all four corners gave poor chances of actual escape.
"Cloud, over there!"
Mako eyes shot down to look at the floor below, a small instance of relief flooding through him as he saw Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII safe on the lower floor. However, there was no way to reunite with them unless he had a grappling hook or some sorts; he wished he hadn't just tossed it so carelessly when they had heaved Barret back up from a near death fall.
"Cloud, elevator—to our left," he heard the flower girl whisper by his side as she clutched her magical staff tightly. "It's on our floor right now. Only way out."
"What, so that they can just wait downstairs and ambush us? I'm not too fond of the idea of getting bullets through me the moment that door opens," Cloud growled at Aerith's suggestion as he wielded his sword threateningly as more and more troops flooded into the area. "We can just deck it all out now, wait for Tifa and the rest of them to reach us, and hope for the best."
"Don't trust my magic? Don't worry, I'll pull something out of my sleeves the moment the door opens."
"But—"
"I get it, SOLDIER boy—you're strong. But I'm sorry to say, though, that our manpower just isn't enough, even if you are a one-man army, alright? I'm not planning to be recaptured by Shinra again just yet!"
Cloud didn't even get the chance to convince her otherwise before she grabbed onto his wrist and made a dash towards the elevator, immediately getting the troops to hurry on their feet.
"Chase them!"
Aerith punched the button and pulled Cloud inside, earning a loud "whoa!" from him as she blasted any troops that were too close just to buy time for the elevator doors to close. Both of their hearts lurched up to their throats when one of the infantry men's hand nearly slid in between the elevator doors, but they snapped shut right before he could even sliver a finger in. When the elevator began to accelerate downwards, the swordsman and florist heaved a gigantic sigh as they relaxed for the next minute before they readied themselves again for the ambush.
"You're crazy," Cloud said in disbelief, catching his breath as he continued to hold his blade. "Getting inside an elevator is almost equivalent to signing a death wish."
"Did you have any better idea?" she retorted, and took victory when he remained silent. "I thought so. Now save your breath for when the door opens. Hopefully Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII got the hint and are making their way down to help clear the path a bit."
"Stay behind me, then," he gruffly replied as he gently moved her to the side so that he could stand right in front of the door. "I'd like to say that your reaction time is not the best, so let me deal with what's behind the doors when they open."
Aerith blinked twice before she giggled; he didn't seem to realize that Shinra wouldn't dare shoot at her, but she humored him anyway. "I'm impressed—didn't think you'd take on the role of a bodyguard so diligently! You must really want that date, huh?"
Cloud nearly choked on his saliva, but before he could shut down her ostentatious claim, the floor before them rumbled, and the lights flickered wildly.
"What the—" Cloud nearly stumbled over as their acceleration suddenly halted. He instinctively wrapped an arm around Aerith's shoulders to stabilize the both of them as he braced for the unexpected, eyes wide open to stay guarded despite the limited space around them. In less than ten seconds, the shaking stopped, the lights turned back on fully, and the floor below them stopped descending.
"W-what was that?" Aerith stuttered, recovering from her hunched form as she straightened her posture.
Cloud let her go before he did a small hop to test out his suspicions. The elevator shook up and down a bit, confirming his thoughts as he let out a small curse underneath his breath. "It stopped moving—we're stuck."
"Wait, seriously?"
Aerith pushed him to the side so that she could see the buttons. She repeatedly mashed the open button, only to be met with disappointment as nothing happened.
"Great. Just great," Cloud muttered as he leaned against the hand rail, arms crossed as his eyebrows knitted together horribly. His mind raced feverously, unable to stay calm at the idea of being trapped within enemy lairs like this. He poked his sword around the roof of the elevator, seeking out any way out, but the rather poor construction of the elevator offered no exits. He made sure to smash the security cameras that hung in the corners before he resigned to his current fate. "Absolutely great."
"Stop it with the brooding and the mooding. After all, we gotta make the best out of the situation, right?" Aerith giggled. He stared at her, flabbergasted, as she dusted off her dress and took off her braid just to retie it. She even hummed a happy tune underneath her breath as her fingers got to work at her silky locks.
"You're joking," the blond deadpanned, unblinking as he watched her slink right into a relaxed state while his muscles remained tense and ready to jump into action any moment. "You're joking," he repeated.
"Hehe, no point just wasting all our adrenaline now, right? Gotta save it for when the time really calls! Relax, Mr. Bodyguard—there's nothing we can do, and the Shinra troops can't do anything either. All we can do is wait, right?"
"What if we're stuck here forever?"
"Oh, doesn't that sound romantic? We can be here together forever then!"
Cloud found the idea of being bound to eternity with her in a stupid elevator the most unappealing of the unappealing, but something in that mischievous grin of hers got him all jumpy as he looked away from her bright, green eyes.
"Yeah, we can—forever with boredom," he shot back to hide his nervousness, sighing his signature sigh as he found point in her words and strapped the Buster Sword back onto his back.
"I think we both got the personalities to fill in the time, don't you think?"
"We were just killing some soldiers five minutes ago; how are you so relaxed?"
"Oh, when you're stuck in a situation where you don't know when you'll ever have a way out, you find a lot of things to do to pass the time," she smiled. There was no mistaking the sadness under that façade of cheerfulness of hers, and Cloud had enough of an emotional capacity to detect it.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"We might be stuck in an elevator, but there are many things to do actually!" Aerith interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. Getting the hint, he dropped the subject, but never dropped the suspicion.
"Knowing you, I'd rather you don't share your ideas," he said straight-faced. Too many times had she pulled him by the leg, dragging him endlessly through her wild ploys and sneaky antics. It would be too true to say that he probably lost a lot of mental years just by being around her.
The worst of it all, however, was that he lowkey enjoyed it.
But he wasn't going to let her know that.
"Since you're so insistent on trying to find a way out, then hm…" Aerith jokingly tapped a finger to her chin as she let out a thoughtful hum. "Hm, hm, hm. Hey!"
"What?" he replied irritably.
"Maybe if I push all the buttons, it'll start moving?"
"That's not how it—"
Cloud wondered why he even bothered trying to speak when the Cetra began to run her hands up and down the rows of buttons. Because there were so many damn floors to the Shinra building, Aerith looked absolutely ridiculous as she bent her knees to compensate for the lower buttons.
Cloud's eye twitched as he finished the rest of his sentence. "—works."
And lo and behold, nothing happened.
"And what exactly were you trying to do?" he finally asked when she was done playing the xylophone.
"Haven't you seen those movies?" Aerith began vaguely. When Cloud gave her the blankest look ever, she wiggled her eyebrows to get his cogs rolling. "You know! Like, the secret combination that reveals a secret room!"
"And you think running your hands all over the panel is the secret combination?"
"Doesn't hurt to try. Ooo, ooo, ooo! What if I—"
"Please don—"
Aerith stopped the random button mashing and began jumping up and down in the elevator, violently shaking the whole contraption as Cloud naturally grabbed onto the hand rail to keep himself from possibly getting a concussion by an accidental head bang into the wall.
From outside the elevator, many soldiers in the vicinity perked their ears up, instantly getting silent to tune in to what was causing all the noise.
"It's the elevator—there must be fighting going on in there!" one of the men shouted as he grew pale with worry for his comrades. "One of our soldiers is probably fending off those two as we speak! Quick, lend assistance!"
"… But sir, how did they get in?" another one spoke up, obviously being the one with the higher IQ.
"Just find a way around it!"
"… Yessir!"
Inside, Cloud was fighting his own losing battle as he shot daggers through his eyes.
"What in the goddamn Planet are you doing?" he hissed, watching her form hop up and down as the small space around them shook and rumbled. He could even hear the cords that kept the elevator intact just cry from pain as they creaked horribly from the strain.
"I'm wondering if it'll break!"
"… Excuse me?" he spluttered.
"So that we can get down faster!"
Cloud couldn't believe he had to grab onto her and pull her over just to get her to stop jumping around like some hyper kid on a sugar rush. When the floor beneath their feet stilled once more, he let go of the breath he was holding and glared at her.
"Do you want to die?" he exasperated, unable to understand her logic as she guffawed into his chest, bumping her head on it before she detached herself from him and cupped her stomach.
"I've never seen you so scared before, Mr. I'm-A-First-Class-SOLDIER Strife! Oh, this is good—too good," Aerith laughed, almost lost for air as she wheezed. "Relax! Elevators don't snap that easily."
She spoke too soon, because the two lurched forward when the elevator gave in one more time, dropping for a small distance before halting abruptly again. That was enough to stop her laughter.
"Yeah? They don't?" he snapped, reducing her smile to a grim, straight line of realization.
"You know what, you might be onto something, actually."
"Like I wasn't before."
He sighed again, foolish to think that she was done messing around as he began to plan their way out and the actions to take if the elevator didn't start operating soon.
When she started giggling, he knew he was in for another fiasco.
"What?" he dared to ask.
He shouldn't have.
"Even though you're good with the sword, I bet you're clumsy with your feet."
At this rate, if his eye kept twitching the way it did, he was forever going to have involuntary muscle jerks in his eyes for the rest of his life every time he got annoyed.
"You've treaded dangerous waters before, but you're really getting into them now," Cloud said with narrowed orbs. He was highly unamused. "What are you trying to imply here?"
"Even in this cramped space, I bet you can't catch me," she winked, a finger up in confidence. "I think there's enough space for me to avoid all of your attempts of capture!"
"What are you talking about?" he snorted, not at all taking her seriously as he rolled his eyes. He calmly reached out to grab her arm to prove a point, not seeing how she could get anywhere. "You can't possibly—"
He blinked when she twisted her body, enough to completely avoid his hand.
She grinned, and he frowned.
He tried again, and she dodged.
What the fu—
He tried at it with two hands this time, but she ducked, successfully avoiding his attempts as she laughed uncontrollably.
"What did you say again? In the beginning about my reaction time? Yeah, that's what I thought," she provoked as she began to dance around him as he began to swivel his feet against the floor to catch up to her. "Where's your first-class prowess, hm?"
She even used him as a pole as she held onto him for the momentum to spin out of his reach, earning an audible, frustrated sigh from him.
"I have no idea how you're even doing this."
"I'm telling you: you're underestimating me!"
The small, enclosed chase finally ended when he performed foul play and stuck a foot out to trip her, nearly smashing her head right against the hand rail if he hadn't caught her by the waist from behind with ease.
"Sir, did you almost kill me?" she breathed, eyes staring right at the metal bar as her front hair hung over her face.
Cloud hoisted her up, spinning her around so that they could be face-to-face again as he shot her a questioning brow.
"What did you expect when you're literally bouncing all over the place?" he chuckled with a small smirk, arm still snug around her middle as he caught his breath from the tiny exercise. Too busy basking in his victory, he didn't realize how close they actually were until Aerith glanced down to observe their pressed bodies. Making the motion to let go, he released her, but Aerith had other plans as she snaked her arms around his neck and kept him anchored there.
In a second, his heartbeat ramped up to a speed that was nearly too quick for a human being to remain standing.
"You're finally smiling a bit."
Cloud blinked dumbly.
"What?"
Aerith tilted her head at him curiously, wondering why he wasn't getting it yet, before she let him go so that he could get in some of that air he desperately needed all of a sudden—it wasn't just the exercise that got him all breathless.
She pressed a thumb between his eyes and wiggled it, trying to erase the wrinkles there as he stared at her, wide-eyed.
"You've been so serious this entire time—there literally was death in your expression ever since you… rescued me," Aerith sighed in disapproval as she clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Cloud still didn't get it, however, because he was just socially lacking.
"What are you talking about?"
"Stupid, do you think I'm that dumb enough to press all the buttons like that?" she giggled as she skipped around the elevator. "I wanted to make you laugh, but I guess the only way to get some of that gloom out of your face is to get that competitive, mature side of yours rolling, ain't it?"
Out of all the things he could've flushed at, he reddened at the way Aerith called him out like a kid. He opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to refute, but he shut it as he looked away, causing her singsong voice to amplify even louder.
"Aw, it's cute, really!"
"Stop."
"Who knew Cloud Strife could—"
Their interactions got interrupted for the second time when the lights suddenly went out. While Cloud remained calm, Aerith was a different story as she squealed in surprise.
"Wait, I'm right here," Cloud assured, seeing her form flail around as the sudden darkness spiked up the natural fear response in her. Gently clasping her wrist, he inhaled sharply when she immediately grabbed onto the fabrics at his chest and pulled herself close to his form, breath shaky as she found relief in his presence.
"Oh gosh, I'm not too great when the lights suddenly go out like that," she tried to laugh it off, but it died as she calmed her racing heart. "Um, I take back what I said. I don't want to wait around—is there a way out?"
"Finally putting the two sides of your brain back together?" he murmured as he hesitantly let go of her and kept his two hands on the hand rail behind him. He gripped it tightly, trying not to lose himself as Aerith remained too close for comfort. Her hands still loosely clutched his shirt.
"Well, tight spaces are one thing, but tight spaces and darkness together are another," she quipped as she tried to remain upbeat. "I don't want to stay here any longer."
"So you were lying."
The cheerful mood quickly dissipated with that one statement.
Aerith didn't understand what he meant at first, but when he elaborated some more, her own breath hitched as he finally spoke up about it. "You said you were fine. In the dream. You were lying."
"You remember," she whispered.
"… It's hard not to."
"…"
Silence met the air around them as they bathed in each other's proximal warmth. Their breathing became smooth and even in the darkness, and it was the only thing they could hear as they slowly started to become aware of how close they were to each other.
However, none made a move to put some distance.
"Wasn't it obvious? How I didn't want you nor any of your friends to come?" Aerith spoke sadly. "Now we're all stuck in this situation with Shinra out to finish your lives and keep mine. You shouldn't have come. You shouldn't have."
"Knowing that you were out there in danger could hardly sit well with any of us," Cloud argued. Feeling awkward, he made sure to include his friends in that statement.
"Now you're all in danger because of me."
"… Then why did you call for me?" He bit his bottom lip in the dark as he hesitated to say his next few words. "Why did you meet me in the dream? When you knew that I wouldn't be able to sit still after seeing you like that?"
"…"
"… I thought so."
"Why?" Aerith pulled back so that she could look him in the eyes. The miniscule amount of light was barely enough to make out his facial features, but somehow, his eyes glowed bright enough for her to see, to drown into. "Why did you guys do something so reckless?"
"I said I was coming for you, didn't I?" he breathed. "And I came."
"… And I'm here."
This time, the silence paired with the new atmosphere between them was not as comfortable, so Cloud had to make the first move and scoot away from her or else he would start feeling things he shouldn't be feeling while they remained stuck in the potentially life-threatening situation. Aerith allowed him to go now that she calmed down.
But she wasn't done with any of her antics just yet.
"Hey, this kind of reminds me of something," she giggled, and he knew, at that moment, that she was planning something else again.
"What does?"
"This whole being-stuck-in-an-elevator situation. You know, in the movies."
"Movies again? What is it?" he sighed, not ready to deal with another dose of stupidity, even if it was for his sake just to get a smile out of him. He doubted she would fail though, much to his reluctance.
"Hm, do you want an example?" she hummed.
He raised his eyebrow, regardless of the darkness. His eyes adjusted enough so that he could see the outline of her form.
"Example? Um, sure."
When he felt the hand caress his cheek so suddenly, he gasped, and when he moved his lips to speak, he instead felt softness and warmth against them.
His mind immediately reeled at two different speeds as he naturally responded, body moving on its own without his brain connected to it as he shut closed his eyes and pressed back. His chest fluttered wildly as he let out a terribly audible breath through his nose, lips clumsily bumping against the velvety texture.
When the softness disappeared, his eyes flew open, and the outline of her figure become visible again, albeit closer.
There was no mistaking it.
She had kissed him.
"A-Aerith," he stuttered, heat rising up to his neck, his ears, and his cheeks as he gripped the hand rail to the point of ripping through his skin. "Did you just—"
"An example."
"…What?"
"I asked if you wanted an example. You said yes. So, I gave you one." Even in the dark, he could literally hear her cheeky smile. "So, do you like it?"
"Like it?" His mind was incapable of words at the moment as his dumb heartbeat thundered against his eardrums, making the world around him intoxicatingly dizzy as he licked his lips in order to extinguish the burn she left on him. His thoughts spun everywhere to the point where the possibility of getting captured by Shinra was the least of his concerns.
"So you don't." The disappointment in her voice was too obvious as her tone became flat. "… Sorry. I guess I… read the mood wrong?"
"Wait, no," he dumbly blurted as his heart nearly dropped. He bit his lip as he shook his head. "No."
Aerith swallowed nervously. "No?"
"No," he repeated, this time firmer. He sighed heavily before he said it. "I—I like it."
He removed his hands from the hand rail so that they could find her face. When he cupped it, he tilted it backwards so that her mouth could be angled towards his in the darkness. He never felt so grateful in his decision to wear fingerless gloves before when he swiped a bare thumb across her lips to locate them, feeling how smooth and slick they were as his breathing became all rugged without him knowing.
To hell with the fact that they were in an elevator—the problem could be dealt with later. Being in a near-claustrophobic space in the dark switched many of their priorities upside-down. Was all of this just the suspension bridge effect?
Oh, he didn't care.
But he liked it anyway.
Without another word, he brought her face over to his so that he could be the one to initiate the kiss this time, but things didn't work according to plan when his teeth unskillfully bumped against her lips, causing her to jolt out of his hold a bit.
"Shit, sorry," he half-whispered, guilt gnawing at him instantly, but that didn't stop the huge blood rush that he felt just from that momentary lapse of contact.
Aerith simply laughed, shaking her head in the dark. "It's okay. Here, like this."
It was her turn this time to hold his face and bring it down to her level, molding her warm mouth to his own velvety lips to form an electric connection, sending shivers down both of their spines as their breaths mixed in a heated, hot exchange.
With the both of them unexperienced, they kept having to disconnect to take in some air, but they always found each other again like magnets as they kept reconnecting, meshing their lips against each other to feel that unfamiliar friction—a feeling that would soon be a drug if they didn't hold themselves back.
"I know this is really, really, really inappropriate to say right now," Aerith gasped when she pulled back. "But remember what I said before? You can't fall in love with me, Cloud. I just wanted to remind you because it was real bad of me to even allow this to happen, and—"
"Too fucking late," he scoffed indignantly, and he pulled her back in.
It was too bad their moment didn't last any longer when the door of the elevator started to open up.
"Hold your fire! Our comrade may still be in there, along with the Ancient—we don't want to shoot at them needlessly!" the same soldier barked as the elevator door slowly opened. "Wait until my signal!"
When the door fully opened, they didn't expect two people to break apart their kiss and jump away from each other. Both sides stared at the other party in shock and stupor, unmoving as the troops tried to register in what they just saw.
But Cloud and Aerith were a lot quicker, and within an instance, Cloud wielded his sword while Aerith summoned her staff.
"Well, that's rude of them, isn't it?" Aerith frowned.
But Cloud didn't have any time to respond, because true to her word, she pulled the "tricks" out of her sleeves.
And blasted them with her spells.
The rest was history, but Cloud was sure of one thing.
It was not the suspension bridge effect, and that movies were great.