Chapter Text
The moment you saw her, you understood why he stayed.
The long, brown hair, twisted into a tight rope braid, curls that framed a face both kind and elegant, a bright pink ribbon, all so achingly familiar that your heart twisted into knots the first time you glimpsed them from across a city street. Your heart, which had always been so hesitant about her - you can only imagine what he must feel, to be in a place where she is alive again.
She is here with you now, a bright spot in a world that brings you pain. He's been avoiding you - she confirms it, asks you why, but you can't really answer, not without explaining things that are too painful to speak aloud, too difficult to wrap your mind around. Your heart has always been bigger than your head, and you've always been better with problems you can punch.
She whispers and green light flows over you, familiar energy that soothes the pain and the icy assault on the core of you caused by the shadows' horrible claws, and you wish to the Planet that this were a problem you could punch. She tells you he's always been stubborn. Asks how you know him.
'We just don't know much about him,' she says, in that sad and wistful tone, and your heart twists again.
You tell her that the two of you are from the same world. That you grew up together in a place far away from cities and choking air. You tell her that he once struggled so hard to find himself. You tell her how much he lost, what Sephiroth took from him, couching it in terms that hide and obfuscate. You tell her she reminds you of that person, tell her how much she must mean to him. She laughs softly and tells you that she's not entirely sure you're right.
That's hard for you to believe. But you drop it. You've already said too much as it is - you'd say you're not sure why she's so easy to talk to, but honestly, that's a lie. She isn't just some doppelganger, a familiar face and a familiar name, she is that person who went from a rival to a friend in the short span of a few months, only to die while praying for the planet to live.
'You miss her,' she says, and you look up, only to meet green eyes that have always been far too perceptive, that pierce your heart in more ways than one. All you can do is nod, then swallow, looking away because suddenly old feelings, feelings that complicated the bitter old triangle even more when you first understood them, are cropping up again, and you don't know how to deal with them.
'She loved him.'
She gives you a small hug, as if she understands some small part of your feelings, before letting go. She tells you that she has hope that he's moved on now, and you fake a bright smile and tell her that you do too. But you still know why he stayed.
You still know why you will stay.
Neither of you can bear to lose Aerith again.