"We're clear of danger, sir." The Pilot announced looking back. The Highwind was flying smoothly and it didn't appear that they were being followed by Racoon's beast.

"I'm gonna check on the others." Cloud looked at Cid who was smoking with his legs up on a console. Cid nodded and returned to staring out into the sky. "That was a close one...I'm glad the we got to the Highwind before the City collapsed." Cloud left the cockpit while rubbing his sore shoulder. He was badly scratched on the chest too, but told Barret and Tifa to take care of the others first while he made sure that they gor far away from the beast.

"Alright, it's your turn to get healed." Tifa said holding up a restore materia to Cloud as he entered the cabin where the rest of his team members lay, asleep and bandaged. They were almost killed back there, they never expected the beast to absorb whatever materia attack they did. A physical attack would have worked but it was too huge to do any damage to it.

"Where's Aerith?" Cloud asked, wincing a little as Tifa bound his wounds a little too tight.

"She's in that other room." Tifa pointed to the corridor which led to a private cabin where Cid, the Captain slept. "Vincent's taking care of her wounds, she seems pretty tired."

Cloud looked up suddenly, "Vincent?" He murmured and winced at another tight bandage.

"I can't believe she's really back...I'm so happy we're all together again." Tifa said finishing the dressing on Cloud's wounds.

"I thought you were gonna use the materia?"He said while getting up and rubbing his shoulder. Tifa giggled."Well, anyway, I'll go check on them." He walked towards the corridor and Tifa left the room to prepare some hot chocolate.

He walked slowly and almost unsurely through the corridor, then he heard voices, Aerith's and Vincent's, he moved closer.

"... really happy that you're alright, Aerith." Vincent said. Cloud moved to the side just enough to peek throught the door without being seen.

"Me too...I really missed you all. But the Promised Land is a very happy place,"Aerith spoke slowly and weakly. The strain of travel and praying taking it's toll on her. She was lying on the bed, Vincent was sitting right beside her. "But it wasn't the same without you all."

"You sound tired, maybe you should rest now." Vincent said moving to leave, but Aerith reached her hand out and touched his claw. Vincent turned around.

"No, just a while longer, I want to be with someone." She said. Cloud felt his face flush as he saw Vincent put his hand on hers and sitting back down on the chair beside her bed. "Thank you, you're really nice...I don't understand why you keep on calling yourself a monster, Vincent."

Vincent froze, how could she know him? He looked down on the floor and tried to remember his past, as a Turk and once as a human, Lucrecia and how Hojo betrayed him.

"Oops, I'm sorry, I talk too much..." Aerith apologized, biting her lip.

"That's alright...just, tell me...how come you know that much about me?" Vincent rarely told anyone about his past, and he was sure that Aerith had returned to the planet before he ever opened up everything to everyone.

"I was watching all of you...in Lifestream, I had the chance to look into your souls...and I knew from the start that you were hiding your pain, Vincent...running away from your past." Aerith was looking at his claw as she spoke then a teardrop fell. She looked up and Vincent quickly wiped away a tear.

"Vincent, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I was afraid that I wouldn't get another chance to tell how I feel about all of you." Aerith said sitting up, slowly. Vincent smiled and pushed her back gently on the bed.

"Don't worry, I'm happy...someone understands." He bent over and lightly kissed her forehead. "Thank you, Aerith." he sat back up and placed the blanket over her shoulders. "Get some rest, it's been a long day." Aerith huddled to the side and closd her eyes. Vincent leaned back on his chair and looked at his claw and smiled.

Cloud's eyes were burning as he stormed down the corridor. He couldn't understand why he was so upset with the conversation between Aerith and Vincent. Aerith was innocent and he knew that she was doing everything to make everyone happy. But still his heart was beating fast and his face was flushing red. He almost bumped into Tifa who was carrying mugs of hot chocolate on a tray. He apologized quickly and climbed up the stairs to the upper deck.

"Cloud, what's wrong?" Tifa called after him, but he was already too far to hear. Barret came out of the room to see her almost crying.

"What happened? I saw Cloud storm out of the room."

Tifa shrugged, "I don't know." she saidin a quivering voice.

Barret squeezed her shoulders gently and followed him upstairs. "Get some rest, Tifa. I'll handle this. He's just under a LOT of pressure."

Cloud was standing alone on the deck of the Highwind watching the ground move quickly away from them. He spun around when he heard footsteps approaching him. "Oh, it's you Barret." The tall dark man waved his gun-arm at him. Cloud ignored the greeting and returned to his sightseeing.

"I think you'd better lie down, kid. You've had a long day."

"I want to be alone, Barret...there's a lot on my mind right now and I'm not in the mood to talk." Cloud snapped back shaking his head and moving to the other side of the deck. However, Barret refused to leave, Cloud was acting strangely, it was not like when he was worried about Sephiroth and the Black Materia. Something was bothering him, and as a friend and an older man's instinct, he wanted to help.

"Alright," Barret said, thinking of a clever remark to get Cloud to start talking. "I'm going down. You'd better follow soon. You're getting cranky kid." He had an idea, it was a long shot but he sensed there was something going on the minute they stepped into the Ancient's City. "I can't believe this, I thought that you of all people would be in a good mood, now that she's back." Barret stood in silence waiting for Cloud to respond. Nothing. "Well, I'm gonna get some sleep now, byeee!"

"I don't know if I still deserve to be happy...even if she's here." Cloud whispered. Barret hid a small "yeah" and then turned around. Cloud still had his back to him, staring at the big open space with his head hanging down.

"Why not, she seems to see the good in everybody...Oh, well." Barret made footstep noises, waiting to see if Cloud would respond again. He wanted to laugh at himself. He was treating Cloud the way he'd treat Marlene when she had a tantrum or a problem.

"I know...will she still see the good in me?"

Barret stopped in mid-stomp and walked towards Cloud. "Kid, are you sure you don't wanna talk about it? If you don't let if out now, you'll keep it there forever." Cloud bowed his head a little further trying to hide the pain in his eyes.

"Will she still even trust me? Or even look at me without saying that I didn't try to defend her when she needed me most?" Cloud cried out. Barret, once again, felt compassion for his young friend. He never heard him cry out this way since the time Aerith was killed. Now, she was revived, but still the pain remained.

"Cloud, I'm sure that she'd forgive you. How many times do we have to tell you that it wasn't your fault. And if this talk will be about that 'it's-all-my-fault-bullshit!' again, then I'm out of here!" Barret folded his arms across his chest and glared at Cloud. "You know, you're not only hurting yourself, but the ones who love you. There's Tifa, you know how she feels. And Aerith...how would she feel if she finds out you've been torturing yourself like this?"

"I'm sorry...I guess, I never learned to let go of my guilt..." Cloud paused and stiffled a sob. "..and what I keep inside of me.."

Barret sighed. "Kid, don't ya see? It's eating you alive...it's worse than Sephiroth will ever be. You gotta let everything out. Tell me about it, I'll listen."

Cloud was silent for a few moments, then he looked up at the sky and sat down on the floor. "Barret, would you get mad at me if I...hurt Tifa...I mean, not physically..but you know?"

Barret's eyes widened, he sudenly understood what Cloud was harboring in his heart all this time. "Cloud, do you--?"

Before Barret finished his sentence, Cloud nodded and closed his eyes. "I don't know what to do..how to explain it to her...I feel like I'll be betraying my childhood friend.."

"Hey, kid, the way I see this, it doesn't really matter if you've known someone since you were born or not. The important thing here is that you love her and that's it. Just make sure that you're sure about this or you'll end up hurting her too." Barret started walking towards the door, then he turned around, "Kid, think about it, you lost her once...don't mess it up this time." Barret winked and climbed down to the lower deck. He felt refreshed now that he was able to help Cloud. He could handle Tifa, and she was sure that she could handle this maturely. He only wished that Cloud would find the courage to tell Aerith what he felt for her, before it was too late again.