[ video - locked to Aerith ]

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[Rude's having some reservations about the whole trip to Terra, and while it isn't exactly like him to open up to someone else, he feels he at least owes it to Aerith to let her know what's going on.

Besides, he needed an excuse to contact her following Zack's disappearance. Two birds with one stone--Turks are so efficient]

Comments

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

[Aerith sees the message on her phone for a video, and leans back from her work in the garden to answer it. She's slightly surprised to see Rude, but not upset by it.]

It was you, Rude? It's nice to see you. How are you?

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[Rude regards her momentarily, before finally figuring it's now or never]

Was gonna ask you the same thing.

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

I asked first~

[Avoiding answering the question, but Aerith doesn't try to cover that up.]

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[He sees what she did there, but he isn't going to get suckered into the game]

Been better. You?

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

The same. A lot has happened.

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[He figured. Rude isn't exactly the consoling type, unfortunately...]

You heard about the Terra trip?

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

A little. I'm not quite sure what it's all about. Are you going, Rude?

[cyke.livejournal.com]

Was put on the list somehow.

[His guess is that one of the other people from their world signed him up for whatever reason. Whether that means he actually plans to go...

He sort of hesitates before he continues]

Which is why I contacted you.

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

[She stops and blinks for a moment, the question in her expression evident. What did she have to do with this trip to Terra that Rude felt he needed to talk to her?]

Am I involved in this too?

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[...Which means she really had no clue what the whole Terra trip was about. Great]

They say the guy behind our being here is on Terra. If we deal with him, things are supposed to go back to normal again.

[Hopefully she still remembered their previous talk, because Rude really didn't want to have to spell it out for her]

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

We will all be going home, then.

[Which meant she would continue on her path to the Forgotten Capital, and lose her life. There is hesitance, and she turns her head away from the screen so only her profile is visible, eyes downcast.]

Did you want to talk to me to see if I was okay with the fact I'll be leaving this world to die in my own?

[cyke.livejournal.com]

[Well, when she puts it like that ... yeah, pretty much.

Rude jut sort of watches, no real emotion visible on his end]

Say the word, and it won't happen.

[lilyoftheslums.livejournal.com]

[Aerith remains quiet for a long time, thinking about what he was offering and the consequences of it. Zack had just left recently, to what Aerith knew would be his own death. It would be the same for her, if everyone were to succeed.

Her eyes go back to the screen, glancing at Rude with an almost apologetic look. She had told Cloud that if she had helped from the Lifestream, she would make the same decision and offer her life again. It was so much harder to be courageous now.]

Everyone else wants to go home. They have family and friends, and important things to do just like I did. Gaia is a nice place, and I could be happy here I think, but this planet is angry. It's hurting.

It could be because of us. And in our own world, my death is what allowed me to help stop Meteor and save the planet. I'm a Cetra, so that is my job, isn't it? A keeper of the Planet? Stopping it now is only prolonging fate. I was meant to die then, and at any point that I might return home, the outcome will always be the same.

[There's a shake in her smile, a bit of disresolve in the way she presents herself to him, in the words she speaks. She isn't as brave as she's trying to make herself out to be. She just understands that this is the way things are supposed to be, whether or not she likes them.]

It's okay. Don't stop something that so many others want just for something that will happen no matter if we return tomorrow or years from now.