Lost in the Shadows

Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, its characters, settings, etc. However, these words are mine.

Even if I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
-- Three Days Grace ;; Never Too Late

The tears never stopped.

Even though they weren't visible at times, they were always there.

Souls torn, hearts shattered and lives feeling bereft, they tried with every ounce of themselves to get past it.

They very nearly succeeded.

Some things were repaired, but much was lost between them all.

A rift lay between the besotted Vincent and Yuffie. They merely glanced at each other in passing, never once speaking to the other about anything. The people around them could see the hurt and the pain in their eyes though -- the love they so obviously felt for one another. They only hoped it would be a matter of time before they saw how ridiculous they were being. They'd seen what could happen to a person when they lost the only thing that mattered to them.

Surely they wouldn't make the same mistake.

Cloud had tried his best to put the ordeal behind him, though for a long many months, he seemed to be the most affected, aside from Sephiroth. But he was happy. He made Aerith's death worth it. He, Tifa and Denzel moved back to Midgar and they slowly began to rebuild their lives.

Marlene, broken and ill with the death of her father, was entrusted by Elmyra to Tifa and Cloud. She had said that Marlene should be with the people who really knew her father and who would be able to take care of her and provide her with what she needed.

Elmyra, strained with the loss of her daughter, passed away.

Cid went back home to Shera and they began in raising their child together. The delicate baby girl was named Myrna, a tribute to Barret.

Red, Cait, Reno and Elena all went back to Cosmo Canyon, unable to see what they would otherwise be doing.

And Sephiroth...?

All eyes were on him as he walked away.

Tifa cried out to his retreating back, asking, pleading for him to stay.

He never turned around.

Sephiroth kept in touch with Tifa and sometimes even Yuffie, but when he did call or visit them he never had much to say and he never looked any different. He was a broken man, wandering a very broken world.

He admitted once to Tifa, after a swift interrogation, that had it not been for Aerith's parting words, he would've followed her into the sweet abyss of eternity, but he was otherwise trying to find meaning in the world.

The grief would never go away.

His heart would never beat as lively as it once did.

But he would honor her memory, and their love, for the rest of his life.