Heh, I just wrote this inbetween mixing Vodka up for the floods of people in my house. *grins* It's in no means meant to be an example of my writing, but just a cute little Christmas-y idea that popped into my head and hacked up in ten minutes flat.

Err, excuse grammar mistakes and the like.

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“Christmas… what’s that?” Cloud asks the flower girl as they walk through Rocket Town’s snow covered streets. As they make their way from their rushed shopping trip the white powder crunches under the weight of his boots, and their breath curls idly in the cool air.

Aerith looks over to him and smiles. She’s not surprised Cloud doesn’t know what this ‘Christmas’ thing is- he’s a boy from an isolated little village in the middle of nowhere. Truthfully, she hasn’t even met someone from Midgar familiar with the celebration.

“It’s a Holiday of an ancient religion. In the midst of winter it marks the birth of their messiah,” she explains over the shopping bags in her chilly arms, almost sounding as if she’s quoting a text book.

Cloud doesn’t look too impressed- if anything he looks confused and vaguely wonders what religion has to do with him. Aerith knows he’s not a religious man, and by Holy she isn’t either.

“Oh…” he eventually says.

“Well, that’s what it was originally,” Aerith continues. “It lost it’s religious meaning a long time ago. Back before it died out it was just an excuse for people to be with their loved ones and give each other gifts.”

“And today is this ‘Christmas’?” Cloud asks, still not exactly sure why she’s telling him.

Nodding, Aerith goes on to explain all she knows about the festival. She tells Cloud about the decorating of the trees, the Christmas dinners, the exchanging of presents, Christmas stockings, and even about the fabled man “Santa Claus”- a concept Cloud finds particularly disturbing.

By the time she’s educated her bodyguard they’re at the edge of the town, sheltered from the falling show by the row of fir trees. Cloud hesitates for a moment before dropping his bags onto the ground beneath him and stopping in his tracks.

“Come here,” he says amiably to the young Cetra.

Using one hand he brushes the fallen snow off of her head and she giggles at the gesture. He smiles and blushes a little before pulling the pink ribbon out of her hair and carefully placing it in the palm of her soft hand.

“What…?” she asks with a naïve smile. This time it’s her turn to be confused.

The ex-Soldier points towards one of the smaller trees, and before she gets a chance to look back at him he’s already wrapped his arms around her waist pulled her off the ground. The flower girl smiles brighter than he’s ever seen her do so, and she gently puts a hand on one of his shoulders and reaches up. Understanding what she’s meant to do she ties the ribbon in a bow around the top of the tree- it’s not quite a star or an angel, but it’ll do.

They don’t speak for a while, but he just holds her up in his protective arms that as they silently watch the falling snow. Eventually she looks down at him and wraps her arms warmly around his neck- she's never experienced Christmas before, but somehow she feels as if this is it; it's just an excuse to spent time with your loved ones, after all.

“Merry Christmas, Aerith,” he murmurs into her neck.

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Hehe, hope it wasn't too terrible. *hides*

:fangirl:

that's so cute!!!! <3
I wanna see more of your stuff soon plz ^_^
lol that is so like Cloud :plot:

good job that was really good!! :cheer:

Thank you very much! I haven't been writing for that long, but I do have a fair bit of Cloud/Aerith stuff written, and a lot more I plan to write. It's just getting the time to do it, really.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read and comment. <3

lol you're welcome ^_^

I'm always more than happy to read some Cleris fics and yours are awesome ^_^
I hope to read more of yours soon :huggle: