Seeking Forgiveness (Open.)

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud stopped Fenrir just outside of the broken building. He slipped off of it and propped it up against the nearest wall. It had been a while since he was here. Yet, it felt like he needed to come. A sigh fell from pink lips as boots started to walk to the entrance.

There were flowers everywhere. Sunlight poured into the old church through the broken ceiling. Wood from various objects was strung around. Most of the pews were broken. In the middle of the church was a pool of water from the lifestream. Cloud made his way over the broken wood to the water's edge. Images of the first day he was here flashed in his mind. She was always such a happy girl, even that day when her life ended. Guilt flooded Cloud.

Shoes stopped before touching the pure water. Cloud stared at the water, a look of regret on his face. He took a seat. He knew there wasn't anything he could have done to save her or him. The images of their faces flashed in the blonde's mind. Aeris and Zack. One a flower girl who grew up in the slums and a Centra who saved the Earth. The other a close friend who saved his life. Both had sacrificed their lives to save him. It made sense that Cloud felt so guilty at their deaths. But he knew they didn't blame him.

He spoke. "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure if they could hear him. He always felt closer here, though. As if they stayed here, waiting. A bandaged hand lifted up as blue eyes looked it over. Cloud had injured it from a motorcycle crash when a monster sudden jumped at him from nowhere, a few days ago. It wasn't too badly hurt. Just a small incomplete fracture in the wrist and some scrapes from skidding on the ground. The water was known for its healing qualities, but was it right for him to ask to use it? He hesitated. Blood had seeped through the wrapping in a small area, but it was dry now.
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Word Count: 348
Notes: Don't care who joins as long as you're active. ^.^

[Penelo]

The open sky.

It had become a home to the blond woman, a home she missed each time she had to land and refuel and restock her cargo. She loved flying, she loved exploring new worlds--as she recently discovered their locations were within reaching distance--she loved being free. She'd tasted freedom before, flying with Vaan and Balthier and Fran and the others as they darted across Ivalice in hopes to save the Dalmascan Kingdom from destruction and put Ashe back on her throne. But that had been out of necessity. It wasn't for the hell of it. She'd tasted even more freedom as she flew as a sky pirate with Vaan for nearly a year. It was short lived but she loved it very much. The discovery of Lemures, the floating continent, had taken away that freedom because they had to save the world. It was something Penelo didn't mind doing. But after that adventure was over, Penelo had a thirst for more.

She couldn't pinpoint exactly what caused it, but it just seemed that Vaan and herself just separated, whether they actually agreed to go two different ways or not was something she couldn't remember--however she had no burning urge to seek him out. She had her own airship, and after discovering these new worlds...this one in particular was called Gaia, as she had found out, was very much like Ivalice--that is it was war-torn and in the rebuilding stages. As well it was technical with machines though the architectures were drastically different. She enjoyed flying over this world, stopping here and there to explore on foot. She had recently landed in the half-ruined city of Midgar to restock her wares.

It was on this restocking trip (she was so glad to find their currency was the same sort of gil she had back home) that she stumbled across a worse-for-wear section of the city. The Slumes, a friendly stranger called it. They warned her of monsters, but the sword and bow and quiver on her back gave reason to believe the petite girl could handle herself. She walked with a childish wonder through the rubble, her eyes on the huge looming thing above her, the Plate, a passerby explained. Something had caused it to crash into the city below. It was horribly devastating, it didn't seem like it happened a long time ago so Penelo kept her questions to herself, in case she upset someone.

A building called her attention, it was nearly intact and had a...special air about it. The front door was ajar, and she didn't find any indication that it was someone's residence so she walked towards the door and poked her head in. It reminded her of a cathedral in Rabanastre, or at least some place of worship. Or it used to be anyway, it was in ruins and the pews were haphazardly strewn around. A beam of sunlight drew her attention to the back--or the front depending on ones views--of the building and she found herself slowly shuffling towards it. There was a large hole in the floor, that didn't seem very recent, with a man bent looking into the water before it. She was pretty sure he had heard her approach as she hadn't made an effort to be silent. She tugged slightly at her braid as she noticed a bandage on his hand that had blood stained on it, it wasn't fresh looking but it still concerned her.

In a moment of complete impulse she moved up next to him and dropped to her knees with the grace of a practiced dancer. She gingerly (yet determinedly) took his hand and inspected the bandages. "I can heal that for you. Please let me heal it for you," she offered with a sincere look in her blue eyes. She looked up at him, finally catching his expression and front profile. He had blond hair like herself (though his was up in the air) and blue eyes, also like hers--although his eyes were full of pain and regret. Penelo's eyes only conveyed concern for this complete stranger. That was just how she was, though. Selfless and kind to a fault.

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud was lost in his own mind and hadn't heard the footsteps of the approaching girl. Should he use the healing water? Was it right to after the deaths of those two people? He wasn't sure. The mind of the blonde man wavered back and forth. Then something came up next to him. Blue eyes flashed to see who it was that had caught him off guard. It was a girl. A young blonde girl with bright blue eyes.

She took his injured hand gently but forcefully. "I can heal that for you. Please let me heal it for you." She almost seemed to beg. He just looked at her and blinked. To come out of nowhere and want to help someone just because they looked hurt. Blue eyes slumped a little to the ground. Just like Aeris. He thought. Cloud looked back at her. "I'm alright. It's just a scratch, really." He half lied gently pulling his hand back. He didn't like others worrying about him, but it seemed like there was always someone who did.

[Penelo]

It was forward of her to just take his hand like that, yes, but Penelo was just imagining a million different horrible scenarios in her head about what could happen with his hand injured like that. A horrible beasty could smell it, and come looking for a meal (not that she was worried about handling a beast or two, she just didn't want to bother it and risk injuring someone else), or he could get and infection from lack of sanitation (and while the water before them gave off a serene feeling, she didn't trust the rest of this place was free of germs or bacteria). A quick healing spell would seal it right up, and to her, there was no contest between using up the tiny bit of magic it would take to fix, or all the possible bad scenarios that could occur.

She had expected him to pull his hand back--who was she kidding, she half expected him to shove her away and a bunch of other things--so she didn't fight it, but instead folded her hands in her lap and looked at him sympathetically. "Really, it isn't a problem for me. It'll be really fast and you'll barely feel a thing." It then occurred to her that she was in a different world than her own, and healing might be different here than in Ivalice. With that thought in mind, she worked nervously at her lip with her teeth and cast her eyes back at the water.

"This place is really magical. Is it a shrine, or something?" Her curiosity got the best of her, and she just had to ask. She knew it was a place of worship of some sort, but it was in a horrible condition to hold the people the pews were supposed to seat. It looked like it had been deserted for a long time, but the flowers and the water were curious, as was the single ray of sunshine. It was ethereal. She smiled faintly as she surveyed the area, her eyes fell back on to the slightly injured man next to her. She still really wanted to heal him, but it went against her self to heal him without his consent.

[Cloud Strife]

"Really, it isn't a problem for me. It'll be really fast and you'll barely feel a thing. This place is really magical. Is it a shrine, or something?" The girl pressed on before shifting her attention. Cloud looked at the water. "Sorta. It was an old church that's long been out of service. Now its more like a healing place." Blue eyes stared at his arm. "A good friend of mine came here a lot." This girl reminded him more and more of her as she spoke. Such kindness and selflessness. Cloud's guilt level rose higher.

"I....I don't know if it's right for me to heal it. It doesn't really hurt." He was talking more to himself then the girl. He was always so hard on himself. If Tifa was here, she would scold him for not taking care of his wrist. A sigh fell from his lips. "Maybe you should.... He trailed off. Cloud didn't need her worrying over it. It was a small wound though.

[Penelo]

A healing place, he said. She nodded faintly as she heard it, because it felt true. The water before her was special, but she couldn't really put her finger as to why. She wanted to reach out and run her fingers along the surface, but she resisted. Again, she lifted her eyes from the water to look at him when he mentioned a friend of his visited here a lot, she couldn't help but wonder where the person whom he spoke of was now, however, his general sense of depression kept her from asking such a nosy question; it wasn't her business.

What he said next was a small little flare of alarm. He didn't know if it was 'right' for him to heal his injury. The only people Penelo knew who would say something like that were the people that felt they deserved to be mistreated or injured regularly. She wanted to tell him immediately that it wasn't true, but she didn't know him. For all she knew, he could be a serial killer. She didn't for a second believe that to be the case, just him being hard on himself, but the fact was she didn't know him so her advice on it wouldn't count for anything, to him. Instead, she chose to go with a different approach. "My Gods and Goddesses blessed me with a gift, and I don't plan on insulting them when presented with an opportunity to use it." She actually was serious. Penelo had a great healing power and if the situation was presented to help someone with said powers, she was going to do it. When he trailed off, she smiled. That was as much of an OK as she needed.

She held her hand out and concentrated, the power of her healing swirled around her in a faint light and as she cast her spell, she gestured with her hand--a wordless command for the spell's direction--and the faint glowing light flew from her to Cloud, with a focus on his injured hand. The whole process lasted only a minute and afterwords she opened her eyes and looked at him. "There. Healed." She couldn't help but smile.

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[Cloud Strife]

The girl was very happy to hear him say she could heal him. She started to cast the spell. The light that formed around her came to surround his hand. Cloud watched. It was too late to change his mind. Did he make the right choice? One could only hope.

"There. Healed." The blonde girl smiled. Cloud looked his wrist over, moving it this way and that. It didn't hurt at all now. His left hand started to unwrap the bandages. There was only dried blood to prove of the injury. "Thanks." His voice was a wavering one.

Cloud looked at the water. He held his right wrist in his left hand, looking between the two. Finally, he allowed them to submerge in the healing water. The blood washed away disappearing in the pure water. Once again his hands were clean. The guilt lifted a little as if he could feel the forgiveness from his fallen friends. Blue eyes gazed back at the girl. He realized she had helped him and he didn't even know her name. "I'm Cloud." He introduced himself.