[ He looks back to see the sympathy on her face. She thinks she's hurt him. In... some ways, maybe she has. But the scars both of them are rubbing up against — his and hers — are deeper than either of them know how to process or contemplate. There's only so much they can do about a past neither of them knows how to open up about.
He remembers how shaken she was, briefly, in the train graveyard. Tifa had pulled her up then, but it was hard not to see something had cause Aerith's usually unshakable joy to rattle loose, before she had bolted it back on. It comes to him in a flash that the reason he felt guilty was because he didn't want Aerith to think she was alone again. (Again? Why again?)
And it's i nthat moment he realizes he was hurting her trying to play everything off. By being Mr. Cool about it all. The words are out of his mouth before he knows what to with them, the sudden shock and guilt all over his face. ]
no subject
He remembers how shaken she was, briefly, in the train graveyard. Tifa had pulled her up then, but it was hard not to see something had cause Aerith's usually unshakable joy to rattle loose, before she had bolted it back on. It comes to him in a flash that the reason he felt guilty was because he didn't want Aerith to think she was alone again. (Again? Why again?)
And it's i nthat moment he realizes he was hurting her trying to play everything off. By being Mr. Cool about it all. The words are out of his mouth before he knows what to with them, the sudden shock and guilt all over his face. ]
Listen, I'm-!
[ I'm sorry! ]