The Last Temptation

Twilight Lament

Oct. 2004

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII nor any of its characters.

Summary: Aeris Gainsborough has known almost her entire life that she will be a sacrifice to save Planet and everything on it. Her destiny, something she struggles with often times raging against a cruel fate that will never allow her true happiness, and the guilt such uncharitable thoughts bring. But when the moment comes, it isn't Aeris that who rocks the tides of fate, but rather the very man who is supposed to kill her. Will that moment lead her to happiness? Or will it end everything?

Chapter One:

How It All Began

Chosen…

Messiah…

Savior…

I have heard these words for so long. Never spoken aloud though. Oh, no. These names for me come from my ancestors and Planet, whispered in my mind for so long that I no longer remember what it was like not to hear them. You see I am Cetra, the ancient race and caretakers of Planet. Ones gifted with magic and the ability to touch the Lifestream with our minds and hear the dead.

The Lifestream is Planet's Blood: the force from which all living things are created and to where all dead things go either to be reborn or journey elsewhere. Human cannot touch the Lifestream. Well, they can, but few of them survive the experience sane if at all. But I can. I am half Cetra, and I am the last. Maybe that is why Planet talks to me constantly: a never-ending flow of emotions and pictures. I am the only one left to hear.

Sure the Shinra Corporation has infused countless human with Mako energy. But even though what they call Mako is from the Lifestream, it is not the same. Mako is warped, watered down, and twisted. ShinRa created its Soldier Program from Mako, birthed super humans with magic abilities outside of the materia stones.

Those stones are the second defining difference between humans and Cetra. Materia, pieces of the Lifestream that have solidified, hold magic. Each stone infuses its user with a specific type of magic to use. Humans and Cetra both can use material to cast spells. It tends to be harder for humans though. But the Cetra, we can use magic without materia. It's hard for us to do for it requires that we pull directly from the Lifestream. We are the only ones who can, or rather we were.

ShinRa's Soldier Program first created warriors that could use materia far more easily than your average human. Some of them though learned to pull from the Lifestream itself. I take some solace that only of those who could pull from the Lifestream still lives. Not out of jealousy mind you, but concern. The Lifestream is harsh to those not ready for it. It can shred a mind, even upon first contact, much less with repeated touches. Only in death, in that moment of freedom can the human mind or soul slide into the Lifestream unharmed.

Many were infused with Mako. Roughly three quarters of them survived the experience. Of those the survived only one in ten developed a connection to the Lifestream, and of those, only one did not go insane and die, at least not immediately. I said before that I took solace in the fact that only he remains, but perhaps I should not. For he is the most powerful, the strongest, the perfect one. And the one who will try to destroy everything. My bane and my mission: General Sephiroth.

Sephiroth. ShinRa's shining achievement. He became the General of ShinRa's armies within a year of making Soldier, First Class. Rumored to be the best fighter, ever, skilled in magic, and very intelligent. The Lifestream did not destroy him. His mind did not break under its weight. No, something else would push him over the edge.

A little over five years ago he journeyed to the mountains of Nibelheim. Within that tiny village lay one of many ShinRa mansions. A place for those who worked at the outpost , deep within the mountains, to stay. The outpost was one of many, a research facility with a Mako generator, but a darker secret lurked within its rusted walls.

The mission was simple enough. Monsters, powerful ones, threatened the outpost. Sephiroth and a small contingent were sent to remove the threat. A simple mission for a not so simple man.

The monsters that had proved too much for the villagers and even many within the ranks of Soldier were nothing but a minor inconvenience to him. He reached the outpost barely scathed and discovered Jenova, the Calamity from the Skies, and a connection formed, like a bone snapping painfully into place.

He spent all day and all night within the ShinRa mansion, cloistered in its underground library. Only to emerge later with insanity burning inside his Mako hued eyes.

Jenova…his Mother…and Cetra… or so he thought.

Him…inhuman…an experiment…her heir.

His mind wavered with the discoveries and at that moment, Jenova struck. So close to her was he at that moment, so connected. She whispered to him.

"Free me… Help me… Destroy my captors."

And he did just that. The mad General turned upon the town and slaughtered anyone in his path with a misguided rage. He then turned for the outpost with a wake of fire behind him. The screams did not sway him. The smell of burned flesh offered no deterrent. Justice, so he believed, had been served to those cruel to his Mother. A child cried for help and Sephiroth only nudged the fires higher.

A confrontation would happen at the reactor and in the end all the public would know is that the Great General, the Strong Protector, the Hero of Wutai had been killed in a tragic accident. Yet the world would come to know the truth when exactly five years later Sephiroth would returns. Enraged, insane, and still thirsting for vengeance upon all who lived.

He believes himself and Jenova to be Cetra. He believes that he must end the plague known as humans in a rain of fire and a sea of blood. Justice, he believes, will be done.

How do I know this? How have I always known that Sephiroth was alive? Because five years ago Planet screamed in pain and despair. The Lifestream swelled up and I watched the dead pour into it from Nibelheim in seemingly endless waves. So much suffering and death. Planet showed me a glimpse of Jenova's plan and gave me a brief touch to the mind of the Great Genera. At that moment another bone snapped into place.

I, Aeris Gainsborough, last of the Cetra, knew that I would be the one to face him and become hope.

Chosen…

Savior…

Messiah…

I would stop him and Jenova. I would see him for the first time, know thy enemy.

Now I feel it all so much more. In two weeks it will be time. I will die and Holy will be summoned with my dying breath. I will watch my blood run down his sword.