He stroked her face tenderly, his gentle fingers stopping at every rounded curve. His hands were all that touched her, and yet she fiercely struggled.
"Sephiroth!" She cried after the seventeenth time he brushed the tips of his nails against her lips. "Stop this."
He frowned at the sharp edge to her voice. "I'm not trying to make this uncomfortable for you, love."
She sighed, exasperated. A part of her wanted to know how much further she could push this legendary soldier... One who said to never cry, never bleed, never falter. "I've been here for fourteen days, Sephiroth! I think it's time for me to return to my friends." She rose from the couch that they were seated upon.
Swiftly, he reached out and locked his fingers around her wrist. "Not yet. Stay here for just a bit longer."
Furiously, she swung her arm around, trying to loosen his iron grip. Seeing her attempts futile, she whined out his name, bringing an amused smile to his lips.
"I'm glad you're here." Was all he said in response before he pulled her onto his lap, his arms around him, half of his face delicately hidden behind her luxious brown curtain of hair.
"Does Cloud know where I am?"
"Mmmmm..." The ex-general closed his eyes into her hair. When he first took her from the Gold Saucer after a fierce arguement between Tifa and Cloud regarding her, she was terribly afraid of this tall, handsome man with emerald jewels for eyes. The rumors about him ignited her darkest fears that she had hidden behind layers and layers of puerile joy. Her fear, her demon was simple.
She was afraid of death itself, although she would never admit it.
"Does he?"
"Yes." He sighed out the words, entranced by her girlish scent that was more than delicious to him. As his lips touched her hair repeatedly, brushing back and forth, back and forth... The Cetra became relaxed against his muscular form, rugged yet still delicate from years of battle.
Hours passed by, and Aeris was in a wonderful mental state, standing on the line between the concious and unconcious mind. What was real, she dreamt. What she dreamt was real. Yet not an ounce of energy slipped from Sephiroth. At last he heaved a heavy breath, moving her hair and stirring her body. "Aeris," he whispered softly into her ear.
"Mmm...?" It was her turn to release that lovely sound.
"I'll let you go tomorrow afternoon."
"I don't care... let me sleep..." She requested, half dreaming. He was 99 sure that she didn't hear him. He, however, hoped 100 that she really didn't care to return to AVALANCHE. But for now, he let her sleep against him, in the oddest of positions. Her neck was bent, exposing her skin to him as she sat on his lap, both of her rosy hands falling limp into her lap. He could be still like no other, and so he posed as a statue as she drifted off beside him. A few delicious moments passed.
"Wait... mmm... what did you say?" She said, her voice thick with drowse.
"I said, you may leave tomorow. Return to Cloud. To AVALANCHE." He was careful to pronounce every syllable clearly.
She turned around, and all traces of sleepiness left her angelic face. "But why? You could kill me right here, torture me, oh, God, rape me, but you..."
He laughed, amused to no end at her naive nature. "Rumors don't have to be true."
A nod became her silent response for the moment being. "I'll go to my room, Sephiroth."
He smiled, and his strong arms released her. "Good night, angel."
Hesitantly, she turned and returned his dim smile. "Good night."
As soon as her delicate form touched the surface of the bed, she drifted off to sleep. The darkness of the night outside told her that it was some time around midnight - the moon always stood erect in the middle of the sky when it was. Eleven something, perhaps. She turned onto her side, and slept dreamlessly.
She awoke suddenly, aware of a steady drone coming from the living room. The sky was still dark, and the moon had moved a few inches, so it seemed to her, looking out the window. She pressed her ear against her closed bedroom door, and listened to the noise. It sounded broken all of a sudden. It was not a drone, no... More like a melody. A sad, sorrowful melody. She dared to open the door a crack, and frowned at the darkness of the halls, unlit by anything but a dying candle around the corner. Her large pools of bright green widened when they moved to the couch. Sephiroth was still there. She breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door wide open and stepped outside, strolling quietly to the couch.
As she walked close enough to see, her breath caught in her throat as she watched, in wonder, as the handsome man buried his face in his hands, hair falling like curtains of moonlight in front of his beautiful face. "Sephiroth...?" She called, and as he lifted his head up, the noise stopped. In the candlelight, streaks of liquid rolled down his thin cheeks. It was as if the emerald gems were shedding their beauty in the form of water.
He was crying.
He stared, with sudden viciousness, at her surprised face. She felt herself blush as his eyes wander her figure. They were frozen for a minute, and then he snarled.
"LEAVE!" He roared, and the fire of the candle was reflected in his eyes. Aeris shrank back - frightened at the sight of this calm, collected man, suddenly enraged at her presence.
His strong hand grabbed her arm and dragged her towards her bedroom door. "Stay. Until tomorrow. And then you LEAVE!" He screamed the last word, and the girl trembled as her sleeping voice awoke.
"What's wrong, Sephiroth?" She asked, as tenderly as she possibly could. And then she realized that the rumors were indeed wrong. He could cry. He could care.
His bright eyes narrowed. "None of your business..." He slammed the door shut, leaving Aeris breathless on the bed.
No. I will not let this go unsaid, unspoken of. I will not accept his charming manners in the morning when he's proven himself to be a beast... In a wave of fury, she threw on her red jacket over her signature pink dress and half-ran into the hall, barefoot.
He was on the couch again, bent over, his face hidden. He moved his eyes to her when she headed for the door. "Where are you going...?" He asked once more, his voice extremely soft and gentle, nothing like before.
"I'm LEAVING. I have stayed with you, I have gotten to know you. Thank you for everything, and for keeping me company and now I am leaving!" She yelled out, her cheeks flushed with rage.
"NO!" He cried, racing to the door, cutting her off from passage as he pressed his back against it. "I won't let you go." More drops of aqua trickled down to his revealing coat.
"I HATE YOU!" The fragile girl cried, and Sephiroth stood, stunned, as if electrocuted.
"You don't mean that..." He whispered as he stepped aside, granting her her freedom to leave.
She ripped open the door, and slammed it shut. "YES I DO!" She screamed as she ran towards the gates of the abandoned mansion, turning around to look at it once more. It was raining outside, and unknowingly, she began to weep as well. The rain hid her tears well, but as she stared upon this mansion she realized that she wanted to stay. She needed Sephiroth's reassuring words and loving embrace instead of Cloud's nonchanlant glances and cold phrases. She sank to her knees, the rain soaking her attire. "I don't mean it..."
Still on her knees, she considered her options. She could run and go back to AVALANCHE. She could stay here and hope Sephiroth would find her. She could run away and go somewhere far. Or she could go back and stay with Sephiroth. Out of the four, the last one sounded the most appealing. But she had trouble making the decision - what would Elmyra think? What would Ifalna think? What would Professor Gast think? Even though they are dead, they are not gone. And also, what could AVALANCHE think?
Tifa would call her a whore. Cloud wouldn't care. Barrett would throw a fit and maybe say that she was a no-good slut, and AVALANCHE would be better without her.
Whatever. They can never understand, because they will never know.
In soaking clothes, she ran back to the front door of the mansion that they only occupied one floor of. Sephiroth promised to show her the rest soon...
She desperately pounded on the door, the rain chasing her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Sephiroth...!" She cried over and over, throwing her fists against the doors furiously as her cries turned into sobs, and wails. Her breathing turned into gasps and breathless wheezes. At last, the magestic doors opened and she fell in, into the arms of her destiny.
"I didn't mean it..." The soaking girl whispered as the man cradled her against his marble chest.
"I didn't think so. Otherwise you wouldn't have came back."
He looked down as she looked up, and in that instant their lips were drawn to each other's for a split second. They both smiled as the front doors shut behind them. There would be much more of those intoxicating kisses. Much more that would be much more passionate. They would last much longer. And they would lead to more than a tour around the mansion. It would lead to a fufilling of a symbolic promise. It would lead to a new destiny that they could write out for themselves, where whatever could happen. ShinRa can be defeated. Snow can fall in the summer. And a demon could love an angel, and receive the same love in return.