Gift of the Tainted
Summary: Now chaptering. She would give him her Light, but at a heavy price: she would have to take in his Darkness… along with a few other things. [Aerith & Sephiroth centric
Disclaimer: Sephiroth, Aerith and all other characters mentioned in this fic solely belong to Square Enix and Disney.
A/N: Note to some readers that this story may be confusing to those who have not played or have never heard of Final Fantasy VII. Also, this chapter has now been edited.
Chapter 1
She knew she ought to feel hatred for him, but it wasn't in her nature.
Bygones were bygones, and she felt that everyone deserved a second chance.
Even him.
Calmly Aerith walked across the silent expanse of blue, empty plains, gravel crunching loudly under her big sized brown boots as she went. It was her first time going beyond the outskirts of the little town, but she knew where to go, and after all it wasn't as if there was anyone around to stop her.
It had been three months since Organization XIII had been defeated, three months since all the heartless and nobodies had been successfully eradicated from all the worlds, three months since almost everyone had left Radiant Garden a.k.a. Hollow Bastion, all for varying reasons.
Sora had returned back to his own world, Destiny Islands, whereas Goofy and Donald had traveled with King Mickey back to Disney Castle. Cloud was competing in another tournament at the Olympius Coliseum, Tifa competing alongside him. Leon, Cid and Yuffie all left on Cid's latest Gummi ship, to pick up supplies in the world of Twilight Town and were yet to arrive back, most likely overstaying their visit again. That pretty much just left her and Merlin for a while, that was until Merlin decided to go travel to other worlds, on a search for new types of magic that he believed were yet to be discovered.
Now Aerith was all on her lonesome, as she had been for the past week and a half.
And it got her to thinking, what if he was still out there, still in Dark Depths?
Aerith hadn't encountered him in a long time, and at one stage, had never wanted to for a long time.
Sephiroth.
Reaching the cliff Aerith stood on the very edge, the tips of her boots suspended over air, and surveyed the desolate scenery before her.
She knew he was here somewhere, she could sense his presence: that dark and foreboding aura that hovered on the edges of her consciousness. The taint of Darkness.
Aerith couldn't trace the Darkness back to its origin, but she didn't need to; despite the fact that Darkness was almost untraceable, Light would always be easy to find, and because her Light was one of the purest, therefore one of the most powerful, she knew Sephiroth would have no trouble detecting it – if he hadn't done so already.
All the same however Aerith willed her Light to spread across the rocky expanse, down into every crevice and crack, sweeping over the land of Dark Depths far and wide, making sure that every inhabitant was alert to her presence. She only expected there to be one.
She wasn't disappointed.
Dark tendrils of smoke appeared at the side of Aerith's vision. Turning around she found herself looking up into the face of her killer, the same person who had once impaled her upon his sword. Stepping forward from the swirling mass of darkness, Sephiroth's eyes landed upon her form, his expression cold and calculating. She could almost see his mind racing through the endless conclusions as to her arrival in a place like Dark Depths.
"Hello Sephiroth," Aerith said in a light and conversational tone, as if greeting an old friend whom she hadn't seen in months.
The tall, silver-haired man regarded her suspiciously. "What brings you here, Cetra girl?"
"Now, now, is that the way to greet somebody?"
He ignored her mild rebuttal and shot another question at her. "What business do you have here in the Dark Depths? I am assuming you were looking for me, for there is no one else that resides here."
"Well," Aerith began, wondering how in all the worlds she was going to explain to her once-murderer her appearance on his claimed land without alerting him to the real reason. "Actually, I was just taking a stroll outside Radiant Garden and somehow I happened upon this place, this rather alluring place and... I thought to take a nice look around," she finished somewhat lamely.
"I see." They both knew she was lying.
Sighing, Aerith decided to come out with the truth. "Okay, so I will admit, I did in fact come to see you.' Sephiroth tilted his head to the side, his face betraying slight interest – the most amount of emotion she had ever seen him show.
"Oh? And why would that be, Cetra girl? Why come to see me?" he asked.
"First off my name is not 'Cetra girl' and I came to see you because – because I want to help you get rid of your Darkness!" There. She had said it.
Sephiroth blinked a little... then laughed, his whole wing shaking with him.
For some reason this really angered Aerith. She didn't find the situation slightly comical in the least. "What is so funny?"
Laugh dying down, Sephiroth replied, "What makes you think I want to get rid of my Darkness? Silly girl, I am the Darkness – Cloud's Darkness. The Darkness of his heart."
"Wrong!" Aerith exclaimed. She couldn't believe this. It was almost like re-living through her past life again. "You believe lies once more, Sephiroth. First you thought you were once Cetra and now you believe you are the Darkness? When will you ever learn? Even if what you say is true – that you are indeed the Darkness of Cloud's heart – then why are you still here? Cloud defeated you and overcame his Darkness – and you know how he did that? He did it with the aid of Tifa's Light – that's how! Tifa gave him her Light, and I can give you some of mine too, because I know that somewhere deep inside of you lies the tiniest flame of Light, still burning. I can help you, Sephiroth, but only if you'll let me." Aerith had to inhale deeply; she was spent of air due to her long, overdue verbal outburst, expelled in only one breath.
The One-Winged Angel stood there impassively, the silence between them lengthening to a point where Aerith felt like she was going to scream until he finally chose to speak.
"...I think you have mistaken me for your First class SOLDIER boyfriend Zackary, Aerith Gainsborough, for I am not that gullible and so easily inclined to accept your 'gracious' offer of sharing with me your Light," he said coldly. "I think I am well off enough to survive on my own, without your precious Light, or anyone else's for that matter."
It was Aerith's turn to laugh, albeit bitterly. "'Well off'? Tell me would a well off person be living out their days in a place such as this? Face it Sephiroth, you are at a dead end. No longer can you convince Cloud to give in to his Darkness as he is in control of it. No longer can you go back to your old ways – Jenova is gone along with what was once known as our world. We are stuck here – whether we like it or not – and you can either live out your days as a hermit here in Dark Depths, wallowing in your Darkness..." She spoke in a much kinder, gentler voice. "...or you can join this side, the side of Light..."
Aerith's form was instantly engulfed in bright, golden light, so bright that Sephiroth had to raise an arm over his eyes from the glare. She reached a hand out towards him, but Sephiroth recoiled, hissing and baring his teeth. Black smoky spirals surrounded his lower body all the way up to his waist as his right wing unfurled and stretched itself to its limit, giving him a more demonic appearance to rival Aerith's angelic one.
Leaping up into the sky, Sephiroth stared down at the shining girl below, gesturing his arm outwards.
"Come. Let us see what this Light of yours can do then first." A sword materialized into his palm, one that spanned well over ten feet.
His legendary sword, Masamune.
Aerith faltered. Memories flashed through her mind of her final moments back in her home world, of her head lowering to see the red-tinged blade protruding out of her stomach, of her collapsing forward, arms falling limply by her side. The slice of cold, sharpened metal as darkness clouded her vision, her last thoughts echoing the sounds of his cruel laughter...
Sephiroth smiled malevolently, seeing the traces of fear in her eyes as they swept up and down his sword.
"Care for a repeat experience of getting speared again, Cetra girl?" he said.
Aerith looked up into his eyes, eyes that were once bright green and full of mako, now just a clear shade of blue.
There was a still a chance.
But she had to act now, or never.
"No," she replied simply, and before Sephiroth even had a chance to act, she shot upwards into the air as well, the Light still engulfing her form brightly as ever. Sephiroth's eyes widened. He knew what she was planning to do.
"No!" he cried but it was too late; Aerith had already latched herself upon his body, tightly curling her limbs around him, one hand clamped over the spot on his chest where his heart would be.
She raised her face to his.
"I'm sorry," she said calmly.
With all of the strength she possessed, her power, her love, her joy, Aerith channeled all her energy into one concentrated form of Light – and sent it down though her hand right into the core of his very being, where the source of all his Darkness laid.
Sephiroth emitted a piercingly loud guttural scream, his torso arching against Aerith's body. As a form of retaliation the Darkness inside him lashed out, pushing back the Light and forming a dark sphere around them.
It was no good. If Aerith were to save Sephiroth at all, she had to take in his Darkness.
Embracing herself mentally for the attack that would be mounted against her, Aerith closed her eyes and opened herself up to the Darkness, exposing her heart fully to it. Immediately the Darkness washed over her as it left the empty carcass of Sephiroth, all her senses overwhelmed by the sheer force of it taking over. It was more than she could stand.
Aerith's voiced joined in with Sephiroth's, their screaming symphony of agony resounding across the endless plains, just a small taste in comparison to the magnitude of the battle that was waging inside the both of them. Aerith could barely feel the nails that had pierced through his gloves raking across her back, shredding tears in her dress. She felt like she was going to drown under the weight of perpetual blackness that surrounded her, that suffocated her.
It was all for nothing. She had failed, and now they were both going to die.
Where there is Light, there is Darkness, and where there is Darkness...
From the dark sphere burst forth multiple, blinding beams of Light, streaming from both Aerith and Sephiroth's forms. Weakly Aerith opened her eyes. All she could see was white.
The last thing she remembered was the feeling of falling through the air... then nothing.
Slowly she came to her senses. Bringing a hand to her dizzying head, Aerith blinked wearily and glanced down to where the silver-haired man was lying, eyes closed, next to her. His chest was steadily rising and falling, which meant that he too had survived their descent.
She had done it. Aerith had saved Sephiroth. No longer could she feel the dark, menacing aura that had always surrounded him. He was freed from the taint of the Darkness. Suddenly feeling drained from the thought of the enormity of what she had just achieved, Aerith laid back down on the hard, rocky ground, and turned to face Sephiroth, appraising his current condition.
Then Aerith realized something. Sephiroth's wing had disappeared. The One-Winged Angel no longer had his One Wing. She wondered what he would make of that when he would wake up.
Shakily she reached out for Sephiroth's hand and clasped it tightly.
"Welcome back, Sephiroth," she whispered.
Aerith closed her eyes again, letting exhaustion and weariness claim her.
A/N: Sorry if there were some mistakes in this fic – I haven't gotten the chance to play the game in ages. And if it seems a little rushed… well that would be because I have exams coming up.
Haha… yeah.
Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this story and please review! Any comments/constructive criticisms are welcome.