Sephiroth's Second Chance
Chapter 1
Revelations and Readmission
All Characters belong to Sony. I wish they were mine, but I'm not that smart.
W-what happened?
No, no it-it hasn't happened. It can't- I refuse to accept it!
Sephiroth blinked and struggled for breath. He was floating in an empty space of green glowing light and strands of the Lifestream flowed around him. He wheezed, clutching his chest. His lungs felt as though they had not worked for a long time. He was unable to move his feet from their spot on an invisible surface below him. His hand went to his forehead where, moments before, blood had been pouring in a torrent down his face. Now there was no blood and he did not feel the indescribable pain that had been flooding his body when Cloud attacked him.
Cloud.
His puppet had been much stronger than he had anticipated. Such stupidity. Sephiroth sighed and looked around. Then he remembered Jenova. What had happened to Mother when he died?
"Mother." Sephiroth whispered softly. No reply.
"Mother." Sephiroth called a little more loudly.
Still there was no response, no reassuring voice. Sephiroth keep calling, getting louder and louder, until he was yelling.
He screamed "Mother!" at the top of his lungs, but there was no reply. He realised something. Jenova had never kept him waiting before.
Never.
Cloud brushed his blonde spikes out of his glowing azure eyes and stared around the silent bedroom of the Kalm inn.
Piercing cerulean eyes met chocolate brown and Tifa smiled at her 'hero'. He had, after all, saved her from falling into the pit of Mako and saved the world from Sephiroth and Meteor.
Tifa was sitting on the floor, her back against the radiator. Yuffie was sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs swinging gently. Barret was leaning against the wall; his head tilted back, his eyes shut. Red sat in a corner watching Cloud, his tail occasionally swishing back and forth, back and forth. Cid stood, his hand wrapped around a cigarette, taking long deep drags from it. Cait Sith sat on top of his gigantic mog, which was squeezed awkwardly between the staircase and the wall, and seemed to be stuck, judging by the impatient noises coming from Cait. Vincent stood indifferently in a corner, not doing anything.
"Well, we've done it." Cloud finally broke the silence. Everyone looked up and smiled (well, whether or not Vincent smiled no one knew as his mouth was hidden).
"No more Sephiroth, no more Jenova, and no-more-bloody-Shinra." Barret growled.
Everyone nodded. Tifa jumped up and stretched.
"What's going to happen now?" she asked, looking around.
"I suppose we'll all go our separate ways," replied Red, "but we'll meet again to relive the old times."
Everyone nodded, and, gradually, began to say their goodbyes and leave the room.
Sephiroth stared in every direction, as soft footsteps reverberated around him. A figure stepped into the green glow in front of him. A figure in a pink dress and long brown hair tied in a plait.
"Do you know me?" a sweetly female voice asked. Oh yes, he knew her. He knew her.
Aeris.
"You're dead." he said flatly, crossing his arms.
"So are you!" she giggled.
Sephiroth stared into the emerald eyes of the girl he had murdered. She reached out her hand, and Sephiroth found that he was drawn, against his will, towards her. He also found he couldn't take his eyes off her face. When they were nearly face to face, Sephiroth felt himself no longer being drawn, yet could not pull back.
"What the hell do you want? Haven't I got to go to the Lifestream? What did you do to Mother? You've had your fun, Centra." Sephiroth growled. Aeris smoothed her dress unnecessarily.
"Jenova is destroyed, as is all her DNA inside of people, and by order of the planet, has been banished to the turmoil outside the Lifestream." she informed him.
Sephiroth acted unconcerned "Am I to be sent there too?"
"No." The answer was so quick, Sephiroth was taken aback.
"Why not?" Sephiroth frowned. Aeris looked him in the eye, and said, simply, "Because I forgive you."
"Why should I care for your forgiveness? I would have been a God! Why should I care for your pitiful emotion?" Sephiroth sneered at her.
Aeris turned and walked away, before looking over her shoulder at Sephiroth.
"Because I'm not the only one who forgives you."
A strand of green soul spiralled by Sephiroth's ear, and there was a soft whisper in the void.
"I forgive you."
Sephiroth whipped around; slightly surprised he could move his legs. There was no-one there.
"I forgive you." Another thread floated by, a whisper from the emerald radiance.
"Go away!" Sephiroth roared. "I don't want your forgiveness, I don't need it!"
The voices grew louder repeating their message, threatening to drive the listener to insanity. Green coils and loops floated about, tying round him, seeming to tighten, painfully, but comforting. Sephiroth saw faces flash in front of his eyes; Mr Lockheart, that Turk Tseng and countless others that Sephiroth hardly knew or remembered.
The voices grew so loud, they could have been screaming, and yet, they were not.
Then, they were gone, and Sephiroth found himself on the floor of the void with his face in his hands. A tender hand rested on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but it is necessary to do this." said Aeris gently. Sephiroth stood up.
"So… what will happen to me now?" asked Sephiroth.
"You will go back to the Planet and right the wrongs you have caused." Aeris replied.
She clasped her hands together, closed her eyes and pain exploded in Sephiroth's head. He screamed, clutching his skull, screwing up his eyes, gritting his teeth against the agony. Then the pain vanished, and he lay panting.
"This is to aid you on your journey. When it turns green all the people on the Planet will have forgiven you and you can enter the Lifestream." Aeris told him.
"I don't want it, whatever it is." Sephiroth said roughly, running his hands over his skin, trying to find out what Aeris had done. He couldn't find anything. "All this is, is extra time for me to beg on Earth, then?"
"No, your life is for you to do as you wish, but I would advise you do change your habits unless you want a wretched After-life." Aeris warned.
"However if Cloud and the others find you, I will not stop them from killing you. Now shut your eyes."
"But I could summon meteor again! I am an Ancient! Jenova-"
"The Black Materia was destroyed." Aeris said, in an unnaturally steely tone "Jenova is gone. What's more, Sephiroth, you were never an Ancient. Jenova was a monster that gave Ancients viruses which turned them into monsters, but she certainly wasn't an Ancient. Now close your eyes."
"You lie." Sephiroth said, but his voice shook. "You…you…YOU LIE!"
Aeris looked at him sadly. "Do I look like I am lying, Sephiroth?"
His eyes met hers. Overpowering emerald washed over unwilling turquoise.
Sephiroth closed his eyes and felt his body spinning through nothingness. He couldn't see anything, and there was an unearthly howling in his ears.
Then his feet hit solid ground and he stumbled, and fell face first into a freezing powdery substance. Sephiroth coughed and his eyes flew open and revealed a white landscape to him. Sephiroth stood up, brushing himself off and looked around.
He was vaguely aware he was standing in the snow field between Icicle Inn and Corral Valley Cave. He was also aware of how chilly it was. When Jenova was with him, he didn't feel the cold.
Now, he shuddered and pulled his cloak around him, as goosebumps spread up his arms and legs. A soft Wark! behind him made him jump. Turning, gripping the hilt of his Masamune in his hands, he was relieved to see his black Chocobo, Setzer.
Suddenly, in the reflection of his Masamune, Sephiroth saw a flash of black. He looked again and saw a tattoo of a black star on his left temple. He snorted. Aeris must have wanted to remind him about the Meteor he'd sent to the planet with Black Materia. Clambering onto his feathered friend, Sephiroth set off towards the Corral Valley Cave.
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