Hey, so it's me again. I decided that because I had nothing to do today and it was randomly snowing, I'd post this.
Yes, this is an Aeriseph fanfic. I wrote it back in December while I was playing through Final Fantasy VII. I figured out pretty quickly Sephiroth was my favorite character besides Cloud and I definitely didn't see enough of him during the game.
(That game really didn't like me. I don't know if I was under-leveled the whole time, or what, but I had a hard time getting through it.)
Anyway, if this gets enough reviews and stuff, maybe I'll post more! Hope you like it!
~~~~Prologue~~~~
"Sir. Madam. May I come in?" the man in the black cloak asked quietly, careful not to stand too close. He adjusted his hood against his head so that they could not see the shiny strands of hair that hung close to his face.
"Please," the woman said. The man nodded. They led him down the hall to a door and opened it.
The brown-haired young woman lay curled before them on the small bed, her arms clasped around her as though she was trying to keep herself together. She cast a glance at the three of them, raising her head slightly, but let out a small whimper at the mere motion and lay back down.
"How long have you been keeping her here?" the stranger questioned carefully. He didn't want them to pass any sort of judgment on him.
"A day or two. When we first found her, she had been wounded—nearly fatally. It's a miracle she survived." The man spoke, his voice soft so he wouldn't disturb her.
The cloaked man closed his eyes as though he was considering something. "Let me take her with me, please. She'll be—she'll be in better conditions," he finally said.
"If you insist." The woman had spoken with a voice full of pain, as though she didn't want to let the girl go. But the black-clothed man knew she was not theirs.
"I do insist," he said. "I—I'll take good care of her."
He glanced at her, just in case she could hear him. But she seemed lost in her own world of pain, suddenly gasping at something and screwing her eyes shut.
"Please do," the woman responded.
"I will." The stranger strode quickly to the edge of her bed and crouched down. Gently he whispered her name and said, "You're coming with me." He tried not to show too much emotion, either way, in his gesture as he reached for her hand.
The girl was too weak to jerk away. She gasped in pain again and closed her eyes.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
She didn't speak. He knew the answer, but put one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, lifting her from the bed.
"Thank you, sir, ma'am," the stranger said to the man and woman, and then hurried out the door with her in his arms.
The young woman cried out in pain many times before they reached their destination. When he arrived, though, he carried her quickly through the front door despite her anxious gasps. He laid her gently on the bed in the back room and turned to leave.
He was standing in the doorway when he heard a weak voice call out, "C…Cloud?"
It was her; she was finally speaking to him. But not really to him.
"No," he answered, shaking his head. "Not Cloud."
He hated hearing that name, the name which had stripped him of all his power and all his control. The name which had brought him to her, to the town not even identified on maps.
"Then… Where is he?" her voice whispered.
If I knew, he would have returned to the Lifestream.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing he could come up with, though it meant nothing coming out of his mouth.
The young woman gasped again, her hand jerking up to cover the spot where she had been wounded long ago. The cloaked man recognized it and remembered with a wave of some backwards emotion the image of the blade piercing her thin body. He wondered how she had survived the wound.
"Cloud… Se…Sephiroth…"
Tension crept into the stranger's shoulders as he listened.
"…Cloud…"
He shook his head, exasperated, and stepped out of the room.
With no one around, he could finally lift his hood from his face. And so, standing in the near-darkness, he pulled the fabric back from his head and let his long, silver hair fall over his shoulders.