Oh No, There Goes My Halo
Summary: Flashfic of the pair Aerith and Sephiroth, ranging from their childhood days to postKH2 events. #01. fellow denizen; come back home
Disclaimer: Sephiroth, Aerith and all other characters mentioned in this fic solely belong to Square Enix and Disney.
A/N: Too long to be a drabble; too random to be a story. This is just going to be a compilation of sorts, whenever I want to take a break from my other fics and just do some random AerithxSephiroth minishots. (Don't worry, I'm still working on my other fics! I haven't forgotten.)
I swear this one wasn't supposed to come out this long. Brevity just isn't my forte. Takes place during the events of KH1.
Rated K for now.
#01. fellow denizen; come back home
"That's right. The Keyblade." Aerith was perched on the edge of the bed, hands resting on her lap. "Would you like to see the one who wields the Keyblade?"
Goofy and Donald turned to her, ecstatic. "You know where the Keyblade wielder is?" the shorter of the two asked eagerly. Aerith nodded and stood to her feet.
"Follow me, please."
They were in the Second District Hotel. Aerith was aware that the Keyblade wielder – Sora, if she heard correctly at the time – was presently being fed the same information from Yuffie and Leon that she had just previously parted with to the King's two faithful followers.
The Heartless were coming. Every world that hadn't already been taken by the darkness was in danger. Their future was looking bleak, and with every second of delaying the highly anticipated meeting between Donald and Goofy and the key bearer, it was looking bleaker. No doubt Yuffie and Leon were currently waiting for her to bring the two into the room next-door.
"Just through there," Aerith said, gesturing Donald and Goofy to go through the door in front of them. Before Donald could grasp the door handle, it burst open out of its own accord, Yuffie shooting past. Without sparing a look into the room beyond or a thought for the new feathery décor that was in actuality Donald, Aerith cried out to her friend and raced after her.
Not surprisingly, she didn't get very far. Boots such as hers were extremely hard to run in, and by the time she set foot out of the hotel, there wasn't so much as a telltale flash of a butter coloured scarf to indicate of Yuffie's whereabouts. She had lost her.
Aerith was disposed to voice out a mildly displeasing curse. Turning her gaze up to the twinkling night sky, she saw another star go out. Another star, another world. A sudden movement in her peripheral vision gave reason for her to shift her gaze to the left, somewhere above the Gizmo shop. Whoever or whatever it was, had stilled in their actions, sinking back in the shadows. Strange.
Yuffie –?
Or maybe, Heartless. Biting her bottom lip worriedly, Aerith took a halfhearted step forward then glanced back uncertainly at the hotel. Should she instead get Leon? If things were to quickly get out of hand, wouldn't he be better suited to handle the situation? In an infinitesimal moment Aerith was torn between two choices she could act on: mind or instinct.
Lips thinning into a resolute expression, she marched ahead. The latter it most definitely was. Aerith wasn't a little girl anymore; she knew how to take care of herself, in spite of lacking a weapon. There was still one's wit, after all. And of course, one's magic.
With that in mind, Aerith soon found herself standing at the front entrance to the Gizmo Shop. Pressing her palm lightly on the door, it yielded to her touch and opened on contact, just as she had expected. Burglars were unheard of in Traverse Town, so naturally no one ever thought up of a reason to have their doors locked. Aerith walked inside.
As always when venturing forth into the Gizmo Shop, the first thing that came to mind was how astoundingly bright everything was. Her surroundings were so dazzling in its intensity Aerith had to rub at her eyes several times. She had to find the backdoor to this place. Candy coloured cogwheels met her at every turn she made, busily spinning away, adding to the general chorus of whirrs that filled her ears. She was still staring at one gigantic lilac cogwheel in particular when she bumped into something that had appeared in her way. Bouncing back, Aerith was met with a pair of glittering golden eyes. Eyes with no pupils.
Heartless.
Sending the Heartless a stream of harmful spells, Aerith soon realised she wouldn't come out the victor of this battle; more and more Heartless were materialising around the first and her reserves of magic were fast depleting. Only the Keyblade was truly affective against these types of enemies. Dodging an oncoming counter spell sent flying her way, Aerith barreled past the exit doors and rushed onwards, almost straight into a wall. Dead end?
Nope. Spotting a ladder off to one side, Aerith made haste and climbed up the rungs, wondering how in the heck she was going to get back out through the Gizmo Shop unscathed. Oh well, she could think up of a solution later. Right now she had to find out who was up on the rooftop. She could only hope it was Yuffie.
Finally finding her feet on the landing, Aerith stepped cautiously forward, peering around a few nearby wooden crates. The whole area was cast in shadow from a neighbouring building, which wasn't making it easy for her to determine if there was, in fact, someone else up there with her.
"Yuffie – are you up here?"
Breathing. A slight exhalation. Okay, so someone was definitely up on the rooftop. Aerith took another step forward, deeper into the impenetrable darkness. She cocked her head to the side in a convincing show of curiosity, but her eyes belied her calm stance. She was scared, and it showed. It took all of her willpower to keep herself from running back to the ladder.
This person (if it even was a person) was not Yuffie, Aerith knew. Yet she was compelled to say something more, if only just to break the creepy silence.
"You're not... who are you?"
The stranger in the dark didn't dignify her with an answer, but instead shifted on his feet, faint sounds of fabric and possibly something else rustling. Out from the darkness fluttered several small black objects. Aerith couldn't help herself; letting out a small gasp she jumped backwards before realising what they were. Closely she held one she caught up to her eyes.
A feather.
Hearing the sound of movement, Aerith slowly lowered the feather from her face to see the stranger approach her, and finally she could see him under the full light of the stars shining over them.
"Dear heavens above..." Aerith whispered. She was totally and utterly transfixed by the sight before her.
The man had a wing, just like Cloud. Just like Cloud.
And he was staring at her.
Say something, say something!
But the man beat her to the punch. "There's no Yuffie here."
"N-no," Aerith agreed. It took quite some effort to get her jaw working properly again.
"Why have you come up here?"
"I'm looking for a friend." Aerith paused. "I could ask of you the same."
In response the man lifted his gaze upward; Aerith mimicked him. Thousands of worlds, visible as only tiny specks of light, were winking out of existence one by one. It was truly disheartening.
"The work of the Heartless," the man said. His gaze transferred back onto Aerith but hers remained focused upon the sky, despite being very aware of their proximity. The stranger's presence invoked memories of years past, of a place she longed for and had almost forgotten about.
"I wonder if... our homeworld's still out there."
If there was one thing that Aerith was absolutely certain of, it was the deep-seated sense of familiarity about this man that pricked at the edges of her consciousness, the faint yet undeniable recognition of a fellow Radiant Garden denizen. It may have seemed silly to some, mayhap even downright ludicrous, but everyone who hailed from the once peaceful kingdom shared a connection, one that outsiders could never understand. This man had that connection, however weak it was.
If he was surprised by her assumption in saying 'our' instead of 'my', he didn't show it. Looking back down at the man, Aerith took careful note of his detached demeanor; his crossed arms, distant gaze and the wing that loomed over his frame in such a way that it was reminiscent of a shield, closing him off to the rest of the world. An outcast. He was an outcast, forsaken by the light, by his homeworld, by everyone else. Profound sadness was nowhere near to what she felt for this man.
"Why haven't I seen you before here... sir?" she asked, not forgetting her manners. A stranger he still was, and she should do best to remember that. She still didn't even know his name.
"I've been to many worlds. Never do I intend to stay long."
The tone in the man's voice was far from friendly, yet it wasn't exactly hostile either. Aerith took a guess that this man was not one for conversations – that was to say, if he had ever engaged in one before.
"So you'll be leaving Traverse Town soon, too?"
An almost imperceptible nod.
"If..." Now Aerith hesitated. She was glad to know that here was yet another survivor that escaped their homeworld when the Heartless invaded and took over; there were so few of them as it were. But having just met him, she was quite disappointed in finding out that he was planning to leave. He was another link to her world, just like Yuffie and Leon were, Cloud and Cid and Merlin. She didn't want to lose this newly acquired link. "...If Radiant Garden is to be recovered again, will you come back – come back home?"
Something flashed behind the man's eyes. Before Aerith could discern as to what it was, an outbreak of steadily rising voices stole both of their attention. Down below were Leon and Yuffie, talking. Aerith then remembered her whole purpose for being up on the rooftop of the Gizmo Shop; it looked like Leon had found Yuffie first. Yuffie appeared to be okay. Great! Aerith thought happily, I can tell them about this man, that he's one of us. She called out to them, waving.
"Leon! Yuffie! Up here!"
Both of her friends whipped their heads up to see her. "What are you doin' up there, Aerith?" Yuffie exclaimed loudly. "You know there are Heartless everywhere."
"Hold on – I'll come get you," Leon shouted, and started towards the Gizmo Shop.
"Wait guys! I have someone here who you should see – his name is –" Aerith stopped and turned around.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't get..."
In the man's place was a whirlwind of black feathers.
"...your name."
A/N: Happy (late, very late) V-day!
MInc