Alright-y, so this is my response to a request from wa r a e nai… LONGEST FIC I HAVE EVER WRITTEN!! I hope that 1: It doesn't suck. And 2: That it's understandable. Now, this is Seifer-Aerith… the best I could do it. ; I am SO NERVOUS! It's 2,080 words, -if anyone wants to count-… and I like it.
Oh, and THIS IS IMPORTANT: Not all of the flashbacks happen in the order they are written… I'll give you a hint… the second flashback happened first and the last one happened second. I'm a friggin' flashback freak. -try to say that three times fast-
Yes, this is a romantic tragedy. Inspiration music is "No Ordinary Morning" by Chicane, "The Only One for Me" by Brian McKnight, "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" by Backstreet Boys, - "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd -hell yeah, this one really fits with the rest-, and the beginning quotes are from "No Reply" by Steve Conte. Review!
Sonar
For wa r a e nai
You gave yourself to me, and showed me what the truth could be. For that I say, thank you.
This was my life; it never made much sense to me.
For all the times you walked the line for me, and standing by my side I say, thank you.
Here lies my life; it never felt that real to me.
You in my life, it all meant so much more to be.
The golden sun shines brightly over the streets of Twilight Town, seemingly contradicting the very name of the city itself, cheerfully highlighting the uniquely decorated stores in a whitish glow that made everything brighter. Flags wave in the refreshing breeze outside the colorful establishments, curtains blowing outwards from the open windows they cover, giving the town a blissful feeling.
Seifer Almasy walks the person-less path to the lonely mansion that hides behind the dark woods, alone himself. His teal eyes scan his surroundings wearily, and he ignores the empty spaces left behind him. Fuu, Rai, and Vivi were looking for him, he knew. But, with a small smile, he knows they won't find him.
He won't be found until he wants to be.
flashback
War was imminent. So close to their city, close to their friends, now threatening to steal the very lives that they'd worked so hard to regain. Aerith was leaving. She was leaving to go off to war, and he couldn't come. She'd said that she had to go, go and make sure that her dear friends came back alive; breathing and in one piece. She could die, but, that wasn't the point. As long as they made it.
But, she could die. And that was exactly the point.
"Aerith, stay here." Seifer pleads, allowing his pride to fall to the wayside completely in order to persuade the woman standing before him. "Stay." He whispers softly into her ear, struggling in vain against the burning feeling of having already lost her.
I've got this feeling you're not going to stay. It's burning within me. The fear of losing; of slipping away, it just keeps getting closer.
Aerith's pale fingers squeeze his shoulders gently, slightly denting the fabric of his jacket as it sways in the small windowed breeze of the midday. She bites her lip nervously, worrying the skin of her lips until they are bright and swollen.
"I can't." Her sadness makes her eyes puffy and red, and as she turns her beryl gaze up to him, he can see the trails of tears falling down her angelic face.
"With me." He finishes slowly, quietly, defeated.
Aerith pulls her hands from their perch just above his collar, shifting them to clasp one another in front of her in an unconscious effort to comfort herself. Her eyes wander briefly across his small bedroom, and she braces her heart against Seifer's cool voice.
But, Seifer couldn't stop her.
"I'm so sorry." The door closed silently behind her.
The sun hid behind the clouds that day, leaving Twilight Town to stand alone –so lonely- in the withering skies and rain without even a ray of light to lead the fearful.
end flashback
Passing through the cracked and abandoned hole, -no one bothered to fix it-, Seifer's eyes widen as flames engulf the trees in the small wood, licking their way up the bark, and out to the branches to burn the plentiful lime colored leaves that wave unsuspectingly in the breeze.
Fire. Fire everywhere. The boy closes his eyes, and shakes the burning visual from his mind, distracting himself from the visual horror with a small memory.
flashback
"Seifer." Aerith can't help but smile as the twenty year olds name slips from her lips. The sunlight filters through the closed blinds of his windows to shine across the bare skin of his back. Her glowing eyes shift to his sleepy face just as his teal eyes blink open, and his muscular arm moves to shield those beautiful eyes from the brightness of the room. "Wake up, baby."
His boyishly happy grin is swift in its movement to his mouth, as if he's just remembered the last hours of the night. Seifer turns and lifts himself into a sitting position to stare at the young woman resting gracefully at the end of his bed, wearing nothing except one of his black shirts.
Her quiet giggle echoes across the room as he lifts his hands in a welcoming gesture, and calls her name in a honeyed tone. "Aerith."
The sight leaves the flower girl breathless, and her left hand shuffles to cover her heart, as if to contain the joyous thumping within her chest. Aerith crosses the bed and places herself in his arms, now content to gaze through some askew blinds at the too hot outdoor sun while listening to his murmured words.
"I want you now. I'll show you how I can be the man you need me to be..."
end flashback
A shadow crosses in front of his closed eyelids and they snap open instinctively as the shadow emerges from the grass, drawing the sparse sunlight into its pure black form.
A curse slips from his lips as he reaches for his club, only to realize it isn't there. So much for a quiet walk.
Despite what he knows lies ahead of him, Seifer lets a sardonic chuckle escape his lips, as he charges forward with nothing but his fists to attack the creature.
His fist connects, yet his stomach plummets when the shadow's amber orbs meet his, and his hand is pulled into the darkness that surrounds them, his eyes no longer able to see his wristband.
flashback
After so much blood, pain, and tears. The war was won. Leon had nearly lost his life twice, half as many times as Yuffie had nearly lost hers, and it was a miracle that Cid was still breathing. The lives that they had built for themselves were safe. Their friends, their neighbors, were all safe from harm.
Seifer was safe.
Never to be in any harm's way, as long as she was there.
You know that I'll protect you.
Aerith's dazed jade eyes watch as each person lies half-motionlessly on the ground attempting to catch their breath. All of them gazing at the angry skies in a kind of amazement. A "I can't be believe we -I- survived" kind of amazement that made living all the better once they were home.
Home sounded so nice.
I wonder what you're doing. I wonder where you are.
The young woman slowly turns her head back toward the gray clouds, ignoring the throbbing pain in the back of her head, she turns her mind to Seifer's face, his smile, his laugh, his lips, his skin, and finds herself closing her eyes as she envisions her love so far away.
I close my eyes and watch as my life passes by; the only thing I see is you.
end flashback
Seifer pulls his arm back with all his strength, and a small smirk comes to his face as he rips his hand away from the thing that now looks at him as if it's puzzled.
Dammit, I guess it time to retreat... for now.
He makes his way to the end of the forest path, facing the mansion that lies over the hill and beyond the looming gates he had seen so many times before.
A burning pain slashes across his shoulder and abdomen, and he doesn't have to look to know an angry wound now pierces the skin there, beneath the fabric of his sleeveless jacket.
flashback
Black, there was so much. There was a total lack of color in the streets of Radiant Garden, a blatant defiance of the city's name. But, there were so many reasons to defy. She was gone, dead, and there was no returning for her. No hope for him left.
His hope for the future died with her on that field of dirt, under those angry skies. Hopeless, helpless, useless, careless, and every other –less he could think of now applied so well to his coming days, weeks, and years.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. All good things come to an end.
But, it should have been me.
Seifer's black coat brushes across the dirt sprinkled concrete as he follows the winding path behind the crowd of people following her casket. There was a surreal-ness that came with knowing that this moment was the last moment he would spend with her. An unbelievable numb shock.
He is both upset and grateful that he isn't a pallbearer, carrying her away to drop her in the ground six feet under. His heart has climbed into his throat, and Seifer resists the impulse to scream to the top of his lungs, instead wiping his burning blue-green eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.
He turns his gaze to the men -boys, actually; like himself- carrying the woman he has known so well; has loved so deeply and completely beyond anything he had ever perceived or known before. The woman who loved him just as deeply, just as completely.
A blonde man, appearing to be in his early twenties, with glassy glowing blue eyes, and a look of utter sadness etched into his features.
A silver haired boy, his own age, with eyes similar to his own locked to the ground, a white knuckled grip on the bar in his hands.
Sora, the boy that he had met years before, stared into the sky almost beseechingly, a glimmering line of tears streaming down his face.
And Squall, the man that was vaguely familiar, held a stony gaze that blocked his emotions away from the world, periodically using his spare hand to wipe away tears that no one had seen.
So many people followed her. So many loved her. Like a mother, a sister... a lover.
So many were in love with her.
And now she was gone.
end flashback
The smell of smoke reaches his nose, and Seifer crinkles his nose as if to block the offending scent, just before an explosion sounds behind him.
The darkness retreats to the far corners of the small wood, and Seifer pauses in the mild sprint to turn around. His teal eyes widen as a woman comes into view, her pale slender fingers gripping a staff she holds as her bright emerald eyes regard him gently through the suddenly crystal clear air.
flashback
"I love you." Seifer's voice is quiet as he stares at the freshly dug grave at his feet. "I love you so much."
You'll never know how much you mean to me.
A cricket sounds in the distance of the night, and from somewhere in the empty courtyard comes a responding sound. Like a sonar; just to make the other aware of one's presence.
Seifer finds himself sending out of a mental signal, hoping and searching for his love's responding ping.
No reply.
Seifer regards the headstone before him with a heavy gaze. "I'll miss you, baby."
end flashback
Seifer's feet move haltingly towards the familiar woman, his eyesight blurring as the pain of his wounds reach his mind, causing it to make its own retreat from reality, as he had been ready to make his own.
A sharp sound races across the space when the boy's knuckles rap against the trunk of an old tree -the old tree he had seen burning- that stands at the edge of the circular area as he attempts to balance himself before his feet continue their journey to the woman that stands just inside those rusty gates.
His swaying form reaches her, and before Seifer falls to the ground, his rapidly failing vision registers the color pink.
flashback
"Okay, turn around." Seifer turns Aerith in his arms to face him, watching as her eyes shift from the half-broken blinds to his face. Reaching down, he carefully positions her legs around his waist.
She smiles gently at him, planting a chaste kiss on his lips. "Seifer..."
He lifts his hands to frame her heart-shaped face, before running them through her already tussled brunette locks, his smile mirroring hers completely.
"I love you so much." Aerith whispers, and places her forehead against his, listening to his responding words with a quiet sigh of happiness and contentment.
His voice is thick with emotion and his eyes glow blissfully.
"...I want you still. I always will. Because you're the only one for me."
end