Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its characters.
Rated T for mild language
Sephiroth x Aerith
Summary: Trapped in another plane of existance, Sephiroth and Aerith find one comfort on their unberable coexistance : conversation.
Life's Short, talk Fast
Repaying
Aerith was sitting atop a bed of yellow flowers. She avoided looking in the man's direction, although it was quite impossible to ignore that tall and intimidating soldier. He leaned against the trunk of a tree, looking dreamily at the faint sky. His fingers tapped the hip where Masamune was securely strapped into place. Aerith found it was hard for her to look at that sharp blade. After all, that sword ended her life back in the Planet. Now she was forced to face a new reality in a place where time and space contorted infinitely around her, bending reason and madness altogether. Now, she felt lonely, but not alone. Sephiroth, the darkest half of her existence, was stuck with her in that place. Perhaps they had to atone for the sins they committed and in that purpose were forced to live with each other.
The girl raised her eyes from the flower she had been tenderly stroking to find Sephiroth sating between the flowers with his legs crossed. His silver hair made a pool around his hips and half covered his face. His piercing green eyes, no longer infused with mako, gazed upon her with fascinated amusement.
"Let's talk, Sephiroth" she said.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything you are willing to talk about." The girl also crossed her legs, mimicking the man "How much time do you think we have left?"
"Left where?"
"In this place"
"I don't know. For some purpose, we are both here." Sephiroth said. Then he looked above, only to watch a cloudless golden sky "perhaps we'll stay here forever."
The flower girl nodded at his statement but replied: "Actually, I believe that we'll get out of here. I guess that if we still feel time passing by, then our lives will still have boundaries."
Sephiroth blinked at her words.
"What do you mean by that?"
Aerith changed her position in the bed of floors and bit her lip.
"How much time have we been here? You know that we have been here for a long time. Months, maybe years. You know that we have been here for a long time. As long as we understand that we have been here in a period of our lives, we will still exist."
Sephiroth rubbed his face with his hands, probably frustrated at her speech.
"You talk in riddles, Aerith."
The girl smiled faintly.
"You know something, Sephiroth?"
"I know many things."
"Don't be pathetically arrogant."
"Well, then I guess I don't know the 'something' that you are mentioning."
"Yes, you don't. Well, perhaps you do."
"Please enlighten me."
"What you did to me was unspeakably shocking."
Sephiroth frowned at that statement and lied on his back, with his arms folded beneath his head.
"Do you want to have this conversation again, Aerith?"
"Yes, I do."
"I see no point in talking about this anymore."
Aerith collected a yellow flower from the ground and placed it on her lap. Then she started making a beautiful bouquet with which she tied the pink ribbon that Zack offered her. When she was finished, she threw the bouquet to Sephiroth, who caught it with a quick gesture of his hand.
"I see a point. When I was younger, I loved selling flowers in the slums. I would pick them in my church, tie them with beautiful colored ribbons and sprinkling them with fresh lavender. Then I would sell them for a coin and the delighted look of my client's face would make me tremble with joy."
Sephiroth raised himself on his elbows. "You are pretty eloquent today, aren't you?"
Aerith pouted. "What I wanted to say is that you ripped me of that joy. Now the only flowers I can arrange are for me and a blood-thirsty murderer."
Sephiroth smirked at her 'compliment'.
"You seem more concerned about not selling flowers than to actually being dead."
The girl frowned at his words and said: "Yes, you are right. I am actually more concerned about not be able to sell my flowers anymore. I loved to see people happy with the flowers I sold them."
"Please. You can't be that hypocrite."
"Not everyone is selfish and self-centered like you. Some people actually care about others."
Sephiroth smiled slyly. "Why are we lying to each other? Every human in the world only cares about itself."
Aerith's mouth dropped ajar. "You have a ridiculous image about humanity then."
"I only have the image that I was given."
"You are more dependent on others than I thought you were. Even your ideals are shaped by others!"
Sephiroth seemed insulted by her words. "That's not the case. I believe in those ideals. I also shaped them as my own. You have nothing to do with my beliefs."
"As long as they don't interfere in mine."
Sephiroth sighed. "You are a helpless little woman."
Aerith pouted again. "You are a helpless little puppet."
"What? You dare call me a puppet?"
"You are a puppet, a pawn, Jenova's doll and manikin. Call yourself what you want. You have no ideas of your own."
Sephiroth rose and swept the flowers petals off his pants and jacket.
"I am not a puppet. That rookie is a puppet. He was created from me. He obeys me."
"Cloud has nothing to do with this!"
Sephiroth smiled sarcastically. "I am offending your lover. My apologies"
Aerith also raised, indignation crossing her face.
"You are ridiculous, Sephiroth. I am trying to do everything I can to go along with you but your efforts are null."
"Of course they are null. Why do you want me to even remotely like you? How can you still live with that hope?"
Aerith folded her arms "I don't want you to like me. But I guess we'll have to get away from this place someday. I am not supposed to be here."
"You think you have to be in the Promised Land?"
"I don't think, I know I have to be there. I know this isn't the place for me. They are calling me. The Cetra."
"Well, and how do you suppose we are able to get out of here?"
"I think we have to get along. It's the only thing we are able to do now."
Sephiroth looked deeply into her determined eyes.
"I don't want to get along with you. I killed you. I don't think your murder showed any signs of my affection."
And with that, he walked away.
A/N: Short chapter series, mainly focused on their dialogue. Read, enjoy and review.