IluvAUs: Okay, I'm here with a new fanfiction!
ENTIRE FF7 Cast: Not another one!
Cloud: What about 'His Own Worst Enemy'?
IluvAUs: I'll get to it shortly! Anyways, this is for Princess of the Knight's fanfiction challenge number four. I saw the challenge a few months ago, and a few nights ago, it popped back into my head with all SORTS of ideas following it! So, without further ado, here's Aerith with a disclaimer.
Aerith: You know, this is the first time you've let me do the disclaimer. Usually you make Sephiroth or Vincent do the disclaimer. Disclaimer: IluvAUs owns absolutely nothing!
IluvAUs: Thanks, Aerith! Now, on with the show!
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Chapter One - Castle Nibel
Princess Aerith sat in the rickety, chocobo-drawn carriage, silent tears flowing down her face. She had been dreading this day since she was fourteen. She was told then that when it was her sixteenth birthday, she would be taken from her home to Castle Nibel to be married to the infamous tyrant, King Sephiroth. She had tried to run away so many times, but she was caught every one of them, and now, it was too late.
She sighed heavily, and pulled aside the curtain blocking her view of outside. She saw one of the chocobo-back guards her parents had sent to keep her from escaping riding at a leisurely pace alongside the carriage against the backdrop of mountains. She turned her gaze forward, and saw it, rising rapidly from behind the mountains: Castle Nibel.
My new home. she thought sadly. Or maybe I should say my new prison.
She felt the carriage's motion stop, and pulled her head inside, hastily wiping away her tears.
"What is your business here?" she heard a guard ask.
"We bring the newest of His Majesty, King Sephiroth's wives." the driver apparently replied.
The guard must have been satisfied with the driver's reply, because Aerith heard a loud clanking noise, and within a minute, the carriage was moving again.
As they drew closer and closer, the castle became larger and more forbodeing in Aerith's mind. She was already imagining what the king would look like, and what would happen to her.
I may be a princess, but I feel more like a slave being taken to their new master. And I may well be a slave, if half the things I've heard about King Sephiroth are true. Well, I know one thing for sure: I've got to find some way to get out of here.
The carrriage came to a halt, and the side door opened to allow Aerith to step out. As she did so, she squinted against the setting sun, and took a closer look at Castle Nibel.
It was a very large castle of stormy gray marble, with beautiful oak front doors and golden doorknobs. There were three stained glass windows of dazzling colors, but the princess was disgusted by what they depicted: a crown, an image of the Nibel dominion's goddess, Jenova, and three pieces of materia in a triangle, with the ruling family's motto, 'verus potestas vadum nunquam intereo'.
"Come on, Princess Aerith." one of her guards urged.
She reluctantly took a few steps forward, then began walking at the pace of one going to a funeral.
Several minutes later, they arrived at the front doors, and pushed them open to immediate fanfare.
"Presenting Her Royal Highness, Princess Aerith of the Cetran Kingdom!" a man near the door announced.
Aerith looked around the room, and saw guards everywhere. She smoothed a small wrinkle out of her dress, realizing there was no escape here, took a deep breath, and walked forward to King Sephiroth's throne. Once she reached it, she curtsied, and said, "You wished for me to be wed to you, Your Majesty."
"Yes, yes, I know. Now stand, so that I can get a better look at you." the king replied.
Aerith obliged, and was surprised by what she saw. With that deep voice, she had expected someone much older, but instead, she saw a man who could not have been older than twenty-five. His long, silver hair fell gently down his back, and floated delicately behind him as he circled her. Aerith saw that he had intensely green eyes with slit pupils as he gazed upon her face. He had slightly pale skin, sharply conrasted by the black royal outfit he wore. He was very muscular, and Aerith suddenly thought that she might have found him very handsome if every fiber of his being did not reek of some evil thing she did not recognize, but loathed just the same.
"Smile, girl. One would think you would not want to be here." King Sephiroth commanded.
Aerith forced herself to smile, though she wished fiercely to be somewhere, anywhere else.
Sephiroth sighed as if disappointed, having apparently finished his inspection, and summoned one of his guards. "Take the princess to my quarters, so that she may meet with the other wives. I will be there within the hour."
"Yes, Your Majesty." the guard replied before taking hold of Aerith's wrist, and dragging her off.
Aerith struggled to break free, but the guard's grip just would not be broken. Then, she noticed that there was a clear inch of air above her wrist, and that the guard's hand was clasped around that space above her wrist. How is he able to pull me along? He's not even touching me!
Her train of thought was broken as she was flung unceremoniously to a stone floor, and the door slammed behind her. She got on her knees, looked up, and saw three other women looking at her.
The first woman had short blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a tailored black and silver dress, and was smiling at Aerith. The second woman also had blond hair and blue eyes, but her hair was long, and she wore a scarlet dress, regarding Aerith with a sneer. The third women looked even younger than Aerith was, and had short black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a flowing forest green gown, and was also smiling at Aerith.
"Hey there! You must be the new girl! My name's Yuffie! What's yours?" the third woman asked.
"Aerith." Aerith shakily replied.
"Well, Aerith, nice to meet you. My name's Elena." the first woman introduced.
The second woman sat quietly on the bed, giving Aerith a once-over. "What is she doing here?"
"She's going to be a new wife for our husband." Elena replied.
"Why? She has no figure, her face is plain, her skin is too pale, her hair is a disaster, and she's a little chubby to cap it all off."
"Scarlet!" Elena objected.
Scarlet merely walked away to another corner of the room.
Aerith was nearly in tears at this point. First she was dragged here, and now this?
"Just ignore Scarlet. She's jealous that you're prettier than she is." Yuffie, who had come to Aerith's side, soothed.
Aerith wiped away a tear threatening to fall. "You really think so?"
"Definitely. I'd hate to look like that old hag."
Aerith giggled a bit at this, then stopped when she remembered where she was, and how much she wanted to escape. She looked hopefully at the door.
"Don't try it. The guard's never leave the door unless Sephiroth is with one of us and tells them expressly to leave. You'll be hard pressed to escape by then." Yuffie informed.
Aerith's head dropped. Now it was final. There was no way to escape from this nightmare. Suddenly, a question that had been bugging her since she arrived in this room popped out. "How old are you, Yuffie?"
Yuffie smiled. "Would you believe eighteen? I'm small for my age."
Aerith looked surprised, but said nothing in reply.
"You're not to keen on being here, are you?"
Aerith shook her head. "No. I've dreaded this moment since I was fourteen."
Yuffie smiled bitterly. "Lucky you. I wasn't even given a chance to dread. I was taken from my homeland of Wutai when I was twelve, married almost the second I stepped into the castle, and put to use my first night here."
Aerith gasped. "How horrible."
Then, with a horrible jolt, she realized something. "Will I-?"
"Yes." was Yuffie's reply.
"B-but I don't want-! Not to him! I've never- I don't-!"
"You're a virgin?" Yuffie asked curiously.
Aerith nodded.
Yuffie was about to reply when the door flew open, and Sephiroth walked in.
"You three, out." he ordered his other three wives. "And tell the guards to leave their posts. I wish not to be disturbed."
The other three exited the room, slamming the door behind them.
"Now then, my dear Aerith, let us begin to get to know each other. First, take off your traveling cloak. You're not intending on running away, are you?" Sephiroth wondered.
"No." Aerith lied, taking off the cloak, and exposing her bare arms.
Sephiroth smiled a gorgeous smile that had a vague bit of a smirk in it, and offered Aerith the seat next to his bed. Aerith sat down slowly, and began to reluctantly answer questions about herself.
After about an hour of questions, Sephiroth reached out his left hand, and stroked Aerith's right shoulder. Aerith was repulsed at his touch, and barely repressed a shudder. Sephiroth then got up, walked to the closet, and pulled out a pink outfit made of a beautiful, flowing material. Aerith was awed at its beauty, but noticed that it would show rather a lot more skin than she would care to show.
"Am I to put this on now?" she asked Sephiroth.
He nodded, practically throwing it to her.
She caught it, and continued her question. "In front of you?"
"No, in the closet will do. Yes, in front of me! Do you have a problem with that?"
There was a sudden knock at the door.
"What?" Sephiroth asked in an irritated tone of voice filled with barely controlled fury.
"Your Majesty, there is someone to see you." the guard outside the door replied.
"Tell them to wait!"
"They said it cannot."
"Ugh, fine!"
He turned to face Aerith, and said, "It seems you get one final moment of maidenly modesty whilst I deal with this imbecile. But when I return, you can forget such childish things, for you will be with me the remainder of the night. Stay here, and don't move a muscle until I get back."
With that, he stormed away behind the guard, leaving the door wide open.
Aerith waited silently until the sound of Sephiroth's stomping footsteps and cursing faded, then began to run as quietly as she could through the corridors of the castle. After five minutes of running nonstop, she paused to catch her breath. She looked up, and noticed that she was in a hallway filled with statues.
She took a closer look at one of the statues, and realized that it was a highly realistic figure of a former king in Sephiroth's family. She walked slowly down the hallway, the detail of the statues scaring her slightly. The lips looked so real, they seemed as if they could move any second, and betray where she was. She had an eerie feeling that those sightless eyes were watching her, and following her every step.
Suddenly, there was a resounding crash, and Sephiroth's voice echoed through the corridors of the entire castle.
"She's gone. She's GONE!"
"What do we do, Your Majesty?" the guard's voice asked much more quietly.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, YOU IMBECILE?!? FIND HER, CATCH HER! I WANT EVERY GUARD IN THE CASTLE AFTER HER! FINDHER!!!"
Aerith gasped, and began running once more, not caring in which direction she was going. By the time she had run out of breath again, she was close to a door. She opened the door, entered the room, and shut the door quickly behind her.
The room she was in now was lit by an eerie blue light that seemed to be emanating from an object in the center of the back wall of the room. Aerith gasped when she saw that the object lighting the room was the very same goddess depicted in the stained glass window in the flesh, suspended within a translucent blue fluid. She heard the murmurs of people praying, and an unintelligble noise that was half whisper, half song coming from the thing in the back of the room.
"Excuse me, Miss-" a voice said gently.
Aerith started, and turned toward the voice to find a man in a white robe-like garmet that shadowed his face, except for the eyes, and the bottom of his face, both of which seemed a very pale blue.
"Are you here to worship?" the man asked.
"No." Aerith replied rapidly.
"Aerith?" a familiar female voice asked quietly.
"Yuffie! Oh, thank goodness! I'm trying to get out of the castle, but I've lost my way. Can you help me? Please, please tell me that you can." Aerith pleaded in a hushed voice.
Yuffie looked hesitant, then whispered, "Follow me."
Aerith followed Yuffie out of the room, and down countless different corridors. They came to a certain hallway, and Yuffie stopped suddenly, forcing Aerith to do the same. Yuffie gazed out, and said, "Okay, the coast is clear."
She then ran with Aerith on her heels across the hall, and nudged one brick, so the wall came swinging inward with a loud grinding noise.
"I've seen the servants use this passage to get supplies when they don't want to deal with the guards." Yuffie explained.
Suddenly, a guard, who had apparently heard the noise, appeared and said, "Hey, you!"
Yuffie shoved Aerith into the secret passageway. "Go! Run!"
"What about you?" Aerith asked.
"I'll be fine, just go! Head for the nearest town, and get away from here as fast and far as you can!"
Aerith nodded, and began running down the pitch black passageway as the wall closed behind her.
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King Sephiroth was pacing his room when one of the guards came in with a report.
"Well?" he asked.
"She has escaped, Your Majesty." the guard replied.
"Damn!" Sephiroth swore.
He sighed, and said, "Summon the knights to my throne room. And while you're at it," he smirked, "send out the wolves."
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Aerith stumbled out of the secret passage into the moonless night.
"Well, that is a trip I don't want to take again." she muttered.
Then, she began to run as quickly as she could without tripping in the darkness. As she was running, she heard panting that was not her own, turned around, and saw a pack of Nibel Wolves chasing her. She let out a high-pitched scream of terror, and ran faster.
She continued running, and did not stop for anything, even when she lost her shoes in the dark. Twenty minutes of hard running later, she noticed a sharp decline in her path, and lights that could only mean a town was near. She ran quickly down the decline, sliding some of the way, and when she reached the bottom, she made a beeline for the town. In her panic, she saw the wolves gaining on her, and knocked on the door of a building with a sign that said, in faded letters, 'Seventh Heaven'.
After a minute or so, the door swung open to reveal a woman with long black hair, brown eyes, and pale skin wearing a black outift which showed off her figure. "Yes?"
"Please let me in! I need shelter from the Nibel Wolves chasing me, and I have run a long way!" Aerith gasped.
The woman flung wide the door, and helped Aerith into the building. Aerith turned around to thank her, but the door had closed. She heard loud thumps and whimpering, and five minutes later, the woman returned.
"You're lucky you're not dead. You must be able to run fast. What's your name?" the woman asked.
Aerith tried to reply, but her exhaustion took over, and she blacked out.
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King Sephiroth's throne room was deathly silent, save for the struggling of Yuffie Kisaragi.
"Your Majesty, we know this helped Princess Aerith escape." the guard that was holding Yuffie reported, throwing her to the ground.
Sephiroth glared coldly at Yuffie. "Well, wife, you seem to have gotten yourself in a lot of trouble. First you have the affair with Reno- oh yes I know about it- and now this. Now tell me, where is Princess Aerith?"
"No clue." Yuffie replied.
"Liar. I repeat, where is she?"
"I told you already, I have no clue."
"I won't ask again. Where is she?"
"Maybe you should get up off of your lazy royal butt and search for her yourself, if she matters that much to you."
At this, Sephiroth looked positively murderous. "Such insolence! Very well, since you will not talk, you will be executed. Reno!"
Reno stepped forward. "Y-yes, Your Majesty?"
Sephiroth drew out a dagger, and placed it in Reno's hand. "You know what you must do."
Reno gulped, and advanced upon Yuffie.
"No, Reno! No! Please, no! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As Yuffie's dying scream continued spiraling in a sickening echo throughout the room, Sephiroth called forth four knights.
"Cloud, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz." he summoned.
"Yes, Sire?" they all replied in unison.
"Search the land for a maiden of sixteen with long brown hair done in a braid with a pink ribbon tying it up, pale skin, and emerald green eyes. She is wearing a sleeveless pink dress that should be torn in many places."
"Very well. We'll find her." Cloud replied.
"See to it that you do, or there will be hell to pay."
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IluvAUs: Holy crap that took a long time to type! I had to split it in half to finish it! So I had better get some reviews!