A frightening smile appeared on Tifa's face as she touched the fire materia. As the flames engulfed her, Elena screamed with all her might. The chair suddenly turned to ash and Elena fell onto the cold stone floor, her muscles reacting painfully to the sudden change in position, but the cold was a welcome sensation to her burning flesh, though it couldn't help her scorched throat. And before she could figure out what to do, Tifa was kneeling on top of her, healing Elena's wounds with another materia before she wrapped her hands carefully around Elena's throat. "Say you'll apologize to Aerith in the morning." Tifa ordered her.

It was hard for Elena to breathe, but she tried to get the words out. "Fuck you and your blind whore!" she spat at Tifa, thinking the Empress was going to kill her no matter what, so she would go down fighting.

Tifa's hands tightened in crazed anger around Elena's throat as she put more pressure on her chest. Elena felt the life being squeezed out of her, and just as she felt herself start to lose consciousness, suddenly the pressure ceased and she gasped for breath. "Oh, you just lost your chance to have the honor of being trained by Aerith." Another chilling smile appeared on Tifa's face as she stood up and grabbed Elena by the hair to stand her up as well. She then put the naked struggling blonde in a headlock and dragged her out of the dungeon to the door leading to the nearby barracks.

"Let me go!" Elena cried in vain. She had spots in her eyes from the near suffocation and felt light-headed so couldn't put up much of a fight.

"Since you have such a fascination with blind whores, I'll let you see how it feels to be one." Tifa released Elena and quickly put a materia-embedded choker on her.

The materia started glowing as soon as it touched her neck and Elena's world went black. She tried to demand to know what Tifa had done to her, but no sound came out when she opened her mouth.

"Your new accessory is complete with blind and mute materia. I had this specially made a long time ago, and you are the first person to deserve it. All you get to do now is listen. Since you rejected learning the easy way, we'll try the hard way." Tifa opened the door to the barracks, and all the guards there jumped to attention when they saw the Empress. "At ease, boys. I know how much you've missed your sex toy over the past year, so I found someone to take her place." Tifa ruthlessly shoved Elena into the room, and she fell onto the hard floor painfully. Tifa nodded at Barret who approached the Empress, nodding when she whispered something in his ear. "Enjoy!" she sweetly told all the guards before leaving.

"May I have her first, Captain?" the warden asked Barret. He lived in the barracks to not be too far from the dungeon in case of emergency with the prisoners.

"Sure thing." Barret answered. "But the Empress wants you to do something when you're done."

Elena knew what she was in for, and tried to escape, but she was disoriented and couldn't see, and she kept running into more guards or furniture. She felt herself grabbed and struck out unsuccessfully. Her arms were pinned down as her legs were forcefully spread apart and she shook her head in denial. "Didn't I tell you that you would be a wench?" the warden asked her as he eagerly thrust into her, ignoring her pained reaction as he destroyed her innocence.

Tifa hadn't closed the door all the way, she had left it open enough to watch Elena get what was coming to her. It was extremely satisfying to see her open her mouth to scream, only to have the guards shove their dick into it. While Tifa lived, no one would get away with insulting Aerith. Her purity was unquestionable, and it would stay that way. Tifa gasped when she saw Sephiroth standing amongst the guards waiting their turn, looking at Elena's suffering and then making eye contact with Tifa, with a nod and smile of approval for her cruelty. Tifa blinked and Sephiroth disappeared. She hurried back to the royal bedchamber shuddering. The evil bastard was dead and he had to stay that way. She must have just imagined seeing him, Tifa told herself as she tried to calm down.

"I don't know what that was." Zack said, trying to figure out an answer to Aerith's other question. His deepest desire was to have everything since Nibelheim just be an awful nightmare, so they could have had their happily ever after. But that couldn't happen, anymore than getting Aerith away from Tifa would undo the damage she did to his wife. But he knew that wasn't the kind of desire she meant.

"So what is your deepest desire?" Aerith repeated, fondling him.

Zack cleared his throat, and neither of them knew he was starting to blush. "I…um…I really can't answer that."

"Why not?" Aerith started to pout.

"I…it's…" Zack paused, thinking Reno would have no trouble answering a question like that, because… "I don't think I'm who you think I am."

"What do you mean by that?" Aerith was getting confused.

"I…uh…was never any kind of womanizing lothario. Except for you and the Empress, I just…don't have much experience." Zack reluctantly admitted, feeling uncomfortable talking to his wife about the other women he had sex with. There was just Tifa, the other guest at his first Bacchanalia, Cissnei once when they were blowing off steam after a mission, and a girl back home who wanted a piece of him when he had decided to join SOLDIER.

"Oh." Aerith was relieved, she had been slightly worried he was going to admit he really wasn't into women. "Well, what do you know about different ways to have sex?"

When they lay almost asleep in each other's arms later that night, Aerith felt rather silly. She knew about oral sex from serving Lady Tifa, but it had never occurred to her that men did it too. It was so different, and her first attempt was so horribly sloppy, but she was determined to master it. Zack had been patient with her, but she could tell he was holding something back when she pumped him for more details about different ways to have sex. She was also determined to find out what he wasn't telling her, since taking him in her mouth was new and a challenge, but it wouldn't give her his child. She snuggled closer to her husband and drifted off to sleep peacefully.

Aerith found herself in a place she couldn't recognize, but which Zack or Tifa would have instantly known was the reactor at Mt. Nibel.

"You think you're safe with her?" a voice asked her, and a tall headless corpse appeared holding a long sword, standing at the top of the stairs in front of a door with letters spelling out J-E-N-O-V-A above it.

"Who…who are you?" Aerith fearfully asked.

"He's the one who was supposed to be your real Master." a voice to her left said, and Aerith turned her head, recognizing the voice. "Cloud?"

"Who else?" He had a puncture wound in his neck and he was rather pale. "Tifa betrays everyone, that's what she does. But we'll make her pay for her crimes, starting with you." Cloud suddenly grabbed her, restraining her as the headless corpse walked down the steps and ran her through with the sword.

"Aerith, what is it?" Zack woke up to her screams, holding her as she trembled with fear.

Their door flung open and Tifa appeared. "What's wrong?" When she saw Aerith shaking, she got on their bed and took her from Zack's arms. "Are you hurt?" she asked Aerith, stroking her hair and kissing her until Aerith calmed down.

"I don't think…I don't know where I was, but Cloud was there, and some tall man without a head. He ran me through with his long sword after saying you had to pay for your crimes and they were starting with me." Aerith explained. "And that I wasn't safe with you."

Zack and Tifa both were worried about this new development, but Tifa was shaken far worse. She turned as bloodless as Cloud had been, then struggled to get a hold of herself. "That's an awful nightmare, but don't worry about it. You know I will always protect you." she kissed Aerith good night and left hurriedly. She laid on her bed with her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Was Sephiroth going to come back? She had defeated him the first time by taking him down when he was distracted, but she wouldn't get that chance again. She had to protect Aerith somehow, she simply had to…