She'd imagined it a million times in his absence, how she was going to greet him when he came back. She imagined she would be wearing one of her nicer dresses, that her hair would be neat, that it would be on a day the planet was keeping to a reasonable volume. On that day, he'd come through the doors, his mission would've gone well, she'd rush into his arms and he wouldn't be hesitant to hold her back.

Maybe once they were deeper inside the church and not on the public threshold, there would also be kisses. She missed that more than she thought she would, found that her body remembered him like it had its own set of private memories.

Her hands remembered the lines of his jaw and neck, how they set when he kissed her, how he held her hips in so close to his, but mostly, her lips remembered his lips. She remembered textures, breaths and teeth, but couldn't think to when she'd started to crave those things.

To distract herself she wheeled her cart to the edge of the playground near the church, tried her hand at selling flowers. Her first attempt had been disastrous, Zack had insisted he come along to 'more properly gauge the integrity of her cart', but had only scared off her first potential customers. She suspected Sephiroth was using her new found friendship with the soldier to keep an eye on her, and knew she was going to have to talk to him about that when he returned.

But she had never felt such a rush as the times she ventured out alone. It felt like fear and love together, and even if no one came for her flowers, she was happy just to be walking around with her cart of flowers. The rush took her all the way to the edge of the her sector, and just as she meant to cross over to four, there was a voice behind her, soft, high and sweet like she didn't often hear in the slums.

"How do you do that?" it asked, and Aeris cast a longing look at the dark sector beyond her before turning around. There was a girl with brown curly hair standing there, wearing a blue blazer, and matching slacks.

There was something about her though, that corrupted Aeris's schema. A Turk?

"Do what?" she said, wary.

"Grow flowers, you know, here." she asked, eyes slowly picking her apart in a way that made Aeris slightly uncomfortable.

"Who are you?" Aeris asked, and the girl smiled, a real smile too.

"Is that really important?" she said, and Aeris met her steady gaze.

"What do you want from me?" That seemed to give the girl some pause, and Aeris was surprised to see pity in her eyes.

"I need you to stay in your sector." she said, almost guiltily. Aeris frowned.

"I'm not going above the plate, why-"

"We're...minimizing your perimeter."

"What?" she said, blood draining from her face. "Why?"

"You've compromised yourself by your fraterniz-" Aerith didn't need to hear anymore, could tell the girl before her was reciting words that were not her own.

"Sephiroth." Aeris said, and the other girl's eyes widened. "You're doing this because of him, aren't you?" she asked, furious that they were punishing her for her decision to continue seeing him. She thought of the man she usually saw watching her her from the shadows, wondered if he had a hand in it. The girl didn't say anything, just looked down.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not." she said, "You're not." her hands shook, and she felt her anger deep in her chest. She turned her back on the girl, brought her cart back around with the very intention of running off with it into the next sector while the girl watched but stopped herself. She clenched her hands down on the cart, bit her lip. "I just want to be free." she said, bowing her head against her arms.

She was surprised to feel a soft touch on her back and she turned around. She was surprised to find the soft touch had been the girl's hand, the one that wasn't full with a giant weapon that looked like a star. If she had run, would the girl have used that?

"I understand...wanting to be free. Sometimes I wish I had wings, and that they'd be take me anywhere I wanted. But, you just have to live until it's possible, you know?" Aeris shook her head, but had the strange feeling the girl did understand, even if she showed no remorse. "Hey, if I buy some flowers, will you just turn around and go back?"

And despite the gil changing hands, the unfamiliar weight in her pocket as proof of a first sale, it felt sullied. Walking back to her church, she felt shame for her concession, knew the freedom she wanted wasn't something she'd ever be able to trade for, knew that if she wanted it, she would have to take it.

Sephiroth was there waiting in her church when she returned. Unlike prior fantasies, her hair was ruined, her dress dirty and the deep odor of the slums clung to her every inch of skin. She wanted to embrace him, even more to kiss him, but at that moment didn't want to feel the vulnerability.

She didn't want to feel his strength around her, or the hammering of her heart in her chest when he touched her, she wanted to have both her feet on the ground, so she stood in front of him in his long shadow, and told him,

"I wish I was stronger."

He nodded and looked her over as if he might find the reason written somewhere on her.

"And you're no longer so adverse to accepting my help?" Aeris could've glared at him.

"I just wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't...helpless." He looked down at her.

"And did you?" she met his eyes.

"Yes. In some ways, but in others I realize I might need help." she said and he smiled, and she wondered if he knew how smug he looked. She tried not to be irritated with him. It was the first time she'd seen him in weeks.

"Tell me what you need." he said.

"I need to know how to protect myself better."

"I can help you with that," he said, face serious. "but you have to be willing to learn, and approach this as if we are nothing more than instructor and pupil." Alarm bells went off in the back of her head. "I will not be cutting you any slack simply because we are romantically involved," he paused and she blushed, "Or because the things we do will very likely be unfamiliar to you."

Aeris looked up at him. There was no unkindness in his eyes, but she was reluctant to agree to that. She only hoped he would show her a few maneuvers or techniques, not initiate a serious training regimen. For one, she didn't know how well she'd take to regarding him purely as an 'instructor,' and second, she wasn't terribly interested in taking up anything too rigorous.

She could've viewed it as broadening her horizons, but it had disaster all over it.

"Maybe if you just showed me a few techniques-"

"We will do this properly or not at all." He said and she just blinked, effectively silenced. "Are my terms disagreeable to you?" he said, a note of uncertainty in his own voice that made Aeris rethink. She thought, he was only technically trying to help. She thought, he was a General and probably didn't really know how else to be, she thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She sighed.

"No, I'll...try." she smiled and he nodded.

"Good. I'll meet you here at oh six hundred hours."

"In the morning?" she breathed, and he nodded.

"Six am, don't be late." he said and she felt herself regretting her acquiescence already. He cradled the side of her face in his hand, a warm touch she'd missed more than she could say. "Or there will be consequences."

Waking up so early might've been easy if she had managed to get any kind of sleep, but she was too anxious thinking about what Sephiroth had in store for her, she was nervous she would let him down too, since he apparently had enough expectations of her for him not to be going easy on her.

At six oh one she arrived at the church, and he was there already, waiting with a large duffel bag.

"You're late," he said, breath visible in the early morning cold. She knew she couldn't be late by any more than a few minutes, and she laughed because she thought he was having fun with her. He wasn't.

His face was stone, and he gave her a once over with eyes that seemed greener in the dim early morning, raised one silver eyebrow.

"Yes?" she said, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

"I only wondered what you expected to do in a dress and sandals." he said and Aeris looked down on herself, realized that he was right. Why hadn't she thought about that? Before she could say anything, Sephiroth was opening the bag, bringing out a uniform of some sort, and boots, and she thought oh no, maybe this was a terrible idea...

"Here," he said, laying it over the back of a pew, "I thought this might happen, so I brought these just in case. They're small, so they should fit well enough." he looked up at her. "I'll wait outside, and you can come out when you're ready."

When she stripped down to put on the uniform, she imagined she shouldn't feel anything but very fortunate Sephiroth was even willing to teach her in the first place. He was after all the world famous, she made a face, demon general, and if she was ever going to learn she would have the best chance with him.

The uniform was actually not a bad fit, only a little long in the legs and when she put on the boots, she mostly wished for a mirror to see how ridiculous she looked. Though when she stepped outside to meet Sephiroth, he looked at her and looked entirely too pleased with himself. She looked away from him, cleared the hair away from her face when the wind blew it into her eyes.

She hadn't had time to braid it up, didn't have any hair ties with her, but out of force of habit she reached back and started to gather her hair together. A gloved hand on hers stopped her cold and she turned to him and gave him a questioning look.

He merely turned her back around, and she let her hands come away as he swept her hair back away from her face, wound her hair up and twisted it through into a knot. He was quick with it, and none of his touches were lingering, none indicated it should've felt good at all, but she found herself having to open her eyes when he was finished.

"This won't come out as easily." he said from behind her and she nodded.

"Do you keep your hair down when you fight?" she asked, suddenly curious. He shouldered the bag and started walking, and she followed.

"Usually." he said, and she waited for him to say something else but he didn't. She looked around them, glad to see no one was out yet. Was that why he'd chosen such an early hour?

"And it doesn't get in the way?" she asked, already missing the comfort of her sandals.

"In particular kinds of battles I prefer to keep it back," he sighed, "I learned when I was very young how difficult it is to wash blood from my hair."

Aeris almost stopped, couldn't think of an explanation for that that wasn't terrible.

"Oh."

They continued for a while in silence and when they came to the end of the sector, Sephiroth stopped.

"We are going to a clearing in seven. Are you comfortable with this?" She her lip, thinking of the female Turk with her pitying brown eyes and large silver star. She thought about the gil now laying on her dresser, about how she'd just toed the line of Four only yesterday, been so close to being as bold as she wished she could be. She had to take it for herself.

"Seven?" she asked, and he nodded, watched her. She looked past Sephiroth into Six.

"Yes. Yes, I'm ready."

He let her step in before him then, and there was a look in his eye daring anyone to stop them.

When they reached seven, an hour might have already passed. All Aeris knew what that she was already feeling tired, hungry. When they made it to the clearing, Sephiroth set down the bag. She looked all around her, found an incredible amount of natural light was coming through, that the ground beneath her feet looked to be fertile at some point in time. Mostly though, it was a sad expanse of land; it was flat, bare and colorless. She was disappointed to know that six and seven were all too similar to five.

Nonetheless, she stretched her arms up and breathed the slightly different air. She was triumphant, even though she still watched for blue suits and had taken Sephiroth's offered hand.

Someday though, and she knew the day was coming soon, she would do it all on her own.

But the beauty of the day didn't last long. She heard Sephiroth's terms in her head like a premonition, had known that agreeing to is offer was a bad idea. She realized it really was at oh seven hundred hours when she ran a few laps, and wanted to collapse halfway through the first, oh seven hundred and thirty when Sephiroth very suddenly appeared beside her (without a hair out of place) on the excruciating second lap and told her that if she stopped she was going to do more, and oh seven hundred thirty one when she said no she absolutely was not.

She found out all too quickly that his standards were impossibly high, much like the level of his apparent athleticism, and that he really wasn't going to cut her any slack, even though she was clearly no where as fit.

She told him at oh eight hundred hours, that gardening didn't make for muscle, and he told her that still didn't explain why she insisted on punching her targets with her eyes closed. Aeris didn't respond, couldn't tell him that she didn't like it when he was the target, even if he could barely feel it.

Around 9 am, she managed not to think about it and threw a proper punch. Sephiroth told her to do thirty more just like that. She did as he said mostly because arguing with him just made him glare, and made her more exhausted. At oh nine hundred fifteen hours, she told him that if he didn't let her use her knees to do her push-ups, she wasn't going to do them at all.

His concession for the pushups at oh nine hundred and sixteen hours was the sweetest part of the session, and she smiled as she lowered herself to the ground.

After she was finished, he told her to do more and she did them.

He told her to do more after that.

And she did them.

When he told her to go for another run, she said no. She told him that she was not his soldier, she was tired, he wasn't listening to her, and that he was being-

"Unnecessarily mean."

He said she ought to listen to him, she hadn't met her boundaries just yet, and if she wanted to to be stronger she needed to stop complaining, do as he asked and stop acting like-

"A child."

In that hour they both acknowledged she was rather lousy in all categories physical, and that maybe some alternatives were in order.

So at ten, he handed her a heal materia. At ten, it tumbled into her hand and everything felt connected, spirit to planet and planet to the glowing ball inside her hand. Something at the core of it was something she felt she already knew intimately, and had known for years. And his voice was soft with mathematics, scientific information on materia synthesis, and as it tuned out, she closed her eyes and felt it all coming out of her.

At ten oh one, they both looked on rather stupidly at all the green around them.

"Exceptional..." he breathed, and she could still feel it in her fingertips and skin. She was glowing, jumping up and down, and he was looking at her like he didn't know what to make of it.

The energy was like a thick, tingling wind, touching them both with soft hands. And his brow was was furrowed when he tipped her head back and looked into her eyes as it carded through his hair with green fingers. His face was changing, seeking realization maybe in his own rational logic, and she wanted to tell him that there wasn't anything rational about it, nothing scientific.

She could've gone into blood lines and planetary connections, but what it really felt like was something that was hers. Power she could claim and give with, and she was too happy to form words.

She was so happy, but suddenly very sleepy, and the last thing she saw before darkness was Sephiroth speaking to her, words she couldn't hear.

When she awoke, she was in her flowerbed. Sitting up, she looked around to find Sephiroth sitting silently in an adjacent pew. She rubbed her eyes, and smiled at him. It was dark outside and she felt sore all over.

He didn't smile back.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." She said, looking down at her hands. She realized she was still in the uniform. "What happened?" she asked and he crossed his arms.

"You simply over channeled. The materia responded in kind and emptied your reservoir." he paused. "Material Exhaustion." His watched her. "Despite what you might think, it's mostly rare for first time use."

"Oh." she looked away.

"Do you know why that is?" he asked. But it didn't really sound as if he was.

"No."

"Because in order to over channel, you would have already had to develop the skill and magical components physically to activate without equipping. Endless amounts of practice enable the user to make the appropriate magical connections with a specific materia to do this. To be able to do this with an unfamiliar materia is nearly impossible."

"Can you do it?" she asked, meeting his gaze now.

"Yes. "

"Then-" she stopped when she saw his look, knew it meant she couldn't possibly compare the two of them. She resented it a little, but knew he was mostly right. It made sense for him to be able to do it, and did not make sense for her.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked, incredulous. Wouldn't he be happy that she had done well with it? But even she knew better, any happiness he had for her was totally eclipsed by that thing he couldn't figure out.

He looked away, stood up from the pew. She blinked.

"No." he said. "Only, I might have underestimated the depth of your mystery." Her skin prickled.

"I'm not ready yet." she said quietly, wanting not just to hold onto it a little longer but to more deeply feel her small triumph before opening herself up to him. Was she just procrastinating? Had she made him wait enough? She just wanted him to respect her decision while she figured it out.

"Your reluctance makes that much clear." he said, and she actually felt guilty. He started to head out, and she jumped up, went after him.

"Wait." she breathed, and he stopped. "You've seen things in me that you don't understand and feel as if I should tell you, but I...see things too." he turned around to face her. "I can tell when you want me not to pry any further and I always stop, I assume you have your reasons, why can't you-"

"When? I have exposed myself to you in ways I have never dared to do with others." he said, and she knew that he meant it, which made his level of 'disclosure' all the more sad.

She bit her lip, realized she was breathing hard.

"Why did you have blood in your hair when you were young?" she swallowed, went on. "And why are you so adamant about protecting me, why did you act like you did earlier today? Like it was more important than anything we've ever done together?" she added, felt the heat of her face.

He stared at her, jaw clenched. She thought he was going to turn and leave but he didn't.

"The war was supposed to have ended already." he said, looking into her eyes. "I was but a teenager when I and three regiments entered DaChao with the intention of signing the treaty. But the rebellion was refusing to die down, they came with impossible numbers, hid in the dark, in the dirt and mountains themselves. I didn't think it would make a difference, but I found my numbers diminishing. Reluctantly took up my sword. I was often reluctant, in the beginning. But very soon I discovered there was pleasure to be found in war, value in the grotesque. I discovered that fear is more powerful than mercy, produces a greater high than can be matched with a manufactured drug. In men crying for their mothers, the feel of my blade cutting down shadow after shadow, I found comfort. At DaChao, I found another facet of my nature, learned there is a language in blood I speak very well."

Aeris couldn't look away from the glow in his eyes, even though her body was screaming at her to put distance between them. She wouldn't do that.

"As for why I want to protect you, it is only because I know that there are men, ruthless men, who don't care whether you are gentle, kind or defenseless. There was a young woman I met once, who stood in the way of progress in intended to make in order to secure our victory. The daughter of a merchant of rare materia, protecting her departed father's supply, likely for sentimental reasons. She wasn't strong, I could have easily pushed her aside, and she wasn't effectively blocking my way and yet I thought it better just to kill her."

There was a look on his face that was almost regret.

"There are the necessary evils of war, and then there is evil for the sake of evil. I've seen both, and imagine with the current company you attract-" she thought again of the Turk with brown eyes, "you ought to be aware and ready for it."

She was silent, and he looked away from her gaze, as if uncomfortable.

She wanted to go into his arms, but she didn't. She couldn't, and she wondered if he sensed that.

"I hope your questions are answered now." he said softly, and she wanted to badly to reach out to him but she couldn't find the courage to. For the first time, she had words of his to put to the other face she had seen emerge time and time again, a face having nothing of tenderness, humanity.

If she couldn't handle his other sides, could she blame him for not being able to handle hers?

She watched him leave, could only think about the look in his eye when he spoke. And when she peeled the uniform off and stood naked before it as the shower went, she thought of him young, with red, silver hair.


Author's Note: So definitely a more serious chapter. Funny thing though, this wasn't supposed to be the 'chapter' for this chapter. This one went through few drafts, mostly because I think I got overzealous and wanted to pack to much action in too soon. But since I've spent now seven chapters building up (not a lot at all, but I'm impatient) I tried to keep the pace. But I'm really excited to get into the meat of things soon, and I hope you guys are enjoying the way up and aren't just totally bored. XD Thanks for reading!