Disclaimer: The characters, the places and the terminologies are all property of Square Enix. I simply incorporate my idea to create a merged final fantasy world and story, hence this is a fanfiction of my own AU.
In case you have no idea about the characters, Weiss is from FFVII Dirge of Cerberus, I believe he was still alive as per the DoC ending so I put him in here. I decided to make Genesis inclined not only to poetry but to singing since he's been modeled after Gackt-sama which is a famous J-rock singer. Try to google him, he's the real Genesis Rhapsodos! Oh my heart…3
I planned multiple pairings for this story, you'll be surprised that Zack and Angeal will have their own partners too, but the mystery women will still be a secret haha! I'm shipping an Aerith and Sephiroth pair (don't hate me plox!X_X) I just thought of the concept of light and dark for them sooo really, I like them together.
Another chapter for you guys! Have fun reading! Again I apologize for the grammar…X_X.
Chapter 7 – In the Brink of Death
Aerith felt a droplet of water fell to her cheeks, her eyes flinched and opened them slowly, as she did so what greeted her was a rocky ceiling, she sat up and realized she was in a cave. She looked around and a wave of panic hit her as she realizes she was alone. She quickly stood up and called out, "Sephiroth?". No response, she tried again, "Sephiroth? Where are you?". She walked a little further inside, "Hellooo?", she called out again. This time a deep voice answered her.
"It's a dead end, I'm over here."
She turned around and saw her silver haired companion carrying twigs and branches just by the cave entrance. She can't help but smile as she saw him, gods how she really thought she was alone. Sephiroth went inside the cave and put down the branches as he flicked his fingers and lit the branches on fire creating a bonfire to keep them warm. Aerith walked up beside him and said, "I really thought I'm alone, what happened?".
She slowly sat down beside the fire, Sephiroth stood up and walked just by the entrance and replied, "I don't know either, but after passing through the gate I found us lying just by the seashore not far from here. You were unconscious, I tried waking you up but you won't budge. So I decided to find ourselves some safe place to stay while you're asleep, I found this cave not very far from where we arrived. I just left a few minutes ago to gather something to light a fire to keep us warm then what happened after was when you were looking for me." After telling the story, he glanced back at her.
"How about Zack and Angeal, did you… did you find them anywhere?" Aerith asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.
Sephiroth simply shook his head, then walked towards her and sat down just across the fire; he looked at her as she bowed her head a sad look evident on her features. The fire gave her face an ethereal glow, enhancing a somewhat already unearthly and beautiful feature. Sephiroth can't help but notice this as his eyes was fixed on her, studying her face, eyebrows, eyes, nose and those supple lips. He felt something inside him that he never felt before, he doesn't know what it is, and he couldn't understand what the flower girl was doing to him considering the fact that she really doesn't do anything and yet bring out something new in him.
'Focus Sephiroth, you can't let her take away your focus' he mentally reprimanded himself. He shook this wave of emotion and began to speak.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be alright. We must set foot and find the nearest town or village from here. Otherwise we'll be spending the night out in the open again."
Aerith looked up to him, nodded and smiled.
"Take your rest, I'll keep watch.", Sephiroth told her.
"You're not going to sleep?" Aerith asked concerned.
"I can keep up even without sleep. I'm not human Aerith, I think you're forgetting that.", he said with a smirk.
Aerith frowned and said, "But you ARE human. You're just enhanced, strong and powerful unlike me, I'm just a weakling."
Sephiroth frowned and said sternly, "You're not. Do you think I would bother to go out of my way and kill a weakling in the Ancient city?"
Aerith's eyes widened, raised her head and looked at him.
Sephiroth realized what he just said, 'kill… I just said I killed her, I said the words that must not be uttered.'
"I apologize, I didn't mean to, I just want you to realize that you're not weak.", he stood up and looked at the fire burning down between them.
Aerith just shook her head and said, "No, no. You don't have to apologize, it's all in the past now."
Sephiroth looked at her direction again and said, "Just think about this, if you think I'm so strong and powerful, and I find someone like you as a threat to my existence, wouldn't you think you're just as powerful as I?"
Aerith put a hand on her chin, closed her eyes and think, she opened her eyes and stared at his mako eyes and nodded.
"I clearly understand your point. Thanks for acknowledging what I'm capable of, I may not have realized it, but I know I could stand up against your plans before. It's just that because I have the white materia with me and thought of it as the only thing capable of stopping the power of the black materia. But in hand-to-hand combat, I doubt it.", she dismissed her sentence with a laugh.
Her laughter was like music to his ears, he can't help but smile.
"Sleep now Aerith, you'll need all your strength for tomorrow's journey."
"Okay, I hope you can get a nap too if you have the chance. You should never abuse your body you know.", she smiled and settled in near the fire. She yawned and said, "Goodnight Sephiroth." Then she turned her back to him.
"Goodnight Aerith.", He whispered, then walked towards the entrance of the cave and sat with one of his leg flexed and an arm resting on it. He stared up in the night sky, the Terra was like a second moon on Gaia, but it was barely visible because the clouds were hiding its existence. He looked at Aerith's sleeping form, stared at her for quite a moment then sighed as he bowed his head in defeat.
'She shouldn't have suffered under my blade. Now that I think about it, it was all… too much for her." He told himself as he thinks of all the people he killed. 'Just how many people did I actually send to the lifestream? Or even to the… void? I don't even want to think, but somehow, this is partially my fault too.'
As he thinks of all these things, Sephiroth closed his eyes and tried to push away the negative thoughts.
Lightning stirred, she opened her eyes and saw a man with white spiky hair typing on his computer. He was wearing a headset, she sat up and noticed her gunblade was missing. The man seemed to notice her and took off his headset, he smiled and said, "So you're awake. How are you feeling?"
She simply shrugged her shoulders, "I'm fine thanks, and where is my blade?"
"Oh! That blade with a gun? Hold on, I'll go get it for you.", Weiss stood up from his seat and went towards the door. After a few minutes he went back with the blade in hand, he handed it to her. Lightning took it from his hands carefully and studied the blade, seeing that it's still in good condition smiled at Weiss and thank him.
"Thank you for letting me rest in your house, but I must take my leave now. There are important things I must do." She quickly straps the blade to her hips at her back..
"You mustn't thank me, it was brother who found you unconscious on the beach. He's the one who carried you here, he owns this cottage.", Weiss replied.
"I see… Where is he then so I could thank him properly.", Lightning asked.
"You'll find him on the beach; he loves to stay there."
"Alright, I'll go find him, thank you." She walked towards the door, she then glanced back at Weiss and asked, "By the way, how long was I asleep?"
Weiss folded his arms around his chest and said, "Just a day."
"A day… I see, I must go now."
Weiss just waved at her then see her off.
It was not a long walk from the cottage towards the beach. She tried to search for a figure of a man, Weiss said his brother is just around here. She was looking around and as she did so, she noticed a boulder and on top of it a man in red leather cloak sits atop it with his legs crossed. He was holding a book on his hands, auburn hair hides most of his features. A dagger earring, his nose and his lips were the only thing she caught a glimpse of this man who took her in. She walked towards his direction, and as she was nearing his place, she can hear him reading the book aloud, the words seems familiar, the waves splashing on the shore made it not so audible for her to hear clearly, she walked a little nearer until she's a few feet away from him, she finally could make out the words he was saying.
"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end, the goddess descends from the sky…"
"Wings of light and dark spread afar, she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting…", they both said this line in unison.
Lightning stopped walking, Genesis closed the book on his hands and lifted his head, then he jumped from the boulder he was sitting on. He was facing the sea but turned around to find Lightning standing a few distance away from him.
"I see… You're already awake. Are you also interested in Loveless just as I do?", he asked smiling.
Lightning raised a questioning eyebrow, "Love…less?"
"Yes, this book I'm reading, it was a poem and had already been portrayed in different plays."
"I'm not familiar with it.", Lightning answered.
"Really? But you just mentioned the lines exactly as what's written on this book.", he said as he walked up to her closing the distance between them.
"I did, I know the lines."
"Then how can you not know Loveless?"
"Is that how you call the prophecy? Loveless?", Lightning asked.
"What do you mean, the prophecy?", Genesis replied confused.
Lightning grabbed the book from his hands, and scanned it.
"The five acts on this book, the five phrases on every beginning of the acts are similar to the prophecy of the Farseer's.", she closed the book and handed it back to Genesis. "Listen, this is not just an ordinary poem, it holds the prophecy about the end of the world. These phrases were from the visions of the Seeress Yeul stored in parchments. Now who would've invented to put it in a book?"
"So this poem really holds something significant.", he walked past Lightning, then glanced back. "Would you care to enlighten me? I've been interested with it since I was a child."
"I wish I could do so as to repay you, but I have my own quest to fulfill. I have no time for this."
"Oh, is that how you are supposed to thank your rescuer?"
"I didn't ask to be rescued, but I do wish to thank you. I have to go now."
"Hold on, you better explain something first."
"Not about that.", Lightning said as she pointed towards the book in Genesis' hands.
"Alright, not about this book. But… this.", He trailed off as he walked near her again, swayed part of his hair covering the right part of his neck and showed her a tattoo.
Lightning's eyes grew wide at the sight and asked, "H-how could you have this?"
"So I was right, you know what this is. It's not only me, my brother had one too on his lower right abdomen. When I found you, you were in a crystal stasis, before I could reach you, the skies opened up and a bright light engulfed everything. My neck suddenly grew warm it burns I flinched and fell to my knees. When the light was gone I found you staring at me then you suddenly fell unconscious. I took you to my home, Weiss greeted me, when I put you to rest, he told me that he gained a tattoo, he said it was a burning sensation he felt then the pain stopped, and when he checked, it's already there. I had to check mine and found out I had one too. I thought you might know something about this phenomenon."
"That is Etro's brand."
"Etro's… brand?"
"Yes, a brand to symbolize that you are one of her chosen to defend her will. "
"Who is Etro?"
"Etro is the goddess of Valhalla, a world unknown to us all, she is the goddess who welcomes the chosen dead to reside with her in paradise while some souls were left in the circle of life. She guards the gate which connects our worlds, the living and the dead. If the gate opens, the corruption of the void in the invisible world shall engulf this mortal world, erasing history and returning everything to Zero world. It's as if nothing, not all of us have ever existed."
"I didn't know about it. I thought it's the Planet which regulates everything, we die to be reborn as someone new."
"That's the natural cycle of life, but for some, which they call The Promised Land, some souls were taken by Etro to this Promised Land, and that is the city of the dead in Valhalla."
"What is my fate now as well as my brother's? How will this brand affect our lives from now on?"
"If you possess the brand then we need to gather the others who fights for Etro's cause as well.", Lightning walked past him. "We must go back to your house and discuss this further. Since you've been chosen, I believe I must tell you one important thing about me." She turned around and looked at Genesis with intensity in her eyes.
"What is it?", Genesis asked.
"I have Etro's will inside me. I am the goddess herself."
The pink haired girl jumped from the tree stump she's on. Zack and Angeal looked at her with bewildered look on their faces.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" She said sarcastically and giggled.
"Who are you? Are you on their side?", Zack said as he readied his sword.
The girl rolled her eyes and heaves a heavy sigh then said, "Seriously? I mean… is your question for real? Look, I just saved you and your friend in a pinch and yet you're accusing me as one of them? What kind of thinking do you have?" the girl put both her hands on her waist.
"Err… I mean it might be a conspiracy you know? it's hard to trust random people easily. We're SOLDIERs and we're trained to be cunning." Zack replied indignantly.
The girl slumps her shoulders in disbelief and waves her hand in disagreement, "Very cunning, I may say." She walked towards him and pointed a finger at the tip of his nose while her other hand was on her hips, Zack was caught off guard.
"Say, did your hair meant to grow spikes that it already went through your head and pierced whatever brain you have in there?"
With that statement Angeal roared with laughter, Zack pulled himself off the girl and looked at Angeal, "Angeal! Just whose side are you really on?"
"Sorry Zack, she's right, she wouldn't put her life in danger just to save us. The best thing we could do is thank her for it.", Angeal replied with a smile. He then walked up to the girl and said, "Thank you, if it weren't for your help, we would've been dead."
A small smile tugged at the girl's lips, "Well… at least someone here knows how to say thanks.", she then gave Zack a sarcastic look.
Zack feeling guilty for what he did, approached her nicely and said, "I'm sorry, thanks for helping us earlier. That was some good diversion and some good magic you got there. By the way, you haven't told us your name yet. I'm Za-"
"Zack and he is Angeal, I know your names and yes definitely I'm one good magic user he-", her sentence got cut off as they heard some voices heading toward their direction.
"More coming!", Zack said as he readied his sword in a fighting stance, Angeal did the same.
"No way we're gonna get stuck here dealing with all those soldiers, grab my hand!", the girl said.
Angeal and Zack looked at her then at each other confused.
"How long are the both of you gonna stand there? Don't tell me you'll stand right there and wait for them to really kill you this time?"
"Let's do what she says Zack, there's nothing we can do but trust her."
Zack nodded and they both grabbed unto the girl's hands. A light from her shoulder glows and created a gate just below them then they were gone.
The soldiers arrived at the sight but failed to see what had just transpired, all they saw was their comrades' body covered in blood and knocked down.
Particles of light began to gather in a forest then 3 figures appeared, a petite girl with pink hair, and two men with similar outfits and somehow similar black hair, except that one of them is spikier and longer.
"Whoa! What did you just do?", Zack asked surprised.
"Well, I opened a time gate and transport us a little back in time before the soldiers found you on that spot."
"You can do that?", Angeal asked in astonishment.
"Yes, but not too much. I can't really go way back into the past." the girl said while rolling her eyes. She then walked past them and pointed to the west.
"Straight here is out of these woods, if you follow the path you'll reach a village, some people there will be able to help you."
"How can you be so sure that the people in there were not trying to kill us?", Zack said.
"Because Etro says so!", she said smiling.
"Are you also one of Etro's defenders?", Angeal asked.
She simply nodded her head.
"Why don't you join us? We need to stick together right? All Etro's defenders must gather together to banish the Chaos and minimize the casualties brought by it!", Zack replied.
"Someday we will eventually, but for now I must go somewhere,", She was about to go when she glanced back at them and said, "The woman you encountered earlier is Jihl Nabaat, Commander of PSICOM, a military faction for Terra. Beware of her, just like you she's already dead but somehow she has been brought back and she's working for the goals of Caius Ballad."
"You mean we're in Terra right now?", Angeal asked.
"Yes and that's why you need to go to where I'm telling you, if you wish to go back to Gaia, you'll need their help. Oh and before I forget, you don't have to worry about your friends, Etro's champion is in Gaia together with the Cetra. So, bye! I need to go now!", her shoulder glowed again and opened a gate and jumped in.
"Wait! You haven't told us your name yet!", Zack said. "She's gone.", he added shaking his head.
"She's quite a mysterious one, but at least we know she's one of us. C'mon Zack, there's no use hanging around here, let's go to the village." Angeal suggested.
Zack gave him a nod and they set foot towards the path leading outside the forest and into the village by the sea.
It was at the first sign of daylight that Sephiroth and Aerith decided to start their journey. They really don't know where to go and Aerith was hoping that Etro would lead them to the right path. Minerva just told them to gather the other people who fight for Etro's cause and minimize the casualty of the third apocalypse. But they have no idea where to start looking at all.
Meanwhile, while she's in deep thought Sephiroth landed down in front of her and retracted his black wing.
"We're on the correct path, it'll be a long walk outside this forest but from the way I saw the distance from above, it won't reach dark before we're out of here.", Sephiroth assured her.
Aerith nodded and smiled weakly. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong? Are you well?"
"Yes I'm fine, don't worry about me, I'm just worried."
"About Zack and Angeal?"
"Part of it yes, but I'm also worried about us.", Aerith has walked a few distance away from him and turned around to look at him with a worried look on her face.
Sephiroth walked towards her and asked, "Why?"
"Because, we really don't know where exactly we are going. I mean we're going to travel aimlessly."
"Giving up already? We haven't started the mission yet." Sephiroth said with a smirk as he folded his arms around his chest.
"I didn't say I'm giving up!", Aerith said pouting.
Sephiroth chuckled and said, "Alright then, stop complaining and let's get moving 'Whiny Miss'"
"Huh?"
Sephiroth laughed and kept on walking.
"Hey! I'm not usually like this you know!", Aerith called back and just followed Sephiroth.
After travelling for half a day occasionally resting whenever Aerith felt tired, Sephiroth could almost see a massive plain out of this forest they're in. Aerith was drinking water from a clean stream nearby. She then washed her face and saw Sephiroth staring at a far horizon. She turned her gaze towards the same direction he was staring at and was confused.
"Is something over there Sephiroth?", Aerith asked wanting to know what gives the general an uneasy look on his face.
Sephiroth looked at her and said, "Are you done resting? Shall we head on?"
Aerith nodded, Sephiroth nodded as well and continued, "Well then, let's go."
Sephiroth started walking and Aerith walked behind him, she still wanted to know why she can feel his uneasiness.
"Hey Sephiroth uhmm…", Aerith said as Sephiroth simply grunted In response.
"I can actually feel you're uneasiness while you're staring into something located far from here, would you like to tell me what it is?"
Sephiroth just kept on walking ignoring her, she tried to ask again but still he ignored her. Aerith had enough of his silence and kept on prying. On her fifth attempt of getting an answer from him, he turned around and looked at Aertih, he just gave a weak smile and said, "It's nothing, don't worry."
But still she didn't trust his answer. While Aerith was about to speak again, Sephiroth silenced her by raising his right hand and said, "Something's coming, we must run come on." He held his hand out to her as she reached for it and they both run.
Aerith couldn't keep up a good pace but then Sephiroth stopped abruptly causing her to bump on his back.
"Don't just stop like that all of a sudden.", she said as she fixed her hair then suddenly she saw why Sephiroth had stopped. Before them was a massive cobweb. In it were skulls and bones hanging on like a banner. Her eyes grew wide with terror and was about to scream when Sephiroth quickly covered her mouth.
"Shhh… you might attract the attention of whatever creature there is in here."
She nodded her head and he removed his hand from her mouth and she speak up, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hold my fear in. Should we find another path?"
"This is the nearest path I could find, if we turn around and go the longer path, it will take us another day, I wonder if we could last long by just eating berries along the way."
"Then, should you just slash it with your sword?"
"I could try, but I know Masamune will be able to cut through it."
Sephiroth then walked towards the huge cobweb and sliced it through with his Masamune. It was ripped open easily. He glanced back at Aerith and said, "Come on."
Aerith nodded and went towards him but then they heard a loud screech from above. Sephiroth quickly grabbed Aerith and dashed away from the creature heading towards their direction from above. Sephiroth shifted their position and stand up, Aerith's eyes couldn't believe what she saw it was a giant spider, and it looks like a Black Tarantula with some yellow and white stripes on its body.
"So this is the one who made the cobweb and ate those people.", Sephiroth said as he draw Masamune in a fighting stance. "Aerith, assist me with your spells, I'll take this monster down or else we'll be its dinner tonight."
"Y-yes! Take care Sephiroth."
The monster screeched again and jumped, Sephiroth dashed upward, Aerith casted her buff spells on Sephiroth. As he was reaching the spider, the monster spit a green fluid from its mouth; he evaded it by slashing the liquid in half then thrust his sword upward piercing the monster's belly. Its blood splattered but Sephiroth quickly moved away from it. Sephiroth landed on a cliff wall and hopped again towards the beast, the beast swung one of its legs in order to hit him but he evaded again and landed another blow cutting one of its legs. The monster screeched in pain, its eyes began to glow red.
"The monster is on berserk mode Aerith, be careful, it might attack you too so better keep watch!" Sephiroth shouted at Aerith.
Aerith nodded and started casting a Firaga spell, Sephiroth lunged himself towards the beast again, the spider quickly jumped out of his way and spit at Aerith's direction. Her casting was almost complete when the spider's venom was splashed towards her direction, Aerith's casting was cancelled and all she can do is raised her arms and cover herself but Sephiroth immediately shifted his position and casted a wall spell on her. The venom just splashed on the wall protecting her.
"Thank you Sephiroth.", she said smiling
He smiled back but as Sephiroth turned towards the beast what greeted him was a spider leg that hurled him towards a cliff wall, he smashed onto it, hard. As he was recovering himself the beast spat a sticky white fluid on him, it covered him from neck down to his feet, it nailed him to the wall and he couldn't move.
'Cobweb, dammit!' he thought to himself.
The beast was heading onto his direction as he struggled to free himself from its grasp. Suddenly, the beast's black fur on its back was lit on fire and it gave off a screech then it turned its direction to where the fire spell came from. Aerith then suddenly realized what she just did, 'I made it angry now it's going to eat me!' she mentally thought in panic.
The beast screeched at her, Sephiroth realizing the weight of the situation they're , struggled even more, he saw Aerith running away from the monster, but the beast just spat a cobweb in front of her preventing her from escaping its grasps. Aerith stopped and looked back again, she can't fight it, she definitely can't, she's too scared, she can't die here, now that she was given a chance to dwell on the world of the living she wanted to see her friends again and Cloud.
"Fight it Aerith!"
She didn't want to believe that it was Sephiroth who was urging him to fight it. How could he say that? He knows for a fact that if he couldn't handle the monster what chance could she even have? Perhaps 0.0000001%?
"Are you kidding me? How can I stand up against this monster if you can't handle it yourself!", she shouted back.
"You can fight it! There's no use running away from it Aerith! Fight it or you'll be eaten!"
"I can't!"
"You have to!"
The beast spat venom on Aerith but all she could do is cast Planet Protector on herself and crouch as the beast screeched just above her.
"Aerith! Aerith listen to me!", Sephiroth called out as he keeps on struggling. Aerith just kept her eyes closed and said, "I'm listening!"
"That shield you put around yourself will not protect you for long, buy me enough time by dragging the monster away from me on the opposite direction, I'll free myself from here but you have to stay alive, do you hear me?"
"Yes! I'll try!"
"DO IT!"
With that said, Aerith stood up, she can feel the magic wearing off so she took a sprint and tried to run past the monster. She casted wall on her and haste on herself.
Sephiroth closed his eyes and concentrated on casting a blizzard spell on the cobweb straining him, once he felt the cold temperature all over his body turning the cobweb into ice and urging his body to move forward the cobweb of ice crushed like crystals. The beast almost got Aerith as she tripped over a human skull. She saw the skull staring at her through its empty eye sockets; she turned her gaze away from it as she felt a pang of pity. The monster screeched and she was taken away from her moment of thinking. She looked at the monster in fear, its fangs were fierce, it has saliva dripping from its mouth, one word to describe such a monster, it was menacing.
The monster hurled one of its legs towards Aerith, she just closed her eyes and the next thing she heard was a slashing sound, something that fell off the ground and the monster's screech hurt her ears that she covered them up with her hands. She heard multiple sounds of slashes and then the screeching sound died. When she opened her eyes, she can't believe what she saw, the monster lay dead on the ground on its own pool of blood. Its mouth hanging open saliva mixed with blood dripping from it, its menacing six red eyes were open.
Sephiroth stood in front of it, his back against her, his Masamune coated with blood dripping from its tip, he removed the blood from his sword by casting water. He then turned around and looked at Aerith with fierce eyes close to anger. He walked and stopped just in front of her.
"Stand up!", he shouted at her.
She stood up slowly and he grabbed her elbows to help her up. When she's on his feet he speaks up again.
"Is that what you learned from your journey with Cloud, or is that how Zack taught you self-defense, to cower in fear in front of your grim?"
"I-I…"
"You what?" he said, venom coating his every word.
"I… I TRIED!"
"But you didn't try hard enough! You are capable of using magic even without material! You're a Cetra!"
"Half Cetra!" 'for your information!' is what she wanted to add but she'd chose to stop herself she might just fuel up his anger.
"Even so! It's not an excuse not to fight back! You must learn how to survive on your own Aerith, in the entirety of your life, you have to learn to rely on yourself! What if I didn't make it in time? You might be some bloodied corpse right there waiting for the lifestream to consume you again! Didn't you say you wanted to see your friends again?"
"Yes I did! And what do they have to do with this?"
"Then you must stay alive long enough for you to see them and reunite with them!"
His words caught her off guard, she didn't know what to say, yes she did wanted to see her friends and be with them again but in that instance when she tripped over and the monster was about to devour her, she decided to resigned to her fate. She bowed her head and clasped her hands on her chest.
Sephiroth noticed her silence and turned his back against her.
"You must learn how to properly defend yourself at times like this, you're powerful, you just have to believe in your own strength. Stop being a damsel-in-distress, fight back in order to protect the people who mean so much to you."
With that said, he started walking off, Aerith's eyes widened in surprise, she smiled and followed behind him.
"Thank you Sephiroth."
Sephiroth just grunted in response. Aerith giggled, she's used to his silence often, but when he say something, one can't help but notice the intelligence he possess. Sephiroth is brilliant, maybe because both of his parents were scientists after all.
As they walked towards the exit they were oblivious to a danger coming from the monster they have killed. Something inside it moves, Sephiroth suddenly stopped on his tracks, Aerith stopped confused, then he quickly turned around as he grabbed Aerith and tackled her to the ground beneath him. Everything happened so fast, what Aerith could only feel as her eyes were closed was the hard ground beneath her and a warm breath to her near her face as she felt someone looms over her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Sephiroth on top of her with his eyes closed and his arms holding his weight with her legs locked in between his. She felt heat creeping up her face at their awkward position but then she pushed those thoughts aside as she saw Sephiroth's face grimaced as if he was in pain.
She felt a warm liquid fell to her collarbone; she turned to see what it was and saw that it was red.
'Red! Blood?' she thought as she quickly shifted her gaze to where it came from and saw that Sephiroth's shoulder blades were pierced with what seemed like fangs, it was huge fangs and bore down his skin. Her eyes grew wide but before she could speak, the fangs withdrew from his body and a screech was heard.
He shifted to a kneeling position as he clutched his left shoulder with his right hand. Aerith sat up and came to check the wound.
"Sephiroth! Let me heal it!", she said in a frantic voice as she saw it bleeding profusely.
"I'll.. be… fine, don't worry, we must stop that monster first and worry about this wound later. He stood up and grabbed his Masamune as he readied in a stance, the blade's length pointed straight towards his enemy with both his hands holding the handle. He quickly runs towards the worm-like, one eyed creature with two huge fangs protruding from its mouth. He swayed his Masamune and made a slash, the monster screeched, he then tossed it up into the air with another slash, and he jumped high and made five more consecutive slashes in the air before sending it to the ground with one final slash. The monster landed with a loud thud blood pooling from its body.
Sephiroth landed on his feet but then a burning pain shot through him from the wound he got. His left hand quickly released Masamune from his hand as it fell to the ground, he kneeled on his right knee as his right hand grabbed his left shoulder. Aerith ran towards him worried look plastered on her face.
"Sephiroth!", she knelt in front of him, she saw the pain on his face. He was sweating, his body feels cold, he looked up at her worried face, then fall out of consciousness and dropped his head on her shoulder while his hands fell to his sides.. Aerith tried to hold his weight and nudge him but he won't even move. His skin was cold and clammy, she saw Sepiroth's blood, she checked the wound and saw purple bruises from the wound site. And every second she noticed it growing bigger and bigger, she touched his blood, she flinched, it feels warm, she smelled it, her eyes grew wide with terror as she came to a conclusion.
'Venom! The monsters venom has entered his blood stream, no wonder it knocked him down! If I don't do something, he'll die!' she mentally thought.
She shifted his position and lay him on the ground, he removed his coat starting with his buckles, she freed his left shoulder, she looked at Sephiroth's still form, his face seemed to make him look so dead, he's becoming pale, beads of sweat appears on his forehead and body, he flinched from time to time and groan in pain but he definitely couldn't feel what's happening around him. Aerith can't help but blush as she looks at his chest and that washboard abs. If he didn't have any background of bloody massacres and trying to destroy the world, he would have been an epitome of beauty for men. Everything about him was just so perfect. After realizing what she's thinking she mentally slapped her thoughts away.
'What am I thinking? Focus Aerith! You're taking advantage of a man unconscious battling between life and death because of the venom! Act quickly or lest he'll die right before your eyes!'
She put both her hands on top of his shoulder as she closed her eyes and speaks inside her mind, 'Please help me heal him. My ancestors, mother, Planet, lend me your powers. Please let me heal his wound, help me stop the venom from spreading throughout his system. Please!'
Aerith can feel warmth around her as she opened her eyes, green glow was emanating from her hands, and it seeped right through Sephiroth's wound. She saw the pain in his face faded as he sighed still unconscious.
"Just a little more Aerith, hold on!", she said aloud to herself.
She was interrupted by a shaking on the ground like an earthquake.
"What was that?", she said in a panic. She looked around and saw nothing, she looked at her companion and found him asleep. Suddenly the worm which Sephiroth killed started to move.
"No! Not again!", She said in panic.
The hole beneath the worm opened up, hurling the dead monster's body away, and beneath it a giant worm which looked similar emerged from it. It screeched and prepared to lunge itself at them.
Knowing that Sephiroth won't even wake up anytime soon, she didn't really know what to do, she felt her powers run out after the first fight and using most of her powers to detoxify the poison inflicted on her friend. All she did was closed her eyes and lay on top of his still form protecting him.
"I will protect you just as you had protected me.", she whispered looking at his face as she smiled, closed her eyes and surrendered for whatever that's coming.
Three gunshots were heard and afterwards a series of slashing sounds plus a woman's voice who shouted, "FIRAGA!"
Aerith looked up and saw the worm blazing as well as the huge spider monster and the small worm. She saw a man in black pants, black shoes, a black leather bomber jacket with white fur trim collar and a sword which has a trigger he held on his right hand. His back was turned on her, he has brown hair, as she was staring at him, a woman dashed to her side.
"Are you alright?", she asked worriedly. "Is he okay?" She added as she looked at Sephiroth's still unconscious form.
Aerith just nodded, this girl was beautiful, she has black shoulder length hair with three caramel highlights on both sides of her face. She's petite, she's wearing a long, sleeveless, blue rib-knit duster sweater She wears matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black tank top, a denim button-up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that have zippers going down the front and a pair of silver buckled black boots. A boomerang-like weapon was attached on her right arm.
"It's alright, you looked like you couldn't speak because of what happened, you're still traumatized I guess.", she said smiling she then turned to look at Sephiroth and noticed a wound and some purple bruises left.
"Oh no! He got bitten!", she said worriedly then called out to her companion. "Squall! Come over here and give me a hand!"
Aerith looked at the man's direction and saw him walking towards them, he just finished talking to someone with his phone as he slid it on his pants' pocket. Aerith could see that both of them was not quite older than twenty, maybe they're teens, she noticed a scar from the man's face, it starts a little above in between his brows running across the bridge of his nose leering towards the left.
"I just called in the medic team from the Ragnarok, they'll be here immediately. You don't have to worry Rinoa", the man called Squall answered.
Aerith felt herself giving out to sleep, the girl looked at her smiling, "You'll both be fine now."
And with that Aerith surrendered to her tired body and darkness shrouded her as she drifts off to sleep, she heard the voice called out once more asking if she's fine but then afterwards, she couldn't hear anything anymore.
A/N: Hope you like this new chapter! The move Sephiroth used to kill the worm like monster is his famous Octaslash. Anyway, are you familiar with the two new characters introduced in this chapter? Squall and Rinoa were from Final Fantasy VIII, you can also see Squall in Kingdom hearts as Leon, Because his name is Squall Leonheart. But in reality his surname is Loire, because Laguna Loire is his dad. Anyway, the Squall in here would look like his original render in FFVIII or in Dissidia Final Fantasy since they just looked the same and not one from Kingdom hearts.
By the way, ever wondered what spell did Aerith used as she tried to detoxify Sephiroth's wounds? It is Esuna, a famous anti-status effects spell on major Final Fantasy series.^^
The description of Rinoa and Sephiroth were from Final Fantasy wiki, since I'm not good in describing something, I thought I might need a little help from that site. So the description was not from me it's from the people who manages the FF wiki site.
Please Read and Review! I'm actually planning to move this story to the crossover section since it turned out that mains both FFXIII and FFVII, but I'm still thinking of it though.
Till next update!^_^
