To Love an Ancient 3: The Last Seven Days: An Aeris and Sephiroth Finale.
4,490 Words
Chapter 10 Betrayal Part1
Disclaimer
Nope, I don't own Final Fantasy 7...but I sometimes adopt their kawaii bishonens! (most specifically the silvered haired kind.)
Author's Notes
Whew what can I say. Another slow update by yours truly. Nevertheless, this slow train keeps on chugging along x. I promise you guys that I will finish this fic during this lifetime…hopefully J
Warnings: Oh the usual x
Dark twisted themes of pseudo-incest
Deep seated psychological traumas etc etc J x
Musical Muse: Nier- Kainé, Emil's Sacrifice, and Shadowlord's Castle
Anywho enough of my words here,
And on with the fic!
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"Oof!"
'Hn?!'
Yazoo's mako eyes flickered beneath him in surprise. 'That was not the sound of a metal bedspring.'
"!"
It did not take long for the intelligent warrior to realise what, or more precisely, who had created such an unusual sound from below. "!" Before Yazoo could comprehend the actions of his own body, the wounded male soon found himself on both his knees, peering deep into the shadows behind the valance sheet, only to find a pair of shaking green eyes, gleaming back at him from within the foreboding dark.
'Aeris?' Yazoo exhaled wearily, as his deep, heavy gaze settled upon the brunette's face. By the Gods, what was the silly fool trying to accomplish by hiding under the bed? If the gunman were in a less wounded state, he might have allowed himself to ponder upon the many possibilities. However Yazoo felt too weak and wounded to waste time thinking such superficial thoughts.
For Yazoo wanted answers. He needed answers… Now.
"Just get out from under the bed Aeris. We need to talk," Yazoo commanded in a tone tightened heavily with pain.
"…."
When the stunned brunette made no attempt to comply with the gunman's simple verbal command, the wounded warrior gritted his teeth irritably. In less time than it took the foolish female to blink, Yazoo's hands were already reaching out towards the seemingly fear-ridden girl. Grasping Aeris' forearms with both his hands, the gunman fought the urge to wince deeply in pain, as he crudely dragged the brunette out from under the bed, all too aware that Aeris did not ever try to fight him. In fact, Yazoo noticed how the small female was acting uncommonly pliable to his will. Mentally keeping note of this rare revelation to himself, Yazoo curiously tilted his head to one side, as he manoeuvred the female to kneel beside him, observing silently as Aeris vaguely turned her head away from his gaze, intentionally obscuring her face within her long, wild hair. The gunman mildly frowned, unconsciously tightening his grip on the small brunette's arms, trying to catch her eyes once more. "Aeris," Yazoo called out to her quietly. His weary, modulated tone, a disquieting contrast against the heavy weight of his gaze.
"….." The brunette silently trembled beneath the gunman's hands, and turned her head even further away.
'Why is she not responding to me?' For whatever reason, the brunette's lack of response was far from acceptable. And so Yazoo impulsively released one of the brunette's arms, snatching her chin instead, and forcefully turning the brunette's pale face back towards his own.
'….?'
Despite the heavy darkness of the room, and the brunette's uncharacteristic stillness, Yazoo could still see with a distinct clarity, the tiny flicker of tortured emotion swimming within the brunette's deep, sensitive depths. The gunman awkwardly swallowed, his pupils sporadically expanding with an ill controlled need.
'Gods…'
To Yazoo, it was truly frightening, how alluring this girl's vulnerability had now become to him. It certainly did not help matters how Yazoo's imagination was already torturing his mind with phantom images of the same girl lying helpless in the snow, her body exposed and open for him…only for him….
The pale warrior shyly shivered, as he unconsciously moved his face even closer towards those unforgettable green eyes, his bleeding chest burning with an even greater pain, as his eyes followed the dark crimson trail of blood down her face, to those parted lips…which looked so shy and vulnerable…. So easy to touch…and far too easy to obtain…
By the direction of his own salacious thoughts, the pale warrior's felt his face contort with powerfully strained emotion, his mouth going nervously dry when his face drew even closer to Her.
"!"
Suddenly Yazoo's head darted downwards at an awkward angle, the fingers holding the brunette's face prisoner weakly slipping away. Before Aeris could realise what was happening, Yazoo hunched himself over her small form, and was violently overtaken by a loud, and crippling hacking fit.
"Yazoo!"
It was the first time Aeris had spoken, however, Yazoo had no strength to answer her, for he was desperately trying to swallow back the violent gush of thick, bloody bile in his throat with a fiercely shaky palm.
"!"
The gunman knew he was fighting a losing battle, and so Yazoo used his remaining energy to rapidly twist his head as far away from Aeris as he could, coughing up bloody clogs of phlegm, and revolting amounts of bloodied mucus through the cracks of his fingers. As his lifeblood began to spill out violently from his mouth, Yazoo felt tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. His vision blotted with a desperate agony, for the more the warrior coughed and choked, the more difficult it became for him to breathe.
'Am-am I going to die here?'
'Will this be my end?'
Soon Yazoo felt his world slipping violently to one side, as his weakened body finally relented to the inevitable fall of gravity. As the bloodied warrior's dropped downwards, he vaguely felt a pair of thin arms grasp for his shoulders, in an attempt to steady his fall. However it seemed even her weak attempts to rebalance him failed, for the leather-clad duo were sent crashing to the floor. Thud! Yazoo gasped out a painful exhale of air, when his face landed against the dirty floor. His pain only made more prominent when the brunette unluckily smashed her head against his bloodied breast.
"Fu-!"
Yazoo cried out a bale of bloodied froth. An exploding fire of agony jolted his body once more, as he hacked and sobbed against the ground, till he was violently choking on his own lifeblood.
0o0
For the pain was just too much…
And Yazoo was in so much agony…
All he wanted was to die…
All he wanted was his suffering to end.
0o0
However, Aeris continued to cling to his form, crying, begging and screaming out to whatever Planet deity could hear her call, to save him. To save Yazoo! But when the gunman's coughing ceased, and his body became so impossibly still, Aeris' prayers became much more aggressive and desperate. "If you don't save him Gaia. I promise you, you will die! So if you want me to finalise your prayer and save you! Bring Yazoo back to me! Save him! For the love of all things HOLY! SAVE HIM!"
0o0
"!"
0o0
Suddenly the darkness was overwhelmed by a flash of green light and a supernatural hum of energy. When the shadows disappeared, and the hymn of Gaia resounded in the air, Aeris knew the Planet had at last answered her call, offering the Planet's vital lifeblood in order to save the Last Cetra's chosen Protector. An acid depth of green settled over the warrior's fallen form, infiltrating every particle of his body while Aeris looked on in awe.
0o0
Innocent child of the stars…
Do not fear
For Gaia is with you now…
For you are safe with me…
So be strong and let go of all your pain
Let go of all your grief and suffering.
For your path of destiny is with me…
Within my light, there is nothing to fear…
For we believe in the strength of your spirit.
We believe you can follow your path.
And you can stop him
And you will succeed.
So do not fear my child
For in the end…at the end of your trial…
You will be the one…
To fell the monstrous Xenogenesis.
At the end
It will be you
Who will save us all.
0o0
When the acid green light of Gaia's presence eventually dimmed out of the room in a gentle whisper, it left two lying bodies alone together, facing the early rise of the dawn beyond the open window.
It was the female who first moved up and onto her feet, raising her eyes towards the slit of gold, rising up beyond the once dark horizon/ As Aeris' booted feet began to slowly move towards the window, the brunette could see with a distant clarity that the darkness was slowly ebbing away.
The male behind Aeris rose shortly after. But instead of his eyes being drawn towards the window, the warrior's attention remained uncannily fixed upon her. Yazoo's mako gaze assessed the new serenity of the flower maiden's expression, made all the more gentle by the rise of the Planet's sun.
"Yazoo?"
Aeris turned to face the now healed warrior, her eyes gleaming a brighter shade of emerald than the warrior had ever thought possible/
"Yes?" The warrior asked cautiously, his gaze oddly soft and neutral.
The brunette paused for a moment, nodding to herself as if responding to a greater hidden power.
"Let's go," Aeris answered simply, her lips curling upwards into a childlike giggle at the warrior's rather dumbfounded expression.
"Go?" Yazoo began slowly as he walked towards the female who had turned her gaze back to the broken window, all too aware of the broken glass crunching beneath his feet.
Aeris nodded, as she continued to gaze up at the sky, observing the red omen of Meteor above with eyes far more serious than her years. It was startling really how little time had passed since she last looked up at the sky, and yet Aeris was ultimately aware of the changes with had occurred deep within her mind and soul. For in accessing the power of her Ancestors, the Planet had granted Aeris a gift greater than any other living being. It was a gift of acceptance….An inhuman depth of gratitude and humility which overwhelmed all previous fears and doubts that previously chained her to her own anxieties.
"All along I have been seeing things from the wrong perspective. It took the Planet's influence to turn me back to what is important," Aeris voiced softly to herself, as she stared down at the broken world of bodies and blood created by the hand of a boy she so desperately cared for.
"And what is important?" Yazoo asked beside her.
Aeris turned to the gunman. "Fulfilling my destiny," Aeris answered with a calm, peculiar smile.
The brunette seemed so proud of herself, and her words…that it caused a shadowed flicker of doubt to cross the gunman's usually reticent expression.
"You mean your destiny…. to die?" Yazoo asked cautiously.
Aeris shook her head.
"No silly," Aeris mildly chastised the pale warrior, as she looked up at him with the eyes of an innocent. "I'm fulfilling my destiny to live."
Now Yazoo was even more perplexed. "What?" Now Aeris was not making any sense. Mako eyes widened in surprise, as Aeris breezed past him with an energy born not from one condemned…. but from one free of shadow, and of all burden.
"Aeris?" Yazoo asked warily, as the brunette innocently pivoted on her feet, spinning her arms freely in the air. 'Had this girl truly lost her mind?'
"No-one ever dies silly," Aeris answered simply as her spinning fell to a stop. "After all, we are all on the same journey together. We are all guided by the same love that is Gaia, and it is only through her that we can live again. Such is the way the Planet works. So no Yazoo, we do not die. Our body may wither someday but our spirit always lives on. As long as Gaia is strong, so shall we be strong."
The gunman's brows furrowed awkwardly. 'This is not the Aeris I know.'
"You seem brainwashed Aeris." The words slipped out from the gunman's mouth before he ever had a chance to retract them.
If Yazoo thought Aeris would be offended by his words, he was indeed mistaken. The gentle, bell-like laughter that rose out from the flower girl's mouth was enough to deepen the warrior's worry.
"No, not brainwashed Yazoo. I merely understand the Planet now, that's all," Aeris answered with a genuinely happy smile.
The gunman's expression darkened, as he clenched his fingers unconsciously at his sides. He did not know why, but he felt this was not Aeris' will. It couldn't be her will…. could it? "I see…" the warrior remarked eventually. 'But I do not see.' However the warrior had more pressing worries to think about. "But what of Kadaj?"
"Kadaj?" Aeris repeated aloud, as her eyes shifted momentarily to the side, before withdrawing from his side and making her way towards the open window. In that one moment, Yazoo swore he saw the Aeris he truly knew. Not the champion of the Planet, but a young female who could both fear and feel.
"Yes," Yazoo answered carefully. "Do you believe Kadaj WILL understand what you are trying to accomplish? Hn, I think not."
"…" The brunette fell silent. "Kadaj…He is so much like Him," Aeris mumbled eventually, as she stared down at the death below, beneath the broken window.
"Bu Him you mean-" Yazoo paused mid speech. The last thing the gunman wanted to think was 'His' name, lest he rouse his dark spirit back to the forefront of his mind.
"Yes…" Aeris agreed gently. "But the Planet has faith in my success over Him, as Gaia is aware of Sephiroth's weakness. I'm not sure exactly what this weakness is exactly-"
'You.' Yazoo wanted to answer, but he remained calmly silent.
"But all I know is that by following my natural destiny, as Gaia intended. I can stop Meteor. Then by following the will of Gaia, I won't need to witness, nor experience any more pain or sadness -."
Yazoo interrupted her words with a mild snort. "When did you become such a doormat Aeris?"
"Excuse me?" Aeris blinked in genuine confusion, as she turned to look back at the longhaired male.
Yazoo calmly strode back towards the puzzled female. "You should hear yourself Aeris, and really listen to the words that come out of your own mouth. You tell me that you are emotionally bound by the will of others. Whether to the Planet, to Kadaj or even to him. And yet, you have not told me once how you are bound to the will of yourself. To your own needs and feelings."
Aeris' eyes shook in surprise at the gunman's honesty, before she clasped her hands together and drew them towards her own breast. "I guess…it's because I am not a selfish person by nature," Aeris replied softly.
"No, You are," Yazoo corrected watching as Aeris' face warp at him in surprise. "But then every soul who has experienced life is. Although unlike so many others, you merely live in self-denial of your own self worth. For you are indeed afraid of failure. Afraid of living. Afraid of dying. You have become obsessed with your own fears, your own lack of strength, Your own lack of self that you now use every opportunity to please yourself by following the will of others, preferring to take the route that others have designated for you, instead of trying to conjure up different paths of your own."
Yazoo tilted his head to the side and properly addressed Aeris.
" You really hold no self worth in yourself, do you Aeris?"
"….." Aeris made no attempt to answer the gunman.
Yazoo began to move even closer to the now silent female. "Hn, now I think I'm beginning to see…what he sees now. You are so fragile. So easy to break…so easy to shatter. I know I could destroy you so easily…and yet I feel I could reassemble you to be anything as well…You are so pliable Aeris…It is this weakness which holds you to Him, and to the will of the Planet.'
As Yazoo unconsciously brushed the back of his hand against the pale pallor of the brunette's healed cheek, the gunman became even more aware of the strange connection that was growing between them.
And it disturbed him.
For Yazoo knew this was not the connection of a killer and it's victim…
No…it was something far more poisonous…
Yazoo knew that Aeris had now become a temptation to him. A food he could not taste nor savour.
And as the dawn continued to rise over the horizon, Yazoo calmly withdrew himself away from the light of the early morn, and from her.
"Aeris," Yazoo addressed the female at his side. ""Kadaj will be returning soon," Yazoo finished lamely, feeling oddly powerless when he saw the depth of resoluteness within the brunette's now fierce green gaze.
"Then let us hurry and prepare to leave then," Aeris stated quietly, brushing past him, seeking out and grabbing discarded items from room to room, which she seemed necessary for her final journey. All the while the gunman silently followed her. As the brunette made her way down the stairs and into the main living room, her gaze caught sight of a familiar dual blade, sheathed upon the table. The brunette stared at the sword, which had only recently taken away so many lives in just one night. All the while, her mind flickered with the face of an angelic faced boy who concealed the mind, heart and soul of a crazed, mass-murdering killer.
"K-adaj…"
The brunette held the heavy sheathed blade with both her hands, her heart and mind both in confliction, whether to curse or to pray for the child she had unconsciously bonded herself to. For Aeris, it soon became inevitable that the light from her memories with Kadaj would always prevail over any greater darkness, which awaited her. As Aeris envisioned Kadaj as the boy who protected her… the boy who loved her…. the boy who only wanted to keep her safe and happy, gentle thoughts of prayer began to flow out from the brunette's mind and heart, as did the blessings to protect the boy who called her Mother. All Aeris now wanted to do was protect Kadaj from all forms of darkness, and to save him from the one true dark, which lurked deep inside him. As her prayers fell to silence, Aeris carefully laid the sheathed sword back on the table, pausing for a single moment, before bringing her arms up behind her back, and untying the pink bow that held her hair in place. As her hair fell down to her waist, Aeris methodically wrapped her innocent pink ribbon around Kadaj's blade, knotting the fabric only once into a simple bow. All the while, her mind was overwhelmed by all the memories she had shared with the boy. Both good and bad. Both warm and frightening.
"I'm so sorry Kadaj," Aeris voiced softly to the sword, as her small gloved fingers slid across the pink ribbon one final time. "But. This is where I say goodbye.."
0o0
When Aeris turned her gaze back to face Yazoo, the gunman was aware of the single desolate tear that had streaked down the brunette's ashen face. However Yazoo said nothing. No words were necessary for this moment. The gunman's expression was unreadable, but nevertheless he seemed ready to leave the cold house as much as she.
"Let's go, Yazoo," Aeris stated quietly to him, and with that the Protector of the Planet passed him silently, moving towards the entrance of the house, opening the door and exiting out into the dawn.
Yazoo paused for a moment at the edge of the portal, turning back only once to look into the desolate house, his eyes looking down the hallway, gazing deeply at the slip of the pale pink encased around the hilt of his Brother's blade. At the sight of the ribbon, the gunman felt his heart grow heavy for the Brother who he loved more than the world itself. A Brother he was now abandoning…A Brother who would soon return to an empty house, alone, confused…and distressed.
'Kadaj…'
Yazoo closed his eyes and moved through the portal, shutting the door behind him. Sighing deeply, the gunman calmly opened his eyes, to catch sight of the blood, his blood that had frozen along with the snow on top of the stairs last night. Carefully descending the stairs calmly towards Aeris, Yazoo greeted Aeris at the bottom of the steps.
"We need to head out of town," the brunette stated to Yazoo without looking for him, as Aeris began to instinctively turn left.
"Wait," Yazoo paused her mid step causing the brunette to send a confused look his way.
"Let's go right," the gunman advised, as his thoughts equipped him with the memory of Kadaj dashing left into the night.
"Alright." Aeris agreed with a slight bob of her head, as they both turned right. It seemed Aeris had only taken a couple more footsteps in the snow before Yazoo stopped her once again.
"Keep to the ice Aeris. Otherwise…. you will leave footprints," Yazoo explained carefully as he kicked his feet across the prints Aeris had just made, in a feeble attempt to cover up the marks. Yazoo didn't need to clarify further on the reasons for his words, for Aeris already knew the answer. Kadaj… And so Aeris nodded, struggling to move across the icy black on the road, trying to ignore every horrific sight of death splattered in every direction around her. However despite Aeris' need to uphold Gaia's will, the brunette's body could not compete with her new found inner strength, so it did not come as a surprise to Yazoo when Aeris began to fall. However what instead became a surprise to him was when Yazoo quickly manoeuvred Aeris mid-slide, grabbing her tiny waist, lifting and pulling her body flush behind his, her face jutting out above his left shoulder, while her thighs were held either side against his own.
"Thank you Yazoo," Aeris eventually murmured within the gunman's shoulder, the sound muffled against the leather of his clothing.
Yazoo grunted something unintelligible, and began to run, listening to her tiny voice, as she guided him to where she needed to go.
0o0
Her Final Destination…
The Forgotten City.
0o0
The house was not empty for long. It seemed no sooner than Aeris and Yazoo had left, that Kadaj returned.
"Brother! I still couldn't find-" Kadaj paused mid speech as his eyes fell on the slither of pink on his blade. Immediately the warrior was aware what it was. Rushing over to his sword, the young warrior removed it and held it between his pale hands.
"This…this is Mother's…then why? Why is it here?" Kadaj spoke with a trembling voice as he clenched the delicate fabric between both his hands.
'Doesn't this mean Mother came back here while I was gone?'
"Yazoo! Yazoo!" Kadaj called out to his Brother. But the house remained silent. "Where are you!?"
The young warrior felt his heart rise and fall in fearful apprehension.
Where is Mother? Where is she?
Has she gone?
But she must have returned to put this ribbon here?
But if she returned, why isn't she here?
Why has she gone again?
Has she left me?
And where is Yazoo?
Had they both gone out alone?
Had they both left together?
Kadaj had absolutely no idea what was going on.
And so Kadaj released a frustrated cry of emotion.
What does this all-fucking mean!?
"You fucking bastard Yazoo. I told you to stay home and wait for Mother," Kadaj cursed aloud, as he rubbed at his eyes, which were severely bloodshot and panicked from the current stress and turmoil he was going through. Leaning over the table, Kadaj put his hand in both his hands, and tried to placate himself by thinking of all the possible options of where his Mother and his Brother could be.
'Maybe I'm overreacting and Yazoo has merely taken Mother to get more supplies, and he will be back soon….' The teen thought with mild hope, before his thoughts inevitably slipped back within the dark. 'Or maybe… Yazoo really has ran away with you Mother." The swordsman fiercely shook his head. No matter what Kadaj thought, he could not ignore the fact that his fear for his Mother's safety controlled his thoughts, and he was very quickly coming to the conclusion that Yazoo very likely absconded with Aeris if he did not return in the next three minutes.
'After all, I know that despite everything Yazoo has said…it is clear that Brother wants Mother.'
Kadaj was beginning to feel emotionally hysterical once again.
"Fuck! Fuck Fuck fuck-" the teen swore as he repeatedly whacked his head against the wooden table.
Kadaj had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he had to find Mother!
Picking up the sword from the table, Kadaj sprinted back out the house, almost slipping down the stairs in his haste due to the bloody ice on the steps.
"Shit," Kadaj cursed, running a hand through his hair. He turned left, before pausing for a moment, and turning right instead. All the while, hiss fear for the flower girl making him deliriously blind to the red backdrop of Meteor's dark journey through the sky….
"Mother! Where are you? Where did Brother take you? Are you even with Brother?"
The teen's mako gaze slitted and violently darkened, as he saw the remains of a small vague footprint in the snow. As he bent down to touch the fresh footprint, Kadaj instinctively knew who this print belonged to…
Mother…?
As Kadaj's enhanced gaze observed the half mangled footstep, his warrior eyes immediately realised that where her footstep ended, a larger more masculine footprint began, half disguised by some kickedup snow...
Whoever had sabotaged these footsteps in the snow obviously did not want to be found.
And Kadaj was no fool.
A flash of brilliant rage, ignited within the young male's mako eyes.
There was no doubt now, that his Mother was alone.
"Oh you are so dead Brother. When I find you, you are so FUCKING DEAD!"
0o0
A.N
Short.
Sweet.
Guys tell me what you think ;) x