Mother's Legacy
Chapter 10
Aerith swung her staff at a diagonal to strike Shiva's neck. Moving with fluid grace, the summon swept to the side to dodge the blow and turned with the movement to bring a leg through the air. The staff was slammed into the ground and Shiva kept coming to land a kick on Aerith's face, sending her stumbling back. Shiva moved as though gliding, sweeping towards her and chopping with an open hand. Aerith knocked her limb aside, but Shiva spun to bring forth another kick. Aerith swung back up to deflect it, and Shiva turned back around and thrust her arm out. A blast of ice flung Aerith back, sliding along the icy ground.
"Okay, getting annoyed," she grunted, standing as Shiva moved to a more relaxed position. Aerith's gauntlet glowed green, and red and orange embers began to gather in her palm. Shiva's eyes darted down, then back up to Aerith's face. "Deflect this!" she snapped, drawing her hand back and thrusting it forward. The Fire spell launched, a small fireball sailing at Shiva's head. The summon flipped through the air, the spell sailed over her as she leaned back and hit the wall, melting a bit of the ice in a puff of smoke.
"Fine," Aerith muttered, twirling her staff. Shiva came at her again, feet and hands moving through the air with inhuman grace and speed. Aerith stumbled back, knocking aside the summon's limbs. A human opponent might have begun to tire, or to be sore from the metal stinging their wrists and ankles, here Aerith had no such advantage. With a cry, Aerith spun, knocking aside Shiva's arm and spinning into a sweep of the summon's legs. As her staff came around, Shiva leapt into the air, flipping around to stand on empty air and leaping off the same to deliver a diving kick to Aerith's chest as she looked up. Her staff flew from her grasp, hitting the wall behind her and falling to the ground. Aerith rolled onto her chest, looked at it, and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. A hand grabbed the back of her uniform, and Aerith was flung backwards, hitting on her back and skidding back until she hit an icy wall.
"Really getting annoyed," she growled, getting to her feet as Shiva almost swam through the air to come towards her. She spun to deliver to kicks to Aerith, the SOLDIER ducked both and lifted her leg to attack. Shiva caught Aerith's leg and flipped her overhead to slam into the ground. Aerith cried out in pain as she hit, and Shiva turned and flung her through the air. Aerith's back hit the wall and she fell forward, small icicles dislodging from the impact. Aerith glared at the summon as it stopped and hovered in the air.
"Genesis wouldn't let her kill me…he said he needs me…" she thought. "I can use that." Aerith got to her feet and Shiva leapt at her, locking her legs around Aerith's head and spinning her through the air to slam her back into the ground again. Standing over her, Shiva summoned an icy aura over her hand and raised a fist. Aerith flung her hand up, sending a fireball into the summon's face. Shiva recoiled backwards, stunned, and Aerith took the opening to perch her hands on the ground and spin, bringing both legs into Shiva's. Disoriented from the flames, this time the summon was struck and she fell to the ground. Aerith shot another fireball at her face for good measure, then got to her feet and raced across the cave. She reached her staff and grabbed it, assuming a fighting stance. Across the cave Shiva had shaken off the two Fire attacks and was in the air now. Aerith though the summon's previously stoic expression looked angry now. May have just been her imagination but she decided to believe it.
"Come on, I'm just getting warmed up," she taunted, encouraging herself. Shiva came at her again and Aerith ran forward. The summon's chops, punches and kicks blocked Aerith's staff strikes, but she spun the weapon with the deflections to strike again quickly, keeping Shiva defensive. The summon was still pushing her back through, her blows to block Aerith were also attacks and Aerith had to keep stepping back to avoid being struck. She dropped her staff down and snapped it up, and Shiva swept a hand to knock it aside. Her hand opened, a blast of icy wind tore into Aerith's face. Crying out and raising her free hand to shield herself, Aerith was knocked across the cave again by a kick planted on her chest. Shiva's hands glowed, and the summon held her arms out to the side and tilted her head back.
Gusts of wind swept Aerith's hair in front of her as she climbed to her feet. Tendrils of ice sprouted from the ground and wound around Shiva's legs, up to her hips and around her torso. Drawing her arms over her chest, Shiva leaned her head forward andlocked eyes with Aerith. Smirking, Shiva held up a hand and snapped her fingers. The ice surrounding her shattered, particles of ice hanging in the air. Aerith's eyes widened.
"Shit."
Shiva flung out her arms, and the Diamond Dust shards flew forward in a blast of cold wind. Aerith turned away and raised an arm to shield her face. The chilling wind nearly knocked her off her feet, razor-sharp shards of ice slicing her arm and tearing her uniform. Her feet slid back on the ice, and Aerith fell to a knee, let out a moan of pain as the attack subsided. Her body stinging from cold and dozens of tiny cuts, spots of red appearing over her arms and a few on her face, she put a hand out on the ice to keep herself out, panting. A shadow came over her and she was pitched to the side as a light blue foot swung into her stomach and kicked her spinning through the air. Landing on her back and skidding, her staff clanging alongside her, Aerith groaned and looked up at the ceiling.
"Whoa," she coughed out, blood running down her arms now. She slowly climbed to her feet, using her hand to catch another kick and then dropping to the ground from a chop to the back of the neck. "You don't nearly fight fair," she accused weakly. Not registering the taunt, Shiva grabbed the back of Aerith's uniform and swung her up against a wall, holding up a glowing blow hand and summoning another gust of icy wind to blast her head. Closing her eyes tightly, Aerith gritted her teeth and tried to endure the summon's attack.
"Not gonna be beaten…now not," she thought to herself. Shiva stopped the blow and threw Aerith across the room. Landing on her stomach, Aerith put a hand down to prepare to push herself up, and gasped. Wisps of green energy were coming off her hand and arm. "Just like…" Aerith smirked and pushed herself up as Shiva floated towards her, strength surging into her limbs.
"Don't got a staff, so let's improvise," she hissed. Shiva spun to kick her, and Aerith brought up her leg, blocking the blow with an arm and slamming her boot into Shiva's thigh. The summon flinched and Aerith punched her across the face. A knee to the stomach doubled her over, and Aerith spun and kicked Shiva on the top of her head, sending her flying. Flipping into the air Shiva hit the wall, cracking the ice sheet there and remaining floating in the air, stunned. Aerith ran to her dropped staff and picked it up, looking down as the familiar green energy began to flow around the staff. Shiva raised her head as Aerith flipped her staff around behind her, the ends beginning to glow red.
"My turn!" she called out. She spun the staff in her hand, an orb of fire growing at the tip leaving a trail of embers in the air. Shiva raised her hands and fired a large shard of ice. Aerith raised her staff and licked her lips.
"Crimson Flare!"
The fireball launched through the air, orange light illuminating the icy blue walls. Shiva's ice and Aerith's fire exploded on contact, and Aerith drew her arm over her shoulder to fire a second orb from the other end of her staff. Flying through the smoke, this one met its target. A second explosion blew Aerith's uniform and hair behind her, the green glow on her hand and staff fading. The pain of Shiva's wounds returned, and Aerith fell to her knees. Looking through the smoke for the summon, it cleared to reveal Shiva laying on the ground, her ribbons singed. With a burst of light she faded, the blue ice covering the cave walls vanishing. An icicle on the ceiling glowed red as it disappeared, and a red Materia piece dropped to the ground from inside it.
"….yay," Aerith panted, allowing herself to collapse forward. Her eyes fell on her staff. "I gotta learn to do that without waiting to be beaten within an inch of my life," she muttered dryly. At least it had happened. Another surge of energy, her wounds were still bad but for a few moments she felt like she had just awoken from sleep and was fully vitalized, and whatever power it was had manifested the same fireball attack as before. She had recognized it at least, but she had mostly let it do what it happened to do and hoped it would respond to her. A step towards learning what it was and mastering it, a small one but it was something, she figured.
"Aerith! Aerith!" A crackling voice in her ear broke her thoughts, and she raised a hand to her earpiece.
"I'm here," she mumbled.
"What happened, we lost your signal for several minutes. Are you alright?" Errol asked. Aerith winced and put a hand on the ground.
"I'm fine…ish," she replied, slowly getting to her feet. With the energy surge from that strange power wearing off, she was becoming aware of a lot of pain and soreness shooting through her body. She thought she felt blood under her uniform, judging from spots where the top and sleeves were sticking to her skin. "Ran into Genesis. He took off, but he left me a playmate, Shiva. Bitch played rough."
"He has summons? Are you hurt?"
"Yeah. I'll be okay for now though," Aerith said, picking up her staff. She collapsed it and clipped it onto her belt. "What's the situation?"
"Zack is out of the cave, AVALANCHE appears to have withdrawn. Any sign of Genesis?"
"Nope, and if there was I ain't going after him," Aerith muttered, annoyed. She looked at the summon Materia laying in the cave and picked it up, examining it between her fingers. "I'm in no condition to fight, not unless they're stashing Cure Materia down here."
"Understandable, summons were an unanticipated foe, that you survived is what matters most. We don't know of AVALANCHE's movements in the cave system, for your own safety evacuate through the Mako Reactor, we'll let the Turk operatives in Kalm know you're coming through and we'll rendezvous with you in the helicopter outside of town."
"Roger," Aerith said. She slipped the Materia in her pocket and slowly walked back into the cave, limping slightly and holding her side. She reached the lab from before and moved to the other end, stepping onto the catwalk through the hole dug into the side.
"Aerith?" Zack's voice came through on the earpiece. "Heard from Errol you ran into Genesis and a summon. How you holding up?"
"Barely," Aerith replied, walking down the catwalk to a ladder. "You?"
"Ran into some more troops, took care of them, too many to take came and had to split. Was worried when you didn't meet up with me."
"You're sweet. I can take care of myself. Sorry I wasn't able to save you," Aerith lightly snarked, stopping at the bottom of the ladder. "I got some climbing to do, not gonna be able to respond." She began climbing, ignoring the soreness in her limbs.
"Right…don't do that again, you hear? I'm not gonna let you get yourself killed for being a glory chaser, not as long as we're partners at least. You wanna try stupid stuff, save it for back home with the simulators."
"Eat me," Aerith said to herself, aware he couldn't hear. Still, she smiled.
"You're fortunate most of these cuts are small, they'll heal within a day." Shinra's medical officer round gauze around Aerith's right arm, her left already covered. Two more cuts on her face were bandaged, and her torso had been wrapped up from waist to collarbone. "I cleaned and sterilized them, shouldn't take much for them to heal. The morning after next, you'll be good as new."
"Great," Aerith sighed. "My first assignment and I get myself sliced up like fruit."
"Actually you got off light. Diamond Dust can cause severe lacerations on unprotected skin, in extreme cases even nerve damage. And if you hadn't covered your face you may have even lost an eye, it's happened before," the officer replied. "The highest objective for all SOLDIER operatives is self-preservation, as long as you survive the near-death battles we'll cut you slack. Considering you came home with only bruises and cuts, no matter how terrible or numerous, it's quite a relief. Be thankful, some fateful entity out there wants you alive."
"Whatever," Aerith shrugged, not having anything to argue her point with. It had been a hard fight, but she had lived through it. She didn't know how commonly summons were encountered, but she knew they were serious business.
"Alright, that should do you fine. You can remove the bandages in two days as I said, but you'll probably be sore for a bit longer. Take it easy."
"No can do, once these are off I'm back out there," Aerith shook her head and stood from the chair.
"No you aren't, I promise," the officer warned. "Now that you've been patched up you're to be debriefed by Director Lazard, and he's going to tell you you're staying at base for at least four days to recover."
"What!?" Aerith protested.
"Summons can kill even the most hardened SOLDIER members, you can't expect to fight them regularly and just walk away. Lazard knows this and is going to make sure you're back to full health before sending you out after that encounter. You're not the first it's been done to, but it's for your own good."
"And this being my first assignment since earning my freedom, they won't hold it against me?"
"Not my place to judge but I wouldn't think so. Summons aren't often come against so we weren't prepared for them and thus couldn't prepare you."
"Mm," Aerith said, not sure what else to say. She hated being injured, hated failure. She wanted glory for her first assignment, and she got her ass kicked instead.
"Here." The medical officer opened a locker against the wall and pulled out a spare red Second top on a hanger. "This looks about your size."
"Thanks," Aerith took the hanger and slipped the collar off the edges. She looked in the locker as the medical officer closed it, seeing five colors of uniform. She recognized them as the other colors of SOLDIER, teal, blue, red, purple, and black. Zack's arbitrary comment about the uniform change last week came back to her,
"How come there are two different types of uniforms?" Aerith asked, pulling the top on over her bandages.
"It's to differentiate first or second generation at a glance. About a year ago Shinra lowered the qualifications to join SOLDIER. Blues to purple to black are the ones recruited before that, teal to red, after. Doesn't matter much in practice, but overall first generation SOLDIERs have greater skills than the second generations."
"So what do the gen twos get when they make First?" Aerith asked, remembering Zack's joke about the two of them matching.
"…now that you ask, it's never come up," the medical offer said, raising her eyebrows slightly. "We haven't had a second generation recruit make First yet, plenty in Second, none in First. I suppose the second generation just doesn't measure up to the first…no offense."
"None taken," Aerith shrugged. "I'm going to make them think about it."
"If anyone could, it's you," the officer agreed. "You're fine to leave, head to Lazard's office for your debriefing. And remember to take it easy, no strenuous activity for at least two days. That includes the simulator and the gym."
"Yeah yeah," Aerith muttered, opening the door to the 67th floor. She hadn't been here until today, there had been no need. It turned out the floor directly below Hojo's lab was medical and secondary science facilities. To her relief, Hojo hadn't been around while she was being patched up. She walked by five more sets of doors each leading to another recovery room and headed down the hall. The path in front of the elevators forked left to the medical offices and right to science, and Zack was leaning against the wall waiting.
"Hey. You feel okay?" he asked, standing up as she approached.
"No," Aerith grumbled. "Got my ass handed to me by an ice princess and am back to sitting around doing nothing until I recover. Less than nothing really, can't even use the simulator."
"Ouch," Zack winced. "Tough luck. Look on the bright side, you're alive."
"That's the bright side?" Aerith snorted as she swiped her ID for the elevator.
"Coming out of a summon fight? Yeah," Zack nodded. The elevator doors slid open, and the two friends boarded.
"I've got to see Lazard for debriefing," Aerith said, hitting the button for 51.
"Just got back from there, all in all he considers the mission a success, mostly. Our objective was to find out what happened to Genesis, right?" Zack said.
"Yeah, but I doubt they wanted to find out he was a traitor. Think the death notice is going to stick now?"
"Publicly, probably. In SOLDIER, nah. War is on now and Genesis is on the frontlines." The elevator opened on the 51st floor, and Aerith climbed off.
"Have fun. I'll be on 61 having a snack when you're done," Zack waved. Aerith nodded and headed down the hall. She turned into the large room with the central pillar and rounded it to see Lazard sitting back in his chair, hands folded over his face. As Aerith came into his view he sat forward.
"Thank you Aerith, have a seat," he offered. Aerith sat down as Lazard pulled his chair closer to his desk. "Zack and Errol have explained that Genesis was found in the company of AVALANCHE forces and used a summon Materia against you. As you were the one to experience these events directly, please give your side of events."
"Yes, director," Aerith nodded. She was becoming more comfortable in these sorts of environments, she thought. "After Zack and I split up in the cave, I came across what seemed a small laboratory in the cave. There were several large metal tanks containing human subjects submersed in a thick blueish-green liquid I couldn't identity."
"A moment," Lazard said, holding a drawer on his desk and pulling out a file folder. He flipped it open and took out a photograph. "Like this?" he held the picture out to Aerith, who leaned forward to see. The picture was off several large glass tubes along a wall, bubbling with the same liquid.
"Yes. What is it?" she asked.
"Mako." Lazard said grimly, putting the picture away.
"I thought Mako was used to generate electricity?" Aerith asked, confused.
"That is its most widespread use. But over longterm exposure, human subjects have been known to develop increased physical prowess. It's highly dangerous though, overexposure can lead to a host of health and psychological problems."
"The men I saw in the capsules were entire submerged," Aerith thought aloud. "That's what Genesis meant…"
"Pardon?" Lazard asked. Aerith lifted her head.
"Genesis said they were experimental new troops AVALANCHE was creating called 'Ravens'. I was thinking that the Mako enhancements must be what he meant."
"And you two overheard reports that implied a Shinra scientist working with the group, correct?"
"Yes."
"That makes sense, a Shinra scientist would have the know-how to control the Mako exposure properly," Lazard nodded. "And that of course would explain why they tapped into the Kalm reactor, to get the Mako and electricity needed for the experiments. We'll have to alert our reactor staffings across the planet to be on the lookout for such parasitic theft on their reactors."
"There's no way to get access to Mako without a reactor, right?" Aerith asked.
"I want to say no. But it depends on what type of research they have access to through the traitors in Shinra. They may know the secrets to the refinement process, it's hard to say. In the meantime, Genesis used a summon Materia?"
"Yes, Shiva." Aerith reached into her pocket and pulled out the red summon Materia. "Here."
"Your first assignment pitted you against a summon. And you survived." Lazard smiled, taking the red orb from her. "Impressive." Aerith swelled slightly.
"Thank you, sir. She roughed me up quite a bit though."
"Yes, I understand your uniform was all but ruined. You'll be taking five days off to recover, not a punishment, but we want you fully healed when we send you out next. Do not take this as confinement again, however. We just ask you rest and focus on healing."
"Yes, sir," Aerith said. "But…it's pain, to be restricted again on my first mission."
"We never expected them to have access to summons, the information you have provided will be valuable in future skirmishes with AVALANCHE. Do not consider this a failure, Aerith, you did your duties as well as could be expected," Lazard lectured. "Anything else?" Aerith thought back to her surge of strength and the return of that 'Crimson Flare' attack that had turned the tables on Shiva.
"Sir, are normal humans able to use magic without Materia?" Aerith asked.
"Why do you ask?" Lazard replied.
"Just curious."
"No. Humans do not have the spiritual bond to the Lifestream needed to manifest magic without Materia as a focus. It's theorized however that significantly high exposure to Mako energy would allow innate magical skills."
"Has it ever been tried?" Aerith asked. Lazard shifted in his seat, and Aerith noted he seemed to be uncomfortable with the question.
"…Yes, many years ago, when Mako was first being explored for its potential uses. And universally all tests were failures. No subject had the endurance needed to survive that level of exposure without suffering mental and physical degradation to the point of insanity or enfeeblement."
"But they could use magic?" Aerith pressed.
"I don't know. The experiments were long before my time, Aerith, before Shinra even began styling itself as a power company. Again, why do you ask?"
"Just curious, sir," Aerith said, backing away. For whatever reason she had put Lazard on edge, and she didn't want to strain her relationship with the director. Though, if Mako was indeed the source of that power she was beginning to learn, no wonder he was hesitant to discuss it with her. No one had ever told her about this sort of ability with other SOLDIER members, so it must have been something with her specifically. "It just seems that if humans could use magic without Materia, it would be a path of study worth exploring."
"Indeed it would, but it was explored and that exploration proved fruitless," Lazard nodded. "I have other matters to attend to, if you don't mind, so if you please."
"Yes sir, thank you," Aerith nodded back and stood, turning and walking to the elevator. Lazard watched her go and his eyes darted down at the phone as Aerith left his field of vision.
"….no," he decided. "It was curiosity, nothing more."
Aerith approached the elevator, swiped her ID, and the doors slid open. To her surprise, Sepiroth was standing there. She moved aside to let him off.
"Get in," he said sternly. Aerith looked at him, confused, and stepped inside.
"I'm meeting Zack on 61," she said. Sephiroth pressed the button for the 60th floor, and Aerith rolled her eyes. The elevator jerked up and opened on a wide-open floor with plants and statues. Sephiroth marched into the center of the floor, Aerith behind him. Two walled off areas lay on opposite sides. Sephiroth clapped his hands sharply, the sound echoing. There was a cough and a rustling, and the two turned to the right. From behind one of the walls came a secretary adjusting her clothing. Behind her, an executive carrying his suit jacket and his shirt untucked. Aerith snickered.
"S-Sephiroth!" the two exclaimed.
"Leave," he ordered sternly. The two nodded and hurried to the elevator, Sephiroth turning his head to watch it close.
"So, that grateful I'm alive huh?" Aerith cracked. "You bring girls here often?"
"A little known or cared-about fact," Sephiroth said, turning fully around. "This is the sole floor in the entire building with no security cameras. Mostly it was due to oversight, this floor is used for speeches and press conferences and so there are always security personnel here when it's being used. When not in use, it sees a variety of activity from employees in need of a discreet location and no one much cares enough to put cameras in – and those that do care ask this room remain unmonitored."
"So you brought me here for some hanky-panky off-camera?" Aerith asked dryly.
"I brought you here because you are going to tell me what happened with Genesis," Sephiroth said sternly, narrowing his eyes.
"What makes you think something happened?" Aerith shrugged. She remembered Lazard's warnings about confidentiality, she wasn't about to screw up another aspect of her first assignment.
"Zack said you two were sent on assignment outside of Kalm. I am not a fool, Shinra sent the two of you to look for Genesis and didn't trust me. So, speak. What did you find?" Aerith looked around the empty floor.
"Lazard will have my head if he finds out I told you anything, it's classified. He specifically said to not even tell you," she warned.
"I'll handle Lazard," Sephiroth said. Aerith rolled her eyes and let out a huff, thinking.
"…he's alive," she said finally. Sephiroth's face lit up.
"And? Was he being held captive?"
"No. He's with them willingly," Aerith corrected. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes again.
"You lie."
"Sorry."
"Genesis would not betray us."
"Well he did."
"Enough!" Sephiroth snarled, grabbing Aerith's collar and hauling her up to eye level. "Do not lie to me!" Aerith's eyes were wide, her feet dangling above the floor.
"So you can emote. Cool," she joked weakly. In reality she was terrified, she had never seen Sephiroth this emotional, and anger – directed at her for perceived lies – was not the emotion she would have chosen to see him in such a state. He wouldn't strike her, would he? Even with total privacy, he liked her enough to not hurt her, right? Sephiroth growled and dropped her, Aerith falling to the ground as he walked away, arms crossed.
"You must be mistaken," he said in his normal tone of voice again. "Genesis would not turn on the company."
"Well he did, he talked to me, mocked me, rambled about nonsense, then chucked a summon Materia at me and left me to fight for my life against an ice bitch," Aerith insisted.
"Why?" Sephiroth asked, turning. "Why would he aid AVALANCHE?"
"I don't know. I asked, he said something about heroism and quoted LOVELESS at me. You know, the usual."
"…before our last mission, Genesis was talking about LOVELESS a lot," Sephiroth thought aloud. He noticed the expression on Aerith's face and amended, "more than usual."
"I don't get it, it's just a poem, why go traitor over it?" she muttered.
"Genesis played games portraying myself, Angeal and him as the three protagonists of LOVELESS. Each time we performed a simulator together for fun, he would try to get us to agree to each of us acting in accordance with one of the characters."
"Sounds dumb."
"Occasionally he suggested we invite you to join as the woman of the poem."
"I'm sane, leave me out of it."
"I remember…it was a month before the mission," Sephiroth thought aloud, looking away. "Genesis went to the library, he came down with an entire cart of books and papers. He shut himself in his room for an entire week. He refused entry to even Angeal and me, he only ate when we brought him food and he opened his door only long enough to take what was being offered. An entire week he spent locked up with who-knows-what manner of writings. When he finally emerged…there was a new light in his eyes. His LOVELESS rantings had taken on a different sort of tone. He seemed almost euphoric…I was happy for him…" Sephiroth clenched a fist.
"I wrote it off at the time as such sort of spark of inspiration for a new book of some sort…if I had known at the time that whatever he had filled his head with was going to lead him to this…"
"What happened to what he had been reading?" Aerith asked.
"They've long been taken back to the library. I've been there. There's only a handful of books on LOVELESS. Whatever he was reading, I don't think it was about the poem. I requested permission to view what specific materials he withdrew, but was denied." Sephiroth gave Aerith a pointed look. "And I am not denied much in this company."
"Leave it to Genesis to be confusing as hell even when he's not around," Aerith rolled her eyes. Inwardly however she was trying to figure out what Genesis had been talking about back in the caves. She only vaguely remembered it though, something about AVALANCHE being a sign maybe? If she was going to suddenly care about his obsession she was going to have to start listening to him when they crossed paths in the future. Assuming they would, of course. Something told Aerith she specifically had not seen the last of Genesis, not by far.
"Anything else?" Sephiroth asked. Aerith thought.
"He looked well, at least. He wasn't injured, wasn't talking or acting like he was a prisoner. Just talking like his good old psycho self."
"I see," Sephiroth looked away in thought. "Thank you. None shall know of what you have told me, and if they find out somehow, I will take the blame."
"What about Angeal?" Aerith asked.
"I will tell him what you have told me. You do not need to shoulder any more burden for this matter."
"Right," Aerith nodded. Sephiroth turned and walked towards the elevator. On instinct Aerith's hand fell to her waist and grabbed her staff, but she stopped as she unclipped it.
"Well?" Sephiroth asked, stopping.
"…I don't want to," Aerith replied, clipping her staff back on her waist, "and I'm hurt. Don't feel like it." Sephiroth didn't turn. "And I'm tired of failing anyway," Aerith finished, lowering her hand.
"You still want to be a First, don't you?" Sephiroth asked.
"Of course!" Aerith said fiercely. She thought back to the fight with Shiva once again. If she could harness that power, learn to use Crimson Flare freely, maybe she could catch him off-guard one day. A dirty trick, but if it worked, it would be a victory for her nonetheless. She had seen Sephiroth in battle, his strength and speed were unparalleled. But he didn't have the type of power she was developing, not that she'd ever seen at least. That was an edge she finally had on him.
"Then how do you intend to handle repeated failures on your assignments, for they are certain to happen?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Aerith snapped. "Fine then." She grabbed her staff, pressed the button to extend it, and attacked. Sephiroth side stepped her blows easily, then as she swung a fourth time grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, his other hand catching her throat as she hit his chest. She looked up at him angrily.
"The next time you speak to me of Genesis, at least feign respect for him. He is my friend and your comrade," Sephiroth said coldly.
"I'm not afraid of you," Aerith lied. "I've been getting stronger. I've got new skills you don't know about yet. I can take you."
"Can you?" Sephiroth replied. "Then allow me to go to my room to retrieve my weapon, and safe from prying eyes we shall test your hypothesis." Aerith couldn't stop her eyes from widening slightly as Sephiroth seemed to call her bluff. He wouldn't really, would he?
"Fine then, go get it," she sneered, trying to be brave. Sephiroth snorted and pushed her back, Aerith stumbling to stay standing.
"Reckless and impulsive…maybe Lazard was right about us," he said quietly, turning around again. Aerith mentally debated striking again, but decided not to as Sephiroth reached the elevator and pressed the button. The doors opened and he walked inside, the doors sliding closed without him turning. Alone on the floor, Aerith dropped to her knees, her staff clanging to the ground beside her.
"He just wanted to know what happened to his friend..."
"I'm a bitch," she muttered bitterly.