CHAPTER ELEVEN
Another World…? Part Two
It felt cold and desolate outside in the dark. Or at least I was blaming the dark. Who else could be to blame, unless I blamed myself?
With a sigh, I pulled my jacket around me tighter.
It was night time of our first day staying at the strange house in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't very dark yet, and I was counting down the hours to our leaving. Bored, I sat huffing on the front porch with the scarecrow.
My mind was deep in thought. I had learned more about Sephiroth today; I wasn't sure if I'd grown to respect him more, or to fear him. Part of me would always fear him, but that was because I was a nervous wreck.
Zack Fair and Sephiroth; Zack was there when Sephiroth went insane and destroyed that town.
Why didn't you tell me, Zack?" I sighed, my eyes drooping.
If Sephiroth had gone insane in the other world, why wasn't he crazy now? Was it because Jenova was gone? Or because he had died? It didn't sound like a question I could walk up and ask him.
Hey, Sephy, how are you? Oh, just wanted to know why you aren't a psychopathic megalomaniac anymore.
Oh yeah. Great conversation starter. Huffing, I pulled my legs to my chest.
The screen door creaked open; I looked up to see someone I didn't recognize. "Good evening" He smiled, sitting down beside me in the rocking chair. Undoubtedly he was the third member of the household… Brian, wasn't it?
"I hear you are one of many guests in our household" He murmured politely.
"Then you must be Brian" I surmised.
Brian was very different compared to his friends; they were both rough around the edges, yet he was polite and smooth. His hair was dark, almost blue colored, long and pulled into a ponytail; it contrasted his pale skin and soft eyes. Lithe, yet strong and tall, he was a handsome one, kind and fatherly.
"You must be Samantha" I noticed Brian had trouble pronouncing my name, as if it were foreign to him. We shook hands.
"I guess the others were talking about me behind my back!" I joked, smiling.
"Only the tallest one. Sephiroth, I believe." I blushed and bit my lip, biting down my come back when I heard Sephiroth's name.
"What… what did he say?" Was he upset about Zack?
"You seem to value his opinion" Brian smirked, leaning back on the chair. "He had only kind, loving words to say. Whenever he spoke of you, it was with a faraway look. I doubt he even knew he was so distracted when thinking of you."
"Oh" I felt my insides turn to a warm mush. "You live in a strange place" Changing the subject, I looked past Brian to the scarecrow. He followed my gaze and chuckled.
"It is nice, I suppose" Brian smiled. "Its home. How about you? Where is your home?"
Laughing, I shrugged. "The road is my home for now, I guess."
"And your friends?"
My heart almost stopped. "You'd have to ask them" I covered shyly, losing my confidence.
Chuckling at my sudden lost interest, Brian looked out at the fading sky. "I suppose they aren't from around here." His eyes swirled with many things I didn't recognize, but then, I didn't know him very well.
"I use to live far away" Brian whispered, brushing his hair back from his face. "With a wife and a daughter." Smiling kindly, he looked over at me. "You remind me of her"
"Your wife?"
"My daughter"
This surprised me a bit. He sat silently.
"So do you all have a destination in mind?" I smiled.
"Not really, but I suppose we have an idea" Placing my head in my hands, I watched the stars as they appeared one by one. I kept an eye out for Gaia.
"We all want to start a new life together" I told Brian. "Away from the past"
"A new life as a brothers and sisters, or do you have a different plan?" His tone of voice was suggestive, yet kind. I gulped.
"I suppose my feelings are not the same for all the members of our family." Smiling a little, I rocked back and forth. "I am only one of two girls traveling with the group, yet… I want to hope he only looks at me with those eyes; those protective, impassioned eyes. I really care for him, but I know so little about him. He's an enigma, the man in the black cape. And that only pulls me closer to him."
"You should tell him how you feel about his secrets. He may open up to you" Looking up to Brian, I wondered about his own romance.
"What about you and your wife? What was she like?"
Sighing, Brian shook his head. "An angel… she was an angel incarnate, fallen from heaven into my arms. I regret I had such a short amount of time with her, but I received from that short time my beautiful daughter. Shy and unsure of her own strength… oh, you so remind me of her."
"Yeah, that's like my I suppose" Sadly, I chuckled shaking my head.
Standing, Brian walked over to the railing, setting his elbows on it. "The sun has set. Will you all be leaving?"
"Yes"
I hadn't spoken. Spinning around, Sephiroth himself stood in the doorway. I hadn't really seen him all day, and he had a bag in his hand. Food probably given to him by Aaron or something.
"We're leaving?" I pouted. Sephiroth looked down on me.
I was shocked. For some reason, his eyes were dark, his emotions closed off from me. He was being very sheltered, very quiet and stoic. I stood.
"Thank you for spending time with me" I whispered to Brian, patting his shoulder. I stepped down the stairs.
"Don't let him brush you off, talk to him" Brian murmured to me.
Everyone was coming out of the house.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.
Karen Ravn
We packed the few belongings we had and the food they gave us, and were ready to go. Kadaj hopped into the driver's seat, with Loz sitting next to him. In the very back, Yazoo sat in the middle of Jamie and Crystal, and with a laugh, I felt very sorry for him. Jamie was talking a mile a minute and Crystal was digging around in the seat, looking for something.
"Thank you for having us" I bowed to Aaron, Jack, and Brian in turn, smiling broadly. As short as our stay was, I enjoyed their company.
"Thank you" Sephiroth repeated.
"Hey, it was nothin, we were glad to have some better company other than just Mr. Silent Rock over here" Jack joked, nudging Aaron's side. Aaron grumbled.
"Good bye!" Jamie called, leaning out of the car window. Kadaj smiled and honked the horn. Brian waved.
"Thanks again!" I called, walking towards the van. I reached out for the door handle to open it, and then – the door wasn't there. Smoke was streaming out of the pipe of the car, and the wheels began to turn. In a second, it was driving off.
"What the –?" I spat, looking around in confusion. Sephiroth was at my side in a second, grimacing.
"Kadaj!" He called angrily, growling. The boy waved and drove off, leaving us both in the dust.
"Hehe, well, you're welcome to stay here" Brian laughed nervously. I didn't speak; I was dumbfounded.
"No" Sephiroth growled, taking tight hold of my hand. "We'll catch up"
0-0-0-0-0-0
And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
We were silent as we treaded the dirt road; our feet dirty and dust spiraling up into our faces. I kept my head down besides, rubbing the dust from my eyes when it got bad. I couldn't stand to look up at him. Was he mad at me? Would he ever speak to me again? I should never have inquired about Zack. I could've asked him myself. Maybe he was disappointed that I didn't talk to him, face to face.
His grip on my hand never faltered nor wavered. As nervous as I was, it was a reminder of his great strength, strength he stood behind me with. His great frame protected me, his arms kept me warm. I had to remember that as much as I thought I did not deserve it, he cared for me… for some reason.
A tear dripped down my face. How could I know so little about a man I loved so much? It was like falling in love with a silhouette.
Suddenly, he stopped walking, and his grip tightened. His hand moved up my arm, to my wrist, to my elbow.
I bit my lip, and didn't look up, even though I was coughing because of the dust. I saw his hand move up to my chin, and without resistance, he turned me to look at him.
"You mad at me?" I asked, looking at his shoulder, not his face. A grim frown was on his face that much I knew. His touch was so warm.
"Mad?"
"I … I didn't tell you about Zack" I whispered. "Aren't you mad?"
We stood silent, unmoving. I dared look into his eyes.
They were sad. Almost angry with himself, wavering. He pulled me into his arms.
"I am not angry with you. Only…" He sighed against my neck, rubbing his cheek against my skin. I waited his answer. "Hearing of Zack threw me. I've been wading through memories all day."
"You can confide in me" I told him, leaning away. "You don't have to lock it up"
"They are not memories to speak of"
"Then what memories are?" I demanded, stepping out of his hold. "I understand. Your life sucked. Your dad was a psycho, your mom died, and then this crazy alien lady claimed to be your mom and drove you nuts. That sucks. It sucks to be alone. But you aren't anymore."
Sephiroth opened his mouth to speak, but didn't seem to have anything to say. So I continued.
"I want to be with you. Damn, I want it more than anything, for you to really… care for me. I want to know you. But every time I move closer, you move farther away. You're scared. Admit it. You're afraid that everything's going to screw up somehow. You know, it just might. But if you don't even try to give yourself a chance at having a good life, you'll never have one at all."
There were tears in my eyes and I could barely believe what I was saying, what I was revealing to him. "I love you" I whispered. "I don't want to watch you torture yourself"
I turned away, biting my lip, really hating myself for what I'd said. Sephiroth probably wouldn't be happy having all his flaws thrown in his face. Well, I hadn't thrown all of them. That would take a while.
Realizing that, I smiled a bit. Maybe… I knew him a little better than I had given myself credit for. I may not know his interests or hobbies (if he had any) but I sure as hell knew his faults. His big head, his sleeping in, his morning attitude, his solitude, his arrogance, and his snooty smirk, all of that…
When I turned to look at him as I thought this, to my surprise, that "snooty smirk" was planted firmly on his face. This surprised me greatly.
A single tear rolled down his cheek. He didn't wipe it away, but he chuckled. "You care too much" He sighed. Silver hair floating in his eyes, he shook his head.
Sephiroth stepped up to me, and I tried to back up. But he rushed up and took hold of my wrist, pulling me to him. He smelled so nice, and his chest felt so good against mine my knees almost buckled.
"I'm sorry" Sephiroth whispered weakly against my neck, rubbing his cheek against my skin. "I don't always know what to say, or how to tell you how I feel. My past is not something I enjoy revealing, but I… I should know you better. I can trust you."
Smiling, I nodded. "You don't have to tell me everything all at once. Tell me as you're ready"
He nodded his arms around my waist as we rocked to and fro. Suddenly, he picked me up in his arms.
"Hey!" I complained, trying to kick and get out. He adjusted me so I was facing his shoulder, that way, I couldn't kick. "Put me down!"
Laughing at my predicament, Sephiroth smirked down at me arrogantly. "I don't want my darling angel to get dirty."
"Dirty? Ha, I can handle it."
"But can I?"
We shared a laugh and we walked on, towards the horizon, and even though our friends had most likely planned this and left us in the dust, we didn't care; we'd catch up eventually, and get our revenge then.
I thought eventually he'd put me down, but then, I forget Sephiroth's strength; we kept walking. In my drifting thoughts, I remembered a poem I'd read a while ago and began reciting it quietly as I looked at the sky.
"We will meet again my friend,a hundred years from today. Far away from where we lived and where we used to play. We will know each others' eyes and wonder where we met." Sephiroth looked down at me. "It's a poem I like" I told him.
"Your laugh will sound familiar
Your heart, I won't forget.
We will meet, I'm sure of this,
But let's not wait til then...
Let's take a walk beneath the stars
And share this world again."
"Beautiful" He told me, caressing the small of my back. He set me down.
"I see something on the horizon" Sephiroth smirked, looking down at me. I turned and looked out.
It looked like a van; a van face down in a ditch.
Kadaj looked back to see his brother and sister angrily coming towards them.
"I think we need to move faster…" He spoke nervously as Loz attempted to get the van out of the ditch.
"You want to go faster, you lift the van!"
0-0-0-0-0-0
Once Sephiroth helped them get the van out of the ditch, and he made sure Kadaj hadn't broken it, we all decided Kadaj was NOT allowed to drive anymore. Also, even though we couldn't really punish Jamie and Crystal, we made Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj push the van along the road since it wouldn't drive. Jamie and Crystal sat in the very back, snickering to themselves. I ignored them.
As we slowly and steadily rolled down the road, I looked over to Sephiroth. "So, what do you want to do when we get to Gaia?"
He smirked, looking out the front window. His legs were stretched out along the seat, and I was curled up between his feet. Resting his elbow on the window, he smirked.
"Well, I suppose I'll settle down." He smiled, looking over at me with suggestive eyes. "I wouldn't mind settling down with you"
"How so?" I asked, backing away to the window slightly. Sephiroth sat up, pulling his legs in.
"How so?" Sephiroth's voice was deep, husky. Crawling over to me, he pressed his chest against me as I pulled my knees up as protection. Either one of his arms were on either side of me. Looking up at me through his silver hair, I shivered. "Well, a man usually settles down once he marries the woman he loves"
I gasped, losing all the air in my lungs. "You mean it?"
"Between now and then, I will court you. You may learn all you wish to learn about me. Once we finally return home… well, I …" For the first time, he seemed embarrassed, red in the cheeks.
I was crying for the second time that day, but I didn't mind at all. I was shaking and sobbing happily. "Oh, Sephiroth! Yes! Yes!"
Throwing my arms around him, I laughed in delight; I could hear clapping coming from the back, but I didn't care. Sephiroth's shyness seemed to melt into joy, and he laughed, holding me against him.
When I closed my eyes, I heard Sephiroth's laughter, deep, so deep my chest shook with his. But also, I heard a lighter laughter, joyous and exuberant. Behind my closed eyes, I saw a form come into view, laughing happily as he grinned and shook his head at me.
"You did it!" Zack cheered happily.
I knew you could save him. He may have always had one wing, but you are the one who really makes him soar!
…
In a non perverted sort of way.