A/N: I had debated doing Into the Abyss as one whole chapter. However since this section turned out to be eleven pages, and I'm pretty such part two will be at least as long, I figured it would be better to break them up. In fact it could end up in three parts depending. It's almost a story within the story (to a point). These chapters also are my personal favorites. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I have two concerns with the upcoming chapters: one concern is that chapter may not be as clear as I like, and two is the portrayal of Sephiroth. I'm really hoping to show a logical progression for him without a tremendous amount of extra angst. I think with Sephiroth it is very easy to go overboard in order to make him a more sympathetic figure, and I want to avoid that if I can. So if it seems confusing, please let me know.

Chapter 14: Into the Abyss - Part One

The Last Temptation

She fell for what felt like an eternity, and when she finally landed in what she could only assume was a puddle of water, Aeris still had no idea where she might be. Everything was dark in every direction, and the only sound was the slosh and tinkle of the water when she moved. With a groan, she pushed herself up to her feet, shivering in her now cold clothes. While Aeris still felt Planet in the back of her mind, its words were muted to her. Not that it mattered from what she could tell, Planet wasn't entirely sure what to do next. Finally with a heavy sigh, Aeris picked a direction and just hoped that her feet were going in a straight path. The sound and depth of the water didn't change no matter how far she walked, and she really started to wonder if she was perhaps walking in circles.

Then off in the distance a light appeared - just a think horizontal break in the darkness. Still it was something and her pace increased to a jog. The light loomed a head, growing taller the closer she came to it. First the shadowy silhouette of a door appeared then the light brightened and carried the murmur of voices. Yet Aeris felt no joy at the sounds. This was Sephiroth's mind after all, and the sound of voices could mean anything.

Cautiously, she edged closer to the door and peaked around the corner. Inside a dozen bodies in white lab coats milled around with clip boards or sat at computers inputting data with startling speed. Biting her lower lip, Aeris eased the heavy door open. The murmuring voices grew louder, but no one looked her way. She edged inside the door - one hand gripped the knob tightly. Still no one noticed her presence. She stepped into the room, walking slowly through the two rows of desks. A folder, balanced precariously on the edge of a desk, caught her attention.

Jenova Initiative: Ancient cloning

Phase 2 - Growth and Development

Enhancement Series - Mako 3.47

Subject: Sephiroth

With phase one complete, we seek to move on to phase two which will require the subject's exposure to concentrated Mako. I have decided to use the refined Mako 3.47 formula as it lacks the impurities of other strains. The continuous exposure (intravenously of course as the primary method with inhalation and immersion used as well) should increase subject's bonding with the Ancient (Jenova) material. I will forego the use of sedatives for the process since they will dangerously lower the subject's heartbeat and (as we all know) every ounce of data that can be compiled is valuable.

Aeris' eyes rapidly scanned the pages and the color drained from her face with each new page her eyes saw. The following pages detailed that general Mako exposure began at age one and the injections began at age five. The older Sephiroth grew, the more frequent his Mako exposures became. In fact, according to the chart in her hand, he was due for another treatment that very day. Aeris raced to the front of the room where a large glass plate overlooked the experiment chamber. The first thing that she saw was a large surgical chair in the center of the room. Tubes of all kinds hung off of hooks and connected to a variety of devices around the space. Machines hummed in nearly every corner with everything washed out by the bright, fluorescent lighting above.

"No." She murmured quietly and pressed her hands against the glass. White caught her eyes and Aeris looked at her arms to see the same lab coat that others wore draping her frame. She didn't have time to process the possible meaning, if any, of the change. Below her the double doors opened and two Turks that she did not know, but recognized their occupation well enough from their dress, escorted a small boy into the room. The boy was unmistakable. His silvery hair was cut short, barely reaching his ears and they'd dressed him in clinical white pants and a shirt of the same giving him a severely washed out, sickly appearance. Aeris pressed closer to the glass as the men led the boy to the chair and strapped him into it with the heavy leather binders attached to the chair. Child-Sephiroth immediately looked up at the ceiling and ignored the lab technicians around him. One woman rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and his pants legs to his knees. She talked to him. Even though Aeris could not hear the words it was clear that the boy ignored the woman. He never looked at the woman, his eyes never shifted from the ceiling, and his lips didn't move at all. Into each appendage, an IV needle was inserted and the long tubes ran up to bags containing a pale green substance. From the look of it, Aeris thought that the Mako had been diluted into some kind of solution to make it easier for Sephiroth's body to absorb it, perhaps even lowering the risk of death.

Hojo came to stand next to Aeris even though he continued to remain unaware of her presence. Without so much as a warning, the man hit the intercom button.

"Start the process." His nasally voice grated out. The woman nodded and adjusted the tubes until the liquid flowed freely through them. Aeris could see the green icor underneath his skin as it entered his veins. His breathing increased and Aeris' eyes shot to the monitors which showed his body's statistics.

Rising heart rate.

A whimper came over the intercom from the boy strapped on the table.

Rapid decrease in blood oxygen.

The woman put a mask over Sephiroth's head and the veins on his wrists popped to the surface of his skin as he strained against his bindings.

Internal temperature spiked.

They cooled the room with a flip of switch until the Turks and the technician breathed fog into the air. Sephiroth's eyes rolled into the back of his head, but his brain function showed that he remained alert.

The last of the Mako solution filtered into his system.

She could see each vein and artery in his body due to the pale, green glow under his skin, yet even though the 'treatment' had ended, Sephiroth still bowed up from the table; his small body fighting the restraints and the pain. It wasn't until he sagged back into the chair, defeated and exhausted, that they began to remove the needles. Hojo tsked the boy over the intercom.

"You should be used to this by now Subject 0." Aeris stared at the man in horror of his callous tone. Could he really view his own son in such a way? Aeris' fingers curled against the glass and she fought back a whimper.

"Take the blood samples now." Hojo spoke again, but it was the raw and pained groan from Sephiroth that spurred Aeris into action.

"Stop this! Can't you see he's had enough?" Suddenly all of the people that had not acknowledged her turned and gazed at her with unblinking, inhuman seeming eyes. Only the tiny boy's eyes showed any emotion at all.

"An unaltered Ancient specimen. Truly remarkable." Hojo learned and leaned closer to Aeris. "We will have to take you apart and see how work, just like we will the boy." Hojo face changed and distorted, taking on the slimy purple coloring of Jenova. With a shove Aeris pushed Hojo away from her, but the others were closing in fast. Frantically Aeris looked around and her eyes settled on a nearby chair. With a heave, she launched it through the observation glass, sending a rain of broken shards onto the floor below. They reached for her, nearly dragging her away, but she wrenched out of the lab coat and vaulted through the opening. Broken glass cut into her knees as she landed. Her hands shook as she unlatched Sephiroth from his bindings and he only watched her with wide, surprised eyes.

"Get her." The words came from a bloated Hojo, but the voice no longer sounded like his. It was a low, feminine voice filled with menace. Aeris rounded on the Turks as she used one arm to heave Sephiroth from the table.

"Oighir liathróid!" She shouted, flinging one hand in their direction. A massive ball of ice coalesced in front of her then slammed into the oncoming Turks, and smashed through the door behind them. Aeris wasted no time in shifting the boy's weight into both arms. With a sudden burst of speed, she took off running into the badly lit hallway beyond.

Panic drove Aeris through the winding hallways full of bits of debris that threatened to trip her up at each step. Her breaths started to sting her chest and she felt a stitch developing in her side. Panting, she rounded a corner and opened a door to a seemingly unused office. Once inside, Aeris sat the silent child on the desk and proceeded to lock the door, and braced a couple of old chairs against it. Then she slumped over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

"What are you doing here, Cetra-girl?" The sound of the child-Sephiroth coupled with his pointed question drew her attention at once.

"Saving you?" She asked with a half grin that bordered on smirk.

"And you think carrying me away from an old memory will save me?" The boy asked with an incredulous gaze. His piercing green eyes seemed to pin her to wall with no less intensity then he would have as a man.

"Wait.." She began, walking slowly towards him. "You know that was just a memory. I mean your aware that it was the past?" How unusual. Older avatars in a person's mind rarely lived outside of the memories they were formed from and almost never had any inkling that time had passed from those same memories.

"Yes, I am fully aware of my adult self and his situation." The boy scowled and held his wrists, upturned, out towards her. At first Aeris didn't understand, then what looked like chains shimmered over his wrists. It was an ethereal representation, that she understood. What shocked her was that even though the bindings looked like the links of a length of chain, they were a ghastly purple in color and seemed far too organic to be metal. As she expected, when Aeris tried to touch the chains, her fingers passed right through them and she received a vague, unpleasant feeling from the contact.

"Psychic bonds." She concluded and the child nodded. Aeris crouched in front of him, taking one of his arms gently in her hands. The boy flinched when she touched over the Mako injection sites. "I won't hurt you." She said, looking up at him with a kind, lopsided smile. "I meant it when I said that I'm here to save you." Child-Sephiroth nodded.

"I know you are and even though I realize that these are old wounds. They still ache." He said the last quietly with his head dipped low in order to hide his expression. Aeris bit her lower lip and turned her attention back to his arm lest she start crying over the pain she heard in his voice. Beneath his skin she could see the same purplish hue winding through his veins though it was incredibly faint. With pursed lips, Aeris gently put his arm down and sat back on her heels.

"So she is using her psychic control to bind you, but why?" Aeris looked at the boy.

"No, not just me. She binds all of us away, traps up in separate corners. The only one that she lets free is HIM. He's her favorite. She chose him even after she promised to love us." It wasn't hard to hear the betrayal in his tone.

"So there's more like you?" She queried softly, unsure of whether or not to try and console him.

"No, I mean not exactly like me. We're all different pieces if that makes any sense." Well it didn't, not entirely anyway.

"Can you show me?" The boy nodded slowly with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

"I probably can't take you all the way. Not with these chains on me." He lifted his wrists again and for a moment, Aeris could clearly see the delicate, sinister links running around his wrists and through his tiny body. It saddened her, but it also hardened her resolve. No on deserved this. She didn't care what crimes he might have committed even before Jenova's influence. With her determination renewed, Aeris sat next the poor boy and slowly looped one arm around his shoulders.

"You take me as far as you can. Then, if you want to go with me, I'll carry you the rest of way."

"You mean you won't leave me?"

"I'll move Heaven and Planet if I have to, Sephiroth. I won't leave you." She met his eyes and he studied her so intently that she thought the boy might be able to see directly into her soul and beyond.

"He said you were nice."

"Who said that?" Now she looked at him strangely.

"Him, the older me. He's the one we'll have to find eventually. He's the only one that can possibly beat HIM. It's a long trip though and we might have to pick up the others on the way. I've never tried getting there. He only comes to me when he can, and tries to break these." He held up his wrists again. "But the last time he said we might have help. I..." He dipped his head again with a shake of his shoulders. "I didn't believe him. I'm sorry." Aeris stifled a cry and gathered the unresisting child onto her lap.

"No, you have nothing be sorry about with me." Sephiroth seemed to melt against her for a few precious seconds. When he tensed, she let him go.

"We should get moving. There are other things besides HIM around here. Memories that she gave power in order to keep us in our places." Aeris nodded and slid off the table, offering her hand to the boy, and was surprised when he accepted it. Together they moved the chairs away from the door. and left the room. He led her through the winding corridors and a few times Aeris wondered if he wasn't taking her circles, but her own intuition and Planet told her to trust the boy. Out of the corner of her eye, Aeris glanced his way. He still held her hand and still wore the same serious expression on his face. Unlike most children his age, he lacked the chubby cheeked visage of most. Already his features bore the sharp angles that would come to define his face as an adult. With a sigh she kept to herself Aeris turned back around and followed the boy's lead, until that is he came to an abrupt halt.

"Oh no. We have to hurry." With a great tug on her hand, Sephiroth took off running down the hallway. Aeris didn't ask why for the second after they started running she heard a great metallic roar behind them. There were two things Aeris noticed almost at once: there were no more doors along the walls of the hallway, and Sephiroth ran incredibly fast for a child his size. He was bred and trained to be a fighter. They wanted to see how much they could get out of him. She reminded herself, glancing at the boy only for a moment. Aeris heard something slam into the walls behind them. She looked over her shoulder and saw one of the Shinra Death Machines hitting the opposite wall with another roar. Although it did not look quite right. It bore the same purple-organic look of the boy's chains and it was larger than she remembered and much more menacing. Aeris swallowed hard when she saw the machine gun ports open and gun barrels emerge from the holes. Hurriedly, she flung herself at Sephiroth, erecting a barrier as she did so. The bullets tinged off the barrier in rapid succession. With a wave of her hand, Aeris extended the barrier to cover the whole hallway. In unspoken agreement they both took off running again. The barrier wouldn't buy them much time at all.

And they were right...

Mere moments later, they heard the thunderous crash of the creature behind them. It's drill feet, punching holes through rock and steel in order to catch up to them.

"We're almost there." he shouted. Aeris spun around and flung herself against the opposite wall just before the creature slammed one of its gun arms into her back. It shot several bullets into the wall. Had she not moved when she did, Aeris would have had the wall's fate.

"Keep going!" She yelled at Sephiroth before flinging her hands out in front of her. The ground shook underneath the Death Machine and the creature's footing became uncertain. It roared and slid to the side, giving Aeris the chance to resume her flight. Up ahead she saw the opening that Sephiroth bolted toward. It looked as if it led to nothing, just more darkness. Aeris trembled. Surely this couldn't be where they were supposed to go? Trust, Aeris-child, trust. Came Planet's hushed whisper. So she ran faster. The Death Machine fell through the floor behind them, but a stray bullet clipped Aeris' leg sending her toppling over the edge at the end of the hallway.

SPLASH.

Aeris hit bitterly cold water. Frantically she surged for the surface, taking in great gulps of air. She saw Sephiroth next to her. He reached out, pulling her close with one hand. His continued increase in strength amazed her.

"We have to go down." He said, treading water easily despite the cold. Personally, Aeris thought he was crazy. "Just follow me!" He said before diving underneath the black water. Aeris took a deep breath and followed him beneath the surface. At first it remained pitch black and cold. Eventually a diffuse reddish glow permeated the water, but it felt no less chilling than before. I'm going to mentally freeze to death. Aeris thought and envied the ease with which Sephiroth pushed through the water. Many times he stopped to wait for her to catch up. The bullet wound on her leg hindered her progress more than she would have liked to admit.

Down, down, down, they went until Aeris thought her lungs might burst and it became harder to fight the urge to breath. Her eyes blurred and her arms had a heavy, leaden feel to them. Suddenly something brushed her leg. Looking back she saw nothing.

When she turned around a gaunt, haunted face appeared in front of her. It looked like Sephiroth superficially. The silvery hair had a lackluster tinge to it. The face was sallow. It's spindly hands reached for her and gripped hard around her shoulders. Aeris fought the urge to scream and instead pushed against its attenuated frame. It wasn't hard to free herself from it, but when she tried to move another had grabbed her from behind. Aeris thrashed in the water, twisting and turning as more and more figures grabbed onto to her.

The Clones. Suddenly the idea clicked within her. Even if these creatures weren't a true physical representation of the clones, their mental appearance reflected their connection to Sephiroth. They kept pulling at her, murmuring words that she didn't understand. The more she fought, the more that her lungs burned and the need to breathe became almost unbearable.

Red light flared all around her as a tendril of fire raced around the clones, singing them, driving them away from her. Aeris shuddered hard when Sephiroth tugged on her again. It took a healthy dose of will to push through the water now. His hand gripped her arm tightly as he propelled them through the water. Finally they breached the surface and fell a short distance to the ground. Aeris coughed and heaved up water from her pained lungs. She hadn't swallowed much of the brackish water, but it was enough. Dried grass poked her and when Aeris looked up, she could see the water suspended above them and the faces of the clones glinting underneath the surface.

"He only pulls them out of the water when HE needs them. They grab onto anything because they need HIM so badly." Then he turned his electric-green eyes away from the water and looked at her. "You should heal your leg now." He said and sat next to her on the barren ground. "We're almost there, but I have no idea what might find us on the way."

He spoke so matter-of-factly about their predicament that Aeris wanted to laugh. Then again she supposed that this was how he lived his ..life.. day after day he was trapped in this world with limited ability to move around. Having her here must seem like a dream come true to him.

She turned her attention to her leg, holding back a wince at the strange little ice crystals that had formed around the bullet wound. Aeris used a variation of a barrier spell to surround the bullet and mentally work it back out of the hole without making the damage worse. Suddenly, when heat permeated her shivering form, she looked up and watched the boy surround them in a gentle heat from a fire he'd created.

"Thank you." She said with a smile and he only offered a smaller version of the same expression in return.

It didn't take her long to heal the wound and when she stood up, it curiously did not hurt at all. Then again all of this was an elaborate mental representation. She supposed the rules weren't exactly normal when it came getting hurt.

"All right, I'm ready." He nodded and turned, heading in the direction of a town, or so she assumed. The closer they grew to their destination, the denser and more lush the vegetation became. Palm trees towered over her head and a thick carpet of grass and vines littered the ground. She stepped cautiously, but still noticed that her steps were much louder than Sephiroth's. A steady, rich green glow permeated the area and once they got close enough, Sephiroth pulled Aeris down behind some bushes.

"This is Mideel." Aeris had never been to the town before, but she knew that a natural Lifestream spring was close to the town. "Shinra wanted to study the area and the people, but they didn't want to be studied. It was my first mission in soldier. I was fifteen and under the command of General Grund. But..." He looked off to the left of the high bridge over the entrance of the town.

"Why?" Aeris saw an older Sephiroth standing near a house, engaged in a heated conversation with an older man. His voice had carried easily over the distance and his green eyes blazed with unconcealed anger. The older man had salt and pepper hair, a large broad build, and stood a full head shorter than Sephiroth.

"Hojo's orders." Responded the gruff man. Despite his instance, he didn't seem all too thrilled with whatever these orders were. "You are ordered to spend increasing amounts of time in the spring during the duration of our stay. You are to let the scientists record whatever data they need without complaint." A sullen Sephiroth clenched his fists until the veins on the backs of his pale hands stood out.

"This was supposed to have ended once I entered SOILDER." He hissed before lifting his head. "Fine. I will comply, Sir." The man clamped a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder.

"This will be the last time Sephiroth. I will speak with the President about that idiot Hojo's continued interference with your training. You can't be a good soldier with that man jabbing needles into you all the time." The man, and Aeris figured it was General Grund, sounded sincere, and this other version of Sephiroth seemed to believe him.

"He convinced the President right after the mission, and even though he met with an accident a week later, the President never let Hojo have control of me again." The younger Sephiroth said. Before she could ask him anything, he tugged her hand, leading her through the dense jungle around the village. It was obvious that he didn't want to be spotted by anyone. Of course anyone in this memory could be another Jenova trap or construct.

Branches snagged her clothes and hair. She really couldn't see where they were going through the crowded vegetation. He seemed to know though and Aeris relied on him and his knowledge to get them to the next place. He crouched again at the edge of a clearing and nearly jerked her off of her feet to kneel next to him. Flashing him a disgruntled look that he ignored, Aeris turned and looked where he pointed.

There was a tiny depression in the ground, and in that depression bubbled the Lifestream. It was hard to tell how far down it went, but it was easy to feel the power radiating from it. Noise off to the left distracted her and Aeris turned her head to see the older Sephiroth moving through the underbrush with far more ease than she had shown. Behind him were two scientists already scribbling on their note pads and asking questions that Sephiroth tried to answer in three words or less.

It was beyond strange to see him in the usual SOLDIER grayish-blue uniform though he did not were a helmet and his hair now reached past his shoulder. Meticulously, Sephiroth stripped off his chest guard, shirt and gloves, followed by his boots and socks. She noticed that he did not have Masamune yet and instead carried what seemed to be a standard issue sword.

"You know that you must remain for one hour." One of the scientists began and Sephiroth quelled the woman with a nasty scowl.

"You will leave and return after the hour has passed."

"Ohh no, we must stay and ob..."

"I said LEAVE!" Sephiroth didn't quite yell, but one could hear the menace in words. He turned his back on them and sunk into the pull which proved deep enough to reach the base of his neck. Of course Aeris didn't think that Sephiroth had reached his full height yet. The scientists scurried off a moment later.

"Come on," Child-Sephiroth pulled her out the bushes and into the clearing with him.

The older Sephiroth startled immediately. One hand grabbed his sword that he'd left within easy reach before rounding on his intruders. When he saw them, Aeris recognized the shock in his eyes. That gaze flicked back and forth between herself and Child-Sephiroth rapidly.

"This is her?" He asked with a note of incredulity in his voice. The boy nodded. He'd stopped several feet away from his other self. "Really? She's the one we've been waiting for?" The derision in his tone was apparent and Aeris bestowed a baleful glare upon him.

"I can leave if you like." It was a bluff. She wouldn't leave, she was fairly certain that the boy knew she wouldn't leave, but she really wanted this Sephiroth to drop the attitude.

"No," he said holding up one hand in an unspoken apology, "I just expected you to be more... Goddess like?" Aeris laughed. Really. Her a Goddess?

"Well, sorry, but I'm all you're getting." She said with an amused tone. It was then she noticed that the two did not move closer to one another. With a frown, Aeris moved to the older Sephiroth and lifted his hand. He tried to pull away, but it was the boy who shook his head so that the other would hold still. With a whispered word the shackles and chains appeared on this Sephiroth as well. Aeris looked them over before glancing back at the boy. The energy coming off their bindings repelled each other. Her eyes widened.

"She wanted to make sure that none of you could repair the damage. She didn't only suppress you, she separated you, chained you, and imprisoned you. To keep him under control." It dawned on Aeris the enormity of just what Jenova had done. The creature had psychically spliced Sephiroth apart and used psychic bonds to repress the elements of him that might opposed her. Then she made sure that they could not join together again - limiting any power they might have had, thus limiting any chance of Sephiroth regaining control of himself. The only reason Child-Sephiroth had gotten this far...

...was because of her. Aeris had weakened the bonds with her presence.

"I know what to do." She said softly and both of them looked at her with hooded eyes tinged with a painful glimmer of hope. "Both of you take my hands." She extended one hand towards each of them, stretching as far as she could. The reached, both of them breaking out into a cold sweat as the Jenova taint sought to prevent them from coming any closer together. Already Aeris felt Planet moving into her, providing her with the raw power she needed. Aeris filtered and tamed that power through her soul until it no longer burned like an inferno, but warmed like a balmy summer day. Tendrils of power left her fingertips and surrounded her before the thin filaments of power started reaching out to them.

Both Sephiroths watched anxiously as the magic wrapped around their shaking, outstretched hands. It slid under their skin the way the Mako injections had, but it didn't hurt. At least not in the same way. Once that pure magic focused by Aeris' will came into contact with the chains, it did start to burn. Or more accurately it started to melt the ephemeral bindings. It stung and the further the power reached, the greater the pain became. Aeris saw the Child-Sephiroth stagger and she reached out fast, grabbing his hand in hers. Her glowing eyes finding his with a gentleness that seemed to stun him.

"I'm here with you, I won't leave you." She said and he nodded, pushing himself towards her even as she drew him near. Aeris noticed that visible signs of his pain lessened once he came into physical contact with her. Maintaining her hold on his hand Aeris diverted the flow of a tiny bit of the energy. Instead of it going just into Child-Sephiroth, she pulled it back into her after it had entered him - and with it came his pain. It felt like a thousand hot needles piercing her skin over and over again. Yet the relief on his face made the hurt worth the suffering.

With renewed determination, Aeris tightened her hand on Child-Sephiroth and lunged towards the older one. Her hand wrapped around his wrist and the agony within her intensified. Her eyes watered, but despite her blurred vision, she saw the sickly purple color flowing into her from the tendrils of energy she drew back into herself. Planet anchored her mind and Aeris pulled their hands closer and closer to together while simultaneously cleansing the Jenova taint from them.

The light around them grew and swirled with the force of the energy around them. Finally their fingers intertwined with Aeris still holding onto their wrists. Child-Sephiroth looked at her with wide eyes filled with what looked like tears.

"Thank you." He said in a strangely disjointed voice. "You didn't leave me, you kept your promise." And then in a last burst of brilliance, the Child merged with the Adolescent and when the light faded only Adolescent-Sephiroth remained. Sadness entered Aeris' heart. She knew she would never see the boy again. But his words at the end moved her like nothing else.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to the one that remained. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head and he stuttered.

"You...you are a Goddess." Aeris' eyebrows shot up into her hairline, but then she looked down at herself. Whitish-blue and green light swirled around her through her. It lit her from the inside giving her what could only be called an unearthly radiance. Planet called back the power slowly and softly until Aeris no longer emanated a bright light.

"No," she shook her head, "I'm just a messenger." Aeris squeezed his had, but the awe struck look took a few minutes to leave him.

Of course the earsplitting snarl vibrating through the area did help divert his attention.

"Damn, He felt that. We have to get going." Adolescent-Sephiroth seemed to share the same love of jerking her around by the hand that his younger self had. Even at his age and weilding a standard issue sword, Sephiroth used it with nearly the same grace as the older him with the legendary Masamune. He slashed branches and brush out of their way so they could maintain a fast pace.

Two figures crashed through the trees in front of them. They wore the same white coats as the scientists from before, but their bodies had been changed. One was wide with dark green skin and sallow eyes. Massive tusks dipped nearly to the creature's knees. The other one was tall, taller than Sephiroth himself. Though its hands reached the ground with long talons scrapping over the ground. The large one growled while the tall one hissed. Aeris saw the taint in their eyes.

"Jenova constructs." Sephiroth confirmed, bringing his sword around in front of him. "Stay behind me." He said with an imperious air that definitely reminded Aeris of his adult self. Sephiroth stepped forward and his eyes narrowed on the creatures in front of him. His sword held across his body with both hands on the hilt. His adversaries shifted around, spacing themselves out.

Immediately Aeris noted the differences between Cloud and Sephiroth. Sephiroth had a more compact stance and held his sword at an angle. She did not doubt more differences would become apparent over time. Then like a coiled snake, he struck. He was so fast that Aeris barely registered his motion. The first creature screamed and a large gash seemed to magically appear on his chest. It slashed with its massive hands, but it caught only air.

Another roar and its left arm fell off and hit the ground. It staggered back, gripping the stump. Sephiroth moved in for the kill. However, he'd taken his eyes off the second opponent. A beam of ice hit Sephiroth in the side and sent him flying through the air. Aeris let out a strangled yell which brought the tall creature's attention upon her. Oh chocobo feathers! Aeris looked around frantically before lifting a large stick off the ground. The piece of wood was as thick around as her wrist and about as long as her staff. It's weight felt familiar and comfortable in her hands.

It charged her and Aeris spun to the side, bringing her staff around to smack the creature in the back. It's long arm slashed at her and managed to rip a portion of her dress. Too close. She thought and prepared herself for the next attack. Behind her she heard the scuffle of Sephiroth and the larger creature. While she'd heard a grunt or two from her companion, it was the creature who screamed the loudest. An ear piercing wail drew her attention back to the one she should be dealing with anyway. The creature unleashed a multitude of quick swipes. It's large claws splinter the wood in her hands as she deflected the blows. It kept backing her up, further away from Sephiroth. It's trying to separate us! Her mind screamed. Aeris barely dodged another attack, but instead of backing up, she rolled to the side, moving herself back in Sephiroth's direction.

Another lunge and the creature broke her makeshift weapon. Aeris sucked in a breath and a readied a spell that she knew wouldn't be ready before the monster attacked again. However the expected blow never came. Aeris opened her eyes and in front of her, Sephiroth had impaled the creature. His arm bled from a large, jagged gash, but it was the look on his face that caused her to hold her breath. Those eyes never wavered from his target and his expression did not seem to register any pain or discomfort at all. With a sound of metal against bone, Sephiroth withdrew his sword and his enemy fell to the ground.

"Let's go, there are more coming." One of her hands stopped him and Aeris healed his wounds without a word spoken between them. He looked at her with an inscrutable gaze before turning around - his hand on her wrist as he tugged her with him again.

Honestly, Aeris was tired of running, but she pushed on behind him. He knew where they needed to go, or at least she hoped so. They came to skidding halt on the edge of a cliff. Great, more water. Aeris thought and she looked at Sephiroth. She really didn't want to jump off a cliff into what would probably be freezing cold water.

"Please don't tell me we're going down." She asked with a gulp.

"I'm not, but you are. " He responded. "I cannot go past this point." Aeris rounded on him with a scowl.

"You have to come. You saw what happened with your other self. "

"I've never been able to go past this point. Even now I can't take another step forward. You'll just have to find another way. I'll hold them off for you." He moved to unsheathe his sword, but Aeris stopped him with a gentle hand.

"We go together, or we stay together. " She said in a firm tone and a determined look in her eye. He arched one brow as if asking how she planned to make that a reality. "Hold onto me, tightly." She instructed and readied her magic. He might not be able to move from this spot, so the spot would just have to move for him. Sephiroth wrapped his arms around her waist just as their pursuers broke the tree line. The ground beneath them groaned once then twice before it broke entirely away from the cliff and plummeted toward the water below. Aeris pushed off the falling platform and with a bit of magic propelled herself and him away from the falling debris. She felt them break through the barrier of that section of Sephiroth's mind and the one clinging to her regained his full mobility just before they hit the water.

And yes it was freezing cold.