A/N: Attempting to get myself back onto a schedule with this. Attempting, though possible failure may be ahead.

Also, random question. Is anybody else as super stoked about the FF7 remake as I am? Also, because we get to see our beloved One Winged Angel...shirtless...in all of his beautiful HD glory? Because I am way too excited for this...I am clearly an adult... *sigh*

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Sam, everything else belongs to Square Enix

My energy was draining, and draining quickly. I cannot hold myself in both my unfinished body as well as this decomposing one. As I landed in the Sleeping Forest I took off my glove to inspect my hand. It was still a bluish gray, though it has decreased in size since I last examined it. It was small and frail, like a weak woman's hand. It was the hand of Jenova's dying body. I perched myself upon a branch nearby where the Ancient made her way into the forest. I listened as she played the harp, waking the forest from its slumber. I stayed where I was as I allowed her to move forward. I wished to end her here, but not without a witness. I closed my eyes as I allowed my stream of consciousness to travel across the planet towards Gongaga where an unconscious Cloud lied. I opened my eyes once more, projecting what I could see into his mind. Unknowingly, however, I managed a projection of him in the forest for the girl to see. Intriguing... though the projection was choppy at best as my energy waned. He blinked in and out as she explained to him her plans of stopping me in the Forgotten City. This was no good. I could try to end her, but without him watching clearly, it wouldn't have the same effect. I allowed her forward, mainly to break Cloud's mind. But I will admit, I was curious as to her plans as well. How could such a weak girl hope to accomplish such a feat?

I dropped down from my branch, standing where she once stood, sending my message to Cloud. He will follow her there, and he will witness her end, just before I take him to his own.

I pulled myself from his mind and then proceeded to follow after her. Keeping my distance and out of sight, I tailed her all the way to the City of the Ancients. It was an incredible place. The architecture was unlike any I've seen before. It was like a city underwater with its houses like shells. I watched as she made her way into one of the houses, following the voices of the Planet as they spoke to her the directions. Within this house, a secret staircase made itself visible on the ground floor, leading below the very ground. Only once she disappeared from behind the banister that was in my view at the house's entrance did I make my way to follow after her. I descended a few of the steps and found no place to hid myself from view in the open area. I stayed where I was as I watched her seat herself into a kneeling position on a platform just below where I stood. With her hands lifted towards her face, her head tilted downwards, she began to pray. What does she hope to do? Pray me away? I nearly laughed at the thought. He's seen a few religious people in his life, worshiping a nonexistent god or goddess in spite of the science that flows through their very bodies. To think this child also believes in such a thing. No wonder the Cetra didn't survive...

I walked back up the stairs and into the house once more, climbing towards its top floor and sitting myself down as I watched the entrance. Keeping my focus on the doorway and on the lighted platforms that made the staircase to the lower level, I allowed my mind to wander back to Sam. "What's going to happen to me?" I listened to her worries and did my best to alleviate her fears. I explained how I would never allow anything to happen to her again. Not as long as I lived. Even in death, I had every intention of protecting her.

I loved this woman, more than I could have ever felt before. As I held onto her, I confessed to her and opened my heart completely. Her reaction was the one I had hoped. I felt her nuzzle into my cheek with her own, and my heart very nearly leapt out of my chest. This new body was far stronger than Jenova's, even the emotions were stronger. I would need to learn to control them eventually. But, for now, as long as I could feel the love emanate off of her, then I would allow those emotions to run wild.

Without my trying to, she has become my everything. I wished to feel that love even more. So I allowed my mind to travel into hers once more, making certain this time not to force anything from her that she did not wish to share with me. I did not want to throw her into discomfort again. I felt myself flow through her bloodstream. I could feel the heat inside of her, reacting to my touch on her outside. I could tell she lusted for me. I wanted her as well. But this body was ill equipped. It was not yet complete. But if it were, I would gladly have taken her again, right then and there. But I couldn't... So instead I merely allowed myself to indulge in her feelings. Before traveling towards her mind, I decided to explore the rest of her body. The brain is not the only place that holds memories and thoughts. Muscles, as well as organs, hold memories, and I could experience those same memories through her. I could feel the caresses she had felt when I touched her. I could feel the pinches around her skin I had left upon her wherever my teeth would make contact. Her lungs would share with me all those times I would take her breath away. Her heart regaled all those times that it would skip beats at the sight of me. Mine would do the same whenever I saw her. I could also sense how it would speed up with heightened emotions during certain times of 'stress.'

I couldn't help but smirk as I found myself moving deeper. I knew what felt good to me, but I was always curious as to what felt good to her. With a sly thought, I delved into a region that I only I will ever touch from here on out, wanting to feel what she had felt when I bury myself into her. I'd think on how I'd feel, how my body would react every time I'd hear her moan from my thrusts. Whenever I'd hear her say my name, I'd know that I was the only man for her. I yearned to feel what she felt, what she thought, how she'd react to my actions. I did not get far however. Something blocked my path. I could not tell what it was, but I felt and heard a strange rhythmic sensation. A mass of cells laid in my way towards my destination. It took no apparent shape, but the cells moved like clockwork and with an urgency unlike any I'd seen before. Most of them were building. Few others were fighting off diseases around the site. Was something broken that needed repairing? I did not move forward, not wishing to be one of the unlucky ones to be mistaken as an infection. I turned a 180 and made my way back up, decided to leave that for another time, when she was feeling better. Calming my thoughts and libido, I made my way back to her mind once more, only to be blocked out once more. Did she do this on purpose? I couldn't be sure, so I asked her as I pulled myself from her body, continuing my unfinished confession. "I want to believe that you're my only constant. Angeal and Genesis betrayed me. Jenova used me. Sam, I don't wish to lose you too. With that I ask you, do you trust me?""

As I listened to her answer, I saw Cloud and his party had entered the house. He seemed almost zombie like. I could sense that he sensed my presence, but he also sensed hers. Good. I watched as he and his companions made their way towards the lower levels of the city where the Cetra girl had not moved. I peered down into the center of the building, looking down below to see that she still knelt in the same spot I had left her. I watched as my plan began to unravel. I followed after my clone, watching as he began to approach the little praying flower girl. Then suddenly, a thought sparked in my mind. I delved into Cloud's mind, twisting his mind, leaving subliminal messages all through his soul. Kill her.

Stop her.

End her.

Do it.

He struggled, but his control waned. I watched as he lifted the sword that once belonged to a man I used to call a friend. Yes, use the very blade that betrayed me...betray her now with it. I could feel myself become elated as his sword neared its peak height. Even with the naysaying that rang in my ears from Sam's words, this moment, the look on his face, the sheer hatred for himself that would accompany this tragedy, would be well worth all of it. No one can kill me and not experience the repercussions. I watched as the blade fell, aimed straight for the back of the girl's head. But then, all too soon, his blade stopped after his comrades called out to him. No! I felt seething hatred for them as my control over Cloud had shattered. He called out to me, frustrated with my presence. While questioning Sam's logic back at the Northern Crater, trying to pull from her that my fate is not quite so set in stone, I made it a point that Aerith's fate is set. If he will not end her, then I will as previously planned. I was ready to jump from the top step, only to feel a dizziness overtake me. This body is weakening with each second. I growled as I took my masamune and held it by its blade. It cut into my hand, but I ignored the pain as I stuck the tip of it into my pectoral behind my coat. My growl grew as I sliced off a piece of this body and threw it up into the air just above the flower girl. I immediately threw my masamune at the suspended flesh and watched as a hand formed, catching my blade it by its handle. From that hand, another Sephiroth grew. I could not stay here any longer, though I wished to see his face. But I could not hold myself in three different places at once anymore. Two was taxing enough. So I told this puppet of my flesh, "End her. Plunge my blade into her and steal her last breath. Make sure the blonde one watches. Then...end him as well." The copy smirked at me as it readied its blade, "Pass along my message...he's nothing but a puppet." The copy nodded and then dropped, blade aimed straight for the flower girl's heart.

Only a few seconds more, and I could witness his heart shatter. But the pain from my missing flesh was too much to bear. I needed to get back to the Northern Crater before this body fully gave up on me. As I limped out of the house, I examined my chest to see this body attempt to repair itself. The blue gray spread from my hand, up my arm, and over the injured area. I could not see any further past my shoulder, but I'm certain that the color had extended upwards. Fixing my coat over shoulder once more, I leapt up into the air. I couldn't keep altitude however. I felt myself falling with each attempt at ascension. I took in a deep breath and focused all of my energy on flight, leaving very little for Sam. But enough to answer her questions, but not enough to control the power or emotions of that body. As long as she remains her loving self, there's no reason to worry...right?

As I flew over the mountains, I felt a strange on my back. With the amount of energy I put into flight, a pain shot through my shoulder blades before finally subsiding and my flight became easier. I craned my neck slightly to see behind my shoulder to find a black wing. I turned my head to look over the other one to find a matching one. My eyes widened as my memory drifted back to a bedroom, and seeing these same wings in a mirror...But wait, wasn't there just one last time? Almost as immediately as I had this thought, I felt one of my wings begin to deteriorate. Surprisingly enough, it was not the wing on my decomposing side. That wing remained whole. Perhaps Jenova was an angel of sorts? I choked back a laugh of sorts from that ridiculous thought. I'm closer to an angel than she would ever have hoped to be. She strove for destruction. I strive for salvation. With this new found energy, even only one wing made flying easier than without any at all, I allowed my focus to return to Sam. I did not enjoy where the conversation led. While I responded truthfully, and I could feel my disgust from her suggestions, my body reacted far more violently than I had intended. She did not trust me, she did not understand me, but choking her was not how I wanted her to see.

As I found myself closing in on her location, I retracted my wing, feeling that was one unnecessary surprise she could do without. Once I did, however, I felt my energy drain once more as I tried to land on the branches below as softly as possible. Once my feet touched down, I felt myself stumble forward. I could see her struggle in my arms, but as long as I focused my energy on this body, I was not in full control of the other one. I watched as her eyes began to roll into the back of her head, and her breaths shortening. That was more than I needed to shift myself. I allowed this body to drop as I took control of the one inside the crystal once more. I felt her briefly limp form begin to struggle. I loosened my grip, but it did not stop her from wanting to crawl out of my grasp. I felt saddened that she wished to get away from me, but I suppose I could understand. Leaving such a powerful body alone to his own devices, the strong reaction was inevitable. I watched I let her go and she stumbled forth, coughing and gasping for air. Then, she did something I did not expect. I expected her to run, but instead she crawled towards the body I left to save her from this one.

I could barely make out her whisper from inside the crystal, so I left this body at rest once more, and found myself inhabiting the decaying heap that rested in her lap. I opened my eyes to look at her. I did not like the look she gave me, like I was a small puppy that had gotten hit by a car, and all she could do was hold me and comfort me until I left this world. "This body is losing its usefulness...I'm not weak. So stop giving me that look. I don't need your pity." I was still cross with her. To think I could just walk away from everything. "You should go." I don't wish for someone to stay by my side from unwanted sympathy. This isn't what I wanted from her.

My thoughts began to calm as I lay there, and I could feel her hands running across my hair. "Where am I supposed to go?" I've said it once, I'll say it again, her voice can pull me from any darkness brewing in my mind.

But she needed to leave. If not for my sake, then for hers, "I threatened you...if you were smart, you'd run while you are still able to."

I listened to her tiny chuckle, "I already told you, I trust you with my life. Your threat is meaningless." How can she say such things so lightly. She has no idea what she does to me. I could feel my heart aching for her, at least what was left of one inside this body. Its beating was weak, but it still beat for her.

"Your trust is ill placed..." I've already hurt her too many times by my incompetence.

"Is it? Tell me, Sephiroth, do you love me?" Incredible...how she could just turn my question on her right around at me.

I laughed, though weakly. I could feel my energy slowly renewing as I rested there upon her legs, though far too slowly for my liking. I decided I would not answer right away. She should know by now. She seems to know everything else about me. Her on the other hand, parts of her still elude me. "You answer my question first. Only then will I answer yours."

I felt her hands rest on the sides of my face. I could feel her push as she tried to force my gaze into hers. I did not fight it and allowed her to manipulate my position. What I saw before me was incredible. I saw a face on her that I never before witness on anybody, even her own. Her small smile, the crinkle at the corner of her eyelids, though only slightly as I could still see the depths of her eyes in full view. This face she made was so filled with a love I never thought could exist as she answered my question with nothing more than a simple "yes..." I couldn't believe what she said, but my heart sped up wanting to believe it true. So I allowed myself to believe it as I reached a hand to her cheek. I couldn't speak any words for fear of shattering this moment of elation. I couldn't handle it, I wished to feel her. But not with this hand. This decaying hunk of cells I once called my hand isn't worthy of her touch. So I stood, wishing to touch her in a different way. My body was still weak, but not so much where I couldn't stand upright on my own. I held out my good hand to her to help her up. Interlocking my fingers with her own, I stared into her eyes and asked her the question, "Sam, will you be my anchor once more?"

It wasn't an ideal proposal, but given the circumstances, it was the best I could offer her. Once everything is over, I will ask appropriately if she will stand by my side. For now, however, my side is the last place I could wish her to be. When she met my question with confusion, I explained further, "When I died 5 years ago, and was drifting through the Lifestream, I began to lose myself. One by one, my memories left me. My childhood, my friends, my goals, even you." It was a depressing experience, remembering the details of the Lifestream and my ventures through it. I glanced over at my body in the crystal as I continued, "Even though my new body began its construction here, I became nothing more than just a name drifting through the ether." I looked back towards her, unable to hide my shame, "I thought I had lost myself completely. All feeling, all direction. I had nothing left. It wasn't until I found myself drifting towards your planet that I began to regain pieces of me. When I found myself in your room, some of me returned. Parts of me that I wasn't aware had existed took over. And when you said my name, everything hit me all at once. I knew who I was, who I was supposed to be, with you. We barely knew each other, but you accepted me completely. You brought me back. You were my anchor to reality." If there were any memory I wished to fill my mind, it was that one. It was filled with everything good in me, and good in her. Every moment of that night was perfect, and I'd never want it to be taken away from me again. Even afterwards, when I learned of that other man's existence, it merely called forth another emotion that made me who I am.

"So I will ask you again, will you be my anchor once more? Stay alive for me, so I have a reason to come back, should this future you explain come to be?" She seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment. When she started to contradict me, to argue with me, I cut her off almost immediately, "I will not stop what I intend to do. Even if I don't succeed, knowing I have the ability to come back, I will. And I will try again." I watched as she shook her head, refusing to hear me. She closed her eyes. Don't hide them from me...please. I placed my hands on the sides of her head, as she had done to me before, and stopped her from denying me. I watched as she opened her eyes and made her stare straight into mine. "As much as you know about my life, you don't understand. I wish I could help you to. This world is not like yours. It's filled with greed and self righteousness. The children may be pure, but they become tainted as they grow on this planet. I've grown among them, and have become tainted as well. That's why the new body, one made pure from the Lifestream. With it, I can change the world."

"But you won't...if you summon Meteor, you'll only destroy the Planet." I watched as the tears poured "Even if it doesn't, and you do succeed in absorbing the Lifestream. Once you've done so, Gaia will die from its absence." Why must she fight me? What I do, I do for her, for us. It may have started for myself, but I found a new reason, and it's you, Sam. I don't want us to have to live in a world of this human disease, constantly on the run and having to make due with a dying planet.

"It will, as will all life upon it. Through me all with become pure once more, and from me the Lifestream will be dispersed back to the Planet, bringing about a new Life where all can live without the negativity of its past."

"That may be so, but how can you expect me to be your anchor if I die, too?" I couldn't argue that...I did not want her to die. Especially not if I were to succeed. She needs to be here, by my side, to recreate life in our image. "If you live past this, then I die...but if I see another day, that means you will have died. I can't live without you either...so I will not leave. If you must see this through, then I'm staying here with you."

I couldn't hold back anymore. She truly was everything I could ever wish for. I kept hold of her head as I pushed myself onto her. I yearned for her, every waking moment of every day. This kiss would not be our last. I wouldn't allow it to be so. But I couldn't stop myself from treating it as if it were. When she responded in kind I could feel my entire body reacting to hers. I wished for this moment to last, but I could sense my clone's trek in our direction. It'd be some time before they were to arrive here, but I learned my copy could not hold them off, let alone end them. My time here with her is shorter than I could have wished. Reluctantly, I pulled away from her. I could tell from the way she looked at me that she did not wish for it to end with that kiss either. But there was nothing I could do. "I will never let you die." All I could do was make her a promise as I leaned my forehead against hers. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I transferred some of my energy and power into her. I encased her body in a powerful Protect spell. Nothing will be able to penetrate it outside of myself. Not even the Lifestream will be able to touch her unless I demand it.

Once I explained to her what I did, I stepped away from her, expanding the distance between us, urging her to go. I leaned my hand up against my crystal casing as this body's energy neared complete depletion. "Sephiroth." I looked up at her as she stepped towards me, "I'm staying here with you." So defiant.

"No, you're not. If my future is as you say it is, then I don't want you to be dragged down with me. I've shared with you my power. When I succeed, and all life dies, you will not be among them." My gaze never once wavered from hers, "I promise it." Yet despite my promises, she persisted. With what little energy I had left, I stepped away from the crystal and very nearly fell onto her. Holding my balance by grasping her shoulders, I insisted, "Even in my weakened state, and with my power flowing through you, I am still stronger. You will not fight me in this." My demands will be heeded. Even if I must force them upon her. I began to push her backwards towards the edge of the branched platform.

I could see a small hint of fear inside those consistently defiant eyes. "Sephiroth, what are you doing?" You know exactly what I'm doing. It needs to be done.

I love you...I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud, but instead I said something far more powerful than those three words. "You'll live, and you'll survive. No matter what, and despite what you say, you are my future." And with that I kissed her once more. This kiss was even harder to break away from than the one before. I could feel a tear run down my own cheek, but I needed her to stay away from me. With that last though, I pushed forward one last time as she slipped off the edge and fell to the ground below, gravity breaking the kiss for me. I watched her descent to the ground below. It was the most painful thing I ever had to do. But she'll be found by those who will take her far away from here. There are a few parties on their way here. One of them will take her.

"I'm sorry...please, wait for me."