Twilight Perfected Chapter 10: And there's more to this brave adventure, than you'd ever believe...
Sephiroth was struck mute, he could only repeatedly gesture at Aerith's current location, then her second floor bedroom. Even if she'd heard Sephiroth sneaking out, there was no way she could have gotten from her room to her current location faster than he had!
Aerith lifted a hand to her cheek, but it would have taken more than that to keep Sephiroth from noticing she was giggling.
"You're adorable." She cooed.
Sephiroth was not adorable.
"Your mother would not approve of this at all." He couldn't help but point out.
She took a few steps forward and started to reach out for his hands, then abruptly pulled her arm back.
It seemed that she'd learned more about him than he had about her in their time together.
She settled back on her heels with an enigmatic smile.
"Wouldn't be the first time. Haven't you ever-"
She stopped, lips pressed together, then covered her change in direction with a sunny grin.
"It just wouldn't feel right for me to stay safe in bed while you're out here risking your life!"
"Midgar isn't that dangerous to me."
"Then you don't have to worry if I tag along!"
So, what exactly were Sephiroth's options at the moment?
Yes he could easily outrun her, but that might only result in Aerith spending the entire night wandering the streets looking for him. To use an appropriately botanical metaphor, where this florist was concerned; it was better to be the reed that that swayed with the storm than the oak that fell.
"All right, lead the way." Sephiroth acquiesced.
"With pleasure." Aerith strolled away from her house, humming some sort of jaunty tune.
How was it possible for someone who wasn't a SOLDIER to have this much energy?
XXX XXX XXX
Some people said that Midgar was the city that never slept; perhaps that was so, but it was certainly a different creature by night. The harsh glare of the sunlamps dimmed to a soft glow, the pounding cacophony of urban humanity faded behind the steady rumble of industrial machinery... if nothing else, Midgar by night was far gentler to Sephiroth's senses than its livelier counterpart.
"It almost feels like this part of Midgar is cursed..." Aerith mused, her tone sounding dreamy and distant.
Sephiroth did another quick scan of everything in front of him for any signs of threat then risked a glance backward; they'd switched places shortly after leaving Sector Five.
"What makes you say that?"
"Back when they were still building Midgar, there was an accident and the Plate fell. People had only just started moving in, so there weren't many living there at the time, but..."
"But even 'weren't many' was still 'too many' in that situation."
Sephiroth could just barely catch Aerith nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eye.
He turned his gaze upwards, and noticed that instead of only motionless sun lamps there was actual non-artificial light shining down from above in a few places.
He could detect noticeable gaps in the Plate above them; surely such extensive damage couldn't have been caused by last night's bombing, no matter what Shinra had done to exacerbate Avalanche's sabotage.
Aerith took up position beside him and pointed to those same gaps that he was already focused on.
"That's why they say this place is cursed. One accident was bad enough, but about two months back, something happened here… no one is quite sure what, though.
Shinra says it was the Turks fighting a monster that was going to destroy Midgar. Whatever happened, it caused still more damage to Sector Six's Plate."
Sephiroth found that explanation a mite hard to swallow.
Whatever had happened, it was yet more proof that the Plate system was a myopic choice on Shinra's part. The only reason it existed was so that the rich could live their entire lives without having to look at, let alone think about the less fortunate.
There simply wasn't any logical reason that the city of Midgar couldn't have been expanded horizontally; which left him with only the 'illogical' reason that the Plate system had been designed expressly for the purpose of making those who had to live underneath it suffer.
"I'm sorry I had to bring you here. If you want to go home..." Sephiroth offered her another chance to turn back.
"No, you've got to find the silver lining in every cloud. This place has suffered a lot, but its also the only place in Lower Midgar where you can see the sky." Aerith reflected as she tilted her neck still further upwards, as if she could take in the entire sky through a few small gaps in the Plate.
"Mind your footing." Sephiroth warned her as he continued moving forward.
"It's funny, I'm still a little scared of the sky… but only during the day. At night, it is just so beautiful." Sephiroth picked up the sound of her footsteps following his own.
He risked another quick glance upwards; minimal cloud cover, starlight, crescent moon. Good balance between navigation and concealment needs, but there was nothing particularly beautiful about it.
A few moments later, he crested a hill and looked out at a walled area that surely would have qualified as a town utno itself anywhere other than Midgar.
"Wall Market..."
There was no place in Lower Midgar he was more familiar with, due to how many times he'd had to retrieve SOLDIERs who were overstaying their leave here.
"Would you be interested in getting to back to Sector Seven without going through it?"
"Yes."
"Good; I know a shortcut! One that tragically doesn't go through Wall Market." Aerith promised with a smug smile.
Sephiroth noticed a miniscule twitch in her arm before the limb went completely still.
A few moments later she opted for crooking a finger at him instead.
This woman may not have the sense to be intimidated by him... but Sephiroth had to admit there was something novel and refreshing about having his personal space respected out of consideration, rather than fear.
"I take it said secret passageway involves this run down tunnel?"
"It sure does."
"When was the last time you used it?"
"When I was a kid…."
This could only end well.
XXX XXX XXX
"Oh great, someone's pulled up the ladder," Aerith groaned.
It seemed that uncooperative architecture, of all things, was the weak point in Aerith's otherwise unshakably sanguine disposition.
It didn't last long of course, her green eyes soon fixated on a nearby gigantic mechanical arm.
"I wonder if we can..." She began.
Sephiroth walked over, effortlessly leapt twenty feet into the air, landed by the raised ladder, and sent it sliding down to Aerith with a firm kick.
"Or we could do that." She admitted before starting to climb.
Once she'd finished, Aerith faced Sephiroth and raised both of her arms into the air as if she was surrendering.
He tilted his head to the side to indicate his confusion.
"Hm? All right, good enough, let's keep on trucking." She pressed on further into the tunnel, leaving yet another minor mystery in her wake.
XXX XXX XXX
"I think it's a dead end..." Aerith pointed out as directly in front of them was a huge shipping container, with an even huger piles of debris having built up to either side of it.
Sephiroth was willing to agree that there didn't seem to be an obvious way around the container for his companion, which simply meant it was time to make a way through it.
He let loose with a precise blast of ice magic, freezing one section of the container, then slammed his shoulder into it.
Ice shattered inward and he repeated the process on the far wall, leaving a man-sized hole punched through the former obstruction
"Well, I feel better about getting the cold shoulder knowing it's not just me…" Aerith chuckled then did that strange thing with her hands again.
Since it had worked last time he tilted his head to the side, but refrained from further action.
Once again after about five seconds she abandoned whatever bizarre ritual she was trying to get him to take part in.
Instead, she turned her eyes towards another ladder that someone had seen fit to yank up so that it couldn't be climbed.
"Aww no, look. Why is it always gotta be so tough? Lucky for me you'll make this easier." Aerith predicted.
She was right. Sephiroth approached the ladder, jumped to the platform above it and kicked it down for her.
XXX XXX XXX
They had to be nearly out of these tunnels, Sephiroth was sure of it. He pushed open a large door and
his eyes instantly focused on a dull, flickering glow on an otherwise bare patch of ground.
It was the smoldering remains of a small pile of branches.
He raced over to it to see if he could learn anything from closer observation.
"This fire was started recently, whomever made it is nearby..."
"You can tell that just by looking at a pile of burning sticks?"
"That, and the sound of their footsteps."
"The what?"
A moment later three men burst into the room.
"Lookie here boys, caught us some burglars." One of them chortled.
Sephiroth just stared in perplexion.
Either Shinra or the various black market chemists in Wall Market must be turning out some impressively powerful narcotics these days. He certainly couldn't think of any other reason why this trio didn't take single good look at him, then run screaming for the hills.
"Coming into our homes and stealing our shit, doin' crimes!" The most lanky of the three announced in what he probably thought was a menacing tone.
"I'd say we're owed 'compensatory damages'!" Sneered the first man who was probably the trio's leader.
"Yeah! Complementary, uh composite, uh, I don't get it..." Mumbled the squat third member.
"How stupid can you be? It's crazy simple! Compensatory damages is like uh…." The leader began.
"Compensatory damages are a sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another.
They provide a plaintiff with the monetary amount necessary to replace what was lost, and nothing more." Sephiroth explained, since otherwise he'd likely have to stand around all day watching the not especially bright leader explain the matter to his two even more idiotic underlings.
"Yeah, what he said!" The leader instantly agreed, at least able to recognize actual intelligence when it stood right in front of him.
"We're just passing through, what do you want?" Aerith made the commendable, but most likely futile gesture of trying to negotiate with the trio.
"Nothing but our due recompense, that's all!" The leader chortled.
"Wait… what? Do wreck-em-pants?" The short one abruptly murdered the phrase.
"No shit-for-brains, due recompense, it's like… uh..." The leader tried and failed to explain.
Realizing that they'd come to a vocabulary related impasse once again, the bandits' six eyes turned in Sephiroth's direction. They were in theory about to rob him, but first, they clearly hoped he'd clarify another legal matter.
"Due recompense is..." Sephiroth began.
Then in the blink of an eye he was standing behind the trio.
"Me getting the last sixty seconds of my life back, Blizzaga."
Before he'd even finished his final word's third syllable, all three bandits were flash frozen, and dropped softly to the ground a few moments later.
"Did you have to do that?" Aerith asked as she thumbed the switch to make her collapsible staff retract back down to the size of a baton.
Sephiroth wondered why she sounded so upset, until he realized that she'd probably never seen ice magic wielded by someone with his expertise before.
"I didn't kill them, if that's what you're worried about. A snap freeze like that induces something like hibernation; barring any pre-existing conditions, they'll thaw out in a few hours barely the worse for wear. I know it may look harsh, but if you have other suggestions for how I could keep our foes properly restrained, I'm willing to hear them."
"Have you ever considered using zip ties?" Aerith all-but-instantly countered, skirting uneasily around the statues.
"I had not."
Then he pondered the matter for another moment.
"Why did you think of using them?" He had not expected a florist to be more well versed in the art of captive restraint than a general.
"TURKs is one of my mom's favorite shows.".
"I promise I'll keep your zip tie suggestion in mind. For now we need to keep moving."
XXX XXX XXX
It turned out that there was a third ladder that had to be dealt with, but another jump from Sephiroth soon resolved that issue.
Once Aerith managed to climb the ladder he'd lowered, a wide smile filled her face.
"Sephiroth, up top!" She called out, raising a single hand.
Now he finally understood what she wanted from him.
He wasn't going to give it to her, but he understood.
"You can put your hand down."
Her smile faltered.
"I thought, maybe if it was on your terms..."
The gesture was simple. Straightforward... but the human body was so fragile... No. Out of the question. If he were to experiment with impact gestures, he certainly wouldn't start with the unenhanced.
"I don't do…. touch."
Aerith lowered her arm, her face falling into a wistful echo of her earlier smile.
"I guess not..." she trailed off, then rallied. "So, back in SOLDIER, how did you celebrate with your squadmates when you accomplished something important?"
The woman was indefatigable. Forget needing an entire battalion of Gainsboroughs; give her some SOLDIER treatments and she would have blazed a path to First Class that would have made Genesis turn green with envy.
"I crawled back to my tent and finally got some sleep. Sleep was something we all had a deep and passionate respect for."
"Really? You didn't even have celebratory feasts together?"
"We were in the middle of a war. Food options were quite limited, and even what the commissary could provide had been cooked by men of dubious skill. Have you ever bitten into sirloin steak and discovered that someone found a way to make it taste like a dog's tongue?
That said, thank you for reminding me if I ever see that Private again I need to..." Sephiroth began.
Halfway through his reminiscence he noticed the worried look Aerith was giving him.
"Force him to... eat... some of his own cooking," Sephiroth concluded lamely.
That seemed to assuage her concern; she clearly had no idea how much worse a fate that was than any physical retribution.
XXX XXX XXX
The two of them slowly emerged from the tunnel and into the open air once more. This time however there were no nearby gaps in the Plate through which the night sky could be seen.
"We made it..." Aerith panted slightly, the trip understandably having taken more out of her than from Sephiroth.
Strangely enough, at the very edge of Sector Six was some kind of playground.
"Hm. Tawdry as it is now, you could forget that Sector Six was originally planned as the entertainment hub for all of Midgar..."
"Yeah... when the rough types started to take over, Shinra convinced everyone that they could solve everything by building a wall."
"I remember. They sent Don Corneo an invoice; last I heard, he had it framed and put it up behind his desk."
A moment later, Aerith clambered up a bizarre cat-bear-frog structure and perched at the top of the slide protruding from its mouth.
"What was it like, being a First Class SOLDIER?" She called down to him.
"Frantic and mind-numbing by turns. Exhausting, on the aggregate."
Aerith seemed to be quite amused by the fact that she could now look down on Sephiroth while they talked.
"It's funny, you're so different from my first boyfriend in every way… well except one." Aerith reflected wistfully.
"All we have in common is being SOLDIERs?"
She giggled at his question, for some reason.
"No! I mean, I was wrong, there are two ways you're the same. Yes, you were both First Class SOLDIERs, but there was something else; the gentleness. With him, well it was like he never had a single nasty thought in his entire life."
"That doesn't sound like me at all."
"With you, it's like I can see each and every single nasty thought you have, and then how the moment it pops up, you smash it right back down with a huge hammer. He made it seem effortless, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who tries as hard to be a good person as you do. That has to count for something..."
Sephiroth silently agreed with her; he spent a lot of time hoping that it counted for something. That said, her description of a First Class soldier who never had a nasty thought in his life, it certainly sounded like Zack...
"Your first boyfriend; what was his name? I think I might have served with him..." If she'd dated Zack, he'd have wanted her to have closure.
She turned away with shocking abruptness.
"It doesn't matter anymore. I mean, I was sixteen, he was seventeen, we were really just teenagers fooling around." She insisted.
"Hm." On one hand, he was skeptical. On the other, if she was looking to gloss over that chunk of history, he saw little merit in pressing her on the matter; let it stay between her and Probably Zack.
"Part of growing up is outgrowing childish things..." Aerith sighed, before standing up and walking down the slide.
"Anyway, I'm sorry for slowing you down, the gate to Sector Seven should be straight ahead. If we hurry a little I might even be able to make it back home before my mom wakes up." She suggested, in the warm yet also slightly flippant tone he'd come to expect from her.
Sephiroth turned his eyes towards the gates in question, they were so huge even he probably couldn't leap them in a single bound. Luckily between his raw strength and the time worn nature of the obstruction in question handholds wouldn't be hard to come by.
Before he could get started, the gate began to swing open to allow a chocobo-pulled carriage through.
"You know, just once in my life, I wish that I could get a chance to wear a dress as pretty as that." Aerith sighed dreamily.
His attention drawn by her words, Sephiroth flicked a glance at the carriage's occupant.
Motif: black and hot pink, deliberately contrasted. Dark hair, bright pink headband. Flower, artificial, also vividly pink.
Black yukata, pink lining. Pink lipstick and eyeshadow.
He was about to dismiss the matter with a mental shrug when the figurative wheel finished turning and several details clicked into place. Long dark hair was hardly unique, but it was only the first relevant data point. The fabric was taut at her shoulders, the cut of the garment clearly intended for a slighter frame. Pink eyeshadow on pale skin distracted from the faint glow visible through tinted contacts.
He took a second look. Facial structure, complexion under the cosmetics, physique, even posture, all matched.
Tifa.
"She's lovely, but..." Aerith, not privy to his revelation, was still speaking. "I still feel bad for her. All dressed up, in one of those carriages? Only one place she could be headed..."
You hear stories about Corneo's girls, you know?"
Of course, Aerith hadn't seen Tifa kill a man with her bare hands, or hold her own against the Airbuster. What chance did a crime boss and his pet thugs have against her?
Still... better safe than sorry, if Avalanche had come up with some kind of plot targeting Don Corneo since he'd lost touch with them, Kadaj should be able to fill him in.
Shinra had been kind enough to install a payphone at the edge of the playground, and the Seventh Heaven's phone number had been listed alongside its address. He didn't have the change necessary to place a call, but that was a surmountable problem.
At the end of the day, phones were just another machine that did whatever the electronic signals going on inside them told them to do. He hadn't done this in a long time, but in theory, all he had to do was run the right voltage through the right parts of the phone and it would forget all about demanding payment…
"Please stand at least ten feet back, there's a small chance this phone may explode." He quickly warned Aerith as he started to summon up sparks of energy between the fingers of his right hand.
She of course decided to do the exact opposite.
Before Sephiroth had a chance to start bending the phone's electronic brain to his whims, Aerith walked over and slid a coin into the slot.
There was a happy dial tone a few moments later.
"Or we could do that." He sighed, then dialed.
All he got for his effort was a recorded message from Tifa's Customer Service Voice announcing that Seventh Heaven was closed for the night and what their hours of operation were.
No Kadaj, no Barret, not even Biggs, Wedge, Jessie or Marlene. What was going on?
"You're worried about that girl." It wasn't a question.
"Her name is Tifa Lockhart, she's a work acquaintance who I've run up a large tab with."
"Then what are you standing around at a phone waiting for, lets go help her!"
"I was trying to gather information so that I didn't race into a situation with no idea what was going on."
"Faint hearts never won fair ladies, we should start thinking less about reconnaissance and more about rescues!"
Sephiroth couldn't help but notice that he'd never actually asked for Aerith to get involved in this particular matter.
"We're going to do reconnaissance first..."
"And there's no better place to do it than here in Sector Six! We should head for Wall Market while the trail is still fresh!" Aerith interrupted him.
Sephiroth would have preferred to have personally inspected Seventh Heaven in case Avalanche had left any notes behind to inform him of their plans, but like so many other times tonight, what he preferred gave way before Gale Storm Gainsborough.
End Chapter
AN: The "Private" that Sephiroth is referring to in his discussion with Aerith is Giles from "This Army Life" by Nicolle on , a wonderful piece of crack that you should consider looking into in your free time.
Also "yukata" is the best word that I or my editor could find to describe the style of outfit Tifa wears in this section (if you choose "exotic" as the dress style at least) but if anyone has feedback on the matter please let me know and I'll make a revision.