It was a dark and twisted place. Not a single thing had the slightest splash of color on it. Every single object in view was twisted almost beyond recognition. There were animals, but they were far from being alive. Each creature was not only deformed beyond belief; but each one was either floating in what appeared to be some sort of containment tubes or was glazed with a hard shiny substance.
Other than the few deformed creatures there was not a single natural object in the entire land. The ground was nothing but a cold metal grill. Towers of shapeless metal reached into a sky of wires. Each wire eventually ran back down into one of the containment tubes or a metal tower.
In the midst of the land stood a man who was equally as twisted as the land that surrounded him. He observed his surroundings with a sick sense of wonder. Greasy clumps of hair Hung in front of his scratched glasses with twisted frames. A clanking sound resounded throughout the entire area with each of his footsteps. He stopped and hunched in front of one of the containment pods.
A twisted smile overcame his grotesque features. He began to laugh softly as he slowly turned in circles taking all that surrounded him. As he was laughing he turned and focused on a single containment pod. Without warning the pod suddenly burst open. Glass and a clear slimy liquid flew everywhere. An aberration with tentacles flailing out everywhere slowly stepped out, saliva dripped from fangs as it let out and ear shattering roar. The second the man's attention withdrew from the creature it froze in place. He burst out into an uncontrolled fit of laughter
It wasn't a pleasant sound by any means. The pitch was high and irritating it grated on a person's nerves. But that wasn't the main thing that made it so irritating. It was the feeling of insanity behind it. One could tell that there was a great madness in it, some malicious plan that was yet to be implemented. One important thing to know was that this man hadn't lost his mind. He was still perfectly aware of what he was doing and what was happening around him. His insanity was as twisted as everything else that surrounded him.
************
It was a winter wonderland. Soft flakes of snow swirled around in the air before falling onto the blanket of white that already covered everything in site. Great pine trees rose into the air, their limbs weighed down with piles of snow. The trunks of each tree were so huge that three people would not be able to wrap their arms around them. The sky above did not have the typical dark stormy gray of winter, but a softer gentle gray. The forest of pine stretched to the sand of a gray tumultuous ocean. The smaller trunks of the pine trees littered the beach. In the distance snow covered mountains dominated the horizon; their peaks stretching for the sky. Near the ocean there was a small open field with a small river running from a frozen solid lake. Next to the lake there was a medium sized log cabin. A small boat was locked into place next to a small wooden pier. A small plume of smoke curled from the chimney.
A young woman walked out of the forest into the clearing. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the snow. Her parka was wrapped tightly around her small body, her hood was secured atop her head, soft fur lining framed her face. As she walked her breath crystallized and formed small clouds in front of her face. She looked around obviously filled with a sense of pride with what she saw.
After taking in her surroundings she shivered slightly and shoved her bare hands into her pockets. Soon she came to the door of the cabin. It looked just like any other door, but it did not look as new as she knew it was. Numerous nicks and scratches covered it giving the dark wood and aged look.
She drew one hand from her pocket and rapped lightly on the door. Within seconds the door was opened by her silver haired friend. The first thing that she noticed was that he was dressed differently than usual, come to think of it she had never seen him in anything other than his black soldier uniform. Now he was wearing a loose fitting black sweater and a pair of black slacks. He still wore boots, but not the same knee high ones as before. The boots he wore now only went a little past his ankles and went much better with his current outfit than the other pair would have. She was a little surprised but pleased none the less. In her opinion her looked much better than before, more relaxed or comfortable.
"Is it too cold out? You look freezing", there was a slight amount of worry detectable in his voice, "Please come in"
He backed away from the door and gestured for her to enter. She smiled and entered the cabin. There wasn't much in the way of decoration. Really there wasn't anything at all. There was a living room with a fireplace with a very comfortable couch across from it, next to the couch was an armchair. Down the hall there was a bathroom and two bedrooms. There was no kitchen in the entire place, it made the house seem somewhat off.
" I decided not to put in a kitchen because we really don't need it here" he said as he gave her a quick tour of the small house.
"Oh it's fine, I like what you did to the place" she looked up at him and smiled hoping he would understand what she meant.
For the past couple of week she had been showing him how she controlled and modified her own imaginary world into what she wanted it to be. Eventually he had insisted on going back into his world and changing it to something that would be more comfortable and pleasing to the eye. When she had said she wanted to come along he had insisted that she stay in her world until her was finished. She couldn't be sure if he had done that because he wanted to surprise her, which he had certainly done, or if he didn't want her to see the world he had originally had.
"Thank you, I really didn't make the whole thing up, its based on a house that was a short distance away from Icicle Village." He shrugged as he sat down in the black leather armchair. Aeris took a place on the sofa, right in front of her the fire was burning brightly, she was beginning to feel a little warm.
She took off her coat and draped it over one of the arms of the sofa. They both sat there looking into the fire. An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Sephiroth shifted in his chair then cleared his throat.
"So, how are things going on the planet?" he asked breaking the silence.
"Oh, things are going just fine, no problems what so ever. Everybody from AVALANCHE is doing great, they all seem to be very happy with their lives."
"That's good"
Again they both fell into silence. Now that they had figured everything out it seemed like there was nothing to do and nothing to talk about. So they both sat there, while a nearly tangible tension filled the air. Aeris glanced over at Sephiroth and saw that it looked like he wanted to say something. He noticed her look.
"Aeris?"
"Yes"
"Do…Do you ever think about, or wish that you could be reborn on the planet. Or that you could go back?"
Of course she did. Nearly every day she had wondered what it would be like if she could go back, resume living the life she had left behind. To be reborn without any memory of the life she had, without any thoughts and worries that now plagued her.
"Yes, I suppose so", I suppose so! She thought about it a little more than that! At first she had wished she could go back till it almost hurt.
"Oh"
"Yep"
Another period of silence followed, only this time she couldn't even look at him. Thought his question had seemed spontaneous she knew better. He had obviously been thinking about it for a while. Did he think she blamed him for her not being able to return, or for not being able to live out her life? Did she? No, she couldn't, if she was going to blame anyone it would be either Hojo or Jenova. They were the ones who set him up to become what he did.
"I wish I could go back", he said it so matter-of-factly Aeris wasn't quite sure what he had said.
"Huh?"
"I wish I could go back, you too. So we, or at least you, could have the chance to finish your life."
Yeah, but wishes don't seem to ever come true for us. Aeris had never been a very cynical person, actually a thought like that had never crossed her mind. She had always been the one full of fond hopes, always looking up and at the bright side of things. Yet still grounded in reality. That had been one of the traits many people liked in her. Perhaps those years in isolation had given her some new traits that she wasn't yet aware of. Aeris continued to ponder this as she stared sightlessly into the fire.
The rest of the evening went on like that. A heavy silence hanging in the air with an occasional comment here and there. Eventually Aeris drifted off to sleep on the couch. Sephiroth stayed with her a while longer to make sure she was asleep before heading off to his room.
Outside a full moon had just risen over the tops of the trees, bathing everything in a soft light. The light shone in through Sephiroth's window onto his face as he tried to fall asleep. Uncomfortable with the light on his face Sephiroth would twitch every now and then before finally giving in the turning his back to the window.
As the moon set a thick fog began to envelop the land. The leaves on the farthest trees began to shrivel and curl. The pure white snow became mixed with dirt and turned into a thick slush. The entire outer woods began to take on a much darker image.
