Chapter One - Alpha
Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or any of it's characters, mkay? Everything ELSE in this story I own, but I DON'T own the FF7 characters or anything else that derives from the game.
Italics-Thoughts "-Speech
---------------"I was a monster without emotion, how could you trust me now?" -Sephiroth---------------
Where.....where am I? Is this all........just a dream?
Aeris Gainsborough sighed, staring down at the silver haired man known as Sephiroth. Sweat was beading on the man's forehead, as he tossed and turned within his sleep. Aeris sighed again, shaking her head, in a way she felt like Sephiroth was getting what he deserved, but in another way she felt sorry for him. The planet had felt he deserved a second chance in life, because in reality, he'd been Jenova's puppet most of his life. Jenova had controlled his every thought, every fiber of being, she had controlled everything about Sephiroth. She caused him to bring about all the destruction, and for that, the Planet thought that now that Jenova had been vanquished, it was time to give Sephiroth one last chance.
Aeris wasn't so sure about that, she didn't think Sephiroth deserved a chance really, but deep down, she had to agree, Sephiroth's life had been controlled by Jenova, and living as a puppet wasn't what one would call a very fulfilling life...
Sephiroth stirred in his sleep, and Aeris grabbed a wet cloth out of the bowl filled with water she had beside her, wiping the sweat off his forehead gently, before setting the cloth back into the bowl. Now we finally have a good look at the scenery around them, an open feild of grass, shining under the sun's light, surrounded by flowers of all variety. This...was the Promised Land. This was Aeris' home, the Promised Land sat in the heavens, above the planet so that all those in it could look down upon the planet. When Jenova was destroyed, all the Cetra killed by her were freed into the Promised Land, free to live their lives once again. The planet had made sure of that.
"Where...where am I?"
The sudden voice of Sephiroth startled Aeris out of her thoughts, and she looked down at Sephiroth as he slowly opened his turquoise eyes. He blinked a few times, before sitting up.
"You're in the Promised Land, Sephiroth."
"....what?"
"You're in the Promised Land."
"......why am I here? I don't deserve to be here..."
Aeris blinked, did Sephiroth just say what she thought he said? Did he actually admit that he didn't belong in the Promised Land, when throughout the course of her journey's with Avalanche, that's all he talked about wanting? To get to the Promised Land? Aeris bit her lower lip, and spoke to Sephiroth, trying to make him understand.
"Sephiroth, the planet has given you a second chance at life, it believes that you were controlled by Jenova like a puppet, that none of what happened was your fault...."
"...."
Sephiroth lowered his head as images of everything he did flashed before his eyes. Was that really him? Had Jenova really controlled him the entire time? Everything was a blur now, he could remember what happened, but whether or not it was of his own will he was uncertain. All he knew was that he felt the guilt of every killing he made, of every life he ended, of every death he caused.
"The planet chose me to travel with you and make sure you-"
"Don't go back to my old ways?"
Aeris nearly fell back, but she caught herself, amazed Sephiroth knew this.
"...yes"
"I might as well have stayed dead, no one on earth would trust me after everything I've done"
"But you didn't..."
"Didn't do it? Maybe I didn't, you and I and the planet know that, but what about the people? They don't know, all they know is that I'm Sephiroth, the cold hearted killer"
Aeris sighed, Sephiroth was wiser beyond his years, she'd have a hard time convincing him that his second chance at life wouldn't go in vain. The planet had instructed her to watch over Sephiroth in the Promised Land for awhile, because in the Promised Land the information about his life he never knew could be revealed to him, and the planet wanted Aeris there in case he couldn't take it.
"Well Sephiroth, this is a new start for the both of us I guess, so how about we treat it that way?"
Aeris smiled a little and held out her hand to him.
"Hi, I'm Aeris Gainsborough."
Sephiroth stared at her hand, before looking up into her turquoise eyes. There was a long, uncomfortable silence, before Sephiroth grasped her hand, not too hard, and shook it.
"Hi, I'm Sephiroth..."
Aeris smiled, maybe this wouldn't be as hard as she thought.
"Could I ask you a question...Aeris?"
"Sure Sephiroth, go ahead."
"Well I...."
"Yes?"
"I was a monster without emotion, how could you trust me now?"
Aeris stared at Sephiroth, she could see the guilt in his eyes, and she really did feel sorry for him. Aeris reached out and took Sephiroth's hand, staring into his eyes.
"Sephiroth, I trust you because before, it was Jenova who controlled you, and now it's you who control you."
Staring into Aeris' eyes, Sephiroth realized that the Cetra was right, and he nodded, a slight smile forming on his face.
"Thank you Aeris..."
"Your welcome, Sephiroth, now come on, the planet wishes for me to show you your past, and I'm afraid that there are some things about it you may not like..."
"I'll have to deal with it then, won't I?"
"I'm afraid so..."
Sephiroth smirked slightly, nodding to Aeris.
"Well, that shouldn't be much of a problem then."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
"&^%$@&* hell woman! I thought you knew how to fly this thing!"
Shera struggled with the controls of the Highwind as Cid madly worked with her to get the Highwind flying straight again, rather then on a downward spiral to the ground.
"Oh my gawd....we're all gonna die.... we're all gonna-"
"No Yuffie, we are not going to die, now settle down, Lucrecia's Cave is coming closer, by the time the Highwind rights itself we'll be ready to land."
Cloud shook his head at the young, spazzed out teenager as Red tried to keep her calm. Recently they had added features to the Highwind to make it able to land on water without sinking or ruining any of the airship's hardware, so landing in the water in front of Lucrecia's Cave wouldn't be all too hard.
"You know, three years and that girl is three times as annoying..."
"HEY! I AM NOT!"
"Maybe her tendency of being annoying progresses over the years..."
"GRRRR.....STOP PICKING ON MEEEEEEEEE!"
Cloud burst out laughing, he couldn't help it, it was so funny to see Yuffie get upset, three years had gone by and it still hadn't got old.
Three years. Three long years after Avalanche had saved the world, and finally, they were able to relax. They were on their way to Lucrecia's Cave because they had found out that she really hadn't died, that she faked her death to escape from Hojo. Vincent was elated. He was really excited today, which shocked everyone, because the normally quiet man was acting like a nervous wreck.
"There, she's back on course, alright guys, we're about 10 minutes from Lucrecia's Cave, so get yer sh*t together and get ready."
Cait Sith and Barret looked up from their card game at Cid, and while Barret was distracted, Cait pulled the Ace Of Spades out from under the table and put it in his deck, taking the 10 of hearts in his hand and putting it into the deck. Before they started Cait had taken out the Ace Of Spades and planted it under the table, waiting for the right moment to distract Barret.
Cait acted like he was double checking his cards when Barret turned back to him.
"Aces and Two's are wild, right?"
"Dat's right cat."
"Alright then, I don't want any cards."
Barret check his hand before frowning.
"I'll take one den'"
Barret put one of his cards into the "waste pile" of cards next to the deck, and took the 10 of hearts off the deck. One look at the thing and Barret had a mile wide grin.
"Alright Barret, I'm gonna put in two thirds of my gil, which is all of what you've got."
Barret frowned, before nodding and placing the exact same amount as Cait onto the table.
"I'll call you den', cat."
Hee hee, I'm so damn good, chalk up another win for the greatest gambler of all, Cait Sith!
Cait put his hand down on the table, his little cat face smirking still. Two 9's, a two, and an ace, making it a four of a kind in 9's. Barret frowned a bit, as Cait started to go for the pot, but Barret grabbed Cait's mog-hand.
"Uh-uh...."
Barret showed his deck, the 10 of hearts, the jack of hearts, the queen of hearts, the king of hearts, and the ace of hearts, a Royal Flush. Cait's little cat mouth nearly dropped to the floor. He had inadvertently helped Barret win....
"Reeve, haven't you learned that cheating will backfire on you?"
Cloud smirked a bit as Cait huffed. Barret laughed and took all the gil on the table except for what was left of Cait Sith's money.
"Dangit, oh well, I'm just a cat on top of a robot mog, what's money to me when I've got millions as a human?"
Cait Sith smirked again, he was right. Reeve had taken over Shinra and finally was righting the wrongs done by the company. Everyone looked up to him and respected him for what he was doing now. Healing the wounds the Shinra of the old caused on the planet, ending the corruption of the old Shinra. He had removed and destroyed every Mako reactor created by Shinra, and had supplied everyone with a new form of energy, less hazardous, although not as reliable. Solar and Hydro power. The two didn't harm the planet like Mako did. And while not as reliable, it still worked the same. Vehicles like trains and airships still were ran with coal and gas, but other then that, everything was ran using Hydro and Solar energy.
"Yeah, you're right, ya' rich bastard..."
"Hey, I'm not a rich bastard, well....okay, maybe I am."
Cait Sith chuckled a little, Cloud shook his head, Barret got annoyed.
"Alright ya' pansies, enough talk, get yer'selves packing up everything, we're landing soon now. And I don't want my baby to be a mess when we land."
"You want me to help you Cid honey?"
Suddenly a loud 'WARK! WARK! WARK!' sound was hear coming from Cid's room, his Chocobo Alarm clock had just gone off for some strange reason, and Cid had a visually pissed look on his face.
"Yeah Shera, you could help me with one thing."
"What's that?"
"You know that Chocobo Alarm clock of mine?"
"The one that's going off right now?"
"Yeah, that one."
"What about it?"
"Let's see if the sum b*tch can fly, throw it out the window."
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To Be Continued
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Author's Notes: Well, here I am again, and this time, I guarantee to all of you that I'm going to finish my fic. The last time I tried to make a Final Fantasy Seven Fic, I didn't get very far, now I've planned ahead, now I've got a better storyline idea, and now I'm ready. Hope you all liked this chapter, because it won't be long until the next one is posted, and I mean it when I say that it won't be long. I'm getting to work on it right away.
So peace for now, and I'll be back with another chapter later. Mkay?
Shnoogins
-Cloud Storm
