DISCLAIMER: Noooo!! I still don't own the FF7-verse nor the characters. I'm so dissappointed, yet somehow not surprised. 0_o
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, time to continue the actual story again. I bet you've been looking forward to Aeris waking up? Hmm.. I wonder if you have any idea where I'm going with this fic? I hope I've been confusing enough!? I don't want to give it away!! ^_^ Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!
CHAPTER 5.
I shall not see the
shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.
- Christina Rossetti -
"Hmm..?" Aeris opened her eyes. She blinked at the sight of Sephiroth, sleeping closeby. "Huh, what a weird dream.. or a nightmare, more likely." Aeris voiced her thoughts. She sat up, stretching her sore muscles. Red was still asleep, curled up like a cat. Aeris smiled at him, wondering briefly how Red was still sleeping, even though he had been the first to go to bed. Still puzzled by her dream, she moved closer to Sephiroth. It couldn't have been real.. Her mind was twisting the events of the past few days into something that had nothing to do with reality.. Still, there were things about the dream that seemed so familiar.. But surely she'd remember, had any of those horrible things happened?
Out of an impulse Aeris leaned closer to Sephiroth, smelling the faint scent of lavender and lilacs in his silver-coloured hair.
"W-what are you doing!" Sephiroth suddenly pulled away from her, with a look of shock on his face.
"N-nothing." Aeris was as pale as a ghost. Not only because she didn't know how Sephiroth might react, but also because Sephiroth's hair smelled exactly like it had in the dream..
"You smelled my hair.." Sephiroth pulled away from Aeris, perplexed by her behaviour. "What's wrong with you." He asked, slightly frightened by Aeris. Aeris merely stared at his expression, finally bursting into laughter.
Her voice woke up Red, who glanced first at Aeris and then at Sephiroth. "What did you do to her?" Red asked Sephiroth, who then shrugged nonchalantly.
"Looks like Hojo was right about her.. She IS weird." He said, glaring at Aeris. Even that didn't calm Aeris down. It took a long while before she finally stopped laughing. "Huh-huh.." Aeris wiped tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes.
"Well, I hope you slept well." Sephiroth stood up, and kicked the remains of the fire lazily. "There's still a long walk to Kalm.." He said, turning his back at Aeris.
"Oh, you're not offended, are you?" Aeris walked in front of him, and took a good look at him. Sephiroth did his best to avoid her eyes, which Aeris took for a pretty definate hint of him being offended. "I'm sorry, Sephy--" Aeris used the nickname from the dream before she realized what she was saying. "Sephiroth." Aeris corrected quickly, but not fast enough for Sephiroth.
"WHAT did you just call me?" He asked, an odd look in his eyes.
Was the nickname familiar to him too, or was he just further offended by her? Aeris wished she had the courage to ask. "Nothing. Look, I'm sorry, it just slipped out. Sephiroth is such a long name.." She tried to explain.
"Ahaa. So now you have a problem with my name..?" Sephiroth asked, folding his arms.
"No, no.. It's quite a lovely name, just.. a bit.. long." Aeris felt her cheeks fluster. Oh why don't you just confess your undying death defying love for him as well while you're at it, Aeris thought and rolled her eyes.
"You so know what I mean." She told Sephiroth, who didn't seem to respond to her words in any way. "Look, I'm sorry I laughed." Aeris apologized to him. "Don't be such a big baby about it." She muttered. Sephiroth blinked, seemingly impressed by her courage. Maybe he didn't meet people crazy enough to call him a big baby that often.
"We should get going, if you two are done arguing.." Red coughed. Sephiroth glared at Aeris, and then began to walk towards Kalm.
"H-hey! Don't you walk away like that! I'm not done with you yet!" Aeris yelled after him, surprised by her sudden confidence. She quickly gathered her things, and ran after Sephiroth.
Red followed her with a knowing look on his face. Someone's got a crush, he mused, as he strode after the two.
* * * * *
"So, Sephiroth." Aeris began, while the three of them continued to walk towards Kalm. It wasn't later than noon, but they could already see Kalm as a small dot in the horizon.
"What?" Sephiroth turned his head over to Aeris, who was walking beside him with a puzzled expression on her face. "I was just thinking.. You used to be with SOLDIER.. So you must have a lot of scars right?" Aeris asked, biting her lip.
"Scars?" Sephiroth raised his brow. "No, I don't have any. Why would you ask such a thing?" He continued, studying Aeris' guilty smile. There was something she wasn't telling him.. Sephiroth hated the feeling, it was painfully familiar to him. He had grown up surrounded by people who shared secret's of his past.. He had felt like such an idiot. So angry.. at himself more than anyone else.
"No reason. I was just wondering." Aeris grinned nervously, trying to keep up with Sephiroth's pace. "So no scars then, huh?" She kept asking him.
"No, I told you. I don't get any. I'm.. a little different." Sephiroth answered her, without really knowing why he was opening up to Aeris. Usually he wouldn't have thought twice about ramming the Masamune's blade through a person asking such questions.. But the more Sephiroth began to know Aeris, the more impossible it was for him to think about hurting her. Maybe it was because of her personality, Sephiroth thought. Jenova had once told him, that all humen were evil, they all lied. But Jenova had to have mistaken about Aeris! Surely she wouldn't lie.. And it seemed nice to Sephiroth, that she was interested in him. Usually all people cared about was using him for their own best interest. It puzzled Sephiroth, that Aeris wasn't interested in his strength. It was possible, she liked him for something else entirely. It was rare to find such a person.. Still, he was cautious around her. Maybe she was only pretending to care..
"Different, as in weird?" Aeris asked, smiling mischievously.
"I guess I had that one coming." Sephiroth shook his head amused. "Yeah. I've always been able to recover from more severe injuries than others." He explained. "The healing is supposed to require a large dose of Mako, though." Sephiroth told her, noticing that Red was also listening to their conversation. It might not be wise to tell these people about Jenova, nor the events that happened in Niebelheim.. Sephiroth rather enjoyed the company of others, after the years of isolation. Now that Jenova was too far away to reach him, he felt a little lonely and didn't want to frighten them away.. Not yet, anyway.
"Mako huh? That IS weird." Aeris held her hands behind her back as she walked.
"So what's your dark little secret?" Sephiroth inquired Aeris. "Oh, I just hear voices.. and stuff." Aeris confessed in a little voice.
"Voices huh?" Sephiroth stared at her, as though she had suddenly growed a second head.
"I shouldn't have told you. Now you think I'm really mental." Aeris grinned.
"No, not really." Sephiroth smiled at her. It seemed weird how much they had in common. Maybe it was fate, that he had met her. "You don't?" Aeris smiled at Sephiroth cheerfully.
"You're just slightly mental." Sephiroth laughed at her.
"Oh, you're horrible." Aeris pouted back.
"Hey, you two.. I think you'd better take a look at this." Red said. He was standing on top of a small ridge, staring at Kalm.
"What is it?" Aeris asked, and glanced at Sephiroth worried. They walked quickly closer to Red, and turned their eyes towards Kalm. There were at least a dozen of SOLDIER's patrolling around Kalm.
"SOLDIER's.." Red muttered.
"It looks like an entire platoon.." Sephiroth calculated. "Nothing I can't handle." He said confidently, taking a step towards the town.
"No, no no!!" Aeris ran in front of him, blocking his path. "Don't kill them, please?" She pleaded. "And besides, we'll never know what's going on if they're dead.. You want to know, don't you?" Aeris defended her opinion.
"Fine. What do you suggest we do then? That we just go there and ask them what they are doing?" Sephiroth snorted.
"Exactly!" Aeris giggled excited.
"Great.." Sephiroth replied, rolling his eyes.
"Aeris, I think Sephiroth might have a point.. None of us is exactly a stranger to Shin-Ra, and the three of us are bound to gather some glances.. I mean.." Red began, sitting down on his hind legs. "Look at us." Red said, lifting his paw. Aeris studied her team carefully. There was a red cat-looking beast, and the former SOLDIER-general and she herself.. completely out of place.
"Yeah, it's like "what's wrong with this picture" all over again.." Aeris smiled awkwardly. "Maybe all of us shouldn't go.. What if just I went?" She suggested.
"No." Sephiroth shook his head. "I should go, since I can look out for myself." He told Aeris.
"What, I can look out for myself! I grew up in the slums! I'm street-smart and.." Aeris placed her hand on her hip, raising her voice at Sephiroth.
"Yeah, I figure that's why you managed to get caught by Shin-Ra in the first place." Sephiroth smirked, intentionally annoying Aeris.
"Hmpf." Aeris turned her back at Sephiroth. "Fine. You go then. It's not likely they'll recognize you or anything, anyway.." She replied. "Hmpf." Sephiroth glared at Aeris, then turned to look at Red. "Why can't you go then." He asked the creature.
"Well.. I could. But people don't usually open up to talking lions. I wonder why that is." Red looked at Sephiroth sarcastically. "It's best Aeris goes.." He continued.
"Fine! Obviously you don't care about my expert opinion." Sephiroth finally gave in. "Just don't come to me crying for help when they capture you again." He told Aeris, and kicked half-heartedly at a rock nearby.
"Sephiroth.." Aeris turned to look at Sephiroth, an apologetic frown on her face. "I'll be alright, trust me." She said, and turned to leave.
"Aren't you going to wish me luck?" Aeris stared at Sephiroth's back.
"Luck is for fools. Just go and do it." Sephiroth said, never turning to face Aeris. "Bye then, both of you." Aeris smiled at Red, and ran off towards Kalm.
* * * * *
Finally reaching the outskirts of Kalm, Aeris dusted her pink dress and checked the condition of her wooden staff. Everything seemed to be in order. Watching the SOLDIER's, dressed in blue and red uniforms, She felt worried over Cloud, Tifa and Barret. They were supposed to meet them here, but it was unlikely Cloud would have stayed waiting in a place crawling with SOLDIER's. Where were they now? Had they left for some place? Aeris wished they had left a note at the inn. On the other hand, she felt relieved. Now the inevetable reunion of Cloud and Sephiroth would be postponed, at least for a day.
"Excuse me, is there something wrong?" Aeris asked the nearest SOLDIER, with her best look of naive innocence on her face.
"We have reason to believe General Sephiroth has joined AVALANCHE.. All the nearby areas are currently occupied by SOLDIER-troops, for security reasons." The man explained, not realizing he was talking to an AVALANCHE member.
"Oh the General, isn't he dead?" Aeris asked, trying her best to look calm. "Not yet," another SOLDIER smirked under his red helmet.
"I hear they've released an assassin to take care of the traitorous General.." The man continued smugly.
"What do you mean, released?" Aeris asked, her entire body shivering. These were bad news in her opinion, and she wanted to warn Sephiroth in time.
"Yeah, the Shin-Ra's science department has created this ultimate SOLDIER, designed to take care of situations like this. It's amazing, how the President of Shin-Ra Inc. is always prepared for everything." The soldiers proclaimed, nodding at each other.
"Yeah.. Amazing.." Aeris smiled at them, and nearly ran towards the shopping street. She had to be quick, for there was no time to be wasted. Sephiroth had to be warned.. There was a definately bad ring to "Ultimate SOLDIER".
"Psst, are you Aeris?" A dark-haired little girl asked. "Yeah?" Aeris smiled at her. "How do you know my name?" She kneeled in front of the girl.
"A guy who was here with two other people told me to give this to you, if you came here." The girl explained, and handed Aeris a small piece of paper.
"Thankyou!" Aeris told the girl, who then quickly ran back into her house. She then opened the paper, and read the short letter quickly.
"Aeris, something weird is going on. There are SOLDIER's everywhere. We had to leave - I hope everything went OK with Sephiroth? Meet us at the chocobo-ranch southeast from here." The letter was signed by Cloud, and his hand-writing looked like he had been in a hurry when making the letter. Well, Aeris sighed, at least now she knew where they were supposed to go. She entered the item shop, counting the gil's in her purse. They needed some potions and a tent, Aeris bit her lip deep in thought. She should probably upgrade her staff aswell.. If only I had enough money, Aeris shrugged.
* * * * *
"She's been there an awfully long time." Sephiroth said to himself, staring at the small town ahead.
"She's fine. Quit walking in circles, you're making me nauseous." Red muttered, resting his paws on his nose. Sephiroth glared at Red, not interested in arguing with him. There were more important things to consider at the moment.. One of the key things that had made Sephiroth a legendary SOLDIER were his instincts. He had always been able to avoid dangerous situations.. And something in the air smelled like one. He leaned against a withering apple tree, enjoying the wind that blew against his face. On beautiful days like these, Sephiroth thought, he always seemed to be thinking of the worst things.
The sun was shining brightly, a bit too brightly for his liking, and outside Midgar everything looked so green and alive. He marveled at a river in the distance, whose water shone like crystals. Everything looked so pure and perfect.. Sephiroth sank deeper into his gloomy thoughts. On days like these, he always felt so different and unwanted.. Funny, how he still after all those years, longed for the approval of people. It didn't make sence to him. He was above them, they were like insects compared to him. Yet, Sephiroth tilted his head, it seemed like he was not one of the god's either.. He was nothing, he was in between everything.. Life and death, sanity and madness.. Divinity and humanity.
"What are ya thinking?" Aeris smiled at Sephiroth, who blinked as he suddenly saw Aeris standing in front of him. "The purpose of life, I suppose." Sephiroth smirked at Aeris. "You were able to make it out OK, then?" He asked her.
"Yeah, no problem. I bought a new staff even." Aeris grinned. "But I do have some bad knews for you.. For all of us." Her voice suddenly turned serious.
Huh.. I can feel writer's block appearing behind the next corner.. I wonder how long it'll take for me to finish the next chapter? Anyway, thanks for all the reviews people, they always encourage me to write quicker!! ..Sorry for any spelling mistakes? ^_^