DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own the characters nor the FF7-verse. I'd hate to admit it, but they're Squaresofts.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm back!! Sorry it took me a little longer than usual to update.. I had major writer's block!! I can only hope I'll get over it.. It was torture!! Well, I guess it's to be expected.. I've been writing like a crazy person the last few days! Anyway, I hope this chapter'll answer some of the questions you might have? Onto the fic! ^_^
CHAPTER 8.
Sleep sleep dear girl,
drowsy flower:
Ah that I were the Lord of Sleep, that so,
Wingless, a whisper,
Under your shadowy eyelids I might creep:
Then, not even he who veils God's eyes
Could come into you:
you would be mine alone.
- Meleagros -
"Aeris.." Cloud shook Aeris shoulder gently to wake her up.
"..Stop it, Sephy.. I wanna sleep.." Aeris mumbled in her sleep, and Cloud felt his cheeks fluster slightly. He felt more and more curious of what exactly had happened between Aeris and Sephiroth. He wished Aeris would open up to him a little more, but she seemed to like keeping secrets.. from him, at any rate.
"Aeris!" Cloud cleared his throat, shaking Aeris a bit more forcefully.
"..What.." Aeris' eyelids fluttered open. "Oh. Hi Cloud." She smiled, probably not remembering her recent remark.
"I just thought I'd let you know, we're ready to go.. We caught four chocobos." Cloud informed Aeris.
"Oh.. Just gimme a while to wake up.." She sat up on the side of the bed.
"By the way Aeris.. I can't believe he let you call him Sephy." Cloud smiled at the young woman sitting in front of him.
"W-what? Why?" Aeris blushed furiously, realizing Cloud had heard the words she thought she had only spoken in the silence of her dream.
"The last person who called him that, was nearly beaten to death.. Just thought I'd let you know." Cloud smiled at her, as he walked out of the room.
Outside, Tifa was holding the reins of two yellow chocobo's. Red was battling to get on top of his chocobo, like Barret with his own. "Here, take this." Tifa handed the reins of the other chocobo to Aeris.
"Thanks." She told Tifa, and studied the animal a little worried. She had never ridden a chocobo before.. But how hard could it be, Aeris shrugged. Tifa and Cloud sat on the same chocobo, and they didn't seem to be having any difficulties. Aeris pulled the chocobo to a wooden crate near the main building.
"OK, stay put now." Aeris told the yellow bird. She stood up on the crate, and managed to get on the chocobo. "That was easy," She grinned, but as the bird began to move around nervously her relief was soon replaced with fear.
"H-hey, easy now, good chocobo.." Aeris whispered, trying to control the animals movements. It took her a long while, before she figured out how to make the chocobo turn, and especially stop.
"Are we ready to go?" Cloud said, riding his and Tifa's chocobo in the front of their group.
"Yeah. Sure." Aeris smiled at him nervously.
Their chocobos galloped towards the marshes quickly, and amazingly Aeris was able to hold her balance on top of the fast moving animal. Red was having a lot more difficulty in riding his chocobo, though. In the end Barret was forced to grab the reins of Red's chocobo, and drag him along.
"I wonder if we'll see any Zoloms?" Cloud glanced at Tifa, who shrugged at his question.
"I hope not." She said, "I hear they're pretty vicious."
What Zoloms, Aeris wondered. She had never heard of such creatures. "Urgh. I think I'm gonna throw up." Red muttered, his cat-like face getting slightly green with nausea. Aeris smiled at him, as he passed her by. Aeris soon noticed she was in the back of the team, and encouraged her chocobo to move a little bit quicker. She didn't want the others to think she couldn't keep up with their speed.
"Wow.. That's some nasty killin'."
Aeris heard Barret's voice. As she turned her eyes to the direction the others were looking, she gasped in surprise.
A huge snake was staked on a tall tree, she could smell it's rotting flesh and blood in the air. The sight was as frightening as it was impressive. "This is Sephiroth's doing.." Cloud announced, looking at Aeris briefly.
"He's really pissed off.."
Aeris heard Barret mutter, even though her eyes were fixed upon Cloud and the dead snake. So that's what a Zolom looks like, was the only thought that came to Aeris' mind. She was glad she hadn't had the pleasure of encountering a living one.
"I hope this makes you realize how lucky you were back there.." Cloud told her, as he turned his and Tifa's chocobo towards the opening of a cave closeby.
* * * * *
"So you're saying they were here just a moment ago?" Zenobius tilted his head. He had pinned the owner of the chocobo-ranch against the wall by his throat.
"Yes. The blonde man was leading them.. there were quite many of them.. Heading towards.. Junon.." The man coughed, gagging for air.
"And the General, was he here?" Zenobius continued to interrogate the older man.
"Yes.. But he left. Or so I heard.." The man said weakly.
"From whom?" Zenobius asked, squeezing the mans throat further.
"A girl dressed in pink.. She should know where he is.." The man's face was turning purple, but Zenobius wouldn't loosen his grasp.
"Her name?" Zenobius asked, lifting his victim on the wooden wall of the building.
"..A-Aeris.." The man answered.
After hearing what he had wanted to know, Zenobius dropped the man on the ground. He quickly crawled away from the black-clad stranger, but Zenobius wasn't interested in the man anymore. He had bigger fish to catch.
* * * * *
You should've killed her. Jenova's voice was scolding.
Sephiroth didn't answer her. Even though he was glad Jenova was able to reach him again, he didn't agree with his mother. He couldn't have killed Aeris, even after her betrayal.. Sephiroth realized her acting so friendly had all been an act, to make him put his guard down around her.. It would've been easy for Aeris to kill him. So why didn't she, Sephiroth wondered. She had had several possibilities, after all. She could've killed him in his sleep. The thought made Sephiroth shudder. When he had seen Cloud call Aeris by name, he had felt so.. jealous of her. And so angry.. because Cloud had managed to get him to a position, where Sephiroth was on the defence. He'd felt like a hunted animal, even though he was supposed to be the hunter, luring his prey towards the trap. He'd felt so used.. His entire life people had kept him in the dark, and it hadn't bothered Sephiroth very much.. But he had really opened up to Aeris, and begun to believe in people again.. only to end up dissappointed. Like so many times before, his heart had been torn in two.
Sephiroth! Pay attention! Jenova shrieked.
"Yes mother.." Sephiroth sighed heavily.
And stop thinking about that girl.. You have no idea how dangerous she is to me, err.. us. Jenova's voice was nervous.
"Aeris? Dangerous?" Sephiroth's voice was slightly amused at first, but it turned cold very soon. He had no real reason to believe he knew anything of Aeris.. Maybe it had all been fake: her voice and her smiles, her way of walking, the smell of her hair..
She's a Cetra! Jenova's words wiped the wistful smile from Sephiroth's lips.
"What do you mean.. I thought you were the only one.. You and me." Sephiroth tilted his head. This appeared to be just another secret Aeris had kept from him. She must be laughing really hard at my stupidity, Sephiroth thought and shook his head. I'm so naive, he continued to scold himself.
We are.. the only one's who have a right to this Planet.. She's a traitor to me and the Planet as much as she is a traitor to you.. Jenova's voice was very convincing.
"She's a traitor.. and cannot be trusted.." Sephiroth said as he exited the Mythril Mines. Outside the afternoon sun was still shining brightly, although he could see dark clouds gathering in the horizon.
Yes.. Jenova laughed evilly.
"I shall never trust anybody but you, mother.." Sephiroth snarled, so angry at himself. Whatever had possessed him to believe in Aeris' sincerity.. He ought to know better.
* * * * *
"Aeris?" Red spoke, as the AVALANCHE members entered the Mythril Mines.
"Yes?" Aeris looked at the newest member of AVALANCHE, smiling.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, about Sephiroth and what happened.." Red told her. The two of them followed Tifa, Cloud and Barret left from the first crossroad. The mines formed a vast network of caves, that had been abandoned for years. Still, they were a very handy for travellers like them to use. Aeris noticed roots of trees were sticking through the walls everywhere, as though life was claiming back lost territory.
"Yeah, me too." Aeris nodded at Red sadly, not sure if she was in fact feeling any better. The long ride had given her a chance to think about things though. There was no use crying over spilt milk: she had to concentrate on the future. And possibly meeting Sephiroth again, Aeris smiled at the thought; she was sure he would understand if she explained everything to him.
"It'll take us a while to reach Junon," Aeris heard Cloud speak. "Yeah, two days maybe?" Tifa asked Cloud.
"Yeah, well I guess it depends.." Cloud shrugged.
Aeris listened to their conversation a while, before a small Mako-fountain caught her attention. "Wow! It's so pretty.." Aeris stared at the crystallized Mako, overwhelmed by it's beauty. The crystals reflected waves of pasific green light. The stones seemed to glow the same delicate way as the eyes of the certain SOLDIER General she wasn't supposed to be thinking.. Aeris quickly discarded the thought that entered her mind.
"A Mako fountain." Cloud snorted at the sight of the nature's wonder, as if he had grown tired of seeing such beauty. "Yeah.. Let's get going." Tifa's voice was a little scared, as she pulled at Cloud's arm.
They walked for a few hours, until Cloud decided it was time to set up camp for the night. "It's best we rest.." He sighed, glancing at Tifa worried.
"Too bad there's no firewood.." Barret sighed dissappointed.
"It wouldn't probably light up anyway, the air is so humid.. And cold." Tifa told him, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders.
"Yeah, Tifa's probably right.." Cloud told Barret, sitting down next to Tifa.
Feeling her eyelids grow heavy with fatique, Aeris lied down on her sleeping bag. As she turned her eyes up, she noticed a crack in the ceiling of the cave. A small section of the night sky was visible through it. She smiled at the brightest star, flickering in the darkness. Aeris felt like it was watching over her, shining it's compassionate light upon her. The final thought in Aeris' mind before she closed her eyes, was if Sephiroth was gazing at the very same star, wherever he was.
"Aeris was pretty tired.." Tifa whispered at Cloud.
"Yeah, well I guess it's understandable. She's had a rough few days." Cloud smiled back at her.
"Yeah.. I can't begin to imagine how bad it must've been with Sephiroth. If something had happened to Aeris, he'd have been the last person to help her.." Tifa shuddered.
"Yeah.. I know.. Still, don't you think it's weird how he was behaving?" Cloud asked.
"What?" Tifa smiled absent-mindedly, facing him.
"Well, you saw them.. didn't you?" Cloud asked, a little nervous by Tifa's closeness. "They seemed awfully close." he swallowed hard. Why did he still become a babbling idiot around her, after all the time they'd spent apart?
"Yeah. I noticed that too.." Tifa nodded at him. For a brief while they stared into each others eyes, trying to read the emotions within them.
"Will ya go to bed already and quit yappin'? I can't sleep in the noise yer makin'!" Barret's annoyed whisper came from the darkness.
"Sure. Sorry." Tifa whispered back at Barret, turning her back at Cloud.
"Tifa.." Cloud began.
"What?" Tifa whispered.
"Good night." He told her.
"..to you too, Cloud." Tifa smiled to herself, and listened to the rustling noises Cloud made as he searched for the perfect position to sleep in.
Well, look forward to the next chapter.. It's going to be a lot more exciting than in this chapter, that's for sure! ..So I guess I wrote another cliffhanger, huh? Sorry about that. I try not to let you wait for the next chapter too long.. I'm a pretty fast updater, anyway? It's just because I'm so obsessed with Seph! 'When I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing', that sort of deal. I'm sure you get the picture!! ^_- See ya soon!!