DISCLAIMER: FF7-verse and the characters are property of Squaresoft. The poem 'I surmise' belongs to it's writer, Eila Kivikkaho. To me it just screams: Sephiroth!! So I had to use it. I'm hopeless, I know. ^_- There is also a hidden reference to TR5. (Don't ask.)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Huh.. I was having second thoughts about the 'drunken Aeris'-scene in the previous chapter, but it was just too cute to leave out, don't you think? I know it was a little OOC, but I couldn't help writing it. But enough about that: this is my second intermission already!! Please review, tell me which things you like and which you don't, I'll try to improve this fic!! ^_^ Uh, and sorry this is so short.
INTERMISSION 2.
All others think your
smile is shining light,
believe the limpid aureole is you. And yet
you hide the way that leads to your true I
and hate whoever may be passing by.
"Mum, where are we going now?" Aeris asked, holding onto her mothers hand. They were walking a long hallway, that had metallic doors on both sides of it. She stared at the plain concrete floor, tired of holding her head up. She always felt this way after getting 'vitamins' from Professor Hojo.
"Back to our room, sweety." Ifalna answered her, a worried smile on her lips.
"Can't I go play with the other kids today?" Aeris asked her, her voice exhausted. "I'm not tired, really. It'll pass." She yawned.
"I know.." Ifalna stopped, and picked Aeris up on her arms. "It is best you rest a while.." She continued, as they passed an open door. Bright light was shining through it into the hallway, and Aeris felt a magnetic force pull her eyes towards it. She saw a young boy, sitting on the floor close to the door. He had silver coloured hair, and eyes that were of such incredible, glowing shade of green.
"Hello Sephiroth." Ifalna greeted the boy with a tense voice.
"Hi Mrs. Gast. It's been a while.." Sephiroth lifted his eyes to Ifalna, and Aeris could see bruises on the side of his face. "Your daughter has grown up.." He glanced at Aeris curiously.
"Yes.. I'm sorry, but we have to go." Ifalna's voice became nervous, nearly frightened.
"Yes, I thought as much." Sephiroth stared into Ifalna's eyes, with such maturity in his expression he seemed like an adult cramped into the body of a child. Ifalna began walking away from the boy, aware of his eyes locked to her back.
"Who was that, mommy?" Aeris asked, watching the strange boy.
"He's Professor Hojo's son, Sephiroth. He was raised here.. Kind of like you." Ifalna explained.
"Oh. You know him well then?" Aeris inquired.
"I used to-- Before I found out he's a part of the Jenova project.." Ifalna's voice was very sad, as she thought back to the time she had spent with Aeris' father, Professor Gast. He had studied Jenova, like Hojo, but he never intended to experiment on humans. Hojo had moved straight into using his own son as a guinea-pig.
Ifalna shook her head slightly, she had once thought Sephiroth reminded her of Lucresia.. He had been such a beautiful child. Now all she could sence from him was anger, and the evil of Jenova's cells.
"The Jenova-project? What is that?" Aeris asked.
"Something you shouldn't bother your pretty little head about." Ifalna tried to sound cheerful, but Aeris was able to see through her.
"Mum? Are you OK?" She asked.
"Aeris.. Promise me you'll stay away from that boy." Ifalna pleaded her daughter.
"Why?" Aeris pouted.
Ifalna understood, Aeris was far too young to comprehend it all.. How could a battle that had occurred thousands of years ago, still affect the lives of everyone? "He's.. a little sick. And I don't want you to.. get sick too." Ifalna tried to simplify her thoughts for Aeris to understand.
"Sick?" Aeris wondered, but Ifalna wouldn't speak anything else of Sephiroth. "OK, mum, I promise.." Aeris told her, a little dissappointed tremor in her voice.
I know your shell is hard
and obdurate.
I know your proud and insurmountable wall.
And yet you are not hard, not proud. I know:
all serves to shield your soul from deepest woe.
Weeks had passed from the first time Aeris had ever layed her eyes on Sephiroth. She hadn't thought much about him, since her schedule was filled with school and friends. But whenever she returned with her mother from Hojo's weekly examination, Aeris searched for him in that hallway. She always glanced at the room she had seen him in, but he was never there. So it was quite a surprise for her, when she walked into the playground of Shin-Ra Headquarters' day-care center and saw Sephiroth sitting on the window sill, his head rested against the cold steel bars in the window. Aeris remembered what her mother had told her about Sephiroth, and the promise she had made, so she didn't approach him.
"Hi Aeris." A blond-haired girl with green eyes greeted her. "Do you want to come and play?" She asked.
"Why is he all alone?" Aeris asked the girl, and pointed at Sephiroth.
"Don't point at him, are you crazy?" The little girl asked, her eyes wide with fright. "That boy's weird.. Scary." The blond-haired girl explained.
"Why?" Aeris couldn't understand what she meant, but an instructor who entered the room distracted her thoughts quickly.
"Who wants to listen to a story!" The woman asked, and everybody except Sephiroth jumped up and down excited.
Later the kids all left home, leaving Aeris and Sephiroth alone on the playground. Everybody else had parents and homes to go to, Aeris realized. She knew Ifalna would probably talk with Hojo a long time.. And she always came back looking so exhausted and upset.
"Hi. I'm Aeris." Aeris finally walked up to Sephiroth, and looked up at him. The boy glanced at her, and then re-positioned his head against the bars.
"I know. You're Mrs. Gast's daughter." Sephiroth told her.
"I know your name too. Mum told me." Aeris fidgeted, nervous to speak to him. She knew she wasn't supposed to, but it only made talking to him even more exciting.
"She did huh?" Sephiroth finally turned to face Aeris. "She hates Hojo, you know. She thinks I tell him about everything.. I think that's why she doesn't want to be around me anymore.." He jumped down from the window sill, and walked further away from Aeris.
"Mum doesn't hate anyone." Aeris told Sephiroth, but he didn't respond to her words in any manner.
"Aeris?" Ifalnas voice said from the door. "Come here.." She asked, her voice tense again.
"Sephiroth.. Why were you all bruised..?" Aeris whispered, not wanting her mother to hear her question.
"..I'm weird. Haven't you heard?" Sephiroth didn't turn to look at her.
"Aeris, come here, please." Ifalna asked again.
"Sephiroth.." Aeris held her hands behind her back, not really knowing what to say. "Nobody should be beaten just because they're weird.." She finally said, and ran to her mother.
What weight oppresses you
when your veiled smile
takes on rare radiance, the slab of stone becomes too hard?
What secret tear, sore pain attempts to flee
into your heartless, frantic mockery?
Aeris was lying in her bed, and listened to the conversation between her mother and one of the care-takers. The door to her bedroom was open, and bright light shone from their small living room where the two women were talking.
"I saw Sephiroth today." Ifalna sighed, "he was talking with my Aeris.."
Aeris wondered why Ifalna's voice seemed so sad and worried.
"You should get away from here as fast as possible.. Hojo's getting more and more frustrated with you. He thinks you're hiding some great big secrets.. He might try to hurt Aeris to make you speak." The care-taker warned.
"I know, I know.. He's probably taking it out on his son.. I saw him all bruised a few weeks ago.." Ifalna continued to talk about Sephiroth.
"You shouldn't feel responsible for him. There's nothing anybody can do for that boy." The care-takers voice was harsh and cold.
"You don't like him? I just can't help thinking.. My husband knew Lucresia, if he had somehow managed to change her mind about staying with Hojo.." Ifalna heaved a deep sigh. "Maybe I wouldn't have to fear for Aeris' safety." She continued.
"Yes.. Hojo never returned the same after he found out Lucresia had been cheating on him.. He completely devoted himself to his work, poor man.. Lucresia felt responsible for his insanity. She thought a baby would change everything. It's cruel irony Hojo began the experiments already then.. And then Lucresia died when giving birth to Sephiroth. Some say, you know, it was because of Hojo's tests." The care-taker told Ifalna the latest gossip.
"I'm quite sure it was.. A pretty horrible fate for Sephiroth, to be a murderer already at birth.." Ifalna thought aloud.
"That boy looks a lot like Lucresia, but he's.. It's hard to say why I don't want anything to do with him." The strange woman continued. Aeris was pretty sure she'd never heard her mother talking with her before.
"I know.." Ifalna agreed. "I wonder though, if Lucresia hadn't named Sephiroth before her death.. Hojo would have probably called him Specimen 1, or something equally horrible." Ifalna's voice was faraway, as she kept talking.
"Yes.. He has never treated Sephiroth like a son." The care-taker admitted. "We all liked Lucresia.. She was sweet, intelligent and funny.. Because of Sephiroth, she's dead." The woman said, clearly blaming Sephiroth for his mother's death.
"Don't say that.." Ifalna shook her head, but her voice told Aeris she agreed.
A fiery flame, a
subterranean flare
may well be hid beneath the icy shell.
A frightened sob, perhaps a private tear
may, veiled by laughter, find quiescence here.
"Hi Sephiroth." Aeris sat down next to the silver haired boy.
"What do you want?" Sephiroth glanced at her.
"Nothing." Aeris fidgeted, noticing Sephiroth was bruised badly again.
"I was just wondering if you'd like to do something." She asked the boy.
"Like what." Sephiroth asked, his voice completely uninterested.
"I don't know.. Something fun." Aeris smiled at him, knowing he was desperately in need of cheering up.
"Fun?" Sephiroth raised his brow.
"You know.. Fun." Aeris explained, standing up. "Let's go explore!" She suggested, waiting for Sephiroth to follow her.
"Where?" Sephiroth looked at her, not moving a muscle.
"I don't know.. Somewhere creepy. You know a place like that?" Aeris asked him.
"Oh, don't I." Sephiroth grinned.
"Well take me there!" Aeris jumped excited.
"Fine." Sephiroth finally agreed, and walked over to the door of the day-care center. Aeris followed just a step behind him. He peeked into the hallway, and after seeing nobody around, he signaled for Aeris to follow.
"So how does this exploring thing work?" Sephiroth whispered his question.
"You don't know?" Aeris glanced at him baffled. "How could you not know?" She wondered, as Sephiroth pulled her into a shadowy corner. A man dressed in a white lab coat walked past them.
"What can I say," Sephiroth smirked at Aeris, "I've never been a kid."
Sephiroth led Aeris to a laboratory. He turned on the lights, and laughed at the horrified expression on Aeris' face. "W-what is this place?" She asked him.
"A laboratory.." Sephiroth said, walking closer to monsters, floating in large tanks. They were preserved in yellowish liquid.
"Gross." Aeris said, walking closer to them. "What.. are they?" She asked.
"These monsters are born in these tanks.. They live their entire lives like this, and.. then they die." Sephiroth's voice was emotionless.
"It's horrible.." Aeris walked closer to Sephiroth.
"..Hmm.. My life's really not that different." He snorted, not the least bit frightened by the monsters.
"Don't say that." Aeris faced him.
"Why? 'Tis the truth." Sephiroth stared into her eyes.
"Aeris!" Ifalna rushed into the room. "I was worried sick about you!" Ifalna hugged her daughter.
"Mum, you're embarrassing me.." Aeris told Ifalna, but she didn't back away from Aeris until a long while later.
"And you.." Ifalna turned to Sephiroth. "How dare you bring her here, she'll get into trouble!" She shouted at him. Sephiroth didn't even flinch at the angry tune of her voice. "Stay away from my daughter, you hear!" Ifalna continued, dragging Aeris away from the lab.
"Mum, don't.." Aeris tried to explain it wasn't really Sephiroth's fault, but Ifalna refused to listen to her.
* * * * *
Aeris stood on a meadow of wild flowers, watching loose petals twirl past her in a gust of wind.
"You are in grave danger.." A familiar voice whispered.
"What do you mean..? Who are you?" Aeris asked, taking careful steps towards the direction the voice seemed to be coming from. She watched a few translucent clouds wander across the sky.
"Who? For it is more like what.." The voice laughed heartedly. "I am these flowers you admire.. Humans.. The force that supports all life.." It said, the words blending into the noise of the wind.
"Oh. The Planet." Aeris realized, sitting down midst the flowers.
"Yes.. You are the last of your kind, Aeris. A powerful guardian.." The voice complimented the pink-clad girl.
"Powerful?" Aeris smiled at the sky. "Now that doesn't sound familiar at all." She sighed sadly.
"With your powers, there comes great responsibility.." The Planet continued. The sun was shining brightly at Aeris, as though all of nature was smiling at her.
"I don't understand." Aeris turned her eyes at the ground.
"You must prevent history from repeating itself.." The voice was suddenly very serious. "You must not let him injure the planet.. Whatever the cost." The voice continued.
"Injure the planet? Who?" As soon as Aers spoke the words, she knew whom the planet was talking about. "Sephiroth.." Aeris crushed a flower in her hand. She didn't really believe he'd want to intentionally harm the planet.. What reason could he possibly have? Aeris thought, a sad look in her eyes.
"What should I do," She asked from the voice, fearing for it's answer.
"You'll know, when the time comes." The Planet said quietly, pity in it's voice.
Complete!! Yay, now I can continue the actual story again! ..Not that I don't like writing these dreams.. It's flashback frenzy everyone!! I guess now it's revealed then: the reason Ifalna didn't want to save Sephiroth from Hojo was that she knew he would end up to be an enemy to Aeris. (I'm gonna continue to emphasize this forbidden love thing..) Anyway, see ya in the next chapter, don't forget to review!! ^_^ (As always: sorry for weird language.)