Destroyed
Chapter One: Silence Ever After
The world turned.
She had dreamt this once, so long ago.
Or maybe it hadn't been a dream.
In it she remembered the stars lifting and turning about her, their cadence and glow a soft pattern of green against the velvet of black. They bubbled with hidden energy and struk her quietly, moving past her, above her.
Her hand outstretched to them, and with soft loving caresses of recognition, then passed her and touched her, named her and made her. From such places, she was made the person she is, person she was. Here, so many things began and ended, with the never ending sounds of silence that could be called a kind of music. The kind of silence after the most beautiful music you have ever heard, where the notes keep lingering on despite the fact people stopped playing.
It enchanted her.
Here was life and love, laughter and fun, memories good and bad and time played little part in the reality that became the lifestream. Voices of the past, of the future, all were the same.
And she smiled.
... but then the darkness came.. and swallowed it.
Bitter tears choked her, and she turned on the spot with a desperate cry, trying to find some kind of reality in the fantasy that betrayed her, but her echoing words in the musical silence were eaten up.
She screamed herself hoarse.
No one answered, but for him.
"You live," he whispered, wonderingly.
Afraid, too afraid to move she held her arms close to her sides and tilted her head to look over her shoulder, past the braid that slung down between her shoulder blades. Softly she bit on her lip, and forced open her eyes.
At first she saw only the darkness, recognising nothing from it but the swirl of green orbs.. until she saw two that didn't drift upwards in cohesion with the rest and she frowned in concern.
The lurched forward and she faced them, and a figure came from the shadows, white hair suddenly tinted luminescent with green, and those cold mako eyes just watching her and judging her with equal passion.
"You live."
"I...I do," she whispered.
"I will find you, and kill you again if I have to."
She shook her head, hands creeping up to her necklace as they always did when she felt a need to be comforted against the shadows, against the bleakness. Just staring into the cold eyes, she couldn't help but cry out to the planet, a world that existed no more.
"There...there is no more need for killing. It's over."
"Over?"
"The world is gone, our homes are gone. The Promised Land, the Sorceress'.. everything. Now we exist outside of...reality."
He tilted his chin, showing his handsome, yet starkly bleak features, the white lashes over his eyes casting lurid shadows down his smooth cheeks. Then he laughed, "But, I have always existed outside of reality."
She backed off, with a slight shake of her head.
"Beware, Aeris.. I will find whatever did this, and then finish their slapdash job."
As she watched him turn, a voice from the other side of her rang out, clear and strong. "She will find a way."
The one winged man of her nightmares stopped, and glanced back at the other figure. She looked too, seeing Tifa stood there, bright despite the shadows, one hand on her hip and the other plated generously in metal. Her chin was struck at a protective angle, as she moved closer to the ancient, the orbs of life floating about her strongly.
"She has power you will never understand."
He just laughed.. and faded into the shadows.
Looking down at her small hands, she tried collecting her terrified thoughts, and moved so she could look up at Tifa through her bangs, and saw her friend smiling at her with easy friendship, no hint of the jealousy she was once prone to marring those calm features. She was... gone.
The reality hit her hard, and she reched out, grasping at Tifa's arm, but it passed through, orbs of green flowing into the space she had made in the arm and remoulding it into Tifa's projected image, from her soul.
"Aeris, don't be afraid."
"But I am," she murmured, looking down. "Dying for one world is one thing, but this is bigger than I had imagined."
Her friend placed an insubstantial hand on her shoulder, and with a slight sigh Aeris looked up into the wine dark eyes, and saw only re-assurance.
"Trust me, if anyone can find a way, you will."
Saying nothing, Aeris looked at Tifa, then opened her mouth but before she could say anything her friend answered for her.
"He's out there. Save him, from himself. For you.."
"M-me?"
Tifa smiled, and then with a casual flick of her dark hair turned with that sway to her hips she had, and walked off into the shadows.. vanishing.
Aeris watched her go, then looked down at her clasped hands, then opened them. Inside was nestled a small snowdrop..and softly, she shut her eyes to pray even as the screams began again.
* * * * * * * * * * *
She woke with a soft gasp, and then looked down at her clasped hands. Inside one was half curled a snowdrop.
She swallowed, and weakly pushed the covers off herself, the room she was in a deep red with gilt colourings crawling up over the walls in beautiful decadence, something she didn't really go for herself, liking the simple approach to house design. Then, standing in her heavy nightgown of pink clouds on a white background, she moved to the door and opened it.
The corridor was empty, and no one was about.
It had been over a month since they had come to Traverse Town, a small existance on the very edge of seemingly nowhere, with people who had fled here from various places, trying to escape the nightmares that slowly crept about the edges of their realities.
Putting the snowdrop down on her bedside table, she slipped through the doors into the hallway, and then made her way ever so slowly down the hallway, to the rooms next to hers. On one side was the green room, Yuffies chosen room as she claimed green, or the sensations that the colour had attached to it, made her closer to her ninja senses.
Leon had the blue room on the other side. Squall, or Leon as he rather fancied calling himself now, had taken his role as her protector rather seriously, and thusly spent all his time practising with his gunblade, a contraption she didn't wholly understand.
It wasn't too early in the day, but confirmed snores from Leon's door told her at least one of her chosen protectors was still asleep. Cautiously, she moved down the hall, past Yuffie's room and towards the staff room, which consisted of a kitchen, dining room and a small living room in which they spent a lot of their time, poring over books for any kind of information that could help them.
She placed her hands on the door knob, reaching into her nightdress pocket and inserting the key into the lock and turning it. Then sighing she replaced the key and moved through into the living room, kicking a few cushions out of the way, a magazine that she had left there the night before. Then she pushed open the small swing doors into the kitchen and set about making breakfast.
Yuffie liked toast and jam on a morning, a childhood habit brought about the need for complex carbohydrates to fuel her morning kata's. Leon preferred whatever he could get, so she put one some bacon, and readied the griddle to make pancakes. She liked pancakes, easily enough made, and a glass of milk.
As she set about the domestic chores, she hummed, to herself.
Songs came easily to her, in the time she had spent dead she had spent ages singing to herself and creating new words for old songs. Her voice wasn't bad, she was no opera singer, surprisingly Yuffie could sing very well. Smiling at the thought of it, she set out the stuff and sang softly to herself, fluffing up the pancake mixture as she did.
"Straight on this long, continuing road, There is surely something to believe in," she set the bowl aside, singing softly and moved to turn the bacon, "Like a traveler in the midst of the wind, I have my eyes on the northern sky.."
She smiled, and held up a the spatula, singing into the end of it and shutting her eyes as the words came pouring from her soul with sweet notes;
"The passionate feelings that were beginning to fade,
Once again sway with radiance in my chest.
I don't want the tears to spill,
As so not to lose to my weaker self.
In my eyes holding on an unadorned flame,
There are great, unseen wings..
I open my arms while singing
To embrace the perpetuity of time,
To be tied to life," she turned, glancing aside and dropped the spatula.
Leon arched a brow at her, that was all he did. Frightened and a little angry that he had the audacity not to say anything, she picked up the dropped utensil and stick it into the sink with more force than neccesary.
"Finish it?" he said, softly.
She glanced up from the corner of her eyes, seeing no trace of mockery on his face, and whispered softly, "straight on this long contuining road, there is surely something to believe in.."
He nodded, and moved to sit down at the breakfast bar.
Biting her lip, she dried the spatula, then turned the bacon again. "I must have looked a fool," she laughed softly. After all this time she found living with him unnerving. She may have given her heart to Cloud, but that sure as hell didn't mean her eyes weren't in full working order, and Leon was not one inch short of gorgeous.
"No," he said quietly. She was one of the few people who were graced with more than one or two words usually, and then with methodical rites, she poured the batter in blobs onto the griddle and slowly cooked the pancakes, enjoying the silence between them as long as it lasted.
Eventually, he broke it.
"What is it?"
Aeris turned to look at him, sliding a plate of bacon and savoury pancakes under his nose, as well as a glass of orange juice. He looked down at the food with the hint of a smile, then up at her.
"What is what," she asked.
"The song, that you were singing. What was it?"
She pursed her lips, turning back to her pancakes and listening to the frying sound of them. "My birth mother used to sing it, I think it's an old Cetra song."
"Hmm," was all she heard, then the clatter of cutlery. Bending her head, she flipped off the last pancake and set them in a stack next to her, then picking up her plate moved to the breakfast bar too and looked at Leon as he ate.
He stopped, piece of bacon halfway to his mouth and they locked eyes.
It went on like that for the longest time, neither noticing when the bacon fell off the fork.
*ching*
Aeris jumped and looked away guiltily and the toaster sang into life, ejecting the bread. With a small sense of relief, she moved away and set to buttering the bread, almost feeling his eyes on her back as she worked.
What was going on, nothing made any damn sense anymore.
She put the knife down when done, just in time for Yuffie strolling in like a mini whirlwind, hair a dreadful mess and wearing her usual smile, "I heard the toaster," she supplied helpfully, clambering onto a stool.
Aeris smiled gratefully at her, then moved across and pushed the plate of toast at her, to which Yuffie picked up a piece and bit into it.
"Mmm, take it we ran out of raspberry jam."
"Yes," Aeris said, voice hardly there, then cleared her throat and avoided looking at Leon, "Strawberry's all that's left."
"Oh, well, I'll pick up some more. Cid asked to see you, Aeris. Maybe you should go have a chat, incase he gets all gruff and nasty on us," she smiled, obviously thinking it a joke.
Aeris smiled too, to allay her fears and thoughts mostly, "Yes I will. Thank you for reminding me."
"I'll go too," Leon cut in, eyes fixed now on his plate when she turned to look at him.
Her heart beat wildly, and she looked away, picking up her fork and eating in silence as Yuffie prattled on about a dream she'd had. It was nice being about Yuffie, and Leon was nice if a bit too attentive. But none of this was like home.. and she wondered what her dream had meant.
Find a way? How was she supposed to do that?
~ Oh Cloud~ she though, staring at her cooking. ~Where are you?~
Chapter One: Silence Ever After
The world turned.
She had dreamt this once, so long ago.
Or maybe it hadn't been a dream.
In it she remembered the stars lifting and turning about her, their cadence and glow a soft pattern of green against the velvet of black. They bubbled with hidden energy and struk her quietly, moving past her, above her.
Her hand outstretched to them, and with soft loving caresses of recognition, then passed her and touched her, named her and made her. From such places, she was made the person she is, person she was. Here, so many things began and ended, with the never ending sounds of silence that could be called a kind of music. The kind of silence after the most beautiful music you have ever heard, where the notes keep lingering on despite the fact people stopped playing.
It enchanted her.
Here was life and love, laughter and fun, memories good and bad and time played little part in the reality that became the lifestream. Voices of the past, of the future, all were the same.
And she smiled.
... but then the darkness came.. and swallowed it.
Bitter tears choked her, and she turned on the spot with a desperate cry, trying to find some kind of reality in the fantasy that betrayed her, but her echoing words in the musical silence were eaten up.
She screamed herself hoarse.
No one answered, but for him.
"You live," he whispered, wonderingly.
Afraid, too afraid to move she held her arms close to her sides and tilted her head to look over her shoulder, past the braid that slung down between her shoulder blades. Softly she bit on her lip, and forced open her eyes.
At first she saw only the darkness, recognising nothing from it but the swirl of green orbs.. until she saw two that didn't drift upwards in cohesion with the rest and she frowned in concern.
The lurched forward and she faced them, and a figure came from the shadows, white hair suddenly tinted luminescent with green, and those cold mako eyes just watching her and judging her with equal passion.
"You live."
"I...I do," she whispered.
"I will find you, and kill you again if I have to."
She shook her head, hands creeping up to her necklace as they always did when she felt a need to be comforted against the shadows, against the bleakness. Just staring into the cold eyes, she couldn't help but cry out to the planet, a world that existed no more.
"There...there is no more need for killing. It's over."
"Over?"
"The world is gone, our homes are gone. The Promised Land, the Sorceress'.. everything. Now we exist outside of...reality."
He tilted his chin, showing his handsome, yet starkly bleak features, the white lashes over his eyes casting lurid shadows down his smooth cheeks. Then he laughed, "But, I have always existed outside of reality."
She backed off, with a slight shake of her head.
"Beware, Aeris.. I will find whatever did this, and then finish their slapdash job."
As she watched him turn, a voice from the other side of her rang out, clear and strong. "She will find a way."
The one winged man of her nightmares stopped, and glanced back at the other figure. She looked too, seeing Tifa stood there, bright despite the shadows, one hand on her hip and the other plated generously in metal. Her chin was struck at a protective angle, as she moved closer to the ancient, the orbs of life floating about her strongly.
"She has power you will never understand."
He just laughed.. and faded into the shadows.
Looking down at her small hands, she tried collecting her terrified thoughts, and moved so she could look up at Tifa through her bangs, and saw her friend smiling at her with easy friendship, no hint of the jealousy she was once prone to marring those calm features. She was... gone.
The reality hit her hard, and she reched out, grasping at Tifa's arm, but it passed through, orbs of green flowing into the space she had made in the arm and remoulding it into Tifa's projected image, from her soul.
"Aeris, don't be afraid."
"But I am," she murmured, looking down. "Dying for one world is one thing, but this is bigger than I had imagined."
Her friend placed an insubstantial hand on her shoulder, and with a slight sigh Aeris looked up into the wine dark eyes, and saw only re-assurance.
"Trust me, if anyone can find a way, you will."
Saying nothing, Aeris looked at Tifa, then opened her mouth but before she could say anything her friend answered for her.
"He's out there. Save him, from himself. For you.."
"M-me?"
Tifa smiled, and then with a casual flick of her dark hair turned with that sway to her hips she had, and walked off into the shadows.. vanishing.
Aeris watched her go, then looked down at her clasped hands, then opened them. Inside was nestled a small snowdrop..and softly, she shut her eyes to pray even as the screams began again.
* * * * * * * * * * *
She woke with a soft gasp, and then looked down at her clasped hands. Inside one was half curled a snowdrop.
She swallowed, and weakly pushed the covers off herself, the room she was in a deep red with gilt colourings crawling up over the walls in beautiful decadence, something she didn't really go for herself, liking the simple approach to house design. Then, standing in her heavy nightgown of pink clouds on a white background, she moved to the door and opened it.
The corridor was empty, and no one was about.
It had been over a month since they had come to Traverse Town, a small existance on the very edge of seemingly nowhere, with people who had fled here from various places, trying to escape the nightmares that slowly crept about the edges of their realities.
Putting the snowdrop down on her bedside table, she slipped through the doors into the hallway, and then made her way ever so slowly down the hallway, to the rooms next to hers. On one side was the green room, Yuffies chosen room as she claimed green, or the sensations that the colour had attached to it, made her closer to her ninja senses.
Leon had the blue room on the other side. Squall, or Leon as he rather fancied calling himself now, had taken his role as her protector rather seriously, and thusly spent all his time practising with his gunblade, a contraption she didn't wholly understand.
It wasn't too early in the day, but confirmed snores from Leon's door told her at least one of her chosen protectors was still asleep. Cautiously, she moved down the hall, past Yuffie's room and towards the staff room, which consisted of a kitchen, dining room and a small living room in which they spent a lot of their time, poring over books for any kind of information that could help them.
She placed her hands on the door knob, reaching into her nightdress pocket and inserting the key into the lock and turning it. Then sighing she replaced the key and moved through into the living room, kicking a few cushions out of the way, a magazine that she had left there the night before. Then she pushed open the small swing doors into the kitchen and set about making breakfast.
Yuffie liked toast and jam on a morning, a childhood habit brought about the need for complex carbohydrates to fuel her morning kata's. Leon preferred whatever he could get, so she put one some bacon, and readied the griddle to make pancakes. She liked pancakes, easily enough made, and a glass of milk.
As she set about the domestic chores, she hummed, to herself.
Songs came easily to her, in the time she had spent dead she had spent ages singing to herself and creating new words for old songs. Her voice wasn't bad, she was no opera singer, surprisingly Yuffie could sing very well. Smiling at the thought of it, she set out the stuff and sang softly to herself, fluffing up the pancake mixture as she did.
"Straight on this long, continuing road, There is surely something to believe in," she set the bowl aside, singing softly and moved to turn the bacon, "Like a traveler in the midst of the wind, I have my eyes on the northern sky.."
She smiled, and held up a the spatula, singing into the end of it and shutting her eyes as the words came pouring from her soul with sweet notes;
"The passionate feelings that were beginning to fade,
Once again sway with radiance in my chest.
I don't want the tears to spill,
As so not to lose to my weaker self.
In my eyes holding on an unadorned flame,
There are great, unseen wings..
I open my arms while singing
To embrace the perpetuity of time,
To be tied to life," she turned, glancing aside and dropped the spatula.
Leon arched a brow at her, that was all he did. Frightened and a little angry that he had the audacity not to say anything, she picked up the dropped utensil and stick it into the sink with more force than neccesary.
"Finish it?" he said, softly.
She glanced up from the corner of her eyes, seeing no trace of mockery on his face, and whispered softly, "straight on this long contuining road, there is surely something to believe in.."
He nodded, and moved to sit down at the breakfast bar.
Biting her lip, she dried the spatula, then turned the bacon again. "I must have looked a fool," she laughed softly. After all this time she found living with him unnerving. She may have given her heart to Cloud, but that sure as hell didn't mean her eyes weren't in full working order, and Leon was not one inch short of gorgeous.
"No," he said quietly. She was one of the few people who were graced with more than one or two words usually, and then with methodical rites, she poured the batter in blobs onto the griddle and slowly cooked the pancakes, enjoying the silence between them as long as it lasted.
Eventually, he broke it.
"What is it?"
Aeris turned to look at him, sliding a plate of bacon and savoury pancakes under his nose, as well as a glass of orange juice. He looked down at the food with the hint of a smile, then up at her.
"What is what," she asked.
"The song, that you were singing. What was it?"
She pursed her lips, turning back to her pancakes and listening to the frying sound of them. "My birth mother used to sing it, I think it's an old Cetra song."
"Hmm," was all she heard, then the clatter of cutlery. Bending her head, she flipped off the last pancake and set them in a stack next to her, then picking up her plate moved to the breakfast bar too and looked at Leon as he ate.
He stopped, piece of bacon halfway to his mouth and they locked eyes.
It went on like that for the longest time, neither noticing when the bacon fell off the fork.
*ching*
Aeris jumped and looked away guiltily and the toaster sang into life, ejecting the bread. With a small sense of relief, she moved away and set to buttering the bread, almost feeling his eyes on her back as she worked.
What was going on, nothing made any damn sense anymore.
She put the knife down when done, just in time for Yuffie strolling in like a mini whirlwind, hair a dreadful mess and wearing her usual smile, "I heard the toaster," she supplied helpfully, clambering onto a stool.
Aeris smiled gratefully at her, then moved across and pushed the plate of toast at her, to which Yuffie picked up a piece and bit into it.
"Mmm, take it we ran out of raspberry jam."
"Yes," Aeris said, voice hardly there, then cleared her throat and avoided looking at Leon, "Strawberry's all that's left."
"Oh, well, I'll pick up some more. Cid asked to see you, Aeris. Maybe you should go have a chat, incase he gets all gruff and nasty on us," she smiled, obviously thinking it a joke.
Aeris smiled too, to allay her fears and thoughts mostly, "Yes I will. Thank you for reminding me."
"I'll go too," Leon cut in, eyes fixed now on his plate when she turned to look at him.
Her heart beat wildly, and she looked away, picking up her fork and eating in silence as Yuffie prattled on about a dream she'd had. It was nice being about Yuffie, and Leon was nice if a bit too attentive. But none of this was like home.. and she wondered what her dream had meant.
Find a way? How was she supposed to do that?
~ Oh Cloud~ she though, staring at her cooking. ~Where are you?~