Chapter 11 – Fear Rising

Drowning in a sea of rage,

I taste the embrace.

Helpless as it stings my soul.

I've lost all control…

"Temptation" – The Tea Party

Aeris shivered against the supernatural chill that seemed more a part of this place then the walls or the floor. It was like walking through ice, an ice so small and fine that it was almost unphysical, but still sunk into her skin, through her bones, and stuck to her like a parasite. She wished she could just turn and run.

But Cloud was here. Somewhere in this horrific place, he needed her, and she would find him. No matter what.

She would have to protect the others too. If she was the cause of their deaths, she would never be able to forgive herself.

She reached back and carefully undid the Princess Guard from a strap on her back. For so long it had lay hidden in the Lifestream's city of the ancients, she'd never needed it, and the sight of it always reminded her of her friends and how much she missed them. But now, she was glad she had it with her. It had always seemed stronger when her friends were in trouble for some reason, and it was simply radiating power now. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Do you hear something?" Elena asked suddenly.

Reno looked at her with a frown. "Screams."

"No, there's something else. It sounds like – I don't know, hissing of some kind."

Aeris glanced at her, and then noticed Red XIII, who was staring full ahead with his ears up and his fangs bared. A low growl escaped his maw.

"Somethings coming. It smells like a snake."

Aeris grimaced. One of the shapeshifters, no doubt, had spotted them.

As they watched, a snake did come slithering out, but as it went it slowly melded into something else, a human.

It was a woman that looked about Aeris' age, with slitted green eyes that matched her serpent form's, and long bluish hair that wrapped around her sinuous body. Her face was full of scars, but oddly, they looked fairly recent.

She slowly wrapped her hand around a curved blade hilt at her waist and withdrew it, and it flashed out towards Aeris and her friends. Yet, she saw something in the woman's eyes, an uncontrollable, deep fear.

"Don't move." The woman muttered. "Come with me, or you'll all be killed."

Some idiotically humorous part of Aeris' brain told her that at least she couldn't be killed, but she ignored it.

Reno sniggered a little from behind Aeris, "We've heard that one before."

"Shuttap redhead." The woman replied. "I ain't joking."

There was a slight metallic click and Aeris whirled around to see Vincent holding up the Death Penalty at her menacingly.

"Put down the sword."

The woman looked at him a moment, then laughed. "Vinny? Wow, it's been awhile."

Aeris watched the gunslingers face as his expression shifted into a thoughtful glare.

"Safiris?" He asked.

"You know it, Vinny babe. The hell are you doing here?"

Aeris stayed quiet, as the others did, as Vincent shook his head. "I could ask the same thing."

Safiris winced. "I'd hate to say it, but I gotta take you to my boss. I had no idea you were connected with that Cloud guy."

"Wait a minute." Reeve broke in. "What exactly does you boss want?"

"And is Cloud with him?" Red added.

"Whoa, one at a time!" Safiris snapped. "For one thing, Her business doesn't concern me, and number two, yes, Cloud's with her right now."

"Okay, here's a question. Who the heck are you?" Reno enquired.

"Uh…" She shrugged. "I used to work with the Turks with Vinny. Apparently neither of us got killed yet."

"Then why are working with these lowlifes?" Reno pressed on.

"Who do you think you are, redboy?"

"My name's Reno, of the new and definitely improved Turks."

Reeve looked at Aeris with a loopy grin. "The reunion of the many Turks?"

She nodded with a smile.

"Stop delaying my job!" Safiris barked. "Just – come with me, okay?"

"What does your boss want?" Vincent repeated Reeve's question.

"I don't know! It – uh – can't be that bad. I think." She frowned. "But it doesn't matter, you have to come anyway!"

They all looked up at Vincent, who just shrugged. "Alright."

"I'm sorry Vinny, it's my job."

"Be quiet Safiris."

The woman looked at her ex-partner with a sad expression a moment, then turned away. "Follow me." She murmured forlornly.

"Hello Cloud." Purred a voice from deep inside the room. Cid gazed up and saw a woman watching them with a slight smile, the smile of a predator. The woman had a timeless effect about her, and seemed to emit power like a beacon of some sort. There was no penance in her face.

And she was the most beautiful being Cid had ever seen. She was dressed in flowing silk attire that was somewhat revealing without being slutty, and her hair was tied back so that a few stray locks of her scarlet hair hung in her eyes, which seemed to go on for all eternity with a deep wisdom and definite evil.

"Who are you?" Cloud demanded.

The woman smiled, though the smile never reached her eyes. "My name is Aklojha, if that's what you want to know. And I know who you are, very well."

"Get to the goddamn point!" Cid shouted angrily.

"That's not what I'd want if I were you." Aklojha said in an offhand way.

"Like hell! Stop toying with us, bitch!" Barett responded.

"What do you want?" Cloud muttered.

"You want me to explain myself? Fine then." Aklojha shrugged. "You were the ones that protected the planet from Sephiroth. Therefore, you have a power even stronger than his, and I could use that. All I want is each of you to help me a little bit."

"Or what?" Shaela questioned.

"Or everyone you love will die. That's the problem with people, when their friends are in danger, they will do nearly anything to protect them."

Her seeming calmness was incredibly aggravating, as if she didn't really have the time to take them seriously.

She gazed at Cloud, and he glared slightly. "Prove it."

Yes, it's a bluff. Cloud knows what he's…

Aklojah shrugged and nodded to Pitasha, who walked out of the large doorway into the corridors. Cid watched Cloud's iridescent blue eyes, and he stood watching the doors with unwavering steadiness.

There was a creak, and then Pitasha came into the room again, followed by a slender woman with indigo tresses of hair and Vincent, Reeve, Red, Elena, Reno and…

"Aeris." Cloud gasped in a voice little more than a gentle exhale of breath. The name rolled off his lips like the swaying of the wind.

"Safiris, you found the escapees?" Aklojah walked over slowly with a slight smile. "Good timing. We were just showing Cloud how we operate. Could you demonstrate?"

Cid looked back at the woman who must have been Safiris. She nodded to Aklojah, and then turned to find herself face to face to Vincent.

"Don't do it." He said in a voice that was meant to be compassionate but was definitely not a plea. People like Vincent, Cid had discovered, don't request, they demand.

Safiris gave him a look that said things words couldn't, and the expression on Cid's friend's stoic face never changed. The woman – who Cid assumed knew Vincent somehow – gazed over her shoulder at Aklojah, then back, then shook her head. "I can't."

"Safiris, you're losing points…" Aklojah said in a slightly angered voice, then walked forward. "That's okay, why should I depend on you?"

A knife was suddenly present in her hand, and in two steps she sauntered forward and brought it down at Aeris' unprotected body.

Something came to Cid.

Standing under the altar. Watching. He saw the darkened figure leaping from the stone structure.

He tried to call out but his throat was incapable of sound. He tried to run forward, and couldn't move, couldn't even breath…

The sound of ripping flesh…

With a shout, Cid lunged forward and punched Aeris' attacker as hard as she could in the face. The woman fell to the floor with a hiss of surprise.

Multiple weapons came out to the hands of the many alert warriors in the room. Out of the corner of Cid's eye, he saw three people sliding in seemingly from the shadows.

"Get them!" Aklojah yelled.

Years of Turk training did not fail Vincent's vigilant mind. He saw the three people that seemed to appear from the very walls, and decided they were good targets for now.

He raised the Death Penalty, closed one eye…and let the gun fall from limp hands.

Cruel red eyes far too akin to his own peered into him, like a hook latching to his soul and twisting. The thin, tanned face and raven hair were too familiar.

If Safiris had surprised him, this did more. And Vincent was not easy to surprise.

"Hello Vincent." She said. He didn't move. He didn't even notice that he wasn't breathing. A name like the most beautiful and benevolent of words escaped his dry throat.

"Lucrecia," He clenched his teeth against the onrush of emotions. "Why are you here?"

A throwing knife hissed out, and for the first time, the former Turks guard failed, and it struck him with a sick noise above the collarbone. He hardly even grunted. It was too much.

Two more knives were held at ready in Lucrecia's hands. "Why should I explain to you?" She demanded. Another knife struck him, this time bouncing painfully off his arm.

"What happened?" He tried again.

"Defend yourself, you ass." She snarled. The red eyes that had somehow replaced her former amber ones flickered with unfamiliar anger.

How could this be Lucrecia? She never spoke or acted like this.

What had happened?

The dark man couldn't have brought himself to picking up the gun if the world had depended on it.

"Are you gonna finish him off, 'Cresia?" On of Lucrecia's companions asked in a rude voice that grated against Vincent's mind. Without even thinking about it, he jerked the knife out from beneath his neck and hurled it into the middle of Lucrecia's partner's forehead, who toppled over.

Cresia had been the nickname Hojo had used…

Sephiroth smiled grimly to himself. He sensed an onrush of emotions not far from where he was sitting, and part of it was a dark bolt of anger that he had learned to identify with Aklojah. And then, there was the strong power that hung about Cloud like an aura. Perhaps they would kill each other, who knew?

There were many other individual feelings he didn't recognize as well. One was the soft sense the Falcon Man had, and the deep chaos of Safiris. Otherwise, it was just a gathering of people to him.

And then the red eyes returned to him. The woman who had come that day, the one Sephiroth had mistaken for Safiris…she was close. The more he thought about her, the more he felt he was coming closer to recognizing her. Now, when he thought back to the red eyes he could see past the shade given to Aklojah's servants, and see the honey eyes She'd been born and lived with. Why couldn't he forget that face?

He frowned into the darkness of his confinement and tried desperately to remember who it was. Somehow it was so deathly important to him; he needed to know…

And then it came to him with a crystal sharpness that caused him to wonder how he hadn't seen it earlier. He'd never seen this woman in the flesh before, but deep in his subconscious the image of her face was waiting for a moment of sanity to reveal itself to him.

Her name was Lucresia.

"Mother…"

No, why had he even thought Jenova was his mother? She was nothing to him, not anymore.

He needed to find this Lucresia woman. No matter what held him back, he would find her.

He focused his mind on the only weapon he had.

Something was calling Cloud, first faintly then deep and urgently. It was a feeling he remembered that had taken him many times; at the temple of the ancients, and the city…

Sephiroth was claiming his body again, after all this time of peace.

And then it was all dark to him, just like before. There was no fighting it anymore.

Aklojah stood, slightly humiliated by being knocked down by such an inferior being, and sent out a blast of fiery magic that sent the man who hit her to the floor. Then she turned back to her priority, Cloud.

And something, some sixth sense, went off in the back of her mind. The look in the blond haired man's eyes was too…

It was not Cloud looking through those misty eyes.

"Sephiroth, get away." She muttered, struggling to keep panic from her voice.

Cloud took a step forward, and Aklojah took a step back. He took another step, and she froze.

"You thought you could contain me that easily?" Cloud asked incredulously. And though those mako eyes stayed the same, she saw the chaotic emerald eyes that were laughing at her underneath. Anger burned through her veins, thicker and hotter than blood.

"Your weak, Sephiroth. You can't escape the chains."

"More the fortunate for you." The laughing eyes didn't even twitch. "You'll regret all of what you've done to me."

Cloud turned as Pitasha ran up to support Aklojah, and the shapeshifter fell almost obediently to his knees. He let out a strange throaty scream that echoed through the room and rose over the sounds of battle, and clutched his shoulders as if trying to hold himself together.

The Puppet turned back to her.

"You try to frighten me, Sephiroth, but it's a waste of your time. You're just a shadow under my power."

"If that's what you want to believe." He said, and though Sephiroth's host's body didn't move, his very voice spoke the emotions. Indifference, mingled with laughter. A laughter best left unheard to those who valued their sanity.

Her hands flew up and deflected the fist that launched itself at her throat, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid the knee that came up and connected with her thin waist. The breath left her body, and she closed her eyes in pain.

"I could kill you where you stand, but I'm not going to." This time a laugh did emanate from Cloud's mouth, and it sent a chill throughout her body. "I'm going to wait until I can do it in person. So you wait, and you keep pretending you're safe, because I could come at any time…"

And then Cloud toppled over lifelessly onto his back.

Aklojah bit her lip and drew blood as ferocious rage threatened to intoxicate her. With a scream of wrath, she kicked Cloud's figure on the ground and ran from the large room to her personal quarters where she could sit and plan in a state of instability.

And then, the paranoia sunk in.

Authors Note: I betcha anything all the italics I put in didn't work. Oh well.

Didja like? This is for "   " (lol) who seemed so happy at the prospect of a fighting scene xD Sorry about the wait.

Oh gawd…just as I was writing this AN I realized that I put Tifa in the wrong spot in the this chapter, so I guess I'll fix that. SORRY!! (feels stupid as heck) Well, I replaced Tifa with Cid in this chappy, so I hope I don't make any mistakes and call him "her" or something like that. ACK!!!!

Please live with my mortality…