(Author's Note: AERIS FANS BEWARE! Guess that's all I really have to say…enjoy?)

Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Rueh belongs to Rueh. Dete is mine.

Chapter 21

An End to a Prayer

Everyone was spread out on the lake's shore or sitting on the stairs. Aeris was knelt on the alter in prayer. She had been praying for almost 2 ½ hours. Yuffie was bugging Cid and Barret. Dete was reading a book and trying to ignore Rueh and Zack who was making fun of Cloud. Tifa was trying to support Cloud but ended up laughing mostly. Vincent and Red just sat there…watching Cloud be made fun of.

After a few minutes Rueh was getting tired of making fun of Cloud. She stood and walked over to Dete. She plopped down beside her with a sigh and looked at the page number of Dete's book. "You've been reading for the past 2 ½ hours and you're still on page 1," Rueh said.

"Correction. Page 2," Dete replied.

"It's taken you almost 3 hours to read half a page," Rueh shook her head.

"If you hadn't been distracting me by making fun of Cloud I'd be a lot further," Dete retorted.

"It's not my fault he's easy to make fun of," Rueh said with a shrug.

Dete marked her spot in the book and looked up.

"What's up?" Rueh asked.

"I don't know…something's up there," Dete narrowed her eyes to see better. Rueh followed her gaze. Vincent and Red did too.

"What is it? I can't see it very well," Dete looked at Red.

"It's a…person?" Red asked tilting his head to the side a bit.

Rueh got a sinking feeling and drew her sword. The person jumped…

"It's Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed.

As he dropped he held his sword in front of him ready to strike…Rueh ran up to the alter and knocked his sword aside as his feet touched the ground.

"Stand aside," he snapped coldly.

"Make me," she used the same tone. She ran at him and he met her attack. For the next 15 minutes both were evenly matched.

"Get out of my way!" he snarled.

"No!" Rueh smirked.

Their swords unlocked and Sephiroth shoved Rueh to the side. She stumbled to the side and her foot slipped into open sir. Rueh fell into the lake.

Sephiroth smirked and turned to the still praying Aeris. He raised his sword.

"Sephiroth! Stop! Don't!" Dete yelled and ran towards him.

Sephiroth jumped forward and landed his foot in her stomach. Dete stumbled back and fell to her knees a hand pressed against her side. He landed behind Aeris and thrust his sword forward…

Aeris opened her eyes. They were bright as usual but slowly dimmed. She slumped forward. Sephiroth smiled coldly and pulled his sword back.

"You j***!" Rueh yelled. She was out of the water and running towards him, sword ready. Sephiroth's feet left the ground…He flew away. "Coward! Come back and fight!" Rueh yelled at him as he disappeared.

"Rueh…" Dete said softly.

"He's a coward! Did you see? He ran away!" Rueh was still yelling after him.

"Rueh!" Dete snapped.

"What?"

"He killed Aeris…"

"So? Just look at this mess," Rueh said looking around.

"Shut up!" Cloud yelled at Rueh as he knelt beside Aeris.

"He's coming back!" Rueh said ignoring him Sephiroth landed in front of her smiling coldly.

"Oh my gosh!" Tifa exclaimed.

"You killed Aeris!" Cloud yelled.

"You b******!" Yuffie yelled.

Sephiroth just kept smiling. Annoyed by his silence Rueh locked her hands around his throat and began to choke him. She started yelling at him and to shake him violently.

"Rueh! Stop!" Dete yelled surprised.

"Nope!" Rueh said. Sephiroth grabbed her wrists.

"Rueh! Let go!" Dete said.

Sephiroth's head was getting bigger and his face was turning red. Within a few more seconds his head had swollen up like a balloon. POP! Sephiroth's head exploded. The rest of his body deflated. Rueh sniffed as she turned to Dete.

"It really was a balloon," she sniffed.

"It was a decoy," Dete said softly.

"That coward…he sent a balloon to do his dirty work," Rueh pouted.

They fell silent for about…20 seconds.

"Ooooo…what's this?" Rueh asked and picked up an orb off the ground.

"That's a lightning materia. Not many of you can use it yet because you're normal," Vincent told her.

Rueh held the materia in front of her and cast the spell. Vincent's eyes went wide.

"Yipe!" Red yelled as the spell hit him.

"Oops," Rueh grinned sheepishly.

Red's fur was standing on end and was slightly singed. He was smoking faintly and his eye was wide.

"That's it…I quit!" he shouted.

"You can't quit!" Zack cried.

"Watch me!" Red snapped and started to walk away.

"Rueh…normal people can't do that," Vincent said.

"Since when am I normal?" Rueh asked.

"Red! Wait!" Zack cried following him.

"Umm…I think he quit," Rueh said.

"Come on…let's go someplace else please…" Cloud said quietly while holding Aeris.

They went outside and Cloud let Aeris sink to the bottom of the lake. When Sephiroth had kicked Dete the cut on her side had re-opened. When they got back to Rocket Town Vincent re-bandaged it for her. No one said much the rest of the day.

                                    ****

(A/N: Hey…I'm sorry if I didn't spend enough time with making them sad about Aeris…it's just…well I like her but…when I have Rueh and Dete in a story I kinda tend to…not care about the other characters as much as I should. So again sorry…)