Author's Notes- Whew. I'm having a great time writing these, though maybe I'm going overboard in length just a bit? Eh. Too bad.

__________________

I laid there on the cot, half asleep. I knew that he stood just on the other side of the door, I knew he was powerful, but I felt indifferent, as if I was only reading a book and none of this was real. The doorknob turned.

My eyes opened to mere slits, and against the bright lights in the hallway the figure of the man was tall and dark. I still wasn't much paying attention to him, though. I couldn't stop thinking about Ifalna and the Promised Land. I was chilled, and the cold made me think of how oceans were described in books, and Ifalna left my wandering mind.

"This is... the Ancient, Mother?" A cool, low voice asked. It was that man in the hallway, staring at me.

Yes, Mother... My mind snapped back to Ifalna. This is the Ancient. I am alone...

You are not alone.

My eyes snapped open, and I jumped to my feet. The Planet... I heard it, I heard it! I dropped to my knees desperatly and put my ear to the ground, a sub-concious attempt to get as close to the ground as possible, regardless of being sixty-some stories in the air.

The dark man had pulled out a long sword in surprise of my sudden movement, and had it pointed my direction, but I didn't really notice nor care. I had heard it... it was there... The Planet didn't abandon me... Maybe it was I who had abandoned it...

I heard no more, so I sat up, pondering. You are not alone, it had said. I wasn't the only Ancient? Then, skeptically, my eyes went upward on the dark man, until they met his own of pale blue-green.

He was wearing a black cloak, but loosely. His lack of shirt revealed hard muscle, he was obviously a warrior. I couldn't be certain of his age - mid adult, perhaps. But what caught me the most were his eyes, covered slightly by loose wisps of long silver hair. Yes... the eyes were of Mako, just like a SOLDIER's.

"What are you doing?" he asked, amused, much like the voice Hojo used sometimes.

I thought about standing up, noticing the long blade he held, but in all honesty I was tired. I hadn't slept nor ate much recently, and my sleepy mind figured if he was planning on killing me, my position wouldn't make much of a difference. "Didn't you hear it?" I thought the voice had been thin, but strong enough. Especially if... could he be?

"JENOVA is out there," he nodded his head along the hallway.

"No... I don't know what you mean..." JENOVA... hmm, yes, I knew that name... JENOVA...

"Mother is an Ancient like us. You must have heard her calling." He put down the sword, finding me a threat no longer.

"So that's what she meant..." Again, I was thinking of Ifalna by 'mother', not whoever he meant... but... it didn't seem right. He was a Cetra? Then... was he looking for it, too? "You're Sephiroth?"

"Heh... names..." he shrugged, but his eyes never left me. Then he considered me. "I might have seen you before? Years ago..."

"I was here years ago. Were you?" Now I stood up. Oh, Planet, I was tired. This should all seem very strange... but... it wasn't.

"Then you were caught again?"

"No..." I bit back a yawn. "I bargained my freedom for that of another. A little girl." Marlene... I could see her clearer in my mind than I could the man who stood in front of me.

Sephiroth laughed, a cold, bitter laugh. That woke me up a bit. It made me uneasy, and I stood more defensively. "Just like.... ha, ha..." Sephiroth shook his head. "Didn't we try protecting those foolish humans once, girl? Long ago? Do you recall how they repaid us? Ha, ha... you're a fool."

Yes, Mother had told me about it, how the Cetra sacrificed themselves to save the Planet from a threat from the sky... "Why are you here?" Then, as an afterthought, I added, "And I don't regret what I did."

"Unfinished business... Mother has been watching you. She wanted me to meet you-"

"Hi, then," I interrupted, sick of all these I'm-always-watching-you games. "I'm Aeris."

He continued. "She wants you to come with us, too. We're taking this Planet back from the scum that dominate. We will create our own Promised Land..."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to take it what he had just said. "You want to kill everyone? Everyone... dead?" The idea was too abstract for me to fully understand right then. Even in the ShinRa headquarters I could feel life. How would an empty nothingness feel? The concept was so ridiculous right then that I smiled.

Sephiroth must have taken my smile as agreement. "Their lives are irrelevent. But no, I want them to live... through me."

I blinked, completely confused now. "Why would you want that?"

"Because I know how to become a god." A smile played across his lips, one that made me take a step back. "And you are an Ancient, you may join me."

And then... I was awake. My eyes widened, my jaw dropped. It had hit me. I didn't know exactly how he planned to become a god, but I just knew. Without a doubt I felt, no, knew that he would try, successful or not, and because of that... because of that..."No." I had lived all of my life assuring myself that everything had a purpose in life, even if it was only to ride the Lifestream. But that purpose was good enough for me. "I don't want to be a god, I don't want to live forever." Then, I became angry. "All I want to do is grow a garden and speak with the Planet! Why isn't that good enough for anyone? Or," I clenched my fists, close to snarling. "Is it too good?"

Judging by the quickly masked look of shock, he hadn't been talked to like that for quite awhile. He covered with a look of amusement. "But you will join me..."

"No. I'll only join the Planet, and that's when my time is up."

For a long second he just considered me, then nodded, still smiling, as if this would make an excellent joke later. "Very well. I would never force a Cetra..." He was mocking me. "But I'm sure the legends will prove true for you - you will have a hard life."

"I'll decide that for myself, thanks." I turned my head, knowing then that he wouldn't kill me.

"Now listen carefully... maybe you'll hear the cries of what will soon be my Spirit Energy..."

"What?" I turned around, but already, Sephiroth had closed the door behind him and left me.

"Ugggh!" a voice in the hallway outside yelped.

"Oh Planet," I whispered. The guard was dead. Sephiroth's reign had begun. Lying on the cot, I shivered. Why was it always so cold? Then, reaching back behind my head, I untied the ribbon in my hair and held tightly onto the Materia Ifalna had given me that I kept clasped there. The useless green-white orb that did naught but comfort me. It was warm, as always.

Clutching it so tightly that my fingers turned white, I trembled until I was sure that Sephiroth was gone.

_________________________

Finally I stood up. He was gone now. Pacing around my cell, I wondered who had all been killed. My thoughts had been too troubled that night to sort it all out. Mostly people I didn't know, I figured. Did Hojo die? I did not like the man but I wanted none to die by Sephiroth's sword. I didn't know what he was planning but I knew that he had to be stopped. Somehow.

Then, I noticed something that made my heart stop. The door. It was... unlocked... I didn't move. Had he forgotten? Or had he planned this?

It did no good to stand there waiting to see what would happen, so I approached the door cautiously. Placing a hand on the knob, I held my breath, dreading what I might see. I opened it and stepped into the hallway.

The guard that stood watch over the cells really was dead. I closed my eyes and bowed my head. He had only been doing his duty, after all. I came closer and closer... impaled by a sword. Poor man... but what made my stomach churn the most was that every weapon of ours that had been taken, my staff, Cloud's sword, and so on... they lay in a pile here. Turning around, I remembered Cloud, Tifa, and Barret. No, their doors were still locked... but the guard would have a key.

Upon spying the keys at the dead guard's belt, I gritted my teeth and snatched them. I walked back to the cell next to mine, which I figured must have been Cloud's and Tifa's. Having unlocked their door, I entered.

Cloud was sitting in a corner, and Tifa lay on the bed, both asleep. "Cloud, Tifa... wake up!" I said urgently.

Tifa's eyes slid open. "Mmm?" She shook her head, blinking. "Aeris?!"

"Something's wrong... look outside!" I lead the newly awaken pair out, and pointed to the dead guard. "Must've been attacked by..." I bit my lip, then turned. "I'll get Barret."

Having no idea which cell was his out of all in the hallway, I called. "Barret? Barret, where are you?"

"Uhh... Aeris? That you?" I heard the gruff voice answer.

Following he voice, I unlocked the matching door. Yes, there was the man with the gun arm, standing there and looking confused. I remembered that we had never been properly introduced, and now seemed as good a time as any. "Yeah. I'm Aeris." I bowed my head in respect.

"The hell's goin' on?" He glanced down the hallway. "Holy shit! What the fuck happened to him?!"

"What's this?" a deeper, lower voice questioned. It was RedXIII, awakened as well, swishing his long tail. I had forgotten about him as well.

"The guard's dead. By the looks of it, he's not the only one, either," I answered.

Barret and RedXIII scampered over to the body with Tifa and Cloud. "No human could have done this!" RedXIII exclaimed, sniffing the body. Then, looking ahead of us, he murmured, "A trail of blood...I'll go on ahead." He trotted off, following the red stain trail.

"Let's follow him," Tifa nodded anxiously.

We set off, at a slower, more cautious pace. "Aeris?" Barret said.

"Hmm?" The blood... Sephiroth must have been dragging his sword... it was so thick...

"Marlene's my daughter... so, well, thanks."

That distracted me. I raised my eyebrows, looking up at Barret. I would have never guessed. Marlene was a skinny white brunette, Barret was a muscular black man. But be that as it may, I realized why Barret had gotten himself into this mess and I felt almost guilty. "I hope she's okay."

"She's with your mom," Barret said reassuringly, but more it was more likely that he was assuring himself more than me.

"Come on, you two!" Cloud, who had went on ahead called. "Look at this!" Catching up with him, I saw that one test tube had been shattered, it's specimen robbed. "Did it get away? ...JENOVA?"

...It was true, then. Jenova had been here. Sephiroth's... mother?

"The trail leads up these stairs!" Tifa said.

Walking up the stairs, nervous again, I didn't know what to expect. But whatever it was, finding myself in President Shinra's giant office with the President himself, at his desk with a giant sword in his back was not it. I heard several gasps.

Barret spoke incredulously. "He's dead... the head of ShinRa is dead..."

Tifa ran to the limp figure and checked his pulse, then the sword. She suddenly became pale. "Then this sword must be..."

"Sephiroth's!!" Cloud exclaimed.

"...Sephiroth is alive?" Tifa asked quietly.

"Looks like it... Only Sephiroth can use that sword."

Barret snapped. "Who cares who did it?! This is the end of the ShinRa!"

"But that must mean that the Promised Land really does exist and that Sephiroth's here to save it from ShinRa?" Tifa asked, uncertain.

"So he's a good guy then?" Barret wondered.

I looked down at the floor, deciding not to tell anyone that I had seen him. How would it help them anyhow?

"Save the Promised Land?" Cloud scoffed. "A good guy? No way!! It's not that simple! I know him! Sephiroth's mission is different."

Suddenly, we all heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter, roaring outside in the dark sky. Barret snarled. "Rufus! Damn! I forgot about him!"

"Who's that?" Tifa inquired.

"Vice President Rufus. The President's son!"

That name... it must have been Zack who had told me about him. That's a tough one...he had said. They say that no one's ever seen him bleed or cry!

Things were getting more complicated by the minute. Here we were. Mercenary, bar hostess, terrorist, beast and flowergirl. There were things that I didn't understand, things that I needed to know. But I did know that we had the makings of a team. I wouldn't let them be caught again.