Chapter 2: Bitter

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Drifting away. Drifting through nothing, with no senses, no idea of where she was… she couldn't see, hear, taste, sense, breathe… all she could do was drift. 'Where…am I?' Aeris thought to herself, confused. She couldn't remember what had happened. And she didn't know where she was, how she had gotten here… and why?

She tried to look around, but found that she couldn't open her eyes; they wouldn't budge. Not a muscle in her body would move. It felt like she was…

Almost as if…

She was…

Images of darkness flooded her mind, walking through a passageway, being attacked… she remembered the glint of a deadly blade, the fear, the blood…

And Planet… she remembered his cruel, heartless laugh. How that laugh had pierced her soul, gripped her spine in fear and paralyzed her body in its chilling tone. His face. She knew him. She knew that face, her murderer's face.

'…Sephiroth.' Her mind spat forth that name like poison; he was the reason she was floating here, alone, cold… dead. She hated him for all that he was for what he'd done to her.

'Why did he kill me… what did I do…' she thought helplessly; her very soul was locked within her mind, the only part of her body still active. Her muscles were stiff, lungs still, heart silent, eyes shut… she was dead in nearly every sense.

Dead and floating in a void of nothingness.

Suddenly light pierced the void… a light that seemed to wrap its warmth around her chilled body and renew her wrongfully ended life. Blood rushed through her veins, air surged into her lungs, her muscles jerked… then her eyes shot open.

And she saw him…

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Sephiroth removed his palm from the girl's cool forehead and sat in silence as the spell did its work. He found himself looking into a pair of deep emerald eyes; eyes filled with shocked surprise… and he could have sworn she had a hint of loving hatred.

Aeris could only blink in wild confusion as a flood of questions bombarded her mind at once.

She screamed suddenly and bolted up, hands shooting themselves around his neck. "Why did you kill me you bastard?!?!? And why the hell did you bring me back if you wanted me dead?!?! What do you want with me?!!? What do you want?? What…why… what did I do to deserve this??!?" She screamed each word with hateful passion, yelled them into his face, tears streaming down her face. And all he could do was look at her in silence, before grabbing her hands and squeezing hard.

The only answer he could give her was a simple… "I don't know." He seemed as confused as she was.

She was freely crying now, sitting up on the ground looking down at her blood-stained dress. This man, the same one who a short while ago had murdered her, had revived her. She didn't understand it. She tried again. "Why… if you wanted me dead, why did you bring me back?? I would've just assumed you left me dead!"

Again, he stared into her eyes, his unnatural eyes piercing deep into her soul, and he gave forth the same answer: "I don't know." He shook his head and looked down.

Aeris screamed, "You must know, or why would you have done it???"

Sephiroth looked up again, "I killed you?"

She was taken aback and screamed, "Yes! See this?" She pointed at her bloody fabric and yelled, "This is what you did to me!! You stabbed me to death!!" Her tear-stained face was red with fury, and she continued to holler at him, "You did this and I want to know why!!!"

He looked down at his hands; he was shaking, "I killed you…?" His eyes were wide with fearful confusion and he looked at her again, "Who…are you?"

She gasped, finally realizing that… he truly didn't know. After a few minutes of awkward silence she replied, "… Aeris."

Sephiroth sighed, "Aeris… I cannot answer because I simply don't know… the last thing I remember is going into the lab at ShinRa Headquarters."

Aeris looked puzzled, "The lab?"

He nodded, "Yes… I was looking at one of Professor Hojo's samples. I think it was called 'Jenova.'"

"Jenova…" Aeris shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about. But if you don't know you killed me then do you know why you revived me at least?"

"I… I came to senses and saw you lying here, bloody dead… I didn't know what was going on. So I revived you." Sephiroth shook his head, "I didn't know I was the one who hurt you…"

She had stopped crying but now was just confused, but decided to keep quiet, for the best. She looked at him sadly, for he was just as confused as her.

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