Chapter 3: Chilled
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Steam billowed out of the spout on the teapot as Aeris gently poured the tea. 'How ironic,' she thought, 'that I'm pouring tea for my somewhat-murderer.' She glanced at him as he lifted the small cup to his lips, and inwardly sighed, 'He must be telling the truth.'
They had retreated back to Aeris' house after the incident, to evade both attention and the chilling cold. Surprisingly, Elmyra had already gone to bed, claiming to have the flu, and Aeris had managed to sneak Sephiroth in with ease. She wondered, while doing this, if she would regret it later. And now she sat there, pouring tea for him as if all was right in the world.
Sephiroth, feeling her gaze upon him, met her eyes for a moment, before setting his cup down and bowing his head in regret. "Aeris, I'm truly sorry for what happened. But I do not understand what happened back in that alley."
Aeris, with hands too shaky to even hold her cup, stared at his downward gaze with icy, emerald eyes. "You killed me. I was walking through the alley, and you came up behind me… strangled me… knocked away my weapon so I couldn't even defend myself… then you shoved that..that…SWORD…through…" She could not continue. Aeris bowed her head in shame, trying to hide her tears, but failing. Her hands wrung the fabric of the dress she was now wearing; she had tossed her pink one in the bathtub, deciding to wash it at a more appropriate time. The blue flower-printed fabric was to suffer the wrath of her hands as she fought hard to control her flailing emotions, when suddenly she felt a strange warmth upon her shoulder. She glanced over to see Sephiroth's black-gloved hand gripping her shoulder in a meager attempt to comfort her. "Aeris…"
If Aeris had had the courage to look him in the face, she would see that he, too, was crying. Instead she kept her head bowed and listened to Sephiroth.
"Please, Aeris, calm down… please. I don't remember doing that, please, just let me explain… stop crying." He sighed; the fact that this girl was crying just made him feel even worse about what he had done."
Aeris sniffed once, before lifting her head slightly and meeting his gaze, "Please, then, explain…" She took hold of her tea cup and held it tightly, as she prepared for what she was about to hear.
Sephiroth took a deep breath, and started.
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Sephiroth…
Sephiroth… come… to… me…
My… son…The voice echoing through Sephiroth's mind only grew worse as he walked through the ShinRa lab. He never figured out just why he was there; it was almost as if he was being lured to the lab by an unseen siren.
Sephiroth…
Come to your… Mother…
He could not help himself; the voice had his mind in its icy grip. Sephiroth stopped in front of a large tank; above was a plaque that read…
"Jenova," Sephiroth whispered, when his pupils dilated and he lost consciousness, as Jenova possessed his body.
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Aeris quivered, and her grip loosened on the tea cup; dozens of ceramic shards scattered about within a puddle of warm tea. She didn't notice. Her thoughts were frozen on one word: Jenova.
Jenova, the crisis from the sky.
Jenova, the killer of her people.
Jenova, who was coming for her.
Jenova.
Jenova was going to kill her now, as she had her mother. Aeris could no longer stand it. She fainted.
It was all Sephiroth could do to lunge from his chair and catch her in her fall.
Inwardly, he wondered how he had hurt her now.
And in the small crevice in his mind, the cave where Jenova lurked and grew much like a tumor, the demon laughed.