Chapter Four

There is a hesitant knock on my door. I wake up, still feeling groggy after everything that had happened. I look down at my now blood-stained pillow. Damn. Now I'll have to figure out a way to get it washed, and that could prove difficult. I open the door just a crack--that was all I could do with my desk in front of it anyways. I peek out to see a pair of green eyes peeking back in at me.

"Sephiroth?" Aeris asks, and I have to admit I'm surprised to see her here.

"Um, come in," I feel awkward as I shove the desk aside. She comes in and I shut the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Why was Hojo mad at you earlier?" she inquires, sitting down on my bed. I take a seat on the desk across from her.

"Um..." I find it hard to make up a lie for her. I don't know why. Normally I'm used to making up lies to keep myself out of trouble with Hojo, but I just can't seem to lie to this girl.

"I heard him say 'ice pack', so tell me the truth," she adds on quickly.

"I, er, told him it was my ice pack, and he gave me a reason to really need one," I say simply, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Why? It was mine. You got hurt for me," she frowns.

I wonder if she's mad at me for saving her from getting her head smashed into a wall. She's really something else.

"Yeah, well, I think my skull's thicker than yours," I can't even force a smile as I say this. It's not that funny, even though that had been the goal.

"Thank you, Sephiroth," she smiles. "I owe you one."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I guess we specimen have to stick up for each other."

"Sounds like a good rule to live by," Aeris agrees.

"Why'd you come here?" I finally have to ask her.

"Because I wanted to see if you were okay. Ick...you don't look so great."

"Thanks," I mumble, looking at myself in the mirror. I'd been sleeping, so my hair was everywhere and some of the blood had dried on my face. It's not like I'd been expecting visitors or anything. "What are you doing?" I frown as she opens up my closet door and looks through it. She glances at the bottom of it and finds the object she's searching for--a washcloth. She opens another door, the one that leads to my bathroom. She comes back out, the washcloth cold. I reach out to take it from her, but she ignores me and wipes my face clean herself. She's surprisingly gentle...it's been a long, long time since anyone's been this gentle with me...

"Close your eyes," she tells me, and I obey without a second thought. "Okay, done," she folds the washcloth up and puts it across the shower-rod in the bathroom to dry. She smiled approvingly. "There. You look a lot better now, if you'd just do something with that hair," she laughs.

I roll my eyes and pull the hairband off of my wrist. Mom's hairband. Lucrecia's hairband. I pull my hair back into it's typical ponytail. Some of the intern guys make fun of me. I don't care. I don't plan on getting my hair cut and it's in my way if I leave it down. Aeris nods. Guess that act got me on her good side for the moment or whatever...

"So, why are you here?" she inquires.

I'm not sure what the answer to her question is.

"Come again?" I ask.

"I'm here because I'm a Cetra and they want to hear what the Planet's saying. Why are you here?" she questions. "You said you were part Cetra...do they want to know what you hear, too?"

"Sometimes," I answer. "Only, I don't think I hear the Planet...I hear something else."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Like a voice, in the back of my mind..." I stand up and cross the room to my window. Looking out it never gives me any condolence, and doesn't now either. Sometimes I don't know why I bother. "Hojo always told me it was my imagination. Later on I learned it was more than just that..."

"What is it?"

"Jenova."

"What's J-en-ov-a?" she asks, struggling with the pronounciation.

"Jenova," I repeat for her. She says it under her breath and nods. "Jenova...I don't know who she is. But Hojo injects her cells into me...and I guess there's enough in my system now that it's kind of taking over."

Saying it aloud is like admitting something I've been trying to deny for the last year, now, ever since I really learned what was going on. Ever since I learned my imagination had a name--and that it's name was Jenova. I didn't want to admit that I'd probably someday lose control of my own body to her, but saying it outloud only made it all the more real. At just the thought of her, I could feel the foreign cells in my body rising, the ones that I had no control over. I shoved my hands in my pockets in an attempt to stop them from shaking.

"He injects you with the cells of another person?" Aeris sounds horrified. Why did I tell her...what the hell was I thinking... "And that person's practically possessing you?"

"Yes," I snap, not meaning to be mean. It just happens sometimes. Like I said, Hojo's all I'm used to dealing with. No wonder this bitter feeling's always around...even though it seems to subside some when I'm talking to her...

"Sephiroth, I'm--"

"No, it's my bad," I shake my head. "Shouldn't have gotten mad, sorry."

I don't really feel that sorry. I kind of have an idea that I never should have talked to Aeris...

"It's okay. So...what's the point of them doing this to you?"

"I don't know!" I yell. Well, that makes it obvious I don't feel that sorry... She sighs, but doesn't bother moving. What is her problem anyway?! "If you want to know that badly, then why don't you ask Hojo yourself?"

"Fine," she says indignantly. "Maybe I will."

"No, you won't," I say quickly. I have a bad feeling that Hojo doesn't want me around Aeris anyway. Probably mess up his Jenova project, or whatever it is that I'm such a vital part of. "You won't."

"How do you know? Maybe I will!"

"You can't!" I shake my head. "I'll have to hurt you if you do."

I feel like hurting her now.

"You wouldn't," Aeris tilts her head to the side, making her look innocent. It's hard to stay mad at her. "You wouldn't hurt me."

"But Hojo would, if he found out you knew. Not just you either."

Aeris is silent for a moment as she walks towards my door. She opens it and looks over her shoulder at me.

"I wouldn't have told him anyway, Sephiroth."

The door closes behind her. I notice she's taken my pillowcase with her, undoubtedly to clean. I appreciate the offer, but I do have a sink of my own and could have did it myself. Whatever. I walk back over to my pillowcase-less bed and sit down. There's a light scent of flowers here that I smell everytime I'm around Aeris...it's calming, almost, though I can't understand just exactly why...