A/N: Here is the much waited chapter with a few answers about Piper, Charis, Sephianna, and Ahriana. Of course, no one was really waiting since I haven't gotten any reviews...

-Chapter Twelve-
A Few Answers




Piper groaned inwardly. Her arms were sore from the position she was bound. Her hands were tied together above her head by a rope. Ooh, scary. It was done terribly, but they said something about not being able to use magic. Yay! she had thought excitedly. But she was still outnumbered and they looked physically fit, at least enough to stop her. She just wished that Ahriana would walk away so she could run. Blowing a few strands of hair from her face, she tried to formulate a plan. She knew she could escape to Mount Nibel, or Mount Gagazet, as it was called, but then she'd probably get lost and freeze to death. Since they couldn't use magic, it'd be hard for them to track her if she ran into the ruins. There had to be a place in there that she could find sanctuary, at least for a little while.

"Comfortable?" Ahriana asked, a giant grin on her face. It was still a little strange, seeing her as a grown teenager instead of the young toddler.

"Oh loads," Piper answered bitterly. She couldn't feel, or bend, her fingers anymore. "Where's Charis?" she inquired. It was something that had been poking at her curiosity for a while. She hadn't seen her friend, but they had said something about her being there.

"With her father," Ahriana yawned. She seemed bored.

"Father?" Piper echoed. She didn't know anything about Charis' father. It even seemed Yuffie didn't know much about him. "Who's her father?"

"You wouldn't know him, even if I told you," Ahriana sneered.

"Oh, right," Piper sighed. She needed more answers so she could know exactly what she was up against. Yuffie told me I have to... kill Charis. I can't do that... Why would I have to?

Zalèa, Narianne, and Evan crept across the ruins of Zanarkand. All three knew the land well, but they were still afraid. Afraid that Piper might already be dead, or maybe Piper hadn't even gone there. "I give up," Nari sighed loudly.

"We can't give up!" Zalèa hissed. "We haven't looked everywhere yet, and I'm not leaving knowing Piper could still be down here!"

"Calm down," Evan ordered. "If you guys start fighting now, they might find us and we'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Are you looking for Piper?" a soft female voice said.

All three froze, and slowly cowered. "Who's there?" Nari called quietly, her eyes searching the terrain.

"Sorry." A female figure appeared in front of them, but was slightly transparent. She had bright, emerald eyes, and long copper hair, like Piper's. Her smile seemed to assure she wasn't there to hurt them. "Are you three looking for Piper Strife?"

"Y-yes," Zalèa stuttered. "W-who are you?"

"My name is Infalna," the woman introduced, "Infalna Gainsborough. I am Piper's grandmother."

Evan and Nari glanced at each other, then back at the ghostly figure. "Are you... alive?" he asked.

She shook her head, copper locks bouncing against her face. "No. I haven't been alive for a very long time."

"What do you want?" Nari questioned.

Infalna smiled again, as if she didn't quite realize she was just an apparition, a ghost. "I'm here to help you. There are things you have to know before you can fight Jenova."

"Fight Jenova?" Zalèa echoed, "We're going to get Piper out of here... She is here, right?"

"Yes. Piper stands at the base of Gagazet, waiting to be stripped of her very life," she said calmly.

Zalèa winced at the thought, "Well, are you going to help us get her out of there or are you just gonna stand there?"

"There are things you have to know before you can even try," Infalna said. "Piper needs help. You must convince her to kill the girl named Charis."

"But that's her best friend from her home!" Nari said, "She wouldn't do that... I think."

"Exactly. You must tell her why she and Charis cannot live in the same time era any longer."

Evan scratched his head, "Why's that?" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously, beginning to wonder if he was ever going to understand anything about the girl who had come to Spira.

"Piper has the blood of the Cetra race. So does Charis. But Charis has the blood of Jenova, and her son Sephiroth. It is destiny that one should kill the other." Infalna sighed, "Charis is the true reincarnate of Sephiroth. Not Sephianna."

Zalèa crossed her arms over her chest, taking in the information. "But Sephianna's father is Sephiroth..."

"No. Sephiroth and Yuna both contributed to Sephianna's existence but neither of them knew they had done it."

"Okay, head hurts. What are you saying?" Nari asked, rubbing her temples.

Infalna continued, "Seventeen years ago, the lady summoner Yuna was reunited with her lost love and guardian Tidus. He had been gone for five years."

"Where was he?" Evan asked. He had never heard this story about his parents.

"In the Farplane."

Three jaws dropped, "What?!" Nari exclaimed.

"He was a dream of the Fayth," Infalna continued, calm as ever, "The machina war of a thousand years ago ended with Zanarkand's destruction by Sin. The few who survived became Fayth, and summoned a dream. They created a different Zanarkand, with Sin or summoners. There were two 'dreams' who were touched by Sin and brought to Spira. Tidus, and his father, Jecht. Jecht traveled with Lord Braska, Yuna's father, and they beat Sin. But not for good. Only Tidus, Yuna, and her other guardians were able to defeat Yu Yevon and defeat Sin forever. But when Yu Yevon disappeared, the Fayth stopped dreaming."

"So Dad was in the Farplane for five years. But how'd he get out?" Evan wondered.

"He met my daughter, Aeris. With his connection to Spira and her Ancient powers, they were able to escape the Farplane and live once again. But Sephiroth, and the half Guado, Seymour--"

"Followed them out. Shinra told us," Zalèa interrupted, uninterested in hearing the long story again.

"Yes, but there was a point in time where Yuna was trapped in a dark abyss. This abyss was her mind. All the pain she had gone through in her life had finally caught up to her. Here in this abyss, she saw many things. Sephiroth was able to control what she saw, and for a moment, their spirits were as one." Infalna looked lazily across the rocky terrain and continued, "Sephianna was born."

"So what about Ahriana?" Evan asked. "The same?"

"Yes. Ahriana, too, was created from the spirits of Yuna and Sephiroth. But it was the opposite. Where Sephianna was created from Yuna's light and Sephiroth's dark, Ahriana was created from Yuna's pain, and Sephiroth's innocence."

Nari snorted, "Sephiroth's innocence? The man wants to destroy all of Spira!"

"Yes, but at one time, he was the same as you. Just a curious child. The truth drove him insane. He was a creation. Nothing real about him. He was a puppet of Jenova." Infalna said sadly.

"Okay..." Nari rolled her eyes, not believing what was being said.

"And Charis?" asked Zalèa.

"Charis is the reincarnation of Sephiroth. She was created by parts of Jenova's spirit, and my daughters'."

"Yet, she's Yuffie's daughter?" Evan said. He had overheard Rikku saying how she looked just like a girl named Yuffie, who Shinra had mentioned in his story as one of Aeris' friends.

"Yes. Yuffie found the pod where Charis was being created and by touching it, Charis joined her, and was born nine months later," Infalna said.

"O...kay..." Zalèa said. Some of it made sense; most of it was too weird.

"Charis must start the bringing of the Promised Land by performing the ritual known as 'Seven Blades'. As Piper slowly dies from the ritual, Odin will be summoned. And Jenova will take over Piper's mostly-dead body," Infalna spoke without a tone of disgust in her voice, but it could be easily seen in her pretty features. She was becoming more and more transparent with each passing moment, a sign that she was leaving.

Nari clutched her stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick," she whispered.

"We have to get Piper out of there!" Zalèa yelled. "We can't let her die!"

"Right!" Evan agreed. "You coming Nari?"

His twin nodded, trying to squeeze the image from her mind. "Let's go."

"Good luck," the nearly invisible Infalna wished.


Charis followed her 'father' down the hill, toward the area where Sephianna and Ahriana were holding her best friend Piper captive. Her world had turned upside down in a matter of weeks, and now she was in a position of kill or be killed. The 'Seven Blades' ritual was bloody, and sickening. She got nauseous thinking about it. Her throat was sore from constant screaming at the man in front of her. He had 'created' her. She wasn't real. She was an experiment. One of the only experiments he said he had done right. At least, close to right. She wasn't ever supposed to refuse her 'destiny' or orders given to her by her superiors. She was supposed to be perfect.

Perfectly evil.

Charis didn't want to be seen as a killer. She wanted to be seen as a normal fifteen year old girl who liked to party. Maybe that's what explained her aggressive behavior at times. The feeling of wanting to see her opponent or enemy suffer. It was because she was created. From Jenova. And Aeris.

She looked into Piper's blazing sapphire eyes, full of sorrow and confusion. Seven sharp, but short, daggers appeared around Charis. She didn't know what to do.

"Go on, Charis," her creator ordered.

'Kill me,' she mouthed to her friend, 'Kill me now.'


A/N: Oooooh.... Cliffhanger. Sort of. I'm not updating again until I get some reviews tho. O.O Take that you poop heads. (Okay, Emmy, has an excuse. She told me she'd be gone :P) But the rest of youse don't! Well mebbe you do, and that's great then. You just all better be having fun and not reviewing instead of not having fun and not reviewing. Heh. Oh and Infalna is Aeris' mother's name (her real mother, not Elmyra). It mentions her once in the game when peeking down at the Shinra guys when trying to save Aeris.
Always - Letselina