Another Time, Perhaps

By mihoyonagi

Chapter VIII

Heavy eyelids slowly open as emerald irises met the dark room, filled only with the light of the distant stars from outside the window. Aerith blinked awake and looked at the clock next to the bed she laid upon. The red numbers spewed out into the room and displayed the time to the very tenth of a second. 'Trust Cid to be so precisely accurate," she smiled, sleepily. Yawning and reaching her hands above her head, the young woman stretched, comfortably.

Sitting up, Aerith noted her lack of footwear. 'When did I take those off?…When did I go to bed, for that matter?' purposely creasing her forehead, lost in thought, she studied herself. All she remembered was she and Sephiroth, talking and laughing all night. Everything else was blank after that.

No… There was something else… Strong arms, a great warmth, and the deep smell of pine and warn leather…

Aerith smiled; he had carried her to bed- what a gentleman! Ignoring her lack of shoes, she stood and left what had become her bedroom over the past few days. Intent on thanking the second time champion, she made her way down the hall, stopping before his door.

The rim of the doorframe was dark, signaling to all outsiders that the lights were out- perhaps he was still asleep? Aerith bit her lip. 'What to do until he wakes, what to do?' She turned and walked back down the hall, past her room, and into the all too familiar larger room, complete with kitchen and sofa. Clicking on the light with a flick of her finger, the flower girl started rummaging through the cupboards.

Soon finding what it was she was searching for, Aerith smiled with delight as she filled the kettle with water and placed it atop the stove, like her companion had those few times before. Placing the two small packages of cocoa on the counter and pulling two cups from the shelf they once rested on, she tossed away the empty cocoa box. "We'll just have to get more, won't we?" she giggled to herself; cocoa was becoming a ritual.

As the teapot sat on the burner, waiting to whistle its out of tune notes, Aerith slowly made her way toward the large window. She smiled as she placed her palm on the cool glass, as if it had always known her, and she it. Just as the cocoa, star gazing was become a ritual…

She sighed, her breath fogging a small portion of the glass. The stars drew out her attention into the endless abyss before her, the only thing separating her and a feeling of complete loneliness was the realization that another heartbeat could be heard on the ship, just as well as hers- the heartbeat of a changed man.

Always knowing when and how to give advice, the young flower girl was inexperienced in receiving it. All of her friends had come to her with their problems, for they knew her heart to be kind and pure. Even the once evil ex-general had sought her council, though not out in the open. His eyes would often plead with hers, like the night he professed his affections for her…

Standing on one side of the window, Aerith made a realization- time changed everything; no exceptions. Galaxies change. Solar systems change. Stars change. Planets change. Lives change. People change. Even she had changed, something she hadn't really given much thought to the past few days she had spent in the company of her once murderer, and now friend. She could now call him that, without so much as a second thought. Pain no longer roared in her chest, nor did her anxiety rise, at the mere mention of his name.

His soft laugh had been so comforting the night before…

Aerith was snapped out of her profound wanderings when the kettle whistled sharply, screaming at the young woman to take if off the heat that was burning it so. Nearly tripping on the way, Aerith ran to the stove and turned the knob to the off position and removed the teapot from the red-hot burner. Tipping the pot on its side, she poured two glasses full of the hot, steaming, clear liquid, then tore open the last two packages of hot cocoa and dumped them into the cups, clouding over the water as she mixed the concoctions with two small spoons she retrieved from the drawer next to her.

Pleased with the completion of the task, despite how small it may have seemed, she threw the empty mix bags into the trash bin, atop the empty box, and scooped up the two mugs in her hands. She turned off the kitchen light with her elbow, but finding it simply too difficult to close the door with no hands. Aerith left the door as it was.

Smiling all the while, she walked down the hall- had she not two steaming cups of hot chocolate in her hands, she would have skipped, but decided against such a thing. If it were possible, her smile would have brightened as she neared his door- the frame was bright, expelling light, showing anyone outside that that the room's occupant was awake.

With careful skill, Aerith tapped her foot lightly on the door. She was surprised when it simply fell open. Though the door was open, she remained in the doorframe, awaiting permission to enter from the man sitting contently at the desk across the room. Aerith noticed that even when sitting, he was tall, his great black wing folded against the flat of his back. From his sitting position, she could only guess that he was reading something. Still, she stood in the doorway.

After a few moments of feeling unnoticed, Aerith cleared her throat. His voice rang, sharp and cruel, through the air, and Aerith nearly dropped the cups from shock. "What?"

"I, um," she stuttered, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

Sephiroth shifted in his seat but did not turn to look at her.

"I brought you, um, some hot cocoa, since we didn't drink any last night. It's sort of, ah, a thank you, for carrying me to bed last night.

Again, he shifted in his seat. After a long pause, he responded, his voice cold and monotone. "I don't want any, thank you." The last part seemed strained when he said it.

Feeling as if someone had driven their fingers into her heart and twisted, Aerith felt suddenly weak-kneed and, for the first time since they joined company on the ship, afraid.

"But I… I made it… For you," she was careful when choosing her words, but knew they were the wrong things to say. 'Walk away,' her mind screamed, but her heart wouldn't let her move her feet, despite her fear.

"I said I don't want any!" he raised his voice, balling a fist and slamming it on the desk. When he moved his arm, even from across the room Aerith could see a small indentation in the top.

Ever so slowly, Aerith inched her way across the gap between them. Timidly, as if afraid to she were to be bitten by the one-winged man, she reached out her hand and placed the cup on the desk, next to his arm. Though she shook, Aerith forced herself to remain strong. She placed a coy hand on his shoulder. "Seph, is something wrong?" She could not recall a time where he voice seemed more likely to betray her- each word was harder than the last to say.

Without warning, Sephiroth stood with a grunt. The chair behind him flew against the wall, and Aerith found just enough time to take a step back as an angry hand slapped at the glass. Flying a few feet with great force, the cup shattered against the wall and hot cocoa stained the wall. The book, the one in which he had been reading, fell to the floor. Aerith gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with fear. The hand still holding her own cup of hot chocolate shook.

Still, he did not look at her. Instead, he let out a strand of curses, and in a flash of black he had turned and was out the door.

It took a few moments for Aerith to regain herself. Her fluttering heart slowed down, not to a normal pace, but slow enough, however. "What is wrong with him?" she panted.

Fear gave way to wonder, and then that wonder gave way to confusion, and in turn, confusion turned into anger. The cup in her hands still shook, but it was not fear that shook it this time- oh no- it shook from fury.

She charged out the door after him and was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of his black cape disappearing into the larger room of the ship. With a resilience she hadn't known she possessed, Aerith charged after the platinum-haired man in a fit of rage.

She entered the kitchen not long after he, and she found him leaning against the counter top, palms down, bent over it so as his silver hair masked his face. His hands remained balled in the fists he had slammed against the desk. He turned to her, but didn't look directly into her eyes. Opening his mouth to say something, he closed it, clamping his lips tight and making them look even thinner than they already did. He turned his gaze to the floor.

In her fit of rage, Aerith could hold back no longer. Taking the cup in hand, she raised her arm above her head, and then propelled it to the ground, letting go when the length of her arm ended. The cup continued falling with immense power until it hit the floor and shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. She let out a shriek of anger and confusion. "What did I do?"

Sephiroth looked up, shocked out of his angry state. He looked to her feet to see the tiny shards of porcelain roll away from her feet. Her toes were already glowing with a slight pinkish tone, due to the hot chocolate that pooled at her feet. Splotches of brown spread across the floor like beads of water on the top of a leaf. Her head was tiled down, but he didn't have to see her face to know that tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes.

A pang of deep guilt struck him. He forced himself to answer her question, though his voice sounded so weak. "You showed me a kindness I never thought possible…"