You claimed all this time that you would die for me. Why then are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?
Eulogy - Tool-----
Aching. Her entire being was aching; steady, pulsing throbs.Awareness returned slowly, filtering pieces at a time. With the awareness came pain, compounding with the aching; burning, rending sensations, as though her insides were being shredded with a thousand hot blades. Whimpering, she tried to shrink, tried to fold into herself so that the torture would fade. The movement caused the agony to increase, radiating now in concentric waves.
She whimpered.At the sound, something wrapped around her waist tightened. In one sudden frantic rush she became fully awake. Several things were immediately apparent: she was bitterly cold, a hard, uneven surface was beneath her, and she was firmly encircled by something warm and solid. Panic crept through her, and she tried desperately to recall what had happened to her, where she was -
She remembered Tseng.Falling.
Sephiroth.Full recollection flooded her; eyes flew open. She lay on her side, and she was covered from the neck down by something heavy and black. It was a coat.
Sephiroth's coat.She stiffened in startled realization. At the motion, she felt the solid warmth at her back shift. The pressure around her middle loosened. Refusing to move, she closed her eyes fearfully.
"You are awake?"Her fears had been justified. In a tremulous whisper she replied, "Yes."
He moved again, carefully extracting her from his embrace. She shivered involuntarily as the loss of his body heat against her back as he left from beneath the coverage of his coat. Clasping the heavy leather to her like some sort of shield, she uncurled painfully from her huddled position. The momentum of raising herself from the ground made her suddenly very disoriented; the world tilted alarmingly. The internal pain, which had somewhat subsided upon her awakening, rushed back with a vengeance. Gasping, she dropped the coat to clutch her sides, and waited for it to pass. When it had, she opened her eyes to find Sephiroth crouched on the other side of the blackened remains of a fire, watching her with an unreadable expression. Disconcerted by what she had awoken to, she asked him hesitantly, her voice weak, "What happened?""You fell into an underground river when the Turks destroyed the bridge. I found you in the river outside the mountain."
Aerith didn't respond, gritting her teeth as tearing agony ripped through her insides. Observing her pain, Sephiroth said, "I think you contracted Mako poisoning from the river somehow. That's what you're feeling."The pain wasn't subsiding. Biting down hard on a scream of anguish, she fell backwards. Her hands scrabbled at the rocky ground as the shredding torment bowed her spine. All control of her body was gone, and she writhed helplessly under the onslaught of the poison flowing through her veins. Through eyes dark with suffering she looked at him pleadingly. Help me! she cried to him silently.
He came to kneel by her contorted form, as another spasm caused her back to concave, rising from the ground. His face was impassive as he gazed down upon her, but he reached out and laid one hand on her forehead as a breathless, choking cry escaped her lips. "The poison is passing through your system," he said. The spasms receded, leaving her exhausted and shaking. Unable to speak or move for lack of strength, she watched him, eyes clouded with confusion as he gently stroked her brow. "It will be over soon," he told her, reaching out and grabbing the coat before pulling it over her once again. He glanced consideringly at the remains of the fire before rising to retrieve his sword. Using the attached materia, he brought into creation another flame. Aerith, her head turned to follow his movement, sighed faintly as the comforting warmth of the blaze washed over her. For long moments she lay thus, lightly dozing.Without warning, she began to convulse again. The coat was quickly dislodged by her thrashing. She did scream then, as the poison caused her muscles to tense beyond their capacity. This spasm was worse than the last; she doubled over as the convulsions grew violent enough to interfere with her breathing. As her desperate attempts to bring air into her lungs grew more audible, Sephiroth decisively returned to her side. He caught hold of her flailing wrists and forced her arms to straighten out above her head. This caused her torso to unfold, and her breathing resumed with a harsh rasp. As her body bucked and twisted in the throes of the poison he leaned over her, positioning himself in such a way that the spasms could not raise her from the ground. Her eyes were open, unfocused, staring at the ceiling. A small trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth. Almost knocking him over, her entire body thrashed once more before going rigid, and then falling limp.
Her hair, damp with sweat, was plastered to the side of her face. A heavy, overwhelming weariness was creeping over her. She tried to keep her lids from closing; she wanted to watch him as he knelt over her, his hair a silver veil around them, his eyes narrowed in concern. He released her wrists, and she could no longer remain awake. Her eyes closed, and she was carried away ...Just before she lost all consciousness, she felt him lay down beside her, facing her. Arms, so strong, encircled her, and drew her closer. With her face pressed against the powerful firmness of his bare chest, she fell away into the welcoming dark.