-----

So alone. Sometimes I swear that I can hear the taunting of the voiceless ones.

Totalimmortal - AFI

-----

Breathless, gasping, Tifa and Aerith entered a doorway, one of many, off the crowded streets of Junon. They had to shove and push their way through the gathered throng of people who had come to see the President's parade. Once inside it was revealed they had entered an large bar. After pausing momentarily to catch her breath, Tifa gently caught Aerith by the arm. "This way," she said, and began leading the other towards the back of the bar, to a large spiralling staircase. Aerith followed, feeling weak; she was caught between euphoria and cold dread. She had escaped him; how long until he found her again? As she climbed the stairs after Tifa she stubbornly shook her head. She was safe; she had found her friends ...

Tifa led her then down a dimly lit corridor with doors on either side. She halted at the door marked 301 and knocked twice. There was a sound from within, and the door cracked open. "Tifa?" asked a deep, growly voice from within.

"It's me," Tifa replied, and the door opened. A four legged creature stood there; fiery red fur and a fierce countenance. One amber eye, remarkable in its shrewd intelligence, widened as it travelled from Tifa to the bedraggled girl standing behind her.

"You! " Said the catlike creature in startled recognition.

Aerith took a hesitant step backwards. "You know each other?" Tifa asked.

"We met ... in the lab ..." Aerith said hesitantly.

"I apologize for the somewhat violent facade I put up back there," Said the creature, "Rest assured I really had no intentions of eating you."

Tifa giggled at that, and Aerith couldn't help but smile. "My name," she said to the creature then, "is Aerith."

"So you are Aerith," the other said in a tone that indicated he had heard much about her, "You can call me Red."

Tifa moved then, stepping into the room, and Aerith followed. Red, rising nimbly on his hind legs, manouevered the door closed and secured the lock. The room was empty but for the three of them; Tifa took a seat on the corner of on one of the two beds, and Aerith moved to the window to watch apprehensively the processional below.

"Where are the others?" Tifa asked Red, who had curled up in the corner by the door.

There came the sound of the door being unlocked.

"Right here," said the voice Aerith had been longing to hear. She whirled around, heart suddenly racing, to find Cloud standing square in the doorway. Immediately his gaze found her, and after a muttered exclamation he was striding forward to embrace her. She closed her eyes as his arms wrapped around her, feeling the days of fear and worry being chased away by his very presence. He drew back, blue eyes earnest and searching.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly.

She nodded, throat closing with sudden tears of relief. He saw her distress, and embraced her again. When he stepped away this time, there was someone to take his place.

"Aerith! Where the hell have ya been?"

A second later she was engulfed in a hug of mass proportions; she could feel the oxygen being squeezed from her body. As she made a small sound of protest Barret released her, grinning widely. "We missed ya, ya know?"

She returned his happy smile, "I missed you all too."

"Aerith," This from Cloud as he stepped in front of Barret. His voice was now serious and concerned. "What happened to you?"

She took a deep breath, not wanting to tell them of everything that had transpired, wanting to forget it all and content herself with what was here and now. She began to speak, slowly at first, and told them all that had happened since she had been abducted by the Turks while taking the small girl Marlene to her stepmother. The others listened intently, their expressions ranging from horrified disbelief to grim worry. When she had finished detailing her arrival in Junon, the tension in the air was tangible; thick enough to choke on.

"Then he's here," he said slowly. "Sephiroth is here in Junon."

Aerith could do no more than nod her head in affirmation. She had not told them everything; how could she? How could she try and explain Sephiroth's bizarre behaviour towards her when she was baffled by it herself? She shared her friends' apprehension; she wanted nothing more than to flee this city with them at her side, and leave it far, far behind.

"We need to leave, Cloud." Tifa said, her dark eyes full of trepidation. "Now."

Cloud released a deep breath, and nodded. "We will. We'll leave on the Shinra boat that is departing tonight."

"And just how we gonna do that? " Barret demanded incredulously.

Cloud grinned then, mischeviously. "Have you ever wanted to be a sailor?"

"What the hell you talkin' about?"

"You'll find out later. We all need to get ready; go get your stuff and meet back here."

Grumbling, Barret complied, and the others filed out of the room after him. Cloud regarded Aerith then, taking in her ragged appearance; the blood staining her dress and its considerably shorter hemline. He said quietly, "Are you in pain?"

Aerith shrugged, seeing no reason to lie to him, "Some. But I'll live."

His eyes filled with something then, and Aerith felt her own color rise at the irrational, giddy happiness she felt to be with him again. He smiled, a genuine warm smile. "I'm glad you're okay. We tried to look for you in the lab, but there was no trace. It was as if you'd vanished off the Planet ... and if I'd known you were there in Kalm when we were there ..." He trailed off, and his expression became dark. "I would have killed him for hurting you."

"Cloud," she said, not wanting to dwell on that person, not now, "I'm here, and I'm okay."

His smile returned, and his entire composure lightened. "I know. Now, we have to go about finding uniforms ..."

"Uniforms? What for?"

He had already turned, and was leaving the room. His reply, tossed over his shoulder, told her nothing. "You'll see."

-----

Military organizations, Aerith decided, were to be avoided solely for the fact that the uniforms included were so very, very uncomfortable.

Red proved to be just as, if not more, amusing than Barret. The catlike creature hissed vehemently at the clothing with which Cloud presented him with. After some gentle persuasion by Aerith he deigned to let himself be clothed in the manner of humans. Once they were all fully in uniform, Cloud led them to the ship at the main dock, which they boarded without incident. Once on board Cloud instructed them to split up and look as if they belonged there, and so they dispersed.

Aerith walked up the stairs to the deck, concentrating on not laughing as she watched Red ahead of her, tottering on his hind legs in a wobbly, yet passable, version of the human gait. As soon as she reached the deck she hurried to the railing, excited and enchanted by the fact that she was in fact, sailing on the ocean that before this day she had never seen. The mist from the water rose up around her and she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of it. The gentle rocking motion of the boat did not affect her at all, and she briefly wondered what it was like to experience sea sickness as she had heard others did.

Sometime later, Cloud in uniform approached her casually. He asked in an undertone, "Where's Tifa?"

Just as casually, Aerith replied, "I think she's below deck."

"Could you look for her, please? Just to make sure she's okay?"

"Of course," she replied, and was rewarded by the comforting pressure of his hand against her back. She waited until he had left before turning with some reluctance from her post and heading back below deck. Her footsteps echoed eerily on the metal steps as she found herself out of the bright sun and within the darkened confines of the ship. Standing at the door to the cargo bay where to guards clad much like herself; she nodded at them and proceeded to pass. There were a few others down here, unloading freight or just standing around, but none of them seemed to be Tifa. She walked further, all the way to the back of the hold, but there was no one there. She frowned; Tifa must be above afterall.

She turned and went back the way she came. As she neared the cargo hold and the two guards, she halted abruply, feeling a cold, electric chill chase down her spine. Slowly, fearfully, she pivoted on the spot to face the rear of the hold.

He stood there, partially hidden in shifting shadow. She knew it was him by the telltale flashes of light along the strands of his snowy hair, and the ethereal sheen off his eyes. He made no move to hide himself, but stood tall and proud before her, before the other soldiers. She dared not breathe, lest he see through her uniform, through her disguise -

His lips curved ever so slowly in a chilling smile, one of anger and warning. As he began striding forwards, she was running, fleeing headlong up the stairs. She had been foolish to think he would not know her ... shouts of alarm rang out behind her, but she did not stop to look. She raced upwards, and when daylight encompassed her she was darting forwards, looking frantically for the others, for Cloud. So panicked was she that when someone gripped her arm and spun her around she let out a startled scream.

"Aerith!" It was Cloud, she knew it was, even though all that was visible was his sapphire eyes. "What is it?"

Sobbing breathlessly in relief and despair, she clung to him, not caring who saw them now. She needed him, needed his strength.

God help her, she couldn't face him again, not alone ...

"Aerith?"

"He's here, " she said then. "Sephiroth. He's here."