Disclaimer- I do not own FF7 or anything or anyone that has to do with it, Squaresoft does.

Chapter Two: Truth

"For the hate and darkness that pulses inside your veins, AWAKEN!" With that, Aeris plunged her Holy Materia into the All that was encasing Sephiroth. With a blinding light, Holy fused with the All Materia, melting the crystallized tomb and releasing Sephiroth from his suspended state.

Sephiroth dropped to the stone cavern's ground with a thud. Aeris stood back, with her Farie Tale drawn out in front of her, posed and ready for an attack. When Sephiroth didn't make any movement, Aeris walked over to him, and nudged him with the end of her staff. When he still didn't make any motion of being alive, Aeris jabbed Sephiroth, hard in his ribs. Before the Ancient could realize what was happening, Sephiroth grabbed the staff, twisting it away from her small, delicate hands, and tossed it, along with her, against the cavern wall.

"Stupid," Sephiroth hoarsely mocked, turning up an evil grin towards where Aeris lay. "Stupid girl, that was your first mistake." His body coursed with pain as he tried to push himself up off the ground. He didn't give up so easily, and clenched his teeth against it as he stood. "Mother, give me the strength," Sephiroth silently prayed as he stiffly limped over to where the Ancient was still sprawled out on the floor. She wasn't completely unconcience though, he could hear her thoughts... She was wishing for the clone to come rescue her.

Sephiroth pulled Masamune out of it's case attached to his belt and eased his way to sit on a nearby rock. He lay the sword's tip at her neck, and grinned as he watched her regain concienceness. To Sephiroth, the look of fear and dispair flashing in the young girl's eyes as she felt the steel of his sword intruding against her thin neck made this moment worth the wait. Sephiroth stood, much eased than before, and looked down on the Ancient.

Sephiroth held Masamune's grip tight and, forcing the Jenova cell's impulses away, turned it away from the Ancient, striking it hard against a nearby rock. "You are a stupid, stupid girl," he mocked angrily, "Do you have any idea what you have done?" Aeris sat up and tried to reach for her staff, but Sephiroth put his foot on it, pinning it down. "I asked you a question," Sephiroth stated. Aeris flung her hands away from the Farie Tale with emphasis, and stood up, dusting herself off. Sephiroth frowned at her, disappointed.

"Mother told me you were coming," Sephiroth said, tauntingly. "No," Aeris spun around and angrily stated, "You told me to come and bring you back to life." Sephiroth turned to face her, with stark surprise. "And you came? ...So you are one of us," He asked curiously with an eyebrow raised, and she snorted. "One of who? You're the one that's stupid." Sephiroth frowned and shook his head, then laughed harshly. "Stupidity is saved for fauna of the plains and humans of this planet... I am far more superior than that, than you will ever be in your lifetime."

Aeris snorted, kicking Sephiroth hard in the shin with her steel toed boots. Sephiroth let up on the staff and grinned. " Who you are means nothing to me, I would do away with you in seconds if I wished. That is not what I want you for... I have something planned for us, but you will have to wait until I am ready." Aeris grabbed her staff and stared accusingly at Sephiroth. "What makes you think I would do anything for you," she asked, and he smirked. "Everything I do is for a greater cause, you should know. Not everything is to be known, but I will show you when the time comes, willing or not, and I do believe you would be willing."

Aeris sat down on the ground, and looked up at Sephiroth, exhausted. "Hmp. If who I am makes no difference to you, what do you want with me," she asked, and he smirked. "It's what you are, that I am interested in," he said, slowly sitting down across from her. "Well,
if I came here and did everything you wanted me to, why do you call me stupid then," she asked him back. Sephiroth sat back and sighed. "It's difficult to explain."

He stared at her for a minute, examining her Peridot green eyes, realizing how similar they were to his. She stared back at him, challengingly. "We have all the time we need," she said. Sephiroth sighed deeply, and laid on his back, propping his head on his arms.

"Well," he stared, " I had my doubts about you, Aeris. I was raised, knowing there was another child, a child of hope. A child of the Cetra. But... You see, I have premonitions and visions, just like you. I have seen you often, in the fields, but you aren't the one." Aeris snorted. "And why don't you think so," she asked. Sephiroth sighed loudly. "I know so. I've read the research papers enough to know what has really happened. Everything your ...mother... told you was a fabrication."

"You lie," Aeris said as she reached over and slapped Sephiroth across the face. He gritted his teeth and retained his cool, and continued. "I don't lie. It is all in Professor Gast's secret files, hidden away deep in the Nibelheim mountains. There were two children to be brought into the world, a keeper of the day, and a keeper of the night. The keeper of the day, would be you, I assume. You hold Holy, do you not?" Aeris glared at Sephiroth, and he ignored her. " The keeper of Holy, the child of light, the watcher of the day, shall be a girl. So it is written, so it shall come to pass."

Sephiroth paused, surveying the Ancient's reaction. Aeris said nothing, and actually looked eager to hear the rest of it, so he continued. "I have made a big mistake, one that I may not be able to live down. You see, I am the keeper of the Ultimate Destruct Magic, the child of darkness, the watcher of the night. You see Aeris, I was the chosen one, the boy. Hojo understood this upon my birth, that I would have to be strong, almost supernaturally, to be able to contain the Black Materia. Upon the time I was in Soldier, I thought it was all a game, and I never took it serioulsy. When one of my underlings attacked me, it fell away from me, and I ended up here, comatose until this time."

Aeris looked down, taking that in. "You lost the Darkness?" Sephiroth looked over and met Aeris's eyes. "I didn't loose it. I merely had an accident, and it... was misplaced." He looked away, somewhat ashamed. Aeris laughed, harshly, and Sephiroth looked back over, suprised. "I know where it is," she said. Sephiroth basically jumped into a standing position. "WHERE," he asked, and she grinned. "Cloud has it."

Sephiroth couldn't believe his ears. "Cloud... Strife?" Aeris nodded. "NO," he yelped, pulling Masamune from it's resting place and forcefully swinging it at a stalagmite. "No, no, no, no, NO! Not HIM! If you knew HE had it, why didn't you TAKE IT?" Sephiroth turned to face Aeris, trembling with rage. Aeris blushed and shyly smiled. "It's not my place to touch that thing," she said, giggling at the tall, silver haired man. Sephiroth was fuming. He thought about beheading her for a minute, but he came to his senses and remebered why he had summoned her here.

"Allright," Sephiroth growled at the far too chipper Aeris, "I need it." "I already knew that," Aeris cut in, still giggling. Sephiroth took a deep breath, pushing away his cell's homocidal tendancies for the time being. "Of all the scum to have hold of it, HE is at the bottom of the list..." "And why is that," Aeris cut in again. Sephiroth, completely frusterated, threw Masamune, sending the long sword clattering to the ground. "Because HE IS THE CHILD," Sephiroth agitatedly screamed, and Aeris looked at him in disbelief. "Cloud is the last remaining Cetra?"