They left the villa an hour after dawn, finding Elena waiting outside for them, a green duffel bag slung over one shoulder.
"Are you guys ready to go?" she asked of them.
"Yes," Aeris replied.
"So, where do you think we'll find Sephiroth?" Elena wondered.
"Cosmo Canyon," Vincent stated, surprising both women by speaking.
"Are you sure?" the Cetra asked. "I mean, I know Katrina wanted to go there, but..."
"I am certain."
She exchanged glances with Elena, and then shook her head, smiling. "All right then."
"I guess this means we head down to the docks and see if there's a ship going that way," Elena concluded. The others nodded their agreement and followed her to the docks, where they managed to buy passage on a ship bound for the Cosmo area only a few minutes before it left.
After they lost sight of Costa del Sol, Elena retreated below deck, claiming that her stomach didn't agree with all the rocking. That left Aeris alone with Vincent again, and, unsurprisingly, for some time there was no conversation between them. At first Aeris did not mind; she was content to lean against the rail with the sea breeze in her face and watch the coastline as they made their way south along it.
At length, though, she decided to break the silence. "Vincent, I've been wondering," she began. "Did you ever find out anything more about the Cetra on your journey to defeat Sephiroth?"
He nodded minutely. "Yes, we did. Professor Gast left behind much of his research in his house in Snow Village. Your mother Ifalna lived there, and he taped several interviews with her."
"My mother knew Professor Gast?" Aeris wondered.
Vincent looked at her strangely. "He was your father; you didn't know?"
"My father?" she asked in startlement, turning to stare at him. After a moment, she managed to regain her composure, and she shook her head. "No, I didn't know. Mom never told me."
"Apparently he went north after quitting the Jenova Project, both to get away from Hojo and to do further research on the Cetra."
"Nn. Do you... remember what was in the videos?"
"Yes," he answered cautiously. "Do you want to hear it?"
"No, not now," she said. "I'm sure you'd prefer not to recount everything. But... if you could put it into writing for me sometime, I'd really appreciate it."
"All right."
"Thanks," she said, offering him a smile before she turned her attention back to the water. After a moment, she remarked, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Hmm?"
"The ocean."
"Yes," he agreed hesitantly, "it is beautiful."
Aeris glanced at him. "Does it remind you of anything?"
He shook his head, and, after a short pause, asked, "What about you?"
She smiled, glad to see him making some sort of effort. "I guess... it reminds me of Cloud. His eyes are this color, and he really seems to love the ocean." She shook her head. "Of course, I guess this means I won't be able to settle down near the sea, if it keeps making me think of him."
To this, Vincent did not reply.
"I was thinking," she continued more quietly. "If you asked it of him, Sephiroth would probably be willing to try reviving Lucrecia."
She could feel his gaze turn on her in scrutiny. "...and how many lives will the Planet allow to be taken back from it, Aeris?"
"I don't know," Aeris sighed. "I'm not even sure if he'll be able to bring back anyone else... My soul was in tact because the Planet kept me in the Promised Land, but most other souls are eventually torn apart and recycled. Maybe that won't have happened to Lucrecia, because of the Jenova in her, but maybe it will have. I guess... I was only wondering how you would react if you could have her back."
Vincent turned away, saying nothing for some time. "She deserves another chance at life," he decided eventually. "Me, I don't deserve that; I would only do what she asked of me. If... if she truly loves me, then I would stay with her. But only if she wanted it."
"I'm sure that she would want it," Aeris said. "I'm also sure that you deserve it just as much as she does."
He did not reply, and she took this as a good sign. If he was not arguing with her, then maybe he was not so strongly opposed to the notion as before. Satisfied with this conversation, Aeris returned her attention to the sea and watched the water flying in the ship's wake. Maybe, she thought, even without Cloud, she could find a purpose in this life.
Aeris followed Vincent up the steps to Cosmo Canyon, Elena a few paces behind her. She felt tired, and not only from the journey here. Rather than standing idle while the others protected her, she had insisted on fighting alongside them. Vincent had lent her the Quicksilver, which she at least had been able to use for the materia slots, even if her aim was terrible. And so, still not back to her full strength, using magic had drained her, and her feet dragged a little as she reached the top of the stairs.
The gatekeeper frowned at them thoughtfully. "I recognize you two," he said, indicating Aeris and Vincent.
"I'm surprised," Aeris remarked. "We haven't been here for about five years."
"Five years, huh? Are you friends of Nanaki?"
"Yes, that's right."
The gatekeeper smiled and stepped back to let them in. "He's up at the observatory; go say hello."
Aeris nodded, returning the smile. "We will." The three of them entered the village, and the Cetra turned to Elena. "I guess you'll want to go look for Sephiroth."
Elena seemed a little uncertain, as though she didn't want to do such a thing on her own, but she nodded. "Right. I'll meet up with you later."
When she had gone, Aeris turned to Vincent. "Come on. Let's go say hi to Nanaki." She started up towards the observatory, looking around at the many changes that had occurred since her last visit. Like other towns, this place had swelled to accept refugees from Midgar, and by now countless homes hung from the canyon's walls.
Nanaki was waiting for them at the top of the ladder, and his one eye widened at the sight of her. "Hello, Aeris," he greeted when he found his voice. "It's good to see you again."
She smiled. "It's good to see you, too, Nanaki. I guess Sephiroth told you about me...?"
"Yes. Or, rather, his travelling companion did." He nodded to Vincent as he came up behind Aeris, and then got to his feet. "Come. There's someone I want you to meet." He walked to the door, pushing down on the handle to open it. Aeris realized with some amusement that he must have had it changed from the usual round knob so that he could open it.
The person who was waiting in the room beyond was not one that Aeris had ever expected to see. This feline looked very much like Nanaki, only her coat was a little more golden, her sleek form just a little smaller. Her eyes--for she still had both of them--were a yellow-green rather than pure gold, and the feathers in her short mane were tipped in green. She had the same facial tattoos that Nanaki did, but otherwise her hide was relatively unmarked.
"This is Miera," Nanaki said, introducing them. "Miera, these are old friends of mine, Aeris and Vincent."
"Nice to meet you," Aeris said, managing to overcome her shock.
Miera smiled a cat-like smile. "Nanaki has told me much about you."
Nanaki nodded towards the sofa. "Sit down. You two must be tired, and you probably have questions."
Aeris took a seat as directed, but Vincent moved to stand in the corner, folding his arms.
"Some things never change," Nanaki commented, shaking his head.
"I guess so," the Cetra agreed reluctantly. "But I do have questions. Most obviously... I thought you were the last of your kind."
"Well, 'thought' is the key word in that sentence," Miera said. "My parents once lived in this canyon with Nanaki's, over a century ago--a long time to you humans, I am sure."
"Why did they leave?"
"Some people just have a mind for travel, and they can't be pinned down to one place. They made the mistake of crossing to the Midgar continent only a few years before Shinra emerged as a real power there. And with Shinra so interested in 'science,' it was no longer safe for them to pass through the human towns to get home.
"I was born there some sixty-seven years ago, and spent those early years more or less in hiding."
"Wait," Aeris interrupted. "You're older than Nanaki?" She looked back and forth between the two, noticing Nanaki's decorated mane. "Why is it that he has more feathers than you then?"
"They don't mark age," Nanaki explained. "After the first two, we earn them." He looked down, seeming embarrassed. "I got this third one after we fought Sephiroth."
"I see." The Cetra smiled apologetically at Miera. "I'm sorry for interrupting. Please continue."
Miera tossed her head uncomfortably. "My story really isn't very interesting. Much of our time was spent trying to avoid the humans, although at length we had a run in with Professor Hojo. The encounter cost my parents their lives, but I escaped and fled to the mountains where most humans dare not venture. It wasn't until after Meteor that I went down to one of the nearby towns to learn what happened.
"After that, I made my way here, where I found myself greeted by Nanaki. Or, at least, he tried to greet me, but we ended up gaping at each other. You see, both of us had believed we were the last."
Aeris smiled. "It must have been nice to find out you weren't alone."
Nanaki tilted his head to regard her thoughtfully. Had it occurred to him before that she might have felt the same way as him?
"I have to wonder though," the Cetra went on before he could say anything. "Shouldn't Bugenhagen have known you weren't the last?"
"I think... he did know," Nanaki said, looking at the floor. "The last time we spoke, he told me to go out into the world. He said that I might even find my life's mate. At the time, I thought he was only carrying a fool's hope, but I suppose he was right."
"So, are the two of you going to marry within my lifetime?" Aeris wondered jokingly.
Nanaki shifted uncomfortably. "Marriage is a human custom," he said gruffly. "Our tribe does not follow it."
"It's a silly idea anyway," Miera put in. "Can you imagine me wearing a veil and walking down the aisle?" She laughed, and the other two joined in soon after.
Once they had sobered, Aeris said, "I also wanted to ask, if Sephiroth was still here...?"
Miera nodded. "Yes, he is. I believe he has been waiting for you two."
"Waiting for us?" Aeris wondered. She turned to Vincent. "Do you know anything about this?"
"Yes," he answered curtly.
The Cetra frowned, but she sensed that she would not get any more of an answer out of him. "All right."
"It seems to be getting late," Nanaki commented. "If you want to sleep, we have room enough for you here, although I suppose you might prefer the inn. There should be a free room for you there."
"Thank you," Aeris said, smiling, "but I'm not that tired yet. I think I'd like to go down to the Candle for a while. If anyone wants to join me, they're quite welcome." Despite her offer, the others all seemed to sense that she wanted some time to herself, and no one accepted the invitation.
The Cetra turned, made her way through the semi-darkness of dusk to the bonfire, and seated herself within its light. With how much the town had grown, it surprised her that there was no one else there, but she certainly appreciated having it all to herself. At last, she had a moment to herself, and she could let down her guard--so long as she ignored the obscure darkness beyond the fire's light.
She could remember clearly the last time she had sat by this fire. Her friends had all been there with her, but nevertheless she had felt more alone than usual. Learning more about the Cetra from the Elders had only made her more aware of her separateness. But then Cloud had come over, hesitantly, to talk to her. He had slipped a little in choosing his words, and that was when his feelings had become apparent to her. At first she had felt relieved to know that it was not an unrequited love, but then she had seen Tifa through the flames. Even had she lived, she realized, the tension between the three of them would have been just as strong.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sephiroth sit down near her, and she froze.
Cautiously, she turned her head to look at him. For a long time he did not seem to notice her, but at length he turned towards her, his steely blue-green gaze meeting hers.
She shuddered involuntarily, her gaze snapping back to the bonfire. A part of her panicked, and she desperately wanted to look around to see if anyone else was nearby. She did not want to be alone with Sephiroth. Oh, gods, she did not want to be alone with him, not when she could still remember the sharp pain of the Masamune lancing through--
Stop it, Aeris told herself sharply. He's not the same man anymore. She glanced at him experimentally, wondering if she ought to try speaking to him. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.
The swordsman looked at her again, briefly, seeming surprised that she would want to talk to him. He looked back into the flames without answering.
Well, that was useful, she sighed. He doesn't want to talk to you either.
She decided to try ignoring him instead, and so she turned her attention back to the flames, concentrating on the warmth that flickered across her face. Without the others, she felt as lonely as she had on her last visit. She would have to visit each of them, she decided, to see how they were doing and to let them know she was alive. And, maybe, to find a place where she could stay.
Cosmo Canyon was a nice enough town, she considered. The canyon was beautiful in its own right, the people were amicable, and she had a friend here for whom she was not a complication. Still, she felt that she needed someplace less exotic, somewhere with good earth where she could grow a garden. Flowers had never failed to cheer her up.
So where then would she go?
She could not help but glance at her silent companion and wonder if he was pondering the same dilemma. She supposed he had different reasons to ask himself that question; few people would welcome him after what he had done. Aeris frowned; she'd like to think that she was one of those few.
She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them and trying to work up the courage to speak again. Maybe, if she offered up something of her own, he would be more willing to confide in her. "...being here brings back so many memories," she managed at last. "We passed through here, I remember, and that night, everyone was gathered around this flame. And Cloud..." She trailed off, unable to continue, and slowly rocked herself back and forth.
Sephiroth glanced at her again. "You love each other, yes?" he asked, surprising her with the question.
She nodded wordlessly, and she sensed that he had another question in mind. "He's married now," she explained quietly. "To Tifa." Her rocking ceased. "...I don't suppose you'd know what it's like."
"No," he answered. "I've never felt that, and I doubt I ever will."
At this, Aeris straightened and turned towards him. "Of course you will," she told him. "You've got a good soul; I can feel it. It's just that your past overshadows it. But, someday, someone's going to see through that."
Sephiroth laughed, of all things. "How optimistic of you," he remarked.
"What makes you so different from the rest of us?" she demanded.
There was a lengthy silence before he finally spoke again. "When I was a child, in the Shinra mansion... I don't know what you remember from that time, but you should know that I wasn't innocent, even then. I was always trying to come up with some clever way to trick those around me."
She studied him hopefully. "You mean, you remember now?"
"Not everything," he replied, "but I do remember you."
She smiled. "I'm glad."
"What do you mean, you're glad?" he asked sharply.
"Well... it's been twenty years since I've seen this you. When we met again five years ago, I knew that you had forgotten. Actually, I almost managed to convince myself that you were a different person. You certainly were no longer the boy that I remembered." She moved closer to him, brushing his bangs out of his face. "You were innocent back then," she told him. "I do remember that."
Slowly, he pushed her hand away from his face and looked away. "Strange, isn't it? How we, supposedly of the same blood, turned out to be complete opposites."
"I wouldn't say that," Aeris said, feeling a strange sort of disappointment. She lowered her hand to her lap.
"Why not?" he countered, meeting her gaze again, his eyes almost emerald in the firelight. "I tried to destroy the world to become a god, and you sacrificed your life to save it."
"If you had had your sanity, you would have been on our side, trying to save the Planet."
"What makes you so certain? I worked for Shinra, didn't I?"
"Yes, but..." Aeris faltered and dropped her gaze, frowning. "Oh, I don't know."
"Tell me something," he said. "Why are you talking to me like this? You can't have forgotten the pain I caused you."
She could not stop herself from flinching at the reminder. "Actually," she confessed, "it's better when you talk. When you don't say anything, my mind keeps going back to that moment, and then I get scared... But you know, I once considered you a friend. I'd like to think that... that we could be friends again, although I realize that I've never known you very well."
Sephiroth frowned at her pensively, as though unable to understand why, however hard he tried. At length he shook his head slowly. "I don't even know myself. For you to try would be quite pointless."
"It's not pointless," she said. "I already know a little about you. In some ways, you're a lot like Vincent. You have a heavy conscience, and you don't think very highly of yourself, and yet you're far kinder than you give yourself credit for. Unlike him, however, I think you really want to change. You want to protect people, but you don't know quite how to go about doing it."
"All that, from this brief encounter?" he managed.
Aeris smiled. "You forget, I was watching you."
He looked away. "And yet, it seems you've missed my darker side somehow."
"Whatever darker side you had is gone," she stated. "I'm quite sure of that. You're just as human as anyone else, Sephiroth, and I hope someday that you'll stop trying to hide it."
"Just as human...?" he echoed. "Aeris, I am--"
"No, don't start with that," she interrupted. "Both of your parents were human. So when you think about it, you're really more human than I am."
He shook his head, unconvinced. "The Cetra were the ancestors to humans. Jenova was... an alien thing, a sentient virus. What does that make me?"
"Whatever you want to be," Aeris answered.
Sephiroth stared at her for a long moment, and then turned back to the fire, saying nothing.
The Cetra watched him quietly, content that she had gotten through. But slowly the shadows caught her attention, and she looked around, noticing once more that she was alone with Sephiroth, her murderer. She could remember how his blade had felt stabbing thr--
"Did you talk to Elena?" she asked abruptly, trying to stop her mind from replaying her death.
"Yes," he answered, guarded again.
"...are you going to revive Tseng?" she prompted.
The swordsman lowered his head. "If I can."
"What do you mean, 'if you can'? You revived me, didn't you?" she asked, though she knew the differences quite well.
"Tseng was human. If his soul no longer exists as it once did, then there is no bringing him back."
"Did you tell Elena that?"
He shook his head. "I told her I would try."
"I hope that you succeed. It wouldn't be fair to get her hopes up, only to fail." She faltered, realizing that that sounded a little harsh, but she did not know what else to say.
"Elena said that Tseng was a friend of yours, too," the swordsman remarked, glancing at her sidelong.
"Sort of. I mean, we were before he became a Turk, but afterwards, it was always awkward between us, although he never seemed to take his orders about capturing me very seriously."
"It seems there are a lot of people who care about you," Sephiroth said carefully, not looking at her. "Considering your empathy, it does not surprise me."
Aeris peered at him uncertainly. "What are you getting at?"
He lifted his head ever-so-slightly, seeming to watch her out of the corner of his eye. "Don't be careless, like you were before. I know it was my fault, but..."
"I understand," she cut in, though she wasn't certain what had brought this on. "Maybe if I hadn't run off on my own, I wouldn't have died." She shook her head, sighing. "You may be right, but all the same, I don't want to be baby-sat all the time."
Sephiroth said nothing further, and she could not make out his expression.
"I should be getting some sleep," she said at length. "I... still haven't recovered fully." She climbed to her feet, still watching him for some sort of response. "It's been nice talking to you, and I do mean that."
The barest of nods. "Good night."
"Good night," she replied, hesitantly going down the few steps from the Candle. She paused at the bottom and looked back. "Sephiroth?" She waited for him to look at her, so that she could meet his gaze. "I forgive you. For killing me, I mean."
He started and opened his mouth to speak, but she knew what he was going to say, and she would not let him.
"And I want to thank you again for bringing me back," Aeris went on. "I know you didn't have to." This time, surely, he would say something.
Sephiroth broke her gaze, looking down. "I should not have killed you in the first place. Your soul is too kind."
She offered him a smile. "Yours is, too," she told him. "It's just a little battered, that's all."
"I..." he began, and she expected him to deny it, but he stopped and shook his head. "Thank you."
"No need," she replied. "Now, good night again, and sweet dreams."
He nodded, and she left the Candle satisfied.
At the inn, she found that Elena had rented a room for the both of them, and she entered it gratefully, feeling that some weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had liked speaking with Sephiroth, but nevertheless every moment she had had to quell her fear and stifle that one vivid memory.
Elena was already asleep in one bed, snoring softly, and Aeris took the other. Changing into the nightgown Tifa had bought for her, she lay back atop the covers to think.
As a Cetra, she ought to be able to help with Sephiroth's mission. She could never have matched the power of his black magic, but his healing magic... Could she, too, bring back the dead? Maybe, just maybe, she could. She supposed she could try with Lucrecia; the cave in which her body lay wasn't too far from Cosmo Canyon, but she doubted they would be headed there.
Bringing back Lucrecia might bring Sephiroth something that he had always lacked, she considered, but it would do more good for Vincent. Torn though he was between self-hate and the knowledge that Lucrecia had loved him, Vincent would eventually sort things out for himself, and probably not for the better. Aeris tried as best she could, but her words meant less to him than Lucrecia's. However, if she could bring Lucrecia back, he wouldn't have quite so many reasons to hate himself, would he?
Aeris turned over on her side, frowning thoughtfully. Sephiroth had warned her against taking such trips on her own, but nevertheless she did not want to give either Vincent or the swordsman false hope. If she brought one of them with her and failed to revive Lucrecia, it certainly would not do either of them any good.
Her gaze wandered to Elena. Although not nearly as experienced as Reno or Rude, the woman had been a Turk, and she was certainly stronger than Aeris. If Elena consented, she decided, then she would go that night.
Aeris closed her eyes tiredly. First, though, she would get some sleep. There was no use in going with such fatigue if she was going to attempt something like this.
Just wait a little longer, Vincent, she thought. We'll make a human out of you yet.
But then, what's so wonderful about humanity that everyone wants a piece of it? Hojo, President Shinra, and Rufus were all human, and both Vincent and Sephiroth are so much kinder than they ever were. Humanity is overrated. It's the soul, not the body, that makes us who we are.
Sitting down at the cliff's edge near the observatory, Vincent studied the village below with a vague sense of nostalgia. He had been here once with Cloud's group, when Shinra's failure to destroy Meteor had left them all at a loss for solutions. They had spoken mostly of Aeris, trying to figure out why she had chosen to face Sephiroth as she had.
He could see her now, sitting with Sephiroth by the Candle, and he had to admire her resolve. She must have felt terrified, alone with him, but even when she had no obligation to stay, she did not run. Vincent wished he had even a fraction of that courage.
"Hey, Valentine," Talya greeted from behind him.
Although he had not heard her voice in years, he barely even glanced at her. He returned his gaze to the Candle, more interested in wondering what the two below were talking about. Was Aeris trying, as she had with Vincent, to instill the swordsman with some sense of self-worth?
Talya sat down beside him. "As talkative as ever, I see," she remarked dryly.
"You haven't changed much either," he replied without looking at her.
"It's been a while, huh?"
"Yes, it has."
"I heard you went out and saved the world five years ago. Congrats."
Vincent shook his head. "I only did it for revenge, Talya. That does not merit any appreciation."
"I've found that most people don't care about your reasons. If you do a good thing, they'll thank you for it, and if you do a bad thing, they'll hate you for it. It doesn't matter if you did the good thing for the wrong reasons, or the bad thing with good intentions."
He did not reply.
"Hey, all I'm saying is that it's a lot more commendable than anything I've ever done. That's something, isn't it?"
"And what have you been doing?" Vincent asked, glancing at her pointedly. "I heard you were assigned to watch Sephiroth."
"That was years ago," she said. After a moment she sighed and added regretfully, "So long that he doesn't trust me anymore."
"He has his reasons. Most people don't trust Turks anyway."
"Guess not," Talya laughed, but the laugh was bitter; something was bothering her.
Vincent stood, not in any mood to deal with her problems. He had not known her well before, and certainly not now. "Perhaps if you told him the truth, he would listen," he told her in parting. Not waiting for a reply, he moved on to find a new place to think.
Author's Notes
And this is pretty much the last of the Aeris/Vincent scenes, except for one I threw in near the end of the fic as a way to balance these out and bring some closure. Here we also get a second Aeris/Sephiroth scene. Originally, Sephiroth did offer up his thoughts when Aeris asked, but I decided that wasn't like him, and I didn't much like the ensuing conversation either, so I cut that part out. In the first one, this was also where Aeris realized she'd known Sephiroth as a child. I think it's more interesting this way, having her remember it all along.