Sephiroth marvelled at the changes that had been made to the house as he followed Aeris to the upper level. The additions blended perfectly with the original style, and he could only assume that they did on the outside as well.
Tifa had made a fairly simple vegetable stew, and when she uncertainly offered him a bowl, he found himself hungry for the first time that he could remember. Both Cloud and Tifa watched him silently, still trying to process the news that he was, in fact, alive. Strange how they had seemed to adjust so quickly when they had still thought him their enemy.
Aeris was silent, too, as she ate, seeming content simply to sit beside him, but Sephiroth could tell that the four years had scarred her. He wished there was something he could do, hoped there was something, but for now, having him back would have to be enough for her.
"So... what are you going to do now?" Tifa asked once they had all finished.
"I guess we could go around and pay everyone a visit," Aeris mused. "Or maybe we could invite everyone up here." She cast Sephiroth a grin. "Your birthday's in less than two weeks, you know."
He blinked. "It is?"
She nodded. "On the 19th of January."
Tifa laughed. "So what, you're going to throw him a birthday party?"
"I could," Aeris mused. "But then, I guess I shouldn't have it here. Too cold for most people, I think."
"Especially for Tifa," Cloud put in.
"So I'm used to Costa del Sol weather, so what?" she demanded defensively.
He grinned. "Well, I guess we could have it back home, couldn't we? The bar's big enough."
"I could close it for a day," Tifa considered. "What do you think, Aeris?"
"Yes, that would probably work," the Cetra said, nodding to herself. She turned then to Sephiroth. "More importantly, what do you think? It'll be your party, after all."
"Do whatever you like, Aeris," he told her. "It does not matter to me so long as you're there."
"You're easy to please," she remarked. "So we'll invite everyone to a party at your place in Costa del Sol, Tifa. But until then, I think we'll stay here. I want to show Sephiroth what I've done here and, well, have some time alone with him."
The brunette nodded. "All right. Cloud and I should be able to catch the afternoon ship to Junon and get home tomorrow."
"How about Sephiroth and I join you on the 17th?"
"Okay," Tifa agreed, getting up to collect the dishes.
"Oh!" Aeris cried, hopping up. "Here, Tifa, let me help you; you've been doing so much for me these past few days, and you're supposed to be my guest."
The two women disappeared into the kitchen, and Sephiroth stared after them.
"It's good to see her smiling again," Cloud said.
The swordsman looked back at him, not sure what to say to this.
"I hope you realize how depressed she was while you were gone."
"You think I can't see how much the wait hurt her?" Sephiroth demanded, not liking the other man's tone. "Some wounds she has cannot be healed simply by my presence."
The blond glanced towards the kitchen. "She was calling herself a fool the other day, for waiting this long. I find it pretty amazing she managed to hold up for so long."
"What are you getting at?"
Cloud looked back at him. "I just want to make sure you know how devoted she's been to you. I mean, I knew she was stubborn, but I didn't know she was this stubborn. She didn't want anything to do with life until you got back. Do you realize how special she is? Do you know what you've got?"
Sephiroth nodded solemnly. "An angel, I know. I will do my best to mend her wings, but I am not like her; I do not know exactly what bothers her, and I cannot always find the right words. I can only try."
"I guess that's all I can ask. Just take care of her, and don't die again."
He smirked. "I don't plan on it any time soon."
Tifa returned from the kitchen and planted her fists on her hips. "Come on, Cloud. I thought you'd be packing by now."
The blond hopped up, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, Teef. It doesn't take that long to pack, though."
Sephiroth watched Tifa push her husband around, the two of them laughing, then quietly got up and went to the kitchen to find Aeris humming to herself as she dried the dishes. He leaned against the doorframe, content to watch her work.
She finally turned around, noticing him with a start. She laughed then, a hand to her bosom. "Gods, I forgot how quiet you were. How long have you been standing there?"
He shrugged. "Only a few minutes."
"Say something next time," she told him, taking him by the hand as she reentered the bedroom.
Cloud and Tifa had finished gathering what belongings they had brought and stood with their bags slung over their shoulders. "Well, we're off," Tifa said with a smile. "I'm really, really happy for the two of you."
"Same here," Cloud added. "We'll see you again soon."
Aeris nodded, waving with her free hand. "See you."
The couple disappeared downstairs and out the door, closing it behind them with a muted slam.
The swordsman turned back to Aeris. "Would now be a good time for you to show me what you've done with this place?" he asked.
She dropped her gaze, blushing. "I just realized how long it's been since I've taken a bath," she confessed. "Would you mind if I...?"
"Not at all," he replied.
She brightened, rushing off to pull some clean clothes out of a drawer. "I'll be quick, I promise. I just... I always thought I'd be more presentable when you finally came back, and look at me!"
Sephiroth looked her over. True, her clothes were wrinkled and her hair tangled, but what did that matter? "You're still beautiful," he told her.
"I suppose I'm asking the wrong man, aren't I? You'd say that no matter how I looked."
"Most likely," he agreed, then blinked in confusion as she climbed down the ladder and went for the door.
Aeris paused, glancing back up at him through the opening in the floor. "It isn't as though I have running water here," she explained. "I have to bathe in the lake." She waggled a finger at him, noticing his thoughtful expression. "Don't you even think of watching me."
"I'm not Reno," he reminded her. "I was only... Isn't the water freezing this time of year?"
"The lake waters are strange," she said. "They're hardly warm, but they're never freezing either." Shaking her head, she flashed him a quick smile before she turned out the door. "I'll be back soon."
He stood motionless for a moment, staring absently at the closed door. Then he turned and looked around. All three of the beds in the room were made up neatly enough, but several books lay strewn carelessly on the floor.
Most of them were novel-sized, but one that lay open with a pen stuck in its pages looked like her journal. Another was very thin, like a children's book. Had he felt comfortable looking through her belongings, he might have gone to investigate, but instead he climbed down the ladder to have a look around downstairs.
The living room was more unkempt than the rest of the house, with the couch's pillows cast on the floor, a thick blanket rumpled up in one corner, and more books scattered about the room. Sephiroth wondered if she had slept down here at times, and the thought occurred to him that perhaps she had cried herself to sleep; he hoped that she hadn't.
He glanced out the window, and the view captured his gaze. It faced north, and he recognized the path; he had taken it to continue his journey to the Northern Crater after he had killed Aeris...
Tearing his gaze away from that view, he left the room and continued out the door into the cold. And he found that it truly was cold. He could not recall feeling so affected by the temperature. The Planet had certainly changed him.
"Are you satisfied, Narsa?" he muttered under his breath. "All the rest of you who condemned me to this, are you satisfied? You made Aeris suffer my punishment."
He sighed, sitting down by the door and wrapping his arms around his knees. For him, it had been an indeterminable time in the Lifestream in a dreamlike state of mind. For her, it had been over four long years of waiting, waiting, waiting... He wished he could have traded places with her. He wished he could have at least talked with her, as he had from the Promised Land.
But no. He had been powerless. Helpless. Useless.
And now, how could he possibly heal her? He wasn't like her. He couldn't see a wound for what it was and know exactly how to mend it. It was easier for him to hate, to grow angry at those ignorant fools who had caused her suffering, and at himself for having been unable to prevent it.
But Aeris would not want that. She would not want him to be angry at himself, or to hate anyone, so he took a deep breath and exhaled his fury.
Surely there was something he could do now that he was alive again. Surely he could make it up to her. But how?
He lifted his head to see her practically running along the path, gaze downcast to make certain she did not trip. Her dirty clothes were draped over one arm, and he recognized the dress she wore from the party at Cosmo Canyon which did not seem like so long ago to him. She wore a heavy black coat over it, the one that Minerva had bought her, and as always a black ribbon was tied around her slender neck.
Sephiroth stood as she approached the house and came to a halt in front of him.
"Why are you waiting outside?" she asked after catching her breath. "Or does the cold still not bother you?"
"I feel it just as you do now," he replied, "but I can still manage to ignore it." He opened the door and ushered her inside. "You, however, must be freezing with your hair soaking wet."
Aeris nodded, walking inside, and he followed her in, closing the door against the cold. She went up to her bedroom to put away the clothes she carried, then shook her head at herself. "I could probably dry it, couldn't I? Silly me. I was growing forgetful before, and I'm no better now." She cast a mild wind spell that ran through her hair and took the water from it, leaving it dry and shining.
"Warmer now?" Sephiroth asked her.
Instead of answering, she turned to him and slipped her arms around his waist. When he returned the embrace, she murmured, "Now I am."
He was content to hold her for as long as she wanted. If it felt this good to hold her in his arms again, he could only guess at how good it felt for her, having gone without for so long.
Strangely, though, it was Aeris who pulled back, looking up at him thoughtfully. "Hmm. Short sleeves will never do in this weather," she decided. "But I don't have a coat for you..."
"I'll be all right," he told her.
She shook her head. "No, you need something... Oh!" She snatched up a blanket from her bed and thrust it at him. "Here."
Sephiroth blinked, eyeing the blanket doubtfully before shrugging and wrapping it around his shoulders. Whatever made her happy.
Aeris nodded in satisfaction and led him back outside. "Come on. I'll show you the other houses and the lake and the council room. A-and maybe..." She trailed off.
He knew what she had been considering--the altar. And he wasn't certain he was ready to go back there yet. "The council room?" he queried, taking her hand and keeping pace at her side.
"Well, that's what I've come to call it anyway," she explained. "It looks like they may have used it for meetings. There's a viewing fall in the center, sort of like the one in the Temple..."
Sephiroth nodded. "I remember it."
She glanced up at him. "I've spent a lot of time in there. I like the sound of the water."
He smiled faintly, dropping slightly behind her.
Aeris stopped abruptly and turned to face him. "That reminds me... I wanted to give you this." She held out her hand, and in it lay a white orb, the size of a materia or perhaps even smaller.
"...the White Materia?" he faltered.
"Yes."
"But Aeris, it is yours to care for, as a Cetra."
She laughed softly. "You're a Cetra, too, Sephiroth. Or did you forget?"
"But..."
She took his hand and placed the orb in his palm. "Keep it. I don't need it anymore."
He studied it in his palm, marvelling at how the winter sunlight played off its smooth white surface. "It's so small," he breathed.
"What did you expect?" she asked.
He closed his fingers around the materia, but did not raise his head. "Compared to the Black Materia, I mean..."
Aeris leaned forward to peer up into his face. "A temple can only be compressed so much."
Sephiroth looked back at her. "I suppose so. And good things aren't always very big, are they?" he asked, tracing her jaw with one finger.
She reached up to give him a light kiss. "I'll have you know I'm five foot three," she said, "and that's not that short."
He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Compared to six foot one, it is," he replied. "Now, weren't you going to show me this council room?"
"Yes, yes, I was. Come on." She took up his hand again and led him down the path, laughter in her voice, a smile on her lips, and a bounce in her step.
Sector 5 surprised him with its order. He had expected rubble, but aside from some huge crumbling structures and jagged slabs of concrete which must have been immovable, it seemed almost empty. It must have been the first to be cleared up.
A little ways into the town, Sephiroth noticed a graveyard, filled with countless slender markers, very few with names printed on them. Probably there had been more bodies recovered than people to identify them. Not far from the graveyard was a small church, around which a few tiny homes had been erected, and he glanced at Aeris to verify that this was the place she wanted to show him. She nodded and pushed open the door with a smile, beckoning him inside. He took a few steps forward and stopped, astonished.
White light streamed down from somewhere in the high ceiling to illuminate a bed of golden flowers growing where the floorboards had been pried up some time ago. The yellow petals glowed in the light, brighter even than the stained glass windows running down either side of the church. An unadorned altar stood plainly beyond the flowers, openly conceding to their greater brilliance. It did not seem strange in the slightest that they were growing in the midst of winter.
Sephiroth found himself staring. He had never set foot in a church before, never imagined one could be so breathtaking. "It is beautiful, Aeris," he managed.
"You think so?" she asked, walking ahead of him and turning in a slow circle to view the whole church. "Of course, someone must have fixed it up while I was gone. So many of the beams and windows were broken or shattered."
Aeris stopped in the sunlight, a grin spreading across her face as she looked upwards. The sun hit her face, made her pale skin glow white, and highlighted strands of hair, making them seem as threads of gold and copper. Her green eyes sparkled in the light.
He was dimly aware that she was speaking. "The skylight used to be a hole in the ceiling, you know. Cloud made it when he fell through the roof." She laughed and turned back to him, tilting her head in amusement when she saw his expression.
Sephiroth started. "Hmm?"
She shook her head dismissively. "Why are you still standing by the door anyway? Come on in. You're quite welcome here."
He glanced around. "But this is--"
"A holy place?" Aeris walked back to him to take his hand. "Why do you always feel like you don't belong in places like this, Sephiroth?"
"For the same reasons I used to think I did not belong with you," he replied. "I suppose I should feel more comfortable here since you accepted me a long time ago. Still..."
"You're just not used to being in places like this," she assured him. She looked him over and bit back a laugh. "Or maybe it's the black. You do look a little out of place."
Sephiroth arched an eyebrow. "What, you think I should wear white instead?"
Aeris regarded him speculatively. "You probably would look good in white, but then again, black does seem to suit you somehow."
He shrugged, studying her face for as long as he could without being accused of staring before he let his gaze wander the church.
"Are you ready to meet Mom?" she asked after a moment.
"I think I would like to have a closer look at your flowers first," he said, letting go her hand and striding to the sunlit flower bed.
"Nervous?" she wondered, trailing after.
He crouched down beside the yellow blossoms. "Why should I be nervous?"
"Well, she does act more like a normal mother than Ifalna," Aeris said. "She didn't approve of my liking Cloud even. She probably won't like you first off... But I want her to understand how happy I'll be with you, so I can't avoid introducing you."
Sephiroth nodded without looking up at her where she stood. "I understand. You do not want her to worry about you the same way your friends once did."
She dropped down beside him, head bent to study her flowers. "That's right."
"Did you tell her we were coming?"
"I asked Barret to let her know, so hopefully I won't end up startling her like when last I dropped by." She glanced at him. "Are you ready to go?"
"Just a moment," he murmured. He reached out, gently breaking the stem of one golden blossom and handing it to her. "This would look lovely in your hair."
Aeris smiled, taking the flower and deftly braiding it into a section of her hair so that the yellow petals brushed against her cheek. It did indeed look lovely. Sephiroth stood and offered his hand to help her to her feet, but she again took the lead as they walked from the church through the salvaged buildings of Sector 5.
He was startled again by the simple beauty of Elmyra's house. It did not look as though it belonged in the slums, but with all the golden blossoms surrounding it, he had no doubt that it was the house where Aeris had grown up.
She led him to the door and knocked with her free hand.
The woman who answered appeared to be in her fifties, with streaks of grey in her tight bun of brown hair and wrinkles in the corners of her brown eyes. She was nothing remarkable, but she did indeed look motherly.
"Hello, Aeris," she greeted warmly enough, but her eyes slipped to Sephiroth, and a frown came to her face.
"Hi, Mom," Aeris replied, ignoring the disapproving look. "This is Sephiroth. Sephiroth, this is Elmyra Gainsborough, my mother."
He bowed his head respectfully. "I am pleased to meet you, Mrs. Gainsborough."
She hesitated, almost disappointed that she could find nothing inappropriate with his behavior so far. "Come on in, both of you," she said finally, ushering them inside and closing the door behind them. "Can I get you anything?"
"No, thanks; we're fine," Aeris answered. "How have you been, Mom?"
"All right, save for worrying about you constantly. I wasn't hearing good things about you from your friends. I mean, goodness, four years!"
She smiled in reassurance. "But I'm doing wonderfully now that Sephiroth's back."
"Yes, well..." Again the disapproving glance at the swordsman. "What do you two plan on doing with yourselves?"
"We're going to get married sometime soon, I expect, but we haven't figured out the date yet."
Elmyra blinked. "Married?"
"Did you expect us to wait?" Aeris queried. "I've waited long enough, don't you think?"
"Yes, yes, but..." Her eyes flicked towards Sephiroth.
"You would rather she chose someone else," the swordsman said for her. "Quite understandable and even sensible of you."
"Well, I mean..." Elmyra fumbled, taken aback by his frankness. "That's not quite what I..."
"It's all right, Mom," Aeris interrupted. "We all know you don't think much of him after all that's happened. That's why we're here: to set you at ease with the match."
Her mother nodded. "In that case, there's something I want to know. If you are such a wonderful person, Sephiroth, why did you kill my daughter?"
"Mom--!" Aeris exclaimed, shock and worry threaded through her voice; certainly she had not expected something so spiteful from her mother.
"Aeris, it is all right," Sephiroth interjected, his voice calm though his eyes were downcast. "It is a valid question, after all. Except, Mrs. Gainsborough, that you expect me to give you excuses, and I have none to offer."
"But you must at least have a reason," Elmyra insisted.
He shook his head regretfully. "I killed her because I was not strong enough to stop myself. I was not strong enough to go against Jenova. But those are not reasons, are they? Jenova had her reasons for wanting Aeris dead, but I did not. That is why it is so terrible; I did not even want to do it, and yet I ignored those feelings entirely."
He felt Aeris squeeze his hand. "Jenova's wishes meant a lot to you then," she reminded him, "and you couldn't even remember me. Of course you wouldn't defy her."
He glanced at her, and her smile was nearly enough to make his pain vanish.
Elmyra looked back and forth between the two. "I think I can see why he needs you, Aeris, but I can't comprehend why you're so terribly attached to him. Unless it's just as it always was, with you wanting to help everyone regardless of who they were."
"I want to help him, yes," the Cetra confirmed, "but not just because he's damaged. He's as much a comfort to me as I am to him. I know... I know you heard me some of those nights when I cried myself to sleep. Even though, come morning, I pretended I hadn't cried, and you pretended you hadn't heard."
Her mother nodded. "Yes, I did. I should have done something, but you were so determined to convince me you were happy that I couldn't. Quite frankly, you've always baffled me."
"And that's just it," Aeris said. "I've always baffled everyone, and that's always set me apart. Alone. But Sephiroth, he understands me. You probably think we're so different that we couldn't possibly be friends, let alone lovers, but you'd be surprised how alike we are."
"Oh?"
She looked down in reluctance. "We both know all too well what misunderstanding is like. Neither of us is human, and we've both been specimens of Professor Hojo. We've both been used. We've both sacrificed. We both spent our lives in loneliness until we found each other."
Elmyra faltered, turning to study Sephiroth's face. "One wouldn't think such things of Shinra's great general. One would think..."
"...that he had been well off?" Sephiroth queried. "Content with all the perquisites of his position? It is a common misconception, though if I was unhappy, I could only blame myself."
"Why do you say that?"
"I had always been taught to ignore my emotions, so I did. I was foolish to accept that doctrine."
"Always?" Elmyra wondered. "You mean that you were brought up that way?"
He nodded. "Of course," he replied, not understanding her surprise. "Hojo wanted to create a perfect being, and, to him, that meant one lacking emotions."
Aeris's mother was looking at him uncertainly now, as if she found herself sympathizing with him in spite of herself. "That does seem rather tragic," she admitted.
He shrugged and looked away. He was glad, at least, that he had not earned her pity. Sympathy, perhaps, but not pity.
"What about your parents?" she asked suddenly. "Didn't they object to this whole thing?"
At that, he had to scoff. "Hojo was my father, and my mother was dead, so there was no one to object. I was born for the experiment, after all."
"How cruel...!"
Sephiroth glanced at her. "Don't misunderstand. I did not have it so hard as it sounds. I could have escaped if I had wanted."
"Then why didn't you?"
He shook his head and found he could not answer.
"Why didn't you?" she repeated.
"Mom," Aeris cut in finally. "You don't realize how personal a question that is... Maybe we should talk about something else. Something less... painful."
Sephiroth looked at her, smiling minutely in gratitude.
"Yes, yes, you're probably right," Elmyra agreed hurriedly. "What shall we talk about?"
"Did Barret mention the party we're throwing at Tifa's bar?" Aeris wondered.
"No, he didn't. What's it for?"
"Sephiroth's birthday, actually," she answered with a smile. "It's the first one he'll celebrate."
Elmyra turned to him curiously. "How old will you be turning?"
He looked to Aeris. "How old will I be?"
She laughed. "Well, if you'd never died, you'd be forty this year. But, you know, take fourteen years out of that, and you're only twenty-six."
"And you?"
"I would have been thirty-two this year, but I guess I'll be turning twenty-seven come February. Which makes me older than you," she teased.
"Hmph," he said, though he permitted himself a tiny smirk.
"Anyway," Aeris went on, turning back to her mother. "Do you think you can come?"
"Me?" Elmyra queried. "Why should I come? It's for you and all your friends, not your parents."
"Sephiroth's mother will be there, and she's older than you are. Well, sort of..."
Her mother blinked. "Sephiroth's mother? I thought he said that she died..."
"Oh, dear," Aeris murmured, then went on to explain. "I revived her, you see, four years ago. I did it for Vincent; he's one of my friends from Avalanche, and he was in love with her back before Sephiroth was born. It's... sort of complicated."
"I can see that," Elmyra said flatly.
"So anyway, Lucrecia will be there. She doesn't look her age at all, but you'd like her, Mom, you would. And Vincent will be there, and Cid and Shera, and Barret..."
Her mother nodded. "I suppose I'll come, if you think I should."
Aeris smiled. "Oh, by the way, how is Marlene? How old is she now? Thirteen? Gods, it seems like only yesterday that she was just four years old..."
"Indeed it does. Yes, she's thirteen, but she hasn't yet become a rebellious teenager, thank heavens. She's always been such a sweet little girl."
Sephiroth was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. "Who is Marlene?" he inquired.
"That's right," Aeris said. "You don't know her. She's Barret's adopted daughter. You'll have to meet her if she comes to the party."
"And why is that?"
"Because you'll be needing some experience with children before you have any of your own," Elmyra answered.
He blinked rapidly. "Excuse me?"
"I'll be wanting grandchildren, you know."
Sephiroth looked to Aeris for help, but she only shook her head and laughed silently. "I, ah, hadn't thought of it, Mrs. Gainsborough," he said.
To his surprise, Elmyra smiled in amusement and started laughing along with Aeris. Why did they both find his discomfort so amusing?
"Seph," Aeris managed finally, "you are so incredibly adorable when you blush."
He frowned and shook his head. "Whatever."
At last she regained her composure. "Well. Mom, do you mind entertaining Sephiroth for a while? I've got to go out and buy him something for his birthday. Haven't had a chance yet, you know."
Sephiroth looked at her with astonishment. "Aeris, you needn't get me anything. Besides, you already--"
"Hush," she interrupted. "I'll get you something if I want to. And I was going to give that to you whenever you got back. It's not a birthday present."
He sighed in defeat. "All right..."
She stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon." She nodded to Elmyra. "I'll see you later, Mom."
Her mother nodded mutely, and both she and Sephiroth watched as Aeris disappeared out the door. They stared at it for a moment, then turned uneasily to look at each other.
"Well," said Elmyra.
The swordsman fidgeted.
"Well," she repeated. "Have you had any girlfriends before Aeris?"
He shook his head.
"Hm. That's surprising, considering how handsome you are."
He shrugged. "Most women didn't interest me."
"Aeris has had two boyfriends before," Elmyra stated.
Sephiroth nodded, wondering if there was any point to this conversation. Elmyra truly perplexed him. "Yes, she told me. And I knew both of them."
"Did you? Well, I suppose you were all in SOLDIER, weren't you?"
"Cloud wasn't. I only know him because he killed me."
Elmyra furrowed her brow in confusion. "But he said..."
He looked away. "He only thought he had been in SOLDIER. He... suffered from some memory complications."
"'Memory complications'?" she repeated. "What from?"
"From when I burned down his hometown," Sephiroth replied flatly.
"Oh."
He glanced at her; she seemed to be having difficulty finding a safe topic.
"So, why are you interested in Aeris if you never cared much for women?" she wondered.
"You have to ask?" he said with some surprise. "Surely you've realized that Aeris is not like other women. She is... perfect. No one has ever treated me as she has. To think, I expected her to hate me like everyone else."
"Hardly everyone hates you," Elmyra told him, and the reassurance sounded strange from her. "Otherwise, why would you even be here now? Aeris said that all those you'd killed were going to decide whether you lived or not. Obviously, most of them don't hate you, even if you murdered them."
"One of Aeris's miracles, I'm sure," he said dismissively. "You must be quite disappointed in me. You never wanted her to fall for a SOLDIER, and I was SOLDIER's general; you wanted her lover to be gentle, and I have been far from it; you wanted him to be amicable, and I am quite cold."
She blinked. "Has Aeris been talking about my expectations?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "Hardly at all. She only said you would probably dislike me, which is no surprise."
"Then how did you guess all the rest?"
He faltered, finding that he did not have an answer, and could only shake his head.
Elmyra nodded slowly. "I think I'm beginning to see it now."
"See what?"
"Why she chose you. You're almost as good at figuring people out as she is, aren't you?"
"No, not really," he said, wondering how he had managed to give her that impression.
"Modest, too," Elmyra added. "I must say, you're not what I expected."
"What were you expecting?" he asked, though he could guess at her response.
"Someone arrogant and commanding. Certainly you're not--what did you say?--amicable, but you are sort of gentle, in your own way."
Sephiroth refrained from scoffing and simply looked away again.
"By the way," she went on, "what was it that Aeris gave to you?"
"Ah... A materia, actually," he answered slowly.
"Materia?" Elmyra repeated curiously.
He drew it carefully from his pocket--a poor place for it, he thought, and he would have to figure out something more suitable--and held it in his open palm to show her.
"A white materia!" she exclaimed. "I've never...! No, no... She always used to wear that in her hair. I remember now. I've never seen another like it."
Sephiroth replaced the orb in his pocket. "There is no other like it. It is the only White Materia, used to summon Holy. Aeris used it when I summoned Meteor... I really don't know why she gave it to me."
Elmyra smiled kindly, an expression he had not expected from her. "She used to wear it like a good luck charm. Maybe she's decided that she doesn't need it anymore."
"I hope she doesn't."
Author's Notes
Such a pointless chapter! But that's okay because we like extra AeriSeph, right? Right. Hmm... not too much to say here. This is where some description from a much earlier church scene ended up, since that scene got cut. Otherwise I didn't make many changes.
(Also, I'm a horrible person.)