Chapter 2
Far away, a cloaked figure in black trudged heedlessly through the marsh, careless of what an old man warned him of. A sadistic smile danced on his lips, barely hidden from the hood the man wore. The man said he would need a chocobo if he ever wanted to cross the bog and live. A strong gust of wind whipped by past the man causing his hood to drift off the cloaked man's head, resting on the now revealed Sephiroth's firm shoulders. Soon, it was his silver tresses that quivered in the breeze. He strolled onward, splashing through the strong smelling bog water with his once clean boots. He sensed the presence of something large approaching him. He had sensed it when he first stepped into the marshland, yet it was weak and far off. Closer now, as well as a stronger aura, Sephiroth continued forward, now grasping his Masamune.
Hours later, Sephiroth could smell the immense creature now directly behind him. He was no more than half a mile away from the other shore. It wasn't long until a vast splash sounded behind him. Sephiroth instinctively drew his blade, turning to face the striking Zolem. He raised his sword and sliced upward, cleaving the Zolem's mouth in two. The creature let out a roar of pain and drew back. Though it retreated, Sephiroth leaped at it, striking it several more times, resulting in blood spewing everywhere. He finally impaled it in its thorax area. It let out more fierce cries of pain as it tried to swipe Sephiroth away with it's immense tail. He easily dodged the attacks and dragged the beast towards shore while it was still impaled upon Sephiroth's blade. Once Sephiroth reached the shore, the Zolem was still twitching in shock. The tall man hauled it with him as he approached the tree line of a forest. When he arrived, he stood in front of a decaying tall pine that still stood. Within seconds, Sephiroth had leaped into the air, hurling the Zolem unto the tip of the pine. It let out a final gurgled scream as it was impaled once more, killing it minutes later. Blood poured down the tree, staining the grass around it. He too was drenched with blood from the creature, yet he didn't care. Raising one hand, he used his fire materia to char part of the tail and sliced off a chunk of now cooked flesh. Sephiroth wiped the blood off his blade onto a clean patch of grass and placed it back at his side. He untied a blood stained bag at his side under his cloak and set it on the ground before sitting down beside it to chomp on what was now his dinner. Once he was finished, he opened the bag and gazed in. A decapitated alien head stared back with bits and pieces of its body wiggling next to it. Even though it had no eyes, it knew.
"Soon, mother, we'll have the planet within our grasp!" Sephiroth declare to the head. It said nothing. Sephiroth smiled vilely and tied the bag back up and to his belt again. He stood and closed his eyes. He could feel the presence of that blonde boy come closer with every minute. Sephiroth smiled softly, knowing the boy would be on his trail. Proceeding onward once more, Sephiroth went to hide in the brush so he could wait for the boy to come.
Aeris held tightly onto the back of Tifa while they rode the lemon colored chocobo, afraid that she would fall or it would decide to sprint, sending her to fall into the dank and smelly marsh under the chocobo. Tifa didn't mind her doing so, even if they didn't know each other well, she remember what it felt like on a chocobo for the first time and had a great deal of empathy for the girl.
"How are you holding up, Aeris?" She asked the frightened young woman.
"Well, I suppose better than Red XIII is." Aeris replied, while giggling at the way the large cat tried to hold himself steady behind Cloud on their chocobo. Tifa let out a laugh of amusement. Red XIII, however, turned his head and sent a glare at the two women.
"It's not funny, this is very difficult if you don't have to legs but four." Red XIII told them.
"Oh! Sorry, but it is a bit strange looking to me." Aeris apologized.
"Yeah." Tifa agreed.
"Well, I'm not about to go slopping through this mess." Red XIII said.
"If I was, It would take days just to get the stench out of my coat."
"Come on guys, enough chatter! We have to get through the marshes before one of those Zolem creatures appear like the old man said." Cloud nagged at them. Barret, who rode on his own chocobo due to his size, turned to him and cursed.
"Man! I think that damn man was lyin'. I don't see no damn snake!" Barret told them. As if it was a cue, a large Zolem raised up from the waters behind them. "Ok! Maybe I was wrong."
"RUN!" Cloud yelled. Aeris held on for dear life to Tifa as the dark haired woman commanded the large bird to go faster. Thus the race towards the shore began. The Zolem was closing in fast just as they were to the shoreline. Aeris and Tifa's chocobo was falling behind the others. The Zolem raised itself behind them, ready to strike. Cloud looked behind at them. His eyes grew wide with horror. "TIFA! AERIS!"
Cloud, Red XIII, and Barret reached shore. Aeris turned her head to look behind her at a pair of sharp fangs closing in fast. Instinctively she shut her eyes and held her breath at what was to come. Before she understood what was happening, a shriek filled her ears. She wasn't sure if it was hers, Tifa's or something else. Yet, when she dared to open her eyes, she looked back to see Cloud holding off the Zolem with his Buster sword. The women made it to firm land and Cloud was just behind them.
"Oh my god, Cloud! Thank you!" Tifa gasped when she tumbled off the bird and ran over to hug the dismounting Cloud. She hugged him before realizing how embarrassed they both were. She quickly pulled away. Aeris shakily dismounted off the yellow bird and fell to her knees from being so shook up. The Zolem fell back towards the inner part of the swamp; it didn't want to leave its bog.
"You ok, girl?" Barret asked her holding out his only large hand. She nodded as she took it, pulling herself to her feet.
"Yeah, thanks." Aeris said quietly while observing how Tifa and Cloud were deep in a conversation.
After recovering from the attack of the Zolem, Cloud told them that they weren't going to need the chocobos so they released them. They paced towards the forest quickly, for it was beginning to get dark. The group followed Cloud silently until he stopped suddenly before the forest. Everyone turned to him with a questioned look. Cloud's face was dark with anger as he sprinted ahead of the group. They looked at each other for a few seconds with confusion before following Cloud. Aeris tried to keep up but failed miserably. She didn't care after she looked up. The others had already stopped behind Cloud and were now staring at what was before them.
The once alive Zolem was still impaled to the dead pine tree, its blood black and smeared about the ground at where it had been dragged. Clouds were billowing upon the sky and the roar of thunder could be heard. Lightning flashed across the sky. Aeris' eyes were wide with fear and amazement as well as sympathy for the beast. Everyone was stunned at the scene.
"Sephiroth..." Cloud uttered in disgust. Everyone looked at him in amazement.
"Yo! You tellin' me that there snake was killed by that damn creep?!" Barret exclaimed.
"That's impossible, you could barely hold off the Zolem, Cloud!" Tiffa said to him.
"No, he IS that powerful. He's much more powerful than some Zolem, it must have been two or three hits and he killed it." Cloud said quietly in a way that disturbed everyone else. "Come on, I bet we aren't far behind his path of death."
Cloud continued ahead of them. Slowly, they followed. Aeris didn't notice, however. She still stared. The sky had blackened and the air was thick with the stench of the Zolem's blood. She began to move in the direction her comrades went. A quick flash of lightning lit the sky and she saw the dark shape of a cloaked man very briefly on the head of the dead Zolem. Aeris gasped and ran to follow her friends. She looked back in time to see a second flash of lightning, yet the silhouette was not there. Now afraid and in the dark, she turned back to tell her friends what she had seen. When she looked before her, the group was not there. She stood, shocked, alone and surrounded by trees. Aeris tried calling for her friends many times while trudging deeper and deeper into the woods. She was totally lost, and soon she began to get the feeling that she was being watched. She could hear noises in the trees and around her, but her surroundings were too dark to see what was there. She didn't have any sense of direction and had never been in a forest before. It began to rain hard. Aeris cursed at herself for being so careless while she took cover in a small dell under a stone ridge. She was cold and alone and terrified. She wished then that she had some fire materia.
Sephiroth had been most surprised when he saw that the Cetra girl was with the blonde boy's gang. He almost laughed when he saw her get lost so easily. He discreetly followed her from above in the branches until she reached a tiny glen with a rock ledge for shelter. He stood just outside the little clearing, watching her shake from the cold and hold herself to keep warm. He smiled with mirth on how he could have her now. He grimaced at his thought. 'What is wrong with me? Why do I have the urge for her?!' Sephiroth asked himself. He continued to watch her as rainwater dripped off the hood of his cloak before his face. He shook his head, removing all his thoughts. Before he could realize himself, he was striding out into the open and towards her. The Cetra girl didn't take notice of him and he was glad for it, he wanted to surprise her.
Aeris eyes were shut as she shivered madly while she held herself in a fetal position. She was wet and her nose began to sniffle. The sound of rain filled her ears and she listened as her teeth began to chatter from the frigid condition she was in. Even through the rain, she felt as if she heard an unfamiliar sound. Aeris opened her eyes to find herself staring at a pair of black leather boots. She let out a shocked shriek when she looked up at the dark cloaked figure. Horrified and stunned, Aeris scooted backwards, bumping into the moist rock behind her. The phantom-like figure reached down to the frightened Aeris. She could barely withhold a whimper when the cloaked individual stroked her cheek with a gloved hand. It was warm to her and made her skin tingle.
Finally, the veiled character pulled back his hood, revealing a silver- haired man. Aeris gasped. Cloud described him with grayish or silver hair. She had also seen Shinra posters of him several times in Midgar, but they were too unclear to show his face, only his hair. He sat down in front of her; she didn't know what would happen to her. He was quite different than she imagined him to be. His face was pale, very pale. He looked almost sickly. Black rings surrounded his eyes basically, his lips were a dark reddish tint but nicely shaped, but it was his eyes that captivated her the most. He had beautiful turquoise eyes, just like hers. She knew he had been exposed to Mako because they glowed. He looked so strange to her; he was almost frail looking but all the while, quite handsome. He was tall, dark and mysterious. Aeris caught herself staring at him and averted her eyes, blushing in embarrassment. Yet, she couldn't keep her eyes off his.
Sephiroth grinned at her, causing her to get a bit more uncomfortable. He pulled off his long cloak, exposing his casual military uniform, and held out the cape to her. She forgot she had still been shivering. Aeris looked at it, then back at Sephiroth before finally grabbing it and put it over her back and shoulders. It was still quite warm, and she huddled up in it. Her attention went back to him immediately for she was still uncertain of his intentions.
"I'm certain you already know who I am, right?" He spoke gently to her with his deep and compelling voice that sent shivers down her spine. She nodded slowly. He smirked again. "So you do. But if I may, who are you, my dear?"
"My name is Aeris." She replied cautiously. She was no longer cold with the long cape wrapped about her. She dropped her head when she remembered what he had done to the Zolem. 'Oh, gods. I'm going to die, I just know it.'
Sephiroth reached out with his hand and lifted her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Is that what you want? To die?"
"N-No, n-not at all." She fumbled with her words, too terrified of what he might do. He began to stroke her face again, while leaning ever so closer.
"Then why do you think it, Cetra?" He whispered to her. It startled her that he knew both what she was thinking and that she was an Ancient.
"H-how did you-" Aeris began, but he cut her off by placing his finger on her lips to silence her.
"It doesn't matter." He stated. The rain had stopped and Sephiroth stood up. He held out his hand for her. She timidly took it without question. He pulled her up to him so that her body was only inches away from his. He stood almost a foot taller than her and she stood facing his firm, muscular and almost bare chest. Aeris' breath stilled in fear that her breasts would touch him. After what seemed forever, he pulled away, still grasping her hand. "Come, your friends are quite worried for your safety."
"But-" She began but stopped. She had no choice but to follow. He led he through the forest swiftly and she did her best to keep up with him. In only about half an hour later, Aeris could hear the faint calls of her friends. Sephiroth stopped and Aeris did the same. She looked into the forest and could see a small amount of light. Aeris couldn't help but whisper; "I can hear them."
"Yes, they have set up camp just up ahead. If you follow their cries, you can't miss them." Sephiroth told her, gazing at her face. "Go to them."
"But why are you doing this?" Aeris asked him quietly. He took up her left hand and brushed his lips to her fingers. Aeris blushed.
"Why not?" Sephiroth replied just as quiet.
"T-thank you. Here." Aeris removed his cloak and gave it to him.
"You're quite welcome, and I must thank you." He whispered, taking the cape.
"For what?" Aeris asked, confused.
Sephiroth grinned and turned back the other way, throwing the cape about his shoulders with ease, cloaking himself once more. Finally he replied. "For your name." And with that, he disappeared out of her sight. Aeris stared at the direction he had gone for several minutes until the call of her friends brought her back to the real world. She let out a heavy sigh of relief and ran to meet her comrades.
"My God, Aeris! Are you okay?!" Cloud asked as the group circled around her with concerned faces. "Where were you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just went the wrong way that's all. I followed your calls." Aeris told them, she rubbed her eyes. " Is it ok if I go to sleep now?"
"Of course ya can, girl! Tifa already put up yer guys' tent so go ahead and get you some rest." Barret told her. She thanked them all and apologized repeatedly for the whole incident of getting lost. She went to the tent she shared with Tifa and plopped onto her sleeping bag that was laid out already. All she thought about was Sephiroth. She couldn't tell them about him. Somehow, she couldn't say anything about him.
I'm submitting another entry in this journal tonight. Oh my gods! We first traveled across the marsh and I was inches away from death. Cloud, however, saved Tifa and me from the attacking Zolem thing. When we got to the shore we found another Zolem, dead and impaled upon a tree. I felt so shocked as well as sorry for the poor creature. I know they are quite monstrous, but it didn't deserve to die that way. It was Sephiroth who did it. And also because of Sephiroth I got lost. I was so unnerved by the murdered animal that I wasn't paying attention and got lost in the woods. But it was also Sephiroth who saved me and led me back to my friends. They don't know about him yet. I couldn't tell them. I guess because I owed him. Also, this Sephiroth person, he was quite fascinating. Blah! What am I writing?! He's too dangerous for me to think that! I'm just glad I'm still alive, but he knew where my friends were. Doesn't he want Cloud dead? I don't know what's going on anymore but I plan to find out some answers. I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep now.
Aeris
She remembered how hauntingly handsome he was. It frightened her but also ignited a feeling of excitement. Before long, she nodded off to sleep.
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Author: Well, not many of you reviewed on the first chapter. But I guess that's what romance stuff gets - No reviews, or hardly any at all. So, I'll just keep posting these and then go into my closet and, *sniff*, cry. I'll be posting the next chapter shortly after this one. Good bye people that don't review, you're just not good enough to review, are you? (Goes into closet and cries)
Far away, a cloaked figure in black trudged heedlessly through the marsh, careless of what an old man warned him of. A sadistic smile danced on his lips, barely hidden from the hood the man wore. The man said he would need a chocobo if he ever wanted to cross the bog and live. A strong gust of wind whipped by past the man causing his hood to drift off the cloaked man's head, resting on the now revealed Sephiroth's firm shoulders. Soon, it was his silver tresses that quivered in the breeze. He strolled onward, splashing through the strong smelling bog water with his once clean boots. He sensed the presence of something large approaching him. He had sensed it when he first stepped into the marshland, yet it was weak and far off. Closer now, as well as a stronger aura, Sephiroth continued forward, now grasping his Masamune.
Hours later, Sephiroth could smell the immense creature now directly behind him. He was no more than half a mile away from the other shore. It wasn't long until a vast splash sounded behind him. Sephiroth instinctively drew his blade, turning to face the striking Zolem. He raised his sword and sliced upward, cleaving the Zolem's mouth in two. The creature let out a roar of pain and drew back. Though it retreated, Sephiroth leaped at it, striking it several more times, resulting in blood spewing everywhere. He finally impaled it in its thorax area. It let out more fierce cries of pain as it tried to swipe Sephiroth away with it's immense tail. He easily dodged the attacks and dragged the beast towards shore while it was still impaled upon Sephiroth's blade. Once Sephiroth reached the shore, the Zolem was still twitching in shock. The tall man hauled it with him as he approached the tree line of a forest. When he arrived, he stood in front of a decaying tall pine that still stood. Within seconds, Sephiroth had leaped into the air, hurling the Zolem unto the tip of the pine. It let out a final gurgled scream as it was impaled once more, killing it minutes later. Blood poured down the tree, staining the grass around it. He too was drenched with blood from the creature, yet he didn't care. Raising one hand, he used his fire materia to char part of the tail and sliced off a chunk of now cooked flesh. Sephiroth wiped the blood off his blade onto a clean patch of grass and placed it back at his side. He untied a blood stained bag at his side under his cloak and set it on the ground before sitting down beside it to chomp on what was now his dinner. Once he was finished, he opened the bag and gazed in. A decapitated alien head stared back with bits and pieces of its body wiggling next to it. Even though it had no eyes, it knew.
"Soon, mother, we'll have the planet within our grasp!" Sephiroth declare to the head. It said nothing. Sephiroth smiled vilely and tied the bag back up and to his belt again. He stood and closed his eyes. He could feel the presence of that blonde boy come closer with every minute. Sephiroth smiled softly, knowing the boy would be on his trail. Proceeding onward once more, Sephiroth went to hide in the brush so he could wait for the boy to come.
Aeris held tightly onto the back of Tifa while they rode the lemon colored chocobo, afraid that she would fall or it would decide to sprint, sending her to fall into the dank and smelly marsh under the chocobo. Tifa didn't mind her doing so, even if they didn't know each other well, she remember what it felt like on a chocobo for the first time and had a great deal of empathy for the girl.
"How are you holding up, Aeris?" She asked the frightened young woman.
"Well, I suppose better than Red XIII is." Aeris replied, while giggling at the way the large cat tried to hold himself steady behind Cloud on their chocobo. Tifa let out a laugh of amusement. Red XIII, however, turned his head and sent a glare at the two women.
"It's not funny, this is very difficult if you don't have to legs but four." Red XIII told them.
"Oh! Sorry, but it is a bit strange looking to me." Aeris apologized.
"Yeah." Tifa agreed.
"Well, I'm not about to go slopping through this mess." Red XIII said.
"If I was, It would take days just to get the stench out of my coat."
"Come on guys, enough chatter! We have to get through the marshes before one of those Zolem creatures appear like the old man said." Cloud nagged at them. Barret, who rode on his own chocobo due to his size, turned to him and cursed.
"Man! I think that damn man was lyin'. I don't see no damn snake!" Barret told them. As if it was a cue, a large Zolem raised up from the waters behind them. "Ok! Maybe I was wrong."
"RUN!" Cloud yelled. Aeris held on for dear life to Tifa as the dark haired woman commanded the large bird to go faster. Thus the race towards the shore began. The Zolem was closing in fast just as they were to the shoreline. Aeris and Tifa's chocobo was falling behind the others. The Zolem raised itself behind them, ready to strike. Cloud looked behind at them. His eyes grew wide with horror. "TIFA! AERIS!"
Cloud, Red XIII, and Barret reached shore. Aeris turned her head to look behind her at a pair of sharp fangs closing in fast. Instinctively she shut her eyes and held her breath at what was to come. Before she understood what was happening, a shriek filled her ears. She wasn't sure if it was hers, Tifa's or something else. Yet, when she dared to open her eyes, she looked back to see Cloud holding off the Zolem with his Buster sword. The women made it to firm land and Cloud was just behind them.
"Oh my god, Cloud! Thank you!" Tifa gasped when she tumbled off the bird and ran over to hug the dismounting Cloud. She hugged him before realizing how embarrassed they both were. She quickly pulled away. Aeris shakily dismounted off the yellow bird and fell to her knees from being so shook up. The Zolem fell back towards the inner part of the swamp; it didn't want to leave its bog.
"You ok, girl?" Barret asked her holding out his only large hand. She nodded as she took it, pulling herself to her feet.
"Yeah, thanks." Aeris said quietly while observing how Tifa and Cloud were deep in a conversation.
After recovering from the attack of the Zolem, Cloud told them that they weren't going to need the chocobos so they released them. They paced towards the forest quickly, for it was beginning to get dark. The group followed Cloud silently until he stopped suddenly before the forest. Everyone turned to him with a questioned look. Cloud's face was dark with anger as he sprinted ahead of the group. They looked at each other for a few seconds with confusion before following Cloud. Aeris tried to keep up but failed miserably. She didn't care after she looked up. The others had already stopped behind Cloud and were now staring at what was before them.
The once alive Zolem was still impaled to the dead pine tree, its blood black and smeared about the ground at where it had been dragged. Clouds were billowing upon the sky and the roar of thunder could be heard. Lightning flashed across the sky. Aeris' eyes were wide with fear and amazement as well as sympathy for the beast. Everyone was stunned at the scene.
"Sephiroth..." Cloud uttered in disgust. Everyone looked at him in amazement.
"Yo! You tellin' me that there snake was killed by that damn creep?!" Barret exclaimed.
"That's impossible, you could barely hold off the Zolem, Cloud!" Tiffa said to him.
"No, he IS that powerful. He's much more powerful than some Zolem, it must have been two or three hits and he killed it." Cloud said quietly in a way that disturbed everyone else. "Come on, I bet we aren't far behind his path of death."
Cloud continued ahead of them. Slowly, they followed. Aeris didn't notice, however. She still stared. The sky had blackened and the air was thick with the stench of the Zolem's blood. She began to move in the direction her comrades went. A quick flash of lightning lit the sky and she saw the dark shape of a cloaked man very briefly on the head of the dead Zolem. Aeris gasped and ran to follow her friends. She looked back in time to see a second flash of lightning, yet the silhouette was not there. Now afraid and in the dark, she turned back to tell her friends what she had seen. When she looked before her, the group was not there. She stood, shocked, alone and surrounded by trees. Aeris tried calling for her friends many times while trudging deeper and deeper into the woods. She was totally lost, and soon she began to get the feeling that she was being watched. She could hear noises in the trees and around her, but her surroundings were too dark to see what was there. She didn't have any sense of direction and had never been in a forest before. It began to rain hard. Aeris cursed at herself for being so careless while she took cover in a small dell under a stone ridge. She was cold and alone and terrified. She wished then that she had some fire materia.
Sephiroth had been most surprised when he saw that the Cetra girl was with the blonde boy's gang. He almost laughed when he saw her get lost so easily. He discreetly followed her from above in the branches until she reached a tiny glen with a rock ledge for shelter. He stood just outside the little clearing, watching her shake from the cold and hold herself to keep warm. He smiled with mirth on how he could have her now. He grimaced at his thought. 'What is wrong with me? Why do I have the urge for her?!' Sephiroth asked himself. He continued to watch her as rainwater dripped off the hood of his cloak before his face. He shook his head, removing all his thoughts. Before he could realize himself, he was striding out into the open and towards her. The Cetra girl didn't take notice of him and he was glad for it, he wanted to surprise her.
Aeris eyes were shut as she shivered madly while she held herself in a fetal position. She was wet and her nose began to sniffle. The sound of rain filled her ears and she listened as her teeth began to chatter from the frigid condition she was in. Even through the rain, she felt as if she heard an unfamiliar sound. Aeris opened her eyes to find herself staring at a pair of black leather boots. She let out a shocked shriek when she looked up at the dark cloaked figure. Horrified and stunned, Aeris scooted backwards, bumping into the moist rock behind her. The phantom-like figure reached down to the frightened Aeris. She could barely withhold a whimper when the cloaked individual stroked her cheek with a gloved hand. It was warm to her and made her skin tingle.
Finally, the veiled character pulled back his hood, revealing a silver- haired man. Aeris gasped. Cloud described him with grayish or silver hair. She had also seen Shinra posters of him several times in Midgar, but they were too unclear to show his face, only his hair. He sat down in front of her; she didn't know what would happen to her. He was quite different than she imagined him to be. His face was pale, very pale. He looked almost sickly. Black rings surrounded his eyes basically, his lips were a dark reddish tint but nicely shaped, but it was his eyes that captivated her the most. He had beautiful turquoise eyes, just like hers. She knew he had been exposed to Mako because they glowed. He looked so strange to her; he was almost frail looking but all the while, quite handsome. He was tall, dark and mysterious. Aeris caught herself staring at him and averted her eyes, blushing in embarrassment. Yet, she couldn't keep her eyes off his.
Sephiroth grinned at her, causing her to get a bit more uncomfortable. He pulled off his long cloak, exposing his casual military uniform, and held out the cape to her. She forgot she had still been shivering. Aeris looked at it, then back at Sephiroth before finally grabbing it and put it over her back and shoulders. It was still quite warm, and she huddled up in it. Her attention went back to him immediately for she was still uncertain of his intentions.
"I'm certain you already know who I am, right?" He spoke gently to her with his deep and compelling voice that sent shivers down her spine. She nodded slowly. He smirked again. "So you do. But if I may, who are you, my dear?"
"My name is Aeris." She replied cautiously. She was no longer cold with the long cape wrapped about her. She dropped her head when she remembered what he had done to the Zolem. 'Oh, gods. I'm going to die, I just know it.'
Sephiroth reached out with his hand and lifted her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Is that what you want? To die?"
"N-No, n-not at all." She fumbled with her words, too terrified of what he might do. He began to stroke her face again, while leaning ever so closer.
"Then why do you think it, Cetra?" He whispered to her. It startled her that he knew both what she was thinking and that she was an Ancient.
"H-how did you-" Aeris began, but he cut her off by placing his finger on her lips to silence her.
"It doesn't matter." He stated. The rain had stopped and Sephiroth stood up. He held out his hand for her. She timidly took it without question. He pulled her up to him so that her body was only inches away from his. He stood almost a foot taller than her and she stood facing his firm, muscular and almost bare chest. Aeris' breath stilled in fear that her breasts would touch him. After what seemed forever, he pulled away, still grasping her hand. "Come, your friends are quite worried for your safety."
"But-" She began but stopped. She had no choice but to follow. He led he through the forest swiftly and she did her best to keep up with him. In only about half an hour later, Aeris could hear the faint calls of her friends. Sephiroth stopped and Aeris did the same. She looked into the forest and could see a small amount of light. Aeris couldn't help but whisper; "I can hear them."
"Yes, they have set up camp just up ahead. If you follow their cries, you can't miss them." Sephiroth told her, gazing at her face. "Go to them."
"But why are you doing this?" Aeris asked him quietly. He took up her left hand and brushed his lips to her fingers. Aeris blushed.
"Why not?" Sephiroth replied just as quiet.
"T-thank you. Here." Aeris removed his cloak and gave it to him.
"You're quite welcome, and I must thank you." He whispered, taking the cape.
"For what?" Aeris asked, confused.
Sephiroth grinned and turned back the other way, throwing the cape about his shoulders with ease, cloaking himself once more. Finally he replied. "For your name." And with that, he disappeared out of her sight. Aeris stared at the direction he had gone for several minutes until the call of her friends brought her back to the real world. She let out a heavy sigh of relief and ran to meet her comrades.
"My God, Aeris! Are you okay?!" Cloud asked as the group circled around her with concerned faces. "Where were you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just went the wrong way that's all. I followed your calls." Aeris told them, she rubbed her eyes. " Is it ok if I go to sleep now?"
"Of course ya can, girl! Tifa already put up yer guys' tent so go ahead and get you some rest." Barret told her. She thanked them all and apologized repeatedly for the whole incident of getting lost. She went to the tent she shared with Tifa and plopped onto her sleeping bag that was laid out already. All she thought about was Sephiroth. She couldn't tell them about him. Somehow, she couldn't say anything about him.
I'm submitting another entry in this journal tonight. Oh my gods! We first traveled across the marsh and I was inches away from death. Cloud, however, saved Tifa and me from the attacking Zolem thing. When we got to the shore we found another Zolem, dead and impaled upon a tree. I felt so shocked as well as sorry for the poor creature. I know they are quite monstrous, but it didn't deserve to die that way. It was Sephiroth who did it. And also because of Sephiroth I got lost. I was so unnerved by the murdered animal that I wasn't paying attention and got lost in the woods. But it was also Sephiroth who saved me and led me back to my friends. They don't know about him yet. I couldn't tell them. I guess because I owed him. Also, this Sephiroth person, he was quite fascinating. Blah! What am I writing?! He's too dangerous for me to think that! I'm just glad I'm still alive, but he knew where my friends were. Doesn't he want Cloud dead? I don't know what's going on anymore but I plan to find out some answers. I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep now.
Aeris
She remembered how hauntingly handsome he was. It frightened her but also ignited a feeling of excitement. Before long, she nodded off to sleep.
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Author: Well, not many of you reviewed on the first chapter. But I guess that's what romance stuff gets - No reviews, or hardly any at all. So, I'll just keep posting these and then go into my closet and, *sniff*, cry. I'll be posting the next chapter shortly after this one. Good bye people that don't review, you're just not good enough to review, are you? (Goes into closet and cries)