Journey Five – Valentine

STAB!

Aerith couldn't hear the incoming sword poking in her stomach. In fact, when she opened her eyes and moved her arms, she wasn't in contact with it at all. Though what she saw was the back of the One Winged Angel and blood covered on his right hip as the tip of the other Masamune was on ground. She was horrified to see him in this condition, yet relieved that Sephiroth managed to save her again just in time.

However, as for Sephiroth himself, well sheath on his left hand, Masamune on his right and his black wing covered his face– crossed being his left forcing the other Masamune to be slightly off-degrees and his right giving the same exchange for his injury to the other Sephiroth, though the other one has his mouth spitting off blood. He was breathing in pain and wish Aerith was back in the Vatican.

"Why do you always intervene when I'm just doing my job for my mother?" gasped the other Sephiroth slowly.

"I've never intended seeing your mother's ugly face, when you're supposed to get your punishment." Slowly smirked Sephiroth as he was breathing gradually for life.

Then suddenly they heard a piercing scream.

Finally, after a shower of bullets and scrolls of magic disintegrated, that pink blob alien was at long last dead. Adrian, Alda and Rufus managed to catch their breaths and sighs when they call for a break.

"I need to tell Bach to get some more scrolls." Remarked he with glasses.

"In a good way, at least we got rid of that ugly alien to pieces." Alda said with happiness.

"Ugh, what a lucky person I am!" Rufus exclaimed with contentment. "I've the used the last three bullets from my pocket and they're all worth it. Now, where's Bach and Eliza?"

"I'M OVER HERE!" shouted Bach's voice.

They turned around and see the electric guitarist and the engineer left in the right mess when his wires tied him and her to the wall.

"What happened here?" Alda asked with a puzzled face.

"Let's just say Sephiroth Number Two blew us up there." Bach answered with a sigh. "And he doesn't want my encore."

"Bach, could you please stop with the jokes?" suggested Adrian with his head shaking. "It's detesting every minute."

"All right, as soon as you uncut Eliza and me!"

'My son, let us retreat for now.'

'But mother, I haven't even killed the Cetra.'

'She is not a Cetra from this world. I can tell.'

'You mean she's from another world?'

'Yes and I do not sense she has some powers to sense the Planet's call. Now leave them and go ahead with the plan.'

'But what about the clone of myself?'

'He does not have same powers as you and I. Just leave him be and proceed to our plan.'

'Yes, mother.'

And so, the other Sephiroth departed to the sky, leaving the One Winged Angel injured, yet still standing totter as he sheath his once very long Masamune back to normal and used it as a walking stick. Aerith, now paralysed-free, stood up and ran towards him as she supported him.

"Sephiroth…" She said sadly as she looked his calm face. "Why did you rescued me, even though you'll get yourself injured?"

"I don't know…ugh." Sephiroth replied with pain bound to him. "In a dream, there was this young girl and she told me to protect my heart is destined to. I've asked for her name and her name…is Jehovah."

Jehovah? "A young girl you say? Hmm. Speaking of which, what about the girl who was killed by an evil version of yourself?" Both of the characters went up slowly to the altar and saw Aerith's reflection – Lifeless, despite 'sleeping' like a baby.

"I'm sorry, Aerith." Sephiroth apologised with sorrow "There's nothing I can do to save her."

"That's okay." Aerith cried with tears flowing. "She didn't even say goodbye to her friends. And she was only young. At least we can do now is to rest her soul."

"…"

After a mournful silence, Eliza ran up to the two people and stopped to see this innocent girl killed.

"YESHUA…got back…from…the…surface…and…he's….got…what we…wanted for." Eliza panted when she got her breath back. "So, guys – have you got another one?"

Aerith completely forgot that there's one more puzzle to complete, though thankfully Sephiroth took out something from his left sleeve and there it was – a small, black glossy ball right on his palm.

"But…that's…er…" Aerith couldn't say she was amazed on Sephiroth's performance.

"Aerith, you do not need to ask." Sephiroth explained without giving her a time to enquire a question "All I did was while using my black wing and the taunts to distract that clone of myself, I quickly use my left hand from Masamune and with a bit of luck I've finally got that and put it where he's least suspect."

"That's great Sephiroth, but I'm worried about, if the other you knows that's he empty handed and decided to come back."

"Erm, let me fill that in." Eliza rudely interrupted as she walked over the unconscious spiky-blonde man. "You see, before we're landed on Terra, I looked upon some research and after some tinkering, I developed and made a fake materia."

"Materia?" both asked.

"Well, yeah. That's the people living in Terra are called to these spherical objects. So, now we're ready to get back to the Vatican, before Alda's tranquilizers is running out."

"Uh, can Sephiroth and I do one more thing to do, before heading off to space?" Aerith politely asked as she looked at her.

Cloud woke up, having a hard time sitting up from a bad hangover.

"Damn that Sephiroth." He groaned "Is this one of his…" He looked up and saw that Aeris had disappeared while being drugged. "No, that's impossible. She can't be alive."

"Cloud!" Tifa's voice shouted. "I've got some bad news! Vincent's disappeared!"

"What?(!)" Cloud exclaimed as he turned around and saw, apart from his party receiving too from tranquilizer hangover. "But what about Aeris?"

"I don't know. I've told Yuffie and Red to look for any signs after we've somehow drugged. As for Aeris, well…" The Female Fighter explained everything she knew, while the blonde swordsman jumped down from the altar. After a few moments, the young ninja and Red came back looking distressed.

"Guys!" Yuffie panted as she gained her breath "You won't believe this, but…"

"Cloud, you may want to go outside." Red calmly said as he was licking his fur.

The blonde swordsman ran as fast as he could without a reply – outside the Anicents' Temple and outside the building and the lake, until he saw a grave.

It wasn't a fancy grave, just two sticks tying like a cross and below there was a single bangle, two empty bullets, a lock of bright silver hair, a piece of paper that says 'May her soul Rest in Peace', a string; a little clockwork piece and a single black feather. Cloud could not believe this!

Did they buried Aeris? He thought, surprised to see this grave here. And then he looked up and what he saw was a bright celestial angel – two wings on the top and another two on the bottom and she looked at him. But wait! He squinted his eyes saw a figure that looked like Aeris and another that looked like…Sephiroth! He couldn't consider that this innocent Flower Girl is going to heaven with the person he hated the most and yet, both of them and waving to the blonde swordsman.

What the hell!(?) Why on is Aeris with Sephiroth? I'm so confused! She's going to Heaven with that bastard!

Lifting platform, Vatican

"Aerith, are you sure you're leaving this girl to be buried and mourned by her friends?" Sephiroth asked with concern as he was bandaged after a couple of injuries and looked to the grounds that were turning once again into a green land.

"Yes, but I do think she'll haunt us, if she doesn't requested us for a funeral." Jokingly, but melancholy replied Aerith as she too, looked at the land below. "I think she'll be happy now her soul has laid to rest."

"I hope so. However, what about her blonde boyfriend?"

"He has to do this on his own. I've never met this person before, but I'm sure his wound would heal."

"Hey, guys." Announced Bach's voice as he broke this silent moment. "We'll be leaving Terra's atmosphere soon, so we'll be lifting this platform now. Is that okay?"

"Yes." Both said sorrowfully as the Vatican lifted beyond the sky, the lifting platform closed itself from the perfect blue sky and the celestial angel was in once more a black blanket of stars.

"You won't get away with this One Winged Angel." Hissed the other Sephiroth on the edge of the Northern Crater. "You may have deceived me on playing tricks, but I'll make you pay the price!" He then summoned that even a Ship couldn't handle safety in one piece – Supernova.

Bridge, Vatican

Silent.

Everyone was quiet after this sad incident on Terra. Aerith was crying softly, while Sephiroth had no choice but to give support via hugging her gently. Rufus, Adrian, Zack, Eliza and Alda did nothing other than not touching the holographic keyboard. However, the stillness was broken when Bach had enough of this 'tumbleweed' moment and spoke the very first time.

"Hey, don't be so frown. At least we've got what we've wanted."

"For the love of Eden, shut up Bach!" Adrian angrily said as he slammed on to the board. "You don't understand this situation we're doing! We're mourning for a girl that looks like Aerith! Can't you just have some respect for her!"

"But we don't know her, Adrian. I don't think she left Terra for a long time."

"Don't know her! Oh! You're so more emotionless than YESHUA, Bach! Argh!" And then Adrian left the bridge, feeling pissed off that Bach didn't understand the situation they are in.

"Uh, I think I'll go, where Adrian is." Aerith quietly remarked and went on to proceed to the lift.

"Erm, what Aerith says." Sephiroth hastily replied and soon followed her.

Recreational Area, Vatican

Bach, you idiot. Adrian angrily thought as he looked at the window that was now on hyperspace. He was in a space of life, well just. It has a few trees, plenty of floral life everywhere and in the middle of the area was a fountain that has little statues shooting out a stream of water and the Chinese-like adult was sitting on a marbled curved, long seat with a marbled curved table, though with technology inside, that was near the window.

"So, this is where you are going to." Remarked Aerith's voice, as soon as Adrian's head turned around and it was just her and Sephiroth, though the silvered hair man wanted to recline on the wall crossing arms.

"Did you get lost by the way or did the rest of the crew showed you the way?" he asked gently to her.

"Oh yes. We were a bit lost at first, but thankfully we got through." She then sat down next to him, as he looked to the window. "So, what's the matter with you?"

"You wouldn't want to know and don't understand this issue, Aerith."

"No, I'm really wanted to know about you and Bach. About your frustration with him every time he jokes an unfunny line."

"Well, he and I were friends, but I wouldn't recall that as best friends. In the past, every time he does something stupid, I either pull his ear and smack his head and take him to where no one would not normally come in. And for once, Johannes Bach isn't his real name, his given is Julian Yeager Jr."

"Julian Yeager Jr? You mean he's the son of the Yeager Enterprises CEO?"

"Yeah and I'll tell you the reason why he changed his name. A couple of years ago, his older brother, Lawrence died of leukaemia after his mother failed to produce a fourth child of the Yeager. Bach's so distraught; he thought it was all his fault that he was foolish himself and decided to commit suicide. However, being a friend to him is not only a curse for me, it's also a blessing to comfort him in a time of need. After some time of reflection, he was back to himself and decided to change his name, because he wanted his older brother to be with his past self and let the new him live on."

"Then you're remain friends with him for the rest of your life?"

"Not necessarily. He has some bits from his past intact that I find irritating."

Aerith laughed, "So, you are best friends till the end!"

However, the peaceful moment with the two people, with Sephiroth sniggered a bit after Adrian's punchline was broken up when they heard a klaxon and saw red flashing lights.

"WARNING. WARNING. AN Unidentifiable OBJECT IS APPROACHING TWO KILOMETRES AWAY TO THE VATICAN'S POSITION." Announced the emotionless computer

"What could it mean 'unidentifiable object?" Aerith asked to Adrian. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a storm of red grabbed her, jolting Sephiroth's head and ready to sheath Masamune, only to be backfired by Adrian in the way.

"What the?(!)" Adrian exclaimed as he was armed with scrolls and in position next to the swordsman.

"Adrian, be careful." Sephiroth warned as he positioned Masamune in offensive position. "Okay, now show yourself, red storm."

Thus the red storm transformed into someone that clutched Aerith struggling to free herself from his gold claw and his right hand holding a large gun.

Bridge, Vatican

"Dammit! Where the hell is Adrian?" Bach exclaimed as he was in a panic when looked at the holographic screen that showed a very large comet heading toward the Vatican's back.

"He just cut off his communicator, while you made him mad." Replied one the Martyrs who was typing on the keyboard fast.

"Oh, just shut up!"

"At any rate, it will come into contact with the Vatican in about five minutes and will produce fifty percent damage on the back and the engine." Said another Martyr typing very fast and hard.

"Worse, if it hits the borders of the hyperspace we're in, Bach." Rufus said in a concern look.

"Oh great! This is just great. Firstly, Adrian left without saying where's he going, along with Sephiroth and Aerith, now a very large comet is coming after us that even the Vatican's back beams won't work."

However, meanwhile Eliza's noticed that YESHUA has gone missing, since she took Adrian's temporarily position to be a navigator.

"Hey, guys. Where's YESHUA?" She worryingly asked as her head swung from left to right.

"WHAT?" was everyone's answer, to cut a long story short, on the bridge.

Recreational Area

"Just who are you and why did you stowaway in the Vatican?" Adrian asked coldly as he standing still, tensed in his position to see the red-cloaked stranger's action.

"And if I refuse and I shoot this girl instead?" frostily replied the red stranger.

"I won't let you harm Aerith…" came Sephiroth's voice from behind, as overlooked to the red stranger, the One Winged Angel quickly grabbed Aerith as he slid 'face-to-face' with him. "…however, I will punish you, if do not give us your name."

"If you insist, before your death, I am Vincent Valentine."

"Well, I like to have a chat with you, Mister Valentine, but I have tight schedule with the Captain, so sayonara!" Adrian smirked as he threw his scrolls down, producing a smokescreen for him, Aerith and Sephiroth to escape from Vincent's untimely meeting.

"That's great you've rescued me Sephiroth, but do you have to carry me?" She asked embarrassingly to Sephiroth, while running to the transporter that connects to the bridge's lift in a long, bright, futuristic corridor.

"Do you have fast legs, Aerith?" mockingly replied Sephiroth as he felt no strain on carrying her whatsoever.

"Hate to break your conversation, but that red blanket is still catching us behind!" exclaimed Adrian as he threw some more scrolls behind and he was right! That floating red blanket is catching on behind them.

Bridge

"Argh!" screamed Bach as he was about to rip his hat off to shreds. "With this problem going awry, what's going to go on next?"

Then, out of the blue behind his back, Adrian and Sephiroth, to which he is carrying Aerith, jumped from the lift, even before it went on the floor.

"Bach!" shouted the Chinese-like person as he ran towards him in an alarming way.

"Oh, hey Adrian." Bach greeted in a somewhat unusual mix of stress and gladness. "Did you come here for repentance, mate?"

"Bach, you idiot! Haven't you noticed we have a stowaway on board?"

"Haven't you noticed that there's a very large comet coming our way, not to mention YESHUA disappeared?"

"What!" everyone exclaimed in confusion around three problems in one ship, until Vincent appeared again, only this time in front Zack who was piloting at time, being faced by the mouth of a gun.

"I do not know what on earth you people are having problems with, but I demand an explanation of where does this ship take me to." He said coldly.

"He can't be seriously shooting Zack!" Rufus exclaimed as he stood up and took his beloved shotgun.

"Wait, Rufus." Aerith remarked quickly, as she was finally 'picked-down'. "Maybe there's a way to quell this argument." She bravely walked to the lion's den or in this case, the red cloaked stranger having whether to shoot Zack or not.

"Urm, your name's Vincent Valentine, right?" she bravely, but scarily asked.

"Yes, but in truth, are you the Aeris and Sephiroth I knew?"

" 'The Aeris and Sephiroth you knew'? Excuse me, but I'm actually Aerith with the 's' knock out and this Sephiroth here has got a black wing on his back and both of us came from a different world you never know of."

"Oh." Vincent lowered his gun, making Zack relieved that he didn't need to go to Heaven in such short notice. "So that would make sense of why there were clones of them from where I live."

"Yeah, now that the confusion is over, we have one worry to get to – THAT LARGE COMET COMING TO BREAK MY VATICAN!" calmly, but then panicky shouted Bach as he tried to get attention to everyone about one major problem. Then YESHUA's voice was heard.

"You do not need to worry Captain Bach and Eliza."

"That's YESHUA's voice!" Eliza shouted as she ran to the command central. "Martyr, can you tell where YESHUA's voice came from?"

"Yes, m'am." Replied the Martyr at the further point. "It's coming from the back exterior of the Vatican. Should I turn on the primary cameras, Eliza?"

"Yes!" With the screen turned on, everyone saw YESHUA on the back exterior, while in still sticking from the hyperspace speed. "YESHUA, what are you doing? Come back this instant!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do the action you have asked me to do." Unemotionally replied the robot as he reached his arms out. "If I come back inside, there would be an increasing chance that the Vatican will not survive the impact."

"But still!"

"However, if I proceed with the action of obliterating the large comet with my powers, though there maybe some damage to the Vatican's back exterior, we would have eighty-five percent chance of surviving through hyperspace. Nonetheless, the impact will come into contact in ten seconds." Then he cut off the communications from the camera that made Eliza was very worried.

"YESHUA!"

Back exterior of the Vatican

This was it for YESHUA's moment as he automatically activated his arms to transformed into big beams of light, directly hit the very large oncoming comet.

Bridge

Please protect us o…prayed Aerith as she crossed her hands, before the impact made she and everybody else pushed forward. Gratefully Sephiroth had an amazing grip on grabbing her arm and the same for Alda on Rufus, Adrian on Eliza, though not on Bach, who was unfortunately landed on Zack's lap and Vincent landed safely in the middle of where the Martyrs are.

"I need to check on YESHUA!" She exclaimed as she thanked Adrian for grabbing her and looked at the screen. She wasn't shocked at the damage done to the Vatican, but it was YESHUA's damage himself that caused her to draw tears. "No! No! He's been damaged by the impact! Scratches are everywhere! Someone, please stop hyperspace now!"

"Yes, m'am." Replied one of the Martyrs and with the touch of buttons, they soon enter in the black blanket of stars.

"So now, where are we?" Bach asked in annoyance.

"If the computers are working properly, then I'll say we're in the Theophilus Star System." Adrian answered with some attempts to hide the aggression.

"Theophilus Star System?" both Aerith and Sephiroth asked with some curiosity.

"Yep, you're heard Adrian right." Replied Rufus. "The Heart Star System isn't the only one in the Nimbus Galaxy with the word Star on it!"

"So, what is the Theophilus Star System like?" Vincent asked with some confusion about galaxies and the rest.

"Well," Adrian explained, before directly intercepting Bach's unknown knowledge of the Nimbus Galaxy "Theophilus Star System is very much a tourist attraction to the people across some Star Systems and a few Solar Systems. In fact, the best tourist attraction for this is a planet called Akagi, the Planet of the Blood. It's near the Vatican's position right now, so might as well take a rest."

"Uh, why did they call the 'Planet of the Blood'?" Aerith asked with some interest about Theophilus's planets.

"Because the ocean is full of crimson, though it does smell more like perfume than just ordinary ocean from other planets, not to mention most of us, including Bach and me, live in the 'planet's next two neighbours', Second Eden in Theophilus itself."

"Oh, so that's why it is a popular attraction."

"So, I guess there's no option, but to rest at Akagi for a while."

"And when can I repair YESHUA to Yeager HQ in Second Eden until then?" Eliza, now in stress, asked.

"As soon as Vatican is repair and when Bach's want us to go."

"Well, then," called Bach as he stood up "all those in favour of taking a break to Akagi, say 'aye'."

Everybody, except for Vincent who was still new to the Nimbus Galaxy, raised their hands up.

"Okay, then. So it's off to Akagi for a well earn rest, before heading off to Second Eden. In the meantime, Rufus and Eliza can check to see if the objects we've found in Terra matches to trigger Seraphiel's Compass."

Author's Notes: Wow, another FF7character has joined Aerith and Sephiroth's group and this time it's Vincent! Yes, yes, he is the only 'pure' FF7 character that retains his personality and I want it to keep that way.

Oh, because I am a fan of one underrated certain sci-fi game cough Crimson Sea cough; I made a little homage to that game that no one ever plays. Now, on the subject of the characters' clothes, if any Aeriseph fanartist or Yinza, can do me some drawings on the characters that would be great to visualise the readers better. Basically, apart from Aerith, Sephiroth and Bach (see Author's Notes on Journey Four) Rufus's clothes would be similar to his Advent Children counterpart, but with elements of Cowboy Bebop, Alda would be more of red trench coat plus above knee-ish length pleated tartan skirt and plain white blouse combined; Zack could be similar to chaos's costume from Xenosaga II; Eliza can wear a work uniform that is a bit similar to Shion's uniform from the same game I've mentioned earlier, only without the 'fanservice' and Adrian to have a blue Chinese suit version of Citan's from Xenogears, but with different patterns. As for YESHUA, I'll let your head do the imagination.

And I would like to thank a regular reader, Black Malva for keeping me up to carry on writing another fanfiction chapter. Now, as for a special treat, since this is Christmas, I'll give a sneak preview paragraph of Journey Six – Lucrecia.

Once that they paid the person at the stand with munny, though with a bit of luck and Aerith's charm, the strange short man pushed the 'two lovers' from the boarding platform to the stream of the crimson river that surrounds the beautiful landscapes that God created and it was a perfect picturesque sky of blue and white puffy clouds. Though there was silence between Aerith and Sephiroth, who sat opposite to each other, she decided that she might as well socialise with him, before it gets too awkward.