Journey Twenty One – Blood
Q.N.: I pay my homage to Tish and Lily Silver for having me to continue writing this fanfiction, otherwise I would be distracted by reading World Embryo scanlations and playing Star Ocean on my Snes9x emulator.
Yuffie's Room, Vatican
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Huh?" Yuffie croaked very weakly as she got up quickly and look for the button, so that someone could come in, rather interruptedly "I'm coming! So don't you…huh? Aerith what are you doing here?"
Aerith's face was full of concern and tears as she held her hands on the kunoichi's shoulders. Then Yuffie realised that there was something wrong with the brunette girl.
"Yuffie…" She cried, holding her emotion without breaking it "…I can't find Sephiroth!"
"What? Are you really sure? Then, why don't you sit down and let your 'trust sister' Yuffie, to take care of!"
They sat down on the bed, facing each other, as they attempted to find out the reason Sephiroth had disappeared all of a sudden.
"This is all bad…I mean, Sephiroth wouldn't leave me and disappeared all of a sudden. I don't know if I'm going crazy!"
"Aerith, just calm down! Now, tell me what's going on in the beginning, because I have no idea on what you're talking about."
"Well, ok…After we were reunited with Cloud in the meeting room, Sephiroth and I were in the recreational room, talking about Cloud himself and why he was misunderstood all of the time when it was Ansem's doing, not Sephiroth, who plunged their home world into the darkness. And after a while, I left Sephiroth alone and went into my room, where I was about to rest for a while and I heard knocking noises from the door. I opened and Sephiroth was there, holding me in embrace and both of us fell on to the bed. It was such a beautiful and rare moment for us to be in this situation.
And then, the next thing I knew, I woke up and…he wasn't there. At first, I thought he went out for a stroll and my mobile phone vibrated in my pocket…and this is what the message he gave to me said…
To: Aerith Gainsborough
From: Sephiroth
Aerith, by the time you have read this message, I will be gone doing some 'unfinished business' with Cloud in a secret location. I'm sorry that I never told you about this, but I wish I don't want you to be involved and increased my burden. This is for my sake, so that you won't watch what is happening between us.
But don't worry. I'll be back in one piece and fulfil my promise to you. No matter what the cost maybe, I will come back.
…and that's about it. I…I ran everywhere just searching for him to see if he was joking, but so far…I couldn't find him…" She could not hold her emotions as tears showed evidence that Sephiroth had truly disappeared from the flagship.
"Hey, calm down and wipe that tear off your face. It's not the end of the world! Just because Sephy left you, doesn't mean he actually dumped you for good!" Yuffie gave a great big smile to her, which made Aerith warming "Sephy just worries about you when dealing with his business from the past. So, if you want to find him, let's look for him together and get ourselves to think!"
"Thanks, Yuffie. You cheered me up when all hope seems lost."
"No problem! When sadness takes over you, let Yuffie the wonder ninja wipe it off for you! Now, let's look for Sephiroth!"
Somewhere in Second Eden
Night time. A setting that is perfect for a hours of darkness duel, as Sephiroth walked to the cherry blossom trees that would never turned into green leaves and then the central fountain, whose marble statues feature beautiful carvings of angels. And then, when the shining moon is full, Cloud appeared with his sword strapped behind his back; silence came and the only noise that add further tension was the light cool breeze that whisked Sephiroth's platinum hair.
"Finally, we can end our business." Cloud spoke calmly, before his voice starts to rise to anger.
"Yeah," Sephiroth replied "Too bad we have to fight in this peaceful garden."
"Now, where we were before you disappeared from the Olympus Coliseum?"
"Cloud, this fight is pathetic and worthless. Even though everyone has darkness in their hearts, including Aerith and me, your darkness is not me. So, why not plunge into the darkness and find it where your darkness is truly placed into."
"What did you say?" He unsheathed his sword ready for his offensive position, while Sephiroth readied himself, with unsheathed Masamune on his left hand, geared up for his Iai draw.
"I was in darkness once, just like you, several years ago as a child. I lost my way and my mother inside that black place, but then I heard my mother's voice – that light beyond the darkness…"
"Will…YOU SHUT UP WITH YOUR PHILOSOPHY CRAP AGAIN!" Cloud fiercely exclaimed as he rushed towards Sephiroth's defenceless state, seconds before the One Winged Angel's position turned into his Chinese defence swordplay and counterattacked with Chinese ballet defence slashes, before returning to Iai offensive swordplay.
CLANG!
"Cloud, you need to open your eyes and find your light within your darkness!"
CLANG!
"My light has disappeared! My family, my friends, my home…all swallowed up by the darkness! And the only way to free the light is – to destroy the source of darkness…you!"
CLANG!
"You're fighting the wrong darkness!"
CLANG!
"SHUT UP! I KNOW YOU'RE MY DARKNESS AND THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE MY VENGANCE TO EVERYONE IS DEFEATING YOU!"
CLANG!
"CLOUD! WON'T YOU JUST LISTEN FOR ONCE?"
CLANG!
"I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TALKING TO ME LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE DARKNESS AND LIGHT! YOU'RE JUST A MALEVOLENT BEING LIKE THE HEARTLESS!"
CLANG!
Bridge, Vatican
"You want me to search for Sephiroth and the last time he was in here?" Adrian asked in surprise as he woke up from his workplace.
"Please, Adrian" Aerith pleaded gently as her hands were seized together as if a prayer was announced "I want to find Sephiroth."
"Yeah, ditto." Yuffie remarked, cheerfully as usual "Otherwise if you don't, I'll rip your clothes off immediately!"
"Oh right, oh right already! I'll just see to that. Though I'm going get real trouble with Bach later on." With his rimmed glasses fully placed, he sat up and typed very quickly on the holographic keyboard. Many bleeps and whirring noises later and the screen showed up with CCTV footages. "Let's see…you were asleep Miss Gainsborough and somehow, Master Sephiroth woke up very early and left your room." Another CCTV footage was shown in the MA dock room "Huh, now why did the CCTV footage show me…no, wait! I see Master Sephiroth running to dock one!"
"WHAT?" Both women exclaimed in complete shock.
"But that's impossible!" Aerith soon followed her exclamation "The MA Jehovah requires two people to pilot this! Unless…"
"Unless what?" Yuffie questioned in bemusement.
"Unless he turned on to auto-pilot mode for the destination taking place and sat in the weapon controls seat. Adrian, the last time Sephiroth and I left without warning two years ago, there was an alert in all over the flagship and you had to find us. Now, why didn't that happened this time around?"
"Well," Adrian answered calmly "…I think everyone in the bridge, including me, were taking a night off as ordered by Bach before Sephiroth left rather unexpectedly. And not only that, beforehand, Cloud left couple of hours ago after the initial meeting with each other…and…"
"…wait, Cloud? Hang on, I remember something. Right after I woke up and found out that Sephiroth disappeared, I remember that Cloud had disappeared too. I think that Cloud had some grudge against Sephiroth over several years ago and…" And then the realization just zapped on to Aerith's mind "…oh no! Cloud's going to kill Sephiroth!"
"EH?" Both Adrian and Yuffie exclaimed again.
"Don't you see? Sephiroth left, because Cloud wanted him for doing something several years ago and he wrongfully thinks that the only way to overcome his darkness is by…killing Sephiroth, just because he has a black wing on his back."
"But we all know that Sephiroth's wing was the cause of the Noir Key side effects right? Well, except for Cloud anyway, but still…"
"There's only one way to solve this mess out, before Sephiroth gets killed by Cloud's hand! Yuffie, I hope you get your MA ready."
"What? We're going to find Sephiroth and Cloud right now? But how the heck are we supposed to find them, if we don't know where they are?"
"Wait, I can handle that." The half-Chinese man answered as he began typing again on the holographic keyboard "It's a good thing my father used to be a Star System-class hacker and taught me a few things about computers. Now, if I can link up to the T.S.S main computer and link on to the CCTV section, then I shall find your friends."
He typed as fast as his abilities could and the on-board computer was connected to the main system all in a few clicks, then he found the CCTV section and linked up every camera in all planets. Every time he looked at the screen, neither Sephiroth nor Cloud was there on the screen, until he found one…in Second Eden.
"Right, they're in Second Eden and…they're in the Velut Luna Memorial Garden Park!"
"Thanks Adrian. Now can you release the lock when Yuffie and I get on board?"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yuffie exclaimed in surprise "Why did I get involved in…"
"Yuffie, are you going with me or not? I can't pilot your MA, you know."
"Fine!"
Leaving Adrian to hack on releasing the lock, Aerith and Yuffie dashed from the bridge to the MA dock area minutes later, where the MA Kami-Kaze was placed on to dock four.
"So, this is where your MA is placed."
"Well, hurry up! I need to go to the pilot seat, you know. Otherwise, you won't know a thing or two about controlling one of them!"
Once they were seated in the cockpit and the torso door closed, Yuffie was making some preparations and when the screen switched on and the holographic screen of Adrian was there, he was already typing.
"Right, I managed to overwrite the lock release and you can go, whenever you're ready." He remarked as his head sweated slightly.
"Okay, thanks Adrian." Aerith replied.
"Just release us, already!" Yuffie exclaimed happily, as she can hear the female PA's voice from the distance counting down the numbers.
Velut Luna Memorial Garden Park, Second Eden
Many strikes, many stances and many breaths later and there was still no end to the chaos that either of the men were letting their strengths down.
Dammit! Sephiroth thought as his best efforts with his mixtures of Chinese ballet and offensive Iai swordplay mixed into his style. At this rate, there's no way my defence will last that long!
Dammit! Cloud thought angrily as his anger was directly connected to his offence and attempted many times to penetrate the One Winged Angel's Chinese ballet defence What the hell has Sephiroth made over the last two years? I can't even break his defence yet! I have to avenge everyone in the world, otherwise if Sephiroth was alive, then my darkness would break out forever! The red aura that surrounded the chocobo-boy's body grew into powerful energy as he made great cross slash that penetrated Sephiroth's defence, but only by minor amounts.
CLANG!
"Why, Sephiroth? Why are you still on defending yourself? The darkness would never submit defence!"
CLANG!
"Cloud, open your eyes! I'm defending myself, but not attacking you, because you're blind to the actual darkness itself!"
CLANG!
"Actual darkness itself? You must be joking Sephiroth! I'm not that blind!"
CLANG!
"It's true to you! I was in the same position as everyone else does, including Aerith and you! Blind by the actual darkness, I managed to find the light that was hidden inside it and got out there!"
CLANG!
"Will you SHUT THAT PHILOSPHY CRAP UP! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU LECTURING ME! YOU PISSED ME OFF RIGHT NOW!"
CLANG!
And with Cloud's anger gone overboard, he released the lock that surrounded Sephiroth – except there were six swords pointing at the end to him, each with different design.
Okay Sephiroth don't get nervous about Cloud's unexpected attack! He thought surprisingly as he held Masamune in a crane position. You can overcome unexpected attacks, like Astaroth's two years ago. I better used my black wing to good measure! And as Cloud was about to take one of the six swords that was unleashed, the One Winged Angel closed his eyes and concentrated and when he heard the chime of the sword coming towards him, he opened his emerald green eyes quickly and turned his black wing into millions of separate black feathers acting as a shield. This is only temporary, but at least I can have time to counterattack and get Cloud into sense.
You really surprise me Sephiroth…The blonde swordsman thought as he failed to contact Sephiroth's body. But your special attacks won't help you win the round! And then he reached the second sword at full speed.
Several metres away from Velut Luna Memorial Garden Park
Hold on Sephiroth! Aerith thought in a hurry as she ran ahead of Yuffie, despite that the kunoichi's speed is greater than her. I'm not gonna let you killed by Cloud! We can sort out him in a less violent fashion!
"Hey Aerith!" Yuffie panted slightly as she ran as best as she could "Could you please slow down? My legs are gonna run out sooner than I expected!"
"Yuffie, I thought ninjas were never tired of running at lightning speed!" The brunette woman joked to her.
"Ha ha, very funny Aerith! Anyway, is it me or are you really worried about Sephiroth?"
"What makes you say that?" Her cheeks were blushing red for the moment.
"Well remember Olympus Coliseum over two years ago where your eyes first met Sephiroth? This seems like a coincidence you know, but I think you're in love with him in every bit!"
"What are you talking about? It's not that I love him straight away, it's just that…" Her cheeks were more rosy than it had first been "…back in Olympus Coliseum, Sephiroth was such a mysterious character to begin with. And when I accidentally first met him as 'a knight in shining armour coming to my rescue', that's where he and I share so much common features that none of the people noticed."
"Ah, so does that mean you're still in love with him now?"
Aerith remembered the moment that her kiss was also Sephiroth's first kiss and her cheeks were getting more rosy than ever. "I don't know about that! I mean, I don't even really know if…" She stopped unexpectedly near the foundation, where she found out the horrible event.
"Hey, Aerith-chan, why did you stop…" Yuffie stopped behind her and saw another ghastly sight "…oh, crap."
What the both girls saw that the One Winged Angel kneeling down, covered in blood from his forehead to just many sword cuts from the torso and not only that, but his raven black feathers were falling down one-by-one and by the evidence of his short breaths, things were not looking good.
"Oh no, if Sephiroth's keep going like, then he'll…" And unexpectedly, Aerith ran as she got out her Princess Guard from her back.
"AERITH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'LL BE KILLED, IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL!"
"Yuffie, I don't care what's going on, but for many last times, Sephiroth protected me in faces of danger with injuries, but this time…I'll be the one who's going to save him!"
And she ran, just seconds away, before Cloud's final sword strike was fallen on top of Sephiroth's head.
Sephiroth, don't you dare get killed by Cloud or all of your feathers being fallen out of your wing! Together, we can guide Cloud that he was misunderstood the whole time and end this chaos, before the XIII Order discovers the way to unlock…the path to Lost Eden!
Argh…Guess I'm about to be too late. Sephiroth thought as his conscious was barely alive in his body. Despite my best defence, Cloud has managed to break my defence with so many fast special moves and he was being misguided the whole time. Then, is it too late to save Aerith and that promise? Oh God, I don't want that to happened.
"Sephiroth, please don't give up on me, when I disappear."
"But why, mummy? You're here with me."
"That maybe true, but listen to me. Even though everyone has darkness in their hearts, including me, that doesn't mean you can be evil. Once you plunge into the darkness, there is a small glint of light that will guide you your exit. However, light is the same thing as darkness, so you mustn't forget that. Therefore, you mustn't forget that giving up is an option for those who want to stay in the darkness forever and lose hope altogether."
Mother, even though you were separated from the darkness, I think that I found hope that you should be proud of. Thank you.
As for Cloud forever, his victory was at last in his grasp.
Finally, he thought as he gripped his sixth sword. After breaking Sephiroth's defence forty-two times, I can ultimately end the One Winged Angel curse and laid the people in my home world to rest! His speed was immeasurably fast and then…
SLASH!
…the sixth sword made a huge on Aerith's left side of the body and blood was pouring out from there. At first, Cloud's emotion was angry, but then he realised that out of nowhere, it changed to despair, shock and horrific that overcame his anger. As for Sephiroth himself, he felt unexpected that he was still alive. However, his expression led him to complete appalling shock as the person falling from behind and then onto his weak, but stable arms was actually Aerith herself.
"Aerith…?" He cried gently to the wounded woman. "But…"
"Sephiroth…" She whispered to him with a very weak, but firm voice that even Cloud and Yuffie could hear "I don't want to hear you that…seeing you being horribly hurt by…Cloud is a big burden on your shoulders…I want both of us to share the…pain that we have and protect…each other, should we in big danger…and Cloud…Sephiroth is right all the time…he's not your darkness as he said…he wanted to tell you that you…were being misguided about the darkness…the real darkness that you hold is…yourself…"And with the final look on Sephiroth's face and a smile to return the favour, she closed her emerald green eyes.
"Aerith…don't tell me…no, it can't be…you're too young to die…why did you protect me…even though I told you that I wanted to protect you from harm…please be alive…please don't die…"
"Aerith…" Yuffie unusually gasped in pain and tears that could not let go of her face "…don't die…too young…"
"Is this my fault…?" Cloud whispered weakly, after what he had done horribly wrong with the situation "…I killed Aerith…with my sword…? No, it can't be…no! This isn't what I want! I don't want her to die! Please, this isn't true, right?"
Author's Notes: After so many hours put up to work (and resist temptation of reading chapter 14 of the World Embryo scanlations again and again), I have finally done it, along with adding a climatic evil cliffhanger and if you people are complaining about the action scenes, look…just do that in your head and let the imagination come out!
Anyway, recently I spoke to Tish over at the MSN Messenger and she gave me useful tips on making good AeriSeph fanfictions. In return, I gave her some advice about general fanfictions, so I hope that was helpful to you Tish (though I'm not sure, if she's going to stick by the rules, I mean she told me that her FFVII fan novelization had five large scenes in one chapter. Whoa!). So, if you FF people are stuck with making fanfictions or just to say hi to me, PM me, if you want or add MSN to me, if you ask nicely.
Anyway, big thanks to Tish, Lily Silver and many AeriSeph fans, otherwise, I would have brain problems of coming up new twists and plots to the chapters. Lovely comments and review are generally okay, but if YOU ADDED AN FLAMER, I will release Riku Amami from World Embryo into Kanshu mode and have him to rip your legs off. And now, more Nimbus Detour to ease the darker tone of the main story! And for disclaimer's sake, I don't own most of the Monty Python jokes.
Nimbus Detour – Bypass Eight – Rabbit
It was a great summer afternoon in Second Eden and most of its citizens enjoyed spending time by either going on holidays to the theme park planet (owned by Rufus Shinra's dad) Genso or visiting the renaissance crimson planet, Akagi. However, not everyone enjoys having a great summer holiday and that person would be Sephiroth, whose favourite season, winter, goes on a long way till then. He hated the heatwave that his black wing absorbed it and was almost impossible to touch it and also for the fact he has one big problem to his hatred of this hot season – he has hayfever since he first infected this troublesome symptom at such a young age.
Dammit! Not only do I have to suffer hayfever, my bigger enemy than Cloud, why do I have to carry this shopping bags around? No wait, I volunteered to get the demands, dam – oh, great. Not again! And Sephiroth sneezed. Twice that is and his muddled mind told him to itch his eyes, but he could not. And then he remembered what the people wanted.
First came Aerith: "Sephiroth, could you get the list of food I'm giving you please? I'm planning to do an outdoor barbecue and I would be grateful, if you can do it for me. Thanks."
Next was Leon: "Sephiroth, do you have a minute to spare? Could you get me a English-Cantonese translator please? I want to impress to make sure my Cantonese pronunciation is correct and not embarrassed the folks in Genso."
Then it was Adrian: "Master Sephiroth, if you have the time, could you please get me that cupping set? I've got more problems with my sleep than dealing with Bach.
Next was Yuffie: "Hey Sephy, can I have a mp3 player please? I just want to upload my favourite songs into there! Thanks!"
Then came his 'rival', Cloud: "Ugh, Sephiroth. If you have the time to do enough shopping, get me some sword polish, please. I want to make my sword brighter than your so-called katana!"
Next was Bach: "Hey, Sephy! Could you get me more guitar strings? I broke mine many times!"
Then came Kei, though his demand was more of a delivery than a simple favour of buying: "Could you deliver the bento lunch to Eliza, please? She always forget to bring it when I prepared it for her."
Next was Alda: "Could you please get me some wine making set? I want to get it for Rufus's birthday."
Then Zack: "Give me more booze, please! That's nothing more I could ask for!"
And finally, Yazoo and Kadaj jointly: "We want to have a surprise present for Loz's birthday and we were wondering if you can buy us an animal, please? We can pay you with money and the pet has to be cute, though."
Man, with all those demands, well I already gave the lunch to Eliza, in this blistering heat, I'm going to die straight away!
And after several minutes of walking to and fro stations, he finally has found the pet shop that the silver-haired brothers wanted to get a present for Loz. So, Sephiroth went inside the pet shop and what he found almost instantly was a parrot being dead for almost twenty-four hours or so and went straight to the manager.
"Erm, excuse me," Sephiroth remarked politely "but the parrot in this cage is dead. Shouldn't you at least take it off the shelf, before the children will be greatly disturbed?"
"What?" Came the reply of the pet shop manager "This parrot over there is having a rest!"
"Look, I'm telling you this parrot you've got there is dead for almost a day has died. Could you please take it away?"
"I've already told you that parrot is taking a rest."
"Are you winding me up? Take that parrot away and replace it with a live one!"
"Sorry, no can do. This parrot is staying and when I say it's having a rest, I mean it's taking a nap literally."
Furious that the pet shop owner was 'blind' to the fact the parrot had died, Sephiroth marched to the cage that the parrot had passed away and showed it to him.
"LOOK! FOR GOD'S SAKE! THIS PARROT HAS DIED AND ITS LIFE CEASED TO BE! NOW, IF YOU DON'T TAKE IT AWAY AND REPLACED IT WITH A BLOODY LIVE ONE, I'M GOING TO CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF!"
"Oh, right! Oh, right already! You don't need to get angry anyway! I'll replace the parrot! So, what type of animal do you want?"
He sighed as the owner finally was making sense. "Do you have any cute pets that fits the budget?"
"Cute pets? Oh, sure I've got plenty of them, from Chocobo chicks to Moombas. But the cutest one of all, is this!" He lifted a heavy cage that was ridiculously guarded with titanium grids and security pad for the door to open and inside was a cute white rabbit.
"But why the hell would be this cute rabbit be stuck inside this ridiculously tighter security cage?"
"Well, er…this rabbit 'ere is the rarest of them all and it's a Caernnborg Rabbit, Latin name 'Savagus Lapinus'."
"What? But this is just a harmless bunny? What the hell are trying me to sell?"
"Don't be fooled by its cute appearance! This rabbit here has fangs the size of venom cobras and would kill many humans, if you're not careful! However, there are instructions to give you on how to tame the beast!"
He came closer to the One Winged Angel's ear and whispered to him on the instruction.
Next day, Loz's Party
"Oh right, booze!" Zack's voice shouted as behind the scene, he was drinking every last beer he could drink.
However, in the distant…
"Huh? That's Loz's present?" Kadaj asked with his eyes wide opened "Then why would the cute rabbit be stuck inside this security cage?"
"Are you sure it's cute?" Yazoo soon followed with the same expression as his younger brother.
"Did I have any choice?" Sephiroth replied bitterly while he sneezed and covered his mouth with a handkerchief.
"Hey, guys!" Loz's voice was heard as he came from the direction "So, do you have a present for me? Oh my, this rabbit is cute! But why is it stuck inside this maximum security cage?"
"Don't ask!" All three silvered haired men replied with bitterness.
"Oh, then I shall take it out then and hug this cute creature!"
"Hang on!" Sephiroth exclaimed, seconds before Loz incorrectly opened the cage "That's not…"
CRASH!
SQUEEK!
WHACK!
ARGH!
SPLASH!
BANG!
CLANG!
SQUEEK!
"…right. You're suppose to tranquilize the rabbit or restrain him, before taking it out!"
And what was the best party Loz could have wished for became a bit of a scrapheap as lots of furniture was damaged, the catering was a big mess and the guest of honour was covered in bunny scratches. And then…
"Sephiroth, do you have any explanation about this?" Everyone, including Aerith and Cloud, who were all covered in a mess.
"Oh…crap." And then he sneezed around five times, before he gave up resisting to itch his eyes hard.
Quick note: I dedicate this Detour to hayfever sufferers, including myself throughout the Summer season!