Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and VIII plus their characters, names and places are the property of Squaresoft.

A Word From the Author: Sorry for the major delay, but I had a hard time getting this story out and then I lost the notebook where I had written my rough draft, so forgive me if this chapter sounds like crap and contains some weird stuff that can't be understood. As always, just post any complaints or comments in so I can improve this story for you guys! Now, I bring to you Chapter Seven!

Chapter Seven: A Knight in Black Armor

"...Still I wonder why I refused the light And doomed my soul to anguish for eternity."

—Seifer Almasy

"I have to go to Coruthary."

Steadfastly, Seifer's green eyes stared his audience down, daring them to argue against his decision. He was dressed for travel, in a tan jacket, black shirt and dun trousers, and a backpack was slung over his shoulder. His belt was graced by the familiar sleek, deadly presence of Hyperion. He had been sneaking out of Edea's newly reopened orphanage through the back door, but had tripped over the ex-sorceress, who had been unable to sleep and sat down there to have a cup of tea. Her yell had been loud enough to waken half of the house's occupants, and her next shout of, 'Seifer Wolfgang Almasy, just where do you think you are going?!" had been more than enough to rouse the other half.

"Coruthary?" Rinoa echoed skeptically, raising a delicate eyebrow. She leaned against the door, twirling a finger beside her head for the universally accepted gesture of 'boy, is that dude crazy.' "I don't know if you have knocked your head and forgotten this, Seifer, but Coruthary is a death trap at the moment. It is well known, if not officially, that the new Deling wants his land back, and he wants it bad. If the army isn't out there already, you can bet that they're beginning to march."

"Very funny," the blond ex-knight growled, glaring at her, his eyes like emerald lasers.

"You and what army?" the usually taciturn Squall volunteered, smiling slightly. He stood behind his wife, an arm around her shoulder.

"There must be a conspiracy against me," Seifer muttered, shaking his head. He looked each of them in the eye and said evenly, "I knew you would react this way. Which is why I was awake at one a.m. in the morning, and not to admire the lovely flowers. I just wanted to get out of here without any fuss." His eyebrows drew down sharply over his eyes, making it clear that he wanted to be free of the 'interrogation' as fast as possible.

"We're just worried about you, Seifer," the Matron offered as a form of apology.

"Worried that I'm going to offer my services to Deling and join the Galbadians?" Seifer inquired sarcastically.

"Nothing like that." Edea corrected. "It's that you have become a dear friend, and we would hate to see any harm come to you."

Seifer wasn't too sure that the same could be said of his old nemesis. He glanced at Squall, crossed his arms, and said curtly, "I merely need some time for myself. To...think. I know you mean well, but this place suffocates me sometimes. With all the memories it holds..."he added a trifle wistfully.

"It's not your fault Avine was kidnapped, Seifer," Squall said gently, guessing the somber turn Seifer's thoughts were taking. "Who would have known that, somehow, out of all the places in the world, they would come straight here?"

"I let her get out of my sight," Seifer mumbled guiltily. "This wouldn't have happened if I had been watching her as closely as ordered."

"For Hyne's sake, Seifer!" Rinoa threw her hands up in frustration and punched him lightly on the collarbone. "What's with that pea size brain of yours? You're starting to sound so...pious." Rinoa imitated Seifer's deep tones. "I must atone for my sins, because I have done wrong, and I suffer my whole life because of it." She spoke again in her normal voice. "In my opinion, this whole thing has the fishy smell of Deling all over it. And Edigier is the creepiest of the lot so far."

"Only us, my son and a few trusted SeeDs know that Avine was here," Squall ventured quietly.

"Are you saying that we could have been betrayed?" Edea asked, her face twisting at the thought.

"I trust every one of us here, and I don't think any of us had anything to do with it," Squall said solemnly, refusing to give her a direct answer. "But I will check it out, in case. My son is already working on it back at Garden."

He glanced at Seifer, and was startled to see Seifer exposed for once, his green eyes completely open for the first time in decades. He almost recoiled at the depth of pain buried there, and the half-healed scars that time had yet to mend. As fast as the expression appeared, it quickly vanished, hidden carefully once more behind an emotionless mask. In a way, the adult Seifer was very much like Squall's own younger self, who had hid his feelings from the world this way. Despite everything, Seifer had yet to learn to trust, and who could blame him, really?

"I was here," Seifer said, so softly Squall could barely hear him. "They will ask questions. I had a reputation for kidnapping sorceresses, remember? Me...Avine...any SeeD will put two and two together and come up with a conclusion..." Rinoa flinched at the reminder of the tome Seifer had practically handed over her to Adel. Seifer's pain briefly resurfaced as he looked at her, also remembering.

"Not all of us," Rinoa promised sincerely.

Seifer closed his eyes, seemed about to say something, then stopped. He coughed and began again. "One last reason. You won't have known this...but Rajin and Fujin are still in Coruthary. I have failed so many comrades before. I can't bear to fail my two closest friends." H opened his eyes and looked around at them, his gaze earnest and straightforward, though Squall's sixth sense had the nagging feeling that, although Seifer might be telling the truth, he was certainly holding something back. He resisted the urge to ask what. Seifer might resent his intrusion, and worse, see it as mistrust on his part. Squall admired his former enemy somewhat grudgingly, and he didn't want to give up on him. So he held his peace, and let Seifer continue talking.

"They came to help me in my hour of need. I can't abandon them in theirs. This is something I want to do alone. And no, Squall, I don't want a squad of SeeDs trailing me at all times. It's distracting walking around when you know that there're half a dozen guns pointing at your back whenever you go. Besides—" Seifer smiled, a confident smile from the days of the younger, brash teenager he had been— "I have Hyperion to take care of any pests that cares to cross my path." He patted his faithful gunblade affectionately on its hilt, and his smile grew unsettling. Squall understood the word 'pests' to refer to more than just random wild monsters roaming about.

"Just how were you planning on making it to Coruthary, anyway?" Rinoa asked, forehead creased. "It's Galbadian land you have to get through before you reach Coruthary. And were you planning on swimming from Centra to Galbadia?" she finished archly.

Seifer flushed. "No. I've got a boat waiting for me down there at the beach," he explained, nodding towards its general direction. "I'll be able to take care of myself once I reach Galbadia." He shrugged. "No need to panic, I'm still pretty good with Hyperion."

They caught onto his gist, and Rinoa's face whitened. "Seifer," she said. "Promise me you won't—"

It was the wrong thing to say. Seifer's expression grew stony. "Bye," he snapped. "I'll be going now." He stalked away, leaving them staring at his back. They didn't follow, sensing that it would only aggravate the already tense situation.

Seifer got into the small motorboat bobbing in the waves. Small or not, it had a powerful engine, and spray cascaded into his eyes as the engine revved up with a roar and sent the craft speeding away from Cetra.

He watched the lighthouse disappear into the horizon, then blinking seawater from his lashes, turned towards Galbadia and swept all thoughts of his home away from his head. He couldn't afford any distractions now.

After all, he was on a mission.

The boat sped off into the darkness.
.......................................................................................

Sometime in the night, in the dream world...

"You knew, and you didn't tell me," Sephiroth accused bitterly.

"If you had known, you would never have come," Aeris pointed out.

"That was precisely my point."

Angrily he leapt to his feet and paced, his jade eyes narrowed, his face taut against the chaotic jumble of emotions raging inside him. Aeris seemed to understand his sense of outrage and betrayal, and said nothing, simply sitting on the ground, her legs curled up beneath her, hands clasped together, her eyes dark with something like regret.

"But it was your only chance for redemption," she said in a small whisper as his steps slowed and became less angry. "Why should you throw it away for Jenova?"

He was on her at once, and the anger he had managed to purge out of his system rushed back, tightening his facial muscles, and his eyes glowed ominously. "How about for the world?" he snarled. "Has your precious Planet ever considered that Jen...she might attempt to possess me again? It could be Nibelheim all over again! A vicious cycle..." He laughed coldly. "Fine. I've accepted that I'm not a monster. I'm just an innocent, manipulated human. But now she's back!"

"She still doesn't know you are here," Aeris offered, attempting to offer comfort. "The Planet is hiding your presence here to the best of its ability. You are safe as long as the Armlet of the Cetra protects you."

"Hardly anything to cheer about," Sephiroth growled. "It's only a delay from the inevitable, since I was brought back to help the Gaians fight her. She will soon know, and will try to recruit me as she did before."

He paused, then said emphatically, "The Planet knew very well that both of us would have to face each other again, and that my mind and soul would be in danger. Why was I its champion? Cloud Strife and his group of ragtag companions beat her once, including me. They would only be too glad to take up the task. Why me? Why...her?" He sounded almost plaintive. Turning to face her, the fire in his eyes dying down, he sighed, suddenly weary.

"The Planet has its reasons," Aeris said, sorry to be putting Sephiroth so much in the dark. But it was for his own good. He was already overwhelmed at the moment at the revelation of his destiny; she didn't want to burden him any more than she had to. "But I can tell you it has to do with the fact that you are genetically her son..."

"Don't say the word 'son' and Jen...her again in the same sentence again," he cut across her words vehemently. "It sickens me that I ever thought myself the product of that alien freak."

"Sorry," Aeris apologized. "But you are her equal. No one else is better equipped to the task than you, who alone share her power. The sorceresses of today are no match for her; their powers have diminished over time. Jenova currently exists in a mortal body rather than a shell. Thus her powers are far more potent than what AVALANCHE has experienced before. But she is also more vulnerable. Before, Jenova created or possessed bodies, discarding them when she pleases, but not so now. She has not been here long enough to make a new host, and she is arrogant and confident of her new leadership of the world. She fears no threat to her position. If you kill her, she will die in this world, the world of her birth. In the Planet, the Lifestream would reject her, but I think Hyne would be more than glad to call her wandering spirit home. She has eluded his grasp for far too long, and the only thing she fears is his ire."

Sephiroth stared at Aeris thoughtfully. "There is something you are not telling me, flower girl."

The Cetra almost choked at his words. While her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, he shrugged, hunching his shoulders. "Never mind. I understand."

He'd misunderstood! He thought that she still didn't want to confide in him because of Jenova. Aeris could have torn her hair out in frustration. Just what made men so damned thick?!

Before she could explain, Sephiroth asked, "So how come Hyne is still up there happily unaware of her?"

"He is far away, his attention on other worlds under his supervision," Aeris clarified. "This is Jenova's last chance. She came to your world to drink the Lifestream dry and gain power enough to challenge Hyne to a battle of ascendancy, but she failed in that venture. Now she has come at a time when Hyne is not watching Gaia. Her powers have grown tremendously even without the infusion of Mako she hoped would increase them. If she wrests control of this world from Hyne, the magic of Gaia is hers for the taking, She cares not that Gaia will wither and eventually die if too much magic is drawn from it and not allowed to replenish. It is a matter of revenge, really, for what Hyne did to her eternity ago. Her mind has become twisted along with her from. I believe, as do my brethren, that her original purpose, the total domination of Gaia, has become lost in her mad desire of vengeance."

"So much destruction...just for revenge?" Sephiroth breathed, both in astonishment and fury that Jenova had let such a petty thing result in so many broken lives.

"Insanity has claimed her," Aeris said sadly. "Death should have granted her peace long ago, but she escaped it, fearful of its black depths. It should end here, in this plane where it all begun."

New resolution hardened Sephiroth's face. "I still think your Planet is foolish, but I am gladdened that it should so trust me by placing so much responsibility on my shoulders...as well as giving me a chance to shove six feet of Masamune up her ass," he finished, grinning wolfishly.

Aeris smiled in spite of herself. "I'm not saying I'm happy you're looking so much forward to the hunt, but after what she's done to me..." Her smile became uncharacteristically evil. "I respectfully request that, as you're doing that, please give her a good hard kick, specially from me and all the Cetra."

Sephiroth looked a little startled, then he smiled. "I shall do my best in that endeavor, as I owe you one for killing you. You shall have your wish."

Aeris grinned, becoming the very image of a sweet young woman once more. "Thank you. It's so good to meet a man who keeps his promises. For once."

"I hope that was not an insult to the male species," Sephiroth quipped.

The Ancient Forest abruptly wavered about them, until Aeris shot it a steely gaze. "Uh oh," the Cetra said. "It's going to be morning soon. It's been fun talking, but I have to go. I look forward to our next meeting."

"As do I," the silver-haired man replied with a genuine smile.

"One more thing," Aeris declared, walking towards him until she stood right in front of him.

"What?" His smile wavered, becoming confused.

"A good-bye kiss, you dummy," she said, rolling her eyes. "That's what friends do when they part."

She leaned forward and gave him a little chaste kiss on the cheek. "See you!" she said, smiling, hopping backwards and waving.

The forest dissolved completely this time, sending Sephiroth back to dreamless sleep.

..........................................................................................

Author's Ending Note: Hee, what did you think I meant by 'goodbye kiss'? I'm not such an AeriSeph sucker that I would turn the whole thing into a romance so fast! If there is anything about Aeris' explanation you don't understand, please contact me. I have a major History exam coming up, and after that I plan on relaxing, so don't expect such a quick update. Plus, the quote at the beginning of the chapter is a quote from one of my other pieces, A Knight in Black Armor (yeah, I know that the title of this chapter is copying that), so please check it out!

Wow, 9 reviews?! (tears) Thank you so much!

Travithian Axile out

Thanks to:

Sephiroth2021: More demonstrations of Avine madness coming up soon, stay tuned! (not the next chapter, sadly, but SOON)

Nav: I'm not really a Cloud fan, but never fear, I was already thinking of a way I could somehow throw certain members of AVALANCHE into the plot without seeming unrealistic. And I didn't want to make Sephiroth too strong. I mean, that would make the SeeDs suspicious, wouldn't it?

Zero-no-uta: ...and another!

Quela: You flatter me with your kind words. The encouragement is much appreciated.

Dark Knight Gafgar: Welcome back! Yeah, it was pretty obvious, wasn't it? I have a feeling I know who you think he is.

Noacat: (grins mysteriously) wait and see, then!

Delphine Pryde: Sadly, it gets even worse for her from now on. If such a thing is even possible.

Omega Paladin: Hmmm, you may have something there... (muses)