I just remembered I have a fic.
Don't laugh, please.
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"Reform"
"Darling, yes, of course! You weren't under the impression Hell was punishment"
The smiling secretary gave Sephiroth a long look, in wonderment at his apparent misinterpretation. Sephiroth appeared to be having some trouble with the notion.
"Reform"
He was beyond comment. Aeris couldn't even tell what he was thinking from his blank eyes. "That's the word, dear"
Sephiroth was silent. He stared blankly at the woman for a time, not moving at all. After a few minutes of what was conceivably deep thought, he moved to sit down again.
"Reform"
Aeris was halfway between relief and annoyance by the time she was forced from her thoughts.
A small, stout man approached the secretary. He appeared the kind of man, small and nervous, that would pull on his mustache and fidget to the point of making his companions murderous in any situation. Despite this, he had more presence than anyone else in the room, including the great general Sephiroth.
"Newbie?" the man asked
"Oh, the worst kind!" his secretary didn't seem to notice that the people she was talking about were standing only a few feet away, "I don't think they've even spent a day here, before coming to talk to us"
"Ah," the man turned to them, "you want out, I assume?" Sephiroth nodded curtly, accompanied by a minor gesture of agreement from the girl beside him.
"Sorry, but there's a bit more to it than that. There are a few things we have to take care of first"
At this, Sephiroth looked a touch annoyed, but Aeris was livid.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand! I was on my way back to Earth, I'd earned it! The only reason I'm down here is him!" Her finger shot out towards the general in accusation.
"Ah! A special case then!" the man turned to his secretary, shaking her out of the stupor of her almost immediate boredom.
"This will be a great learning experience for you, Mary-Lou! So that you know how to deal with these cases without my help later on"
The woman frowned, obviously having no intention of doing anything particularly complicated herself.
"The terms of a bond are completely separate," he explained to the two of them, "this is not a common occurence"
"A bond"
"Yes. To figure this out, I must know: what exactly did you do, sir"
"I..." Sephiroth hesitated, thinking about maybe a more positive wording. Eventually, he sighed. "I tried to destroy the world"
Oddly, the man didn't seem surprised at all.
"Aha! Beautiful! That makes it a bit simpler. You, Sephiroth, having attempted complete destruction, will only have to learn"
The silence of confusion was thick as mud.
"Learn to be, and to follow you, not evil. And you," he turned to Aeris, grinning widely, "you two are bonded, so you must be his teacher"
The breath caught in Aeris throat. Bonded? A teacher? Not now, not him, please! Sephiroth's smirking face clearly told her she'd better get used to life in hell.
At this point, the one thing she'd really like to do was smack him upside the head.
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I got stuck in the middle. Then I started again. WHEE!!! And that took (from stuck point on)... 25 minutes. Go me!!