She found herself in that bight place again. Slowly, mutely, walls started rising around them, forming a metal room. A table showed up and four demons that awaited to be released.
Kadaj and Loz were standing on the right and Yazoo stood on the left. They were looking at her as if she were their sacrifice. Cold chills passed through her body, whilst the trembling of the electricity faded away.
And he was there, too. He stood beside the table, holding his hand on two thin, bluish sheaths that had beautiful swords inside.
"Is that the boy?" He asked and looked at her.
"Yes." She replied, glancing at Kadaj, who didn't seem to like her at all. Denzel looked at her, pulling Aeorynn by one of the belts.
"I don't like it here. Take me back home." He muttered with a shuddering voice. Aeorynn's heart was hurting. She had no idea what Sephiroth and the brothers were going to do to the boy.
Sephiroth threw a look to Yazoo who gently took the boy, heading toward a door behind Sephiroth. Loz followed after throwing a wicked smile to Aeorynn. Only Kadaj stayed, gazing critically at Sephiroth from under his brows. When Sephiroth glanced at him, the two exchanged fatal looks with such tension that the whole room might explode.
"Leave us." Sephiroth said to him without blinking an eye. Kadaj glanced at Aeorynn. His eyes were full of hatred and judgment for no reason… Or was there a reason?
Kadaj crossed his arms and walked off to the door, where he stopped once more and looked at Sephiroth as if he were a traitor.
Aeorynn realized right away that there was a certain competition going on between Kadaj and Sephiroth, where Kadaj seemed to be the one playing dirty. Sephiroth threw a look at all the weapons, which were spread out on the table.
"What are you going to do with the boy?" She asked, at last. She crossed her arms and leaned onto one leg, as her long fringes dangled before her eyes, caressing her collar bone. Aeorynn noticed the way Sephiroth was observing the slow movements of her hair that were affected by the somewhat strong breeze. He watched her with eyes full of lust.
In a way, she loved the way his hair was showering his back and his strong shoulders that were hiding underneath his armor. His muscles moving accordingly with his breaths, as he gazed obsessively upon the key to his liberation.
"Why would you care?" He asked her after a while of silence. His voice perplexing with the whistles of the draft that was embracing them both, crawling under her skin. Just by listening to him, she felt overflowed with excitement that his mysterious tone produced.
"Cause I'm not like you." She replied, also waiting shortly for the mystery to take place. It was different when she spoke to a shadow. Only his voice and his words taking over her. Now, she had to struggle with the passion of his look, his controlling movements and with the power of his being.
"…Yet." He finished her sentence and glanced at her once again, reaching his hand to her, "Approach." He said.
His commands were short, but unable to resist to. She knew he wasn't a kind of person that repeated himself. She lowered her hands and approached the desk from the opposite side of him, trying to evade the warmth of his body. She looked down on the table. Two swords, one long-blade knife, a gun and two leather pouches that were hiding a tiny silver key.
"What is this?" She asked and looked at Sephiroth shortly, avoiding his unintentionally seductive glare.
He started circling the table, approaching her slowly, as he was gliding his fingertips across the edges of the table. He was gazing forth at the ground as he kept approaching her. Her heart beat faster with his every step, whilst her chest moved rapidly from the tension.
"A gift." He said quietly, his voice but a mere whisper thrusting her soul. At long last, he came from behind ad came closer. She could feel his warm breath on her neck as he whispered softly:
"For completing your first mission and therefore gaining my trust."
He wasn't touching her, even though she wanted to feel his hand on her body so much. But, in a way, his figure didn't feel real. As if he were a fantasy… a simple illusion of her crazed mind.
He circled his breath across the back of her neck, making it bristle with every gasp of his.
"What is the key for?" She said, taking the tiny object into her hand.
"You'll see when you step out." He replied quickly, "Before you do that… I have another mission for you."
Chills passed through her body. His missions included things she did not want to do. She wasn't a kidnapper… She just wanted freedom.
"Gain an army." He said.
Shocked, she turned around and stabbed her confused look into his eyes.
""Gain and army!"" She repeated with surprise, "And just how am I supposed to do that?"
Aeorynn crossed her arms, making out a displeased expression on his pale face. He turned around once again, facing a dark wall. Then, he lifted his hand and spread his fingers. A twinkling star appeared on his palm and he threw it onto the wall. The exploding effect that the collision caused came out with a result – a broad window.
She lifted her eye brow, wondering what kind of magic that was. She had never seen it in her entire life… but then again, she was isolated during the last half of it.
"They are waiting." He said and approached the window, resting his hands on his back.
Aeorynn came closer and looked through the window, as she stood calmly beside the tall master.
She was looking at what seemed to be a sewer. Disgusting masses with no specific form dripping onto the wet, curve ground on which there were many beasts laying. Her jaw dropped when she realized that her army was supposed to consist of giant metallic spiders, deformed humans with metal modifications and overgrown, hunch-backed dogs – also half mechanical.
Sephiroth looked at her, taking her abhorrence as just another flaw that is to be erased very soon.
"What… are those?" She whispered, chocking on her own words.
"Your soldiers, failed experiments of Shin-Ra Company. They have reproduced with time and now there are enough of them to run over Midgar."
Aeorynn glanced at the bitter man, who looked back at her. She discerned hatred… a lot of hatred spreading inside of his pupils. Why he hated Midgar so much, she just couldn't perceive. However, further unimportant questions like that weren't an option in that moment.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked, after barely accepting her mission.
"Attack Healing Lodge, get information on Jenova from Rufus and kill him."
Aeorynn looked at him once again. Her heart started beating faster when she heard the third order. She wasn't a murderer… She never killed before! How was she going to do that?
"Kill him? Are you serious?" She howled in surprise.
Sephiroth looked at her harshly. He didn't have to say anything for her to apprehend that he couldn't be more serious than he all ready was.
"Yazoo!" Suddenly, he shouted. His quiet whispers gained color and tone, revealing the true sound of his voice. He was looking at the floor, still holding his arms on his back.
Yazoo came through the door, glancing at Aeorynn and then at Sephiroth from beneath his fringes. He had a psychopathic gaze – he the most out of all four of them. In his dark look, Aeorynn could recognize the full lack of tolerance and hesitation.
"Bring the specimen of the Ancient Lake." Sephiroth ordered. Yazoo, fairly glad to hear that, turned around and left the room. Aeorynn had a bad feeling about this. Ancient Lake… sounded fatal.
In a matter of seconds, Yazoo's slim figure showed up. He came closer, carrying a titanium chalice and lifting it toward Sephiroth.
Sephiroth turned to her, dipped the tip of his finger into the black liquid and then ran it across her lips. His touch was more like a soft drift of wind… so unreal. She felt sourness on the surface of her lips, as he kept touching her softly. All though his touch and his breaths were warm, his eyes were still cold. The way he was looking at her in that moment… she felt as if she were his worse enemy.
"Taste it." He said, thereafter. By this time, Yazoo and Loz had all ready arrived to look at her destruction.
Since she knew that the kind of freedom she had chosen wasn't really freedom she hoped for, she licked off the poisonous moist from her lips.
It tasted bitter, just like Sephiroth's soul. It was cold even after a short while of mixing with her saliva. Her tongue was all ready getting hurt by the sourness of the liquid.
"Swallow it." He, then, whispered.
She glanced at Kadaj, who was standing with his arms crossed and a pleased face that only successful murderers could have.
She didn't swallow it. The liquid glided down into her throat by itself. And during that time, she was looking straight into Sephiroth's eyes. In one moment, she thought she made out a tiny drop of compassion. However, that illusion drifted away the moment that liquid began to take effect.
She felt as if her heart was to explode. It was shrinking, hurting her in a way that was giving her an impression that she was being electrocuted. She let out a quiet whimper as she bent down, still standing on her feet. She wasn't going to give them the pleasure of seeing her die on her knees.
Sephiroth kept jerking his hands in a mean to help every time she would twist in pain. But, the he would pull them back when her whimpering would stop. Obviously, he didn't want to show the others that he actually wanted to help her.
Suddenly, it all stopped. The pain withdrew into the core of her numb heart, as the shuddering of her limbs kept fading till there was nothing left… but indifference.
She straightened herself up. Leaning her head backwards and letting her fringes reveal the perfect lines of her face. The light violet lip-gloss shined on the weak light of the room, as she held her mouth open. She took a deep breath, which was completely different than the usual ones. This one was fresher and colder. She felt that first breath enter her lungs, spread across her inside and finish off in her limbs.
She exhaled with relief, as the energy started running through her body. All of a sudden, she didn't care about Denzel, she didn't care about Rufus…
She opened her eyes. Kadaj lifted his head, gazing at her with a smile. Sephiroth, however, couldn't look into her eyes. He pursed his forehead and looked at the floor.
Aeorynn's eyes were, now, just like his and the three brothers'. All though, they weren't completely grey. They kept their violet tone, which was, now, even more accenting since her pupils were tiny.
"How are you feeling?" Sephiroth asked and her and threw one short look at her eyes.
Aeorynn took another breath and rotated her head a little bit, feeling stiff as though she had just awoken.
"Splendid." She replied quietly and glanced at Kadaj, "What are you smiling at, you pitiful worm?" She threw to him with disgust in her voice. Kadaj's smile disappeared and that usual sour face when he'd see her appeared again.
She gazed at Sephiroth, who lifted the key in his hand, saying:
"Fenrir is waiting for you outside. Pick up your things from the table. Report me the results when you're done."
Aeorynn took over the shiny keys and started arming herself. The two sabers found a perfect spot on her waist, while the long-blade knife with a spiky blade rested in its sheath on the belt on the back of her waist. She took the gun, which seemed more like a rifle by the length of its cylinder. And at last, the two potions, which she recognized at once: Phoenix Down and Potion.
While she was arming herself, the three brothers had all ready left the room, leaving Sephiroth alone with her. She said nothing. Not a word crossed her full lips. He stood not too far away from her, watching the way her muscular body moved as she kept picking up the heavy weapons.
"Watch out for Cloud." He said aimlessly, just to break the awkward silence she persuaded. Unfortunately, the beautiful girl said nothing on that, "Did you hear what I said?" He asked her abruptly.
"I heard you." She replied in a quiet, careless tone. That was definitely not Aeorynn as the world knew her. The drop from Ancient Lake turned her heart to stone and also increased her ego.
At long last, she turned around, without looking at Sephiroth and passed him by inconsiderately. He didn't try to stop her when she passed him by without a good bye. She stopped at the place where she first appeared and then closed her eyes.
Sephiroth observed as her ideal figure was getting swallowed by the bluish threads of electricity.
She showed up in a different place – not in front of the ruin of the church. She was behind 7th Heaven, standing before a beautiful black motorcycle with slots for her weapons. The bike seemed to open up on either sides, releasing the weapons, or storing them inside when the weapons weren't needed. It consisted of two giant wheels and was black for the most part, except for the golden exhaust pipes extending to the end of the motorcycle.
Aeorynn smiled, pleased with that gift in particular. She stored her weapons into the slots on the bike, but she left those two laser guns on her thighs – in view of the fact that the belts of their holsters were fastened against each of her thighs. She shoved the key and turned it, while she held the break and at the same time urging some gas. It sounded like a cat purring. Finally, she let go of the break and threw some more gas into it, driving herself off the dusty place.
First, she thought, she should find those monsters. She'll be needing them after she kills Rufus. And second, she was to pay a little visit to Tifa. By now, entire Midgar knew of her being on the loose.
Sephiroth sat on what seemed to look like a metal throne. He leaned on his hand, deep in his thoughts, while the three brothers settled themselves in front of him. Kadaj, as always, stood in the middle.
"Something bothering you?" He asked in a mocking way. Sephiroth didn't reply. He didn't like answering on stupid questions.
"Maybe our friend has problems…" Yazoo put in, making dreamy and somewhat crazed movements.
"… Love problems." Loz corrected his brother and crossed his arms, as he would always do. His leather gloves were shining on the poor light of the room, catching Sephiroth's attention.
Suddenly, Sephiroth stood up and climbed down three short stairs onto which the throne was built. He stopped just in the middle of Loz and Yazoo, who had all ready come closer to Loz by now.
Unexpectedly, Sephiroth jerked his both hands toward them, grabbing them by their necks and hence forcing them onto their knees. During the time he did not make any expression on his lean face. Not even to show how much effort he was making with his muscles.
The two brothers were choking on the ground, whilst the elder spoke quietly:
"You guys don't happen to be making fun of me… do you?"
The two tried shaking their heads as an answer, at the same time as they were gurgling something that nobody could understand.
"Good." Sephiroth said and pushed them onto the ground as he continued walking toward the window he had made, saying:
"You know how I dislike that."
"Do you think she can handle the pressure, Sephiroth?" Kadaj threw behind his shoulders to put that previous incident behind.
"Rynn is good enough." Sephiroth answered confidently.
Suddenly, Kadaj turned around and walked over to him, whilst saying:
"Good enough to set us free?" Then he whispered so that only Sephiroth could hear him: "Or good enough for something else?"
Without receiving the answer, he walked out of the room, followed by his brothers. Sephiroth took a deep breath and continued observing the beasts fighting amongst each other.
"Both." He said, as if to answer to his conscience, if there still was any.