Children of Prophecy
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7
Ch. 3- The haunted isle
It felt like he was immersed in quicksand, try as he might he couldn't escape his imprisonment. His body seemed to be made out of lead, he couldn't force his limbs to do anything. Sephiroth was furious, nothing held him back from what he wanted to do, not even his own traitorous body. Slowly the darkness that obscured his senses started to lift and he felt tiny pin pricks of pain flash across his body. Sephiroth was vaguely aware of pressure being applied to his chest at spaced intervals as well as something being forced through his mouth into his lungs. Suddenly he felt his instincts kick in and he tried to draw in a large lungful of air only to find that he was prevented from doing so. Snapping his eyes open he found that indomitable Cetra had been giving him mouth-to-mouth. He snarled and pushed her off but whatever he was about to say never made it as a slightly horrified and queasy look crossed his face.
Aeris was startled to put it slightly when Sephiroth's arm shot up and pushed her away from him. She couldn't help but be amused at the look that crossed his face when whatever comment he was about to make was forgotten and he leaned over and threw up. He had brought up several rounds of salt water and stomach contents before he recovered and shot her a hot glare for seeing him in this humiliating circumstance. The look in his eyes promised that she would regret this later.
Sephiroth stood up with the grace of a jungle cat and roughly grabbed Aeris by her upper arm and wrenched her to her feet. He stood there for a moment contemplating what he would do with her before he grabbed both of her wrists in one hand, withdrew some soggy boot lacings from his trench coat and quickly lashed her hands together. Ignoring her sounds of pain and protests Sephiroth started dragging Aeris behind him, his hand still wrapped around her wrists, towards the edge of the tropical like forest. Upon entering the jungle, he slammed his captive against the trunk of a tree, her hands held above her head.
"Don't think that your little charity act will save you Cetra," Sephiroth spoke darkly, his voice thick with anger. "I intend to let you live a bit longer before ending your pitiful existence. There is something I going to have you retrieve for me, be glad that I am even this generous."
"I have a name you know Sephiroth, and it's not Cetra or bitch. The least you could do is to actually use it," Aeris dryly stated.
"Stop being smart Cetra," he emphasized, "just because there is something I need for you to do doesn't mean that I will be giving you any special treatment. So I suggest that you shut up and cooperate and nothing nasty will happen to you before you complete your task."
With that Sephiroth continued striding further into the jungle, Aeris struggling behind him as he dragged her, trying not to trip or fall. As they ventured deeper into the foliage, Aeris found the going to be tough while climbing over fallen trees and logs, ducking under low hanging branches and vines and side stepping rocks and bushes that were liberally strewn across the jungle floor. Without the use of her hands for balance and gripping, Aeris found all of these tasks extremely difficult and winced as another branch whipped her in the face after Sephiroth's passing.
Dammit I don't have time for this, Sephiroth thought, why must the fates mock me by having to use this clumsy Cetra to get me the Black Matera. He was becoming more irritated by the minute, it seemed like that dammed Cetra tried to stumble into every bush, rock, branch and log that she could to impede his progress. If she kept this up, he couldn't be blamed for killing her out of annoyance.
Sensing his feelings by how tense his shoulders were, Aeris tried to pick up her pace only to have a rock catch on her foot, yanking her wrists out of Sephiroth's hands and sending her sprawling to the ground. Apparently by the look on his face, Sephiroth was beyond irritation at this time. His eyes glowing in anger and his mouth formed into a fierce scowl, the silver haired man didn't even bother to speak before roughly backhanding her and sending her tumbling several feet back through the undergrowth. Aching and bruised in several areas, Aeris lifted her head only to see the same expression on Sephiroth's face that he had worn just before he had fallen into the lifestream. She was in trouble for sure now.
"Goddamit, just try from stopping me from killing this stupid wretch now, the matera be screwed," Sephiroth growled as he slowly unsheathed Masamune and advanced towards the cowering woman. –Sephiroth I strictly forbid that you harm the girl! You may have already done her too much damage for her to be ever able to trust you idiot. Now stop these immature temper tantrums, pick up the girl and get going. It's your own damn fault that she was having so much trouble in the first place.- Jenova's livid voice resounded in his head. -Why did my son have to turn out to be so childish?-
"Stupid bitch isn't really worth the effort," Sephiroth forced out, "absolutely inept at everything and yet she can do what I can't, this goes beyond reason. I suppose that I have no choice seeing how useless this girl is. It will be faster anyway."
At hearing those callous and unflattering words come from that loathsome man who had ruined her life, Aeris felt herself filled with rage. First she had saved his ungrateful life, then he treated her with such carelessness, telling her that she should be grateful that he would kill her only after she had done some mysterious task for him and finally he rewarded her troubles that he caused her with cruelty and violence. Now he was talking about her as if she was an invalid, and that made even the usually fair tempered Cetra lose it.
"How dare you, you pompous arrogant ass!" Aeris shouted furiously, "it's not my fault that I fell down. Gods you're such a repulsive person that even your own parents must have been disgusted by you. After saving your wretched life, the least you could have done was thank me for my troubles for going out of my way to help a man that I despised. Furthermore, my name is AERIS, not Cetra, wretch, or bitch-"
Whatever else Aeris would have said in her fury was cut off as Sephiroth forcefully dragged her to her feet, seized her by the waist and flung her over his shoulder, immediately stomping off into the brush after that. Shocked out of her outburst, Aeris numbly hung draped over Sephiroth's back, unable to say anything. Pleased at her sudden silence and obedience, Sephiroth spent the next few minutes letting his anger drain off, until Aeris started to squirm.
"Now what Cetra, don't tell me that you have to go to crouch behind a tree," he snapped at the uncomfortable girl.
"Crude are we?" Aeris shot back, "I can't help it that your stupid shoulder guard is digging into my stomach, it hurts."
"Can it girl, don't push me."
"Why not, you have pushed me around enough as it is."
"You're getting on my nerves again woman, don't make me teach you to stay silent."
"You're full of it Sephiroth."
"You're aggravating wrench."
"I have a name, its Aeris or are you to stupid to remember that?"
"Do you want to die Cetra?"
"Do you want me to start singing Sephiroth?"
He shuddered.
"Do it and die"
Instead of shutting up, she actually started singing. His continued threats to her wellbeing didn't seem to have any effect on her. After a while the warrior eventually fell silent, while Aeris continued her flowing melody. Sephiroth found it odd that he started to relax as her words washed over him, he actually thought that it was oddly soothing and pleasant. Aeris sang about the quiet beauty that was found everywhere in nature, the never ending rhythms of the life that existed all around them, the tranquil serenity of the movement of the moon, the heavenly music of stars and planets, and the joy of the flow of life throughout the planet. Eventually the enchanting voice grew quieter and then altogether stopped. Sephiroth realized that Aeris had fallen asleep as unlikely as it sounded. Pleased that she had stopped being a nuisance, Sephiroth enjoyed the blessed silence as he continued on his way to the center of the island.
In her dreams, Aeris saw a dreadful sight, up in the sky, a burning black mass was plunging down through the planet's atmosphere, threatening the existence of the planet and all of its occupants. She saw a tall figure, his appearance obscured by the meteor's deadly blaze, laughing like a madman, holding a black sphere in his hand that was about the size of a tangerine. But what scared her most was the realization that she was somehow responsible for what had happened. Her mind flashed back to the prediction that the dark voice had made in her dream weeks back and she knew without a doubt that she was the cause of this curse that had been summoned from the cold distances of outer space.
She whimpered in her sleep and started tossing about when something hard poked into her side, abruptly bringing her out of her dreams. It took Aeris a moment to realize what was jabbing into her side, when part of her dream flashed in front of her eyes. Aeris knew that what had happened in her dream was related to the owner of the shoulder guard that was digging into her side. Apparently Sephiroth had noticed that she was awake as he deposited her on the ground, almost dropping her on her back.
"Get up. Your role will soon be fulfilled Cetra and I won't have to put up with you much longer" Sephiroth announced.
"Wha?" was Aeris' groggy reply as she rubbed the grit out of her eyes.
Sephiroth reigned in his impatience as he watched the herbalist get her bearings. Finally after what seemed an indomitable amount of time to the swordsman, Aeris had managed to get herself up, albeit awkwardly because of her bound hands, and was looking questionably in Sephiroth's direction. With a jerk of his head he indicated the place which he had carried her to.
Looking up at the magnificent ancient structure, Aeris gasped while the planet was humming excitedly in her mind, sending her random bits of images and sounds in its enthusiasm. Looming in front of her was the last and longest lasting structure that her ancestors had ever built when they existed in far greater numbers than were around today. Ivy and other wild vines covered its surface, making the carvings above the massive doorway hard to see. The temple, which it couldn't surely be anything else, was made out of a grey dull enduring rock that couldn't be found anywhere within five hundred miles of this island. It suddenly occurred to Aeris that this was the Ancient Isle that the sailors had talked about on the transport ship shortly before Sephiroth's arrival.
"If you're done gawking, you have something to retrieve for me Cetra," Sephiroth's voiced floated over the humid jungle air.
Heading towards the temple, Sephiroth actually allowed himself to marvel at the achievement that those long-dead Cetra had erected. It was a place of grave majesty and the air felt heavy with solemnness, benefiting its purpose. There was also, he noted, a vague sense of menace and danger in this place, almost as if it knew what his purpose here was. Reigning in his stray thoughts, he focused on just how he was supposed to go about getting into the inner part of the temple. Sephiroth knew that some kind of key was required, just not what it was or how one should use it. He shrugged, that was what the Cetra was here for after all.
While Aeris was walking up the steps towards the entrance of the temple, she was in the middle of asking the planet what the temple was for when a sense of foreboding swept over her. She knew, without a doubt, that what was resting here should not be disturbed and also that it too was related to her dream. Turning around Aeris was about to bolt out of the place when a strong hand clamped on her shoulder.
"Don't even think about it Cetra, you wouldn't make it ten feet away from me." Sephiroth warned in a cold tone, "now come, you're going to get me into the inner sanctuary of the Temple of the Ancients."
At the words "Temple of the Ancients" Aeris froze.
Shaking badly, Aeris asked, "you don't mean that you plan to get that?"
"You're finally catching on girl, you aren't as thick as you seem. You will retrieve the Black Matera for me and depending on my mood, I might let you live long enough for me to summon Meteor and kill all these fools on the planet." Sephiroth explained in an almost jubilant tone as he was thinking of how close he was to fulfilling his destructive dreams.
For the first time Aeris was looking at Sephiroth thought the viewpoint of the humans, for now he WAS the Spawn of Jenova, true evil. Back in the jungle when they had that argument that seemed almost close to being friendly, she had thought that maybe, there was a slight chance that there was a good person buried under all that arrogance and temper, especially after he had relaxed during her singing and not dumped her on the ground the moment she had fallen asleep. Now she doubted that there was even a chance that any humanity was in Sephiroth at all. Gathering her resolve before she completely crumbled, Aeris approached Sephiroth preparing to confront him.
"No."
"Cetra, you didn't say what I thought you said," Sephiroth said as he narrowed his eyes. The last thing he wanted from the girl was insolence.
"No," Aeris repeated, "I won't help you get the Black Matera. I won't be a part of your genocide."
"You WILL retrieve the Black Matera for me Cetra," Sephiroth hissed, "why would you even want to protect those worthless humans? They've been hunting you, seeking your death, since you were born. Why help them when they have caused nothing but misery for you for your entire life?"
"It doesn't matter Sephiroth, I will not help you no matter what. I would die before allowing you to lay your hands on the Black Matera," Aeris boldly stated.
Sephiroth was extremely pissed off at her statement, but he couldn't do anything to the girl until AFTER she got him the Black Matera. Why must I be cursed with self-righteous fools, Sephiroth darkly thought. –Nevermind the Cetra's objections son, just get the keystone- , even his mother was getting annoyed at the Cetra's stubbornness. He couldn't fathom why this girl wanted to protect the ones who hated her and wanted her death. She's too forgiving for her own good, mercy only means trouble in the future.
"If you won't do it willingly, I will force you to do it Cetra. I could always go out to the nearest town and dispose of all its occupants, leaving you here unable to do anything," Sephiroth threatened, "The bloodbath that I would create would span across the entire Emal continent, the screams music to my ears."
Seeing how deadly silent she had become, Sephiroth bent down and looked her straight in the eye before softly telling her, "now if you don't want that to happen tell me where the key stone is."
Aeris was horrified, she knew that he could and would do as he said if she didn't comply. Opening up the link between her and the planet, she was shocked when the planet gave the information she was seeking immediately. In a dark, inconspicuous corner at the back of the temple, hidden beneath a loose stone in the wall was what she sought. Walking over, Aeris carefully counted up five stones from the corner stone and pried it out. There in the hollow compartment in the wall was a nondescript grey stone that looked like any of the normal stones outside.
"That's it? Your ancestors were clever Cetra, making something as unnoticeable as that the key stone," Sephiroth mused as he bent down and picked up the small, rough rock, grabbed one of Aeris' arms and marched back to the altar in the middle of the back wall. Placing the stone in the center of the design, he waited and noting happened. Before he could ask the Cetra why the bloody contraption wasn't working, Aeris silently turned the stone over with her bound hands so that the smoother end was facing upwards. Immediately after that, a bright light started shinning from the altar and Sephiroth felt himself losing control of his body as he was being sucked into the altar.
"What the hell did you do you blasted idiot!" Sephiroth cried furiously before they disappeared from the room entirely.
Sephiroth woke up with a pounding headache on cold, hard stone. Getting up he glared around cursing the world in general. What was even worse from not knowing where the hell he was, was the fact that the Cetra was nowhere in sight. He couldn't even hear Jenova through their mental link in this place. After making sure that Masamune was still in place Sephiroth headed for the dark doorway that was standing about twenty meters away to the left. Several minutes later, Sephiroth found himself in the same place that he woke up in. He was starting to feel the urge to kill something when he noticed the vines on the wall on the opposite side of the chamber. Once on the next level up, Sephiroth cursed again, this place was a freaking maze.
About one hour later, Sephiroth was out of patience and thoroughly lost. What's more for the last few minutes he had sensed that something was following him. Sephiroth had just unsheathed Masamune when whatever was behind him pounced. With a casual swipe of his sword, Sephiroth disposed of the attacking creature. He sensed that there were several more of its type around and he smirked. At least he could now work off some of his frustration.
It only took about a minute kill all the creatures. A now much less stressed Sephiroth walked out of the chamber, blood stains splayed everywhere among the corpses of the monsters.
Aeris awoke to the gentle humming of the planet all around her. She found herself in an empty room surrounded by stone walls, and despite the lack of life around her, Aeris felt a warm welcoming feeling coming from everywhere wrapping around her, making her feel completely safe. As the herbalist got up, she realized that the boot lacings that had tied her hands together were gone and that her wrists had no marks from the chafing that they had caused. The hum of the planet intensified as she felt her feet moving in the direction of it urging. Aeris could hear whispers of the ancients that had built this place all around her telling of stories from the distant past, bits of wisdom and even encouragement from those that were still aware.
Walking under the dark doorway that was the only exit from the chamber, Aeris was surprised to find an old figure in a blue cloak with a wide brimmed, pointy green hat floating in front of her a few feet off the ground. The spirit noticed that it had Aeris' attention, and floated off down a corridor that she had not noticed upon entry of this room. Following it, since that was apparently what it wanted, it lead Aeris down flights of stairs, through more similar room like the one she woke up in, past other doors and corridors that led off in other directions, and even up a few vine ladders growing on the walls of multi-leveled chambers.
As she followed the spirit Aeris felt as though it was leading her to the heart of the inner maze of the temple. She knew that without the spirit's guidance that she would be lost forever in here. Aeris hoped that Sephiroth didn't have a similar guide for surely he would be able to find her that way. If he got lost in the inner maze of the Temple of the Ancients his terrible plan would fail and she would be free. She could spend the rest of her days on the Ancient Isle in peace without the humans coming after her, at one with nature.
Without warning, the spirit that Aeris had been following vanished. She stopped short ahead of her was a large round chamber with twelve different arched doorways that lead to who knows where. The floor of the chamber was swallowed up in the gloom that permeated the inner maze of the Temple of the Ancients and the walkways that connected the doors to each other were rotating around the room. Gingerly stepping on the long platform as it passed her archway Aeris walked out to the middle of the chamber. The path slowly rotating from door to door, Aeris finally made up her mind on which archway to take when Sephiroth emerged from one of the dark passageways just as the path came up to the archway that he emerged from.
As if second nature by now, Aeris sprinted towards the other end of the platform which was just coming up to an archway. She missed her chance to leap from the platform to the archway by just a second and as a result had leapt out into thin air. Before the scream could erupt from her throat, Sephiroth had seized Aeris around the hips and dragged her back onto the rotating path.
"You won't get away from me that easily you little witch. That was a very nasty trick that you pulled, making sure that we ended up in different places of this god forsaken place. You almost got the better of me Cetra, that won't happen again," a clearly furious Sephiroth rasped.
Aeris' face scrunched up as Sephiroth referred to her as "Cetra" again, couldn't he at least use her name? His use of the terms Cetra, wench, girl and bitch when talking to her was really starting to get irritating. As much as she was scared of this violent swordsman, Aeris couldn't help the slight feeling of familiarity that was growing between the two. She sighed, it looked like she was stuck with him for a while so might as well get to know the man before her life ended.
"So Sephiroth where were you born?" Aeris casually asked.
Her question caught Sephiroth totally off guard.
"Why do you want to know Cetra?" he suspiciously asked back.
"Just curious."
"Well keep it to yourself."
After the short exchange, both of them fell silent for a while as they started walking down the path to a random archway (well more like Sephiroth was dragging Aeris down the path). Stepping down off the revolving platform, Sephiroth jerked the herbalist after him and marched down the dark corridor. Suddenly, to Sephiroth's shock, Aeris began singing.
"Do you do that every time you get bored Cetra?" Sephiroth asked.
Aeris stopped her singing to reply, "who's the curious one now Seph?" and promptly started singing again.
"Don't call me that girl," Sephiroth barked.
Her singing stopped, "why not, you are always calling me things than my own name Seph," she resumed her singing.
He conceded that she had a point, but that didn't stop him from replying, "keep calling me that and I'll break your arm."
Aeris ignored him and kept on singing. Sephiroth let her be, but if he had looked back, he would have noticed a certain smugness in her eyes.
Abruptly the seemingly unending corridor that they were walking down opened up into a large, long, softly lit room. All along the walls leading up to the furthest edge of the room were a story was painted out in vivid realism. At the end of the room was a low pedestal that had a small black pyramid floating a few inches above it. Apparently they had reached Sephiroth's goal, by the hungry gleam in his eye.
The warrior pushed Aeris in front of him and motioned for her to approach the pedestal. Slowly walking towards the end of the room, Aeris absorbed the frightful and tragic story that the creators of the temple had recorded in the pictures. It told of the first time that the Black Matera had been used and how the Calamity from the Skies had fallen as a result. Its warning stood clearly to Aeris, that if anyone retrieved the Black Matera, a similar fate would upon the world. When she stood at the front of the pedestal, Aeris tentatively reached out a finger and gently touched the floating pyramid. The whole temple shook, frightened, Aeris looked closer and saw that the pyramid was actually an intricate puzzle.
Sephiroth leaned forward and reached out a hand to touch the pyramid when a bright light flashed and threw him back. Rubbing his tingling hand, he thought, so that's why Mother said that I couldn't retrieve the Black Matera without the Cetra. What a hassle.
"Get to it Cetra," Sephiroth coolly said.
Seeking the planet's guidance, Aeris set about the momentous task of solving the puzzle of the pyramid. When the first piece snapped into its correct position the whole temple shook and a wall of solid rock dropped down in front of the archway into the room, sealing Sephiroth and Aeris in. Then the whole place seemed to shrink a few inches.
"So the Cetra laid one last trap to prevent anyone from taking the Black Matera. The way this temple was designed made it almost impossible for anyone to get ahold of it, pure ingeniousness," Sephiroth sounded impressed.
Figures, Aeris thought, only something with this kind of intricacy and deadly intent would impress HIM.
"Keep working girl," Sephiroth said when he noticed that Aeris was distracted.
"Why? If I finish this puzzle, we both will be crushed. We're already trapped in this place," Aeris stated.
"You may, but I won't."
"How do you plan on getting out of here, I don't think that your sword can slice through the walls Sephiroth."
"Be silent and get back to work Cetra."
"It's your funeral then."
Sephiroth glared at Aeris, she rolled her eyes and resumed working on finding the solution to the puzzle.
Hours passed, Sephiroth had long since run out of patience and was currently pacing the length of the chamber, his hand fingering Masamune's hilt. Everytime the Temple of the Ancients shook and shrunk, he stopped wearing a rut in the stone floor and checked on the Cetra's progress. It was painfully slow, he had forcibly rein in his temper several times since he had no other choice. If he killed her before she completed the puzzle he would never get the Black Matera. As Aeris slipped the last piece into place, they temple started rapidly drawing into itself. Sephiroth could hardly contain his glee (that's right glee), he would finally have the Black Matera and be rid of that annoying Cetra at the same time.
Aeris fearfully looked at Sephiroth, there was an unholy fire dancing in his eyes that showed his instability. Suddenly she was more afraid of him than the collapsing temple.
"This is where we part ways Cetra. Enjoy your last few moments before you become part of the Black Matera," Sephiroth spoke and let out a round of evil laughter as he vanished in front of the astonished Cetra's eyes.
Aeris started crying as the realization swept over her that Sephiroth had abandoned her.
The moment Sephiroth reappeared in front of the temple, he was hit with a wave of dizziness. Teleporting had always taken a lot out of him, even over short distances, that was why he preferred to walk or fly whenever possible.
–Excellent work my son!- Jenova's voice sounded in his mind.
–Yes Mother, we can finally can advance our plans,- Sephiroth sent back –you were right, this is all thanks to the Cetra.-
-I knew that you would eventually admit that I was right in this matter, I am always right about these things,- Jenova replied. She was so satisfied with the prospect of her son getting the Black Matera within a matter of moments that she never noticed that Sephiroth had left the Cetra in the Temple of the Ancients, contrary to what she had told him to do.
Something was bothering Sephiroth that wasn't letting him enjoy his accomplishment. His mind kept on drifting back to the woman he had left in the collapsing temple. Her behavior towards him was baffling. First she saved his life when she could have remained perfectly safe on that transport ship. Then she was alternatively terrified of and irritating to him, even worse he had actually enjoyed her singing back in the jungle and temple. Dammit! Sephiroth thought as he realized what he had to do, the fates must really hate me. With that he disappeared from the jungle surrounding him.
The oxygen level in the Temple of the Ancients was so low that she was almost passing out. By now all her fear had fled her and she was almost unaware of the collapsing temple around her. I wonder if I will be able to see my parents in the Promised Land after I return to the planet Aeris dazedly thought. An odd sort of calm had descended around the Cetra making the very real events occurring around her seem surreal, almost dreamlike. She no longer cared about the fact that she was about to die, all she wanted was to be at peace. In this state she was in, it was no wonder that she never noticed the figure suddenly appeared next to the almost crushed figure.
She barely heard Sephiroth speak the words, "looks like that you won't be dying today after all Cetra," before she passed out.
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