Children of Prophecy
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or any of its characters.
Ch.5- In the Claws of Danger
Fire. The world was on fire, she was on fire. The burning pain in her chest reflected the blazing mass that was hurdling towards the planet. She saw a figure surrounded by black energy collapse, a small tink alerting her to the round, glassy black object that fell out of its hand. A flicker at the edge of her vision made her turn. Another figure arose, its pink aura flickering weakly. In its hand was a softly glowing orb that the figure was feeding into energy into. As the blazing rock came closer, the glow from the orb grew stronger as the figure's aura grew weaker. Just as the rock hit the outer layers of the atmosphere, the figure holding the orb crumpled to the ground, its energy spent. White whisps were gently flaring from the orb's surface, akin to solar flares.
The burning rock was descending faster. White light erupted from the orb. The two energies rushed towards each other. The now lifeless orb fell to the ground. The light and the rock met in a clash of powers. The roar wiped out everything. The meteor was gaining headway. The light was weakening. It sputtered out. The rock impacted with the planet's surface. Fire engulfed everything. The planet became a blazing sphere. Then with a final deafening boom, silence.
Sephiroth studied the sleeping Cetra as her body twisted and turned, caught in the throes of her nightmare. Despite his immovable resolve to have nothing to do with the girl, he found himself constantly beside her. It was like he was a boomerang, every time they got separated he kept coming back for her. Sephiroth no longer had that violent urge to run Masamune through her, though he still wished that there was someway to make her stop being an annoyance to him. But wishing for that was like wishing for the oceans to freeze, neither could happen within ten thousand years. Ironically enough, the next ice age was due in about 9,852 years, so Sephiroth might just get his wish.
A sudden gasp marked the Cetra's return from the land of dreams. There was a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead that glistened in the firelight while she took a few moments to collect herself. Waking up straight from her dream left her disoriented and it took her a few seconds before she realized that the fire that she thought was coming from Meteor's descent was actually a small campfire. While without a doubt her dream was terrifying, it had also left her with a sense of desolation and hopelessness. In her dream it had seemed that when the figure with the black energy collapsed, a feeling of remorse and sadness spread from it. Even now the utter emptiness and desolation of the void left of the planet after the final explosion still echoed in her soul. Aeris wondered if she would ever truly be free from that image of her dream, its shadows would probably cling to her for the rest of her existence.
Even though it was a warm night, Aeris shivered and moved closer to the fire. The nightmare had left her cold and shaking down to her bones. For a while she just stared into the heart of the fire, letting its flickering warmth fill her mind and warm her soul, banishing the remnants of the icy chill of the abyss left from her dream. She finally looked up from the fire to see Sephiroth contemplating her profile. Aeris was still surprised that she was even alive after she had drugged Sephiroth and run away. The anger that she saw in his eyes back in the traveler's shelter made her feel that those were truly her last moments of her life. Yet for some reason all he had done was throw her into a wall and kill her aggressive companion. Her relationship with the enigmatic silver haired warrior was confusing at best. The only thought in her head was…
"Why?"
"Why what Cetra?" Sephiroth finally replied after a few seconds.
"Why you? Why me? Why has all of this happened?" Aeris dazedly asked.
"You're not making sense Cetra, if you have something to ask make sure you can vocalize your intentions," Sephiroth stated, "If you have nothing worthwhile to inquire about, don't. You're wasting my time."
"Why do I even exist? Wouldn't the world be better off if I hadn't been born?" Aeris murmured.
"Very possibly, but I don't see any point in this discussion," Sephiroth remarked, his tone becoming slightly irritated.
Aeris sighed. She wouldn't get any answers out of the tight lipped soldier to help calm her troubled soul. Probably no one could give her an answer, at least one that she could understand at any rate. The prophecy, her own jumbled emotions, the planet's cryptic messages, her troubled dreams, Sephiroth; they were all making her mind a whirling mass of confused and random fragments and thoughts. She just didn't know what to do, believe or think any more. She had no support, like a leaf tumbling in the wind.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in quite a while. Aeris hopefully looked at Sephiroth. He snorted and threw her an uncooked tuber. Aeris looked down at it with dismay and sighed. It looked like Sephiroth didn't have much variety in his diet. Whatever he gathered was what was available to Aeris for dinner. If he doesn't kill me, his bland diet will make me die of boredom Aeris thought. She wrinkled her nose, tasteless tubers and UFC's (Unidentified Furry Creatures) were becoming so tiresome.
Sephiroth caught the look she cast upon the root he had tossed to her. Who cared if she was tired of roast rodent and roots? She would live (contrary to his lingering wishes on the matter). If she had a problem with what he provided, too bad. He refused to waste time doing such frivolous things as going out of his way to get different provisions for their consumption. What was available in the immediate vicinity would do for foodstuffs.
"Stop staring at the root as if it had grown hair, just eat it or give it back Cetra," Sephiroth idly told her.
Aeris sighed again. She might as well eat it, there was nothing else around to eat that she could see. At least she could add some of her herbs to give it some flavor. Things for her looked as bleak as ever since she had encountered Sephiroth on board the Storm Rider. If she had to stay with him at least she could endure his company on a full stomach. Once the root had baked long enough to soften it up, Aeris retrieved the unappetizing tuber from the fire and found that all of her remaining herb packets were missing.
"Sephiroth where are my herbs?" Aeris asked, bemused.
"Stupid girl, do you really think that I would let you keep those things after that stunt you pulled?" Sephiroth replied, a hint of anger coming into his voice.
Aeris stayed silent. She felt like she had been deprived of even the basic comforts of home. Her medicines and herbs were like the last connection she had with her childhood, without them the world seemed less familiar and more sinister. For her they were a defense against assailants, a weapon against disease and a somewhat reliable source of income. She half-heartedly picked at her food for a while and it was cold by the time she finished it. Sad and depressed Aeris just lay down with her back to the fire and fell asleep.
Sephiroth woke at false dawn. Even though the sun had not even risen, the air was warm, promising another hot and dusty day. Ever since he started traveling with Aeris he had slowly been slipping into the habit of going to sleep not long after the herbalist did. In his dreams his mother whispered visions of what would come to be after the planet was scourged of the filth of humanity. Everything he had ever wished for would come true after he and the Cetra summoned Meteor. It was slightly suspicious however that he never saw what became of the girl after Meteor impacted. He figured that she would have died from the summoning of the black spell or that he disposed of her. Yet any thoughts he had about that subject never brought up his earlier intense desire to do so. While he no longer yearned to run Masamune through her slender body, he did wish that he could just go on without her. She was still just as irritating as ever. Speaking of said Cetra Sephiroth noted as she started showing signs of awareness, why does mother seem so eager to make the prophecy come to pass. Surely she wouldn't want me succumbing to that weak and pitiful human emotion. He tried inquiring about his thoughts to Jenova, but she didn't answer.
While the Cetra's flight had originally seemed to him as a setback, it was ironic that she had headed in the direction that he had intended to follow in the first place. Sephiroth didn't know why he was heading towards the central mountain range, it would save several days worth of travel to detour around it, but he knew that something important awaited him in the heart of the range. He felt that it would greatly accelerate his plans if he played his cards right.
As Aeris' eyelids started fluttering, Sephiroth got up and went in search of breakfast. By the time he came back with a few handfuls of some berries that he had found, she was fully awake and smothering the last dying coals of the previous night's fire. After she finished, he dropped all of the fruit into her lap, having already eaten his fill when he was out looking for food. Apparently she approved of his selection since she flashed him a grateful smile before making short work of her meal. He recalled her reaction about dinner last night and reflected how something so insignificant as getting fresh fruit seemed to really lift her spirits. The sun was halfway up when Aeris got up and started walking in the same direction as she had been traveling for the past few days, to the heart of the Emal continent. She really is starting to settle into a routine with me Sephiroth mused as he caught up with her in a minute.
As they traveled south, the rolling hills of the grassland gradually got bigger and steeper. Instead of just walking over them, they started to walk in the gulleys that formed between the hills since it was easier than climbing over them at that point. If they kept traveling at their current pace they would easily reach the base of the mountains by mid-afternoon tommorrow. As time went on, a sense of anticipation and quickening filled the air. Aeris was sensing the change in the atmosphere as she unconsciously picked up her pace. She too noticed that the world seemed to be holding its breath, the almost unnatural quietness that surrounded them made everything seem so surreal.
To Sephiroth the environment around him felt like an unworldly passage that they were traveling through where time moved both faster and slower than in reality. When the Cetra started walking faster, so fast that she was almost running, Sephiroth knew that outside forces were at work around them, what they were feeling was not normal. Even as those thoughts went through his head, his stride had lengthened to keep up with Aeris' almost frantic rush. In the distance the first peaks of the central mountain range were just starting to become visible as they crested the top of the tallest hill yet. By now they were deep into the true foothills of the mountains and Sephiroth had to grab Aeris' arm to prevent her from taking a fall over a seven foot cliff that she hadn't noticed.
When Aeris felt Sephiroth halt her movement, the spell that she had fallen into as her pace got faster and faster broke. She blushed, how could she be so unobservant not to notice the abrupt end of the hill she had been walking on? She had been so absorbed with the heightened feeling of awareness of the land around her that she never realized how far and fast she had been traveling for the last few hours. Suddenly she felt the signals that her body had been sending her brain for the last hour. The pain in her ribs that had been sore at daybreak was now a pulsing, throbbing pressure that quickly sent Aeris to her knees. Beside the throbbing pain that was coming from her cracked rib, her legs were so sore that it hurt and her feet were aching terribly. Her breath came in short gasps as she tried to adjust to the now perceived soreness and aching of her body.
Sephiroth stood close by, impassively regarding her as she fell to her knees. He watched her struggle to adjust to her sore and aching body she had been previously ignoring. He didn't even bother to smirk at her foolish actions that had led her to her current state. He had faintly felt the forces that had been subtly affecting and guiding her. Aeris' only fault was being too inexperienced to notice what was going on and therefore was not able to resist the calling. The only reason why I stopped her was to prevent her from breaking her skull or legs after she fell. It would be too much of a bother to get her to move with broken bones, Sephiroth thought. But even he knew that was just a transparent excuse.
As the brunette surveyed the landscape, Sephiroth was trying to figure just what was drawing him to the mountains. The feeling certainly didn't have any of his mother's telepathic traces in it. He knew that the Cetra supposedly could "hear" the planet, but he doubted that it could "talk" to him. Being Jenova's son blocked him from receiving any such messages, if in fact that the planet was even actually a sentient entity capable of communication with the life forms that dwelled on its surface. So some other power out there must be at work, perhaps it was destiny leading him towards his glorious fate. Possibly it was even influencing and making the Cetra more biddable to their plans. She too was being guided in the same direction as he was. It wouldn't be inconceivable the girl would finally realize that she had no choice but to do his bidding since he was the superior being. It is natural for the weak to follow the strong or be trampled by the more worthy and there wasn't a more worthy person on this miserable rock than him.
Aeris quizzically watched Sephiroth get lost in his thoughts, but when the arrogant smile spread across his lips, as if he was secure in his superiority, Aeris just rolled her eyes. Figures. He's egotistical as well as being obscure, uncaring, temperamental, violent and blood thirsty Aeris thought with disdain. Apparently Sephiroth wasn't too absorbed in his power trip as he clearly noticed the disparaging look on her face.
"If you're quite done with your study of the dirt, its time to go Cetra," Sephiroth spoke across the hot, dry air.
Aeris didn't answer. She knew the petty arguments would get her no where considering present company. But if he kept on calling her Cetra or girl…she let the thought trail off. Aeris was sure that the topic would come up when it needed to, probably within a few hours depending on how often he called her something other than her name.
It was amazing how far they had traveled while Aeris was in that state of mind, out of touch with what was going on around her. The past few days of hard travel had certainly worn her down, but they also made her stronger. She was already recovering from her earlier collapse, a few days ago she would have been down for much longer. Aeris was already walking down the hill on a different route than via seven foot drop courtesy of a cliff. Within a few seconds she was cresting the top of the next foothill, her pace quick but not nearly as fast as it was before. Once again she was subconsciously following the same feeling that had earlier, but this time she wasn't get so influenced by it.
The feeling in the air that was about when they started was gone, but they still continued traveling in the same direction as before. It was late afternoon, close to sunset when they stopped and settled down for the night.
Sephiroth dreamed. He finally had accomplished his long and hard sought after goal, Meteor was blazing in the sky, about to crash onto the planet and wipe the disease known as humanity from its surface. He had everything he ever desired right in front of him, Mother was by his side and he had the greatest power on the planet at his beck and call. Together they would become gods and create a new world for the last of Jenova's scattered siblings where he would rule over them as an all powerful being in a perfect utopia. The only thing that bothered him was that he felt that a very small but vital thing was missing from his triumph.
Aqua green eyes slowly opened to the soft light that was shining upon Sephiroth. He had dreamed last night, a curious thing since he never dreamed often, unlike a certain herbalist. He had detachedly heard her mutter in her sleep even while he was in a semi-conscious state of half-sleep. Whatever she had mumbled was unclear so he didn't bother himself about it. He wondered what he could be possibly be missing from the perfect triumph that his dream showed him. He had everything he needed to execute it at hand, all he needed was to get to the right location to use the Black Matera and await Meteor's impact. That was probably where the feeling of something important was awaiting him was located. He was so eager to go to the next phase that he was almost impatient. How ironic that he was almost starting to understand some of the Cetra's emotions about his own actions. She was still baffling, but he could understand a little why she was exasperated with him occasionally. He certainly felt the same way about her often enough.
-Musing about the girl so early Sephiroth?- Jenova's voice slid into his mind. –You certainly are being more civil to the girl, even attentive to her needs sometimes. That pleases me greatly son. At this rate by the time you arrive at the appointed place the Cetra will be more than willing to do what she can only accomplish.-
Sephiroth was startled, Jenova had been silent for the past few days and he wasn't accustomed to talking with her daily anymore. –And what pray tell can only the Cetra accomplish Mother? You've always evaded my question every time it was brought up. If I must "escort" the girl around, at least I should know exactly why I am doing so- Sephiroth replied.
-All in good time my son. Don't want to ruin the surprise too early do we?- Jenova's presence slid back out of his mind. Much as he respected his mother, her deliberate withholding of information and obscurity was starting to irritate him (Ironic, ne? Like Mother, like son). It seemed like Jenova would only fully reveal the plan when he and Aeris reached their ultimate destination. So the sooner they reached it, the better. Sephiroth looked over at Aeris. Seemed like she wanted to sleep in today, that wouldn't be happening as he wanted to get moving NOW.
"Get up Cetra," Sephiroth spoke loudly. Aeris grumbled and turned over so that her back faced him.
"UP!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and shaking it for emphasis. He was totally unprepared for her reaction as she kicked him hard in the shin. Sephiroth was not amused. He was about to haul her to her feet when she sat up and glared at him for her rude and abrupt awakening.
"Asshole," Aeris muttered as she got up. Sephiroth ignored her uncharacteristic comment. His leg was still smarting from where her foot had hit it.
"At least tell me that there is breakfast," Aeris grumped. The world would be very sorry if she didn't eat today, Sephiroth especially.
"Breakfast is what you can find along the way Cetra. We're very close to our destination, you can rest after we reach it," Sephiroth stated. Technically, there was plenty of time to forage for a meal, but Sephiroth didn't feel like doing so. He wanted to go now.
Aeris huffed, reality would be veeeery sorry indeed. No food and getting up early equaled a very cranky Aeris. If she didn't get any food within an hour she would make sure that Sephiroth was miserable along with her. It wasn't hard.
Things would have been much worse for the two if Sephiroth hadn't stumbled upon a small tree with plump red fruits hanging on its lower branches in the small valley nestled between two foothills that were so big that they were almost mountains. Upon sighting the small tree that Sephiroth had got tangled up in, Aeris had let out an excited shriek and made a bee-line straight to the tree just as Sephiroth was about to use his sword to free his hair from its branches. As Aeris happily inhaled the red oval fruits that were about the size of a newborn's fist, Sephiroth sighed and set about untangling his hair from the tree's branches in a long-painstaking process. His growing ire at the innocent yet offending piece of vegetation had been abruptly cut off at the herbalist's joyful cry. It was amazing that the girl could annoy the hell out of him yet placate his anger before it could even grow to a level at which something would get hurt.
Fifteen minutes later Sephiroth had successfully untangled all of his long silver hair from the small tree's branches and Aeris had eaten her fill, which consequently was about half of all the fruit on the tree. She sighed, life was good with a stomach full of food on a warm day with a handsome man at her side. Handsome man! Where did that come from? Aeris thought. She was confused at her sudden turn of thoughts. There was no denying that the silver-haired warrior definitely made an eye-catching figure. With his long silver hair, intense blue-green eyes, beautiful facial structure, and his tall, lean, whipcord frame, Sephiroth made for a stunningly attractive man. The only thing that he was lacking was a genuine smile that if shown, Aeris was sure could melt even the iciest woman's heart. I almost wish he would smile like that for me, Aeris idly thought, her mind pleasantly clouded by the sleepy feeling that comes after a good meal, it would almost be worth it to help him if he did. Aeris was so sleepy and content that that last thought never fully registered in her mind and by the time it would have, she was asleep.
Sephiroth was too busy with is own thoughts to notice the appraising look that Aeris was sending him after she devoured half of the fruit on the tree and before she fell into a light doze. Why did this girl affect him so much? Ever since he had met her, his sudden violent tendencies had been becoming less frequent and his sharp, fiery anger became duller and less heated. He was even starting to tolerate many of the more annoying tendencies of the girl that when they had been on the Ancient Isle he had scorned her for.
One of the most annoying things about her, singing when she was untroubled and happy, that had annoyed the hell out of him at first. It was also one of the things that he had grown to appreciate about her first. Her songs were made up on the spur of the moment and reflected their surroundings. Her voice when singing only held positive emotions like happiness, joy, and tranquility. Never was it tinged with such things as regret, sorrow, pain or sadness. When he listened to her singing, he felt like he never wanted to hear her voice clouded with such things as pain and sorrow. It was an odd feeling to Sephiroth since he had never felt any such protective emotions before. As a warrior with a vendetta against all humanity, he never had time for such things like relaxation or enjoyment, his mission to eradicate humanity was far too encompassing to leave room for such things.
A low grumble awakened Sephiroth from his thoughts. He quickly scanned the area looking for any threats. The grumble came again. Sephiroth realized that it was coming from him. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until his stomach decided to complain to him about its lack of contents. He glanced over at the dozing Cetra and proceeded to finish what Aeris had started, divesting the tree of all its fruit. In a shorter time than Aeris had used, Sephiroth had cleared the tree of its other half of fruit. A few minutes later Sephiroth started to feel lethargic and suddenly getting to their destination didn't seem so important anymore. Following Aeris lead, Sephiroth laid back on the ground and was soon slumbering as well.
A loud roar shook the ground and sent both Sephiroth and Aeris shooting to their feet, their earlier feeling of tranquility vanished. Sephiroth drew Masamune and Aeris looked around for something that she could use to defend herself with. A large shadow was cast over the land, and since it wasn't a cloudy day, it was obvious that what ever had made the roar was overhead. Sure enough when Sephiroth turned his gaze heavenward, a large black mass with four enormous wings was blocking out the sun. It let out another loud roar and dived down at the pair.
"Shit!" Sephiroth cursed, "of all the monsters that could have attacked us, it just had to be a fucking dragon!"
He used Masamune to fend off the dragon's dive, its claws producing a shower of sparks as it connected with Masamune's blade. Its first attack thwarted, the dragon started beating it wing to get up high enough to make a second dive. Sephiroth didn't give it a chance as he leapt up, and made a huge gash in its side with his sword.
"Aeris, get out of the way, this is going to be a hard fight," Sephiroth shouted at her as the dragon finally got enough air to get away from Sephiroth's reach.
But his warning came just a moment too late. The dragon had already made a second sweep and had caught Aeris in its clawed grasp. It started heavily beating both sets of its massive wings and drew up high in the air rapidly. Sephiroth cursed everything to hell and ran after the dragon, determined to get the Cetra away from it without killing her. He reached his top speed just moments later and when he crested a huge foothill he gave a massive leap and was flying as fast as he cold after the dragon, slowly catching up with it as they got closer to the mountains.
Aeris meanwhile was trying hard not to let the terror overwhelm her. She had no idea why the dragon had attacked them and then carried her off. What she did know was that she was fighting a losing battle to keep her lunch while being carried in the dragon's claws as it made its lurching flight. Then she made the mistake of looking down and promptly threw up. Aeris felt wretched, it was just like fate to mock her by ruining such a good day.
Her nausea was again replaced with terror as the dragon went into a steep dive towards a giant cave in the side of a mountain. She was screaming as it seemed that the dragon would crash into the mountain side. But instead of going spalt on the rock wall, the dragon swiftly banked backwards and awkwardly flapped into the cave. Aeris felt the blood rush back to her head and she fainted as the dragon dropped her to the ground.
Sephiroth saw all of this and put on a last burst of speed as he saw the dragon's open maw descend towards the herbalist, intent on making a meal out of her. Just as the dragon's jaws were about to snap Aeris up, Sephiroth blasted into the cave with full force, grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the way as he skidded a few yards because of his abrupt landing. Scratched all over and pissed as hell Sephiroth stood up and charged at the dragon, the sunlight glinting off Masamune's sharp blade held in front of him.
Aeris regained consciousness to the sounds of Sephiroth's heated battle with the dragon. The dragon was at an obvious disadvantage in the fight because the cave restricted it movement while it did no such thing to impede Sephiroth's movement. While she had no doubt about who would win this fight, the ominous rumbling that seemed to be growing stronger by the minute did. Sephiroth was starting to make the killing blow when she saw the first pebbles fall from the cave's ceiling.
"Sephiroth get back!" was all Aeris was able to yell before the cave's ceiling collapsed on them. A stray rock that ricocheted off the wall hit Aeris in the head any the world went out.
Whee, another evil cliffy. I didn't intent to end this chapter with one, but it seemed fitting. Sorry about the long update time, but that's the way college life is. All studying and homework and little free time. I will update at least once over x-mas break, that's a promise. And if I don't keep it my brother will stuff snow down my shirt on x-mas mourning.
To thegr8sephiroth: regarding "evil Zack". It wasn't originally planned to be in the story, but I found it helped advance the plot very well. Glad that you think that I'm keeping the characters in character. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
To DemonSurfer: umm, Seph didn't really have an allergy, Aeris just drugged him with a heavy sedative. But that's a good idea. I may just incorporate something like that in the upcoming chapter or two.
To dragonfly63126: well here's your update. The prophecy may be confusing in its shortness, but you can re-read it in my summary. Things will be cleared up in the final chapter I promise.
To BrucesGirl: I don't think that I'm that good of a writer, but thank you. Glad that you understand my position with college and this fic. As it is I'm putting off school work to finish this chapter.
To CazzaCat: glad that you think so . Next update in December.
To Brdm18: sorry that I killed off our fav character Zack, but it was necessary for the development of the relationship between Sephiroth and Aeris. Didn't want to have a competing love interest in this story. The main focus of the story is on Aeris and Sephiroth, Zack was just a minor character. And if I find any snow down my shirt, I'll kill you because you can't b/c I updated. So nyaah :p
To Noacat: thank you, glad that that you enjoyed it.
Reviews, like tips, are greatly appreciated but not mandatory. But without them, both writers and waiters find life a lot harder to survive in.