.4.

Aeris spent the rest of the day in solitude, sitting at the window seat in her small, tidy room and watching a little wistfully the scene outside and below. Her room faced northeast, and so she had an unobstructed view of the town. The residents of Nibelheim were going about their daily routines; numerous children were chasing a large red ball around and two old women sat on a nearby bench and laughed at their antics. They lead simple lives, content and oblivious to everything but what surrounded and what was important to them. An uncharacteristically forlorn sigh escaped Aeris then; she would give almost anything to be as blissfully ignorant as they were.

As though sensing her mood, the voices that were with her always began to murmur their discontent. They were gently chastising, softly rebuking, and closing her eyes she snarled inwardly. They reminded her that she couldn't afford to long for such simple things, for she had a bigger purpose, a better purpose. They spoke to her of completion, they spoke to her of salvation, and she listened only for a moment longer before closing them out, shifting them to shuttered part of her mind so that their noises were—almost—silent. Her thoughts moved then to the General that roamed somewhere within this building, calculating and analyzing all she had seen and felt. She wasn't afraid; for most of her life she had been preparing for the confrontation that was inevitable.

Since early childhood, the Aeris had been aware of the striking differences between herself and other children. She retained vivid memories of her real mother; she had been raised for the majority of her life by a kind stepmother beneath the plate of Midgar. Her real mother had instilled within her the knowledge that she was the last of an Ancient race, and the presences she could both feel and hear were those of her ancestors. Her mother had told her tales of the Great Calamity that had struck the earth eons ago that had, after a bitter and vicious battle, been defeated by the Ancients. But the threat, she explained solemnly to the little girl sitting on her knee and listening with rapt attention, was far from over. The Calamity, dismembered and imprisoned, still survived. And humans, always tampering, never content to leave well enough alone, were attempting to create something powerful, something greater than human, from the pieces of the Calamity they had found. The Ancients by this point were a dying race, with only Aeris and her mother surviving. Her mother was approaching her time of Ascendance, but Aeris was young and pliable …

So it was that from a very young age, Aeris was meant to be a Weapon.

Upon her mother's passing, she felt bereft and isolated. The remnants of Ancients past, always present, became more prominent then. They spoke to her of the new enemy—a human boy infected with the Calamity and enhanced by the sacred blood of the earth; it was this boy, Aeris learned, that was to be her nemesis. His name, they whispered, was Sephiroth, and he had unknowingly, through unnatural processes, become a descendant of the Great Calamity; thus he was an unwitting heir to a power both destructive and vile. And Aeris, last of the Ancient race that had defeated the Calamity so very long ago, was his only true anathema—just as powerful in her own right, strengthened by her heritage and bond to the Ancients dead and gone. The spirits hummed to her more of the past and foretold—vaguely—the future. In order to succeed, they taught her, she had to realize that life was ruthless, and so would be her enemy. She must become ruthless as well, must understand that to be triumphant ultimately, she would have to become relentless, pitiless, and harden her heart. And she had done just that, but not without experiencing from time to time great pangs of regret for all she would never know in life.

After she had completed her task, the dead ones said often to her, she would be free. No longer would voices of ghosts haunt her, no longer would her path be dictated by fate and by necessity. She could live, finally, as she chose. It was that distant promise that kept her going with an iron resolve. And to be sitting here now, on the very verge of accomplishing what she had been raised and trained to do …

"So close," She whispered, watching as a young boy chased the red ball into a small thicket, laughing all the while.

Suddenly there was knocking at the door to her room. Not moving from her position, she called, "What is it?"

"Just wanted to tell you, Miss, that if you want to take your meals here, dinner is served from 6:00 to 8:00 in the common room."

She recognized the voice of the innkeeper, and said loudly in reply, "Alright, thank you." As she listened to his faint footsteps retreating down the hall, she glanced at her watch. It was almost 6:00, and she was getting rather hungry.

From outside her window, a loud wailing began. She looked down to see the boy, having returned from retrieving the ball, had stumbled and fell upon the cobblestones. At the sound of his crying the other children had gathered round in concern, and the old ladies had hurried over. It was a harmless injury for certain, and Aeris stared down at the scene a moment longer before turning to leave her room.

.x.

The common room, as she'd expected, was nearly full for dinner. She descended the stairs slowly, staff in hand, discreetly surveying the area. Most of the patrons were townsfolk, it seemed, but three tables in the corner near the hearth were full of blue uniformed ShinRa officers and what she gathered to be assorted members of SOLDIER. Their gathering was completed, she noticed with a furtive glance, by the great and pompous General Sephiroth. The innkeeper caught sight of her as her foot left the last stair; he hurried over with a warm smile.

"Glad to be seeing you, young Miss," he said, "There's a table free in the other corner if you don't mind the shadows."

Aeris spotted the table he meant; it was a secluded booth also near the fire, on the opposite side of the room from the position of the General and his associates. She nodded her approval to the innkeeper with a small answering smile, and began to thread her way through the crowded tables to take her seat. No one paid her any attention; she was just another patron, another face. She was content with that, and so she slid across the vinyl seat to sit next to the wall, propping her staff against the table, and glanced over the menu. The girl serving as both waitress and barmaid approached minutes later to take her order of soup, bread, and a flagon of the house ale. The wait for the food was short, and when it came she ate leisurely, enjoying the heavily spiced soup and the steaming slices of fresh buttered bread. Afterwards, pleasantly full, she leaned back and sipped at her ale while watching carefully all those present within the common room.

She had just finished taking a small drink when movement caught her eye. Turning her head slightly, she watched as one of the men seated at Sephiroth's table rose, and after exchanging a rowdy grin with some of his comrades, begin to walk with a distinct swaggering gait directly towards her.

.x.

"That," proclaimed Zack VanDenhomme, first class SOLDER, slamming his flagon down onto the table top and wiping at his watering eyes, "is a great drink."

"How many is that now?" questioned the man sitting next to him. He wore the blue uniform of his ShinRa officer status, but had removed the mask. His fair hair, tousled by the day's work and being naturally prone to disarray, rose from his head in all directions. It gave him a slightly rakish air, and his blue eyes twinkled good-naturedly as he waited for his comrade to respond.

"Not enough," Zack replied, waving to catch the eye of the waitress and eyeing the bottom of his empty glass wistfully. He punched the blonde man lightly in the arm. "Why don't you have one, Cloud? Or two? Or perhaps more than three?"

Cloud grimaced, "Because I don't want to traipse into the mountains tomorrow with a hangover."

Zack made an unconcerned noise, and as the waitress hustled over he held up two fingers, indicating the amount of drinks he'd like.

"Cloud does have a point." Sephiroth, General of all ShinRa forces, said dryly from where he sat directly across from Cloud. "You're no good to me drunk."

"I won't be drunk," Zack replied with a grin. "I'll be a recovering drunk."

Cloud muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like idiot. About to administer swift and physical retribution, Zack was gleefully interrupted by the arrival of his drinks. They had barely hit the table when he buried his face within one and drank like he was a dying man. Mere seconds later the flagon was empty, and he grinned at the others through a beard of ale foam.

"Cloud," Sephiroth said, shaking his head, "Idiot is the proper term."

"I resemble that remark," Zack replied, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He sighed exuberantly, leaning back and scanning the room. "All that's missing now is a woman over which I can exert my irritable char—Why, hello…"

His comrades followed his gaze to a table in the farthest, darkest corner of the room. Sitting alone, silently and slowly drinking from her own flagon of ale, was a young woman. Shadowed as she was, it was difficult to see her in detail, but she was obviously comely to have caught Zack's attention. The SOLDIER turned with a sly smile back to his partners. "Sit back, boys, and watch a real man in action."

"Alright," Cloud snorted, "but don't you mean irresistible charm?"

"No," Sephiroth said, watching with an expression that was half disgust and half amusement as Zack licked his fingers and then ran them over his thick eyebrows in an effort to tame them, "Irritable sounds about right."

Zack sniggered and stuck his tongue out at the two of them. "You're both just jealous of my way with the ladies."

Cloud made a rude noise, and Sephiroth merely shook his head again in resigned amusement. As Zack stood and sauntered over to the girl, another ShinRa officer took his place and began to speak in earnest with the General about the plans for the next morning. Minutes passed before a sudden and poignant hush fell over the common room, distracting everyone and diverting their attention to the booth in the corner.

Zack was kneeling before the table, obviously having been trying to woo the girl. Said girl, however, was standing above him with an overturned flagon, remnants of her ale trickling down upon the SOLDIER's already soaked head. Very calmly she set the empty flagon down, grabbed her staff, stepped delicately passed Zack's immobile form, and made her way past the mutually entertained and stunned onlookers to exit through the door to the inn. An instant after she'd left the common room erupted into laughter, and Zack, wearing a sheepish grin, returned slowly to his own table.

"Irresistible charm, huh?" Cloud chuckled.

Zack shrugged amiably and secured his other drink. "What can I say? She's a prude."

Sephiroth, having recognized the girl as the one who had irritated him earlier, smiled slightly. "Perhaps she has common sense, Zack," said one of the other officers. He raised his own mug, and the rest, with the exception of Sephiroth and Cloud, did the same. "Cheers."

.x.

Standing outside the inn, Aerith stood staring at the setting sun over the tops of the houses of Nibelheim. A small smile had crept over her face upon exiting the inn; she shouldn't have poured her drink all over the SOLDIER, but it had felt good. His proposition had been suave and flawless, but she'd turned him down flat. Not that he wasn't attractive—he was tall, muscular, grey eyed, and possessed a mane of wild black hair that she knew would drive most women wild. She wasn't most women, however, and so when he'd persisted after her first refusal she did what she knew would dampen his libido: humiliate him in front of his peers. Her actions had had the desired effect, and so she'd decided to take her leave before she could attract anymore unwelcome attention to herself.

The sun was sinking rapidly, and dusk had stretched its tendrils across the sky. Aerith stood silently, leaning absently on her staff, watching as one by one the stars began to twinkle into being. For once the spirits that accompanied her had ceased their distracting chatter and had begun instead a soothing cadence which whirled within her; it was their prelude to the night, and it was beautiful. For long minutes she stood thus, savoring the peace that was all too fleeting.

And then the screaming began.