Thanks so much for reading chapter one, to those of you who did. And thanks to those who commented. ;3

The re-release of Chapter Two.

I don't own anything.

Ch2

Her eyes were open widely, mouth propped open but sadly at a loss for words and breath. That hand was on her wrist, cold and hard. She stared at it, in all of its unnatural monstrousness, wanting to be free from the grasp, but for some strange reason she couldn't break free. It was as though all her strength had left her and she was paralyzed. She saw an ivory human hand rise to the edge of the coffin cover, slowly pushing it off. She clenched her teeth, sweat trickling down her forehead, fear trapped in her heart. Aeris felt the metallic claw give a little bit, and she immediately thrust her hand to her side and ran before the man got up. She squeezed through the door, stumbling a bit, looking left and right, thinking that maybe he will go to the entrance, believing that she would go to get out instead of run into the laboratory just to get stuck. So she turned left and lightly snuck into the lab, right behind the center table and between a wall and a cabinet.

She hugged her knees close to her, actually hearing her heart beat. She tried to keep even her breathing quiet, but in all her fear, she couldn't help but make a faint noise of a whimper in the back of her throat. Her hair fell in front of her face, so she fixed it quickly, sitting there, waiting for a sign to scream that it was okay to come out. She started to catch her breath again after a few minutes, so she decided to herself that maybe he gave up and went back to sleep or being dead again. She got up and dusted herself off, wiping her forehead along the way, and shakily put one foot ahead of the other.

She got to the doorway and started to turn out when she ran into something. She looked up slowly with a whimper and big teary eyes, and she found herself staring into his pale face. She screamed, making his eyes widen, and she ran to the staircase, going up them quite clumsily, almost falling about twice, and then ran through the doorway. She was too busy screaming and running in fret that she ran into the chair, falling to the ground fast, hitting her head on the floor and passing out.

She awoke what seemed to be only a few minutes later with a headache and a big red bump on her forehead. She looked at the ceiling glumly, her vision still focusing, and saw that she was still in the mansion, but in a different area. She looked left and saw a dirty old window, and ripped, familiar looking wallpaper. Her ears popped lightly and she moaned a bit, although she started to hear the piano playing.

Aeris froze in her thoughts and actions for a minute, not wanting to believe what was in her mind at that moment. She turned to the right lightly, more with her eyes than her entire head, and she saw it. There he was, that man with the raven hair, sitting at the piano as if his being 'dead' was okay. She just stared at him. Something compelled her from looking away, and she just watched his every move. Who was this man, and how could he be living in a place like this so long? With no one to talk to, or no one to share compassion with? Her thoughts were interrupted by his gaze catching her own. She gasped lightly, and he stopped suddenly, standing tall. He walked to her silently, as if he was hovering, and she tried to inch away, but her back hit the ends of the couch. She looked back at the wall, cursing it in her mind, and then back to him, who was now right in front of her. She whimpered, staring fearfully into his eyes. They gleamed ember in what little sunlight that was shining through those fogged windows, and she knew there was something different about him. It was that something that made her want to get away from there before he did something. Her hand crept to the edge of the couch, yet his eyes were still fixated on hers. She decided now was a good time to leap up and run past him before he could make his way out. She slipped through the doorway, leaving him standing there, and slammed the tall doors shut, clumsily pushing the chair by the doors under the knob to keep it shut... hopefully. She stopped and held her head; it was throbbing, and she could barely think straight. She shook it off and limped down to the stairs, running her hand down the rail for support.

Suddenly walking became such a burden, and even that she couldn't do. She fell to her knees, her right hand still on the rail, leaning against the columns in between, her left hand holding her forehead. She moaned lightly, closing her eyes tightly and clenching her teeth. Her head hurt her so badly. It felt as though someone ripped open her skull and drunkenly put it back together just to get the job done. She attempted to put her weight back on her feet, but paced her self as not to rush her body into passing out. She managed to stand and she looked around, but things were a bit blurry and seemed to move in circles. She shook it off and decided to press on down the stairs, stepping down slowly as if she were years beyond her age. Now both of her hands were placed on the railing as she made her way down. She thought she had the hang of it, but once she got arrogant, she skipped a step and tumbled down, landing on the bottom of the staircase with a thud. She lay there, moaning and grumbling, cursing everything about today, which wasn't something she did often. After a while of lying, she sat up and started rising to her feet, which was a little bit easier than it was before. Although, she sensed a presence that wasn't familiar to what she felt before, but she couldn't see a thing, her vision still blurred a bit. She looked around frantically, until she was hit to the other side of the room.

She screamed as she flew, grappling her hands to the floor, keeping her body up a bit. She looked around, and with her vision impaired, no staff to back her up, and her head hurting so she was unable to use magic, she was weakened and defenseless. Aeris couldn't tell what was going on around her, so she tried to protect herself by backing up against a wall. She heard her attacker hiss violently, and make oddly placed footsteps along its path. She heard it getting closer and closer, until the crash of the two doors being thrown out became prominent, and she heard a thud in front of her, along with a slashing noise mixed with the splurge of blood. She heard a shrill of a scream of some demon, and it echoed through her ears, which made her grab her head again. When she looked up, she could see better than before, and she saw some semi-human creature in a red cape and black pants standing before her. It was tall and seemingly built, with long demonic claws on its hand. It dropped the other monster, it landing with a lifeless crash onto the floor. The semi-human 'thing' turned around to her. Its eyes were red, fangs in its mouth, its skin gray and black, gangly black hair, and his other claw was made out of a metal of some sort, and it dripped with blood. They stared each other down, the demon and Aeris, until the demon's eyes turned light ember, and his skin slowly faded to ivory, his face becoming fair and flawless, his nose into that of a faery's, his pale little lips, and his claw turning into that of a human's hand. The eyes of the man watched her for one second more, until his body grew weak and he started to fall. She jumped at him with a light gasp, holding her breath, catching him in her arms. She lay his head on her left forearm, his upper body resting on her lap, her free right arm over his body. She looked at him, confused. Did he really just save her.?

Cloud and Tifa were looking at the flowers in front of the shop. They were mostly all pink, but you could find an occasional yellow or blue. Tifa breathed in deeply, putting her hands behind her back and stretching outwards a bit, looking up at the sky. Cloud didn't notice what she was doing, and instead knelt down to smell a pink flower. He wrinkled his nose in a sudden outburst of sneezes, making Tifa jump and slip to the ground ditzy-like. Cloud rubbed his nose cutely, sighing afterwards, until he saw Tifa sitting there. He held out his hand to her, and she took it. She jumped up too fast and bumped into him (which wouldn't be that hard to do anyway). They looked into each other's eyes for a minute, blushing lightly, chuckling stupidly at each other. All of a sudden they heard a gate screech open, and they both turned to the mansion. There stood Aeris, trying desperately to hold some man up in her small, muscle-less arms. They looked at each other, then back to Aeris, speedily approaching her with worry.

"Who is that?" Tifa asked her immediately.

"I don't know..! But... he needs our help!" She said, still dragging him past the two. "…and it would be best if you'd help me instead of block me..!" She said arrogantly at the two of them. They both blinked a few times before they moved to her side, Cloud helping Aeris by taking the man's other arm over his shoulder, and Tifa opened the door to the hotel. Aeris and Cloud stumbled upstairs into the room Aeris had reserved for herself (Cloud said the man could take his room, but Aeris insisted.), and they lay him down on her bed, fixing his limbs so they weren't dangling or anything like that. Aeris sighed heavily, closing her eyes and sitting in the chair on the other side of the room. Tifa and Cloud stared at the man, then back to Aeris, then back to the man again.

". He was in the mansion..?" Cloud asked Aeris dumbly.

"Yes. He saved me." She looked upon him now, her face somewhat emotionless, besides hints of thankfulness. Cloud looked upon her still.

"…you went in there?"

"I wanted to. It's a very pretty place, and I'm surprised someone doesn't..."

"Well, I don't see why you went in there." He cut her off. "Even more, I don't understand how someone could be living in there." Tifa and Cloud stood there for a while, both thinking that someone would break the silence, but no one did. Aeris just sat there, looking at the man lying in her bed. Tifa grew bored and tugged on Cloud's arm, catching his gaze and she nodded to the door. They said their good-byes to Aeris before they left her, shutting the door solemnly. Aeris stood up, going to her little sink, and she grabbed a rag, wetting it down a bit, and she cleaned his hand of the blood that it was drenched with. She unlatched his collar, slowly taking off his cape, being careful not to wake him up, if he would at all, and she carefully sat it on the chair. She drew up her hand to his face, brushing the hair from his face and behind him. She cleaned the rag thoroughly and she gently placed it, now folded neatly, upon his forehead, to keep him cool and well. She sat there for a while, looking at his eyes, peacefully shut, and this time she could see him slowly breathing. She looked down to his hand, and they weren't typical manly, scarred hands. They were delicate and frail in appearance, not a scratch on them. She turned his hand over so his palm was facing up, and she ran her finger over the lines in his hand. She smiled lightly, resting her hand atop of his.

I hope the third chapter stands up against this one.

Let me know how it read.

-Illus.