Chapter 12 - Obsession (Part 2)

She was at it again, wasting another weekend away.

It was all Sephiroth could do but shake his head in bemusement. Being who the Ancient was, he kept a eye on her. For the last few weeks, almost a month now, when she wasn't in training or other lessons, she had been throwing herself into exercising to an inane degree. It was almost... obsessive. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to it, and in fact had approved. She was far behind her peers. Had she been in the cadet program with this kind of attitude, she would have been on the right track to easily make her way into SOLDIER.

Yet...

There was an old saying he followed; he couldn't for the life of him remember where he heard it from, maybe Professor Faremis. It was that to much of anything was a bad thing. It was an oddly amusing saying, or theory he supposed; it even had scientific proof. Eating to much could lead to becoming overweight and a great deal of health issues. Drinking to much water could lead to water intoxication. Taking to many pain medications could lead to dependency and addiction, to many repetitive motions could lead to carpel tunnel syndrome, and it went on and on from there.

The Ancient had suffered from this initially when she started her routine, Genesis had been laughing about it for hours and talking about her 'face plant'. He personally didn't see what was so funny about it, it was to be expected. She had suddenly and jarringly adjusted her daily routine, the human body didn't generally cope with that very well. It was better to ease into new things. But she had since adapted, and adapted well.

SOLDIERs could get around such limits to a large degree. The Mako in their systems allowed them to get away with things they really shouldn't be able to. A young thirteen year old girl should not be able to do the Shinra Stair Run multiple times a day with ease, yet she was. She had started to put on muscle, and was continuing to do so, more than he could recall seeing from females of similar age while out on missions or during public events.

He spared a quick glance into the gym; she alternated between the stairs and the gym, she was on maximum setting on the treadmill at the moment from what he saw. Yet... she was also alone. Unlike other SOLDIERs who exercised in groups or pairs, she did it alone. She was not bonding or even befriending her fellow SOLDIER, and that could have repercussions down the road. Not that SOLDIER as a whole was helping in that matter. From what little eavesdropping he had partaken in, many were irritated to find her here, especially when she bypassed the Cadet Program. Some were developing a slight grudging respect for her enthusiasm in training, but that was about it.

Save for Zackery, he wasn't sure she really had a friend or acquaintance here. He hadn't seen her interact with the Turks either, or Valentine, as much as the man shadowed her. Though, he wasn't sure she was aware he kept more of an eye on her than Sephiroth himself did. Regardless, isolation was dangerous to a SOLDIER, they were already divergent from the general community and even the regular army. Being separate from their fellow SOLDIER as well was asking for trouble. Even he had Genesis and Angeal as friends and comrades, and he supposed Zackery as well. Angeal had been making a fuss about getting him invited to their weekly gathering/drinking on Sunday nights. Sephiroth wasn't quite sure about that, but, he could admit Zackery's volunteering to 'test out' the Ancient's blood and scold them on nearly 'pulling a Hojo' had earned him a great deal of respect in his eyes.

The Ancient to his knowledge had no one at the moment, and was distant to Zackery, someone she had said she had loved in her 'visions'. Being completely alone and obsessed with her current routine would see her waking up one day to realize she was friendless and had no one she was close with. Even if they defeated Jenova, where would that leave her? He had seen SOLDIERs stationed in Wutai go mad over being alone, the sole survivor of their squads or regiments. Considering she was the last Ancient alive, and had actually seen the world end in these 'visions', it was a legitimate concern.

Her current actions were unhealthy for her in the long run, and it was his duty and responsibilities to his SOLDIERs to see that remedied.

He strode into the mostly empty gym and cleared his throat. "3rd Class Gainsborough."

Her head turned sharply for a moment before turning back and shutting down the machine, she approached and saluted. "Yes sir?"

At least she was learning formalities he supposed. "Walk with me."

She followed in behind him as he turned and left the room. "Is something wrong? Did you find Hojo or..."

"No," he said curtly, "I simply wish to... talk."

"Okay...," she said slowly, sounding a little confused, "About what?"

"You are from Sector 5, correct?" he asked.

"The slums? Yeah," she said, "What about it?"

"I've noticed," he began carefully as to not offend, "You haven't left the building to visit your home since you arrived here."

The Ancient shrugged. "I'll do so eventually, I've got to get stronger before Jenova becomes active."

"There is no guarantee we wont find her before then," he pointed out.

"Can't risk it," she said.

"And your... adoptive mother I believe it was? Surely you miss her," he stated.

Again, she shrugged. "Sure, but I'm training to make sure she has a future. I'll have time to see her once this is all over."

Sephiroth resisted the urge to groan. She wasn't going to make this easy, was she? When this is all over could turn into decades down the road.

Though, he was curious about something. He had read her file the Turks had on her; there was a piece of information missing, who her birth parents were. He had asked Tseng once, but the man said it was need to know information, that only he, Director Verdot, the President, and Hojo had known. Perhaps it was circumventing the chain of command, but, he was curious if the Ancient would be willing to satisfy his curiosity.

"Forgive me if I intrude upon a family matter, but what of your birth parents?" he asked, "Are you estranged with them? Or are they..."

"Gone," said the Ancient flatly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he offered, though he noted she hadn't been very descriptive in what 'gone' meant, dead or did they leave her? "What were their names?"

"Well, my birth mother's name was Ifalna," said the Ancient.

Sephiroth whirled, disbelief on his face. "What did you say?"

The Ancient paused. "Ifalna, that was her name."

Sephiroth stared at her, scrutinizing her face, chagrin hitting him hard. "How could I not have seen it... you look just like her."

"Wait, you knew my mother?" asked Aerith in disbelief.

"Ifalna... was one of the only people I interacted with in the labs outside of the scientists back when I was young," he admitted, "With her and Gast, before he left and she disappeared, they made it somewhat tolerable. Things... degraded... when Hojo took over."

Sephiroth frowned, a thought occurring. "If she was your mother, then Ifalna was an Ancient, so she had to know Jenova was no Ancient; what was she doing on the Jenova Project?"

Aerith tilted her head back in thought, eyebrows furrowing. "Maybe she was trying to stop it? She did convince my father to leave the project after all."

Well, that drew Sephiroth's interest. "Your father was also part of the Jenova Project?"

She gave him a peculiar look. "Yes? You just mentioned him."

Sephiroth couldn't help it, he gave a start and stared at her hard; Surely he hadn't heard that right. "Pardon?"

"Gast Faremis was my father," she said simply.

Sephiroth had to make a concentrated effort to keep himself from gaping at her. Aerith Gainsborough was the daughter of the two people who had actually cared back when he was a child, who had seen him as more than just an experiment or a weapon to be. The two he credited for keeping him alive and holding back Hojo's more dangerous tests and experimentation until he was old enough to handle them. They had kept him sane, had given him brief moments of happiness in that miserable existence he had in the labs.

He cleared his throat, struggling to find something to say. "Why do you go by Gainsborough then?"

Aerith frowned, a flash of pain crossed her face, of an old and deep wound. "My adoptive mother took me in when my birth mother died, and I took on her name."

Sephiroth felt like he had been punched; he whispered, "Ifalna is dead?"

"She... was killed when we were escaping Hojo's labs when I was seven," muttered Aerith, bitterness in her voice, "She was shot just before we made it onto a train to take us below the plate."

Sephiroth's fists clenched tightly, his vision turning red for a moment. They had been in the building the ENTIRE TIME he had been training for SOLDIER prior to the Wutai War, and he hadn't a clue. Been experimented on and who knows what else. He wasn't one to invoke Genesis's goddess, but...

Goddess... Aerith had grown up in a lab, just like him... he didn't know if that was a comfort or not having had someone else who knew what that was like. He wouldn't wish it on anyone.

But wait...

"What about Gast?" demanded Sephiroth, "How could he have let this happen?"

Aerith closed her eyes and sighed. "I never knew my father. Hojo shot and killed him when I was a few weeks old."

Gast...

Gast was dead...

"Hojo," snarled Sephiroth, shaking in a rage he hadn't felt in so long, "There won't be a death slow enough for him."

Aerith, to her credit, didn't seem phased by his rage, only curious, "My birth parents meant a great deal to you, didn't they?"

Sephiroth closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out, bottling his anger up for the training room later, and reopened his eyes. "Yes, they did. And I owe it to them to try and help you with your current... issue."

She blinked. "Issue?"

"Your exercising, your training," he said.

She looked abashed. "Ah... am I doing it wrong? I thought I was doing fine."

"You are," he said simply, "But at the cost of everything else. You have done nothing but eat, sleep, and train for almost a month. While not uncommon for SOLDIERs, most at least take the weekends to themselves or relax when off-duty."

Aerith scowled. "I have to catch up, I have to become strong enough to matter this time!"

There it was again. This time she said. He filed away her pretense phrasing and instead focused on the matter at hand. "For one, you are a child Aerth. You are not expected, required, or allowed to do anything dangerous for at bare minimum two years. Most Cadets arrive at fifteen, and if they make SOLDIER, don't even go on their first missions until they are sixteen or seventeen."

That apparently was the wrong thing to say; her scowl turned downright fierce, "I don't care! Once I get strong enough, if I have to go out on my own to track down and stop Jenova, I will!"

He stared at her in disbelief. "You cannot be serious."

She glared full force at him. "I am serious, deadly serious."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. This problem needed to be nipped in the bud, now, before she ended up getting herself killed, or worse, captured. "Aerith, what makes you think you, let alone any one person can handle the threat Jenova represents?"

Aerith scoffed. "Says the guy who could take her if it came down to it."

"I wouldn't want to even risk that," he said, staring at her like she had grown a second head, did she not have even a moderate sense of tactics or risk?

Aerith blinked a few times. "Why not?"

"If she can affect my mind, I would want others there who could snap me out of it's influence for one," stated Sephiroth, "For two, you told us it wiped out the Ancients, almost their entire race, by infecting and converting them to it's side. If I were to face it, Jenova would most likely have an army of infected with her. Taking on both it and an army at once is a chance I would not take without SOLDIER at my back unless I absolutely had to. And anyone else, including you, who tried that on their own would most likely die."

Aerith gave him a grim smile. "If my life is the price to pay to weaken or kill Jenova then so be. Death won't stop me, and merely destroying Jenova's body and cells doesn't stop her taint of the lifestream. I'd still have my work cut out for me even while dead."

Sephiroth stared at her, at someone who was so completely and utterly unaffected and nonchalant about dying, with a mixture of disbelief, and perhaps awe. He could admit, if he had to die, then he would face it head on with dignity, honor, and courage. But that didn't mean he wanted to die, that he didn't care about dying.

Then another thought struck him. "Do you truly care so little about your own life? About those your parting would hurt? I imagine your adoptive mother would be devastated."

A shadow crossed her face. "They'd persevere and move on. They did bef... in the vision, despite their pain."

He narrowed his eyes. "That's rather inconsiderate of you, and you didn't answer my first question."

Aerith shrugged. "I'm a servant of the planet, if I must die for it to live, then I will do so willingly."

"You are not a pawn nor a tool to be thrown away at a moment's notice," said Sephiroth, trying to keep the critical edge out of his voice, "You are a young woman with your entire future ahead of you."

"A future that doesn't matter so long as Jenova is alive," she shot back, irritation bleeding across her face.

"And that's an excuse to not consider the worth of your own life?" he shot back, equally irritated, "You are young, untested, and inexperienced. But one day, that will no longer be true. You may become a powerful asset to SOLDIER, that's IF your impatience doesn't kill you, or worse, deliver you into the enemy's hands. That would be the worse outcome."

Aerith crossed her arms. "How so? What could Jenova realistically do with me? Use me as bait? I'm immune to her taint."

He scoffed. "You described it as a virus. Viruses evolve, and you hand delivering yourself into it's waiting arms could give it all the time to figure out a way around your immunity, thus giving yourself over to be infected and enslaved, and ruin the building immunity SOLDIER is getting to Jenova with your blood."

Aerith looked incredulous. "You can't seriously think that..."

She paused, a distant look in her eyes, and then froze up, her face paling.

Finally it appeared logic had gotten through to her.

"Is that... how that future came to pass?" she whispered to herself, horror rolling off her in waves.

Sephiroth's eyebrows furrowed. Or not, what was she going on about now?

"But I... I don't...," began Aerith haltingly, "I... don't know what else to do. What... what else can I do to prepare to stop Jenova?"

"Wait," he said simply, "Be patient, and don't act alone, we have no clue when it will be found, or if worst comes to worst, active. Stressing yourself for no reason is foolish, and for goodness sake, take a day off once in a while, even I do. Stressed SOLDIERs make mistakes after all. Mingle with your fellow SOLDIERs. Go see your mother, when is the last time you saw her? Does she even know where you are? That you are in SOLDIER?"

Aerith looked abashed, averting her eyes. "Erm..."

He pointed down the hall. "It's the weekend, take it off and visit your family."

"Is that an order?" she said, trying meekly to adopt a teasing tone.

He wasn't going to let her get out of a rebuke that easily. "If I have to make it one, then I will. Go."

"Yes sir." she muttered sullenly before saluting and taking her leave.

He watched her go, slightly bemused, but didn't move otherwise, standing in the hallway alone, a single thought repeating in his head.

Ifalna and Gast were dead.

It filled him with such loss and frustration. He thought back to when they had both vanished, how hurt and abandoned he'd felt at the time. He had never been told one way or the other what had happened. He had figured they had either retired, or moved onto another project. Perhaps it was a delusion; not hearing about either of them for over a decade was a good indication of their fate. With the confirmed knowledge of their loss...

It was all he could do to mutter, "Why didn't you take me with you? I could have kept you both safe... I would have been free of Hojo..."

He pitied Aerith for her loss of her mother, and then his thoughts turned towards his own. How easily he could have continued believing Jenova was his mother, never knowing the truth about Lucrecia if not for Aerith...

Then he winced at the thought of the scientist. Speaking of avoiding family... he had hardly interacted with his own mother outside of the Science Department. He just... didn't know how. He wasn't exactly given the opportunity to observe families in their natural habitats. He knew families were supposed to be 'close', but what exactly did that entail? The only example he honestly had was SOLDIER comradery. Still... as suddenly as he gained her back, losing his mother could happen just as quickly. He shouldn't push it off. Not to mention... he just...

Ifalna and Gast were dead.

...needed a distraction...

Review Responses:

NocturneX: If Zack's love-life comes up, it'll be a small thing. Aerith will need time to relearn/learn how to enjoy life. Elmyra's going to have her chance to give Aerith holy hell next chapter, and having known Aerith for so long, notice things others wouldn't...

Guest: I've never played Mortal Combat, I'm glad you can find enjoyment through that comparison though.

Sakurablossomhime: Aerith never received Jenova cells, she just got pure Mako injected into her with the Planet's blessing. Thanks, and glad you enjoy.

x3eloved: :D, I like when people are specific like that on what they like about my stories or a specific scene. Focus might be to weak a word at the moment though for Aerith ^_^. Ages... The trio is roughly 20 years old, maybe 19, not sure. Zack I think is sixteen-seventeen or so if I remember correctly.

Guest: Living in slums is never an easy thing, and while Aerith has some bitterness (at least in this story), it's never been a defining trait for her.

Greatazuredragon: Genesis would have been funnier, Sephiroth is simply to serious about most things. And yeah, abandoned fanfics several years old is a sad thing (some people can take awhile, even 6~ months to update, but several years is an indication of deadness).

Azure Shine: Aerith has issues at the moment and needs someone to give her a nudge here and there, being dead for awhile changes perspectives.