Unspoken
By mihoyonagi
Chapter 13: Flight
He was shaking, and he could not stop.
She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice. Her eyes sparkled and the smile that spread across her face made his heart sink to the very pit of his stomach.
He held his arms tightly against his own body so she would not see. When she turned and looked into his eyes, however, he saw reflected in emerald his own image; pure, raw emotion had ripped his face open, and he felt venerable for the first time in his life. She read him like the book he used to communicate with her.
Aerith's face fell. "Sephiroth?" Her voice was a whisper, but it rang out in the ears of the man who stood before her.
He was afraid to die, and she was the only other who knew it, who had ever seen the warrior express himself without meaning to. An onslaught of emotions tore at him, and he didn't know how to react, so his body reacted for him. It was not simply the fear of death that loomed over him; it was the fear of losing all he had worked for once again at the business end of the same sword.
This time, things were different. There was no world-domination plot afoot. The only thing that he would lose would be what normal life he had managed to live while in the company of the flower girl. He didn't want to lose any of it; he enjoyed staying under the same roof as Aerith; he liked setting the table and washing the dishes for her; he adored her cake. He couldn't lose it.
'Is this what it was like, then?' he contemplated as he sank to his knees on the hardwood floor. 'Was this what it was like for the thousands of people I killed? Did this same feeling of death loom over them as well? Did they feel like they were suffocating, just as I feel, when I was walking toward them? Oh Gods…' Pain twisted in his stomach and Sephiroth felt the overwhelming urge to wretch.
He was, however, cut short of emptying his stomach on the floor when a strong pair of hands hoisted him up. His vision blurred around him as he stumbled up the stairs, led under the arm by the tiny figure next to him in pink. "Use your legs!" she barked at him. He was, at first, completely unaware that is was Aerith who order his feet to move. Never before had he heard her voice so commanding. He almost didn't recognize it. "This is no time to become weak!"
She was right. He struggled to force the world around him to stand still, but when it refused he merely put more effort into moving his feet, right after left, up the stairs and into the hall. If the world would not stop spinning, he couldn't force it to stop. He would, instead, merely force his feet to work correctly, regardless of how the hardwood floor spiraled beneath each step.
The next thing he knew, Sephiroth was pressed against the pink flowered-wallpaper in Aerith's room, shoved behind the door by her tiny hands. He heard voices yelling, but what they said slipped past his grasp of understanding; he still felt sick, but he remained still, Aerith pressing him against wall behind the door with her tiny hands.
He held his breath and waited.
"I saw them come up here, I know I did! I saw it right through the window!" A man's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs. It was deep, strong, and overflowing with worry, curiosity, and confusion above all else.
"I'm telling you that you're seeing things! Remember what happened in Kalm the other month? You followed some girl all the way home, thinking it was her." The new voice was female. Level-headedness, logic, and skepticism were the imprints of emotions her voice rang out with, opposing the views of the male voice.
"So I made a mistake! You have to admit even you thought that girl looked like her." The male voice again. He was sure of himself, Sephiroth could tell.
Sephiroth's world slowly came back and he realized where he was and what exactly was going on.
He was hiding behind a door in Aerith's room, with none other than the flower girl pressed firmly against him. Cloud and a companion (Tifa, wasn't it? He couldn't be sure; he had paid little attention to those aside from the puppet) were at the top of the stairs, looking for Aerith. Oh, what a sight it would be if the blonde found the two in their current position…
The exact moment he grasped reality was also the exact moment he began to feel again and, unfortunately for Aerith, it was her sides he grasped tightly with his hands. She inhaled a sharp hiss of shock at the unexpected grip that constricted at her hips, but it was realized a moment too late; Cloud had already heard it.
Loud, bulky boots effortlessly bounded down the small hallway and the door swung open, stopping only millimeters from the back of Aerith's hair. The general could hear his own heart beat in his head as he stared at the back of the blonde who had only just entered through the door. The youth stood in the middle of the room, looking left, then right, for any sign of life. Sephiroth was amazed Cloud couldn't hear the heartbeat pounding in the ears of the general whom stood pressed firmly against a wall, behind a door, tightly grasping the flower girl in his hands.
No one breathed.
Finally, the other woman spoke from down the hall. "Cloud, what are you doing?"
Cloud sighed. "I heard something. I know I did."
Sephiroth could practically hear Tifa roll her eyes and cross her arms. "Cloud, let's go back to the village. It's not right just to barge in on someone's house like this. Maybe the townsfolk will know something."
The blonde paused. For a split second, Sephiroth thought Cloud would turn and see the couple behind the door. To his immense relief, however, Cloud tuned the opposite way, allowing Sephiroth a good view of the back of his head until he was out of the door.
"Sorry, Tiff. I guess you're right."
Two pairs of boots noisily made their way down the stairs.
It was only when the two upstairs heard the front door close did either bother to breathe again.
Sephiroth closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall behind him. Aerith, letting out a tremendous sigh, let her body go slack against the general. He was sure that she could hear his heart hammering against his chest, faster than a humming birds.
Suddenly, she jerked upright and looked into his eyes. "Gather your things."
It took a few second for Sephiroth to apprehend that she had spoken to him. He furrowed his brow, looking down at her with a look of confusion and curiosity.
Aerith shook her head. "They are going into the village to ask about us. The villagers will surely tell them our names, don't you think? Then everyone will be looking for us. We have to leave."
Sephiroth's heart sunk and rose, all in one beat. He was elated at the prospect of leaving, and saddened by it just as well.
"I know you don't want to be near him, so we'll have to go. It's either your safety or our lives. I am sure Cloud would kill you sooner than look at you." Aerith heaved a heavy sigh. Sephiroth shifted uncomfortably against the wall. Stepping a few paces backwards, Aerith turned her head toward the window on the far side of the room. "I don't mind leaving, so long as you're okay with it." She turned back to him.
Had he a voice, Sephiroth wouldn't have known what to say, regardless. Was she really not going to chase after Cloud? What of her friendship? What of her past life?
Aerith seemed to have read his eyes before she turned and faced the window again. "Just knowing he is well is good enough for me. I would rather you be safe, honestly."
Sephiroth took in a deep breath, not knowing how to react to such a statement. Was she really telling him that she wouldn't mind uprooting the peaceful life they had shared the past month in the small house just for his safety (if not his sanity)? Why were her cheeks turning a pale shade of pink?
The only thing he could do was nod, numbly.