Unspoken
By mihoyonagi
Chapter 14: Departure
Sephiroth's hand was clutched tightly in that of the flower girl's. Both of their feet pounded against the soft earth beneath them, pumping in perfect unison, tough as was Aerith who led the way. Flashes of the town passed through the trees as the two running upon the forest path remained unseen. A flash of pink, a shadow following suit; the sight of it was very strange indeed, but thankfully none of the villagers, or tourists for such a matter, turned to look at what was flying through the trees only just past the forest border.
Aerith was breathing hard, gasping for air with each step, but her pace didn't slow in the slightest. Sephiroth found himself in awe. He knew her to be nothing of a fighter, but her will was strong and because of it she could most likely perform any task she truly set her mind to. Without realizing it, Sephiroth's mind began to wander its way into the past. She was the reason his plan had failed. At first, he didn't understand how such a small, weak being like the Cetra before him could do anything, save for cast a cure spell. Now, however, he understood. Her will had been far stronger than his.
A mind-numbing crunch brought the general back to the plane of the conscious just in time for his face to meet the warm soil he had only moments before been treading upon. Sephiroth placed his hands on either side of his body and forced himself to sit up. Aerith had stopped running where he had fallen and was at his side before he had time to wipe the dirt from his face.
"Are you alright?" she questioned, falling to her knees beside him, trying to catch her breath.
Sephiroth looked at his ankle, and then looked back up the path he had tripped upon. A large tree root had been uprooted and was sticking out of the ground at his feet. Though Sephiroth's boots may have crushed the spot in which they had come crashing down upon the earth, the side of the root had snagged his foot and pulled him down. The way his ankle throbbed, Sephiroth doubted he would be able to run any further. Hell, he would be lucky to walk again.
"Come on, I'll help you. We have to go." Without waiting for a response from him, Aerith pulled Sephiroth to his feet and placed his arm across her shoulders. Though their pace was significantly slower than before, the harbor could be seen through the trees ahead of them and wasn't far off.
Trying to put as little weight as possible on both his foot and the flower girl proved to be more of a challenge than Sephiroth had expected. Every time his foot touched the ground his leg screamed in pain, but every time he placed his weight on Aerith he heard her grunt from it and immediately felt as if they would both fall.
Thankfully, the forest path melded into the cobblestone that made up the harbor. It was far easier to walk on stone than the forest floor, Sephiroth noted. Regardless of which surface felt better, however, his leg still seared in pain as he walked.
"Barin!" Aerith called after one of the men that ran the docks. The man stopped and looked over his shoulder, searching for whoever had called out his name. His glass eye curled around in its socket as he looked over the heads of the few crewmen that had stopped as well. A bright smile crossed his gruff countenance, however, when he saw Aerith walking his way.
"Aerith, lass! What can I do for ye?"
"Barin, we need your help!" Aerith panted as she stopped in front of the large sailor, gasping for breath.
Spots began to form in Sephiroth's line of vision and he stumbled forward, bringing Aerith down with him. Struggling to stay in reality, Sephiroth's vision went completely black, though his hearing remained as sharp as ever. He felt two strong hands pull him off the wooden planks of the dock and back onto his feet.
"What's been done to ye?" Barin's voice was deep and gruff, but Sephiroth could hear the obvious soft spot the large sailor had for Aerith.
"We have to leave right away!"
"What for, lass? Ye've only been in town for a short while, and-"
"Barin, I promise you that we will be back, but for now we have to get off the island!"
"What's gotten in to ye? Why, 'twas only a few days ago ye came down here and got acquainted with us at the docks! Now, some blonde kid and his lass arrive asking for ye, and all of a sudden ye must take yer leave? Aerith, tell me what the matter is."
"If I were to tell you now, you'd think I was crazy! Please Barin- we have to leave! Please trust me!" The general could hear the franticness in Aerith's voice.
Sephiroth felt numb. His breathing was becoming shallow, and he fought with the overwhelming urge to vomit.
A moment passed.
"Get on the ship, lass, and tend to yer man. I doubt he'll stay in the world of the conscious much longer. I expect ye to be back as soon as ye can, hear?"
"Oh, thank you Barin!"
"No time for chit-chat! Get on the boat"
"And when we do come back, I promise to bake you a million cakes!" Aerith's tone was much lighter than before.
"I expect two million. Go, now. I'll talk to the shipmaster."
Sephiroth could feel Aerith pulling toward what he could only assume was a ship. The world beneath him was spinning as it had when he was in the hospital, and he couldn't make heads or tails of what was up or down. He simply allowed Aerith to continue dragging him onward until he felt a heavy pair of arms lift him onto a wooden deck.
The world became a mass of swirling black.