Unspoken
By mihoyonagi
Chapter 20: Thunder
They were out of Midgar just after the sun rose the next morning. Aerith, thinking practically, had brought along with her a few extra sweaters and blankets for the cold weather. Luckily, the day proved to be warm enough not to need much covering aside from the clothes they wore.
The day was calm, and Midgar became nothing more than an eyesore on the horizon after only a few hours. The expanse of the field, however, proved very large and Sephiroth was troubled over the aspect of reaching Kalm before night set in and real cold nipped at them.
Aerith, conversely, seemed happy enough to do nothing but hum a small tune as they marched across the field. It was nearly the lunch hour when she requested to stop and take a break, and Sephiroth wasn't one to argue with her; she carried much of their food, and he was beginning to become hungry.
She produced two sandwiches from her pack, handing one to the general while taking a large bite of her own. When she had swallowed the first bite, she tilted her head and looked to the sky. "Where should we go?" Aerith sighed, taking another large bite of her sandwich.
Sephiroth shrugged, pulling his canteen from his belt and taking a swig from the round opening, hoping the sandwich would wash down easily enough. The bread was slightly stiff, it was slathered in mayonnaise, and there was a definite lack of tomato, but Sephiroth was hungry and felt it would be best not to complain. He had been surprised their measly amount of gil had allowed them as much food as they fit in their packs.
The general watched as Aerith took yet another bite of her sandwich, staring pensively at the sky. "Well," she finally spoke. "I suppose for now we had better head for Kalm, or else night will take care of us for sure."
Nodding once, Sephiroth brushed a few clumps of dirt off of his pants. Swallowing the last bit of his sandwich, he offered Aerith a drink off of his canteen. She swallowed the last of her own meal and took a large gulp of water, smiling as she handed the canteen back to the general.
Adjusting the straps on his pack, Sephiroth looked to the sky. A narrow strip of dark rose on the horizon, but he decided not to worry the flower girl over what he determined not to be a problem. The small strip of a storm he saw was too far away to be upon them before nightfall, and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction.
"Well we can't make it to the Chocobo Ranch by nightfall, which I am certain of, so I guess we should spend the night in Kalm. What do you think?" Aerith turned around and put her hands on her head, walking backwards and watching Sephiroth with a bright look upon her face.
He merely shrugged, indicating that whatever path of action she chose was fine with him.
Aerith smiled and turned around, the sounds of her large boots hitting the earth in a rhythmical thumping noise that relaxed the general.
Not long ago, the sound of someone dragging their feet when they walked would have driven Sephiroth up the wall. Aerith's boots, however, were too large for her feet, and while he understood the fact that she didn't purposely mean to make such a clamor when she walked, he also had become quite accustomed to it during the time they had spent together.
Always one to give orders, Sephiroth also found it relaxing for someone else to tell him where they were going for a change. Aerith didn't demand he follow her, or even ask, but Sephiroth, though he would never admit to it, had grown fond of her in the past month. She provided the answers to questions he never thought he would ask in a million years; which side of the plate does a spoon go on; how do you properly bake a cake; what was the name of the scents in the soap they carried; why do the fireflies seek one another in the night?
Slowly his mind wandered to why, exactly, they were traveling. It all boiled down to Cloud, and the youth's inability to keep his nose out of the business of others.
As harsh of a criticism as it was, Sephiroth felt he was completely justified in thinking such. Were it not for Cloud sticking his nose in the Shinra's business, the blonde would have never come to realize Sephiroth's plan, nor would he had tried to stop the general in the first place, for he wouldn't have known what was going on.
Which, now that Sephiroth looked upon, wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Were it not for Cloud's failure to stifle his curiosity, Sephiroth wouldn't have realized just how good life could be when one was not plagued by an onslaught of mental projections by a creature that all but completely controlled him.
However, because Cloud once again stuck his nose in places it didn't belong, Sephiroth and Aerith had been forced to abandon what little life they had complied while in Mideel and begin on a silly journey to planet-knows where.
That, truly, was the main concern on the mind of Sephiroth; where the devil's name were they going?
He could understand wanting to get away from Cloud, but where would they stay? They wouldn't be able to go back to Mideel for some time, that much was for certain.
An uncommonly cold breeze drifted through the air, pulling Sephiroth back to reality and dropping him into frosty physical body. He watched as Aerith, only a few paces in front of him, suppressed a shudder. Pulling the straps off of his left shoulder, the general pulled a small fleece blanket from within the confines of the musty bag and proceeded to rightly place his pack back upon his shoulder and drape the blanket over Aerith's shoulders.
She turned her head and looked at the blanket, then looked up at him. "Thanks." She smiled brightly at him then turned to focus on the path in front of her feet.
Sephiroth felt his face soften as a small, genuine smile crept to the corners of his mouth. He could only assume he looked silly, thus he was pleased when Aerith hadn't turned around.
Kalm was a bright spot in the distance, spreading over a small portion of the horizon. Far off into the distance, a large roll of thunder shook the sky and echoed for miles.