Unspoken

By mihoyonagi

Chapter 31: Infiltrate

In the span of ten minutes, Sephiroth's overall respect for women had increased twenty fold. No sooner had he walked across the first bridge of Wutai's central pathway and the feral stares began. Cat-calls were issued from men too drunk to stand straight. Walking in the garment was no easier, the general was to add.

In short, Sephiroth was miserable.

Entering Turtle's Paradise had been the easy part. Shaking his hips and attempting to be kidnapped whist all the while trying to ignore the fearsome rage building up inside of him due to the disgusting calls and whistles from drunken men all around proved to be slightly more difficult. Situating himself near the door, Sephiroth sat on a bar stool trying his best to ignore the hungry stares of intoxicated men from all around.

He felt like a piece of meat. Perhaps he shouldn't have waited until so late at night to enter the bar; it seemed everyone was already drunk.

The bartender, apparently immune to the commotion in the bar, nodded to Sephiroth and asked if he would like a beer. Thankful that the man behind the counter perpetually shining a shot glass had not asked him what kind and merely set some local brand upon the counter, Sephiroth attempted to appear delicate in taking a sip of his drink.

Just when his nerves began to relax slightly, several people barged through the bar door causing quite a commotion. Sephiroth looked over to see none other than Reno and Rude of the Turks, the latter supporting the first under an arm.

Dear Ramah, whatever divinity watching over Sephiroth was giggling with malicious intent and delight.

Thankfully, however, Reno was already plastered. Sephiroth remembered the weak drunk could never hold down much before beginning to stumble about. Several holiday parties back at the Shinra headquarters in Midgar had told him this. Those several occasions had made Sephiroth very glad he was not a janitor.

'Oh, screw it all to hell,' were the words rushing through Sephiroth's head as he watched Reno stumble to the open bar seat next to him.

"Best damn tequila you've got!" Despite the three feet that separated the two individuals, Sephiroth could already smell the reek of hard liquor on Reno's breath.

Sephiroth froze when Reno smiled and turned to him. "Hey there, sweetie. Wanna know –hic- what's it's like to –hic- kiss a Turk?"

Sephiroth forced a small smile on his lips before turning his head a different direction, feigning shyness while unbeknownst to Reno hiding his gag reflex. 'I think I'm going to vomit. Profusely.' His mind was racing with all kinds of ways to torture the Turk if he ever got the damn redhead alone.

"My friend's a little drunk. Sorry." Sephiroth glanced up and made eye contact with Rude. While never having been properly introduced, Sephiroth knew the Turk to be of the silent type. The fact that he had said anything, much less offered up an apology, greatly surprised the general and earned the bald man a slight nod.

"But he is right. You're a cutie."

Sephiroth fought the urge to roll his eyes. Both of them were drunk off their asses, Rude just had a sense of dignity while hammered.

If not for the promise never to kill again he had made to Aerith before they had come back to the land of the living, Sephiroth would have murdered both of them on the spot without so much as a second of thought.

"Are these idiots bugging you?" A gentle hand was placed on Sephiroth's shoulder. Biting his lip in an attempt not to remove the hand resting on his shoulder in a most bloody and brutal way, Sephiroth turned and met the eyes of a tall man who seemed to be the only one not completely smashed within the four walls of the bar (besides himself, of course, but then again he was dressed as a woman).

"Hey, man, I'm –hic- just trying to get lucky." Reno downed a shot of tequila.

"I hear they are offering free drinks down at Samosa's. Why don't you gents go see?" The speaker's hand was still on Sephiroth's shoulder. The general was still battling himself over whether or not he should simply bite off the man's unwelcome hand.

Reno threw the empty shot glass over his shoulder and attempted to stand up. The only result gained, however, was a broken glass and the redhead's face promptly meeting the floor. Rude looked down to his fallen comrade and let out a sort of short chuckle, then bent down to help the drunkard up. The two stumbled to the door, Reno attempting to put one leg in front of the other by himself and failing miserably.

Lightweight.

Sephiroth, while still not comfortable with the stranger's hand on his shoulder, felt a small amount of gratitude toward the man. He had, after all, gotten rid of a possible large problem for Sephiroth. The general prayed that the copious amounts of drink the two Turks had consumed would prove enough to keep them sleeping, or at least stuck in bed with hangovers, the next morning long enough for he and Aerith to escape. Cloud was enough of a problem- he didn't need the Turks on his heels as well.

Taking the now empty seat next to Sephiroth, the stranger situated himself in such a way that made the white-haired cross-dressing man extremely uncomfortable (not that he wasn't there already, wearing a dress, make up, and whatnot). Bowing his head in an attempt to look shy, Sephiroth avoided eye-contact at all costs.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

Bastard.

Sephiroth balled his fists in his lap to keep from punching the man full in the face. Those were the words that sleaze-ball back in Junon had used to take Aerith from him. Did these guys have no creativity?

Still avoiding eye-contact in an attempt to look demure and submissive, though his real intention was not to allow the man a glimpse at the anger Sephiroth could feel building in his face, he nodded.

A glass was delivered and instantly Sephiroth knew the bartender was in on the entire conspiracy as well. Any normal person looking at the glass full of fizzing alcohol would see nothing wrong with it: cherry-colored liquid; sugar around the rim; small bubbles gathering around the edges; a small slice of lemon with a miniature colored paper umbrella ordaining the side. It was a house special, but nothing too special.

To anyone with untrained eyes, that is.

Sephiroth, by all means, was no normal man, and his eyes were sharp and trained to notice all they could in the shortest amount of time. One glance at the oddly shaped drink glass and Sephiroth instantly knew something had been put into it, most likely the same thing that had been put into Aerith's drink back in Junon.

Sephiroth hesitated for a moment.

If he blatantly refused the drink and took the man by the throat, surely a good portion of the bar would see through his farce and jump him in order to subdue him and keep their plot hidden.

If, however, he took the drink it would mean losing consciousness. If some disgusting idiot tried to feel him up while he was out, or something just as gross along those lines, he would be shit out of luck and either killed, or kept (you never know those kinky bastards and what they'd be willing to do for a quick gil).

Sephiroth, not having much choice in the matter (he, after all, was on a mission infiltrate the kidnapping headquarters), took a sip of the sugary alcoholic concoction and immediately began to feel the aftereffect of whatever had been slipped into it by the bartender.

The dosage used, however, seemed to be for a small woman.

Sephiroth was neither small, nor a woman (though his state of dress might argue otherwise). The only thing the drink did was make him slightly woozy.

Thank Shiva. Now all Sephiroth had to do was fall over and pretend to be unconscious. This, however, proved to be more difficult than first anticipated considering the two grapefruits pressed against his chest, pretending to be breasts. He would never look at the fruit the same way after having it down his top, that much was for certain.

Hearing the stranger call for help from the bartender, Sephiroth kept his eyes closed and tried to look asleep.

"What is this woman made of?" Sephiroth recognized the bartender's voice near his head; he was the one grabbing his wrists, meaning that by default the stranger was holding his feet and trying not to drop him.

"I don't care what she's made of, so long as the boss likes it."

Resisting the urge to vomit, Sephiroth struggled to keep still enough to allow the two men to keep thinking he was sleeping. Fearing they would see him were he to try to see, the general kept his eyes closed and was thusly not awarded with the knowledge of where he was being taken. All that really mattered, however, was that his flower girl remained safe.

It was some time before Sephiroth was placed on the floor. The cool wooden surface felt good against his sore back, considering he had been hoisted by his ankles and wrists and transported in a most uncomfortable manner by a pair of lunk-headed gorillas. Soon after his back had met the wood's surface, the general was forced to stay still and silent as he felt one of the men tie his hands together. Suddenly, the two men began to walk away and all grew quiet.

Slowly, Sephiroth cracked an eye open. The room was dark, but moonlight was filtering through tiny cracks in the window coverings. The moon, thankfully, was full, and despite the shades covering the barred window, just enough light seeped though the tiny holes to allow Sephiroth's eyes to quickly adjust.

Several bodies were lying, tied, upon the floor near him. One in particular was shaking. Sephiroth instantly felt a pang in his chest upon seeing the slender figure tremble so. Though he knew her to be awake, she was most likely too frightened to do much of anything aside from stay quiet and quake in fear.

Pushing all else from his mind, Sephiroth cleared his thoughts in an attempt to search for Aerith's life force, just as he had done back on the docks at Junon. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours. The building was huge, that much Sephiroth had gathered when he had closed his eyes and begun his search, but just how immense it truly was had Sephiroth exhausted after searching for such a long time. Dawn had long past and despite the general keeping his eyes closed all the while searching for Aerith, he could feel the warm rays of the sun filter though the shades over the window as well as hear some of the girls in the room stir and begin to wake. Their overwhelming fear upon awaking, however, threw Sephiroth's senses off balance making it harder and harder to search for Aerith within his mind.

Suddenly, a very sharp almost prickle-like feeling erupted at the back of Sephiroth's skull. Aerith was calling out to him, and he was getting it loud and clear. Opening his eyes, he gasped as an even sharper pain clawed at the back of his brain; Aerith scared, and Sephiroth began to know what true fear really was.

One of the girls in the room, however, noticed Sephiroth's supposed waking and realization of where they were. Rolling over, Sephiroth was met face to face with the young woman. Her hair was dark, like charcoal, and it spilled over her face like a curtain of midnight. Her eyes matched her hair in dark color, though her skin was only mildly tan. It was evident to Sephiroth that she had been crying, despite the determined look on her face. Though he had never seen her before in his life, he knew at once exactly who she was; Zahi's sister.

Sephiroth attempt to set a look upon his face that would convey what he otherwise could not; 'everything will be okay.' The girl squinted her eyes, apparently realizing almost instantly that Sephiroth wasn't, in fact, a woman, she merely nodded silently.

The door swung open suddenly, causing everyone in the room to jump in surprise. "Alright, ladies; get up! We don't have all damn day! The boss wants to take his pick of the litter, and who knows what the future holds for the rest of you!" The statement was followed by the disgusting laugh of several other men who filtered into the room after the disturbed man who had opened the door. Several women in the room began wailing in despair, crying in vein out to gods who had appeared to have abandoned them.

The henchmen forced woman after woman to stand, Sephiroth included, and promptly untied their legs and feet so as everyone could walk properly. The ropes and chains around their wrists, however, were tightened to an almost painful level, forcing compliance were anyone to tug on the loose end hanging down. A simple knot it was, however, and Sephiroth knew just the trick to loosen it now that he could see properly. It wasn't, however, the right time, and so he kept his head down and pretended submission. He, after all, still had to locate Aerith. He knew that she was inside the establishment; where, however, was a different story.

The young women, Sephiroth in tow, were marched down a long, ornate hallway and into what seemed to be a gigantic ballroom. Women and henchmen alike littered the far walls, the girls still in chains and the men sneering and acting as a beast would when presented with a chance to play with its dinner.

Sephiroth kept his head down. During the night the men had been drunk enough to mistake him for a woman. Sephiroth was beginning to fear for the worst now that the vast majority of them seemed to be sober (or at the very least slightly less drunk). Masamune was safely locked back in the hotel room with Zahi, though fighting wouldn't do much good in such a cramped environment anyway; one swing of the gigantic blade and half of the heads in the room would have been rolling about on the floor.

The same sleazy voice that had ordered the girls up shouted new directions. "Alright ladies, line up!"

And so Sephiroth knew what it was like to be a piece of meat on sale.

He was humiliated and refused to look up.

That is, until he heard a familiar voice.

"Let me go, you deranged freak! Don't touch me!"

Sephiroth looked up to see Aerith in chains just as he was, struggling against the grip of a rather portly man with a hungry look strewn across his face. The man looked down at Aerith as if she were some kind of dessert, simply waiting to be snatched up and devoured. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, grabbing Aerith's cheeks and forcing her face towards his own.

"Just a little kiss, sweetie?"

Aerith, never one to sit still and play nice as Sephiroth had noticed, spat directly in the face of the disgusting pig; an effort, unfortunately, which was rewarded with a slap on the face carrying enough force to send her to the floor.

It was in that action in which Sephiroth completely lost it.

Tearing at the knot that bound his wrists, Sephiroth ripped apart the rope that bound his wrists together and with one swift motion plucked the disgusting bastard who had dared to hit his flower girl up by his throat. Everyone in the room gasped and stood still as the man pawed at the general's grasp.

Just as stunned as the rest of the occupants of the room were, Aerith simply stared for several moments before common sense hit her square in the face and realization lit up her eyes. "Sephiroth, no! You can't kill him!"

Tearing his searing gaze from the pig-man squealing in his grip, Sephiroth set his blazing eyes on Aerith. For the first time since he had been in her company, he watched her flinch when their eyes met.

Yet, she was right. If he killed the man wiggling manically in his grip, he and Aerith would both die. It was the pact he had agreed to when she had saved him; he was not to kill another human.

Slowly, Sephiroth loosened his grasp and set the man upon his feet, though he didn't completely let go. He nodded to Aerith, and she seemed to get the gist of what he was trying to say and instead conveyed the message for him. "Every girl taken is to be released." Her voice was cold and distant, their eyes still connected.

No one protested, for no one in the room had time to; the doors Sephiroth had only minutes before been marched through were kicked open and in stormed none other than the two drunk Turks he had met at the bar the night before, Reno and Rude.

"Everyone, hands up!" Reno's voice was harsh and scratchy, most likely due to a hangover he was obviously suffering from; his eyes were slightly bloodshot and dark circles underneath only emphasized it. Sephiroth's attention immediately snapped to the two Turks in the doorway. His eyes instantly met Reno's and for a mere second Sephiroth watched as the wheels slowly turned inside the red-haired man's head.

"You!" Reno's shout echoed through the ballroom.

Another realization dawned upon the Turk as he looked at just what the silver-haired man was wearing. Sephiroth watched as memories from the night before forced themselves to the front of Reno's brain.

"Oh, Shiva! YOU!"

It was apparent that Reno had just realized who exactly it was he had hit on in Turtle's Paradise the night before. In fact, the horror that was instilled in him upon realization that he had tried to 'get lucky' with the man who had tried to destroy all life on the planet only to rebuild it in his own image was apparent on the redhead's face.

Rude took a few steps back and shouted over his shoulder down the hallway. "Cloud! Get down here, now!"

That was enough for Sephiroth. Throwing the portly man to the side, Sephiroth hoisted Aerith over his shoulder, kicked his high-heeled shoes off, and took off at a dead run toward the nearest window all in a span of several nanoseconds.

Reno's voice wasn't discernible from the massive amount of screaming that erupted from the dozens of women in the ballroom Sephiroth had just leapt from, but the general knew that the Turk was telling Cloud exactly what had happened and who he saw.

Several bridges and sets of stairs and Sephiroth found himself an unlocked door. Without giving a second thought to it, he tossed Aerith over the side of a couch, inwardly cringing when he heard her bottom hit the hardwood floor with a loud smack. He had, however, more important things to worry about than the rear-end of his companion and thusly proceeded to punch the glass out of the back window of the house. Then, without missing a beat, Sephiroth turned and ran to the couch he had deposited Aerith behind.

He, however, hadn't anticipated her to stand so quickly and smacked into her. She grabbed at his front as to stop herself from falling, but Sephiroth was already off balance and the only thing the two of them managed was to land in an extremely awkward position on the floor, the general supporting his weight over the flower girl with his elbows while she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

They, however, didn't have time to blush or act embarrassed as it was none other than Cloud who stumbled into the room only moments after the two had fallen upon the floor in the cramped space behind the couch. A strand of curses could be heard slipping past the blonde's lips that would more likely than not make a grown man cringe. Sephiroth could feel Aertih do just that beneath him.

Aerith's eyes widened under Sephiroth's gaze. He watched her slowly turn her head and peek under the couch. Slowly and without a sound, Sephiroth pressed his cheek against the flower girl's and watched with eager anticipation the boots that belonged to Cloud race eagerly and anxiously to the window the general had punched out earlier.

Several sets of shoes quickly filed into the room moment after Cloud, causing the floor to vibrate beneath the two hidden well behind the couch. Sephiroth watched as Cloud's feet crunched over the glass that littered the floor on the opposite side of the room. It seemed that the general had succeed in making Cloud think he had escaped out of the back window.

Sephiroth could hear his heart beat pounding in his ears when Cloud began to speak to those in the room. "Reno, Rude; tell me exactly what happened. Now."

The two behind the couch watched the redhead's feet shift uncomfortably. "It was definitely Sephiroth."

"Reno. What. Happened. Tell me everything, from the beginning."

Rude took several steps toward the blond swordsman. "Reno and I were out drinking last night. He got a little tipsy and while we were over at Turtle's Paradise he hit on some amazon chick sitting at the bar. Nothing happened, some guy bought her a drink and we left for Samsoa's Bar. Something about free drinks."

Reno took over. "Hangover all night. Morning comes, we get our mission to infiltrate this place; we've been getting inside reports about a slavery ring here in Wutai for months now. Hell, what I am telling you for? The boss was the one who filled you in on everything and asked you to help us stop this trashy place. Anyway, when we all split up back there a the entrance, Rude and I went into the ballroom and right as we bust open the doors I see Sephiroth holding the ringleader by the throat and that Ancient chick at his feet begging him to stop."

"You are SURE it was Sephrioth and Aerith?" It was that woman, Tifa, who spoke.

Both Reno and Rude were silent for a moment. It was Rude who broke the quiet. "You don't forget looking into Mako eyes like those."

The room fell into silence.

This time, it was Cloud who broke the silence. "Reno, Rude; I'm not really comfortable saying this, but I think we need your help on this one."

Reno spoke up, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "Look, I' not sure I follow on all of this, but first thing is first; we gotta help those girls back in that place. IF that really WAS Sephiroth, then Rude and I'll need to inform the boss man."

The annoyance and anger in Cloud's voice was evident. "Reno, we don't have time for that; if it's Sephiroth, then you can bet your paycheck that he's using Aerith for something."

Rude's voice hit a low tone, making a sure statement to those in the room that he, too, was annoyed. "Cloud, I am not sure I understand what is going on here, especially the part with Sephiroth and Aerith being alive, but I'm not the kind of man to leave a bunch of helpless women in a factory filled with disgusting bastards. I don't know about you, but I've got a job to do."

Sephiroth listened intently as a single set of feet made their way out of the small house.

Reno was soon to follow suit after his partner. "Sorry man; not only do I have orders from the top to save those girls, I'm not the kind of guy to just sit and watch awful crap like that happen. Those girls come first."

A second pair of footsteps faded.

Silence, once more, took hold of the room with a cold grip. "Cloud..."

Sephiroth was sure the blond was at wits end as to what course of action to take next. He knew for certain that Cloud's kind demeanor wouldn't allow him to allow the girls who had been held captive merely sit there and be force to endure more suffering and sorrow, but Sephiroth also knew that the blonde swordsman wasn't the type to easily give up.

"Alright, Tifa; let's head back and help. But as soon as we finish, we start looking for Aerith again."

"Cloud?"

"Yea, Teef?"

"What is going to happen when we find Sephiroth and Aerith? What will you do?"

Another long silence invaded the room. "I'll kill him again."

"Cloud, what if Aerith is with him by choice?"

Sephiroth didn't have to see Cloud's face to know the look he was giving his brunette companion. "Don't say things like that, Tifa. You know as well as I do that Aerith isn't THAT forgiving."

Cloud's footsteps faded.

Tifa, however, remained in the room for a moment longer and let out a tremendous sigh. "Cloud, if you knew Aerith as well as you say, my notion wouldn't seem so strange. I wish you could see what was there and not just what you wanted to see."

Tifa's footsteps soon faded as well.

Sephiroth felt Aerith let out a large sigh from underneath him. He could feel her heavy heart beat against her chest that was so snugly pressed against his own. It was only at that moment in which Sephiroth realized how close they two of them truly were. Slowly, he pulled his face away from her own, his cheek now feeling cold due to the lack of her warm skin pressed against it. He could feel Aerith's slight tremble; adrenaline was still pumping through her veins. "That was close." Sephiroth could barely hear her voice over the thump of the her tiny racing heart. He felt her grasp tighten around his neck, and he looked down and made sincere eye contact with her for the first time since they had fought.

Her eyes trembled under his gaze, the tears filling the corners of her eyes threatening to spill over and leak her sorrow onto the wood floor she lay upon. "I'm so sorry I was cross with you."

Sephiroth watched the flower girl bite her lip in an attempt to keep the tears from spilling. His chest tightened and breathing suddenly became hard.

"I was so scared."

Her voice was hardly that of a whisper, but no sooner had her simple sentence spilled over her pink lips did her tears begin to flow freely down the side of her face.

Not knowing what else to do, Sephiroth merely allowed Aerith to cry freely and silently, holding onto him as though he was the last safe place the world had to offer. When his shoulder began to cramp slightly, he lowered his head into the crook of Aerith's neck. She, however, didn't seem to either notice or mind, for she simply continued to hold him and cry into his hair.

How long she held him and cried against him, Sephiroth didn't know. The warm beating of her heart had slowed, and eventually she had managed to stop crying long enough for the general to ease himself up on his elbows again and look upon her, curious to see if her tears would ever stop flowing.

Her emerald irises sparkled with relief. The tightening in Sephiroth's chest subsided.

"I'm sorry." She whispered her apologies again.

Sephiroth shook his head as he looked down at Aerith. He tried to allow his eyes to convey the message his voice was unable to; he wasn't angry with her, only relieved that she was now safe with him. When his head moved, his silver hair fell around Aerith's face in a curtain of moonlight. Though it shadowed her face, her irises remained as bright as ever.

A different kind of tight gripped Sephiroth's chest as he looked down and into the deep gaze of his flower girl. When had she become so precious to him?

"I was almost beginning to think you wouldn't come for me." It was hard for Sephiroth to think what it would have been like had he not ventured after her for she was, after all, all he had left on the physical world. She was the only kindness he had ever known.

His heart sped when he felt her soft palm against the side of his face. "I was so scared, I didn't know what to think."

Her gentle eyes, her soft skin, the way her fragrant hair pooled beneath her; Sephiroth wasn't sure what happened, but as he gazed down into Aerith's eyes he felt something stir within him.

Slowly, he gently lowered his head and leaned into Aerith's warm touch. Slightly surprised by the action and how close her guardian was to her, Aerith smiled somewhat nervously; Sephiroth wasn't one for physical contact.

Hovering above her for a moment, their faces mere inches apart, Sephiroth pondered what exactly she was doing to him. Aerith was all that was good to him; the scent of the woods after the rain, the warm sun on his face, the gentle flow of the ocean current, the sway of the trees in the wind. She was, to him, the epitome of perfection; innocent, beautiful, forgiving, kind, generous, selfless- she was, in short, everything he could not understand.

He moved his face closer, his lips hovering just above her own. Her smile had faded and she gaze up at him through emerald eyes filled with curiosity and wonder, silently questioning what it was he was doing. His eyes, however, didn't offer her an answer in return for even Sephiroth himself didn't know what it was he was doing- it was simply something he was compelled to do.

But he wouldn't frighten her; he left his lips hovering above hers, allowing her time to think, time to react- he would not chase her away. If she so desired, she could shake her head and he would move- all she had to do was allow uncertainty take over her gaze.

She didn't. Though he could feel her heartbeat quicken beneath him, he never once saw her gaze falter in the slightest. Slowly, she closed her eyes and raised her lips up to meet his own.

Sephiroth felt his heart explode within his chest. Never before in his life had he felt so anxious and yet so complete with the world around him. Aerith was soft beneath him, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck once more, her breathing slow and steady. Slowly, he pulled away from her lips only slightly, testing her; what would her reaction be?

He was greatly pleased, however, when her arms tightened around him and she brought him down for another kiss.

Sephiroth had had his choice of women in his life; he had been, once upon a time, a great war hero with money at his disposal. None of the women he had ever been with, however, had kissed him the way Aerith kissed him. His heart sped up and slowed down at the same time, and his head felt as though it would surely spin right off of his shoulders. All other women in the world paled in comparison to the sun-kissed flower maiden beneath him.

Pulling away from her lips, Sephiroth continued bestowing gentle kisses upon Aerith. He kissed her cheeks and her nose, her eyelids and her forehead, her ears and her jaw.

She drove him mad.

When he reached her neck, he gently kissed and nuzzled her sensitive flesh. She moved underneath him in a way that seemed to kindle a fire in him that had long since burned out. Ever so slightly, she arched her back against him as he nibbled the tender flesh of her neck.

"Sephiroth."

Had he not been trained in Soldier for so many years, Sephiroth wouldn't have heard the almost silent whisper that had escaped the rosy lips of his flower girl.

But something came over him when she had whispered his name; he froze as an icy chill overcame his body. His eyes burst open and for a mere fraction of a second as visions of a time long past blurred past his vision. Images of the flower maiden's death flashed past his eyes; his own evil laugh coupled with Aerith's silent scream echoed though his mind. In his mind he could see the look of determination set upon Aerith's face, an odd sparkle of fear and sadness in her eyes.

Sephiroth was terrified.

He jump off Aerith as if she had burned him. Her eyes shot open and she looked up at him as if he had slapped her cross the face. Sephiroth felt as though his face had caught fire and immediately knew he was blushing. His heart was racing, his mind unsure of what he had just seen. He raised a hand to his forehead and knew instantly that he had somehow accumulated a fever.

"Sephiroth?" Aerith's voice was gentle with him, understanding, despite the way he was acting.

The general shook his head, his hands trembling.

"We should get out of here." Aerith's voice still remained gentle, but the situation of Cloud still remained. Slowly, Sephiroth broke eye contact. He nodded his head and took the hand Aerith had stretched out for him.

He helped her up and the two quietly and cautiously walked into the setting sun and Wutai's street life.