Chapter 14: The Big Fight

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"Aha! The commercial has ended! Now we fight!" Cloud cried swishing his blade.

Sephiroth looked down at Aeris worriedly, but he knew he had to finish off Cloud first. "Alright pretty boy! Let's go!" Sephiroth cried, then he and Cloud began to circle each other.

"Stop! Somebody make them stop!" Aeris yelled poking at her ears desperately.

"Tifa, why did you have to go and make Aeris deaf?" Rinoa cried.

"It was an accident!" Tifa snapped but still held the megaphone protectively in her arms.

Suddenly Cloud made a move towards Sephiroth who backed away, so Cloud got a Missed. "Damn you!" Cloud cried shaking his fist.

"What's happening?" Aeris yelled and Rinoa got a good idea.

"Here! I still have the deck of cards I used to train Squall with," She said.

"What?!" Aeris cried. Rinoa took out a colorful box with the word 'Squall' written on it in kindergarden crayon handwriting, and pulled a card from it. She showed it to Aeris. Aeris looked at the card, which had a picture of a lightning bolt, and the word under reading 'Shocked!'. Aeris turned back to the fight and put a shocked look on her face.

"Why is Aeris shocked? She should be happy I dodged that move!" Sephiroth cried out suddenly.

"Ooh! My bad," Rinoa apologized and held up a 'Happy!' card to Aeris. For some reason there were bite marks on it, but Aeris looked happy and jumped up and down.

Sephiroth struck at Cloud's leg, and Cloud cried out in pain. "Muahahaha!" Sephiroth laughed. Aeris continued looking happy, but then Cloud used a potion on himself and could stand up again. Rinoa held up a card that had a picture of an angry pepper, with the word under it 'Angry!'. Aeris put on a completely furious face.

They continued back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Sephiroth would hit Cloud, or Cloud would hit Sephiroth, but then they'd just heal themselves again.

"Boo! Final Fantasy VII fighting is boring!" Tidus cried out. Both Sephiroth and Cloud glared down at Tidus, then back at each other.

Suddenly Kenshin ran through the crowd yelling, "Violence isn't the answer!"

Vincent took his gun out to shoot him (who could say such a thing!?) But Yuna put his arm down. "Vincent! You can't shoot Kenshin! He's the best anime character ever!" Yuna protested.

"Fine," Vincent grumbled.

--

Meanwhile.

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Sephiroth didn't make a move when it was his turn. He thought on what he should do. He wasn't going to hurt Cloud, no, that was stupid for Cloud would heal himself again. He thought of Cloud's weaknesses...and aha! Sephiroth would go for his hair. Just one swish of his sword and as a blonde spike of Cloud's falls lightly on the roof, Cloud will give up all hope! He ran to Cloud, dodged his block attack, and went up behind him to slice his hair.

But as his sword came down Cloud ducked and rolled out of the way. "Going for my hair eh?! That was so obvious a monkey could've seen it! I'll only repeat this once, so listen carefully! No one goes for Cloud Strife's hair!" Cloud cried.

Sephiroth muttered under his breath and didn't reply. He looked around then down at Aeris, her eyes locked on him. He didn't want to fight Cloud anymore, it was too pointless. Either Final Fantasy VII got a new battle system or he'd just flee.

To everyone's surprise, Sephiroth merely went up to Cloud, and swished his blade back and forth really fast. Cloud gasped and looked down as his pants fell to his feet, revealing his underwear.

Sephiroth then leaped down from the roof and took Aeris by her hand.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Cloud cried angrily and took a step forward, but fell on his face when he tripped over his pants.

"I'm running away with Aeris to find a treatment for her ears! After that, were going to buy you a new pair of underwear! Then after that, I'm going to take over the world!" Sephiroth cried evilly.

Aeris didn't hear what he said, so she merely cried out, "What he said!"

Everyone gasped. Would Aeris really succumb to a life of crime and evil?

Sephiroth looked at Aeris in surprise, but a smile stole over his lips shortly after that. Aeris guessed it was a good thing she said that, if it made Sephiroth happy. They ran off hand in hand until they disappeared in the parking lot, to run away even more after that, and maybe come back later to take over the world!

"Are they really going to take over the world?" Rinoa asked timidly twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

"Are they really going to just go off like that?" Yuna wondered turning to Vincent.

"Don't look at me, who knows what's going on in Sephiroth's mind," Vincent replied.

"You do," Yuna pointed out and Vincent sweat dropped.

"Well, I mean, yeah...but not now I don't," Vincent replied.

Tifa was sad she didn't have to use her megaphone anymore, so she gave it to Zell as an early birthday present. "Yay!" Zell cried and hugged Tifa's legs.

"Zell, let go of me!" Tifa snapped so he cowered away with Lucy and his newly attained friend, Jeff, the megaphone.

Tifa went up to Cloud who had just climbed down from the roof, still in his underwear. "Cloud, Cloud! Look, I still have your hair gel...," Tifa said softly and handed it to him.

"Oh, gee, thanks! Like that'll help me at the moment," Cloud grumbled snatching the gel angrily and stomping away. Tifa frowned wondered if she did something wrong.

"Alright, well, I guess the party's over," Tidus announced and started to walk off when Rinoa took his hand.

"Hey you, wait up," She giggled.

"Uh, Rinoa...Hey," Tidus replied, shifting his eyes and making sure Yuna wasn't looking at him.

"What a fight between Cloud and Sephiroth, huh? I wonder where Sephy went with Aeris!" Rinoa wondered smiling while still holding Tidus's hand.

"Um, Rinoa, hey look," Tidus said letting go of her hand and looking at her nervously.

"What?" She asked worried.

"I kinda have to go check up on Cloud, so can we do this later...? Yeah, thanks, you're a doll," Tidus said hastily and ran away.

Rinoa pouted. "What's gotten into him?" Rinoa wondered out loud.

"Who?" Yuna asked coming up right beside her and making Rinoa jump five feet.

"Whoa, Yunie, don't sneak up on me like that! Anyway, I was just wondering about Tidus...He's acting like he doesn't want to be seen with me," Rinoa explained.

"What do you mean 'seen' with you? Are you guys dating?" Yuna suddenly demanded in a bitchy tone.

"N-N-No...No that's not it," Rinoa laughed nervously drumming her fingers together.

"Oh ok, good!" Yuna cried, cheerful all of a sudden with a strange, sweet smile. "Because, you do know that if you go as far as merely having feelings for him, you'll be breaking Girl Code and you know I'll never forgive you..."

Rinoa laughed a little too enthusiastically. "Yuna! Don't go acting stupid, you know I'm...I'm not like that, I'd never break Girl Code!" Rinoa cried nervously. Yuna smiled at her once more, and went on her way. "Oy Vey," Rinoa sighed and decided to go the hotel's spa or something, to relieve some stress.

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After Aeris got her hearing medicine and could hear again, she walked hand in hand out of the Hearing Specialty place with Sephiroth. "So you can hear just fine now, sweet pea?" Sephiroth asked.

"Oh yes, and finally too!" Aeris replied. They went to a bench and sat down, quietly gazing around their surroundings.

"So...um, there's something I need to tell you real quick...," Sephiroth said after awhile, turning to Aeris.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Aeris asked happily.

"Well, see, around the time that you were deaf...I kinda mentioned something...and you uh, 'agreed'...so I was wondering if that plan was still on...?" Sephiroth asked.

Aeris looked at him puzzled. "What was it that you mentioned?" Aeris asked.

Sephiroth shrugged one shoulder casually. "Oh, just a little something...Like taking over the world with me!" Hesuddenly cried out.

Aeris gasped. "I...I-," Aeris started.

"You said you would!" Sephiroth interrupted.

"I was deaf Sephiroth, I didn't know what you were saying! I-I can't take over the world...," Aeris replied.

"Oh, sure you can! It's easy and it'll be fun, c'mon, what do you say?" Sephiroth proposed energetically.

Aeris bit on a nail in thought, and wasn't sure at all. She thought Sephiroth had changed. Aeris then got up, her mind made up. "No!" She shouted.

"What?" Sephiroth yelped meekly.

"No! I'm sick of everyone treating me like a door mat, and I'm going to do what I wanna do! I'm not going to take over the world, Sephiroth, I just won't!" Aeris cried and ran off.

"Aeris!" Sephiroth cried in return, frustrated. He grumbled to himself and stabbed the dirt angrily with his blade.

Aeris meanwhile was running off while crying (Drama queen, much?). "I can't believe him. Expecting me to be just like him! What was all that therapy for anyway, then? Oh, oh, oh...," Aeris sniffled and cried sadly. She walked to a tree and slumped against it, and watched as snow lightly fell all around her (please...don't ask me why it's snowing during Spring Break...just go with it!). She heard the twitter of birds, and heard Sephiroth's footsteps a moment later.

"Aeris? Oh, Aeris, c'mon...," He called out.

Aeris forced herself to stay rooted to the spot, hidden from him behind the tree. Sephiroth walked over to a group of birds hopping around the snow, and he got some sun flower seeds from his pocket (why Sephiroth has sunflower seeds in his pocket, don't ask me that either). He bent down and offered his hand. The birds twittered happily, but when they looked up at him they squeaked in fear and ran away. Sephiroth frowned and crawled closer to them on his knees, determined to have those damn birds eat from his hand.

Aeris was puzzling over the silence, so she turned around briefly to see what he was doing. She clutched at her poor heart at the sight and turned back around. Sephiroth was offering food to birds without using violence! He was being generous and nice. Now Aeris got suddenly reminded why she loved him so much. She stood up and continued to watch Sephiroth (pathetically) try to feed the birdies.

"There's something sweet... and almost kind, but he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined! And now he's dear, and so I'm sure, I wonder why I didn't see it there before!" Aeris sang softly.

Sephiroth caught Aeris looking at him from the corner of his eye, and focused on feeding a bird. "She glanced this way... I thought I saw. No it can't be, I'll just ignore, but then she's never looked at me that way before...," Sephiroth muttered.

Aeris saw him flicker his eyes over her so she quickly turned around. "New and a bit alarming... Who'd have ever thought that this could be? True, that he is no Prince Charming... But there's something in him that I simply didn't see," Aeris continued and finally decided to go back.

"Well, who'd have thought?" Said an owl.

"Well bless my soul!" Replied the beaver next to it.

"Well, who'd have known?" A horse asked.

"Well who indeed!" Agreed a squirrel.

"And who'd have guessed that they'd come together on their own?" Replied a rabbit.

"It's so peculiar...let's wait and see," The owl said nodding.

"We'll wait and see, a few moments more," The horse replied, "There may be something there that wasn't there before!"

Aeris ignored the suddenly able to sing animals and walked over to Sephiroth, bending down next to him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, Aeris! Where'd you come from?" Sephiroth asked shifting his eyes.

"Silly," Aeris replied laughing and extended Sephiroth's hand in hers with the seeds in them.

A small blue bird walked forward to them, away from the others, who knew better and flew away. "It's coming!" Sephiroth cried excitedly. Well, it was, then Sephiroth cried out so the bird squeaked and started to trot off.

"Oh it's ok Sephy, next time we'll-," Aeris started humbly, making to turn around, but it was too late.

Sephiroth shook with anger and his hair flared up. "Eat the seeds you stupid bird!" He cried out and without thinking took his blade out and slashed it through the air. There was a flutter of feathers and a bird scream, and Aeris gasped.

"Sephiroth!" She cried.

Suddenly Sephy came back to normal and looked around. "Oh, um...oops?" Sephiroth shrugged. Aeris kneeled down by the injured birdie and took it in her hands.

"It's still alive!" She announced happily.

"Good...Now lets-," Sephiroth started but Aeris was walking away with it. "Hey! Where are you going?!" Sephiroth cried.

"I'm going to heal it, you stay there!" Aeris ordered and quickly patched up the little bird. Sephiroth scratched the back of his neck and looked around impatiently until Aeris finally came back and set the little bird on the snow, one wing bandaged, an eye patch over one eye, and his good wing holding a small wooden crutch. Aeris ran over to Sephiroth and bent down again.

"C'mon birdie, you can do it! C'mon, try to walk, come towards me!" Aeris called out sweetly, smiling. Sephiroth helped and they tried to coax the bird towards them. The birdie twittered and shifted on his crutch. He tried walking and slowly maneuvered its way toward them. "There you go! C'mon, a little farther!" Aeris cried happily.

The birdie was about to take another step when vwam! Boom! A truck came out of nowhere and ran it over. Aeris and Sephiroth's smiles dropped, and they watched the truck zoom by.

"Oh, birdie!" Aeris cried and hid her face on Sephiroth's shoulder.

"Wait!" Sephiroth called out, and sure enough there was a faint little "tweet".

Aeris and Sephiroth ran to the road and saw a twitching blue birdie covered by a tire track and its crutch broken in two beside him. "Sephy we have to help it!" Aeris wailed and picked it up.

"Oi...alright let's go," Sephiroth said and they took Birdie to the hospital.

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Sephiroth paced feverishly down the aisle and back while Aeris nervously bit her nails while sitting down. Finally, a nurse came and went up to Sephiroth.

"Are you relatives of Birdie's?" She asked in a bored voice.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, is he ok?!" Sephiroth asked shaking the nurse by the shoulders.

"Please! He's all we've got!" Aeris bawled.

"Follow me," The nurse said bored again and led them to a room.

"Birdie!" Aeris called running inside to the little blue bird, barely visible under all those heavy blankets, and hooked up to all sorts of different machinery. The bird gave out a faint tweet from his heavily bandaged head and Aeris stroked its arm gently. "Oh Sephiroth, come look at him!" Aeris called.

"Coming," Sephiroth replied and quickly turned around, causing, unfortunately may I add, for his sword to swoop with him and easily cut all the chords hooked up to the machines and Birdie.

"Birdie!" Aeris cried as the bird gave out a loud gasp of air then fainted.

"Oops," Sephiroth muttered as Aeris frantically tried to bring it back to life.

"Live!" She cried, pushing on his little chest.

"Clear!" Sephiroth cried and tried to shock Birdie back to life but it didn't work. The heart monitor was beeping slower and slower.

"Birdie! Noooo!" Aeris wailed.

"Aeris, get a hold of yourself, we could always have more," Sephiroth grumbled.

"But he was special!" Aeris sniffed. Suddenly the monitor came at a normal beeping and Birdie woke up. "Birdie! Oh thank goodness!" Aeris cried and hugged it.

"What's going on in here?!" The nurse suddenly asked, coming by.

"Our birdie lives!" Aeris declared.

The nurse went up to the bird who looked as if it was trying to say something. "Res...training...order...," Birdie gasped out and pointed weakly at Sephiroth and Aeris who grinned nervously.

"Get out of this hospital! You are never to see Birdie again!" The nurse ordered. Aeris and Sephiroth hung their heads and left.

Later, Sephiroth and Aeris sat at a bench holding hands, going through miserably all the moments they had together with Birdie. "I'm going to miss him. So, so, so much," Aeris sniffed.

"Hey, cheer up," Sephiroth said and Aeris looked up at him.

"How?" She asked.

Sephiroth smiled at her slyly. "Let's have another," He suggested, his eyebrows going up and down. (Oh God...)

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Music Credit: I don't know the title, but anyway, it's from Beauty and the Beast. I bet you were all struggling to remember where you've heard that before!

Note: Tune in next time, because guess what! One of my favorite chapters. Hell yeah!