Never Again
Chapter 4
Questions of Change
Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews everyone! I'm sorry that it took me so long to write this one out. I've been super busy with school and work. Plus my sister just had a baby boy . Ahem…but without further adieu…here is Chapter 4. Please let me know what you guys think!
Disclaimer: HEAR ME!! I do not…and I repeat, do NOT own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters portrayed in this story that belong to the game. Square owns them…not I. I is poor college kid. I has no monies. Really…I don't have anything…and if you send a lawyer after me? I will smack him/her with my "I have no monies" bat! RIGHT IN THE FACE!! Don't sue me! You will get NOTHING!
Aeris sat in the bed for several minutes after Sephiroth had already left for his shower. The sun wasn't very high in the sky yet so she knew that it was still morning hours. The birds were still singing, the morning was nice, and crisp…and yet, what had just happened shortly before her murderer had left for that shower had somewhat disturbed her.
And by "somewhat" I mean "greatly".
There are many things that Sephiroth is, Aeris knew this much. But a man of emotion and feeling? A man who embraces a maiden when she's upset and crying? Before this strange morning, she had been pretty certain that Sephiroth was not any of these things. But now? She just wasn't so sure anymore. And for some reason from deep inside her heart, that particular lack of information disturbed her. He shouldn't be progressing that fast…at least not like that.
One of the main questions that kept popping in to her head was simply: why? Why was she living and breathing? Why was she sleeping in this beautiful house? Why had she been sleeping next to Sephiroth? And…why did she find such a monster of a man to be so attractive and likable?
Aeris had noticed many things that had been off with Sephiroth. First and mostly all of it was simply the fact that he had been acting…well…human.
Truth be told…Sephiroth being so human really freaked her out. The way he held her as he embraced her was so gentle that if she didn't know any better, she would have thought that he had been holding her like a lover.
At that thought, Aeris felt her cheeks become very warm.
…I wonder how he feels about me?
Suddenly, her thoughts drifted towards a certain spiky blonde haired individual. She knew that Cloud held so much love in his heart for her once upon a time. She briefly wondered if she would find Cloud again one day before her mind kindly reminded her that she didn't even know where she was.
Sighing, Aeris stood up from the warm comfort of the bed and found herself standing in front of the window. Her mouth fell open and her bright green eyes widened in surprise. A part of her really wanted to scream.
Just outside the window was a very nice view of what seemed to look like the small town of Kalm. But something wasn't right. Some things looked different. It still looked like Kalm but it looked as if it had expanded. There were more buildings, more people and everyone looked perfectly happy and content. Aeris remembered the last time that she had been to Kalm. Everyone seemed to be on edge and/or rather unhappy. These people looked happy and content.
So…
Aeris' thin, delicate brown eyebrows bent together in her confused frustration.
…This looks like Kalm. But everything looks so different.
She began to nervously flick her nails.
If we're back on Gaia…how long were we gone?
She paused in her flicking.
Oh, what am I thinking? I don't even know where we are yet.
Rolling her eyes at herself, she turned her head in the direction of the bedroom door as she heard the shower water turning off.
I suppose Sephiroth's done.
She allowed a small smile to make its way across her lips. Pleased that she'd be able to shower soon, Aeris turned her angelic face to the window again. A very cute and very plump robin that sat right outside of the windowsill caught her attention.
The sound of a door opening and closing reached Aeris' ears. She ignored it. Sephiroth entered the room in nothing but a long white bath towel wrapped around his hips. Long, damp silver hair cascaded down his back and chest. His rather long bangs stuck to his face, framing his somewhat feminine facial features. A frustrated and angered expression covered his face.
Inside he was stunned at her beauty. She looked like an angel, standing in front of the open window like that. Hands folded behind her back. Wavy chestnut hair that reached below her butt, falling loosely around her whole body. Feminine curves were hidden underneath a thin, pale, pink nightgown. There were no sleeves. The ex-soldier hero gulped and made sure that his facial expression was still intact before folding his arms and clearing his throat…rather loudly.
Aeris turned around, smiling at the half-naked man…of course she smiled up until she realized what it was that he was wearing…or lack there of, "AHHH!!"
Aeris ducked behind the bed, "What are you DOING!? Get some clothes on!"
Her voice was a tad high pitched and frantic. Sephiroth rolled his eyes, "I would if I had any, foolish Cetra lamb," his voice was icy and annoyed.
Aeris was completely behind the bed at this point, "Dresser…over there," she lifted her hand and pointed in the direction of the dresser that was against the far wall, opposite of the foot of the bed.
Sephiroth first glared in Aeris' direction before going to the dresser and removing a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved black t-shirt. He also grabbed a pair of black boxer shorts and a pair of black socks. He humph-ed. Whoever packed this dresser knew him a tad too well for his tastes.
The bedroom door opened then closed again. Aeris looked over the bed to find Sephiroth gone. Blinking, being very confused, Aeris walked over to the dresser and took note on all of the black clothing. She opened the second to bottom drawer and found some pink, red, green and light and dark blue apparel in it. She smiled, "Out of four drawers, I was hoping to find something nice to wear!"
Aeris picked out a nice soft pink summer dress that would go down passed her knees. A pair of frilly white ankle socks caught her attention. So she picked those up as well. She also found some very cute light pink and white lacey undergarments.
After getting her clothing into a neat pile, she headed out of the bedroom and started toward the bathroom. The door was closed so she knocked, "Sephiroth? Are you in there?"
She was promptly answered when Sephiroth swung open the door unexpectedly, almost getting Aeris in the face with the door. Though, she was far too stunned by the visual before her to really notice her close call with the door. Sephiroth was wearing the clothing that he picked out from the dresser. They fit him perfectly and they accented his muscles very nicely. His silver hair was pulled back into a mid-high pony tail while the front of his hair hung loosely around his face.
Aeris gulped, "A-are you done in there?"
Sephiroth sent Aeris an icy glare before walking right by her and went down the hall. She heard footsteps going down some stairs. It finally dawned on her that they were in a two-story house.
While Aeris went into the bathroom to shower and change, Sephiroth decided to do some exploration. Firstly, he all but ripped the house apart in his mad search for his precious sword, Masamune…which he failed to find. Feeling defeated, he found himself leaving the house to interrogate people about where he was.
Aeris turned the steaming hot water off from her shower. She took her long brown tresses into her small and gentle hands and began to wring it out.
…I wonder why he's acting so cold all of a sudden? How strange…
She took the black fuzzy towel from the towel rack. Aeris found it slightly amusing that there were only two towels in the bathroom, one white and one black. Yet Sephiroth chose to use the white one earlier. A small smile graced her lips for a moment up until she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She looked perfectly healthy. She looked almost flawless except for the small scar that she found on both the middle of her chest and in the middle of her back. The scar was angry looking. It was in a perfectly straight line going perfectly vertical with her spine. A slight frown appeared on her lips as she used her fingers to graze over the scar, "…he'll change…I'll prove them wrong. For sure…he'll change for the better."
AN: There we go! I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you all think! Thanks!