Sorry for the long wait everyone. I lost my wanting to write for a while and the classes I'm taking right now in school aren't helping with my schedule.
A couple of weeks went by and again no sign of the Silver General had been shown after he returned to the tower. Zack assumed that everything had returned back to normal, so he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show his friends his girlfriend, Aerith.
"C'mon Aerith." He whined like the puppy he was as he dragged the flower girl to Shinra Tower. "Angeal is definitely going to like you. Though," He realized, tapping his chin with one finger, "Genesis will probably tease me for it and I don't think Sephiroth really cares."
"Zack," The brunette started as she yanked away from his momentarily-loosened grip, "Before we go in here, I have to tell you something."
The black-haired SOLDIER's eyes softened and he pulled her closer slightly. "Of course Aerith. You should know you can tell me anything."
She fidgeted with her hair as her eyes lowered to the ground. "Well… this place has some really bad memories for me. You see, when I was really little, Shinra came to my house at Icicle Inn. They…" Her eyes watered as she thought of the painful memories. "shot my father and took me and my mother back here. They treated us horribly. They would run experiments on us almost daily, but I do remember them easing up a bit on us later. The scientist that was around us most often said it was at the request of a child that was very important to the company."
"Wow…" Zack mumbled, ruffling his hair with a hand. "I never thought they would do something like that… How on Gaia did you get out of there?"
"The same scientist who told us why they decreased the amount of experimentation they performed on us just 'accidentally' left the door to our room unlocked one day. We managed to sneak most of the way through the tower, but…" Her eyes saddened. "some troopers found us and we just ran for our lives. I thought we got out of there okay, but my mother collapsed after we lost the soldiers at the train station. With her last breaths, she gave me this materia that I put in the ribbon you gave me." She said as she pointed at it. "After she died, this nice lady called Elmyra found me and raised me from there."
"Well," Zack started lamely as he awkwardly rubbed at the back of his head. "I can understand why you wouldn't want to come back here. But," He said with a mischievous grin on his face. "Shinra's really easy to fool and hide things from. Heck, I've been hiding tons of things from Seph and Geal, like that stash of fireworks I have saved for the tower for a special occasion. Oh…" He groaned as he hid his face in his hands. "please do not tell them that. They'll make me work my tail off if they find out about that."
Aerith smiled and hugged him. "Alright, if you can sneak me in, then I won't tell them about your secret stash."
"Wait a sec, how are you going to tell them if you can't go in the tower?" He asked in a perplexed voice.
"I've been in contact with this Turk who keeps wanting me to come back to the tower. Other than that, he's really nice and I think he'll appreciate the news that a SOLDIER is hiding things from his superiors." She poked his nose playfully as she said the last part.
He pouted like a little kid in return. "You know, you can be cruel at times." He said as he grabbed her by the hand and led her into the tower.
They managed to make it through the tower without being seen, mostly due to the secret passages that Zack dedicated himself to find after Sephiroth's sleeping episode. Zack eventually found Sephiroth and Angeal relaxing after a mission in the First-class SOLDIER lounge, thankfully without Genesis.
"Hey guys!" Zack said excitedly to them while standing in front of Aerith, covering her from their sight. "I have someone I want to show you!"
Sephiroth let out a grunt of annoyance while cradling a mug of coffee in his hands. "Not in the mood to see your newest cadet toy right now." He mumbled tiredly, stress of the multiple missions he had been on in a short amount of time making his mood even more sour than it normally is.
Angeal let out a soft chuckle at his friend's grumpier than usual mood. "Come on Seph. Let's at least have a look at this person the Puppy seems so fond of."
The silver-haired man let out a soft growl at the nickname that would annoy him even in his best of moods. "Fine." He snapped at him.
Zack grinned at Angeal immediately accepting to see and Sephiroth giving his acceptance in his own way before stepping aside and gently pushing Aerith towards them, his girlfriend giving a little resistance at being moved closer to them. "Sephiroth, Angeal, this is my girlfriend Aerith. She's really nice and she grows flowers in this church in the slums." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Which I kinda broke the roof of."
His mentor chuckled again. "Well, I suppose that's alright if you didn't hurt her in the process and promised to pay for the repairs." He turned to his childhood friend. "So, Sephiroth, what do you think of this girl that the Puppy dragged in?"
Sephiroth did not answer his question as he studied Aerith closely. After a few moments of staring at her with a look of déjà vu in his eyes, he stood up and walked over to her before looking closer at her face. "Hm…" He hummed softly as he thought to himself. "I could have sworn I have seen you somewhere before, but I cannot remember where."
He did not have much time to ponder on the subject, however, as Evalia entered the room and froze in her place. Her lips curled up, showing her teeth as a soft, but menacing growl escaped from her mouth. All the inhabitants of the room other than her and Sephiroth shivered when the temperature dropped by a few degrees as the glare she placed on the brunette girl increased in intensity. "What. Is. She. Doing. Here?" She asked in a barely restrained, vehement voice as she seethed with anger.
Zack gulped audibly and his voice trembled lightly as he saw a connection between Evalia's anger and the drop in temperature. "Ah…this is my girlfriend, Aerith, and-"
"I don't care!" She snapped at him as Aerith retreated behind Zack, hugging him tightly as though he was her lifeline. "Get her out of here before I kill her myself." She said in a softer tone, but with the same anger and menace bubbling in her voice as before. "I have killed before, and have no qualms about doing so again, especially when it comes to her." She then exited the room the way she came, slamming the door behind her, leaving the occupants of the room looking at where she was in shock and disbelief.
"Wow…" Zack said quietly as he tightly hugged Aerith, tears beginning to gather at the edges of her eyes. "She seems so calm normally. I didn't think she would explode like that. Hey Seph," He called to the silver-haired man, forgetting not to use his nickname due to what had just transpired. "Do you know why she did that?"
Said man was staring at the now-closed door where she left with a slightly worried look on his face, though he snapped out of it when he heard that wretched nickname of his being used. "Not quite sure." He shrugged to himself. "She can be a little moody at times, but nothing like that."
Zack shrugged to himself as well before turning around and preparing to lead Aerith back out of the building, an arm wrapped around her gently.
"Oh," Sephiroth said, remembering what he had been discussing with Angeal before Zack came into the lounge. "Before you go, I have a special mission that involves you, Genesis, Angeal, and I." He called after Zack.
He turned his head back to his superior distractedly. "Weird that they would choose all of us to go." He commented to himself. "So, where are we going?"
Sephiroth pulled a folded up sheet of paper he had in his pocket and glanced over it to recall the name of the place they were to be sent to. After he was done, he glanced up at Zack to address him. "Nibelheim."
Dun dun dun! The next chapter will probably be the last, will be longer than the others, and hopefully I'll get it done faster than this one. As a bonus, here's some funny alt text for the end:
Sephiroth: "Nibelheim."
Cloud: *Runs past all of them while screaming about how it's the end of the world*
Sephiroth: "What the hell was that about?"
