Chapter Four: Edge of Mourning

Mist goes up from the river to dim the stars,
The river is black and cold; so let us dance
To flare of horns, and clang of cymbals and drums;
And strew the glimmering floor with roses,
And remember, while the rich music yawns and closes,
With a luxury of pain, how silence comes.

-Conrad Aiken 'Nocturne Of Remembered Spring'

Somber.

There was a edge of purple to the sky and the sun hadn't crested the horizon but it likely would before much longer. Half-spheres of moisture had gathered on the surrounding leaves and grass as well as the hood of the hovercraft. They were dry in the cab where it was still chilly but he wasn't going to move or complain, the extra warmth the girl next to him offered was more than enough to keep his augmented body comfortable.

Waking her seemed unwise, she would pull away and shiver just to avoid the awkwardness of their mutually bizarre position. He had attempted to destroy the world and killed one of her friends in front of her, so the disgust at being so close was understandable.

He wasn't willing to wake her just yet though, the warmth of another humans touch was something he so rarely got to experience. Her hair was a soft sort of material he couldn't equate to anything else, though he was glad she was wearing enough that he couldn't feel her nipples though her shirt. She was obviously endowed in that department, and while there were many inappropriate things he could have considered, he was directly avoiding those trains of thought.

The window though was offering a very serene scene. The forest in the morning as the sun was just starting it's long trek across the sky was beautiful. A fox was sniffing about in a clearing after scaring away a doe and it's child moments before. Peaceful enough that he expected random destruction to rain down at any moment, setting the forest alight and crushing the small critters he was watching.

His life had always been one of war and chaos, rarely had he really been able to take time to himself. Though that wasn't completely true, rarely had he wanted to take the time to think about things, about his life and his own part in it. He'd been a tool, but he'd allowed himself to be used as such, his anger about it was foolish and guided by that witch that had stolen his mind. "I may as well have been a overly powerful misunderstood teenager." His tone, even in just his mind, was bitter.

He was suppose to be perfection. Yet, in the end, he was more like everyone else than the world was probably safe for. What ticked off teenager wouldn't want to take the world with it in their pain if the power was so accessible?

All the more reason he had to destroy Genova now, not just for himself and his revenge, though that was reason enough, to make certain she didn't have the ability to draw anyone else into her manipulations. If he could save the world from any future threat from the old parasite, then it was a start down a path to make up for the wrongs he'd committed in the past.

Mistakes that weren't things he was capable of forgetting while Tifa still lay slumbering so snuggly in his arms, she was one of the many that he owed a particular debt. He'd stolen perhaps more from her specifically than almost anyone, at least anyone that didn't somehow deserve it.

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

Silence replaced the slight chatter of the forest in the morning moments after Tifa woke from her night's rest. The scream and following slap had frightened off the nearest creatures and Sephiroth was frowning at the knives the girls eyes were shooting at him with the speed of a gatling gun.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She couldn't quite keep her voice from breaking as she pointed at him accusingly. She was a bit foggy but that was being swept clear swiftly by the gusts of revolted surprise of waking up curled against her sworn enemy.

"You do remember I hope?" His tone was stinging as he opened his door to let in a blast of fresh and still cool morning air. "If it is light enough shouldn't we repair your hovercraft?"

The door half-slammed before she could raise a further protest and she grit her teeth, she'd recalled that he'd pulled her closer so they wouldn't freeze to death but damn, she'd woken up pressed against him like they'd...

"I don't wanna think about that!" She interrupted the thought before it went further. "That perverted jerk! He could have stopped me!"

She tore open her door and slammed it as well pointing at the silver haired warrior offering her threatening approach a unimpressed raise of a single brow.

"You! You won't say a word, utter a single syllable of this to anyone! Ever!" She was still pointing as her finger hovered now a few inches from his nose, waggling with her words.

"Why would you presume I'd like it any other way?" He returned coolly, turning away from her tantrum to frown again. "You should be more careful you know, the keys are still inside...unless you'd like me to break a window to get inside."

"Wait what?" Her anger faded as she glanced back at the locked hovercraft, pushing him away and trying his door before dashing around to try the other side. Discovering both to be locked and the keys dangling with small sparkles of light from the rising sun teasing her from feet away through the reinforced glass. She planted her forehead on the window a moment later. "Dammit."

"If we leave now we should get there before the end of the day." Sephiroth commented, digging the sword they'd taken from the attackers at Nibelhiem from the back and putting it on his belt.

"Hey!" Tifa ran back around the car to snatch the weapon away from him. "No weapons!"

"You do realize I could have stabbed you while you were clinging to me for warmth last night?" He smirked a bit as she twitched at the comment. "This area is heavy with monsters, you stated it yourself, it seems foolish to ignore my ability as a swordsman."

"I'll hold the sword and if something comes up then you can have it...there are some supplies in the trunk...I'll see if I can get in." She pulled a small wire from her belt and headed with a sigh around the car again, taking the sword with her.

He rolled his eyes and stepped about after her, watching her as she picked at the lock a moment before glancing about the forest again for any threats. "I doubt we'll lose the people after us for long you know. There's only one other area near here that we could have gone that they'll check before the Canyon."

"Yeah, I just hope we beat them there. My cell is in the car with everything else." She muttered before popping the much easier lock on the trunk and tossing him the backpack. "You wanted to carry something."

He didn't argue after a short skeptical glance and just put it on, falling into step with her as she slammed the trunk again and started off. The desert was likely going to be impossibly hot in the afternoon even this late in the year but at least it wasn't summertime.

"You blame me?" He observed as she was still obviously angry while they were heading along the sands toward the tower in the distance.

"Just like any other man!" She retorted without looking at him, her pace swift though he seemed to be keeping up with ease. "You could have made sure things were a little more appropriate!"

"Keeping you alive seemed the best course." He shrugged lightly, glancing off with a added whisper of. "At the time anyway."

"I heard that!" Tifa smacked him in the chest, scowling at him. "I mean you could have rearranged it so it wasn't so scandalous! My chest was...and you were just...ah! Men!"

She tried to huff and move ahead of him but he was still keeping pace. She growled at the smirk lingering at the edge of his lips and started jogging, then running, as he continued to keep up.

She was moving at a breakneck speed and he was still right there, it was making her more and more angry as time passed, she just wanted a minute to not see him and she couldn't even outrun him when he'd been an invalid not even a day before. She wasn't paying enough attention though as she was more focused on trying to gain speed and the upcoming ledge wasn't quite as far as she'd expected.

Sephiroth reached over at her when she started to fall but he was just pulled along with given the speed and the pair went tumbling down a sand dune together. The tumble wasn't too harsh given it was a sand dune, but they were covered by the time they'd come to a pause at the bottom. Tifa was laughing and gasping as she tried to catch her breath, she'd suffered the least damage between the two and was on top of the silver haired man staring at her a bit as if she'd lost her mind.

"Are you all right?" He finally asked as she moved to lay on the sand next to him still laughing and nodding at the question.

"Just funny." She managed with a chuckle as she wiped at her face and shook her head in amusement. "You seem to be feeling better."

"I was at least." He answered as he pushed himself to sit up, dusting off his knees and glancing at her with a small smile of his own. "Guess it's good you aren't angry. That fall cut some of our time."

"Not too much...we'll have to walk through the sand for a while." She commented, sitting up and glancing around as she still breathed a little heavily. Surprised at how long they'd actually been running in her irritation, she hadn't realized they'd probably covered over a mile of ground. "Are you all right? How are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly I feel fine at the moment." He answered, though his expression darkened as he considered it. He'd always healed at an exceptional rate, but he'd expected any sort of full recovery to take at least a weeks time and it'd only been a couple of days. "Just what experiments were they doing there? What else could they have done to me..."

"Good." Tifa smiled, non the wiser of his internal issue, getting up and offering him a hand good naturedly. "We should keep going if we want to keep this added to our time instead of wasting some. I don't think we'd manage well a night out here without the protection of the hovercraft."

He accepted the help though put little pressure on her hand as he rose himself, dusting off and nodding at the comment. "Do you remember what else was in the reactor when you found me?"

"Oh um, a little." She commented as she considered. "It was a little creepy and I was sort of in a hurry at the time. I did see one console but I don't know much about those things."

"What did it say?" He figured he'd try to get as much information as possible while she was in a good mood, it was difficult to know when it might suddenly change.

"It was a list of things like Physical Regeneration and Restraints with percentages next to each thing." She answered slowly, she remembered the list clearly enough but was nervous as to how much she should say about it. "It said it was removing your memory but you seem to remember everything I knew about you more or less."

He paused as she mentioned that, mind scanning what he could. He couldn't directly tell if he was forgetting anything but he doubted if they were messing with his mind they would leave something obvious. "They wanted to reprogram me, to use me again as their personal weapon..."

"Hey..." Tifa paused a few steps ahead and glanced back when he didn't move, the smile fading as she looked over his face. "It wasn't a large number...but I doubt that helps."

"Do you remember what it was?" His green eyes were aglow just barely but it sent a shiver along her spine just staring back at him.

"Uh...over 8 percent I think." She said then swallowed as her mouth suddenly felt dry. "There was more..."

He just stared back and her hesitation of what to tell him was quickly being evaporated by the growing illumination within his eyes. "Well...other than the physical stuff...they said your health was unstable but your body was regenerated fully...and there was a label listed as 'Mental Control Access' but it was under two percent."

He trembled at the last sentence, closing his eyes as his fists balled. "How dare they..."

"Sephiroth." She reached out to touch his shoulder, staring at him and while she was nervous she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. There was no way she could possibly understand how he felt. "You aren't there anymore."

"No thanks to myself." He replied shortly, opening his eyes though they softened just a bit when they noted the look she was offering him. "What were you even doing at the reactor? I'd think you'd hate it."

"I was visiting my father's gravestone." Tifa looked back away toward the tower as she said it. "Just by chance I was there to notice anything wrong. I only looked inside cause I saw lights and the reactor was suppose to be off."

"What's the date?" He seemed to realize that he'd likely lost a lot of time.

"It's been five years sense...Nibelhiem..." She said, her mood fully sobered again as she realized she'd been joking around with her village's murderer.

"Five years...and the events with the stigma?" He walked up to look at her directly, his own turmoil blinding him to any of hers.

"Over a year." She blinked, she'd almost forgotten it in the past days with things so busy. "You, remember it, you tried to cause the stigma as well?"

"It wasn't me." He turned back toward the tower at the look she gave him, the distrust he wasn't fully capable of dealing with yet. "It was Genova...it's always been Genova. She's been the puppeteer pulling all the strings from the moment they began playing with her corpse. We should keep going so we will make it before dark."

"But...the Stigma was washed away." She fell into step with him as they began walking again. "It can't be used anymore can it?"

"It was a plan that was ruined but I doubt everyone that possessed it was saved. Genova still had a lot of plans as to how she could continue to try to integrate into the world...but if her body is destroyed fully she lose the little control she has over the cells spread throughout the world."

"Like you?" Tifa was back to being nervous as they discussed things...even if it was true that Sephiroth had been mind controlled...what had changed from her still being able to control him.

"Things in my case are slightly different. Genova left me to die and that must have been when whoever has been experimenting found me." He answered darkly. "I'll see her body burn."

She nodded a little. He'd considered her his mother and she'd just cast him out? "I hope we're able to do more to get information and help."

"You are a unique person." He complimented as they headed back onto more solid ground, holding a hand out to help her up onto a slightly higher ridge. "Most in your position would have just killed me."

"I'm not sure it would have helped...you don't seem to be stopped by death." Tifa answered with a awkward smile, accepting the help and jumping up next to him. "Can you die?"

"I don't know." He answered with a bit of a smile as he released her hand. "I guess it's human for you to want me dead."

"It's not that...I...did want you dead. For a long time. I hated you. I don't know if I still hate you...but if it wasn't really you. If you were being controlled I mean, I can't really hate you for it." She said with a small shrug.

"It's more than some would give." He commented, as strange as it was, there wasn't anything else to do but talk as you walked through the desert. Thinking about how hot it was getting wasn't a great thing to dwell on given the very little water they had between them for the entire trip.

"Well, I gave the same to Cloud when you or it or whatever, controlled him." Tifa reasoned with a small smile. "They'll all be less forgiving you know."

"Yes." He nodded grimly at the reminder. "I can't let them kill me. I have to see Genova destroyed."

"You hate her?" Tifa blinked a little at the way his whole body changed when he said her name. "You used to call her..."

"Mother, yes I know." He laughed bitterly and shook his head waving a hand vaguely without looking at Tifa directly as he spoke, instead taking interest in the broken path they were taking currently over rockier ground. "I was a fool. A child hoping for something that didn't exist. She used it to play into her mental control. Make no mistake, I know that she's not my mother and that I'll be very glad to see her dead. Do I hate her? I'm not sure I knew what the word meant before her."

She paused and put a hand on his shoulder, frowning a little. "Sephiroth."

"Don't." He replied sharply, his tone had been getting more irritable and he didn't turn around or even stop moving. "I don't desire your pity. I shouldn't have even told you."

"I'm glad you did." Tifa answered softly, falling back into step and taking the hint to change the subject. "We're making good time. We might get there in time for dinner."

"Are you hungry?" He glanced over then as her stomach growled and she blushed a little. Then they both laughed at the same time.

End Chapter

Whew. That chapter was really hard actually. Moving things along, Tifa feels a bit sorry for Sephiroth and I hope he's not out of character. A bit talkitive - but again not much to do when just walking. I love all the feedback guys thanks!

-Nera

To reviewers:

Toya Kei - I originally planned on an Aeris/Sephiroth thing but wanted to try this when the idea came to mind. It's difficult but I like it. I do like reviews, though I often at least consider how my stories go...even a little feedback makes me feel like at least I'm not only writing it out just for me. Knowing other people read it and like it enough to comment helps me get off my lazy butt and actually work on updates.

PhantomCarol - I actually didn't like the idea of the pairing when I first saw it but I wanted to try something more challenging. I hope it remains one of the ones you like.