Lost in the Shadows
Chapter 3 - A Long Journey Ahead
Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 and its characters, settings or the like. These words, however, are mine.
Biting cold. That was hardly enough to describe what he felt the moment he regained consciousness. He subconsciously realized that the Planet must have made it to be this way or it simply had no say in the matter. He felt the wind nipping at his throbbing body and couldn't shake the horrid feeling of intense shivering. Gritting his teeth, he was able to force his eyes open but he immediately regretted it. A blinding white light assaulted his senses.
White. It was white everywhere. Shifting his eyes to look away from the painfully blinding light, he found himself gazing up at the sky dazedly before something cold and wet fell into his right eye. He blinked a few times before he clued in. Snow. It was snowing around him, everywhere, in front and behind him.
Groaning, he forced his body to move and struggled to get into a sitting position. His muscles protested but he paid it no mind. He truly felt like he had been run over by a buggy -- or something like that.
Everything that had happened prior to that moment came rushing back to him in a flood of memories.
A flash of pink and white and strikingly beautiful green eyes that matched his own. Aerith. He began to look around him in every direction for any sign that she had been there with him. She was nowhere in sight, unfortunately. He stood up, though reluctantly and began to walk forward, painful as that was. To where he was walking, he couldn't say, but he had to find her. Watching the ground as he walked, he looked for some sign, any sign at all, to quell the unfamiliar feeling in his stomach. He needed to know that she was safe.
No footprints, no disturbed snow... No nothing. Where could she be? A certain conversation came back to him at that moment.
"Sephiroth... I need to speak with you for a moment." Gast whispered.
Sephiroth looked at him and pulled away from his mother, looking at her one last time before following Gast.
"You need to know this. You will both wake up in the places your bodies were last. It's crucial that you remember this..."
It's time...
"Remember, Sephiroth!" Gast told him.
Sephiroth stopped in his tracks.
"The places our bodies were last?" He said to himself, looking skyward as though he were waiting for some sort of confirmation that he was right.
Digging deep into his memory, he thought about where she could be. Where had she been last? He was unsure of why he couldn't remember this, among many other things, when it suddenly struck him like lightning.
The lake...
His eyes widened at the thought and he knew he had to move fast. If she ended up waking up and feeling like he had, he knew she wouldn't have the strength to swim to the shore, much less to the surface.
He tried to run but found his energy was quickly diminished. He swore and wondered why the hell the Planet was going to make it so hard to get to her. It did want them both alive, didn't it?
He stood there thinking for a moment. How he could reach her in time, if at all, without running, was quite beyond him. He'd be damned if anyone thought he'd let her die though. The prospect of going to greet the members of Avalanche alone simply didn't appeal to him.
A green glow suddenly enveloped him and he instantly felt better, refreshed. Baffled by this sudden turn of events, he wondered who or what could have done that. There was nobody in sight and he couldn't sense anyone near him...
He looked to the sky and then at ground, narrowing his eyes.
"Ah, it was you dear Planet... Couldn't you have done it sooner?" He said aloud, his first words dripping with sarcasm.
Pushing the thoughts aside, he set off at a run. His instincts told him to run in this certain direction way, though he wasn't sure if he should trust them or not. Still running, he cleared his mind, thinking of nothing else but to get to Aerith.
He ran into a couple fiends along the way but nothing more than a quick movement of his Masamune was needed and he continued on running.
He swore he was going in circles or something of the sort, but realized that the snow was everywhere and it all looked the same. His intelligence was obviously dropping... He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and used every ounce of energy he had to run faster.
After what seemed like forever, though it had really only been a short amount of time, he saw the Forgotten Capital not too far ahead of him. Picking up the pace, assuming he could of course, he ran straight for it.
"Damn Strife... Had to put her in a lake, didn't you?" He muttered. "Good for absolutely nothing, I see..."
He finally made it to the entrance and, had there been a door, it would have surely have flown off its hinges.
He ran for the main entrance and further to where the overly large conch shell was, silently hoping that she was alright. He saw his reflection in the... Well, he wasn't quite sure of what to call them. All he knew was he could see his reflection in them.
He noticed he had no scars left on his face, or his body for that matter. His hair was filthy and wet, clinging to his skin. 'Quite a sight actually...' he thought.
He finally reached the lake and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't known he had been holding, when he saw Aerith sprawled half in the water, half on the shore. Walking over to her, he fell down to his knees and pulled her completely out of the water.
He started shaking her, telling her to wake up. He could instantly tell something was wrong although, what that was, was simply not coming to him anytime soon... Something hit him in the heart, though he wasn't sure what it was, when his eyes took her all in again.
Moving his hand to her neck, he checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
Moving his hand to her hand, he checked for a pulse there.
Nothing.
He simply refused to believe it and shook her again. He swore under his breath, wondering if anything worse could happen and realized he would have to use his Soldier training for once. CPR.
Wasting no time at all, he pressed his fingers to her chest, knowing that with his strength it would surely be enough and he pressed down. Repeating a few more times without gaining a response he sighed.
Nothing would ever be easy anymore, would it...
He filled his lungs with as much air as he was sure he could possibly hold and pressed his mouth over hers, transferring the air to her. He wasn't sure how long he continued for but he was sure that after about five minutes he was ready to give up. All the while thinking it was useless, he tried a few more times, still gaining him no response.
He looked at her lifeless face and felt another jolt in his heart. Why though? He suddenly had the urge to continue. Whether it was his thoughts or the Planet's influence, he couldn't be sure, though he wouldn't put it past the Planet. Pressing his fingers to her chest once again, he pressed down three times. Her arm twitched slightly. Filling his lungs with the most air he had filled his lungs with at all in the past ten minutes, he pressed his mouth to hers with a feeling inside him. A feeling that this would work.
He breathed.
He felt her arm twitch again and he sat up straight. Moments later her eyes flew open and she started coughing up water. He rolled her over gently so she was on her side and she rid herself of as much of the annoying substance in her lungs as she possibly could. She instantly began shivering.
Seeing this, he took his trench coat off and wrapped it around her. He saw her eyes fly up to his face, teeth chattering. She regarded him with a dazed look before saying something incoherently.
"Dammit Strife, you had to put her in a lake and somewhere there was no medical treatment..." He muttered, though he was sure she heard him.
Shaking his head, he pulled her closer to him. He told himself it was for the reason that body heat would in the end, help them both. Especially in this weather. He was already sure that she had hypothermia and quite possibly pneumonia. He felt her move slightly and looked down to find her snuggled up against him, eyes closed.
He shook her until her eyes were completely open before looking on ahead again.
"Oh no girl, you are NOT falling asleep. The last thing I need is you never waking up again." He said with the coldest voice she'd heard yet but... She was sure she'd heard some sort of concern in his voice. She glared at him as best she could before shaking her thoughts away. Sephiroth feeling concerned? Though a possibility, she hardly thought he would show it to her of all people. Focusing her thoughts she brought her thoughts back to the task at hand. She needed to find something to amuse herself with so she wouldn't fall asleep.
She settled for the snow that was haphazardly falling all around them. Sephiroth was walking so fast that she could hardly keep up with it though and she found herself becoming bored after a while. She closed her eyes again only to be shaken by Sephiroth for the second time.
Now, he started talking to her.
Laying her head against his chest, she listened to his ramblings until she heard him sigh in relief. She looked ahead of them and saw the end to the Sleeping Forest. They were almost there.
She was so cold... She could hear the Planet singing softly to her and she wanted so badly to fall asleep to its humming in her mind. Even then, the Planet told her to stay awake, with the same stern voice Sephiroth had used. She couldn't risk falling asleep as the Planet had no control over what happened to them anymore, apparently.
She was most surprised by the fact that there had been no fiends in their way. The last time she'd been here with Tifa and Cloud... Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Sephiroth say something.
"Finally..." She heard Sephiroth mutter. She looked to the side to see that they had finally made it to Bone Village. She didn't particularly like it in Bone Village but she knew that they had some of the warmest rooms on the Planet due to their finding so much coal while excavating.
She sighed a breath of relief and felt Sephiroth move forward again. A thought suddenly struck her and she went to speak but was cut off.
"Quiet, Cetra… I'll deal with them myself." He said to her so quietly she had hardly caught what he had said. She gave him a worried glance and he smirked. "No Cetra, I won't deal with them in that way..." She looked visibly relieved and for some reason Sephiroth felt a bit put out.
Walking up to the head excavator, he looked around. He also was aware of this being the place with the warmest rooms and heating supplies around. He was definitely going to be getting what he wanted.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aerith saw a yellow glint come from his hand.
He stopped just short of the head excavator, who's back was currently turned to Sephiroth. Sephiroth muttered something that Aerith couldn't quite hear and she gasped when the man suddenly turned so quickly she was sure he was going to fall over.
The look in his eyes instantly told her what Sephiroth had done and she relaxed. Manipulate Materia.
"We need the warmest room you have along with as many blankets and heating supplies that you have." Sephiroth demanded.
The man looked at Sephiroth for a moment before speaking.
"Y-y-yes.." The man slurred and he turned around dazedly before leading them into the cave.
They walked for a long time before the man showed them to the rooms that the excavators had so intelligently created inside this cave. Turning to look at Sephiroth he slurred something incoherently and stared at him.
Sephiroth pushed passed him roughly.
"Just go get all the blankets and heating supplies, would you?" He said quickly, fixing the man with a death glare. The man instantly ran in the other direction to perform the task.
"Stubborn fool..." He muttered before walking towards one of the rooms. Upon walking in, he surveyed the room.
Paintings of excavations the excavators here were famous for almost completely covered the walls. There was a comfortable bed in the corner along with a few chairs placed around the room. The lamps illuminated almost everything in the room, giving off a soft glow. It looked like nobody had occupied this room for a while as there was dust everywhere and something faintly smelled. Turning his head he saw a door to the bathroom. Walking over to the bed, he lay Aerith down and proceeded to walk over to the door, pushing it open.
The bathroom was huge. Literally. The shower was humongous, Sephiroth noted. He was sure it could fit quite a few people in it, still having plenty of room left. The sink was made of marble and the knobs and faucet looked like it was made of something truly expensive. There was a huge amount of space in between the shower and the sink though which was rather convenient. There was also a comfortable looking chair in the corner with a rack to hang ones clothes while they were showering beside it.
Smirking, he walked out of the bathroom and closed the door. Although, he began to wonder why on Gaia they would have such a large bathroom in this place. At that instant the man walked in with what Sephiroth asked for, effectively interrupting his thoughts. Without saying anything to the man, he grabbed the stuff and pushed him out the door, slamming the door in his face. Locking it, he turned around.
Aerith was nearly asleep. Striding over he dropped everything on the edge of the bed and shook her.
She moaned and looked at him for a moment before averting her eyes. He saw her scan the room and then look back at him.
"I-I-I'm c-c-cold..." She said, hardly intelligible to a normal human being but Sephiroth was easily able to figure out what she was saying. He regarded her with a quick look before picking her up off the bed and setting her into a sitting position on the edge. He could almost foresee her reaction to his next question..
"Do you believe you would be able to get yourselves out of these clothes?" He said with no emotion at all, secretly chuckling inside.
She looked at him for a moment, completely stunned. Her face was truly priceless.
"W-w-what?" She said, moving away from him slightly.
"You're going to freeze to death if you don't get out of this dress. Take these," he handed her a blanket and towel, "and go and get out of this stupid pink thing."
He stood up and took a hold of her arms, pulling her up.
She was still shivering, though not as bad now. The temperature of the room was obviously helping and Sephiroth felt a wave of relief. He led her to the bathroom and opened the door. He turned the light on and pushed her in, shutting the door.
He walked over to a chair and sat down, waiting. He'd noticed the glare she had given him when he had spoken the words, 'stupid pink thing', and couldn't stop himself from chuckling ever so slightly.
Within the next few minutes, he heard her change quickly and she walked out, covered by the blanket. She held her clothes up and regarded him with raised eyebrows.
He got up once again, sighing, and took her clothes. He laid them out by the fire and turned around to see her in the same spot, shivering and gazing off at nothing in particular. He sighed, frustrated and walked over to her, swiftly taking her into his arms and walked over to the bed.
He lay her down and covered her with the blankets. He grabbed a chair and sat beside the bed, not wanting her to fall asleep until he knew her temperature was normal again.
She turned her face to look at him and smiled. Something inside him fluttered. Confused, he simply looked at her for a moment before looking away.
"Thank you..." She managed to whisper. She felt he deserved at least that much from her, for saving her life.
He looked at her, a little longer then he would have ever intended to and nodded to her again.
"Get some sleep. Your temperature seems normal now." He said while putting a hand to her forehead. She nodded and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes, she was asleep.
He sighed and shifted in his chair. What were these feelings that he was having? Why was he even feeling these things at all? He was immune to emotion and yet... Every time he looked at her he just... No. He wouldn't dwell on it. It was nothing, it had to be nothing.
Pushing the thoughts away, he decided that he needed some rest as well. It had been quite a day, he concluded. So, settling down in the chair, he let the darkness take him.
His last thoughts troubled him to no end. He had no idea what was going to happen to either of them but he was sure he wasn't going to like any of it.