Lost in the Shadows
Chapter 18 - No More Words
Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 and its characters, settings or the like.These words, however, are mine.
"Well. I suppose she will have to do..." He glanced up at Aerith. "And don't think I'm done with you, sweetheart. You'd make quite the nice... prize" He never finished the sentence but Avalanche got the meaning and he started to laugh like a sadist at the looks he recieved.
"But I won't leave you without. I know you're all just... itching to see him."
Confused looks crossed everyone's faces until they saw what he meant. Eyes widened and some stepped backwards.
"Have fun! I'll be back for the White Materia, honey."
He vanished without warning and the tired group was left with fiends and someone they hadn't been expecting to see at all.
"No... We can't do this..." Tifa said. She couldn't. They couldn't fight their friend!
Nanaki stood in front of them.
"Where did he go?" Reno shouted.
"He... disappeared..." Yuffie said, still on her guard.
Reno cursed and punched a tree.
"Reno, we don't have time for this." Cloud said, watching Nanaki carefully and clutching his leg.
"We don't even know what the hell he's gonna do to her!" Reno shouted again, enraged by the turn of events. "Why the $& does she choose now to be brave?"
Nanaki leaped at Tifa, but she didn't block his attack nor did she put up any kind of fight. She simply stood there and his claws caught her shoulder.
"Tifa! What are you doing?" Cloud yelled.
Tifa turned to face him, tears in her eyes. "You know I can't fight him. I can't..."
Cloud looked up in the tree where Aerith and Sephiroth were. Aerith was leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. Her wound was still bleeding, as was his own. Curative magic wasn't working on it!
"Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled over to him. "Why isn't her wound healing?"
Sephiroth turned his reptilian gaze over to him. "It is healing. It's a rather large wound and she's lost alot of blood."
"How?"
"It's -- it was -- infected with the zombie status." Sephiroth said matter-of-factly. Cloud's face lit up. "Of course!" Sephiroth rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the flower girl.
Aerith's head was spinning. She felt a pain in her side, but it seemed to be dimming. She knew she was in danger -- but she couldn't remember why. She couldn't remember who. She just couldn't remember.
"What just happened?"
Sephiroth's eyes snapped up to her face. "What?"
Aerith looked confused. What had just happened? How much clearer could she be?" "I... remember you jumping up here but... after that... it's gone." Aerith looked him in the eyes, worried. "What's happening to me?" She whispered.
Sephiroth couldn't look at her anymore -- he couldn't let her know he was worried.
"I... You lost alot of blood, you know. I'm sure it's nothing."
"No." Aerith said quickly. "It's something else. But I don't know what..."
Sephiroth just nodded. There was a few minutes of silence before Aerith spoke again.
"It's him." Aerith spoke with confidence but there was fear in her eyes. "He won't... leave me alone."
"Who?"
"That... man, Toyori. He's in my head." She lowered her eyes to Sephiroth's. Her wound was finally beginning to close.
"He keeps... telling me things."
"Like what?"
"That it'll be all my fault and that... he'll have me soon enough."
Sephiroth tensed. 'When did this start?' He voiced the question seconds later.
"I... When you found me on the Sierra. When you were having the meeting... remember?" Aerith sighed. "I'm not the same anymore... am I? I used to be such an optimist before, you know. But now... it seems like everything is happening so fast... and it's so hard."
Sephiroth just listened. The wound was almost healed...
"I don't have much longer."
Reno, Rude and Cait stood by the mako pool, looking at it intently. "Does this lead to somewhere?" Cait asked.
"Not a bad theory you got there." Reno said, ignoring the fact that Nanaki had almost pushed him in; Cid had blocked the attack.
"Damn &$& Turk! Watch it unless you wanna end up like $&$ Elena." Cid yelled, annoyed.
Reno waved his hand at Cid in indifference.
If there's some way that this leads to... wherever the hell Elena has been shipped off to, I ain't waitin for #& ever."
An all out war had erupted. Not only were Avalanche's two strongest fighters unable to participate in the battle, but Nanaki was too fast for any of them to keep up with him completely.
"This is useless!" Yuffie's sighed.
"Maybe if we knock him out...?" Vincent suggested.
Yuffie spun around to face him. "HEY! That's a GREAT idea!" Yuffie shrieked at the others to stop moving and stand off to the side. They complied almost gratefully.
"You ready?" Yuffie asked, holding her Conformer awkwardly. Vincent nodded. They ran.
"What are you talking about now?" Sephiroth asked.
Aerith looked at him for a moment, deciding on something. In the end, she shook her head. "Nevermind..."
"No, Aerith, what do you mean?" Sephiroth demanded, his voice firm.
"It doesn't--" Aerith stopped and her eyes closed. Sephiroth reacted by taking her hand and squeezing it. "Aerith?"
Her eyes snapped open again, but they weren't the green hue that he was so used to seeing, but a dark blue. He shook his head. "Planet, is this really a good time..."
"Please... I have... only so much time..." The Planet's eyes scanned the area. "Do you see... child?" Sephiroth's face contorted to that of confusion. "Yes..." The dark blue slowly changed to green.
"There!" Aerith pointed. "Sephiroth take me over there, now!"
Sephiroth regarded her with a look before jumping down to the ground. Aerith immediately fell to her knees and started digging. "Cetra, what are you doing?" Sephiroth asked. Aerith looked up at him in mock anger. "Stop it! My name is Aerith!" She broke into a smile at his bewildered look. "I'm not crazy, you know. Trust me."
Sephiroth nodded and watched as Yuffie and Vincent executed a series of flips and jumps, trying to corner Red. They had finally managed when Aerith yelled out.
"I found it!"