Wow, long time with no update huh? Exams are a pain. But now they are over and I can start writing again! Except I have a lack of inspiration. Crapage! There is a fight scene here and a little blood is spilled just as a warning.

From previous chapter:

"Indeed. And you know what else?" he asked her casually.

"What?" she responded not able to keep the weariness out of her voice. Why did he have to be so cryptic?

"She was created by Shinra."

"How do you know that? How do you know that it isn't something else besides Shinra?" asked Aeris nervously as she paced back and forth on the beach, the soft sand scrunching beneath her boots. She didn't want to deal with any of Shinra's dangerous creations again, present company excluded for now.

Aeris stopped her pacing to look at her unlikely companion, waiting for a responds. She was a little surprised that he hadn't made a mean comment like he usually did after she asked a question. Frowning, she continued to watch Sephiroth as he looked upon the calm and dark water as if lost in thought. However the peaceful illusion was broken by the fact that his fists were clenching and unclenching. Aeris was sure that had she been standing closer to him she would have heard his knuckles cracking.

The General meanwhile had completely forgotten the Cetra's presence. He had expected Aeris to doubt him but he hadn't anticipated how much it would infuriate him. How dare this little girl question him, he thought. Who was she to question him? After all he was still the most powerful man on the Planet. Slowly he turned his silver head towards Aeris and slightly enjoyed the way she instinctively backed away from him. He then quickly approached the small woman and once he was close enough, he took the sword she still held out of her hand.

"I have been around for quite awhile thanks to your Planet's unwillingness to let me leave its surface so I've had time to make sure of a few things before your arrival," he said bitterly. Sephiroth automatically sheathed Aeris's weapon in one quick, expert movement and handed it to her once again. He noticed the way Aeris's eyes widened in horror when he took the weapon from her and then her immediate relief once he gave it back. She even smiled a little at him when he sheathed the sword for her. He was about to tell her he had done it because he wasn't sure if she could but decided to remain quiet. He didn't want to have to argue with her again, it was too late in the night.

Sephiroth had never managed to understand what had initially fueled the Planet's purpose for making him immortal. Didn't cosmic law dictate that sinful people get punished while the lawful get rewarded? Besides wouldn't his death have satisfied the Planet's need for revenge on him? Why did the Planet decide to keep him alive just so he could help the little Cetra? She could have chosen to bring back that sorry excuse of a clone Cloud to help her. It made him so angry he could go on a killing spree, again.

There were just too many questions he needed answering and he wasn't a man whose questions went unanswered. Over the many years he had always tried to figure out the Planet's real motives with the little pieces of information he had gotten from Her but She had always said only what was necessary and what he needed to know. But in the last few years, She had become quite absent, something he attributed to the Seraphim's actions.

Eventually Sephiroth got the distinct feeling of being watched and when he glanced at the small woman in front of him he realized she was glaring at him.

The silver haired man frowned his irritation. "What?"

"I'll tell you what," Aeris said putting her hands on her hips. "How do I know you are telling the truth? Maybe you got your information wrong or you didn't look at all the possibilities. Or are you just lying to me?" She squinted her eyes suspiciously at Sephiroth and was about to continue with her tirade when suddenly his silver head jerked sideways, mako eyes immediately narrowing.

"What is -" she started to say but Sephiroth curtly motioned with his hand to stay quiet. His glowing eyes kept sweeping the beach they were on, his hand already on Masamune's hilt. Aeris followed his gaze but couldn't quite see or hear anything. Before even Sephiroth could react, bullets were hissing through the air in their direction.

Aeris screamed and was about to break into a run but was stopped when Sephiroth grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, shielding her with his much larger body. The brunette was too scared to care that she was in his arms; instead she clung to him as hard as she could. The loud noises of guns firing into sand and water were deafening to her ears and she winced every time a bullet was shot.

Suddenly she felt Sephiroth's body jerk several times and she realized he must have been wounded. Aeris immediately looked up to Sephiroth's face and she cried out when she saw his eyes were closed.

Please open your eyes, please, please she mentally pleaded. Sephiroth opened them quickly once he heard Aeris's cry, his eyes shining brightly with fierce determination. Aeris had never been so happy to see murderous rage, at least it meant he was ok.

Sephiroth kept looking straight ahead and trying hard to keep Aeris shielded. He had been initially surprised that they had decided to attack them but now he just wanted to kill whoever had wounded him. The fact that their orders must have changed had him worried.

His military experience was working at full speed as all his learning and knowledge were trying to form a plan. Three shots had wounded him, one in his right shoulder, his fighting arm, but he wasn't afraid for his life because he couldn't die even if he tried. He was more worried about his duty.

The warm liquid trickling down his back told him that he was bleeding profusely. He needed to stay conscious and standing. For Aeris's sake, he thought sullenly. He still had trouble swallowing the fact he was her protector.

He was lucky they hadn't shot him more but that was because they didn't have night vision like he had. The Seraphim weren't infused with mako, or anything for that matter because Shinra's laboratories weren't around to enhance them. They were just humans without a soul.

They must have been shooting blindly.

Bastards just got lucky by hitting him.

Finally the gunfire ceased and the duo was left in complete and almost deafening silence except for a small sniffling noise. Sephiroth looked down at the small brunette clutching him and he realized the sound was coming from her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked hurriedly. He didn't have any healing materia so if she was shot he'd have to get her to a doctor very quickly. He didn't know if he could make it with the amount of blood he was losing. If she died he was going to be very pissed.

She slowly glanced up, long twin bangs slightly hiding her face but he still saw her tears.

"You're hurt," she answered pitifully. She locked her eyes into his and was surprised to see him confused and even a little apprehensive. "I'm sorry. People always get hurt because of me."

Sephiroth didn't know what to say and was spared doing so when his senses told him the Seraphim were approaching. He would rather deal with the people trying to kill him than with an emotional girl.

He bent his head to her ear, his pale hair cascading around them and whispered, "We don't have much time. I want you to stay behind me and if they somehow get near you, use this materia." With his gloved hand he reached into his coat pocket and took out a red glowing orb. Aeris took it and nodded numbly. She knew that the only way she'd survive was if Sephiroth protected her and she was terrified he would one day change his mind. If that happened there was nothing stopping the Planet from becoming soulless or her from being killed, for that matter.

Sephiroth now held his long katana in his right hand but Aeris could see something was wrong. His right hand seemed to be in pain and she wondered if a bullet had hit him in the shoulder.

The Seraphim were in clear view now, each armed with different swords instead of the guns. They must have thrown them away because they ran out of ammo. The four soulless humans approached the lone General and each one smiled grimly as if they knew he was wounded.

"Sephiroth, let me-!" Aeris said, coming closer to him but Sephiroth noticed her approaching and immediately cut her off.

"I told you to stay back Cetra!" he snarled at her. "Or do you want to get killed?"

So Aeris stayed where she was, not wanting to get in his way.

Two of the Seraphim had lunged at the General, their swords pointed with deadly intent. The two others, both women, rapidly circled around their comrades and headed directly towards the small brunette.

Sephiroth could see the two Seraphs approach Aeris, but his own opponents were keeping him busy and he knew it was to keep him away from the girl. One was trying to get behind Sephiroth while the other was furiously attacking him with his long sword. Masamune easily enough fought the blows and managed to inflict some damage. The Seraph had a long gash over his chest but he barely seemed to feel it. His blank eyes just stared at the General waiting for his next move.

Losing patience, the silver haired fighter jumped forward bringing down his weapon. The Seraph barely had time to block the attack as the longer sword forced the smaller one down towards its holder's neck. Sephiroth's greater strength overpowered the man and he fell onto his back on the sand without a sound. Sephiroth didn't waste any time lifting Masamune and stabbing his foe through the chest.

Aeris meanwhile had kept backing up as the two female Seraphs approached her, almost taunting her like cats with a mouse. Before he could go to her a bright green light on his left caught his attention. The other Seraph had cast a lightning spell while his companion busied Sephiroth. Suddenly the beach was illuminated by crackling white lightning and Sephiroth immediately fell to his knees as painful electricity coursed through his body.

No mere materia could do that to him and he realized they had mastered materia.

Stunned, he lifted his heavy head to try to see what was happening but a well placed kick to his wounded shoulder made his vision blurry. His breathing became more labored as the pain intensified and spread. The gunshot wound now newly reopened began to bleed once more weakening the powerful man. He groaned loudly, clenching his teeth as the pain began pounding with each beat his heart took. One more precise kick was delivered to his wound quickly followed by a side kick to the head with the intention to knock him out. Whoever this man was, he was a great martial artist.

Aeris watched desperately as Sephiroth struggled to support himself with his katana. The long sword was deep in the sand as he put some of his weight on it. His silver hair obscured his face and he didn't make any attempt to move it. In the end, Sephiroth's gloved hand slipped off his sword and he fell forward, unconscious.

Finally, as if satisfied that the more dangerous of the two was taken care of, the third Seraph joined in with the others and surrounded Aeris. He threw his sword away but the other two kept their sharp sabers pointed at her. The Cetra clutched the summon materia she held even tighter. Abruptly her panicked mind realized her feet were becoming soaked and she found herself in the ocean.

Why weren't they attacking? They just seemed to be directing her into the water.

The Seraph holding onto the lighting materia smiled, and it was such a sadistic smile Aeris found herself fearing him more than she had ever feared anyone. His lips moved while his eyes remained dead and lifeless, two orbs of pure emptiness. He raised the hand that still held onto the green materia and her mind suddenly remembered a long ago science class. Water is a great electric conductor.

They weren't just going to kill her, they were going to electrocute her! Aeris began running to and fro, causing her pants and the end of her braid to get wet but the two women mechanically stopped her from getting out of the water with their weapons. She felt like a herded chocobo! The spell-casting Seraph had not moved, choosing to simply stand and watch it all, enjoying it.

Why were they wasting time trying to kill her this way? Wouldn't it be simpler if they just stabbed her? This seemed just so… so… personal. As if someone had some sort of vendetta against her.

Aeris's wide green eyes watched the immobile man wondering why he was so different from the rest. Somehow she thought he was more alive than the rest, but even that was an overstatement. He just seemed more powerful and she could sense it. As if he knew what she was thinking he slowly that bone shilling smiled once again.

He lifted his hand and closed his eyes in concentration as he began the spell. Aeris looked down at her red materia and a bright, red colorful bird flashed in her mind.

Sephiroth had given her the Phoenix summon.

Without hesitation she focused all her energy on the materia and focused on the summon. She remembered that fire stopped electricity from flowing.

Even though the Seraph had started the spell first, Aeris's natural magical abilities gave her an advantage. The materia's center shone brightly as a giant shinning phoenix appeared high in the night sky in front of the small woman, it's huge wings spread wide, like a beacon of light in the darkness. It quickly assembled energy, light spilling forth from its body until it finally disappeared leaving behind a ring of fire that fiercely flowed towards it's target.

The 3 Seraphs were thrown back under the impact. Once all the light disappeared Aeris quickly got out of the water. She looked at the 3 unmoving bodies, relief flooding her that she had made it alive, but then she heard slight gasping. Slowly she approached the only surviving Seraph and found him fighting for breath. When he saw her, his face contorted in anger. He lifted a shaky finger at her as if in accusation but it quickly fell back to his side.

Taking a deep breath, the Seraph opened his mouth to speak.

"You… you will die," he said in a woman's voice. Aeris stared at him in horror.

His eyes were beginning to close but he or she, Aeris didn't know anymore, lastly whispered in a clear and calm feminine tone full of conviction,

"He is mine."

The young woman frowned, wondering about whom she was talking about. At last the Seraph stopped breathing and with his last breath, a blue flame like aura escaped through his mouth. Aeris hurriedly backed away but the flame only hovered for a while over the body as if watching its surroundings. It then shot up at amazing speed into the sky to disappear from view.

Aeris's gaze lingered on the spot it had vanished but then she remembered Sephiroth and she ran towards him. His katana was still embedded in the sand next to its master. She sank to her knees and softly moved his long silver hair from his face. When she touched his face her healer's hands could tell that he was running a fever. Even with the warm weather of Costa Del Sol, it was not a normal temperature. Aeris touched around the base of his head and felt a huge bump, the blow that took him out. He would probably also have a concussion from this. Sighing loudly, she moved herself to better be able to examine his back.

Carefully, she touched around his shoulder to see where exactly he was hurt. Her hands finally stopped around the edge of his shoulder blade and she felt the stickiness of blood.

"Sweet Planet, you've lost a lot of blood from just this wound," she whispered to him even though he couldn't hear her.

She continued her examination of his body, trying really hard not to feel the firm muscle beneath the leather coat. Aeris nimble fingers found two more bullet entries, one in the middle of his back and the other very close to his umm well… very lower spine. Oh how was she going to heal that one without blushing constantly she didn't know. But the bullet had to get out. If not then his wounds would be infected and the fever wouldn't go away. And he couldn't fight while sick.

But she was an experienced healer and she had seen far worse her mind rationed, besides she wouldn't actually have to take off his pants. She would just have to slightly lower them, very very slightly.

This might take a while and she would need supplies from the city. Thankfully he couldn't die from these wounds. She just really hoped that no Seraphim would show up because this would take some time. Maybe she should try waking him up.

Aeris looked at the horizon, and some of her good humor returned as she saw the first rays of dawn mix with the blue of the ocean. At least she had light on her side now.

I haven't had physics in a while but I do remember that cold helps electricity flow and heat slows it down. I also haven't played ff7 in over a year so I don't really remember what the phoenix attack looks like so don't sue me. Yes and I know that it heals allies, but in this case I chose not to. Mouhouahahahaha I am god! Just kidding :D reviews?

Next chapter, will the blue flame be explained? Is Sephiroth going to wake up? Are they finally going to have pina coladas? Oh the humanity! So stay tuned for explanations, explanations, Sephiroth's bum, i mean explanations heh heh...