Chapter 75: Aerith Gainsborough and the Mirror over Her Bed

We reached the top of the stairs, and we were surprised at what we saw.

There was a couch, a loveseat, a TV, and a fireplace. There was a flight of stairs at the northern end of the room. It looked like a family room. At the eastern end of the room, a kitchen was visible. Beyond that, I could see a living room and a dining room.

"This is a house?" I asked aloud.

"It would appear so," Sephiroth replied.

Curiously, there were no windows anywhere. The three of us stepped into the kitchen, and noticed that there was a small hall leading to a foyer, with a front door.

Of course, we tried the front door, but it wouldn't budge; it was obviously locked.

We then checked the dining room and living room. The living room had another flight of stairs.

"I guess there's only one way to go," Chrissy said.

Sephiroth cracked his knuckles.

"Be careful," he warned. "God only knows what's up there."

Chrissy led the way up the stairs.

What did we see there? Nothing but a hallway, three bedrooms, and a hallway bathroom. After inspecting each room, we took another flight of stairs we saw at the end of the hallway.

When we reached the bottom, we found ourselves back in the family room.

"So we've reached a dead end," Chrissy grumbled.

"It's another puzzle," Sephiroth suggested. "More hoops to jump through."

It was then that I spotted a laptop on a desk near the sofa.

"Look!" I exclaimed.

"Allow me," Chrissy announced.

She began typing right away.

"Let's check the search engine maps," she said as she continued typing.

A moment later, she clapped her hands.

"Bingo!" she announced. "Leon Brave's house. We know where we are!"

"Who's Leon Brave?" I asked.

"A poet," Chrissy replied. "But the least we need to know is that we're still on Eros Nova."

She paused.

"And it's only nine p.m. Our trip from the cells to here took less than an hour."

"It seemed a lot longer," I said.

Sephiroth then peered over.

"Can you figure out a way out of here?" he asked.

"I'll try," Chrissy replied as she continued to type.

Just then, a map of Eros Nova appeared on the screen.

"This is weird," Chrissy suddenly said.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm seeing eight locations lighting up on the map, all over the island, but I'm not sure what they mean," she replied.

Sephiroth took a glance at the screen.

"Those are bombs," he replied.

I gasped in shock.

"Eight bombs?"

"Eight of them," he clarified. "A year before the Nibelheim mission, Genesis stumbled upon this information by accident. It was top confidential, so whoever left it lying around must have been a complete jackass. But he found out that the Shinra had planted eight bombs on Eros Nova. The bombs were originally built in the Old World, and were the most powerful bombs ever built. I believe they were called the Czar Bombas."

This was practically disturbing. A big tourist area was riddled with the most destructive bombs ever built.

"But why?" I asked.

"For an experiment," Sephiroth replied.

This did not sound good at all.

"Wh-what kind of experiment?" I asked nervously.

"If they all went off at once," Sephiroth continued, "they would not only destroy the island, but create a wound in the Planet."

"A permanent one?" I asked.

"Not exactly," Sephiroth replied. "The Lifestream would gather here. Any survivors will become all powerful, like gods."

"Like gods?" I asked him.

Sephiroth nodded.

"The Lifestream will heal the wound, just like at the Northern Crater," he explained.

This was horrifying. I knew the Shinra did nasty experiments, since I was the butt of some of them, but to destroy a whole island….

"Can the bombs be stopped?" I naturally asked.

"Of course they can," Sephiroth. "They can be neutralized, but it's a hard thing to do. They can only be neutralized in a three-hour window, between the time they are armed, and the time they explode. But they can only be neutralized by a nanite defuser. I heard there was one in an underground bunker somewhere, but nobody knows where that is."

"That doesn't sound good," Chrissy said.

"It gets worse," Sephiroth continued. "Even if a bomb is neutralized, you'd still have to deactivate all the bombs. If one goes off, they all will, even if one or several have been neutralized. Only when you take care of all eight of them, will you be completely safe."

"How would anyone find the bombs, other than the map?" I asked.

"A radiation detector would do the trick," Sephiroth replied.

"Never heard of that," Chrissy said.

"It's from the Old World as much as the bombs," Sephiroth said. "But I heard there's one in that underground bunker on the coast. You'd have to sail a boat in to get there."

"Stupid question," Chrissy then began. "When do the bombs go off?"

"Not for a while," Sephiroth causally replied.

"What's 'a while?'" Chrissy asked.

"August 12, 0011, to be exact," Sephiroth answered. "More than five years from now."

I sat down on the floor.

"This is a doomed island," I said aloud.

Sephiroth sat down next to me, and held my hand.

"From death comes new life," he assured me.

And the sparks flew again.

LATER….

Chrissy then searched her husband's name, Benjamin Webble, but couldn't find any information on him.

It was really strange, considering that we were certain he was a candidate.

She then searched for her son, whose name we didn't even realize was Spencer (I feel a little guilty about not asking). She didn't find anything on him, or his whereabouts.

Feeling helpless, Chrissy sighed and placed her hands on her face.

"I think I'm too tired and drained," she sighed. "I need to sleep."

It wasn't something I expected to hear, but it made sense. We had jumped through lots of hoops in the past hour. We had seen horrors we couldn't even imagine.

So I led Chrissy upstairs, and into the first room at the top.

There was a twin bed with a comfortable looking mattress. I checked the dresser, and there was even a set of pajamas in the top drawer.

"Can you sleep?" I asked.

"I can try," Chrissy replied. "There's nothing else we can do at the moment. I just want to know my son's okay."

"I'm sure he is," I assured her.

"If you find something," she said, "please wake me up."

"No problem," I replied as I prepared to leave the room to give her some privacy to change, which felt kind of strange, since we had seen each other topless just a few hours ago.

"Sleep well," I told her.

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile, and closed the door.

Realizing I was a little drained myself, I decided I could rest my own eyes for a bit.

So I walked to the second bedroom, and opened the door.

I gasped in surprise.

Sephiroth was sitting on the bed. His shirt was off.

"I'm so sorry!" I apologized. "I didn't know you came up here."

"It's alright," he assured me.

"If this is your room, I'll go to the next one," I said as I turned around.

"Wait," he commanded.

I turned around again to see Sephiroth patting on the spot to his left, signaling for me to sit down.

I closed the door and joined him.

"It's your birthday?" Sephiroth asked.

I nodded with a blush.

"Happy birthday," he said.

"Thanks!" I replied with a smile.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-one," I answered.

"A milestone," he observed.

I smiled at him. Then, something else crossed my mind.

"If you don't mind me asking," I began, "how old are you?"

"Twenty-nine," he replied.

"Almost to the big 3-0," I pointed out.

Sephiroth sighed.

"I always thought I'd be retired from SOLDIER by now," he said. "Maybe settled down and starting a family. Not some fugitive."

I took his hand in mine.

"I know the feeling," I said as I looked him in the eyes. "I always thought I'd be married by now. I thought I'd be a happy housewife like Chrissy."

Sephiroth then squeezed my hand.

"I'm sorry I had to tell you about Zack," he said.

"Don't be," I assured him. "It really was for the best. I'm just relieved he jilted me before we got married. If I married him, I'd be going through a divorce by now."

I then had another question for Sephiroth.

"Will you be rejoining SOLDIER after we get out of here?" I asked.

"No," Sephiroth replied.

I then smiled at him.

"Then, you do get to retire from SOLDIER!" I pointed out.

He stood up.

"Yeah," he replied. "I guess you're right."

I watched him walk over to the dresser. I was amazed at how tall he was. He looked six foot one at least.

Sephiroth then opened the dresser.

In the top drawer, there were women's clothes. In the middle drawer, there were men's clothes. Finally, in the bottom drawer, there was a bottle of red wine.

And then, Sephiroth closed the drawer.

"You're going to leave that in?" I asked him.

"I don't drink wine," he replied.

"I see," I said in surprise. "What do you like to drink?"

"I usually like whiskey," he replied. "But I'm not thirsty now."

I then stood up.

I didn't plan on doing it; I just did it.

I walked straight up to Sephiroth, and wrapped my arms around his torso, resting my head against his bare back.

"Thank you for helping me back there," I said. "But why?"

Just then, Sephiroth pried my arms off of him.

Shit, I thought. I was moving too forward.

Then, he looked me in the eyes.

"Because I like you," he replied.

And before I could be ready for it, he leaned in, and pressed his lips against mine.

I had sorely wanted to kiss him since he helped me through the tear gas, so I quickly wrapped my arms around his strong neck, continuing to kiss him.

Meanwhile, Sephiroth wrapped his arms around my waist, and gently met my tongue with his.

It was an amazing feeling, sending chills up my spine. He didn't seem to be the romantic type, and I was expecting to have to make the first move, which I would have been happy to do.

We then broke the kiss. I smiled before placing my hands on his shoulders. I kissed his neck. Then, I started kissing his bare, strong chest. I could hear him breathing heavily, and could tell that it was new to him.

And then, he kissed my neck. He raised his hands to my shoulders, and slipped off my red jacket.

The feeling of his hands on my now-bare shoulders was more than welcome. I ran my hands over his bare back. Then, I slowly worked them down to his butt.

We both knew it was inevitable now.

He began to unbutton my pink dress.

I continued to kiss him deeply as he undid me, button by button.

I didn't stop him.

I wanted this as much as he did.

He slipped off my dress like it was Christmas wrapping, stripping me to my underwear.

I wrapped my arms around his neck again, pressing our lips, and our tongues, together again. We continued to make out, running our hands over each other's skin.

He reached back and unhooked my bra, tossing it aside.

He cupped my now-bare breast, and we kissed harder and deeper than before. He then held me close; his skin on mine was incredible.

I began to pull my panties off my body.

Sephiroth looked over my nude body for but a moment before kissing me again.

I gripped his pants and pulled them down, allowing him to step out of them.

I soon found myself on all fours on the bed.

Sephiroth was behind me.

He kissed my legs.

He kiss my thighs.

He even kissed my butt, causing my whole body to quiver.

He then rose to his knees, and placed his hands on my hips.

I braced myself.

And then….

MISSING PAGE. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

-A. L. G.

I then threw on a red tank top I found in the dresser. It sounds weird, I know, but I just can't sleep comfortably with my girls out.

After explaining that to the still naked Sephiroth, I climbed into bed with him, and nuzzled against his shoulder.

It was then that I noticed the first thing that made me laugh all evening.

"What's so funny?" Sephiroth asked.

"There's a mirror over the bed," I giggled as I pointed to the ceiling.

"I wonder what it's for," he speculated out loud.

"Maybe so Leon Brave could watch himself sleep," I suggested with a smile.

"Or maybe he could be the first person he saw when he woke up," he added. "Or maybe he liked to watch himself get into bed."

I giggled again; this man pretending to be naive was hilarious.

"Maybe he was a lazy bum," I suggested. "Maybe he liked to shave and brush his teeth in bed so he wouldn't have to go to the bathroom to do it."

We both laughed again.

After we finally calmed down, we kissed each other goodnight, and fell asleep, with my head on his chest.

A lot of bad things had happened that day, but, so far, I wasn't regretting the outcome.