Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Apotheosis ❯ Confusing Tales ( Chapter 9 )

Aeris shivered, pulling her thin red jacket around her shoulders and edging closer to the fire. Though it was spring, the cave was at an elevation high enough to be chill, and the fire did little to dispel the bite of the wind or the damp from her plunge into the pool. It had guttered low; she wished she could coax it higher with a materia, but the afternoon had left her utterly drained. Tired, weary to her bones, she hugged her knees to her chest and leaned back against the rough stone wall. An errant gust chilled her; her dress was in tatters from the knee down, but she was too exhausted to rearrange it.

sorry Aeris needed to use Aeris couldn't touch

A warm, ticklish feeling began to flow from the base of her skull and spread slowly through her weary form; the Planet's way of apologizing for its abrupt seizure of her talents. She frowned slightly, reaching up to massage her neck. Never before during the many healings she had performed had the Planet responded so, its power crashing through her like a tidal wave, spilling its icy flow into the seizuring man.

But then, I've never had to do something like that.

She watched him as he lay, utterly still. He had changed little since he shut the gate on her that night long ago; hair a little longer, features a little leaner, he looked haggard and drawn… but he slept peacefully.

Did I really almost… did what he say really almost happen?

so sorry Aeris Jenova slept and slept

But how? she cried. How could it enter through me?

The Planet responded not in words, but images. The familiar green glow, girdling the earth; a smaller, brighter shoot of green darting into it--and another grayish brown dart plummeting from the sky, entering the same spot. Soon it began to spread, and shortly the entire flow was the same sickly color.

Tears stung the backs of her eyes. Can he really kill it?

Yes no maybe

More images; the Lifestream up close, rushing and roaring like a great river; a small, feminine figure splashing into it; the Lifestream boiling furiously, breaking the figure up, carrying the pieces far apart, dissolving as they went.

A sharp inhalation startled her out of the reverie; glowing green eyes gazed at her unblinkingly. "Was that… was that your voice? Those pictures--the green river?" came hoarsely out of the darkness.

She swallowed hard. "That was the Lifestream itself," she replied. And I don't know how you saw it.

He stood up slowly and came to the fire, sinking down across from her. Shadows played across his features, giving him and otherworldly look. Finally he blinked, lowering his chin to rest in his palm. "I suppose this makes us even." She gave him a puzzled look. "I have saved you from your folly twice now," he continued. "But you silenced her--you pulled me back." The light in his eyes flickered out. "…Thank you."

Aeris chafed her hands, looking away. "That wasn't me," she responded. "The Planet itself came to your aid."

"I think you sell yourself short," he said, but did not pursue the subject. He pushed his hair behind his shoulders, reflecting golden in the firelight. "So. I throw her physical form into the Lifestream, and your ancestors will eat her. Very kind of them."

Aeris flushed. "You make it sound so cheap--so tawdry!" she cried, suddenly angry. This vile, self-centered man was the one to bring down Jenova and its keepers? "Doesn't any of this mean anything to you? We are speaking of something that wishes to end all life, and you, you--"

"And I tell jokes," he intoned dramatically, rolling his eyes. The corners of his lips twitched.

Aeris froze; then helplessly, she began to giggle. The ridiculousness of the situation struck her; here she was, in an isolated cave overlooking the ruins of her ancestors' home with a crazed warrior she knew nothing about, her friends captured or dead, having just learned of a threat to her world's very existence--and she complained of his sense of humor! Her giggles escalated into outright laughter.

He watched her quietly, a neutral, carefully pleasant expression on his face. When her laughter subsided, he continued, "In all seriousness, however, will the Lifestream truly do that to her? Her great wish is to enter it herself… this would seem only to expedite that.

Before Aeris could gather herself to respond, more images washed over her--no, them. A human hand; then the view plunged down, diving through pores and skin and muscles. The inside of a vein; but the reddish-blue flow was dotted with sickly yellow obstructions. Soon a flood of smaller white particles swarmed through the passage, surrounding and obstructing their view of the yellow particles; then as quickly as it had come the white cloud departed, leaving no trace of their meal behind.

"So," he said speculatively. "So. That solves that question. I think it will work." His gaze resettled on her. "I am still unsure of a proper place for you, however."

Aeris dropped her eyes back to the fire, nervous again. He wasn't going to kill her, but would he… harm her? She had glimpsed his thoughts briefly during the healing, as she always did; wild, brilliant and strong, yet she had never encountered a personality so closed and focused. Who knew what he might do?

For now, he seemed content to remain silent. Reaching out, he grabbed hold of the sheathed sword and one of the pouches. Unsheathing the katana and laying it across his lap, he removed a whetstone and a bundle of rice paper. He began to carefully hone the blade's edge, buffing it afterwards with the paper. "Your friends are still alive," he said suddenly. "Or at least, some of them are."

Her heart leapt. "Did you see them? Were they alright?" A horrible thought occurred to her. "Did you… talk to them?"

His lips twitched again. "I am missing and likely presumed dead, just as you are." The soft scrape of the stone punctuated his words. "I saw the Turks leaving with them--no, I don't know who, or how many; even I cannot pick out such details at such a height." He licked a thumb and ran it across the fresh edge. "Our orders were to take you all back to headquarters."

She bit her lip, worrying at the question. Ugly as the thought was, why take them anywhere? AVALANCE was Shinra's most visible enemy, why not just… put them out of the way? Questioning? Torture?

Worse?

"Why?"

His mouth hardened. "It wasn't my concern."

Settled back, Aeris continued to be unhappy. He probably was telling her what he knew; he didn't seem to think she was worth lying to. Thinking the way through Shinra's layered schemes was probably just as difficult for him… and Aeris didn't have to fight for control of her faculties. She shuddered; she had lived with the voice of the Planet all of her life, but it was a gentle, friendly presence, always comforting, never intruding; to have it grow cold and alien, invading her thoughts, attempting to dominate her actions…

But her friends were alive, they all were, they had to be, Barrett, Tifa, Nanaki, Cait Sith… Cloud. They were brave and resourceful, but even she realized that without help, they were doomed. She blinked back tears. She was a Cetra, the last of an ancient, powerful race… but she was so weak, so useless. What could she do for them--pray?

Aeris is clever Aeris is useful

I thank you for that, she thought with only a twinge of bitterness. Was this how the man sitting across the fire felt--confused and overwhelmed by events? Was there anything behind the cold, mocking exterior?

Of course there was; she had felt the hot, trembling rush of his power years ago, and it had still been there this morning; weak and flickering, but definitely in evidence. Knowing now what he was, it seemed even stranger--how could someone born of decay itself feel so vibrantly alive? Why did it call to her so? "You never did tell me your name, you know," she said gently.

He arched an eyebrow. "And why is that so important to you?"

"I'd like to know who you are," she responded simply, a little puzzled; he seemed unduly disturbed by the question. "Everyone had a name." She smiled shyly, struck by an inspiration. "Even kidnappers."

His brows knitted together fiercely; then he snorted out a guffaw. "I begin to understand your lack of appreciation for jokes," he said wryly, sheathing the sword and laying it beside him. He nodded his head formally. "I am Sephiroth."

"I am very pleased to make your acquaintance," she replied primly, straightening her knees and folding her hands, for all the world as if she were at a tea party. No laughter this time, but his eyes had softened a bit. Aeris bit her lip, judging the man before her as carefully as she could with what little she knew of him. It was a wild hope, but it was the only path she could see to her goal, faint as it was. He seemed as if he meant to do all that he said--that he could do it--and he had never harmed her out of spite… She gathered her courage, then barreled on. "Look, I know you don't need me, but I want to help you stop it. I hate Shinra too--I've spent years fighting them--and they have my friends. I want to help my friends," she finished lamely, dropping her gaze and blushing furiously--she couldn't bear to see the disdain in his eyes. "I won't get in the way--I, I mean, I can heal you, if you get hurt, um, fighting, or if Jeno--your moth--that thing makes you sick again… a-and I speak to the Planet!" she continued with a sudden burst of inspiration. "They won't help you if I'm not with you!"

AERIS

Please, I don't know what else to do, please don't be angry! she thought desperately, looking up to see what effect her last invention had had.

Sephiroth's expression had returned to its normal careful pleasantness. "Really? Are you sure of that?" He leaned forward to rest his chin on his fists. "Tell me, do you remember your parents?"

"What?" Aeris blinked, startled by the strange question. "My parents? Of course I do; my mother is still alive, and--"

"Your real parents."

"Oh." Why was he so curious? Had he ever had a family? Did he want stories of a normal childhood to placate him? "I remember my mother, Ifalna, very clearly," she said slowly, wondering how to choose her words. "She was taken from me when I was very small, though. My father--"

"--was Professor Gast, a scientist very highly placed in the Shinra corporation. Progenitor of the Jenova Project, actually." His eyes danced with vicious humor. "I really gave you only a short version of my genesis, this morning. Jenova's favored child I may be, but I'm quite the mutt, genetically speaking--bits of Jenova, humans… and Cetra. Where did that come from, I wonder?"

"No," Aeris murmured, eyes widening in shock. "He wouldn't have--"

"He did indeed. Conceptually, one could say he is my father--it was he who started the whole mess, at any rate. And there is none other my Cetra heritage could have come from than dear, lost Ifalna." He leaned close enough to reach out and touch her, the dancing flames making his wicked grin look positively satanic. "You and I are practically family. Do you really think your Lifestream would turn away the prodigal son, returned to the fold to do a good deed?"

"No!" she gasped again in denial of what he had told her, scurrying backwards.

YES

A biting gale howled through the cave, momentarily deafening her with the force of its screech. The flames leapt and darted, and Sephiroth jerked back to avoid the sudden shower of embers that flared over him. As quickly as it had come, the wind ceased; a heartbeat later the fire popped out of existence, the wood that had fed it as dry and gray as if it had been out for hours. Aeris hugged her knees to her chest and huddled against the wall of the cave, numb with shock.

Sephiroth seemed galvanized. "'Yes,'" he snarled, springing to his feet and raking a hand through his hair. "Your madness is catching, girl. 'Yes,' it would turn me away, hmm? Good God, even the bloody Planet will have nothing to do with me!" He laughed, a dangerous note of hysteria in his voice, and whirled to glare at her. His hands clenched into fists and seemed to struggle for words as his gaze burned into her. Finally his shoulders sagged and, sighing, he raised both hands in a gesture of defeat. "Fine. Fine. Since I have set myself this insane mission, I may as well see it done 'properly.' Go to sleep," he said dully. "We leave at dawn. She's in Nibelheim." Shaking his head dazedly, he turned and strolled towards the mouth of the cave.

Aeris rested her forehead against her knees, tears pricking the backs of her eyes. Well, I've gotten what I wanted, she thought tiredly, the Planet lied for me. Now what on earth can I do with what I have?

necessary needed must

She choked on a laugh. Of course. What else? Sitting up and rubbing her aching neck, she looked towards the mouth of the cave, but could see no sign of her new companion, save the tracks of his bare feet in the light dusting of the snow falling outside. He wouldn't abandon me without taking his boots. I hope. Sighing, she began to settle down to snatch what sleep she could from the remainder of the night, but her eyes continually crept to the footprints, slowly filling with snow.

God, she thought, as sleep stole over her, my evil twin!