The sky split with a deafening crash, the storm's promise finally fulfilled with drops of rain plummeting, needlelike, hissing on the pavement as Aeris pounded away from the house. The smell of damp cement filled her nostrils, almost as suffocating as the dread and anguish that crushed her heart.

Aeris Aeris Aeris

No! No more! I can't, not anymore, I've done everything I can, but this is too much, I can't take it, she thought frantically. Rain stung her as she left the mansion's grounds for the wet grass of the foothills. She slipped, stumbled, righted herself, continued her headlong flight.

Aeris stops Aeris waits

"Please, just stop it!" she screamed into the howling wind." With a supreme effort of will she seized the warm place in her mind and throttled it. The Planet wailed disconsolately; but for the moment she had blocked it, leaving it unable to do anything but keen maddeningly in the back of her mind.

She reached the base of Mount Nibelheim and began to clamber over the tumbled stones, unable to do anything but follow her desire to flee, to fide from the terrible news. The jagged rocks scraped her palms cruelly, and she scrabbled for toeholds, but she continued upward doggedly; perhaps if she could get far enough, high enough, away, it wouldn't seem so bad-

"Aeris!"

The shout startled her so badly she lost her grip, skinning her knee painfully; she glanced over her should in time to see a bolt of lightning light Sephiroth's form in negative silhouette. "Not you too," she moaned, and redoubled her efforts to climb.

"Aeris, damn you, stop!"

Thunder roared again, loud enough to send pebbles skittering down past her. The gale whipped raindrops into her face, obscuring her vision, but she managed to scramble over the last outcropping and gain the brief respite of a flat, muddy plateau. Her foot sank deeply into the mire, and her ankle twisted, sending her tumbling forward. A viselike grip on her bicep yanked her just short of falling.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?" Sephiroth panted, raking his sodden bangs out of his eyes. His grasp loosened, but held steady as she struggled for balance. He grabbed her hip and pulled her upright. "I'm amazed you haven't broken your neck!"

Aeris couldn't believe what she was hearing; her misery and confusion transmuted into blazing fury. "And what a terrible shame it would be if I did! You wouldn't be able to use me in whatever half-baked scheme you have for fighting Jenova! That's all you care about!"

"What I care about is getting off this mountain and out of this damn storm-"

"As if you know how to care at all!" Wrenching free of his grasp, she staggered back toward the rock. "Do you know what it's like to worry about someone? To be terrified of what might be happening to them? Do you know what it's like to lose someone, you cold, inhuman-"?

"No, I am not human," Sephiroth snarled back at her, "and neither are you." The roll of thunder underscored his words. "I don't know what it's like to sit around mooning after someone; I know about duty, and perseverance, and getting a job done instead of whining about it. For God's sake, they haven't even caught him yet-never mind that the rest of your friends are still there!"

"As if they won't catch him!" Aeris sobbed, the hot flush of anger draining away under the deluge. "I know how cruel they are-they'll probably kill the others-"

"They very well may," he spat. "But let me hasten to assure you that bawling on a mountainside won't do a thing to change it. It all rests on you, Aeris-Jenova, your friends, all of it!" Whirling, he pulled a dagger from his belt and hurled it at her. Aeris scrambled backwards much too slowly, but it only plunged into the mud at her feet. "So choose, Aeris, settle it. Play your part and do something about it-or finish it here, for all of us, and spare me your incessant puling."

Numb, Aeris sank into a crouch, her unseeing stare fixed on the knife before her. She was dimly aware of raindrops striking her skin, of Sephiroth's wild green glare, of the Planet's thrumming struggles to break into her thoughts.

It would be so easy. None of it needed to matter; how important could the fate of the world be to a denizen of the Promised Land? Abandoning her friends would cause only a small twinge. They were much more resourceful than she; if they hadn't figured out how to win free of Shinra on their own, it was unlikely there was anything she could to do help.

Or was there?

She looked up at Sephiroth, towering above her with his arms folded across his chest and his hair whipping around him in the near gale. He had never shown the slightest interest in her friends' plight, yet now he threw it in her face. Had he learned something else from Jenova? Had he changed his mind?

Did it matter?

Slowly, she raised her hands to her face. The downpour had washed away her tears, but she knuckled her aching eyes. In her heart of hearts, she knew it didn't. Rescuing them was a foolish idea, probably impossible; but any of them would do the same for her. Had, in the past. She swallowed with difficulty; now even the thought that she had been willing to abandon them to their fates made her feel cowardly, selfish, and small.

everyone doubts

The familiar presence stole into her mind like a soothing balm. She laughed shakily; for a few moments she had even turned her back on the Planet. What vanity!

everyone stumbles

love you, Aeris, love you, always

forgive forgive forgive

Covering her face with her hands, she smiled. People had always marveled at her unflagging cheerfulness, never guessing the true cause for it.

need them

they need Aeris

I know, she thought. And they'll get me. As much of me as there is to give. And as for Cloud…

Unable to finish the thought, she reached forward and pulled the knife from the ground. It was deceptively light in her hand; such a slender, insubstantial thing, and yet capable of so much.

She rose to her feet and met Sephiroth's gaze. He still stood impassively, not even blinking the rain from his eyes, but sparks danced in the verdant depths of his gaze. She shifted her grip on the hilt, possessed by a sudden desire to fling it back at him, and he tensed at the movement; she slipped it into her belt instead.

"So," she said as casually as she could. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

His shoulders sagged slightly, and he let out a long, hissing breath. "First," he said after a pause, "we go back inside." Aeris nodded. He held her gaze for a moment longer, as if searching for something; then he turned and began to pick his way down the tumble of stones. "By the way," he called over his shoulder, "you'll want to clean that."

"But who knows what that really did to you-and then you had to come chasing after me-"

"I am not your pet, Aeris, nor yet your personal disaster area." Sephiroth snorted. "Although I have spent an inordinate amount of time half-dead since meeting you. I'm sure I can survive another few minutes unassisted."

"But the last time-"

"Aeris. If you do not go change into something warm and dry this instant I will do it for you, which I'm certain you'll enjoy a great deal less than I will."

Flushing, she ducked her head. "Fine," she mumbled. "But don't do anything too-too-"

"Go!"

Unwilling to press the issue after that dubious threat, Aeris quickly padded back to her room, leaving a damp trail behind her. A quick search of her back revealed nothing but garments so filthy they'd likely dissolve into sludge if she donned them in her current waterlogged state. Biting her lip, she glanced around the room. She couldn't exactly go back to the library wrapped in the bedspread, but she remembered seeing a few things hanging in the closet.

Rummaging through it, she discovered an ancient men's bathrobe, musty with age and matted from disuse. She frowned, but it was more than big enough, and there weren't really any alternatives. Sneezing, she pulled it out, stripped off her wet things, and shrugged into it. Satisfied that its heavy folds provided plenty of coverage, she swept back to the library.

The beginnings of a fire crackled encouragingly in the grate, and a few cushions from the couch were scattered before it. Sephiroth was approaching them with an array of glassware carefully balanced in his hands as she entered. "I see you haven't bothered to change," she said acerbically.

"I weather better than you do," he replied placidly, settling down cross-legged on one of the cushions. "Come, sit," he continued, setting the glass items out before him.

One of them proved to be a decanter of burgundy liquid, which he poured into two goblets as she sat across from him. She regarded the one he handed her dubiously. "What is it?"

He sniffed at his own. "Cognac." He wrinkled his nose. "I think."

"Oh, I don't drink alcohol-"

"You do now. Consider it medicinal."

Aeris scowled, but didn't see the point in arguing-she didn't want to find out if he'd really pour it down her throat. Remembering Barrett and Tifa taking shots at the bar, she steeled herself and gulped it down-and coughed, sputtering, as rancid sweetness burned its way down to her stomach.

Sephiroth grinned. "Cheers," he said sardonically, sipping his own.

"Oh, my," Aeris gasped, thumping her chest. "It certainly is-errhrrm-warming-oh, no, I don't want any more," she protested as he refilled her glass.

"As you say." Unfolding his legs he stretched out, propping himself up on one elbow, swirling the contents of his glass. He seemed content to stare at the ceiling while she got herself under control, which Aeris was grateful for; it was a struggle not to retch. People do this for fun? she wondered, sniffling.

Yet even after she regained her composure, he peered moodily into the shrouded heights. Uncomfortable, Aeris wondered how to break the silence. After the exchange on the mountain, a light joke was hardly appropriate; an uneasy tension coiled within her, but she could not put words to it. He came after me… to offer me a knife. To tell me to… but he came after me! Fretfully, Aeris tugged the ribbons from her hair and began to untangle the matted wetness of her braid.

Finally Sephiroth gave himself a small shake and drained the remnants from his glass. "So. Jenova is in Midgar."

Aeris looked up. "So… so it worked, then? I mean, obviously it worked, but…"

His lips quirked. "I would hardly describe the experience as anything similar to acting as a celestial compass, but yes, I made… contact." He shook his head. "It was… well, it was informative. She wants to go home."

The tone of his voice chilled her. "Home?" she asked, taking up the goblet and rotating it in her hands. Nervously, she took another sip.

He nodded slowly. "I think that's it, anyway. She is difficult to understand. She needs a wound to infect; she wants to use the original one she made long ago, when she arrived on the tail of a comet and fell to earth. The North Crater."

anathema

blasphemy

anathema

Aeris started at the vehemence, the blistering venom of the Planet's response. Ancient, implacable fury surged through her mind, setting her nerve-endings ablaze with a righteous, overwhelmed rage that was not her own. Her hand clenched the glass so hard she thought it must surely shatter.

devourer

killer

deceiver

And then, just as suddenly, it was gone, leaving her achingly bereft. With a shudder, she unwound her fingers from around the goblet and carefully set it down, then pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples.

"Your voice didn't like that, did it," Sephiroth said quietly. "Bad memories?"

"S-something like that," she replied shakily.

"Your eyes flared."

"Enough about my eyes!" She squeezed them shut, willing her headache to subside.

as they should be

propriety rightness beauty

Enough, she thought wearily. Enough. There is still only so much I can worry about at once.

"Aeris?"

"What?"

"If you lean over any further, you're going to set yourself on fire."

With a jerk, she straightened, suddenly aware of the roaring blaze of heat that bathed the right side of her body. She shook her head, trying to orient herself. "Alright." She took a deep breath. "We don't have to worry about the Northern Crater, do we? Why would anyone take her there?"

"A good question, but not necessarily one that applies. I am not the only one alive who partakes of her essence. These others will not be able to resist her as I do; they are flawed. She can make them do as she wishes." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't think it matters, though; just melodrama… ritual. All she really needs is a place where the mako flows… a reactor, a natural formation, anything like that."

"So she doesn't even need to leave Midgar." She blinked muzzily. "She could… could do it right now."

"No." His eyes gleamed with more than reflected firelight. She wants me. There are others, as I said, but she doubts their ability to do… whatever it is. I'm not certain. It's something poisonous, something devastating… and it requires a suitable sacrifice."

Aeris smiled wanly. "So we really are in the same boat. Where does that leave us?"

"In need of assistance. She is in Midgar. Your friends are in Midgar. It seems a good place to start. It would be an even better place to finish."

She stifled a yawn. "It just seems to easy. And… she wants bother of us-either of us-near her at the Lifestream… but that's where we need to take her…" She struggled to finish the sentence, but her train of thought had been utterly derailed. It was difficult to keep her eyes open.

Soon, even that was impossible.