Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Seduction ❯ Chapter Ten ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: FFVII is the property of Squaresoft. I make no claim to the main characters or the plot of the actual game. The original elements in this story are my own. I do not write this for personal gain.

The two-year anniversary chapter

Path of Seduction

Chapter 10

The bed was plain, but very soft, more comfortable than anything she had slept on for a while. The mattress enfolded her, threatened to swallow her. The bedding molded itself around her body like a glove, cushioning every aching limb, but no soft, fluffy bed could ease the pain inside her. Aeris buried her face in her pillow. Despite the warmth of the night in that forested village, she pulled the coarsely woven sheet up around her head. It was all the shield she had to hide the sorrow that had been exhumed from its resting place in her heart.

She had loved him. Despite what she had first said to Cloud, how she had tried to brush it off, she had loved that dark-haired rascal, Zack. True, she had been young and foolishly giddy with the headiness of that first tender love, but he had been one of the few, perhaps the only one, whom she had ever dared to open up to that way. He had not stared at her, or ridiculed her despite the many things she tried to explain to him, the things his isolated mind could never understand. Despite his confusion, she had known he cared for her. He had been such a warm, shining presence at her side. His many letters had been seeds of hope in her heart when duty called him away, till the day came when duty took him and the fragile hope slowly froze in the loneliness that had been there long before.

At first she had thought it only a small delay, but when the days turned to weeks and the months became a year without a single word from him, she knew he had left her forever. She had cried then, much as she was doing now, cried because she thought she should have seen it coming. Why would such a handsome warrior choose to stay with a shy, strange little girl when there were so many grown women begging to satisfy him? She had shed so many tears over his betrayal of trust, then resolved to bury her sorrow deep inside in the hope that it would soften the blow of harsh loneliness to forget his comfort.

She had been wrong all along. There was no forgetting a first love, no matter what the supposed circumstances of its ending. It had been so long before she stopped seeing shadows of him in everything and when she thought she had finally banished them, a yellow-headed likeness dared to walk into her life. Such a painful thing, meeting that fair-haired one. It was like seeing her love clothed in someone else's flesh and blood. It was knowing deep within that he had done his best to return to her and failed.

He had not left her, not of his own accord. Something had happened to him. He had been hurt, wounded, isolated somewhere away from the ones who loved him. He might be dead. Fresh tears sprung to her eyes, their source her guilt at having cursed him so long for leading her on. No, he had not done so. His mother's hidden fears, masked by the tattered hope she clung to had shown Aeris the truth of it. Something had happened to her first love. Within days the ones he cared for, the ones who cared for him had noticed it, and none of them knew the full truth, even now. The pieces were aligned now, but still none dared to put them together and declare that heartbreaking picture whole.

The girl turned over in the small bed to face the little window, open for the fresh night air. The sky was jet black out there, like his hair and the stars, the beautiful twinkling stars . . .Zack had promised to show them to her one day, but never had. Someone else, with hair as pale as his had been dark had done that for her. She tried and failed to stifle a cry at that thought. The pale one plainly wanted her, might even care for her, but what good was that? If anything he was even more likely to leave her in loneliness than Zack had been.

One day Sephiroth would truly remember whatever mad mission he was on and abandon her. Failing that, he would be taken from her, made to pay for his horrible crimes. They shared something wonderful but deep down, much as she wanted otherwise from him, from anyone, Aeris knew it could not last. It could not last.

Quietly, so as not to wake the others, she slipped out of bed and tread gently over the floor. The night air drew her to the window, where she stood with her arms wrapped around herself, more for the shred of comfort than to ward off a chill. She made no sound, but let the tears come and watched as the pinpoints of light above burst into dancing sparks. Sorrow came when it would and she was helpless to stop her tears when she did not even know what she wept for. Was it for the love long gone or the one who might never be?

Life was too abundant here for her sorrow to last long. Though this village had once been as sick and barren as Midgar, the Planet had reclaimed it. The earth still bore the taint of stolen souls but the song of the Planet was peaceful here, quietly beautiful. Aeris felt the mild strains of it wrapping around her body, offering sympathy and comfort. Her tears ceased and she saw clearly again the black line of forest beyond the bounds of Gongaga, distinguishable from the sky only by the scattering of dazzling lights in the heavens.

She sighed at the wonder of it, regretting that she could not pick out the figures Sephiroth had shown her. Perhaps he would show them to her again, if she asked. The Planet's presence grew warm inside her as the thought crossed her mind, and the deeper longing that sorrow had suppressed made its existence known once more. She ached for the feel of his arms around her, for the touch of his lips, for something deeper she would not admit to herself. It was painful, wanting him and not really knowing why, wanting him and not having him, wanting him and fearing that he would abandon her, leave her desperately lonely. The memory of his dream form enhanced her longing and threatened to make her weep again.

The Planet caught her emotion up in itself, using the thread of it to lead her as it had before. Aeris drifted along willingly, lost in thought. She was almost to the door of the rustic inn when she returned to herself, wide-eyed and barefoot, but she knew exactly where she had to go. The Planet had shown her the way.

She slid out the door, closed it with care to prevent being caught mid-flight and then she ran as fast as her bare feet could take her over rough ground in the dark. She had only the starlight to guide her and it was hardly any use once she reached the thick canopy of the trees. She needed no light anyway, guided by the Planet's tie of pure emotion. She hurried along, feeling that familiar coil deep and low inside her. Threads of it wove their way through her body, spinning upwards to pull at her mind and cutting her heart with their fineness on the way.

Tears pricked her eyes again. Was this all there was, this aching desire of her body? Was there all there ever would be for them? The burning desire twisted and grew inside her, driving her onward despite the threat of a deluge from green eyes. She could feel the spiraling emotion threading its way down to every fiber of her being. It flowed to the ends of her body and the threads grew taut as the strings of a harp. Base instinct reached out from the center like a claw and plucked the main thread.

The force of it stopped her and she had to press her hands to a tree's rough trunk for support. She stood gasping as the vibration struck the furthest reaches of her body. It was tingling and pulsating and sheer yearning that began at her core and spread all the way to her fingertips. It flowed through her, a vibrant humming that made her entire body resonate with desire, though her mind was still torn by renewed sorrow. She almost collapsed beneath the might of the wild strumming inside her but the scrape of the rough bark beneath her palms anchored her as she slid. She shivered as she stood, fearful that she would lose herself completely to the mad musician's playing. She stared blankly into the darkness for a while, overcome by so much emotion that her knees threatened to give out beneath her, but the pull in her veins was too strong.

One breath and she was flying again, desperate for Sephiroth's gentle touch, for his warmth. She needed his strength to hold her up. She needed his lips to drive the aching from her body. And she wept as she moved, knowing that whatever her body craved, it could never be all that her heart wanted. When at last the near blackness beneath her pale feet gave way to a deep silvery blue she darted through the brush and ran straight into the arms of the one for whom she pined.

He wrapped her in the warmth she had dreamed of since that night on the beach when she had first lain at his side. Large hands moved slowly up and down her back, pressing her to the broad bare chest. She welcomed the closeness, grateful for a place to rest her cheek as desire flared through her body and called to her lonesome mind.

Sephiroth buried a smile in the girl's dark hair as his hands moved hungrily down her back, eager for the feel of her supple body beneath the thin cloth of her dress. She would be just as eager for his touch by now. He was sure of it. He had seen her pining, felt her joy at his presence even through the barriers of her mind, where there could be only truth. He was ready, anxious to erase all memories of the dark-haired one from her mind. She still thought of that one even now, he could tell, but that innocent remembrance would go out like a candle before the flames he would soon rouse in her.

She was not wearing her jacket, he was pleased to note, and her pale shoulders were beautifully, temptingly bare. Sephiroth leaned closer, filled with the urge to taste each one in turn. Hot wetness against his chest stopped him, made him draw up short.

Her damp tears were on his skin, cooling rapidly in the night air. Tears for that other one, Zack. Silently, he cursed the name, viciously angry that the woman he desired so badly could still so openly feel for one long dead. He tensed and his body shook with rage even as he held the slender woman in his arms. Before he realized what he was doing, his arms tightened around her, exerting only a fraction of their crushing strength in his jealousy.

Luck was with him. She mistook the force of his hold for extra comfort and brought her own arms up to wrap them tightly around his waist. She tilted her head to look up at him and as he caught the look of sad relief in her eyes, his jealousy faded. There was sadness for that other one in those green depths, but something for him too. His arms loosened, though he kept her close, unable to tear his gaze away from the starlight that danced in her eyes.

He brought one hand up to brush dark wayward wisps away from her face and watched, entranced, at the way her lower lip trembled. He was a hair's breadth away from claiming them when she spoke.

"Don't leave me," her voice wavered and her entire body shook in his arms with fine tremors. "Please, Sephiroth, don't leave me alone!" His name on her lips with such a plea made his heart leap in his chest and he crushed the little woman tight against his body once more, this time with the intent he knew she deserved. Her shoulders heaved as he held her and though she made no sound, he immediately realized that she was crying openly, crying out of loneliness for him.

She had been lonely too long.

His chest seemed to tighten at the thought. He kept one arm around her bare shoulders and his face buried in her hair as he whispered his reassurance. "Never, never, sweetheart." The words rushed out in a frantic torrent. "I'll never leave you alone, never." His throat constricted. She was his to claim, his to keep, his alone. He would never leave her to someone else.

He kept his eyes closed but every heaving motion of her body was sign enough that she wept still. Without his realizing it, even with her pressed so hard against him, the dark lusts he had been nursing all day took second place to the reality of her tears. There was nothing he could do but stand there with his arms around her.

Unconsciously, he began to sway, gently rocking her from side to side. Without a memory of his own to draw on, he relied on instinct to soothe her that way, the way a child should be comforted.

Her fierce shaking eventually quieted to a slight trembling. Sephiroth kept her close till her slender body was completely still. She seemed so tiny without the extra height her boots lent, almost too small for the circle of his arms. He stood there and simply enjoyed the closeness for a while, then took a small step back to look at her again.

His breathing hitched at the sight of her face, still streaked with tears. "Oh, sweetheart," he cried, surprised at how easily the term rolled off his lips. "I am always with you." She frowned a little, bewildered at the statement. She did not know how often he watched her through blue eyes. He smiled. It was best she did not know, for now. "One day, sweetheart, if that's what you want from me, we'll go somewhere together and stay there. I will never leave you."

Aeris stared up at him, so full of want that it hurt, but still not daring to fully believe that those words were what they seemed to be. Did he mean what he said? Was he truly offering her forever? She tightened her grip around his waist as her knees trembled. It seemed too perfect to be real, to have a promise of eternity offered to her when she yearned for it so badly, even from this tall warrior she needed for no reason she dared to admit.

She quivered again as desire ran through her body like a low hum. It was as if his words had plucked the strings of longing in her body and set them madly vibrating again, harder than before. She leaned heavily against him with her head tilted sharply back. She struggled for breath, so conquered by roiling emotion that human sight left her. There was nothing left but sheer feeling. All she knew was want for the one who held her. She could feel his arms around her but had no room to care that she could not see his face. She could not see the concern in his eyes as he looked down at her. She did not see their rising heat at the sight of her parted lips.

All she could do was feel the crush of his mouth on hers. Desire flared white hot through every part of her, completely consumed her. Sephiroth's hands burned trails on her body as they moved lower down her back to finally settle on her hips. She returned to herself in slivers, regaining slow awareness of her senses but losing none of the fire the tall swordsman roused in her.

His body was a furnace against her own, wrapping her in a heat that nearly matched the one within her. His scent surrounded her, so intoxicatingly male that she knew she could lose herself in it, and the taste of him as he plundered her mouth only made her hungry for more. His silvery hair brushed her forehead, feathery soft and she shivered despite the heat they shared, her skin grown exquisitely sensitive to his touch. It was almost too much and she had to turn her face away to catch her breath.

Sephiroth continued to lavish his attentions on her despite losing her sweet lips. He pressed soft kisses to her cheek, caught the delicate curve of her ear between his teeth and slowly traced a path down to the lobe with his tongue. She shivered so violently from it that he had to tighten his grip around her waist to keep her against him. Her scent twisted around him, whetting his desire for her. He bent lower to taste her throat and earned a low purr from her. It turned his blood to a stream of flames.

His hands resumed their roaming along the curves of her body, fingers splayed to reach as much of her as possible. When she leaned back from the onslaught of his teeth on her neck, he wasted no time reaching along the space between them to run his hands from her shoulder to her waist. He growled in satisfaction at her stifled cry as his hand swept over the curve of her breast, then reached up to cup her face with both hands, capturing her lips for another burning kiss.

He was almost swept away. Aeris responded to his burning passion with a flood of her own desire. Sephiroth struggled for his footing, half-drowned in the force of her kisses. For one instant, he sensed the pure power that had first drawn him, but it was deep inside her and shifting. The tide of energy within her was turning now from something almost impossibly pure to a warmer, more magnetic force. If anything it drew him to her harder than before.

They stood there, two shadowy figures touched with night's cold blue light, hungrily devouring each other beneath the trees. Sephiroth let his hands slide from the girl's face, down her neck and over those pale, smooth shoulders. He frowned even as he kissed her. The thins straps of her simple dress were in the way, an unwelcome ridge along the line of her body. He was suddenly filled with a burning need to touch every part of her without the hindrance of the cloth between them. A quick movement of his fingers and the straps were off, sliding over the smooth curves to hang limply around her arms. The girl made a small sound of surprise and immediately brought her arms higher up on Sephiroth's back, fearful that the slender straps would slip any lower and take her dress with them.

The tall man pulled away just the smallest bit at her action to take in the sight of her. She held her arms up with the straps she was so concerned with lying across them. She seemed like a bird who had been about to take flight, frozen in time. Sephiroth barely held back a grin of satisfaction at the worry on her face. He knew what she feared, but there was no need for it. His eyes left her face, slid downwards. Her body had all the curves of a grown woman, emphasized now by the way she held her breath to keep the neckline of her dress from slipping any lower. Her dress would not fall to the ground on its own no matter how badly he wanted it to. There was nothing he could do but lend assistance.

He snaked an arm around her waist again to hold her steady while he leaned in to run his tongue along the extra inch of skin the sliding dress had revealed. He relished the firmness of her young body, the way it yielded to his touch. He was drawn to the curves of her breasts, to the shadow between them where the fragrance of her body rose up, sweet and almost childlike in its innocence, like she was. What skin he could reach was as honeyed as her lips and he burned to know if she tasted the same all over.

He felt her hands grasping and twisting the length of his hair. It was just a gentle pull, as if she still had the presence of mind to be wary of hurting him even in the midst of what he was doing to her. Sephiroth growled into her chest, determined to change that. When he was through with her she would not even remember her name. In one sharp move he lifted her clear off the ground and held her against his body with just one arm. She cried out in surprise and he watched, delighted, at the way her mouth flew open as she did so, at the way her chest heaved with her gasps.

He was hardly unaffected. He buried his face between her breasts once more, unable to withhold a deep, low moan. Thin as it was, the fabric of her dress was definitely a nuisance now. He set to work with his teeth, pulling and tugging at the cloth around the top button. It had been quite a while since he had last done such a thing and he found himself unpracticed and clumsy at first, but the knowledge returned quickly and the button was soon free. The second soon followed, then the third and the fabric sagged limply against the girl's body. With a quick twist of his head, Sephiroth parted the folds. He spared an appreciative glance and a satisfied smile for the pale lace undergarment his actions had revealed, then pressed a kiss, just one, right over Aeris' heart.

The effect was electric. She gasped and arched her back, pressing herself even harder against him and he felt her heart racing beneath his lips. His own soared in triumph. No other had ever done this to her, he was sure, and he would let no other have the chance, not when his body screamed for the need of her. He let her slide to her feet again so he could press himself completely against her. He wanted so badly for her to know his need. His grabbed her hips tight and thrust his own against them, crying out from the sensation of her body pressing against him where he needed her attentions most. Even from this, barely on the borders of what he wanted to do to her, he found exquisite pleasure. She reacted instantly, instinctively.

With a sharp cry she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him hard, breaking out of his grasp. He was caught completely by surprise and stumbled back, eyes wide with shock as the air touched his skin. What was happening here? This was not what he had intended. He saw her running away from him and caught himself before he could move to catch her. He stood rigid, flushed with passion and denied release. He clenched his fists in the dark and forced himself to stay still, though he was tormented by the image of Aeris flat on her back in the grass, nude, gasping, writhing. His blood pounded so hard he thought he felt his entire body throb.

There was no room for this if he intended to correct the situation. He needed to make a clear assessment. Through sheer will alone, the mako-eyed swordsman forced the pictures from his mind and looked to see how far the slender girl had gone. She had run only a short distance away before stopping, still in plain sight, but out of his reach. She was a shadow in the dimly lit glade, with her back to him and her arms wrapped around herself, her body heaving irregularly with each shaky breath.

Aeris' mind whirled, full of so many conflicting desires that it was a wonder she could remember herself at all. She stood there, silent but for the sound of her breathing. She had almost let him have her, right then and there. Her body still ached for his touch, even more than it had before. The feel of his hands, his lips on her skin had released the torrents of her desire and she had almost lost herself in the deluge. Almost.

For a while, she had been completely under it, unable to think or feel anything beyond what he had been doing to her, what her body wanted. Aeris' mind reeled at the thought. She had been so ready, so lost at that point that she would have gone along with his actions, with the desire, her own and the Planet's, had the sudden sharp reality of it had not entered her mind as the hardness that made him a man pressed against her body. If any doubts had remained about his intentions, they had been pushed away by that thrust.

Aeris shivered. Faced with that certainty she felt so unprepared. The sheer sensation she had allowed to rule her just moments ago warred now with a lifetime of admonitions and lessons. Her body's wants were steadily losing ground before the image of her mother. Elmyra's words echoed in her mind, reminding her again and again that good girls just did not do what she had been about to. Briefly she wondered if Sephiroth's earlier promise had been one of those tricks her mother had warned her about. The whispered warnings of her Cetra ancestors returned to her, reminding her that she was to stay as far away from that one as possible. Aeris cringed inside. She held herself tighter as she stared down at her feet.

How could she have been so reckless? Why hadn't she considered this before? If she had simply let her body rule her she would have let so many others down. She would have become a disgrace, a shame to herself, her family and her race, all for satisfaction. She knew Sephiroth stood where she had left him, though he had been perfectly silent and still. The Planet still tied her to his presence though she could sense something strange in its fading presence. Was it disappointment?

She shook her head to clear her mind and busied herself with refastening her dress. It had been about to slip straight down to her waist, undone as it was. The job took longer than usual. Her shaking hands could not seem to guide the buttons properly, but she managed somehow. She ran a hand down the front, smoothing the cloth as best she could. She stopped when she reached that place below her navel, between her hips.

It was there that he had pressed against her and her flesh still held the memory of the feeling. It was there that her own desire was centered and in that instant she remembered the way it had flared at the sensation. She shivered again, distressed, and wrapped her arms around herself once more, unsure of what she wanted and how much she could have.

"Aeris," Sephiroth called so quietly to her that she could not discern what emotion lay in his voice. "Aeris." He called out again more insistently. She did not trust herself to turn.

Sephiroth's frustration grew and he slammed a fist into the nearest tree. Aeris jumped at the sound and though she made no other move, he instantly regretted it. He leaned against the trunk to gather his thoughts and heap curses upon the southern clime for being warm when he needed a blizzard to cool his blood. His eyes never left the girl's slender frame.

He breathed deeply and allowed the distance between them to still the rushing in his veins. He saw now that had pushed her too hard. She was so young and clearly innocent. She would not respond favorably to such blatant moves, not yet. He stared at her fraying braid, studied the way it spiraled down to her hips. Her hair had been loose when he had seen her on the beach. The braid with its big bow made her seem even younger than her years.

He shook his head, disappointed with himself. Someone like her was not to be won with crude gestures and openly offered lust, not so quickly. He had to be careful. As he had said, there was more at stake than the simple sating of his lust, though lately, the reason he usually gave did not quite ring true even in his own ears. He knew his offerings of flowers were only a start, not enough to open her up completely to him. She needed more soft words, gentle caresses and most importantly, time.

She might even require a contract, a ring. His frustration faded and he smiled in the dark, amused at the thought. He might as well go through with it if that was what she wanted. Why not? He wanted her and no one else at his side, after all. He wondered if he would be able to find some clergyman to perform the rite. Oddly enough for someone so solitary, the thought of a secret marriage appealed to him. She would be his and no one else would know. It would be something for them alone.

He pulled himself out of his musing. For now he had to be sure that he had not scared her away for good. She had not left the glade completely and that had to be a good sign. He called out to her again.

"Aeris."

This time she did turn, if a bit hesitantly. Her eyes were wide and she kept her arms tight across her waist. He could read the tenseness in her shoulders but there was no fear that he could see in her. Many other things, certainly, but no fear. Her gaze fell to the ground when she noticed him staring. She could not meet his eyes anymore. Sephiroth almost flinched at the realization that he had made her feel ashamed of herself. He stepped forward with his arms hanging loosely at his sides so she could see that he meant no harm.

"Aeris, sweetheart, I'm sorry," he started. She raised her head to look at him then and gave him her full attention, her eyes wide, the green touched with the surrounding dark. "I'm sorry," he continued, suddenly worried that he would sound tame or insincere. "I did not mean to push you. I . . . I . . ." He trailed off, fumbling for the right words. "I want you so badly," he blurted out uncontrollably and cursed himself almost before the words left his mouth. His mind scrambled again to provide what he needed to arrest the damage. He did not even notice that Aeris had shown no surprise at his admission.

"I should not have done that just now, Aeris, and I am sorry." Now it was his head that was bowed in genuine shame. "I do want you, Aeris." His voice was just a murmur. "I still want you but I'll never force you, I swear." With his head down he could not see the shift in her expression at his shaking voice. "I won't push you, Aeris," he continued, "but I can't deny what I feel either. I can only promise you that I won't do anything you don't want me to."

He heard her slow footsteps on the grass, saw her tiny grass-stained feet stop in front of him. He looked up to catch an expression of uncertainty on her face. With the flames that had burned him before now doused by hard-won self control, there was time to take in the quiet splendor of her presence. He watched her slightest move, fascinated by the movement of her throat as she swallowed before speaking.

"I . . . I don't know what I want," she whispered. "I thought I did. I thought I was sure, thought I was ready." Her words spilled out, hushed but hurried. "I . . . sometimes I think . . .I know . . ." She turned her face away, unable to look at him as she spoke, and her voice sank to a tone so soft she would have been completely inaudible had the night not been so perfectly still.

"I want you too." The confession, openly stated for the first time, made it almost too real for her, but for Sephiroth it was a dream. He reached out and took her in his arms, determined not to let her get away again. She jerked a bit in surprise but stayed where she was, stiff and unyielding, as if she feared the contact. He did not care, overcome with joy at her words.

"Oh, Aeris, sweetheart!" He could not keep the joy from his voice though he was careful not to let his hands slip too low. "We won't do anything you're not ready for, I promise. If I get too frisky for you again, feel free to slap me silly."

She did smile then and leaned into his touch. She wrapped her arms around his waist, rested her head on his chest and let him sway her as he had before. "You'll wait for me then? Till I'm sure?" she asked.

"Of course I will, dear one." He pressed a cheek against her hair as he rocked her and at the same time hoped he would be able to convince her not to keep him waiting forever. He did not think he would be able to stand it. He wondered if she would mind much if he did kidnap a cleric. He laughed at himself inside. What a thing to happen, that a confirmed bachelor would think such a thing twice in one night. She certainly was making him desperate, but for all things to come together properly he needed her fully willing at his side and at least under the impression that it had been her decision. He exhaled loudly. "Anything you want, Aeris, if it's in my power to give, it's yours. Anything at all."

She leaned back to look up at him. "Anything?"

"Yes, anything, sweetheart." Now he was curious.

"Will you . . .will you show me the stars again? I looked but I can't find the ones you showed me."

Sephiroth smiled at her again, a bit sadly. She was just so young sometimes, choosing fairytales and bedtime stories over deep kisses. No matter. He had promised her whatever she wanted. He took her hand and led her to the center of the glade where a small patch of sky bright with stars shone through. He frowned. There was not much room to see anything. The patch was too small to show any one constellation. He saw Aeris looking at him expectantly.

"There's not enough space overhead, I'm afraid," he explained. He felt a twinge of guilt at the way her face fell. Just moments after making his promise he was about to break it. And it was such a shame too. Gongaga was not so brightly lit as Costa del Sol and the night sky here was stunning, full of stars that dimmed out of sight in the glare of a mako lantern. Aeris only nodded and pressed her cheek against his chest again. The tall man had just barely managed to catch the deep disappointment in her eyes, but it was enough to kindle regret in his own.

Well, he was the most powerful man on the Planet, wasn't he? What good were all his unnatural abilities if he did not put them to use? He took both her hands in his and brought her arms up around his neck.

"Trust me, sweetheart, and hold on tight." He watched her confusion turn to alarm as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. He grinned when he saw her surprise spark into a hint of familiar outrage in the split second before she realized that they were hovering above the ground, rising slowly. And she had been just about to yell at him too.

Instead her eyes flew wide open. Her arms tightened around his neck as she clung to him. Sephiroth laughed softly and gave her a little squeeze as they floated in a slow spiral up to the leaves. "Don't worry," he assured her, "I won't drop you."

"You'd better not!" She buried her face in his chest.

The feel of her curves pressed against him was heavenly but he could see that the journey distressed her and he did not want that. He wanted her to see how the green leaves, silvered by the lights of the sky, shrunk to nothing as they rose. He needed her to open her eyes. "Aeris, don't be afraid. Open your eyes." The words were a tender stream against her hair. He felt her head move beneath his chin in response.

"I'm not afraid," she murmured. It was not entirely convincing. They were rising through the leafy canopy now and Sephiroth was forced to make small corrections to his course to avoid the longer branches. He felt her tiny feet bump against his shins as he did so and immediately realized how precarious her situation seemed. He certainly was not about to let her fall, but though he did not feel particularly subject to the laws of gravity and motion when he levitated, she obviously did. With her only support being his hold on her, no wonder she was nervous.

With a lightning quick move he swung her, undeterred by her shrill cry, so that he could reach one arm under her knees and cradle her close to his bare chest. After a tense moment she relaxed, secure in his arms. The tall man smiled at her. "Better now?"

Her eyes flashed with mock outrage. "Next time warn me before you do something like that!" Sephiroth could not hold back his grin.

"All right, all right, dear. Mind the twigs."

She stared openly now, unafraid. The sky opened up wide and cloudless above them as they left the forest below. The deep blue ceiling of night was alive with a mass shimmering lights. Aeris almost forgot to breathe at the sight of it. She had never guessed that there were that many stars in the sky, so many that they lit the Planet below with their pale glimmering. It was a wonder the sky could fit them all.

"It's better when there are no clouds or electric lights," the man who held her said.

"You can see everything."

A shared whisper, followed by a shared glance and warm smiles . . .

Aeris rested her head on Sephiroth's shoulder, reveling in the warmth of his bare skin and only vaguely aware of his slow spinning. He did not seem to be moving any higher, settling for a height that was only a short distance above the trees, but he still spun in a slow circle for her, comforting her with gentle motion just as he had before. Aeris closed her eyes, forgetting the stars for a while. She felt the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. With the hand she had allowed to slip from his neck she traced a small, complex pattern of swirls on his body. She could feel the strength in him just beneath her fingertips. She felt the vibration of his voice and leaned in to hear him almost before he spoke.

"There's Daeran, the King." He motioned with a tilt of his head. "He seems to always stand out brightly no matter what the conditions. Aeris lifted her head to look and made a delighted sound when she recognized the constellation. She remembered her first lesson well. All she needed was a reference point.

"That's the Queen over there then, right?" she asked and pointed with her free hand. She almost missed Sephiroth's sound of approval, lost in wonder as she stared at the dazzling spray of lights that formed the woman's hair. She kept looking until Sephiroth's unhurried twirling hid the figure from view.

Sephiroth was so busy staring at her that it was a while before he realized that he had her attention again. He kissed her forehead and continued the lesson with a smile, a real one that made his eyes light up with more than mako. He pointed out the bright constellations she already knew and showed her the fainter ones that could only be seen on a night like this. He showed her Daval, the Great Sails and Sarashura the Wise Woman, who sat in the northwest with a book in her lap. He taught her how to recognize both the Big and Little Chocobos and had a small argument as to whether Aria the Tree was really a tree or a lit up umbrella shape in the sky.

All the while he held her close, leisurely spinning in place, making countless slow circles to show her everything. He adored the way she soaked it all in, bright-eyed and eager for more. As much as he had craved her before, this was enough, just having her slight form in his arms, with that expression on her face and that light in her eyes. It would be enough for now. They were both silent as he turned to the Southern skies again. Rikha, the Little Flame burned before them but he did not point it out. She lay so quiet and still that he thought she was asleep.

It was only when she raised her head suddenly that he realized she was not. "Sephiroth, what's that?" He looked along the line of her arm to where she pointed, a spot low on the horizon, just above the dark sheet that was the ocean.

"What's what, sweetheart?"

"That space there," she said, her face turned completely away from him. "There's nothing there, no stars . . ."

"Oh." He recognized what she spoke of, an odd patch of the dark sky that truly was dark on a night like this. It was a strange shape, formed of two ellipses of shadow just touching each other, with no stars within or between them. It was a rarely seen thing, so low in the sky, and its visibility inherently dependent upon that of the fine mist of stars that defined its blurry borders. He shook his head as he spoke. "There's not much about it in the few Ancient Tome translations I've read. They called it simply 'Darkness'."

Aeris turned back to him. "That's all there was?" He could see her disappointment.

"In the Great volumes, that was all." He tightened his grip on her, the closest he could get to hugging her in their position. "There were other things, random old scrolls, recorded folktales and such." He looked at her face and knew he would never tire of teaching her. He paused for a moment to gather what scraps of information he had to feed her.

"Tell me," she insisted, and he almost smiled again at her impatience, reminded of his earlier thoughts about how young she was, but when he answered her, his voice was grim.

"The old stories say that there were once two stars in that space. Just two, one on each side. One day, no one knows how or why, one of them simply went out, vanished, and the other was left alone. It remained there that way for a very long time." Sephiroth paused again but Aeris, made pensive by his somber tone, did not hurry him this time.

Instead, she wrapped her arms firmly around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder as she waited patiently for him to continue. "The Dark Queen grew tired of seeing the star all alone, so she cast him from the skies to the land below with instructions to find another to accompany him." They said nothing for a while and the infinite Darkness disappeared behind them as they turned in midair.

Aeris' voice held a trace of sadness when she spoke. "He never found anyone, did he? If his place in the skies is still empty . . ." Sephiroth shook his head and Aeris almost sighed. "Then he still roams the Planet, all alone . . ."

Sephiroth caught the flicker in her eyes and hugged her again, then rested his head on her own. "So the tales say," he replied, and his voice barely rose above a breath in that still night, "but if he is still here, he's only searching like the rest of us."

Silence wrapped around them as they floated above the forest, holding tight to each other to ward off the loneliness that had haunted them all their lives. Though they exchanged no more words that night they had the same quiet thoughts, deeply, perfectly grateful for the uncertain, beautiful thing they shared.