Path of Seduction

Chapter Thirteen

"WAKE UP!"

Pain raged forth from a place deep inside Sephiroth's mind. He blinked blind eyes and gasped for air. Pain, there was so much of it he could not think, could only feel his heart tightening sharply in his chest as Mother battered his consciousness. A lesson his body had learned in childhood took over. He forced himself to breathe deeply. It cleared his mind as much as was possible but any chance of returning to sweet dreams was gone.

He sat up in the near darkness to let the blurriness subside. The early morning air hit him, cold and sharp where he had lost contact with the warm, young woman at his side. He looked down at her, though he struggled to keep his eyes open through the throbbing in his head. She was so calm in her sleep, pink and pale in the weak light. Sephiroth almost whimpered. So much pain, there was so much, and he did not want to leave, though he knew he had to. The sun would rise soon, he could feel it, and Mother was only doing what any caring parent would. He leaned down towards the sleeping angel, intent on giving her a parting kiss.

"LEAVE NOW!"

The pain was red-hot inside and it spread through his body like lightning. No time for a kiss, then. He had to go or he would certainly die from the strain. He blindly reached for the hilt of his sword as he crawled towards the opening of the tent. Stiff fingers fumbled with the zipper. The man did not even hear it open. The hammering inside his skull was too intense. Mother was not sparing in her discipline.

The pain diminished by half when he managed to crawl out of the tent. It was easier to breathe there, outside, though the hard ground loomed perilously close. Sephiroth could feel sharp flint beneath his fingers but the sensation was dull. Getting out of the small camp was his first priority. What would happen to him if the puppet caught him in there was nothing next to keeping Mother happy. When Mother was angry, she made him suffer. She beat at the edges of his mind till he was near unconscious and burned his blood till he regretted his birth as much as she seemed to. Strife would only kill him.

He shuffled along, grasping at whatever was nearby for support. That flimsy thing that shook in his hands, that was a tent. He let go and stumbled away, fearful that he would bring the thing down and wake its occupant. He bumped against something solid and cold. It must have been the buggy, but all Sephiroth could see was a red blob. He felt his way shakily along the vehicle's side. There had to be a space at the end. There was a whirring sound nearby. It took him a while to reach through the fog in his mind for Aeris' words about some machine in the back seat.

He knocked his foot against something and had to swallow a gasp of alarm when it moved with the impact. Instead he snorted in disdain. It figured that the last tent would be a literal stumbling block in his way. All he wanted to do was get out. He made the last step through the blurry shapes before him.

The pain subsided immediately. What was left of it flickered like a weak flame in his mind. He turned to take one last blurry look at the tent he had spent the night in, wistful for the promise of a sweet morning, left unfulfilled. He would have liked to have at least made sure that the covers were over Aeris properly. Now she would wake up cold, alone. Even as he thought it, the pressure in his skull grew. No time for such thoughts, none at all. He turned away, regretting that he could not even be sorry for leaving so quickly.

The red rock rippled before his eyes, but he knew it was only from the pain. He fought to keep his balance, to walk in a straight line. With each step he took, the throbbing decreased. He wondered briefly how far away he would have to go for it to vanish completely. He kept shuffling along, half-blind in the growing light. Shadows flickered in the corner of his eye, dark creatures that struggled for life under the conquering sun. He kept his mind on the scuffing sound his boots made as he walked. Where he ended up did not matter.

Eventually, he became aware that what he felt was no longer pain, only the bone-deep weariness that came from fighting it. Tension trailed down his neck, far down his spine and radiated outward. It was quite a headache Mother had made for him, if it could make his knees hurt. He made an amused sound at the thought. Here he was, half-blind, half-deaf and grey-haired. Any minute now his joints would stiffen up and begin to creak. In fact, there was a groan now.

Only it was not a groan, but a growl, and it was not from him but ahead of him. Sephiroth tensed and blinked, then waited for the blurry shapes before him to come into focus. His hand went to the hilt of his sword even though all he could see were fuzzy, red boulders. The smears of color flowed downwards and coagulated into solid forms. One of the boulders was not a boulder. It was a snarling, red animal with one bright yellow eye.

"What are you doing here?" The beast snarled. Sephiroth sneered.

"I think it would be obvious," he said coldly. "I'm walking." He was amazed that his voice sounded stronger than he felt. He let his hand rest lightly on his sword. Whether he was in pain or not, this animal was no challenge.

Sephiroth adjusted his stance with a fluid subtlety, ready to swing in an instant. The beast growled. It was a deep-throated sound, harsh and menacing. The swordsman watched for the telltale ripple of fur, the coiling muscle that signaled attack. It did not come. The animal had only one eye, but it seemed to know how to use it. It watched and made no sudden moves.

Ordinarily, Sephiroth would have loved this game of waiting, the watching, the feel of blood waking, rising to sing with the glory of the coming fight, but today, it was just not to be. He had other things on his mind. Like Aeris. The red animal was her friend. Injuring it was out of the question. There were many methods to get an enemy out of the way without causing harm. Sephiroth liked to think he knew them all. He drew himself up straight and let his hand fall from his sword. Let the beast see that he did not intend to attack. He smiled with dark malice as the animal stepped back in uncertainty.

It growled again, but quietly. "I won't let you pass!"

Sephiroth laughed. "So much concern over where I'm going, what I'm doing here." He paused when he finally got his laughter under control. He took a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes at the red animal. "Don't you wonder where I've been?"

There was dark pleasure in watching the beast's yellow eye light up with realization. Shock became quick, angry horror. Sephiroth was amazed, amused that he could read such reactions on a face that was not human. He began to laugh again, hard and long. He felt the breeze as the animal rushed past him, but it did not matter. He had no intention of stopping it.

__________________________

Aeris reached out languorously to the dream that lay beside her and woke to a cold reality. Her hand found only emptiness. She sat up quickly and looked around, but the one she sought was not there. The revelation hit her like ice water.

She was alone.

He had never let her wake up alone before. But then, he had never slept in her tent before either. Who knew what the others would do to him if he were caught, in her arms, no less? Aeris shook violently and could not tell if it was a shudder or just a shiver in the cool morning. She looked at the space beside her, at the thin fabric with wrinkles pressed flat by the weight of a dream. A slow sadness unfurled from deep inside her and all around her. She smiled then, and patted the ground at her side, more to thank than to comfort the Great Mother who mourned with her.

"Wake up! Everybody! Are you alive in there?" Red's voice, it was Red's voice and there was so much anxiety. The worry nearly threw Aeris to the ground. Other voices joined his, babbling and complaining. The rest of the group was waking up. The girl struggled to make sense of their words.

Yuffie was the loudest. "What's going on?"

"You're okay! Sephiroth was here! I went for a run and met him when I was coming back!"

"What in the hell?" Barret yelled, his voice hoarse from sleep. Aeris heard Yuffie echo the gruff man's sentiment, felt a wash of concern from Tifa. The Ancient reached for her boots. She was still struggling with them when she heard Cloud speak.

"Are you sure he was here?"

Red's answer was harsh. "His stink is all over the camp. Over here." Aeris could hear the soft thump of his feet as he walked. "Over here too. He had his hands all over the buggy."

"That bastard!" Cloud growled. "Did he touch anything else? Is everyone alright?" Aeris felt her heart thud the very moment Tifa spoke.

"Where's Aeris? Oh gods, where is she?"

Aeris froze. What could she do? If Red could smell Sephiroth out there, what would her tent be like? She heard the footsteps get closer. "I'm alright!" She called out before she could stop herself. She reached for her canteen to splash some water on her skin. Maybe she could rinse his scent from her body.

"Are you decent?" Tifa asked. Aeris looked down at herself. She was breathing hard and she could feel that her hair was a mess. Her skin was still damp from the water she had splashed on herself and the front of her dress was soaking wet.

"I will be in a minute," she said, thinking fast. "What's the fuss about? Is someone hurt?"

"Red says Sephiroth passed through our camp. He didn't take anything or hurt anybody, but he was here."

"Sephiroth?" The squeak in Aeris' voice was real, if not for the reason the rest would have thought it. She forced down the guilt and tried to block out all the voices. Tifa's words faded to a murmur, one ripple in the pool of her awareness. Aeris did not want sound, or people. She wanted air.

The air inside the tent had a shape, a tent shape. Aeris focused on that shape until she could feel it. Then she could see it, translucent and shimmering. It was not quite as distinct as she had imagined. The planes of the prism of air were blurry. The tent was not a perfect container. She would have suffocated in the night if it was. The air inside leaked out slowly through the pores in the fabric, and the air that was outside leaked in. Sephiroth's scent, the ghostly remnant of man, steel and leather was in the air. It was fortunate that he himself had shown her what she needed to do.

She gathered her will. The air became a tangible thing and she pushed. The shimmering prism lost its shape as it was forced up out of the minute spaces between the threads. Aeris saw a glimmering cloud form above the confines of her tent. It hovered for a moment, then was dispersed by the winds. Any evidence of her guilt was gone. The power blazed through her, intense and invigorating. Who could have guessed that there was as much joy in directing the currents as there was in drifting along with them? No wonder Sephiroth seemed to use his ability every chance he got. So much feeling . . .Aeris flushed at the thought and grinned as she opened her eyes to human sight, ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

There was no air for her to breathe. She could not sigh or scream. She realized too late that she had been so intent on forcing the air up and out of the tent that she had not allowed any in. Her vision returned to her in time to show the fabric walls buckling in on her. The tent collapsed.

"Aeris!" So many voices called her name. She kicked reflexively. The action was enough to let some air in through the cloth. Aeris took the breath she had been starving for. She heard the zipper open and a pair of hands reached in for her. It was Cloud who pulled her out.

"Are you okay?" He held her close to him as she steadied herself. Aeris considered the question carefully. She paid no attention to where she was, whose arms held her or whose eyes saw. She could breathe now. She giggled a little and took a look around. Red was behind Cloud and he only stared up at her curiously, nothing more.

"Wow, Aeris," Yuffie kicked the pegs of the fallen tent. "Talk about lousy survival skills. You can't even put a tent up properly." Aeris turned in Cloud's loose grip to see the ninja and Barret pull the lumpy canvas upright.

"The damn thing wouldn't collapse like that if the supports were any good," Barret grumbled. "Cheap-ass piece of crap. Falling down all over the place." He grunted. "Any one of us might be next." Aeris giggled some more as she freed herself from a grasp she barely felt. She was too giddy with the morning's efforts to notice the sadness in someone's dark eyes.

__________________________

A tall figure dragged himself across the stony plain. The sun blazed overhead and set a fire on the man's skin to replace the one that faded from his veins. Sephiroth straightened and stared all around. He took it all in, the brightness of the light, the expanse of rock, the distance he had yet to go to reach the closest cliff for some shelter from the sun. Under any other circumstances it would not have mattered, but he was weary from dealing with Mother's punishment.

'It's for your own good and you know it!'

Sephiroth winced at the intruding thoughts. "You didn't have to be so rough, you know."

Mother nearly snorted. 'Would you have woken up for anything less? A little while longer and one of those vermin would have caught you. The puppet probably would have cut off your head.' She lowered her voice. 'Both your heads, considering where you lay.'

Sephiroth's mouth twisted and his eyes opened wide. He did not know which was worse, the possibility of being 'disarmed' or hearing such frank talk from Mother. Either way, it made his blood crawl.

"Really, Sephiroth, I must wonder what you're thinking with these days, taking such risks. The child can't be worth all this trouble no matter what power she possesses." Sephiroth kept walking towards the cliff and did not answer. Mother seized on his silence with delicately clawed words. "It's more than her power, isn't it?"

The man made a sound of muffled outrage and hastened his march towards the rock. "It's always been more than that and you know it! I want her body. I don't care what you think about it! I'm a man and I will get what I want!"

"So this is how you go about claiming what you desire?" Mother raged. "With flowers and . . . and love notes and DINNER? You're acting more like an infatuated teenager than a man!"

Sephiroth paused when he heard her tone. He weighed her words for a long while. Then he burst out laughing. Mother was raving, ranting over his pitiful attempts at romance. "Oh, Mother," the man grinned as he seated himself on a rock to catch his breath. "Why are my sorry efforts bothering you so much? I'm not half as worried." He leaned back on his hands to let the glorious sun light his face. "Last night's little disaster notwithstanding, I think it's going quite well."

Normally Mother would have blasted his skull with pain for taking such a flippant tone with her, but the morning's battle of wills seemed to have exhausted even her great reserves. Sephiroth had never known her to intrude at all when Aeris was present and had surmised that it was impossible. He smiled as the sun warmed his cheeks and considered that perhaps it was merely difficult and draining. It was something worth knowing.

Mother's voice was cool and sharp. "I think we need to clarify just what 'it' is, Sephiroth. What you're doing to the girl seems to be more of a courtship than a seduction."

Sephiroth laughed again. "It's all the same thing, isn't it?"

"I wonder at your motivation." Quiet words, softly poisonous.

The green-eyed man did not notice. "It's the same as it always was, Mother. Claim her body and her ability for our cause." He paused to reflect on the simplicity of that goal. The path seemed as clear as the blue sky above. "And if I happen to enjoy her company as well, all the better."

"There's more to it than that, I fear," Mother hissed. "Much more, and you can't even see it."

"See what?" Sephiroth asked lightly, too calm and assured now, too immersed in reflections of his plans for the future to seriously consider the deeper meaning of his Mother's words. His mind took a sudden turn in direction, but went down a narrower, hidden path instead of the one that lay straight ahead. "Mother! You're not jealous, are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Mother shouted and barred the way. Exhausted as she was, all she could muster was a dull pressure inside her son's mind to urge him away from such thoughts. He obeyed, but only because he was too lighthearted at the moment to push the matter. He immediately busied himself with images of the woman-child he had left behind. It was amazing how the mere thought of her brought the same soothing ripples inside him that her touch did.

He straightened up and began to pull off his gloves. He wanted to feel the sun's warmth on his bare hands. He had never been in the habit of paying too much attention to his surroundings, other than to map an escape or note potential danger. Now he wanted to touch the sun. What did it matter if it burned? Other things burned worse.

He leaned forward to look around. At first glance there was nothing but bare, red rock. He wondered if his emerald-eyed girl could possibly find this place beautiful. She seemed to think all nature was, so perhaps she did. He wished he had thought to ask her the night before. Everything was new and fresh to her. He closed his eyes to picture the look on her face, the wonder and delight with which she faced the world. How did she see this place? The eyes he opened were not those of a jaded warrior.

He saw the riot of warm colors in the majestic pillars of stone. Time and the elements had carved this small portion of the Planet's skin into a child's ruby castle. It took his breath away. Life, life was all around. Even if he could not see it, he could feel it, almost lay a hand on it. Some part of him longed to leap out of his skin and touch the surge of Planet life below. The desire welled up in him to connect with everything he felt around him. He let himself slide to the very edge of his consciousness. He pressed himself hard against that wall, pushed harder, slid past it, and felt himself float slowly down.

He rose, giddy in the stream of life and subtle thought that he felt around him. Was this what it felt like for his lovely girl? Her mind had flowed around his in almost the same way. It was simply incredible to think that this shining place had been within his reach all along. How could he have left this part of his awareness unexplored? Perhaps it had not always been there. Perhaps she had opened the way for him while she had guided his mind the night before.

He grew aware that his body moved and he could see the way the flood of life responded. Little ripples, large waves, all flowing out, ebbing in. Life was a tide, a stream, and it rushed all around him. He could see the currents, swirling rapids of blue and green. He felt the soft push at his back. He walked, following the flow. With this sight, his path was clear. He drifted along, aware of the dark wake he left behind him.

Small knots of brightness lay around him, tight knots of light where the life had gathered strongest. They glowed and moved and grew, grew so bright that their shapes could not contain their light. The man watched the brightest - the oldest - burst wide open. Life erupted forth to rejoin the stream in a joyful dance, despite the empty shells of dark shadow they left behind. What concern had life for shells? Their shining was glorious but at the end of it all, they were vessels, nothing more.

The fluttering patterns of light drew him in like a moth. One structure in particular attracted him. It was not like the others that merely contained life and multiplied it until they burst. It did not swim along the currents. Threads of green light from the stream worked their way up its form, twisting and twining until they finally spread out in a broad sweep. They formed an intricate pattern, one that swayed gently despite the surrounding rapids.

Life leaked from this shell. The tiny threads spread, coiled, brightened and eventually seeped from invisible pores and yet this vessel showed no sign of breaking. It took from the stream and gave back without extinguishing itself. The man had no idea how long he stared at it, lost in child-like wonder as he was. Near the top of the swirling light, life gathered in a tight, glowing bud, one that would blossom forth to create more life. Sephiroth reached out to touch it. The sight of his hands made him stop.

His hands were empty voids against the glowing backdrop. He stared at them, front and back, unable to understand. He looked down at himself. He was a dark hole in a bright world. There was no light in him. He reached down to touch the stream and for the first time noticed how the light recoiled from him. It flowed all around him, but not through. Every other living thing could commune with life. Why couldn't he?

His heart sank fast, rekindling his awareness of his physical body. He reached out desperately for the shining jewel of life before him and though his dark hands cupped its form, he could not feel it. He was excluded. He was not like the rest. He did not belong. He wanted to rail at the unfairness of it. He wanted to touch the light and have a part of it for his own, to be like everything else around him. What curse did he bear to be denied this?

He tried to grasp the bright strands around him but they flowed away from his hands. The pool of light brightened around him, as if that living ocean wished to cover him. He tried to cup the light again, but the flow turned to nothing in his grasp. There was a rapid pounding inside him. Distress could still reach the body that felt so far away. The strands of light surged around him as if they wished to touch him and infuse him with their brightness, but there was a barrier. Despite all longing, neither could cross to the other side. A strong wave rose, the stream's great final effort to swallow him, claim him. He stood with open arms, desperate to welcome the life force he had barely known existed.

He found himself on hard, red stone again, in the shadow of the cliff he had set out for. One knee trembled and he sank. The Planet had thrown him out on the dim shores of the physical world. Sephiroth bowed his head. His chin felt sharp against his collar bone. He struggled to stop shaking but he could not dispel the tightness in his chest.

He had always known that he was different, but he did not realize just how deep that difference ran. He had never imagined that differences could run so deep. He was alone. It should not matter as much as the deep anguish that sat inside him seemed to indicate. He had always been alone.

He would always be alone.

It was a deeper pain than anything Mother could inflict, to be forever separate from every living thing on the Planet. The blue sky paled above and daylight began to fade. Dim shadows crept out of their hiding places again as the man knelt contemplating his cold future. Alone, being alone, that was not so unbearable. He had hardly known anything else . . .but this sudden knowledge, this certainty that there would never be anything else for him . . .that was loneliness. It weighed down on him so heavily he thought it would crush him to death.

He almost wished it would.

He held his bare hands up before him and stared at the blue-green lines beneath the pale skin. He knew the blood that ran in them was as red as anyone else's. He did not want to think about what taint ran in his veins to so thoroughly hide whatever light might have once been in him, make him an outcast, rejected even by the Lifestream. He breathed deeply again and pushed the thoughts away.

There was a plant in front of him, a common dessert plant with thick roots and gnarled branches. Its succulent leaves were made to hold precious moisture. He was surprised for a while. This was what had caught his attention before. This was the shining thing that took and gave life, and the shining gem was only a large, white bud on its branches. He recognized this plant from his readings. He knew its name, those of its botanical relatives, the temperatures it needed and the type of soil it grew best in. He had learned all this years ago.

Today he had learned that this plant was luckier than he could ever be. He shut his eyes against the hurt. Already, the image of flowing, soothing life was slipping from his memory. There was only darkness behind his closed lids. He opened his eyes again, unable to bear the emptiness. He reached out and caressed the white bud. He could feel it now. The unfurled petals were smooth and waxy to the touch.

It was a sturdy plant, as any desert bloom would be. The flower would not open till it had gathered enough moisture. It was far from the most glorified of blossoms. Its petals were few and simply arranged, but it could survive. It was alive and it would go on living in some way even after it surrendered its shining.

Sephiroth cupped the large bud in both hands and knelt over it for a long time. He forced his pulse to be steady and kept his breathing even. His head bowed under the weight of the grief he refused to give free reign. His forehead touched the petals. Briefly, the life that flowed through them rushed up to meet him, as if to bestow a comforting kiss, but the sensation was fleeting. The man half-wondered if it had happened at all. It was such injustice, so much cruelty, to show him the full extent of what could never be his.

He swallowed the pain and drowned it in his own fire. His hands began to shake with something other than grief. His jaw tightened as he stared at the plant. How dare it exist this way when he could not? Even the folded petals he cupped seemed to mock him. Sephiroth snapped the stem and severed the tender bud from the life that sustained it. He held the thing in both hands and gloated at his victory.

Over a flower.

The rage subsided as quickly as it had come. The man let out a pent-up breath. He was a fool, truly, to be so destructively jealous over a tiny plant. It lay in his hands, heavy with a promise of life that would now go unfulfilled. Sephiroth's regret was as fleeting as his rage. What was done, was done. He could not make the split stem whole and could not infuse the bud with the life it needed to bloom.

'Sephiroth!'

"Yes, Mother?" he answered quietly. "Where were you?"

'I was always here, boy! The question is, where were you!' Mother snapped.

Sephiroth paused, confused and more exhausted than he had been at noon. "I don't understand, Mother."

'I could not reach you until just now. Where did you go?'

"I didn't go anywhere." The man rose to his feet and stepped into the lengthening shadows at the base of the cliff. He leaned heavily against the stone as he walked. "There's nowhere for me to go."

'Stop sulking,' Mother snapped. 'You know exactly where you have to go and what you have to do.' Sephiroth made no reply. He ignored the slow, growing burn of Mother's presence in his mind as he slid along the foot of the cliff in search of a place to stop. It would be several hours before true night fell and without Aeris, he would not be able to sleep, but he had done too much this day. Any rest at all would do.

'It's that girl, isn't it?' Mother grew prickly with suspicion. 'She pulled you away.'

"She did not pull me anywhere." Sephiroth set a forearm against the stone and leaned heavily on it. He still held the dead white bud in one hand. Its firm shape, its surprising weight would not let him forget that he held it still. It only reminded him of his eternal solitude, but he could not bring himself to let it go.

'She must have done something, Sephiroth,' Mother insisted. 'How else could you have vanished from my sight so completely? I could not tell if you were alive or dead.'

"You know something, Mother?" A weak, wry smile graced the swordsman's lips. "Neither could I." He pushed himself off the wall and resumed his journey.

'I warned you about this,' Mother said, and he could almost feel her shaking her head in disappointment, though her presence was beginning to fade. 'She has veiled your eyes and made you blind to sense. She is drawing you in.'

"If that is true," Sephiroth allowed, "would that be such a terrible thing?"

'I warn you again, Sephiroth!' The voice grew colder and fainter. 'If you are not careful around her, you will lose yourself.'

"What is there to lose?" he mumbled. "I am just an empty shell."

'What are you talking about?' The words slid past him, muted and hollow and needing no answer. Mother had slipped from his mind. Sephiroth only wished she had taken his tension with her.

It did not matter. He had hoped to reach the next place that the puppet's group would stop before nightfall. He had almost looked forward to that place. He had visited it often enough in what little time he could have called his own in his previous life. It was a place of learning and he had always sought knowledge. He had learned so much there, or thought he had. Now he knew that he knew nothing. His fingers tightened around the waxy bud that he still carried and just as quickly relaxed. The bud rolled in his slack grasp, rattling in its cage of slender fingers.

Sephiroth sighed and wished he could hold Aeris at that very moment. Her presence was so much easier to bear than Mother's. Near Aeris, grief was not so heavy, light and life did not seem far away. Her body enticed him, laughing eyes entranced him and the quick, eager mind drew him down, closer to her beautiful inner light. With her, he could be at peace.

Or something.

The darkening blue sky seemed to blush as if it could read his thoughts. The horizon was a fierce red bonfire. Sephiroth closed his eyes and spread both arms as he walked. The stone brushed smoothly past his fingertips and he could still feel the sun's warmth, tamed now to a gentler blaze. Without his sight getting in the way, he could almost pretend that what he felt was not rock. Perhaps it was hair, thick, dark, wavy hair. He walked faster so the stone's natural roughness was smoothed by his speed. Yes, it was hair, her lovely hair, free from its braid.

He almost tripped when his fingers touched air instead. He opened his eyes. There was a crack in the rock, a dark crevice. It rose up in the cliff wall to a scant few inches above his head and seemed just wide enough for him to fit through, if he were to set his back against one side and go in sideways. He bent down and peered in. It was too dark to see more than a few feet into the crack but there was a sound like that of waves upon the shore. Sephiroth put one hand into the opening and felt the air rushing past. It was not just an isolated crack. It led somewhere, perhaps to a larger cave.

He stood and debated for a while. It was as good a place to rest as any and nothing that could possibly be inside would be any threat to him. He slipped the unfledged blossom into a pocket, grasped his sword and slid easily into the darkness. He soon found the reason he had not been able to see too far into the crack. After a few feet, it took a sharp turn, then another, and then a few more. He shuffled along inside to ensure that there was indeed solid ground beneath him. He had no wish to fall off a hidden ledge into an underground cavern.

The air was remarkably fresh and he could feel it rushing over his skin. The fissure had to lead somewhere. He was sure of it. Another sound joined the air's mimicry of ocean tides. It was almost like the musical trickle of running water, but it could have just been the imaginings of a tired man.

The narrow crack opened into a corridor. Sephiroth stretched his arms out once more. Both his hands brushed stone. Even with the twin lights of his mako eyes shining eerie green into the darkness, he could barely see more than a few feet in front of him. It was rare to find a darkness that was so complete. It was almost as lightless as he was. He smiled maliciously into the gloom and walked deeper into the cavern.

He felt better already.

**************************

Let me in

Because I'm out,

I know that I am someone.

No one said I was. No one said I was. No one said I was.

Thrown away, have I been thrown away?

Thrown away, have I been thrown away?

-Lyrics from 'Thrown Away' by Vast

A/N: And you have Classic Disney to blame for the previous two chapters. :D This one certainly took the scenic route getting where I wanted it. As usual, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Thanks for reading!