Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Twisted Compulsion ❯ 3 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Twisted Compulsion

Ch. 3

--------------

Aerith wakes and explores

--------------

Aerith awoke the next morning refreshed and feeling wonderful. `I forgot what a great thing simply sleeping in a warm bed is.' She yawned lazily and sat up, the blankets slipping of her shoulders. She quickly pulled them back up. `Burr! God It's cold again. I guess the fire must have gone out in the night.' Aerith turned her attention to the fireplace to confirm her thoughts. `Yep, it's out…' Her eyes then caught sight of the still sleeping Sephiroth wrapped in blankets. She felt fear again. Part of her felt ashamed of it and another felt justified for it. `He did kill me but it's been a night and I'm still alive, actually I'm alive because of him… And he's alive because of me… and because he killed me…' Aerith sighed heavily and brought the blanket up to cover her mouth. `He could've killed me… during the night… maybe his insanity was because of that monster…. I know Cloud's outbursts were because of Jenova, so what's to say Sephiroth didn't suffer the same thing?' At the thought of Cloud Aerith felt something tug at her heart. `Cloud… What is to become of you? I don't even know if what I felt for you was true love after watching Tifa. Poor Cloud, why can't you see she loves you with all of her heart….' Aerith shivered again. ` I guess I'd better light the fire myself, who knows when Sephiroth will wake up…'

She wrapped her blankets tightly around herself and hopped out of bed. She really did not want to leave that nice warm bed. Aerith waddled over to the fireplace, waddling because of all the blankets. Upon reaching Sephiroth she silently cursed the man, she'd have to shed a few blankets in order to get to the fire place with out tripping all over him. `Why'd he have to sleep so close to the fire anyways?' Aerith was not a very good fire starter; in Midgar she never had too because her house was powered with Mako and she always just used Materia. She pulled the blanket up and gingerly stepped over the sleeping man, grabbed the box of matches, and went to work. She frowned as at the un-corruptive flames which refused to light for her. Finally after three matches she finally got the fire to feed. She slowly and gently feed it until it began to eat the new log she'd placed in.

Aerith smiled, pleased to have done this task without assistance. `Ok, the fires done so now lets look for food…' she remembered seeing Sephiroth go up to the loft for blankets so maybe there was food up there too she figured. Aerith gingerly made her way back over Sephiroth sleeping form and over to the ladder. Much to her disappointment she had to shed the rest of her blankets, spare one, to make it up the ladder. She crawled onto the loft and began looking around. After a few minutes of crawling on her knees she found a buddle of dry fruit. She happily grabbed it and stuck it under her arm, climbing down as safely as she could. She hit the ground with a thud that caused Sephiroth to suddenly wake. He lifted his head and turned toward Aerith who still stood by the ladder biting her bottom lip. “Sorry…”Aerith said, holding up the buddle of food to her chest and holding her breath fearful of Sephiroth's reaction.

Sephiroth just stared at her through sleepy eyes, grunted in response, and went back to sleep.

Aerith let out her breath and relaxed. `I guess he doesn't have any problems sleeping.' She then went to the table and set the buddle down. It was square and wrapped in brown paper with the words, “DRIED FURITS” scrawled on it in black marker. She quickly unwrapped it and was pleased to find several different kinds of fruit in individual plastic wrapping. All dried but still looking tasty. There were apples, cherries, raisins, and many others. Aerith picked up a packet of raisin and began eating them as she examined the cabin, she hadn't really done it last night she was too cold and tired too. She noticed her muscles still ached from their trek in the snow. She guessed part of it was the face that she was alive again. Either that or she was just horribly out of shape.

She wandered over to the cabinet where she had found the scissors and looked through everything. Aerith was a nosy person generally so if she was going to be living her for a bit she wanted to know up and down as soon as possible. `Living here? I hadn't thought of that….' She looked back at Sephiroth who was still asleep. `I'm going to have to live with him…? Well I did live through one night but still… locked in a cabin with the man who killed me… and save me…uhg... I keeping going around in circles…' Besides the cabinet and loft there wasn't much to look at. That cabin was old, creaked in the wind, and very dark. Which must have been because the windows were all covered in snow, but besides that the wood was just dark and the whole place had an unappealing atmosphere. Not a home at all. Aerith had a feeling she would have many a long and boring days here since she wouldn't be able to do her favorite thing, gardening. She sighed heavily and thought she might as well scavenge around in the loft for a bit.

--------------

Dreaming of demons

--------------

After Aerith's rude awakening Sephiroth went back to sleep and was having a dream. It was like the ones he had as a child when Jenova was yet unknown to him and her meanings and thoughts were lost on him. He was standing in pure black nothingness. There was no up, or down. It was all black in every direction. He heard it soft incoherent whispers, so close to his ear he swore to have felt breath on his neck. He spun around and was greeted by darkness. Again the whisper and breath on his neck. Sephiroth spun around again, nothing. He felt his heart beat speed up; it's beats seeming to echo off the endless blackness. The voice began again but this time it seemed to coming from the darkness becoming louder and louder until Sephiroth had covered his ears from the pain. Suddenly it stopped and the voice began clear as a bell. It echoed strangely and was not the voice of a woman or a man.

“I am not dead, I can never die…

I am your life and your insanity…

I am your joy and your pain…

I am inside of you…”

All the while as the voice spoke Sephiroth felt a pain in his head, like a migraine, a sharp and needle like pain behind his eyes growing.

“I live within you… my son… without me your are NOTHING…. As long as you live I will live… you shall never die my son… my host….”

Cold, large, claw-like hands grasped Sephiroth shoulders from behind and a scream sounded right in his ears.

Sephiroth sat bolt upright; sweat beading of his face and a shocked Aerith kneeling in front of him looking frightened at his sudden awakening.

4-24-05 edited