Chapter 25
One hour.
One hour of following Nanaki through dark caverns and down rocky inclines. One hour alone in her head with too many thoughts to contain. One hour of listening to the Planet's fear multiplied a hundredfold this deep inside of it. One hour until they reached Sephiroth.
It did not seem like a very long time.
Aeris could see the blue-green glow growing steadily stronger, and that gave her some hope. Holy was nearby. Holy had answered her prayer despite Sephiroth breaking the White Materia. All they had to do was free it from Sephiroth's spell.
Everything always came back to Sephiroth. There was no getting away from it. They were going to confront him, and there was only one way to ensure that all of them would make it out of this alive: she had to dissuade him from this.
But how could she? How could she possibly find the right words? She had set out the day before convinced that she would know when they reached him, but the closer they came, the more she doubted that. What if when she finally saw him, nothing came to her?
"We're almost there," Cloud said suddenly, and Aeris started.
Almost there? Surely they couldn't be so close. Surely she had a little more time.
Be strong for me, the Planet said, but she didn't know how to answer.
Within minutes they had stepped out into a huge cavern which, at its very center, appeared bottomless. Holy pulsed there above the abyss, brilliant and vibrant, but caged. The magic restraining it seemed almost visible.
And just in front of Holy stood Sephiroth, calmly waiting for them with the Masamune lowered at his side.
There was a pause lasting the instant it took for them to catch sight of their enemy. Then they all started forward.
Some intangible force flung them back, but caught them before they could hit the cavern's walls and pulled them slowly, painfully, towards Sephiroth. They hovered in a circle around him, crying out and struggling against a restraining barrier that felt like it was slowly crushing them. Aeris remained silent and still, fighting to ignore the pain. The Planet's was worse.
Sephiroth surveyed each of them, saying nothing until his gaze found her. His expression was inscrutable, and she found herself noting instead that he hadn't touched his hair since she had braided it. For some crazy reason she wanted to smile.
"It has been a while, hasn't it, Aeris?"
Her friends grew quiet, watching and listening with a tense silence.
"Yes, it has," she answered, distantly surprised at how level her voice was. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Talk?" Sephiroth repeated. "You want to talk? Very well, go ahead."
"Not like this."
He frowned, but released her from the spell.
She hit the ground hard and slowly crawled first to her knees, and then to her feet. "I want to ask you, one last time, to think about what you're doing. Reconsider. There's still time for you to turn back."
"How is there still time, Aeris? Meteor is close. I will soon become a god. There is no turning back now."
She shook her head. "Meteor hasn't hit, and you're not a god yet. That means there's still time. So please, think about this, really think about it. Do you really want to be doing this?"
"You would not ask if you did not already know the answer."
"If you don't want to be doing this, why are you doing it?"
"You know exactly why."
Aeris frowned, her tone growing angry. "If you want to kill off your soul, don't involve the rest of us. You're pretty close already, aren't you?"
"Not close enough," Sephiroth stated without emotion.
"That's right. I presented something of a problem to you. Well, have you remedied that yet? I'm hardly broken, am I?"
"You will be soon."
She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "You don't want me dead, you've said that much." She opened her eyes again. "I am very closely tied to the Planet. Its pain is my pain. Have you considered that when Meteor hits, I may die?"
There was the slightest of hesitations. "You won't. The Planet will not die from this; it will become a part of me, and so your bond will be to me, rather than to the Planet."
"But Meteor will do a great deal of damage to this Planet. What if I do die?"
"I won't let you."
"How could you stop it? It's not a bond that you understand."
"I am powerful enough to get what I want," Sephiroth said sharply, "especially if it is something so simple as your life."
Aeris took a step closer to him. "Isn't that putting a little too much effort into it, though? Does my life matter that much to you?"
He did not reply.
"Sephiroth, please stop this. You don't want it, and it's not too late. Release Holy. It will stop Meteor, it will put an end to your plan."
"And then what?"
"Then... you can come with me. If you stop now, I'll give you one last chance."
He scoffed. "What can you want from me when you have Reno?"
She just barely stopped herself from glancing back at the redhead. "I don't love Reno. He's just doing what you're too afraid to do. Besides, I'll be needing his help."
"You seem to be recovering well enough. What do you need him for?"
Aeris hesitated, then met his gaze and said clearly, "I'm pregnant."
For a long moment, Sephiroth said nothing. He even looked a little surprised. Behind her, she could hear her friends stifling gasps of shock.
"I see," he said finally. "That's why you went to see Hojo, is it?"
She nodded.
"You are a fool. You could have killed it."
"I didn't want to."
He blinked, some of his mask crumbling in the face of those simple words. "Why not? You cannot possibly..."
"Please, stop this," she begged. "You don't have to go through with any of it. You can turn back. You still have that choice."
Sephiroth shook his head slowly, his composure returning. "You are wrong, Aeris. It cannot end like this."
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because I am not like you. I have made my choice, and there is no turning back."
"Isn't that within your power? You say that you're strong. Why can't you change your mind? Is that the one thing that's beyond you?"
His eyes narrowed, and she knew that she had failed. "You still don't understand, do you? The die has been cast. You cannot change anything."
Aeris dropped her gaze, looking at the ground beneath her feet. "Well," she said quietly, mostly to herself, "I tried."
She felt Sephiroth's gaze on her, penetrating. "I will, however, even the odds a bit. I doubt you can kill me, but you may try."
She heard her friends dropping to the ground with cries and grunts of pain, and she whirled around to see them getting to their feet. As soon as they were sure of themselves, they rushed to join her.
"Aeris, why didn't you tell us?" Tifa was the first to ask.
"I wasn't ready," Aeris said quickly, "and now's not the time to talk about it." She turned to face Sephiroth, who stood waiting, Masamune still held at ease. "I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Hope only sets you up for disappointment. You ought to abandon it."
"But then you'd win, so I can't do that now, can I?" Aeris struck first, attacking him with an ice spell which he easily blocked. He then darted forward, raising the Masamune.
The battle had begun.
At first, she moved without thought. The fight had a certain rhythm to it; attack Sephiroth, guard against his counter, aid her friends. Repeat. The attacks varied, the faces were different, but the pattern remained the same. They had formed a rough circle around Sephiroth, as though to bar his escape, and darted in and out of the Masamune's range whenever an opportunity arose. Cait Sith remained some distance back, contributing with the most powerful spells he could manage.
Then Sephiroth broke the circle and brought the Masamune up through Mog and Cait Sith. The blade tore the stuffed bodies apart, leaving behind a useless mess of cotton fluff and fabric. He then turned easily to face the rest of them as they caught up with him.
The pattern resumed, but they all retained a wariness, their earlier ferocity and determination now colored by a guardedness in their movements. It was only a matter of time before one of them grew careless.
The Masamune found flesh this time, cutting into Barret's torso with ease. He fell with a low cry, and Aeris hurried over while the others tried to keep Sephiroth distracted.
The battle now became impossibly real.
She crouched down beside Barret, grimacing at the sight of the wound. She could hear Cloud summoning the Phoenix, and she felt its warmth flow through her body, healing her more minor injuries. But it did little for Barret, and, glancing over, Aeris saw that Sephiroth stood unaffected. She turned back to Barret, but a strong wind spell sent her flying.
She landed hard but quickly pushed herself up again. The other healers of their group were trying to make their way to Barret, but Sephiroth's spells pushed them back.
Angered and afraid that one of them really was going to die, Aeris turned towards Sephiroth. She wove an ice spell and flung it his way, the frozen air hardening into icicles which slammed into the ground at his feet as he leapt backwards to dodge them. She kept up the spell, but suddenly he stopped dodging and retaliated with fire. The flames melted her ice to nothing and rolled onward to reach her. Unable to put up a barrier in time, she cried out as they licked at her bare hands and burned into her coat.
The flames abated as someone else attacked Sephiroth, and Nanaki came to her aid. He helped her to heal her burns as they watched the others.
Cloud had attacked Sephiroth, and the two were locked in a sword fight, but Cloud could only barely hold his own. One wrong step on this rocky ground, and Sephiroth took the opening to cut him down. Tifa was at his side in an instant, ready to defend him, but Cloud struggled back to his feet, getting his sword between them and Sephiroth before the taller man attacked again.
Just as the Masamune began to arc downward, Cid struck Sephiroth with a bolt spell and followed up with his spear. A strong fire spell pushed him back, and Reno, Vincent, and Yuffie rushed past him to attack.
Aeris got back to her feet as Reno scored a hit and flew backwards from the force of an unseen spell. She hurried over to him, and Nanaki bounded off towards Cid.
Yuffie and Vincent pulled back from Sephiroth, and the ninja called out for Shiva. The ice goddess descended upon Sephiroth, buying them all a few needed moments.
Aeris helped Reno get a little ways away and then healed the worst of his wounds.
"How do you think we're doing, 'ris?" he asked.
"I don't know," she answered quickly. "Hard to say."
She watched hopefully as Sephiroth staggered from Shiva's power, but anxiety found her again as he retaliated with fire and Yuffie fell. Vincent cast a powerful spell--Ultima?--and ran to help her.
A bolt spell struck Sephiroth soon afterwards, and Cloud attacked before he could regain his balance. The blond managed to get a solid strike and then leapt back out of the Masamune's range. The ground beneath the swordsman shook briefly, violently, and he barely blocked Cid's spear as it came down on him. He was quick to recover, though, and another stroke of the Masamune snapped the spear in two. A third swing ripped a gash through Cid himself.
Nanaki was nearby, having cast the earth spell, and he bounded to Cid's side. He shook his head and shouted, "Aeris, he needs your healing!" The Masamune swung towards him, and he scarcely dodged its blade. He growled, and stood his ground near Cid.
"Reno, buy me some time," Aeris said urgently. She turned away from him to run towards Cid.
She heard the redhead curse behind her, and then something like, "Okay, how does this go?" An instant later, he was shouting for Leviathan.
The water god slid up through the ground, the torrent rushing with it out of cracks in the earth and just as quickly vanishing somewhere high above them. Reno was charging for Sephiroth with his nightstick even before the sea serpent disappeared, and Cloud and Tifa joined him.
Aeris crouched down beside Cid, sucking in a breath at the sight of him. She laid a hand against his chest, closed her eyes, and began to knit the flesh back together. She heard cries of pain from her friends, and identified them in turn; Cloud, Tifa, Reno, all three were driven back.
Another wind spell hit her and she flew back. She got back to her feet to find Sephiroth standing only a few paces in front of her. Only Nanaki was close; he ran at the swordsman, but a harsh spell tossed him aside. Aeris stood her ground and blasted Sephiroth with a non-elemental spell, but he reflected it back at her, and she went flying again, crashing into the wall of the cavern. She cried out, feeling something snap, and grit her teeth to find the concentration to heal so she could stand again.
She could sense Sephiroth still approaching, and lifted her gaze enough to see Cloud come up from behind him. The swordsman whirled to block the attack, and the two clashed swords. Sephiroth moved still with a practiced and deadly ease, but Cloud with his injuries managed worse than before, clumsy in comparison. He took several hits, but held his ground.
Aeris hurried to heal herself, but wasn't quick enough. Cloud failed to block one crucial strike, and the Masamune tore deep into his shoulder and down his side. Sephiroth brought it around for the final blow, but Tifa flew in from the side, attacking with a fury that made even Sephiroth stagger. Nanaki came to her aid as the swordsman recovered from her initial blows, and the two fought him back.
Aeris staggered over to Cloud and pressed her hands to his blood-soaked shoulder. The Masamune had nearly severed his arm, and she struggled to close up the wound. To her frustration, she was growing tired, and her own half-healed wounds distracted her. Cloud couldn't die here! He and Tifa had a life to start together.
Sephiroth knocked her away with the blunt edge of the Masamune, the force of it making her double over in pain. She threw up a barrier to soften the spell which followed, and struggled to get up. She spotted Tifa lying on the ground some distance away, Nanaki beside her, and fixed her eyes on Sephiroth.
"Godsdamn you," she spat. "Let me heal them!"
"The puppet should have died here before, Aeris," he said, his voice all hard edges. "He lives on borrowed time."
She hurled a spell at him, and he threw one back at her. It only took one more from him to break through her barrier spell, and his next spell hit her full-force. She dropped to her knees.
Suddenly Reno was in front of her, shielding her from the next of the barrage. He grunted and charged forward with his nightstick. Vincent and Yuffie followed. All three of them managed to strike Sephiroth, but all three of them went flying. Yuffie landed hard and did not get up. Nanaki bounded over to guard her unconscious form. Reno climbed to his feet very carefully and stood panting.
Vincent let out a cry not of pain, but an animal roar. Wings ripped through his back and he transformed into a creature Aeris had never seen before, some red-winged demon. The demon threw itself at Sephiroth, and the swordsman suddenly found the battle not quite so easy.
The rest of them took the opportunity to regroup. Aeris, Reno, Nanaki, and Tifa. They healed up as best they could and supported the monster which was Vincent with spells every chance they got. Finally, though, Sephiroth crushed the demon with a blinding spell that felt akin to Holy, something Aeris thought he shouldn't have held power over. The winged thing dropped to the ground and in moments Vincent lay there unconscious.
Aeris's three remaining companions exchanged glances, nodded, and charged Sephiroth in unison. They held their own for a few moments before the Masamune cut them down in turn. Reno fell last, and Sephiroth struck him again once he was down.
He then turned to Aeris. She was the last one standing, she realized, and her teeth clenched in anger and no little fear. They weren't supposed to lose. They couldn't afford to lose. They could not lose.
She attacked him with the most powerful spell she could muster, a weave of ice and holy and lightning, and he stumbled.
And retaliated.
The spell ripped through her and she collapsed. She hurt all over, she was exhausted, and her friends were all dead or dying. They had lost. Gods and Planet both, they had lost. Any will to get up left her in the face of that terrible thought.
"Pathetic," Sephiroth scoffed. "Well, Aeris, it looks as though things are going according to my plan after all."
She opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly she felt nauseated, and her head spun. She sensed a new presence in the cavern, something which made her skin crawl. If not for all the blood in the air, she thought she might have been able to smell it.
Is this... Jenova? she wondered.
Then she heard it, although it felt more like the sounds were being forced down her throat.
Well done, my son. All obstacles have been removed, and there is only one thing left for me to do.
Aeris froze, her eyes widening. Something in those words terrified her beyond all reason. She struggled to get back to her feet. "Sephiroth--!"
She heard him grunt and stagger, saw the light flicker from the spell, tasted it sour on her tongue. She stumbled to her feet and ran towards Sephiroth, who sat stunned, Masamune knocked from his grasp. Aeris reached him just as Jenova cast another spell, and she took the brunt of it for him. It hurt like hell and made her want to vomit, but she swallowed hard and turned to Sephiroth, hastily putting up a barrier. It wouldn't hold for long, but she needed to get a few words in before Jenova rendered her speechless.
Stupid Cetra bitch, she heard in her mind and felt in her gut. Another spell hurtled towards them and smashed hard against the barrier. Her wall withstood it, barely.
Aeris forced herself to ignore it. "Sephiroth, are you all right?" she asked first.
He stared at her, not seeming to comprehend. He looked lost again, like that one lucid moment in the Temple so long ago. "Mother just... She... Why did you...?" He shook his head. "Am I... all right...?" he echoed, and some steadiness finally returned to his voice. "What do you care?"
"I can't beat her on my own," Aeris said urgently. "I need your help. You have to fight."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't, both of us are going to die, and Jenova will become a god."
He dropped his gaze and let out a bitter laugh. "Maybe that's fine. Maybe this is what will finally put an end to me. If I am to die here, let me die."
"Godsdamnit!" she cried, grasping his collar and jerking him towards her with what strength she had left. "I don't care if you want to die. I don't care if you think this is fate. I don't want you to die any more than I want to die myself. You can't undo what you've done, but for the Planet's sake, help me fight her!"
Sephiroth met her gaze blankly. "You... After all that I've done to you, how the hell can you actually care?"
"I don't know!" she snapped, letting go of him. She could feel her barrier spell slowly deteriorating, being carefully picked apart. "Stop wasting time! You can find yourself later."
He nodded and pushed himself up. He removed one of his gloves, touched her briefly,and she felt healing wash over her. She was no less tired, but at least the pain had subsided.
"Thank you," she said more softly.
He did not acknowledge the words, instead putting up another barrier spell just before hers broke down. "I will kill Jenova," he said levelly, the Masamune suddenly in his hand again. "Just back me up."
Aeris nodded and watched him charge Jenova. The thing had strong magic, but he was faster, even though the first battle had surely tired him. Aeris helped when she could, casting spells to buy him time, rushing to heal him when he fell.
She was surprised to feel a little thrill whenever Jenova tried to attack her and Sephiroth darted in to protect her. It shouldn't have meant anything. He had hurt her friends, almost certainly killed some of them. Whatever he did now should not have mattered to her. Besides, they were allies in this one fight. It was only logical that they helped each other. But she couldn't stop that tiny part of her from wanting to smile.
The battle was one long, tense moment. While Sephiroth was fighting, it seemed to stretch on forever, but once he had finally struck Jenova down, it did not seem to have taken very long.
Sephiroth dropped to a crouch, panting. The Masamune disappeared. Aeris slowly made her way over to him, but found nothing to say.
"I suppose it's all over now," he said.
The tone of his voice relieved her. She had thought for one terrible instant that maybe he would just go on with his plan, now that Jenova was not there to stop him.
"What a fool I was," he went on in a murmur, "to follow that bitch. What a fool I have always been. I only wanted out of this life, somehow. You've ruined all my chances for that, Aeris. I shouldn't be able to feel anything anymore, but you... Godsdamnit."
Aeris still did not know what to say. Part of her wanted to comfort him, but part of her was convinced that he deserved this. "Sephiroth," she said softly, "you need to release Holy. Anything else can wait."
He glanced at Holy in the cage of his spell. "You'll have to get out of here first."
"How? There's no way I can make it back the way we came, and I'm not leaving without my friends."
Sephiroth was silent for a moment. "...let me try something."
"Try what? What are you doing?"
"Quiet."
She did as he asked and waited. Several minutes passed before she felt anything happen. It was a jarring sensation, one of displacement, and for a moment she felt that she did not exist.
Suddenly she was back on the bridge of the Highwind. Sephiroth was beside her, and her friends lay scattered about the floor.
"What the--?" Reeve exclaimed, starting towards her and faltering on seeing Sephiroth.
"It's all right," Aeris said wearily. "He brought us here; I don't think he'll try anything. Just get us out of here."
"R-right." Reeve spoke quickly to the pilot-in-training, who guided the Highwind away from the crater.
"Now let Holy go," she said to Sephiroth.
He nodded. "It is free." He looked on the verge of collapse. Considerable effort must have gone into bringing all of them here.
Aeris didn't feel any stronger, but she made her way to the broad window at the front of the bridge. She could see Meteor looming huge to the south of them, far too close to the Planet. The Highwind rocked, throwing her off balance, as Holy rushed by beneath it. She steadied herself and watched it streak towards Meteor. It looked like it would make it.
Sephiroth spoke up from behind her, resignation in his voice. "If you want to kill me now, Aeris, go ahead. I will not stop you."
She turned around, frowning. "I thought I told you, I don't want--"
"Then you really meant it? You didn't say it only to gain my help?"
"I meant it."
He shook his head. "I don't understand you, Aeris. You have no further use for me, and you should hate me. You were right about Jenova. You were almost right about me, but you put too much faith in me."
"I never thought you'd give up without a fight. I thought we would have to kill you, but there's no need for that now."
"Then what would you have me do?"
"I don't know." She stepped away from the window, seeing Reeve crouching down beside someone, trying to heal them. Her friends were all... Gods, but they were in bad shape, and everyone had someone or someplace they needed to get back to. Barret had Marlene. Cid had Shera. Nanaki and Yuffie both had homelands to protect. Vincent had found good friends among them. Cloud and Tifa had each other. Reno had... her.
Aeris looked around for him and stumbled towards the redhead, dropping to her knees when she reached him. Blood covered half his face and caked his shallowly-rising chest. He wouldn't last much longer without her aid. She gathered the last of her strength for a healing spell, cast it, and collapsed on top of him.