Chapter 2
Cloud woke with a start from a nightmare that fled with the opening of his eyes. He blinked slowly, focusing on the room he was in and the soft sounds that filled it. Barret's snoring was, as usual, the loudest, though Cid's was not far behind. Yuffie was tossing and turning in her bed, and Tifa mumbled whenever the girl bumped into her.
Getting up from the floor, he shuffled outside, blinking blearily when he noticed Vincent just outside the doorway. It took him a moment to comprehend that Vincent must have left the room and come out here for solitude.
Grunting softly in acknowledgment, he slouched against the wall on the opposite side of the entryway and stared out at the city. He wanted to go after Sephiroth now. He wanted to get Aeris back. Gods, he was such an idiot, to let her get taken like that, and now... Now he wasn't even sure he'd be able to save her and redeem himself.
He glanced at his silent companion, then looked away. "...you're probably not the one I should be talking to about this, but..."
"You had a nightmare?" Vincent asked coolly.
"Yeah, I guess..." Cloud paused. "Not so much what I was worried about."
The other man waited.
"I almost killed her, Vincent. Just like Sephiroth almost killed her. You can't say there's nothing wrong with that."
"Sephiroth manipulated you, as before."
"I know, I know... That just makes it worse; I can't control it. What the hell am I supposed to do about it?"
"For one thing, doubting yourself will not help," Vincent replied, a bit dryly.
Cloud eyed him dubiously. "What do you mean?"
"If you are unsure of yourself, it will only give Sephiroth more power over you."
He frowned. "Be sure of myself. Easier said than done..." he muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"Talk to Tifa. It would do you good."
"Tifa...?" Cloud asked, a slight edge to his voice.
Vincent glanced at him. "You are closer to her than to anyone else," he clarified, his matter-of-fact tone unsuited to the words.
The blond broke his gaze, not interested in talking about Tifa with anyone, much less Vincent, and sighed. "Do you think Aeris is okay? I mean, Tifa's probably right about him not killing her, but who knows what else that bastard might do to her?"
"We will see."
"'We will see'?" he echoed, a bit angrily. "I don't understand how you can be so calm about everything. Don't you care?"
"I hardly know her, and how can one such as me care about anyone anyway?"
"Oh, that's right... you don't have emotions," Cloud replied with a tired sarcasm. "Sorry, forgot."
The former Turk studied him, raising an eyebrow. "You should get some sleep."
The blond hesitated. "...yeah, I guess you're right." He pushed away from the wall with effort and turned for the doorway.
"She is still alive, I'm sure," Vincent told him softly. "You have not failed her yet."
Cloud paused, nodded in acknowledgment of Vincent's words without looking at him, and went back inside. The floor was cool, hard, and unwelcoming. Sleep fluttered elusively, but his thoughts and anxieties were persistent, never leaving him be even for an instant. He slept fitfully, and it seemed to him that each time he woke, he felt more tired than before.
There were times when Yuffie seriously regretted ever joining up with Cloud and the rest of the freak show. This was one of them.
Soon after leaving the beautiful-yet-creepy City of the Ancients, the group had stumbled upon yet another reason why travellers rarely came this way: Corral Valley had some absolutely wonderful cliffs. And, of course, being the most experienced climbers of the crew, Yuffie and Tifa had been granted the privilege of carrying Cait Sith up with them.
Yuffie should have just kept her mouth shut when Cloud asked. Granted, the cliffs weren't particularly difficult ones to climb, but all the same, she'd rather not be lugging around a giant stuffed moogle. Who would? She was pretty sure they looked too ridiculous for words, and she really, really envied Nanaki right now. Sure, having grown up in Cosmo Canyon, he could make climbing look entirely effortless. Especially with those claws and without any kind of burden. Quadrupeds couldn't really carry much of anything, now could they? Ah, to be a quadruped.
She could have hit herself. What the hell was she thinking? It was the cold, making her mind go all wacky. That had to be it. Actually, considering... Nanaki had some nice, thick fur... He was probably perfectly warm.
Oh, enough about mangy old Red! Yuffie cried mentally.
She glanced around her at her other companions, some of them climbing above her, others below. Cloud hadn't looked like he'd gotten any sleep at all. She wouldn't put it past him to have been up worrying all night. The guy was too uptight about everything. Then again, being the leader of this gang, who could blame him?
Tifa had obviously slept better, but she couldn't hide her worry. So much for that thought about her and Aeris being rivals; it looked like they were pretty good friends after all. Still, whatever was going on between Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris had the young ninja pretty damn confused.
Barret was the farthest down, and having the most trouble, being too heavy for the smaller hand- and footholds and, well, only having one hand to work with anyway. Cid was down there trying to help him out and obviously very frustrated. There was a lot of cursing drifting up to her ears. She had to wonder what kind of influence Cid's language was having on her. And she had thought Barret was bad! Now Cid, he had a really colorful vocabulary.
And then there was Vincent, who moved competently but not swiftly up the cliff. She didn't get him at all, and she thought he was kinda creepy. Most of the time, he wouldn't look at you when you talked, and that was really annoying. But then, when he did look at you, you really wished he wouldn't. His gaze was way too penetrating, like he could see your soul or something scary like that.
A slight shift in the rock she had placed her foot upon made Yuffie snap her attention back to what she was doing and quickly find another foothold, muttering under her breath.
Finally, they all reached the top of the cliff and sat resting for a moment. Cloud didn't let them have much time, though. He was anxious to be going, so off they went, keeping their protests to themselves. And some twenty minutes later, they encountered another cliff, although not as high or quite as vertical. The members of the group were silent, looking up at it with distaste and trying to resign themselves to climbing it.
"Gawd, why does the valley have to be so sudden?" Yuffie whined. "Like someone took a knife to the Planet."
The others cast her strange looks, as though wondering what she was complaining about, or what she was even talking about, in Barret's case.
"What?" she asked. "Look, I don't even know the land, an' I can see that Corral Valley's deep. Like a ravine, sorta. We get many more o' these cliffs, and it'll slow us down. And I really don't want to have to carry that stupid toy moogle up all of them."
That, and, as much as she tried not to show it herself, she really did want to rescue Aeris. Sephiroth kind of scared her, but the thought of what he might have already done to Aeris scared her more. And Aeris was nice. She didn't deserve it. Yuffie wondered if the others would make much of a fuss if she had been the one taken instead of the Cetra. But then, they had rescued her from Corneo that one time... not that she couldn't have gotten out of it herself.
Cait Sith was crying out something in kittenish protest, but no one paid him much mind.
"She has a point," Nanaki remarked. "If we want to catch up to Sephiroth, it will not help to have our, ah... less capable climbers slow us down."
Yuffie looked at him incredulously. He was backing her up? She quickly glanced up at the sky. No Meteor. The Planet wasn't ending yet.
"So, what?" Cid asked, taking a long drag on his ever-present cigarette. "You think we should split up?"
"I guess it would make sense, if we wanted to move faster and find Aeris..." Tifa said.
Cloud nodded slightly. "Right... Me, Tifa, Nanaki, and Yuffie will go on ahead. The rest of you guys go along at your own pace. We'll meet up at Snow Village, if you guys don't catch up before then."
Yes! Yuffie rejoiced inwardly, wondering at her luck; he could have left her with the slowpokes instead of Vincent. No more moogle! She couldn't help but grin.
"All right," Cid replied. "Go kick Sephiroth's ass for us."
Cloud scratched his head in a familiar gesture, one of the few that made him look boyish. Normally he was so weighed down with being a leader and all that he looked old enough to have kids of his own. "Right," he said, and Yuffie, Nanaki, and Tifa followed him up the cliff face, moving twice as swiftly now than before.
As it turned out, they had scarcely climbed the start of Corral Valley's cliffs, and by the time they seemed to have passed them all, only Nanaki still had any energy left. They walked on for a while until they found a suitable place to stop, and then they dropped to the stone floor in exhaustion. Yuffie remained awake long enough to hear Cloud say they'd rest there for a few hours before moving on. Then she lay back and dropped off to sleep.
Sephiroth awoke to find Aeris asleep in his arms, and he sat motionless, listening to the slow, relaxed sounds of her breathing. He would not do this again, he decided. It was torture for the both of them. But at least it had made him aware of a weakness; he found himself enjoying the press of her body against his. This kind of pleasure could not be tolerated.
So why did he delay in waking her?
You should have killed her anyway, his mother snapped. She had not been pleased with his choice, and her anger had been buzzing in his head ever since. She is still a danger to us, no matter what she says.
This weak little thing? he mused. She has already done all she can. She is useless now.
Then why let her live?
I want her to suffer. I want her to beg for death and then not even care when I choose to give it to her.
Is that all?
What are you implying, Mother? That I have some desire for this girl? How absurd.
Is it? she asked.
He chose not to reply. "Aeris," he said aloud. "Wake up."
"Five more minutes," she murmured sleepily.
Sephiroth blinked. Five more minutes? "Aeris," he repeated.
She started, finally remembering who she was with. "Ah! I'm up."
He let go of her. "Get up."
Aeris shifted uncertainly, then carefully got to her feet. Her next action was to whirl and kick him as hard as she could.
He looked at her blankly, then laughed. "Do you honestly think you can hurt me?"
"No," she answered. "But I want to, and that's the best I can do."
"And here I thought you were kind and non-violent," he remarked as he stood and retrieved his Masamune.
"To people who don't try to kill me or kidnap me," she retorted.
Sephiroth scoffed. "Well, come on. I won't carry you today if you can keep up." He turned, striding off. His pace was easy, but she practically had to run to match it. Unless she had incredible endurance, she would soon tire and lag behind.
"What about breakfast?" she asked.
He glanced at her. Had she no sense of time? "In the morning, perhaps."
Aeris blinked. "What time is it?"
"Nine o'clock. In the evening."
She fell silent, and time passed uneventfully for a stretch of ten minutes. Then she somehow managed to trip over a stone and stumbled into him with a yelp.
"Watch where you're going," he snapped, shoving her away.
"How?" she demanded, recovering her balance. "I can't see."
Among other things, Sephiroth had always been able to see better than anyone else. The Mako in his body enhanced all of his abilities so that as long as there was some light, no matter how little, he could see. With her, it was no different; she was comparatively blind. Actually, looking around, he was surprised that she had not tripped sooner.
Deciding that it would be more annoying to have her bumping into him all the time, he sighed and cast a variation of a fire spell to light the cavern for her.
"Thank you," Aeris said, sounding like she meant it.
Sephiroth glanced at her in mild astonishment. She was certainly a strange creature. She had done nothing but defy and pester him, and here she had sincerely thanked him.
Pay her words no mind, his mother told him. She may try to earn your favor.
What for? She hates me.
So she can sway you, stop you. You cannot let her have any control over you.
I am not a fool, he stated indignantly.
Let us hope this remains true.
"How much longer before we get out of this cave?" Aeris asked. It was not impatience in her voice, but simple curiosity.
"Not long," he replied.
They were very close to the end indeed. Soon he let the fire spell die out, and distant moonlight illuminated the cave. He slipped through a narrow passage in the rock, and at the far end of the cavern lay the rough exit, seeming to glow a pale blue.
Aeris, who had been lagging farther and farther behind, perked up when she saw the light, and, quickened her pace, managed to catch up with Sephiroth just as he stepped outside.
Snow fields stretched out before them, the next distant mountain range the only indication that they had any end at all. The snow practically glowed, seeming to give off a light of its own in the night.
Sephiroth kept walking without a pause, and Aeris, who had stopped to admire the view, scurried after him. The snow was easily a foot deep in places, and it slowed the Cetra considerably. He glanced back over his shoulder to find her carefully following along in his footprints.
"Hurry up," he ordered.
"I'll trip if I hurry!" she called back. "I don't want to fall in the snow."
"Do I have to carry you then?"
She stumbled at his question, then picked up her pace, practically running to catch up to him. She nearly fell twice along the way, but regained her balance both times. She hurried along just behind him, still preferring to follow in his trail, though she had no time to be exact about where she placed her feet.
A wind rose once they were some distance from the mountain, picking up the snow and hurling it against them. Aeris impressed him by remaining silent and keeping pace, though she was obviously tired and freezing. She could not keep this up much longer, he thought.
Hardly ten minutes passed before she fell, and Sephiroth did not move to help her. He kept walking. He heard her struggling for a moment, and then she was on her feet, her footfalls uneven and awkward.
"I c-can't keep this p-pace up, and you kn-now it," she said, teeth chattering. "Did you l-like carrying me that m-much?"
"I will not change my travelling patterns just for you, Cetra."
She tripped again and fell with a cry. He heard nothing more from her, and he stopped to look back. She lay in the snow where she had fallen, face turned aside, shivering violently.
"Get up," he commanded.
"I'm c-cold," she complained in a whisper. "T-too c-cold..."
"Remove your clothes," he said, his annoyance not apparent in his voice.
She pushed herself up on her forearms and looked at him in distant horror. "What?"
"Remove your clothes," he repeated.
"W-why?" she demanded, stumbling to her feet and looking ready to bolt.
Sephiroth regarded her without sympathy. "If you think it is cold now, wait until you are naked in this climate. Then you will wish you had kept your mouth shut. Now take them off."
She took a step away from him, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. "No."
His tone was flat, and his expression now showed his impatience. "If you thought I would be kind to you, you are a fool. I have no desire to touch you, and you may keep your undergarments, if that will make you cooperate."
Aeris gaped at him. "D-do you want me t-to freeze to death?"
"You won't," he stated. "But you may come close."
Her eyes narrowed. "You'd like th-that, wouldn't you?" she said flatly.
"Yes," he replied, meeting her glare coolly. "Now quit stalling and remove your dress before I am forced to do it for you."
He expected her to move hurriedly in fear or demand that he look away. She did neither. She kept her eyes on his face and took her time about it, knowing somehow that while it would annoy him immensely, he would not snap at her for wasting his time here when she was following his orders.
The short red jacket went first, dropping into the snow and leaving her shoulders bare. Her fingers went to the buttons of her dress, fumbling only on a few and slowly working their way down the front until she could shrug out of it. The dress, too, fell to the snow, leaving her in her bra and underwear, with the pair of large brown boots on her feet looking utterly ridiculous. Her face was red, but it had already been red from the cold, so that was no indication of embarrassment.
She had a nice figure, he thought. Not ample, like her companion Tifa, but her curves were softer and certainly more pleasing to his eyes. She was slender, but her narrow waist curved into wide hips that nicely balanced out her shoulders and bosom.
"Well?" Aeris demanded, folding shivering arms over her breasts in an attempt to retain some warmth.
Sephiroth had not realized that he had been staring. "Come on," he said, turning to go and mentally berating himself for letting her see.
"Can I k-keep my clothes, or m-must I leave th-them here?" she asked. He could not detect any sort of emotion in her voice beyond her stuttering, an impressive accomplishment.
"Leave them," he replied. "And take off those boots."
He heard a pair of thuds as the boots fell into the snow, and then her lighter footfalls as she hurried to catch up to him. "O-one would think, th-that you had n-never seen a woman half n-naked before," she remarked.
He snorted. Hardly true. He had had his fair share of women flat on their backs, but never one with her beauty. Granted, he had had plenty of beautiful women wanting to share his bed, but their desire had disgusted him. They had seen nothing but a handsome man, and had wanted nothing more than physical pleasure.
Sephiroth sought something other than beauty in his mistresses--he sought innocence. Purity. Altruism. These had never been women who'd thrown themselves at him, but they had been persuaded. And when he had finished with them, he had spoiled the innocence which had drawn him, and broken any misplaced trust they had for him. When he had finished, he had made them understand enough of what he had experienced to push them beneath him.
What did you make her do that for? his mother demanded, finally interrupting his thoughts when he provided her with no answer of his own accord.
Come now, Mother. If I overestimated her, she may very well freeze to death. You would like that very much, so you shouldn't complain.
I'm worried that you've underestimated her.
How so?
If she seduces you--
Sephiroth laughed aloud, startling Aeris without knowing it.
It is not so ridiculous as you seem to think, Jenova stated. Already you find yourself intrigued by her. Already you've taken pleasure in the feel of her body. Don't deny it.
Why should I? Nothing will come of it. He had stopped laughing, almost abruptly.
"...Sephiroth?" Aeris queried uncertainly.
Be careful, my son.
I will, he answered. But if my attraction harms either of us, it will be her. He glanced back at the Cetra. "What?"
"W-why were you laughing j-just now?" She actually sounded... concerned. He could have laughed again at the absurdity of it.
"Why should it matter?" he asked instead.
She fell silent. They walked on.