(no subject)
Who: Sephiroth( rectifythis) and Aerith( curatia)
What: Bomb crisis aftermath and crises of a different sort…
Where: Undisclosed location in the fields surrounding the city.
When: Some time after Aerith’s last entry.
So much had changed in such a short amount of time, and yet Sephiroth could do nothing but welcome these shifting tides, for it seemed that fortune favored villainy at least in the broadest sense. She hadn’t failed him since he arrived. What stars, then, could a hero pray to when those same stars came alive for the anti-hero who declined to? Were he truly off his mark, should not divine intervention take cue and make right what man could only hope to? This new sun was born to infect, to blot out the light and distort the familiar; more violent moon than loving glare, with a panel of waves to twist and turn and take. The shores were weather-beaten, slowly losing its’ softer parts, and his dawning was fixed at high noon, so let the world speak or forever hold its’ peace.
Better, perhaps, if they said nothing, for their testaments bore the weight of nothing. Like sand begging mercy from the sea, wind howling at a mountain, or termites barking up a mighty tree, there was nothing that could sway him. What happened now lie entirely in his hands as things often do. But it wouldn’t keep them from trying. He knew that. And it was incentive to make things that much more difficult for them. Challenging him, questioning him, threatening him … All were ill-advised in the long run, though he was often intrigued by the effort, if not morbidly amused.
This time, they seemed to know better. They seemed to remember just what it was they were dealing with and they responded accordingly. The Turks could always be counted upon for a hitch, and Sephiroth relished the push, but combined, they amounted to even less than the simple fools he sought to punish. Even those simple fools, however, knew better than to provoke him now.
…Odd how he could sit so peacefully in her company. Perhaps because he had only recently put an end to her, and despite her appearing to him in the flesh now, it would still be too easy. He could end her repeatedly if he wanted to, in this lifetime or the next, and there was nothing she, or anyone else could do to change that. No one had been given a choice in this matter, and it was ironic, but true, that Sephiroth hadn’t been given much of a choice in the matter, either. He didn’t pretend to know why he felt freshly awoken from some haze, nor did he pretend to know why she was stretched out before him on a floral couch. Not a lick of it made sense, and it was humorous that things should unfold in his favor even when he was unawares.
He had taken her somehow and he wasn’t quite sure why.
Of course, it had been a thought when she resurfaced. Sephiroth was no fool. She was useful in her own way, and the comedy continued, because even he didn’t know how much. Meteor was still on its way, remember…? He simply wasn’t there to wait for it. He knew what she had done, what she had tried to do at least, and that must have counted toward something. Holy… How dare she try to summon it. He couldn’t have killed her quick enough when he discovered the root of her madness, what she was trying to do, and why she had come when she knew what she was getting herself into- when she knew he was watching her. Perceptive. He remembered thinking that. She would glance over her shoulder, or pause for seconds only, but she never seemed truly afraid. That alone should have made him kill her faster. It was nerve of a different sort.
So brazen in her innocence… Definitely trouble.
There was nothing left to do but watch her in those moments following his awakening; tickled by the irony, the nonsensicality, the inevitability of this. Sleeping so soundly, with an expression of perfect peace, when death was looming just overhead... It was that kind of nerve, really. As he walked a path up the column of her throat with two fingers, he thought of just how easy it would be to literally snap her out of her dream. Too easy… He thought this with those final steps, leaving her with a taunting sweep of leather across her chin.
While it hadn’t been his intention to exploit her so soon, when Angeal was still on the fence and so clearly attached to his new pet, he certainly wouldn’t let the opportunity go to waste. She had some power, Sephiroth couldn’t deny her that, and if she was able to summon Holy, he couldn’t deny her gift. She could hear the Planet, communicate with the Lifestream, and while he was deaf outside of it, without Jenova’s ear, this girl would be able to hear them still. Whether or not she could would reveal a great deal and would ultimately determine his next course of action. However, current events had revealed some things of interest, and there was honestly no guarantee that the cycles of life and death operated in a similar fashion.
There was a very high chance that some alternative of the Lifestream existed here, but there was a higher probability that it didn’t exist at all. There were ways of finding out, the easiest of which had fallen right into his lap. He rolled with thoughts such as these in passing, keeping a modest distance between them as they waited in isolation along the outskirts of the city. The smoke had long begun to settle. All the while, he facilitated her discomfort with a fixed, penetrating stare. Thinking... He saw no harm in her contacting those that had been worrying, and he stilled any attempts of bravery or trickery with a word.
No.
Needless to say, she was in a terrible bind. They all were. Sephiroth held a powerful weapon over all of them-and that was their feelings for one another. None of the few that mattered, metaphorically speaking, would attempt anything that would result in one of their own being hurt. So simple. And painfully easy.
Really … They brought it on themselves.
He hadn’t found much to say to her, if only because there hadn’t been much need, but he did respond, and what little had transpired between them already told him plenty. Very interesting.
“You want to know why I’m keeping you,” he surmised with placid finality.