I am bored. Now, I shall write my first official Final Fantasy Fanfiction! Stuff from the Tales of Midgar isn't a whole story so it doesn't count as a fanfic.
I'm going to make this like, really short so I'll actually finish it and make a name for myself on those Fanfic sites :>
Disclaimer: None of the characters, setting, etc. are mine, they were created by Mr. Tetsuya Nomura and I don't claim them as mine... yadda yadda, don't copy this story without my permission, yadda yadda...
Formatted in HTML.
Started March 29 1998
Finished September 16, 1998
Final Copy
"Blessing"
by Irwin Kwan
kkwan@globalserve.net
http://www.globalserve.net/~kkwan/
She was special. The forest had let her through. The Planet talked to her. She had the ability to perform what no one else could possibly dream of. She knew that the world was in danger. She knew what she had to do to save that world.
The graceful figure reverently walked down the glass steps that circled for kilometers into the depths of the world. Around her, the round, wide walls, over three-hundred metres in diameter, spread in all directions. They appeared to be made of a rich, beautiful crystal, and they shimmered with energy. There was no sunlight here, but yet, the shaft sparkled as if the sun was shining right down into the centre of the city.
The Forgotten Capital would always have a place in Aeris' mind.
Down, down to the alter! the voices from the Planet told her. Come, only you, the last remaining Cetra, can help us now.
Aeris found her legs moving faster down the steps. She glanced around her for a sign of Sephiroth; there was none. Sephiroth would not kill her before she completed her task. She would make certain of that
The winding steps continued for a long time. Aeris found herself panting and huffing even before she was three-quarters of the way down. She thought of resting, thought of letting the pain from her leaden legs escape, but the Planet urged her on. Not that she needed any prodding; she knew that her mission was important. It had to be finished, or else the world would be doomed. Aeris, reassured by her objective, grinned to herself as she bounced down the steps and landed on the balcony of the Forgotten City's glass floor.
She scanned the area in awe, absorbing all of the energy and the wonder from the city. She went to one house, running the hands down the smooth pink glass. Even the ground was free of dust and other foreign matter. She had no time to relax, however. As she ran forward, a flash of light caught her eye. It wasn't one of the lights from the bright walls, or a reflection off of the glass floor. Aeris glanced up toward the staircase, and from the corner of her eye, she could see a steel blade.
Sephiroth.
Aeris hurried faster. She hopped down the stairs to the lower balcony two at a time. The landing below, adjacent to the water that covered the bottom of the city, was made of smooth concrete, a vast contrast to the shiny, transparent floors above. There was steam rising from the water, as if it emanated a special heat. Ahead of her were stone pillars, creating steps to a high circular platform above the water. It was her alter, made of white marble and limestone. Right above it, on its walls, were two arches, intersecting in a graceful pattern above the platform.
The alter! The alter! the Planet reminded her. Go to the alter! Wake Holy. Let it work for us.
Aeris jumped up the stairs, careful not to stumble and fall into the water below. As she stepped onto the platform, she saw Sephiroth on the spiral staircase above her. He glanced over at the Ancient, and then, with a grim look of determination on his face, he leaped off of the stairwell, gliding on an invisible wind that carried him over to Aeris' alter.
Aeris knelt down. She shut her eyes to the surroundings. She began to whisper words. They were recited to her by her mother, only once, when she was young. But she remembered them for her whole life, although she never spoke them. Aeris said them now, quietly to herself.
May the planet bring the light forward,
May the energy of the world come to me.
May the power of the heavens gather here,
To assist me in this time of need.
May the goodness of Holy be summoned,
May it bring me peace.
She said the verse over and over, and then relaxed as she felt a warm pulse at the back of her head, right by her ponytail. The green bead that she tied her ribbon around was beginning to shimmer. Her eyes opened. She saw Sephiroth ahead of her, his Masamune blade in hand.
Sephiroth glared at her, his green eyes void of any emotion. On his belt was a disembodied purple head, which had fresh blood dripping from its stump as if it were just recently cut off.
Aeris closed her eyes again. "You want to be a god," she murmured. "An Ancient, like me." Her large eyes snapped wide, and Aeris rose off of her knees. "I can't have that."
Sephiroth's blade waved menacingly in the air. "It's what I want, what I need." He spread his arms out to the sides, as if absorbing the power of the city. "Here, there is strong energy. I feel the words of the Ancients coming to me."
Aeris reached for her ribbon, and she grasped the materia that she had hidden in there. Her hair, now unbraided, fell in billows, framing her clear, beautiful face. The bead was warm, the power awakened by her prayer. "I am Cetra, and yet, I wish I was not born one, Sephiroth."
Sephiroth looked at Aeris with his evil, cold glare, and then, he started to chuckle madly. He appeared so human at that point, Aeris thought as she saw him turn his head away and cover his mouth with his right hand. Aeris almost grinned, betraying the tension in the air.
"Sephiroth," she said finally.
Sephiroth shook his head, and raised his blade toward Aeris. "I shall strike you down."
Aeris smiled. "And if you do, you will find that I will be return much more powerful than ever before." She lifted the materia that she held in her hand, and opened it, letting the radiant green light shine over Sephiroth's face. The man had to look away from the bright glare. "You are still human, Sephiroth. But you are a human that has been scarred with evil. You try not to act human, you try to act like someone that you are not. But you are human."
"Human? Human??" Sephiroth started to laugh again; it was an evil, vicious, mocking laughter. "Oh, I'm far from human. I am... a monster, created by Shinra. He reached for his belt. Aeris' gaze went to his hand. He lifted the disembodied head into the air by the mottled, tangled, black hair. The skin was purple, and the eyes were open, revealing pupils that were rolled back into their sockets. "My mother calls, Aeris. My mother, Jenova."
"Jenova, the calamity from the skies," Aeris said, with respectful awe in her voice. Her eyes met Sephiroth's slanted ones. "Sephiroth, I know what you really want. You want to be accepted by people. For years, you were rejected. You were raised by Shinra to be a killing machine. You are cold, without compassion, and cruel. Or, so you think." Aeris stepped forward, dangerously close to the wavering six-foot blade that rested in Sephiroth's hand. "I am like you. I am Cetra, hunted by Shinra, shunned by those who don't understand. No one understands us." She opened her hand, and the light of Holy bathed Sephiroth's face in a reverent glow. He blinked and turned away for a moment. The head reacted to the light as well; the lips opened in a silent scream, proclaiming a horror that no one else could see or hear.
Aeris looked up at the tall man's face. His cold mask crumbled, and for the first time, and likely the only time, Sephiroth's eyes were filled with sorrow. The Masamune clattered to the ground and Jenova's head was dropped on the alter, rolling until the lifeless eyes pointed toward the ceiling. "Yes... acceptance," Sephiroth whispered. His voice was changed. It was a reverberant tenor, and sounded more natural; the voice was clear and beautiful. He slumped to his knees, overcome with weakness, then he fell over onto his side as if he were suddenly worn to exhaustion, not attempting to break his fall.
Aeris went to his side and held his head in his lap, like a mother would protect a sobbing child. She felt sorry for him all of a sudden. He was a man, manufactured by Shinra, injected with Jenova cells, corrupted beyond belief by the people who tried to act like gods. Beneath it all, there was still a human being, frail and sad. She thought about her own life, the persecution she had to suffer, the torture, the pain. What made her turn out so differently than Sephiroth? she wondered. Why was she so alike, yet so different?
"Shinra would never let me go," Sephiroth sighed, looking into the ceiling. "I was their hero. But I didn't need it at all. All I wanted... was to be anyone else except who I was. I knew that I wasn't human..."
"But yet, you are so human," Aeris said, stroking his long, silver hair. "You feel. You think. You worry, and wonder, and get angry, and cry. You laugh. You feel happiness." She grinned, more to herself than to anyone else. What was her quest? She had thought it was to wake Holy, but now, it had turned to a quest of seeking a soul.
Sephiroth was silent, but he smiled slightly. "If I gain power, then everyone would notice me. Someone could..."
"You were a hero to Shinra, yet you hated it," Aeris stated. "Why?"
Sephiroth got up and went to retrieve his sword. He looked over the side of the alter, and started to speak with a distant tone. "The people would always treat me like I was someone else. Someone who was too good for them. They thought I was above them, and that I was good only to be their hero, to kill their monsters, to sign their pictures, to give them something to believe in. And yet, I don't even believe in myself."
"If you are a god, then you will be above everyone else," Aeris said, glancing at the head of Jenova.
Sephiroth grinned. His hand went into his pocket, and withdrew a black orb the shape of a softball. Aeris gazed at it in wonder.
"It's the Black Materia," he declared. "The thing that can summon Meteor."
"There will be no one left if you use it," Aeris replied defensively. "You will be the god of a dead world. And even then, you will be lonely." She looked at the materia in her own hand. In it was Holy, the antithesis of the Black Materia. She thought of herself, then glanced over at Sephiroth. They were two opposites, the extremes of the spectrum. And yet, they found themselves speaking together, as if they were old friends. Good and evil, co-existing in a world without balance.
"I will use it. Jenova asks me to use it. It is the only way that she can free herself of this Planet."
"Cast aside Jenova's thoughts! Cast aside her control!"
Sephiroth's gaze grew cold for an instant. He glanced down at Jenova's head, and then, his gaze softened. "I... can't." He slumped back to the ground again, his back against the wall of the alter. "I am a puppet. With strings on my limbs."
"Come with me, back to the surface," Aeris said, extending a hand to him. "Let me help you cut the strings. Let me help you return to the rest of the world."
Sephiroth looked at Aeris. "I cannot return to the Planet," he said simply. "Jenova lives, and therefore, I do too. Aeris, I am sorry. I... truly... am..."
Sephiroth grabbed his temples in pain, throwing the sword on the marble alter with a loud clatter. The Black Materia followed likewise, bouncing off of the marble once before it came to a rest against the alter's wall. He fell to his knees, muscles twitching. Aeris bent over him, worry on her face, but as she touched his shoulder, he leaped back, almost in pain. His eyes flickered open, and they came to rest on the head of Jenova.
Aeris looked back. The ominous shape was still, eyes facing the ceiling. As she stared at it, it rolled over so the eyes looked directly into hers. Then, the lips curled into a smile.
Sephiroth leaped into the air, and, like powerful magnets, the Black Materia, his Masamune blade, and Jenova's head flew from the alter into Sephiroth's waiting hands. As he flew up the crystal shaft, Aeris lifted her hand in a farewell wave to the man she knew as Sephiroth.
And in her head, she heard Sephiroth's voice speak. Good-bye.
She stared up for a long time. The materia, Holy, had gotten cold. In her head, another voice began to speak. It was Sephiroth's voice again, but this time, it was a perversion, laced with a coldness that did not exist when he was talking to her. The Black Materia, and Meteor, are mine. I will be at the centre of the Planet's wound, absorbing all of its energy. And I will rule the Earth. It will be the first in my quest for the universe.
Aeris shook a fist into the air. "You're not Sephiroth!" she shouted. "Jenova! Give Sephiroth back to me! Give Sephiroth back to me!!"
You must pray, the Planet whispered. Pray for him.
Aeris stared distantly at the walls. She picked up her ribbon, and tied her hair back, replacing the Holy into the ribbon. She went to the alter and knelt. Words came from her lips, words that she had never heard before. They were from the Planet, being expressed through the last surviving Cetra.
Heavenly powers, restore him.
Bring him back to the Spirits of good,
Take him with us to the place of rest,
Away, away from the evil.
Holy, please, convert him,
Purge his darkness from his soul,
Let his mind be clear of corruption,
Away, away from the evil.
Planet, I ask you, protect him,
Leave him the soul we know that is true,
Silence the alien in his being,
Away, away from the evil.
As she spoke these words, she knew that the Planet would need help. The Holy began to glow again, but its light spilled in all directions, with no focus or intent. It would need direction and guidance for it to perform its job.
Aeris knew that there was only one way to guide Holy. She had tried hard not to remember who she was, she had wanted to be a normal person, but tonight, she could not deny the truth. She was the only one. Aeris' eyes were shut in meditation, and she could hear the voices in her head.
Let me help, Sephiroth said, in a whisper of the self that he was.
Yes, said a female voice, twisted, dark, and evil. It spoke in a perversion of Sephiroth's voice that chilled Aeris to the bone. It was the voice of Jenova. Let him help you. Be gone, from the world, and never be a bother to me again.
No, Aeris replied. Sephiroth will take me. And I will become part of the Planet.
I will take you! hissed Jenova. You will become a part of god when Sephiroth gathers the energy of the Planet for me.
No! Holy will come. And I will guide it. Aeris kept her hands folded together in front of her. She felt the warm energy from the materia bead in her hair pulsate with life.
Look who is here, Jenova taunted with a grin. I can see Cloud. I live in him too, just like I live in Sephiroth.
Aeris listened for Sephiroth's voice, but she could not hear anything from him. Sephiroth was gone, taken over by Jenova. I will redeem Sephiroth, Aeris thought. With the power of Holy. You won't win, Jenova. You won't win.
You have no faith in me? Then you shall die.
Aeris flinched as she heard Sephiroth's voice, once again, crying with all of its remaining strength to stay in control. She could not contain her sadness at the sounds of his voice. However, every cry she heard was a reminder of what she needed to do. No!! I will not go! You won't make me!!!!! she heard him scream defiantly.
An image flashed through Aeris' mind. She could see the spiral staircase. Sephiroth stood there, trying to keep himself from leaping off. But there was another image. Cloud was down in the concrete plate, ready to leap onto the marble alter.
If Sephiroth won't do what I bid him, then I shall control this one, Jenova murmured.
No, don't, Aeris begged.
Ha ha ha, Jenova chuckled. I see I've found a weakness.
He will be strong, Aeris said. Holy will help him.
It is too late for Holy, Jenova sneered.
There was another voice that managed to pierce her thoughts. Concentrate, said the Planet. Ignore all other thoughts from your mind. Gain control of Holy, and guide it.
Aeris shut all thoughts from her mind as she thought about Holy's light, and how she would seize it. She forgot about Cloud, about Sephiroth, about the conflict of the Planet. She forgot about her life, and the lives of others. She concentrated only on the energy around her. The Planet's energy flowed through her, showering her with knowledge. She felt the materia reach out, with its condensed energy, and touch her soul. Ahead of her, Jenova showed her an image of Cloud in front of her. He was holding his sword in the air above her head, ready to swing. Aeris worked hard to ignore the taunting messages Jenova sent.
Now, Jenova commanded.
The sword came down over her head, ready to cleave her in two, but the light from Holy shone, reaching out and stopping his sword just short of her head. The invisible hand flowed from Aeris, touching Cloud. It was Holy, which she had power to wield, Holy that broke Jenova's control over Cloud. Her eyes opened, and she saw Cloud in front of her, sword cast to one side. He was himself once again.
Cloud stared at her in awe. There was something about her that was different. A radiance, a different sort of beauty around her.
Aeris smiled.
Very well, Jenova said. From above, Sephiroth leaped off of the staircase, sword pointed down toward the alter. She heard his defiant scream pierce the air.
You will lose, Holy is mine, Aeris replied smugly. Her smile radiated from her face, lighting the whole chamber. Around her, she felt the Holy pulsate, inside her and out, each entrance and exit manipulated by her mind.
In her mind, she could see Sephiroth, his eyes serene and peaceful. And he uttered the last words that she ever heard in her life. I'm sorry it had to be like this. But you now have the power of Holy, and can redeem everything that I have ever done to you, and the Planet. I wish it could redeem my soul.
Aeris looked up into the lights. There was a black spot, getting closer and closer. It's all right, Sephiroth. I forgive you. I will try as hard as I can to save you. She saw a black cloaked figure flying from the high shaft of glass, curved blade extended for the execution of the sword's purpose: to deal death.
Aeris hardly felt the blade as it sank through her back, piercing spine, nerve, and stomach. Her face did not change; the eternal smile was still laced across her face. She noticed that there was no blood. The Cetra who sacrificed themselves for the Planet did not bleed.
She slumped forward, and the green bead fell from her ribbon, bouncing on the alter. It fell, as if it were controlled by an invisible force, from one step, down to the next, the next, and the next, until it finally came to a soft splash in the water. It appeared controlled, because it was.
Aeris gave them a blessing as the materia sank into the water. May Holy guide them, whispered her spirit, which was now welded to the glowing bead. Holy slowly sank into the water, where it was absorbed and accepted by the other Ancients who lay in the Spirit Energy below.
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