Aeris

By Ethan Gauss

Gausse@aol.com







	The city lay at the bottom of a chasm, what must have been at one

	time underwater.  Coral formations dotted the chasm floor, and

	arctic winds blew with steady, driving intensity from the great

	glacier to the north.  The city itself rested at the foot of a

	massive coral formation, though there was no silhouette, the

	reflectiveness of the environs making light omnipresent and

	harsh.

	The arcitecture was of a distinctly marine style, what few

	structures were still standing having been made to resemble giant

	nautilus or perhaps some other exotic mollusk shell.  Or, quite

	possibly, they WERE the actual shells of monstrous sea creatures.

	One might ask the builders of the city, if only they hadn't been

	extinct for two thousand years.

	That was a fact that the young man who trudged wearily toward the

	city bitterly regretted.  If only the Cetra were still alive,

	none of this would be necessary.  He wouldn't be grinding through

	knee-deep snow lugging a sword almost as tall as he was, or

	beating off legions of blood-thirsty monsters bent on his violent

	termination, or listening to the constant stream of sulfurous

	curses from the grizzled aeronautical engineer that marched a few

	yards behind him, or, most importantly, chasing after a young

	girl who was in the throes of delusions of grandeur.

	"Other guys got to have normal lives.  I got stuck with a bad

	fantasy novel." he muttered, drawing the thick wool mantle closer

	over his face, trying to keep out the all-permeating windchill.

	"What was that, spike?" hollered Cid, the engineer, who was

	desperately trying to keep a cigarette lit.  The young man in the

	lead didn't respond to the jibe at his unique hairstyle, but

	concentrated instead on putting one foot in front of the other.

	Why did fate have to draw him this lot?

	Abruptly, the wind died, the bitter winter chill abated to a

	pleastant, if stagnant, temperature.  Letting the mantle fall

	from his face, the young man looked up to see that he was

	standing at the entrance to the city.  Behind him, Cid stopped

	swearing and moved up to stand beside him, as did the young girl

	who walked rear of the small group.  She brushed snow out of her

	rich brown tresses and stared, her wide blue eyes blinking

	slowly.

	"What is this place?" she asked, wonderment in her voice.  Cid

	struck a match and lit his battered cigarette triumphantly,

	taking a deep pull and savoring it before responding.

	"Got me, Tifa.  Ain't much left, is there?"

	The leader stared silently for a moment, then opened his mouth

	and gave voice the the thoughts and images that sprang into his

	head.

	"This is the capital city of the Cetra...the center of their

	civilization."

	"Capital city, eh?  How the hell would you know, anyway, Cloud?

	What, you been here before or somethin'?" Cid asked, flicking ash

	off the tip of his cigarette.  Cloud shook his head, and glanced

	sidelong at Tifa.

	"No.  Yes.  I don't know.  I know what it is but I'm certain I've

	never been here before...I don't understand it either, all I'm

	concerned with is finding Aeris and getting her somewhere safe.

	Sephiroth cannot be far behind us."

	He started walking again, and Cid shrugged and followed, puffing

	contentedly.  Tifa gazed around a moment longer, then jogged

	forward to walk beside Cloud.

	"What keeps it warm?" she asked, pulling off the foxfur cloak she

	wore.  Cloud looked up at the overcast sky above them, and then

	back to her.

	"Some leftover remants of the Cetra's magic, most likely.  They

	must have been able to survive in virtually any environment,

	which explains why they would build a city at the bottom of a

	sea...but why would they choose such an inhospitable northern

	clime when there were much more temperate zones southward?"

	"Maybe they preferred the cold.  Or maybe it wasn't always cold

	here.  Who knows?" she replied, kicking at a piece of coral.  It

	clattered with a muted sound down the chalky white thoroughfare,

	and Cloud sighed.

	"Yes.  Who knows.  Who knows what motivated the Cetra.  Who knows

	what motivates Sephiroth, or what possibly could have motivated

	Aeris to place herself in diametric opposition to that

	megalomanical fanatic.  Before we were just a nuisance, and at

	least then we were together.  Now she's made herself into a very

	serious threat to whatever he's planning, and what's more, she's

	alone.  He's completely consumed by Jenova, or maybe it's the

	other way around...I still can't decide who's ultimately pulling

	the strings, though I suspect it's Sephiroth...his "mother" must

	just have been the catalyst that drove him insane five years

	ago...the seed that grew into an idea..."

	He trailed off on his tangent, and looked at Tifa, who was

	staring at him strangely.  "You don't know what's motivating him?

	It sure sounds like you've got him figured out!"

	"I...I'm not sure...I knew him during the war, at least I thought

	I did...I can't explain it, sometimes I just know things for

	certain.  It's kind of like intuition."

	"Pretty damn enigmatic intuition, spike." Cid chimed in.  Casting

	him an irritated glance, Cloud turned back to Tifa.

	"Anyway...I can't for the life of me figure out what Aeris was

	thinking.  She's half crazy, no, entirely crazy herself if she

	thinks she can stop Sephiroth alone."

	"She's an Ancient, Cloud, a Cetra.  She's of their blood,

	probably the last Ancient there is.  She's the only person who

	can stop him.  She knew what she was doing, she knew the risk she

	was taking.  Besides, once we find her, Sephiroth will have to

	come through us, first," at that she slammed her fist into her

	palm, "and I'd be more than happy to re-arrange his Jenova."

	Cid gave a short bark of laughter, and even Cloud smiled a

	little.  Something about Tifa, no matter how dire the

	circumstances, she was always able to lighten his heart.  She was

	direct, uncomplicated, frank and straightforward.  Aeris, on the

	other hand, was another matter entirely.  She was as mysterious

	as her heritage, last member of a lost race of seekers, mystical

	and deeper than any still water.  Sometimes, when he looked into

	her eyes, he could see the possibilities of infinity, the very

	fabric of the universe...

	And now, that sometimes quiet, sometimes loud young woman had

	sequestered herself in the ancient capital of her erstwhile race,

	determined to prevent the maniacal Sephiroth from gaining access

	to the weapon he seeked, a weapon that would cripple the planet

	horrendously, meteor.  Sephiroth would become a God, holding

	dominion over everything that had ever lived.

	And the only thing that stood in his way was a young woman,

	twenty-two years of age, and her determination to keep meteor out

	of his grasp.

	Cloud shook his head, praying silently to a God he did not

	believe in that he could help her.  He looked down as his feet

	scuffed onto rougher ground, and found that the thoroughfare had

	ended, that they were beyond the northern boundries of the

	derelict city.  A worn path led north through a coral forest, and

	with a backward glance at Tifa and Cid, Cloud set his shoulders

	and marched down it, the others in tow.  It was a long path, for

	by the time they could see the end the beginning was no longer in

	sight.  The end of the path glowed brightly, and when they

	emerged into it, they were forced to blink away the sudden dazzle

	of light that was streaming down from above on an opalescent

	structure.

	It was of a similar, if somewhat more grandiose design as the

	others, a tall spiraling shell resting in the middle of a crystal

	blue pond.  Cloud looked around himself for a moment, then

	stepped forward and peered down into the depths of the water.  It

	was startlingly clear, but just the same he could not see the

	bottom, even right off the shore it was a straight drop into

	infinity.  The air around him was warm, but the pool radiated

	coldness, a deep, bone-chilling cold.  And what was more, he

	could almost taste the palpable power radiating from it.  It must

	be an upwelling, he realized, a spring coming from the

	lifestream.  Funny, he thought, I'd always pictured it to be

	warm...

	"Cloud?"  It was Tifa.  "We should keep moving...we're not even

	sure Aeris is in here."

	"She's here."

	Cid snorted.  "More of your intuition?"

	"She's here."  Cloud said with a note of finality.  Cid shrugged,

	pulled a cigarrette out of the pack he kept under the band of his

	flying goggles, and rapped it against the back of his wrist.

	Cloud moved on around the shore of the pond, almost dream-like,

	the certainty of his course of action driving him on.  His

	compatriots could only follow him, the aura of ancientness and

	history about the place muting their conversation into

	non-existence, which was fine by Cloud.  He realized the

	situation they were in, the danger Aeris was in, and he saw bleak

	things in the future.

	They followed the shore to the bridge that led off to the

	structure, and though it was several millenia old, it showed no

	signs of aging, nor did the structure itself.  Cloud, driven on

	by his sense of urgency, verily flew across it, striding

	purposefully, much to Cid's discontent.  The entrance to the

	building was an open archway, for there was no door.  The archway

	itself was carved with simple pictographs depicting the globe and

	people and a river running between the two.  Cloud barely glanced

	at them, moving directly on through it and into the interior.

	It was unremarkable, coral arrangements here and there, but no

	furnishings to speak of.  The walkway continued right from the

	bridge into the interior and spiraled gently upward around the

	interior for a total of three stories.  Cloud took a moment to

	unsheath the massive sword strapped to his back before beginning

	to climb, his sharp eyes observing every detail.  Halfway up the

	spiral, there was a break in the railing that prevented one from

	falling down the shaft in the middle of the structure, a break

	that was the very top of a crystal staircase.  Cloud paused, and

	placed a foot expiramentally on the top step, to find it firm

	despite its transparency.  Without a backward glance, he began to

	descend the stairs, his footsteps thumping with unnatural

	loudness against the stairs, sending reverberating ringings into

	the cavern below.  As he crept further down the stairs, he could

	see where he was going.

	It was a massive cavern, so large that it could have easily fit

	the city above into it and had room for a few more.  Indeed, it

	did hold a city, of sorts, a tall tower-like structure, all

	surrounded by a broken crystal wall.

	"Cloud..." whispered Tifa from behind him, and knowledge choked

	into his mind, thoughts and ideas and images that confused and

	scared him.

	"The lifesteam...calamity from the sky, must flee...no, the Earth

	is turning from...Run!  Jeno...the Earth must repair itself, it

	will become cold...go, Ifalna, before it's too la...NOOOO!"

	"Cloud!" came Tifa's voice through the haze that obscured his

	vision, and the stream of foreign words that came from his mouth

	stopped.  He dropped to his knees, and groaned, clutching his

	head.  He felt Tifa drop down beside him and encircle his

	shoulders with her arms, hugging him tight.  "Cloud...are you

	okay?  Cloud?"

	"Yeah...Tifa...I'm okay, now..." he said, his eyes clearing and

	his mind focusing on his mission again.  Tifa did not notice that

	his eyes, green tinted from his exposure long ago to Mako energy,

	were flaring bright green.  He stood, as much as brushed her

	aside, and continued to the bottom of the staircase.

	Before them was a white stone promenade, yards in every

	direction.  They stood above it, on a balcony.  Behind them was

	the crystal staircase, before them was a stone staircase leading

	down onto the promenade.  Cloud strode purposefully to the top of

	the staircase, and descended it, the anxious Tifa and the

	bewildered Cid in tow.  At the bottom, he looked up.  Across a

	small expanse of water, kneeling on a circular stone altar, was

	Aeris.  She was in an attitude of prayer, hands clasped and head

	lowered.  Cloud paused, then turned to face his compatriots.

	"Wait here.  This is something I've got to do alone." he stated

	firmly, his eyes meeting Tifa's.  She opened her mouth to

	protest, but then fell silent, and lowered her eyes.  Cid layed a

	hand on her shoulder and gave Cloud a less-than-friendly look.

	"Do what you've gotta do, Cloud.  Just remember who's side you're

	on." he grated, his eyes flashing dangerously.  Cloud turned,

	ignoring the subtle threat, and leapt onto a wood piling that

	stood from the water.  He paused, then leapt from piling to

	piling until he stood at the base of the stone altar.  Taking the

	short steps three at a time, he at last stood before Aeris.

	His driving purpose abated for a moment, and he looked at her.

	She was indeed heart-stoppingly beautiful, as exquisite as a

	porceilin doll.  He hadn't been able to place the feelings that

	had grown inside him for her, that had begun to grow since that

	day, it seemed so long ago, that she had asked him to be her

	bodyguard...he had promised, and that was why he had come now,

	when she was in her greatest danger.  But there was something

	more.  She had said she was searching for him, that she wanted to

	meet him, and he had protested that he was sitting right across

	from her, that she knew him.  She had only shook her head, looked

	into his eyes and said she wanted to meet him.  He hadn't

	understood...didn't understand...but he began to realize with

	striking clarity that he loved this woman, loved her intensely.

	It was a new sensation to him, but his desire to protect her

	stemmed from a deeper source than any simple pledge.

	Then why was he holding his sword?  He had put it away when they

	had reached this city underground...why had he drawn it a moment

	ago?  He shook his head, trying to clear it, trying to remember

	why.  He took a step forward, closer to her, and found that he

	had lifted the sword over his head, his muscles bunched in

	preparation to strike.  Strike Aeris?  No!  He had come to save

	her, not kill her...what was he doing?  He tried to reach out to

	her, but the only response was for him to slice downward with his

	sword, at frightening speed, a strike that would have split Aeris

	nearly down the middle...

	"Cloud!  Don't do it, Cloud!"

	He checked his swing, mere inches from Aeris's bowed head.

	Tifa's voice had shaken him, made him realize his actions.

	Desperately, he forced his fingers apart and flung the sword

	aside, sending it skittering across the stone away from him.  He

	reached out to touch Aeris, but he could not make his limbs

	function.  He could only watch helplessly.

	Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him.  Her wide, green eyes

	blinked once, then sparkled with recognition.  Her lips curved

	into a happy smile, as if to say...Cloud's here...everything will

	be okay, now...my protector is here...

	Cloud felt more than heard the tumble of loose rocks from far

	above.  It clattered down to land around Aeris and he, and he

	felt a growing sense of dread as he looked up.  Silhouetted

	against the bright point of light from the surface was a shape.

	A shape with long, flowing white hair, and an impossibly long

	sword, a silhouette Cloud knew all too well.

	Sephiroth.

	Cloud tried to cry out, but his voice was frozen in his throat.

	He could hear muffled curses behind him as his friends struggled

	up to get to him, but he knew they were too late.  Aeris's time

	had run out.

	He saw Sephiroth fall, saw him descend downward.  In his fervered

	mind, it seemed so slow, such a gentle descent.  Sephiroth held

	his great sword blade down as he fell, his hair streaming behind

	him and a look of maniacal triumph on his handsome features.  And

	as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.  Sephiroth's feet met

	the stone altar, and the sword slid cleanly into Aeris's back,

	severing her spine cleanly and emerging from her stomach, three

	feet of steel sliding through her body so that the point brushed

	Cloud's thigh.  Aeris slumped forward over the blade, her eyes

	wide with shock.  No blood flowed from the wound, so sharp was

	the sword.  Her heart had stopped instantaneously.  Cloud found

	himself back in control of his own body, and an anguished choked

	cry came from his throat as he dropped to his knees.  Sephiroth,

	grinning sadistically, slowly withdrew the sword from Aeris's

	limp body, letting it slump forward into Cloud's arms.

	Her vibrant eyes, so full of life and the love of it, met

	Cloud's.  He gazed back, his heart hammering in his chest,

	threatening to choke him.  He watched as the light slowly faded

	from her beautiful emerald orbs, and her lids closed.  She drew

	one last breath, then slowly let it out and grew still.  Cloud

	held her close to him in his strong arms, anguish welling up and

	spilling from his lips in a tormented cry of grief and loss that

	echoed from the walls of the city.

	Sephiroth's scornful chuckle broke through the air, and Cloud

	looked up, hatred twisting his features.  Sephiroth's eyes burned

	with a fanatical glee, his face illuminated with an unholy light.

	"You don't have to pretend you're sad, Cloud.  And don't bother

	pretending you're angry.  It may fool your feeble friends, but

	you have no secrets from me."  the tall man hissed.

	"Shut up.  You don't know a damn thing, you're not even human

	anymore.  Whatever you once were, I can see the aura of Jenova

	around you, crackling in the air, a blackness...but I don't think

	Jenova is the evil, you bastard...it's you.  It was always you.

	You want to play God, you think you can destroy people along the

	way, anyone you wish...you know nothing of my anguish...my heart

	is racing, my mouth is dry, my hands are shaking...I feel so much

	loss...I loved her, Sephiroth, and you took that from me..." he

	looked up from her still form, and the malevolent hatred that

	crystallized in his eyes made Sephiroth blink.  He shook his

	head, and laughed again, floating upward into the air.

	"Well played, Cloud...you almost had me believing you...but I

	know you aren't capable of true emotion...because..." his voice

	trailed off as he shot upward, out of sight.

	#Because you are a puppet.#  The voice drifted down to him, came

	from all directions, pounded into his brain with gale-force

	intensity.  It was dry and old, hideous and evil and filled with

	dark intent.  It was the voice of Jenova.  And as soon as it had

	come, the vile presence left his mind, leaving him cold and alone

	and afraid.

	"I...am...what am...I...?" he murmured, holding Aeris's body

	close.  He pushed his doubt aside and rose to his feet, cradling

	the limp shape in his arms.  He brushed past the quietly crying

	Tifa, and past Cid, whose face was haggard and grey.  He stepped

	across the pilings, then across the promenade and up the stairs.

	His feet moved of their own accord, he knew, knew what he had to

	do...he carried her up the steps and out of the structure at

	their top.  He crossed the bridge, and at last came to a stop at

	the edge of the frigid pond.

	The pond glowed a crystal blue, humming with the power that was

	part of the lifestream.  Without thinking, Cloud waded out into

	the water.  When he stepped off the shore, he sank into the water

	up to his hips, his feet meeting with something solid.  He looked

	down, and saw that he was standing on nothing, the water spiraled

	downward into fathomless depths, but somehow, he wasn't sinking.

	Looking forward, he waded out to the center of the pond, Aeris's

	body barely having any weight in his arms.  Once he reached the

	center, he stopped, and lifted his face to the light that

	streamed down from a break in the coral above, bathing him in its

	luminescence, and hugged Aeris close to him.

	He rested her body gently on the surface of the water, folding

	her hands over the wound in her stomach.  No blood had flown from

	her, and as he looked at her, it was as if she were merely

	sleeping, her face peaceful.  He gazed at her for a long time,

	then bent down, touching his lips to hers.  In the icy waters,

	her skin felt warm, almost as if she were alive...his grief

	threatening to choke him, Cloud straightened, a single tear

	rolling down his cheek to land on hers.

	"Goodbye, Aeris.  I'll always love you." he whispered, and

	released her body from his arms.  She floated on the water for a

	moment, then slowly sank beneath the surface, the waters drawing

	her into their embrace.  He watched her as she drifted down.  Her

	hair fanned out around her as she descended into the bosom of the

	earth, until at last she dissapeared from view.  Cloud longed

	with every fiber of his being to follow her, to forget this life

	and the pain, the struggle and conflict.  But now his love for

	her was slowly being replaced by another driving force, a need

	that rose into his throat like burning gall, the reason he made

	himself go on.

	Revenge.