To love an Ancient 2: An Aeris and Kadaj story
Words 3034
12 pages
Chapter 1 The Crimson Eyed Angel.
Disclaimer
Nope, I don't own Final Fantasy 7...but I sometimes adopt their kawaii bishonens! (most specifically the silvered haired kind.)
Author's Notes
Hi, everyone! Welcome back! I bet the guys who know me, really did not expect me to upload the sequel so quickly. I'm surprised too! Oh and for you newcomers, I think it would be better for you to read TLAA1 before you read this, so you can have a better understanding as to what has occurred so far, and why things are like they are in TLAA2. Heh, lets just say, that the situation where Aeris and Sephiroth split off in TLAA1, was nothing short of cataclysmic.
Um, but yeah. This fic may not be as exceedingly long as TLAA1, since I am focussing Aeris journey on another silver haired individual, rather than our beloved Sephiroth. Yeah, that's right! The lovable if not semi-psychotic Kadaj from Advent Children will soon be careening our way! Now I bet you guys must be thinking what the hell Kadaj will be doing in this fic! Aren't I a A/S worshipper? (-Aer-seph chuckles-) Don't worry A/S fans, this fic is still and always will be Aeris/Sephiroth (even though Sephy has gone AWOL)...but that doesn't mean that there won't be any persuasive competition from any other sides! lol.
Ahem...
I guess I should wrap up my A.N. now.
On with the sequel!
Day passed to night. Night passed to day. The rain fell from the heavens, and the cloud's reigned the sky. From light to shadow...to darkness and dawn. The world continued onwards, so death and life, would merge as one...
To Love an Ancient 2:
An Aeris and Kadaj story
Nibelheim Streets...
Many hours had passed since the sun had descended to the night. Now the moon was the mistress of the sky, and the glimmering stars were her loyal subjects. Together, they coloured the blackness of night into shades of soft silver, and cool, cobalt-grey.
And it was beneath this wondrous sky, that a black blur darted across the towns rooftops. Unseen and undetected, it leapt from building to building. It moved from brick to branch; from gravel, to sky. It dashed and weaved between the shadows; and then, with one gigantic leap, it flew across the wind; its dark flowing cape, billowing outwards, like the wings of a bat-winged demon across a pale moonlight sky. It then fell downwards into a tree, before flipping over a large metal gate, and landing gracefully onto the grassy grounds. Now on foot, the dark figure moved with the grace of an animal, converged in shadow. As the foreboding door of a derelict mansion came into sight, the strangers pace quickened, crossing the remaining distance with one perfectly executed somersault, and landing right in front of his destination.
Shinra Mansion.
The dark stranger knew that the doors of the mansion were unlocked. He did not need to test the handle to know this. Regardless of this knowledge, the stranger passed the main entrance, and instead, found his own secret entrance.
His slim figure easily slipped through a broken window, and landed silently to the floor with the grace that no normal human could muster. Raising his head, the stranger's eyes searched across the floors of the empty hallway of the forgotten mansion.
He couldn't see anything...unsettling..
However, experience told him to stay alert.
Just because he could not see anything...that did not mean it wasn't there.
His marauding eyes darted up the long winding staircase..
And his ears flickered from side to side, listening to the stillness around him.
Hearing nothing which caused him any alarm, the stranger's shoulders relaxed slightly.
His crimson eyes glimmered downwards, to the small package he held to his chest.
Food.
Stolen
food.For her...
The stranger sighed deeply.
Three days
had passed since that night.He wiped his right hand across his vision, as if the action could swipe away the sins that had harvested themselves in his soul.
Metal shoes clinked quietly as the stranger crossed a barren hallway, thankfully bereft of a certain large monster carcass (1) that had bled onto the floorboards only three nights ago. (The stranger decided to toss the dead body out into the garden, so that the scavengers wouldnt try to feast upon its rotten flesh within his presence.)
The stranger shook his head at the memory, and ascended up the staircase.
With each step he took, the sound of a heartbeat grew louder..
And the scent of death grew stronger...
When reached the top, the stranger turned left and moved down the narrow hallway.
And it was here that the stranger paused...
There was another strange scent in the air...
It smelt of tears...
And something else...
A cloying sticky smell that tickled his nose.
Clouding his senses by its salty sweetness.
The stranger recognised it.
For he had tasted it before.
Blood...dead blood..
He could remember the way it stained his lips..
And trickled down his throat...
And if he closed his eyes...
He could almost taste it on his tongue.
This scent...
It...excited him.
His eyes gleamed a greedy crimson.
And his mouth opened to infest the flavour in his mouth.
But then, his jaw snapped shut, when he realised what he was doing.
The stranger inwardly flinched at his own reaction.
Disgust and shame filled his entire being.
He did not need to remind himself that he was no longer human.
For the demon inside of him would never let him forget it.
Shaking his head, the stranger continued down the hallway, following the scent of tears and blood, until he stopped at his final destination.
A closed door.
And what was hidden behind this door...?
The stranger planted his small package at the bottom of the door.
And then he raised his left hand.
And gently knocked the wooden surface.
Silence greeted him from the other side.
But the stranger was not surprised.
After all, he did not expect a response.
For in the last three days...
The door had never once been opened for him.
And the occupant inside had never said a single word.
Regardless, the 'gifts' he placed at its entrance eventually disappeared by the following day.
Whether they were used or consumed, the stranger did not know.
Sighing softly, the stranger raised his right hand to sweep through his long raven locks.
There was nothing more he could do...
And so...with one final sniff of the air..
And a undisguised shiver of disgust.
The stranger turned, and left.
It was only when the strangers footsteps faded to silence, and another distant door in the manor fell shut with a half audible click, did the large bulge in the bed decide to move. Slowly, a small delicate hand slithered out from beneath the dirty cream covers, followed by a pair of red rimmed eyes.
Then with a few more uneasy shuffles, the occupant's head peeped out from beneath the dusty bedding. Chestnut hair that once was thick and luscious, was now matted beyond all recognition of its former beauty; and skin that once was warm and bright, had now faded to an unhealthy pasty white.
When her bare feet slowly met the icy floorboards, her pale face jumped in surprise.
The brunette did not remember taking off her boots...
Rising to her feet, and standing in the large and empty bedroom in just a slim pink dress, the brunette stared blankly into the silent darkness which surrounded her. The only light was a thin slip of silver, peeking out from between a pair of closed curtains.
It seemed like it took forever, when the girl's sluggish body decided to cross to the other side of the darkened room. Her white small feet, shuffled across each and every floorboard, before stopping directly at the bedroom door.
Her clumsy fingers fumbled around the door handle, twisting the small knob in the wrong direction twice, before eventually turning it open with a loud and painful creak.
Dark green eyes peered out into the darkness of the corridors, before turning downwards to the doorstep.
She knew it was there, before she even saw it.
It was another package.
The brunette dutifully picked up the item, and closed the door behind her.
She stared blankly at the package..
It was wrapped up in some form of white paper
And from its softness and texture.
It seemed like a bread loaf...
Or perhaps a cake...?
But to the brunette, the contents of the parcel did not matter.
For why would she care?
She wasn't hungry.
She did not think she could ever be hungry again...
So with slow, practised steps, the brunette padded towards one corner of the darkened room and dropped the white parcel to the floor. It landed with a quiet thump on a bedding of other similarly coloured packages, that were just as equally untouched, as they were just as equally unappreciated.
The brunette couldn't understand why she was being given these 'gifts'. It wasn't like she asked for them.
For why would she want to eat?
Why would she need to drink?
When it would only serve to strengthen the demons inside her head at night.
Making her dreams more violent.
More frightful.
More tearful..
More painful..
And just...
Far more unbearable...to see.
The brunettes trembling white fingers moved upwards to cover eyes swollen from last night's tears.
She just wanted it to end..
She wanted to forget...
But no matter what she did.
She could not escape her thoughts of darkness...
She would always wake up screaming.
She would always end up crying.
And as the day continued on...she would always end up bleeding.
She still had five red streaks that had dried on both sides of her arms from the first night. Her chipped and broken fingernails scratched the nightmares onto her skin. It was not like she did it on purpose. All she had to do was close her eyes, and lose herself in her memories, and when she awoke...there would be another red gouge staining her broken flesh. It was as if her soul was sought out the pain of the body, in an attempt to forget the pain of the mind.
But no matter what she tried.
The brunette could not forget.
It only took one look at her blood encrusted fingernails...
To remind herself of her nightmare.
And the memory of his crimson life...
...trickling down her hands...
The brunette's feet moved across the cold floorboards, stopping only when she reached the side of the bed. Then suddenly, in one careless move, the brunette fell facedown upon the dirty sheets, not even wincing from the impact.
The brunette could not bear it anymore.
She couldn't stop thinking about it...
Of him...
And no matter how much she tried...
She could not stop the tears from coming.
They drenched her hands and skin.
Her pillows and blankets.
Filling them with the scent of her sorrow.
The brunette wrapped her limbs around her, so that her body resembled a tight ball of protection. Her head was mashed into her knees. Her fingers were wrapped around her ankles. Her shoulders shivered and shuddered and her spine constricted and contracted.
She just wanted to shut everything out.
To forget about everything...
But...
The more she tried to not think about it.
The more she remembered...
Her memories became more vivid in her mind.
They invaded her with their colours of death and madness.
Unlatching her from reality...
And ensnaring her heart and soul into the realms of insanity.
And so the brunette tried to escape away from the fear and madness.
By delving into the world of sleep.
But...
The more she dreamed.
The more the madness consumed her.
For the haunting images that invaded her head during the day.
Would be there to greet her in her nightmares.
His glowing green eyes...
and his kindness...
His saccharine smile...
and his darkness...
His malicious laughter...
and his madness...
She could not escape from her memories.
She could remember every thought and every feeling.
His long slender fingers...
...and his anger as they flashed across her skin.
His unearthly beauty...
...and his unearthly promise.
Of eternity in death...
Each image was burned inside her eyelids, and each word echoed inside her head.
Her hands clawed at the covers around her, before throwing it over her shivering figure, enshrouding her in her cloak of eternal solitude, trying to lose herself in her own darkness.
"You will come with me when I visit my Mother...tonight."
---
"You promised!"
"You promised me, damn you wench!"
---
"Aeris..."
"You may call me selfish..."
"...but I will have you by my side in the Neo Promised Land!"
---
"You give up eternity just because of your foolish mortal fear?"
---
"Why are you fighting me Aeris!"
"You are meant to be with me...not against me!"
"Tell me why! Why are you against me Aeris?"
---
"The life on this planet will soon be no more."
"The Cetra have passed judgement on this planet. "
"It will be cleansed from all its impurities. It will be avenged-"
---
"An organism that was apparently dead, was found..."
"... in a two thousand year old geological stratum to the North. "
"The organism that they found, was my Mother."
---
"Heh hah aha, Aeris, do you want to know what I still find so ironic?"
"That the weapon Shinra created to save themselves ..."
"Will in the end, be the same weapon that kills them!"
---
The brunette was lost and prey to the nightmares in her head.
She could not fight them.
And could not forget them.
She was at the mercy of her tortured dreams.
On the first and second night, the brunette vocalised her pain for the entire world to hear.
She wept and sobbed.
She screamed and cried.
She tossed books in the air.
And threw a wardrobe to the floor.
She pounded the bed.
And shattered a window.
But no matter what the brunette broke.
Or what she threw...
She could not free herself from her darkness.
It still consumed her.
It still owned her.
He
still owned her...And the more her tears poured, the more apparent it became...
She was a puppet to her emotions.
She was a puppet to her nightmares...
And only he had the power to stop them...
But...
The only one who could save her...
Was dead.
He had left her in the darkness.
In a void of madness...
with nothing...
...but her memories.
The brunette clenched her eyes shut so tightly, that she could see the threaded veins of her eyelids within her mental darkness.
She just wanted everything to go away.
The madness.
And the loss.
Her weakness.
And her pain.
The memories...
And her dreams.
Her thoughts..
And her feelings...
She wanted everything to go...
She wanted the sadness to end.
But much more than that...
Aeris wanted to disappear.
A silent sob escaped her throat, as she curled her body inside the darkness of the room.
In her dreams, she saw the shades of green and silver, bathed in crimson.
Authors notes
Whew. The first chapter is finished.
Yeah yeah, I know what a lot of you guys must be thinking. Why was this chapter so short? Because I wanted it to be. I assume a lot of you guys who have read my works before know how infamously lazy I can become, so I promised myself that no matter how much I wrote, I would have it uploaded for the 4th of May. (Why the 4th of May, I have absolutely no idea...But um...yeah I guess I wanted to get the ball rolling and the ideas flowing). It seems Aeris is suffering a severe case of depression. Well...what do you expect? The man she loved had tried to kill her...and then died before her very eyes. I think anyone would be traumatised seeing THAT! Heh, I am still surprised at my own writing style for this chappie...it's just so...so poetically morbid and miserable, however I don't feel sad or miserable myself...On the contrary, I am quite happy at the moment. I got into my Uni. Birmingham Uni! English Literature and Language in Education! Whee! ;)
I can't wait till September...this gap year is so boooorrrrinngggg!
Oh and dont forget to review:)
Ja ne
Aerseph4eva
Any questions? Comments? Feel free to contact me by email. Just click on my username at the top of the page, and you guys should know the rest:)
1- For you guys who havent read TLAA1, Aeris was chased and attacked by the infamous Chocobo eating looking creature in the Shinra hallway (yep the same one that is in the safe with the key)...and Sephiroth killed it. (Skewered from head to toe, if you want the specifics.)
P.S
Have any of you guys listened to the DOC soundtrack yet? I dunno why but the main prelude theme sounds like the Inuyasha main theme. Weird. I know.
And what do you guys think of the dubbed version of FF7AC? I burst out laughing when I first heard Yazoo's. It just...not right. And then Seph. He sounded too much like a good-guy. I prefer the evil Naraku voice instead. But alas, it could have been worse, it could have been Paul Dobson. I would have cried if that wooden robot did the voice of Sephy. I thought Vinnie's voice was a little too deep and harsh to listen to. I thought he would be the soft and whispery type...a mumbler if you will. But I guess that is just my opinion. Heh. Oh and Cait Sith's VA. He sounded half irish, half scottish! And as for Cid...I never knew he was a yankee. lol. But other than that, I think the other's were good. Steve Burton makes a good Cloud, no?