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Desecration

Desecration (des I 'cray shun) n. The act of abusing the sacredness of; profane.

  

I hate you, Planet.

I'm sure it would surprise most everyone who knew me in life to hear me say such a thing. I was Aeris, the good one, the sweet one. I was always so carefree, so loving, so…angelic. Perfect in their eyes, only I knew the troubled waters that laid beneath my calm. I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't be who I wanted; you raised me to be who you wanted. Their shock would just prove how little they really knew about me…and how much you made me hide. It burns my heart to think of it even now.

As a child, I had always known I was different. You reminded me of that constantly. I heard voices in my head and, being young, had no idea what to do. Thanks to you, everyone I met thought I was crazy, carrying out a conversation with you as you spoke to me in my mind. Elmyra was the only one who wasn't afraid of me, and that was because she didn't understand what I was. I don't think I even understood what I was, until the day you called to me stronger than ever before, and told me that it was my destiny to protect you. The very reason for my existence was to be your savior. As the last Cetra, it was my birthright to attend you and my honor to die for you.

Did you ever stop to think about whether I wanted to be your heroine?    

Like a good little girl, I did everything you wanted, Planet. I dedicated my life to serving you, to loving you. I knew it was my duty to protect you, and even as a little child, I took that seriously. I never had the chance to live a normal life. You took that away from me…you took everything away from me.

Sephiroth may have been Jenova's puppet, but I was yours.

No! Don't try to tell me that isn't true. It is. It's so true I can't believe I never saw it before. Jenova carried out her will through Sephiroth. You carried out your will through me. He was promised godhood for helping her. I was never promised anything. Instead, I had to give everything I had to help you. Yes…I gave my life to ensure you would live on, but I did not want to. I wanted to live…I was only 22. And for half of that time, I had been suffering in Shinra's laboratories, one of Hojo's little "pet projects". Where were you then, Planet? I was only important to you as a vessel; so long as I survived long enough to pray for you, you didn't care what I was subjected to in between. 

Just as Sephiroth forsook humanity, you forsook me. And that…hurts. My heart feels sick, just like it did when I was alive. So I must suffer even in death, unable to move on past my growing anger. Finally! I'm allowed to feel anger…and I can have my own thoughts, without you influencing my every move!

I'm starting to think Sephiroth had the right idea all along.

Planet…you could have told me I was going to die.

It's almost funny, how even in death I helped to save you by guiding the Lifestream to aid Holy. Afterwards, when everything was over, I asked to be returned to life. You couldn't find the power needed to resurrect me, wounds were still being healed on your surface. I pleaded and begged and cried for you to please, give me another chance at life! I could be of as much use to you on the other side of the Lifestream as I was here. You refused. It was against the natural order of things, you said…it simply was not right.

So I hung, trapped, up in this endless expanse of green, watching and waiting. I saw how the ungrateful people who lived on you remained just as poverty-stricken and helpless and morally-decrepit as they always were. I watched as the Mako fountains were brought back to life, and companies like Shinra rose up once more, to abuse you. The air turned black with soot and smoke and the tears of many. You, secure in your smugness, asked me to help again. I was the only one who could purge the great evil once and for all.

Well, I'm not doing it this time. I'm not your pawn anymore. You ruled my life, but you won't rule my eternal sleep.   

I've judged your crimes against me, Planet, and I think the doling out of justice is in order. Sephiroth died happily. He died thinking he was unstoppable. I died knowing I was weak. I had lived my life a weakling, and I died a weakling. No more. I suffered for you, and now you must suffer for me. It is necessary; it is natural. What goes around…comes around.  

Thus I have become the wrathful entity Sephiroth always wanted to be. The skies rain fire and ice, the ground groans and writhes, and above it all, surrounded by green, I am their mistress. The once-subdued elements leap to my call, as eager to deal out punishment as their enraged goddess. Together, we lay waste to the corruption and evil imbued so thickly in everything that the only way to truly "purge the great evil"…is to start completely over. Yes, Planet, to have a beautiful world of peace, the world I always wanted to have, your duration of living must end. A new age will begin; true, it will take eons, but I have time to spare. This is necessary, for the good of…of everyone. That's not to say I won't enjoy destroying you….      

After all…an eye for an eye, Planet, and a tooth for a tooth.

Your end will be by my hand, as will your rebirth.    

And as the world comes crashing down around me, flametongues lapping at the black sky, I laugh and laugh and wait for the impending darkness to finally consume everyth—