Name Me

The End

By FullMentalPanic

"Aerith, wake up!"

She startled upwards with a spasm of thunder and quaking in chest. This was wrong. It was too dark. It was too early. She wasn't supposed to be here. It - she -

The pounding flutter of her heart slowed as reality established itself. She was in a Shinra cell and it was only dark because they hadn't turned on the lights. Panic stilled, but it steadied into a fear that rational thought only confirmed; she wasn't supposed to be here.

She instantly missed the oblivion she'd been roused from. Which meant she'd actually fallen asleep after all. So it followed that she'd been woken up by -

"Can I come in yet? There should be enough time, but it's not really the best idea to let things sit on the back burner right now."

- a chance.

"You came back!" She scrambled to her feet on top of the cot and inexpertly scrabbled her fingers around the edges of the grate.

"Hey, promises were made to be kept."

Locking onto that luminescent blue as the metal swung upwards, she had to catch her hands in mid-flight from snatching him off the lip of the vent. With an effort, she leveled a palm beneath the opening and felt her breath loosen at the immediate pressure as he stepped on.

"What time is it?" she asked, bringing her hand to the heighth of her face and trying to make him out more clearly. She'd had quite a bit of time to adjust to the darkness, and there were subtle shades of gray that she guessed to be the outlines of his form and a startling hairstyle. However, it was difficult to focus on anything but the two points of light.

"2:00 a.m.-ish."

"So then," her free hand clenched and she breathed in taut anticipation, "we are escaping tonight."

"It...yeah...depends..."

She felt hollow from throat to stomach. "What does that mean?"

"Calm down," he soothed. "I'm totally fine with you, but the other part of the 'we' isn't even sure you're an Ancient."

Exactly what she'd always been trying to convince Shinra. She stifled a spasmodic giggle. Irony could wait. "What do I have to do?"

"Just some tests, like to prove you're a Cetra, and you are, so there's nothing to be worried about."

"And if I don't pass?"

"You will, you don't have to feel worried."

She felt sick.

This was it though, and as slick and unsettled as her insides were right now, the only clear way out was right in front of her. "What's the test?"

"There's that fighting spirit! Okay, do you know any of the names of the people in the SOLDIER program, besides mine?"

"Not really," she winced. What was that saying about knowing your enemies? It was probably why she'd been captured.

"That's fine. Now I'm not responsible for the wording here, so bear with me. 'Wisdom and mercy unite for victory. Beauty crowns the foundation of the kingdom. Intelligent strength and justice forms majesty. Count to ten, divide by three, join the pillars, and name me.'"

She swayed a little. "Could you repeat that?"

"Sure." He did.

It seemed to get even more confusing the second time around. "It's so...quasi-poetic," she hedged.

"Yeah, the influence of Lo - uh, friend...ish...stuff."

"How many tries do I have?"

"Well, it's one of those all or nothing situations, so just one."

Of course. A swallow couldn't make it past her throat. Her mind pushed against the riddle but it showed absolutely no sign of budging. How did this connect to being an Ancient?

"Don't feel like you have to stand up the whole time, unless you think better on your feet."

She all but collapsed onto the mattress, before belatedly noticing that her hand had dropped out from under Zack and he was clinging to her skin in lieu of having gravity to give him firm footing.

"Are you alright?" she gasped, cupping her other hand around the first and trying not to squeeze as she felt him squirm back to his feet.

"Yeah," his voice puffed in laughter. "Actually it was kind of a rush."

Sighing with relief, and a hint of exasperation, she leaned her head against the smooth metal of the wall, letting texture and temperature focus her thoughts.

Her efforts were unsuccessful.

"You've got this, Aerith. You have everything you need to figure this out."

"Are you allowed to give hints?" she countered dully.

"I'm not giving hints," he intoned righteously. "I'm being encouraging. Questions are pointless if you don't already have the pieces, you just have to reach back far enough for them."

"Far enough," she repeated without much hope. Back to things she really didn't want to remember, but that was the only time when Cetra knowledge could have taken root. That had been the only time her mother had been alive to tell it to her. Childhood, parents -

Father.

Ice shattered and dripped in glassy splinters. She couldn't remember him at all, whether he had been kind or cruel, gentle or rough. It didn't matter though. Whenever the thought of him crossed her mind, one fact stood above everything else: he hadn't been strong enough to save them.

Her eyes slid closed, and her free hand twisted into the fabric of her skirt. The rough rip of tearing cloth reminded her that nothing she was wearing would be sturdy enough to act as a lifeline. Her fingers twitched at soft movement on her upturned palm.

"Hey, you okay?"

Opening her eyes she looked on the steady, blue glow radiating out of her hand. Didn't he ever blink? Unless he turned away, the light of his eyes had always been constant.

"Are you timing your blinks with mine?"

There was finally a flicker in that light and a slightly embarrassed chuckle. "Should I stop?"

"No, it's fine." It couldn't illuminate anything, but it was always there. There were very few things she'd been able to hang onto. People slipped away from her, even her flowers that burst to life under her hands could only live so long before they withered and went to seed. As evidenced by her current predicament, she could be separated from the steadiness of the earth, and there were whispering fears in her mind that even that foundation was dying.

Breathing slowly, she tried to tear her mind away from the awareness of transiency she usually ignored. One of the clearest memories of what her childhood had taught her was that loving something didn't mean that it was safe or that it could keep her from harm. When she was very young she had thought that it did. She didn't like to remember it because it so obviously wasn't true. Now though, she faced that time when she had fully believed that the shadows couldn't touch her.

Mother had made it so easy to laugh. There had been strange men, and strange, harsh lights, but none of them had seemed truly frightening when her mother smiled. They had always been asking questions, trying to get her to give answers that she didn't understand. Mother had replied easily, speaking quickly and carelessly while pencils scratched over paper until the men started to look frustrated and then left in a huff. After that, all Mother's attention would be for Aerith, her light voice filling Aerith's world while they ran from side to side of the windowless room they lived in. Mother knew wonderful games of all sorts ; for singing, jumping, rhyming, clapping, drawing, dancing. The best thing about them was that they had usually kept the tall men away.

Sometimes the men had asked questions about the games; dry, slow questions that seemed to totally miss the point of the fun. Mother would eagerly demonstrate the hand motions, hopping steps, and accompanying animal sounds, that Aerith still hadn't heard from their original source, urging them to join in the play. At which point the men would stomp out of the room looking disgusted and offended, and she and Mother would laugh at how silly they were not to enjoy any of the games.

The numbers game, counting in the soft throaty words that she'd never heard anyone else use. Kether, h'akmah, binah; words that resonated as she clapped her tiny palms against her mother's larger ones. Meaning that was attached and inherent along with number value sprang into her mind as it had when they'd softly chanted together; the crown, wisdom, intelligence... Her breath caught. There were ten of them! H'esed, pah'ad, tiphereth; mercy, strength and justice, beauty...

"Say the riddle again!" she demanded, leaning forward with her fist against the mattress.

"Wisdom and mercy unite for victory." There was pleased excitement in each clearly stated syllable.

"H'akmah, h'esed, netsah," she whispered triumphantly.

"Beauty crowns the foundation of the kingdom."

"Tiphereth, kether, yesod, malkuth."

"Intelligent strength and justice forms majesty."

"Binah, pah'ad, hod!" She tightened her fist in response as he stepped forward to the heel of her upturned palm.

"Count to ten, divide by three, join the pillars, and name me."

Ten numbers, each with its own attributes. Three groups, two with three numbers, and one with four -

"You've got it?" He shifted on her skin, and even with her eyes closed she could feel the intensity of his gaze.

"SHHH!" she hushed fiercely.

Those three groups were known as amudim, pillars...the Pillar of Love...the Pillar of Mercy...the Pillar of Judgement. Together they were known as the -

"Sephiroth," she exhaled.

He didn't say anything.

"Was that right?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah."

"I was right!" She held back from clapping her hands in excitement, and grasped her wrist instead so she wouldn't squish Zack. Twirling from her knees to her feet, tension escaped in jumping laughter. Shinra cots weren't very conducive to bouncing, but she didn't care. She was halfway there! If she got one question right, she could succeed on the other one too!

"What's the next one?" Her skirt twisted around her legs before flowing smoothly as she spun to a stop. "It's another Cetra question, right?"

He moved away from where he'd been anchored to her thumb. "...Just give an honest response, okay?"

She nodded brightly. "Sure."

"After this next one, I'm really not allowed to say anything until you answer or everything else turns void and I have to leave without you."

This time the reluctance and content of his words knocked aside her euphoria. She paused with lips parted on questions she didn't know how to phrase. Was there really anything to say? It seemed forebodingly clear-cut. Looking down at the clear shine of his eyes, she was annoyed as the energy of her success drained and her body and mind remembered it was beyond the middle of the night.

"Is it bad somehow?" came stupidly from her mouth, even though she already knew the answer.

"I can't say."

"Then ask," she whispered.

"I'm not allowed to help directly. I'm still here though, sending good thoughts!"

"..."

"Okay," he sighed. Then his voice changed, went rigid and controlled and expressionless as what he said next was chopped by his tongue. "'You will be taken from this cell, protected and rescued, if and only if you will deliver the life of your first child into my hands.'"

She blinked. She didn't have any children, firstborn or otherwise, and what this meant...Seeping horror brought wakefulness back to her brain. She was the last of the Cetra, who said that whatever they wanted to do to her was any better than what Shinra was planning? Except, it was stated that she'd be spared from it, if she would let them inflict it on her child.

Her gaze locked onto his desperately, imploring for some indication that this wasn't the situation she thought it was. He didn't blink or look away, but that was all. He wasn't going to say or do anything else. Briefly, she contemplated tilting him off her palm. With a shaky exhale, she wrapped her free arm around her stomach. She didn't want to push him away, but whether she did or not didn't change the fact that she was going to have to give her answer completely on her own, and soon. There were only so many hours before the day began and he would leave for good.

She didn't have a child though, her thoughts kept circling around that pertinent fact. Maybe it wasn't even possible for her in the first place. She wasn't a full Cetra, only half. If she was half-human and half-Ancient, maybe she was like a mule; sterile. Could she risk the life of her child on a chance? She could just decide never to have children; never marry, have an operation, eat nothing but lard and sugar and become thoroughly unappealing. Even as she weighed the options, she balked at skirting around the specific wording of the demand. What if, through whatever circumstances, she did end up with a child? Could she condemn that unborn person to whatever Sephiroth had planned and foreswear any responsibility toward that dependent little life? What did they want to do to her baby? That they wouldn't talk about it made her irrevocably certain that it was something terrible. Would it be like what had happened to her? What should she do? What would her mother do?

She flashed on the time spent in that small windowless room with a cleaness that hurt her eyes and seemed dead. Her mother flippantly declaring that Aerith wouldn't know anything of importance, convincing them to leave her daughter in the cell while she'd been taken away for hours on end. Sometimes her mother had only able to smile silently when she was returned.

Still, there had been so much laughter; over games, over hugs, over how little the men who watched them and questioned them seemed to understand of what was going on. She had been so confused at how they treated her mother, with so many questions but acting like none of her answers mattered and leaving whenever Mother got to any of the really fun parts. She'd asked her mother about it quietly, why the men didn't realize how smart she was. She had smiled and tapped a finger on Aerith's nose. "Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is let people think you're silly." Aerith had thrilled at her mother's undefeaftable cleverness. In the end though, all of that laughter, and all of that love, hadn't been enough to keep her safe.

They had accepted less and less her mother's excuses for her daughter as Aerith had grown older. She'd been taken one day, from where she'd been playing with a doll that had taken weeks for her mother to intricately twist out of old clothes. One moment she had been on the hard floor, and the next she was high in the air against an unfamiliar shoulder. Her mother's voice had risen, climbing from the playful tone it nearly always rested at to a shrillness that made Aerith's ears hurt and heart race before the door slammed it silent. She had always felt safe when her mother picked her up and held her, now she felt trapped and scared, and hugged her doll close. She had to be brave, because Dolly couldn't do anything to escape. So Aerith had kicked and squirmed, and when she did her doll slipped from her hands and flopped limply to the floor. Nothing she did, or said, or cried would stop the man so she could go back and rescue it. A door had closed on the sight of what she lost and she never saw it again.

That had been the first time she'd met him. He didn't have eyes, just shiny flashing circles on his face. Everyone, she, her mother, the mean men, they all had eyes and she could see what they were in them. Not him, he was the body without a soul. He had reached toward her and she couldn't back away.

Aerith's eyes blinked open to the darkness of her cell. This was what she would be subjecting her child to. This was not what parents did to their children. You did not surrender your own flesh and blood, not even to save your own life.

"No."

Zack whooped.

She started as a thin, half band of warmth wrapped around her wrist. She jerked her arm upward. Zack came with it and she found herself blinking in bafflement at joyously blazing blue.

"I said no."

"You're brilliant! You did it! I know you said no, that's why you're awesome!"

She was too tired to figure this out. "What?"

"Sephiroth was testing your character," he laughed between words. "He didn't want to help you if you were the kind of person who would give up her own child to save herself. No, was the right answer."

"Oh," she said faintly before her emotions marching resolutely toward martyrdom abruptly about-faced. "So that means - "

"Yeah! Grab your boots, girl, we're going to be out of Shinra within the hour!"

A smile rallied and spread from her heart to her face. Glancing eagerly into the shadows she hesitated. "I don't know where they are."

Zack bounced off her palm, and two lights sauntered to the edge of the cot. "There's one right below me, the other one's a few hundred - a few feet to the left by the wall."

She slid to the floor, shivering at the chill that crept through her thin socks and skirt, but her hands soon encountered the soft mass she was feeling for. "Sorry I threw this at you."

"You did, didn't you, and I completely forgot to mention it to Sephiroth too."

"Would that have changed things?" Finding her other shoe, she straightened and sat on the edge of the mattress, trying to determine which was the left foot fit and which was the right.

"He's pretty leery of anything he thinks could come back to bite any of us. He'll warm up to you though."

Her fingers slipped off the edges of her boot and her foot slammed the rest of the way in as it smacked into the floor. "I have to meet him?"

"Well yeah, you'll be seeing a lot of him. He's the guy in charge, though I hold an impressive amount of influence."

"That's good," she ventured, sitting with her arms straight and clamped to the edge of the cot as she wiggled her other foot into her shoe.

"It is good," he said confidently, and she looked down as she felt him touch against her wrist. "So there's no reason to dilly-dally. Can I snag a hand to the grating?"

She raised her chin and breathed in. She'd done it, passed all of their tests. There was nothing anyone should get upset about, including her. Letting out her breath she smiled and offered a palm for Zack to step onto before getting up herself. As he slipped into the vent, there was a flash of muted light.

"What?"

"Small materia. I was supposed to leave it around the corner of the next vent, but I didn't want to have to go back for it. Fortunately anything you're wearing or holding shrinks along with you so I just had to grab a cloth to cover it with."

"Who were you hiding it from?"

"Well, you in case you didn't meet Sephiroth's standards. This is your way out of here," he patted the sphere of dim light and was silhouetted in green.

"So you'll shrink me?" The lurking idea that she'd be going out the front door faded. She'd only heard the vaguest of rumors surrounding this kind of thing, and usually sandwiched in between stories of materia that would make your hair grow, fix kitchen appliances, or turn you into a frog. Apparently there was some truth to this one because...Zack had been shrunk. What was he like when he wasn't tiny?

"He didn't come right out and say it, but this is actually part of the test too. I can't work materia when I'm downsized, so you're going to have to cast it."

That in itself didn't seem too hard. It was the possibility of Sephiroth laying more traps where she could lose her freedom that had her hands feeling cold. "How should I do that without getting stuck down here?"

"Grab onto the bottom of the vent and I'll hold the materia against your fingers so you can cast. When it takes effect you'll already be holding onto the edge and I can pull you up."

She put both hands over the lip of the vent, unconfident in her upper body strength to keep her from plummeting from a height that was about to turn lethal. Her head was craned up, but she could still barely see inside where Zack should have been standing. She jumped at the tingle of materia on her fingertips and leaned back, trying to see into the vent.

"Make sure you're really pressing into the wall, we don't really know which way you'll shrink. I'll help you up as soon as you're small enough. No offense, but you're a little more than I can handle at the moment."

"Hmm," she intoned, wondering if she should spare the energy to play offended then decided it was more important to make sure she didn't succumb to nerves and back away. Stepping as close as possible to the wall, awareness of the materia and what it was meant for seemed to flow down her arm and tickle around her temples. A dim visual of a point of light growing smaller and smaller flashed in front of her eyes.

"Here I go," she stated uncertainly, but she didn't tap into the swirl of power she could feel practically breathing under her fingers.

"I'm ready," he assured, and she felt barely discernible pressure against one of her nails. Plastering herself further against the wall, she focused on the materia and pulled.

Her skin was coated in warmth, crown to sole, and then the sensation drove into her core and turned cold. It was a chill, expanding vacuum that she was being dragged into. She felt like she was falling, because she actually was.

Falling, slipping, her hands flat and scraping down the wall without slowing -

Something heated and firm wound around her middle and swept her up against solid warmth, alive and huge. She latched on and clung to it as gravity dropped away with a jerk and she was just swinging with a heartbeat next to her ear.

"Got you." The voice brushed though her hair, resonated next to her for the first time in a way that made her think 'guy'.

The scream that had gotten caught in her throat when she was falling made her voice squeak. "Zack?"

"Yep."

There was a heave and swing, and everything seemed to flip and turn sideways, and then there was firmness under her knees. She breathed fast, her skin twitching in an echo of her pounding heart. She started when she felt him shift.

"I'm gonna get the grate closed and then we can go," he said quietly. She felt him easing back and realized he was crouched around her with arms nearly enveloping her waist and back. Scuttling back, she sat shivering at the loss of contact and temperature with her legs folded to the side. The green materia was too glaring to be anything other than a bright spot in darkness, and she couldn't see anything around her clearly. She straightened with a gasp as something settled on her shoulder.

"Watch, I'll be finished in second," his voice bounced cheerfully off walls that sounded too close yet still too far away to see.

Then the pressure lifted, and she blinked at moving shadows until she could make out the lighter dimness that was the vent opening, leading back to what had been her cell. A solid shape detached from the darkness then flitted out completely, seeming to hang suspended in space for an instant before shifting to a higher level and bounding out of sight completely. Aerith had a moment to process that Zack had grabbed onto, swung up on, and jumped off of the grating, before he came crashing down onto it again. It dipped, but not enough to close. In the beat before it sprung back into place, Zack dropped to the underside of the metal cover and wrenched downward. Inching past the point of resistance, the grating was suddenly rushing toward the vent opening. They collided with a crash that shook all four walls and Aerith could feel on the inside of her teeth. Calmly, Zack let go and stepped off his perch on the inside of the cover.

She laid her hand where his had been. It had covered her neck to shoulder, collarbone to nearly the bottom of her shoulder blade. A minute ago that hand would have fit on one of her fingertips. She needed some time to adjust to this.

He hefted the green globe to his shoulder like one of the drums of salvaged Mako hauled around under the plate, and then the blue she'd seen flickers of as he moved about was steady on her once more. She pushed to her feet quickly, ready to move on, standing straight and as tall as she could. His eyes were still well above hers.

"All set?" His voice was over her head. Well, most adults' were, but she didn't spend her first few hours of acquaintance with most people with them fitting in the palm of her hand.

For some reason, the green of the materia seemed to feed the blueness of his eyes instead of drowning it out. Other than that, it wasn't useful in illuminating his features. She could barely discern that he seemed to be humanly normal, let alone discover what he actually looked like. When the light swung slightly to the side, it did show enough for her to realize that he was holding out his hand for her.

She'd been holding him for most of the time that she'd known him, but taking his hand now that they were the same size seemed more intimate, and she shied away from it. Having something solid to hang onto in a near pitch environment would be nice though, and she decided that linking arms would be more appropriate...if he'd had sleeves. When she touched bare skin in the crook of his arm and her hand settled over the slow rhythm of his pulse she was on the verge of switching to his gloved hand, but he was already moving forward.

"Off we go," he whispered. "Remind me to be quieter if I forget. Sound carries like you wouldn't believe in here."

"Big booms from closing grates don't count?" she questioned pointedly while quickening her pace to match his longer and faster stride.

"Random clangs are normal for metal buildings, or this one at any rate. Voices in vents are suspicious."

As she was guided into a right hand turn she wondered aloud, "just how well can you see?"

"You're biting your lip, and that tiny pocket on the side of your skirt is only half buttoned."

She released her skin from her teeth and checked the pocket by touch. It was as he'd said. Wonderful, now she was suddenly self-conscious about how she looked. Resisting the urge to tactiley fix her hair, she still straightened her posture. He'd probably noticed, if his eyesight was really that good. She needed to distract herself.

"What would've happened if I had known his name?"

"The process would just be reversed, the question would be about why he was named that with more cryptic clues leading up to it. Good thing you didn't know his name though. I had the riddle that went along with that option memorized better."

"How long until we get there?" Hopefully he wouldn't be annoyed by the variation on 'are we there yet', and she truly wanted to know how long she had to prepare before her first encounter with Sephiroth.

"Our temporary base is some floors down, which should go fast with gravity on our side. It's a little bit of a hike from there with how fast we're going, so probably ten to twenty minutes."

As long as twenty minutes to get up her nerve, as quick as ten minutes to become frazzled, or vice versa. Zack's arm seemed to tug against her hand a bit harder, but that was because she was slowing down.

"Tired?"

She quickly stepped faster. "No."

Almost at once she was pulled to a halt, and she looked uneasily up at Zack's profile.

"Here we are. Cloud's already been and gone, so once I pick this up we can be on are way." His arm slipped away from her, and the materia was shifted down to the floor. She moved after him, but a strong updraft of cold air whooshed into her and had her stepping back again. They were right on the edge of something very high.

"Who's Cloud?" She stretched her hands cautiously out to the sides, but she couldn't find anything to steady herself.

"Third part of the 'we'. He's in the infantry. He also knows the girl who was slated for a corporate wedding with Rufus Shinra." Something long and coiled was held next to the orb of faint light. "He moved this part over so I know he and Tifa already made it down and I can pack this up."

She edged closer to the materia, her single visual point of reference. "Won't we need it to get down?"

"For me it's faster just to jump. Unless you'd feel better climbing down?" Blue eyes looked back at her and dulled the edge of her tension.

"What's easiest for you?" she inquired warily. Sliding down a rope, or something like it, wouldn't be that difficult, if she was well-rested and not blind or shaky. She'd rather have his help.

"If you hang onto my back." His light blinked out as he turned. "You'll have something to hold onto and I'll still have a hand free for the materia and the rope. I'll kick off the walls on the way down so we won't land too hard for you. Will that work?"

"...Yes." She wouldn't be excessively comfortable with it, but she was more easy with it than the other options.

The outlines of his back were shown as he crouched and lifted the green glow to his left shoulder. His eyes turned toward her and he offered, "climb on."

Getting aboard mostly by feel, and when she was wearing a dress, was awkward. With a little maneuvering, she had her ankles crossed in front of him and her skirt tucked securely around her legs not too high. She looped her arms around his neck, then ducked her head as her face brushed against his hair. It smelled clean, like water and that scrap of leafy, living wood that had been trapped in an odd container of building supplies.

His right hand closed over where hers were welded together. "No choking please."

He jumped.

It was like a cold shower that was shooting up from the drain instead of flowing from the faucet. She clamped tighter to his heat while her eyes locked open and streamed in the rushing wind. The light, mossy gleam of the materia spread in front of them on something flat and vast, something they were about to run into. She was thinking it might help if she leaned back when they abruptly slowed, but in a way that was like they'd hit something rubbery. Then they sped away into nothingness and were once more plummeting through an expanse of black. Her brain clicked to a solution, the materia light was reflecting of a wall of the vent. Zack had kicked off of it, and in such a way that it wasn't like falling face first on the floor of her church. Then he did it again, and again, and again, and again.

Finally, Zack straightened after one of the impact absorbing landings and they weren't moving anymore.

"Are you breathing?"

Apparently not. She took a great, gasping gulp and noticed that his stomach and ribs were stiffening in what was probably an effort not to laugh.

"But I didn't scream," she stated, primly pleased with herself.

"Nope, you're tough." His hand patted hers before encircling them again. "Would you like to get down, or should we see how fast I can run?"

She swallowed another mouthful of air. Her heart was dancing madly in her chest; she didn't feel like loosening her grip in the slightest, but there was an energy zipping through her blood. She wanted to do something fast.

"Let's run."

"Let's," Zack agreed, refraining from pointing out they would be moving under his power.

It felt almost as swift as the drop. The only differences were that they no longer narrowly avoided running into walls, and it was the tangible ripple of muscle over bone that was propelling them forward. Eyes slitted against the dark draughts, she wondered if it would still take ten minutes of travel time, and if it would be rude to think about it aloud since he might be out of breath.

"How long now?" she asked with a lilt to show she wouldn't be offended if he didn't answer.

"At this rate," came his voice sounding anything but short-winded, "about a minute."

Now she was wishing she'd opted for a little more time to prepare. She rearranged her arms, and one of them settled against his neck so that his pulse throbbed against her skin. It was still slower than she would've thought, and she centered on the regular cadence until her own heartbeat started to calm.

He swung around a corner and a stark panel of light burst into sight.

"They left it open for us."

A second later they were right on the edge of a depth of brightness. Her eyelids fluttered at a contrast of light and spikes of darkness. His hair, she realized, and sheltered her stinging eyes behind it.

"Hang on."

She did so before thinking why she should, and closed her lips over a yelp when he leaped. Blazing light surrounded them absolutely, and she pinched her eyes closed against it. They landed on something and Zack stopped, but...they were still moving. She looked up briefly at wildly swirling flames of luminescence that she couldn't make sense of before shutting it out again. The world was spinning, dipping, and then still. She felt Zack step forward and down.

He released his grip on her, and she took the prompt, bracing her hands against whatever covered his shoulders and sliding off his back. She left the fingers of one hand against the fabric of his clothes, letting herself know he was still there.

"Cloud's going to pour a Remedy on us and we'll go normal," he pronounced softly.

She nodded, and peeked out at their surroundings. Her sense of sight was still overwhelmed. Everything around her was blobby, but there were enough shapes for her to guess she'd be seeing clearly within a minute.

"Oh, and it's probably going to make you sick to your stomach."

"What?" Then she was spluttering under a splash of liquid.

One time her mom had brought home a facial cream that dried stiffly on your skin and made it feel confined and small. This was like that, except now the hardened liquid stretched the skin it stuck to instead of shrinking it. Any progress her eyes had made was cast into confusion as her perspective snapped and swelled. She stumbled and looked down, her feet were miles upon miles away, dropping down, they would never stop. Something swung into her vision like the curve of the barricade the separated the slums from the wastelands; her arm. All in all, she felt distinctly nauseous.

Hands pressed over her mouth, she teetered forward. Some kind of container was held in front of her; a bowl, a trashcan? Whatever it was, its purpose was clear, and she hastily snatched it and leaned over. She was vaguely aware of her braid spilling over her shoulder and on its way to swinging in front of her mouth, when it was caught and held against her back. Her bangs and the curls coiled next to her throat were smoothed clear of her face. After a few harsh breaths, it seemed she would be able to walk away from this with only a dribble of bile slipping from her lips and an acidic burn in her nose. She was instantly glad she hadn't eaten in awhile. To think she'd been upset that she hadn't been given food because she was being prepped for surgery. Sniffing, and wiping hurriedly at her nose, she straightened up, realizing that her chances of a good first impression were utterly ruined.

The trashcan faded back as she rubbed her eyes into working order. Looking across the room, her gaze caught on spines of pollen-yellow and then dropped to the tentatively inquiring stare below them. Was that Sepiroth? She hoped so, curiosity wasn't as daunting as hostility. Dredging up a bright smile, she realized he was flanked by a girl with masses of dark hair. Both of them stood straight, watching her, but they were so close that their arms pressed together. That must be the girl who was also rescued, which meant that was probably Cloud next to her. So then - she shifted to the left barely noticing that her smile had been mirrored by the girl and slowly echoed by Cloud when -

Oh. That was Sephiroth.

Her expression of friendly politeness was sliced and slain by his stare. He was all contrast; sheets of silver-white hair and skin that seemed even paler than hers above the binds of his black clothes. His eyes bored against her, giving the impression that the only reason he wasn't drilling out all of her secrets was that he didn't quite think she was worth it.

He was definitely hostile.

She faltered back a step, then stilled as she ran into something. Zack; her heart sprang up as her awareness of him skipped from the back row to the front seat. She looked up, it felt like a full foot, before she found eyes that were vivid even when they were surrounded by light. He gave her a lightning flash of a smile, that didn't give her nearly enough time to get a good look at his features, then stepped forward and half in front of her, trashcan swinging from his left hand.

"Good news, Sephiroth. Aerith really is an Ancient, and impeccably ethical to boot." There was an added timbre to his voice, and she got a full view of his height and breadth, not to mention his eye-catching cacophony of inky hair, as he nudged Sephiroth's attention to himself, away from her. This was Zack.

Sephiroth didn't say anything and Aerith's stomach started to heave in panicked circles.

"Right, official first meeting and all that," knowingly drawled Zack. He snapped up, straight and military. "Behind the desk is our respectably imposing leader Sephiroth. Intimidation is one of his natural talents. He does it without thinking about it."

Sephiroth's glare was turned full force on Zack.

"And sometimes it's completely intentional," Zack cheerily placated. "To your right are country kids Cloud and Tifa," he paused and shot a smile at Cloud's amused snort. "Everyone I just named, Aerith Gainsborough."

She knew a cue when she heard one. This was a group that she was thoroughly involved with now, and she decided she wasn't going to look at any of them with fear. Her emotions would come to the same conclusion eventually. She stepped to Zack's side and met Sephiroth's eerie green eyes steadily.

Sephiroth stood up.

He was taller than Zack. She was stiffening up and thinking of of scurrying backwards when Zack's hand knocked against hers. She latched onto it, thinking briefly he might have done it on accident, but then his fingers curled firmly around hers. Righting her posture, she realized that Sephiroth's eyes were now locked disapprovingly on where her hand was joined with Zack's.

Emboldened by Zack's grip, she held her head defiantly, remembering all the turmoil and relived grief she'd gone through because of the tests of the man in front of her. Sephiroth's stare became even harsher, and she had a flash of understanding that she could sabotage whatever working relationship she might have with him. She had an advocate in Zack, but that clearly put him at odds with Sephiroth and she realized keenly that many things could be destroyed if she decided to act prickly. Sephiroth's demeanor was anything but congenial, but, she squared her shoulders and tightened her hold on Zack's hand, she could be the bigger person.

"Mr. Sephiroth," she pushed aside all her dissatisfaction and focused on where she was right now. "Thank you, and Zack, for getting me out of that cell." She took a step forward holding out her hand. This gesture didn't really exist in the slums, as it just gave people an opportunity to yank you close and snatch your purse or stab your stomach. However, she'd heard that it could be used above the plate to express politeness, respect, and trust.

Sephiroth just stared, but she gamely kept her hand out, her tension only showing in the pressure she was putting on Zack's fingers. Sephiroth's gaze drifted over to Zack's, then he grudgingly raised his hand and clasped Aerith's.

"You're welcome." His voice was very deep but somehow...dry. As if there was something unwatered and brittle buried there. It fell by the wayside to what she felt in his grasp. It was strong, undoubtedly, and the way he shook her hand seemed to proclaim he was only using a fraction of his power. Still, there was a thread of something, thin but wound through everything she could sense in him, wired and taut. It was also beyond his control, there was a fine quiver vibrating through it constantly and his hand trembled slightly in time with it.

"...your hand," she murmured, striving to sort out and define the sensation. Any equanimity they'd been able to scrape together with their halting pleasantries was swept aside. He stiffened almost enough to disguise the shaking, and immediately withdrew despite her efforts to hold on.

He'd become aggressively defensive so decisively she could practically see the barricades around him. Her frustrated protest sunk back into her throat as she took a deeper look at his reaction. This wasn't just about him distrusting her, it was a nearly universal wariness that she was currently bearing the brunt of. He was certainly paranoid, but that had probably stemmed from something real because that tight energy pulling and straining through his body didn't belong there. If he was moving against Shinra now, it wasn't too hard to guess who'd put him in this state. She still didn't feel like she was quite on his side, but she knew she wasn't on theirs, and if she could undo something Shinra had fouled she wanted to try.

"I can fix it," she stated before she'd considered it as more than a possibility.

"Really?" Zack leaned into her field of vision looking hopeful while Sephiroth raised a blatantly disbelieving eyebrow.

"Yes." Momentarily distracted with finally getting to categorize the arrangement of Zack's face, she resolutely refocused on Sephiroth so he would know she was serious. It would probably take a fully mastered Heal and lengthy sessions to chip away at what had long been ingrained in his being. However, she was confident that she would be able to untangle the turmoil that buzzed under his skin.

"Cetra are supposed to be legendary with first aid," Zack mused.

Sephiroth fixed her with a darkly accusing look. "Battle efficiency will be crucial in the coming months. Replacing reflexes I'm accustomed to with ones I haven't had time to train with could be disastrous."

He was trying to make it sound like she was looking for ways to make him weaker! She flushed with annoyance and opened her mouth to fling something mocking at him. Zack's thumb moved over her knuckles and she swallowed her first retort to give a counter-offer instead.

"Afterward then. When everything's been taken care of and you'll have time to adjust to something new, then I'll heal you." There, she was committed now, to sticking with them until this was all over and proving that she would back up what she said.

They stood with contesting eyes while he probed her intent and weighed her words...and found them sufficient. He was still guarded, but there was a resolve and willingness to allow her closer. This time he was the one who extended a hand.

"Accepted."

She shared a triumphant squeeze with Zack.

Sephiroth somewhat loathed anniversaries. Battles and victories deserved some acknowledgement, but public celebrations didn't appeal to him. He didn't like being stared at now any more than he had in the past. Then he'd been forced to endure it, now the only thing that could pressure him into parades were social connections, which weren't terribly compelling.

Zack did like being stared at, though Aerith didn't, but he had his own anniversary to tend to. Which meant Sephiroth was the one looking after the kids, who were completely impervious to his glares. He would have expected as much from Zack's offspring, but even Cloud's failed to be cowed by him. How could they tell he didn't mean it?

He conducted another scan over the group of small children who seemed to have no qualms about a day away from their respective parents. Determining that all was well and there wasn't anything in the area suicidally inclined to hassle them, he pushed soft cotton fabric up his arm. He still favored long sleeves for virtually every occasion, but gloves were no longer a necessity and there was a line of demarcation on his wrist between the skin tones of his hand and his arm. He stretched it up against the blue sky and let the sun seep into his palm, marveling anew on how he could hold it absolutely steady. Aerith had been as good as her word.

A small hand reached for him, and he bent to grasp it. They didn't seem to notice his scars. It couldn't be indefinite, but if he could get used to them as they did, maybe he would reach the point where he didn't mind talking about them when they finally asked. Aerith teased about how she'd ended up trusting him with her firstborn, and second and third, after all. It was only natural though; it was a godfather's prerogative.

A/N: Sephiroth is actually an old Hebrew word, so I assumed that in the game he was given an Ancient name and therefore parallels could be drawn between the Cetra and the Hebrew people and language, which is what the riddle is based on. The Fairy Tale this was tied to, which I seriously skewed to fit my own tastes, was Rumplestiltskin. Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth were all representations of Rumplestiltskin, Tifa and Aerith split the role of the miller's daughter, and Shinra in general and in particular got the dubious honor of portraying that morally suspect king who bound in matrimony the girl who could, apparently, spin straw into gold after threatening to kill her three times. A note on the lack of battle details: does anyone actually think that a team up of Sephiroth AND Zack AND Cloud wouldn't be able to take down Shinra? As of now, "Small Favors" has more hits, but this has more reviews and in fact has the most reviews per viewers of anything I've written. That's a winner in my book! Thanks for reading and, hopefully, enjoying!