Absolute
Error
Chapter
One
Cloud
stood with his back to the burning town. JENOVA? His mother? She must be.
He turned, smirking at the sixteen year-old boy who kneeled, dumbfounded, by
the
well in the centre of the courtyard. The firelight was reflecting in his long,
silvery-white
hair, and his astonished face was turned towards Cloud, eyes wide, open-mouthed.
"You - your town! How could you do this to your town?!" The boy looked at the
last
building on the right side of the town, which was blazing furiously.
"A - and your mother... that was your home... a - and your mother... dead..."
The boy spoke in starts, sobbing. Cloud looked at him scornfully.
"My mother? My mother will never die. JENOVA is immortal."
"JENOVA? Your mother! JE - JENOVA! You're insane! Your mother was in that
building there! You cut her down with your own sword! You -!"
But he was yelling to Cloud's retreating back. The blond, spiky haired man was
already
on his way to the Nibelheim Mountain Mako Reactor.
Sephiroth dropped his head into his hands.
Five years ago...
had it really been five years? He raised his head as he felt a gentle hand
on his back.
"Sephiroth? Are you alright?"
"Aeris... yeah... I'm okay. I- I was just thinking." She rubbed his back soothingly
with her hands
"What were you thinking about? You looked so upset..." Sephiroth looked up at
her and
she took her hands off his back.
"Nibelheim." He said, simply. She nodded sadly
"It must have been terrible." Sephiroth shuddered
"The searing heat...the destruction... death everywhere... and then there was
Him.
That blond-haired bastard" he hesitated.
"Go on," encouraged Aeris, bringing over a chair and sitting down in front of
him
"I haven't heard this story all the way through before... that is... if it's
not too
upsetting for you..." Sephiroth shook his head
"No, I'll be okay. It'll be good to tell someone after all these years. Cloud
destroyed
Nibelheim.. his hometown! He - he abolished the town he was born in, grew up
in!
And then he just walked away to see his 'mother', JENOVA."
"JENOVA?" Aeris queried "Who's that? The name sounds familiar..."
"Goddess only knows what JENOVA is. Certainly not Cloud's mother, that's for
sure.
I saw him run his own Mom through with the Ultima Weapon and then deny it all."
"Oh! How terrible!" Aeris exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes "How could
anyone do that?!"
"I should stop, this story's upsetting you more than it is me," Sephiroth said,
concerned.
Aeris felt her heart flutter.
"No! Please, carry on! Don't mind me!" reluctantly, Sephiroth carried on...
"Cloud went to
the Mountain Reactor, where our guide tried to stop him. I think her name
was Tifa. Anyway, she ran in front of him shouting something like 'Cloud! Don't
do this!
Please! What's wrong with you?!' and he just ran her through with the Ultima
Weapon.
She was dead by the time she hit the floor. His childhood friend! First his
mother and then this!
I couldn't believe what I was seeing... Then he just walked up the stairs and
into the
JENOVA chamber. I ran in behind him and found him standing in front of the metal
figure
of a pretty woman. As Cloud pulled away the metal and let it fall to the floor
with a
resounding crash, I saw JENOVA. It was a twisted lump of flesh, with hideous
vampyrric
wings and loose tendrils of flesh peeling away from its sickly green skin, revealing
squelchy
blue bloody flesh underneath. I almost threw up where I stood. Cloud ripped
off its head
and headed back along the gangplank over the seething, bubbling Mako towards
the exit.
I thought to myself 'now's my chance', ran up behind him, drove the Masamune
into his
back and flipped him off the walkway along with the gruesome head, into the
Mako.
That pretty much does it. " he concluded, raising his head to look at the teary-eyed
girl opposite
him.
"That's terrible!" she cried, "How could anyone be so grossly misinformed, lied
to and
manipulated that they are pushed to kill those closest to them?!" Sephiroth
narrowed his eyes
"They only go insane if they're weak minded to start with. I'll never forgive
him for what he
did, and now he's made you upset too." Aeris smiled
"Oh, Sephiroth! Now that's just getting silly!" she got up as customers entered
the Seventh
Heaven, and then sat down again as she realised who it was
"Barret, Jessy, Biggs, Wedge, hi! How did the job go?" "Smoothly" grunted
Barret as he hefted his large frame into a chair, which creaked ominously
under his weight "Very smoothly." He eyed Sephiroth suspiciously
"Do you still think he should join us? He's an ex-Shin-Ra. He could be tricking
us." Aeris frowned
"He's been with us for a week now and nothing's happened! How much more proof
do you need?"
"He could be trying to gain our confidence. Then, when we least expect it, he'll
turn on us."
argued Barret
"Oh, Please!" snorted Aeris disdainfully.
"I wouldn't mind so much if every time we went out on a job, you weren't left
alone
with him." Barret kept up his side of the argument, much to Aeris's displeasure.
She raised an eyebrow
"So what are you suggesting?"
"I'm not suggesting anything!" We all know, as does he, that you're on the list
of 'Shin-Ra's
most wanted', if he wanted to regain his Shin-Ra status, all he has to do is
hand you in."
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes "I would never, ever, EVER do that to her." He had
never really
liked Barret; in fact, he was only staying because in the past week he had developed
some
quite strong feelings for Aeris, and even the idea of giving her over to the
Shin-Ra disgusted
him. He deathstared Barret as Aeris fled the room in tears, the mention of Shin-Ra
upsetting her.
"That was clever of you," he snorted. Barret glared at him and stormed out of
the bar,
followed by Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. Sephiroth sighed, shook his head, and headed
upstairs.
He could hear Aeris sobbing in her room, and he knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Came the choked reply
"It's me, Sephiroth. Can I come in?" he called softly through the door
"I suppose so..." she answered, and he opened the door and walked in. She had
changed
into a nightdress and was sitting on her bed with her face in her hands. As
he walked in,
she raised her head. He stopped in front of her, sat down next to her on the
bed and took
her hand in his own.
"What's the matter?" she looked up at him, tears still streaming down her face
"Shin-Ra. Just the thought of being..." she broke out in a fresh bout of tears
and he put his arm
around her shoulders.
"Don't worry. You're safe with me. Honestly, until Barret mentioned it, the
idea hadn't even
crossed my mind." He cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her face. As their
eyes met, he
knew he had to express his love now or never.
"This thought, however, crossed my mind several times." He whispered as he lowered
his
head to kiss her. At first she tensed, but then relaxed, wrapping her arms around
him as she
returned the kiss. Outside, Barret's eyes narrowed as he watched the two through
the open
curtains, plainly in view in the well-lit room. He had known that this would
happen, sometime
or other, and he didn't like it one little bit.
Chapter Two