The Promised Land

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The Promised Land

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Aerith x Sephiroth

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Just to tell you something about Aerith's dress: Later I realized that have this one on my own.

But long not so pure and my embroiders have the color of pearls but... ^^ It's beautiful ^^

And sorry for stepping so far already. I know that there are some questions about the characters and the Promised Land, that may come up. But these will be answered in later chapters.

Now I want them to 'know' each other – to finally meet.

Pls, review when you like it ^^

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Chapter 2: Encounter

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Aerith strolled around the market place, fascinated by the exceptionally huge selection of vegetables and fruits during spring. In the Promised Land there was no money right now. The people gained the things they needed with the exchange of items and workmen's stuff.

What wouldn't work on Gaia seemed to work here without any problem.

 

Even Aerith made an honest living by exchange. Her elaborate bouquets were very popular as decoration and adorned many of the counters and booths.

She had been here for merely two weeks and yet most villagers greeted her warm-heartedly.

 

The flowergirl enjoyed the peaceful handling of the people together. She never had thought that such a society and community could exist.

 

Only yesterday, she had got a new dress from the tailor, it was white, so pure and bright as she never had seen before.

The old woman was an unexceptional master in embroidering. A web of tiny flowers adorned the ruffled cloth. The many layers of finest linen played around her knees in the wind like a ghostly veil.

Aerith just loved this dress.

 

 

It wasn't just the flowergirl who loved the unusualities of the gown. The man kept himself in the shadows of a back street and watched his former victim with eagle's eyes. So she got here, too. No wonder... Such a pure and perfect being like her wasn't able to get anywhere else than heaven. For everything she had sacrificed and abandoned during life.

 

For the first time the swordsman didn't see her as an enemy, but as an extraordinary personality under all these... saints.

If everything would have been different... If his mother hadn’t forced him to do all these doings...

What would it have been like if he had met her before he had gone insane?

She would have stolen his sanity with just her presence.

A light, shining brighter than the most brilliant star, even in the Promised Land...

He would have never given a second glance to such an exceptional beauty before, it had never aroused his interest. Until now.

 

Aerith was deciding between the campari and the cherry tomatoes when something caused her to tremor.

Then things started to happen very quickly. The supporter that was holding the heavy tarpaulin above the booth suddenly slipped through its anchoring in the cobblestone, causing the whole front angle and heavy metal construction to collapse over her.

The flowergirl didn't have the time to jump away, not even to scream. In a helpless movement she raised her arms over her head and crouched on the ground.

But the awaited impact didn't occur, instead one could hear a strange humming through the air and the sound of metal that was ... cut?

Aerith didn't dare to look up but the shadow that she could see in the periphery of her eyes, looked frightening. Then the heavy metal crashed onto the ground, followed by the tarpaulin some moments later.

After she recovered from paralysis, Aerith looked up and caught sight of a dark being in a coat. She raised her hand to cover the blinding sun from her sight and then... she saw him.

The deadly sword still in fighting pose, the long silver hair like a living being in the wind and then these fighter's eyes.

Aerith screamed in panic; it was the same horror she felt before he had taken her life. This blade...

Completely stunned she tried to move her legs, but it didn't work. Rooted to the spot, the flowergirl just sat on the dusty ground and stared at her former murderer who now let his sword disappear and gave her his hand to get up.

"Everything alright?" he asked with a silky voice that sent chills down her spine.

 

Had she looked so frightened back then? He couldn't remember... Maybe she had cried... maybe she had smiled. All of that had never bothered him until now – after he had saved her.

A strand of her hair had fallen into her angelic face. And he felt the need to put it into the right place.

He withstood the temptation and still held his hand to her.

After the flowergirl had gathered herself, she understood that her former murderer had... saved her... even if that was almost impossible.

What on Gaia did he do here?

Sephiroth watched her grabbing his hand carefully.

He pulled her onto her legs again and realized just then how light she was, how fragile...

Since Aerith didn't know what else to do, she rupped away the dirt of her dress and raised her eyes to meet his with a frightened face.

"Is everything alright?" he repeated and suddenly looked like he was ashamed. Only the gods knew what brought this expression to his face.

"Er..., yes. I..." Then she gathered herself. "Thank you. If you wouldn't have saved me..." The flowergirl looked at the destroyed booth where now men tried to restore everything quickly.

Well, no tomatoes today.

"I..." Sephiroth searched for the right words. What could you tell a woman who you just stabbed coldblooded with your sword and now saved from death?

While the silverhaired one struggled for the right words, Aerith had finally got a clear mind and tried to... thank him.

"How about visiting me? I baked cakes and I can't eat them all on my own. My house is not far from here."

Did she really...? Sephiroth could hardly believe it. His victim, the woman he had stabbed with his sword mortally, asked him to come for cake and coffee?

How weary of life could someone be?

Well, when Sephiroth thought about it... He had just saved her.

How evil and dangerous could he be now?

Nevertheless, what did she think there actually?

"Aren't you afraid I could hurt you?"

"Why?" Her eyes, so full of trust, looked deep into his soul, and made the man in him glow with something he couldn't sort in. "You just saved me. You wouldn't have done that if you had wanted to kill me. Then you just would have watched it with a sadistic smile on your face and enjoyed like some madman. So? My house is not far from here, follow the path out of the village and then turn to the left way. You can't miss it."

Sephiroth stood before the girl, completely speechless. Was she just mocking him... Just for this he would have slaughtered a person... at least in the old days.

"I just take that as a 'Yes'." Then she turned around and looked over her shoulder boldly. "See ya later."

He watched her leaving.

And Sephiroth was sure. He would come – just to drive away her gulliblety and sincerity.

 

 

"Do you know why you are here?" Aerith wanted to know when they sat together in the living room after dinner.

The whole afternoon they had talked about minor important things. And just god knew how they had come up with these topics to overcome the silent tension between them. They had talked about Aerith's deliciouties until dawn broke. Luckily, she still had some food from yesterday which they now had relished.

Sephiroth looked at the red wine in his glass and turned it in circles so the flavor could spread better.

After one more gulp he was ready to answer.

"I don't know. Like I see it, only people who lived like they deserved their greatest wish to be seen fullfilled are able to come here."

The question remained unvoiced in the room: What had Sephiroth done so he was worth it? After all the suffering he had caused, after all the lives he had vanished. Was there something good?

"Maybe your time as an insane person doesn't count." Aerith tried to loosen the upcoming silence but Sephiroth just inhaled painfully.

 

"So what is your wish?" he asked to change the topic.

That was overtaxing Aerith visibly. Should she tell him about her dreams? The man who stabbed her with his sword without a second thought?

"Well, I wanted a spot to grow my flowers."

That was almost commonplace but it was true and fitted the innocent flowergirl.

"You have reached that goal. When all wishes are fulfilled, the souls go back to the lifestream. Your fragile plants grow all over the place… So what else do you wish for? Is there anything else?"

What was his hidden reference?

"I don't know. What do these people around here wish for?"

"They want to do the job they've always wanted. A hobby for which they never had the time for. An activity which they never could practice because of physical lacks. Or finding the love and family they never were able to have."

The last sentence was definitely a hidden reference, right? Such as Sephiroth emphasized the last words...

 

"I think it is time to leave. It's getting late." Sephiroth said as he put his glass down into the sink.



"Already? ... But isn't it too cold outside?" Aerith asked, somewhat puzzled.



"Flowergirl, after getting no pneumonia in the past few nights, one more night in the forest won't make any difference." Sephiroth grabbed his coat and walked to the door.

It puzzled him that Aerith wanted to ... stop him? Did that mean that he should stay?



"Um, if you say so." She stood up and walked him to the door.



He nodded courteously. "I thank you for your hospitality."



"You're welcome. ... I myself would be pleased if you would visit me again." she spoke shyly. It was too much credulity in her eyes, too much blind trust. The fact that he hadn't done anything to her yet seemed to only have strengthened her in her naivety.



"Tomorrow at the same time?" he asked with a hint of a smile.



"I look forward to it."

She then closed the door.







After he was out of sight, she sat in the armchair in the living room and looked at the square in front of her. It seemed somehow strange that the chair was empty. Sephiroth had only been here a few hours, but she already felt the absence as pain.

What was it that she found so fascinating that she had actually invited her killer into her home?

The question of whether she got herself in danger turned her now, but her instincts told her that she had nothing to fear. He was so polite and courteous. A true gentleman. Somehow it seemed absurd that such an coldblooded killer who did not even twitch an eyelid as he took a life ... could be gentle and nice. It was a completely different side of him that she had now seen. He had been like that before he had learned the truth about Jenova? Before all of this had happened in Nibelheim?

The calamity certainly had no influence on him in the Promised Land.

And that was not the only thing about him that struck her as unusual.



She did not quite know how to describe it best. An aura of sorrow surrounded him. Despair and shame. Related to Aerith, it certainly had something to do with a form of debt in connection with her death. So he regretted that he had killed her? Was it really possible to find such sentiments in the coldblooded killer?



Somehow a desire to take him in her arms and comfort him came up from inside her heart. That was certainly not the right thing for an adult man like him. But her pure, innocent soul wanted to take the stray, fallen angel by the hand and pull him out of desperation.

Cajole him until the feelings broke as tears trough to the surface and finally ... just to dry those tears.



Was this the reason why he had come to the Promised Land? So she could free him from his sin and his despair? Aerith had witnessed Gaia's methods. How often had she sent lost souls to her so she could care for their broken spirit.

Was that her job here, building up the man who killed her?

It seemed to be an irony of fate that she had just been chosen for it. But actually, there could be no other for it.

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Thx for reading ^^ Pls review.

I'm having a darker fanfic than this one with Seph and Aerith.

Summary of "Forbidden Fruit tastes sweetest"

Sephiroth longs for Aerith's body but musn't touch her innocence yet because she will loose the main part of her power then which he needs for his barren kingdom his family had burnt down by conquering.

But there are other ways to please the King... and soon... he won't be able to withstand the temptation anymore. By that time Hojo and Jenova decided that the Cetra girl would be perfect to breed heirs with.