Teknos Warhammer 
In association with
'Nanaki'
Present

Redemption:
Prologue

An Aftermath fanfiction of
Final Fantasy VII

Note: The Following contains a slight bit of lemony material. Please, if 
you are underaged, please turn back or simply skip the next few 
paragraphs.
____________________________________________


Amid the darkness, a 24 year old Tifa Lockheart gasped and threw her 
head back in pure, uninhibited ecstasy. At last, her edge had come and 
now she felt as if every one of her body's cells were on fire. Breathing 
heavily and almost devoid of any more endurance, Tifa leaned forward, 
settling herself upon her lover. 

At last, when the gentle afterglow of her and his lovemaking finally 
subsided. The guilt came flooding into her soul and she started to sob. 
Her lover noticed this, looked up, raised her chin, and asked gently, 
"What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Between sniffs, she shook her head. Saying, "No Sephiroth. I'm not."

____________________________________________


It had been a long four years after Sephiroth's defeat at the hands of 
Cloud Strife. And ever since the epic battle, Tifa was living alone. She 
told everyone that she wanted to improve her ability. Knowing that there 
was more she could master and someday teach to her own student. 

She chose to live in the mountains, in the cabin just below Gaea's 
Cliff. After the man who had lived there finally decided to move out, 
she had taken to living alone for the past few years quite well. 

Everyone, including Vincent and Yuffie, had visited her once in a while. 
But soon, their visits became farther and farther with her not even 
bothering to leave her abode. 

She had her own personal demons to keep her company and fight for all 
those lonely times. 

Within the darkness of her cabin, she surrounded herself with candles, 
dressed in one of her heaviest training suits. Specially made so it 
would allow her the greatest amount mobility. She sat with her eyes 
closed, meditating with controlled breaths. 

Her eyes flew open, she hopped up, and began to strike the air just 
short of every candle. Blowing them out with the displaced air pressure. 
Yet, she began to snarl at seeing a face behind the candles. 

Aeris Gainsborough. <Little miss perfect, the selfless flower girl, the 
real savior of the planet. > She thought resentfully. Tifa knew she and 
Cloud went on the lift together at the Gold Saucer, went to the theater 
and danced and acted like a pair of lovesick idiots! 

With the last of the candles out, the snarl never left as she screamed 
and threw her fist through the floor. She noticed the tears falling to 
the ground as she wondered. Why? She was the one who saved Cloud when he 
returned to Midgar, she was the one who gave him the motivation to kill 
Sephiroth at Nibelhiem all those years ago, she stayed by him when he 
couldn't even move, she saved him from the Lifestream. 

And yet, SHE was the one who was able to get his heart first. The little 
innocent flower girl who could turn the world on with her smile. And 
that made Tifa hate her all the more. 

____________________________________________

Walking up the face of the cliff, she saw the giant expanse of the 
crater where the final battle took place. Now sealed with solid 
lifestream that would soon turn into Materia someday.  

She held the scarf around her neck even more as she bundled the heavy 
jacket and pants she wore. Then, a glow in the distance caught her eye. 
Hopping down the inside of the crater, she kept her eyes on the position 
where the glow was. 

Five minutes later, she found the large transparent crystal in the exact 
middle of the crater. Wiping off some of the snow, she gasped at what 
was within. It was Sephiroth, naked and curled in a fetal position. Only 
instead of the serene face she had seen the first time that she'd been 
here, it was more fearful and pain-ridden. 

It was that face that had suddenly changed her mind about leaving things 
as is. With some strength she had gained over the years, she carried the 
stone back to her home with extreme difficulty.

Feeling about the stone, she searched for the breaking point all rocks 
had. Finding it, she stepped back, and threw her fist at that point, 
shattering the rock. The man within started to shiver with his freedom 
from the prison. 

So, she stood her ground as Sephiroth regained consciousness. Blinking, 
he looked at her and said, "Who are you? Where am I?" Tifa blinked as 
she saw him take a look at himself, he then blinked and said again, 
"Who am I?" 

"Cut the act Sephiroth, I'm not buying it!" she snarled. Sephiroth 
looked around, looking for the person she had been talking to.   

He blinked his brown eyes and said, "Who?"

____________________________________________

Despite all attempts by Tifa to get Sephiroth to cut the innocent act, 
he still persisted with the same question. Who was he? She was 
considering throwing him out right then and there. 

That was when she realized the possibility that... his memory was really 
gone. If so, he couldn't do any magic either. She even used a Sense 
materia to see if he had any magic ability. There was none. He was 
devoid of magic as a stone was of blood. 

With the days that followed, she could see that he not only had his 
powers wiped from his soul, but his ability to fight as well. Despite 
any and all kinds of attacks made be her that would show some kind of 
response, he showed none.

____________________________________________

A month had passed since he had 'arrived'. Even though he had earned his 
keep by getting firewood from the forest, Tifa still kept that extra eye 
on him. If it turned out that it was indeed an act, she had no clue as 
of what to do.  

After several strenuous katas, she went down to the basement where the 
hot spring that had been there for a while, to relax. 

Folding up her gi, she stepped into the hot soothing waters slowly. 
Letting the gentle touch of the spring's warmth cover her body little by 
little. When it came up to her neck, she let all the discomfort ease 
into the waters as she sighed contently. 

She had no clue as to how long time had passed as she heard another pair 
of footsteps enter. Not even knowing of the spring's first visitor, 
Sephiroth came down, his only clothing a towel on his shoulder. 

Tifa screamed, heaved a rather large rock from the side of the spring, 
and threw it at him. In response, he screamed and jumped back into the 
hallway leading back to the cabin. Using it as a shield, he stated his 
case. 

"I... I'm sorry! I didn't know you were there!" he said with evident 
fear. 

Snarling and covering herself, she forced herself to calm down. "I guess 
I over reacted a bit." She turned around and said, "If you want to take 
a bath, just wait a minute. I'll be done then."

She heard him enter the room again and kept her back turned as she heard 
him stutter. "Well, if it not too much trouble... could you please 
stay?" She turned to see him look away from the spring, but not 
bothering to cover himself up. 

She turned back, huffed, and quoted Vincent, "Do as you wish."

Sephiroth slowly entered the spring and kept his distance from the woman 
who could well break his neck like a vegetable. 

"Um... I never really... thanked you for saving me from that place. I 
don't know if I wanted to stay there forever. Thank you." he said 
simply. She remained with her back to him as he continued. 

"There's a reason why you hate me... because of what I most likely did," 
he seemed to grow more fearful as he went on, "but what did I do?"

Tifa turned as her belief that this was all an act fading, to face him 
and asked, "You really want to know?" He nodded. 

For the next hour, she retold virtually every crime that this man's 
namesake had committed. From the death of Nibelheim, her father's murder 
at his hands, and up to his attempt to destroy the planet; using Meteor. 

He looked into the water, racked with guilt over what the other him had 
done. All the innocent people he had killed, the lives he had ruined, 
and no way for him to repay for all the pain he caused. 

It seemed wise that he stay here, because everyone knew and despised his 
face in the outside world. And with no ability to fight or use magic, he 
was even more helpless. He had no hope of changing his name and starting 
over. They both knew that. 

"I'll... I'll leave you alone now." He said as he stepped up from the 
spring, left his towel for her, and walked back to the cabin. 

She couldn't help but feel her heart break. Seeing this more innocent 
and blameless Sephiroth, not even being able to have a life outside of 
Gaea's cliff. In fact, she knew what he was feeling. Loneliness. 

Her self-hatred for not showing how she felt about Cloud had taken its 
toll on her. She hated herself even more when she discovered her body 
was crying for something that she wanted as well. That the Sephiroth 
here, could easily provide. But she only wanted it from Cloud, because 
she loved him. 

Once more, her dark passions cried that he would never love her and she 
saw the truth in it. The longer the battle within her raged, the more 
she felt compelled to... NO! She wouldn't do such a thing. 

Not only that... it was most likely the others would brand her a 
traitor. She mentally slapped herself again and figured they all had 
better things to do than worry about her. Getting up, she left the 
spring, got her clothes and his towel, dried herself off, dressed and 
returned to the cabin. 

____________________________________________

Another week had passed. Sephiroth, dressed in a pair of brown heavy 
cloth pants and white shirt, stared outside his window to the moon. The 
space of floor he had for a bed wasn't very comfortable, but it could 
have been worse. Staring at the moon, he couldn't help but think of 
Tifa; her beautiful hair, red eyes, and the gentle curves of her face. 

He sighed at the fact that he was indeed attracted to her, but because 
of her suspicion, it would most likely go no further than this. Her past 
experiences with the other Sephiroth had created a rather powerful 
barrier. And it would most likely stay that way. 

He heard the door to his room open and he closed his eyes and pretend he 
was asleep. He once more, pretended that he was waking up, but his eyes 
widened when he saw Tifa, wearing a loose robe that showed just a little 
too much skin. 

"Tifa... what are... I mean." he stuttered as she walked up to his bed 
and sat beside him. 

"Sephiroth... I have no clue why I am doing this... but, I can't stand 
being alone any more..." she whispered, leaning closer to him. 

His resistance inevitably faded as her passionate and gentle kisses 
arose the desire in him as well. 
____________________________________________

The morning after, Sephiroth cradled the sobbing Tifa in his arms. Not 
at all wanting to see her like this, he kissed her tears away. She held 
onto him as she felt like she had betrayed all of her friends for that 
single night. At last, her world was crumbling apart at the seams and 
the only thing she had left was the enemy. 

Words didn't come as he tried to console her. The reason being, he was 
just as guilty of the crime as she was. For the rest of the day, he did 
nothing but stay by her side as her pain finally showed itself. 
____________________________________________

The next day, Tifa had packed some supplies and ran all the way to the 
Cetra City in a near blind rage. She then went to the pond where Cloud 
had given Aeris her burial and screamed to the city, hoping that Aeris 
would hear.

"ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! NOT ONLY DID YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME, YOU MADE SURE I 
CAN NEVER FACE HIM AGAIN! I HATE YOU AERIS GAINSBOROUGH! I HATE YOU!!! I 
HATE YOU!!!!!! FOREVER!!!!!!!"

Sephiroth, hidden among the rubble, winced at her words, glad to know 
that it wasn't he that was facing her wrath. 

"That is rather narrow minded if you ask me." said a voice emerging from 
the waters. Tifa growled at the faded image of Aeris that appeared. 

"What do you know!? You don't know what I've been through."

"Nor do you I. Tifa, I knew from the very moment when I was born, I knew 
when I was going to die. I too, wanted a chance to live and love."

"YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!"

"HE MADE HIS OWN CHOICE! IT IS NO FAULT OF MINE THAT YOU SAID NOTHING!" 
Aeris screamed back, the structure beginning to rumble.

Tifa bit her tongue, as Aeris' words struck true. 

"Besides, the Planet chose you for a reason. The reason to bring this 
different Sephiroth into the world. To give him another chance, as it 
did with the rest of you. Had you and Cloud been together, the planet 
would have chosen me, but since things do not always happen the way life 
wants it to, we just have to roll with the punches. Even if they hurt to 
the point where we want to die."

Aeris began to fade as her final words reached into Tifa's mind. "It is 
your chance to give redemption to one who sought it in his heart. If you 
do not, more will suffer. Be strong, like you always were, Tifa 
Lockheart."

When the remaining Cetra vanished, Tifa began to cry and turned to the 
nearest pillar where she punched it into oblivion. Aeris had once again 
shown that Tifa could never truly hate her, and Tifa hated herself for 
it. 

She collapsed to her knees and sobbed with no control. She felt a hand 
tap her shoulder and saw Sephiroth kneeling beside her. His gentle brown 
eyes offering compassion and affection. 

"If you'll let me... may I help?"

Between sniffs, she smiled and nodded. 

The End.

Notes:
At first, this idea came to me after reading an omake from Lurker But 
after giving it a lot of good thought, maybe this could turn into 
something much bigger than at first. Pretty neat huh?

The whole Tifa/Sephy thing is something that I would definitely consider 
something different. And also, don't forget that this Sehpy is much 
nicer than the first, if you haven't guessed by now. Also, the lemon 
part of the fic is rather minor, and as much as it nags my gut, it seems 
to be fitting as an instance in the story.

C&C, MST, ABC, whatever, is very much appreciated. And please be 
generous. ^_^  And since this is one of the first fics that I have ever 
written without an outline for the whole thing, a few suggestions, ideas 
and such is very much appreciated.

Also, I would like to thank my friend and co-writer, Nanaki, it was also 
with his help that this is going to turn into one of the best fics I've 
ever written and read. Thanks Nanaki.  


Teknos WarHammer-
      "Me, you're fired!"
                 --Tom Servo, Devil Doll
                      
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/4853/index.html

-Knight of the True Fiancee. A.K.A. Akane Tendou
-Fanfic writer of Teknoman and other great manga and anime.
-Self appointed Guardian of Kiyone Makibi.
-And so much more!



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