Warnings: Foul language (maybe), violence, some yaoi later on (which is why

I'm being bad and sending this to the YSML) FF7 belongs to squaresoft and
not me, I'm not worth suing.


--
Katsu "O-ka-ne" no Miko
"Erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehen
kann man uns am Himmel sehen
wir haben Angst und sind allein...
Gott weiss ich wil kein Engel sein..." (~Ramms+ein~)



Multiverse Part IV


�Sir�?�

Sephiroth looked up, feeling more fatigued than he would ever be able to
admit. The last few hours had aged him like he had never thought possible,
making him feel ancient, decrepit, and above all�useless.

He closed his eyes for a moment. The image of Midgar, now nothing but a
twisted mass of melting metal and flames, presented itself to him, and he
resolutely examined it. Other than Cloud and Zack, only three soldiers from
the strike team had survived, and one wasn�t expected to live.  The whole
city of Midgar was their funeral pyre, theirs and countless others,
civilian and soldier alike.

The thought was coming close to breaking his composure. He hoped that he
would never find out how many people had still been in Midgar when he�d
personally pushed the detonator for the explosives. Somehow, though, he
knew that the faces of the men and women who had escaped would haunt him.
Countless others just like them had died, just because they had been a
little less lucky�

He squashed the thought. Generals did not believe in luck. They believed in
planning, and perhaps the odd coincidence, but never luck. Relying on luck
was foolish�sooner or later, it always ran out.

Out of the entire day, there had been only one bright spot. The child that
the woman had rescued was unharmed, though extremely frightened, and they
had managed to find his parents in one of the last transports to arrive at
Junon. The memory of the unadulterated joy and relief on the face of the
child�s mother and father was enough to make Sephiroth smile, despite all
of the events of the day.

Almost. The young woman that had saved the child had lost a lot of blood by
the time they�d gotten into the helicopter Cloud had called. The field
medic had seemed to think she wouldn�t make it. Somehow, she�d held on
until they reached Junon, and then she was whisked away by the hospital
staff, taken off to surgery. Obviously, Cloud had done more than just call
the copter while Sephiroth was occupied.

�Sir�?�

�Yes?� He said tiredly, looking up. He could smell blood and dirt in his
clothes, as well as the acrid scent of smoke. His skin crawled with the
need for a bath.

�You asked to be notified when the woman was out of surgery?�

�Yes?� He kept his voice steady, though in his mind, he thought there was a
slight, betraying wobble. The image of the SOLDIER�s brown eyes flashed
once�he tiredly closed his eyes.

�She�s pulled through, and we�re expecting her to regain consciousness
soon.�

�Good.� Relief came through, whether he wanted it to or not. He was so
tired that he was beginning to not quite care about his image. Perhaps it
wouldn�t be such a bad thing if the troops saw that their general was a
real human being. He stood.

�Sir�?�

�What?�

�Now that you�re satisfied with her progress, would you mind letting me
take a look at your arm?�

�Hmmm?� He glanced down, suddenly realizing that his arm did, in fact,
hurt. There was much to be said for the numbing properties of adrenaline
and fatigue. There was dried blood all over his hand, small rivers of it
running between his tendons and to his fingers. �If you�re very quick about
it. I wish to see the young woman.�

�Yes sir. If you�d be so kind as to remove your shirt�thank you.� The medic
scurried over and began to make the usual fussing noises at the state of
his arm.

Dimly, Sephiroth realized that the medic had been carrying bandages and
other medical supplies. He smiled slightly. Obviously, he wasn�t the only
one that knew the benefits of a diversion in a battle. Stolidly, he allowed
the medic to poke and prod, only protesting when the slightly rotund,
nervous little man suggest painkillers. There was no need for drugs that
would only dull his mind further.

When the medical ordeal was over, Sephiroth found himself wearing a sling
and a shirt draped over his shoulders, rather than worn the proper way. But
at least it was a clean shirt�though the cleanliness only made him feel
dirtier by comparison. He let out a soft sigh, knowing better than to argue
with the medic�he tried to follow their advice most of the time. A sound
mind often required a sound, working body, so trying to heal as quickly as
possible seemed to always be advisable.

 �Are you done?�

�Yes�though you really need to rest��

�Take me to the girl, now.� There was no arguing with that tone. The medic
hurriedly scurried off, leaving Sephiroth to follow behind him. He must
have been more tired than he had first thought, because the short walk
through the numerous twisting and turning hospital passageways actually
left him feeling a little out of breath. When they had stopped, he took a
minute to compose himself before entering the room that the medic indicated
was the girl�s.

He�d never liked hospital rooms. They brought up too many unpleasant
memories�and though he believed that they made him stronger, that didn�t
mean that he needed to go out of his way to relive them. A small attempt to
decorate the room had been made, in the form of an art print of a vase of
tulips on one wall. Other than that, the room was heartlessly plain, the
same sterile white as every other hospital room he had ever seen. The woman
was in the bed, which stood by the room�s small window. On a table, there
was a heart monitor and a few other machines, murmuring softly to
themselves, and an IV stand by the bed.

Suddenly inexplicably nervous, he walked over to the bed as quietly as
possible, in case she was asleep. For a few moments, he stood and looked
down at her, the weight of his injured arms hanging heavily against his
chest. She was pretty, tall, thin and delicate, with long brown hair.
Someone, a nurse with too much spare time, perhaps, had taken the time to
brush the young woman�s hair out, and it lay against the pillow like fine
brown strands of spider web. The white sheets of the bed were pulled up to
her chest, her arms laid on top of the sheets, the IV tubing trailing out
of one. She was so delicate, Sephiroth was certain that he could encircle
her wrist completely with on hand and snap her bones with almost no
effort�if he had wanted to.

The woman murmured softly, then took a deep breath in and opened her eyes.
They were beautiful, a clear deep green that made him think of forests and
oceans. She looked up at him warily, and he attempted a reassuring smile,
though he was rather dubious of his chance of success on that count. �Good
morning.� He said softly.

�Who are you?� The woman asked quietly. �Where am I?� Suddenly, her eyes
widened, and she tried to sit up. �The boy!�

�Quiet.� He put his good hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down. �The
boy is fine, we found his parents shortly after our arrival.� He smiled
slightly. �We�d thought he was your younger brother, but his parents were
quite adamant that he was an only child.�

�Oh�� She laughed softly. �I don�t even know his name�I just saw him
wandering around my church right before the attack�he looked so lost and
alone�and I couldn�t leave him behind��

Sephiroth�s smile widened genuinely. �I see�very noble of you. You were
nearly killed, defending him.�

�Nothing noble about it.� She said firmly. �I did what was right. I saw
someone coming toward me, out of the corner of my eye�and I thought that if
I could just protect him for a few moments longer, he�d be rescued.�

�Risking your life for a stranger�� Sephiroth shook his head slowly. �You�d
make a good soldier�we die to protect people we�ve never even met.�

The woman smiled. �I thought you were in SOLDIER�your eyes give you away.�

�Yes, I suppose they do.� Sephiroth laughed. It was odd to be speaking so
easily with the young woman. He�d already said more words in their
conversation so far than he�d spoken to anyone but Cloud or Zack, a very
strange occurrence. For the most part, he didn�t feel very comfortable
dealing with other people; they were alien to him, so social and chattery
as opposed to his normal silence�and he was most definitely just as alien
to them, a clay statue to be worshipped and decorated with garlands, or an
exceptional soldier and tactician to be relied on for purely professional
advice, miracles, or commands. Never an equal.

�I�d be a terrible soldier, though. I can�t do push ups.�

With a mock-horrified expression, Sephiroth shook his head. �It�s not
something we�re required to do often, thank god.�

�Good thing�� The woman�s eyes suddenly lit on the sling his arm was in.
�You�re hurt?�

�Not really�medics are a little too fussy for their own good, I think.� He
shrugged. Now that he�d finally been made aware of how badly he was
injured, his arm throbbed, pain lancing from finger tips to shoulder�but it
was quite secondary. He pushed back the shirt draped over his shoulder for
a moment, showing her the bandage neatly wrapped around his upper arm. �As
you can see, it�s a scratch. You have far worse.�

�Yes�but no one is asking me to go around soldiering, either�I bet they
won�t let you have any time off, even with that.�

�I know they won�t.� He smiled slightly. �A soldier�s lot in life is a
trying one, at times. Perhaps I should desert and become a�pastry chef.�

She laughed. �Oh, no! And hide in the kitchens all day? No, no, no�with a
face like yours, you could make a good salesman.�

�A face like mine?� He raised an eyebrow delicately.

�Yes. Handsome.� She smiled teasingly. �I was rescued by a knight in
shining armor, and he�s even handsome. I think that makes the injuries
worth it.�

Sephiroth shook his head.

�What, you don�t believe me?� She smiled. �That�s fine�it�s wonderful to
find a man that�s handsome, and doesn�t realize it. You can be a flower
seller with me.�

�Flowers?�

�Yes�flowers grew in my church�it was a holy place�and I sold them.
Unfortunately, it seems I will have to find somewhere else to grow them.�
She sighed softly, and closed her eyes.

�I�m sorry,� He said softly. �You�ve lost your home, haven�t you.� The
concept of home seemed at times to be a foreign one to him, but he thought
that sympathy would be a good reaction.

�Yes�though not any family�� She smiled crookedly. �The advantage of having
none.�

�I�m sorry, once again.�

�Don�t be. They�re with the planet, now.� She opened her eyes and looked at
him. �You don�t have any family either.�

�How did you know?�

�I can just tell�but you never had any, unlike me. I had my mother, for a
little while.�

Sephiroth shrugged eloquently.

�It�s a beautiful picture, isn�t it?�

�What?�

The young woman tilted her head toward the art print. �The flowers.�

�I suppose it is�flowers are not things that I deal with often.�

�It is beautiful�but not near what a live flower is.� The young woman
smiled. �Real flowers, you can touch, and smell�and they�re so alive.� She
looked at him. �I�ll stop boring you now.�

�I�m not bored, miss, rest assured.� Sephiroth inclined his head.

�Miss?� She laughed. �That sounds terrible. Why don�t I tell you my name,
and you can call me by that instead.�

�If you wish.� He smiled. When the woman smiled, it seemed impossible not
to smile back.

�I do wish.� She smiled once more, her eyes lighting up. �My name is Aeries
Gainsborough.�

�A pleasure to meet you, Aeris.� He nodded politely.

�Well?�

�Yes?�

�Normally, when someone tells you their name, you tell them yours in
return.�

�Ah.� He smiled at her. �You�ll have to forgive me. I don�t normally meet
new people�and when I do, they almost always know who I am first.�

A smile quirked the corner of her mouth. �Maybe I was wrong when I thought
you had no ego.�

Sephiroth shrugged eloquently.  �It�s true whether I care to admit to it or
not. Why bother dissembling?�

�Then I must be out of the loop. I�ll admit that you look a little
familiar, but I don�t recognize you out of hand.�

�You know several soldiers, then?�

�Yes, they come�came down to my sector all the time�some of the best bars
are in sectors six and seven.� She frowned a bit mockingly. �What kind of
soldier are you if you don�t know that?�

�One that doesn�t get out as often as he should, obviously.� Sephiroth said
dryly. The fact that someone didn�t immediately recognize him as Sephiroth,
the great General, was filling him with a great deal of bemusement.

�I�ve never heard of a soldier not partying in his spare time�even the
Major Strife and Major Kaos go drinking with the rest of the troops.�

�Really.� He raised an eyebrow. �So that�s where they disappear off to on
Friday nights.�

�You know them?�

�Yes, I��

�SIR!�

Sephiroth looked quickly up, turning toward the doorway as a trooper slid
to a halt in the doorway. It was beginning to happen far too often for his
taste. Inwardly, he let out a very tired sigh. �Yes?�

�Important message for you in your office, sir.� The trooper hesitated.
�And the doctors told me to tell you to rest, or they will sedate you,
begging your pardon, sir.�

This time, the sigh he let out was audible. �Doctors.� He looked coolly at
the trooper, a bit disturbed by the urgency he saw in the young man�s eyes,
almost completely crowding out the hero worship that always surfaced when
in the presence of the General. �Run along, tell the doctors I will be
sleeping peacefully in a short time�after I receive whatever message it is
that requires my personal attention.�

�Yes sir.� The trooper scurried off.

Sephiroth glanced back at Aeris. She was looking at him very oddly, her
green gaze almost palpably calculating. �I thought you were just a
soldier.�

�I always have been and always will be a soldier, nothing more nothing
less, despite what some might think.� He smiled tiredly. �As much as I
would like to continue speaking to you, Aeris, duty has called and I must
answer quickly. If you wish, I can visit again another time.�

�I would like that very much.� She smiled dryly. �It�s not like I�ll be
going anywhere.�

He returned the expression, knowing exactly how she felt. �Very good. If
you want anything, just tell one of the attendants. I will see that they
give it to you.� He turned toward the door. �And now, if you�ll excuse me,
a soldier�s work is never finished.�