A/N: I’m very sorry for taking so long to update. So much has happened…
Disclaimer: FF7, its characters and ideas are property of Squaresoft.
Heaven, 9th plane, private quarters:
Wow, I slept like the dead last night, Marianna thought as she sleepily pulled herself into a sitting position while rubbing her eyes. I don’t even remember getting into bed.
When she removed her hands from her eyes, she swore that if it had been remotely possible, she would have had a heart attack. Why was a man wearing only a sheet wrapped around his waist sitting on her couch?
Then she remembered how she’d fainted the previous night. She felt her face turn into a bright pink as she took in the delectable, and oh so inappropriate view. He wasn’t showing anything that wouldn’t be seen on a beach, but for Heaven’s sake, he was dressed in a sheet!
Okay. I’m in the bed, and he’s on the couch, that means that he must have put me to bed.
Moments earlier, she wouldn’t have thought it physically possible to turn any redder, but she went ahead and proved herself wrong.
“Good morning,” Sephiroth greeted, his voice as even and unemotional as always. Unfortunately for her, it effectively brought her attention to the fact that he was watching her and that he’d probably noticed her face turn all of those interesting shades.
She wanted to hide.
Willing her blush to disappear, she responded, “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
He nodded, giving her no further answer.
“Sorry about that, you know, passing out last night,” she apologized awkwardly.
He assured her, “It was nothing.”
She shifted on the bed uncomfortably. Now what was she supposed to do? He had no clothes! A thought suddenly struck her.
She jumped out of bed and walked to the door. Heedless of her night attire, she opened it and was awarded with exactly what she’d hoped to find. In front of her door, an envelope lay on top of a pile of neatly folded, black clothing along with a pair of men’s black boots.
Heaven is such a wonderful place, she thought with a feeling of great relief.
She scooped up the articles and quickly brought them inside.
“Look, your old clothes,” she said to him as she placed the bundle down on the seat beside him and picked up the envelope. “Why don’t you go on and use the bathroom first?”
When he had gone, she cast a swift clean spell on herself and proceeded to change in the bedroom. There was no sense in wasting time when there was so much to be done.
Curling up in the corner of the couch, she contemplated the envelope in her hands. Within contained their assignment briefing, she was sure. She firmly shoved all thoughts of the difficult road ahead away and began to read.
* * *
He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, but it didn’t matter. The simple fact that he could move his limbs freely and see his surroundings was enough at the moment. Unfortunately, when sleep evaded the consciousness, the mind had a tendency to think. For a man that held as much upon his conscience as Sephiroth did, that was not a pleasant thing.
His questions had once more gone unanswered. He had planned to acquire answers from the girl last night, but she had collapsed, leaving him little choice as to how he could spend the evening. He had carried her to the bed and covered her, then sat upon the couch where he had remained the entire night.
It seemed that every passing moment more and more question began to plague him. In addition to those that were fueled by his guilt, he wanted to know who this girl was, and more importantly, why she had done everything she had for him. After all, she had taken his pain into herself, leaving him in better condition than when he had been alive. That was not something to take lightly.
The pain that was his had become her pain. Though it had been momentary, he knew what she had felt – yet she had healed him anyways, even though he had tried to stop her.
Why?
Why would anyone do that for him? He tried to recall an instance, any instance in which someone had done something like that for him during his life. He came up with nothing.
In his adult years he had been feared and respected by all. Well, almost all. Hojo had still treated him as a specimen when he was able to. But would any of those people have done what she had?
The answer was obvious. No, of course they wouldn’t have. Being feared meant that people kept their distance. And he preferred it that way. Didn’t he?
The truth was, he no longer knew what he preferred, and the uncertainty was becoming irritating.
He looked down at himself and noticed that the pants and boots that she had given him looked and felt exactly as they always had. Over the years it had almost become a part of him, and he was glad to be back in the familiar attire. Shrugging on the leather cloak and pulling the well worn black gloves into place, he stepped back into the bedroom and found Marianna pouring over several sheets of paper.
She looked up at him. “You’re probably wondering why you’re here,” she began, looking far more composed that she had earlier. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
He complied, sitting down at the other end of the long couch. She was still uneasy around him, he noticed.
Bitterly, he asked himself, Who wouldn’t be uncomfortable around a monster?
She cleared her throat as she searched for a place to start. “Well, Sephiroth, the Goddess of Redemption has decided to give you a chance to prove yourself a changed man since you, uh, left your world.”
A second chance. So that was why he was here – temporarily released from his prison. Then perhaps… What was that feeling that was beginning to arise within his chest? To be certain, it was something that he could not remember having felt in a long time. It was something that he had experienced for a fleeting instant when he had first heard her voice in the darkness. Was it…hope?
He kept his expression neutral as he replied, “I see.”
She looked nervous again. “And I’ve been assigned to help you through the tasks ahead.”
So that was why she was here with him.
He should have known. He should have known that the only reason she would do all this for him - that she would suffer in order to help him, was because it was her job. She had been assigned to help him. He was her burden.
But then, what had he wanted the reason would be? What other reason could there have been? Had he really been so foolish as to hope that she care–
No! He wouldn’t think about that. There was nothing to be gained by dwelling on the impossible.
“If you’re ready,” she spoke, interrupting his thoughts, “We can go get breakfast and get started on your assignment.”
He turned his gaze to rest on her dark eyes and was reminded of something that he’d noticed while watching her sleep last night. This girl was an innocent. She knew nothing of the cruelty of life or the bitterness of reality. She knew nothing of him.
And who was he, but an experiment? He was a man destined to live and die unloved. Even in the afterlife, that would never change.
Though he held no self-pity in his heart, he found, to his dismay, an emptiness within.
An emptiness that would go unfilled, regardless of the eons that would inevitably pass by.
* * *
“I guess this is where we’ll be staying then,” she said, attempting to break the stifling silence.
They stood in the tastefully furnished living room of the house that was to be theirs for the duration of their assignment. It was a modest and comfortable house – just the type that she felt completely at ease within. At least she would feel at ease if the man beside her would just say something!
They had hurried through breakfast while she’d quickly filled him in on what little she knew. Apparently they were on a troubled world on the brink of an all-out social war. Like many worlds, this one was entering the phase in which the women – the physically weaker sex – began to fight for equality. Demonic intervention was reported and bam! Now they were here to stabilize the timeline and ensure that the proper side won.
Piece of cake right?
She could handle a couple of demons, and of course, mortals were easily dealt with.
Right?
Why do I have a really bad feeling about this?
There was something…something that she didn’t know that she really, really should.
And Sephiroth was not helping! He was silently surveying their surroundings with that constant, unwavering mako gaze of his.
Damn that man! Was it really so hard to make small talk to ease the palpable tension in the air?
“I’m going out for a walk,” she told him suddenly, not being able to stand another moment of the uncomfortable silence. Yes, a walk would do wonders for her high strung nerves. She could go exploring and maybe learn a little more about this world that was going to be their temporary home.
Wasn’t heaven supposed to give her all of the information that she needed? They weren’t slacking up there were they?
Sephiroth nodded at her and left the room to investigate the second story of the house.
Wow, we get along
so well, Marianna thought with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Why won’t he talk to me? Am I really that unbearable
that he’d rather just ignore me?
Damn, but he does
look fine in that battle armor.
She shook herself out of her stray thoughts and practically ran to the front door. Fresh air, yes that was all she needed. It would clear up her head and then she could figure out how she was going to manage to live with that man under the same room.
* * *
The world they were assigned to was a parallel of the
one from which Sephiroth had come. Same physical structure,
same laws governing the functions of the world and magic, but a completely
different history. They were to stay in the
Things that sent warning bells ringing in her mind.
Was it just her…or were all the women rather scantily clad?
Marianna surveyed her surroundings with her heart pounding madly. What kind of world had they sent her to?!
She ducked back around the corner of the nearest house. Thus far no one had noticed her yet, and that was a very, very good thing.
Alright, so all the men she had seen were wearing normal clothes. And all the women were wearing…
Everywhere she looked there was a lot of skin. On top of that, every woman seemed to be accompanied by a man.
They were here to help the women fight for equality?
Oh Gods! Did that mean what she was beginning to think?
Oh please don’t make this job any harder on me!
And then she heard the words that topped everything off.
“I don’t know why you’ve been allowed to dress in those clothes, but you will remove them right now.”
A/N: Um, so… is it still readable?
~Lady Sanzennine~