Pain Has Never Been So Brilliant [Sephiroth/RGRC]

[Administrator]

It happens to the best of us, and by that, I mean me.

The One Winged Angel nodded. As he thought, she was not willing to quite grasp the futility of matters. But, defeating her had proved to be close enough, which was plain to see. Sephiroth refrained from smirking now, holding on his face only a comforting smile. He would fake some kind of friendliness, if only to elicit a response.

"Don't worry, girl," he said, finally acknowledging her by her true gender, "you will get stronger, and you will likely fight me again. You may even win." Sephiroth nodded sagely, staving off the urge to either smirk or stab the girl with her sword. It wouldn't do for him to undo all of this work already. He had such big plans for her.

"Keep me always in your memories, use me as your drive to get stronger, better, faster. Remember my name." The One Winged Angel paused for a moment, the smirk spreading across his face. "Sephiroth. Never forget." His single wing carried him into the air, and he flew away. Perhaps I have time to grab another latté before I head off to find a place to rest for the coming day. It was worth a shot besides.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Ugggghh....
--

Emi lay there for a few more minutes after he left trying to figure out what to do. Hurt like getting slashed open and stabbed was supposed to hurt. But she was positive her legs still worked and she had to get up. Slowly she sat up and the world spun around her. But she was stubborn so she forced herself to her feet and looked down at herself.

"What a mess,[/color]" she grumbled, wincing at the slightest movements. "Well, I guess I couldn't have asked him to try and save my shirt. Whatever. I'll have to...[/color]"

She stopped, hissing with pain. "Sew it back together.[/color]"

She had no munny on her and even if she didn't, where was she going to get a potion at this time of night? And she was pretty sure she was going to need a little more than a potion. Hunching over, she took a few minutes to clear her mind.

She had heard there was a woman in town who was skilled with curative magic. But she was all the way over in the borough and she was at the castle gate. That was a bit of a walk.

"Ahh, quit being so lazy,[/color]" she told herself, attempting to straighten up. "And stop talking to yourself, you look crazy.[/color]"

She stumbled over and picked up her discarded kali sticks, clumsily looping them back onto her belt. She had to stop for a minute because she was in danger of fainting but she shook it off and started walking towards the Bailey.

She had to take the long way around and go up two flights of stairs. It took a lot longer than she would have liked and by the time she finally made it to the Borough she was fighting to hang onto consciousness.

One more flight of steps and a few more feet later, she was at the door of Merlin's house. She slammed her fist against the door a few times and leaned against the wall.

This was going to be a nice surprise for whoever answered the door. It was the early morning hours and there was a strange very tall and bleeding teenage girl at the door.

[Yuffie]

Yuffie yawned as she woke up. She wasn't normally in Merlin's house at this time of day, but her and some of the RGRC had been up late working on a few things and Merlin's house was closer than where she lived, so she crashed here. Aerith was around here too, most likely to make sure Yuffie didn't break anything or something. She was a bit insulted, she only broke the computer one time! She didn't need to keep on being watched anymore, she wasn't going to mess around with it again.

She rubbed her eyes, still about half asleep. She had heard a knock on the door. Who could want to see Merlin at this hour? She debated just going back to sleep, since Merlin wasn't here but eventually she decided to head for the door. She started to open it and greet the guest. "Hello....What can I-?"

She then stopped and gasped at who was at the door. She didn't know who it was, a girl she wasn't familiar with. However, she was greatly injured, and looked like she could lose consciousness at any point. She was about to ask what happened, but then the girl fell on her. Yuffie barely managed to catch her and keep both of them up, since the girl was quite tall. Though that didn't stop her from freaking out that the girl was now bleeding all over her.

"AHHHH! Aerith! Wake up!" she yelled loudly. "This girl is bleeding all over me!! Its creeping me out!" She was never a big fan of blood, and the sight usually made her a bit panicky. However, having it all over yourself just made her freak out.

[Aerith]

Surprise Visitor

The only reason Aerith was over at Merlin's house at the moment was to make sure that Yuffie did not inadvertently break anything again. Cid did not exactly trust the ninja around his computer, seeing as she had a tendency to start banging on the keyboard with no rhyme or reason. It was certainly getting late, though, and she thought it might be time to head to bed. The work would still be here in the morning, after all.

There was a knock at the door. Who could possibly be calling at this hour? She would have answered the door herself, but Yuffie was closer. There was a brief moment of quiet, and then a cry for help rang throughout the house. A bleeding girl? Aerith's healer instincts took over, and she rushed to the threshold of the house. It took her two seconds to assess the situation. There was indeed a very tall girl collapsed on top of Yuffie, and the ninja was struggling to stay upright. Blood was gushing all over the floor and Yuffie. Aerith could tell her friend was thoroughly disgusted by the blood, so she hurried over to take the girl off her hands.

She soon found herself in the same predicament, though. The girl may have been thin, but she towered over Aerith. "Leon!" The brown-haired swordsman should still be around somewhere. "I need your help!"

[Nothingness]

And I Was Getting to the Good Part...

Leon didn't really know why he was still at Merlin's House, but there he was doing Leon stuff. As to what "Leon Stuff" entailed, for the moment it meant laying on the couch and reading a fairly dense book while helping Aerith keep an eye on Yuffie. Plus, it was a very comfortable couch and he really wasn't in the mood to move or do any task that required much effort. He spent the whole day fixing up the marketplace and didn't want to lift or move anything right now.

He heard someone knock on the door, but didn't pay much mind to it. He figured that Yuffie would rush to the door before either he or Aerith took a single step. And she did. And now she was...screaming? Blood? Leon immediately snapped the book shut and tossed it to the other side of the couch before springing up and quickly picking the girl up from Aerith. She didn't look to good at all--that massive slash across he chest was freely bleeding, and it didn't look like it was about to stop. Moving as quickly as he could he set her down on the couch, turning to Aerith, "Hurry!"

[Aerith]

Don't Dawdle!

The situation did not look good at all. The girl was bleeding not only from the slash across her chest but also from at least one other stab wound Aerith could see. The fact that the girl was barely still breathing added a sense of urgency to Aerith's movements and directions. "Leon!" She fixed a serious, emerald stare on him. "I'm going to need a lot of water and some towels, rags, anything!" She then turned to Yuffie. "I need you to bring me some thread and a needle! These wounds are far too severe for my magic to seal them completely!"

While her two friends went about fulfilling her requests, Aerith focused on the bleeding girl. Mustering all her magical ability, she began weaving her strongest healing spell. A soft, green light bathed the girl while leaves and a hint of flower petals danced in perfect rhythm. Even with the full force of her power and will behind it, the wounds only knitted partially back together. But a least, the flow of blood was stemmed a good bit. She would need to manually stitch the rest of the flesh back together. And all this blood needed to be cleaned up immediately.

[Summary:
Aerith used Curaga.
Posts until next use: 3
Uses remaining: 5]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Sorry for bleeding on your couch.
--

Emi had been in some kind of strange in-between state, not totally lucid but not really unconscious. She figured it was probably shock from blood loss or something like that. She didn't know, she didn't pay attention to what she had been taught. Didn't think it would ever be important... until of course she was on somebody's couch all weak and bleeding all over the place. But it wouldn't be the last time she picked a fight with someone way out of her league, although this meeting had been the first time

And oh, heck no Aerith was not coming at her with a needle. The spell hadn't been half-bad. Regardless, Emi couldn't really fight her of in this state so she was just going to have to be still. She couldn't help but say something. "That needle and thread better be for my jacket, lady,[/color]" she muttered. She thought maybe she had come across a bit ungrateful and rude... it was excusable though it was what they were going to have to come to expect from her.

How did she get on this couch anyway? She looked around lazily trying to remember where she was. Oh yeah, Merlin's house. She made it inside? Good. The last thing she remembered was the door step.

[Aerith]

Out of Immediate Danger

Aerith smiled a little at the girl's comment. At least she had strength enough to speak. That was a good sign. "No, I'm afraid I need to stitch you up first. But once you're not bleeding anymore and resting, then I'll see what I can do about your jacket." She warned Leon out of the room with a glance and then proceeded to remove the aforementioned jacket along with the rest of the clothes covering the girl's wounds. If she had a problem with a stranger partially undressing her, the girl would simply have to deal with it unless she wanted to die from blood loss.

"And you may call me Aerith," she said perhaps a little too cheerily as she began the meticulous task of closing the wounds completely. "I only wish we could have met under better circumstances." Working quickly but carefully, she finished her sewing and then began dabbing at the area around the stitches with a moist towel, cleaning up the blood on the girl's body. Once that was done, wrapping her in bandages was the next step to help the stitches say undisturbed long enough for them to do the job of healing.

Aerith fluffed a few pillows and made sure the girl would be comfortable while she rested. Moving her to a bed in lieu of the couch was out of the question right now. As she attempted to wipe up the blood all over the couch and the trail of it leading to the couch from the door, Aerith sought to fulfill her own curiosity. "What happened to you? Those wounds looked like they were from a weapon. Were you attacked? And by whom?"

[Yuffie]

Thankfully Yuffie didn't have the girl on her long, as Leon soon came over to move the girl over on the couch. She looked down and saw the blood that had spilled onto her clothes. Though she didn't look for long since the sight bothered her greatly. Man, and she had just washed these clothes recently too! She felt sick, she never handled the sight of blood really well. Though Aerith soon brought her out of her funk.

She had been told to get a needle and thread. "R-right, got it!" she told her quickly and went over to one of the drawers in the house. She'd have to wait to change out of these clothes later, no matter how much she wanted to change out of them right now. For now she was going to look for the needle and thread and then help Aerith if she need to. Hopefully without doing anything too gross.

It didn't take too long to find what she was looking for. Luckily enough Merlin actually did have a needle and some thread. She grabbed them and then handed them to Aerith. It looked like she had shooed Leon out so she could fix up the girl's wounds. Yuffie handed her the items. "Here you go, Aerith," she said. Then she cautiously asked. "Um, do you need anything else?" She hoped the answer was no, she was trying very hard not to look at the girl's wounds and didn't want to have to end up...touching them or something. The thought made her shudder.

[Nothingness]

Following the Trail

Leon quickly rushed into the kitchen and found a bucket and three dry towels. Filling the bucket with hot water, he hurried back to where Aerith and Yuffie were. He set the stuff down on the floor, but seeing Aerith give him a quick glance of "Can you please leave?" made Leon turn around and walk outside through the still open front door. He figured that it would be best to warn anyone away from the house in case someone wondered what was going on. Then again, the trail of blood was certainly enough of a warning as it was.

He reached his hand over to the door and closed it, figuring that it would be better than just leaving it open. Leon looked down and saw that the blood trail vanished from sight at the staircase to the bailey. He wished he had his gunblade right now, but it didn't matter--if anything showed up he could take it out easily enough. With that decided, he began to follow the trail to its source. "She couldn't have been too far away."

It wasn't until he saw the end of the blood trail at the Castle Gate that he realized just how amazing it was that the girl was still alive. For someone who looked so frail it was a wonder that she survived so much blood loss. He stopped where a small pool of blood was and knelt down next to it. No surprise it hadn't dried, nor was it a surprise how much there was. Regardless, he did manage to find one clue in all of the gore. A lone black feather rested atop the blood pool. Leon picked it up and looked closely at it; a single thought entering his mind. "Sephiroth."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Man, I'm glad I'm not one of those squeamish girly girls.
--

Emi managed to sit still for the stitching up but it took every ounce of self-control she had not to punch Aerith in the face and run off. She knew it was what had to be done so she just took it with gritted teeth. The rage had been knocked out of her, literally, so she wasn't feeling homicidal anymore. Mostly just a little mad and really embarrassed.

"Sorry about all this,[/color]" she said quietly, still feeling really sleepy. "I was attacked but in all honesty, I think I probably deserved it. Some guy, really girly looking with a big sword, tried to pick a fight with me and I lost.[/color]"

She thought back to Sephiroth's last words and realized he had given her his name. She didn't know the weight the words carried for Aerith and the others. "Oh yeah... I think he said his name was Sephiroth or something like that,[/color]" she added in a mutter.

She looked down at her chest. There were bandages wrapped around her chest and left shoulder. Her clothes were pretty much ruined but she thought maybe they could be fixed, no big deal. Aerith had done a great job healing her up. "Thanks, by the way. I'm Emi. I'll be out of your way in no time, and I'll uh... I'll clean up that mess.[/color]" She held out her hand, trying to stop Aerith from cleaning up after her although she couldn't be expected to wait until morning.

More debts to be repaid, Emi thought, dropping her hand.

[Aerith]

Foreboding

Aerith had nearly forgotten Yuffie was standing there, having been so focused on sealing Emi's wounds. She finally glanced the ninja's way and offered her a reassuring smile. "No, I don't need anything else. You can go clean yourself up if you want to." Yuffie looked like she was about to lose whatever meal she had last eaten, and the last thing Aerith wanted was to clean up both blood and vomit.

Sephiroth.

The revelation of Emi's attacker stopped Aerith in mid-wipe. She didn't realize she was frozen for a few seconds, the bloody towel in her hand poised over the nearest pool. Emi's description might have been enough for her to guess this man was Sephiroth, but when her patient said his name, she felt a hint of cold fear wrap its fingers around her heart. This was one time when she was glad Cloud was not around.

She shot a clearly worried look at Yuffie but did not say anything to her yet. Emi was saying something else, oblivious to the growing oppressive atmosphere Sephiroth's name had evoked in Merlin's house. Putting on another smile, Aerith looked back at the girl and shook her head. "Don't be silly. You're no trouble at all, and you will stay here until I'm sure you're well enough to move. And don't worry about the mess. I'm almost finished cleaning."

She stood to her feet and made her way over to Yuffie. "Please," she whispered for the ninja's ears only. "Don't say anything about Sephiroth. Especially to Cloud."

[Yuffie]

Yuffie sighed with relief when Aerith told her she could clean herself up. Thank goodness, she didn't know how much longer she could stand having all this blood on her clothes. "Thank you," she said to Aerith, grateful that she was going to let her get going. However before she had a chance to go for the door and start heading home, the girl described the attacker and named him. It was Sephiroth.

That name brought with it bad memories. Mostly for Cloud if anybody. However the name made Aerith froze and even she froze for a moment. Sephiroth being around was bad news. Though she stopped thinking about him for a moment, when the girl introduced herself. Emi huh? She'd need to remember that name. Aerith reassured the girl that she could stay and then came over to her. She told her not to mention Sephiroth to Cloud.

Yuffie nodded towards Aerith. "R-right. No problem," she replied. She then started walking out the door. "I'll head back over after I change," she said as she exited. She then made her way back to her house as quickly as possible, she wanted to get out of these clothes immediately.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I'll just rest my eyes for a minute...
--

Emi squirmed. She was extremely uncomfortable. Tension had fallen over the room like a blanket. A musty, scratchy, heavy blanket. She didn't know what she had done to make the others so tense, but she felt bad anyway. The awkward feeling was compounded by the sharp pain in her chest and shoulder, and the fact she was laid up in the house of a stranger. She wanted to get up and run but she didn't have it in her to even walk right now. She just wanted to sleep. She had gotten into this trouble because of insomnia in the first place, and now she was crashing.

"Hey, you guys don't mind if I take a nap do you?[/color]" she asked, yawning. She didn't even wait for their answer. She was out in a few seconds, snoring slightly like she always had. She would leave in the morning, not wanting to put the kind people- the Restoration Committee, she would come to find out- even more out of their way on her account.

Right before she fell asleep, she decided it was probably a good idea to make herself scarce around town, asap. She didn't want to run into Sephiroth again and she definitely didn't want to show her loser face to anyone. Not to mention she had to start repaying those debts...