Ubi Sunt [Aerith]

[Fate]

I need something to do.
[August 6, 2010]
--

Why did all worlds have to look almost the same? That was what Kadaj wondered as he walked into Notre Dame. Same sort of people, same sort of atmosphere, blah blah blah. He hadn't even been here before and he was already starting to get annoyed. He got the usual weird looks as he walked down the streets-- these people really weren't used to seeing the black leather he wore. Maybe he should introduce himself to them and vent his aggravation. Maybe.

Though, his frustration wasn't truly against the world. The Champion had left in the middle of the fight and wasn't coming back, leaving him with nothing to do. Maleficent said something about going back to her own homeworld and didn't mention her three loyal subjects to coming with her. They were left to their own devices. Hell, Kadaj didn't even know where Ava was anymore, not that he cared much. He was too busy trying to figure out what to do now. World destruction sounded like a great idea, but he wasn't up to it. He wasn't focused enough. Too frustrated.

So he walked around, looking at the big cathedral thing and occasionally passersby.

[/font]

[Aerith]

Why do you do nothing?
--------
[Sorrow from the Folklore OST]

Aerith had tried to sleep last night. She had returned to the woman who had given her shelter before, leaving Ethan and that strange armor creature to their own devices. Even if Ethan had insisted she stay with them, she would have refused.

Sleep had come in fitful bursts, mostly clouded by nightmares of heads rolling down alleyways and of shadows rising up to attack her. When dawn finally came, she left the house, managing to thank the woman on her way out.

People were already emerging from their respective homes and going about their daily business. Everything was so mundane and normal, almost as if the appearance of Titan yesterday had not happened at all. Were they all that blind, or did they choose not to see?

She would make them see. She would make them understand what was at stake if they persisted in this dull, unchanging grind.

She took a step. Then another. Her flowers blossomed in the space she had previously occupied. She wended her way through the streets back toward the cathedral, leaving a carpet of color in her wake. People stopped and stared, many of them recognizing her as the woman who was rumored to heal people. But no one said anything to her.

If they believed her to be some goddess after this, it didn't matter anymore to Aerith. She only wanted to get their attention, to impart understanding to them.

When she made it to the front of the cathedral, there were already what looked to be guards or some sort of law enforcement waiting for her. This was expected.

They were all very big and towered over her, and they all came for her at once. One of them spoke so that she could understand.

"You cannot hide from us anymore, witch. We know how dangerous you are, and we will purge the demons from your body in the righteous fire so you might have a chance to be with God."

"What--?"

She could barely stammer a protest before they grabbed her arms and painfully pulled them behind her back. What was this? She had done nothing but help people, shown them nothing but kindness. Why were they doing this to her as if she were some monster?

The crowds were gathering, drawn by the sight of all the foreign flowers. Aerith recognized many whom she had healed, and her gaze passed over each of them in turn. None of them moved to stop these men from taking her away to die. Not a single one.

Tears brimmed in her eyes.

Why? Why don't you stand up for what's right? Why don't you prove him wrong about all of you?

Maybe it wasn't worth the struggle, after all. What good was she if she couldn't stop the real problem? They would all die, and there was nothing she could do.

Are you really right, brother? You can't be right. You just can't be--

She winced and inhaled sharply as the men twisted her arms and pulled her away. It was mostly unnecessary. Aerith did not have the heart to resist.

[Fate]

Don't tell Loz or Yazoo I did something nice. Please and thank you.
--

Wait a second, what was Aerith doing in a world like this? Didn't she belong with Cloud back in Radiant Garden? Why the hell was she here? And there were flowers behind her, lots of them. There was a whole path of them. She was spreading her gross flowers all over this world, making it even more beautiful or whatever. He had no problem with her being here of course; Aerith was a kind person and wasn't out to hurt anyone. She even offered to heal him if he needed it. But flowers were just... ugh. He didn't need another descriptor there did he?

But apparently, he wasn't the only one against the flowers here. Though, the guards were against them for different reasons, calling her a witch and saying she was dangerous, that she needed to be purged of demons. Really? Really?! Kadaj laughed at this from his spot. Aerith. Dangerous. Right, that made complete sense. But these men were completely serious and were taking her away. And none of these citizens were going a thing about it, just watching it like it was some spectacle. Was he going to have to do something here? Something heroic? He wasn't even a hero dammit. He avoided such things.

But Aerith didn't deserve this. He took out the Souba from its sheath, making his way over to the guards and pointing it at them. He put himself right in their path, pointing his sword straight at them and grinning. "You can let her go now. Really, you can." If they didn't, he'd make them.

[/font]

[Aerith]

I...
--------

There was a voice. A distant, familiar voice. Why had they stopped moving?

She roused herself from her pit of depression, blinking a few times and focusing on the figure in front of them. She half-expected it to be Jericho in a murderous rage. Where was that alarm, anyway?

Her eyes widened at the face she saw.

"...Kadaj? What are you--?"

One of the men cut her off with a harder twist to her arm, and she couldn't stifle a soft yelp of pain.

"Clearly," he said to Kadaj, "you are one of this witch's hellish servants summoned to protect her." With a grunt, he signaled the others not restraining Aerith to attack Kadaj. "You will be exterminated in the name of God, unholy creature!"

Aerith gasped. "No! Please! Please, no more!"

"Quiet, woman!"

She was wrenched closer to her captor and slapped across the face. Shock exploded in her brain. No one had ever hurt her like this before. But the only reaction that came to the surface was pure sorrow. More tears spilled down her cheeks.

[Fate]

Why yes, yes I am an unholy creature. Thanks for noticing!
--

Of course they weren't going to let her go-- probably because they didn't know who he was. If they did, they wouldn't bother putting up a fight. Well, at least according to Kadaj's arrogance they wouldn't. But look at what they were calling him! Hellish servant? Unholy creature? He was getting compliments for once. This was very different! How come more people couldn't do this kind thing before they fought him? The problem, however was that while they were complimenting him, they slapped Aerith in the face. His smile faded. That-- that just wasn't nice! They shouldn't be doing that. They should be focusing all of their attention him, not hurting someone who wasn't about to fight back!

Fine, he'd make them. "Why thank you for your compliments!" he exclaimed. He didn't look at their weapons, just simply jumping for them and slashing furiously across the left, right, and finally horizontally at the throats in typical Sephiroth-remnant speed. Blood still on his sword, he raised it straight to the man holding Aerith hostage as the other guards dropped to the ground. "You can let her go now." It was more of a "You will let her go or I'll cut your throat too", but Kadaj wasn't exactly that direct.

[/font]

[Aerith]

Stop this. Stop all this.
--------

Aerith instinctively flinched as blood splashed near her feet. Kadaj was brutally killing more people right in front of her, and she couldn't stand it. Even if these men were going to kill her, she didn't want to watch them die.

Now he was done and pointing his sword at the man who was holding her. She shook her head nervously. "No, Kadaj. No more killing. Please."

She knew he would do it. She knew there wasn't anything she could say to stop him. He had tasted blood already, and while there was still a target breathing, he was not going to relent.

The man holding Aerith sneered. "You can't kill me. Even if I leave this world, I go on to the next."

[Fate]

Fine mother, I won't kill him.
--

This man wasn't letting her go, rambling about going to some other world if he was killed. What did that even mean? No, that's not how things worked. Once you died, you died. That was it. You didn't get to go to any other worlds. Your body stayed put wherever it fell until it was buried or burned or whatever. Everyone knew that! Why didn't the man understand this simple concept? Did he need it proven to him? Kadaj would do it. And he'd do it quickly too.

Aerith was telling him not to though. She didn't want him killing anymore. But- but this man would kill her if he didn't kill him! He needed to kill him so she could escape and... well he hadn't planned that far. But still, his point stood. Then again, if he killed the man, he would risk hurting Aerith. Kadaj didn't have much of a code, but he knew better than to hurt someone like her.

Fine, he wouldn't kill this man. For now. He'd kill him later when Aerith wasn't looking so he could prove that you don't get to go to other worlds when you're dead. This wasn't going to be exactly easy either to not kill him and not hurt Aerith-- he'd have go from behind for a good opening. He sighed, quickly going behind the man and slashing once horizontally at the area behind the man's knees.

[/font]

[Aerith]

Let's just go.
--------

The man couldn't match Kadaj in speed and went down growling in pain. Blood flowed down his calves. He had to release his hold on Aerith.

With a gasp, she took several steps away from the man and moved behind Kadaj. Once again, she found herself protected by someone of the dark. It made no sense on a metaphysical level. But, she supposed, she had been kind to Kadaj back on Radiant Garden. Perhaps he was returning the favor.

"Just leave him. We can go somewhere else. He can't follow us."

Normally, she would have tended to the man's wounds, but she could still feel a thin layer of his sweat on her clothes. The smell of him was still in her nose. The wounds weren't fatal. Maybe Elaine would find him. On second thought, that was doubtful. The girl was probably scarred forever.

She had barely finished getting her request to leave out when several more guards broke through the crowds nearby, pushing their way toward the scene of carnage. There were so many of them, at least ten that she saw. Could Kadaj handle all of them?

More killing. Her stomach turned.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and she whirled around only to find herself enveloped in oppressive arms once more. This time, though, she felt a blade pressed dangerously against her throat.

"We may have to skip burning this one. Or at least, slit her throat, bleed her out, and then throw her to the fire."

"Think that will call off the minion?"

"I don't care how powerful she is, she shouldn't be able to sustain its existence if she stops breathing."

She was going to die. Here, of all places.

Cloud...

Something tickled the skin behind her ear and moved into her line of vision. The alarm.

Carefully, she managed an urgent call, not daring to raise her voice too much for fear of the blade cutting her skin.

"Brother... Brother, please--"

She stopped as she felt the pressure on her throat increase.

[Slash]

That's the last mistake you'll ever make.

[/center]

A terrifying sound scraped the air, a cross between a lunatic scream and a furious roar. It was the challenge of the Other.

Jericho had appeared quickly, and he was absolutely furious. He pulled the guard that was threatening Aerith away, grabbing him by the neck with one hand and holding the hand with the sword in the other.

"You like hunting down your own fucking savior, huh? Think she's a demon? Oh, she's nowhere near that."

Jericho bent his head down next to the guard's ear and whispered, "I'll show you what a demon is, you son of a bitch."

The Other rose up and destroyed the man, ripping him apart. Jericho turned to the others, his appearance more fearsome by the second.

"Consider that all a sort of test. You have been weighed," he said, summoning his Keyblade, "judged...and found wanting."

The Other roared its challenge again, and Jericho's Heartless appeared at his side. Jericho did not need to yell his commands, but he didn't exactly have the concentration to transmit them through thought.

"Kill them!"

What followed could be succintly described as hell, since the Heartless did not discriminate and neither did Jericho. He went for the guards, running one through the chest as the Other snapped another guard's spine like a dry twig.

In his anger, he believed that there was no punishment great enough save for the obliteration of this world and the massacre of its people. If they would attack their one chance at salvation, he would be relentless in destroying them for their own foolishness.

[Aerith]

I've never felt anything like this.
--------

The threat to her was gone, torn apart by Jericho's shadow. Still stricken with thoughts of how close she had come to death, Aerith was only half-aware of the destruction happening around her. She was safe from it all. That was all that mattered.

No. No, she didn't think that way. Screams were rending the air into pieces, and she snapped out of the fog of what-ifs. People were dying. Because she had called a monster here? No. No, people were dying because of the fault of a few. Jericho might have been concentrating on the men who had attacked her, but she knew he wouldn't be content stopping there.

"Stop! Don't do this!"

Suddenly, something inside her reached for him. Like a reflex response, another power laying dormant inside her awoke. She felt the full brunt of his rage flow into her, so intense it burned. But it didn't stop, wouldn't stop. She had opened a valve that would never run dry.

"Calm down. Please, calm-- Ah!"

Doubling over, Aerith dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. Her whole body was on fire, and she couldn't stop it until she had taken most of his rage away. She dug her fingers into her sides and shook, trying not look at anything except the ground.

If she saw one more person, she would kill him herself.

Stop it, stop it, stop it!

She bit down on her lip and held herself tighter. How dare they touch her? How dare they threaten her? She should happily watch Jericho slaughter them all like the cattle they were.

No, no, no, no, no. This isn't me. These aren't my thoughts.

The one consolation in the midst of all the agony was that her heart was absent of darkness to feed on all this hatred. She needed to weather the storm for a while, and then it would be over. And maybe she could get Jericho to agree to leave.

[Aerith used Reduction.
Aerith retains Jericho's anger for two more posts.]

[Slash]

Don't interfere.

[/center]

The second something closed in on Jericho's mind, he began resisting like crazy. His hatred, the thing that he had kept so close to his heart for so long, was being sapped away by some force.

The woman is doing this.[/color]

His ange kept growing and growing, but was cut down just as quickly as it could rise. This, in turn, made him angrier, and the entire thing devolved into a vicious cycle that would kill Aerith or leave her permanently unhinged should she try to control him for too long.

"Stop holding me back," he said, almost calmly despite his shaking. "You're going to kill yourself if you keep doing this. And if you die, then I'll kill everything."

The Other wanted her dead, and Jericho slowly moved so that she was out of reach.

She can't control you. Keep at it.[/color]

"Stop it," he insisted. "Stop it...I can't...Stop it! Get out of my head!"

[Aerith]

Can't take much more.
--------

If Aerith dug her fingers any harder into herself, she would add her own blood to the red already painting the streets. Her body was practically screaming, rejecting this tide of emotion that was so foreign to her.

She needed to save her sanity and let Jericho go. Who cared about the deaths of a few thousand people? They deserved it.

"I don't want...anyone else to die." One of her hands scraped the ground beside her. Dirt pushed up under her nails. It was physically uncomfortable. She tried to focus on that.

"Please... I want to go."

[Aerith retains Jericho's anger for one more post.]

[Slash]

You are very good at bringing down my mood.

[/center]

If his anger was darkness, it could have eclipsed a sun. Aerith was very near the breaking point.

"Fine! It's done!"

The Heartless left, and Jericho turned towards whatever stragglers were left.

"Run!" he commanded, the Other screaming with him.

Why did she interfere with us? Why did you let her? Idiot![/color]

Shut up. You're part of me, you'll do as I say.[/color]

The Other faded back into his shadow. He turned to look at Aerith, his anger shifting to a new subject.

"Happy? They live to kill you another day. Get the fuck out of my head before you kill yourself."

He stared out at the partially destroyed streets. "You already named three people who I wouldn't kill. I don't recall ever saying that I'd let you stop me from killing anyone."

This would get nowhere. He forced himself to soften his tone. "I'm never going to let anyone kill you. Yet you seem insistent on putting yourself in situations where the ignorant will try. What were you doing before I showed up?"

[Aerith]

No matter what I do, I can't win.
--------

One moment, the rage had almost consumed her and the next, it rushed out of her, returning to Jericho. The emotion's exit was almost as physically painful as its entrance had been. Once it was done, her grip on herself lessened.

Jericho was talking to her, but she barely registered words. Self-degradation was a chasm she was trying desperately not to fall into. She was failing.

"What good am I?" she whispered. "I can't save them. They won't listen. I don't want to hurt anyone. I won't attack you or anybody if I can help it. I just want to help them, but they won't listen."

The pressure Bahamut had placed on her was growing exponentially by the second. She couldn't save people nearly as fast as Jericho could destroy them. Destruction was so instant in its finality. Healing took time. Time she didn't have.

"You'll destroy everything, and all I can do is watch. You won't kill me. All I can do is watch."

The giant hole all that anger left in its wake needed to be filled with something. Sorrow rose rapidly to fill that void.

[Reduction has ended.
Posts until next use: 2
Uses remaining: 4]

[Slash]

Give me a second to calm down.

[/center]

His anger rushed back into him. Thanks to some strange paradox, this had the effect of calming him down.

Good to have you back, old friend.[/color]

His sense returned, he found that Aerith was absolutely drowning in self-pity. He walked over to her and crouched down to her level.

"Stop doing that, sister. Stop thinking of all the people you can't save."

Sometimes she seemed so weak to him. If she healed, then he would not break down- of course, she could not reanimate the dead, so perhaps her sorrow was justified. When he destroyed, it was swift and final. She did not have that strength.

"Calm down. I'm not going to destroy everything. Radiant Garden is yours, that was already determined. But I can't stop every time you ask. That's like me telling you to stop healing the dying. It goes against what I am."

He could give her Radiant Garden, the one place where she was already known and wouldn't be killed in the streets. Probably.

Compromise after compromise,[/color] the Other said scornfully.