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Dream of Me (chapters 0-7)	By : ladysanzennine Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female > Sephiroth/Aerith Views: 2116 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Don't own ff7. Don't many no monies.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue
- 2-1
- 3-2
- 4-3
- 5-4
- 6-5
- 7-6
- 8-7
- 7
- 8
Dream of Me
Chapter 7
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Squaresoft Inc.

Aeris sat back on her heels and pressed a tired hand to her forehead where stray tendrils of hair were plastered by perspiration. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, fighting off the fatigue. The last time she’d worked this hard physically had been several years ago during her journey with Avalanche. But at least then she’d had the company of her friends to keep her spirits up. Even Cid’s ever-present cussing would be welcome now because at least it amused her to some extent, regardless of the fact that his words could make hardened sailors blush.
She’d been at it for hours now with only a small break for lunch. Other servants had come by regularly to replace the grimy water with fresh pails and to remind her that they were all on a tight schedule. Aeris concluded that the palace must be unending because it seemed that after countless halls and public rooms she was still nowhere near the end and hadn’t even encountered a single other person working on the floors with her.
She was tired, dirty, covered in water spots and still no closer to figuring out how on the Planet Sephiroth’s mind worked. The only possible reasoning for any of his actions towards her was that he was crazy. Simple as that, Aeris thought.
“We don’t tolerate laziness here,” a sharp, feminine voice suddenly intruded upon her thoughts.
Aeris opened her eyes with a start and looked up to see a strikingly beautiful woman. Luscious figure, long legs, blonde hair and blue eyes. In one hand she casually held a large, lit candle. Noticing how well dressed she was in a clingy, revealing dress, Aeris felt a stab of envy. Which of course caused her to remember how damn pissed off she was at Sephiroth and how the next time he decided to play tonsil hockey with her, she’d castrate him.
“You’re the girl his Lordship’s been obsessing over?” the woman asked incredulously, turning up her nose. She couldn’t believe it. How could Sephiroth possibly find this….urchin more desirable than her? The girl was a mess; her long brown hair hung limply and her face was unattractively flushed. Her outfit was a positive fashion crime, and covered in grime at that.
This girl was why he hadn’t visited her bed at all in recent days? She fumed, thinking of how he’d begun to ignore her. Or glare at her as if she was a nuisance. Or even worse, when he seemed to use his eyes to darken her hair and change the color of her irises and the shape of her body.
He wanted this grimy, little bumpkin over her?
Ridiculous.
It was clear that her lover had lost his mind.
“Trust me, I’d prefer it if he just left me alone,” Aeris stated, feeling offended at her tone. “Who might you be?”
“Lady Sandria,” the woman answered smugly, “And don’t worry, he’ll get over it. He always does, you know. And he always comes back to me.” Inwardly she wasn’t anywhere near as confident. How could a girl who was in no way her equal in beauty have distracted Sephiroth this much? Sure, he’d pursued other women before but never to this extent. Some sort of spell maybe? The little bitch with her green eyes…
“Oh, you can have him,” Aeris responded in an overly sweet voice through a tight smile. She was exhausted and irritable. She did not need this kind animosity. For a moment she realized that Sandria’s words should have made her happy. After all, the woman seemed so sure that Sephiroth would get over her soon, which meant that he’d let her go and she could go home.
And get away from what had to be the most frustrating man in the entire world.
Amazing how illogically a person could behave and feel.
Sandria’s lips tightened into a thin line. Was this how she did it? By playing hard to get and pretending she wanted nothing to do with him? Was this why he couldn’t stop thinking about her? Sneaky, conniving bitch, she thought. Aloud she said, “I really do think it would be best if you left. We don’t need your kind here in the palace,” she bit out. Her lips twisted into a hint of a snarl.
Aeris felt the urge to grind her teeth. “Why do you think I’m here in the first place? Your lover doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of ‘no.’ He kidnapped me from my home, ran out after me and dragged me here. If you think I shouldn’t be here, you should try telling him that.”
“Ha! Don’t try to pretend you haven’t been leading him on! The staff like to gossip, you know. I know all about the way you came to the palace – without a shirt – and what happened this morning in your room. Whoever heard of that anyways? A slum-born servant staying in the princess suite?”
Aeris clenched her jaw, refusing to snap at her. She would be the mature, reasonable one in this situation if it killed her. She took a deep breathe. “If you are quite finished, Lady Sandria, I have work to do.”
“Oh of course, how thoughtless of me,” Sandria said in an obviously false tone. “You’ve spent an awful lot of time polishing these halls, haven’t you? Why, it would be just terrible if someone dropped-” A theatrical gasp as her hand released the candle she was holding.
It met the floor and bright red, molten wax splashed from the center of the candle where a considerable amount had melted. Aeris’s eyes went wide and she lunged forward to wipe as much up as she could before it cooled. The rag came away leaving red wax residue coating a large area of the newly polished hall in front of her. It would take forever to scrape off the cooled wax!
“You-!” Aeris began.
Sandria had already begun to walk away. “See you later, flower girl,” she said coolly without turning back.
Aeris let out a muffled groan, her mind slightly in shock, refusing to believe the red wax in front of her.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! I don’t even know how to get from here to any useful room to find something to help me! I’d get lost and then get hell for leaving my work unfinished. She racked her mind for a solution. Ideally all she needed was a blow-dryer or something but unless someone came by that she could ask for help, she wasn’t going to get that. So what did that leave?
Her fingernail.
Yes, Sephiroth was definitely going to get castrated.
* * *
“Um, Aeris, is it?” a low male voice made her raise her head from where she’d been concentrating on scrapping off the last traces of wax. Her back ached terribly and she was hungry. With every passing minute she’d had to spend cleaning up Sandria’s deliberate mess, her temper had grown fouler.
“Yeah, that’s me,” she answered tiredly while she arched her back trying to stretch out the stiff muscles.
“We were sent to take you to the dining hall. You’re to serve dinner for Lord Sephiroth and Lady Sandria.”
Her head snapped up and she took in the man who’d spoken and the woman beside him. “Please tell me you’re joking,” she said.
The woman blinked in confusion. “Why would we be? Is there something strange about the order?”
Aeris slowly stood up, wincing at the feeling of standing after she’d been hunched over scrubbing. “Why me?” Silently she added, Here I thought Sephiroth would be smart enough to realize how mad I would be at him. Figures.
Then again, she could use the opportunity to slip arsenic into his food. Except that involved having arsenic. Rat poison would do though. Extra strength for an extra large rat.
“I don’t know, Aeris. Sephiroth sent us to bring you, so we’re here. First though we’ll take you back to your room to shower and change.” The man smiled, not an unkind smile, thank the Gods. She couldn’t have handled it.
She smiled back, glad to have found a friendly face after her encounter with Sandria. “Wouldn’t that be something? If I went straight to the dining hall, dinner would be fun, don’t you think?” She looked terrible and possibly smelled likewise.
Then again, maybe if Sephiroth saw her like this, he’d be so disgusted he’d let her go. She didn’t think she could take a second day of this brand of torture.
Sexually spurned in the morning after he’d worked her into an almost thoughtless frenzy, an entire day spent scrubbing floors with only one short break, dealing with his psycho-bitch of a mistress – Dear gods that man had terrible taste in women.
“Come,” the woman said, “You won’t want to be late. They are not known for their patience.”
“What about this stuff?” Aeris asked, pointing at her bucket, mop and rag. For god’s sake, they hadn’t even provided her with a scrub brush! She wondered if everything had been designed just to make her miserable today.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll send someone to get them later.”
And then she was led through the maze of enormous hallways that she doubted she’d ever get the hang of. By the time she found herself in front of the familiar arched doors that led to her room she was completely disoriented.
The man pushed open the doors and held one, motioning the two women in before him. The door shut softly and Aeris turned back to see the man nod at his companion before she stepped away to examine the room. Aeris felt a sudden chill as she realized there was something wrong about this.
“What-”
His finger came forward to rest lightly on her lips before she could react. He quickly leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, “Relax, we’re not going to harm you. Lyssa’s checking to see if the room is bugged.”
Aeris’s eyes widened. Bugged? Why would her room be bugged? Was Sephiroth spying on her?
She twisted her head and saw that the woman named Lyssa was crouched beside the vanity where the furniture met the wall. Her body was blocking Aeris’s view of whatever she was doing but in a few moments she finished.
“Alright, it’s disabled.”
“My room’s bugged?” Aeris squeaked. “But why?”
“Standard procedure,” the man told her quietly as he stepped back. “A good number of the rooms in the entire palace have some sort of sound recording device hidden in them. Safety precautions you see. A lot of the most important rebel activity happens here and they try their best to catch whatever they can – information or people.”
“In other words, us,” Lyssa added.
“You guys are…”Aeris trailed off in disbelief.
“Please, just listen. We don’t have a lot of time. Sephiroth really is expecting you and there’s some very important information we need to tell you.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll uncover you guys?” she asked. “Why do you trust me?”
“Two reasons,” The man answered, “We know how he’s been treating you and after I tell you a little about his past and what he plans to do soon, I know you’ll come around. Do you remember two years ago when Wutai tried to separate?” At Aeris’s nod, he continued, “The news networks told you that the battle was quick and clean, minimal unnecessary bloodshed. ‘Peace and order were swiftly restored,’ correct?”
“Yes,” she answered hesitantly. She had the distinct feeling that she didn’t want to hear what he was going to tell her.
“They lied. The media is controlled by the government – by Sephiroth. The battle with Wutai was a massacre. Whole cities were burned to the ground, thousands of civilians died. Hundreds of soldiers were taken to be questioned and tortured when they wouldn’t talk.”
“You-”
“Women and children weren’t spared, Aeris.”
“You…you have no proof,” she said unsteadily. Even he couldn’t be so cruel as to order such butchery.
Without a word he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a stack of photographs. He handed them to Aeris and waited.
She suddenly found it difficult to draw breath. In her hands was picture after picture of civilian Wutaians lying burned, cut and bleeding to death in the streets; scorched earth and buildings everywhere; children dying. She closed her eyes and shoved the photos back at him after seeing the first few.
“Gods,” she whispered. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t!
“It’s going to happen again, Aeris,” he said softly.
She looked up at him with haunted eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Another slaughter is being planned – on Nibelheim,” he paused for a moment at her startled gasp. “The region has started making motions towards a revolution and their disobedience is giving cities everywhere courage to do the same. Sephiroth plans to destroy Nibelheim the same way Wutaian cities were leveled to bring the whole country back under control. The difference is that this time it will be public – to teach the world a lesson.”
Nibelheim…Oh gods, Cloud and Tifa! No, no, it can’t happen. This isn’t possible; it’s too far fetched, too crazy. Oh gods.
Her throat felt dry but she forced out the words, “Why wasn’t Wutai publicized? Why are the people rebelling now?”
Lyssa cleared her throat before her partner could answer. “We have to get going. She still needs to clean herself up before dinner.”
“Two years ago the situation for Sephiroth wasn’t so bad. There was no need to terrorize the world like that,” he explained in a rush, “Now people are starting to rebel because he’s just gained too much power and doesn’t hesitate to use it. Too many executions, too much power in the hands of the Turks; the lot of them are above the law and people are tired of living in fear. And Sephiroth plans to solve this problem by making them fear more. No matter what happens, it’ll be ugly and thousands of innocents will die.”
“Let’s go, Jonathan,” Lyssa cut in as she headed back towards where the sound recording device was hidden. “Let her think over it, we’ll come back some other day.”
He nodded, “Yes, of course. Aeris, I’m telling you all this because you could help us more than anyone else at this point. Sephiroth is obsessed with you and this will blind him. You’re in the perfect position to find out things that could completely change the way this war will play out.”
“Jonathan!”
“Please think about it, Aeris. You don’t need to decide anything right now.” He told her.
She swallowed, “Yes…I’ll have to think…”
“Bug reconnected in three, two, one.”
His voice suddenly lost its deadly serious tone, “We’ll wait here for you while you take a shower. A uniform should be there ready for you in the bathroom.” Jonathan said with a smile. “Hurry now, you don’t want to be late.”
Lost in thought, Aeris stumbled her way to the bathroom where she hurried through the motions of washing away the grime from a day’s hard work.
Wutai, the war, everything…History always repeats itself. And if she could believe this man Jonathan and his partner-
Rebel spies sent to operate within the palace? For the greater good…
Nibelheim – she couldn’t, couldn’t just stand by if there was even the slightest chance that it was true. Even if it weren’t the hometown of two of her best friends, she’d never forgive herself if she could have done something to prevent a slaughter but didn’t.
But what if-
But why would they lie? What was there to gain by convincing her to spy for them? Though if she was discovered, she would be killed without hesitation. Could that be it? Maybe Sandria-
No, that was silly. Sandria didn’t seem the type to use such a roundabout approach for getting rid of the competition.
Then…
It was all true? Gods, evil was the only word that could be used to describe him. But…he didn’t seem that terrible. He didn’t seem…
What? Bad? You know how coldly calculating he is. How power hungry and vicious he can be. How else could he have conquered everything?
But maybe she simply wanted to believe. Believe what?
Those who have the most reason to be sympathetic are often the most intolerant.
Maybe she wanted to believe that the man she’d glimpsed five years ago hadn’t been a dream. That somewhere, pushed into the recesses behind the outward personality, he was still there.
The man who had lived through hell and survived in the only way possible – behind mental barricades and stoicism.
What was she thinking? She’d spent the entire day hating him and mentally cursing him only to have undeniable evidence put in her hands that gave her even more reason to despise him, and yet…
Maybe she was as crazy as him.
She would not try to rationalize the actions of the man and the life he chose. She would…
Spy for them? Could I do it?
Yes, if it had to be done. But how?
He’s obsessed, Jonathan had said, distracted – the perfect opportunity.
Capitalize on whatever it is he feels for me? No, that…that would mean-
Seduction.
I can’t. I’m not that type…
But she had to act if indeed Nibelheim was in danger.
Venificulla, he’d called her all those years ago, little witch. So couldn’t she be just that? Part of his fascination with her was due to how easily she responded to him combined with her attitude as a virgin. He thought it was because she was just another whore playing games.
He was so wrong.
But if he wanted to think that of her, why not embrace the role? Play it up to the hilt.
Oh gods, I can’t.
I can’t even think when he’s touching me.
And I don’t want a man like that to be touching me! Someone that evil…
But still that wasn’t true. One part of her mind had accepted the fact that he was a remorseless killer – the sane part – but still she refused to fully believe it. She clung to hope.
Blindly her hand reached forward to shut off the shower head and left the stall, dripping water onto the cool tile floor. She quickly toweled off and dried her hair as best she could before winding it into a large bun at the back of her head. She pinned it in place and pulled on the clothes she saw laid out for her.
Aeris was too distracted to be thankful for the clean cut white blouse and black skirt uniform she now wore. It was a vast improvement from the gray cleaning clothes she’d worn for most of the day.
She slipped into the low-heeled black shoes that had been placed by the wall and left the bathroom.
She was greeted by the smiles of Jonathan and Lyssa.
“My dear, you look wonderful,” Jonathan said.
“Yes,” Lyssa added with an assessing glance, “Someone should be charged for putting you in those gray things.”
Aeris smiled in return, feeling a little of the pressure lifted from her shoulders. She had time to decide whether or not she’d help them. Whether or not she believed them. After all, with new technology, fake photos could be produced.
“Thanks,” Aeris responded, “Well, I guess we should be going.”
At their brisk pace, they arrived at the kitchens in a few minutes. When it was in eyesight, Jonathan turned to her and said quietly, “There, the staff will tell you what to do. For safety reasons, don’t try to find us. We’ll come to you again in a few days time.”
Aeris continued towards the kitchens alone as her escorts walked away to go back to their responsibilities. It didn’t take long for someone to notice her and begin barking orders.
“There you are girl! Where have you been? Never mind that, here,” Two plates of salad were shoved towards her, “Hold those on one arm and take this,” the woman held out a small bread basket while Aeris held one plate in her left palm and balanced the other on her forearm. “Go through that door, through the hall. The dining room’s at the end. And hurry up! But don’t drop anything!”
Aeris walked quickly in the direction HTshe was pointed in. Pushing open the door with her foot she forcefully shoved all thoughts about spying and seduction out of her mind. She could think about that all she liked later. She saw the open arched doorway ahead of her and took a deep breath before entering the well-lit room.
It was spacious, as everything was in the palace. Like the never ending halls, Aeris thought grumpily. A massive but beautiful chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling, overlooking the oval table. He was sitting at the head, still wearing that black uniform that fit him far too well. She was sitting at the foot.
“You’re late,” Sandria spoke first in a testy tone.
“My apologies,” Aeris shot back with barely concealed exasperation, “Someone decided to drop a candle in the halls and I needed to finish cleaning up the mess first.” She walked over to where the woman sat imperiously in a silver gown that showed off her ample cleavage to its best advantage. Aeris set down the bread basket and placed one plate of salad in front of her. She waited until Sandria had taken a roll before picking the basket up and repeating the process with Sephiroth.
She tried, she really tried to ignore the way his eyes ran over her, adsorbing every detail. It brought back every negative emotion she’d felt towards him that day alongside the memory of their interlude that morning before he’d ruined it by being a bastard. Thinking of it made her pulse quicken imperceptibly and when their eyes met, she hastily looked away.
Her reaction only served to make her all the angrier at him.
She walked away to stand at the far wall where she knew she was to wait until they were ready for the next dishes.
“My Lord brought this girl back to serve in the palace?” Sandria broke the silence. Her voice was so falsely sweet and innocent that Aeris wanted nothing more than to get away. Trying to pretend that she wasn’t hungry and exhausted was difficult enough. She didn’t think she could put up with and entire evening of Sandria.
He glanced up after spearing a few leaves with his fork. “Yes.”
Silence.
Aeris wondered if all of their conversations were so engaging. Then again, Sephiroth obviously didn’t keep Sandria around for her communication skills.
“An awful lot of trouble to get just one servant…” she trailed off and Aeris could see from the corner of her eye that Sandria was grinding her teeth.
“Actually,” Sephiroth began with an unreadable smile, “I was thinking of perhaps transferring her duties to serving me personally.”
Sandria choked oh her wine and Aeris nearly choked on air.
“You – you mean like a maid, my Lord?” Sandria asked. She was clutching her fork so tightly, her knuckles were white and Aeris was half afraid she’d throw it at her.
Sephiroth didn’t look at her when he answered, “I think ‘handmaiden’ might be a more adequate word.”
Aeris was too stunned by this exchange to register any sort of reaction to his words. Was he serious? Was he out of his mind? Deliberately baiting his mistress; having the two women in the same room even. Did he have any idea what sort of chaos this could cause, or, more precisely, what kind of hell it could make her life? Seeing as he didn’t seem to have any intention of sending Sandria packing.
First that line about waiting on his pleasure and now this. What was the man thinking, and why was he playing with both her and Sandria like this?
Her earlier desire to inflict serious bodily harm to him returned with a vengeance.
“Aeris,” Sandria suddenly snapped, “I’m done with this. Go bring the next course.”
With a muttered “my lady” she left the room, only too glad to leave behind the tension, if only for a moment. She really was going to lose her mind if she had to deal with this everyday. Sephiroth himself caused her enough tension and confusion. Added on to Sandria’s death glares and him contemplating what ‘duties’ he should assign her-
Dear gods, he didn’t mean that did he? By ‘personal service’ and ‘handmaiden’ he couldn’t possibly –
He could; she knew it. It wasn’t beyond him to demand anything from her and it wasn’t in her power to refuse. But far worse than that – it would under no circumstance be rape. You couldn’t rape the willing and that worried her more than anything else.
Yes, he infuriated her. Yes, at times the only thing she wanted was to strangle him. But still there was something, some magnetic appeal he possessed that she couldn’t ignore. And she really didn’t think that it was just his physical attractiveness – as gorgeous as he was. It was like…she furrowed her brow trying to think as she was handed new plates in the kitchen and made her way back to the dining hall.
It was…a familiarity of some sort that she couldn’t place. As though she knew him on a level that she couldn’t make sense of, especially when she knew for certain she’d never met him before.
But more disturbing was the fact that she wasn’t sure of the emotions brought along with the feelings of recognition he was beginning to trigger in her. There was something…something there that she wanted to recall but her mind held it back. A memory of – what?
Aeris stopped in the corridor a few paces before the doorway. She closed her eyes and tried to will the image to appear, knowing there was something there and yet blocked away from her. After a while she caught a few fleeting glimpses of Sephiroth in her mind’s eye but there was nothing particular. Just him in that black leather trench coat with Masamune. Nothing past what she might have seen on TV or in the newspapers.
“Aeris!” she heard Sandria call out impatiently from within the dining hall. She’d lingered too long, she knew, so she hurried through the door and towards the foot of the table where she set down Sandria’s plate of pasta.
She was still distracted – chasing images in her head, trying to uncover the one that remained elusive. In hindsight she should have known better than to drop her guard when anywhere neat Sandria.
Something fell into place in Aeris’s mind. Now she was certain. Yes, she had known him at one time. Not that moment five years ago but much earlier in very different circumstances.
But when? How?
She was almost there, she knew she was close to figuring it out. So close to remembering.
She turned to head towards Sephiroth and felt pressure against her ankle too late. The next thing she knew she was falling forwards and the plate slipped from her hand. She gasped as she landed on her hands and knees. Her head shot up to see pieces of pasta and the broken plate lying in fragments over the marble floor.
“You clumsy ox!” yelled Sandria in self-righteous fury. “Watch what you’re doing!”
Aeris was about to stand up and state very loudly that she wouldn’t have tripped if someone had not deemed it necessary to extend their foot out from under the table.
But her words were cut off as she saw that Sephiroth had left his chair and was now standing before her. Her head slowly tilted upwards and her eyes traveled along the length of his body from legs to head. She held her breath, not in fear of his reaction to her fall, but rather…
Oh gods…
She saw his face, it seemed so high above from where she was still kneeling, unreadable as always, and…
She could envision him looming so much farther above her. As if viewing herself from another’s perspective she saw herself kneeling, praying. She saw him jumping down – towards her. Masamune.
There – familiar; yes she knew it now. Knew with absolute certainty that she’d been right. She remembered him from so long ago. The same world; a different turn of the cycle.
A different lifetime. Where he had become…insane.
Where he had taken her life.
Gods…You killed me.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Please find MasamuneSong's wonderful (and complete!) conclusion at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3296199/1/Dream_of_Me_Conclusion
~LS~
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Dream of Me (chapters 0-7)