Chapter Six


The next day, she ran out of rations, so occasionally as they walked, Sephiroth would stab his Masamune into the brush to spear a bird. This always shocked Kit, who had no idea how he knew a bird was there when she didn't even feel it with her Sense materia.
There were birds all over in this part of the continent. Once she looked off to the south and saw dimly what appeared to be a tall tower, or maybe a narrow mountain, with a bird perched on the top. She blinked her eyes in amazement at the size that bird must be, to be seen from such a distance. Probably Fort Condor, she decided. Some SOLDIERs had been assigned to go get the bird off the top of it not long before she accepted this mission. In fact, she'd almost accepted that mission, but decided she really didn't care whether or not a bird was sitting on top of the Mako reactor. It wouldn't affect operations any as far as she knew. Sephiroth must have seen it as well, but he travelled steadily to the west.
That night they camped in the forest, where Kit built a small fire to roast the birds. Sephiroth didn't want any, though she offered him some every now and then. Come to think of it, she never saw him eat at all. She wasn't sure if he slept, either. But as she sat by the fire and he paced, she asked him the question she'd been wanting to ask since the first night. "Why is it that you want to take control of the world?"
He stopped pacing and looked down at her in amusement. "Because I can, of course. It is my destiny."
"Why? Because of Jenova?"
Sephiroth turned his amusement up to the sky. "Among other things. Mother wants it all destroyed, you know, all the stupid humans. As her son, I should follow in her footsteps, don't you think?"
"Are you sure she thinks of you as a son?"
"Of course. Twice now I've freed her from Shinra imprisonment, and she destroyed all that was around her, except for me. I can feel her anger at this world."
"But why? We were betrayed, yes, but why does she want to destroy?"
He laughed. "I do not question Mother. She hates, and so I hate. This world has given me nothing, but she has given me everything."
"I am of this world." Kit's voice trembled. "Do you... and your mother... want to destroy me with it?"
His eyes turned back to hers instantly. Kneeling down beside her, he cupped her head in his hands. "You are not of this world any longer," he said sincerely.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. It was always like this when they touched - he was so frightening, but so gentle.
"Don't cry," he told her. "You and I are beyond humanity. We're above the world. I know this isn't the way you would have it, but it is how it was meant to be. When this ordeal is finished, and we find the Promised Land, you will have everything you ever dreamed of. I will see to it. I will give you immortality. Tell me, what do you dream of? What should I give you?"
"Nothing you can't give me now," she replied, weeping in spite of herself. "Only you."
He drew back from her in astonishment. Kit noticed through her tears that an expression of surprise did not look natural on him at all. "Oh, Kit..." he whispered. "Do you really mean that?"
"Why would I say it if it wasn't what I meant?" she sobbed. "I'm just a traitor, whatever my reasons are, whatever they did to me, I betrayed Shinra for your sake. I have no interest in avenging what they did, or destroying the planet, or even finding the Promised Land. It's not for these that I threw away my honor - it was for you. For you, Sephiroth - not the greatness you will achieve, not the hatred you harbor, but you, as a man. For love. Do you even know what that means?"
He was still staring at her with that incongruous look of surprise, and though she waited, he said nothing. Finally, when her sobs began to die down, he took her by the hand and stood. She followed obediently as he led her to the river they'd camped beside, and sat when he did. He didn't look at her as he cupped his hands and began to wash the tears from her face with the cold water.
When he met her eyes once more, his earlier astonishment had vanished into a look of uncertainty. "No one has ever said such a thing to me before," he said hesitantly. "Not once. I'm sorry if I didn't..." He paused, looking even more uncertain. "I'm not even sure I've ever apologized for anything in my life. I have the hatred, yes, and I will have greatness. I can't apologize for that. Kit, I am what I am, my mother's child. I am Sephiroth."
The confusion in his face turned her frustration to pity. "I know you must be what you are," she said, placing her hand over his, "but you can be so much more than just the son of Jenova. If that heritage were stripped away, you would still be Sephiroth, and I would still be here holding your hand. Besides the son of Jenova, besides the heir to the planet, who is Sephiroth?"
He lowered his head in thought, and his bangs covered his face. He looked so lost that it brought tears to Kit's eyes again. "I don't know," he whispered.
"That," she said, brushing the hair back from his face, "is perfectly fine. No one knows who they are, didn't you know? Besides your heritage, you are a man. It's the man that I love."
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Is that what I've been feeling?" he muttered to himself.
"I'd like to think so."
He opened his eyes again and looked at her with eyes glowing almost green with fervor. "So would I."
She'd never seen him so open, never even dreamed he would be. Realizing it might not last, she leaned forward and kissed him before her fear returned, or his self-imposed solitude. He hesitated at first, but only for a moment this time. Soon he returned her kiss eagerly, and she drew him down to lie back on the ground with her in his arms.
To Chapter Seven.
To the intro.
© 1998-2000 by Andrea Hartmann.
That means it's mine, not yours!