A/N:
Um. I don't know where this idea came from, but I actually planned it out! Should last five chapters unless I decide to do an epilogue.
But, enjoy this brainchild of boredom and stress. I'll say this, moving furniture into a new home is an interesting process when it is pouring down rain…Anywho!
Word Count: 3,163
Pairing(s): Main: SephirothxAerith; Side: VincentxYuffie
Warnings: Language
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Forgotten Angels
By Catsitta
Act I: The Flower Girl
Scene I
"Aerith! I have returned from my great adventures victorious." Yuffie Kisaragi, the rebellious princess of Wutai and master treasure hunter, shouted as she bounced into the palace gardens. With her face still streaked with dirt and her small frame clad in old traveling clothes, the Wutainese girl was a sight to behold. It was almost enough to make the flower girl giggle with amusement—Emperor Godo would throw a fit if he saw his daughter in such an unruly state.
After all, his only child would turn eighteen in a few days and would be of marrying age. What prince would want a woman still spindly with awkward youth and acted like a child on the best of days and a little demon on the worst? Aerith could think of none, but then again, Yuffie was in no hurry to tie the knot. It was too exciting to explore the lands, train in the ways of the ninja, and steal ancient treasures from their rightful owners.
Smiling at her own thoughts, Aerith offered a playful greeting.
Then as Yuffie drew close, that infectious grin of hers twitching on her lips, she could not help but ask,"Alright, what did you find that has you so excited?" A blink of the eye later and the Princess' hands were thrust towards Aerith's face, fingers uncurling to reveal a brilliant red gem. Instinctively, the flower girl knew it was Materia…a Summons at that. "I thought you found all of the legendary Guardians…After you went to Round Island and returned with Knights of the Round…" Her words trailed off.
Yuffie let out an indignant huff and feigned insult,"Honestly Aerith, give me more credit than that." Her smile returned, all teeth,"Of course I've already found all of the Guardians. This, my friend, is Levithan."
Confusion passed over the flower girl's features.
"Here, take it. He's yours."
"Princess Kisaragi!" Aerith admonished,"Levithan is the Guardian of the royal family. He has been in your family for generations."
The Wutainese girl snorted,"Don't be silly. Here, take him." And with that she forced the glinting orb into the flower girl's hands and watched as surprise overcame Aerith's features. "Understand now?"
Silently, she regarded the Materia in her hands; fascinated by the way it felt. It was like cradling a heartbeat, for the energy within the crystal pulsed and vibrated, brightening and dimming, swirling and pooling with every movement of the creature within. The sensation was faint in comparison to what she remembered from her previous handlings of Levithan. The Guardian she sensed before felt very old and very powerful, brimming with barely contained magic. This…this felt almost like an infant. A child. So small and young. Potential untapped.
"He spawned. I never realized that Summons Materia could birth new Guardians."
"I didn't know either." Yuffie said, brushing back dark, cropped bangs casually,"No one did. But then again, until you came along, no one knew how Materia worked or where it came from. Levithan's existence was just a myth, and generations of belief said that the red stone passed down in my family was his gift to the people of Wutai. A useless gem. A rock. But you heard his heartbeat and showed us that he existed and would fight for whoever called him into battle."
Drawing her focus away from the orb, Aerith nodded, remembering briefly when she first came to Wutai. It was a time ripe with tragedy, from her mother's debilitating illness to the sudden death of the Empress. No one was left unscathed, especially with the world teetering at the edge of war. It was so much for an eight-year-old girl to handle—too much.
When the first assault by ShinRa came, the nine-year-old fled from her empty home—one she shared with her nurse, a woman named Elmyra Gainsborough, after her mother succumbed to illness. Battle rang out all around. Nowhere felt safe. That is, until she reached the Palace Gardens. Suddenly, a wave of calm washed over her. It was so quiet and peaceful there amongst the flowers and she was so tired and frightened.
Without thinking it over any more, Aerith collapsed where she was and tried to forget everything. But it seemed fate didn't agree with her wishes.
It was there in the gardens she discovered her heritage—through her blood, her mother, Ilfana, graced her with the Planet's gift. Some called it magic. To her, it was breathing. Natural.
Because when alarms rang out, and a man trudged heavily through the flowers, a toddling girl writhing against his grip—Aerith had no chance to think. Only chance to act.
She grabbed a smooth rock and chucked it at the man, startling him. His grip on the girl loosened, and suddenly, she was free. Three-year-old Yuffie let out an indignant wail and kicked her captor, before screaming for him to, "Give it back". What 'it' was revealed itself when the man thrust one hand into a pouch at his hip and dangled it above the Princess's head.
It was red and perfectly smooth.
And it went flying through the air when Yuffie smashed her little fist into the man's groin.
From there, it was history in the making.
How the gem ended up in her hands, Aerith could not recall, but she did remember how it felt. How the orb sang and reached out to her, begging for release. The magic within was restless and so, she granted it freedom. There was a burst of light and then…all went dark. When she woke, she found herself laying on silk sheets, two questioning gray eyes peering down at her.
"Hey Aerith…you in there?"
Yuffie's voice snapped the flower girl from her thoughts.
With a slight nod, Aerith offered a shy smile. Yuffie and her father were good to her. They allowed her to live in the palace, kept her clothed and fed—Godo practically treated her like a daughter, having gone as far as to arrange for suitors to court her favor. But all the extravagance was not to her taste. She liked simple things—cotton sheets dried by the summer air, the smell of flowers in full bloom, and quiet evenings spent by the ocean watching the light of paper lanterns reflect off the water's surface.
"Merely thinking about how beautiful Wutai is during the spring."
"Only you would admire the scenery when given the first Levithan ever spawned."
The pair laughed.
"Thank you Yuffie, I will treasure him always. Promise."
"Make sure you do," the Princess said with a tone of finality. And with that, she turned and left the gardens, a skip in her stride. It was a passing thought in Aerith's mind as she watched the girl disappear, how Yuffie's hair had grown longer since she left, and with those ebon locks brushing her shoulders, she almost looked like a woman. Almost.
Act I: The Flower Girl
Scene II
One year later;;
"Do you love him?" The question hung heavy in the air as the two girls prepared for the night's festivities. Yuffie did not respond, her gray eyes blank as she brushed her hair. "Yuffie?"
The Princess sighed and buried her face in her hands, taking in deep breaths. It had been an eventful year. With her coming of age came responsibilities she was not ready to face, one of which being marriage. No matter how she screamed and rebelled against her father's wishes, there were some duties that she could not escape. At eighteen, she was an adult, and officially the heir to the throne. A marriage would ensure the continuity of the royal line and secure political ties.
And, at first, Yuffie believed she could persuade the Emperor to change tradition and give her more time. But Godo was persistent, and found the one man on the Planet who could handle his daughter's tantrums. True, he was no prince, but he was loyal to the royal family and his bloodline predated even that of Kisaragi's.
"I'm not marrying for love, Aerith." The Princess murmured, "You know that."
"But you accepted his proposal…" The flower girl frowned, turning away from the mirror and narrowing her emerald eyes. "Why would you say yes if you feel nothing for him?"
"I didn't say I felt nothing…"
"So you at least like him?"
Yuffie laughed bitterly,"The man is cold, anti-social sonnuva bitch with a stick up his ass. He annoys the crap out of me."
"Yuffie!"
"What?"
"Watch your language."
"Or what? Valentine doesn't care if I cuss like a fishwife. He doesn't even care that I'm ten years younger than him. By Levithan, he doesn't even care about anything, Aerith! I could dance around naked in the middle of a Council meeting and he would just shake his head and wait until I was done before asking me if I felt better after doing so! He…he is…" And for the first time in years, Yuffie broke down into tears.
"You do love him…don't you?" Aerith murmured as she wrapped her arms around the sobbing Princess. "That's why you care so much about him 'caring' about you. You're afraid he won't ever feel for you as you do him."
"What would you know about love?" Yuffie challenged between hiccups. "It isn't like you've got a suitor barking after you in your garden. I haven't even seen you look in a man's direction."
That hit her hard. Feeling tears of her own well up, Aerith fought to keep her composure. It wasn't as if she was trying not to fall in love. She was a romantic at heart. One of her biggest dreams as a young girl was to find a nice man who could sweep her off her feet and give her a house full of children. And if she had girls, she would name them Ilfana and Elmyra. And if she had boys, well…she never got that far. But regardless of gender or names, she wanted that life…one of the hearth and home, and of the youthful curiosity of children.
Not that she ever told anyone that dream, of course. Not even Yuffie whom was the closest thing she had to a sister, or Elmyra Gainsborough, the closest thing she had left to having a mother.
As if sensing her sadness, Yuffie lifted her head and stared at her with red-rimmed eyes.
"That was mean of me…wasn't it?"
Aerith nodded.
"Sorry…" She was not the best at apologies.
"It's okay Yuffie."
The Wutainese girl offered the slightest of smiles, "You're too forgiving, Aerith."
"There's no such thing." She hugged the younger girl tightly, "Everyone needs forgiveness."
Act I: The Flower Girl
Scene III
Vincent Valentine, in short, was polite and concise almost to a fault. He rarely spoke and when he did he said very little. His unusual ruby-colored gaze was always direct and unexpressive. And his mannerisms were poise—a dangerous mix of rigid control and fluid grace. Yes, dangerous. Aerith only had to look at the man to know he was a warrior at heart. She briefly wondered how many battles the man had seen—how many lives that lethal, muscular body stole away.
He certainly put off an aura of a trained fighter. His tall, lean build and aristocratic features understated his power. But the way he moved, spoke and even looked, sparked Aerith's danger sense. Valentine was definitely a man to fear, but also respect. Nothing shook his resolve. Not even Yuffie's antics.
Aerith almost felt bad for the Princess as she watched the girl make scene after scene at the festival—the very one celebrating her engagement—only to have her betrothed watch with apparent boredom. Valentine did not even step in to intervene with Yuffie's nonsense. It was as if he was unphasable—nothing broke his calm resolution. The most he did was when the girl, dressed in a pink kimono of the finest silk, started a fight with a man twice her size over some odd incident or another (Aerith never heard what the man said or did to incite Yuffie's wrath), and he proceeded to sigh and gently pull her away.
By the night's end, the flower girl was not sure whether to laugh or cry about the poor state her friend was in. The Princess was a wreck, shouting and cussing up a storm as she stomped her way back to the Palace, both Aerith and Valentine in tow. Too bad the man was his usual, brooding self. He truly was handsome clad in black and gold, a crimson sash tied about his waist. His hair rivaled Yuffie's in length, brushing low between his shoulder blades instead of coiled into intricate knots like his bride-to-be's.
"I can't believe you made me leave!" Yuffie gritted out as she at least reached the Palace Gardens, and turned to face her betrothed. "I would have won that fight."
Valentine arched a single, elegant brow before shaking his head, "Yes. If he had been alone."
"What do you mean?"
The man approached Yuffie, slowly but with a certain, stately confidence. He was nearly nose-to-nose with her before he said lowly,"He had companions. True, the man whom you disagreed with was not a fighter, but the brutes keeping him company certainly were. Had the conflict continued, those men would have overwhelmed even your skill." There was something oddly soft about his expression, almost as if he was afraid of Yuffie being hurt. His hand lifted from his side and brushed a stray lock of hair away from the Princess' face. Nimble fingers lingered against her skin for a brief moment before falling away. "I do not wish to see you injured." It was the most Aerith had ever heard him speak.
Looking slightly taken aback, Yuffie blinked rapidly and made a strange, uncomfortable sound. A slight blush touched her features. "As if you care."
Valentine's lips twitched. It was hard to tell whether it was because of amusement or displeasure. "I do…more than you know."
Aerith had listened to the Palace servants' gossip about love and romance, and those perfect moments that embodied them. This was when the two reluctant lovers kissed and realized their feelings for each other. But…it never happened. Instead the air filled with a suffocating kind of tension as the pair watched each other in silence.
Feeling as if she were prying into an intimate exchange, the flower girl ducked away and disappeared amongst the darkness of the gardens. Her heart ached longingly, but she ignored it. There was no point in asking the same questions as she had for years. They were always the same. They were always why. Why couldn't she find someone? Why couldn't she fall in love? Why was it that she, someone searching for anyone, found nothing but heartache while the most reluctant found their other half?
It was there amongst the flowers, with the full moon lying heavily above, that Aerith slipped Levithan from the folds of her kimono. In the soft glow of this night, the garment looked white, the color of death and mourning amongst the people of Wutai—and against it, the ruby of the Materia in her hands was a like a splash of blood.
Tightly, she clutched the orb in her hands and stared at the sky overhead. Her coiled, brunette locks were starting to unravel and fell in little spirals against her face and shoulders. Ignoring the way her hair tickled her skin, Aerith began to pray. It was the same prayer she said every night. The same prayer her mother taught her when she was very young. Except this time, when finished, she asked for Levithan, the Guardian of Wutai and the god of the sea, for one thing.
All she wanted was to find her soul mate. That special person who could fill the void inside her, who could ease that ache. Someone who needed her. Who wanted her. Someone who would not care that she was an orphan, or that she was from Midgar. Someone who did not care that she could perform magic or hear the whispers of the Planet every now and then.
Someone.
It was all she wanted.
As she uncurled her fingers from around the Summons, Aerith felt no ease in the weight inside her chest. Levithan was cool and unresponsive in her hands. She could feel the young Guardian within but that was all. Nothing extraordinary happened. There were no sparks or a flash of light.
So it came as a great surprise when the ground began to shake, sending her tumbling. Earthquakes happened often in Wutai. At least once a year. But this particular one was not just a slight tremble, rather a true shake. As the flower girl hit the dirt, her grip slipped on the orb and the Materia disappeared into the shadows.
"No!" She could not lose the baby Levithan. As far she knew, Materia only ever spawned once. Losing this one would be beyond a tragedy. She had to find it. She just had to! Despite the rocking of the ground beneath her, Aerith worked her way onto her hands and knees and began her frantic search for Levithan. Panic welled up in her chest as her fingers found nothing but leaves and dirt.
But then, just as she was ready to scream with frustration, her fingers brushed against something smooth and sparking with untapped energy. A cry of joy later and she had the Materia back in her hands, clutched safely to her chest.
"Thank Levithan." Aerith breathed, too caught up in her relief to notice that the earthquake had ended.
"Aerith!" With a startled gasp, the flower girl whipped her head towards the sound of Yuffie's voice. The clap of sandals smacking against the dirt signaled the girl's hasty approach, and by the crunching sounds that periodically ensued, she was most certainly trampling upon some of Aerith's favorite plants. Then, the noises stopped as the Princess's face popped up through the darkness, illuminated by the moon, worry evident in silver-tinted eyes. "Oh thank Levithan, you're okay. When the earthquake started…and you weren't there with me and Vincent."
She couldn't help it, a giggle escaped her throat,"It's Vincent's now, hm? Not Valentine."
Yuffie gaped like a fish momentarily before clamping her jaw shut,"Shuddup."
"You're so lucky, Yuffie." Aerith said as she watched her friend blush,"So very, very lucky to have found someone to love. And, who loves you."
"I don't love him…"
"Maybe not now…and maybe not in a year…but somewhere along the way, you will wake up and see it and realize it. And then you will be happy."
"Happy…"
"You never know what is missing in your life until you find it. You may never even know you're unhappy. But trust me, Yuffie. You'll understand someday."
"When did you become the romantic, Aerith?"
The flower girl did not have the heart to tell Yuffie, I always have been.
A/N:
Next chapter we meet Sephiroth! Read and review, please.