Sleeping (original) (raw)

Title: Sleeping
Fandom: FFVII
Character/Pairing/Group: Sephiroth/Aeris
Rating: G
Warning/s: None.
Table: 20
Prompt: 7
Word Count: 500
Summary: This takes place in the Sleeping Forest while Aeris is on her way to The Forgotten City. Sephiroth is watching Aeris while she’s sleeping.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or anything related to it.

It was a long and treacherous path through the Sleeping Forest yet Aeris passed through easily. Everyone thought of her as a delicate piece of artwork that needed to be safeguarded at all times. It wasn’t true, however. She was as every bit a capable fighter as Tifa. In fact, no one else in the group could master materia as quickly as she could and use it with as precise control as her. But everyone wanted to protect Aeris. So Aeris let them think they were protecting her and she focused her energy on healing. She didn’t mind as she always preferred to heal people rather than fight. If things had been different, she probably would have gone to medical school after she finished high school. But she was being hunted by Shinra and she was poor; college was not an option available to her.

Despite that, Aeris never complained.

All this played in Sephiroth’s head as he watched sleeping. Sephiroth had been watching Cloud’s little rag tag group of would-be heroes and he immediately realized that the flower girl, the one they called Aeris, was different like him. It was ridiculous, he thought as he watched her chest rise and fall. That frail, little wisp of a girl was the only one who possessed the power to stop his plans. Ironic, Sephiroth thought, and satisfying to know Cloud, that little bastard, was still powerless to stop him.

In her sleep, she looked so weak and vulnerable. Her heart-shaped face looked free from all the cares in the world. Her eyes, a beautiful jade color, were a shade different than his but so similar nonetheless. Normally, they sparkled with playfulness but they were hidden by her closed lids. A secretive smile played across her lips, as if she was privy to information that rest of the world had no idea about. Aeris had unbraided her hair and now beautiful, chestnut curls were spread beneath her like a blanket. Perhaps unintentionally, a few more buttons of her dress had come undone and exposed much of her long, creamy legs.

She was absolutely exquisite.

Under different circumstances, Sephiroth would have married her without hesitation. She was perfect in every sense imaginable but things were not different and this world would end. He had passed judgment on humanity and deemed it unworthy.

Sephiroth sat next to Aeris and leaned over her. His long, silver hair fell on the exposed part of her chest and she shifted slightly in her sleep. For someone so strong, she was actually pretty naïve. It was dangerous to fall asleep in the forest. Anything could have attacked her but apparently she didn’t seem to care. Sephiroth could have woken her but it felt wrong; so wrong to snatch her from dreams of living a long life. “I’ll watch over you while you sleep for tonight, flower girl,” he whispered.

For now, he would allow her a little more time. Sephiroth could give her that one mercy at least.