hi ppl hows it goin? (other topic of thsi explains y ive got a different topic up 4 act ii)

Act II...here we go!

Act II

Chapter Five: Your Azoth
Aerith spotted a trail of tiny drops of blood on the floor. From Debilitas’ hand, of course. They led to the door that led to the walkway so this told her he went that way. Down below, Aerith heard a sound like a ‘click’. She looked over the banister again and saw this time that the door below was slightly open. In front of that, she thought she could see a couple black feathers.

“How strange...” Aerith mumbled, making her way down the stairs. “Come on, boy.” She called to Cloud who followed her. Aerith giggled a little; having a wolf for a companion felt a little exiting despite her rational side telling her this wasn’t the time or place to kid around. Aerith looked down at Cloud and smiled anyway, having him beside her made her feel so much better. “Cloud...I’m not alone with you by my side. I’m not alone...Now let’s get out of here, both of us.”

They reached the bottom and Aerith picked up one of the feathers. Despite the dark colours, she could see a dark blue shimmer across the fine details of its touch. She wasn’t so sure how, but she almost felt a dark presence from the feather. But she just shook her head with a sigh and dropped it back to the floor. Cloud watched the feather land gracefully beside him and snuffed at it before following Aerith as she opened the door. He was the first to walk inside a huge dinning room.

Aerith closed the door behind her and was taking back to the finery that filled the room. In the middle of the room was a long table that had a long red dining cloth that covered the entire thing and reached the floor on all sides. There were many candle holders on it with such beautiful patterns designs.

On the walls were paintings, shields, swords and other decorative objects that all seemed to look as though they came from the medieval ages. As Aerith looked around the room, she spotted a small piece of paper on the table...with her name on it. Curious, she picked it up and it turned out to be a note for her. The writing seemed a little messy, almost squiggly as though someone had weak hands:

“Aerith, return this way to the Pupa Cella.”

“Why?” Aerith pondered. What if someone was trying to lure her into something dangerous? But, she would have no choice if she were to go ahead since there was probably no other way with the other places she had covered so far. Besides, this time she had Cloud with her and this helped build up her confidence a little. “...this way...” At the back of the dining room was another door so the two walked side by side through it and ended up back in the kitchen.

This was the door that Aerith spotted earlier but didn’t approach it. The maid was in here and seemed to be cooking something. The pan was too big to see exactly what. Cloud became cautious and started growling at her. “What is it, Cloud?” Aerith asked him. She looked up at the maid but saw nothing unusual. The maid stirred the ladle in the pan and then lifted it out She gave it a little shake and drops of red liquid fell out...as well as something else...something yellow. It seemed too thin to look like food—wait...it was...hair!

Aerith’s eyes widened and the maid giggled a little. Aerith had a feeling that it would be best not to disturb her and ask for directions around the place at the moment. The maid wasn’t paying attention to her anyway so Aerith quietly walked past and headed towards the other door. She called Cloud over to her who still seemed cautious with the maid’s presence but followed Aerith into the service passage.
~*~

Aerith became cautious herself as she returned here. She expected someone to be there but there was no one here at all but she looked around just to be sure but found only herself and Cloud. Aerith turned to the “Pupa Cella” door and found something on the floor in front of it. It was a broken marionette. She picked it up, wondering how this got here because it certainly was not there when she last came here. She was definitely sure now that she was out for a few hours or something with the few changes she had seen so far.

Aerith turned it around in her hands in different directions to observe its details, wandering its purpose. The handle was in an “H” shape and hung on very thin strings. Aerith spotted the hook on the “Pupa Cella” door and noticed something about its shape. She looked back at the marionette and then at the door before the approaching it.
She stood on her tip-toes and placed one side of the handle into the hook and watched it click into a perfect fit. After a second, the door opened automatically and Aerith felt happy to come across a new path. But now she wondered ‘who’ wrote her that note. Still feeling cautious, she first peeped her head inside before stepping in.

It was a dark room but it wasn’t exactly hard to see. There was a dull red light in the corner at the back of the room that illuminated everything in a spooky way. The first thing she saw was puppets. Puppets and dolls that hung from the walls and ceiling everywhere in the room. It was a very creepy room. In front of her was a wall with a gate lowered to her left.
She could see a door behind it. So the two turned the corner on the right side and what Aerith saw just made her feel even more edgy. On the opposite side of this wall had eyes all over it. They were all closed but it was still creepy. On the floor in front of her was a carpet with a huge eye on it.

Cloud began to growl again; Aerith looked down at him. “What’s wrong?” There was nothing that looked particularly dangerous. He just seemed to be growling at something up ahead. “Come on, let’s keep going” she said to the wolf. Aerith walked on. As soon as her foot touched the eye on the carpet, all of the eyes on the wall clicked open! “gasp!”

The next happened so suddenly Aerith couldn’t catch up with it just yet. Something of thin and silver coming out in hundreds came out of the pupils of the eyes and headed towards her. Before they could reach her, she felt Cloud bite the bottom of her braid and yank her down towards him. “Arh!” Before she could protest to Cloud’s actions as she sat up, she realized something that shocked her...

What had came out of the pupils were needles...Hundreds were pinned to the puppets and dolls everywhere, some on the floor which had failed to strike anything. “Oh my god...if Cloud didn’t...I could have...” Realizing this, she immediately hugged Cloud. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, Cloud!”

Now she felt stupid for being so careless like that, ignoring the wolf’s warning. She couldn’t believe this place contained booby traps. She should be more careful and pay attention to Cloud’s behavior. “Well, how are we gonna reach that door? We can’t waltz up to it, that’s for sure.” Aerith watched a head fall off one of the dolls with needles sticking out of its neck. Aerith shuddered to the sight. After that, she caught sight of something on the other side with a small lever. That must be the trick to deactivate the trap...but how could she get to it?

Then Cloud began to pick up something with his senses. He turned and seemed to nudge the side of her leg, as though he was trying to tell her to follow him. She wasn’t sure, but happily responded and followed him back into the service passage. Cloud turned left and walked to the area with the door that led to the small garden.

Aerith watched him investigate the place with her hands behind her back; amused with the intelligence animals have compared to humans. Cloud’s head turned left, Aerith turned to the direction to see and noticed something on the floor. Cloud lowered his head to it and Aerith noticed that it looked a little different. She knelt down next to him.

Aerith could see that this part of the floor looked more like a platform. She stood up and pressed her foot on it. The platform lowered a little and they could hear something in the Pupa Cella. It sounded like it was the gate. When she removed her foot, she heard the same sound and then a slam directly afterwards. It was definitely the gate.
All she needed to do now was find something to keep the platform lowered since she and Cloud had found the source of the trap. She looked around and saw a chair with tow plants at either side of it. No, the chair wouldn’t be enough to hold it down and the huge flower pots with all that soil were obviously way too heavy to drag along.

Then she looked down at Cloud. “Hmmm...” She felt a little silly, she knew this was the sort of thing you do with dogs, not wolves but... She led Cloud onto the platform. “Um...uhh...Sit.” Cloud obeyed and looked up at her. She smiled; it was amazing having a wolf at her command. “Don’t worry. I’ll be as fast as I can.” The wolf remained where he was and watched Aerith as she hurried back into the Pupa Cella and saw that the gate had risen, just as she thought and hoped. She now approached the lever through the left side, without having to walk across the deadly trap. Next to the lever was a blue light, obviously indicating that the trap was activated. So she pulled the lever down and the light died out.

Just to be sure, she walked up to the carpet and tapped a foot on it and instantly took a sharp step backwards. But nothing happened. She made a quick dash across and still nothing happened. The room was now safe. Aerith went to the open door and called to her wolf.

Cloud ran to her side as soon as he heard his name and the gate lowered. It was alright now since the two could now cross the room without getting killed. Aerith knelt down to him and praised him. “Good boy.” The two walked through the room together and through the next door. As soon as the door closed, the eyes clicked open again even with the trap deactivated and all turned to the direction Aerith and Cloud went.
~*~

This place was looking a lot safer then the previous room. The room wasn’t exactly in the particular shape being in a corridor form with a big circular shape at the back, but the room gave a ‘living room’ feeling. Within the circular shape part of the room had a couch. There were one or two counters, a bookshelf holding pretty ornaments. The cream walls were smooth and held a Greek theme. In the middle of the entire room had a red carpet. Aerith looked around the room as she and Cloud went to take the door on the opposite side but became startled when she heard a phone ring.

She turned and found the phone sitting on the counter next to the couch. It was a very old looking phone, like the type from olden days. Who could be calling? There was no one else around to answer it. Should she? She wasn’t sure. Would it come to something good or bad? She walked up to it, watching it as it waited for some one to answer. She looked down at Cloud who simply looked up at her. Then Aerith made up her mind. She will answer the phone...but she won’t say anything. If the caller sounded like someone she could trust, she will talk.

After deciding this, she picked up the phone and raised it to her ear. The first thing she heard was something strange...like someone was sucking saliva back or something. Gross. Then the caller spoke, he seemed to sound very old. “Aerithanya.” Her eyes widened. How did he know it was her? Well, since he knew who it was, she might as well answer. “Uh...um...w-who is this?” she asked cautiously. The caller sucked back more saliva and continued. “You must pay attention now, Aerithanya.” Aerith pulled the phone closer so she could hear. “Be wary of Hojo...your Azoth.” Before Aerith could question, she heard the phone hang up. “Hello? Hello!? Are you there?” Nothing....so she placed the phone back. “...? Azoth?”
~*~

well, i guess that explains y i added the peeping tom-saliva sound, huh?
(again 4give me! lol)

the nxt chapter was tricky 4 me since this prt of the story on the game is:
1)gameplay when u 1st have hewie by ur side against a proper attack from ur enemy
2) some evasion point scenes used on the game in this area

Chapter Six: Another Attack

Azoth? She had heard that word before. What did he mean by what he said? What exactly IS an Azoth? Be wary of Hojo? Why? Aerith didn’t like the questions piling on top of the ones that already filled her mind. But she knew there would probably be more to come. Honestly, she didn't she could trust Hojo to begin with. There was something eerie about him...something she just somehow knew she should be scared of... How could she trust anyone in a place like this?

Aerith looked down at the phone. Judging by the age type of the phone, she wasn’t sure if this phone could help. Still...it was worth a shot. She picked up the phone to try and make a phone call. At first, she was thinking of calling one of her friends, or maybe Elmyra. But since this was an emergency...she should probably call the police.
Surely she and her family WOULD have been reported missing after a week or something, right? She held and turned her finger on the ‘9’ and watched it turn back into position. Then the ‘1’...and then repeated. She brought the phone back to her ear. Wait...there was something wrong... There was no dialling tone.

She leaned over the counter and saw something. “What the...?” The wire used to connect the phone was snapped. Then how did that old guy call her? Other ways was clearly impossible. Aerith sighed as she placed the phone back onto the receiver. “Why am I not surprised...eh, Cloud?” Deciding to let it go, Aerith and Cloud went on through the next door.

The two entered a large hall through the door on the side. In front of them was a huge staircase in the middle of the room. They circled to the front to get a better view of the room. In front of the stairs was a door that Aerith recognized instantly. She approached it and turned the handle. She felt it click and somehow unlock.

When she opened the door, she pulled a face to show that she wasn’t surprised. Outside, across a little bridge, she could see the two large exit doors. “How typical...” she thought to herself. She closed the door and the two where ready to go upstairs since there was no where else to go downstairs.

...thump thump thump THUMP THUMP THUMP
~*~

“gasp!” Debilitas suddenly came barging into the room the same door Aerith and Cloud took! Aerith was right. Debilitas did look angry and it was a little obvious why. Cloud instantly stood his ground in front of Aerith and growled at the tall deformed man. But Debilitas ignored him and continued to make his way towards Aerith. This was clearly a mistake since the wolf lunged at him and bit his leg. Aerith took a quick step back to avoid getting hurt but she didn’t want to run off and leave Cloud behind with this man.

Before she could command him to let go so they could run away from Debilitas together, the man kicked Cloud off of him and the wolf hit his side against the wall. “Cloud!” she cried. Aerith went to run by his side but Debilitas stood in front of her. “gasp!” Aerith had to quickly move backwards so he couldn’t grab her. Every time she tried to make her move around him to get to Cloud, he kept blocking her way.
When Debilitas started to run directly towards her, Aerith had no choice but to run up the stairs but she would not let Cloud get out of her mind for a second. She could see him recover his stand. She called out to him. “Cloud!” But her attacker was still coming her way so she had to run up the stairs a little more.

Cloud began to run up the stairs to her rescue. Aerith ran up to the top and opened the single door. She went to turn to find Cloud but only found Debilitas right behind her so she had to keep on running. She called out to him again so he could find her. She ran through a thin and narrow corridor with red walls. On the other side, there was a doll that hung on the wall above the next door. Aerith turned again after opening it and just saw Cloud behind Debilitas for only a second.

Just as he reached his arms out to grab her, panting with his jagged voice, Cloud leaped onto his back and started to attack him. Debilitas threw his arms everywhere, trying to get the animal off of him. Aerith had to move back again. She stepped backwards into a small, dark doll room room. The walls were in a dark red colour. She almost bumped into the big rocking chair with an over-sized doll with a broken face and a missing hand and leg.

At this point, when Debilitas was becoming too rough for Cloud to handle, he had no choice but to let go. But he couldn’t have room to run past him. Ignoring the wolf, Debilitas charge at Aerith again. Aerith opened the door behind her and ran into a large hall. She turned left across a long rectangular balcony, only to reach a dead end. She stopped and faced Debilitas who also slowed down his frantic pace. Aerith noticed a part of the banister was missing at the end, leaving an opening that gave her an idea.

Debilitas raised his arms as he slowly approached her as she slowly stepped backwards. He growled as he lunged out to grab her but Aerith quickly side-stepped out of the way in time. When he turned towards her, Aerith lunged herself forward and rammed herself to knock him over. But her attack was too weak, Debilitas only fell a few steps backwards towards the edge.
He looked at her, aware of what she just tried to do. He laughed at her as he once again raised his arms and slowly walked towards her. Aerith backed up against the wall, knowing she was really in for it now.....then she heard a barking sound and turned to it. “Cloud!”

Cloud came charging down the balcony and leaped towards Debilitas. He almost missed him but he got a bite at his hand. The man tried to pull his hand free from the attack, only to make the wound worse since Cloud was yanking too hard as he sank his teeth deeper. When Cloud let go and jumped back to Aerith’s side, Debilitas fell backwards. His feet buckled at the edge and his arms waddle for balance. The two watched him yell as he fell over to the floor below with a loud THUMP!
~*~

The drop wasn’t that far but Aerith could see that he would have serious back pains from the fall. He would definitely be angry by the time he gets up. But where should they go now? Aerith looked around quickly and saw a door on the opposite side. But this door faced the stairs where Debilitas lied in pain. If they were fast, maybe they wouldn’t notice them! “Come on, boy!” Aerith called to Cloud.

The two quickly ran across the balcony and past the huge diorama display of a battle with soldiers and horses from possibly the 14th Century. Aerith looked down the stairs as she opened the door and saw Debilitas slowly get up! “!!” She quietly closed the door behind her after Cloud. “Oh, no!” This place was just a huge balcony! A dead end! The two would have to hide somewhere here and just hope he wouldn’t find them here.
She noticed a thick pillar by the wall up ahead...that would have to do. As Aerith gently tapped his side to signal him to follow, the two ran towards their hiding spot but Debilitas suddenly kicked the door open and ran towards them!

“gasp!” Cloud lunged at Debilitas and knocked him to the ground. Aerith was scared; she helplessly watched her wolf attack the deformed man. She didn’t like any of this whatsoever. But what else could she do since she knew the consequences of the man’s actions? As Debilitas struggled, he lifted his arm underneath Cloud’s neck and threw him off of him across the balcony! Aerith cried out. “Cloud!” Debilitas instantly got up and ran towards Cloud. He was tired of this wolf already.

Despite her lack of courage, Aerith would not tolerate of this. She ran towards Debilitas before he could have a chance to strike the wolf. She began to attack his back. “You leave him alone!” she yelled at him. Debilitas was finding her little petty attacks annoying so he whacked his arm at her and she fell towards the edge! “Arhh!”

Debilitas ignored the wolf, who got up and ran towards Aerith. As she slowly stood up, clutching to her side where he hit her, she felt the floor under her feet crumble! “OH!!—AHHH!!!” The balcony collapsed and Aerith fell to the garden below!

Startled crows flew away from the nearby trees. It wasn’t that much of a drop but it was enough to give Aerith a lot of pain! She slowly got up from the ground, clutching to her stomach and coughed with all the dust that surrounded her. Debilitas watched her before he jumped down after her!

The jump would have been too much for a wolf to handle. Cloud was walking side-to-side frantically, growling down at him, wanting to help Aerith but she called up to him before she ran off. “No, Cloud! Stay where you are! I’ll come back!” Debilitas groaned and chased her to the right where she ran! At first she ran with a limp, still clutching to her side but gradually found the strength to run faster.

She couldn’t believe that damn balcony collapsed! This place was older than she thought. She was definitely going to have to be more careful now!
Where could she go? What didn’t know what to do without Cloud but she was glad that he was no longer in danger against this freak behind her! Aerith down the path to her left. Cloud followed them up above right against the broken ledge. He did try to slide down on the tilted rubble but it was too dangerous for a wolf to risk.
~*~

Aerith turned the corner but found nothing but a dead end! Aerith was getting sick of this! She looked around for a place to hide and found a huge pile of rocks near one of the tall walls. Debilitas was coming and she could hear his disturbing, heavy breathing getting louder and louder.

She ran and hid behind the rocks within the safety of the shadows. There he was, storming around with his thumping feet with his growling and groaning voice, looking for Aerith. She repeated the same action as before, covering her mouth. She dared not to move for she too became a shadow remaining still. If this kept on and he would give up, she would get out of this one ok.

What she didn’t notice was the silent luminessant coming at her from behind. She kept her eyes fixed on Debilitas and nothing else. He seemed to be giving up; she couldn’t be seen anywhere. Then, Aerith felt something inside her, as though something was being drawn to her. She could have sworn she felt this before...recently...she slowly turned her head behind her and found the luminessant but before she could do anything, it hit her on the back, close to her left shoulder blade!

“Aarh!!” The luminessant broke and it made a sound like glass shattering. Aerith also felt a strong, painful shock pulse violently through her. The attack caused her to fall and into view no thanks to the lamp post nearby! Debilitas turned and found her! He grinned at her, “DDOOLLYYY!!” He instantly made his way towards her; Aerith clutched to her chest in pain and quickly dashed past him after she got back on her feet.
Debilitas giggled, bouncing around with excitement. Then he scratched his head before he resumed chasing her. “AAeeRrrithhh!!!” God, she did ‘not’ like the way he said her name there. She wasn’t surprised that he knew her name, though.

Aerith turned back around the corner again and looked up to see Cloud...but there was no wolf in sight! Where did he go? “Cloud!?” she called upward. She couldn’t have time to receive an answer since Debilitas was right behind her; she had to keep going. She kept on running and turned the right corner. Against her luck, the pavement was uneven and she tripped her foot against the lifted stone.
“Ah!” Debilitas slowed his run into a walk, grinning down at her. She turned onto her back facing him. “No, please! Just go away!” she begged. He ignored her and stood in front of her. He raised his arms, ready to grab her.

Above on the wall that trapped them with the other had a big hole. Only darkness could be seen. Within that darkness, two blue orbs glowed and a certain growling sound was heard. As Debilitas reached down to Aerith, she shrieked at the top of her lungs out of fear. But before her attacker could reach her, Cloud lunged out of the hole and attacked Debilitas! The deformed man screamed out in pain. After he broke himself free from the wolf’s attack, he found his chance to run away.

Aerith quickly crawled to Cloud’s side, lightly wrapping her arms around his neck with wide eyes as the wolf threatened Debilitas with the repeated growling and snapping.
When the sight and sound of Debilitas disappeared, she hugged her wolf tightly and buried her face into his fur. “Thank you, Cloud! Good boy! ...Good boy...” After a moment of silence, remaining as she was, she lifted her head and faced the direction Debilitas made his escape to.
~*~

It was reasons like this that Aerith already loved her wolf with all her heart. This wolf who had only met her not long ago yet has devoted his life to protect her from anything. She was truly grateful and every minute comforted her that this wolf would never allow her to be alone.
She was happy enough to return the favour. She, too, would risk her life to protect him. Of course, she had no experience with this sort of thing whatsoever but she didn’t want anything to happen to him. These two would stay together and they WILL find a way out! That was something she promised both herself and her wolf.

The wolf rubbed the side of his head against her with affection and Aerith smiled to him with gratitude. She stood on her feet and scratched behind his ear like before. Cloud really seemed to like her form of affection since he closed his eyes to her touch. She giggled and nodded. “Come on, Cloudie. Let’s move on.” And with that, the two quickly walked down the path opposite where Debilitas ran off to.
~*~

......
phew! lol

How many acts are there going to be? If Act 1 is over, Debilitas should be dying soon. I guess I'm not a great fan of his since he's pretty much just the type of enemy with brute strength but not a lot of brains (like a cave troll from Lord of the Rings). I get the feeling that Tifa can be just as scary with a knife.

Reading Chapter 5 again, I'm wondering about the black feathers Aerith found. I doubt it came from a bird. Vincent isn't going to be in this story, is he? I was just thinking about how well he'll fit in with the atmosphere. I'll be content with Sephiroth though. Though I'm a cleris fan, I also have an unhealthy obsession with dark Aeriseph fics. :ermm:

Good job again!

hi schala
well, recapping the story, there's about 23 chapters including the prologue and epilogue...so there's about 6 acts but 1 or 2 r short 1s. so some topics may have more than 1 act.

well vincent isnt in this story, but i have been thinking about that sort of thing with vincent's story and all...

Chapter Seven: The Cetra Azoth Is Mine!
The first thing Aerith noticed was a dull, pale blue door with patterns circling a crescent moon printed on it at the top centre. She went to open the door but it was locked so she turned around to take the next path. This was apparently a tunnel but it wasn’t exactly a long one since she could see the other side. Its eerie features didn’t really bother her...well, it did maybe a little. In the middle of this tunnel had a little area with a wall with many square-shaped holes scattered all over it. What a futile feature. Just as Aerith lifted a foot to walk on...

“...aerithanya...” “!?” Aerith immediately snapped her head back to the wall. Did someone just say her name? No way could it have been Cloud because wolves don’t talk. Maybe she was just hearing things. “...aerithanya...” There it was again. The voice sounded familiar. It was coming from the wall, somewhere behind all those holes. “...Aerithanya...” She could hear the voice a little more clear now. It sounded like that man from the phone call. He kept repeating her name again and again; sometimes with a slight desperate tone... to Aerith, it was disturbing.

Cloud growled viciously at the wall. Aerith walked a little closer to the wall but Cloud quickly stood in front of her protectively. “It’s ok.” she assured him. She brought her hands closer to herself and approached the wall slowly. She leaned her head closer to the holes to decipher which one this man was closer to. Cloud watched her with a cautious pose. When she heard her name repeated again behind the hole she was more close to, she leaned down to look through but it was too dark to see. “......” To be sure, she placed her hand inside and tapped her hand here and there to see where the holes lead to. “Aerith.” Just then—she felt a wrinkled hand suddenly clutched at her wrist!

“Ahh!!!” She immediately pulled back to struggle from the tight grip as she felt another hand trying to shove something into her captured hand. This gave her another chance to pull back harder and through the hole revealed an old, wrinkled arm with thick, dark blue veins visible everywhere holding her wrist. “Let go!” Just as Cloud leaped forward, the hand let go and instantly retreated back into the hole with a sharp movement, leaving Aerith to fall and collapse to the ground.

Cloud used the support of the holes on the wall to stand and growl, barking and snapping to the darkness seen on the other side. Aerith just watched with wide eyes but blinked. Whoever that was, he placed something in her hand. She turned to her hand and opened her closed palm...and found a piece of folded paper. Cloud stopped growling and dropped his fore legs to the ground, returning to her side. The man was probably gone now. Aerith sat up and unfolded the paper and began to read...She recognized this writing; it was the same as the note she found in the Dining Room...

“Damn that Hojo! He has sealed off the main gate. But not to worry...
There is another, less-known way out of the castle.
An old mansion lies beyond the Gainsborough Castle. Freedom to the outside
lies through that mansion.
I am writing directions for getting to the mansion below:

This brightened up Aerith’s thoughts and was eager to read more...

On the first floor of the tower that lies on the side of the suspension bridge,
There are 2 round contraptions. These are known as Lunar Panels.
Use the lunar panels to shine light on the wall in the back room. Doing so
will open the way to the chapel. There you should take the goddess’
Saturnus key.
Beam the light out of the second floor of the music tower. An easier way to find
it is ahead from here and you should find a ladder. First go through the next
door and go back to the study room. Use this key to unlock the desk drawer
and take the mirror piece to the one of two lunar panels behind a door with a
moon engraved on it close to this point, which I’m sure, you have already seen.
Then adjust the three panels to proceed forward.
Do not worry, dear child. The door will be unlocked when you return.

Come to the stairs later after you retrieve the Saturnus key.
Aerithanya, please understand that my only desire is to free you from this
wretched tomb of a castle.
Sephiroth”

“Sephiroth...” Such an interesting name. But...what key? She didn’t want to wander the entire place just to find just one key! There were obviously hundreds of keys for a place like this. Just then to the thought, a key was suddenly thrown through one of the holes and to her feet. “!” Aerith looked up to the holes. “M-Mister...Sephiroth? Is that you?” She tilted her head around to see movement behind the holes. She heard no movement, no responding voice from the darkness.

It almost felt as though there was no one there at all...If this man wanted to help her...why was he making himself so secretive for her?
She couldn’t tell if this ‘Sephiroth’ was there or not...so she re-read the note and continued down the tunnel. Cloud was still looking cautiously and growled at the wall. Aerith turned to him. “Cloud...” He heard his name so he ignored the wall and followed her.
~*~

As he saw Aerith and her companion disappear around the corner, he couldn't believe the amount of power that flowed so rapidly up his arm...just by holding onto her wrist. He looked at the foul sight of his wrinkled hand and watched it slowly transform into a youthful one. Amazed with the sight...one he had not seen in ages...he chuckled...
~*~

According to this note, the first thing Aerith had to do was find a ladder. The two exited the tunnel had walked down three little steps. Here was an outside area that seemed familiar to her. To the right, she could see a large gate that was raised. As she walked on, she could see the other side; the outside area with the door that held the audience room. Well, at least she knew where this place lead to now.

Cloud walked ahead close to the gate towards a lever. He made a sound to call her over so she approached. It could make travel harder for Debilitas if this gate was lowered so she placed both hands on the lever. It was a little tough for her strength. Her face cringed as she pulled as hard as she could. “Mrhmm!”

It took two hard tugs to turn the lever to the opposite side but she gradually got it. Matching her actions, the gate lowered only half way but then fully dropped to the bottom and securely remained that way after she heard a firm lock sound. With that done, Aerith looked down at Cloud and smiled. They turned and continued down the path opposite.

This area was a little dark since there was a lack of lamp posts. Around the corner had only a barrel with fire at the far back next to a long wooden shed that was poorly constructed. But right in front of them was a plat form with a ladder. Aerith looked at the note and noticed it was just as it said. She was going to have to climb up, but what about Cloud?
Wolves can’t climb ladders so he was going to have to stay behind. This concerned her a lot because she did NOT want to risk him alone against Debilitas...even if he could defend himself. She looked around the area for something to benefit them and she found a bench beside a wall close to the platform. Thank God this area was dark.

She called Cloud over and led him to the bench. She knelt down and noticed that it was the perfect size for him to lie low. She tapped the ground underneath to signal him to hide under it. The wolf looked at her and then at the bench. He repeated until he understood what she was trying to say. He lowered himself and lied underneath. She lied on her stomach to face him better and smiled to him reassuringly. “Stay here ‘til I come back, all right? That way that guy won’t find you.”

Cloud seemed a little uncomfortable lying there and her face frowned a little. “I know. I’m really sorry, Cloudie. But I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She ran a hand over his back. “I promise I’ll be as quick. Just stay put here, ok?” Cloud looked directly at her and nodded. She blinked with surprised but then thought nothing of it. She stood up and whispered a quick good bye before climbing up the ladder.
The platform was very small yet had a longer ladder opposite. She climbed up to the top that was a very small platform that would anyone scared of heights possibly pass out! Luckily she wasn’t scared of heights.
Right in Aerith’s face was a door but before she went inside she looked down to double-check on Cloud. She could just barely see the end of his tail under the bench. She smiled, convinced that he would be fine and walked inside.
~*~

This room was indeed a little room with funny level flooring. But then she noticed that this was actually a balcony for a huge room the looked familiar. Even from here, she knew this room was the audience room. There was the piano that she heard earlier. It was in the colour of a beautiful shiny black with a little red piano cushioned chair sitting in front below the keys. She looked back to memories of her mother teaching her piano lessons when she was a little girl. Ifalna was an amazing, talented musician with the piano and Aerith wanted to follow that legacy. What a pity this wasn’t the best place to practice.

In front of her, she could see funny looking object with a handle on the side. The top was circular shaped and had a mirror in the centre. The reflection was clear without a single mark or anything. It showed Aerith’s features of beauty and grace perfectly. Aerith only had the thought of how this was the idle mirror to do your make-up with or something like that. She eyed the detail of this interesting object and noticed of how it somehow it reminded of the moon. She looked at the note and wondered of this was one of the ‘lunar panels’. There was nothing else that seemed related to the name.

On the walls had many stereo speakers here and there planted inside. Behind the piano was a tiny platform with steps on either side that didn’t even go anywhere. “Maybe the builders or architects of this place couldn’t be bothered with this balcony.” she joked to herself. Turning back to the ‘lunar panel’, she took hold of the handle and started to turn it. It made an awful creaking sound but she ignored it. After the third turn, she noticed the mirror making this shimmer-light affect shine across her reflection and a secure lock sound could be heard. That must be lunar panel 1 done.

Now the next thing to do was to go to the study room. The note said this room would be a short cut to this room; she hoped it would be shorter than she thought it would be. She walked towards to door to the right of the room. When she turned the handle, she felt it unlock. Like the way that main entrance door did. When she opened the door and walked through, she was back in the long walkway. She laughed a little under her breath from the coincidence.

She moved little faster into a little jogging pace towards the study, not wanting to keep Cloud waiting. She stopped in front of the desk and knelt down as she unlocked the draw with the. When she opened the draw, there a mirror piece...exactly the same as the one from the lunar panel. She picked it up and smiled. She turned on her heel and walked straight back into the walkway. As she turned left to go back the music/audience room, she heard something behind her and turned.

SLAP!

The sound repeated itself again and again. “Huh?” “What’s that sound?” She listened to it again. It sounded like...What was going on there? Aerith followed the sound and towards the corner but then stopped herself. “Come on, Aerith. Curiosity killed the cat!” She heard another slap. “But I’m not a cat, am I?” She approached the door down the corridor where the room with the typewriter was and noticed that the slapping sound had stopped. Quietly, she kneeled down and looked through the keyhole.
~*~

The first thing she could see ahead in the room was the maid sitting on a chair beside the broken chandelier. Despite the distance, she could see that her cheeks were terribly sore and bruised yet her face showed no pain, let alone any kind of emotion to begin with. “Is she ok?” She turned her sight to the right at first to find the cause of what just happened. “Where is he!?” That sounded like Hojo.

She turned her sight to the left and noticed him right beside the door walking up to the maid. He must have been leaning against the wall. Was he the one attacking her? Why? What could she have done wrong? Hojo continued what looked like an interrogation. “Where is the old man, Tifa?” “Tifa...Oh! That must be her name. What old man?......Could he be talking about Sephiroth?” Hojo stood in front of Tifa but she remained as still as a statue.

“Where’s he hiding? I know he’s been here for he has stolen the intruder’s sword and photo of Aerith.” Aerith’s eyes widened. What photo!? Tifa didn’t say or do anything. Before Aerith could silently question further, she saw the hooded man’s hand rise up and he slapped Tifa across the face! Aerith clasped her hands over her mouth in shock. Hojo raised the other hand and slapped her again. Then again with the first hand...again with the second...He constantly slapped Tifa across the face, grunting with every attack.

He was a like a lunatic! Why was he doing this to Tifa? Why was she allowing this!? Feeling helpless, Aerith buried her face into her hands and the mirror and note fell onto her lap quietly. Her body convulsed into little jumps to the sound of every slap. This was terrible. Gradually, the sound stopped and Aerith instantly looked through the keyhole again. Was Tifa ok!? She could see Tifa only look up at him with a little speck of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Anger started to lightly build inside Aerith’s stomach. Whatever the reason was, Hojo had no right to treat the maid like that! She held the mirror with one hand and just about to stand up and lift a hand to open the door and protest against him...only to hear more words to petrify her. Hojo turned to face nothingness.

“I won’t let him touch her! Do you hear me, old man!? The Cetra Azoth is mine!” After that, Hojo walked out of sight. Aerith trembled a little...scared that he was referring to her... As she leaned a little closer to the door to get a closer look of Tifa. Tifa turned to the door...and looked directly at Aerith...and smiled!
~*~

This was too much for Aerith. She scrambled on to her feet and ran away back to the music room. Holding the mirror and note tight, she ran across the tiny balcony, through the door and down the ladders. As she quickly climbed down both ladders with a panicking pant heard in her voice, Cloud quickly crawled out under the bench and looked up at Aerith in concern. Since the first ladder was just a little one she jumped off yet fell to her knees as her feet touched the ground.

She held the mirror tight in her hands and shut her eyes. Cloud walked up to her and nudged her. She placed an arm over the back of his neck and looked up to the door above. Once again, irritating questions started to flood and run through her head again. Now she had more things to worry about. It was clearly obvious that Hojo was talking about her. Who else could it be? But she didn't understand what he was talking about at all!
An intruder...she wanted to know about the picture of her Hojo mentioned. The intruder could be anybody. And what about the “old guy”? Could it be Sephiroth?
“I won’t let him touch her! Do you hear me, old man!? The Cetra Azoth is mine!”

Azoth...It was about the third time she had come across the word and still knew nothing of what it was. But what did he mean by Cetra Azoth? And what of him and this old man...if it ‘is’ Sephiroth, why would Hojo make it sound as though he was the bad guy here? Why was Aerith already having doubts about Sephiroth when she knew this man only wanted to help her? She didn’t know who to trust here. The only one she clearly knew was on her side was Cloud and he’s a wolf!

Aerith shook her head, trying to change the thoughts of subject, gently rubbing Cloud’s back. Tifa... She felt like a coward running away like that despite the way she saw Tifa being abused like that. But why would she allow that man to attack her like that and do literally nothing about it? The way she smiled at her there...Somehow she knew Aerith was behind that door. Did she tell Hojo she was there? She was now more scared of him than before...

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt Cloud nudge her again. “Sorry...” she sighed. She looked up one last time and then back to Cloud with a pitiful smile. “Well, at least I have you to protect me.” Cloud cocked his head sideways to Aerith; she returned a reassuring grin but the bothered feature was still evident in her eyes. Aerith stood up. “Come on...let’s get going.”
~*~

One thing I really like is that you update so fast! It gets on my nerves when I read a great story and the author takes forever to update. Anyway, Sephiroth is a good guy! Or it seems that way... I'm not too certain how innocent his objectives are. I must say that it's weird to see him take on this sort of role. Still, if he's anything like the real Sephiroth, he won't stay that way for long. It was nice to see his perspective as he saw his hand turn young. I'd say that he'll be wanting to become young again, perhaps gain immortality from Aerith.

As for the Azoth, it's a very abstract thing, isn't it? Not like a power crystal or anything? But I guess it ties in with Aerith's magic as a Cetra.

Hojo is acting more like himself. Slapping Tifa like that... It was funny though, when he called Sephiroth "old man." I was just thinking that it's exactly the other way around in FF7, though I doubt that Sephiroth would ever acknowledge Hojo as his "old man."

yh i hate w8in 4ever 4 a gd story 2 update 2, thats y i like 2 update as much as possible
but this story might have 2 take a lil break since this story is catching up 2 where i am lol :sweat:
well, im starting a new save on the game hg 2 help me out with writing the story (...again lol) even tho ive completed it god knows how many times lol
but whenever i get a chapter completed, it'll pop up here

looks like more mystery is building up with residents of the castle

yh i find it funny that things have switched round with hojo and sephiroth, i would explain y but that'll spoil what'll happen in the future of the story

comin up now,
chapter 8, enjoy

Chapter Eight: Innocent Freak
Cloud followed Aerith as she walked back through the tunnel and towards the door with the crescent moon. Holding the mirror close to herself with one hand, she held the door handle and turned it. Just as the note said, the door was unlocked. The pair walked into a square-shaped room that was quite empty. In the middle of the room had huge circle marks in a parallel position on the ceiling and floor. The circle mark on the ceiling had strange metal markings on it.

At the back of the room was a wall with a strange part in a vertical rectangular shape in the middle that had three horizontal lines across it. To Aerith’s both left and right, there were two more lunar panels and only one of them held a mirror. Knowing what to do, she walked up to it and carefully placed the mirror in place. It was a perfect fit. Cloud sat and watched her grab the handle and turn it; it was clear that the wolf didn’t like the sound and Aerith noticed this at the corner of her eye and stopped. “I know...I know. I don’t like it either.” she said to him.

She resumed turning the lunar panel and saw another shimmer of light shine across the mirror. Then she proceeded to the next and the two cringed to the noise. When the third was finally positioned, Aerith stood up straight and looked around to see what would happen. She looked at the note again. She had done everything it said...now what?

After a moment, Aerith saw a blue light at the corner of her eye glowing. When she looked, she could see the light build up from faint to blinding through a small circular glass. The blue light formed into a magical beam onto the lunar panel and it bounced off onto the next. Then the light shone onto the middle of the wall on the other side of the room. When the light disappeared, a crescent moon appeared on the middle part of the odd shape and Aerith could hear mechanical noises around her.

From the circle ceiling, she could see the metal markings on the ceiling stir and move around and then something opened from it. A set of swirling stairs was suddenly lowering from the ceiling and positioned onto the floor. After that, the three parts of the odd shape separated and opened to reveal a secret pathway. When the room became silent once again, Aerith stared in awe. Of course, she had seen this sort of things on movies and stuff...but she had never seen this in real life!
~*~

After snapping out of her daze, she re-read the note one last time. The note said she had to go down here first to collect a “saturnus key” and then come back up the stairs from here. The secret pathway ahead looked a little creepy... she was a little hesitant to go inside but she really wanted to find this key. “Well...sigh...here goes nothing.” And so the two walked into the secret pathway. There was a big puddle even though there was actually no source of water to create one. The fragile sound of water echoed as the two walked across. The pathway up ahead had spiral stairs going down that was darker than the room up above. Aerith was glad she had Cloud with her. When they reached the bottom, there was a door with a sign beside it.

“The path beyond is the road of darkness.
Go not without a guide, lest ye lose yourself
to the darkness within.”

What that was supposed to mean, she didn’t know. Yet she knew it was a warning so she kept it in mind as she opened the door...and felt her heart drop into her stomach... “urh-!! uhh...no-no way!”
The next room was nothing but darkness! Only up ahead, she could only see the floor in the middle of the room and ahead of that at the other side, the next door; thanks to the small dim light bulbs that hung on the ceiling....if there was one. Apart from all this was nothing but darkness. Like everything else was nothing but a big hole. It looked too scary to proceed so how was she going to get to the other side?
“Go not without a guide...”

Aerith looked down at Cloud. Animals were good with senses. So maybe Cloud could be her guide. “Go, Cloud.” She commanded. Cloud nodded, surprising her again, and walked forward towards the left side of the room. Aerith followed him after taking in a deep breath. As soon as the stepped closer to the darkness, she began to tremble and stuck to Cloud’s side like glue. She could feel the ground under her feet but it looked like she was walking on air. She even bent her knees a little to reach his height a little, refusing to look down.

Cloud looked up at her distressed features and then back to facing forward. They now reached the middle of the room. Aerith smiled a little but then felt her foot drop into the darkness! She shrieked and quickly rushed forward to the visible floor. She clutched onto Cloud for comfort. She thought she was going to fall. It was so hard to tell whether she walked on was darkness or ground. When Aerith looked to the next part of the room, she gulped. Cloud made a sound that had her attention. “I know...” she sighed and stood up. “We’re gonna have to do that again if we want to get to the other side.”

She looked at the door and then tried to shake her nerves off. She sighed again and looked down at Cloud. “Ready?” Cloud moved closer to Aerith and walked forward again, this time more slowly and she kept her eyes locked onto the door. When Aerith’s feet was now on the safety of the next visible floor, she fell to her knees and sighed again in relief. She smiled, nodding to Cloud and rubbed his back. “All right...let’s go and get this key.” Aerith stood up and together they walked the through the door that faced them.
~*~

The next room had brought a big change for Aerith. It was a huge room that looked like a beautiful chapel...a sanctuary for the people here (if there were other people) to pray. Either way, the place really brought peace to her soul. It felt soothing compared to the feelings of fear or depression she felt before. She slowly walked and looked up to admire the holy room; her boots echoed gracefully on the marble floor with each step...

She had to say her favourite feature was the three tall stain-glass windows behind a statue of a woman wearing a long robe that covered her face holding a long cane. All three were rich in colours of red, blue, yellow and purple; even the clear parts of the glass were luminous. Behind the windows shown a bright holy light. It was hard to tell where the light exactly came from but either way, it gave the entire room a perfect tranquil affect.

The plants and flowers that decorated the room were beautiful too. Aerith loved flowers, an admiration from her mother. It made her think of her precious flowers back home. She hoped Elmyra was taking care of them for her (A/N: one of the reasons why she gave her the extra key to her apartment lol)

To both of Aerith’s left and right, she could see two pulley systems used to wind up rope. Her eyes followed the rope upward towards the ceiling and found that it was used to hold up the chandelier above her head. The chandelier sparkled with jewels of white and blue. It looked very expensive. When Aerith looked at the pulley system on the opposite side, she noticed that it was damaged. The rope that it was supporting looked loose; she hoped it wouldn’t fall on them.

The two walked ahead, passing the rows of seats at either side, approaching the statue. Aerith looked up again, admiring the stain glass windows, each one colouring her skin with its graceful colours. Aerith looked at the statue again. The cane the woman was holding looked a little like the symbol marks seen on Tifa’s and Hojo’s clothes. Aerith thought to herself. “If this is the chapel...this statue must symbolize the deity worshiped here.” At the top of the cane held a pale blue crystal. The jewel on Aerith’s choker sparkled magically a little but she didn’t notice since it was right underneath her jaw.
At the bottom of the cane, there was a golden key. There was her target but it was too high to reach. She looked at the silver platform that was positioned in front of the statue. There was writing engraved on it...

"To the seeker of the technique of Gaia.
Obey the will of the great holy goddess of life, Aerithanya’s divine
cane and hasten to the secret staircase.”

“Aerithanya?” she mused with surprise. That was her name. All of this was obviously way older than she was. So maybe this was were she got her name from. But then how...? Aerith shook her head. No. She didn't even want to bother to question the connection between the name in a place like this and her having this name.

Looking up the key, she climbed up the platform with Cloud watching her. She stood up on tip-toes and reached up with one hand and took the key off the cane. When it was now in her hands, she lowered herself to her knees and then shifted herself backwards off to the floor with a little jump. “Ah! Got it!”

Cloud started to growl again towards the opposite side of the room. “Huh?” When Aerith looked at the entrance of the church door...she saw that it was open... "Wait a minute...I could’ve sworn that I closed that door...And it opened outward, not inward.” Cloud then continued with barking and snapping sounds like before. With the sound of a single heavy footstep, they could see Debilitas reveal himself behind the open door!
~*~

“Oh! No!” Aerith cried. Cloud continued his act, warning their pursuer to leave as Aerith tried to quickly come up with a plan to get out of this one. Debilitas closed the door and Aerith gasped when she saw him lock it with one of the keys attached to his belt! With that, he instantly turned to face them, laughing and waving his arms in the air. But soon after, lowered his hands and groaned, giving them a serious look that scared Aerith further. After a moment of an awkward silence, he charged at them!

Aerith looked up and already, an idea sparked in her head. “Go!” Aerith quickly commanded and the wolf ran towards Debilitas and pounced on him! The deformed man fell to the floor and raised his arms between himself and Cloud to defend himself against the attacks. Aerith ran towards the undamaged pulley system. She pulled the handle as hard as she could but it was too tight. She continued to struggle as Cloud jumped off Debilitas to avoid the swipe off his arms.

The massive man stood up and turned towards Aerith. She didn’t see him coming up behind her! She took a step back and started kicking the handle. Just as she felt his massive presence behind her, she turned around and yelped but Cloud dived onto his back before he could grab her! Aerith quickly moved out of the way, falling to the floor. She watched them, keeping her eyes on Cloud as Debilitas swung his arms in all directions to get the wolf off his back.

As he continued to struggle, his arm bashed the pulley system and as some of the wood chipped off, the handle loosened a little. Aerith had an idea. “Cloud! Stop!” She commanded and Cloud obeyed, jumping off Debilitas’ back. She pointed over to the area where the benches were. “Over there!” The wolf did so and Aerith made her way quickly towards the damaged pulley system.

Cloud stood his ground at his commanded position, growling at Debilitas as he turned around to face Aerith. She ran from her spot so he could follow her. Cloud was about to run to help her but she commanded him to stay where he was. Then, she ran to the other pulley system and stood still...waiting for the right moment...Debilitas growled at Aerith; she glared at him. “Come on. Come on, you big freak!” After Debilitas raised his arms, he charged towards her but she didn’t move! Cloud made noises to Aerith but she ignored him. Just when he was right in front of her, she jumped out of the way towards Cloud and he destroyed the pulley system behind her!

Looking up, Aerith could see the chandelier lowering. The handle was slowly moving by itself since it was loosing its strength to hold the rope, creaking on the hollow room. Angered with the pain, Debilitas growled and groaned furiously at her. Cloud and Aerith stood side by side. “Cloud...get back.” She said firmly. When he did as he was told, he looked up to her back. The chandelier dropped a little. Debilitas pointed his arms towards Aerith and slowly walked towards her. Keeping her eyes fixed on both him and the chandelier; she kept a hand close to herself and slowly walked backwards. The rope supporting the chandelier snapped...! Debilitas looked up and saw it falling right above him!

CRASH!!!

~*~

Aerith covered her ears and shut her eyes tight from the loud sound. As the chandelier pinned Debilitas to the floor, tiny fragments of blue and white crystals and jewels broke off and bounced off the floor. When the room was silent once again, Aerith slowly opened her eyes to look at Debilitas...... guilt suddenly washed over her entire self...

He looked up at Aerith with sad eyes yet smiled...kindly... His looks held such innocence...The expression was so different compared to before. His face looked apologetic, even though she was the one who wanted the chandelier to drop on him. Not to mention there was so many wounds on his upper body with Cloud attacking him when he chased them earlier. Feeling so sad and guilty, she held her hands close together. “Those big eyes... He almost looks like a child of sorts. The size of a giant yet the mind of a child... You should be pitied, not hated. I guess I shouldn’t have reacted as I did...”

Debilitas kept his now gentle eyes on Aerith but fainted. Cloud stood in between the two and growled ferociously at him. But Aerith knew things would change now; they no longer had any serious dangers facing them anymore... “It’s ok, Cloud.” She assured him. “He can’t come after us anymore... Good boy.” The wolf stopped growling and walked back to her side. She knelt down to his level and ran her hands along his fur as she continued to praise him but he was still cautious with Debilitas’ presence. “Calm down, Cloud. It’s over.” She continued with her gentle voice.

Debilitas stirred a little and opened his eyes. A new memory became painted onto his mind. The way Aerith stood there...looking down at him in sympathy...A beautiful angel standing in front of the holy light with sadness sparkling in her emerald eyes...nobody had ever looked at him like that before...nobody...

Aerith smiled at Cloud. “It’s ok, Cloud. It’s ok...” Debilitas lightly groaned and began to move, slowly getting their attention. As he lifted himself off the floor, the chandelier fell off his back. Debilitas didn’t exactly stand up just yet. He sat on his knees and looked at Aerith with sadly. And then bowed to her. Aerith looked at him with surprise. “Why is he bowing?” As Debilitas began to stand on his feet, his back began to ache so he placed a hand on it.

Aerith and Cloud just watched him, waiting to see what he would do next. All he did was turn around and approach the door and unlock it. After that, he made his leave. Aerith and Cloud were now all alone together in the chapel.
“......” “Debilitas...he looked so calm and slow there...perhaps he only gets violent when he gets excited. I'm such a fool...why didn't I see this before?”

She sighed and scratched Cloud’s head between his ears and then looked at the Saturnus key that she held in her hand tight that whole time. She dreaded the thought of dropping and loosing it.
She stood up on her feet and Cloud looked up at her. Smiling brightly, she flipped the key a little and caught it in her palm. She looked down at Cloud and grinned. It was now time to go to this mansion. “Let’s go.”
~*~

man, writing gameplay battles r annoying! lol
the camera shot of debilitas' memory of aerith would suit her very well, fiona was in the same position as aerith when she's praying except she's standing :fangirl:

so, the duo finally have debilitas off their back...but is the danger over?

Nice description of the chapel! Places like that suit Aerith very well. Honestly, Debilitas turns up at the oddest moments! One moment she's quietly contemplating the mystery the next she's running for her life! I hope Debilitas ends up helping Aerith, because if a chandeliar can't kill him, I'm guessing it's going to be hard to get him off her back.

I wonder if the treasure hunt that Sephiroth sent Aerith on will yield any results. That key had better work!

thku schala, quite the coincidence with the chapel with aerith's church on ff7 eh? lol

yep, thats how its like playin the game, 1 time u wonder whats goin and then suddenly u got ur pursuer after u...again. funny when ur a newbie at the game coz u never expect when they'll turn up

i'll b as fast as i can writin this story
even tho ur the only 1 readin and respondin 2 this schala i really appreciate it, big thx and huggies from me lol :huggle:

must b a relief 2 get that key after riskin' their necks like that, lets see if it'll work

here is the final chapter of act ii
enjoy schala ^_^

Chapter Nine: Dinner Is Served
As Aerith headed towards the door of the chapel, she looked at the key in her hand and looked at the mark of saturn on it. (A:N/ the mark of a 'h' with a line across, if u've seen sailor moon that'll help u out, does 4 me lol)

When the two returned to the dark room, Aerith was nervous about crossing it again but felt a little more confident than before. “Just how did Debilitas do this?” The two didn’t stop this time when they crossed the dark room. She just kept her eyes on the door and stayed close to Cloud. When they made it to the other side and through the door, Aerith leaned her back on the door and shuddered. “Urg!! I do NOT want to do that again!”

Aerith and Cloud returned to the main entrance of the area and walked up the spiral stairs and back to the previous room. The note that she earlier discarded said she should come up the secret stairs when she got the key so that was what they did. Up top was a huge room. Surrounding the walls were rows of small cube stones lined up together with small colours of red, green, yellow and silver. On either sides of the room had to set of stairs leading to the second floor.

In front of them was a blue door but it was unlocked. It led to the upper level to the huge balcony that a part of collapsed earlier. They went back in and approached the second door that was on the other side of the second floor. It was a brown door that seemed to have patterns and a saturn mark that matched the ones carved on the key in her hand.
Her father knew all of the marks of the planets by heart. She remembered her father showing them to her while they were drawing pictures together when she was little. A very intelligent man her father was. Looking at this door, she knew instantly that this door would lead to this mansion. She smiled and bent down a little to unlock it

...only to feel a presence right behind her and find a cold hand to sneak under her arm and gently hold her unblemished hand. Out of fright, Aerith gasped and unintentionally dropped the key. She slowly turned and saw Tifa standing far too close to her back. “Dinner is served, Miss...” she spoke with her breathless voice. “N-no thank you. I’m not hungry” Aerith lied. How long had it been since she last ate? Tifa did nothing but lean up close to Aerith’s face. “Dinner is served, Miss.” After that, she smiled at Aerith. There was obviously no way out of this one.

The next thing Aerith knew, there she, Cloud and Tifa were in the dining room. Looking back to the way Hojo slapped her that way...Aerith felt bad and didn’t want to avoid her offer of generosity. Aerith just wished the walk back to the dining room would’ve gone a little faster but since Tifa was more ghost-like than human...it felt like forever. Aerith being Aerith...wouldn't say anything of course.

They hardly a word to each other. Aerith tried to start a conversation, asking simple questions like “So, how long have you been working here?” but Tifa wouldn’t respond to anything. Aerith wondered why Cloud acted so funny around Tifa. All that time, he walked in his cautious position, keeping his eye on the maid. It was why Aerith kept her guard up...for a little while.
~*~

Tifa explained to Aerith that animals were not aloud to attend dinner. Aerith frowned a little as she looked down at Cloud...but she knew she couldn't do anything to change it. Aerith nodded to the maid with understanding and lead Cloud to the door that lead to the large stair case. She knelt down and ran a hand through his fur affectionately. “Sorry Cloudie...but rules are rules here and I don't really think it'll be a good idea to cause more trouble. I wanna get outta here as soon as possible too so I'll try to make this quick. Stay here and wait for me, ok boy?” Cloud looked at her as she thought to herself afterwards for a moment. “Wait there...”

Aerith stood up and went back to the dining room and approached Tifa. “Hey...umm...excuse me, Miss Tifa...” Tifa slowly turned around to face her. “I...hate to be of any burden but...is there anything for my wolf to eat? I don't really want to leave him out there starving and all...” “...I shall prepare something...” Aerith sighed with gratitude. “Thanks!” Tifa slowly walked up to the door that lead to the kitchen. Something then occurred to Aerith.

“Hey, uh...isn't there anyone else working here? Apart from you? It must be hard to do ALL the work in such a big place like this.” Tifa looked back to Aerith and said, “I am the only successful female clone in 17 years capable for work. All the others are dead.” Aerith felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop in shock. Did she hear right? Clone!? She was just about to ask Tifa what she meant but the maid had already gone to the kitchen. Aerith just stood there feeling cold.

While she waited for Tifa to return. Aerith had been pacing the room up and down, trying to think of words that sound like 'clone'. “Hmm...cone? Come on, Aerith! “I'm the only successful female cone”!? That's just dumb!” The kitchen door opened and Tifa came out holding a plate full of fresh meat in one hand and a bowl of water in the other. Aerith just decided to drop the subject.

She smiled and walked towards Tifa. “Thanks! This is very nice of you. Here, let me take that.” Tifa didn't have any emotion changed on her face as Aerith took the bowl and plate out of her hands. “It is not Miss Aerith's duty to do work here.” Aerith turned her head to face her as she walked towards the other door where Cloud was waiting for her. “Oh, don't worry about it! Besides, it wouldn't be fair of me just to sit back and watch you do all the work, now would it?”
~*~

Cloud looked up when the door in front of him opened. There was Aerith smiling at him as she always did. His nose seemed to pick up the smell of meat. She knelt down and carefully placed his 'dinner' on the floor in front of him. “Here you go, Cloudie. I asked Tifa if there was anything for you have. After everything you've done for me so far I'd say you deserve a treat!” she giggled and patted him on the head. Cloud looked down at the meat and began to sniff it as Aerith stood up. “Enjoy! I'll be back.”

When Aerith went back to the dining room, she saw Tifa standing like a statue next to the single chair, facing at the other side of the room. There were lots of bowls all filled with soup. “Are there others joining us?” She asked. Tifa didn't move. “You are the only guest of honor here, Miss Aerith.” “Oh...so how come there's...” Aerith sighed and shook her head. “...Never mind.”

She walked up to the table and after a moment of looking at Tifa, wondering of she should sit down, she did. She looked at the yellow soup in front of her and tilted her head towards it before smelling it a little. “Mmm...it smells good...I guess I should dig in, huh?” Tifa ignored her. “......”
Aerith lifted her hand to pick up the spoon but stopped to notice the different kinds of knives and forks and spoons. Just the kind you would see at a rich party. Aerith had no idea which was the correct spoon to pick up. “Uhh...” Tifa slowly reached forward and picked up the correct spoon, handing it to Aerith. “Oh. Thanks. Sorry, I'm just not used to this kind of fancy, formal dinner...!” Aerith said with a hint of laughter. Tifa said nothing and returned to her 'statue' position.

The first thing Aerith did was stir the spoon through the soup...checking for any “hair” but the soup seemed just fine. She scooped some into the spoon and raised it to her mouth. She blew at it first to cool down the heat before she licked the soup for a taste...it was delicious. Perfect for her empty stomach.
~*~

After a long silence, Tifa began to speak. “My creator said he made me the perfect woman.” She looked down at Aerith. Aerith shuddered to those words. She didn't know how to respond. The comment about her being a clone should sound absolutely ridiculous...so why did she believe her? All Aerith did was just look up at Tifa..and then go back to her soup. Just as she took another mouthful, Tifa continued. “But I cannot taste or experience pleasure. Or feel pain.”

That last comment sounded like a cold hint to Aerith. Things were just becoming way to awkward now. Aerith placed the spoon on the table next to the bowl and kept her head low. “Uh-um...T-thanks for the meal.” She got up from the chair, picking up her key and walked back to the door where Cloud stayed behind. She opened the door and stopped to look back at Tifa. A woman servant who claims she is a clone who can't feel. She sighed and left the room.

Tifa's eyes moved to the sound of the door closing. She wondered how long it would take for what she added would take affect. Thinking for a moment, she slowly walked around the chair and leaned towards one of the untouched bowls of soup. Mimicking the newcomer's action, she brought the spoon to her mouth after scooping some of the soup and licked.

“I am not complete.”
~*~

It's too bad there aren't more people to read, but this forum isn't that big. I'm just glad you're still updating! :huggle:

Wee, now that Debilitas is gone... for now, I'm guessing Tifa gets more important. I'm not a Tifa fan, but her lines toward the end are my favorite so far. "My creator said he made me the perfect woman ... But I cannot taste or experience pleasure. Or feel pain ... I am not complete.” Sad, but somehow so cool. It does make me wonder whose clone Tifa is. My money's on Aerith.

Oh dear, Tifa added something to the food? That can't be good. I hope she's not bringing her to Hojo or trying to use Aerith to become complete. And when oh when will we get to see what the key can do (and yes, I remember Sailor Moon :D )?

glad 2 kno that i did a gd job with tifa so far (but soon we will c y i apologize 4 the tifa fans)
guess we need 2 c with what she's up 2 in act iii

4 the trouble 4 the w8, here's a treat with pics i made 4 fun with the story and a video i made on youtube ^_^

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...geID=1238298208
a prt of the image with this 1 lks a lil wierd coz i made it with the default ancient old paintshop lol

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...geID=1250411114
another fanpic i found and edited

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...geID=1592879123
this 1 i did 4 fun, here's cloud's collar :fangirl:

and last here's a video i made as a tribute 4 fiona's dog hewie! love that lil guy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjFrfAVrFrM

Thanks for the extras! My favorite would have to be the one with Cloud's name on the collar. It's like it came right of the fanfic.

Haunting Ground's graphics are pretty good. The song was catchy, but the best part was definitely toward the end when Fiona met Hewie. So sweet... You did a good job with that vid!

Until next time!

yw & thx ^_^ my fav is cloud's collar too

glad 2 kno u like my vid, u can c what gameplay is like and the changes i made (like the original way u get that broken marionette) and what the chapel looks like, huh?
yh i think the scene where fiona and hewie meet is sweet too!

gd news, chptr10 will b comin soon, wow we're practically 1/2 way thru the story already! :fangirl:

:aeris: