Even Demons Can Be Saved

Departure

It turned out that convincing Sephiroth to accept the fact that he wasn't to blame was the easy part. Once Eve finally managed to persuade him to leave with her, they were met at the door by two angry Turks and an irritated Soldier First. None of them wanted to allow Sephiroth to leave the cell, and he still wasn't inclined to argue with them. Eve had never been so frustrated. Before it was said and done, she ended up losing her temper again and calling on the tiny phoenix that she had used once before. It was much easier this time around.

She hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, but it served to get them to move out of the way. She still had to practically drag Sephiroth out. When they made their way back down to her apartment, the whole troop followed them. Eve wished it would be as easy as telling them to leave, but they had already proven they could be just as stubborn and she doubted she could make Tseng leave Aerith alone in the same place as Sephiroth. She compromised by telling them that she needed more rest before they handled helping Angeal. Tseng and Genesis stayed in her living room with Aerith while Eve dragged Sephiroth with her to her room.

Once the door was closed, he stood there awkwardly. Eve could tell that he wasn't convinced being alone with her was a good idea, but she ignored it. Instead, she started working the buckles on his abdomen plate. As soon as he realized what she was trying to do, his eyes widened, and he grabbed her wrists gently. "What... what are you doing?"

She looked up at him with a tired smile. "I was going to go back to sleep like I said. I thought we had already established that sleeping in your armor is uncomfortable for both of us."

Sephiroth blinked a few times as he tried to process her statement. His look turned incredulous. "You mean to have me sleep with you?"

Eve wanted to roll her eyes, but she managed to make do with pulling her hands from his and starting on the buckles again. "I imagine that you need sleep too after that debacle. We can deal with the other stubborn asses after my brain doesn't feel like mush."

Sephiroth had no idea how to proceed. He still agreed with the other men and wasn't sure why she wanted him near her, much less in the same bed while she slept and was vulnerable. He was so distracted that it wasn't until she tried to push his duster off that he realized she had not stopped.

When he prevented her from pushing it off his shoulders, she looked up with exasperation. "Please. Just lay with me for a while. I know you still think that I shouldn't trust you, but isn't that my choice? I'm not going to change my mind so easily, so you should just let it go."

Sephiroth shook his head. Not because she was stubborn, as that was expected by this point, but the fact that her belief in him was unwavering was hard to accept. He couldn't comprehend that level of faith. The thought of it nearly had him crushing her to him. Every day he seemed to learn new depths of caring, and he still didn't understand how to deal with it. He settled for shrugging out of his jacket and hanging it on the corner of her closet door. Eve smiled at the sight and grabbed his hand. It wasn't long until they were settled and she was asleep again. Sephiroth was content to watch her as she relaxed into him.

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Eve had no idea how long she had been asleep, but it didn't feel like it had been nearly long enough. It didn't matter as whoever had been knocking at her door opened it and came in. She groaned and opened her eyes at the sound of Reno's voice. "I shoulda known."

Eve was glad to see that Sephiroth had not left while she slept, but he was already sitting up and glaring at Reno. "She needed more sleep. Why are you interrupting?"