Chapter 1: A Walk on the Beach
Chapter 1
"Reno! Reno, wake up! Come on. There's a woman down there, maybe she knows where we are and how we got here." Tseng said. He shook the redhead violently, unconcerned with the way his head wobbled like a rag doll's.
"Yeah, so? Whadda ya want me to do about it?" Reno grumbled, trying to bat Tseng's hands away much like a petulant teenager who didn't want to go to school.
"Get up!" Tseng's snarling voice was joined by Cloud's. The blonde seriously considered slamming his foot into Reno's solar plexus. Maybe that's get the obnoxious idiot moving. Blue eyes shot left and narrowed at the owner of the next voice.
"She's coming this way. I think we should just wait for her to get here. I mean, why waste our energy on a stupid human girl?" Loz stated, stretching his leather-clad legs out in the loose sand.
"Hey Kadaj, wanna keep your dogs on a leash?" Rude said, curling his lip into a snarl. Not a single employee of ShinRa or member of Avalanche was happy - or even comfortable - with their current predicament.
"Why you…" Loz said taking a threatening step toward him.
"Enough. We're in this together, remember? We can kill each other once we're back where we belong! Until then: Rude, behave yourself." Rufus said calmly. There was a part of him that was torn between raging like a beast, or screaming like a little girl when he found himself at the center of three intense, yellow-green stares. How could he not remember - and fear - the hell these three were capable of unleashing?!
"He's right," Cloud said. "We need to figure out what to do right now, and we need to do it fast. That woman is going to be too far away very soon."
"I'll get her." Yazoo said, standing from the driftwood that he had claimed as 'his' seat. Gods, he was bored out of his mind. And irritated. For one, he certainly was used to being surrounded by so many people; even in the labs, he was mostly kept in solitary until the day he and his brothers escaped. And then there was the problem of the company, themselves. Every man around him was on high alert, just waiting for a knife or bullet between the shoulder blades.
"No. I need to work off some energy, I'll go." Kadaj interrupted. His cold and manic eyes had roamed their surroundings non-stop since he woke up. He could feel the taint of this place, could feel that humanity had overrun this world just as it had his own. Good gods, would Mother ever get the power she deserved?
Without another word, Kadaj leapt from the cover of the tall foliage that hid the group and slid down the bluff to the beach below. He landed gracefully in front of the woman and fixed her with a wild, positively psychotic grin. A cruel chuckle shook his shoulders when she let out a startled gasp and then backed up a step.
"Can I help you?" She asked. Her voice sounded irritated after the initial shock wore off.
"Oh yes, yes you can." Kadaj stepped toward her. She stepped back. "You're coming with me." he said, as if the woman had no right to argue with him.
"Haha, very funny creeper. Did someone forget to take his crazy pills this morning?" Kadaj growled and lunged at her. People just never learned that what he said was what happened, end of story.
She put up a hell of a fight, managing to impress a few watching from the bluff top by landing an elbow to the youngest clone's jaw. Unfortunately, that was not enough. Kadaj lunged at her again, done playing, and effectively grabbed her. He threw her over his shoulder - despite her screaming in his ear and bruising his back with her delicate little fists - and jumped gracefully back up the cliffside.
He dropped the still-struggling woman on her behind in the dirt the moment he landed. She stood up, cursing and spitting, before noticing the other men around her.
"Oh dear God I'm about to be gang-raped, aren't I?" She wailed.
"Relax Ma'am, we just want to talk to you." Rufus said, leaning forward in his wheelchair. He tried to present himself as unthreatening as possible, keeping his voice low and sweet, and his eyes locked onto hers.
"Oh right!" the woman said. "I'm warning you, I'm a black belt!" She fell into an attack stance and fixed a glare on Rufus that would have melted Gaia's entire northern continent.
"Really?" Yazoo crooned in reply. He slowly stood up and assumed a stance that mirrored the woman's. There was a certain maddness in his eyes - excitement, even - but it was shadowed by the most weary, hollow fatigue the woman had ever seen.
The woman stood up straight and bowed her head, just a bit on the embarrassed side. "Oh, I was... hoping that would discourage you…" While she was a capable fighter and trained in many forms of martial arts, she very much doubted she could keep up if all of these men were trained as well.
"Please Miss," Cloud said. "We really do just want to talk. We need some help. Please just hear us out?" He knew he sounded cold, but he hoped the woman could sense their desperation and confusion.
She did, and God help her she knew she'd have to help them. Still... "If I refuse?" She asked defiantly.
"We kill you and look elsewhere." Kadaj stated bluntly, making the woman jump at realizing how close he still stood. No one argued.
The woman sighed and stared at her feet. After a moment of agonizing uncertainty, she nodded her head. "Alright. I'm listening."
"Good." Rufus said. He offered her his most charming, disarming smile. "First of all, what may we call you?"
They could all tell that she struggled with that - unsure whether or not she should tell them who she was. She looked utterly defeated when she spoke again, and it struck a few of them as... different. Like she was for some reason obligated to help them.
"It's Harmony, or Hari for short."
Rufus nodded. "Well, Hari, it seems my comrades and I have landed in quite the predicament…"