First time posting posting here.
Be kind plz...

"Talking"
Thinking

Marii, Kayru, Noel and Ryo (the last three are introduced next chapter) Are the only three characters I own.
All others are Copyright SquareEnix

Marii sighed deeply, staring out at the quiet night through the window in front of her. The cool breeze blowing through the window played lightly with her short brown hair, tickling the small blue loop that hung from each ear; even if this town was built in the middle of the desert, it still got cold at night. The girl's slender frame rattled with a shiver, her short sleeved black shirt failed to hold in much heat. She quickly closed her window, locking it securely. Nothing ever happened in Aiera, but it couldn't hurt to be safe. Her half-awake mind took a few seconds to respond to the harsh whistling from the first floor. After registering it was a tea kettle, the girl drug herself downstairs and into the kitchen, turning off the burner on the stove, and pouring water from the hot kettle into the waiting cup.

After emptying the unused water into the sink, Marii picked up the cup and took a slow sip of tea. The cup felt lukewarm to her hands, while the hot liquid almost burned her tongue. She sighed softly again; after her fiancé walked out on her two weeks ago, taking almost half of their gil with him, she'd felt depressed. Other than her training, there was nothing for her to do to keep her mind off of him.

"There he is! Get him!!" a man's voice barked from her front yard.

"...?" she looked towards the hallway that led to the front door. A loud rattle of multiple gunshots and unrecognizable yelling followed, causing the girl the yelp in surprise. Dropping her cup thoughtlessly, she scrambled to the wall; quickly smacking the light-switch down and turning off the lights in the kitchen. When no light came from her house she hoped that whoever was out there would assume it abandoned and leave. Her slightly torn baggy jeans protected her legs from the almost boiling water that splashed forth from her cup when it shattered. Hugging her knees to her chest, she waited under the light-switch for the gunshots to stop, pressing the side of her face against the wall. Marii heard the sound of one of her front windows shattering, then another; the sound of shattering glass, as well as increased volume of the gunshots outside, caused the girl to flinch and burry her face into her knees

After many minutes the gunshots and fierce yelling slowly died away,

"...?" Marii slowly raised her head from her knees, looking around the dark kitchen. Is it...over...? she wondered, poking her head around the nearby doorframe and looking down the hallway towards the front door. The window just to the left of the door was shattered, the glass on the floor sparkling in the pale moonlight; from her current viewpoint she couldn't see what other window had suffered a gunshot. She couldn't hear anyone, nor could she see any movement outside. The shootout is probably over...she decided, pulling her head back behind the wall.

Warily, Marii rose to her feet, hand always resting on the doorframe. She poked her head nervously around the wall again, to find that nothing had changed from when she had looked before. Cursing her curiosity mentally, the girl began to slowly walk towards the door. A final gunshot that rang from the front yard caused her to drop to her stomach on the floor, covering her head with both hands. The girl felt her body shaking like a leaf while she listened to the echo of the gunshot slowly die away. When deathly silence enveloped her entire house again, Marii slowly pushed herself up to her feet, and walked as silently as she could to the door. Her hand wrapped firmly around the doorknob, and she swallowed the large knot that had taken residence in her throat.

The tumbler clicked almost silently as the knob turned. Marii leaned her face close to the door as she pulled it open barely a crack. From her viewpoint, she could see the left side of her small front yard, as well as the edge of the walkway to her front door. She couldn't see anyone there,

"..." she opened the door a little farther. "Ah-!" The girl froze, the door barely open six inches. A figure stood on the pathway to her door, standing barely seven yards from her house. The person was tall, the position of the moon causing the entire front of their body to be shadowed over, masking their features. However, the moons light was enough to illuminate the long red cape that hung from their shoulders, the ends tattered and ripped; the pale silver light glowed slightly on their black hair, and twinkled playfully on a gauntlet that covered their left hand and their metal boots.

"..." their head rose slightly, noticing her.

"!" her body reacted on its own, pulling her slightly farther behind the door where it was safer. The wind that blew the figures cape and long raven hair was the only thing that caused movement in the long minutes that the two stared at one another. "...hm..." the girl noted that the figure wasn't moving. Perhaps they died standing up...?

Building up what little courage she had left, Marii forced herself to take a slight step from behind the door,

"..." the figure still didn't move. At the least they probably didn't intend to kill her...if they were still alive...

"...huh..." she muttered under her breath, her mind racing to try and figure out what she should do now. A groan issued from the figure, causing Marii to jump slightly. She watched with widened eyes as drug their foot forward in a slight step, another groan escaping them. At the least, she could tell it was a man. He extended a hand forward, as if he was asking for her help,

"...h-...hel...p..." he croaked softly; from her place in the door the girl barely heard him,

"Wh-?" Marii took a step outside quickly. "Wh-what...?" He fell to his knees, wobbling in that position for a split second, before collapsing face down onto the ground. His long raven black hair fluttered lightly down after him, spreading out over his back, "H-hey!" the girl yelped, worried that he really did die.

After taking a few steps from her house, Marii became more aware of the evidence of the shootout. The ground had a healthy amount of bullet holes scattered about, and a few dark holes decorated the front of her house. Apart from the window near the door, the window to the 'storage' room on the second floor was broken. Even though the light was dim, the girl could tell the right leg of his black pants and part of the cape over his left shoulder were saturated in blood. The girl kneeled next to the man, nervously resting a hand on the back of his shoulder. She shook him tentatively, almost worried that she might actually wake him up,

"H-hey," she asked softly, "Can you hear me...? Are you still alive...?" his eyes were closed, a dark red headband tied around his forehead kept his black hair from his face. She noted anxiously that the complexion of his face was pale. It's the moon light, it's the moon light, it's the moon light... she assured herself mentally. "Come one, wake up," she urged gently, her shaking of his shoulder becoming a little less tentative, "Wake up...!"

"..." he made no noise. Oh man, oh man... she thought worriedly, biting her lower lip. After finding his right hand, she pressed her fingers to his sleeve-covered wrist to try and find a pulse. In an instant his hand moved, almost to quickly to see, and clamped firmly over hers in an iron hard grip,

"Yaa-!" a yelp escaped her lips, body rattling uncontrollably. She looked to his face, now worried that she woke him and he would kill her.

His eyes were still closed.

"H-...Huh...?" she mumbled nervously, looking from his face to his hand. She pulled her hand from his easily, and his hand fell back to the ground. "O-oh," Marii sighed shakily, putting a hand over her heart, "J-just a reflex..." But that means that he's alive...I...I guess I'd better help him before he really dies. she decided.

After some work, the girl managed to pull one of his arms over her shoulders, putting her other arm around his waist. Marii counted to three mentally, before pushing herself to her feet. The unconscious man's unexpected weight almost made her loose her balance and drop him. She gritted her teeth, pulling down a little more on the arm around her shoulders and shifting the arm around his waist slightly, before trudging back towards the house. Once she covered the seven yards to her door, and managing to get inside, she was out of breath. However, she forced herself to keep moving, Heavy...! she groaned mentally, while dragging the unconscious man up the stairs.

The top of the stairs being reached after many long minutes, Marii took him to the room that had belonged to her fiancé at one time. There wasn't anything in there except for a bed and a pillow with a sheet thrown over them, and a small chair. After much moving, negotiating of positions, and time, the girl had succeeded in setting him down on the bed. She sighed, glad that one job was done. Now she had to take care of his leg and shoulder...easier said than done... An idea forming in her mind, she moved towards the door, only to have her head jerked back abruptly

"Yipe!" a yelp escaped her lips when a section of her short hair threatened to be pulled from her head. Marii looked back to see that some of her hair had gotten tangled in the man's gauntlet-covered fingers. "..." she sighed, grateful he wasn't really awake. Slowly and steadily, she undid his fingers from her hair, setting his hand back down on the bed. The girl quickly jogged from the room, straightening out her hair as she walked into the bathroom. She opened the cabinet behind her mirror, and pulled out some cotton balls as well as the rolls of bandages she would usually wrap around her hands when she did her self-defense training. The girl frowned slightly, not happy that these bandages and cotton balls were all she had that could be used as medicine. She shrugged it off, and quickly returned to her room. Marii carefully pulled off his oddly pointy shoes, before rolling up his right pant-leg. The girl grimaced seeing the three bullet wounds in his lower leg.

Marii's hands shook nervously as she gingerly pressed cotton to each bullet hole. After which, she wrapped his lower leg in bandages, pulling the bandages snug before tying it off. She rolled his blood-soaked pant leg back down, deciding to wait until he was awake before trying to do something to clean away the blood. The girl did her best to not look at her hands which now had spots of his blood on them.

Next came his shoulder wound. The girl was extremely cautious as she unbuckled the small fasteners that held together the high collar of his red cape; she opened his cape slowly, not sure of where exactly he was injured. However that soon became evident when Marii located a deep graze-wound on his neck which was bleeding heavily. This is going to be tougher than I thought... she sighed mentally. The girl slid her hand under his head, lifting his head while trying not to worsen the wound on his neck. She quickly pulled his cape out from under him, tossing it on the floor haphazardly. Once his cape was out of the way, she set his head back down on the pillow; she did notice though that his black hair felt exceptionally soft against her hand, although she didn't allow her hand to linger. Marii pressed a few cotton balls against the wound on his neck, before wrapping his neck in the rest of the bandages.

After Marii's task was done, she sighed gratefully, and picked up his cape. She folded it in half, and draped it over the end of the bed. While washing the blood from her hands in the bathroom sink, she glanced at the small digital clock that sat above the mirror. The glowing green numbers flashed '1:30 AM'. The girl drug her suddenly heavy feet back to the room where the man was currently resting, closing the door after she entered the room. She pulled the chair closer to the bed, before plopping down in the chair. The girl sunk down in the chair, closing her eyes wearily,

"When you wake up," she muttered to the unconscious man, "You'd better... at least...tell me who you are..." she quickly drifted off to sleep, head falling slightly to the right.

To be Continued...

Hope you liked. The next chapter will be up soon, and yes, Cid is introduced in that chapter.