Shalua grabbed Shelke's hand and pulled her towards the door their only escape from the the terror that would soon be upon them:Azul. 'I never should have trusted him.'

"Let me go!" Shelke screams, she is met by a sad look from Shalua.

"I don't think so. We have ten years to catch up on. I'm not going to let this end here." She says looking Shelke in the eyes. 'Her expression was so...sad.'

In horror they watched as the door began to come to a close. Shalua gasped and in a panic shoved her robotic arm into the door.

"Why are you doing this?" 'why didn't I try to save her?'

"You can still get through, go on." 'Did she know how much it hurt to see her like this?'

"I'm sorry I wasn't a better sister." ' You were a perfect sister'

"I'm sorry I let you suffer for so long." 'you did everything you could, don't blame yourself.'

"Shelke." 'Shalua...wait!'

"I'm glad I found you." 'then don't leave me!'

"And I will always love you." 'I...I love you too.'

The door shut, they were out of time.

"why? ... Just why?" 'Why didn't I scream? Was I really that dead inside?'

. , ...

. "SHALUA!" Shelke screamed sitting up and looking around. She was in her own room on Earth.

Her adopted parents burst into the room their alarm evident on their faces.

"Shelke what's the matter? What's wrong?" Her father asked panting heavily.

"Oh, um...I guess I was dreaming." Shelke mumbled embarrassment plain on her face.

Her adoptive parents sighed in relief. "Well if you need anything just tell us." Her father said with a nod as they left the room.

Four years had passed since DeepGround had been destroyed and three years had passed since Shelke woke up on earth. One night three years ago, Vincent took her to Lucrecia's cave. Shelke wanted to see her, because she felt connected to her since the Synaptic Net Dives caused Lucrecia's data fragments to respond. Vincent had agreed and taken her there to see Lucrecia and she was amazed at what she saw. Before she knew what she was doing she was walking towards the crystal that held Lucrecia, it was almost as if her body was moving without her permission. By the time Vincent tried to warn her it was to late, as soon as Shelke touched the crystal she was engulfed in a white light and then everything went black.

When she came to, she was on earth in a hospital. And then she'd been sent to an orphanage where Mr. and Mrs. Mcineck adopted her, and she'd been living with them ever since. They were nice, and this was definitely better than DeepGround but Shelke missed Gaia, she missed Vincent and the others. Though it didn't help that Shelke didn't belong on earth at all. She had nearly been sent to an insane asylum for telling a nurse at the hospital where she was from. After that she held her tongue, the Mcinecks didn't know anything about Shelke's past, except what the woman who worked at the orphanage said about her being 'troubled'. Shelke would love to see what that woman would be saying if she had been stuck in DeepGround for 10 years and then been forbidden to talk about it. The adjective 'Troubled' didn't even begin to explain the pain or suffering known as DeepGround.

Shelke had started writing her experience down in a journal to let go of the trauma she'd suffered. She kept the journal locked and under a loose floor board in her room; if anyone saw it they would send her to an asylum for sure. But it was all she could do to get over the pain she'd bottled up for 14 years. Shelke still remembered the first time she'd cried after everything had happened.

She and Tifa were in seventh heaven when it had happened. When she broke down and started sobbing, Tifa didn't seem surprised; she knew Shelke would break down at some point. Shelke told Tifa about DeepGround, and the horrors she'd experienced. Then Tifa told her all the things she could think of that would comfort her, she told Shelke how strong she was to survive everything she had and that everything would be alright. After that Shelke felt human again, she had laughed and cried for the first time since she'd been to Seventh heaven and because of it she knew that there was still human left in her.

On earth she didn't feel as human, she felt like an alien. Then again technically she was an alien, an alien who had to pretend like she hadn't suffered an unimaginable hell of a life for ten years. She'd gotten good at pretending that nothing was wrong, and in a strange way she'd grown fond of the Mcinecks. She felt bad for them, they were newly married and couldn't have children. Then they got stuck with Shelke who was a twenty three year old in a 13 year old's body who had a secret past they knew nothing about.

One thing that had surprised Shelke more than anything was when she started growing taller. She had always assumed that she would be stuck as a nine year old forever. But eventually her body went almost back to normal, she was growing and it was the most hope she'd gotten since she'd defeated DeepGround. To be honest Shelke didn't feel like a twenty-three year old either; sure she was twenty-three and she couldn't forget that, but was the ten years she spent in DeepGround really living? Shelke felt more like she'd been a nine year old for ten years rather than she'd grown up in DeepGround. This made it easier for her to adjust to normal life.

Though even after four years there still wasn't a morning she didn't cherish the sunlight coming in through her window, or a night where she wasn't consumed by nightmares or rather memories. She was usually good at hiding them, she'd been foolish to yell Shalua's name. Shalua was gone, and nobody within a zillion miles knew who she was. Even now, just outside the door, she could hear Mrs. Mcineck wondering aloud to herself who Shalua was. Shelke felt bad not telling the Mcinecks about her past, and she wished she could, but she knew she couldn't risk it. Besides Mrs. Mcineck was so sensitive, she didn't need to hear about something as horrible as DeepGround.

Shelke just sat in her bed deep in thought for a while, then eventually when she couldn't fight her memories any more she decided to write them down. Quietly she got up from her bed and knelt down next to her nightstand. Slowly she peeled up the floorboard cringing when it creaked a little. She quickly grabbed the journal and replaced the floorboard to it's original position. Then after getting a pen she laid back down in her bed and pulled her comforter over her lap. Every time Shelke looked at her journal she had to smile; it was white with pink hearts and butterflies on it. How Ironic that Shelke was recording such horrible memories in it.

With a sigh Shelke opened her journal and began to write in it.

'I was stuck with the Sviets for ten years...they became like a twisted broken family to me. I hated them, and yet I knew them better than anyone else. Roso was the most demented out of all of us, but there were days when even she longed to be normal. One morning I caught her staring at the tiny ray of light that we saw in DeepGrounds home base, believe it or not she was crying. She asked me what the sky was like, apparently she'd never seen it. Maybe it was because I felt bad for her or more likely because I didn't want her to kill me, but I told her about the sky; she was surprised that it was blue, she said she thought it would have been red. When I told her about the sun she actually smiled, not just the demented grins that she usually had. In that moment I wasn't sure what I felt, compassion? Pity? hopefulness? I never could place it. But I think maybe Roso's death was a mercy to her...like maybe it made up for how twisted she was when she was alive...how twisted DeepGround had made her. After all I was no saint, I was going to kill Shalua...my own sister, when I first saw her after 10 years. I never was as demented as Roso, and I never had any good feelings about her, but just maybe hidden deep inside her there was a bit of humanity left.'

Shelke's writing was interrupted by a knock at her door.

"Shelke, the car will be here any minute, are your things packed?" Mrs. Mcineck asked through the door her voice patient and soft. Shelke sighed in frustration; she'd forgotten all about that stupid camping trip she was taking with the girls at school.

"Oh right, Umm...just a minute I'll be right out." Shelke called nervously. She quickly retrieved her backpack from her closet and began shoving cloths into it. Then once she was done she changed out of her Pajamas and into a T-shirt and shorts. Then quickly she yanked open the floor board, threw the journal in, then replaced the floor board again a little more loosely than she meant to. Then she ran out of her room and down stairs. As much as she hated camping, and as much as she felt alienated by the other girls, they would soon be the least of her problems; for things were about to get a lot worse.

A/N Hi everyone! So after looking up 'Shelke Rui' on I discovered that there were only 4 fan fictions for her! This is just so sad since she is one of my favorite FFVII characters and she deserves more fandom than that so I decided to add to it by writing a Shelke fan fiction. Oh by the way in the beginning the writing in italics is Shelke's thoughts as she's having the nightmare so hopefully that wasn't too confusing. Oh and I should say that Shelke does not get sent to an insane asylum in this fan fiction so don't be too worried, she has other issues to deal with though. And throughout this story you are in for a lot of surprises so you can look forward to that. ^_~ So please review and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear your opinions and especially any suggestions you might have for the story. I know my writing isn't perfect, and hey I'm sorry if this chapter like totally sucked. Thanks for reading this far and reading this long quirky Authors Note. Anyway I hope you can follow this story and enjoy it since I'm not writing this for my health. ^_~ ok see y'all in the next chapter. ^_~