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Prologue
"Korazon"
コラゾン
Sigh.
The small girl sat atop one of the cobblestone steps in front of the small shop. It was right in the middle of the first district in town, underneath a neverending night sky filled with stars. The little girl, possibly around thirteen years of age, crossed her lanky legs together and tilted her head upwards. So far, she practically leaned her entire body back, touching the step behind her with it. No sounds were heard, only the echoing machinery inside the shop, right at the very top of it where the Moogles worked all night and... night. But she paid no heed to the usual noises she heard around here during her breaks. All she could do right now was gaze with big round eyes at the continuous blinking twinkles.
They shone for a couple of minutes as the corners of her mouth tilted ever so slightly at the "prettiness" of it. It was then that she turned her head, left and right, ever so slowly to make sure there was no one around, her brightly colored eyes slitting as she tried to catch anyone or anything hiding around there.
And right when she was satisfied with her second of ninja stealth, a wide grin plastered on her face instantly, her right arm lifting up toward the sky as if to catch something with her small hands.
"Nnnrgh..."
Her tongue poked out from her mouth and her eye closed shut in concentration as she tried with all her might to "catch a star" in her palm.
Bet'cha if the st'pid ninja could do it, I can too!
She reached and reached, her other hand supporting her body as she lifted up inch by inch from the ground till finally...
"BRAT!"
"Whaa-whoaaa!"
The girl crashed to the side, losing her balance her entire body just went rolling down the two smaller steps in front of her. She landed with small grunt onto her back, an annoyed expression clearly visible on her face just as her arms came to her front and crossed together in a huff. She had been so close too! But the owner of the shout now stepped forward, his boots clunking down on each notch till he eventually stood beside her head. The said girl looked at him, his face shadowed away from the moonlight as he towered over her like some gigantic monster.
"Just what in the godamn world were you doin'?! I thought I told ya to actually do somethin' productive during yer breaks!"
The kid didn't answer.
She just gave him a nice hand gesture.
"Wha--?! WHERE'D YOU LEARN THAT FRO--?! Oh. Right..."
The man in question gave a chuckle as he rose a burly hand to his chin, scratching the stubble on it as his toothpick in his mouth rolled over to the other side. Not a minute passed before he then leaned down and swiftly grabbed the girl, hauling her off onto his shoulder before he went off in the direction of the shop. She gave a yell and promptly started to punch at the man's back.
"Let go of me, gramps! You stupid old man!! I was doin' some'min productive! It's right the--!!"
Before the little girl could finish her sentence, she had at that moment looked right up to her stars only to find them gone. Vanished and away from her hold, she blinked a couple of times, her head tottering as the man stepped up to the shop to open the door.
"Moogle'll got yer tongue, brat?"
She didn't answer, only kept her head up to the sky as the annoyed look she had on had now slowly disappeared, her eyes going big again. Her hands slowly clutched onto the man's shoulder, her lip trembling as she shook slightly. But she wouldn't allow it, she wouldn't allow herself to... to do that stupid act! If the ninja didn't do it, then so wouldn't she! Her head swiftly snapped down as her forehead touched his shoulder with a struggled cough, hands gripping tightly. The man noticed this and gave an inaudible sigh before he brought her to his view in front of him, managing for the life of him to make her unclench her hands from him.
He noticed the eye her eyes darted away from him, how they were ready to explode with tears and just how badly she was trying to not let them fall.
"'EY, LOOK AT ME!"
She gave a jump at his exclamation, her eyes somehow becoming bigger by the second. The color within them shone brightly, oddly even as eyes weren't supposed to glow like that or even that color really.
The older man sighed, this time reaching her ears as he shook his head, mostly at his 'gentle' approach of course. He held her in his arms and awkwardly patted his hand to her back, unsure of what he should do with the girl he had taken in. He had known her for litter over a year, had her working in his shop and had grown accustomed to the little brat in a way he hadn't expected. Of course, she was still brat. A rude brat at that, but he supposed that he had some help in that department. And if he said he wasn't proud of it, he would be down right lying and Cid Highwind wasn't a lier.
"Jus' cry, kid. Don't think the ninja doesn't do it too, ya know?"
There was a moment of silence as she rested her head back on his shoulder, her nose sniffling before she replied.
"R-really?"
"Sure does, ya jus' don't see it."
"..."
"The ninja, believe it or not, is a biiig crybaby. The biggest I've seen!"
A small snort erupted from the girl and not long after that, she was down right laughing, asking in between if it was really true, only to receive another confirmation of the most amazing revelation she had heard thus far.
"There, see? All better, kid?"
Her laughter died out slowly and as soon as she was able to speak again, she nodded her head and brought her hands to her cheeks, wiping away the stupid act from her face. Cid grinned and chuckled, letting her down from his hold, setting her before him as he opened the door to the shop fully. The girl sniffed some more, bringing her hands back down to her sides as she mumbled a word, her eyes set down to his boots. The man didn't need to ask what she had said, he knew exactly what it was and wasn't going to ask her again. Just knowing what the word had been was enough and he would let it slide... this time.
"Now then, if we're done here..."
Oh great. She knew what was coming and gulped once, tentatively looking up at him as her hands wringed around the dusty apron she had on.
"BACK TO WORK, BRAT!"
The girl quickly raised her hand to her forehead in a salute before dashing away in a blur of black into the shop and down the winding staircases that led to the gummi ship garage. Cid looked on and then placed his hand to his hips, chewing on the tip of his famed toothpick for a moment more, letting another snigger escape his lips as he shook his head slowly. He then stepped into the shop himself to be met with the clangs and hammers that came from the basement, shutting the door behind him.
This is gonna be one damn long day... sheesh.
Screams.
They echoed through the steel hallways and bounced off the crystal clear windows adorning them.
Everytime she parted her lips, the noise grew stronger.
She struggled against her assailants, then friends, the cold metal around her wrists twisting further into
her skin. The inside of the clasps was gritty, scratching at her like claws, drawing lines of crimson regret.
Scared.
The news of his capture had reached her well beyond the moment she was taken by force and without
any explanation.
But they were Turks, they needed no reason.
Her head turned to one body's length window at the side, a stark white room filled with laboratory
equipment rested on the dying space in it.
Tack tack tack.
The pace grew faster now, the heels of their boots smacking against the floor.
Tack tack tack tack tack.
Another scream escaped her and a glare shot out of her eyes at him. The red-headed one.
"What's going on?!"
Silence.
"Hey, why aren't you answering me?!"
He only looked her way for a moment and for that second, she could swear that those blaring green
eyes, ones that always held a cynical and snarky flare, now showed a hint of remorse. Sympathy.
Ticking.
"W-what... Reno?"
But he didn't answer and kept her still, hauling her off down the hallway as before.
Crash!
A swift kick by Reno's boot.
Woosh!
The doors busted open.
Slam!
He dragged her into another direction.
The other Turk followed along silently but with a much firmer grasp on her arm then his counterpart.
She gave short gasp at the sudden change.
Her knees buckled.
They stuck weakly not because of the action from the red-headed man, but of the smell that blasted
straight into her nostrils as the doors opened. A hospital smell, without a certain name but one that you
could easily identify no matter what. After struggling to keep her pace, she was met with a blinding
light from above, a nauseating fluorescent glare. One of the many rows of them was blinking rapidly in
an inconsistent blink, giving sharp crackles into the air.
Bile bubbled up in her throat.
In this room were four people, three were females, dressed in equally white uniforms. Each one doing a
different task, looking busy.
Clack clack clack.
The other was a tall man with graying hair pulled into a tight ponytail, hunched over a notepad,
adjusting his glasses.
Hojo.
It seemed that she wasn't the only one having trouble with the atmosphere. A grunt from her right side,
where Reno was, came to her ears, striking a visible image of his face marred with disgust in her mind.
The smell was of syringes, hydrogen peroxide, stale holds of leather, sheets wafting the smell of fresh
laundry but failing at it horribly, I.V's filled with anaesthesia or anti-biotics and an even stronger scent
of iron intertwined throughout it all.
Blood.
Her eyes squeezed shut as soon as she detected that stench, her mouth letting out shaky gasps of air, her
nose refusing all such entry of the stink. She felt Reno's hand tug her forward, her feet now barely
dragging themselves across the linoleum-like flooring.
But the gesture, having been repeated several times for the past couple of minutes, urged her to open
her eyes again and she quickly regretted doing so. The sight that met her wasn't one she expected and it
wasn't one she ever wished on anyone, not even her enemies.
It was splattered all around him.
A man she considered her friend, having soon claiming the title of 'best', was laying atop a sanitized
gurney, arms and legs strapped tightly. But that image alone wasn't what sent electrifying shudders
down her spine, it was the blood that covered him and the way the vile light above exposed the bullet
wounds across his chest. It was also the way his eyes were staring, half-lidded, at the faux lighting.
Those eyes.
Full of dreams, honor... and happiness.
"Watch out!"
Now lifeless.
"Cloud, run!"
Dead.
"Ahh, there is my... little pet."
His voice, it was like acid.
The bile finally let up, escaping her mouth in sputters as she coughed violently.
Her throat instantly closed up, choking her, swiftly turning her head to the side. Hands then limp, now rapidly thrashed, her right hand punched at the other man to her left.
"I don't remember her being this feisty. Bring her here."
Neither men moved from their spot, managing to get her attacks under control they stayed perfectly still.
"NOW."
The man at her left moved. Slowly.
But Reno stayed frozen in his spot, causing the other man to halt in his steps and give the red-head a look. She couldn't tell what kind, if it was good or bad, her vision had started to blur in and out.
The room was spinning.
Violently.
It was disorienting as the floor seemed to bounce in jagged edges and the voices sounded far away.
"Now what?"
Reno.
Echoes.
"Excuse me?"
"Now what? What are you planning on doin' to her?"
"None of your business, Turk."
No answer.
Clangs of instruments hit metallic surfaces.
The other man tugged slightly at my arm, while Reno held onto my other, possibly contemplating.
Tick.
Tock.
It's my job. I'm a Turk.
Tick.
I will... follow all orders.
Tock.
No matter what.
Finally, he followed the other man, leading her forward some more. She lifted her head up slowly, licking her lips once, immediately contorting her face into a cringe, the bitter taste hitting her tongue. While the acid-like feeling swirled in her mouth, her eyes caught the sight of another gurney besides his. It was sparkling clean unlike the one next to it but it had the same attachments nonetheless.
"It happened so fast, I... can hardly remember anything. I don't even think I struggled. I.. .gave up."
In the blink of one of the broken lights, she was strapped into the bed, metal clasps replaced by leather, tighter around her wrists and ankles. Another one constricted around her waist and one atop her forehead.
"S-stop... "
She gave a grunt before catching a blur of red. But as soon as she saw it, the faster it disappeared out of sight.
Alone.
She was all alone now.
"He left. But, I can't blame him. I mean, afterall... he was following orders, right?"
All except for...
"But I don't think he wanted to."
Her head turned slowly, as much as it could under her restraints, attention facing the body next to her. The single action didn't do any good as her eyes quickly blurred again, tears filling them. She refused to blink as her gaze watered, the liquid threatening to fall as soon as she harshly bit down on her bottom lip.
It was choking her again, her throat shutting up again.
Her lungs pounded in her ribcage.
Her heart beat like a drum, faster and faster, it didn't stop.
Footsteps met her ears, followed by some more and a distorted voice accompanied it, her mind filtering through them. Because the only thing she cared about right now was him.
"Z-zack..."
"We are ready, Doctor."
"Yes, yes, yes. Alright, take notes down. Label it file number: 1407."
She moved her wrists and then her legs, the straps gave a forced noise, the buckles twinkling against the light.
Clang clang.
"Zack... please... please."
A gurgled sob escaped her, a cough barely making its way through.
"SOLDIER rank: second."
She moved faster now, thrashing, trying to arch her back as she yelled.
Ignore.
"WAKE UP!!!"
"Test patient: Raynie Sol."
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"
Screaming, louder, harder.
The straps groaned with the pulls, but they didn't give way.
"Commence the operation."
"Yes, Doctor. I—what should we label this under?"
"ARRGH!! AHHH!!! LET ME GO!!"
"Hmph. Label it... what you wish. Little difference in the matt—For the Planet's sake, shut her up!"
"Y-yes, Doctor!"
The nurse scrambled with the others, letting her clipboard come down with a bang as she moved rapidly to the girl's side with syringe in hand. With a swift arm, she pierced her neck, injecting the liquid inside in seconds.
"AHH---!! Ah..."
It was a fake calm, sedating her emotions, allowing her tears to fall freely down her pale face. She was immobile, her legs and arms no longer moving, no longer fighting. While her body seemed to be paralyzed and her head still turned toward him, she was still well aware of her surroundings, of the pain that throbbed and stabbed into her heart. How her lungs seemed to collapse and rise in a fluid movement. How she could still hear the crackling of the broken light nearby.
She could feel needles pressing into her arms, along her knuckle and around the nook of her elbow.
"I... fell asleep. I think. Weird, you know? I could still hear them talking and..."
Darkness.
Lost there and all alone.
Her legs couldn't take her anywhere, she couldn't run or jump, she couldn't scream anymore.
"Anaesthesia is running, Doctor. She is fully sedated."
"They or her anyway, said I was under anaesthesia but..."
"Hmm. Knife."
A silent nod came his way, she was sure of it. Raynie could hear more clangs as objects shifted around, hands grabbing, fingers intertwining around the sharp blades and various other tools.
A slow movement of a pump filled the room, pushing air out and back in.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It was her heart, drugged away slowly from the real desire of wanting to beat faster than that. Of wanting to burst out of her ribcage and explode like a bomb.
"I could feel everything."
A flash of pain.
Hot, searing pain.
It coursed through her veins, filling her head with a rapid needle-like stab.
Slash!
Her entire body burned with pain.
She wanted to scream till her throat cracked and shattered away.
"AGHHH!!!"
Anxiety hit her fast, her legs, her arms, her entire body begging to move, to fight.
Paralyzed.
Her body was paralyzed, she couldn't do anything.
"Every blade cutting into me."
"STOP IT!!!"
The pain stabbed into her again, slashing away at her chest in slow deliberate moves. Making the hellish feeling go even slower, last even longer.
The sound of clothes tearing and skin ripping.
"The way he cut open my chest."
More cuts, more needles.
Ribcage cracking open.
"NOOO!!! STOP!!!!"
She hoped that she would just die soon, that her body would just collapse under the agonizing torment.
Her screams filled her up inside and on the outside she was as still as a corpse.
Beeeeeeep.
Flatlined.
Everything stopped, what seemed like hours was now over in seconds.
The pain stopped, everything stopped.
The darkness still trapped her, encasing her in every further. It was bliss and no one could hurt her again.
It was all over.
Beeeeeep.
She sought out that light at the end of the tunnel and maybe she could see him again.
Beeeeep.
But...
Beeeeeep... beeep beeep beep beep...
It never came.
"A success, Doctor. Her body did not reject his heart, she is remarkably stable."
"Go... away."
"Excellent. Begin the Mako processing. The real test comes now, to see if she can take it."
"Calculations say that the chances of her body being able to hold it are very high. With his heart in her now, she should be stronger... more capa--"
"Heart. His... heart. W-where...?"
"Just get on with it, woman. Go!"
"Y-yes, Doctor."
"And you, stitch her up before she loses more blood. We can't afford her dying yet."
"Of course, Doctor."
The voices faded, consuming so much time as she felt her body being unstrapped and then carried. An ache encased her, like a headache all over. The stabbing stopped, but the feeling of knives slowly withdrawing from her body met her.
Blades jagged and full of rust, the tips crinkled so it stuck to her skin before fully departing. She didn't scream on the inside anymore, she couldn't anymore as the pain was all over numbing. But then another wave punched at her, a knockout throw.
Icy cold hit her straight on. It flowed into her veins, surrounded her all over as if she was being filled with ice cubes from head to toe. Hands left her, leaving her floating and she wondered for a moment if she was dead or not.
"He wasn't there, so I guessed I wasn't at the time. They had stuck me in a tube."
The blaring cold filled the vastness in her lungs, poured out her mouth and back in, a tube helping with that. More things were stuck into her arms and legs, one protruding out the side of her waist and another at the center of her chest.
She found that she had regained some movement in her eyelids after the Planet only knows how long. It could have been hours, maybe days even. Her eyelids parted, an aqueous material meeting her eyes at once, instantly her eyes shut once more and decided it was best for now to keep them that way.
Just until this hell was over with.
Sounds vocalized and droned on and on, the liquid around her breaking the tones and pitches.
It was a complete cacophony of dismantled voices.
"I don't know how long I was there for."
"Doctor, the mako... her body isn't rejecting it."
"Another success, I see. Interesting, very interesting indeed. A peculiar subject you will be, Raynie."
"It was probably days, months, years actually."
"Now we observe the side effects and so forth. Nothing more until she is ready."
"Um, Doctor... and... the body?"
"There is one thing I'm happy about though."
"Hmph. He is of no use to me any longer. He chose this fate for himself. He is... useless now. A fodder for trash now, dispose of him."
"A-are you sure? Surely we could extract more information on the effects of mako in hi--?"
"Dispose of him now. Burn him, throw him to the creatures, I do not care! Just make him disappear out of my sight!"
"Yes, Doctor! I will do so immediately."
"No. Just burn him, so there is no evidence left behind."
Silence met her again and if she could, her tears would have been pouring from the very depths of her. And whether she had run out of them or she simply couldn't, she didn't cry.
She didn't yell or scream.
She didn't die.
She didn't meet him again.
She was only met with the company of darkness for years.
"I'm happy... that the last thing I saw... was his face next to me."
CRASH!
A gasp bellowed out from her mouth, her body sitting up in a flash as she clung the bed sheets close to her frail body. A choked sob escaped her lips for a second just as her hands came flying up to cover her mouth. No, not again!
Lightning.
Just stupid lighting.
The air was cold, just like her nightmare, and she looked over to the open door of the balcony, the curtains swishing in a dance with the night wind. She stayed in that position for some minutes before she finally scrambled around with the fabric of the bed, her feet meeting the floor with a snap as she stood up.
Raynie swiftly dodged the bed that sat opposite of hers, throwing deadly glares at the bundle beneath the sheets, but sure enough her glares more than likely only met night air. A pout formed on her mouth before she realized that if she kept standing there her feet were likely to freeze off! So she moved over to the open doors in a hurry, a small skip to her step, grasped the brass handles with small fingers and slammed it shut with a bang, hoping to awake the accuser of said doors being open in the first place.
"Whaaa?! OH! W-what's goin' on?! I-is it Heartless?! C-cause I ain't scared! Let me at'em!!"
She slowly turned her head toward the yell, a bored look masking her tired face as she threw another glare at the girl. She wore eye covers and was fumbling around in her own bed, her hands reaching around blindly. Raynie, as much as the sight was amusing, moved over and with one move of her hand against the girl's side...
BAM!
"O-oow...mrrph"
The ninja now found herself face first against the floor, her legs bended above her as she let out a string of curses. Courtesy of Cid of course.
"Grrrr, next time will be waaaay worse, ya st'pid ninja!." Raynie let out with a grumble, jumping up on the girl's cot before making one leap over the girl and to her own. Yuffie finished her curses and quickly got up from the floor with her ninja skills that served her well all of her years. They have not failed her yet. She was the best ninja in the entire world! No, universe!
Before Raynie could settle herself in more comfortably into her mattress, curling tightly into a ball, and hopefully resume her sleep, nightmares and all, a hard pillow thwacked her straight onto her head. She gave a startled jump, her legs straightening as she sat up, letting the pillow fall onto her lap.
A slow maniacal chuckle came from the opposite end of the room, to which Yuffie ended with a raspberry. "Pssshh, let's see ya try, baka." She added, a click of her tongue followed before she fell silent and huffed out slow snores. Slow. Loud. Snores.
The other girl had the pillow raised high above her head, ready to retaliate and start yet another pillow fight as was their custom practically every night. But instead, she gave a grumble and rolled her eyes, turning her head back slowly before allowing herself to fall back to her pillows.
"Mark my words, dummy, st'pid... st'pid, st'pid ninja."
But her words fell on deaf ears as the snore increased and she found her arms clutching the same thrown pillow around her head. It was a lousy attempt to block out the noise, but either way it allowed some kind of comfort against the thundering noises outside of the hotel.
Eventually she let her eyes droop down, blinking them back open, fighting the urge to sleep like every other night but in the end she always lost. She always found herself at the hands of the all time winner of these battles, whether she liked to or not. Obviously, she did not.
"Embrace your dreams. Always. No matter what."
A voice echoed in her head suddenly. It was a familiar voice even if she didn't know whose it was.
It always gave her comfort and she never questioned it.
Her eyes immediately shut close, her teeth grinding into her bottom lip as she heard his voice. Who are you? She felt the pillow become slightly soaked by her cheeks, but she ignored it with all her might, refusing to acknowledge that she had committed that unforgivable act with her eyes. And even as she cringed at the soothing voice, she still uttered out a whisper, two simple words she always said to the emptiness of the night in hopes that it might reach her protector. The one who always spooked away the nightmares.
"G'night."
A/N: Don't worry, this will make sense soon enough. I promise! Special thanks to Takushi Rena (author of the same name on here with spiffy fan fics as well)! She really helped me out with this, so thank you! :D And to anyone that critiques/reviews, thank you as well!
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or KH.... -sniff- Deessspaaaairrr.