Please welcome another new story of mine, since all the others have decided to hate me. Just for the record, I hate them back. *hunf*
To those of you who have read Cat, Kitty and Ezio, no, this is not the same Annabelle, I just like the name. And no, she's not gonna die. Yet. Not her, anyway... Mwahaha...
*Ahem*, ignore me, just keep reading...
Disclaimer: Totoro belongs to Studios Ghibli, Shadow the Hedgehog belongs to Sega, Mikey Mouse belongs to Disney, but I am a very proud owner of their plushies. Unfortunately, that's all I own. Nothing else... *snif*
When Sephiroth closed his office door behind him, he allowed a sigh to escape his lips, and sat by his desk. He heard a rustle in the corner of his office. Looking to the potted plant there, he saw two big honey-colored eyes. A small girl came into view as she slowly neared his desk chair. She was wearing a yellow dress with flowers, and little white slippers. Her curly, light brown hair was neatly pulled up in two ponytails on each side of her head. She was holding a plush toy, almost as big as her, and twice as wide. The little girl held up the toy.
"Dis mai fwend Totoro." She looked at it, as if expecting it to greet the General. Giving up after a few moments, she shook her head and gave the Silver haired male a meaningful look. "He dun say much."
"I see." Actually, Sephiroth didn't see. As the little girl kept looking at him, he grew uneasy. What was he supposed to do now? He reasoned with himself, that if he just ignored her, she would lose interest in him and go away. Who would bring a child here, anyways?
He turned back to his desk and started on his pile of paperwork. A few hours later, a knock by his door made him look up. He bid the visitor in, to discover it was Reno.
"Hello, dearest!" he greeted loudly.
"Hello!" another loud squeak near Sephiroth made him jump slightly. He had completely forgotten the small girl was still in his office. She beamed up at Reno.
"Hello…" he tilted his head, smiling curiously at her. "Whacha doin' here, little one?"
"Mai sister bringed me here to see our cousin!" she scurried around the desk in those cute little child steps and jumped up and down in front of Reno. "But ai got losted, and Totoro wanted to peepee, so ai put him in the plant!"
"Plant?" Reno crouched near the small girl. She pointed to the potted plant at the corner of the office. "I see." He snickered at the disgusted face Sephiroth made. "Who's your cousin sweetie?" he asked.
"Mai sister calls him Ruffles. He dun like that." She frowned.
"I'm sure he doesn't. Do you know where he works, have you been here before?" he asked.
"He's at dat biiig room, with the white couch, an the pwetty bottles, and dat big window dat you can see the park…I wanna go to the park!" she gestured around, making her stuffed toy fly across the room and hit Sephiroth's chest with a defying squeak. The General growled. Reno stood up, accepted the toy back, and held his hand out to the little girl.
"I think I know who your cousin is, yo." As he felt the little fingers hold his hand, he turned back to the General, promising to be back. His response was another growl.
"Can you find mai sister too?" the little girl dangled from Reno's hand.
"I'm sure she can find her way just fine." Reno grunted. "What's your name, yo?"
"Annabelle!" she squeaked and scrunched her nose, smiling.
"Mine's Reno." He answered as he stepped in the elevator with her. He smiled as she looked wide eyed at the glass walls, and how high up they were. Reno gave her toy back. "Hold him, or else he'll fall!" he joked. She clutched the toy to her chest and stepped away from the glass. When the elevator doors dinged open, Reno took her to the VP's office. He knocked and entered.
"Where were you anyway?" the VP was saying to someone on the couch. "Weren't you supposed to be achieving your goals, or whatever?"
"Sometimes I stray away from them when my life goes haywire…" a woman waved a water bottle around as she gestured. "Like trying to renovate an old house in a foreign country, and then getting infected by an insect bite which turns into a zombie bite…well you know, things happen."
"Uhuh, and you haven't died yet, because…?" Rufus furrowed his brown in annoyance.
"Because you need someone to pester you and burn your money on shoes!" she cheerfully replied, holding the bottle up in a toast.
"You're going to hell." Rufus answered.
"I certainly he hope so." She took a drink. "Mother was always so pious that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' I don't want to addle wherever she is. Anyway, Richard's trying out for a boxing career."
"Where did he get that from?"
"It was probably just some stray idea sounded from somewhere that definitely wasn't his brain."
Reno cleared his throat. Rufus looked up from his desk, and the woman turned around in the couch to face him.
"I foun—"
"I wanna go to the park!" the little girl interrupted him.
"We'll go after Ruffles and I talk." The woman on the couch said. "Where were you?"
"Totoro had to peepee." Annabelle explained.
"In Sephiroth's office, yo." Reno commented.
"She didn't break anything, did she?" the woman stood up and walked over to Reno and Annabelle.
"Not that I know of…" Reno shrugged and studied her. She had dark brown, curly hair, that reached down to her waist in many layers, big honey-colored eyes, and a lanky, but curvy body. He noticed her looking him over too. A small smirk appeared on the corner of her mouth.
"I'm Stella." She held her hand out. Reno took it, turned it over and bent forward to press his lips on her knuckles.
"Reno, of the Turks." He said with a small wink.
A loud cough made Reno look over her shoulder to Rufus.
"And that is my little cousin. Buzzkill, in human form." She rolled her eyes.
"You can molest my bodyguards later, Stella, when they are off duty."
"Oh, really?" she looked Reno up and down one more time, then turned away. "Anyway, I was thinking Annabelle could do better than Kalm." She went back to the couch, Annabelle trailing behind her.
"How about you move to Migar?" Rufus suggested.
"And my job?"
"You actually work?" Rufus put his pen down and stared incredulously at her. "What about the money I send you every month?"
"You really think I burn that on shoes, don't you?" she raised her foot, displaying an old, red chuck. "I put it all in the bank for Annabelle."
"Huh. Never thought you'd be the honest type."
"Shocking, huh?" she smirked. "Anyway, I was thinking about moving to Junon. Better schools and everything."
"Midgar has better schools than Junon."
"Yes, but Midgar doesn't ha—"
"You're moving to Midgar."
"Ruf—"
"Midgar."
Reno watched as Stella glared at the smirking VP. Then, he pulled the most unfair card ever.
"Anny, sweetie, would you like to live in Midgar?" the blond man asked her.
"Yes!" she squeaked enthusiastically. Then she started rambling about all the things she could do in the 'big town'.
"I hate you." Stella glared at Rufus.
"I know." He smiled sweetly at her. It was the same smile he gave Tseng when he fucked something up.
"I'm going to neuter you."
"I'm sure."
"Painfully."
"Of course."
"You're paying for the moving crew."
"Naturally."
"And a decent apartment."
"Anything else?"
Stella lifted her foot again. After a few seconds looking at it, she smiled.
"Shoes."
A few weeks later, Reno was face down on his desk, fighting a monster hangover. His PHS beeped. 'Probably Tseng.' He thought. He tried to tune out the soft humming of the AC above his head, but it was just making his headache worse. That, and the constant beeping of his PHS. He finally gave up and answered it.
"What?" he growled.
"Mission." Tseng's voice answered.
"Shove it up your ass…sir." Then he hung up. He knew he was going to pay for that later, but his hangover was killing him. He sighed and considered going back to his apartment. A giggling sound made him frown in confusion and look up.
"Hello…" he said to the little girl in front of his desk.
"You said a bad word!" she whispered loudly.
"Well, my boss is very mean, he deserved it."
"You should eat some candy!" she continued. When Reno tilted his head in question, she explained: "For the booboo on your head." She reached over the desk and pat Reno over his goggles.
"You're cute, kid. Where's your sister?" he stood up, despite his protesting body.
"She's with Ruffles. We lives here nao!" she squeaked loudly. When Reno cringed, she put her hands on her mouth and giggled. "Sowwy"
"S'okay, kid." He took her hand. "Let's get you back to your sister, yo."
They made their way to Rufus' office, Reno trying to keep his headache at bay while the small girl babbled on.
"You won't blow up a warehouse, but you're willing to babysit?" Cissnei was leaving Tseng's office with a folder in her hand.
"Her sister's hot." Reno shrugged.
"So is Tseng's head." She stood akimbo and glared at him. "You better have a good reason for th—huh?"
"Why you yelling at Mouse?" Annabelle tugged on Cissnei's pants.
"Mouse?"
"Mouse!" she pointed at Reno, who raised his eyebrows in amusement. He reached behind his head and pulled his ponytail over his shoulder. "MOUSE!" the little girl squeaked in delight.
"She's cute, isn't she?" Reno asked.
"I never pegged you for the kind of person who likes children." Tseng came out of his office. "Nonetheless, you're piloting Cissnei to the mission." He took the small girl's hand. Reno cringed at what the chopper's noise was going to do to his headache, but kept quiet.
"Baibai, Mouse!" she waved at Reno as Tseng led her away. He waved back.
"You do realize I'm going to use that against you every chance I get, right?" Cissnei smirked.
"Not if you don't want last year's Christmas party's photos on the internet, you won't, yo." He watched her smirk turn into a scowl. Scoffing, she led the way to the helipad.
Tseng watched the little girl from the corner of his eye. She had her little hands pressed against the elevator's glass wall, looking down in glee. She peeked at him, but blushed as she saw him looking at her too.
"You're scary." She whispered. Tseng raised his eyebrows and smiled a little. Were children always so honest? "Why were you mean to Mouse?"
"Mouse has to fly somewhere, that's his job." Tseng answered.
"Mouse can fly?" she gasped, eyes as big as they could get. Tseng chuckled and took her hand again when the elevator doors opened. He knocked on Rufus' office and entered.
"Sir?"
"Good morning, Tseng." He greeted. "Glad you're here, I need you to fin—oh. There she is." He smiled at the little girl. "Where did you run off to?" he asked.
"I went to see Mouse!" she squeaked and ran to Rufus. "But then the mean man sended him away!" she whispered loudly. Tseng willed his lips not to twitch.
"Well, Mouse isn't exactly the nicest person either." Rufus said.
"I wanna go home!" she whined suddenly. "Where's Stella?"
Rufus heard Tseng chuckle and leave. He sighed. His cousin was looking for a job and a babysitter. Never mind that Rufus offered her both…
"Didn't you agree to stay here and behave until she comes back?" Rufus tried. He saw the tears well up in her eyes, and in true Stella fashion, storm out the door, stomping her little feet.
"That's great, guys, keep up the good work!" Zack wiped his face with a towel as he dismissed the cadet class he was covering for Angeal. He felt something hit his butt and whirled around in surprise. The small girl that was behind him lost her balance and fell on her butt.
She was wearing colorful striped stockings under a little jeans dress. Her curly hair fell down to her elbows, little plastic flowers attached to them. Zack watched in horror as her honey-colored eyes filled with tears, and a small pout formed on her lower lip.
"Ohhh, no, no, no…" he waved his hands around and knelt down in front of her. "Don't cry, please?"
"You hurted me…" she held up her left arm. There was a cut just above her elbow, where the tip of Zack's sword caught her when he turned. He visibly paled at the thought of what could have happened. He watched as a drop of blood ran down her arm and fell on her knee. He thought quickly. The cut wasn't that deep (thank Gaia!) but it was a bit long. The infirmary was too far away compared to his office, where he had a small first aid kit. He tried to calm himself and think straight.
"I'm so sorry, let's get that fixed, hm?" he asked, reaching out to pick her up.
"No!" she shrieked. "Get away, mean man!" her high pitched voice stung his enhanced hearing, and successfully called attention to them. She started flailing around, spraying little drops of blood on the wall behind her and on Zack's face. He tried very hard not to panic.
"Zack?" a familiar voice called. He turned around to look pleadingly at Cloud. "What's wrong?" he knelt down next to him. While Zack tried to form words out of his stuttering, he looked at the girl and back to Cloud, trying to explain. It seemed the blond understood, for he made small shushing noises to the crying girl.
"There, there…" he managed to make her crying subdue to cute little hiccups. She let Cloud pick her up, Zack trailing worriedly behind them to his office. She stared at him with those big, watery eyes, and a small frown on her brow over Cloud's shoulder. Zack was never one to mind blood, even if it was his own, but seeing that little girl flail around, splattering her blood everywhere, made his heart clench, even if he knew the wound wouldn't even leave a scar later. But her eyes showed she was truly afraid of him…no one was ever afraid of him.
As they reached the office, Cloud sat her on the desk, and turned to Zack.
"I have to go to class, can you manage?" he seemed to understand Zack's inner turmoil. Nodding, the older man watched his friend go. He reached behind his desk and opened a drawer, pulling a faint glowing green orb out. The little girl stared at it.
"Do you wanna see magic?" he asked, hoping she would warm up to him. To his dismay, she shook her head violently and covered the gash in her arm. It wasn't serious, but it was still bleeding, droplets running down her arm and staining her clothes. "But…I need to heal it…" he tried approaching the materia. Thick tears started leaking down her cheeks again, and she hopped off the desk and ran for the door, just when it swung open, missing her face by an inch. She didn't seem to notice, and kept running, until she hit a leg.
"Mouse!" she wailed and stretched her arms up at the redheaded Turk. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her blood, but he picked her up anyway.
"What happened?" he asked over her sobs. Zack explained as best as he could while Reno took the materia off him and cast a low spell on the girl. She quieted down to watch the green glow curl around her arm, and hiccupped quietly. "It was just an accident, Anny, he didn't mean it." Reno explained to the small girl.
"Where did she come from, anyway, I didn't see her coming, who would leave a child in the training rooms, wheredidshecomefrom?" Zack was having a breakdown. Apparently, Reno thought, Zack had a soft heart for kids. Well, softer.
"Calm down, yo." Reno pat Annabelle's back as she started to get worked up again at Zack's outburst. "She's Rufus' cousin, her older sister just finished moving here. I guess she left her with Rufus until she found a babysitter."
"Oh." Zack calmed down. He reached a hand to the girl, but retracted it as she squirmed against Reno. "How did she end up in the training room?"
"No idea." Reno shrugged. "I was looking for her on the security cams after I got back from the mission, her sister's spitting fire because Rufus lost her."
"I wanna go too, and apologize." Zack stepped closer.
"Not a good idea, the woman's got quite some language." For Reno to say that, made Zack cringe, but he wanted to go anyway.
So they go-ed.
"I wanna know where the hell my baby sister is, or so help me whatever fake shit you believe in, I will skin you, Rufus!" Reno could now understand why Zack was cringing in the elevator. With his enhanced hearing, he probably heard a bit more than what Reno did now.
"Calm down, we'll find her!" Rufus yelled back.
"I certainly fucking hope so, or I am going to be supremely fucking pissed!"
"Just wait 'till you hear the end of it, yo…" Reno stood in front of the desk Rufus was sitting behind with Annabelle on his arm. Stella ran over to him and took her sister.
"What?" she noticed the stains on Annabelle's arm and clothes. "Is this blood?" she looked to the small girl. "Is this your blood?" her voice was starting to rise. "How did she get blood on her?" she screeched to Reno. Then she saw Zack standing behind him, and his face splattered with little droplets of blood. "What did you do to my baby sister?" Said baby sister started to wail loudly at Stella's tone and hid her face in the neck in front of her. "What the fucking hell happened?"
"Stella, calm down…" Rufus tried.
"Calm down?" she rounded on him, not noticing the other Turks entering the office, alarmed at all the yelling. Rufus waved at them not to act. "Jesus fucking Christ on crutches, you're worthless!" her voice wavered from earsplitting shrieks to venomous whispers "This is exactly why I didn't want to move to Midgar, I want to visit you, then I have to let my baby sister get near those people." She spat in Reno's and Zack's direction.
"They hel—" Rufus was rudely interrupted by a loud slamming of fist on his desk.
"THEY DO NOT HELP ANYONE! YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT HAPPENED TO MOTHER BECAUSE OF THESE DAMN TURKEYS AND THE MAKO JUNKIES!" Stella screeched so loud, even Annabelle stopped crying to look at her sister in fear.
"Hey!" Reno and Zack frowned.
"Don't you 'hey' me, you little rat-tailed phony." She hissed at Reno. Rounding up on Zack, she dealt the final blow. "I don't know what kind of brainwash they do to humans in this place, but I hope you're proud of yourself, you freak."
"I was playing. 'S not his fault…" the little girl sniffed.
"I don't care whether you were saving Minerva herself from imminent death, I do not want you near those people. Do you hear me?"
Zack stood with his mouth agape, trying to form words to defend himself, but the woman promptly stormed past him and slammed the door behind her.
"I—I'm so sorry." He crashed down on a cushioned chair. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, head between his arms, with the palms of his hands on the back of his head. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply to calm himself. He didn't know what had happened, but he wasn't going to stand by without understanding at least a little. A small thump to his left made him look up. Reno was slumped on the other chair, his hand supporting his forehead, eyes unfocused.
"I want to be clear that this is none of your fault." Rufus sighed. They looked up at him. "Stella's parents, my aunt and uncle, were killed in a crossfire. I don't remember the details, but it seems that Stella does…"
"Sir, I will need to take precautions, should this happen again." Tseng said. Rufus forgot he had come in during the fight.
"Please don't, I'll talk to he—"
"I'll talk to her." Zack interrupted. "I did hurt her sister, even if unintentionally."
"I'll go with you." Reno stood up, followed by Zack.
"I don't know if this is a good idea…" Rufus said.
"If she doesn't want to, we'll leave her alone, but we have to at least try." Zack whined.
Rufus sighed, and nodded, giving them directions to her apartment.
Zack and Reno parked the ShinRa issued truck in front of a neat condo. They looked at each other and nodded assuringly. Stepping out of the car, they made their way to the front door and rang the doorbell. Little stomping footsteps were heard, and the door was opened.
"Mouse!" Annabelle sprang up to Reno's arms.
"Anny?" Stella came through a door and stood still for a moment, staring at them. "Anny, why don't you go check on Totoro, I'm sure he's been feeling lonely all day…" she said.
"Totorooo…" she ran up the stairs.
Stella kept looking at them, until she heard a door close upstairs. "Shoes off, please." She turned around and disappeared through the door she came through. Zack and Reno toed their footwear off and pushed them to a corner. They followed her to a big kitchen. There was bubble wrap everywhere, and the distinct smell of cardboard boxes could be noticed over whatever she was cooking.
"What exactly happened?" she asked, kicking some bubble wrap aside and pointing to a pair of chairs. As they took their places, Zack explained what had happened in the training room, and Reno said he found them through the security cameras after he came back from his mission. "So you used materia to cure her?" they nodded. Stella stepped away from the counter and sat down on one of the chairs too, sighing.
"I really am sorry, I don't know how I didn't hear her come in, and I swear it was an acci—" Zack stopped talking when Stella raised a hand.
"I'm a bit nervous about moving here to Midgar, so I apologize for my behavior before." She looked up at them. "Especially about what I said."
"It's okay, not many people like ShinRa anyway…" Reno chuckled. "And Rufus told us about your parents, so it's understandable."
"Heh." Stella seemed to relax. "I need to cut out his tongue, then."
"So…everything's okay now?" Zack asked.
"Yeah." She stood up. "I'm Stella by the way." She held out her hand to the SOLDIER.
"Zack Fair." He carefully took her hand in his.
"You guys want to eat?" she walked to the sink and put on two oven mitts. Opening the oven, she took out a steaming, bubbling lasagna.
"Yes, please!" they answered at the same time.
"Anny!" she called up the stairs. Little footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. Stella rummaged around in a box, pulling plates and glasses out, washing them and setting the table. Zack stood up to help, but Annabelle blocked his way.
"You look like…like…Shadow!" she pointed her little finger at him.
"Don't point." Stella touched her finger with the spatula she was using to serve the lasagna. Anny greedily licked the sauce off.
"Why do I look like a shadow?" Zack asked.
"Not a shadow, the Shadow." Stella laughed. "Shadow the Hedgehog? The Ultimate Life Form?"
"Ohhh…Hey!" he playfully frowned at Anny. She giggled and handed him a plush Shadow the Hedgehog.
"Why don't I get anything?" Reno whined. Annabelle widened her eyes, and quickly ran away up the stairs.
"You are sooo screwed…" Stella chuckled as she put the plates on the table. A few moments later, Reno found out why. Her Mikey Mouse plush was almost his size. How the little girl managed to drag it around was beyond him, but he was more focused on having to eat with the thing on his lap. "Stain that and face the wrath of a sad child." Stella warned as she cut Annabelle's lasagna in little pieces.
"That was really great, thanks again." Reno said as he slipped on his shoes. Zack nodded approvingly.
"Baibai!" Annabelle waved from the door as they drove away.
When they arrived at ShinRa, Zack went to another training room, and Reno decided to tell the VP how everything went…if Tseng hadn't gotten in the way.
"Did you have a nice lunch, Reno?" He asked. Reno's face went slack. He had totally forgotten…
Far away, in an abandoned, blown up warehouse, Cissnei was fuming.
I keep imagining Reno hugging my Mikey plush...