Hydrophobia is a Fear of Water
How long had it been since Sephiroth had made his return and been defeated again? It hadn't crossed her mind to keep count of the days. But the disease that had plagued the planet with his second coming was all but a memory…for most. The healing rain that had fallen in his wake had erased nearly every trace of the virus and no one lost their life that hadn't already lost it before.
That's right, Cloud had been merciful. He had spared the silver-haired men's lives. This decision was based mostly on the regrets of the youngest brother having realized how mislead he had been. He had realized how wrong he had been in thinking that the calamity called Jenova would choose any of them over the mighty Sephiroth to 'rightfully inherit the planet'.
That was how the three of them came to repent for what they had done by serving as the 'Seventh Heaven Bounty Hunter's' to help protect the city of Edge from the attacks of rowdy monsters. In time, the residence of Edge began to forgive and trust the silver-haired men, and all was calm once again...
For all but one.
On the second floor of the Seventh Heaven Bar, in the bathroom at the end of the hall, were two figures on the floor; one sobbing in pain, the other unsure of what action to take.
"Valkerie, please, let me go get-"
"No," the honey-haired teen interrupted the little girl at her side, cringing and holding her side in pain, "don't tell anyone, Marlene."
"But, they can make it go away," she explained, pleading with the young woman, "Like they did for Denzel."
"No…no," Valkerie huffed, regaining her composure as the pain subsided, "Its okay, I'm fine now."
"Valkerie," the girl pleaded again, a look of concern plastered to her little face.
"It's alright now, Marlene," the green eyed girl chimed with a smile. "Now, let's fix your hair." Marlene sighed in defeat and handed over the pink ribbon as Valkerie began to twist her hair into a braid.
* * *
"What took you so long?" And exited ninja called, hands on her hips, as Marlene bounced down the stairs with Valkerie following at a slow pace.
The honey-haired girl blushed at the loud acknowledgement and crept over to the side of the stoic figure standing in the corner of the wall and the bar. "My fingers didn't want to work," She lied softly and turned to the dark haired man before her, "Hello, Vincent."
"Hello, Valkerie," He replied with a curt nod. The girl had met Vincent shortly after he had woken from his thirty year sleep and seemed to become glued to his side ever since. They meshed well with one another, he being a man of few words and prone to brooding and she being a quiet, shy girl that simply believed everyone deserved a second chance. They found comfort in each other's company, be it spent with light conversation or in silence. But because of such a relationship, Vincent had caught a hint of the lie and, once the ninja had disappeared to torment someone other than them, he demanded a reason for such a thing.
"What do you mean?" Valkerie cocked her head to the side.
The red-eyed man gave the young woman a stern look, "Do not act as if you don't understand, Valkerie. Why are you lying to Yuffie?"
"Vincent, I-"
"Vinny!" Yuffie cried, running out of the kitchen and effectively interrupting the honey-haired girl. "Tifa needs food stuff!" Her only reply came in the form of a raised eyebrow, "I'mma go get it and you're coming with me!"
"And why is that?"
"Why?" She sounded as if the answer was obvious, "Because I could get kidnapped or something! Duh!" She sprinted to the door then turned back and tapped her foot impatiently, "Well? Come on!"
Valkerie smiled lightly, knowing this was just Yuffie's way of trying to get the 'gloomy' man out into the world again. "Goodbye, Vincent," She said quietly.
He glanced at her briefly before following the hyper girl. Valkerie sighed; he's not going to let me off with that, she thought, absently rubbing her infected side.
"Something happen?" Tifa asked lightly, appearing behind the bar.
"What?"
"Your side," she pointed out.
"Oh," Valkerie laughed slightly, "I just ran into a door knob on my way down the hallway.
Tifa chuckled, "Typical Valkerie."
"Tifa," chimed a smooth voice from the entrance of the bar, "Have you seen big brother?" Valkerie turned to spot the feminine form of Yazoo walking up to the bar. He turned and smiled at her, "Good morning, Valkerie."
"Good morning, Yazoo," she replied with a blush; an old, odd habit she had when anyone acknowledged her ever since she was little. "I think Cloud is upstairs in his room."
"Thank you," he smiled again and headed in that direction.
"Why do you do that?" Tifa giggled.
"What do you mean?"
"You always blush like that when ever someone other than me or Vincent talks to you," she explained.
The green-eyed girl blushed again and shrugged, "I can't help it."
"You're so innocent," she cooed. The bashful girl was about to retort when the kind woman before her turned to the person coming down the stairs, "Did you find him?"
"Yes," the silver-haired man replied, holding a green materia in his hand. Then his attention turned towards the window. "Ah," he looked at Valkerie with a soft smile, "Valkerie, could you stand right…here," he turned her towards the door, "And hold this?" He placed something in her hands and walked into the kitchen.
Valkerie turned towards the swinging door in confusion then back to the entrance of the bar when the door slammed open. A look of horror crossed the teen's face as she realized what Yazoo had done to her. In her hand was a bold black permanent marker and a look of what would be taken as guilt on her face as she stared at the youngest of the silver-haired trio with doodles all over his face and a look that could kill.
"I-I…he…it…" she began to stutter with fear.
She began shaking as he angrily made his way towards her. He gripped her wrist with the hand that held the marker and asked with a voice full of malice, "Where is he?"
"Really," Tifa huffed to herself, "How could he do this to poor little Valky?" She walked into the kitchen and came back immediately after, replying with, "He left through the back exit." Under normal circumstances, the dark-haired woman would have tried to calm the young man down -tried to reason with him- but after trying multiple times before, she gave up, having come to live with the pranks the brothers constantly pulled on each other.
Kadaj turned back to the door. "Wait!" Valkerie called, grabbing Kadaj's wrist this time. "You may want to wash that off before running through Edge to destroy your brother," she explained. Silently agreeing, he allowed the girl to pull him upstairs and into the bathroom. He sat on the toilet as she pulled out a rag and wet it down before handing it to him.
"Thanks," He mumbled before taking it and scrubbing at his face. The two were relatively the same age, only being a few months apart. Valkerie never could explain why, he being nothing like Vincent or Tifa, but she felt calm with Kadaj around, not nervous and jumpy as she other wise was. She felt light hearted.
She giggled when he pulled the rag from his face. Valkerie pulled the cloth out of his hands and rinsed it out, the water temporarily turning solid black. She turned back to him and slapped it to the side of his face with a smile and began to actually clean the smeared mess off his face.
"You should know not to fall asleep around them by now," she stated off handedly. He just grumbled in response. "Well," she began, "at least it was only marker this time. Last time they found some wild animal and threw it on you right?"
"No!" he snapped then a silence ensued. Finally he mumbled, "It was a stray cat."
"Really?" She asked in disbelief, "a little cat did all that damage? You had scratches everywhere for weeks!" He looked to pout at her reaction. Valkerie sighed, "They only do it because they love you."
He barked a laugh, "How do you figure that?"
"Well," she began, "do you think they'd take the time to torture you if they hated you or didn't care about you?"
He was stumped. She stood up and rinsed the rag out again. "There you go. All clean and ready for brother beating," she sang, smiling.
He mumbled an awkward thank you and left the bar. When Valkerie returned downstairs she was greeted by a smiling Tifa. "How sweet," was all she said to you but it was enough to make the blood rush to your cheeks again.
* * *
Valkerie was helping Tifa with the bar, taking meal orders to the customers mostly when the sound of the 'dynamic trio' joined the bustle of the bar. The honey-haired girl smiled to the brunette at the stove, both arms loaded up with plates full of food as she mad her way through the door, only to be shoved to the floor, scattering the food and breaking most of the plates.
"What the-" the irritated voice of Kadaj came as he appeared in the door way. "Valkerie," he cringed and knelt to help her up so she wouldn't hurt herself on the broken glass. Was he successful? Nope!
"Ow," She mumbled as a few spots of blood seeped through the stomach of her shirt. She gasped when he absentmindedly lifted her shirt just high enough to assess the minor wound. Valkerie jerked her shirt back down, trying to hide what they had all seen.
Needless to say, Tifa closed the bar early.
* * *
Valkerie shrunk on her stool under the eyes upon her, that being: Tifa, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Cloud, Vincent, and Yuffie who stared despite not knowing what was going on.
"This is why you've been lying to everyone?" Vincent asked.
The girl slouched more and nodded.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Tifa demanded.
"We could have taken care of this already," Cloud stated.
She looked down at her lap even more. "I didn't want to burden anyone," she mumbled.
"'Burden anyone'," Kadaj scoffed, "You realize if you went on without telling anyone one of two things would have happened. One, we would have found out anyway, you can only hold back the pain for so long-"
"Or two," Yazoo continued, "You would have died." Loz let out a whimper at that. Yazoo looked at him and cooed with a mock pout, "Don't cry, Loz."
"What?" Yuffie cried, "Why would she die?"
"She has Geostigma," Vincent explained, sending another stern look towards the cowering girl.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled again.
It was quiet, everyone having seemed to have said everything they wanted to. "Well, no since just sitting around doing nothing," Tifa said, breaking the silence. "Lets get you fixed up, Valky."
She nodded and stood up.
Cloud made to move toward the door when Yazoo spoke up, "Let us take her." Now the eyes were turned to the trio. "We feel responsible," he explained.
Kadaj didn't even wait for anyone to agree, he just turned to Valkerie, offered his hand and said, "Let's go, Valkerie." With an obvious color tinting her cheeks, she took his hand and let him pull her outside to his motorbike.
He climbed onto the beast and waited for her to climb on behind him. She awkwardly did so and nervously placed her hands on his waist. Kadaj rolled his eyes and grabbed her hands, pulling her arms around his waist. "Unless you want to be smeared on the asphalt, I'd keep them there," He added for good measure.
The others never went after them; they knew that they could trust the three. Vincent was the only one that looked slightly perturbed as he watched 'discreetly' from the window as the four disappeared in the direction of the ruins of Midgar.
* * *
"Alright," Kadaj mumbled as he slowed to a stop. He climbed off the machine but Valkerie seemed to be glued to the seat. "Valkerie?" Kadaj asked, waving a hand in front of her.
"Perhaps your reckless driving frightened her to paralysis," Yazoo mused.
"My driving is fine," Kadaj shot back, sending a look to his brother that said he was not amused. "Valkerie, you can get off."
"Valkerie?" Loz mumbled, a tremble revealing his worry.
She glanced at the three, horror colored in her eyes, "I…I'm hydrophobic…"
Loz was the only one of the three that looked confused, "What?"
Yazoo glanced at him, "She's afraid of water."
Kadaj sighed and pulled her off the bike, nearly dragging her into the wrecked church. "Kadaj!" She cried. "Please, don't-"
"If you don't take care of this now, it'll kill you," he explained nonchalantly.
"I don't care-"
She was cut off when Kadaj stopped and jerked her towards him by her arm, not letting her move away. Their noses nearly touched as he glared straight into her eyes, "I. Do." Her heart nearly stopped at the determination in his voice. He kept a firm grip on her wrist but let her back way.
As he turned back toward the pool of water he lost his grip and turned to see the honey-haired girl running back towards the entrance. He ran after her, sweeping her up in his arms when she was stopped by Yazoo and Loz.
She instantly began flailing against him as he made his way once again to the pool of cleansing water. She continued to attempt freedom, to which Kadaj simply said, "Make this as hard as you want it to, your still going into that water." Panic was flooded in her green eyes as she looked to the liquid not five feet away. She turned back to look at Kadaj as he held her over the pool. He smiled crookedly and slightly cynically, "Going down?" Then…he dropped her.
Valkerie flailed as the water consumed her, fear taking over, not allowing her to feel the disease melt from her torso. Through her panic she found the surface of the water. She found a hand waiting and lunged for it.
Kadaj easily lifted her out of the water and held her up right as she had her mild anxiety attack. Once she finally calmed down she refused to look at him. All he said though was, "You can hit me now."
Valkerie shook her head and Yazoo laughed. "She's too nice to do that, Brother," he called from the entrance.
"It won't hurt me," Kadaj scoffed, "I just thought I'd make you feel better."
"I'd rather have an apology," she mumbled in response and made her way to the exit.
The sound of two motorbike retreating made Valkerie stop and turn to Kadaj in confusion; he hadn't moved an inch. "I told them to go," he explained.
"Why?"
He shook his head with a grin and started towards her, "I'm not going to apologize because one way or another, it would have ended like that."
"You didn't have to do it at all," she replied quietly.
"Why are you acting like Tifa, Vincent, and Big Brother is the only one's that care about you?" He demanded. "You're the one that convinced everyone to trust us, so why are you the only one that won't now?"
"I do trust you!" Valkerie retorted, raising her voice. "I trust you more than you'll ever know…I just…you could have left me with some dignity."
"Dignity," he scoffed, "That was thrown out the window when you chose to make a run for it."
"I'm sorry for being afraid!" She snapped. "I didn't choose to be afraid of water. That just kind of happened when I nearly drowned when I was six!"
"I know," he mumbled.
"What? What do you mean you know?" She demanded, "You couldn't know about that."
"Sure I could-"
"No, you really couldn't," she interrupted, "The only people that know about that are me, Vincent, the boy who saved me, and whoever he told."
"Which would include me, Yazoo, and Loz," Kadaj added, yawning of handedly.
"But…that would mean-"
"Yeah," he sighed, "Guess that means you owe me your life."
"You saved me…" it wasn't a question but a statement as she became lost in her thoughts. It was a long time ago. It was a lot like what had just happened actually. She had been cradled in the arms of her father, being lulled to sleep by the sound of his heart beat before being dropped into a pool of water much too deep to stand in.
She had fought to find the surface to no avail, seeing only a large blurred figure disappearing and being replaced by a much smaller figure before blacking out.
"I was going to wait there until you woke up to make sure you were okay but Yazoo had said Loz got stuck in a tree again and I had to get him down," he seemed to grumble during the last part. "When I saw you after that last fight with Big Brother I was…I don't know…surprised…and relieved." Valkerie cocked her head to the side in confusion and he explained, "Surprised to see you after so long and relieved to see that you were perfectly fine."
Valkerie smiled slightly and looked down, "I always wondered why I felt like I'd seen you before."
She looked up in surprise when she felt his lips press against her forehead, "You really have no idea how glad I am that I was able to save you." He grabbed her hand and made his way outside to his bike.
"I can imagine," she replied, snuggling against him as he started the machine and headed back to Edge.
A/N: This was another reqest from Rebellious Turk. I hope you like it even though it took so long for me to finish it. Please don't hate me? I chose this for the title because the whole scene between Valkerie and Kadaj was about her fear of water. ...ANYONE THAT WANTS A ONESHOT CAN LOOK AT MY PROFILE!...yeah....BYE!