VG Cats ©2001-2010 Scott Ramsoomair

Note - this chapter isn't as long as it seems, but there is a lot of double-spacing.

In Time of Need

Chapter 2

Leo lay in bed, restless and unable to sleep. He was exhausted from being woken up at 1 in the morning, but he couldn't shake the thought of what might have happened if it had been any worse. Aeris could have died tonight. In fact, maybe she had, and he was dreaming all of this. He rolled over to see if Aeris was still next to him - she was, thank god. They had been best friends since near birth, and Leo didn't know what he would do without her. He only hoped she thought the same of him, but he doubted it. He was getting a headache from so much thinking, and decided it would be best to try to get some sleep. He laid his head down on his pillow, clearing his mind and feeling sleep take over his tired form.


"Well I don't know about you, but I sure had a great time," he said to Aeris as they left the restaurant. "I can't remember the last time I ate that much." Aeris giggled slightly.

"Yeah, that was delicious," she agreed. "But today's been a long day. I just want to go home, take a shower, get comfortable and play some Xbox."

"God, that sounds so good right now," Leo said as they approached the car. Leo had borrowed his dad's new Lexus to take Aeris to this restaurant. Normally, his dad wouldn't let him drive such a new car, considering he was only 16, but when he stated his intentions, his dad understood, and was more than happy to toss him the keys. Leo started the car, smiling at how neat it was to start it with the press of a button, and they drove off. When they had gotten on to the highway, the car let out a beep from the dash as the fuel light came on. "Crap, looks like we gotta stop and get gas." Leo turned into the gas station and turned the engine off with the press of a button, smiling again at how nifty that little feature is.

"Wait here a second," he told Aeris. He pulled the lever to open the gas cap, leaving the car turned on so she could listen to the radio. As he walked inside to pay for the gasoline he would eventually fill his car with, he couldn't help but notice a couple shifty looking guys standing in front of the store, smoking cigarettes and eyeing up the car, making him feel uneasy. As if to magnify this feeling, Leo knew he left the keyfob in the car, and knew that as long as that was in the car, anyone could drive it. He shook his head and tried to hurry inside. As soon as the glass door to the station closed, he saw the guys run to the car. He turned tail immediately, throwing the door open and running toward the car, chasing after the guys.

"Aeris! Get out!" he shouted. She was dozing off in the passenger seat when she heard Leo yell, and noticed the burly guys running toward her. She shrieked quickly and fumbled for the door handle, opening it and stepping out quickly. One of the guys pointed his gun at Leo as the other circled around the car.

"Stay the fuck back or I'll fucking shoot you!" the smaller one screamed menacingly. At that moment, Aeris swept in from behind and got the gunman in a headlock.

"Listen here, boy, you don't EVER threaten my friend!" Aeris could feel the man's neck pop as she twisted it. Suddenly, she screamed out in pain - the most sickening scream Leo had ever heard - and let go of the man she had in a headlock. He dove out of the way, clutching a bloodied knife in his hand, leaping into the passenger seat and shouting at his accomplice to hurry. Aeris clutched her abdomen, a small trickle of blood seeping from between her fingers, falling gently to the ground.

"Aeris!" He ran over to her, applying pressure to her profusely bleeding knife wound. "You fucking cowards! You won't fucking get away with this!" he vainly screamed, the car's tires squealing as the men tore out of the gas station. Aeris looked up at him, her bright azure eyes slowly fading away. A small pool of blood began to form beneath her, as Leo continued applying pressure. "You're gonna be okay, I promise..." Leo reassured. The attendant, having heard all of this, ran outside with his shotgun.

"Where'd they go?!" he shouted.

"They got away, call 911! They stabbed her!" The attendant ran back inside to call for help as Leo tried to make her feel as comfortable as possible until help arrived. She began to drift in and out of consciousness. Leo had never felt so helpless in his life.

"Aeris... I think you should know I love you more than anything," he said as he hugged her tightly for what would be the last time, as her eyes slowly drifted shut. He felt her body go limp as he slowly set her on the ground as a feeling of crushing guilt slammed on top of him.


Leo's eyes shot open, his breathing heavy. He rolled over to make sure Aeris was okay, still sleeping soundly. "Jesus Christ, what was that all about?" he thought to himself. It was at that moment, when he reflected on how devastated he was when Aeris lost her life, that he knew how much he really cared for her. He couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same way about him, as he put his arm around her stomach and held her close for a second, before looking at the clock to see if it was even worth trying to go back to sleep. The clock's answer of 8:30 AM said no. "Fuck!" he shouted under his breath. He began gently shaking Aeris.

"Aeris, wake up! We're late for school!" Her eyes bolted open as she lept out of bed. Neither had time to care that they were half-naked, nor did they seem to care that each other were half-naked. They just had to get ready. Leo threw open his closet door to take out the first shirt and pair of jeans he could find, as Aeris frantically searched her suitcase. She immediately wished she had gotten more stuff out of her house while she was able to enter it. In what seemed like only a couple of minutes they were dressed and ran out of the room toward the door. Leo's mom was making breakfast.

"Hey whoa, what's the hurry you two?" she said as they frantically tried to gather their stuff.

"Late for school, gotta go," Aeris rushed. Mrs. Leonardo finished setting the table.

"Guys, you're already late, and Aeris, I doubt you'll want to go straight back to school so soon after last night," she said, putting some bacon in the skillet. "Just take an absent day. I'll call the school and tell them what happened." They both stopped in their tracks, both relieved that they didn't have to go to school, yet slightly irritated that they were forced so rudely out of bed during such a restful sleep.

"Go put your pajamas back on, breakfast is almost ready." Leo put his backpack on the couch and sat down while Aeris went to change.

"Thanks, Mom," he said. His mom nodded while she finished cooking the bacon. Aeris got changed into some pajamas, followed by Leo, as they went in the kitchen and sat down to eat breakfast. Leo's mom was gracious enough to wake up early before she had to go to work to cook a big breakfast, which included bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, hash browns, toast, and coffee. She called everyone to the table, and in a few minutes everyone was seated and eating.

"Oh Leo, I told Mr. and Mrs. Cole that I'd show them a couple places around town," said Leo's mom across the table. She was a real estate agent, one of the best in Toronto, and she was more than happy to show Aeris's parents some affordable places to stay once their homeowner's insurance came through. "We might be gone a while. Are you two going to be all right by yourselves?" Leo rolled his eyes.

"Mom, we're 16, I think we can manage." His mom grinned and kept eating, as did he. Aeris did little more than than poke at her food, as she was understandibly not very hungry. It wasn't long before the food was gone and everyone was satisfied.

"Well Linda, the food was great," said Mr. Cole, wiping his mouth. "You've sure got some talent." Leo's mom giggled.

"Thank you, Dan. I'm glad you enjoyed it," she replied as she started clearing the table. It didn't take long for everyone to start doing something else - Aeris's parents were getting dressed to look at houses, Leo's dad was reading the paper, and his mom was getting ready for work. Aeris and Leo were, of course, in the bedroom. Aeris was looking to see which outfits she had blindly picked out of her dresser, while Leo was trying again to beat the part in Left 4 Dead 2 he was having trouble with the night before.

"Fucking hell, I still can't beat this part," he huffed. Aeris quit poking around in her suitcase and went over to Leo's computer.

"Let me try." Leo got up and went into the kitchen to get some sodas. His mom and Aeris's parents had left a few minutes before, most likely in too big of a rush to say bye. When he came back, Aeris was fiddling with the settings.

"What are you doing?" he said as he put the sodas down on his desk.

"Changing your settings... I think you were having so much trouble because your sensitivity was on 2," she suggested. "How can you even play with your sensitivity that low?"

"Easier headshots," he explained opening his Sierra Mist. Aeris rolled her eyes and set it on a much more acceptable level, then resumed the game. It looked astounding on Leo's high-end machine, which was much newer than her own. Everything ran so fluidly at an incredible frame rate, with no jagged edges to be seen. Leo was surprised how accurate she was, especially on such a high sensitivity. He was dumbstruck when she got past it a couple minutes later.

"How the...?" Aeris swiveled around in her chair and grabbed her soda.

"Lots of practice, I guess," she smirked. Leo was a little frustrated at first, until he noticed that Aeris was actually smiling, for the first time since the fire. "What's the matter, jealous?" He scoffed.

"Jealous, because a girl beat me at Left 4 Dead? Hell no. I could walk circles around you." Aeris stood up and ushered him into the chair, an invitation which he gladly accepted. He went back to the main menu and started the level over, dying almost immediately.

"What the hell! I swear to God you've got to be cheating." Aeris laughed as Leo restarted, missing shot after shot due to the new sensitivity, only to die again. "Dammit!" She was laughing hysterically now.

"I'm glad you find this funny, Aeris," he growled. She sat up, having fallen over with laughter, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Oh Leo, I do," she giggled. "Very funny." She kept laughing while Leo rolled his eyes and turned his computer off. He took another swig of his soda while he grabbed an Xbox game.

"I'm gonna play some Vegas 2, you wanna join?" he asked, offering Aeris the second controller. She shook her head.

"Nah, not right now. I gotta make sure I packed up everything I need." She reached for her suitcase and opened it. At that moment, Leo's dad knocked on his door and opened it.

"Leo, my boy, I've got to run to the shops briefly, is there anything I might be able to grab you?" His British accent confused the crap out of him - he wasn't sure if he got his Canadian accent from his mom, or if his dad was just always faking it.

"No thanks, dad," he replied, starting up a terrorist hunt match in Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

"Right then, Aeris, is there anything you'd fancy?"

"No thanks, Mr. Leonardo, but thank you."

"Right then, I shall be off! No wild nip parties, you two!" he said with a grin. Leo and Aeris chuckled as they wished Leo's dad off. Aeris sat on the bed next to him, digging through her suitcase while he slaughtered terrorists.

"How are you so good at killing waves of insane terrorists, but you can't kill a few feeble zombies?"

"Easy - I just pretend the terrorists are you," he teased. She punched him in the shoulder.

"You're a jackass, you know that?" Leo chuckled as he kept shooting at terrorists.

"Well, if I wasn't, you'd probably quit hanging out with me." Aeris just giggled - she was too busy digging through her stuff.

"Oh, damn it," she huffed. Leo paused his game and looked back.

"What's up?"

"I don't have enough clothes," she said throwing her briefcase to the side. "I have to go back to my house and get some more."

"Aeris, you know you can't do that. They said don't enter the house, it's structurally unstable," Leo said, not taking his eyes off his game.

"Well what else am I going to do? It's not like I can go buy more clothes." Aeris put her clothes back in her suitcase, not bothering about being neat, and closed it, setting it aside. Leo paused his game and sighed.

"Whatever, but you're not going by yourself." He got his jacket out of his closet and started looking for his shoes.

"Leo, why are you so concerned?" she questioned. "It's not like the house is barely standing on its own. I can just go in and out, I'll be fine."

"Can't a guy be concerned for his best friend?" he said.

"Hah, more like only friend," Aeris scoffed.

"Come on now, that was a low blow," Leo chuckled.

"Well, that's what you get for that little remark you made earlier." Aeris put her jacket on and grabbed her suitcase. "Now let's go." Leo finished tying his shoes and stepped outside. It was a rather cloudy and chilly Toronto morning, the first signs of winter's swift approach. They made their way down the lane to Aeris's house, some char marks scarring the side from where the fire had blazed last night. She opened the still unlocked door and they walked inside. The smell of smoke and soot permeated every square inch of the house. Walking down the hallway to Aeris's room, they both saw the damage the fire had caused.

"Holy shit..." Leo gasped. He was surprised, having never seen such damage to a house before, but Aeris was mortified. She didn't say a word while she took some more clothes out of her dresser, loaded them into her suitcase, and left the house again. Leo noticed this and grew concerned. "Hey, are you ok?" She just nodded. Leo winced as they walked back up the lane to his house. He knew she wasn't okay, and placed a paw on Aeris's shoulder. She smiled gently, as they made her way back to his house. They walked up the drive and into house, and went back into his room. They were met with a strange sight - the game Leo had paused was now frozen, with a green checkerboard pattern across the screen.

"What the fuck?" He restarted the Xbox, but nothing showed up on the screen. A quick glance at the console revealed the sight no Xbox owner wants to see.

The three red lights.

"Well, that's just perfect..." He almost punched his power button to turn the console off, and threw his controller to the floor. "This thing's only a couple months old!" He proceeded to remove the disc and unplug the console from the wall and his TV.

"I'm sorry, Leo," Aeris chimed in. "You know I have mine in my suitcase, you can plug it up?" He opened an empty drawer in his dresser and placed the console in it.

"No thanks," he huffed. "I was done anyway. I'll call Microsoft tomorrow, see if I'm still under warranty. I've got my computer till then." He plopped down on his bed, arms crossed. About that time, Leo heard his door unlock as his dad returned from the grocery store.

"My boy!" he shouted. "I've returned! Come help your old man unload the bags!" Again with that accent. Confusing as heck.

"Be right there!" he shouted. While he was unloading groceries, Aeris had a few minutes by herself to reflect on the events that happened. The one that stood out the most, probably, was the dream she had that night. What did it mean? Whenever she had a dream like that, she just chalked it up to hormones - she was, after all, a teenager - but this was just... different. Everything just felt so... right. She loved Leo. But she didn't want to admit it, not even to herself. They had been best friends since they were kittens, and she was afraid creating a relationship would ruin the bond they shared. She shook her head.

"Damn it, Aeris," she said quietly to herself. "What's wrong with you?" She sat up against the wall and rested her head in her palms, thinking about what she should do. Part of her didn't want to take her relationship to a new level, afraid it would make things awkward between them, but another part of her wanted nothing more. Part of her wanted Leo to make up her mind for her. And yet another part of her wished she didn't have to think about it at all. Leo was usually never bright, but when he was, he was actually pretty cool to be around. Leo poked his head in the door.

"Hey, I'm going to Wendy's to get some lunch. You wanna come with me?" Aeris snapped out of her trance.

"Oh. Uh, no thanks, just pick me up a Baconator and some fries, if you wouldn't mind. I'll pay you back." Leo shook his head.

"Ah-ah-ah, your money's no good here. This one's on me." He winked at her, and she started to blush. "Be back in a few." Leo walked outside to the car and proceeded on his way. Aeris, realizing she barely slept last night, decided to crawl onto the bed and doze off for a little bit.

When Leo started the car, it made him remember the nightmare he had last night. But, he shook it off, put the car in gear and went on his way. Now that he had some time to himself, he began recollecting what happened, and wondering what might have happened if he hadn't woken up. What if the fire were much more serious, and she couldn't get out? He didn't know what he would do then. It took him this long to realize how much Aeris really meant to him.

He chuckled to himself. He would almost go as far as to say he loved her. Well, of course he loved her. They'd been best friends since childhood. She seemed to be the only person to put up with his crazy personality. She was just so... pretty.. of course, when she wasn't yelling at him. It seemed like he was the only one who noticed it. He decided then that Aeris would be the one. He started working out ways to tell her. Maybe admitting to have liked her for all this time? ...No, too creepy. Maybe casually mentioning it in conversation? ...No, what if she says no? Hmm, maybe he could do a nice gesture. Maybe some flowers or something.

His mind continued racing, when he suddenly felt himself thrown to the side. He felt his head hit the side window.

Then he felt nothing.