A/N: I know I had no AN last chapter, so now I make up for it. This is uploaded sooner than it normally would be; I'm all itchy in wanting to get another chapter up. Anyhoo, for starters this is Circles. It was posted, and then a terrible thing happened; my computer crashed. This had to be, god, a year or longer ago. Not longer I think. Don't know, but I lost many chapters because they weren't backed up. I lost all iniative. But I deleted the old one, as much as it pained me, and now posted this one. It is a WIP, so things may change, though another delete most likely won't happen. Because it is a WIP, I'm open to suggests, constructive critism. I'm trying to get better - aren't we all?
Yes, this story has an OC in it. Don't groan; remember the days when OCs weren't all Mary Sues? Well, I haven't read many lately, but hopefully it is like that now. However, I'd love advice on my OC, from negative to positive, suggestions or commenting if it seems too much like anothe character, or if personality isn't strong enough.
Notice there is now a different quote for each chapter under the chapter title and under the chapter number. The latter is the new one. I know; my header is too big. I love quotes too much. It's horrible. So if you can connect them to the story (I do hope you'll be able to, though the first of the two won't always directly relate to teh chapter) or chapter, tell me so. I'd like to hope points are coming across. : All I can think of, except that disclaimer. Boo.
Might point out with recent stories I've seen that I have not seen Advent Children or played DOC. Yes, I am a sinner. I plan to do both, but I haven't been to Blockbuster in...forever. This disclaimer applies to the whole story, as much as I used to have fun with the Disclaimer. Well, it's not fun so...yush. :
Disclaimer: No, don't own FF7 stuff. Own my stuff, like plot, characters (that are mine), own innovations, stuff you don't recognize. Wish I did. But don't. :'D
Circles
Chapter Two
"We walk in circles, so limited by our own anxieties that we can no longer distinguish between true and false, between the gangster's whim and the purest ideal"
Blood and Broken Dolls
Dead - Like a candle you burned out;
spill the wax over the spaces left in place of angry words.
Scream - To be heard, like you needed any more attention;
throw the bottle, break the door, and disappear.
In Reno's line of work, instincts were a very important part of his job. Turks must depend on their instinct everyday, and no Turk survives long without sharp instincts. However, unrelated to his job, when a woman was usually this close to Reno's face, his instincts told him 'Reno, you are going to get lucky tonight.' Today was different.
The girl was a near inches from his face, when his instincts decided to kick in. After many years of loyal service, Reno had begun to trust his instincts, leading to his polite introduction.
"Who the hell are you?"
The girl seemed to snap into reality as she stepped sharply back from him. Even so, her face remained blank, only a biting of her bottom lip betraying her. She stood straight and had a dignified air around her, as though one should respect her. The way she held herself screamed authority; she held herself tall, shoulders pressed down. What more was it seemed unintentional. Her face was shadowed under the cloak. Though she stood as if she was authority – no, royalty – it was in a defeated way. Her shoulders were down, but so was her chin, as if the two were weighed down. Though not slumping, she recoiled into herself a little, as though trying to protect herself. As if she was trying to regain a shred of a ripped dignity.
…Broken, that was the word, he was looking for. Broken.
Reno raised an eyebrow at the girl, who stared him straight in the eye. The two held a gaze, engaged in a silent contest of wills. Reno leaned back against the wall, pulling out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. He fished for his lighter, never dropping his gaze. He lit the cigarette, and immediately the girl stared. Without so much of a shift of weight, she darted forward and snatched the stick from his mouth. Calmly, she threw it on the ground and stepped on it, killing the flame. However, he gaze upwards was a glare.
"Don't light another," she said quietly.
"What's it to you, babe?"
She raised her eyebrows, and Reno brushed her order aside, reaching up to the cigarette behind his ear, merely to annoy her. To his delight, it worked.
"Don't light it," she said coldly.
"Why shouldn't I?" Reno drawled.
She looked over her shoulder, then turned back and sighed. "I don't want to attract attention."
"In case you haven't noticed, Baby Doll, no one is here."
At his sentence her eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, a hand curled into a fist. The fist unclenched and clenched, hand tense and seeming to hold all her anger. As he watched the fist, the other hand shot out at him. Surprised, he wasn't to be taken off guard. One hand snapped up to grab her wrist before he could strike him. However, looking straight into her eyes she barely noticed the other hand.
But he noticed it. Grabbing the wrist of other hand, he raised eyebrows at her glare. He tightened his grip, glaring. He pulled her closer.
"You're rusty, baby doll." He grinned.
"Never," she whispered fiercely, "call me that."
His eyes danced. "What?"
He could feel her glare.
He grinned, and leaned in close to her face. "You mean, Baby Doll?"
As he leaned in, she leaned back, eyes widening. Her wrists tightened to try to fight from his grip and she pulled them towards her slightly. Now she looked at the ground, and she was recoiling slightly. He didn't let go. However, just as she was beginning to lift her head, she looked at him with her eyes. Suddenly her head shot forward and with a crack connected with his skull. With a curse he let go of her wrists, clutching at his head. She didn't step away, but she shrunk slightly, as if he had nearly cracked her skull open. However, though at first it seemed she shrunk as though defenseless and scared, there was something in the way she recoiled that reminded him of a snake settling back after it bit you, wary and watching, ready to snap back.
Silence settled, only broken by muttered curses. He could swear she was grinning, but whenever he looked over, her lips were a straight line. He cradled his head, but instead of over-dramatizing, he let his arms fall to his side. "So sorry doll, but as much as I'd love to chit-chat, I must be on my way." He turned on his heel, prepared to walk back into the tunnel he'd come from. He had barely taken two steps when he was stopped in his tracks.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, and he turned around to find her having took a step towards her. He looked at her.
"Because I…" she started, her voice dropping slightly. "need your help."
"And why," Reno inquired lazily, "would I help you? In case you forgot, you just smashed your skull against my head." He rubbed the smarting area. "And if you didn't know, your head isn't exactly soft."
The girl opened her mouth slightly, looking a bit surprised. As if she'd expected him to help her. He snorted, not realizing she was staring past him, not at him.
"Hmph. I have no reason to help you, or to stay. You, actually, are probably the reason I'm down in this musty, old passageway-"
Reno was abruptly cut off by a loud noise, and scraping noises. By the time he registered what it was and turned around, only a sliver of the doorway was open, and then the wall shut completely. They were concealed in the pitch black, the faint torchlight from the other passage vanished. Only beams of moonlight slid down from the circle in the far off ceiling. Eyes widening, he ran his hands over the stones where the sliding wall was, though it felt and looked identical to the rest of the wall. He pressed against it, finding his efforts were in vain.
"You'll help me," the voice came, "because now we have the same goal."
Reno scowled, his back to her, hands pressed up against the wall. "And what is that?"
"To escape here as soon as possible."
"Would you care explaining to me," he started dryly, turning his head sideways so he could see her out of one eye, "why we didn't just walk out the door that was just there."
"Because it will lead nowhere. …Nowhere that we want to go, anyway."
He stared. "There was a ladder. We would have gone up it and boom, we're out."
"There wasn't a ladder," she said calmly, inspecting her nails in the scant light.
"Psshht, doll, looks like that collision of heads rattled your brains a bit. Two other people just went up that ladder."
"I know. But you were so busy telling me why you wouldn't help me that you didn't even notice that behind you, the ladder wasn't there anymore. It went through a hole that opened in the floor below it. You would have been trapped in there until someone else came down or you actually figured out how to get out."
"I don't know if I look dumb, doll, but I think I would have gotten out."
She made a noise of disbelief. "All I'm saying is that you and your little friends were lucky that your ladder was just one that sinks into the floor
Leaning against the wall, he crossed his arms over his chest. "'Just one that sinks into the floor?'" he repeated.
With what sounded like an impatient sigh, she waved an arm to the wall, where a ladder was. "Many of the ladders are rigged. With most, at least two people or X amount of weight must be on them. If one person or any number under X is on the ladder for more than X amount of time without an addition of weight or them getting off (0 weight), the ladders will explode. Also, you have to always keep moving, or the reaction will be the same as if there wasn't enough weight. That's only one of the types of ladders here. It is made this way because it disables a single person to leave, and they're certain that they would catch larger groups. And they're right."
"Isn't someone 'Miss Observant'" he scoffed. "And just what do you suppose happened to it, Baby Doll?
Annoyance flickered across her features. "How should I know?"
"You seem to be a bit of an expert on these ladders."
She raised an eyebrow, "All I did was heard the right things at the right time."
"From whom?" Reno prodded.
She ignored the question, moving to the north side of the small, circular chamber. She touched the wall, which moonlight revealed to hold a ladder, broken a bit and missing pieces in places. "This ladder requires weight that I wouldn't fulfill on my own. But if you and I climb up the ladder together, the weight will be great enough."
"So gain weight," he snapped.
"Look who's talking."
"But again doll…why the hell should I help you?
"Because without me, you won't be able to climb up this ladder without exploding."
"And vice versa?" Reno said.
"And vice versa. But I need…reassurances."
Reno did bother holding back his snicker. "You've been watching too many mafia movies." He shook his head, but asked: "What kind of 'reassurances?'"
"As soon as we get out of this Leviathan-forsaken well, you will forget that you met me. You will forget you ever saw, heard me. Alright?"
This girl was sounding more and more mysterious every moment, and a natural curiosity made him peer over her shoulder. Did he hear water? However, one thing she said caught his attention. She had said 'Leviathan-forsaken,' which could mean one of two things. She had either referred to the fact the well was dried up, since water was Leviathan's domain; or she belonged to a race that honored the Water God – Wutain.
"But I don't have any secrets. I don't feel the need to conceal the fact I was here – in fact, I need to confirm it for my job." He caught a wince on her part. "I won't ask you why you feel the need to 'conceal your existence' or whatever the hell that's about, but in return I want something."
"What?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.
He smirked, "I'll need you to remove your hood." He needed to know what this girl looked like. No matter that just thinking of paperwork put him in a whole new dimension of misery, he knew that if he wrote down 'cloaked girl' Reeve would kill him thrice over. Probably send him on a mission to find 'cloaked girl.'
In a moment of debating with herself, she must have decided that getting out was worth showing Reno her face. So reaching up, she pulled down the hood, and she stepped directly under a beam of light.
Reno found himself looking at a young female. She seemed to be of an age anywhere from seventeen to twenty. Her almond shaped eyes confirmed his suspicion she was at least part Wutain. Her skin was Her hair was black, reaching just past her collarbone, bangs brushed across her face. Her expression was carefully blank, though her eyes peered at him that could have been a shy way, had he never heard her talk. Most strikingly, her eyes a deep green-blue color – not the colors blended, but the green-blue of deep water, more green than blue. They were most unlike Reno's aquamarines, but made him feel like he was staring into deeper, clear waters of a lake. They seemed to hold the essence of water, almost giving the illusion of rippling. But with her face so blank and poise so perfect combined with the sliver of moonlight shining down, Reno's first glance gave him the impression of…well…a doll.
She'd just earned herself a nickname.
The doll image was ruined when she scowled, though an underlying hope was evident in her tone, "So…you'll help me?"
"…Sure Baby Doll." He drawled
She glared fiercely at him for a moment, but she seemed to change her mind and the glare slid seamlessly into a grin, and he couldn't find himself able to place the moment the emotions changed. "Good. You'll get on the ladder, but climb quickly so I can get on. When one of us gets off, the other has to get off immediately. We're inside a well, in case you haven't noticed, and that ring is the top. I wouldn't be able to move it by myself. We'll be in the backyard of the Shinra mansion, and we'll part ways."
Reno took in the information, looking up. From his Mako enhanced eyes, he could see that at parts, the ladder broke off completely.
"Ready?" she asked, peering over at him. He nodded, and she motioned for him to go first. "Be careful; it's old and rusted."
"Mmmhmmm, gotcha." Reno said, before climbing up the ladder. A faint ticking sound began, a sound which ended as soon as Doll got on the ladder.
The ladder groaned its complaint, the combined weight of the two pulling it slightly from the wall. Hand after hand, foot after foot the two continued upwards, the pale circle of moonlight seeming no closer or further than it was before. Then again, the ladder seemed endless, and the walls never changed their eternal stone pattern. Somewhere, droplets of water fell onto stone floor, adding to the night's song.
The ladder did end, though not where it was supposed to. Reno stared up to find that a large hunk of ladder was missing. Sure, pieces had been missing on the climb up, but they could deal with those. This however…
Reno reached up, trying to grab the rung where the ladder continued up above, without success. His arm barely reached halfway. Baby Doll stopped below him, perturbed by the delay.
"We have a problem." He announced.
"What?" She asked impatiently.
"Big gap…"
"Just reach over it," Baby Doll said with the air of a teacher talking to a particularly clueless student.
"Can't."
He heard a sigh from behind him. "It's hopeless," she groaned quietly. "It's hopeless…I'm doomed. Doomed sweet Leviathan doomed."
Reno found no answer to that, so he just said, "So, what sho-"
"Shhh," she cut him off.
He obediently stopped talking, hearing nothing but the annoying drip of water and his own breathing. He opened his mouth, about to ask what they were doing, when he got his answer.
A ticking sound met his ears, ticking each second. Confused, Reno looked around for the source of the noise. His searching led him back to staring in front of him…at the ladder. Dread creeping onto his face, he leaned into the ladder, ear against the side. The ticking sound was louder, and soon, one after the other, more ticking joined the first. Reno paled in recognition.
The ticking sounds kept joining, going down the ladder. Reno quickly scanned the distance between the two ladders. In a period of two seconds, he made a decision which could be the death of him. Then again, that wasn't exactly new for him.
Climbing up on the top rung, he braced himself, leaning slightly against the wall. Bending his knees, he sprung up. He stretched his arms in front of him, ready to grab the other ladder. His fingers reached and one hand grasped the very bottom rung of the ladder. He hung off the end of the ladder, ticking sound amplifying and echoing in the narrow well.
Reno looked down, eyes widening as he couldn't see the bottom anymore. Looking up, his brow furrowed in concentration. Reaching up, he grasped the rung with two hands, and began to climb up the ladder. However, on his ladder, a slow ticking sound had begun. The ticking had become deafening, drowning out all noise.
Baby Doll scrambled up the ladder, the rungs creaking in protest. The ticking grew faster, the intervals between ticks growing shorter. She scrambled, eyes widening as the ticks grew faster and faster and faster-
Then they stopped.
She copied Reno and leapt off the ladder, grabbing onto Reno's foot and leg as the ladder blew up in a small explosion, rooted further down. Her knees curled up to meet her chest as she clung to Reno's foot like some odd monkey. Tones of red, orange and yellow lit the well, as the wind rushed past them, blowing their hair forward. Heat tore at their skin and at their clothes, ripping patches off. The explosion finally disappeared, having nothing to catch fire to, other than the small flames on the two humans, which had been quickly rid of.
Silence overtook the area, as natural as oxygen itself. Finally, Reno spoke. "Sorry if you're having fun down there, but you need to grab the ladder."
Obediently Baby Doll let go of his foot, hand by hand and got on the ladder. They continued to the top, not making a sound. They passed over other gaps, not as large as the one in the middle of the ladder. Finally they reached the top, the ring of light right above them – their ticket to the outside world.
"How are we going to do this?" Reno murmured.
After a hushed debate, Baby Doll went around Reno, getting on the ladder in front of him since she was shorter. Reno was just a rung behind her, and they gripped the ladder with their legs, trying to push off the heavy lid.
At last it gave way, moonlight spilling into the well. Looking down, the pair realized just how far they had climbed. The area below them was a black abyss, seeming to have no end. Without a sound, Baby Doll pulled herself up and out of the well. Just as soon as her foot left the ladder, the ticking sound began again. Above, he heard Baby Doll gasp. Instead of risking another explosion, Reno clung to the side of the well, pulling himself up and out of the well.
He had assumed Baby Doll had gasped due to the ticking noise, but as soon as he straightened he found he was incorrect. In the light of the moon, he saw that her cloak had been ripped apart, long strips burnt out of it. The end was also burnt, so it now brushed her heels. Yet, this wasn't why she gasped either. Reno saw her in profile, looking at her wrist. For wrapped around her wrist was a man's hand.
Her face turned up to the man. He seemed to be about 6"0, a good five inches taller than her. He was tan, as though he grew up in a place with tons of sunshine, like Costa de Sol. Bright green eyes shone like a cat that had finally caught its mouse. Brown hair was messy and hung over his eyebrows, threatening eyes. "Poupee…" he whispered, "will you ever learn? …Broken dollies can't run."
--
Vincent's eyes were wide, caught in a moment of shock. Yuffie grinned characteristically, though the grin slid off her face. She looked beneath her, the jungle floor seeming miles away.
"So Vin-Vin…do you think you could – oh, I don't know – put me down or something?"
Vincent snapped out of his revere, and moved the ninja to the tree branch he stood on. She pulled down her shirt that had begun to ride up and sat down. Her back was against the truck, with one leg hanging off the branch, the other on the branch.
"Long time no see, Monster Man."
Vincent winced at one of many hated nicknames. Yuffie had shut her eyes, trying to disguise the heaving breaths she was taking, as if she had just run a marathon. Storm-grey eyes opened again, looking up at Vincent. For a moment, a fleeting second, he looked into her eyes and saw something he'd never seen in the ninja's eyes before. He saw…exhaustion, sadness…defeat. The look vanished completely, replaced by a blank look.
After a period of silence (not uncommon when one is around Vincent), Yuffie broke the silence (again, not uncommon). "Well Vin-Vin, it's been a pleasure seeing you, but I'm afraid I have matters to which I must attend."
She swung the leg on the tree branch over so she was sitting on one side of the branch, ready to start the journey down.
"Yuffie, stop." Vincent ordered.
Looking to her side, Yuffie looked at Vincent, a tad bit wearily. "What Vincent?"
"Where have you been?" No beating around the bush with Vincent.
Yuffie raised her eyebrows at him. "Around."
"Around where?" He demanded.
Yuffie sighed, making hand gestures as she spoke. "Oh you know. Here and there…just hanging around."
"Why aren't you in Wutai?"
"Why aren't you in Nibelheim?" Yuffie challenged.
Vincent didn't respond, only watching as she prepared herself to jump down onto the next branch. Just as she was about to launch off, Vincent grabbed a chunk of the back of her shirt, holding her back. Glaring up at him, Yuffie stuck out her tongue. Yes – this was Yuffie.
"You're coming with me." He told her before he realized he'd decided.
"No." Yuffie said flatly.
"Yes." Vincent declared, pulling her up by her shirt. She struggled, but she seemed to resent getting a tear in her already battered shirt.
Stormy grey eyes locked a gaze with crimson ones. "You won't – you can't - make me."
Vincent sighed. "I can. I will."
Yuffie grit her teeth, giving him a cold glare even Shiva would envy. "What a time to start caring about someone other than yourself and that Lucy girl." she grumbled, and Vincent's eyes flashed.
"Put me down." She demanded, taking advantage of his flash of weakness.
"You don't have a clue of how worried the others are." he stated in the same, blank voice as usual, betraying neither anger nor anything else, though even he was surprised at what was coming out. "I fear I let the aftermath of the adventure in Wutai fool me. I actually fell under the impression you weren't just a ninja brat. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…shame on me."
Yuffie's eyes widened, either hurt or surprised at Vincent's near paragraph. An angry expression settled on her face. "This coming from Mr. 'I must redeem myself for all my sins and I don't give a damn about any of you!' Where'd Vincent go, 'cause this fellow here has me boggled."
Silence settled over the two. Their eyes were locked in glare, and neither seemed to give up. At last, a cough from Yuffie broke the silence. She pressed her lips into a line, as if suppressing any other coughs. "Well…see ya." Yuffie said, prepping to jump down again. In a second, the ninja was springing down from branch to branch, flipping off onto the forest floor.
"Who does that Vincent think he is?" she grumbled. "Yuffie Kisaragi does what she wants, not what anyone else orders her to. Even if that person is rather scary looking with four demons inside him. Nuh-uh." Yuffie muttered to herself, as she moved away from the tree in which he stood. "Just showing up out of nowhere and saying that I have to go with him. No way."
Yuffie slithered through the night, going nowhere and getting there fast. Her lungs felt like they were ready to burst, and at last could hold it back no longer. Hacking coughs began to emit from her mouth. Holding her hand up to her mouth, she pressed her back against a tree. Sliding her back down the trunk, she came into a sitting position, knees sliding from her chest. Her eyes glazed over as she coughed more, red substance splattering on her hands. Blood.
She wiped it on an already blood spotted handkerchief, looking at it with disgust; a disgust that filled her eyes with shame and loathing, bordering on self-disgust. Sighing, she shut her eyes and tilted her head back. The moonlight that fought through the canopy shone onto her face, casting it in a pale, eerie glow, the edges in shadow.
Sighing, she convinced herself she'd spent too much time sitting, and had to get a move on. She slid up the tree, and wearily, she lifted lead weight eyelids. Eyes that opened so sluggishly quickly grew wide as they gazed onto a dark, towering figure standing in front of her, silent in his approach. The moonlight slid over the man, revealing a blood red cape slung over a shoulder as the ends blew in the faint wind. Creepily silhouetted in the moonlight, Vincent Valentine stared down at her.
"That's why you're coming with me." He stated.
Yuffie's mouth fell open, cheeks turning pink before darkening to red with rage. "You were following me." She yelled furiously, stomping her foot. She wasn't sure what made her more furious; that he had been following her or that she hadn't suspected it. Or detected him. Why hadn't she?
A nod.
Had she wanted to?
Yuffie's fists clenched, and – acting on it's own free will – her fist raised and shot forward, a mere few inches from connecting with the ex-Turk's jaw.
That was, until, a gloved hand caught it. Yuffie wrinkled her nose at Vincent and stuck out her tongue, before leaning back against her tree. Cold red eyes watched her, waiting for her to try and escape; but she wasn't going to try. They stayed like that for a while, an occasionally glare on her part, until even that seemed to require too much effort. At last, the gaze was dropped.
Vincent led her to the other side of a large boulder by the water. There he set up 'camp,' which consisted of a sleeping back he'd let her use (the sleeping bag had been forced upon back at Cosmo Canyon), and a fire to keep away unwanted guests. Yuffie didn't fight him at all. She merely nibbled the piece of bread he'd given her - not devour – just nibble it in a very un-Yuffie-like fashion.
She only nodded when he said they were to leave at dawn, and she didn't attempt to escape when he went to gather firewood. The young ninja was being pleasurable, cooperative and a perfect angel.
He didn't trust her one bit.