This chapter is dedicated to my reveiwers, Tayashia and ChowHound. Thank you! You've helped me post more chapters!

And I've lost who I am,

And I can't understand

Why my heart is so broken,

Rejecting your love

Without love gone wrong,

Lifeless words carry on

But I know all I know

Is that the end's beginning

Who I am from the start,

Take me home to my heart

Let me go, and I will run!

I will not be silent!

All this time spent in vain,

Wasted years, wasted gain

All is lost, Hope remains

And this war's not over!

There's a light, there's the sun,

Taking all the Shattered Ones

To the place we belong

And Our love will conquer!

-Shattered by Trading Yesterday

Aya opened her eyes to darkness. For a moment she began to panic. Then, she remembered what happened. She was rescued, she was safe. Sitting up, Aya looked around. She was laying in a large bed, with fluffy pillows and soft covers. Aya carefully stepped out of the bed and onto the cold wood floor. Making her way slowly across the room, Aya took several deep breaths to calm herself down. When she finally reached the door, she opened it slowly, peering out. A long hallway stretched out to her left, a door leading to the living room on her right. Stepping silently into the living room, Aya saw Ian sleeping on the couch. Scared to wake her, Aya carefully tip-toed to the kitchen. She was half-way there...

...and she tripped.

Click.

Aya froze, terrified.

"Oh, it's you." Ian said, putting her gun away. The red head sat up and stretched. Aya stood up, looking for somewhere to run. Ian laughed, "Don't worry, kid. The only one here you should worry about is Trishe. Speaking of that little hoe..." Ian walked over a put a hand on Aya's shoulder. "You wanna see somethin' funny?" Aya followed Ian into the kitchen, where a girl with brown hair swept up into a bun was asleep at the table. Ian leaned close to her ear and hovered there for a moment. Then she yelled, "TRISHE! RUFUS IS GONE!" Trishe's head snapped up. Ian pushed her chair back, topling her to the floor. Trishe swore and stood up. "Really, Ian?! I was asleep!"

"You know, that's why you have a bed."

"I was working on a report."

"Bull crap! You were probably chowin' down on the ice cream!"

"That was just once!"

"Whatever, Ms. Piggy."

Yunnie walked in, rubbing her eyes. "Will you two shut up? I could hear you guys from Ian's room." Everyone turned to look at Aya as she started laughing. Yunnie smiled, watching the young girl. Aya spoke inbetween laughs, "Your-faces!" Yunnie frowned. Aya only knew Pulsian. Yunnie placed a hand on Aya's shoulder. "Aya, you speak Gaian?" Ian spoke up. "Don't worry about it, Yunnie. Languages come easy for Pulsians, usually only a few days. It was a week before I could speak Gaian perfectly." Yunnie turned to Aya. "Can you say more?" Aya looked down, embarassed. Trishe looked at the clock, "Oh, it's time to wake up the rest!" She turned to Aya, "You'll meet everyone."

Aya walked behind Trishe as she walked into the hallway with a bullhorn. Where did she get that? Aya wondered. Trishe grinned at her before yelling into the bullhorn, "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE UP! C'MON, IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST, GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND GET IN HERE!" Several groans and swears were heard before the doors opened and the other girls padded sleepily into the living room. One of the girls, with baby blue hair and pointed ears, asked, "Why so early, Trishe? Did you lose your hairbrush again?" Another girl, this one with short dirty blonde hair, spoke up, "It wasn't me, man." Trishe rolled her eyes and said, "No, Angie, the reason I've woken you all up is to introdunce you to Aya!"

There was a total of thirteen members. Angelique, or Angie, was the girl with blue hair, Yori had short dirty blonde hair, the burnette twin's names were Sora and Tora, Lily was the girl with long pink hair, and Roxanne had blonde hair with different colored streaks. Then of course came Ian, Yunnie, Mint, Izzy, Trishe, Kk, and Mamcita.

Aya had lots of fun watching the girls talk and laugh together. She also learned alot about them. Ian hated bugs, and once shot a hole in the wall trying to kill one. Yunnie almost burned down the whole building trying to cook, and Trishe pushed Ian off a helecopter while it was just taking off. Sora and Tora were known as the Pranksters of ShinRa because they dyed Angeal's hair neon green last year while he was asleep, Roxanne had the most video games in the Corps, and Kk 'accidently' set SOLDIER First Class Genesis Rhapsodos' Loveless novel on fire and had to buy him a new one. Even Mamacita admitted that she scared the hell out of Rufus ShinRa when he mouthed off to her once. "He won't look me in eye now," Mamacita laughed, "It almost cost me my job, but it was worth it to see the look on that boy's face."

Tora turned to Aya, "So, Aya, tell us about yourself!" Aya blushed. She didn't like speaking Gaian. The words felt strange in her mouth, like she would automatically get them wrong if she spoke them. Aya was scared that they would laugh at her if she messed up. "I-I came," Aya said, trying to get the words right, "f-foom Pulse." What? Did she really just say 'foom'? What did that even mean?! Aya shut her eyes, waiting for the laughing to to start. Sure enough, Aya heard Ian start chuckling. "Hey, now! Don't be sad, Aya! The first word I ever spoke in Gaian was 'pweeze welp me'," Ian said, patting Aya's back. Trishe looked at Ian, "What was the second thing you said?" Ian grinned. "Bitch,please, I'm Pulsian."

At that moment, they heard a phone ringing. Mamacita stood up and pick up the phone. "Yes?" Pause. "Well, I'd be happy to send her with one of the girls." Pause. "Alright then. Don't worry, I won't send Kk down with her." Pause. "Alright. Bye." Mamacita turned the girls, "Kk, please go with Aya down to the SOLDIER training room to evaluate her skills." Kk stood up. "No problem! C'mon, Aya!"

(SOLDIER Floor)

Aya look up at Kk as they walked down the hallway. Kk was very beutiful, like all the other girls in the Corps. She walked with her head held high, ignoring all the looks from the guys as she strolled down in her uniform. People stared at Aya too, but that was probably because she was wearing a grey pair of over-sized pajamas that Sora had gave her.

As they reached the door to the training room, Zack walked out. Kk grinned before sticking her leg out and tripping him. Zack swore and turned to say something, but Kk was already inside the room, dragging Aya with her. A scientist in a white coat was staring at something in the other room. Aya looked through the window, curious as to what he was so inerested in, but couldn't see any signs of life in the room. "Whatcha looking at?" Kk asked. The scientist turned to them, "A spirit that was found when Pulse was destroyed. However, it seems that the spirits only show children their true form because of their innocence." He turned to Aya, "As part of your evaluation, I want to see if you can contact this spirit."

Aya nodded and walked into the room. At first she could see nothing, but then a small tornado of what seemed like gold dust came and went, and Aya could see a girl, about a year older than herself, with blonde hair pulled into two long braids over her shoulder. She wore a simple short white dress, and was barefoot. The girl seemed to float. Aya looked back at the scientist,

"She's here."