Final Moon VII: Advent Children.
Author's Note: Again, not much to say here, except that Sailor Moon and Final Fantasy VII are not mine.
Chapter three: Lecture.
Couple of hours after leaving Healen, Serena and Cloud stopped by Midgar for a bit of a break, and sat on their motorbikes, with Serena still in foul mood about the whole truth of her family background.
"I'm so steamed!" Serena grumbled, "Why would mom do this to me and Evan and who did that stupid father of Rufus's think he was?"
"Evan didn't tell you about what he found out?" Cloud asked.
Serena nodded, "Uh-huh, and I bet the reason why he wanted fuel was because he wanted to find mom to figure this out, and also bet that Reno got his nose into my brother's department for those kind of answers!"
"Just because you're half-related to Rufus, doesn't mean that I'm angry at you." Cloud pointed out, "You're still my friend and you helped in saving the world."
"Look who's talking, mr. 'I-decided-to-disappear-on-my-family'!" Serena argued. "Why did you run off in the first place?"
Cloud flinched, then looked away. "I had to."
"But why?" Serena asked, "I mean, it's not like that you have the stupid stigma or anything!" then she stopped herself at this, another realization dawning onto her. She then approached Cloud and asked, "You have the Stigma?"
Realising that he's been caught red-handed, the older blonde sighed, and answered by rolling up his sleeve, to reveal a long gash of the stigma on his left arm. Serena gasped in horror at this, but she stayed put, as Cloud unrolled his sleeve.
"Why didn't you say something?" Serena asked.
"What could you do?" Cloud stated, "There's no cure."
That's when it made sense to her, and Serena asked, "You left because you tried to look for a cure? For yourself and Denzel?"
"...Yeah." Cloud nodded.
The former Ancient then just sighed and Serena stated, "You know that you could've just told me and Tifa, so that the kids wouldn't have to worry. Besides, friends and families help each other out, you know that. Besides, if you could throw Sephiroth into the mako pit, you can seriously down-right beat this Geostigma stuff."
"Easier said than done with the stigma part." Cloud admitted, "Though I guess it's not as bad as Denzel's."
The youngest blonde folded her arms and thought deeply. "Maybe Aerith might know something about this." she suggested.
"Aerith?"
"Yeah, and plus, she's more ancient than I am." Serena nodded, "Even if I'm Sailor Moon.
"She's in Gongaga with Zack right now." Cloud reminded.
"So? We can always make a phone call." Serena pointed out. "Cloud, you shouldn't let this defeat you. I'm the one who runs away from fights more often."
Realising that his friend had a point, not to mention that the lecture actually made him feel a bit better, Cloud couldn't help but smile, "In the past, you always looked after me; you, Marlene, Denzel, Luna and Tifa. You were there when I needed you."
"And you couldn't listen to us before?" Serena asked.
Cloud shrugged, a bit sheepishly, "I guess some things haven't changed with me."
Sighing, Serena grumbled, "Geez, men are so dense."
Back at Healen Lodge, Rufus and the two remaining Turks just had a brutal visit from Kadaj, who left empty handed, not knowing that Rufus once again lied to him about the whereabouts of 'mother', which, right now, left the three men unconscious.
Until another yet more gentle visitor came unexpectedly.
A young girl with pink hair in a style identical to Serena's, about nine years old with beautiful red eyes filled with kindness, in a white top, a blue skirt with a back bow on her back and upper belts that hanged on her shoulders, red and white shoes, and a red bow on the front with a round locket that had a pink heart in the middle, approached the lodge with a small gray kitten that had red eyes, wearing a bell, and had a cresent moon on her forehead.
"If there's one way to ask for a job around here, it's the most unlikely place in the world." said the girl whose name is Rini.
"Unlikely place?" squeaked the kitten named Diana who was resting on Rini's head.
Rini nodded, "Yeah, I mean, I really wanna be a doctor to help other kids with the geostigma, and I the other doctors won't let me, so the Turks might be the answer."
But as she began to approach the stairs, she and Diana heard a bike whipping towards them, and as Rini looked, Kadaj was about to crash into her, but she jumped out of the way screaming just in time, just as Kadaj slowed down then stopped, and looked at the young girl, seeing that she has no trace of the stigma.
"You should be more careful, little girl." said Kadaj.
Getting back up, Rini was about to say something, when she stopped and noticed something strange about the man's eyes. For a split second, she thought she saw that he turned into another man with the same eyes but with long silver hair, before turning back and Kadaj then smirked and then drove off. Rini watched him go, and blinked in a bit of fear, curiousity and confusion.
"What's the matter, Rini?" Diana asked once the man was gone.
"Is it just me or did that guy had weird eyes?" Rini thought to herself, "And did he just turn into somebody else?"
The young girl thought hard about it, trying to figure out a clue, even if Kadaj was long gone by now. She tried to imagine someone else doing that, but so far, Rini discovered that the man she just met was the first one to turn onto someone else briefly, and she didn't even have the stigma like some other poor kids.
"This is so weird, I know what I saw." Rini said, before turning around, asking, "Did he just come from the Healen Lodge?" facing at the direction which leads to her destination and to where Kadaj had just came from.
She then ran to continue on to do some investigating, even if she was about to face the Turks. Rini then arrived, and noticed that the front door was still open.
"Is anybody home?" Diana asked.
"I hope so, or why would they leave the door open?" Rini replied as she began to walk up the stairs, suddenly getting a bad feeling that something happened before she arrived. Being a polite girl like her mother taught her, Rini knocked on the opened door.
When no one came to answer, Rini stepped in slowly, calling, "Excuse me! I'd like to ask for some help for a job please." again, no one answers. She then stepped in further, looking around in the rather homey place. Of course, she had heard that this place was once a holiday restort until 12 years ago when it was eventually abandoned until 2 years ago.
"Excuse me!" Rini called again, entering the only door in the room and walked into the hall, calling, "Hey, where is everybody?"
She checked the first four bed rooms, but so far, no luck. Nobody was in the apparent office, or in the kitchen either. Finally, Rini decided to look in the last room, and when she and Diana took a look, they both gasped in horror.
Rufus Shinra, still in his sheet and chair, was slumped slightly, while Reno was on his back, eyes closed, and Rude was on his front. They were all unconscious, and the Turks looked to have been in agony.
Scared, but not wanting to leave the three men like this, Rini slowly approached the red-haired Turk first. Bending and sitting on her knees, Rini gently poked Reno's left cheek. It seemed to be the trick, because the redheaded man's eyes began to stir, and he groaned slowly awake. So, the pink haired girl continued to poke him to wake him up.
But Reno was struggling to wake up, and it was beginning to annoy Rini.
'Whoa, he's sleeping like he's dead.' Rini thought. 'Well at least he doesn't snore.' and she thought that Reno, as a Turk, would've woke up by now.
'C'mon, mister. Wake up.' Rini thought as she then shook him on the chest. 'I Diana and I haven't got all day you know...For a Turk, you're really starting to annoy me with this sleeping routine.'
Finally, Reno, the world coming back to him, slowly blinked his eyes open, the first thing he felt was the agonizing pain in his stomach and sides, still worn out by a silver-haired teenager who knocked him to next tuesday. He then felt that someone was shaking him away and he could feel small hands on his chest.
When his vision finally cleared, the first thing he saw was a little girl who asked, "Are you okay?"
Startled at the child's sudden appearence, Reno jolted up, "Whoa!" though this also caused Rini to jump back slightly before she landed on her bottom.
"Where'd you come from?" Reno asked, sitting with his hands supporting him.
Annoyed, Rini replied, "I don't mean to be rude, but it's about time you woke up."
"Kid, this ain't the time for visitors." Reno said, giving Rini a firm look. "Whatever it is that you want, you'll just have to wait."
Instead of being frightened, Rini was even more annoyed and glared at the man back. "Could've fool me, mister. Didn't want you to have trouble with the other guys."
Hearing this made Reno remember what happened as his memories came flooding back; from where he and his partner were having a conversation about ShinRa's future to Kadaj's invasion and the youngest knocking both of the Turks out, and then Rufus losing consciousness due to the stigma.
"They're alive, right?" Reno asked.
"I just got here, and I hope they're okay, but they need help." Rini replied as she stood up.
Reno sighed, then he slowly got up, finding that he could stand, and with Rini's help, woke both Rude and Rufus up and the three men found that the young girl only just found them and she had no idea of what's going on. In fact, Rini was surprised to find that Rufus was still alive.
"Mr. President?" Rini asked once all three men were awake.
Rufus smirked. "Yes, though in your case, otherwise known as the 'Stupid-President'."
"I heard that you disappeared 2 years ago." said Rini.
"Yeah, it's a miracle that he's still alive." Reno shrugged. Then he asked, "Anyway, kid, what're you doing here?"
Rini explained her desire for help in finding a job in Healen with a doctors, and made a point that she didn't want to work for ShinRa, which, Rufus and the Turks understood.
"You're too young for a job." Rude pointed out.
"Yeah, and clearly, every kid hates needles." Reno added.
"I wanna help other people who have the stigma, but everybody else thinks I'm crazy and said if I do so, I'll get the stigma too." Rini explained.
The men looked at each other at this, realising that the little girl, who surprisingly held a strong resemblence to Serena, was brave and, seeing how she's an orphan and wants to help other children while doing a job, and she didn't seem to care if she had the stigma.
"You have brains, kid." Reno smiled, "Luckly that the stigma's not contagious, but it's still spreading."
"How can it spread if it's not contagious?" Rini asked.
"Nobody knows." Reno shook his head, "And there were researchers who managed to find an antidote that can ease the pain."
Rini frowned, not because of what she was hearing, but she felt that there was something supicious about this, but decided to keep it to herself. Diana, who was unnoticed until now, meowed cutely, finally getting attention of the three men.
"Didn't see that young one before." Rufus thought. "What is her name?"
"Her name is Diana." Rini replied.
'That kitten reminds me of the other kid's cat; Luna, was it?' Reno thought, as he also noticed that Diana had a cresent mark. Was there a connection?
Though he had to admit, the kitten was very cute. He wasn't a cat person, but he didn't mind them, as long as they didn't scratch him. As if sensing that he wasn't that bad, Diana leaped off Rini's head and onto Reno's shoulder, startling him before she began to lick his cheek.
"Whoa-whoa! Hey!" Reno tried to protested, but failed in hiding his smile. "C'mon! That tickles!"
Rude shook his head while trying to hide his smirk at the ridiculous sight of his partner. Surprisingly, Rufus chuckled at the sight, and Rini covered her mouth with her hand, but still she giggled.
Reno ended up laughing, before he gently picked the kitten off his shoulder and handed her back to Rini who held her pet in her arms.
"You know, kid, if ya wanna help others, the first thing you should do is find a new family, and look after them." Reno advised.
"He has a point." Rufus agreed.
"But there aren't anybody who want me or other orphans." Rini pointed out.
The three men thought about it, then Reno smiled and said, "There's one who have kids living with them. I bet they'd be happy to accept you. We happened to know them, even if we kinda did get on their bad side."
Rude gave him a warning glance, while Rufus sighed in exasperation.
Seeing how this is the best she could do, and realising that they had a point, Rini nodded, and asked, "Can you take me to them, misters?"
"I have Reno and Rude escourt you to the place this family lives. In the meantime, you both know what to do." Rufus ordered.
The Turks nodded, before Reno asked the girl again, "So, you got a name?"
"My name's Rini." the girl replied.
Rini appears! Now things are getting even more strange, weird, complicated and dangerous. In the meantime, Serena has somewhat managed to give Cloud a lecture. Please review before you go, and look out for more chapters. In case you're interested, you can look at my profile for my other stories, and there's a vote as well, so, feel free to vote.