I'm crossing the borderline,
Without a sound,
A wilderness,
No one could ever know.
The sadness,
How it brings me down,
I know I have no choice.
Is it wise? Taking a life?
-Hyde
"How you doing, squirt?"
It's amazing how many nicknames he was able to come up with for Nanashi. She hasn't even been there for 2 weeks and they're already buddy-buddy.
"We be chillin'" she decided to use his talk.
Reno's microphone seemed to be shifting around, a common habit Reno seemed to have, especially with his new headset.
"Isn't that a whoot, now listen. If you ever get scared, I'm always a few halls, the main room, the exit, the pathway, and a road down if you ever need Uncle Reno around, K, yo?" Reno said, looking around with his binoculars. Except the thing was, he was looking at the wrong end so everything was distorted and not so far away.
"I'm not 5, damn it!" Nanashi said stiffly, yet her tone was venomous.
"You're not?! I mean, of course you're not. I knew that the whole time, yo" Reno replied, clearing his throat to cover up his little mistake.
Nanashi rolled her eyes then popped her double-mint gum into her mouth. Reno gave it to her to take her mind off the spooks of the mansion, though one little piece wouldn't occupy her from noticing how dark and creepy the rooms were. Even the corners would freak her out.
"Reno, you better be making me 50 more servings of that spaghetti tonight" she grumbled into her headset.
"We're not having spaghetti tonight, pipsqueak. Something better, better than the noodles you can make anytime. We're having lasagna, how's that for ya, Scout?" he said with a cocky grin.
"Whatever, just make a lot, and I mean a lot when I'm done with this" Nanashi replied, kicking away a broken cup that seemed to be housing a family of spiders within it with an expression of disgust.
"Glad you're being a sport about this. Now hurry up while I sit back and finish the rest of these pretzels" Reno replied, crunching sounds were heard on the other end.
Nanashi snorted, then moved the headphones a bit so she wouldn't have to hear it.
Without the sounds of an animal, meaning Reno, everything was quiet and eerie. Eerier than usual. It was like the shadows were moving; there were rumors about something in the basement. But no one even dared to see if it were true, if she were them, she wouldn't want to either. But seeing as Shin-Ra is also getting involved with this sort of thing, they'd obviously send a Turk to check for some clues on who knows what. For all she knew, she'd be following a hoax.
Nanashi dug through her pockets, looking for those food rations Reno shoved in her pocket. They were meant for the people in SOLDIER, but since she complained about being hungry during almost every mission, Reno shoved them in her pocket.
Ripping open the wrapper, she didn't notice the monster that appeared behind her.
The shadow was rather big, but she still didn't notice, since her gloves couldn't get the grip she needed to tear at the seams.
"Damn it, you little son of a bitch" she swore, using her teeth to pull the glove off.
A faint rumbling was heard behind her.
Stopping her actions, she slowly started to look up, finding the courage to turn around, hoping it was just a trick Reno was playing with her.
Slowly she turned her head and her body, discovering a shadow that she didn't notice. How could she not have noticed? It was right there, covering her small shadow. And she certainly didn't have any horns.
There, behind her, was the most ugliest creature, ever.
Dark purple fur, yellow eyes, black horns and claws. It had a wolfish like muzzle with fangs dripping saliva. In a finer description, it looks like a devil's pet.
"Uh---uh" Nanashi managed to get out. The demon growled.
" 'Ho shit" she dodged out of the way from a flying paw.
Grabbing her sword, she managed to cut it diagonally and a few horizontally before she had to duck out of the way. It almost appeared as if it was not effected since the cuts were shallow and were already. Starting. To. Heal.
Nanashi's face flashed with horror before holding her hand out to try different types of magic.
Fire.
The monster recoiled at the licking flames, singeing its hair and caused it to thrash.
Fire 2.
The thing crashed into a wall, before going through an open window and out into the night.
The breath she didn't know she was holding in let out as a relieved sigh, now that the creature was gone, she was able to check out the basement which she hoped wasn't as bad as the first floor.
Going through rooms, she found a piano with a few broken keys.
Sad, it was a rather lovely black gloss coated if it weren't for age and not being taken care of, it would've played a beautiful tune.
Dust flew up with every step she took into the halls, checking every room for any mentioned secret passage. She found those paper clues in one of the rooms near the exit. The paper, if stayed there any longer, undiscovered, would've fallen apart with time.
"Nanashi, squirt, what the hell was that?!" Reno yelled into the headset.
She cringed. "I don't know, but it hates fire. What the hell is Shin-Ra hiding in this freakin' mansion?!" she yelled into the microphone.
"That's something I don't know, you'd have to ask one of the scientists that were around. Wear your helmet now, there's no telling what might pop outta nowhere, yo" he demanded.
Rolling her eyes, she put on the military like helmet but didn't bother with the strap.
"Well, its gone for now and I'll carry out with the mission-- just a minute, I think I found something" she traced her hands across the stone wall.
The passage opened quickly, echoing the rough sound into the hallways.
"What was that?! Nanashi? Squirt?!" Reno yelled frantically.
"Hold on, Red. I found the passageway to the basement and I'm going down these creepy, dark, spider-filled stairs" Nanashi cringed with every step she took down the squeaky stairs.
Reno breathed out a sigh. "Jeeze-a-lu, I thought you fainted or something."
"Now why the hell would I go and do that? I'm not that weak" Nanashi rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, now hurry it up, yo." Reno cancelled out the line for awhile.
Nanashi sighed, already feeling quite lonesome without the noisy redhead's voice to fill up the blank space of nothing. It's amazing how fast the two became friends, seeing as they're the complete opposite.
Finally reaching the bottom, the walls didn't really look like walls at all. It was more of a tunnel that was leading to a room with a bright, neon green glow. As well as a door at the end, that looked frighteningly familiar.
"Ho-ly shit. I must be some kind of telepathic, or something" she traced the cracks in the door as she did in her dream.
Curling her hand into a fist, she knocked on the hollow door. The sound alone sent clumps of rock and dirt to fall upon her head that came down from the ceiling.
Nanashi staggered at the sudden impact, then coughed from the dust in the air, floating around her and causing her breathing to crack up. The air was already thick and musty to breath in, but the added dust sent her coughing or sneezing.
"My gosh, thank god for the helmet" she said, picking up her helmet that fell down at the sudden shower of dirt. Clicking the strap, she explored further, ignoring the door for later, even though her instincts were telling her to check more into it as her first priority.
"Reno always told me to follow my instincts, but that always sent me into sticky situations" she said to herself, taking a flashlight from out of her pocket.
Reno seemed to have packed her up for some sort of expedition when she was clearly sent to just check out the mansion that was at the moment, filled with secrets and surprises. Such as the sudden pop ups of deformed monsters and a partially collapsing tunnel.
Flicking her flashlight on, she searched around the room that appeared to have been an office at some point.
Books were abandoned in various places, off their shelves, littered on the floors below them and on the desk with the source of the neon green glowing behind it.
Tanks were the ones giving off the unnatural glow; the water in there bubbled a few times, showing that the machine was still plugged in. Seems that the previous owner abandoned the place without concerned of the electricity bill. What she wondered was why the deserted mansion was still able to get electricity for near 30 years already without someone paying for it, certainly Shin-Ra wouldn't pay for something that's been inactive for that lengthy period.
Nanashi marveled at the books dated back centuries, all on the JENOVA project. Some had the titles on the Ancients, mako and the lifestream.
This scientist must've been a pure genius to be able to get all this information, seeing as almost every book was hand written. Venturing further, she walked past the shelves and into another section of the room where another desk was.
Books were littered in this section than around the shelves.
Papers were scattered around the desk, crumbled with hands that had no concern for it. The stapled reports looked to be thrown around, along with the books. She couldn't even imagine what might've happened to have caused this, or why the person would abandon such valuable history and why it would be left for a delinquent to vandalize it. Or maybe the information pissed someone off or that that there was some kind of fight placed in this very room, years before she was born or taken acknowledge of by the Shin-Ra people.
Picking up some of the reports, she brushed away the dust and read the facts on there.
The JENOVA project has breached its desirable proportion. Information was collected on the advent child, who was birthed days before and is now under tests and injections of JENOVA cells and mako. The desirable name for this child was given shortly by scientist Lucrecia, the birthing mother, named him Seph-- the page seemed to be ripped in half.
Nanashi's eyes narrowed, flipping the page over to search for further information but found nothing.
Just who was this person that came here before her?
Sighing, she placed the page on the desk and searched the shelves for the other half, but no luck. The person who ripped the page, certainly wasn't happy with the information or just didn't want anyone else to find out the child's name.
Picking up a few books, she flipped through the books for hours, searching for about 10 that she can sneak with her when she's finished her mission.
She grabbed two books on the lifestream, three on mako, two on the Ancients, two on JENOVA, and the remaining small book, apparently an unfinished project, with no title.
Take the books, she stuffed them in her messenger bag, along with 7 reports, before leaving the place. She decided not to take the books or reports to Shin-Ra but for herself to do some research, Shin-Ra's hiding valuable information from her and she does not like it.
Searching the room containing the tanks once more, she proceeded to the door she was dying to check out the moment she spotted it. The smear of her fingers against the thick coat of dust was still present, showing how old the place was left untouched.
Once again, she careful knocked on the door before fiddling with the doorknob. It was locked. A very stubborn lock that won't let her cease her curiosity.
Digging in her pockets, there has to be some sort of pick she can use.
Taking out some hair clips that Rufus ordered her to use, but she stubbornly refused, she used them to fiddle in the keyhole and managed to open it.
Grinning, she forced the door open as quietly as she can so she wouldn't have a repeat of the falling dirt. The thick musty air hit her the moment she took a step into the room, causing her to cover her mouth and breath through the sleeves of her shirt that thinned it out.
There, in the middle of the room amongst the remains of humans was a coffin, one that stood out more than the other empty coffins seeing as this one had a closed lid.
Taking her gloves off, she placed them in her pockets before letting her bare, pale hands take leverage under the lid and slid it off carefully as she can. In there was what surprised her the most.
"Whoa, a golden gauntlet! They can actually do this to people?" Nanashi marveled at the gauntlet, tempted to touch it but feared that something would happen. "This guy must've been down here for years, it's so cold, I can't see how anyone would stay in a cold, unventilated room" she narrowed her eyes.
Finally the curiosity got the best of her, driving her to carefully put her hand out and touch the man.
Not even an inch or two away, his hand shot out. The golden gauntlet held a strong grip on her wrist, driving the sharp fingertips to penetrate her skin warningly.
"Who are you?" he asked, voice smooth as skip, yet deep like velvet.
"My name is Nanashi, who are you? How can you live here?" Nanashi asked, eyeing the man suspiciously.
"My name is of no importance. I am repenting for my sins, now I'd like to go back to my eternal rest." he said, holding his hand out and actually floated the lid shut on his coffin.
"Jeeze, staying in here's made you a woman" Nanashi growled out, thinking of the man's PMS'ing.
"Staying in here has kept me separate from the world. I no longer have people suffering in my presence, now go" he ordered.
Strange, she had a feeling he'd say something like 'What ever floats your boat.'
"Wait, there's this room beyond the tanks." Nanashi started.
"… What of it?" he asked.
"There's this ripped report, it has this name that won't leave me alone, but the problem is that it only has 4 letters to it" she continued.
"… Go on." Vincent said like he was talking to child, only vaguely interested.
"The thing is, it starts with S.E.P.H, do you know anything about it?" she asked, thinking she might even be able to actually hold a conversation with this man.
"… I don't know. Get out." Vincent ordered, not sounding too happy with the question.
"But it's all I want to know!" Nanashi pressed on, getting frustrated on why everything doesn't seem to be going her way.
"Go."
"But--"
"GO."
"Fine, jeeze. This won't be the last of me, pretty boy. I'll haunt you till the day you die!" Nanashi grinned; thinking that'd shut him up.
"Go back from whence you came, child. I have no intentions on playing 24 questions with you. Be gone, I am most certain that your wait to haunt me till the day you die will be for an eternity. I'm in here for a reason, I am immortal" he explained, sounding like he explained it to people way before. Perhaps maybe himself as well.
"Immortal, you sound like some kind of…" Nanashi trailed off in thought.
"--A demon."
"--A mad-man who wants to rule the world."
Both said at the same time.
"…"
"I'll let myself out, but don't get so cocky! I'll stay put and bore you to death than you already do by staying in that coffin for decades."
"I do not get bored. I was sleeping." Vincent said, making the fact, apparent.
Nanashi rolled her eyes, feeling like this meaningless argument to ensue. But at least she got something out of him, even though it's not exactly conversation material.
"Whatever, here, have this; it's at least some entertainment. You have all the time in the world to figure it out, it just leaves me frustrated" Nanashi frowned, handing him a complicated maze that you had to get the huge ball in the middle and 4 smaller ones in the wholes on the sides in small holes.
Vincent rose a delicate eyebrow, eyeing the thing before tucking it somewhere in his cloak.
"… I'll keep that in mind." He chose his words carefully while speaking.
"Right. You choose the time to do that while I go on home, Rufus is going to punish me if I stay any longer" Nanashi frowned, already visualizing the anger settling into Rufus' cold face.
"Rufus… Rufus Shin-Ra?" Vincent asked, trying not to sound too shocked.
"Er, how'd you know? Were you around when he was born?" Nanashi questioned.
"No. No, I was an ex-Turk for his father." Vincent said, shifting in his coffin since it was slightly awkward talking to someone with the lid closed and the fact that it muffled every sound.
"So you knew his old man, eh? The fat guy with the beard? The one who tries desperately to suck up to me with chocolate and hugs" Nanashi shivered, wiping her face all over as if trying to rid of every memory.
"…" Vincent remained silent.
"Anywho, thanks for this meaningless conversation. I shall escape with every information I have and hope for a better, next impression" Nanashi left the room, closing the door behind her.
"… Next impression?" Vincent questioned himself, wondering why a young mortal would want to have another visit with someone who's been given nothing but hostility.
"Find anything interesting in there, Scout?" Reno asked, flicking a cigarette butt away.
Nanashi rose an eyebrow at the filter falling to the ground, sizzling in a rain puddle. It's been raining out for quite some time, maybe even while she was in there for who knows how long. And its still continuing to rain.
"I didn't know you smoked" Nanashi finally said.
Reno breathed out the last bit of the cancer stick. "I just started. And that's not the point. I thought you died or something in there, yo. Took an awfully long time just to check things out. What did you find?" he asked.
"Nothing of importance. Just an old library with a lot of book reports" Nanashi nodded her head.
Reno quirked his eyebrow, then squinted his eyes in suspicion.
"Are you sure? Cause I hate when people lie, cause I can smell it" Reno pointed from his nose to her. "Just like fear, I can smell it from a mile away." He grinned.
"Fear? Yours were more visible over the line when I didn't answer. What ever happened to If you ever get scared, I'm always a few halls, the main room, the exit, the pathway, and a road down if you ever need Cousin Nanashi around, K, yo?" Nanashi stated coolly.
"Hey, so I was a little concerned, alright?" Reno defended his pride.
"Sure, whatever" Nanashi looked at him dryly.
"Now eat up, you've been gone in there for over 5 hours. Thought you took a nap and decided to go buy some" Reno handed out a large package of beef jerky.
Nanashi sighed, before taking the beef jerky Reno lent out to her.
"Thanks" she mumbled, nibbling at the end.
"There" Nanashi tumbled out the last book from her messenger bag, but had to carefully take out the reports so they wouldn't crumble on contact.
"Now to make sure no one's around," she said, glancing back and forth around the room before somersaulting towards the door and locked it. "No more disturbance" she sat on the edge of her bed before grabbing a book about the lifestream.
The planet was created millions of years ago, made of reincarnated souls, life sources to form the lifestream. The lifestream is the center of the planet, keeps things flowing. If ever disrupted, ancient guardians called Weapon would come out and terrorize the source and possibly destroy the planet as it's last resort of self-destruction. Being in contact with the lifestream would resort to mako poisoning, no cure to ever be discovered. A tribe known as the Ancients was a key of vast knowledge, now extinct. The last remaining Ancient died off; leaving a child whom later on disappeared. Another Ancient, our project, JENOVA, as of today, is still being tested on. started the first page.
"Nanashi, get your ass to bed. We're going weapon and clothes shopping, yo" Reno ordered from behind the door, leaving behind a few knocks then left.
Nanashi slowly looked up, staring straight ahead of her with a very dry look, already planning her funeral since Reno's the one who's taking her, and also that he's not exactly the best driver. He's more so a driver with luck to avoid every other vehicle. A lot of luck.
Sighing, she closed the book, got up and turned off the light before crawling into bed. Now that she thought about it, where was she supposed to go clothes shopping? Inwardly groaning, she'd think it over when she gets in Reno's red sports car. Although Rufus ordered black, but Reno refused since he said 'Chicks dig the Red, and red.' Just another one of his lame puns for bringing up his flaming hair he thought every woman loved.
"NANASHIGETUP,SHOPPINGTIMEOHMU-HU-HAHA" Reno yelled, kicking open the door with an almost psychotic look on his face, keyword, almost. Reno's face still held a lot of its goofiness that it over ruled the supposed evil look.
Nanashi shot up in bed, her eyes had the tint of red from waking up so suddenly that hasn't had the chance to adjust to the light.
"Relax, you're already changed. Now let's go, yo!" Reno grinned, grabbing onto a flustered looking Nanashi out of bed.
Oh planets, why me? she thought, feeling an instinct to cry.
But that thought was quickly pushed away once the fact that she's been changed registered in her brain.
"WHAT?!" she roared.
"Can't you slow down?" Nanashi not so much as of yelled, gripping onto the door so tight that it'd probably crack.
"If I slow down, we'd be stuck in traffic. And all I know is that Reno doesn't want that, and neither do you" Reno replied, veering the steering wheel over the right, narrowly missing a transportation truck.
"Since when did you start making decisions for me?" Nanashi asked bitterly.
"Since the day you step foot into my apartment, now shut up for awhile, I'm trying to concentrate" he said, turning up the volume to his music. He wouldn't be listening to music if he didn't force her to tear the seal on his new CD and kindly put it in for him with a side of grudge.
Nanashi had a feeling he just didn't want to hear her talk anymore; that he really didn't need to concentrate by the way he was searching on the floor for his box of doughnuts.
Mother. Father. If you were up there above me now. Do you agree with the way my life is turning now? Do you even remember what I looked like while growing up to give me away? If you did give me away, just know that I've turned for the better, that I have my own family. What more could any girl want when having overprotective adults running in the older stages of life, ones that are working under Shin-Ra. Nanashi smiled at the thought before being lurched forward at the sudden use of breaks.
"Told you to buckle your seatbelt."
"How can I when there's none for the passenger seat you dimwit?"
"There is, I just took it out, that's all."
"Why the hell would you go and do a stupid thing like that?"
"Didn't you know? That seat's name is Lucky" Reno grinned.
"…"
"…"
"I want to go home now."
"Ah shit, Rufus is going to kill me. There goes sweet promotion."
Although he was a pervert, he was one to look up to. Though she wouldn't admit that out loud in fear of inflating Reno's pride further than her height. She couldn't even imagine the trouble she'd have to go through to pop it with a needle, maybe starting with Reno's Red.
Now that'll be the thing to remember. Nanashi grinned, before zoning back to reality that she was vibrating out of her seat from the gravel road Reno sped over.
And I need to know,
Tell me how I should see the light.
I draw the gun,
And I take aim.
The world stands still,
Like a dream.
I stray.
I'm crossing the borderline,
God's on my side.
The sacrifice.
We make in heaven's name,
I'm praying,
But there's no escape.
I fire a ball of lead,
It's so cold,
This can't be love.
It's amazing how many years have passed for him since the last time he's seen any light other than the operating light above, the injection of drugs they used to paralyze him, one he couldn't remember at the moment. But now there was a light within the near thirties he's been in there, even if it was artificial, there was civilization, no matter how small.
Small would be the keyword, she was still at her early stages of life, nowhere near of what he used to be. But she could be soon, just with the lack of love, something he envied.
Love hurts, like a shot to the chest. Never mind getting a shot to the head, it'll always be there, even if his heart stopped beating yet he continued on living, it's still there. Before and after he's gone missing, the bullet was still there.
Closing his eyes, he couldn't help but notice the same shape Nanashi's pupils were compared to Sephiroth's.
That bastard, he couldn't have. Vincent thought, eyes narrowed, red eyes glowing in the darkness of his coffin. Eyes closing, he figured it wouldn't be his problem considering he still had another eternity to sleep for until he was awakened again by her, or someone else who wasn't dull to the brain.
And I need to know,
Tell me how I should see the light.
I draw the gun,
And I take aim.
The world stands still,
Like a dream.
I stray.
And I need to know,
Tell me how I should see the light.
I draw the gun,
And I take aim.
The world stands still,
Like a dream.
I stray.
A/N: Fourth chapter, PWN. I didn't think it'd take this long to finish this chapter, I could've two days earlier since I was nearly done, but I guess me getting frustrated took the inspiration away. But other than that, time to finish other things D, . Writing these days are going down to a minimum, don't know why, maybe cause it's winter out, practically. ::Stares down at the snow.::