Cloud and Vincent were still talking by the sunlit spring in the Mythril Mines of Junon. In all of their travels through this mine, they never came across a freshwater spring or an old underground temple. To them, the mines were like a prison for monsters to sentence a dealth penalty on neighboring citizens. Many miners from Kalm lost their jobs and merchandise because of the creatures selfishly protecting the mythril spikes. It may have been for the better, though. Hardly anyone has had any use for mythril weapons or armor. That is, until now. The flooring surrounding the pool was broken marble rubble pieced together to look like tile. Fire sconces lit with magic gave an eery light to the rubble beneath their feet. Cloud turned to his side to see metal workings in piles on his right and mythril shards glimmering in the fire's gaze on Vincent's left. There were scrubbers and grided pads behind him, and an old rusting tub with vines growing around it. In front of them, a fantastic crystal was glowing in the sun's rays. It was gorgeous! It probably would have made an excellent wedding ring for Tifa, but he wasn't quite ready to propose to her yet. It was just a nice thought since Vincent was staring at the water more than the crystal.

"I don't think the water will turn into a monster and eat you if you look away from it, Vince," Cloud joked, earning a scoff from the gunner. "Is a fish down there that you want to eat for dinner?"

"Actually," Vincent started, "there's a lot of fish down there, considering the fact that I didn't see any at all before."

"Hm?"

Cloud looked into the pool and saw...fish! There were literally bunches of fish swimming in the pond! He could have sworn none were there before, but numbers of fish were racing each other and gathering in schools. It was like a large blanket was covering the bottom of the pool. Where did the fish come from? Vincent tapped Cloud's shoulder then pointed to an open tunnel in the glistening waters. The fish could have come from there, so there must be more water in the Mythril Mine. Suddenly, the fish split and something shot out of the water and attacked Cloud!

His entire front was getting soaked from the water lingering on his attacker's powerful body. Cloud felt his back hit the rubble and scrape against sharper edges of the stones. He grits his teeth in the pain and looks above him to see his attacker's face. However, the attacker was too fast and went after Vincent. Cerberus was being fired several times before the gun ceased. Cloud stood to his feet, sword at the ready in its sheath, and rushed the attacker harshly. The person took some damage but only a little before it punched Cloud and went for Vincent again. Before it could hurt Vincent, however, it stopped dead in its tracks and turned to the tunnel that Cloud and Vincent had entered. Cloud took his time to observe the attacker, only to discover the person was a woman: a woman with a striped bikini and a brown wife beater on no less. Her wet black hair became a curtain that covered her entire face with exception to her long brown ears. They stood erect on her head before the left one twitched.

"Cloud! Vincent!"

"Tifa?" Cloud whispered.

The attacker glanced at Cloud for a moment, turned her ear to the voice, and then raced through the dark tunnel to get to Tifa. Cloud called Tifa's name again to warn her and ran after the attacker. Vincent followed, firing several rounds at the woman. Her agility was oddly familiar, but he couldn't place where he might have seen such speed and evasive skills. Wherever he might have seen this sort of agility, it was hard to keep up with the female attacker. Under Vincent's breath, he mentally admitted the woman had an attractive body – you know, for a woman who was hiding in a pool…underneath a lot of fish…with a wife beater shirt on…and polka-dotted lingerie… Not that he was staring at it or anything. He was just thinking that she was fucking fast on bare feet in a dark cave with sharp rocks along the walls and plenty of mythril to boot!

"Cloud, try to hit the rocks on the walls!" Vincent ordered. "That might slow her down. She's not wearing shoes."

Cloud nodded then channeled all his energy into one attack. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, allowing him to feel his surroundings. He could hear his attacker's heart racing as she ran with abnormal speed down the cave. It was frantic, heavy, but with purpose. She was preparing herself for something as her muscles tensed and coiled. Vincent cocked the trigger of Cerberus, aiming to take the attacker's leg down. Cloud could feel the gunner's aim at a mythril shard gleaming in the darkness, pointing heavenward yet reflecting sharp rocks on the other side of the wall in its glowing bodice. Heat was boiling in Cloud's gut then pouring through his veins like rainwater down a spout. His power collected into one force then traversed to the tips of fingers gripping at the sword's hilt to the hilt steadying the blade then to the blade held at the ready. He spotted a small light seeping through some rocks, aimed for it, and released a deafening blow to the rocks trying to bottle the light in its stony prison. The attacker slowed to a stop, let the blow reach the light, and waited patiently for her pursuers to come closer.

Vincent was sure Cloud's attack would at least startle her, but she neither showed fear or anger. She was in front of the light now, just standing there quietly. Her ears were perked up, twitching slightly to hear noises from the newly lit hole in the wall. She inhaled deeply, ears pulling back against her head, and turned to the men. A large, bellowing roar echoed in the hole before she spoke.

"You…retarded…assholes…"

"Raaaaaaawr!"

"Let go of me!" Yuffie demanded, kicking a strong stomach.

"Not a chance, you little troublemaker!" Tifa shouted.

Tifa had managed to catch me off my guard while I was talking to the old man at the items shop. Some retarded woman told them where I was while I was in the middle of preparing to rescue Chailo. Whatever happened to public safety? Barret's been hoisting me around through this cave, ignoring my attempts of escape. When I was in the shop, only Tifa kidnapped me. Vincent cheated by using Chaos to find me, so he didn't bother really looking for me. Instead, he told everyone to follow him to Junon. Cid, of course, didn't feel like running all the way to Junon, so we took a ride on his airship and followed this weird arrow of red light that formed in the clouds; it wasn't the obvious shape of the arrow like the ones that point directly to someplace you need. That'd be too convenient. It was more like an unfinished circle or something, and the space that wasn't filled was actually directly above Junon.

Vincent then proceeded to tell everyone that Chaos, or Vincent's other half, could sense Chailo's presence. Unfortunately, Cloud and Denzel tied me down and gagged me, so the others had the pleasure of watching me struggle to get out of my binds. Why couldn't they understand that I wanted to help Chailo? Why was everyone against me today? Captain Strife and Colonel Valentine decided to split the team up to find Chailo, but they needed me to lure her out and talk some sense into her. While Cloud and Vincent go – I don't know – butt-humping each other, I got stuck with Barret and Tifa and I'm still tied up! If we got into a fight right now, I would be the main one screwed and helpless. No weapon, no nothing! Yeah, this is a great plan. Talk to Chailo, hope there's no monsters around to eat us for dinner, and let them beat her to death for pointing a gun in my face? You've got to be kidding! They don't know half the fighter or the woman Chailo is!

"Knock that shit off!" Barret ordered pinching Yuffie's exposed thigh. Hearing Yuffie complain was enough to make anyone want to slap her, but she stopped struggling for a moment. "Thank you."

"Tifa!"

"Hey, that's Cloud!" Tifa said happily then growing concerned at the green light heading towards her. "Barret, did Cloud have a green flashlight before?"

"That ain't no flashlight," Barret said, placing Yuffie down to see.

"CHAILO!" Yuffie called loudly. "Is that you?"

"You!" a voice bellowed. The group turned to see an old man pointing at Yuffie. He had a strange staff in his left hand while the other hand began to glow a yellow color like his eyes. He said in a booming voice, "How you know my Chailo? Who you work for?"

"Your Chailo?" Yuffie questioned. "What do you mean? Tell me! Where is Chailo? Do you know where she is?"

"Who do you work for, girl?" the man asked, creeping toward Yuffie. He walked passed Barret and stood before Yuffie, searching her eyes for an answer.

"WRO," Yuffie answered, watching the man wave his glowing hand.

With that one motion, he closed off the tunnel Chailo was reaching and spoke in his normal, soft voice filled with fear and suspicion. "You know my granddaughter? How?"

"Chailo…is your granddaughter?" Yuffie clarified, watching the man nod his head. He had such long ears! "Well, I helped Chailo escape Reno in Mount Corel."

"The red-haired one?" the man asked.

"Yes, yes, that's the one," Yuffie said, tearing up a bit. "I'm really worried about your granddaughter, sir. I don't want her to get hurt by ShinRa, and Reno's been threatening to kill her. Not just him but other people, too. One guy said she was worth a lot of money. Mister, Chailo's really just scared. I know it!"

"How you know this?" the man asked.

"Because when she laughed, I saw someone alone and helpless in here," Yuffie said, pointing to her heart. Her eyes snapped open and she looked down to see her hands freed!

"Your heart is strong and you are kind," the man said, smiling widely. "It has been some time since I have heard someone able to read my daughter's heart, but you will not find her here. The Planet has a mission for Chailo. A mission you cannot interrupt…"

Yuffie turned to the tunnel and saw a green light rushing to the party. Gunfire echoed through the quiet mines and almost hit the party in the dark tunnel. Suddenly, the LifeStream rushed through the tunnel and gave light to their surroundings. The old man was brown-skinned like Barret, had long ears, was quite tall, and wore a blue cloak like Chailo. He moved his staff's head in a circle above him and formed a large circle out of his native magic. A large, foreign glyph spread around the ground. Tifa, Barret, and Yuffie could feel the powerful energy emanating from the glyph and entering their bodies through small channels. They turned to the old man and watched as he jirated and stomped his feet. The staff glowing more fiercely and his eyes rolling in the back of his head. The magic forced the earth beneath everyone's feet to elevate up to the tunnel's high ceiling, where even more magic forced the earth above their heads to move aside. Sunlight was pouring into the tunnel until they reached ground. In the sky, they could see WEAPONs gathering energy in a complete circle. Power was forming in the center of the arc, crushing anything beneath in its grasp so long as anything was within the radii of the glowing orb. Dark energy made the orb into a massive globe of light. The LifeStream forced its way out of the Mythril Mines of Junon and into the destructive mass of energy. As green tendrils seeped into the shadowy globe, the WEAPONS roared at the top of their lungs then released an intense attack…

"Get down!" Barret barked, running to Tifa. He covered her small frame with his massive torso and said, "It's a Shadow Flare!"

The old man stopped jirating and held the staff's length in both of his hands, chanting a final cry. Yuffie ran to the calm elder to bury her face into his cloak and clenched the soft, blue fabric for dear life. The elder merely watched the blinding light contract and implode with a vigilant grace then looked down at the girl in his arms screaming from the crushing impact of the blast. The rumble beneath their shoes was a quaking terror that could make the mines collapse at impact, but that's not what the blast was aiming for. At the sound of a growing cry, a tear rose in the elder's eye before he said...

"I'm sorry, child… You been called once more…"

Years ago…

"Mommy? Mommy, wake up!" a little boy called. "Mommy, come on! Get up, lazy bones! Mommy!"

Her eyes opened to the sounds of her son, but all she saw was the sleeve of her blue jacket covered in shadow to make the pale blue look navy blue. Her body was wobbling in her seated position. From the sounds of the waves and the calls of the seagulls, they were still on the steamboat. It was a warm morning on Terra River Route—warmer than most autumn mornings. She and her son were on their way to Haroni Tower for their first vacation. Her baby boy had never been to the tower, and she promised to take him there one day. Today just so happened to be it. The cool breeze brought new sleepiness to her as she began drifting off again.

"Just a few more minutes, 'kay, baby?" she mumbled.

"Mom," the boy complained, pouting. He faintly chuckled before inhaling and shouting, "Wake up, Chailo!"

"Ack!" Chailo screamed, frightened to near death. Her heart pounded in her ears as she placed a hand to her chest, hoping to ease the sudden excitement. She pretended she was crying, making her blonde-haired son laugh. He jumped into her arms and smiled brightly. His little teeth would be falling out again soon. He was a growing seven-year-old, after all. She said, "Now what was so important that you had to scream at me?"

"We're almost at the tower, mommy!" the boy exclaimed, popping up suddenly. "See? Over there!"

Chailo turned to her left then saw the black iron tower tilting on its side in the horizon. The autumn sun was a glowing yellow that she simply couldn't take with her sleepy eyes. Not wanting to seem uninterested, she gasped then made an impressive wow noise. She said, "A little longer and we'll be able to have our first picnic at the tower, right?"

"Hai, mama!" the boy cheered, jumping into his mother's embrace. "Hey, what were you dreaming about mommy? Were you having a good dream?"

"I had a dream about a little boy who played a magic flute," Chailo answered.

"Again, mommy?" the boy questioned, laughing.

"Yep," she replied. "He was a little older than you, but he was very cheerful and he asked me to sing a song with him."

"You can't sing to people you don't know," the boy lectured, pouting.

"Why not?" Chailo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I don't want other people to hear your voice. I want to be the only one to hear you sing," the boy answered, pouting deeper.

Chailo gasped lightly as she gazed into her baby's hazel eyes. She began to smile then said, "You're so selfish…but that's my favorite thing about you."

"Teehee, you're embarrassing me!" the little boy shouted, rubbing under his nose with the back of his finger. He was blushing like a little orchid. "Hey, mommy, why did you bring those paints with you, too?"

"To do some finger-painting," Chailo said.

"Eh? What's that?"

"It's a surprise," she said, winking.

Her baby boy pouted again but smiled gently and rested his cheek onto her breast as he watched the tower become taller. Gray clouds were gatheringHe hoped it wouldn't rain out of nowhere, but as long as he was with his mother he would be fine. The breeze whispered playful dreams in his ears as he drifted off to sleep, but he wanted to say one more thing before he took a short nap.

"Ne, mama," he called, earning a 'hm.' "When we move from the shelter, can we have picnics every weekends?"

"I'd love that," she answered, caressing his head. "But I think on this day we should always have a picnic at the tower every year."

"What about picnics in other places?" the boy whimpered.

"That's a surprise."

"Mama… I love you…"

Reeve returned from his girlfriend's sweet embraces and walked into the infirmary a bit tired. Mneme could be quite demanding sometimes, but he loved her for that. Also, he got away from work and into her charms every now and then, which let's be honest - what man denies himself the welcoming advances of his cute girlfriend? Ignoring the events of what occured hours before, Reeve approached a young, familiar face as she was typing away at a computer. She looked so much like her sister as she read the stats of the unconscious woman found at Junon.

"How is she holding up, Shelke?"

"This woman, Chailo Shinboru, took a big hit from the Shadow Flare attack. Most people would have died taking on a blast of that caliber," Shelke said, concentrating on her power levels. "She was weakened a great deal, but she is improving rapidly. I'm not certain whether she was blessed to have survived or cursed. I can safely say she's not from this world, though. Her body's organs are not in the same place as everyone else's. Even her bones are structured differently. For instance, her rib cage is just like a bar gate. The bones are smaller but are thick and greater in number. Her organs are completely safe from any weapon. The most a bullet or a sword can do to her is hit a rib without completely breaking it. I can almost understand why the NEO-ShinRa group want her back. No ordinary human can inflict damage on her."

"What did the old man say about this?" Reeve asked, looking into the pod containing Chailo's body. Her hair was beautiful and long like Mneme's but black.

"He only mentioned that they were called Elezen," Shelke informed. "I don't know anything about that race. If we want to know more about Elezen, we would have to ask Samayo in his native language. Or if we can get Chailo to cooperate with us, we can ask her but it's a long shot. Samayo said she can become difficult."

"Samayo?" Reeve questioned.

"The old man," Shelke explained. "His name in our language is pronounced Samayo. He is Chailo's grandfather. Her parents died when she was very young, and she survived a terrible tragedy that led her to flee from her village and return to his. At least...that is what he says."

"Has Yuffie come to see her?"

"Almost every day," she answered, turning to Reeve. "She's like a bee trying to reach an unreachable flower. Other than her and Samayo, Vincent Valentine comes to see her sometimes. He and Cloud."

"Why would those two come here?" Reeve questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. He turned to the stats and was impressed with the close-up of Chailo's rib bone. There were so many helixes of fibers linking together compared to someone else's rib bone. The Elezen people must be strong! Mneme mentioned she was an Elezen as well; why didn't she come to visit Samayo and Chailo? More importantly, however, what the hell could Cloud and Vincent want with Chailo? He said, "That's a curious affair, isn't it?"

"Not really," Shelke answered, returning to the stats to make more comparisons. "Chaos was only faintly reacting to the other WEAPONs before and it found Chailo in the Mythril Mines of Junon from the beginning. Vincent is probably curious about this woman's ties with the Planet as well as Cloud."

"Makes sense," Reeve said. He pointed to what looked an organ and asked, "What is that?"

"Her heart," Shelke said, watching the blue muscle beat strongly. "It's located in the center front of her lungs. Her ribs formed a unique cage that protects her heart and separates it from her lungs without interfering with her breathing patterns. It's like naturally added protection against physical harm, but it can also be a flaw. Should her heart have cancer or be affected by a viral infection, the cage would have to be broken and that sort of surgery could lead to malicious heart failure."

"It makes you wonder what sort of world the Elezen lived in," Reeve sighed, looking over to Chailo. The bandages on her body almost made her look like a wild animal - a wounded animal to be precise. "To have a body built for defense must mean the predators on their planet were fiercer than the ones here."

"Either that or their creator hoped to make the perfect being," Shelke joked slightly. "Vincent's here, by the way. Tifa, Cid, and Cloud just made it in. Yuffie's talking to Samayo in the lunch area. If you want to know what happened during the blast, you can ask either of them what happened."

"Hm..." Reeve hummed, taking a deep breath. He exhaled then said, "It's amazing to know that it's been fifteen days since the blast. But I'm glad that Chailo's recovering. Keep up the good work, Shelke."

The girl nodded and smiled before returning to her stat reading. Reeve had already left the infirmary, giving Chailo one last look in the healing tank. A nurse entered the room to take over Shelke's morning shift and several doctors came in to check on Chailo's stats All seemed quiet like before until a pulse reading had a higher frequency of beeps and rings. She was beginning to stir.

Her body ached, but it was a pain incomparable to the loss of her son. She would be able to manage this in due time. It was warm around her arms and legs, but her throat was dry and her face was cold. She smelled the sharp scents of antiseptics and alcohols in the air. She sniffed quickly to smell other pleasant things, but her lungs and chest burned when she tried to smell more. It nearly burned badly enough to the point where it knocked the wind out of her. She clenched her teeth to ease the burn then tapped into her native magic and summoned an ice spell to ease the burning. It calmed enough for her to sniff her surroundings again, but that soon became a horrible idea.

Water filled her nose and burned it up. She could feel water completely surrounding her body and bubbles crawling against her skin. The pores were beginning to wake. Her eyes shot open to see black wisps of fabric covering the glass barrier around her. She snapped her head around in different directions, trying to fight her way out of the blackness only realizing it wasn't fabric. Her fingertips grazed the blackness and felt soft hair instead. She clutched at the hair, tugged on it, and began clawing her way out of the barrier. It was her own hair! That's why she dreamt of that memory. She had to cut it before more dreams filled her mind. Voices were heard around her. She tapped at the glass, trying to get the voices to let her out, until she saw Yuffie running to the glass and pointing at her. Soon, Samayo, or her grandfather, came to her vision. Someone grabbed his shoulder and turned him around forcefully to speak to him, but the damage was done. Chailo wanted out, and she wanted out now.

With whatever hidden strength was in her, she banged against the glass barrier harder until her strength began building in rage and anger. She could only vision killing whoever dared to touch her family like that. Her hair started not to matter anymore. People in white were shouting and running around, but she didn't care about who they were. She pounded at the barrier again and again until she heard water streaming out of some broken glass. Her hair was also interested in that point and directed her to the weakest part of the glass. Hearing more shouts but not listening to any of them, she gave a firm, strong punch to the glass and freed herself out of the barrier. Water was everywhere, and it ruined many papers and computers. Doctors and nurses were screaming, wondering where the woman landed.

Chailo was hidden in the shadows, searching for the man who shoved her father around. Reeve and Shelke tried to stop the doctors from scaring her more, but Chailo tuned out all the voices until she spotted the person who assaulted Samayo. She found him and jumped from the shadows to attack. Within a few moments, she punched the man to the nearest wall with all the anger and power she had left from being weakened. He was knocked unconscious as doctors rushed to him and rushed to get stun guns to pursue the attacker. Chailo glared at the men with the stun guns, roared viciously, and then ran to a vent behind the broken water pod that held her in its arms. Yuffie and the elder called to her, but she was soon gone.

This was not a place she was familiar with. She crawled through a larger air vent, but the grating wouldn't budge as she pushed it desperately. Her grandfather seemed to be fine with Yuffie, but she wasn't going to be fine in this place with guns pointed at her. Furious to hear the men coming after her, Chailo punched the grating out, checked her surroundings, and ran through the vents. She was still covered in antisceptic and water, and her hair was dripping with the same fluids. Her skin felt more naked than it was before. She looked down at her legs and noted that she had white bandages on them. White underwear was on her instead of the polka-dotted ones. That meant someone changed her clothes, or she went unconscious after two stupid men startled a guardian beast of the Mythril Mine. However, she did remember being blinded by a dark light. Nothing after that came to mind. Her feet felt grimy, but she couldn't worry about the piles of dust in the glimmering vents. She kept running in a crouched position as the vents grew smaller. Soon, she was crawling on hands and knees, trying her best to escape wherever she was. She crawled over one vent, noticing soldiers walking down the hallways with firearms and red caps, and continued until she heard an alarm go off. Soldiers scattered about and shouts of commands were passed, but she didn't pay attention to it as she traveled the small tunnel.

Light was at the end of the duct. She rapidly crawled toward it, hoping that was her way out, but as she came closer it proved to be another vent that was above the waiting room. She peeked down the vent to see someone passing the grating. It was a long-haired woman. Chailo had nearly forgotten the length of hair pasted onto her back. Somehow that light must've altered her hair growth and brought it back to its original length. The black ends of her hair reached the back of her knees as she knelt there. She began to remember her days as a soldier when she went on missions. She climbed air ducts all the time then, but the fans were more dangerous in the ducts and she nearly lost several limbs once. This was less exciting than those times.

"Tifa! Guys!" a familiar voice shouted.

"What the hell's goin' on now?" a man questioned.

Chailo's ears perked up as she heard the voices. One voice was Yuffie; the other unknown to her. Thankfully, the men who were pursuing her hadn't gotten close enough to reach her. They were still far behind, but if they picked up the small trail of water from her hair or the footsteps in the dust she'd be in trouble fast. Being a slender woman helped in ways like these, but most of the people on Gaia, or the Planet so the natives like to call it, had smaller builds. It was funny because Elezen people like those with stronger builds and tough bones and healthy skin. Predators on her planet hardly stood a chance against the larger men and women, but the predators on her planet would love the meat on this planet.

"It's Chailo!" Yuffie said. "She went crazy in the healing tank and attacked a doctor. The other officers were going to try to shock her, but she ran off and escaped through the vents. They lost her trail once she went through the air duct."

"Where's her grandfather?" Tifa asked. "Can't he find her?"

"He went outside to wait for her," Yuffie said.

"What, he knew she'd go nuts?" Cid complained.

"He just said she was protecting him and to wait here."

"Fucking fantastic! The bitch 'as been out for two weeks and she's causin' mayhem! I need a smoke!" Cid barked, leaving the room.

"Geez, what a geezer!" Yuffie complained, sitting in a chair. "Hey, Tif, where's Vinnie? Can't he find Chailo in the air ducts?"

"Well, I can call him and ask."

"...There's no need," the man said, startling Tifa.

Chailo's ears twitched rapidly at the deep voice before perking back up. She recognized this voice from Midgar. Yuffie mentioned a man named Vincent Valentine, or her Vinnie, before in Mount Corel. Chailo looked down below to see the same red cape that was adorned by the man who shot at her. He was standing directly beneath the air vent in perfect attacking range! However, she couldn't attack him for the blast. That didn't seem to be his doing.

"Well, can you find Chailo, Vincent? I'm really worried, you know," Yuffie said.

"Samayo said she's still in the building. Cloud's on his way with a basket."

"A basket?" Tifa questioned.

"Samayo told him to bring it here...along with this rattle..." Vincent said, pulling out a strange wooden ball with beans and bells inside of the twigs. He shook the rattle several times then stopped.

Chailo's ears parted on either side of her head once she heard the noise. It was her baby toy! Why would Samayo give it to random people? She took a moment to respond to the rattle's noise before finally deciding to come out of the air duct. It must have meant that she could trust Yuffie's family. She quietly crawled down the air duct, watching the snake skin and hard-shelled nuts circle about in the ball Vincent was shaking. Once he stopped rattling the object, the woman punched the air vent and frightened the group as she crawled out of the vent.

Tifa screamed, making Chailo's ears retreat before Yuffie covered her mouth. She kept her eyes on the rattle in Vincent's hand as she descended from the shaft. Her ears perked up again as she crawled along the ceiling like some type of lizard. She moved to the walls of the waiting room and crawled her way down to the floor, watching each person as they watched her. Vincent watched Chailo in her crouched position as their eyes locked. He shook the rattle a few more times, watching her ears part then perk back up. She reminded him of one of those wild animals who were confused when people held their toys or something they liked playing with. Even though Vincent was not fond of the woman who tarnished his cellphone and made him get a new one that was even harder to use, he had to admit under his breath that she was an exotic and gorgeous woman. Her eyes were especially enchanting. He never knew a green that dark and jewel-like existed on a person, but it made this girl all the more attractive. Her body was especially beautiful: her legs were very long and muscled. They weren't slender like other girls; they were different and had more curves to them. He then became attracted to the tattoos that adorned her skin before he shook the rattle again to lure Chailo closer. He knelt down to show it was okay and shook the rattle more. She crept over to him, acknowledging the hint of safety and accessibility to her toy.

Cid was two seconds away from cussing a storm in his own confusion, but a familiar hand closed his trap shut. Cloud shook his head then watched as Vincent lured Chailo closer. Maybe the reason why Samayo assigned Vincent with the weird ball was because he was quieter. The group watched Chailo crawl closer to Vincent's hand as it held out the rattle. She was up to his fingertips when she parted her lips open and went to grab the toy with her teeth. Vincent was confused yet fascinated by her actions. Though he wore leather gloves, he could feel her warm breath through the thick fabric. Her teeth were straight, white, and sharp as though she had fangs. Vincent was suddenly interested in the shaded tattoo and jeweled ring on Chailo's tongue as his eyes darted to the pink limb gently touching the ball. The woman backed away with the toy firmly between her teeth and began gnawing on it. No one spoke a word as she cracked the rattle open with her sharp teeth then proceeded to crack the nuts and snake-skin covered dried fruits. She ate them calmly before spotting the other fruits that Cloud held in his hand and seized chewing. Rather than crawl towards him, she stood up straight and walked to Cloud.

Apparently, Samayo entrusted me to feed her... Cloud thought, holding out an orange.

Chailo took the orange from Cloud then said in a very calm voice, "Where is my father?"

"He is outside," Cloud answered, releasing his tense muscles and relaxing. Samayo warned him that she might attack, but she didn't do anything like that yet. "He sent me to feed you."

"Why?"

"He thought I would be best suited for the job."

"What is your name?"

"Cloud Strife."

Chailo tilted her head cutely, letting her ears lower a bit, and said, "Interesting. I have never heard of a sky that struggles before."

"Hey, Chailo, do you remember me?" Yuffie asked, standing at Chailo's side.

"You are Ms. Kisaragi. The rattle holder was Vincent Valentine. Is he your prince?"

"That thang, a prince?" Cid remarked, removing Cloud's hand from his mouth. "You wish!"

"He is not of royal blood?" Chailo questioned, turning to Cid.

"You kiddin'?" Cid said, rubbing his nose. "He ain't nothin' but a li'l dandelion sittin' on a gravesite."

"...I see," Chailo responded. "Pity. I would've apologized for trashing his precious phone, but now I feel more obligated to calling him Asshole Number One."