A/N: Yeah, it's offical...I have no life...:-)
How to be Human
Lesson Ten: How to Correct a Misunderstanding
Shera's (Cinder's) view
I awoke by myself the next morning, not being awoken by the clock this time. I expected to find Master Zel asleep on the couch again, but was surprised to find the house empty. I went back to the bedroom and checked the clock. 7:14 am. Oh…Master was gone by now…
That's when I saw it. And by "it," I meant the small wrapped bundle by the bed, with a nice handwritten note.
Dear my little Cinderella,
Um…I made you these clothes…I know they're far from a ball gown, unfortunately there's no prince to come take you away, luckily the evil step-sisters are on vacation, the only pumpkins around here are probably for dinner, Helen doesn't like mice, and if I'm your fairy godmother…er, father…then you should sue.
Anyway, joking aside, I know that this is hardly repayment for you cleaning my house (thank you, by the way). Tomorrow I'm getting off at noon and we're going shopping to get you some new clothes, but for now these will just have to do. I hope they fit…I'm sorry that I got home late last night and had to leave early this morning. Don't wait up for me tonight, either. I'll be home late again, I think.
I'm really sorry I haven't spent any time at all with you. I promise that, come the weekend, we'll get to talk and um…I guess hang out, right? I left some sausage in the fridge for you, and I think there are some more pancakes there too. I'll come tuck you in when I get home. Have a good day .
Love,
Zel
P.S. Thanks for the cookies!
I smiled as a warm feeling in my chest. Master spent time to make me something? I felt special. (It didn't even cross my mind to wonder how and where Master Zel learned to make clothing…maybe the same place he got his scars?)
I carefully refolded the note and set it on my pillow. I then went back to the bundle and carefully unwrapped it.
The first thing I noticed: the clothes were white. (How'd he know?)
The second thing: they were expertly made.
Then the details started to filter through. The clothes were a set: a short sleeved shirt and a long skirt that looked like it'd come down to my ankles. The shirt's sleeves and hems had intricate golden and green embroidery, forming leaves and flowers all along their lengths. The skirt had slits on the sides (only going up to below my knees) and continued the leaves and flower pattern all along the bottom.
I put the clothes on quickly and ran to find a mirror. So then, standing on the counter in Master's bathroom, I examined myself. Just wearing the clothes made me feel beautiful, but seeing myself in the mirror confirmed this. I giggled and stared at the reflection, not believing this was me.
All thanks to Master Zel. I couldn't wait for him to get home and see that what he'd made fit me perfectly. I loved them too, and wanted to thank him personally.
It would probably have to be tomorrow, though. Or maybe I should stay up until he gets home tonight…
Turk's View: River
"Zel, wake up!" River laughed as Zel shot up from his desk and fell to the floor, convulsing like he was having a seizures.
"I was not sleeping! I was totally awake!" he clarified, blushing.
"Up late with a girl again?" River taunted.
"No!" Zel said, blushing further. She knew he was clean.
"How long's it been?" she asked, leaning against the door, watching him. "A year?"
"Longer than that, I think…I don't know really…" he confessed. River felt bad for him. All the Turks knew the last girl Zel had dated/slept with ended up just using him for money and a place to crash, and then convinced her real boyfriend that Zel was rapping her. So Zel got the crap beat out of him for no apparent reason.
They had to sedate Vincent to keep him from killing the pair. Grimore hadn't been too happy either. (Rumors had spread that the scientist was trying to send gremlins to terrorize them, furthering everyone's beliefs that the Valentines were a bunch of dark sorcerers.)
Zel hadn't dated anyone since.
River pitied Zel. As far as she knew, he was basically a walking curse. Nothing good ever happened to the man, or if something good did happen, a series of misfortunes would occur directly after.
She felt bad too because she'd started to find him pretty attractive. Sure, he was a walking disaster with a very strange past and an even crazier present. Sure he was semi-psychotic and completely suicidal. But he was so naïve to how the real world actually worked that it was funny. And so innocently cute. In his own, dysfunctional way, Zel had found his way into her heart.
And if anyone found out, it would be the end of her.
"You leaving early?" Zel asked, crawling back up to his seat and staring disdainfully at the papers scattered on the desk.
"Yeah. Got my work done quickly and am deciding to skip out early. Tell the Vampire when he gets out of his coffin, will ya? I don't feel like getting bit today," River replied. She, of course, was talking about Vincent, who Riley secretly called Vampire instead of Dirge.
"You are?" River jumped. Where the hell did Vincent come from?!
"Yes, Vinnie, I am." River smiled as he winced.
"Do I really look that much like a vampire?" Vincent asked, blinking a few times. River snorted.
"No, not at all. The red eyes and ghostly pale skin make you look totally normal. I bet you drink blood and sleep in a coffin."
"Vincent's scared of blood!" Zel chimed in. River's eyes widened as she grinned.
"You are?!" Vincent glared at Zel, the famous "I'm going to kill you" glare that made even Akito Shin-Ra wet himself. Zel was unfazed and didn't seem to notice the glare.
"No, I'm not scared of anything. And I sleep in a bed, thank you very much," Vincent said sternly.
"Ew! I don't want to know what you do in bed, Vincent!" River shouted, grinning wickedly. A few Turks stuck their heads out of their offices and stared at the pair of them. Vincent turned as red as his eyes.
"Th-…that's not what I said," he said, trying to remain calm. (River guessed he wanted to go hide under a rock or something.)
"I know. Have a good day, Dirge!" she called over her shoulder, walking towards the door.
By the time she made it outside, River had remembered that she really didn't have anything to do today. She scrolled through her options.
1) She could go hang around at Wall Market (ew…no)
2) She could go browse weapons shops for a better sword (broke, out of the question)
3) She could go hang out with her non-Turk friends (first she needed to get some non-Turk friends)
4) She could hang at Zel's place until he got home (nothing wrong with that one)
She smiled. Why not? And anyway, Zel had left his key yesterday and she'd been lucky enough to find it.
Plus Zel never carried who spent the night at his house. A lot of the Turks would crash there just because it was closer to work. And Zel had a comfy couch… (Wonder what his bed felt like…bad thoughts!)
With that decided, River set out for the house of the man she secretly admired.
Shera's (Cinder's) View
After eating lunch with Helen (whom Master Zel had called and asked if she could help me cook), I sat reading a book on his couch. It was called Loveless, and supposedly was based off of a play. I liked it very much, even though I didn't totally understand everything said in it.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I jumped up to get it, thinking that maybe Master Zel had locked himself out again.
"Hi!" I said brightly, only to be surprised. The person at the door was not Master Zel.
"Oh…wow, I'm sorry," the woman said, blushing (she looked familiar…). "Wrong apartment…" She turned to leave.
"Um, who are you looking for?" I called. She stopped and turned back, eying me wearily.
"Zel. Do you know of him?" she asked.
"Yup. He lives here, but he's at work right now. Do you want me to take a message?" I asked politely.
"Um…this is Zel's place?"
"Yes ma'am. Master Zel lives here," I replied again. Did she not hear me the first time? The woman backed up and stared straight at me, as if I were some one eyed monster.
That's when I recognized her as one of Lilith's "knights," the one named River.
I think that's when she recognized me too.
"Hey, wait a minute! Aren't you the little girl Vincent saved? I thought you disappeared! What are you doing with Zel? Why are you here alone? And…did you just call him master?!" she rattled off all these questions at an amazing speed and I could hardly keep up with her. Did she actually want me to answer any of them?
I didn't think so, at least by the look on her face.
"Uh…are you alrig…"
"THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" I jumped at her statement, cowering behind the door. Before I could say anything, though, she had disappeared back down the hallway. I wondered if she was going to talk to Master Zel…
Maybe I should call him…
I heard the sound of a motorbike's engine roaring to life.
Yeah…I should defiantly call him…
Turk's View: River
River practically ran through the halls of the Shin-Ra building. Anyone who got in her way sorely regretted it. Fameos, who happened to be on his way back from the lunch room, barely avoided loosing hand for waving at her (here was another man who was always in the wrong place at the wrong time).
River paused to contemplate apologizing to the scientist. But she decided that killing Zel was first priority. She'd just get Lilith to sweeten things up with the man anyway.
She'd hardly made it to the Turk's Floor when she started yelling.
"ZEL! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" she screamed. From the other side of the hall she heard a loud crash and the words "SAVE ME!" being screamed by her victim. All the Turks watched as River stormed down the hallway, anger distorting her face. They all knew a fight was sure to happen. What River didn't see was Tori run to get Vincent and Rito run to get Lilith. Verdot (like so many others) was already pressed against the wall, trying to get out of River's way.
"Wait, I can explain!" Zel cried as River grabbed him by the hair and forced him to keep eye contact. She scoffed. Those were some famous last words.
"Sure you can," River replied menacingly. Zel gulped as River pulled out her sword, pointing it at his neck. "Got any last words, Turk?!"
Zel just stared at her, his blue eyes watering and he looked positively pitiful. She wondered briefly if he was thinking about how ironic it was that he couldn't kill himself but other people seemed oh so willing to try to end his life.
She also noticed how adorable he looked when he was docile.
"None? That's good…" She said, grinning as she raised her sword and brought down on…
"TURKS! LINE UP!" River winced, sword stopping a half a centimeter from Zel's face. She put the sword to her side and stood at attention. Zel scrambled to his feet and tried to get away from River at the same time. So he ended up a crumbled lump on the floor when Lilith (who'd just yelled the order) walked in, inspecting all the Turks who were lined up respectfully, and the catching sight of Zel. River noticed Vincent was right behind the Vice President, looking as stoic as ever.
"What is going on here?" Lilith asked. Zel tried to melt into the ground as River decided to explain.
"It seems, VP, that the little girl who Vincent saved from the slavers didn't disappear…" she said, glaring at Zel. The other Turks muttered to each other, obviously interested. "It turns out she's at Zel's house right now. And you want to know what else? She calls him Master. It seems Zel's not as clean as we think, and I was just deciding what type of torture was most fitting for his punishment."
"River, you don't understa…"
"She's NINE, Zel!" River screamed, glaring at him. Zel backed up and looked to Lilith and Vincent. "Oh no, your brother ain't gonna save you now!"
River then felt something hit her in the knee…hard.
"Yow!" she shouted, holding her knee. She looked up, surprised to see Lilith standing above her, cracking her knuckles.
"Will you listen now?" the VP asked sternly. River looked confused, but she, like all the other Turks, was listening.
"Look. Zel's not doing anything wrong. In fact, he's the only thing keeping that little girl from being Akito's slave…" A uniform hiss came from the Turks, loudest, River noticed, was Zel. "And now she's living with Zel in order to live a normal life. Nothing is going on between them, River….at least, nothing should be…Zel?" River felt her heart plummet. This was not good…damn jumping to conclusions!
All the Turks looked to see Zel sitting there, his head in his knees.
"Her name's Cinder…" he said.
"What?" Lilith asked.
"That's…the name I gave her. Cinderella…short, Cinder." The Turks were silent, staring at the man on the floor. River felt sick with herself. "Lilith, can I have the day off tomorrow?"
"Why Zel?" Lilith asked, glaring at River briefly before returning her gaze to Zel.
"Cinder needs clothes…and I need to get groceries and a cook book…" he muttered. Lilith nodded.
"Of course…but are you sure that you should be the one buying clothes for the little girl?" River suddenly got an idea to redeem herself and save Zel a very embarrassing trip.
"I'll go and help him out!" she said quickly. Lilith looked startled, and Zel looked delirious.
"Didn't you just try to kill me?" he muttered.
"You will?" Lilith asked.
"Hey, why don't we all go?" Riley called from the back. Lilith laughed.
"We don't want to scare her, do we?" she said. But the other Turks had already made up their mind.
"Yeah! I love shopping!" Lin shouted. Other girls chimed in with their ideas of where to go. The guys just saw it as an excuse to get out of the office and agreed.
"Fine then. Tomorrow is the official Turk's Shopping Spree…" Lilith said, snorting. "I'm so coming along…"
Zel was the only one to protest.
"No! You can't all come! I can't afford it anyway!" he shouted. He was probably thinking that if they all came with him, he'd be paying for lunch, River thought. She was kinda bummed too. She had planed on using the shopping trip to get closer to Zel.
"What if I pay for it?" Lilith asked sweetly. Zel stared at her.
"What's the catch?" he asked wearily, almost mechanically actually.
"No catch. I just want to help," Lilith said. But there was something mischievous in her eyes, River could see it.
"I don't trust you," Zel whispered, eyeing her.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Zel! It's only something to do with the bet Vinnie and I made. It won't affect you!" River watched as Vincent's face fell to a look of shock. Something told her that the Dirge was going to be coming too.
When Zel said nothing, Lilith smiled again.
"Then it's settled! Everyone, meet at Zel's house tomorrow at One pm! If you're late, I'll dock your pay!"
A/N: I heart Lilith...she's the type of boss that would drive me crazy and I'd return the favor...:-) Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter is the Turks going shopping...poor Shera never stood a chance...Thank you winterrosa for the idea:-) Please Review!