Chapter 10

It was quiet in the basement, which was pretty unusual. There were kids in the basement and the kids were never completely quiet. Maybe she wasn't in the basement anymore.

"Come on Aerith, get up now." she heard Zack, so she must've been in the basement still. She opened her eyes and looked up, Zack was standing with a bowl in his hands. He lowered the bowl to her face and she smelled it, whatever was in that bowl smelled funny.

"Smells funny..." she mumbled. There was still no sound... why was it so quiet?

"Come on Aerith, you don't have to insult my cooking." Zack said, "I couldn't focus on it, so it smells a little weird. But it tastes alright."

"Why couldn't you focus?" Aerith asked curiously.

"Because you've been sick for the last few days." Zack said, "Don shot you remember?"

"Uh huh." Aerith nodded, "I still feel sick, but I feel better."

"Well Angeal has been giving you medicine." Zack said, "Are you well enough to walk yet?"

Aerith shrugged and sat up, she felt weak all over, but she was pretty sure she could walk. Zack placed the bowl of soup in her lap and sat down on the edge of the bed. Aerith picked up her spoon and tasted the food, "What is this?" she asked.

"Sea food Paella... but I made it wrong." Zack said, "How's it taste?"

"Yummy." Aerith said, she actually didn't think it was that great but she didn't want to make him upset. He was obviously upset about the past few days at least she assumed he was. She'd heard him mumbling apologies whenever she was awake enough to understand it. She wanted to forgive him, but she wasn't sure if that would work, she was upset about it too but honestly, she couldn't remember much of it. She knew she'd done something because Don made her, but she couldn't remember. When she tried to pull the memory up, something always stopped her. A voice in her head would tell her it wasn't something she wanted to remember at all. And if it was making Zack upset, it must've been bad right? "Where's Don?" she asked as she finished the dish.

"He's taking a bath... come on we need to talk." Zack helped her out of bed and led her up the steps.

"Where are we going?" she asked. Zack stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around, "Zack?" He put a finger to his lips and waited. Aerith held his hand and looked around anxiously, why were they standing here? After a minute she saw Angeal coming down the steps with a black duffel bag.

"Come on we have to leave now." Angeal walked out of the building and Zack pulled Aerith along with him. Aerith didn't question it, Zack probably knew where they were going. Angeal opened the door for them and Zack pushed her in before him.

"Zack? What's happening?" she asked once everyone had gotten into the car, "We're going to get in trouble." she fell back into the seat and closed her eyes, "We shouldn't have left, Don's going to know."

"It doesn't matter." Zack said. Aerith turned to him and opened her eyes, was she not understanding the situation or were they being secretive? Maybe she was just feeling her sickness again.

"Zack, why was it so quiet before? What happened to all the kids?" Aerith asked.

"Don sold them." he answered bitterly, "He said he wasn't making enough back at home, some people escaped while he was gone and everything. So he sold the kids and he was going to sell you too, but you were too sick and no one wanted the trouble."

"He sold them?" Aerith mumbled, "I hope their okay..."

"They'll be fine." Zack said, but Aerith could tell he didn't believe it. She leaned on Zack and sighed, she could tell life was about to get crazier for her. But it maybe it would be crazier in a good way, if they were escaping like she thought they were, then it would get better and she'd see her family again. "Angeal, someone's following us." Zack said. He squeezed her hand and gazed out of the window.

"Calm down Zack, there are a lot of cars on this street that just happen to be going the same way." Angeal said, "He doesn't know we've left yet."

"Where are we going?" Aerith asked.

"Poland." Zack mumbled, "We're meeting Yuffie somewhere in between and Cloud and Tifa should show up there sooner or later/"

"Poland?" Aerith repeated, "How long is that going to take?"

"A while, Poland's all the way over there." Zack pointed absently and continued to stare out of the window.

"We aren't going there first, we have a lot more stops to make." Angeal said. Aerith nodded and glanced out of the window as well, there were a lot of cars behind them, but she was sure they weren't following them.

"What are you looking at Zack? There's nothing but cars back there." Aerith said.

"But they're following us!" Zack snapped, "Drive faster Angeal."

"That'll make us look suspicious." Angeal said, "And there's a speed limit."

"But if they catch us-"

"They won't catch us Zack, stop thinking like that, you're scaring Aerith." Angeal said. Aerith looked up, she wasn't scared. Nope, she was completely calm. Maybe because the paranoia hadn't set in yet, she hoped it never did actually.

"Sorry." Zack mumbled, he reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the window, "It's late out, where are we going first?"

"We're getting out of this town first." Angeal said, "There;s a hotel I'm taking you too. I know the woman who owns it so if Don sends someone, which I doubt he will, then she'll help you out." Aerith nodded and yawned, she was getting sleepy again. Her head began to pound and she groaned.

"Headache?" Zack asked quietly. Aerith nodded, "Me too, I'm stressed out already, I can't imagine what it'll be like for the rest of this trip."

"It'll be fine." Aerith mumbled, although she wasn't quite sure. She closed her eyes again and slowly drifted off, she felt a little bad about going to sleep while Zack was so stressed out but she couldn't help it.

o.0.o.0.o

Tifa held Cloud's hand and allowed him to lead her through the crowded streets. She wondered how Yuffie was doing, she'd promised to help the girl escaped yet she got up and left without her. "Cloud, where are we going?" she asked. The boy didn't look sure at all, every now and then he'd stop and look around uncertainly. They were supposed to meet someone but she didn't know who, and from the looks of things, Cloud didn't know either.

"Zack said he'd meet us at the square." Cloud said, "I can't remember where it is."

"But Zack's in Italy with Don." Tifa reminded, "There's no way he could meet us at the square."

"Well maybe it wasn't Zack..." Cloud trailed off, "I'm sorry Tifa, I can't remember."

"We can't go back Cloud, we'll be in so much trouble." Tifa said, "Remember." She continued to run until they noticed a man and... "Yuffie!" Without thinking, Tifa ran forward, taking Cloud along with her.

"Quiet now, let's go." The man said. He turned and walked away and Yuffie followed. Tifa followed as well, this must've been the man they were looking for, why else was Yuffie with him?

"Did Zack send you?" Cloud asked quietly. The man nodded and led them to car, they got in and closed the door. There was another man in the drivers seat, this man had blonde hair.

"First stop, Czech republic. That's where we'll meet Zack and Aerith, you'll be on your own then." the driver said.

"where will you go?" Yuffie asked.

"To help more people." he answered.

"Oh." Yuffie mumbled, she leaned against Tifa and closed her eyes. Tifa looked down and wondered if the younger girl was angry with her. She had left her without saying a thing to her, "I'm happy we found you." Yuffie said, "I was scared we wouldn't see each other anymore."

"I'm sorry for leaving you Yuffie." Tifa said, "I just didn't think we'd be able to take you with us."

"All those times when you told me not to try to escape, were you planning? Without me?" Yuffie asked.

"No... I wasn't..." Tifa stopped, she had been planning, she wouldn't lie, but originally, she'd been planning for both she and Yuffie. But Cloud came and told her his plan, and that he only had enough for two tickets. Her mind was gone at the time and she was desperate to get out, so she accepted his offer. "It wasn't like that Yuffie." she said finally, "My plans for us got a little messed up."

"Alright, it doesn't matter now." Yuffie said, "Lazard's going to take us home."

Tifa nodded and glanced at Cloud, she wondered if he was feeling guilty about what they'd done, he'd known Yuffie wanted to escape, but he didn't try to include her in their plan. "How long will it be until we get home?" she asked the driver.

"A month or more." Lazard said, "There's a lot of processing we need o get you through." Tifa frowned, a month? That was a long time, she was expecting to be home within the week. She put her arm around Yuffie and took Cloud's hand, she figured she'd better get closer to them, they'd be together longer then she thought.

o.0.o.0.o

Genesis watched his step mother interact with their guest, this guy was weird. He didn't look older then 16 yet he was helping solve a serious case? And to make matters worse, Minerva was flirting with him, FLIRTING! How was that going to help find Aerith?

"You said you had a lead on the case?" Genesis reminded. Both people stopped their chatter and turned to him.

"That's right." Minerva said, "Who has my baby?"

Kadaj looked stuck, he scratched his chin nervously and cleared his throat, "Well, someone said they saw her being taken, they have a license plate number from the car." he said, "You'll have to go to them to ask about it."

"Oh, so you didn't actually make sure this was a real lead? I bet you're going off rumors or something." Genesis said. Minerva glared at him and sighed.

"Genesis, it doesn't matter if it's a rumor or not, we need any information we can get." Minerva said, "But of course you wouldn't understand would you?" she turned away and looked at Kadaj, "Why don't we do this somewhere else?"

"That sounds fine." Kadaj said. They both got up and started for the door, just as they were leaving, Kadaj turned and smirked at him. Genesis curled his fist and lashed out on the sofa, this wasn't right at all. He stomped up to his room and got into bed, everything was messed up... He hadn't seen his dad in days and Minerva was spending more and more time with Kadaj. He couldn't bring himself to hang out with friends because all they talked about was what they did with their families. He never went out because people in this town hung out with their families 24/7. He felt out of place and he desperately wanted Aerith to come home.

Genesis was starting to hate his home town, everything in it just reminded him that he no longer had a family.

o.0.o.0.o

Hello everyone! I'm sorry this took so long, I was depressed... My cousin broke my Nintendo in half! And i'd just gotten Harvest Moon TtoTT for it... and I threw out the receipt so no returns... but anyway enjoy the chapter... this is at the bottom so you might have already read the chapter but... review!