Disclaimer: Don't own anything…
Lord Godo was expecting another normal day for himself, maybe a little less entertaining than usual; they all had been a little duller since his daughter left. He had originally just thought that she had gone to travel again; Yuffie was like the wind after all, floating wherever she felt like. Then he had gotten a call from Tseng of the Turks explaining everything. He was assured that Reno was fully capable of taking care of Yuffie, that nothing would happen to her. Promised that she would be safe. He had swallowed that with little doubt, and had continued to believe that she was safe. That her friends would keep her protected and out of Harm's way.
Then, he had picked up that day's issue of The Edge Times, and his heart froze.
Meteor Heroes Give Up Princess Kisaragi
Last night's party celebrating the engagement of Meteor Heroes Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart was full of drama as many who attended saw. At first, it looked like a happy enough event, especially with the return of Princess Yuffie Kisaragi, who mysteriously disappeared over the past few months. It was revealed by Shin-Ra sources that she had been living in under some sort of protective measures in an undisclosed location, due to the killer--whose one-time alias was Jack Driscoll—targeting the Princess specifically. Her protection was also being enforced by a bodyguard, Reno Damascus of the Turks, and friend of the Meteor Heroes. On a lighter note for a moment, it was obviously apparent that the Princess and her bodyguard are more than just friends (see pg. A3). However, shortly after the duo's arrival and the seemingly happy reunion between friends, disaster struck. According to bystanders, Ms. Lockheart drew the Turk bodyguard away from Princess Kisaragi, and in his absence the serial killer that ravaged Gaia's lands all those months ago abducted the unguarded young woman. As he dragged her off, all the Meteor Heroes were in helping distance, and yet they all stood still and watched. Pictures taken by undercover paparazzi show that none of the members of AVALANCHE, save for one, looked surprised to see the killer make an appearance. What does this mean for the group?
Taking a closer look at the incident, several things can be inferred. The mysterious absence of killing over the past few months was probably due to "Jack Driscoll" plotting to abduct the Princess. By a resounding "No Comment" from the Meteor Heroes, it appears as though they have something to hide. The only member who has expressed any remorse about what happened was Ex-Turk, Vincent Valentine who said early this morning, "I am ashamed to be a part of a group of friends that would… never mind. I simply hope we get Yuffie back unhurt and in one piece." It seems as if more trouble is brewing under the surface of the façade the members of AVALANCHE have put up.
And as for the bodyguard? He was the only one who reacted to the Princess's situation, and was unfortunately incapacitated and was also taken away by a bystander being held at gunpoint. The duo was driven away in a plate-less, black Volvo, and so far police have been unable to track down the vehicle. There are no clues as to where they might be, although all cities are putting up watches for any sight of Reno Damascus, Princess Kisaragi, or their abductor. It is not known if this is a hostage situation where she will be returned unharmed, or an assassination.
(Continued on Page A3—Things Looking Cozy Between Wutai Princess and Bodyguard—photographs included)
Godo's cup of tea shook in his hand, and as his grip went lax it tumbled to the floor, shattering on impact. It was then that he heard the helicopters approaching. One glance out the Pagoda window confirmed that it was indeed the Shin-Ra coming. So now they decided to tell him that his only child, the one remaining family member he had left since the death of his wife, had been kidnapped by a rapist and serial killer. He was going to kill that fucker Tseng when he got his hands on him.
Wutai's Lord didn't even wait for them to come to him, he simply went to meet them outside the city walls. As soon as Tseng drew close enough, Godo's fist shot out and caught his sympathetic face with a mean right hook. The Lord smirked in a Yuffie-like fashion as the man went down hard, and momentarily grinned at the fact that he still had it after all those years. His momentary jovial mood was cut short when the painful reason for the Turk's arrival surfaced again.
"What have you done with my daughter?!" Godo's voice was more of a snarl than an actual voice, but Tseng just stood up slowly and continued to give Godo that fucking obnoxious sympathetic look. His next words were so cliché that Wutai's Lord snorted and rolled his eyes; the Kisaragi's were known for their distaste of clichés.
"So…you've heard."
"Nope. Just punched you in the face as a greeting. Wutaiian tradition."
"We're so sorry."
"Will your apologies get my daughter back?" At the shake of Tseng's head, Godo continued, "Then don't bother with them. Instead, find something more productive to do with yourself than make bullshit apologies."
A gleam of determination flooded Tseng's eyes. "We'll get her back. I promise you."
"She'll be very safe with Reno; he's one of our best workers. I promise no harm will come to her."
A malicious gleam flickered in Godo's dark eyes, and his mouth turned down in a scowl. "I don't trust promises from any member of Shin-Ra. Not after the results of the last one."
Cold. That was the first thing Yuffie noticed ebbing through the thick fog clouding her mind. Cold, and a throbbing pain in her shoulders that was getting stronger as she gained clarity in her awareness. Then came the realization that her face felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer…much like the rest of her body. The ninja vaguely wondered if Reno would still love her if her face had been sledgehammered...she hoped so, because it would kind of suck to lose him over something as stupid and painful as that.
Opening eyes that really didn't feel like being opened, Yuffie took in her state as her mind was flung back to reality. Yuffie rolled her eyes at the cliché-ness of everything. Ankle and wrist bindings? Check. Mouth taped shut? Check. Weaponless? Check. Sharp-pointy-object-less? Check. Escape-plan-less? Heheheheh….not so much. Didn't this punk know that Yuffie was a ninja? It wasn't like simple bindings were gonna stop her from escaping.
Rolling to her side, all she had to do was pretzelerize herself until her bound wrists reached her ankles. From then it was easy as one-two-three: fumble with the rope around her ankles until it came undone, and jump-rope her own arms so they were in front of her instead of behind. Then, gritting her teeth, the shinobi ripped the tape from her mouth, feeling a bit of blood begin to dribble down as a layer of skin came off with the adhesive. Her mouth and teeth freed, she could now gnaw at the rope around her wrists. When she was free, Yuffie finally took in her actual surroundings.
Splintered wood made up the walls, and a carpet of straw scratched at the bottom of Yuffie's feet. The only illumination came from a large, pane-less window, and a chill wind lashed at the ninja as she went to stand in its frame. Snow was pelting the ground in harsh chunks, and nothing could be seen for miles around except for dark splotches that Yuffie assumed were patches of forest. Her breath fogged in front of her face as she gazed in horror at the frozen tundra before her. The crimson dress she still was clothed in did little to keep out the biting twists of air spiraling through the room, seeming to cut through her body.
Instinct told her to just make a run for it, flip through the open window in front of her and haul ass out of there until she was home in warm Wutai, curled up under a quilt with her cats. Common sense told her that Reno could be here somewhere and she wasn't leaving without him. Not when he was in this whole mess because of her. Besides, her feet were bare, her dress was short, and it was a near-blizzard snowstorm outside.
Yuffie turned away from the desolate land stretching in all directions and faced the room. Taking hesitant steps forward in the darkness, letting her ears guide her, Yuffie found that she wasn't even in a locked room. She was in a…stall? Yes, there was a water trough to her right, empty of everything except for the noises of creepy-crawlers scuttling about. Her eyes adjusting to the dark, the young shinobi padded out into what looked like a hallway. In front of her, and continuing down behind her, were the silhouettes of rows and rows of stalls. Yuffie was sure that wherever she was, she was definitely in an old barn.
A slimy something squirmed over her foot, and Yuffie bit her tongue to avoid any sound. All around her the stable groaned, the wind rocking its old bones. With a turn to the right, all silhouetted shapes disappear, giving way to the dark void of an open area. The mysterious depths of the bigger room chased all clichés of bound limbs and taped mouths from the captive's mind, as the blackness loomed—a blind spot everywhere the ninja looked. Even the air crackled with mystery and devious intentions as a high, keening sound shrieked in Yuffie's ears. The sound of rusty metal moving. She was not alone in this place.
Perhaps it was Reno, trying to find her, or maybe it was the man desperate to spill her blood for some reason…or it might have been Yuffie's imagination running wild; conjuring ghosts and goblins out of the engulfing gloom, where none truly existed. Whatever the case, the girl had been trained to survive, trained to keep herself alive, and to do that she knew she needed a weapon. Any kind of makeshift article would suffice.
Treading silently down the rows of chocobo stalls, through the inky shadows swallowing everything in her vicinity, Yuffie kept her semi-adjusted eyes trained all around, not that it did much good without any windows to let even the slightest sliver of moonlight in. Her pace was quick, but even she couldn't find any form of defense before the killer found her.
It seemed appropriate that both their footsteps were silent as the grave.
The grave that one of them would be going to soon.
The killer's one mistake was that as soon as he sensed his prey, he hastened towards her, giving away his position. Alerted to the movement behind her, Yuffie managed to throw herself out of the way as a dagger went flying by her, rolling to the side, bounding back up and spinning to face the projectile's origin. At the click of a button, dim light flooded the barn and Yuffie gazed at her enemy for the first time.
Across the room from her stood a man of about six feet, muscled—but not overly so—and strikingly Wutaiian. Gaping at his tan skin and dark almond eyes, all Yuffie could see was Wutai-born, cousin, subject, friend. But then her eyes narrowed and she saw Traitor, killer, rapist, enemy.
"Lady Kisar—"
"Yuffie." Her words were shards of ice as they plunged through his, cutting them off. "And you are?"
"Jacob Draken."
"Your real name, traitor. The one you had before you abandoned your country."
"I have many names, Kisaragi."
As they spoke, the nemeses inched forward, Jacob's hand never leaving the holster at his hip.
Almost in unison, they were at each others throats, Yuffie landing a roundhouse kick to Jacob's jaw. The shinobi's form was off however, and as she landed her back was exposed to her rival who took this opening, flinging her by the waist. Yuffie flew clear across the room before catching herself on a broken rafter, tilting down from the ceiling. Flipping up and balancing neatly, Yuffie glared.
"So, is this the part where you try to scare the shit out of me, before proceeding to rape and then kill me?" Leave it to the ninja to keep her sarcasm in battle.
"Frighten—yes, Kill—yes, but I think I'd rather not take your virginity, you disgusting Wutai flea!"
Yuffie would have laughed at the fact that he thought she was still a virgin, but by then he was leaping at her, gun out of the holster and firing wildly as the shinobi sprang away, jumping to the stable stall's framework and sprinting her way across. At the last second she pulled up short and back-flipped off the wooden frame, launching herself just far enough to land behind the oncoming killer. A well placed kick to the small of his back, and Jacob was down with Yuffie crouched along his spine. The gun clattered away into the shadows as he fell. Yuffie had the vague thought that it was pretty badass that she was doing all of this in a mini skirt.
"You're from Wutai yourself, idiot! Even if you have abandoned the way of ninjitsu for mechanical weapons! Your blood and my blood are the same!" Yuffie didn't fully understand why it mattered so much to her that he acknowledge his heritage, but she knew that no one calls her a Wutai flea and gets away with it—she'd gotten enough of that during Deepground.
Apparently, Jacob didn't like his heritage very much, and Yuffie's bringing it up only fed his rage. Again, she found herself flying through the air as he sprung up from underneath her. Catching her from midair before she even registered what was happening, Yuffie was slammed against a wall with a squeezing fist wrapped around her throat. Jacob's dark eyes held a maniacal glint as they bored into her, piercing through the fog that was clouding her oxygen-starved brain.
"Don't you want to know why? Don't you want to know why I killed all those women? Why I came after you?!?! DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW?!?!?!?!" For the first time, Yuffie was actually afraid of Jacob. A sane serial killer she could deal with no problem…a psychotic, maniacal, deranged one was a little more risky. "Six hundred and ninety-nine women…exactly. That's how many I've killed. You'll be the seven-hundredth. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And you know why I picked you? Why I want to kill you?"
Yuffie was beginning to fade, but one of her legs had a perfect opening at Jacob's groin. However, deep down, she was an inquisitive girl. She wanted to know why Jacob did what he did…it wasn't like he would find redemption in her eyes, but knowing your enemy's motives had benefits. If she could just hang on until he finished explaining…
"I picked you because…I grew up in Wutai. I saw it before, during and after the war. Before the war we were just crazy heathens with primitive traditions and too much obsession with purity of blood. The war with Shin-Ra changed all that. For once, we were going somewhere…even if it was just a tourist resort town, we were becoming one with the new times. And then, you came back from saving the world. And I knew that if you took the throne when Old Man Godo died…that you'd bring Wutai back to the "great" country it once was. Restore the traditions, throw out Shin-Ra for good. And…I can't have that… I CAN'T HAVE THAT YOU STUPID, TRADITIONAL BITCH! YOU BITCH!"
Yuffie had heard enough. Through the haze of her dying brain, she managed to send a signal to her right, bare foot. The muscles coiled taught and carried all the power of the trained ninja that she was, sending a strong kick to Jacob's down-yonder. And he went down. So did Yuffie. The rivals lay on the cold ground, one writhing in pain and the other gasping for air.
"What…about…the other…the other girls…what was the point in killing all of them…if you just wanted…me?" Yuffie gagged on the stale air of the barn, inhaling straw and dirt and mud and muck as she struggled to get the words out. Jacob's answer chilled her to the bone before setting fire to her veins in mindless fury.
"Because, my naive Princess, sometimes I just get the urge to kill." Jacob had gone oddly still as he said those words, and Yuffie leapt at him from her grounded position, trying to bash his head into the ground.
"So their deaths were meaningless? They were just your work because you were bored and wanted to kill innocent women?" The duo rolled in the straw, scratching and clawing and punching and kicking at the other. Jacob finally said the words that clicked in Yuffie's mind.
"Bored…funny…I was only bored until I took that little girl from your friend's bar…oh, and she was in on it. Tifa, I believe her name was? She helped me set the trap. For the girl's safe return, of course. A hostage for a hostage…" The shinobi went flopped off her adversary and went limp with shock. Everything fell into place.
So, how have you all been?
Helping your enemy
Reno, could I see you for a moment please?
So she'll be vulnerable
Like I'd let anything happen to my best friend at my own party!
Lying, two-faced—
"BITCH!" Yuffie screamed, although it came out somewhat strangled. "I'LL KILL HER FOR THIS!"
"See…?" Jacob asked quietly, "Even you get the urge to kill. We are the same, Kisaragi Yuffie."
With a cry of outrage, Yuffie was once again on her feet. Blinded by her wrath, she ended up halfway down the aisle of stalls, with an old, spoke-wheel in her hands. Pausing to fix her eyes upon its frame, a sadistic gleam flashed in her eyes. The outer circular framework had rotted away, leaving the spokes exposed and deadly. It sure as hell wasn't Conformer, but it would suffice. She readied her arm to throw…and then the ceiling collapsed behind her. Whirling to face the cloud of dust and shards of wood flying everywhere, she could only make out a flash of red hair before she realized who it was.
"RENO!" She yelled, but he waved her back.
"Not now, babe! Fight him!" In all the madness, Jacob was only beginning to lurch to his feet. His deep brown eyes met Yuffie's stormy grey, and then she released the wheel. It whistled through the air before meeting it's mark with a sickening crunch. Jacob flew back from the impact and collided with the wall, leaving a trail of blood as he slid down. Only one spoke had struck him, directly between the eyes. Yuffie walked over to him limp form and spat the last words he would ever hear.
"You and I have nothing in common, traitor."
Wrenching the wheel from his skull, blood spattered everywhere. The makeshift weapon dropped with a thud at Yuffie's feet.
There was utter silence for three heartbeats. She slowly turned to gaze at Reno. Both were breathing heavily, and not even a moment later, they had met in the center of the aisle and were wrapped up in each other. Parting from each others lips for air, the lovers silently set to examining the other for any serious wounds. Yuffie's lips were caked in dried blood, and there were deep purple bruises on her neck, arms and legs, as well as splinters everywhere. Reno was a splintery mess as well, along with some shallow scrapes from his fall through the ceiling. All in all however, they were alive, in one piece, and together.
Taking Yuffie's hand in his, Reno steered her away from Jacob's body.
"C'mon, let's find a way outta this hell hole."
Yuffie couldn't have come up with a better suggestion.
(AN: And so we see Jacob's crazy side…intense enough? I hope so. Anyways, don't even go thinking that Hostage is over yet. Cuz…it's not. Alright, getting down to business, major thanks to my BETA MidnightXRequiem for putting up with all my craziness while writing this…like tackling her into her metal book holder and throwing Corn Pops all over the place. And to the rest of the reviewers: Azalie-Kauriu, ariaswan, Fan, midnight 1987, otaku dreamer, ClassicBeauty16, Serenitychan13, JignYee, Feloss, Lady Da Qiao of Wu, Vampyric Ninja, and my last anonymous reviewer! Welcome newcoming reviewers, and welcome back to all of you who've been here from the beginning XD Love you all and keep it up!)