Chapter 2: Finding the Lost

Yuffie gazed out the barred window, twitching a little as a random bolt of lightning came close. She gave a bored sigh and expertly flipped from the window to the wall, bouncing off that to a beam and so on until she made her way to the bottom, twenty feet below. Once there, she stretched and turned her head to get a crick out of her neck. Finally she walked over to a crack in the wall.

"Aerith?"

"I'm still here, Yuffie. Did you see anything?"

"Nothing that can help us get out of this mess, if that's what you mean. It's still misty below and I can't tell if our gummi ship has been discovered or not. There would have been a hubbub if any of these dummies found it, but not if that jerk did."

There was a short period of silence as her friend sat beside the wall on the other side, considering their options. "Maybe you would be better off alone. If you get out now, you'll have a better chance of escaping."

"Not if that means leaving you behind. I can't let you stay here all by yourself."

Before another word could be spoken, they both shivered at the sudden coldness creeping over their limbs, then there was the sound of heavy bootfalls and chains clinking.

"They'll have to double-up," the guard grumbled.

There came a snort they had gotten used to hearing over the past few days. "Amazing that in a castle this size, you have only two cells equipped to restrain your prisoners."

"Blame the builders, not me. None of the soldiers will bother to fix 'em, and the King would rather kill captives than feed 'em. I'm of a mind with 'im, anyway."

"Place her in the first one," the scientist Nobody ordered.

The soldier grumbled, but Aerith heard the screech of a key in the lock and the hinges protested as they swung the tired door open, then a young girl was shoved inside. She was so weak that instead of regaining her balance, she fell face-first to the filthy floor and lay there without moving. Vexen stepped in and gave an unpleasant grin as he watched the woman in pink rush to the aid of the newcomer. He snapped the chain attached to her wrists to a ring by the doorway.

"That one is dangerous so I'll be leaving the Inhibiter nearby. I hope you convince her to do as she's told, for your sakes as well as her own." He started to leave, then turned back and went over to them. A blue pouch was attached to the girl's belt and he tore it off, ripping the strings.

Once he had his prize, the Nobody left and Aerith stared at the child. She could tell right away from her clothes that this girl was not from Prydain, their current world. They were brightly colored, whereas people here wore clothing made from mostly natural hues and very little dye in them. Besides, there was the fact that she had purple hair.

"What world are you from?"

She sat up slowly, rubbing her head as though it pained her terribly. "…Gaia… But how do you know about other worlds?"

"Simple: this is not my world either." She went to a bucket and carried a dipper of water from it over to the girl. "My name is Aerith."

"Eiko." She took the dipper and drank, giving Aerith a grateful look. "Where are you from?"

"Hollow Bastion. Are you familiar with it?"

"Not at all. I've been visiting different worlds all week and never had a bit of trouble. I'm looking for a guy named Riku and was stupid enough to think I could get information here."

"Riku?" came a muffled, echoing voice.

Eiko looked around but didn't see another person in the room.

"Oh, that's Yuffie. She's in the cell next to us."

"Hey, I can introduce myself!"

"Too late," Aerith giggled. She leaned closer to Eiko's ear and whispered, "I left out all her titles. She always gets miffed about that."

"You did it on purpose," Yuffie grumbled. "So, what does our new cell-mate look like?"

"She has a cute outfit, purple hair, and a horn."

"A 'cute outfit'? What's that suppose to look li—did you say a horn? Not two horns? Just one?"

"I was born with it, if that's what you were wondering," Eiko said slowly, not sure why she was suddenly so interested.

"So you're not human?"

The purple-haired girl had already undergone a humiliating, effortless defeat and now felt her pride was being scraped raw by this interrogation. "Of course I'm human. Why do you want to know? Why do you even care?"

"Oh, so it's some kind of mutation."

The wooden dipper hit Yuffie's wall and the handle broke off. Aerith didn't seem very concerned as she went to retrieve it. "Yuffie, maybe you should stop asking so many questions now."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. She doesn't have to be so touchy about it. But how old is she?"

Aerith turned to look at her, the question in her eyes. Eiko glanced up and then quickly back down. "I'm…I'm not sure anymore. A few weeks ago I was nine years old, but then… I'm just not sure."

"I'd say you look about mid-teens. Care to tell us what happened?"

Slowly, and with much re-telling as she remembered other details, Eiko described as much as she knew of the first adventure in this series. At the end of it when she told how she'd woken up in an older body, Yuffie suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Hahahaha! Just the thought of you as a gawky little girl—hee hee!—and then that Riku suddenly seeing you like you are now. I can't even imagine what he must have been thinking. Ahahaha!"

Eiko couldn't help grinning too at the thought, then she sobered and said, "I wonder what he's doing now…"

%*%

There was a festival going on outside a huge church someone called Notre Dame. There were songs and dancing everywhere as hundreds of people dressed in costumes pranced about the square doing assorted tricks and acts. Several stray dogs had tried snapping at him for some reason, but a well-aimed kick kept them away.

One man sat in a chair on a raised platform, an air of authority about him and a guard had addressed him as Judge Frollo. Riku knew this was a celebration, but he wanted to get his mission over with as quickly as possible. If interrupting the man's entertainment got his answer quickly, he'd do it.

Approaching, he said, "Sir, I have a question if you would—"

"What is this impertinence?" the man snapped. "Why do you wear a black cloak and keep your eyes covered?"

Riku wasn't sure why it was such a criminal act since everyone else in the crowd was decked out, but for some reason this man was ticked off about anyone besides himself wearing black.

Suddenly a sash wrapped around his arm and a black-haired gypsy girl wearing a tiara and a flowing red dress was there beside him. "Can't do the act without you," she said with a good-natured laugh.

The judge leaned back, apparently less upset now that he assumed Riku was part of the entertainment but still displeased. The young woman pulled him out onto the main stage and twirled around him, her bare feet slapping the ground. Not sure what else to do without attracting attention, he danced with her, and as the music came to its climax he threw her into a breakneck spin. He was just barely able to catch her before she twirled right off the edge of the stage. The moment the music was over she threw her hands wide and stepped out of his arms, bowing to the cheering crowd.

At that moment, one of the dogs in someone's act caught a strong whiff of a foreign otherworldly smell from Riku. The scent drove it crazy and before anyone knew what was happening, the animal leaped up the wooden steps with a howl and crashed into Riku from behind. They rolled about as he grappled with a creature more wolf than dog. Its hot breath stifled him and it snapped an inch from his throat.

Soul Eater appeared between its teeth, keeping those fangs from him, but the dog was beyond madness and kept trying to reach its prey despite the blade already cutting into the sides of its mouth. Left with no other choice, Riku gave a shove and sliced the dog's head in half. His blood-smeared Keyblade faded in a mist of darkness and he shoved himself up.

There was a moment of complete silence. His dancing partner's face was white and all the spectators were staring in shock…except for the judge, now on his feet, who thrust out one hand and shouted to the guards, "It's witchcraft! Seize that man!"

The gypsy threw down a smoke bomb and dropped with Riku through the bottom of the platform. The spring-panel swung back up above them and she seized a bundle waiting there before they darted into the crowd. She threw a nondescript brown cloak over him and another over herself.

"You run pretty well for a blind guy," she whispered as they sneaked.

"Thanks," he replied shortly.

Other gypsies were creating distractions all over the square. Plumes of purple smoke puffed up from three different spots and the guards all surged toward these. Somehow they made their way into Notre Dame and once the door closed behind them, Riku took a deep breath to slow his wildly-beating heart.

Keeping hidden was so easy, but when he actually had to talk to people in the worlds it was a completely different matter. This was not the first time he'd been attacked and pursued, but the last thing he wanted to do was attract everyone's attention.

"I'm Esmeralda," the woman said cordially.

"Riku." He had never been inside a church before and there was something very peaceful about it. His hand touched the smooth marble of a pillar. "This place… Is it a refuge of some kind?"

"Yes. The archdeacon here is a good man and he allows anyone into Notre Dame as long as they do not bring weapons or cause an uproar. They say he's also a philosopher and a great teacher in the academy." Her dark eyes observed him another few seconds before she said, "What was it you wanted to ask Frollo before I pulled you into my act?"

He was glad she went straight to the point. "I'm looking for two women. Their names are Aerith and Yuffie."

After hearing their descriptions the gypsy tapped her chin and walked a few paces off to stare at a stained glass window. "No… I'd recognize people that odd. You stand out more than they would, but I'm pretty sure they're not in Paris. I live in the underground and nobody gets news faster than we do. There's not even a speck of a rumor about them."

"Perfect," Riku muttered as he turned away, "another dead end."

"But…" she cried. "How—how did you do that? With the sword, I mean. One second that dog's teeth were nearly on your throat, and the next you were holding a weapon that came from nowhere. Are you…was that real witchcraft?" There was fear in the words but also curiosity.

Riku stood still. "It is not for you. If anything, it's a worse curse than the people here realize. Sometimes I feel as if magic should never have been discovered. We might have been spared so much…" His thoughts went back to the crystal in Atlantis and what trouble it had caused for not just Kida's people but everyone who existed.

The woman with bouncing black hair seemed to understand his reluctance to speak about that, but she was still interested in him. "Can you really see? I think you can. No one could do those things without—"

"I have to leave," he interrupted. "Will you be able to take care of yourself or do you need any assistance getting out of here?"

Esmeralda deflated a little, realizing he wouldn't answer her questions. "I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me. Where will you go?"

"I'm still searching."

"Will you be back?"

"It's very unlikely. Thank you for your help, and goodbye."

With that he stretched his hand out, opening a portal in the air directly to his transport hidden on the outskirts of the city. He stepped through and the writhing oval of darkness faded, but not before Esmeralda called out, "You're a good dancer!"

"One headache after another," Riku said tiredly as he got back into the gummi ship and it lifted off from the ground. This time had been less productive than ever, and there were still plenty of worlds to investigate…

%*%

"So you're saying you know Riku?" Eiko asked.

"Um…sort of," came Yuffie's voice through the wall.

"How?"

There was a pause and Aerith looked a bit confused. "We're not sure. Someone told us about him…but we can't remember who."

She looked so troubled that Eiko decided to change the subject. "How did you two get stuck here?"

"We're lost. We've been trying to make our way back home to Hollow Bastion, but every world we try is no good. Usually we just approach a world and move on if it isn't ours, but we ran out of supplies and thought we might be able to get some here."

"Yeah, but unfortunately we landed in this area," Yuffie grumped. "If we had just taken the ship a little farther east we probably would have been fine, but we didn't want anyone to see us, so we parked the gummi ship in a chasm about a quarter of a mile from here. The only thing keeping it hidden is that eternal mist down there."

"Did the Horned King catch you?"

"No," Aerith said. "Vexen did. We watched the castle for a while and decided we didn't want to have anything to do with it, but before we could get back to the ship and go elsewhere he appeared. We didn't know who he was or even that he was a Nobody until after he captured us."

At that point Eiko finally realized she should have tried to be more observant than simply marching up to the drawbridge.

"We would have gotten away if he had faced us in battle like a real man instead of sneaking around and catching us from behind," the girl in the other cell continued to grumble.

Aerith smiled wanly. "She's mad because he used an ice attack to freeze her solid. Even a ninja can't escape if she can't move."

"Took my shuriken too. Plucked it right out of my hands like he was picking a daisy, then he tossed it on the ground like it was worthless. It's probably all rusted now. Stupid ice… I sneezed for two days straight."

"Oh, so you're a ninja," the summoner said.

"Yep, and Aerith is our resident healer. Fat lot of good that does us in this place. Give me a nice Fire materia and I'll blow this place sky-high…"

"You're a healer? That's funny, so am I."

Aerith laughed. "Not that I can help anyone right now. Vexen's Inhibitor keeps me from using any magic, but even if I could it wouldn't help. None of my spells are offensive."

"What exactly is the Inhibitor?"

The woman in pink leaned against the wall. "We don't know. Whatever it is, he keeps it secret. It doesn't have a very long range, though. Yuffie has been able to— Hey, are you alright?"

Eiko's eyes had lost focus and she raised a hand to rub her temples, making the chain clink heavily. "I'm sorry… My head hurts."

Her companion went to the other side of the cell and brought back an armful of hay and a few rags. it wasn't much, but it was all they had. Once she'd finished setting up the makeshift bed, Aerith motioned to it.

"The best way to get over the effects of the Inhibitor is to sleep. Don't worry, I'll be here the whole time."

She didn't even remember lying down…

%*%

Eiko stirred slightly as she heard voices. Aerith and Yuffie were talking in whispers. She turned her head to hear better and began catching some of their conversation.

"…may not work. Did that ever cross your mind?" Yuffie said fiercely.

"But I'm not alone anymore, so you can't keep using that argument. As long as Eiko is here we may find a way to help each other. You can get yourself out, Yuffie, but I can't. Go while you still have a chance."

"What if I can find the keys and get you both out?"

"When the Horned King and Vexen find out you can teleport, they'll chain you close to the Inhibitor. As long as you can get up high enough you're out of its range, but you'll only be able to use that trick once. Remember when I healed you?"

"Yeah, and that jerk was here in a flash wanting to know what we were doing. He must have some way to detect magic." The ninja considered their options for a short while, finally muttering to herself, "I don't see why I have to abandon you."

"If you find help and save us it won't be 'abandoning'."

Eiko opened her eyes and saw Aerith sitting cross-legged beside the crack that allowed her and Yuffie to communicate. She had gotten used to the faint glow from the tiny window above, but still couldn't see her friend's face very well. Was Aerith crying? It was hard to be sure.

"You're running out of time. It's now or never."

There were a few moments more of silence, then Yuffie's voice came through, almost fragile. "I'll be back. I promise you that."

The sound of scuffling came from the other cell as the ninja made her way to the very top, out of the Inhibitor's range. The dank smell around the summoner was momentarily blanketed by the scent of fragrant smoke and something like crushed leaves.

A minute later footsteps came down the hallway and Yuffie's cell was investigated. Aerith ran over to Eiko and, finding her awake, pulled her as far away as they could get from the entrance. There was a crashing noise, as though something had been thrown or kicked against the wall. Next, their cell door was flung open and Vexen stood staring at them, backlit by torches in the hall. His eyes were violent green and his face a wild mask of fury.

"Where is she?"

Neither of them answered. The scientist closed his eyes and took a breath, clenching both fists by his sides. After a moment he relaxed and a smirk touched his mouth in an unpleasant way that made both girls anxious.

"It matters little. She had no abilities worth studying and she could not have been very gifted or she would not have deserted you." His gaze fastened on Eiko with such hold that she felt stifled. "Tomorrow you and I shall have a…conversation."