Chapter Thirteen: Remember

A/N: This is a strange chapter...ish. It mostly is just one character reliving a memory while trying to function in real life at the same time. So, on that note,

Italics is the memory.

None italics is real life.

A/N 2: I don't own Square Enix. If I did, then this shit would be cannon and Rufus would be married, have kids, and be a loving father (Cloud would be in a similar situation...I am hopelessly romantic, I know). But since I suck at romance, and since this fic isn't a romance, deal with it! (Or not, you know where the back button is, lol)

As always, reviews are encouraged, but not advised or forced. Love you all for hanging in there with me.

Shelke stared at the computer monitor, hands clenched into fists. Data cycled down the screen, blurring into useless information. Reeve had asked her to look for anything that could be 'useful' to the current situation. To her, she couldn't figure out was myth or fact. It was too meaningless. She shook her head and looked away, closing her eyes.

"…Tell me a story…" Shelke asks.

"Why?" he replies. He is neither annoyed nor intrigued, just calm.

"…because I cannot sleep…"she says simply.

Her eyes shot open. She shook her head harder.

"What was that?" she said to no one. She placed her head in her hands. "A memory?" She looked up to her monitor, stopping the data in mid-flow, trying to rid herself of the memory.

"Why?" he asks.

"Why what?" she responds.

"Why can you not sleep?" His voice is gentle, but sturdy.

"I…don't know…"

"Why am I remembering this?" Shelke said, pushing away from the monitor. She curled up into a ball, closing her eyes to relive the small moment of comfort she had felt once.

His arms opened up, offering her a hug. She stared blankly at him.

"You do remember what a hug is, right Shelke?" he laughed.

"I…I do…I just didn't think you…"

"Hugged?"

"Showed affection to anyone…" He just laughed again, pulling her into a comforting hug. She was surprised he was so warm. She always assumed he was just a cold-blooded killer.

"How do you think my brother is still sane?"

She looked back at the monitor, gasping quietly. Somehow, she had managed to stop the data flow on an image. An image of the man from the memory she was reliving. She reached out tentatively to touch the screen, almost as though she couldn't believe the picture was there.

"Would you like me to tell you a story still?" he asked as she curled up into his arms. He was just like a big brother…if she hadn't known what he was trained to do.

"Yes please," she said.

"Okay then. What should I tell you?"

"One of your favorite ones…" She was shocked that she would ever think about asking him of all people to tell her a bed time story. She was more surprised he said yes.

"My favorite one?" he said, looking down at her. She nodded again. He smiled simply, pulling her away from him so she sat cross-legged on his lap. He kept his hands gently on her shoulders, supporting her so she wouldn't fall. His furrowed his brow suddenly, as though deep in thought.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, worried. This was the first time she'd ever seen emotion out of him. She didn't want it to end quite yet.

"Do you believe in Degra?"

The picture was the only one that Reeve and the others in AVALANCHE and the WRO could find of him. It was a screen capture of the mass video sent out by the Tsviets as a scare tactic. She hated this picture. She knew he had been kind once, even if it was all an act.

"Weiss…"

"Weiss…? She asked tentatively.

"Do you, Shelke?" Weiss the Immaculate asked her. His gaze was stern and frightening.

"I…I don't even know what that is…" she said truthfully. His gaze softened.

"The Degra are guardians, Shelke. Remember that," he said, "they are the protectors of this planet, and because of this, they cannot die." Weiss looked down at her again. "The Degra are supposed to protect…" He shook his head. "Never mind. Enough of that. You asked for a story, not information. More importantly, my favorite story." He looked away from her, gazing up at the support beams above them.

"I know just the one."

Shelke drew away from the screen, shocked.

"He knew all along… Weiss knew all along…"

"There is this child, Shelke. Well, I guess now he wouldn't be a child anymore. I'm not sure on his age, but I guess that's not important. He is younger than me, though, I know that," Weiss said, looking at the beams. He turned his gaze back to her. "But this child, Shelke, he is a special child. His mother and father were strong rulers, and they were kind and intelligent. They created a strong nation, ruled by the mother and father. The child began to learn from his parents. He became strong and kind. He learned to be a leader and a warrior. A great man, he was."

"So the boy is a prince?" she asked, part of her immaturity and youth showing. Part of her got excited; Weiss was telling her a fairytale!

"Yes…well…he used to be…" He said solemnly.

"Used to be?"

"The child was kidnapped at a young age, his mother and father killed." Weiss said.

"Why? Who would ever think about doing that to a….child…." Shelke began, but then realized how the story related to all of the Tsviets.

"Because Hume are cruel, Hume are stupid," Weiss said, indifferently.

"Hume?"

"Humans….us…" he said, pointing at himself.

"So the prince wasn't human?"

"He was…partially human. He was a special breed of human. We call them Angels."

"He was an angel? Is that why he was kidnapped?"

"Yes, it was. Because he was an angel, he was seen as different. His mother and father were stronger than the average human, and had abilities that we could only dream of. Because of this power, the mother and father could control the nation peacefully. The humans who kidnapped the child and killed his family wanted to use the child as a way to control these strange powers and the nation that the child's parents had created. The child was taken and they began to torture the child to try and use him."

"Did it work? Were they able to control him?" Shelke leaned forward; she wanted to know more. This was no longer was a fairytale, it was a nightmare.

"For a while, yes. The child was too young when he was taken for him to know the world was any different. He was never told of the power he possessed. However, he began to grow used to the beatings, the starvation, the torture. The pain slowly turned to rage, and one day, the child finally changed."

"He changed?"

"He finally realized his power. He transformed into his angelic form. He began to fight back. The humans didn't know what to do, so they tried to kill him."

"Did they?"

"No. No, they didn't. However, they wounded him severely. His memory was erased of the incident. Again, without the knowledge of his power, the humans were able to control him. The humans began to torture the child more, trying to beat and scare him into submission. They became more violent, trying to alter the child into the perfect puppet. In a way, they succeeded. The child became cold, heartless even. He became indifferent to the other humans around him, even the ones he care for. Soon, he began to laugh at the pain he felt. He no longer was able to feel fear. The humans didn't know it, but they had actually made the child stronger, instead of their original goal of weakening him into submission. He began to plan, initiating acts of revenge on the people who hurt him. Then, one day, he vanished."

"Vanished?"

"He escaped his captors. Somehow, he got away. They say a Degra helped him escape, but I don't know. He is said to still be missing now." Weiss said. He chuckled slightly when he noticed how close Shelke was to him. Sometime during his narrative, Shelke had moved from the edge of his lap to clutching his chest. He patted her head. "Good story?"

"It wasn't real?" she questioned.

"I didn't say that," he replied.

"Have you ever seen the prince?"

"No, no I haven't."

"Wait! What if you are the prince and you're not telling me because you don't want anyone to know?" she said, pointing her finger at Weiss. He laughed yet again.

"I couldn't be the prince. He was an only child. I have a younger brother."

"You're just saying that as a cover up! Plus, he doesn't even look like you! Nero is the Degra that helped you escape!"

"Ha, if that were true, why would I hide in this gods forsaken place?" He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up gently. "No more, time for you to sleep." She yawned in response, stretching and cuddling up against him like a sister to her older brother. She felt herself begin to drift off to sleep. Weiss muttered something into her ear, and she fell into the only good sleep she ever had in Deep Ground.

"Maybe that's why I never noticed….I always thought the story was about him…or Nero, or one of the others," she said simply. Again, she placed her head in her hands.

"I should have known…I… I'm so sorry."

A/N 3: I haven't really done a lot of research on Weiss, but I;ve done enough and found that not many people know anything about what he was like before Hojo decided to play puppet master with his head, so I decided to make him a loving, over protective, older brother like character. I mean, with a little brother like Nero, I'd probably be over protective too...

Any info on what he was supposed to be in cannon would be great.