DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 14: Fun and Games Ends inside the Desert Prison

A lot has happened since we left Midgar, I was close to this Sephiroth, but didn't get the chance to actually meet him or even see him. Cloud, Barret and Aeris were the ones to go down and check right after the alarms went off. I was surprise to see that Yuffie didn't want to go with Cloud, she was… terrified. I, wasn't sure why, but I was sure that something bad was going to happen.

As we were exiting the ship, Aeris got excited. I tasted the breeze that suddenly blew on my face; it smelled like we were close to a beach. I read a sign that said "Welcome to Costa Del Sol" we were in a place full of fun, there were also lots of people with swimsuit and with a sense of vacation. Everyone gathered around and at first we begun talking about where Sephiroth might be heading next suddenly Aeris and Tifa started commenting about how cute Barret looked with his sailor suit, I never thought I would see Barret dressed like that. We started giggling, and even more when Barret turned a little red. Even Cloud joined in the fun.

"Yeah, you looked like a bear wearing a marshmallow" said Cloud with a small grin, but in a serious tone. I started laughing uncontrollably.

"Well, this happens to be the most comfortable thing!" Barret snapped instantly.

Yuffie then stepped out of our group and told us not to bother looking for her; she was going to meet us at the town's entrance. We agreed to split up and have a look around town and meet up at the entrance. I noticed that Red was acting strange, so I approached him.

"Are you ok Red?" I asked feeling that Aeris was behind me.

"Yes, but I hope we don't stay long, this heat is unbearable… "

"Oh, yes, it is really hot… hmm, let's look for a shade." I said to particularly no one. I just went up ahead, passed by a bar and found a cool place to be. The Bar's air conditioner escaped from the door and as the wind blew it hit us every now and then. I sat close in between Red and Aeris… for some reason I started thinking of how Aeris and I met… she mentioned to Cloud about a material she had.

"Say Aeris, what's that materia that you say it was good for absolutely nothing?"

"Hmm, what about it?" Aeris asked sweetly.

"I was wondering, why it won't do anything. I'm not good with the use of materia and I still can use it… but I'm not convinced that it's good for absolutely nothing… I mean it must do something."

"I guess… maybe we're find out in the future, who knows."

"Yeah… " for some reason I noticed that Red was wagging his tail… he looked adorable.

"You're probably wondering why my tail moves like this… " said Red all of the sudden.

"Oh, not really… "

He made a sound that I assumed it was a small chuckle "well, true is, I haven't the slightest idea… "

"Maybe is because you're relax." I looked up to wipe some sweat that was on my forehead and I noticed Yuffie was selling materia inside a white RV. "Is that Yuffie?"

Aeris looked up and she nod "Yes."

"Let's check it out. Coming Red?"

"I'll stay here, I'll meet you up later." He answered

"Ok, let's go Aeris" I helped Aeris up.

Yuffie explained that this was her part-time job, she then sell me a Heal materia.

"Trust me, you'll be in need of this since you're not a good fighter at all" she said lively.

"Gee thanks… " I said sarcastically, but knew she was right. I followed Aeris instruction and put the green little ball on my left arm. I was amazed how it dissolved into my arm.

"You should only be able to cure poisoned friends… but as you gained experience you should be able to cure other dieses." She smiled "we should eat before we head out again."

"Yes!" I was hungry and glad she mentioned food. We headed out shortly after we ate at the bar.

…

As we were at Mt. in Corel, we passed by a middle age man that told us he just passed a guy with a black coat. We were getting close, or so I thought. There were plenty of creepy monsters, one poisoned Tifa, I was glad the Heal materia worked to help me cure her. A flying monster went on to attack me and I instinctively jabbed the bird with my right fist. Which I knocked down, but it hurt me more than the bird did. As we were getting out of the mountain, I was still rubbing my right hand. That bird was ten times harder than I though. My knife was too small to inflict enough damage too. We were walking in a really wide and long bridge, and Tifa was giving me tips on how to fight different types of monsters. "You shouldn't hit them bare handed, you should buy a gauntlet to protect your fist from damage."

"I'll keep that in mind… Thanks."

Suddenly some kind of red creature which was round and covered in flames appeared. Cloud and Barret lunged at it and every time it was attacked it grew a little. Cloud yelled at me to use my ice-magic at it. I concentrated my whole being into it, and a small blizzard surrounded the red creature as my materia glowed. The creature then felt and disappeared. I was then explained that elemental creatures were supposed to be attack by the opposite element. I kept that in mind as well.

We reached some kind of place that was covered with trash, and there were some tents around the place too. Some man took a notice on us and suddenly yelled at the others with some distaste that someone was back. It took me a few second to realize it was about Barret, he headed on ahead and told us to wait. We were still at hearing distance and unexpectedly the guy punched Barret at his face, he backed away one foot and maintained composure. I was in shocked and Cloud held my arm when I tried to approach Barret. He was also in shock but he gave me a head signal that we shouldn't interrupt. When they were finished, Barret came back to us, a depress expression that I swear I never thought I would see.

"'Ye heard them, it's all my fault." That was all that Barret said before we reached the train.

He explained us then about his best friend Dyne, about his town being destroyed by the Shinra all because he agreed on the construction of the reactor in Corel, about his wife Myrna dying… he was blaming everything on himself. Yuffie was the only one who wasn't sympathized with Barret. She hated Shinra as much as Barret did. We all got on the train, and ironically we were at a place called the Gold Saucer.

The place sure looked like fun, Aeris was once again excited and she said that she knew it wasn't the time, but we should have fun. She then approached Barret and asked him to cheer up, he snapped by saying he wasn't in a cheery mood.

"Really? That's too bad." Aeris then went with Cloud asked him to come with her.

I wasn't sure what to do; I was still thinking about Barret. That was a little too harsh, Tifa seemed like she read my mind and approached Aeris and she answered that she should act normal when things like this happen. Aeris then went up to Barret again.

"We're going to go play, is that ok?"

"THEN PLAY! I don't give a damn!" he rushed off to some kind of closed slider and before he jumped in he told us not to forget we're still looking for Sephiroth.

"I think he's mad" Aeris said.

"You think?" I answered.

"Don't worry, he seems to be better now… " Tifa finally said, and so Aeris and Cloud jumped inside another closed slider.

"Hey Yuffie, want to go with me?" I said wanting to join in the fun.

"Um, sure!" she said and we both jumped inside a slider that read SPEED.

It was sure fun to slide down the place, it almost made me forget everything else. We went into a place that looked like a roller coaster, but we couldn't get in… we needed some GP.

The lady said we could get them in a place called Wonder Square. We headed to the place, it was an arcade. I actually never been to one back in my world, never really called in my attention. As we were there, we play basketball game which I sucked big time, Yuffie pushed me away, she said I was wasting money for nothing. She in the other hand was good at it. We played around some more, and boy was I having fun. Then we went across a combat game, I challenged Yuffie and we played a few times. Finally after a while, I beaten her, and when I did I started jumping up and down. Lots control of myself, I think.

"Ha! I did it!" I said giggling and laughing.

"Yes after a 12 lost." She said not happy by the fact that she lost, but she still had a smile.

"Don't care! I won once! Woo-hoo!" I said still giggling and jumping.

"You girls sure enjoy these games." Said a familiar voice, I turn to see that it was Red. He looked like he was in a good mood. Tifa entered a few seconds later. She seemed to have noticed that I won at a combat game.

"You know there's a place where you get to fight real monsters." She smiled "You should give it a go Cynthia. It might help you improve. She winked at me. My old self would have told her she was crazy, but I said lively, and even happy.

"What are we standing here for, let's go-go-go!" I rushed off not sure which way was it.

…

As we headed for the battle arena, there was this Shinra uniformed personal on the floor. I approached him, and my hair rose. "He's dead… Is Sephiroth here?"

"No… I don't think so, he was shot… Sephiroth always uses his sword." Tifa said.

"Then who did this?" For some reason I went up stairs, I found Cloud, Aeris and some… thing with them. Was that a stuffed animal? "Cloud! What happened here?"

"Cynthia, I don't know… "Someone started to moved, it was a lady that had the Gold Saucer uniform, Cloud went towards her. "What happened here?"

"Ugh… a man, with a gun… on his arm."She then lost consciousness.

It took me a few second to get what she meant… "Barret would never do this!" I said, not knowing why, but I was sure he didn't.

Soon later, someone who was really muscular and was only wearing an orange bottom enter the place along with some security guards "Halt! What happened here?"

Cloud try to explained to him what has happened, but the cat that was on top of a machine said that this was going to get ugly and told us to follow. We all did, but it was futile in the end, some machine got a hold of us all and they sent us down into a hole… The guy with the orange bottom told us to pay for our crime, and we ended up… literally, inside a desert prison.

The heat was unbearable, and there were plenty of mysterious characters here, there was even a punk that was following us. Cait Sith, the stuffed animal, told us that once you get in… you never got out. I wouldn't buy that, and I was still thinking about Barret. Then I saw him…

"Cloud! Hurry, there's Barret!" I ran on ahead and Barret just turned.

"Don't ye all interfere! This is something I got to do by myself!" and he ran off.

"Barret! Wait! Cloud, what do we do? You don't think Barret shot those people?"

"That's one of your friends, he sure looks dangerous." Cait Sith commented, but I ignored him. What was he doing with us?

"Let's catch up with Barret. Something's wrong with him… I don't think he did it Cynthia." Tifa was quiet, she also couldn't believe Barret did it as well. "Then we find a way out of here. Let's go."

"Right!"

…

Apologies for taking so long, but I've been very busy. Wrote this chapter in a hurry as well, but it came out nice. Hope that in the next chapter Vincent can finally show up! Anyways, leave your REVIEWS.