Disclaimer: I don't own, aighty? Okies, on to story now

Brevity

Chapter 21: Of Peace Treaties and Ladybug doodles

"You know, this might be easier on you if you stopped screaming," Mara called, voice far more innocent than the situation or current conversation—such as it was—quite called for. "I mean, really. You're far too old to be throwing a tantrum like this."

"Do you really think kidnapping is the best solution here…?" Vincent asked incredulously, yet not at all surprised by the absurdity of her plan.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Mara replied easily. "Though I wouldn't quite call it kidnapping… maybe a surprise adventure…"

"Well, surprise, but your adventure is attempting to run away again," Azriel cut in, pointing. Mara turned to see Rosso, bound up in a barrier spell, wriggling her way toward the ledge.

"Hey, hey, hey! None of that, now!" she called, rushing over and attempting to pull the Tsviet back. Rosso flailed around even more, straining the barrier, and with a sigh, Mara realized she'd have to switch to plan B. Silently, she searched inside for the pulsing energy and called on it, praying for time and luck. "Hey, Vincent, I'll meet you at the Shinra building, ok? Z, stick with Vincent." Before the questions even formed, they were answered as, with a low rumble and a rush of air, a dragon fell from the sky and scooped up the squirming Tsviet. With a grin and a wave, Mara leapt up to the great beast's neck, and with a whisper, they were gone.

"Damn… girl knows how to make an exit…" Azriel said proudly, and Vincent could only grunt in response.

"You will never have the pleasure of killing the Crimson! I will give you nothing but death!"

"Woman, the only thing I want from you is for you to shut up and listen long enough to hear me say that I'm trying to save your damn life!" Mara shouted back, patience running a tad thin. "Or would you rather I get Hammie here to just drop you and turn you into sidewalk art?"

"I don't believe you!"

"You don't have to! Just stop freaking out and don't kill anything for a minute, ok? Including yourself."

"Ha! You think you can trick me into sparing your life?"

"First off, I don't want to trick anybody into anything, because that's totes not cool. Second, I don't care what the fuck you do with my life, because whatever it is, it's probably more efficient that what's going on with it so far. Which is pretty much nothing useful. But if my life is what it'll take to stop this stupid fighting and keep other people from dying, then fine. Take it. But only if you can swear to me that it would be the last."

That shut the Tsviet up. She was thoughtfully silent as the great dragon set the two women down gently atop a rather familiar plateau. She looked the girl over again, a more intense scrutiny than before, as if she were searching for something that lay beneath the surface. "You mean that…" It wasn't a question, though it was heavy with shock.

"More than anything…" came the quiet assertion.

"…Why…?"

Mara sighed, hugging her elbow. "Because it breaks my heart to see innocent lives twisted and destroyed. I can't just watch it happen and do nothing. So, even if it kills me, I'll keep trying. I'm not a fighter; there's not a lot I know how to do, but I have to do something, even if it's something ridiculous and stupid and dangerous. I don't care if I die, as long as I don't have to see anyone else killed…"

Rosso snorted, unable to grasp the idea of peace, and yet uncomfortably stirred by the girl's conviction. "Killing is all we know; it is our only purpose."

"It doesn't have to be. Everyone deserves a second chance at life, to live it with meaning. This is your chance to find the real you, figure out what it is you want to do with your life. The possibilities are endless… So… please, don't give up…" Mara blinked and suddenly realized that she was holding onto the Crimson's shoulders as she pleaded with her. She immediately let go and took a step back, flustered. "Um… sorry…" Rosso was silent for a long time, and Mara began absently scratching the dragon's chin. She looked up as the Tsviet sighed, waiting anxiously.

"You… there is something very strange about you… but it makes me want to believe you. Do not make me regret this."

Mara's smile was shining with relief. "Thank you. I'll do my best," she promised.

"There they are! I see them! HI CLOUD!" Mara shouted, waving excitedly. "Ok, let me do the talking when we land… and, um, don't be surprised if I get yelled at, since technically I'm supposed to be across an ocean right now, k…?" Wary but still agreeable, Rosso nodded, silently wondering why that news wasn't surprising. With a rush of air, the dragon landed, and Mara clambered down from its back gracelessly before launching herself at Cloud in a flying bear hug. "I FOUND YOU!" she cried happily, grinning up the few short inches at the blond swordsman. The grin disappeared as she took in the glare that was being leveled at her by frightfully blue eyes, and she slowly released the vice-grip of a hug, backing away cautiously and waiting for the explosion that was imminent.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Cloud bellowed, so loudly that Mara squeaked in surprise. "Do you have any idea how reckless this is? How much danger you're throwing yourself in front of, and dragging Vincent into?"

Mara flinched, guilt stabbing at her in the gut, but there was a spark of defensive anger there too. She bristled, standing her ground as she shouted right back at the hero of the planet. "Of course I know how reckless and dangerous this is! You think I don't when I have to constantly worry if I'm about to get one of the most important people in my life killed because of my stupidity? You think I'm not aware of the fact that I have zero fighting skills or common sense, and that the chances that I'm about become another casualty in a war that makes even less sense than anything I say are staggeringly high? Because believe me, I am very much reminded of those facts every fucking second. And you know what? I still wouldn't be anywhere else. I wasn't thrown into this world to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you all run around and kill each other, and I'll be damned if I let even one more person die without a reason while I take another breath. So maybe instead of being so concerned with why I'm here, you should be trying to get this peace treaty heard." Mara took a breath and let it out slowly, her anger disappearing with it. "Look, I know I'm not exactly your favorite person ever over here, and it's probably no fun to your pride that I'm asking you to stop fighting, but the truth is that you're one of the people I look up to. And yeah, it might sting if you completely blow me off and walk away, but it won't stop me, and honestly, I could really, really use your help, because I don't know what I'm doing anymore. So, can you forget that you hate me for one day and help me stop this stupid war? Please?"

Cloud sighed, suddenly seeing the bits of AVALANCHE in this girl, and wondering if that's what kept Vincent by her side. "I… don't hate you, alright?" he finally admitted quietly. "I just don't… know you. Or, I didn't. But I think I'm starting to…" Mara listened in awed silence, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing. "So… how do we make this peace thing work…?"

Mara beamed, a few tears slipping out in relieved happiness. "Thank you, Cloud… Um, right, well… I figured since you guys are kinda the leaders of our side, we could use the leaders of the other side to help us back up the idea and sign this nice little treaty I wrote up. And, erm… doodled on… Hence… Cloud, meet Rosso. Rosso meet Cloud. No trying to kill each other, but Rosso, you might wanna throw an apology out there about almost squishing Cloud's bike. You know how guys are with their vehicles."

"Vincent, did you know about this?!" Reeve shouted through the phone. Given that the man never shouted, Vincent could easily guess the cause.

"What has she done this time?" he sighed.

Reeve sputtered for a moment. "She—she just wrote a peace treaty! And do you have any idea who she ALREADY got to sign it!? THE CRIMSON TSVIET. Rosso the Crimson just signed a PEACE TREATY. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS JUST HAPPENED."

"Reeve, take a deep breath and stop shouting in my ear. Some advice: just roll with it. It would look bad for a man in your position to be freaking out like this every five minutes." With a smirk, Vincent hung up the phone. It was about time the rest of AVALANCHE got to know their newest member.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN EVERY FIVE MINUTES?! VINCENT! H—hello…? Vincent…?"

Mara, upon seeing the reactions to the favor she'd asked of Cloud and Reeve, had decided it would be a bad idea to stick around. She'd grabbed the signed treaty and Rosso and scrammed, throwing a squeak of "kay, thanks, bye!" over her shoulder as she ran. With a quick calculation of distance, she figured she had about half an hour to kill before Vincent made it to the Shinra building, and she might as well spend it getting signatures. Thus for the past ten minutes, she and Rosso had been walking the front lines, now eerily silent as both sides had retreated warily. They'd stumbled across both camps of the WRO and DeepGround, and Mara made a point to speak to everyone they saw, getting Rosso to help her Cure the wounded and asking everyone to sign the peace treaty with the ladybug doodle on the cover. So far, not a single person had refused.

"So what's this I hear about a ladybug…?" asked a familiar voice from behind them. Mara squealed, spinning around and tackling the speaker in a bear hug.

"Matt! I FOUND YOU! So, you guys are all signing my peace treaty, right?"

"If we do, can we get hugs, too?" Someone else asked, and she grinned delightedly at the group of troops and soldiers who'd come to help her.

A/N: So, just in case anybody was wondering, I actually carry paper and at least one pen with me ALL the time, and in this case, would have gotten them at the WRO HQ forever ago.