Jasmine's hands shook violent as she sped through the busy, rain-slicked streets of the Destiny Islands, her eyes fixated in a state of madness as she whizzed through the residential areas. Noctis, who was in the passenger's side and Prompto, who held onto the backseat for dear life, watched Jasmine and tried to convince her to slow down as she drove through the city.

"Miss Valentine," Prompto's voice cracked as he spoke. He stared at the dashboard of Jasmine's car. She was easily going eighty miles an hour in a residential area. "I think you should slow down. I know you're upset but – "

Jasmine snarled, eyes screaming for murder. "I don't exactly have time to waste, Prompto," she said through gritted teeth. "I need to meet with Ignis, NOW."

Noctis appeared a lot calmer than Prompto was with Jasmine's semi-reckless driving but this was only because the wheels in his mind were turning. Earlier today, a message had been delivered to his and Jasmine's apartment addressed to the latter. As soon as Jasmine had read the contents, she snapped. She stormed into her room, put on her heavy SOLDIER uniform jacket, grabbed the guns Vincent gave her and called Prompto over. Now, without any knowledge of what was in the message, Noctis and Prompto had been dragged to the Destiny Islands with Jasmine driving through the town as if she had a death wish.

"You've got to tell us what's going on," Noctis urged his partner.

"He took them." That was all Jasmine said and it was all she needed to say for Noctis and Prompto to understand what happened.

Jasmine pulled up to Naminé's house and found several cars, a police truck and Cloud's motorcycle parked around the property. She took a spot across the street from Roxas' car and headed to the front with Prompto and Noctis at her side.

Prompto reached for Noctis' sleeve and gave it a tug. The enigmatic prince fell back and listened closely to Prompto, not minding in the least that it meant they were to stand in the rain longer. "Do you think that it was Miss Valentine's friends that were abducted? You know, the ones we met a few days ago?"

Noctis couldn't imagine any other reason for Jasmine to go this berserk. Unless of course it was her godmother, Tifa, who had gone missing. Then again if that was the case Jasmine would have completely lost it.

Or lost what was left of her dwindling sanity anyway.

When the trio were at the door, a police officer answered. "May I help – "He was cut off quickly by Jasmine who brushed past him with her SOLDIER badge in hand.

"Out of my way," she scowled. "You're wasting my time."

The stunned officer, who had only gotten a fraction of Jasmine's fury, was stunned. Noctis walked by without saying a word while Prompto apologized for Miss Valentine's rudeness. The pair followed Jasmine who immediately made her way to the living room where everyone sat.

Naminé, Tidus, Selphie, Roxas' parents, Sora's parents, Riku, Ignis, Tifa, Vincent, Zack, Cloud, Aerith and Yuffie…all of them were there in the living room. Jasmine cringed inwardly. She'd rather hoped to avoid such a large turnout but if all of her friends and family hadn't shown up to support each other then she would have been shocked.

The flaxen haired sister of Roxas, whose bright blue eyes were red and swollen from tears jumped to her feet and ran to Jasmine. She threw her arms around the girl and began to cry. "They took my brother! They took Roxas!" She sobbed.

Jasmine wrapped her arms around Naminé and whispered, "I know. I'm here now," and she pulled back from Naminé, her hardened expression not changing. She walked down the steps and straight to Ignis, ignoring Riku unreadable stare.

"How, in the hell did you let this happen?" She screamed at Ignis.

Ignis however held his cool. He removed his glasses and slipped them into the breast pocket of his jacket. "Miss Valentine, I'm not to blame here. You should calm down a bit."

The only thing that this did was send Jasmine even further up the wall. Jasmine roughly grabbed Ignis by the front of his shirt and yanked him toward her, glaring into his eyes and holding her ground despite the fact that he towered over her.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down," she spat. "I specifically asked you to keep surveillance over everyone here and what happened? Sora and Roxas were kidnapped!"

Noctis grabbed Jasmine while Prompto pulled Ignis in the other direction. "Stop it," Noctis hissed into her ear as she struggled. "You won't get any of the answers you need if you snap."

Upon feeling everyone's eyes on her, various expressions ranging from shocked to heartbroken, Jasmine sucked her teeth and settled down. Still, Noctis kept an arm around her shoulder. Jasmine still hadn't been the same since her parents' death and there was no telling when she'd have another…episode.

"Jasmine…" Tifa had been sitting next to Naminé for the entirety of her time there but rose to her feet, directing her attention to her goddaughter. "I need you to stay with Cloud and Zack for a while."

When she'd heard this, Jasmine rolled her eyes which set Tifa aback. She had never shown Tifa any sign of disrespect in the past. "I don't think so," she argued, not even bothering to look Tifa's way. "It doesn't matter who I stay with at this point. Clearly Vanitas is trying to get my attention and he will do anything and hurt anyone to do get his point across."

Zack tried to reason with her. "Look, Jasmine, you may want to reconsider this."

"He's right," Yuffie's voice was stern, "I know you're in SOLDIER now kiddo, but things have gotten way out of control."

Kairi, Naminé, Tidus, Riku and the rest of their friends stared at Jasmine incredulously.

"Are you serious?" Tidus half shouted, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. He pointed to Jasmine who kept her attention on her uncle, who shook his head and sighed. "You're in SOLIDER now?"

Ignis smiled and stepped forward. "That's right," he replied, directly addressing Tidus, "Miss Valentine is a 1st Class member of SOLIDER now who specializes in intelligence and has a talent for firearms. The Valentines," he nodded to Vincent, "have been well-known throughout SOLDIER's history and Jasmine's skills are quite renowned despite the fact that she's still relatively new to the organization."

"Valentine?" Selphie looked to Naminé for answers but the blonde came up short.

"She changed her last name several months before her parents passed away," Tifa explained.

"That's why we couldn't find any information on her when we tried to search for Jasmine," Kairi added, brushing away the tears from her eyes. Despite her trying to be positive and keep a cool head about everything, she was having a time coping with Sora's kidnapping as well.

Jasmine stomped her foot and groaned, pulling away from Noctis. "Just tell me what was left behind here! I don't have time to make small talk," she yelled to Ignis.

Feeling Jasmine's anger rise and deciding that now was probably not the best time to piss her off, Ignis handed her an envelope that had been left at Roxas' house. "It's for you. From what we gathered the two boys were taken yesterday evening when they were walking home. When Sora and Roxas' parents hadn't heard from them in over an hour, this was dropped off at the house."

Putting her rage aside for a minute, Jasmine opened the large envelope and pulled out several sheets of paper. After scanning over the first few paragraphs and taking in the information, Jasmine scoffed. "I figured as much," she whispered, "he's really not that imaginative."

"What's going on?" Prompto asked, watching Jasmine slip the letters back into the envelope.

Jasmine ran her hands through her hair and pulled at it. "It's simple: he wants a trade. If I go to Vanitas, then he'll release Sora and Roxas unharmed."

Aerith shook her head and jumped to her feet. "No," she gasped, "Jasmine we have to figure out another way around this."

"I don't think so," Jasmine cocked her head to the side, still gripping onto her hair, "I'm not going to let Vanitas hurt Sora and Roxas – which he WILL do might I add – because I didn't hand myself over."

"So you're just going to give up?" Kairi half-yelled, surprised that Jasmine would be so cavalier about the whole situation.

Jasmine snickered, "Who the hell said I was gonna give up easily? If I see Vanitas, I'm going to kill him and that'll be the end of it." She let go of her hair and cracked her neck loudly. Her face was quite calm yet her smile was sinister. "Sora and Roxas will be safe and this whole nightmare can be over for you all."

Riku had been silent the entire time that Jasmine and her team had arrived. This girl standing in front of him was no longer the person he had met in high school those few years ago. This Jasmine was so severe, so stoic and slightly unhinged. Jasmine, the same girl who valued every human life seemed quite intent on ending someone else's. He spotted the guns strapped to her waist. Had she actually killed a person before this day?

"Don't worry about how I do it," Jasmine told the entire room, "but I'll get Sora and Roxas back to you all. That much I can promise for sure."

"But Jasmine!" Tifa protested, tears now threatening to spill from her wine-colored eyes. "This is too dangerous! You need our help!" She prayed that somehow, some way, her words would reach Jasmine's heart and that she would reconsider this suicide mission. "Vanitas might actually kill you this time. You need to listen to us."

Closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, Jasmine began laughing loudly to herself. It was as if she were laughing at an inside joke that only she was aware of. "Oh I don't think so, Tifa. Somehow I seriously doubt that." When her laughter subsided, Jasmine gave Ignis an order. "I want everyone here under watch with patrol officers stationed near their homes for the next seventy two hours. This is going to get messy. Do you hear me this time, Ignis?"

"Understood, Miss Valentine," Ignis responded, making a motion towards Vincent.

Jasmine turned on her heel and headed for the exit. "Noctis, Prompto, we're leaving."

The two froze for a minute, a bit more than confused about what exactly was running through Jasmine's head. Still, Noctis followed and walked at Jasmine's side while Prompto trailed along, bidding goodbyes to all in the room. When the front doors slammed shut, everyone let out a heavy sigh all at once.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad," Kairi chanted over and over again.

"Why are we not following them?" Yuffie asked Zack and Cloud. "We should be chasing them to see where they live at the very least!"

Cloud shook his head. "No," he told the group sternly. "We stay out of this for now."

"What do you mean, Cloud?" Aerith asked, quite concerned by how Cloud seemed to be so dead set on not doing anything.

"Don't you see it? Jasmine has already got a plan together."

Yuffie shouted, "SO WHAT? She's going to get hurt!"

Cloud then turned his attention to Vincent, who had also been silent throughout the entire meeting. "You know just as well as I do, that Jasmine has everything from this point on planned out to the letter. Right, Vincent?"

Vincent, who was leaning back against the wall near the flat screen looked up, his bright crimson eyes blazing, listened to Cloud and nodded. "Exactly."

"That's how it was last time," Cloud continued, "But here's what we do know: Jasmine is going to get Roxas and Sora back here in one piece. I'm sure she already accounted for one of them being taken."

"She never tells everyone the entire story," Yuffie caught on too, "in order to protect her plan and keep everyone from jumping in…"

"Therefore screwing it up," Zack finished, his mako eyes wide. "That's why she isn't telling us everything," he realized. "She doesn't want any interference."

"Miss Valentine is a genius, that's what makes her such a dangerous," Ignis beamed as if he were a proud parent watching his child succeed. "She's very good at planning and changing situations to fit her needs. I wouldn't worry too much about her," Ignis reassured everyone in the room.

Tifa was still completely against the idea of doing nothing. This was her goddaughter out there, risking her life yet again. While she did trust Jasmine, she couldn't bear the idea of her getting hurt again. She'd almost lost Jasmine once. Tifa did not want to go through that again.

As if Ignis could read Tifa's thoughts, he made his way over to her and offered her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Tifa. She's got this. Jasmine will take care of everything."

"And what if she gets hurt?" Tifa questioned, suddenly feeling very nervous around Ignis.

He chuckled and turned his back on Tifa, heading to the front where several more police officers stood in the foyer. "Jasmine has a foolproof plan and knowing her, she's probably accounted for all the variables. It would take something completely unheard of for this to go wrong." His eyes flashed with an evil glare then. "Everything will go according to plan."


"I imagine that your parents will be cutting my check soon," Vanitas scoffed as he entered the room where Sora and Roxas were held.

Despite them being his prisoners, Vanitas kept Sora and Roxas in the lap of luxury. The two boys, both unharmed, stayed in a penthouse apartment bedroom. The room was fairly large with two full sized beds, a bathroom on the inside and a large table near the window with a huge spread of food out for the two. The only things that reminded the boys that they were hostages were the handcuffs on their wrists and the armed guards standing outside the bedroom.

Sora, who was sitting on the floor near one of the beds, rolled his eyes. "You do realize that you're not going to get away with this, right?"

Vanitas smirked and then laughed as if Sora had said something incredibly funny. "Oh I think I'm about to get away with everything and you're about to lose the bet. Jasmine is coming for you two now and she's not going to escape this time."

Roxas leaned against the large headboard of his bed and sent Vanitas a bone-chilling glare. "You can go to hell. Why won't you leave Jasmine alone? She never did anything to you."

"I think you should watch your mouth, Roxas," Vanitas warned, crossing his arms over his chest. "I promised Jasmine that I wouldn't touch either of you but if you don't calm down, then I might just have to go back on my promise. I'd much rather not break a promise, especially not to Jasmine."

"I don't understand," Sora groaned, his head dropping low so that he was staring at the plush white carpet underneath him. "Why are you so stuck on her? I think it's obvious that she doesn't want you, Vanitas. It's best that you give up."

Vanitas shrugged his shoulders. "She will learn to love me in time. But that's not the only reason why I need to catch her."

Roxas and Sora gave each other curious stares when Vanitas spoke. "There's more to this?"

"I don't have to give you answers," Vanitas quipped. "Just know that tomorrow afternoon you two will go free, Sora will hand over the money he owes me and that Jasmine and I will be together again."

Sora clenched his fists. As scared as he was for his own life and Roxas', he was more afraid for what was in store for Jasmine. "Are you gonna hurt her again?"

Vanitas seemed quite puzzled by Sora's question. "Excuse me?"

The brunet did not repeat himself. He rose to his feet and stared Vanitas down, even approached his elder cousin despite the fact that he was clearly at a disadvantage with his bound hands. "Jasmine is tough. When she gets her hands on you, you're gonna wish you never touched her."

Vanitas, oddly amused by Sora's bravery, sneered at his cousin. "I don't think I'm ever going to regret touching Jasmine."

Sensing the inappropriate undertones, Roxas jumped to his feet too, cobalt blue eyes alive with fury. "Don't you even think about laying a hand on Jasmine again."

Vanitas snapped his fingers and then put all the pieces together. "Ah yes, I forgot! You were Jasmine's previous boyfriend. But you were never fortunate enough to see the other side of Jasmine." He took a step towards Vanitas, his laughter taunting Roxas. "You'll never know what it's like to actually have her." Vanitas licked his lips. "Or know what it's like to hear her scream –"

Roxas began to charge Vanitas until Sora found his way between the two. Sora held Roxas back as best he could given his chained wrists, keeping the furious blond at bay. "You're gonna burn in hell for what you did to her and her parents! If she doesn't take you out then I'll do it myself!"

"Roxas!" Sora shouted, pushing Roxas back while Vanitas simply laughed at Roxas' attempt to frighten and startle him. "This isn't a fight you can win right now! Cool it!"

"My idiot cousin is right, you know," Vanitas called over Sora's shoulder, heading for the door. "I'd calm down if I were you."

Roxas broke away from Sora, his anger only rising. "Why the hell should I calm down? Did you forget what this asshole did? He ruined everything! We could all be happy! Everything is all HIS fault! And now he's going to keep talking about Jasmine like she's a toy? He almost KILLED her, Sora! I have a right to be mad!"

Sora stepped to Roxas. Despite his anger too, Sora kept his composure better than Roxas did. "Look," his voice was hushed, "I'm angry too. This is my cousin. The things he's done to our family not to mention our friends…." He did not finish that thought but shook his head as if trying to make an unfortunate memory fade. "But we have to calm down. Vanitas will harm us, promise or not. We have to at least stay alive long enough to make sure that we see Jasmine. Okay?" The last few lines Sora uttered in a whisper so low that there was no way that Vanitas would be able to hear. They had to keep it together and remain calm long enough to where they could get free and somehow help Jasmine.

Even though every part of Roxas wanted to rush past Sora and hurt Vanitas, Roxas knew that Sora was right. They wouldn't be able to help Jasmine if they were both hurt or even dead from attacking Vanitas, especially with them at such a disadvantage right now with his armed guards and their hands tied. He had to try and calm down or else none of them would live to see the next few days.

"Good boy, Roxas," Vanitas cackled, watching the blond as he retreated back to his own bed. Roxas turned his back on Vanitas and cursed loudly to himself, muttering incoherent obscenities aimed at Vanitas. "Now if you just keep to the plan the both of you can go free as well as see Jasmine…" Vanitas opened the door and threw one final taunting smirk towards the two boys, "…after all it will be the last time you see her anyway. I figured I'd have a heart and give you both that much, " slamming the door loudly as he walked away, leaving Sora and Roxas to their own heavy thoughts.


When Noctis emerged from his bedroom late that night, he spotted Jasmine standing at the large floor to ceiling window in the living room overlooking the city. The girl wore a loose tank top and an oversized pair of sweat pants with her hair wet and clinging to her shoulders and back.

Noctis was slow in approaching Jasmine, not knowing exactly what was going through her mind. Ever since they'd returned home and Prompto left to alert Gladiolus as to what had just transpired, Jasmine had locked herself in her bedroom for hours. Not knowing how she was feeling, Noctis had no idea what to expect and with Jasmine, that wasn't always the best of things.

"Prompto and I ran into your friend Sora several days ago," he announced, hoping to get her attention.

"Did you now?" Jasmine asked distantly. Her left forearm rested on the glass and her forehead in turn rested on her that elbow. She exhaled deeply. "What did he say?"

Noctis entered the living room and sat at the piano, his eyes glued to his partner. "He was worried about you, him and that redheaded girl we'd seen earlier. They were trying to find her and he was trying to bait me with information about Vanitas."

Jasmine laughed then. "Why am I not surprised? Sora always was the hero type."

"And so how do you feel?" Noctis already had an idea of what the answer was, however he wanted to hear it straight from Jasmine and not run around guessing.

"I'm beyond furious," Jasmine answered quite calmly. She balled the fist that was originally pressed to the window but her face held no sign of anger. "I don't want Sora and Roxas to get hurt. I can't lose them…" Her voice began to waver then, startling Noctis. This was not the same unhinged girl he'd been living with for the past several weeks. This Jasmine actually sounded human and fragile.

"You're going to get them back," Noctis told her sternly. "We will get them back, I promise you."

"Noctis," Jasmine whipped around facing him, "I can't let them get hurt. I just can't. Sora and Roxas, they mean the world to me."

For a moment, the insanity that was Jasmine for near of a month had vanished and Noctis had seen the true Jasmine, the one who cared for others, the one who loved others, the one who would protect others, the one who felt

"I know they do," Noctis sighed. As much as he wanted to enjoy this moment between them, he knew he had other business to take care of regarding upcoming events. "But still, you're not going to give me any more information than you have. I know you've got something planned, don't you?"

And just like that, the Jasmine he'd first met had vanished only to be replaced by the madwoman who inhabited her body for that entire time after her parents' death. "That I do, Noctis. However part of this plan depends on me keeping you in the dark so I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I hate to break it to you but I can't risk anything jeopardizing my plan tomorrow."

Noctis sucked his teeth, something he only did out of extreme annoyance. "How the hell can I protect you if you refuse to speak to me? I made a promise to Vincent and I want to keep it but I can't do that unless you open your mouth."

Jasmine shrugged her shoulders and started for her bedroom. "I know you want to protect me, Noctis. I do appreciate it. But this is not something you can help me with. At least not now anyway."

Before she passed him, Noctis grabbed Jasmine's wrist and stopped her. He stared into her eyes as if he were searching for an answer but he found nothing. No matter how hard Noctis tried, he could not read Jasmine. He was good at understanding people but she was still very much a mystery to him. Seeing as the two of them were partners, this made things more than a bit complicated.

"I have a plan," Jasmine revealed to him, "and it involves you."

Noctis then asked, "Well what is it?"

She shook her head, denying him of any details regarding this plan. "But you won't be able to do anything about tomorrow's situation. I can't tell you anything more. You just have to trust me." Using the same hand attached to the wrist Noctis had a tight hold on, Jasmine wrapped her hand around his wrist and then gave it a squeeze. Her eyes were pleading with him now, stressing how important this request was. "I need you to trust me, Noctis. I know I keep secrets but I know that you know I have a reason for doing so. No matter what happens tomorrow you have to wait for me. Promise me, Noctis!"

The prince in question was torn. Due to the severity of this incident with the kidnappings and Jasmine's past relationship with Vanitas, one of SHINRA's top agents, Noctis had every reason to deny her request and do as he was told: to protect Jasmine at all cost even if it meant disobeying her.

But deep within Noctis, something told him that he should listen to Jasmine. She'd never been wrong before and her intuition had saved him on more than a few occasions. If her track record had been flawless up till this point, why not trust her?

"You're going to get hurt, aren't you?" Noctis questioned, the intensity in his eyes magnifying.

Jasmine smiled ruefully. "Well we are SOLDIERs. There was no guarantee that we'd always walk away unscathed."

"My fear is that when this is all over that I'll be burying you next to your parents," Noctis revealed. "I am not going to do that, Jasmine. I refuse."

"Just trust me, Noctis. That's all I ask of you," Jasmine kneeled down until they were at eye level. She leaned forward and their foreheads touched, the distance from her lips to his dangerously close. "Please," she breathed, her icy breath gently kissing his face.

Under most circumstances in different situations Noctis would have immediately backed away from the action, feeling uncomfortable with their intimacy. However, in this moment, Noctis felt compelled to remain with Jasmine as they were for reasons he could not fathom.

"I'm going to trust you as long as you promise that you're going to come back in one piece," Noctis said finally. "Can you do that for me?"

Jasmine cradled his face with her free hand and closed her eyes. Without words, she nodded, caressing his cheek. "I promise, Noctis." Jasmine pulled his hair off his forehead and softly planted a kiss there, sealing the promise.

Noctis released her wrist and allowed her to go, a chill coming over him as soon as their contact was broken. He'd only opened his eyes when he heard the door slam and learned that she'd retreated to her bedroom for the rest of the night.

He cursed, staring at the hand that held hers for so long. He was always amazed at how Jasmine, a girl he hadn't known for a whole year, could affect him and his judgment so.

'You'd better keep this promise, Jasmine. I won't forgive you if you don't.'


Author's Note: Yeah umm I'm sure I have a lot of explaining to do. When I mentioned that my life was insanely hectic, yeah I meant it. Thankfully school is out for me and I'm not doing anything this summer so I'll have way more free time. I want to thank all of you for sticking with me this far into the sequel. It's still going strong and I have no intention of letting this story die off.

I want to thank all those who read, faved, alerted, and all that good stuff. It means the world to me!

hopefuldreamer1991: Oh yes, Ignis is definitely scheming something. And trust me I want Jasmine and Riku together. They're just gonna have to go through hell and back for a while haha. Sora seems to be gaining more points as the story progresses I see. I hope you liked the latest chapter and thanks for the review!

Frooky90: I was a bit startled too when I reread the chapter and realized that not that much happened. Hopefully that changed with this one! I do hope you liked the update and thank you so much for the review!

Sookdeo: Oh yes. I guess Tseng finally thought that it was time to let the tiger out of the cage so to speak. You'll see what I mean soon. And yes, Tifa is just as deadly as Jasmine. Perhaps we'll see more of her past as well as the past of the first generation SOLDIER group. I don't want to answer too many questions as I fear they'll spoil the plot but you're on the right track for sure. Whether or not Jasmine ends up in a casket…hmm we'll just have to see. It wouldn't be the first time I've killed off the main character in a story lol I hope you liked the update and thank you so much for the review!

Skeleus: I sincerely hope that you liked the update. Sorry it took so long! Thanks for the review!

animechick247: All of your feelings here with Ignis and the other characters…oh yes I'd feel the same way. I just hope you enjoyed the latest update. Thank you for the review!

Take care everyone and let me know what you think about this current chapter. The next chapter will be longer and the plot is going to take a huge jump. Thank you for reading and the constant support!