'He can't keep me in here like this,' Jasmine fumed as stepped into the frighteningly large porcelain bathtub. She sat down, wincing when the water hit her not-quite-healed-yet wounds. Once in, she leaned back and stared at the ceiling before closing her eyes.
Vanitas had done a good job in making sure that Jasmine stayed confined to her room since the time of her arrival. Guards patrolled the premises, the door to her room had been monitored by video surveillance 24 hours a day and the only time the door to her bedroom was ever opened was when it was time for her to eat. While Vanitas had given her plenty to do (a large television situated along the back wall in front of her bed, a bookshelf stacked with hundreds of novels and even a baby grand piano set near the piano), Jasmine knew that she wouldn't fair well for much longer in this sort of isolation.
She groaned out loud and impatiently tapped the sides of the tub. 'If I actually had my gun, I might be able to get out of here.'
When Jasmine was kidnapped, Vanitas had taken both of her guns and destroyed the cell phone she carried with her. Fortunately she hadn't had much equipment on her as she'd left the hotel with Noctis in such a hurry. It was for the best, she realized. If Vanitas got his hands on her equipment then there was no telling what he would do with it.
Jasmine pulled her knees to her chest. "I hope Noctis is okay." If there was one person who didn't deserve any of this, it was Noctis. Not knowing whether or not he was okay drove her mad and she hoped that she would be able to see for herself if he was alright.
Without so much as a warning the door to the bathroom flew open and in walked in both Vanitas and Stella, the latter having the decency to turn her head away once she realized that Jasmine was bathing.
"I know you know how to knock on a damn door," Jasmine snapped, thankful that she at least had bubbles to cover herself.
"My mansion, my bathroom," Vanitas replied with a shrug of the shoulders.
Jasmine studied Vanitas. Instead of his more casual attire as of late he switch back to one of his trademark suits with his hair styled oh so precisely. It appeared as though he was heading out to handle some sort of business.
"I'll be gone for a few hours," Vanitas informed Jasmine.
"Oh lucky you," sarcasm dripped from Jasmine's voice.
"So I will be leaving Stella in charge," he made a motion to the blonde woman, who seemed just as unnerved about this announcement as Jasmine. "I wouldn't even attempt to escape. I've added extra security all around the mansion."
"Lovely," Jasmine sighed. 'As if he didn't have enough to begin with.'
"Today I'm allowing you to wander around the mansion. Since this is your home now it's best that you become familiar with your surroundings," Vanitas told her.
"You could always start by telling me what island or city I'm on. I think that would help," Jasmine said, giving him a half-lidded glare.
Vanitas chuckled and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "If I give you an inch, you'll take a mile. I know better than that."
'Keeping me in the dark,' Jasmine reasoned. Vanitas was right though. Being so involved with SOLDIER for the past year gave her all the skills she needed to figure out how to escape almost any situation. All Jasmine needed to do was find her location and she could start an escape plan. "I'm not your pet," She told him, her glare becoming much more menacing.
"What are you getting at?" Vanitas seemed unaffected by Jasmine's harsh words as usual.
"Eventually I will leave this place."
Vanitas pulled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning and he had to get going. "I never said that you wouldn't at one point or another," Jasmine's eyes widened at this, "but this is for your own good." Vanitas turned on his heel and tapped Stella on the shoulder. "Play nice," he told her. "I don't want any fighting while I'm gone." With that, Vanitas left the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
Jasmine rolled her eyes when Vanitas was gone. Reaching for the towel she had draped over the side of the tub, Jasmine wrapped herself in the thick, pale pink towel after she stood up. Once she had covered herself she looked to Stella, who had a rather uneasy look on her face, and scoffed.
"One of the people who tried to kill me is now my babysitter," she laughed hollowly, "Vanitas has a sick sense of humor."
Riku pulled out Aria's chair for her and then took a seat across from her. The two of them were seated at Aria's favorite café on Radiant Garden at their usual table. It was fairly small and rather intimate with a warm and welcoming environment. In fact, it was where Riku and Aria had their first official date.
Riku sat back, wincing in pain as he did so. Even though he had supposedly healed up from the gunshot wound, his midsection was still quite tender. Perhaps after he ordered something from himself and Aria he would talk a pain pill to dull the sensation.
"Are you sure you should be walking around?" Aria asked, clearly concerned. She pulled a stray strand of her auburn hair out of her face and removed her trench coat.
"I'm fine," Riku reassured her for the third time today. "Besides, this is better than being stuck in a hospital bed or my room back on the Destiny Islands," he added.
Aria reached for Riku's gloved hand across the table and gave it a tight squeeze. "I'm so glad you're feeling better. I was so worried about you."
Riku inhaled sharply, his ears stinging from Aria's words.
With all that happened and all that he had discovered, Riku was torn. For the past year he'd held onto the belief that Jasmine, the girl he'd loved so thoroughly, threw away their relationship in order to selfishly live her own life. He cursed her name. He cut off ties with Tifa. He did his best to try to convince himself that Jasmine was poison and that he deserved better than the hand he'd been dealt.
But with the discovery of the truth that had been concealed from him for so long, Riku had been knocked clean off his feet with no sense of direction.
"I appreciate your concern for me, Aria," Riku's smile was genuine, but pained. He hated having to look Aria, his girlfriend, in the eye knowing full well that he still had strong, conflicted, unresolved feelings for another woman.
"Well," Aria's soft, pale pink lips pulled into a smile, "you're my boyfriend. Of course I'm going to be concerned. After all, you got shot." The anger that Aria had buried for the sake of Riku began to surface now. "Who the hell would do this to you? And I heard that Roxas got hurt too! Do you have any idea who's responsible for all this?"
To be truthfully honest, Riku had no idea who it was who shot him exactly. He never got a chance to see the person's face. But Riku knew that he and his friends were not allowed to reveal any information regarding the incident so, for now, he had to feign ignorance.
"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "I think I just got caught in the crossfire of something. I'm sure it's connected to all that activity on the island that day. Wrong place at the wrong time I suppose."
Aria exhaled deeply, gripping his hand tighter as if she were afraid of losing him. "I just hope that nothing else happens. I don't want you to get hurt again."
Inhaling sharply, Riku knew that now was the perfect time to do what he came here to do. "Which is why, for the time being Aria, I think it's best that we didn't see each other."
Aria reeled back and cast Riku's hand aside, looking as if Riku had slapped her clean across her face. "What the hell are you talking about, Riku?"
Shaking his head he pushed onward. "There's a lot going on now, things I can't explain even though I want to."
The auburn haired junior was fuming, so angry that she was near tears. "What aren't you telling me, Riku? Where the hell did this come from?" Her voice was now elevating in volume, attracting stares from several restaurant patrons.
"Look," Riku told her sternly, "Sora and Roxas were kidnapped, Roxas and I were shot. There's clearly a problem here and it would be a lot safer if we weren't together right now. I don't know all that's going on, but you need to actually think about this wisely." Riku pictured his and Jasmine's bodies hitting the floor as well as Roxas holding his shoulder, blood staining his arm.
"Just tell me one thing," Aria pushed her chair back and set her arms on the table, both her hands balled into fists while she stared at the floor to keep Riku from seeing her tear-streaked face. She hated the idea of him seeing her cry. It made her feel weak. "Is it another girl?"
Riku calmly kept his composure, now envisioning Jasmine walking through the hospital towards Vanitas. "Are you asking me if I'm leaving you to be with someone else?"
"Just answer the question!" Aria shouted. "Are you leaving me for another girl?"
"I am not leaving you for another girl," Riku reassured her. In the back of Riku's mind he told himself, 'With the way Jasmine looks at me now I highly doubt that would happen' saddened by the fact.
Riku knew that he and Jasmine were in two completely different places in their lives. He was a university student while she was an elite member of SOLDIER. While he went about his day studying for exams and spending time with his friends and girlfriend, Jasmine was out there risking her life on missions and training. The two of them couldn't be any more distant.
And after their last few interactions (all of which were negative) Riku wondered if that would ever be a possibility.
"I-I understand your reasoning," Aria fumed, hands shaking with anger, "but even so I can't look at you right now. After all I've done for you," she seethed. She couldn't say anything else. Aria grabbed her belongings and rushed out of the café with several patrons staring at Riku, angry that he had upset the girl.
Feeling guilty, Riku tapped his fingers against the tabletop. 'This isn't over,' Riku realized. 'Not even in the slightest.'
Stella led the way while Jasmine followed behind while an armed guard kept his eye on Jasmine.
The pair toured the enormous mansion without saying a word to each other, the tension between the pair unmistakable.
'What was Vanitas thinking?' Jasmine asked herself, slipping her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. 'Stella and I are enemies. I'm sure she would have killed me if given the chance.' She stared at the back of the blonde's head, wondering how and why she ended up with Vanitas in the first place.
Needless to say, she looked much too…fair, to be a hired gun. If Jasmine were going by appearances alone, Stella would have fit the bill for a high society girl, much like Kairi and the other girls. Everything about her seemed to ooze elegance and wealth. What was a girl like that doing in a business like this, keeping the company of men like Vanitas?
'Then again,' Jasmine reasoned, 'I'm sure no one would have thought that I'd be in SOLDIER.' After all, Jasmine had been on track to be at university with a singing career. Jasmine knew better than to judge a book by it's cover. But there was something different about Stella and something about her presence in Vanitas' group just seemed…wrong.
Sure, Stella had clearly proven herself in a fight and was rather skilled with knives and other blades she'd managed to get her hands on. It wasn't as if she didn't have the "talent" per say to be a fighter. No, not in the least. But something in Jasmine's head told her that there was more to Stella's story than just a hired hand.
Once the pair had toured the entire first floor, they headed to the foyer. As soon as they entered, Jasmine's eyes widened in awe and amazement. The foyer, like the rest of the mansion was enormous. Hanging above the pair was a gorgeous crystal chandelier that glimmered like stars in the night sky. The walls were painted a luxurious deep gold color and the actual staircase and tile floors were a sparkling alabaster. In the circular foyer, near every one of the windows, was a clear vase overflowing with gorgeous white lilies.
Jasmine found herself drawn to the one closest to her and immediately picked one of the lilies from the vase, wondering how she could have missed such a room. Then, within seconds, she realized that when she first arrived at the mansion she hadn't been taken through the front entrance, but the back. There was still so much of the mansion she hadn't seen.
"Vanitas had those lilies delivered here just for you earlier this morning," Stella informed her.
Jasmine almost jumped at the sound of Stella's voice. She hadn't spoken to Jasmine once since the tour began twenty minutes ago. Jasmine ran her finger along the long stem of the lily, holding it gently in her hands. "Is that so?"
"It's true. I was there when he picked them out at the florist's shop," she told Jasmine, her voice rather even and calm.
"How lovely," Jasmine said dryly, finding nothing romantic about any of this.
"We should continue on," Stella urged, pointing to the stairs. "You've only seen one-tenth of the house."
Jasmine kept her back to Stella to keep her from seeing the stunned look on her face. "One-tenth?" she said weakly.
Stella began ascending the stairs while Jasmine caught up with her. "Yes. Vanitas helped with the layout when he was eighteen and construction finished on it a little over a year ago. The mansion has twenty bedrooms alone and three floors. There are tons of twists and turns. It's very easy to get lost here. That's why Vanitas asked that I show you around today. If you were to get lost in here, it would be a problem to say the least."
'Yeah no shit,' Jasmine cocked an eyebrow. 'What the hell does a twenty three year-old need with a mansion this size anyway? It's not like he has family living with him.'
"Any reason as to why he needs a mansion of this size?" Jasmine asked, realizing that Vanitas lived here by himself save for his few guards like Stella who probably took up residence here as well.
"He mentioned that one day he'd hope to have a family seeing as he never really had much of one himself." Stella cautiously looked over her shoulder at Jasmine, who had a displeased look on her face. "I know that he mentioned that the two of you were previously engaged once."
When they reached the top of the stairs, Jasmine stopped. Once Stella realized that Jasmine had fallen behind she turned around to see why she stopped.
"What is it?" Stella asked.
"Your x's, y's and z's don't add up to me," Jasmine stated bluntly.
"I'm afraid I don't follow, Ms. Silva," Stella folded her hands in front of her and waited for Jasmine to explain herself.
"First off," Jasmine wanted to clear this up first, "My name is Jasmine Valentine, not Silva. Secondly, you don't seem like you come from the type of stock to end up a hired hand," she narrowed her eyes, taking in all of Stella's fair features. "No," Jasmine approached Stella, "You come from a wealthy background."
The blonde seemed puzzled. "How could you possibly know that?"
Jasmine smirked. "People like me who are…" she nearly snorted at this, "beneath you socially can spot the class difference a mile away. I've been around enough of you to sort you out. You may be a fighter, but that's not it. So I wonder why a princess like you would end up working for someone like Vanitas."
"The same could be said for you," Stella fired quickly, her tone quite soft still. "You don't seem like the type of girl to be involved with him either. And yet, here we are."
Despite the heavy tension in the air, Jasmine chuckled at this. "Oh the irony," she soon ceased her laughter and continued. "I'm here because Vanitas wants me for some bizarre reason. You seem to be here of your own will. There's a difference in our situations."
Stella brushed her hair back and smiled at Jasmine. "You're right," she said ruefully. "Even if we are on different sides of this, I still recognize that you've been hurt deeply."
Jasmine pursed her lips, unable to find it in her to attack Stella any further. Instead she sighed and asked to see the rest of the mansion, starting with Vanitas' room. "I want to become accustomed to this place if I'm supposed to be trapped here for a while."
"As you wish, Miss…Valentine," Stella caught herself before she called Jasmine by her former name and continued onward toward the bedrooms. "Your bedroom and Vanitas' bedroom are actually on the same level. I imagine that as time goes on he'll give you more freedom to roam the mansion. He told me that he wanted you to think of it as a home for the two of you."
Sarcasm dripped heavily from Jasmine's words. "He's such a prince."
"You'll have to deal with it, Miss Valentine. I know you don't want to be here but you'll have to accept it and move forward." Stella was silent after that, instead focused on giving a proper tour to Jasmine.
In order to stifle her laughter, Jasmine bit her thumb, a sly smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 'On the contrary, Stella, I'm exactly where I want to be right now. You all just don't know it yet.'
Author's Notes: Been a while, hasn't it? This time around my writer's block has been something fierce. In addition to being swamped with school I had this weird moment of "crap why am I still writing?" and "I don't know if I can successfully pull off what I'm about to do" and "can I still complete this story with the same power that I started it with?" you know. Basic writer pains haha. But as usual I thank you all for being so patient with me! I wouldn't be able to do it without your support.
Guest: sorry to have made you wait so long!
BelowtheFire: Oh yes. They're BIG. Really BIG!
PinkDinosaur: I'll try to be more swift in my update this next time!
Frooky90: I've still got a couple more things planned with Vanitas. Just you wait and see. I hope you liked the update.
Platform934: I adore Ven as well. He'll play a huge part in this story as well as the next one.
Skeleus: Ven and the group will be very much involved in this story, the next and in another project. Look out for that.
meyoume: I hope you liked the update!
SnowKawasagi: I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter! Take care.
OmraxXV: Haha there is no fourth person hiding in the back. It seems as though there is an extremely high demand for Xion. I'm still working out the kinks for this story, the next one and my side project so who knows? She might pop up. She might not. I literally cringed when I saw that you imagined Jasmine falling for Vanitas. Let me say this: there's going to be many more interactions between those two. I can't say if they'll be good or bad but you will see some Jasmine/Vanitas in the near future. Thank you for being understanding as well.
Sookdeo: Ventus and the others are brand new to this series of stories. This is the first time I've introduced them and they (especially Ventus) play an important role in it. Oh yes, Jasmine is still quite angry. Heck I would be too. Hopefully the end of this chapter will get the wheels turning.
Guest: Oh yes. Aria is quite annoying.
animechick247: With what I have planned for the next few stories, Ven and the gang are very much needed with this. As for Vanitas, I've got a lot planned for his character. You're going to see a shift very soon.
hopefuldreamer1991: I'm so glad you liked the chapter. I sincerely hope that you liked the new one!
Sarah K.R: I love the Birth by Sleep cast. To be honest, I hadn't known much about them because I hadn't played the game so I had to do quite a bit of research on them all before I could bring them in here. As for Riku, he drove me crazy too (and I'm the writer). In the next story we're going to see a lot of growth in everyone. Thank you for the review!
As usual everyone I thank you all for the reviews and the alerts and adds and all that good stuff. Now this story is slowly wrapping up and I'm getting to work on the third and my side project. I had to get rid of High School Runaround (for now) to do it but to be honest I just don't have the time for it.
Now as I mentioned there IS a side project. It will not be released until this story finishes and it will be a lot shorter. There is a reason for that. If I were to have released it side-by-side with this story I would have 1. Burned myself out and 2. Ruined a lot of the surprises in this story. A lot of you have been wondering and have asked me what happened during the time-skip and the side project will answer just that.
How did Jasmine and Noctis meet? What were Sora and the group up to? Where did Larxene go?
So I am pleased to announce that "Bring Me the Sunrise" will be released the same day that I finish this story and will start immediately where "Heartbreakers" left off.
Please let me know what you all thought of this chapter and take care. Thanks again for all the support!