"Find anything?"
Lyra shook her head and blew her bangs out of her eyes. "No one can read Shalua's handwriting."
Kadaj scowled and sat down on the bare floor. They had met up in the dreamland, but the dreamland was different than the Lifestream. The floor was made of white tiles, like in a hospital, and the room was dimly lit by industrial lights in the ceiling. The walls were white and bare, and the green metal door wouldn't open. The door's window was dark and foggy, so nothing could be seen through it. One side of the room was filled with cushions and drawing utensils, things that obviously had been Kadaj's things. The half of the room that was Lyra's was… strange.
Her side was extremely familiar. The floor and walls were the same as the rest of the room but standing on her side was different than standing on Kadaj's side. Her side felt like being outside. It was warm yet made her think of a forest in autumn. Her side smelled like rain and dirt. She had shelves of books and the Planet's coziest blanket fort. It was much more colorful compared to Kadaj's side.
Lyra sat facing him on her side of the room. "I at least have an idea of where to start."
Kadaj perked up at that. He grinned.
"Well, that's my news. What's yours?"
Kadaj sat straighter and his grin widened. "My brothers are coming back. While I was waiting for you to come, Zack and Aerith told me."
Lyra tilted her head. "Zack? Who's that?"
At the mention of the name, a hyper, very friendly puppy came to mind.
Kadaj opened his mouth to say answer but then rolled his eyes and sighed. "Never mind."
"Mind block?"
"Mind block."
Lyra huffed and leaned her chin on her hand. She blinked the sudden blurriness away and shook her head.
"I'm waking up. I'll talk to you later."
His protests faded with the dreamland as Lyra woke. It was still dark out, which was annoying, but she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. The alarm clock next to her bed told her that it was only 5:30 in the morning.
It wasn't long until everyone else woke up and went through their morning routines. Cloud left early to go on a delivery and Barret took Marlene on a day trip while Denzel and Lyra were stuck at the bar to help Tifa. Yuffie came halfway through the morning to help right before Tifa decided to open the bar.
After a while, the day fizzled out. Lyra and Yuffie took a break from helping Tifa and just sat around talking in Lyra's room. Finally, Lyra could begin to put her plan into action.
"Hey Yuffie, can you show me how to use Materia?" Lyra closed her fist around her Teleport Materia, hiding it behind her back. Yuffie furrowed her brow.
"Why? You don't really need to-"
Lyra rolled her eyes and showed Yuffie her Materia. Yuffie took it without hesitation and scowled.
"Where did you get this?" She asked. Lyra shrugged, not really wanting to say that she had gotten it from Kadaj. Yuffie turned her scowl to Lyra. "Lyra, where the hell did you get this?"
"I just want to know how to use it. It's a Teleport Materia, but I don't remember how to use Materia."
"Why would you want to teleport? And where would you teleport?" Yuffie turned the Materia in her hand. "I have other Materia. I could show you how to use those."
Lyra shook her head and held out her hand for her Materia. Yuffie didn't hand it back. She hid it behind her.
"Yuffie, I need to know how to use Teleport."
Yuffie shook her head. "No! I won't help you! You're going to leave, aren't you?"
"Well, not right away," Lyra protested. "But I-"
"Why would you want to leave anyway?! It's safe here."
Lyra could feel the room temperature drop as her hands froze. "Maybe I don't feel safe here anyway!"
Yuffie fell silent. She shook her head. "I don't- I don't get it."
Lyra stamped down her annoyance. Of course, Yuffie wouldn't get it. She tried again.
"I don't feel safe here," she said. "At least not right now."
Yuffie shook her head again. "But why?"
Lyra shrugged and picked at a loose thread in her socks. "Everyone is hiding something from me, and don't try to deny it. I can hardly control the ice and fire and I still haven't gotten rid of the mind block."
Yuffie flinched. "Yeah, it would probably be helpful to know how to control the ice and fire stuff."
Lyra nodded and grinned. "Yes, exactly! I mean, that's not the whole reason, but-"
"But you don't feel like we're actually doing anything."
Lyra shook her head.
Yuffie held the Materia before her. She closed her fist over it, her palm facing down. "When you use it, hold it like this. But keep your destination in your mind or bad shit will happen."
She tossed the Materia back to Lyra, who caught it and slipped it into her pocket. "Any other tips?"
"Be careful of how much you use Materia. It weakens your mind after a while."
"Thank you."
Yuffie shook her head. "Don't thank me. You're still running away and we are trying to help you."
"Not helping enough. Everyone's hiding stuff from me and I'm sick of it," Lyra protested. "And the stuff you're all hiding is about me and that doesn't seem fair. And if everyone is okay with this, what else are you doing behind my back?"
Yuffie narrowed her eyes. "You got this Materia from Kadaj, didn't you?"
Lyra nodded. "He's willing to help me. The Materia is linked to his own Teleport Materia."
"Okay, so when you use it, it'll take you straight to him. You should still keep him in mind to be safe."
"Alright."
"And don't actually leave unless you feel like you absolutely need to."
Lyra nodded again, rolling her eyes as she did so. She didn't really want to leave and she wasn't planning on leaving unless she felt like she needed to anyway.
"And you need to keep in contact. At least with me, otherwise everyone is gonna be pissed." Yuffie snorted. "Well, they're going to be pissed anyway."
"Yeah. I promise to do that." Lyra hesitated before asking. "But I need you to help me."
Yuffie listened to Lyra's plan.
Lyra had her bag packed and ready. Tifa bought Lyra's lie that the bag made her feel better in case something happened. She was partly telling the truth. The alarms went off often at the WRO and having an emergency bag eased some of the anxiety.
Lyra waited and helped around Shalua's lab before excusing herself to go to the bathroom, but made her way to the weapons room instead. She fished under the weapons rack for that prototype weapon. She pocketed it and passed Yuffie on her way back. She nodded her head and Yuffie grimaced.
When the fire alarms went off, Lyra followed Shalua and Shelke as the building evacuated. She ducked into an empty room and waited until the halls were empty. She ran back to Shalua's lab and jumped onto the computer console.
Three screens appeared. Each screen had files with similar names: Project Starchild Notes 1, 2, 3. Project Starchild Videos 1, 2, 3. Project Starchild Audio clips 1, 2, 3. Lyra opened the first Project Starchild video file. She let it buffer while she tried the audio clips and notes. The notes were heavily censored, most of the words were blocked by black strips. She skimmed through the notes she could read while the audio clips loaded.
She learned four things from the bits and pieces. She really was a Cetra and she was a Shinra science experiment. A scientist, some doctor named Azazel, was in charge of her, though some other guy named Hojo was mentioned here and there. Frost coated her chair and her breath puffed in the air before her.
Lyra skimmed through the later notes, these ones obviously made by Shalua. Shalua's notes were less filled with random remarks about mako levels and more about the events that followed her waking up in the Northern Cave.
Cloud talked to Rosso today. Apparently, Dr. Jael Azazel sent Rosso to "repossess" Lyra.
Confirmed today that Lyra is a Cetra. She's pretty weird.
Found more in the Project Starchild notes. Lyra's abilities to summon ice and fire are the result of experiments with Materia. More codebreaking needed to learn more.
Had a meeting. Agreed between most of us that Lyra must know nothing. The sudden removal of the mind block may cause mental instability and Lyra may be dangerous.
Jael seems to be getting more desperate. Sent a weird shapeshifter at the farmer's market.
New Materia found in Dr. Crescent's cave. Related to recent events with Lyra?
"New Materia?" Lyra jumped as the door to the lab opened.
"Lyra? What are you doing" Shalua asked. Lyra scowled as flames coiled around her arms. Her eyesight went red and ringing filled her ears. One thing was for sure about this: Lyra was in danger and she didn't even remember why.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She seethed through clenched teeth. She took a step towards her bag and Shalua reached in her lab coat for her gun. Lyra stopped and tried to keep the ice from racing to her, freezing her, giving her frostbite, they were supposed to help her.
"Lyra, I need you to calm down," Shalua said, taking a small step forward. Lyra reached into her pocket, curling her fingers around the Teleport Materia. She needed a clear space to use it. For a moment, she didn't care if Shalua shot at her. She grabbed her bag and stomped forward, pushing past Shalua and out the door, ignoring Shalua calling for help and the hot tears beginning to stream down her face.
How could you how could you how could you
I want to remember. Why won't you help me?! What did I do? Why are you so scared of me?
"Lyra stop!"
Lyra rocked back as Cloud grabbed her shoulder. She shoved him away, swearing and screaming nonsense, fully aware that she sounded completely insane. She wanted to make everyone feel how confused and fucking betrayed she felt! She was beyond pissed, beyond angry, no one was trying to help her, they wanted to hide her away, study her more than she had already been studied on, screw these people!
She snapped back to reality the moment she screamed, "I'm a natural fucking disaster!"
Cloud stared at her with wide eyes, one hand on his sword and the other desperately waving people away. Lyra stood in the center of the WRO entryway. The secretary and visitors were being whisked away deeper down the halls as soldiers aimed their rifles at Lyra. Ice coated the doors and windows behind Lyra. She had unknowingly formed sharp icicles that grew outwards at the soldiers and Cloud. The fire blazed around her but didn't touch anything, thanks to the ice, but the heat waves still made it hard to see the look on Cloud's face clearly. She started to shake as she noticed the bullet holes in the tiles from obvious warning shots.
They had shot at her.
"That's not what we're doing," Cloud said, trying to calm her down. Lyra wiped the tears from her face and hiccupped.
"I don't care! Screw you!" She screamed again. "I thought you were going to help me."
She pulled the Teleport Materia from her pocket and held it out, just like Yuffie had shown her. Cloud took a step forward and then back again as an icicle shot forward to impale him. A soldier hit at it with the butt of his rifle.
"Lyra what are you doing with that?"
Lyra sniffled and glared at Cloud. "If none of you are going to help me, I'll go to someone who will."
With that, she tightened her fist and imagined Kadaj, pulling tight on the tug and activating the Materia. In the flash of light that followed, Lyra could hear more gunshots and Cloud yelling for them to stop. Suddenly, she was in a room that smelled of dust and cooking food. Her fire and ice had fizzled out and she was exhausted. She heard someone yelp and fall but she couldn't see through her tears.
"What the-"
"Lyra!" She heard him hurriedly cross the small room and he knelt before her. She shot forward and wrapped her arms around Kadaj, burrowing her face in his shoulder.
"They shot at me," Lyra managed to say between sobs. "They shot at me, and I scared them, and they shot at me!"
After a moment of hesitation on Kadaj's part, he pat her back. Someone sighed, very annoyed.
"Guess we won't be staying in Edge very long after all."
Author's Note: WOW IT HAS BEEN AWHILE. I am so, so sorry I haven't updated! I got caught up in life! Because I haven't been able to update in so long, I made a playlist of music that I listen to when I write this fic! Hope you guys like it! Here's the link: watch?v=OfLKWetk-ck&list=PLPubVrEQ-esO2dilxBp0zGVtnRfgBFHo6
Please don't forget to favorite, follow, and leave a review on Daggers and Flowers! I love hearing what everyone thinks and I like hearing theories of what you all think is going to happen! Thank you so much for staying and reading my story!