Roxas stared at Sora, his bright blue eyes wide in disbelief as he watched his friend finish off a second plate of desserts. "How in the world do you have room for all that?" He asked. "You had two entrees and a dessert already."
Kairi, who was sitting across from Roxas laughed at the blonde's shock. "That's why we call him the bottomless pit. I think his record is ten plates of food in one sitting."
"Oh I remember that," Naminé said, finishing off her iced tea. "We actually needed a second waiter because we were there so long."
Roxas shook his head in disbelief. His friend was truly remarkable. "Don't you have sparring practice with Yuffie today? You're gonna throw up halfway through the workout."
Sora scoffed and grinned from ear to ear. "I never take on more than I can handle."
Roxas lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Because I remember you throwing up last week at the carnival because you ate too much before going on a ride."
Sora's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as Kairi and Naminé broke out into a fit of laughter. He threw his arms over his shoulders and leaned back, staring at the sky to avoid making eye contact with everyone. "Bet you can't find any more examples…"
"Go easy on the junk food, kid!" a high-pitched shrill voice commanded Sora, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin from surprise.
When the brown-haired freshman turned around, he locked eyes with Yuffie, his instructor, and Tifa, Jasmine's godmother.
"I can have a cheat day, can't I?" Sora asked, his eyes wide with the hope that Yuffie would excuse his slip up and not run him into the ground the next day he takes her class.
Yuffie, who was dressed casually in a pair of khaki shorts and a white tank, rolled her eyes. "I guess so. But I hope you know that when you come in next time, you're doing extra push-ups, kid."
While Sora groaned, laughter erupted from the rest of the group members. Tifa scanned over them and realized that they were missing someone. "Where's Riku?"
Yuffie looked up at Tifa. "He's sparring right now with Zack. I think they've been going at it for an hour."
Tifa smiled. Out of all the boys, Riku was the one she saw the most at Yuffie's studio. In the time short time since he started working with Zack and Cloud, she'd been able to connect more with the young man and formed a bond with him. He changed so much since his earlier high school years and was becoming a stronger, more intelligent, and calm young man. He was drastically different from how he was over a year ago.
"Yeah, why can't you guys be more like Riku?" Yuffie rolled her eyes dramatically.
Sora chuckled. "I've been getting that since I was a kid and I'm not gonna change now."
"Still," Yuffie trailed off, "I expect to see you guys later today."
"We'll be there!" Roxas reassured her. "I'll make sure this guy doesn't try and dip out."
"Oh yeah," Kairi added. "If you don't, I'm sure he'll be laying on the beach somewhere sleeping."
"Or he'll be back for his second lunch," Naminé chimed in.
"Okay guys!" Sora yelled. "We get it!"
Tifa laughed and bid the group her goodbyes while Yuffie followed behind her.
"That's a good group of kids," Yuffie commented.
"I agree," Tifa replied as she waited at the crosswalk for the light to turn green. "Hey, Yuffie?"
The shorter girl looked up. "What's up?"
"Is it selfish of me to wish that things could be different?"
Yuffie listened onward, a bit thrown by the vagueness of Tifa's question. "Selfish?"
"You know, for there to be peace. That the kids could just stay kids, that we didn't have to fight. That Jasmine could be right there with them."
"That' not selfish," Yuffie told her friend, nudging her when the light at the crosswalk signaled that it was safe for them to cross the street. "You just want peace. Anybody would want that. Heck, I'd want that."
Tifa chuckled and shook her head. "No," she argued, "I think too much peace would drive you crazy."
Yuffie gave Tifa a wink. "You know me too well. I mean, I have these ninja skills. It would be a shame to let them go to waste."
Listening with a keen ear and constantly scanning the area, Jasmine stood at her post waiting and watching Noctis and Prompto as they competed in the tournament. Her role in this mission was simple: she would act as support for the boys should they need assistance with cover from above. She honestly didn't expect for the mission to be taxing, but she knew that could change at a moment's notice.
She looked over the crowd from above and allowed her mind to drift for a moment. She wondered how her friends were doing on the island. Jasmine imagined that they were enjoying themselves by laughing and hanging out on the beach.
She felt a slight pang in her chest. How she wished she could have been there with them.
But she knew that she had to complete her missions with SOLDIER. Jasmine told herself that if she saw this through to the end that she could have the option to rest. In part, that's what helped her get out of bed every morning.
Jasmine snapped back to reality when she spotted a very familiar man pass through a door into the gaming area and disappearing. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits and she swore. She could recognize that mop of silver hair anywhere.
She checked to make sure that the gun strapped to her leg and concealed under her dress was loaded and kicked off her heels. Lowering herself to the floor, Jasmine decided to pursue the man by following him along the upper level.
'What the hell is Kadaj doing here?' Jasmine asked herself, feeling her chest tighten.
Jasmine slipped through a door leading to the area where Kadaj should have been with ease and closed it without making a sound. Now that she knew he was involved, Jasmine had to make sure that she was on her guard. After all, any time that Kadaj showed up, catastrophe followed swiftly after.
After she entered the new room, Jasmine dropped to the floor once she spotted Kadaj. Keeping her body flat and near the door, she peaked out over her shoulder to see that he wasn't alone.
"That's pretty cold, Xigbar," Kadaj said with a sickening chuckle. "Are you really going to do away with your own father?"
With that, Jasmine's blood ran cold. 'XIGBAR TOO?' she screamed mentally. Sure enough, taking another glance over her shoulder, she saw that Xigbar was standing near Kadaj in what appeared to be a study. She felt her stomach take a dip. This was not good. There were too many high level SHINRA members here for her liking. Most of whom had placed a target on her back.
"Braig is washed up," Xigbar said without an ounce of emotion. "He's served his purpose. I hate to see the old man go but he'd be more of a liability further down the line. Best to clean up the loose ends now before it bites us in the ass later."
Jasmine was floored. So, Braig was Xigbar's father. And his own son was going to assassinate him.
Despite his cheerful, playful attitude, Xigbar definitely had a darker side than he let on. While Jasmine knew this (the mere fact that he worked for SHINRA should have been proof enough), it was still startling to imagine that Xigbar would be so nonchalant about killing his father.
The sound of distant footsteps snapped Jasmine back to reality. She listened for the direction of the sound's origin and immediately left the area. Once she was back out to the space overlooking the gaming area and, before she knew it, she felt a hand reach out and snatch her wrist.
Jasmine immediately went into survival mode and whirled around, pinning the person behind the door quietly whilst holding the gun to the person's chin.
Her eyes widened in horror when she locked eyes with a very familiar, amber eyed young man she had come to know quite well over the years.
"Nice to see you too, Jasmine," Vanitas said, not even flinching with the gun pressed much-too-closely to his face.
A wave of dread washed over her as she took in the sight of Vanitas. "What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed.
Vanitas stepped away from Jasmine and pulled her back so that there were out of eyesight of the gamers down below. Gently grabbing her elbow, he led her into the shadows and near one of the windows. Dressed for the occasion as well in a well-tailored suit, it was clear that he had business here as well.
"You know as well as I do that when SHINRA is involved, I'm not too far behind," he replied simply in a hushed tone. Vanitas gave her a quick once over as she put away her gun. "You're just the same. I actually had no doubt in my mind that we'd run into each other."
Rolling her eyes, Jasmine mentally cursed. She did NOT want to run into Vanitas here, especially while she was on assignment. It was true that he had assisted her once in the past but Jasmine didn't want to get used to seeing him. After all, they were still on opposite sides of the equation and for all it was worth, he was still an enemy.
"Well I suggest you get the hell out of here," she warned him.
"Why would I do that?" Vanitas asked with a coy smile. He nodded towards the partygoers down below. "I see your prince down below. It looks like quite the party."
Jasmine parted her lips to snap back at Vanitas when she watched his facial expression harden. She stiffened slightly when she felt another presence behind them and reached for her guns as soon as the person who approached them spoke.
"My my," Kadaj said cheerfully. "Looks like I'm going to have one hell of a time tonight."
Author's Note: I know. It's been an obscenely long time since I updated ANYTHING. I wish I could explain everything in this note but I think my explanation would be longer than this chapter. In any case, I promise you guys this story is still going on. I've just been going through an insanely tough time and was unable to write anything. But I'm not giving up on this story. Thank you to everyone who sent me reviews and messages checking up on me during this unintended hiatus. It really means the world to me that you guys still support both me and this story (as well as the others too).
Skeleus: I hope you liked this equally short chapter haha.
hopefuldreamer1991: Yup yup! How did you like the tie-in?
pinkdinosaur: Sorry about the really, really late update! I hope I can make up for this absence some day.
Nolumosthesun: Oh yes. Haha and quite a close connection.
LongTimeReader: I'm sorry I kept you and the others waiting for so long. I promise to NEVER take a break like that again.
Well guys I'm going to keep this short so I can work on the next chapter. Literally right now.
I'm sorry once again for the late update but I promise, this will be the last one.
Take care everyone!
