Naminé exhaled as she threw her clutch purse on her desk, not even caring that half the contents of the back had spilled out and rolled on the floor. She was just happy that the night was over.
The blonde kicked off her high heeled pumps, secretly surprised that she had made it through the entire date without taking them off. She was never really good at wearing heels and prefered her flats but this was a first date and she wanted to look more like an adult.
'How the hell does Jasmine make it look so easy?' she thought inwardly as she imagined her best friend strolling through the streets with her sky high heels. 'Maybe one day I'll get better at this.'
Naminé threw herself on her bed and immediately crossed her legs one over the other and fished her phone out of her jacket pocket. But when she scrolled through her list of contacts in her phone and selected Jasmine's name, her heart sank. Her best friend was away and probably wasn't allowed to even have her phone on her. She wanted to tell Jasmine about the date she just went on and talk about how it went, but a wave of sadness washed over her when she realized that she might have to save this conversation for a much later date.
"Why are you staring at your phone? Waiting for him to text you back?"
Naminé jumped out of her skin when she saw Roxas standing in the doorway of her bedroom with a smirk on his face. Once the surprise wore off, a faint blush painted Namine's fair cheeks.
"No," she replied, trying to hide her face by lowering her head. "For the record, he texted me already when I got into the cab. Besides, I could be texting anyone."
"Nah," Roxas slouched against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "If it were Kairi or any of the girls, you'd be on the phone." He entered her bedroom and placed his index finger between her eyes, tilting her head back and forcing her to look him in the eye. "We're twins. I know your habits better than anyone."
Frowning, Namine leaned back. As usual, Roxas was right. "That may be so, BUT I'm not about to text him."
"Then who were you about to text? You looked kinda sad a minute ago."
With a heavy sigh, Namine replied, "Jasmine. I wanted to tell her about the date but I forgot that she's away."
Roxas' grin faded as he stared at his sister's saddened expression. As much as Namine tried to hide it, he could clearly see that she clearly missed Jasmine.
"She's coming back in a few days," Roxas gently reminded her. "Ven told me so himself. I'm sure that when she gets back she'll want to hear how your date went."
Namine cast her phone aside and pulled her hair out of her face. "I know what Ven said…" she began slowly, as if she were trying to choose her words carefully, "but I still worry. It's not like she's on some vacation. She's on a mission…"
Roxas knew exactly why Namine paused right there and refused to complete her sentence. He didn't need her to complete the thought for him to know what she was going to say.
"I know you're worried that she might get hurt, but she's with her team," he plopped down on the bed next to his sister and put an arm on her shoulder. "I think you should trust Jasmine a little more. She can handle herself out there and has lived through a lot. One mission isn't going to take her out."
"It doesn't mean that I don't worry," Namine replied, trying to seek comfort in what her brother was telling her. "You know just as well as I do from Ven that things can go wrong at any time. So while I do think she can handle herself, there's still a chance that she might hurt herself."
"I could kill myself choking on a popcorn kernel but I'm still eating popcorn," Roxas deadpanned.
As simple and foolish as the thought was, Naminé had to admit that Roxas had a point. Anything could happen at any given time and even though the two situations were not equal in any way, Roxas' logic definitely helped Naminé calm down and rationalize everything.
"You're right," she said after a long pause. "
Jasmine laid in her bed, her head spinning as she stared blankly at her bedroom ceiling.
She inhaled slowly and exhaled shortly after, feeling a wave of numbness wash over her. But she wasn't alarmed. After the night she'd had, she openly welcomed her inability to feel a thing.
Rising slowly, her hair fell out of its haphazardly made up bun, her now wavy hair falling in her face. Glancing over the edge of her bed, Jasmine spotted the gun her uncle gave her lying next to a bottle of pills. Rubbing her eyes, she recalled last night vividly.
And despite the intensity of the night, she remained as calm as ever.
She'd had another dream of him. Vanitas. But unlike the traditional nightmares she used to have of him, this nightmare was much more alarming.
She closed her eyes and let her memories flood her mind. Immediately, Jasmine felt sickened and disgusted. She could take the dreams where Vanitas was preying upon her, the memories of him stalking her during her high school years, and even the constant reminders in her daily life that he was still out there by way of SOLDIER, but what Jasmine couldn't take were the dreams like the one she had last night – where she and Vanitas had a romantic relationship.
Ever since she'd returned from Vanitas' mansion, she couldn't escape the horrifying thought that maybe, just maybe, under different circumstances that she and he could have been together. All the evidence was there. If it hadn't been for his being adopted by his uncle, they would have continued a friendship, and they may have been together.
Jasmine exhaled deeply, frowning at the thought. Every bone in her body wanted to throw that thought out and let it fade to nothingness, but she couldn't escape it no matter what she did.
She hadn't spoken about her time with Vanitas in great detail to anyone, not even to Tifa. Jasmine thought that this was a problem she needed to sort out on her own and in truth, she already had the answer to the question she had in her head.
It was a strong possibility but in their current state, in their present lifetime, something like that could never happen.
And yet she couldn't escape those dreams, the twisted dreams she cursed, where she and Vanitas were together like a normal romantic couple.
It was then that Jasmine scoffed. Thinking about the list of lovers that went wrong, she was thoroughly convinced that she wouldn't know a "normal" romantic relationship if it shot her in the face.
Jasmine narrowed her eyes into thin, dangerous slits as she aimed at Kadaj. The last time she had seen or heard from him or his comrades, she had thrown herself out of the window of her burning childhood home. Trying to keep her anger in check, she focused her attention on the silver haired assassin in front of her, almost forgetting that Vanitas was there at all.
"I could ask you why you're here," Kadaj began with a hearty laugh, "but I think we all know the reason."
"Kadaj," Vanitas spoke suddenly but calmly, "you know we're not here for her or the other SOLDIER rats. You have a job to do. So do it," he commanded.
"This is true…" Kadaj trailed off. "But what if she gets in the way? It would be oh so reckless to let someone so high on my kill list pass through."
Jasmine stepped in front of Vanitas, never once taking her eyes off Kadaj. "The same could be said for you," she said gently.
Vanitas looked at the pair, his general nonchalant attitude unwavering. But on the inside he was quite concerned. He knew full well that a fight between the two different factions would be unavoidable at this point. And even though he knew that Jasmine could handle herself in a fight, she would have a lot of trouble facing Kadaj.
"As smart as you are," Vanitas said coolly to Jasmine, "I would have thought that you would know when to back down. This isn't a fight you can win. Stand aside and let us handle our business."
Jasmine's eyes sharpened. There was no way she could abandon the mission and let SHINRA get away with what they were planning. Even if she weren't on a mission, Kadaj was reason enough to push harder. She had her own personal issue with him and there was no way she would let him through, at least not without a fight.
Kadaj yawned as he stared at Jasmine. He tapped the earpiece he had on his right ear and pressed down on it. "Kill him," he said without an ounce of hesitation.
And just like that, a shot rang through the air, shortly followed by a wave of gasps and screams. Jasmine looked over the railing and saw that Braig, the man she had been tasked to monitor, had been shot though the head, fell to the floor and was bleeding to death before party goers.
She gritted her teeth, realizing that she and the others had failed the mission and turned her attention to a smiling Kadaj.
"Looks like you've got a mess to clean up," he said cheerfully.
Before Jasmine could say another word, a figure hit the floor in front of her with a loud boom and she stepped back. Dressed in a hooded cloak, with a familiar rifle in hand, and quite possibly one of the few men who could have actually made such a shot from such a far distance, was none other than Xigbar.
"Hey, kiddo," he greeted, eyeing her dangerously. "Long time no see. How's the folks?"
Without an ounce of hesitation, Jasmine took aim and fired at Xigbar, aiming for his feet to put some distance between herself and him. She took out a second handgun, keeping a close eye on Xigbar. Even though she knew she had to deal with Kadaj and Vanitas, Xigbar was more of the threat right now and she was not going to let him get away, at least not unscathed.
"Looks like it's time for us to leave. Come on. Vanitas," Kadaj said, motioning towards Vanitas. "This one might get a little messy."
Vanitas casually shrugged his shoulders and turned his back on Xigbar and Jasmine, not wanting to leave the latter alone. But he knew that he couldn't stay. After all, they were on two different sides of this war. He knew that. She knew that. But while he was worried about Jasmine, he was confident that she would be able to make it out of this fight alive. He just wished that it didn't have to be this way.
"Just don't mess up that pretty face of hers," Vanitas said jokingly. "She and I still have unfinished business." With that, he and Kadaj walked through the doors behind Jasmine. But as Kadaj passed by her, he paused.
"I'll see you another time," he told her, adding an icy, bone-chilling chuckle after the fact.
Once both Kadaj and Vanitas were gone, Xigbar readied himself. "I've been waiting a long time to see you again, kid. I heard that you take after your uncle, Vincent. It would look damn good on my resume to take out one of the Valentines."
Jasmine, who had often been compared to the likes of her uncle, went on her guard. What Xigbar said was no empty threat. He wanted to take her out, even before he realized she was a Valentine. But now that he saw greater gain in it, she knew that he was not going to let her go easily.
But then as she remembered one moment in particular – the moment that she and Riku had been struck down by one of Xigbar's bullets. When Riku was bleeding to death on the cold hard ground before her, his life slowly but surely draining away, she felt an anger she hadn't felt in such a long time bubble to the surface. Not to the point where she felt like she had lost control, but just enough anger to where she received a little extra push.
As long as he was loose, her loved ones were in danger and it was very clear that he did not care about who he struck down so long as he reached his goal.
Jasmine took aim at Xigbar and inhaled sharply before she fired. "I won't make it easy for you," she announced before pulling the trigger.
Author's Note: Sorry for the late update guys. I had to buy a brand new laptop because my old one finally burned out on me. I literally lost EVERYTHING, even the map I made for this story. But in any case I'm still going for it. Also, thank you all for the messages and support. It really means the world to me and helps get me through it all.
Hopefuldreamer1991: I hope that you liked this chapter as much as the last. Also, thank you for the kind words.
Pinkdinosaur: I'm so glad that you're happy to see this story back. I'm just sorry that it's taken so long.
GUEST: sorry it took a little longer than expected. Thank you for the support!
Nolumosthesun: I'm glad that it was worth it though!
Guest: Wait for it – it gets worse haha.
Meyoume: Thank you! It's glad to be back!
Guest: I promise! I'm not going to abandon this story! Ever!
LongTimeReader: I'm so glad this made your day. I hope you like the new chapter!
Skeleus: Thank you for being so understanding!
Thanks a lot guys for the support. I should be able to update the story sooner rather than later. Let me know in a review what you thought about the chapter and I'll see you next time!
