"You have two minutes," Jasmine warned Vanitas as she locked the door behind him. She cursed inwardly, knowing that Vanitas being here was nothing to celebrate.
Vanitas glanced around the apartment and whistled, looking almost astonished as he took in the sight of the elegant flat. "Wow, this sure is a come up from Tifa's place."
Jasmine followed Vanitas as he made his way to the living room. When he was near one of the sofas, she roughly grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him onto it, standing directly in his path.
"I'm not joking," she warned. "You'd better start talking because Noctis will be here in a few minutes."
Vanitas casually shrugged. "I'm not as weak as you think I am. I can hold my own."
Jasmine said nothing, trying to control her irritation from Vanitas sneaking into the building. "Not against Noctis. Start talking."
With a sigh of defeat, Vanitas rested his hands on his knees and began. "You need to get out of SOLDIER."
After a moment of silence, Jasmine rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "I can't believe you wasted your time to tell me to quit my job. Don't you have better things to do?"
"I'm serious," Vanitas stated, all of his prior jest and cheer gone.
"So am I."
"Look, things are starting to take off. And you know just as well as I do that SOLDIER is the one group we're trying to get rid of. You need out get out before things get worse."
Jasmine wasn't surprised. None of this was news to her. She'd known for years that SHINRA and SOLDIER were always looking for ways to wipe each other off the face of the map. But what did surprise her was that Vanitas would risk his life to come to her and Noctis' apartment – alone -to tell her something she was sure he knew she already knew.
There had to be more to the story.
"Why are you really here, Vanitas?" Jasmine asked, rubbing her forehead. "I don't think you'd come just to waste my information that I already had."
"You saw what happened at the party," Vanitas stated plainly.
Jasmine paused, reflecting back on that night and shifted uncomfortably. That night was the reason why she'd been so on edge as of late. But just as quickly as the memory formed, she immediately pushed it to the back of her thoughts.
"I think it would be wise for you to bow out now before things get worse – which you know they will."
Jasmine sighed and rubbed her forehead, anticipating a headache from this stressful encounter. "Look, you've got to give me more than that, Vanitas."
"And you know why I can't," Vanitas replied. He sighed and rose to his feet, slightly towering over the young SOLDIER girl. "I have to go."
A new wave of annoyance washed over Jasmine and she rubbed her temples. "I don't understand how you could be more of a pain now than you were years ago, but you're doing it."
Vanitas dug his hands in his pockets and chuckled. Giving her a small smile and placing a hand on top of her forehead, he ruffled her hair. "I'm sure you'll get over it." Sighing as he took his hand away, Vanitas gave Jasmine a quick once over, his heart aching as it usually did when he thought of her. "Catch you later."
Before Vanitas could walk off, he was surprised when he felt a hand squeeze his left forearm. He froze and looked behind him, bewildered at the action. Jasmine's grip was strong and although she did not look at him (her gaze was in the opposite direction), he could feel the intensity.
"Don't trust Xigbar," she said in a calm, yet serious tone.
Vanitas lifted an eyebrow, confused by the randomness of the statement. "What are you talking about?"
Jasmine repeated herself. "Don't trust Xigbar." She added, "Just believe me on this one. I know he works for you, but he can't be trusted."
Vanitas felt his stomach drop at the ominous statement. Why would she make such a claim? After all, Xigbar had been one of his right-hand men for years and, up until this point, he never felt the need to question his loyalty. But Vanitas knew that Jasmine would not make such a claim unless she had evidence to back it up.
"Okay," Vanitas said casually. Once Jasmine released her grip, he chuckled again and looked over his shoulder, this time meeting her stoic gaze. "But how do I know I can trust you? From my vantage point, you're on the other side of all this."
Jasmine folded her hands over her chest and sighed in exasperation. "In case you didn't know, you're on my shoot-kill on site list. If I see you, I'm supposed to kill you. But you're not dead yet and if I really wanted to, I could have killed you by now."
Vanitas laughed. "But you're not even armed."
In what seemed like a split second, Jasmine pulled out the handgun she had concealed the entire time from, what looked like, a holster that was underneath her sweatpants and aimed the barrel directly at Vanitas.
"Think again," she stated plainly.
Vanitas had to admit that even he was surprised that he hadn't noticed the gun. And it was a little more than unnerving to see her pointed the gun at him. After all, she still had a reputation for being a great shot even within SHINRA.
He cursed inwardly. He hadn't even thought of really checking to make sure that she had a weapon on her. His entire focus was just on meeting her and even though he knew that Noctis and his group were far away, there was still the chance that (for whatever reason) she could have taken a shot at him.
The reality of the situation was crushing but Vanitas smirked to hide his discomfort. "I forgot. I'm still dealing with a Valentine here. I need to keep my guard up."
"What for?" She asked before taking a seat on the couch. "I think you know that I'm not going to hurt you. If I wanted to kill you, I could have done so years ago. But Noctis on the other hand…," Jasmine trailed off pointing to the exit.
"I get the hint. Later."
And with that, Vanitas was gone. Once she heard the door click behind him, she exhaled and sunk into the couch, scratching her forehead with the barrel of the gun before setting it on the table in front of her.
'That gun wasn't even loaded,' she thought, finding the irony almost comical. While she did have ammunition, it was in the holster underneath her sweatpants. And, although it wouldn't have taken long to load the gun, it was still useless at the moment. 'Nothing wrong with at least giving him a little scare.'
But shifting back to their conversation (which many would argue wasn't much of one to begin with) Jasmine felt the wheels turning again.
Vanitas would never show up unless he felt it was absolutely necessary. He wasn't reckless in the slightest. In fact, he was one of the most tactical, pragmatic people she'd ever met in her entire life. And although he didn't really share anything on the surface level, he had communicated something of great importance to her.
Things were going to start escalating.
Jasmine shivered at the thought, feeling a bit uneasy about what the future would hold. But as she told Vanitas, she was staying in SOLDIER and there was nothing he could say to convince her to leave. For now, they were going to have to remain on opposite sides of the fence and fight it out as they usually did.
Upon recalling her own advice to Vanitas, Jasmine silently prayed that he would take heed to what she said.
'I never thought I'd see the day when I was helping out Vanitas.'
Author's Note: Long time no see everyone.
I'll explain my absence soon.
All I can say is that I'm glad to be back and thank you everyone for all the kind words.
Until next time!
