Author's Notes:
Back for more, eh? I must be doing something right! =)
Disclaimer:
I do not own Final Fantasy VII, the characters, or, er.. anything
else that goes along with it. FF7 is © SquareSoft.
--------------------
Yuffie paced the hotel
room boredly. She had lost intrest in television, magazines,
jumping on the beds, newspapers, staring out the window,
practicing fighting, and just about everything else her confined
spaced offered.
She casually glanced at
the clock as she walked by. Aeris had been gone for twenty
minutes, and counting.
Yuffie somersaulted across
one of the three twin beds that was in the room, landing on the
floor with a resounding thud. She winced at the sound, although
she wasn't really hurt. Flipping up to her feet, she flung the
door open and strode down the hall, not bothering to close it
again. She counted the numbers aloud, looking for Cloud's room.
"36..38..40, 42, 44!
Here it is." She knocked loudly on the door, ignoring the
'Do Not Disturb' sign that hung from the handle. When nothing
happened, she sighed loudly and banged a few times. Several
people peeked out of their doors, glaring at her for interrupting
their sleep.
"Hey, willya
shuttup?!" A portly man demanded. "Oh, why don't you,
old man! Stuff a sock in it!" The man's face reddened, and
he took a step into the hallway. "Why, you little.."
The creak was audible as
the the door Yuffie was leaning on opened inward, causing the
ninja to fall halfway into the room. A sleepy-eyed Cloud in
night-clothes peered out into the hallway. His eyes widened as he
spied Yuffie's newly made enemy advancing toward them, and she
was hastily pulled into the room. Cloud shut the door in the
man's face.
Once the door was safely
locked, Cloud planted himself onto the bed. He stared hard at
Yuffie for a moment, blinking sleep from his eyes, then spoke.
"So what is it? Why did you come in here at 12:30 in the
morning?"
"I was bored."
Cloud rubbed his eyes. He
looked overwhelmed for a moment, then angry, then exasperated.
Regardless, he managed to keep his temper in check. "Bored?
What happened to sleep? That's what most people are - were
doing."
Yuffie shook her head.
"Why sleep? I'm not tired." Cloud scratched his head
wearily. "..What happened to Tifa and Aeris? Weren't they
staying in the same room with you.. or did they want to
move?" Yuffie pulled a wry face at him.
"No, they
didn't want to leave. Tiff didn't show up when we were supposed
to meet, so Aeris went to look for her. But that was like a long
time ago, and I've been alone for a half hour, and I'm so
bored!" Cloud seemed to wake up as if someone had just
poured a bucket of ice water over his head. "Waittaminute..
they're both missing? How long ago was this? Yuffie, why
didn't you tell me earlier??"
Yuffie held out her hands
in defense. "Hey, hey! Gimme a chance to answer! Geez. Yep,
they're both gone, and.. I already told you! It was about a half
an hour ago. I didn't come before because.. because.. I wasn't
bored then."
Cloud rubbed his temples,
mind racing. He fought to keep a casual tone. "Right,
thanks. Just go back to your room, I'll take care of
things." Yuffie's aquamarine eyes lit with intrest.
"Take care of things? Ooo, whatcha gonna do? I'm coming, not
matter what you say. There's no way to change my mind."
The former SOLDIER sighed.
He knew from experience that she was right: there was no way to
change her mind. Excepting, of course, to surrender a peice of
materia - which he wasn't about to do.
He grabbed his clothes
from the dresser top, walking toward the bathroom. "I'm
getting dressed. Go wake up Red - he's in the room next
door." His pointing finger led Yuffie's eyes to a door in
the middle of the wall. She walked in to wake up Red XIII. When
they came into Cloud's room, their leader was strapping on his
Ultima Weapon.
"Let's go."
The trio crept into the
hallway, which had been mercifully vacated of grumpy,
half-asleep, and potentially violent people. They arrived at the
stairs. Yuffie slid down the left rail, jumping off at the end,
while Cloud walked along the side, letting his hand slide over
the other rail. Red simply walked down the center.
Cloud pushed past the
front desk and opened one of the huge doors to the hotel. He
sucked in a sharp breath. It was freezing out here! The others
didn't seem to notice, however. Cloud peered into the darkness
with distrust. "Stay on your toes.. someone could be out
here," he advised. His friends nodded, and they stepped out
onto the gravel, staring intensely at passing shadows and hidden
corners.
As they neared the chutes
to the Station and different Squares, Cloud nearly tripped. He
cursed quietly, muttering. But as he looked down, the warrior
froze, staring. He had ran into the prone form of Tifa.
"Guys!" he
whispered, crouching down. "Over here!" Yuffie and Red
XIII hurried over to him.
"Tifa!" gasped
Yuffie. "I wonder what happened.." Cloud had been
checking her over. His brows snapped together in a frown as he
carefully removed the tranquilizer and held it up. "This is
what happened. C'mon, lets get her back to the hotel. I'm sure
she can tell us something when she wakes up."
Hopefully she knows
where Aeris is..
Cloud gently scooped Tifa
up in his arms and carried her back to the room that she, Yuffie
and Aeris shared. Red left to go rouse the group.
Cloud traced and retraced
his steps around the room, not looking up when someone entered or
spoke. Eventually everyone was gathered in the spacious room,
either eyeing Cloud, watching Tifa anxiously, or murmuring
quietly to one another. A small groan brought the entire
gathering rushing to the bedside.
Tifa sat up laboriously,
propping herself against the headboard and clutching her head in
pain. After a minute she looked up and squinted at everyone,
crowded around the bed and watching her like children waiting for
candy. She almost smiled, but other matters were foremost on her
mind. She spoke timidly. "..Does anyone have any pain
killer? I have a monster headache.."
"I'll get it,"
Barret grunted, then shuffled over to the bathroom.
There was a moment's
silence, which was broken by Yuffie. "Are you ok?" Tifa
nodded, then winced as a fresh jolt of pain rushed through her
head. "Yeah, I'm ok.. aside from this headache.."
"Do you know where
Aeris is?" The next inquiry belonged to Cloud. Tifa shook
her head slowly, sighing. He fell silent again as Cait Sith
asked, "What happened?"
"I'm not sure
exactly.."
"Can't you tell us anything?"
Tifa was saved from
answering as Barret arrived with a small pill and a glass of
water. She took the pill and drank the rest of the water, then
set the cup on the nightstand next to the bed. The effects of the
drug were almost instant: her headache ceased to throb, then
vanished completely.
"I guess you guys
want to know what happened.." There were several nods. Tifa
cleared her throat and tucked her hands into the sleeves of her
large jacket before continuing.
"Well, I was
wandering around after lunch and lost track of time. I went to
Wonder Square, and won some GP, but it got croweded and hot, so I
went outside to take a breather and sat on the steps. I don't
know how long it was after I got there, but Aeris came through
one of the chutes and walked over to me.
"She told me that we
were suppsed to meet over a half hour ago. We talked for a little
while, and then started to head back. She looked kind of nervous,
and kept glancing around as if she expected Sephiroth to pop out
of the shadows. I swear that she checked to see if I had my
gloves several times. Well, we went down the chute to Ghost
Square and were walking up to the hotel, when I felt a sting in
my shoulder," she explained, looking down at her arm.
"I felt numb, then collapsed and blacked out.. there's not
really that much I can tell you aside from that."
They were silent,
digesting the information. After a few minutes everyone began
exchanging glances, none daring to speak.
"Well," Cloud
announced finally, "I think we should get some sleep and
meet in the morning. There isn't much we can do tonight. Let's
have a rondezvous in the lobby at 8:30 sharp, alright?"
Everyone nodded, watching
him. "C'mon, let's go," he said. They dispersed slowly
to their rooms, closing the door. Tifa sank back into the bed and
fell asleep, while Yuffie sat up, examining her Conformer and
thinking.
* * *
Early the next morning,
the crew were gathered in the lobby and speculating about what
happened.
"So," began Red,
looking over at Tifa, who had chosen to occupy the large armchair
placed near the wall, "Are you certain you know nothing of
the person who did this?" Tifa shook her head.
"Well, then, I think
we first must examine the place of the crime." Several heads
nodded around the room. "Maybe we can find some clues there.
Good thinking, Red," Cloud praised. "Come on, lets
go."
They filed out of the
hotel after their leader to the scene of crime. They split up,
combing the area for any clue. After about twenty minutes, Yuffie
sat down on the head of a gravestone, sighing and scuffing the
dirt with her foot. "This is boring," she remarked.
"I don't think we're going to find anything."
"Yes, we are, if
we're here 'til Doomsday!" Cloud retorted hotly. "Don't
you care about Aeris? What if something terrible is happening to
her, right now, and we couldn't do a thing because you gave
up?" Cloud felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned. It was
Tifa.
"Cloud," she
sighed. "Please calm down. We'll find something sooner or
later, I'm sure of it. If you go off snapping at people, it only
makes it worse." He realized she was right, and went to
continue searching without another word.
Time passed slowly. They
had picked the area over with a fine-toothed comb, and still
nothing. Cid sat back with a resigned sigh and lit a cigarette.
No one protested.
"I think I may have
found a possible clue," announced Vincent calmly. Everyone
turned to look at him, then rushed over.
"How did you find
it?"
"Where is it?"
"What is
it?"
He pointed to the dirt
before his feet. "There is a word written in the dirt.
Miraculously, it has survived us trampling over it."
Everyone leaned toward the ground, squinting.
"S-T-A-Y," read
Red XIII. "Stay. It says 'stay'."
"Stay?" asked
Tifa. "I wonder what that is supposed to mean?"
--------------------
Mmm.. stay. The meaning of
this mystery? No one knows! (Well, excepting me, of course!) It's
a very bad cliffhanger, I know! . Oh well. Just be
patient with me. School is very distracting.
