Kids:
Act 1
"Ever been here before, Seth?" Katai inquired over a rack of clothing.
Sether and Katai were currently in a women's clothing boutique.
"Yes. Once. With my parents, some years back. I hardly remember anything besides getting mobbed."
"Huh?" Katai suddenly gave Sether more attention than the outfit she was holding.
"Mobbed. You know: People with pitchforks and torches, superstitions, yelling, stabbing… Oh, and don't forget the stoning."
Katai glared at Sether,
"You never told me you were mobbed…"
"I never told you a lot of things." He shrugged, eyeing the women's clothing with distrust.
"Why? Why did you do?"
Here Sether gave a small start,
"What did I do? I didn't do anything!"
"Come on, Seth, people don't just mob someone without a reason- You did something."
Sether shrugged again, and said with a casual tone,
"It wasn't the first time…"
Katai rolled her eyes, giving him a 'you're not serious' face,
"Maybe you were mugged, but you probably were never mobbed- we live in a modern society! People are waaay past mobbing people with pitchforks, baka! What are you trying to pull?"
For the third time, Sether shrugged,
"Let us just get out of this store, it's giving me the creeps."
"These are women's clothes, they won't attack you."
Sether edged away towards the shop's exit,
"Now, if these were Iguanas, I should have been worried, silly me." After mocking her and receiving a murderous glare, he said, "I'll be waiting outside, if you'll be needing anything."
He left the store.
Looking around, he saw it was still a bright day. A chilly wind reminded all those present that winter was at the door. A small park across the road caught Sether's eye, for a small amusement park was set up there, as a part of the Holy Day attractions.
Holy day was two days away, meaning that Sether was three days away from his birthday.
He felt so old.
After all, he didn't really live for almost three years.
It was an accident.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and noticed that his legs took the liberty of walking towards the park.
There were some kids there, playing and squealing happily on various rides and structures.
A young woman with brown hair and white robes was assembling another structure.
Just before a heavy metal bar slipped from her grip, Sether helped her,
"Whoa! There you go, Miss."
She brushed some hair from her face and looked up at him,
"Thank you very much, sir!"
He smiled politely at her, then glanced at the children,
"You are responsible for this park?"
"Yes," She nodded her head, giving the kids a loving look, "My Order decided to use the money we raised to make this year's Holy Day better than last year."
Sether examined her from behind his glasses,
"From the white robes with the green orbs, I would say that you are from New Aeris. Correct?"
She smiled bashfully and fingered her hair to stay behind her ear,
"Yes. I'm Marlene Wallace, a sister from New Aeris."
Sether raised his brows,
"Marlene? As in Barret's daughter?"
She nodded. He offered her his hand,
"My name is Sether, Miss Wallace, Sether Valentine."
She stared at him in surprise,
"Vincent has a son??"
He nodded and she shook his hand.
"I'm delighted to meet you, my father told me a lot about your Dad."
"My pleasure." Sether replied, he glanced once again at the children and asked, "Need any help with the kids?"
When Katai came out of the store, she couldn't find Sether.
She looked around a bit and found that spotting the six feet warrior with the broad shoulders, his broad rimmed hat and black trenchcoat wasn't too hard to spot.
She was surprised at what he was doing, though.
She started crossing the street in order to reach the park when a car came screeching to a stop. The driver stuck his head out of the window and started yelling at Katai for not watching before crossing the street. She in reply started cursing him a language that would probably make her daddy so proud. This of course drew a lot of attention to Katai, and Marlene noted,
"What a uncouth woman. Do you know her? She's coming here."
Sether almost lost balance,
"Yes. She and I were traveling together a short while. I promised her parents I'll take care of her."
By now Katai was finish besmirching the driver's heritage and reached Sether and Marlene.
"Seth, what on Planet are you doing?"
Sether Valentine was knee deep in children. They were hanging from his arms, grabbing his legs and tugging his overcoat.
And he was smiling.
He seemed happy.
"This is rich." Katai placed her hands on her hips, giving Sether another one of them 'I don't believe you' looks.
"What?"
"Sether I'm-so-cool-and-can't-be-bothered-by-you-mortal Valentine: Is good with children."
Ignoring her criticism, he mused out loud,
"You said the same thing last evening. You must have put a lot of thought into that sentence…"
"What are you talking about? I don't remember anything from last night."
Sether inhaled sharply and looked away, face getting pretty flushed. Ignoring the kid hanging from his arm, he readjusted his raybands,
"Oh."
So it didn't mean anything?
She just…
For no reason?
"Anyway- You just don't strike me as the kind that would be good with kids, that's all."
Here Marlene placed a delicate hand on Katai's arm,
"Oh, he's wonderful with them. He'd make a great husband one day."
At this point the wild children forgot that even mighty Sether had his limits and he fell with a surprised grunt to the grass. No children were harmed during his fall.
Sether sat up, having a hard time repressing his laughter. However, just then, a playful kid decided to grab Sether's wide-brimmed hat.
A flow of silver hair ensued, surprising Sether, but not as half as it surprised Marlene.
"Dear Holy!" She shrieked, and started running towards the children. Katai tried to reach to grab her arm and talk to her, but Marlene's panic was so intense, her speed was unexpected.
She grabbed as many kids as she could in her arms and carried them a few steps away, calling the rest of the kids to join her. Sether, at first, was alarmed, thinking there was danger around, but when he saw Marlene's eyes as she called the children to her, he settled on the ground with a dejected smile. He looked curiously aside as one youngster, ignoring Marlene's distressed beckoning, smiled at Sether and gave him back his hat.
Only then did he waddle to Marlene.
Sether placed the hat on his head again with a smooth gesture, and gave Marlene a disappointed look, the smile still playing on his lips.
"I demand that you leave, monster." Marlene straightened herself, her voice shaking with fear.
"…monster, eh…?" Sether got up, dusting himself.
"Why you little ^&##@!!!"
All eyes reverted to Katai. Surprisingly enough, she was not assaulting Sether, but Marlene.
"How dare you, you &*@^(^!, &!@#^ ^%&@!# !!!"
Sether stared at Katai, face getting red with each word.
"I hope you---" Sether's palm on Katai's mouth gave her a start.
"…Not in front of the children." He whispered. His eyes were hidden by the hat, but his voice was infinitely softer than ever before, "Its okay."
"What do you mean 'its okay?! It's not okay! She has no right- Just because you look like S—"
"I probably would have hurt them, anyway."
This left Katai speechless.
Sether turned around and started walking down the street, encouraging Katai along and leaving Marlene, terrified, to stare after his retreating back.
Once they were far enough Katai burst,
"I can't believe you let her do that! ARGH!"
Sether only smiled.
"If I were you, I would teach her a thing or two! Like whack! Wham! And another one on the head- Bam!" She punched air, face turning red.
Sether smiled at her. Yet his eyes were very sad,
"I probably would have hurt them, eventually." He repeated.
"Why do you say that?! That's not true!! I can't imagine you harming a kid!"
"No, not deliberately, of course. But… Eventually. I almost laughed, you know."
Katai gave him a weird look,
"So what if you would laugh?"
Sether gave her another one of his crocked smiles,
"You never heard me laugh." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Katai blinked with confusion,
"Now that I think of it, you never laugh… You chuckle Like this; 'Heh-heh-heh'. I wanna hear how you laugh!" Scientific curiosity taking over once again, Katai poked Sether's chest repeatedly, emphasizing her request.
"No. You don't." He gave her a cold stare. Understanding that he was probably not in a very good mood, Katai said,
"You're such a jerk!"
Sether rolled his eyes to the sky, but said nothing.
Katai continued, pretending to talk to herself, yet making sure Sether heard,
"Of all the people I could have ended up traveling with, I find me a ugly jerk, who's afraid to kill an Iguana!" She scoffed, fluffing her hair into her companion's face.
Sether smiled his crocked smile,
"At least you don't have to travel with someone who will look like a man if she cut her hair short…!"
Katai contorted her face and scoffed again,
"You would wish you could look like a man, you little girl, you!"
"I wish I could be half the man you are, Katai." He teased, feeling better.
Katai laughed,
"Oh, shut up, jerk, and let's go see the decorations for Holy Day!"
They ran together a few blocks until they reached the end, or rather, the beginning of Corel City's main street.
Down the street they saw the ever-famous cart-thingie to the Golden Saucer, and up the street, was an old train, crashed dramatically into a small park that was erected around it.
Katai scratched the back of her head with embarrassment,
"Heheh… My Dad did that."
Sether gave her an inquisitive look, and Katai blushed,
"Wweeeell… When my dad was still in Avalanche, this train was going to hit Corel. So he wanted to stop it."
Sether looked back at the train.
"It looks rather stopped to me."
With a nod, Katai said,
"…He used Corel itself to stop it."
"In other words, he failed."
"No one was killed!!!" Katai stomped her foot, face getting redder.
Sether only smiled and continued down the road. There was no need to rub her father's failure in.
Besides, she may not know it, but his father was there as well, and he also did not succeed in stopping the train from colliding.
"Shall we go and get you packed?" Sether asked, still smiling.
"Huh?"
"Get you packed."
"Yes I heard what you said. Why should I pack?"
Sether's smile faded,
"So… You can go to the Golden Saucer and from there home, of course."
"Didn't we agree that you need medical attention?" She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a steady stare.
"No. I'm fine. Really. You should go."
Katai shook her head and commented with pride,
"Nope! I'm staying with you, at least until we get those results!" And she strode down the street with her head held high.
Sether sighed. He was trying to protect her, didn't she understand? He wasn't planning on having to be her human shield all the time. He had better things to do with his time. Why was she being so difficult?
He wanted to go and train, he wanted to kick the butts of those Sephiroth clan people, he wanted to help Sephiroth, he wanted to maybe return home in one piece…
Nope. He just had to keep risking her life. What did he care what happens to himself?!
But she… She wasn't there to die. No, that was his job.
He was still standing there when Katai suddenly came by his side and grabbed his arm. He was so deep in thought, she surprised him. That surprise enabled Katai to start dragging Sether with her.
"Come on!" She cried happily, oblivious to Sether's mood, "I found a great place to eat lunch!"
Katai dragged him into the 'Chocobo Delight', a fancy restaurant with a 'wark' twist.
They were led to a table with a view to the street. A waitress approached them to receive their order.
Katai ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, while Sether asked for something more reasonable.
The waitress winked at Sether and left, receiving a mean look from Katai.
Sether raised his brows.
"She was rude!"
Sether did not reply.
"She was, I'm telling you!" She slammed her fist on the table, ignoring various odd looks in her direction.
Sether kept silent.
"Anyway!" a shade of red crossed her cheeks, "You look a little pale. Are you feeling okay?"
Sether shrugged, looking thoughtfully out the window.
Silence.
The waitress brought them their dishes, and again winked to Sether, who didn't even notice. A murderous glare from Katai made the waitress run along to her other costumers.
Katai started chomping happily on her food. Sether just kind of played with it.
"What, no appetite?"
Sether gave his food a sad look. His thoughts elsewhere.
"…I wonder how father is doing…?"
Katai's shoulders sunk slightly, but then she said,
"Oh! So all the moody-ness is just Sethy-wethy being homesick! How cute!"
Sether glanced at her. Katai nodded her head in an approving manner and waved her fork in front of her, to emphasize her point,
"Don't get me wrong, Seth, I get homesick a lot. Especially when I'm home- I get so sick of it!"
Sether smiled.
She continued to chomp,
"Once, when I was at my boyfriend's place, my parents got so worried they came all the way to his place just to give me a jacket, 'in case I was cold'." She smiled with the memory, "And of course the subject of when I was coming home just popped into their minds, totally by accident, 'Dearest, by the way…' Oy! Parents!"
Sether nodded. He started eating too,
"That is true."
"There was this time, when me and Dad still used to go get 'smashed' together that we went to a karaoke bar… They threw us out and told my dad that if he came there again they'd call the cops!"
"Why? What did your father do?"
Katai smiled a mischievous smile,
"He brought me with him."
Sether chuckled, "I would kick you out too, if you started singing."
Katai pouted and pretended to be insulted,
"If I'm not mistaken, you're already trying to kick me out, arn'tcha?"
Sether grew serious at this,
"That is not the reason I am asking you to leave. I am just
concerned with your
safety-"
"Yada-yada!" Katai waved her fork at him again, "Lighten up, dude!"
"Dude?!" Sether nearly chocked on his food, "When did people stop saying 'dude'? fifty years ago?"
Katai laughed,
"My dad says 'dude' when he's trying to be 'cool' and 'in'."
Sether joined the chuckling,
"My mother still uses words like 'wicked' and 'bodacious' when she is trying to cross the generation gap."
They laughed. At least Katai did, Sether chuckled.
"Generation gap, my butt! When my dad joined Avalanche, Cloud was 21, and he managed to save the world! I'm close to that age, and he won't let me go on a research project alone!"
Sether tilted his head, chewing thoughtfully,
"It is dangerous out there, you know." This reminded him of something, "When we just moved to Wutai I was really young, so I did not know I was supposed to walk around with my hair and eyes covered. So some people started chasing me."
Katai listened attentively. Sether continued, his tone light,
"I ran home as fast as I could, crying like a baby."
"How old were you?"
"Around three or four."
"That is a baby."
"Do you want to hear the story?"
"Sorry."
"When I got home, father protected me in his arms. When the attackers came, he gave them a stern lecture about attacking defenseless children and what a bunch of meanies they were."
Katai was baffled,
"That's it? All he did was lecture them? Vincent Valentine lectured them?"
Sether nodded, and smiled his crocked smile,
"Then my mother came out with a broom and started chasing them away, beating the crap out of them."
Katai burst with laughter.
Afterwards, they ordered some wine, just to relax.
"If there's one thing we agree upon, is that alcohol is bliss!" Katai beamed with the thought of spiked beverage.
"What shall we toast to?" Sether inquired, both their glasses filled with crimson liquid and held in their hands.
"A safe journey, good fights and lotsa drinks!"
Sether smiled and they toasted, the sound of the glasses echoing nicely in their ears.
Next chapter: Second (Soon)
Hey! Please tell me what you think so far... Coming in the next chapters: Sether learns about what makes him ill. Katai learns more about Sether's past. The ominous 'Ryuto' haunts Sether's past and present.
Please let me know if you want more!
LunarBlade Z. Valentine.
Http://kickme.to/TheAncientCapital/
