Chapter 2

For a moment, Hana just stood motionless, bamboozled by the sudden attack.

"Don't just fucking SIT there, Hana!" Reno said, parrying an oncoming bat. "Do something!"

Snapped out of her bewilderedness by gunshots from Elena & Rude, Hana waved her hand over her Bolt material, whispering, "Bolt 2!"

In an instant, a giant bolt of electricity came dashing down from the ceiling, striking the bats who were nearest to Hana. In an instant, she unsheathed her crystal sword and slashed at any of the bats who dared come near. They were easy to strike down, and surprisingly slow for their slim appearance.

Something wasn't right about these bats. Enveloped in her thoughts, Hana had let her guard down. A screeching bat swooped down, its tiny but sharp claws digging into her shoulder. Hana struck the ear-splitting bat away before it could sink its fangs into her skin.

The bats were dwindling, but at an ever so slowly pace. There were still dozens of them left to contend with. As she continued to hack and slash, she felt herself going at a slower pace. The bats came nearer and concentrated on her instead of everyone else.

"Bolt 2!" again came the shower of lightning bolts, but again came another wall of bats that surrounded her. Her joints felt stiff and her breathing was slowing down. Hana was bewildered. What was happening?

Reno & the others tried to pry the bats away from Hana, but it was no use. Hana fumbled for her Full Cure materia, but it was too late. Paralysis took over her; she was immobilized as the horde of bats swooped down over her vulnerable body.

*  *  *

Hana slowly awoke, the darkness of the night welcoming her as she lay in the rather uncomfortable hospital bed.

Okay, I was sent on some kind of investigation to this age old facility, then all of the sudden I hear voices, then the next thing I see are a whole bunch of bats swooping down on me, and then the next thing I know, I'm on the ground, barely able to breath and paralyzed, Hana thought, retracing the peculiar string of events. Well, that doesn't help much.

Hana shifted in bed, but a sharp pang of pain shot through her arms as she attempted to lift herself up, accompanied by the sudden urge to vomit. She dropped back down on the bed, groaning.

"Hana?"

"Huh?! Elena…?" Hana turned her head to her left, finding Elena sitting on the chair, evidently drowsy. "What the—"

"—hell happened to you, right?" Elena finished the question for her.

"Er, yeah," Hana said.

"The doctor said something about neurotoxin in the bat's claws," Elena started. "Once your started to black out, the other bats swooped down and injected more poison into you. That's why you feel so sick; they had to give you a lot of anti-venoms."

"What about everyone else?" Hana inquired weakly. "Who got rid of the bats?"

"Cloud arrived in time to blast away the bats from your body with Ultima. All of the fighting really wrecked the place, though. Most of the evidence is gone, except for some fur that we found on a guy's body."

"…weird," came Hana's simplistic reply.

"You need to have some rest. Go back to sleep."

The thought of sleep was a good idea for Hana at that time, since the very idea of it made Hana tired. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep quickly.

*  *  *

Hana awoke for a moment. She looked at the clock on the ceiling. It was 3:00 AM. Only an hour passed since she had woken up.

Her hairs on her neck prickled. Her attention was immediately drawn to the window. There stood a black cat, eyes glowing in the darkness.  Hana looked away, slightly spooked. She pulled herself together and fell asleep fitfully.

But the cat wouldn't stop looking at her, staring at her with its sinister glare.

Father, oh gracious Father…

A/N: Okay, you'll probably notice that this is considerably shorter than chapter 1. It's probably going to stay short, like, around 2 to 4 pages. I never really write long chapters; the only time I write long chapters is usually in the first chapter (I don't know why, maybe because I really want to get it off my chest and I write a lot…). Anyway, R/R please. It helps (and please give constructive criticism, because flames will be tossed in the river).