Disclaimer, Standard: Final Fantasy VII, Shin-Ra, and Scarlet are the property of Square, and that doesn't look to be changing any time soon. Kaga is, and forever will be, mine.

"They took it apart!"

Scarlet was dimly aware of Kaga's hand on her shoulder as she knelt over the box, fingers raking through its contents. It looked as if everything was there, but she couldn't be sure until she'd begun to piece it back together, and she had no idea of how long that would take. She knew how. It was simply the tedium of completing a task that had originally taken her years in what she was certain would be a greatly shortened timespan.

"We had to," the man murmured, lips brushing her ear. She shrugged him away, driving her shoulder into his chest.

"Don't distract me. This is your fault to begin with. That gun was working perfectly before you took it apart!" She snarled, casting a hateful glance over her shoulder. "Or at least, it should have been."

"Alright." Kaga shrugged himself, and sat back. "And you're right, it should have been. But when the time came, it proved to be unfireable."

The girl was silent for a lengthy amount of a time, enough to make him wonder exactly how far away he'd need to be to avoid being the target for a physical outletting of her rage.

"You couldn't fire it because you're not me!" she screeched, turning around quickly enough to lay a stinging strike across his right cheek with the back of her hand. Okay, so the next Reactor over might have been a good choice - he really hadn't thought she'd attack him. "I had it rigged so no one else could! And if anyone had thought to ask me before mangling my life's work, I would have told you!"

"I'll remember that, next time," he muttered, reaching up to rub his face. "It's too late to do anything about it now, save start again."

"And you're going to be the first person I use it on when I'm finished," she informed him sweetly, lips thinning.

"If you're going to be that way about it," he snapped, rising, "then you can do it alone, and I'll make sure it's taken out of your hands before you even get a chance to think about seeing it in use."

Her eyes widened, and she reached toward him as he moved through the door. "Kaga, wait!"

Once again, the dark-eyed man didn't answer, leaving the click of the lock to do so for him.

"I didn't mean it!" Scarlet wailed, pawing helplessly at the wood between them. She was beginning to rethink that claustrophobia thing, now that she was back in a place she couldn't get out of. Even in the slums, she'd been able to pace from one room to another. Being confined to one was intolerable, especially one smaller than even her bedroom as a child in 6. "Kaga..."

Sinking to the floor, she drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin in the hollow between, blinking away the haze of tears over her eyes. As soon as a sob threatened, however, she choked it back and ran a fingertip over her lashes. Once you're done, he'll let you out...right? Right. He has to. He won't get the gun, otherwise. Right?

She made up her mind not to think about the alternatives rather quickly, and crawled over to the box. The sooner she was done, yes, the sooner she'd be out. Fingers dipped in, and closed around a wire, mocking her motions of far earlier in the evening. It had to be the last cigarette, didn't it? She'd kill for one.

There was an amusing thought. Fix the gun, and hold Shin-Ra headquarters hostage for a smoke. She'd go down in a blaze of glory, alright; fire and blood and Mako glow.

Pull yourself together, Scarlet.

Yes, Scarlet.

* * *

Hours had passed since she'd begun the wearying task, or so she thought - there were no windows in the room, which she was beginning to suspect was on some basement level - and she'd only finished the reconstruction of the outer casing. The delicate connecting of the inner workings was what would take the real effort, and going by how long the shell had taken her...

She was screwed, and not in a fun way.

Her spine crackled audibly as she settled back against the wall and took a breath, eyes closing.

"The least you could do would be to bring me a cup of tea," she muttered to the air. "Preferably spiked with something sharp."

Needles...

Scarlet became acutely aware, suddenly, of the pricklings in her fingertips, and winced. There was little enjoyment in numbness, and less in the commencement of circulation. Her hands flexed once, twice, and fell to her lap, and she sighed.

Don't go to sleep, Scarlet.

I'm not.

With a start, she sat upright, whimpering.

"I can't do this on no sleep," she whispered, reaching for another piece of the multicoloured metal in her lap even as she uttered the plea. "I can't see straight."

How many times had she rewired something in 6 in complete darkness?

How many times had she peeled the plastic coating from a cable in 4, trying to coax a panel back to life before SOLDIER came to investigate the outage?

Do you know what I did to my apartment, Trav?

Not Trav. Kaga. Trav's dead, and you're going to be joining him if you don't hurry up.

Do you know what I did to my apartment, Kaga?

I wouldn't poke around in there without me, if I were you.

* * *

Scarlet dropped the bundle of wires back to her lap and turned aside, bracing the heel of a hand against the floor. The sound of her coughing was sickening, spurring the latest session of dry heaving to be extended even further. She'd long since brought up what she'd eaten the day before; all that was left was the dull ache of muscles protesting their abuse.

Vicious cycle.

Almost done...

No, you're not. Are you?

I...don't know anymore.

Weakly, she pushed herself back to a sitting position. "Trav," she murmured, habitually scrubbing the back of her hand across her mouth, "you are so going to owe me for this."

Bleary eyes narrowed on the mangled strands in her lap, and she took them up once more, the pad of her thumb gently guiding the bare last inch of a thread-like toward the needle-eye hole behind the trigger. Not daring to breathe, she eased it into place, capturing it between flesh and steel as her free hand snatched up the top half of the casing from its place on the floor.

A click; a click so nearly bordering on orgasmic satisfaction that she had to laugh; the sound echoing hollowly off the bare walls of the cramped room. Without hesitation, she placed the point of a nail into the groove of the last screw, and begun to turn the gun beneath her hand.

"Trav..." Again, she giggled, cradling the object to her chest. "I'm done."

That stated, Scarlet slumped forward and succumbed to darkness.

* * *

Hands, in her hair...

"Scarlet. Come on, baby. Wake up."

Scarlet stirred, only to curl more tightly in on herself.

"Scarlet..." She could hear him sigh, though it sounded miles away.

Am I dead yet?

"You're incorrigible," he said, though whether he did so in response to her thoughts, or simply because she was, she couldn't tell.

"Trav..." Yet again, she uttered the muted whisper; then, with a sniff, began the arduous task of getting herself back up. "Kaga?"

"Careful." The man reached over to grasp her shoulder and steady her as she sat up. "You didn't have to kill yourself over it, you know."

"What else was I going to do?" she muttered hoarsely. "You left me in here."

"I was trying to startle you into acting a little more like a Shin-Ra employee, since that's what you seemed to want so badly. As opposed to, oh, say, a spoiled little brat who's had everything handed to her on a plate, even though she more than likely didn't deserve it." His eyes narrowed.

Scarlet swallowed dryly, the analogy not lost on her. Quietly, she nodded, gaze following her hands as they fell to her lap.

"I wasn't intending to leave you," he added softly. "Something fell apart unexpectedly."

"...so you forgot," she murmured, stroking a fingertip lovingly over the barrel of the gun.

"I forgot," he admitted, shrugging. "I really thought you'd have the sense to sleep once you got to that point, though, and give me a chance to sort matters out. I never imagined you'd push yourself for two days straight."

"...two days?" The sapphire eyes blinked, refocusing on the glistening trail left on the gunmetal as her fingers passed over it. "I...think I'm bleeding."

It was Kaga's turn to blink, then, and the man reached for her hand. Without a word, she placed the gun in his palm and returned her own to her lap, cradled one inside the other.

"Scarlet..."

"I left the chip out this time!" she announced abruptly, tearing her gaze away from the crimson fluid trickling from her fingertips. "So...you'll be able to use it now." Her voice cracked, and she looked away, no longer able to meet his eyes with her own.

"Scarlet." He sighed again, tucking the weapon into the inner pocket of his coat.

"Mm?" Distracted by the tiny lacerations covering her hands, she began to smear the excess blood on the wall.

"Nevermind." Shaking his head, he closed the distance between himself and the girl on the floor, and scooped her up. Rather than protest, she simply wilted into his embrace, exhaustion taking hold once more. "No one around here has any sense to begin with, anyway. I don't know why I thought you would. You fit in far too well already."

A faint, pained smile flickered on her lips for an instant. "And you thought you had to nudge me into place."

"I'm going to do more than nudge you," he replied, smirking.

"Oh?" She shifted slightly to look up at him. "What are you going to do...?" And yawned. "...shoot me?"

"Something like that." The smirk deepened, and he leaned down, lips tracing a feathery path from the corner of her own mouth to her ear. "I remember meeting a whore in Sector Four some time back..."

"That's the second-worst pick-up line I've ever heard, Kaga," she said, snorting lightly. It turned into another yawn, and she blinked rapidly, fighting the will of her eyes to close mid-conversation.

"I don't need a pick-up line," he countered smoothly. "I've already picked you up, after all. All I have to do now is take you to bed."