Part Two

His pale eyes open with a sudden blockage of light, seeing a faded figure in front of him. He sat up, disturbed by it, and noticed the blindfolded eyes which stared at him. Looking to the cabinet, his eyes widened as he saw it was torn open like an orange peal but...wood. Jumping up, he walked over to it, flinging it open wide and finding that the rest remained solid, nothing in it to give the slightest knowledge on how she got out. She couldn't possibly that strong as to tear open wood and make it bend like that; not even magic could make it split open so perfectly. He looked back to her, his eyes casting an empty gaze with barely any puzzled features, trying to avoid the fact that he knew nothing of how she had done it. Instead, she luckily did not care, only sitting out on the windowsill and looking at the arena below, the rising sun just being ward off by the lingering darkness before its greatness would overcome, bring in yet another glorious day.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you have escaped?" Sephiroth questioned, putting his hands behind his back and walking over to her.

"Well, you asked me to explain some things and so I stayed. It was just growing really cramped in there so I just stepped out to sit here, if that's alright."

"Just stepped out?! You trashed that cabinet like it was nothing!"

She laughed, looking to him. "Forgive me if I made a mess of your furniture. I didn't think I'd do so much damage."

"Then why are you laughing?" he asked, and she stopped, turning back to the sunrise.

"Ironic I suppose." Surprisingly she stood where she had been sitting, gaining several feet over him and putting a hand on the side wall, gazing over as if to jump or something. "Kind of like this life we lead..."

Sephiroth just stared, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "You make absolutely no sense, do you realize this?"

"Of course!" she smiled, turning and jumping down. "Then again, are you just seeing things through different eyes?"

"What are you talking about?" he said, beginning to get angry. "Now just tell me, what are you doing here?"

"Because you wanted to ask me about things," she answered simply.

"No, what are you doing here?!"

She eyed him with inquire, shrugging. "Because you wanted to ask me about things."

"No..." He put a hand on his head, knowing this was going to take awhile. Feeling the swelling of a headache coming on, he sat down in the chair against the wall, shutting his eyes. "Look, why are you still here?"

"Because you asked me to stay until morning so you could question about my family's whereabouts and why I'm here."

He chuckled. "Asked? More like ordered to me."

"Again, all in your perspective," she sighed, beginning to walk to the door. He stared after her, wondering what she meant by that and also where she was going.

"What are you doing?" he queried, the girl pacing out. Sephiroth stood, walking quickly after her. Getting near, he forcefully grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. Gritting his teeth he spoke, "Don't even turn your back to me, or next time you'll find a knife sliced through it! Now I said, what do you think you're doing?!"

She just gazed, suddenly smiling and tapping him on the nose with one figure. With this it was the last straw to him, wrapping a hand around her neck and pushing her back against the wall, beginning to tighten his grip.

"How dare you insult me in such a way! Maybe you won't find it so funny when your head pops off your shoulders!" he spat.

"But how can I laugh...if I have no head?" she smiled, despite of the increased pressure on her throat.

Narrowing his gaze, he let her drop, the girl falling to her knees and heaving for breath. He just shook his head, not seeing what this girl was getting at. "What are you, some sort of philosophic freak?"

"I suppose you could say that. However, when you have time like I have you really can think of such things."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Hmm? Oh, so now you want to hear more? I don't know, you don't seem the most interested type..."

"Just continue already!" he shouted, the hallway ringing with his voice a moment later.

"Okay..." She began to walk again, Sephiroth coming to her side. Pausing for a few seconds, she looked up at him. "What is your name?"

"Aren't you getting off the subject?" he said.

"I have to call you something now don't I?"

"...Sephiroth..." he answered. "What is yours?"

"Queray. My family just calls me Ray though, so I guess you can call me that."

"Fine. Anyway, continue on with your explanation."

Thinking for a moment, she put her hands in her pockets. "I don't know. What is it you'd like to know?"

"How did you get here?" he asked, knowing that this question would finally get through to her, seeing as how she was listening.

"Let's see...Locked away, starving, trade ship, riot...Oh yeah! First of all, these pirates came along, right? Then, with all they had left, they sold us to some merchants who sold us to some more merchants who finally sold us here. Yeah, that's it."

She said it in almost a happy way, like for some reason he was the only person she had spoken too in a long while. It was strange for someone to have a reaction towards him such as this, but shrugging it off he ignored it. Thinking of what she had said, he finally came up with the question he wanted.

"You keep saying 'us'? What do you mean by 'us'?"

"My family and I. We all came together."

"So where is your family?"

"Places..." she said, knowing what he was getting at. She wasn't exactly going to tell him where her family was just yet, if ever.

With a moment pause, he changed the subject. "You know, you did cause a lot of trouble yesterday. What makes you think you won't get prosecuted for the crimes you did?"
"Because this place revolves around darkness and pain, so what's the difference from a crime or an accident to you? I can just see you could care less about the people here, is that right?"

He laughed. "Very good. You're an observant one."

"So, Sephiroth," she said, thinking as she continued. "How did you end up here? Where did you come from?"

"I thought I was the one asking the questions," he stated, grinning almost.

"Yes, but can I ask-"

"No," he interrupted harshly, "and don't ever mention it again, understand?"

She nodded shortly, seeming to pay no mind to his tone. In a way this made him angry, that she defied him so. Of course, if he was ever going to find the root of the Heartless, he couldn't loose his temper and accidentally kill her.

Deep in his throat, he laughed. Accidentally was just about a foreign word to him, because he never did anything accidentally. All his intentions were what he planned, and all those who came across him were sure of this. Then again, if it ever did come to that, maybe that word would come into his lexicon...For excuse reasons, of course.

As they reached the outer hallways, the girl named Ray suddenly ran to the ledge, staring up at the open roof in the middle. She was just enough to be in the shade, yet still able to witness the gorgeous blue sky above. Sephiroth, of course, was wondering what she was doing, contemplating why she would act so foolish. Stay back, he looked up as well, seeing she was looking at the sky. His face twisted in almost disgust, growing tired already of these stupid sidetracks. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her away, turning her to face him again. With a moment of thought, he continued, still in his harsh tone.

He pointed to her blindfold, narrowing his eyes. "How can you see?"

"Simple!" she said, and yet did not finish. Instead, she turned away, going to the ledge again and tossing her feet over.

"What, what's simple?!"

"See, I don't have too!" she stated, confusing him even more. She only tilted her head, shrugging. "You know, but then again you don't, so...I don't know."

"Gah, stop doing that!"

"Doing what?!" she asked.

He clenched his fists, seeing her jump off and land a story down onto the ground. Gritting his teeth, he didn't know why he was continuing on with this. It didn't seem worth it anymore, not with this aggravation. But in this he realized if he had suffered thus far, he might as well continue on, and followed her off the ledge. The rays of the sun burned at his pale skin; it had been so long since he had stood out in the daylight, he couldn't even recall how long it had been. Seeing her make her way across the walkway and into a shady corner, she suddenly came to her knees, holding her hands up above something. Gazing over her shoulder, he scoffed in disgrace under his breath, seeing it was only a weed. In her eyes in was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, with a flower growing out of a small patch of cracked, dried mud ground and a few pedals of grass growing between. However, it didn't matter what she thought, only that he found it stupid.

And smashed it under his shoe.

Grabbing her arm, he lifted her to her feet, shaking his head. "Such childish behavior from a person your age. You should be abashed for your leading me out here to burn for a weed."

She stared down at it for a moment, her hands beginning to shake in front of her. In that moment, though, her hands suddenly became fists, Ray icily twisting her head to face him. There was a certain anger within her that caught Sephiroth off-guard, like she would not be capable of such a thing. But it happened, and she pulled her arm away, that anger quickly fading back to her normal state.

"Do you have a room I can stay in? Unless you don't have any more inquiries for me."

"No, of course. I'll show you," he said, beginning to walk back and show her to a new room.

That anger that had been her eyes...He had only seen it once. Only once, and if given the chance the person who he had seen it in would have killed him. This girl had it too, but the only difference was she had it just by stepping on a weed-not actually killing someone. If this was so, that meant she could go off any moment, and in it could jeopardize his being. This was the first time he had seen this in a long time...

And he never wanted to see it again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry it took so long to update; school...tests...I really didn't have time, y'know? But at least I got it up! ^__^ okay, well, thanks for reading and please review!