I 'ave no idea whatso ever how many chapters long this story will be. I'm thinking probably around ten or so. Thanks once again to my reviewers, without whose support I would not be writing this.
If you actually want to see a disclaimer, I suggest brain surgery.
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The halls inside the fortress were full of Unknowns marching in lines, or just standing around, but they had no distinct shapes. Unlike their visits to Traverse in which they took on the shapes of other creatures, here the Unknowns were masses of shifted colors, but wielded weapons exceptionally well, considering the fact that they had no hands.
Long after dark and he was still searching, hopelessly lost in this enormous stone prison. It was a confusing maze of staircases that led to nowhere, doors that only led to other doors; some doors led right out of the side of the building; rooms had no floors, creating a dangerous drop. Whoever designed this place had obviously not liked unwelcome visitors. Or else in-laws.
It was far too dark to see, now. Leon stumbled around, hitting his legs on things and almost falling into a room without a floor. He was getting tired, but he refused to let himself sleep. He at least had to find out if there was anything except for Unknowns living here. He leaned on a tapestry, and the wall swung open: a secret passage.
"That works," he whispered to himself as he pulled the secret door closed. There wasn't any light here, either, but torches located some distance apart provided just barely enough light to see by. The floor was wood and covered all over with a layer of dust.
This was all well and good, but where did this passage lead? Where was the enemy? What was the enemy? More importantly—where was Yuffie? He had no idea. After a while and a handful of turns, he couldn't even remember where he had come from. Damn his sense of direction.
An entire block was missing from the wall in one spot; he looked through it, seeing a room through a shroud. No one appeared to be in it, but if he stayed and someone did get in, would they see him there? Or was this peephole invisible from the other side? He didn't have long to wait—a few seconds after he found the absent block, a door slammed as two guards entered the room.
"Ah, shit, she ain't here, either," a rough voice said. There was a crack that sounded like wood breaking—he must have kicked a chair or a stool.
"Where could she've gone to? She keeps running and we keep havin' to look for her. What I wanna know is how she's s'damn good at hiding," a second one said. "In any case, there's not too many places left where she coulda gotten to in an hour."
"Yea, but we dunno how long she's been gone for. It could be an hour, it could be more. She's stupid enough to try anything to get outta here, too. Leapt right offa the tower and into the back moat to escape. The Mistress found 'er later floating in it. Out cold. Musta run outta air. Stupid thing."
"Smart thing," the second corrected. "How else could she've escaped? Dammit, when we find her, we're tyin' her up with lotsa ropes and in a lot of places. I'm sick to death 'a these wild goose chases."
"Yea, well, let's get outta here 'fore we get in trouble. The sooner we find 'er, the better. C'mon." The door slammed shut again. Leon looked away from the room and leaned against the wall, half-hoping it might have been a door into the room so he could follow the guards—maybe the "she" they were talking about was Yuffie. And she was loose in this gigantic maze of a fortress. Somewhere. There was a chance now that he could find her.
The passage led further into the fortress. He hoped that he could get out and back into the halls to look for Yuffie before the guards found either of them. On he ran, further into the tunnel, not knowing where he was headed—only thinking of Yuffie.
With the silence and grace of a cat, she jumped along the tops of shelves in one room. She stayed as silent as possible, because a fire burned in the rooms' fireplace, and she didn't know if someone lay napping. Her eyes had reached a new low—so sensitive to even the smallest amount of light that they burned when she opened them, so she kept them shut all the time.
The metal pressed to Yuffie's skin was steadily burning, sending crippling pain into her body, but she pressed on. The guards and the Unknowns knew that she was missing; they were searching for her. She could hear a few Unknowns pass outside of the room, marching in a line. They were stupid creatures and didn't think to actually look for their prey. It was the guards that she was worried about. She had pretended to sleep once and overheard a few talking about what they would do to her if the had the chance. She swallowed hard and kept going.
There was a window ahead. She could both smell and feel cool night air coming towards her. It was a little too cool, but she had to get out. She could go back to the moat, swim across, get out. Anything just to get back to Traverse in one piece, and she was falling apart at the seams already.
Come on, just a little further, she urged herself. Keep going. Once you make the halfway mark in the moat, you're home free. She intended to swim the distance—the whole distance. And she knew how she'd do it. If only she could just reach the window and squeeze out…
Her hopes were shattered when the door opened and three guards came in. She froze in her tracks. There was only one source of light in the room—the fire—so maybe they didn't see her. Maybe they would think she wasn't there and leave. Or maybe she could get to the window before they saw her. She crept slowly along the bookshelves, sliding her hands in front of her to feel for the end of a shelf and the wall with the window in it.
"We've looking almost everywhere else, she's gotta be here 'less she's in the moat again."
"Yea, but where's she hiding? There's a million places here that she could fit into." Pause. "Start tearin' stuff up."
There was loud clattering of wood, metals, and books as the guards knocked things over and broke tables and chairs to find her. One began pushing shelves. Her mouth dropped open, and she sped up, going for the window. She was in total alarm when she found the window and it proved to be only a barred half-moon one. Her shelf tilted and on instinct, she let out a small cry, then clamped her hands over her mouth. Too late.
"Hey, there she is! Up there!" One of them shoved the shelf over, but she jumped and landed on the ground. She was a few feet at least from them, she knew, and made a run for the door. Although her eyes were shut, she listened to where her pursuers were and knew where they had gone. She weaved here and there, making herself a difficult target. She had gotten overconfident and run into one. He clamped his arms down around her as another bound her hands.
"Gotcha, you little bitch. Greasy little thing, ain'cha?" She growled and twisted, trying to pull free. The metal disc burned more, this time making her yelp in pain and start to thrash like a wild thing. She bit at them, hissing and spitting like an agitated cat.
The biggest of the three picked her up. "C'mon, let's get 'er back. The Mistress and the Master will be glad to know she din' get out again." This time, they slipped a gag around her mouth so she couldn't bite. Or scream.
No! No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. She began to feel tears falling. I'll never get out. Never see anyone I care about again. Never see Squall again…
At her own thought, she gave a last attempted escape. She rolled, slipping a little in her captors' arms, but he had a firm grip on her. They threw her into a room that she knew well, and tied her to a metal beam. She fought the ties for a long time, until she ran out of energy and fell asleep.
A loud ruckus had gotten Leon's attention. He followed it, after he managed to get out of the passageway. It sounded like a group of people walking and a wild animal having a bad day. Curiosity got the best of him and he went to see what it was, only to lose track of them, but he was in a possible place where Yuffie could have been kept—a prison.
He walked past the rows of cells, hiding in niches and looking into the darkened cells to see where she could have been kept. Unknowns patrolled the halls, but as usual, they were far too stupid to notice him there. It was a good thing, too, because these ones were carrying spears with razored tips.
He reached the end of the cells, and he hadn't found Yuffie. Utterly disdained, he got to his knees on the floor. He felt like crying. But the floor he had knelt on was made of rotting wooden planks, and at his sudden impact to the floor, they gave and sent him falling ten feet to the ground below. Another room.
Leon glanced around. This one was damp and cold; ill kempt. Most definitely not a place where they would keep prisoners that they wanted alive. But something caught his eye: a small shape in the corner of the room—a little bit of white in a pitch-dark room. A small figure, bound, gagged, and tied to a metal beam—Yuffie.
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Appearances are deceiving. You dunno what's gonna happen, do ya? Muahaha! You know the drill people—reviews equal chapters up faster! And today is the last day of school, which means spring break, which means I can be on the computer all fucking day. This story is probably PG-13 mainly from the Authors' Notes. Hehe. Bad VL. I use extraordinarily colorful language. ^.^'
Ellyrianna: All right, here's another chapter—now you get to update!
(Geez, ya learn somefink new about yerself all the time. I thought my hair was straight, but I seem to have attained enormous sausage curls at the end of my ponytail. How'd they get there? Maybe it's the friggen humidity.)