(Author's Note: Hello… here's chapter 7! Not much to say here except to enjoy it!)
Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Rueh belongs to Rueh. Dete and Taven's name and Tronel are mine.
Chapter 7
Missing…
-2 days later-
Aeris walked into the house after closing down her shop for the day. She heard music. She set her basket of flowers and seeds on the table and looked up the stairs where the music was coming from. She sighed and went about fixing dinner. After the food was ready she went up the stairs to get Dete.
The door to her room was half closed and the light was on. Aeris pushed the door all the way open. Dete wasn't there but the music was on and the room was just like she had seen it that morning…well…the window hadn't been open.
She grumbled to herself and went back downstairs and dialed a number on the phone. It was answered on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Where is she?"
"Wha…well hello Aeris. I'm surprised that you'd be calling. Usually it's Dete calling Rueh, not you calling me," Sephiroth said as he sat down in a chair to make himself comfortable.
"I don't care! Where is she?" Aeris snapped.
"Who?"
"Dete!"
"What do you mean? Isn't she there?"
"Gah! You're not helping!"
"Aeris I…" Sephiroth held the phone away from his ear. "Whatever. Hang up on me. See if I care," he said slamming the phone down as well. "RUEH!" he waited but didn't get an answer. He went through the entire building but still didn't find her. He was back by the phone again when he noticed a note written sloppily by someone he probably didn't know:
I've got her in Nibelheim. It'll cost ya to get her back.
He shrugged and shook his head. Rueh could take care of herself if she was in trouble.
****
Aeris looked at the notepad beside the phone and hung up while Sephiroth was in mid-sentence. A note was written there but not in Dete's handwriting. Aeris's hands shook as she read it:
She's in Nibelheim. Come and get her or something might happen.
Within 5 minutes Aeris had her Princess Guard equipped with her best materia and was mounting her chocobo. Her destination was Nibelheim.
****
"Well. We'll know if it worked when they get here," Dete said.
"Yeah. Let's explore this old place shall we?" Rueh asked looking around the room.
"Sure," Dete said with a shrug.
The 2 of them began to explore the room that Taven had led them to but they hadn't seen him since then. Once that was done they left that room and found stairs to the next floor. They went up. They went to the right and down the hall to a room with one bed.
"Hey lookie here," Rueh said walking over to the far wall.
"I don't see anything. It's just a wall," Dete said walking over to her.
"You're not looking close enough. See? There's a switch here…"
"Pull it."
Rueh pulled the switch and a secret door was revealed. An old stair case spiraled downwards into the damp basement.
"Shall we?" Rueh asked.
Dete looked down and swallowed not liking the state of the stairs. "Why not?" She followed Rueh down the stairs. There was only one hall when they reached the bottom.
"Not much here," Rueh said.
"Nothing except that light at the end of the tunnel," Dete said tilting her head to the side a bit. "Where have I heard that before?"
Rueh shrugged. "Beats me. Come on!"
They walked past a side door and entered a room full of…
"Oooooo…this looks like a science lab!" Rueh said looking every direction at once practically.
"It sure does…hey…so this is where you went Taven. What are you doing down here?" Dete asked.
"What?" Taven spun around to face them. "How did you get down here?"
"The stairs," Rueh said.
"Oh…"
"So…what is this place?" Dete asked.
"My lab," he said.
"You're a scientist?" Rueh asked.
"Yes."
"Oh…well we'll just leave you alone so you can work on whatever your experiment is," Dete said backing towards the door.
"All right," he said.
Rueh and Dete walked from the room at a fast pace.
"…he's freaky."
"I'll say," Rueh said with a glance over her shoulder.
"So what are we going to do now?" Dete asked when they reached the foot of the stairs.
Rueh yawned. "Don't know. What about you?"
Dete yawned as well. "Well…a nap sounds pretty good right now."
"Yeah it does. Wonder why though? We haven't done a lot yet," Rueh said.
"That's right…oh well…I think I'll just sit down and take my nap now," Dete said with another yawn and sitting down.
Rueh sat down too. "…sleepy…where's my bed…?"
Within seconds both girls were asleep. Taven walked up to them with a mask over his face to keep the sleeping gas from affecting him. He smirked. 'Soon…'
****
It was completely dark out when Aeris reached Nibelheim. She looked around the quiet town but didn't see any sign of Dete. One house caught her attention. She dismounted and led her chocobo to the front door and knocked.
"Coming!" a voice called. A few seconds later the door opened.
"Hi," Aeris said nervously.
"Aeris! Come in! Hey Tifa! Aeris is here!" Cloud said stepping aside to let her in.
"My chocobo…" she mumbled.
"I'll take care of it," he said and led the chocobo to the shed next to the house.
Tifa came around the corner. "Aeris! How are you?" she said hugging her.
Aeris returned the hug. "I'm fine. I hope this isn't a bad time?"
"Oh no! Not at all! Hungry?" Tifa asked. Aeris nodded.
"This way," Tifa led her to the kitchen. They talked for awhile then Cloud joined them.
"Let's go into the living room and talk," he said. "So what brings you here?"
Aeris took a breath. "There was a note by the phone. Dete was kidnapped."
"What? What did the note say?" Tifa asked.
"It said to come and get her or something might happen," Aeris said.
"To go where and get her?" Cloud asked.
"Nibelheim."
Silence descended upon the room. Cloud sat back and crossed his arms. Tifa looked at him.
"We haven't seen anything that would be suspicious around here lately," she said slowly.
Aeris bowed her head. Cloud looked at her.
"Don't worry Aeris. We can look around town tomorrow. And after leaving you like he did if Sephiroth has anything to do with this…"
Aeris's head snapped up to look at him. "He doesn't because I called him asking him about it before I left," she said.
"What about Rueh?" Tifa asked.
"Her? I have no clue. She lives with him," Aeris said remembering the list of things that Rueh claimed to have not done at the school.
"Well we'll keep an eye out for both of them. We'll start in the morning," Cloud said standing.
"Come on Aeris. I'll get you some blankets and you can sleep in the spare bedroom tonight," Tifa said.
Aeris followed her down the hall. "So where's Tronel?"
"Over at a friends house tonight. Who knows what that boy is doing," Tifa said rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
****
(Author's Note: Now…hehehehehe…anyone know who Taven really is?)
