(Author's Note: Well…Rueh's going on vacation so…there is one chapter coming up that she is going to write but she might be gone when I get to it…so if that happens this story will be on hold for awhile or at least until she gets back…just to let you know…enjoy chapter 7!)
Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Rueh belongs to Rueh…Dete and Cassandra are mine though…
Chapter 7
-1 week later-
Cassandra stirred then slowly let her eyes open. Everything was spinning and blurring together. The voice above her was making the pounding in her head worse. The blackness she had been in was better than this. She started to close her eyes again but a soft green light surrounded her. A tingling sensation spread through her but it was comforting. Slowly things stopped spinning and her headache lessened.
"Cassandra?" the voice called softly to her.
"Sephiroth…?" Everything focused and she was able to see his face clearly.
"Hey…are you all right?" he asked putting a hand on the side of her face.
"I think so…where's Rueh and Dete?" she asked suddenly sitting up. That was a bad idea. She fell to the side and he wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling over. She rested her head on his chest.
"Dete's fine. She wasn't caught by Hojo. I found her and called Vincent and Red. We came here, to Nibelheim, next. I left Dete here and went to Midgar with everyone but Tifa to see if you had been taken there. Not finding you we then went to Junon. That's when Dete went missing. We came back here and found her in the basement of the Shinra mansion. That's where you've been the entire time…" he explained.
"What about Rueh? You told me that Dete's fine…so what about her?" Cassandra asked.
"Rueh…well…when we went…Hojo got away…"
"Where is she?"
"…with Hojo…"
"Why? How come if the others were with you…"
"Vincent, Red, and Yuffie were the only ones who went into the mansion with me. The others had had enough and refused to do more searching. Dete took a nasty fall in the mansion…that's how we found her in the basement. She woke up and Rueh started yelling from the other room. Dete got away from me and ran down there. We were almost to the stairs. Red tripped her and she hit her head again. So he was getting her out of the mansion while I got you and Yuffie freed Rueh. Vincent and me were fighting Hojo…Rueh got knocked out. There was a flash of light and Hojo and Rueh were gone," Sephiroth explained hurriedly.
"…none of the others would help you…we're still in Nibelheim?" she asked.
"Yes…what…?"
"Where are they?"
"I'll…umm…call them…" Sephiroth called to the others. After a minute they were all in the room. Dete got up on the bed and sat beside Cassandra.
Cassandra's head was bowed and her hair hid her face from view. Sephiroth could feel her shaking though…'Uh-oh…'
She slowly looked up. "Red, Vincent, Yuffie…it sounds like you did what you could to help…but as for the rest of you…" Sephiroth winced and let go of Cassandra to cover Dete's ears. She gave him a strange look as Cassandra went on yelling.
He shook his head. Cassandra's yelling last for about 3 minutes. When she was done she collapsed back into Sephiroth, who let go of Dete. No one spoke for awhile after that.
When the silence was broken it was by Cloud. "We were just tired of going on a wild goose chase and the idea of Dete going into the mansion didn't sound right so we didn't want to. She knew she wasn't supposed to go in there."
"Don't you even start blaming this on Dete," Cassandra growled. "You should know that Rueh and Dete both do things that they shouldn't, so you shouldn't have been surprised to find out that she knew exactly what to do to get you to come back here. You should have realized that that was where she was…"
"But…" Cloud started.
"…Sephiroth should have listened to her but even if he had…it might have ended like this…BUT Cloud…if you and the others who weren't there had been there it might not have turned out like this!"
"But now you listen," Cloud snapped.
"I'm sorry did you say something? Dete can you tell where Rueh is?" Cassandra completely ignored Cloud.
Dete shook her head. "No…I can't sense her at all…"
"Can we go back to Costa Del Sol? She could be anywhere but I want to get away from him…" Cassandra told Sephiroth quietly.
He nodded and stood up. He helped Cassandra up. "We'll be in Costa Del Sol if you hear or see anything about Rueh," he said and left the room helping Cassandra. Dete followed.
"Oh let them go…they're stubborn," Cloud mumbled to himself.
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His laughter echoed around her. She shook her head trying to clear it. His voice broke through her thoughts.
"Yes Rueh…they left you behind…" he started laughing again.
'That can't be true…but then why can't I sense Dete? Or them…?' everything went black…
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