AN: Bloody and gory scenes ahoy! Not for the weak of stomach ^_~
-x- Chapter 3 -x-
A stream of warm light shone throughout the sleepy town of Kalm, waking up the patrons of the only inn in town. A blonde was laying, asleep, on the couch, curled up in the arms of a larger, coloured man.
"Ooh, look at the two lovers," snickered a very cynical voice from across the room, waking the blonde with a start. Flustered, she threw a pillow at Reno, the contemptuous redhead who had made the prior remark. Her movement awoke Rude, and it was merely a moment before he noticed Elena in his arms.
The commotion had awoken the two younger girls and they were now staring wide-eyed at the couple on the couch. "Elena!" Kiera yelled, shocked.
"We didn't do anything! I woke up like this!" Elena was sounding worried now, her voice was shaking.
Reno raised an eyebrow, "Right." His voice just dripped with sarcasm.
Bayley coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Sorry to interrupt this little lovers' spat here, but shouldn't we get a move on?"
"Yeah." Elena agreed still somewhat shakily and stood up, locking herself in the bathroom to escape from the ridicule of her friends.
The youngest girl laughed out loud at Elena's embarrassment and dangled her feet off the side of the bed. "Where do you suppose we should head to next?"
"Isn't there a chocobo ranch nearby?" Kiera questioned, her head tilted to the side.
The others nodded in agreement, but Reno looked up and spoke before anyone else. "So, tell me again. Why aren't we going back to Midgar?"
"Umm, because something sent a giant, evil water snake thing to kill us!" Kiera retorted, almost laughing at Reno's stupidity.
A scrunch of red eyebrows and a look of disbelief were all that the man could offer, before thinking about a comeback. "Well, what if it was just a terrorist attack on Midgar? Why would someone want to kill us?"
"You tell me," Kiera merely shrugged and glanced out the window. "Umm, what the fuck?" She stood up and walked to the sill.
"Huh?" The other three people in the room crowded around the window along with Kiera and watched as a small dark shadow moved closer and closer to the small town.
Bayley quickly slipped away from the group and knocked on the bathroom door. "Eh, Elena, something's not right. You should pro'lly hurry up and get out here."
"What? Why?" Came the muffled answer from behind the wooden door.
The other girl shifted her weight uneasily and groaned. "We don't know, just get out here."
The door opened quickly and the short blonde stepped out looking confused. "Okay, honestly what is it?" Reno frowned and motioned for her to come to the window. She obliged and peered outside at the moving shadow.
"What the. What is that?"
"That's the problem, we don't know," Kiera replied. "I don't think we want to know either. Let's get out of here."
The youngest girl then realized that both her and the reporter still had on their clothes. "Oh shit, Ki, we gotta change." With that, the two girls quickly grabbed their now-dry clothes, headed to the bathroom and quickly changed into their dresses.
"I think we're going to need to wear something else if we're going to continue on traveling the countryside like this." Kiera frowned. "It's not exactly comfortable to be running around in fancy clothes all day."
"And these shoes suck." Bayley added, smiling.
Rolling his eyes, Reno walked past them, opening the door. "Whatever, let's go."
"Agreed." The two younger girls sang at the same time, smiling.
The group started vacating the room quickly and when Elena approached the innkeeper, she handed him a sack of gil.
"If anyone asks, we weren't here okay?" Her fierce blue eyes pierced the old man's, making him nearly quiver from the intensity.
"Sure marm, mums the word. No one'll hear nuthin' 'bout you youngin's. Jest don't getcha selves inta too much trouble ya hear?" The innkeeper replied, smiling. He quickly inspected the bag of gil and seemed pleased with the amount. "Thank ye kindly miss."
She nodded and walked out the door, quickly followed by the rest of her companions. Stopping, she looked around, wondering which way to go.
"Err, guys? I'm kind of lost." She sighed in defeat, hanging her head.
Kiera laughed and patted her on the back. "Oh man, you're hilarious. It's this way." She started walking northwards, out of town, opposite from the way they arrived.
"You're sure this is the right way?" Elena questioned, somewhat skeptical.
"I'm sure."
"'Kay."
"I'm tired." Bayley muttered quietly. Upon receiving a cold glare from Reno, she closed her mouth and glanced down, kicking a rock.
Before long, they reached the outskirts of town and far off in the distance, they could just make out the small outline of the chocobo ranch.
"Well, it is pretty far away, eh?" Kiera mused, staring out into the endless fields separating Kalm from the ranch.
Elena emitted a small laugh, evidently meaning she agreed. "Then we better get going, it'll be late before we get there unless we start now."
The odd group continued on their journey, stepping out into the boundless Sargazui Fields. The long, green grass reached up and tickled the girls' half bare legs as they trudged through the unkempt grasslands. They had no choice, there wasn't any real paths to follow, so the group made due with what they had, the grass.
"Do you sometimes feel. as if we're being watched?" Bayley asked suddenly, addressing no one in particular. She kept her eyes downcast, almost feeling as if her question was childish, or silly even.
Kiera was the first to answer, "Yeah, sometimes. Why do you ask?"
"Because it feels like someone is following us.watching us," the girl replied, slowly looking behind herself uneasily.
Elena glanced back towards the younger girls. "Well, we did see the big dark shadow before, maybe it's giving you the creeps?" She asked, attempting to be helpful.
"This is true, however, I can actually sense something's presence. really close to us." The young girl sounded frightened, her breath was coming in short gasps and her yellow eyes seemed slightly shinier than before. "I feel powerless and vulnerable. I don't even have a weapon besides my fists, and we all know those are good for nothing." She managed to push out a laugh, however weak.
"Well, you have us!" Reno smirked, pulling out his small handgun. "And of course we have my nice little friend here," he added, patting his nightstick rather affectionately.
Elena smiled, patting the girl on the shoulder. "But of course, nothing will happen. It's probably just your nerves kicking in; I bet that shadow wasn't anything to be afraid of. Just our imaginations, even."
"I hope you're right." Bayley sighed, focusing on a small rock on the ground. "It's just a bit creepy y'know? I mean. I went from being some girl with no home, to meeting Kiera and you, the Turks. Then we get attacked by a giant snake and get chased out of Midgar. Then there's that big shadow nearby. I just don't know what to think anymore."
"Fate." Rude spoke for the first time all day. "It's fate. What else can explain all this insanity?"
Elena shook her head slowly. "I don't know, I just don't know."
"Let's hurry up and get to that ranch, I don't feel like anymore surprises today." Reno muttered. He was in a bad mood again. Why did everything have to happen to him ? Not only was he angry now, he was getting tired and he wanted to go home. Walking around for hours on end was not his cup of tea.
After hours of walking, the sun was blazing and the group was getting hot and cranky. "Maybe we should stop for a bit and have lunch?" Elena suggested; she was sick of everyone complaining.
"You know, your idea might actually work if we had food!" Reno roared angrily, his eyes flaring.
The girl pushed out an embarrassed smile and gave a slight laugh. "Right."
Bayley winced as her stomach growled loudly, "I guess we're all in need of some food. and that grass doesn't look too tasty."
"Stop talking about food, you're making me hungry," Reno snarled, glowering angrily.
Elena shot him a glare, "Well maybe if you all stopped complaining for once!"
"Eh, you guys, chill for a sec. If we keep fighting like this, we aren't going to get anywhere! So let's just find some shade and sit for a bit." Kiera suddenly butted in, she couldn't handle the complaining either, but the arguing was worse.
Grumbling, the two looked away and continued walking, noses up. "There ain't any shade, we're in grasslands, idiot."
Kiera merely rolled her eyes and continued walking without a second thought.
"Can we please just sit down for a little bit? My feet are umm." Bayley glanced down at her dirty, not to mention bloody, feet. She had ditched the shoes long ago, and now the rocks were cutting up her feet.
Sighing, Elena replied, "I agree." Luckily, there was a somewhat clean rock nearby that Elena hastily claimed as her own. It was large enough to accommodate the other two girls, but the men would have to make due with the ground. Little did they know, worrying about where they were to sit was the least of their oncoming troubles.
Bayley sighed happily, hopping onto the rock, eager to rest her aching feet. "Ooh! It's all warm!" She giggled, resting her hand down to steady herself. Suddenly, she cocked her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed, intently listening. "I swear I hear something."
"Some thing ? Thank you deary. I suppose," a smooth and distinctly ladylike voice drawled from seemingly nowhere. "I'm more of a someone, love, remember that."
Shocked and somewhat scared, Bayley tumbled from the rock, looking around herself, eyes darting this way and that.
"Oh, did I scare you, sweety?" The voice drawled again, quieter this time. By now, everyone was either staring at Bayley or looking around themselves for where the voice was coming from.
Quickly, the three Ex-Turks took out their guns, pointing them accusingly in different directions. Kiera swiftly grabbed Bayley and pulled her back to the rock. "We can't do anything, so we have to stay back here and to make sure we're not in the way."
"Looking for something.?" the voice appeared behind them, mocking them. The Turks whipped around, pointing their pistols at the owner of the voice. But what they saw was not at all what they expected.
In front of them was the most gruesome, armoured chocobo they had ever seen. It was covered with metal from the top of its head, across its chest and right down to the metal claws on its own talons. Flanked on either side were two men, both armoured. One carried an oversized glaive, and the other had no weapon besides the large claws on his hands. The sunlight glared off of their black armour, nearly blinding the three in front of them. They were large, larger than an average human, and they seemed beastly, not humanly beastly, but like animals, they stood, fighting back the urges to mutilate their prey.
"Hello, my friends, my dear Turks," the voice sounded from above, and they each looked up and were frightened by what they saw.
A woman stood on the saddle of the war chocobo wearing next to nothing. The bustier and thigh-high boots she wore seemed to be made of the same material as her minion's armour. She had a garter belt, which attached to the top of the sharp-heeled boot. She had a single hand placed on her hip, but it was not a hand shown, it was an excessively large black-clawed glove, similar to the man below her. The claws had to have been at least five inches long and were extremely sharp at the point. Her other hand wore an identical glove and was down by her side.
Bright blue eyes flickered with interest at the three people in front of her and she brought up a claw to flick a white strand of hair out of her tanned face. A strange metal contraption lay on her dark skinned forehead and a piece of dark blue, opaque glass covered her right eye. Grinning to herself, she jumped off the chocobo and did a complete flip. Two giant wings, one midnight black and feathered like a raven's, and one entirely mechanical, sprouting from her back suspended her in air for a moment, before she landed, grinning upwards.
Elena gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth and stepping backwards. "What." she hesitated, "are you?"
"More of a. who if you ask me. And my name is Shikou, I'd advise you to remember it," the woman stated strongly as she stood up, smiling pleasantly.
"Well," Elena paused unsurely, " Shikou , what do you want with us?"
With a laugh, Shikou snatched a long, leather, barbed whip from the saddle of her chocobo and snapped it threateningly, causing the Turks to hop backwards to avoid being hit.
The two men accompanying the strange woman seemed to take the whip crack as a signal, and they came forward, brandishing their weapons.
Trying a shot, Reno aimed at the glaive-bearer's chest, but to no avail, the shot merely bounced off the odd armour. His brow furrowed in confusion, but he hadn't enough time to complete his thinking as the large clawed man leapt at him, knocking the scrawny man to the ground and pinning his shoulders to the ground.
"Get offa me!" Reno growled, snatching at his belt to withdraw his trusty nightstick. When he felt his hand grasp the cool, half rubber handle of his favourite weapon, he gripped and yanked it out of its holster. With a quick finger, he adjusted the power settings and felt the surge of power surge through it. Before his attacker could respond, he stabbed it into an unprotected section of the man's neck.
A scream of agony, and a convulsion of the body, and the man was on the ground, skin charred and smoking. Smiling smugly to himself, Reno stood up and dusted himself off, glancing around to dispose of any other fiends.
Something touched him. Gently. His head whipped around, followed by the rest of his body, nearly as quick. "Wh-" he started to say, but a slender black claw pushed itself against his lips, nearly hard enough to draw blood. His green eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on his nightstick.
"Love, you don't want to be doing that," the silky, sweet voice of Shikou almost calmed the man, if it weren't for the painful scream sounding from behind him. She brought the claw down across his lips, slightly slicing the bottom and a drip of blood oozed out and fell to the ground.
"You. you freakin' whore!" He shouted angrily, backing away from the sultry woman. He brought his nightstick up defensively; his knuckles were white.
Elena stared hard at the grinning man in front of her. She was certainly glad he was wearing a mask; she could smell his intoxicating breath from her place on the ground. She had conceived a large gash on her cheek and it was bleeding freely, but that didn't stop her from fighting, although she was hardly in any position to. The man on top of her held her down with his glaive in one hand and her face in the other. She spat at him and struggled and squirmed, but nothing she did could free her from the lecherous man, who had already managed to rip parts of her dress off.
"Get away from her, you disgusting filth!" Kiera's voice screamed as she leapt off the top of the rock. She hit the man and sent him sprawling onto the grass; his glaive fell uselessly to the side, off the young woman. "That's what you get for messing with my friends!" She sounded victorious, but she was not expecting for when he recovered quickly and tackled her down.
Unfortunately for the women, Rude was having troubles of his own. The man that Reno had shocked had recuperated quicker than was expected and had attacked the closest being, the young girl hidden behind the rock alone. Upon hearing her meek cry for help, Rude had quickly come to her rescue, beating him off of her with his bare fists.
Bayley had half stumbled, half crawled away from Rude and her attacker, unknowingly bumping into Kiera's leg and finding the forgotten glaive on the ground. A quick glance down from Kiera to acknowledge her existence, and the young girl found herself with the glaive in her hand, standing up fairly cockily.
"This isn't the place for someone your age!" Kiera hissed, attempting to protect her young friend, but her warnings had no affect on the steadfast girl. She glared grimly, taking off, back towards Rude.
Rude heard the girl's footsteps and turned his head to look, but upon losing concentration on his enemy, he felt a blow to his head, the black claw had left bloody marks trailing across his face. He fell.
"What. Do. You. WANT!?" Bayley screamed, swinging the glaive gracefully in a large arc. The blade glanced off of the armour, but cut upwards, slicing into the same unprotected area that was already once scalded. The body went limp, without so much as a sound and crumpled to the ground, half on Rude's leg. She frowned and tried to pull the blade out, shaking it and pulling it. But, she realized that she had just killed someone. Even if it was in self-defense, she had killed someone! She gasped and fell backwards, landing on her bottom, hands covering her mouth. At this time, Rude managed to push the dead body off of himself and look at the horrified girl.
"Thanks." He muttered a quiet apology before walking swiftly towards the girls, who were still struggling against the one, now weaponless, fiend.
Issuing a grunt of exasperation, Reno fought back diligently, parrying his enemy's blows of her whip with his slightly battered nightstick. Once, his concentration had slipped and he was stung by the poisonous barb at the tip of the whip, but he didn't think much of it and continued fighting, harder than ever.
Why don't people come help me? Reno muttered silently, cursing his luck but continuing to stoically hold back the seductive woman. So far, she had not scored one blow on him, but likewise, he was just as unsuccessful.
"You're not too bad, love, what's your name?" Shikou placed a hand on her hip and dropped the other to her side, still clutching the whip. She smiled ever so sweetly, but the two wings spread out behind her, and the dangerous looking whip in her clawed hand made her look none too innocent.
He stood cockily, smiling with that little egotistical smile of his. "I'm sure you'd like to know too, wouldn't you?" He emitted a small laugh, but was totally unprepared for when she snapped her whip at his nightstick. The tip wrapped around quickly and with one light tug, the weapon flew out of his hands and onto the ground in front of Shikou. "Aw that wasn't fair." He frowned, eyebrows tensed.
"Of course not," the snappy reply made his defeat that much more unbearable. He glared, rolling up his sleeves, ready to fight unarmed.
"RENO, WATCH OUT!" a young girl's voice screamed and the whir of a sharp blade sliced through the air towards the scantily clad adversary. Ducking at the last moment, the top of a wooden shaft grazed Reno's head, but he hit the ground unscathed. Unfortunately for Shikou, the attack was unexpected and the glaive's blade sliced through her cheek, across to the other side, shattering the bottom of her eyepiece. Blood spattering everywhere, she screamed and shook a glove off of her hand, bringing it up to her bleeding face.
Bayley stumbled backwards, ripping the blade out of the woman's face, and the force and weight of it brought her to the ground again. Astonished, Reno glanced at her, open eyed, gaping mouthed.
"You. you!" Shikou spat, her voice high-pitched and shrill. She pointed a long, clawed finger at the young girl menacingly. "You will pay for that." Her voice contorted from the sultry, sexy one that of a few moments ago to a piercing whiny scream, to a hate-filled, low snarl.
Getting over her surprise at herself, Bayley smiled sweetly and winked. This only enraged her more, and to add to her anger, the eyepiece started sparking dangerously. Her skin was starting to look pale, from lack of blood, Bayley assumed.
"Ah. I, if I weren't in such a good mood, I'd have finished you off! But for now, you can live. Until we meet again.loves," she smiled at Reno, but shot Bayley an unforgiving glare, that bore straight into her deep, brown eyes.
Upon finding both her minions dead, or close to it, in the former glaive- bearer's case, she fled, leaping gracefully onto her chocobo's back. The bird took off towards the mountains, and in a split-second, they had disappeared.
Bayley stood up shakily and offered Reno her hand. He grabbed it and stood up with her help. He walked to where the woman had stood and snatched up his still on, buzzing nightstick. He flicked off the switch and holstered it before walking silently towards where the women and Rude were, by the rock. Bayley staggered after him, head hanging and dragging her murderous weapon behind her. When she arrived in front of the group she collapsed, dropping the glaive beside her.
Rushing to her side, Kiera dropped to her knees and grinned happily. "Wow, you did it!" She put her arms gently around the girl in a quick embrace. After that, she sat back, beside her and sighed. "I think we really deserve a break now."
"Thanks." Rude muttered to Bayley, ruffling her hair gently before standing up. He was looking off in the distance, and he could see the rough outline of the chocobo ranch.
Following his gaze, Elena understood what he wanted and she nodded. "We're almost there, I suppose we could make it by nightfall if we tried." She mustered a smile, knowing that even the short distance they would have to cover would be painful for them all. They had each suffered some form of wound, except perhaps Bayley or Reno; they had only received a few minor bumps and bruises.
Bayley rolled onto her back, eyes closed and hands still shaking a bit. Upon finding herself ready to move on, she hopped up and grabbed the glaive. "I'm taking this with me, I don't want to have to sit around and wait to be rescued again, if we get caught off guard by something."
Everyone nodded in respect of her decision besides Kiera. "What about me? I need to be able to fight too!"
"She dropped her glove back there," Reno shrugged, looking over to where he fought the pseudo-dominatrix. "It looks pretty sharp."
Grinning, the girl ran over to the crumpled black heap and lifted the mechanical claws. She slipped her hand inside and held it up in front of her. "I like it!" She squealed, smiling happily. Hastily, she made her way back over, the heavy glove weighed down her right arm; it swung lazily along with her gait.
"Careful with those, they're sharp," Elena reprimanded sharply, watching the girl prance back to them.
"Well, now it's all okay! Both me and Bayley can fight if we need to, so let's go!" With an enormous grin plastered on her face, she set off towards the Ranch, humming softly to herself.
Finding the glaive to heavy to carry, Bayley merely dragged it along behind her as she walked after Kiera, leaving a deep wound in the soil. Elena quickly joined her, walking with a slight limp, followed by the two men. Reno was grumbling about something as always and Rude just listened, always listened.
After nearly two hours of weary traveling, whining, complaining and all around fighting, the group managed to reach the beaten path leading inside the ranch. It had changed since the last time she was here, Elena noted, but she wasn't sure exactly how.
"HIIII!!!! I'm MAGGIE!!!" A scruffy looking girl with short brown hair bounded up to the group. They exchanged nervous glances, and she continued, "omygod did you want a chocobo!?! Gerty here, she wants someone to ride her! She does, I swear, she told me this morning that she was getting like. restless."
Bayley took a small step backwards, slightly frightened of the disheveled girl standing in front of her. The girl was wearing what appeared to be overalls, but no one could be too sure. She was covered head to bare toe in some strange unknown substance and she had a large, slightly insane smile on her face.
"Umm, where is Choco Bill?" Elena questioned unsurely, shifting her weight uncomfortably.
The little girl smirked evilly and started laughing. "Oh! Haha! HIM! I haxxored his ass!"
"Pwned." Reno muttered, staring at the dirty girl. ((Me: =^__^=))
Elena did a double take and looked at Reno, wide eyed. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't ask," Rude cautioned, his arms crossed.
"Omygod, so stop talking about this now k? Rent a chocobo!! RENT GERTY!" Maggie suddenly screamed. "Oh, and you can call me Rel if you want."
The chocobo in question glanced over at the group of people before wincing and walking over to its companions. "I wonder if she'll ever stop calling me Gerty and trying to get me to be rented," 'Gerty' sighed, lowering her head to grab a Pahsana green.
The other chocobos surrounding her laughed when one spoke up. "You know, Kirri, you ought to just bite her, that's what the last 'Gerty' did." With the mention of the last 'Gerty,' they all turned their heads towards the corner where the barn met the fence. There, a sickly, pale chocobo lay; feathers had fallen off in large patches and the feeble chocobo looked next to death. None of the others ever found out what had happened to the original 'Gerty' and none of them really wanted to know.
"I don't want to turn out like he did," Kirri stated, turning away from the near dead chocobo. "Oh shit, here they come. I guess Rel convinced them to rent me," she sighed. "Hope I see you guys again."
The rest of the oversized birds warbled their goodbyes and 'good luck's while Kirri, or rather Gerty, strode away from the people, towards the fence. She really didn't feel like getting forced into anything right then.
"GERTY COME HERE NOW K???" Maggie screamed, waving her arms around. "Omygod, she doesn't like to listen to me y'know. Jeez. GERTY COME HERE!!"
"Holy crap, man, can you stop screaming?" Reno growled, readying his fists to hit her.
The chocobo in the distance sighed and realized that no matter what she did, Maggie was going to continue screaming and yelling at her. Although the other birds were getting a laugh out of it, it wasn't a nice feeling having this psycho girl threatening you.
"C'mere Gerty!! LET THESE NICE PEOPLE RIDE YOU OKAY BE NICE NOW." Maggie screamed, running towards the large bird, her bare feet squelching in the mud. Suddenly, the girl tripped, falling face first and spraying 'Gerty' with wet mud. "OOPS. I fell." She blinked and stood up easily, attempting to dust herself off, but to no avail. "Sorry Gerty!" She leapt onto the frightened chocobo full force, clinging with both hands and legs.
Elena looked at insane child and wondered if she should try and stop her, but decided that it would be best to leave her alone. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of tired. Plus we still have to figure out where we're going from here."
"Why don't we just go to Junon? It's not that far, and of course Reeve's got his guys everywhere there." Reno suggested, shrugging. In the background, Maggie was still struggling with the frightened chocobo, clinging on as hard as she could. Her screams, mangled with the chocobo's cries for help weren't a very pleasant sound.
"Sounds good," Kiera shrugged, glancing uneasily at the insane girl. "But, guys, I really think we should stop her, and anyways, it's like. late, shouldn't we stop for tonight?"
"I agree!" Bayley grinned, for the first time since before the fight, happy to be able to rest her aching body.
"Fine," Reno muttered, rolling his eyes. Shiva, this place is a piece of shit, I hope it ain't nearly as bad inside.He muttered silently.
Elena glanced at the young girl again and called out her name, when she didn't reply, she shouted it again louder, frowning. Maggie instantly dropped her hold of the chocobo and skipped merrily back towards Elena, waving her arms around.
"Whatcha want perty lady?" She asked, looking innocently upwards at Elena, hands behind her back.
"Well, we were wondering if we could have a place to stay tonight, as it's starting to get late." Elena explained uneasily.
The girl's face lit up, "you mean, you guys wanna stay the night? Aw yeah! Sleepover, sleepover!" She started to dance around, singing about having a big sleepover party when Elena grabbed hold of her shoulders and halted her. She emitted a giggle, "So you wanna come inside then huh?"
"Yeah." Came the curt reply.
"Okey dokey!" Maggie turned around and started walking importantly towards the small house located beside the barn. She stopped and looked back. "Come on guys!"
The group again exchanged glances, but followed her, preparing themselves for the horror that would be the residence of this insane child. Elena arrived at the door first, which Maggie was holding open for her and ushering her in.
Clothes, newspapers and toys were strewn carelessly everywhere. On the floor, on the bed, on the shelves and even on the ceiling. One could not step anywhere without stepping on something other than the carpet. It was hard to tell if there even was carpet.
"There's only two beds in here! So you guys'll havta share!" Maggie grinned, jumping onto her own bed. "Who wants to sleep with me!?"
Elena laughed uncomfortably and ran to the other bed. "I'll uh, I'll have this bed! Hey Kiera, Bayley? Wanna share a bed with me?" She looked at them, persuading them silently to hurry. They complied and sat beside her on the bed, laughing quietly at Reno and Rude.
"No way, man, I am not sharing a bed with. that," he scoffed, hands on his hips. "This place is gross, I'm going to the stables, I hope it smells better out there." He snapped, storming out of the dirty house.
"Well, that leaves you Rude. what are you gonna do?" Elena asked, concerned.
"." he replied, glancing around. "I'll stay up, on watch."
Elena sighed, "okay, your choice."
"Shouldn't we shower or some-" Bayley started to suggest; she was feeling rather dirty from the traveling and especially the fight.
"-Shower? What's that? I don't think I have one!" Maggie started laughing so hard that tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "It's great to be dirty!"
Elena twitched ever so slightly and sighed again. "Do you have anything we can wear? Our clothes are kind of. torn and dirty."
"Wear whatever ya want!" Maggie squealed, tossing off her dirty clothes. She sat on her bed in her skivvies and searched the floor with her eyes for suitable pajamas.
".Put your boobs away wouldja?" Kiera frowned, quickly turning her gaze down to the floor, also searching for something to wear.
The girl giggled, "isn't my bra cute!?" Her remark received no comments, but many odd, disgruntled looks.
Quickly, Bayley hopped down and snatched a pair of surprisingly clean, navy blue sweatpants and a hot pink tank top from the mess. She hopped into the bathroom and changed hastily, thankful to be free from her wet, dirty, not to mention torn dress. When she came back out, she saw that both Kiera and Elena had already changed; the former was wearing her tube top still, but had put on a pair of baggy, grey shorts. The latter had found a nice, black, baggy sweatshirt and a pair of pink pajama bottoms.
She collapsed on the bed, beside Kiera and almost instantly fell asleep. Kiera and Elena stayed up for some time, quietly discussing things such as the remaining Turks, Maggie and going to Junon.
The hay was not comfortable, like the beds, for poor Reno. His rash choice had come with a consequence; it was cold and itchy and he wasn't about to go cuddle up to some dumb bird. He sighed and looked around blindly in the dark for something, a blanket maybe, to keep him warm. That was when the sounds started. At first they were small and unnoticed, but a strange, unidentifiable sound kept nagging at him. Suddenly, the stifled cry of a chocobo rang out, but was silenced almost instantly. His curiosity piqued his interest and he withdrew his nightstick stealthily.
He stood up and crept out to the enclosed pasture. Immediately, the movement-sensitive light flickered on and he saw the horribly mutilated body of the former 'Gerty.' Her body was swimming in a pool of blood, however her head was placed on a stake, beside the body, beak open, tongue out. Feathers were strewn about the corpse as if a ceremony of some sort had passed. There were many scratches surrounding the bird's body and its right wing was bent horribly out of place, showing evidence of a struggle, and apparently, the attacker had won.
The other chocobos were horrified and in shock, standing at the far edge of the pasture in silence, staring wide-eyed at the sight in front of them. Even the sickly, old 'former Gerty' had made his way to join the others.
"Oh shit."
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Fin! I hope you guys like this chapter ;D I certainly do. R&R please? ^_^
-x- Chapter 3 -x-
A stream of warm light shone throughout the sleepy town of Kalm, waking up the patrons of the only inn in town. A blonde was laying, asleep, on the couch, curled up in the arms of a larger, coloured man.
"Ooh, look at the two lovers," snickered a very cynical voice from across the room, waking the blonde with a start. Flustered, she threw a pillow at Reno, the contemptuous redhead who had made the prior remark. Her movement awoke Rude, and it was merely a moment before he noticed Elena in his arms.
The commotion had awoken the two younger girls and they were now staring wide-eyed at the couple on the couch. "Elena!" Kiera yelled, shocked.
"We didn't do anything! I woke up like this!" Elena was sounding worried now, her voice was shaking.
Reno raised an eyebrow, "Right." His voice just dripped with sarcasm.
Bayley coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Sorry to interrupt this little lovers' spat here, but shouldn't we get a move on?"
"Yeah." Elena agreed still somewhat shakily and stood up, locking herself in the bathroom to escape from the ridicule of her friends.
The youngest girl laughed out loud at Elena's embarrassment and dangled her feet off the side of the bed. "Where do you suppose we should head to next?"
"Isn't there a chocobo ranch nearby?" Kiera questioned, her head tilted to the side.
The others nodded in agreement, but Reno looked up and spoke before anyone else. "So, tell me again. Why aren't we going back to Midgar?"
"Umm, because something sent a giant, evil water snake thing to kill us!" Kiera retorted, almost laughing at Reno's stupidity.
A scrunch of red eyebrows and a look of disbelief were all that the man could offer, before thinking about a comeback. "Well, what if it was just a terrorist attack on Midgar? Why would someone want to kill us?"
"You tell me," Kiera merely shrugged and glanced out the window. "Umm, what the fuck?" She stood up and walked to the sill.
"Huh?" The other three people in the room crowded around the window along with Kiera and watched as a small dark shadow moved closer and closer to the small town.
Bayley quickly slipped away from the group and knocked on the bathroom door. "Eh, Elena, something's not right. You should pro'lly hurry up and get out here."
"What? Why?" Came the muffled answer from behind the wooden door.
The other girl shifted her weight uneasily and groaned. "We don't know, just get out here."
The door opened quickly and the short blonde stepped out looking confused. "Okay, honestly what is it?" Reno frowned and motioned for her to come to the window. She obliged and peered outside at the moving shadow.
"What the. What is that?"
"That's the problem, we don't know," Kiera replied. "I don't think we want to know either. Let's get out of here."
The youngest girl then realized that both her and the reporter still had on their clothes. "Oh shit, Ki, we gotta change." With that, the two girls quickly grabbed their now-dry clothes, headed to the bathroom and quickly changed into their dresses.
"I think we're going to need to wear something else if we're going to continue on traveling the countryside like this." Kiera frowned. "It's not exactly comfortable to be running around in fancy clothes all day."
"And these shoes suck." Bayley added, smiling.
Rolling his eyes, Reno walked past them, opening the door. "Whatever, let's go."
"Agreed." The two younger girls sang at the same time, smiling.
The group started vacating the room quickly and when Elena approached the innkeeper, she handed him a sack of gil.
"If anyone asks, we weren't here okay?" Her fierce blue eyes pierced the old man's, making him nearly quiver from the intensity.
"Sure marm, mums the word. No one'll hear nuthin' 'bout you youngin's. Jest don't getcha selves inta too much trouble ya hear?" The innkeeper replied, smiling. He quickly inspected the bag of gil and seemed pleased with the amount. "Thank ye kindly miss."
She nodded and walked out the door, quickly followed by the rest of her companions. Stopping, she looked around, wondering which way to go.
"Err, guys? I'm kind of lost." She sighed in defeat, hanging her head.
Kiera laughed and patted her on the back. "Oh man, you're hilarious. It's this way." She started walking northwards, out of town, opposite from the way they arrived.
"You're sure this is the right way?" Elena questioned, somewhat skeptical.
"I'm sure."
"'Kay."
"I'm tired." Bayley muttered quietly. Upon receiving a cold glare from Reno, she closed her mouth and glanced down, kicking a rock.
Before long, they reached the outskirts of town and far off in the distance, they could just make out the small outline of the chocobo ranch.
"Well, it is pretty far away, eh?" Kiera mused, staring out into the endless fields separating Kalm from the ranch.
Elena emitted a small laugh, evidently meaning she agreed. "Then we better get going, it'll be late before we get there unless we start now."
The odd group continued on their journey, stepping out into the boundless Sargazui Fields. The long, green grass reached up and tickled the girls' half bare legs as they trudged through the unkempt grasslands. They had no choice, there wasn't any real paths to follow, so the group made due with what they had, the grass.
"Do you sometimes feel. as if we're being watched?" Bayley asked suddenly, addressing no one in particular. She kept her eyes downcast, almost feeling as if her question was childish, or silly even.
Kiera was the first to answer, "Yeah, sometimes. Why do you ask?"
"Because it feels like someone is following us.watching us," the girl replied, slowly looking behind herself uneasily.
Elena glanced back towards the younger girls. "Well, we did see the big dark shadow before, maybe it's giving you the creeps?" She asked, attempting to be helpful.
"This is true, however, I can actually sense something's presence. really close to us." The young girl sounded frightened, her breath was coming in short gasps and her yellow eyes seemed slightly shinier than before. "I feel powerless and vulnerable. I don't even have a weapon besides my fists, and we all know those are good for nothing." She managed to push out a laugh, however weak.
"Well, you have us!" Reno smirked, pulling out his small handgun. "And of course we have my nice little friend here," he added, patting his nightstick rather affectionately.
Elena smiled, patting the girl on the shoulder. "But of course, nothing will happen. It's probably just your nerves kicking in; I bet that shadow wasn't anything to be afraid of. Just our imaginations, even."
"I hope you're right." Bayley sighed, focusing on a small rock on the ground. "It's just a bit creepy y'know? I mean. I went from being some girl with no home, to meeting Kiera and you, the Turks. Then we get attacked by a giant snake and get chased out of Midgar. Then there's that big shadow nearby. I just don't know what to think anymore."
"Fate." Rude spoke for the first time all day. "It's fate. What else can explain all this insanity?"
Elena shook her head slowly. "I don't know, I just don't know."
"Let's hurry up and get to that ranch, I don't feel like anymore surprises today." Reno muttered. He was in a bad mood again. Why did everything have to happen to him ? Not only was he angry now, he was getting tired and he wanted to go home. Walking around for hours on end was not his cup of tea.
After hours of walking, the sun was blazing and the group was getting hot and cranky. "Maybe we should stop for a bit and have lunch?" Elena suggested; she was sick of everyone complaining.
"You know, your idea might actually work if we had food!" Reno roared angrily, his eyes flaring.
The girl pushed out an embarrassed smile and gave a slight laugh. "Right."
Bayley winced as her stomach growled loudly, "I guess we're all in need of some food. and that grass doesn't look too tasty."
"Stop talking about food, you're making me hungry," Reno snarled, glowering angrily.
Elena shot him a glare, "Well maybe if you all stopped complaining for once!"
"Eh, you guys, chill for a sec. If we keep fighting like this, we aren't going to get anywhere! So let's just find some shade and sit for a bit." Kiera suddenly butted in, she couldn't handle the complaining either, but the arguing was worse.
Grumbling, the two looked away and continued walking, noses up. "There ain't any shade, we're in grasslands, idiot."
Kiera merely rolled her eyes and continued walking without a second thought.
"Can we please just sit down for a little bit? My feet are umm." Bayley glanced down at her dirty, not to mention bloody, feet. She had ditched the shoes long ago, and now the rocks were cutting up her feet.
Sighing, Elena replied, "I agree." Luckily, there was a somewhat clean rock nearby that Elena hastily claimed as her own. It was large enough to accommodate the other two girls, but the men would have to make due with the ground. Little did they know, worrying about where they were to sit was the least of their oncoming troubles.
Bayley sighed happily, hopping onto the rock, eager to rest her aching feet. "Ooh! It's all warm!" She giggled, resting her hand down to steady herself. Suddenly, she cocked her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed, intently listening. "I swear I hear something."
"Some thing ? Thank you deary. I suppose," a smooth and distinctly ladylike voice drawled from seemingly nowhere. "I'm more of a someone, love, remember that."
Shocked and somewhat scared, Bayley tumbled from the rock, looking around herself, eyes darting this way and that.
"Oh, did I scare you, sweety?" The voice drawled again, quieter this time. By now, everyone was either staring at Bayley or looking around themselves for where the voice was coming from.
Quickly, the three Ex-Turks took out their guns, pointing them accusingly in different directions. Kiera swiftly grabbed Bayley and pulled her back to the rock. "We can't do anything, so we have to stay back here and to make sure we're not in the way."
"Looking for something.?" the voice appeared behind them, mocking them. The Turks whipped around, pointing their pistols at the owner of the voice. But what they saw was not at all what they expected.
In front of them was the most gruesome, armoured chocobo they had ever seen. It was covered with metal from the top of its head, across its chest and right down to the metal claws on its own talons. Flanked on either side were two men, both armoured. One carried an oversized glaive, and the other had no weapon besides the large claws on his hands. The sunlight glared off of their black armour, nearly blinding the three in front of them. They were large, larger than an average human, and they seemed beastly, not humanly beastly, but like animals, they stood, fighting back the urges to mutilate their prey.
"Hello, my friends, my dear Turks," the voice sounded from above, and they each looked up and were frightened by what they saw.
A woman stood on the saddle of the war chocobo wearing next to nothing. The bustier and thigh-high boots she wore seemed to be made of the same material as her minion's armour. She had a garter belt, which attached to the top of the sharp-heeled boot. She had a single hand placed on her hip, but it was not a hand shown, it was an excessively large black-clawed glove, similar to the man below her. The claws had to have been at least five inches long and were extremely sharp at the point. Her other hand wore an identical glove and was down by her side.
Bright blue eyes flickered with interest at the three people in front of her and she brought up a claw to flick a white strand of hair out of her tanned face. A strange metal contraption lay on her dark skinned forehead and a piece of dark blue, opaque glass covered her right eye. Grinning to herself, she jumped off the chocobo and did a complete flip. Two giant wings, one midnight black and feathered like a raven's, and one entirely mechanical, sprouting from her back suspended her in air for a moment, before she landed, grinning upwards.
Elena gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth and stepping backwards. "What." she hesitated, "are you?"
"More of a. who if you ask me. And my name is Shikou, I'd advise you to remember it," the woman stated strongly as she stood up, smiling pleasantly.
"Well," Elena paused unsurely, " Shikou , what do you want with us?"
With a laugh, Shikou snatched a long, leather, barbed whip from the saddle of her chocobo and snapped it threateningly, causing the Turks to hop backwards to avoid being hit.
The two men accompanying the strange woman seemed to take the whip crack as a signal, and they came forward, brandishing their weapons.
Trying a shot, Reno aimed at the glaive-bearer's chest, but to no avail, the shot merely bounced off the odd armour. His brow furrowed in confusion, but he hadn't enough time to complete his thinking as the large clawed man leapt at him, knocking the scrawny man to the ground and pinning his shoulders to the ground.
"Get offa me!" Reno growled, snatching at his belt to withdraw his trusty nightstick. When he felt his hand grasp the cool, half rubber handle of his favourite weapon, he gripped and yanked it out of its holster. With a quick finger, he adjusted the power settings and felt the surge of power surge through it. Before his attacker could respond, he stabbed it into an unprotected section of the man's neck.
A scream of agony, and a convulsion of the body, and the man was on the ground, skin charred and smoking. Smiling smugly to himself, Reno stood up and dusted himself off, glancing around to dispose of any other fiends.
Something touched him. Gently. His head whipped around, followed by the rest of his body, nearly as quick. "Wh-" he started to say, but a slender black claw pushed itself against his lips, nearly hard enough to draw blood. His green eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on his nightstick.
"Love, you don't want to be doing that," the silky, sweet voice of Shikou almost calmed the man, if it weren't for the painful scream sounding from behind him. She brought the claw down across his lips, slightly slicing the bottom and a drip of blood oozed out and fell to the ground.
"You. you freakin' whore!" He shouted angrily, backing away from the sultry woman. He brought his nightstick up defensively; his knuckles were white.
Elena stared hard at the grinning man in front of her. She was certainly glad he was wearing a mask; she could smell his intoxicating breath from her place on the ground. She had conceived a large gash on her cheek and it was bleeding freely, but that didn't stop her from fighting, although she was hardly in any position to. The man on top of her held her down with his glaive in one hand and her face in the other. She spat at him and struggled and squirmed, but nothing she did could free her from the lecherous man, who had already managed to rip parts of her dress off.
"Get away from her, you disgusting filth!" Kiera's voice screamed as she leapt off the top of the rock. She hit the man and sent him sprawling onto the grass; his glaive fell uselessly to the side, off the young woman. "That's what you get for messing with my friends!" She sounded victorious, but she was not expecting for when he recovered quickly and tackled her down.
Unfortunately for the women, Rude was having troubles of his own. The man that Reno had shocked had recuperated quicker than was expected and had attacked the closest being, the young girl hidden behind the rock alone. Upon hearing her meek cry for help, Rude had quickly come to her rescue, beating him off of her with his bare fists.
Bayley had half stumbled, half crawled away from Rude and her attacker, unknowingly bumping into Kiera's leg and finding the forgotten glaive on the ground. A quick glance down from Kiera to acknowledge her existence, and the young girl found herself with the glaive in her hand, standing up fairly cockily.
"This isn't the place for someone your age!" Kiera hissed, attempting to protect her young friend, but her warnings had no affect on the steadfast girl. She glared grimly, taking off, back towards Rude.
Rude heard the girl's footsteps and turned his head to look, but upon losing concentration on his enemy, he felt a blow to his head, the black claw had left bloody marks trailing across his face. He fell.
"What. Do. You. WANT!?" Bayley screamed, swinging the glaive gracefully in a large arc. The blade glanced off of the armour, but cut upwards, slicing into the same unprotected area that was already once scalded. The body went limp, without so much as a sound and crumpled to the ground, half on Rude's leg. She frowned and tried to pull the blade out, shaking it and pulling it. But, she realized that she had just killed someone. Even if it was in self-defense, she had killed someone! She gasped and fell backwards, landing on her bottom, hands covering her mouth. At this time, Rude managed to push the dead body off of himself and look at the horrified girl.
"Thanks." He muttered a quiet apology before walking swiftly towards the girls, who were still struggling against the one, now weaponless, fiend.
Issuing a grunt of exasperation, Reno fought back diligently, parrying his enemy's blows of her whip with his slightly battered nightstick. Once, his concentration had slipped and he was stung by the poisonous barb at the tip of the whip, but he didn't think much of it and continued fighting, harder than ever.
Why don't people come help me? Reno muttered silently, cursing his luck but continuing to stoically hold back the seductive woman. So far, she had not scored one blow on him, but likewise, he was just as unsuccessful.
"You're not too bad, love, what's your name?" Shikou placed a hand on her hip and dropped the other to her side, still clutching the whip. She smiled ever so sweetly, but the two wings spread out behind her, and the dangerous looking whip in her clawed hand made her look none too innocent.
He stood cockily, smiling with that little egotistical smile of his. "I'm sure you'd like to know too, wouldn't you?" He emitted a small laugh, but was totally unprepared for when she snapped her whip at his nightstick. The tip wrapped around quickly and with one light tug, the weapon flew out of his hands and onto the ground in front of Shikou. "Aw that wasn't fair." He frowned, eyebrows tensed.
"Of course not," the snappy reply made his defeat that much more unbearable. He glared, rolling up his sleeves, ready to fight unarmed.
"RENO, WATCH OUT!" a young girl's voice screamed and the whir of a sharp blade sliced through the air towards the scantily clad adversary. Ducking at the last moment, the top of a wooden shaft grazed Reno's head, but he hit the ground unscathed. Unfortunately for Shikou, the attack was unexpected and the glaive's blade sliced through her cheek, across to the other side, shattering the bottom of her eyepiece. Blood spattering everywhere, she screamed and shook a glove off of her hand, bringing it up to her bleeding face.
Bayley stumbled backwards, ripping the blade out of the woman's face, and the force and weight of it brought her to the ground again. Astonished, Reno glanced at her, open eyed, gaping mouthed.
"You. you!" Shikou spat, her voice high-pitched and shrill. She pointed a long, clawed finger at the young girl menacingly. "You will pay for that." Her voice contorted from the sultry, sexy one that of a few moments ago to a piercing whiny scream, to a hate-filled, low snarl.
Getting over her surprise at herself, Bayley smiled sweetly and winked. This only enraged her more, and to add to her anger, the eyepiece started sparking dangerously. Her skin was starting to look pale, from lack of blood, Bayley assumed.
"Ah. I, if I weren't in such a good mood, I'd have finished you off! But for now, you can live. Until we meet again.loves," she smiled at Reno, but shot Bayley an unforgiving glare, that bore straight into her deep, brown eyes.
Upon finding both her minions dead, or close to it, in the former glaive- bearer's case, she fled, leaping gracefully onto her chocobo's back. The bird took off towards the mountains, and in a split-second, they had disappeared.
Bayley stood up shakily and offered Reno her hand. He grabbed it and stood up with her help. He walked to where the woman had stood and snatched up his still on, buzzing nightstick. He flicked off the switch and holstered it before walking silently towards where the women and Rude were, by the rock. Bayley staggered after him, head hanging and dragging her murderous weapon behind her. When she arrived in front of the group she collapsed, dropping the glaive beside her.
Rushing to her side, Kiera dropped to her knees and grinned happily. "Wow, you did it!" She put her arms gently around the girl in a quick embrace. After that, she sat back, beside her and sighed. "I think we really deserve a break now."
"Thanks." Rude muttered to Bayley, ruffling her hair gently before standing up. He was looking off in the distance, and he could see the rough outline of the chocobo ranch.
Following his gaze, Elena understood what he wanted and she nodded. "We're almost there, I suppose we could make it by nightfall if we tried." She mustered a smile, knowing that even the short distance they would have to cover would be painful for them all. They had each suffered some form of wound, except perhaps Bayley or Reno; they had only received a few minor bumps and bruises.
Bayley rolled onto her back, eyes closed and hands still shaking a bit. Upon finding herself ready to move on, she hopped up and grabbed the glaive. "I'm taking this with me, I don't want to have to sit around and wait to be rescued again, if we get caught off guard by something."
Everyone nodded in respect of her decision besides Kiera. "What about me? I need to be able to fight too!"
"She dropped her glove back there," Reno shrugged, looking over to where he fought the pseudo-dominatrix. "It looks pretty sharp."
Grinning, the girl ran over to the crumpled black heap and lifted the mechanical claws. She slipped her hand inside and held it up in front of her. "I like it!" She squealed, smiling happily. Hastily, she made her way back over, the heavy glove weighed down her right arm; it swung lazily along with her gait.
"Careful with those, they're sharp," Elena reprimanded sharply, watching the girl prance back to them.
"Well, now it's all okay! Both me and Bayley can fight if we need to, so let's go!" With an enormous grin plastered on her face, she set off towards the Ranch, humming softly to herself.
Finding the glaive to heavy to carry, Bayley merely dragged it along behind her as she walked after Kiera, leaving a deep wound in the soil. Elena quickly joined her, walking with a slight limp, followed by the two men. Reno was grumbling about something as always and Rude just listened, always listened.
After nearly two hours of weary traveling, whining, complaining and all around fighting, the group managed to reach the beaten path leading inside the ranch. It had changed since the last time she was here, Elena noted, but she wasn't sure exactly how.
"HIIII!!!! I'm MAGGIE!!!" A scruffy looking girl with short brown hair bounded up to the group. They exchanged nervous glances, and she continued, "omygod did you want a chocobo!?! Gerty here, she wants someone to ride her! She does, I swear, she told me this morning that she was getting like. restless."
Bayley took a small step backwards, slightly frightened of the disheveled girl standing in front of her. The girl was wearing what appeared to be overalls, but no one could be too sure. She was covered head to bare toe in some strange unknown substance and she had a large, slightly insane smile on her face.
"Umm, where is Choco Bill?" Elena questioned unsurely, shifting her weight uncomfortably.
The little girl smirked evilly and started laughing. "Oh! Haha! HIM! I haxxored his ass!"
"Pwned." Reno muttered, staring at the dirty girl. ((Me: =^__^=))
Elena did a double take and looked at Reno, wide eyed. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't ask," Rude cautioned, his arms crossed.
"Omygod, so stop talking about this now k? Rent a chocobo!! RENT GERTY!" Maggie suddenly screamed. "Oh, and you can call me Rel if you want."
The chocobo in question glanced over at the group of people before wincing and walking over to its companions. "I wonder if she'll ever stop calling me Gerty and trying to get me to be rented," 'Gerty' sighed, lowering her head to grab a Pahsana green.
The other chocobos surrounding her laughed when one spoke up. "You know, Kirri, you ought to just bite her, that's what the last 'Gerty' did." With the mention of the last 'Gerty,' they all turned their heads towards the corner where the barn met the fence. There, a sickly, pale chocobo lay; feathers had fallen off in large patches and the feeble chocobo looked next to death. None of the others ever found out what had happened to the original 'Gerty' and none of them really wanted to know.
"I don't want to turn out like he did," Kirri stated, turning away from the near dead chocobo. "Oh shit, here they come. I guess Rel convinced them to rent me," she sighed. "Hope I see you guys again."
The rest of the oversized birds warbled their goodbyes and 'good luck's while Kirri, or rather Gerty, strode away from the people, towards the fence. She really didn't feel like getting forced into anything right then.
"GERTY COME HERE NOW K???" Maggie screamed, waving her arms around. "Omygod, she doesn't like to listen to me y'know. Jeez. GERTY COME HERE!!"
"Holy crap, man, can you stop screaming?" Reno growled, readying his fists to hit her.
The chocobo in the distance sighed and realized that no matter what she did, Maggie was going to continue screaming and yelling at her. Although the other birds were getting a laugh out of it, it wasn't a nice feeling having this psycho girl threatening you.
"C'mere Gerty!! LET THESE NICE PEOPLE RIDE YOU OKAY BE NICE NOW." Maggie screamed, running towards the large bird, her bare feet squelching in the mud. Suddenly, the girl tripped, falling face first and spraying 'Gerty' with wet mud. "OOPS. I fell." She blinked and stood up easily, attempting to dust herself off, but to no avail. "Sorry Gerty!" She leapt onto the frightened chocobo full force, clinging with both hands and legs.
Elena looked at insane child and wondered if she should try and stop her, but decided that it would be best to leave her alone. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of tired. Plus we still have to figure out where we're going from here."
"Why don't we just go to Junon? It's not that far, and of course Reeve's got his guys everywhere there." Reno suggested, shrugging. In the background, Maggie was still struggling with the frightened chocobo, clinging on as hard as she could. Her screams, mangled with the chocobo's cries for help weren't a very pleasant sound.
"Sounds good," Kiera shrugged, glancing uneasily at the insane girl. "But, guys, I really think we should stop her, and anyways, it's like. late, shouldn't we stop for tonight?"
"I agree!" Bayley grinned, for the first time since before the fight, happy to be able to rest her aching body.
"Fine," Reno muttered, rolling his eyes. Shiva, this place is a piece of shit, I hope it ain't nearly as bad inside.He muttered silently.
Elena glanced at the young girl again and called out her name, when she didn't reply, she shouted it again louder, frowning. Maggie instantly dropped her hold of the chocobo and skipped merrily back towards Elena, waving her arms around.
"Whatcha want perty lady?" She asked, looking innocently upwards at Elena, hands behind her back.
"Well, we were wondering if we could have a place to stay tonight, as it's starting to get late." Elena explained uneasily.
The girl's face lit up, "you mean, you guys wanna stay the night? Aw yeah! Sleepover, sleepover!" She started to dance around, singing about having a big sleepover party when Elena grabbed hold of her shoulders and halted her. She emitted a giggle, "So you wanna come inside then huh?"
"Yeah." Came the curt reply.
"Okey dokey!" Maggie turned around and started walking importantly towards the small house located beside the barn. She stopped and looked back. "Come on guys!"
The group again exchanged glances, but followed her, preparing themselves for the horror that would be the residence of this insane child. Elena arrived at the door first, which Maggie was holding open for her and ushering her in.
Clothes, newspapers and toys were strewn carelessly everywhere. On the floor, on the bed, on the shelves and even on the ceiling. One could not step anywhere without stepping on something other than the carpet. It was hard to tell if there even was carpet.
"There's only two beds in here! So you guys'll havta share!" Maggie grinned, jumping onto her own bed. "Who wants to sleep with me!?"
Elena laughed uncomfortably and ran to the other bed. "I'll uh, I'll have this bed! Hey Kiera, Bayley? Wanna share a bed with me?" She looked at them, persuading them silently to hurry. They complied and sat beside her on the bed, laughing quietly at Reno and Rude.
"No way, man, I am not sharing a bed with. that," he scoffed, hands on his hips. "This place is gross, I'm going to the stables, I hope it smells better out there." He snapped, storming out of the dirty house.
"Well, that leaves you Rude. what are you gonna do?" Elena asked, concerned.
"." he replied, glancing around. "I'll stay up, on watch."
Elena sighed, "okay, your choice."
"Shouldn't we shower or some-" Bayley started to suggest; she was feeling rather dirty from the traveling and especially the fight.
"-Shower? What's that? I don't think I have one!" Maggie started laughing so hard that tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "It's great to be dirty!"
Elena twitched ever so slightly and sighed again. "Do you have anything we can wear? Our clothes are kind of. torn and dirty."
"Wear whatever ya want!" Maggie squealed, tossing off her dirty clothes. She sat on her bed in her skivvies and searched the floor with her eyes for suitable pajamas.
".Put your boobs away wouldja?" Kiera frowned, quickly turning her gaze down to the floor, also searching for something to wear.
The girl giggled, "isn't my bra cute!?" Her remark received no comments, but many odd, disgruntled looks.
Quickly, Bayley hopped down and snatched a pair of surprisingly clean, navy blue sweatpants and a hot pink tank top from the mess. She hopped into the bathroom and changed hastily, thankful to be free from her wet, dirty, not to mention torn dress. When she came back out, she saw that both Kiera and Elena had already changed; the former was wearing her tube top still, but had put on a pair of baggy, grey shorts. The latter had found a nice, black, baggy sweatshirt and a pair of pink pajama bottoms.
She collapsed on the bed, beside Kiera and almost instantly fell asleep. Kiera and Elena stayed up for some time, quietly discussing things such as the remaining Turks, Maggie and going to Junon.
The hay was not comfortable, like the beds, for poor Reno. His rash choice had come with a consequence; it was cold and itchy and he wasn't about to go cuddle up to some dumb bird. He sighed and looked around blindly in the dark for something, a blanket maybe, to keep him warm. That was when the sounds started. At first they were small and unnoticed, but a strange, unidentifiable sound kept nagging at him. Suddenly, the stifled cry of a chocobo rang out, but was silenced almost instantly. His curiosity piqued his interest and he withdrew his nightstick stealthily.
He stood up and crept out to the enclosed pasture. Immediately, the movement-sensitive light flickered on and he saw the horribly mutilated body of the former 'Gerty.' Her body was swimming in a pool of blood, however her head was placed on a stake, beside the body, beak open, tongue out. Feathers were strewn about the corpse as if a ceremony of some sort had passed. There were many scratches surrounding the bird's body and its right wing was bent horribly out of place, showing evidence of a struggle, and apparently, the attacker had won.
The other chocobos were horrified and in shock, standing at the far edge of the pasture in silence, staring wide-eyed at the sight in front of them. Even the sickly, old 'former Gerty' had made his way to join the others.
"Oh shit."
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Fin! I hope you guys like this chapter ;D I certainly do. R&R please? ^_^