Author's Note: Okay, people, the muses are working overtime and I have just finished this chapter. So, I guess I'll go ahead and post it so that people can see where it's going. Remember, all reviews are welcome, even flames.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square and Disney. I do not own any part of them. If I did, do you think I would be sitting here writing stories for free?
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Chapter Two: Dreams Come True
The Second District of Traverse Town was unusually quiet for a Friday night. Usually, the place was crawling with young lovers strolling around holding hands. Yuffie had been wandering around aimlessly for the whole day, deciding to wait until nightfall to return to the hotel and face Squall. After spending a few hours playing with the puppies at the Dalmatian's house, Yuffie decided to walk through the gizmo shop since she had nothing better to do until Squall had a chance to cool down. The gizmo shop was always a nice place to hang out when you had nothing better to do. And you could always find Heartless there when you needed to blow off some steam.
Squall is such an idiot. He should know better than to sneak up on someone when they are armed. He's just lucky that the shuriken didn't hit him somewhere more painful, she thought to herself since there was no one to talk to. And, besides, while the Heartless are still out and about, I need to be able to protect myself. For all I knew, he could have been a Wizard sneaking up on me. Ugh, I really need some time off. All I seem to be able to think about are the impending attacks from the Heartless. It's even starting to affect my sleep.
I don't even want to think about what Squall thinks about last night. I mean, there I was, rolling around on the bed and hitting him. No wonder he started to rub my back–it was the only way he could keep me from hurting him. He's probably still pissed about that. Then, to top matters off, he had to surprise me like that in the Waterway.
By now, Yuffie was off in her own little world, not paying attention to what was happening around her. She reached the doors to the gizmo shop and threw them open, taking comfort in the air conditioning, a welcome relief from the summer heat outside. She looked at the clock as she walked through, noting it was around ten at night.
Well, he's probably cooled down by now, she thought. But before she could finish this thought, she heard the lock click in the door.
"Oh shit!" she cried, looking around quickly to see what was going on around her. At first, she didn't see anything, so she ran back to the door, only to find that the door was indeed locked. She hurried across the room to try the other door, but heard its lock click right before she reached it.
"Okay. Whoever's doing this better stop. I'm the Greatest Female Ninja Ever, and I don't think that you really want to mess with me!" she yelled, grabbing her shurikens. Just as she was getting ready for a fight, the lights went out around her.
"Damn it! I don't need this right now! But I can take you on, whoever you are!" she yelled to the silent room. Then, on the far side of the room, she saw them–the yellow eyes of the Heartless, preparing to launch an attack on her.
"If only I could see, then I could take them all down," she muttered. Then, she realized that this was her nightmare from last night. "No, nightmares don't really come true! They can't!" she screamed, running blindly across the room, only to find the same wall from her dream stopping her. She felt along the wall until she came to the door knob of the exit. She desperately tried to turn it, but to no avail. She turned around to face the oncoming assault of yellow eyes and claws, trying to be brave, throwing shurikens blindly into the mass of demons approaching her.
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"Aerith, have you seen Yuffie?" Leon asked, limping into the Red Room. Damn, he thought, that shuriken must have done more damage than I thought.
"She's not back yet? But it's nearly midnight. I thought she would have returned by now," Aerith asked worriedly, glancing at Cloud to see if he knew anything.
"She was pretty upset when I saw her this morning. She said something about staying gone until Leon cooled down," the blond said, worry showing in his blue eyes.
"Do you think we should go looking for her? She might be in some kind of trouble, what with the Heartless still here and all," Aerith asked the two men, biting her lip like she always does when she's worried.
"No. She'll come back when she's ready to. And you don't need to worry about her being in trouble. She can take care of herself. Just look at the damage she did to my leg. I can hardly walk on it," Leon stated.
"Then why did you come in here asking about her in the first place?" Cloud wondered.
"No reason, just wondering if you had seen her." Damn, he thought, now they think that I may actually be worried about her. I can't have anyone suspecting anything until I know exactly how I feel myself.
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After Leon left the room, Aerith turned to Cloud with a pleading look in her eyes. He knew that look well, it meant she wanted something. And he thought he knew what she wanted this time.
"Okay, Aerith. I'll help you look for Yuffie," he conceded.
"Thank you Cloud. I knew I could count on you," she gushed as she reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Aerith, you know I could never turn you down. I love you too much."
"I know, but I hate to take advantage of that. However, tonight is different. I'm really worried about Yuffie. She never stays out this late. Never. Not even when she's furious with Leon. Something must be wrong. I just know it," she sighed.
"Well, we better hurry then, hadn't we?" Cloud stated matter-of-factly, taking her hand as they walked out of the Red Room and into the hotel.
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Back in the Green Room, Leon lay on the bed, trying to get some sleep. Yuffie's nightmares had been keeping him awake most nights although she hadn't known that she had been awakening him night after night. Most nights, he lay there quietly, ready to intervene if the nightmare became to much for her to bear. But last night, when she rolled into him, he couldn't stand it any longer. He had to wake her up. He hated seeing her so terrified. There was only one other time he had seen her that terrified, eleven years ago when the Heartless had taken control of Hollow Bastion.
"Aerith, they're everywhere! They look like the monsters from my dreams!! And they're coming to get me!!" a seven year old Yuffie had screamed, running into Aerith as she, Cloud, and Squall, as he was called then, explored the castle.
"Yuffie, it's okay. There's nothing there. See. Look behind you. The only thing behind you is your shadow," a fourteen year old Aerith tried to explain.
Aerith took a protesting Yuffie's hand and began to walk down the hall with her to prove that there was nothing there, while Squall and Cloud waited for their return. It was then that they heard Aerith's scream, as she and Yuffie ran back to them. She pushed them into the library and slammed the door, then turned to clutch Cloud as she sobbed.
"She's right! They're everywhere! I don't know what they are, but we need to get out of here! Quick," she said, trying to shove them into a lift stop. "They're coming!!"
Squall frantically grabbed his Gunblade, his sixteenth birthday present last month, and ran back towards the place where the monsters were coming from. Cloud followed him with his own Buster sword, hoping to stop the monsters and protect the girls.
"Squall," Cloud pleaded, "go with the girls. Keep them safe. Take them to Cid. He has a ship that will save them and you. I can hold them off while you do it!"
"No, Cloud, you go! I'll stay here and fight!"
"Squall, your Gunblade offers better protection for them than my sword! Now, go!"
And with that, Cloud pushed Squall back into the library and locked him in. Squall ran up the stairs to find Aerith and Yuffie huddled in the corner.
"Come on! Let's go! We have to find Cid!" he cried.
"But what about Cloud?! I can't leave him behind!" Aerith had screamed. But Squall was too strong for her. He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the lift stop with a screaming Yuffie following them. When they finally found him, Cid was rounding up the rest of the survivors into a ship he called a Gummi.
Once on board, Aerith threw herself onto the first seat she could find and started sobbing uncontrollably. Watching her, Yuffie walked up to Squall and tugged on his jacket.
"What's your name?" she asked quietly.
"Squall," he had replied.
"Well, Squall, thank you for helping Aerith and me. But where's Aerith's boyfriend, Cloud?"
"I don't know kid, I don't know."
That was the one time he had seen her so completely helpless looking. When they arrived at Traverse Town, she decided that she wanted to become a ninja. She didn't want to be helpless anymore. Even as a seven year old Yuffie could be fairly stubborn. Like refusing to call him Leon when he changed his name soon after they arrived.
"But Squall, why do you want to change your name? I like the name Squall," she had said.
"Because, Yuffie, Squall died at Hollow Bastion along with his friend, Cloud," he calmly stated.
"Well, how do you know that Cloud died? I think he's still alive, so I'm still going to call you Squall."
"No, he's dead and you're not going to call me Squall."
"Yes, I am!"
The argument lasted for an hour before Squall gave up and left Yuffie with the still crying Aerith.
It was because of this stubbornness that Leon refused to be worried about her right now, thinking she was only still out because she was too stubborn to come back and admit that she hit him on purpose with that shuriken.
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Cloud and Aerith had looked all over the First and Second Districts of Traverse Town and were becoming genuinely worried that Yuffie had done something stupid, like taking a Gummi ship and leaving. But after talking with Cid, they discovered that there had been no Gummi's leaving Traverse Town that day. The two young lovers continued to search the first district, but still no such luck. They decided to try the Second District before giving up.
"Come on, Cloud. Let's try the Second District before we give up on her," the Flower Girl pleaded.
"Okay, but Aerith, this is the last place we look. After this, we're returning to the hotel and waiting until daylight. There's not much more we can do until then anyways," he calmly told her, expecting her to start pouting.
"I agree. But I don't want to give up hope on her being found. She would never give up hope. Did you know that the whole time that Leon, Cid, and I thought you were dead she never gave up hope? She kept telling us that you would come back to us," Aerith told him.
"No, I didn't know that. But how did she know that I would return?" he wondered.
"She's always been optimistic. And she has kept her optimism through the years," Aerith proudly said.
Thinking for a minute, Cloud asked, "Hey, doesn't she like to go to the gizmo shop sometimes to cool off?" as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand.
"That's right!! I completely forgot. Last time her and Leon had a fight she ran over there to let off steam by fighting the Heartless. You don't think that she's been injured do you?" she asked worriedly.
"No, she's probably just sitting there. Hell, she may even be asleep in there for all we know. Let's hurry up. I'm tired of all this walking."
They hurried to the gizmo shop and tried the door, only to discover it was locked. Cloud continued to try and open the door, saying, "That's weird. I didn't think they ever locked the gizmo shop up."
Noticeably worried, Aerith called out, "Yuffie, are you in there? Come on, open up."
From inside the gizmo shop they heard a low moan. Looking at Cloud with worry etched in her face, Aerith began to beat on the door, yelling, "Yuffie! Are you okay? Open the door! Yuffie!"
Receiving no answer, Cloud began to beat on the door himself. Seeing it was no use, he decided to ram the door with his shoulder. "Aerith, stand back!" he yelled as he ran into the door.
"Umph!! Once more." Ramming the door seemed to have knocked it in a little, but it still was shut tight. Cloud tried again, this time the door crashed open, showing them the darkness that lay within it.
Straining to see, Aerith called out, "Yuffie, where are you? Yuffie, come on, answer me! This had better not be a joke!"
Cloud walked through the door tentatively, hearing a low moan coming from the corner. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, he tried to see what the lump in the corner was. His eyes adjusted and he saw Yuffie, slumped down on the floor.
"Yuffie! Yuffie! Aerith, come help me! Yuffie's unconscious!"
"Oh no! Okay, I'm coming, what do you want me to do?"
"I need you to help me pick her up. Once I get her in my arms, I'll be fine. Just watch out and make sure that there's not anything around to attack us," he cried.
"I can't tell in all this darkness! Come on, hurry Cloud! We need to get her back to the hotel so I can see what's wrong!" Aerith wailed.
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Author's Note: Ooh! A cliffhanger! I should have the next chapter up within the next few days if anyone's interested. My muse has really been working hard. Please review. I'm begging you.