[Author's Quickie: Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've updated…but I've finally done it! I completed another chapter! Whoo-hoo! Great, now that that's out of the way, you can read on. Cheers!]

Disclaimer: No ownership, except of the plot line.

Project: Trinity

Chapter Fifteen: Awakening

Unceremoniously he dropped her lifeless body onto the black leather couch, then went straight to the kitchen cabinet and took out a clear glass bottle. With shaking hands--he was really getting too old for these kinds of things--he proceeded to pour himself a shot of whiskey and tipped the glass back in one motion. The translucent liquid burned his throat as it made its way down, but somehow it brought back his senses.

God. What was he doing? What the hell did he think he was doing? He had just attacked a girl--and if even she had deserved it, he was still a kidnapper--and now he had a body to take care of that was currently lying on his sofa.

Christ. With short, impatient steps he walked over to the couch, and crouched down to check her pulse. He didn't think he hit her that hard, but you never knew with these fragile rich snobs. He wanted the job done right, damn it. When he placed two fingers to the base of her neck, directly under her chin, a weak throbbing under his hand told him it was all right. Exhaling a breath in partial relief, he slumped against the glass coffee table and reconsidered.

Innocent--that was the first word that came to his mind when he saw her. Wide, bright green eyes that shined with purity, a child's laugh, a smile that was unreserved, giving. How could a woman who was so central, so embroiled in the corporate plot--the Strife conspiracy--have the face of an angel?
He had seen that face before.

It had to be all right--it had to be. He had to believe in himself; he needed to carry out his job, make sure everything was in place. The end always justified the means. His head throbbing from the excess of alcohol, Leon cradled his head in his hands and rocked back and forth, trying to summon some shred of composure.

A stir from the sofa roused him from his daze, and he saw, to his dismay, that the girl was awakening. "Damn," he muttered, dragging a hand through his thick hair as he rose from his seat.

Her lips parted in a moan, and instinctively her hand went to the bruise at the side of her head. "What…happened?' she said drowsily, the dew of sleep still heavy on her eyelashes. Everything in her vision was hazy, so hazy… Her free hand slipped down the soft leather of the sofa and touched something firmer. It felt…odd. Warm. Like it was alive. Quickly she bit back a scream as the thing underneath her hand moved, and bolted upright as she realized where she was.

She was nowhere.

"Where am I?" she demanded of no one in particular, feeling panic rising into her chest. "What is this place?" Looking around desperately, she could see a sterile white room, accentuated only sparsely by black articles of furniture. Her hands dug into the couch in a claw-like grip, and instinctively she wanted to cry. Don't you dare cry, Aerith, she told herself, wanting to believe she could hang on to her dignity. She would not be hysterical, though God knew she was close to breaking down. Shaking, Aerith stared up at the man who glared at her with such darkly intense brown eyes.

Without answering, the man moved away from the sofa towards a granite kitchen counter, and idly plucked up a shot glass from the table. "Hey!" Aerith said bravely, though her hand was trembling on the hem of her dress, her heart beating wildly beneath, "Did you hear me?" The man slammed the glass down on the countertop and glowered angrily at her. She caught her breath as he stalked his way over, grabbing her chin by one hand and yanking it up sharply so that she had to stare into his stormy eyes.

"Who are you?" she whispered, fear flickering blatantly across her irises. At last the stranger deigned to answer her, though his upper lip curled in something resembling a sneer as he spoke.

"Your savior."

* * *

"What?" was Aerith's first reaction, and she thought afterwards it was a rather rational one. "What do you mean, my savior?" She struggled up from the leather sofa, wondering why on earth her head felt as if someone had struck it with a sledgehammer. "I am perfectly capable of saving myself, thank you very much--" she broke off in increasing bewilderment, her eyes blinking rapidly. The man hadn't even bothered to pay attention to her, instead focusing on swirling the scotch around in the shot glass.

"I--I don't understand," Aerith said a small voice, sitting down on the carpeted floor. "Why am I here? I--I was shopping, and--" Puzzlement furrowed her brow as she pressed a hand to her temple, struggling to remember. "And…I…fainted…? Ow--!" she cried out as her hand passed over a large bump on the side of her head. She drew her hand back, staring in horrid fascination at the red clumps of what had to be blood on her fingers.

Wild thoughts flew around in her head.

Accusation and fear made her voice sharp, made her voice louder. "You--you hit me," she said, realization dawning. "You knocked me out, and brought me here."

"Oh, how very well noted," her kidnapper said sarcastically, the first thing he had ever said to her. "You show such powers of observation, I'm really impressed." He shook his head, his partial sneer deepening. "I always knew rich girls aren't the brightest crayon in the box, but you're rather slow on the uptake, aren't you?"

Though wounded at his deriding comments, Aerith's confusion merely increased. "What are you talking about? What have I ever done to you? Why did you bring me here?"

The man's eyes narrowed considerably at her questions, and he threw his shot glass into the sink with enough force so that it broke. The glass pieces tinkered into the basin, like a shattered windchime. "You're the fiancé of a man named Cloud Strife, aren't you?" he asked as calmly as he could, in a perplexing non-sequitir. When she nodded slowly, he continued, "Then you know why you're here. The plan won't work without you marrying Strife."

"What? What has my marriage got to do with…with any plan? What the heck are you talking about?" Aerith demanded, anger building. She hated being angry, hated the headaches that being angry brought her, but why wasn't this stupid man making any sense?

"Don't pretend you don't know what this is about," he began irritably, his own rage increasing. "You and Strife have planned it all out. The Gainsborough family controls a third of the most important industries Japan has to offer. The Strife family controls the other third. The marriage will bring about a merger, and then the Strife corporation will have an almost exclusive monopoly over Tokyo. And everyone knows the Strifes aren't the most benevolent of businessmen; they'll resort to underhanded tactics to gain more power and money."

"Planned what out? You're crazy!" she cried, exasperated and a little outraged that this stranger was talking so blandly about her fiancé like that. Her head hurt and here she was, with a kidnapper informing her about some insipid plan she knew absolutely nothing about. "I've never even heard of anything like this! There won't be a merger with our marriage; who told you something like that?"

"Stop acting," the man said coldly. "Everything's been arranged."

She stood up, radiating cold fury. "I have no idea what you talking about. I don't know what kind of merger you are talking about, don't know what monopoly it is, don't know how you would know what I don't. I don't even know who the hell you are, and thank you very much for butting in my personal and very private life, and thank you for kidnapping me off the streets, but I'm leaving."

With these forceful words she turned to go, but her whole body immediately turned rigid as a gun was placed against the back of her head. Her kidnapper's icy voice spoke out from behind her. "Unfortunately, you cannot go. The marriage cannot take place. This will have to be your home for the rest of the next couple of days." And so saying, he walked down a hall that branched from the living room, and opened a bedroom door. He paused to add, "Don't bother screaming, no one will hear you out here," and slammed the door behind him, leaving Aerith to stare in stunned dismay at the new turn in her life.