Ten days later, they finally arrived in Midgar.
"Geez, look at the size of this place!" Tidus said, a huge grin plastered on his face.
Paine frowned. "Eh. Not bad."
As Rikku, Cid and Brother argued over on where to land the airship, Riku stared excitedly at the city below him. "Wow… I'm home! I'm going to see mom and dad and Jill again! But, darnit, I'll see that Dante and Skurai again… For once, I wouldn't care… I'll be at my house again…" he thought, smiling.
His gaze fell on Samara. It seemed that she didn't care of what's happening around her. She stared blankly at the people animatedly talking to each other about exploring Midgar and whatnot. Seeing them, she bowed her head further, letting her face be covered by her jet-black curtains of hair.
Riku looked at her, concerned. "Hey," he called out. Samara looked over to him. "Do you want to come to my house once we land? It's on Sector 1. Mom's probably there, I think you'd like her."
She didn't respond. Cid was announcing something again.
"Okay, people, we're landing near this here large building here… seems they have a lot of room for an airship… and I think that the city's leader is in that building somewhere. So, me, Tidus, Yuna and Rikku will ask permission to stay here. Kimahri will guard this thing; the rest of you, go do whatever you want. If we don't get permission, we're leaving maybe for another area of this Planet. Understood?"
All of them nodded and went on their way. Riku walked over to Samara and grabbed her hand. She looked up at him curiously.
"C'mon. You have to walk once in a while…" Riku told her. She just stared at him quietly. He somewhat felt guilty because he still hasn't apologized to her. He placed his hands behind his back, feeling uncomfortable. "Uhm… look… I'm… sorry about…"
"It's alright." She said before turning around, going to the exit. "Let's go." She told him. He did not have to say anything; she could read it in his eyes.
When they walked out from the airship, Samara made sure that they were facing the other way from the building.
"Hurry up! You're taking too long!!!" Lavinia snapped at Theodore.
"Eheh! Alright already! Why are you so excited to go to Costa del Sol?" he asked while dragging a big backpack full of toys along with him as he headed for the chopper.
She came nearer to her older brother, "Because the Turks are assigned to babysit us while we're taking our vacation there! We can torture them all we want! Heehee!" she whispered, not caring if the Turks were staring strangely (and somehow, rather fearfully) at them.
Then, they turned around when they noticed that some of the Soldiers were looking at one particular direction: at the airship.
"Which civilization do you think that came from?" Theodore asked curiously while staring at the airship.
Lavinia made a face. "Who cares about that? Let's go. I want to go swimming already!" she said before dragging him along with her. Elena rushed to Theodore and took the bag of toys, "Here, Master Theodore, let me help you with that." She said cheerfully.
"Eheh! Thanks, Elena!" he replied happily… but froze when certain passersby caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He instantly turned to look at the two passersby. A boy with silver hair and the other one was a girl with long jet black hair. Theodore instantly gasped. "SAMARA!" he exclaimed.
But the girl did not seem to hear it.
Lavinia followed Theodore's gaze but did not see anything. "Where?" she asked.
Silence.
"You're hallucinating again, blondie!" Lavinia teased.
"I am not, blondie!" Theodore snapped.
"You've had too much sugar, blondie!" she snapped back.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! And biting Mister Tseng yesterday made you blind!" she sneered.
"I'm telling mommy that you're calling me names!"
"I'm not calling you names! It's true that you're blonde, right? And I'm blonde too!" she said airily.
"Hey, hey, hey! Blondies. Stop that. Get in the chopper." Reno scolded impatiently as he interrupted them by waving his hand to catch their attention and grabbed their wrists, taking them inside the chopper.
"Argh! You redheaded nasty skeleton monster!" Lavinia argued angrily before biting his hand.
"AARGH!" Reno cried out in pain.
"Oh no! Somebody get her off Reno!" Tseng commanded.
Theodore just laughed happily, watching his sister's jaws locked on Reno's hand.
"Rude! Elena! Help!!! I'm gonna get rabies!" Reno exclaimed.
Riku turned his attention to the commotion within the fences of the ShinRa building where a chopper was ready to take off. "Gee, I wonder what's going on in there…" he mumbled quietly.
Samara, oblivious to the activities going on around her, just continued to walk with him, keeping her head bowed down. "I can't sense mommy and daddy inside ShinRa right now… maybe I'll come back later…" she was thinking quietly.
A few minutes later, Riku stopped in his tracks and looked gleefully at the house they're in front of. "Hey, we're here already! Samara, let's go in!" With that, he ran in the house, dragging Samara along with him.
Unbeknownst to them, a few cameras were clicking and more media men were whispering to each other…
Riku looked around inside the living room. "Strange, I would think that Mom, Dante, Jill or Skurai would have been here… Oh well," he said, running up the stairs. "Make yourself comfortable here a while, Samara. I'll just get some of Dad's materia, we might have a use for them…"
Samara blinked as a response while Riku sped up the stairs. She looked around; the place was very homey and comfortable looking. Judging by the pictures hanging or standing here and there, two swordsmen, three gunslingers, a homosexual and Riku were the ones living in there…
"Strange family… I wonder who his mom is," Samara thought as she looked at a young, mahogany-haired woman's picture. "She's the only girl living here… and she's too young to be a mom…"
-Clack… clack-
Suddenly vigilant, Samara turned sharply to where the steps where coming from. A very tall man—about 6 feet—with long, jet-black hair, a metal arm holding a tray of tea and cookies, and clad in a red cape, was standing there, watching her. She eyed him suspiciously, but he smiled calmly.
"Oh, hello there. How did you get here?" he asked with a soothing tone as he set the tray down on the coffee table.
Samara felt like he could trust this man. Besides, he was one of the people she'd seen in the pictures. "Riku brought me here," she replied.
"Oh… Riku brought you here? May I ask for your name?" he asked, sitting down and motioning for her to sit down and drink the tea.
She obliged, and answered uneasily. "…. Samara."
He nodded. "I'm Vincent Valentine. I live here, as some sort of a guardian for Riku and his other siblings… And you? Do you have a surname? Or is it just Samara?" he asked, sipping his tea.
Samara stared at the tea in her cup, but suddenly didn't feel like drinking. She did not bother to answer the question, but before Vincent could ask her again, Riku arrived with a disappointed look on his face. He stopped in his tracks, "Oh. So you're here? Where are the others?" Riku asked.
Vincent smiled at him, "Dante's out on a date with Trish. Skurai is… acorn-hunting… while Jill's with Carlos. Don't tell your dad about the last one." He replied.
Riku just laughed, "I won't. So you've met Samara?" he asked.
Vincent turned to the little girl with a solemn smile on his face. "Yes. You never told me you have a girlfriend already, Riku," he remarked.
Riku just blushed and smiled shyly at him, "Well… no." was all he said. Samara just grabbed a cookie and threw it inside her mouth, chewing it while eyeing him suspiciously.
"Uhm… anyway… where's dad?" Riku asked, smiling weakly at Vincent.
"Your dad's with President Rufus. They're looking for the Presidential Daughter." Vincent explained.
Riku just shrugged and sat down beside Samara before getting himself a cookie. "Presidential Daughter?" he asked.
Samara almost choked when she heard that but reacted no further. She just grabbed her cup of tea and gulped down the contents without even paying attention to the scalding-hot liquid. Vincent and Riku stared in awe at her.
"Hey… careful. It's hot…" Vincent told her.
She put down the empty cup on the coffee table. "Thank you Mr. Valentine…"
Riku scratched his head. "Mister…" he trailed off when Vincent asked him, "Why are you looking for your dad?"
"I want to borrow some of his Materia. He taught me how to equip and use them some months ago when we first moved in here and I found those so useful… but I can't find them." Riku responded.
Vincent thought for a while before he got his own materia and handed them to Riku. "Here you go. Sephiroth took all of his materia with him." He explained.
"Why? Is he going on a battle?" Riku asked in awe while equipping the materia on his Keyblade.
Vincent touched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure myself. Then again, he brings them everywhere, even if we're only eating out…" He stood up and handed Riku some bills. "If you're going to be traveling, you'll need cash. Fortunately, most worlds use Gil. You do have your own Munny, right?"
Riku just smiled rather sweetly at Vinny while nodding his head… it was the kind of smile that made Samara pour herself another cup of tea and drank it in one gulp again.
Vincent noticed her sudden action. "Well, you sure enjoy drinking tea, Samara," he remarked with a weak smile on his face.
She just nodded with a sweet smile on her face.
The smile made Vincent remember an old friend of his, but just shrugged off the thought before turning back to Riku, "Alright. I'll just go to the kitchen for a while. Are you staying for dinner?" he asked.
Before Riku could answer, the telephone began to ring. "Answer it for me, please." Vincent said before going to the kitchen.
Riku went to the phone and answered the phone, "Hello?"
"…Riku?" Sephiroth asked from the other line.
Riku's eyes widened. "DADDY!" he cheered before sitting down on the couch facing Samara. She stared strangely at him.
Sephiroth sounded so excited to hear from one of his beloved children again. "When did you come back?" he asked.
"Just now. I'm with a friend… but we'll be leaving again. I'll help her search for some people." Riku explained.
"Oh… a girlfriend?" Sephiroth asked with a teasing tone.
Riku blushed again, "Dad?!" He reacted.
"Anyway, take your mobile phone with you so that I can keep in touch, okay?" Sephiroth asked.
"Do I have to? What if I fall into the water and get it wet and I destroy it again?" Riku asked.
"Just do as I tell you. Anyway…" Sephiroth continued to blab but Riku could hear somebody else talking in the background from where his father is, saying, "Hello? Tifa? Where are you? You're still in Nibelheim? Alright I'm going there after we drop by Midgar… yes, I'm with Sephiroth."
Riku switched his attention back to his father when he heard him say, "Do you understand?"
Riku just said, "Uhm… could you repeat it again?"
Sephiroth grunted in frustration before saying, "You're not listening! Just go talk to your mother. I have to go now… I'm driving." And hung up.
Riku heard the dial tone and shrugged before replacing the receiver on the phone.
"Man… I always hear that Tifa name. Who is she anyway?" he muttered to himself before turning to Samara, "So, shall we go?" he asked.
She stared at him for a while in total silence before asking, "Tifa?"
He shrugged. "Well, she's in Nibelheim… that's according to the other guy with dad." He replied.
She got up. "I want to go there." She declared.
Riku was surprised at her sudden enthusiasm. "Well… alright," he said, walking out of the house with Samara. Before he left, he waved good-bye to Vincent, who waved back.
"You're so close to your guardian, Riku," Samara said as they made their way towards the train station and the train that would take them to the lowest sector where the city's exit was.
Riku blinked. "Guardian?" he asked mindlessly.
"Mr. Valentine," Samara said plainly.
Riku gave her a confused face, but he replaced it with a knowing smile. "Oh… Samara… Vincent's more than my guardian, you know. You had me confused back there…"
Samara looked at him skeptically. "More than a guardian?"
"Yeah. More like a parent, actually," Riku said with a silly smile.
Samara frowned when she finally realized what he had meant… and she jaw-dropped. She instantly recalled one time when she had a check-up with this Doctor Lucrecia woman who's a friend of her dad and mom… and the doctor was having a hysteria attack. She scratched her head. "Never mind… I'll just keep quiet…" she thought to herself.
Vincent was cleaning up the tea and cookies when the front door violently crashed against the wall and two tall men barged in just as violently. "Oh, hello Dante. Skurai."
"Hey," Dante and Skurai greeted in unison. "Cookies! Give Dante some!" Dante said, attacking the plate of leftover cookies that Vincent was supposedly going to clean up.
Vincent frowned, left the cookies to Dante and took the tea things to the kitchen.
Dante chewed on his cookies with satisfaction. He then noticed Skurai, who was sniffing the living room air. "What the hell's the wrong with you, acorn-boy?"
Skurai narrowed his eyes and continued sniffing. "Riku was here…" he said, taking another whiff. "With somebody else…"
Dante stood up and grinned. "Oh, really. I missed the little shrimp, I liked bullying him the most! Well, next to you and Jill and Kuja, that is. Heheh! I like his sammiches better than yours! Anyway…where is he?" he asked Vincent, who walked in the room.
"He left a while ago with a friend. I think he's going out of the city…" Vincent answered calmly.
"Who's headed out of the city?" bellowed a voice from the front door. The three of them turned towards the speaker, who was none other than Sephiroth himself. And a blonde man following behind.
"DAD!" Dante and Skurai cheered, hugging their father.
Vincent frowned, but his facial expression changed for the better when he saw a familiar face. "Oh, it's you. Rufus," he greeted, shaking his hand. "What brings you two here?"
Rufus sighed in slight annoyance. "The family man here," he said, pointing to Sephiroth, "forgot some important things. Like his wallet, cell phone charger and armor bangles. And a change of underwear, among all things…"
Sephiroth frowned and just mumbled, "Shut up…"
Vincent led Rufus into the living room. "Shall we sit down? I don't have anymore tea, though, and Dante just devoured all of the cookies…"
Rufus shook his head. "No, thank you, I'm good," he said, looking around the house. "The place is very homey. Not as large as any of my mansions or villas, but very nicely decorated…"
Vincent frowned at his remark of the size of the house, but smiled at the 'nicely decorated' part. "Why, thank you. The design's all my own creative genius…"
"Are you saying that my house isn't big enough?! That's why people call this Valentine M-A-N-S-I-O-N! Doye!" Sephiroth snapped at Rufus.
Rufus just flipped his hair. "Yeah, yeah… whatever." And sat down on the couch.
Skurai eyed Sephiroth curiously, "Are we going poor, dad?" he asked.
Silence.
"No, we're not. I just don't like this rich guy saying snide remarks about our household income just because he's the President and owns the most powerful company in the entire Planet." Sephiroth turned around to face Rufus with a sneer, "You just wait, Rufus, once I release the four guardians of this Planet, you will die again. But I'm sure you're tired of Diamond Weapon, huh? So who'd you like to try next? Ruby? Emerald…"
"I am not talking about household income, it was just a comment, Sephiroth." Rufus said before snapping his fingers at Vincent, "Make me a sammich." He commanded.
Dante smiled at Rufus. "Hey, I think I'd like to be his friend," he mumbled to Skurai.
Skurai just made a face. "Yeah…" he said sarcastically before rushing up the stairs.
Vincent frowned. "This isn't your mansion, Rufus. And I'm not going to the kitchen again to get some guest food; I just did a few moments ago with Riku and his friend."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Eh? Riku's friend? Sora was here again?"
Vincent shook his head. "No… it was a little girl named Samara."
Rufus' face fell. Sephiroth's eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT?!" the two of them yelled at Vincent in unison.
Vincent thought about how people in the house were lacking in manners, but then he noticed that there was a sense of urgency in their voices. "Riku was accompanying his friend, Samara somewhere… I think they're looking for someone—"
"What did Samara look like?" Rufus asked directly.
Vincent was a bit taken aback, but he replied, "Well… she had long black hair… has blue eyes, looks to be about 10 or 11… and she seems weakened, honestly… Why are you both so frantic?" he asked when he noticed Sephiroth and Rufus suddenly looking so excited but worried at the same time. Vincent frowned slightly before declaring, "She's a pretty girl, actually. When she smiled at me I almost thought she was a younger version of Tifa."
Silence.
"Oh I get it now!" Dante pointed out. "You were looking for this Samara girl all along! And she was here moments ago, but you came late… and now she's escaping somewhere with Riku! Isn't that funny?"
The three other people frowned at him.
"How sweet, dad… I mean, Riku just eloped with the President's daughter? Mwahahahahahaha!!!" Dante laughed hysterically.
Rufus just stared blankly at him while Sephiroth snapped impatiently, "DANTE, YOU'RE GROUNDED! GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
Dante stopped laughing and he almost choked. "What… what?!" he asked in annoyance.
"Uhm… Sephiroth, Dante is a grown man… you can't ground him anymore." Vincent pointed out.
"He's over eighteen, I suppose?" Rufus asked.
"I don't care. You are still living in my house so you'll abide by my rules, do you understand?" Sephiroth asked Dante.
Dante just stood still. "Yes, daddy." He muttered miserably.
Silence.
"Go to your room. You cannot see Trish for a month." Sephiroth declared.
Dante was about to react but Vincent cut him off by saying, "Just obey your father, Dante."
Dante shut his mouth before stomping his way up the stairs.
"Now, to a more important matter at hand," Rufus said, rubbing the space between his eyes. "Do you have a clue on where Riku and Samara might be headed to, Vincent?"
Vincent shook his head. "I'm sorry. But I think Samara is in good hands, if that's any consolation…"
Sephiroth grunted as Rufus answered, "That's not the point. It's important that we know where Samara is right at this moment…"
"Because Riku might be in danger by just being near her," Sephiroth said.
"Why?" Vincent asked.
"She's…" Rufus stopped himself. He just shook his head and got up, "It's not important. We'll just explain later on after this crisis is over. We also have to look for Kuja and Hojo." He explained before turning to Sephiroth. "Hurry up with your things,"
Without further ado, Sephiroth left Vincent and Rufus downstairs.
"I thought Cloud's with you?" Vincent asked.
"He's with Squall and his son… and Kairi." Rufus explained.
Silence.
"Kairi," Vincent repeated.
"Yes, Kairi." Rufus said.
Silence.
The two snickered.
"It's so unfair…" Rufus said airily.
Vincent just sat down. "Cloud's allowing Sora to be friends with Kairi… I can't believe it." He said.
"I wouldn't even let my own kids come near Sora." Rufus said.
"Why?" Vincent asked.
"Nothing… I just fear that Sora inherited his father's brain… and it's contagious." Rufus said.
Silence.
Rufus laughed. "I'm just joking, alright?" he turned to look at the family picture and his smile faded away. "You should've worn a gown." He pointed out.
Vincent raised an eyebrow as he twitched lightly. "Don't remind me… I hated that day…" he muttered miserably.
They heard the "Mwahahahaha" of Sephiroth echoing from the stairs and coming near them, plus heavy footsteps. "I'm ready!" he told them.
"Well, adieu to you two. I think you shouldn't waste anymore time," Vincent said, leading the way to the front door.
"Yes, he's right. Sephiroth, let's go," Rufus said as he stepped out of the house.
"All right already. Bye Vinny," Sephiroth said, waving to Vincent and running after Rufus.
Vincent looked at them blankly. "Right. Goodbye Sephiroth. Rufus. Good luck on finding Samara," he called out as he closed the door.
"What do you mean, the President's not here? We have to ask permission to land… I mean, stay here in your city," Yuna told the man in charge.
The man called Reeve shook his head. "He has some other business to attend to… It's something very important and we can't bother him by contacting him," he replied.
"Oh, fishsticks…" Rikku said, pouting. Before Tidus could say anything, the door to Reeve's office crashed against the wall.
"Hey… who invited the freaks over, huh?" Seifer said arrogantly, eyeing Tidus, Yuna, Rikku and Cid one by one.
"Who are you calling freak, freak? … Oh, you're Seifer, Leon's friend, right?!" Tidus said, jumping up and down.
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell did Squall pick such a gay name, anyway… Yeah, I'm Seifer. Who are you guys?"
"We're a bunch of people from another world… we just wanted to ask permission to stay in this city, because the airship's such a large obstruction and we're foreigners… I guess we have no choice for now but to get outta here…" Rikku said, kicking the ground.
"Okay… list this down, Yunie… we have to find Lulu, Auron, Wakka, Nooj, LeBlanc…" Tidus said, counting off the people with his fingers.
Seifer rolled his eyes. "Oh brother… they've brought the whole bunch with 'em…"
"Paine, Brother, Riku, Samara…"
Seifer and Reeve froze on the spot. "What?"
Tidus blinked before shrugging and saying, "Lulu, Auron, Wakka, Nooj…"
"No, you said that a Samara is with you?" Reeve asked uneasily.
Rikku nodded. "Yup! I don't think you know this Samara though. She's a pretty little 10-year-old girl with long black hair and blue eyes and telepathic powers!"
Seifer grunted. "Idiot. That's exactly the Samara we're looking for!" he was about to confront one of them face-to-face, but Reeve stopped him by holding up one hand. "Wait, Mr. Almasy, we can't be so sure. Did she tell you her last name?" he asked.
Yuna shook her head. "No… she doesn't want to tell us any details or anything." She said rather weakly.
"Jyah! You Urban Development Dork! What is the matter with you and your President?! Why can't you just tell everyone that his daughter is missing and stop the private investigations and searches?!" Seifer demanded impatiently.
"You don't understand, Mister Almasy. Miss Samara is… a very special child. We don't want other people knowing about what she can really do…"
"Aw, c'mon! Everybody knows she killed those media men before!" Seifer snapped.
Silence.
"Hey, I also heard that incident too… that it happened in this area…" Tidus began.
Reeve was shocked. "What?! But… I thought… we had it taken care of…" he trailed off when Seifer told him, "We also heard about it in Balamb, but it arrived in our place like another horror tale."
"Same here!" Rikku chimed in.
Silence.
Reeve smacked his own forehead in annoyance, "I knew it… word really went out even if it's not within Midgar…" he muttered miserably.
"No use hiding it from us now, sonny-boy. I guess, since we got some useful information after all, we can stay here, eh?" Cid said, nodding.
"Like where Samara and Riku had gone?" Seifer asked.
Yuna tried to remember the conversation she'd overheard. "Oh, Riku said he was taking Samara to his house…"
Seifer instantly turned to her, "Rufus and Sephiroth are going there before they left me here!" he told them.
"Oh so they left you here?" Tidus asked curiously.
"No, you wuss. Rufus asked me to stay here and monitor things for him." Seifer snapped impatiently. "Anyways, I guess they'd have a good idea now on where to go, at least… I wonder if those two are going to be fine…"
"Why are you so worried about the President?" Reeve asked.
"No, I'm talking about those kids. Now that a bunch of Heartless and that… Kuja's after them." Seifer said solemnly.
Samara breathed a sigh of relief as the Nibelheim mountains came into view. At least she didn't have to hear Riku sing "Row row row your boat" anymore… (He kept singing it even though they got off the boat from Costa del Sol).
"Wow! We got here faster than I thought!" Riku said happily. "Hey, what's that?" he asked, pointing to a shiny blue car going into the town.
"That's a car, stupid," Samara replied bluntly.
Riku frowned. "I know that?! It's just kind of… uh… high-and-mighty looking, you know? Like it belonged to a rich guy."
As they entered the town, the shiny blue car screeched to a stop and reversed towards them. The two of them stopped in their tracks and are amazed to see Sora hop out of the passenger's seat and run into them. "REEEEKU! SAMAAAARA!" he yelled, jumping at them.
Samara avoided him, so Sora ended up crashing into Riku. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled at his very hyper friend.
Samara stared at the two of them, but her gaze moved towards the other three people coming out of the car: Kairi, Squall and a tall man with spiky blonde hair.
Kairi waved at them. The man, Cloud Strife, stopped some steps away from Samara.
She stared up at him, not breaking eye contact.
He suddenly spoke. "Samara… I didn't expect finding you here." He said in disbelief.
Samara just stared blankly at him.
Suddenly, she felt something evil in the air. "What…?"
Riku and Sora stopped babbling to each other. Cloud turned his face to the sky. "Do you sense that?..." Sora asked mindlessly.
Kairi, clueless, looked at them worriedly. "Huh? What's going on?..."
Cloud suddenly turned to the children and said, "You guys… get in the car. Quick!"
Squall frowned at him. "Why are you so panicky, Cloud?"
"Don't ask questions. Just do it," he practically commanded them.
Sora began running, dragging a skeptical Kairi along with him. Riku and Samara followed them. Before they could get to the car, however, a bright red flash of light appeared in the center of the town, just above the well…
"Bloody hell!" Squall yelled. The rest of them were too overwhelmed to move.
Some buildings caught fire. In the middle of it all was none other than…
"… Kuja," Riku growled under his breath.
Kuja smiled at the group rather mockingly. He giggled, then flipped his hair over his shoulders. "Oh, hello brother dear. I'm so glad we happened to meet at this quaint little town here…"
The townspeople were too busy screaming or staring in awe at Kuja. He frowned at them. "Stupid mice… It would be nice to kill you all, but me and my dear brother have some talking to do," he said as he floated towards Riku.
Riku instantly reached for his Keyblade's handle. "You disgust me…" he snarled.
Cloud took the opportunity to whisper to Kairi, "Once we
fight, get yourself and Samara out of here…"
Kairi looked up at him and nodded. She took Samara's hand and backed away a
bit. Samara didn't react, but she continued glaring at Kuja. Cloud signaled Sora
and Squall to ready their weapons.
Squall twitched when Kuja laughed a shrill laugh. "Ohohohoh! Well, isn't that charming… you have your friends with you! No doubt you'll try to protect them… in vain, of course," he added, looking over to Samara. "Though, they have the intention to fight me. This will be more interesting, then…"
"Quit talking!" Riku shouted as he jumped towards Kuja, keyblade ready to strike. Kuja looked at the weapon wearily and sent Riku flying back with a defensive spell. "How droll," he muttered. "Well, here I go…" Kuja started casting a new, fiery spell.
"Now!" Cloud yelled. He, Sora and Squall ran towards Kuja, weapons drawn. Kairi ran off towards the town's gates, dragging Samara with her.
Behind them, Samara heard the fighters' screams and Kuja's laughter. "Where are we going, Kairi?" she asked, no trace of worry or fear or any emotion in her voice.
Kairi was panicking already, confused as to where to go next. "Uh… Over there!" she said, pointing towards a random forest. Before Samara could complain, she yelled, "No time for questions now! Just get as far away from him as possible!"
"Hwargh!" Sora yelled as he did Ars Arcanum, swinging his Keyblade wildly in the air. They all missed, however, because Kuja teleported out of harm's way. He laughed and cast a fire ball towards Sora.
Squall tried to attack Kuja from behind, but only ended up cutting a few strands of his hair. Kuja gasped and faced him angrily. "My beautiful silver locks! You will pay!" With that, a lot of Heartless creatures tackled Squall, making him hit the ground hard. "Oh, dammit!" he said, trying to wrestle the creatures off of him.
"The hell? Even in battle, you're still vain?! What if I break your French-manicured nails, huh?!" Riku taunted.
Kuja felt a vein popping on his forehead. "Shut up! As if you won't cry if I crush those horrid Paopu things you're so obsessed about! Maybe you'll even cry for Daddy!"
Riku growled at that remark. "Why you… you big gay transvestite… girly man!" he said, lunging forward to attack him.
Sora made a funny face. "Riku, I don't think this is the time for this kind of fight with your big brother, you know…"
"Shut up, short stuff! This isn't any of your business!" Kuja yelled as he singed Sora's hair with another spell.
Cloud face-faulted at their insult exchange. "Geez… Sephiroth needs to discipline them a bit…" he thought as he prepared to attack Kuja himself. He ran by Kuja's back and set himself up while Riku and Kuja yelled at each other.
"Mama's boy!"
"Drag Queen!"
"Monkey-boy!"
Riku gasped, "I am not Zidane! Gurly-man!!!" he yelled angrily.
Kuja raised an eyebrow, "Oh… that's it? That's all you can say?! I'm used to that adjective! Mwahahahaha!" he laughed joyfully, but froze when Riku snapped at him, "You #$%!!!"
Silence.
Sora looked up at Cloud, "Daddy, what does #$% mean?" he asked.
"Doh!" Cloud cringed and turned immediately to his son. Squall has a weak smile on his face.
"Sora, don't ever say that F word again…" Cloud muttered.
"Why? What does that mean anyway?" Sora asked. Just when Cloud was about to answer, they heard Kuja snap back at Riku: "Midget!"
Riku winced at that remark. "Don't call me a midget… UGLY!"
This time, Kuja's mouth dropped open. The feathers on his head stood up at their ends. "You…. You… will pay…"
Before Riku knew it, Kuja was in his trance mode. His hair turned red, his monkey-like tail was exposed and he looked more sinister than before. He looked so psychotic that he was almost foaming at the mouth. "Call me anything but ugly, love," he said as he started mumbling words under his breath.
Squall gasped as he recognized those words. "Watch out! He's going to cast Ultima!"
Cloud tried disrupting the spell by back-attacking Kuja, but the force of the spell damaged him threw him back.
"Dad!... Oh crap! Riku, watch out for Kuja's spell!" Sora yelled as he ran over to his father, helping him up.
But Riku didn't move from his spot. The lights mesmerized him too much.
Don't look back
Those words kept on coming back to Samara's mind. She continued to run with Kairi, leading to a place where they do not even know of.
"Where are we going?!" Samara asked her.
"I don't know! But we have to leave them for a while otherwise we might hurt ourselves!" Kairi replied with a troubled look on her face.
Samara kept on running, but she was sensing something… and she could even see it in her mind… and she could not stop it.
Aerith looked outside the window of the ShinRa Mansion, suspicious of the surroundings. She had this worried look on her face.
"What's the matter, Aerith?" Tifa asked while surfing through the channels on TV.
"I… thought I heard Sora and Cloud… shouting…" Aerith replied.
Tifa just frowned. She could also sense something bad… and she thought she heard an explosion from outside, but just shrugged it off, thinking that it could've just been sound effects from a TV show while she's not looking… and she just froze when she realized that all the channels were just showing the same thing: blood splattered on a silver wall.
"What's wrong with this?" Tifa asked, letting go of the remote and got up from the couch.
Aerith and Yuffie instantly turned to her, observing the TV.
"Maybe Rufus declared Martial Law!" Yuffie gasped.
Silence.
"Why would he even declare martial law and flood all TV stations with this one? He doesn't even like silver!" Tifa stated flatly, but when she was about to switch off the TV, it turned into static.
The noise made them cringe, but she suddenly realized something. She gasped and turned towards the window. "Samara… she's somewhere near…" she thought silently before she proceeded outside.
"Tifa, where are you going?!" Aerith ran after her, followed by Yuffie.
As they continued to run, they could sense something bad just around the corner. Tifa decided to follow it, until she saw that most of the town was in flames. Strangely enough, there weren't many corpses scattered around, but then the scene was eerily familiar for her…
"god… not again…!" Tifa thought, slumping on the ground. Her eyes were wide in terror as she covered her mouth, several bad memories flooding her mind. "No… Samara cannot do this…" she finally thought. She just snapped out of her trance when she heard Aerith shriek, "CLOUD!!!"
She watched as Aerith went running to one particular direction just in front of her. Tifa did not even notice that Cloud, Sora, Riku and Squall were lying on the ground a few meters away from her because she was so preoccupied with the flames around her plus her own problems from the past… and when she saw Riku, the image from the TV came back to her: blood splattered on a silver wall. Riku's silver hair… and his blood…
Riku was the one who was badly injured from Kuja's attack… and he was really losing a lot of blood…
Yuffie was awestruck, seeing Sora like that. She instantly thought of her own daughter. "Oh no… GAWDS!!! Where… is… she…?" she thought, suddenly feeling dizzy… and she fainted.
Sora crawled towards the nearest conscious person: Aerith. "M-mom…" he strained himself to say. "We didn't… didn't stop that guy…" he struggled to say before he lost consciousness.
Aerith let go of the unconscious Cloud whom she was healing to turn to her ailing son. "Oh no… please… are you okay? Don't die…" she thought in worry.
Tifa just clutched her head in confusion, staring in horror at the scenario in front of her. All she could think of is her daughter… and what Hojo had told her once, "Your daughter is evil. She has to be stopped."
Several ShinRa soldiers arrived with several firemen.
A female second-class Soldier saw her and approached her immediately, "Ma'am! What are you doing here? Does President Rufus know this?" she asked in worry.
Tifa just screamed.