Samara looked back when she thought she heard a familiar-sounding scream. She stopped running and just stood still, staring into the empty space before her.
Kairi stopped running and went back to her, "Samara, let's go!" she said frantically as she grabbed her wrist, but Samara pulled her wrist away from her. Kairi was already panting very hard even as she stared curiously at her. "Samara… what's wrong?" she asked.
"Didn't you hear it?" Samara asked with worry in her eyes. For the first time, Kairi saw fear in the little girl's eyes… and tears were beginning to fall too.
Kairi just shook her head in confusion. "N…no… what did you hear?" she asked softly.
Samara just kept quiet, refusing to answer the question. She does not want to scare her anyway. Slowly, she turned around, facing her, then looking past her. She saw that they were already in a beach-like area… and tall mountains were also near the area. "Let's just… go… up there." She said, referring to the mountains, not really wanting to go further near the ocean water.
Kairi stared in awe at the tall mountains. "What?" she asked in confusion.
"It's the only place where Kuja cannot find us… at least maybe try to avoid him sensing our auras and energies." Samara explained.
"A-are you sure there's something beyond those mountains? What if we get lost?" Kairi asked worriedly.
"We won't." Samara answered before she led the way.
Kairi hesitated for a while. She really felt worried and afraid of their current situation because she did not really know what to do. Biting her lower lip and swallowing hard, she ran after Samara and walked with her towards the mountains.
They started climbing up the mountain, and to Kairi's amazement, it seemed easy for Samara to climb up; holding on to rocks and branches. She also seemed to know where to pass.
"Where did you learn to climb?" Kairi asked with a smile on her face.
Samara did not answer. She just continued to climb up the mountain, trying to shrug off the memories from the time when she was inside the well.
More rocks. More branches. There were a lot of moments when Kairi almost slipped and fell to her death, but some force stopped her from doing so. Before she knew it, the climb was already over.
"We're here. Told you we won't get lost." Samara declared with a smug look on her face.
Kairi was panting heavily, wanting to drink some water but could find no single trace of it in the place where they ended up. "This is… a cave…" she said flatly.
Samara looked up at the cave's high ceiling but could not see well because it was already beginning to get dark. The sun was already setting and it was creating an orangey-effect on everything she's seeing. "Do you know how to cast a fire spell?" Samara asked.
Kairi's eyes widened. "What?" she asked.
"Never mind…" Samara muttered, able to read Kairi's mind that she doesn't know any magic. Slowly, she led the way further inside the cave. Kairi could hear bats above them and she could not see well anymore. "Uhm… Samara… where are we going?" she asked with a trembling tone.
Samara did not answer but she started to hurry up, going to a place where there was only little light coming from the setting sun outside. She began to search the whole area for sticks and stones and quickly gathered them. She tried to remember what Riku had done in the beach seven days after they had jumped off from Balamb Garden.
She began to rub the sticks together. "Kairi, help me here," she told her.
Kairi felt somewhat relieved upon realizing what Samara was doing and instantly came to her aid. She began to rub the stones together.
"Call me anything but ugly, love…"
(He's been hit by destructive magic…)
"Riku, watch out for his spell!"
(… lost a lot of his blood… might need transfusion…)
"… splattered blood on a silver wall…"
(… already found the other injured people: Cloud Strife… Sora … Squall Leonhart.)
"CLOUD!"
"… Where… is… she?"
"… don't die…"
( …the first Lady and her companions?...)
"Ma'am! What are you doing here?!?!"
(How long is he gonna be confined?)
"Don't you dare die on me, Riku… I won't ever forgive you."
All he saw first was a very blurred white light before he felt his eyes blinking. He groaned; his head was aching so badly…
"Hey, Dad, I think Riku's waking up."
"Sora?" he thought, his memory clearing up finally.
From his right side, he saw Sora's face peek at him. "Hey buddy! You finally woke up!"
Riku tried to fight his grogginess and tried to speak clearly. "Where… are… we?"
"ShinRa Mansion," Sora answered. "The medics brought us here instead of the hospital. Special request from the President. At least, that's how Dad explained it to me."
Riku blinked rapidly. "ShinRa… ShinRa? What do you mean, ShinRa Mansion?"
Sora shrugged. "Didn't you know? President Rufus ShinRa's dad had a mansion here, but when it started crumbling, he repaired it and here we are now. That's what you can do with influence and a lotta money, you know…"
"ShinRa?!" Wasn't that Samara's last name? Riku thought, bewildered.
Sora looked at him irritably. "Yeah… ShinRa! As in, the most powerful family in Midgar! Whom the huge electric company in Sector 1 is named after! C'mon, Riku, stop that, my head's aching too, you know," he said with a sarcastic tone.
"No! I mean it! Samara admitted to me that her last name is ShinRa! And it's even engraved in the pendant that she's wearing… the one inside the box that I just gave to her!" Riku snapped impatiently.
Cloud instantly turned his attention to Riku, "Okay, that's enough. Stop bombarding Sora with things like that, Riku. You both need to rest."
Riku instantly got out of bed and rushed to Cloud, grabbing his arms and shaking him rather violently, "But Mister Strife! Kuja is out to get her! I need to know where she is!" he said rather hysterically, his blue-green eyes were reflecting too much confusion and… hints of insanity that Cloud had seen before in Sephiroth's eyes.
"Calm down, Riku. Just lie down there and relax. You're the one who suffered the most when Kuja cast Ultima." Cloud said with a confused look on his face, not really knowing how to deal with Sephiroth's son who's in the verge of having a nervous breakdown. "Hmm… probably runs in their family…" Cloud thought silently.
Riku let go of Cloud and clutched his own head rather tightly. "Oh no… what if… what if something bad's happening to Samara already? And I swore to always protect her and… NOOOOO!!!!!" he collapsed on the floor, crying.
"Hey," Sora and Cloud instantly came to his aid, trying to help him up.
From the doorway, they did not even notice that Tifa and Squall were standing there quietly, watching them.
Tifa was covering her mouth while trying to fight back her tears.
Squall just stared blankly at Riku, Cloud and Sora before bowing down his head in shared grief, even though he was not really saying anything and his eyes appeared to be blank.
"Excuse me, I think I need to get inside," a woman's voice from behind them said softly.
Tifa and Squall turned around and saw Lucrecia holding a syringe. Tifa stepped aside to let her in.
Lucrecia smiled calmly at Tifa and patted her shoulder gently, "Don't worry about your daughter, Tifa. I'm sure she's alright." She said softly before proceeding to Riku. "Okay, dear, calm down unless you want me to call your dad and make him come here and give you a sermon about girls!" she said with a stern tone.
Riku stared in awe at Lucrecia. "G…granny?" he asked softly as she began to inject a tranquilizer into his veins.
Lucrecia just smiled at him, "Good night, darling." She said softly.
Riku stopped struggling after a few seconds and then he lost consciousness. Cloud motioned for Squall to help him carry the boy back to the bed.
As Lucrecia readied the blanket, they heard Tifa try to hold back a sob from the doorway. They all turned to her curiously.
Sora stared curiously at her before smiling, "Oh… so you're Samara's mommy. It's so nice to meet you, ma'am." He said as he approached her.
Tifa just smiled bitterly at him. She nodded weakly before letting her tears fall.
Sora tried his best to give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry! Dad sent Kairi to take care of Samara; I'm pretty sure they're both fine! They're both pretty strong for a couple of girls…" he said, hoping to make Tifa stop crying because he felt guilty.
Tifa covered her mouth, tears still flowing. "I… no, Sora, I know that… it's about something… else…"
"Teef…" Cloud started. Tifa looked at him. "Don't worry. This wasn't Samara's fault."
She stopped her hicupps for a while. "… what?"
"Kuja was the one who caused the fire. It happened when he cast Ultima… and he just left us there… like it's a set-up… so that people would blame us for it." Squall explained with a serious look on his face.
Tifa's eyes widened. "That Kuja has gone too far! What does he want anyway?!" she demanded in annoyance.
"He wants your daughter." Lucrecia replied with a weak tone. All eyes turned to her before she smiled sadly and proceeded with a trembling tone, "Miss Samara has… abilities that nobody else has… she has powerful mind control. What Kuja needs is that kind of control because he doesn't like to use the reactors. In short, Samara will serve as a human Mako reactor so that he could make use of the Mako energy for himself."
Sora grunted and scratched his head, "Grrr… that Kuja…" he muttered miserably before looking up at Tifa again with a sorry look on his face, "Ma'am… I'm sorry… if I had known that Samara is your daughter, I could've returned her to you. But… she wouldn't tell us the truth… and probably Riku doesn't even know about ShinRa in the first place because… Riku and I grew up in another place." He said apologetically.
Tifa smiled kindly at him, "It's alright, Sora… I understand…" she said softly.
"But ma'am, I hope that the information that I know could help you determine who did those things to Samara." He continued.
She blinked. "Those things?" she asked.
Sora nodded before he sat down on one of the chairs, "You see, when we first found Samara, she was inside the well with Riku. Riku said that somebody knocked him out with a shovel and then pushed him inside the well… then he saw that Samara was already inside when he woke up… Anyways, me and Kairi were lost at that time, and we tried helping them out, but we couldn't do it by ourselves… so Mr. Highwind helped us out. Afterwards, he and his wife gave us a place to stay…"
"So, we tried talking to Samara because she looked really bad, you know, to find out who did all that morbid stuff to her. She said that this guy called 'The Doctor' did all that to her. She just doesn't wanna do anything bad to The Doctor because she's afraid that he'll kill her parents… She also said that she loves her parents very much, but then she was told that they hate her. She also told us that her parents hate her because she killed those who tried ruining her father's reputation once…"
Tifa felt really dizzy and overwhelmed as she listened to Samara's thoughts through Sora. "Wh… what? She thinks that? But… why?" she choked out, trying not to cry hysterically at that moment.
Sora turned solemn. "I'm pretty sure it's The Doctor's fault. It seemed really wrong that people like you would think of Samara that way, right?"
Lucrecia turned to Sora after thinking on her own for a while. "Sora… did she tell you anything else about this… Doctor?"
He replayed Samara's words during that hour. "He forced Samara to do twisted stuff with her powers… when she made him really angry, he injected poison in her bloodstream and trapped her in the well. She won't tell us anymore about the Doctor 'cause she's afraid that he'll kill her family once we knew…"
"Hmm… this doesn't tell us much about this Doctor…" Squall uttered thoughtfully.
Cloud sighed and turned to Sora. "Anything else?"
Sora shook his head. "Sorry, Dad. That's all I remember. Maybe Riku knows more…"
He shook his head. "I don't think we should ask him anything about Samara… yet…" he cautiously said, looking towards Riku who was in deep sleep already.
Lucrecia just looked down, many thoughts considered in her mind. After a few moments, she stepped towards Tifa, who started breaking down into more tears, to try and console her.
"Once I get that… that Doctor who put those thoughts in Samara's head… I'll… I'll send him to hell immediately…" Tifa sobbed, her weak voice muffled by Lucrecia's shoulder.
"Don't worry, my lady. We'll do it together…" Lucrecia thought, the suspect in mind.
"Do you have any… suspects, Dr. Valentine?" asked Squall, noticing that her facial expression changed.
Lucrecia inhaled sharply. "As a matter of fact, Mr. Leonhart… I know of only one person vile enough to do these things… and I suspect that he also has something to do with Kuja…"
"Who?" Cloud asked, looking curiously at her.
"Dr. Hojo." She pointed out with a despiteful look in her face.
They all fell silent.
"But… but why would he even try to hurt Riku?" Sora asked.
"Because Riku is Sephiroth's son. I know Hojo… I've seen his plans in his PC before President Rufus fired him… he wants to kill all of Sephiroth's children because he hated Sephiroth for abandoning him… It's like… revenge… and he thinks that one Sephiroth is enough…" she explained.
"Why? What did Sephiroth do to him?" Squall asked curiously.
"Well… it's more of like… Hojo disowned Sephiroth because… Sephiroth loves… this…" Lucrecia hesitated for a while.
Tifa and Cloud were staring at her… Squall knew that the two knew the story but just decided to shut up about it.
Lucrecia inhaled sharply again and then smiled calmly at Squall, "Well… Sephiroth fell in-love with… one of Hojo's former rivals… so he disowned him…" she explained, her voice shaking and she almost choked with the last word.
Silence.
Tifa just smiled cheerfully at Lucrecia, "Well, well, that's enough. Calm down." She said, going to her and then patting her back.
Cloud just bit his lower lip before turning to Sora. Sora stared up curiously at his dad. "Dad, you are smiling. What's so funny?" he asked.
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
Sora pointed at him suspiciously, "Dad, you're trying to stifle a smile. What is wrong?" he asked.
Lucrecia turned back to Squall with a sad smile on her face, "You… look like my Vinny from before…choke" she began to cry and covered her face with her hands.
"I'll just… take her outside for some fresh air." Tifa told them with a weak smile on her face before leading the way outside, leaving Squall and Sora so clueless.
"What's wrong with her?" Squall asked Cloud.
"It's… nothing." Cloud fibbed before turning away. "But anyway, it's hard to be sane when you're a scientist… so she snaps every now and then…" he explained with an unsure tone as he approached the window.
Squall thought for a while before shrugging. "Well maybe we should all watch out for Doctor Kadowaki, then," he said, meaning for it to be a joke.
They were interrupted when Aerith entered carrying a basin of water. "Is everything alright? I saw Tifa and Lucrecia heading outside. Lucrecia's crying again." She said as she closed the door and approached Riku.
"Yeah… everything's alright… just some… bad memories from Lucrecia's head… if you know what I mean," Cloud explained with a silly smile on his face.
Aerith just smiled weakly. "I see…" she said, trying to stop herself from giggling.
Squall frowned at them, "Do you guys mind telling me about it?" he asked curiously.
"Nah… you might get culture-shock… especially since you and your Garden fellows are going to be hanging around our place for a long time." Cloud explained with a blunt smile on his face.
Kairi shivered lightly because of the cold wind inside the cave. "Brr… it's too cold in here… aren't you cold, Samara?" she asked weakly.
Samara just stared blankly at the fire, her face being framed by her long black hair. She was used to the coldness, so why bother knowing if it is cold or not? At least that's what she's thinking about before turning to Kairi when she heard another question from her, "Aren't you hungry?"
Samara thought for a while before pulling out the Paopu fruit from her pocket, "You can eat this if you want to." She said.
Kairi's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my GAWD! Where did you get that?" she asked in surprise.
"Riku gave it to me." Samara replied with an expressionless look on her face.
Kairi smiled happily, "Samara, that is not meant to be eaten!" she told her.
"Why?" Samara asked.
"… but if you have to eat it, you have to share it with someone else." Kairi elaborated.
"So then we'll share it." Samara said, ready to break it into two.
Kairi jumped to her and stopped her hand, "No! Don't!" she said.
Samara stared unbelievably at her. "Why not?!" she asked in annoyance.
"Didn't Riku tell you anything about it?" Kairi asked with a frantic look on her face.
Samara was quiet for a while before saying, "N…no…"
Kairi sighed in disappointment before sitting down before her with a cheerful smile on her face as she carefully pulled out another Paopu fruit from her pocket and showed it proudly to Samara.
Samara stared unbelievably at it. "You… have one too?" she asked as she felt her heart sinking while thinking quietly, "RIKU GAVE HER ONE?!?!?"
Kairi giggled happily as a slight blush formed on her cheeks, "Sora gave this to me." She told her.
Samara calmed down. "Oh that's good to hear…" she muttered.
"What?" Kairi asked, unable to understand what she had just muttered.
"Oh nothing… uhm… what is it about the Paopu fruit anyway?" Samara asked curiously.
"See, there's a legend about this… If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined… They'll remain a part of each other's lives… no matter what," Kairi said, staring at Sora's gift in her hand.
Samara noted Kairi's lovestruck look and looked at her own Paopu fruit. "… but… that's just a legend, right?" she asked, skeptical about the whole thing. Besides sounding silly and old-fashioned, she'd rather disregard islandic legends like that than starve to death.
Kairi shook her head. "I believe in it. If it were true, do you want our destinies intertwined together? I'd think that would be awkward, you know?" she asked.
Samara bowed down. "… I guess so… who told you these things anyway?"
"Riku did," Kairi answered.
Thoughts suddenly sprang in Samara's mind. "Riku gave me this… he didn't tell me to share it with him… did he want to be a part of my life too? Why would he do that? He barely knew me, then…"
Kairi was beginning to be uncomfortable during Samara's silent moments. "Uhurm… so… back to our crisis…" she stammered.
Samara stood up. "… There's a salt water lagoon outside. Maybe we could catch some fish."
"But…we don't have any bait…" Kairi said.
"Oh believe me… we don't need any bait to catch fish." Samara said with a wink before she got up.
Kairi followed after her and they both walked together going to a salt-water lagoon outside. There were several fish in it, swimming happily.
Samara just stared at the water for a few moments, but did not say anything.
Kairi was wondering what she was doing. "Well?" she asked.
Silence.
"Don't tell me we're using a Paopu fruit as bait?" Kairi asked in confusion.
"No." Samara replied.
Before Kairi could say something else, six fishes began to jump out of the water and landed before them on the ground. Kairi's mouth dropped open. "Oh my GAWD!!!!! How did you do that?" she asked in awe.
Samara just smiled. "It's all in the mind," she said with a wink before picking up her share of three fish. Kairi picked up hers and then they headed back to their bonfire. Kairi tried to recall how her mother tried to gut and clean the fish; luckily she was successful in doing so, and in a few moments, they were already cooking the fish.
While waiting for the fish to cook, Kairi turned to her. "Thanks, Samara." She said.
Samara looked at her curiously. Kairi just smiled sweetly, "I'm so glad that you're here… if I was alone here, I'd probably get lost and wouldn't know what to do." She said.
Samara just looked away and bowed down her head, her hair covering her face.
Kairi leaned back against one of the big rocks behind her and sighed heavily. "You know, it's kinda funny… I'm supposed to be the one to save you… to take care of you! Since I'm older… well, you know… and now, look at us! It's basically you who is trying to keep me alive by catching fish so that we could both eat." She told her frankly with a weak smile on her face. She felt really awkward because of Samara's silence.
Samara just brought her knees closer to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on them. She narrowed her eyes at the fire. "Kairi," she began.
"Hmm?" Kairi responded with a cheerful smile on her face while thinking silently, "Finally! She said something! … oh but I hope it's not something complicated for me to understand… I know how smart she is… and…" she stopped her thoughts when Samara said, "Did… something… Riku… about… the….two of you… going on…" she stammered, suddenly confused.
Even though the words were mixed up, Kairi was able to understand it, "What made you think of that anyway?" she asked curiously.
Samara did not answer at first, but she gathered up enough guts to say, "I… overheard Tidus and his friends discussing about it with Riku… and…" she stopped talking all of a sudden.
"Oh. That." She suddenly giggled. Samara frowned at her. "Oh… sorry. It's just with Tidus, Wakka and Selphie… back on the island. You see, Sora and Riku always considered each other a rival… and when they challenge each other to a swordsfight or a race or something, Riku always won… so the three of them thought that he's the winner, he'll get me. But… I've always thought of him as waay older than me, even though we're just a year apart, you know?" Kairi explained with a sweet smile on her face.
Samara was just quiet, her eyes showing wonder.
Kairi blushed again and got her own Paopu fruit, staring at it like she was ready to swoon. "Just between you and me, Samara… but… I've always… loved… Sora…" she admitted.
Silence.
Samara just raised her eyebrows at her. "Love?" she asked curiously, as if she does not know about it.
Kairi nodded. "I… I know it's confusing at first but… it's like… okay, to make it easier for you to understand it… I like Sora… but it's… like… I treat him like… he's so special to me and all I want to do is to be with him and make him happy." She explained, her face reddening more and more at each word. Suddenly the cold air did not seem to affect her anymore.
Samara just snorted. "Oh well… I understand… I think…" she muttered miserably before she got her Paopu fruit. Her thoughts were interrupted when Kairi decided to ask, "What happened to you and Riku anyway?"
When Samara didn't answer immediately, she hastily added, "That is, if you wanna elaborate, of course.. Eheh…"
Samara narrowed her eyes at her before starting. "I tried to kill him…"
Kairi's mouth dropped open, shocked. She felt so speechless and she did not know how to begin. Is Samara really that ruthless just like her father?
But Kairi stopped her own thoughts when she heard Samara continue, "…but decided that he's way too important to me so I let him live. After all, he's one of the few who could understand me."
Kairi noted the shy smile on Samara's face when she said that.
They were silent for a few moments before Kairi told her with a reassuring smile, "It's just between us girls, don't worry." She said.
Samara just smiled. "Thank you."