The trip back to the capital had to have been one of the most amusing trips Blade had ever made, given the circumstances. Though she had been half carried, half drug while under Rif's arm, the man had not failed in keeping her both warm and feeling a little at ease.

Emily helped, sorta. The last half hour or so of walking through the snow field had been filled with heated conversation between the handsome young man and the frail beauty. Blade had found herself more then once being cut off or snapped at to shut up. Normally she wouldn't have listened and told them both off, but this time she simply slipped into strife next to Rif and enjoyed listening to the indirect insults that were flung back and forth.

Narrowly avoiding snowballs when Emily decided words were to soft and snow as cold as she was feeling. Rif had become a shield, and when snow had plastered itself to Blades pale face she was left to fend for herself. Rif had become to busy chasing the blond woman down to the capital to even bother with Blade.

Which was fine by her, she had been to busy laughing, happily forgetting the voices and ringing in her ears.

And Zack.

Which she now remembered vividly as they walked through the dark, their flashlights the only guide as they hopped one by one down the strange stairway. It reminded them all of a strange, spiraling, beat up shell. Pieces of the white thing had been chipped or broken off. It also seemed to smell of sea salt.

She sighed longingly, wishing for a brief moment to fly back in time and re-live those days with Cloud, Zack and Fox.

But that was pushed from her mind as Rif was pushed down the rest of the "stairs".

"what the hell?!" Blade asked, racing over to him as he hit the bottom. Placing a hand on his shoulder as he rose, Blade shone her light at Emily.

"What was that for?!" She asked, not willing to hide the anger in her voice.

"He insulted me!" The girl cried. She reminded Blade so much of a cheerleader at times. How she despised them.

"That's no reason to throw him down-Ouch!" Rif got to his feet quickly, bumping Blade and causing her to fall back to the ground.

"You little witch!" Rif snapped, face on fire.

And it started again. Back and forth they went, paying no attention to Blade as she tried to make them shut up. In anger, given up completely, Blade sighed and turned away, heaving her pack over her shoulder. Rolling her eyes and muttering about immature little idiots she started for the huts just beyond the bend in the path. Neither Emily not Rif noticed her leave.

Which is fine by me, she though bitterly, no longer entirely amused by their arguing. It had gone to far when Rif had gotten pushed, and now was turning from amusing to annoying very quickly.

She sighed. It didn't matter. If she was lucky, Rif would murder off Emily. She plucked her bag from the ground, shaking her head at her two companions, and began towards the small huts around the bend in the path.

Have fun you two she thought bitterly, moving her light back and forth in front of her, surrounded by trees and rocks soon enough, Rif and Emily's shouts slowly being muffled by distance and other objects in between Blade and the other two.

Her head tilted skyward, taking in the moonless sky. Dark clouds threatened to consume the sky and pour down buckets of water on all of them. Silently she hoped it would, if not to help calm her emotions and her aching head, then just to get Emily wet so Blade could see her scream and run.

She smirked, turning her attention back to the path, a cool breeze rushing through her hair. It would be a nice evening.

But just as she thought that the ringing in her ears increased, and voices returned.

"Headheadheadheahheadheadheadheahheadheadheadheah-"

Blade stopped dead, looking about franticly. "What the fuck…" She whispered, swallowing. It sounded like those voices she had heard-

The ones that told her Zack was-

"Headheadheadheahheadheadheadheah- Its Jenova-"

"The head of Jenova!"

"Stop them!"

"Lookout!"

Blade had felt it before the voices had told her. She was spinning around, drawing Glory and dropping her travel pack in seconds.

To late.

The was disarmed and thrown to the ground before she even knew who her attacker was.

"Hm. Maybe you aren't as good as I thought." The cold voice sneered above her. She groaned, her body stinging from the force she had hit the ground. Her eyes slowly moved to peer into the darkness. She flinched away as the beam of her fallen flashlight was pointed at her face.

"Da'ath…" she hissed, gritting her teeth. "How did you-"

"Get here? Hm…Miss Sky, we sent you here for a reason."

"…Jenova…"

"Now you are catching on. Sedek, take her to one of those buildings. I will go check on Emily's progress."

"Yes." That was the first thing she had heard Sedek say. At least, she thought it was Sedek. His voice was heavy, but oddly soft. She felt his large hands grip her collar and a pinprick into her neck-

And she was falling through nothing but and endless sea of black, voices echoing as she fell.