As Meridian and the others sat waiting impatiently in the hotel room, Yuffie and Beatrix were making their way up the stairs to their floor. Yuffie's bell jingled as she walked and she gripped it, grimacing. "Beatrix don't ya think this bell is much?"
Beatrix frowned at her, "What's the matter with it?"
"I feel like a pet kitten! This is way too ironic for me!"
"Well, wasn't ironic what we were aiming for?"
"Yeah but still…I'm half expecting some crazy old lady to just jump out, kidnap me, and start calling me 'Fluffy'."
Beatrix snorted into a fit of laughter at this, and she ended up having to lean against a wall whilst clutching her stomach. Yuffie glared at her, fuming.
"S'not funny!" she snapped.
Beatrix tried to say something but only collapsed into another round of laughs and, annoyed, Yuffie continued walking without her, looking up at the passing ceiling and cursing all living werewolves. Beatrix calmed down enough to catch up with her, and they stopped at the door to their room, Yuffie tonguing her cheek and Beatrix imitating an old woman.
"C'mere little pussy cat! I've got a treat for you!"
Beatrix waved an imaginary treat in Yuffie's face and the cat girl swatted at her. This only made Beatrix laugh harder and once again she was forced to lean against the door for support. Yuffie grinned despite herself.
The door opened, however, and Beatrix gave a shriek as she hit the floor in an ungraceful heap. Mikau overshadowed them both, and Yuffie's grin faded away at the look he was giving the both of them.
The dark haired man slowly stepped aside, his eyebrow quirking a little.
Yuffie could feel the weight of everyone's stares as the others looked at her and her cheeks turned a light pink. Wagging a finger at them, she hissed, "Say a single word and I'll gouge out your eyes with my friggin' claws!"
At this they all turned to Beatrix, who was picking herself off the floor.
She grinned sheepishly. "Ain't my new clothes just spiffy?"
"You kept us here waiting, freezing and starving in our ripped PJ's while you went out shopping?" Taerk deadpanned.
Beatrix crossed into the room and set the bags on the bed. "Yep." She said simply.
Julius peeked into the bags. "Did you spend all the money on clothes!?"
"'Course not." Yuffie snapped, reaching into her coat pocket, "We've still got plenty left, you guys can even buy some clothes for yourselves."
"And our hotel room?" Mikau asked.
"Ah…" Julius scratched the back of his head, "About that…we're gonna hav'ta stay here the next few nights."
"Why?" Ern asked, looking confused.
Julius sighed, "Well ya see, I already paid for more than one night, and the hotel won't refund the money."
Yuffie groaned, "Geez! Ya mean I went through all that for no goddamn reason!?"
Taerk glared at her, "No one asked you to-"
"How can you say that? Look at all this stuff we got!" Beatrix exclaimed, purposely cutting Taerk off. "And now we can get the others clothes and have something to eat!"
Yuffie just groaned again and flopped onto the bed, face down. "But if I left later, I wouldn't have seen her!"
"Who?" Julius asked, immediately interested.
"No one." Beatrix said, waving him away. Pushing aside the bags, she sat next to Yuffie and patted her back. "It couldn't have been helped. It was bound to happen anyway…"
"Sure it was…" Yuffie grumbled. "I'm just fates little chew toy."
"More like it's catnip mouse."
"Whatever."
"Hey come on. How about we take these fella's out shopping for some clothes?"
"And shoes!" Ern piped.
Yuffie rolled on to her side. She looked around at them all for a moment, before shaking her head, "Naw, you guys go ahead. Here," she handed Beatrix some gil. "Go on. And there's some extra so you guys can have brunch or something…"
Beatrix frowned at the gil in her hand. "Yuffie…This is your money. It wouldn't feel right if we just left without you!"
Meridian nodded, speaking for the first time from his place next to the window. "Yes, please. You must join us."
Julius grinned, "Yeah, we need someone else besides Beatrix to harp on our clothes."
Beatrix stuck her tongue out at him. "Stupid git."
Yuffie waved them off. "Just go already! I'll be perfectly fine here by myself!"
Beatrix bit her lip. "…You sure?"
"'Course I am! Now beat it, all of you, before I zap you into lycan light bulbs!"
Beatrix smiled weakly. "All right…we'll be back soon."
Yuffie watched silently as they all left, a false smile plastered onto her face to dismiss any doubts on their part. When she was left alone, the door closing behind them, the smile fell of her face like a hanging picture on a wall.
Leaning her head back, she sighed heavily.
--
"I don't feel like going back to my room, not with that crowd there…but what else can I do? I can't think of any other places I can look at, and there isn't much fun I can have by myself."
Standing unsurely at a street corner, Tifa tried to think of something to do. Had she ever had this much trouble back in Costa? Probably not. She was too busy wallowing in her own self-pity.
The fighter felt something brush against her leg and looked down to see Spider was still with her. She grinned sheepishly, "I'm sorry, for a moment I forgot you were there."
The cat licked its lips and its tail thumped the ground once.
Tifa frowned, "Well I'm sorry, Spider! You're just so quiet sometimes!"
Sighing, she scratched her head, "Well…I have some extra cash, and I guess I could go shopping…"
As she debated whether or not shopping would be worth her time and money, Spider was looking down the street, her body unnaturally stiff. Crouching low to the ground, she began to slink away. Tifa looked up in time to see her disappear into another street.
Frowning, Tifa made as if to follow her, but then thought against it and went the other way, back into the heart of town.
"She'll come back when she wants. Meanwhile I'm going to go and buy some new clothes. Shiva knows I need to."
--
"An here's the memorial statue to Biggs, Wedge, an' Jessie. We hired the best sculptors we could find to make this here thing, an' if anyone deserves it, they would."
"It's great, Barret."
"Very beautiful."
"…That girl's nose is off."
Rae stomped on Jenila's foot with her heel, and Jenila gave a small shout. Barret and Cloud gave them both a look, and Rae waved them off dismissively. "I'm sorry, my friend has a bit of a mouth. Don't take anything she says seriously."
Barret scowled and turned, looking back at the statue more closely. Cloud muttered to Rae on the side. "Is this how you plan on getting the others to help?"
Rae held her hands up, "Hey I said sorry! Jenila can be impulsive and rude sometimes. If I could control what she said, I would! Honestly!"
Meanwhile, Jenila was nursing her foot muttering curses under her breath. "Plucker!" she seethed, giving Rae the deadliest look she could muster.
Rae slapped her arm, "Watch your mouth, there's a little girl standing barely five feet away from you!"
"Oh give me a break, she doesn't' know what that word means!"
"Well I do, so watch it or I'll freeze your mouth shut!"
"Please do…" Cloud muttered, turning away.
"There ain't nothing wrong with Jessie's nose!" Barret exclaimed, pulling away.
Marlene tugged on his shirt, "Daddy, can we have lunch?"
He frowned down at her, "Now?"
"Yes! I'm hungry!"
He sighed, "All right…we'll get some food."
--
She was sitting in darkness. Complete and total darkness. It blew against her skin, cold and musty, the stench of the black sea tickling her senses and making her cringe in disgust.
She reached a hand out, trying to feel something, trying to reach someone, but she touched nothing. The air around her was eerily quiet, so quiet that she could only hear her heartbeat and shallow breaths. There was nothing. There was only emptiness, and she was lost in it. But she knew that for those lost, they had either one of two names.
Jane or John.
In this case, she knew, she was Jane.
Jane looked around in despair wanting desperately to cry out for help but feeling too afraid to break the silence hanging around her. It was like glass, and if she shattered it, it would cut her with its shards.
There was a tugging at her neck, and with the tug came the jingle of her bell. The bell on her collar. Frightened, Jane clutched at it, afraid it would make more noise, but the invisible force tugging at her collar pulled hard, and she was jerked violently forward. Fruitlessly, she tried to fight against the force, this invisible leash, but she couldn't resist and she found herself following the pull.
A door appeared suddenly before her and the abrupt change in color made her squint her eyes. Reflexively, Jane reached out a hand to keep from walking into it, but like water her hand fell through, and she soon followed it, staring in surprise.
She was now in a room, a child's room, with toys strewn about the floor and a crib on the sidewall. But she closed her eyes to it all, a whimper building up in her throat.
The room was bathed in blood.
Small bloody handprints were smeared on the walls, the crib oozing with crimson life, and the toys covered in the liquid. And the dolls…dripping, saturated, but smiling.
Still smiling.
The invisible leash pulled and Jane started walking again, heading for the door before her. She squeezed her eyes more tightly shut and bowed her head, too afraid to see what the next room would contain.
She felt herself pass through the door, and the pull of the leash died away, leaving her standing in the middle of the new room. Still refusing to open her eyes, she clenched her fists and tried to think of something happy.
Sadly, Jane found she couldn't.
A hand fell heavily upon her shoulder and Jane jumped, eyes snapping open. She saw a pair of orange sneakers in front of her, and slowly looking up, she was greeted with the face of a girl.
She was only slightly smaller than her, and looked extremely young and cheerful. Her bright face was a sharp contrast from the room before, and Jane was a little dazed at the abrupt change. But she knew this face. This girl. She had seen her somewhere before, she was sure.
The girl grinned a grin that looked almost too big for her face. "Heya!" she chirped, bouncing slightly.
Jane smiled weakly in return, a strange feeling beginning to swell inside of her.
The girl adjusted the large shield on her left arm, blowing her hair out of her eyes. "'Guess yer stuck here like us. You're a funny lookin' one, but we don't get many people down here anyhow, so I guess beggars can't be choosers… It's SO dull in here. The others are pains, they're always telling me what to do and thinking they're better than me. They call me Naïve. I dunno why or what it means. I think its foreign'r something."
Jane frowned at this and looked around the large empty room. The room was blank and there was but a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Occasionally it would flicker, and Jane thought this sad, since it's light barely made it to the walls anyhow.
Leaning carelessly against a wall was another girl, similar to Naive in appearance but wearing slightly different clothes. She didn't have an arm length shield on her left arm, nor sneakers, or a calf bracelet with straps and a fishnet stocking on her left leg. Instead she wore orange boots and white stockings, a blue belt around her waist and a yellow scarf around her neck.
Holding a throwing star between her index and middle finger, Jane and the other girl locked eyes.
The girl smirked and kicked off the wall, pocketing her star as she approached.
Jane's grin widened. The feeling inside her grew.
The girl crossed her arms arrogantly and cocked her head to one side, "Nice collar." She said, eyebrow quirking.
Naive snickered.
Jane, blushing, grabbed at her bell. The girl placed her hands on her hips. "I'm Brash. And this, in case you hadn't noticed it already, is Naïve-"
"I already told her that-!"
"Shut it! …Now, Jaded should be here soon and-"
"Who's this?"
They looked back in surprise and Jane let out a laugh as she spotted who they were looking at.
The other girl, Jaded, was standing behind Naïve and Brash. She had a blank expression on her face, her shoulder length hair-hanging limp around her face and her bangs falling into her eyes so that they were barely visible. She wore a thick winter jacket and gloves, with snow boots on her feet.
Jaded blinked at the sight of Jane.
"…Hey." She said, waving slowly.
Jane waved eagerly back, tears of happiness in her eyes. She knew these people! She was sure of it! She had seen them so many times before, staring back at her, and now that they were here again, she wouldn't be alone anymore!
Jaded blinked slowly. "So…uh…what are you, new? What's your name?"
At this Jane faltered. She stared blankly at the others and after a few moments Brash waved a hand impatiently in her face. "Yo! Earth to kitty!"
Jane frowned. Kitty?
Naïve put her hands high on her hips. "Hey! Come one! Tell us who you are already!"
Jane took a step back. Who she was?
…Who was she?
"Look just tell us who you are!"
"What's yer' name?"
"Just who the heck are you?"
Jane took another step back, shaking her head. She tried to speak but found she couldn't. Her tail was whipping anxiously behind her…
…She had a tail!?
The others were starting to look angry…
…These people…She knew she had seen them before, she was sure of it…many times in fact…
Where was that laughing coming from?
…But had she ever talked to them like this? Confronted them like this? …She couldn't recall ever doing so…
They were starting to shout at her now. Growing angrier by the second. Jane only sobbed and reached her hands up to cover her ears when she realized they weren't on the sides of her head, like they were supposed to be.
They were on top, and far from human.
…The feeling inside her shrank into nothing, the emptiness filling it and giving it shape disappearing completely. They had been empty feelings.
Brash grabbed her wrist. "Tell us who you are, dammit!"
Naive grabbed her other wrist, "Yeah! Tell us!"
She fought in vain, pulling against their grips. Jaded held the point of a dagger at her throat, her eyes glassy.
"Tell us your name…" she demanded quietly. "Tell us your name or I swear you'll never be able to speak it again."
Jane shook her head, her eyes widening in terror. "I…" she swallowed and tried again, her voice a hoarse whisper. "I…don't know…who…I am…" But then realization hit her and the fear subsided.
This wasn't right.
She had seen these people before. She recognized them. She remembered them. But…
…She didn't know them.
Scowling, she leaned forward, ignoring the dagger as it pricked her skin, a small drop of blood trickling down her throat. "Who are YOU?"
And it were as if blew them all away with a cannon. They flew, screaming, through the air until they hit the walls, where their bodies scattered into shadows.
Bewildered Jane stared around her, blinking rapidly in confusion.
Once again, she heard the laughing coming from somewhere, warped and eerie. The room around her faded away, and she was plunged back into darkness. In despair she sank down onto the ground, listening sorrowfully as the laughing faded into the distance…
Then Yuffie woke with a start, sitting up in the bed like a bullet. Glancing around her, she saw that she was still alone in the hotel room and with a sigh she wiped at her sweaty face. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep. How long had she been out? And what was up with that dream?
"Man…that felt so real…"
--
"What do you want Jenila?"
"Tortilla chips."
"That's…not on the menu."
"I don't care. I want tortilla chips."
Sitting in a diner somewhere in town, Rae was trying to get Jenila to cooperate and order something.
…But Jenila wasn't having it.
"I'm not eating anything but tortilla chips."
Rae meanwhile was trying her best not to bash her head in with the napkin dispenser.
"Well then you're just going to go hungry now aren't you?" she snapped, tossing the menu onto the table.
Jenila raised a pointed finger. "On the contrary. I'm going to get tortilla chips. Right now. With or without you people."
Rae stared at her. "Jenila you can't be serious!"
"When aren't I?"
"Just about all the time, last I checked." Rae muttered, rolling her eyes.
Jenila snorted. "And let me guess, YOU are serious all the time?"
"Not all the time, of course, but when I need to be."
"Oh that's right. You're all about 'protocol'…"
"…Jenila what are you getting at?"
Cloud cleared his throat. "Guys…"
Jenila grinned humorlessly. "You know exactly what I'm getting at Rae."
"No, really. I'd like to know."
"You're a stuck up ice queen."
"…Oh am I?"
Cloud grit his teeth. Barret gave him a look before quietly muttering to Marlene to go and sit at the counter where he could see her. Turning back to him, he mouthed, "Just what the hell is the matter with them!?"
The swordsmen could only shrug and when he opened his mouth to try again, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Automatically he turned around, but saw nothing. Frowning, he looked at Barret, who frowned at him.
Cloud blinked, then shook his head and reached a hand out to tap Rae on the arm. Meanwhile, Rae and Jenila's argument had disintegrated into shouted insults.
But once again he was stopped when someone yanked out a strand of his hair. He gave a small yelp, and the two women across from him stopped momentarily to look at him before continuing as if nothing had happened.
Annoyed, Cloud turned around, ready to shoo away the brat kid who did it when he was once again faced with no one. He scowled. "The heck-?"
"Hey!"
He blinked again, and this time looked around in the air. "…Is…that you Noku?"
The faeries voice seemed to come from nowhere, and he found it unnerving. "Where are you?" he hissed, trying not to look like he was talking with thin air. But Barret heard him and he was torn between staring at him and the two fighting angels.
"I'm using an invisibility charm right now! I've been following you the entire time!"
Cloud sighed, "You could have told me that to begin with…"
"Sorry…but I've gotta warn you."
"About what?"
"Don't try to get involved in any of Rae and Jenila's fights. It's taboo, y'know? Bad stuff happens, and they don't even have to notice you're there. Usually they don't notice you at all. They get so into it that everything around them kind of disintegrates. They're kind of notorious for it. The best thing to do is wait at a distance for them to stop. No matter what, they always make up. It's what makes them partners."
"I believe you. But all these people, what if those two start to really fight. Someone might try to…'get involved'."
"Jenila's the only one ya really gotta worry about, I hear she can sometimes loose her head. But they aren't dumb. They know they can't use their powers in public."
"You better be right…"
Barret hit him in the back. "Hey, who you talkin' to!?"
Cloud grimaced. "Uh…look, I'll explain later…"
"Later!? How about now? These two look like they're about to tear each other apart!" and with that he stood, looking his meanest. "Hey, why don't the both a you shut the hell up!?"
But neither of the women seemed to hear him.
"Oh go screw an incubus!"
"Why don't you fly into the sun?"
"Gods, sometimes I wish I did!" Jenila shouted, slamming her palms on the table as she stood, nearly knocking her chair over.
Rae did the same, "Well then why the hell don't you!?" she screamed.
"You know, I have no idea! I'll just go do that now!"
"You do that!"
"Fine, I will!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
And with an enraged scream, Jenila stormed out of the restaurant, nearly knocking a waiter off his feet on her way out.
As all of this happened, it was all Barret and Cloud could do but watch. Rae sat back down in her chair, and Barret pointed a finger at her, ready to shout at her for her behavior, but she squeezed her eyes shut with a groan and he stopped.
"I'm sorry…" she muttered, "I'll…I'll be back in a second…"
Rae stood slowly from her seat, her cheeks a light pink as she felt all eyes rest on her. Swallowing, she left the restaurant.
Barret stared after her, shaking his head. "Yo, man. If what ya'll are tellin' me is true. Then do you really think they're the ones to pull this off?"
Cloud sighed, "You know, I really have no idea…"
"An' did I tell you this is all kinda hard to believe to begin wid'?"
"Yeah…more than once."
"So then why are you trusting them so damn much?"
"I don't know."
"You're messed up man."
"Yeah, I am."
--
"Jenila, stop…I wanna talk."
"Well I don't."
"Oh, NOW you don't?"
"What the hell do you want Rae?"
"Well if you'd just stop for a second I could tell you!"
Jenila stopped, and rolling her eyes, she turned around, her arms crossed haughtily over her chest. Rae came to a slow stop before her, looking miffed. Standing the middle of a small plaza, they attracted a lot of stares, but neither noticed.
They were too busy glaring at each other.
"Look, I know not even you get mad over something as small as tortilla chips." Rae said, placing a hand on her hip. "So tell me what you're really mad about."
Jenila snorted. "You don't care."
"Of course I do. Why else would I be asking?"
"You're just doing this because you feel like you have to. Because you're thinking, 'Sweet gods, now I have to pacify the psycho bitch so she doesn't blow up again and the others start thinking we're fulla shit'!"
Rae ruffled her hair with a scream. "Goddammit, Jenila! …You know what? Yes. That's exactly why I'm here. Frankly, I could care LESS why you're really mad, because I KNOW it's something ridiculously stupid anyways! The others probably think we're jokes now, no thanks to you!"
"Well it's so nice to hear you being honest with your feelings for fucking once!" Jenila sneered. "And you know what? It's my turn. I really could care less about this 'mission', Rae. This is politics. We don't DO politics! The light mages knew it, Ulysses knew it, you knew it, and I knew it! We fight. We don't act 'polite'. That's not what they made us for, dammit! And I'm not going to pretend like I like any of this and I'm sure as hell not going to pretend to be anything I'm not!"
Jenila stood, shoulders heaving, her face a deep shade of crimson and her fists balled tightly at her sides. They were attracting a crowd now, and people were giving them strange looks, muttering to each other.
Rae was blinking at Jenila, her face almost as red as the woman's across from her. Turning her head slightly, she glanced around at the crowd forming around them, and she rolled her eyes skyward.
"Dammit…Jenila…I'm sorry."
Jenila only glared at her from where she stood, and Rae sighed wearily. "I mean it…" stepping forward, she gripped Jenila's shoulders. "I'm sorry."
For a moment the raven head said nothing, only stared into her companions eyes intensely, as if checking to see whether or not the blonde was being sincere.
But then Jenila's eyes flickered to the crowd around them, and her gaze narrowed. "Hey! Are we entertaining you? Beat it scumbags!"
The crowd quickly dispersed in the face of her wrath, and Rae only shook her head, a smile on her face.
"You're tactless." She said, shoving Jenila playfully.
Jenila smirked. "Well it worked, didn't it?"
Rae's smile widened. "Come on…let's get something to eat."
"All right…But I still want tortilla chips."
--
"How about this Trixy?"
"It looks fine. And don't call me 'Trixy'."
"Why not?"
"It makes me sound like a kid."
"Oh…that's right…you're too pretty to be just a kid."
"Don't start, Julius, or you'll be limping all the way back to the hotel room."
"Aw, come now love. Are you still worried about Yuffie?"
"Don't tell me you actually fell for that façade of hers!"
"…It was a façade?"
"…Gods, I swear, men are so thick…"
Browsing through the clothes of some out of the way men's store, Beatrix watched as the others picked out clothes that she normally would have given them hell about. But now she was too busy thinking about a certain hanyou…
"Look, Beatrix, I've got some extra money left over. Why don't you go buy a shirt or something?"
She glared at Julius, "No."
He sighed, "All right…but thinking about it won't help. Yuffie's stubborn. She'll try to figure out whatever's wrong on her own. In the mean time, you've just got to deal with it."
Beatrix snorted. She had tried to help cheer Yuffie up by helping her pick out new clothes so she wouldn't feel so insecure. But apparently, her problems ran deeper than just appearance. Seeing Tifa again had set her off balance. True, Beatrix hadn't been expecting it either, but it had happened, and the girl knew there was nothing left to do but go with the flow. If only Yuffie could realize that, then maybe she wouldn't be so depressed…
Absently, Beatrix walked past the others and out of the store onto the sidewalk. There she stood, pondering what she could do to help.
Yuffie may be stubborn, but so was she. She was determined to find a way to get Yuffie out of her slump and keep her out of it.
"Well…we took care of her appearance problem…" Beatrix murmured, starting to walk. "But that obviously isn't enough…so just what else can I do? What else does she need?"
The smells and sounds around her went in and out of her radar like flies, too small and insignificant for her conscious mind to pick up on. There was a pretzel vendor nearby. She could smell the food from where she was. The man that just walked past her reeked of cologne; he really needed to lay off of it. The car exhaust was faint. For whatever reason there weren't many cars on this street…And Ifrit to hell, how much shampoo did that woman have to use on her hair!?
Beatrix's head jerked up at this thought, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
Shampoo? It was the cheapish kind. Like…
The kind hotels used.
Head snapping around, the redhead searched and quickly found what she was looking for. Long brown hair, white sweater, and jeans. Yep. That was her. She was sure of it.
Eyes set on her target, Beatrix turned right around and quickly followed after the woman, feeling her heart hammer in her chest. If Yuffie found out she was doing this, she would kill her. Just flat out kill her. But really…it was for the cat girl's own good. Still, this didn't calm Beatrix much.
She was going to approach a world-renowned hero after all, and on the queerest of circumstances no less.
Praying silently to Artemis, Beatrix reached out a shaky hand and tapped the woman on the shoulder.
Tifa stopped, and turned around, a puzzled look on her face. Beatrix still held her hand up, and opened her mouth as if to speak, but the most that came out was a squeak. The woman stared at her, and she tried again, inwardly kicking herself.
"I…um…" she bit her lip and shifted her weight to one foot.
Tifa frowned slightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes?"
Beatrix closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This isn't easy…" Nervously she laughed, "Ah-"
"You're the one from the IBS!"
Beatrix glanced at Tifa sharply, feeling her face redden. "Um…yeah. I am."
Tifa smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry about what happened. I hope I didn't scare your friend, she just…reminded me of someone."
Beatrix shook her head quickly, "No! No, she's fine! She was just…caught off guard, that was all."
"I suppose anyone would if a perfect stranger came up to them like that…" the woman chuckled nervously.
Beatrix did the same. "Um…yeah…well. About that." And it was here that she paused. Just what the heck WAS she planning anyways? For her and Yuffie to meet? To explain to Tifa that it was actually Yuffie she had seen in the bank? Just about everything she came up with sounded like suicide.
She sighed defeatedly. "My name's Beatrix…"
Tifa smiled a small puzzled smile. "My name's Tifa."
"Yeah, I know." Beatrix straightened her back, "That's kind of why I wanna talk with you…"
Tifa's smile faltered and Beatrix quickly corrected herself. "I mean not to get an autograph or anything! Bugging you is the last I wanna do, believe me! …But you see…look I know I said that you're speaking to my friend earlier didn't bother her…but it kind of did…"
Tifa blinked slowly. "Um…okay? Is…there anything I can do?"
Beatrix bit her lip and thought as quickly as she could. "My friend…she knew someone that you used to know yourself…"
At this Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Yeah!" Beatrix nodded and tried to keep the grin from forming on her face. She had it! "Yuffie Kisaragi. They were good friends, and they haven't seen each other in a week."
Now, she could tell, she had the fighter's full and undivided attention. "She…knows where Yuffie is?"
Beatrix shook her head, "Not lately. She lost contact with Yuffie some days ago. She was really worried, and when she saw you, she kind of blanked out. You left before she could say anything. She was so upset afterwards, that, well…I'm worried about her well being."
"Oh…" Tifa looked down at the ground. She seemed to be deep in thought, and Beatrix was trying to resist the urge to go skipping around in joy. "I…I haven't spoken with Yuffie for almost two years. But…I-" she looked up at Beatrix, wringing her hands. "I'd like to speak with your friend, if that's all right."
Beatrix smiled slowly.
"Yes. I think she'd like that too…"
--
It was humid, the air thick and choking his lungs, the occasional echo in the hall outside the chamber filling him with dread each time. The amber light of the torches played shadows across the floor and the walls, and he watched them darkly, ragged breaths rushing past his dry cracked lips. The dirt floor was stained.
Stained with his blood.
Carved into his chest and back were symbols. Demonic symbols, that somehow, distantly, he understood.
A sense of panic and urgency overtook him and he pulled and tugged at the chains holding his arms up over his head. The shackles cut into his wrists, and he winced slightly as he fought to free himself.
Death, destruction, darkness…
He could almost taste it all in his mouth, like a poison, trying to kill whatever was left of his sanity…whatever was left of HIM.
He had to escape, had to get away.
The chamber door opened and his head snapped around, a bestial growl forming in his throat.
He hadn't heard anyone approaching.
Standing there, hand still on the door, was a woman.
She was a beautiful woman, with long cascading curls that splashed across her creamy shoulders, a flowing white dress showing off her long shapely legs. She seemed otherworldly and completely out of place. She looked like a goddess.
…She also looked like the bane of all men.
A soft smile playing across her lips, she approached him, unfazed at his battered, bloodied state.
Crimson eyes staring through a curtain of black, Vincent Valentine gave the woman the coldest look he could muster.
Running a finger along his sweat glazed chest, the woman cocked her head to one side. "Mr. Valentine." She said, more of a statement then a question.
Vincent said nothing. He reverted his gaze to the ground, trying not to flinch as she ran her fingers over his wounds.
"You've given us quite a run for our money, I assure you." He could hear the smile in her voice, "I actually had to pin-point you myself. Ultera has never had so much trouble finding a target before. I think she was impressed you lasted as long as you did."
Taking a sweaty strand of hair between her fingers, she tugged on it, "But we've got you now."
"What do you want from me…"
The question was abrupt. Vincent still didn't lift his head, only continued to stare at the ground. Years ago, he never would have asked such a question. It was mundane and useless, something that only the desperate and frightened asked. But…it seemed after everything, his training as a Turk still had not been thorough enough. The past few months had been spent surviving in the most primitive way imaginable.
So unlike a Turk.
The woman moved back a little, sighing like a mother to a child. "Why do you even ask? Even bother wasting your breath?"
Vincent didn't say anything again. He only closed his eyes and swallowed.
"You know what we want Mr. Valentine. And we won't stop until we get it…"
Vincent glanced up at her, eyes narrowing as her voice trailed off. She was frowning and looking toward the door, her eyes turning glassy.
After a moment, she looked back at him.
"It's hard to find good help these days, Mr. Valentine." The woman sighed.
Vincent felt blood trickle down his arms from his cut wrists, and he focused on the wall ahead of him, tightening his jaw. The woman reached a hand up and wiped at it, grinning. "Trying to free ourselves, were we?" she chuckled, "You'll have to pull alot harder than that to break free of those chains, dear."
After another moment of silence, she sighed and stroked his hair, and Vincent jerked away from her, scowling.
"I figured you'd be the silent type." She said, smirking. "But we'll see how silent you are once we begin."
"Begin what?" he asked, eyes snapping onto her.
She smiled. "You'll see."
She turned for the door. "Oh." Stopping, she turned back to him, fiery eyes glinting.
"My name is Elmiryn. It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Valentine."
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A/N: Another chapter done, more paths opened.
How did you like that dream of Yuffie's? Was it weird? Too confusing?
At times I wonder if I've been under some kind of illusion that the chapters I write are good, then I wonder about the story itself, and then I question whether I ever really could write to begin with.
Oh woe is me, for I am an angsty teen with a self esteem problem.
Le sigh…
As always, thank you all for reading. Please leave a review and relieve me of my misery so that I may strive through the next chapter before I chop off both my hands.