Chapter 3 - Mysterious Girl
Despair engulfed the girl's emotions, as I stared at her silently. She was trapped.
I stared at her predatorially. Why? I'm not quite so sure...Nevertheless, my awareness was on edge.
Her eyes darted left to right, refusing to believe that I blocked her best route to escape. I took a moment to fully take in her appearance.
She had pale, ice, blue eyes, almost white in color, and jet, black hair, that gleamed like obisidian. It was long and straight, and appeared to reach below her shoulder about one or two inches. She was about five foot six, or eight inches tall. Just barely reaching to my shoulders, anyways.
She wore a short, interesting skirt. I say interesting, as it was nothing like I had ever seen before. It was ripped and raggedy, very gothic-like, I guess you could say. Her shirt bore a very medieval style, with bell sleeves, which were made of a see-through, mesh-like material, and also had a wide, round collar, that had a v-shaped slit down the middle, that was laced up with a thin, scarlet-colored lace. Her boots came up to her knees. They were combat issue, with various straps going up the front.
I felt strange, watching this girl, who felt trapped. Thinking back on it, I cannot still comprehend the reasoning, it was simply far too primitive for my tastes.
"What are you doing in this place?" Vincent chimed, through the eerie silence the city created, authority dominated his tone.
"I could ask you the same, outsider." she said, countering, with her english accent. Her tone didn't hint the slightest confidence, as she began to take a few steps backwards. His prescence was clearly intimidating, and frightening to her.
Vincent stood firmly in place. The girl made a good point. As he pondered his answer, his stare fell momentarily to the ground. How could he answer, or dare to even ask such a question, when he wasn't even sure if he was being intrusive in the sacred place himself?
Hoping to take advantage of his carelessness, the raven-haired girl took off in a sprint in the opposite direction, searching frantically for any spot she could turn to and hide.
Vincent's head shot up, as he heard her soft-soled boots begin to pad away at a quick pace. He cursed himself silently, with a growl, as she had managed to run for the second time. Slightly annoyed, he dashed after her, fixating his gaze on the middle of her back.
It may not have been his business to be here, in the first place. In fact, his mind just told him to give up, and leave her alone. But something urged Vincent forward, to follow closely, and learn more.
As the girl turned into a small hallway, she was met with a tall, concrete wall. A dead end. Vincent slowed to a walk, as he entered the hallway, "Will you answer some questions for me, now?" he questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
The girl let out a desperate moan, as she caught her breath, and fell to her knees, 'He told me I wouldn't be safe....' she thought, sadly, "You don't know what it's like. Why can't you just leave me alone?" she croaked, now sounding slightly annoyed.
"I don't know why I've followed you this far." Vincent said, answering the girl's question, "Believe me, I don't ordinarily go out of my way for things so trivial."
Her face stared blankly at the ground, clearly discomforted by the prescence of Vincent. Her body shivered in fright, "What do you want with me?" she asked, quietly.
"How do you know of this city?" he asked, bluntly, letting his arms fall to his sides, slowly, his gaze relaxing from a hard stare.
"The voices guided me here, to this sacred place." she said quietly. From her tone, she sounded apathetic, almost as though she had given up her struggle, and decided to just tell vincent whatever he wanted to know.
"Voices?" he scoffed, his lip twitching slightly with the new discovery. His mind began racing, searching for possible explanations. Perhaps she had multiple personalities, or was just plain crazy? Perhaps this was why she tried desperately to hide herself? To keep from being brought back to whatever Insane Asylum she had escaped from?
"A young girl, and man led me here." she said, vaguely, hoping to not have to say much more about the subject.
Vincent's eyes widened. It happened like before, when someone he had known had found this city......"You're a Cetra?!" he asked, somewhat bewildered.
She sat silently, staring at Vincent flabbergasted, "Who are you?!" she demanded, jumping to her feet, "How do you know of the Cetra?!"
"Calm down," he said, gently, raising his arms, peacefully, "The reason I know of them, is the same reason I know of this place and visit it frequently." he explained.
"The girl...." she said, thoughtfully, relaxing from her tense, protective stance.
Vincent nodded silently, a pained look coming to his face, as he recalled memories of the kind, Cetra girl, "She helped us against meteor several years ago."
She stood silently, and shuffled her feet nervously. She could easily tell that the death of the cetra girl; Aerith, she knew was her name, though she dared not speak it, caused this man before her deep pain. "She was a close friend of yours?" she asked, kindly.
He nodded again.
"I want to meet the others that knew her." she said, suddenly.
"Why for?" he asked, confused by her sudden outburst of passion.
"She hates to see me so lonely." she said with a pained smile, "I couldn't bare it much longer, besides."
His stare was cold, like that of a cat preparing to pounce on it's prey. His eyes froze my legs to stand firmly in place. When he first spoke to me, it was easy to tell he was annoyed with my disobedience to speak with him. I was determined to make my escape before he could find out what I was.
I can't recollect if it was my nervousness, or just the relief of talking to someone who didn't want to turn me over to ShinRA researchers. But I felt like I was safe in this situation. So I opened myself up to him, letting him know of the male and female voices which guided me. I felt like he knew nothing of my heritage.
His voice was unusually soft for someone with such a hard stare. For someone whose face had seen so much pain. So it relieved me when I finally heard his words, allowing me to meet with the others that knew of Aerith, the female voice which guided me to this beautiful city of the Cetra, even recalling to me the day of her death and burial. It sounding as though she never regretted a moment of her life.
As we made our way out of the city, I recalled to Vincent the first day I had seen him and his friends chasing after me, as I was on the grassy knoll picking the wild flowers. I told him I picked the sweet-smelling, purple flowers to make a small bouquet to throw into the water as a gift to her.
We talked for what seemed like hours, as we waited for his friends to arrive in their airship. He had called for them from a small cellphone. Now all that was left, was to wait, as we sat on the small beach that the island had.
I sat, relaxed, staring up at the cloudless, blue sky, now turning a pink and orange, as the sun prepared it's descent into the horizon. Relaxed. It was a new concept I felt I was going to enjoy for a long time.