Author's Note: Same as before.. 'specially the review/feedback whore bit. Oh! One more thing.. this is unfortunately the shortest chapter so far. So short, in fact, that it's more a filler than anything, and I apologize. ;; I write these things during class.. and I always get distracted by something or other.. like Alisha. Or my Saxxy Beast.

Disclaimer: Same as before. Pondering upon Jack Ooh, my dear, beloved Jack.. drool

Rating: Same as before (R), though it's pretty much nowhere past the PG level right now for content… Goddamn me.

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If Locke was alive, then this was most definitely the town that gave Celes the most chance of running into him.. so why the hell was she there? Maybe it was the risk, maybe it made her feel dangerous.. or maybe she was just hoping she'd see him, but whatever it was, it had taken her to Kohlingen, and now she was looking around for a room to rent for the next few weeks so that she could settle down somewhere and decide what direction her life would have to take now.

She could probably afford to just sleep at the Inn for the duration of her stay, but she wasn't exactly sure just how many weeks it would take before she would have everything cleared up.. and besides, the Inn wouldn't exactly be the most comfortable place to stay, anyway. With that in mind, she set off for the Pub, fully intending on asking around about rooms for rent.

Now, she must have been extremely lucky, because the first person she talked to-- a woman that only looked to be about six years older than she was-- had information on a room for rent; there was a problem, though, and that was that the owner of the house hadn't been in town for over a year.

"You could look around if you want to, though," offered the woman, "I have a spare key, since I take care of the place whenever he disappears like that. If you like the place enough, I'm sure I could work something out where you just pay me the money and I give it to him whenever he shows up again."

Celes thought about it, and figured that it would be worth a short. "Yeah," she nodded, "alright."

The woman led Celes out to a somewhat old, but still quite nice looking, average sized house that was deeper into the forest than most of the other homes were.

"You can just look around inside on your own for a while, if you'd like," offered the woman, while unlocking the door for Celes, "I have some things I need to go and do-- I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

"What's your name?" asked Celes.

"Natalya," was her answer.

The younger of the two nodded, "Well, thank you." Celes went inside the house as Natalya turned and left.

When she walked in, she found herself in one big room that was empty save for a couch; the room was covered in about four weeks worth of dust, and Celes had to fight back the urge to sneeze. She looked around, noting two doorways: one in the right corner of the room, and one just directly ahead of her-- she went through the door that was across from her, and found herself in a very empty looking kitchen. There was a pantry to her left, and a door to her right (it connected with the one in the room she'd just left). Celes went through the door to her right and into what was most definitely the hallway; there were three doors: one into a bathroom, one into an empty, spare room, and one into another room that had nothing but a dresser and a big bed in it; she sat down on the edge, yawning.

"It's nice.." she mumbled to herself, suddenly feeling very tired.

She turned and looked down at the dusty comforter that she was sitting on, wondering if it would be a big deal if she just had a nap while waiting for Natalya to return.

"It shouldn't matter," Celes told herself; grabbing the comforter and pulling it back before curling up where it used to be-- she didn't want to lay in the dust. She was about to close her eyes when something caught her eye: there were dark bloodstains in random places all along the bed sheet on which she was currently resting. It took her tired mind a moment or two to process this, and then she was up and on her feet, staring slightly wide-eyed at the bed and briefly wondering why there would even be blood there at all. Studying the nature of the red stains, and where they were they were generally found, Celes assumed that whoever owned this place either was, or had been a cutter.

"This place isn't seeming so nice any more," she half-growled-- she hated cutters; she believed that people who were too weak to deal with their problems in any other way could definitely not be even remotely intelligent.

Celes was startled from her thoughts by the voice of Natalya: "Miss! Excuse me, miss.." and from the corner of her eye, Celes saw the other woman entering the room; she seemed to not notice anything strange about the bed.

The taller of the two(that would be Celes) turned to face the shorter, forcing a smile, "Yes?"

"You're in luck," Natalya beamed, "the owner of the house is in town-- here's right here, in fact. Want me to go and get him for you?" she asked, seeming very excited; like a woman who had just seen an old friend for the first time in ages.

Celes politely shook her head, "That's okay," she said, briefly running her eyes over the bed she was standing beside, "I don't think that I'll be staying--"

"--he's really happy that somebody has shown interest!" Natalya interrupted.

Celes had to fight the frustration that rose in her voice, "Oh. Well, alright hen," she mumbled, glancing down to look at the floor and wondering if the other woman had even paid any attention whatsoever to anything she'd said.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Natalya, before quickly leaving the room. Celes was left alone for a good five minutes, and she didn't bother trying to understand what the voices in the hallway were talking about.

She heard somebody enter the room, but did not yet look up-- she could tell that it was not Natalya, because this person walked in a much quieter way. It was odd, really, since men normally had heavier footsteps than women, and especially women as tiny as Natalya was.

"Celes." said a voice, and the woman in question felt her body freeze up instantly-- the voice was familiar for her, far too familiar, actually.. It was the voice that she normally would have instantly calmed upon hearing, though now all it did was scare her beyond belief; it was the voice that she had been trying to get out of her head for months.

She must have been silent for a very long time, because the voice repeated itself somewhat urgently-- now obviously trying to get her attention: "Celes."

"No," she breathed, taking another long moment to try and compose herself before lifting her head up to stare at the man in the doorway.