The bonfire below caught his eye as he emerged from the canyon's tunnels, and he slowed to a stop on the landing. What was it about fire that kept tugging at his memory? He sat down at the landing's edge and stared down at the bonfire. It sat on a raised platform at the center of the village, and a number of people sat around it, talking, laughing, sharing stories. A few small children played just below the platform, still within reach of the flame's light and their parents' gazes.
Sephiroth felt a faint, nagging desire to go down and join the group, but he knew that he would not be welcome. He had never really been welcome anywhere. Even before his madness, people had either feared him, or admired him to such an extent that it was not unlike fear. He remembered that much; he had never been normal. He had never been just another villager, content to sit around and converse with neighbors. From what little he remembered, he knew that he had grown up in seclusion, removed from such people as those who now gathered around the bonfire.
"Hello," chirped a child's voice from behind him.
He glanced up to see a small girl standing there, her hair pulled into two braids that stuck out from either side of her head in an almost comical fashion. Her large eyes were a deep brown, and they seemed to amplify the smile on her face. She looked too young to remember Meteor. Likely she had no idea who she was talking to.
"Whatcha doin' all the way up here?" she asked.
"I don't belong," he answered simply, knowing she would not understand.
She leaned forward to inspect him, and then seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "Just 'cause you're an outsider doesn't mean you dun belong," she stated. She drew herself up proudly to add, "We welcome newcom'rs to Cosmo Canyon. C'mon. I'll show y'around."
For a moment he could only look at her, and so she took hold of his arm and tugged on it in a vain attempt to move him. He found that he had to smile at her antics, and he stood of his own accord.
The girl stared up at him. "Jeez, you're tall," she said.
He shrugged, looking back down at her. "What is your name?" he wondered.
"Oh, I'm Kari," she replied, thumping a hand to her chest. "Who're you?"
"Sephiroth."
She tapped her finger against her lip, thinking, then nodded to herself and took him by the hand. "Oh, I've heard about a Sephiroth afore," she said as she led him down the stairs. "He was all mean an' he had a big sword. You must be a different Sephiroth though, 'cause you're nice an' you dun hava sword."
He almost laughed at her reasoning. "What makes you think I'm nice?"
She looked up at him with a knowing look that he found somehow familiar. "I c'n tell. The way you smiled just now--see? That shows you're nice."
Strangely, Sephiroth found Kari's simple logic comforting. If this child, so innocent and lacking any pre-conceived notions, was not bothered by his presence (and in fact seemed to enjoy it), then perhaps he was not inherently evil. Surely if he was, she would be able to tell.
Having led him to the bonfire, Kari turned at its steps to face him. "This here we call the Cosmo Candle," she informed him sagely. "S'long as it burns, we're all safe an' sound. Grandpa tol' me it went out once a long time ago, an' somat very bad happened."
At her voice, one of the women noticed them and immediately leapt up, running down to jerk Kari away from the swordsman. "Kari, what are you doing?" she demanded, eyes fixed warily on Sephiroth. "Don't you know who that is?"
"Yeah," the girl replied, somewhat confused but still cheerful. "That's Sephiroth. But dun worry, Mommy, he's not the Sephiroth."
"Yes, he is," her mother said anxiously, backing away from him. "What were you thinking, walking around with him? He could have killed you!"
"No," Kari disagreed, "he's nice. I c'n tell." She twisted out of her mother's grasp. "An' I said I'd show him around."
"You'll do no such thing," her mother said, horrified and reaching to take her daughter's arm before she could go far.
"I have no intention of harming your daughter," Sephiroth interjected coolly. "But, if I make you uneasy, I am quite capable of finding my own way around."
The girl's mother shook her head. "I--"
"What's going on?" asked a kindly-looking woman with greying hair and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She had come up to the bonfire and now stood not far from Sephiroth at the base of the steps. He took a step backward to allow her more space to pass.
"Elder Margo, look!" said Kari's mother, pointing.
The Elder turned her gaze on Sephiroth, looking him over calmly. "So it's true then, that Sephiroth has come to the village." She shook her head and turned back to the younger woman. "I wouldn't worry about it, Anne. Nanaki let him in."
"Nanaki did what?"
"You heard me quite well the first time, and you know Nanaki wouldn't let Sephiroth in without good reason."
"Couldn't he have fought his way in?" Anne asked, unconvinced.
"Our Nanaki is a strong fighter," Margo said proudly. "He would not have gotten through."
"You're right," Kari's mother conceded finally. "Especially now that he has Miera to help him." She turned to Sephiroth, eyeing him dubiously. "I don't like it, but... I do trust Nanaki's judgment."
"So c'n I show him around?" Kari asked eagerly. "Can I, please?"
Anne sighed. "All right, dear. Just... be careful."
"I will!" The girl hopped back down the steps to Sephiroth, once more taking up his gloved hand and leading him past the shops that lined the village center. She seemed to have something to say about each tiny building and its owners. This shop was where her mother took her to buy clothes, that one was owned by a survivor of the Sector 7 disaster--whatever that was. This shopkeeper gave her candy sometimes, that one couldn't take his eyes off her mother.
"It sounds like this town grows bigger with each passing moment," Sephiroth commented when she at last paused to catch her breath.
"Seems like it," Kari agreed. "At first, we got a lotta people from Midgar, an' the whole place was really crowded for a while. Not so many come now, but it's still pretty steady."
The swordsman peered down at her. "You cannot be old enough to remember these things. Did your mother tell you?"
"Yep!" Kari answered. They had made a full circle around the village square, and now she started up the stairs and into the canyon. "Now, this's the library," she said, indicating the room where he had spoken to Hargo earlier. "Elder Hargo wrote a lotta the stuff, but some of it's Bugenhagen's."
"Who is Bugenhagen?" Sephiroth asked.
"I didn't know him," Kari admitted, "but he was one of the Elders, only he knew a lot more than the others. They say he was like everyone's grandpa, even Nanaki's."
"What happened to him?"
"He died just afore Meteor came."
"I see."
She led him onward, stopping before a sealed metal door. "This's the Gi Cave," she informed him. "Bugenhagen sealed it, but now pretty much everybody knows how ta open it."
"What's in there?" he wondered.
"Well, Mommy says there're monsters in there," Kari said skeptically, "but I think she's just tryin' to scare me away. Wanna check it out?"
"I am sure she had a valid reason for telling you to stay out."
"She thought you were dangerous, an' she was wrong about that, wasn't she?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "I don't think that is a very fitting comparison."
Kari rolled her eyes. "I bet you're just scared. I'm goin' in." She let go of his hand and walked over to press a hidden switch. The door slid open, and she went through without hesitation.
Scared? he wondered. No, he was certainly not afraid; he inspired fear. For a moment he had to wonder if she wasn't really safer in this Gi Cave than with him. But, he told himself, he was still lucid for now, and so not very dangerous to anyone. If he was going to snap again, it hadn't happened yet.
He followed her through the door, catching up with her at the bottom of the cave and placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. "I can smell blood," he told her quietly. "It is not safe here."
Kari turned to face him, expression defiant. She wanted to see this place with her own eyes; she needed to determine for herself whether it was dangerous or not, just as she had done with Sephiroth. Only, he doubted she could have explained this. "I'm not scared," she said.
"You should be. You have no way of defending yourself."
At this she smiled. "I have you. Since you're Sephiroth, I'm sure you c'n protect me from the monsters, if there even are any."
She wriggled out of his grasp and moved on down the dark passageway.
Sephiroth had no choice but to follow, scanning the shadows for the creatures he knew were waiting there, but nevertheless they evaded his sight.
Kari let out a clipped scream, and Sephiroth turned to find her cornered by a skeletal four-legged beast. Suddenly the Masamune was in his hand, and he darted forward to slash clean through the creature. It felt real enough as his blade met it, but when he turned to look back, he found its still form slowly vanishing. A spectre, he decided, but nevertheless real enough that its fangs drew blood.
His gaze went to Kari, who stood trembling, staring up at him with wide, fearful eyes.
He lowered the Masamune and moved closer to her, crouching down in an attempt to appear less frightening. "Are you all right?"
At his voice, she seemed to regain some of her senses, and she nodded shakily. "C-can we go back now?" she asked, not at all ashamed of her fear.
He nodded and stood. She immediately latched onto his hand, and he led her back the way they had come, willing the Masamune away--albeit with some effort--once they reached the rope leading upwards. Kari, however, refused to let go of his hand. "You'll need both your hands to climb," he told her in confusion.
She only clung to him more tightly. "I might fall."
"You were fine on the way down," he pointed out, to no avail. Fear, it seemed was quite an irrational thing. But so, too, was the lack of it; why was she not afraid of him? He crouched down beside her. "Then I'll carry you up. Is that all right?"
She nodded and quickly climbed onto his back. Straightening, Sephiroth climbed the rope upwards, bringing the both of them out of the Gi Cave. Upon reaching the top, he let Kari down and looked up to find a small group of anxious villagers gathered near the entrance.
"Mommy!" Kari cried, running at once into Anne's waiting arms.
"Kari!" Anne exhaled in relief, hugging her daughter close. "Are you all right? When Hargo told me that the Cave door was open, I was so worried! I knew it had to be you down there. And when I got here, there was a scream! What happened?"
Kari disentangled herself from her mothers arms. "I'm okay. I wanted to see what was in the Cave, so I went off by myself. Then a big monster came an' tried to eat me! But Sephiroth saved me, so it's okay now, Mommy. An' I won't go back again, I promise."
Anne hugged her again, but her startled gaze wandered to Sephiroth, who stood watching uncertainly from the shadow of the cave's entryway. "You... saved Kari?" she asked. When Sephiroth nodded silently, she bowed her head. "I thank you, and I apologize for my words earlier."
"It's all right," he replied, looking away uncomfortably. "By now I am used to harsh greetings."
"Is something wrong?" The voice belonged to a creature much like Nanaki, only its fur was more gold than orange, and it seemed to have fewer distinctive tattoos and mane ornaments. It also retained both eyes, which were a pale yellow-green.
"Not really, Miera," one of the villagers answered. "Sephiroth here just saved Kari from a monster in the Gi Cave."
"Sephiroth did...?" she wondered, turning her gaze on him in scrutiny. After a moment she grinned a cat's grin. "Well, why are you standing in the shadows? You are quite welcome with us now."
Slowly the swordsman stepped out of the cave and pressed the button to seal it. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he moved, and he turned to look at them questioningly.
By now Nanaki had come to join Miera, and she was explaining the situation in tones too low for even Sephiroth to hear. Nanaki nodded when she finished and looked up at the swordsman for a long moment. "You have changed," he said, and there was a pause. "Come," he invited, turning to walk out. Miera padded along behind him, and after a moment's hesitation, Sephiroth trailed after them.
They led him thence to the Candle, where a handful still sat, Elder Margo among them. They looked at him uneasily, but no one spoke out; they all assumed that if Nanaki and Miera had brought him, it was all right. The two felines settled down beside each other near Margo, and Sephiroth sat awkwardly to one side of the steps. He did not feel that he belonged here.
A brief silence accompanied his arrival, but then the villagers who had been there previously took their gazes from him and resumed their conversations as before. A trio of children, Kari included, started up a game, chasing each other around the Candle.
"I'm the great warrior Seto!" one exclaimed.
"I'm the greater warrior Nanaki!" another cried.
"I'm the great huntress Miera!" Kari declared.
There was a pause, and one of her friends asked, "What's a huntress?"
Sephiroth could not help but smile, though a part of him felt cheated; as a child, he knew that he had had none of these moments. He turned his gaze on the bonfire, and the flames sobered him. He thought he remembered now, that fire... That was it, Vincent had mentioned how he had burned Nibelheim. Memories from that day danced just beyond his sight, along with the smell of burning flesh and the echoes of screams.
He shook his head, but did not look away from the Candle. This was not that kind of fire; this flame was intended to protect the people of this canyon. As darkness fell, it provided them with a strong source of heat and light. It was a gathering place, a sort of altar to a nameless god.
"So, Sephiroth," Elder Margo asked him, seeming to notice his discomfort, "where did you meet that girl you came in with?"
"Some miles outside of Bone Village," he replied. When this answer did not satisfy anyone, he went on, "She was being attacked by wolves, so I stepped in."
"It seems you have a knack for rescuing people," Miera remarked, that cat-like smile ever-present on her face. "Any other instances that you'd care to mention?"
He only shook his head.
"What of Aeris?" Nanaki prompted. "What do you consider that?"
"I was the one who killed her in the first place," Sephiroth stated. "Bringing her back was no rescue."
Any harshness left Nanaki's voice, and he became merely curious. "Where is she now? Will she be visiting?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "We parted in Bone Village soon after I revived her. I do not know her plans, but considering how weak she was then, I doubt she has left yet."
"I suppose she will visit Cloud first anyway," Nanaki reflected. "For now it is enough to know that she is alive again."
"She was a close friend of yours, you said," Sephiroth said slowly. "What was she like?"
The feline eyed him strangely, as though wondering why he would care to know. "Aeris was... is in some ways a hard person to describe... On the surface she often seemed very cheerful, and yet, at the same time, there was something beyond it. She must have had a hard life, being the last of the Cetra, but she tried her best not to let it show. And then, if she thought she could help someone somehow, she would do it without a moment's hesitation. I think, maybe, that that was why she joined us."
He nodded pensively. It all seemed of a piece, but... "Did I know her?" he asked.
"You met her a few times when we confronted you."
Sephiroth shook his head. "No, I mean... before all that madness."
"I don't think so," Nanaki said, sounding certain. "She never said anything to that effect, and you never acted as though you knew each other."
"You don't remember?" Miera asked in confusion.
"No," Sephiroth replied. "There is much that I cannot remember."
"That must make this worse," she considered. "So many people hate and fear you, and yet you don't recall why."
"I may be unable to consciously recall anything, but I can still feel it. I know that they are right to fear me."
"There must be some good memories in there somewhere," Elder Margo said gently. "With what good you've done the short time since your rebirth, it would surprise me if you found nothing similar in your previous life. So why don't you just sit here a while and let the bonfire help you remember?"
Someone had said something like that to him, he thought, years ago. Bonfires are funny, aren't they? They make you remember all sorts of things. Only, that hadn't been said to him, had it? He wished he knew why he had someone else's memories jumbled together with his own. Did this have something to do with Jenova?
The others continued their conversation without him, and he stared into the fire, letting his thoughts drift. Good memories? he wondered. There had been that red-haired woman in his dream the night before. She had been a Turk, assigned to Hojo, he knew that much, but he had forgotten her name. He thought that she had been kind to him, more so than anyone else had at least.
He closed his eyes and tried to call up more memories of her. What had her name been, and why had she cared at all about him?"
"Tell me about my father," he said to the red-haired Turk who sat beside him. More and more often she came to his room without any real purpose, and so he had decided to make the most of these strange visits.
"I don't know who he was."
"You're lying," he insisted. "I am sure that you know a good deal more than you pretend to. I want to know about my father."
She hesitated, and he could tell that she wanted to tell him. "Well... There is a Vincent Valentine, and I know he loved your mother, but I don't know if he was your father."
"What was he like?"
"He was a Turk, like me." She paused and shook her head. "No, not really like me. He took it far more seriously, and I'm sure he didn't like me very much."
"Why not?"
She looked at him as though he had asked a silly question. "Most serious people don't seem to like me. I joke around too much. Or, at least, I did then."
"That's a stupid reason to dislike someone."
She smiled. "Thanks, Seph. I appreciate that."
He shifted uncomfortably. "What else can you tell me?"
"To tell you the truth, I didn't know him much better than I did your mother. He was very cold--probably what made him such a good Turk--so he was hard to get to know. He didn't like talking about himself either. But, whenever he was around Lucrecia, something about him changed. He'd open up for her."
"And what happened to him? You said he 'left,' but is that really what you meant?"
She frowned, not certain how to answer this. "He's not dead exactly, but... Hojo didn't want him in the way."
"So... is he sort of like me then?"
She shook her head. "No... Well, maybe a little. You know there aren't many people who are at all like you, Seph."
The boy's gaze dropped. "I know."
"That's not what I meant," she said quickly, but failed to explain what she had meant.
For a while there was silence between them. "Talya?" he asked at length.
"Yeah?"
"She's dead, isn't she?"
"Who?"
"My mother."
Talya looked away, sighing. "I won't lie to you anymore. She did die."
"How, though?"
"That, I don't know."
Sephiroth opened his eyes to look thoughtfully at the bonfire. So, her name was Talya. And she had thought that Vincent was his father? At first the idea struck him as absurd, but he soon realized that it seemed more plausible than the truth: that Hojo was his father. It was certainly preferable, given what he remembered of Hojo. But, surely Vincent would have known had he been the father, so he chose not to even consider it as a possibility.
He gave a slight start as Katrina sat down beside him; lost in thought, he hadn't noticed her approaching. "Hey, Seph," she greeted. "I heard you rescued yet another girl today."
"Word travels quickly around here," he remarked.
Elder Margo turned to Katrina curiously. "You're the girl who's been travelling with him, aren't you?"
"Yes, that's me," she replied. "My name's Katrina."
"What do you think of him so far? Has he been behaving?"
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the question and looked to Katrina.
"He's not real talkative," she admitted with a grin, "but he's certainly not the man I've heard about. He can be blunt, but he's far from cruel."
Margo nodded, apparently satisfied with this answer.
Katrina rocked forward so that she was sitting on her heels. "Well, anyway," she said to Sephiroth, "it's getting late, and I just came by to tell you that I got us a room at an inn."
The swordsman blinked. "I never said I would stay the night."
"You mean you planned on leaving tonight?" she asked incredulously.
He nodded.
"Well... I guess you don't need as much sleep as the rest of us, but that doesn't mean you have to travel at night. So you're staying here, and I'll see you tomorrow whenever I happen to wake up. Don't you dare leave without saying goodbye."
"Or you'll do what?" he queried, suppressing a smirk.
She hesitated, obviously not having thought this part through. "You won't have to find out if you just wait for me."
"Fine," he said, shaking his head. "Goodnight."
"G'night." Her mission accomplished, she got up and headed for the inn.
Sephiroth watched her go, then returned his attention to the bonfire. He found that his thoughts kept wandering back to Aeris, and what she had first said to him. You told me that I'd see you again. That was hardly the reaction he had expected from someone he had murdered. She had seemed almost glad to see him, and when he had not understood her meaning, she had seemed disappointed. Given that, it was hard for him to believe what Nanaki had told him. He felt almost certain that he had known her before.
He probed his memory, trying to drag out forgotten moments from wherever they were hiding. He wanted to remember her. In addition to killing her, he felt ashamed that he had forgotten her. Perhaps, a long time ago, she had meant something to him.
But however he tried, all he seemed able to bring up was that image of her kneeling on the altar, just before he had killed her, and he had no wish to dwell on that.
Sighing, he let his gaze wander, hoping dimly that something he saw might trigger a memory. When his eyes found Nanaki, he remembered what the feline had told him about Aeris. She must have had a hard life, he had said. What kind of life was that? he wondered. Surely it hadn't been anything like his.
Or had it? As the last of the Cetra, she would have been very valuable to people like Hojo. Had they known about her? Had they searched her out and captured her? Had she endured countless tests, as he had? It seemed in his memories that Talya had known full well that he was not a Cetra. To find that out, Hojo must have come across a real Cetra, and realized how different he was from them.
"I saw a girl in the hallway today."
"A girl?" Talya asked uncertainly.
"Yes. She was young, maybe four, with very green eyes."
"Oh, that's A-A04," the Turk said in recognition. "She's been here for about a month now."
It bothered him that she had referred to the girl by her number. He knew that, in his case, such an identification was fitting; he was something less than human. But surely that girl was different. "A-A04?" he queried in distaste. "Does she have a name?"
"Aeris."
"So there are others here like me then?"
"Not like you. They're different."
"I know that. I mean, there are others here who look and think like humans."
"Yes, but I wouldn't compare them to you. You're only an experiment."
So he had known her, at least briefly. It made sense; Hojo would have wanted his 'specimens' in the same facility. Thus, Sephiroth and Aeris had been in the same place, and they must have become friends of some sort. In such a place, it was difficult to form friends, but it would explain some of Aeris's apparent gladness upon seeing him. But only some; one would think that his brutal deeds would be fresher in her mind.
At length Sephiroth stood and left the Candle, not bothering to offer goodnights. He entered the inn, where the innkeeper quickly and with some nervousness told him which room was his. Nodding his thanks and ignoring the looks those at the bar were giving him, he made his way back to the room Katrina had rented.
She was already asleep in one of the two beds, he noted, and so he made sure to be quiet as he readied himself for sleep, removing his boots, his armor, and his coat. He lay down on the other bed and closed his eyes, half-hoping for dreams.
"What on earth are you trying to accomplish at that piano?" Talya asked from the doorway.
Sephiroth, seated at the bench, did not bother to look up at her. "What does it look like? I want to learn how to play."
"I don't think you'll have much luck teaching yourself," she said skeptically.
He shrugged, cautiously pressing a few keys at random. Then, placing both hands on the ivories, he slowly began playing a tune, sounding it out one note at a time. After a moment, he stopped, frowning. "I can't remember it well enough..."
"Remember what?"
"I'm not certain... It's something I think I heard once, a long time ago." He tried again, this time somewhat more sure of his movements. The slow melody that ensued was at once eerie and sad. Again, he faltered on a note, and the song ended dead in the air.
Talya was eyeing him uncertainly. "You seem pretty good for never having touched a piano before," she remarked.
"I can't explain it either," Sephiroth replied, studying his hands. "I doubt this is a skill the Professor will appreciate anyway."
The Turk did not reply.
He got up and wandered to the window, peering out the window at the falling snow. "I wonder... Will I ever set foot beyond these grounds, do you think?"
"It would be too cruel to keep you here all your life," was her answer.
The boy glanced at her thoughtfully before returning his gaze to the world beyond the pane. "I seem to remember that another scientist used to work here with Hojo. Whatever happened to him?"
"Professor Gast, you mean?" Talya asked, sounding surprised that he remembered. "He left the Project, and then..." Here she faltered, and finally she finished, "Hojo had him killed four years ago."
He turned back to look at her, finding that for some reason he felt saddened by this news. "Why?"
"He had... a specimen that Hojo wanted."
"Does it have anything to do with Aeris?" Sephiroth asked, remembering that she was about four years old.
Talya blinked. "Yes, actually; Gast was her father."
"He was killed for resisting, wasn't he? For trying to protect her..."
"Someday that brain of yours is going to get you into trouble."
He only frowned. "But what's so important about Aeris?"
For this, Talya had no answer at all.
She's an Ancient, he thought, answering his own question as the dream faded away and he drifted closer to waking. A Cetra. The Professor must have been surprised by your differences from one another. Surprised to find that you were opposites; she was the one who protected the Planet, and your only purpose was to destroy it. Just like Jenova, you became a part of their society, earned their trust, and, when they least expected it, you struck.
How many people you must have tricked into believing you were something you are not. With lies and deceit, you gained your power.
In the end, you were not much different from Hojo. I guess it's true, what they say: like father, like son.
At this thought, he flinched. No, I'm not like Hojo, he insisted. I want to atone for my mistakes; I never meant to do those things.
How much longer are you going to believe that? asked a voice that must have been his own, another part of him.
...what do you mean?
There isn't much of your human mother in you. Without a doubt, you get your traits from Jenova and Hojo. That desire for deception and destruction is an inherent part of you. That's all you have any real talent for, and what brings you the most joy. You'll realize that soon enough.
I'm not like Hojo.
You'll be far worse once you come to terms with who you are.
The voice left him in turmoil. No, I'm not like that... I don't want to lie to anyone. There's more to me than that meaningless destruction... isn't there?
Didn't she tell me that I was nice?
I'm not like Hojo, Sephiroth thought the moment he woke, sitting up immediately. He looked about and shook his head to clear it. It had only been a dream, nothing more.
His gaze found Katrina, and he noticed that she was still asleep. She always seemed so peaceful in sleep that he had no desire to wake her. He did, however, want to move on. He had a long ways to go yet if he wanted to atone. He could not linger here.
But what will you do once there's nothing left to fix?
Frowning, he ignored the thought and dressed quickly. He left the inn silently, with only a mild regret at leaving Katrina without a goodbye, and stepped out into the pale sunlight of early morning. There was a handful of people at the Candle, but he strode past them without a word. He did not want to hear farewells from those who had no reason to care about his departure.
With a nod to the gatekeeper, Sephiroth started down the steps that led down to the canyon floor. He found the gold chocobo waiting there, nipping disinterestedly at a scraggly shrub that struggled to grow from the dry earth. It was probably hungry, he reflected, and he made a mental note to buy some greens for it as soon as he could. He took the bird's reigns, and--
"Sephiroth."
The familiar voice made him freeze where he stood.
"Long time no see."
Author's Notes
Kari! I don't know why I enjoy writing little girls into my stories considering they really freak me out in real life (seriously), but I do. I didn't make many changes plot-wise to this part of the story. There've been vast improvements in the way in which it was written, but not so much in what was written.