:Exhale: Okay, this chapter was extremely hard to write and it took me a very long time. Well...okay, let me rephrase; It only took me like one night to write the basic idea for it, but I avoided it for a while because ever since I was nine years old (that's how old I was when this game came out in '94) I bawled my eyes out at this part of the game. I don't know...I have just always been such a huge Locke Cole fan that I felt terrible for him...his past is just so sad. However, I really do love this chapter...Rachel is just so damn cute and perky. To be honest, her personality is completely different now that I originally planned….thank god. She was turning out to be such a priss and it aggravated me. Therefore, she's more human now! YAY! Anyway, enough about her…(lol), This was also hard to write because I wanted to capture the moment the best that I could...and I think I succeeded. I hope! I'll let you be the judge of that...

22. The Bridge

Locke was waiting at the door of Vaughn's office, waiting to be summoned in. Vaughn told him to meet him at exactly noon and it was now about quarter after. He tapped his shoe with impatience for he didn't want Rachel to start worrying why he was gone for so long. He told Rachel to stay in his room so she wouldn't have gotten any unnecessary looks from other members of Quantz as they walked by. Although she protested, she agreed that it would be the best idea.

With a sigh, he looked at his watch again. It was approximately a minute and a half after the last time he checked it and he was starting to grow curious of what the meeting inside was about. It was an immediate meeting that Vaughn wished to have with Xane. Usually when Vaughn calls in someone, the meeting lasts about ten minutes or less for Vaughn wasn't one to chat. They had been in there for almost two hours. Locke figured that if they wanted him to know what the meeting was about, he would've been in the room as well. As interested as he was, he knew that it was better for him to stay out of it.

After rocking on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, the doorknob finally turned and the door opened. Xane walked out of the room with an unexplainable look on his face, and Locke wasn't sure what it meant. Xane looked at Locke silently and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?" Locke asked as Xane shook his head and started to walk away without answering. "Xane?"

He was just about ready to go after his friend to see what was wrong, but the door opened again and Vaughn popped his head out. "Come on in, Locke."

Locke followed Xane with his eyes briefly, then shook his head and walked into Vaughn's office. There was a different feeling in the air than there usually was; not to mention that Vaughn's desk was an absolute mess. The man was usually very organized, so to see the papers strewn all over his desk was very out of character. Nonchalantly, Vaughn walked to his desk and started to pick everything up, no doubt in result of Locke's queer look.

"Is everything all right?" He asked as Vaughn nodded his head. Locke narrowed his eyes as the older man carelessly threw the papers in a pile and shoved them in his desk. "O…kay."

"Anyway," Vaughn said with a nice smile as he sat in his leather chair and folded his hands on his desk. "Ah yes, you are here because I told you that I had a job for you, correct?"

"Yep," Locke replied, keeping the fact that Rachel was in his room a secret. He knew the rules that Vaughn strictly enforced, and he wasn't sure what would happen if Vaughn found out. "Is it something that can be done in one day? I've been kind of anxious lately, so I would like to get out and get my…feet…wet…"

Vaughn looked pensive for a moment as he looked down at the floor. Locke was distracted by how his boss wasn't looking at him, so he slowed down his sentence and tried to pay attention to what Vaughn was adverting his attention to. With a slight frown, he bent over and picked up a piece of paper; assumedly another letter. Locke furrowed his forehead as Vaughn turned the paper over in his hands.

What the hell is going on? Locke thought to himself as he saw Vaughn's lips move slightly as he skimmed the writing. With a slight chuckle, Vaughn folded the paper into fourths and put it in his desk. As he looked up at Locke again, he noticed the puzzled look on his young employee's face.

"What is it?" He asked as Locke shook his head, exhaled, and shrugged. "Ah, I see. All right then, if you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, I'll get to the point."

"Thank you," Locke replied in a sarcastic manner. What he said to Vaughn was correct; he was very anxious. However, he was more anxious to take Rachel on one hunt than never take her out again. Treasure hunting was a very dangerous field of work, and he knew Rachel didn't know or see that.

"All right, it's kind of a long explanation, but just hear me out," he started as Locke nodded in agreement. "There's a hidden cave on the eastern side of the continent that supposedly has an entire cavern full of riches. The entrance to the cave is by the ocean, but it's still reachable by foot, so you won't need a ship or anything to that nature. Sounds easy right?" Locke nodded. "Well, it's not. Obviously if the entrance was noticeable, the cave would've been raided a very long time ago. It's hidden very well."

"That's not a problem, I'm used to finding entrances. It takes out half the fun if the entrance pops right out at you," Locke stated as he leaned back in his chair. "What's in this cave that makes it so great anyway? What kind of riches are we talking?"

"We're talking about a world renowned pirate who hoarded all his gold that he had ever stolen and found in this cave," Vaughn stated as he reached across his desk for the inkwell that was sitting on several sheets of blank paper. He picked it up as he spoke and slightly frowned when he looked in it. "It's one of those things where I'm not sure if you'll be able to take all the gold and bring it back here by yourself in one trip."

Uh oh…Locke thought as he chewed the inside of his cheek with his back teeth. "Is this going to be a mission where I have to go with Xane or someone else? I mean, I don't have a problem with it, but I'm just curious."

Vaughn dug through the upper right hand corner desk drawer until he pulled out a small bottle filled with more ink. He held it up to the light with one hand and flicked the jar gently with his other hand. "No, I think you can go by yourself," he replied as he pulled the cork lid off of the glass jar with a slight grunt. Locke watched as he poured some ink into the tiny well with great concentration so he wouldn't spill any. "Take what you can then come back here and report your findings. If there is too much for you to take, I'll send you and Xane back another time. Possibly tomorrow or something like that. What do you think?"

"That works for me," Locke said with a nod. Vaughn put the cork back on the bottle and picked up his pen again. He stood up and stretched before heading toward the door. "Okay, I'll be back later then."

"Bye," he replied plainly without looking as he started to compose a letter. "Good luck."

"Thanks." As Locke approached the door, his curiosity got the best out of him and he turned toward Vaughn. "This is going to bother me if I don't ask. What's been going on between you and Xane lately? You've been having multi-hour meetings at odd times of the day and he never looks happy when he leaves your office, you've been writing more and more letters, and not to mention receiving a letter every day from the same place. I know there isn't ever a return address on the envelope, but the handwriting is always the same."

Without moving his pen from the writing position, Vaughn looked up at Locke with a sharp look in his eyes and his lips curled into a frown. "Locke, if I wanted you to know, I would give you all the details. You know better than to horn in on my business that I have with Xane or any other employee."

"I know," he said with a shrug as he turned toward the door again. "I was just concerned and wanted to make sure that everything was all right. Can you at least tell me that?"

"Everything is fine, thank you," Vaughn replied, an obvious edge in his voice as he let out an annoyed sigh. "Go on your hunt. I'm expecting a report back from you before the day is through."

"Can do," Locke called out over his shoulder as he opened the door and stepped out. He shook his head and sighed before he made his way to his room.

He quietly opened the door to see Rachel peacefully sleeping on his bed. She was lying on her side cuddling with the blankets with one hand and had the other hand under the pillow. A smile crept on his lips as he shut the door and walked over to her. Upon reaching the bed, he knelt down so he could look directly at her pretty face. Her lips were parted the tiniest bit as she breathed and she tightened her grip on the blankets.

He lifted up his left hand to gently stroke her cheek as he brushed her lips with his own. A smile appeared on her face from his touch, and he wasn't sure if she woke up, or if that was her reaction from a dream state. A chuckle escaped from his lips as he kissed her again, curious to how she would respond a second time.

"Oh, Xane," she exhaled dreamily, trying to hold in her giggles. Locke's eyes went wide for a second, then she started to shake from laughter.

"'Oh, Xane,' huh?" He asked as he gave her a playful shove. She opened her eyes and kissed him passionately, putting her hands behind his head to bring him closer.

"I'm just joking!" She exclaimed as she sat up in his bed. "I heard you come in and I had to see if I could confuse you. Besides, you're the one who gave the 'my other girlfriends' crack yesterday just a few hours after you proposed."

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" He said with a chuckle as he thought about it. "Okay, I guess I deserve you giving me a hard time every once and a while. You just can't be so damn cute about it."

She placed her hand on her chest and straightened her posture. "I can't help it, it just happens so naturally."

Locke wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I got my orders from Vaughn. Are you ready to go?"

"I was born ready!" She started to bounce her legs on the floor in excitement and tightly hugged Locke around his chest. "Can we go now? Can we, can we, can we?"

"You are like a five year old girl on a chocobo petting farm!" Her excitement level reminded him of himself every time that he went on a hunt. Even though he didn't bounce in the manner than she did, he still felt the thrill of going out into an uncharted territory to find treasures. It was an extraordinary feeling and he prayed that it would never go away.

"I can't help it!" She said as she jumped out of his bed and ran over to her shoes. She plopped herself on the floor to put on the sandals that she was wearing earlier. Once they were put on, she spread her legs out in front of her and wiggled her toes. "I'm glad I decided to wear these and not heels."

He chuckled as he walked over to her and extended his hand to help her to her feet. He pulled her up and she placed her hands on his chest as he placed his on her waist. "I'm glad too. You definitely would not have walked through a cave wearing heels. You wouldn't want to break your pretty little ankles."

"Okay, enough talk," she decided as she rushed to the door. "Let's go!"

"Whoa, hold it," he said as he tenderly grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her. "You don't want to just waltz right out there without making sure that no one's in the hallway first. I don't want to get into trouble for having a beautiful girl in my bedroom all night. It might make the other guys jealous that you're mine."

"Aww, you're sweet," she exhaled as she turned and kissed him on the lips. As he looked at her in the eyes, he saw them sparkle with excitement. "Check out in the hallway so we can go! I'm getting restless here!"

Shaking his head in amusement, he poked his head out to look out into the hallway. Rachel had her hands on his back and he could feel her bouncing on her toes as she impatiently waited for him to give her the status of the hallway. To torture her, he slowly looked around and hummed quietly to see how patient she really was.

"Locke!" She whined from behind him and gently hit him on the back. "Stop fooling around! Don't do this to me! It safe to go now?"

"The coast is clear," he replied with a stately nod and reached for her hand. With a girlish smile, she placed her hand in his and carefully made their way out of the hideout and warped to the outside.

"Whoo!" She squealed as she handed the warp stone back to Locke. "That was awesome!"

"We haven't even done anything yet," he clarified as she skipped in front of him. He watched her bounce around for a second then had to put his hand to his forehead. "Oh man, are you going to be like this the entire walk? You're going to wear me out just by watching you."

"Don't be a spoilsport!" She grabbed him by the wrist and started to pull him so he would get going. "Now, tell me where this 'great treasure' is! I want to find it!"

"First of all, you're trying to lead me the wrong way," he informed her as he pointed to the correct direction. "Now, we're going to go that-a-way and then turn a little bit so we're walking by the coast line. Got it?"

"Got it!" She broke out into a run, leaving Locke behind. "I'll race ya to the coastline!"

"Rachel!" He yelled to her, but it was no use; she was way ahead of him. Rolling his eyes in amusement, he ran to catch up with her. Fortunately, his legs were longer than hers and he was able to meet up with her, pick her up, and spin her around before she knew what had happened. "Ha ha!"

"That's so not fair!" Locke kissed her on the side of her head as he put back down on the ground. "Now you're going to make me walk, aren't you?"

"We're halfway there already thanks to your initiative to run, so walking won't kill us," he explained, lightly panting from being out breath. "Besides, I can't keep a close eye on you if you get that far ahead of me."

She shook her foot to rid it of the grass and dirt that accumulated in her toes from running as she walked besides Locke in the right direction. "Oh, you worry too much!" Her eyes sparkled as she laughed, causing Locke to smile. "If you keep thinking so pessimistically, something bad will happen. So if you lighten up just a little bit, everything will be fine."

"Are you calling me uptight?" He asked as she innocently shrugged. "Would you rather me not worry about you? What kind of boyfriend would that make me? I think it's in the boyfriend handbook where I have to look after you."

"Handbook?" She perked her head up and scrunched her nose. "Why didn't I get a copy of this said handbook? I want a handbook. That way if you make any mistakes, I can call you on them and have the handbook as my guide."

"You're so giddy right now and it's hilarious," he pointed out as she flashed him a huge smile. "I hope you know you're getting all excited for nothing. Treasure hunting isn't all you're thinking it is. I never get this excited for a hunt."

"If you don't love it, then why do you do it?"

He thought about her question for a second, then chuckled. "It's not that I don't love it, I'm just saying that you can't have the expectations of always having a successful hunt. You're not always that lucky."

"You have me as a luck source this time. I'm like, your good luck charm in girl form," she said as she squeezed his hand as they reached the shoreline. She scanned the perimeter of the beach looking for the cave, but unfortunately didn't see anything. "Okay, here's the shoreline. Whoo hoo! Now, where's that cave entrance?"

Locke narrowed his eyes as he looked along the mountains and slightly frowned. "Well, it's not an obvious spot. Vaughn did tell me that it was hidden quite well. It's a pirate cave, so obviously it's going to be hard to find."

"Pirates?" She asked, a trace of fright in her voice as she swallowed. "Um, you didn't say anything about pirates. Not that pirates would frighten me or anything, but that was a obstacle I wasn't aware of."

"I don't think we'll run into anything," he stated with a shrug, unsure of how true his sentence was. Vaughn never did tell me if the cave was abandoned or not…He exhaled as he and Rachel walked along the wall. Why do I feel like I'm leading her into a trap?

She watched as he trailed his hand along the mountain wall, so she did the same. "You're very quiet," she observed as he nodded his head.

"I'm thinking," he replied as he felt an odd crack in the mountainside. To check it out further, he abruptly stopped, resulting in Rachel plowing into him.

"Ow!" She cried as she rubbed her forehead and giggled. "Can you give me some kind of signal the next time you want to do that?"

Instead of responding to her, he felt along the wall for a clue to a hidden door. After a minute of running his hands up and down the wall, he couldn't find anything. "Hmm," he mumbled as he knocked on the mountainside. He nodded with the sound it made. "Well, the good news is that it's hollow. I think I found our cave."

"Yay!" She started to bounce on her toes again. "But, how do we get inside? There isn't a door."

"I think the pirates were just as creative as the first creator of the Quantz hideout," he observed as he pulled out the warp stones. "I think these are going to be the only ticket in there."

"Okay, let's go then!" Before Locke could stop her, she held up her warp stone and warped into the mountain. Without hesitation, he held up his warp stone and followed her. He didn't want her out of his sight for longer than that brief moment.

Once inside, Locke looked around. There were several holes in the top of the mountain that streamed enough light through to see the surroundings around him. He tried not to show it to get Rachel more worked up than she already was, but he could feel the excitement growing inside of him.

"Oh wow!" She exhaled as she held onto Locke's hand for security. Her voice echoed throughout the cavern even though she was only whispering, and she jumped at the sound of her own voice. "It's kind of creepy in here. Are you sure that there aren't any pirates around?"

"I can't be sure of anything, but I think we'll be fine," he explained as he pointed toward an opening in the wall. "Let's go through there and see what's beyond that. There isn't much else in this cavern besides us and some spiders."

She grimaced at the thought of the spiders, and Locke slightly laughed at her. He led the way through the cavern through the entrance. They found themselves at another cavern, and it was lit better than the previous one. Rachel looked around in awe as she freed herself from Locke and looked around. Locke walked ahead of her, a large smile on his face.

"Locke!" She cried out giddily as she watched him. "I just realized something. What are we off to find today? We've walked all this way and you haven't even told me yet!"

"Soon you'll…" He started as he slightly stumbled over a loose rock. "Ow, dammit." He cursed under his breath as he stopped and rubbed his now throbbing toe. "Anyway, you're not going to believe what awaits us up here!"

"Oooh, sounds mysterious!" She slowly walked after him, looking up at the ceiling and along the walls. There were many drawings of things and she was very intrigued by the tiny pictures and diagrams.

He noticed that she was further behind than he was, and he wanted to get to the treasure as quickly as possible with Rachel in sight. "You have to keep up with me though, or else I'll get all the treasure!" She looked up at him and with a playful giggle started to follow him. "Come on it's worth a fortune!"

He started to step on the bridge, but hesitated. Rachel caught up with him and stood behind as he investigated the bridge. "Yikes. Nothing beats fear like walking across a rickety old bridge. Who knows how long this bridge has been standing here."

"It looks okay," he stated as he leaned over to get a closer look at the ropes. As forcefully as he could, he shook the rope railing to see if it would crumble. It remained in one piece, and he exhaled in relief.

"Locke, I don't know about this," Rachel cautioned as she grabbed Locke by the arm to hold him back. "It doesn't look very safe and I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to you. It's kind of hard to have my huge spring wedding on the beach without my groom. Ya know, the wedding that I'd like to have soon! The sooner the better actually." She giggled at her thought, but her smile faded when she noticed the grim look on Locke's face over the bridge. "You know, maybe we should see if there is another way."

"I don't see one and I'm really not patient enough to look," he said as he quickly looked around. "Don't worry about it. I'll make sure that everything is okay then you follow me."

Although she was still skeptical of the entire situation, she let go of his arm and tried to brighten up the situation. "The man goes before his fiancée, how sweet. Is this in the handbook too—" Locke heard Rachel stop talking at the same time that he heard a sickly snapping sound coming from where he placed his foot on a board. He didn't have time to react before he heard Rachel shriek, "Locke! Look out!"

With a force that he didn't know she had, she pushed him off of the bridge to safety on the other side and he landed hard on his stomach. He looked up just in time to hear her scream and see her fingertips disappear into the crevice that separated the mountain.

"Rachel!" He quickly scrambled to his feet, ran to the edge of the cliff, and jumped after her without even thinking twice.