A/N Well, you will be interested to know that I just had Lasik eye surgery five days ago and I am extremely happy with it. The place I went to is in Rockford, IL. Yavetz eye care center. They are fabulous. $1000 per eye. They keep their prices down by not advertising. I will also say that my surgery took less than five minutes and was absolutely painless. You feel nothing. They really work with you and answer any questions you may have, and if you feel nervous they let you hold a pooh bear. There is a website to visit if you are interested. http/ If you are at all interested please check out their website. In other news, I finally got a review, and seeing that it was a good one I will definitely continue the story. Any comments and advice are welcome but please, no flames. If you don't like what you read, then read something else. This story has been in my head for the past three years, so it shouldn't take long for me to get it typed out. Thank you and enjoy.
Ch. 3 Arriving in Junon
Sometime during the journey I fell asleep. Seems impossible on a bouncing chocobo but apparently my lack of sleep from Hojo's lab caught up with me. I woke up right around night fall as we began to slow down. I slowly opened my eyes and reality hit me. I WAS ASLEEP ON SEPHIROTH'S CHEST! Needless to say, I blushed. Bright burning red. I stared straight ahead hoping he wouldn't notice. He never said anything but I get the feeling he did. He stopped the chocobo and I got a good look around. We were on a small trail through the mountains. They were almost bare, only a few trees grew near a small stream. At least we could see fiends coming if they decided to attack.
I heard a quiet coughing to my left and looked down at Sephiroth who was staring up at me. I gave him a questioning look, I hadn't even noticed him getting off the bird. He held out a hand and I took it, mentally screaming to myself about how lucky I was. He put his other hand on my waist and helped me off the chocobo, which I later learned was named Dillon. I know… Dillon. Makes no sense to me either. While I was standing around thinking about the odd name and taking in my surroundings Sephiroth set up a tent. A nagging question turned up in my mind so I asked.
Where are we?" He answered without turning.
"In the mountains to the west of Midgar. We will arrive in Junon on the other side tomorrow afternoon."
"So your not going south through the marsh?" I asked.
"No. I prefer to stay away from the Zolom." Seph replied.
"But then who kills that Zolom on the tree…" I asked myself. I mentally kicked myself when Sephiroth lifted his eyebrows in question. Said too much. I had to remain silent about knowing what was going to happen. It was one of the rules of being a traveling warrior. That's when it hit me. "I LEFT MY WEAPONS BACK AT HOJO'S LAB!" This was definitely not good. I'm good at hand to hand combat sure, but I would rather fight monsters with my sword.
"You can buy new one's in Junon." Sephiroth said flatly. Obviously he didn't realize how important that sword was to me. I mean, elves forged it for me. And not just any elves, the elves of Rivendell. I sighed and gave up, hoping that I would get my sword back. It was too late to try now. Sephiroth sat on an old log by the front of the tent and motioned me inside. I went in without a word and laid down in my dirty clothes. I hated not being able to shower. I tossed and turned, not able to sleep. I finally gave up and made my way back outside. It was a cloudless (no pun intended) starry night, and Sephiroth was still sitting on that log. I sat down beside him and stared at they stars for awhile
"Too much sleep earlier and now it won't come?" Sephiroth asked me.
"Yeah." Was all I replied. One thing I noticed right away with Sephiroth, were his expressions. We've all read that his face never shows his emotions. I guess it wasn't true after all. Here we were just sitting and talking, and he smiled and laughed. Just like anyone else would. It made me fall in love with his character all over again. But this time, he was real. Right next to me. I could reach out and touch him.
"Are you okay?" I came out of my thoughts and blushed bright red for the second time that day. Apparently my thoughts took over and here I was reaching out and touching his arm. I pulled back as fast as I could, and all he did was smirk at me. That smirk that made me want to cuddle up to him, but of course, I was far too afraid that he may not be as calm as he seemed to be. The night dragged on and I eventually fell asleep. I woke part way up when Sephiroth moved, I had been on his shoulder, and he picked me up and put me in the tent. What a wonderful night, if only he did that when I was fully awake.
Morning came and the sun's first rays woke me from a dream filled sleep. About the man who was outside the tent. It had been a pleasant one, where we were just talking and walking through a forest. I didn't recognize the landscape from this world, but of course this was the first time I'd seen it up close. I got myself up, tried to run my fingers through my hair and pull it into a satisfactory pony tail. Outside the morning was cool and the sun barely peaking over the mountain peaks. Silently, Sephiroth helped me pack up the tent and blanket and put it back in Dillon's 'saddle' bags.
The ride was fairly quiet until Sephiroth finally spoke up. "It occurred to me that we have not been properly introduced."
"My name is Nakara." I answered. What, did you think I would give him my real name? I had been going by Nakara for a long time now, and only my close friends and family called me my real name. "And I already know who you are."
"I assumed as much, by your reaction back in the lab. What were you doing there anyways?" Sephiroth asked.
"Well, I was on my way into Midgar on.. Business, when Reno and
Rude snuck up and trapped me. I woke up in Hojo's lab." I gave the short version. "I have to ask, why did you help me? Really?" It took a minute for Sephiroth to answer.
"I heard a rumor before I got to the lab. That a powerful creature had been found. They said Hojo's cages could barely contain it. Then when I showed up, I found you. I will not lie to you, I could use someone as powerful as you are."
"But you haven't even seen me do anything." I replied.
"That's not true. I saw you summon that fire, white hot flames, without materia. I don't know anyone who can use magic without materia. I have only seen dragons summon fire like that, which brings me to my next question. How did you do it, and what creature are you to have wings and a tail like a dragon?" I had known this question would come up sooner or later. I supposed he might as well know about me.
"Well, on my twentieth birthday I had a visitor. A dragon. She told me I had a destiny like no other. That I was special. She shared with me her magic and her wings. Now I can use elements and some healing magic."
"Ah..and what's the catch?" He asked.
"I travel a lot. It's kind of hard to explain. There are all kinds of different worlds, yours, Gaia, is one of them. The catch is that I travel to these worlds as a kind of helper." I wasn't about to tell him I was there to stop him. He may have killed me or even worse, left me in the mountains hating me! He simply nodded, taking in my story. Some how I think he actually believed it.
Afternoon came round and not long after we stopped for lunch we came over a ridge at the backside of Junon. We dismounted and took the bags from Dillon, happily went to a crop of trees, obviously his home. Sephiroth led the way we made our way through the back of the city. I couldn't believe he was just going to walk out in the open like that but, no one was around this part of Junon. It looked like a ghost yard long forgotten. We approached a large building and Sephiroth walked in, turning immediately to a door on the left. He unlocked it and opened the door nodding for me to go in. I couldn't help it. I gasped. It was a beautiful apartment. Everything in it was in black and white. Except for the real wooden floor. It looked like cherry wood. We were in a large living room, complete with couch, loveseat and cozy overstuffed arm chair.
Sephiroth led up a flight of stairs and into a bedroom. It was equally beautiful. With black and white bedding and a white area rug. There were portraits of what I assumed to be other war generals on the walls. There was even an overstuffed reading chair in one corner with a small bookshelf beside it. Sephiroth ushered me into the bathroom and told me to get cleaned up. I shut and locked the door and gladly got out of my dirty clothes. Right before I got into the shower I heard Sephiroth yell to me that he had clothes laid out for me outside the door.
After a very long hot shower with lots of soap and conditioner to straighten my thick hair, I stepped out of the shower and into a huge towel. Everything here seemed so perfect, so luxurious. It reminded me of the song of the same name by Gwen Steffani. I wrapped a smaller towel around my hair and slowly opened the door to make sure no one was there. The room was empty so I walked in and took the clothes laying on the bed. A pair of boxer shorts and a large t-shirt, all black. Why was I not surprised? I slipped them on and went back into the bathroom to dry my hair. I looked around in the cupboard to find a bottle of hair straightened and a blow dryer. After that long task was done, my hair is thick and takes forever to dry, I went back into the bedroom and climbed into the king sized bed. I thought it was my imagination the I felt the bed move right before I fell asleep.